Lost is off and running, and whenever you hear the word "running," you know it's a Kate-centric episode.  Whatever the case may be, Kate was born to run, so say "I do" and don't get left behind because whatever happened, happened and Lost is starting fresh with a tabula rasa.

In the Altverse

After getting into Claire's cab, the taxi driver (aka Doyle, the Puppet Master from Heroes) almost runs over Leslie Arzt before running away.  Kate steals Claire's purse then tosses her out onto the side of the road before driving away.

She finds an auto body shop and gets the guy to cut off her handcuffs.  She starts to change but then finds a photo of pregnant Claire in the stolen purse.  Aw, Kate's a softie.  She goes back to pick up the pregnant Australian and give her a ride to the home of her unborn baby's new adoptive parents.

When they arrive, the sad news is that the woman's husband left her and she doesn't want to raise a kid on her own.  Well that sucks for Claire.  Even suckier is that her water immediately breaks.

Kate drives her to the hospital and finds the doctor...ETHAN!  That would be a lot more shocking if William Mapother weren't listed in the opening credits.  Ethan Goodspeed is a lot nicer than Ethan Rom, helping Claire with her pregnancy.  After things calm down, the cops stop by the ask questions, but Claire covers for her new fugitive friend.

I guess no matter what universe they're in, Kate will always be present at Aaron's birth.  But once again, the altverse is mildly interesting, but entirely irrelevant to the awesome stuff that happens on the actual Island.


On the Island

Sayid is alive and well, which has the Temple Master and his Translator wanting to talk to him in private.  Jack is still angry that no one will tell them what's going on, and Sawyer is just plain angry.  Sawyer leaves, but Kate, Jin and Aldo go off to find him.

Who the heck is Aldo?  Surely you remember the random Other standing guard outside Room 23 at the start of season 3, right?  If not, it's the dude who plays Mac on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  It all makes sense now: Jacob is the Dayman and his nemesis is the Nightman!

On the trip, Aldo is an awesomely snarky ass, angry that Kate doesn't remember this random Other from three years ago.  Kate eventually betrays the two Others, knocking them out to escape.  I guess Kate's doing what she does best: running.

After splitting up with Jin, who's more concerned with finding his wife, Kate tracks Sawyer to the Barracks, where apparently the con man buried a Juliet time capsule under the floorboards of his old DHARMA house.

The two then share a weepy scene on the dock where Sawyer confesses that he blames himself for forcing Juliet to stay on the Island and that he was going to propose to her.  He tosses the ring into the water and it's emotional, but Josh Holloway makes a ton of very odd facial expressions during this scene trying to act sad.

Meanwhile, Sayid gets tortured by the Temple Master as a "test" and he passed it, or at least that's what he's told.  When Jack seeks answers, he finds out it was an Island Medical Exam and Sayid failed, because he's "infected," I'm assuming just like Rousseau's husband was.  But there's a cure in the form of a giant magic pill.

Sayid is willing to take the pill if Jack tells him to, but Hurley is convinced Sayid is now a zombie.  It's actually one of the more plausible theories.  Instead, Jack confronts the Temple Master and learns his name is Dogan and he was brought to the Island like everyone else.  I'm going to assume all the Others are Black Rock slaves like Richard Alpert.

Jack tests Dogan by taking the pill himself, but the Temple Master attacks him and gets him to spit it out, because it's actually poison.  Finally Dogan reveals the truth, that Sayid has been "claimed" and a darkness will eat away at him until he's gone.  How does he know?  Because the same thing happened to Jack's sister.

In case you momentarily forgot, that would be Claire.  And she's apparently still on the Island, because after the two Others track down Jin and try to kill him, they get shot by a rifle-toting Claire.  That image makes me flash on one of Jay's t-shirts from Modern Family with the slogan "Claire and Present Danger."  Thank you Lost, for reminding us how an episode should end, because I definitely lifted up my hands in excitement over the return of Island Claire.



(Image courtesy of ABC)