1) I didn’t notice an accent change either, but Sayid’s character’s turn did catch me by surprise too. And I’m still holding out that he’ll take control in the end. That’s what this show is all about anyway, making choices. Whether he’ll turn against Smokey or just turn against himself as some of you have pointed out, I don’t know. If he does take his own life, it will be one of the most emotional episodes yet and probably near or in the end.

The whole Ben spoiler trailer at the end of last weeks episode really made me mad. I feel like in previous seasons they’ve done a good job of making trailers that were ambiguous and seductive. This season, they’re all over the place. I’m also hoping he doesn’t die till the end. But I think Ben’s character is just waiting to die. He’s like a more advanced case of Sayid and Claire. And by now, he’s fully aware of what he deserves and the consequences of the choices he made. So maybe it’s not too soon? Or maybe he can have redemption, but I’m willing to venture that the redemption will be in his death.

Other questions: yeah where’s the All the Good (or is it Bad?) Girls have Mommy Issues episode? It would be interesting to follow the development of mothers in this show. I do feel like Kate is gonna be the ace. I mean, why else would she still be around. Hopefully then, we’ll see more of her.

I’ve been thinking about what Jacob said when he said someone is coming to the island and certain scenes in the flash sideways. And I’m thinking there’s gonna be some crossover. There already seems to be inklings that candidates, at least Jack, is noticing things about himself that seem off. Specifically, I’m talking about the scene when we asks his mother when he got his appendix out. Of course she says six, but the scar seems fresh from 3 years on the island to my untrained medical eye. Who do you think is coming? There’s reason to believe in this alternate timeline maybe the oceanic folk don’t make it there, but what’s stopping say Jack’s son or Helen and other people the Oceanic folks love from somehow appearing. Maybe that’s far-fetched, in all likelihood, it’ll probably be the candidates who somehow make it back. But that might be something to overthink or just regular think about.

Based on typical movie & TV development, it is the “hero” that has to defeat the “villain.” In Lost’s case: I’m not so sure Smokey is pure evil; while he must be “beaten” at the end, I think he and Jacob have so much power that they are neither good nor bad — they are embodiments of natural forces that have been around for centuries. Thus, Jacob is the only one who can keep Smokey in chec, AND vice versa; it’s not like Jack will be the big “hero” who has a climactic duel with him where he can ulimately kill him and make everything “right” again. They are yin and yang, alpha and omega.

I think it’s the same notion that relates to the writers “answering the questions,” and how they are ONLY answering questions that are important to the characters, not that necessarily fill in all the plot gaps. Lost isn’t a show about Jacob and Smokey fighting each other — they haven’t even been around as characters for more than 10 episodes! Instead, it’s about the *characters*… and I think the whole Jacob vs. Smokey goings-on are just one big MacGuffin to help the characters resolve all of their issues and evolve as people. THAT is the grand story of Lost, and while the island stuff drives the action… it’s only as a means of showing how these people learn to live in the world around them.

So how is that for a non-answer? :-)

Getting back to your question, I think I listed those three characters both in terms of their importance to the ending AND the likelihood they’ll be key to resolving the Jacob-Smokey drama — they go hand in hand. Jack is the guy with the most screen time and every couple of episodes seem to be about him; he also has the most dramatized, obvious personal issue to resolve. Hurley can talk to the dead (but in a literal way that Miles can’t) and seems to be “special” in a way the other characters are not; however, he seems to have resolved his issues for the most part, so I can’t imagine any grand denouement about him. And Desmond is “special” because of his time-travel ability, and, well, because Eloise SAID he was… but he’s barely had screen time in S5 and 6, so I can’t imagine he’s going to tie all the plot threads together at the end.

So yes, I think those three will have important roles to play in the resolution… in that order.

And then I was killed by Smokey for the pun.

But the line of questioning is in earnest, promise!

I think the writers like Kate more than any of us… but she won’t be the “key to everything.” If I had to guess — and this is pure conjecture on my part, based on a history of movie and TV cliches — I’d say it will be one/all of the following: Jack; Hurley; and Desmond, in that order. (Sawyer will have been conning Smokey and ultimately screw him. Kate and Ben will play important roles; Miles a very minor one, along with what’s-her-name and Lapidus. Sayid will die; Claire, who cares; and Sun and Jin will, like the last few seasons, have little to do but watch it all unfold around them. And we’ll see if “real” Locke is resurrected, though I have no idea how that would happen.)

@mlawaski: Rose has never been baby crazy. In fact, doesn’t she have kids from a first marriage, but only barely mention them? In fact, given all the other baby-craziness, that would make it absolutely hilarious if (as some have speculated) she and Bernard did end up being Adam & Eve haha!

Q1 – I didn’t notice. Hmmmm.

Q2 – I think he was just referring to himself, not the island, but I don’t think he meant the alternate timeline (where, as someone already pointed out, Sayid actually *doesn’t* get Nadia.) I also think he doesn’t have a single modicum of intent to actually do as he promises.

I really thought Sayid was smarter than that, though. I expected him to say, in response to “What if I told you you could have anything you wanted?” something like, “Then I would KNOW that you’re evil incarnate, because only someone evil would promise that.” He seems to be incredibly stupid as far as Nadia’s concerned, though.

Which brings me to an interesting point. Someone pointed out that everyone in the alternate timeline seemed to have had their emotional issues resolved, except Sayid. That was my first impression, too… until he delivered that line about how he can’t be with Nadia b/c he’s not worthy of her. I think that is a HUGE step from where he is in this timeline, willing to give himself over to evil just to be with her again, and her reaction to it all be damned. He still loved her, in alterna-time, but he had moved past that. He was more interested in her happiness than his own. That’s kind of big, and offers a lot of insight into his character.

This episode REALLY didn’t sit well with me, either, and I think part of the reason why is that it was all questions, and no answers… which was fine for the first 5 seasons, but we’ve gotten used to getting answers this season, and now they’ve all been subverted. The whole bit about Dogen keeping “all that was keeping [Smokey] out” was… just weird. As Jon Eric said, it just kinda smacks of “clumsy writing,” and I really really don’t want to believe that :(

I also don’t like that Kate is the wild card. As my boyfriend pointed out, she was always supposed to be the “hero” of the show, until at the last minute they decided not to kill Jack. Also, it appears that Lockelganger doesn’t know that she’s a candidate… and she’s following along with him now, which could *dun dun duuuuun!* change everything. The reason I don’t like this, emotionally, is because I can’t stand Kate. The reason I don’t like it, narratively, is because NO ONE can stand Kate. She’s one of the most universally reviled characters on the show. Her episodes are constantly mocked. “All Kate does is run.” Etc, etc. If she turns out to be the key to EVERYTHING, then that means that the writers have, effectively, been keeping her around as the ace in their back pocket. It’s as though they didn’t want to make her SEEM pertinent, because that might give it away. If she’s the key, then she’s their deus ex machina… and THAT is “clumsy writing.”

Now, as for Kate: she’s definitely the wild card, and I think Smokey has HUGELY underestimated her. Remember, while she wasn’t revealed as such on Smokey’s cave wall… she WAS on Jacob’s wheel. I think she’s Jacob’s sleeper, hidden in plain sight. Smokey only thinks she’s not a threat — if she acts out, he can always just kill her, so what does he care? But there’s more to her than he realizes.

About the Temple Others, and the “choice” they were given — someone smarter than I pointed out elsewhere that all the choices presented in “Sundown” were all FALSE choices. Jacob, for example, offered Dogen a “choice” (go to the island and I’ll save your son… but you can never see him again — further proof that Jacob isn’t “good,” only concerned with his own motives). Smokey offers a “choice” (leave the Temple or die). Sayid is offered a “choice” (after he’s already infected and isn’t being rational) and so on. The best thing you can say about these choices is that they have MAJOR strings attached; but I think they’re all illusory anyway.

I agree it makes no sense that Dogen being alive was keeping the Temple secure rather than the ash, unless the two were linked somehow…but now that he’s dead, I don’t suppose we’ll be following up on that concept.

On the subject of the Temple Others: though it was couched in the “Jacob’s gone, you’re free” context, the implicit message given to them certainly seemed to be “Join me or die.” I wonder what would have happened to anyone who took the alternative route — not staying to defend the Temple, but choosing to venture out on their own rather than join Team Smokey.