Michael shows up in the credits for upcoming episodes.

Correction: Michael also shows up in the credits from last nights episode (Season 4: Episode1), so maybe it's all just due to flashbacks and such.... maybe not.

Oh, and the "lawyer" who visit Hurley (from HBO's The Wire) is named Matthew Abbadon. According to Wikipedia it means Hell or the personification of Hell:

[SIZE="2"]Abaddon (Hebrew אבדון Avaddon, meaning "destruction"). In Biblical poetry (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11), it comes to mean "place of destruction", or the realm of the dead, and is associated with Sheol. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna.[1] By extension, it can mean an underworld abode of lost souls, or hell.

In Revelation 9:11, it is personified as Abaddon, "Angel of the Abyss",[1] rendered in Greek as Apollyon; and he is described as king of the locusts which rose at the sounding of the fifth trumpet. In like manner, in Rev. vi. 8, Hades is personified following after death to conquer the fourth part of the earth.

Abaddon is one of the infernal names used in LaVeyan Satanism, and is first in the list—only as it comes first alphabetically—and means "the destroyer."[/SIZE]

okay, let me amend my theory...it's not Walt in the casket (good point about a kid funeral and no one shows up?) my new theory is that it is Michael in the casket. Kate and Jack would both not be friends or family. Michael "left" the island on a boat and conceivably may be able to find his way back, which is why Jack was so upset that he has shuffled off his mortal coil.

Of course it may be Oprah in the casket waiting for another politcal endorsement, you never know with this damn show.

Oh, and I heard an interview yesterday morning with the guy who plays Ben (Michael _____?), and he 'confirmed' the allegation that the MSFs (Mysterious Freighter People ?) make the Others look "warm and fuzzy" by comparison. Scary!

Michael Emerson is the actor who plays Ben.

I think the MSF's are Penny's father's people, or related to him in some way. It could wind up that Penny and her father are in a race to get to the Island, unbeknownst to either one. That would be cool to see them in an Island showdown.

I'd love to know why Desmond was in military jail. There's a story there.

Regarding the cabin that Hurley saw and the man inside with Locke, I went back and watched again in slo-mo, and indeed, it is the person you referred to, Jim. I did not catch it on first viewing. I still think it's Jacob, but I think that Jacob could be a shape-shifter of sorts. I think he can take on any image, which is why we've seen Kate's horse, Jack's father, Walt, Hurley's imaginary friend Dave (though Dave may have been a true figment of Hurley's imagination) on the Island. I think Jacob is behind the whispering, too.

I got from those 2 interchanges that Jack's dad is still dead. Jack knew not to stick around when the pharmacist called his father's office 'cause he'd get in some big trouble trying to fill a prescription written by a dead man. In the interchange with the new chief surgeon, Jack had just taken a few pills and was most likely waaaaay out to lunch, or in deep denial.

Makes sense. I missed the pharmacy reference and I've seen the episode twice in the past week. I'm slipping. :o

fabu.

I like that word. I'm going to steal it and make it my own.

The most HORRIBLE theory that I've read so far is that the scene with Jack and Kate by the airport runway is the VERY end of the show: the VERY last scene. THAT would PISS ME OFF! I can only hope that isn't true.

That would truly suck. I'm hoping that they get off and on the island by the end of this season. I wouldn't mind a downer ending. I actually expect it. Just not that one.

Regarding the cabin that Hurley saw and the man inside with Locke, I went back and watched again in slo-mo, and indeed, it is the person you referred to, Jim. I did not catch it on first viewing. I still think it's Jacob, but I think that Jacob could be a shape-shifter of sorts. I think he can take on any image, which is why we've seen Kate's horse, Jack's father, Walt, Hurley's imaginary friend Dave (though Dave may have been a true figment of Hurley's imagination) on the Island. I think Jacob is behind the whispering, too.

Sounds dead on. One less question to worry about.

All this talk of the shape shifter and person in the cabin, Jacob....has given me a thought. What if the black cloud is what Ben calls Jacob. It's malevolent. The cloud seeks people out in the jungle to scare and chase them about. Change into something from the person's memory and cause that adrenaline rush....what!...that can't be. The cloud seems to feed on fear and confusion. What if Walt is to be another like Jacob? Hone his psychic skills and battle Jacob for control?
Again....just my mind rambling. I'll keep watching...I do LOVE LOST.

All this talk of the shape shifter and person in the cabin, Jacob....has given me a thought. What if the black cloud is what Ben calls Jacob. It's malevolent. The cloud seeks people out in the jungle to scare and chase them about. Change into something from the person's memory and cause that adrenaline rush....what!...that can't be. The cloud seems to feed on fear and confusion. What if Walt is to be another like Jacob? Hone his psychic skills and battle Jacob for control?
Again....just my mind rambling. I'll keep watching...I do LOVE LOST.

I think you're on to something here, Cobalt. It could very well be that the black smoke is another manifestation of Jacob, although when Juliet was handcuffed to Kate, she told Kate that they don't know what the black smoke is but they do know it doesn't like their high powered invisible fence. If the Others follow Jacob's every word, you have to wonder why they would keep a part of Jacob away from them. But perhaps the black smoke is Jacob's evil side. Maybe, and this just came to me, that's the only powerful part of him that can get around/over/through the ring of ash that surrounds the creepy cabin where Jacob seems to be stuck. The other images, like Kate's horse, Jack's father, Walt, are stationary images. The black smoke interacts with people, and as we know all too well, can grab ahold of you and kill you.

I think Walt is not a cute, cuddly kid.

Remember when Walt was first in Australia with his mother and her new husband? They were chatting between themselves and Walt keep asking them about his homework, which involved coloring birds in a book. They weren't paying attention to him. An angry looks flashes across young Walt's face and the next thing you know, a bird similar to the one he was coloring smashes into their living room window and dies.

Please, folks, please, if you haven't watched those short clips on abc.com, go see them now. One of them involves Walt and his time with the Others. Walt is powerful and, apparently, when angered he does nasty things. I haven't checked in the last couple of days, so those clips may already be gone from abc.com.

I like that word. I'm going to steal it and make it my own.

My nephews now refer to me as Aunt Fabu.