Me too, Bourne. Awesome Apocalypse Now reference there.

Big Picture Battle
Here's how I see the big picture of the coming battle.

I agree that this episode seemed a little flat. The Sun/Jin sideways story was just not even close to as gripping as the Richard backstory was. However, consider the main reveals here.
-Jin is either not sterile in the sideways universe or it is not his baby (same as the DOC drama)
-Sun is shot in or near the womb. So…

Animal is right here. This show went from having potential to massive suck hole in one unresolved cliffhanger. The good news it looks like nobody cares.

The way I see it, Jacob represents god/religion and MiB represents science/reason. Whether they are related, twins, or even people at all is not so important so much as the effect they have on the Oceanic 815 survivors' lives.

The S2 finale was a great episode. I thought the biggest problem with the show then was that it moved too slowly. But looking back by the middle of season 3 this show was on fire and still is.

Black Rock Crash
Did anyone else think that the Black Rock crashed in the middle of the island because the island was moving and stopped underneath it? I was expecting to see that but the real crash scene was awesome anyway. One of the best scenes in the whole series IMO.

Walt: The money. Saul has got it for you, so as soon as you're feeling better…

Secretary?
Why would one need this website to have an affair with one's secretary? Because of the avatar thing? I'm calling shenanigans!

What I think is really cool about this show is that a lesser storyteller would focus on Gus when Walt is the more interesting story.

I think Gus is just a brilliant business man who is playing this game at a level higher than everyone else. He probably doesn't need to use violence to meet his goals. My take on the conversation with Walt was that he determined Walt would take the deal after he got his head together. I bet he just waits Walt out for…

Your uncle "Army Boots" still lives in Kentucky!

I think it's something to do with religious believers thinking critically about their faith.

nothing surprising here
Last week I posted my theory about all of this, and I don't want to bomb this board. But this is what i think is happening.

I rewatched the episode and the woman in the picture at Jack's house is not his (previous) wife. So yeah, Chap, I'm with you.

Apocalypse, I think you're not understanding what memes are. They are anything that is copied from person to person. They exist in the same evolutionary struggle that genes do and are subject to Darwin's law. However, where gene reproduction and selection happens on earth, meme reproduction and selection happens in…

Jacob and Smokey are not immortal. They are memes that have existed for a very long time, yes, but they are not immune to extinction. Jacob (faith) is nearing extinction due to the growth of MiB (reason).

scratch the idea about the alternate reality. Here's a better one:

Furthermore, modern science recognizes religion as a "mind virus". This explains all of the references to infection in the series. The others are infected with the god virus and are at odds with those that are not. That really came to a head with the Dharma initiative.

ABC is a corporation that will tread any water that is profitable which LOST most certainly is.