May 3
In last week's shocker, Michael, having seemingly escaped from the clutches of The Others, turned on the castaways, shooting Ana Lucia and Libby point-blank. Ana Lucia looks to be pretty much dead, though Libby was carrying some heavy blankets in front of her when she was shot.
Some who responded to USA TODAY's request for observations wondered whether the shootings were retribution for the real-life Hawaiian DUI convictions of cast members Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros, though producers have maintained this plot twist was planned since the day they were hired. Several viewers pointed out the ironic name of the episode: "Two for the Road."
(How many of you noticed that the visible numbers on the roofs of the police cars in the police parking lot were 04, 08,15,16,23 and 42?)
It's not only sobriety. Others pointed out that abstinence seems the best course for single women as well on this island — both Ana Lucia and Shannon had sex soon before they died.
There was the usual more-than-coincidental string of connections between the characters — Ana Lucia being hired by Jack's dad Christian Shepard, who nearly tripped over Sawyer on his way into the bar.
And the false names Ana Lucia and Christian gave each other — Sarah and Tom — reflected the name of Jack's ex-wife and Kate's childhood friend who died during her escape.
But a question hangs in the air: Who was the daughter that Jack's father was insistent on seeing in Australia? Is Jack's half-sister on the island? Several readers were betting on Claire, who has already said she never knew her father.
This week's featured song from a singer who died in a plane crash: "Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline.
And a close-up of the car radio later showed it tuned to 99.9 — 666 upside down? — and the time as 5:29. One reader looked up John (as in Locke) 5:29 in the King James Bible: "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." A reference to the good-bad theme throughout the episode, and the demise of Ana Lucia?
• Do you have faith? Do you doubt? Do you care? Will you watch Lost Wednesday (9 ET/PT, ABC) and let us know what you see, at life.usatoday.com?
April 12
On April 12, we saw how Rose and Bernard met and fell in love — and we learned why Rose doesn't want to leave the island: As with Locke's paralysis and Jin's infertility, Rose is convinced the island has cured her cancer.
A few of you noted that a highlighted song was "These Arms of Mine" by soul master Otis Redding, who died in a plane crash in 1967. And several others noticed that Bernard's abortive message on the sand resembled a "frowny face."
Of more potential significance are images floating around the Internet showing a close-up of the gondola of Henry Gale's balloon — with the logo of Widmore Laboratories on the side. That's the company that made Sun's pregnancy test, and the name has cropped up before in the series — as it apparently does in the book Bad Twin.
April 12
After the previous episode's smorgasbord of clues, last week's Lost, focusing on Hurley's "friend" Dave, served up far more questions than answers.
And viewers, responding to our online request for reaction, chimed in with their own theories. Some wonder whether the Dharma food stash, which Hurley tore into, was laced with mind-altering drugs, spurring Hurley's reunion with his imaginary pal. On one side, they brought up mental-health moments suffered by Charlie, Claire and others as evidence. On the other side, some viewers noted that the islanders didn't discover the food until they had opened the hatch — long after they had seen the polar bear and other apparitions.
And then, some ask, is everyone in the show actually institutionalized, as were Hurley and Libby? Each of the Oceanic survivors has a secret in his or her past that could easily lead to a breakdown. Possibly fitting into that theory, many noticed that the picture over the couch in Hurley's psychiatrist's office is of an island that bears more than a passing resemblance to our mystery isle.
April 5
After several slow weeks, finally — a Lost with lots of fresh fodder for theorists.
Last week, in what could be the granddaddy of all clues so far, the producers offered us a diagram of what seem to be the secrets of the island. The sprawling, scrawled map was painted in black-light colors on a drop-down metal door.
And to emphasize the map's significance, the show trapped Locke under the door so he would have no choice but to stare at it and try to memorize as much as he could before it disappeared.
Viewers across the country — and readers responding to our request for observations — apparently scrutinized the map as closely as Locke did.
The map was in an octagonal shape echoing the Dharma Initiative logo. In the center was a question mark surrounded by a dashed circle. Radiating out in spokes from that center could be seen (thanks to the wonders of pause control) a number of what looked like hallways. They lead mostly to circular areas denoted by various Dharma icons — the swan, the staff, the arrow, the flame.
In a notation pointing to the swan area, a message was written: "I am here."
And several areas were marked CVI, CVII and CVIII. Those happen to be Roman numerals for 106, 107 and 108, the last of which is the hatch clock's countdown time in minutes.
While we're on the subject, there was more grist for Lost's numerous numerologists and students of the 4-8-15-16-23-42 sequence:
• The number on the safe deposit box in which Locke's father had stashed the retirement-con cash was 1516.
• The card that Sawyer dealt to Jack from the bottom of the deck was an 8.
• Henry Gale's address on the driver's license was 815. And the ZIP code of his hometown of Wayzata, Minn., is 55391 — which adds up to 23.
Other coincidences (or not): Many readers noticed that the woman whose house Locke is inspecting in his flashback happens to be Nadia (played by Andrea Gabriel), Sayid's old girlfriend from a past flashback. And by the way, both planes that flew close over the Flightline Hotel were — everybody, now — Oceanic Air.
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