WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS
Summary
In this episode, the time-traveling conundrum gets a little more weird, with Kate and Jack taking opposite sides on the “So, should we actually try and fix the future?” debate. Jack wants to erase all the misery, but Kate points out that if the plane never crashes, Jack and her would never have met… and presumably, she would never have gotten Aaron as her son for those three years, never would have befriended Sun or Claire, never would have been involved in a dramatic love triangle, and even more special for her, never would have escaped going to prison. No wonder she’s on the “let’s not do this, mmmk?” side.
Jack, however, is on the “this is our destiny, this is why we’re here” side. Kate, simultaneously with every single person watching the show, points out that he sounds exactly like Locke.
However, unbeknownst to the quarreling two, Locke has actually gotten even crazier, believing that he has a “purpose”. After being raised from the dead, he and the Island seem to be even more intertwined than before — Locke can even predict the exact second that he needs to send Richard to take the bullet out of his own time-jumping leg.
Ben alludes to the fact that Richard never ages by describing his role as the “adviser” and that “he has had that job for a very, very, very long time.” Three “very”s clearly means immeasurable millennia, but without any specificity we don’t actually know how long Richard’s been around, why he hasn’t died, and what he knows about the past and the future. I don’t know why, but for some reason who’s been around for so long, he doesn’t seem to know as much as he should.
He also points out to Richard and Ben that despite having purportedly been taking orders from him, they’ve never actually seen Jacob. Locke, dangling his superior knowledge over their heads, proclaims that not only does he know where to find Jacob, and will actually be able to see him, but also that he’s going to kill him. *Cue dramatic music and end of episode.*
I’d have to say that the funniest scene was when Dr. Chang tries to find out if they really are from the future and quizzes Hurley on easy current-events questions that he should know if he was from the current time, like “When were you born?” and “Who is the President?” Of course, Hurley fails miserably, and now Dr. Chang is on their side and tries to start evacuating everyone off the Island. However, Radzinsky, who is still in the process of torturing Sawyer, has declared himself leader and refuses to listen to common sense.
Sawyer agrees to tell him where the Others/Hostiles are if he and Juliet can get off the Island safely on the sub. A sappy moment between Juliet and Sawyer is ruined when Kate is dropped onto the sub too — Juliet immediately begins to shoot her death glares. Guess it’s a Kate/Sawyer/Juliet love triangle now, but honestly, I think I’m on the Sawyer/Juliet side now. She’s good for him.
Quotes
Where’s my Sports Almanac?: Sawyer: “We’ll buy Microsoft and bet on the Cowboys in the ‘78 Superbowl. We’ll be rich.”
Richard: “I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble.”
Ben: “Why do you think I tried to kill him?”
Sayid: “If this works, you might just save us all. If it doesn’t, at least you’ll put us out of our misery.”
Good point: Kate: “Since when did shooting kids and blowing up hydrogen bombs become okay?”
Questions
What exactly will killing Jacob accomplish? Is Jacob in tune with the Island, or is the Island who is telling John to kill Jacob?
When Richard looks at the picture and says that he saw those people die, did he literally see Jack/Kate/Hurley/Sawyer die, or is he just referring to the annihilation of the Dharma Initiative in general? Is there a possibility that Dharma is killed while our heroes survive?
What’s going to happen with the hydrogen bomb? How are they going to get it out from under the Dharma Initiative?