Thanks, megan. I wish I'd checked back in here before I wrote the recap. I would have made note of it.

The full recap has been published.

I'm liking all the speculation that Ben got beaten by Sayid, which is how Sayid got arrested. I said something similar in the recap. In actuality, I think he probably went after Penny, but I'm lalalaing that away, until I'm shown otherwise.

Hey, Sunil, you were saying we knew from the newspaper clipping that Locke killed himself. I found the clipping (I don't have the link, but there's a copy at Lostpedia.wikia.com) and I can't find any mention of the suicide. Was there something else -- a line or something -- that made you think this was already a fact known to Jack?

Was there something else -- a line or something -- that made you think this was already a fact known to Jack?

[link]

I think it was the line about the beam that led people to believe that the man in the obituary was found hanging from said beam. This could just be an example of fanon becoming canon in my head, which is why I don't read fanfic!

Yeah, I think it's fanon with a physical basis.

I checked that wiki article before I wrote the recap. I'd originally written (well, drafted I guess, it's nothing I submitted for publication) a big rant in the recap discussing the fact that Jack had known it was a suicide for a long time -- so why was he acting surprised now. Then something made me fact-check and that Lostpedia article on the clipping was the best canonical evidence I could find, so I deleted my rant (which is sad, because it was righteously ranty) and changed it to a question in the recap.

Right after I asked you about it, here, I got an e-mail from a reader who had the same impression and explained how she thinks we got that impression. She says:

After doing a little bit of digging, I found this article posted on DarkUFO, [link] which purported to have the full text of the clipping.

Obviously, it was either a fake spoiler, or just a prop made by the art department, since they had the name wrong (John Lantham as opposed to Jeremy Bentham), and information about being survived by a teenaged son (? !!!) But, that's where the original notion that it was suicide came from Anyway, I thought you might like to know that in this once very small instance, LOST has not driven you completely nuts. :D

I think it was a prop, because I during fact-checking (which I didn't bother to keep track of since it led to nothing that supported my righteous rant), I ran across information about the prop clipping.

Oh, Show.

Whoa. Given this turn of mind-fuckery, I wouldn't be surprised if we got an alternate version of Widmore's being nasty to Desmond that makes it him trying to protect Penny.

Still doesn't quite explain the lethal force on the Island, but who knows - mercenaries out of control could be as valid an explanation. I'm all for redefining character motives. And doG nose Ben has done some seriously heinous things that we HAVE been shown.

I wouldn't be surprised if we got an alternate version of Widmore's being nasty to Desmond that makes it him trying to protect Penny.

What do you mean, Frank?

Is everyone else dead from the HSQ?

Is everyone else dead from the HSQ?

It wasn't a huge surprise, exactly. I suspected that Ben would kill Locke, but HOLY GOD that was still something to watch. I love the little fucker, but SHIT.

I wouldn't be surprised if we got an alternate version of Widmore's being nasty to Desmond that makes it him trying to protect Penny.

What do you mean, Frank?

In Widmore's scene with Locke, he came off as the Good Guy. We've generally sided with Ben despite his...being Ben because we know him better and we've actually seen him do good things once in a while, whatever the motivation. Widmore, on the other hand, has generally been painted as eeeevil. Uh, mostly by Ben. But in that scene...I started to question who was right. Especially given the reveal that he was an Other, maybe he really is simply trying to protect everyone.

I agree with you, P-C (although I'm not sure I ever sided with Ben). I'm just still not sure that's what Frank is saying.

Is everyone else dead from the HSQ?

I think the board was down for a while during the show (EST, at least), and then I went to bed b/c I'm a sloth.

I had stuff to say, and now I can't remember it.

Oh! Other than Ben being a TOTAL PSYCHOPATH. I really, truly, believed his compassion in wanting to help Locke -- right up until he killed him. Jesus.

It was the Eloise Hawking thing that set Ben off, right? V. curious, b/c his reaction made me think he wanted to avoid her -- and have Locke avoid her -- but then in the previous episodes, we saw him meet with her.

I'm not thrilled with the whole other camp of crash survivors. I really don't want yet more new characters. But was the woman talking to Locke the marshall with Sayid? I would swear she was.

Also, I'm not surprised we didn't get it, but still annoyed that we got no Sun/Jin reunion this episode.

I'm more than annoyed that we were given a Jin cliffhanger then no follow up. Boo.

I wasn't surprised that Ben killed Locke, but I still don't understand the timing. I thought Eloise was someone he knew well enough. Still, they both did a fabulous job with the scenes.

Woman talking to Locke was the marshall, and totally I agree about the lack of need for new characters. I'm sure they are all related and are supposed to be there....

I was half asleep watching, but most of my thoughts were wishing we were on the island. I wanna go back...

Still, they both did a fabulous job with the scenes.

By the time Jack told Locke he was a sad, lonely old man with no love in his life (I'm paraphrasing), all I could do was laugh and laugh, because (1) hi Jack -- pot; kettle, and (2) I understand that part of what drove Locke to attempt suicide was that everyone made him believe he was a sad, lonely old man, but seriously -- everyone but Walt (Walt!!!) just bagged on him so hard that it got comical by the time Jack did it. Like, okay, it's time for the obligatory Mock John Locke scene.

I always love Hurley. "Hey, am I talking to a guy in a wheelchair?"