You Better Take Care

Now that's more like it. I was getting a bit fearful of Lost, season 6. There was a lot of walking back and forth on the island, but not a lot of forward motion. Off the island, the stories weren't bad, but they didn't seem to have anything to do with the main action. In season 1, we wanted to know who these characters were, and how did they get on that plane, but now we're more interested in resolving the issues on the island. So last week, seeing Jack have a son, and dealing with being a father, may have been touching, but couldn't be compelling. And having Hurley and Jack walk across the island (never under any threat) to find a lighthouse that had been there all along was okay, but mostly featured them musing about the past. And even the big reveal, as exciting as it was, seemed pretty similar to the big reveal in the cave the week before.

But the latest episode, "Sundown," not only got the action on the island going full force, but suggested how the merging between the timelines might take place--though we've still got a lot to figure out.

We start with Sayid in a cab, outside a house in LA. So we're going to follow him this week (not Sun and Jin, which we'd expect not only from the title, but from the parallels to the first season). He seems uncertain if he wants to leave the cab. Presumably he's about to meet his true love, Nadia.

He goes to the door and rings the doorbell. While he waits, he sees his reflection in the window. Ha! This happens to all the Losties this season, and--is this an intentional pun?--always leads to a moment of reflection. We saw last week in the lighthouse how mirrors are important. Are mirrors a chance for the Losties to be somewhat aware of the other world?

Nadia answers, and we soon get our first surprise. She's married with kids. To Sayid's brother, Omer, who seems a bit suspicious of Sayid's motives. The brother is a successful businessman, while Sayid, in this world, translates contracts for oil companies. Hmm. The kids find a photo of Nadia in his bag. If it weren't already obvious, he's still got deep feelings for Nadia, but he also knows he can't show them. (This reminds me a bit of Bedazzled, where Dudley Moore gets to be with his true love, but she's married to Peter Cook.)

Back on the island, Sayid bursts into Dogen's office and demands answers. Always a bad idea on Lost. Sayid wants to know about the torture machine, and Dogen pretty much tells him it showed Sayid is turning evil. He even admits he thinks Sayid should be dead. (Of course, Dogen knows Sayid already knows that.)

Sayid objects, saying "I'm a good man." The old Sayid said he was a bad man. Saying he's a good man suggests he is infected, and is, indeed, bad. Or turning bad. That's apparently enough for Dogen, who attacks Sayid. It's a pretty colorful fight, and these might be the two best fighters the show's ever had. It goes on for a while until Dogen has the upper hand, but he looks at that baseball (which we'll learn more about later) and stays his death blow. Instead he tells Sayid to leave the Temple. Is this a sign of Dogen's kindness? Or weakness? Or is it that he knows he can't kill a candidate and if he did, it would endanger him and those he loves?

Meanwhile, outside the Temple, Smockey and Crazy Claire discuss strategy. He's sending her, and her alone, in. And he'll hurt the Temple folk but only if "they don't listen." She wonders why he isn't sending Sawyer or Jin. So Jin's on their team? I assume he's just pretending, but I guess Smockey takes it on faith--even though he has the capacity to look into men's souls.

In the altworld, Sayid's brother is in trouble. His financiers are breathing down his neck--and they're not exactly regular bankers. He wants ex-torturer Sayid to help him out, but Sayid isn't biting. (By the way, he knows Sayid loves his wife.)

Sayid is leaving the temple when Miles (still underused this season--if they'd killed him last year would anyone have noticed?) tells him about how he died and came back, and wasn't saved by the Temple spa. So something else brought him back. I think we've got a good idea who. (And did Miles talk to him when he was dead? He didn't seem to.)

Claire enters (it's easy to get in the Temple if you can step over ash). She's no-nonsense, and demands Dogen speak English. She's obviously dealt with him before. Smockey wants to meet with him outside. Dogen won't do it, of course, so Claire says send someone out who will. Suddenly, Sayid seems a lot more valuable. (A few weeks ago the place was swimming in candidates, now there's only one left, and he's "claimed.")

Dogen also tells Lennon to hold Claire and put her in the hole. Which is an actual hole. Which is actually part of Smockey's plan. Dogen also finds out Jack and Hurley are gone. That's part of Jacob's plan. Are these people pawns or what?

Dogen meets with Sayid. He says Claire is under the influence of an angry man. Now with Jacob dead, the man won't stop until he's destroyed everything on the island. He's evil. Evil, I tells you! Dogen gives Sayid a blade. He says the evil man will come to Sayid as someone he knows, someone dead. As soon as you sees him, plunge the knife into his heart before he speaks. If he can speak at all, it's too late. Sayid asks why he'd trust Dogen? Dogen plays the "you still have good in you" card.

AltaSayid sees the kids off to school. Then Nadia rushes out of the house to tell him that her husband's in the hospital. At the hospital, there's Jack Shephard walking down the hall, maybe on the way to save his wife and kill Shannon's dad. Is there only one hospital in LA? Anyway, Nadia is worried Sayid will seek revenge.

Sayid's out in the jungle, and there's Kate, returning to the Temple. Giving up on Claire already, or do you just want some easy food? It would have helped if Sayid mentioned Claire's in the Temple, but things don't work that way in Lostland.

Kate returns and runs into Miles, who gets a few more lines to catch her up. (He barely knows about Claire, but can still tell she's hot.) He thinks it's all about Sawyer, and maybe he's right. Kare rushes to Claire's hole.

Sayid in the jungle. Heavy winds (but no whispers). Out walks John Locke. Will Sayid strike? Will words emerge from the Lockebox first? He gets out "hello, Sayid" before a knife is inserted into his heart. Or where the heart should be. (Because you don't stab Locke where the kidney should be.) This annoys him, of course.

He returns the knife so they can have a talk. Evilocke, always at pains to explain himself, tries to convince Sayid that the Temple people lie. Dogen sent Sayid out to die. He could be telling the truth--bullets bounce off this guy. If that's so, then Dogen didn't want Sayid to hear anything or he might become a recruit. Of maybe you can kill the Locke body but only if you attack before he speaks. (By the way, we sure know you can kill Jacob with a knife, and you get to make a speech beforehand.)

Smockey is pretty clever. Like the serpent? Anyway, he wants Sayid to deliver a message. And promises (like Ben to Locke) that Sayid could have anything he wants. We know what Sayid wants--Nadia. Whom Jacob helped kill, thank you very much. He says the one thing he wanted died in his arms, and he'll never have that again. Smockey whispers to him "What if you could?" That's when a chill went down my spine.

Is this the explanation of the altaworld? A world that the Losties get after Smockey finishes his business (and puts the island underwater)? (Or is it a world where the MIB has destroyed the Island timeline, which allows people to make their own lives, free of the old baggage.) Previously I thought the timeline had split in two, and they had to merge somehow. But perhaps this is a vision of what could be, or even an actual acting out of what happens, of maybe even just a brain in vats experiment of the possibilities. It makes sense. They look in mirrors and sense this other life, but otherwise, there's a reset of flight 815, but now things are jumbled up. They see a lot of the same faces, many from the island (who might be alive in the world as well--maybe everyone gets a new shot), but coming at them in different ways, with new explanations for their appearance. It would explain all the coincidences (though Lost has always been big on coincidences). And it would explain all the wish fulfillment. There are still problems, but they can work them out this time. Jack has a son, and he says he loves him. Kate goes back and helps Claire (and Claire is willing to be helped). Helen is still alive and Locke marries her. (Yes, even dead Locke gets his chance in the altaworld.) Even Sayid might get what he wants eventually. (Another possibility is this world is a sort of afterlife from the island, where the good followers of Jacob get their dreams, while evil followers of the MIB don't do as well.) We'll see how it plays out, but we've finally got an intimation of how things tie together.

Omer is recovering while Sayid holds down the fort with Nadia. She knows about the loan, and says it's Omer's responsibility. We find out Sayid pushed her brother toward him, because he felt guilty--he was a bad man who didn't deserve her. Now that's the good Sayid talking, saying he's bad, not the bad Sayid saying he's good.

Out at the reflecting pool, Sayid returns and gives Smockey's message. First, Jacob is dead. Though the Temple has informed everyone else on the island (or at least sent an SOS), Jacob's death is still big news at the Temple. Sayid adds this means they're all free to leave. This is just what Smockey said to Bram and the others in the Statue, and pretty much what he said to Sawyer in the cave. It does seem the MIB honestly can't understand why everyone holds on to all this devotion-to-Jacob crap.

The MIB is leaving the island forever, and they have until sundown to decide to go with him. (Can he leave on his own, or does he need help?) What happens after that, Cindy wants to know. Good to see they haven't forgotten her. Anyway, after sundown, everyone dies. MIB, what a crack-up.

Kate strongarms whiney Lennon into taking him to Claire. He's really a junior partner at the Temple. He should be Harrison.

Claire's in the pit, humming her favorite song, which is associated with Aaron (and which I sang in high school choir), "Catch A Falling Star." Claire is happy to see Kate, figuring she's a fellow conspirator. Kate spills the beans, with the info about Aaron that Claire said would be enough to make her kill Kate.

By the way, Claire is a little nutty, but she doesn't seem that evil. Just how bad is being infected? I mean when Rousseau's gang was infected, she shot 'em all a few weeks later, they were so dangerous, but Claire's been out in the jungle (under Christian's influence) for three years. Also, though she has obvious parallels to Rousseau, she's the exact opposite--Rousseau was out in the jungle trying to avoid the Others and the Infection.

As Kate is led out, Claire makes it clear she knows what's going on tonight. After four weeks of waiting for something to happen at the Temple, it's finally coming down.

Meanwhile, the Temple's in an uproar. Lennon tells Sayid he's put everyone in a panic. This leads to a question Lost has never fully answered. Just why are the Others so devoted to Jacob? Is it some brainwashing--they usually seem quite fanatical--or is it love, or is it something else? One of the few Others we understood was Juliet, and she did it to save her sister's life. Do they all have such a deal? If that's so, why wouldn't they drop it when Jacob's dead? (And Juliet was one of the few who was willing to escape on her own. Of course, looking at cults, it can be surprsing to see how easily some people go along.)

Lennon tries to reassure Cindy et al that as long as they're in the Temple, they're safe. Blackie is bluffing, he can't come in. Lennon may be right, but MIB has plans. He was eventually able to get into Jacob's Cabin--maybe he had outside help.

Miles talks to Sayid, but Sayid has bigger fish to fry. He's bringing the blade back to Dogen. Hmm.

Back in altaworld, Sayid is kidnaped by the baddies who hurt his brother. He's brought to...Keamy. I'd use an exclamation point except I saw the actor's name in the credits.

Keamy threatens Sayid, and it's clear there'll be trouble. But the trouble is all in the other direction. Sayid goes badass and kills the henchmen, thinks a second, then kills Keamy. Ah, Lost, where you get to come back only to be dispatched immediately.

By the way, I'm not sure why they're getting Sayid involved in his brother's business. You'd think putting Omer in the hospital would be enough. But Island Keamy was never known to make fine distinctions. In fact, killing family members was his specialty.

Then Sayid hears some struggling in another room. He checks it out and it's....Jin! (Saw his name in the credits, but it was still a surprise.) Jin is tied up. He's been involved with Keamy on behalf of Sun's dad, no doubt.

Now we see an ad for a movie with Emilie de Ravin, Remember Me. And we hear one character say "You're kinda lost, arent' you?" Coincidence? They're also pushing FlashForward and V. I'm sure they'll do as well as Threshhold and Invasion.

Back to Lost. Dogen's at the dirty pool. Sayid comes in with the knife. Dogen looks over and says "you let him talk to you." Does this mean he screwed up so his attempt to kill unLocke failed, or that he heard Smockey's arguments and thus is playing for the other team? Sayid says he stabbed him in the chest before he spoke, but this isn't true.

Sayid notes Dogen keeps trying to get him killed. Why? Dogen tells his story, finally. (When they have these big moments, you know it might be near the end.) He was a businessman in Osaka. Wow, that Other training is impressive, since he's now a kickass samurai. Anyway, he got drunk and almost killed his son in a car accident. Jacob, good old Jacob, came to him while he was in the hospital and made him an offer. (He came to Ilana in the hospital too, though she already seemed to know him and was on his side. Speaking of Ilana, where is her group? Considering her job is protecting Jacob, she's always a day late and a dollar short. We also haven't seen Richard, though the way he was scared two weeks ago he'd have run to the Temple lickety split.)

So the deal is Jacob saves Dogen's son (is this the one who can play piano from last week--the one who thought Jack's son was really good, for an Occidental, anyway?) but Dogen has to run the Temple and never see his kid again. So you've got Hobson's Choice, Sophie's Choice and Jacob's Choice. How much better is Jacob than the MIB anyway?

That explains the baseball. Sayid pretends he's nice for a second before plunging Dogen into the pool and drowning him. (I'm sure there are better place to drown someone than a pool that beings people back to life.) I'm assuming this is part of Smockey's plan, but could it be just some freelance evil? Lennon runs in just like a little Libby, and Sayid slices his throat. Let me note it's dramatically good these two guys were killed. They were interesting, but the show's not about them, and they were practically becoming regulars.

Anyway, before he has a new mouth, Lennon explains killing Dogen lets the MIB in. I thought it was the ash. I guess it's complicated. No sooner are these guys floating face down than Smokey smashes into the palace. It's clobbering time. Miles and Kate start running. (Kate's an old hand at this--she's been runnnig from Smokey since the Pilot.) Kate wants to save Claire, but she's safe in her hole. In fact, Kate unwillingly joins her there while Smokey runs rampant above. Claire seems a lot calmer about Kate now. Either she's forgotten what she said (that crazy Claire) or now that it's going down, she understands she's going to get what she wants.

Meanwhile, Ilana comes in. Finally. (Or should I say too late.)

Linus goes to get Sayid. It's a little hard to get used to the new, meeker Linus, who doesn't really run anything. But next week apparently we'll get more answers about Ben, and see if he's ready to break out of his shell. Sayid doesn't want to go with Linus. Okaaayyyy. Ben slowly backs out. He's probably recognizes the signs.

While fleeing, Miles mentions Jin to Sun. Finally, after two seasons, a connection. Meanwhile, Ilana knows the same secret passage that Hurley used last week.

Now the MIB all-stars, Sayid and Claire, come out of the temple in slow motion. We get a dreamy, spooky version of "Catch A Falling Star." Kate comes out, too. I don't think she's joined the MIB team (any more than Jin) but is she playing along? Is she accepted (like Invasion Of The Body Snatchers)? Is MIB suspicious, or is he always thrilled to work with a candidate?

LOST

So a lot of action, after weeks of setting up the chess pieces. And the teams are becoming more apparent. On Jacob's side, Hurley, probably Jack. On Blackie's side, Claire and Sayid. Jin and Kate seem to be in MIB's camp, but their status is questionable. Miles and the others following Ilana seem to be with Jacob, though they're unclear as well.

Now we can move away from the Temple and stretch the battle over the island. Note Jacob isn't that magical. He can give advice, but his big plan was to move his pieces physically away from the Temple so they'd be safe. But the island isn't that big, especially when you can fly like Smokey. On the other hand, Smokey needs proxies his dirty deeds to do.

More important, we're starting to get intimations of just what is going on in the altworld, though it's through a mirror darkly. We've still got Sawyer, Hurley, Jin & Sun and perhaps Ben to look after there, but I'm assuming now that the cat's out of the bag (by a whisker) we can start understanding better what it all means. I also suspect that we'll get more interaction amongst the Losties off-Island, not unlike the first episode. Perhaps they'll have to get together to do something--maybe even smash the altaworld.

P.S. Don't ask me why, but I just remembered a loose thread. Remember during the time flashes when the gang stole an outrigger, and were chased and shot at? Will we ever see who had the guns? Seems to me it would have fit in better with the Bram gang, but they're gone.