Holy COW. EXCELLENT episode! Wonderful! I loved it!

'Nuff said.

At the end of Act 1, Eko picks up Sawyer and tells Ana that he'll take him back to his camp, but leaves Mike and Jin. How does Eko know where the camp is? Is it that close? Did Mike somehow tell Eko off-screen the approximate direction in which it was, or the important landmarks he could use to find it?

Also, I don't know if this is necessarily a nit, but when Eko describes Shannon to Jack, he describes her as "tall." I find this a surprising description for Eko to make, given that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who plays Eko, is 6' 1", and Maggie Grace is 5' 9".

So Ana-Lucia is a rogue cop? I would not have guessed that, but it fits.

The police chaplain should lose his license in family counseling. I knew (and assume that every other viewer did as well) that after only four sessions, in which Ana-Lucia never opened up, and during which her husband not only stopped attending the sessions, but moved out as well, there was no way she was ready to go back on duty. And we didn't know then, as the chaplain did, that she'd also lost the baby!

Jack is not the golfer he thinks he is. Nor is Kate the duffer he thinks she is.

When the golf ball first landed in the watering hole, before we saw just what it was, for some reason I thought it might be the glass eye.

Some nice compare/contrast scenes:

Locke and Eko (both fierce/tough guys with gentle spiritual sides) simply saying "Hello" to one another.

Kate/Sawyer and Ana-Lucia/Sayid interactions.

A-L/Bernard/Libby and Kate/Charlie/Hurley interactions

Reunions -- Jin and Sun, Bernard and Rose, Michael and ... Vincent?

Isn't it nice how Jack is willing to overlook the fact that someone may be a murderer if she is smart and attractive? First Kate, now A-L. If the Others had sent in a woman instead of Ethan, perhaps there would only be four or five Lostaways left, like the Tailies.

Depends. With Kate, he has her actions after the crash. As for his cutting A-L slack, it's a bit more comprehensible. But remember Eko pointed out that revenge was pretty futile.

That was the chaplain? I thought he was the police shrink?

Also, did they say her significant other was her husband? From the scene, I thought it might've just been her boyfriend.

EIther way, there's no way he should have approved her for active duty.

Man, Ana-Lucia is stone-cold, isn't she?

Pardon me, on my 12:03 am I should have said,

"As for his cutting A-L slack, it's a bit less comprehensible."

I blame the late hour.

Well, we haven't seen that Jack has cut A-L any slack at all. After all, they haven't even spoken yet.

On the island, I mean.

I assumed he was a chaplain because he was wearing what seemed to me to be a variant of clerical garb. It is possible that it was just a fashion statement.

Influx, I think TomM's thought (and my response) was to:

Jack was all gung-ho to go rescue Sayyid, arming himself and Michael.

Eko says Ana-Lucia, and Jack stops in his tracks, and agrees to go unarmed and alone with Eko.

ScottN -- I caught that as Jack recognizing her name from when he had met her before. I think he was flabbergasted (sorry, no better word) that someone else he had met previously was also on the island.

Well, they kind of hammered that into us with the "previously on Lost..."

I gotta agree with most of whats been said already. Excellent episode. Somewhat telegraphing anna's backstory a bit but hey she isnt a subtle person anyhow so why have a subtle backstory right?

Excellent compare/contrasts with each group.(Locke and Eko especially) They also managed to hit all the emotional buttons with this one. Sometimes a bit heavy like at the end but hey it was a heavy moment. Nice ot see Bernard and Rose reunited.

As for the shrink. I didnt think he was wearing anything remotely clerical. Just a black sweater over a white shirt. I've worn stuff similar. Or did I miss something?

And yeah she was not ready for active duty and at the very least should have been on a desk. I guess having a mother as a captain can do somegood. And they also continue the tradition of haivng strained relations with parents in this episode too.island.

Also, I don't know if this is necessarily a nit, but when Eko describes Shannon to Jack, he describes her as "tall." I find this a surprising description for Eko to make, given that Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who plays Eko, is 6' 1", and Maggie Grace is 5' 9".
Maybe he meant tall for a woman. At this point he's been hanging out with Ana Lucia and Libby for a while. Maybe he was comparing her to them since both Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros are shorter than Maggie.

Eko doesn't live in a vacuum, you know. He's obviously on the far side of 40, possibly past 50. He knows what's considered a tall woman, and what's not.

I guess. It's just that I perceived that word as being used according to one's own biases, and that it's not really used to describe one who's shorter than yourself. But hey, I could be wrong.

I dunno why but I completely missed this episode last week and I'm so mad about it! Guess I'll just have to catch the repeat.

How did the bullet that struck Ana kill her baby? Wasn't she wearing a vest?

Also, I admit I don't know how the LAPD works, but should Ana's mother have been her c.o.? She tells her mom that she'll put in for a transfer, and her mom refuses. Does a c.o. really have the power to refuse a transfer? Wouldn't conflict of interest matters have required a parent and child to not work at the same precint?

Am at lunch at the library so have a limited time to work within. Just wanted to post this one thread response.

Luigi A vest will or may stop the bullet from penetrating the person but the force/momentum of the bullet will still hit the person doing severe damage to the individual wearing the vest. I know a deputy sheriff who was shot at point blank range witha .357 and while the bullet was stopped by his vest he still wound up with a collapsed lung and 4 broken ribs. Getting hit in the abdomen for a pregnant woman may have done enough damage that she miscarried. Of course she should probably been on maternity leave or a desk after the first couple months, but as has been shown she probably lied or refused or otherwise tried to stay a beat cop.

Also the way they showed the cops there in the office was not very realistic from what i understand about the inner working of the police.

Luigi A vest will or may stop the bullet from penetrating the person but the force/momentum of the bullet will still hit the person doing severe damage to the individual wearing the vest. I know a deputy sheriff who was shot at point blank range witha .357 and while the bullet was stopped by his vest he still wound up with a collapsed lung and 4 broken ribs.

Agreed. However, a collapsed lung and 4 broken ribs is infinitely preferable to "insides ripped out and bled to death".

Oh yeah I definately gotta gree on that assesment ScottN. So do most of the troopers/deputies I know.

I know that vests don't stop impact, and that such impacts result in big bruises, but I didn't know the force would go so far in to kill a fetus. 4 broken ribs? A collapsed lung? Wow. I had no idea. Thanks for the info, R.

No problem Luigi. I wasnt sure as I've run across supposedly intelligent people who should know better but take the hollywood example of vests as the truth.

Yeah bullets can generate a tremendous force which spread over such a small area and short time when stopped by the vest can cause some major damage. Take my personal favorite Antipersonnel round the venerable .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) FMJ (Full Metal Jacket Sir!) as used in the M1911A1.

The current 230 grain bullet which i think weighs about an ounce(15 grams) travels (according to the box) 850ft/second. So thats a lot of impact force coming at you. The only thing is it is a blunt fat round so against body armor it doesnt penetrate as easy like a 9 does (Ive shot old steel fuel tanks and had the 45 dent them while the 9 busts through). Hitting a human body the .45 goes in big and comes out bigger if it comes out at all and doesnt just bury itself in a bone or tissues.

a 9mil on the other hand (9mm lugar which is the common NATO and police round) It is a small relatively highspeed round which tends to overpenetrate and make small wound channels when it goes into people. It weighs a little bit less than the 45 (even in FMJ) but travels at (according to the CCI box I have) 115 grain (which is the measure of powder charge) 7.5 grams bullet weight muzzle velocity 1280ft/second.

So either way not exactly a small amount of force being stopped by the vest. Very believeable to have a fetus or deep internal organ damage from a hit.

Nitpick time...
Technically, it's a large amount of energy being stopped by the vest. The deceleration from 850m/s to 0 in an incredibly short time is what causes the force, which is spread out by the vest.

Yeah, yeah... pick, pick, pick...

ok ooops. Use the force luuuuuke to stop the energy!

force or energy if its going into your body neither word will probably be the ones you're thinking or saying......

The police chaplain should lose his license in family counseling. I knew (and assume that every other viewer did as well) that after only four sessions,

Wasn't it four months he said not four sessions?

I guess. It's just that I perceived that word as being used according to one's own biases, and that it's not really used to describe one who's shorter than yourself. But hey, I could be wrong.

I'm 6'5, I describe any woman over 5'8 as tall (for a woman). Also, Eko might have been contrasting Shannon to Kate who is only 5'5.

How did the bullet that struck Ana kill her baby? Wasn't she wearing a vest?

Didn't Ana's mother mention that the bullets were hollow-points and that three of them went through her vest?

Ana's mother did say they were hollowpoints, if they were something like .45's or .357's that's still going to be a hell of an impact.