Welcome one and all to tonight's live blog of the "Lost" series finale. As you can tell from the episode's title, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof aren't messing around when they say that this is the last we'll see of our beloved Losties. No silly spin-offs, or God help us, feature films, but I guess you can never say never when money is involved. With that said, however, I'm not going to pretend like I'm a seasoned pro at this whole live blogging thing (in fact, it's the first time I've ever tried it), so bear with me as my updates will likely be subject to a slight delay as I gather my thoughts and update the post, all while keeping track of the action onscreen. Continue to refresh this page for all updates and feel free to comment below. Enjoy the show, and don't forget to check back after it's over for my final thoughts.

9:00 - Previously on "Lost"... Jack becomes the island's new protector, Smokey reveals his plan to destroy the island, and Desmond rescues Kate and Sayid.

9:04 - The coffin containing Jack's father finally arrives at LAX, and while out for delivery, Desmond is allowed to sign for it? Gee, it's good to know anyone can just claim a human being these days.

9:06 - Back on Earth-1... Sawyer to Jack: "So you're the new Jacob, huh?" Yep, but Jack doesn't feel any differently. At least he gets to bring Sawyer, Kate and Hurley with him to the waterfall.

9:07 - Sawyer leaves to rescue Desmond from the well, but hasn't he already escaped? He wasn't there the last time Smokey checked, so who is still on the island? Could it be Richard? Who knows, but I have to agree with Hurley - I've got a bad feeling about this.

9:10 - Earth-2 Hurley goes to pick up Charlie at a hotel only to find him piss drunk. Charlie doesn't want to go to the sodding concert, so Hurley shoots him with a tranquiler gun instead. Whoa, dude.

9:13 - Sawyer kidnapped by Smokey and Ben, and he actually referred to him as "Smokey." God I love Sawyer.

9:15 - Ahhhh... Rose and Bernard saved Desmond! And they're living in a nice little house in the jungle with Vincent the Dog. Rose explains to him that they broke their rule by saving him, and just as she's telling Desmond to leave, Smokey arrives. D'oh. At least he brokered Rose and Bernard's safety by agreeing to go with him, but just because Smokey promised not to kill them doesn't mean Ben won't. Loophole FTW!

9:21 - Richard alive, and Miles is with him... and sarcastic as ever.

9:23 - Earth-2 Miles spots Sayid with Hurley. Calls Sawyer to make sure Sun is safe. And indeed she is, because she has Jin with her. Damn, I'm still mad about those two dying.

9:24 - Yay! Juliet is their baby doctor! And what would you know, her arrival prompts Sun's flashback to her life on Earth-1. Boy, that was a long flashback. Did all of the other Losties see that much?

9:26 - Wait, so the Earth-1 flash allowed them to gain their ability to speak English? That's kind of trippy.

9:30 - Meanwhile, Jack preps Locke for surgery. Is he really going to do this only a few hours before the concert? Doesn't that kind of stuff usually take a while?

9:32 - Miles discovers a gray hair on Richard's head. Has he lost his immortality, and is it connected to his run-in with Smokey or Jacob's death?

9:33 - Well, well, well... Lapidus is alive after all. How in the hell did he manage to escape the sunken sub when he was knocked unconcious?

9:35 - Jack tells Smokey that he's going to kill him, but it's a surprise. What a great scene between those two. I loved Smokey's suggestion that Jack was the obvious choice. And another commercial break. You've got to be kidding me.

9:39 - Juliet is Jack's ex-wife. I guess it makes sense when you consider they work at the same hospital. But wait, did Sawyer and Juliet just brush shoulders? Oh, I can't wait to see those two hook up. And believe me, they will.

9:42 - Desmond tells Jack all about Earth-2. He doesn't seem to buy it.

9:45 - Are they following Desmond into the waterfall? Doesn't it, you know, rip your soul from your body? That doesn't sound very safe to me.

9:48 - Earth-2 Hurley takes Sayid to a bar where he sees... Boone and Shannon getting the crap beaten out of them. Sayid saves Shannon and, well, you know the rest. Wait, so Boone was in on it all along? That seems pretty random. When did they even have time to find him?

9:51 - Oh, Crazy Claire, I can't decide if you're more entertaining than old Claire, or just more annoying.

9:52 - Is Smokey really joking around right now? I have to admit, the whole "push a button" thing kind of funny.

9:58 - Charlotte and Faraday finally have their meet-cute. Another relationship that was never given a chance to bloom.

10:00 - Faraday and Drive Shaft take the stage, and it looks like nearly all the Losties are there.

10:02 - Desmond reaches the island's light source and pulls a rock out of the water. That wouldn't be a "cork," now, would it?

10:04 - Jack attacks Smokey, and he bleeds! Did Desmond removing the cork return him to human form? It appears to have taken Smokey by surprise, so at least Jack's plan had the intended effect.

10:10 - Is anyone else still waiting for Frogurt to show up?

10:11 - Kate helps Claire deliver her baby... again. This whole enlightment thing it starting to get a little weird. Do they just move on with their lives from here?

10:15 - Whoa, Ben was just crushed by a tree in order to save Hurley! Who said he was a bad guy?

10:17 - Here we go. Jack vs. Smokey: Round Two. I can't say I'm too crazy about Jack's slo-mo action movie punch, though. It looks like he just leaped out of a Tony Jaa film.

10:21 - Oh, good, it was clumsier than it looked. Still a pretty sweet fight for an episode of "Lost" - one of their best yet.

10:24 - Kate comes just in the nick of time. And that's the end of Smokey.

10:26 - Earth-2 Locke wakes up from surgery and he instantly knows that it worked. Wiggles his toes and it causes him to flash.

10:27 - Why did Locke just tell Jack that he doesn't have a son? Please don't tell me that Earth-2 isn't real. That would be extremely disappointing.

10:32 - Smokey may be dead, but that's not going to stop the island from sinking.

10:35 - Is Jack serious? Who cares about the stupid island? Wait, Ben and Hurley are staying too? They're all mad, I tell you.

10:37 - Wow, who knew a smoke alarm commercial could be so cool? I wish more companies did this for tonight. (On a semi-related note, these new ABC "Summer Sunday" shows look !)

10:42 - Everyone knows duct tape fixes anything. Nice work, Miles.

10:44 - Sawyer and Juliet's little vending machine meet-cute was probably the most emotional one yet. Easily the best couple in the history of the series, and the high point of both character's respective arcs.

10:53 - I guess it seems fitting that Kate would be the one to enlighten Jack. They were always meant to be together, even when Sawyer was tossed in as a romantic foil.

10:55 - Jack passes the torch onto Hurley as the new protector. Maybe Ben will become the new Smoke Monster.

10:58 - Yay, Desmond's alive! If we would have died, I would have been severely pissed off - and I'm sure I'm not alone, either. I couldn't care less what happens to Jack. Sorry, he just never grew on me like some people.

11:00 - Was Lapidus really considering leaving the others behind? What a jerk!

11:02 - Jack puts the "cork" back into the hole, but it doesn't seem to have done anything.

11:04 - And they're off! Could they really be leaving the island for a second time?

11:06 - It looks like it worked after all, but now that Jack is no longer the island's protector, does that mean that the light will take his soul like the MIB? Man, that would be one helluva twist ending.

11:10 - Alright, "Lost." I'm ready to have my mind blown. Let's have it.

11:12 - All of the Losties are meeting at a church. It looks like Cuse and Lindelof picked faith over science.

11:15 - Ben tells Hurley that maybe there's a better way to run the island. Hurley asks him to stick around as his right-hand man. Makes sense for him since he loves the island so much.

11:17 - This is starting to have a very afterlife-y vibe to it. Say it ain't so.

11:19 - Jack finally flashes after touching the coffin. Took him long enough.

11:21 - Did they really lie to us about the whole purgatory thing? I guess they had to if they wanted to keep stringing us along for six seasons.

11:25 - Okay, so the island wasn't actually purgatory, but they are dead. Still, it seems kind of strange that these people would create this place to connect after they died. Some of them didn't even know one another, while others (like Boone) were dead before they could even form that kind of lasting relationship.

11:30 - They would end with a shot of Jack's eye closing, wouldn't they?

And that's it. The end of "Lost." So, what did everyone think? Personally, I'm a little torn. While I wasn't exactly disappointed with the way that it ended (in fact, it was deeply poignant and wrapped things up nicely), I was a bit letdown with the way that it was executed. I don't want to say that Cuse and Lindelof lied to us - because they didn't - but I can't help but feel a little cheated by the introduction of the Earth-2 storyline. I find it hard to believe that everyone was just mulling around in the afterlife until Desmond arrived to enlighten them, especially when some died long before others. So that means that everything that happened in this alternate universe couldn't have occurred until they were all dead, right?

But then, Jack seemed to be aware that this reunion was happening even as he was dying on Earth-1, so unless I'm missing a piece of the puzzle (perhaps something related to Christian faith that, as a nonreligious person, might seriously hamper my understanding), there are some pretty big questions left unanswered. I don't want to take anything away from the series as a whole, but I'd be lying if I said the finale was perfect. I'm not sure how they could have done things any differently - it just felt like something was missing. In fact, I actually think Christian's explanation about why they created the sideways world was pretty touching, but what about all the mythology from the previous five seasons? It's almost as if none of that mattered in the long run, which would have been fine if they hadn't made such a big deal about it for all those years. I guess it's time to start from the beginning and experience it all over again - this time from a completely different perspective.

It all started with a plane crash, but in the six years since “Lost” premiered, ABC’s hit drama has become about a lot more than just a group of castaways trying to get off an island. From polar bears and smoke monsters, mysteries and revelations, and enough jumping back and forth in time to give audiences their own nosebleeds, it’s been one helluva ride. With the series finale only a few days away, however, it’s time we finally come to grips with the fact that our favorite show is ending for good.

At least it’s going out with a bang, as appears to have set the stage for what is sure to be an incredible farewell. On Earth-1, Jack has agreed to remain on the island as its new protector (while Kate, Sawyer and Hurley celebrate the fact that it isn’t them), and Smokey has devised a new plan to exploit Desmond’s superhuman resistance to electromagnetism by blowing up the whole damn island, hopefully breaking his centuries-long imprisonment in the process. And over in Earth-2 (a mirror universe that’s like some kind of “Matrix”-esque simulated reality where the Losties aren’t cognizant of their Earth-1 lives), a recently awakened Desmond has begun to dole out his own version of the red pill by jogging their memories and assembling them all together at a concert in Los Angeles. How this will tie into the lives of the surviving Losties on the island remains the biggest question of all, but I think it’s safe to assume that it's one the writers plan to answer before it's over.

And don’t forget, I’ll be live blogging the series finale this Sunday starting at 9PM EST right here on Premium Hollywood. ABC will also be airing the original two-hour pilot Saturday night, a two-hour preview show Sunday before the finale, and a special edition of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” directly after. If that’s still not enough, be sure to check out Bullz-Eye’s brand new for interviews, DVD reviews, and much more.

To help get you in the mood, I leave you with this, a somewhat upbeat look back at the many deaths that have occurred throughout the course of the show. Enjoy.

I’ve been cautiously managing my expectations for the series finale since the beginning of the season, but after tonight’s incredible episode, it’s hard to imagine being disappointed anymore. Just looking back at last week, it’s funny to think how critical a lot of fans were about that episode. Now, one week later, it all suddenly makes much more sense. Granted, we may not have needed an entire hour dedicated to the history of Jacob and the Man in Black, but without that episode, there’s no way they could’ve progressed the story any farther.

There are only four Losties remaining (the same four, mind you, that Ben had Michael bring to him at the end of Season Two), and Kate is out for blood. She wants to exact revenge on Smokey for killing Sun and Jin, and with no other options left, they decide that the only way to get off the island is to kill him. But first, they have to save Desmond from the well. On the way there, however, Hurley is approached by the mysterious Other kid, who steals Jacob’s ashes and runs off with them into the jungle. When he finally chases the kid down, he discovers an adult Jacob sitting by a fire, who tells Hurley that once it burns out, he will be gone forever. That means getting down to business ASAP, so when Kate starts asking questions, Jacob seems more than happy to answer them. Ah, if only he were this cooperative from the start.

Still, it’s nice to get some answers for once, including a confession from Jacob that the reason he brought them to the island is because he made a mistake a long time ago – namely, in the accidental creation of the Smoke Monster. He didn’t take all the blame, though, suggesting that they needed the island just as much as it needed them. Perhaps the biggest revelation, however, was the fact that Jacob only crossed Kate’s name off the cave wall because she became a mother to Aaron, and if she wanted the job of island protector, she could have it. In the end, though, it was always going to be Jack who volunteered to stay. The fate of the island is now in Jack’s hands, although if they manage to kill Smokey, who knows, maybe he won’t have to serve as protector for very long.

Elsewhere on the island, Ben, Richard and Miles finally arrive at the barracks to pick up the C4 when Widmore and Zoe show up looking to call a truce. Ben’s not interested, and when Smokey arrived minutes later, you pretty much knew that things weren’t going to end well. Richard had the audacity to try and talk to him, but Smokey just plowed right through him, seemingly killing him in the process. Ben, meanwhile, made a deal with Smokey to kill the rest of the Losties in trade for having the island to himself when Smokey leaves, and his first order of business is to give up Widmore’s hiding spot in his old house. Smokey doesn’t waste any time in slitting Zoe’s throat, and Ben shoots Widmore in the back – but not before Widmore tells Smokey that he brought Desmond back to the island as his fail safe in case all of the candidates were killed. Now, Smokey is looking to exploit Desmond’s resistance to the electromagnetism on the island by blowing it up, but if there’s no island (or cork) left to contain him, does that mean Smokey is just free to go as he pleases? And if so, why didn’t he try this earlier? On a related note, it was great to see Ben back to his old self again. It’s hard to imagine Smokey holding up his end of the deal, though, so I would either count on Ben being killed by Smokey or stabbing him in the back to help the Losties.

On Earth-2, Ben is still a bit of a weenie, but you have to give him credit for standing up to Desmond when he appeared at the school again to stalk Locke. Desmond claims that he’s not there to hurt him, but to help him let go, though he doesn’t make any such promise to Ben. Of course, there was a point to his pummeling of the kind teacher, as it forced him to flash on his previous beating from Desmond on Earth-1. The battle wounds also prompted Alex to invite him over for dinner with his mother, Danielle, and from the way the two hit it off, it looks like Ben might just get his happy ending as well.

Desmond continued his quest to enlighten the Losties by going to the police station to turn himself in for the hit-and-run and most recent assault on Ben. Detective Sawyer may not have realized what was happening at the time, but Desmond clearly planned this operation well, as it allowed him to get close to Kate and Sayid, and eventually thrown into the same transport vehicle when they were sent to county prison. That’s when Desmond made his move, offering them the chance at freedom if they promised to help him with something when they got out. Kate and Sayid jokingly agreed, not believing Desmond was capable of such a feat, but then the van stopped and Ana Lucia (still a cop, only dirty) opened the back to let them all out. Hurley pulls up moments later with Ana Lucia’s bribe (and the funniest line of the night: “Oh, hey, you didn’t tell me Ana Lucia was going to be here.”), and Desmond informs Sayid to go with Hurley and Kate with him. When Kate asks what they’re doing, he tells her that they have a concert to attend. Like, maybe, the same concert that Jack is attending for his son? Of course, that’s if he’s able to make it now that Locke has agreed to have him perform surgery on his back.

The pieces are really starting to come together now. The only major Lostie yet to receive the Desmond treatment is Sawyer (and Miles, if you’re counting supporting players), and once news of Kate and Sayid’s escape goes over the police scanner, I’m sure they’ll both be at the front of the chase. I’m just glad the series finale was extended an extra half hour, because it sure feels like there’s still quite a bit of stuff that needs to happen before the show can reach its inevitable conclusion. I’ll be live blogging the series finale right here next Sunday at 9PM EST, and will post a quick reaction after the episode, so please join me for the festivities as we celebrate the end of one TV’s greatest shows of all-time.

Ever since we were introduced to Jacob and the Man in Black at the end of Season Five, fans have been foaming at the mouth for more answers about their past. And with only two episodes until the series finale, it seems the writers have finally deemed us worthy of exactly that. Though it wasn’t as great as everyone was probably expecting it to be, tonight’s episode did fill in some of the gaps. In fact, along with shedding some light on the early lives of Jacob and MIB, it also explained why the latter is so damned obsessed with leaving the island… or did it?

Here's what we do know. A pregnant woman named Claudia washed onto the island after surviving a shipwreck many years ago, and upon meeting another woman in the jungle, she gives birth to a pair of twin boys. The first is named Jacob, but because she wasn’t expecting to have more than one, the other is never given a name – and it remains without one after the woman kills Claudia and raises the two boys as her own. Flashforward to their teenage years and the unnamed child (who we now know as the Man in Black) finds a box on the beach containing white and black rocks that he fashions into a game to play with his brother, Jacob.

When the boys come across some other people on the island, however, they run back to tell Mother, who tells them that the visitors are evil. She later explains that the two of them are on the island for a reason, and that she’s made it impossible for either of them to hurt the other. She then takes them to a glowing waterfall in the jungle to show them just what they’re supposed to be protecting, and though she refuses to say exactly what it is, she warns them that the visitors will try to take the light, and if it goes out, it will go out everywhere. Of course, if MIB had been paying attention, he would have caught this slip-up, as Mother had previously told him that there was nothing else in the world beyond the island. Of course, that’s quickly remedied when the ghost of MIB’s real mother visits him in the jungle and leads him the other side of the island where the survivors of the shipwreck live. She also tells him about her murder at the hands of Mother, and although MIB tries to convince Jacob to come with him until he can figure out a way to leave the island, Jacob stays behind.

Flashforward again to their adulthood, and though they now live on separate sides of the island, Jacob and MIB still get together to play their childhood game. MIB even admits that Mother was right about the other men being evil, but he needs their help in order to find a way off the island. And as it happens, he’s done just that by digging into areas of the island radiating electromagnetic energy (or as he calls it, places “where the metal acts weird”), in order to locate the source of the glowing waterfall. But when Mother finds out about his dig site – one that includes the yet-to-be-frozen Donkey Wheel that will allow him to leave the island – she throws him against the wall knocking him out. And you wonder why the guy has been holding a grudge against her for all these years.

MIB survives the attack, however, and returns the favor by killing Mother, but not before she designates Jacob as the new protector of the island. Unable to exact revenge on MIB because of the safeguards Mother has implemented, Jacob drags his twin brother to the waterfall and throws him in, resulting in the emergence of the Smoke Monster. Later on, he discovers MIB’s body at the bottom of the waterfall and buries him next to Mother inside a cave – the same cave that the Losties discovered containing the Adam and Eve skeletons. It was a pretty cool way to have everything come full circle, but that doesn’t mean that there still weren’t some questions begging to be asked by the time it was over.

The one that strikes me as the most important of these questions is, quite simply, who is Mother? Evangeline Lilly recently stated in an interview (although likely without the permission of her bosses) that Allison Janney’s character was Mother Earth. It certainly makes sense in terms of the role she played on the island, but I find it hard to believe that Mother freaking Earth would be that vulnerable. You’d think she would be immortal, although I guess it’s possible that she lost her powers the minute Jacob become the new protector. I’m not completely sold on that theory, though, and I have a strange feeling that there’s someone else higher up on the island food chain that we still haven't met.

The other major question revolves around the connection between the Smoke Monster and the Man in Black. Although it originally seemed like MIB turned into Smokey after he fell into the waterfall (Mother did tell Jacob that entering the light was worse than death), the surfacing of his body suggests that maybe they’re not one in the same. While many will likely theorize that Smokey takes on the physical image of MIB out of sheer convenience, I have another theory entirely – namely, that although MIB’s body emerged from the waterfall, his soul survives in the form of Smokey.

Hey, anything’s possible in the world of “Lost,” and if Mother’s conversation with Claudia is any indication (“Every question I answer will only lead to another question”), Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof aren’t too concerned with giving us the answer to every mystery. Between that line and MIB’s suggestion to Jacob that “one day you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules,” it’s obvious that they had a lot of fun writing “Across the Sea.” I certainly had fun watching it, but that doesn’t mean it quenched my thirst for knowledge quite like I expected.

In the words of Hurley: “Whoa.” Just when it looked like tonight’s episode was going to be yet another week of unfortunate filler, happens. And by that, of course, I mean Smokey’s devious plan to sneak a bomb onto the submarine in order to kill all the Losties in one fell swoop. I was under the impression that Smokey couldn’t harm any of the candidates (Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer and Sun/Jin), but apparently, that isn’t the case. Sure, one could argue that he didn’t directly kill any of them, but that’s kind of like saying that bullets kill people - not the ones who pull the trigger.

The events leading up to the explosion weren’t particularly engaging, either. In fact, it was more of the same stuff we’ve been hearing for weeks now. Smokey rescues the Losties, Jack tells Smokey that he’s not leaving the island, Sawyer tries to double-cross Smokey because he doesn’t trust him, yadda yadda… only for Smokey to get the upper hand in the end. So how was Smokey able to do it? I’m a little curious to hear the explanation for that one (as well as how he was able to survive a dip in the water when he couldn't even travel by boat a few episodes ago), but go ahead and add four more Losties to the death tally while we wait.

Lapidus was knocked out by a steel door when the water came rushing through, and Sayid (after informing Jack of Desmond's whereabouts) sacrificed himself by absorbing the bulk of the blast. At least he died honorably. The same could be said of Jin, who refused to leave Sun to die on her own after she became trapped under all that wreckage. Of course, the fact that the writers would do this only a week after their half-assed reunion is pretty damn mean. If there was anyone I was hoping would get off the island safely, it was those two, but now that they’re goners, I really couldn’t care what happens to the rest of them. Jack clearly doesn’t want to leave, Kate has become as useless as an asshole on an elbow, Sawyer is a selfish prick again, and Hurley, well, he's just unlucky.

It’s gotten to the point that a happy ending on Earth-2 just isn’t going to be enough anymore. I love these characters (at least, most of them) – I don’t want to see them all die. Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s starting to look with only a few episodes remaining. Stay on the island or die trying to leave. Hopefully, that won’t be the case, because then what would have been the point of telling their story? There has to be something that makes all this worthwhile, but I don’t think we’re going to get a hint of what that could possibly be until the finale. For now, it looks like we’ll just have to keep guessing as the pieces slowly come together. The fact that Jack is starting to notice the strange connection between everyone on Earth-2 is certainly a start, but while it’s fun getting to see the different paths that each character has taken in the mirror universe, I’m left wanting more. Here’s hoping the writers can deliver whatever it is we’re expecting.

We’re only three episodes away from the series finale, so why does it feel like tonight’s episode didn’t accomplish as much as it should have? There were no major reveals, and with the exception of the various Earth-2 subplots, no major story development either. There was quite a bit of crossover action on Earth-2, however, with Locke and Sun both arriving at the hospital at the same time. Though neither character was given much attention beyond that opening scene (we later learned that Sun and the baby are just fine, while Locke went under the knife), the most interesting bit about their “meeting” was just how scared Sun looked at the sight of him, horrifically exclaiming “It’s him! It’s him!” I don’t remember Sun ever having flashes of her Earth-1 life, so I don’t understand a) why she’s so scared of Locke all of a sudden, and b) how she even knows who he is.

They weren’t the only two that crossed paths, either. Desmond continued his quest to make the Losties aware of their Bizarro selves by tracking down Claire on her way to the adoption agency. Obviously, he already knew that Jack would be in the same building for an appointment with his lawyer, Ilana, to discuss his father’s will, so all it took was a suggestion from Desmond that Claire should consider seeking council in order to get them in the same room. Neither one had a moment of clairvoyance like Desmond probably believed they would, so it’ll be interesting to see what comes of that in the following weeks. For the time being, Jack has to run off to the hospital for an emergency surgery on a familiar face, and all points lead to him fixing Locke’s back so that he can walk again. Maybe Locke will have a happy ending after all.

Then again, if Earth-2 is supposed to be about people getting their happy ending, then why are Kate and Sayid both in police custody? Granted, with all the talk about how Kate didn’t actually commit the murder she’s been accused of, I’m sure she’ll manage to get out of her current predictament and even end up with the cop that captured her, but how in the world is Sayid going to get out of this one? Sure, the guys he killed were bad, but no one else knows that – except for Jin, who, as chance would have it, can’t speak English. Something as simple as a language barrier would obviously never get in the way of a police investigation, but it’s enough to cause Sayid to sweat while he waits for someone to come to his rescue.

Back on Earth-1, Sayid has more pressing matters to worry about. Like, for instance, what Smokey’s going to do to him when he discovers that he didn’t kill Desmond as ordered. Though the writers were smart not to reveal whether or not Sayid actually pulled the trigger, I find it difficult to believe that Desmond would be disposed of so easily – and off screen, no less. Sawyer might think he’s a lost cause, but I think that there’s still hope for Sayid yet, who obviously still has a conscience despite how much of a zombie he appears to be. The same goes for Claire, who decides to join Sawyer and the others when they sneak away from Smokey and head for Widmore’s camp by boat, but not before warning them that he’s going to be pissed off when he discovers they’ve switched allegiances.

An optimist would probably say that it was a good decision on their part considering they avoided the mass bombing of the main island by Widmore’s people, but the fact that they’re being treated like prisoners by Widmore isn’t too encouraging. It also put a damper on the long-awaited reunion between Sun and Jin, although at least the former finally has her voice back. Jack has the worst luck of them all, however, as he was knocked unconscious by the explosions almost immediately after swimming back to shore following his decision to jump ship. And for as annoying as Jack can be sometimes with his flip-flopping philosophies, you have to admit that he has a point about them being on the island for a reason.

Of course, if they were brought there for the sole purpose of preventing the Man in Black from leaving the island, then it seems a bit paradoxical on the part of Jacob. After all, if they had never been brought there in the first place, then they never would have returned, Smokey would have never assumed Locke’s likeness, and therefore never been able to convince Ben to kill Jacob. There’s just no way it's that simple. At least, I sure hope not.

After back-to-back weeks of great episodes, tonight’s Hurley-centric story was a bit dull in comparison, but it did have a few WTF moments that definitely made up for some of the slower sections. I mean, did anyone even see that death coming? It was straight out of a “Final Destination” movie. One minute, Ilana is lecturing Hurley about how she’s been training her whole life to serve as Jacob’s bodyguard (all while Hurley warns her to be careful with the unstable dynamite), and the next minute, kablooey! And with Ilana out of the way, it makes it a lot easier for Hurley to plan his next move: blowing up the Black Rock (and all the dynamite inside it) by order of Michael’s ghost. On a related note, I love how Michael has literally been relegated to a whisper.

Richard didn’t seem all that happy with Hurley’s decision to suddenly take a stand, but after he realizes that there still might be explosives at the Dharma camp, he leaves determined to blow up the plane. Of course, that only begs the question, if there were still other explosives on the island, why the hell did they try using the dynamite with a history of blowing up prematurely? It’s about as nonsensical as Hurley’s decision to meet up with the rest of the Losties so he can have a chat with Smokey. Jack, Sun and Lapidus also tag along, but aren’t they just playing into Smokey’s hands by walking right into his camp? Granted, he can’t harm the three of them since they’re candidates, but I’d hate to see Hurley go through all that trouble only to get Lapidus shot. Then again, they’re going to need someone to operate that plane when they leave the island, so I think it’s safe to say that Lapidus doesn’t have to start looking over his shoulder just yet.

Plus, Smokey has far more important things to worry about right now, like Desmond. Though he tells the truth for the most part when Smokey interrogates him, I don’t think he was able to completely fool him into thinking he didn’t know why he was there. After all, he even admitted that he was well-informed about his immunity to the electromagnetism coursing through the island, and I don’t think Smokey is willing to take any chances with a wild card like him. His solution? Toss him down a well. Of course, that’s hardly going to stop Desmond, who’s already following through with a plan of his own back on Earth-2.

While most of the Earth-2 story was dedicated to Hurley’s reconnection with Libby, (a sweet subplot that finally saw the two characters going on their big date while also progressing the concept behind the merging realities), it was Desmond’s brief appearance that made it so memorable. After watching their reunion from a distance, I couldn’t help but feel like Desmond was fast becoming the new Jacob of the “Lost” universe. He obviously has a vested interest in getting the Losties to realize the connection they have with one another, and I think he’s using that in order to convince them to make the best of their lives in this reality. In order to do so, however, he might need to hurt a few people in the process – like, say, running over John Locke with his car.

It sucks to think that Locke might not get his happy ending, but considering that he already had to sacrifice himself once, he may need to do it again. I think Desmond understands the connection between the two realities, and in order to prevent Smokey from getting off the island and wreaking havoc on the world, he needs to kill Locke from Earth-2 as well. It’s just a theory, but with only a few more episodes before the series finale, it’s becoming painfully obvious that the two realities have a connection for a reason. Then again, maybe Desmond was just having a case of the Mondays.

Leave it to Daniel Widmore (nee Faraday) to help make sense of everything. While the idea of the castaways having an awareness of their Earth-2 counterparts isn’t exactly a new concept, tonight’s episode more than confirmed it. It certainly made sense that Desmond would be the conduit for such a reveal, since he’s been known to time travel through his own consciousness on occasion. That’s likely what Widmore was banking on when he decided to bring him back to the island, and although Desmond wasn’t happy about it at first (and how could you after seeing that poor guy fry in the generator room?), he changed his mind after getting a sneak peak at his life in the mirror universe. It may have only lasted mere seconds, but Desmond is officially on board with Widmore’s plan. Too bad Sayid had to break up the party with some ninja-like stealth.

So what exactly did Desmond see while he was passed out in the generator room? . In fact, just like Richard Alpert’s story a few weeks ago, tonight’s Desmond-centric episode was surprisingly straightforward in that it didn’t jump back and forth between the two realities. Instead, a majority of the action took place on Earth-2, where we learned that Desmond isn’t just on good terms with Charles Widmore – he’s his right-hand man. In fact, Widmore loves the guy so much that he’s willing to crack open a 60-year-old bottle of scotch just to celebrate his return. Now that he’s back in L.A., however, Widmore already has another assignment for him. It appears Mama Widmore is throwing a big charity bash where their musician son, Daniel, plans to mix classical music with rock ‘n roll by playing alongside Driveshaft. The only problem is that the band’s bassist has just been arrested for heroin possession, and in order to get him to the gig in one piece, Desmond is sent over to babysit.

Ah, Desmond and Charlie back together again. It’s no secret that these are two of my favorite characters on the show, so you have to love any plot device that puts them in the same room, especially when there’s actually a purpose to it. Though it’s hard to say whether Charlie had anything to do with Desmond’s flashes (would he have still seen those Earth-1 memories if Charlie hadn’t put his hand up against the glass?), his story about seeing Claire on the plane and instantly feeling like they were meant to be together had to have some kind of effect on him. At the very least, that underwater sequence proved to be a little eerie, if only because I worried that Charlie’s fate wouldn’t end be any different on Earth-2. Luckily, Desmond was able to save him this time around, but not without accruing some injuries of his own.

If Charlie was the catalyst for Desmond’s merging consciousness, then the CAT scan proved to be the electromagnetic force that amplified it. And after seeing Penny’s face during his latest flash, all bets were off. You just knew he was going to try and track her down, but who would have thought that Eloise Widmore (nee Hawking) would be the one to stand in his way? Though the writers were obviously having a little fun with her response to Desmond’s confession that Driveshaft would not be appearing at the event (“Whatever happened, happened”), her plea for him to stop looking for Penny was a major WTF moment. Not only does she appear to be privy to Desmond’s special ability, but she warns him that what he’s doing is a violation. But just what is it a violation of? The laws of science, or the rules of the island?

Anyone familiar with Desmond’s past exploits knows that he never gives up that easy, and he finally managed to track Penny down at the same stadium where he first met Jack. The tip was courtesy of her half-brother, Daniel, who had his own tale of déjà vu to share with Desmond about a certain redhead named Charlotte. Unlike the other Losties, Daniel actually has a theory behind the phenomenon – namely, that by setting off a nuclear bomb on Earth-1, their lives may have branched off into an alternate reality. It’s exactly the explanation that Desmond needed to help him on his mission, and after his meet-cute with Penny, he asks his driver (Fischer Stevens, in one of the episode’s many awesome cameos) to get the manifest listing the passengers on Oceanic 815 so that he can let them in on his little secret. If that final line didn’t send chills down your back at the prospect of these last six episodes, I don’t know what will.

I know that I’ve been a little overly critical with my weekly analyses recently, so let me just begin by saying that tonight’s episode was nothing short of amazing. There was about two shows’ worth of information crammed into a single hour, and although the writers introduced some interesting subplots along the way, they weren’t nearly as good as the complementing stories featuring Jin and Sun. I love these two so much, and yet they seem perpetually stuck as secondary characters who only get their time in the limelight once a season. Nevertheless, their Earth-2 storyline has been one of the best so far, particularly because it marks the first time that one character’s alternate reality overlaps with another. I speak, of course, of Sayid’s discovery of Jin (bound to a chair and locked in Keamy’s walk-in fridge) at the end of “Sundown.”

The events that led to Jin’s rescue, however, weren’t exactly unforeseen. While the reveal that Jin and Sun weren’t married was a bit of a surprise, you’d be crazy to think they weren’t still romantically involved. The playful nod to the button during Sun’s seduction scene was a great callback to the first season, and though Sun wants Jin to run away with her using a secret bank account that she set up in her name (much like she originally planned to do on her own on Earth-1), Jin is worried that her father will disapprove of their “forbidden” affair. As it turns out, he was right, because the confiscated $25,000 that was stashed away in Jin’s luggage was actually payment for his assassination. Luckily for him, Sayid took out Keamy and his right-hand man before they could carry out the death sentence, although that didn’t stop Sun from still taking a bullet to the chest, courtesy of Keamy’s translator, Mikhail, who quite unluckily becomes the One-Eyed Russian in this reality as well after Jin shoots him in self-defense.

Of course, when it comes to bad luck, no one has had it worse than Jin. He’s been kidnapped by the Tailies, nearly blown to pieces in a freighter explosion, shot by Crazy Claire, and then kidnapped again in two different realities. On Earth-1, it’s Widmore’s crew who has done the abducting, presumably to use Jin’s desperation as a tool against Smokey. They know he’s a potential candidate and only interested in being reunited with his wife and child, so if they can convince him to join their team, they’ll have a major leg up in the impending war. How they plan to use Jin, however, is still unclear, but it obviously has something to do with some maps he drew while working for Dharma that details the electromagnetic areas of the island. And for anyone who thought that Richard’s scene with his wife at the end of last week’s episode was a tear-jerker, then you must have been positively balling over Jin’s emotional reaction to seeing his daughter for the first time. Talk about tugging at the heart strings.

Sun’s side of the Earth-1 story wasn’t nearly as interesting, but that’s because I felt like her sudden loss of English-speaking skills was, well, pretty stupid. After all, if she can still understand everyone and communicate with a pen and paper, then what exactly was the point? That is, unless it’s somehow connected to her inability to speak English on Earth-2, which is probably the most likely scenario. I also don’t know why she felt it necessary to run from Smokey when he quite calmly explained that he wasn’t going to hurt her. It probably would have helped if she knew that Smokey couldn’t attack her even if he wanted to, but it just seemed like a lame excuse to keep Sun and Jin apart until the very end. And God help me, if anyone gets to have a happy ending when this show is finally over, it better be them.

There were a few other interesting moments scattered throughout the episode that had nothing to do with the Kwons. What started out as just another sarcastic comment from Sawyer (“Can’t you just turn into smoke and fly your ass over the water?”) turned into a very important bit of information about the limitations of Smokey’s abilities. We now know that he’s confined to the main island, and it’s because of this restriction that he needs the plane (and all of the remaining candidates) in order to leave. Smokey also confirmed that Kate is definitely not a candidate, but she was at some point. We’ll probably learn how her name came to be crossed off in one of the upcoming episodes, but all that matters now is that Smokey is using her as bait in order to convince Jack and Co. to join his cause.

The biggest reveal of the night was saved for last, when Widmore told Jin that there was a package that could help them prevent Smokey from leaving the island. And just what is the content of said secret package? Why, none other than Desmond Hume, who has seemingly been brought to the island against his will by Widmore. So is it a simple case of a bitter father getting a little too personal? Not a chance. Desmond has always been a little more special than the other castaways, and Widmore knows this. My guess is that Desmond is his secret weapon, and once Smokey hears about this from his little mole (an emotionless Sayid), he isn’t going to be pleased.

Is it just me, or was tonight’s episode completely underwhelming? The mystery behind Richard Alpert has been built up so much over the course of the last few seasons that I can’t help but feel like we were all expecting something more. It’s not that the episode was bad (Nestor Campbell delivered one helluva performance, and Titus Welliver was brilliant yet again as the Man in Black), but rather that when it ended, I didn’t have very much to say. And considering that we’re already midway through the final season, shouldn’t every episode be somewhat memorable?

It may have ended well – and really, that’s all anyone is going to remember when people gather around the water cooler to discuss the episode tomorrow – but the first half was dreadfully boring. Granted, we now know approximately how old Richard is, as well as where he comes from, but did they really need to spend so much time on the death of his wife, his inadvertent murder of the local doctor, and his eventual incarceration? Just get him to the damned island already, because while it may seem important that he got there by way of the Black Rock (and as a slave no less), none of it really matters once he meets Jacob and the Man in Black.

Their feuding relationship is far more interesting than anything in Richard’s history, namely because the writers still haven’t given us a reason to believe that one is good and the other is evil. Obviously, the Man in Black is being set up to be the villain of the pair, but for someone who so desperately wants to get off the island, he sure has the patience of a saint. Okay, so maybe he doesn’t always tell the truth (I don’t believe for a second that Jacob is the Devil), but why didn’t he kill Richard along with the rest of the Black Rock survivors? It can’t be because Richard is a candidate, or Jacob wouldn’t have to worry about finding a successor. And if all the Man in Black wanted was someone to kill Jacob for him, couldn’t he have picked someone that was more likely to do the deed? (Like, say, that crazy officer who started stabbing all the slaves.)

Then again, maybe he just needs to prove to Jacob that Richard is capable of killing again. That’s certainly Jacob’s theory, who tells Richard that he brings people to the island to challenge the idea that it’s human nature to sin. But how does that make him any better than the Man in Black? He may not be asking anyone to kill for him, but he’s still interfering with their lives by dragging them to the island. The island, of course, isn’t Hell like Richard thinks. Instead, Jacob likens it to a cork on a wine bottle that acts as a barrier to Hell. So essentially, it’s like a Hellmouth, only instead of Sunnydale, it’s located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

All kidding aside, I think the island is like some sort of Purgatory. Not in the religious sense (that theory was debunked as far back as Season Two), but rather as a gateway between the two realities I’ve come to call Earth-1 and Earth-2. Prove yourself worthy of atonement and you’ll be rewarded by being sent to the reality where Oceanic Flight 815 doesn’t crash. Fail to repent for your sins, however, and you’ll be stuck on the island for eternity; or at least, until you can find a loophole of your own. I know it’s not a perfect theory, but it’s the best I’ve got.