Lost: The Shape of Things to Come

Holy cow, this episode was crammed full of so much stuff. Murder! Betrayal! Smoke monster! It was like an entire movie in one hour-long episode. A busy, confusing movie. I can't say I totally enjoyed this epsiode entirely (though I am psyched that it's back!), but I loved the ending when Ben raised the stakes a few more notches.

I love that that clip of Hurley saying "We're all gonna die" which I've been seeing in previews for weeks was actually just him . . playing a board game.

"Calm down, Chicken Little. The sky ain't fallin' just yet." When Sawyer said this to Hurley, I just thought it was a funny little nickname moment, though this is a reference to a character who believes disaster is imminent.

Of course Ben can play the piano in a creepy trance. Also, I kind of loved it when Widmore called Ben's eyes "horrible." They really are.

Ben's flashforward takes place in October 2005, which is a year and one month after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. In this one episode, the jet-setter is seen in the Sahara Desert, Tunisia, Iraq and London.

I love it when characters make remarks that could be quips about the entire series in general, like when Daniel Faraday says, "'When is kind of a relative term."

I completely thought this would be the episode when Claire dies (leaving Aaron in Kate's care). And then, it wasn't.

Why'd that guy murder Sayid's wife? And now we now how Sayid came to become Ben's killing machine.

"She means nothing to me." I can't repeat the obscenities I was yelling at the screen during this moment, but OMG. Ben is massive jerk, changed rules or no. His daughter died hearing that she meant nothing to him and was just a pawn. His status as that villain everyone loves to hate was changed to just hate.

And Alex wasn't my favorite character by far, but her death was incredibly sad to me.

Oh, so they brought back the smoke monster. Sad, crazy smoke monster. Anybody else giggle a little at the vaguely Yeti-like noises it makes as it wreaks havoc? I have a hard time taking that particular plotline seriously.

I don't care too much about the dead guy on the beach. It seemed like he existed in the story simply to make this exchange happen:Jack: "Were you ever going to take us off this island?"Daniel: "No."

Sawyer is so protective of everyone in this episode. Saving Claire, shielding Hurley from Locke. Love that Sawyer.

Widmore has nightmares?

Ben can't kill Widmore?

What exactly were "the rules" that Widmore changed? And where is Penny hidden that Widmore thinks Ben won't find her?

So, there's a lot to chew on here!