An Island Divided Against Itself...

Jack: Thinking about growing a beard.
Hurley: You’d look weird with a beard, dude.

Thank you, Hurley, for acknowledging my facial-hair-on-Jack discomfort. I appreciate that. More importantly, this little moment of comedic relief lets us know that yesterday's flash-forward scenes take place BEFORE Jack goes all drug-dependent and suicidal on us. It's before the mysterious death that sets him into the tailspin seen in last season's finale. And before Jack wants to go back. So something has to happen. There's a trigger that's missing. And my guess is that we'll find out what that is in the very last episode of the very last season. Hurley won't be the only crazy one by the end of this....

Then there's Matthew Abaddon. Was it just me, or was Jack wearing a jacket/name-tag combo similar to this new mysterious character when he shows up to shoot some hoops with Hurley? Is he some sort of island sellout? And if Hurley regrets going with Locke when the survivors split into two "tribes" (cue Survivor theme song), yet both he and Jack survive, then clearly there's more than just survival of the fittest going on. (Oh, and I'm holding out that one of the Oceanic Six is Aaron. Because he doesn't get enough screen time. And because an Aaron is needed to complete the Jack-as-Moses theme).

Charlie. His "I'm dead but I'm also here" line is eerily reminiscent of that Sixth Sense "I see dead people" moment. Is he trying to tell us something? Although I'm pretty sure that flashing forward has reassured us that the survivors haven't been dead all along.

This episode fascinated me with its exploration of loyalty. How do you choose sides when you have nothing of real substance to base your decision on? Who do you trust when it’s just word against word, gut against gut? And now my core group of trusted TV friends are divided. One moment, I’m sure it’s Lord of the Flies for grownups; the next, a tribal version of Romeo and Juliet. And naturally, my brain goes into overdrive, finding it completely non-coincidental that Jack and John, the leaders of the two groups, essentially have the same name. Does that make them the same person? They’ve been pretty parallel all along, each playing with power, contemplating suicide (in the future for Jack, in the mass grave for John), and having major daddy issues.

Question: Jack’s been making a lot of (so far) empty threats: “If he comes back, I’m gonna kill him.” He almost follows through. Think he’ll ever be held accountable to his words?

For a fantastic recap delving into all things exploding fruit and tea with Christian Shephard, check out Zap2It. They, too, share the Lost love.

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