Despite Lost’s inability to satisfy me with the island mystery, the flashbacks, on the other hand, tend to be far more compelling. I love how the show wraps up these character’s histories and integrates them into the island’s mysteries. There’s no doubt that what has happened to these characters before they got on the island is much more interesting than their new island life.
The flashbacks are impressive not only because they are integrated well with the current timeline, but they also turn the show into a very unique multi-genre platform. Just look at the background stories for some of the main characters: Kate’s story is a very rich fugitive tale, Jack’s a dramatic hospital procedural, Jin’s an asian gangster story, and Sawyer’s a revenge flick. That the show can juggle all of these different genres, and handle them well, is cause enough for my affection. I only hope they can figure out a better way to satisfy the audience with the greater mystery.
Unlike the X-Files, this show can’t simply fall back on an episodic crutch, that is telling individual tales in a few episodes and ignoring the greater plot. Lost needs to keep the larger story arc interesting while fleshing out the individuals on the island, I only hope they find their rythm soon enough. We don’t want this turning into another Alias. I’m glad J.J. Abrams is only a co-creator to this show mainly because it won’t suffer as much if he ignores it like he did Alias 
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Yeah, a couple nights ago Andrei and I were talking about how we’re getting sick of Lost. Also, when I was explaining Lost to someone who’s never watched it, I said pretty much the same thing you did — that it is occasionally brilliant, and that makes it all worthwhile — and I cited the same episode you did. For me, no episode topped that one, because it produced a miracle right before your eyes, in a totally surprising, non-generic sort of way.
Anyway, I could go on and on.
New episode of Veronica Mars tonight. Eeeee!