Sorry for all the posts, just trying to sort this out:

Smokey makes the women infertile so that Jacob can't get someone to replace him.

The Others stole the kids to see if they were candidates.

The Others stole Walt to see if he was a candidate.

The Others really were trying to protect the island, helping Jacob find a replacement.

Since Jacob couldn't promote from within, he had to start looking outside the company.

Oh shit, speaking of which, remember when Alpert came to visit little Johnny Locke and asked him to pick out which items already belonged to him???

The items:

* A brass compass
* A baseball glove
* An old book whose cover bears the title "Book of Laws"
* A vial of granules
* A comic book, Mystery Tales issue 40 from April 1956 (right before Locke's birth), bearing the subtitle "What was the secret of the mysterious 'HIDDEN LAND!'" (The question ended with an exclamation point.)
* A wood-handled knife

John selected the container of the granules and the compass. John then picks up the knife, to which Richard seems upset. He asks John if he is sure it is his, and after nodding affirmatively, Richard snatches the knife from his hands and takes the other items away. He places all of the items back into his bag and stands up quickly. Florence enters the room and asks how John did. Richard responds sternly that John was not quite ready for his school and walks out of the house. Florence scolds John, asking what he did wrong; John looks down dejectedly.

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John Locke was destined to end up as Smokey bait.

seems to me that richard is already the new jacob. i mean he drank from the cup like jacob did from "mother"

HA!

http://twitpic.com/1n2bvj

MiB leaving the island = Claire having the baby in sideways world(?)
Aaron is MiB. I mean Keyeser Soze.

Two men enter, one man leave

I couldn't tell if last nights episode was great or just so over the top goofy.

so, my memory might not be right... i thought richard drank the wine from the cup... that what makes me think he's the next jacob. that plus jacob saying that richard knows what to do.

i've just never bought the whole "candidate" thing, and now i'm thinking more and more that even that is a Smokey fabrication. The cave isn't Jacob's List so much as it is Smokey's list. when those people kill themselves off, Smokey wins the "new game" that is by Jacob's rules, and he's the one that's crossing the names out.

i don't think the lighthouse is Jacob's either. Smokey built(?) the donkey wheel, i'm guessing he built the lighthouse to spy on the people that Jacob touched/brought to the island to learn their weaknesses and get them to kill each other.

jacob's rules are that smokey can't kill the people that he touches. and jacob just sits back and tries to prove that these people are inherently good.

I don't believe that Jacob has actually mentioned "candidates," either. he just casually said that when he's killed someone will replace him. seems to me like he already knows who that person is.

for the record, i thought last night's episode was a little more towards the over the top goofy

one other thing i'm guessing:

the mother was somehow both aspects of jacob and smokey. she gave jacob her benevolent powers throught the wine/chanting but her dark powers could only be taken by the person that killed her. hence the "thank you" after she got stabbed.

Last night's episode was a snooze-fest. I'm so ready for this show to be over.

all of this focus on these characters that we really didn't meet until the end of last season is super annoying...i'll keep with it, but i'm definitely a skeptic that they're going to pull it all together

http://forums.hipinion.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11566

havent read it yet, sure theres good shit in it would love a summation

Has anyone considered that Hurley could be the new MiB since he can also see dead people?

i understand these characters have been here all along.
but i personally care more about the characters that i invested 6 years in....that's me. that's how i enjoy the show. also, john locke (not fake locke) was always my favorite character so perhaps that's one reason why i really havnen't been digging the last few seasons...
as i've said before, i remain hopeful that the entire story arc will come together

well he is alive in sideways world