Funny that Frank said to Daniel that if Minkowsky gets on the line to immediately hang up. Maybe this Minkowsky is the 'man on the boat' and for whatever reason the four don't trust him... great episode. Sayid is the man.

Yeah I think they might not trust him. Its really weird. You got a great theory there.

Unfournately when I saw this episode I felt "ITSA TIME WARP!" chilling through my bones. But I'm gonna take it easy. I think maybe if there is some sort of Multiple Timeline thing or Time Warp thing going on then they just showed us. Which means its not the huge ending twist which makes me very very happy indeed about this stuff.

I got the impression that Frank was speaking to Daniel Farraday like he was indulging a kid. He's like 'okay you can play your little game but if minkowski (a higher up) gets on the phone, hang up so you don't get us in trouble' and he told Jack 'he does this sort of thing on the boat all the time' So I think Minkowski has his agenda and doesn't want them wasting time etc. That was the impression I got, Minkowski isn't very concerned about these four, he was too busy to talk to Miles, remember? Once again it seems these four are just guinea pigs of sorts.

Daniel Is sooo cool thought! Thats why (For Now) He has stolen Michaels place on my fav characters!

Good point Hazzard, didn't look at it that way. But why send the genius physicist then if you don't want hm doing his experiments, even if it is just for illusion. Odd.

maybe one of them "had been voted off the island" years ago and wants back.

are you suggesting a transvestite?
Maybe its Frankenfurter.

I'm no expert on this and checked wikipedia about beacons, but found no info regarding default content(s) of a beacon. I find it curious that Dan's beacon had inside a timer, and a timer only- as if Dan and the people on the freighter were already aware of some temporal discrepancies regarding the island. I think Dan was surprised not necessarily about the time difference itself, but that there was something even more peculiar about it. Like some unexpected change in its tendency or something..

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"Bear...? Is that you?"-- Hurley S03E4

"It's just a jump to the left. Andasteptotha riii-iiiii-iiiiight!..."

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"Helen, do you remember that authentic Australian walkabout I told you about?"

Toldjaso toldjaso TOLDJASO! Tee hee hee. No seriously, a multiple timeline thing was exactly my theory for so long and I was about to give it up. Now though it seems it might be right. I guess we'll see.... I can hardly wait.

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"Helen, do you remember that authentic Australian walkabout I told you about?"