LOST RECAPS

Previously on Lost: Michael loses Walt to pirate Tom and his fake beard; Michael goes after Walt and nobody is going to stop him; The Others stop him; Ms. Klugh offers to give Walt back if Michael frees Ben; Michael talks Ana Lucia out of her gun to kill Ben; Michael kills Ana Lucia and Libby, then frees Ben; Ben gives Michael and Walt a boat and sends them on a 325 compass bearing towards rescue.

But enough about the old days. It’s time for a house meeting with Locke and Ben!

Karl seems less than thrilled about the impromptu kaffeeklatsch.

Oh, come on, Karl! It’s a kaffeeklatsch!

Besides, how could you not love this face?

Locke walks in with Miles and speaks with all the eloquence of a middle-school vice principal.

“Thank you all for your patience. I know it’s taken a few days to figure out our next move, but I didn’t want to do anything until I knew more about our situation. You deserve to know everything I do. So, no more secrets.”

No more secrets? I find that hard to believe. Let’s listen to him anyway.

Vice Principal Locke rambles on. “As you all know, Miles here and three of his people came to the island about a week ago. So I brought him up from the boathouse to share with us exactly why they’re here.”

Miles points at Ben. “We’re here for him.”

Hugo is underwhelmed. “Uhh, we kind of, like, knew that forever ago.” Seriously. One episode left before the break, Locke! Let’s keep it moving.

Sawyer’s ready to turn Ben over, but Locke says they can’t, and Ben explains why: “Because once they have me, their orders are to kill everyone else on the island.” Miles follows with a sheepish slump suggesting, yup, those are the orders. Claire doesn’t understand why they’re protecting Ben, and Hurley calls him out for not even telling them who the spy on the boat is.

“It’s Michael.”

We know.

“My spy on the freighter is Michael.”

We know. But it’s news to everyone else. Sawyer’s still processing. “I’m sorry, you mean the same guy who killed two women in cold blood to set this little bastard free? And sold all of us out so he could get off the island? That Michael?”

Vice Prinicipal Locke affirms, “Yes, James. That Michael.”

WE KNOW! Look, talk is cheap, so enough talk of freighters. Let’s go to a real freighter!

An alarm wakes Des and Sayid, who exchange glances and arise from their beds to see what’s popping on deck. Turns out Captain Gault is beating the hell out of someone.

Gault lets everyone know that the rules of not leaving the freighter still apply, as do the rules of complete asswhuppery.

“Nobody leaves this ship without my say-so!” He looks about as serious as you can when there’s an inflatable boat right behind you.

“I’m not beating these men to scare you. I beat them to save your lives! Do you remember what happened to the last two men who took off on this boat. Remember what happened to Minkowski? As soon as we get the engines fixed, back in the hunt. In the meantime, everybody, just hold on! Johnson?”

Michael gets ready to swab the deck, but Sayid is impatient for answers. He approaches him. “Hello, Michael.”

“Not now, man.”

“Yes, right now. Why are you on this boat?”

“I’m here to die.” Cue dramatic music! Cue eerie feeling.

After the break, Sawyer catches up with John and Miles. Nice meeting, says Sawyer, but what about the other secrets, like the $3 million Miles asked Ben for? “Well, yeah. Miles offered his loyalty in exchange for the money. But as I hadn’t seen a bank on the island, I didn’t think it worth mentioning.”

Miles laughs. “Linus will find a way to get it.” How, wonders Sawyer? “He wants to survive. And considering a week ago he had a gun to his head, and tonight he’s eating pound cake, I’d say he’s a guy who gets what he wants. “

I like how Miles sums things up. Ken Leung in the house! Metaphorically speaking.

Back in the actual house, Ben stares at Karl’s hand as it rests on the small of Alex’s back.

Creepy.

He calls Alex aside. Danielle looks skeptical, but Ben insists it’s important. It is. “This is a map to the Temple. It’s a sanctuary. It may be the last safe place on this island.”

Karl wants to know why they don’t know about the Temple.

“Well, it wouldn’t be a sanctuary if I told everyone, would it?”

Good point.

“The rest of our people are already there,” Ben continues. “If you leave now, you can get there in a day and a half.”

“If it’s safe,” asks Karl, “Why don’t we all go? Hurley, Claire, the baby?”

“Because Temple’s not for them, Karl. It’s only for us.”

Alex looks skeptical.

“These people that are coming, they know who I am, Alex. They’re here to capture me. They’ll kill anybody that gets in their way. If they knew who you were, that you were my daughter, they would use you to get to me. We don’t have much time.”

Still skeptical, Alex asks, “These people, you said they’re dangerous. More dangerous than you?”

“Yes. But your mother will protect you.”

Did Danielle get that memo?

Ben’s done with the small talk about survival. “Okay, now go!”

They go, and Ben stares after them.

Ben’s face plus eerie music equals bad things afoot.

Freighter Time!

It’s morning on the freighter.

Good morning, freighter.

Sayid’s gonna skip that lima-bean breakfast and go straight to the good stuff. He finds out that Michael is in the engine room, so he heads down there with Des to “help with the repairs.”

Michael knows what’s up. “Jeff, man, you know what? We need a pressure valve. You mind grabbing one from the, uh, supply room?”

“Not at all,” says Jeff.

“Cool, Jeff. Because this isn’t really a Jeff scene, smell me?” Jeff smells him.

Michael turns to Sayid after Jeff leaves. “You shouldn’t be here.” Sayid responds by backing him up into some pipes.

“Why are you here?”

“Listen, if they see me talking to you - “

“Then talk quickly!”

“You won’t understand it!”

“I’ll understand perfectly, Michael! You just start from the beginning, and explain how you came to be on this boat.”

Time to flash, flash, flash!

Michael sits and writes in what appears to be his apartment.

He glances at a picture of him and Walt.

This doesn’t look good.

Michael leaves the apartment, which we know is in downtown Manhattan by the Chambers 1-2-3 stop, and hops in a car. He puts the radio on, and the song is “It’s Getting Better” by Mama Cass, which you may recognize, because it’s the b-side to a song you’ve heard several times before on Lost, “Make Your Own Kind of Music.”

“Holla at ya girl!”

Holla back, Mama Cass! Click her pic for the song or click here for the lyrics.

Where were we. Right, the song is playing in the car, and Michael pins the note to his jacket.

Not a good sign.

He drives off all crazy like, with the reckless abandon we’ve come to expect from post-Ben-deal Michael. He makes crazy faces. He says, “I’m sorry.” Then he accelerates into the quickly approaching dumpster.

Blammo!

Michael’s dead.

No, wait - alive.

He’s sharing his hospital room with an old dude. Hanso, maybe?

A nurse comes in. “Shh, you just need to rest now. It’s a cold night.”

Libby!

I didn’t know you were a nurse.

“I brought you some extra blankets.”

Michael can’t get any words out, but he does speak the univeral language of pants-crapping expressions.

Then he comes to, and what do you know? No more Libby.

He looks around and his surroundings are mostly the same, although I did notice that the old, Hansoesque fella has a mask on that he didn’t have on before. Continuity error? Or is there some significance here? You tell me.

Then the real nurse comes in. She’s not Libby. She wants to know Michael’s name, because he didn’t have ID on him. Then she asks, “Do you want me to call Walt?”

He looks up. “What?”

“The note pinned to your chest, it was written to Walt. You want me to call him?”

Michael looks sad. “No.”

“Okay then.” She leaves.

Next up, Michael heads to his Mom’s house. Hi, Mom! Happy to see me?

Not so happy.

Michael wants to come in. She shuts him down. “I don’t know what you said to that boy, but whatever it was, he doesn’t want to see you.”

Michael plays the I-have-a-right-to-see-my-son card, but Mama don’t take no mess. “I thought you were dead! They said your plane crashed in the middle of the ocean, but you show up here fine and dandy. Only I can’t tell anybody about you or Walt. Can’t call you by your real names. He barely talks to me! But he does wake up screaming in the middle of the night, and I’m the one that’s got to tell him it’s gonna be okay. So until you can explain to me where you were for over two months, and what happened? You gave up your rights.”

Michael, broken man that he is, steps away, then turns. “Will you, uh…will you tell him I love him?”

Mom feels bad, but what can she do? “Yeah.”

Michael walks away, then turns and looks up at the window.

Walt!

He sees Michael, then turns and walks away from the window.

Damn, son.

Cut to Michael walking into a weird-looking pawn shop.

He shows the guy Jin’s watch. The pawn shop guy offers him $300, but Michael doesn’t want money. “I want a gun. I want a gun with bullets.” The guy looks concerned. Not concerned enough to turn down the deal, however, as Michael leaves the shop, shady paper bag in hand, soon after. Then he finds a nice, dark alleyway, plops down on the cement and prepares to blow his brains out.

At the last second, he’s interrupted by a voice from a shadowy figure. “Excuse me, sir, have you got the time?”

“No, man. No.”

“Come on, Michael.” He steps out of the shadows. “How about for an old friend?”

Now that’s how you go to commercial!

After the break, Tom starts talking. “Manhattan, huh? We let you leave one island, you just go to another.” Michael gets up and shoots at Tom, but misses. Not gangsta. “Would you just relax? I just came here to - ” Michael gets in a weak punch or two before Tom lays him out. “Now are you ready to talk like adults?” Michael relents and takes Tom’s hand to get up, then grabs a champagne bottle, hits Tom with it, breaks it and holds it to Tom’s neck - just as Tom pulls a gun.

Gun beats bottle, but Michael doesn’t care. He begs for Tom to shoot him, but no luck: “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Michael is understandably confused. That makes two of us. “How did you find me?”

“We’re the ones that sent you home, Michael. Did you honestly think we weren’t gonna keep tabs?”

“Well what do you want?”

“Your help.”

“Why would I help the son of a bitch who kidnapped my son?”

“We gave him back to you in one piece, Mike. You’re the one who lost him!”

Ouch. Michael looks sad and Tom figures it all out. “You told him, didn’t you? You couldn’t carry the guilt of what you did to those two women all by yourself, so you shared it with a ten-year-old kid? Is that why you want to kill yourself, Michael? Because that’s the way he looks at you now? Because he knows you’re a murderer?”

“Go away!”

“I got some bad news for you, amigo. You can’t kill yourself. The island won’t let you!”

The island won’t let you, eh? We’ve seen this sort of thing before, but we’ve never had it spelled out so clearly. That doesn’t make it true, I suppose. But it’s interesting nonetheless. Michael’s curiosity is piqued. “What did you say?”

“No matter how bad you want to, no matter how many different ways you try, it won’t happen.” He gives the gun back to Michael. “Give it a shot if you don’t believe me.” That’s funny! “You got more work to do, Mike. When you figure that out, I’m in the penthouse at the Hotel Earle.”

Back home, Michael figures he will give it another shot. He puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger.

“Hey, I shot that at my head!” You did, but nothing happened. “Why not?” I don’t know, I’m just the recapper. Michael checks the gun, and it’s chock full o’ bullets. Was Tom right?

Then things get even stranger. On TV, that fake-ass newswoman From Daniel Faraday’s flash-something announces that Oceanic 815 has been found, and all 324 passengers are dead. Michael stares in disbelief.

Cut to Michael knocking on Tom’s door. “I didn’t expect you that fast!” Come on in, buddy boy! It’s a party up in here.

“Is this the guy who hit you with the champagne bottle?”

“Yeah, but I had it coming.”

“Arturo, Michael and I have some business we have to attend to. Would you get some air?”

“Of course. Ciao!”

Michael’s still taking in the whole Tom & Arturo thing. Come on, Mike! It’s 2008! And Tom is nothing if not a gracious host.

“Help yourself to the chow. Don’t make it to the mainland too often, so when I do, I like to indulge myself.”

Mike wants answers, not a fruit plate. “So you people can just…come and go?”

“Some of us. You want a drink?”

“What I want is for you to tell me what my plane is doing at the bottom of the ocean!”

“It’s not your plane, it’s a phony. A man named Widmore put it down there and he staged the whole wreck.”

“Staged? Why would he stage - “

“Because he doesn’t want anyone else finding where the real plane ended up except for him.”

“I’m supposed to believe this?”

“Did the bullet bounce off your skull? Or did the gun just jam on you?”

Michael’s not going for the rhetorical okeedoke. “Prove it.”

“Sorry?”

“Prove that this guy Widmore did what you say he did. Prove it.”

And just like that, Tom offers up some proof! I guess “Prove It” is like “Simon Says” to The Others. Good to know.

“That’s the cemetary in Thailand where Widmore dug up the 300-odd corpses he needed. And the purchase order for the old 777 he bought through a shell company. And the shipping logs for the freighter he used to drop the whole mess down a trench deep enough to guarantee that no remains are even gonna be identified.”

Okay. Could be fake, could be proof. I’ll take Tom’s word for it.

“Do you have any idea what it would cost to bring those bodies up?”

Michael’s not up for the guessing games neither either. “What you want from me, man?”

“In a few days, a freighter is porting in Fiji. It’s Widmore’s boat. We have reason to believe he’s finally found the coordinates of the island, and he’s headed right for it. So congratulations, Michael. Your shore leave is over. You just got a job on that boat. Meet Kevin Johnson.”

“You’re joining the crew in Fiji as a deckhand.”

Michael looks the passport over. “You want me to go undercover?” Tom nods. “Why the hell would I go back to work for you people?”

“Because if Widmore finds the island, it’s goodnight for everybody on it. He’ll kill them all without thinking twice. You wanna redeem yourself for what you did? This is your only chance. You can save all their lives.”

“No. I can’t. I can’t go back to that island.”

“I didn’t say you were going back to the island. You’re not going on that boat so you can swab decks, Michael. You’re going so you can kill everyone on board.”

Wow! This is one of those “I can’t believe it’s only 9:35″ episodes of Lost, when a lot of stuff has been revealed and it’s only 9:35. Michele knows what I’m talking about.

Fiji Freighter Time!

It’s on and poppin.

Michael, meet Minkowski.

Look alive, Minkowski!

Next up, checking in with Naomi.

After some light flirting about their New York and Manchester accents, Naomi points “Kevin” toward a box with his name on it.

“I’ll have it delivered to your berth?”

“Yeah.”

“Welcome aboard, Kevin.”

Nice, on the boat without a hitch! Then he walks by Miles. “Your name isn’t Kevin.” Oops, looks like I spoke to soon. “Don’t worry - 80% of the people on this boat are lying about something. Orange?” Good for scurvy.

Michael’s phone rings. It’s Tom. He tells him to wait to open the box. He also addresses the cold feet that he knows Michael is having: “Oh, you met some of them now. Got some names and faces and you’re getting cold feet, huh?”

“Yeah, actually I am.”

“Well here are a few more names for you - Sun, Sawyer, Jack, Claire, her baby - and the only way you’re gonna save their lives is if you man up and get on that boat. Or maybe you wanna come back and explain to your kid how you let all them die too. It’s game time - are you in or out?”

Michael mans up accordingly. “I’m in.”

“Good. Then ditch your phone and go do your job.”

Michael ditches his phone and goes does his job.

On the boat, Frank and Naomi are arguing. Frank wants to go first, but Naomi says she needs him to transport the science team. So what’s Naomi doing, then? “That’s need to know. You don’t.” Ouch.

Frank figures he’ll go talk to a man and try to get over the emasculation, so he wanders over to Michael. “So much for the fairer sex, huh?” Okay, Lawnmower Man. “Frank Lupides, chopper pilot.” That’s cool. I wish I were a chopper pilot. After their introductions, Frank asks if he’s ever heard about Oceanic 815. Heard about it? I was ON that bad boy! “What would you say if I told you the plane they found in that trench wasn’t Oceanic 815?” I’d say, Widmore put that one in the trench, it’s not real. “That’s why I signed up for this trip, because the owner of this boat believes me. Charles Widmore, he believes that 815 is still out there somewhere. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if we found some of those people alive?”

Then he gives Michael a look.

So what does Frank know? Is he being straightforward here? Or does he know more than he’s letting on, as that final glance at Michael suggests? Who knows.

Down below, Michael stares at his Kevin Johnson box and flips the key over in his hands. To blow everyone up, or not to blow everyone up? That is the question. Michael is conflicted.

Up on deck the next day, Michael’s cleaning up when he hears someone yell “Pull!” and then a lot of shooting. Let the guns go, oh! Michael watches as the guns, clips and bullets flow freely among the Boat Boys and their little game of skeet-shooting.

“Hey, what are you guys doing?”

“What does it look like we’re doing? We’re shooting things,” says Keamy.

“I, uh, thought we were going on a rescue mission.”

“Uh, don’t you have something to mop up?”

He probably does, but he doesn’t go back to mopping. Instead, Michael goes downstairs, opens the Kevin Johnson box and removes the suitcase packed carefully inside. He takes it down the hall to the engine room. He opens the box. Tools! Nice. He removes the tools. It’s explosives and a keypad and a red button and stuff.

He punches in the code and goes to push the EXECUTE button - then hears some strange sounds. From what I can tell, the sounds are a mix of “It’s Getting Better”, maybe - just maybe - the sound of his car hitting the dumpster, and then some weird, breathy, island-whispery sound. He looks around, but no one is there.

Except for Libby!

“Don’t do it, Michael.” Libby looks kind of blurry here, and it’s not just the screenshot - I think she’s actually blurry, not quite there, maybe some kind of hologram or light trick? A la Faraday’s observation of the oddly scattering light? And, like her hospital appearance - and Harper’s ghostly island appearance - it’s dark when it happens. Interesting.

But there’s not much time to figure things out. Just like that, she’s gone, and it’s back to the box for Michael. He stares hard at the EXECUTE button…and pushes it!

Countdown from 00:00:15, of course. Michael braces for the explosion. Any last words. “I love you, Walt.” Touching.

There’s only one problem: it doesn’t explode. Instead, something pops up. It’s a piece of paper. Michael picks it up and unravels it.

Not yet. Stop playing with this man’s emotions! I mean, I’m glad he’s still alive, but damn.

Back in his crap-ass room, Michael bounces a ball against the wall. Minkowski pops in and makes an obligatory reference to The Shining. Then he tells him he’s got a call. Michael/Kevin protests, but Minkowski insists: “Says his name’s Walt.” Okay, okay, I’ll take the call, says Michael.

Minkowski sets him up to take the call in the radio room, then leaves. Michael picks up: “Walt?” Nope, it’s Ben. Gotcha!

“I’m so sorry, Michael, but he’s still in New York. So I’m afraid you’re stuck with me. Michael? Are you still there?”

“You put me on this boat, talked me into blowing it up, and when I pushed the damn button, a flag pops up.”

“You actually activated the bomb?”

“It’s not a bomb! It’s a joke.”

“There are people on your boat who are innocent. They have no idea that the man they work for is a monster, a killer without conscience or a greater purpose. I had to show you the difference between him and me. When I’m at war, I’ll do what I need to do to win, but I will not kill innocent people.”

“Ana Lucia and Libby? They were innocent?”

“You killed them, Michael. No one asked you to.” Interesting! Michael’s non-response suggests that, in fact, no one asked him to kill them - or Ben’s mindjitsu is far stronger than anyone realizes. “I don’t blame you, Michael. We did have your boy. What wouldn’t a man do for his son?”

“What do you want from me?’

“I want you to compile a list of names, every person on your boat. When I call again, you’ll give me that list. Then you will disable the radio room you’re sitting in. When the crew is disoriented by their lack of communication, you’ll take out the engines, too. That way, the boat can never get to this island, and your friends will be safe. Will you do that for me, Michael?”

“Yeah.”

“Then consider yourself one of the good guys.”

Michael drops his headphones and cries. Quite a pickle he’s in! Fate is a cruel mistress, but Ben is crueler.

Aaaaaaand we’re back on the boat with Sayid and Desmond.

Interesting story, Mike!

“So you’re telling me,” says Sayid, “That you’re working for Benjamin Linus?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I’m telling you.”

Sayid grabs him forcefully and pushes him down the hall…

…into the captain’s office! WHAT?! What happened to DON’T TRUST THE CAPTAIN? Does Sayid know what he’s doing?

Gault’s like, What’s really good? “This man is not who you think he is,” snitches Sayid. “He was a passenger on Oceanic Flight 815. I spent two months with him on the island before he betrayed us.”

Who saw that coming? Anyone? I’m still baffled.

There’s more. “This is the man who sabotaged your radio room. He destroyed the ship’s engine. And his name isn’t Kevin Johnson. It’s Michael Dawson. And he’s a traitor.”

Awkward.

Back on the island, Danielle proposes a two-minute water break on the way to the Tempest, so Karl and Alex kick it while she looks at the map. Carl’s acting weird, so Alex acts what’s up. “I dunno. I just have a bad feeling about all this. What if your dad is playing us?”

“Look, I don’t like taking orders from my dad any more than you do. But I know he doesn’t want me to get hurt.”

“Well at least we’ve got something in common.”

“I promise not to tell if you won’t.”

Aw, aren’t they the cutest?

Then there’s a sound. Everyone looks up.

Uh oh, someone shot Karl’s water bottle!

Nooooo! How’s he gonna drink out of that?

Hold on, new crisis - someone just shot Karl.

It’s a sad faceplant to watch. I always liked Karl, especially after he stood up to Ben this season. But I guess Ben got the last laugh. Alex doesn’t find it funny.

Danielle pulls her to safety behind a tree. “He’s gone. He’s gone! Listen to me. I need you to take my hand. On the count of three, we’re going to run. Can you do that with me?”

Alex is in shock. “I love you. I love you very much, Alexandra. Are you ready?”

She nods yes.

“One…two…three!” Danielle jumps up.

Double faceplant.

Right now, Alex is facing some long odds for a getaway. She looks around. There’s rustling in the jungle. Uh oh. She jumps up and throws her hands in the air.

“Wait, wait, don’t! I’m Ben’s daughter! I’M HIS DAUGHTER!”

I’m his sister and his daughter!

*BBWWWWHWWWHHHOONNGGGGGGGG*

So we’re left with, oh, a few questions. Is Carl dead for good? Is Danielle? Who was shooting at them? How will Captain Gault react to the news about Michael? Who is behind the mysterious, Harper-like Libby appearances? Where are the sounds coming from? Why so much Mama Cass? How does the island prevent things from happening to Michael back in the real world, the same way it seemed to prevent Jack from killing himself? Were they really back in the real world? What is real, really? What about Ben? What is his relationship with Widmore? What about the Tempest? What’s jumping off at that place?

We’ll have to sit with those questions for a spell, won’t we. If you’ve got some ideas about the answers, or just more questions to add on, post them in the comments. Why not? There’s got time to kill. What to do, what to do.

Here are a few options:

Watch the trailer for Episode 9: The Shape of Things to Come.

Relive all the Season 4 fun with recaps of The Beginning of the End, Confirmed Dead, The Economist, Eggtown, The Constant, The Other Woman and Ji Yeon.

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See you soon, Lost fans!