You know, I think you are absolutely right. I was hoping that Michael or his babymomma would intersect with another castaway's life in some way. We didn't learn anything new at all about Michael and Walt's backstory except that Walt may be the cutest toddler ever. Damn. That was some cute.

Yeah, intersection would have made that worthwhile.

Ugh. What a waste of an hour. At the end we're three seconds further in the timeline than we were last week. It's like those serials in the newspaper comics that run all week but never move the plot forward except on Sundays (I'm looking at you, Mary Worth).

I was totally with you on the flashback, MechKrel. We know she takes the boy away. We know she pressures him with payment for medical bills. We know he was very reluctant but in the end he does what he thinks is best for Walt. What was the point other than to fill time?

And the Walt/Sawyer business on the rafts? Amusing for like 2 minutes. They bicker, they fight, they find a better raft, they get back the island, and OMGWTFOthers. Even the 3 1/2 seconds of shark didn't really make it more interesting. Why did it take half an episode?

It's almost like they don't have enough story, so they drag out the elements they have. The Rashoman Kate thing was interesting, but they could have done it in last week's episode.

See, I don't know about other people, but I note the time while I watch shows. When we haven't had a single interesting reveal 50 minutes into the show, it pisses me off. I might as well just tape the last 10 minutes of each episode, at least I won't be cranky afterward. Really poor plotting/writing. Ugh.

Maybe I was a bit too harsh?

I liked the bickering and the raft trading a lot. Also liked the reveals we got about Desmond and the lair. My mind was going "wait, what's that? Ah ha, the numbers. What does THAT mean?" the whole time, and I like the whirring and buzzing. Lots of new stuff there. The flashbacks I was not interested in.

Yeah, the flashbacks weren't great. Everything in the present-day, though, I thought was terrific. I was both intrigued and entertained.

What was the point other than to fill time?

To see Saul Rubinek again, of course! (He's one of my favorite character actors of all time, so seeing him in even a small role is fun.)

Wolfram, my reaction was the same as yours. I'm tired of being bored for 50 minutes and then something interesting happening in the last 5. PLus, I found the hatch interior waaaayyyy too unbelievable.

Much (almost all) of Michael's sympathetic qualities seem to come from being wronged by stone cold bitch. Without that factor he is pretty much an annoying screw up.

I found Michael to be so annoying and unwilling to take responsibility that I couldn't even watch the rest of the episode. Guh. His character is always self-righteous, always blames other people and pretty much always makes the wrong decision.

Wolfram, my reaction was the same as yours. I'm tired of being bored for 50 minutes and then something interesting happening in the last 5. PLus, I found the hatch interior waaaayyyy too unbelievable.

It reminds me of Buffy S7 when we had the same basic plot for Bring On the Night, Showtime, and Potential and pretty much nothing but speeches for three episodes. It's so much more annoying when you know the writers are capable of so much better.

I found Michael to be so annoying and unwilling to take responsibility that I couldn't even watch the rest of the episode. Guh. His character is always self-righteous, always blames other people and pretty much always makes the wrong decision.

If I had to be stranded on a raft with either Michael or Sawyer, it's Sawyer hands down. The dude takes a bullet for the team, and doesn't even chide Michael when he admits he probably shouldn't have brought Walt along. Compared to Michael right now, Sawyer is a champion big damn hero.