LOST - Cabin Fever

Clearly another set up episode, but a pretty solid one for sure. Here are some thoughts running through my head:

• Clearly the Darhma Initiative is still alive and kicking, as shown by the logo on the “secondary protocol” pamphlet in the ship
• Locke was chosen pretty much at birth to be the one to come to the Island and save it. For some reason Alpert didn’t like Locke’s choice of the knife and refused to bring him as a child. Later, in high school, Locke was presented the opportunity to go to “science camp” run by Mitelos, the company Juliet signed on to work with when she met Alpert. Then, in the rehab center, Locke met another Island dweller (see below) who basically told him the course of his life. “Take a walkabout.” So did the Island bring the entire plane down just to get Locke?
• It seems that the true “others,” the ones who stay behind the scenes and want the “special children,” like Walt, have nothing to do with Darham or Widmore. It’s a group run by Alpert (maybe Jacob) who apparently don’t age. They seem to be able to come and go from the Island at will and are able to find anyone, anywhere, but they can’t make things happen. They can influence, ala suggesting the walkabout, but they can’t force people to the Island. They also might be another race/species. Did you notice that both of their eyes were completely black… creepy.
• “Funky Time” is alive and true. The doctor who washed up dead last week finally got killed and dropped overboard this week.
• What’s the weird device on the army dudes arm? I don’t think it’s a bomb, or detonator, it looks more like an XM radio. Whatever it is it’s going to play out some point this season. It’s the old writing adage. If you mention a shotgun on the wall, it has to play into the story at some point. They call it foreshadowing.
• In order to save the Island, Locke has to move it. So is the Island not an actual God created landmass but something made by humans… or Alpert and co? If so, how did Darhma find it in the first place? I really would like to see an Island-centric episode where we get Island specific flashbacks. It is an actual character after all.
• What’s up with Claire? In less than a day she went from normal, useless Claire to sitting in the creepy cabin with Christian Shepherd (her dad) who is representing Jacob who evidently runs the place. Like I said last week, Christian’s family (Jack and Claire) play a big role in this and I can’t seem to figure out what it is. Claire seems to be “chosen” whereas Jack isn’t… or perhaps Jack refuses to be chosen which is why he ends up off the Island. That would make sense considering he wants to figure out how to get back. Perhaps he finally accepts that he was chosen and missed his chance. That’d explain why he went nuts.
• The Oceanic Six aren’t dead like I speculated last week. I think it was a nice bit of writing to set up the whole “we see dead people” story line and tease it with the “I’ve been dead for twelve years” line in the preview. It gave us something to talk about and then this week we realized the comment came in Locke’s dream sequence. Clever. They’re not dead.
• Michael can’t die. It wasn’t a jammed or broken gun, but no matter what happens Michael can’t die. Maybe his purpose hasn’t been served yet?
• A showdown is coming, most likely at the Temple. It looks like the big two-hour season finale we’ve been promised is going to set up one hell of a showdown. Locke is going to come face-to-face with these various characters he’s interacted with his whole life (why do I keep thinking of Jack meeting Desmond and Desmond saying “I’ll see you in another life brother”?), Jack and the rest of the beach people are going to follow the army team to the temple and everyone is going to have a nice chat over scones and tea… no, there’s going to be blood. Something big is going to happen.

That’s all until next week, when it looks like we’ll see just how the Oceanic Six got to the mainland. My guess is this comes in the form of a flash forward. Considering we’ve recently seen flash forward’s for Jack, Sun, Kate, Hurley and Sayid my hope is that the real sixth member is revealed. It seems to easy to make Aaron the sixth. I’m ready to be shocked. We’ll see next week.