For starters, how cool is it that Zoe is Sheila Kelley? A brilliant actress in her own right, but also the wife of one of my favorite West Wing actors Richard Schiff.
Really? Good to know. Sorry I was distracted by the fact that Alt-Miles is a snarky cop with a shield and a sidearm and a flak vest. It’s like they’re tapping into my dreams. And I’m gonna’ fanwank that Ana-Lucia is his girlfriend 'cause I’m really hoping she’ll show up. If Charlotte can come back from the dead…
The scene where Claire attacked Kate while Sayid just looked on in a daze – I’m sure the writers didn’t intend for my reaction to be laughing my sBarb off and chanting “Go, Claire, Go!” But it totally was.
Smokey on one side, Widmore on the other. Ilana and the Jacobites seem quite outmanned and outgunned at this point. This could get interesting.
Richard-centric episode next week. Fangirl squee!!
I always thought ‘Laflure’ and Sawyer as head of Dharma security was a subtle reference to his line: “There’s a new sheriff in town”. This time…not so subtle.
This is my new favorite “sideways mirror” moment. Of course Sawyer breaks it.
Didn’t Sawyer tell Kate he watched “Little House” as a kid in season three?
Does recon refer to reconnaissance or “to con again”?
Are Widmore and “Locke” conning Sawyer? is the sonic fence is just a pigeon drop?
Okay, I see your Miles/Ana Lucia fanwank and raise you Hurley and Libby being all cute and adorable in a flash sideways. RIP Libby
The scene where Claire attacked Kate while Sayid just looked on in a daze – I’m sure the writers didn’t intend for my reaction to be laughing my sBarb off and chanting “Go, Claire, Go!” But it totally was.
I’ll never understand all the the Kate Hate folks myself. But my LMSBO moment in the episode was when Sawyer saw it was Kate who wrecked his car in the flash sideways (after I thought it had to be Charlie high on drugs) and says “son of a bitch” just like he does on the island. I can’t put my finger on it but something about Josh Holloway’s delivery was just so funny.
Smokey on one side, Widmore on the other. Ilana and the Jacobites seem quite outmanned and outgunned at this point. This could get interesting.
So since it’s pretty clear that Jacob and the Jacobites, as well as Widmore, have a common enemy, the 3.2 million dollar question in my mind now is whether Widmore is really siding with Jacob.
Richard-centric episode next week. Fangirl squee!!
Yes, based upon the spoilers I’ve read this should be a really excellent episode with some really good answers. But I won’t say anything more than that here.
Me too. The “enhanced” version with commentary really should say something like "obligatory flash-sideways mirror scene in 3 … 2 … 1 … " BAM!
Does recon refer to reconnaissance or “to con again”?
This isn’t the first episode title that’s been intentionally open to interpretation (i.e. LA X, The Substitute) so I wouldn’t be surprised if it referred to both.
Edit: Fixed quote tags.
Yeah, I annoyed my wife by yelling “No, Smokey! Don’t stop her!” 
Smokey was fantastic in this episode, he’s really grown as a character and is interesting.
Re: Smokey’s crazy mother – if she’s in a mental institution and all of this in her head, I call shenanigans.
And I would be totally happy with a Hurley/Libby union in the Alt U. The car crash scared the heck out of me (please stop doing that, show) but I wasn’t surprised it was Kate. Did you catch Charlie’s brother in the police station asking for Charlie?
Tawaret was a mother goddess figure of fertility in Egyptian mythology, concubine of Set. I don’t know if she was ‘crazy’ or not, but the fact that there’s a Tawaret statue on The Island seems like a funny coincidence.
Could Smokey be Set or the son of Set?
I thought that since both Widmore and Smokey had convinced Locke he needed to bring everyone back to the island that they were on the same side, but since Widmore seems to need to fend him off, it seems unlikely.
Me too. The “enhanced” version with commentary really should say something like "obligatory flash-sideways mirror scene in 3 … 2 … 1 … " BAM!
he he, or the obligatory 3…2…1…“son of a bitch”.
Yeah, the whole question of who’s side Widmore is on is confusing. Here’s my take (from my blog linked above).
Who’s side is Widmore on? “Locke”/Smokey’s? Jacob’s? None of the above? If he is on Jacob’s side, why didn’t he stop and help Ilana and her team last week? If on “Locke”'s, why is he setting up the pylons to protect from Smokey?
Also, he didn’t seem to surprised that “Locke” wasn’t really Locke. When Locke met Widmore last season Widmore was helping Locke regain contact with the Oceanic 6. Did he know what was going to happen to Locke, somehow? Odd, since Locke was killed by Ben, who is (or was anyway) his opponent. At one point Widmore was the leader of the Others (before Ben pushed him out) and the Others seem to be followers of Jacob. Did he change sides after Ben took over the Others? Then why set up a scheme against “Locke” with Sawyer.
Argh! I’m so confused.
Finally, remember that Widmore told Desmond to take Penny somewhere safe because a war was coming. Again, everyone is acting like whatever happens on the Island is going to have a major effect on the rest of the world. What is so important about this place.
And what was with the locked room on the submarine. What is in there? Desmond? Aaron? Another nuke?
Or, maybe Widmore thinks he can take out both Smokey and Jacob and take over the whole Island for himself?
Yeah. He may be playing one side or the other, but it’s safe to assume that Widmore’s on the side of Widmore. They’ve been playing it pretty close to the vest as far as “who’s the good guy? who’s the bad guy?”, but to me Widmore will always be the bastard who wouldn’t waste his Macutcheon on Desmond.
And what was with the locked room on the submarine. What is in there? Desmond? Aaron? Another nuke?
It looks like the locked room is the new guitar case. Whatever it is, I hope it’s not as underwhelming as the wooden ankh.
So I finally caught up - and am now (not so) patiently awaiting the next episode with everyone else. I just watched this episode last night and have a few thoughts…
So is Kate not one of the candidates? Her name wasn’t on the walls of the cave…And if she isn’t, why did she need to come back to the Island?
Not happy that two out of my three favorite characters (Sayid, Sawyer and Desmond) are now on the side of the effing smoke monster. I’m not really concerned about Sawyer because I think he’s really just trying to survive and hasn’t actually gone over to the “dark side”. But poor Sayid seems totally gone right now. And that makes me sad 
Didn’t see it coming that Sawyer is a cop in the flash sideways. I do like it a bit though - it actually is a better way for him to find “Sawyer” than being a con man himself.
I am also incredibly sad that Claire has totally gone Rousseau on us…i kept wondering if Charlie’s sacrifice was for nothing…since clearly Desmond’s vision of Claire and the baby getting on a helicopter didnt happen and probably won’t (since Aaron is not in need of rescue currently).
REALLY excited to find out Richard’s story.
Seconded! Expecting some great island backstory action and a bunch more answers (that will probably lead to more questions). Tomorrow can’t come too soon.