That being said . . . Wednesday's episode, "316," was one of the best and provocative installments I've seen in this series. So many elements came together and spurred questions:
Take the likening of John Locke to Jesus and Jack Shephard to Doubting Thomas (aka -- Thomas the Apostle), as well as having Locke serve as a stand-in for Jack's deceased father Christian on the flight.
The mysterious call made by a blood-spattered Ben to Jack from the pay phone at a marina. (Given that Penny and Desmond had docked their boat in LA, is it possible that Ben hurt or killed Penny as he promised he would?).
The uncertainty of what happened to Aaron (with Claire's mother?), coupled with the implied sexual relations between Kate and Jack after Kate told Jack not to ask about Aaron again. Did Kate become pregnant, representing the pregnant Claire on the flight?
Ben was reading Ulysses by James Joyce on the doomed flight; the book has chapters entitled "Hades" and "Penelope."
How, exactly, did the Losties got back to the island? (Was there an explosion? a crash?)
The single line of Locke's suicide note -- "I wish you had believed me." -- references the lack of belief that Jack, called the man of science in season two, had in Locke, the man of faith, about not leaving the island. This episode was entitled "316" which is also a Biblical passage, John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
As I tried to take this all in, I was, simply, blown away. After I watched the episode a second time, I went online and looked up a number of other folks' analyses and found these to be among the best:
-- Entertainment Weekly -- which called this the "proverbial pilot episode for a whole new chapter of the show" -- had loads of amazing details and offered various connections between plot points.
-- Pop Candy's commenters provided great grist for discussion.
-- Jezebel and New York Magazine provided fabulously insightful episode wrap-ups.
Here's ABC's Lost Untangled video to help explain "316" (link to video here):
I still feel as though I need to read up more on Thomas the Apostle and Ulysses in order to prepare for next week's episode, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," which, going by ABC's previews, has Locke wearing a Jesus-like cloak and includes a scene where someone is kneeling in front of him. (Ben?) Link to preview for next episode here.
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