Some Like It Hoth

Tonight brought another strong episode of Lost. It's been a long time since we had a traditional flashback episode, that paints in details of a character's background we didn't know. This story centered on Miles was all the more potent because until tonight, you may well have assumed you knew all the important things there were to know about the man -- he can talk to dead people. What more is there?

It turns out that his history is deeply connected to The Island. But unlike Charlotte, who took the freighter mission knowing what it meant, Miles went purely for the money. And in the process, he found his father, the multi-aliased doctor of the Dharma videos.

The real highlights of the episode were the interactions between Hurley and Miles. Strangely, until tonight, it simply hadn't occured to me that they both "talk to dead people." It was a neat basis for them to finally begin a better relationship, and all their conversations, on everything from Hurley's father to even Hurley's goofy attempt to polish The Empire Strikes Back script, were really entertaining.

For those into the mysteries, there was an interesting little connection casually tossed in tonight as well. The leader of the group who took Miles into their van in his flashback and tried to persuade Miles not to work for Widmore -- that man is in the present, one of the people who crashed on Hydra Island with Ben, Locke, Sun, and the rest. So it's no more an accident that he's there than it was for any of Our Heroes to be there. And it appears it's not just Ben vs. Widmore in the "grand story of Lost." This is second episode in a row to hint at "what lies in the shadow of the statue." It's starting to look like these "Statue Cultists," for lack of a term, are a third faction in play.

At long last, after nearly half a season away, Farraday returns. And literally, as it appears he actually left The Island at some point. No doubt we'll get the scoop on that the next time the show focuses on the 1970s storyline (whether that be next week or some time after that).

Good stuff.