holy cow, what an ep

so one thing inspired by the premiere:

symbolism-tastic- locke seems to be set up as a christ-like savior. richard tells locke that he must die. ben believes that, in order to save everyone, they have to bring locke back to the island and (there's clearly the assumption) he will be brought back to life as a result (resurrected). also found it interesting that all of the time stamps used in the episode were three years...three years, three days- what's the difference in lost time.

Padding self on back for that one- this episode had nothing if not signs of the locke-jesus link.

• title of the episode was 316= John 3:16
• the whole doubting thomas scene
• i wish you have believed note
• locke being a proxy for christian shepherd.

oh so when ben left jack to say he had to "tie up some loose ends." I immediately thought oh, he has to help locke tie his noose (forgetting that (i guess?) locke is already dead and what not), but michele's guess was that he went to kill penny since he promised widmore he'd kill his daughter.

I maintain that the widmore-ben showdown (that may include ben killing penny) will be a season 6 event. but it also occured to me that widmore might have another daughter and it's this person who ben will kill... for instance, people have wondered if maybe charlotte is widmore's daughter (who is now dead- due, in part, because ben got the island off kilter).

UPDATE: so i'm re-watching the episode and noticed that before ben says he needs to go tie things up and whatnot, jack finds him praying and then he lights a votive candle...interesting set up indeed. because then he stops to tell jack that jack is doubting thomas before going and doing something that leaves him all bloody. now, i'm wondering if (instead of trying to kill penny) ben did something to aaron- esp given that kate is acting all weird the entire ep.

anyways, tons of big questions, fun literary/biblical references ("The Lamp-Post is a reference to the street lamp that lights the way into Narnia in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.") and revelations to deal with. I hope everyone will contribute their own take/observations from this episode. ok, break!