Well, we don't know for sure that Shannon is dead yet... Wounds have a magical way of healing themselves in SF/fantasy, and perhaps on the island in particular (witness Jack's shoulder injury). But I'd be willing to bet that she's a goner.

We catch a glimpse of Jack in the hospital when the doc is talking to Shannon and her stepmom.

The Others must have done something REALLY nasty to the tailies to make Ana-Lucia such a hard-@ss. Next week we find out.

Also, I wonder if next week is the joyful reunion between Rose and Bernard, or the week after?

So the Others took Cindy? If they took anyone, I was half-expecting it to be Bernard.

A heads-up: even though I studiously avoid the previews -- I did catch that next week will be an "extended" episode, so check your TV Guide (oh wait, TVG is a piece of **** now...) your local listings if you are recording it.

Sorry, Influx, USA Today has a story on Shannon that says Ms. Grace has been written out of the show.

Wow. What an episode. Much better than than the first couple of ones this season.

Seeing how Shannon was at one point a kind and unassuming girl with dreams, and her stepmom the b*tch, and how this and the death of her dad may be led her on the path to becoming a freeloading b*tch herself, was a wonderful backstory revelation, in the best tradition of the first season. Seeing how well she and Boone got along prior to the Australia incident was illuminating.

I liked the foreshadowing of the two groups meeting. We see Ana Lucia's group walking through tall grass, and then, immmediately after, we see Shannon walking through tall grass.

Also, when Ana told Eko she liked him better when he didn't talk, I suddenly had this epiphany, thinking it would be cool if there were a second pilot, this time showing events of the crash on the island from the Tailies' perspective, and how Eko would be established to be mute at first, and then suddenly speak, in a vein similar to Sun. Hell, maybe there could be an arc of several episodes in this vein, leading up to the meeing between them and the Jack Pack, or maybe even a spinoff called LOST: Tailspin. And lo and behold, the preview for next week shows that we're gonna indeed get a extended ep that looks like just that!!

My thinking was that, given how long I've heard it takes to die from a stomach wound (if Reservoir Dogs was correct, and if Shannon and Sayid were close to camp, that perhaps they'd race her and Sawyer back to camp, and Jack would have to choose who to save, given that Sawyer and he have more tension, but that Sawyer's wound is more easily treatable. Let's stay tuned.

Influx: oh wait, TVG is a piece of **** now...
Luigi Novi: Here, here!!! The way they got rid of 24-hour program listings months ago was atrocious enough, and now that all they have is a grid broken up by program highlight notes for each night is even worse. I'm with ya, Influx.

I know this was a spectacular episode. And the way it ended they could still try the race to the camp and do the drama after the tailies arc.

BTW who thought up the name tailies? Not that its bad or anythign just different.

And yeah TVG has gone the trash rag way now.

And yeah shannon's stepmom was a real *itch. That was not a good sign in the hospital when she emphasized the word "step" when talking to the doctor.

Somehow I thought they where still in paris at the point where they where in the hospital. But I guess it could be. I dunno.

I'm not positive, R, but I think I read that nickname for the tail section survivors in TV Guide.

That's where I first heard it.

Oh well since I havent read tvguide in about a year that explains it.

Anyone see Jack in Shannon's flashback when she goes to the hospital? I didn't see it. Anyone?

Clearly Influx did, since he mentioned it.

And yes, I did too. He does indeed walk right past them.

Are we going to find out that everyone was previously connected somehow?

Unfortunately, we lost two connection threads now.

I can just imagine if Boone and Shannon were still alive, I'd like to see everybody realizing it at once. It might go something like this:

Jack: I met Desmond around the time I worked on my wife in that car accident!

Shannon: My dad was in a car accident – that same one!

Boone to Sawyer : Now I remember! I saw you in that police station!

Jin to Hurley: >

Hurley: Sure, dude. They interviewed me just after I bought the Acme Box Company.

Locke: Acme Box Company? I used to work there!

(and so on)

That Jin to Hurley line should have read:

Jin to Hurley: {Didn't I see you on TV??}