Spoiler Alert

I think this episode was worth the wait– it gave us possibly the most important reveal of the season so far: an exact date in a flash-forward!!! The flash-forwards have driven me crazy all season because the writers have been careful not to let us know when they happen or in what order. As I’ve speculated previously, the first one (with Jack at the end of last season) is probably one of the last to actually happen chronologically and I figured Sayid’s, where it’s revealed that he is an assassin working for Ben, was probably one of the first. Ben’s flash-forwards confirm this as we’re finally told he meets Sayid in October of 2005. If you’ve been paying close attention, you’ll know that the events happening on the island in the present are December 2004 or the first week of January in 2005 (it was almost Christmas according to a calendar on the boat in “The Constant” four episodes ago). Which means Ben finds Sayid in Iraq about ten months after the current events.

I was thrown way off base by Kate’s flash-forward earlier in the season, which depicted what looked like a two-year old Aaron who she was raising as her own. There’s no way to know yet if those events happen before or after this week’s flash-forward but I always assumed it couldn’t be too long after the Oceanic Six got off the island because she was going to trial. But considering the legal system and how long things can get strung out, maybe ten months or more isn’t too far fetched. And maybe I was wrong about Aaron– maybe he was only supposed to be about one year old and I was off on the age.

This is important because I was right the first time. At the beginning of the season, I predicted that this season would depict the events leading up to the Oceanic Six getting off the island and that by the end of the season, the present would catch up with the future. But after the confusion with Aaron, I decided I was wrong and expected it to take the rest of the series for that to happen. If Sayid had time to find Nadia, marry her, and then have to bury her all within ten months, we have to assume that the Six will be getting off the island very, very soon. There’s only five episodes left in the season and taking a look at an episode guide, I discovered that the last three of the season are called “There’s No Place Like Home” Parts 1, 2, and 3. Will those episodes get the Six off and then fill in all the blanks about the flash-forwards? Or will they get the Six off and take their time off-island, leading up to the flash-forwards? And then next season, how much time will the show focus off-island in the present? Finally, is that title a double-meaning? I expect Jack and Hurley will try to convince the others that they need to get back to the island after all of their talk in the flash-forwards about how they “weren’t supposed to leave.” I wonder if the show will take its time in doing this or if that ultimately is how that three-parter will go, getting the Six off and then some of them back on the island all this season.

Personally, I think a whole season about characters simultaneously on and off island would be a really fun change. It might be interesting to see that for a while to take the place of flashbacks and flash-forwards– everything in the present but in a lot of different places. Or maybe that’s a little too Heroes…

I would assume that Ben’s threat to kill Whitmore’s daughter Penny is supposed to tell us that she’s the one that was next on Ben’s list at the end of “The Economist.” I didn’t call this– I really expected it to be one of the Six. Still, I’m glad it’s someone we know and have had some reason to care about. I’m still wondering what happens to Desmond– he’s not one of the Six but he’s on the boat. Does he killed before the others get off the island? I thought perhaps he does get off and he just isn’t considered one of the Oceanic Six because he wasn’t on the plane, but that theory is killed by the fact that Aaron is one of the Six but he wasn’t technically an Oceanic passenger. And yes, I realize Ben gets off the island, but it’s obviously not publicized.

And I’m going to have a heart attack if we don’t figure out who was in the casket Jack went to see at the end of last season pretty soon. I would have expected more clues by this episode.

Anyone else think Ben was lying about getting off the island with Desmond’s boat? It’s pretty well established that if you try to get off with a boat you’ll just go in circles (i.e. Michael’s raft in first season). I think Ben has had a way off this entire time– maybe another submarine no one knows about or something (just what exactly is in his secret room?) But as quick as he was to let himself get captured by Jack at the end of last season, and to be held captive by Locke lately, it’s obvious he has a lot up his sleeve and I can’t imagine that sub was his only means of escape.

Ben can control the smoke monster. Or at least summon it. I’m glad to know that because it means he hasn’t been blowing smoke (no pun intended) every time he’s claimed he has all the answers Locke has been searching for. He really does have some understanding of all these mysteries, though I think even he isn’t completely informed. Now I want to go back and see if there’s any clues in previous episodes that Ben may have been responsible whenever the smoke monster attacked people.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

Before the strike ended, this originally was going to be the final episode of the season, and man am I happy it isn’t. A Michael-centered episode was a nice move from the norm this season but as it didn’t tell us a whole lot we didn’t already know, it would have been a downer as a season finale. Happily, we’ll get five more for this season starting April 24th!

Most of the episode focused on how Michael ended up on the boat working for Ben and letting us in on his mission. I thought the flashback was clever in that it took a few minutes to realize his suicide attempt was after he had already been on the island and not before. It was nice to see Tom again and quite jarring to see him off-island (and was it just me or was he pretty openly gay there?). I think it’s safe to say that he and Ben are bluffing with their plan to have him kill everyone in the expedition. I doubt it has as much to do with saving everyone on the island and more to do with saving Ben. But it does make me wonder, as I have all season, if they want more than just Ben. Maybe it’s another of Ben’s half-truths– Whitmore only really wants Ben but he doesn’t care who he has to kill to get to him. Or is there also some truth to what Ben said a couple of episodes back to Locke, about how Whitmore wants the island and its healing properties? If that were the case, he probably would kill everyone on the island.  Sometimes it’s difficult to tell if a line from one of the Others is a new piece of the puzzle or just another lie.

 But a number of new questions arise. I want to know why Michael couldn’t die off-island. He tries to kill himself a number of times and can’t. And Tom knows he can’t, which makes me wonder if this is something the Others have seen before. It’s bizarre, but what if a person can die on the island but something about being there makes it impossible to die after a person leaves? I think this is also new fuel for the purgatory theory– maybe no one is getting off the island at all and it’s all an illusion… but I doubt it. I think it’s one more weird medical mystery.

A more immediate question that I’m sure we’ll get answered soon enough is who killed Rousseau. We knew from the previews that someone would die this week but I didn’t expect it to be her or Alex’s boyfriend. I thought it would be Michael or Jin and I was happy that even though I knew someone would die it was still a surprise. Since Ben sent them to find the Others’ camp, I think it was probably a setup and that the Others killed them. There’s a possibility it was one of the people from the expedition who have been at Jack’s camp, though.

I think this also clears up the question of whether the real Walt came to Locke last season or not. He’s off-island, so it must have been another “hallucination” like Jack’s father and Kate’s horse, which I still think has something to do with Jacob. See you again for more Lost in a month!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan