What did you think of 'Ab Aeterno?'

What do you think about the episode? What about Richard's story?

Did the answers satisfy you?

Where does the show go from here?

Has your opinion of Jacob and The Man in Black changed?

Tonight on LOST: 'Ab Aeterno'

The title of tonight's episode of Lost, "Ab Aeterno," is Latin ("Gotta learn Latin! Language of the enlightened," as Juliet told Sawyer in Season 5), and it means, more or less, "since the beginning of time."

Maybe we'll get a slightly different translation of the phrase from the man of the hour. This is a Richard-centric ep, and Lost fans are very excited, because "Ab Aeterno" promises to be mythology-heavy and full of disclosures about the Island, the good ship Black Rock, and the mysterious Mr. Alpert himself.

ABC's official promo is, like all its promos this season, impossibly vague: "Richard Alpert faces a difficult decision." Lost fansites are rife with chatter about expecting some good old-fashioned flashbacks, maybe even featuring Jacob and the Man in Black, instead of a flash-sideways this week.

That flashback possibility seems quite likely, if only because this is Richard we're talking about, and he's got tons of history we don't know yet -- thanks to being apparently ageless, which he says is Jacob's double-edged "gift." Also, actor Nestor Carbonell, who plays Richard, has been hinting that this episode will carry lots of juicy reveals.

UPDATE: Be sure to set your DVR or VCR to run past the usual hour, because Lost's "Ab Aeterno" episode will run six minutes longer!

What is the island?

Word on the street, er... the blogs, is that we'll find out the answer in the next episode, which gives us Richard's backstory.

STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT SMALL HINTS TO HELP YOU GUESS.

It's a four letter word that doesn't have the letters A or E. It does have an O.

One suggestion that's been out there quite a bit is that the island is a door.

My only other guess is that it's a port as in a portal.

Any other thoughts?

How well did Lost 'Follow the Leader?'

What did you think of 'Follow the Leader?'

Post your observations, theories and rank speculation in comments.

Recapping 'Whatever Happened, Happened'

Check out what Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly had to say about Wednesday's episode.

... the castaways are being made to understand that their participation in past events is shaping the future that they have already experienced. They have themselves to blame for the thing that is Benjamin Linus. We are the causes of our own suffering. Think about your life. At the same time, I didn't quite know how to interpret this idea that Ben would be getting a memory wipe as part of his healing treatment. Did Richard mean that Ben would only be made to forget how Sawyer and Kate helped save his life? I hope so, because if Ben's whole childhood is about to get erased, it really makes me look stupid for insisting to the whole world that Adult Ben remembers growing up with the castaways in Dharmaville.

And, Watch With Kristin.

And, The Washington Post.

Reviewing 'Whatever Happened, Happened

So, do Kate and Sawyer's actions turn Ben into the man he is today? Did they do they right thing?

What do you think Richard Alpert can do to Ben to heal him, take away his memory and steal his innocence? What does it mean that Ben belongs to them now?

And why didn't Kate and Sawyer change their minds?

Do you think the Losties can change the future or the past, for that matter? Or did Whatever Happened, Happened?