Comments On LOST 6.3 Recap

Jason Weiss - 
Yeah, not a thrilling episode by any measure. I hated Sawyer's moment on the dock, not because of the moment itself, that was touching and all, but the acting in that scene was terrible!! It totally took me out of the emotion they were trying to create..

When Claire appeared at the end of the episode Shannon said "she's the new Rosseau!". I am also a bit confused about the whole consumed by darkeness stuff. So they're not being taken over by Smokey directly? I think this is probably more along the lines of what happened to Russeau's shipmates, the disease she was talking about (and that's exactly what Dogen called it). So it's probaly some form of zombiism. In fact, the entire series is going to end with everyone being zobies doing the Monster Mash at the bottom of the ocean on the sunken Island. Yup, final theory.

(UPDATE) I'm pretty sure Ron's whisper theory is wrong because they brought up in one of those "pop-up-video" repeat episodes that the whispers are the Others. And Ben told Russeau when he took her baby that if she ever heard those to run the other way. Ethan I think is just Ethan. He undoubtedly has some relevance but what it is we don't yet know.

Greg Kuh - 

Some of you may not like my opinion, but here it goes.

We did learn a few things this episode, but I am going to stick my neck out and say “WORST EPISODE EVER”. 

Here is why:

• Nothing happened in the alternate reality.  We all could have guessed that Kate and Claire would be together, and that Claire will keep the baby, and it will be Aaron, and blah blah blah. 
• The ACTING WAS AWFUL.  That Lennon dude needs to be killed off ASAP.  He is the Michelle Rodriquez of season 6.  He is so awkward when he is trying to act.  COMPLETELY useless.
• The vagueness between the others and the lostees was stupid and over done.  A couple questions unanswered is fine, but just give it up.
• Jack appearing sick after the pill was stupid… the pill had no time to soften or dissolve.  Just stop being an emo asshole Jack.
• maybe he was acting ill because Dogen KICKED HIS ASS for that pill

One thing I did like was…       

• Claire is back on the show.
• Ethan
• Secrets about the Ajira plane.
• Seeing Ethan was great and all, and I see the timeline connection, but is it necessary or just thrown in for us fans 

This is the first time that LOST let me down.  They played off the episode as if we have never seen one before and can’t take mysteries.  Stop hand feeding us the information.  –Your sister is consumed... next scene… look it is Claire..

(UPDATED) Here is an interesting theory… I can’t take credit for this.  My brother and I were going over everything, he is wondering if Jacob is actually good… and that ‘Flock’ might actually be the good guy in all this? Possible?  Look at the others, they kill people, they hunt and sneak up on people.  How do we know that the smoke monster isn’t trying to kill the ‘evil’ people?  Decent twist…

Ron Giordan -

First, there is no alternate reality. The producers said that. So, to move forward, we need to stop thinking it's alternate. This isn't Star Trek. That's why this is a "flash sideways". Both timelines run congruently with each other for a purpose - a purpose laid out by Jacob who saw this happening.

As for the "claimed" thing, here's my view: This is obviously a game between good and evil. Who gets the most souls, etc. What's interesting about "claiming" is why no babies survived on the island and it's tied to the whispering we hear. What if we are hearing the souls of people trying to get into other bodies? When they were dragging Sayid to the Temple, we heard the whispering!!!
What if these souls are those "claimed" by Man in Locke and they are attempting to get into either dead bodies or babies...the babies never survived those attempts because they are too innocent to be born already bad...but dead adults can be "claimed" and taken over....hence, "the sickness".
Now...this leads to the importance of Aaron...since, he survived being born on the island...as did Ethan (if you remember correctly). I do have questions about this...mainly, does the "sickness" make you a bad person or just freaked out?

Personally, I loved the episode. As mentioned below, complete tribute to the best Star Wars ever made. The juxtaposition of Sayid (tortured) and Sawyer (in love, redeemed for past transgressions) was perfect.

A few notes:
Dogan - reference to the man who brought Zen Budhism to Japan - http://www.thenagain.info/webChron/China/ZenBudd.html

Sayid was wearing Horace's suit when he was "dead" and came back to life - Horace the poet refered many times to a "cold water bath" in Rome where people would go to cure their ailments. Recently, a bath like this was found deep below Rome!

A few problems:
Ben was "healed"...so, did he have the sickness? Did he remember being shot? Sayid remembered being shot?
Are we going to start seeing all the characters in the 2004 time period getting a lot of Deja Vu? Kate did when Claire said Aaron's name when the baby was trying to come out too early.

Matt Daigle - 

The whole episode struck me as a love letter to E5:TESB, right down to the sister reveal to Jack (though maybe that is just where my head is at, since I'm 99.9% certain that the first 45 minutes of Empire were filmed in Virginia). 

But while I thought Sawyer's moment was heart-wrenching, I was more inrigued by Kate's reaction, who seems to really now understand that she's now stuck with Jack. 

The Aldo stuff also seems to I indicate that we are not dealing with separate factions of the Others, so our Ming the Merciless figure is now especially intriguing - I want to know what his relationship with our other Other leaders are, namely Richard and Ben. 

Finally, the Ethan stuff reminded me of the Mr. Friendly stuff on the mainland with Michael, that there are those who can come and go from the island. He's a solid candidate to land in that group and I want to know why.  

Wendy Hathaway -

Maybe I’m a dork but I really loved the scene on the dock. I’ve always liked Sawyer – mostly for his sarcasm, etc; - but he is the character who I think has changed the most – and that’s huge esp. if you go with the redemption themes in the show. One of the best Sawyer eps

As for Claire – I’m mixed on where she’s at. If you’re “claimed” (which gave me chills when the guy said that last night) do you stay that way? Does Smokey use you and then go away? Or is it like Jason said and more “zombies” just pile up everywhere? If she has turned like Rosseau, I don’t think Rosseau was poisoned, so did Claire somehow escape that? The Others clearly know more about this than let on. They also seem to be aware of the Aljira plane crash, I kind of forgot that they were all in the same time frame now. And I love Aldo (“Always Sunny in Philadelphia!”)

One final Claire note – WHAT IS UP WITH ETHAN BEING A DOCTOR! Are there no “Others” because the island is underwater in 2004? Does he have bad intentions or is he just a random guy? Is Aaron back in the picture as being important to this whole thing? That’s how the writers played it back when they kidnapped pregnant Claire and Aaron, but then Kate rescued him and I feel like we never heard anything more about him being important to the island.

This also occurred to me – when they brought Sayid back, could he have been “poisoned” because the water wasn’t clear? Did they expect this to happen when they drowned him or was it a 50/50 chance he could have returned as himself or as Jacob (“goodness”)?

(UPDATED)Why does the Whispering seem so other-worldly then? Maybe one of those things that was cool and mysterious at the beginning of the show that they don’t want to answer any more

Ron’s right about alternate reality – I think the EW blogger that I INSIST you check out called it “OTHER” because it’s happening at the same time – and turning out similarly, as well, like Matt B. pointed out

Tracey Hayes - 

I wonder if we're assuming a lot when we're thinking there are only two "sides" to this whole story: Flocke's side, or Jacob's side.  What if the Others are really more like a third group, caught in between Flocke and Jacob?  They can work with Jacob to some extent (like through Richard), but like Dogen said, they were all "brought" there, which makes the whole situation sound completely against their will, and like they are caught in between two forces. 

I'm also wondering if maybe either side can "claim" people?  What if Christian is actually on Jacob's side of things, and what if the Others are wrong about Claire being "claimed" by Flocke, or darkness?  Or, what if she made a choice after Christian approached her and ended up going rogue like Rosseau to avoid being "claimed" by either side?

Matt Burkhar -

I just realized something.

So do you recall what Jacob and the Man in Black were discussing on the island when that ship came in…? Something about how they come, and everything will keep repeating itself, etc… That may speak to the show as a whole, as we can clearly see that everything that happened on the island is happening again… (the whole Claire is the new Rousseau thing…) Also, how the alternate reality is playing out just as it did on the island.

Theme of LOST: history repeats itself, and human nature never changes. Whether black or white, light or dark, good or bad, everything turns out the same in the end.