Los Angeles

Pierre Chang is hosting an event honoring Hugo Reyes. Good old Hurley and his love for chicken, Pierre tells us, have enabled his franchise to prosper and his philanthropic activities to grow. Photos are shown to the audience of Mr. Cluck’s restaurants in Paris, Japan, and Cairo. Hurley used his lottery winnings to purchase a Mr. Cluck’s restaurant. Since his luck wasn’t bad after the win in this alternate reality, I’m guessing that Tricia Tanaka wasn’t killed when the meteor, and the restaurant wasn’t destroyed.

Hurley has helped to fund parks, schools, hospitals, The Humane Society, zoos, an experimental farm, and a new wing on the anthropology museum. (Probably the same museum where Daniel spotted Charlotte.)

Yes, all is well with millionaire Hurley. Except for his love life. At least that’s what his mom thinks.

On the Beach

Preparations are still being made to blow up the airplane so Smokey Locke can’t leave. Hurley says his final good-bye to Libby at her grave. He tells her that other dead people have shown up to talk to him and he would really like her to. Ilana breaks into the one-sided conversation and asks Hurley if he’ll be ready to leave when she returns  from the Black Rock. Hurley tells Ilana that the grave belongs to Libby, from the tail section of the plane, and they were going to have their first date, a picnic on the beach. But then Michael (boo, hiss) murdered her. Ilana gives Hurley some quiet alone time at the grave, but we hear the whispers and then Michael (boo, hiss) shows up. Michael, who died on the freighter when it exploded, tells Hurley that he can’t let them blow up the airplane on Hydra Island or a lot of people are going to die. Hurley doesn’t want to trust him because he killed Libby and Ana Lucia.

Los Angeles

Mrs. Reyes arranged a blind date for Hurley and “Rosalita” at a Mexican restaurant. She fails to show but  Libby, who never looked this good on the island, approaches him with her “crazy talk” about them already knowing each other from someplace before. She believes that they are connected like soul mates. Libby’s psychiatrist shows up at the table to take Libby back to the mental hospital transport van with all the other patients who are out on a field trip. Libby tells Hurley that she meant everything she said. This gives Hurley something to think about, but that “crazy” stigma seems to make him a non-believer.

On the Beach

Ilana arrives back at the beach with four sticks of leaky dynamite in a canvas bag. I’m no expert on explosives but it didn’t seem to take much to blast Arzt to pieces a few seasons back. Hurley tries to intervene in the plan. Not only did Michael tell him to stop her; he knows from experience that the dynamite is unstable. But Ilana insists that she has been training her whole life for this; to protect the candidates. She must blow up the plane so that smoke monster “thing” won’t be able to leave the island.

Honestly, I would like to see what happens when a smoke monster lands in a populated location. Maybe that’s what causes Doomsday in 2012. Carlton Cuse sent a twitter that spoiled the ending. He said that the final episode is actually what caused the volcano in Iceland.

Ilana has a desperate sense of urgency to get the job done. Hurley states the obvious; if they blow up the plane the candidates won’t be able to get off the island either and they’ll be stuck there with the black smoke monster that will undoubtedly be very angry. Ilana believes that following Richard is the right thing to do. She bends down to finish packing some things into her bag. Hurley continues to argue with her. Ilana, getting more and more frustrated, stands up and tells Hurley that she is only looking out for their best interest, she tosses her water bottle into the bag, sets it down and kaboom! That totally sucks, but it was a seriously cool explosion.

On the Island

Smoke Locke, Sawyer, Kate, and the gang are just hanging out from where Jin was taken. Sawyer is becoming very impatient because Locke is just whittling on a tree branch. Locke tells them that just like the only way they could all return to the island was by doing it together, they have to all leave together on the plane to get off the island. Kate doesn’t see that happening but . . . it just might transpire.

Sayid pulls Locke aside and takes him out to where he has Desmond tied to a tree. Everyone sure carries a lot of rope on this island.

On the Beach

Hurley looks through Ilana’s belongings left in her makeshift shelter on the beach; there he finds a Russian book (I sure hope that we learn more about Ilana and that’s not just the end of her) and the bag with Jacob’s ashes. Richard continues to quickly get ready to leave for the other island. Richard says that they have to get more dynamite despite what just happened. Jack made a promise to Sun that he would get her off the island and Richard wishes he hadn’t done that. Hurley agrees with Richard. What? Just a second ago he was arguing with Ilana about it. Hurley tells Jack to trust him; and he does. Jack doesn’t like being in charge anymore?

Los Angeles

At a Mr. Cluck’s restaurant, Hurley orders a family size bucket of chicken. He’s a little upset and needs something to eat. He sees Desmond standing in line staring at him. Desmond asks Hurley if he’s seen him before. If Hurley is as famous as everyone is saying he is, then Desmond probably saw his face on TV. Hurley tells Desmond that he probably saw his commercial and asks him if he wants a Cluckateer keychain. Desmond remembers it was on Oceanic 815 from Sydney. He sits down and makes a comment about the large quantity of chicken he’s been eating. Hurley tells him he’s depressed. Desmond asks, “So what’s her name?”

Is Desmond now playing cupid?

Hurley tells Des about his blind date, Libby, and the fact that, although she’s totally awesome, she’s crazy and lives in the loony bin. Des says, “All women are a little crazy, Brutha.” Why must he be so darn adorable?

Sorry, I started day dreaming a little bit.

Hurley continues by telling him that Libby said that they already knew each other, but he doesn’t remember meeting her at all. Desmond moves in close to whisper. He asks Hurley if he believed Libby when she said that. Hurley admits that he did a little bit. Des tells him to go with his gut and try to remember where he may know her from.

On the Island

Fake Locke apologizes to Desmond for being tied up, but Sayid didn’t want him to run away. Des says that he has nowhere to run to. Locke likes that answer and cuts him loose. Locke asks Desmond why Charles Widmore brought him back to the island. Des says that he doesn’t know because he was kidnapped, and Widmore threw him into a wooden shack and blasted him with a massive amount of electromagnetism. Locke asks Des how he’s so sure what he was blasted with and Des tells him it’s from experience. Locke asks Des if he knows who he is. Of course, he replies. John Locke.

Now if you only watched this once, go back and watch this scene again. There is some very interesting facial expression language going on. Desmond seems fully confident and comfortable with what’s happening. And Terry O’Quinn is such a great actor. His looks of confusion and caution show that there is something going on in that black smoky mind of his. Locke tells Sayid to head back to camp because he needs to show something to Desmond. As they walk through the jungle, Locke asks Desmond how long he was down in the hatch pushing the button, and when Des tells him it was three years Locke says, “If I didn’t know better I would think this island had it in for you.” Des tells him that there is nothing special about him; the island has it in for all of them. Locke whole heartedly agrees. Locke again sees the little boy who looks like an “Other”, the one he saw a few episodes ago in the jungle. Des asks Locke who the boy is and Locke tells him twice just to ignore the kid.  The boy smiles and runs off.

Now, because I thought Desmond knew what his purpose was on the island, I’ve been looking for hints to support that theory. It’s possible that the exchange of looks between Desmond and the boy could have been like a “wink, wink” we-got-Smokey-right-where-we-want-him.

On the Beach

Hurley’s group is walking through the jungle toward the Black Rock and Ben points out to Jack that Ilana was handpicked by Jacob himself to protect the candidates and right after she told them who they were, she blows up. The island was done with her. He wonders aloud what’s going to happen when the island is done with them. They approach the Black Rock where Richard is going to get more dynamite. No one has seen Hurley in a while, until he comes running and screaming out of the ship telling everybody to ruuuunnnnn! Hurley had gone ahead of the group and rigged the ship to blow up, taking all the dynamite, and the possibility of blowing up the plane, out with it. Richard flips out. Miles asked why he did that. Hurley tells him that Michael came back to yell at him and told him that he needed to stop them from blowing up the plane. I’m so glad that Miles and Hurley have each other to share their talking-to-dead-people stories. Miles asks Hurley if he just listens to every dead person who comes and yells at him. Hurley says the dead people are more reliable that the live people. Richard, the one who I used to think was the stabilizing presence on the island, is still frantic and out of control. He tells the group that he’s going to the Dharma barracks to see if they have any explosives. Jack wants to talk about it but Richard says there is no time. Hurley announces that they need to go talk to Locke. Ben asks if he’s trying to get them killed. Hurley says that it’s Jacob who wants them to go talk to Locke. Richard is suspicious and tells Hurley to ask Jacob what the island is. (Remember, Jacob told Richard that the island is the cork holding in the evil.) Hurley walks toward the place where Jacob is supposedly standing and tells Richard that Jacob doesn’t have to prove anything to him. He can either follow Hurley or continue to blow stuff up. Richard tells everyone that Hurley is lying, and he knows he’s lying because Jacob never explains what to do. He is still going to destroy the plane and he would like all the help he can get. Ben decides to go with Richard, and so does Miles. He tells Hurley that he saw the Black Smoke in action and it doesn’t want to talk.

Jack says that he’s going with Hurley because if Jacob says to go talk to Locke then that’s what they are going to do. It becomes nightfall and they have torches now. Sun, who also followed Hurley, writes out a question to Lapidus, because she still can’t speak English. “Did we make a mistake?” Lapidus says, “Probably.” Hurley asks Jack how they are going to break the ice with the Smoke Monster. Jack says not to worry about it because he has a feeling Locke wants to do most of the talking. Or, Hurley reminds him, Locke could just kill them all. Hurley admits that he didn’t even see Jacob, and Jack says he already knows that. He explains that he followed Hurley anyway because since he caused Juliet’s death all he has wanted to do is fix it; but he can’t ever fix it. Jack’s having a hard time sitting back letting other people tell him what to do but maybe that’s the point; maybe he’s supposed to let go. Hurley doesn’t feel so sure about his own leadership skills and he says that maybe Jack’s letting go is actually going to get them all killed. Jack tells Hurley that he trusts him, even though Hurley has no idea where he’s going.

It sounds like the whole group is going to be back together just like Locke had hoped. So they can all leave the island together.

I still want to know what’s up with that bird way back in Season 1 or 2 that seemed to call Hurley’s name as it flew by.

They hear the whispers and Hurley tells the group to stay put. He goes off alone and finds Michael. Michael tells Hurley that he’s stuck on the island because of what he did. I guess that means killing Libby and Ana Lucia? Hurley puts it all together. There are others like Michael stuck on the island and that’s what the whispers are.

Now that’s a great beginning of an answer but that better not be the entire answer about what the whispers are. Over the years, other bloggers have deciphered things the whispers have said by enhancing the sound and playing them backward. There is a whole lot more to these whispers and why they say what they say, than just “these are people stuck on the island and can’t move on because of something they did” nonsense.

This link provides transcripts. http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Whisper_transcripts

Michael points the way to where Locke is hanging out. Hurley asks if there is anything he can do to help Michael move on. No, except, don’t get yourself killed. And Michael tells Hurley that if he does ever see Libby again to tell her that he’s very sorry.

On the Island

Locke and Desmond arrive at a well. It looks different than the one with the donkey wheel. That well had lots of trees around it. Locke shows Desmond how deep the well is by tossing in a torch. I’m beginning to lose my confidence in Desmond. He doesn’t seem to have a clue about what’s going on. Locke tells him that the well was built by hand a long time ago. But they weren’t looking for water, they were looking for answers. This was a place that makes compass needles spin, and the island’s inhabitants wanted to know why, so they dug the well by hand. But they never got their answers. Locke tells Desmond that he brought him to the well because Charles Widmore is not interested in answers; only in power. And he brought Desmond back to the island so he could help him find what he was looking for. Desmond’s like, really, that’s the reason you brought me to see this well. Locke asks why he’s not afraid. He is, after all, out in the middle of the jungle with Fake Locke, and no one even knows he’s there. Desmond simply answers, “What’s the point in being afraid?” Locke smiles then throws Desmond down into the well.

That’s it. Desmond! What is going on with you?!

Locke returns to the camp and tells Sayid that they don’t have to worry about Desmond anymore. Sawyer asks where he’s been and he replies that he went for a walk. Sawyer: “Well, now that you’re done stretching your legs…” Into the camp walk Jack, Hurley, Sun and Lapidus. Hurley approaches Locke and tells him that he doesn’t know what or who he is but they need to talk. Locke gives up his weapon and Sun looks around for Jin. Kate smiles at Jack. So does Fake Locke. This is the first time Jack has seen him since returning to the island.

Los Angeles

Hurley goes to the Santa Rosa Mental Hospital to see Libby but the director decides that is not a good idea because she has issues with reality. Hurley asks, “Not even for a fajita field trip?” The director says the only exception would be for a family member. Hurley asks, “Or for a generous donor?” He proceeds to write out a check for $100,000. Next scene, Hurley is sitting in the familiar commons area of the hospital. We see the “numbers guy” playing Connect Four. Hmmm…I wonder if that game is a clue? I was looking around for other clues but the only one I could see was a chalk drawing of an island. Then I thought about the time Matthew Abadan was there visiting Hurley and when he left the room, it looked like black smoke followed him out the door and we all thought he was the Black Smoke.

Libby comes into the room and asks Hurley if he remembered being with her before. No he didn’t, but he asks where she thinks she knows him from. She tells him she’s not sure but she was watching TV and saw Hurley on the screen and she was hit with a whole bunch of memories of her life, only it was another life, with a plane crash. She was on an island and Hurley was there and they liked each other. Libby also remembers being in the hospital before and Hurley being there too, in this other life. Hurley tells her that this is the first time he’s been in a mental hospital. She was hoping that he remembered her, then that would make it so that she wasn’t crazy. He thinks Libby is very brave to just walk up to someone and start talking to them even if it is about some bizarre alternate universe; Hurley has trouble just saying hi to a girl. Libby tells him he’s doing fine. Hurley asks her out and since she is at the hospital voluntarily she is happy to accept. So, I guess she’s not married now. Remember it was her husband’s boat that Desmond bought for his race around the world. If I remember correctly, her husband was killed and that is why she was selling it.

Hurley and Libby go to the beach and have a picnic.

Was it just me or was Libby’s dress awfully low-cut, especially for a first date?

Anyway, Libby tells Hurley she’s never been to that beach before, but being there with Hurley seems so familiar. She becomes uncomfortable by the circumstances and asks Hurley why he even wants to be with her. Hurley asks her the same question. Libby wants to be with Hurley because she likes him. Hurley doesn’t buy it. He thinks she likes him just because she’s delusional. I guess if you’re going to be delusional you should pick a famous millionaire. Libby reaches over and kisses him. Wham! All these memories go flashing through Hurley’s mind. He tells Libby that he thinks he’s remembering stuff. Yay! Libby’s not crazy. The camera pans back and Desmond is seen sitting in his car watching the results of his match-making skills. He pushes up the bridge of his sunglasses as if to say, “Mission Accomplished”, and drives off.

I don’t think anyone saw what was coming next.

As if Desmond’s stalking behavior at the beach isn’t creepy enough (you’re still adorable Desmond) it just gets worse when we see him sitting in his car outside the school where Ben and Locke teach children. Ben knocks on the window to see what the deal is. Desmond lies and tells him that he just moved into the neighborhood and he’s looking for a school for his son. He tells Ben that his son’s name is Charlie. This is the very first time it occurred to me that a potential Charlie Hume could be named after his grandfather Charles Widmore.

It’s easy to realize that Desmond is there to see Locke. He’s been watching him cross the campus in his wheelchair. Now that he’s appeased Benjamin Linus, he starts to pull away from the curb. Pulls away from the curb is an understatement. He rips away from the curb and speeds right into Locke running him over and driving away.

What?!

Other LOST episode recaps!

I’m not sure how many days after Desmond was shot by Benjamin Linus this episode takes place. Des is still beat up a bit, but Ben seems to have healed. Maybe the island has healed him faster or maybe the timeline is off just a bit for the sake of storytelling. So Desmond was brought back to the island against his will by his father-in-law but Charles assured Des that Penny and little Charlie are safe. I wonder how that all went down.

Charles tells Desmond that the island isn’t done with him yet and we find out he’s being led to a Jurassic Park-ish container where we’re going to find out if he can withstand another electromagnetic event. Widmore’s crew was supposed to test it out on a bunny first but the technician who entered the box to see why it didn’t fire up the first time ended up getting fried, literally. They hadn’t even brought out that guy’s smokin’ hot body before they had Desmond (and his smokin’ hot body, ha ha) to the door for his turn.

Really, Charles? You’re just going to throw Desmond in there? Widmore is sure he won’t be harmed, based on “everything he’s heard about him.” Could that be from Eloise Hawking? I believe she also told Desmond that the island wasn’t through with him yet.

They force Desmond into a chair and tie him up. Widmore tells Des that he’s going to have to make a sacrifice. Oh, great! Desmond points out that Charles doesn’t know anything about sacrifice. Widmore doesn’t see it that way. His son (Daniel) died on the island. His daughter (Penny) hates him and he’s never met his grandson, Charlie. He tells Des that it will all be for nothing if he doesn’t help him and he closes the door behind him as he walks out.

Desmond struggles and frees himself from the chair but can’t break his way out of the door before the electromagnetic thingy is turned on. Desmond is overcome by the blast and the scene changes to LAX where Desmond is looking at the computer screen for his correct luggage carousel. Hurley walks by and confirms to the audience that, yes, Desmond was on the flight, as he tells Mr. Hume where to pick up his suitcase. At the carousel, Desmond assists Claire with her luggage. Men, you have no idea how appreciative a 9-month-pregnant Claire must feel! In the exchange between the two, Claire tells Desmond she doesn’t know if she’s having a boy or a girl and Desmond tells her that she’s braver than him because he doesn’t like surprises.

Claire looks lost because we know that her adoptive parents didn’t show up at the airport to pick her up. I’m still wondering who they are and if they have any necessary connection to the plot. Desmond offers her a ride in the car that’s picking him up. That’s so sweet, but kinda creepy, too.  As they part ways Desmond tells her he bets she’s having a boy.

Desmond’s driver holding the Hume sign is George from the freighter. That’s our first clue that Des is on his way to see Charles Widmore. He tells the driver he’s not going to  his hotel but to the office to see the big boss. George also points out that Desmond isn’t wearing a wedding ring which  those of us overly observant types noticed in the premier when he was sitting by Jack on the plane. Desmond is shown right in to Mr. Widmore’s office and they embrace. Something is way different in this reality! Widmore even shares his 60 year old scotch with Desmond and tells him that nothing is too good for his right hand man.

I like figuring things out as they progress which is almost impossible but it was interesting to think about Daniel’s alternate reality when Widmore mentioned his son is a musician. He must have convinced his mother that it was OK to be a pianist. Although I can’t imagine Eloise getting anything except her own way.

Anyway, Daniel is providing the music for one of his mother’s charity events and he’s combining classical music with rock and roll. Desmond is assigned to see to it that drugged out Charlie Pace is delivered to the location of the party.

At the court house Charlie is placed into the custody of Desmond and Charlie just takes off across the busy street. He hasn’t gotten over his “I should have died” mood. They sit at a bar and Charlie tells Desmond that he’s not really happy, even though he has his great job, lots of money and travels the world, because he’s never been in love. Charlie tells Desmond that he saw “love” on the plane back from Sidney. He describes Kate, the brunette in handcuffs, his fateful trip to the lav, how he was choking on his bag of drugs…..then that’s when he saw a rapturous blonde woman. Claire, right? He felt like he had always been in love with her. Then Jack revived him.

Desmond tells Charlie that he can choose to stay in the bar drinking and destroy his music career or leave with Desmond and hook up with Charles Widmore and his power. Charlie says that that isn’t really a choice but Desmond tells him there is always a choice. They drive along listening to “You All Everybody” and Charlie tells him that’s Drive Shaft’s first hit. Emphasis on first. In the show we’ve been watching that was their only hit. Charlie says that was the beginning of everything wonderful. Not sure if that’s sarcastic or not.

Charlie continues to point out how unhappy Desmond really is and he doesn’t even realize it. Charlie offers Desmond a choice to either let Charlie show him what he’s talking about or get out of the car. Desmond chuckles and Charlie grabs the steering wheel and drives them off into the harbor. Desmond escapes and tries to get Charlie out of his seatbelt. He has to go up for air then tries to open Charlie’s door on the submerging vehicle. Charlie looks at Desmond and starts to hold up his hand. Here it comes. The hand goes on the window and Desmond has a flash to the Hydra Station where he sees Charlie drowning and the message, “Not Penny’s Boat.” Charlie passes out again and Desmond takes him up to the surface for help.

Next we see Desmond in the hospital, clothed and sitting up, and the doctor explaining to him that he might have a concussion. He says that he’s not experiencing nausea but he’s not sure if he had a hallucination. The doctor won’t let him leave until he has an MRI. The tech is going down the list of potential risks and asks Desmond if he has any friends or family to list on the emergency contact form. Desmond just tells him to put down Charles Widmore.

Once in the machine (MRI remember has the word “magnet”), he starts hallucinating. He sees Charlie and Penny and baby Charlie and more Penny. He freaks out and the tech lets him out to get dressed and leave. Desmond is looking for Charlie but the nurse won’t tell him where he is, you know, privacy rules. Desmond spots Jack and when he explains that he is looking for someone who was also on their flight you can hear Twilight Zone music playing in Jack’s head. Well, you can’t literally. I wonder what Jack thought when Charlie comes busting down the down and he actually has time to process that’s the same dude he saved from choking to death on the plane.

Desmond catches up to him and Charlie insists that no one can help him, that he didn’t try to kill Desmond, he was just trying to show him something. Desmond demands that Charlie show him his hands. Charlie knows that what Desmond experienced was the powerful true love feeling and he advises him to go find Penny.

OK, so Desmond is supposed to be Widmore’s right hand man and he doesn’t know that Widmore has a daughter named Penny? Or does he?

Des calls Widmore and tells him what transpired and that he allowed Charlie to leave the hospital. Widmore is a little perturbed and tells Desmond that he is going to have to be the one to tell Mrs. Widmore that the rock star escaped, meaning Drive Shaft won’t be able to perform. George, the driver, warns Desmond about the mean Mrs. Widmore who of course ends up being Eloise Widmore, not Eloise Hawking, or Eloise Faraday for that matter. Mrs. Widmore is completely fine with the fact that the rock group won’t be able to perform.

Desmond walks by the staff going over the guest list and stops straight away when he hears, “Milton, Penny, solo.”

Her maiden name is Milton?

Desmond asks to see the guest list and Mrs. Widmore freaks out and won’t let Desmond see the confidential list and sends all the caterers away so she can scold him. He apologizes for overstepping his bounds but she tells him that he needs to stop! Someone has affected the way he sees things, this is a serious problem, a violation, and he needs to stop whatever it is he’s looking for. She tells him he has a perfect life and he’s attained the very thing he’s always wanted, Mr. Widmore’s approval. He questions how she knows what he wants and she simply bloody does. She won’t tell him why he can’t see the list because he’s not ready yet and she walks away.

Desmond strolls back to the car and tells George to just drive. Daniel knocks on the window and introduces himself to Desmond as Daniel Widmore and they need to talk.

This is going to be awesome, right?! Remember Daniel found Desmond in the hatch and told him that he needed to find his mother at Oxford or they who were still on the island were going to die.

Desmond apologizes that Charlie Pace isn’t going to be able to be at the performance. Daniel simply asks Desmond if he believes in love at first sight. Desmond is wondering what the heck is going on with all these people thinking that it’s all about love.

Is LOST, after all these years, a happily ever after love story? That is the name of the episode.

Best conversation of the season! Daniel tells Desmond that he saw this beautiful red-haired woman with blue eyes at a museum he was visiting. He felt like he had already loved her. That night he woke up and wrote some equations in a journal but he had no idea what they meant. His buddy at Cal Tech told Daniel that only someone who studied physics their entire life would come up with those equations for quantum mechanics would mean. Daniel asks Desmond to consider the possibility of something terrible was about to happen and the only way to stop it was by releasing a huge amount of energy like setting off a nuclear bomb. Desmond seems amused but interested. Daniel continues by asking what if this life they are experiencing was not supposed to be their life. He tells Desmond he doesn’t want to set off a nuclear bomb….he thinks he already did.

Perfect! I have no idea what the means for the rest of the season but that was awesome!!!

Desmond doesn’t know what it has to do with him, but Daniel wants to know why he asked his mother, Eloise, about a woman named Penny. Daniel asks if he felt “it”. Desmond brushes off the idea; he doesn’t even know if she’s real or just an idea. Daniel says that Penny is his half-sister and he can tell Desmond exactly where and when he can find her.

Desmond arrives at the stadium where Penny is running up and down the stairs. The same stadium where he met Jack. He approaches her and he seems to get it; Penny on the other hand is slightly confused about who this man is. Desmond is awake on the island now and Mr. Widmore tells him he was unconscious for no more than a few seconds. He asks for help up and Charles apologizes for putting him through that but his talent is vital to the success of their mission. He begins to explain, but Desmond stops him because he says he understands.

Whew! If Desmond understands, then that means someone on the island finally understands what the heck is going on and what he has to do. Charles is surprised he understands everything. As they are returning through the jungle, Chloe wants to know what happened to him. She thinks his brain was fried, because one minute he was attacking Mr. Widmore trying to get away and now he’s as calm as can be.

Sayid jumps out of the bushes and breaks one guy’s neck, pulls a gun on Chloe and tells her to run. Sayid tells Desmond that the people his is with are dangerous and Desmond needs to come with him.

Desmond continues to stay completely calm and says, “Aye, of course.”

I’m not sure why Sayid didn’t kill Chloe.

Desmond wakes up back at the stadium; apparently he fainted (or did his time travel thing now that he hooked up back with his constant or something). He invites Penny to go for a coffee and she agrees to meet him in an hour.

Desmond is overcome and he asks his driver to get him the manifest list of passengers for flight 815. He wants to show “him” something.

Him, Charles Widmore? Him, Charlie Pace? Him, Daniel Faraday?

I’m going with Daniel Faraday. Then maybe they’re going to round everyone up and play matchmaker because L-O-S-T is really all about L-O-V-E. Maybe Sawyer will find Juliette after all.

Sun and Jin still haven’t found one another on the island. We still don’t know if Sun speaks English in the alternate reality. I assumed she did, but now I’m not so sure. When she banged her head into the tree while running away from Fake Locke, and subsequently lost her ability to speak English, it made me wonder if that was a clue to what’s going on off-island. And sometimes it sure looks like Jin understands people who are speaking to him in English.

Jin didn’t get his money back at the airport when 815 landed in LA. Jin admits to Sun that he didn’t know what the money was for because her father gave it to him to deliver with the watch and he just does what her father says, no questions asked. We find out later that if Jin knew what the money was for, he wouldn’t have delivered the watch.

At Camp Smokey

We found out that Jin knows about the cave with the names that Fake Locke showed to Sawyer. The only way they can leave the island is if all the people whose names are not crossed off leave together. Kwon could be Sun or Jin. Fake Locke told Sayid he was going to run an errand (go look for Sun) and he asked Sayid to keep an eye on things at the camp. Sayid’s response was to announce his lack of feelings. Is Sayid losing his humanity and turning into the next Black Smoke Monster? Sayid tells Fake Locke he doesn’t feel anything. No happiness, no anger, no pain, nada. It was weird that he just said that out of the blue. Locke told him that it’s probably a good thing for what’s coming.

As soon as Locke leaves, Jin prepares to take off, to get away from that thing who is not Locke and to look for Sun. He doesn’t know that’s what Locke is doing as well. Sawyer tries to talk him out of it because it’s absurd for him to even know where to begin looking. Jin tells him that he’s going to start at the temple and if she’s not there then he’s going to try the beach. Before they can argue about it, flying darts of poison (or sedative) stab everyone in the neck and they all drop to the ground. It’s Widmore’s geophysicist, Zoe, and friends, and they grab Jin and take him to Hydra Island.

Beach Camp

Ben has a fit when Ilana tells the group that they are just going to wait for Richard and Hurley to come back. No one believes that Richard knows what to do next, and Miles doesn’t believe Hurley can track anything unless it’s covered in bacon grease – that’s cold! Ilana says that Jacob has never lied to her before and if he said Richard knows what to do, then that’s the truth; and so they are just going to wait.

Sun is tired of waiting. Sun doesn’t give a hoot about being a candidate or their purpose for being on the island or Jacob’s lighthouse or Richard. I don’t blame her. I would want to find my husband too. She storms off to her happy place and begins searching her garden (from three years ago) for some tomatoes, but everything is dead. Fake Locke shows up and tells her that he can take her to Jin but she declines his offer. He tells her he won’t make her do anything against her will be asks her again to go with him. This is when Sun starts running away. I thought Locke was going to turn into the Smoke Monster during the chase, that would have been so cool, but maybe he has to be going 88 miles an hour or something. This is when Sun smashes her forehead into the tree. Ben wakes her up and she can no longer speak English. Something that Jack calls aphasia – a temporary condition caused by trauma to the head. Miles: “She hits her head and can’t speak English; we’re supposed to buy that?” Lapidus: “Asks the man who communes with the dead.” Miles, to Ilana: “What are you smiling at?” Richard and Hurley are back! Richard: “Pack your bags; we’re leaving.” Richard knows that the only way Fake Locke can leave the island is on the airplane that brought the Losties back. So they have to destroy the plane. Sun freaks out. She is NOT going to let them destroy the only means of getting off the island. Unfortunately no one can understand a word she’s saying, but they get the idea that she’s not going with them.

Los Angeles

Sun and Jin arrive at their separate hotel rooms. Separate because they aren’t married. But Sun and her button-down shirt convince Jin to stay in her room for the night. In the morning she tells Jin that she has some money saved and they should run away together. Just when Sun is about to tell Jin something important there’s a knock at the door. Martin Keamy. He is so creepy. He tells Sun that he’s a friend of her father’s and that he is there for the watch and the money.

So he’s a friend of Mr. Pak in the alternate reality and he worked for Charles Widmore on his freighter. I still think those two rich and powerful men are up to something together, or against one another.

Keamy can’t understand their Korean conversation but they have a translator. Mikhail, you know, Patchy! But he has both of his eyes. (Another hint that whatever happened on the island when the bomb went off changed events before the 815 flight in some crazy way.) Sun tells Keamy that she has some money in her bank account that she will give him since the wads of cash were confiscated at the airport. Mikhail goes to the bank with Sun and Keamy takes Jin to the restaurant where Sayid found him a few episodes back. Jin insists that Keamy not tell Mr. Pak about his relationship with Sun.

This is where I got confused. We saw Jacob at Sun and Jin’s wedding before flight 815 crashed, and we know for sure that Sun had a wedding ring on the island. But after 815 landed in LA, they weren’t married? I thought the whole reason Jin was working for Sun was so they could be together.  What is going on?

At the bank, Sun finds out that Mr. Pak transferred the money out of her account to one of his. He wasn’t even supposed to be aware of the account. At the restaurant, Keamy tells Jin, who of course can’t understand his English (or can he?), that Mr. Pak wasn’t very happy when he found out that Jin was “doing” his daughter. The $25,000 confiscated at the airport was to be Keamy’s fee for killing Jin. We hear the muffled conversation between Sayid and the bad guys. (I had to think hard to remember why Sayid was there. Sayid’s brother owed Keamy money on a loan and the bad guys put the brother in the hospital so Sayid went to take care of business). Then we hear gun shots. Jin kicks on the door and Sayid comes into the room where Jin is bound and gagged. Jin talks him into helping him free himself before he leaves.

Mikhail and Sun return to the find the dead bodies in the kitchen of the restaurant and Keamy is still alive but shot. Jin puts a gun to the back of Mikhail’s head and tells Sun to move away. At the end of the struggle, Mikail loses his eye courtesy of Jin’s bullet and Sun is shot by Mikail in the abdomen. Jin gathers Sun up into his arms and she holds her bleeding stomach she tells Jin that she’s pregnant. Who is the father?!

Camp Smokey

Locke returns to the camp and finds everyone still unconscious. He rouses Sayid and learns that someone attacked them and Jin is missing. He and Sayid prepare to go after Jin. Claire overheard the conversation about the cave of names and asks Locke if her name is on the wall of the cave. He tells her that it’s not; and Kate’s name is not on the wall anymore either. Claire is feeling unimportant and disposable but Locke assures her that he still needs her and he needs Kate too because he believes that she will be able to help him get the others on the plane. Kinda like when Ben used Jack to get the others to get on the plane to return to the island. Claire is still moody about Kate and Aaron and is concerned that Aaron only knows Kate as Mommy and Claire will be a stranger to him. Locke tells Claire that once Kate helps get the others to the plane “whatever happens, happens”. Kate better watch her back.

Best scene of the show: When Locke tells Sawyer that he and Sayid are going to the other island Sawyer says, “What do you need a boat for? Can’t you just turn into smoke and fly your ass over the water?” Locke says, “Do you think if I could do that, I’d still be on this island?” Sawyer replies, “No, ‘cause that’d be ridiculous.” I love how everyone just goes with the flow about accepting the reality of a Smoke Monster Locke.

Jin finds himself in Room 23, the place the Others used to brainwash Carl, Alex’s boyfriend, with the crazy sounds and video. Zoe arrives and shows Jin a map of the island that the Dharma Initiative had marked identifying the pockets of electromagnetism. Jin’s name was on the map from when he was part of the DI but he insists on talking to Charles Widmore before answering any of her questions.

Hydra Island

Locke makes his way to the beach where Widmore’s people have set up the sonar fence and they jump out from behind the bushes firing their rifles. Of course, Locke knows he’s safe from the bullets, and he announces that he comes in peace. Widmore comes out to speak to him. He tells him that he knows the man he’s speaking to is not John Locke but a combination of myths, ghost stories, and jungle noises in the night. Locke tells him that he must know more than that or the sonic fence wouldn’t be there. When he tells Widmore that he’s come for Jin, Widmore doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Locke says, “A wise man once said, “War is coming to this Island”. I think it just got here.” That wise man was Widmore. He was speaking to real John Locke in Tunisia after John moved the island.

Widmore returns to his group and is furious that Zoe captured Jin. They weren’t supposed to do that for a few more days and they should have just let Jin leave the camp instead of ambushing them with their blow darts. Widmore apologizes to Jin and gives him Sun’s camera that he found on the plane. It has photos of their adorable little girl and Jin was able to see his daughter for the first time. Widmore expresses his empathy at Jin’s longing to being reunited with his wife and daughter. After all, Widmore knows what it’s like being separated from his daughter. He tells Jin that he came to the island to stop that thing in Locke’s body from ever escaping or everyone they love will cease to exist.

Beach Camp

Jack gives Sun a notepad to see if she can write in English even if her brain isn’t letting her speak it. He also gives her a tomato he found in the garden – a stubborn tomato, that didn’t know it was supposed to die. Is that something cryptic? Are all the Losties just stubborn people who haven’t been told they are supposed to die? Sun uses her new means of communication to tell Jack that Locke told her he had Jin and she didn’t go with him because she doesn’t trust him. Sun has been with Locke since they first arrived back on the island. She’s seen him pretending to be Real Locke, rolling out of the box as Dead Locke, and knows that he’s Smoke Locke. (Rocke, Docke, and Smocke?) She must be feeling very desperate and frustrated. She has more faith in Jack now than the last time they left the island. She blamed Jack for leaving Jin on the freighter before it blew up. Now she has to trust Jack. He promises that he is going to help her find Jin and that they are going to all get on the plane and get off the island.

Camp Smokey

Kate is sitting by the fire eating a mango and when Sawyer sits down beside her she asks him why he’s not worried. He says that he is worried but he’s good at pretending he’s not. He thinks Widmore was prepared to blow Locke and Sayid out of the water and this is all going to be over soon. D’oh! Locke’s back! With no Jin and no Sayid. He tells Sawyer and Kate that Widmore said he didn’t have Jin; and he sent Sayid on a recon mission to find out what Widmore was hiding in the sub that he didn’t what Sawyer to see when he visited Hydra Island on his recon mission. The episode ends with Sayid swimming toward the dock and the Widmore crew draggin a groggy man out of the sub.

Desmond!

Score for me! After I saw the episode “Dr. Linus”, I had a hunch that Widmore brought Desmond with him on that sub! Desmond has an important part in this, but I have no idea what it is. I’m just glad to have his deliciousness back on the island!

Recap, summary and commentary by Evie

Ab Aeterno is Latin for “From the Everlasting”, or “From the Eternal”.

Richard Alpert, the advisor on the island for a very long time, has concluded that his entire life has no purpose. He is angry at Jacob and thinks that he has lied about everything.

Jacob’s visit to, and subsequent conversation with, Ilana in the Russian hospital is further revealed. Jacob did not ask her to protect himself as was previously implied, but to protect the remaining six candidates. I have a hard time believing that Ilana is a bad guy, but it’s getting easier and easier to believe that Jacob could be the villain and not the Man in Black. Jacob tells Ilana, who is all bandaged up in the hospital bed, that this is what she’s been preparing for. Ilana seems very anxious. Jacob tells Ilana to go to the island and take the six candidates to the temple then to ask Ricardis what to do next for he will know.

Richard seems to be losing his mind and he laughs at the idea that he would know what to do next. He tells the Losties that they are all dead and in hell. Richard tells us that he has known this for a long, long time.

I’ve wondered since Season 2 if the writer’s had intended on having the big finale being that they really have all been dead this whole time, but the fans were on to that right away so they had to change their plan which is why it seems like they’ve been making the story up as they go along. The producers have consistently denied the Purgatory theories and it will be totally lame if that is really what the island represents.

Richard decides to stop listening to Jacob, and Ilana, and heads off into the dark jungle with his torch in search of Locke.

Ilana believes that Richard knows what to do next simply because Jacob told her so. This is the first time Jack finds out that “Locke” isn’t dead. Sun and Ben tell him that Richard is going after the guy who “isn’t exactly Locke”. Jack interrupts the conversation when he sees Hurley having one of his conversations with a dead person. He’s speaking in Spanish but Jack assumes that he’s talking to Jacob. Hurley just tells him that it’s not Jacob and that it has nothing to do with Jack. Ben tells Ilana that Jack is right and that Richard doesn’t know anything. Ben explains to Lapidus that Richard doesn’t age and Lapidus does the right thing; he asks a direct question. “Now how do you think that happened?”

Next scene, Richard is riding a horse on the Canary Islands. The year is 1867. This is one of the episodes we have waited for, for a very long time.

Ricardo arrives at his home which is like a cabin where he finds that his wife is very ill and coughing up blood. This usually means Tuberculosis. Ricardo tells Isabella that he is going to fetch the doctor and gathers up all the money he has for payment. Isabella also gives Richard the Cross necklace hanging around her neck.

Richard gallops away in the rain and it’s now dark outside (that was fast). When he first arrived at the doctor’s house I thought it looked like a Dharmaville house. Richard barges in and asks the doctor for help. The doctor is more concerned that his floors are getting wet from Richard’s dripping clothes than he is about Richard’s sick wife. The doctor has medicine but tells Richard the payment he brought isn’t enough and the Cross is worthless. The doctor throws down the necklace and Richard picks it up begging the doctor for his help. The two get into a scuffle and Richard accidentally pushes the doctor so hard that he smacks the back of his head on a table and dies immediately. Richard takes the medicine and hurries out past the butler. Richard rides back to find that Isabella has died and he is apprehended right away for killing the doctor.

Next we see Richard in prison and a priest brings him a plate of food. He notices that Richard is reading a bible and asks to see it. He opens it to the Book of Luke and comments to Richard that it is in English and not Spanish. Nice observation, but this is LOST we’re talking about. If you freeze-frame the chapter the main verse that pops out at the top of the page is “And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.” I’ve often thought of Richard as a prophet who speaks for Jacob. On the opposite column of the page is a verse that is not so obvious. It’s describing the conversation Jesus had with Satan after the temptations. “When the devil had ended…temptation, he departed from…season.”

Richard tells the priest that he’s been teaching himself English because he and Isabella were going to travel to the New World and start a family and a new life. The priest asks for Richard’s confession. Richard sorrowfully bows and asks for God’s forgiveness for killing the doctor. The priest denies forgiveness and tells Richard that he’s going to be hanged and that the devil is waiting for him in hell.

Could the devil be Jacob? Richard seems to think that the priest’s words were fulfilled on the island.

I have to mention that Nestor Carbonell gave an amazing performance in this episode!

A slave trader comes to see Richard and since Richard speaks some English, and has good teeth, he buys Richard and puts him in shackles on the Black Rock. The man declares that Richard is now the property of Magnus Hanso. I’ve avoided learning about Magnus Hanso in the past because I could barely keep up with the characters we’ve seen on screen. But I need to explain his background.

Magnus Hanso is the captain of the Black Rock. We have never seen him on the show. In Season 2, the glow-in-the-dark blast door map in the hatch contains a note at about four o’clock suggesting that Hanso was buried on or near the site of the Black Rock. Magnus’ great-grandson is Alvar Hanso. Alvar appeared in an orientation film for the Dharma Initiative in 1975.  (Dharma is an acronym for Department of Heuristics and Research on Material Applications. Whatever that means.) In the film, Alvar states that all the secret research they are doing on the island is to “save the world as we know it.” He goes on to talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis and Enzo Valenzetti’s prediction of the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself. Guess what numerical values are in Valenzetti’s equation. Yep, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. Alvar founded the Hanso Foundation and it was the primary funder for the Dharma Initiative. It has been my belief that Charles Widmore and Sun’s rich father also play a role in the funding. Another reference to the Hanso family is at the auction where Charles Widmore purchased the Black Rock ledger. Tovard Hanso was the owner; and prior to the sale, only members of Hanso’s family were privy to the contents of the ledger. It’s only a matter of time before we find out the reason for Widmore’s interest in the journal.

On its voyage, the Black Rock encounters a huge storm and it is thrust upon the island by a gigantic tidal wave, after colliding with the statue of Tawaret. Magnus Hanso is killed and his officer decides to kill the slaves so they don’t stage an uprising. Just before he can kill Richard, the Black Smoke shows up and kills everyone but Richard. Richard, however is still left shackled in the gut of the ship. Richard tries desperately to free himself over a number of days and a boar enters the hull to eat the decaying bodies. Gross! Dead Isabella shows up later to visit Richard and tells him that they are both dead and she has to get him out of there before the devil comes back. Richard tells her to run when they hear the black smoke and she ends up “dying”.

The Man in Black arrives and rests his hand on Richard. He brings Richard some water and releases Richard from the chains. We knew that it was Jacob’s touch that made Richard immortal, so I think we were supposed to believe it was Jacob who came to came to help. I thought it was going to be Jacob. Before he releases Richard, the Man in Black makes Richard promise to do whatever he asks because he wants to be free as well. Richard asks about Isabella and the Man in Black tells him that “he” has her; “he” meaning “the devil”. “The devil” meaning “Jacob”. The Man in Black tells Richard that he is in hell and that he must kill the devil. He sends Richard, armed with a dagger, to the statue and he tells him he only has one chance. If he lets Jacob say one word it will be too late because the devil is very persuasive. Sounds exactly like what Dogan told Sayid when he sent him out to kill Fake Locke. Richard laughs because he knows the knife can’t kill black smoke. The Man in Black tells Richard that Jacob is not the Black Smoke; he is. He explains that Jacob betrayed him and took his humanity. He insists that the only way to get his wife back is to kill the devil. The Man in Black really seems like the bad guy in this scene. He sounds very manipulative.

At the beach, Jacob shows up and whoops on Richard, taking the knife. Jacob has a long history of having people beaten up or killed. How can he be the good guy? Richard asks Jacob Isabella is. Jacob loses his omniscience and doesn’t know anything about his wife. Richard tells Jacob about meeting the Man in Black and what transpired between them. To prove that Richard is not dead, Jacob drags Richard out into the ocean and attempts to drown him. Richard tells him to stop because he wants to live.

Jacob gives Richard a blanket and a drink of wine. He tells Richard that he brought the Black Rock to the island. He uses the jug of wine to explain that the evil, darkness, malevolence, hell, etc. that is in the bottle – the wine – must stay there so it doesn’t spread. The cork represents the island and it is the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs. The Man in Black believes that everyone is corruptible because it is in their very nature to sin and Jacob brings people to the island to prove him wrong. Jacob says that people’s past don’t matter once they get to the island. He tells Richard that many others have been brought to the island but they are all dead. Jacob, is that a good thing? You’re toying with people’s lives to prove a point. Jacob doesn’t help the people he brings to the island because he wants them to know the difference between right and wrong without him having to tell them. He tells Richard that it’s meaningless if he has to force them to do anything. Richard points out that the Man in Black will step in if Jacob doesn’t. Jacob acts as if he’s never thought of that before. So he offers Richard the job as mediator; Jacob doesn’t want to step in, so Richard can do it for him. In return, Richard asks to have his wife back or to be absolved of his sins. Jacob tells him that he can’t do that but he can make Richard immortal. And he touches him.

Richard returns to the Man in Black and presents him with a gift from Jacob. A white stone. He seems to get the joke. The Man in Black tells Richard that now he will never be able to see his wife again. But if Richard ever changes his mind, his offer still stands. He returns the Cross necklace to Richard; he had found it on the ship. Richard buries it under a stone bench which sits in a beautiful valley under a potentially-symbolic tree.

Back to the present time, we see Richard unearth the necklace and call out for the Man in Black. He’s changed his mind. Out from the jungle comes Hurley, not whom we expected. Hurley has been conversing with Isabella and Hurley tells Richard that she sent him. Isabella is standing beside Richard and wants to know why he buried the necklace. Richard doubts that she is really there at first, but Isabella tells Hurley to tell Richard that his English is awesome. She tells Richard that it’s not his fault that she died; it was her time. And he has suffered long enough. Richard just wants to be with her and Isabella tells him that they are already together. A very tender moment.

Isabella was wearing a whiteish dress so I don’t think she was a manifestation of the black smoke. Could Jacob have appeared as Isabella to get Richard to stop the Man in Black from leaving the island? Hurley tells Richard in Spanish that if Richard doesn’t stop him, they will all go to hell. This conversation is being witnessed from afar by Fake Locke.

Back in time, Jacob approaches the Man in Black carrying the bottle of wine. It’s so funny how cordial and friendly they are to one another. “Good morning, (Man-Who-Wants-To-Kill-Me)”. “Good morning, (Man-I-Want-to-Kill).” The Man in Black tells Jacob he tried to have him killed because he just wants to leave the island. Jacob tells him that as long as he’s alive, there’s no way the Man in Black is getting off the island. He promises that he is going to kill Jacob and if someone takes his place he will kill them too. Jacob gives the Man in Black the bottle of wine and says, “See ya around.” Man in Black says, “Sooner than you think”, and smashes the bottle on a rock.

Again, Bravo to Nestor and his brilliant acting!

I think the Man in Black is kinda cute. Is that weird?

On the island

This episode starts out on the beach where Jin tells Sawyer they gotta go before Evil-Locke (whom I’m now going to refer to as Fake Locke, because I am still wondering if the writers are going to throw in a twist, and Jacob is really going to end up being the bad guy) gets back, but Jin can’t believe Sawyer is “with” Locke. (Sawyer later tells Kate he’s not “with” anyone.) Too late. Locke, Claire, Sayid, Kate, and the Others who chose to go with Locke, and avoided being murdered by the smoke monster, arrive back at the beach.

Kate follows Claire into her tent and sees the coolest inanimate prop since Wilson in Castaway. Squirrel Baby! Claire’s replacement for Aaron. I wonder if we’ll ever see how exactly Claire left the camp that night she went missing. Was Christian Shephard the form taken by the black smoke; and did he take his daughter to the dark side? If so, how did he leave Jacob’s cabin since it was encircled by the ash?

Fake Locke tells the Others who followed him that those who stayed behind at the temple were killed by the Black Smoke. This seems to really upset the children, but didn’t faze Sayid at all. Sayid just kind of looks stoned all the time. While Fake Locke is speaking to everyone, Claire cozies up to Kate and takes her by the hand, like a little girl would do to her mom. Kate is apparently wondering what the heck is going on with her. Kate also senses something very wrong with Sayid and he tells her that he’s not alright. While Kate are Sayid and sitting and talking, all of a sudden crazy Claire comes leaping out of the jungle, tackling Kate and sticking a knife to her throat. Kate cries out for Sayid to help but he just stares at her with that sad look on his face he’s had since he came back to life in the temple. Fake Locke picks Claire up and throws her to the side then slaps her across the face as he tells her that her behavior is very inappropriate.

Kate is sitting against a tree where she is approached by Locke. Locke confesses that he told Claire that the Others had Aaron so she could direct her hate toward someone. OK, Smoke/Locke is probably the bad guy. Locke continues to tell Kate that when she told Claire the truth about Aaron, all the built up anger just came out. Kate told Locke that was very insightful coming from a dead man. Locke answers, “Well nobody’s perfect.” That cracked me up. He promised to protect Kate along with everyone else.

Fake Locke pulls Sawyer aside and admits that he is the Smoke Thing and he sends James on a recon mission to Hydra Island. Locke wants to find out what’s going on with the survivors on the other island because that airplane is how Fake Locke plans to get everyone off the island. Sawyer boards a canoe and rows over to the smaller island. The first place he visits is the cage where he and Kate did more than eat fish biscuits. Kate’s dress was still in the cage. I have to go back and watch that episode. Did Kate leave the cage wearing anything? A blanket maybe?

At the site of the plane crash there are body-drag marks in the sand that lead to a pile of fly-covered bodies. First of all, the plane was in a lot better shape than I thought it would be; wings were intact and everything. Sawyer meets, well, catches up to and points a gun at, a woman we haven’t seen before. She tells Sawyer that she and the other survivors were just waiting around for rescue. Someone came and killed all the other passengers and she was the only one left. By this time an observant person, or a previous conman, would have figured out that she was from Widmore’s sub. But I forgot about last episode’s closing scene. Sawyer figures it out as they are walking to the canoe and she asks if there are other people with Sawyer and if they have any guns, for protection from whoever killed the other passengers. With the sound of a whistle, Zoe’s armed companions come out from hiding and take Sawyer to the submarine to visit Widmore. They make a deal that when Sawyer returns to the main island he will tell Fake Locke that the coast is clear and they can go on over to the other island; then Widmore can kill Fake Locke. And Widmore will give Sawyer and his pals safe passage off the island. When Sawyer returns to the main island he tells Fake Locke that Widmore is over on the Hydra Island and they killed all the passengers and are setting up a sonar fence for protection from Smokey. He tells Locke what he told Widmore, about giving Smokey up, and they’ll be caught off guard when they change their plan of attack. Locke expresses his appreciation for Sawyers’ loyalty. We’ll probably soon be finding out the relationship between Smoke Monster and Charles Widmore.

While Sawyer was gone, Fake Locke takes Kate to the beach where he explains about Sawyer’s mission to the other island. Locke really wants to explain something more personal to her. He tells Kate that he is not a dead man and that he knows what Kate is going through, because his mother was crazy. She was a very disturbed woman and because of that he had some “growing pains”. He’s had to deal with problems that he is still trying to work though, problems that could have been avoided if things had been different. Now, Locke says, Aaron has a crazy mother too. Speculation around the internet is that Smokey/Man in Black is actually Aaron. I don’t have an explanation for how or why that would be, but anything is possible on this island. Another theory is that the crazy mama is Eloise Hawking. That would probably mean that Daniel is Smokey/Man in Black. OK this is getting weird.

Sawyer tells Kate his plan about letting Widmore and Fake Locke fighting it out while he and Kate get off the island. Kate wonders who is going to fly the plane and Sawyer tells her they aren’t taking the plane, they’re taking the sub. I was left wondering who is going to pilot the sub.

Off the island

Sawyer is up to his open-briefcase-of-money-con-man-scam with the woman in his bed (who is played by Jodi Lynne O’Keefe – she played a great villain in TV’s Prison Break if you haven’t seen that yet and want to get hooked on another show). I loved that she called Sawyer “Dimples”. Well, she pulls out a gun and aims it at Sawyer and she tells him she knows a conman when she sees one. Sawyer tells her that he’s a cop and they are only after her conman husband; all he has to do is say the magic word and she’s caught. She doesn’t believe him. And neither did I. Remember he was on the plane across from Hurley when Arzt was going on about Hurley’s lottery win. I thought for sure Sawyer was still a conman. Sawyer (whom I shall now call James, because we need to differentiate him from the real Sawyer) says the code word “LeFleur” and in barges Miles, James’ partner. Yipee!!!! He’s really a cop. And he’s still looking for Sawyer; the real Sawyer who conned his parents before their subsequent murder/suicide, who is currently going by the name of Anthony Cooper. OK. A few episodes ago John Locke and Helen were making wedding arrangements and Locke’s dad was included in those plans. On the island, we found out that Locke’s dad was also the above mentioned Sawyer. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Miles sets James up on a blind date with Charlotte, who looks a lot sexier with makeup and a sparkly dress than she ever did on the island. He told James that she worked at a museum so I didn’t expect it to be Juliet, but I certainly wasn’t expecting to see him hook up with Charlotte either. He gets around, doesn’t he? They end up back at his apartment and while looking in his drawer for a post-whoopee t-shirt to wear, Charlotte discovers the folder of his parents’ murder file. James freaks out and yells at her to get out of his house. He tries to make up the next day after watching a thought-provoking episode of Little House by bringing her a flower and a six-pack of beer. Charlotte was not in a forgiving mood and basically told him to get lost. (ha)

At the LAPD, Liam arrives to pick up Charlie after he was arrested on the flight from Australia. That episode seems like so long ago. Miles demands to know what Sawyer was doing in Sydney; Sawyer had told him he was going to Palm Springs. Sawyer tells him it’s none of his business. No trust = no partnership. Punch the mirror, James! That will help. Later James explains to Miles the real reason he was in Sydney looking for Anthony Cooper. They’re sitting in James’ car which is crashed into by a speeding fugitive. And James meets Kate in the alternate time line.

The big question of this episode is “Who is the original smoke monster/Man in Black, how did he become the smoke monster and who is his mother?

Another great episode!

Off island revelations:

1. Ben is teaching his European History class about Napoleon’s exile to the island Elba. Napoleon’s biggest trial wasn’t being banished but losing his power. Sounds like Ben’s island experience.
2. Ben still seeks power – He planned to take over as Principal of the school where he teaches European History. Locke, the substitute teacher, encourages him to make a change in administration.
3. Ben’s dad is an old man under the care of Ben. They had still gone to the island with the Dharma Initiative but left at some point to live off island. Dad Linus wonders what would have happened if they had stayed; perhaps things would have been better for Ben.
4. Alex Rousseau is one of Dr. Linus’ history students.  Ben is tutoring her and they are discussing the East India Trading Company.
5. Alex is planning to go to Yale but is concerned about getting in and paying for college. Her mom, Danielle, is working two jobs just to pay the rent. I wonder what Danielle is up to, where she’s working, and if it’s relevant. I got the impression that Alex’s father isn’t around.
6. Ben still lies. He told Alex that he would keep the secret about the Principal and School Nurse getting it on in the sick room. He asks Arzt to help him hack into the nurse’s email so he can blackmail the Principal into resigning. Arzt agrees so he can get a good parking space and new lab equipment. Arzt is amused by Ben’s diabolical plan and tells Ben he’s a real killer.
7. The Principal turns the table on Ben and threatens to ruin Alex’s school career if he takes over his job. Ben chooses the right thing for Alex rather than the power he would have at the school as Principal. I was relieved that Ben didn’t jeopardize Alex’s future. Based on what we know of Ben, I didn’t think he had it in him.

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On island :

1. Miles listens to Jacob’s ashes and tells Ilana that it was actually Ben who murdered Jacob.
2. Jacob is the closest thing Ilana ever had to a father so she is PO’d. I wish we had learned more about Ilana. Jacob being like a father to her leads me to believe that she was on the island before; but we’re not really sure if she’s immortal or why she was in the Russian hospital last season.
3. Sun, Lapidus, Miles, Ilana and Ben return to the beach.
4. Ilana tells Sun that the Kwons are candidates but she doesn’t know if it’s Jin or Sun she’s supposed to be protecting. Ilana tells Sun she wants to find Jin as much as Sun does.
5. Ilana reveals that there are only 6 candidates left – candidates to take over for Jacob.
6. Richard leads Hurley and Jack away from the temple and toward the Black Rock instead. Richard tells them that he lied about directing them to the temple because everyone there was dead. Kate, Sayid, and Claire, however, were gone.
7. Lapidus tells Ben that he missed piloting Oceanic 815 because his alarm didn’t go off that morning. Lapidus wonders aloud how different his life would have been had he flown the fateful flight. Ben tells him that the island got him after all; would it have been so different?
8. Ben is digging his own grave for when Ilana gets her revenge for killing Jacob. Ilana shackled Ben’s leg to keep him from running away. Actually Ben has been digging his own grave for many years.
9. Ben tries to blackmail Miles. If Miles sets him free, Ben’s network of contacts off the island can reward Miles with lots of money once they leave.
10. Miles refuses Ben’s offer. He knows that Nikki and Paulo are buried with a bunch of diamonds worth over 8 million dollars.
11. Ben believes that Jacob didn’t care about being killed, but Miles reveals to him that Jacob did care about it. Right up to the last second before Ben stabbed him in the heart Jacob thought he was wrong about Ben. Nope, Ben is so predictable.
12. Richard examines the shackles in the Black Rock implying that he was either a slave or a crew member. I’m still thinking he was a slave.
13. Richard tells Jack that when Jacob touched him it was considered a gift. He prepares some dynamite to kill himself (with Jack’s help). Richard is very distraught that Jacob told him he would reveal his purpose to Richard but now that Jacob is dead his immortal life seems to be just a waste. It’s still so weird to see Richard confused and unsure about his role on the island. He was always such a man of confidence.
14. Hurley freaks out about the dynamite. Last time they held it Arzt blew up.
15. Jack agrees to help Richard. He lights the dynamite and stays with Richard. Jack doesn’t believe they will die because Jacob has been watching him since Jack was a kid. Jack believes Jacob brought him to the island for a reason and it wasn’t to just be blown up. The dynamite fuse fizzles out.
16. Ben continues to dig his grave and he hears Smokey coming. Evil-Locke appears and tells Ben that he doesn’t want Ben to die, but that he is gathering a group at the Hydra Station to leave the island and he wants Ben to be the new leader of the island. Locke does a Jedi trick and once Ben is free from his leg shackle he runs into the jungle and finds the rifle that Locke left for him. Evil-Locke is all about giving people choices. That’s great except I don’t believe he is entirely truthful in explaining what’s going on. Jacob is also allowing choices as well but he doesn’t seem to explain anything and is requiring his followers to rely on faith in things unseen.
17. Ilana chases after him but Ben reaches the gun and turns the tables on Ilana. Ben tells Ilana that he killed Jacob because he was angry that Jacob didn’t care about him even after he sacrificed his own daughter. He told Ilana he just wanted to be allowed to leave. He was going to join Locke because he was the only one who would have him. Ilana tells Ben she’ll have him and he follows her back to the beach.
18. The closing scene on the beach shows Ilana looking very sad, Miles examining a diamond, Lapidus stoking the fire, Ben helping Sun make a shelter, and Jack and Hurley returning to the beach. Sun hasn’t seen them since they were on the airplane and separated into two different decades.
19. Finally, a submarine appears off the shore. When the navigator sees the people on the beach Widmore tells him not to stop but to proceed as planned.

I knew Widmore would have to show up sooner or later. I wonder if he brought Desmond with him?

This was probably the best episode so far this season.

Check out the rest of the recaps from LOST Season 6

This episode focuses on Sayid.

Off the island, Sayid’s brother borrowed money from someone to open a new store and he wants Sayid to bring out his torturing equipment to stop the man from collecting on the loan. Apparently he’s making the brother pay interest for as long as he owns the business. Sayid says “No Way!” The brother is attacked by the debtor and Sayid thinks about going after them but Nadia, who is married to Sayid’s brother, talks him out of it. At the hospital Dr. Jack passes Sayid in the hall. Sayid tells Nadia that he pushed her toward marrying his brother because he doesn’t deserve her after all the horrible things he’s done. I was very surprised that Sayid did not end up marrying Nadia. Awwww! I was so hoping that Sayid would have a happily-ever-after post-island life or flash sideways life. It seems like he sort of redeemed himself for many things and I’ve been rooting for him for a long time.

Some bad guys come to pick up Sayid and take him to a restaurant kitchen. It’s so funny that mobsters always seem to do their dirty work in a kitchen or back of a restaurant. The main bad guy turns out to be Keamey. To me, Keamey looks a lot better with his marine buzz haircut and camouflage than his purple shirt and blazer. But no matter how he’s dressed he’s still a bad dude. Sayid takes out Keany’s two sidekicks and Keamy decides to forgive the debt to save his own life, but Sayid says “No Way!” and shoots him. Sayid hears some banging in the walk-in refrigerator and opens the door to find non-English speaking Jin tied up. Wow! That was a crazy connection.

Sayid tells Dogen that he doesn’t understand why they want him dead. Sayid believes himself to be a good man and he better not dare try to kill him, but Dogen goes all martial artist on him. A huge manly fight breaks out and just when Dogen tries to stab Sayid in the throat, his baseball falls off the desk and lands on the floor. If you just said, “What?”, that’s exactly what I said. Dogen tells Sayid to leave the temple and never come back. Sayid speaks with Miles on his way out and tells him that the Others told him he is better off dead because they think he’s evil. Miles explains that when Sayid was dead, he was dead, and that the Others did not bring him back to life. In fact, they were just as surprised that he sat up alive and well. I sure was hoping that Miles was going to enlighten us to something he sensed from Sayid’s dead body.

Surrounding the temple is a ring of ash. Claire and Locke are outside the temple and Claire agrees to go into the temple if Locke will give her her son back. Locke can’t go in himself of course because the ash keeps him at bay for some reason. She asks why he doesn’t get Sawyer or Jin to do it? Hmmm…are Jin and Sawyer now on Evil-Locke’s side?

Locke tells Claire that he’s only going to hurt the people who won’t listen to him. Claire walks in to the courtyard of the temple and tells Dogen that “He” wants to see him. Dogan tells Claire if Evil-Locke wants to talk to him then he should come inside. No, he needs to go out to meet him. Dogen is too smart for that. Dogen has Claire put down into a pit inside the temple because she is confused and under the influence of an angry man. Dogen approaches Sayid and tells him that he can’t leave the temple now because Locke showed up things have changed. Dogen arms Sayid with a knife and tells Sayid he needs to go out and kill a man whom he will recognize; someone who has died.

He explains to Sayid that the man waiting outside has been trapped on the island but now that Jacob is gone this man is now free and will kill everyone on the island. He is evil incarnate. Sayid’s instructions are to stab Locke before Locke has time to say anything. I thought Locke would be waiting right outside the gate but he wasn’t. On his way out, Sayid passes Kate. Luckily for Kate, Sayid didn’t mistake her as the one he would recognize and was supposed to kill.

Further out in the jungle, Smokey shows up and transforms into Locke who says, “Hello, Sayid” before he can stab him. Oops! He didn’t get to him before he spoke. The knife did no damage except put a hole in his t-shirt. Locke now tries to recruit Sayid. He tells Sayid to deliver a message. Locke didn’t have Claire do it because the message would mean a lot more coming from Sayid. Locke tells him that he could have anything he wants if he does this favor for him. Locke is very persuasive and we all know how much Sayid wants Nadia, who died in his arms after she was hit by the car.

Sayid goes into the temple and tells the Others that the man out in the jungle wants them to know that Jacob is dead and because of that they are all free. Locke is leaving the island forever and he wants them to join him by sundown or die. Most of the Others decide to leave the temple even though the hippie tries to tell them that Locke is bluffing.

Kate goes to Claire in the pit as soon as she finds out from Miles where she is. Claire is singing the lullaby and becomes furious when Kate tells her that she took Aaron off the island and raised him. Even when Kate tells her that she came back to rescue her, she gives Kate a warning that “he’s” coming and no one can stop him.

Dogen tells Sayid part of his back story. He was a business man in Okinowa (in other words, he had a life before the island) and he got drunk one night. He picked his 12 year old son up from baseball and caused a car accident that killed his son. While at the hospital, Jacob went to Dogen and told him that he could save his son’s life if he followed Jacob to the island. He could have a new job on the island but would never be able to see his son again. Dogen asked Sayid if Locke offered him a similar bargain. Yes, Sayid says, right before he kills Dogen in the pool. When Hippie comes in and finds Dogen floating in the pool, he tells Sayid that Dogen was the only thing keeping “him” out. Sayid says that he knows that and then he kills the hippie. Holy crap! Sayid may have just completed his turning evil cycle. Dogen’s new job must have been to protect the temple. Without Dogen the ash doesn’t work?

Smokey makes his screaming and clicking appearance and starts grabbing and slamming the scattering people into the columns and walls of the temple. Love it!!!! Miles and Kate get separated when Kate returns to the pit to rescue Claire. Miles hides in a room of the temple and holds the door shut but Ilana breaks it down, armed with her rifle and asks where the other Losties are. Miles, who has never met Ilana before, tells her that it’s only him and Kate still there.

Miles asks Sun where her husband is; he took off yesterday and didn’t return. Sun realizes she’s getting closer to finding Jin. Now that the two groups (or what’s left of them) have rejoined in the right decade and year together they team up and Ilana guides them through the secret passageway that Jacob directed Hurley to in the last episode. I am soooo glad Ilana seems to know what’s going on. They get through the wall and close the entrance just before Smokey comes rushing past.

Kate tries to get Claire to come out of the pit but Claire tells her that she’s safer down there. Smokey comes furiously racing around the corner and Kate jumps onto the ladder in the pit just in time to see Smokey flying over her head. After things have calmed down a bit, Kate follows Claire and Sayid out of the temple, but not before picking up a rifle belonging to one of the dead Others. That’s what I love about Kate; she always remembers to pick up a weapon. Locke is waiting outside and gives Sayid and Claire a “good job” look. He’s looks curiously at Kate, but says nothing and turns around into the jungle as the Others follow their new leader.

This week’s episode should be good as it focuses on Ben.

• Jack noticed his appendectomy scar and asked his mom about it. Mom told him that he had it removed when he was seven. Jack doesn’t seem convinced. Is Momma Shephard in on this crazy island deception? (BTW, the wound on his neck that he noticed on the flight appears to have healed)
• Jack has a son named David. He appears to be about 14 years old. Is Jack’s cute blonde wife the mom? Jack has been an absent father by the looks of it. Why are 14 year olds so annoying? I’m not sure if David is going to have a purpose other than showing us that everyone’s lives are completely different even before the time they would have crashed on the island. Jack and Dogan (is that his name) have a conversation where they actually seem to be honest with each other. What?!

• Hurley and Miles are playing tic-tac-toe. Life in the temple must be completely boring; at least in the courtyard.Jacob shows up at the healing pool and tells Hurley he needs his help. Jacob tells him that someone is coming to the island and Hurley needs to help him find it. I reeeeaaalllly hope it’s going to be Desmond. I miss that hunk!

• Mom Shephard finds Christian’s Last Will and Testament and asks Jack if he knows who Claire Littleton is; her name is in the will.

• Claire has become the new Danielle Rousseau. She lives in the jungle, has wild looking hair, keeps an assorted array of weapons and camping supplies, and hunts the Others to find out what they did with her baby. She gets Jin’s leg out of the trap she set and takes him back to her camp. Inside a store-bought-looking cradle Jin discovers a weird looking animal skull dressed up like a baby. Claire tells Jin that she’s been out in the jungle since the rest of the castaways left back in Season Four, but she didn’t know it had been three years. Jin is beginning to realize that Claire is definitely not herself. Claire finds one of the Others who had gone out looking for Sawyer with Jin and Kate. Claire ties him up and asks the dude what he did with her baby. He denies any involvement and when Jin asks her how she can be so sure the Others took Aaron she tells him it’s because her father and her friend told her. Score! It looks like I may have been right about Claire and Christian since last time we saw them in Jacob’s cabin together. Claire tells Jin that the Others took her to their temple and stuck her with needles and branded her, probably like they did to Sawyer, to see if she had the darkness in her. Somehow she escaped. I wonder if her special friend helped her. Jin understands exactly how whacked out Claire becomes when she goes all Lizzie Borden on the Other she has tied up.

• Hurley is caught by Dogan in the temple; a place Hurley should not be. Hurley tells him he just likes temples and Indiana Jones and stuff. What would we do without Hurley? He’s the character most fans identify with most, I believe. He asks all the obvious questions and is always playing it cool in a very innocent and genuine way. Jacob appears behind Dogan and walks Hurley through the conversation so Dogan will leave him be. Hurley does a pretty sweet job improvising as well. He lied to a samarai! My favorite line this episode followed by Hurley describing Jacob’s sudden appearances – he shows up whenever he wants like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Once they’re alone, Jacob kinda scolds Hurley for not having Jack coming with him. Jacob insists that Jack come along and he tells Hurley to tell Jack that “he has what it takes”. Jack freaks out when he hears that, because his father, Christian, always used to tell him that he doesn’t have what it takes. Yep, that worked. Jack follows Hurley through the jungle, to the caves from Season One, where they stumble across Shannon’s inhaler. In the cave they see the Adam and Eve skeletons (I’m still thinking they belong to the Naylors – Bernard and Rose, but time will tell) and Christian’s coffin. I think the cave and its contents are going to play an important part in the big picture story. Jack and Hurley have some “old school” chatting time in the jungle and Hurley tells Jack that he came back to the island because Jacob got into the back of his cab in L.A. and told him to do so. Follow up questions would have been appropriate, but of course Jack doesn’t bother to think about that. Jack admits that off the island Jack was broken and he was stupid enough to believe that if we returned the island would fix him.

• Next scene with Jack and David is at a piano concerto audition where Jack meets another father and son. It’s Dogan! What the heck? Who do you think the son is? I haven’t decided yet. I had the feeling that Dogan knew exactly who Jack was and seemed to take particular interest in David and his gift for music. Jack tells David that his dad never wanted to see him fail and that he told Jack he didn’t have what it takes. Maybe Jacob is doing things to make relationships better in the alternate reality in some unrealistic way.  I remember Jack playing the piano in one episode, and Charlie and Daniel play the piano too. Yeah. That’s all I can come with about the piano.

• Next scene with Hurley and Jack is at a lighthouse on the island that they have never seen before. Jack asks out loud what we were thinking. Why haven’t they seen this before? It’s still daylight when they arrive so it can’t be that far from the cave. Inside the lighthouse there is a huge gear wheel thingy and Hurley follows the instructions written on his arm from Jacob – to turn the wheel to 108 degrees. As the wheel turns Jack sees buildings flash by in the mirrors as it passes certain names. One building looks like a Korean temple another looks like the steeple of a church. Maybe for the Kwons and Sawyer? A few of the names I could make out were 125 – Owens, 124 – Dawson, 122 – Freed, 121 – Nielson, 120 – Rodriquez, 118 – Chavez, 117 – Linus, 42 – Kwon, 20 – Rousseau, 17 – Barnes, 16 – Jarrah, 15 – Ford, etc. I was sure I saw Austen on there the first time I watched the episode but I couldn’t find the number it corresponded with when I watched it again. Jack sees 23 – Shephard, and tells Hurley to turn the wheel to 23 degrees but Hurley is worried about what Jacob will think so Jack takes over and pulls the chain until it’s set at 23 degrees and Jack sees the house he grew up in when he looks into the mirror. My first thought was that it was a Mirror of Erised, like Harry Potter found at Hogwarts. Jack freaks out again and wants to know how long and why Jacob has been watching him his would life. Hurley can’t answer Jack’s questions so Jack does the sensible thing and takes a piece of metal to the mirrors destroying them. Outside the lighthouse Jack is sitting a way off on the edge of a cliff staring out at the ocean. Hurley is near the lighthouse and finally gets another visit from Jacob. Hurley is a little perturbed and tells him if he would have shown up earlier Jack wouldn’t have broken his mirrors into millions of pieces. (BTW, I like Jacob with his soft demeanor and sad eyes. He’s kinda cute.) Hurley continues his hilarious tirade. “Thanks for the seven years of bad luck by the way!” Jacob’s replies, “You have ink on your forehead.” “I have ink on my forehead?! Is that all you have to say?” By this time I was hoping that Jack would have noticed Hurley was in an argument with an invisible person. Hurley: “Jack broke your lighthouse, Dude! Mission UNaccomplished! Whoever you said needed help getting to the island is totally screwed.” Jacob was unconcerned. They’ll find another way. Is it Desmond? Please let it be Desmond! Jack’s deal is he needs to find out for himself what important thing he needs to do. And Jacob needed to get Jack and Hurley as far away from the temple as possible because “someone” is coming there. Hmmm….Evil-Locke? Who else would it be? So Sawyer, Jin, Kate, Jack, Hurley and so far Sun, are all away from the temple. Jin however is with wacko Claire, who promised to kill Kate if she was indeed raising Aaron, and Claire’s friend, Evil-Locke. I think Claire and Christian have always been manifestations of Smokey.

The next  episode is titled Sundown. It looks like Claire is going to send a warning to the temple inhabitants and Sayid is faced with a difficult decision.

Want to read recaps from the rest of Season 6? Click here.

“The Substitute”

Locke and Helen

This episode begins with John Locke arriving at his home in suburban LA. The wheel-chair lift on the van gives out half way down and he rolls himself onto the grass, but unfortunately lands on his face. Knowing he had just flown back from Australia where he was not allowed to go on his walk-about, and that the airline has just lost his luggage, I was prepared for Locke to be extra grouchy. Especially when the sprinklers came on.  But he actually began to chuckle. Good thing Helen was there. Yay! Helen! She ran out of the house and rescued John from the shower he was getting outside….transition to John soaking in the bathtub….where he’s looking at fabric samples while overhearing Helen talking on the phone to a wedding planner. John and Helen talk about the cost of the wedding and Helen proposes they do away with all the plans and just head to Vegas with only a few invited people i.e. Helen’s parents and John’s Dad (boo hiss! We’ll probably being seeing Mr-Kidney-Thief again). John insists that it will all work out. Maybe daddy is different in this alternate timeline.
Helen cleans up John’s clothing and asks how his “conference” in Australia went (answer: “boring”) then she finds Dr. Jack Shepard’s business card and encourages John to make an appointment for his free consultation. John is not the man of faith he became on the island and Helen nudges him by telling him it may just in fact be destiny that he happened to meet a spinal surgeon at the missing luggage counter. John contemplates this as we transition to the best scene of the season so far!

SMOKY on patrol!

The camera takes us on a dizzying 1^st-person-as-if-we-were-Smoky ride through the jungle, then flash, over the creek, then above the grass, then into Dharma-town where we see our black smoky reflection in the outside window of a house where we hear bottles breaking, loud music, and hammering. Then back into the jungle with a couple of teleporting flashes where we see a large knife lying on the ground. We land and see our hand reach out for the knife. Smoky has turned back into Locke. That was so cool!!!

Terry O’Quinn is such a great actor. It doesn’t matter which Locke he’s playing, Paralyzed Locke, Destiny-believing Locke, Evil-Locke, the audience knows exactly what emotion he’s trying to convey.

Locke cuts down a canvas tree-top bag containing Richard. I feel very uncomfortable seeing Richard in his new role being bullied by Evil-Locke. To me, Richard brought stability to the island. He was like my constant. Now to see him with cuts and bruises, and his eyes filled with fear, is very unsettling. Locke tells Richard that it’s time to talk.

Who’s the Boss?

Back in L.A., John Locke shows up at work where his boss Randy confronts him about his absence at the conference he was supposed to be attending in Australia. Locke explains that it’s personal and Randy immediately fires him. (Randy Nations, by the way, was in the Season 3 episode where the meteor hits Hurley’s newly acquired Mr. Cluck’s restaurant. The newscaster introduces Randy Nations as Hugo’s previous boss who now works for Hurley).

Apparently no one knew why Locke was really going to Sydney. Not his fiancé, not his boss, but actually maybe Jacob and his nemesis, “The Man in Black”, knew all along.

Back in the jungle, Evil-Locke apologizes for hitting Richard and dragging him into the jungle. He tells Richard that he wants what he’s always wanted, for Richard to come with him. Apparently Richard knows what he means because he doesn’t ask any follow-up questions other than he wants to know why he looks like John Locke. Of course it was because it would get him in close proximity to Jacob when he was prepared to kill him. John was a “candidate” he tells Richard. Richard has no idea what that means and Evil-Locke becomes annoyed that Jacob kept everyone in the dark about what was going on – first, Benjamin Linus did all of Jacob’s bidding even though Ben was never even allowed to see Jacob. Now we find out that our good friend Richard, who has been on the island a very long time, doesn’t have all the answers either. Great. It looks like Smokey just might be the answer to every mystery we’ve seen on this darn island. Evil-Locke tells Richard that he would have never kept him in the dark but that he would have treated him with respect. Richard says No Way. Evil-Locke sees a young boy behind Richard. The boys face isn’t familiar but he’s dressed like an “Other”. Richard turns around and can’t see the boy. Could this be the reincarnated Jacob? Evil-Locke leaves Richard in the jungle telling him he’ll see Richard sooner than he thinks.

Who’s Crying Now?

At the statue foot, Ben approaches Ilana who is weeping over the loss of her friends. She asks Ben what happened and he tells her that there is a good chance she won’t believe him. Ben tells her that John Locked turned into a pillar of smoke and killed all them by himself. He lies about Jacob and tells Ilana that Locke killed him as well and kicked him into the fire. Ilana places some of the ashes into a bag and tells Ben that Locke took Richard into the jungle because he is recruiting. The ashes must be important for something. And Locke will probably be approaching everyone on the island as potential recruits.

My suspicion is verified when we see Locke show up again at Dharmaville to the house with the loud music. That’s where Sawyer has decided to take up living with his whiskey. Sawyer tells Locke he thought he was dead and Locke states, “I am.” But he notices that Sawyer doesn’t seem to be fazed but it. Nope, he doesn’t care about anything anymore and he invites Locke to get out of his house. Sawyer asks Evil-Locke who he is and Sawyer tells him that he knows he’s not Locke because Locke was always scared even when he was trying not to be; not but this new guy, he ain’t scared.

Locke tells Sawyer that he has the answer to why Sawyer is on the island and it’s not because his plane crashed, his raft blew up, or his rescue helicopter had one too many passengers. Sawyer is so despondent about his life that he seems up for this curious proposal; it sure beats going back to the temple with the “Others.”

Back in L.A. John rolls out of his office building with his boxed up belongings and finds that he can’t get into his vehicle because a big yellow Hummer is parked to close to the side of his van. John decides to move out the lift anyway but just as it’s about to hit the Hummer, it stops. He throws a John-fit and bangs on the car making the alarm sound. Out comes the owner of the Hummer to find out what he’s doing. It’s Hurley, I mean, Hugo Reyes. He tells John that he owns the company and apologizes that Randy fired him. He writes down the number for a temp agency and tells John to call them to get hooked up with a new job.

At the beach, Ilana takes charge and tells Ben and Sun and Lapidus that the safest place for them to be is at the temple; and if Jin is still alive on the island then he’ll at the temple. Sun insists that they bury John Locke’s body.

Play by the rules!

While they are walking through the jungle, Evil-Locke asks Sawyer why he was in the house alone and why he’s not with the rest of his friends. Sawyer reminds him that he was drinking (duh) and that his friends are at the temple. He doesn’t want to talk anymore and he stops when he sees the same “Other” kid in the jungle. Locke seems surprised that Sawyer can see him too. This must be significant because Richard couldn’t see him. Once Locke understands that Sawyer can see the kid too he takes off after him in the jungle. I was wondering why he didn’t turn into Smoky, it probably would have been faster. Locke trips and looks up into the kids’ face who says, “You know the rules. You can’t kill him.” Evil-Locke seems to have taken on some of angry Locke’s personality as he shouts out, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” The boy calmly walks away.

Each time I’ve watched this scene I think of the conversation between Ben and Charles Widmore when they were discussing “the rules”. So is this kid on Jacob’s side? Is he on Ben’s or Widmore’s side? Is the kid actually Aaron?

Sawyer, meanwhile, is waiting in the jungle for Locke and shouts out that he’s leaving if he doesn’t get back here right now. Richard stumbles out and tells Sawyer that they need to get to the temple. Sawyer explains that he knows that Locke is a look-alike but that he’s already been to the temple and he’s sticking with Locke because he’s got the answers about why he’s on the island. Richard warns Sawyer that Evil-Locke isn’t going to tell him anything but that in fact he wants to kill him and all his friends, but before he can say anything more he runs away because he hears Evil-Locke coming. Sawyer denies that he was speaking to anyone and when he asks if Locke ever caught up with the kid, Locke asks, “What kid?”

At least one thing is for sure on this island – Lying and Deceit.

In L.A. Locke is seen at the temp agency applying for a job. The first interviewer John meets was a tarot card reader back in Season 3 when Hurley and his father were looking for answers. Rose shows up as the office supervisor. She and John have a little quarrel about what type of job John can realistically handle. Just as he was about to begin his don’t-tell-me-what-I-can’t-do outburst, Rose cut him off by announcing that she has terminal cancer and she understands all about accepting the facts.

Sawyer is following Evil-Locke into the jungle and asks him if he’s ever read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. I laughed at Sawyer’s face when Locke told him that he hadn’t read it because it was a little after his time. Sawyer goes all-George on Locke-Lenny and aims a gun at his head. Locke tells him that he’s been trapped for a long time but that before he used to be a man with feelings who’s experienced much of same things we all experience. He tells Sawyer to go ahead and pull the trigger but he’s so close to finding out the truth. (Yeah, right, *cough cough*)

Bring out your dead!

While Iliana and Ben are carrying Locke’s body to the Cemetery (which I heard someone recently call “Boone Hill”) Ilana says something interesting and probably important that I didn’t quite catch the first three times I watched this episode. She told Ben that the people had to see the face of what they’re up against. I thought that was metaphorical but she goes on to explain that Smokey can no longer change “faces” and that he’s stuck that way. So, unlike in past seasons, Smokey won’t be manifesting himself as Mr. Eko’s dead brother or Jack’s dead dad or a dead-Claire, right? He will always look like John Locke.

They proceed to bury Locke, hopefully next to Boone and not Nikki and Paulo, and Ben offers some words for his dear friend. It was perfect, as was the comment made afterward by Lapidus. Ben says, “John Locke was a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I’ll ever be. And I’m sorry I murdered him.”

“This is the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to.”

It was funny, but I also think Ben sincerely felt sorry for killing John. Especially in light of what transpired in the foot statue. What else has Ben really been doing for Smokey when he thought that he was doing what Jacob wanted? After all, Ben did have the plug to the Smoke Monster summoning drain.

In Locke’s bedroom the alarm clock sounds a lot like the buzzer down in the hatch. And he wakes up at 8:15. Or did it say 6:15? John calls Dr. Shephard’s office then changes his mind about making an appointment. When Helen asks why he’s not going to see him he tells her that he got fired.

Oh, yeah, that’s one more thing that’s for sure on his island. There’s seldom ever an appropriate answer to a direct question.

The doorbell rings and it’s the courier returning John’s box of knives. Helen returns to the conversation and asks John why he got fired to which he replies that he lied to his boss; he didn’t go to the conference. Oh yeah, and he lied to you too, Helen? John tells her about his walk-about that wasn’t and he confesses that he is tired of picturing himself walking her down the on her wedding day. This was a very touching scene because what it came down to was John wanting Helen to be realistic about her expectations for him having corrective surgery or a miracle. Helen showed what a great woman she really is and I felt like cheering when she told him that all she really wanted was him and she tears up Jack’s business card.

We see Locke at his job as a coach/substitute teacher. It’s hilarious that as a substitute teacher he was assigned to teach the class on the reproductive system. Isn’t that how it always goes? He passes a young black man on the campus asking for directions to the teacher’s lounge. They probably wanted us to think it was Walt. At the teacher’s lounge we discover Benjamin Linus who happens to be a teacher of European History. OK, so was Ben EVER on the island? Did he leave in 1977 when the bomb blew it up?

If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?

Sawyer and Locke end their trek through the jungle at the edge of a high, scary cliff. Sawyer cracks me up! When Locke tells him they’re going over the edge Sawyer says, “No offense, but you already died, so this is no big deal for you.” Locke’s not worried that he has to go first for Sawyer to trust him so over the cliff and down the shaky, creaking ladder he goes beckoning Sawyer to follow him. Sure, why not? For those of us who saw this episode’s commercial we knew that Sawyer was going to fall on the ladder (that had to hurt) but Locke made sure no harm came to him and they both safely entered the cave at the bottom of the cliff. Upon entering, we see a white and a black rock resting on each side of the scale. Reminds me of the rocks in the cave some of the Losties called home back in Season One. Locke picks up the white rock and throws it into the ocean. He tells Sawyer it’s an inside joke. He’s eliminating signs of Jacob and his maddening Jacobness one step at a time. On the walls of the cave are written names, some crossed out, some not. The noticeably uncrossed out names include: 42-Kwan, 23-Shephard, 8-Reyes, 16-Jarrah, 4-Locke, 15-Ford.

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.

Locke explains that the names were written by a man named Jacob who wrote the names, and that he had a thing for numbers. The names were candidates whom Jacob had selected to take over for him as protector of the island. Locke tells Sawyer he can do nothing, and see what happens, and “possibly” his name will be crossed out. Or he can become the new Jacob and protect the island. He clarifies this option to Sawyer saying that there is absolutely nothing from which to protect the island. It’s all a big joke and the island will be fine without Jacob or anyone else whose lives have been wasted. Or he can leave the island. Of course there’s no direct answer to a direct question, so when Sawyer asks how he’s supposed to leave the island Locke replies, “Together”. Sawyer doesn’t hesitate; he’s made up his mind to leave with Evil-Locke, and Evil-Locke looks completely satisfied.

At first, I thought it was all of our Losties’ names who were mentioned by Evil-Locke. But he didn’t mention Kate. Then I thought it was maybe all the Losties who were visited by Jacob as an adult, but Sawyer, or James Ford, was a child. Then I thought they must have accidentally left Kate and her number out of the script. But all of the numbers are accounted for, so where is Kate’s name? And Claire’s? Rose, Bernard, anyone else? They weren’t candidates apparently. Are all the candidates men? Then Kwon on the wall must refer to Jin, and not Sun. When Lapidus was knocked out on the canoe, Ilana and Bram were talking about Lapidus being a candidate.

My final question from this episode is what would happen if Smokey left the island (no matter what form he’s in). Would it be terror and chaos like when the T-rex left Jurassic Park?

What do you think about this episode?  Any comments or theories to share?

Read recaps of other LOST episodes from season 6

~Evie

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First of all, my apologies to those of you who genuinely enjoyed the last episode, What Kate Does. Perhaps I was too harsh in my judgment of not enough answers. Erika at Long Live Locke.com reminded me that we fell in love with LOST way back when there wasn’t a lot of action. Shannon was sunbathing, Jack was going through suit cases looking for supplies, Charlie was playing his guitar. On the other hand there wasn’t a whole lot of crazy mystery either that we were desperate to have answered.

While I was visiting LLL I read a couple of interesting things I missed so I thought I’d share.

1. When Kate was going through Claire’s bag at the garage after being de-handcuffed, she saw the stuffed orca. I couldn’t remember where it was from but Aaron had it as a toddler when he was living with Kate. Erika’s school of thought is that felon-Kate would not have gone back to find Claire if the whale hadn’t sparked some kind of this-seems-awfully-familiar sense in Kate.
2. As for Ethan Goodspeed (his surname in previous episodes was Rom), Erika says that if Pierre Chang had indeed evacuated the women and children from the island then the children we know who were there (Miles, Ethan, and Charlotte) would have been saved and grown up off the island.
3. Claire was also having that déjà vu experience when Dr. Ethan was asking her about the baby and she just shouted out Aaron’s name like she just “knew” that was going to be his name. And of course, Kate, who always seems to stick herself into everyone else’s business, told Claire she should keep her baby.
4. Possible correlation that’s not just coincidence: Asian Other Leader Dogan tells Jack he must speak in Japanese and use a translator because he has to stay separate from his people – The translation of one of Jacks tattoos is “He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us.”
5. Erika hints at validating a theory I had about Claire when she was blown up in the barracks/”rescued” by Sawyer/ran off in the jungle/seen in Jacob’s cabin.  She was actually taken by Smokey and now her form is manifested by Smokey, same as Sayid is now.
6. And one duh-moment for me from LA X. Sawyer and Hurley were seated by each other when Sawyer overheard about Hurley’s lottery winning. I had this warm fuzzy feeling about Sawyer helping out his buddy Hurley. D’oh! I forgot Sawyer is still a con man and doesn’t even know Hugo.

Just some food for thought for you LOST fans!!!

Read other LOST recaps