**MUTHAFUCKIN’ SPOILERS AHEAD**

Back off if you haven’t seen last night’s episode of LOST.

Every few weeks, the Lost writers give us an episode that essentially sets up” the next few weeks or, as it were, the 2-hour finale that is coming next Wednesday. Set-up episodes can be hit or miss. With an audience that is constantly clamoring for clues, hints, and answers, the episodes that offer little in the way of such information can sometimes be a letdown. For that matter, if the episode also lacks action or suspense, we often turn off our sets frustrated and say things like, Next week better be awesome,” or I’m never watching this damn show again!”

But you know that’s not true.

Yes, last night was essentially all a set-up for next week. There was little in the way of action, suspense, or answers except for the Michael flashbacks which were not as informative as I thought they might be. But there were little things that I thought made it a good episode, especially if you’re into the character-driven stuff.

The flashbacks this week were of Michael’s activities starting 13 days ago when he locked Jack and Locke into the storage room and took off after Walt. We get to see a marginal expansion of the scene where he has Jack at gunpoint and tells him he has to go after Walt, alone. Immediately before, he was conversing on the primitive IM system and typing very quickly that he was on his way.” The person on the other side, who may or may not have been Walt, tells him to head north and that he’ll see rocks with a big HOLE in the middle. I have to believe that he wasn’t talking to Walt - how would Walt know which way north was? Plus, once Michael got going, the Others were waiting for him with a trap and took him captive. As we begin to understand the Others’ methods more and more, it seems to me they were baiting him. Assuming that’s the case, you also have to assume the Others’ are running the island’s internet, and probably keeping tabs on the hatch to know they are speaking to Michael on the computer. We found out last episode that there is at least one camera in the hatch that is still functioning and has spying capabilities. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to believe the Others have been monitoring the inhabitants of the hatch from the beginning. (Sidenote: why didn’t Locke or Eko mention the fact that there is a camera in the hatch to anyone? Do they really think the TV in the abandoned Pearl Station is the only one watching them? Is it really that hard to share information with people you’ve known now for over two months?! Damnit!)

Switching over to the present, the smell of gunsmoke has barely settled down in the hatch and Jack is already talking about striking back against the Others. Five people have died under the good doctor’s watch, and the Camp believes the Others’ are responsible for three deaths (Shannon, Libby, Ana-Lucia). Come to think of it, the men should be very upset because there is a growing shortage of attractive single women on the island. Before long, Kate may end up being the grown-up version of Smurfette… but I digress…Jack wants to react immediately, and Michael and Sawyer are on board. Hurley interjects, saying, We haven’t even buried them yet!” Good point. The group sets the funeral for sunset with the intention of heading north for the Others the following morning.

As the day goes on, the bodies are removed from the hatch to the beach, and Michael begins cleaning up the blood he has spilled. Eko appears and lends him a hand. Michael asks Eko if, as a priest, he believes in Hell and/or God’s forgiveness. Eko tells him the story of a boy who beat a dog to death while protecting his sister from the dog’s attack on her face. The boy asked Eko if he would go to Hell for his actions. Eko told the boy that if he was sorry, God would forgive him for what he did. But the boy wasn’t worried about forgiveness - he was worried that if he went to Hell, the dog would be waiting for him. I’m not a religious man, but I thought the story was an awesome metaphor. We learn in this episode that Michael is indeed at the mercy of the Others, and was sent back to set notHenry Gale free. I think Michael was misguided in his actions, but he only killed to further his goal of saving his son. He seems to be truly sorry for what happened. He believes he’s doing the right thing to get his son back, and that maybe he will be forgiven in the afterlife if he repents his sins. While they discuss this, Eko wrings out bloody water into the bucket. Heavy symbolism. Awesome scene.

Cutting back to Michael’s flashback, we see him being taken captive and held just out of sight during the scene where the line in the sand” is drawn. As Zeke tells Jack, Sawyer, and Locke that it’s their island, Kate has a bag over her head less than 10 feet away from a bound and gagged Michael. Alex, Rousseau’s long-lost daughter, asks him questions about Claire, if she had the baby, was it a boy or girl? Michael looks confused about her knowledge of Claire, but says nothing. Alex is ordered to bring Kate out, but refuses. She also reassures Michael that no one will be hurt, that Zeke is simply delivering a message”. You get the sense that Alex is the reluctant-to-follow-orders-because-I-don’t-want-to-be-here” type, as we’ve seen her undermine the Others twice now (helping Claire escape, refusing to bring Kate out). I have a feeling she will be instrumental down the road in helping the Camp out even more.

Michael is then led to the Others’ camp” which, though it’s exactly like he described it two episodes ago, can’t possibly be how they really live. We’ve seen Zeke without his beard and make-up on. We know there’s more hatches and bunkers where Ethan was a doctor performing tests on Claire. Certainly the huts and teepees and fishing was all a ruse, right? Also, they take a blood sample from Michael. More tests?

We’re introduced to a new character at this point, a woman named Ms. Klugh, who asks Michael a bunch of questions about Walt. What age did he start talking?” Did he ever have headaches or dizzy spells?” Did he ever appear somewhere that he wasn’t supposed to be?” That last question tripped me out. Shannon’s visions of Walt before she died are put into some type of perspective. There have been indications that Walt is special” and may very well have powers or abilities that are metaphysical. Maybe he was projecting himself to Shannon in an attempt to warn the Camp about the Others. Why Shannon though? Because she was watching his dog?

Three days before Michael returns to the Camp, he’s given three minutes to meet with Walt. It doesn’t go over well. Walt tells him the Others are not who they say they are and not to believe what they say. He says he hasn’t been harmed but Ms. Klugh threatens to put him in the room” if he doesn’t stop discussing the Others. Michael assures him everything will be okay, but Michael is also tied to a pole and not really in a position to be making those kinds of promises. Walt runs and hugs his Dad but is quickly pulled away and hauled off, presumably to the room”. Michael is then given a task. If he brings four people from his Camp and only those four people, he will be reunited with Walt. If he doesn’t, he’ll never see Walt again. The list includes Jack Shepard, Kate Austen, Hugo Reyes, and James Ford (Sawyer).

Once he’s back and everyone’s glad to see him, he spends the day trying to assemble his Party of Five (har har) and get them going for sunrise the following morning. Sawyer recruits Sayid (the Red Beret) because he’s the only one of us who’s actually been in a damn war.” But Michael quickly puts the kabash on that, thinking it will compromise his plan to get Walt back. As they’re walking over to the funeral though, Sayid informs Jack that he believes Michael has been turned against them. He also thinks if they go along with the plan, they can use it to their advantage against the Others. Look for said plan to be devised in the beginning of the finale.

Notes/Thoughts:

The funeral scene was touching despite the fact that I didn’t much care for either Libby or Ana-Lucia. It seems that funerals are the only time the Camp comes together in unison which sucks for them.

Though Jack and Locke’s roles have conflicted all season long, Jack is still the undeniable leader of the Camp. While he was the featured speaker at the funeral, Locke sat on the beach and then walked off. Where’s he going? Also, it should be noted that Rose was right - his leg healed in less than a week.

While wandering the halls of the hatch, Eko noticed his cross was being drawn to the magnet, just like Jack’s key was drawn to it earlier this season. Significance? I think we’ll find out in the finale.

Claire and Charlie have sort of reconciled. He stopped by and handed off some medicine for her and the baby and then she held his hand at the funeral. I imagine that will be a continued storyline for next season.

Also, Vincent the dog brought Charlie a Virgin Mary heroin statue which was pretty funny. Did someone put you up to this?” he asks the dog. Charlie then threw the rest of the statues in the ocean, so he’s most likely done with Sweet Lady H for good.

What’s up with that boat just offshore? See the Outrageous Claims.

The Jack/Sawyer scenes were great tonight. First in the tent with Sawyer inquiring about Jack and Kate out in the jungle. Getting caught in a net…is that what they’re calling it these days?” Then later in the hatch, Sawyer told Jack about banging Ana-Lucia and how she got the gun off of him. Jack asked, Why are you telling me this?” Sawyer: Because you’re the closest thing I have to a friend, doc.” And then, the best line of the night: At least I get to kill somebody now. Oh yes, there will be blood.

Outrageous Claims:

Well, here’s my last chance to look like a psychic - the finale is 6 days away and the writers/producers have promised answers in this finale, unlike last year’s disappointing there a ladder in that hatch!” ending.

Sayid wants Jack to go along with Michael’s plan to head to the Others’ camp. Michael will lead Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer to rescue” Walt, though Michael’s true intention is to trade those four for his boy. Here’s my theory:

We know it’s a Desmond-centric episode, so Desmond will be a big focus. Sayid and Jack will go out to the boat to discover Desmond on board. He was sailing around the world when he came to the island so it makes sense that he’s on a sailboat. They’ll bring him to their beach where Desmond will reveal some information concerning the hatch, the Others, and what exactly he’s doing on his boat. Jack and Sayid will devise their plan to ambush the Others without Michael knowing.

I still think the magnetism of the island is going to be explored and will be revealed as the cause of the crash. Also, we can deduce from the previews of the finale that the countdown is going to hit zero and something is going to happen. Since Eko is sitting in the chair now, someone will have to dislodge him long enough to let the timer run out. That someone is probably Locke who we saw walking away from the Camp at the end of last night’s episode. My ongoing theory is that once the button is not pushed there will be an incident” that’s been alluded to in the orientation film. I think there’s going to be another crash.

Okay, I’ve sort of gone over that theory before in previous posts. Here’s new stuff that I think may happen:

Sawyer will make good on his statement I finally get to kill somebody,” and that somebody will be directly related to his earlier promise that you and me ain’t done Zeke.” I think he’s going to shoot that dude the same way he shot the guy in Australia.

Alex Rousseau will play a part in the showdown between the Others and the Camp.

We will see notHenry Gale again in Desmond’s flashbacks.

I think Walt is also working at the mercy of the Others. I think he was told that if he acted the way he did during the three minutes” with Michael, that he would get to be reunited with his Dad. I think the Others were playing Michael and Walt against each other to get to Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley. But to what end? Walt is the special one, so are they really going to let him go back to Michael? I doubt it, at least not without a fight. I’m really back and forth on this one - it’s just hard for me to believe that Walt, being young, impressionable, and having barely established a good relationship with Michael, would NOT be compromised by the Others. Not to mention he told Locke in Season 1 that he didn’t want to leave the island…what if he was promised that he could stay if he helped out the Others? What if Michael joins the Others’ camp to be with Walt? I think that’s a possibility, but it would make it difficult to further their stories next season.

My friend Patrick thinks one of the main Lostaways is going to die in the season finale and he’s been trying to get me to post a guess as to who it could be. I think if any of the main characters is going to die, it’s going to be Hurley. I really don’t want that to happen, but face it, his backstory has been exhausted, his storyline with Libby was just extinguished, and he’s going on a mission that he really has no business going on. Hurley isn’t exactly the warrior” type and his character wasn’t originally supposed to even exist. He’s the comedic relief but I feel like he no longer serves a purpose beyond that. Like I said, I’m not sure that anyone else is going to bite it after two surprise deaths two weeks ago, but if I had to put money on anyone, it’s the big man.

This is a really long review. Expect a similar one next week and then I’ll talk to you again in September.

This episode gets 5 out of 7 stars.