But Desmond's situation looks to be improving since he met Penny in this newest episode. Kate could potentially be cleared of her murder charges. Charlie knows Claire exists and she just might be settling down in LA, so if he could clean his life up, they might still be together. So even the ones who aren't necessarily better off still have the potential to be better off than they are in the original reality. And remember the vast majority of passengers on the Oceanic flight died. I don't think they could get worse off than that in the new reality. I doubt the new reality will stick around, but I wish it would.

Island - Someone is watching 'Locke's/Smokey's/the MIB's' camp, using what appears to be night-vision goggles. Probably Widmore's people. When they zoom in on Smokey, the screen has major interference. Is it possible Smokey is a potent cocktail of electromagnetic energy?
The MIB sits down with Jin. He tells him that there are names on the cave wall and one of them is Kwon. Jin asks the question of many a fan's lips - who does it refer too? Him or Sun? He doesn't know Ji Yeon exists. The MIB says he's none the wiser but I think he knows the truth. He tells Jin that to leave the island, all the candidates have to leave as one group.

LA X - Jin and Sun are at the LA X airport. This scene follows on from one in the Season 6 premiere episode. Jin has his $25,000 confiscated by airport officials and the gold watch is returned to him. It is a gift from Mr. Paik to one of his business partners. Who?

Island - Sayid tells the MIB that he's void of emotion. This strongly suggests that Sayid has been fully claimed by the sickness, infection, darkness and is irredeemable (at least in the Island reality). Poor Sayid. The MIB tells him that it's probably for the best, considering the future. My guess is that he's referring to the upcoming war and that it will be a bloodbath. The camp is ambushed while the MIB is away on an errand. Yes. I knew it was Widmore's crew. And Zoe? She wants Jin?

Back at Jacob's camp, Miles and Frank play cards. Miles is quite the gamer, but it's likely also a nod to viewers to have patience and to trust the writers, that they will 'play their cards right'. Some good humour at the expense of Richard and Hurley. Sun storms off into the jungle, to her garden, which is overrun by weeds and dead. Jack talks to her about Richard and the candidates and the Lighthouse, but she'll have none of it. Sun just wants to see her husband again. Jack leaves.

LA X - Sun and Jin book separate rooms at a hotel. Jin is Sun's bodyguard. They're in love but they don't dare reveal it in public. Sun invites Jin into her room and they make love.

Island - We find out the MIB is on an errand to recruit Sun. Perhaps she's a candidate? It's strongly suggested. He tells her that he found Jin and if she follows him, he'll take her to him. Sun doesn't trust him and makes a run for it but runs into a tree and blacks out.

LAX - Sun wishes to elope. She looks in the mirror - is she remembering something from the Island reality? Sun and Jin are interrupted by a knock. And who should be at the door but our loveable mercenary, Martin Keamy. Crazy. I think Keamy is in cahoots with Sun's dad and that's why he ended up in the meat locker in 'Sundown'.

Island - Ben finds Sun unconscious and wakes her up to find she can understand English but can only speak Korean. What? There are two possibilities as to what happened: either Sun the language centre of her brain was damaged or perhaps the side-ways reality is finally bleeding into the Island reality? The MIB returns to his camp, to find his followers are sedated and unconscious.

Jin awakens in a familiar-looking room - Room 23. He pulls down a lever, possibly hoping it opens a door but a horrible din fills the room and subliminal messages and images are projected onto the wall. Ah, yes. The DisOrientation video, the one used to brainwash Karl, Alex's boyfriend. Love it! Jin turns it off quickly and Zoe enters to talk to him. She shows him a rudimentary map of the island with markings showing the pockets of electromagnetic energy on the Island. The map is signed by Jin-Soo Kwon of the Dharma Initiative! He must have made the markings on his patrols of the Island, in the 1970's as part of the DI Security force. Widmore and his people want to find the pockets of energy, but what for? To control them? To amplify their properties or to destroy them?

Claire talks to the MIB about the names on the cave wall. She asks if her name was there. Yes, it was but crossed out. She's no longer a candidate. The MIB replies 'no'. He lied. Claire realises that Kate is more a mother to Aaron now and that if she returns her own son will think of her as a stranger. I'm glad they addressed Aaron again, he's important. She asks if Kate's name was written on the wall. Yes, but she's no longer a candidate. The MIB tells her the Kate isn't a candidate any more. He tells the truth. Claire is not happy about this in-discrepancy but the MIB reassures her that he needs her and that Kate is important for now. She'll help to bring the other three candidates to him but that when he's finished with her, Clare can do with her what she wishes. eg. Kill her if need be.
The MIB and Sayid take an outrigger to Hydra Island to rescue Jin. We discover that Smokey can't travel over bodies of water, at least not in his black smoke form.

LA X - Jin hides in the bathroom, while Keamy talks with Sun, who gives him the gold watch from her dad. Keamy notices that there is evidence of two people staying in the hotel room and his accomplice, Omar, finds Jin. Keamy says the $25,000 Jin was holding was his. They send in a Russian translator to translate - Mikhail! And he has both eyes!
They take Jin to Keamy's restaurant and Mikhail takes Sun to the bank to get her money for them.

Island - Some more humour moments, this time between Ben and Ilana. Ben says to her, 'why don't you believe me?' Ilana replies, 'because you're speaking'. Ha! Good call. Ben has been redeemed but she still doesn't trust him to tell the truth.
Miles and Frank also have some quality dialogue when the Losties find Sun can't speak English. Miles says, 'she hits her head and forgets English? Are we supposed to buy that? Frank replies, 'Asks the man who communes with the dead'. Oh, touché Frank! Miles seems to be the voice of the viewers, those who have trouble suspending their disbelief and wish for more realism. Frank is the voice of the writers, telling us that it's silly to ask for realism in such a show and to suspend our disbelief once more. Hurley and Richard return, redeemed. The group now has a leader and a clearly-defined goal and purpose.

The MIB touches down on Hydra Island to be met by Widmore's crew. He can't get near the plane as they've now set up temporary sonic pylons along the beach, presumably to keep Smokey at bay. The MIB and Widmore talk. They seem like old rivals but Widmore lets on less than he knows. He says that all he knows of the MIB is myths, ghost stories and jungle noises in the night. The MIB declares war on Widmore and his people.

Island - Richards wants to head to Hydra Island to stop the MIB and destroy the Ajira plane, so he and his recruits can't leave the Island. Sun doesn't like this idea much and storms off.

LA X - At the bank, we find Mr. Paik is still the horrible man from previous seasons. He's closed his daughter's account, preventing her from paying Keamy his fee and retrieving Jin. At the restaurant, Keamy locks Jin in a meat locker and tells Omar to fetch 'the Arab' - Sayid. Jin discovers that the $25,000 that was confiscated at the airport, was Keamy's fee to kill him. Twisted!

Island - Widmore is suitably angry at Zoe for taking Jin before they'd planned. I wonder what the repercussions will be for Widmore and his people? I imagine that they'll be at more of a disadvantage than they would be if Zoe had followed the original plans. Zoe is told to get 'the package' from the hold. I'm guessing it's a super-weapon, or perhaps, Aaron?
We discover that Zoe is a geophysicist, most likely an electromagnetic geophysicist. What is a geophysicist? There are many different types but at a generalised level, they study the Earth using gravity, magnetic, electrical, and seismic methods. What does this mean for us? Something big is going down on the Island. We may see electromagnetic anomalies, more of the Donkey Wheel, learn more about Smokey and even witness some earthquakes and a volcano erupting.
Widmore shows Jin a camera he retrieved from the Ajira plane, it is Sun's. The camera has photos of Sun and Ji-Yeon on it. Is Widmore trying to recruit Jin to his side, ala Smokey? Or is he just giving Jin something worth fighting for? (other than Sun). Widmore announces that he came to stop the MIB from leaving the Island. 'The package' has to be Aaron.

LA X - From inside the meat locker, we hear Sayid shooting Keamy and his men. Sayid opens the locker to find Jin there. He doesn't help him to escape but give him some nearby box-cutters. Not totally heartless. Mikhail returns to the restaurant with Sun in tow. He finds Keamy is badly wounded... but alive? Jin shoots Mikhail's right eye. spam alert! So that's how he lost it in this reality? In the struggle, Sun is shot and tells Jin that she's pregnant.

Island - Jack and Sawyer have a heart-to-heart on the beach. Sun can't speak English but she can write it. Jack shows her a big ripe, healthy tomato that he found amidst her dead garden. It represents hope, redemption and possibly Jin.

At the MIB's camp, Sawyer and Kate talk. Sawyer observes, that if Widmore didn't sink Smokey to the bottom of the sea, then they're 'screwed six ways from Sun(day)'. A reference to the six candidates and Sun? Maybe I'm trying too hard. Our resident red-neck is perceptive, he realises the MIB's real intentions and plans to skadoodle with Kate, letting the two sides fight it out. Sayid is on a mission from the MIB, to find out who 'the package' is. We see a drugged man being dragged from the submarine, down along the pier - Desmond!
Fantastic! It's about time he entered the picture. I wonder if Desmond nullifies the MIB's powers or something. The man is unaffected by space and time, so make he's the ultimate loophole.

people being better off in the flash-sideways than in the original timeline - especially those who died in the 815 crash. Maybe my hesitancy is that - from a story-telling perspective anyway - if the H-bomb explosion did in fact negate the original reality (replacing it with the flash-sideways reality), then so much of what we've seen in the previous 5 seasons - character growth, redemption, conflict, and so on - also seems to be negated.

Desmond seems to have excellent centric episodes. "The Constant" is among my favorite of all episodes, and the season 2 finale and "Flashes Before Your Eyes" were also very good.

themselves as they travelled through time (ala Season 5).
My latest theory is that the alternate time-lines already existed but that the explosion of the hydrogen bomb and the massive build-up of electromagnetic energy didn't create a new timeline, but instead allowed them to bleed into each other. Perhaps the whispers they hear are themselves in the side-ways reality? The problem with this theory is that the whispers were there before the Incident. But perhaps the Island reality has played over and over again. That's the only way it would work.

What if the people in the sideways flashbacks aren't alternate versions of the Losties, but all of the Losties transferred to a new reality with their memories of the old lives erased? Perhaps it's their reward for stopping the MiB. I think that would be awesome, because if they are regaining their memories, we get to keep the character development and the better universe.

Jacob versus the Man in Black