• I'm getting really interested in the Lamppost station in LA and Mrs. Hawking's exposition about how the pockets of space-time work and the use of the pendulum to predict not so much whenwhere but willbe for the use of travel. That explains Ben and the polar bear ending up in Tunisia, as well as Hurley's seemingly extra-episode revelation that "Australia is the key to the game" in the fourth season show "The Shape of Things to Come." That episode has so many ramifications, we can see now: Ben's daughter Alex is killed, Claire's house is destroyed by an RPG with her in it, Vincent discovers the freighter's doctor's body on the beach before he's actually killed, Ben lets loose the smoke monster, and, of course, he wakes up in the desert wearing Halliwax' frozen donkey wheel parka.

Add all that to Hawkins' explanation about the island being one of several points possessing "special energy," and it seems Australia might really really be the "key to the game."

• And speaking of game, the lostisagame.com guy seems to be even more right about his interpretations as the show continues. Last night's episode not only had many call-backs to the pilot episode, but had many characters reversing the roles they held.

• Am I the only one concerned that Jack, the Man of Science, started his transition to a Man of Faith... whose belief in Ben after the fact is causing more trouble had he not believed in Locke initially? It seems to me his lack of faith in Locke causes Locke's "suicide." Which seems clear isn't really a despondent sort of act, but more of a fait accompli, as much as anything can be considered such in a show where time is so elastic. Dang, it's hard to get tenses and modifiers and objects and whatnot correct when discussing this show.

• I don't really want to get into the overt Biblical references in this ep, because other folks on the Internet with much more religious fervor than I are already covering it. And because the title of the episode clearly refers to John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." which, while giving comfort to many, just makes me think of Rainbow Man in the crowd of so many football games in the 70s. Which is the Dharma timeframe, come to think of it. Hmmm.

• But my favorite bit is that my man Lapidus is captain of the Ajira flight, since he was "supposed" to be the pilot of Oceanic 815. Not only do I dig the character because, as Mike Tattoo of MW once pointed out, he's "the Larry Young of the team," but because he's caught up with a bunch of accidentally time-travelling drama queens, and he just goes with the flow. Man, Mike Tattoo gave me just about the best compliment ever, there. Although I do wonder how Lapidus explained the Island-induced gap on his resume in order to get the commercial airline pilot gig.

• Lapidus also has the best line of the night: "We're not going to Guam, are we?"