Well, they certainly crammed a lot into last night's double episode: The O6 getting touched by an angel, er, Jacob. What — and who — lives in the shadow of the statue. What's inside that case that Ilana and Bram have been lugging around. Where Rose, Bernard, and Vincent have been for the past three years. How Hurley got out of jail free and where he got the guitar case. How Pierre Chang lost his hand. And then there's Jacob and his nemesis. All that was great (and we'll talk more about some of it in a moment).

But Jack's vaunted "destiny" on the island comes down to detonating the bomb because he loved and lost Kate? Really? Her? And Juliet — strong, resourceful Juliet, who I really grew to like this season — flip-flops from wanting to stop Jack to helping him, because it would be better to never have met Sawyer than to have loved and lost him (when he makes it clear he's not going anywhere), all because she saw him "look at" Kate? Oooooookay. The resurrection of the love quadrangle as a plot device to get Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet to assist Jack with the delivery of Lil' Jughead only served to slow down what was otherwise a pretty descent season-ender, not to mention exasperate this loyal viewer. Miles' cynical commentary ("Has it occurred to any of you that your buddy is actually going to cause the thing he says he's trying to prevent? . . . I'm glad you all thought this through.") almost made up for it.

The Jacob plotline was my favorite of the evening. I loved the introduction white-shirted Jacob and his black-shirted nemesis (or "Jacob's Enemy" as the credits call him), sitting on the beach in Ye Olden Tymes, a ship looking suspiciously like the Black Rock on the horizon. Apparently, visitors to the island are nothing new — Jacob brings them — and the same thing happens every time. According to Jacob's Enemy, "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt." But Jacob says there's only one ending, and everything until then is progress.

Who are these guys? Are they demigods? Chumps stuck in limbo? Brothers? There's a lot of discussion out there of the biblical story of Jacob and his twin brother, Esau, who vows to kill Jacob (after he gives Jacob his birthright for a bowl of lentils and Jacob tricks their father into giving him what should have been Esau's blessing) much as our mysterious Jacob's Enemy vows to kill Jacob as soon as he finds "a loophole." Does one represent Good, the other Evil-or is it much more complicated than that? After all, when Jacob — on what appears to be a mission to visit and touch all the members of the Oceanic 6, plus Sawyer and Jin — meets Sayid, Nadia is run over by a car. Presumably Jacob's interference saved Sayid from a similar fate — yet he allows Nadia to go to her death without hesitation. As some have noted, Jacob's white shirt and his Enemy's black one mirror the colors of the backgammon set that Locke and Walt played with back on the beach in one of the very first episodes. Are Jacob and his Enemy just playing a game with humanity at large? And all this time, I thought Ben and Widmore were the puppet masters.

Certainly Jacob's Enemy seems to have gamed Locke, whose big moment, after all that time thinking he was "special" and "chosen," turns out to be dying so the Enemy can inhabit his body. (I suppose Locke is chosen, just not in the way he imagines himself to be.) Not that the Enemy really "inhabits" the Locke's body — because that's what Ilana, Bram, and crew have been hauling all over the island. I have to admit I'll be sad if the end of Locke's story is that he has deluded himself all along — and that he never actually becomes the reanimated, ass-kicking Locke I was so pleased to see return.

This episode actually got me feeling a little sorry for Ben: ignored by Jacob for 35 years, then manipulated by Jacob's Enemy into doing his dirty work. Though, if Jacob's Enemy has been wanting to kill Jacob for centuries, why doesn't he do it himself? Is that part of the loophole? Jacob has known that his Enemy has been planning his murder all this time, why hasn't he done anything to stop it — or does his death finally signal the next step in the island's evolution? "They're coming," he says before he dies; perhaps his death is what allows "them" to do so.

Now that Jacob is gone or at least dead in the corporeal sense, will Richard finally start to age? I was half expecting Ilana's crate to contain Richard's rotting portrait, a la Dorian Gray. I loved her look of relief when "Ricardus" finally gave the right answer to "What lies in the shadow of the statue": per Lostpedia, a sentence in Latin meaning "He who will protect/save us all." (Also, after getting a better look at the statue, I'm putting forth Taweret as a possible subject. A goddess with human, hippo, crocodile, and lion characteristics, she's the patron of women in childbirth, though of course that doesn't seem to be an issue on the island until after the incident.)

So what do you think? Does the white flash at the end of the episode mean the injured Juliet has successfully detonated Lil' Jughead at the bottom of the shaft, thus negating the crash? Or, despite Jack's "destiny," does what happened before happen again, i.e., the explosion of Lil' Jughead is the incident and Flight 815 crashes? Does the white flash mean a good, old-fashioned time shift has occurred and when the gang returns in Season 6, they'll be in 2007 (with Juliet and Sayid safe and sound? O.r do they die in 1977)? Or does everybody die, just like Richard said — and next season will feature some kind of crazy alternate reality (I really hope that's not it). Will Sun have more to do than ask wide-eyed questions? Are the ones Jacob says are coming, the Losties returning from the past? There's a ton left to discuss; let's get to it in the comments.

The most fascinating scene in last night's Lost was the one where Locke set Richard Alpert up on a date with his past self, with his fresh Ethan-inflicted bullet wound. On one level, the scene was just the writers dealing with the fact that they'd painted themselves into a corner: how did Richard Alpert know to tell Locke to bring back all the people who left the island, when present-day Alpert has no idea where Locke went or what he did? (Because Locke told him to say those things. It's a slight cop-out, since that scene already "happened" for present-day Locke, so he has no need to ensure that it happens.)

But in a larger sense, it's a very revealing moment. You have the contrast between two different Lockes, and their very different relationships with Richard Alpert. Bullet-wound Locke is frightened and confused, and totally out of his element, and he looks to Alpert for information, guidance and support. Newly resurrected Locke, meanwhile, is confident and enigmatic, and he basically pushes Alpert around, leaving Alpert gasping for air and wondering if Locke knows what he's doing.

Before we go much further, I should try to do a capsule summary of the episode, in case you are reading this without having watched it. (In which case, really, you should just go watch it.) So Locke rejoined the Others and became their leader at last, and led them on a "pilgrimage" to go meet the mysterious Jacob, the ghostly figure who's been issuing orders all this time. Sawyer and Juliet got interrogated by the Dharma-ites, and finally cracked in exchange for safe passage on the Dharma Sub. Miles finally had a proper father-son reunion. And Jack convinced the 1970s Others to help him finish what Daniel started, setting off that hydrogen bomb to change the future.

So... it's not as if I've been waiting to make a joke about John Locke and the social contract for five years or anything. (The original John Locke was a philosopher who helped to pioneer the idea that we live under a "social contract" and rulers need "the consent of the governed.") But really, that's what that scene I posted a clip of above reminded me of. These people have been living for decades under the leadership of a man they've never seen. Ben, and their other leaders, have occasionally gone to speak with Jacob, but even they have never actually talked to the man face to face. So Locke proposes that everybody — not just the chosen few — should get to meet their leader and maybe get some answers. But of course, as Locke tells Ben at the end of the episode, that's not Locke's real agenda: he actually just wants to kill Jacob. WTF? (And given that the island has protected Locke and told Ben to be Locke's slave, I'm now utterly confused.)

As for Ben, he's not dealing well with his new life as Locke's vassal. He's visibly chafing under Locke's authority, and already trying to stir up trouble between the already-doubting Alpert and Locke. (Even though he's being a slippery bitch as usual, I'm starting to wonder if we won't someday see Ben as a bit of a tragic figure. Just the fact that he's always battered and bruised, whenever we see him, makes me feel like he's a sort of martyr happening in slow motion.)

I'm guessing the wild card in Locke's little game isn't Alpert or Ben, it's Sun. Partly because she's a more major character, but also because she's not the meek follower she used to be. She's gotten a stomach for doing what needs to be done since the last time Locke saw her, and I'm not sure he quite understands how dangerous stringing her along is. She's going to realize he's not telling her the full story, and there will be hell to pay.

Meanwhile, there's Jack's crazy-pants mission to blow up that hydrogen bomb. This fills me with all sorts of apprehension, and no shortage of questions. Like, don't you have to be a mega-genius physicist to know when and where to set off the hydrogen bomb, so it actually counteracts the Swan disaster and doesn't just create a different disaster instead? Also, is there any chance this might actually work? And finally, did Daniel get himself killed on purpose, so his mother would be so grief-stricken she'd agree to help?

Kate's objections to this plan — that it's crazy — seem pretty cogent, but am I wrong to think the only reason she's really opposing it is because it'll make her life worse? Instead of being the center of a Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle, with glamorous island adventures, she'll be on her way to trial, and probably prison after that? I can just see her thinking, screw all the people from Flight 815 who died — my life is way better as a result. But maybe I'm being too hard on her.

And yay, it was great to see Sayid again. It almost made up for the loss of Daniel... almost. In any case, Sayid has obviously been through a rough patch, judging from the way he says that Jack's plan will at least "put us out of our misery," even if it doesn't work. Poor Sayid. Being an attempted child-murderer has been rough on him.

So Miles finally came clean and admitted he's Pierre Chang's son... the scene where Hurley tries to pretend he was born in the 1930s is pretty hilarious and amazing, and probably one of my favorite Hurley moments of all time, up there with the Empire Strikes Back script a while back. (I loved the look on Jin's face when Hurley said there was no such thing as the Korean War.) And of course, as we all expected, Miles starts to understand why his father was such a jerk and sent his mom and him away when he was a baby... because it was the only way to get him to leave in time to avoid the coming disaster. I can't help hoping that Miles and his dad will get a bit more reconciliation and bonding before all this is over... especially since we were cruelly denied any similar Daniel-Eloise moments.

And is it just me, or is the knowledge that our heroes really are from the future starting to spread like wildfire? I'm wondering if it'll be common knowledge by the time they finally get out of the 1970s, probably in next week's finale.

I'm also wondering if Radzinsky's little coup at the Dharma camp is going to help lead to their eventual extinction.

And finally, there's Sawyer, who ratted out his friends in exchange for a ticket off the island. (Although how much useful information did he actually have? Don't the Dharma-ites know where the Others' camp is already? It seems unlikely they wouldn't.) This episode had some of the sweetest Juliet-Sawyer moments, for us Jewelers (I'm going to keep pushing that term) especially the sun-dappled close-up, just as they were about to get on the submarine, where Juliet said she was glad Sawyer talked her out of leaving the island in 1974. I really am rooting for those two to stay together. And then of course Kate has to show up and ruin everything.

So it all sets up what will probably be a brain-aching, and maybe heart-breaking, finale next week. Where we find out exactly what Alpert meant when he said he saw our heroes die back in 1977. (Maybe they "died" in a way that transports them back to the present?) And we discover exactly what is going on in the shiny, crazy head of John Locke.

So what did you guys think?

Listen, show, you and I have been through a lot together, but Daniel Faraday? You had to kill off one of my favorite characters, and not coincidentally the only guy who seems to know what's really going on? This is where the inevitable cries of "He's not dead!" arise — I know, because that's exactly what my husband said last night. And, hey, that's what Lost has led us to believe: nobody's dead dead, except for those people who really are. But I think Dan's little talk with Jack out by the sonic fence (that "anyone of us can die") was the writers' way of saying Dan's really gone — and, alas, that's also what TPTB said when they announced last month that one or two major characters would die this year. So goodbye, Dan. I will miss you. (Unless Richard drags him into the The Temple, fixes him up, and somebody else is the major character who die dies. Hoping against hope here, folks.)

We got to know a bit more of Faraday's story in "The Variable" — mainly that in a show rife with characters with daddy issues, Dan's problem is with the other parent. Eloise Hawking is not going to win a "Mother of the Year" plaque any time soon. She squelches young Daniel's love for music and college-graduate Daniel's relationship with the doomed Theresa — all in the name of Dan's destiny and nurturing his special gift for science and mathematics. As a result of her relentless pushing, Dan becomes Oxford's youngest doctorate, loses his own memory and sends Theresa into la-la land as a result of his work (loved Widmore telling him that he planted the fake 815 wreckage, because Dan won't remember it in the morning). Then, heartbreakingly, because Eloise says it will make her proud of him, Daniel accepts Widmore's grant, thereby going to what Eloise knows will be a certain death on the island — she pulled the trigger, after all. What makes Daniel's presence on the island so important that she will, as she later says, "sacrifice" her son?

On a positive note, she gave him his journal. I wonder if she's written more in it than the inscription, i.e., some of her own observations of time and space on the island.

In 1977, Daniel tells Miles he has returned from Ann Arbor after seeing the Dharma Class of '77 picture with Jack, Kate, and Hurley, but it later becomes clear that he knows "the incident" is going to occur in mere hours. Does seeing the picture trigger his hasty return, or is that his cover story for Miles? At any rate, Dan heads straight to Jack, and after finding out that Mama Eloise told Jack it was his destiny to return to the island, informs Jack that she was wrong. Before answering Jack's questions, Dan heads to The Orchid. There, Dr. Chang scoffs at Daniel's warning that in a matter of hours there will be a catastrophe at The Swan. Daniel tells Chang he knows what's going to happen because he's from the future, then ups the ante by outing Miles as Chang's son. When Miles denies the relationship, Chang tells Daniel to stay away from him.

Daniel then goes to Sawyer's house and tells the Losties (already assembled to figure out their next move now that Phil knows that LaFleur/Sawyer helped deliver Ben to the hostiles) that his mother has the information to get them off the island. (But does she in 1977, or is that knowledge that only comes with her years of research that haven't yet occurred?) Jack and Kate, armed with the fence code supplied by Juliet (Sawyer, you big dope, never call your ex by your nickname for her in front of your current partner), take Dan to the Hostiles so he can meet up with her. But first he meets up with little Charlotte — and no wonder she later remembers being frightened by the crazy man with the pedophile vibe. Icky.

Daniel tells Jack and Kate that in his lifelong study of relativistic physics, he's concentrated on the constants, not the variables — people, with their reasoning and free will. He proposes to detonate Jughead thereby negating the catastrophic release of electromagnetism from the Swan. (I'll take Dan's word that an h-bomb blast will somehow have a better outcome). As a result, he will effectively change the past — and the crash of Flight 815, caused when Desmond doesn't push the button, thus never happens in the first place. But where will this leave the people who were on board the plane? Kate goes to trial — and never spends a joyous three years with Aaron. Locke is confined to a wheelchair, and works at a box company. Rose dies of cancer. Sawyer remains an unredeemed criminal and never experiences true love with Juliet. And so on. Dan thinks his plan will get them out of 1977 — but do they really want to go back to life as it was in 2004?

Meanwhile, Radzinsky sounds the alarm after he catches Daniel, Kate, and Jack arming themselves for their trip to hostile territory, and a gunfight ensues. When the slightly injured Radzinsky bursts into LaFleur's house ("Just got shot by a physicist!") to tell him Dharmaville's been infiltrated, he discovers Phil, bound and gagged in the closet. Radzinsky takes Sawyer and Juliet into custody.

Everything goes tragically awry when Daniel announces his arrival at Camp Hostile by firing two shots into the ground. He threatens to shoot the ever-calm Richard (who can't quite place where he's seen Dan before — it was in 1954, of course) unless he produces Eloise. Before Richard can fully explain her whereabouts, she shoots Daniel in the back. With his last breath, he tells her he is her son.

In 2007, Desmond is rushed into the emergency room. In the waiting room, Penny is visited by Eloise Hawking, who apologizes for Desmond becoming a casualty in a conflict that's "bigger than any of us." She admits that for the first time in a long time, she doesn't know what's going to happen next. But Desmond survives — whew! — and though for a moment it seemed like Eloise might steal little Charlie, the Hume family seems safe for the moment.

First, the confession: I have never seen The Empire Strikes Back. No particular reason—I liked Star Wars and saw it a couple of times in the theater when it first came out. But given the reference in both the title of last night's episode ("Some Like It Hoth") and Hurley's fannish rewrite of the script, not to mention its relevance to the relationship between Miles and his father, Pierre Chang, it seems like a pretty big fail on my part (at the moment, anyway). Faking knowledge I don't have seems like a bigger one ("Ewoks suck! Yay, Hurley!"), so I'll leave it to you guys to discuss these plot points more fully in the comments. As a Lost fan, however, I loved Hurley's plan to help George Lucas out by sending him the script for a Star Wars sequel ("with a couple of improvements") before he's had the time to think of it himself.

By the way, if you're in an Egyptian mood, with a little rearranging the title becomes "Some Like I, Thoth." Thoth was the Egyptian god who among other duties played Smokey in the underworld by weighing "the soul of the deceased, and . . . read[ing] from his tablets a record of his actions in the past life." (William Ricketts Cooper, An Archaic Dictionary, 570.) Thoth is usually depicted with the head of an ibis, but sometimes with the head of a man (which I mention because the statue has humanoid ears after all).

First and foremost, though, "Some Like It Hoth" is Miles Straume's story. We see him as a little kid communicating with the dead for the first time with the body of a man in the apartment complex where he and his mother live. Later, teenage punk rock Miles returns to visit his mother, who appears terminally ill. He wants to know why and how he comes by his special ability — and why won't she talk to him about his father? She tells him his father kicked them out when Miles was just a baby. Now he's dead and his body is someplace where Miles can never go.

Adult Miles is working as a spiritualist when he is recruited by Naomi Dorrit, after an audition in which he identifies the body of man named Felix, killed while delivering photos of empty graves and a purchase order for an empty airplane to Charles Widmore. When Naomi offers him $1.6 million for his services, he immediately accepts. Then he's jumped by a bunch of men who try to talk him out of working for Widmore. Their leader, Bram, promises Miles that if they come with them, he'll find out why he has his gift and his father's identity. Miles asks for $3.2 million, but they are not paying (Miles will later ask Ben for the same amount in exchange for not turning him in). After tossing Miles to the pavement, they tell him he's "playing for the wrong team."

But whose team are they on? Bram asks Miles "what lies in the shadow of the statue." This is the same password/question posed by Ilana to Frank last week, which leads the viewer to think that she and Bram are working together against Widmore. But Ilana also denied working for Ben (to Sayid in "He's Our You"). Are they really working for the family of Peter Avellino, as she says, or someone/something else? Ben Linus after all? Dharma next-of-kin looking for revenge? I'm not sure I can handle yet another major player in what to this point has been the "war" between Ben and Widmore (but I always think that when a new bunch of characters is introduced, and I'm almost always satisfied in the end).

As many fans predicted, Miles's father is Pierre Chang. Miles figures this out when, after three days in 1970s Dharmaville, he discovers his mother behind him in the cafeteria line. When Chang asks Miles to transport a body (a worker killed when something—like a massive jolt of electromagnetism—pulls a dental filling out of his tooth and deep into his brain), Hurley gets himself involved to everybody's irritation. Then again, I suppose without him insinuating himself into the situation, we'd never get to the gist of Miles's relationship with his formerly absent father. Add Miles's name to the list of Losties with daddy issues (Jack, Locke, Ben, e.g.).

Hurley unsuccessfully tries to bring father and son together on a ride out to Swan construction site (I loved the look of disbelief Miles shoots at Chang when he tells Hurley he likes country music), but as far as Chang is concerned, in 1977, Miles is a three-month-old baby. After they drop Chang at the site (where Hurley witnesses a very familiar "serial number" being embossed into the hatch door), Hurley wonders whether Miles could change his own diaper. Which brings up a point: What are the rules about present and future selves meeting? Until last night, no Lostie has done so. According to the Orchid orientation film "outtake," it's implied that unspecified very bad things happen if both selves get near one other, but in "Some Like It Hoth" adult Miles watches as his father reads a book to his baby self, with no apparent ill results.

In other 1977 island doings, Roger becomes suspicious of Kate when she too-strongly suggests that the missing Ben will be okay, and then Jack when he too-strongly sticks up for Kate. Meanwhile, Phil goes to LaFleur/Sawyer after watching the surveillance tape Miles was supposed to "accidentally erase," the one showing Sawyer and Kate taking Ben outside the sonic fence. And who should turn up in a group of scientists arriving fresh from Ann Arbor on the submarine but our own Daniel Faraday! Has he been there for the past three years? He certainly seems in a better frame of mind than when last we saw him. I hope we get to his part of the story soon.

I'm so happy that self-confident, cagey, jungle-master John Locke is back! Though I'm not sure that he's "the same man he's always been" as he tells Sun (who, from the bewildered look on her face, still doesn't know quite what to make of Locke's resurrection).

At a minimum, his return to the island, if not his trip to the Great Beyond, has done him very well indeed. And who better to test his new abilities against than the man who killed him, one Benjamin Linus? Despite Ben's assurances that he knew Locke would come back to the land of the living, I think Locke's return came as a total shock to him (he admits to Sun that it scares the hell out of him—which leads me to think he is completely unaware of Christian Shepard, the island's other living dead man). Seeing these two going head-to-head in a verbal sparring match as Locke leads Ben to his date with Smokey was a real treat.

Does Ben really come back to the island to face judgment (for Alex's death or otherwise) or does Locke simply hold him to it once Ben mentions it? Either way allows Locke to show how firmly he now holds the upper hand, especially since he pushes Ben to atone for Alex's death, for which Locke knows Ben has great remorse. (The monster clearly looks for penitence in those it judges: Eko didn't have any and he was killed; Ben quickly tells Sun to tell Desmond he's sorry in a last minute confession before entering the Temple, ignoring all those other deaths for which he's responsible -like Caesar's.)

Indeed, just how powerful has Locke become? He now seems to have a very close relationship with the smoke monster (though after seeing Ben summon it by draining a pool of water I wonder if we should be calling it the steam monster). "If everything has been done in the best interest of the island, then I'm sure the monster will understand," Locke tells Ben.

While I don't think Locke and Smokey are one and the same, as I've seen some commenters wonder on other boards, Locke does appear and disappear at some very key moments in this episode: when Ben tells Sun he can't control what's about to emerge from the bushes, and before and after Ben's encounter with the monster in the Temple. Smokey seems to be watching out for Locke. When the monster appears as a vengeful Alex (loved it!!), she demands Ben's allegiance to Locke. I'm also interested to see how Richard Alpert will react to Locke after all these years—hopefully they'll have an encounter before the season ends.

I'm sure the decision to use wigs on Michael Emerson instead of hiring actor(s) to portray younger Ben was a cost effective one, but at my house, there were some suppressed giggles as a result. Anyway, we got to see some of Ben's backstory with Widmore, beginning with Widmore's anger when he finds out that the young, injured Ben has been brought to camp (because Jacob wanted it done, according to Richard).

Widmore explains to Ben that he can be a double-agent, living with the Dharma-ites, pledging his allegiance to the Others. The tension between them grows when adult Ben, sent by Widmore to kill Danielle, spares her life ("every time you hear whispers, you run the other way") and then refuses to kill infant Alex on Charles's order - though that too is what Jacob wants done, according to Charles.

Given Ben's own tumultuous upbringing (no mother, father prone to cruelty), it isn't surprising that he wants to protect babies and small children, even if it leads to his own downfall. The sight of young Charlie on Desmond and Penny's boat (Our Mutual Friend is another Dickens reference if you're keeping count), makes him pause long enough to miss his shot at Penny, and allows Desmond to beat the crap out of him. Though if Ben saw The Incredibles, he'd know that monologue-ing ("Hello, Penelope. My name is Benjamin Linus. I'm sorry that you're caught up in the middle of this thing . . .") is never a good idea, either. Hopefully, Ben's bullet bounced off a pack of frozen peas - or the island is watching out for him - and Desmond doesn't die as a result of his heroics.

And we get to see Widmore's perp-walk off the island. Leaving the island regularly, and having a child with a woman off the island, are grounds for banishment? I guess I was expecting the events leading to Widmore's dismissal to involve more fireworks. I've never been on board with the "Ellie is Penny's mother" theory - heck, I'm still not convinced she's Daniel Faraday's - but that's clearly off the table now (unless of course Widmore has more than one child by more than one woman).

Meanwhile, what is up with the remaining Ajira 316 passengers? What's in the crate? "What lies in the shadow of the statute?" sounds like the first half of a password as opposed to an interrogatory remark, but why do they need one? Something tells me you should have stayed with Sun, Frank.

The promise, or threat, depending on your outlook, of a Kate episode has been looming over our heads for several weeks, and last night it arrived. The surprise, for me, is that I didn't dislike "What Happened, Happened" (thanks, Douglas Adams) as much as I feared I would.

Perhaps it's become I'm suffering from The Cold From Hell - or just maybe, despite the occasional forays into soap opera and the play dates with Clementine and Aaron, Kate's storyline answered some of our burning questions: what Sawyer told her before he jumped from the helicopter, what happened to Aaron, and perhaps most interestingly, how Ben becomes an Other. We also find out Kate and Jack's motives for returning to the island: Kate, to find Claire, and Jack, because he was "supposed to." (This, after Juliet pokes holes in his first response, a reflexive "to save you!") I'm sure this a nod to Jack's destiny and all, but next to Kate's altruism, it sounds pretty lame.

On the other hand, I don't think it was one of the season's stronger episodes. I'm glad Kate did the right thing and gave Aaron to Claire's mother - but spare me the tears and the swelling violins. And since when did Sawyer break Kate's heart? She was the one jerking him around and making goo-goo eyes at Jack.

What I enjoyed most about last night's show was the banter between Hurley and Miles. Now is a good time to explain that I try hard to stay unspoiled about Lost, and therefore hadn't seen the promos featuring the two discussing how the past/present/future intersect. "But when we first captured Ben, and Sayid, like, tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?" asks Hurley. "Huh. I hadn't thought of that," says Miles. Part exposition, part shout-out to fans whose brains hurt from asking the same questions - I loved it.

Speaking of regaining consciousness, when Jin awakes to discover Sayid is gone, he immediately tells Phil that Sayid "the hostile" is headed north; his lack of hesitation in doing so make clear how far his allegiances, like Sawyer and Juliet's, have shifted over the past three years. Miles remains his own man, of course-and my guess is that Daniel does as well. Hopefully we'll find out soon what he's been doing for the past three years.

The Dharma-ites quickly deduce that Sayid's breakout is an inside job, and when Sawyer asks Roger Linus if he has his keys, it becomes apparent to both of them that Ben is the guilty party. Ben, meanwhile, is on the operating table, where Juliet can't stanch his internal bleeding. Roger Linus's concern for Ben at this point comes as something of a shock. Last week, and in prior seasons, we've only seen his cruelty to the son he holds responsible for his wife's death and his lousy life on Craphole Island. This new tenderness allows him to deliver the poignant line to Kate that a boy needs his mother, but it felt jarringly at odds with his previously established character.

Sawyer appeals to Jack for surgical intervention, but the doctor, who is under house arrest with Kate and Hurley, and party to Miles and Hurley's conversation about the inevitability of future events, decides that now is a good time to begin trusting the island's healing powers. He refuses to help save Ben the child, after having saved Ben the adult at Kate's behest.

When Juliet suggests the others may be able to help save him, Kate and Sawyer (at Juliet's behest) deliver him to Richard Alpert. He says he can save the boy's life, but Ben will never be the same again; he'll forget it ever happened, his innocence will be gone, and "He will always be one of us." When one of the others question Richard for taking the boy without notifying Ellie and Charles (who have apparently attained positions of power since we last saw them in 1954), he notes that he doesn't answer to them. Then he carries Ben into The Temple. What knowledge will the others impart to Ben that causes him to "lose his innocence"? Does Ben really forget everything that happened to him before the others take him (e.g., that Sayid shot him), or is this exactly the knowledge that Ben exploits to become the leader of the others?

Off the island, in a flashback to 2004, Kate delivers an envelope filled with part of her crash settlement money to a still-bitter Cassidy in fulfillment of her promise to Sawyer to take care of Clementine. She proceeds to tell Cassidy the truth about O6, and admits that Aaron is not her son. Then, in 2008, Kate briefly loses track of Aaron in a supermarket. She finds him with a woman who resembles Claire (albeit a kind of scary one) and realizes, after consultation with Cassidy, that she must give him up to his grandmother. When she meets with Mrs. Littleton, Kate again tells the truth about what happened on the island: that Claire, and others, survived the plane crash. I have to give it up for Kate, at least she admits to the understandably upset Mrs. Littleton that she didn't return Aaron to her immediately because of her own selfishness. Nevertheless, I feel certain that repercussions from these truth-telling sessions are sure to follow.

How awesome was the final scene (circa 2008) between Locke and Ben, who comes to in the makeshift infirmary to discover the man he murdered looming over him, a Cheshire-cat smile playing about his lips? "Welcome back to the land of the living" indeed!

Despite a few awkward moments (*cough*love triangle*cough*), "He's Our You" was a bang-up episode, to say the least.

I think I was about young Ben's age when I read A Separate Reality, the second installment of Carlos Castaneda's purportedly nonfiction account of his time with the Yaqui shaman Don Juan. In it, Castaneda again goes on a hallucinogenic voyage and comes back with a deeper understanding of himself and his relationship to the world.

Similarly, this week, our man Sayid fights his "birthright" until his experience with Oldham's home-cooked truth serum both reveals his purpose on the island and allows him to accept what he is: a killer. Accepting this is what allows him to shoot a child - and no matter how evil adult Ben grows up to be, in 1977, he's still a child, and a battered one at that.

If Sayid is a natural born bad man, a young boy who was able to wring chicken necks without pause grown to a man who guns down other men with nary a blink, then child Ben is similarly evil from the get-go, and killing him is perhaps the only ethical thing to do. Or is it? And how can child Ben be dead when grownup Ben is busy wreaking havoc?

About that early scene of young Sayid stepping in to wring the chicken's neck: I'm pretty sure that if you grow up in an agrarian culture and chicken is what's for dinner, you can't be squeamish about getting it from farmyard to plate whether you're male or female. Refusing to kill a chicken under those circumstances seems less an indication of manhood than of future veganism. Anyway, we move from Sayid's past to his present, stuck in a Dharma jail cell in 1977. Young Ben brings him a sandwich and A Separate Reality. He wants to know if Sayid knows Richard Alpert, who he met when he ran away four years ago and wanted to join the hostiles. If Sayid is patient, Ben can help him.

Horace also wants to know if Sayid is a hostile - or, as Radzinsky suspects, a spy. When Sayid won't talk, Horace agrees to let Sawyer have a turn with him before they bring in "that psychopath," Oldham. "A 12-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken-salad sandwich, how do you think I feel," Sayid responds to Sawyer's inquiry.

(Which brings up a question: isn't Ben supposed to be older than 12 in 1977? I believe somebody here said he was supposed to be born in 1961. On the other hand, does it really make a difference whether Ben is 12 or 16, or is this just another example of how difficult it must be to keep the timelines straight on this show?)

But Sayid refuses to play along with Sawyer's plan of action; he's not going to "confess" in exchange for being allowed to live in Dharmaville. Nor will Sawyer let Sayid go - he's got responsibilities now, the Dharmavillagers trust him, he's found his purpose on the island. Jin, too, appears to have bought into the Dharma lifestyle: when he comes across runaway Sayid in the jungle, he can't let him go without calling Sawyer first. I imagine these won't be the last examples we see of friction between the new arrivals, who as yet have no allegiance to the Dharma Initiative, and the more complacent group who have been working side by side with them for three years.

Enter the fabulous Oldham, with his sugar cube of truth. I love the mild-mannered yet menacing nature of the pharmacologist, and Sawyer's brief explanation to Sayid: "he's our you." The truth serum works, and Sayid spills everything including Sawyer's name. Luckily, Radzinsky's impatience draws attention away from this, as does his freakout when Sayid explains that the as-yet-unbuilt Swan is an electromagnetic station. Sayid also mentions the incident and the fact that they all will die, but when he says he's from the future, they assume he's been given too much serum. "Oops," says Oldham.

Now that they have extracted information from Sayid, the Dharma-ites vote to execute him ("even the new mom" notes Sawyer). When Sawyer argues to the contrary, Radzinsky threatens to call the home office in Ann Arbor. After some prodding from Horace, Sawyer raises his hand to make it unanimous. Then he hightails it over to the jail and tries to liberate Sayid.

But now that he knows his purpose on the island, Sayid refuses to leave. Sawyer, in turn, seeks out Kate and asks why they came back to the island. Before she can answer, a flaming, driverless Dharma van careens into the compound, leading to perhaps my favorite line of the night: Sawyer's disgusted, "Three years, no burning buses, y'all are back for one day …"

Meanwhile, Ben visits Sayid. If he lets him out, will Sayid take him to his people? "That's why I'm here," says Sayid. The two of them escape to the jungle, where they are almost run over by Jin's van. Sayid tells Jin that Sawyer let him out, but when Jin insists on confirming this with Sawyer, Sayid flips him and takes his gun. Then he tells Ben that he was right after all, "I am a killer," and shoots the bespectacled tween. Oddly, I had less trouble watching Ben get shot, than I did the scenes of his humiliation and injury at the hands of his awful father.

Throughout the episode, as Sayid sits in jail, we see flashbacks of how he spent the last three years off the island. He kills a Russian, who Ben explains is the last one in Widmore's organization who threatened Sayid's friends. (Lostpedia reports that the Cyrillic words visible above the door when Sayid exits the apartment building after the killing read "Oldham Pharmaceuticals.") Now Sayid is "free" to live his life.

He is building houses for charity-and not coincidentally a life for himself that doesn't involve killing - when Ben tracks him down in San Domingo. He tells Sayid that John Locke is dead ("I think someone murdered him," Ben deadpans), perhaps in retribution for what he and Sayid have done. These same killers are waiting outside Hugo's asylum, says Ben, implying that Sayid needs to pick up his gun and hurry right over there.

But Sayid doesn't like killing, and so begins a conversation that only ends with Sayid's final words to young Ben before he plugs him. "It's in your nature, it's what you are. You're a killer, Sayid," the adult Ben tells him. When Sayid protests that he's not what Ben thinks he is, Ben replies, "I was mistaken about you." Of course, Ben knows he's not mistaken at all. Here time gets a little Moebius-strippy: Adult Ben already knows that Sayid shot him. Is Sayid a killer by nature, or does Ben's foreknowledge allow him to manipulate, exploit, and, ahem, nurture him into one? Despite Sayid's revelation under the influence of Oldham's acid, killing a chicken for dinner does not necessarily lead to a life as a hit man, unless you've got Ben Linus to urge you along.

We also learn how Sayid winds up on Ajira 316. Ilana is a bounty hunter, hired by the family of the man Sayid killed on the golf course last year. She seduces Sayid, but before he can get her boots off, she arrests him. He will face justice in Guam, where the man's family is based.

Also this week: Kate finds out Sawyer and Juliet are "more than roommates," but the two make nice. At least Juliet does; I'm not sure about Kate's motives. The less said about that whole plotline, the better, but in all fairness, the smoldering glances and love triangle - quadrangle? - were really kept to a minimum, and for that I'm grateful.

First of all, I have to apologize for the lack of a Lynn Peril recap this week. She's traveling, so I'm stepping in as your Lost recapper for once. I don't quite have Lynn's encyclopedic Lost knowledge, so you'll have to bear with me if I get something wrong.

So the scene I posted above, featuring Jack and Sawyer, really crystalized something about both those characters for me. Jack spends the whole episode, in "Namaste," visibly sulking because he's not the center of attention. He's scandalized that someone with his medical training and amazing leadership skills has been assigned to workman duty. He's annoyed that Sawyer is in charge and knows more than he does.

I think Jack expected to come back to the island and be greeted as a savior, possibly with some kind of chorus line. He'd gotten it in his head, after everything Locke told him, that his return was needed to save everybody, and it played into his giant messiah complex. (Although, since Jack's dad appears to be God, maybe he's not that far off. Just kidding. I think.) Instead, Jack gets back, and all he is, for now, is a great big complication in Sawyer's orderly life.

On the other hand, if Sawyer is the guy who figures out all the angles and knows how to make everything work, what exactly is he planning to do about the giant massacre on the horizon? Okay, sure, he has a few years left before everybody in the Dharma Initiative gets eradicated. But Sawyer's bought into Faraday's theory that you can't change history unless your name is Desmond. So does Sawyer have some kind of escape route planned?

The character I felt really bad for last night was actually Juliet. She's hosed, she knows she's hosed, and she just holds it together. The fact that Sawyer didn't tell her Jack and Kate were back, and the way Sawyer looks at Kate, pretty much seal her fate. Unlike my colleague Meredith, I've actually gotten to like Juliet a lot recently, and I think she's one of the most heroic characters on the show because she does what she has to, without being a drama queen (or even a Dharma queen) about it. She's actually really perfect for this new version of Sawyer, who takes responsibility and thinks things through. But apparently the show's producers think we're only interested in the boring old Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle - I'm one of those who think Jack and Kate deserve each other. Yes, I'm a Jeweler.

Other random stuff:

Hurley, as usual, gets the best line of the night, where he's like, "What if they ask us who's president in 1977?"

How many times can Ben get hit in the head before he starts using Yoda grammar or having a weird twitch?

Frank's right that it's silly to whack Ben in the head but then take Ben's advice. And Ben's right that Frank should have stayed with his passengers. Speaking of which, now that nobody we care about is among those airline passengers, are we going to see them again?

Where the heck is Locke? (Update: Several commenters have pointed out this episode takes place before Locke comes back from the dead at the end of "Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham.")

And did I miss the explanation of what happened to Faraday? I'm guessing it has to do with his freakout around young Charlotte.

This is the first time we've seen Pierre Chang/Marvin Candle since the season opener, right? What's he been up to all this time? When are we going to see more of the chaos at the Orchid Station that we glimpsed in that opening episode? (And which apparently involved Daniel?)

So what did you guys think?

I admit it: I was punk'd by last week's "next on Lost" (yeah, I know I shouldn't trust them) into thinking that "LaFleur" was going to be a very special Sawyer-Kate-Jack episode of "As the Island Turns."

So I was pleasantly surprised when last night's episode turned out to be anything but - at least until the last 60 seconds. If Locke disappointed me last week because I wanted him to be the action hero I remembered instead of the lost soul he became, then this week Juliet exceeded all my expectations in the opposite direction, having evolved from her early appearances as a limp rag into a gun-toting, van-fixing, healthy-baby-delivering mensch.

It's been a long time, too, since we've had a Sawyer-centric episode (season three, for the record). I forgot just how nicely he cleans up. The frequent back-and-forth cuts between 1974 and 1977 were a bit disorienting, but on the whole I liked this episode a lot; it's not the season's best or worst, but a very solid hour nonetheless. The first scene in 1977 is up there with my favorites: the reel-to-reel tape deck, Phil and Jerry (a shout out to Lesh and Garcia) in Dharma jumpsuits whiling away their hours on polar-bear patrol with brownies and illicit visitors, and, after they panic, the great reveal that Sawyer has come full circle, from con man to fear-inducing authority figure. The island has done him good, as I suspect we'll see it does for the reanimated Locke as well.

When last we saw the criminal with a heart of gold, he was holding a rope to nowhere. Now, he, Juliet, Miles and Jin realize how very far back in the island's history they've been punted when they notice the enormous four-toed statute—last seen in ruins, now showing no sign of decay—looming above them. It's holding an ankh, an ancient Egyptian symbol of life and/or life everlasting; it also appears on Paul's necklace. Since they are behind it, its face remains hidden.

Could it be Sawyer (did his barefoot trek through the jungle lead to the loss of a toe?) or Locke (what about last week's lingering shots of his toes poking out of his cast? I counted five, but some apparently saw four) or … Richard? Those Egyptian gods were awfully fond of lining their eyes with kohl, too. On the other hand, those ears definitely look more animal than human . . . maybe it's just part of the Egyptian pantheon. Horus, perhaps—though falcons don't have external ears at all.

Just as they are digesting the sight, Locke resets the wheel and initiates a final enormous time flash. The good news is that this stops their headaches and nosebleeds; the bad news is that now they're stuck, seemingly permanently, in 1974. They reunite with a distraught Daniel, but Charlotte's body has "moved on" or maybe just back to the small child she appears to have been that year. There's some discussion out there whether Ben's prior statement that Char was born in 1979 was based on faulty information, i.e., a mother fudging her daughter's on-island past by creating a new birthplace and date, or a continuity error. I suspect trying to keep the multiple timelines straight for multiple characters is a writer's nightmare, and I also won't be surprised if the birth date is later exposed as a piece of deliberate disinformation-or that the little girl Dan sees is just a red-headed herring, and isn't Charlotte at all.

They set out for the beach, with Sawyer the de facto leader. He steadfastly maintains that they will wait, as long as it takes, for Locke to return, and that when he does the beach will the first place he looks for them.

But they are sidetracked when they hear a rifle shot followed by a woman's cries and pleas. Two men are placing a bag over a woman's head, while a man's body lies on the ground. Miles confirms with Daniel that "we don't get involved, right," but Dan just shrugs and says "whatever happened, happened." Charlotte's death appears to have driven home for him the seemingly inescapable fact that the universe will course correct no matter what they do or do not do.

Chivalrous Sawyer doesn't care about possible repercussions down the line, and rushes in to save her. Luckily, sharp-shooting Juliet has his back and saves him first. The woman introduces herself as Amy, the dead man was her husband, Paul, and Sawyer (with help from Juliet) has just invalidated "the truce." She insists that they must bring Paul's body back with them, and bury the other two. Even though Sawyer explains that he and his friends were shipwrecked on their way from Tahiti, Amy remains suspicious. When they come to the sonic fence, she only pretends to turn it off. She strolls blithely through because she's wearing earplugs, but Sawyer and crew are rendered unconscious.

Sawyer wakes up on a couch at the Barracks. "How's your head?" asks Horace Goodspeed, a line that will volley back later. Sawyer's con-man instincts kick in, as he brilliantly uses his experience and knowledge of the island to create a new, plausible identity for himself. He's James LaFleur, their ship was caught in a storm; it was a salvage vessel, and they were searching for the Black Rock. Horace is firm: only members of the Dharma Initiative can stay, and Sawyer/LaFleur is "not Dharma material." Ha!

Before Sawyer can explain to the rest of them that they are on the next sub out of town, the lights flash and rifle-toting Dharma members hustle them to safety. But it's only a torch-bearing Richard, who demands to see Horace about the broken truce. (By the way, if all it takes is a decent pair of earplugs to cheat the sonic fence, no wonder it doesn't keep Richard and his people out.)

Before the heavy ordnance is called in, Sawyer offers to talk to "your buddy in the eyeliner out there" (loved the shout out to everybody who's ever wondered "does he or doesn't he" about Nestor Carbonell), and he's loaded for bear: Did Richard bury the bomb called Jughead? Does he remember Locke? "I'm waiting for him to come back," confides Sawyer. I wouldn't be surprised if Richard interprets this remark as another indication that Locke is a godlike figure who will return or be reborn, though after his visit to Young Locke he might be less inclined to believe it. A seemingly shocked Richard agrees the truce hasn't been broke, per se, but asks for the return of Paul's body, perhaps to show his people that blood has been spilled on the other side as well (aka "justice").

In gratitude for defusing the situation, Horace allows Sawyer two weeks on the island. Sawyer, in turn, talks an initially unwilling Juliet to stay with him for the same amount of time. Next thing we know, it's three years later. Horace is passed out at the pylons; and Amy, pregnant with his child, is in labor, prematurely-all women are supposed to leave the island to give birth. (When we first met Horace in "The Man Behind the Curtain," he was married to Olivia. What happened to her?)

Sawyer's in charge: when the intern can't handle a breech birth, he retrieves Juliet from the motor pool, and convinces her to deliver the baby, even though all her experiences doing so on the island have ended in tragedy. A healthy boy is born. Then we see why Juliet is still on the island: she and Sawyer are an item. They seem sincerely happy, and for once I am rooting for a couple on Lost. But then Jin, who has been searching the island grid-by-grid for Locke, calls. He's found Hurley, Jack, and Kate, whose eyes, as she steps out of the van, lock with Sawyer's and-please, show, don't let's go there.

One of last night's big questions is that of Young Ben's whereabouts, if indeed he and his father were living on the island in the 1974-77 timeframe, that is-and if they're not, they have to be arriving soon, given adult Ben's age (roughly 40-ish) and the fact that he was about 10 years old when he arrived. Speaking of Ben, did he anticipate he would return to the island in a flash, not a crash, i.e., has he landed in the year he was aiming for? And why, assuming that she is off in the outrigger with Frank Lapidus, didn't Sun land in 1977 with Hurley, Kate, and Jack?

I've been familiar with the name Jeremy Bentham ever since I got a wonderful book about mummies when I was in grade school. Bentham was included because he willed that his body be embalmed - Bentham called it his "auto-icon" - and wheeled out at special University of London council meetings forevermore.

What fascinated me most, however, was the gruesome picture of Bentham's head. Due to a mistake in the embalming process, the head had turned into a blackened, shriveled thing that sat between the auto-Icon's feet, while a lifelike wax copy perched upon its neck. After watching last night Lost, I have to wonder whether Locke's noggin likewise has been replaced by a wax one - become he sure was acting like a man without a brain. Indeed, I think part of my slight-but-lingering disappointment with "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" is due to Locke's ongoing willingness to believe just about anything anybody tells him. Widmore: "You're special! Ben's bad." Locke: "Okay." Ben: "You're special! Widmore's bad. And here, let me help you with that noose." Locke: "Okey-doke."

The episode opens as Cesar, a Sayid-esque passenger from Ajira Flight 316, rifles through the Hydra Station (which means they've landed on the smaller island). He's just stuffed a shotgun into his bag, when Ilana (the Ana Lucia proxy) walks in to tell him that they've discovered a man, dressed in a suit (Why is this such a big deal? Not everybody travels in sweatpants), who wasn't on the plane. It's Locke, of course. The following morning Ilana tells Locke that the outriggers were already on the beach when they arrived, and that there were three until "the pilot and a woman" (Sun perhaps, frantically looking for Jin) took one in the middle of the night. Locke tells Ilana that he doesn't remember being on the flight, but he does remember dying. She shakes her head and walks off.

We flashback to Locke turning the wheel and the flash of light and - boom - he wakes up in the Tunisian desert, just like Ben in "The Shape of Things to Come" and, in all likelihood, the Hydra-collared polar bear whose skeleton Charlotte uncovered in "Confirmed Dead." Locke's leg is still badly fractured, and calls for help when he notices there's a camera fixed on him. He lays there until night, when a pickup truck almost runs him over. A group of gun-toting Tunisians jump out, none-too-gently throw him in the back, and take him to a clinic/field hospital. There, Matthew Abaddon peeks out from behind a curtain as the local doctor sets Locke's leg without painkillers, in a scene that makes my bones ache just writing about it.

Locke wakes up when he hears a voice; it's Charles Widmore. He's had a specialist flown in to set Locke's leg properly (or so he says). Widmore reminds Locke of the last time they met: on the island, when Widmore was just 17 years old. He asks Locke, who hasn't changed a bit since then, how long ago it was: four days, says Locke.

Widmore explains that Tunisia is "an exit," that Ben fooled Widmore into leaving the island, that before then Widmore was the leader, and protected the island peacefully for more than three decades. Also, there's a war coming and if Locke isn't back on the island when it happens, the wrong side will win.

This speechifying is, I think, is another reason why I found this episode less exciting than I wanted it to be. I know there's less than two seasons left and they have to move things along, but flat out expository ("Let me tell you that A happened, then B, and C") by its very nature lacks the mystery and subtlety that I've come to expect from Lost. Last week we had Mrs. Hawking explaining how they found the island, and now here's Charles Widmore giving up a lot of his back story, whereas in seasons past each might have had an episode or more to developing these stories. Now we have answers to questions we haven't even had time to ask.

Though he still doesn't trust Widmore (something about that boatload of killers and C4), Locke is onboard with the rest of the plan to round up the rest of the O6. Widmore gives him a passport in Jeremy Bentham's name ("Your parents had a sense of humor, so do I," says Widmore. Jeremy Bentham, the philosopher, was opposed to John Locke, the philosopher's concept of natural rights), as well as a dossier on the whereabouts of the O6, a phone with speed-dial connection to Widmore, and a car and driver/bodyguard. The latter is an old friend: the other-worldly Matthew Abaddon.

The two of them set out to convince the O6 to return to the island. Sayid's in San Domingo, building houses for a Habitat-for-Humanity style organization. He doesn't want to go back to the island, but asks Locke a couple of good questions: who's manipulating him, for one, and whether the reason Locke so desperately wants to go back is because he has no where else to go.

Next, they drop by New York City for a quick visit with - all together, now - WAAAAAAAALT. "Boy's gotten big," notes Abaddon dryly. Walt's been dreaming about Locke - he was wearing a suit and everybody wanted to hurt him. When he asks about his father, Locke hedges and says the last he heard Michael was on a freighter near the island. As they leave, Abaddon helpfully notes that Locke is now 0 for 2 when it comes to gathering former residents of the island, though this is the first we've heard that maybe Walt was supposed to go back, too. Neither of them notice Ben watching them.

Hurley, working on a watercolor of the Sphinx (shout out to Garrison Dean's Ra theory!) in the yard at the asylum, first thinks Locke is another ghost like Charlie. But when he realizes that Abaddon is with the very-much-alive Locke, he really freaks out. Abaddon is evil, he warns Locke, then refuses to continue the conversation, let alone go back to the island. At this point, Locke finally asks what Abaddon does for Widmore - and here comes more of that exposition. Abaddon reminds everybody that he was the orderly in the hospital after Locke's accident who convinced him to go on the walkabout, which caused him to take Oceanic 815 and end up on the island. Abaddon helps people "get where they're supposed to get to."

Then it's off to L.A., where crabby Kate not only refuses to go back to the island, but tells Locke she thinks he's a desperate, loveless, angry obsessive. And with that, Locke makes Abaddon take him to his lost love, Helen Norwood. She's dead of a brain aneurysm, and as Locke and Abaddon stand before her tombstone, they discuss whether Locke's death will be inevitable or by choice. As they leave the cemetery, an unseen Ben shoots Abaddon. Locke, terrified, drives off like a crazy man and gets into a car accident.

For a moment, we wonder if Locke is dead, but then he wakes up in Jack's hospital, and immediately starts giving the hard sell about going back to the island: it's fate that brought him to the hospital; somebody's trying to kill him because he's special. Jack's not buying it. He thinks Locke's deluded, a "lonely old man that crashed on an island" once upon a time. But when Locke tells Jack his father says hello, he starts to get nervous. Locke presses his case; only Jack can convince the others. But Jack doesn't listen. It's over, he tells Locke, "and we were never important. You leave me alone, and you leave the rest of them alone."

In his room at the Westfield Hotel, Locke has written his suicide note, fashioned a noose of electrical cord, and is ready to take the final plunge off a desk when Ben breaks down the door. He's been following them all, keeping them safe - which is why he killed Abaddon. Widmore is extremely dangerous, says Ben, that's why he moved the island - to keep Widmore away so Locke can lead, and he reiterates how important he is.

But Locke thinks he's a failure, at least until Ben tells him that Jack has booked a ticket to Sydney. (Do we know the significance of this? Or is Ben flat-out lying? Who flies to Australia and returns "first thing in the morning"?)

"You can't die, you have too much work to do," Ben pleads, and Locke gets off the desk. When Ben mentions that Locke hasn't even been to Sun yet, he spills the beans about Jin and the wedding ring. Ben appears shocked that Jin is alive. Locke tells Ben that after they've gathered everyone together, they're supposed to go to Eloise Hawking. Ben admits he knows her then, faster than you can say "Tony Soprano," garrotes Locke. (This strikes me as the second time Ben has usurped a task that Locke is supposed to do, turning the wheel being the other. Is Ben trying to keep Locke from fulfilling his destiny by performing these tasks himself?)

Cut back to the island, where Cesar is poking through a Dharma folder, when the reanimated Locke walks in. Locke confesses he's been on the island before, and has no idea how he got back. Cesar then asks him if he knows why, after the flash on the plane, the big guy with curly hair was gone, as were some other passengers. This rings a bell with Locke, who asks for the passenger list-but Cesar says the pilot has it (though when Locke earlier asked about the passenger list, Ilana told him to talk to Cesar). He then takes Locke to a makeshift hospital, where Locke recognizes a seemingly badly injured Ben. "Do you know him?" asks Cesar. "Yes, he's the man who killed me," says Locke.

So, is Locke really "special" - or do Ben and Widmore understand that this is the best way to manipulate him to do their dirty work? Are the Losties just pawns in a bigger game? And is anybody dreading next week's big Sawyer/Kate reunion as much as I am?

I suspected that whatever followed last week's fabulous episode might seem weak by comparison, but "316" more than held its own. What disappointed me was the reveal of Mrs. Hawking as tough-but-lovable elementary school teacher. Oh, I understand that there's more to her than meets the eye - hence Desmond's warning to the others, but after her cold, black stare of the past couple of weeks, I wanted more creepiness, and less sparkly eyed "that's why it's called a leap of faith"-ness. Speaking of which, every time the show veers into Christian parable, it makes me want to gag (my reaction to organized religion in general). I understand wanting to reach into Biblical imagery and allegory for literary purposes, but if "the meaning" of Lost really turns out to be a death/rebirth story along the lines of the new testament, I WANT MY MONEY BACK. I have enough trouble with the name "Christian Shepard" as it is. But don't let my crankiness fool you: I think this may be Lost's best season yet.

Anyway, "316" begins with a great shot echoing the very first scene of the very first episode: a tight close-up of Jack's eye opening, then the reveal that he's lying on the jungle floor dressed in a business suit. Clenched in his fist is a scrap of paper reading "I wish," but when he hears a call for help, he drops it and runs. Hurley is struggling in the middle of a pond, holding on to a guitar case. Jack of the Jungle dives off a waterfall and drags him to safety. Kate is unconscious on the rocky shore. "Are we?" she asks when she comes to, and Jack confirms: they're back on the island.

We cut to 46 hours earlier, and after what appears to be a alternate take or edit of last week's last scene, Ben, Jack, Sun and Desmond follow Eloise Hawking into her subterranean lair, located behind a steel door with a Dharma logo. In fact, the room with the Foucault-like pendulum and funky old computers is another Dharma station, The Lamp Post (which, as one of my Lost friends, Luke, pointed out to me last week, is where one enters Narnia in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe).

Mrs. H pulls out a file marked "9/23/54 U.S. Army OP264 Top Secret" (perhaps another clue that she was on the island that year) and goes into schoolmarm mode. She explains that the station is built over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy, connected to similar pockets all over the world, including the island. "A very clever fellow" built the pendulum to predict the island's whereabouts. The island is in constant motion, you see - which perhaps explains how Eko's brother's Nigeria-bound plane, and maybe even The Black Rock itself, found their way to it (Mrs. Hawking says this is also the reason the survivors of Flight 815 were never found).

Anyway, the clever fellow devised an equation to predict where the island will be at a certain point in time. These windows of opportunity don't stay open very long; in fact, the survivors have only 36 hours to get back to the island. Luckily, there's a scheduled flight (Ajira #316, from L.A. to Guam) that's going to go right over its coordinates. When they're on the plane, they will need to recreate as best they can the circumstances that brought them there in the first place. Without all the people, Mrs. Hawking notes, the result will be unpredictable.

Meanwhile, Desmond can't believe his ears. They may be there to go back to the island, but he's there to deliver a message to Mrs. Hawking from "your son, Daniel Faraday" that he and the others on the island need her help. Mrs. H neither confirms nor denies the relationship, and her cool, "But I am helping, dear," really sends Desmond over the edge. Of course, he recognizes her from the jewelry shop where she refused to let him buy a ring for Penelope because going to the island, not married bliss with Penny, was his "bloody purpose." He warns the survivors that they are being used. When Mrs. Hawking tells him the island isn't done with him, Des says he's done with the island and storms out.

Mrs. Hawking then has a private after-school session with Jack. She hands him Locke's suicide note, and explains that Locke is going to be a proxy for Christian Shepard, thus Jack needs to give something of his father's to Locke (which makes me wonder if the guitar case Hurley is carrying is a proxy for Charlie). She tells him he needs to make "a leap of faith." Ben drives home the notion a moment later, when he explains the biblical story of doubting Thomas. "We're all convinced sooner or later, Jack," he says. Then he's off to "tie up a loose end" and Jack's off to the airport bar.

His solitary cocktail is interrupted by a phone call from Grandpa Ray's nursing home, putting in a motion a visit which allows Jack to get a pair of his father's shoes for Locke (and we get to see white and black Dharma-style bunny in a magic show). When he arrives home, Kate is on his bed in the dark. She'll go back to the island with him, she says, if he promises to never ask her about Aaron. (All right, my fellow haters, which one of you stole him? After all, no baby means no annoying Mommy Kate. Yay!) Sexy time ensues. The following morning, a guilt-ridden Jack tells Kate he buried Christian in a pair of old white tennis shoes - thus explaining Christian's distinctive footwear.

A beaten-up Ben calls Jack from the Marina, and asks him to pick up Locke's body at Simon's Butcher Shop (though he's not the patron saint of butchers, St. Simon is associated with the saw, because he was allegedly sawed into pieces - just fyi). Jack puts his father's shoes on Locke, and places the suicide note on top of his body.

Jack, Kate, and Sun are at the airport - but so is Hurley, who has thoughtfully purchased an extra 78 seats, thus saving 78 lives (or so he hopes). He won't explain how he got there, but it might have something to do with the fact that a hand-cuffed Sayid is being ushered on to the plane in the presence of what appears to be an officer of the law. Ben arrives late with his arm in a sling, and Hurley freaks out. But everybody settles down in time for the pilot's announcement and - my favorite moment of the night - it's Frank Lapidus. When Lapidus comes out to say hi to Jack, he sees Kate, Sun, et al, and says "We're not going to Guam, are we?" (Best line of episode!) And if Lapidus has to be part of the island expedition, chances are good that Desmond does too - both escaped the island with the O6. The island's not done with him, indeed.

It's night. The plane is in the air. Ben's reading Ulysses, a book I carried around a lot in college, but never actually read. When Jack asks, Ben lies (I think) and says he didn't know Locke killed himself. Jack's massive ego is worried that it's his fault that Locke did so, guilt that is probably not assuaged when, at Ben's urging, he reads the suicide note: "Jack, I wish you had believed me. JL." Just then, the plane starts shaking. There's a white flash, and Jack wakes up in the jungle, rescues Hurley, and finds Kate again. None of them remember the crash, and there's no wreckage. Where's Sun? Sayid? They decide to spread out and search the jungle, but they are interrupted when a Dharma van pulls up. A jumpsuit-wearing Jin jumps out and aims his rifle at them until, shocked, he recognizes them.

The island, it appears, is on 1970s time. Which might mean that Daniel's appearance during the construction of the Orchid a couple episodes ago was a flash-forward, not back (i.e., it has yet to happen). And because it's the Seventies, the recently deceased Charlotte is still a little girl. I'm guessing we're going to see her meet that crazy-man Daniel in an episode to come. We're also going to learn a lot more about the Dharma Initiative - hooray!

But the biggest question of the night has to be where is Aaron (he was after all, on Flight 815, albeit in utero) and why doesn't he have to go back to the island? Will he get there some other way? Or … is Kate preggers - and her womb acting as a proxy for Claire's?

So it's all Locke's fault, eh? All the donkey-wheel-slipped-off-its-axis, time-flashing, nosebleed-inducing woe, just because he let Ben move the island after Christian Shepard specifically told him that he, John Locke, had to do it. After last week's slow-by-comparison show, Lost came roaring back in top form with "This Place Is Death," another fab episode in what's shaping up to be a really great season.

We begin at the marina, where Sun, cradling her gun, watches the discussion between Ben, Kate, Jack and Sayid. After a phone call from little Ji Yeon (How many other Arrested Development fans reflexively said, "Anyong!" as Sun said goodbye to her daughter?), Sun hops out of the car and pulls the gun on Ben, who she blames for Jin's death. Ben says give him 30 minutes, there's a woman in L.A. who can not only prove Jin is alive, she's going to show them how to get back to the island. The last is TMI for Kate and Sayid, and they take off. Now Ben has only two members of the six he needs.

When next we see Ben and crew, he's at the wheel of the Canton-Rainier van, driving through the traffic-clogged streets of L.A. After Jack offers a mealy-mouthed apology to Sun for leaving Jin behind, they start bickering over who gets to kill Ben-and Ben pulls the Reincarnation van to the curb faster than an angry soccer mom with a car-load of whining six-year-olds. He's been working to keep them and their friends safe, the ungrateful wretches, and if they don't believe that they can go ahead and shoot him right now. Sun tells him to drive.

Back on the island, it's 1988. The French crew is distrustful of Jin, but ask him to lead them to the radio tower after they pick up the numbers transmission. As they march through the jungle, it transpires that canteen-carrying Nadine is missing (moments after we see her for the very first time ever-never a sign of longevity). There is ominous silence and then a metallic screech and thump. "Monster," says Jin, in one of my favorite moments of the night. Of course, Rousseau's crew wants to go back for Nadine-whose mangled body the monster obligingly tosses at their feet. Jin tells them to run, but Smokey grabs the blonde guy and pulls him into its lair, even though the rest of the crew is holding on to him. A tug-of-war ensues until Blondie's arm pops off. Then they hear him calling for help, he's hurt, the monster's gone (I kept thinking "Candygram"). The men go to rescue him, but Jin holds Rousseau back, begging her to think of her baby. Flash.

Jin is alone now. There are hieroglyphs on the temple, and a decayed arm. He runs. He sees a plume of smoke on the beach and heads towards it. Rousseau's camp is in disarray, symbols of civility (music box, violin) strewn over the sand. Jin sees two dead bodies on the beach, and Danielle holding a gun on Robert, her baby's father. She says the smoke monster made him and the others sick. Robert counters that it's not a monster, just a security system guarding the temple. When he talks her into lowering her gun, he tries to shoot her, but the gun won't go off (shades of Michael's non-firing/misfiring gun). Danielle kills Robert, and she wants to kill Jin too. She thinks he's sick, plus he disappeared-which answers the question of what those who aren't flashing through time see when the time flashes occur. Plus, I think it's pretty clear that Rousseau has been driven "mad" by the triple whammy of the smoke monster, the "sickness" of her men (what happened to them down in Smokey's lair?), and Jin's sudden disappearance/reappearance. Which makes it all the more curious that she doesn't recognize him when she meets him again in the future-if their paths actually did cross.

Jin is rescued from Rousseau's bullet by a time flash, which reunites him with Sawyer in a lovely moment. Daniel says the blast must have thrown Jin in the water, and that he's been time traveling with the rest of them. Sawyer explains the time dislocations to Jin, who wants to know about Sun, then freaks out and demands translation services from Charlotte. Sawyer thinks Jin is talking to Miles, who comes back with my favorite line of the night, "He's Korean. I'm from Encino." Jin offers to help Locke bring Sun and the others back to the island, but Locke explains it's a one-man job.

Charlotte, meanwhile, isn't looking so hot. She's on the ball enough to answer "Klingon" when Dan asks her what other languages she speaks, another strong contender for Best Line of the Night. Then she collapses and starts prophesying to Jin: Don't let them bring Sun back to the island. "This place is death!" Which of course is what some people have been theorizing since Season 1, that the passengers of Flight 815 are dead, and that the island is limbo or some kind of afterlife. I also enjoyed Dan telling Charlotte that it makes "empirical sense" that they have to get back to the Orchid, "but as far as bringing the O6 back to stop the temporal shifts, that's where we leave science behind," as if we haven't left it far, far behind already.

Charlotte is tripping through her past (it's unclear whether this is due to run-of-the-mill delirium or because her consciousness is actually traveling), but she pauses long enough to tell Locke to look for the well if, when they reach the Orchid station without her, it's during a time before the station is built. She then confesses to Daniel that she grew up on the island, and never saw her father (who? who?) again after she and her mother left. She's telling Dan now because there was a crazy man on the island, who scared her by telling her she would die if she ever came back to the island. She thinks that man is Dan, who looks very surprised. (This reminded me a bit of The Time Traveler's Wife, in which the female narrator meets her time-traveling husband-to-be when she is a child and he shows up in her back yard as a naked adult.) Then, with a conspiratorial, "I'm not allowed to have chocolate before dinner," Charlotte dies. (I'm wasn't a fan of Charlotte as a character, but I think the actor who portrayed her did a bang-up job here showing the various emotions and ages flitting across her face.)

And it's a good thing she mentioned the well, because the Orchid station disappears in a flash. As Locke prepares to shinny down the rope, Jin stops him, tells him not to bring Sun back. Tell her I'm dead, Jin tells Locke, and hands over his wedding ring for proof. As Locke climbs into the darkness below, we hear the hum of a time-shift, and the white light comes from the bottom of the well. After the flash, in a great Twilight-Zone reveal, Sawyer is holding the rope, which now runs into the earth.

Just as Rousseau's men met an adventure underground, so Locke will too, and this time we get to see it. He's at the bottom of the well, with a nasty compound fracture. He calls for help … footsteps … shadow … and … it's Christian Shepard, who takes Locke to task for letting Ben move the island after he told Locke to do it. Christian reiterates that Locke must bring everybody back to the island, and to see the very popular Eloise Hawking in L.A. for more instructions. He confirms that Locke must die (though he doesn't mention it, Christian arrived on the island in a coffin, and Locke, apparently, is going to return to it the same way), then gets him to put the wheel back on its axis, alone, on his broken leg. Say hello to my son, he says to a confused Locke, as the flash begins.

Back in L.A., the Reincarnation van parks outside Mrs. Hawking's church. Ben has Jin's wedding ring now, and uses it as proof of a living Jin to lure Sun back to the island. As she, Jack and Ben prepare to enter the church, up walks Desmond. Are you looking for Faraday's mother too? he asks, causing Ben to get a "how'd he know about that?" look on his face. Inside the church, Mrs. Hawking says they'll just have to make do with the small number of people Ben's managed to round up. Is anybody besides me worried that Desmond is going back to the island whether he likes it or not?

It's been a while since Lost has given me that "oh, no, I have to wait a whole week??" feeling-but that's exactly how I feel today.

After three episodes of solid action and excitement, Lost slowed down a bit with last night's show, "The Little Prince" (named after aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery's 1943 book about an enigmatic blonde princeling who lives on an asteroid called B612 — more about that later). I think we've been exposed to what is going to be an inherent problem with the last two seasons: The story of the Oceanic 6 getting back to the island is simply not as compelling as the struggle of those who remained behind. Which isn't to say "The Little Prince" was a weak episode, exactly—not with that ending—just that I don't care as much about the off-the-island storyline as I do about the action on the island.

In other words, Kate and Jack are back. The episode begins on Penny's boat, as Kate tells Jack she's keeping Aaron as her own. Jack tells her he's going to ask everybody to adhere to "the lie." Is she with him, he wants to know? I have always been with you she says, eliciting my first "ugh" of the evening. Cut to three years later. Kate borrows a suit from Sun and heads off to the law firm, at Sun's suggestion, to confront Evil Attorney Norton over the blood test. Sun says not to worry about her and Aaron, they've got a mini-bar. And they've got a gun too, after Sun gets a mysterious package filled with surveillance photos of Ben and an automatic in a box of chocolates. Mmm, candy, booze, and a firearm — Sun really knows how to babysit.

Downtown at the law firm, Counselor Norton unsurprisingly refuses Kate's request to meet with his client, giving Kate, with Jack in tow (maintaining it's purely a social call, even though Sayid found her address in a would-be assassin's pocket), a reason to track him to the hotel where he's meeting with . . . with . . . Claire's mother. Yes, Claire's mother! Who, it turns out, knows nothing about her grandson—she's just in town to collect a settlement from her attorney, who just happens to be Ben's attorney. This storyline is pure soap, but I loved Ben's deadpan explanation of Norton's identity to Sayid, "He's my attorney." Others! They're just like us.

In fact, Ben is the saving grace of the off-the-island story (Desmond and Hurley, too, but neither figured in last night's ep, except for a momentary appearance by the latter). I loved Ben's simple admission that yes, he's the one pursuing Kate, in a moment that cut through the obligatory melodrama from Kate and Jack. Ben is almost always intriguing, and Michael Emerson does such a great job making him simultaneously milquetoasty and evil. More Ben, please!

Meanwhile, back on the island, Sawyer is pining for Kate, while the constant flashing time travel seems to be taking a toll on Miles and Juliet as well as Charlotte. Locke decides, and Sawyer concedes, that they should head for the Orchid Station. Locke ominously says he has to make the small "o" others come back to the island, "even if it kills me." As they troop through the jungle night, they see a column of white light, which Locke knows, but doesn't reveal, is streaming from the hatch after he pounded on it in despair the night Boone died. Later, they hear a woman screaming. Sawyer goes to investigate; it's Claire, giving birth assisted by Kate. Sawyer gets all misty and stays that way for the rest of the episode.

Miles confesses to Faraday that he's had a nosebleed. Faraday is shocked, because the nosebleeds, we learn, are dependent on the length of time you've been exposed to the island. But, says Miles, those yahoos have been here for months, I only got here two weeks ago. Are you sure about that? asks Faraday, thus feeding fan speculation that Miles is perhaps Dr. Candle/Chang's baby.

They arrive back at the beach. The camp is there, but the people are gone, as is the Zodiac. Perhaps they've fled from the people whose canoe is on the beach. Locke, et al, jump in and start paddling around the horn to the Orchid. But first they have a violent encounter with folks in another outrigger. They are saved by a time-flash, and make for the shore in a raging storm. Come morning, they don't know where they are, but find wreckage, including a gas can reading Besixdouze. B612. The Little Prince's asteroid. I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to make of the reference, in part because I really didn't care for The Little Prince when I read it back in high school. Aaron physically resembles the chubby blonde Little Prince, and we know he's very special to the island, but I await your literary theories.

Then it's time to rescue a slow episode with dramatic reveals! In the stormy ocean, we see an inflatable raft full of French-speaking people. Alas, they are not speaking very slowly in the first-person singular, so I can't understand them. They find a man on a raft and pull him in. It's Jin! The next morning, on the sunny beach, one of the French people, a young pregnant woman introduces herself. It's Danielle Rousseau! And while I'm glad to see them (and without a living Jin, what reason does Sun have to go back to the island?), I'm beginning to give more credence to the complaint that, with the show's time-travel element firmly in place, suddenly anything can happen. Jin meets a baby-faced Rousseau sixteen years ago — okay! Future Locke avoids confronting Past Locke — righty-o! The writers are going to have to tread very carefully to keep me willing to continue to suspend my disbelief.

All right, who names a rat after their mom—and what would their shrink have to say about it?

Leaving that burning question aside for a moment, you can’t say TPTB at Lost aren’t giving us answers this season, though of course, they’re usually cloaked in conundrums, mysteries, and confusion—sort of a two steps forward, one step back progression. Flaming arrows and mysterious army guys appear one week, and, bingo, we know who they are the next. At least we think we do, kind of. Because is anything or anyone really what they appear to be on this show, even when it’s clearly what the writers want us to think?

A case in point from last night is the appearance on the island, in 1954, of someone who may or may not be Daniel’s mother. I didn’t watch the rerun of “The Lie” before last night’s episode, so it took a message from my niece to alert me to the fact that one of the pop-ups during that broadcast revealed that Ms. Hawking’s name is “Eloise.” Yes, like Dan’s dear departed lab rat (who shares with Ms. H white hair and a propensity for time travel experimentation along with who knows what other characteristics), and perhaps like “Elly,” the young, blonde, rifle-toting Other who escorts Dan out to the h-bomb site. Her resemblance to an unnamed someone is strong enough for Dan to mention, before he thinks better of it and clams up. Does it all prove she’s Dan’s mother? Who, by the way, Widmore tells Desmond (Desmond, what are you thinking, visiting him??) is in L.A., as is Ms. Hawking. Would the writers really make it this easy for us?

Here’s another thought. Could catatonic Teresa Spencer be Dan’s mother? She’s in Oxford, where Dan said his mother was. Her sister, who answers the door, is ambiguously youthful yet gray-haired. Could Dan have been experimenting with time travel on his mother, and that’s why she looks so young? While it’s not impossible for Ms. Hawking to have given birth to Dan, she’d have had to have him rather late in life, unless he’s older than I assume he is. The relationship between Daniel and Teresa is never explained. On the other hand, I just looked at the episode again, and the workman at Oxford refers to “what he [Faraday] did to that girl,” which argues against my theory — though “that girl” is also ambiguous. What do you think? Ms. Hawking is Elly is Faraday’s mother? Or is that what they want us to think?

A couple of minor complaints:

(1) On the island, it’s supposed to be 1954, but the only reason we know that is because Richard tells Locke it is. Otherwise, everybody looks like it’s 2009. Of course, they’re Others, and maybe they’ve always looked out of time, but really, would it have been that difficult to go for a little authenticity in dress or hairstyles? Apparently the rifle was a period piece, but the only reason a lot of us got that is, again, because Locke tells us it is. (This is a pet peeve of mine in general, so feel free to dismiss it as the ravings of a retro-crank.)

(2) Daniel, Miles, and Charlotte walk into Other camp. The Others think they’re part of the U.S. Army, who have been conducting atomic tests on the island. When Dan asks to fix the leaking h-bomb, Richard asks him to prove he’s not on a suicide mission. Dan says he's not, because I’m in love with the woman next to me and I would never do anything to hurt her, to which Richard replies, awwww, go play with the bomb, you crazy love-struck kid. Or words to that effect. Feh.

Some random thoughts:

Hah! Juliet says she learned Latin in Others 101. I also liked the way she said, “Old” when Locke asked how old Richard is. She is rapidly turning into a character I like a lot — I used to wince every time she appeared on the screen.

Widmore’s on the island in 1954! Was he born there? If so, no wonder Ben hates him.

Love that Locke keeps telling people he’s their leader—and they keep ignoring him. Also loved how he sets up Richard’s future visit to him. Now I have to go watch that episode again.

Desmond and Penny named their baby Charlie! And I hereby nominate Penny for best-dressed baby-birthing lady of the current TV season.

It’s been almost seven months since we last saw the intrepid survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. The island went poof. The freighter went blammo. Jin may or may not have died, but the O6 definitely lied. Now, in an opening scene reminiscent of Season two’s first few moments, a hand drops a needle on a vinyl platter, the dulcet tones of Willie Nelson’s “Shotgun Willie” fill the air—and then the record skips, skips, skips.

After what felt like a spell in the doldrums during Season three, the stripped-down-due-to-the-writer’s-strike Season four brought a new sense of focus to Lost, and a renewed commitment to storytelling, along with the occasional answer to a question. Last night’s double-episode season premiere displayed the same sense of urgency, narrative, and fun that Season four left us with. Above all, the comforting sense that the writers really know where they’re going continues. Indeed, the new episodes picked up right where the season closer ended.

Time travel is apparently here to stay. The island has become unstuck in time and we are along for the ride, like it or not. As Daniel Faraday says in the clip: “You cannot change anything. You can’t . . .,” especially a storyline. Given the whole show requires a major suspension of disbelief, I’m fine with this one — though I’ll wager some of you are marking this as a jump-the-shark development. Of course there are inconsistencies, the clothing, as a character points out, and why isn’t anybody but Charlotte suffering a nosebleed? And is the Desmond/Daniel meeting taking place in the past and present simultaneously, albeit in a dream state — and doesn’t that mean that Daniel is violating his own advice about not changing anything? But Dez is uniquely and miraculously special, according to Daniel, soooo . . .

Speaking of clothing — as much as I enjoyed Sawyer’s quest for a shirt, wouldn’t shoes be the first thing wanted by somebody running through the jungle?

Poor Locke finally gets a chance to say, “Ben Linus has appointed me your leader!” but only at the business end of Ethan’s gun — and the only thing that saves him is the island’s little time hiccup. But that little ding to his ego has to have been assuaged by Richard’s assurance that the only Locke can save the island. So what if he has to die — apparently to reunite the O6 in the attempt to haul his carcass back to the beach. Despite the little set back with Ethan, Locke’s messiah complex has got to be working overtime. Quite possibly even while he’s stored in Butcher Jill’s meat locker. (And who are these Off-Island Others?)

Kate = Most. Annoying. Mother. Ever. You just know that kid pitches massive tantrums in public places and all she does is smile indulgently while he’s thrashing on the floor. True to form, Kate’s only reaction to the appearance of attorneys at the door is to hightail it. I’m glad Sun is playing her like a violin, though for who and for what reason, I’m not entirely sure. “I don’t blame you [for Jin’s death]. How’s Jack?” she says to Kate, in a textbook performance of passive-aggression. (For the record, Jack is still a pill-head, though a clean-shaven one.)

There were so many moments of Hurley greatness last night that I can’t begin to list them: the Shih-tzu t-shirt, throwing the hot pocket at Ben, his “meeting” with Ana Lucia, putting the shades on Sayid, telling the truth to his mother. Mom Reyes definitely had the best line last night: “Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?”

Of course, it wouldn’t be Lost without questions galore. Take that opening scene, for example. Does the existence of Baby Candle mean that at some time in the past babies were being born on the island—or was s/he born elsewhere?

What is the significance of Richard’s compass? He gives it to Locke, and tells him that the next time Locke sees him, Richard won’t recognize Locke until he gives him the compass. I immediately thought of Richard’s visit to Child Locke, when the compass is one of the objects set before young John, who fondles it, before picking up the knife.

In some of the training films, but not last night’s episode, Dr. Candle appears to have a prosthetic left hand or arm—perhaps from an encounter with the same group of hostiles who were going to cut off Juliet’s hand? They appear to be dressed in some kind of paramilitary uniform with nametags, which indicates a certain level of technology—and yet their weaponry consists of flaming arrows. Black Rock survivors or indigenous islanders in uniforms based on Dharma Initiative jumpsuits? Are they the remnants of Rousseau's team?

Is Mrs. Hawking Daniel’s mother? I loved her Crowley-esque magick chamber, complete with pendulum and Apple III. She’s conjured 70 hours of time for Ben. Maybe she’s passed her time-tinkering knowledge on to son Daniel - or maybe she's just one of Ben's special off-island friends.

Goodbye, Frogurt Redshirt. We hardly knew ye, but could see your demise coming from many leagues off.

• The flashfowards showing the return of the Oceanic 6 and what happens to them in its immediate aftermath are the center point of "There's No Place Like Home." Lots of other stuff happened, to be sure, but after four seasons' worth of episodes, seeing the O6 actually arriving back in the US was the money shot, in my book.
• On their way back to Hawaii after their "rescue," the Ocean 6 look dazed as Jack reminds them to get their story straight. Little do they know that their pilot's got his lucky rabbit foot's out because he thinks they're bad mojo — though from the looks on their faces, they might well agree. Whatever happened to separate the O6 from the rest of the survivors of Oceanic 815 has clearly been traumatic. On the tarmac after landing, everybody gets reunited with their loved ones except for Kate, which may help to explain how bonded she becomes with Aaron — there's nobody else in her life.
• Loved how Hurley brings Sayid — neither of them know Nadia is waiting for him outside — over to meet his family. Who, of course, have a big tropical-island-themed welcome home party planned for him. I don't what was best about the party: Hugo hearing island-style whispering and preparing to brain somebody with Jesus ... who is not a weapon ... or apologetically telling the O6 that his mom "really doesn't get" why a tropical-island theme is not such a good idea. We also get to see how the numbers still haunt him (the beginning of the "madness" which puts him back in the mental hospital?) when they show up on the gauges of the newly restored Camaro.
• Old habits die hard: Hugo's got a Mr. Cluck bag in hand as he walks up to the mansion before the party.
• At the press conference which follows their return, the O6 practice their story in public — though it seems pretty clear that at least one reporter smells something fishy about Kate's story. After all, Aaron is enormous for a five-week-old baby, let alone one allegedly born three-months prematurely. It also means that Kate would have been pregnant while in federal custody, something her records probably don't mention. But of course, Ms. Austin's "legal issue" is off the table. I wonder, though, if the "Kate is Aaron's mom" theme might eventually prove to be the weak link in their cover story — especially after Claire's mom shows up at Christian Shephard's memorial service to tell Jack that Claire is his sister. (You know, I didn't think that last night's ep was that soapy, but boy, that sentence makes it sound otherwise.)
• Sun gives up the dutiful daughter role with a vengeance, uses her settlement money to buy a controlling interest in her dad's company, Paik Industries, and takes the opportunity to tell him she blames him for Jin's death — or "death." I loved the look on Paik's face when he realizes his daughter's become that most awful of things: a powerful, non-submissive woman. Right on, Sun!
• Some people think Sun blaming her father for Jin's death proves Jin really is dead—but I don't think it does. Sun can't break her cover story to say I hate you because my husband's stuck on the island. The story is he died — and she has to stick with it, hence the memorial stone, etc. I'm holding out hope that Jin's alive — but his proximity to the explosives on the freighter has me worried.
• Speaking of the freighter, how "lucky" to be on the first Zodiac load off the island, only to discover your "safe haven" isn't so safe? And look who's onboard: Michael, the guy who sold you out.
• Meanwhile, back on the island. Ben, Locke, and Hurley have reached the Orchid station, but Keamy and crew have beat them to it. Ben tells Hurley that moving the island is a dangerous and unpredictable measure of last resort. He also tells Hurley that the crackers he's eating out of the kit Ben retrieves from its hiding place are 15 years old, and since he's on a roll, he admits that he hasn't always been entirely truthful in the past. Widmore knows about the station, and he wants what's inside.
• Richard (!!!) and a herd of Others capture Kate and Sayid—what do you want to bet they turn out to be the "good guys"?

Apparently, you could hide a lot of things under those 1950s circle skirts, because teenage Emily's got a bun in the oven and it hardly even shows. That bun turns out to be wee John Locke, born prematurely after Emily gets hit by a car. Little John is a "miracle baby," according to a nurse, because he's the youngest preemie to survive at their hospital. Shortly thereafter, who shows up peeking through the hospital window but the long lost Richard Alpert! It turns out he's got his eye on Locke, dropping by when the youngster is of school age to see if he qualifies for the home Alpert runs for kids who are "extremely special." Locke's special all right — he's already drawing the smoke monster attacking stick figures. Alpert sets a group of objects in front of him (baseball mitt, Book of Laws, Mystery Tales comic book — "What Was The Secret of The Mysterious 'HIDDEN LAND!'"—compass, vial of what looks like sand, and knife) — and asks John to pick the ones that belong to him. But when John picks the knife (in addition to the vial and the compass), Alpert angrily yanks it out of his hands and hits the road. Is little John messing with him—or just not ready to take the Book of Laws over the lawless knife?

When next we see Flashback Locke, he's being rescued from his high school locker by a sympathetic teacher/counselor. Turns out Alpert's been by the school — he wants Locke to go to Mittelos Laboratories' science camp. But Locke doesn't want to face his destiny just yet (even though his science fair project is a model of an island). He's not a science nerd; he likes cars and sports, dammit! When the teacher — okay, maybe he's not so sympathetic — tells John he'll never be a super hero, Locke for the first time utters, "Don't tell me what I can't do." He still isn't ready for destiny years later when, in physical therapy after his father tosses him out the window, his orderly — none other than Mr. Abbadon, apparently not a harbinger of death all the time — tells him to go on a walkabout.

Of course, Locke finally does go on that walkabout (it'll be interesting to see what happens when his path again crosses that of Abbadon — and you know it will), and now he's on Craphole Island looking for Jacob's cabin with Ben and Hurley — because they're the craziest, in Hugo's opinion. And when they do find the cabin — thanks to a dream visit from Horace, murdered Dharma Initiative math guy — Locke comes face to face with Christian Shephard, and ... Claire. Which is definitely one in the pocket for those in the "Claire is dead" camp — or is it? And how do you move an island anyway? In time or physically or some other way? My guess is the first.

Back on the freighter, Keamy's returned and he is ticked off. He tries to kill Michael/Kevin for giving him up to Ben, but Michael's unkillable. Keamy's prepping to return and "torch" the island, armed with a secondary protocol and lots of materiel. When Lapidus balks at flying them back to the island on this mission, Keamy slits the doctor's throat (thus fulfilling what the Islanders already know). He kills the captain too, for good measure, after Keamy reveals he's got something (a detonator, perhaps?) strapped to his lovely, well-muscled arm. (Note to Lost writers/producers: more naked Kevin Durand, please!) By now, Desmond has to be regretting his decision to stay onboard the Kahana, after Sayid escapes in the motor launch.

Lapidus, flying the helicopter against his will, jettisons a working satellite phone over the beach, where it's found by Jack and crew, who assume it's a message for them to follow the whirlybird. Don't know if that's a good idea, kids.

So Jack has appendicitis, even though as Rose points out in a Dramatic Moment, people on the island don't get sick, they get better—except for everybody who's died, of course. Juliet decides to operate, and sends Sun to the medical station to get instruments. Daniel goes along because he knows what the instruments look like, Charlotte goes along ... just because ... and since nobody trusts her at all and Daniel only marginally, Juliet sends Jin along with a gun. This excursion gives Jin the opportunity to find out that Char speaks Korean—which he uses to his advantage (along with the threat of skills acquired during his hit-man past) to get her to promise to take Sun off the island when the helicopter arrives. Unlike Jin, I didn't notice that Daniel and Char have a thing going on, quite possibly because I find her so very annoying. (Loved Rose's "Just watch your tongue, Red"!) Does Char even have the authority to get Sun on that helicopter anyway?

In a flashforward, we see Jack and Kate shacked up in connubial bliss, right up until Jack catches a glimpse of his father, and then gets a call from Hurley's doctor. Hugo's institutionalized ("he's crazy," in Jack's professional opinion), and now he's refusing to take his meds, isn't sleeping, and doesn't believe his therapist exists. He does, however, have a message for Jack from Charlie, who's a regular visitor: "You're not supposed to raise him, Jack," meaning Aaron, of course. This freaks Jack out, as does Hurley's assurance that, per Charlie, Jack will soon have a visitor. Of course, it's his dad, this time in the waiting room, nicely dressed in a dark suit and white shoes. Jack immediately starts popping pills. He also gets wildly jealous of Kate, who needs to do something for Sawyer, who we find out CHOSE to stay on the island. Jack gives Kate a hard time about not being related to Aaron, but doesn't seem to know that he, in fact, is Aaron's uncle. This is clearly the beginning of Jack's furry mad man phase.

Meanwhile, Miles, Sawyer, Claire, and Aaron are still trekking through the jungle to the beach. As they pass through the site of the ambush, Miles hears Rousseau and Karl's last moments, falls to his knees, and uncovers their bodies—damn! Rousseau is really dead!—which freaks out both Sawyer and Claire. Sawyer doesn't trust Miles at all, and puts a "restraining order" on him around Claire after he catches Miles looking at Claire like he's never seen her before. But Miles isn't interested in Claire the way Sawyer thinks he is (project much, Sawyer?), but as someone "sensitive" in the psychic sense—and maybe he hears Charlie, too. I also think Miles has recognized Aaron as, well, an "individual of interest." After the four of them barely escape death at the hands of Kearny and crew (thanks to Lapidus) Claire is visited by Christian Shephard—her dad as well as Jack's—and follows him into the jungle, where she disappears, leaving Aaron behind.

This and that:

• Jack reads to toddler Aaron from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), specifically from Chapter 2, "The Pool of Tears." Here's the full quote—because it's one of my childhood favorites, and because it was an excellent fit in last night's episode:

  Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: "Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle!"

• Aaron's got a toy Millennium Falcon!
• Is that a piece of twine Island Kate is wearing as a headband? Surely there's a box of Dharma-logo hair ribbon somewhere on the island.
• Jack picks up a newspaper with the headline "Yankees Bludgeon Red Sox in Series Sweep." Anybody got a theory on why there have been so many NY-Boston world series references? Obviously, it's an easy way to mark time, but knowing Lost, there's probably more to it than that—or is there?
• Island Jack has an appendectomy but Future Jack has no scar?
• Lately every time toddler Aaron pops up in an episode, his cherubic good looks combined with the storyline that seems to suggest he is Very Special make me think of the Infant Jesus of Prague—especially as the latter appears in John Waters's Multiple Maniacs.

Let's talk about pacing for a moment. "The Shape of Things to Come" raced at full speed through the hour last night. It made me remember the last season of the Sopranos, where everybody and everything was shoehorned into the scripts. Last night we got the return of Vincent and Smoky, Claire's fake-out death, a truly shocking murder, a peek at Ben's secret lair, an explanation of why Sayid is Ben's paid assassin, time-travel, and a bunch of other meaningful information. On the one hand, this makes for an exciting episode, vastly superior to snoozers like "The Other Woman," but on the other, couldn't they divide the action up a little more evenly throughout the season? Is this a mark of writers who finally know where they're going and are concerned they don't have enough time to get there — or are they simply trying to deal with a strike-truncated season?

Back to that shocking murder. Poor Alex. To hear your father call your mother "an insane woman," then repudiate his relationship with you seconds before your murder at age 16 is tremendously sad — as is the fact that they have killed off yet another of my favorite female characters. They'd better not harm a hair on Penny's head, but after Ben's hotel room confab with Widmore, that hope is probably in vain.

Of course, Alex's death is the first time we get to see Ben drop the Evil Manipulator mask. He can't believe his eyes when Kearny pulls the trigger, which of course makes it all the more shocking to us (as does its placement shortly after finding out Claire's not dead after all). "They changed the rules," Ben mumbles. Which leads me to think that his nonchalance and bravado in his negotiations with Kearny are due to the fact that he's been in this exact situation before—only it doesn't end in Alex's death. This is a pivotal moment. Now we know why the stakes are so high. Before it was about power and possession, now Ben wants revenge in addition to the island. We get a glimpse of Ben's secret lair (its entrance, anyway), learn that he can summon, if not control, the Smoke Monster, and see him time travel (to 2005 Tunisia, Iraq, and London). All of this hinges on Alex's death.

Finally, Sayid. I know you are grieving for Nadia, but I thought you realized that Ben can't be trusted. He points out Ishmael Bakir, names him Nadia's killer, shows a photo in support of that allegation, and you swallow it hook, line, and sinker? The smile on Ben's face as he walks away after Sayid offers his allegiance is wonderfully evil and creepy—back to his true form after his daughter's death.

A few random comments:

• The Shape of Things to Come is also the title of a novel by H.G. Wells, that takes the form of a history book from the future—but I'm sure you guys already knew that!
• Ben vomits orange liquid when he wakes in the desert. The anti-sickness serum is orange—so if you dose yourself before you time travel, perhaps you don't become unstuck in time.
• He's also wearing a parka with a Dharma insignia we haven't seen before, and the name Halliwax, though later he uses his Dean Moriarty passport.
• It's open season on doctors. Jack is already popping pills and showing signs of a disturbing illness, while the doctor from the freighter floats up dead, his throat slit. (By the way, Kendrick—the fictitious couple Ben tells the London hotel clerk he's on his way to see—is the doctor's name in Audrey Niffenegger's novel, The Time Traveler's Wife.)
• Finally, a question for you. When it comes to great, brain-hurty episodes like this one, I find I need several additional viewings and a supplementary podcast or two, plus visits to some of the websites, to come close to picking up all, or at least more, of the nuances and details. I'll enjoy that, but man, it's a time suck. How much time do you spend on Lost throughout the week?

The scene with the non-detonating "joke" bomb was a great metaphor for the way Lost sometimes treats its viewers. There you are, primed for an episode where something big happens in a splashy way, ready to hold your breath and peek through your fingers, and what you get is an hour of Juliet. "Not yet," indeed. Don't get me wrong — in context last night the bomb was simultaneously hilarious and yet again indicative of the depths of Ben's mindeffing ways, but I also think it's the writers' way of saying, yes, we're toying with you, too, audience.

My biggest question from the evening, however, is just exactly how does the island decide who lives and who dies? Michael can't kill himself, Tom tells him, because the island won't let him. Maybe the island has a special rule pertaining to suicide — because up until now I would have said that some people on the island actually are dead. I thought Ana Lucia and Libby were dead ... though of course the latter shows up as a nurse in Michael's post-crash dream. (Confession: I would not have recognized her had I not been spoilered on this point, though of course Michael's reaction would have tipped me off.)

Speaking of which, does this mean that Tom himself is not dead? At first I thought the flashback occurred prior to Sawyer's hot lead payback on the beach, but now I wonder if like Mikhail, Tom's got, if not nine lives, definitely more than one. (Great to see him out of the closet, by the way.) Perhaps the dead who come back to life need to be useful to Ben or Jacob. There has to be some distinction, otherwise the writers have lost the dramatic impact of killing off characters — Karl and Rousseau, for example. Of course, she only got it in the backpack, so I believe that viewers like myself will still have a role model of middle-aged female awesomeness to root for when the show comes back on April 24. But immediately thinking "she's not really dead" after watching her get shot negates any cliffhanger aspect to the end of "Meet Kevin Johnson" — but we've gotten to a point where the loyal viewer knows that not every death is what it seems, and that takes away the punch.

A few more observations:

• Here's what my friend Skip had to say about Ben's way of dealing with Alex's relationship with Karl:

  Man, Ben's idea of birth control is really skewed, huh?
  Option A: He locks your BF in a room and makes him have his own personal rave
  Option B: He gives you a map to a den of snipers that will shoot your BFF after he utters the ultimate Scooby Doo/Star Wars-ism "I've got a baaaad feeling about this..."
  Well... maybe Ben didn't know the snipers would be there. Maybe.

  And after Alex got all gussied up, too.
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• I'm losing my Locke love. He's gone from the knife-tossing shaman to Ben's self-important shadow. Boo.
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• Frank Lapidus is an Oceanic 815 conspiracy theorist, just like the rest of us! Like Frank, I'm hungry for details, so I love that we're learning more about how the outside world reacted to the crash. Last night we had a personal take (Michael's mom's righteous indignation at Michael's refusal to explain why he and Walt showed up alive and have to be referred to by new names) and a public one (the newscast announcing the plane had been found).
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• I'm sure you all caught the shout-out to Kurt Vonnegut (whose Slaughterhouse Five protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, becomes unstuck in time) as an answer to a question on the game show playing in the backgrond when Michael tries to shoot himself the second time.
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• When Minkowski finds Kevin/Michael bouncing a tennis ball in his room, he references Jack Nicholson in The Shining, but I immediately thought of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.
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• Sayid, Sayid, Sayid. You are a brilliant strategist and soldier, but turning Michael in may yet prove to be the act that sets in motion your ultimate indenture to Ben.
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• Remember, there's no new episode of Lost until April 24—and that the timeslot will have moved back an hour. See you back here for a recap on the 25th!