It's really a shame that, as Lost starts wrapping up all its mysteries and giving us lots of time with some of our favorite characters, we are still dealing with Jack and Kate's bullshit. The two of them took up most of the Oceanic Six storyline this week, with Kate evading the shadowy forces trying to take Aaron away and Jack, as ever, convinced he can fix everything. Meanwhile on the island, the time-jumping continued, the nosebleeds, spread, and we got to see two very familiar, very-much-missed faces.
"You're in no position to be making any kind of deals, and you know it."
In L.A., Kate leaves Sun to babysit Aaron while she goes to negotiate with the mystery lawyer who keeps demanding her blood samples. Kate demands to talk to his client, and the lawyer basically says, "Uh, no way." But being that he's not particularly good at this "attorney-client privilege" thing, he reveals to Kate that he's meeting with the client later that day-- and Kate, being a crazy person, decides to follow the lawyer. Meanwhile Sun, who has like zero lines in this episode but seems sinister the entire time, picks up a package that's full of surveillance photos of Ben-- and a gun hidden under some chocolate. Looks like those speculations from two weeks ago that Sun might be up to something weren't so paranoid.
"I have to make them come back. Even if it kills me."
On the island, Charlotte and her bloody nose have been passed out for some time, and Sawyer is so antsy about it that Juliette finally has to tell him to go away. Huddled over with Sawyer is Locke, who starts divulging his plan to return to the Orchid station; he figures since that's where all the madness began, maybe it will end there too. And hey, if that's how Ben left the island, Locke will do that too, and go bring everyone back-- even if it kills. Locke says this like he doesn't know that Richard already told him to die-- is he getting all self-dramatizing again?
"I'm totally cool. I'm in L.A. county lockup. I'm totally safe, Ben's never going to get me now."
Hurley's single, brief appearance in the episode was also the best visual gag in the history of the show. He calls Jack while Jack is at the hospital tending to Sayid, an gives Jack the whole monologue you see above-- at "I'm totally safe," the camera cuts to a wide shot of Hurley in a big, Hurley-ized orange jumpsuit. Hilarious. Meanwhile Sayid is being hilarious in his own way, destroying a henchman who tries to attack him in his own hospital room. The henchman's assignment apparently came from Kate's address-- which is just one more piece of evidence that it's probably Ben behind this whole mess. Want more proof?
"Whoever's trying to take Aaron, it isn't her."
Who's Kate's lawyer meeting when she and Jack stalk him that afternoon? Claire's mom! Given that she made an appearance in the "previously on Lost" segment, I wasn't particularly surprised to see her, and hey, it makes sense that she would be one fighting for custody of Claire's baby. But, well, Jack goes in to fix everything, and it turns out she has no idea what they're talking about, or even who Aaron is. She's in town for her own share of the Oceanic Six settlement. Jack comes running back to Kate in the car shouting "Go, go!" like he's just robbed a liquor store, and tells her that Claire's mom is most definitely not the person after Aaron. And the actual culprit is meeting the very same lawyer in a parking garage-- then will be waiting for Kate and Jack later on at the marina.
"It don't matter, it's gone now."
Charlotte wakes up, the team gets moving back on the island, but another flash brings them to nighttime-- and a light is shooting up in the sky somewhere in the distance. No one knows what's up, or even when they are, but they hear a woman screaming in the jungle, and send Sawyer to investigate. I figured it might be Shannon screaming about something or another, but it turns out to be Claire giving birth, with Kate there to coach her. Sawyer watches the scene looking on the verge of tears, but apparently having listened to Daniel's warning in the first episode, doesn't try to change anything that's already happened. The time flashes again before you know it, Locke comes up and asks him what he saw, and he mutters "Don't matter, it's gone now." Oh, Sawyer, we're all feeling for you.
"I think it might have something to do with your duration of time on the island."
Charlotte's nosebleeds are spreading-- Juliette gets one, and so does Miles, but he's the only one who dares to ask Daniel about ti. Daniel floats his theory that we'd all come to-- the flashes are harder on Charlotte because she's spent more time on the island, having been born there. Miles point out he's barely spent any time there at all, and Daniel asks him to think long and hard about that. Anyone else want to join me in thinking Miles might be the son of Marvin Candle/Pierre Chang?
"Thank you God!" "I take that back!"
The island team finally makes it back to the beach, where there's no sign of Bernard, Rose, Vincent or whatever other people are left, but there is a mysterious catamaran waiting to help them go back to the Orchid. Paddling out in the water, Miles is whining away and Sawyer is about to bare his soul to Juliette-- when someone starts shooting out them in the water. It's looking ugly for them when the time flashes again, prompting Sawyer to shout "Thank you God!" Then they wind up landing in a nighttime rainstorm-- "I take that back!" Sawyer yells. Awesome. The group finally lands on the beach and finds the wreckage of another boat. Which prompts a teeny little flashback that gives us...
JIN AND ROUSSEAU!
Sorry, there aren't many quotes from this, since most of it was in French. Turns out the raft wreckage was from a French crew paddling through the storm-- a French crew that picks up an unconscious, but alive, Jin! JIN!!!!!! And turns out those French people, as we all pretty much assumed, are Danielle Rousseau's crew who died under very mysterious circumstances. And that fresh-faced, sorta-pregnant, totally awesome woman helping Jin out? Danielle, it's great to see you again.
"No, Jack, she's right, it was me."
Pretty much nothing in the episode tops the reveal of those two characters, but the final Oceanic 6 did give us a little more diabolical Ben. He admits he's the one who's been trying to take Aaron away, and still has the balls to demand that Kate come with him and jack anyway. Oh, and Sun is lurking in the background, gun cocked, totally prepared to reap vengeance for a dead husband who isn't actually dead. The plot is thickening!
I completely loved this episode, despite the occasionally draggy presence of the Oceanic Six (OK, fine, just the draggy presence of Jack and Kate). Still dreading the Jack and Kate makeout they keep pushing in the promos, but also looking so forward to learning Danielle's back story, hearing more of Jin's broken English, and figuring out just who Charlotte, Daniel and Miles's parents really are.
