the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon...

13 days ago - (or, 12 new episodes and 5 repeats ago, either way, it’s back when the armory was just an armory and Henry Gale was just Dorothy’s uncle.) Locke is in said armory, getting organizized. Michael wants to borrow a gun for target practice, just to “stay sharp”. He knocks some ammunition on the floor and when Locke bends to pick it up, Mike knocks him out with the butt of the rifle. He grabs a pistol before hurrying over to the computer. He starts typing furiously, but there is no response at first. Eventually it kicks in:

>: You okay?
ok. no time. come soon?
>:I’m ready. Coming NOW. You said north
>: -- north WHERE?
when they take me out, there’s huge rocks
with a big HOLE in the middle by the
beach. You’ll know when you see.
>:It’s gonna be okay. I’m coming.

Mike whispers, “I’m coming, Walt” to himself, just before he hears Jack calling Locke. He clears the computer screen and sneaks up behind Jack in the armory. We’ve seen this before. Michael locks them in and leaves the Swan.

Today – Michael’s outside the doors of the Swan station, holding a piece of paper with Jack Shepherd, Kate Austen, Hugo Reyes, and James Ford written on it.

A list, maybe like the one Ana found on the Other? He sets it afire before Jack emerges from the doors, asking Mike to join them down under the hatch. Michael drops the flaming piece of paper and crushes it under his heel before he does. The bodies of Ana and Libby are wrapped in grey shrouds. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer are standing by them when Michael enters. The list… how convenient. Sawyer tells Jack there are only eleven total rifles and pistols left. Mike wants to leave now, just the five of them, so they can move fast and take the others by surprise. Jack argues against this plan, but Michael seems adamant. Hurley interrupts their disagreement. “They’re dead! Ana Lucia and Libby are dead. I mean, we haven’t even buried them yet.”
Jack asks Kate and Sawyer to take Ana above; he and Hurley will collect Libby. He tells Mike to stay, explaining that they'll "...bury them tonight. Then we’ll figure out what’s next.”
After everyone leaves, Mike looks down at the floor, covered in Libby’s drying blood.



13 days ago – Michael is hoofing it due north. After correcting his course with a compass, he hoofs it some more, and comes across an Other taking a piss.

He pulls the rifle on him, and actually says, “Put ‘em up.”
The guy turns around smiling, and tells Michael to relax. Michael tells him to shut up, and the smile fades. “You’re Walt’s old man, aren’t ya?”
Michael is distracted long enough for Beardo, or Mr. Friendly, to sneak up behind him. They wrestle for the rifle, and two shots go off. Beardo gains possession of the gun and Mike makes a break for it, firing the pistol over he shoulder as he runs. He gets off one shot and one of the Others fires back with a pistol of his own, twice. There are three Others now. Mr. Friendly stops the one with the gun from firing. “What are you doing? We need him.” – if Henry hasn’t been caught yet, what do they ‘need’ him for? I can think of two reasons, one, Walt has refused to help them until he is allowed to see that his dad is okay, or two, and I think this is most likely, that Henry’s ‘capture’ was all part of the plan, or the experiment – Michael shoots back twice before Beardo tosses a bolo, knocking Mikes legs out from under him. They go to retrieve Michael, and there are four Others now. “Bag him quick. His friends are right behind us.”
A burlap sack is placed over Michael’s head.

Today – Michael is trying to wash the bloodstains from the floor. Eko arrives silently, startling him. “I left my shoes outside. They were muddy.”
Wouldn’t want to dirty up the bloody floor. He tells Michael they didn’t find Henry.
“I hear you’re a priest…guess you believe in hell, then?”
Eko kneels down to help wash the floor. “For a brief time I served in a small parish in England. Every Sunday after mass, I would see a young boy waiting, in the back of the church. And then one day the boy confessed to me that he had beaten his dog to death with a shovel. And he said the dog had bitten his baby sister on the cheek and he wanted to protect her, and he wanted to know whether he would go to hell for this. I told him that god would understand; that he would be forgiven. As long as he was sorry. But the boy did not care about forgiveness. He was only afraid that if he did go to hell, that dog would be there waiting for him.”
As Eko is speaking of forgiveness, he is squeezing the blood he collected from the floor out of a sopping rag and into a bucket. Michael’s sins could be washed away so easily? I’m thinking this is all just to let us know that once Michael sacrifices himself in the finale, we can rest assured that he went to a better place, one without Ana and Libby waiting for him. If he’s sorry, that is. Man, has Eko ever turned into Locke.

Later on, Jack comes across Mike puking in the jungle. That guilt don’t exactly go down smooth, does it? Again, Mike stresses to Jack that only the two of them, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer can go to rescue Walt. “It’s gotta be just the people who already know…anybody else, look… it puts him in more danger. You don’t get to decide this. It’s my son. It’s my call. And that’s the way it has to be.”
“Then that’s the way it’ll be.”

Claire’s fussing over Aaron at the camp - Charlie comes by, ostensibly looking for Eko. Claire is cold towards him, and asks if he wants anything in particular. There is… Charlie found something on the pallet that he thinks they might need. It's eight vials of vaccine and a pneumatic injector, in a cool Swan station case.

He doesn’t know what the injections are for, but feels if anyone should have them; it’s Claire and the baby. - Huh? This is really weird, isn’t it? - Anyway, he’s already injected himself to make sure it’s safe, and he feels fine. The instructions call for a shot every nine days. Claire seems genuinely touched by this gesture, but before Charlie is able to milk the moment, Mike shows up in camp. He causes quite a stir, understandably, but the reunion is cut short when people notice the bodies wrapped in shrouds, along with Kate digging another grave. Mike tells them it’s Ana and Libby. When Sun asks what happened, he tells her, “They were murdered.”

13 days ago – Beardo unhoods Mike at a campfire being tended by Alex. Michael spits in Mr. Friendly's face, and he takes the opportunity to live up to his name. “Not gonna hold that against you. Fair’s fair, I took your boy. But don’t do that again, okay?”
The Pisser shows up with a hooded Kate. “Lookit what I found! She was following her friends, about half a click behind us.”
Beardo gags Mike, and warns that if he makes a sound, he’ll never see Walt again. “Get ready with the torches. I’m gonna go talk to her people.”
A few minutes later, “You’re exactly right Jack.” – and we’ve seen this before. When Sawyer is shot at, it cuts back to Alex’s campfire. She leans over to Michael. “It’s okay. He’s just delivering a message. He needs to scare your friends to do it.”
Back with Mr. Friendly, and Jack is refusing to give up the guns. “Bring ‘er out, Alex.”
She doesn’t want to do it, and talks the Pisser into doing it for her. The moment he leaves with Kate, Alex turns back to Michael. “Is Claire okay? Did she have the baby? Is it okay? Is it a boy or a girl?”
Beardo trades Kate for the guns and returns to the campfire. “His friends are going home.”
The Others divvy up the guns, and Alex apologizes before knocking Michael unconscious.

Today – Vincent! Michael’s hanging with the pooch. Jack and Sawyer are sorting through the remaining guns. Sawyer asks what happened to keep Jack and Freckles out in the jungle all night. “We got caught in a net.”
“That what they’re calling it these days?”
Sayid is waiting when they leave the tent. They fill him in on what’s happened, and of course he wants to be a part of the rescue. Jack tells them Mike’s plan, and Sawyer throws his two cents in. “Even though Pippi Longstocking and the damn Grape Ape are ideal candidates for the dirty dozen…we might wanna bring the Red Beret.”
Sawyer hands Sayid a pistol. “Welcome aboard.”

Under the hatch, Eko’s crucifix meets the magnet. He hears the four-minute alarm start, goes over to the computer, and enters the numbers. It seems to give him an enormous amount of satisfaction. Charlie finds him there. “So… you wake up in the middle of the night and you grab your Jesus stick and race off into the jungle. You don’t call, you don’t write.”
Eko tells him simply that he had business, and asks If Charlie could bring his things from the beach. “I’m moving in here.”
“What about the church? You said we were supposed to be building it together, man.”
“I am supposed to do something different now.”
“What am I supposed to do?” Charlie asks.
“Bring me my things.”
Charlie tells him to get his own stuff and points up at the counter, “…you better leg it, mate. Clock’s ticking.”
Back on the beach, Sawyer tells Mike that Captain Arab is in. Michael flips out. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just figured if we were going to war we’d want the one guy that’s been in a war.”
Mike calms down and tells Sawyer it’s not a problem.

11 days ago – Beardo, Pisser, Alex, and two Others (I guess the multitude of torches was a ruse, after all) are leading Mike across the island. Michael looks up to see the rock formation Walt described to him.

It looks like it could be the ruins of an old structure. Maybe this is going on on the other side... They have arrived, and the Other’s camp is pretty much as Mike described it. Surprise. There are a bunch of tent-like buildings, yurts, and two men with guns guarding a pair of steel doors displaying the Dharma logo with a rectangle in the center.

The Box? The Room? Also plenty of dried fish. They sit Michael down on his knees facing the ocean. Beardo orders Alex to, “Tell her we’re here.”
The Pisser takes out a nice, clean, syringe, sticks Michael and draws some blood. He puts the sample in a nice, clean, Ziploc baggie. “See ya in the funny pages.”
He waves the bag at the black woman who is approaching as he leaves. “Hello, Michael. My name is Mrs. Klugh. I was hoping you might help me answer some questions… about Walt. Is he your biological son? Are you his father? How old was he when he started speaking? Did he have any illnesses growing up? Headaches, fainting spells?”

Mike tells he her wasn’t there, that Walt was halfway around the world. She doesn’t let up.
“Did Walt ever appear in a place he wasn’t supposed to be?”
This seems to strike a chord within Michael, and she senses it. “You say he was halfway around the world, but… did you see him?”
Michael explodes. “I want my son! You bring him to me right now. I want to see my boy!”
“For someone who wants his son back so badly, you don’t seem to know much about him, Michael.”

Today – Michael is confronting Sayid, telling him that he can’t come. Bad idea, man. Sayid, unlike most everyone else on the island these days, isn’t an idiot. Mike knows Sayid wants to help, but it has to be his way. – is he trying to tell Sayid something here, maybe? Probably not, he would have tried earlier – Sayid claps Michael’s hand. “Of course. Good luck, Michael.” He knows.
Down the beach, Charlie is working on the church by himself, and seems to be taking a few steps back in the construction. Vincent runs over and drops one of the Mary full of H’s at his feet. “Are you kidding me? Did someone put you up to this?” I’m guessing either Locke or Claire. Vincent leads him back to Sawyers stash. Charlie pulls one of the statues out and looks down at it, before we cut to him on the shore, hurling them into the sea. – nice gesture, but the tide? – Great scene with some great music. After tossing the last one out to sea, Charlie looks over to see Locke sitting on the sand not too far away, watching.

Was this part of Locke’s pact with the island, to wean Charlie from the H? Is it the last thing he had to do for it?

Under the hatch, Jack finds Eko at the computer. He berates him like a child for not reporting when they got back, and tells him they are burying the girls at sunset. “Thank you. I will mourn them in my own way.”
Nice try Jack, but the priest ain’t gonna speak for you. One hell of a new religion he’s got; it’s more important than building a house of worship or delivering some funereal rites. Nice tender moment now between Jack and Sawyer - not that there’s anything wrong with that. “I never knew her last name. Ana Lucia…”
“It’s Cortez”, Jack tells him.
Sawyer confesses to screwing Ana, or being screwed by her. “It’s how she got my gun…she jumped me.”
Jack looks confused.
“We got caught in a net.”
He gets it now. “Why are you telling me this, Sawyer?”
“’Cause you’re about the closest thing I got to a friend, Doc.” – shit, I hope Sawyer doesn’t die in the finale - “…because she’s gone.”
The moment of uncomfortable hetero silence that follows is broken by the pump-action click of Sawyer's shotgun. “Well... at least now we get to kill somebody.”
Kate and Hurley are still digging the graves. Why Kate? Why not Jack or Sawyer? Michael comes over and lends his good arm. He tells Kate they’re leaving first thing tomorrow morning, across the island to the Others camp. He asks Hurley if he’s coming with them. Hugo says no, and Michael tries to work him up, appealing to a desire for revenge. “I’m sorry about Walt dude, but I’m not coming.”
Michael tries to persuade him again, but Kate stops him before he upsets Hurley any further.

3 days ago – Michael is a prisoner in one of the yurts. Mrs. Klugh enters with some dinner on a leaf. Michael asks when they are going to kill him. “I’ve seen where you live… I know how to get here. You have been asking me questions I don’t know the answer to for a week! I don’t even think my son is still alive.”
Klugh tells him Walt is standing outside right now, and explains, “There’s been a development since you came here, Michael. One of our people was captured by yours.”
The Others can’t get him back, but Michael can. “…and if you do, we’ll let you and Walt go free.”
Michael demands to see Walt, “right now!”
Klugh acquiesces, and calls out to Pickett (the Pisser has a name!) She tells Michael, “You have three minutes.”
Pickett herds Walt into the yurt. He’s not looking too rough. Mike asks if he’s okay, if they hurt him? Walt looks at Klugh, who gives him a ‘you know what will happen to you if you tell the truth’ glare. Walt tells dad that they made him take tests, causing Mrs. Klugh to shake her head in disapproval. “We’re not gonna talk about that.”
Walt asks about Vincent, and Michael tells his boy that the dog misses him. He tells Walt not to be afraid, that he is going to get Walt out of there. Walt musters up some courage and blurts out, “They’re not who they say they are! They’re pretending!”
Mrs. Klugh threatens to put Walt in “The Room” again, which scares the shit out of the kid.
She tries to cut the meeting short, but Walt breaks free of Pickett/Pisser, and wraps his arms around his father. “Help me please… don’t leave me!”

Mike promises to get him out of there as Pickett pulls him away. “I love you dad!”
“I love you too, Walt!”
Now that's how you brainwash a guy. Klugh has Michael right where she wants him now, a broken man. She starts writing on the piece of paper Michael will burn later, outside of the Swan Station. “I’m writing four names down…we need you to bring them here. You have to bring only these four people, Michael, just them. If you don’t bring all the people on the list, you’ll never see Walt again.”
She shows him the list. “Who’s James Ford?”
If Mike does what she says, “You get your son back. You both go free.”
Michael has some terms of his own. “I want the boat.”

Sunset – everyone is gathering for the funeral. Charlie walks up behind Sun – look out! Locke is still sitting on the beach, watching from afar. Is he wracked with guilt? If he had told the truth about Ana and Henry in the first place… He cuts the splint from his leg and walks away gingerly, leaving his crutches in the sand. Is he finally going on his long-overdue walkabout? Jack and Sayid are walking to the graves together. Jack tells him about his dad, that he was heading right from the airport to the cemetery, where he had no idea what he was going to say. “Here we are again.”
Sayid drops the bomb on Jack, who honestly, along with Sawyer, really should have seen this. “I think Michael has been compromised.”
Jack stops short – “Let’s keep walking, Jack.”
Sayid feels Mike’s actions are not those of a man who is telling the truth. Jack is still disbelieving. “Why would he lie to us?”
“Because I believe a father would do anything for his son. Because I believe that Michael may have freed Henry and because I believe that he is leading you into a trap.”
“You believe a lot, Sayid.”
“I also believed that Henry was one of them.”
Touché. Jack wants to talk to Michael about it, but Sayid convinces him they must let Michael think he is in control so they can create an advantage. Jack asks how. “I don’t know yet. But we have one night to figure it out.”
Eulogy time - Jack on Ana. “Ana Lucia Cortez…was a police officer…I don’t think it was easy for her being here (is it easy for anyone?), but she did the best she could. She was a woman of few words and I’m going to follow her example. Rest in peace, Ana.”
Hurley’s turn – poor Hurley – “Libby was… she was… Libby was a psychologist, or a psychiatrist. Either way she probably helped a lot of people. She helped me. She was my friend. It’s not fair that this happened to her. It’s not.”
He turns to Michael and tells him he’s going with them. Mike’s like, hey, cool man, but keep it on the down low, okay?
"Goodbye, Libby.”
They all bow their heads in silence. Claire takes Charlie’s hand. Sun looks out over the water, and her eyes slowly widen in shock. “Boat.”
People turn to look at her then follow her gaze to the ocean. There is a white sailboat sailing in. Desmond?
“Boat!”