(Or rather, I buy it, but I wish the writers would frelling decide how good she is at taking care of herself and avoiding getting caught. Hadn't we been led to believe that not being captured was the one thing she was really good at...?)

I tried to articulate this earlier and couldn't, so didn't post out of frustration. But this is exactly what bothered me the most about this episode! Glad my brain is at least in silent commune with yours so someone can tell me how I feel.

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DH and I have decided that Zeke's real name is Geronimo Jackson.

Ha!

Which reminds me, I loved Sayid's delivery of "This music is very depressing."

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I found this episode very frustrating, because there they were in a position to talk to one of The Others and instead we got bullshit posturing. So, no explanations of WHY they consider the island theirs, why they want Walt or Michael, how long they've been there, and so forth. I mean, come ON! Our castaways learned NOTHING except they're outnumbered and outmatched.

I'm also pretty tired of the gendered storytelling. Jack tells Kate what to do and she doesn't, so she gets captured. Jin wants to do the honorable thing and help his friend but his wife complains so he doesn't. Didn't even occur to either one of them that Sun could go with him. Why is making Sun feel good more important than Michael's life?

I may have to stop watching again: it's just wheel-spinning, and the characters are dumb!

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Didn't even occur to either one of them that Sun could go with him. Why is making Sun feel good more important than Michael's life?

I wondered the same things, Consuela. I know they wanted to make a point about the relationship and how it's changed, but this was a dumb way to do it.

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I may have to stop watching again: it's just wheel-spinning, and the characters are dumb!

It's why I stopped. I watched the first season on dvd in a marathon and knew that it would have driven me mad in real-time. Season two did. So if the buzz is good enough, I will marathon that too eventually. Anything else and I feel cheated as a viewer.

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"When you came across the island, what side was the ocean on?"

Uh - all sides? I don't get the point of that question.

Right with you, sister. I mean, I got what you said in your eta section too, but still, I actually said, "All. It's an island," aloud, while watching.

I wonder if Locke knew the original Sawyer.

Of course he does! That's how this works.

Maybe Locke's biological father is the original Sawyer.

Have there been any flashbacks which would rule that out?

How did Sawyer know his name was Zeke? Or was that just another nickname?

I read it as a nickname.

I'm also pretty tired of the gendered storytelling. Jack tells Kate what to do and she doesn't, so she gets captured. Jin wants to do the honorable thing and help his friend but his wife complains so he doesn't. Didn't even occur to either one of them that Sun could go with him. Why is making Sun feel good more important than Michael's life?

Huh, I saw (and itched at) the gendered storytelling where Jack and Kate were concerned, but saw Jin/Sun's story, differently. I don't think making Sun feel good is more important than Michael's life. I think Sun wasn't looking to feel good, as much as she was looking for Jin not to die. It's not like she wanted him to stay around because she needed help with the garden. She just got him back. She didn't want him risking his life, again.

I saw Jin's decision as evidence of growth in their marriage. He got involved with the raft project largely because of the problems between him and Sun. The problems with Jin and Sun started when they first married, and Jin's priorities were so out of whack, that he was losing the woman he loved, because he was sacrificing his time, and his principles, for financial/career security, which he'd fooled himself into thinking he was doing for Sun.

Even though they had a touching moment before the raft launched, it was still more important to Jin to do what Jin had decided was the right course and what Jin needed to do. This time, he listened to Sun as an equal, and took her concerns and desires into account.

I'm right with everyone thinking the writers need to make up their mind about Kate. I couldn't see her not struggling, or not trying something, when she was tied up there--knowing Jack, Locke and Sawyer were going to lose the guns, because she'd gotten bagged.

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How did the Beard know Locke, Jack, and Sawyer on sight? Did he get his info from Walt?

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Nebbermind.

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I found this episode very frustrating, because there they were in a position to talk to one of The Others and instead we got bullshit posturing.

I think Locke would have loved to try and find out more from/about the Others, and I suspect we may see some fallout between him and Jack because they didn't.

Specifically we got bullshit posturing from Sawyer (understandable - bullshit posturing is his middle name, plus he's got a still healing beef with the guy they were talking too), and Jack, which, with his newfound desire to train an army, is interesting.

All episode, I was wondering if it wouldn't be great if instead of going the obvious route, they eventually make Jack into an obsessed "bad" guy, endangering the rest of the survivors for his own ends. His rather unstable look at the end makes me wonder if they might not go that way. Probably not, but it would be a fascinating switch-up.

It would also be great if Locke, who has had the potential to do just about anything good or bad, isn't going to be danger to rest of the survivors after all, but ends up being their protector.

I also loved Locke mind-gaming Sawyer, mainly because it's the kind of thing that pisses off Sawyer and I find pissed-off Sawyer very amusing.

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I like Jack how he is, but I think he does have great potential to be corrupted by the island.

How did the Beard know Locke, Jack, and Sawyer on sight? Did he get his info from Walt?

Either that, or, if Ethan was one of their number, then from Ethan, or from Rousseau, or just from spying. We're to believe these people have been on the island for a long time, and from the Tailies' experience, it seems The Others are stealth personified. I can imagine them sitting right behind the Losties camp in the caves, or at the beach, and learning all about them without ever being detected.

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