"...I can hardly wait, baby, I can hardly wait..."

Pixies fans amongst you will get what the quote refers to... well, as long as you're a Lost fan as well. So, five episodes in and this latest one, This Place is Death, is starting to pull things together. Although it did pull things apart a bit. 

With all of the Oceanic Six bar Hurley together at the end of episode 4 it appeared that all would be plain sailing... but both Kate and Sayid made sharp exits, and it was only Ben's quick tongue that saved him from a bullet in the head. Ben continues to be my favourite character in the show. He conveys a world of emotion with a single sentence. The moment where he pulls the van over and practically screams at Jack and Sun "What I'm doing is helping you; and if you had any idea what I've had to do to to keep you safe, to keep your friends safe, you'd never stop thanking me." and it's a testament to Michael Emerson's acting skills that it all sounds so convincing. His performances really do steal the show so very often.

So, instead of getting all of the Oceanic 6 together, by the end there's just the two with ; Jack and Sun. Although, conveniently, as they arrive to meet Eloise Hawking (Daniel's mum) they happen to bump in to Desmond who is also there to find her... It really does make you wonder how they'll get Kate & Aaron, Sayid & Hurley together to go back to the island. And will they need Frank Lapidus as well...? I guess we'll find out next week...

Locke's plight is intriguing. In order to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island, he has to die. It is very interesting to note that in Season 1 he said that Boone was "the sacrifice the island demanded". Was he wrong then. Is Locke the sacrifice the island demands...? 

The most frustrating aspect to this episode, however, was the minimal amount of time we spent with Danielle's party. I was hoping we'd get to see much more of them, how the sickness manifested itself and what drove Danielle to kill them all. However, Smokey's attack was very interesting. Smokey appeared to be emanating from the ruins of what looked like a Temple (is this the same Temple Richard has taken the Others to...?). The hieroglyphics appeared to match those on the door underneath Ben's house; from where he was able to summon Smokey to attack Keamy et al. But most intriguing was how all of Danielle's party went down the hole got "the sickness", but Danielle was unaffected. A connection, perchance? I do hope we see more of young Danielle in future...

And, oh, so many other things that I could mention... I've not really touched on the well, Charlotte's death, the convenience of some of the time changes, that the company name on the van - Canton Rainier - is an anagram... oh, so many things.

Also, they've swapped the next two episodes around, which suggests that the episode that was due next, but is now #7 - The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham - must be pretty self contained, telling only of Locke's adventures off island... 

...and I bet when his corpse is brought back to the island, he'll come back to life. Which, I'm sure, is also what happened to Jack's dad. Which means, Jack's dad has been on the island before...