4 8 15 16 23 42 Lost Season 6 The Final Chapter

Here is the Episode 6.09 recap from Erika Olson (aka "e") from LongLiveLocke.com.

We've officially reached the halfway point of Season Six. Nine hours down, nine hours left to go before it all ends on May 23. I've gotta say that if the remaining episodes are even remotely as incredible as Ab Aeterno was, we are going to be very happy Lost fans indeed.

So go ahead and add me to the list of people who loved this Ageless Richard-centric hour (its title, by the way, is Latin for "since the beginning" or "for long ages"). I made what might've been the most obvious comment ever to my husband after it was over: "This was so much more powerful than it would've been had we gotten his backstory earlier." We needed years of seeing Richard as Jeff Probst's doppelganger -- clean-shaven, stylish, confident and spewing out impeccable English -- in order to truly appreciate how far he's come in, oh, a hundred and forty years. And to understand how utterly desperate he must feel to finally want to give up on the job he was given by Jacob all of those decades ago.

Since this episode bucked the traditional format and was almost entirely done in flashback mode, I'm just going to cover things chronologically. Let's do this. (And a note to new readers: if you roll your mouse over the pictures in this post, captions will appear.)

AM I IN HEAVEN HERE OR
AM I IN HELL?
AT THE CROSSROADS
I AM STANDING

The opening scene showed the beach gang discussing what Ilana told Sun about "the candidates." Since I knew from the previews that this was going to be a Richard Alpert flashback, I was really surprised to see the replay of Jacob and Ilana's conversation in the hospital when she was all beat up. So I just assumed Richard was going to walk in, or was also lying on another hospital bed or something. Wrong. They showed us -- and expanded upon -- that scene again to reiterate three important points: 1) Jacob was wearing gloves and therefore never transferred any of his magical powers to Ilana, 2) he specifically said that she had to watch over "the remaining candidates," indicating that he was aware the latest experiment he was conducting on human nature was coming to an end, and 3) that "Ricardus" would know what to do once she brought everybody to the Temple.

The scene cuts back to real-time on the Island and Ilana repeats that Jacob said Richard would be the man with the plan. That's when we heard what might've been the most girly, yet simultaneously awesome laugh from the ageless one, who was standing off in the shadows of the campfire. He's like, "Joke's on you, suckas, because I got nothin' for ya." He then proceeded to tell Jack that he (The Mad Doctor) was dead and that they were all in hell.

And then I (and I'm sure many of you) groaned a loud groan and said, "Oh no, the Purgatory / They're All Dead theories are going to be alive and well again after tonight." Sometimes I think the writers just want to mess with the hardcore fans who dismissed those theories (because the producers themselves shot them down) back in 2004. Sigh.

Then Richard stomps off into the jungle to find the Man in Black, Ilana tries to stop him but Jack says it's pointless, Hurley's on the outskirts of the clearing, talking in Spanish to an unseen ghost, Ben tells everyone that Richard "doesn't know anything," and then the group just looks at each other and laments that they don't have any marshmallows, graham crackers and Hershey's bars with which to make some much-needed s'mores.

And then we switch to flashback mode once more...

I'M A SLAVE 4 U

A heavily bearded Richard is riding a horse across what I assumed was the Island, as there was a mountain in the background and we'd seen Widmore riding a horse around the Others' camp before. But nope, the setting was the Canary Islands and the year was 1867. Richard arrives home to his coughing-up-blood wife, Isabella, and he realizes that he needs to get her help right quick. She gives him her cross necklace, tells him that "we'll always be together" and he takes off on a half-day journey to find a doctor.

He finds a doctor, who's pretty much an ass, and then accidentally kills him -- much like how Des accidentally killed Kelvin on the Island. But as Richard looks down at the blood flowing from the back of the doctor's head, he realizes that he's got the medicine vial in his hand already. So he busts out of there... all for nothing. Isabella has passed on by the time he returned to her.

He gets no time to grieve because lawmen followed him home. The next time we see him, he's in a prison cell. A priest visits him, he begs for forgiveness for the awful accident, but Father Suarez will have none of it. He tells Richard, "I'm afraid the devil awaits you in hell. May God have mercy on your soul." Nice. That's the last time Richard gives a confession! Even if he wasn't about to be hanged!

Shortly thereafter, Alpert is in the process of being hauled off to the gallows when he's stopped by some British dude and asked if he can speak English. After it's revealed that he can, the British guy -- Jonas Whitfield -- BUYS him and declares him the property of one Magnus Hanso. As in, the great-grandfather of Alvar Hanso, founder of the Hanso Foundation, which financed the Dharma Initiative. (None of this is stuff we hadn't known before, except the confirmation that Richard was indeed a prisoner on the Black Rock. I'm just repeating the Hanso stuff for the "normal people" who don't remember all of this Lost mythology from past seasons.)

ALL AROUND THE WORLD
STATUES CRUMBLE FOR ME

Finally, we get to see the long-awaited Black Rock voyage. Thank the heavens that the FX were OK in this scene. All of the prisoners are in chains below deck and one of them peers out to see an Island that is "guarded by the devil" -- Taweret in all her glory.

And then, the Black Rock proceeded to take out the majority of the Four-Toed Statue. BIG MYSTERY SOLVED -- woo-hoo! I thought that part was pretty cool. Now we also know that it was a huge tidal wave that landed the ship in the middle of the Island. Another mystery solved. It's almost too much to handle. Almost.

RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM

Next we watched as poor Richard saw Whitfield stab and kill everyone else below deck, one by one. Just as it was Richard's turn to look down the edge of the officer's sword, who shows up to wreak havoc but Smokey. Whitfield is disposed of and now Richard's face-to-face with something much worse than a man-made weapon. Smokey proceeds with the white-flash/mindscan thing we've seen him do before with Juliet and Eko, Richard is spared and Smokey rattles off.

Minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days, and Richard continues to fight to break free from his chains. Although these scenes were sad, I did find it kind of humorous that long before the boars of the Island taunted Sawyer, they were around to mess with Richard, and one of the bigger members of their clan caused him to lose the pin he'd been painstakingly trying to unlock his cuffs with. He was just out of reach of the pin and of rainwater, and he was just about out of hope and the will to live when Dead Isabella materializes. But Richard thought she was very much alive and therefore totally freaked out when she ran above deck, only to be eaten by Smokey.

What was Isabella? Since her body wasn't on the Island, it doesn't seem like the MIB could've transformed into her, does it? But maybe after the mindscan MIB could shift into people he saw from Richard's past? Or maybe Richard was just hallucinating -- who could blame him at that point, right?

I have to think that Isabella was the MIB in disguise, however, because the entire crux of his plan was to make Richard think that "the devil" had her. He even went so far as to admit that he was the smoke monster, that's how confident he was that Richard would be undeterred and still do whatever it took to save Isabella.

MAN IN BLACK: I'm not the one you need to worry about. The Devil has your wife, and you are going to have to kill him if you ever want to get her back.

RICHARD: Murder is wrong. That is what brought me here.

MAN IN BLACK: My friend, you and I can talk all day long about what's right or wrong, but the question before you remains the same - "Do you ever want to see your wife again?"

RICHARD: Yes I do.
Now, I know that in my last few posts I've been pointing out the increasingly religious tone that the show has taken, and clearly Ab Aeterno was the most blatant Bible-referencing episode of late. However, I think the only reason "the devil" was actually mentioned this time around was solely because of the mindscan Smokey performed. The Man in Black knew Richard was a God-fearing man and therefore used that against him in order to manipulate him into doing what he wanted -- namely, killing Jacob. What better way to do that then by telling Richard that Jacob was the devil... and had nabbed his wife? So let me be clear: the Island is NOT hell, no one back at the campfire in the present time is dead, they are not in purgatory, and Jacob is not Satan. I believe, just as I always did, that Jacob and the Man in Black might still represent some sort of religious figures, but I'll talk about that more in-depth later.

'CAUSE I'M WORKIN' FOR THE MAN
WORKIN' FOR THE MAN

Richard sets off for the statue, gets into a tussle with Jacob who -- in an attempt to convince the Island's latest visitor that he is not in fact dead -- dunks him a bunch of times in the ocean, just like a high school bully. I kind of liked this less patient version of Jacob. Anyway, Jacob was like, "If your wife was dead before you came here, then that wasn't her that you just saw on the ship -- duh." Jacob then goes on to describe evil as wine swirling around in a bottle, and the Island as the cork that was stopping it from escaping out into the wider world and spreading. Jacob explained that he brought people to the Island in an attempt to prove to the Man in Black that humankind was fundamentally good. Yet he never wanted to interfere with anyone's actions once they arrived. Richard called Jacob's strategery lame, and pointed out that if Jacob didn't try to influence visitors' actions, "... he will. DOUBLE DUH!"

Jacob felt really silly for not having realized this. He would've totally failed a Game Theory course back in the real world, geez. It dawns on him that this Ricardo dude could be useful, so he offers him a job as his "representative" in exchange for immortality. It's important to note that Jacob made it clear he couldn't bring back the dead, nor could he absolve anyone of their sins. So, he is NOT God, not that anyone really ever thought he was. (I should probably mention that in the comments for my "Sundown" post -- the episode in which Sayid turned evil and killed Dogen -- Lost fan extraordinaire and LLL reader SherylM pointed out that while Jacob offered to save Dogen's son in return for Dogen coming to the Island, never did Dogen actually say his son had DIED. He just said that Jacob claimed to be able to "save" the boy, which could mean that he was so seriously injured he was probably not going to make it. So there are no inconsistencies in what Jacob says he can/cannot do. Even when he touched Locke after Locke's eight-story fall, he touched Locke within seconds of landing, so it's possible Locke had not died of internal injuries by that point, which I'm assuming would've happened otherwise. Holy crap, it just hit me that we still don't know WHY Locke was paralyzed in the flash sideways timeline since he now has a good relationship with his father... DAH! Sorry. Back to THIS episode...)

TAKE THIS JOB AND SHOVE IT

Back in the present day on the Island, Richard returns to the stone bench under which he had buried Isabella's cross... the cross that the MIB saved from the Black Rock wreckage 140 years prior and had handed back to him with the promise that his "offer" would always stand. After Jacob's death, the Temple massacre, and learning information about "the candidates" which he'd never been privy to for 14 decades, Richard was more than ready to take the MIB up on his deal and end his time as Jacob's errand-boy. And I think the writers of this episode did an excellent job of helping us viewers understand exactly why Richard had finally had ENOUGH.

So he digs up the necklace and starts shouting into the wind, "DOES THE OFFER STILL STAND?!?!"

I was positive that Fake Locke was going to appear out of thin air, but instead Hurley emerges from the jungle. The first thing through my mind was, "Hurley is definitely going to be Jacob's replacement." I mean, all signs are pointing that way, no? I still think Jack will play some monumental role in "saving" the Island and everyone on it, but so far Hurley has been the most connected to Jacob and has already carried out his will several times. Then, in a very Ghost-like sequence, Hurley revealed that he'd been talking with Isabella -- who was presently standing right next to her long-lost love -- and that she wanted Richard to stop punishing himself for her death. She also wanted to remind him that they are "already together." Sniff.

Ghost Isabella vanished and Hurley dropped one last bomb on Richard: the ageless one's dead wife also mentioned that he HAD to stop the Man in Black from leaving the Island because if he didn't, "we all go to hell." Once again, I did not take her words literally. I took them as, "I'm a God-fearing Ghost and you're still a God-fearing immortal and the MIB is evil so you can't let evil win." Do not make me publicly shame you by trying to convince me her warning was evidence for the Purgatory theory!!!

GET UP
GET YOUR MAN A BOTTLE OF RED WINE

The last scene took place back in 1867 on the Island. We see Jacob and the Man in Black engaged in another tenuous chat, much like the one they had at the beginning of "The Incident." The MIB swears he'll find a way to kill Jacob one day... and that he'll also kill anyone who replaces Jacob. So there should now be no doubt that the promises Fake Locke is making 815ers like Sawyer and Kate and Sayid are complete lies. He fully intends to off them. Also, did you notice how Fake Locke and the MIB as played by Titus Welliver are so amazingly alike in their mannerisms and speech? Very impressive.

Even though his life has just been threatened, Jacob takes the high road and replies, "Brother, you need a drink. Oh look, I just so happen to have some wine. Here you go -- bottoms up." He gives him the bottle and then takes off. Once he's alone, the Man in Black throws a hissy fit and smashes the wine against a log. That's, like, SO mature.

Let's wrap up by discussing what new things we've learned about Jacob and his nemesis. I know there's a "Fight Club" theory going around that states Jacob and the MIB are the same person. This idea picked up a lot of steam after the MIB gave Richard the exact same instructions for killing Jacob that Dogen gave Sayid for killing Fake Locke/MIB: 1) Don't let him speak... AT ALL, and 2) plunge a special silver sword into his heart (it was the same sword in both episodes, by the way). While I am not by any means dismissing this theory on the grounds that I don't think it makes any sense (because I do think it's very clever), I am going to dismiss it on the grounds of "too complicated for a prime-time TV show with only half a season left." First off, Jacob is already dead -- so how would THAT work if he and MIB were the same guy? Secondly, you've got people like Ilana sent to protect Jacob, and another big group siding with Fake Locke. I just think it would be waaaaay too complicated to not only wrap all the other several dozen (or more) outstanding mysteries in the show, but also find a way to easily explain to the average viewer that Jacob and his nemesis -- you know, the guys that were shown talking to each other, passing a bottle of wine back and forth, giving rocks as presents to each other -- are actually THE SAME DUDE. Nope, too complex to pull off, sorry.

After this episode I think the same thing I've always thought: that MIB is a form of evil. It doesn't really matter what his name is or if he's the devil or just a force for darkness or a demon or whatever. All that matters is that he despises humankind and therefore wants to prove that man is inherently "bad." He also wants to escape the Island so that he can spread his special brand of wickedness around the globe. (One thing that's confusing me is that I could've sworn we already saw Smokey -- in apparition form -- OFF of the Island. As Zombie Dad in Jack's hospital in "Something Nice Back Home" (remember, the smoke alarm even went off in that scene?) and on the freighter before Michael blew up. Anyone wanna help me make sense of that?)

Jacob, on the other hand, represents "light," or "goodness." He believes that man is inherently moral. He could be some sort of angel... that would still make him on par with the MIB if the MIB was in fact the devil, because in many religions the devil is described as a fallen angel. He might be some sort of heaven-sent representative charged with keeping the devil from running wild all of the place.

No matter what you want to view these two as, clearly they are not human beings. So we can all at least agree on that point, right?

I think it's nearly impossible for next week's episode to match the awesomeness of Ab Aeterno, but here's hopin'...

Until then,
- e

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So most of you didn't like it, eh? I actually really enjoyed this episode, and for more reasons than just the last ten seconds.

It's been so long since we've seen Jin and Sun together, and while I was really hoping for a Kwon reunion on the island, their Alternate Timeline (ATL) satisfied some of what I've been missing.

By the way, I have to admit that the Flocke-is-evil people went a long way toward winning me over in this episode. Now that it's clear Flocke has given Claire and Kate conflicting goals, I'm not so sure how much we can trust what he says. Also, Charles Widmore, despite doing plenty of kidnapping, doesn't seem to harbor evil intentions for the island or the survivors at this point, so the fact that he is ready to go to war with Flocke doesn't speak well for Flocke.

But who knows? With Desmond back in play, it's anybody's game.

MR. KWON AND MS. PAIK

The ATL storyline begins right after the safe landing of Oceanic 815. Jin's problem with customs officials has led to the loss of the $25,000 that he was bringing to a meeting in a restaurant, which we already knows is with Martin Keamy. We soon learn that neither Jin nor Sun speak English, and they aren't actually married. Were any of you concerned that they wouldn't be in love at all? Thankfully, despite Jin's honest effort to keep up appearances by insisting on separate hotel rooms, the Koreans are still a couple, and spend a romantic evening in the hotel together.

But let's back up just a second. When checking into the hotel, Jin and Sun make sure to clear their respective last names with the front desk. Jin is a Kwon and Sun is a Paik. Of course, the last name issue is very critical to on-island Jin and Sun. Was this a hint that the candidate is Jin? I would have guessed Sun, since she's typically been the more "main" character of the two, but Jin's star has been rising for the last two seasons, so we'll see.

In the hotel room, Sun has a secret, but before we learn what it is (she's pregnant, obviously - saw that coming a mile away, didn't we?), Keamy and Omar barge in. He wants his watch and he wants his money. When Sun and Jin only have one of those things, they call "Danny's friend" (Pickett, right? Doubt we'll see him, though), Mikhail. The result is a really awkward scene at Sun's bank, where she learns she doesn't have the money to pay them.

Meanwhile, Keamy ties Jin up in his freezer dropping a bombshell on him that Jin doesn't understand: the $25,000 is Keamy's compensation for killing Jin. Keamy's speech is simultaneously threatening and almost touching - and while he's talking, he treats a bleeding wound on Jin's head. Anybody notice how prominently blood and the color red were featured in this episode? (In addition to the irritating red "V" at the bottom of the screen, announcing that show's return.)

Sayid frees Jin, or rather, allows Jin to free himself. It was very strange, but this Sayid seemed more emotionally distant than the ATL Sayid in the flashes of "Sundown". This could be because he had just shot three people, or it could be subconscious crossover from the Main Timeline (MTL). "I don't feel anything," Sayid told Flocke. This seemed very much like a Sayid who also didn't feel anything.

Oh, it turns out Keamy isn't completely dead yet. I wonder if he'll show up again? I hope so. Really a great character in both realities.

Mikhail arrives with Sun, and a fight ensues between him and Jin, which ends, awesomely, with Mikhail shot through his eye. Ah, destiny.

But in the process, Sun is accidentally shot, and as Jin carries her away, she reveals that she is pregnant. Sun, I believe, is the first main character in mortal peril in the ATL. Maybe things can only end happily in one reality and not the other? Maybe this bodes well for the on-island couple? Well, I expect Sun to pull through. A checkup with Dr. Jack Shephard should fix her, right?

NOT YOUR GARDEN VARIETY BUMP ON THE HEAD

At the Beach Camp, morale is low. Ilana, perhaps the last devout follower of Jacob, believes that Hurley will bring Richard back and Richard will explain what to do, which is pretty much exactly what does happen, but before it does, they doubt her. Sun is particularly frustrated with the lack of finding Jin, and stomps off to check out her garden. Jack follows her and tries to explain the importance of the lighthouse - there was a surprising amount of characters sharing information this episode - but she doesn't really care and tells him to leave.

Next, Flocke pays Sun a visit, explains that he found Jin and asks her to come back with him. He says that she has a choice, that he would never make anyone follow him against their will. Even if the Man in Black is evil, I genuinely think that Flocke's hatred of Jacob extends to their divergent operating philosophies. Again and again, we've seen Flocke give someone the choice to obey him. Richard said no in 1867, and the Man in Black left him alone for a century and a half. So at least some of the time, MIB does take no for an answer. Other times, it's obey or die - which is what happened to the Temple Others, ultimately making Sun uneasy about joining him and causing her to flee from him instead.

I also thought it was noteworthy that Sun cut herself just before Flock appeared.

Aside from just keeping with the "red" theme of this episode, I don't know how to interpret this. It was certainly very foreboding, though, for Flocke to appear at that moment. For some reason, I couldn't shake the idea that Flocke's very proximity to Sun caused it. Randall Flagg/Walter, the Stephen King archvillian to whom MIB is often compared, would inadvertently kill small animals and cause headaches in the young and the elderly (I think) just by being around them.

Flocke soon causes Sun a more serious injury. Admittedly, the effect was a little difficult to believe for just a bump on the head: she can't speak in English anymore, though she can still understand it. This has happened before - to John Locke in "Further Instructions", interestingly enough. In that instance, it was caused by John's proximity to the implosion of the Swan. Does this mean electromagnetism is involved in the loss of speech? Maybe the Man in Black is really just a walking, talking, pocket of electromagnetic black smoke, and encountering him can have such an effect.

We know that electromagnetism can cause consciousness teleportation. Perhaps Flocke was able to force her to channel herself in the other reality, where she doesn't know English. If Flocke has that power, we might have just seen our first glimpse of how the ATL could ultimately factor in to the MTL. Flocke might be the link between these two realities.

Maybe I'm reaching. It's also conceivable that Sun's weird loss of English was caused by a variety of other things. Maybe Flocke has that power because it happened to John Locke, and he can use aspects of John Locke's personality and memories. Maybe it was caused by a subconscious connection to her flash-sideways character (whose inability to understand English was placing her in mortal peril), and Flocke wasn't involved. Or hey, maybe it really is just a bump on the head.

There wasn't very much else interesting going on at the Beach Camp. Richard returns with Hurley, fired up about stopping Flocke by destroying the Hydra plan (with an atomic bomb! Nope, just kidding). They plan to head for Hydra Island, and Jack eventually convinces Sun to come, even though she's reluctant. Jack brings her a tomato from her garden - the only one that didn't die. Again, the color red.

It looks like a little heart, doesn't it? Keamy talks about the heart, too (in the "love" sense rather than the "organ" sense). Maybe this whole "red" thing - again, apart from being an annoying reminder that "V" was coming back - was supposed to make us think about love vs. violence, the color's two main interpretations. "The Package" certainly contained a fair share of both.

Finally, Sun chooses to go with Jack. Interestingly enough, he reaches his hand out to her just as Flocke did. Jack is also "talking destiny" just like his old enemy, John Locke. And the character inhabiting John Locke, is definitively anti-destiny.

Sun doesn't regain her ability to speak English, and settles for writing things down - again, very John-like from "Further Instructions". As Boone told John in that episode, "You'll speak when you have something worth saying."

PACKAGE DELIVERED

When Flocke leaves his camp to visit Sun, Widmore's team strikes, knocking everybody out with stun darts. The only person they want, though, is Jin. We later learn that it was Zoe who headed this operation. Good thing she's a geophysicist and not a mercenary. Keamy would have just killed everyone and grabbed Jin.

I think it is significant that Widmore didn't bring the usual crowd to the island this time. Ever since his conversation with Desmond in "Jughead", Charles has seemed to me like a sort of reformed bad guy who genuinely regretted the consequences of putting Keamy on the island. In many ways, Charles's plan seems to be a repeat of his Season Four plan - bring scientists to the island to investigate strange properties - but with less violence.

They put Jin in Room 23, but only to hold him, not brainwash him. What Zoe is really interested in is a map of energy pockets on the island that was signed by Jin back in his Dharma days.

Ben told John in season 4 that Widmore wanted control of the island in order to exploit its unique properties, which could explain Widmore's interest in the energy pockets. I doubt it, though, since I think Charles is mostly a good guy at this point. As I've said, I think the electromagnetic energy might correspond to Flocke, the other reality, or both, and I think that sort of explains Widmore's interest. Also, now that we know a certain Scotsman with a special connection to electromagnetism is back on the island, Jin's knowledge of the location of the pockets could be especially important.

I couldn't make heads or tails of that map, since it didn't at all resemble Rousseau's. But even if it did, there's enough discontinuity in island geography to make the formulation of a realistic island map pretty much impossible. I actually drew a map for a Lost-inspired Risk game board after season three and another one after season four, and I promise you that things aren't where they should be.

In any case, we know where some of the pockets are. The Swan is built on top of the seemingly most powerful one, and the Orchid is atop another.

Zoe takes Jin to Charles, who give him Sun's camera from the Ajira flight, complete with pictures of his daughter. Good for Jin. This guy deserves a break every once in awhile.

Charles explains that if Flocke leaves the island, everyone they know and love will "cease to be". His choice of words here was very interesting. He didn't say everyone would die or be killed, he said they would cease to be, as if Flocke leaving the island would cause a reset of its own.

Meanwhile, Flocke has come to Hydra Island for Jin. He can't cross the pylons (I bet they have ash in them, and I bet the old Dharma ones did, too), so he and Charles exchange words from opposite sides of this do-not-cross line. Charles reveals that he knows less about MIB than I would have guessed, a combination of "myth, ghost stories, and jungle noises in the night". I assume he gathered this limited amount of information during his reign as leader of the Others. Flocke demonstrates once again that he has access to John's memories by quoting Widmore's speech to John: "a war is coming."

It sounds like an important tool in that war will be "the package", which is soon hauled off the sub by Zoe and that dorky mercenary guy (watched from the ocean by soulless, swimming Sayid). DESMOND IS BACK!

I'm excited that Desmond has an important role to play in the endgame. As Daniel Faraday pointed out in season 5, Desmond is "uniquely special". "The rules don't apply" to him. And if the secret to Flocke's power does turn out to be electromagnetic pockets, Desmond is the man for the job of defeating him. No one has been zapped with more sheer island energy than the key-turning Scotsman. Maybe he'll be able to turn into a white smoke monster and the two of them can battle out.

Seriously though, ever since Desmond kept Charlie alive long enough to shut down the Looking Glass station, I've thought that Desmond and Desmond alone has the power to change things, to operate outside the "whatever happened, happened" framework. Remember in "Because You Left" when the Swan hatch version of himself was able to send a message to his post-island self? Only Desmond can do that. It will be interesting to see if such powers extend not only through time, but through reality itself.

OTHER THOUGHTS

Whether it was Charles Widmore or Desmond specifically, Jacob wanted that sub to come to the island in "Lighthouse". I would be willing to bet that Jacob appeared to Widmore off-island and told him to get his act together and bring Desmond to the island.

Recall that 108, the number to which Hurley was supposed to turn the wheel in the lighthouse, bore the crossed out name, "Wallace". According to Lostpedia, the novel A Wrinkle in Time (which appears on Sawyer's dresser in "Recon") has a character named Charles Wallace. This Wallace is psychic, messes with time, and appears as an evil cloud called The Black Thing.

I alluded to it in my intro, but Flocke pitting Kate and Claire against each other makes me think he might be mostly bad, after all. He still represents philosophical opposition to Jacob/destiny, though. He borrowed the phrase of inescapable destiny, "whatever happens, happens", but in the context in which he said it, it meant "anything can happen", which is the opposite of what it usually means.

Also, he confirmed that Kate and Claire are not candidates. But Ilana said that there are six candidates left: Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin/Sun, and ...? Her information is outdated, though, and may have included John Locke, who wasn't crossed out until recently.

I'm very excited to see what Lost has in store for Desmond. Until next week,

- Robby "Robz888"

Things I Noticed - "The Package" by Vozzek69
Posted by DarkUFO at 3/31/2010 09:47:00 PM View Comments
Labels: Recaps, The Package, Vozzek69

I'll admit it... I went into this week of LOST with fairly low expectations. Sun and Jin episodes aren't traditionally known for being action packed, and last week's Ab Aeterno was a pretty tough act to follow. Once more, it's good to be surprised. The Package threw a bunch of HUGE answers at us all at once, in both the ALT and regular storylines. I'll even point them out throughout my recap, to help all the struggling "We didn't get any real answers!" people still out there. Things I Noticed:

The 'V' Countdown Timer Was a 62-Minute Suckfest

Nothing like jamming the next ABC show down my throat while I'm trying to savor the final season of my favorite one. The ads involving that short-haired chick talking about LOST's ending and 'survival of the fittest' was an even bigger turnoff. I'll forgive ABC this week, and this week only. Pulling that shit again next Tuesday would be sacrilegious.

Sayid Didn't Keep Much of an Eye on the Camp

The smoke monster may seem all powerful, but there's one thing he hasn't had to do in the last few centuries: lead anyone. It's all well and good to be ripping trees out by the roots and judging people when the mood strikes, but getting human beings to do what you want while giving them the choice to do something else isn't as easy as just promising puppy dogs and ice cream. "You'll get answers" can only take you so far, and this is why people keep slipping through Flocke's fingers. It's also why he doesn't notice a whole team of Widmore's people surrounding his camp with night vision goggles, even though he has Sayid on his team.

Claire's unhappiness at the current situation was seen 10 miles back when the temple came up Aaronless. Plane or no plane, the dark man has a tenuous hold over her at best. Still, Claire has something Sayid does not: feelings and emotions. Within her version of the sickness we've seen anger, sadness, longing... even suspicion that she'd be left behind. Sayid on the other hand has been sick for much less time, yet all he feels is empty inside (a description which actually seemed to surprise the MIB). His vapid, melancholy stare creeped out my TV, and probably the whole camp. Flocke should've been lining him up some asses to kick or some cute girls to hit on, not handing him a tissue and telling him to man up.

It's important to point out Sayid's motivations for joining the MIB: he wanted to see Nadia again. This was back when he had feelings, however. Without such emotions, Sayid's motivations for continuing on will rapidly disintegrate... and along with that, his loyalty as well. The smoke monster is too busy to see this right now, but as six-year veterans of LOST we all know what happens when Sayid gets restless.

BIG Answer #1: The MIB Needs All of the Candidates Together In Order to Leave The Island

Flat out, we learn the ultimate purpose of Flocke's army: the man in black needs to collect all six candidates before he can leave the island. If he's really going to fly off into the sunset the dark man obviously need Lapidus too, but I'm of the opinion the Ajira plane probably means squat in the grand scheme of things. I don't know about you guys, but I for one do NOT want to see a heroic last-second takeoff as that plane screams down a dirt runway... Hurley helping Frank yank back on the control wheel as Ajira's landing gear skims the jungle treetops. I can totally picture Frank wiping the sweat from his grimy brow: "Whew! That was a close one!" Yikes.

As for Jacob and his nemesis, it must be hard to live with all the rules they're required to follow. The plan to gather up all six candidates seemed a lot like Hawking's need to round up everyone from the Oceanic Six timeline, and we all know how that went. With members of the MIB's army defecting, plotting against him, and now being abducted at dart-point, I just can't see him making the full count. Especially now that Widmore's team - a group infinitely more capable than the shadow-statue people - have finally arrived.

It was surprising to see Widmore's people taking Jin - and only Jin - while leaving the rest of Flocke's army unconscious. By not slitting everyone's throat Widmore may have proved he didn't kill the Ajira folk, but by not taking Sawyer and Sayid he may also have proved he doesn't yet know who all the candidates are. Why Jin? Not sure, but Widmore's ultimate weapon, as we see in the closing scene, is going to be Desmond.

SEMI-BIG Answer #2: Sideways Sun and Jin aren't Married, But They're Still Shacking Up

We learn that in the alternate timeline, Sun and Jin are still happily (although secretly) together. No wedding vows means no binding agreement for Jin to do Mr. Paik's dirty work, which means we're looking at a happier, more golden version of Jin. If you don't believe me, just look at the way he glows later on when he wakes up next to Sun. I thought they were going to draw a CGI a halo over his head in that scene. Compare it later on to the post-mirror glimpse of Jin we get in the bathroom, standing there covered in gloom and shadow.

Sun's plan to escape now includes Jin instead of excluding him. She hasn't learned English in an attempt to escape to America, and probably hasn't cheated on him either. The two of them are very much in love, and Jin seems a lot softer and easier on Sun. The only thing he's upset about is losing the $25k, but even those thoughts quickly disappear as Sun mesmerizes him with her exceptional cleavage.

Man, That Razor Grass Is No Joke

Back on the island however, Sun is an angry gardener. After getting seven lines in eight episodes, maybe she read the script and found out she goes back to speaking Korean. Perhaps she learned that her own centric-episode doesn't even include the long-awaited Sun/Jin reunion. Either way, her plants and tomatoes pay the price.

Here the dark man approaches her, and this time he thinks he's got a sure thing. Offering Sun the opportunity to see her husband is an easy play, which is why he's so taken off guard when she refuses to accept his hand. Flocke can't force Sun to join him here, and he can't physically take her along. Not really having a plan B, he chases her desperately through the tall grass, just like he chased after the young blonde boy a few episodes back. The top-down camera work also reminded me of the polar bear running after Michael and Walt in season one. Very cool.

With each passing episode, the dark man continues to lose control. He's unused to people not doing what he wants. In the past he's killed whenever he needed to, but things are now different. Here, he's forced to try and finesse certain people into doing what he wants without being able to bash them against the nearest tree when they refuse. This is taxing on him - it's wearing him down, and his frustration is growing. The dark man is unable to disguise his impatience with "Something wrong, Claire?" and answering to an increasingly sarcastic Sawyer is taking its toll. His camp is rapidly coming apart, just as John Locke's own perfect little community began unraveling when he lead half the cast to New Otherton.

Tree branches like the one Sun hits her head on should start getting listed in the credits. As she becomes the umpteenth person to slip into unconsciousness this episode, we cut to:

Wow, Look at That! I Just Happened To 'Wake Up' in the Alternate Timeline!

Okay, hang on a second. Before we talk about what happens here, we have to examine the circumstances leading up to this flash-sideways. On-island Sun is knocked out cold, and off-island Sun is just waking up. We've seen this happen time and time again, most noticeably when Jack gets put under for his on-island appendectomy and immediately wakes up in the Oceanic Six timeline.

How many times does this have to happen before it becomes more than just a convenient plot device? Unconsciousness has always been associated with enlightenment. It's always worked as a transition between scenes and storylines... but what if it also acts as a transition between worlds? Remember sleeping Claire waking up in her flashback car crash during Par Avion? Remember Desmond hitting his head on the freighter and waking up in one of his flashes? I could list dozens and dozens of examples here, but there's really no need. The link between unconsciousness and making these journeys is as plain as the big frosty glass of Orange Julius they made Desmond drink on the sub-ride over.

"See you on the other side..." - Ben's words, right before Jack puts him under. Think he's just being cute here? Do you really think, when Sun looks into the mirror this episode, that she's not actually looking into the other side? That she really doesn't start to remember her past self? Do you think it's coincidence that Keamy's knock conveniently and pointedly pulls her back into the 'real' world, exactly the way Juliet got pulled out of her own little mirror staredown by the island burning her cookies?

I said it a few weeks ago, and Sawyer said it again last night: "Of course not. Because that would be ridiculous."

Watch Keamy's reaction as he introduces himself to Sun: he cocks his head and squints a little bit, almost as if to say "Don'tcha remember me?" There's actually a lot off about Keamy this episode - much more than usual. As a criminal we can all agree he's creepy awesome... but as someone who potentially knows things, he's got some pretty odd knowledge. Much more of this gets revealed later on, during his encounter with Jin in the walk-in fridge.

"She hits her head and forgets English? Are we supposed to buy that?" No Miles, we're not. I mean, yeah, some people may be buying it... but not me. And if you're reading this, hopefully not you either, because the mental transition from island to LAX back to island again hasn't caused Sun some obscure medical condition where she can no longer speak English, no matter how deep Jack digs into his patient history. No, what we're seeing here is the first concrete evidence of the next major reveal:

BIG Answer #3: The ALT Timeline is Actually Bleeding Through To the Island's Current Events

We're seeing LAX_Sun's non-English speaking skills carrying over to island_Sun, and at this point there shouldn't be much of a debate about that. The more important question to ask is this: how long has stuff like this been going on? Is Sun losing English the same thing as season one Claire losing her memories? As post-Swan Locke losing his ability to speak? As Desmond losing his clothes? Is this what's been happening to characters we've seen reset or rebooted, and if so, when did it start?

So many questions get potential answers here, it's actually kind of frightening. Were Desmond's "flashes" really just him experiencing the ALT timeline, but we were thrown off by this because he was visiting a past version of it? And while we're at it, exactly how many different timelines exist? Just because our LAX characters seem to have blasted themselves into the "Jughead" universe, it would be ignorant to assume there's only one. Was the Oceanic Six season nothing more than another alternate timeline, one in which Flight 815 really did hit the Indian ocean? Did Ben/Jacob really cure Juliet's sister's cancer, or was Mikhail pointing the Flame's monitor at a different timeline, in a different universe, on a different playground where that cancer didn't exist?

If Sun's memories starts crossing over from the ALT universe, where will they stop? Will all of our on-island characters begin 'remembering' their LAX lives? If so, it makes sense that everyone on the island would end up enlightened by their own off-island experiences. This might be what drives them to make the right decisions - ultimately breaking the seemingly endless cycle of repeating their own mistakes, and thus being the cause of their own suffering.

And if the two timelines merge, will it go both ways? Will the LAX characters gain sudden knowledge of their on-island experiences, and use them to move on with their lives? Is this where everyone's consciousness ends up when they die? Is this how on-island Juliet and on-island Sawyer can eventually go out for off-island coffee?

These are all tremendous questions. The floodgates have been opened here, starting with Sun smashing her head into that tree branch. The possibilities are endless. The stories can wind in any virtually direction. The merging of character consciousness allows for both timelines to remain relevant, and for both timelines to mean something. It seems to be the answer as to where everything is going, and yet at the same time it also seems to be something that's always been there.

Mikhail Still Rocks

Ah, it was good to see Mikhail again! Three whole seasons! While he didn't play a huge role, he still got to flash his trademark knowing smirk. He also got to scrap with Jin again, which he seems eternally destined to do. No matter how many different timelines there may be, it's good to see that some things never change. Jin's always destined to get the best of Mikhail, and the Russian is always fated to lose an eye.

Zoe Still Sucks

Remember how Nikki rubbed you the wrong way (there's a joke in there somewhere) back in S3? Zoe's done the same thing, and there's little chance of recovering from it. No matter what she does from this point forward, it'll be hard for her to make up ground. In a way, I feel somewhat bad for her. In other ways, I just want her off the screen so more important characters can speak.

Continuing our walk down memory lane this week is a nostalgic visit to Room 23. Speakers, wires, creepy Ring-like video... the room is revealed to be "nothing more" than one of Dharma's head games. Pockets of electromagnetism become suddenly important again, lending a more scientific approach to Charles Widmore's group. Here's a guy who shows up with expensive equipment and geophysicists instead of vials of ash and magic daggers. I thought it a little unlikely Widmore's sub brought enough of those cute little sonic fence posts to encircle the entire Hydra station, but if I can suspend disbelief far enough to include time travel I can certainly overlook crap like this.

Introducing Keamy's Gang of Misfit Bad Guys

Martin Keamy once again rocked. Still, there was an odd coincidence involving him and his crew of ruffians: they seemed to include all of LOST's biggest, baddest bad guys. Keamy and Omar are easy enough to put together, but they happen to be linked up with Mikhail too? All of them working for Paik? And when Keamy mentions another guy named "Danny", could he be referring to Danny Pickett - one of the all-time biggest pricks on the show? It felt like we were watching the LOST goon reunion, here. I half expected Phil to come stumbling out of the bathroom, zipping up his pants.

Let's go to the walk-in fridge, where Omar bangs Jin's head on the way in. "C'mon Omar, you gotta be more careful than that..." For a guy about to 'pop' someone, didn't Keamy seem overly concerned about what happened here? Was he just looking to keep things neat and tidy, or was Keamy concerned that Jin might go unconscious on them? Remember, unconsciousness = enlightenment. As far as I'm concerned, Keamy seems to somehow know this. He puts a wet cloth to Jin's head too, not out of caring or kindness but to wake him up. Before even talking to Jin, Keamy prefaces his speech by making sure he can't comprehend him, asking: "You don't understand what I'm sayin' to you right now? Nothing?"

This is, of course, when Keamy mentions THE ISLAND. Yeah, that's right - the island. There's no possible way you can convince me that Keamy didn't say "Just in case you figure out what's about to happen TO THE ISLAND..." here. Closed captioning can kiss my ass, that's what the man said. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, and the writers tossed it in as a joke to get us talking about it. Or maybe it means everything, and Jin - still in a daze from hitting his skull against a metal doorframe - heard Keamy correctly. Either way, we know something is going to happen to the island, back in the regular timeline anyway. Something that sinks it to the bottom of the ocean... probably something we'll see at the end of the show.

Keamy also makes reference to the heart, a reference that parallels his own connection to the heart-monitor bomb he hooked himself up to. His last line seems to foreshadow doom on the Sun/Jin relationship: "Some people just aren't meant to be together". I'm holding out for a happy ending, though. Jack's closing tomato reference represents Sun and Jin's relationship defying the odds. And besides, when Jacob shows up at your wedding? That just has to be good luck.

Razorblades, Garlic, Duct Tape...

Jin's limited view of the Sayid/Keamy encounter comes from inside the walk-in. I thought it fitting and cool that Sayid refused to cut Jin free, but still provided him with a means to do so. This repeats the "Moth" motif we've seen so often, allowing a character to experience personal struggle along the way to freedom or enlightenment. I thought of Locke giving Boone the knife during Hearts and Minds, and of Richard being given the nail needed to chip away at his own bonds last episode.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I asked myself a question: was Sayid fully himself? The carefree way he said "Good luck" (and with an almost evil smirk) belied a character who seemed so committed to caring for his niece and nephew a few episodes ago. It made me wonder if on-island Sayid's 'emptiness' was bleeding through to his LAX life. We already started to see this the moment he shot Keamy, and now we continue to see it in the following scene. Accepting this as fact, the merging of consciousness seems to go in both directions, and this is another huge piece of the puzzle.

BIG Answer #4: Ji-Yeon Does Exist In The Sideways Reality

In discussing the theory that the ALT reality will make up the show's final conclusion, I've always had one huge problem: Ji-Yeon. How could they write a suitable ending for Sun and Jin that didn't involve their daughter? They couldn't just forget all about her, and they couldn't strand her in the O6 timeline. Pretending she never existed was always a possibility, but that just seemed cheap and lame.

Here, bleeding all over Keamy's immaculate kitchen, Sun reveals that she's pregnant. For me, this one small moment changes everything. It lends tremendous evidence in favor of the LAX universe turning out to be the final timeline, because now this story has an ending. Ji-Yeon's place is established in both worlds, providing a satisfying conclusion to that whole story arc.

If you believe Jin's infertility was healed by the island, this could be even more evidence of bleeding through. LAX_Jin has never been to the island, yet somehow he's able to father a child. This could be chalked up as one of the things that are simply 'different' in the sideways timeline, or you could take it to mean there was island influence. Both theories work.

BIG Answer #5: The Smoke Monster Can't Cross Water Directly

For a while now, we've known about smokey's aversion to ash. He's not thrilled about sonic fences, and now we find out he can't cross water. This is the polar opposite of Jacob, whose healing essence seemed to be a very part of the spring water welling up inside the temple. Jacob also showed us he wasn't afraid to get wet when he stopped to give Richard a serious bath.

Being unable to cross the ocean, the island makes the perfect jail for the man in black. This could easily be why he's been imprisoned here, of all places. The fact that he can't cross bodies of water (without a boat, anyway) also gives us an answer to another long-standing question, although indirectly:

BIG Answer #6: Christian Shephard Couldn't Have Always Appeared As The Man In Black

The Christian we saw in the cabin? Yes. The Christian we saw on the freighter, talking to Michael? No way. Because of the dark man's aversion to water, this particular incarnation of Jack's father had to have been someone (or something) else.

But wait, there's more. Think about the Christian Shephard we saw in the Oceanic Six timeline, where Jack saw him at the hospital. This is when the smoke detector went off, prompting everyone (me included) to think we were looking at the smoke monster. Could this have been the man in black taking Christian's form? Not if we believe what the MIB tells us this episode. This leaves us with three possible scenarios:

a) The dark man takes a boat to Los Angeles, fucks with Jack's head, then takes a boat back to the island.

b) Jack Shephard never left the island at all, and the Oceanic timeline is pure bullshit.

c) Despite the smoke detector clue, Christian wasn't the smoke monster here.

You guys make the call, I think you already know my thoughts on this one.

No No No, You're Not Expendable! But on the Other Hand, if Something Were To "Happen" To Kate...

It's interesting how Flocke reaches out to touch Claire, just as she's questioning his motives. Maybe his "I need you" speech isn't enough - he needs to physically touch her in order to keep Claire on his team right now. It's a good thing Richard, Ben, Kate, and now Sun have all refused the dark man's hand when it was offered to them.

We pointedly learn here that Kate's name is not on the candidate wall, and I predict this information will hurt Flocke later on. Because of this he doesn't see her as a threat, but only as a tool needed to recruit his other three candidates. Once the dark man has Jack, Hurley, and Sun in his pocket, "whatever happens, happens". So in order to maintain her loyalty, he lets Claire envision shoving Kate out Ajira's emergency door once Lapidus flips off the seatbelt sign.

QUICK NOTE: Despite his self-proclaimed righteousness, these are not the actions of a "good" guy. Team Jacob is looking whiter and whiter each day.

Richard's Plan... Not Exactly A Bulletproof Masterpiece

Blowing up Ajira? Hurley drags Richard back from the brink of a soulless, evil existence, and this is the best he comes up with? It's no wonder Sun angrily balks at the idea. Now removed from both her daughter and her husband, Sun's understandably not on board with the whole destroy-the-plane agenda. Can't say I blame her either. Hopefully Richard comes up with something better than that... something more befitting of "He who would save us all".

BIG Answer #7: Widmore is Batting For Team Jacob

The Charles Widmore scenes told us a hell of a lot this episode. We learned that Widmore is indeed looking to stop the man in black, if not defeat him altogether. He's on some sort of timetable, and although seizing Jin seemed to be part of his overall plan, it was a part he wasn't yet ready for. He made the best of it though, and did a good job deflecting Jin's angry questions by leading off with photos of Ji-Yeon. Cool scene.

Widmore's confrontation with the man in black was eerie and cool. As a native of the island, Charles knows the MIB from "myth, ghost stories, and jungle noises in the night". Off-island however, it seems he's gained a more intimate knowledge of things. Specifically and perhaps most importantly, Widmore knows what will happen if they fail to stop the smoke monster from leaving the island.

Here's where alternative universes, parallel timelines, and even a little bit of science come into play. Widmore explains to Jin that unless they stop the MIB's army, "everyone we know and love would simply cease to be." I took this in the most basic and direct of ways; if the dark man were to succeed, a new universe would spawn in which everyone and everything would no longer be. It's impossible to say how or why this would happen, but judging from the way Widmore presents the issue it's not hard to believe him. He goes on to tell Jin that he came to "make sure that doesn't happen", and his primary weapon with which to fight the man in black? Desmond.

BIG Answer #8: The Island Isn't Finished With Desmond Yet - Not by a Longshot

Desmond is more than just a favorite character - he's perhaps the one person who's been thrust through LOST's loop fully and completely. Faraday's assertion that Desmond is uniquely and miraculously special seems to be finally coming to fruition: Widmore's gone to great lengths to bring him back to the island again. Whatever powers Desmond obtained when he turned the failsafe key may be the same powers needed to stop the MIB from leaving the island. How's that going to happen? Great question.

The Package was filled with all good stuff - a lot more than I thought we'd get. It gave us a glimpse into the future of LOST, and it handed us answers to some very big questions. In the end it even delivered a savior: Desmond Hume, a character responsible for some of the highest-rated episodes in all of LOST. As has been theorized by many people for many years, it's only fitting that he be the possible key to the end of the show.

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Here is the Episode 6.10 recap from Erika Olson (aka "e") from LongLiveLocke.com.

KEEP IT ON THE DOWN LOW
NOBODY HAS TO KNOW

As many of us suspected after the season premiere, Sun and Jin aren't married in the alternate timeline. What I didn't see coming, however, is that Sun truly doesn't know English in the flash sideways. I'd thought she was just feigning ignorance when she was questioned by security after Jin was caught with the bag o' money. But if they were never married and he never was a crappy husband and she never wanted to take off on her own, then she had no reason to learn English, I guess.

BUT, they are still getting it on... and going to great lengths to hide their affair. Millions of men around the world forgave the producers for years of Shirtless Sawyer scenes once they got a look at Shirtless Sun, and all was well with the world for a few moments. Then Keamy had to ruin everything. Turns out it was his payment that had been confiscated and it was none other than my Kos Tour guide -- the man partially responsible for my picture with Terry O'Quinn -- Jeff, who was one of the guys refusing to let Jin leave with the dough! Yes, he was an extra in this episode and played one of the security guards, isn't that cool? That's him on the right. Congrats, Jeff -- you the man!

Speaking of the airport scene, and I'm sorry to be jumping around a bit in this section, but did anyone else notice this dude's absolutely amazing mullet?

Seriously, I could not take my eyes off of it. I was like, "Screw Sun and Jin -- I wanna know about that guy." I thought for sure he would be some key player in the episode solely because of that 'do. But like so many other times, I was wrong.

ANYWAY... Keamy calls in The Man Formerly Known as Patchy (hooray!) to translate for him. I was totally surprised to see our favorite Soviet, though by now all of these past character cameos shouldn't be such a shock, should they?

Sun claimed she had enough money to pay Keamy what he was owed, so Mikhail went to the bank with her while Keamy took Jin to the back of the restaurant we'd seen previously in "Sundown." It turns out that Mr. Paik already knew about the secret lovers, had closed Sun's account, and had hired Keamy to kill Jin -- the $25k was supposed to be his payment for doing so. But as we know, Sayid put a dent in those plans. After Sayid gave Jin a razor and took off, Mikhail shows up with Sun, things get ugly, and Jin straight-up shoots Mikhail in the eye. Is it wrong that I couldn't contain a huge laugh at that point? The Patch is his destiny.

Then came the scene that nobody expected. Sun had been hit in the stomach during the crossfire. My jaw definitely dropped open when I realized what was going on. But then it got worse... as Jin was carrying her out, she dropped a bombshell: "I'm pregnant."

You can be damn sure that I yelled "Saaaaaayyyyy WHHHAAATTTT?!?!" What did you yell?

OK, so here are my two main thoughts on this new development:
1) In the original timeline, pre-Flight 815, we learned that Jin was infertile. Sun knew this, but never told Jin. Once they survived the crash, that issue was resolved thanks to the Island's special powers and Sun became pregnant, with Juliet confirming that it was Jin's child because the "D.O.C" (date of conception) was during their Island stay. So now I'm totally confused because why would his infertility just randomly disappear in the alt timeline? UNLESS....
2) Jin is not the baby daddy. Let's face it, this is a possibility. Yes, in the flashes Sun did say that she wanted Jin to "run away" with her and they definitely seem to be in love, but that doesn't mean Sun hadn't been fooling around with Baldy back in Korea like she was in the original timeline. She has been proven not to be the most moral person in the world, so it's in the realm of possibility. Now, I fully admit that I think there's only like a 5% chance of this playing out since we're careening toward the end of the series, but I thought I'd mention it. It's the only way I can make sense of the situation.

Anyone else have an idea as to why Jin would not be infertile in the alt timeline? Hold up -- I just thought of one other possibility... when Jacob touched Sun and Jin in the original timeline, maybe Jacob purposely caused Jin's issues? And maybe in the alt timeline Jacob didn't visit anyone, so Jin was fine? I can't fathom why Jacob would do such a thing, though -- what would the point be? And so, I debunk my own theory.

OK, on to the Island.

PRIVATE EYES
THEY'RE WATCHING YOU
THEY SEE YOUR EVERY MOVE

Man, did that night vision stuff scare me. Since the episode opened with that scene, all that was going through my head was, "Whoa... is there another party we don't know about? Is this all a game that someone else is watching through a monitor? WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!" But it wasn't actually that hard to figure out, I was just slow that night. Clearly it was going to turn out to be Widmore's team. After Dead-Eye Sayid informed Fake Locke that he was utterly devoid of emotion and Fake Locke responded that it was probably better that way because of "what's coming," Fake Locke went into the jungle alone to do God knows what. The unseen night-vision people watched Fake Locke leave, saw that Jin was going to take this as his chance to bust out, and then decided to nick everyone in the neck with poisonous darts. One of my top twenty freak-out moments of the series was at the end of Season Two when Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley got taken out by darts in a similar fashion after Michael set them up to be captured by the Others. So this scene brought back all those awful memories. Boo. At least there was no convulsing this time around.

EMPTY GARDEN

It turns out Fake Locke left his peeps in order to visit Sun in her old garden. But she wasn't buying anything he was selling. I was pretty impressed with Sun because, as we ALL know, the only frickin' thing she's been hollering about this entire season is "finding her husband." And that's what Fake Locke promised -- a reunion with Jin at long last. But I guess she knew better than to trust an undead version of the bald guy that had come back to the Island in a coffin. So she busts outta the garden just like Ben busted out in "Dr. Linus" when he decided to try and escape from Ilana and his self-dug grave. It didn't turn out as well for Sun because she ran head-first into a tree and was knocked out cold. Fake Locke disappeared, Ben found her... but when she awoke she could no longer speak English.

Now, something suspicious is definitely going on with this, don't you agree? We've seen subtle hints of the original timeline influencing the alternate timeline earlier in the season, with Jack's neck cut and abdominal scar, with Kate kinda-sort having an "a ha!" moment when she saw Jack outside the terminal and then later seeming to have a reaction to unborn baby Aaron's whale doll, and with Claire suddenly having Aaron's name come to her. And we've seen all of the flash-sideways characters look into a mirror during their centric episodes -- that's gotta mean something because it's happened in every episode. Now we have Sun no longer speaking English, just like in the alternate timeline. I can't really put into words what I think this means, other than to say that I think the two versions of events are starting to intertwine a bit -- and affect each other. Will a 2004 version of a character end up doing or saying something that helps the Present-Day version of his or her character? Or vice versa? That's the way I'm thinking it's going.

I SEE THE BAD MOON RISIN'
I SEE TROUBLE ON THE WAY
I SEE EARTHQUAKES AND LIGHTNIN'
I SEE BAD TIMES TODAY

Back at the jungle camp site, Widmore's peeps steal Jin and take off. Fake Locke returns and is PISSED. I found it interesting that he didn't act like he cared about anyone except Sayid, whom he slapped awake first, and then immediately asked about Jin. Seems like if Sawyer was one of the candidates Fake Locke would've been a little more concerned about his life. And he basically said "whatever" about Kate and Claire.

The attack sprung Fake Locke into action and after the others regained consciousness he informed them that he and Sayid were heading to Hydra to retrieve Jin. Before they left, Claire cornered Fake Locke about the names on the cave wall and asked if she or Kate were listed. He said that neither of them were, but told Claire that he still needed her, and that he was essentially just using Kate. Then in so many words he said that it didn't matter to him whether Kate lived or died after he got everyone else on the Ajira flight. "Whatever happens, happens." Yikes.

Over at the beach, Ilana's all, "Told ya so!" when Richard and Hurley trudge back into the camp. Richard is alarmed when he hears that Fake Locke had recently visited Sun, and even more concerned when Ben told him that the MIB intended to carry out his plan on Hydra. The Ageless One immediately figured out that the MIB was going to attempt to escape the Island via the Ajira plane and ordered everyone to pack up because they needed to go there, too. (Cue me having another meltdown about the impending outrigger shootout... how much longer are they going to tease us about this? Wait, I have an answer to my own question: until they finally remind everyone about that time-traveling scene in the "Previously on Lost" segment. When that happens, except the shootout to follow in that episode.)

Sun continues to be in a bad mood and storms off again. Eventually Jack finds her and they have a pseudo-chat on the beach (I thought that scene was exceptionally beautiful with the eerie way the sky was lit, didn't you?). After Sun reveals that she didn't go with Fake Locke because she doesn't trust him, Jack asked if she trusted him, and put out his hand to her just like Fake Locke had done. Sun declared herself to be on Team Jack, took his hand and -- I think it's safe to assume -- implicitly agreed that she'll head over the Hydra with the rest of the group.

(Hmm, I just thought of something -- what if Sun's the one who gets shot on the outrigger kind of like how she was shot in the flash sideways?)

In the meantime, Fake Locke reached Hydra and I was honestly shocked to see him come face to face with Widmore already. I loved their "Do you know who I am?" "Do you know who I am?" convo. And after Widmore denied abducting Jin, I found it interesting that Fake Locke once again pulled from Real Locke's memories: "A wise man once said that war is coming to this island." That was, of course, what Widmore said to Real Locke in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham."

PHOTOGRAPH
ALL I'VE GOT IS A PHOTOGRAPH
BUT IT'S NOT ENOUGH

How psyched was I to see the return of the Clockwork Orange Brainwashing Rave Room?!?! VERY psyched. Oh, how I loved that room. Did you notice how Jin had to turn on the video just to remind all of the non-diehard viewers where in the hell he was? I thought that was funny.

After attempting to leave and subsequently being tased by Zoe, Jin's asked about the electromagnet pockets on the Island. That means that Widmore's plan has something to do with those spots. Jin refused to talk and instead demanded to speak to Widmore. And he got his wish.

I have to admit that the Sun/Jin storyline has never been that compelling to me -- I just haven't really connected to those characters that much. Their #1 moment for me was Sun's ear-splitting scream when she saw the freighter (with Jin on its deck) blow up (which I was POSITIVE we'd have to live through again courtesy of the "Previously on Lost" segment before this episode, but we didn't). #2 was when they said good-bye (after weeks of fighting) when Jin was about to leave on the raft in the Season One finale. And #3 was Jin getting all teary-eyed at seeing the Ji Yeon pics in this episode. Kudos to Daniel Dae Kim for bringing it!

So yeah, Widmore gave Jin Sun's digital camera from the Ajira wreckage, then let him take a moment to scroll through the gallery, and then got down to business. He informed Jin that if the MIB ever left the Island, everyone they both knew and loved would "simply cease to be." That sounds like some end of the world crap to me, don't you think? Kind of like when Ms. Hawking warned Desmond that if he didn't fulfill his destiny on the Island, that "every single one of us is dead."

Speaking of Desmond...

I MET YOU ON SOMEBODY'S ISLAND
YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD KNOWN ME BEFORE

Can I get a "FINALLY?!?!"
Can I get a "'Bout damn time!?!"
And can I get big ol' round of cheers that we're bound to hear "Brotha!" again soon?

Hooray, hooray! Desmond is BACK, and he is The Package (no perverted jokes, please). For like two milliseconds I thought The Package might be Ji Yeon, but then the reality of Desmond not being seen since the premiere returned and I knew it was going to be him.

We found this out thanks to a very creepy scene in which a Rambo-like Dead-Eye Sayid was slithering through the water and came face to face with Des as he hung over the pier, all whacked out on spiked OJ. They just stared at each other for several seconds and I had no idea what was going to happen. I thought maybe Sayid was going to pull Des into the water and glide away with him, or that Des would start shouting and alert Widmore's team to Sayid's presence. Instead, they both remained silent and Des was hauled onto shore. I can only imagine that Sayid will return to Fake Locke and report his findings so they know what they're dealing with.

But what ARE they dealing with, exactly? What is Desmond needed for? Since Zoe mentioned she's a geophysicist and is all concerned about the electromagnetic pockets, I can only assume they think that because Desmond turned the failsafe key (which then caused him to have all those weird future-flashes) that he has harnessed within him some sort of special power (how they would KNOW he turned the key is another mystery). Faraday alluded to something along these lines when he informed Desmond (during one of the time-traveling jumps last season) that he was "uniquely and miraculously special." Ms. Hawking also knew how important Desmond was -- not just because of what she said to him in "Flashes Before Your Eyes," but also because she warned him after he refused to join the Ajira flight: "The Island isn't done with you yet."

So Desmond's connection with turning the failsafe key and the effect doing so had on him and on the Island's electromagnetic pull is the only thing I can reasonably assume Widmore's team wants him for. Unless they just REALLY like his accent. Anyone else have other ideas?

FLIES IN THE VASOLINE WE ARE
SOMETIMES IT BLOWS MY MIND
KEEP GETTING STUCK HERE ALL THE TIME

Let's end with the same question we've ended several posts with this season: What is UP with Widmore?

Here's where my head's at after this episode: Widmore, like Ben and like Jacob, is against the MIB leaving the Island. He does not want that to happen and understands that the results would be catastrophic. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's on Jacob's "side," per se. Widmore is on his own side and apart from wanting to contain the MIB, he has his own agenda. And that agenda involves: 1) keeping the MIB from escaping so as to not end the world, and 2) making sure the Island is easily accessible in the future.

Why? Because he wants to exploit its unique properties and powers. Ben said as much back when he first introduced Real Locke to Widmore via security video tape back in Season Four: "John, three months ago in Gainesville, Florida, the Virgin Mary seemed to appear in a patch of mold on the side of an old housing complex. When the word got out, over 5,000 people came to see her face for themselves. You've survived an airline crash on this island. One minute, you're in a wheelchair. The next minute, you're doing jumping jacks. If 5,000 people came out to see a piece of mold, how many people do you think would come here to see you? Charles Widmore wants to exploit this island, and he'll do everything in his power to possess it."

Now, Ben lied a lot during that talk he had with Real Locke, but I think there may have been a glimmer of truth to this part. We do know that Widmore has been on a quest to find the Island again ever since he'd been banished. We also know that he is a successful businessman back in the real world. Maybe he feels like the Island could be added to his empire? Maybe he knows that if he brought sick people there and they were cured that he would be worshiped -- like a god? Maybe he just wants the Island all for himself and wants to be able to simply come and go as he pleases without all the calculations that are currently necessary? Who knows... but in my mind he is STILL "bad" overall. Remember Alex!

As to why he chose Jin to kidnap rather than, say, Sawyer (another "candidate"... assuming Widmore even knows about the candidates...), on top of Jin's familiarity with the electromagnetic pocket locations, it might go back to Widmore's familiarity with Sun. Don't forget -- they struck some sort of weird deal after Sun returned as one of the O6 and thought Jin was dead. She was going to kill Ben with the gun Widmore provided and all that. So maybe there was more to their agreement than we realized.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE