Lost recap

Are you like me -- sick and tired of the "Lost" flashbacks? I don't know what we really learned from Sayid's trips down memory lane to the first Gulf War, other than torture works and it's the Americans who taught him to do it (something there to irritate both liberals and conservatives, I suppose).

So should we take Sayid at his words to Charlie, that he knows the stranger is an "Other" because he feels no remorse for beating him? To be determined, no doubt, although it occurs to me that the stranger's story could be true and he could be an Other. They had to come from somewhere, didn't they?

More intriguing were the previews for the next episode on March 1 (not next week -- that's a repeat of the pilot), when we'll apparently learn what happened to Claire when she was captured. It involves yet another Dharma bunker. It's amazing there's not a subdivision and a zoning board on the island somewhere, what with all the construction.

UPDATE: Here's the roundup from the "Lost" fan listings -- the heiroglyphics that popped up when the timer ran out apparently mean "to cause to die." Cool. And just because nothing happened... doesn't mean nothing's happening. At least I hope so.

When Sayid is in the Army truck, there's a guy across from himi looking at a photo of his daughter. That's Kate's stepdad.

Dude in the balloon? Henry Gale. Name of Dorothy's uncle in Wizard of Oz.