Nathan Fillion

Point 1

Jack The "Lost" producers promised a cliffhanger for this "fall finale" (dumbest ... name ... ever), and, if you want to be technical about it, I suppose the concluding moments did represent a cliffhanger.

Personally, I have a hard time thinking of the sixth episode in a 22 or 23 episode season as ever being a cliffhanger, and this episode is no different. Sure, it left us hanging in the "I wonder what’s going to happen next?" sense, but let’s not confuse the sixth episode with the season finale — there’s a huge difference between "I Do" and something like "Live Together, Die Alone."

Now, I know I sound like a big ol’ crank, but I think it’s important to look past the upcoming 13-week hiatus and remember that the third season is still a season. As it stands, this episode — as interesting as it was — represents the sixth chapter in a 22- or 23-chapter book. We’re a long, long way from the finish line.

But enough with my half-assed analysis. Let’s recap this bugger!

As the episode opens, Kate and Sawyer are still stuck in their bear cages. Pickett and his band of Dharma drones march into the cage area and unlock Kate’s cell. In a twist, Pickett tells Kate that Sawyer is getting the day off, but Kate immediately smells a rat (or maybe that’s just her B.O. ... manual labor has rendered her quite ripe). She objects to Sawyer’s vacation day, noting that they work as a team.

For some odd reason, Pickett considers Kate’s reasoning and opts to retract Sawyer’s day off. Whatever plans Pickett had for Sawyer will have to wait.

So Kate and Sawyer are hauled off to the rock patch to tend boulders. The sun rises and the day grows hot, but the back-breaking monotony is suddenly broken by a blaring horn and a recorded warning: "Compound Breach! ... Compound Breach!"

Pickett grabs his walkie-talkie and barks questions at an unidentified Dharma associate on the other end of the walkie-talkie line. Pickett initially thinks Jack has escaped, but his conversation soon reveals that "she" has escaped.

She?

"How the hell did she get over here?" Pickett asks.

SWISH!

The question remains unanswered because a small rock zings past Pickett’s head. He spins and sees ... ALEX!

It’s a sight to behold. A teenaged girl is darting through the worksite slinging rocks from a home-made slingshot. Dharma drones drop like mini-Goliaths as Alex works her magic.

But Pickett knows how to deal with teenagers.

He whips out his pistol and points it right between Alex’s eyes. She stops in her tracks, a rock quivering in her outstretched slingshot. Pickett orders her to put the weapon down, but Alex is too riled up to comply.

"What did you do to him, Danny?! Where is he!" She shouts, aiming the slingshot at Pickett’s head. "I want to talk to Ben!"

Danny softens his voice. "Sure, that sounds like a great idea," Danny says calmly while keeping the pistol trained on Alex’s angst-ridden face.

As Danny talks, a Dharma drone sneaks behind Alex and lunges at her arms. The drone snaps Alex up and walks off. She kicks and struggles, trying to break free, but strength isn’t a hallmark of the Rousseau family so Alex remains snared in the drone’s arms.

But she does have one parting gift ...

Alex looks at Kate.

"Listen, whatever they say, don’t believe them!" Alex shouts. "They’re going to kill your boyfriend, just like they killed mine!"

Kate watches as Alex is pulled out of sight.

"Just like her mother ... crazy-ass bitch," Kate thinks (or so I like to believe).

Sidenote: Alex’s appearance isn’t what’s interesting, rather, the moments before her entrance are far more intriguing. Just as Alex is about to begin her slingshot attack, Pickett asks his unidentified walkie-talkie cohort: "How the hell did she get over here?"

The key phrase is "over here." Some "Lost" fans have theorized that the DharmaWorld community we saw in "A Tale of Two Cities" isn’t necessarily on the "Alcatraz" island. Pickett’s offhand remark seems to support this theory. It also opens the door to a potential escape route for Jack, Kate and Sawyer. If Alex has a boat or a sub or some sort of Dharma Sea-Doo, perhaps she represents the key to a castaway prison break.

Or maybe Pickett’s question was a fleeting piece of dialogue that means absolutely nothing.

Anyway ...

Later that day, Juliet pays a visit to the rock-strewn worksite. Kate watches as Juliet and Pickett have a somewhat tense conversation. I have no idea what their conversation means, but since it’s going to be months before we have another new episode, I offer it up as conversation fodder.

Pickett: "I don’t understand. It’s supposed to be two weeks."

Juliet: "Our schedule’s been moved up."

Pickett: "Is that an order?"

Juliet: "It’s coming from him."

Pickett: "That’s stupid."

Juliet: "It’s not my call. It’s the way it is, Danny."

(Note: I think the "two weeks" bit refers to the "unpleasant" two weeks Ben alluded to during his beachside breakfast with Kate in "A Tale of Two Cities")

Juliet breaks off the conversation and calmly walks toward Kate. Kate, remembering Sawyer’s comment that Juliet would have no problem planting a bullet in her head, grabs her pick-axe and tries to hold it menacingly. Juliet isn’t impressed. She holds out a burlap hoodie and asks/instructs Kate to put it on.

Kate is astonished; there’s no way she’s going to wear that burlap hoodie. Maybe if it was a fleece hoodie with a cute little ball on top, but burlap? Uh-uh. Juliet, as usual, has the upper-hand. She tells Kate that Pickett is going to kill Sawyer unless Kate helps Juliet. Kate’s lip quivers and the opening bars of the "Kate-Sawyer Love Theme" swell on the soundtrack. Kate grabs the hoodie and pulls it over her head.

Moments later, Juliet guides Kate through the dark, mildew-covered walls of the Hydra station. She cracks the door adjacent to Jack’s aquarium cell and leads the still-blindfolded Kate into the room. Removing the hoodie with a magician’s flourish ("I give you ... JACK!"), Juliet exits the room so Jack and Kate can have a heart to heart (and so Juliet can watch from the closed-circuit monitors).

The sight of Kate brings a small smile to Jack’s face. Both approach the Plexiglass and fumble against it like smitten pre-teens, but they soon realize there’s no way they can "connect" through the plastic.

Jack gets down to business. He asks Kate where she’s being kept and Kate confirms that she and Sawyer are both holded up in bear cages. Worse, they’re being subjected to manual labor while Jack, apparently, gets to lounge around all day in a fish tank.

"Did they hurt you?" Jack asks, touching upon one of the big mysteries from "A Tale of Two Cities" (namely: What happened to Kate after her breakfast with Ben? Was she assaulted?)

Kate starts to cry.

"Jack, you have to do it," Kate says, ignoring Jack’s question. "This thing, this operation."

Jack takes a step back. He wasn’t expecting that.

Sensing Jack’s apprehension, Kate makes her case. She tells Jack the Others are going to kill Sawyer. But if Jack goes through with the operation, Juliet has promised that they’ll let Sawyer live and, as a bonus, they’ll let them all go.

Ah, but Kate hasn’t been dealing with Juliet for the last five episodes. Jack knows better.

"And you believed them," Jack says, disappointment dripping from every syllable.

"I had to," Kate says, realizing she’s a dumbass. "Jack, please."

"We’re done here," Jack snaps.

The shot cuts to Ben as he watches Jack and Kate’s conversation from the Hydra’s observation room. His eyes grow dark as he stares at the bank of television monitors through his evil round glasses. Ben orders Juliet (who’s standing behind him) to take Kate back to her cage.

Juliet, the dutiful soldier, follows Ben’s orders and guides Kate back to her cell. For the moment, the cage area is quiet — Sawyer is still working in the rock field. Juliet slowly locks the door to Kate’s cell. She puts on her best "I’m sorry" face and expresses disappointment and a tinge of regret at Kate’s failure to convince Jack to operate on Ben’s back.

Seconds later, Pickett and his henchmen push Sawyer out of the woods and shove him back into his bear cage. With Sawyer’s back turned, Pickett (the coward he is), cracks him across the head with the butt-end of his pistol. Sawyer drops to the floor of his cell as Pickett slams the door shut.

Sawyer, his eyes narrowed into the Sawyer Stare, glares at Pickett.

"You got anything you want to say to your girl, Pickett sneers, "you best say it tonight."

With that, Pickett, Juliet and the cabal of anonymous Dharma drones leave the area. Sawyer rises, dusts himself off, and looks at Kate. "And how was your day, honey?" he cracks. But this time, Kate doesn’t smile.

Instead, she tells Sawyer about her meeting with Jack. Sawyer is astonished — first he loses his vacation day and now Kate is staging a secret rendezvous with his rival?

As Kate continues to reveal the details of her Jack encounter, she scampers up the side of her cage and executes a perfect escape through the bars in the cell’s roof (we saw her pull this same maneuver in "Every Man for Himself").

Sawyer shouts at her to get back in the cell, but Kate won’t hear it. She drops to the ground and runs toward Sawyer’s cell. Sawyer continues to bark and plead. Kate grabs a rock and, with two weak little swings breaks the lock off Sawyer’s cage (that’s all it took?!). Swinging the door open, she orders Sawyer to run. Sawyer stays put. Kate tries again. "Run! Run! Why won’t you run?!" she screams.

Sawyer steps back and drops his voice. "I ain’t runnin’ because there ain’t no place to go," he admits.

Kate’s dumbfounded. Sawyer sees her confusion and decides to spill the beans on their "location." He tells her they’re on a different island — an "Alcatraz" — and "unless you’re a mermaid or you got a boat, there ain’t no point."

Kate goes off on Sawyer. She’s hoppin’ mad that he didn’t tell her this about Alcatraz business. Why would he keep it from her?

Sawyer bows his head. He didn’t tell her because he wanted to her to believe they still had a chance.

Sawyer’s admission soothes Kate. Actually, that’s an understatement. It doesn’t just soothe her, it turns her into a full-fledged horndog. She kisses Sawyer. Sawyer kisses back. They stop and separate for one of those "what are we about to do?" moments, then they start kissing again. And then the kissing turns to groping and the groping turns to undressing and the undressing turns into ... WHOA! Bear cage sex! And of course all this happens while the cage is wide open and Ben is watching via his porno cam.

Night falls and Kate and Sawyer are still knotted up in his bear cage, enjoying their post-coital bliss while munching on Viagra-laced fish biscuits. Sawyer asks Kate about that whole "I love him" thing that transpired in "Every Man for Himself" — he wants to know if she meant those words. Kate responds by kissing Sawyer deeply, which is supposed to fool us into thinking that she really loves him, but take note: she does not actually confirm it. Alas, Sawyer buys it. As they come up to breathe, Sawyer leans back. "I love you, too," he says with a grin.

Oh Sawyer, you wouldn’t be smiling if you knew Kate’s romantic history ...

CUE BACKSTORY SWOOSH

I could be wrong, but I think we now know every important biographical detail in Kate’s life. We know she killed her no-good father; we know she was responsible for the death of her childhood sweetheart; we know her Mom is dead; and we know she robbed a bank just so she could liberate a small toy airplane from a safe deposit box.

As this episode opens, the only questionable bit still remaining is Kate’s marital history. You’ll recall that way back in "Outlaws," Kate admitted to Sawyer that she had once been married (this occurred during a torrid game of "I Never"). In this current episode’s backstory segments, we meet her husband.

Personally, I could give a damn about Kate’s previous relationships, but thanks to some exceptional casting, I found a glimmer of entertainment in this episode’s backstory.

So here’s what we see and learn:

* Kate is living in Miami under the assumed name "Monica" (she’d already used "Phoebe" and "Rachel" at previous stops). As the backstory opens, it appears that little Katie has settled down. She’s about to get married to a Miami cop named Kevin.

And this is where the great casting saves the day. Kevin is played by "Firefly" star Nathan Fillion. Captain Mal is back! If you didn’t watch the dearly-departed TV show "Firefly" or see its big-screen counterpart "Serenity," you’ll have no idea who Nathan Fillion is. But trust me: He’s one of the industry’s most underrated actors and it’s an absolute pleasure to see him on the small screen again.

But I digress ...

* We see Kate (sorry, "Monica") and Kevin in their marital bliss and we watch as the marriage goes off without a hitch. No shoot outs or black horses or tiny toy airplanes are in sight.

But since Kate is a jackass, we know it’s only a matter of time before her bubble of domestitude gets popped by her criminal past.

* Kate’s faux joy begins to disintegrate one rainy night. After wandering the aisles of her local super market buying ingredients for "taco night" (I’m not making that up), she darts outside to a phone booth. Now, the sight of a phone booth is novel by itself (do they exist anymore?), but when Kate suddenly produces a small kitchen timer and sets it atop the phone, we know criminal deviousness is afoot. Kate dials a number ...

And the shot cuts to the Marshal answering his phone.

You’ll recall that "The Marshal" is Kate’s nemesis. For some inexplicable reason, he made it his life’s work to track Kate and bring her to justice for murdering her abusive, no-good father.

So Kate places the call and, with the kitchen timer clicking in the background, she asks/pleads with the Marshal to stop trailing her. The Marshal immediately knows what’s going on: Kate’s found herself a man-friend and she wants to settle down.

So the Marshal offers her a deal: If Kate is really going to settle down, as in barbecues-and-babies settling down, then the Marshal will give up the hunt. Kate goes silent as she mulls the offer.

The Marshal cracks a smile. "But you and I both know that’s not going to happen," he says with glee.

RIIIIIIING! The timer goes off. Kate slaps the phone down to prevent a trace. She breathes deeply. Once again, the Marshal got under her skin.

* Sometime later, Kevin surprises Kate with two tickets to Costa Rica. The couple never had a chance to go on a honeymoon, and Kevin aims to correct that oversight. (Note: the tickets are for Oceanic air ... natch).

Looking at the tickets, Kate feels the cold claw of reality tapping her on the shoulder.

* Kate’s life takes a dramatic turn when she takes a pregnancy test. The test is negative, but the results cause Kate to explode in tears. Is she upset because she isn’t having a baby, or, is she confronting her deeper desire to not be a mother?

(Note: This baby scene confirms that Kate was being honest when she told Sun that she had taken a pregnancy test back in "The Whole Truth. This is wildly uninteresting, but I aim to be thorough).

* In the final backstory segment, Kate opts to dismantle her marriage. She walks into her den, carrying two glasses of iced tea. She hands one to Kevin and he takes a sip.

Kevin is sitting in front of his laptop, so Kate asks him what he’s working on. He says he’s tidying up a few loose ends from a recent fugitive capture.

The word "fugitive" sets Kate off.

Tears well in her eyes. "What if I told you I was a fugitive?" Kate asks.

Kevin looks at her, thinking she’s kidding.

"What if I told you I was on the run for blowing up my father and it was only a matter of time before you found out?" Kate continues.

Kevin doesn’t think this is funny anymore, but Kate’s on a roll.

"I almost had a baby," Kate sobs. "Taco night? I don’t do taco night!"

Confusion etches across Kevin’s face. It’s as though he’s married to a Reaver.

"I love you but I can’t stay," Kate says softly. She turns to leave. Kevin grasps her arm, but as he rises, his legs shudder.

Kate steps back and tells Kevin she drugged him. Kevin drops to the floor, unconscious (how dare she do that to Capt. Mal!). Kate reaches into her pocket and grabs a necklace her mother-in-law gave her on her wedding day. She wraps the necklace around Kevin’s hand.

And that’s when the backstory ends.

One small thing I need to mention: While it’s great to see Nathan Fillion, it was disappointing to watch him go through the motions of a poorly constructed character. Fillion has a smart-ass charm that’s hard to find and it would have served the "Lost" crew well to work that charm into Kevin’s character. What they should have done was ask "Firefly" creator Joss Whedon to write the backstory ... good lord, can you imagine what Whedon and Fillion could do with this show?

The remainder of the Kate/Sawyer story is twisted into Jack’s plotline, so let’s move on to Key Point 2.

Point 2

Zeke/Tom To me, the single best development of season three is Jack’s metamorphosis from whiny prisoner to take-charge doctor. In this episode, Jack’s transition reaches its apex as he uses all his cunning and skill to obtain a power position.

But we’ll get to that in a moment. First, we need to see how this power play comes to fruition.

Jack opens the episode with guns blazing. Early on, we see him in his aquarium cell as he looks over Ben’s spinal x-rays. Juliet and Ben watch him from behind the Plexiglass wall in the room adjacent to Jack’s aquarium cell. Their demeanor is noticeably different than in previous episodes: Ben, in particular, is quivering like a Chihuahua in a thunderstorm.

Jack seems to be in full doctor mode: He’s pouring over lab tests and x-rays and asking Juliet about the status of the Dharma operating room. It appears Jack is going to perform the life-saving surgery on Ben’s cancer-ridden spine.

But appearances are deceiving.

Jack tells Ben that the tumor’s accelerated growth rate will make it inoperable within a week. Ben swallows, interpreting this comment as confirmation that Jack will perform the surgery. Ben tells him he’s ready to get cracked open.

And that’s when Jack unleashes a zinger.

See, Ben got the wrong idea: Jack isn’t going to do the surgery.

"I just wanted you to understand how you’re gonna die," Jack sneers.

Jack snaps, telling Ben and Juliet that there’s no way he’s going to do the surgery because there’s no way he believes them. Juliet tries to argue, but Jack whips a folder at the Plexiglass and silences her.

Ben blinks. "Well, Jack, I’m disappointed in your decision," he says.

Jack plants himself in front of Ben. "Well, Ben, at least you won’t have to be disappointed for very long."

DAAAAAAAMN

So, Juliet and Ben leave with their tails between their legs and Jack opts to spend the day lounging on the table in his aquarium cell, relishing his victory. As he rests, the cell’s intercom starts to crackle and buzz. Jack presses the TALK button, but, as usual, it’s busted.

Or so it seems.

A woman’s voice emerges from the static (it sounds like Alex). She tells Jack to try the door.

Jack pushes the heavy handle on his cell door. It creaks and the door opens.

Peering into the hallway, Jack sees he’s alone. Creeping along the wall, he comes upon another door and swings it open. Inside, he spots a bank of six closed-circuit televisions: He’s uncovered Ben’s observation room.

He casually glances at the TVs, but his attention is soon diverted by a closet on the far side of the room. He opens it to find a small-arms locker outfitted with rifles and pistols. He grabs a pistol and loads it like an expert (adding further credence to the theory that Jack has military training).

Jack goes back to the TV monitors and gives them a closer look. His eyes settle on Monitor 2 ...

Holy ... crap ...

He sees Kate and Sawyer wrapped around each other, shirtless and loverly. He blinks and drops his eyes, realizing that Sawyer, once again, has worked his voodoo on one of Jack’s love interests (remember: Ana-Lucia was initially introduced as a potential romance partner for Jack, but in the end Sawyer was the only one who successfully extricated Ana from her pants).

As Jack gawks at Monitor 2, a figure appears in the hallway.

"If I were a betting man, I would have put the money on you," Ben says in his best Henry Gale voice.

Jack spins and points his pistol at Ben’s chest.

"I guess this is the proverbial nail in my coffin," Ben says, calmly taking note of the gun aimed at his heart.

Not so fast, Benny!

The sight of Sawyer and Kate in flagrante delicto creates a seismic shift in Jack. "Tomorrow," he says, confusing the hell out of Ben (and me).

Tomorrow?

Wait a minute. Jack’s going to do it! Jack’s going to do the operation!

Seeing Kate lounging across Sawyer’s lap breaks Jack’s will. He tells Ben that he needs to get off the island (yeah, but he doesn’t know which island he’s on — BWAHAHAHA!). Jack agrees to do the operation, but he asks for Ben’s word. Ben, of course, gives it. Why Ben’s current "word" is different from any other "word" is beyond me, but in Jack’s mind it all seems to make sense. This, dear friends, is why Jack is insane.

Sidenote: Ben has to be kicking himself for not figuring this Kate thing out sooner. He didn’t need to concoct an intricate plan! All he needed was to get Kate to bang someone else (easy enough) and, BLAM, Jack is his medical servant!

But, now that I think about it, maybe Kate’s dalliance with Sawyer was part of the plan. She got out of her cage with absolute ease ... and she and Sawyer were left to their own devices for a very long time. Hmm ...

Moving on ...

The next morning, Jack and Juliet prep for Ben’s surgery. In the scrub room outside the Dharma OR, Jack tells Juliet he needs her to be Johnny on the spot during the operation. Juliet remains calm (of course), but she clearly bristles at Jack’s condescending tone. Get used to it Jules ...

Inside the operating room, Ben is shirtless and lying face-down on the table. Still conscious and alert, he asks Jack if he ever gets nervous before an operation. Jack says he used to, but not anymore, especially when he’s operating on someone who has the value of a frozen cadaver.

"Whatever happens, everything will be very different, won’t it?" Ben says, trying to be coy and evil, but failing because he’s half-naked on an operating table.

"No doubt about it," Jack says.

Oddly, Ben then asks Juliet if Alex "asked about" him. Juliet lies and says she didn’t — we saw Alex clearly ask to speak to Ben earlier in the episode. It’s a weird exchange that suggests a connection between Alex and Ben (could Ben be Alex’s adoptive father?). Moreover, it also suggests that Juliet and her revolutionary-minded Dharma friends are intentionally keeping Alex and Ben apart.

The Alex exchange lingers for a moment, but Ben soon lets it pass. He puts his head down. Per jack’s instructions, Ben counts backwards from 20. He hits 18 and the anaesthesia kicks in.

Jack picks up a scalpel and delicately slices into Ben’s back. Juliet and an anonymous Dharma drone watch Jack perform his handiwork. Upstairs, in an observation room, Zeke, Pickett and another Dharma drone look down into the OR.

As Jack works, Pickett turns to his Dharma drone and instructs him to exit the room. Outside the observation area, Pickett unholsters his gun and starts down the stairs. The Dharma drone notes that Pickett’s timing is a bit inappropriate: Ben just went under the knife.

And this is when Pickett delivers a line of dialogue that completely stirs up the conjecture pot:

"Ben just put his life in the hands of one of them," Pickett says. "Shephard wasn’t even on Jacob’s list."

Uh, what?

Who’s Jacob? What list? The only "Lost"-related "Jacob" I could dig up is Jacob Vanderfield, a character in the Lost Experience game. Is this the guy Pickett is talking about?

Unfortunately, Pickett isn’t in the mood to offer more details. Homicidal urges are bubbling through his system, and he knows exactly how to quell those feelings of rage.

The scene cuts back to Jack and Juliet in the operating room. The pair go through the medical motions, slicing and dabbing and cutting. Everything appears to be going well, so Juliet steps away for a second. With Juliet distracted, Jack picks up the scalpel. He puts his head down and PLUCKS at the hole in Ben’s back.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Juliet and the Dharma drone look up. Beeping isn’t good. (In Juliet’s mind it is, but we’ll get to that in Point 4).

The drone swoops in to check on Ben.

THWACK!

Jack cracks him across the face! The drone drops to the floor!

Jack orders Juliet to back away. He turns and looks up at Zeke, who’s watching incredulously from the observation room above. Jack summons him to the glass. He tells Zeke that he’s just cut Ben’s kidney sac, and if that incision doesn’t get stitched up in an hour, Ben’s as dead as dust. "Now get in here, and bring that walkie-talkie," Jack barks.

The scene cuts to Sawyer and Kate in Sawyer’s cage. The two are dressed, but sheets of rain have drenched them both. Pickett and his henchman emerge and approach the cage menacingly.

Pickett has only one goal: turn Sawyer’s head into a splatter pattern. He stomps through the open cell door. Kate feebly tries to block Pickett, but he tosses her aside. With Pickett’s attention momentarily diverted, Sawyer clocks Pickett across the chin and makes a grab for the gun. The two grapple against the bars. It seems like Sawyer might gain the upper hand ...

But Sawyer looks toward the other end of the cage and sees that Pickett’s Dharma drone has Kate pinned against the bars with the business end of his gun planted on her skull. Kate tells Sawyer to fight Pickett, but Sawyer’s soft spot for Kate is enormous (as is his not-so-soft spot) and there’s no way he’s going to let his beloved’s brain take on a bullet. He backs off.

Pickett swings Sawyer out of the cage and forces him to his knees. Kate screams through the bars, working under the incorrect assumption that high-pitched screaming is going to change Pickett’s murderous mind.

Pickett takes a step back and points the gun at Sawyer’s head.

"This is for Colleen, you son of a bitch," Pickett growls.

Sawyer narrows his eyes and turns his head away defiantly.

Kate screams.

Rain falls.

The music swells.

CRACKLE ZIZZZ CRACKLE "Danny, you there?"

What the?

Pickett looks down at the walkie-talkie barking from his belt. He grabs the radio with his non-gun hand and answers.

Through the radio, Zeke orders Pickett to hand the walkie-talkie to Kate. Pickett, as you can imagine, isn’t too keen on this idea, but when Zeke informs him that Jack is holding Ben and his kidney sac hostage, Pickett complies. He tosses the walkie-talkie to Kate.

Inside the operating room, Zeke chucks his walkie-talkie to Jack.

Jack walks to the opposite side of the OR. He snaps the radio on.

"Kate, you have about an hour head start before they come after you," Jack says calmly.

Kate’s confused. She asks Jack where he is.

Jack ignores the question. He’s got scheming to do.

"You remember what I told you on the beach, the day of the crash? Do you remember what story I told you when you were stitching me up?" Jack asks, harkening WAY back to the opening moments of season one.

Kate doesn’t answer. Jack grows angry.

"DO YOU REMEMBER!" he barks.

"Yes! Yes I remember!" Kate says (finally).

Jack lowers his voice to a normal, non-Hulk register. "When you get safe, you radio me and you tell me that story. If I don’t get a call from you in the next hour I’m going to know something went wrong and [Jack turns toward Juliet] ... HE DIES!"

Kate whimpers and whines. "Jack, I can’t leave without you!"

"Yes you can!" Jack shouts.

"Jack, I can’t!"

Jack taps into the deepest, darkest parts of his nature and summons forth a guttural hell-cry.

"Kate, dammit, RUN!"

THUMP. THE SCREEN GOES BLACK.

It ends! The show ends!

Now, I know some of you are wondering what this "story" is that Jack wants Kate to recount. For those of you who aren’t big geeks and don’t have the "Lost" DVDs at arm’s reach, the following is a recap of the season one story Jack tells Kate when they first meet on the beach after the plane crash. This conversation occurs in part one of the "Pilot" episode.

Kate finds Jack as he tries to stitch up a gaping wound on his back. He asks her if she’s ever used a needle and she says she once made the drapes in her apartment. She apprehensively agrees to help sew up Jack’s deep gash.

As she digs the needle into his skin, Kate notes that Jack doesn’t seem afraid. This is when Jack tells his story:

"Well, fear’s sort of an odd thing," he says. "When I was in residency, my first solo procedure was a spinal surgery on a 16-year-old kid; a girl. And at the end, after 13 hours, I was closing her up and I accidentally ripped her dural sac. It’s right at the base of the spine where all the nerves come together; membranes as thin as tissue. So, it ripped open. Nerves just spilled out of her like angel hair pasta. Spinal fluid flowing out of her and I ... The terror was just so crazy, so real. And I knew I had to deal with it. So I just made a choice. I’d let the fear in. Let it take over. Let it do its thing. But only for five seconds, that’s all I was gonna give it. So I started to count. One, two, three, four, five. And it was gone. I went back to work, sewed her up and she was fine."

So there you go! That’s the story!

How funny would it be if Kate escapes and makes her way to safety only to tell the wrong story? "So one time, when you were little, you got beat up by some bullies and you concluded that your daddy was an alcoholic and someday you’d suspect him of sleeping with your wife and that’s why the Red Sox will never win the World Series ... that’s the story, right? Jack? Uh, Jack?"

Point 3

Paulo I’m happy to report that last week’s dispatch of Eko was not forgotten in this episode. "I Do" contains a short plotline that deals with the aftermath of Eko’s death.

The story picks up where it left off in "The Cost of Living." Locke, Sayid, Desmond and Nikki/Paulo stand over Eko’s body as Locke drapes a sheet over the fallen warlord. Nikki asks what happened to Eko and Locke, lying through his teeth, suggests it might have been the polar bear.

Locke decides to bury Eko near the Pearl hatch. He feels the other castaways have attended too many recent funerals, and seeing Eko in his hematomic state won’t help morale. He grabs his pack and says he’s going to sneak back to the beach camp to grab shovels. Sayid offers to go, but Locke tells him it’s not necessary. Sayid then insists on going. Locke realizes Sayid isn’t asking. He’s telling.

So Locke and Sayid head off and once they’re out of range of Desmond and Nikki/Paulo, Sayid asks Locke what really killed Eko.

Locke stops. He doesn’t bother lying.

"Folks back at the beach call it the ’monster’," Locke says. "I don’t really have a name for it."

Sayid asks Locke what he thinks "it" is and Locke says it might be the thing that brought the castaways to the island. Sayid catches wind of Locke’s undercurrent of fate, and he asks Locke if he believes the monster decided Eko should die.

"I believe Eko died for a reason," Locke says. "I just don’t know what it is yet."

With that, Locke heads into the woods and Sayid follows.

Later in the episode, Locke and Sayid return to the Pearl hatch and Locke leads a brief funeral service. Locke and Sayid made a slight detour on their way back to the beach camp to pick up Eko’s Jesus Stick (remember, Locke was hit by the stick at the beginning of "Further Instructions"). As Locke earnestly talks about Eko dying for a reason, he kneels and hammers the Jesus Stick into the ground.

As he does, he spots an inscription on the handle of the stick.

"Lift up your eyes and look North," it reads.

A twinkle sparks to life in Locke’s eyes. It’s a clue! The inscription is a clue!

And that’s when this small storyline concludes. Point 4 Island We’ll close with a few observations and questions:

* I have serious doubts about Jack’s escape plan. He’s shown a predilection for hot-headedness in the past, and we know he isn’t the island’s best strategist (whatever happened to that Other army he and Ana were building?). Moreover, he doesn’t know that he, Kate and Sawyer are all trapped on "Alcatraz."

* How is Kate going to escape? Will Sawyer come with her? I’m assuming he will since Jack’s got the upper hand and Danny has already shown restraint when Ben’s life is on the line (after all, he could have shot Sawyer and then handed the walkie-talkie to Kate). Will Alex figure into the escape attempt? Will Alex’s missing boyfriend, Carl, be involved?

* Even if Jack is able to get Kate and Sawyer to safety, how is he going to save his own ass? Let’s assume he completes the surgery on Ben, and Ben survives. Will Ben’s gratitude gloss over Jack’s actions in the OR? Will Ben keep his word and get him off "Alcatraz" only to drop him back on the original island?

* How does Juliet figure into all this? Does Jack’s OR double-cross work to her advantage? Was the posterboard message she delivered in "The Cost of Living" legit? If it was, doesn’t she want Ben to die? If it wasn’t real, what is she going to do to save Ben’s life?

* Kate better watch her back. Sawyer’s last sexual liaison led to Ana-Lucia’s final act. I can see it now: Michael will stage a stunning return as Dharma’s Angel of Abstinence and finish off Kate and Sawyer. Either that, or the STD Sawyer alluded to having in "Deus Ex Machina" will soon spread like wildfire among the island population.

* One last thing: I want to thank Lost Blog regular Cecil Rose for compiling a phenomenal recap of the Lost Experience game. If you didn’t have the time to play during the summer, consult Cecil’s write-up.