Here’s a bit that I enjoyed from season one, and though I’m sure some linguistics major could give me numbers to prove that I’m pointing to a statistically probable occurrence I’ll mention it anyway:

Whenever the castaways talked about themselves with one another they referred to themselves as “The Others” the name which became synonymous with the threatening unknown on the island.

What will we tell the others? Are you going to tell the others? What happens when the others find out?

A rhetoric undergrad would say the usage of the phrase was purposeful: They’ve met the others, those evil murderers on the island, and sure enough it’s our heroes. For the most part it is anyway. Call it human nature: If you assume you’re being threatened with violence you’ll act in turn.

Sun shoots Cole. Sayid tortures Ben. Ana-Lucia kills Goodwin.

Too bad for Ana-Lucia since Goodwin was her golden ticket according to Ben who knew better.

“You’re the killer, Ana-Lucia.”

Assuming Ben’s people are not murders then what to make of Goodwin’s kill, Ethan Rom’s threats, and Alex telling Claire that she’d be killed for her baby? Goodwin and Ethan paid the piper. Perhaps Ethan’s threat of one death per night was a hollow one. On the larger of the two islands people get eaten on a regular basis it seems. (Or is it craphole islands now?)

Alex is merely 16. Perhaps hers is the ramblings of an overactive imagination ala her mother?

Ben says he’s lived on the island all his life. I’d assume that means he considers the island sovereign and its residents have every right to defend themselves. Isn’t that how most literary utopias insure their survival?

Assuming murder and violence are the ways of the survivors of flight 815 then we’re quickly moving from a “misunderstanding” into “something else.”

… And one big heaping piece of filler episode.

First a word about the filler: Further Instructions.

What’s missing from the title is what viewers did for one hour: wait. As in the phrase “Await further instructions,” and boy did we ever. Nothing happened in the Locke centric episode.

We didn’t learn much new about anyone or anything. Nothing was truly at stake as the island’s polar bears have a pretty bad track record versus the humans. Locke’s pre-island life has meanderings in the criminal underworld, and yeah, we get it, he was a lovable loser.

It’s my understanding that “Further Instructions” was originally scheduled for airing as episode two of this season, but was switched with “The Glass Ballerina” for good reason. Things happened in Ballerina: Sun was unfaithful to Jin and was exposed as a liar and potential murderer, both directly (shooting the woman on the boat) and indirectly (having an affair with her lover).

In the B-storyline of Ballerina, the crafty Sawyer got a measure of his captors along with a bit of action from Freckles. Meanwhile, the makings of another triangle started between Jack, Juliet, and Ben. Soup anyone?

Which brings us to “A Tale of Two Cities,” the other decent episode so far. “Two Cities” is a fairly literal episode, thankfully. It tends toward my thought that Lost is at it’s heart a failed utopia story, pure and simple.

For two seasons we’ve been rooting for the bad guys — the passengers of Oceanic flight 815. Utopian societies fall from internal disagreement often caused by the outsiders who interrupt the everyday. Yes, Ben believes he’s one of the good guys, and he might literally be a “good guy,” but even book club members can argue that good and bad are never black and white. The actions of everyone on Craphole Island are shaded in grey.

What of next week’s episode? Think Savage Taming 101, then tune in for Utopian 12-step programs and other textbook brainwashing techniques.

In an earlier post I said that dream sequences are a writer’s crutch. They can mean everything and nothing all at once. Weird for its own sake is the realm of the art school film. Thankfully, the dream sequences in ? were very effective.

For one thing, they were literal. No BS symbolism or esoteric nonsense. Eko’s dead brother delivers a clear message each time he appears. In the first dream he even tells Eko what tools he’ll need on his adventure.

The writers make use of Locke’s cryptic dream as a test of his faith in the island. Twice he’s withheld information about his dreams. The first time ended tragically, though Locke believes that Boone’s life was a necessary sacrifice. Knowing what occurred the last time brings more tension to Eko’s insistence he scale the cliff. A very effective use of what otherwise could be called a cheap fake death dream.

With ? we’ve come full circle on most of the island locations we’re familiar with, and Libby’s death is the saddest of all the deaths on Craphole Island. Hurt Hurley and you hurt the viewer. There were two other moments that were extremely important and tie in with one of the major themes in Lost. I’ll hit those in my next post.

Sorry if I’m not thoroughly thrilled by the prospect of spending the next three months hunting for clues, making phone calls, and guessing passwords at phony websites. Call me a party pooper, but that’s not my idea of a good time.

I will admit that I enjoyed listening to I Love Bees once the game was completed. Did I participate in that game? No. I waited until the story played out. Sure, the fanboys got their mojo working up a lather doing everything the game asked of them, but in the end anyone can access the complete I Love Bees story online.

That being said, here’s something other than The Hanso Foundation that you might want to check out: Gary Troup Books.

Then again, if you’re playing the game you probably already know about the Valenzetti Equation.

As pointed out by sister site Talk Stink, the first chapter of Bad Twin, the Lost tie-in novel that Sawyer will never finish reading thanks to Jack, is free on the iTunes Music Store: