The best episodes of Lost, going back to those early days in the caves and on the beach, where the ones when everyone was in the same place. So now that the Oceanic Six has gone back, and everyone is technically on our favorite island, the show is once again on an incredible roll. It's pretty amazing to hear that flashback "woosh" and not be taken to some earlier part of the story, but somewhere else on the island! Now, as for when it's all taking place on the island, well, there's still a few questions to answer about that.
"Where are you going?" "Back to our island, you wanna come?"
We start by finally seeing what happened to everyone else on the plane when the Oceanic Six flashed away-- well, the Oceanic Six minus Sun, who is most definitely left behind while Lapidus and his co-pilot struggle to land the plane now that the power has gone out. But hey, it turns out there's a runway there! I wonder what unlucky souls had to break rocks and build that thing, perhaps back in the beginning of season 3? They land safely, Lapidus gathers the survivors for a pep talk, but Sun spots Ben wandering off into the woods, and being the new and improved badass she is, she follows him. He explains he's trying to go to the main island, since it's clear they're on the island where Jack, Kate and Sawyer were held captive way back when. Ben thinks Jin is probably on the main island, and Sun wants to follow him, even when Lapidus tracks them down and reminds her that Ben is lying a skunk. Just when we think Sun and Ben have found the beginning of a beautiful friendship, WHACK! Sun clocks Ben with an outrigger paddle, and she and Lapidus row away to New Otherton, where they're hoping for some answers.
"Before they screw up everything we've got here."
And then we're back on the North Point with the Dharma bus, where Hurley is thrilled to see Sawyer but Jack and Kate, typically, are looking ambivalent. Sawyer runs back home to get them 70s-looking clothes, and finally confesses to Juliet that they're back, and he has to get them to pose as new Dharma recruits before they ruin everything. Everything like your happy domestic partnership, eh Sawyer? Meanwhile Jin realizes that Sun may be where the plane, so he heads back to that house on the prairie where we first met Mikhail, and asks this dude Radzinsky-- who you may remember as one of the original Swan hatch inhabitants--to track down any plane that landed on the island. Radzinsky can't find anything, but he does notice a sensor alarm-- a hostile has found their way into the Dharma zone. But wait, that's no hostile! That's Sayid! A very, very confused Sayid.
"It's not a damn game show, Hugo."
It's a good thing Sawyer has spent the last three years in charge at Dharma, since he has a whole hell of a lot to deal with right now. He brings Jack, Kate and Hurley back to New Otherton and sends them through Dharma orientation, which involves Jack's face-to-face meeting with none other than Pierre Chang, and Kate coming close to being found out before Juliet bails her out. Meanwhile he's also got to help Jin deal with Sayid, who Radzinski won't leave alone and who, poor guy, can't be given a lick of information about what the hell is going on. Sawyer brings Sayid back to the camp and locks him up in a jail cell, figuring that he'll at least stay alive that way. Kate, Jack and Sawyer seem all comfy in their Dharma jumpsuits, and Sayid is in the cell but hungry-- until a spooky little kid named Ben Linus brings him a sandwich. Whoah!
"You didn't think, Jack, and as I recall a lot of people ended up dead."
Jack, still operating under the illusion that he's in charge, goes to pay Sawyer a visit and find out what to do next. But he definitely didn't expect Juliet to open the door, and it's hilarious to watch it slowly dawn on him that the Southern bastard has stolen his lady again! And Sawyer, apparently having taken a page out of Locke's playbook, opts to give Jack as few answers as possible, and tells him just to follow his lead. Then, apparently having taken a page out of Jack's asshole playbook, uses the opportunity to dig at Jack's former leadership, and suggest that it's pretty much for the best that Jack can no longer be the leader. Jack, secretly, totally agrees, but it seems pretty clear that he and Sawyer will continue to pettily battle each other forever. As if to prove it, Sawyer sees Kate standing on the neighboring porch and giving her a little wave-- let's see if he gets to be the one playing with her heart from now on.
"I'm sorry but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you."
And finally, we get back to Lapidus and Sun, who find themselves in a version of New Otherton that looks a lot more abandoned than the one we've been seeing in 1977. There's some rustling in the bushes that looks a bit like Smokey, but when they reach one of the cabins, a light goes on... and it's Christian Shepard! He shows them the Dharma orientation photo featuring Hurley, Jack, and Kate, letting them know that it'll be a bit longer before they can be reunited with the rest of the Six and Jin. Irritatingly, Christian doesn't have any suggestions on how exactly they'll make it back to 1977, so now we're left to wonder for a week about all the crazy possibilities.
