The commercials for tonight’s episode promise that another member of “The Oceanic Six” will be revealed.

We already know three of the members, but who are the other three?

Here’s my Oceanic Six roster:

1. Jack — We know he’s off the island, and spends most of his time back in civilization cultivating an addiction and growing himself a beard that would make Jeremiah Johnson jealous.

2. Kate — In the last episode of season three, she meets Jack at the end of an airport runway. Then leaves to go back to “him.” Who is that him?

3. Hurley — As we saw in the first episode of this season, he’s in a mental hospital and seeing the ghost of Charlie.

4. John Locke — My guess is that Locke is captured by the folks on the boat after he resists leaving the island, and is forced back to civilization. What could be a greater punishment than forcing him to leave the only place he has a purpose? Locke, I think, is also the unnamed man in the casket at the end of season three.

5. Sawyer — Is too important a character to kill off, so he has to make it off the island. He’s also the obvious “him” that Kate goes back to, then again, maybe that’s too obvious.

6. Claire (and the baby) — How will she ever find out Jack is her half-brother if she doesn’t make it back to the real world? I also don’t think the writers can just leave the baby in the jungle.

What are your thoughts? Who is on your Oceanic Six roster. Post a comment below.

-- C.S.

I will be blogging live tonight during commercial breaks, please comment on the posts and weigh in with your thoughts about the show.

Be sure to check in after the show for closing thoughts and conversation.

In the meantime, we're looking for answers. Jess posted this on the comments board earlier:

Is Charlie really dead? Your thoughts?

My answer: Maybe. Kind of. Has anyone ever really died yet? I mean, how often does old Boone show up?

What do you think? Post your opinion by clicking on the tiny "Comment" link below.

-- CS

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t watched the episode, avert your eyes or you’ll hate yourself. To start reading my posts on this show from the beginning of the episode, click here.

There are moments in movies and television where you are waiting for that cut away to reveal the big twist. You sit on the edge of your seat – or stand, if you are me – and you think, for a moment, they’ll leave you hanging until the next episode.

Then comes that single shot and an audible gasp.

This show ended on one of those moments.

Sayid working for Ben opens up a whole new line of questions and leads us in a completely new direction.

Assuming Sayid wouldn’t choose to work for Ben – and I’m guessing, because of some things Ben said, he didn’t – what is his motivation? Is Ben holding some of the other passengers of Flight 815? Are they alive, hidden somewhere on the island?

It appears so. Matthew Abaddon – who is developing into the anti-Ben – did ask Hurley if “they” were still alive.

Here’s one thing we can assume for sure: When, at the conclusion of season three, Kate says she had to get back to “him,” that “him” is almost, without a doubt Ben Linus. (Then who's in the coffin?)

How deep does Ben's power run? How many other members of The Oceanic Six are in his pocket?

Post your thoughts.

-- CS

Headline courtesy of Andrew K.

Thursday's episode produced question after question that have yet to be answered, but here's the one that I'm focusing on most today:

How, exactly, do the Oceanic Six get off the island?

Now, we've seen Ben off the island treating Sayid's wounds. Would the people on the boat, who are there for Ben -- we can assume to kill him -- bring him back to civilization? I don't think so.

We also know that Hurley didn't recognize Abaddon in the first episode of this season, which means he may not have left with the people on the boat. Abaddon also insisted to Naomi that "there were no survivors" of Oceanic Flight 815. I don't think he particularly wants anyone to leave the island.

So here's my theory: Ben takes the Oceanic Six off of the island.

We already saw that Ben has a room full of money and passports, and we know he has a contact on the boat (a friend of a friend has an interesting theory about who, but I'll let her post it here.) What's stopping him from hiding all of the survivors and then leaving the island somehow, taking the Oceanic Six with him?

Well, other than transportation.

This would make sense if Abaddon doesn't know where the other passengers are ("Are they still alive?") and gives Ben an automatic measure of power over the Six -- kind of a friendly hostage situation.

What do you think? Post a comment below.

Also, the Lostpedians have posted their collective thoughts on last night's episode. Read it here.

Brock posted an interesting question after another poster pointed out that Daniel Faraday shares his last name with an important and famous physicist. Here's Brock's comment:

This isn't the first time we have had someone on this island share a name with a famous person. John Locke is the name of a philosopher who studied the "tabula rasa" theory, that we are all born has blank slates for the world to write upon. We have no innate ability or intelligence, we must learn EVERYTHING for ourselves. This too could be a connection to the theories and ideas presented on the island. Are there any other names that people have noticed to be connected?

I know quite a few connections, but first, what have you noticed? What importance do names play on the island?

Let's talk about this. Post your thoughts below by clicking the "Comments" link.

-- C.S.

A new question struck me while I was watching the annotated repeat of "The Economist" just now.

The question: Why is there a circle of ash surrounding the site of Jacob's cabin?

If you watch enough ghost and witch movies you'll draw an instant connection between a line of ash -- in some cases chalk or salt -- and protection. In those movies, the circle or powder keeps evil spirits out.

So what is Jacob trying to keep out? Is the smoke monster a threat to him? As the DHARMA Initiative had their sonic fence, Jacob, who hates technology, likely has his ring of ash.

Of course, there is another way to look at the circle of protection: Someone is trying to keep Jacob in. Is this how Ben gets his orders, by imprisoning him? And does the fact that Hurley saw the cabin elsewhere in the island mean that Jacob is free?

Any thoughts? Post a comment.

A few days and a few conversations after my gut reaction, I may have a different feeling about Kate's role in the show.

I think that it is possibly that she took the baby from Clair because Clair asked her to take him -- but the question remains why Kate continues to refer to Aaron as her son.

The story the Oceanic Six tell when they return to the mainland -- the one where there are eight survivors and Kate plays an island-bound Florence Nightingale -- includes Clair surviving the crash and giving birth. Then, in the story, she dies. In reality, she is hiding at the same "temple" Ben told Richard to lead the "Others" to.

Clair had to be one survivor who didn't make it back because I think most of the public would know that Kate wasn't pregnant when she got on the plane -- that has to be in her arrest record. So Clair had to, in the story, survive the plane crash and give birth before she is killed, either in the story or in reality.

Aaron has to count as one of the Oceanic Six.

But who do you think the other non-Oceanic Six survivor is? Post a comment.

My coworker -- CyberInk's Andrew Kochirka -- is a regular poster on the blog and probably a bigger Lost fan than myself. We decided to have a fairly regular discussion about the show -- called "Lost Productivity" because we are chatting on the clock -- and to post the transcript of our IM chat here.

Here's this week's edition:

Andrew Kochirka: I had some revelations about Lost last night
Cody Switzer: yes?
C.S.: what were they?
A.K.: I'm not sure if I’m the only one or if these theories are very obvious
A.K.: I have three "theory-esque" ideas
A.K.: obviously we all know that Daniel Faraday is "conscience jumping" if you will if only for one reason, he writes in his journal "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant".
A.K.: this explains why, in the first introductory episode for Daniel, he was crying watching the TV channel covering the crash of oceanic flight 815
A.K.: he could be crying, for what I have thought of, three reasons.
A.K.: because his mind is switching between on the island and off, he might know the entire group from the crash is dead, he might know that they are all alive, or he might be crying because he knows the plane is going to crash and he can’t stop it
A.K.: I think his "conscience jumping" will be a huge part in upcoming episodes
C.S.: That "conscience jumping" could also explain why he needs to be quizzed on his memory and why, when we first meet him, he needs a caretaker
A.K.: exactly
C.S.: What if he's crying because he's also seen the end -- the very end -- and he knows what's going to happen with everyone on the island?
C.S.: There may be a big tragedy coming up
A.K.: yeah, that’s my thought
C.S.: The preview for Thursday's episode looks like something major will happen, too
C.S.: I don't really know why he's in a radiation suit, and so is Charlotte
C.S.: or, what looks like a radiation suit
A.K.: theory two also involves "conscience jumping" but in a much more severe way...maybe when the plane went down, it went off its original bearing which we now know is a big no-no
A.K.: in the process of going off bearing and crashing, it sent people through slight time warp if you will and maybe back to a different point in their life.
A.K.: maybe Locke isn’t healing from his paralysis, maybe he actually is at a point in his life, ON THE ISLAND, before he was a paraplegic.
A.K.: and maybe Rose wasn’t cured of her cancer, maybe she’s just physically back before she had it
A.K.: that is my theory 2
A.K.: and as for theory 3
A.K.: it has to do with electromagnetism and the purple/pinkish light
A.K.: off of the island, we know of three people for sure who have been exposed to it
A.K.: Daniel Faraday (from him having a constant and thus leading to "conscience jumping"), Minkowski (we know he "conscience jumps" so I would assume sometime in his life he was exposed to it), and Eloise the rat (we saw her being exposed to the light and she conscience jumps")
A.K.: so far, on the island, it’s just been Desmond, due to the fact that he was in the hatch when it exploded, causing him to be exposed to an extreme amount of radiation
A.K.: I was using this to think about the Oceanic 6 and who is off of this island and how it connects
A.K.: there were plenty of people who were at the implosion site and who would have been strongly affected by the radiation, but there also were a number of people who weren’t
A.K.: not near the hatch site were Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer, because they were captured by the others
A.K.: Michael and Walt were not because they were on a boat away from the island
A.K.: and Sayid, Jin, and sun were not because they were on Desmond’s sail boat making their way to sneak attack the others.
A.K.: so far, we know that four of those nine are part of the Oceanic 6
A.K.: any connection?
A.K.: I still do not think that Aaron is part of the Oceanic 6 and also, if what jack says on trial is actually true, eight survive, but only six make it off, who are the other two who make it off (if you don’t count Aaron), who are the "two" that survived, and that just leaves one of that nine to die.
A.K.: maybe the only way off of the island is through either not being exposed to the radiation, or having a constant away from the island
A.K.: they sound awesome in my head but they might come out a bit "crack pot-ish" on screen
C.S.: That's an interesting theory, and I like the way it comes together.
C.S.: So then are Locke and Desmond doomed?
C.S.: I mean, we've already seen Eko and Charlie die
C.S.: and they were in the hatch too
A.K.: I don’t know about doomed, cause one, Locke’s doesn’t want to leave the island but it’s possible
A.K.: and Desmond has a constant
C.S.: A constant can't save you from the smoke monster, though, or drowning
C.S.: I'm not necessarily saying that they will die like Eloise or Minkowski, but that they will die
A.K.: well I mean also, like Claire and Aaron and all the others that were even in the general vicinity of the hatch could be affected too
A.K.: but if history repeats, yeah Locke and Des are as good as gone
C.S.: but I don't really see that happening
C.S.: they are too important to the story
C.S.: well, at least now
A.K.: exactly
A.K.: I’m not saying in the short term, I’m saying maybe eventually
A.K.: I don’t see it happening honestly ever
A.K.: I mean, I don’t think death is guaranteed to come for them due to the light/radiation
C.S.: Still and I'd have to go back and watch this again, Eko's dying words were "You're next"
C.S.: And who did he say that to?
A.K.: he said it technically to Locke
C.S.: Locke, Charlie, Desmond, Nikki and Paolo
C.S.: well, if you look at the people around him when he said it, 3/5 of them are dead
A.K.: exactly
A.K.: plus Charlie
C.S.: I must meditate on this

Most of the comments posted last night on my "Gut Reaction" to the episode focused on one question: Who's Ben's man on the boat?

Reader Andy B. posted his thoughts for who the "man on the boat" was. Here were his options, and my thoughts.

My ever-bearded coworker -- CyberInk's Andrew Kochirka -- is a regular poster on the blog and probably a bigger Lost fan than myself. We decided to have a fairly regular discussion about the show -- called "Lost Productivity" because we do this on the clock -- and we post the transcript of our IM chat here.

Read the transcript below -- ignoring the basic rules of capitalization and punctuation -- and join the discussion. Then, post your thoughts as a comment on this blog.

It's taken me weeks to think about the season finale and just what happens next.

The last episode was a mish-mash of storylines -- Jin offers to partner with Widmore, Desmond and Penny are reunited, Kate is still crazy and Jack is crazier.

With people on the island, off the island, in the present, in the future, in the desert, in the sea -- everywhere -- we need to think about what happens next.

I think next season is going to start kind of right where this episode left off. We will see a present-time sequence with Juliet and Sawyer, stumbling through the jungle toward Alpert and Locke and Co.

The biggest move over the next season will be the Six's attempt to return to the island, and the island's move toward being re-captured by DHARMA. We can assume that the viral commercial for people to join the DHARMA Initiative was some kind of sign that they had the island again.

Widmore's first assault on the island failed, how might his second -- DHARMA's second -- succeed.

Let me know what you think. Post a comment below.

A new entry just went up on the LOST Blog that might interest you.

They found the subliminal message posted above in a video on the Ajira Airways Web site. There are a few semi-subliminal Ajira Airways logos in the latest Lost trailer for the season, including some sappy music from The Fray. (ABC runs the site, so don't try to book your flights.)

The folks at the LOST Blog think it's a hint for the coming season, but what do you think? Post your theories by leaving a comment below.

(UPDATE AND SPOILER: If you want to solve the whole mystery of Ajira Airways, LOST Blog just posted how to do it. I'm not going to try it, because apparently it reveals something about the coming season. Call me old fashioned, but I like to wait for the program.)