Super awesome episode!
I am very intrigued by Richard Alpert. Ben trusts him enough to talk about manipulating the other Others in front of, but he seems to disagree with Ben on some things. He also seems to have frequent off-island assignments.
I think it would be cool if Sawyer wants to be called "James" from here on.
We've pretty much wrapped up all of the character connections now, haven't we? It makes me wonder what's going to happen in season 4, there isn't a whole lot we don't know about our castaways. Then again, if you told me at the beginning of season 2 that the whole season would be focused on the hatch, I wouldn't have believed you.
Speaking of the hatch there's still a lot of stuff we don't know about it, when/how are we going to find out about it?

Helicopters can autorotate if they are not seriously damaged while crashing. The main rotors can become large wings at that point. So unless the tailrotor was shot/blown off it wouldn't be a crash persay. And from what Naomi said it was the instruments that went haywire once she came upon the region.

Also if Sawyer stops calling himself Sawyer does he count as one of the 5+ deaths they are claiming by the end of the season?

YES! Thank You!

I thought the EXACT same thing about the helicopter crash, and the ejection. It didnt make sense to me how one could bail out from a helicopter and have a trajectory (even with a 'chute) that would take them a pretty good distance inland. It can't even be called an "ejection"--it's a mere drop out the door, which would put you in an area right where you dropped out from. and deploying a parachute after jumping out?...from a crashing helicopter that should be over your head?

maybe, just maybe all of this shouldnt be given any serious attention--maybe there's a reason why a helicopter was chosen over a small plane...

I think the idea about Jacob coming through the "box" is very intriguing and entirely possible. It sounds almost... biblical, well, Torah-like, like waiting for the Messiah, and let me say, that would be nothing new for this show.
One thing that struck me as odd about Naomi's "you're all dead" story is where they found the plane. Am I mistaken in thinking that she (or maybe Cooper...) said that it was found in a 4 mile deep trench? Even if it's less than that, how would the plane stay in one piece once it goes underwater? How the hell would they be able to find all the bodies? I smell a coverup.
And it seems to me that Jack was being more suspicious than practical. He's been acting so strange lately.
Lastly, I think it was mentioned somewhere that Jacob may be someone we already know. I think it was back around the time of "Exposé". Now my brain's working....

Finally.. we have the Locke back we've all come to love! He's just so awesome.
I'm really liking that Richard char as well. I dunno.. he's just charismatic and intriguing.
I wanna see more of him.
And come on.. how totally creepy was that part when that flightattendant chick and those other people were smiling at Locke.

I'm really curious to see how they actually brainwashed these people, if they even had to. I mean I know we saw them doing it to Alex's BF... but did they do that to all of the people they kidnapped?

And how good of people are the Others if they were willing to let the children they took witness a man's murder? They're so creepy and damnit.. I wanna see more of them!

#4- Bali is also in the opposite direction one would fly from Sydney to L.A.

Great episode and great recap, Greybishop!

I still don't believe that our Losties are dead. Dharma, the Others or whatever did a phony "search and find" and released the info to the media who released the info to the world. A 4-mile deep oceanic trench, how convenient! Not sure how they got that past the FAA, though....

The most troubling part of this episode, to me, was Locke conning Sawyer into doing his dirty work. My heart broke for Sawyer. I sure hope Sawyer changes his name and can find new purpose for his life.

I'm still not entirely convinced that Cooper wasn't a Smokey apparition. But, if it really was Cooper, I'm betting that he isn't dead either.

Also, I think that Ben actually fears Locke......

wasn't it surmised that Desmond not hitting the button was the button was the reason flight 815 came down in the first place. if that is why things fall out of the sky on that island, then wouldn't the same thing have to happen to bring down the chopper... and i'm pretty sure the button pusher has long been over... so what could have brought the chopper down? did the hatch explosion make it impossible to fly over the island at all?

I thought it was suspicious that Naomi got so offended when Sayid questioned her about who she was.

If she was, in fact, simply a helicopter pilot searching for Desmond...why would she be so peeved when he hinted that she may be an Other? "Remind me not to rescue you, Sayid." If she was truly from the outside that doesn't seem like logical behavior.

And also, she doesn't seem to be very suprised to have found all of these people on the island at all! She's got a bit of a cockiness about her that doesn't make sense for someone who just crashed in a helicopter on a strange island.

Does anyone else notice the HUGE Daddy issues in this show? Do we think that may have tie everyone together: Jack/Claire sharing a father, Sun's evil dad, Sawyer's fun father, Kate's stepdad, Hurley's dad left, Jin is ashamed of his...it goes on and on. Just a thought.

Good recap GB, I agree the complete dialogue between Sawyer and Cooper summed it up best. You should have kept the "I picked Tom Sawyer...Huck Finn was already taken" line. It was classic.
The news about 815 crashing in a 4-mile trench is Bull, Near Bali? All bodies accounted for? Total lie. I do think though that someone might remember the flight number if it was said to them, but here in the case of Naomi, she's lying. Willing? Innocently? Good question.
Also for an earlier post RE: S2, Yes it's refreshing having Locke out of the Hatch, but I am now watching the S2 DVDs and the use of the Hatch doesn't seem as all time consuming as it did when watching on a weekly basis. Personally I think that a lot of S2 and the first half of S3 were the real "Filler" points of the series. Not saying I didn't enjoy them for the most part, but a lot more story meat in S1 and the recent eps this season...

What!! What do Juliette and Jack share that no one else knows? What does Juliette want to tell/ I am super puzzled!

@ fringlish

well remember 2 episodes ago, after juliette finished her tape recording, she said she hated ben for all of it. GB alluded to it in the recap that this might be a sign that jack and juliette are "playing along" with the others for now, and have something else planned, which is why they can't have everyone else know about it.

I also think that when sawyer comes back with the tape, that their (jack + julie) plans might be foiled.

GB, I'm glad you have such an analytical mind; you spot things and relationships that escape me. Of course, "Lost" is just a guilty pleasure for me and I don't become invested in the show. Actually, I find your recaps far more entertaining.

About Naomi bailing out, yes, it is possible to bail out of a descending helicopter IF one is quick and there's sufficient altitude. The diver merely guides him/herself away from the chopper before opening the chute. Then, today's sport chutes are not like the old style early chutes. They can actually be steered and glided in a descending (as opposed to straight falling) attitude, thereby reaching a target even miles away. Again, this is all contingent on having enough altitude. Then again, this is "Lost", where all sort of paranormal occurrences can and do happen.

I still hold for the "Purgatory" theory, hoary as that device may be. Too many unexplained things, like Hurley's old roomie at the nuthouse, where his later friend (the one shot by Walt) was also.

Too many threads do not connect and too many facts are available to the Others.

One last thing: an island would appear as a dark spot over a glowing ocean at night. Luminiscence, you see.

The level of detail in the red files on each lostie makes me think that all they did was give Naomi Desmond's file so she could pretend Penny sent her. Though that still begs the question of who those two portugese guys were at the end of last season and what the connection is between them and Naomi.

HATE KATE. Hate her.

GB, You said "Cooper gets the honour of being the first to call him 'Bug-Eye.'" However, Sawyer called him bug-eyed a few episodes. I remember because it totally made me laugh.

I called Locke's father being the man that ruined Sawyer's life sooooo long ago that it was nice to be right about one thing on this show, considering how much I have gotten wrong.

Maybe if they could get some pictures of the plane that went down and the "dead bodies" they found, I would take that whole exchange with Naomi more seriously. Until then, this show is not literally purgatory. I did think it was weird that Naomi didn't appreciate being called an Other. I for one would have had the response, "What's an Other?" But who knows?

Can't wait for the rest of season and see how it plays out. The last half of this season has been excellent.

Hate Locke...seriously, that guy irks me so bad, it's like flames...flames...on the side of my face...heaving, breathing, breathless...[/random Clue reference]

I felt so bad for Sawyer, especially when Locke Daddy ripped up that letter. Broke muh heart.

I want to like Juliette, but it's sooo hard...especially when I don't know where she stands, and she always had that half-smirk superior smile on her face.

Jack - an idiot has become thee.

Sayid - I love him. He should have been the leader from the start. I don't know who crashed a plane and made Jack king.

Kate - STUPID STUPID!

Charlie - Please don't die.

Desmond - *deadpan*