"Recon"

No brilliant opening for this post... let's just get to sussing about this Sawyer-centric episode!

Beginning with the events on the island...

Sawyer has been taking care of the injured Jin at Crazy Claire's makeshift tent:

Jin's all, "Dude, we gots to get outta here! Before those whackadoodles come back!"... but Sawyer's like, "Chillax, Kato... it's all good." Sawyer lets Jin know that he's with Locke, "or whoever he is", only because he can them off the island (or so he says).

Flocke, Crazy Claire, Kate, Sayid, and the rest of the Others from the Temple finally appear. Everyone wants to know what happened to those who stayed at the Temple. Flocke's answer: "the black smoke killed them".

Before they head out, Kate sees Crazy Claire's creepy squirrel-baby. And she's as freaked out by the thing as I was {shudder}.

On the way, Flocke pulls Sawyer aside and drops the bomb that he is the smoke monster. And that he wants Sawyer to paddle over to Hydra Island for a little reconnaissance. Flocke believes there are some others from the Ajira flight who "mean to do us all harm".

So Sawyer goes off to Hydra, and Crazy Claire tries to kill Kate... but luckily, Flocke saves her just in time.

Did anyone else scream at the TV, "Sayid! DO something!", during this scene? Or was I the only one?

Sawyer makes it to Hydra and finds the Ajira plane. But first, he comes across Kate's dress in one of the cages:

Again, was I the only one thinking, "Really? After THREE YEARS of being outside, the dress is still in that good of shape?"


Unfortunately, the plane isn't the only thing Sawyer finds. He also finds a pile of dead bodies... and... Zoe, who says she's the only one left from the flight:

Sawyer figures out Zoe isn't who she says she is... but she's not alone, and before he knows it, he's taken to a sub and meets Charles Widmore.

Sawyer agrees to deliver Flocke to Widmore, in exchange for him and his friends getting safely off the island.

But then! Sawyer makes it back to Flocke... and proceeds to tell him the plan of turning Flocke over to Widmore!

At nightfall, Sawyer finds Kate on the beach. He also tells Kate about Widmore and his people and while everyone's "fighting it out", they'll be taking the sub away from the island.


Now for what happened in Alterna-Lost...

Sawyer's in bed with an un-named woman:

And then he does the whole, "Oops! I didn't mean to open this case full of money in front of you!" My first thought: "Ah, Sawyer. He's up to his old tricks."

But the woman pulls a gun on Sawyer, saying she can spot a conman since she's married to one:

Sawyer then begins to tell her that this is a set-up and the room has been bugged. It wasn't until Sawyer uttered the "magic word" that I believed his story! The cops bust in the room, arrest the woman and we meet Detective James Ford's partner:

Miles! I didn't see that coming, either! But I loved it.

Two more things I loved about this scene: 1), it was Sawyer's turn to be called by a nickname ("Dimples") and 2), the magic word ("La Fleur").


Detective James Ford is using his cop skills for personal use... even in Alterna-Lost, he's trying to find "Anthony Cooper":

I don't know how this is going to play out. Because we know who Anthony Cooper is. And in Alterna-Lost, he seems like a good guy!

Meanwhile, Miles has set his partner up on a blind date with a good friend of his, who also happens to work with his dad "at the museum". I thought (and hoped!) it would be Juliet, but the blind date turned out to be:

Charlotte!

Of course, Charlotte and Detective James Ford hit it off and end up in bed together:

But the good times don't last very long. Looking for a tee shirt, Charlotte happens to come across the "Sawyer" binder hidden in the dresser drawer. Detective James Ford goes all postal about what Charlotte saw and kicks her out.

And as if that wasn't bad enough...

Miles finds out his partner has lied about being in Australia and isn't too pleased about it:

Miles knows he's being lied to... but again, Detective James Ford won't tell the truth. Miles storms off, saying he's no longer Detective James Ford's partner.

And of course, as with every episode this season, we have the central character staring at their reflection:

Later, Detective James Ford makes up with Miles by finally telling him the truth. "Anthony Cooper", aka "Sawyer", is the man responsible for his parent's deaths. He's been searching for "Sawyer" since leaving the police academy and finally found a lead in Australia. Detective James Ford reveals his plans to kill "Sawyer" when he finds the man.

A car then slams into Detective James Ford's car... and he and Miles are on the pursuit. The fugitive turns out to be none other than:

Kate!

I was a little surprised at this. We know that our Losties keep interacting with one another in Sideways World... but thanks to Erica, I thought the next person to run into Kate would be Jack. Remember when Jack and his mom were searching for Christian's will... and when found, it mentioned "Claire Littleton"? Jack and his mom need to find this mystery person... and what's the easiest way to find someone? Run a credit check on them. Who has Claire's credit card? That's right... Kate. So I figured Jack and Kate's paths would cross next...

But now, the big question is: What's Detective James Ford going to do? And maybe even a bigger question is, why didn't he intervene in the airport when he noticed Kate in handcuffs???

Time to end this here recap... and for our female readers, I'll leave you with a few more gratuitous images of Shirtless Sawyer...

You're welcome.


Now... get to sussing!

It's DOCTOR Linus

After nearly every episode, I say to myself, "WOW, that was my favorite episode." And after each, I proclaim my love for whichever character was featured most prominently. I am a fickle and changing girl, because that character changes from week to week. But this past episode brought my love affair with Lost, and indeed my love affair with a particular character, to a whole new level. That character, of course, is Ben Linus.

He is the man we love to hate and hate to love. He has been so deliciously bad, but has revealed soft parts of himself. He is flawed and in some ways broken. As are all of the people inhabiting the Lost world, but there are so many levels to his character. There is a reason Michael Emerson has been nominated for 10 awards for his work on Lost, including last year's Emmy WIN. He. Is. Awesome.

So we all knew that any episode featuring Ben would be nuanced and complicated, because that IS Ben, and "Dr. Linus" did not let us down.

So let's get sussing!

- How much did we love that sideways Ben was teaching his students about Elba? The tiny island where French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled. "It was on this island that everything changed," he says, "that everything finally became clear. But exile was not the worst of his punishment, it was the loss of power." Sound like the man in black to anyone? Or perhaps Ben himself?

- The loving sideways Ben and his father, there is genuine affection between the two. Makes me wonder about Ben's mother. Did she die during childbirth as she did in our familiar Lost world? A tragedy that led to the fractured relationship between father and son, and eventually to patricide. But very importantly, this is where the senior Linus reveals that they had been on the island, but left. Dharma and the island exist in this sideways world! Or at least they did. Do they still?

- Ben and Alex have a special relationship in sideways Lost, too. Contrary to his behavior on the island, sideways Ben abandons his personal ambitions for the sake of Alex. Did anyone have any doubt that he would do the right thing? I didn't. Okay, maybe for a second, but only a second.

- We're finally given a glimpse into Richard's existence. When he leads Jack and Hurley to the marooned ship, Black Rock, he says that after all the years he's been on the island, that was the first time he had been back to it. (Was that ship another era's Oceanic 815? And Richard a passenger?) He confides that he was "touched" by Jacob and given the "gift" of sustained life. However these days he's ready to be done with it, but the island won't let him die whether by his own hand or another's. As Jack so ably proved. Each of the candidates was touched by Jacob. Were they also given this gift?

- Miles. He's such a cool cat. I guffawed when he threw Ben's words right back at him as he tells everyone that Ben was the one that did the dastardly deed: "He was standing over Jacob's dead body with a bloody dagger, so yeah, I'm pretty sure." My favorite quote of the episode was from Miles, as it often is, "Why would I need your money? There are a couple of gimbonis* over there named Paolo and Nicki with $8 million in diamonds on top of them." Not in the teensiest, eensiest bit surprised to see Miles caressing a couple of sparklies after that line.

- The most emotional moment of the show: the showdown between Ben and Ilana. He's a man with nothing left to lose. Marooned on a tiny island. No friends, no power. (Napoleon?) He confesses his role in his daughter's death, because of Jacob. He gave up everything for Jacob. He begs Ilana to just let him leave, that he'll go to the only one that will have him, Locke. When she said "I'll have you," I teared up. Two people, both with their entire lives invested in Jacob, at rock bottom, finding common ground.

- Still a little weepy from the moment in the jungle, we're given the reunion on the beach. Shannon texted me "Michael Giacchino is a genius" and it is in scenes like this one, where his music plays so heavily on our emotions that you become aware of just how true those words are. He IS a genius.

- And of course, we couldn't possibly not mention the submarine that surfaces during this touching moment carrying a scheming Widmore. Theories on his agenda?

Can't wait until tomorrow night!

*I have no idea what this word is or how it is spelled. I have attempted to look it up with no success. However, I just couldn't omit it from the quote because its a fun word. It's also probably some sort of racial slur and offensive to jewel thieves everywhere. Don't shoot the messenger folks.

Sundown

Folks, I don't even know where to begin...
'cause this, as a reply to Ben's "There's still time to escape...":

"Not for me..."

Well, it scared the heebie-jeebies outta me.

Long have I loved our former Iraqi Republican Guard, our Ninja in the black wife beater. But it appears Mr. Kung Fu Fighting (as Cara texted to me during this episode--"Everybody was kung fu fighting...") is now kicking for the dark side.

Queue the Imperial March from Star Wars.

Rather than recap what I found to be a very confusing and mysterious episode, let's jump straight to the sussing, shall we?

*Dogen (God rest his soul) referred to Fake Locke as "evil incarnate."

Call me bonkers, but my definition of "evil incarnate" is Satan/The Devil/The Man Downstairs, whatever you wanna call him. Are we finally to believe/accept that the Man in Black/Fake Locke is the bad guy? That he's inherently evil? If so, what does this make Jacob?

Well, he's cute...but is he an angel? Truly good? The White Knight?

*Ahhh, Martin Keamy...

Don't hate me, but Kevin Durand (who portrays Keamy) has the sexiest voice ever. EVER!

Just as he did in the Season 4 finale, Sayid opens up his can of whup-ass on one Martin Keamy, leaving him deader than dirt. It seems that regardless of timeline, regardless of locale, Sayid is gonna have the last laugh, as far as Keamy's concerned.

But let's discuss...what does Keamy have to do with Jin in this timeline? Does he still work for Widmore? Why's he storing a Korean in a freezer? And didn't those eggs look delicious?

*Was I the only one who, upon seeing this scene, had a Buffalo Bill flashback?

"It puts the lotion in the basket!"

It's apparent that Claire has "done gone and lost her mind," as Shannon so succinctly put it in last week's recap of "Lighthouse." If the mangy hair and eerie crooning of "Catch A Falling Star" weren't enough to cement her position in the loony bin, the two things Claire yelled to Kate from the depths of the pit are more than enough to convince me that she's riding the crazy train: "I'm not the one who needs rescuing!" and "He's coming, Kate. He's coming, and you can't stop him."

*Dogen is now deader than a doornail, and Fake Locke is able to enter the temple...

But whyyyyyyyyyy? Or, better put...WHYYYYYYYYYYY? Was Dogen the only thing keeping the Man in Black out of the temple?

My 5+ years of being an uber fan of Lost have left me with somewhat of a swelled head. Like most hardcore Losties, I have a pretty good idea of where this journey is leading us. Yet now I'm hearing a hissing sound...and it's the sound of the air being let out of my head. Because, like Claire, I've done lost my mind over this episode.

I came thisclose to writing this post as:

"..."

It's literally how I felt the minute "Sundown" ended. Don't get me wrong, I loved this episode...as I usually love the Sayid-centric hours. But I'm stymied, y'all. Really and truly perplexed.

Hold me...

and by "hold me," I clearly mean I want HIM to hold me:

Commence with the discussing...shed light on this mystery-laden episode, please!

Lighthouse

I'm looking forward to reading the comments on this episode... because I thought "Lighthouse" was a great one. Maybe even the best Jack-centric episode (so far) of all six seasons.

As with the last post on "The Substitute", I'm just going to highlight my main thoughts/questions. I'm sure I've missed some things, but that's what all you Sussers are for, right?


Let's begin with the Alterna-Lost timeline:

• What is the deal with Jack not remembering when he had his appendix removed?!
  

(I also want to know about the cut on Jack's neck from "LA X: Part 1... remember when he went to the bathroom on the plane?)

I don't know what to make of this. After the first episode, I read somewhere that if you follow the original timeline of 815's crash, maybe the time Jack noticed the cut was about the time he was getting stitched up by Kate. However, if this is true... then the same can't be said about his appendix. In this Alterna-Lost timeline, it's been a few days since the plane landed. Juliet removed Jack's appendix much later in the original timeline.

Then again, we are dealing with time travel. So, who knows...

• Jack has a SON?!
  

This was the part where I had to pause and rewind the DVR... 'cause my first reaction was, "Wait... did that boy just say 'DAD'?!"

So now the obvious question: WHO IS DAVID'S MOM?

While watching the show last week, Lula had some interesting guesses... which included Libby and Shannon. Both of us agreed David's mom is probably not Sarah (Jack's ex-wife according to the original timeline).

The next day Lula and I chatted on the phone... and her new theory as to who could be the mystery mom is one I most agree with:

JULIET.

And Doc Jensen thinks so, too! From his "Lighthouse" recap (BTW, Doc's recaps should be required reading for every "LOST" fan):

BURNING QUESTION: Who's David's Mom? Who's the female participant in the creation of this inexplicably conceived Sideways child? Who's this phantom woman that Sideways Jack was once with and now isn't? Wouldn't if be totally ironic and fitting if she was the Sideways iteration of Lost's resident fertility doc/Jack dumpette, better known to us as Juliet? And you wanna know why she wasn't home last night? That's right, kids: Going dutch on coffee with new boyfriend Sawyer. (Your goosebumps? That's right, I did that.)


Anyone disagree to the theory that Juliet is David's mom?



Now for on the Island:

• I didn't notice this until my 2nd viewing of this episode... but Jacob poured something into the Temple's spring... what was it and why?
  

• Still wondering about the identities of "Adam & Eve"
  

Of course, Hurley (in the way only Hurley can) theorizes maybe the skeletons are one of the original 815 survivors. My sister thinks "Adam" and "Eve" are going to turn out to be Kate and Sawyer... the two people who are "meant to be alone" end up dying together. Hmmmm...

• Claire has done lost her mind.

I can't be the only one who shuddered at the sight of this:

GAH.

Out of all the scenes with Claire and Jin... here's what I noticed most:

Her "friend". Since the MIB has only been inhabiting Locke's body (or whatever you want to call it) for a few days, and Claire has been living in the jungle for the past 3 years,

• Who does Claire "see" when she looks at her "friend"?
  

Could it be Christian? Or...?


So, what say you, Sussers? What are your thoughts and theories about this episode?