"Caged Heat" meets "The Defiant Ones" -- with smoke monsters!

Lost's recent episode "Left Behind" continued the hot streak the show has been on since returning from the recent hiatus. I was wary of the episode because the ABC promo monkeys (who really must be stopped) couched it as nothing more than a chick fight about who loves St. Jack more. Not that there's anything wrong with a good old fashioned chick fight, mind you, and we certainly had our share of an estrogen laden throw down between Juliet and Kate (in a jungle downpour and mud! Too bad there's no Jell-O on the island). But that was just an overt manifestation for questions about guilt and forgiveness.

Sawyer's quest to not be "banished" bordered on treacly, but it was infused with enough humor to keep me from rolling my eyes at a supposedly skilled conman being conned by Hurley. Also good: the appearances of "smoky" the monster to torment our jungle gals were played for genuine thrills and dread, and I loved Sayid's (rightful) distrust of Juliet at the end.

Just like any good episode of Lost, questions were posed:

• Why did the Others leave and where did they go?
• Why did they leave Juliet, and is she part of some Otherly plan to infiltrate the beach group? After all, she did have the keys to the handcuffs all along.
• Where did a somewhat docile fertility doctor learn martial arts?
• What does Juliet actually know about smoky and the sonic fence system? Why couldn't smoky simply go "over" the fence did like our 4 Losties did previously, if it really wanted to get Juliet and/or Kate?
• At the monster's first appearance, what exactly were those "flashes" Kate and Juliet saw? And is it significant that Juliet seemed to look at them more than Kate?
• Why were Jack and Sayid "out" from the gas so much longer than Kate and (supposedly) Juliet? Were they gassed later? Or with more extra-special, longer lasting gas?
• What the hell is going on with Locke? Is he infiltrating the Others? Has he struck some selfish and independent deal with Benry? What happened with "dad in a box?" Plus, I'm still wondering of Locke TRULY blew up the sub. After all, he was inside the sub planting the explosives and could have left via the dock, yet he was soaking wet moments later when confronted by Jack and the Others. Hmmm.

All in all, another very good episode and I'm truly excited about seeing the rest of the season play out.