Despite the writers' best efforts, they are amongst the least compelling characters in the show. Other characters can keep telling us how great a leader Jack is as much as they want, we just don't see it - He lacks the charisma of Locke, Sawyer or Ben (Hell, even Hurley is more charismatic), and almost every decision he makes comes accompanied by petulant grumpiness or months of angst. Kate, meanwhile, may be the object of Sawyer and Jack's affections, but apparently that's because they both share a taste for self-indulgent whiny women who say that they're bad-ass but never quite seem convincing when trying to be bad-ass. Both of them should really start paying more attention to Juliet, if you ask me.

Neither character seems tied to any of the core mysteries of the show. Yes, yes, I know; they're both part of the Oceanic Six. But nonetheless, just because they got off the island and want to go back doesn't make them that special (After all, we've got four other characters in the same position), and neither Jack nor Kate have the connection with the island that Ben or Locke seem to (Although Jack comes close, with his father's ghost... but that storyline could continue with Claire), nor the connection to the numbers that Hurley has, or even the time-traveling love story of Desmond and Penny. What exactly do you lose, storywise, if you lose Jack and Kate?

Just because they're part of the Oceanic Six doesn't mean that the island can't get them. Lindelof and Cuse love to do the unexpected, and what could be more unexpected than the island proving how powerful it is by killing off two of the show's stars as soon as they get back there? There's your fifth season finale right there, gentlemen.

It's a familiar story - Actors on popular TV shows start asking for more money, thinking that they're more important than the show itself. But what Fox and Lilly need to remember is that, just because you've been the stars of the show so far doesn't mean anything on Lost. Just ask Michael, Charlie, Mr. Ecko or Ana Lucia, in case you don't believe me.

'Lost' stars in renegotiation talks [Hollywood Reporter]

• Shout out to Philip K. Dick! I haven't read Valis but I'm sure some of you have. Care to share your thoughts on its significance?
• Still on the subject of books, Sawyer was reading The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Cesares, about which its publisher says: "Set on a mysterious island, Bioy's novella is a story of suspense and exploration, as well as a wonderfully unlikely romance, in which every detail is at once crystal clear and deeply mysterious." And then Kate smacked him upside the head and went back to the beach.
• Locke is slowly turning into Colonel Kurtz. He believes he's responsible for the island's wellbeing, but he's becoming corrupted by the power he believes it confers on him. It's not a democracy, he tells Kate, whom he later banishes for disobedience and gross insubordination. Nor, according to Locke, is it a dictatorship — yet he expects absolute compliance from the group who followed him. But he's uncertain enough to ask Sawyer, "Do you think I know what I'm doing? Do you regret following me?" Bad things are brewing.
• Speaking of which, loved Locke shoving a grenade in trussed-up Miles's mouth.
• Also loved Miles's distinction between blackmail and extortion, as well as his emphatically specific request of $3.2 million from Ben.
• Future Kate is acting as Aaron's mother, which means that something happened to Claire — she's either dead or still on the island. Either way, didn't the psychic in Claire's past tell her not to let anybody else raise her baby?
• Claire was downright chirpy this week, flouncing off with a smile when Sawyer came to visit Kate, then happily suggesting Kate might like being a mom, too. I scoffed at TVGuide.com's complaint that Claire wasn't grieving enough a couple weeks ago, but now it seems kind of valid. (Still don't want a big grieving Claire storyline, but shouldn't she — or anyone — at least mention Charlie once in a while?)
• Future Kate says she's heard Future Jack tell the cover story (only eight survived the crash, but two died, Kate was a hero) so many times she almost believes it herself. Why this scenario? I mean, why not just say six survived? Unless Claire (and someone else) did survive, only to die and that's why Kate has Aaron.
• Finally, regarding tonight's Kate is/is not pregnant storyline, why no Dharma-brand condoms on the island? I know Ben and the gang are trying to reproduce, but given that women who get pregnant on the island die, shouldn't there be some readily available birth control amid those great stockpiles of food and supplies? (Likewise, free Dharmette tampons might be a big upside to life on the island for women.)