Titles play an important part in Lost. Last week’s episode was aptly titled “?” not only because of the numerous questions it raised, but also because of the sheer state of confusion the characters and those of us jockeying the couch every Wednesday night feel.

So why "Three Minutes?" This essentially refers to the few fleeting moments Michael is allowed to spend with Walt before getting tasked with the mission to free Henry Gale and bring four other lostaways back to the Others’ camp.

Three minutes, that’s all it took, and we were sold. Sure, offing Libby and Ana Lucia was pretty cold, and definitely wrong, but who can argue with a father determined to get his son back? Stepping back, in both events and the timeline of the episode, we are finally given a “fly on the wall” perspective of what went down among Michael, Kate and Mr. Friendly in the jungle.

Alex took a moment to question Michael about Claire, her baby’s health, and oddly enough, the sex of the child. Why are the Others so concerned about children and offspring? Perhaps it has something to do with the mortality rate of women on the island. It’s curious that every female death has come after significant developments in their relationships, and that each one died by gunshot to the gut.

Interesting.

Meanwhile, Michael remains adamant about keeping his Walt extraction party pared down to only Hurley, Jack, Sawyer, and Kate. Even when Sayid insists that he join in on the Other hunting fun, Michael weasels around the request, using Walt as a shield for his reasoning. The brilliance behind Michael’s charge is that he must somehow find reason to insist that Hurley go along, while refuting Sayid’s offer to join in. A predicament to say the least, considering that Sayid’s combat experience would far outweigh anything Hurley could possibly offer.

The question is, what does Ms. Clue want with these specific Lostaways? It can’t be that they are too dangerous, because otherwise one would think Sayid would have made the cut. It can’t be knowledge of the hatch or Henry Gale, because if that were the case both Locke and Eko would have been included.

What is the one recurring thread that ties together Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate? Well, I guess we will find out more in the two hour finale next week.

It seems that Claire and Charlie have made up, but I’m not completely sold on Charlie not being an Other. He’s been up to some pretty “Other-like” activities of late, including baby-napping and Sun abduction. Now he suddenly emerges with a pneumatic injector and a case full of vaccine for Claire to use on the baby? Come on.

It’s easy to buy Claire’s reasoning; her dreams and neurosis already have her believing that her child is in need of some sort of vaccine. That makes sense, but how did Charlie know to give her the vaccine? Am I missing something here?

With all that has gone on this season, the show continues to ramp up into fits of intense mythology layering, character development, and island dramatics. We have now seen the Others’ camps, and to Michael’s credit, he doesn’t appear to be lying about their living conditions, number of guards, and the hatch. Yet something still doesn’t add up. Why did they need a sample of his blood? Why all the questions about Walt’s childhood development? And moreover, is Walt playing along with these people or is he on the level?

Kate’s fake beard discovery now seems to be backed up by Walt’s exclamation that “they are pretending,” so it seems more and more apparent that things are not entirely as they seem in the Others’ camp. Does this mean that Jack and company will stumble upon a very different scene when they follow Michael to the square-hole rock structure?

Mega points go out to Sayid for realizing that Michael has been compromised. With this guy keeping his eyes peeled and devising a plan to counter Michael’s double-cross, there is no telling what could possibly be in store during the two-hour season finale.

Lost Experience: Many of you are pulling out your hair while trying to figure out the clues, solve the puzzles, and even generally follow along with this online Lost event. Bunker in folks, because it’s going to be a long summer. Thankfully this game will be ongoing. This week we are given the clue Let Your Compass Guide You and an accompanying puzzle to ponder.

Confused? Remember to check back at The Hanso Foundation website often and it couldn’t hurt to visit Inside The Lost Experience.

Next up: Well, it’s that time of year again, folks. Season Finale. FINALLY! I say this now, but I’ll be all gripes over the summer. Luckily there are plenty of Season One episodes to revisit and re-cap during the break (which will probably keep our BBC listeners right on top of things), and as an added bonus I’ll try to offer up some tasty Lost Experience findings just to keep things fun and new. Anyways, next week we find out why the plane crashed, what happens when the numbers are not entered, and the conclusion to the Walt and Michael story arc. Is it Wednesday yet?

Mario Anima