Episode Recap: The Candidate

This episode blew my mind.  I was so engrossed that I simply could not do live blogging. Here are my thoughts in retrospect:

• Off island, it seems that all the O816 people are beginning to come together.  Does this ALL stem from Desmond's actions? It certainly seems that way.
• On island, Locke is acting quite sneaky - not sure what was going on with him.  Then the whole deal with the bomb on the sub! Well, things are certainly starting to make more sense now, at least regarding Locke.  And his final comment about finishing what he started makes me think that there will be more deaths next week (obviously not by Locke's hand though - I wonder who he'll get to do his dirty work?)
• I can't believe Jack actually expected Sawyer to trust him. He HAD to realize that wasn't going to happen.  Of course, Jack was actually right, AND he was right off island when he asked Locke to trust him.  It's looking like trusting Jack may be the key to everything.
• Sayid and the bomb actually made me gasp out loud.  I had to rewind that scene to make sure I really just saw what I just saw.  Poor Sayid! I love him for what he did, but ... Poor Sayid!
• Was I the only one sobbing like a baby over Jin & Sun at the end?  I don't think I've cried that hard over a tv show ever. (Of course, the fact that I have PMS could be a contributing factor ...) Then later when Hurley started sobbing, I was completely done in.
• Off island Locke's story about his father was a complete shock to me.  And speaking of that Locke, he is the "perfect candidate" for Jack's new surgery.  "Candidate" is a loaded word in this show, so that must be significant.
• We also got a repitition of the phrase "what happened, happened" by Jack in reference to off island Locke's father.  Again, a loaded phrase on this show.

So to recap, we lost three main characters tonight, a bunch of minor ones, and we are finally completely clear that Locke-Monster really is evil. Did I miss anything major?

What did you all think of this week's episode?  I'll be watching it again tomorrow to make sure I didn't overlook anything ...