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So much going on in this two-hour season finale! Its enough to make someone's head spin. At the Orchid station, Jack and Sawyer find Hurley, and see Locke doing some gardening. Over some ancient crackers, Hurley asks Sawyer about Claire. Awkward. Locke tells Jack not to leave the island, but if he does have to be his idiot Jack self, that he should lie. Locke also says "It's not an island... its a place where miracles happens." That's explains SO much. Then Jack, Sawyer and Hurley take off for the helicopters and Ben (after escaping Keamy with some help from Kate, Sayid and the Others) finds his way back, and the power hungry duo head down into the bowels of the island. Locke gets to watch another Dharma video, and learns about the vault, which is apparently what makes time travel possible. Then Keamy (who is back from being momentarily killed) comes in with his transmitter that will blow up the freighter if he dies. Ben kills him anyway -- payback for his daughter. Locke looks pissed, but Ben shrugs and dismisses Locke and tells him to go rule The Others. Ben blows a hole in the wall of the vault, grabs a jacket, heads into a frozen room filled with hieroglyphics, and curses Jacob's name while turning a big wheel and moving the island.
At the helicopter, Hurley, Sawyer and Jack rejoin Kate, Sayid and Frank Lapidus, and they chopper off to the boat. There's lots of longing and staring between Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Then Frank realizes that they're losing fuel from a stray bullet, so they start chucking all the excess luggage. When that's not enough, Frank says they need to lose another couple hundred pounds, of course the camera zooms in on Hurley, but thankfully none of the others glare at him. Sawyer whispers sweet nothings in to Kate's ear and jumps off into the ocean. The rest of the gang lands on the boat where Desmond is trying to wave them away. Michael and Jin have been desperately trying to stop the C4 from exploding, with no luck. So Frank tapes the hole in the fuel tank and Sun, Kate, Jack, Desmond, Aaron, Sayid and Hurley get on the chopper. Michael has a vision of Jack and Claire's dad telling him he can go now. Jin makes a run for the surface, but just misses the chopper and the freighter explodes. Sun screams a lot.
On the beach, Daniel's ferrying people back and forth. Charlotte mysteriously says she's going to stay until she finds "where she was born." Miles is also going to stay, and Juliet isn't leaving until everyone is off the island. So Daniel's takes off with a bunch of the no-names in the boat. Sawyer comes swimming up to shore (he ditched the shirt, but he's wearing his heavy jeans... which are remarkably difficult to swim in) to see Juliet slugging back some rum and staring at the puff of smoke in the distance that used to be the freighter.
Back on the chopper, they've got a bit of fuel and are heading back to the island when there's a bright radiating light and the island disappears into nothing. Gone. Boom. With no fuel left, the chopper crashes into the ocean, and the group piles into their life raft. Desmond needs CPR and seems to have a head injury. They float for a while in the dark, then see a light off into the distance -- it's a boat! All of a sudden Jack decides to take Locke's advice and instructs everyone to lie. Strange. They're picked up by Penny's boat. Cue a romantic lip-smacking reunion between Desmond and his constant, and a "we have to talk" from Jack. One week later, Penny, Des and Lapidus ditch the Oceanic Six near a populated island 3000 miles away in order to "protect" the people they left behind. Jack tells Desmond not to let "them" find him. "I'll see you in another life, Brother."
In flash-forwards, we see Kate and Jack (still at the scene of the first flash-forward from last season) arguing about the funeral of a one Mr. Jeremy Bentham (who?), and how Jack has fallen for his story. Sun confronts the elder Mr. Widmore in London, saying she wants to do business with him. Interesting. He wants to know her motive. So do the rest of us. At the nuthouse, Hurley gets a visit from Walt (who is like 40 at this point), jokes that he's so big (ha!) and Walt wants to know why the six have ignored him, what's the deal with his dad, and why everyone is lying. Excellent questions. Then Sayid sneaks in later at night (looking all hot with sexy long hair) and takes Hurley away from his chess game with the imaginary Mr. Eko whisking him away to someplace "safe." Kate's home alone, hears a noise, gets a strange, inaudible phone call and runs to Aaron's bedroom where she sees a luminous-looking Claire over his bed warning Kate not to take him back. Then Kate wakes up and goes and apologizes to a sleeping turniphead. Back at the funeral parlor, Jack breaks in during the dead of night in order to get a better look at Jeremy Bentham's corpse. Ben comes in, freaking Jack out. Jack says that "Jeremy" told him that bad shit had been happening since they left and he needed to get back. Ben gleefully tells him that they all need to go back, it's the only way. This includes the corpse, a.k.a. the body of one Mr. John Locke, who apparently traded one philosopher's name for another. And we're done for the season, left baffled and confused with more questions than answers until 2009. -- Angel Cohn
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We pick up right where we left off... a year ago. Kate is driving off as Jack yells that they have to go back to the island. But this time, Kate stops the car, backs up, gets out, and starts screaming at Jack: "We have to go back? We have to go back? Who do you think you are?!" She's mad because he's been calling her for two days, high as a kite, and then confronted her with an obituary for "Jeremy Bentham." Who is this, you ask? Hold on for a couple of hours and you'll find out. Kate continues: "When he came to me and I heard what he had to say, I knew he was crazy. But you? You believed him. Him, of all people." So, Jeremy Bentham is someone whose word should not be trusted. Doesn't ring a bell. Jack tells Kate that he believed Jeremy Bentham because he was told that was the only way he could keep Kate and Aaron safe. Kate slaps him. Not because that justification for believing Bentham didn't make any sense, but because she doesn't want him to say Aaron's name. Apparently, the little tyke is still missing Jack's crappy bed-time reading skills. Kate: "I spent the last three years trying to forget all the horrible things that happened on the day we left." And we spent the last three months waiting to see what those things were. Kate says there's no way she's going back. She gets in her car and drives off. In season's finale, we'll see her do a u-turn and come back to yell at him some more.
Island. Jack and Sawyer trudge through the jungle. Sawyer asks if Jack's sure they're going the right way, and Jack notes that Frank said the soldiers were headed northeast. Sawyer's worried about Jack, who is still visibly bleeding around his stitches, but Jack claims he's fine. Just as Sawyer prepares a sarcastic rejoinder, Jack shuts him up -- they've arrived at the Orchid. Sawyer asks what the plan is. Jack starts to tell him when they hear a snap behind them. The whip around and level their guns at... Hurley, who is peeing on a bush. Well, at least he didn't have to worry about peeing his pants when the guns came out. Hurley is like a little puppy, excited that Sawyer came to get him. He's less happy to see Jack. I guess leading the movement to go with Locke instead of Jack has left some bad blood between them. Sawyer asks where "he" is. Cut to the three of them walking into the Orchid, where Locke is looking around with a perplexed expression on his face. Jack and Locke exchange awkward greetings.
Freighter. Desmond, Michael, and Jin are still in the room with the C-4. (Based on the rack of weapons on the wall, that room is the armory.) Desmond spent some time on explosive ordnance disposal duty when he was in the army. How long you ask? In Desmond's words, just long enough to learn how to blow himself up. But also long enough to identify all of the key features of the set-up confronting them. There's no timer, but there is a radio receiver that will initiate a big explosion if it receives a signal. And there's a car battery powering the whole thing. And pretty much anything they do to try to defuse the bomb will cause it to explode. Keamy may be an evil bastard, but he's pretty competent. Credits.
The Orchid. Jack asks Locke what he's doing, and Locke tells him he's trying to find the entrance to the Dharma station that's underneath the greenhouse. Jack wants to know what he plans to do when he gets in, and Locke asks Sawyer and Hurley to give them a few minutes alone. Jack points out that he only came for Hurley, and starts to walk away. Locke thinks Jack needs to hear what he has to say, but Jack only feels the need to get to the chopper and get the hell off the island. Hurley tells him that it's probably not such a great idea to head back to the chopper, since Keamy and his buddies were headed there with Ben. Hey, if Jack and Sawyer were coming from the chopper to the Orchid and Keamy and his gang were going from the Orchid to the chopper, how did they not run into each other? Jack doesn't ask that question; instead, he asks why Ben would surrender to Keamy. Locke has a sly look on his face, but he doesn't say anything.
Speaking of Ben, he's being led through the jungle by the soldiers. Keamy asks Ben why he's so important that Widmore would pay lots of money for his capture. Ben asks if Widmore ordered Keamy to kill his daughter. Both questions go unanswered as they arrive at the chopper and see Frank, still handcuffed to the bench, using tools from the toolbox to try to get the cuffs off. Keamy shouts at Frank and asks who gave him the toolbox. Before Keamy can apply any real pressure on Frank, there's some noise in the trees. The soldiers go into alert mode. And then Kate runs out of the tall grass. Keamy asks her who she is and why she's running through the jungle. She introduces herself, and tells him that Ben's people are chasing her.
Keamy sends two soldiers to guard the perimeter and orders Kate to her knees to Ben. The soldiers hear the whispering of the Others for the first time, and they're just as creeped out as anyone would be. One of the soldiers sent to patrol is taken out by an Other who drops down on him from a tree and garrotes him. The other is taken down by a rope around his legs -- but he gets a shot off before he falls, alerting the remaining soldiers to the location of at least some Others. And then it's all shoot, shoot, shoot, as the soldiers and others exchange gunfire. One of the others uses a blowgun to shoot a cool electric dart into somebody's neck, which is kind of awesome. Kate tells Ben to stay close to her, and then tells him to run. Keamy aims his gun at him, and then notices a grenade that's landed near the chopper. I say "notices," but he only sees it when Frank points it out. Keamy kicks the grenade away from the chopper -- and it lands directly at the feet of Omar. And blows him up. Way to go, Keamy. He may be less competent than I thought.
Keamy's the only soldier left, and he takes off after Ben and Kate. And now instead of shoot, shoot, shoot, it's run, run, run. Ben trips like a virgin in a horror movie, but Kate runs back and pulls him to his feet. Just as Keamy starts to catch up, Sayid jumps out of the bushes and tackles him. So now it's fight, fight, fight. Keamy's rifle is gone, but he still has his handgun, and they each try to grab it as they fight. It gets knocked aside, and they fight over Keamy's knife. It's pretty evenly matched (although Sayid does take an opportunity to stab Keamy with his own knife), but Keamy finally ends up with Sayid pinned down with a branch across his throat. Just as it seems Sayid's number is up, Richard Alpert shoots Keamy in his bullet-proof-vest-enclosed back. The Others emerge from the trees, and Kate runs up to Sayid and helps him to his feet. We see that Keamy is lying there with his eyes open. So he must be dead, no need to check his pulse or anything. Ben politely thanks Richard for coming after him. I can't wait to get the back-story on why this relationship is so strained. Kate picks up Keamy's knife, and Ben asks her to cut his plastic restraints. As she does so, Ben asks Richard what arrangement he made to get Kate and Sayid's help. Richard tells him that the deal was that they get to leave the island. Ben thinks that sounds fair, and tells them that the helicopter is theirs to use. Kate seems stunned to hear that Ben will let them go, and she asks him, "So we can go? Off the island? That's it?" Ben: "That's it." Oh, that's never it. Commercials.
Flash-forward. Hurley's sitting in the common room of the mental hospital trying to open a fruit chew snack when a nurse leads a familiar-looking black woman over to him. She asks if he's Hurley, and then asks him if he's dangerous. Only if you're a pastry, lady. Hurley asks if he knows her, and she tells him that he doesn't, but he knows her grandson. Hurley peers behind her and sees Walt standing there. I'm sorry, I mean Giant-Sized Walt. Grandma tells Hurley that they've traveled all the way to California just so Walt could see Hurley, but she'll only let her grandson talk to Hurley if the certifiable lunatic assures her that he's not dangerous. He does, and Grandma leaves him alone with Giant-Sized Walt. Hurley says hello, and Giant-Sized Walt responds. Although it sounds like he's been dubbed by James Earl Jones, that's how deep his voice has gotten. GSW tells Hurley that when the Oceanic Six came back, he waited for one of them to get in touch with him, but none of them did. Hurley apologizes, but I seem to recall they assigned that job to Aaron, so I don't know what he's sorry for. But someone did come visit GSW -- one Jeremy Bentham. GSW tells Hurley that he doesn't understand why Hurley and the other survivors are lying about what happened. Hurley looks around to be sure they're not being spied on, leans in, and tells GSW, "We're lying because it's the only way to protect everyone who didn't come back." GSW asks if that includes his father. Hurley tells him it does. Which, as we'll learn, is not true. But if Hurley really thinks they need to keep lying, making Walt think that he's protecting Michael is a good way to get him to go along with the lie.
Jungle, near the Orchid. Hurley is still eating those 15-year old crackers from last episode while Sawyer used the binoculars to spy on Jack and Locke. Hurley and Sawyer bond over stale crackers, and Hurley thanks Sawyer again for coming after him. And then Hurley asks if Claire and the baby are okay. Sawyer's got no answer to that one.
In the Orchid, Jack is asking Locke what he wants to talk about. Locke tells Jack that he'd like him to stay on the island. Jack finds that notion laughable. He recites the laundry list of horrible things that Locke has done, and Locke points out that Jack pointed a gun at his head and pulled the trigger: "I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones." They have their old debate about whether their destiny led them to the island. Locke thinks that if Jack doesn't stick around to find out what his destiny is, it'll eat him up from the inside. Jack says goodbye and walks away, and Locke tells him, "You're gonna have to lie." He means that when Jack returns to the world, he'll have to lie about everything that's happened, because it's the only way to protect the island. Jack thinks that something like an island doesn't need protecting. Locke: "It's not an island." You mean it's a peninsula? Actually, Locke means "it's a place where miracles happen." Couldn't miracles happen on an island? Anyway, Jack doesn't believe in miracles, which... I mean, I'm a skeptic myself, but if I had actually seen half the shit he's seen on the island, I might be inclined to be a little more open to the prospect of miracles and other supernatural phenomena. Locke tells Jack that if he doesn't believe in miracles, he should just wait to see what Locke's about to do. Here's an idea, Locke -- why don't you tell Jack what you're about to do? Oh, I'm sorry -- I forgot that you swore an oath to only speak in cryptic riddles. And then Ben appears. Jack points his gun at him. Ben: "Nice to see you too, Jack." Ben ignores the gun and walks over to Locke, mocking him for not being able to find the flowers that marked the hidden elevator to the subterranean station. Locke, having always dreamed of a life of adventure and not the life of a florist, didn't know what the flowers looked like. They both walk further in the greenhouse, essentially ignoring Jack. Ben opens the hidden door to the elevator, and Jack asks what they're doing. Ben asks Locke, "Didn't you tell him?" Locke: "I tried." In that he did the exact opposite of trying, I call bullshit. Ben tells Jack that Kate and Sayid are waiting for him at the chopper. He also tells him that the Losties who are on the beach are being ferried to the freighter. Ben says that he'd love to fill Jack in on all the details (liar!), but that he really needs to get his ass on the boat, preferably within the hour. Ben enters the elevator, and Locke makes one more pitch to Jack, asking him to lie about the island: "If you do it half as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you." I guess nobody ever told Locke about flies and vinegar. The elevator doors close, and Jack watches Locke and Ben descend. Commercials.
Freighter. Michael is wheeling a tank labeled "nitrogen" across the deck. Sun asks Michael what's going on below, and Michael quietly asks her if she's told anyone about the C-4. She seems almost insulted at the idea that she would tell everyone that they're about to be blown to kingdom come, and asks him if they're able to deactivate it. Michael tells her that it's not yet set to explode, but that the nitrogen tank will help them disarm it. He wheels the tank away, but stops to tell her he'll send Jin to the deck to be with Sun. She tells him that she's pregnant, and he seems sincerely happy when he congratulates her.
Down below, Michael tells Desmond and Jin that they can use the liquid nitrogen in the tank to freeze the battery, which should slow down the chemical processes inside it that produce power, giving them a lot more time to disarm the bomb. We're just all going to pretend that this make sense so I can get on with the recap. Because there's only one canister of nitrogen, Desmond suggests that they save it until the radio receives the detonation signal, but Michael wisely points out that it would be too late then. (I should point out that there are a green light and a red light on top of the radio. The green light is lit and the red light is dark.) Desmond grabs a pad and tells Jin to help him begin tracing all the various wires. Michael, despite his promise to Sun, does not send Jin up to be with her.
Daniel and the Zodiac arrive back at the beach. We can see that the freighter is now close enough to be seen from shore. He tells Juliet that the first group is safely on the boat. He just needs to get some water before taking the second group. Juliet tells him that she'll organize the second group, and then thanks him for helping the Losties.
Miles and Charlotte are hanging out near the food supply shelter. Miles is eating some nuts. Rose chastises him for eating peanuts without permission, and tells him that she'll be keeping an eye on him. She also calls him "Shorty." She's been spending too much time with Sawyer. Rose walks away, and Daniel walks up, whispers Miles's name, and jerks his head surreptitiously to the side. Miles, who shares my opinion of Dan's spy abilities, asks him if there's something wrong with his neck. Daniel huddles with Charlotte and Miles and tells them that they need to be sure to be in the group to go to the freighter. Miles tells him that he plans to stay. Daniel wonders if he's explained the direness of the situation. Miles: "Oh, no, you're very dire. But I still plan to stay." Daniel tells Charlotte she's got ten minutes and walks away. She keeps packing, and Miles tells her that he's surprised she's planning to leave after she "spent all that time trying to get back here." Charlotte: "What do you mean, 'get back here?'" Miles: "What do I mean?" His back-story had better be good, because I am getting pretty sick of this smartass psychic routine.
The Orchid elevator is still slowly descending. Locke asks how deep they're going. Ben: "Deep." And then they arrive. It's another sciency-looking Dharma station. Ben is a flurry of activity as Locke looks around and takes in his surroundings. Locke: "Is this the magic box?" Ha! Ben has no patience for slow Locke, and tells him that it's not. Locke starts to ask pesky questions about the station and its purpose, so Ben gives him a video to watch. Just like I do with my five-year old nephew. It's Orientation Video 6 of 6, hosted by Troy McClure, who you might remember from such other orientation videos as the Swan Orientation Video and the Pearl Orientation Video. (Of course, it's not Troy McClure, but it is the same man who appeared in the other videos, once again using a different name. Also, he's holding a bunny.) The long and the short of it is that the station is near a pocket of what Dharma theorizes is negatively-charged exotic matter. There's an alcove called the vault that they are using to conduct experiments in space and time. Troy McClure puts the bunny in the vault and explains that they're going to send it forward as small distance along the 4th dimension. But before he can actually demonstrate, the tape rewinds itself. Locke tries to get it to play again, but he's about as adept as my five-year old nephew. While he's watching this, Ben is gathering up every piece of metal equipment in the station and putting it in the vault. Locke asks Ben, "Was he talking about what I think he was talking about?" Ben: "If you mean time-traveling bunnies, then yes." Isn't that a video game for the Wii? Locke also points out that the video explicitly warned against placing metal objects in the vault. Ben just nods. And then they hear the creak of the elevator ascending. Locke: "You expecting someone?" Ben: "May I have my weapon back?" Commercials.
Hurley, Jack, and Sawyer arrive at the chopper. Kate is trying to pick the lock of Frank's cuffs while Sayid guards them. There are happy reunions, flirty chat about murder between Kate and Sawyer, and Jack acting like a douche. (By which I mean rather than express happiness at seeing Kate, he just asks her what she did with the baby.) Sawyer notes that Frank is kind of stupid for trying to pick the lock when there's a hacksaw in the toolbox. He starts sawing away while Jack asks Sayid if it's safe on the freighter (pointing out that a body washed up on the beach). Sayid: "It's safe now." Which is when a lesser director might have cut to the freighter and showed us the dangerous C-4. Instead, we stay here and see Sawyer free Frank from his bondage. And then they all get in the chopper and fly away. Hurley wants to be sure that they'll come back to look for Claire after they get everyone else to the boat. Jack reassures him that they will. And as much as this show always jerks us around, I still find these scenes of escape from the island to be incredibly moving.
Orchid station. The elevator arrives and Keamy gets out. D'oh! I guess they should have checked for a pulse. His only weapon is a small knife. He staggers in and calls out for Ben. But this time he reminds him that he's wearing a bulletproof vest, so Ben should really aim for the head. Keamy strips off his shirt. Thanks, show! He shows off the thing strapped to his arm. As pretty much everybody figured out, it's a dead-man's trigger. If Keamy's heart stops beating, the C-4 will explode, killing all kinds of innocent people on the boat. And then Locke walks up behind Keamy. He introduces himself and explains that he has no conflict with Keamy. He's trying to talk Keamy into putting down his knife so they can talk. Keamy doesn't really care to talk. And then Ben emerges from a locker, beans Keamy with a crowbar (or maybe his baton or a piece of rebar), and stabs him several times, while shouting about how Keamy killed his daughter. The dead-man's trigger starts beeping. Locke: "You just killed everybody on that boat." Ben: "So?" Commercials.
Beach. Daniel starts to tell Charlotte something about the boat, but she tells him that she's staying on the island. He explains that if she doesn't come now, she could be there forever. Charlotte: "Nothing's forever." Daniel asks her why she'd stay. Charlotte: "Would it make any sense if I told you I was still looking for where I was born?" Although that's perhaps the clearest thing she's ever said, Daniel tells her it makes no sense. She laughs, and kisses him on the cheek. She says goodbye, and walks away. Daniel walks over to the boat. He meets Juliet on the way, and has already realized that she's also not coming. She tells him that she's committed to staying until everyone else on the beach is safe on the boat. She promises that she'll still be there when he gets back. Daniel: "Right. When I get back." Daniel and six no-name Losties head out to the freighter.
Bomb room. Michael stops freezing the battery when Desmond explains that he thinks that if he cuts a particular wire, he'll be able to disarm the bomb. Jin, whose experience as a mob enforcer apparently taught him about bombs, realizes that Desmond is wrong and stops him before it's too late. And there's just a quarter tank of nitrogen left. Desmond asks what they're supposed to do if they can't disarm the bomb. Michael thinks they'll have to get everyone off the boat.
The chopper is soaring across the ocean when Frank realizes that the fuel gauge is going down pretty fast. Everyone sticks their heads out of the chopper, and they realize that a bullet pierced the fuel tank. Frank wants to go back, but Jack tells him to continue because there's no fuel on the island -- if they don't get to the boat, the chopper will be useless. So Frank tells them to dump everything loose off the chopper. Throw, throw, throw. Jack asks if they dumped enough. Frank: "I'd feel a hell of a lot better if were a few hundred pounds lighter." The camera zooms in on Hurley. As Jack and Frank continue to talk about how desperate their situation is, Sawyer looks thoughtful. He leans over to Kate and whispers something in her ear. She asks him, "Why are you telling me this?" He kisses her. He kisses the hell out of her. And then he says, "Just do it, Freckles." Sawyer jumps out of the chopper into the water. He surfaces and starts swimming toward the island. Commercials.
A thuggish looking dude is sitting in his car at night when a man knocks on the window and asks for the time. And then the man pulls out a gun with a silencer on it and kills the thug. Aw, Sayid's back. And the dude he just killed was parked in front of the Santa Rosa Mental Institute (a.k.a. Hurley's mental hospital). Sayid climbs some stairs and makes his way to Hurley's room. When he enters, Hurley is sitting at a chessboard, deep in thought over a game in progress. A game that he's playing against an empty chair. They exchange greetings, and Hurley tells Sayid that it's a little late for visiting hours. Sayid: "This isn't a visit." That's right, Sayid's going to move in and the two of them will star in a buddy comedy. Sayid kills people, and Hurley eats everything -- just think of the wacky adventures they'll get up to. Actually, Sayid means that he's there to bust Hurley out of the joint so he can take him someplace safe. Hurley asks why he should go with a guy he hasn't seen in ages. Sayid: "Because circumstances have changed." Hurley: "What circumstances?" Sayid: "Bentham's dead." Hurley asks for the particulars (two days ago, ruled a suicide by the Man) and then asks why Sayid is calling him Bentham when his name is really... Sayid: "Don't say it." Yeah, that reveal doesn't come until the end of the episode. Read a script, Hurley. Sayid leans in and whispers that they're being watched. Hurley: "Dude, I've been having regular conversations with dead people. The last thing I need now is paranoia." Sayid tells him that he just killed a dude who had been staking out the hospital. Admitting to a murder might not be the best way to get Hurley to trust you. Just a thought for time. Hurley asks for reassurance that they're not going back, and Sayid tells him that he just wants to take him someplace safe. Hurley agrees. But before he leaves, he stops to move a piece on the chessboard. "Checkmate, Mr. Eko." I don't know if the sudden tense music is supposed to make us think that Hurley's crazy or that the ghost of Eko is sitting there.
Chopper. Everyone's looking kind of stunned, and then Sayid notices that they can't find the boat. And there are only four or five minutes of fuel. Jack tells Kate that as soon as the chopper lands, they'll go back for Sawyer. And then Hurley sees the boat behind them. If the boat approached the island on the same heading that Frank is using to fly away from the island, shouldn't the chopper have crossed straight over the boat? Frank doesn't answer my question -- instead, he turns around and flies towards the freighter.
The Orchid. Locke is trying to save Keamy's life so his heart won't stop and the freighter won't blow up. He tries to enlist Ben's help, but Ben just tells him it's not his problem. Before Keamy dies, he tells Ben that whatever Ben does, Widmore will find him. Ben: "Not if I find him first." And then Keamy dies and the transmitter on his arm changes from green to red. If Locke had tried chest compressions, wouldn't that have maybe registered as a heartbeat to the monitor? Or maybe he could have taken a gun and just shot the transmitter to bits, hopefully preventing it from sending the signal? Is it wrong of me to wonder these things?
On the freighter, the light on the radio receiver changes from green to red. (If I ever make a bomb, the lights are going to be yellow and purple, just to screw with people's expectations.) Michael tells Desmond and Jin to get out of the room and get everyone off the boat, since there are only about five minutes' worth of nitrogen left. They both stand there in shock until Michael yells at them to go. And then former mob enforcer Jin hustles bomb expert Desmond out of the room while remaining behind to apply his mob enforcer knowledge to disarming the bomb. So Jin threatens to break the bomb's kneecaps while Michael keeps freezing the battery with the nitrogen.
The chopper approaches the freighter while Desmond runs through the lower decks. He gets to the main deck and, instead of shouting for people to abandon ship, just starts waving off the chopper. Somehow, over the noise of the chopper, Sayid is able to hear Desmond shout something about a bomb. But it doesn't matter, because they're out of fuel. Down below, they're almost out of nitrogen. And back on deck, someone has finally told the rest of the crew to get the hell off the boat, because people are grabbing life preservers and jumping into the water. Sun stares towards the entrance to the lower deck, clearly thinking about Jin. Desmond tells Jack and the others about the bomb while Frank patches one of the holes in the fuel tank with some duct tape. As soon as they patch the other hole (from where the bullet exited) they can pump some more fuel into the tank. Everyone speeds into action, but then Kate notices Sun headed towards the hatch. She's still holding Aaron, and Kate asks her where she's going. When Kate hears that she's going after Jin, Kate offers to get him for her so she can stay above decks with the baby.
Down below they have almost run out of nitrogen. Jin's mad coercion skills have not proven useful, and Michael tells him to go. Jin wants to stay with his best bro, but Michael reminds him that he's going to be a dad and has to take care of himself and his family. Jin thanks Michael and runs for it. On the deck, Frank tells Jack that they've got to take off. Jack grabs Kate and stops her from going after Jin. The chopper takes off with Frank, Hurley, Sun, Aaron, Desmond, Kate, and Jack, but no Jin. He arrives on deck as it's only twenty feet in the air, but Frank can't (or won't) set it back down. Yunjin Kim is absolutely amazing in this scene, as Sun screams for Jin and tries to convince the others to get him. Down below, Michael finally runs out of nitrogen. He hears some whispering, and then looks up to find Christian standing in the room with him. Christian: "You can go now Michael." Michael: "Who are you?" And then the freighter blows up. Great effects, and more heartrending screaming from Sun. Commercials.
The chopper circles around the spot where the boat was. It's completely sunk, although there is still some flaming debris on the surface. Sun is screaming for them to go lower, but Jack tells her that there are no survivors visible. She keeps screaming, but Frank tells her that they didn't get much fuel and have to get back to the island. Jack finally stops her freakout by telling her that Jin is gone. Sun's devastated scream takes us into the flash-forward.
Sun, in heels and a beautiful suit, walks along a river with an old-timey bridge (European-style) in the background. Her cell phone rings. It's Sun's mother, who is taking care of Ji Yeon; she puts the baby on to speak with mama. Grandma gets back on the call and asks Sun where she is. She's in London, but will head back home as soon as she's taken care of some business. She sees four men exit a restaurant, so she ends the call. One of the men is Charles Widmore. He leaves the other three men, and Sun approaches him and asks his pardon for the interruption. She introduces herself as the managing director of Paik Industries. We learn that Widmore knows Mr. Paik at least on a social basis as he makes small talk about Mr. Paik's golf game. Hard-ass Sun: "Are you really going to pretend that you don't know who I am?" Widmore claims not to know what she's talking about. Even harder-ass Sun: "Yes you do know, Mr. Widmore. Just like you know that we've been lying all this time about where we were and what happened to us there. You and I have common interests." She reaches into her pocket. Alas, it's not for a gun or a switchblade, but for a business card. She tells him to call her when he's ready to discuss their common interests. Hardest-ass Sun: "As you know, we're not the only ones who left the island." And with that, she turns around and walks away. He asks her why she'd want to help him. She doesn't answer. (Also, if you're curious, there's an obvious bodyguard hanging out in the background, watching over Widmore.)
The Orchid. Ben continues to put metal into the vault while Locke demands to know why Ben killed Keamy and condemned the boat to destruction. Ben claims that it was an impulsive decision made in the heat of the moment. Ben: "Sometimes good command decisions get compromised by bad emotional responses. I'm sure you're going to do a much better job of separating the two than I ever did." I love it when Ben mocks Locke. It makes my job so much easier. Ben throws a switch that closes the door to the vault. Locke asks what Ben is doing, and then screams at him to answer. Ben: "If I were you, I'd duck." Locke does, and there's a small explosion in the vault. There's some sparking in the chamber, and Ben tells Locke that he has to change.
On the beach, Juliet is heavily into a bottle of Dharma rum. She looks unhappy. And then Sawyer swims up to the beach. He's shirtless, but he's still wearing his jeans. He'd be a lot less tired if he had taken those off. This is one of those times I wish this show were on HBO. He walks up to Juliet and says, "Nice day for a swim!" Drunken Juliet asks him what he's doing there, and he tells her he decided to take a dip. He notices the rum and asks what she's celebrating. She tells him she's not, and then nods off to the horizon. Where we can see the black smoke rising from the wreckage of the freighter. Sawyer: "That our boat?" Juliet: "It was." And it just now occurred to me that Sawyer must think Kate and the others were on the boat when it blew up. That'll give him some survivor's guilt. Commercials.
Orchid. Ben puts on a parka. In response to Locke's questions, he explains that he's going somewhere cold, but that Locke doesn't need a parka because he's not coming with Ben. Locke insists that he is, and points out that Jacob told Locke what they had to do. But Ben points out that Jacob didn't tell him how to do it, because he wanted Ben to "suffer the consequences." Locke asks, "What consequences?" Ben: "Whoever moves the island can never come back." Ben tells Locke to get on the elevator and go find Richard and the Others, who are waiting for him. They're "ready, willing, and able to share what they know." But not with us, I'm betting. Ben says that they will do whatever Locke tells them to do. I can already see that'll be a disaster. Ben says goodbye and offers his hand to Locke: "Sorry I made your life so miserable." They shake, and Ben walks away. Locke asks what he's supposed to tell the Others to do, and Ben tells him that he'll find his way.
Locke walks through the jungle until he comes to the Others. They do everything short of throwing palm fronds at his feet as they see him. Richard greets him: "Welcome home."
In the Orchid, Ben pulls the twisted metal out of the vault and finds a hole in the back wall. He crawls into it and makes his way down a tiny tunnel. The tunnel opens up a bit, and Ben finds himself looking down on some ice. He climbs down a ladder and uses his boot to crack through the ice. Another ladder continues down. Everything is covered with ice. As Ben descends, one of the rungs of the ladder shatters beneath his feet, causing him to fall on his ass. As he falls, the sleeve of his parka is torn and his upper arm is scratched pretty deeply. There are some stones with hieroglyphs on them in the room. There's also an old oil lamp, although there's plenty of indirect light in the room, so it's not really necessary. But that doesn't stop Ben from lighting it. And then we see that set into the wall is a wheel. It's set horizontally, and only half of it is sticking out from the wall. It's all spokes (eight in total) with no perimeter. It looks something like the wheel of a ship, but bigger and on its side. And covered with ice. Ben puts his hands on it, looks up, and says, "I hope you're happy now, Jacob." Ben tries to turn the wheel, but it's stuck. So he takes his Keamy-bashing crowbar, chips away some ice, and uses the bar as a lever to start the wheel moving. As it moves, there's a tremendous creaking noise. Once the wheel is loosened up, Ben throws down the crowbar and leans his whole body against the wheel. The creaking, grinding noise is pretty loud, but it's soon replaced by a combination of a low thrumming and a high-pitched whining. The Others can hear it at their camp. As can Juliet and Sawyer on the beach. And Daniel and the redshirts on the Zodiac. And the gang on the chopper. Ben keeps pushing, and the wheel slowly turns. As he starts to get it past 90 degrees, a bright light comes out of the wall behind the wheel. As the wheel gets to 180 degrees, the light becomes so bright that Ben fades to white. The same thing happens to the Others, and the pair on the beach, and the crew in the Zodiac. And then, from the chopper, we see the light get so bright that they can't see. And then it fades, and the island is gone, with just a circular inrushing wave to mark its passage. In the immortal words of Hurley, "Dude." Frank: "Where's the island? Where's the island?" Frank can't figure out where he's going to land. Jack suggests the other smaller island, but that's gone too. The fuel runs out, and Frank tells them to prepare to bail. As the rotors slow, the chopper slowly descends. Sayid manages to inflate and drop the life raft before they hit. And then the chopper crashes into the water, somersaulting over itself. Commercials.
Jack is flailing around underwater. We can dimly hear Kate's voice screeching out for him. He makes his way to the surface. Hurley is already in the life raft, and Kate (holding Aaron), Sayid, Frank, and Sun are making their way to it. And then Frank finds Desmond floating face-down in the water. What do they call that position again? Frank flips Desmond onto his back and then he and Jack pull him to the raft. Sayid and Hurley pull Desmond's limp form into the raft, and then Jack climbs in and starts performing CPR. And just as you think you realize why we never saw Desmond in a flash-forward, a geyser of water erupts from his mouth and he starts coughing. And so they're all fine. Albeit trapped on a raft in the middle of the trackless ocean.
Flash-forward. Kate is asleep in her bed when she hears a creaking noise and wakes up. She turns on a lamp, and then her phone rings. There's just a clicking sound when she answers, and then a voice speaking some language she can't understand. And then she here's a louder creak coming from the hallway. Kate hangs up and runs to her armoire, where she fishes around and pulls out a gun. She makes her way to Aaron's room where she finds a blond woman leaning over his bed, holding his hand. Kate yells, "Don't you touch my son!" And then the woman turns around, and we see that it's Claire. Awkward. Kate's in shock. She starts to ask how Claire got there, but Claire interrupts her: "Don't bring him back, Kate. Don't you dare bring him back!" And then Kate wakes up for real. She runs to Aaron's room and finds him safely asleep in his bed. She kneels down beside the bed and takes his hand. Kate starts to cry, and then tells Aaron she's sorry. For what, she doesn't say.
On the raft, Kate is holding Aaron. Jack asks how the baby is, and despite the fact that he hasn't eaten in like two days, Kate says he's fine. Kate thinks it's a miracle that they survived. Hurley: "I can't believe he did it." Kate: "Who did what?" Hurley: "Locke. He moved the island." Jack: "No he didn't." Hurley: "Well really? 'Cause one minute it was there and the it was gone. So unless we, like, overlooked it dude, that's exactly what he did. But you got another explanation, man, I'd love to hear it." Sorry, that just deserved to be quoted in full. Because Jack is being a huge dumb-ass. And then Frank sees the lights of a boat in the distance. I hope it's not more pirates. They all cry out, and the boat shines a light in their direction. And then Jack tells them, "We're gonna have to lie." They're confused, but he now agrees with Locke that they need to lie about everything that happened. Jack tells them that if they point out that the plane found in the ocean was a fake, whoever planted it will come after them. Not to mention continuing to try to find the island and kill everyone on it. Kate thinks and tells Jack that there's no way they can pull it off. Jack tells them just to let him do all the talking. Because he's so good under pressure.
The boat gets closer, and we can hear voices speaking Portuguese. The raft pulls up to the side of the boat, and we can see that it's named the Searcher. A sailor sticks his head over the side and then shouts out (in Portuguese) for Miss Widmore. Desmond looks like he's hoping for something that can't possibly be real because the disappointment would be too much. But it is real, as Penny appears on an upper deck and tells the sailor to throw a rope to the raft and pull them around to the stairs. Desmond shouts her name and then starts climbing a canvas ladder on the side of the boat. She runs down to the main deck and arrives just as Desmond climbs over the side of the boat. They approach each other slowly, each clearly fearing that this can't be real. And then... remember how I said Sawyer kissed the hell out of Kate? I was wrong. He only kissed the heck out of her. Because the kiss between Desmond and Penny leaves all other kisses in the dust. They're both crying when he asks her how she found him. Penny: "Your phone call. I have a tracking station." My question is how did she get from her apartment in London to a boat in the middle of the Pacific in the two days (or so) since Desmond called her? Desmond: "I love you, Penny. And I'll never leave you again." I really hope that turns out to be true.
Desmond and Penny walk up to the back of the boat, where the other survivors are getting out of the raft. As they each arrive on the deck, Desmond introduces them to Penny. Jack is last, and he wastes no time telling her that they need to talk. Commercials.
One week later (according to the title on the screen). Hurley and Sayid are on deck. Hurley asks the name of the place they're supposed to be, and Sayid tells him it's Membata. Hurley asks Sayid why they sailed 3,000 miles in order to go to another island. Sayid: "Because it's the only way to keep them safe." At the back of the boat, Jack and Frank put the raft back in the water and Desmond throws a couple of long boards in the raft. Jack asks how long it will take to land, and Frank thinks it should be about 8 or 9 hours: "Just long enough to give you a nice, convincing sunburn." They say goodbye. Penny hands Aaron off to Kate. And this is the one bit that makes no sense. Nobody would have expected them to return with a baby, so they could easily have left Aaron with Penny. If Kate really wanted to raise him, I'm sure there could have been some way to later on arrange a fake foreign adoption. Or better yet, Kate could have just not come back with the others. Penny could probably help set her up with a new identity, and then she'd avoid that potential prison sentence. Putting Aaron on the raft for another 8 or 9 hours and then trying to pass him off as Kate's just seems stupid. I'm sure the writers have their reasons, but it seems very contrived. Desmond asks Jack if he's sure about doing what he's doing, and Jack asks if Desmond is sure about what he's doing. Desmond thinks that he'll be fine as long as he's with Penny. Jack: "Don't let 'em find you, Desmond." Oh, you mean Penny's dad? Good luck with that. Jack: "Then I'll see you in another life, brother." Desmond: "Aye, I guess you will." Jack tells the others that it's time to go home. Jack, Sayid, Kate, Aaron, Sun, and Hurley get in the raft. Using the wooden boards as makeshift paddles, Jack and Sayid start rowing in the direction of Sumba. Thanks to the magic of television, they arrive at a fishing village in moments. Villagers come down and pull the raft out of the water. And then our heroes are safe.
Flash-forward. Jack drives his jeepy thing down a street in a poor part of town, blasting his radio at top volume. Rude. He parks and kills the music. He's across the street from the funeral home from last season's finale. He walks up to the door and tries to open it. It's locked, because it's the middle of the night. So Jack picks up a brink and smashes the doorknob off the door and then kicks the door in. He sees the coffin there. The body release form that is conveniently sitting on top of it confirms that the coffin is housing Jeremy Bentham. Jack opens the lid, but we don't see inside. Yet. A voice says Jack's name. He jumps, startled, and the voice apologizes. It's Ben, looking quite dapper. Ben asks if "he" told Jack that Ben was off the island. He did. Ben asks when Jack spoke to him. It was about a month earlier. And Kate also spoke with him. Ben asks what he told Jack, and Jack responds, "He told me that after I left the island, some very bad things happened." Ah, but before you left the island some very bad things happened. Jack continues, "And he told me it was my fault, for leaving. And he said that I had to come back." Ben has heard about Jack's flights over the Pacific. Jack asks why he's there. Ben: "I'm here to tell you that the island won't let you come alone. All of you have to go back." Jack thinks that's not happening -- he doesn't know where Sayid is, Hurley's insane, Sun blames him for Jin's death, and Kate won't speak to him. Ben thinks he can help with those problems, because they have to go back together. Jack nods his head. He starts to walk to the door of the funeral home. Ben stops him: "Jack, I said all of you. We're going to have to bring him, too." They look at the coffin. And then the camera pans across the top of it. The dead body inside is Locke. Credits.
Just to sum up, Locke, Juliet, Sawyer, Rose, Bernard, and Claire are still on the island. Michael has to be dead, having been right in the room when the C-4 blew up. I think it's extremely likely that Jin is dead -- the only way he could have survived is if he was able to jump off the freighter before it exploded, avoided the flying debris and fuel, and was pulled along with the island when it moved. Because otherwise, even if he survived the explosion, he would have been trapped in the water without a boat and no place to swim to. Finally, the status of Daniel and his group of no-names is uncertain -- I'm assuming they must have been close enough to the island to be moved with it, but there's no definite evidence of that.