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We open up on Ajira flight 316, and follow it before, during and after the FLASH and crash. As we already knew, the plane hits "turbulence" (or a rift in the space-time continuum). In the cockpit, Frank struggles to keep control, but the plane stalls out and he's forced to land on a makeshift island runway. When he wakes, his co-pilot is dead via shish kebab. Meanwhile, in the cabin, Caesar wakes Ilana, whom he doesn't seem to know, and they (and Sun and Frank) realize that some people have disappeared from the plane. Not Ben, though; he's standing there, relatively unharmed, save the injuries he picked up before he left L.A. (where he certainly did not kill Penny, do you hear me? La la la la la la la).
Thirty years earlier: Jin finds Jack, Kate and Hurley and brings them to Sawyer, who leaves them hanging on the shore while he goes back to Old New Otherton to grab them some clothes. He and Juliet decide to disguise them as some of the new Dharma recruits who are arriving on the sub that day. Sawyer is shocked by the Returnees' news that Locke is dead, but not as shocked as they are by Sawyer's news that it's 1977. Jin, not to be outdone, is shocked that Sun has come back with them, and makes like a bat out of hell to go find her. Somewhere. Oh, and Sawyer doesn't shock me, but he intrigues me when he tells his friends that Daniel is no longer there. [I think he means Daniel go cray-cray. - Zach]
Jin shows up over at the Flame Station, where we meet Radzinsky for the first time. He's building a model of the Swan. Jin tries to look at the output of the various systems housed in the Flame, but Radzinsky is rather proprietary about it all -- until Jin shoves him up again a wall, which seems to change his mind. In response to Jin's demand, Radzinsky contacts all the other stations, asking for news of any plane flying nearby, but there's none. There is, however, a hostile on the loose in grid 325. It's Sayid. Radzinsky wants to kill him right away.
Over at the crash site, 30 years later, Frank is trying to take control of the survivors, warning them to stick together and wait for rescue. Sun spots Ben sneaking off to the jungle and tails him. Frank leaves his charges and tails her. Ben doubles back on them and surprises them both. He explains they're on the wrong island (Hydra) and need to get back to the big one. Frank doesn't trust him, but Sun insists she must and they follow him to the beach where they find the outriggers. After Ben notes where they're headed, Sun BEANS him in the head with an oar. YAY Sun! No more cardigans in the tropics for her, y'all. It's dark when she and Frank finally arrive at Craphole. They make their way to New Otherton, which is rundown and abandoned. A light goes on in one of the buildings, though, and out walks Christian Shephard who tells them his (first) name. Sun asks for his help in finding her husband. Christian brings them into the decrepit recruiting center, mutters some dates, and removes a photo from the wall. It's from 1977. Sun and Frank can't believe it when they see the Strand-aways and the Returnees in the picture. Christian tells them they have a long way to go
Somewhere in there, Juliet catches up with new mama Amy, who has the file on the new recruits arriving via submarine, today. After making small talk and giving her orders not to work for a while, Juliet snags the file, picks up Amy's new baby, and asks her what she and Horace are going to name him. Amy says, "Ethan." DUN. I knew it. Okay, so did a whole lot of other people all over the world, but they're not staying up late writing this recaplet, are they? When Sawyer brings the Returnees to be processed as new recruits, Jack is interviewed by none other than Pierre Chang, who promptly assigns him to the custodial staff. [His coverall name? "Workman." Nice. - Zach] Kate's checked in by security guard Phil, who gets suspicious when he can't find Kate on his log of new recruits. Juliet saves the day, and she and Kate pretend to meet for the first time. You can nearly hear them say, Meeeooooow.
When Sawyer gets out to the Flame, the only way he can save Sayid's hide from death-by-Radzinsky is by getting him to "admit" he's a "hostile." He then arrests him (which means he's protected by the truce) brings him back to Old New Otherton, locks him up, and orders the guard to get Sayid something eat.
That night, Jack goes to "LaFleur's" cabin, and is welcomed in by Juliet, who gives him a big hug. He's taken aback when he realizes she's living with Sawyer, who is a little miffed he's no longer the only big man on Old New Otherton Campus. Jack does himself no favors either, because he tries to step right back into his old leadership role, but Sawyer's been running the show for three years, now. After slamming Jack for always reacting, rather than thinking, and costing people their lives, Sawyer shows him the door and Jack returns to his cabin. Kate and Sawyer, who seem to be -door neighbors, exchange a tense little wave from their respective porches, and Sawyer returns to his love nest and Juliet.
A young boy enters Sayid's dungeon, and tells his keeper he was ordered to bring the prisoner a sandwich. When he passes the bag through the cell bars to Sayid, we finally see his face, but we already knew who he was, didn't we? Sayid doesn't, though -- at least, not yet. The boy asks Sayid if he's a "hostile." Sayid asks the boy what he thinks. And then he asks the boy his name. He looks up at Sayid and says, "My name is Ben." Really? I thought that was Harry Potter. Huh.
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Want more? The full recap starts right below!You know, I thought this episode was weird in that... it wasn't all that weird. For Lost, anyhow. And then I saw all my friends posting about it, and its overwhelming weirdness, and thought, "Hmmmm. Perhaps I need my weird-o-meter recalibrated." Then I spent the weekend immersed in the series finale of Battlestar Galactica, after which my weird-o-meter levitated and flew out of the house toward the sun, along with my forks, measuring cups, a trowel, toilet tissue, toothpaste, soap, bandages, crazy pills, and all my other hi-tech stuff like that there. And I share that, by way of explaining that a bitter, confused, shell of a woman is writing this recap, and if Lee Adama had his way, I'd be doing so in the sands of the Sahara, with my frakking finger. So let's thank heaven for small favors and move on. How was your weekend? What's that... the recap? Um, sure. Of course. Let's get to it, shall we?
Nighttime. We open up on Ajira flight 316, its tail lit as the plane glides above the clouds. In first class, Kate, Sun and Jack each sit alone. Sayid sits to the dozing Ilana. Huh. Some marshal she is. Hurley has the guitar. Ben has his eviltude. Same old, same old. In the cockpit, the co-pilot thinks he's letting Frank in on a big secret when he shares that the big guy with the curly hair is one of the Oceanic 6. "Guy's got nerves of steel, man. He survives a full-on commercial airliner crash. Now he's back flying over the same South Pacific?" No, it's a different South Pacific, on New Earth. Sheeesh. Try to keep up, co-pilot dude. Frank (the character, not the actor) seems to have gone to the Joey Tribbiani smell-the-fart school of acting, because that's what we're getting for his poker face, when he says, "Yeah, well... Maybe he doesn't believe that lightning will strike twice in the same place." Oh, Frank, lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice... The co-pilot chuckles, which is lightning's cue, or at least turbulence's cue. The people in the cabin wake and shake and bake. Back in the cockpit, Frank turns on the No Smoking; Fasten Your Seatbelt; Use Seat Bottom for Floatation; We Hope You're Wearing Depends Undergarments sign. Hurley tells Caesar he might want to buckle up, then pulls down his sleeping mask, because he already knows he doesn't want to see what's going to happen to him. Back in the cockpit, things go south, fast. In the cabin, luggage falls out of the overheads. The passengers are in a tizzy. In the cockpit again, Frank shuts off the auto-pilot and takes the controls. In First Class, the flight attendant gets thrown around and things are pretty much upside down. The buzzing comes first and then the FLASH!
It's now (and we get the feeling suddenly) daylight. Frank flies in a bright blue sky, above the fluffy white clouds. The co-pilot says, "What" while the plane keeps saying, "Stall. Stall. Stall." That doesn't seem too helpful after the first time. Ajira 316 looks prepped to take a nosedive. There is some techno-babble between Frank and his co-pilot which amounts to, "OHNOES don't crash this thing!" And possibly, "Let's jettison the curly haired dude. He's a total jinx," or maybe I'm projecting. I haven't flown since my husband and I returned from our honeymoon in Aruba. In November of 1994. What? We got busy having babies soon after. And we didn't want to fly with them. If you were flying on planes with loud, cranky wee ones, you can't blame us. Frank demands more power so he can pull them out of their swan dive. The co-pilot goes all Scotty: she can't take much more of this, Captain (and yeah, Trekkers, I know Scotty never actually said that). When flying the plane doesn't seem to be working, Frank talks to it. This, I totally get. Finally they spot a runway. Huh. On a desert island. Imagine. I wonder how that got there? The co-pilot is sending out maydays and Frank's just trying to land the frakkin' plane. Which he finally does, but the runway is a little bit short, so he ends up in the brush. And everything goes black.
Frank wakes, bloodied and battered, but in way better shape than his co-pilot, who has been shish-kebabbed by what looks to be a birch tree. Do they have birches in the South Pacific? He grabs his flashlight and makes his way to the cabin. Caesar is trying to wake Ilana. "Hey, lady. Are you okay?" She says, "Jarrah?" as she comes to. Caesar introduces himself and tells her they had an accident. She looks to Sayid's seat and finds him missing, and stumbles when she tries to stand. Sun is struggling to get to her feet, too. When she calls Frank's name, he helps her up and asks where Jack, Kate and Hurley are. Ben stands before them and says, "They're gone." When Frank wants to know where, Ben says, "How would I know?" Frank, don't bother, m'kay? Unless you've made up a new and exciting game called Spot the Truth to play while stranded, there's no sense asking him any questions. Even the show knows it's not worth sticking around for more "answers" from Ben because we cut to...
Thirty Years Earlier: Sawyer meets up with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Jin on the north point of Craphole. After Sawyer makes googly eyes at Kate, Hurley hugs him so hard he lifts him up. "You're alive! Dude, I can't believe it." Sawyer calls him "Kong," and Hurley cops to missing the nicknames, so Sawyer immediately starts calling him Hugo. Jack and Sawyer shake hands, and then Sawyer and Kate hug, and utter one another's names like they don't mean much. Fakers. Poor Jack stands around like he's the third wheel, but have faith, good doctor. There's a fourth wheel, now. It'll all work out, somehow. Sawyer's all "son of a bitch" about Locke actually doing it -- actually bringing them back. Then he notices Locke isn't there and asks after him. Jack informs Saywer that John is dead, but when Sawyer wants to know what happened, Jack says it doesn't matter. Well, what's he supposed to say? After he was in a horrific accident and while recovering in my hospital, I was a total dick to him, so he checked into a hotel and killed himself, but not before he wrote a note to me making it crystal clear that he only offed himself because I didn't believe him, but by that time, I did believe him. Of all the dumb luck! That's soooooo Locke, right? No, of course not, because even though that's what Jack thinks happened, we all know Ben killed him. And we don't have anyone nearby to exposit on that just yet. Hurley asks about Jin and Sawyer wearing the Dharma jumpsuits, so Sawyer tells them they're in the Dharma Initiative now, oh and by the way, it's 1977. The music spins up and out and then... stops. Hurley says, "Ooo... uh. What?" Dun.
After the commercial, they recap for one another, because there was no TWoP in 1977, and then figure out that both groups have lived out a three-year period since the Escape-aways left the Strand-aways. They've just done so during different three-year periods. Then Miles calls Jin on his walkie. Jin says he's got to report in soon or they'll send out a patrol. Hurley breaks in. "Dude, your English is awesome." And thank goodness, because I'm tired of not hearing Jin fully express himself, verbally. DDK isn't just a pretty face, he's a good actor. It's high time he got something of substance to say in English. Sawyer says they'll bring the Returnees back to the Barracks at the D.I. They can't be wandering around the jungle with the hostiles. When Kate questions that term, he says, "the Others" like she just got off the short bus. Well, she was in the VW bus, so I guess she did.
FINALLY, Hugo brings up "everyone" else from the plane. And when Jin wonders who all that could mean, Jack slowly -- like a glacier -- explains that means: Sayid, Lapidus and... you know how sometimes I insert "A beat" in between a character's lines, to convey that he pauses? Yeah, well, this is no beat. It's a drum solo from John Bonham. Then finally: "Oh and hey, this chick Sssssssssssun, maybe you know her, on account of her being Asian too, dude." (That might be a paraphrase.)
Apparently, Jin hasn't become fluent in cussing, because he just gives everyone a dirty look and nearly leaps over them on his way to Sawyer's Jeep, because he is so not picking up his best girl in that VW Bus, and can you blame him? Sawyer tries to get him to wait and plan, but Jin's off like the bride's pajamas. He's going to The Flame, because if a plane landed on the island, Radzinsky will know. So Sawyer tells the Returnees to stay put on the north point, until he can work out a way to bring them into Dharmaville without trouble. Before he leaves, Kate asks who else is still "here" other than him and Jin, and we cut to...
Juliet. She's entering the monitoring area at what I think is The Arrow, but I am forever mixing up the stations unless I see a huge sign or the characters refer to it every line. She asks Miles if he's seen "James." He hasn't and notes he hasn't answered his walkie, either. She tells him about Jin's call earlier that morning and how Sawyer just ran out, so Miles brings up some surveillance video, and Juliet sees Sawyer getting out of the VW Bus, right there in Dharmaville. She returns to their love shack, to find him frantic, and tearing through the closet in search of clothing. When she asks him what's up, Sawyer tells her the Returnees have... returned, and are out at the north point. Juliet looks less than thrilled, but to be fair, she's also just stunned. She sits on the edge of the bed and tries to mumble out a question about how they got back, but Sawyer cuts her off and just says they said something about being on a plane. He then takes a moment to look at her, and seeing her reaction, he slows himself down, and sits to her on the bed. "I don't understand it any more than you do. But they're here, and I gotta find a way to bring 'em in, before somebody else finds 'em, and they screw up everything we got here." Juliet looks at him and tries to smile, but doesn't quite make it. She reminds him there's a sub coming in that afternoon. Sawyer puts on his "I've got an idea" face, and we cut to
The Flame: Jin roars up to the station in Sawyer's Jeep. Inside, Radzinsky is working on a model of The Swan, and is all bitchy because Jin didn't knock. Jin runs off to get the radar logs. Radzinsky freaks out. "Oh, get your hands off that!" Jin doesn't let go of the paper he's just taken off the printer, so Radzinsky rips it out of his hands. "I thought you learned English." Oh, I don't like him. Kill him, Jin, and make it look like a suicide. "I said, hands off! Nobody handles any of the gear in this station, except me. Understand?" Jin explains that he needs the radar logs to determine if a plane landed on the island. Radzinsky sasses Jin, but Jin asks him to check with the other stations. When Radzinsky starts to argue, Jin shoves him up against the wall and convinces him to change his mind. After he radios the other station he says, "So, what are you all hot and bothered about, Kwon? Why's this plane so damned important?" Jin stares him down and we cut to...
Sun. She's standing on the beach, idly playing with Jin's wedding ring. Ilana approaches and asks if she lost someone. Sun's caught off guard at first, but then manages to tell Ilana she was traveling alone. Frank calls for all the Crashees' attention and tells them that the radio is dead, but as soon as "they" figure out they're missing, "they'll" coming looking for them. In the meantime, they should hunker down and stick together. Caesar wants to know where they are, but Frank says he doesn't know. It's an uncharted island. Caesar isn't buying, because he's seen buildings and animal cages, and a bigger island across the way, so he snaps that Frank should get some new charts. Frank says that right now, he's just trying to keep people safe, as if he totally would get charts if he weren't so busy with the people needing safety, and all. Heh. He then encourages his passengers to look for some firewood, which totally makes me miss Bernard and Rose. Caesar doesn't know from Bernard and Rose (as far as we know), so he's gets all viva la revolution; up the republic; let's ignore Frank and explore those buildings to see if there's a radio or food. And honestly, it's not a bad idea. I just don't care for how he dissed Frank. [Nobody puts Jeff Fahey in the corner! - Zach]
Now the moment Caesar mentions animal cages, Ben's pointy little ears perk up and he realizes where they've crashed -- Hydra Island -- so he slips off into the jungle, unnoticed by all but Sun, who slips off into the jungle after him, unnoticed by all but Frank, who slips off into... well, you get the picture. Just when Sun thinks she's lost Ben, he rounds back on her. He wants to know why she's following him. Sun wants to know where he's going. Ben looks at her like duh. "Back to our island. You wanna come?" Commercial.
1977; Dharmaville: New mother Amy is sleeping in a hammock to her baby's pram, so Juliet sneaks up and lifts her clipboard, which wakes Amy. Juliet apologizes for waking her and says she just came to get the sub manifest because she doesn't want Amy working today. Conveniently, Amy tells her that two recruits dropped out because they didn't want to take the sedative necessary to ride the Craphole express. She asks Juliet to tell "Pierre" for her. Juliet then coos at the baby and lifts him from his carriage. She continues to "ooh" and "ah" until Amy tells her the name she and Horace have chosen for their son: Ethan. Juliet smiles like you do when you have to talk to someone you hate, and quickly but gently places the baby in his mother's arms. And she manages not to scream, "Touch not the unclean thing!" so I think she wins. Amy says, "So, when are you and Jim going to have one of these?" Juliet tears up. "I don't know." Now that his true love is back in town. "The timing's got to be right." So how about right after I feed her to Smokey? She leaves Amy to her baby monster and scurries off with the manifest and we cut to...
The North Point: Kate wants to know if the woman who told them how to get back explained that they'd be going back in time 30 years. Jack's all, "Um, no, she forgot to mention that." Kate asks what they should do, now. Jack's not sure yet, and he's saved from improvising by Hurley's announcement that Sawyer has returned. Sawyer gives them all some period garb and tells them they are going to pose as new recruits who just came in on the sub. Jack wants to find the other Returnees from the plane, but Sawyer says there's no time, because there isn't another new batch of recruits due for six months, which is a long time to sleep out in the jungle. Jack asks Kate and Hurley what they think. They vote for listening to Sawyer (and Hurley votes for not camping), so Sawyer tells them to just do what he says and everything will be fine. I wouldn't respond well to that. I'm just saying. Anyhow, we cut to...
The Flame: Radzinsky says he just heard back from the last station to report -- The Looking Glass -- and they've got nothing but an incoming sub. He tries to shoo Jin back to the barracks when the computer starts beeping. Radzinsky finds the cause: someone tripped a motion sensor alarm in Grid 325. "We've got a hostile inside the perimeter." Jin takes off like a bat out of Hell, and Radzinsky rushes after him, but he does take time to close the station door, which strikes me as sort of darling, even though I hate him. Jin reaches the "hostile" first, but it's not Sun. It's Sayid! He's still cuffed, but is chuffed to see Jin. Jin immediately asks where Sun is. Sayid says he doesn't know, but before he can explain any further, Radzinsky reaches them. Aware of his presence, Jin completely changes his tone toward Sayid, and trains his rifle on him. "Shut up! Say another word, and you're dead." Sheesh, Jin. Do they not wink in your culture? Poor Sayid. Commercial.
VW Bus: Sawyer, Hurley, Jack and Kate head back toward the barracks. Hurley double-checks that it's really 1977 and that Jin and Sawyer are really part of the Dharma Initiative now, and then reminds Sawyer that the D.I. all got wiped out; he saw the pit o'corpses. He asks Sawyer if he shouldn't warn them about their impending demise. As boss man, Sawyer doesn't like being questioned any more than when he was the town heckler. "I ain't here to play Nostradamus to these people." James, do you realize Jin's English is better than yours? He's not listening. He's still explaining the ground rules to Hurley. "Besides, Faraday's got some interesting theories on what we can and can't do here." Jack says, "Did you say Faraday? He's here?" Sawyer looks back then returns his eyes to the road (which is really just grass) and says, "Not anymore." As Zach Oat so eloquently put it in my recaplet, that probably means Daniel has gone "cray-cray." And we cut to...
Dharmaville: There's a big banner up which reads, "Welcome New Recruits." There are blue and white balloons, parents and kids, and the strains of "Ride, Captain, Ride," by the Blues Image playing in the background. Sawyer, Hurley, Kate and Jack get out of the van. Hurley's wearing Sawyer's oversized bulldog hoodie. It's no "I heart my Shih Tzu" t-shirt, but then, what is? Kate's wearing a peasant blouse with pretty purple and blue embroidery, which I'd totally wear, and then I'd remember I'm too busty for peasant blouses, and fret all day that I looked pregnant. Evangeline Lily just looks adorable. Jack's wearing an ill-fitting, cheap-looking blue polo shirt, or a proto-type thereof, that's probably a blend. Sawyer puts a lei on Kate. Foreshadowing? If so, I hope it ends there, because he then puts one on Hurley and Jack, too. They're funky leis -- part flower, but mostly shells. Sawyer gives the Returnees the recruit-processing rundown. Juliet's worked it all out for them, so they should go into the processing center for the meet and greet, watch the video, smile, and act doped up like they're still coming off the sedative. Jack does not say, "That'll be a snap," so Sawyer continues with his instructions: smile and take your work assignments (which Sawyer has handled for them) and everything should be okay. Hurley wants to know what to do if they ask something he doesn't know, like who was President in 1977. It was Jimmy Carter, you infant. Sawyer says, "It's not a damn game show, Hugo. Besides, I'm gonna be in there to get your backs, all right? Let's move."
As they make their way toward the processing center, Miles drives up in another VW Bus. "LaFleur! Where've you been? I've been trying to reach you on the walkie." And then he realizes who all is surrounding "LaFleur." "What they hell are they doing here?!" Sawyer smiles, puts his arm around Miles' shoulder and says, "They're new inductees." Inductees? What is this, the Baseball Hall of Fame? They're recruits, dummy. Get your story straight, James. And Miles, close your mouth before you start catching flies. Now that I've told them what for, let's get back to their side of things. Miles tells Sawyer that he needs to talk to him about Jin. There's a 14-J at The Flame. Sawyer radios Jin, who explains they found a hostile, but then once he gets out of Radzinsky's earshot, tells Sawyer the hostile is Sayid. Sawyer says -- say it with me now, "Son of a bitch!" Then, "Was anyone else with him?" Sadly, Jin says no, that Sayid was wandering alone and we cut to...
...Ben and Sun wandering through the jungle, alone. Together. She's trying to keep up with him and asks him to wait, but Ben's not interested in waiting. "There are three outriggers near here. I'm gonna take one. So you can come along and help me row..." He stops to remove his sling, so either some of that was fakery, or Craphole's healing powers extend to Hydra Island AND Ben's somewhat back in the island's good graces. He continues: "Or you can stay here. Frankly, it makes no difference to me." Sun asks why he's leaving, but he turns the question back on her. "Why are you staying?" Sun wants to know if the main island is where she'll find Jin. Ben says, "Honestly, I don't know. But that's where I'd start looking." And I faint. Okay, I'm back now. I fainted, because I think he actually was being honest just then. Weird. Oh, maybe my weird-o-meter is back from its trip to the sun.
Frank catches up to them, and although Ben greets him cordially, Frank only addresses Sun. He asks if she's all right and when she confirms she is, Frank says, "I got worried when I couldn't find you. I saw him leaving. What are you doing out here?" I love how it pains him to acknowledge Ben's existence. Sun tells him that Ben knows where there's a boat, and that she's returning to the main island with him. Frank hopes she doesn't think she can trust Ben. Sun says she has no choice but to trust him. They make their way to the beach and Ben starts taking the brush cover off of the outriggers. Ben asks Sun if she's ready. When she says she is, Frank calls out to her. "Sun, I want you to think about this, okay? This guy is dangerous." She looks at him, but continues to remove the brush from the boats. Frank says, "Sun, that boat I came here on -- it was filled with commandos whose only mission was to get him."
Ben puts on his pissy face. "And how'd that work out for everyone?" Well, honestly Ben, not too well, considering they didn't get you. Or possibly, point taken. Sun looks out to the water, then back at Frank, who begs her not to do it. And is it just me, or am I sensing some real chemistry with these two? I don't actually want to. I'm dying for the Jin/Sun reunion already, but man, the way Frank looks at her. Sun asks Frank to come with them. He says he can't; he's responsible for the people on the beach. Ben can't wait to get rid of him. He walks away from the outrigger and right up to Frank. "That's right, Frank. A captain's first responsibility is to his passengers." Frank looks at Sun out of the corner of his eye, while Ben continues: "But I have people I have to take care of, too. There's a small dock about a half mile due south, across the water. It leads directly to a town where I used to live." The camera cuts to Sun, and if looks could kill Sun would be armed and dangerous. Ben keeps talking. "There are resources there. So if anyone can help you and the rest of the plane..." Sun's hair is just visible behind a close up shot of Ben's head and shoulders. "...get out of here safely, it --" THWACK! Sun freaking CLOCKS him with the oar and knocks him out, cold. Heh, she didn't even need the deadly look. She gazes down at his unconscious form, then up at Frank, who squints and says, "I thought you trusted this guy?" Sun's voice is as calm as her face. "I lied." Dun. Commercial.
1977; Dharmaville: The Returnees watch a film of Pierre Chang explaining the high-frequency sonar fence that protects them from the island's abundant and diverse wildlife, like, you know, the Others and the Smokeosaurus. As Kate wonders how they're going to pull this off, Phil the Security Guard calls Jack's name. He escorts him over to a table with a sign reading "Uniforms" hanging above. A man comes over mumbling about Jack's missing file and how disorganized things are on "the other side." It's none other than Pierre Chang, himself. He introduces himself with a "Namaste," but I'm pretty sure Jack's already familiar with his work. He asks Jack who shuttled him from the sub to the processing center. Jack stumbles for a moment, because he's a pro at coming off drugs, and then says it was LaFleur, whom Chang praises for running a tight organization. He then explains he's left his research to cover for a woman who just had a baby last night, and he really seems sort of pissy that she inconvenienced him with her frivolous and ill-timed... labor and delivery. Hmm, maybe he's traveled through time and knows how Ethan turned out. He finally finds Jack's job assignment -- "the shed." Chang gives him a jumpsuit that reads "Workman" and explains that, based on Jack's aptitude tests, he's been assigned to the janitorial staff. Oh, Sawyer, you dawg, you.
Meanwhile, Phil tries to help Kate find where she's going, but he can't find Kate on his list or the sub manifest. When he asks her who her recruiter is, Kate doesn't know what to say, but she's saved by Juliet, who comes in with the "new" list she just got from Amy. It has some last minute additions, "Including, Ms... Austen?" Juliet does really well pretending she's never before met Kate, at least in front of Phil. Once he leaves, she continues the charade, but to those of us who know she's living with the man who once threw himself from a helicopter for Kate, she's less, shall we say -- subtle. So too, is Kate. But Kate doesn't know anything about Juliet and Sawyer, yet, so I guess it's just general faux friendliness (or jealousy over Jack). Huh. When my husband and I watched the episode the first time, we both said, "Meee-ow!" during this scene. Then we rewound it and watched twice more.
Jin's outside The Flame when Sawyer drives up. Jin explains Sayid came walking out of the jungle, in handcuffs -- alone, but Jin couldn't get a chance to ask him any questions, because Radzinsky thinks Sayid's a hostile and wouldn't leave the two of them alone. Sawyer says he's got it and enters The Swan. Radzinsky is freaked that Sayid saw his model of The Swan [which he wouldn't have seen if you hadn't walked him right by it! - Z], and wants them to shoot Sayid and end it all, right now. Sawyer says, "Well, I appreciate your input there, Quick-Draw, but I want to talk to him first. Give me the damned keys." He does, so Sawyer tosses them to Jin, who goes into the closet where they've locked up Sayid. He grabs Sayid roughly, and again doesn't wink. He takes him out to Sawyer, who also doesn't wink. Poor Sayid. Sawyer introduces himself as LaFleur, head of security and says, "I want you to listen real carefully to what I got to say. And if you do that, you'll be fine. Understand?" Sayid mumbles that he gets it, so Sawyer says, "All right, let's start simple. Identify yourself as a hostile." Sayid looks up at him with puppy dog eyes, so Sawyer gives Sayid some context. "The terms of the truce say you gotta identify yourself as a hostile, or we got the right to shoot you." Sayid waits for the wink that never comes, then finally decides it's implied and says, "We do not refer to ourselves as 'hostile', but yes, I am one of them." After Radzinsky makes a neener face at Sawyer and Jin, Sawyer announces he's taking Sayid back to the barracks. Radzinsky declares this is a horrible mistake and says he's coming along, and is going to talk directly to Horace. Dude, Horace is going to be too busy sleeping it off and making it up to his wife that he was off blowing up trees, when he should have been holding her hand during her difficult labor and delivery, to ever bother with you. And we cut to...
Nighttime; 2007: Frank and Sun reach the dock at New Otherton. It's in a bit of a shambles, as is New Otherton, itself. Frank's trying to figure out why they're doing this. Sun says it's because Ben said if Jin was on the island, the best place to start looking for him was there. Frank cracks, "Oh, I see. That's some advice you took before you whacked him in the head." Hee. I'm so glad he came back. As they get to the land end of the dock, there's a rustling noise in the bushes. Smokey? Maybe, but Sun says, "Oh, it's probably just an animal." She's lying, it seems, but it's enough to keep Frank going. When they reach New Otherton, it looks just like it did after Keamy and his men killed Alex and wreaked general havoc. They arrive at the old processing center. Signs are hanging and swinging in the breeze and the place looks deserted. Frank doesn't think they're going to find Jin there and suggests they head back. Then the wind picks up and the whispers start. Whisper whisper whisper. A light turns on in one of the cabins and the door opens to reveal a man in silhouette. He calls out, "Hello." Frank says, "Who the hell are you?" And the man steps out of the shadows. "My name is Christian." Sun has no time to waste concocting some confusing cover story, and goes straight to her question. I love her. "I'm looking for my husband. His name's Jin Kwon. Do you know where he is?" Christian Shephard nods, smiles and says, "Follow me." Commercial.
Even with only Christian's flashlight to illuminate their way, we can tell the processing center is a disaster. Books and papers are on the floor. Signs dangle and swing in the breeze. Blinds and windows are broken. Christian shines his flashlight on the wall and starts spouting numbers, but they're not the numbers. "72, 76, 78." Sun asks where her husband is. Christian seems to ignore her. "Oh, here we go. '77." He takes the picture off the wall and dusts it with the side of his sleeve, then turns to Sun. "He's with your friends." Sun asks what he's talking about. "What friends?" Christian brings her the picture and the door blows open and the wind begins to howl. He hands her the photo. It's so dark inside, but we can make out Hurley in the front row. As Sun stares down at it, Christian says, "I'm sorry, but you have a bit of a journey ahead of you." And we cut to...
1977; Dharmaville: Someone takes a picture of the new recruits, including Jack, Kate and Hurley, under a "Namaste New Recruits" banner, and then Phil tells them they have the rest of the day to familiarize themselves with their security protocol handbooks, which are waiting in their "new digs." He allows that some of the material might seem a little scary, but assures them they're perfectly safe here. Right. He invites them to dig into the hamburgers and punch, when a call comes over his walkie. It's "LaFleur," alerting him to the presence of a 14-J, that is, Sayid. Sawyer drives up, and as he, Jin, Radzinsky and Sayid get out of the VW Bus, Phil cautions the new recruits to stay back, because they have a "minor security situation." Hurley, Kate and Jack can't help but stare as they manhandle their prisoner toward one of the buildings. Sawyer just scowls at them. When they've passed by, Hurley whispers, "I guess we've found Sayid." What was your first clue, honey?
Sawyer and Phil march Sayid downstairs in The Arrow, and bring him past the security monitors and lock him in a cell. Sawyer says, "All right, you can hang out here until we can figure out what the hell to do with you." Phil wants to know what they will do with him. Sawyer looks at Sayid, sighs, and then looks back to Phil. "Bring the man some damn food. We're not savages." Phil looks like he'd rather follow the Radzinsky plan: shoot first; bring food to the widow. But he heeds Sawyer. Once Sawyer and Sayid are alone, does Sawyer wink? Oh no, he does not. But he does squint kindly, and he nearly nods his head before he walks off. Big of him, don't you think? Sayid just stands there all, What the hell? Why did I come back here?
That night, Jack walks across the quad and asks Phil where James LaFleur lives. Phil indicates the house but says, "But I wouldn't call him James. He hates it." Jack chuckles, nods and continues on his way. Juliet answers his knock at the door, and they look at each other about the same way Kate and Sawyer looked at each other out at the north point. Oh, you crazy kids and your love rectangles! Who's closer to a fivehead -- Jack or Sawyer? Well, whatever, they hug and Jack says, "I saw you earlier today when you were helping Kate, and I wanted to say something to you then, but..." You know, Kate! Oh no, wait, that's not it. Juliet finishes for him: "We're not supposed to know each other." Jack says, "Yeah." Juliet says, "Yeah." I say, "Then shouldn't you take your huggy-faced reunion indoors, away from prying eyes, you big dorks?" Jack tells her he was looking for Sawyer. "I guess I came to the wrong house." Juliet, looking like the cat who swallowed the canary, says, "No. Come in."
The canary is sitting in his chair, reading a book and says, "Good evening, Doc." Jack nods, looks around and doesn't say anything. That silence was a little too awkward for me. I would have liked some awkward words. Juliet takes ten minutes to shut the door behind her, turns, blushes and says, "Well, I'm sure you two have a lot to talk about." My husband says, "I don't think she can pull off that whole 'I'll just get out of you menfolk's way' shtick." I'm with him. What do you think? Once she's left the room, Sawyer eases up a tick and invites Jack to take a load off. He asks him if he wants a beer, but Jack laughs and says, "No, I'm fine." He doesn't sit, either, which is probably some cock-of-the-walk posturing, and a mistake. They're both strutting around here, even though they're not actually strutting. Sawyer asks Jack what he can do for him. Jack says he doesn't even know where to start, then, "How about with Sayid?" Sawyer says he had no choice. "He was running around the jungle, got caught by my people. And seein' as how he can't tell the truth about how he got here, I had to improvise."
Jack catches him on that last word, but Sawyer just "uh-huhs" him, and reminds him that for now, Sayid is safe, which is what matters. Jacks asks where they go from there. When Sawyer only says that he's working on it, Jack gets a little shirty. "Really? Because it looked to me like you were reading a book." Sawyer blathers on about how Churchill read a book every day, even during the Blitz -- that it made him think better. Then he turns on Jack. "That's how I like to run things. I think. I'm sure that doesn't mean that much to you, 'cause back when you were calling the shots, you pretty much just reacted. See, you didn't think, Jack. And as I recall, a lot of people ended up dead." Well, that was a fine how-do-you-do. Jack thinks so, too. He nods to the point where I wonder if the island has turned him into a bobble-head, then says, "I got us off the island." Na na. [You got six people off the island! And Sawyer wasn't one of them! - Z] Sawyer says, "But here you are -- right back where you started. So I'm gonna go back to reading my book, and I'm gonna think." Na na. He lays his book down and stands. "'Cause that's how I saved your ass today. And that's how I'm gonna save Sayid's tomorrow." He walks past Jack to his door, and puts his hand on the knob. "All you gotta do is go home, get a good night's rest." He opens the door. Here's your hat; what's your hurry? "Let me do what I do." Jack walks out, stops on the porch, then turns toward Sawyer, who nearly snarls, "Now ain't that a relief?" Jack's jaw is clenched, but his face relaxes into a smile. He raises his eyebrows and says, "Yeah," and walks off. Sawyer seems pissy that he didn't get Jack to yell at him, and follows him out to the porch to watch him go. Kate watches the scene from the porch right door to Sawyer's. He sees her and offers a pathetic little wave. She stares at him, and raises her left hand without uncrossing her arms. If she's smiling, it seems it might be a sad smile of regret. Sawyer finally turns away, and returns to his house -- to his home -- to Juliet.
A boy enters The Arrow. He's carrying a brown paper bag and stops to talk to Phil -- who apparently is never off the clock. "Hey, Phil. I'm just going to go in there and deliver him a sandwich." Phil says that's all right, so the boy walks toward the cell area, and shuts the door behind him. [Uh, Phil? You watchin' this kid? - Z] He walks right up to the bars and grabs hold with one hand. "I brought you a sandwich." Sayid sits, then rises to his feet when the boy passes the bag through the bars. He looks up at Sayid -- all big, watery blue eyes behind rounded glasses. "I didn't put mustard on it, but if you'd like some, I could get some." Sayid thanks him, tells him it will be fine, and turns away. He stops when the boy asks, "Are you a hostile?" Sayid says, "Do you think I am?" The boy swallows hard, and pauses. Then: "What's your name?" Sayid gives his first name and asks the boy, "What's yours?" Still all eyes, the boy looks up and says, "I'm Ben." The music drives home that this is MOMENTOUS FOR SAYID. He finally says, "It's... nice to meet you, Ben." DUN! Bad robot!
Do you mind if I nitpick for a moment? Now I thought this episode moved along fine and all that, and the A grade I gave it is, like all the grades I assigned, based on how I felt about it immediately following -- before I had time to think, re-watch, or read the boards. But now that I've taken that time, I've got to say it's frustrating to me that the characters don't tell each other stuff. I know the writers have to save up something for subsequent episodes, but I don't think they succeeded in making the characters seem quite as real this week. It was ridiculous to me how long it took Jack, Kate and Hurley to mention Sun. Even Jin, for that matter. I mean, I can understand why he didn't expect her to be on the island. He made Locke promise not to bring her back, and to tell her he (Jin) was dead. But... she left pregnant. Jin didn't ask anything about her and his child? And he can speak English now? That is unbelievable to me. Also, I think it's a little weird that Sawyer didn't mention all the wacky time jumps they went through. I know it was three years ago for him, but still. And Jack, Kate and Hurley -- they don't mention that they somehow got teleported out of their plane? Seriously, Show?
And another thing... okay, granted, maybe Jack sort of raised Sawyer's hackles by not playing nice, and not taking a seat, and certainly by giving him crap about reading a book while Sayid's locked up in a D.I. cell, but... Locke came back to the mainland, ranting and raving about how Jack and everyone had to come back to Craphole to save the lives of the people still on Craphole, right? And the Strand-aways were all for Locke going to do whatever it was he had to do to fix their deadly time jumping predicament -- which at the time, Locke thought could only be solved by dragging the Escape-aways back to Craphole. Now granted, the flashes stopped 3 years ago, so Sawyer, Juliet, etc. have figured out it didn't take the Escape-aways' return to fix it all. But they know why Locke left, so they must have a good idea why Jack and crew are back. And so then Sawyer disses Jack for coming back? Are you kidding me, Show? If I were Jack, I think I would have given Sawyer a little more of a hard time than just mentioning that he was reading a book. I mean, Locke shows up all, "Danger, danger, death, destruction. You must save them." Then Jack comes back to find Sawyer with a good job, the respect of the community, a hot blonde in his home, and a comfortable place to sleep. And he's locking up Sayid, and not sharing information with the people who came back to help him. There would have been fisticuffs, I tell you what! Okay, first there would have been questions, "So um, why did you need us to come back to this place we fought so desperately to escape?" And then there would have been fisticuffs. I know he's generally more popular than Jack, but I wanted to smack James for the last 5 minutes of this episode, take him up on that beer, and then smack him again. And his little patty-finger wave to Kate, while Juliet was probably waiting in his bedroom (or kitchen) didn't win him any points in my eyes, either. So and in conclusion? There.
Discuss this episode in the Lost forums, and see how Sawyer stacks up against our favorite TV bachelors!
Cindy McLennan frequently gets angry at the people who live inside her TV, but it buys the groceries, so what the heck. Join her in wishing her husband Scott a happy birthday, and email her at CynthiaMcLennan[at]gmail.com her with any rants of your own, even if they differ from hers.