Missed this from last week: In the airport Sun is called Ms. Paik, rather than Mrs. Kwan, by the security guards and Jin doesn't appear to have a wedding band on.
******
Final Season Episode 2
1. Sayid's torture:
* What if the pill was just a test for Jack to see if he would do the right thing for his friends and not put Sayid in harms way again? After all, Dogen said "here is your chance to redeem yourself." (I don't actually believe this as I think Dogen is just playing on Jack's guilt, that his actions continue to get people hurt, to get Sayid to take the pill, but thought it was an interesting theory)
* The ash test? To see if Smokey has taken over Sayid? What about the electricity (or was it sonic like the Otherville fence?) and hot poker?
* Think about how Sayid cried/ moaned/ pleaded while he was tortured. The old torturer-Sayid would have maintained composure (like when Rousseau tortured him). This is not our beloved Sayid.
* Sayid's only frame of reference for his experience with Dogen was one he knew from his past: torture. He told Dogen that he had no information to share, nothing that he was hiding. Was that the ''tell'' Dogen was looking for? Remember last season, when Richard indicated that one of the side effects of the healing water at the Temple was forgetfulness. Maybe Sayid remembers too much; maybe if the spring had worked, he wouldn't have processed his experience through the lens of his old, damned life. Regardless: Sayid said "failed."
* Sawyer's comment about Sayid being allowed a second chance, insinuating that Juliet wasn't allowed one but would have been more deserving of it... maybe the Island was done with Juliet, she reconciled her past and was allowed to move on, but maybe Sayid has more to do, like Michael. Michael couldn't die until the island was done with him.
2. The flash-sideways:
* Some events seem fated to happen whether on the island or in this alternate reality:
- o Ethan Rom/Goodspeed being involved with Claire pregnancy and the birth of Aaron ("I don't want to stick you with needles if I don't have to." Yeah, we've heard THAT before! Literally.)
- Kate being there/helping to deliver Aaron.
- Aaron being cared for by Claire, not given away.
- Kate becoming friends with Claire.
* Kate looks out the taxi window and sees Jack. They share a lengthy glance that tells us she clearly remembers him from more than just their run-in in the airplane bathroom.
* The mother who was supposed to adopt Aaron (Lindsey Baskum) was similar to pre-island Claire. Same back story! (Or at least the Island-Claire back story.) FLASHBACK to season 1 episode ''Raised By Another.'' Claire got pregnant and was initially wary of being a young mom, but Boyfriend Thomas was all ''We can do this!'', which got Claire all psyched to have the baby. Then Boyfriend Thomas got cold feet and dumped her, and Claire decided to give the baby up for adoption.
* Kate gave the alias Joan Hart when checking Claire in to the hospital. FLASHBACK to season 1 episode ''Born To Run,'' in which Kate - sporting dyed blonde hair - used the Joan Hart alias to check into a motel, then sneak into a hospital to visit her dying mother. This was also the episode where Kate and her childhood friend dug up the time capsule (inside: toy airplane, baseball), as well as the episode where Kate and Sun conspired to poison Jin so that he wouldn't leave the Island on the raft. We saw all those beats mirrored and referenced in last night's episode (hospital visit, poisoning, baseball, Sawyer's time capsule/ box).
* The stuffed whale in Claire's luggage. In the original island time line... it was Kate who gave Aaron that killer whale in season 4 episode ''Something Nice Back Home."
3. Infected/ darkness:
* If Claire (Jack's half-sister) is "infected" with the "darkness" and now looks Rousseau-ish, does this mean it's possible it was Rousseau who was infected, and not her team?
* Remember Season 4 finale when the mercenaries blew up some Dharmaville houses, Claire luckily survives such an explosion and a few minutes later meets Miles. Claire says something like "Wow, we're lucky to be alive!" and Miles answers something like: "I wouldn't be too sure." Maybe Claire was already dead and taken over by the sickness (as Miles seemed to notice there something was different with her or at the very least he looked at her suspiciously).
* When Ben and the Others used a poison gas attack on the Dharma compound during The Purge, perhaps they were actually preventing the "darkness" from spreading to the rest of the island, as the "darkness" had already claimed the Dharma encampment???
o Also, Daniel and Charlotte prevented a large amount of poison gas from being released by Ben at The Tempest. Perhaps Ben had anticipated that the "darkness" had already spread to some of the inhabitants?
* How did Sayid catch the sickness? We've known his whereabouts almost the entire time he's been back on the island, and he never encountered the Smoke Monster. I guess going into the Spring/ healing pool could have something to do with it (on account of the water being murky), but Dogen and a couple Others went in there, too, and I'm assuming they're not sick.