Lost - "316," Ctd, Ctd

After finally turning my car into an impregnable force, I had some time to rewatch "316." As always, a few thoughts and a few questions. If you want full recaps, you know what to do: Doc and Erika.

*As I did remark earlier, I loved the callback to the "Pilot" as the episode opened on Jack's eye. His look of relief/happiness to be back on the Island stood in stark contrast to his look of terror and confusion from that first episode. My, how far our hero has come. Then again, I'm glad not too far: I thought it was great that Jack was still the Doubting Thomas until he made it back to the Island.

*It will be very interesting to find out why Hurley and Kate got on the plane and felt they had to go back to the Island. My guess for Hurley: We have a Charlie Pace sighting in our immediate future (Or Hurley's past, I guess). For Kate: I think she gave Aaron up for adoption, especially after her line, "Why hold onto something that makes you feel so sad?" Why she's so sad with Aaron or what the circumstances surrounding the possible adoption are, I have no idea.

*If Ellie from "Jughead" is Eloise Hawking (which I think she is), how/when did she get off the Island? She must have been there long enough to learn of the Dharma Initiative, but Faraday's American. Did he have an American father? And as Faraday's nose never bled, he wasn't on the Island before he got there from the Freighter. I have no idea how old Faraday is, but assumedly, Hawking would have had to have left the Island in the mid-70's. Speaking of Faraday, I bet he's the "intelligent man" Hawking described as creating the Lamp Post station.

*If the Island is constantly moving, how did the Others move to and from the rest of the world in the submarine? Or is it that no matter where it is, you can leave it's "pull" on a certain bearing, but that when the Island is actually "Moved" (like Ben did, and when the Button wasn't pushed), the bearing changes?

*OK, I was half right. "316" was clearly referencing the Bible passage, but it was certainly not the bearing needed to get onto the Island. It was the Ajira Airways flight number! So obvious, especially as we knew Ajira would factor prominently sooner or later. Duh!

*Ben's "promise to an old friend" HAS to be that he went to kill Penny. Ben had promised Widmore that he would exact revenge for Alex's killing by Keamey by killing Widmore's daughter. Further, when Ben called Jack, he was calling from a marina. As we know, Desmond and Penny (and little Charlie!) were living on a boat, and likely sailed to L.A. Question then, what happened to Desmond? Did Ben kill him too? Likely not, as the Island "isn't done with [Desmond] yet." It's going to be real awkward between Des and really everyone when he gets back to the Island (I'm assuming Des is going back to seek revenge on Ben).

*Frank Lapidus is back! Awesome! Lapidus' beard is gone. Not awesome. Think he'll be killed by Smokey like Oceanic 815's pilot?

*Where are Ben, Sun and Sayid? Where are the two new characters? Will they help the 815ers?

*I love that the show, while answering the big questions, is addressing the small questions too. Case in point, we found out why Christian Shephard was wearing white shoes in the Season 1 episode, "White Rabbit." Very cool.

*One of my questions was answered by this episode, When did the Island stop moving? As I supposed, the 70's during the heyday of the Dharma Initiative, evidenced by Jin in Dharma garb driving a Dharma van. Couple questions: Why didn't Jin recognize Hurley, Jack and Kate immediately? Did he, and he was just massively confused? It seems he didn't until Hurley called his name. Weird. Secondly, how the heck did Jin, Sawyer, Miles, Faraday and Juliet get into Dharma? Wouldn't Dharma assume our friends are Hostiles?

Pretty good episode. Definitely a transitional episode, which is fine. I know there is a season-and-a-half left, but I have a nervous feeling about something. It has been posited before that the Adam and Eve skeletons are going to be Kate and either Jack or Sawyer. Assumedly, they'll die in the 70's, and rot until the Lostaways discover them in 2004. I hope this isn't the case. I really want most of them to get off the Island permanently and land in present day. Jin and Sun need to take care of their daughter. Jack needs to be the successful hero. Juliet needs to get back to her sister. Etc., etc. If the show ends with them in the 70's, I'll be upset (as if Darlton are concerned with my feelings).

However, as I was writing this, something dawned on me: what if Adam and Eve are Bernard and Rose. Rose didn't want to leave the Island because it cured her cancer, and Bernard said he'd stay with her. They were time hopping with everyone else, and also landed in the 70's. Further, Adam and Eve were discovered with two stones, one black and one white. Just like Rose and Bernard. Perhaps the other Lostaways will find them dead in the jungle (victims of the Hostiles? The Purge?), and "bury" them in the Caves. Thoughts on this? Anyway, thanks again for reading. We'll chat next week about what promises to be an awesome episode, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham."

Namaste.