I thought this was a pretty darn good episode. It didn't jump around too much in time and/or space; there was a lot of ground covered and even some possible answers; Kate and Jack were scarcely on-screen; pretty, pretty Desmond and the Smoke Monster have cameos; and Jin's not dead yet. Well, maybe he is, it's not clear, but he's definitely got a lot to do.
Los Angeles. Sun watches the goings-on at the marina, but is interrupted by a call from her mother in Seoul. Her mom puts her baby on the phone and, hearing her daughter’s voice, Sun’s resolve wavers just for a moment. Then, she picks up her gun and gets out of the car. Cocking the gun, she strides up to Ben. Everyone freaks – Kate mostly because Aaron is alone in the car! – until Ben calmly tells Sun that he didn’t kill Jin. Jin is still alive and Ben can prove it.
Island. A confused Jin stares at the ocean while the French folks busy themselves with their equipment. Rousseau lets him know that the current year is 1988 and Jin freaks out understandably. The French are picking up a radio signal and ask Jin if he knows where the radio tower is. He says yes, and reluctantly agrees to lead them there, figuring he can determine the location of the Losties’ beach camp from there. Rousseau notes his distress and asks who he hopes to find at his camp. “My wife,” he mutters.
As they walk through the jungle, Rousseau gets a twinge in her belly. Her husband is concerned, seeing how she’s seven months pregnant and all, but she says the baby just kicked. Jin is sad, watching how tender they are with each other. Soon the group notices that one of their party, Nadine, is missing. As they call for her, a rumbling is heard in the trees. Rousseau is frightened and they ask Jin if he knows what made that noise. Jin: “Monster.” Ooh, it’s the return of the Smoke Monster at long last! I bet it likes French food.
The French folks are like, um, monster? Whatever, let’s go find Nadine. Jin thinks this is a bad idea but tags along for the safety in numbers. They find Nadine’s pack and then AWESOME! the Smoke Monster starts ripping trees out by their roots and then Nadine’s body plummets to the ground. She lands hard. They run, but the Smoke Monster corners them, grabbing one of their guys and dragging him off into the underbrush. They give chase and manage to grab onto him, trying to keep him from being pulled into a pit in the ground. The Smoke Monster keeps yanking on him, however, and eventually PULLS THE GUY’S ARM OFF. The severed arm goes flying; the remaining French folk collapse, screaming; and Jin just looks beaten.
They hear their fallen comrade’s voice coming from way down in the cave. “Help me! I’m hurt!” Well, no shit, mon ami – your arm just got ripped off at the shoulder. And you are sounding remarkably calm under the circumstances – I think it’s a trap and the Smoke Monster is trying to lure them to their doom. Despite Jin’s protestations the Frenchies decide to go in after their guy. Jin does manage to keep Rousseau from following them at least, for the sake of the baby. As the two of them stand guard, the light starts to flicker, however, and Jin clutches his head in pain. “What’s wrong?” asks Rousseau, seemingly unaffected. Jin can’t answer her before FLASH and he’s all alone, in the same spot above the Smoke Monster’s cave. The Frenchman’s arm is still there, no longer fresh; and we can now see that there are hieroglyphics carved into the stone walls above the cave. Jin looks like he might lose his mind trying to figure out WTF is going on. Again, understandably.
He hikes away from the cave and, from a hilltop, sees a trail of smoke. He heads towards it and ends up at a beach covered in luggage and wreckage. It’s someone’s camp: he finds a palm lean-to, a music box, a violin … and two bodies laid out on the sand. They’re flyblown and I think it’s a couple of the Frenchmen. Jin hears shouting down the beach a-ways. It’s Rousseau. She’s got her husband at gunpoint: “You’re not Robert … you’re sick … the monster changed you.” Robert tries to reason with her that it’s not a monster per se – it’s a security system that guards the temple [hieroglyphic walls]. Rousseau hears him and lowers her gun slightly, so Robert lifts his own rifle and pulls the trigger! It’s a misfire, lucky for her, and so she shoots him in the head. I’m guessing she shot those other two guys too. Then Rousseau sees Jin skulking in the bushes and starts firing at him as well, having pretty much gone off her nut, so he has to run off into the Island’s interior to escape her. A little ways in, he gets another flash.
When he comes to, someone is behind him cocking a gun. It’s Sawyer! Totally adorably, once Sawyer realizes whom it is he’s seeing he gives a joyful whoop and grabs Jin into a huge hug. Juliet, Locke and etc. are there too, all wearing big goofy grins, and Jin looks from face to face hopefully. “Where’s Sun?”
Miles wants to know where Jin came from; Daniel figures that he was in the water off the boat but close enough to get caught up in the time flashes – whatever, we’ll go with it because it’s just so nice to have Jin back. Sawyer tries to explain to Jin that every time the light flashes they slip through time, but Jin has had enough. His English fails him utterly and Sawyer turns to Miles, as the other token Asian guy, to translate. Miles: “What? He’s from Korea, I’m from Encino.” I think I love Miles. Charlotte, however, can speak Korean, and tells the group that Jin is asking if they’re sure Sun is off the Island. Locke, through Charlotte, says yes, they’re sure, plus they’re heading to the Orchid to try to get her back.
Los Angeles. Sun is angry: she has been mourning her husband for three years and now Ben says he has proof that Jin is still alive? She shoves the gun into Ben’s neck. Ben, slightly less calmly, says that there’s someone here in L.A. who can give her the proof she needs, and that someone will also show them all the way back to the Island. Now it’s Kate’s turn to wig out. She turns on Jack, furious at his complicity in Ben’s plan to return them to the Island, and stomps back to her car. Sayid turns away too and Ben’s voice breaks a little when he calls after him. Sayid shakes his head, saying he doesn’t want any part of this and if he sees either Jack or Ben again it will be “extremely unpleasant for all of us.” He leaves. Ben looks back at Sun: they can get the proof she needs in thirty minutes, or she can shoot him now and never find out. Sun: “Let’s go.”
Island. Locke’s group is on the move. Jin wants to go with Locke but Locke says that can’t happen, promising to bring Sun back. Daniel asks Charlotte if she speaks any other languages. Charlotte: “Just Klingon.” Me: heh. She asks Daniel if what they’re trying will work; he’s hopeful but not sure. Then FLASH, and FLASH again. These flashes are terribly painful to everyone; both Juliet and Sawyer get nosebleeds and Charlotte collapses after the second one. When she comes to, she speaks urgently in Korean to a shocked-looking Jin, then switches to English so he doesn’t have to translate: don’t let them bring Sun back to the Island – “this place is death!” And we have a title, folks.
Los Angeles. Ben drives Sun and Jack, Sun antsy at how long it’s taking. Ben: “I didn’t account for traffic.” Jack tries apologizing to Sun for leaving Jin behind but it just pisses her off. She asks if he’s just saying this now so she won’t kill Ben. Jack gets all puffed up and says that for what Ben just did to Kate, if Sun doesn’t kill him, he’ll do it himself. Now Ben gets pissed off and pulls the van over. He shouts that if the two of them knew what he’s had to do to keep them and their friends safe, they would never stop thanking him. Ungrateful jerks. Sun tells him to keep driving.
Island. Charlotte’s mind is pretty much free-floating now. Sawyer and Locke want to leave her behind as the flashes are coming faster now and they’re running out of time. Daniel protests, but then sends them on ahead, saying he’ll stay with her. As they go, Sawyer points out that if they don’t know when they are, how do they know the Orchid Station will even be there? Crazy Charlotte tells them to “look for the well.” And with that in mind, they head off. They do find the Orchid but just as they get there, there’s another flash and they end up in a time in which the station isn’t there. Locke remembers what Charlotte said, however, and just around the corner finds a well. Miles is impressed.
Back with Charlotte and Daniel, Charlotte confesses that she grew up on the Island - her folks were part of the Dharma Initiative. But when they got back to England, she would ask her mum about the Island and her mum would tell her that she’d imagined it, that it wasn’t a real place. So that’s why she became an anthropologist – to find the Island again. Wouldn’t becoming a geographer be more helpful than an anthropologist? I’m just asking. Daniel’s like, okay, but why are you telling me this? Charlotte, starting to cry now, says it’s because she’s remembering a scary man on the Island who told her that once she left, she must never come back because if she did, she would die. Daniel doesn’t understand. Charlotte: “Daniel, I think that man was you!” Well, I wouldn’t call him “scary” necessarily … twitchy, maybe.
At the well, Locke gets ready to climb down but Jin stops him, saying that he doesn’t want Sun brought back here – “this Island is bad!” He threatens to cut the rope Locke was planning to climb down until Locke promises not to seek Sun out. Locke does ask what happens if Sun finds him, and Jin, eyes tearing up, says that he should say that Jin is dead, body washed up on shore. He hands Locke his wedding ring to give to Sun as proof. Juliet thanks Locke for what he’s trying to do, and then he climbs down the rope, hand over hand.
They watch him descend until, horribly, the light changes. A flash is coming and it seems to be emanating from the bottom of the well. Everyone cries out and Sawyer grabs Locke’s rope, shouting for him to hang on. But the flash has other plans, and Locke falls to the bottom of the well. There’s a snap of bone and he screams. Topside, Sawyer is still clutching the rope for all he’s worth. Miles looks at him and says that he can probably let go now: the well, and Locke, is gone and the rope disappears into solid earth. Sawyer scrabbles at the ground, yelling for them to dig, but Juliet just kneels beside him. “James, we can’t help him now.”
Charlotte is having a rough time, coughing up more and more blood, and Daniel begs her to stay with him. He says that he sent Desmond to find his mother to help them but Charlotte is too far gone. She giggles that they’re not allowed to have chocolate before dinner, gives a little cough, and shuffles off her mortal coil. Daniel shakes and cries and says her name over and over. If they’d had any sort of chemistry together, I might care.
Down in the well, Locke is still screaming. And well he should: he has a compound fracture in his lower leg. He shouts for Sawyer but the opening of the well is gone. Then there are footsteps and Christian, Jack’s dad, comes around the corner with a lantern. He’s here to help Locke the rest of the way. Christian also points out that the last time they spoke, he specifically told Locke that he, Locke, was to move the Island to save it. Locke protests that Ben said he knew what to do and Christian chides him, asking when did doing anything Ben said do any good. Locke is confused and slightly panicky. “The good news,” Christian continues, “is that you’re here now. Are you ready to go?” He tells Locke that he must convince all the Oceanic Six to return to the Island and that a woman named Eloise Hawking can help them with the actual returning. Locke stutters that Richard told him he was going to die; “I guess that’s why they call it a sacrifice,” replies Christian.
He tells Locke that behind this wall is a wheel that has slipped off its axis and all Locke has to do is give it a little push. Locke asks for help standing up but Christian refuses. Crying out in pain, Locke pulls himself up and lurches to the wheel. It’s the one that Ben turned before and now it’s stuck. Locke gives it a big yank and it slips back into gear. A greenish-white light fills the chamber. Smiling, Christian bids Locke good luck and tells him to say hello to his son. Locke: “Who’s your son?”
Los Angeles. Ben pulls up at Eloise Hawking’s church. Before they go inside, he reaches into his pocket and hands Jin’s wedding ring to Sun. He tells her that he got it from Locke, to whom Jin gave it before Locke left the Island. Again, he asks Sun if she will come back to the Island with him. She stares at the ring and says yes, she will – completely forgetting about the daughter she’s about to leave behind. Jack just stands there, catching flies. Just then, pretty Desmond turns the corner. Surprised, he wants to know what they’re doing here. Ben suspects it’s for the same reason that Desmond's here. Des: “You’re looking for Faraday’s mother too?”
Everyone thinks that’s a little weird so they all go into the church where Eloise Hawking is lighting candles. Desmond seems to remember her from when he bought Penny’s ring from her. She is displeased that Ben has not brought the whole group but guesses that it’ll do for now when he says it was the best he could do on such short notice. “All right,” says Eloise, “let’s get started.”
Previously on Lost / next time on Lost
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