Good idea. I'm thinking you are correct. You usually are.

Aww, shucks, thanks. There's been many times when I haven't. LOL

That is another thing I like. Poetic justice for his stubbornness and disregard for what he caused with his drilling.

It was Radzinsky that started The Incident. Daniel's coming along was just to try and fix what Radzinsky began and was intent on completing. Radzinsky's drilling was dooming the Island if he drilled into the electromagnetic mass with nothing to offset the resulting catastrophic release of energy. I think the hydrogen bomb was a counterbalace.

But whatever it was that happened changed the Island forever.

Could the ash have been around the cabin to prevent exactly what happened under the statue? Anti-Jacob being there to directly inflence an outsider into killing Jacob? Like a devil on your shoulder. "Go ahead. Kill him. You know you want to. Use my special knife. Not a gun though, that's just really impersonal."

Before I forget, didn't Richard say that he saw everyone die in 1977? Did he leave Eloise in the tunnels and race to the Swan station (while everyone else was driving pretty fast it seemed)? He did have a chance to catch up when Jack and Sawyer were having their Rumble in the Jungle. Or is it just misdirection because eventually all of the Dharma Initiative eventually died?

You make a good point about the ring of ash being there to keep someone out vs keeping someone in. That does seem likely since the ash was intact when Christian was seen (assuming that was man #2 and not some "projection") in various places on the island. But I'm not sure why Jacob would need protection from Black Shirt directly. On the beach, he seemed pretty at ease around him as if he had nothing to worry about. It seemed like Black Shirt couldn't directly kill him and that is what prompted Black Shirt to tell Jacob he would find a loophole. Although he didn't seem to have a problem kicking Jacob into the fire after Ben stabbed Jacob - and Jacob was not yet dead. So something still doesn't quite add up to me.

I have a thought about the ash keeping the smoke monster out rather than the man image we are calling Black Shirt. That, perhaps, somehow that spirit in the form of the smoke monster is more of a problem for Jacob than that spirit in the form of a man? It's getting very tricky inside my head now.

Assuming it works the same way - i.e. a nuke going off at the energy source vs. whatever turning the key did (clearly not just releasing the energy buildup as that was the purpose of entering the numbers into the computer). Maybe in the "original" timeline they had buried the bomb there and hooked up the detonation to the key. So for all we know it's the exact same thing I guess.

Interesting!

Before I forget, didn't Richard say that he saw everyone die in 1977? Did he leave Eloise in the tunnels and race to the Swan station (while everyone else was driving pretty fast it seemed)? He did have a chance to catch up when Jack and Sawyer were having their Rumble in the Jungle. Or is it just misdirection because eventually all of the Dharma Initiative eventually died?

Another interesting thought....I like the misdirection.

I still think the Others have to help contain the aftermath of the bomb and the magnetic release. The question is how they do it.

*watches a tumbleweed drift by and sighs*

Me and my son FINALLY watched this. Its hard to get 2 hours out to watch! We just freaked the whole time. Zach thinks the ash around the cabin was the trail left by the smoke monster. Maybe circling the cabin. All I know is I was speechless when I saw Locke's body in the box. It's going to be a looong summer! Actually fall too since they don't start the new seasons until January (thanks to that writer's strike last year or whenever).

January?...really? That sucks!

Well, they started in January the past 2 years. Maybe they'll surprise us and start it in the fall like they used to. I remember when the new shows would start in September. Its like they bump it every year.

Well, they started in January the past 2 years. Maybe they'll surprise us and start it in the fall like they used to. I remember when the new shows would start in September. Its like they bump it every year.

I'm pretty sure I saw something like "LOST returns in 2010" somewhere after the finale. So I suspect it will be January, 2010.