As usual, my brain hurt (in a good way) after watching Lost this week. Though it didn’t REALLY answer any questions, it did start to go in that direction, I thought.

I have trouble recapping Lost in any sort of normal way – I suppose that’s because it’s anything but a normal show, so I’m going to do what I did last week and break it into two parts: Alternate Reality and The Island. Since we didn’t get anything with Ben and the Others with him or Smokey Locke with Richard, I’m not going to say too much about them, except for some fascinating thoughts about Richard in this post from JOpinionated.

OK, so, let’s start with the

Alternate reality

Further evidence that this group of people are drawn together and that no matter how reality changes, some things stay the same.

Remember how Kate was the one who delivered Aaron in the jungle first time around? No coincidence that she’s there when Claire almost gives birth. She and Claire have a strong connection. That stuffed animal, the orca whale in Claire’s bag? Didn’t Aaron have one just like it when he was living with Kate?

And Claire is fated to raise her child, at least off-island. The couple who were supposed to adopt suddenly split just before Claire flies to the states? And the wife doesn’t bother to call to say, “Nevermind”? That’s because Claire was supposed to get on that plane. I can’t help but think that somehow Jack will find out Claire is his sister (trust me, I’m chomping at the bit to get to that part, too, but patience!) and they’ll be drawn together.

Speaking of Jack, did you notice the puzzled looks of recognition Jack and Kate gave one another as she rode away in her hijacked cab? They know they know each other, they just don’t know why.

OK, so we know that Kate murdered someone, though given how much things are different in this version of reality, it is possible she’s telling Claire the truth and is actually innocent this time around. Or maybe she accidentally killed a different person. Maybe her mother? I’m totally talking out of my ass here, so don’t think I actually know anything. I try to remain spoiler-free, so if there is some spoiler out there answering this question, please don’t share.

When it comes down to it, that’s pretty much all that happened in the alternate timeline this week. So let’s go to the island, shall we?

The Island

The Temple Others are a very confused lot.

And they’re reaching the point where they can’t keep secrets anymore.

Here’s one interesting moment: Dogen tells Jack that he was “brought” to the island, just like Jack. So it would seem that everyone who’s been brought to the island has been brought by Jacob or by Smokey. Which would, FINALLY, explain the lists that Ben was giving out, back in the day.

But, then, why weren’t Jack, Kate, Hurley and Co. kidnapped from the beach? Was it because they ended up killing Ethan before he got around to it, so The Others washed their hands of them?

Remember, back in Season 2, when Michael was ordered to bring four Losties to The Others? Kate. Jack. Sawyer. Hurley (though he was sent back). They’re all here, now. And Sayid and Jin went to help rescue them. We know why Jack was brought there – to operate on Ben. And Sawyer and Kate were there to make Jack be willing to operate.

But could there have been something deeper there?

Speaking of, nice reminder of who idiot boy Other was, knocked out by Kate three years earlier. Just before – whammo!  See? What happened, happened, and Kate was meant to put this guy in his place with a nice punch to the head.

OK, all kidding aside, his attitude was interesting, because we have seen very little dissention among The Others in all these years. But this guy is ready to kill Kate for a personal slight, despite the fact that Kate is obviously very important to Jacob.

The other Other, however, is ready to tell them some secrets, which also is very out of character for an Other.

We know that a few years have gone by since the Losties first got on the helicopter and off the island, because Rousseau’s been dead a few years. So we’re getting a sense of time, and it seems the same amount of time has passed on the island as passed off-island. Or, at least, the same amount of time as had passed before the Ajira flight crashed.

One absolute answer we got, however, was what happened to Claire on-island. And, for that matter, Rousseau. Smokey.

Did you really think Claire was alive? WOW. Claire is Rousseau reincarnated.

But remember how Rousseau kinda went crazy and killed the others with her? I wonder if the other researchers on her boat had been brought to the island by Jacob, but Smokey managed to get into Rousseau and have her kill her friends and colleagues. All Jacob could do was rescue her child. Which she didn’t see as rescue at all, of course.

I wonder if the reason women on the island can’t carry babies to term is that Smokey won’t allow them to? And there must be something very important about Aaron for her to have come to Kate in a vision and insist she not bring Aaron back to the island. Smokey has a thing for the Shepherd family. He controls Christian Shepherd, infected Claire and who knows what he wants with Jack and Aaron? (Same thing, I’d assume.)

But why are the Shepherds so important? Perhaps it’s all in the name?

And Sayid. So he’s NOT a vessel for Jacob at all. He was, alas, too much of a perfect vessel for Smokey. He’s not there yet, but he soon will be yielding a rifle, shooting others. If you think about it, Rousseau starts to make even more sense. She was a pregnant researcher, not a military sharpshooter. But infected by Smokey, she turned into a deadly force.

And now Claire, who was merely a pregnant teen when she came to the island, is the same. Can you imagine how deadly an infected Sayid could be???

I love that Jack didn’t give him the pill. At first, I was ticked that he didn’t, because I trusted The Temple Others. And I understand where they’re coming from, in a way. But I still do not want Sayid killed just because he’s infected by Smokey. Who’s to say that Smokey REALLY is the bad guy? Just because he wears black? Just because he takes the form of Smokey?

If you think about it, we’re actually getting tremendous answers to long-standing questions, it just takes time for it all to be digested.

Dayum.