I just had a recent revelation (whiskey always brings those on). What if the black smoke and Richard Alpert are Jinn? It would make sense with the "smoke" monster as well as to the reference of "being in chains" in last week's premiere. I'm just throwing things out there at this point, but that sounds plausable.

all this is great, but I found the tediousness already began in last weeks episode. So, I'm preparing myself for an anti-climactic finale, hopefully to be mistaken. Either way I'm going to re-watch "The Prisoner" as soon as "Lost" is done.

Every time lost comes into a conversation I seem to be the ONLY person in the world that hates Jack. Is anyone else with me or am I alone on this? I'll explain why but first I wanted to know off the bat if anyone else hates him.

I like Jack's character in how it fits into the story, but don't like Jack's character on a personal level - does that make sense? In other words I find his character useful/necessary to the story, but find him stupid/annoying. In contrast to Charlie/Claire/Boon who I hated through and through (though now it seems Claire has a purpose in the story). God I hated Charlie!

still wondering how jack and claire being siblings effects anything

I know exactly what you mean! And I also hated Charlie for a long time, but I did think his death was a great and poetic one. He's the only one that actually died sacrificing himself to do something that the people really needed other than the usual explanation that the island wanted him. Locke's and Juliette's were other deaths that really contributed to the story, other than that everyone's death seemed like they were just thrown in to keep people on their feet and put the mindset that anyone could die at anytime. I really hate when shows kill people just to get a reaction from the audience.

In the writer's defense the stories of the people that died weren't really going anywhere. Echo being the exception (and the death that really pissed me off cause he was such a great character), but they had to kill him off because Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (try saying that three times) wanted to leave the show.

Did anyone notice how Claire looked exactly like Rousseau? Some how back in the future in this other time has she replaced Rousseau?

A while back I had this idea that when Jacob and the man in black were talking, saying how the same thing happens every time that he was saying a plane crashes or whatever method and people arrive on the island and they go through all the same actions as everyone before them. Hence it never changes. So some how in this other version of the future Claire has taken the place of Rousseau? Also I get the feeling this is slightly possible because the dude was making the other dude shut up when Jin and Kate were talking about the trap that she had set.

I'm just going off here! haha

I actually like Jack okay. I go up and down with him. You know who I hate though is Kate.

I personally don't think this season of LOST will be a let down, or a let down finale either! I'm sure there are some good surprises in store for all of us.

I thought it was interesting to hear from the Japanese guy that Claire was "infected". It makes me wonder if all this time it was actually Rousseau who got "sick" and not her crew. Possibly the reason why her husband was going to kill her. Ugh, could be wrong but I'm sure we'll find out sooner or later.

Didn't even think of that!!!! Very good thought!

Yeah, I definitely caught Claire as Rousseau, but didn't think about the possibility of Rousseau being the one who was infected.

Echo is my fav character from Lost. Shame that he wanted to leave the show, what was the reason?

A lot of pissed off moments in Ep 3. Like when Kate got into the same Taxi to pick Claire up to the hospital and the need to do this more than wanting to escape after running away from the airport... a bit unbelievable, she could have just stolen a civilian car after taking the taxi...even if the storyline had to be the same as on the island previously.

Did you notice how scared Syaid was before he was tortured? Really not part of his character which could also mean the smoke monster changed his character. For a torturer to get tortured... and that happened for Syaid a lot, this was the first time he broke down like that.

Finally got to watch the last episode last night.

Why do I get the feeling that the non-crash alternate reality will result in all of them ending up on the island anyway at the end of the season, as if its inevitable? I didn't see any clues toward this - just a feeling.

Also, I get the feeling that they will just keep bringing back various characters from the past seasons of the show in some aspect or another (cameos) just to have them all in there one last time for the final season.

so, after months of catching up with the dvds, ill be able to watch the new episode on tv tomorrow.

even though they're adding all these new characters, flashsideways ( wtf?!) and what not, i think the season will come together and the finale will not disappoint.

Is there even an episode tonight? The preview for this week was super short and vague. I could have sworn they said something about there wasn't going to be an episode.

Lixx, you're right the preview for this week was more vague than usual. I'm confident there's a new episode tonight though. From ABC.com "Sayid faces a difficult decision; Claire sends a warning to the temple inhabitants."
I'm liking how they've brought Claire back into the story so far. I kind of forgot what even happened to her at the end of last season.

I thought that last week's episode was one of the better ones so far...looking forward to tonight's installment!

I just hope all these seasons don't lead up to religious good vs evil ending. I would definitely lose my rag if that happened, but it does look like that is what's going on...

I kinda agree - the character is interesting, but I don't believe the actress. She can't pull this new role off and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Claire's story doesn't hold any water. The writers seem to forget that there was an entire group of survivors who they just haven't addressed in more than half a season. Where the hell did the group with Rose & Bernard end up? I'm pretty sure Claire was near them the entire time.

Also, if you haven't seen it LOST is a Game is pretty mind-bending.

Claire isn't subject to the same rules as the other survivors because of her encounter with "Christian". Clearly something happened to Claire that didn't happen to the extras back at the beach.

here's the season 6 episode list and character centers - some interesting titles. can't wait for richard, ben and desmond's episodes - and of course jacob/mib.

also, this season is said to be in 3 acts of 6 episodes each -- tonights episode being the end of act 1...

I hope Finale Part 1 and Finale Part 2 are each like 4 hours long!

Or because she's got Locke as her "friend".

One and the same, I believe.

Although I don't know where it's going, I think the speculations about Claire-as-Rosseau are on to something. Also I think her "friend" is Esau, not really Locke. But I guess that's obvious. (?)

Although it was never included in the broadcast, there was a segment filmed (apparently shown at SDCC and later circulated on the 'net) showing the leader/doctor guy from Dharma (sorry, can't remember his name at the moment) who was freaked out because a rabbit had been duplicated by some sort of time-loop incident. He warned dramatically not to let the two rabbits touch each other. (Suggesting something like a potential matter/anti-matter catastrophe?)

I'm wondering if whatever was going on in that sequence has been abandoned by the writers, or if there will be some sort of seemingly impossible confrontation between some of the characters in the LOST universe and those in the "never crashed" timestream, and if so ... what will happen?

Also, there is something VERY FISHY about this season. Namely that none of the actors were arrested for drunk driving while it was being filmed. I suspect that something in the show-universe altered something in the real world.