( continues...) eventually where this should go,'' continues the co-creator, who excuses himself twice during the interview to jot down story ideas that have popped into his head. ''I will say that if we can do a version of an ending that we've discussed, it would be mind-blowingly cool.'' Perrineau (Michael) sums up the challenge thusly: ''Our writers have a really big mountain to climb, and if they climb the mountain, then they're the champs. And if they don't, then yeaaaah, we've all crashed -- but wasn't it an interesting ride?''

Here's what's lurking in the more immediate path for our fearful explorers (put on your anti-spoiler glasses before you read this paragraph): Locke makes a huge discovery. Someone will build a raft to try to escape. We'll meet other folks on the island who weren't on the plane, and learn two secrets about Hurley. The Bermuda Triangle continues to overlap with the Jack-Kate-Sawyer Triangle. (''I have a feeling that in the near term, it'll be Sawyer and Kate, and in the long term, it'll be Jack and Kate,'' says Fox. ''[But] there's not a whole lot of room for romance in the situation that these people are dealing with.'') Let's also heed this advice from Lindelof: ''The flashbacks serve as a great conduit to learn more about these characters, but that's not all they're there for. The idea that these people -- way before they got on this airplane -- have interacted with each other either directly or through third parties is one of the cool pieces of tapestry of the show.''

Of course, our Lost boys and girls have a few ideas of their own about what should happen on Danger Island. ''I'm just hoping it's going to go in this direction where we discover some magic nut in the jungle that's some sort of hallucinogenic,'' says Andrews (Sayid). ''I was hoping it would grow into an area where we have communes and free love.''

Holloway, clearly channeling his character, Sawyer, takes it one hedonistic step further: ''I would like to throw a big party with all my alcohol, and set up a little bar and have the girls dancing on the bar on bamboo stripper poles. It would remove us from all that ehhh for a minute. Dom already has the guitar. You could have people jamming, girls in their little torn-up stuff, and it'd be like, Yeah! Perfect episode.'' The one episode that they won't dare to think about, though, involves the R-word: rescue. ''No, dude,'' scoffs Perrineau. ''I want to have a job.''

''I was hoping it would grow into an area where we have communes and free love.''

All naked all gay coming to your screen soon.

Interesting. Thanks for that. I'm a subscriber, but nice seeing it laid out.

The hints are tantalizing. What ep do they dig up the marshall? Ick. I wonder if it is "Cowboy" ep.

The whole notion of needing to get into his briefcase was interesting. Alas, it may be for something pratical.

I enjoyed reading the random nature of the characters based on who they liked at auditions. It makes it seem more collaborative somehow. Fun that the actors get to play guessing games too.

Maybe bullets?

Wrong thread

Couldn't they just cut the briefcase open?I know they have an axe.

Thanks, Laura. Nice of you to post all of that.

And that key opens an impenetrable briefcase. And the contents of that case are important enough for them to endure this hellish process, which involves gagging, maggots, and a startling betrayal that the island gods want to keep hush-hush for now.

I guess the impenetrable thing makes the axe not work. Maybe it contains some GPS type equipment. Weaponry? Drugs?

Startling betrayal is always good.

It is so fun to actual sub to this thread. I avoided spoilers on the ME shows. This show particularly lends itself to the seeking of spoils in the quest to solve the many mysteries.

Pancakes:

Best guess is that the scene comes in Episode 1.12 titled Whatever the Case May Be

Some attache cases are rigged to explode if someone tries to cut or break them open. I'd have someone I didn't like swing the axe at it.