SPOILER ALERT – DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE OF LOST.

Whoa.  I mean, seriously, wow.  Last night’s Lost was huge, and epic, and it contained one hell of a twist at the end.  So let’s get analyzing, shall we?

• In Sideways world, we got a version of Jack that we know well – the compulsive fixer.  Even when Locke told him that he was not interested in surgery that would help him walk again (that he was a perfect *candidate* for), he kept on digging.  Apparently in this world, Locke injured his father in a plane crash, and he felt so guilty that he wouldn’t allow himself to “let go” and heal himself.  Quite a twist on what happened in the other timeline, when Cooper paralyzed Locke and never looked back.  I wonder what Sawyer would do if he discovered this Anthony Cooper was a vegetable – would he still want to kill him for what he did to his parents?  And along those lines, how was Jack able to track down this Anthony Cooper so easily, while Sawyer – a cop – couldn’t?
• Claire and Jack’s meet up in the hospital was interesting; what was the significance of the music box?  Other than the fact that it contained a mirror which they both looked into, and that it plays “Catch A Falling Star,” a song that Claire and Kate have mentioned/sang before?
• Also interesting was Jack getting an Apollo bar from the vending machine – the same candy that Jacob gave to him when he touched him and said that all it needed was a little push.
• Neither Sideways Jack or Locke said out loud that they remembered their Island selves, but we did get several hints that Locke was having some (perhaps subconscious) memories, the most obvious example being when he said “Push the button.  I wish you had believed me,” while he was asleep.  He also said “I know you” when he first saw Jack.  Jack assumed it was from their meeting at the airport, but could it also have been from the Island?  Jack is at least noticing that an awful lot of people he’s coming into contact with were on Oceanic Flight 815.
• The most obvious thing about this Sideways story is how it is the opposite (or mirror image) of what has happened before in the show, and what was happening on the Island in this episode.  In Sideways world, Jack is trying to get Locke to trust him, so he can save him.  On the Island, Locke (or FLocke, actually) is trying to get Jack to trust him, so he can kill him.  And even though Sideways Jack is still a man of science, he wants Locke to have faith that he can be healed, and is trying to convince him of something he will not accept.  The line he yelled to Locke down the hospital hallway, “I wish you believed me,” was what Locke wrote in his suicide note to Jack.
• But who are we kidding, this episode was all about what happened in the Island timeline.  The deaths of Sayid, Sun, and Jin were incredibly shocking and sad.  Jin and Sun were JUST reunited, only to die so soon thereafter.  Courtney was saying that Jin should have left Sun because of Ji Yeon.  Why would they want her to be raised by Sun’s evil father?  But I understand why he couldn’t leave her.  Their deaths were tragic and horrifically sad, not just for us as viewers, but for their friends as well.  I can’t remember the last time any of our castaways cried so much after a death of one of their own (excepting Sawyer after Juliet’s death, but even that was more full of rage than sadness.)  Sayid’s death, while also sad, was noble, and served to redeem him after he killed a LOT of people in a very short period of time.
• Oh, and where’s Lapidus?  Did he survive?
• OK, so now we know that FLocke is evil.  There is no doubt about that anymore.  He wants all the candidates dead.  He has succeeded halfway so far – only Hurley, Sawyer, and Jack remain.  His long con of everyone worked – including Sawyer.  And speaking of Sawyer, if we assume that Jack was right, and the bomb wouldn’t have gone off unless it was tampered with, then isn’t Sawyer responsible for Sayid, Jin, and Sun’s deaths in the same way that Jack was responsible for Juliet’s?  The show may never address that, nor does it really need to, just an interesting thought.
• But what of Widmore?  What are his intentions?  Maybe keeping our Losties in the cage WAS for their own good.  But why threaten to kill Kate?  Even if you don’t need her, that’s not gonna win you any friends with the rest of the gang.  And why plant explosives on the plane?  Assuming that it was really he who did it.  Could it have been Richard, Ben, and Miles?   Still, Widmore must have some sort of plan for killing FLocke, right?  Otherwise, why come back to the Island?  With a whole team of scientists and mercenaries and all that.  So what is his plan?  And why won’t he tell the Losties what it is?

Overall, this was an amazing episode – one that hit you in the gut and really moved the story along.  Quite a bit.  The teaser for next week’s show looked equally promising – will we finally get more clarification on the “rules” of Jacob and Man in Black’s game?  This show is almost over forever, but in the mean time the wait between each new episode is oing to be pretty tough to take.