'Lost' Recap: A Will of Their Own

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Perhaps, then, the relevancy of Castaneda to Lost is purely ironic and darkly comic. Sayid's moment of total honesty and alleged clarity, facilitated by drug-dosed sugar cubes (Hurrrmmmm), is a jokey generalization of the author's peyote-facilitated enlightenment. And there's a bad-twin relationship between the don Juan-Castaneda and the Ben-Sayid union. Whereas don Juan aspired to fill his pupil with transcendent light, Ben filled Sayid's soul with damning darkness. (That is, based on facts currently in evidence. There's an argument to be made that Ben is still shepherding Sayid and the other castaways toward redemptive endings, but I shall not be exploring that argument today.)

And yet, Castaneda articulated some ideas with strong Lost resonance. ''When one has nothing to lose, one becomes courageous. We are timid only when there is something we can still cling to.'' Sawyer may want to think deeply about that one. Castaneda's conception of ''the warrior'' speaks to Jack's semi-spiritual conversion. ''Power comes only after we accept our fate without recriminations.'' Then again, there are these bon mots: ''We hardly ever realize that we can cut anything out of our lives, in a blink of an eye.'' And: ''A warrior doesn't need personal history. One day, he finds it is no longer necessary for him, and he drops it.'' Could personal transformation really be that simple? Only the Shadow knows. And as for Sayid, last seen fleeing into the jungle darkness like an on-the-run Dark Knight, here's hoping he can finally find some light.

QUICK HITS

BEN AND ''A SEPARATE REALITY'' Sayid got the book from Ben, who claimed to have read it twice. In next week's Doc Jensen, I'll examine why I think the book appealed to Ben so greatly. Hint: Research Castaneda's theory of ''The Allies.'' My hunch is that Ben liked to think that's who/what ''The Hostiles'' really were.

THE FLAMING VW BUS Ben's first scheme. Well done! I also liked the hoody he was wearing. A telltale sign of treachery on Lost. (Also see: hoody-wearing Charlie in ''The Long Con.'')

DHARMA TRIBAL COUNCIL They voted unanimously to execute Sayid. Amy was motivated to eliminate the threat he represented to protect both her newborn, Ethan, and all the other Dharma children. There was something in the way she emphasized ''children'' that gave me the strong impression that children play an important factor in...whatever it is that Dharma is REALLY. I have a feeling that Dharma may have started as an attempt to create a model, alternate society, but a new mission emerged, perhaps a secretive one, and it led to the construction of stations like The Swan. Yes, I got all of this from a line reading and Radzinisky's bleatings about the importance of keeping the Swan a secret. Dubious?

CHEF HURLEY! Funny.

QUIET JACK See: More on Castaneda's conception of ''the warrior.''

CHICKEN AND EGG CAUSALITY It was there. Lost gave us the chickens explicitly and gave us the eggs implicitly through Castaneda, who likens people as cosmic eggs radiant with interconnected energy. Aren't you glad I didn't waste a couple hundred words on THAT idea?

''WHAT'S ON THE TV?'' REALLY funny.

LONG LINGERING GLANCES BETWEEN SAWYER AND KATE Yawn. Already tired of this tension. Can Juliet do something else except be a kept woman or ''the other woman''?

I am running woefully behind. More thoughts may come later today, in which case I'll post to Popwatch. Otherwise, we'll see you next week at Doc Jensen.