The two tribes have merged, so now it’s time to see which survivor can outwit, outplay and outlast the others.  But the Island on Lost doesn’t have any hidden immunity idols.  Or does it?  Have I accidentally stumbled onto a great Lost theory where the Smoke Monster is actually the ghost of Jeff Probst?

Probably not, but “merge” is the word of the episode.  Not only do the two tribes come together on the Island, but in the altverse, everything starts to come together.  And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING.

There are a lot of loose ends in the altverse, and Lost wastes no time in this episode tying them up.  There are three legs to this altverse tripod, so we start with Ben riding in the ambulance with John Locke, racing to the hospital.  When they arrive, there’s another ambulance that gets there at the exact same time carrying Sun.  As both stretchers are wheeled in side-by-side, Sun is freaked out because she knows who John Locke is.

In the second leg, James Ford is booking Kate and the two share some serious sexual chemistry.  He thinks something is trying to put them together while she threatens to reveal that he noticed that she was handcuffed at the airport, but he did nothing because he didn’t want to explain why he was in Sydney.

Miles calls James away because they picked up a multiple homicide at a restaurant.  It’s Keamy and his men, meaning Sun is a victim, Jin is a witness and Sayid is the suspect.  So Miles and James go to Nadia’s house and arrest him.

In the third and final leg of the altverse story, Claire, out of the hospital and still pregnant, goes to an adoption agency, but she’s stopped by Desmond, who wants her to talk to his lawyer.  As far as I could remember, no Lost characters were ever lawyers, so I was shocked and hilariously pleased to see that Desmond’s altverse lawyer is…Ilana!

That’s right, Ilana is non-blown up in the altverse and practicing law.  She instantly recognizes Claire, claiming that she’s been looking for her.  Why?  Because Ilana is the executor of Christian Shephard’s estate.

After getting off the phone with David’s mom (still being incredibly enigmatic about her true identity), Jack and his son head up to see Ilana for the reading of Christian’s will, where Jack meets his half-sister for the first time.

Just as that piece of news starts to sink in, he gets paged to the hospital, where there’s an emergency that needs his immediate attention.  You only get one guess about who Jack has to perform surgery, and if you guess anyone other than John Locke, the Lost gods will blow you up like they did to Ilana.

Jack goes back to his hospital, where Sun is safely recuperating and her baby is safe.  He goes into surgery, looks down at the mirror on the floor and instantly recognizes the man on his table as John Locke.


So in the altverse, everyone comes together. Back on the Island, they all come together, then break apart again. First Flocke wants to have a one-on-one with Jack, where they talk about getting off the Island and the fact that the Smoke Monster was actually posing as Christian Shephard all the way back in season 1, helping the survivors find what they needed.

Their chat is interrupted by Claire, who’s happy to see her big brother. He tells her he hasn’t decided whether he’s leaving the Island yet, but she’s confident that once Flocke talks to you, the game is already over.

The next morning, Sawyer and Kate debrief Hurley and Sun on the plan to betray Flocke, steal Widmore’s submarine and get off the Island. Zoe, Widmore’s geophysicist, arrives demanding that Flocke give back what he took (Desmond).

To prove how serious, she calls in an air strike and a missile blows up right next to the camp. She gives him until sundown, but Flocke immediately crushes her radio after she leaves and makes his own battle plans.

Flocke sends Sawyer and Kate to get a boat (the Elizabeth, of course) and meet the rest of the group to go over to Hydra Island and attack. But Sawyer has other plans, telling Jack to collect only Sun, Hurley and Lapidus and meet them at a secondary rendezvous point.

When Sawyer and Kate find the boat, Sawyer tells her the plan, and she’s upset that Claire isn’t a part of it, but Sawyer is smart enough to recognize that Claire isn’t herself anymore.

Flocke dispatches Sayid to kill Desmond in the well while he takes the rest of his tribe to meet the boat. Sayid finds the well, but Desmond, acting an awful lot like Jacob did while talking to Richard in “Ab Aeterno,” tries to talk him out of it.

Later Flocke doubles back to get Sayid, who says he killed Desmond. It’s very obvious Flocke doesn’t know how to play poker, because he can’t tell that Sayid is obviously lying, or at least I assume he is since we didn’t see the end of his encounter with Desmond.


While Flocke’s away, Jack gets his group to leave to meet Sawyer. Claire sees this and follows them, ultimately pointing a gun at the boat when they arrive. Kate talks her out of it, convincing her to turn against Flocke and go with them. It’s a nice little fantasy, but I have serious doubts about the intelligence of Sawyer’s decision not to shoot Claire right away.

Halfway to Hydra Island Jack starts talking like old school John Locke about how leaving the Island is a bad idea because they’re supposed to be there. Sawyer doesn’t suffer fools gladly, so he gives Jack two options: shut his damn mouth or jump off the boat. After apologizing for getting Juliet killed, Jack picks option B and takes a leap of faith, literally, into the water.

The boat eventually reaches Hydra Island where Zoe and her men find them and point guns at them. The tension is cut when Jin stumbles in and makes eye contact with his wife, who he hasn’t seen since the Kahana exploded at the end of season 4. They run to one another and it’s the greatest moment ever, until she starts talking about how much she loves him, in English. Yes, the power of love cured her very temporary and idiotic inability to speak English.

The happiness is cut short when Zoe orders everyone on their knees, because Widmore has pulled a double reverse betrayal. The team starts dropping bombs on Flocke, sending Jack flying through the air. Flocke picks him up and carries him to safety, because Jack is now with Flocke.

Will altverse Jack be able to cure John Locke’s paralysis? Will Jack join forces with Flocke? You will NOT find out next week, because Lost is airing a rerun. Instead, the next new episode isn’t until May 4.

 

John Kubicek

Senior Writer, BuddyTV

John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire DiariesSupernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.