Both Sun and Jin have had next to nothing to do this season. Which is a shame, since I like them both. I guess all that remains for them is to either be reunited or separated forever.

No, the Eloise who stops Daniel's piano lessons was the same actress who shot Farraday. The older Ms. Hawking appears to piano-playing Daniel right after Widmore has visited.

I think the reason that Richard was unhappy with Ben was made pretty clear in Season 3. Richard tells Locke that he thinks Ben's obsession with treating the pregnancy problem is a huge distraction. I also got the feeling he agrees with Locke about Ben's affecting the trappings of the Dharma Initiative — that they…

Re: Eko's church. I thought they addressed that pretty well in (I think) a flashback. Given how Eko desecrated his brother's church by brutally murdering the drug dealers, he wanted to atone for that by building a church for his brother. And the island is where he decided to build it.

Your memory is correct. Jack was removing the dead battery from the smoke detector when Papa Christian showed up.

Well, you seem to believe Eloise doesn't want Daniel to travel back in time and, eventually, get shot by her. But everything we've seen of her has shown that she believes in the immutability of time, and in fact, that she has dedicated her life to ensuring that what is laid out in that notebook comes to pass. Why…

I can't imagine it would be Juliet. She's got a good bit of unresolved story to get to regarding Ben's obsession with her.

She is pregnant in 1977. The off-camera conversation with Widmore confirmed it.

Kate's purpose is now to find and return Aaron's mother. She ain't going anywhere.

I predict that in the finale, Charlie Pace will appear to two people: Hugo Reyes and Desmond Hume.

Agreed that this was epic. Spoiler-free is the way to go.

Rose and Bernard. Still alive.

Two things that most likely have to happen in the finale: A flashback is shown telling us how and why Hurley made it on the Ajira flight, and we'll see who exactly was shooting at the kayaking Sawyer, Juliet, etc. earlier in the season.

I agree. I just watched the first three episodes on Hulu, and it was enjoyable. The density of the gags feels like AD — where an individual joke may be mildly amusing, amassed over the course of the show, they're pretty satisfying. Good cartoon says I.

I don't know. I'd really like them to take a pass at explaining how Penny knew to look for Desmond on the island in the first place. That's one of the bits of missing continuity that has bugged me the longest. I can understand her knowing about the island, but why would she expect to find Desmond there?

Hmm. The previews for the next episode kind of put your theory in doubt, but it's a good one. I wonder how this future knowledge played into her conversations with Desmond in 'Flashes Before Your Eyes'. The notebook did say 'Desmond Hume is My Constant'. Was that a trigger for her to keep an eye on him and make…

Maybe Widmore means that if he hadn't been a total prick to his daughter and her boyfriend, then said boyfriend wouldn't be compelled to enter an around-the-world sailing race, and therefore wouldn't end up on the island?

Yeah, the Des/Penny scenes were a nice call-back to 'The Constant', I thought. All the crying and pledging undying love and whatnot.

So there's been a lot of speculation on who the woman is in that Daniel flashback from that episode. It's not crystal clear, but I think tonight's episode confirmed that she was, as the enhanced rerun said, his caretaker.

Yeah, the story of how and why Hurley got on the Ajira flight still needs to be told. Charlie-related? Probably.