It's Lost Conventional Wisdom time.  Where I assess who's lost stock, who's gained it, and who's breaking even.

Jack 

Before the hiatus, I was loving me some Jack.  When he was slicing and dicing Ben and holding him hostage, I loved how he was leveraging the Others' weaknesses to his own advantage.  Now, he seems to be backtracking into self-righteous territory.  I should have seen it coming. He's still kicking some ass, but he seems to have hit a wall.

In addition to that, two weeks we had a Jack flashback episode that totally blew.  First of all, it had Bai Ling.  And Bai Ling is, well, Bai Ling.  Second of all, it focused a whole lot on Jack's tattoos — a mystery that, apparently, we were all dying to know.  He had a bunch of annoying conversations with Dame Judy Whatserface about them and the melodrama was palpable.

I guess the ride of Jack awesomeness could only last so long.

Locke

Listening to Locke discuss the island, his metaphysical relationship to the island, the fate of the islanders and life in general is like listening to Dick Cheney talk about Iraq.  They both seem so confident and assured (maybe it's the oldness/baldness) and they purport to know exactly what's going to happen in the future, so if you just do what they say, everything will be fine.  But then you get periodic reminders that neither of these jerks has ever been right about anything. 

Last night, Locke lost even more credibility as he blew up Vladimir Von Eyepatch's bunker through what was obviously a self-destruction device.  (Even if he didn't know the place was wired with explosives, it was a bad call.)

Sayid

You know, I'll always love Sayid.  Even if he did torture innocents in a past life, it just makes me root for his redemption even more.  I liked last night's episode, especially because the focus of the flashback was so narrow.  It focused more on telling a story than worrying about revealing a carefully measured amount of information about his background.

Plus he's pretty kickass when it comes to beating up Eyepatch even after getting shot.  Sure, that may just be Lost's casual relationship with realism, but it's fine by me. 

Juliet 

I thought Juliet was going to be awesome for a while.  When she was holding up the signs saying that Jack should kill Ben, I was all excited about the coup.

But she's proven surprisingly weak ever since.  She has good intentions and I feel for her, but she's not quite the dynamic character I thought she was.

Side note: one of my favorite moments of the Juliet flashback episode was when whatsisface, Suddenly Susan guy, starts flattering her about how she managed to impregnate male mice.  So she says, turning red, "They didn't even carry them to term." She just said it in a coy, "What?  This old thing?" tone of voice that I thought was hilarious considering they were talking about male pregnancy.

Kate

I don't hate Kate as much as a lot of people seem to.  Maybe it's just cuz she's pretty.

But I do have some misgivings about her whole "we can't leave Jack behind" crusade.  It's noble, sure, but incredibly stupid.  And, as of late, it seems like her only emotion as of late is "indignant."  She always gets credit for being the only female flight survivor (I'm not including Others, dead people or miscellaneous cast members) who really can kick some ass.

Desmond

First of all, can I say how hot Scottish accents are?  Well, it's true. 

Now that that's out of the way, Desmond has become a lot more interesting in these past few episodes.  We got his whole psychic backstory and how he is a cursed hero (he and Hurley should start a club).  Desmond's really gone from weirdo periphery to the heart of it all.  Kudos.

Hey, this has nothing to do with what's on tonight, but check out who's the latest man candy to join Addison's spinoff. I hope they don't make him cut his hair. Adorable, adorable Piz. Poor, poor Veronica. 

In Thursday night viewing news, it's the last 30 Rock before its hiatus, so get it while it's hot. Nathan Lane plays Jack's brother. The subject line of this post almost killed me last week.

Pretty much everything else is repeat, repeat, repeat. Even Men in Trees. Even Supernatural. Crazy, huh?

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: Say you want to expand your cultural horizons and learn to appreciate another culture. Here's your solution! VH1 is showing Australia's Next Top Model.

Who's got two thumbs and a ticket to the Dismemberment Plan reunion show? 

• Rashida Jones from The Office gets a well-deserved fugging for wearing a hideous Minnie Mouse frock.  She always looks so good in suits — it's sad.
• Stupid Star Jones is going to have her own show on Court TV.  Mama can't live on Payless money alone, I guess. 
• Antonella, the topless American Idol girl, has been offered a chance to host a Girls Gone Wild video. 
• I love the British.  I'd love, this year, to get a British boyfriend for Hannukah.  That said, they've got some fucked-up reality shows. 
• Tim Daly is going to have a guest spot on Grey's that will appear to lay the foundation for the Addison spin-off.  Steven Weber, Tim Daly, Tony Shalhoub, Thomas Hayden Church… so much post-Wings success.  That said, hope you saved some money, Crystal Bernard.
• A New Jersey town has banned Sopranos filming. 
• LC launches a virtual clothing line.  Or whatever. 
• I totally saw these people when I went to Union Station for lunch yesterday! 
• NPR talks to George Michael from Arrested Development. 
• Tim Robbins + Showtime = another show about drugs.