'Lost': Welcome to Others Town

Let's just start at the beginning, shall we? Loved the opening shot and the way it echoed the start of Lost's first two seasons: the eye opening and the selection of a sugary pop tune preceding the intrusion of the plane-crash survivors into the lives of someone already on the island.

Given all we were presented in last season's finale, it was unreasonable to expect that we'd get answers to everything in this one episode. Best to look at the premiere as more of a table-setter for what's to come and our first real introduction to the life of the Others. It also kind of looks like next week's episode will take place more or less concurrently with what we saw tonight.

Also, having seen Others Town, I guess that sheds a little more light on why the episode was called "A Tale of Two Cities." How its residents got there, and why, is an open question, but I was getting a distinct Jonestown sort of vibe from that opening scene.

Here's what else we (probably) know:

• The Dharma folks had a wildlife station and an aquarium called the Hydra (which could explain the origins of that Dharma-branded shark way back from early in season two).
• The Others have access to the outside world, as evidenced by their thick file on Jack. We have no real reason to doubt Juliet (new cast member Elizabeth Mitchell) -- yet -- so I'm guessing there was real information in that file; it seems implausible that they would've been able to gather that much on his ex-wife and career just from observing him on the island.
• "Henry Gale's" real name is Ben.

Now, onto some theories, questions and general speculation:

• The flashback didn't tell us too much we don't already know about Jack: He's an obsessive guy, a control freak with father issues. His ex's line about him needing something to fix was the key, I think: The Others have left him pretty well helpless in that regard, and he nearly killed himself trying to regain some measure of control.
• The oversized Skinner box Sawyer was locked in was previously occupied by bears, at least according to Mr. Friendly (a now-beardless M.C. Gainey). Could this be where the polar bears were? And if so, does that mean Walt didn't conjure the first one because he saw it in his comic book?
• Who was the kid, Carl, in the other cage opposite Sawyer?
• I didn't see any Dharma/Hanso markings on any of the buildings in Others Town, but Juliet was rather cryptic when Jack asked her if she had been part of the initiative. "That was a long time ago," she said. I'm taking that to mean either A) Yes, I was part of Dharma and don't like to talk about it, or B) No, I wasn't, but I know what went on here and sure as hell am not telling you.
• What Stephen King novel were Juliet and her book club reading?
• Is Juliet's name really Juliet? Some people heard Ben say "Julia" at the end of the episode (I thought maybe he just didn't enunciate very well), and the guy in the book club called her "Julie."
• The voice on the broken intercom sounded like Jack's dad to me. Does that mean the drugs the Others gave him were already starting to make him hallucinate, or something weirder?
• What the heck did Ben mean when he told Kate the next two weeks would be "very unpleasant"?

OK. Enough from me. Let's talk it out, shall we?

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