Lost has such a dedicated audience, dare I say a "cult" following that puts a microscope on every nuance of the show. Yes, we all remember the doc's body washing ashore in a previous episode.

C'mon, there's a better way to write this thing.

I can forgive a lot of things, suspend disbelief and play along...just can't excuse this...is it just me?

Henry dug up this screen-grad, and I enhanced it...

...the scar is there! The theories can stop now.

Before I delve too far into the plot and details of last night, I have a new theory: dead people on (and off) the island are all the same person/thing. Could it be possible that every time someone sees a dead person (like Jack's dad, Charlie and next week's Jacob) they are actually seeing someone or something (smoke monster) that projects an image of the dead person.

Maybe there is technology on the island that allows a person to look like someone else OR maybe the smoke monster is able to look like a person. Remember when Mr. Eko looked into the smoke monster and saw all his own memories and thoughts, including images of his brother? Could smoke monster be capable of more? Was the smoke detector's failure in Jack's office a hint that smoke monster was there? It's all nano-bots, I think.

ANYWAY, here's what I was left with last night:

• The promos for the show drive me CRAZY! "The island claims one of the survivors as its own." What? Was that Claire? What does that mean? Is she dead?

• I don't think we've ever travelled past the point in time when Jack and Kate meet at the airport at the end of season #3. Time jumps on the show seem to occur in the space prior to that and after the 6 are off the island.

• Sawyer may be alive in the future. Kate seems to be talking to him on the phone.

• Jack's addictive behavior seems to be aided by jealousy of Sawyer.

• Are we finally convinced Jack and Claire are step-siblings?

• Why did the island let Jack get sick?

• Jack is an irresponsible pill taker! Never mix meds with alcohol!

• Dan is still irritating. Jin, please break his fingers like you promised Charlotte.

• Jack's proposal to Kate was a nice moment.

• Jack was reading Alice in Wonderland to Aaron. Is this a clue?

• Hurley tells Jack in the future that they are already dead. HMMMM.

• Miles can see dead people. Or, at least, he can see the past. Is Miles a time-shifter like Desmond?

• When Juliette told Kate about Jack kissing her, I almost punched the TV. But then I realized her intentions were good. This proves my theory: Juliette's a blabber mouth, don't tell her anything (or kiss her).

• I feel the most sorry for Hurley. He needs something good to happen to him.

• Sawyer is standing up for everyone!

• We might now have a clue how Sun gets off the island (Jin's threat to Charlotte).

• Russo and Carl are really, really, really dead. In-the-ground dead.

• Next week's promo finally shows us Jacob. Sigh. Why show him in the promo? He DOES look like Eric Stoltz in "Mask." REMEMBER: Jacob is dead. What we see is really just smoke monster pretending to look like Jacob. That's what I think.

• Change your batteries in your smoke detectors! It's saves lives, sanity and a fortune in prescription medication costs.

I'm going to sound completely fan-boy here, but I'm still giddy over this episode.

"The Shape of Things to Come" is NOW my favorite episode of the year... and I come to this conclusion based on this criteria:

• The most amazing scary appearance of the smoke monster, EVER! Finally the monster is back to being scary and EVIL! Like a tornado from hell!
• Ben is a bad-a$&. Ben became a whole new character for me. He's tough, resourceful and willing to let his kid die for some reason we don't yet know.
• Ben has the greatest piano bench ever!
• Ben has a huge arsenal.
• Ben controls the smoke monster.
• Ben apparently "warped" or teleported to Iraq. What the...?
• Ben totally manipulated Sayid in Iraq. His recruitment plan was devious!!!! Ben's parting smile was so creepy... but awesome.
• Alex's death was heartbreaking. I actually felt sorry for Ben.
• Claire got blasted with a rocket launcher! And she lived!!
• Penny is now a target.
• Jack is going to die from appendicitis.
• Dan is an evil liar. Dan deserved a butt kicking.
• Bernard can understand Morse Code.
• What is going on between Charles Widmore and Ben?!
• Is the doctor from the ship dead and alive at the same time?
• Was Hurley's quote (while playing Risk) about Australia being the key, a clue?
• LOST is awesome.

What did you guys think?!

We no go uninterrupted until the end of the season, right?

Here's why I think Michael's in the coffin. (I mentioned this before in one of our podcasts.)
1. The name in the obit is not Kevin Johnson but perhaps Michael made it off the freighter and is living again under an alias in L.A.
2. The guy in the article is suicidal, and we saw Michael is suicidal. Now, some of you (Doug) will claim the island won't let him kill himself, but maybe the island is done with Michael.
3. The funeral home looks like it's in an African-American neighberhood, and the funeral director is African-American. Not many other Black characters in the show.
4. Both Jack and Kate know the guy in the casket.
5. Jack doesn't consider the guy in the casket a friend and neither does Kate.
6. Producers of the show claim it's a character we've already seen.
7. Newspaper article claims the deceased is survived by a teenaged son. Could this be Walt?
8. Walt didn't go to the funeral. Maybe he still hates his father for killing those people.
9. The article states the deceased is from N.Y.
10. No one went to the funeral, probably because Michael betrayed them and blew their chances of getting off the island.

Just a theory. What do you guys think?