Sayid’s reaction was the best part of the episode, and perfectly expressed my frustration with John (and, in a way, the show as a whole at this moment). It was a brilliant “why I oughta…” moment from Naveen Andrews!
Word. You need access to call for help – say, a rabid Polar Bear is clawing through the door to the station – and you have to sit there and play a whole game of chess? And not just play, but concentrate well enough to win it??
Tres stupid.
It looked like the Russian recognized Danielle’s voice at the end. When she started talking from behind him he had quite an expression of surprise.
haven’t had time to read all the comments, but I’m rudely going to insert my own:
-was Locke always this stupid??? Yup, let’s go fooling around with the computer…can’t be dangerous, yup, yup
-Will Sawyer get so frustrated with the no nicknames situation (like the viewers will be) that he will get up and search after Kate?
-Loved Sawyer saying “Who are you?” to the blondie at the beach.
-Also loved Hurley explaining he got good at ping pong at a “place he used to hang out”…
I had expected one of the Koreans to be the table tennis ace.
I love this show.
IIRC, a few of Hurley’s flashbacks showed ping pong tables, and at least one showed him playing.
I figured it’d be him.
Anyone notice the show’s writers teasing, or rather needling, the frustrated audience at the beginning?
Hurley: “Sky turns purple, I don’t ask questions, I just make a salad and move on,” or whatever it was he said. Unquestionably a direct reference to the Lostaways’ incuriosity.
Heh.
I agree Locke was kind of stupid but he hadn’t been told about the explosives and as someone else said he saw what happened when he didn’t push the button so he felt he had to push the button this time. He probably thought Enter 77 would notify the “authorities” and send help.
I was also worried about the livestock but the kitty survived so they might be okay, too. I hope the kitty sticks around …
I bet she knows things. 
Yup, and then right after that they gave Sawyer a line that also gives expression to the viewers’ frustrated confusion about something: “I can see how that’s working out for ya…”
-FrL-
Yeah, I have expected him to be “Robert”.
That was also a reference to the fact that Hurley hasn’t lost very much, if any, weight.
Another reason that Locke was stupid for entering “77” was that by getting involved in the chess game, he took his eyes off of his prisoner. As soon as he started playing, I knew that the Russian was going to either get the drop on him or escape.
And I have a new theory.
What if the island is somehow caught in a timewarp in which time passes more slowly there than in the rest of the world? That could be how they’re going to explain how Walt has aged a couple of years even though it’s only been a few months on the island. And that may be the reason that they had to get Michael and Walt off the island.
I’m not ready to buy the idea that Locke is stupid or too compulsive.
He might still be clinging on to the idea that the island is “communicating” and healing him.
He might very well have known that the technology surrounding him could possibly free everyone and cause him to be “removed” from the island.
I think that he pushed the botton and expected the place to be destroyed.
Ooooh! Idea for new comic book superheroes: Vincent the Shifty-Eyed Dog and Nadia the Sleepy-Eyed Cat! Somebody call my agent!
How would he know that there was a delay between pushing the button and the explosion?
I think this was the first episode in a while that had genuine promise, which makes the end result even more disappointing.
I’ve always liked Locke, but he was simply an idiot this episode, though it’s also symptomatic of the whole “nobody tells each other anything” syndrome. Still, Locke knew Sayid suspected there was a second person, yet he takes his eyes off the prisoner. He can’t wait a few minutes for them to search the basement? What if the other Other was off-site and stormed in? Locke would be Bobby Fischering instead of being useful. Did he know about the C4? I find it hard to believe Sayid wouldn’t tell him, and I find it equally unlikely that Locke, who was interested in all things Dharma, wouldn’t want to check out the basement himself and everything that was out there. So pushing 77 feels like a contrivance, “in character” in the micro but completely out of character in the macro. Thus, a complicated character comes out looking like a moron.
Also, almost nothing is really revealed to us. Yes, tiny bits of info, but given the Russian’s a liar, one has to assume most/all of it is disinformation.
As for the flashback, it’s nothing new for anyone who’s seen Death and the Maiden. Naveen Andrews sells the hell out of the scene (he’s the actor I’ve been missing the most), but it didn’t really tell us anything we didn’t already know.
I’m hoping next week will do more in actually delivering some goods.
That’s the biggest flaw with the Others as the primary source of information for the protagonists. I understand the mindfuck aspect, but they’ve pretty well established that the Others lie without thought so much that anything they say is untrustworthy. This makes it impossible to get anything worthwhile out of them, and so the plot only looks like it’s advancing. When the information is shown to be a lie, the story is right back to square one.
That’s really the most infuriating thing about Lost, and I’ve been so relieved these past couple of episodes to get back to the exploration/finding unusual things in the forest stuff. It was a real disappointment to find out Mikhail was an Other. Still, Rousseau finally learning that Alex is still alive was a real treat. (That might also be why she’s willing to take orders; the Losties know where Alex is, so she needs them for now.)
I was bothered that Sayid showed his hand to the Eyepatch guy and told him that he planned on using the map to reach the Others’ village. I would’ve kept him wondering.
Wow, seriously? We learned a lot here. We saw a new station, The Flame, which was hinted at in the Dharma map and seen in the Pearl. We got to know the eyepatch guy, who we’d previously only seen a split second of and always wondered who he was.
We learned about The Flame station and it’s duties… communicating with the outside world. This is obviously true even though we learned it from a liar. The satellite, the computer with the Dr. on it… all obviously about outside communication. We learned that this computer is probably the one that’s been used to call out when they need a new food drop. And it’s probably what The Others have been using to get all their information, but hasn’t worked since the sky turned purple.
We learned what the huge wire that Sayid found in the first season was all about. Where it went and why. Again, even though it was a liar talking about it, I think we can assume this was true.
This show would suck if it answered EVERYTHING in one episode. I thought this one was the perfect balance of answering a bunch of old stuff and introducing just 1 or 2 more questions into the mix. By the end, I think a lot of our mysteries were solved. This was my favorite episode of the season so far, by far.
Then a few minutes later he is talking to Nikki and says something like “Who are you and where did you come from?” which was most viewers reaction to Nikki Paulo.
Seconded. I don’t think Locke did this out of stupidity. I think he had an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” moment, and trusted Dharma’s protocol for dealing with the “hostiles” in the event there was a security breach of the communication station.
I do recall Locke beginning to say something to Sayid along the lines of “Hey, I figured out this cool thing-” and then the explosion. It’s possible he did know what would happen, especially if the Doc said something like “You now have 3 minutes to evacuate the building.”
I would think, if he knew there would be an explosion, Locke would’ve been running toward the group shouting “Down! Get down!” or something, but this is Lost. Nobody ever says the rational thing. 