"Stranger in a Strange Land" Analysis and "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" Spoilers

There's a ton of great information to cover this week! We'll start by revisiting last week's conversation about Desmond with some insight from executive producer Damon Lindelof, followed by some extensive analysis of last week's episode, "Stranger in a Strange Land," and finally some spoilers for this week's episode, "Tricia Tanaka is Dead."

In last week's Official LOST Podcast, Damon Lindelof attempted to explain what happened to Desmond as follows:

Yeah, I guess it wasn't really quite a flashback in the conventional sense... The reality is, this is more the experience he had when he turned the fail safe key, and obviously as evidenced by future memories that he's having during his flashback, for the first time in the history of the show we actually allowed a character to have an opportunity to make a different choice than they made before, and Desmond doesn't. He's course-corrected by a certain mysterious older lady in a ring shop...

Did it really happen? Yeah, I think it really happened. I mean, you know, one of the things we try very rarely to do on the show is to play something as only having been imagined or dreamed, and I would say that in the global sense of things that Desmond went back and in the year 1996 actually had that experience. Now, I would venture to guess that in future flashbacks of Desmond's that they would be treated as traditional flashbacks where he doesn't really have any awareness of his destiny...

I think what's interesting is that there are certain things that happened the way that they used to happen that he changed as a result of being in the past that might sort of resonate over time, like getting hit in the face instead of the bartender or... maybe in another incarnation there were two photographs. That would explain how she [Penny] got one.

Basically, Damon says that "Desmond went back" and changed things "as a result of being in the past," confirming that this really was time travel (or parallel universe travel) and not merely a dream or hallucination. This still leaves us to speculate as to exactly how turning the fail safe key triggered such an occurrence, and how Desmond is now able to see "flashes" of the future.

In "Stranger in a Strange Land," we saw an indication that Karl's brainwashing may have had some effect on him, as he randomly spouted the phrase "God loves you as He loved Jacob" in the middle of a conversation on the boat.

It was mentioned at least twice in this episode that The Others live on the same island as the crash survivors. This fact was first revealed in the opening sequence of the Season 3 premiere when the camera cut to a wide shot of "Otherville" on the main island, with plumes of smoke from the plane crash in the distance. Since we now know that Karl once had a back yard, it seems safe to assume that Karl probably lived in Otherville before he was ostracized. Speaking of which, it would be interesting to know whether Karl has been "marked" like Juliet was, since he, too, seems to have been punished for insubordination.

Since Karl has never heard of the Brady Bunch, he's probably lived on the island his entire life, just like Ben. Assuming that Alex is Danielle Rousseau's biological daughter, Alex has also spent her entire life on the island. Regarding Alex's parentage, I've noticed that Alex refers to Ben by his name rather than referring to him as her father like everyone else does, so it seems that Alex knows that Ben is not her real parent. One can only speculate whether Alex knows that her real mother is alive on the island, however.

Karl may have revealed part of the reason why The Others captured several tail section survivors, including the kids. Supposedly, The Others were trying to give them a better life than they would have had with the other survivors. One of the kids that they captured, Emma, seemed in good spirits when she asked about Ana Lucia. Obviously, the captured survivors aren't completely in the loop.

Here's a rather strange observation about one of the people who was hanging out with Cindy, Emma, and Zack. Vozzek69 pointed out on DarkUFO's site that a man wearing a yellow shirt in the crowd seems to have appeared briefly earlier in the episode when Jack and Juliet were being escorted down the hallway. The man can be seen peering through a window over Jack's shoulder, possibly watching Juliet walk by since he seems to be looking in the same direction as Jack. This supports my theory that when Cindy said, "We're here to watch, Jack," she meant that they were about to observe Juliet's trial.



Ben's revelation to Jack that Ethan was their surgeon answers a formerly glaring question: why didn't The Others take Jack sooner if Ben had known about his tumor for so long? Apparently, Ethan would have been the one to perform surgery on Ben, but when Charlie killed Ethan, The Others had to come up with a different plan. Based on this new information, one could make a case that it was Charlie's fault that The Others had to capture Jack and the gang.

Jack starts the episode being very curt with Juliet: "Let me simplify it for you... I'm not going to help you." When Jack becomes aware that Juliet's life is in danger, he suddenly becomes compassionate towards her, and goes to the other extreme. He gets Ben to save her life, and at the end of the episode, instead of telling Juliet to rub some aloe on her own darn back, he offers to do it for her, and there's a hint of chemistry as Jack puts his hand on Juliet's waist. Later, as the two sail back to the main island together, the brief scene where they stand on the deck together evokes memories of scenes from Titanic. It's interesting to note that Jack saved Sarah's life and subsequently fell in love with her; is the same thing happening with Juliet? And if so, is this a deliberate setup? Ben reminded Jack that "No matter what you think, she's one of us."

At the end of the episode, "Sheriff" Isabel gives her translation of Jack's Chinese tattoo: "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us." Jack admits that that's what his tattoos say, but that they mean something else. There are lots of potential interpretations of the tattoo. One possible meaning is that Jack walked amongst the people of Thailand, but he was not one of them, and hence he became an outcast for forcing Achara to "mark" him. This "outcast" interpretation may indicate a connection between Jack and Juliet's marks. The meaning that Isabel apparently took from it (since she told Jack that it was ironic) was that Jack walks amongst The Others but he's not one of them. My wife observed that Jack isn't one of "us" because most people are followers, while Jack is a leader. This is probably similar to Jack's understanding of what the tattoos mean, based on what Achara told him before she marked him. Yet another interpretation is that Jack is not like other people because he's a savior figure, or in other words he has saved many people's lives and frequently puts other people's well-being before his own.

If you don't already subscribe to the "Cranky Fanatic" LOST podcast, you may be interested to know that Big-O is going to interview actor Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley, in an upcoming podcast episode. Look for it soon at http://crankyfanatic.com.

The remainder of this post contains spoilers.

This week's episode, "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," is a Hurley-centric episode. ABC's official synopsis is as follows:

Hurley's discovery of an old, wrecked car on the island leads him on a mission of hope not only for himself, but for a fellow survivor in need of some faith. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer reunite with their fellow castaways, but Kate is still torn about leaving Jack behind with "The Others."

Kate and Sawyer will return to camp in time for Kate to join Locke and Sayid in their mission to rescue Jack. Meanwhile, as seen in a LOST Moment, Vincent will run out of the jungle holding a decaying arm with a key and a rabbit's foot between its fingers. Hurley will follow Vincent (and the arm) back into the jungle. Presumably, this will lead to the discovery of the Volkswagen bus, where Sawyer will later teach Jin some English phrases to use with Sun while the two guys drink from DHARMA-branded aluminum cans. At some point during this episode, we'll see Danielle Rousseau, Paulo, and Nikki, and we'll also meet Hurley's dad (played by Cheech Marin) in Hurley's flashback. We'll also meet a character named Tricia Tanaka, who will probably die based on the episode title. According to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, the episode "features a touching scene between Hurley and 'Libby,'" and the episode ends with Kate confronting a character we haven't seen since Season 2 whose name rhymes with "clench matey" (which I can only assume means "French lady," or Danielle). Based on interviews with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, Ausiello believes that after the next several episodes, we'll know whether Claire is Jack's half sister, what The Others wanted with Aaron, how Locke ended up in a wheelchair, and the link between The Others and the DHARMA Initiative. Ausiello also reports that actress Marsha Thomason will have a recurring role on LOST starting in late April or early May.

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"Stranger in a Strange Land" Spoilers

The upcoming episode scheduled to air on February 21, 2007 is Jack-centric and entitled "Stranger in a Strange Land." The official ABC synopsis is as follows:

A power play ensues between Jack and "The Others" as Juliet's future hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, Kate, Sawyer and Karl continue on their journey away from "Alcatraz."

Jack's flashbacks will take place in Thailand, where he'll meet a girl and get a tattoo. In the present, Jack will meet Isabel, the mysterious Other who will read his "ironic" Chinese tattoo, as I've mentioned previously. Kate will ask someone (probably Karl) nonchalantly, "What did you do with the people that you took? The kids?" We'll also see the return of flight attendant Cindy in this episode, who now appears to be one of The Others. According to an ABC trailer, "The answers to three of LOST's biggest mysteries are finally revealed" in this episode.

"Flashes Before Your Eyes" Initial Thoughts

Wow, what a mind-blowing episode.

Okay, so apparently Damon Lindelof wasn't serious (or at least hadn't developed Desmond's plot line yet) when he said during the filming of Season 1 that "there isn't any time travel" on LOST. Maybe there wasn't any time travel back then, but there sure seems to be now. It's a bit frustrating that even the executive producers' formal statements about the show can't be taken seriously as a rule. Still, I have to say that I enjoyed this episode in spite of having been misled by Lindelof. Perhaps it's time to revisit possible connections between LOST and the 2004 book The Time Traveler's Wife, such as the fact that Desmond woke up in the jungle naked, a similar predicament to that of the time traveler in the book.

So it wasn't Claire that Desmond was really trying to save—it was Charlie. Who knew? Well, apparently actor Michael Emerson (who plans Ben) knew. As I mentioned previously, in a recent podcast interview Emerson gave his opinion that Charlie might be the next to die, and then quickly realized that he was discussing something that hadn't been revealed yet on the show. Before "Flashes Before Your Eyes" aired, based on scenes from the LOST Moments and last week's preview clip of Desmond telling someone that he or she would die, I was torn between whether Claire or Charlie was the one who was doomed. The whole episode I kept thinking it was Claire, right up until Desmond started talking to Charlie at the end of the episode (Claire's near-drowning was an excellent diversion).

Can Desmond change the future? If the mysterious white-haired lady, Ms. Hawking, is to be believed, then no matter what Desmond does he will not be able to save Charlie forever. However, Desmond has been able to successfully save Charlie twice so far, even putting his own life at risk to do so. Will they both end up dead? Or is it possible that Desmond can break "the universe's course-correcting"? After all, as we learned from one of the Easter eggs in last week's episode, "only fools are enslaved by time and space."

In one sense, Ms. Hawking herself seemed to have been a master of time and space since she knew Desmond's destiny; however, she seemed simultaneously enslaved by time and space because she accepted as an incontrovertible fact that it would have been impossible for her to save the man with the red shoes.

Based on the A Brief History of Time Easter egg in Not In Portland, one may speculate that when Desmond turned the fail safe key it caused him to travel through a black hole. According to HowStuffWorks, a Kerr black hole could theoretically be used to travel through time or even through parallel universes, which might explain why Desmond experienced many strange things such as the microwave making the hatch's four-minute countdown sound. Wikipedia lists several theoretical means of traveling to the past based on real physics, including travel by way of black holes. Professor Ronald Mallett's theory about traveling to the past is that it would be impossible for one to travel back in time and change history because "In a sense, time travel means that you're traveling both in time and into other universes. If you go back into the past, you'll go into another universe. As soon as you arrive at the past, you're making a choice and there'll be a split. Our universe will not be affected by what you do in your visit to the past." [source] This may explain why Desmond was unable to change any significant events in his past.

Of course, it may also be possible that Desmond dreamed the whole thing, although that would be rather uninteresting and a grand cop-out, and wouldn't explain how he can currently see the future.

For that matter, how can Desmond see the future? When he returned from his apparent time traveling experience, he was back in the present, so he apparently has not personally experienced any future events. How would it be possible for him to be seeing "flashes" of the future? Desmond's involuntary visit to the past doesn't seem to explain the oddity of his future sight, by any means.

Two Otherly white-haired women? No, not quite. [Minor spoiler ahead.] I recently mentioned that in one of the LOST Moments, we saw a white-haired woman who read Jack's tattoo aloud in Chinese. After reviewing this LOST Moment, it appears that this woman's hair may actually be platinum blond. The actress is different as well, for what it's worth. The Chinese speaking woman, whose name is Isabel, will be played by actress Diana Scarwid, while Ms. Hawking from Desmond's flashback is played by actress Fionnula Flanagan. This is another instance of LOST characters who look similar at first glance; when the Season 3 premiere began with a Juliet flashback, many people thought she was Sarah Shephard at first, particularly since the episode was supposed to contain Jack flashbacks.

"Not In Portland" Highlights and "Flashes Before Your Eyes" Spoilers

An awful lot of new information was revealed in last week's LOST episode, "Not In Portland," including the following:

• Juliet's married name is Burke (although we don't know her maiden name yet)
  
  
• Prior to the island, Juliet used science to successfully impregnate both a male field mouse and her sister, Rachel
  
  
• Juliet's ex-husband was killed by a bus not long after she told a recruiter that that's what it would take for her to be able to go. Suspiciously, the bus had an Apollo Candy advertisement on the side—the same brand of candy that was in the Swan station
  
  
• Juliet was recruited to come to the island, and Ethan was one of her recruiters
  
  
• If Juliet's statements to Jack at the end of the episode can be trusted, she has been on the island for 3 years, 2 months, and 28 days, and she has been kept there against her own will. Supposedly, Ben told Juliet in their private meeting that "he would let [her] go home"
  
  
• Tom reveals that Ben and Juliet have "got history"—which strongly implies a past relationship, possibly romantic based on one of Ben's comments in a previous episode
  
  
• Alex has her own boat which she uses to travel between the islands
  
  
• Ben is Alex's "dad"—although it is rather ambiguous whether he is her real biological father or simply her adoptive father

There were absolutely loads of Easter eggs in this episode. The most significant ones include the following:

• The name of the company who recruited Juliet was "Mittelos Bioscience." "Mittelos" is reminiscent of Hanso Foundation employee Thomas Werner Mittelwerk, and it's also an anagram for "lost time," as pointed out in this week's Official Lost Podcast.
  
  
• Aldo, the Other who was guarding the building where Karl was being held captive, was reading Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time." The specific pages he was reading discuss black holes and event horizons. This is another reference to the concept of time.
  
  
• If you play the music from the trippy brainwashing movie backwards, the words "only fools are enslaved by time and space" can be heard very clearly [backwards video with audio][audio only].
  
  
• Also in the brainwashing video is the text "God loves you as He loved Jacob." Jacob is the name of an Other with some sort of list, as mentioned by Pickett in the mid-season finale. Jacob is also the name of a Biblical character who had a son named Benjamin (one of the twelve tribes of Israel)—could this mean that Ben's father (or boss) is Jacob? Would this make Jacob "Him"?
  
  
• Juliet's sister used a Widmore pregnancy test, the same brand that Sun used.
  

As with any good episode of LOST, several questions arise. What about the womb shown by recruiter Richard Alpert to Juliet—was it the womb of someone on the island? If so, this would seem to explain why the Others needed an adept fertility specialist on the island. This also raises a question—why would they let Juliet go now? Have the Others overcome their infertility? This might be reaching, but did the Others' time with Walt teach them something that supplemented Juliet's research? Ben told Michael that they had gotten more than they had bargained for with Walt. I've heard a theory that the Others have decided to take Jack as Juliet's replacement, but Jack is a spinal surgeon, not a fertility doctor, and he apparently doesn't know much about other areas of medicine (judging by his weak knowledge of anesthesiology).

LOST fan Master Nak has an interesting theory about Sun's pregnancy, in light of last week's episode. Sun and Jin were told before the island that they couldn't have children, and supposedly it was because of Jin. However, after arriving on the island, Sun became pregnant. Is it possible that Sun might have been injected with the same solution that helped Juliet's sister become pregnant?

Now, on to spoilers! In this week's Official Lost Podcast, Damon Lindelof said that in next week's episode, "we will not be anywhere near Alcatraz island," but since Jack was left behind there will be "one more episode" involving Alcatraz. Carlton Cuse said that this would happen next week, in episode 9.

Carlton Cuse said that Nikki and Paulo "get a lot of play in upcoming episodes" and both indicated that those who have been pooh-poohing those characters will change their tunes later this season.

Damon said that in this week's episode, "some significant answers are going to come out as to what happened to Desmond after he turned that fail safe key."

The official ABC synopsis for this week's Desmond-centric episode, "Flashes Before Your Eyes," is a follows:

A suspicious and determined Hurley enlists Charlie to help him wrangle the truth out of Desmond, who has been acting strangely ever since the implosion of the hatch.

According to Hawaii resident LOST blogger Ryan Ozawa, in this week's episode we'll see Desmond in a suit walking out of Widmore Industries (presumably, one might conjecture, after seeing Charles Widmore). Desmond will cross paths with Charlie, who will be strumming his guitar on the street corner hoping to earn some pocket change. Later, Desmond will sit down and talk with a white-haired woman wearing purple [photo]. She will give Desmond a ring and he will give her money.

Penny Widmore and Charles Widmore will be seen again in Desmond's flashbacks. There's also a new character named Ms. Hawking (which is interesting considering the Stephen Hawking reference in last week's episode). This is just speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if the woman in purple might perhaps be Ms. Hawking.

A recent Entertainment Weekly article claims that in episode 11 of this season, which will air on March 7th, we'll finally learn more about the Other's connection to the DHARMA Initiative, and in this same episode we'll see the Flame Station. Also, according to Michael Emerson in this article, "other people may try to swoop in and occupy [Ben's position]" while he's recovering from surgery. As I predicted previously, I believe this will be the white-haired woman who spoke Chinese in one of the LOST Moments.

I forgot to mention this in the podcast, but this week's episode also includes a scene in which Desmond tells someone "No matter what you do, you will die," as seen in promotional clips. This may be Claire, who Desmond tried to save from drowning in one of the LOST Moments which may possibly pop up this week. It's also possible that Desmond might have been talking to Charlie; in another LOST Moment which may air this week, Hurley tells Charlie "there's a good chance that you will die," and in a hiatus interview with Michael Emerson, the actor who plays Ben said that he suspected that Charlie might be next to die based on something he knew about upcoming episodes.

LOST FaithCast with Big-O, Cliff Ravenscraft, and Christian Piatt

In this special "LOST FaithCast," Josh joins Big-O from Cranky Fanatic, Cliff Ravenscraft from Generally Speaking, and special guest Christian Piatt, author of LOST: A Search for Meaning. We discuss Piatt's book and various religious and philosophical themes in LOST.

Download MP3

LOST FaithCast tomorrow!

As I mentioned in my latest blog post and podcast, this weekend there's going to be a special roundtable discussion on religious references in LOST. The participants will be author Christian Piatt, and podcasters Big-O of Cranky Fanatic, Cliff Ravenscraft of Generally Speaking, and me, the JoshMeister.

If you'd like to listen live, please check out Big-O's live podcast page at http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=11562. We expect to start recording around 8 AM Pacific (11 AM Eastern) tomorrow morning—Saturday, February 10, 2007. The show will probably be about an hour long. If you miss it, check back here or check the podcast feed within the next few days to listen to the final, edited MP3 edition of the show.

Hiatus Spoilers Galore (and More!)

Tons of great LOST spoilers have surfaced during the mid-season hiatus. But first, let's recap the mid-season finale, "I Do," and get into some news.

In the mid-season finale, "I Do," Juliet tells Jack that she took Ben's blood tests and made all the notations. Is it remotely possible that Ben's tumor might be benign, and Juliet is just using her medical knowledge to trick Jack into putting his life in danger?

Later, there is a scene in which Alex breaches the compound where Kate and Sawyer are working, and begins to attack the guards with her slingshot. Alex demands of Pickett, "What did you do to him, Danny? Where is he?! I want to talk to Ben." Presumably, the "him" to which Alex refers is Karl, based on her next comment to Kate. This dialogue is also interesting because it seems to indicate that Alex trusts Ben. As Alex is dragged away, she yells to Kate, "Whatever they say, don't believe them! They're going to kill your boyfriend, just like they killed mine." Apparently Alex thinks that Karl has been killed, although this has not yet been confirmed on the show.

When Kate talks with Jack through the glass wall, Kate tells him that "They're making us work. I don't know what it is, but it's big." We've only seen Kate and Sawyer breaking and hauling rocks, but for some reason Kate seems to think that there's some greater purpose for their labor. When Jack asks Kate, "Did they hurt you?" she begins to sob, which might indicate that she was hurt after the beach breakfast with Ben before being taken to the cages, or she might simply have been crying because of her fear that they might kill Sawyer.

Before Ben's surgery, he asked Juliet, "Did Alex ask about me?" Juliet replied, "No, we took her home last night. I don't know where she is now." First, it seems from Ben's question that he cares about Alex and was concerned about her. Second, Juliet's response, assuming that it is trustworthy, leaves us to wonder about the timeline of events. If Alex had already been taken "home" (presumably to the main island) the night before, then did this take place before or after Alex opened the door to Jack's cell? While watching the episode, I assumed that Alex had already been taken home and had made her way back to the "Alcatraz" island before she released Jack. This certainly seems feasible if Alex has some way of her own to travel between the islands—and I believe she does—possibly the "subterranean conduit" mentioned on the blast door map. I have a strong hunch that Alex will come to Kate and Sawyer's rescue as they try to escape the island. Refer to the TheoryCast for more discussion of this topic, as well as the spoilers later in this post.

The producers of LOST have recently been in talks with ABC to officially decide how many seasons LOST will run. This will give them a target from which to figure out how to pace the story. The executive producers have previously said they're hopeful that LOST will last around 100 episodes, or 4-5 seasons.

The LOST "mobisodes" that were supposed to have run during the hiatus haven't happened. A source claims that the mobisodes are on hold indefinitely due to difficulties in negotiations with actors. In lieu of the mobisodes, there have been 13 "LOST Moments" on ABC's Web site, one for each week of the hiatus. Each one shows a scene from an upcoming episode in Season 3. Some of the most interesting moments include the following. (Please note, the remainder of this post contains several spoilers.)

• Charlie calls Desmond a coward and they get in a fight
  
  
• As Charlie and Hurley are about to ransack Sawyer's stash, Desmond appears and tells them to come with him
  
  
• Claire is lying face down in the ocean, and Desmond swims out to her. Meanwhile, Charlie sees Sun holding Aaron and asks where Claire is, and begins to run toward the water. The next thing we see is Desmond bringing Claire back to the shore
  
  
• Jack is in an outdoor cage (so obviously this is some time after Ben's surgery and Kate and Sawyer's attempted escape), and he awakens to find several people watching him—including flight attendant Cindy, who disappeared shortly before Ana Lucia shot Shannon. Jack asks "How did you end up with them?" to which she replies with a smile, "It's not as simple as that, Jack." This may be a hint that Cindy has been working with the Others all along (which would confirm a suspicion I've had since her mysterious disappearance). The manner in which Cindy speaks to Jack is very similar to the way Juliet has spoken to him: she clearly enunciates each word, and calls him by name frequently. She tells him, "We're here to watch, Jack."
  
  Interestingly, Cindy may not be the only survivor of the Flight 815 crash who is working with The Others. On the Generally Speaking Lost Podcast, it has previously been mentioned that an unnamed male character whom fans are calling "Mr. Squinty" and an unnamed female character I'll call "Ms. Dreadlocks" have been seen working with The Others, as shown in these episode screenshots (courtesy of GSPN):
  

  
  

• In another LOST Moment that's very clearly from Episode 7, which will air this week, Kate talks to Jack on the walkie-talkie she took from Danny and tells him that she and Sawyer need a boat to get off the "Alcatraz" island. Suddenly, a bullet hits her walkie-talkie and it breaks in pieces. Kate and Sawyer run for cover as Danny and a gang of Others pursue them. As Kate ducks behind a tree, an Other pops up and aims a gun at her. He is instantly taken out and falls to the side, but no gunshot is heard; was he was taken out with a slingshot? This would support my theory that Alex will save Kate and Sawyer.
  
  
• In another clip that's probably from this week's episode, Tom asks Jack whether Juliet really asked him to kill Ben. He threatens Jack, saying that he will die if he lets Ben die, and Jack responds that he's willing to take his chances.
  
  
• A scene from a Jack flashback seems to take place in Thailand (or so I assume because that's where Jack got his tattoo, and the executive producers have revealed that we'll learn the tattoo story this season). My theory is that Jack went to Thailand after his marriage failed, and he sought worldly pleasures in an attempt to dull the pain of losing his beloved Sarah.
  
  
• Hurley slaps Charlie and exhorts him to go with him on a mission in which "there's a very good chance that you will die."
  
  
• Vincent runs out of the jungle toward Charlie and Hurley with a skeletal arm in his mouth. In the mummified hand is a key and a rabbit's foot (apparently, the rabbit's foot didn't bring much luck to its owner). Vincent runs back into the jungle and Hurley follows, instructing Charlie to tell someone if he's not back in three hours.
  
  
• Sawyer and Jin are sitting in a Volkswagen van in the middle of the jungle. Sawyer is teaching Jin some English phrases, and they appear to be drinking DHARMA brand beers. A mummified skeleton is sitting on the ground, propped up against the van. (This clip begs the question: how in the world did this vehicle get on the island??)
  
  
• Sawyer and Kate are on a small boat, making their escape from the island. Kate tells Sawyer to go back because they can't leave Jack.
  
  
• An older white woman, presumably an Other, reads Jack's tattoo aloud in Chinese and tells him that its meaning is ironic.

In a hiatus episode of The Official LOST Podcast, the executive producers revealed that the writing that John Locke found on Mr. Eko's Jesus stick—"lift up your eyes and look north"—will propel Locke on a mission. They also revealed that we're going to find out what happened to Desmond the second or third episode back.

ABC's official synopsis of this week's Juliet-centric episode, Not In Portland, is as follows:

Jack is in command as the fate of Ben's life literally rests in his hands. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer find an ally in one of "The Others," and Juliet makes a shocking decision that could endanger her standing with her people.

Some of the characters that will appear in this episode include Mr. Friendly/Tom, Ethan, Alex (Danielle Rousseau's daughter), Karl (Alex's boyfriend), Danny Pickett, and "a morgue employee." According to actress Elizabeth Mitchell, we'll find out why Juliet chose to join The Others.

Spoilers from Ryan Ozawa include that some of Juliet's flashbacks will take place at Miami Central University's Medical Research Laboratory, and Ethan will appear there as well.

Prepare to be shocked! Two major twists are coming up during the second half of Season 3. In a TV Guide interview, Damon Lindelof revealed the following:

There are two bombs being dropped, one of which is a character bomb, and that will happen within the first three episodes after the break. And the other is a more significant story bomb, a game-changer, as it were, and that will happen shortly after.

Those LOST fans who dislike Paulo's character (who along with Nikki was thrown into this season with a rather weak introduction) may be interested to hear that Rodrigo Santoro reportedly said in an interview that he would no longer be on the show past this season. Other spoilerish rumors indicate that Paulo will have a significant role to play in the show's plot before he's gone, however.

In a recent podcast interview [MP3 link] with Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus, Emerson gave several opinions and possible spoilers that are rather interesting:

• He seems to believe that The Others really might have super strength, as some fans have speculated
  
  
• He thinks that Charlie might be the next to die (possibly because of something he knows about an upcoming episode)
  
  
• If Ben dies on the operating table, "it is going to create a sort of absence of power at the center of Other culture, a vacuum of power that others may step into, which characters you haven't met yet. Frightening characters." My own speculation about this is that perhaps the Chinese-speaking woman may be Ben's replacement.
  
  
• When asked whether The Others work directly for the Hanso Foundation or DHARMA, Emerson said "No. Not the Others that we know."
  
  
• He revealed that Ben has truly lived on the island his whole life.
  
  
• He believes that The Others will once again be able to communicate with the outside world
  
  
• He confirmed that there is indeed more than one group of Others, and said that it is not an offshoot of Ben's group.

LOST is scheduled to return this Wednesday at its new time, 10:00 PM Eastern and Pacific. A brand new episode is expected every week all the way through the Season 3 finale.

Also, check in this weekend for a special podcast with Christian Piatt, the author of LOST: A Search for Meaning. It will be a round table discussion about religious references in LOST, featuring Piatt, Big-O from Cranky Fanatic, and Cliff Ravenscraft from Generally Speaking. If you buy Christian's book through this link you can currently save 20% off the cover price!