Woo! I'm finally caught up with this show. I can join the club (prances around.)
General Thoughts:
Love that they're using Hurley more, but a bit disheartened that he ended up in a mental institution. I find myself hoping that he (and maybe even Jack) end up back on the island again.
Jack seems to be crumbling a bit at a time. I think he's so conflicted: he wants so badly to leave, but when the time comes, we obviously know that many will be left behind (seeing as he's one of the Oceanic Six.) Hard deal as he was looked at as a leader and perhaps when he returned he felt guilt of leaving the island and leaving people behind.
Sawyer. Always liked the character, but for a few episodes he seemed to be wussified bigtime. It also seems like he decided to stay on the island and the "favor" Kate was doing for him was probably checking in on his daughter.
I definitely think Claire is dead and followed "dad" to whatever afterlife he's in. She may become a permanent fixture on the island either way. She would never have left Aaron if she was still alive, imho.
Locke is still my favorite character. His life just seems so tragic, even from the start, but I believe he's the true "owner" of the island and that will be what he ends up. I don't think he's in the coffin. I think that's either Ben or the final 6 (which we'll likely see in the next episode.)
Ben has the ability to travel between places / time. I think he's unlocked most of the secrets of the island, perhaps even the "We have to move the island" trick.
I'm wondering what the deal is with that one dude--the dark-haired guy who looks like he's wearing eyeliner (he is the one who offered Juliette a job and was there to greet young Ben in the forest when Ben went looking for his mother.) Apparently, this dude never ages.
Second, more time related stuff. Locke being asked as a kid which item was ALREADY his. Pretty cool. Be interesting to see how this all plays out.
The knife, I believe, wasn't Locke's, but he took it anyway because he didn't want to be "a scientist," he wanted to be a "hunter." He was simply being a child who saw something he wanted. (As GkarsEye stated,) it reminded me of the way they attempt to find the Dalai Lama--asking the child to pick out items that were his in a previous life as a test.
Anyway, off to read some more of the thread. I just wanted to jump in.
I'm also a bit frustrated with some of it, though enjoying it at the same time. I hope Abrahms doesn't pull the same stunt he did in Alias where we had this huge mystery about Rambaldi and his cool inventions and prophecies, then it all fell flat at the end without much explanation of past events and little resolution.
Oh, and I'm really starting to dig Ben. He's got some badass moves.
