Great episode but now I'm a little bit more confused. Trying to understand timelines... The Hanso Foundation was originally using the Island to "test things." Apparently the Island also has "natives" that live there as well. What intrigues me is the fact that with all the technology the posses, they are not able to stop these natives. One day, Ben snaps and decides to off everybody on the Hanso side. Fine, I get that, but now the natives have taken over the island and now became part of the new research team. How do you explain this to the board of directors at Hanso? Are they aware of what's going on? Do they realize that everybody is dead?
Now let's fast foward... the research now is about children being born on the island. True, I'm sure other experiments have be going on as well. With all the animals running around and all the stations, I'm sure there is still more explaining left to be done. Now, if I'm correct, the area where Desmond was at was also hit by Ben's virus thing. That would explain about "not" going outside because you can be infected. Makes sense, but wouldn't Ben know about the other stations? Why didn't he have scouts sent out to check them out?
Onto the crash of Oceanic Flight 183, it makes sense that "The Others" would like to investigate it, since a search party may lead to the island being discovered. What I never really understood is the way they did it. I mean, if I was going to capture 57 some odd people, instead of trying to "kidnap" them one at a time, I would reveal ourselves, trap them, and lock them all up. It's much better than trying to do all that hocus pocus and fooling them with costumes. Then again, it wouldn't be an interesting TV show.
With that said, it brings us to Jacob (btw, awesome picture). Who is he? What is he? Maybe he's part of that mysterious black smoke? Maybe he's the reason why people on the island heal faster? Maybe he's the reason why people keep seeing illusions (whispers in the woods, polar bears, Ben's mother, Jack's father, Eko's brother, bad dreams, Walt visions, etc..). Locke brought up a good point though. Nobody has ever seen Jacob. Why? How come on an island full of scientists, doctors, engineers, and logical thinkers, none of them have questioned the existence of Jacob? Speaking of mysterious things, whatever happened to Walt and Michael? I'm sure the others just didn't "let" them get away. Especially since Walt is very very special.
Finally, what role does Russo play in all this madness? Russo came on a ship with a crew, must have met Ben, and had Alex. Question is, how did this all happen?? Think about it: 1) How could have Russo had Alex on the island? 2) Why does Ben tell Alex that Russo is did when he knows she's alive and well?. 4) Since Ben knows about Russo, why does he leave her alone? Seems like it would be more beneficial to have her at the camp. 4) If Russo knows all about Ben, then she must know about the research that is taking place on the island. After all, she knew exactly where the camps where located and where some of the stations were. 5) Perhaps Russo was part of the "natives" that were originally stuck on the island, but where did they come from? If they were really stuck, how come nobody tried to rescue them or question about their existance.
Arrr!! So many questions and so little time left before the season finale.
