Ok, so this weeks episode of Lost was so amazing, I had to take a couple days to gather my thoughts. I feel like this episode had so much potential to be horrible, cheesy, and just put the show on a downward spiral forever, and it was either going to be an amazing episode, or a horrible one, and thank god it was the amazing! It was basically the most eventful, most BADASS, most emotional and fan rewarding episodes of Lost ever.

Ok so -

Tunisia, Teleportation, The Orchid - I remember in a podcast a couple weeks ago Damon and Carlton said that the fact that Charlotte found the polar bear in Tunisia (sp?) was really significant. And we see Ben waking up looking somewhat disheveled and confused in the Sahara in this episode, presumably the same place Charlotte found that polar bear. My theory is that the new Dharma station (The Orchid) has something to do with teleportation, and there are only certain locations that they can or will teleport things to for some unknown reason, and that's how the polar bear got there, and that's how Ben is getting off the island. When Locke, Sawyer, and Hurley were playing that board game in the beginning of the episode Hurley said something about how 'Australia is the key to the game', I think this may have to do with teleportation too, because Australia is where Flight 815 set off from.

Multiple badass moments in the episode - The way Ben was sitting there so calmly playing classical piano and then just pulled out a huge gun was amazing, as was him taking out the two gun toting desert men in the Sahara, and just totally reminded me why I love Ben. Sayid killing Widmore's man was amazing too (although nothing will ever beat Sayid's ultimate badass moment of breaking a man's neck with his feet whilst being tied up) and he totally deserved it. I feel so bad for Sayid, he finally got his happy ending with Nadia and then got it all taken away from him. However, I'm glad we finally got an answer to one of our questions so quickly, we now know why Sayid is working for Ben. I think Sayid and Ben are the perfect combination because its like, Ben is the brains behind the operation and Sayid is the badass, but Sayid is also one of the smartest people like on Earth, and Ben is obviously, a huge badass. Oh and of course, although it is not actually human (or is it?) the biggest badass of them all gave us a visit, the smoke monster! And it seems that Ben was the one the summoned it, and it seemed to be moving and more rapid speed and seemed to be... stronger (for lack of a better word) than usual. The smoke monster is probably Lost's biggest mystery and the one that I have no idea about, so if you have any good theories let me know.

Alex's Death and the Ben/Widmore Confrontation - Alex's death was absolutely heartbreaking. The acting was amazing in that scene, when Ben was saying Alex wasn't really his daughter and he didn't care about her, you could see the pain on Alex's face and you could just feel the anxiety and fear in Ben's voice. I think other than the island itself, Ben never really loved anyone but Alex, and after all the bad things that had happened between them in their last few weeks together, and the fact that her death was his fault, the guilt is going to be eating away at him but I'm sure the revenge will be great. Also, if Rousseau is still alive (I hope so!) it is going to be horrible for her, after have Alex taken away from her for 16 years to only spen a few days with her before she dies. Anway, my next point, the Charles Widmore/Benjamin Linus confrontation at the end of this episode. I thought it was shot really well, the way their faces were half-shadowing each other and the way they were standing so far apart and speaking so calmly but you could just feel the tension and hostility between them. Charles says something about how the island has been 'his for a long time' suggesting he has some sort of ties with Dharma. And then (one of) the biggest surprises of the night, Ben says he plans on killing Widmore's daughter, Penny! Well I was pretty much screaming at this point, because along with Locke, Ben and Desmond are my favorite characters. And as much as Ben needs to get revenge and take down Widmore, Des needs his happy ending with Penny! So I'm torn over who to side with. But thinking about this made me realized something. Ben and Desmond have never met. When Desmond came back at the end of season 2 on the Elizabeth, Henry Gale had already escaped. At the end of season 3 when Ben confronted the group, Des was in the Looking Glass Station with Charlie, and now that the camps have split up Des is with Jack and Ben is with Locke. I'll have to rewatch The Beginning of the End to see if they actually saw each other or were in the same proximity when the camps split up.

Sawyer- I'm loving the new Sawyer. I love how he's like best friends with Hurley now, they seemed to be hanging out a lot in season 3 and I love how he's being really protective over Hurley & Claire. When he told Locke and Ben that he'd kill them if they hurt one hair on Hurley's head I thought that was so adorable! And I love how he saved Claire and basically risked his life to help her. I think now that Sawyer has killed Anthony Cooper and been hurt by Kate so much, he's been kind of lost and unsure what to do with himself. And now that Hurley and Claire have lost Charlie is good to see Sawyer being so supportive of them because I think that is exactly what all three of them need. There have been some rumors circulating that the 'big kiss' that's happening in the finale will be between Sawyer and Claire. I don't know how much I would like that, I see them as more of a brother sisterly type thing, but after this episode it seems more believable and I'm willing to give it a chance.

The doctor - I felt like the stuff with Jack and the doctor slowed down the episode just a teensy bit, but it was minimal enough and eventful enough that it didn't really make a difference. And I don't really know what to make of this stuff! There are three possibilities I can think of the message they received can mean. 1) The doctor was killed (maybe because he was trying to stop Keamy + friends from leaving the freighter?) and they were just lying when they said everything was going to be okay. 2) The doctor really is alive and there is some sort of time warp going on between the island and the freighter (which seems possible according to all these quirky little things Daniel keeps saying about time and how its perceived). 3) There is a different doctor on the boat and that's who they are talking about. I read a crazy theory that the freighter is the future and the island is the past, and when Daniel was talking to the guy on the freighter when he was talking about the doctor, he was talking about Jack. Oh and I don't think Jack's sickness is anything serious. I think this is just setting him up so he will leave the island.
Other little things:

- Locke's crew is so much cooler than Jack's crew by a million miles.
- I absolutely love love love Daniel Faraday! I love his kind of nervous, shaky was of speaking, and I love the tie he always wears, he's adorable.
- Claire's hair looks like she's wearing a really bad wig and it has all season, am I the only one noticing this?
- I was thinking, in The Beginning of the End, Hurley was saying he was sorry he went with Locke. Could he mean he's sorry he's going with Locke now, instead of then? I mean I know Jack wasn't there, but we don't know much about Jacob and maybe what happens when they are all at Jacobs cabin could have serious implications for everyone on the island.

All in all, amazing episode, can't wait till next week!!