I found this episode a huge big deal on the rewatch. The closeness between Locke and Claire is quite interesting when you consider that MiB has probably had his eye on both her as well as Locke from Day One.

I'm not sure Libby needed a flashback when you think of it. What would it have added to her story? She's rich. She's smart and well-educated. She's also clearly depressed in the Desmond FB in the coffee shop, probably clinically. (Her husband just died and she's giving away a mega-expensive item like it's nothing.)

I don't "blame" Ana; she is what she is. Libby is the one I find interesting in this whole 48-days story arc. There's so much more to her than simply being Hugo's manic-pixie-dream-girl.

>Ana does have more reason to be angry after all the events we see in the previous hour, but she's never been alone on the Island, so why give up now?

I would have loved to see this as a two-parter.

>Michael needs to intervene when Jin is hostile to Sun, but is it in his best interest to do so?

>Jack was on the same path to being an alcoholic that Christian was.

>Anyway, it was interesting to me to see them exchanging worried glances over Claire's condition.

That's a good question, about how Hugo is able to function so well after the crash. Couple of thoughts:

>getting the dynamite to try to destroy everything does not fit with the usual Hurley that we see on screen.

The mouse-trap game in Locke's flashback says to me that Locke's visions are from MiB, and are just part of the set-up for the trap.

This is one of my absolute favorite episodes.

To me, Michael has two issues going on with Locke. First is that Michael is projecting some of his own insecurities about Walt onto Locke. When Hugo "sees" Walt's face on the milk carton in the Hatch food pantry, it's only a skosh away from the truth.

>you mentioned Claire having a type, seems to me that Boone does as well…

Again, sorry to be so late…

You wrote this so long ago, maybe it's silly to answer… ;-)

Sent you a PM via fanfiction.net. Good heavens, you didn't offend me in any way. Kudos to you soldiering on here. The LOST fandom can get lonely sometimes.

I'm still not sure why the writers had such a tough time writing [Shannon's] character…

That's intriguing, that the cave-in might be one of Jacob's little pushes. On that line, maybe one reason the beach was a relatively safe zone, as was the path to and from the caves, was because Jacob made it so. I for one don't take his "prime directive" that seriously; he did put his oar in when it suited him.

I followed The Fuselage for Season 3 and after, so the "Locke would be paralyzed" speculation was a familiar one. Funny, though, that "the Island" (or fate, or destiny, or whatever) did arrange for Locke to be back in a wheelchair for most of his time back on the mainland, even if for a different reason.