popular thinking

LOVING LAND OF THE LOST: As much as I ensured my spot in front of the TV for 24, American Idol and most episodes of The O.C., I am so so so so glad that I watched Lost this season. First impressions from the first season finale...

1. When the French lady said "the others" wanted "the boy," she didn't know they meant the mutant Walt.
2. The people in the power boat -- strangely similar to the hicks from Deliverance. We want the boy. He sure got a purty mouth.
3. Sawyer is shot and in the water. Never a good sign. Unless he's a Pisces. Walt and Jin might have an outside chance at survival as long as there is enough of the raft to hold onto for days on end.
4. That hatch/hole/ladder leads down to wherever "the others" live. Are they part of a renegade scientific/government experiment? It'd explain why no one knows or cares to know about the island formerly known as Oahu.
4a. Although it was nice to see several theories bounded about or questioned: Arzt (who we all knew was a goner) pondering how Hugo/Hurley hadn't lost any weight in 40 days, Locke questioning Jack as to why they're all there (a test of faith?).
5. They made a basic continuity error when Hurley raced through the airport's "two" terminals, each time passing the same passengers.
6. One of "the others" is listed in IMDB as Bearded Man (actor M.C. Gainey), who also portrays Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane in the new movie remake of Dukes of Hazzard. He was also the naked man in Sideways. So there.
7. Another casting oddity to keep an eye out for next season: Actor John Dixon was listed as a flight attendant in the pilot episodes, but returned as "JD" in the finale. Is he among the rumored second group of survivors elsewhere on the island, along with the "widow's" husband and Michelle Rodriguez?
8. The numbers. It's all about the numbers. Check out this site for obsessive references to 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.