—We now know the inhabitant of the coffin is John Locke/Jeremy Bentham. I will not pretend to be smart enough to have realized at the first mention of Bentham that the real Bentham was a 19th century British philosopher… and a successor to the real…John Locke.

Thank you, obsessive-message-board-posters-whom-I-would-never-mock-because-you’re-incredibly-entertaining (http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=mb&cat=33026) for pointing that out.

But who re-named Locke and submitted his obituary to the newspaper? And didn’t Sayid’s explanation to Hurley about Locke/Bentham’s death – “they said it was suicide” – seem a bit suspicious, like maybe Ben’s new killer-for-hire had something to do with this “suicide”? And why this hatred toward Locke? In last season’s finale, Kate snarled at Jack that the deceased “was neither friend nor family.” You would think that she would have considered Locke a friend…until we see what happens next season for her to feel otherwise, I guess.

—So Ben was capable of moving the island – or at least making it disappear in an awesome CGI moment of the ocean swallowing it like a Tic-Tac. And Christian Shepherd appeared to tell Michael the island was finally ready to let him die (the dude has made numerous suicide attempts, yet he doesn’t have a second to ponder his fate when he finally bites it – somehow, that seems unfair).

But where are Daniel Faraday and the others who were on the raft headed for the freighter? And what happens to Shirtless Sawyer, Juliet, Locke and his new flock once the island is sucked into what is likely some kind of time/space continuum?

And IS Jin dead? I’m still taking the optimistic route on that one, partially because Sun’s heartbreaking reaction to the freighter explosion unnerved me so much, I had to go back and watch it three more times, and also because of her flash-forward hatred of Jack, whom she blames as the second person (along with her father) responsible for Jin’s death.

My guess is that Jin dove off the freighter immediately before it exploded and survived the blast, but something happens between the Oceanic 6’s arrival on the island of Sumba and their return home that leads to Jin’s death. And somehow Jack is responsible. Or something like that.

—The Penny/Desmond reunion. OK, come on. Even for a show rooted in suspension of disbelief, that Penny’s boat just happened to stumble upon the Oceanic 7 was ludicrous (yeah, I know, she has a “tracking station.” Whatever). But, since her reunion with Desmond was the only shred of happy news in two hours of plane crashes, freighter explosions, deaths, leaping Sawyers, morose Juliets and creepy Claire dreams, here’s a photo to keep the romantics placated.

But also, have we seen the last of Penny and Desmond, or will they try to find the other castaways, despite Jack’s instructions to the contrary?

—Speaking of Kate’s creepy Clarie dream… Some of the techno-geeks (love you guys!) already decoded the disturbing backward audio from Kate’s phone call (what is this, the “White Album”?).

Hear it here (and check out some cool hi-res screencaps):
http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/

Or I’ll save you the effort: “The island needs you. You have to go back before it’s too late,“ is what understandably spooks Kate.

And why does Kate tell Aaron, “I’m sorry”? Does she already know that they have to return to the island – and presumably Aaron also falls under Ben’s mandate that EVERYONE, even the coffin-bound Locke, must return or else the island won’t allow them back?

It’s a good thing we have eight months to obsess over all of this. So while you’re thinking about it, theorize on these topics, too.

—What did Sawyer whisper to Kate – which was obviously the directive that we saw her carry out in “Something Nice Back Home” (my vote for the season’s best episode, excluding the finale), which set Jack into a booze-fueled tirade?

—Who is following Hurley – and possibly the other returnees? Is Widmore at work?

—What is Sun’s ulterior motive in cozying up to Widmore?

—And, um, has anyone seen Vincent the dog lately?