I would have been satisfied if this was the first half of the season finale it was so good. Very cinematic, no-nonsense, alot of setups. It hurts just to try to organize my thoughts about it, so I'll just write down the questions I had and maybe a possible theory or speculation.
1. Did Ben mean "see you in a week" as in 'I'll be hearing your report in a week'? Or is it close to a week now?
2. What was Danielle doing just smoothly taking the dynamite out? Why did Locke act as he did?
3. I can't believe how much they made fun of the "magic box" this episode. And the writers actually made Ben say flat out "IT'S A METAPHOR...OF COURSE THERE'S NO FREAKING BOX ON THE ISLAND."
4. I also cannot believe that they are actually bringing up this purgatory/hell/afterlife speculation. Did Anthony Cooper really die on the hospital table or was he quickly abducted? Teleported? If it was true, would his body just rot there once Sawyer killed him? Would it be possible to kill someone in an afterlife?
5. They keep pummeling us in the head with these ideas of Jack working with Juliet and Ben. Now it seems like it's true. What is this secret that Ben and Juliet are keeping? Why did Kate betray Sayid and Desmond when they said not to tell Jack?
6. Does Sawyer have no chance now of redeeming himself? He's just fulfilled his most evil, twisted desire. It would be different if he decided not to kill Cooper, then he would really get over his problem.
7. I can tell the difference between season-one-Locke's way of psychologically dealing with problems compared to the Other's way. Locke would help people with their problems in a healthy way, using methods that weren't harmful but still intense. The Others are the opposite; they use bad methods to solve problems. They say "kill your problems."
8. Yet another 'Tom'in the form of "Sawyer"'s full name. This adds to the list of unaccountable Toms on Lost.Agggh...that made me feel better.
As a side note, I will be unavailable during the next two weeks, to watch the episodes or comment on them, so I'm allowing Pheretic and Pandemic to take the reigns for me. I'll be back during the season finale to catch up!