Warning, nothing but spoilers ahead.

I’m on vacation this week, but I feel like I can’t not chime in on “Lost.” I’ll try to keep this post short and sweet, but in a nutshell, I liked this week’s episode, even though it – once again – raised more questions than it answered. Some random thoughts:

Time to Hurley to take control. (ABC photo)

– Hurley sponsors The Human Fund? Ha! Awesome “Seinfeld” reference.

– Samm Levine (“Freaks & Geeks,” “Inglorious Basterds”) as the Mr. Cluck employee? Awesome as well.

– So Dr. Pierre Chang heads a paleontology museum, where Charlotte also works. Hmmm, interesting, though I’m not sure why.

– Hurley is lucky and beloved in the parallel timeline, but sad and alone, supporting the theory that it’s sort of a be-careful-what-you-wish-for fantasyland, where what you think you want isn’t really what you need. Hurley episodes are always great; I read on one blog that while Desmond may be the soul of the show, Hurley is the heart. Totally true.

– KABOOM! Bye Ilana. Wow, that was a shocker, and pretty much a wasted character. Guess we’ll never find out her mysterious origins in the Russian hospital. So her whole life led up to . . . .that? When the island’s done with you, it’s REALLY done with you. One more reason to think that the island/Jacob is a god-like force, but not necessarily a good god-like force. It has its own agenda.

– The Hurley-Libby storyline was sweet. Maybe it’s not the epic love story that Desmond and Penny have, but it’s cute. It also supports the all-you-need-is-love theory, that the island somehow needs these chosen people to find their soul mate.

– OK, so Libby can feel the two realities. Is that because she’s crazy, or just special? These two planes (no pun intended) of existence are going to have to merge at some point, right? This almost feels like “The Matrix,” where there’s a fake world that only a handful of people realize is fake. Let’s hope this ends better.

– So the island whispers are the souls trapped there. That theory had been floating around a while, but it was weird how casually Hurley and Michael explained it. Kinda anticlimactic. In the early seasons, the whispers were associated with The Others – so were The Others lost souls? Or were the whispers trying to warn the Losties that The Others were near? That’s one we’ll probably never find out.

– Speaking of Michael, it was nice to see him back. Even though he didn’t give a whole lot of details as to what Hurley had to do. Can’t anyone on this island explain anything to anyone?

– Who’s the boy in the jungle? A young Jacob? A young Man In Black? And why does he freak out UnLocke so much? Interesting that Desmond could see him. Yet Richard couldn’t. Hmmmmm.

– I think Miles is next to go. Running off with Richard and Ben can’t be good for one’s survival chances.

– Nice to see Hurley step up and become a leader on the island, and even nicer to see Jack take a supporting role. He seems to have acquired a Desmond-like outlook that he knows what he needs to do, and what his role is.

– Note to Desmond: Don’t tell the Smoke Monster that you’re not afraid of him. You could tell it was coming, but it was still somehow a shocker when UnLocke pushed Desmond into the well. So the question is why? It must have something to do with Des’ ability to survive electromagnetic energy bursts, which makes him a threat to UnLocke. Don’t ask me how or why though.

– So Alt-Desmond is connecting Losties with their soul mates (constants?); is that why he ran over Alt-Locke, to reunite him with his constant, Alt-Jack, at the E.R.? Or was it some sort of revenge, some way of crippling (even more) Smokey’s vessel? Either way, it was a jaw-dropper.

UPDATE: This just dawned on me: Desmond has become the Jacob of the alt-world, nudging people together and setting things in motion.

– Lapidus seems to still be around just because he’s the only one who can fly that plane outta there. But, um, how are they going to take off? They crash-landed in a sandy, grassy meadow. It doesn’t look nearly long enough or well-packed enough to achieve take-off speed. Has anyone thought of that? Besides, there’s a submarine waiting  . . . . .

– Sawyer and Kate have been doing a whole lot of nothing these past few episodes. Meanwhile, Sayid is getting creepier by the minute.

– The “Willie Wonka” song in the previews was creepier than creepy. What was up with that?

So what’d you think? Any crazy theories or connections that you made? What’s Desmond’s deal (in both worlds)? With only four episodes left before the finale, are you getting more nervous that there won’t be enough time to explain everything? Or even some things?