Lost season 5 episode guide: episode 5.14 "The Variable"

Summary:

We learn that Daniel is returning to the island from Dharma HQ in Ann Arbor where he's been doing some sort of research. He's back because he's learned that Jack and the gang are there and shouldn't be. He has a plan on how to fix things, but it's a wild one.

It's clear that the jig is up in terms of the future folk continuing to blend in with the 1970s Dharma crowd, what with security guy Phil bound and gagged in Sawyer's closet, but nobody is sure what to do. That makes everyone a lot more willing for everyone to listen to Daniel's crazy scheme. Basically, he wants wipe the whole Oceanic crash and the survivors' history on the island out of the time line.



Daniel plans to do this by making sure the electromagnetic "incident" that resulted in the construction of the Swan Station hatch never happens--as it's about to in the curent timeline. He hopes to do so by convincing Dr. Chang to get everone off the island so he can explode Jughead, the H-bomb that the Others' buried on the island back in the 1950s. Here's his reasoning:

* In the 1970s, Dr. Chang's exploration crew accidentally taps the huge source of pent-up electromagnetic energy under the island. People are killed, there is an "incident," but the site, under the Swan Station is covered up with the Hatch and the energy is safely dispersed by a person pressing a button every 108 minutes. That person eventually becomes Desmond.

* Daniel knows this incident is about to occur.

* If he convinces Dr. Chang that he is indeed from the future and knows what's about to occur, Daniel hopes to get everyone off the island, whereupon he'll detonate the bomb.

* If the bomb goes off, there's no Hatch and, hence, no button for Desmond to fail to push. That means there's no Oceanic crash and no bad nastiness that follows: Battles between the survivors and the Others, Widmore's commandoes being sent to the island and killing folks, etc.

* It's clear that Daniel wants to do this in order to prevent Charlotte, who he again sees as a young girl living among the Dharmaites, from dying as she did in the future.



Kate and Jack decide to help Daniel, which means visiting the Others and finding the location of the bomb. Sawyer, Juliette, Miles and Hurley, however, decide that they are supposed to be on the island and want to stay there. They think Daniel's plan is crazy. They also realize that their cover is blown with the Dharma Initiative and decide they need to head out into the jungle.

Things get tricky, however, when Kate, Jack and Daniel are spotted by Radzinski and some other Dharmaites stealing weapons and a jeep before they go see the Others. There's a brief gun battle and Kate, Jack and Daniel get away. Radzinski is wounded in the hand and rushes to get Sawyer--who, afterall, is supposed to be the Dharma security chief. But Radzinski then finds Phil locked in the closet of Sawyer's place and realizes that Sawyer can't be trusted either. He and his men capture Sawyer and the rest of the gang.



Meanwhile, Kate, Jack and Daniel find the Others' camp. Daniel tells the other two to hang back as he goes to confront those in the camp. He walks in with a gun, demanding to see Eloise--who we see in flashbacks is his mother. We also learn that Widmore is Daniel's father. Richard attempts to get Daniel to calm down and give up the gun, but before he can do so, Daniel is shot--by Eloise, who comes up behind him. Eloise demands to know who Daniel is and he says, "I'm your son. You knew this was going to happen, but you let it happen anyway."



Also in flashbacks, we see that though Desmond was wounded in his L.A. scuffle with Ben, he recovers. Eloise goes to the hospital to check on Desmond and has a brief conversation with Penny. Outside, she encounters Widmore and we learn that Daniel is their child.



We also see past glimpses of Daniel's upbringing with Eloise. He's gifted scientifically as a boy and Eloise demands he put all his energy into pursuing scientific discoveries, he has no time for anything else. We also learn how Daniel came to join Charlotte, Miles and Frank in going to the island. Widmore recruited him, saying that the island would make him well--Daniel's memory has been shattered due to his time experiments--and Daniel agrees to do so.

Questions/observations/speculation:

* Will Daniel recover from the gunshot wound?

* Why did Eloise encourage Daniel to go to the island, knowing that, in the past, she shot him there? Does she understand the full chain of events? Does she remember shooting a stranger in the past who identified himself as her son? Does she realize all this has to happen so the island will be preserved? Or is she somehow hoping to change the past?



* Earlier in the season, what did Daniel hope to accomplish by convincing Desmond to find Eloise?
* Would Daniel also wipe himself out of his existence by exploding the bomb? What about the Others? Would they leave the island or be killed? Will his scheme work? (I'm thinking not, since we still have another season to go).

* How/when/why did Eloise leave the island? Was it before Widmore was banished? Was Daniel born on the island? Why did Eloise and Widmore not remain a couple? Who is Penny's mother?

* What will happen to Sawyer and the rest? Can they convince Chang that they aren't Others, but that they come from the future?

* Charlotte, as a young girl, tells Daniel "I'm not allowed to have chocolate before dinner". These are her last words to him before she dies in the future--when her mind is skipping through time.



Also see:

See a preview for next week's episode: "Follow the Leader."

Read spoilers for "Follow the Leader."

What we STILL don't know.

Previous episodes:

* 5.1/5.2: "Because You Left" and "The Lie"
* 5.3: "Jughead"
*5.4: "The Little Prince"
* 5.5: "This Place is Death"
* 5.6: "316"
* 5.7: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"
* 5.8: "LaFleur"
* 5.9: "Namaste"
* 5.10: "He's Our You"
* 5.11: "Whatever Happened Happened"
* 5. 12: "Dead is Dead"
* 5.13: "Some Like it Hoth"

Lost season 5 ep. 5. 15 "Follow the Leader" preview

Lost season 5: Spoilers: Ep. 5. 15 "Follow the Leader" May 6, 2009

Highlight the hidden text for spoilers about the May 6 episode of "Lost."


JACK AND KATE FAIL TO AGREE ON THE BEST DIRECTION TO TAKE TO SAVE
THEIR FELLOW ISLAND SURVIVORS, AND SAWYER AND JULIET COME
UNDER SCRUTINY FROM THE DHARMA INITIATIVE, ON ABC'S "LOST"
"Follow the Leader" - Jack and Kate find themselves at odds over the direction to take to save their fellow island survivors, Locke further solidifies his stance as leader of "The Others," and Sawyer and Juliet come under scrutiny from the Dharma Initiative, on "Lost," WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, David S. Lee as younger Charles Widmore, Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking, Leslie Ishii as Lara, Sebastian Siegel as Erik, Kevin Chapman as Mitch, Elisabeth Blake as Vanessa, William Makozak as Captain Bird, Victoria Goring as mother and Maya Henssens as young girl.

"Follow the Leader" was written by Paul Zbyszewski & Elizabeth Sarnoff and directed by Stephen Williams.

"Lost" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish audio via SAP. A TV parental guideline will be assigned closer to airdate.

This episode of "Lost" will be available on ABC.com the day after airing on the network for users to watch online.

Watch Lost tonight!

See a preview for tonight's episode. Read spoilers here! Come back here tomorrow for a full roundup of everything that happened.

Lost season 5 finale spoilers!

Highlight the hidden text to see spoilers for the May 13 season 5 finale of "Lost":

JACK WANTS TO SET THINGS RIGHT ON THE ISLAND BUT IS MET WITH STRONG RESISTANCE BY THOSE CLOSE TO HIM, AND LOCKE ASSIGNS BEN A DIFFICULT TASK, ON THE SEASON FINALE OF "LOST"
"The Incident," Parts 1 & 2 - Jack's decision to put a plan in action in order to set things right on the island is met with some strong resistance by those close to him, and Locke assigns Ben a difficult task, on the season finale of "Lost," WEDNESDAY, MAY 13 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are L. Scott Caldwell as Rose, Sam Anderson as Bernard, John Terry as Christian Shephard, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Brad William Henke as Bram, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking, Andrea Gabriel as Noor "Nadia" Abed Jaseem, Kevin Chapman as Mitch, Mark Pellegrino as man #1, Titus Welliver as man #2, Emily Rae Argenti as young Kate, Tanner Maguire as young Tom, George Gerdes as Mr. Springer, Agnes Kwak as Aunt Soo, Amy Stewart as mother, Rylee Fansler as young Juliet, Savannah Lathem as young Rachel, William Makozak as Captain Bird, Daniel James Kunkel as anesthesiologist, Sonya Masinovsky as Russian nurse, Keegan Boos as young Sawyer, Colby French as Uncle Doug, John Pete as prison clerk, Michael Trisler as father, Sally Davis as woman and Adam Bazzi as cab driver.

"The Incident," Parts 1 & 2 were written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse and directed by Jack Bender.

Lost to "Flash Forward"

Commercial breaks in next week's episode of "Lost" will promote an upcoming sci-fi series called "Fast Forward," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The mystery spots will in fact be for "Flash Forward." They are said to be part of an elaborate marketing campaign for the drama, which has not officially been picked up but is quietly being positioned on ABC's schedule for next season.

From the moment in September when the "Flash" spec script by filmmaker David S. Goyer and "Star Trek" veteran Brannon Braga landed at ABC with a series commitment, the project has been considered a perfect companion for "Lost."

Based on Robert J. Sawyer's sci-fi novel, "Flash," starring Joseph Fiennes, chronicles the aftermath of a global event in which everyone in the world blacks out for 2 minutes, 17 seconds and has a mysterious vision of the future.

Lost season 5 episode guide: episode 5.13 "Some Like it Hoth"

Summary:

We learn about Miles' ability to "talk with dead people" with glimpses of his childhood and pre-island visit life. And it's confirmed that he is, indeed, the son of the many-named Dr. Pierre Chang. In fact Miles is present on the island as both a baby and his current (or whatever)adult self!

Also, in a flashback, we see how Miles was recruited by Naomi Dorit to go to the island as part of the "Fantastic Four" team with Charlotte, Faraday and Frank. And we see how he's suddenly abducted by a van-load of mysterious folks who know all about his past and powers and urge him not to go to the island as part of this Widmore-sanctioned team as he'll be "on the wrong side" if he does so.



We also see that Dr. Chang, Horace and Radzinsky are part of a "Circle of Trust" involved in secretive work revolving around the construction of the Hatch. Sawyer is evidently part of the circle, as well. Miles is brought into the group, too, when he's ordered by Horace to bring the body of a dead Dharma-ite to Chang so it can be examined and/or secretly disposed of. Initially, it looks like the dead man was killed by a gunshot to the head. But Miles, using his powers, has determined that the man was killed when one of his teeth, containing a metal filling, shot out the top of his head.

Meanwhile, security guy Phil has caught onto Sawyer and Kate's roles in young Ben's disappearance from the Dharma hospital. Sawyer knocks Phil out when confronted, but it's not clear what he intends to do from there. Kill him? Leave him to the Others?

Ben's dad, Roger, is also suspicious of Kate, as she showed so much interest in Ben after the boy was shot.



At episode's end, Dr. Chang dispatches Miles to the docks to meet some "researchers from Ann Arbor" who have arrived on the sub. Who pops his head out of sub when Miles shows up? None other than the not-seen-in-a-while Daniel Faraday, who says "Hey Miles, long time no see."



Questions/observations/speculation:

* How can can Miles exist as two people in the same time frame?!!!

* What led to Miles' mother and himself, as a child, leaving the island?

* The van people who abduct Miles ask him if he knows "what lies in the shadow of the statue." This is the same riddle/password Ilana asked of Frank in the last episode. Are these folks Others, working for Ben? Or are they part of some other faction we don't yet know about?

* The man in the van who speaks to Miles is the same guy who's with Ilana on Hydra Island in last week's episode.



* What is the "circle of trust"? Are they a rogue element of the Dharma Initiative? Or is the overall Initiative just a cover for them? Are they secretly part of the Others?

* How much does Sawyer know about the circle of trust? What has he done for them so far?

* Where has Daniel been and under what guise is he returning to the island?

* What is Sawyer going to do with Phil? How will he explain what happened to Ben?

* We learn via the recruitment scene with Miles and Naomi that Widmore evidently is behind the faked Oceanic crash evidence.

* Miles and Charlotte were both on the island as children. It's unclear whether Faraday had been on the island before going there as part of Widmore's team or not. But he is the son of Eloise Hawking, who was on the island in the 1950s. Were these three recruited because Widmore needed them to "go back" to the island for some reason? What about Frank Lapidus, does he have a prior history on the island as well?

* Hurley witnesses "the numbers" being stamped onto the cover the hatch? We still don't know the significance of these ditches or why they pop up all the time.



* Dr. Chang is seen reading baby Miles a book about polar bears.



Also see:

See preview for next week's episode: "The Variable."

Read spoilers for "The Variable."

What we STILL don't know.

Previous episodes:

* 5.1/5.2: "Because You Left" and "The Lie"
* 5.3: "Jughead"
*5.4: "The Little Prince"
* 5.5: "This Place is Death"
* 5.6: "316"
* 5.7: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"
* 5.8: "LaFleur"
* 5.9: "Namaste"
* 5.10: "He's Our You"
* 5.11: "Whatever Happened Happened"
* 5. 12: "Dead is Dead"

Lost season 5 ep. 5.14 preview "The Variable" April 29

Watch Lost tonight!

See a preview for tonight's episode and read spoilers here! Then, come back here tomorrow for a full rundown of what happened.

Lost season 5: Spoilers ep. 5.14 "The Variable" April 29, 2009

Highlight the hidden text for spoilers

THE TIME OF RECKONING BEGINS AS DANIEL FARADAY COMES
CLEAN REGARDING WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT THE ISLAND,
ON ABC'S "LOST"

This Installment Marks the 100th-Episode Milestone for the Series

"The Variable" - On the 100th episode milestone for the series, the time of reckoning has begun when Daniel Faraday comes clean regarding what he knows about the island, on "Lost," WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Sonya Walger as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Fionnula Flanagan as Eloise Hawking, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Sarah Farooqui as Theresa, Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking, Wendy Pearson as E.R. doctor, Todd Coolidge as paramedic, Peggy Anne Siegmund as caretaker, Jennifer Sojot as E.R. nurse, Spencer Allyn as young Daniel Faraday, Michael Dempsey as foreman, Maya Henssens as young girl, Ariston Green as workman, Marvin DeFreitas as young Charlie and Brad Berryhill as anxious guy.

"The Variable" was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards.

"Lost" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish audio via SAP. This program carries a TV-14,V parental guideline.

This episode of "Lost" will be available on ABC.com the day after airing on the network for users to watch online.

Lost season 5: Spoilers ep. 5.13 "Some Like it Hoth" April 14, 2009

Highlight the hidden text for info about the April 14 episode of "Lost."

BEN IS TAKEN FROM THE INFIRMARY -- WHICH RAISES SUSPICIONS
ABOUT A POSSIBLE SECURITY BREACH, AND MILES IS FORCED TO WORK
WITH HURLEY TO DELIVERING AN IMPORTANT PACKAGE TO A TOP
DHARMA OFFICIAL, ON ABC'S "LOST"
"Some Like It Hoth" - Suspicions about a possible breach intensify after Ben is taken from the infirmary, and a reluctant Miles is forced to work with Hurley when he's asked to deliver an important package to a top Dharma official, on "Lost," WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang, Marsha Thomason as Naomi Dorrit, Doug Hutchison as Horace Goodspeed, Patrick Fischler as Phil, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, Eric Lange as Radzinsky, Leslie Ishii as Lara, Brad William Henke as Bram, Dean Norris as Howard Gray, Tim DeZarn as Trevor, Lance Ho as young Miles and Linda Rose Herman as Evelyn.
"Some Like It Hoth" was written by Melinda Hsu Taylor & Greggory Nations and directed by Jack Bender.

"Lost" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish audio via SAP. A TV parental guideline will be assigned closer to airdate.

This episode of "Lost" will be available on ABC.com the day after airing on the network for users to watch online.

Lost season 5 episode guide: episode 5.12 "Dead is Dead"

Summary:

Why did Ben return to the island when he wasn't supposed to? To face judgment, he tells Locke. Ben is haunted by his actions, which led to the death at Alex.

In a series of flashbacks, we see how he came to become Alex's father and learn more about his conflicts with Charles Widmore.

Widmore, as leader of the Others, it seems ordered Ben to kill Danielle, Alex's mother, because she is an interloper on the island. Ben and a young Ethan go to do the job, but aren't aware Danielle has a baby. Instead of killing Danielle, Ben takes the baby (Alex) and tells Danielle to stay away from the Others.

Back at the Others' camp, Widmore isn't happy about this. But Ben questions whether the island would "want" the Others' to kill an infant.



In later flashbacks, we see that Ben has supplanted Widmore as the Others' leader. Widmore--who evidently broke "rules" by repeatedly leaving the island and having a daughter with a woman who is an outsider--is banished from the island, taken away on the Dharma submarine.



In another flashback, we also see that Ben had tracked down Desmond and Penny before the Ajira flight and had intended to kill Penny to get back at Widmore, who's soldiers killed Alex. Desmond, however, prevents this from happening, beating the heck out of Ben and throwing him in to the ocean. This explains Ben's beat-up appearance on the flight.



Back in the present (or whatever) Locke and Ben decide they must leave the Ajira crash survivors and go to the main island. Caesar, who has assumed leadership of the group tries to stop them, but is shot dead by Ben, who has stolen a sawed-off shotgun earlier brandished by Caesar.

On the main island, Lock and Ben meet up with Sun and Frank in the otherwise abandoned Dharmaville. Sun and Frank inform them that Jack, Kate, Hurley and the rest are back in the 1970s. The ghostly Christian Shepherd told them that Locke could reunite them all. Somehow. Locke seems confident he can do so and briefly disappears into the jungle, most likely to consult with Jacob/Christian.



Frank, on the other hand, decides things are getting a bit weird, what with Locke previously having been dead and all, and goes back to rejoin the Ajira folks.

Meanwhile, Ben goes to work summoning the smoke monster, who evidently is to judge him. When the monster fails to show up, Locke brings Ben to the Others' "temple," the same spot a young Ben was saved from his gunshot wound. Ben falls into a lower level of the temple and becomes separated from Locke.

Ben then encounters the smoke monster. He sees images of his past actions and what happened to Alex as a result. Then a seemingly very alive and real Alex appears. She tells him that he must follow Locke now, he mustn't try to supplant Locke's authority. Ben seems pretty rattled and agrees to do this. When he meets up again with Locke he says the island decided to "let me live."



Back on the smaller island, we see Frank meet up with Ilana. She and another passenger, a man, have guns. Ilana asks Frank "what is in the shadow of the statue," but Frank is baffled by the question. The man with Ilana then knocks Frank out and takes him prisoner.



Questions/observations/speculation:

* What is in the shadow of the statue? Is Ilana referring to the huge four-toed Egyptian-style statue? This is a password, but for who? Widmore's people? The Others? Who is Ilana working for?

* Will Ben really follow Locke?

* If Widmore broke the rules by leaving the island repeatedly, what about Ben? We've seen that he had fake passports, etc., indicating that he did the same thing while leading the Others.

* Who is Penny's mother?

* How did Widmore come to be leader of the Others?

* What is the history of the temple? Who built it? Who is it to?

* There are Egyptian-style hieroglyphics in the temple, although the temple itself seems pretty Mayan. Are the Others part of some lost civilization? Richard, with his eyeliner look and seeming immortality may be an ancient Egyptian ruler or priest or something.




* There's a "Risk" gameboard set up in Ben's old Dharma pad. In last season's episode, "The Shape of Things to Come," Locke, Hurley, and Sawyer were seen playing the game in this same spot--before Widmore's mercenaries showed up. It's as if Dharmaville has been vacant since that time--nothing's happened there since and nobody, except for maybe ghostly Christian Shepherd has been there since.



* In a flashback, Widmore is angry at Richard Alpert for having saved Ben, but Richard says Jacob "wanted" Ben to be saved. Is this true? Why?

* How will Locke bring Sun back to the 70s? Can he bring Ben, since Ben already exists on the island in that time period?

* Ben tells Sun that "dead is dead." But Locke seems pretty lively. Was he resurrected, or is he a ghost?

Also see:

See a preview for next week's episode: "Some Like it Hoth."

What we STILL don't know.

Previous episodes:

* 5.1/5.2: "Because You Left" and "The Lie"
* 5.3: "Jughead"
*5.4: "The Little Prince"
* 5.5: "This Place is Death"
* 5.6: "316"
* 5.7: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"
* 5.8: "LaFleur"
* 5.9: "Namaste"
* 5.10: "He's Our You"
* 5.11: "Whatever Happened Happened"

Lost season 5 ep. 5. 12: Some Like it Hoth preview

Lost season 5 episode guide: episode 5.11 "Whatever Happened Happened"

Apologies for the delay but I was gone last week!

Summary:

Dharmaville scrambles to save the life of young Ben Linus, who's been shot by an on-the-lam Sayid.

Things look pretty bad for Ben. Juliette can't save him and Jack refuses to help. Kate can't sit back, though. This is Ben, but it's also a boy. Sawyer feels the same way.



When Juliette indicates that perhaps the Others can somehow save Ben, Kate jumps at the chance, hopping in a Dharma van and into enemy territory. Sawyer follows and leads Kate in the jungle, where they are quickly surrounded by menacing Others. Sawyer demands to see Richard Alpert, who--after some though--agrees to save Ben. Doing so, however, will change Ben forever, he tells Sawyer and Kate. Ben will no longer be innocent. He will be, in effect, an Other.



We then see Richard disappear with Ben inside what looks like an ancient temple.

In flashbacks, we see how Kate decided Aaron would be safer out of her life. She brings him to Claire's mother, explaining the Oceanic 6 coverup and, to a degree anyhow, what's happened to Claire and the island.



At episode's end we flash forward(?) to the smaller island, where Ben awakens from the oar-to-the-head he received from Sun. He opens his eyes to see Locke, who says "Welcome to the land of the living."

Questions/observations/speculation:

* How did/will Richard save Ben, and how/why is Ben changed as a result?

* What is the nature of the temple?



* Richard's fellow Others warn him that Ellie and Charles will be angry if he helps Ben. Alpert responds that he doesn't answer to either of these people. But are Charles and Ellie in charge of the Others at this point?

* Richard tells Kate and Sawyer that Ben won't remember what happened. This explains why Ben seemingly doesn't remember any of the Oceanic 6 members. But why not?

* Kate seems pretty convinced that Claire is alive and she wants to reunite her with Aaron? But is this true? At the end of last season, Claire seemed pretty ghostly.



Also see:

See a preview for next week's episode: "Dead is Dead."

Read spoilers about "Dead is Dead."

What we STILL don't know.

Previous episodes:

* 5.1/5.2: "Because You Left" and "The Lie"
* 5.3: "Jughead"
*5.4: "The Little Prince"
* 5.5: "This Place is Death"
* 5.6: "316"
* 5.7: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"
* 5.8: "LaFleur"
* 5.9: "Namaste"
* 5.10: "He's Our You"

Lost season 5 special : The Story of the Oceanic 6 April 22

Here's info from ABC on this upcoming clipfest:

WHAT TRANSPIRED FOR BOTH THE OCEANIC 6 AND THE REMAINING ISLAND SURVIVORS DURING THE THREE YEARS AFTER THE ISLAND WAS MOVED WILL BE EXPLORED, IN THE NEW SPECIAL, "LOST: THE STORY OF THE OCEANIC 6," WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 ON ABC

ABC once again invites new and avid "Lost" viewers to take another look at one of the most talked about and critically acclaimed shows. "Lost: The Story of the Oceanic 6" will explore the series in a way that will bring new viewers up to date -- but which current viewers will also find illuminating - in discovering what happened to the Oceanic 6 and the remaining island survivors during the three years after Ben moved the island. The special airs WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 (9:00-10:02 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun and Claire's son Aaron - otherwise known as the Oceanic 6 - were rescued and tried to pick up the pieces of the lives they knew before the crash and to perpetuate the lie concocted to hide the truth about what really happened. But Jack and Ben had to convince all of them to return to the island in order to save those left behind. Although they eventually did go back - sans Aaron -- what could possibly have been the motivating factors for each, and exactly how - and when -- did they return? As for those left behind on the island, violent shifts through time were wreaking havoc on their lives. Discover how Locke's leaving the island under the guise of Jeremy Bentham may have helped end the time rifts, and what led to his eventual death in the outside world.

Lost season 5 ep. 12 preview "Dead is Dead" April 8, 2009

Watch Lost tonight!

See a preview and spoilers for tonight's episode!

Our guide to what happened will be delayed until early next week as I'm taking some time off!