This just in from the brilliant Phil Nugent:

BTW, it just this minute hit me that naming a married couple "Bernard" and "Rose" might be an obvious reference to the British filmmaker Bernard Rose, who made one of the better scare pictures of the '90s, Candyman, in which lily-white Virginia Madsen discovered a mythic avenging black phantom (Tony Todd) lurking in the Cabrina Green housing project, as well as Immortal Beloved, starring Gary Oldman as Beethoven, a slightly tonier endeavour that is hilarious if you watch it in the wrong spirit. (Its Beethoven does everything short of trashing a dressing room because they haven't separated out the brown M & Ms.) He also made Paperhouse, a 1988 cult movie about a little girl who may have reality-shaping imaginative powers much like the ones that some have attributed to young Walt. Is this old news to those who've been paying attention, or am I the first person to mention it on-line? Do I get a no-prize?

Ooh, Paperhouse, that's a creepy movie. In a low-budget, British kind of way.

I think Charlie is turning into Gollum.

I think Charlie is turning into Gollum.

He's lost his preciouses.

I could see him go all Grima Wormtongue too.

I could see him go all Grima Wormtongue too.

Except Saurman punched him in the face and left him bleeding on the beach. He doesn't even have anyone to suck up to anymore.

I wonder why Locke kicked him to the curb with such violence? I could have easily seen him zone Charlie out or use C's slipping mind to his advantage.

Except Saurman punched him in the face and left him bleeding on the beach.

Hmm. Maybe he's breaking Charlie down so that if he ever decides he wants to use him, Charlie will be so greatful he won't ask any questions. Sort of how he broke Boone down and got more control over him, but in a very different fashion.

Certainly the very public meltdown pretty much took away any other possible "mentor" to whom Charlie might have switched his allegiance.

Heh, from the the TWOP recaplet:

"Maybe this is as good a measure as any as to how dissatisfied I was with this episode: when Locke punches Charlie at the end, I didn't even enjoy it. You know where I stand on punching Charlie vs. not punching Charlie. What you might not know is that I've pitched to ABC a Lost spin-off called Punching Charlie: The Series (I'm waiting to hear back)."

I was.... Disappointed. Charlie (who I used to like) was Captain Whiney McWhineypants. But even more than that, the storyline I was hoping for, that I thought the previews were hinting at, didn't happen. I thought Charlie was going to steal the baby and run off to join the others. I wanted to see that because it would have meant that it's not an "us v. them" thing going on. It would have meant that any one of them could turn and join the others at any time, and that perhaps all of them would eventually succumb. Or die.

That would have been freaky-scary.

I was extremely disappointed with this episode. I didn't think we needed that much more Charlie backstory. And Locke should have hit him harder.

If they wanted to make a baby in jep storyline, they could have done it more clearly. The Others obviously have a strong interest in children and babies. Why wouldn't EVERYONE, including Claire take that information and NEVER turn her back on her kid??

As as for the alarm in the hatch not being conducive to a baby sleeping through the night--um, baby is less than two months old. He ain't sleeping through the night anyway. He should be somewhere safer than on the beach.

I didn't think we needed that much more Charlie backstory.

I'm worried that now they've locked themselves into an Island Story/Flashback Story format, and there just isn't that much new information to reveal in the backstories. I'm sure that there is new material left, just not enough to sustain the format long-term, and I think it's already starting to show.

there just isn't that much new information to reveal in the backstories.

Well, I imagine a Libby backstory is in the offing, b/c of the "Do I know you from somewhere?" conversation.

We know Kate was married, and unless I'm really forgetting something, I don't think we got backstory on that.

We still don't know how Locke ended up in a wheelchair.

And then there's island-related stuff, like -- what the hell happened to Claire when she was on sabbatical with the Others? Where the fuck is Desmond? What up with Rousseau? And OMGWTFPOLARBEAR?

And one last thing I remembered from last night's ep -- when Libby and Hurley were doing laundry, Libby said "Are these machines newer than the rest of the stuff?" I think that's something that's going to come back up, related to the Dharma project thingy.

t edit

I'm sure that there is new material left, just not enough to sustain the format long-term, and I think it's already starting to show.

ITA. I can't imagine what the creators could come up with for a third season.