Reaction Time: "Hearts and Minds"

"What we are doing here is far more important. Right now - this is our priority."

Woo! An episode focused around pretty boy Boone...and unfortunately that also means we get a healthy helping of Shannon. Dammit. The twist ending regarding their relationship? That was a good one. It did it's job to sufficiently creep me out. Now, does it serve any purpose to the show? If not, then ewww.

Also, THANKS A LOT FOR GETTING MY HOPES UP. Shannon was dead and mutilated! But ohhhh no, she's not dead. It's just a hallucination. Grrrr.

But we are back at the hatch (wait, is that the hatch? Or am I referring to the wrong thing?) that Locke and Boone discovered two episodes back. I like Locke's incorporation of Michelangelo into the mythology surrounding the show (yes, everything mentioned on this show contributes to the mythology). We are starting to see Locke separate himself away from the rest of the survivors as he delves deeper into the island - and I don't mean his trips into the jungle. He's becoming more and more part of the island in ways we don't quite understand. The other survivors see it too - Boone recognizes it, even in his drug-addled state. Charlie puts his faith with him too, above all else, because he sees the spiritual connection that Locke has going on.

And now he's trying to pass along this same connection to Boone. Boone's admittance of "relief" to seeing Shannon die was a little shocking, I must say. But I guess if he's carried his demons for awhile, it would be nice to finally be rid of them...but how is this going to affect him and his relationship with Locke (and therefore the island)?

The compass is not defective. We just don't know enough about the island yet...

"You just said something mean, didn't you?" - yeah, I love Hurley. His interactions with Jin were refreshing. I'm glad the creators are balancing these heavier storyline episodes with some light character building interactions.

This is the second (?) time we've seen characters crossing paths before the plane crash. Sun and Jin were waiting in line at the airport when Jack was arguing to get his father's coffin onto the flight ("House of the Rising Sun"), and now we see that Sawyer was at the police station in Sydney while Boone was arguing with the cops. What the heck did Sawyer do, and why was he there?? I thought he'd been in the states - when/why is he in Australia?