That the Widmore came is setting up the sound blaster microwave thingies was mildly interesting. Are Widemore and Smokey really on the same team and both Widmore and Smokey are playing Swayer is a mildly interesting brain twist.

Smokey admiting it is Kill or be killed and He does not want to die (which means he can be killed) again mildly interesting.

The opening off Island scene when we find out AU Sawyer is a Cop was nice. But overall I was waiting and hoping for more.

When Widmore told Sawyer something to the effect that he can’t believe Sawyer does not know more about the island, I thought that was a perfect time to Drop some Reveal Knowledge Bombs.

Unfortunately, all I got was Widmore is at Hydra and has his own team, as if when we saw the submarine the week before we did not know he had a team and he would be mounting a base somewhere.

A final thought, I still wonder if Widmore is the one Jacob was talking about when he said someone was coming or does this set up a possible Desmond return?

So so many questions and this episode really did not answer any for me.

However, I have read a few blogs and many people found this episode entertaining, so I hope you know I respect view point and was just querying to see what people saw that worked for them and either went over my head or I just did not view the same items in the same light as other.

Here is something I bet we can both agree. Next Weeks Richard Alpert Episode Should Be AWESOME. And while I do not want to set expectations to high and I will just enjoy the episode as the writers present it, the previews have me charged.

8 more Episodes. Lets hope they stay as creative and confusing as always!

This sets things up most clearly for there being a potentially four-way conflict at the end of the series — the Jacob crew (Jack, Hurley, Ilana, Ben, Sun), the Locke crew (Sayid, Claire, Cindy, Others), Sawyer’s crew (him, Kate), and Widmore’s people.

So, sorry, didn’t seem like filler at all, felt like it was actual plot progression.

It just seems to me with only 8 episodes left and with so many questions to answer, why waste another episode that even if you liked it, seems to provide few clues, answers or even sets up the story for more answers later?

I’m not a huge fan of the sideways world but I actually enjoyed Jack, Sayid & Ben’s sideway episodes. This one was Kate-like, in what is/was the point.

Sawyer (like Sayid) appears to be the tortured, mis-understood Con-Man avenger of his parents death in all worlds. Both onisland and off, Smokey or the Cops are only useful to Sawyer as long as they can help him achieve his goals (getting off the island & killing Cooper).

Random thoughts..

-Smoke Slapping Claire was surprising, shocking and made my jaw drop. Claires creepy, gripping, possibly insane hugging apology to Kate was great (I was waiting for that knife or something).

– Mile getting more lines Always Good. Miles and Sawyer good cop team.
– The Tina Fey character was not believable after a few seconds and both poor writing and acting.
– Sawyer focusing on what’s behind the locked sub door was to obvious and I felt cheated. We can’t get regular answers but the writers will dialoge and point and make sure we know this locked door as some big clue (Wow).
– Who didn’t know it was Kate running down the alley? Again too predictable, might have nothing to do with the answers I would like and now boring in the sideways world.
-Charlotte should be with Daniel so I was a bit skeptical watching her and Sawyer in new AU.

And I know, the answers will come so I’ll try to stop whining. It’s just with so few episodes and so many story lines to tie up….

Next Weeks, Richard-Centric episode looks Great. Now we should get many story mythology and Richard specific clues/answers.

Last night’s ep also did nothing to defuse my current favorite theory — that Smokey is, somehow, Aaron from the prime universe, while Jacob is, somehow, Aaron from the sideways timeline. Smokey is quite literally Jacob’s “bad twin”; not really brothers, not really unrelated. Aaron seems primed to take on a big role in the end of the series, at least.

I quite appreciate the Cavalcade of Guest Stars, actually. Perhaps it’s just nostalgia for a show I’m clearly a big fan of, but it hasn’t felt particularly cheap to get glimpses of sideways-Arzt, -Charlotte, -Ethan, -Keamy, etc. so far. I always felt like Lost was at its worst when it kept renewing focus on the “core” characters (killing off Tailies, then Others, then Freighties), and it’s nice to see them come back in some fashion.