The big surprise on tonight’s episode of “Lost” may have been the reveal that Jack’s dad also happens to be Claire’s father (making them half-siblings), but for those of you who faithfully read the online forums knew this was coming. Instead, I think that the biggest shocker wasn’t that Jack and Claire are related (in fact, the whole Claire flashback was kind of lame), but that Kate, Sayid and Locke spy Jack playing catch with Tom at the Others’ camp. Is he just playing them, or has he genuinely assimilated into the community? It’s hard to say, though all clues point to the latter, since it’s been mentioned on more than one occasion that the Others aren’t really all that evil.

Nevertheless, the rest of the episode moved along quite well. That is, as long as it wasn’t sulking around the oh-so-pointless Claire and her plans to capture a homing seagull and attach an SOS to its leg. I mean, is that really the best you can offer someone that hasn’t had a character-centric in almost a whole year? Forget Charlie. The writers should just kill Claire, and then we wouldn’t have to listen to her incessant whining. Plus, there’d be at least some solid reasoning behind it: she was saving Charlie. And while we’re on the subject of Charlie’s death curse, am I the only one that finds it odd that Charlie technically should have died when Ethan hanged him in season one? Desmond wasn’t around during the time, and if this death curse is for real, then why did he live?

Whatever the answer, let’s just hope that the writers make the right choice and keep Dominic Monaghan on the show. It would be nice to see the old gang (in which Charlie used to play a seminal part) back together again when Jack is finally “rescued.” And speaking of that, the developing rescue mission has fast become the most interesting aspect of the new season. If Sayid is the new Jack – constantly butting heads with Locke – then who is Rousseau? I vote for Hurley, since neither one seems to be much help.

Anyways, the old theory that Locke is actually evil has officially been thrown back into play after the series of weird events tonight. First, Locke claimed that he didn’t know about the C4 in the basement, but after Sayid finds a block of C4 in his bag, Locke kind of just shrugs it off. Then, he pushes Mikhail into the middle of the invisible sonic fence surrounding the Others’ camp, only to discover that, yes, it still works, sending Mikhail into a seizure of sorts. I guess it was of some help, at least, as it allows the rest of the survivors to devise a way to get over, and now that they have made it to the edge of the camp, they’ve discovered their fearless leader tossing the football around with ‘ol Mr. Friendly. The plot thickens…