I saw Brad!

Not likely.........although it could make you feel even more lost:D

Loved it. Desmond is an awesome character. He's like a bombshell.

And we got the first inklings of the flashes coming together.

Loved Eloise's reaction to Desmond's new found knowledge.

OK....maybe I'm not understanding something....

This whole Desmond thing would seem to point to some form of parallel universe kind of thing. Right? Maybe I'm wrong. If that's the case, I'm not sure how the Jacob vs. Smokey and keeping smokey on the island comes into play.

Am I just way off or am I missing some connection?

They have not made it clear, is the answer. Could be parallel universe. Could be that the parallel universe is a "trapped in their own mind" kinda thing (as could the island itself). They have not given enough information to know what the relationship between the island and the flash sideways world is.

€'s post made me realize that someone who only watched the first season wouldn't know who the majority of the players in the current season are.

Based on Eloise's reaction, it's looking more and more like this is some sort of virtual reality experiment. Matrix/holodeck kinda thing. In that context I suppose that the MIB/Jacob dynamic might represent the suspension of disbelief necessary to keep the illusion. That, like the Matrix, for the VR environment to remain stable and convincing, the participants need to have free will, which carries the risk of destroying the whole experiment. And what's left undetermined is, would blowing the experiment open be a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps the VR world is an alternate to some unpleasant reality and it's all for their own good. Or perhaps it's a punishment of some sort.

Yep, I don't know how they could have telegraphed MATRIX any louder.

I used to think Charlie himself programmed the code for the looking glass("programmed by a musician" said the dying other)....

Now, me thinks it was Daniel.