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Note: This blog is counting down to the premiere of LOST's final season on Feb. 2 by spending the month leading up to it racing through every one of the previous 103 episodes. We're looking specifically at Christian/religious themes, other important or interesting concepts, literary references, and the theory that it's largely been about a game in which someone has won, and someone has... LOST. To follow us from the start, click here.

What's Michael been up to since last we saw him? Well, that's the question isn't it? He comes back to camp with a story about the Others that, looking back, I don't know why we ever even suspected was true. As with most things, once you know something, it's always so obvious in hindsight. Well, I take that back - parts of it are true, as far as he knows (the ragged campsite of the Others, the guarded hatch they have, etc. But why he doesn't stop to think they're scamming him is bugging me). Still, doesn't make it any less painful to see what he does to Ana-Lucia and Libby. Nor is it fun to realize that LOVE HURTS. If Sawyer had never let Ana-Lucia seduce him (which is how she got his gun, which is how she meant to kill Ben but couldn't, which gun she got talked by Michael into handing to Michael), and if Hurley just knew how to take a woman on a picnic (forgetting the blankets sent Libby back to the Swan for some, where she startled Michael, which caused him to put two in her stomach), none of this would have happened. Of course, if Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros had just kept themselves in check with the Hawaiian authorities, we might be able to say the same thing.

LOST Season Two, Disc Five:

Episodes: 2.17 LOCKDOWN (Locke-centric); 2.18 DAVE (Hurley-centric); 2.19 S.O.S. (Rose & Bernard-centric); 2.20 TWO FOR THE ROAD (Ana-Lucia-centric)

Things That Stuck Out

Island

Breakfast with Ben ends as creepily as it began. Ben again asks John why he lets Jack talk to him the way he does. That did it. Locke throws Ben back into his little room.

Charlie, Sayid, and Ana search for 3 hours without finding the balloon. But Charlie does find a grave. When Ana realizes it's not raining on the grave, they look up. There's the balloon.

As Locke listens to some jazz and rides the stationary bike, he hears a female voice over the Swan speakers. He tries to hear more, plays with the speaker a bit, and a bit of a transmission comes through that just says, "...to lockdown." Soon, a countdown begins. When it reaches zero, the blast doors in the Swan come down. Locke is only able to slide a crowbar under one at the last second.

In exchange for helping Locke with the blast doors, Henry wants Locke's word that he'll protect him, no matter what. The two of them get it pried up a bit, but when Locke tries to slide under legs-first, it slips, pins his legs.

Henry apparently (we don't get to see his actions) gets to the button just in time. After the alarms stop blaring, lights go out, and black lights go up. Locke is treated to a spectacular view of the blast door map (at left; click the link for details from those who have studied it). Close-up shot of Locke's eyeball taking it all in.

Suddenly the lights come back up, the blast doors raise, and Locke slides free. Timer is back to 107 minutes. Did Henry escape? No. Locke has (yet another) big injury to his leg. Locke thanks him for helping him and not leaving him. This is going to be a problem. Ben's earned Locke's trust.

Kate and Jack, at night, between the beach and the hatch, see a flashing beacon and a parachute. Palettes of food have been dropped. Charlie, Sayid, and Ana come across them as well. Jack asks what they found on their travels.

Ben is tending to Locke when Jack and Co. bust in, demanding he step away. Locke tries to defend Henry as having helped him. But Jack has heard the story of Sayid, who found the balloon, and the grave. Sayid dug up that grave, and found not a woman, but a black man with a Minnesota driver's license identifying him as Henry Gale.

Hurley confesses to Libby that his problem isn't his metabolism, he's "sick." (We get it, sickness, blah blah blah). What he means is that he's a glutton who eats addictively, even hiding food. He shows her his stash. She frees him, helps him dump it all. She's about to kiss him when everyone runs past excitedly that "they found something." Just what Hurley needs to see at this moment - an even larger pile of food has fallen from the sky.

Charlie brings up an interesting idea - the blast doors fell so that no one would see who dropped the food. Did the Others perhaps bring it over? Make it look like an air drop? Not sure why they'd do it, but it's possible.

As everyone argues over the food drop, through the crowd Hurley spies Dave, who he knew from Santa Rosa. Dave's gait and the creepy way he leads Hurley are similar to what Christian did to Jack in "White Rabbit." It's an interesting parallel in another way - as Hurley chases Dave, he falls, and finds one of Dave's slippers. Similarly, in the beginning of the pilot episode, a plain white shoe is lodged in a tree which Jack runs past on his way to the beach. Several have speculated that that's one of Christian's shoes he was wearing inside his casket. The slipper seems to be real (Hurley brings it back to the beach with him), the same way Kate's horse and Walt were real. But is it?

Locke's probably got a hairline fracture of his right femur. He'll need to stay off it for a couple weeks, and use crutches. As Jack treats him, Locke ponders why Henry didn't escape when he could have. Jack says he only came back because he thought his story was going to check out.

Ben tells Sayid Henry Gale was already dead, in the balloon basket, with a broken neck when he was found. Not possible, says Sayid, who has found a note Henry composed to his wife on a $20 bill in his wallet. "How did you know his wife's name, did you interrogate him?" Ben starts going off about his own group with lines like, "If I tell you about them, you have no idea what HE'LL do." The "him" concept again. Ana-Lucia assumes Ben means Tom. Ben can't resist being offended by this.

"You can't do this! I am not a bad person!" -- Ben, just as Sayid is about to fire. He is saved by Ana-Lucia knocking Sayid's gun at the last second.

Dave usually only shows up when Hurley is talking about, thinking about, around, or eating food. So one would assume he's not real, but he can slap Hurley and throw coconuts at him (of course a person could do this to themselves as part of an alternate personality acting out).

Dave informs Hurley that closing him out of the window, leaving the hospital, going back home, living with his mom - none of that ever happened. Tells him he's still at Santa Rosa, opening up the idea that the whole show has been in Hurley's head (which it hasn't). Dave even uses the coincidence of Leonard's numbers on the hatch and the lottery as proof that it's all in Hurley's head. Other "proofs": that Hurley has been on an island for 2 months and hasn't lost weight, that the cute blonde chick (who Hurley could have seen at Santa Rosa) just happens to appear from the other side of the island and has the hots for HIM of all people. Dave leads Hurley to a cliff to jump off and thereby "wake up."

Locke hobbles over to Ben's cell, asks his real name. Ben says to just keep calling him Henry. Asks if he got caught on purpose. Ben tells Locke a story we can't verify, but I assume is false for several reasons. Claims he never entered the numbers. Countdown went to zero, red heiroglyphics came up, loud noise, something like an electromagnet, all very frightening... then nothing. Timer just flipped back to 108. By itself.

Locke: You're lying.
Ben: No, I'm done lying. (another lie).

Libby has to talk Hurley down from the cliff. She uses her own experiences and memories which Hurley doesn't know about to get him out of it, convince him Dave is the lying, self-destructive part of him. She also never saw him holding a slipper. Why does she cry as she kisses him?

As Bernard helps Rose stock all the food, he wonders why it doesn't bother her like it does him. "Aren't you even remotely curious [there's that word again; still undecided if LOST is telling us it's an essential virtue of the "good person," or a vice, or both] where it came from? You're acting like we just got back from the supermarket."

Locke's so engrossed in trying to remember and write down all he saw on the blast door map, he (again) gets frustrated, and lets the timer tick down further than he should. Has to be reminded by Jack.

Henry hasn't taken food or water in two days, and hasn't said anything in that time either. Jack's tired of him, so he plans to arrange a trade. Best case scenario - they get something for him, preferably Walt. Worst-case scenario (in Jack's mind) - they get rid of this creepy dude who's not telling them anything anyway.

First-ever reference to Frogurt! Bernard asks Hurley to bring Libby, Frogurt (real name Neil), Jin, Sun, and someone named Craig, and meet him at the tree line in 5 minutes.

Bernard's plan is based in good ideas, but it's flawed from the start. He can't figure out why nobody's tried to get rescued since the time the raft got blown up. He assumes that since the palette of food had a parachute, it must have been dropped there (not necessarily), and that this means a plane - and probably other planes - sometimes fly over the island (again, not necessarily). His flawed assumptions aside, his logic is also not picking up on something - if the palette WAS dropped by a plane, that plane knows there are people there and doesn't INTEND to rescue any of them. That said, Rose doesn't have to emasculate him in front of everyone just as they're all agreeing to his project to build a giant sign. She suggests this be run by Jack first. Bernard says Jack isn't the president, he's a doctor. To which Rose throws back, "You're a dentist." Um... so what? Seriously, since when is "doctor" at the top of the "I know best for everyone" heirarchy, and why does dentist necessarily have to be inferior? Of course, she has her reasons, which she has yet to communicate to him, and which she is currently couching in "don't give these people false hope" garbage. We've seen that 'false hope' mantra before, and it's always more of an excuse to cover the real concern than a real concern.

Locke's going batty trying to figure out whether Ben pushed the button or not. Locked in his cell as Locke pounds on the door, Ben curls his lips into a twisted grin. He's already got John Locke wrapped around his finger.

Bernard is not a good manager. Doesn't mean to, but he turns away all his help. But his desperate motive is "just to get my wife home. To get Rose home." He's going to learn - as are many others - that "home" is where you make it.

Locke and Rose have a sit-and-stare-out-to-sea together. Both are strong Faith personalities on the show. They're friends now, though later on she'll not want anything to do with him. Today, though, she tells Locke he'll be running around the island again in no time. Locke says Jack told him four weeks. "But honey you and I both know it's not gonna take that long." That's right, John - she knows what you know: this island heals people. Locke needed this visit (which he referred to as "stretching his legs" to Ana-Lucia) to get his breath, remember what the island did for him, and get some clarity. Upon his return, he sets more easily to writing down what he remembers of the blast door map.

Kate tells Jack how she knows the Others are more sophisticated than they appear (the Staff hatch she found, and the costumes/fake beards). As that happens, they come out to "the line" Tom mentioned, which in the daylight we can see is right next to a giant "black rock" (right). This spot, where Kate was given back to them earlier, is where Michael will come running out to them, after Jack screams at the trees that they have Ben. It's like they knew he wanted to make the trade, and came prepared.

As Bernard builds his sign, Rose apologizes for lying to him about her visit to the Aussie faith healer, Isaac. "He didn't heal me. But that doesn't mean I'm not healed." She KNOWS she is. How does she know? Even if she couldn't tell what was going on in her own body, she also remembered dropping some pills out of her purse at the Sydney airport, which a wheelchair-bound Locke rolled over and picked up. He seemed to know her meds were for something life threatening, she obviously knew he was handicapped... and now each of them can tell the other is no longer plagued by their respective condition.

Jack reveals to Kate that he asked her to come with him out to the boundary line because, "they don't want you. They had you, they could have kept you, but they didn't." He also says they clearly don't want him either. Kate calls them damaged goods. Maybe so, but turns out they DO want you guys. Kate apologizes for kissing Jack several episodes back, but he's not sorry. Their moment is interrupted when Michael comes panting in out of the jungle.

Ana-Lucia takes Ben some food. Mentions that in her days as a cop, all the killers she knew loved to talk and talk. Ben, however, is saying nothing. Then, he mutters something. Twice. She puts her head closer to hear, and... he's got her, by the neck, choking her. Says SHE'S the killer (well, yeah, she is one, and she has certainly been doing all the talking). Says she killed two Others, "two good people who were leaving you alone" (oh, is that what you call it?). He'd have finished her off had not Locke come in and whacked Ben with a crutch to the head.

Locke is having a hard time figuring out why Ben would hurt Ana but not him. He was trapped under the blast door, couldn't move, helpless, but Ben didn't even attempt to hurt him, or even escape. Ben replies with his odd morality (that we still have yet to figure out how it's defined), "because you're one of the good ones, John."

Uh-oh, sense of foreboding. Sayid suggests that if Hurley wants to put the moves on Libby, he could take her to a nice beach a few kilometers away. Hurley asks if he really thinks she'll like that. Sayid says, "I took Shannon there once." And, yeah, she liked it, and yeah, she ended up dead. Don't go to the beach, Libby!

Locke forces a lie out of Ana in front of Jack regarding what happened to her head. She doesn't want Jack to know about what Ben did. Because if Jack hauls off and kills Ben, poor Locke won't get to find out why he's so special, and wanted.

Michael starts into his rehearsed story: "I found them. Hiked north, followed the beach, I found one, dirty, worn clothing, no shoes, simple. Just like the rest of them (Kate knows this is false). Followed him back to his camp. They live in canvas tents, eat dried fish, worse off than we are. I counted 22. I didn't see a boat, and I didn't see Walt, but I know he's there. He didn't see Cindy or the kids, but he thinks they're there. They have a hatch, a set of metal doors leading underground, they keep it guarded 24/7, two guns is all I saw. Most of them are old and half are women." Lies, lies, lies. He says as soon as he gets his strength back, he can lead the whole group out to get Walt back.

Jack tells Locke he was right about what they did to Henry when they found him. This takes a lot for him to admit. "You did what you thought was right at the time you thought it, Jack." Locke is suddenly crushing on old Ben, and no longer interested in being right about having questioned him severely.

Jack believes Michael's story. Locke says what about the warning not to cross the line? "These people are liars, John. Why should we believe anything they tell us?" Well, you shouldn't. Including what they sent Michael to tell you!

Ben informs Ana that Goodwin kept saying that Ana wasn't bad, she could change, she was just misunderstood. She gives Ben a knife to cut himself loose so she can kill him. Ben puts just enough doubt in her head about whether Goodwin was going to kill her. She was going to kill him, but couldn't do it. She tells Michael the whole story of it. Her last mistake. Michael asks for the gun, says let him do it.

Michael kills her, and Libby who just came back for blankets (and Hurley is indirectly going to blame himself again), shoots himself to make it look like Ben did it, and lets Ben escape. "Two for the Road" indeed. I hate Michael.

Off-Island

Locke has a ring - he's planning to propose to Helen. He does the preparation for a picnic while she reads the obits, which she says are the happiest part of the paper because, "nobody ever says anything bad about you after you're gone." She finds that Locke's father has died. Well, at least he's listed as having done so anyway...

All Locke says at his father's funeral is, "I forgive you." The dummy never even bothers to check inside the casket of a supposedly dead con man. He notices a car driving away from the cemetary, and notices the same car outside Nadia's house. Walks up to it, window comes down - it's his father. He explains that he conned 700,000 out of two guys in a retirement scam, and put the money in a safe deposit box. But, being dead, he can't show his face. If Locke will retrieve it, he can keep 200,000 of it, as payment for having stolen his kidney.

When Locke arrives home giddy over his new windfall, two scary men are in his kitchen. Jimmy Bane asks, "Have you seen your father since he died, Mr. Locke?" A funny question on any show but this one. Helen asks Locke if he lied to the men in their home. He says no. So when she finds Locke in Cooper's motel room, she dumps Locke, for having lied, for having made his choice. He whips out the ring, gets on his knee, proposes in the parking lot. She says no.

We learn that Hurley's mom was the one who had him placed in Santa Rosa, because of an accident where two people died in a deck collapse that Hurley blames himself - and his weight - for.

Hurley likes to do what Dave says because Dave's "the most normal person in this place." But Hurley's shrink is right - Dave doesn't want Hurley to change. Neither did Hurley's old pal from Mr. Cluck's.

The first time we meet Dave, he's screaming at players on a basketball court. But he never touches anyone, or the ball. Hurley does, but not Dave. All Dave does is encourage Hurley in the wrong directions. I was already here thinking he's in Hurley's head, or a multiple personality.

When Hurley was responsible for people dying, he went nearly catatonic. Stopped going out, stopped sleeping, "but you never stopped eating, because that's how you punish yourself."

Hurley, one night, finally locks Dave out of a window at Santa Rosa, because Dave does not want him to change.

First shot we ever get of a Rose flashback is of a spinning wheel, going nowhere, stuck in the snow. This is how she meets Bernard, he helps rock her out of the drift.

During Bernard's proposal to Rose, she informs him that she only has a year or so left. Her cancer has returned and it's not going away. Bernard's answer would so rock if it didn't bring a tear: "You haven't answered my question."

Rose and Bernard were in Australia to visit a faith healer, Isaac of Uluru. She isn't crazy about wanting to spend their honeymoon driving around in circles in the Outback. Would have preferred to be on a beach... When Rose meets with the healer, he tells her about spots on the earth where there is strange but powerful energy, perhaps geological or magnetic. Ayers Rock, where they are now, is one of these (we're to suspect the island is as well). What he does it to somehow harness the energy and give it to others. With Rose, though, he can't. He says she CAN be healed, but this is just not the right place for her. Rose plans to give Bernard hope (even though it would be 'false hope,' something she has spoken out against) by telling him Isaac fixed her (themes of lies, hope, and fixing all showing up again in one tidy package).

Ana-Lucia's mother knows that Ana executed the man who shot her and caused her to lose her baby. She needs to hear it from Ana, so she can help her. Ana won't say yes, won't say no, but turns in her badge nonetheless, and takes on works as an airport security guard. In a bar at LAX, she shares a scene that echoes the one she had at the Sydney airport with Jack - this time with his father. "I just stopped being a cop," she said. "What a coincidence, I just stopped being a doctor," he replies. They have something else in common - both of them worked with a parent or child. Now, neither one believes that can work. Christian is making his ill-fated trip to Sydney, and invites Ana to come with him, saying it might be fate, and fate puts people together to help each other out. They pick names for each other. He asks her to be his bodyguard, but they should not use their real names. She dubs him Tom (name of one of the Others), he dubs her Sarah (name of Jack's ex-wife).

Ana drives Christian to a house in the Sydney suburbs where he has an argument with a woman on a porch. We hear him demand to see his daughter (who we know now to be Claire), and learn that he pays the mortgage on that house, but this woman, who should be Carole Littleton but doesn't look like her (possibly a different actress) has no intention of letting him see her.

Ana leaves Christian outside the bar ("The Last Chance") where he shares his drink with Sawyer.

• Paths Crossing Off-Island: Locke is working for a home inspection company called Welcome Home, and he gives Nadia a good report on her new home; as Locke goes to Cooper's room at the flightline motel, a large Oceanic plane is landing just overhead; Ana-Lucia and Christian Shepherd drink together at a bar inside LAX; Christian opens his car door into Sawyer on accident just before they both share their conversation in the Sydney bar; Jack's speech about the coffin at the Sydney airport again, Ana hears him, puts in her mind to call her mom.
• Appearances of the Numbers: 4 papayas are Hurley's ante in poker; 1516 is the safety deposit box Locke opens (here he is opening boxes again, he just can't leave it alone); sure is easy for Henry to remember all the numbers after Jack tells them to him once. Wonder why that is; 4 months ago Henry Gale was found, already dead, Ben says, which is a lie; Leonard recites all the numbers while playing Connect Four with Hurley; 23 people on the deck built to hold 8 in Hurley's accident; 15 people were willing to work on Bernard's sign originally; 4 people were willing to work on Bernard's sign later that day; 4 weeks Locke has been told by Jack he will be in his splint; 4 days Christian spent drinking and doing nothing in Sydney before he tells Ana at 4 a.m. that the time has come for protection duty.
• Deaths: Locke's dad is listed in the obituaries and has a funeral, but isn't dead; Ana-Lucia (shot by Michael); Libby (shot by Michael). This should reduce our survivor count to 44.

Themes Established or Revisited

1. Death. Helen reads the obits ... Locke's father is said to be dead ... Rose is dying ... "None of this matters; I'm dead anyway." -- Ben, to Locke.
2. Trust, as it relates to a man's word. Henry requests this from John in exchange for helping him ... Libby assures Hurley that he can trust her, no matter how bad ...
   "I trusted you, Henry, now you have to trust me. That button has to be pushed." -- Locke, to Ben.
3. Time (again). Henry says it's only a matter of time (before help comes for Locke). Locke says they don't have time - because of the countdown ... Jack and Hurley discuss a "loop."
4. Wish Fulfillment. Locke's wish was to see his father one more time and have him be honest with him (he was, though it ruined his chances with Helen (be careful what you wish for)) ... Hurley tells Libby he wishes he could just get rid of his food stash. She helps grant that wish ... Bernard wishes for Rose to be healed.
5. Change. "You wanna change? Then change." -- Libby, to Hurley ... all other influences in Hurley's life - including his mom - either tell him he can't or won't change.
6. Freedom. Hurley feels this way after trashing his food stash.
   "You know what tastes even better than freedom? Cheeseburgers." -- Dave, to Hurley.
   "You came here for the same reason I did, kiddo - you ran away." -- Christian, to Ana-Lucia. Why is that people like these two, and Kate, think that freedom is found in running away than in facing things head-on? Running = lying = bondage. It's the truth - giving it as well as facing it - that sets one free.
7. Sanity (again). Obviously a big theme with Hurley on this disc.
   Sawyer: You're crazy!
   Hurley: I'm not crazy.
8. Exile / Loneliness (again). Hurley, in shame over his eating problems and thinking he's going crazy, packs up to live by himself at the caves ... Kate insists that when Michael is found, he's alone. "They didn't just push him out into the jungle, Jack!" Actually, that's exactly what I think they did, Kate.
   "Do yourself a favor man - don't go out there alone." -- Ana-Lucia, to Jack, who's going out to try to talk with the Others.
9. Giving Up / Accepting Fate. Bernard makes this comment to Rose because that's how he reads the "kitchen on the beach" this camp he's joined has constructed. Takes it as a sign they have stopped believing in a chance of rescue. Far from it, actually. Ironic that Bernard will, however, one day give up on even wanting to be rescued. And it will be portrayed as a good thing ... Bernard gives up on his idea of being rescued for a higher purpose.
10. Surety. We might go ahead and call this one decidedness, or faith, or any number of things. It started to come up last disc with Claire, who "had to be sure" she wanted to give her baby away, and the whole idea of people having to believe certain things were their idea when they were actually someone else's. Here, Rose asks Bernard if he's absolutely sure he wants to marry someone who only has a year left. Even if he didn't say so, his eyes would confirm that he couldn't be more sure of anything.
11. Spinning record (again). Appearing in the same episode in which we've already seen Rose's car spinning its wheels ... the record player's other function is to do what Hurley's CD player did for us in the first half of Season One - to have someone actually listening to the music being used for a closing montage.
12. Do vs. Be. Bernard is always trying to do something. Rose prefers to be something. Bernard admits that it's this aspect about him that got them "here." That catches her for a minute. His need to go to Australia is what got her on this island which is what healed her (but she still doesn't tell him that yet).
13. Hearing (again). We haven't seen any eyeballs so far this year outside of the very first image of Season Two (Desmond's eye opening). Since then, it's been more about hearing. Kate wonders if maybe the Others can't hear Jack. "They can hear me," he confidently replies.

The Game

Hurley, Sawyer, and Kate are playing papaya poker. The cards showing in the opening shot are 3, 6, 4, 8, and Jack. Speaking of Jack, he can tell what Hurley and Sawyer are holding. As for Kate, "hard to say, but you're just playing for the fun of it." After Jack takes Sawyer for all his fruit, Sawyer wants to play for real stakes. Jack says he has to put up all the medicine.

When Sawyer cheats by dealing from the bottom of the deck, Jack calls him on it. "Well I had to try," Sawyer says. In any game, are you under obligation to do what you can without getting caught in order to win?

After Jack wins back all the meds, Sawyer asks why he didn't want to play for the guns. "When I need the guns, I'll get the guns," replies Jack. Well done, Cowboy.

Hurley plays Connect Four with Leonard at Santa Rosa. Dave sits to the side and comments, nobody acknowledges him. Hurley is brought meds, but not Dave. Hurley's doc comes by, even says hello to Dave, and takes a photo of them. Now I'm really thinking Dave is a personality in Hurley's head, and by the end of the episode, yes, that Polaroid proves it.

"I'm on your side." -- Libby to Hurley.

In our last Milepost disc, before we learned 'Henry' was lying, he told Jack and Locke what he'd do if he WERE an Other -- set a trap, use it to arrange a trade. Jack actually likes this idea. Tells Ben that he's "going out to that line we're not supposed to cross," and telling them he wants to make a trade, Walt for Ben. Looking back now, it's so obvious this was all orchestrated by Ben to make Jack think that was his idea. Also, regarding the gaming theme, the exchange or return of captured pieces is reminiscient of so many strategy games from Chess to checkers to Stratego, and the list goes on.

Sawyer knows this gambit Jack's attempting: "Ah, the ol' prisoner exchange, huh?" He can't figure how Jack got a gun, though (answer: Ana realized Charlie was concealing one on their trip to the balloon, Charlie gave it to Sayid, who gave it to Jack).

The black-and-white motif is back on this disc, including this LAPD parking lot in Ana-Lucia's flashback.

Religious References

At Cooper's funeral, the preacher reads the "rapture" verse about those who are alive being "caught up" in the clouds.

Rose explains to Bernard that she's not questioning the food drop because she was "raised never to question my blessings." That's good, yeah, and that's biblical, but... see my comment in the "Openings and Closings" section below for more thoughts on this.

"So, what does God have to do to get your attention?" -- Rose, to Bernard, as they sip coffee at a restaurant overlooking Niagra Falls. Bernard isn't looking at the spectacle before him. But that's just because he had his mind focused elsewhere - on the marriage proposal he had arranged. She's touched but... she tells him she's sick, dying. She's been in remission for the last couple years.

We finally learn that Eko is building a church. Bernard's not happy. A church signifies digging in, staying, while he wants to get them rescued. He's miffed that neither Eko nor Charlie will help, nor let him use the trees they've chopped.

"I'm trying to get us saved!" Bernard, to Eko. Ironically, that's what Eko's trying to do in building the group a church.

The healer Rose visits in Australia is "Isaac of Uluru." So in the course of our tale we've encountered an Isaac, a Jacob, and a Benjamin, three successive parts of the patriarchal tree of Israel.

"The man in charge, John, he's a great man, a brilliant man. But he is not a forgiving man. He'll kill me because I failed." -- Ben, to Locke. So, here's the thing: on one level Ben is talking about himself, in which case this would be filed under Characterization - Ben is unforgiving and does not tolerate failure. On another level, it sounds as if he's talking about some sort of god, but definitely not THE God that I know. Sounds more like his counterpoint Satan. On yet another level, he could be speaking of either Jacob, or even possibly the Man in Black. It's a statement I still haven't figured out.

Ben tells Locke that Ben has failed his mission. He says the mission was to make his way to the Losties' camp to get Locke. The failure was getting caught in Rousseau's trap. Back when Season Two first aired, I didn't know what to believe. Now, I am sure Ben is lying, using Locke again because he knows all Locke has ever wanted is to BE wanted, to be special. And I do not believe at all that he got caught in that trap unintentionally.

"I couldn't save him," Michael tells his friends upon his return.

Locke: You and your people have been here for God knows how long and...
Ben: God doesn't know. God doesn't know how long we've been here, John. He can't see this island any better than the rest of the world can.

Mysteries or Questions Since Solved

• If the bug-eyed man's name isn't Henry Gale, what is it?
• Who created the blast door map?

Mysteries or Questions Still Needing Answers

• How is it that Dharma is still dropping food and supplies on the island? How do they do it (we saw how difficult it was for Faraday & Co. to parachute in)? Was it dropped in another time period and it landed in this one? Is it even an air drop at all, or just staged to look like one?
• Does Ben have any memories of this Iraqi who holds him hostage? The one who almost killed him as a child?
• What was Libby doing in Santa Rosa? Hurley knows he knows her from somewhere. Does she remember him too?
• Rose and Bernard determine they can never leave the island; do they end up being the Adam & Eve skeletons?
• Is there any secret to what can be learned by the blast door map? Or was is just something for obsessive fans to obsess over / have fun with?
• "Going out to the 'black rock'" has a new meaning for us now. Is there any significance to the black rocks on the island? Is this the mineral the Black Rock mining ship was after? Is it magnetic? Does it have anything to do with the island's special properties?
• See question above under "Religious References" about the "great-but-unforgiving man" Ben mentions to Locke.
• Why can't God see the island?

Add to the LOST Library:

• "These Arms of Mine," by Otis Redding. Plays as Rose and Bernard embrace at the end of S.O.S.; Locke is playing it on the turntable (another close-up).
• We've already heard Patsy Cline's "Walking after Midnight" before (Kate played it on the Swan record player). It plays in the car as Christian and Ana drive through Sydney in the very-early-morning rain.
• Say Anything, the film starring John Cusack. Hurley intends to hold the radio - even if he all gets is static - over his head, like the scene from this movie where Cusack's character does the same, as part of his play to woo Libby.
• The Bad Twin (again). This time, Sawyer is reading it. "I'm about to be the first and only guy to figure out who-dun-it!" Jack throws it in the fire, burns the ending!

Excellent Lines

Humorous

"No one ever says anything mean about people once they're dead." -- Helen, to Locke, about why she likes the obits. Locke prefers the funnies.

"Hey, maybe he left you his kidney." -- Helen, to Locke, at Cooper's graveside.

Cooper: I killed myself off because there were two men who were going to beat me to it.
Locke: Oh, what'd you do, steal their livers?

"Great plan, Moonbeam, then maybe we can sing Kumbayah and do trust falls." -- Sawyer, to Libby, about her plan to trust everyone to take just what they need from the food drop.

Hurley: Did either of you see a guy run through here in a bathrobe, with a coconut?
Charlie: No. Saw a polar bear on a roller skates with a mango.

Porkpie, Jabba, Babbar, Stay-Puft, Mongo, Lardo, Kong, Deep Dish -- Hurley gets in a hit on Sawyer for every nickname he's called him. Hurley was set off by Sawyer pretending to see Dave after Hurley confided in him.

"Don't you got an adventure to get to? I think Timmy fell down a well over that way." -- Sawyer, to Kate.

"I'm gonna live alone and be one of those guys. You know, the crazy guys, with a big beard, no clothes, who's naked and throws doody at people." -- Hurley, to Libby, as he explains he's moving to the caves (nobody else is living there anymore).

"I was never that good at bedside manner anyway." -- Jack, to Ben.

"I think I liked you better when you just hit people with your stick." -- Bernard, to Eko. Which echoes an earlier statement from Ana-Lucia that she liked Eko better when he didn't talk.

More Meaningful (and double-meaningful)

Jack: So what's done is done?
Locke: That's right.

Hurley wants to be kept "in the loop." Which brings up this excellent back-and-forth:

Jack: There is no loop Hurley.
Hurley: Loop, dude. Loop.
(Time loop theorists unite).

"You may have been to Phuket, Doc, but I have been to Tallahassee. Let's just say something was burning and it wasn't from the sunshine." This is Sawyer's explanation for how he knows was amoxicilin is. Not sure that's a connect for me, but this is the 2nd time Tallahassee has been mentioned on the show.

"Are you him?" -- Helen, to Cooper. This is the same question Desmond asked of Locke, and it will come up again later.

"Pretty weird, huh? You said the island won't let you lose weight, you destroy your secret stash, and then bang - more food falls from the sky." -- Libby, to Hurley. Hurley has described his problem as a sickness. Others got healed of their maladies after landing here. Why not him?

"See you in another life." -- Dave, to Hurley, at cliff's edge before diving off. We've heard this before.

Rose: We're lost.
Bernard: You saying we're lost doesn't make us lost, sweetheart. I know exactly where we are.

Rose: That man doesn't know the difference between and errand and a fool's errand.
Locke: Well, Rose, most of us don't.

"The guy in the hatch tried to kill me." -- Ana-Lucia to Libby. Sadly, this will be the fate of both of them.

"What, they just let Michael go, hoping we'll keep our end of the bargain? You think they're on the honor system?" -- Jack, to Locke. Well, yeah, actually. I don't buy the whole "good people," thing, but one thing the Others do seem to do is keep their word. Doesn't mean they don't lie - Ben is the king of liars - but they do stick to terms of deals, i.e. "rules."

Libby: Hurley, it's okay if you're lost.
Hurley: Dude, I'm not lost.
(poor guy has no clue how to stage a romantic picnic. Doesn't get good directions, has no blankets, nothing to drink...)

"Maybe if I get drunk enough I'll remember where I know you from." -- Hurley, to Libby.

Characterization

Jack learned to play cards in Phuket, Thailand. It's likely also where he got his tattoos.

Bernard had been a bachelor for 56 years until he met Rose and they "just fell into this rhythm." He'd abandoned hope of ever finding someone. When she gets upset that he took her to a faith healer, saying she has made her peace with what's happening to her, he explains that he hasn't. He can't just do nothing. It's not in him - he has to try.

Completely out of character, Kate the tracker and suspiciously-natured person picks up a doll she finds lying in the jungle, trapping her and Jack in a net. There wasn't really much purpose to this scene at all.

Opening & Closing

2.17 Open - An opening, but not of an eye. Of Locke's sock drawer. Inside one bundle is a ring box.
2.18 Open - Long shot of Libby leading Hurley on a jog across the beach. "Isn't this nice?"
2.19 Open - Black-and-white. Close up is of a big ol' can of Dharma green beans. Rose and Bernard are stocking shelves at the beach camp with stuff from the food drop (the more I think of the food drop, the more I feel the "rats in a maze" vibe going on. Lockdown occurs, food comes from unknown source, rats scurry out, take it without question. Strikes me as either part of the experiment, or of someone caring for a pet).
2.20 Open - Kate's face. At night. Trying to see if Michael is responsive. He's not.

2.17 Close - Ben's face, cold busted. Sayid dug up the grave, found not a woman inside, but a man. "A man named Henry Gale."
2.18 Close - Another perspective on the photo the doc took of Hurley and Dave -- from behind, across the room, sits Libby, who takes her meds, and stares drugged into the camera.
2.19 Close - I'm going to cheat just this once. THIS is what I'm calling the closing shot... because it should be. We started the episode with black-on-white, we end it with Rose and Bernard embracing in front of black rocks on a white beach. Anyway, the only thing after it is a montage, plus annoying Michael showing back up. ;-)
2.20 Close - Michael, after apologizing, blows away Ana, then Libby, then opens the cell door. Ben stands up, Michael shoots himself in the arm.

Probably Unimportant, But I've Always Wondered...

Did Ben expect or not expect Sayid to dig up that grave and blow his Henry Gale cover? Was it part of his con / something he expected all along, or did he mess up and have to improvise from that point?

Hurley brings it up that nobody lives at the caves anymore, and I've always wondered... why not? All that fresh water and shelter. Guess it was a more expensive set to maintain?