Speaking of the healing properties…
Are we scratching Jin off of the “healed” list, or just adding a “?” after his name? Considering Baldy and Sun did the nasty and all…
Is it clear how recently Baldy died before flight 815? It might be; I just don’t remember.
WAG: Is it possible that the guy in the eye patch who controls TCM was giving them a message?
So what? If multiple people can see the smoke cloud when it’s in smoke-cloud form, then why couldn’t they see it when it assumed another form?
And if you’re looking for speaking hallucinations, there’s always Hurley’s friend (Dave?) who may have been a figment of his imagination, but also may have been smoke-monster-related, in retrospect.
So, is it actually the smoke monster that’s showing up as these “ghosts” that people see? Jack’s dad, Hurley’s Imaginary Friend, thngs like that?
I think every time we saw Eko’s ghosts tonight (except in the hut, which could have been a dream) it was preceeded by the smoke.
-Joe
Why is everyone saying that the Others are based on the Alcatraz-like island and not on the main island? Were we shown that their little town was on Alcatraz? Has there been any evidence that they’re doing anything at all on Alcatraz other than holding Sawyer and Kate captive there?
Is it possible that the physical aspects of the TCM/Smoke are affected by the presence of water? It seems like most of the sightings and encounters happen inland, at least under tree-cover, and an argument can be made that the psychic aspects are used to lure or otherwise manipulate people deeper into the island and away from the beach. And when Eko was kneeling by the stream last night, it seemed like the TCM/Smoke could have either recoiled from the approach of Locke, Sayid, and the red-shirts, OR from the stream. Or something…
I don’t think it’s about water, necessarily. I think that it’s got a “base” it’s operating from and can’t get too far away from. It’s only able to do its thing within a set territory. I cling to this theory because I am convinced that the cloud is at least partly mechanical/robotic in origin and needs to be receiving instructions (and possibly power) from somewhere. I’m thinking along the lines of the swarm in Michael Crichton’s novel, Prey (link has possible spoilers abut the novel).
When Jack was asked to perform the surgery, he should have insisted that Kate and Sawyer be released and that Ben sit there and answer a long list of questions about what’s going on. Sometimes these characters seem amazingly incurious.
My only comment…
Sayid’s back… where are Jin and Sun?
Jack doesn’t know anything about the current state of Sawyer and Kate.
Yeah – and he doesn’t ask, either!
Funny thing is, I’ve never thought of it as anything other than a mechanical object.
I keep thinking back to interviews during season one where the shows creators state that everything on the island is explainable (no mysticism) though possibly advanced and I can’t help but think that the smoke monster (aka TCM) is based on nanotechnology.
You could use nanomachines to explain it’s movement, it’s ability to to take on different forms, it’s strength and even, to some extent, it’s artificial intelligence. Of course it doesn’t have to be intelligent if it is controlled via very fast remote computers run by a guy wearing an eye patch. 
( A winky is the closest thing I could find to a one eyed smiley)
This was one of the best Losts yet. I wish they wouldn’t have killed off Eko, he was the best character on the show. I was almost ready to stop watching, but if they can keep up like this then the show will get a whole lot better.
Yeah, there is no way they live on the smaller island. In the season opener, the camera panned back (up) from Otherville, and you saw a very big island. Plus, they couldn’t have sent Nathan and Goodwin to the crash sites so quickly.
Nathan = Ethan, of course. Sorry for the mistake.
Oh, and I assume that “The cost of living” = “confessing your sins”. At least for Eko.
Do we rename the TCM to TSM (Tree Smashing Monster)? 
I think that was a direct reference to observations like that, the same with Locke’s “Well, call me stupid…” comment.
I. Aren’t we pretty sure the TCM is somehow mechanized?
- Rousseau said it was The Security System.
- The Blast Door Map refers to the Cereberus System and its malfunction.
II. Did we really get any answers?
III. How did Desmond know that the computers were used for communication?
IV. There’s pretty clearly some sort of breeding/cloning/eugenics program going on.
V. L4 is pretty far away from C2. And whose X-Ray is it, really? The converation between Benry and Juliet certainly suggests that it really is Benry’s. If not, whose could it be? My first thought when I saw X-Rays was that it belonged to a Lostie. A spinal surgeon with a spinal tumor would be an interesting irony. Jack seems to believe it was a man’s film, so that rules out Kate, which could also make it interesting. When he said it was L4, I thought maybe it was Locke’s. But a cervical tumor makes less sense. Sawyer? Totally fake X-Ray?
Or, what if the x-ray was really Sawyer’s? Kate has, at least under duress, professed love for him to the Others. Perhaps, once they continue to break Jack down, they will show him a tape or something of her saying it. (I know there’s no evidence supporting this.) Then they will have him try to save Sawyer. Jack, in his flashbacks, has shown to be quite the jealous guy and he already has a territorial issue with Sawyer. Meh, that sounds like soap-opera plot though.
I got nothin.’
When whats-her-face got shot, they brought her back there (“the sub is back”). That is where they brought Jack to work on her. That’s where they make Fancy Romantic Beachside Breakfasts. I think it’s likely that they are at least partially based there, if not totally.