And "DeGroot" has to be an anagram (or part of one) for something. Spelled sideways, it could be "Get Door" or "God Tore" or I could just be completely grasping at nothing. Wouldn't be the first time...

Captain Tripps, I thought the same thing about moving into the Others' old digs, but then again, how can you ever be sure it isn't a trap? At least you know where you stand if you stay in the same place. I'll be shocked if someone doesn't at least suggest it, though.

Smokey being stuck on the other side of the fence doesn't seem that surprising to me. We haven't seen any suggestions that it can climb trees and have we ever seen it be completely airborne (i.e. perhaps it has a connection to the ground or simply can't fly).

I agree with biggles2_22, if Sayid does torture Juliet (and I'm hoping he's all talk), he might not be around for too long. You've got to change your ways or die on penance island.

As for Sayid, I think he's safe for the time being. Smokey won't attack you if you stay with a group, and Sayid always seems to have one or two potential redshirts in close proximity. He's cagey like Captain Kirk, that Iraqi is.

I believe Mrs. Wermer (SP?) from Animal House also made a thumb-in-ass reference at the end of that film, but hers was more literal.

There is a long tradition of ass thumbing in comedic cinema.

After all, Locke was the man who had everythign he'd ever wanted since coming to the island (he was able to walk, hunt, advise and commanded respect).

Ben admitted to Sawyer that he was a con man back when they faked his chest implant and showed him the island. He put so much emphasis on that line, in fact, that I thought it had to mean something more. If Locke's dad is, in fact, responsible for Sawyer's life path, the Others would surely know this. And there's no way Ben wouldn't use something like that to his advantage.

I'm pretty certain she's been playing Jack from the first grilled cheese, and it kind of pisses me off because I like Jack and I get upset when he turns into such an easy mark toward the end of every season (like when he led the group into the Others' trap last season). Makes it tough to keep respect for the character, who is really one of the only purely likeable ones on the show.

Which brings up an interesting point (for me): The smoke monster is obviously punishing the naughty. And it went after Juliet as hard as it did Kate (like a fat guy at a Sizzler buffet). So I think that kind of answers the question about whether she's really one of the good guys or one of the bad guys.

Kate's an unrepentant murderess. Straight-up, plain and simple. So what did Julie do that was so bad?

I know she pretended to plan to kill Ben but, even if her intent had been serious, Smoky doesn't seem to punish based on intent. Smoky seems to take the hardline Christian approach that you can do whatever horrible evil shit you want to as long as you say you're sorry.

So what's hiding in Juliet's closet?

PS: KILL HURLEY!

I've been keeping kind of a running tally:

Jack, Locke and Claire seem to be without sin prior to landing on the Island. Yet Locke, who doesn't seem sorry for anything he's done in his life, has already gotten his reward while Jack, who's sorry for shit he didn't even do, still seems to be going through the ringer. Claire's test was her pregnancy and childbirth, which I thnk we can all agree she passed and received a reward for in her healthy son.

Sawyer was a con man who preyed on people's hopes and emotions (although it could be argued he was testing people's resolve against their greed and lust, making him a tempter and instrument of the Island more than a sinner to be tested) and doesn't seem the least bit remorseful. Clearly he's greedy. I'd have thought the smoke monster would've come for him by now. But it's looking more and more like the island's actually going to give him what he wants most (a chance at revenge on Locke's dad, the man who conned his mom).

Sayid tortured people, but seems to have already come to terms with that and has apologized to the people he felt he needed to. Even if he did it again, I don't think Smoky would kill him for hurting folks. Only if he failed to feel and express remorse for it (like Eko).

Then there's Jin, who seems to be sorry for his entire pre-Island life (as an angry criminal and would-be hit man for his pops in law). Aside from lapsing into ocassional fits of wrath in season one (for which he's apologized), he seems to be doing just fine on the Island. And his wife, a lustful adulteress who, it seems, is very sorry for that transgression, has been given the baby she thought she couldn't have.

Which brings us to the Wonder Twins of self pity: Hurley and Charlie. Hurley's sin is clearly gluttony, which he was tested with earlier in the series (being put in charge of the food). He seems to have eventually passed that test (although he's still inexplicably fat) and was rewarded with his VW bus ride. Charlie, who's failure to act (be it due to apathy or sloth) to save himself or anyone he cared about in his previous life seems to be his sin, is being tested right now with the knowledge that acting to save another will almost certainly kill him.

I'm not including any of the characters who were killed by the free will of other characters or whose tests were orchestrated by the Others (who are, I believe, being tested themselves). So Shannon, Boone, Ana and Libby really were kind of "pointless" deaths in the grand scheme of the Island's purpose. What that purpose is (other than to test), I have yet to come up with a decent theory for. I still think it's a man-made purgatory.

It'll be interesting to see at what moment the Island or Old Smoky pick up on that change in his character and how he's treated after that. Will his legs give out again?

Interestingly, I think Ben's crossed over into serious envy territory since meeting Locke.

Have we covered off on all seven yet?

He could become a very bad baddie and remain sympathetic by virtue of what we've seen him go through. That would be a helluva direction for the character arc and would really force Jack to man up.

1) As jimbojones mentioned, the pilot didn't seem to be "judged" by Smokey at all when he was killed. Plus, he seemed like a rather nice fellow in the Claire flashback.

2) People seem to be forgetting that Smokey attacked Locke. He tried to drag him into the ground and only let go when Jack threw dynamite down the hole.

3) Rousseau doesn't seem to fear Smokey. But I don't think it's because Smokey has scanned her and found her to be "good", thereby allowing her to live.

Someone brought this idea up earlier, and I thought it would be good to try to capture it.

Locke: Did he kill the cop at the weed farm? Apparently not. He's been judged as good.

Jack: Betrayed his father. (Could consider this the right thing to do, but the idea of what is good/evil seems a bit murky) Also neglected his wife that he had married only because he felt the need to fix her.

Sayid: Tortured people.

Eko: Drug lord.

Sawyer: Con man. Murderer.

Jin: Perhaps not murderer, but awfully close to it.

Sun: Betrayed husband. Possibly carrying another guy's kid.

Charlie: Drug addict who blames his brother for his addiction and resents his brother's new clean life.

Hurley: Gluttony? Greed? I'm not so sure on this one.

Kate: Sociopath in hottie's clothing.

Rose/Bernard: ? Unless the island judge has an issue with interracial marriage, I've got nothing.

Ana Lucia: Revenge killer and liar who betrayed her responsibilities as a police officer.

Libby: We never got to know enough.

Michael: I really can't remember. Was there anything? Maybe that's why he got to leave. He had to come to the island to learn to be evil.

Boone: Lust for sister.

Shannon: Self-centered, manipulative and a con artist.

Pikki: Thieves and murderers.

Claire: Maybe smokey or whoever judges on craphole island doesn't like unwed mothers. Alternatively, maybe she's good and that's why she's alive and still has Aaron. I'm not sure on this one either.

Did I forget any main people?

You imagine yourself quite the Internet authority on the topic of this show and you attack anyone who disagrees with your interpretations.

Bully for you, tough guy.

But you also presume way too much.

I have no idea how you got to politics from my telling you you were coming off like an asshole, but you would need to actually leave the planet to be further off base in your presumption about my politics. WHat that says about your presumptions concerning the show, I'll let the rest of the talkback sort out for themselves.

In the meantime, do keep blustering about not reading posts you then respond to, though. It's almost as amusing as your pretending to have the first idea what you're typing about.

I'm not saying I even agree with my own theory here, but the pieces do seem to fit together.

I sincerely hope that there's more to the Island than that (which is why I'm still entertaining the notion that it's some bizarre purgatory experiment concocted by someone with a rather frighteningly hard-line view of morality), but the more we see of Smokey's interactions with the Losties, the more I buy into the argument that it's somehow become sentient and is judging people based on what it sees (and, actually, a computer trying to wrestle with complex issues of morality would kind of explain the seemingly black-and-white/simplistic approach it's taking to the determination of who gets punished and who gets rewarded).

As always, just thoughts based on what we've seen so far.

;)