A Licky Boom Boom Where?

• The Monologue:
• We're getting a lot of snow here. How much snow are you getting?
• We're getting so much snow that I saw a rabbit on cross country skis.
• There's so much snow outside that even Paul Molitor is overwhelmed.
• "Informer" didn't last as long on the charts as this snow is lasting on the ground (okay, here's a link to the video).
• Random Pop Culture:
• 24 has definitely been stupid in the past, but it's never been boring. Until the last fifteen minutes, this week's episode was exactly that. Brutally so. Sure, it was awesome when Jack pulled the knife out of his stomach and threw it across the room right into the guy's neck. Man, this season is not good.
• How good was Ellen on her American Idol debut tonight? I don't know if I actually expected less, but she was honest and very, very funny. On top of that, there was some legit talent, especially Andrew Garcia doing the dearly departed Paula Abdul's "Straight Up". Early to link to an Idol performance? Maybe, but I'd download that single in a second.
• There was an article about how they probably used a thumb double for Megan Fox in her Super Bowl commercial. She had a Super Bowl commercial? Seriously, I barely remember most of them, but I do not remember her being in one.
• Lost Comments/Questions of the Week:
• Seemed like more of a set-up episode, nothing super groundbreaking, but there was some stuff in there. Mostly either paving the way to the answer to a big question or shedding light on something we already knew.
• There were two things from the "flash sideways". First, Ethan being the doctor that saw Claire. Makes sense. We know he was medically trained. It stands to reason that Amy Goodspeed was evacuated from the island in 1977 by Chang and took baby Ethan with her. It shows that there will be a wide web of connections in L.A., but we knew that would be the case.
• Second, it certainly seems like there's some sort of deja vu going on with the passengers of Oceanic 815. Kate gave Jack a weird, lingering look at the airport. The name Aaron jumped into Claire's mind for some unknown reason. When she heard the name, Kate gave a very funny look.
• On the island, the big joke was, of course, Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Aldo, the Other who escorted Kate and Jin to find Sawyer. He absolutely was on the show before, as the guard outside of Room 23 (the Clockwork Orange-style room where Karl was being kept). It was very funny that he began to remind Kate of that just before she knocked him out.
• The big concept was the "infection" that we heard about a long time ago -- and then saw -- in regards to the French science team. Rousseau's people were taken by the monster and she killed them because they were infected. Dogan said that this, in Sayid's case, was the person being "claimed" by the dark forces of the island. Considering what we know about the monster now, that wasn't exactly coming out of nowhere. At the end, Claire, who we knew was alive all along anyway, did look very Rousseau-ish, so maybe Danielle was the one with the infection all along? Don't know if it really matters or if I really care. I guess the other question this speaks to -- and one I know we all care about -- is if this speaks to John's experience on the island and whether he was "claimed" by the monster from the very beginning.
• It also speaks to what may have happened to young Ben when he was healed in the temple. If the "infection" is so bad, why did Richard allow it to happen to Ben? Is this why Jacob seemed so uncaring towards Ben in the last season finale? I think it might be.
• Otherwise, it was very heavy on Jack and Kate and devoid of Locke and Ben, so there you go. An episode like that is never going to be thought of but so highly.