To use Daniel Faraday the physicist's analogy, time is skipping like a needle on a phonograph record now that Ben has moved the island. Those who remain behind suddenly find themselves in the present, then various pasts, time keeps shifting all the, um, time. Their survival depends on stabilizing the island in one time period, but Daniel isn't quite sure how to do that.
At the episode's start, we see Daniel way back in time--back around the time when the Dharma Initiative first showed up. We see Dr. Marvin Candle (or whatever his name is) filming one of his orientation videos when suddenly there's a panic at the Orchid Station construction site. A huge energy source has been tapped underground and a miner has been injured. Candle knows about the source and says it can be harnessed to travel through time and the workers shouldn't mess with it. Daniel is one of the miners.
Later, we catch up with Locke, who's on his own having been separated from the Others. He's shifting back and forth through time, when he's located by Richard Alpert, who tells him he only has moments to talk. He says that Locke will encounter him again, but in a different time frame. Richard won't remember having met Locke then, but will trust him if Locke gives him a compass, which he hands to Locke before time rapidly shifts again.
Daniel, meanwhile (in the time frame where he's still with the other left behind folk, not disguised as a Dharma worker)visit Hatch-era Desmond. Desmond has no idea who Daniel is, not having met him yet. But Daniel says Desmond will remember this visit when he's off the island. And when that happens, Desmond must go to Oxford University and find Daniel's mother. Sure enough, a little later back in civilization, we see Desmond waking up from a dream, in which he remembers this encounter. He tells Penny he needs to go to Oxford. Stat.
Also back in civilization, Ben has persuaded Jack that everyone who made it off the island needs to go back. The survival of those left behind depends on it. Persuading Sun may be tricky though. We see her meeting with Charles Widmore, saying that they have a mutual desire--to see Ben dead. Later, we see Sun meeting with Kate. Although friendly at first, it's clear that Sun is angry at the other survivors and blames them partially for Jin's death on the freighter.
It'll also be a challenge getting Sayid and Hurley to come along. After helping Hurley escape from the mental hospital--an escapade during which Sayid killed three people--they are wanted by the law. Sayid, knocked out by a tranquilizer dart is secretly brought by Hurley's dad to Jack for treatment, while Hurley is still hiding out in his parents' house. There, Ben tries to persuade him to come along. But Hurley is distrustful, says no way and turns himself in to the LAPD officers staking out the home.
A little earlier, however, we find that Hurley is still seeing dead people, namely Ana Lucia, who tells him it's important not to get caught by the police. He's ignoring her advice, apparently.
Meanwhile, Kate and Aaron are on the run after two "attorneys" arrive at her door demanding she take a blood test to prove she is actually Aaron's mother.
We see, too, that Ben is working with other/Other folks, apparently unbeknown to Jack, who are helping him in the scheme to get the survivors back to the island. One of these people is the jewelry shop lady (previously identified as Mrs. Hawking) that Desmond during one of his post Hatch implosion time/space leaps. It seems like she's figured out where the island is and how to get back there. And one of Ben's other/Other secret cohorts runs a butcher shop and she's kindly agreed to let him stash Lock/Jeremy Bentham's body there, because that needs to go back to the island too.
Back on the island, we see that Charlotte has developed severe headaches and nosebleeds. Daniel seems to know why this is happening, but doesn't explain. The island survivors are trying to get along, as their camp has vanished/hasn't been built yet due to all the time shifts. Suddenly they are attacked by flaming arrows and flee into the trees. Sawyer and Juliet run off on their own and are captured by a group of soldiers who ask "what are you doing on our island?" They threaten to harm Juliet unless Sawyer talks when, suddenly, the soldiers are attacked. By Locke.
Questions/Observations/Speculation:
* Obviously, Ben will manage to get all these folks back to the island, but how? And what, beyond that happening, is his agenda beyond that? No doubt there's a lot of hidden self-interest to his scheme.
* Is what's happening on the island really what was supposed to happen when Ben moved the island? Or did he somehow arrange for this to happen, so he'd be able to go back and resume power?
* Who are the attorneys who visit Kate working for?
* Who are the guys Sayid kills working for?
* How the heck will they get back to the island? How/when does Locke get off it?
* Why is Locke dead?
* Apart from being very confusing (for the characters and viewers), how is all this time shifting dangerous to those on the island and the island itself?
* What's wrong with Charlotte? It's been hinted she was born on the island. Is that the reason for her health problems. We've learned that all babies born on the island, and their mothers, die. Why this is so, we don't know?
* How is Daniel's mother going to help out?
* Is Daniel's mom Mrs. Hawking? Seems feasible.
* What's up with the many named Dr. Marvin Candle/Mark Wickmund, etc., who we now see identified as Pierre Chang?
* Who was shooting arrows at the island survivors? The Others? And who are the soldiers who caught Sawyer and Juliet? Dharma folks? Rosseau's people? Someone else?
* Apparently Richard Alpert's compass is a sort of "constant" that allows him to keep his bearings in time and space. He seems pretty knowledgeable about time travel, too. How so?
* Where are the Others? Are they time shifting too?
* Where's Jacob?
* Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" is playing in the convenience store Hurley visits in order to buy a new shirt when he and Sayid go on the lam. Shortly afterwards, he's pulled over by dead police officer Ana Lucia.
Also see:
* Preview for next week's episode: Jughead.
* Teaser text about Jughead.
* Premiere episode promo pictures.
* What we STILL don't know.
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