pretty good ep. it's one of those non-linear eps that doesn't pay off or come full circle, like some episodes do quite well. y'know--with the island life profoundly paralleling with the flashback culminating in a moral, lesson or revelation. not MUCH of that. this is what we call a FILLER episode, but it's one that REALLY shouldn't have been. i mean, it's a JACK episode AND they actually run into the OTHERS! this shoulda played out differently. you have the others RIGHT THERE and you don't ask them some seriously overdue questions?! call me a whiner, but that shoulda been different. i dug the flashback a lot though. it was a slow burner. told in focused emotional strokes rather than splashed reveals or character coincidences. i totally bought into it.

i liked how they made it clear that everyone is doing what they are doing for very different reasons. the group appears to be moving in the same direction, but the divisions and motives are varied and for the time being secret. who is right? who is wrong? who is evil?! even with the down episodes and the occasional 6 week gaps between episodes, i still love this show.

confession: i think the way that the writers are handling the "others" is insane and they will not be able to make it pay off right. it just feels like they've painted themselves into a corner and they're trying to build to something that will most likely be convoluted and anticlimactic. i hope i'm wrong.