My head is still spinning from TMBTC. Awesome, awesome episode and it ratcheted up the show a whole new level for me.

After sleeping on it, I don't think Locke is dead by a long shot. The island cured his paralysis - rapidly. Cured his banged-up hand rapidly. Mikhail, is even back from the seeming dead. And I think even Ben foreshadowed - "Let's see if Jacob helps you."

Which of course brings us to Jacob! I am so glad we have a PVR now. I was sure I saw someone sitting in the chair after Ben is pushed and it pans to Locke. True enough a bearded man is sitting the chair! How wild. Screencap is on Lostpedia here: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Jacob

Jacob, answer one question with so many new questions! I love this show.

*Is he real?
*Why is he invisible?
*Does he have special powers?
*Is he like an oracle that only reveals to certain people?
*Is he a manifestation of Ben?
*Is Ben schizo and Jacob the other half of his personality?
*Is he someone Ben "sees" on the island like other people "see"? For example, Hurley seeing *Dave, Jack seeing his father, Eko seeing Yemi, etc.
*Why those two words to Locke and NOT Ben - "Help Me?"
*What was circling the house and why? I think it might have been volcanic ash given the volcano talk earlier in the episode.

And another few random things I noticed:

*Of course the blatant Wizard of Oz references.
*Alice in Wonderland reference with Ben following the White Rabbit to the other side of the pylons.
*Blue dresses, Alice in Wonderland, Dorothy in Oz, Emily - Ben's Mom.
*The "purge" was based on holocaust imagery - mass gassing to cause death and then the bodies all laying on top of each other in the mass grave.
*Ben talking to an empty rocking chair reminded me of one of my favourite movies Psycho.
*For the Harry Potter fans - Ben = Voldemort whose Mom dies after birth and kills his father :)

And one big nagging area for me - why does Ben rank higher than Richard Alpert when Richard brought Ben over? And it appears that Richard does not age given all the flashbacks, real time events of him now.

I can't wait for the remaining episodes and am so glad I have sworn off spoilers for the remainder of the season :)

D.O.C. was mediocre for me. Wasn't exciting enough and I can't put my finger on why. I also did not read the insider scoop spoilers for this episode so I was expecting to enjoy it more. LOL. That did not happen.

It answered the question of Sun's baby's paternity and opened up more questions. Like for one, is healing, sperm etc are speed or boosted up on the island. Is pregnancy sped up? Why are the mother's dying? Or is Juliet just plain lying again. Also would the women survive if they aborted? Are they given this option?

It clarified that Juliet is taking blood samples from the women to see if any are pregnant. Let's hope Kate has an IUD that we don't know about or she is likely with child given Sawyer's shooting super-sperm!

It also clarified that Juliet hates Ben - I still think she is working as a double agent at this point in time.

Mikhail being alive - well he said Naomi would heal from a lung puncture in 1.5 days. The island healed him and rapidly as it does everyone else. Seems plausible to me. Mikhail is an interesting character, he seems to be honest, will stick to his word, but is an "other". I find him intriguing.

The only interesting exchange was at the end between Hurley and Naomi - the found the wreck, everyone was dead.

Let the questions begin:
Is she plain nuts?
Is she telling the truth?
Did someone stage a second wreckage?
Is she a plant by the others?
Was she sent by Penny to look for Desmond?
Alternate dimension?
Time travel?
Was the finding of 815 a lie given to the public?
Purgatory? Which was supposedly dismissed by the writers.

And just an FYI on what Naomi said translated:

* "Me estoy muriendo" is Spanish for "I am dying" (from the captions).
* "Aiutami sto morendo" is Italian for "Help me I'm dying" (from the captions; partially incorrect, but comprehensible).
* She mutters in an "asian language" (from the captions) which Jin claims is Chinese, not Korean. "出了什么事?(chu le shen me shi)" is Chinese for "What happened?" or "What's going on?".
* After Mikhail and Desmond treat Naomi's wound, she says something in Portuguese not spelled out in the captions. It is not "Thank you" as Mikhail claims. Instead, it sounds like "Eu não estou só" which is Portuguese (spoken with a Brazilian accent) for "I am not alone." The "Ardil-22" book is also Portuguese.

From http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/D.O.C.#Naomi.27s_languages

"I am not alone" - someone else arrive with Naomi?? Penny? Guys from the listening station? Or if she is an "other" plant - someone else returning to the island?

Have to disagree with all the people calling this a boring episode (on several LOST messages board).

This episode is probably contained one of the single most important events in LOST history! The island CAN be found. The island CAN be traveled to. The Losties CAN be rescued.

Reword = Penny was looking for Desmond, located the island, sent someone to find the island and they landed on the ISLAND! This implies rescue is possible.

Cripes critics that is major. :)

I also think this episode is what I call a "Set-Up" or "Arc/Bridge" episode. It introduces a lot of new stuff that will now get played out in the remaining episodes and set-up the cliff-hanger for Season 4 and possibly it's theme.

Season 1 - Survial
Season 2 - Hatch
Season 3 - Others
Season 4 - I think Catch-22 is probably the episode that sets up the theme for season 4 - though what this is yet. I have no clue. (Rescue, perhaps?)

Hurley was great in this episode. He truly is a behind-the-scenes leader. I have a *gut* feeling Hurley is going to become more and more important as the series progresses.

I was proud of myself, I saw an easter egg in this episode and I usually don't catch them. I think PVR'ing the episodes is awesome now as a result. The woman in the photo with the monk was the same lady (Mrs Hawking) in the jewelery shop that tells Desmond his fate when she does not want to sell him the ring for Penny. And then the Monk leads Desmond to Penny!

Anyone else wondering if Desmond had NOT saved Charlie if Penny would have be in the parachute - did he change the course of the future and Naomi was the result? I don't think so personally but it did cross my mind. I think Desmond desperately wanted it to be Penny.

I also liked the parable with Abraham in this episode. Abraham was asked by god to kill his own son to prove his faith (of course god stepped in and stopped Abraham in the end). Desmond's attitude was that god shouldn't have asked him to do that in the first place which then plays into current events. Desmond realizes that his visions of the future shouldn't have asked him to let Charlie die and he intervenes. That was very cool.

Also some fun lines - this episode was FULL of them:

* You have to play ping pong every 108 minutes or the island will explode - good joke using the "numbers."
* "I'm up here" Kate to Sawyer - Ok DH likes the PVR also let's see first rewind, Kate is hot, second, was she wearing a bra, third was she wearing a thong... LOL.
* "You don't have to use me.....all you have to do is ask." Sawyer to Kate - he truly does love Kate but it was painfully obvious in this episode Kate loves Jack but feels she is only worthy/deserving of Sawyer.
* "You been eating those mushrooms Jack warned us about?" Hurley.
* "So what are you two doing, arguing about who's your favorite Other?" Sawyer to Jack and Juliet.

How long until someone translates Jin's ghost story and its up on the internet for analysis? ;)

I really enjoyed last night's episode.

I will remain in the minority and still say that I still like Juliet. If anything was made crystal clear last night, it was that Juliet wants to be with her sister and nephew and will do ANYTHING to get herself back home. I firmly believe she is only working out of self-interest and is playing both sides, Jack and Ben, to see where the cookie will crumble and lead to her getting home. And she was sleeping with Goodwin - she has to be somewhat miffed that he is now dead. I have to admire her gumption for what she has gone through and will do to get off the island.

Drugged and restrained for a "very bumpy ride" when approaching the island - I can't but feel this will be really significant at some future point in time.

What I don't understand is why Ben would not let a female leave the island to be a test case? Why the babies most be conceived and then born on the island? Ben said he was born on the island - been on the island his whole life. And why did they only mention Claire as the only successful birth on the island - what about Danielle and Rousseau? Does it have something to do with the prevention of cancer - conception and birth on the island prevents cancer? Was there a point in time when pregnancy and birth were ok on the island? Did it change after "the incident"?

And on the subject of cancer - Jack said to Juliet ""You'll want to get that tumor biopsied to see if it is malignant". Do you think anything will come of this?

More importantly, what does this mean for Sun and Kate? I am guessing Ben put Kate and Sawyer in that position so that would have sex, and someone else would conceive on the island that Juliet could experiment on. And of course, this ploy also lead to Jack witnessing the sexual act and turning to Juliet. Ben is the master manipulator and truly evil.

I also think we know why Ben is keeping Karl away from Alex now - accidental pregnancy could mean the death of his daughter!

I also think Ben lied to Juliet, I don't think her sister's cancer ever came back and I don't think Jacob cured her. I think he just made up some fake medical charts to convince her to stay. Poor Juliet is quite the victim of a very long con!

In fact, after this episode I am wondering if Jacob even exists or is something mythical being Ben takes about to control people (kind of like God). Further evidence, when Juliet argues with Ben over his x-rays she said "You said YOU would fix it" not you said Jacob would fix it. Hrm. What do you think?

For those that did not notice "Mittelos" is an anagram for "Lost Time" - and Alpert said "time flies when you are there."

And how cool was it that Mikhail was watching live news feeds of the plane going missing!