Claire, I am your faaa-ther…

Sorry, just had to get my Darth Vader moment out of the way.

“Lost� revealed the worst kept secret of the series last night – NON-SPOILER ALERT! – that Claire and Jack are half-siblings. They share a daddy, Doc Christian Shephard, though Claire doesn’t know his name.

Yet, despite the fact that there wasn’t any surprise in the supposed “big reveal� of the past Jack-Claire connection, this was still a great hour. There were shockers from beginning to end, so let’s start at the beginning.

First off, I thought it was a nice touch in kicking off the episode with a close-up on Claire’s eye. Remember how the series began? With a close-up of Jack’s eye as he wakes up on the beach after the plane crash.

And I liked the flashback’s Gothic Claire, though it was kind of a trite way to highlight how she was a rebellious teen. At least she wasn’t singing Cure songs.

So poor Claire argues with her mom, causing a car accident that puts her in a coma. Add her to the list of characters responsible for another person’s death. (Or near-death, since we don’t know whether Mom is still alive. Though Claire implied that she passed away in her conversation with Sun.)

Back on the island, it was nice to see Claire showing a bit of brainpower in her plan to use the tagged seagulls to send a note to potential rescuers. I was tired of seeing her just moon around Charlie and Aaron.

Meanwhile, how blown away were you by the plotline involving Locke, Kate, Sayid, Rousseau and Mikhail?

Another reference was made to the mysterious Jacob’s List, drawn up by the Others’ “magnificent� leader. And Mikhail wasn’t referring to Ben, who’s apparently just an assistant manager.

Kate’s not on the list, because she’s “flawed, angry, weak and frightened.� I would have given him the first two, but certainly not the rest.

Then Mikhail verifies the fact that the Others have dossiers on all of the plane crash survivors. Including Locke. Mikhail is about to tell all, when Locke prevents him from doing that by pushing him into the security system!!

Not completely unexpected, but I totally did not see Mikhail’s violent death coming. The blood spurting from his ears was actually a little gross.

This brings us back to last week’s discussion of Locke’s agenda. As I’ve said here before, it’s been speculated that Locke is a secret Other. I think he’s got another mission.

At first, I thought he just didn’t want to leave the island because it healed his paralysis and turned him into a leader. Next week’s episode should reveal more – FINALLY we find out why he was in that wheelchair – but I found something online that suggests that he actually DOES want to get home.

“The Tail Section website”:http://www.thetailsection.com/lost-news/man-from-tallahassee-info.php#more found a Canadian promo for the upcoming episode that gives away a bit more than the one for American viewers. Locke tracks down Ben somewhere in Othersville, and tells him what he IS looking for – since he’s not there for Jack.

And that leads us to our last surprise of the night: What is up with Jack playing nice with the Others?

Nothing like a little touch football to inspire some togetherness.

So here’s some homework for you before next week, my fellow Losties?

Question No. 1: Is Jack now an Other?
Question No. 2: What’s your theory on how Locke got into that chair?

Get going people! And just an FYI, I’m on vacation next week, and my Remote Access buddy, Matt Sartwell, has agreed to fill in for me.

I do feel bad about that, though, so I’m going to give you all a treat. I got some info on the Mar. 28 episode, the one that gives the back story of despised newcomers Nikki and Paolo.

And I’m TOTALLY looking forward to it.

Yes, you heard me. But not because the dopey duo is growing on me. It’s because whatever will be revealed about them involves “Boone, Shannon and Dr. Artz.”:http://www.buddytv.com/articles/lost/lost-spoilers-312-exposi-expos-4909.aspx

Yup, Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace guest star, along with Daniel Roebuck as “You got some Artz on you.�

And from the looks of the photos on ABC’s press site, we’re going back to the beginning of “Lost� in a flashback to where Nikki and Paulo were right after the plane crashes.

Enjoy!