Yes, this is next week's ep (title "Hearts and Minds"). Boone and Locke know that they've found something big and metal, and it has the word "Hatch" on it, except it's the kind of hatch that apparently doesn't open, since there's no handle or anything.

[Tep, they were 8 and 10 when their parents got married. (I can't remember who was which.) So pre-puberty, but barely.]

Week after next is "Special," about Michael and Walt. Michael and Walt's mom were never married, but he was incredibly excited about having a child together. When Walt was a toddler, she got a fantastic job offer and took Walt to live in Amsterdam...without Michael. (Who, because they were never married, and she's a lawyer while Michael's an artist with no money, has no legal way to stop her.) Walt's mom remarries *really* fucking fast, and her new husband adopts Walt. Again, Michael protests, but is helpless.

Walt's mom dies, and Michael gets a call from Brian (now living in Sydney), who says that actually, he never wanted a kid, and in fact, Walt, as kids go, is fucking creepy. He's "different" from other kids. So Michael should take him back, which he does.

On the island, Michael is not happy that Locke's been spending so much time with Walt, and he's really not happy that Locke's been teaching Walt to throw knives. Even though Walt's really, really good at it. Locke tells Michael that Walt is "special" and "different," which really gets to Michael because it's exactly what Brian said. Also, Michael is building a raft to get off the island. Eventually, Walt gets chased by the monster, and Michael and Locke have to work together to save him (and I think this scene will be better than it sounds on paper).

Also, Michael is building a raft to get off the island.

Did he learn nothing from Gilligan's Island ?

My God, that plane trip was like the voyage of the damned, or something.

Wheeeeeee!!!!!

Thanks, Jessica, for sharing the good spoiler crack!

My God, that plane trip was like the voyage of the damned, or something.

PLANE OF FOOLS anyone?

Walt's mom remarries *really* fucking fast, and her new husband adopts Walt.

Okay, it's really, really hard to do this without the biological father's permission.

The week after that is "Homecoming," in which Claire is returned, still pregnant, but with amnesia. Charlie is heartbroken that she doesn't remember him. Everyone else is freaked the hell out. Charlie (who is the last ep liberated Claire's diary from Sawyer), gives Claire back her diary, and Claire reads it, trying to remember. Sayid is suspicious, because, as he points out to Jack, real amnesia? Kinda rare. Like, really rare.

Ethan shows up and demands that Claire be returned to him. If she is not, he says, he will kill someone. And he will continue to kill one person every day until she is returned. So they get out the gun's from the case and set up a perimeter, which fails, and Scott is murdered. They bury him next to the marshall. Nobody likes that they have a graveyard, after only being on the island a month.

In flashbackland, Charlie is a pathetic heroin addict who's been scamming rich girls into inviting him over for dinner so he and his heroin supplier buddy can break in later and steal things. (In the club where they're looking for rich girls to pick up, we will see Sawyer in the background. ContinuityYay!) Unfortunately, Charlie really likes this most recent one, and instead of stealing from her, he decides to take a job selling copiers and go straight. He still needs one last fix, though, and so he steals a cigarette case from her house right before going out to make his first sales pitch. The sales pitch goes really badly because withdrawal overtakes him, and he vomits all over everything. The cigarette case is discovered on him by the paramedics, and his relationship with Lucy is over.

Okay, it's really, really hard to do this without the biological father's permission.

I think it's easier when both the biological mom AND her new husband are lawyers with money to burn, and the biological father is a starving artist who hasn't seen the kid since he was 2.

I think it's easier when both the biological mom AND her new husband are lawyers with money to burn, and the biological father is a starving artist who hasn't seen the kid since he was 2.

Also, if the father doesn't know what rights he has -- and many men don't, or assume they don't have any -- he's less likely to even try. Even hiring a lawyer to find out can be expensive and intimidating.

Jessica, which one is Scott?