6x06 Sundown: Ginger Ale Talk

Initial reaction
SUSAN: Last night pretty much put any theories I had that MIB might be the good guy in all this to rest. 
RACHEL: Seriously, same here.  Though it also put Jacob is somewhat of a bad light too.  At least with Dogen’s explanation for why he was on the island.  Also, they lied about providing more answers in this episode. 
SUSAN: Yes, omg yes.  I got annoyed at that.  Also, I know I called a death last night and all but was NOT expecting it to be Dogen and Lennon. 
RACHEL: Me neither! Because of what we talked about, I was half-expecting Sayid to kill himself and then he suddenly jumped Dogen.
SUSAN: That was insane.  I guess that’s what the sickness does.
RACHEL: I guess?  But he didn’t show any obvious signs of the sickness until after talking to FLocke.  Does he trigger it or something?  Because one minute Sayid is saying he’s a good man and the next, he’s all evil.
SUSAN: I was trying to think of it as a slow spread.  Like…peritonitis.  It slowly hardens all your insides and then there’s a point of no return.
RACHEL: True.. Oh! One thing about Sayid was semi-answered.  Remember how we wondered if he had really died because Miles had looked at him funny? Miles said that Sayid did in fact die and something else brought him back. 
SUSAN: Oh yes!  I did appreciate that. 
RACHEL:  Me too.

Evil Claire - Kate encounter
RACHEL: We finally got the Kate-Claire scene! She was super creepy in it .. and so going after Kate later.
SUSAN: Yeah, I like evil Claire, a lot actually.
RACHEL: Same! I hope we learn more about what actually happened to her.  Like if she died, then how?  How did she get infected?
SUSAN: Hey I just had a thought that’s kind of interesting.  Remember waaaay back Locke is alone in the jungle and encounters the smoke monster.  And afterwards all he says is “I have looked into the heart of this island, and it is beautiful.”  Well the heart he looked into was MIB.  THAT is what he thought was beautiful. 
RACHEL: Well we know the Smoke Monster can change forms/show whatever it wants, right?  I wonder if the MIB did that on purpose.  Showed Locke something beautiful in order to start his hold/manipulation on him. 

MIB vs. Jacob.. and their “recruits”
SUSAN: So what else to discuss?  Do you feel like we have less available to discuss lately? I sorto f feel like we’re in a place with a lot of thumb-twiddling until May.  But anyway, the nature of MIB and Jacob - if what Dogen said is right, then really they are both bad because they are each trying to create an imbalance in the person. 
RACHEL: Yes I do get the impression that they’re both bad in a sense and that Jacob may just be the lesser of the two evils. 
SUSAN: But the implication is they have to be in complete balance in every person. 
RACHEL:  Do you believe everything that Dogen said? About the MIB being angry, evil incarnate and now he’s free.
SUSAN: I’m not sure.
RACHEL: When he said that [about him being an angry man], the first thing I thought was, so is he actually a man?  Was he a regular mortal man first and somehow became Smokey?
SUSAN: Were they each a good man and an angry man?
RACHEL: Maybe?  Hm, I’m with you on this episode.  There’s some stuff to discuss but nothing really major.  It was very straight forward.  No big reveal.  The only thing worth talking about is the division at the end and Kate’s impending doom (if we’re lucky). 
SUSAN: lol! I love your evil streak!
RACHEL: Because she’s awful AND useless! She just moves from camp to camp cluelessly.  If her character had a point OTHER than a romantic interest, then fine.  Right now, her entire goal seems to be - find Claire (and well, maybe make Sawyer love her again).  But how is she going to bring Claire back anyway?
SUSAN: You know, I was thinking just that last night too.  How is she planning to leave the island?
RACHEL: Exactly, what is her plan? Also, prior to the episode, we talked about how we’d see sides again.  That camps would split up .. and we did.  Do you think Jin will be forced into Smokey’s camp?  And what about Kate? She just kind of wandered in and even Smokey gave her a look at the end
SUSAN: Yeah I’m not sure what to say about Kate.  I don’t think she could go evil but I don’t know.
RACHEL: I don’t think so either but she may just follow Claire, wherever she goes.  And especially if she sees Sawyer.
SUSAN: I think each of the evil ones has someone they’d do anything for already.  Like, Sawyer wants Juliet. 
Claire wants Aaron.  Sayid wants Nadia.  So I think it’s a question of, does Kate want Tom(?) badly enough and I think the answer is no. 
RACHEL: That’s a good point.  But do you think that’s the person Kate wants badly enough?  It could Sawyer, Jack.. or even Aaron.