"Had Locke actually shot Jack, Kate and Rousseau probably would have torn him apart"

Yeah, you should check them out if you like to see the process of how these episodes were created. I normally don't get into that, but you could really see how much the cast and crew enjoyed working on the show. Also, on Lostpedia, I recently found a bunch of Easter eggs that unlocked a few cool features and extras…

"Fridge horror rewatch confession: this opening sequence proves that Hurley isn't cursed. Instead, he really is the "luckiest guy in the world" (to quote the FSW) because he doesn't get shot by the LAPD."

I recently watched some of the Season 3 DVD extras again, and as @avclub-387212ba9644c8b7f3d7178512148235:disqus has noted in previous discussions, there are several deleted scenes that really stand out.

Based on what I know from the beginning, Charlie was supposed to be one of the main stars of the show. I think I wrote about this in one of the Season 1 reviews, they had him positioned to be a leader with Jack and Kate, but as certain characters emerged from the ensemble (Locke, Hurley, Sawyer), Charlie was the one…

You mentioned finding Ben's childhood friendship heartbreaking, were you one of the many fans who thought that the show would follow up on Annie at some point in the final three seasons? I also liked the way that story played out, but I don't remember thinking after it was over that I couldn't wait to see more of…

What I meant by Locke doing everything for the Island, is that he thinks that he's doing it for the Island, but obviously doesn't work out that way. So I think we do actually agree on that. :-)

First, thanks for the compliment, I never considered it to be meta but it's nice that someone appreciates the effort.

Thanks for the info about purgatory, that makes a lot of sense and definitely explains why Hurley and Rose would still be suffering in the sideways.

Yeah, I've always thought the Others were rather cultish as well, following a man that they've never met, while searching for the special someone to show them why they're on the Island. Room 23 must have really done a number on certain Others like Pickett. I can't imagine they would recruit someone like that who was…

This is probably why Smokey identified Locke as the person best suited for what he wanted to accomplish, and showed him that "very bright light" to get Locke believing. We didn't see it like with Eko or Juliet, but I imagine that while Smokey was showing Locke that light, he also was taking "flashes" of Locke.

Through the Looking Glass: This one took me awhile to figure out, as I first wanted to consult my old reviews, plus what Myles and Noel wrote about the episode. Nearly ten years later, and there's still so much to digest from these mind-blowing, jaw-dropping final two hours of Season 3. And I don't like to use the…

Jay turned out to be a big surprise from where this game started. I feared that he and Taylor and Figgy were going to be running the show if they got to the merge, but once Jay was on his own, his gameplay really took a turn for the better. And it was cool to watch someone who didn't take things personally; he knew…

I was kind of hoping that Jay actually found the real Idol. Then we get another crazy Tribal near the end where all votes are cancelled out, and everyone's scrambling to be safe. Could have completely changed the final three, but it was a solid season all around, very entertaining.

Greatest Hits: I'm going to come back to using some of my notes from the Classic review to get this started…

It's an interesting theory, but I don't feel like Juliet would go that route just because she's spent three years in the "school of Ben" as you refer to it.

I would have had no problem with a resolution to the Rachel story, but since Juliet didn't get off the Island, it wouldn't have made logistical sense to resolve that. While it wasn't the ideal ending, knowing that Rachel was alive and well with a healthy son, at least Juliet could rest easy and try to focus on…

We definitely agree on this being the meaty part of Juliet's arc. I wish Elizabeth Mitchell had been given better material in Season 4, her centric episode that season was basically a repeat of what we saw in One of Us, somewhat disappointed by that one.

"There's a lot of bitterness out there about the show, even now."

I didn't communicate it well enough in my previous post; what I meant was that Jacob's best option for Locke was to use him to get through Jack and Hurley about how important the Island was. I definitely agree with you that the MiB wasn't leaving without taking on that human form, which is a very dark scenario now…