when i was living this lie, fear was my game...

Ben’s running away from the temple, crashing through the jungle, when he finds Ilana, Sun, Miles and Lapidus. Ilana asks where Jarrah is, and Ben tells them Sayid killed Dogen and the translator. She wants to know if he’s sure. “He was standing over their dead bodies holding a bloody dagger, so yeah I’m pretty sure.”
They decide to head back to the beach.

=flashsideways=

“It was on this island that everything changed. And everything finally became clear.”
Dr. Linus is referring to Elba (anagram of Abel…), and telling his students about Napoleon, “Exile wasn’t the worst of his fate – what was truly devastating to him was the loss of his power. Sure, they allowed him to keep the title of emperor, but without any power it was meaningless; he might just as well have been dead.”
The bell rings and Principal Reynolds enters as the class ends. Something tells me we’ll want to see Bonnie Bedelia punch this dude in the face before the episode is over. Sideways Ben doesn’t seem to have much power to lose. Reynolds informs him that, due to events above his pay grade, Ben’s been assigned detention after school all week, effectively canceling his history club. Although there are only 5 kids in it, Ben feels the ones with ambition should be encouraged. “The club isn’t for them, it’s for you; it makes you feel needed. Unfortunately for now, you’re needed. In detention. Thanks for your understanding, Linus.”
What a dick. He is a dick, isn’t he?
“It’s Doctor Linus, actually.”

The shot of Ben getting his lunch from the fridge is one of the saddest in the history of the show. Just some sushi with his name written on it, and a jar of sauce with his initials on top. Ben’s mug has his name on it too... I mean I guess they’re trying to show how anal he is, how he takes control over everything he has the power to do so with, but it’s all very melancholy and bleak in a way. Humanizing… so yeah, I’m loving the directing in this episode. Anyway, here’s Arzt to liven shit up. He’s got some formaldehyde on his shirt – which is a step up from getting some Arzt on your shirt.
"You know what gets out formaldehyde? Nothing."
Doc Arzt, believe it or not, is complaining. About his shirt, about having lab equipment from the 50’s, about the science department getting no funds. Ben tells him it’s because Reynolds is an administrator who’s forgotten what the public school system is about. “Yeah, summers off in exchange for a crap pension.”
“No, taking care of the kids, that’s what important.”
Arzt tells Ben to keep dreaming.
“I know you’ve given up. I refuse to.”
Locke’s at the next table and has a suggestion, “Maybe you should be the principal.”
“So says the substitute.”
“Just sounds like you care about this place, and if the man in charge doesn’t, then maybe it’s time for a change.”

=island=

Ilana doesn’t believe Bens story of what happened at the statue. She gives Miles Jacobs ashes so he can do his thing. He does that thing, and tells her that Linus killed him. She asks if he’s sure. “Well, he was standing over Jacobs’s body with a bloody dagger so... yeah, I’m pretty sure.”
Ilana shoots Ben a look that could kill, if looks could kill, “Jacob was the closest thing I had to a father.”
Miles’ “Uh oh.” is an instant classic line, along with, “Guys, where are we?” and Hurley’s 1977 “uh...what?”
Hilarious.


L O S T


They arrive at the old beach camp. Ben is trying to get a read on Ilana, who is ignoring him. He attempts to weasel his way out of it, telling her how unreliable psychics are and that Miles tried to blackmail him. She walks away, still paying Ben no attention.

=flashsideways=

We get the mirror shot, in a microwave door. He doesn’t really acknowledge himself (like Sayid), however, only looking up when the timer goes off. He brings the meal out to his dad, who is attached to an oxygen tank and wearing incredible aging makeup. Great job there, for real. It’s an organic TV dinner, because Ben is trying to keep his dad healthy.
“Oh, it’s a little too late for that.”
Oh, the irony.

This dad is not a bitter drunk – but what changed... almost losing Ben? Because this IS the Ben that was shot and brought back with the spring on the island, right? But if 815 never crashed did Sayid ever travel through time and shoot this Ben at a young age? I lean toward this being the Ben we saw in 1977, and he and Dad just left on the sub along with Miles and Charlotte.

So it’s the same elder Linus too, and he sort of confirms it as Ben is changing out his oxygen tank for a fresh one. “This isn’t the life I wanted for you Ben, I wanted so much more. It’s why I signed up for that damn Dharma Initiative and took you to the island and we were with decent people, smarter than I’ll ever be. Imagine how different our lives would have been if we’d stayed.”
“Yes, we’d have both lived happily ever after.”
“No, I’m serious Ben. Who knows what you would have become.”
Ben turns on the gas from the new tank, “Now does that feel better?”
“Ah yes, thank you.”
Oh, the irony.
The doorbell rings... its Alex. She’s one of the five kids with ambition. They share some pleasant banter and seem to have a nice relationship. Ben agrees to help her study before school while he is busy with detention in the afternoons. “Thanks. You’re the best Doctor Linus.”
“My pleasure, Alex.”
He seems to have one of those déjà-vu moments as she walks away, or else he’s just basking in the glow of someone needing him.

=island=

Sun is desperate to continue the search for Jin, and is surprised that Ilana feels the same way. “Why do you want to find Jin?”
“Because your last name is Kwon and so is his, and I don’t know whether I’m supposed to protect you, him, or both of you.”
Sun doesn’t know what she’s talking about. “You’re candidates. To replace Jacob.”
“Replace him? To do what?”
“You’re the one selected; I imagine you’ll find out.”
She sounds bitter. Sun wants to know how many candidates there are. “Six. There are only six left.”

Hurley’s dreams of cheese curls are rudely interrupted when Jack wakes him so they can continue on to the temple. Hurley is being difficult and they’re arguing about in which direction the temple lies when Richard emerges from the jungle. Jack asks where he came from, and Richard says he wouldn’t believe him if he told him. “Try me.
“Not yet. If you want to go to the temple it’s this way.”
Jack starts to follow and Hurley doesn’t get why he would trust this guy.
"At least he's not stalling…”

Back at the beach Ben is going thru Sawyers old tent, checking out the library, or at least what’s left of it. There’s a Booty Babes magazine promising big bouncy beautiful buns – the “b” spot - going there - getting to the bottom of it – rear view mirrors.
Benjamin Disraeli – Justice is Truth in Action – which is just a quote, not a book, as far as I can tell.
Chaim Potok - The Chosen
Ben finds an Oceanic bottle and reminisces with Lapidus, who tells him he would have been the pilot on flight 815 if he hadn’t overslept, “Imagine how different my life would be had that alarm gone off.”
“How different would it have been? The island still got you in the end, didn’t it?”
Ilana comes over and points the gun at Ben. “Walk.”
She leads him to the graveyard and secures his leg to a tree, then tells him to start digging his grave.

=flashsideways=

Ben has his history book open to chapter 19, the East India Trading Company – with a painting of a ship that looks like the Black Rock. He stumps Alex when asking, “The East India’s Trading Companies power extended to all of India except for...”
Alex freaks out about her chances at getting into Yale, and how she’d even be able to afford it with her mom working two jobs just to pay the rent. No dad? How’d she end up in LA? Ben assures Alex that she’s one of the brightest students he’s ever had, “I don’t worry about your future at all.”
She says she needs a recommendation letter from that pervert Principal Reynolds, and explains by telling Ben that she caught Reynolds and the nurse having sex on school grounds. This Ben Linus goes into that Ben Linus’ calculating mode. He snaps out of it after a second or two and suggests they get back to work. “Shall we return to the high seas?”

=island=

We return to the high seas. Miles - maybe feeling a little guilty? - offers Ben some banana and green beans, then chides him for digging slowly - maybe not feeling guilty?. Ben’s not hungry and he’s in no rush. He gets that look in his eye and asks Miles if he still wants the 3.2 million. “What are you gonna do, you gonna write me a check on this banana leaf?”
Ben tells him he has a vast network off island that can get him the money if he’ll only set him free. “Why would I need your money when there are a couple of jaboneys named Nikki and Paulo who got buried alive with 8 million dollars in diamonds on top of them?” Ha!
Ben doesn’t know how Miles can be so aloof, “Ilana's going to murder me for killing Jacob, a man who didn’t even care about being killed.”
Miles tells him he cared, “Right up until the second the knife went through his heart, he was hoping he was wrong about you. I guess he wasn’t.”
Ilana breaks up the little chat by shooting the ground at Ben’s feet.
“Dig!”

Hurley is trying to get to the bottom of Richard as the three trudge though the dense jungle. “So, you’re not time traveling?”
“No.”
“But you look the same as you did thirty years ago, how is that possible?”
“Not easy to explain.”
“This like a terminator thing? You a cyborg?”
“No, I’m not a cyborg.”
“Vampire?”
Richard is getting irritated.
“Jacob gave me a gift.”
They arrive at the Black Rock. Richard tells the guys he led them away from the temple because everyone there is dead, but that he also didn’t see their missing friends there. He informs Jack that whatever he’s looking for at the temple, it’s not there. Hurley says Jacob hinted at that, and Richard asks if Hurley has talked to Jacob. Hurley confirms this, and Richard tells him not to believe a word he says. Thinking Smokey could take his form, or just untrusting of the real Jacob? Richard says there’s something he needs to do. “Need to do what?”
“Die.”

=flashsideways=

Arzt is miserably grading papers, mostly F’s, when Ben comes in to ask for a favor. He knows Arzt is good with computers and wants him to hack into the principal’s account. He confides that it’s to collect incriminating evidence so that he can usurp the ‘throne’ – Arzt has a few demands, like a better parking spot- it all feels kind of like a Buy More subplot, in a good way. Some Jeffster would make it even better. Ben agrees to the deal and Arzt is excited, “You really had me fooled with that sweater vest! Linus, you’re a real killer.”
Déjà vu-ey ness again, sort of – or just the inherent evil conniving Ben bubbling to the top? Maybe once the island was sunk the Springs and whatever they ‘changed’ forever in someone were just eradicated, so Ben doesn’t have that ‘corruption’ any longer?

=island=

Killer Ben is standing shackled in his nearly completed grave.
Richard and the others are inside the belly of the Black Rock, Richard holding the chains with pain in his eyes. He tells Jack that in all the time he’s spent on the island today is the first time he’s ever come back, pretty much confirming he was from the Black Rock originally. He opens up a crate of dynamite and Hurley freaks out. He tells Richard it’s unstable.
“I know”
“Yeah well so did Dr Arzt, and I was wiping him out of my shirt two days later.”
Richard tells them that he wants them to kill him, as he can’t do it himself, “Jacob touched me, and when Jacob touches you it’s considered a gift, but it’s not a gift at all, it’s a curse.”
So the blast killed Juliet because she wasn’t touched by Jacob in the flashbacks?
Jack wants to know why he wants to die.
“I devoted my life, longer than you can possibly imagine, in service of a man who told me that everything was happening for a reason, that he had a plan, a plan that I was a part of and when the time was right that he’d share it with me; and now that man’s gone. So why do I want to die? Because I just found out my entire life had no purpose.”
He asks Jack to light the fuse, promising it’s long enough for them to get away. Jack agrees to help, lights the fuse, and then sits down with Richard, “Now let’s talk.”
Hurley freaks as the fuse burns down, “Jack dude we gotta go guys crazy and I know crazy. Dude you're gonna blow up!”
He assures Hurley they’ll be all right. “If you change your mind i'll be like a mile away.”
Jack tells Richard that they’re not gonna die, and launches into the story about Jacob sending him to the lighthouse to see his childhood home in the mirror.
“For some reason he wanted me to know that he had been watching me since I was a kid. I have no idea why, but I’m willing to bet you that if Jacob went to that trouble that he brought me to this island for a reason, and that is not to blow up sitting here with you right now.”
Crazy Jack closes his eyes as the fuse burns down and out. Can’t die, like Michael.
“Wanna try another stick?”
“All right Jack, you seem to have all the answers, so now what?”
“Go back to where we started.”

Ben’s still digging as UnLocke, in another grand Smokey entrance, appears before him. He’s gathering a group and they’re leaving the island, but once he’s gone someone needs to be left in charge. He can’t think of a better man for the job than Ben. He releases Ben from his shackles and gives directions to a gun in the jungle nearby, telling Ben not to hesitate, because she won’t. He disappears and Ben runs into the jungle, with Ilana taking chase.

=flashsideways=

Ben confronts Principal Reynolds with some scandalous emails and lays out his plan for taking over. Reynolds counters by threatening to keep Alex out of Yale; effectively destroying her life, or at least her dreams, “So, I put the ball back in your court. You can execute (button) your little Machiavellian maneuvers, go for my job; sit at my desk. But alas, there will be an unfortunate side effect. I will torch Mrs. Rousseau and her future. Is my job, my power, that important to you? So, what’ll it be, Doctor Linus?”
Will Ben want power so badly off-island that he’ll betray Alex again? It’s kind of like the flashsideways’ are the mirror images of the island redemptive journeys in the first few seasons. Same soul searching, different location. That should have been clear to me before but I didn’t really see it. Another hint that the Flashsideways-verse is the main story now and the island drama this season is more akin to the flashbacks of yore?

=island=

Ben reaches the gun in time and forces Ilana to drop her weapon. What follows is an Emmy waiting to happen. Michael Emerson can monologue like no one else on television. Seriously.
“I want to explain that I know what you’re feeling. I watched my daughter Alex die in front of me and it was my fault. I had a chance to save her, but I chose the island... over her? All in the name of Jacob. I sacrificed everything for him. And he didn’t even care. Yeah, I stabbed him I was so angry, confused, I was terrified that I was about to lose the only thing that had ever mattered to me; my power. But the thing that really mattered was already gone. I'm sorry that I killed Jacob. I am, and I do not expect you to forgive me because I can never forgive myself. Just let me leave.”
Ilana has tears in her eyes, she knows he’s sincere. Her acting here is almost as good as his, and it probably helps to be reacting to Emerson laying his soul bare (assuming they shot this together). She wants to know where he’ll go.
“To Locke.”
Revulsion crosses her face, “Why?”
“Because he’s the only one that’ll have me.”
“I'll have you.”
(I really gotta do something about the dust in here. That was stunning – in the same league as "You bow to no one." and "That’ll do, pig.")
An astonished Ben follows Ilana back to the beach... perhaps thinking about Napoleon, “Sure, they allowed him to keep the title of emperor, but without any power it was meaningless; he might just as well have been dead.”

=flashsideways=

Ben enters the darkened principal’s office, turns on a light and picks up Reynolds name plaque, looking kind of disgusted. Alex knocks at the door and comes in; she’s looking for the Principal, who wrote her an amazing letter of recommendation. She’s sure that Ben had a hand in it somehow.
“No, it wasn’t me, Alex. But I always say you’re a great student, obviously I wasn’t the only one who noticed.”
Reynolds bursts in and Ben takes a small measure of control and power in this life, even if it’s just over history club, “Principal Reynolds found someone to cover for detention, isn’t that right?”
Alex seems to have one of those déjà vu flickers as Ben leaves the office. Arzt is bummed about the parking space.

=island=

A weeping Ilana returns to the beach with Ben. He offers to help Sun with her tarp and she accepts. Miles has the diamonds. Razzle freakin' dazzle. What a fucking payoff there, in both regards. Who knew Nikki and Paulo would tie into the last season in any way other than zombies… Jack, Hurley and Richard show up at the beach in slo-mo. They all greet each other warmly, except for Ben, who stands off to the back of the group and makes some uncomfortable eye contact with Jack.

A periscope rises from the water off the beach and gets the group in its sights. The man operating it asks if they should stop.
Charles Widmore tells him, “No, proceed as planned.”

L O S T

you can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill...

=flashsideways=

Sayid is bringing Nadia flowers – are they married? Oh they have kids... ah, no they don’t; he’s Uncle Sayid. The love of his life is married to his brother. Rough. Sayid is away a lot. “The world traveler off on his exotic business trips.”
“Translating contracts for an oil company is hardly exotic. It’s painfully dull.”
Sounds like a boring cover? His brother, who runs a dry cleaning company and just opened a new store, leaves the table to take a business call that seems to distress him. The kids, looking for gifts, find an old picture of Nadia in Uncle Sayid's luggage. He carries his baggage around the world. The brother peers around the corner and we know he knows what’s up.

=island=

Sayid busts into Dogen’s room demanding answers. He asks what the machine he was hooked up to was for.
“For every man there is a scale. On one side of the scale there is good, on the other side, evil. This machine tells us how the scale is balanced. And yours... tipped the wrong way.”
“And that’s why you tried to poison me?”
“Yes. I think it would be best if you were dead.”
"You think you now me but you don’t. I’m a good man, so if you’re trying to kill me...”
Dogen attacks. Nice long fight scene - I like these, long fight scenes are always cool cause its less to recap so i get to bed a little earlier. They’re beating on each other mercilessly until Dogen gets the upper hand. He holds his knife to Sayid’s throat and throws him against his desk, causing his baseball to fall and hit the floor.
Dogen looks over at it and suddenly gets himself under control, releasing Sayid and telling him to leave the temple and never come back. He tosses the knife away and picks up the baseball reverently as Sayid looks on. Dogen’s baggage?

Outside, UnLocke and Claire are looking at the entrance to the Temple, a thick grey line of ash laid at their feet. Claire wants to know why she has to do it.
“If I could do it myself I wouldn’t be asking you, Claire.”
She wants to be assured that he’ll do what he’s promised if she goes in there.
“I want my son back.”
“I always do what I say.”
“You gonna hurt them?”
“Only the ones who won’t listen.”


L O S T


=flashsideways=

Sayid’s brother wakes him in the middle of the night to tell him about the trouble he’s in with some men he borrowed money from. Sayid offers to pay them off, but that’s not the help his brother looking for.
“I need you to convince these people to leave me alone. I know what you did in the war. You were an interrogator for the republican guard. I know what kind of man you are. I know you care about Nadia. If you care about us, about her... you will do this, Sayid.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not that man anymore.”
Sayid NOT killing when asked? Huge Flashsideways difference here!

=island=

Sayid is explaining to Miles why he’s been banished.
“Apparently I’m evil. These people say I’m better off dead. Which is surprising, considering they were the ones who saved my life.”
Miles tells him that they just tried to save his life, but failed. He was dead for two hours.
“Trust me, when you sat up they were just as surprised as the rest of us. Whatever brought you back... it wasn’t them.”
Claire storms into the courtyard with her arms raised and walks straight up to Dogen.
“He wants to see you.”
Dogen starts to speak in Japanese and Claire interrupts, “Speak English.”
She tells him he’s right outside waiting.
“I’m not a fool. If I step outside this temple, he’ll kill me.”
“Then maybe you should send someone he won’t kill.”
Dogen, in Japanese, tells Lennon to put her in the hole until this is resolved, and to bring Shephard and Reyes to his room. Lennon tells him they’re missing and an angry Dogen tells him to look harder. He then approaches Sayid, and asks that he come with him.
“I thought you wanted me to leave?”
“Things have changed.”

Dogen unearths a box from one of the potted plants in his room, while explaining the new Claire to a curious Sayid.
“She’s a confused girl, under the influence of an angry man. For years he has been trapped, but now Jacob’s gone; he’s free. This man will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on this island. He is evil incarnate.”
Dogen wants Sayid to kill UnLocke. He gives him some instructions and the knife he retrieved from the buried box.
“He will come to you as someone you know, someone who has died. As soon as you see him, plunge this deep into his chest. If you allow him to speak its already too late.”
“Since I’ve been here I’ve been drowned, tortured, and beaten - at your hands! Why would I ever do anything for you?”
“You said that there is still good in your soul. Then prove it.”

=flashsideways=

Sayid is walking the kids to the bus. I’m half expecting to see Locke face down in a lawn nearby, getting sprinkled on. Sayid tells them he’s only around for a couple of days, and then he’s off to Toronto for work. The kids like it better when Unc is around.
“Yeah, and mommy likes it too.” Worst part of the episode spoken by a little girl that looks suspiciously like Chaka. Is this the land of the Lost? Nadia rushes out of the house as the bus pulls away. Something’s happened to Omar. They go to St. Sebastian’s, where they pass Doctor Jack Shephard in the hall. No knowing/curious glances. Omar’s doc says it was a mugging but Sayid knows better and wants revenge. Nadia tells him she doesn’t want him to do that. She wants him to do this for her instead; go home and wait for the kids, and make them feel safe.

=island=

Kate finds Sayid in the jungle. Was I the only one thinking he was about to plunge the knife deep into her chest? Thank god he doesn’t think she’s dead. He brushes off her questions and tells her to ask Miles what’s happened before continuing on. Miles is playing solitaire in the temple courtyard when Kate gets there.
“Sawyer sent you packing, huh?”
It’s easy to forget that Kate knew Sawyer for a few months before leaving the island, while Miles was with him the past three years, and one of his closest friends too, it seemed.
“I thought about going after him too, but I knew he’d just end up berating me until I turned around and came back. That pretty much what happened?”
“Pretty much.”
He tells her the Australian chick that had the baby showed up acting all weird, but still hot.

Back in the jungle Sayid stops for a drink, and UnLocke puts on a wind and noise show before appearing to Sayid as Locke.
“Hello Sayid.”
Sayid plunges the knife deep into his chest. Unbleeding UnLocke pulls it back out.
“Now why’d you go and do that?”
He hands the knife back.
“Take it, I won’t bite.”
“What are you?”
“Well Sayid, you seem to have some idea about that considering you stabbed me in the chest without even saying hello.”
Sayid tells UnLocke he’s been told he is evil incarnate. Something UnLocke doesn’t deny. He tells Sayid that Dogen’s plan was to have UnLocke kill him, and knows he’d already tried it with someone else.
“…shame on you for being talked into it so easily.”
“And what is it you are trying to talk me into?”
UnLocke wants him to deliver a message.
“Sayid, if you’ll do this for me, what if I told you that you could have anything you wanted...anything in the entire world?”
“I would tell you the only thing I ever wanted died in my arms and I’ll never see it again.”
“What if you could?”
Soul sold.

Shannon and Nadia both died in his arms, so does this mean the only thing he ever wanted is love, and not Nadia specifically? Awww, Sayid. :(



=flashsideways=

Sayid is gluing together the pieces of a vase - the one that held his soul? Omar is going to be fine. Nadia seems like she wouldn’t mind if he had bit it, though. She’s miserable and would be happier with Sayid. This is the wrong life... for her. But at least she’s alive in it.
“If you care about me, why did you push me toward your brother?”
“For the last 12 years I’ve been trying to wash my hands of all the horrible things I’ve done. I can’t be with you... because I don’t deserve you.”
The kids are in bed… you think they did it? So has world traveler sideways Sayid actually just been a translator these past 12 years? I think so. But old habits die hard, as we soon find out.

=island=

Sayid returns to the temple with a message for all the Others.
“There is a man in the jungle about a mile south of us by the outer wall. He sent me back here to give you a message; he wants you to know Jacob is dead, and because he’s gone none of you have to stay here anymore, you’re free. The man that I met is leaving the island forever. Those of you who want to go with him should leave the temple and join him. You have until sundown to decide. “
Cindy(andthekids) wants to know what will happen if they stay.
“You die.”
Smokey’s choice. Not quite free will at play here.

Kate and Lennon meet in the temple and she manhandles the scrawny Other (ha ha ha ha) into bringing her to Claire. He shows her to the pit and gives her two minutes. Claire is crazy singing at the bottom of the Silence of the Lambs well (how is it that Ted Levine hasn't been on Lost yet??) She’s excited to see Kate, who explains all about Aaron. Uh-oh.
“I took him off the island. You were gone and we couldn’t find you so i raised him, and he is the most beautiful amazing little boy. But I came back here to rescue you so that you could be with him, so that you guys could be together again.”
Raised by another... Great acting here by Emilie De Ravin – her face sells insanity well.
“I’m not the one that needs to be rescued…He’s coming, Kate. He’s coming and they can’t stop him!”
Lennon and some Others take Kate away.

Outside there’s a mass exodus happening that Lennon is powerless to stop. Miles asks Sayid if they’re leaving too. Sayid pulls out Dogen’s knife.
“Not yet. I have to return this.”

=flashsideways=

Some heavies pull up to Sayid outside Nadia’s house and threaten to get the kids involved if he doesn’t go with them. He gets in the car. The two men walk him into a restaurant kitchen, where a third man is making himself some eggs. He offers Sayid some, but is refused. It’s Keamy.
“Martin Keamy.”
He’s got a nice watch on. I wonder if he carried that uncomfortable hunk of metal... anyway, he does a good Walken creepy bad guy. He tells Sayid his brother still owes him money.
“And somebody is gonna pay me that money.”
“Did you put my brother in the hospital?”
“You think it was me? I didn’t do that. It’s a dangerous world, Sayid, you know that, you’re from Iraq; never know when somebody’s just gonna sneak up...”
BAM! Sayid takes out the two goons in a heartbeat. Keamy's eyes get really wide. Sideways Keamy sure is a pussy, aiight?
”The debt’s forgiven, aiight? Ok? Just relax and forget about it.”
“I can’t”
Sayid shoots him dead. He tried to take the high road, but ultimately was given no real choice. He hears someone kicking in the freezer and opens it up. Shocker - it’s a bound and beaten Jin.
“Who are you?”
No knowing/curious glances.
Also,”No English.”

=island=

Now we get about 8 minutes of the most exiting Lost to date. There are 12 more hours left?? This feels like the pulse-pounding third act of a fucking awesome movie. Dogen is reflecting by the reflecting pool, baseball in hand, when Sayid enters.
“That’s twice you’ve tried to have someone else kill me. You had the opportunity to do it yourself. Why didn’t you?”
Dogen tell his story; he was a businessman in Japan once. He had too much to drink on a Friday after a big promotion at work. He picked his son up from baseball later that night, like he did every Friday.
“He was 12. The accident was very bad. I survived. But my son... and then, in the hospital, a man came to me. A man I had never met. And he told me that he could save my sons life, but I would have to come here to this island where I would have a new job, and I could never see my boy again.”
Again, not much of a choice here.
“Who was this man?”
“His name was Jacob.”
“Jacob drives a hard bargain.”
“The man outside, I take it he offered you a similar bargain.”
“Yes.”
“It is sundown. Do you choose to stay or go?”
“Id like to stay.”
Sort of a Good Bad Ugly/Inglorious feel to this scene - more Walken even, him and Hopper in True Romance. True Romance more on the nose I think - in both cases the father is dying to save his son. Dogen knows this is it, I think. Sayid drowns him violently in the pool. Lennon rushes in to help but it’s too late.
“Do you realize what you just did? He was the only thing keeping it out. Idiot, you just let it in.”
Sayid slashes his throat.
“I know”
Will they be back as infected like Sayid became after dying in the pool? Why was Dogen the only thing keeping it out??
Outside Smokey arrives, and it is GOOD (I mean, bad, but shit… oh so good). Miles and Kate run for it, going their separate ways when Kate goes to get Claire. Ilana, Sun Ben and Lapidus meet up with Miles. Awesome.
“Where are Shephard and Reyes? And Ford?”
Why would she ask about Jack and Hurley, with Sawyer as an afterthought? The only real candidates remaining? He tells her they’re gone. Smokey’s getting closer. She asks about Jarrah and Miles tells her he’s in the pool room. Ben goes to get him.

Kate gets to Claire, who isn’t going anywhere.
“It's much safer here.”
Smokes rollercoasters by above their heads, carrying a load of screaming Others. Too fucking cool.

Ben finds Sayid and the dead men at the pool.
“I know a way out of here. There’s still time.”
Completely infected soul sold Sayid turns his blank eyes on Ben.
“Not for me.”
Ben backs away verrry slowly, not taking his bug eyes off of Sayid, then turns and runs.

Sun, Miles, Frank and Ilana are looking for the secret tunnel Jack and Hurley used. Miles tells Sun that Jin is alive. At least last he saw of him, he was. Again, these two have been friends for the past 3 years. Smokey is getting closer, making Godzilla sounds. Ilana finds the secret passage, and they enter and close it behind them just as Smokes rolls down the corridor.

Some slo-mo carnage in the temple courtyard set to Catch a Falling Star. Infected Sayid and Claire walk zombie-like to the entrance. Kate takes it all in and wisely arms herself before following them. I’m sure she’s thinking what we all are; how the fuck did she end up on this side? Free will, right? She had a choice to go with Miles or try to rescue Claire - a real choice, unlike quite a few of the others in this episode, and look where it landed her. UnLocke and the Others who left the temple earlier are waiting outside. Sayid, Claire and UnLocke share creepy looks and UnLocke regards Kate coolly (NOT good) when he sees her arrive. He turns and leads the flock away from the temple. Bad-ass Empire Strikes Back sort of vibe.
Great music, great directing, great everything except that little Chaka girls mommy line. This is one of the best seasons a television show has ever had.

Alright, I’ve been having a tough time wording this, so if it’s hard to understand I apologize. First off, I think it’s gone too far (on the basis of the final scene of this episode alone, even) for the powers that be to reveal that Smokey is the good guy. Smokey bad, Jacob good. But it gets twisty, because I’m pretty sure Smokey doesn’t think he’s bad (although he doesn’t deny he is evil incarnate). The best intentions and all that…
I think that we are definitely seeing the end of the show in the flashsidewayses as we watch the end of the island saga unfold at the same time. The trick here is to make sure that the ideal life we’re watching isn’t destroyed by UnLocke’s army. This, I think, explains Dogen’s actions, or inactions as the case may be. He says he killed his son, and Jacob came to him, at a time when he was “miserable and vulnerable” and offered him a deal to save his sons life, with the understanding that Dogen could never see him again. Dogen took this deal and has been at his ‘new job’ on the island since. Dogen KNOWS about the Flashsideways world, and knows that he and his son are alive and well there. (Sidetrack, covering my bases, maybe he isn’t alive there – did he interact with his son? – And just appeared to Jack to ‘push’ him in the right direction ala Jacob. No way, but still putting it out there) the only way to assure this realities continued existence (and not kill his son AGAIN) is to let the drama on the island play out with no interference on his part. i.e. not killing any of the possible candidates, whether they are ‘infected’ or not, and the Ankh list had Jarrah on it. So yeah, drowning him in the pool maybe not the best idea, but it was the only way they could think of to possibly save this candidates life?
Where it gets twisty for me is here: Sayid was offered a VERY similar deal. Nadia is alive in the sideways world, but Sayid cannot be with her because he needs to atone for his sins and is not worthy. This doesn’t explain why Dogen and his son ARE together, except that maybe God’s deals are a little better than the Devil’s? He is in the details, after all. Or even more simply, Sayid has much more to atone for than the others we’ve seen sideways so far, and that’s why his sidelife isn’t as rosy as the rest.



Sayid’s is also the only sideways story that didn’t contain a look into a mirror, at least not that I picked up on.


"it did have his reflection, in the door. But he looked through it at into Nadia which I thought was interesting." - Thanks Sara!



I heard there was a big spoiler voice-over at the end of the episode/during ‘next week on…’ please don’t repeat it here if you heard it. Thanks!!

when men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go...

First a podcast update - the date on Claire's ultrasound was a fuckup. Flashsideways Oceanic flight 815 landed in LA on 9/22/04.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

=flashsideways=

Jack enters his bachelor pad . There’s a Photoshop disasters-looking picture with 90's mushroom hairdo-ed Jack in a tux, posing with Mom & Dad, and also a real picture of Jack and Dad years later as docs. Green mug like the hatch. Jack walks in (past a lot of mirrors) and starts getting dressed quickly. He stops to look at himself in the bathroom mirror, and it seems like he notices the appendix scar on his belly for the first time – he searches for the memory but can’t find it. The phone jars him back to reality(?). It’s his mom freaking out – Christian’s coffin is headed for Berlin, they still haven’t found the body, and she can’t find his will. Jack tells her not to worry, he’ll be over later to help search for it. He asks when he had his appendix taken out . Mom says he was 7, 8 maybe (didn’t the scar look a little fresher and bigger than it would be if he had had it removed that long ago?), he collapsed at school and his dad wanted to operate but they wouldn’t let him. Doesn’t he remember?
“Yeah, I... I guess I do.”
He sees the time (2:51) and freaks out, tells mom he’s gotta go.
"Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"
He pulls up to Saint Mary’s Academy and approaches a sullen kid waiting on the stairs. Jack apologizes for being late.
“Sorry, David.”
“It’s okay, dad.”
Whoa.

Plane whoosh back to the

=island=

Smokey clacks reserved for Locke episodes? Something to keep an ear out for.



Jack’s reflection is staring back at him from a pool outside of the temple. He looks up and seems to be looking right at us for a bit in a long shot. Almost Truman showy. Dogen comes up behind him, relieved to find Jack didn’t leave the temple.
“Is leaving an option?”
“Everything is an option, but I would have to stop you.”
“Well, I appreciate your honesty.”
Dogen asks if Ford, Austen and Kwon are coming back, to which Jack replies probably not.
“I appreciate your honesty.”

In the courtyard Hurley and Miles have apparently been playing tic tac toe to a draw for a while.
“Tied again, dude.”
“Shocker. That’s it for me.”
Hurley goes off to look for some food, and finds Jacob at the magic spring. He needs Hugo's help and tells him to get a pen to write a few things down.
“What kind of things?”
“Someone is coming to the island. I need you to help him find it.”
Desmond is my first thought… will he end up being Jacob’s loophole somehow?

L O S T

=flashsideways=

Jacks pad – the kid’s room, where Jack has hooked up cable so David can watch the Red Sox. But there’s a Dodger Stadium picture on the wall? Jack sees that he’s reading The Annotated Alice.
“I used to read this to you when you were little. You always wanted to hear about Kitty and Snowdrop, they were Alice’s...” (…black and white cats)
David just gets up and leaves. Jack follows, trying to connect, but the kid isn’t having it.
“We see each other like once a month, cant we just... get through it?” ouchie.
Grandma calls to remind Jack she needs his help looking for Christians’ will. He tells David he’ll be back in an hour and they’ll have some dinner.

=island=

Sayid joins Jack in the courtyard, wanting to know why all the Others are staring at him.
“You told me that these people think I have an infection, that they wanted to give me some mysterious pill you instructed me not to take, and then you disappeared. What are you hiding from me?”
Jack tells Sayid about the poison and that what the Others believe has happened to Sayid also happened to someone else.
“Who?”

Infected Claire (someone on the podcast this week came up with “Claireseau” – I like it, but it’s too long. She’s just Claire.) frees Jin from the bear trap. She tells him she’s been in the jungle since he left three years ago.

Hurley’s traversing through the temple tunnels, checking the notes on his arm against the symbols on the wall when Dogen arrives and demands to know what he’s doing.
“Nothing. I’m just, you know, looking, cause I’m a big fan of temples and like… history, Indiana Jones stuff.”
Dogen orders him back to the courtyard and Jacob appears (standing next to a block in the wall carved with the symbols from the countdown in the Swan) to Hurley. He instructs Hugo to tell Dogen he’s a candidate. Hurley can get behind this.
“I’m a candidate, and I can do what I want.”
“Who told you that?”
“Doesn’t matter. Why don’t you go back to the courtyard?”
Dogen hilariously goes nuts in Japanese and storms off. After telling Hurley he doesn’t want to know what was just said ["You're lucky I have to protect you, otherwise I'd have cut your head off !!"], Jacob asks why Hurley didn’t bring Jack along as instructed.
“You have to bring him with you, Hugo.”
”Ok, it’s bad enough you already made me write down way too much stuff and I just lied to a samurai… look, if you have any idea how to get Jack to go on your little adventure, I’m listening.”
Jacob smiles.

He had an idea, ‘cause next we see, Hurley is meeting with Jack in the courtyard. He tells him about Jacob and a secret tunnel, and that Jack needs to come with him. Jack tells him he’s not going anywhere.
“He told me you’d say that, so he told me to tell you ‘you have what it takes.’”
That hits Jacks execute button and, kinda tearing up, he demands to see Jacob. Hurley explains that - ”he’s kind of dead – turns up whenever he wants like Obi-Wan Kenboi. But... if you want to talk to him he’s where we’re going, dude”
“Well then let’s go see Jacob.”

Jin comes to in Claire’s ...shacky kind of thing. He’s got some funky boxers on, but they’re not as funky as Sawyers last week. The dynamite from the Black Rock is there, some baby books including 'Wish Upon a Star', which reminds me of Catch A Falling Star – the song Claire loved as a baby and wanted sung to Aaron. Also, 'Best Loved Stories'. There’s a bloody pan with surgical tools on top of a first aid kit – and a baby blue cradle with some freaky goddamn Texas Chainsaw Massacre Hills Have Eyes animal bone and fur baby nesting in it. Claire comes back with Justin in tow. She ties him up with plans to interrogate him about Aaron’s whereabouts, but first she tends to Jin.
“Gotta get that cleaned up. If there’s one thing that’ll kill you around here its infection.”
Heh heh, don’t she know it. Jin wants to know if she’s been here the whole time by herself.
“Oh no, I’m not by myself.”
She leaves the hut for a minute and Justin tells Jin they have got to leave.
“If we don’t get out of here now, she’s gonna kill us both.”

Jack and Hurley are walking through the jungle, with Hurley checking his arm for directions. They find Kate filling her canteen and Jack startles her, which almost results in Kate shooting him. They laugh about it, though. Hurley gives her instructions on how to get back to the temple, but she tells them she’s going to find Claire. Jack tells her to come along with the two of them and this freaks out Hurley, who tells Jack Jacob said just the two of them, that she’s not invited. Jack’s inviting her anyway, but she still wants to find Claire, and Kate heads off on her own.

=flashsideways=

Jack and mom in dads study, looking for the will. She’s frustrated, wondering why he wouldn’t have just left a copy with his lawyer.
“Why would he make it easy on us now?” Jack asks.
Mom pours herself a drink (bottle of McCutcheon on the bar, of course) and Jack declines. Is she the alcoholic here? She tells him David was really upset at the funeral, which Jack was unaware of.
“Communication’s not one of his strong suits”
”Well, it runs in the family.”
Jack tells her he was terrified of his dad.
“How do you know David isn’t terrified of you?
"Why would he be?”
”I don’t know Jack, maybe you should ask him.”
She finally finds the will and looks it over, perplexed.
“Jack? Did your father ever mention a Claire Littleton?”
Can recognition flash across your eyebrows? Because it can across Matthew Foxes.

=island=

Claire’s busy outside the hut, sterilizing the surgical instruments and sharpening an axe. Justin is busy inside the hut, trying to convince Jin to free him. They’re soon interrupted by Claire's return. She explains to Jin that she had to stitch herself up once when the Others shot her in the leg. She’s convinced they have Aaron because first her father told her, and then her friend.
“You’re still my friend, aren’t you Jin?”
“Yes of course.”
So Smokey has infected (infecdoctrinated?) Claire ‘against’ the Others using the specter of her dad and her ‘friend’– his version of room 23? She finishes with Jin and turns toward Justin, while picking up the axe. “So... now it’s your turn.”

Jack and Hurley are opening up on their trek. Hurley is wondering what happened to Jack and Kate back in LA; he thought they’d be married with a dozen kids and is sure Jack would make a great dad.
“I make a terrible dad.”
Does Hurley become Jacob and grant his friends the life they should have had, and that’s what we’re seeing in the sideways? Doubt it, but it would be a happy ending. I hope somehow Hurley is the hero when all is said and done, dude.
They come across an asthma inhaler and Hurley recognizes it.
“Dude. It’s Shannon’s.”
They’re at the caves they used to live in, with the Adam and Eve skeletons.
“I totally forgot these were in here, man. Wait a sec – what if we time traveled again, to like dinosaur times? And then we died and then we got buried here. What if these skeletons are us??”
awesome.
Jacks distracted by the sight of his dad’s smashed up coffin, and he confesses to Hurley.
“Did I ever tell you how I found this place? I was chasing the ghost of my dead father. He led me here. That was his coffin before I smashed it to pieces.”
”Why’d you do that?”
“Because he wasn’t in it.”
Chasing the ghost of his dad back in the first season mirror episode, White Rabbit, just like he’s spending this episode searching for David and Jacob... "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!"

=flashsideways=

Jack’s back with pizza, but David is nowhere to be found. Looks like Jack's got an Aaron’s dad painting on the wall. Some time seems to have gone by as Jack is sitting in front of his ‘sliding doors’ with a beautiful view of LA behind them. He’s drinking – non alcoholic beer? Calls David (not for the first time, it seems) and apologizes if he did anything wrong. He tells him he’s heading to his mom’s house to look for him.

who is mom? We know in the old timeline he was married to Sarah a few years before the crash, and she left him for another man because he was working too much. When she sees him in the hospital after the return of the oceanic 6, she’s pregnant. Jack almost had an affair with Gabriela Busoni during the marriage, and honestly the kid kind of looks like her. More so than Sarah at least. Regardless, the kid is in his teens, not a toddler, so who knows if either of these women are involved.


He gets to house number 233 (23, 2+3+3=8) and it’s locked. He lifts a stone rabbit next to the door, revealing a key. Follow the white rabbit. David’s room – the kids a musician. And a Dodgers fan. He’s been working on Chopin’s Fantaisie – Impromptu. Jack notices messages on the answering machine and hits play. Dr Sutherland from Williams Conservatory is calling to confirm David’s timeslot – 40 minutes from now. Jack looks at his fancy watch ("Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!”) as the messages continue to play, and he hears himself calling from Australia.
“Hey David, its dad. I’m in Sydney Australia. Something happened and I just needed to hear your voice. I guess I’ll try you again later. I love you.”

=island=

Hurley’s having fun trudging thru the jungle with Jack; just like old times. He tells him he came back to the island because Jacob popped in to the back of his cab and told him he was supposed to, so he came. He asks Jack why he came back.
“I came back here because I was broken. And I was stupid enough to think this place could fix me.”
Hurley is sympathetic. They get to the lighthouse soon after. Very cool. Ancient ancient at least. Jack asks the question the entire viewing audience is asking at the same time. How come we haven’t seen it before?
“Guess we weren’t looking for it.”

Claire’s interrogation. Scary shit, Cheney would be proud. She’s convinced they have Aaron, and we find out she was taken and given the same test as Sayid, with the same results; branded and all. She says if she hadn’t escaped they would have killed her. Justin says she isn’t remembering things right.

So why not just kill her and Sayid? Why trick Jack into doing it? Justin is willing to snap Claire’s neck... but he was the one reminding Aldo last week that they couldn’t kill... candidates. Even infected ones? They have to trick others into doing it for some reason, or is that just on the temple grounds.?


Claire’s about to lose it and thwack Justin with the axe when Jin stops her by telling her that Kate took him.
“What do you mean she ‘took’ him?”
"He’s been with Kate for the past three years. Aaron is three."
Justin tells her it’s the truth and asks to be untied; he promises he won’t tell anyone he saw her. She looks over at the fucked-up crazy crib while Justin pleads, and Claire starts to cry before burying the axe in his chest. Thunk.

Jack and Hurley are outside the lighthouse and the door won’t open.
“Doesn’t say anything on your arm about the door being jammed?”
”No.”
Jack kicks it open.

=flashsideways=

Jack arrives at Williams Conservatory, where a sign for the tryouts reads "Welcome all Candidates." He’s just in time for David’s audition. It’s the most beautiful music Jack’s ever heard in his life, I think. At least the directing would lead you to believe that. He’s moved to tears. However, David looks almost ashamed of himself when he’s finished. A young boy next to Jack asks if it’s his son up there, and tells him he’s really good. Holy shit, this kid’s dad is Dogen, who stops Jack as he’s about to leave the room.
“They are too young to have this kind of pressure, aren’t they?”
“Yes, yes they are.”
“It’s it’s hard to watch and be unable to help. Your son has a gift. How long has he been playing?”
“I... I don’t know.”
Hard for Dogen to watch everything on the island and be unable to help? Going to be hard for Jack to do the same?

=island=

Jack and Hurley have climbed to the top of the lighthouse. Panels of mirrors are arranged above a stone circle with degrees etched around it and a fire pit in the center. Looks a little like the watch Jack checked earlier.
“Dude this is cool. They musta built this to help ships get here and stuff. I guess they used the mirror because electricity hadn’t been invented yet.”
Hurley checks his arm for directions 4 levels stairs giant mirror pull chain @ 108 deg
He starts pulling.
“Tell me when it gets to 108 degrees”
The chains look new, this place is used often? Oh, fucking cool, the numbers around the base of the mirror have names next to them. Jack looks up to see the image in the looking glass change from the sea behind him to an older-style Oriental building – the place where Jin and Sun were married? Something to do with Dogen? It goes back to normal when he looks away. Hurley keeps pulling and a church goes by - Yemi’s? Sawyer’s parents funeral? Jack tells Hurley to stop and check the mirror, but it’s just the reflected ocean again.
Jack looks down to see the names and numbers. 108 is a scratched out Wallace. Sayid isn’t crossed out yet. 51 is Austen, also not crossed out. 20 is Rousseau. He sees Shephard at 23 and turns the chains to it – the mirror image changes and Hurley can also see it this time. It’s the house Jack grew up in.

are the lighthouse mirrors the white version of Smokey itself? Able to see into people and show them what it sees, ala Eko?


“That’s weird.”
“I haven’t lived in that house since I was a kid. He’s been watching us the whole time, all of us, he’s been watching us.”
Jack is entering freak-out mode. He grabs a bronze telescope/sextant thingy from its stand and starts grilling Hugo.
“Why was he watching me? Why is my name written down on this thing? What does he want from me?”
“I don’t know, Jack!”
Jack swings and smash go the mirrors.

=flashsideways=

Jack meets his son outside the conservatory, and tells him he was great. The kid thinks he missed a few notes. Jack thinks he was perfect.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
David thought he could get back before Jack got home.

the ‘hour’ timeline seems ridiculous – intentional or not, Time has a dreamlike quality to it in the flashsideways world during this episode. One of those dreams where you know you’re supposed to be doing something, but keep getting sidetracked as time goes by.


David has been keeping Jack in the dark about his piano playing because he didn’t want dad to see him fail. Jack recognizes this kid.
“You know when I was your age my father didn’t want to see me fail either. He said that I didn’t have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me, and I don’t ever want you to feel that way. I will always love you, no matter what you do. In my eyes you can never fail. I just want to be a part of your life.”
Fixed. Or at least mended pretty well.

=island=

Jack is off on a cliff staring at the sea when Jacob appears to Hurley at the lighthouse.
“You’ve got ink on your forehead.”
”I have ink on my forehead? That’s all you have to say? Jack broke your lighthouse dude. Mission unaccomplished! Whoever you said we need to help get to the island is totally screwed.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll find some other way”
Hurley realizes this was probably Jacobs plan all along. Less sinister than Smokey but still manipulation. “Jack is here because he has to do something. He can’t be told what that is; he’s got to find it himself. Sometimes you can just hop in the back of someone’s cab and tell them what they’re supposed to do. Other times, you gotta let them look out at the ocean for a while.”
He tells Hurley he had to get them out of the temple because someone’s coming there.
"Someone bad.”
Hurley wants to go back and warn them.
“We can’t warn them Hugo. I’m sorry, it’s too late. “
Miles, Sayid, Dogen, Lennon, Cindy and the kids – is there anyone else we know by name there?

Claire’s camp. Jin knows she’s batshit crazy now, so he’s going along with her delusion to placate her. He tells her he only said Kate was raising Aaron to try and save Justin’s life.
“But you were right; the Others have your baby. Aaron is at the temple. I know because I saw him there. But you will need me to get to him.”
He tells her there’s a secret way in, where no one will see them.
“Thank you Jin. I’m so glad to know you were lying, because if what you said was the truth, if Kate was raising Aaron, I’d kill her.”
UnLocke pops his bald head in.
“Am I interrupting?”
Jin is shocked!
“John?”
“That’s not John. This is my friend.”
Crazy smiles all around.
Poor Jin.

UnLocke is building his army, and now he has a way into the temple and a box of dynamite. This can’t end well.

So, Smokey and Jacob’s “game” theory: Jacob has the list of the candidates up in the lighthouse, which Smokey has copied on the ceiling of the cave, maybe?
Now it’s a race (around the world?) to counter the other’s moves, and for Smokey to scratch out the names before they become the candidate – kinda like tic tac toe.
“Tied again, dude.”