Another really good episode. Locke was very interesting. Who he actually was, and who the islanders think he is are two very different people. Which is a theme in the show, of course, but few more so than Locke.
However, I'm still not buying the 'wishes come true/dream into reality' idea, at least not yet. If it is a visualization to reality concept, it's a very strange or limited one. So far, we've only gotten two elements that can't be resolved (with varying degrees of believability) to something normal: namely the monster and the mysterious man-in-suit. While Locke's 'miracle' certainly is dramatic, it's not beyond the realm of reason that the accident itself might have done it. Neuroscience is wiggy that way (of course, it could also only be temporary or be damaging him in a completely different way...we don't know).
But if the island is granting thoughts, it's doing it in an odd way. Consider:
If Walt summoned the bear by reading a comic book, why didn't it appear to Walt, instead of half-way across the island? And why the polar bear, when his desire for his dog Vincent must have been much, much more intense? For that matter, how about his dad, actively searching for the dog, and he couldn't find him?
If we presume that Locke got his legs back from a wish, shouldn't he have had to wake up first to have the wish? A better question is how his legs are working so well, but we really don't know if he's been routinely exercising them in therapy, or how he lost the use of them, four years ago.
For that matter, if they were getting what they desired or feared....what's the deal with the french-woman's message? I can accept they might hear a 'you're doomed' message (although they were all clearly hoping to get a message out, to be saved), but the cryptic nature of the message, it's being in French and the strange details (such as the iterative count and guesses to its significance) make it hard for me to believe that it was by desire. I think the comic book may have been a red herring.
Consider also that we've got 48 people (49 at one point), and they clearly all have some pretty powerful desires and fears right now: none of which appear to be being acted upon by the island. So while it's a good theory, I don't believe in it.
The Forbidden Planet thing, though...that I can consider.
The big question of the episode was: what did Locke see, or not see? The follow-up question is: did Locke kill the boar, and if not, what will happen the next time they hunt?
At this point, I'm thinking that Locke didn't kill the boar, but instead dragged the corpse that the monster left behind. I don't think that the monster eats it's kills (just like with the pilot) and isn't hunting for food. Why it is hunting and what it hunts is another question entirely. Whatever the creature actually looked like was either too fantastic for Locke to accept or perhaps it did something to him. It's obvious the father doesn't believe him, but doesn't know what to say.
I do think it's interesting how thick the layer of secrecy has become, so quickly. You have several distinct groups:
- Those who've 'seen' the monster
- those who know about the broadcast
- those who know that Kate is a criminal
- those who know that Kate was placing a transmitter
- those who've seen the sneaker-wearing man-in-suit
Now, here's the interesting thing: only one character belongs to all these groups. Jack. Remove the man-sighting, and you've got two: Jack and Kate.
Hmmmm......
