s6e01: LA X

I'm not going to attempt to summarize this entire episode... so let's just talk about some things.

1. It seems like the writers want to have their cake and eat it too. The talk since the finale was, did the bomb work - leading the characters to avoid the crash - or did it not work, killing everyone (hence Richard's claim to have "watched them die" in one of the final episodes of season 5). As it happens, this wasn't just having your cake and eating it too - this was like eating your cake twice. While it's not like I expected them to kill everyone off, the answer turns out to be, apparently, "Parallel timelines." In one, the plane lands safely; in the other, the survivors get bounced back to 2007. This seems odd. I mean, either the plan worked or it didn't, right? How can both things have happened? (I'm dubbing this "Schrödinger's Hatch.")

I suppose it depends on how you view time. If we're assuming that things that have already happened cannot be erased, the Losties in 1977 can't simply vanish. Their change to the timeline by blowing up the energy pocket ripples forward, creating an alternate 2004 where the plane doesn't crash... but at the same time, the existing timeline continues to exist, and they end up back in 2007 because in that timeline, the detonation also initiated a time skip. I guess.

2. Following up on that, what are we in for this year as regards the two timelines? Should we expect them to meet? What kind of horrible paradoxes would result if they ever did? Is there actually a possibility that they might not meet? (Remember, the producers have said that the rest of the series will be a lot more character-driven along the lines of season one - and given how much 2007 island plot there still seems to be to resolve, it seems like the best way to get that is by tracking the non-crash 2004 characters back into their real lives, as we've clearly started to do.) Surely they couldn't get away with the two never meeting.

3. Along those lines: Desmond on the plane with Jack. This isn't impossible in a timeline where the Swan's energy pocket was destroyed in 1977 - if Desmond never crashes his boat on the island in 2001 or so, by 2004 he could just as easily be flying from Sydney to LA as anywhere else. However, Desmond seems just a little too wise (although he's good at covering it), and his sudden appearance and subsequent vanishing act seem a little too convenient. Desmond's certainly traveled through time before, and he's got a history with Faraday's mother, who knows more than a little about the subject herself.

4. It certainly looks like the 2007 plot will be "battle for the island" or perhaps more specifically "battle for the soul of the island." But when Esau, or whatever you want to call him, says that he wants to go home... well, what does that mean? What's home for a guy who's hundreds if not thousands of years old and changes into a smoke monster when he gets upset?

Plenty more to talk about as the season continues, I'm sure.

s5e15: Follow the Leader

Previously on the Lost I didn't recap (because I didn't see it until Saturday due to school commitments): Faraday brings us back to the trend of flashback = dead. We learn that Widmore was his father (heavily foreshadowed before the late-episode reveal) and that his mother encouraged him to return to the island knowing full well that she would end up shooting him in the past. Before that, Faraday tells Jack and Kate that he thinks he can stop 815 from ever crashing by detonating Jughead to nullify the energy that Dharma is going to build the Swan station on top of, and Radzinsky has Sawyer in a tight spot after he finds Phil tied up in the closet. I liked that episode but I'm pretty sure I just covered everything important in it. Moving on!

Why, exactly, was Faraday so reckless with the gun? Anyway, he gets shot again, and then a couple Hostiles (the second of whom is Widmore) go all Planet of the Apes on Jack. Meanwhile, Eloise reads the inscription in Faraday's journal (which she gave him, decades later) and then says that Jack and Kate should be brought to their tent. Widmore can't figure out why Dharma has declared war. Eloise says these people aren't from Dharma. It's starting to fall into place for her, clearly.

Back to now-times. The non-aged Richard is greeted by Locke with a boar. Locke says he'll tell Richard where he's been "on the way." Richard notes that Locke seems different. "I have a purpose now," Locke says. Richard spots Ben and Sun trailing in and asks what Ben is doing here. Ben talks to Sun about Richard's long-term "advisor" job. Sun runs up and asks Richard if he was around in 1977, and if he remembers the Losties in the photo. Richard says that he was around and remembers meeting them very clearly, because "I watched them all die." Uh-oh.

Sun asks if Locke thinks it's true. "I don't think we went through all this for nothing," Locke says. He invites Ben on the trek with Richard. Ben asks if Locke is afraid that he'll "stage a coup." Locke says he's not afraid of anything Ben can do anymore. Ben says he'd love to come with in that case. Locke promises Sun that if any way can be found to save the Losties, he'll find it. Back in 1977, Jack and Kate get tied up and worked over by the Hostiles. Jack says to Kate that if they can do what Faraday said, everyone would be alive again, and "all the misery" is erased. Kate is a bit offended at the idea that it was "all misery." "Enough of it was," Jack says. Eloise comes in and asks why Faraday wanted the bomb. Jack says she wouldn't believe him. Eloise tells Jack about her meeting with Faraday in 1954 and that she just shot him and learned he was her son. "Explain to me, and you have my word I will believe you," she says. Jack says that if they do what's in the journal, "none of this will have happened." Complicating factor! The bomb is buried under Dharmaville.

Speaking of which, Sawyer's in big trouble. Radzinsky threatens him with death if he doesn't tell where Kate was going. Phil thinks he can get Sawyer to talk by punching Juliet. (Nice.) Somehow some Dharma guy quickly figures out to check the last sub manifest and realizes that Jack, Kate and Hurley were suspicious last-minute additions. Hurley is in the kitchen trying to stockpile food, then heads into the jungle. Dr. Chang sees him. Hurley meets up with Miles and Jin, and Dr. Chang catches up with them. He asks Miles if they're from the future. Hurley denies it, leading a delightful exchange in which Hurley can't come up with a plausible birth date or name the current US president, and then has to admit that he's from the future. Miles admits to being Dr. Chang's son, but no time for a catch - Faraday said to evacuate, so evacuate they shall. Unfortunately the rest of Faraday's plan will be tougher to implement since he's dead. Widmore looks at his face and wonders why he seems familiar. Eloise tells Richard to come with her and informs Widmore that she's taking Jack and Kate to the bomb. Jack asks who Widmore is to enable Richard to establish the Wid-Hawk ship. Back to 2007! 2007 Richard asks what happened to Locke and where he's been. Locke says he's about to find out and then asks to see Jacob. "That's not how it works," Ben says. Locke asks Richard if seeing Jacob will be a problem. Richard hems and haws a little but caves after Locke pulls rank. Locke says that they're almost to the plane. "What plane?" Ben asks.

It turns out that they're headed not for some big jetliner but to the Beechcraft that Yemi crashed in. Locke tells Richard what to say to time-traveling Locke, who we then see stumbling out of the jungle. "Who is that man, John?" Ben asks. "Me," Locke says. After the break, we get a repeat of the scene from earlier in the year with Richard helping Locke. Meanwhile, Locke and Ben look on. Ben asks the obvious question - how did Locke know when to be there? "The island told me," Locke says. He taunts Ben a bit about never being told things, and Ben taunts back, saying that it hasn't told him where Jacob is. Locke asks Ben if he's ever seen Jacob. Ben has no answer. Time-traveling Locke vanishes. (Quick aside: didn't the writers say "no paradoxes?" This is pretty darn close to one, if it isn't outright - Locke only knows what to do in the past because he told Richard to tell it to him in the future. It's a loop. Might be a problem unless there's some excuse for it... but I have no idea what that would be.) Richard comes back and says time-traveling Locke seemed convinced, especially about having to die; Richard says he's glad that didn't have to happen. Locke says that it did. Richard seems as shocked as anyone.

Dr. Chang wants to evacuate, but stumbles into Radzinsky's torture chamber. Radzinsky, mad with power, says that drilling at the Swan will go ahead as scheduled and that Horace isn't in charge anymore. Sawyer strikes a deal - put the women and children on the sub, and if Sawyer and Juliet get to go too, he'll tell them everything. Radzinsky asks Sawyer to draw him a map of exactly where the Hostiles are, and Michael Giacchino reminds us that "map" is a huge, huge callback clue. Meanwhile, Eloise reveals that the tunnels leading to the bomb require an underwater trip. Kate wants to go back and find the others, and asks Jack what he's doing aside from getting everyone killed. She makes to leave, but the Hostiles won't let her until Deus ex Sayid kills the one with a gun.

Jack fills Sayid in on the plan. Sayid says it won't matter because he already killed Ben and it made no difference. Kate informs him that he didn't exactly kill Ben. Sayid asks why they took him to the Hostiles to be saved. Kate asks when shooting kids and setting off bombs became okay. Jack sounds very Locke-ian when he says that the reason the three of them were pulled off the plane into 1977 was to change things. Kate says that if he's wrong, everyone dies. Jack says he's not wrong. Kate says he sounds like Locke and goes off to find the rest of the Losties, "because if I can't stop you, maybe they can."

The other Losties are watching Dr. Chang yell at his wife to make her leave, which Miles unfortunately has to witness. Then they see Sawyer and Juliet head for the sub. Hurley says Sawyer always has a plan. His plan appears to involve buying Microsoft. Sawyer says he should have listened to Juliet and gotten on the sub three years ago. Juliet asks why he talked her out of it. Sawyer just looks at her. Juliet gets into the sub; Sawyer turns and looks at the island. You think he'll miss something, but he just says "Good riddance" and heads below. Elsewhere, Jack follows Richard into the tunnel underwater, and when he comes up... he's in the Temple. Eloise and Sayid follow. Sayid seems eager either to be saved or to be "put out of [his] misery." "Let's get started," Eloise says.

Back in 2007, Locke returns to camp with Richard and Ben. Locke wants to go to Jacob right away (which Richard doesn't like) and also wants to talk to everyone there. He tells them that the entire group is going to see Jacob. Richard tells Ben that he's starting to think Locke is going to be trouble. "Why do you think I tried to kill him?" Ben asks.

Okay, time to set up the finale! Sawyer says they're free once the sub gets to where it's going. They exchange I love yous. Then... Kate gets dumped onto the sub! You didn't think this triangle would be resolved that easily, did you? Juliet looks unhappy. The CGI sub heads out to sea. Back at the Temple, Sayid asks Jack if he trusts Eloise, that the bomb might be to annihilate Dharma. It's occurred to Jack, but he trusts her because she's the one who helps them get back. Sayid isn't sure that makes her trustworthy. We come to the bomb, and everyone stares at it. "Well!" says Eloise. "Now what?" Back in 2007, it's time for yet another march, as the Others head for Jacob. Ben tells Locke that Richard isn't sure about the plan. Locke reveals to Ben that he isn't actually interested in reuniting the Losties; he's going to Jacob because he wants to kill him. Ben stares for a long, long time. I really expected a tiny "What?" right before the cut to black.

Next! Sawyer and Juliet and Kate get the sub turned around or something, and try to stop Jack. Some stuff in 2007 happens, including Frank asking "What's in the box?" (Frank is with Bram's group, so who knows what we might learn there.) Jack shoots up Dharmaville. Sawyer gets called out for looking at Kate but swears he's with Juliet. And more! Looks exciting.

s5e13: Some Like It Hoth

Kid Miles starts us off, getting a vision of a dead body at an apartment complex his mother is trying to move into. Presumably this is when he discovers his gift for talking to (or at least hearing) dead people. Then it's back to the island, where Sawyer tells Miles to erase some security tapes so no one knows that he and Kate took Ben to the Others. Miles is about to do that, but then Horace comes in and tells Miles to take a package to Radzinsky, who pops out of the forest with a gun as Miles drives up. The "exchange" is for a dead Dharmite, who "accidentally" got shot. Miles isn't supposed to ask any questions, but hey, would anyone mind if he... asked the dead guy?

Teenage punk Miles! Hilarious. He visits his dying mother, looking for answers about his "gift." He also wants to know who his father is. His mother tells him that his father kicked them out when he was a baby, and has been dead for a long time. Miles asks where the body is, and his mother tells him it's "somewhere you can never go." Back on the island, Miles isn't enthused that he has to take the body to Dr. Chang at the Orchid. (I wonder why not.) Hurley gets in on the ride over. Then it's over to Juliet and Kate, who discuss handing young Ben over - then Roger bursts in with the medical supplies. Did they think it was going to take him like, a week to get them? Juliet acts like she walked away for ten minutes and Ben was gone, so Roger runs off to security. "Here we go," Juliet says.

Miles and Hurley drive through the jungle, with Hurley writing something "personal." He asks how to spell "bounty hunter," and the title of the episode is "Some Like It Hoth." Is he trying to write Star Wars before George Lucas can? Since it's already 1977, I think that ship has sailed. I guess maybe he's just trying to write Empire. Hurley asks Miles if he cut one and won't let the smell issue drop, so he makes Miles pull over to check on the food he brought. But, uh, it's the dead body. Miles explains that the guy had a filling pulled out of his tooth and yanked through his brain, killing him (so it wasn't actually a bullet hole). Hurley notes that Miles couldn't possibly know all this unless he could talk to dead people, then tells Miles that it's okay, because he can also do that.

Back to the past, where Miles is now working his talking-to-dead-people business. It's a high school kid killed in a car accident, but unfortunately he was cremated, so Miles says it will cost extra. Then he does a little séance thing. Fake? Maybe, but the dad got he wanted, so he doesn't follow up. Out front of the house, Miles is met by Naomi, who mentions a job offer. Miles checks her out none too subtly as she walks away - good character continuity, since he called her hot in one of his first episodes. And then back to the island, where Roger is getting drunk on Dharma beer. Kate approaches and says she thinks everything will work out, but apparently is a little too convincing about it because Roger starts asking if she knows what happened. She insists that she doesn't, so Roger flips back into full-on douchebag mode and tells her to mind her own business.

Miles and Hurley debate the intricacies of the "power" that each has regarding talking to dead people. Miles describes his gift as just a "sense" of who the person was and what they knew before they died, not a conversation with a ghost as Hurley describes. Then they arrive at the Orchid, which is still being built. Hurley intelligently reveals that he knows about the body, and Dr. Chang threatens him with polar bear poop duty if he can't keep his yap shut. "Dude, that guy's a total douche," Hurley says. "That douche is my dad," Miles says, confirming what everyone suspected for like, a year now.

Naomi takes Miles to a restaurant, but it's not for food - there's a dead body there that will serve as his "audition." Miles says this isn't really his thing, but Naomi flips him a wad of cash that says otherwise. Miles senses that the guy's name is Felix, and that he was assigned to deliver a bunch of photos of empty graves to a guy named Widmore. He also senses that there was a purchase order for an old airplane. Naomi asks Miles to join her expedition to an island, where there is a man who killed a lot of people, and those people will hopefully be able to provide his whereabouts. Miles says that sounds really safe, but he'll pass. Naomi offers $1.6 million. "When do we leave?" Miles asks. Presumably this explains why Miles demanded exactly $3.2 million from Ben. Also, Widmore faked the plane crash, apparently.

Back to the island. Miles doesn't want to talk about Dr. Chang being his dad. Hurley asks how long he knew. Miles says it was on the third day, when his mother got in line behind him in the cafeteria. Dr. Chang comes out and asks to be taken to Radzinsky. "What happened to the body?" Miles asks. "What body?" Dr. Chang says. Over to Jack cleaning a classroom; Roger huffs in and notes that it's on his rounds. (No, I want to clean the dirty schoolroom!) Jack says he figured Roger would want time off. Roger says he has nothing better to do, then kicks Jack's water bucket to the door. Very protective. Roger tells Jack that Kate has a "weird thing" for Ben, and that he thinks she was involved in his disappearance. Jack says that Roger is drunk and not thinking straight, and that Kate would never do anything to hurt Ben. "Sure," Roger says, and leaves.

Hurley, stupidly, starts a conversation with Dr. Chang in the car. When Dr. Chang reveals that his son's name is Miles, Hurley says, "Small world!" Then he keeps doing a cat's-in-the-cradle thing which gets really annoying after the second iteration. Fortunately, we arrive at the Swan. Hurley happens to see them building the hatch and putting the serial number - 4 8 15 16 23 42 - on. When the last number is smudged and the guy can't read it for a second, Hurley mumbles it to himself. Miles asks how he knew that. "They're building our hatch," Hurley says. "What hatch?" Miles asks. "The one that crashed our plane," Hurley replies.

Miles is walking down the street when he's pulled into a van. A guy in it - who I recognize after a second as the guy with Ilana when she hit Frank with the butt of her rifle last week - tells Miles he wants to talk him out of working for Widmore. Miles doesn't know who that is, and the guy (Bram?) tells him that he's the one who chartered the boat Miles will be on. "Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?" Bram asks. Miles doesn't. "Then you're not ready to go to that island," Bram says. But if Miles goes with them, he'll learn the answers to the questions he's had all his life. Miles says he's more interested in money at this point, and that he'll want double (there you go) not to go. The van pulls over and tosses him out. "You're playing for the wrong team," Bram says. When Miles asks what team Bram is on, he replies, "The one that's gonna win."

Back on the island, Hurley tells Miles what the Swan is going to look like when it grows up. Then he keeps going on about Miles' dad, and suggests that maybe Miles could change his own diapers. Miles stops the van short and yells at Hurley that he doesn't want to know his dad better, because his dad never cared about him and nothing he can do will change that, and for that matter, his dad is dead. Hurley notes that he's not dead; they just dropped him off. Miles grabs Hurley's notebook to get into his business. He reads from Hurley's book and yes, Hurley is trying to write The Empire Strikes Back. He plans to send it to George Lucas with "a couple improvements." Miles says that's the stupidest thing he's ever heard. "At least I'm not scared to talk to my own dad," Hurley says.

Sawyer comes back to find Jack and Juliet talking. Jack tells Sawyer that Roger thinks Kate was involved in Ben's disappearance. It doesn't matter, because right after Jack leaves, Phil steams up with the tape that Miles didn't get a chance to erase. Phil hasn't even finished saying that he hasn't yet talked to Horace because he wanted to give Sawyer the benefit of the doubt when Sawyer knocks him out. Might have been a better way to handle that.

Miles returns to the dad of the dead high schooler and gives him back his money, telling him that he lied about being able to reach his son. The guy asks why Miles exposed the lie, and Miles says it wouldn't have been fair to his son - if the guy wanted his son to know that he loved him, he should have told him when he was still alive. (Sounds familiar.) Back on the island, Hurley tells Miles that he had cut his dad out of his life after he left, but that he was glad he reconnected. Miles says it's different since he was a baby, not ten like Hurley, and that he doesn't want to know his dad. Hurley says, "That was Luke's attitude too," and describes how Return of the Jedi would never have had to happen if Luke and Vader had worked out their relationship at the end of Empire. Miles oddly seems to take this to heart, and wanders by Dr. Chang's house, where he can see Dr. Chang reading to baby Miles. This chokes him up, understandably. Then Dr. Chang gets a phone call and comes outside. He sees Miles and tells him to drive to the dock, where scientists from Ann Arbor have arrived on the sub. Miles resists the urge to ask if Dr. Chang wants to have a catch.

At the dock, who should climb out of the sub... but Faraday! "Long time no see," he says with a smile. Logo. Next time? Fighting and stuff! And Faraday says that any of them can die. Does that mean someone will, by season's end? Apparently this is two weeks off. Kind of annoying.

s5e12: Dead is Dead

Previously on Lost: Ben is a bad dude.

Widmore (I bet) rolls into Others camp to confront Richard for saving young Ben. Richard tells him that Jacob wanted it done. Sure enough, it's Widmore, and he tells Ben that he's among friends. Then it's 2007. Ben is indeed stunned that Locke is alive... except he claims that he knew it would happen. "It's one thing to believe it," Ben says. He tells Locke he was going back to the main island to be judged for breaking the rules. Locke asks who's going to judge him. "We don't even have a word for it," Ben says, but it's Smokey the Monster.

Hey, did you know The Unusuals is premiering next?

Still 2007. Ben plants the seed in Cesar's mind that Locke is Ethan-like and also "dangerously deranged." Cesar tells Ben he has his back. Even on his way to be judged, Ben is a scheming asshole? Christ. Back to... well, we don't know exactly, but based on Ethan's age I bet this involves Alex. Nice to see they went for goofy 90s haircuts even on the island. And, in fact, it's Rousseau and Alex. Ben takes Alex and tells Rousseau not to follow him, and to run if she ever hears whispers if she wants Alex to live. So, we finally got that flashback. A little underwhelming, right?

2007. Ben digs up a picture of himself with Alex (clearly Photoshopped) in the Hydra. Locke wants to talk about why Ben killed him. Ben tells him it was the only way to get everyone back. Locke asks the obvious question that everyone was asking a few episodes ago - why stop him hanging himself only to strangle him seconds later? - and Ben gives the obvious answer, that Locke had information Ben needed. After that he just didn't feel like talking Locke back into hanging himself. Ben also notes that it worked - everyone's back (somewhere or other) and Locke is alive. "I was just hoping for an apology," Locke says. He also wants to accompany Ben to the main island. They go for a boat but bossy ol' Cesar, having been egged on by Ben earlier, shows up and tells Locke he's not going anywhere until he tells them how he knows so much about the island. When Locke declines to do so, Cesar attempts to produce a gun, only to find that Ben has it, and uses it to blow the hell out of Cesar. (Really? That's all we did with that character? Okay.) "Consider that my apology," Ben says.

When they arrive, Locke notices Sun and Frank's boat. When Ben mentions that Sun clocked him with the oar, Locke asks if she hurt his arm, too. Ben says that someone else did that. Locke tells Ben that he doesn't believe Ben wants to be judged for breaking the rules, but rather for being responsible for Alex's death. Ben again looks fairly shocked. Back to - when was this, do we think? 1987 or 1988? Lostpedia says '88 was when the distress call started, so it would be around then, I guess. Widmore tells Ben he was supposed to kill Rousseau; Ben protests that Rousseau poses no threat, since she's crazy, and doesn't want to kill the baby. Ben asks if Jacob wants that. "Then here she is," Ben says, "you do it." Widmore walks away.

Back at the dark, deserted New Otherton. Locke asks if moving into the village was what the island would have wanted. Ben tells Locke that he doesn't have the first clue about what the island wants. Then a light creepily goes on in Alex's old room and a female figures moves in shadow. Creepy! Ben enters the house as Michael Giacchino attempts to scare the shit out of us. It turns out just to be Sun (and Frank) inside the house. Frank shows Ben the 1977 photo. Ben professes ignorance of it. Sun says Christian told them to wait there for Locke if they wanted to find their friends again, and Ben reveals that Locke is alive. Sun looks outside to see Locke giving a little wave.

Frank tells Sun they should go back to the plane, but Locke says he "has some ideas" on finding the others. Sun insists on staying, while Frank leaves. Sun asks Locke how they find Jin, but Locke says Ben has something to do first. Ben heads for his secret closet, where he pushes aside a runic stone, heads down some stairs, crawls through a passageway, and comes to... a puddle. Reaching into it, he unclogs something (or something?), the water drains into a hole, and Ben says - one assumes to the Monster - "I'll be outside."

Back to... 1993 or so. Ben heads to the sub to "say goodbye" to Charles, who's being escorted away. "You left the island regularly, you had a daughter with an outsider - you broke the rules, Charles," Ben says. Widmore asks why Ben will be a better leader, and Ben says he'll sacrifice anything for the island. Widmore notes that he wouldn't sacrifice Alex. "You're the one that wanted her dead," Ben says. Widmore asks what will happen if Ben's wrong about that.

Back to 2007. Sun says Jack must have lied about Locke being dead. Ben insists that Locke was dead. Sun asks if Ben knew that Locke would come back to life, and Ben says he had no idea - "Dead is dead," and while the island has done miraculous things, it's never resurrected anyone before. "So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island scares the living hell out of me." Then Ben tells Sun to go inside when he hears trampling in the brush. It turns out to be Locke, who says that they should go to the Monster. "I only know how to summon it," Ben says, "I don't know where it actually is." "I do," Locke replies.

And now it's 2007. Ben calls Widmore from the marina, taunting him that he'll succeed in getting back to the island where Widmore has spent 20 years failing. (Bit of an overstatement, right? More like 15 years. Whatever.) But first, he's going to kill Penny. "Don't you dare," Widmore hisses. Ben hangs up. Well, we all saw this coming. I've paused it - does he really do it? I say no, but stranger things have happened.

Well, back to the island before we see anything. Ben asks Locke how he knows where he's going. Locke says that Ben doesn't like having to follow someone blindly in the hopes that they'll lead him to the right place. Ben admits that he doesn't. Locke says that now Ben knows what Locke's life used to be like. Turns out they're headed for the Temple (gee.), although according to Ben, what we know as the Temple is just the wall around it, with the real Temple being a half-mile distant so that outsiders wouldn't see it by accident. Locke says they're not going in, however; instead, they're going under it. Before heading into the "vent," Ben tells Sun that if she ever gets off the island, she should find Desmond and say Ben was sorry. "For what?" Sun asks. "He'll know," Ben says, and heads down.

And back to the marina. Desmond spots Ben before he can get to Penny and asks what he's doing there; Ben shoots him, although through a grocery bag, so I'm assuming he's fine. Then he approaches Penny, who's running over. Penny insists that she and her father have no relationship (true!) but Ben doesn't really seem interested, telling Penny that her father is responsible for the death of his daughter. Charlie pops his head up just then and Penny tells him to go back inside. Ben lowers the gun, and the just-fine Desmond gets him from behind, beats the crap out of him, and throws him into the water.

Island, 2007. As Frank arrives at the Hydra, one of the survivors yells at him that Ilana (sp?) and a few of the others have guns and are saying they're in charge. When Frank asks about this, Ilana asks him, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Frank has no idea what she's on about, and gets a face full of rifle butt for this. She tells another guy to tie Frank up and bring him with the others. Say what, now?

Locke lights two torches and he and Ben proceed into the Temple's guts. Ben tells Locke that Locke is right; he could have saved Alex by leaving the island with Widmore's men. "I appreciate you showing me the way but I think I can take it from here," Ben says. "I'll meet you outside - if I live," and then he falls through the floor. Locke goes to look for something to help with, but Ben gets up and examines the columns, then finds his way to some sort of altar, where a carving of what looks a lot like Anubis is on the wall. Ben's torch extinguishes and Smokey starts coming out through a grate of sorts. (Anubis, you may recall, is associated with the judgment of the dead prior to their passage to the Underworld in Egyptian myth. Fitting, no?) Smokey surrounds Ben and starts playing back moments from his life (similarly to what it did with Eko), fixating pretty much entirely on Alex, from when he didn't kill her at the camp to the moment he watched her die. And then Smokey recedes into the grate and Ben's torch comes back...

...just in time for Alex to appear behind him. Ben admits it was all his fault. "I know," Alex says. Then she grabs him and throws him up against a column and tells him she knows he's already planning to kill Locke again. She (Smokey?) tells him that if he harms Locke in any way, she will hunt him down and destroy him, and that he is to follow Locke's every order. Ben swears he will, and then Alex vanishes and Locke shows up at the hole with a vine. "What happened?" Locke asks. "It let me live," Ben says.

Next time: back to 1977! Remember how Miles can talk to dead people? Well, that's gonna get real-ass important. And! Does Pierre Chang know that Miles is from the future? Maybe? Remember that secret video.

Not a bad episode all told. Good to get some mythology in there again, and it's good to see that Ben actually has some humanity and vulnerability, although since he was planning to kill Locke again, clearly not that much. But will he really follow that order?

s5e11: Whatever Happened, Happened

Jin brings shot-but-alive Ben back to Dharmaville, where Kate has just met Roger Workman. Then we flash back to early 2005; Kate drops in on Cassidy (Sawyer's baby mama), who's surprised and happy to see her until Kate says that Sawyer sent her. (Has to be one of the longest waits for a reveal of something that everyone guessed the second it happened in show history, right? Though I would like to know how Sawyer imparted that much information in about four seconds of whispering.) The meeting doesn't go all that hot; turns out it's not even Sawyer's money (so he didn't whisper a bank account number and PIN to her!), but Kate's. Cassidy says Kate got left by Sawyer, just like she did. Then she correctly divines that Aaron is not Kate's son. B'oh.

Back to Life on Mars: Island Edition. Ben very cleverly left the keys in the lock of Sayid's cell, so it's even clearer it was an inside job; only three people have that kind of keys, including Roger and Jack. (Every Dharma Initiative member has keys to the jail cell? Or every janitor has a skeleton key to everything, including the jail cell? To quote Dennis Nedry, no wonder you're extinct.) Sawyer tells Miles to "sit on" Kate, Jack and Hurley so they won't talk to anyone, as things are going a bit haywire. Roger is waiting outside the infirmary, where Sawyer finds he's the one missing his keys (no kidding). Juliet is operating on Ben and tells Sawyer Ben needs a real surgeon. Guess who.

Hurley brings up the Back to the Future corollary (if young Ben doesn't turn into old Ben, the A3 never come back to the island [or presumably never even get there in the first place, since if Ben doesn't purge the DI then the Swan probably isn't manned by Desmond and Inman like it is and 815 never crashes at all]), which proves that the writers are thinking about this stuff. "You can't change anything," Miles says. It always happened, but they just haven't experienced how it turned out yet. Sawyer asks for Jack's help, but Jack won't do it - he's cool with Ben dying, figuring, perhaps, that it could somehow be his ticket out of his current situation. (You do get the feeling that Jack was hoping to be greeted as a hero upon his return to the island, and being a peon in the DI isn't exactly his idea of a good time. But why should it be, really.)

Kate isn't sure this is such a good idea. Jack notes the connections to when he had to operate on Ben the first time, then asks Kate if maybe all the work he did trying to fix things on the island the first time was getting in the way of the island trying to fix things itself. Kate says she doesn't like the new Jack. Jack says she didn't like the old Jack. Kate huffs off and decides to donate blood because she's type O negative. Roger comes in and realizes Ben stole the keys, then actually looks human as he says that it's because of him. Then Ben goes into "hypoxic shock." Kate looks at him like she's trying to figure out a way to donate oxygen too.

The writers Miles have a scene where they try to explain time to the viewers Hurley. Hurley asks what I've seen many people ask - why didn't older Ben remember Sayid shooting him when he was a kid? "I hadn't thought of that," Miles says. (Correct answer: who says he didn't?) Hurley gives him a checkmate look. Meanwhile, Roger paces; finally, Juliet comes out and says Ben is stable. But after Roger runs off, Juliet tells Kate that Ben is going to die. When Kate insists that he can't, Juliet offers that maybe there's something they can do. You know, the Others? (This reminds me of a creepy story I read as a kid from a book called The Dark-Thirty: Southern Tales of the Supernatural. My recollection of the plot is that a kid wanders away from his family and falls off a cliff, but later returns unharmed, except that he keeps referring to a figure called "Boo Mama." In the end of the story, it turns out that the kid was saved only via a blood transfusion from these talking bear-like creatures, and he's turning into one of them and ends up leaving with them. If the Others really do save Ben, it's a pretty straight parallel, no? By the way, I didn't look up any of that and I haven't read that book since about 1993. It was pretty creepy.)

Somehow no one sees Juliet and Kate put Ben in a van. Kate won't let Juliet go with her (but what is Juliet going to tell Sawyer, that she wasn't involved?). Then it's back to 2007, where Kate huffs off from the pier (the fifth time we've seen this scene this year, I think). Kate takes Aaron into the grocery store and as she checks her cell phone, he vanishes into thin air. Then she finds him at the front of the store with some woman who says she was about to make an announcement. Whatever. Back to 1977. "Tell my dad I'm sorry I stole his keys," Ben says as Kate stops in front of the sonic fence. (It kind of sounded like he said "Tell my dad he's a total skeeze," which was funny.) Sawyer gets there really fast, but he's not there to stop Kate, but rather to help her.

Back to 2007. Kate drops in on Cassidy again, then confesses to losing Aaron at the store. "As scared as I was, I wasn't surprised," Kate says. Cassidy tells her that she expects him to be taken because she took him. No, Kate says, Claire was gone - he needed me. "You needed him," Cassidy says. And really it's true - if not for Aaron, isn't it entirely likely that Kate's in jail right now? Back in 1977, Sawyer disables the fence. Kate asks why he's helping her. Sawyer says he asked himself the same question - why was Kate helping Ben? Juliet said it was wrong to let a kid die. "I'm doing it for her," Sawyer says. Kate looks like a dagger went through her heart.

Juliet confronts Jack about not helping Ben, then tells Jack that he didn't need to come back, and asks why he did. "Because I was supposed to," Jack says. "Supposed to what?" Juliet asks. Jack doesn't know. Juliet tells him to figure it out. Meanwhile, Kate tells Sawyer that she helped Clementine, and passes on Cassidy's theory regarding why he jumped from the chopper. Sawyer says he wasn't fit to be Kate's boyfriend, much less Clementine's father. Kate notes that he and Juliet are doing fine. Sawyer says he's grown up a lot over three years. The Others pop out of the woods and Sawyer tells them that Ben being shot is everyone's problem, and that they need to take him to Richard.

Back in 2007, Kate knocks on Claire's mother's door and tells her basically everything. Then she gives her Aaron and tells her she's going back to find Claire. (So she didn't go back for Sawyer. Assuming this was true.) 1977 again. Richard shows up. "Is that Benjamin Linus?" he asks. Kate asks if Richard can save Ben. Yes, says Richard, but he will always be an Other if this happens. (There you go!) He also says that Ben will forget that any of this ever happened. (Convenient much?) Richard descends into the Temple with Ben.

And then we're back to old Ben, and we finally see Locke again. Ben wakes up to find Locke staring him down. "Welcome back to the land of the living," Locke says. Ben looks more than a little surprised to see him.

Next week! Ben faces judgment from the island, apparently? How can this episode not rule?

s5e10: He's Our You

Young Ben thinks Sayid is there to take him over to the Hostiles, and offers to spring him. Meanwhile, in flashbacks - when was the last time we had any of those? - we learn more about Sayid and his killin' ways. He kills the last of Ben's list and then doesn't know what to do next (I'm guessing it involves whatever got him shackled and on the Ajira plane, but hey, we'll see).

Horace tries to interrogate Sayid but gets nowhere. Meanwhile, Juliet worries that things are going to fall apart with the others back. Horace tells Sawyer of his issues with Sayid, so Sawyer goes in alone. He tries to convince Sayid to claim he's a Hostile who's planning to defect, but Sayid refuses to play along with the Dharma game and decides to go it alone.

Hey, it's Roger Workman! And he's still an asshole, adding actual physical abuse to his delightful repertoire. Then it's back to Sayid's house-building project, where Ben visits him again. He tells Sayid that Locke was murdered and suggests that Sayid is in danger from Widmore. He also suggests that Sayid is simply a natural-born killer. Sayid isn't thrilled by this suggestion, of course.

Sawyer gives Sayid one more chance, and then it's off to the guy who, presumably, is "our you." (He is.) He gives Sayid drugs to make him tell the truth, which makes Sawyer look down, worried. Then it's back to the past/future in LA, when Sayid leaves after Ben makes clear the intention to return to the island. Then Sayid is in a bar, where he meets the woman who takes him onto the plane. And then it's back to the 1977 island (*whoosh*, motherfuckers, huh?), where Sayid is interrogated again under the effect of drugs. He admits he's not a Hostile and that he's been to the island before, describing his knowledge of the Dharma stations. Then he tells them they're all going to die and that he's from the future. The Dharmites think they've used too much truth serum, but Sayid laughs and says they've used exactly enough.

Meanwhile, it's time for Juliet and Kate to meet about Sawyer, but that takes like two seconds. Then it's a Dharma meeting where Radzinsky keeps agitating that Sayid should be killed, and says that if it's not put to a vote he's going to "call Ann Arbor and they'll make [a decision] for us." Amy agrees that it's risky to keep Sayid around. Horace puts it to a vote, which of course everyone but Sawyer agrees to; he ends up raising his hand in defeat so that Horace can say it was unanimous.

Past/future again. Sayid and the woman are pre-coital when it turns out she's a bounty hunter hired to bring Sayid to Guam (convenient!) for the family of Mr. Avellino, the guy Sayid killed on the golf course. And then it's back to 1977, where Sayid tells Sawyer he knows why he's back on the island. (Of course he doesn't actually say why.) Very Locke of him. So Sawyer runs off to Kate to ask why they came back. Kate doesn't know why everyone else came back, but she knows why she did. Of course she can't say why before the flaming Dharma van comes hurtling into Dharmaville and sets a house alight. Who did it? Why, young Ben of course. (Why do they bother hiding people's faces in scenes like this where it's so obvious who it was?) Ben says he'll let Sayid out if he'll take him to the Hostiles. "That's why I'm here," Sayid says, although he clearly doesn't actually think that. The purpose he feels is killing Ben to stop everything else, I'm sure of it. But will the island and/or time let him do it?

In the coda, we're back at LAX. Sayid doesn't want to get on the plane when he sees the other O6 there. He asks the woman if she's working for Ben, but she doesn't know him. And then it's 1977 again, and young Ben lets Sayid out. As they run through the jungle, another Dharma van drives past. It's Jin - Sayid ends up knocking him out, but it's just to get his gun. Then he tells Ben that he was right - Sayid is a killer. "What?" young Ben says. Sayid shoots him. Young Ben collapses, and Sayid runs.

Apparently the island will let Sayid shoot Ben (it's not a Michael situation, for example), but what next? Nothing good, if the teaser is anything to go by.

s5e09: Namaste

Sun and Ben - along with Frank and apparently everyone else on the plane - are in 2007. Meanwhile, Jack, Kate and Hurley are back with Sawyer and Jin in 1977. They brought Sun back against Jin's wishes and she's thirty years away from him? That blows. One wonders how these two camps are going to meet again; maybe that's this year's cliffhanger-in-waiting? Well, let's not overguess.

Sawyer tells Juliet about the return of the Ajira 3. Meanwhile, Jin hears that Sun was on the plane and starts running around trying to find out where the plane is (little does he know). In 2007, Ben tells Sun he's going back to the main island, although since he's still on the Hydra later (as this conversation must take place before the scene with Locke talking to Cesar in the Hydra building) something must go wrong.

Well, in case you were wondering if Horace and Amy's baby was someone we knew - it's Ethan. Sawyer tells the A3 to pretend to be Dharma recruits. Meanwhile, someone trips the motion sensor grid outside the Flame - it's Sayid, and Jin catches up with him first, but has to play tough guy when Radzinsky (in his pre-Swan days, apparently) runs up behind him.

Hurley wonders if Sawyer plans to warn Dharma of the Purge (he should have a good 15 years or so), but Sawyer says Faraday has ideas about what they can change. "Faraday's here?" Jack asks. "Not anymore," Sawyer says. Miles sees the A3; Jin reports Sayid's appearance to Sawyer. Back in 2007, Frank warns Sun not to trust Ben as the two of them head for a boat; Sun ends up clocking Ben with an oar (so that's how that happened), so presumably she's heading over alone.

The Swan, it turns out, hasn't even been built yet. Radzinsky is building a model of it, which Sayid apparently sees, so Radzinsky freaks out and won't just let Sawyer take Sayid away. Meanwhile, Jack is assigned "workman," and Kate nearly gets caught until Juliet swoops in to save her. Back in 2007, Frank and Sun row to the island and visit the now-empty barracks, at least until Christian shows up and says he can take Sun to Jin.

In a great little Shining-esque moment, Christian pulls down a 1977 Dharma photo with Jin and the rest in it. He tells Sun she has a long journey ahead. Back in '77, Sayid is stuck in a prison cell. Jack goes to see Sawyer to find out what's up; Sawyer somewhat revels in the fact that he's now the leader among the Oceanic survivors - Jack et al. are forced to rely on him. He tells Jack that Jack reacted rather than thinking when he was leader, and got a lot of people killed. Sawyer says he thinks instead, and that's what he's been doing and what he'll continue to do. In the final scene, young Ben - you knew he'd show up sooner or later! - brings Sayid a sandwich.

Next week! Sayid is tied to a tree! And Juliet tells Kate to stay away from her man! And then we're led to believe that Sayid thinks he's back on the island to kill young Ben and stop the Purge, which probably means that has nothing to do with what actually happens. I wonder what kind of timeline-breakage that would cause, if it did happen, though.

s5e08: LaFleur

Recap time!

We start off with a pretty big mindfuck, but one that certainly explains Jin's appearance at the end of "316," as well as where Jack, Hurley and Kate are. After a quick refresher of Locke moving the island to stop the skipping (just before which we see the full statue of which the four-toed foot was clearly a part), we move ahead three years - at which point we see Horace (remember him?) getting wasted and blowing up trees. Two Dharma guys run to wake LaFleur, the head of security, who is not a very effectively hidden Sawyer (it's easy to recognize his voice before we see him).

Sawyer/LaFleur drags the drunken Horace back to his pregnant wife Amy. She admits they fought, then goes into labor. We jump back three years (this is starting to become a kind of loose concept, "years," but hey) and find out how our crew got involved with Dharma; Sawyer saved Amy from armed men. In other words, when the island stopped, our guys were in the 60s or maybe 70s (Juliet guesses 70s or 80s). This explains seeing Daniel in the past at the Orchid before as well, now that I think about it.

Amy is slippery like all Dharmites; suspicious after Juliet recognizes the sonic fence, she tricks the group into getting knocked out by it. But I guess everything worked out, since back three years later she's having problems giving birth (the baby is breech and the island's doctor can't help her; she was due two weeks later and booked on a submarine to see a doctor on the mainland). Sawyer recruits Juliet to help deliver the baby, which she does successfully despite worrying about her inability to help women give birth on the island. We also see that Jin's English has come along swimmingly in the three years, and he's apparently checking some list of people looking for other 815ers (or so I took from it).

Back to three years earlier. Horace interrogates Sawyer, who uses all his con artist skills to make up a story credible enough for Horace to tell him that he'll put the group on the sub to Tahiti. Sawyer doesn't like this plan, but Horace tells him he's not Dharma material. Later, Daniel sees young Charlotte just before the Hostiles breach the compound; from inside a building, Sawyer and Juliet exchange a glance as Richard Alpert - same age as always - strides into the compound. "Uh oh," Sawyer says.

Since Richard is there because of the broken truce resulting from Sawyer and Juliet killing two Hostiles, Sawyer goes out to talk to Richard, convincing him he's not with Dharma by citing the events of "Jughead." Richard is suitably impressed but still needs something to show his people, so Paul (Amy's first husband, who the Hostiles killed)'s dead body is traded. Juliet is ready to leave the island via sub, but Sawyer dates us (1974) and points out that she's not going back to whatever she thinks she is. Juliet doesn't care, but Sawyer has bought two weeks from Horace by helping save Dharma from the Hostiles' wrath (the next sub arrives in two weeks) and convinces Juliet to stay that long. Three years later? She's still there, of course, and now she and Sawyer are an item. Who wants to bet that Kate showing up soon is going to mess all that up?

Sure enough, she does. Sawyer has a heart-to-heart with Horace, who reveals that Amy was still holding on to an artifact of Paul's and wonders if three years is enough time to get over someone. Sawyer tells Horace that he felt strongly for a woman about three years earlier (Kate, obviously) but that now he can't even remember what she looks like. Naturally he gets a refresher. After being awoken from Juliet-spooning slumber by a Jin phone call (during which Elizabeth Mitchell's bare back gets its contractually-mandated yearly appearance), Sawyer drives out to the beach to find Jin with Jack, Hurley, and Kate. With music swelling and Sawyer staring, we cut to Lost logo.

Back in two weeks. Two weeks? Lame. The teaser shows that at least Sayid also appears in 1977; Sun is less clear, but you'd have to assume (Jin is no doubt thrilled). Is the rest of the plane in 1977? Seemingly not, since it's at the deserted Hydra station, which the active Dharma Initiative presumably would still be using. Are Locke and Ben going to be 30 years adrift of the rest forever? Are we going to see young Ben soon (by 1977 surely he was already a Dharma member based on his flashback)? And given that every heterosexual permutation of Jack/Juliet/Kate/Sawyer has happened by now (although Jack and Juliet never actually got it on), just how messy is that little love quadrangle going to get? And I'm still wondering where exactly this season is poised to leave off.

s5e07: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

It's been kind of an odd season so far. There are scheduled to be 17 episodes, and yet at the end of Episode 7 - not even halfway through - everyone's back on the island. So what, exactly, was so important about leaving? It's almost like the plot only went that way to help add some depth to the Ben/Widmore dichotomy which, needless to say, got quite a bit more interesting tonight.

So Widmore claims to have formerly been the leader of the Others and then exiled by Ben. He also knew to watch the exit point in Tunisia, although apparently he didn't know to watch it when Ben popped out of it (you'd think Charlotte's discovery of the polar bear skeleton was the major tipoff, and that was certainly before Ben's appearance there, but I guess getting a surveillance camera set up in the middle of the Tunisian desert takes time). Matthew Abaddon is working for Widmore - no surprise there - and drives Locke around to visit Sayid, Walt, Hurley and Kate. None of the O6 agree to go, and Locke doesn't ask Walt (probably because he doesn't have the heart to tell him what happened to Michael). Finally Locke demands to know if Abaddon could locate Helen, his former girlfriend (not seen since Season 2); Abaddon takes him to her grave (both Drew and I found this scene a little suspect, but I have my doubts that there's any trick behind it if only because that's way too much at this point). As they leave the cemetery, Abaddon is gunned down; Locke takes off in the car and ends up in an accident, sending him to the hospital at which a not-yet-fully-bearded Jack is a doctor. Jack is dismissive of Locke until Locke tells him that Christian said to say hi, at which point Jack freaks out a bit. Finally Locke decides to kill himself. It's not clear at this point whether he really believes that's the only way to get everyone back or whether he's simply despondent. At any rate, Ben comes in and stops him from hanging himself, but when Locke reveals that he's supposed to see Ms. Hawking, Ben strangles him to death and sets up a fake suicide. The entire flashback is bookended by scenes on the island, where we see that Locke is alive once more.

So. Who's good and who's bad? Or is it just not that simple at all? It seemed like the mention of Ms. Hawking - on Widmore's bankroll, we might remember - led Ben to kill Locke, perhaps because of the Widmore connection. But then how is Ben able to work with her? And since Christian told Locke to find Ms. Hawking, does that mean that the island "prefers" Widmore's side?

It could be. Consider that Widmore was aware that Ben had tried to kill Locke (by shooting him, recall, in the late S3 episode "The Man Behind the Curtain"). The only people who knew this were Locke, Ben, and Richard (who, we can surmise, guessed it after Ben brusquely informed him only that Locke had an "accident" in "Greatest Hits"). We also know that Richard has been able to leave the island in the past. So if Richard is working with Widmore at this point... is Widmore really the good guy? Did he simply miscalculate with Keamy, trying to find someone who could capture/kill Ben at any cost and looking past his most mercenary tendencies?

People who want to have Lost episodes spoiled before seeing them

Congratulations! You're all fucking idiots.