I’ve just put up my live-blog of Doctor Who: Waters of Mars, David Tennant’s second-to-last story. Check it out & give me your thoughts!

Check it by clicking the top tab called TV Lineup or clicking here: https://strawgrasping.wordpress.com/tv-lineup

8:59 – Previously on Lost, the season happened. Hopefully, you watched the clips show. It wasn’t that bad this time. Eloise Hawking killed her only son, but before he died, Daniel managed to convince Jack that if he blows up Jughead, he can prevent the Hatch from being built, which mean preventing the eventual downing of Oceanic flight 815 & essentially erasing the entire course of action of the show. Jack has convinced a guilty Eloise to help him do it. Kate thinks he’s crazy, so she goes off to crash Sawyer & Juliet’s party on the sub, because ruining lives is what Kate does best. Meanwhile, in 2007 (which, my bad, I’ve been referring to as 2008 all this time), Frank Lapidus is being held prisoner by Ilana, who wants to know what lies at the base of the statue. Also, Sun, Ben & Locke, also in 2007, have hooked up with the Others & Locke is secretly planning to kill Jacob. And that brings us to tonight.

9:00 – I’ve decided my brain is going to hate me if I try to really live-blog this thing, so I’m not going to do as much recapping tonight. It will be more commentary, which means probably two hours of me going OMG!! WTF?!?! The Fringe finale demonstrated the art of the reveal, as only the Bad Robot team can do it, last night, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

9:01 – We open on some dude weaving cloth. Like on a loom & everything, wow. PS: This dude is played by Rita’s abusive ex-husband on Dexter, so I already kind of hate him. Okay, there’s a ship sailing in the distance…Black Rock, is that you? Man, when are we?? Another guy comes up to Rita’s abusive ex-husband, whose name I don’t catch. Who are these people? Second guy is mad about the ship & blames first guy. He really wants to kill first guy, but can’t. One day, he’ll find a loophole though. HOLY CRAP! It’s the statue!! No way or telling if it’s got four toes, but it’s definitely Egyptian & holding two ankhs. (EDIT: It’s been identified as Taweret.)

9:05 – Seriously, they need to give us some indication of time period. Who are these kids? Wait a sec, dark-haired girl with curly hair? Troublesome mean look? It’s Kate. Or lil’ Katie as it were. (Not a good sign, immediate groan for a Kate flashback.) Her shoplifted item is paid for by Rita’s abusive ex-husband, whose name I really wish I knew. As Eloise Hawking would say, who ARE you??

9:07 – In 1977, thank God we have a familiar setting. It’s the sub of great awkwardness. At least Juliet & Sawyer & Kate get drugs to get through this tension. But no, Kate’s got to give sarcastic, nonsensical speeches first. You could at least PRETEND to acknowledge that Juliet is sitting RIGHT THERE, Kate. But it’s all hydrogen bomb this & we-have-to-stop-him that. “You just don’t get it, Kate.” Yes! I mean, let’s be real, it’s not going to work that way, but Juliet & I appreciate the gesture, Sawyer.

9:09 – Jack’s plan is not so much underway, due to the fact that Daniel wasn’t able to spell every little detail out for him before he was SHOT & KILLED by his own mother. Only he kinda did. Wow, Dan, you were busy during those three years…I really want to get to watch some of that. And there’s the confirmation: Eloise is currently pregnant, most likely with Dan. Makes the scene where she kills him that much more unreal.

9:10 – Sayid lays out the timeline. They have two hours. Hey, that’s exactly how long this season finale is supposed to be! What a coincidence.

9:10 – Ooooooh, Dr Chang/Radzinsky showdown! Fantastic, Radzinsky is out of his freaking mind. Better hope Sayid & Jack can run fast.

9:11 – Thirty years later, the adventure theme plays as Locke & the Others stroll along the shoreline. Sun is looking particularly windblown & lovely today. And hey, she doesn’t know who Jacob is! Does Sun know ANYTHING about this Island? Read Lostpedia, Sun, it’s done wonders for me since this show is only on every nine months & I have the memory of a caterpillar.

9:12 – Oh, Richard, just spit it out. The staring is getting awkward. “I’m this way because of Jacob.” What kind of explanation is that? How about instead of dwelling on this whole Locke-was-dead-and-now-he’s-not “mystery,” which I feel like is fairly easily explained (the Island heals what ails you), let’s discuss in greater detail how Richard Alpert has been in every time period imaginable looking his same eyelined self.

9:13 – Oh, great, it’s Ilana. I really don’t like that chick. Maybe it’s just bias because she knocked out poor Frank, who is currently busy bleeding all over the canoe. You know who else I don’t like, this Bram dude. What IS Frank a candidate for? We know why Frank is important, but why does Ilana think he is? Also, weren’t there like a lot more people on that plane? Where is everyone? “So you smack all your friends in the head, shove them in a boat & kidnap them?” “Only the ones we like.” Heh. Okay, keep it up, Ilana & you’re make it back to the “meh” column with me. Also? What the hell is that giant silver trunk they’re carrying? OMG, they’re actually going to tell us?? Crazy! Oh wait, never mind, just kidding. We just get to see Frank’s appalled face while HE looks at it.

9:18 – Flashback, I’m assuming. At a church, a young boy attends a funeral. And Rita’s abusive ex-husband is there! This guy is everywhere! “I’m very sorry about your mother & father, James.” Oooh, it’s lil’ Sawyer! Aw. Hey, Rita’s abusive ex, who ARE you? “You’ve got to move on. They’re gone. There ain’t nothing you can do to change that. What’s done is done.” Who do you think you are, Daniel Faraday?

9:21 – In 1977, hey, Kate, will you stop with the judgmental crap? Sawyer is just processing the information! And also, he’s made a choice! He decided to leave & he’s leaving! Except not, because he didn’t make the choice, he & Juliet did! And she totally kick this random Dharma’s dude’s butt & UN-makes the choice. Whoa, a pissed-off Juliet is not someone you want to mess with. Hey, aren’t the Dharma guys on the surface going to notice that the sub resurfaced?

9:23 – Man, Sayid knows how to do, like, EVERYTHING. While he’s disassembling the bomb, Richard decides this is a good time to go play “let’s get to know my future leader Locke better” with Jack. “Yeah, I know him. And if I were you, I wouldn’t give up on him.”

9:25 – In 2007, Ben spills the beans about dead-Smokey-Alex threatening him & forcing him to do whatever Locke says. And Locke says he’s not killing Jacob…Ben is. …Touche, thinks Ben. Wrong move with the spilling of the beans.

9:29 – Flashback. It’s post-O6-return, Sayid & Nadia are being all cute on the streets. He is looking good. They’re in LA. As they go to cross the street, Rita’s abusive ex-husband (whose name on Dexter I just remembered is Paul, so I guess I’ll start calling him that until we get his name) stops Sayid for directions. And then Nadia gets hit by a car, which careens away. Nadia’s all bloody & barely alive. She asks Sayid to take her home, & dies. Aw. That just sucks. Seriously though, Paul, who ARE you??

9:30 – In 1977, Present-Sayid has managed to grab the core from Jughead. Richard leads them to a wall in the tunnels, which he sledgehammers through. They look around…it’s a Dharma house. Jack wants to go first, but Eloise is like, come on, give me a break. You’re not shooting anyone cause deep down in your little doctor heart, you will hesitate before killing someone in cold blood. Meanwhile, Eloise is like, I just shot my own son, like, three seconds ago. Richard’s like, she’s totally right, guys. But then he decks her with the butt of the gun. “I’m protecting our leader.” Huh. So, Eloise is the leader of the Others, NOT Charles Widmore?? Does he become leader before Ben & co. send him packing on the sub?

9:32 – Jack & Sayid are on their own in what turns out to be Horace’s house. Their plan to stroll out of there by walking around in their Dharma suits, as if everyone in Dharma isn’t supposed to already know each other, totally almost works until Roger recognizes Jack. Oh, this is totally Kate’s fault, way to cast suspicion on everyone. Oh crap! Gunfight! Gunfight involving Sayid with a nuclear bomb core strapped to his back! And Sayid takes one in the stomach! Gah! Hasn’t Jack shot like 35 rounds out of that little pistol?

9:35 – Oh hey, it’s the Dharma van with Miles, Jin & Hurley! Yay! “Get in!” Speaking of Terminator, don’t you want to add, “Come with me if you want to live”?

9:39 – Fake CGI sub submerging the second time isn’t any less fake than it was the first time, producers. So stop showing it! Except it’s a chance to show Juliet’s regretful expression as her dream sinks yet again.

9:40 – “Thank you.” Oh, Kate, don’t thank her yet. There’s still an opportunity to kill you, if all goes right. OMG, it’s Vincent! Yay! If there’s Vincent, that means…Rose & Bernard! “Oh no.” HA! I’ve missed you so, Rose. Bernard looks hilarious in his white beard/hair. “They found us.” “Son of a bitch.” HEE!

9:41 – “Should I pull over?” “Yeah! Let’s pull over & get shot!” I love the Hurley & Miles show. They should have a spin-off, the Hurley & Miles Bickering Hour, with special guest appearances by Dr Pierre Chang, Baby Miles & Daniel Dae Kim, as “Jin.” Speaking of which, “I think I found a way to get you back to your wife.”

9:42 – “I’m sorry y’all got left behind. Didn’t you hear me shout out, ‘Meet at the creek’?” “There were flaming arrows raining down, killing everyone we knew. Oh sure, we heard you.” LOL!! Okay, second spin-off, Rose & Bernard: Jungle Fever. Featuring Vincent the Dog. And OMG hilarious, Rose & Bernard totally KNEW Sawyer & Jin were in Dharma & looking for them. They didn’t join up…because they’re retired. I love you guys. That spin-off needs to happen, do you hear me, ABC?

9:42 – “Jack’s got a bomb.” “Who cares?” Oh, Rose knows what’s she’s talking about. “It’s always something with you people…we travelled back 30 years in the past & you’re still trying to find reasons to shoot each other.” The woman speaks the truth! “So we die. We just care about being together.” Aw. Sawyer/Juliet? Anything? DANG IT. He looks at Kate?? Are you freaking kidding me?? I hate you, James.

9:43 – In 2007, Frank is severely regretting knowing what’s in the box. There Bram goes with “we’re the good guys” talk. Can he be more specific? Oh dear God, they’re at Jacob’s cabin! There’s an opening in the ash! WTF is happening??!

9:45 – Flashback. Indeterminate time, unspecified place, unidentified woman in a hospital bed. Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul is here to see her. He speaks…whatever language this is. They know each other. The woman is Ilana. What happened to her?? What does he need her help with?? Who ARE you??

9:46 – In 2007, Ilana, I do not think this who “being in Jacob’s cabin” thing is such a good idea. Oh wait, there’s a note. “He isn’t there. Hasn’t been for a long time. Someone else has been using it.” Christian? “Burn it!” “I’m no tree-hugger. But that’s a pretty good way to start a fire in this jungle, don’t you think?” Heh. I heart you, Frank. Marry me? What now? To the statue!

9:51 – Flashback. Indeterminate time. Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul sits on a bench in front of a building reading. Behind him, something/someone drops out of the sky & flops on the ground unceremoniously. Without looking, Paul gets up & goes over to it…it’s Locke. All bloody & unconscious from getting thrown out an eighth floor window. People around are yelling for someone to call 911, but Paul just walks up, puts his hand on Locke’s shoulder & wakes him. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be alright.” Seriously now, who ARE you? Paul sincerely & significantly apologizes that this had to happen to Locke.

9:52 – In 2007, Locke lets the Others rest up in the ruins of the survivors’ old camp. Hmm. Heh. Ben is sitting right in front of the remains of the Hatch door. Locke reminisces about when he & Ben first met. It’s all very romantic. “You mind if I ask you a question?” “I’m a Pisces.” HEE! Ben admits that he was pretending to talk to Jacob in the empty chair. “Yes, I lied. That’s what I do.” Which means he may also be lying about following you, Locke. Anyway, now that Locke’s laid out the case like that, with Ben getting cancer, being tricked into watching her daughter get killed, getting forced off the Island, Ben & I are thinking that killing Jacob actually sounds pretty good right about now.

9:56 – Sun finds Aaron’s abandoned crib. And a ring with the letters “DS.” You know what that means. Flashback!

9:57 – In the flashback, Sun & Jin are getting married. They both look exceedingly attractive, like breathtakingly so. And actually happy as they exchange vows & rings. In the procession line, Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul comes up. He knows Korean. Rather well, actually. Like Charlotte-level. “Never take it for granted.” Sun & I want to know who ARE you?? Jin just comments about his excellent Korean.

9:58 – In 1977, Jack & co. are speeding along in the Dharma van. Sayid is still all bleeding to death. Miles chooses now to clarify the current mission. Jack: “We’re not going back in time.” Miles: “Right, because that would be ridiculous!” HA! That’s right, don’t get the ridiculousness on your Dharma jumpsuits, guys. Sayid thinks he’s not going to make it (have FAITH, Sayid!) so he starts babbling about making modifications to the bomb. He thinks they need to be there at the moment of the Incident, or it’ll be for nothing. How does he know that?? Is it in Dan’s journal? Meanwhile, Hurley stops the van. Why? Cause Sawyer, Juliet & Kate are standing in the middle of the road, looking very ominous & pissed.

10:02 – In 2007, the Others stop behind Richard. We pan over & see that they’re right near the foot of the statue. “What does that have to do with Jacob?” “It’s where he lives.” TOUCHE!

10:04 – In 1977, Sawyer demands five minutes of Jack’s time, which he somehow grants WITHOUT saying anything about how Sayid is totally bleeding to death in the van. Way to go, DOCTOR. PS: There’s so much looking back & forth between the players of Island Love Quatrangle in this scene, I’m getting dizzy.

10:05 – Flashback. Jack’s in surgery & at the beginning stages of a meltdown. Christian is there to get him to calm down. Jack is pissed. It possibly works though. Outside the OR, Jack attempts to buy an Apollo bar from the vending machine. Heh. Christian comes out for Jack to throw down with. As Christian leaves, Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul hands Jack his Apollo bar. The machine just needed a little push, he says. Sure. The machine. Also? Who ARE you??

10:07 – In 1977, Jack & Sawyer sit down for their chat. Is this really a good time for a life story? Ooooh, damn. Sawyer’s horrible childhood incident happened a year ago. In 1976. Sawyer could have stopped it, but what’s done is done. Jack breaks out the “it doesn’t have to be that way” speech & seriously? I’m with Sawyer, what’s more important than stopping Sawyer’s father from shooting his mother that Jack wants to change? What does Jack want? “I had her. I had her, & I lost her.” Are you being for serious here? You’re doing all this for Kate, REALLY. That’s fantastic. That’s just fantastic.

10:10 – “So there’s really nothing I can do to to change your mind.” Except beat you down! Whoa, this throwdown is freaking BRUTAL. But Juliet puts an end to it. “You’re the one who told me to come back here & stop it. What happened??” “I changed my mind.” No, actually Sawyer? You changed yours.

10:15 – Flashback. A young girl with pretty blond curly hair sits with another girl with straight dark hair sit in tears as their parents give the “we’re getting a divorce, but guys, we both totally still love you!” speech. The dark-haired girl is Rachel, which makes the blonde lil’ Juliet. Lil’ Juliet wonders how her parents could know they aren’t actually supposed to be together. Her mom says they just know & when she grows up, she’ll understand. Lil’ Juliet flees since that’s the most horrible thing to think, like, in the world, Mrs Juliet!

10:15 – Just realized. No Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul in this flashback. Huh.

10:16 – In 1977, Sawyer chases after Juliet. “I got a right to know why you changed your mind.” Use your head, SAWYER. It’s because of you & Kate, it’s ALWAYS because of you & Kate, I HATE this. This is really heartbreaking here. Juliet thinks that they do love each other, but like her parents, maybe they aren’t meant to be together & never were. And Sawyer would stay with her forever even if that’s true. So if Jack can make it so they never came to the Island, so Juliet never meets Sawyer & never had this little life & never had to know what she lost, maybe they should just let him. “If I never meet you, then I never have to leave you.”

10:18 – At the Swan, Chang warns Radzinsky that they’ve hit the pocket. He tries to get Radzinsky to stop, but Radzinsky’s in full-on crazy mode now. Phil radios over & reports about the shootout & that one of the Hostiles that escaped has a bomb. How do they even know that? Radzinsky realizes they’re headed for the Swan. We pull back & see that Jack & crew have made it to outside the site. Jack is looking extremely bloody. Oh look, it’s Kate. Time for tender moments + awkwardness. Jack decides this would be a good time for exposition about Aaron. I don’t care, Jack. “Nothing in my life has ever felt so right.” Really, Jack. “Are you with me on this?” “Yes.”

10:25 – Flashback. OMG, it’s Hurley getting out of jail. He tries to confess to mass murder again, but the discharge officer seriously couldn’t care less. The “I’m being hunted down by crazy men” tactic doesn’t work either. This discharge officer is hilarious. Maybe he can be on the spin-off with Miles & Hurley. Anyway, predictably, Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul is in Hurley’s cab when he gets outside. Oh dude, Paul’s got a guitar case. Paul makes the curious decision to reveal that he knows Hurley. Huh. His calm approach asking about why Hurley won’t go back kind of works though. And he turns Hurley’s “I talk to dead people” “curse” into a “blessing.” Smart one, that Paul. Who ARE you?? asks Hurley & I. Paul just tells the cabbie to stop & leans in to tell Hurley the flight information for Ajira 316. “It’s your choice, Hugo.” He gets out of the cab & leaves the guitar case with Hurley. Very cool.

10:29 – In 1977, Sayid is rapidly deteriorating. He has, however, managed to rig the bomb to explode on impact for Jack. “Sayid, this is going to work,” says Jack. “And it will save you.” “Nothing can save me,” says Sayid. Well, actually, if this all works like you’ve been saying, this will definitely save you. Don’t be silly. Jack straps on the bomb & nods goodbye at Kate. I don’t know about this, Jack. As he walks by Juliet & Sawyer, Sawyer somehow doesn’t stop him to say, “Wait, I’m going with you.” “See you in Los Angeles,” says the soon-to-be dead man.

10:31 – In 2007, Richard continues to try to dissuade Locke from seeing Jacob. Locke tells Ben to go & they follow Richard onto the rocks. Richard says Ben can’t come because only the leader can see Jacob, but Locke just says he thinks Richard is making up these rules as he goes. If Jacob has a problem with Ben being there, Locke’s sure they can work it out. Richard acquiesces, just tells Locke to tell Jacob he said hello. Heh. I just got this image of Richard & Jacob being old friends, like poker buddies who go to the clubs on weekends to pick up chicks. Hehehe…

10:33 – Locke & Ben discuss the whole thing where Ben’s supposed to kill Jacob. Ben takes the knife that Locke gives him. Locke stupidly turns his back on Ben & we see Ben walk forward to follow and/or stab Locke in the back. Dude. Why would you turn your back on him? Don’t you remember? He KILLED you!

10:38 – In 1977, back with rapidly dying Sayid & Team Dharmafraud. Miles comes over & calls Sawyer “LaFleur.” Sawyer scoffs that there is no LaFleur anymore. That’s kind of tragic in its own way. Miles puts out there the idea that Jack is actually going to CAUSE the Incident with bomb, not prevent it. Everyone looks around shiftily since, no, it hadn’t occurred to them. “I’m glad you all thought this through.” Heh.

10:39 – In the distance, they see Phil & co in a Dharma jeep, speeding along a path toward the Swan site. Jin realizes what’s going on & Kate says they’ll kill Jack if they see him. What did they think was going to happen with all the other 5 million folks wandering around the Swan? You really think PHIL is going to be the main problem here? Although…now that I think about it, this is going to give Sawyer a chance to follow through on a certain promise he made Phil last week… Oooh, please let this happen! Sawyer asks “Blondie” what she thinks. This makes Kate extremely uncomfortable since no one ever cares what Kate thinks. Blondie says, “Live together, die alone?” Everyone’s down with that.

10:39 – Phil & co arrive at the site, where things are clearly going nuts. There’s steam everywhere & the alarm is sounding. Radzinsky has Phil spread his men out even though Change keeps yelling about evacuating. Chang, YOU should get the hell away from here. Anyway, Jack sneaks into camp & is immediately seen by Phil. Let the shooting around an unstable work site begin!

10:40 – Jack & Phil are duking it out when the van arrives & everyone but Kate pours out, hides behind stuff & shoots away. Kate stays in the van & acts like a freaking sniper because of how awesome she is, only not. By the way, it makes me extremely nervous that Juliet is still walking around in that red shirt. It might as well be a “KILL ME, MY CHARACTER WILL NEVER BE HAPPY” sign. Sawyer sneaks up on Phil & grabs him. Using him as a hostage, he gets everyone to drop their weapons. I didn’t know Phil’s life was that important! The survivor gang comes out behind where they were hiding & holds guns to everyone. Dr Chang has gotten a gun at this point & points it at Radzinsky. Nice! Shoot him, Chang!

10:41 – Chang can’t stop the drill thing because they’ve hit the pocket. Everyone just nods at Jack to drop the bomb. Jack looks at Kate. Sawyer looks at Juliet. Juliet looks back at him & they come to a moment of understanding. She smiles. Then Jack drops the bomb. GAH. But wait, it’s only the 40 minute mark!

10:43 – The bomb falls & Jack, Kate, Juliet & Sawyer all get looks of dread on their faces as they brace themselves…for NOTHING! Nothing happens! Sawyer, pissed, murmurs that this doesn’t look like LAX to him. Hilariously, Jack looks down the hole to make sure the bomb actually fell. There’s a whirling noise that’s getting louder. The structure starts to shake. Metal objects start flying in toward the hole. Something flies at Chang & traps his hand. Miles yells “Dad!” & runs to help him. Aw. A toolbox flies & hits Jack in the head, knocking him out. Kate goes to help him. Miles frees Chang & tells him to get as far away from here as possible. Well, now we know what happened to his arm. Meanwhile, Radzinsky & the gang are trying to get in the jeep to escape, but of course the jeep is metal, STUPID, so they don’t get far. Heh.

10:44 – Sawyer grabs a gun just as it’s skidding away toward the hole. Phil yells at him to get his attention & kill him, but before he has the chance, a bunch of metal poles come flying at him & he’s impaled by one. It’s not as satisfying as it would have been had Sawyer caused his death, but I’ll take it. Meanwhile some chains near Juliet are being pulled down the hole & they wrap around her & drag her along. Kate rushes to help her, but she can barely hang on. Sawyer watches in horror as she’s loses her grip, but he manages to grab her hand.

10:45 – Now Juliet’s only hanging on by Sawyer’s hand & the chains are dragging her down. Around Sawyer, metal screeches, almost to collapse in. He yells at Kate to help, but she’s amazingly useless. The metal continues to screech as Juliet cries in pain as she tries to hang on. “I’ve got you!” yells Sawyer, but does he? Juliet’s screaming in terror, but then she realizes that the metal around Sawyer is weakening & she gets a look in her eyes. Sawyer sees it. “Don’t leave me! Don’t you leave me!” “It’s okay. I love you,” she says. “No, you don’t. Don’t let go!” “I love you, James. I love you so much!” “No!” And she lets go & disappears in the darkness, leaving James alone.

10:46 – OMG I am SO ANGRY THEY KILLED JULIET! It was wonderfully done by both Elizabeth Mitchell & Josh Holloway, really gut-wrenching horrible & it’s really something, actually. Can you believe that we never saw how their relationship developed? We only saw a few moments & a lot of them were ruined by Kate. Yet I’m as invested in this relationship as anything we’ve seen on this show. Well, okay, I guess we know how Elizabeth Mitchell could possibly star in “V” now. I hope, at least, that we’ll get to see some of those three years at some point. Don’t they owe Juliet that, as a character?

10:50 – In 2007, Sun sits in the darkness, waiting. Richard joins her & she asks him for alcohol. Heh. Just then, Ilana’s group shows up. The Others draw weapons, but Ilana says it’s okay. Her group assumes a defensive, but non-threatening stature. She asks to speak to Ricardo. Richard steps forward. She asks, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” After all this, we can’t even find out since it’s in another language. Ilana’s relieved & tells Bram & co. to show him the box. Frank looks solemn as they unlock it. The men tip it over & out falls a body…Richard asks where they found him. Ilana says in the cargo area of the plane…in a coffin. The body…is John Locke. WHAT?!!?! Everyone looks extremely confused & Sun asks with dread, if this is Locke…then who is in there?

10:52 – Now with Ben & “Locke.” Since I just saw the Fringe finale, let’s call this Locke 2. Inside the statue is a temple where torches are already lit. Locke 2 & Ben walk around, looking at stuff. They find the tapestry from earlier. “You like it?” says someone. They turn to look & it’s…HOLY CRAP. It’s Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul!!! JACOB!!! Jacob looks at Locke 2 & notes that he’s found his loophole. Oh, dear God, it’s the guy from the beginning of the episode. Who ARE you? Locke 2 says he has indeed found the loophole & Jacob has no idea what he went through to get here. Ben is confused, but Locke 2 just says to do what he asked. Jacob looks over at Ben & says he has a choice. Do what he asked, or leave. Let him & Locke 2 work out their issues. Ben, quietly, finally says, “Ooooh, so now you acknowledge me.” Ben is pissed. He’s pissed for all the reasons Locke 2 said before. He did everything that Jacob asked but when he asked to see him, nothing. Then Locke 2 asks & he’s marched up here like the messiah. What was so wrong with HIM?? What about HIM?? Ben’s really close to Jacob now, so close that he reaches out & stabs him with the knife. Twice to the heart! That’s the way to do it! Jacob, bloody & gasping for air, rasps at Locke 2… “They’re coming.” Locke 2 looks up, then gives Jacob a kick & knocks him into the fire. Jacob burns as Ben & Locke 2 watch in horror. Unbelievable.

10:57 – Back with the 1977 group, Jack wakes up from his nap & hears Kate screaming that Sawyer needs to get out of there. Sawyer, in his grief, is just allowing himself to get piled up with metal stuff trying to go down the hole. Jack helps Kate pull him away & a whole ton of stuff flies down & we follow it as it lands…on Juliet. Who is looking peaceful right up until she WAKES UP! OMG!! She’s alive. Not for long, it looks like though. She’s trapped & blood is leaking from her mouth. She cries in anguish, but looks around & sees…Jughead’s core. Undetonated. It seems Sayid is loosing his touch, what with the dying & all. With her dying gasps, Juliet grabs a rock & hits Jughead over & over, crying & crying, begging it to work until—WHITENESS. The Lost closing logo over it. Thud.

11:00 – OMFG. I can’t even believe that just happened. Seriously, HUGE props to Lindeloff & Cuse & the entire Bad Robot team, that was a BRILLIANT finale. Two great finales on back-to-back nights, I feel so spoiled. I don’t even know what to do with myself now. 2010?!?! I’m NEVER GOING TO MAKE IT!!

EDIT: What lies in the shadow of the statue? “That which will save us all.” Think about that.

EDIT2: Addressing the second comment below, yes, I heard Jacob’s name on the second viewing, so thanks for pointing that out. I would like to point out that, again, this is a LIVE blog, which means that I constantly miss things while doing the write-up, sometimes really important things like this, & I don’t deny it. I don’t really think there’s a need to say things like “if I was paying attention,” since I did just blog like 10 pages for this episode, so clearly, I was paying attention. If it bothers you so much that I missed that bit of dialogue, feel free to not read my blog. I promise, I won’t hold it against you. To be honest, completely on accident, it was more fun for me to do the whole thing referring to him as Rita’s abusive ex-husband Paul & then realize at the end that Paul was Jacob. Confession: usually I read a lot of spoilers, but I wasn’t spoiled for that & I loved getting that reveal.

8:59 – There once was an FBI agent named Olivia. Olivia’s boyfriend got himself all translucent & dying, so Olivia wanted her boss, Matthew Abaddon from Lost, to get her in to see a mad scientist named Walter who she thought could help. The only problem was, Walter was in a mental institution for like twenty years & the only was to see him was to find his son, Pacey. Oh wait, no, it’s Peter. Peter is really, really smart, but also has the added advantage of being sarcastic & also having questionable morals. So, Peter, Walter and Olivia all went back to Walter’s old lab at Harvard, where he used to conduct extremely shady experiments involving, but not limited to, walking through walls, talking to dead people and fusing animals together until they ate you. Together, they formed Fringe Division & investigated crazy, freaky stuff that happened to all seem to happen in and around Boston. There was also this creepy bald guy named The Observer who always shows up near where the freaky stuff is happening, and a terrorist named David Robert Jones, who really enjoys messing with Olivia’s head. Finally, there was an ominously named corporation called Massive Dynamic, whose CEO, a man we’ve never met, William Bell, used to work with Walter on his crazy experiments and who may or may not have started a pseudo terrorist cell called ZFT that has something to do with alternate dimensions & that once upon a time, probably gave our heroine Olivia a mind-messing drug called Cortexiphan. Which brings us to last week.

9:00 – Previously on Fringe, Olivia’s Cortexiphan mind has her shifting between dimensions. Agent Harris got all spontaneously combusted. Olivia realized that Walter knew about the Cortexiphan trials on her. The Observer showed up to the lab to collect Walter, who went willingly. And Nina Sharp was tranquilized or shot by some shady guys in black.

9:01 – Come on, obviously we haven’t started yet. This is Fox we’re talking about. Lambert’s still signing. The screaming makes my ears hurt, so I have to mute. So, how about that NCIS ending, right? Awesome. Thank God they killed that dude, he was really annoying me. Speaking of people who annoy me, Seacrest is on the stage. Maybe this means it’s over? Nope, still talking. Here we go…

9:04 – We open in New York. No previouslys. So it’s a good thing I made them up just now, right? What is Fringe thinking? It’s the season finale! You gotta have previouslys. Anyway, we’re at a hospital & someone’s being wheeled in with a GSW. That’s a gunshot wound for those of you who haven’t seen a medical drama in your lives. Someone points out to the doctor that the GSW isn’t the only thing to worry about…the patient is Nina Sharp & she’s got a bunch of wires wrapped around her abdomen.

9:05 – At the Federal Building, Broyles & Olivia are catching up on the case. Broyles says the security guard at Nina Sharp’s building was killed. Charlie waves them over to see some security footage. They watch as some men come in with their faces covered. They shoot the security guard & drag him away. One of the men replaces him at the desk & he’s the one that Nina said good evening to at the end of the last episode. We see her go in the elevator & get shot when she reaches her floor. The men swarm around her & pull out some equipment, but we can’t see what’s going on. Then the tape goes blank for four minutes & the next thing we see is the men leaving. All of the men have black ski masks on except for one, who has his face covered with what looks like a white scarf. Conveniently he’s also wearing a hat, so Charlie can point him out. Olivia has the tech enhance the audio. Wait, there’s audio for this security camera? That’s impressive. The tech runs the voice over & over & as it gets clearer (saying something about taking out the camera), we realize the man has an accent. The tech runs the voice through their recognition program & it comes up with David Robert Jones. Yay! It’s always fun when he’s around.

9:07 – Olivia & Broyles pedeconference & Olivia wonders why Jones had the different covering for his face. Well, clearly, to designate for the viewer that he’s the important one here, Liv. Duh. Olivia notes that their intel all suggests that Jones is working for William Bell, so why would he shoot Massive Dynamic’s number two? Broyles doesn’t know. Olivia demands that they bring Bell in for questioning right now. Broyles keeps trying to interrupt her, but she keeps cutting him off. Predictably, he actually agrees with her & is bemused, yet annoyed that she just kept bulldozing. Heh. I love you Broyles, why aren’t you on this show more? Olivia smiles a little. Broyles’ phone rings. Apparently Nina Sharp is out of surgery.

9:08 – We get our first glimpse of the Fringe team with Peter walking around the lab. He looks confused. He runs into Astrid, who is working, as usual. He asks where Walter is. Peter thought Walter was at the lab all night. Astrid thought he went home with Peter. They both start looking concerned. Hold up, Peter is now allowing his father to go home on his own? Does he drive? Take the T? That seems like not a very good idea. Anyway, Olivia comes in, asking for Walter. Astrid goes to check the cafeteria. Peter gets on the phone & notes the Olivia looks “terrible.” Does she ever really look terrible, Peter? I mean, look at that hair. It’s so sleek & shiny. Meanwhile, I have some hair that literally refuses to stay in a ponytail.

9:09 – Peter is on the phone with building security. He asks them to check the marine biology lab. While he’s on hold, Olivia asks if maybe Walter was upset about what she said. Apparently Walter is calling it the “Assault in the Pastry Shop.” Peter already knows what Olivia did & tells her she just caught him off-guard. He says it kindly, but he’s clearly a little bothered by it. Maybe just puzzled. Anyway, Astrid had no luck & neither did the security guard. Peter turns to go back to the hotel to check & Olivia stops him to apologize for what she said to Walter. Peter pauses & tells her not to worry, he’s probably fine.

9:10 – Or, he’s walking around a cemetery with the Observer. Fine, sure. Walter approaches a grave. He looks (pardon the pun) grave. The Observer is standing nearby, observing.

9:10 – Meanwhile, at the hospital, Nina Sharp wakes up. She tests out her mechanical arm & is startled that Broyles is there. Broyles tells her about Jones & asks what they did with Nina’s arm. She starts getting concerned her…is that fear? Such a weird emotion to see on Nina Sharp. Nina asks for Olivia.

9:11 – The music starts getting tense as the men in the ski masks & Jones drive up in the streets. They get out & we see that Jones’ face is completely wrapped in bandages. He’s also wearing sunglasses. Back at the hospital, Olivia arrives, but specialists from Massive Dynamic are working on Nina.

9:12 – In the streets, Jones’ team sets up equipment. No one really pays them any mind, which isn’t odd because the equipment they’re setting up looks like construction. On the other hand, no one’s wearing construction gear & David Robert Jones is standing around with his face all bandaged up & wearing sunglasses in the dreary Boston day.

9:12 – Nina Sharp now has her arm in a sling & is up & about. She says that William Bell simply isn’t a terrorist. She explains that Jones did work for Massive Dynamic, but he was let go & didn’t take it well. She thinks that all that Jones did was a way of proving something to Bell, who he looked up to. Jones thought that he was special. Nina says that after Jones broke out of prison, he started calling MD asking for a meeting with Bell. Olivia is annoyed about MD talking with a known felon, but Nina knows that, clearly, they could have done something differently. Olivia wants Bell to go into protective custody. Nina doesn’t actually know where he is. However, she knows that Olivia really, really, REALLY wants to meet Bell, so if she stops Jones, Nina will personally set up a meeting. Man, is that all? Just stop that crazy terrorist guy? Now you have REAL motivation, Agent Dunham.

9:13 – Getting down to the heart of the matter, Olivia asks what Jones took from Nina in the elevator. Nina holds her arm protectively. She says that Jones took a powerful energy cell that Bell hid in her arm. Apparently he can do just about anything with that kind of energy. Well that’s just awesome.

9:15 – In the streets, we get a better look at Jones…his face is horribly disfigured. He’s loading the energy cell into some kind of device, which starts emitting a high-pitched noise at the passer-byers. A few of them start reacting to it, like it’s annoying. It changes pitches. One of Jones’ men says that they’re locked in & Jones changes frequencies. In the distance, we see…something opening. Looks like a vortex. In it, we see an eighteen-wheeler driving toward the opening. Jones’ man says they’re still separate, too far apart, they can’t keep the vortex thing open. The truck drives through the opening, but then it closes before it can get all the way through & the back wheels don’t make it. It collapses in the street & the truck veers into on-coming traffic. Jones watches as people freak out over the accident & the truck catches on fire. He tells his men that it’s “too thick” here & they have the wrong coordinates. He asks them to try again & takes off his sunglasses to show his scary face & scary eye for effect.

9:17 – Annnnd credits. I really love the Fringe credits, I don’t think I’ve ever said it. It’s just so appropriately curious. I see we’re coming in at Alias-level lateness in the episode. Also, forgot to give my cold open creepy ranking. I didn’t think it was that creepy at all. The least creepy in weeks actually. 5.0 even. I’m sure it’ll go up as the episode goes along.

9:18 – At a lovely beach on a lovely day. The Observer & Walter walk together. The Observer speaks, which always freaks me out. He holds out a coin to Walter & asks if he recognizes it. Walter does. The Observer says it’s like the one he’s thinking of, but it’s from a different place. He says, there is more than one of everything. Meaning…more than one Walter? More than one Observer? The Observer refrains, says he’s already said enough. He’s not supposed to get involved. He’s just supposed to take Walter to this house. It’s green & sitting a little ways away. The Observer asks if Walter remembers what he’s supposed to find. Walter doesn’t, but the Observer says he’s got to try to remember. There’s no very much time. Can this guy ever just spell something out for us?

9:20 – At Harvard, Astrid is mixing a green liquid. Broyles walks in & introduces her to Nina. She asks how Nina is doing, Nina says she’s fine. She wants to ask some questions about Walter. Has he been acting “strange” lately? Ha. Peter comes in, it’s clear he & Astrid have been hoping that Walter just got lost again. Nina tells Peter about what Jones took from her, says Walter may know something about it. Just then, Broyles gets a call & at the same time, Nina gets on her fancy new-age cell phone & orders a priority one grid search for Walter. Everyone looks every concerned.

9:21 – At the scene of the truck crash, Charlie & Olivia look at the truck, which is actually missing half. Charlie & Olivia ask the witnesses questions & get the following info: shimmering vortex, man with a machine that was making a noise, man had a mask, no wait, bandages. End of interrogation.

9:22 – Back at the lab, Broyles shows Peter a security image of Walter getting off a train three hours ago. Nina explains that MD maintains access to all the cameras they manufacture, which apparently include the ones on the T. Scary. When Peter finds out where the image came from, he solemnly says he thinks he knows what’s going on. Apparently the Bishops have a beach house near there. Peter says Walter’s had a tough couple of days & says he’d rather go get Walter himself. Aw.

9:23 – At the crime scene, someone gives Charlie info for the truck. He’s confused, none of the truck’s parts & numbers exist, meaning the truck was never made. The driver died on impact. He & Olivia stand around staring at the remains of the truck without revealing anything further. Yawn.

9:24 – Peter drives up to the beach house & gets out. He walks in to the place & calls for Walter. Inside, he finds an old photo in a frame of Walter & a young boy & someone else. Walter doesn’t answer his calls so Peter walks around the creepy house, just asking to be attacked by a serial killer or a lizardbat or something. But nothing happens except he finds Walter, sitting, staring into space.

9:25 – Walter tells Peter he’s got to find “it,” it might be in the house. He plays with the coin The Observer gave him. It’s really important, he tells Peter. Peter agrees to help, asks what he’s looking for. But Walter doesn’t remember. He just can’t remember.

9:26 – At the Federal Building, Olivia’s threatening Nina Sharp again. This crap hasn’t really worked, like, ever, has it, Olivia. She pulls the “tell me, or I’ll turn this world over looking for him” line, which is an odd line to begin with & I’m going to go ahead & choose to believe that Olivia already knew what Nina tells her next, which is why she said it instead of something that actually made sense. Nina says that William Bell isn’t in this world. Olivia looks either confused or vindicated, or both.

9:28 – In Providence, Rhode Island, David Robert Jones & crew get out of their van near a soccer game in a field.

9:28 – Back at the office, God knows why, Olivia is choosing this moment to explain the whole alternate reality concept to Charlie Francis. She follows up by asking if he understands & Charlie’s like, HELLS NO, WTF are you talking about??? Nina clarifies that William Bell IS on this planet, just in a different version of it. Eh? Olivia breaks out the déjà vu metaphor. Oh, suddenly she’s an expert? Charlie just stands there, baffled, while Broyles joins in the fun. Basically this conversation is to establish that Jones is using Nina’s energy cell is try to cross over to the other reality, in order to get to Bell. Broyles gets another call. So does Olivia. So does Charlie.

9:29 – Somehow none of the calls are from Peter, who is currently watching Walter freak out & rampage around the beach house, looking for something, but he doesn’t know what & he doesn’t know where to look & it’s kind of freaky & John Noble is kind of awesome in this scene. Walter flails into the other room & Peter follows. In the moment of stillness, Peter talks about how he remembers when they used to come out here. Peter loved the ocean. He used to stare at it for hours. It seemed like it went on forever. And on Saturdays, Peter always woke up before his alarm. He woke up to pancakes. Which meant that Walter was here. And lil’ Peter would stand there, watching his father making pancakes—whales! Walter exclaims that he used to make Peter pancakes in the shape of whales! He grasps his son’s shoulders because he remembers. He remembers where it is. Peter looks pleased, then confused as his father rushes off.

9:32 – At the soccer field, another crime scene’s being set up. Charlie is interviewing a kid who is clearly about to go into shock. The kid says they saw a wall of light, something simmering. Charlie walks away with Olivia as we see others being taken off the field. Charlie says that one of the kid’s friends touches the light & just collapsed. He asks how the hell something like this could happen. And they look down at a body, the top half of which is like sliced off! EW!! OMG!! UGH!! Charlie is disturbed enough to start going with the alternate worlds theory. He says that Jones is trying to create a portal, first in New York, now here. Olivia gets it, why these places? What do the have in common? The scene lingers on the sliced off body for another 400 years. GAH! Enough!!

9:34 – Back at the office, Olivia gets a report from an agent. She cuts him off though & asks him to start going through files of cases relating to unexplained science, technology, basically the entire purpose of Fringe Division. She wants to see all of them. Agents bring in loads of cases & Olivia digs through them & sticks tacks on a map. We see a few clusters. Around Boston, around Providence. Olivia realizes something & goes to Broyles. She says she found a connection. She says to call Nina Sharp.

9:35 – At the beach house, Peter helps Walter move some boxes out of the way. He wants to know what Walter is looking for, but Walter ignores him. He opens up a bench & inside finds a lock box. He’s delighted it’s still here, but falls silent at the sight of another coin on top of it. It looks just like the one The Observer gave him. Unfortunately, the lock box is locked. Peter doesn’t look too worried.

9:36 – At the office, Olivia explains to Nina what she found. Nina says MD has been tracking the same kind of data for years. Olivia plots it out for her…the two locations, Boston & Providence, but have sort of tentacles of other incidents coming out of them. But they are the center.

9:37 – At the beach house, Peter has succeeded in picking the lock in about 3 seconds. Walter opens the box & pulls out a device. It looks like a small telescope. Walter explains that when he & “Belly” were younger, they consumed, like, a LOT of LCD. Peter is shocked. Shocked! Walter says that they thought at those times, you know, the times when they were on LCD, that they could see into another world. One where things were slightly different, where people were slightly different. The problem was, they couldn’t prolong being able to see it. Walter says children can naturally see into that world longer. Peter fills in the holes about Cortexiphan. Walter says that they thought that, in time, subjects may be able to travel from this world to the other one. Peter is looking…skeptical. This is no time for skepticism!

9:38 – Walter comes over close to Peter. He says that around this time, he lost something very important to him. And he wanted very badly to go over to the other side & take what he’d lost. Peter is still all questions. How did he plan to do that? Just tear a hole & walk over? No, silly, says Walter. You have to find the right place. Of course you do.

9:39 – Nina says the same thing, it’s all about the right place. She says that Dr Bell believes there are places in our world, “soft spots,” whose the physical qualities have started to decay. In those places, the membrane betweens the realities is thinner. She cites the Bermuda Triangle as one. Heh. Nina says that until recently, these places were rare, but scientific progress has made them more common. Nina says that Jones is looking to aim a certain kind of energy at one of these spots & theoretically break through to the other side.

9:40 – Back with Peter & Walter, Walter explains that there are problems with breaking through to the other reality. For instance, crazy stuff from that side can come through to our world. Which could be bad. Walter says that just in case, he also built a plug, a patch, which is this thing he was looking for, to plug the hole if they need to. Peter gets that “Just so the viewing audience is clear, I’m about to repeat what you just said in plain English & in a skeptical, unbelieving voice” look in his eye. Then he asks if Walter knows where the hole is. Why yes he does, says Walter.

9:41 – Meanwhile, back at the farm, team Not-Including-Charlie is also looking for the next site. Olivia asks about the oldest incident. “Rebecca’s Meadow” is brought up. Olivia’s seen something though, another cluster of incidents pointing to one spot. Reiden Lake. Not as cool as Little Hill, but okay. Meanwhile, at Reiden Lake, Jones & his gang prepare to go to the other side.

9:43 – Walter & Peter drive to the other side of the lake. Did they bother to update Olivia about what’s going on? Cause that might be important, is all I’m saying. Walter has a sense of urgency, perhaps because he realizes there’s less than 15 minutes to this episode to wrap up the season. Yeah, Peter, drive quicker! Walter doesn’t actually know what might happen if they don’t get there “on time,” but he knows it’s bad. He said that “his friend” came & told him he had to come here. Peter realizes he means the Observer. He’s still kind of bitter about that time that he attacked Peter in the woods. Walter thinks he must have had a very good reason. Heh.

9:44 – Walter thinks they’re there & gets Peter to stop. He gets out the Patch & puts it in his pocket. There’s a pause. Walter tells Peter that he probably doesn’t remember this, but when he was young, he was very sick. To distract himself from his illness, he took to collecting coins. The silver one that he found on the box, that was Peter’s favorite. He gives it to Peter, who looks at it for a moment. He doesn’t remember. Just then, both of them are pulled from the car & I totally thought it was Jones’ men, but it’s just Olivia & the FBI. Olivia calls them off & asks what they’re doing there. Oh, just plugging a hole in the universe, what are YOU doing here, asks Walter. “Apparently the same thing.” Heh.

9:46 – Just then, there’s a light & Walter goes, “Oh no.” Dude, it’s never good when Walter says that. The FBI agents move in & see Jones’ crew, who are preparing the device. We see the first swirls of the portal being opened up, but one of Jones’ men spots an agent & shoots him. The agents start shooting & Jones tells the other guy operating the device to keep going. Meanwhile, other agents are trying to get Walter to stay where he is, but he has to go plug a hole in the universe. He tries to bust past Peter, but Peter says to give him the Patch, he’ll do it! Walter tells him how to use it. Meanwhile, Olivia has moved in on Jones & his other man. They don’t stop working though & the portal is opened. It kind of looks like a black & white movie, being played without a screen.

9:48 – Olivia shoots the other man, but Jones is advancing on the portal. Olivia yells at him to stop, but he does, so she shoots. He kind of falls over & his glasses come off, but he gets back up. Jones says that the teleportation is killing him, but bullets now go right through him. He goes toward the portal & Olivia starts to sprint after him & Peter is there suddenly, with the Patch. He turns it & aims at the portal, looks away as it emits a light beam, which seems to close the window. Jones was right there & basically is sliced in half vertically. It’s gross. The producers like really love this effect. He falls over. Olivia is stunned.

9:52 – At the Federal Building, Olivia packs away files. Broyles comes in & doesn’t really know what to say. He tells her Nina said thanks & is doing fine. Also, they’ve been ordered to stop looking into William Bell. The orders came from the top. Well maybe William Bell should stop turning up in the middle of every Fringe Division investigation & then they can properly ignore him. Seriously, can you imagine every episode in the second half of this season without William Bell?? What would they talk about every week? Broyles apologizes & Olivia just looks stunned.

9:53 – At the lab, Astrid comes in with Berry Boom for Walter, but he’s not there. There’s instead a note sitting on a table, propped up by a roll of Necco wafers. Now, Necco used to be a client of mine, they’re actually based out of the Boston area, so this is a cool little tie-in. Peter walks in & sees the note too. It has his name on the front. It says that Walter’s just stepping out for a bit, but tells Peter not to worry, he knows where he’s going. Aw. Peter notes to Astrid that this is the first time Walter’s ever left a note. Their little boy is growing up…

9:54 – Walter is at the cemetery again. He fingers Peter’s coin & places it on the gravestone he was looking at earlier. The camera pans & the music warps. The gravestone is Peter Bishop’s. 1978 – 1985. Oh my God.

9:55 – OMG, goosebumps, really. I had guessed this reveal, but it’s one that I find really disturbing. I am seriously freaked out by the idea of this. So that would make this Peter 7 when he died. And our Peter, the one who can’t remember his childhood illness, his coin collection, the Observer saving him, Walter got this Peter from the other side? So, how much of it is different than how real-Peter would have turned out? When did Walter get alterna-Peter? Was it also at the age of 7? Or was it later? How much of who Peter is, this brilliant, troubled, snarky, harsh, selfish, kind man, how much of it is because of who he really is & how much of it is because of what happened to him once he was brought over? Also? Is there a alterna-Walter out there, searching for what happened to his son? We could seriously talk about this for days.

9:55 – In her house, Olivia stares at her gun & badge. Her phone rings, it’s Nina. She tells Olivia she held up her end of the bargain (well, Peter & Walter did) so Nina is calling to hold up hers. She tells Liv where to go in Manhattan tomorrow & asks that she doesn’t tell anyone else about this & that she comes alone. This sounds suspiciously like a trap. Or a casual business meeting. One or the other.

9:55 – In New York, Olivia is lost in thought & almost gets in a car wreck. She waits impatiently, tensely at the restaurant at the hotel. Some time later, no one else is left at the restaurant. Olivia angrily calls Nina, but she’s “out of the country.” She looks around a little, feeling like a sucker. Then gets in the elevator to go downstairs. A man is in there with her, but he gets out at a different floor. As the elevator reaches the lower teens, there’s suddenly a bright blue light. It’s very Star Trek promo-esque.

9:57 – Olivia suddenly flashes back & forth, she’s in the same place, but suddenly she’s surrounded by people, then alone again. It’s weird & disturbing. There’s a high-pitched sound, different from the sound we’ve heard before when she’s shifted between the worlds. The elevator doors open & a woman dressed in black greets Olivia. The halls are very white, like Apple Store white. The woman shows Olivia into a room. It appears to be a normal office, the colors seem to be back to normal. There’s a newspaper on a desk with the headline “Obamas Move into New White House.” Hmm. There’re some other devices around, what looks like an oxygen tank & tube. What looks like a camera on a tripod.

9:58 – Just then, a man walks in. We don’t see his face. He’s in a suit. His face is still in darkness as he tells Olivia he’s been waiting a long time for this. So have we, Nimoy! Olivia asks where she is & who he is. The man says the answer to the first question is complicated. Then he steps into the light & there he is, Leonard Nimoy, smiling, introducing himself as William Bell.

9:59 – Something’s wrong. Olivia turns away from Bell, rather rudely. The music is ominous as we follow her view out the window. It pans out to New York & out & out & OMG! OMG!!! Olivia is in the twin towers. The World Trade Center. In another world.

10:00 – OH. MY. GOD! I am seriously just sitting here, freaking out right now. Okay, overall impressions. The episode itself, specifically the resolution of the David Robert Jones storyline (presumedly to write Jared Harris off to let him go off to Mad Men), was actually not as strong as I was hoping for. But the double reveals at the end, just like last week, were crazy. Like seriously, CHILLING. I am freaked the hell out right now. It really was a fabulous reveal because it’s an emotional one. It’s a “I can’t get the goosebumps to go away” reveal.

Basically, JJ Abrams & team? You guys have some guts. I’m in awe. I can’t wait until fall.

9:00 – We open at the last scene of “The Variable,” with Daniel stupidly brandishing a gun at Richard Alpert. Only this time, we see Jack & Kate in the brush, discussing what to do. Then, there’s that horrible shot & Daniel goes down. In the jungle, Jack springs up to go for the camp, but Kate holds him back. Just as they turn to run away, young Charles Widmore comes out swinging guns & knocks Jack down. He bloodies him up a good deal & perhaps Jack & Kate & Dan should have thought about ditching the Dharma unis, is all I’m saying.

9:02 – Meanwhile, Eloise Hawking, the one that just shot her own son, frantically flips through Daniel’s battered journal. She finds the inscription that her future self wrote him, recognizes her own handwriting & stares at the still, very very dead-looking body at her feet. Just then, young Widmore enters the camp with Jack & Kate in tow. Eloise asks if they came here with the dead dude, they say yes. Eloise says to put them in her tent. Charles asks her why the hell the Dharma Initiative is all declaring war & whatnot. Yeah, that’d be a shock to Horace too. Eloise exasperatedly notes that these folks clearly aren’t Dharma. How is Charles supposed to know that? Widmore thinks the same thing & asks where they’re from. Eloise does not pull a Daniel & say the future. Probably too soon, wait for the third date, honey.

9:03 – Thirty years later, says the title cards. Richard Alpert plays with a ship in a bottle. Literally. Richard’s in a tent, where a woman rushes in & says that “he’s” here. Richard goes outside & present-day John Locke, the one who was very recently dead, walks into camp carrying a boar. Richard notes that it’s been three years since they’ve seen Locke. Locke says he’ll explain what’s going on “on the way.” Richard says Locke seems different. Locke says it’s because he has a purpose now. Even Richard looks confused. Even more so when Richard looks up & sees Sun & Ben approaching. Locke notes that Ben helped him get back here. Surprisingly, nobody else in Others camp seems to be very surprised to see any of these random strangers & their old boss.

9:05 – Sun asks Ben who Locke is talking to. Seriously? She doesn’t know? It’s season 5, honey. If you haven’t run into Richard by now, you just haven’t moved the plot forward very much, have you. Ben says that Richard is a kind of advisor & has been for a very, very long time. Sun, you have no idea. Sun takes out her backpack & grabs the photo that Christian gave them of the 1977 Dharma recruits. She rushes up to Richard & asks if he was around back then, if he remembers any of them. Richard, very sadly, tells her that yes, in fact, he does. He remembers watching them all die. Touche, great plan, apparently, Dan.

9:07 – Floating title text of doom. No Star Trek zoom-out this time.

9:09 – Still in 2008, Sun stares at Jin’s wedding ring. Locke comes up & offers her some water, like that’s really gonna help. He says that he doesn’t believe they came here for nothing. Richard comes up & Locke asks if he still has the compass he gave him. Richard does. He pulls it out & Locke calls out for Ben. They spar a little back & forth a little & Ben agrees to come along. Before the terrific trio head off to Locke’s mystery adventure, Locke promises Sun that if there’s a way to bring her & Jin together again, he will find it. He certainly sounds confident. Then again, he did die & come back, I guess I’d be confident too.

9:11 – In 1977, Charles Widmore’s men manhandle Kate in Eloise’s tent. Jack objects & gets kicked for his trouble. They’re left alone with her hands bound. Kate notes that before they were caught, Jack said they need to put things back to how they’re supposed to be. Jack explains Faraday’s plan again, about the whole preventing the Oceanic crash thing. Kate points out that that would require present them to…what? Cease to exist? Revert back to a parallel timeline where they land in LA & go on with their lives? Jack says that all the misery they’ve been through would have never happened. Kate, fiercely, says that it was not all misery. Jack, sadly, says that enough of it was. They look at each other. Yeah, Kate, not all of us got to have crazy cage sex with Sawyer, seems to be what Jack is thinking.

9:13 – Eloise Hawking comes in & demands to know what the guy she shot wanted with the bomb. Jack & Kate remain silent. Jack tells her she wouldn’t believe him. Eloise kneels down & tells him about that time when she was 17 & took a young man out to see the bomb. The man told her that if they bury the bomb, everything would be hunky dory. He knows because he’s from the future. After he told her that, he disappeared right in front of her eyes. Eloise then says that ten minutes ago, she shot that very man. Before he died, he said he was her son. Eloise haltingly tells Jack that if he tells her, she’ll believe him. How did that man have a journal with her handwriting when she doesn’t remember writing it? Jack looks at the inscription in Daniel’s journal & tells Eloise it’s because she hasn’t written it yet. And won’t, for like another bunch of years.

9:14 – Jack, rather kindly, tells Eloise that what just happened, her killing her own son, that was an accident. That’s nice. Then Jack descends into crazy talk. He says that it doesn’t need to happen. Daniel, her son, came back because he found a way to make sure that it doesn’t. If they do what’s written in that journal, none of this will happen. Eloise, shakingly, asks Kate if Jack knows WTF he’s talking about. Kate says he thinks he does. Which isn’t much of an answer, but Eloise accepts it anyway, out of guilt or grief or just because she wants to accept it. She’ll take them to the bomb.

9:15 – There’s just one tiny problem with that plan though. They buried the bomb twenty years ago, just like Daniel said, but since then someone & I don’t wish to name names, but it rhymes with Sharma Deinitiative, decided to build a village right over it. Eloise thinks that it should be okay though, since apparently Kate & Jack & Dan have been pretending to be Dharma all this time. Jack scoffs. It’s really not that simple, what with the whole giving poor lil’ injured Ben over to the Others & having a massive shootout with crazy Radzinsky & all.

9:16 – Over at Dharma-ville, the jig is up for Sawyer & Juliet. They’re handcuffed down by Radzinsky, who demands to know where the hell Kate went. Sawyer smirks & asks for a lawyer. Heh. Radzinsky clocks him but Horace comes over to intervene. Radzinsky is clearly descending into Crazyville & tells Horace he doesn’t have the stomach for what’s going to have to go down next. Horace steps aside reluctantly. Oh, you wuss you. Phil & Radzinsky push Sawyer roughly over to the security monitors & freeze-frame on a rather picturesque image of Kate as she’s fleeing Dharma-ville. Radzinsky demands that “Jim” tell him where she is, as if they aren’t past the name charades, or he’ll kill him. Dude, even I know that that’s not an effective interrogation technique. Clearly, you threaten to kill Juliet here. Juliet! Interrogation 101, guys.

9:18 – PS: Love the new time-travel-themed Mac & PC commercial. Well placed, media planners.

9:20 – Post commercials, Radzinsky continues to beat the crap out of Sawyer. Punch, are you ready to talk? No? Okay, punch. How about now? No? Okay, punch. How about now? Radzinsky asks where “Jim’s girlfriend” took the boy. Nothing. More punching, now Sawyer’s looking in worse shape than Jack. Juliet’s sitting there, watching in anguish until at last she has to say something. Radzinsky asks her where the hell they took the boy. Juliet pleads that they are not bad people, they’ve known them for three years. Sawyer, wheezing on the floor, begs her not to say anything, saying that they won’t believe them anyway & they’re just going to get other people hurt. You would think that this is a clear cut cue for Radzinsky to remember that hey, this LaFleur guy came in with a bunch of other people on his crew! Like Miles & Jin for example! And also, these new recruits had other friends, like Hurley! But it doesn’t seem to dawn on him right away.

9:22 – Horace steps in, saying that Sawyer’s not going to talk. Phil, however, is smarter than we all think. He says he can make LaFleur talk. He stands to one side & clocks Juliet in the face. Sawyer flies out at him against his restraints, royally pissed, proclaiming that Phil is a dead man. DEAD MAN! Do you hear? Juliet’s lip is busted up. I completely believe that Phil is a dead man. Another guy comes in & it seems the Dharma folk don’t suck so bad at the investigation after all. They’re actually looking for Miles & Jin & some guy named Hugo Reyes, who Phil identifies as the “fat guy.” Hey! Not cool, Phil. You are totally losing points with me this episode.

9:23 – Hurley doesn’t help his cause by hoarding a bunch of food. He sneaks around & somehow all the security guys crawling all over the place don’t notice him. He makes it out of the village, spotted only by one Dr Pierre Chang. He meets up with Jin & Miles, who tells them they can’t help Juliet or Sawyer, they’ve got to save themselves. Hurley protests that if it was reversed, they wouldn’t leave them behind, but just then, they hear someone come up. Jin & Miles draw their guns. It’s Pierre Chang of course. Miles, startled to see his dad, asks what he’s doing here. Chang has clearly been thinking a lot about Daniel’s logic from the previous episode (probably noting that yes, it is in fact kind of a coincidence that there’s a Chinese guy named Miles here) & asks the group if they are actually from the future.

9:24 – Hurley reacts lamely after a long pause, saying that’s ridiculous. Chang goes oh really & starts asking basic questions like when Hurley was born, if he fought in the Korean War (Hurley hilariously thinks it’s a trick question) & who the president is & since Sawyer isn’t there to get his back like he said he would, Hurley fails miserably & is finally like, okay, fine, we’re from the future. You happy? HA! Chang, kind of hesitantly delighted, asks Miles if it’s true that he’s his son. Miles says yes, & you can almost see the suppressed desperation to react to that, from both of them. It’s a nice moment. But Chang has to ask about what else Faraday (or as he calls him, the Physicist, like poor, dead Dan has evolved into just a symbol) said, about evacuating the Island. Is it true that there’s going to be a devastating incident? Miles haltingly seems to make up his mind & stop denying what’s going on & tells Chang that Daniel has been right about everything so far & if he said to evacuate the Island, he should do it. Interestingly, this has to be the push that gets Chang to push his wife & son off the Island & into massive resentment & daddy issues.

9:25 – Another shot of poor, dead Faraday. Charles Widmore kneels over him. He asks Richard Alpert why Daniel seems oddly familiar. Before Richard has time to answer, Eloise comes out of the tent. She tells Richard to untie Jack & Kate & give her a moment with poor, dead Daniel. As she unfolds a blanket to cover her son with, she tells them that she’s taking him to the bomb. Charles is dumbfounded & we pulls away from them as they talk heatedly. As he’s untying them, Kate asks Richard who Eloise is talking to. Richard says it’s Charles Widmore & that, well, love is complicated with him & Eloise. Jack & Kate don’t really know what to make of this. Eloise has finished her conversation & covering her son. She’s ready to go.

9:27 – In 2008, remember these folks? Richard, Ben & Locke walk through the jungle & Richard wants to know where the hell Locke’s been in the last three years. Locke is surprised Richard doesn’t already know. I’m always surprised when Richard doesn’t know something, so I’m with Locke here. Locke says they’re going to where Locke disappeared to three years ago & after that, he’d like Richard to take him to see Jacob. Despite Ben’s objections, Richard eventually agrees to this. Locke says to keep going, they’re almost to the plane. Ben’s like, what plane??

9:27 – The trio of doom come across a clearing. It’s where Mr Eko’s brother’s plane crash is! Locke explains what the plane was & says for Richard to listen, he only has about three minutes to get this right. Confused! Locke tells Richard that a man is about to come out of the jungle who’s been shot in the leg. Richard has to help him (with the pack that John gives him) & tell him to bring back all the people who left the Island. And to do that, he has to die. Just then, the Locke we see in the premiere, injured from Ethan Rom’s bullet comes limping out of the jungle. Ben, thoroughly freaked out, asks Present Locke who he is. Locke, somewhat delightedly, says it’s him. This is crazy!

9:34 – Premiere Locke sits down painfully by the plane & pulls out a knife when he hears Richard approach. Richard does exactly what we’ve seen, only now all of Richard’s crazy talk about what Locke “will” do makes sense. We pull away to hear Ben & Present Locke’s conversation. Ben wonders how Locke could know exactly when he would be there. Locke says the Island told him. Ben scoffs that the Island certainly didn’t tell him everything, like where Jacob is, for example. Locke, smirking, knowingly notes that Ben’s never even seen Jacob. Ben can’t deny it. Just then, we hear the flash, but don’t see it. Wasn’t it a lot more violent than that? Maybe the first few weren’t that bad. Premiere Locke has disappeared. Ben is astonished. Present Locke tells him Premiere Locke’s going to give Richard his compass back. Wow. So, where did the compass come from first, the chicken or the egg?

9:34 – Richard Alpert comes back over, looking freaked. He offers the bullet to Present Locke, which, heh. Richard says that Premiere Locke seemed convinced, especially about the part where he has to die, thank God that didn’t have to happen, right, guys? Guys? Right? Actually…notes Present Locke, looking at Ben. Actually, it totally did. Richard looks totally confused.

9:35 – In 1977, Pierre Chang storms into the security station, saying they have to evacuate the Island. He pauses when he sees a bloodied Sawyer & Juliet tied to their chairs. He asks what’s going on & Radzinsky says he should be at the Swan, they’re about to break ground. Chang says it’s not safe, they have to evacuate & looks to Horace as the leader, but clearly, Radzinsky’s pulled a hostile takeover. I really hate that guy. Sawyer quietly says that Chang is right, they should evacuate the women & children & put everyone on the sub. If they put him & Juliet on the sub too, they will tell them whatever they want to know. He looks at Juliet, calls her sweetheart & asks if she’s okay with that. Smiling at him, Juliet says absolutely. Radzinsky says if that’s what he wants, he needs to draw them a map. He wants to know exactly where the Hostiles are.

9:36 – Richard, Eloise, some of their people & Jack & Kate are at a river. Eloise says they have to swim under it to get to the village. Kate refuses. She tells Jack that she’s gone as far as she will go with him. They argue, with Kate noting that what Jack is saying they do is basically killing her, which isn’t really true, it’s just putting her in jail, which you know is Kate’s one true motivation to avoid. She tries to leave but Eloise & her people won’t let her & suddenly there’s a shot. Kate looks stunned, looks down like Daniel did last episode, but it isn’t her who is shot. One of Eloise’s men falls, then another. They all look up & it’s freaking Sayid! Hi, Sayid! Where’ve you been honey? Eloise & Richard put their hands up.

9:42 – Back from commercials, Richard is like, WTF, Eloise? What the hell is going on, why are you doing this? Eloise says that if they do what Jack says, none of it will matter. With Jack & Kate & Sayid, Sayid repeats the plan like it’s crazy since, you know, it is. But of course, he thinks he’s always changed things, he thinks he killed Benjamin Linus. Well, you should have aimed better, Mr Assassin Person. Kate & Jack look embarrassed. Touche, not dead. Sayid asks why Kate would do what she did & Kate again defends her actions & ties it back to what Jack wants to do, all self righteous, as if the reason she doesn’t want to go along with Jack’s plan ISN’T to avoid going to jail. Jack insists that he’s right, that this is their destiny. Kate asks if he knows who he sounds like, the guy he thought was crazy. I thought she meant Daniel here, but I think she means Locke. Kate says that she’s going to find the rest of their people, because if she can’t stop Jack, maybe they can. She marches off.

9:44 – Meanwhile, back with Miles, Jin & Hurley. They’re watching as women & children get on the sub like they want. They see little Charlotte & her mom & Lara & lil’ Miles. Miles watches in semi-horror as his dad yells at his mom. But he realizes now that it was the only way Chang could convince Lara to go. Hurley sympathizes with him, but then they spot Juliet & Sawyer, who is looking much less bloody, come into view. They’re still handcuffed as they’re being marched down the dock. Hurley says it’s cool, Sawyer always has a plan.

9:45 – Sawyer’s current plan is to buy Microsoft or bet on the Cowboys & get rich when they get off the Island. He apologizes to Juliet, saying he should have listened to her & left when she wanted to, three years ago. But Juliet is fine with how things went & Sawyer lets Juliet go into the sub first. (Side note: I like how the music here is the same as in the Sawyer/Juliet scenes in “LaFleur.” It’s their love theme.) Sawyer looks at the Island one more time. “Good riddance,” he says, & follows Juliet in. It feels oddly final, even though I don’t think it is, & I feel like, if this was it for them, if this is how it goes & Sawyer & Juliet leave the Island together in 1977, I would be completely & totally fine with the resolution of their characters.

9:46 – Next thing we see if Richard diving into the river. Jack tells Sayid he wouldn’t blame him if he left like Kate did. Eloise instructs him on where the opening is & Jack follows Richard under. The music becomes loud & ominous as Jack emerges at what looks like a temple under the waterfall. Richard tells Jack they’re in the tunnels. Eloise comes up too, followed by Sayid. Jack is thrilled to see him. Sayid says that if this works, Jack would have saved them all. If it doesn’t, well, at least they’d be out of their misery. Yeah, that’s right, Kate. MISERY. Richard leads them on their way.

9:48 – In 2008, Richard, Locke & Ben arrive back at Others camp. Locke nods at Sun. Richard thinks they’re leaving in the morning to see Jacob, but Locke wants to leave now, after talking to the group. Richard agrees & Locke speaks out. He introduces himself & pretty much proclaims his profound skepticism over the fact that none of them have actually seen Jacob. Richard looks hilariously betrayed. Sun just wants to know if this here Jacob can help them figure out how to bring Jin & co. back. John says yeah, Jacob can TOTALLY do that. Richard here is going to take me to see him right now. And you guys are welcome to come. The Others stir & gather around Locke. Richard murmurs to Ben that he’s starting to think John Locke’s going to be trouble. Ben looks at him & notes that this is why he tried to kill him. Richard looks at him like he can’t decide if he should help him try again.

9:55 – Back in 1977, we see the last of the women & children disappear into the sub. Inside, Juliet & Sawyer are chained to a table. Juliet asks Sawyer what they’re going to do when they get to Ann Arbor. Sawyer says that Dharma has no authority over them in the real world. When they get to wherever they’re going, they’re free. Juliet is amazed by the idea of the real world (and the idea of free, I think). She looks genuinely happy. Thrilled at the thought. Sawyer leans in & tells her that whatever happens, he’s got her back. She says she loves him. He grins adorably & says he loves her back. They smile goofily at each other. It’s wonderful, lovely, a moment I so desperately want these two to have, that it can’t possibly last. Phil stops them from closing the sub. Says to drop “her” at Ann Arbor too. Of course. Of COURSE. It’s Kate. You have GOT to be kidding me. Thing’s get incredibly tense. I’m incredibly annoyed. Just DIE, KATE! DIE!

9:57 – The crew starts the sub up. Juliet looks at Sawyer. We get a fairly unrealistic CGI shot of the sub diving underwater. Wow. This is crazy. They actually leave the Island. What happens to them if Jack succeeds? I guess they have to disappear along with the rest of them, right? Cause they wouldn’t be in that place? That sucks.

9:58 – With Jack & Sayid. Jack says they should trust Eloise, since 30 years from now, she’s the one that tells them how to get back to the Island. Sayid & I totally don’t get Jack’s logic. They follow Richard & Eloise on though. They light up a clearing in the tunnel, where Jughead is there. Covered up. Not at all buried. Not sealed in lead. Not buried in cement. Y’all! You totally failed at what Daniel said to do! Of course, this makes it significantly easier to blow this sucker up now. Which Eloise doesn’t even realize, is what Jack wants to do.

9:59 – In 2008, we see Locke’s group walking away from camp. It’s a very cool shot. Locke smiles at Ben, saying it’s a beautiful day. Ben tells Locke Richard has some concerns about what Locke’s doing. Then Ben tries to manipulate him by saying he’s there to follow him. If he needs Jacob to help reunite him with his people, that’s cool. But that’s not what Locke wants at all. So why does he want to meet Jacob? So he can kill him. Ben is stopped in his tracks & you can almost see the thought forming in his head. What have I done?

10:01 – Next on Lost, Jack has a bomb! Juliet, Sawyer & Kate maybe aren’t long for leaving the Island after all! Frank asks what’s in the box! Sawyer’s still somewhat torn between Juliet & Kate even though it is RIDICULOUSLY clear who he belongs with! It should be noted that Juliet is still walking around wearing a red-shirt!! Jack asks Kate if she’s with him! Gah! Two-hour SEASON FINALE EVENT!!

POSTSCRIPT: Okay, that episode was awesome. The only major complaint I have is that, even though it wasn’t a true centric episode, with flashbacks & whatnot, it’s too bad we didn’t get more explanation about who or what Richard is. No new information about why he doesn’t age, what his role is, besides what we already know. Nothing about the eyeliner either, heh.

The other complaint is of course Kate. It’s not like I ever liked her, but I really just don’t GET her now. I can’t decide how I feel about her morals (because I do believe that Juliet the doctor would do what she did to help lil’ Ben, but I don’t believe in Kate’s reasons), but I do know that my overriding feelings about everything she does is that ultimately, Kate will always act in her own interests. She’s selfish. And somewhere along the way, that became not good enough for Sawyer, a character I have gone 180 on this season.

I don’t think this is a show whose success or failure as a series should be dictated by relationships, but I know I’ll be sorely disappointed if Sawyer chooses Kate over Juliet, next week or next year.

What I really liked about this episode was the Walter/Peter dynamic, which has been inconsistent this season. There were a bunch of episodes midway through the year that had this lovely underlying tone to their relationship, but then it got all tense & bickering again recently, which makes it feel like regression. So I was pleased to see the genuine affection come back this episode. After all he’s seen, Peter has to feel something for this man, he has to know that Walter is trying to do something good here. So I like that it feels like that clicked into place here.

Of course, things tend to do that, right before it all falls apart.

• If I were that bus driver, I would totally not be letting that clearly sick crazy person on the bus. Okay, I’m going to go ahead and say? Not their best CGI work with the spontaneous combustion. Sorry, cold open, you’ve set your bar too high. I give it a 4.5 on the creepy scale.

• PS: Congrats to the entire Fringe team on their early season 2 pick-up! Well deserved! I think it’s been one of the real great things about this TV season, watching Fringe develop & really embrace its potential. There’s still so many places it could go & I can’t wait.

• Okay, like last week, the aftermath of the cold open is far worse than the actual moment. Fine, Fringe, I’ll give you another half point to an even 5. But that’s it!

• “Who you gonna call?” Ha! It’s really just awesome because Walter says it.

• PS: Is that a Slusho Walter’s drinking? Awesome!

• Ah! Never mind, I totally forgot from the preview this episode isn’t about the mystery-of-the-week as much as more Olivia-Cortexiphan-mind-weirdness. Neat effect with the disappearing body. So that’s where all the special effects money for this episode went…

• The return of Nina Bell. It’s really interesting with her character…she hasn’t actually been on that much this year, but the perception of her character, for me at least, has completely changed. From the pilot, I think we all thought she was clearly evil, but in the latter third of the season, I think it’s become a lot more ambiguous. She’s way interesting, I wish we’d see more of her.

• Peter’s “project” that he’s been working on…anyone else around here think it’s shady? Astrid? Come on. Someone ask some questions!

• These Olivia mind-freakouts are way creepy. This episode’s starting to get a very “Bad Dreams” feel to it. It’s very quiet so far, like in the moments where things get loud, like when Walter shouts about Peter, it’s startling.

• Oh, great. Agent Harris is back. I hate that dude. More importantly, he’s yet to actually do anything. He’s incompetent even at his role of being annoying for the Fringe team & the audience.

• Good to see Charlie getting to do a bunch of FBI-agent-type things this episode. He hasn’t been asked to leave the room in like two, three weeks now!

• Hallucinations seem like such a tame term to be describing these visions. Déjà vu is actually a much closer term, even though Olivia brushes it off. Just the way this episode was filmed, it’s a great description because her visions leave us feeling uneasy, disturbed, but we can’t really put our finger on it.

• “You’re familiar with the pliability of space/time, yes?” Oooh, sweet. More time travel talk. Because we don’t get enough headaches from Lost. Actually, no, I totally love this stuff, I think it’s fascinating. And Walter’s explanation of déjà vu is super cool, a glimpse into the road not taken, the other path.

• Hey, Peter’s method of identifying with the everyman in search of the truth was totally effective! Nice! And all roads lead to William Bell. Come on, Nimoy, show yourself! Oh wait, never mind, this guy is crazy. Shameless Star Trek plug! “Live long and prosper.” I’ve always wanted to be able to do that hand signal, but my pinky and ring fingers just won’t cooperate!

• Olivia, a psych exam actually doesn’t sound too bad right about now. I mean, I know it’ll go in your record and all but then again, you are hallucinating the city burning and your office in quarantine and stuff. Now you’re getting direct clues from your visions, like back when John Scott used to tell you about toads? Don’t you think this should be looked in to? You’re right, definitely later.

• This Isaac guy is clearly evil, since he’s wearing black-rimmed glasses. Run, Other Twin, run!

• Aww, Peter & Walter are so cute when they’re not snarking at each other! And while I totally don’t believe that Peter’s secret project was only to reconstruct audio to let Walter have some of his old vinyl records, I think it’s sweet. “You know, when he was five, he built me a popsicle stick napkin holder. Dreadful design, utterly useless.” Heh. Clearly, Walter’s touched as well.

• “You sound just like him.” Awww! I do love it when they show Peter’s brilliance, which is his most underused characteristic. They tell us over & over that he’s a genius, but it’s how he can see things, his perspective, that makes his genius valuable in a different way than his father’s. When he explains his theory, it’s lovely how it’s clear they are not so different. I love how giddy he is, playing out his idea.

• “That could have been one of my records!” Heh, Walter. This is actually one of the cooler experiments we’ve seen on this show, because I’m pretty sure it’s based in real science. I remember hearing about this theory before, that sounds can make physical impressions that can then be played back, like grooves on a record. If I remember correctly, one of the CSI shows used the same principle in one of their episodes, where a murder was captured in the grooves of a spinning clay vase.

• OMG! It’s Harris! What??!

• You know what this means, sting op time. Annnnd things work out, except for Harris, of course. He’s not looking so good. Wait, did that Isaac guy get shot? Confused. Where was Charlie in all this? Most confusing sting op ever.

• Okay, so Olivia finally figures out that Walter is like really involved in this whole thing with the Cortexiphan in Jacksonville. There’s an awful lot of folks from Jacksonville suddenly showing up in Boston & doing weird stuff all of sudden, y’all.

• “I was trying to prepare you.” But he can’t remember for what. Walter’s eyes look very black in this scene. Very lost. Olivia leaves him broken. He holds on to the only thing he can. His son.

• OMG, The Observer! Even Nina Sharp is freaked out. That’s how you know, something’s seriously wrong here.

• PS: I just want to note here, I love the change in tone around this point. It suddenly feels like something’s about to shatter the stillness of the episode.

• “Our children are our greatest resource.” Walter finds the manuscript! But The Observer is here. “It’s time to go.” “Is it time?” OMG. OMG don’t go with the creepy bald man, Walter! Don’t talk to strangers!

• Nina Sharp gets in the elevator, gets off the elevator…and gets SHOT!!??? OMG!!

Next week, it’s what we’ve all been waiting for! David Robert Jones! The Observer! William Bell! This is going to be SO AWESOME!

9:01 – We open in the hospital where Desmond is being wheeled off with a gunshot wound. Aw man, I thought with the pummeling & all, he was okay, like Ben missed or something. Penny is frantic. Me, too, Pen, don’t die, Des! Penny’s with lil’ Charlie. In the waiting room, she is approached by Mrs Hawking. Hi Mama Faraday! Mrs Hawking asks after Charlie, noting that he looks like his father. Penny realizes this isn’t some random woman & gets up. Mrs Hawking says she thinks it’s her son’s (meaning Dan’s) fault that Penny’s husband got shot. (Um, PS: Did we know that Penny & Desmond got married?? I don’t think we did! Whoa!) Penny is appalled this is the mother of Ben, but it’s not. It’s unclear whether Penny realizes who Mrs Hawking means when she says her son is Daniel Faraday.

9:02 – Flashback noise…it’s back in 1977. We pick up in the last scene of “Some Like it Hoth.” Miles takes the suitcase Dan hands him & is shocked to see Dan come out of the sub. He asks WTF Dan is doing back here, he thought he just went back to the mainland & got rich inventing the DVD or something. Heh. Dan shows Miles the picture of the 1977 recruits, with Hurley, Kate & Jack. He says that’s why he’s back. Miles commiserates that it IS weird, right? But Dan doesn’t have time for chatting, he needs to see Jack.

9:02 – Jack is currently shirtless. He answers the door to Dan in a Dharma sweatshirt. He’s followed by Miles inside, with Dan demanding to know how Jack got back here, to 1977. So he does know that the O6 went back to the present? Jack says they were on a plane & as a matter of fact, it was Dan’s mother that said to get on it. Dan asks what Mrs Hawking said to get him to come back, did she say it was his destiny? Jack says yes & Dan says, man, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but my mom is c-r-a-z-y CRAZY. Or, he just says that his mom was wrong. It wasn’t their destiny at all. Wha?

9:03 – Floating title text of doom.

9:06 – Flashback. A young brown-haired boy plays a piano to a metronome. A young blonde lady comes in. It’s his mother. She’s British. And apprehensive. The little boy is lil’ Dan. And the blonde lady is young Mrs Hawking. Awesomely, lil’ Dan is rocking the braces. Mrs Hawking sits down & asks Dan if he knows what destiny is. She says if someone has a gift, they have to use it. She asks how many beats the metronome has gone through since Dan started playing. Lil’ Dan says 864. Mrs Hawking says his gift is his mind. He’s meant for math & science & it’s Mrs Hawking’s “job” to keep him in his part. What the hell does that mean? Anyway, basically Mrs Hawking is saying all this because it’s time to stop messing around playing piano really well. Lil’ Dan balks, he says he can do both, that he can MAKE TIME. Funny you should say that, Lil’ Dan.

9:08 – In 1977, Present Faraday rushes out of Jack’s house & asks Miles to take him to the Orchid, like, right the hell now. Jack comes out & is all like, what do you mean, this isn’t my destiny, in case you didn’t notice, I’m kinda trapped in 1977 cause your mom said it is TOTALLY my destiny! Dan says he’ll be right back & speeds off with Miles.

9:08 – Sawyer suspiciously opens the door of his & Juliet’s love shack. It’s Jack. He explains about Faraday, but Sawyer doesn’t have time for this right now. Why? Asks Jack reasonably. Wow, maybe I do like this new, calm, cool, collected Jack that asks reasonable questions. Juliet says to tell him. They’ve apparently been at the Phil-torture/kidnapping all night. Sawyer invites Jack in, explains about the tape & shows him Phil…tied up & gagged in the closet. Heh. Hilariously, he introduces them politely, “Jack, Phil, Phil, Jack…” LOL.

9:10 – At the Orchid, Miles & Dan sit in the jeep, waiting. Miles asks what’s up. Dan just waits until he sees Pierre Chang arrive in a Dharma van “right on time.” How does Dan know that? He tells Miles, who is definitely weirded out, due to the thing where Chang is totally his father, he’ll be back in 10 minutes. Dan consults his journal as he goes down the elevator to the site of the Orchid drilling, which means we are TOTALLY AT THE OPENING SCENE OF THE PREMIERE EPISODE! OMG! Daniel waits in the shadows as Pierre Chang tells the guy not to drill any further, he’s literally waiting there to come onto the scene that we saw him in freaking 13 episodes ago & OMG this is really cool. Some guy comes by & says Dan needs a hard hat to be down here so he puts one on & grabs the tank we saw him carrying in that scene & walks by & brushes Chang as he walks by. Dan stares at the injured guy & nods hilariously at the foreman guy who scoffs at time travel. I love this episode already.

9:11 – PS: All that happened in a minute?? I’m already freaking 20 minutes behind my DVR.

9:11 – Dan doubles back & runs up to Pierre Chang. He asks to speak with him for a moment & introduces himself. He says they met three years ago…Chang remembers him, he was with LaFleur. Doesn’t Dan’s jumpsuit actually have a different name on it? Doesn’t Chang think that’s weird? No worries, Dan is about to make himself sound all crazy. He tells Chang he needs him to evacuate everyone off the Island. Why? Asks Chang. Cause the injured guy got injured because of the electromagnetic forces that were unleashed by the drilling. Chang says the problem was contained & completely fails to ask how Daniel knows all this. He gets in the elevator & Dan scrambles to follow. Dan tells him it’s contained here, but in six hours, there’s going to be a much greater incident at the Swan. It’ll be 30 times more energy & the damage will be catastrophic. Chang thinks this is crazy talk & asks how Dan could possibly be qualified to know this. Well, said Daniel, I’m from the future. Man, what is it with you always waving that in people’s faces?!? Chang looks dubious/intrigued. Annnd scene.

9:17 – Chang walks away from Daniel above ground. He thinks Dan is kidding around after hearing him talk about time travel. Dan catches up & tries to get him to look at stuff in his journal. Miles’ ears perk up & he realizes Dan is totally about to blow their cover, so he comes over & says Dan had too many drugs on the sub, but Dan TOTALLY tells Chang that Miles is his son!! Miles is all like, DUDE. Miles is horrified & Chang is confused & Dan is like, think about it, yo. Didn’t you notice that a Chinese guy with the name of your baby shows up with me from the future? Chang actually asks Miles if this is true. Miles says no & Chang is like, um, enough with the crazy talk, I’m outta here. As he leaves, Miles asks Dan WTF, man? Dan says he’s just making sure Chang does what he’s supposed to do. What’s that? You’ll see, Dan says. OMG, Dan totally is responsible for making Chang either abandon his family or force them to leave the Island & is ultimately the cause of all of Miles’ daddy issues! I’m just guessing here.

9:17 – Flashback, awkwardly long haired Daniel comes out of a building on the arm a curly-haired blonde girl. She’s the girl from the photograph that Desmond saw in Dan’s lab in “Jughead.” He’s in a cap & gown & obviously just graduated. It looks like grad school. He waves at his mother, who looks much older & is played by the same actress who is playing present Mrs Hawking, & walks over with the girl, who he introduces…as Theresa! Pre-temporal-displacement-fied, obviously. Mrs Hawking totally disses the girl & says she reserved a table for lunch…just her & Dan. Theresa gets it. She leaves them to their awkward lunch.

9:18 – In the restaurant, Dan is all mad at his mom for being mean to Theresa, who he says is his girlfriend & she says is his research assistant & we knew both of these things, but it’s nice to get some confirmation. She’s all into the whole “you can’t get distracted from your gift!” diatribe & he knows. Mrs Hawking tells Daniel he doesn’t have time for girls & plus, the girls in his life will only get hurt. Touche!! Dan wants to know what the hell she means by that, but she brushes him off & he starts getting defensive. He says she’s always pushing him & asks when it will be enough. He’s the youngest doctorate to ever graduate from Oxford, he just got his huge research grant—at this, his mom raises her eyebrows. She asks who gave him the grant…he doesn’t know, some industrialist, Widmore. Charles Widmore. His mother is freaked, but she tells him she didn’t come to fight with him & gives him a wrapped present. Then she gets up & tells him good luck. She means it. Dan sighs & opens the present. It’s his journal. And it’s very nice all brand new. He opens it up & inside she’s written, “Daniel, No matter what, remember, I will always love you. Mom.” Okay, even her nice notes sound all ominous.

9:20 – In 1977, Sawyer & Juliet are hosting a Dharma-frauds meeting of the minds. He says that he knows the O3 just got here, but the rest of them have been here for three years & they don’t want to leave. Significant look at Juliet. Kate wants to know how long they have until someone comes looking for Phil. Not long enough. Sawyer says they have two options: they can steal the sub & get the hell off the Island, or they can go into the jungle & start from square 1. Jin & Hurley quickly ix nay the sub, so they default to the jungle idea. Just then, there’s a knock on the door. Sawyer puts on his LaFleur face & takes his gun with him, but it’s just Daniel & Miles. Dan looks kind of disheveled, but looks pleased to see Sawyer. Sawyer invites “Twitchy” to the party & quietly asks Miles if Dan’s still crazy. Miles is like, seriously. More than ever.

9:22 – Inside, Dan apologizes to Jack for taking off before, but says that he’s there to do something really important. He asks, how do I find the Hostiles? Everyone stares, Juliet asks what for. Because one of them is his mother. And she’s the only one who can help them get back to where they’re supposed to be. Annnnd scene.

9:27 – Flashback & this time, we know exactly when they are because it’s Dan’s flashback from “Confirmed Dead” from last season. Dan is sitting, all disheveled looking, watching the footage of the fake Oceanic 815 wreckage & crying without knowing why. There’s a knock on the door & his caretaker—remember her?—goes to answer it. It’s Charles Freaking Widmore. Dan gets up & apologizes for not recognizing the man, even though he knows his name. He says the condition affects his memory. Widmore says don’t worry about it, we haven’t actually ever met, & introduces himself. Dan is pleased to meet him, remembering him from the grant. Widmore moves an issue of Wired magazine from the sofa so he can sit down. OMG, is it THIS issue?? That’s awesome.

9:28 – Anyway, Daniel apologizes profusely for what happened, he said he tested “it” on himself, he would never hurt Theresa! Oh no! This is horrible! Also, um, Jeremy Davies is a really good actor. Double-anyway, Widmore actually isn’t here about that. He’s here to offer Dan another opportunity. Dan looks confused. But then he catches sight of the Oceanic wreckage again & starts freaking out again. Widmore looks confused now. Dan says he’s just sad because of all the dead people on the plane & how about those dead people, Charles, what’s up with THAT, huh? Widmore just turns to Dan & asks him, what if he told him, those people are not actually dead. Um, the people on the ocean floor probably are, yo. I’m just saying. Maybe not the ones you mean, but there’s still a plane full of dead people. Also, the real reason Dan was crying is much less interesting than all the theories we’ve heard. Widmore tells Dan that the plane is an expensive fake…he knows because he put it there. Dan asks why Widmore would tell him that. Widmore says, because you won’t remember I did tomorrow. Touche! Evil Memento moment, heh.

9:31 – Anyway, Widmore proceeds to tell Dan about this Island. This special Island with special properties. With healing properties, like maybe the kind needed to heal his mind. Dan looks awed, & asks why Widmore is helping him. Widmore says because Daniel has a tremendous gift & it would be a shame to waste it. Dan smiles a little and says he sounds like his mother. Widmore smiles back & says, it’s because we’re old friends. Wait, how good friends? Like Dan-I’m-your-father good? Dan looks like he’s asking himself the same question.

9:32 – In 1977, Sawyer is all incredulous/confused that Dan’s mom is an Other. Dan notes that Sawyer actually met her. In 1954. Her name was Ellie. As we suspected…hmm, so did Dan realize this in 1954, when he said Ellie looked familiar? Or did he only figure that out later? Hurley takes a moment to be confused on behalf of the O3 about them being in 1954, the time of the Fonz. Heh.

9:33 – Sawyer & Juliet continue to demand to know why the hell Dan wants to go find the Hostiles. Jack points out that he doesn’t really care why if Dan thinks it will get them back to where they belong. They certainly don’t belong here. Sawyer begs to differ. Jack sighs & asks Kate if she remembers where the Hostiles are. Sawyer tries to get Kate to keep her mouth shut, but Jack pulls out the Aaron card. He says the answer she’s looking for isn’t here. Sawyer says that has nothing to do with helping “HG Wells” (Dan) talk to his mom. He turns to Kate & asks “Freckles” to stay with them. Um, not cool. Juliet does a fantastic, FANTASTIC double-take/look at Kate, then Sawyer, then back at Kate & calmly tells Kate & the rest of the group the code to get past the sonic fence. HA! She tells Kate to take Daniel, since it’s over for them here anyway. Aw.

9:34 – Jack, Kate & Dan leave, after Miles refuses to come along. Sawyer says if they change their mind, they’ll be back at the beach, where they started. He tells the rest of them to pack what they can & meet back here in 20. Sawyer reaches his hand out to Juliet, who is crying. She takes it. “Time to go,” he says.

9:34 – Kate leads Jack & Dan away from Juliet & Sawyer’s love shack. She says the Hostiles will not be pleased to see them & says they should get the guns from the motor pool. Dan is distracted. He says he needs a minute & will meet them at the motor pool & we all know what he saw. Daniel Faraday comes over to a slightly older little Charlotte Staples Lewis, swinging on a swing set. He stares at her & she utters the worst line she probably could utter at this point, her dying line, “I’m not allowed to have chocolate before dinner.” Dan, though, seems calm. He tells her he won’t tell & in that moment, the little girl really looks just like Rebecca Mader, & it’s creepy & lovely at the same time.

9:35 – Charlotte introduces herself & Dan does the same, choking back tears. Dan squats near her & asks if she knows Dr Chang. He says that in a little while, hopefully, Dr Chang will be asking some people to get on the sub. When he does, Charlotte & her mother have to go with them. In case what he’s going to do doesn’t work. OMG… Dan lifts his head & is crying quietly but trying not to scare an already freaked out Charlotte. “I tried to avoid telling you this. I didn’t think I could change things…but maybe I can.” OMG. Eh? We see Dan continue with what he has to say, what he did say, but we don’t hear him.

9:36 – So Daniel Faraday was actually responsible for sending both Miles AND Charlotte off the Island in their youth, to ensure that they lived through the Incident & ended up on the Freighter. Unbelievable. PS: Well done on that scene, writers. I’ve actually been dreading it, but it was done just right.

9:36 – In the motor pool, Kate & Jack suspiciously grab guns. Daniel joins them. Kate hands him a massive rifle & Dan’s like, um, something for a beginner please? Kate rolls her eyes & just then, Radzinsky & some guys roll up in the van. He’s all suspicious & Dan doesn’t help when he accidentally shows his gun (hilariously, this gun looks a lot like the ‘girly’ gun that Juliet used to carry all the time). Radzinsky & his guys all bring out their guns while Daniel tries to reason with them. He says they don’t have time for this & inches forward, but then someone starts shooting & there’s a shootout & Dan is hit in the neck. They duck for cover & Kate says they should go for the jeep. Dan’s neck wound doesn’t seem bad & he runs with Kate as Jack covers them. Jack blows up some tanks of fuel as Kate & Dan get the jeep started. They all get away & Radzinsky, pissed & injured, yells for them to sound the alarm. Uh oh.

9:43 – Flashback. An older Daniel, with freshly cut hair & beard, plays the piano just like lil’ Dan earlier in the episode. His mother, the fully white-haired Mrs Hawking, comes in. Dan stutters in playing, he clearly can’t remember what’s next. Mrs Hawking comes up & greets him. Um, again, can’t say enough about Jeremy Davies’ acting because when he looks up just now, here, despite all the Daniels we’ve seen in this hour, here, I immediately recognized him as the Daniel we first met in season 4. Bumbling, quiet, suspicious. Mrs Hawking says he has to accept the position that Charles Widmore offered. Dan says he can’t. He doesn’t want to calculate bearings & space-time calibrations. Mrs Hawking talks to her son like he’s the little boy from the first flashback, tells him that the Island could heal him, so he can go back to his work. Think of all he can accomplish. Listen lady, have you heard one word he’s said? He doesn’t WANT to go back to his work! Daniel asks if Mrs Hawking really wants him to go. He asks, heartbreakingly, if it will make her proud of him. OMG, this is horrible. Daniel holds back his tears. And agrees to go.

9:46 – In 1977, Kate goes to turn off the sonic fence while Jack looks at Daniel’s neck wound. He puts a bandage on it, says it doesn’t look too bad. Jack wonders about Dan’s “whatever happened, happened” theory, but Daniel has figured out the timeline. When Jack first met Dan in season 4, he didn’t have a scar on his neck. This is the present for this Dan, the one at the end of his own timeline. So any of them, these present survivors or freighter folk, can die at any time. Oh no, foreshadowing.

9:46 – Kate has turned off the fence & Dan heads off in the direction Kate points out. Kate & Jack hope Dan knows what he’s doing. Dan’s just pointed out that he can be right & wrong about his “whatever happened, happened” theory at the same time. I would seriously just go with it.

9:47 – At Sawyer & Juliet’s love shack, Phil continues to bang relentlessly on the closet walls as Sawyer & Juliet pack up the remains of their lives. Sawyer notes that Juliet was right all along about the O3 showing up. She’s not interested in saying I told you so. Sawyer asks if she’s still got his back. She’s not the one who called Kate “Freckles,” Sawyer. She asks if he’s still got hers. Before he can answer, the alarm sounds.

9:48 – Outside, Jin & Hurley look on in horror as Radzinsky & crew arrive. They bust into Sawyer & Juliet’s love shack & demand to know where the hell LaFleur’s been. Radzinsky is pissed he got shot by a physicist & says that the new recruits are helping him. He says they’ve been infiltrated. Sawyer tries to calm him down but just then he hears Phil in the closet. Radzinsky opens the door to find Phil & points the gun at Sawyer. He yells at Sawyer to get down on the ground. He does.

9:49 – Jack & Kate & Dan rest in the jungle. Jack asks Dan to explain what he meant by the whole “my mom was wrong about your destiny” thing. Dan actually does start explaining & I’m so surprised, I almost fall off my chair. He says that in four hours, the Swan accident will happen. To contain it, they’ll build the Hatch. Which has to be maintained by pushing a button. A button that Desmond will one day fail to push. When he does that, it will bring down their plane. Because the plane crashes, Widmore sends the freighter, which means, the entire chain of events, the entire SERIES, everything happens because of what’s going to happen this afternoon. WHOA. But! Dan says, we can change that. Jack looks totally confused. Dan says that in all his research, one thing kept coming up, you can’t change the past. But he was so focused on the Constant (Remember, Desmond Hume is his), he forgot about the Variable. What’s the Variable? They are. They’re people who have free will. They can change what happened. They can change their destiny. GAH.

9:51 – Daniel tells them that he thinks he can destroy the energy that will cause the Hatch to have to be built. If he does that, he’ll prevent everything, EVERYTHING from happening. Kate ask how he plans to do that. Daniel says, “I’m going to detonate a hydrogen bomb.” OMG!!

9:56 – We’re back with Mrs Hawking & Penny in the hospital. Penny does know who Faraday is, of course she does. Remember, Desmond tells her about the message Dan sent him to tell his mother? I can’t believe that was this season. Mrs Hawking apologizes to Penny. She says Desmond is a casualty of something much bigger than him. Penny wants to know what she means, is Des going to be okay? Mrs Hawking doesn’t know. For the first time in a long time, she doesn’t know what’s going to happen next. Just then, a nurse comes up, says that Desmond is in the recovery room & asking for her. He’s okay. THANK GOD he’s okay! Mrs Hawking leaves as Penny goes in to see him. Desmond tells Penny he promised her he’d never leave her again—which we all took at the time to mean that he’s definitely going to have to leave her again, but I’m happy to be wrong.

9:59 – Outside the hospital, Charles Widmore steps up & asks Eloise Hawking if Desmond is alright. He is. Widmore is glad. Hawking is cold to him & tells him his daughter is in there. He should go say hi. Unfortunately, Widmore notes, his relationship with his daughter has been one of the sacrifices he’s had to make. Mrs Hawking doesn’t want to hear about sacrifice, she just sent her son back to the Island knowing full well what was going to happen to him—“He’s my son too, Eloise,” says Widmore. YES, confirmation. Mrs Hawking slaps him, turns & walks away. Widmore looks actually remorseful.

10:00 – In 1977, Jack & Kate discuss the insanity of what they’re doing. Dan comes upon the Hostiles’ camp & takes off ahead of Jack & Kate. Kate tells Jack to let him go. OMG! OMG, OMG! Dan stupidly still has his gun. OMG no, drop it, Dan! In the camp, some Hostiles reach for their guns, but Dan shoots into the ground first. They back up, give him room. Daniel says it’s cool, he just wants to speak to Eloise. Where is she??? Where IS she?? Richard Alpert shows up, he says that Eloise isn’t here right now. He seems to recognize Dan a little, from when he saw him in 1954. Dan demands to be taken to Eloise, demands to know where the bomb is buried. He gives Richard to the count of three, but, at two, Daniel is shot!! OMG!! OMG!! Daniel drops to reveal Eloise Hawking, circa 1977. She stands over Dan, dying, who is realizing exactly what his mother knew when she sent him back to the Island. She knew this was going to happen, she did it anyway. Eloise stands over her son, demands to know who he is. “I’m your son,” gasps Daniel, as he goes still.

10:01 – Next week, on Lost, as if anything can ever top what just happened, Jack says that if they do what’s in Daniel’s journal, none of this, none of what they went through will have ever happened. But if he’s wrong, they’ll all die. Touche.

EDIT: One thing brought up in some of the initial podcast reactions is, assuming the Comic Con videos are canon, how can Faraday be the one filming Dr Chang in the video shown at this past year’s, as almost everyone assumes he was? He couldn’t possibly have time to have done it this episode, before he was shot. Unless of course he isn’t dead. (But I doubt that.) BTW, I haven’t watched that the video in a while…he’s sending that message thirty years in the future—will Frank, Sun, etc find it? “Time is not just of the essence. It is the essence.” Nope, still don’t know what that means.

EDIT2: My reactions in a live-blog, because they are live, are often extremely surface-level. I’m totally saddened by the death of one of my favorite characters & I’m appalled that apparently, Eloise Hawking raised her son for thirty years & spent the entire time carefully, meticulously manipulating him, putting in the position to go to the Island, giving him that final push, all so she could fulfill an already established timeline & shoot to death her only son. Worst mother ever, right? Unless, as some people have guessed, it was the opposite, that Mrs Hawking actually was trying to send Daniel to do something to prevent what happened, to stop her younger self from killing him. So, actually, we still don’t know Eloise’s true intensions or motives, just like we don’t know Ben’s or Widmore’s. Who’s good, who’s evil, I’m guessing we won’t know until the very end.

PS: Did Eloise give Dan that journal to encourage him to write everything, knowing that one day, that journal, with all its years of knowledge and shards of Daniel’s brilliance, might hold the key to this whole thing?

EDIT3: I read one explanation of Dan’s reaction to the footage of the fake wreckage. It’s because Dan’s mind has time-traveled & even though he doesn’t remember it, somewhere in the depths of his subconscious, he’s already experienced what’s happened. Charlotte dying. Even his own death. Now that’s creepy.

• You know Fringe is approaching X-Files-level creep factor when the idea of a serial killer is totally not scary at all. Of course, then they got me with the gross torn open neck. Ew! Okay fine, cold open, you get an extra half point on my scale, but for Fringe, that’s still pretty tame. I give it a 6.5.

• This Two-Singles-Together couple is creepier than the cold open spine vamp.

• Well, Rachel. What did you expect? I didn’t even remember you HAD an ex-husband. Also, heh, I was typing that while watching & totally typed “vampire” instead of “ex-husband.”

• “You know what this reminds me of, Peter?” “No, but I can guess that it’s something unbelievably disgustin—” “Shrimp cocktail!” HA! And ICK!

• “When you finally meet a nice girl, I would avoid bringing her home as long as possible.” YAY! Astrid gets to snark this week! More Astrid! More Astrid!

• Spine vamp…with extinct syphilis. And awesome, another mad scientist with horrible bio-weapons…affiliated with ZFT. Of COURSE they are.

• “How long have you been a follower of ZFT?” Whoa! You mean that Charlie is actually read in on a major part of the Fringe conspiracy? AND he gets to yell at a suspect this week instead of being asked to leave the room?? This is a big week, Agent Francis. Don’t screw this up, or you’ll be back to exposition duty so fast, your head will spin.

• This guy is the most suspicious coerced guy ever. Also, wow, Olivia’s Fringe Division body count is crazy high. And this is just season 1!

• FYI, Olivia’s Chinese isn’t so bad.

• Ooooh, touché. Suspicious Guy’s wife is the spine vamp! Spine vamp’s name is Valerie Boone & she & her suspicious husband were actually totally adorable before she got all vamp-like. Also? ZFT punished this guy by infecting his wife with his own spine vamp serum?? These guys are HARD CORE.

• I take back what I said, the torn-open spine thing is plenty gross. You win, Fringe, you win.

• Annnd here comes Peter’s shady connections. We totally need to see more of these guys. I wonder who else he knows, like is there a guy who controls all the pumpkins in Boston? Or all the sofas?

• Aw, it’s kind of nice that Walter gets a little scientist buddy to trounce around with in the lab who doesn’t mostly contribute sarcastic commentary. “I know very well who you are.” “That makes one of us.” Heh!

• LOL to the paramedic taking one of Walter’s wafer cookies. And double LOL to Walter’s clapper lights!

• MORE Astrid contributions?? This episode has EVERYTHING! Aw, but she’s not allowed to go to the clubs cause she’s gotta baby-sit Walter & completely fail to stop him from possibly killing Mad Scientist #2! Come on, doesn’t that girl have any authority over him? Isn’t she an FBI agent??

• “Where’s the siren on this thing?” “Here…is that why you wanted to drive?” LOL! That’s hilarious, except for the part where it totally woke up Sleeping Beauty Spine Vamp in the back seat. Oh sure, “out for hours,” says Olivia.

• “Think she liked you.” Also, after what she did, I totally would not be taking her into the lab over my shoulder like Peter did. But at least Dr Boone can see his wife again. And some banshee screaming & nifty eye color visual effect later, & she’s all good it seems. Just in time to see her husband die after saving her. That SUCKS.

• “If you’re watching this, I suspect I didn’t make it…” But Dr Boone is a good man. A man of his word. A man who’s got some names for Agent Dunham. Names…like William Bell, who has apparently been funding ZFT. Dude, I think I could have guessed that.

Next time on Fringe, live long & prosper! And the Observer SPEAKS!!

Some additional notes:

• Cold open creepiness scale: 6.0. More like five minutes of total dread.

• Interesting, the first “bumper” into commercials was the first I remember that did not have a glyph symbol. PS: Have you been translating the symbols now that someone cracked the glyph code?

• What is Peter’s credential now, is he still considered Homeland Security? How come people just accept him without ID these days? Can I just go to random crime scenes & just start lurching around saying I’m FBI?

• When Broyles was like are-you-serious?? when Olivia finally told him about the dreams, I was like, are YOU serious?? Seriously, you’re skeptical about THIS? Did you forget? Your DIVISION investigates FREAKY STUFF. And Olivia having some dreams? Not even CLOSE to the freakiest stuff you’ve seen! Remember the guy who got killed when he got atacked by the imaginery butterflies? How about last week when your second-in-command got impregnated with little baby wasp/snake/bat monsters?

• Speaking of Charlie, good to see him up & about & back to Exposition duty so quickly.

• “It must be a terrible thing not to trust your own mind.” Wow, like, way to be sensitive to what’s happening to Olivia, Peter.

• Boo-yah! Olivia never told the others she was probably treated with Cortexiphan! Ooooh, actually, this totally explains a lot of Peter’s “No way! You were 300 miles away & have no mental mojo abilties whatsoever!” attitude this episode.

• LOL. Well done, Fringe team, way to create an episode concept setting up Olivia for a lesbian kiss. It’s like reverse empathy blah blah blah, lesbian kiss, annnnnd murder.

• And LOL to Walter wanting a subscription to the paper with the pic of the two-headed goat.

• “You heard me! You came!” OMG!! And who the hell is “Olive”? This mass suicide thing is so disturbing. This is the reason I never watched The Happening. Well, also because everyone says it’s just about the stupidest movie that ever existed.

• “Shoot me! Or I will jump, & they will ALL jump with me.” Man. Olivia’s totally never going to be able to sleep again after this.

• So. We know that Olivia was given Cortexiphan. And Contagious Empathy Guy from this episode was also given Cortexiphan. And we know that Olivia has some sort of mental ability to at least turn off a bunch of little light bulbs. And we know that Contagious Empathy Guy has that whole contagious emphathy thing. So, does Olivia have other powers besides the light bulb thing? And how did Contagious Empathy Guy figure out how to “call” Olivia anyway? Did they explain that when I got up for another Diet Coke?

• Is Olivia’s niece’s only function really just to make creepy-significant comments relevant to Olivia’s weird job? Whatever happened to Sister Dear finding her own place anyway? Even I didn’t take this long finding an apartment.

• OMG blonde little girl on the tape! Blonde little girl on the tape!! Named Olive!! OMG!!

Three episodes left!

9:00 – We open on a microwave. In an apartment. An Asian woman is viewing it. Honey, I’ve been there. Apartment hunting is THE WORST. The woman is with a little boy. It’s Lil’ Miles! His mother gives him some coins for the vending machine but when he gets there, he gets some scary visions of a dead guy. He goes toward another apartment door & gets a flash when he touches it. He realizes there’s a spare key under a statue. He takes it & opens the door. Then we hear him shouting for his mom. Mom & the building manager run to him & they discover the dead neighbor. Lil’ Miles says he joined his wife. He knows this because he can hear him. Even now, he can hear him, even though as the manager says, the dude’s all dead.

9:02 – In 1977, Sawyer calls Present Miles on the radio & asks that he erases the video tapes of him & Kate by the pylons. Miles reluctantly agrees. Sawyer tells Miles to say that he’s off grid, looking for the escaped prisoner, then he sends Kate back to the camp.

9:04 – Horace comes in to the security station, asking for “Jim.” Miles covers for him, so Horace tells Miles that he’ll have to do something. LaFleur was going to do it, but he’ll have to do. He is putting Miles in the “circle of trust.” He gives Miles something in a black bag. He says to take them to Radzinsky in a sector that Miles realizes is Hostile territory, but Horace says it’s okay, just do it. He’s in the circle of trust, remember? PS: We get a nice long shot of the tapes being erased as Miles leaves, so we can probably assume something’s going to go wrong with them.

9:05 – Miles drives in a Dharma van along a road & is stopped by a rifle-weilding Radzinsky. Radzinsky wants to know where LaFleur is. Miles said he’s busy & Horace sent him instead. “I’m in the circle of trust.” Ha! I love you, Miles. Radzinsky says okay & Miles hands over his package. Radzinsky whistles & two men come out, carrying another on a stretcher. Miles asks what happened to the guy. At first, I thought this was the guy from the pilot that Daniel saw taken away after he got hurt at the Orchid, but it’s not. The men all have Swam Station logos on their uniforms. Radzinsky says it was an accident & not to ask questions, just take the guy back to Horace immediately. Once Radzinsky & his men leave, Miles jumps in the back with the body & opens the body bag. “Okay,” he asks the dead guy. “What really happened?” Dun dun dun!

9:08 – Floating creepy title text of doom.

9:09 – Flashback. A spiky haired, pierced younger Miles knocks on a door. A woman opens up & Miles asks to see “her.” He’s let in & he sits by the bed of his mother. She’s older, clearly sick. Her hair is thinning & almost gone. He apologizes for not being here sooner, & his mom says it’s okay. He asks her why he’s the way he is, & why she never told him about his father. He pushes & she eventually admits that his father is dead. He kicked them out when Miles was just a baby. Miles pauses, & asks where his body is so he can go talk to him. His mother looks suddenly stronger, & says it’s somewhere he can never go. Touche, thinks pierced Miles.

9:12 – Back in 1977, Miles arrives back to Horace, who is talking to Pierre Chang. He says he’s sending Miles out with “him.” Miles tells Horace he wants nothing to do with it, but Horace insists that since LaFleur disappeared, he’s all he’s got. Miles has no choice. But outside, Hurley is putting stuff in the back of his van. Miles says he can’t, but Hurley turns out to be going to the Orchid too, to give the crew lunch. He asks why they can’t just carpool & Miles continues to balk, but can’t really say anything. Hurley asks if he’s on a secret mission or something. Miles gives up & says to get in. Heh. Talk about time travel again, please.

9:14 – In the infirmary, Juliet is putting supplies away when Kate gets back. She reports that they gave lil’ Ben to the Others. Just then, Roger busts in & is panicked to find lil’ Ben gone. Juliet pretends that she stepped away & just found Ben gone. Roger yells, furious, & goes to get Security. When he’s gone, Kate asks what next. Juliet’s just like, here we go.

9:18 – In the van, Hurley writes in a Dharma-brand journal. Then he notices something smells seriously bad. Miles jokes that it’s his mayo, but that backfires cause Hurley decides it might be & insists that they pull over so he can check. So Miles does, so Hurley pokes around & discovers the body. Miles tells Hurley that the man is Alvarez. He was just working & thinking about some girl when he felt a pain, which turned out to be a filling in his tooth being pulled out of his head, through his brain. EW! That sucks. Hurley jumps to the conclusion that he can talk to dead people. Which is cool with Hurley cause, remember? So can he.

9:21 – Flashback. An older Miles talks to a man in the backyard of a house. Miles asks the man what happened. The man says his son was in a football accident or something like that. Miles is kind of annoyed there’s no body, but the man is willing to pay extra. Miles takes the money & takes the man’s hands. It’s unclear whether Miles can actually do this without the body there. Miles tells the man to concentrate on his son. He lets his head loll, then wakes back up, clearly faking, & says that the man’s son knew he loved him. He always knew. The man, way, way, too easily believes him, which is sad. Is this the start of Miles’ life o’ deception?

9:23 – On his way out, Naomi approaches Miles. She gives him a card & says her employer is interested in hiring him. He agrees to go with her to a restaurant down the street to discuss their new business proposition.

9:24 – In 1977, Kate approaches Roger, who is on the swing set in the playground at Dharma-ville. He’s drinking, like, a lot. Kate asks if he’s okay, says that things are going to work out. Kate pushes too hard, as usual, & acts totally suspicious, so Roger realizes something’s up, or potentially up. Kate backtracks, which makes her look more guilty. OMG, Kate, just shut up!

9:25 – Back in the van with Hurley & Miles. Miles asks if Hurley has actual conversations with the dead people. He does. Miles says that’s not how it works, but it’s a trap, he’s just admitted that he can talk to dead people. Miles says his ability is just to hear what the dead people thought or did before they died. Hurley says his ability works the other way, with the talking back & forth & playing chess. Miles is just jealous his ability works better than his. Heh. I love these guys together.

9:26 – The guys arrive at the Orchid & Pierre Chang comes out to meet Miles. He’s pissed that Hurley is there & this is not at all made better by the fact that Hurley immediately says he knows about the dead body. Chang threatens to send Hurley to janitor duties on the Hydra Island if he says anything to anyone, then demands that Miles stays there until he gets back. He storms off. Hurley says that Chang is a douche. Miles says that that douche? Is totally his dad! Knew it! And Miles knows it! Wait! How does Miles know??

9:31 – Flashback. Miles is confused, cause Naomi is totally not taking him to dinner/a hot date, so much as to a dead body for an “audition.” Miles tries to get out of it, but Naomi forks over cash. Miles goes to the body. He does his thing & says the man’s name is Felix, he was on his way to deliver some stuff, papers, purchase orders, etc to “Widmore” (!!!) to buy an old airplane. OMG! OMG!! Miles comes out of it. He asks if he passed the audition. He clearly did. Naomi says there’s an expedition on an Island with lots of dead people. It’d be nice to have someone of his talents. Miles says as much as going to Mass Murder Island sounds like fun, he’ll pass. Naomi then offers him $1.6 million to reconsider. Miles immediately asks when they leave. Nice to know he has priorities.

9:34 – Back in 1977, Miles tells Hurley he doesn’t want to talk about it. “It” being his father being there. Hurley asks how he found out. Well, on his third day there, Miles was in line at the cafeteria & his mom got in line behind him. OMG! That’s crazy ridiculous! Then Chang comes back & demands to be taken to Radzinsky. He takes the opportunity to threaten Hurley again & they leave.

9:35 – In another part of Dharmaville, Jack is clearing a classroom. Roger drunkenly shows up & is angry about Jack covering for him. Jack just wanted to be nice, because of what happened to lil’ Ben. As Jack leaves, Roger drunkenly notes that he knows Kate. And Roger thinks Kate might have something to do with lil’ Ben. Jack does a terrible job of not expressing “OH CRAP” on his face, then tells Roger he’s had a terrible day & had a good excuse to get drunk & start with the crazy talk. Roger doesn’t look entirely convinced. Nice going with throwing suspicion on yourself now, Jack. Way to go.

9:37 – Miles, Chang & Hurley drive awkwardly in the van. Hurley awkwardly asks what Chang does. Chang doesn’t say anything, but Hurley is able to bring up the fact that Chang has a wife & a three-month-old baby named Miles. Huh. Small world, notes Hurley. There’s also some talk about Chang liking country music, not jazz. It’s hard to tell what’s important & what’s not on this show. Probably that factoid will end up being a big reveal 14 episodes from now.

9:40 – Chang says they’re there. He gets out & opens up a work area. Chang gets out & say he’ll ride back with Radzinsky so Miles & Hurley can leave. Before they do, though, Hurley spots two men working on a large metal object. One asks the other for the serial number that goes on this “hatch” (!!!!). OMG! It’s the Hatch!! The other man painfully slowly reads off the Numbers, as Hurley watches in horror, & at the last number, which is smudged, Hurley says under his breath, 42. Miles is surprised Hurley guessed it right, but Hurley says he knows because they’re building their Hatch. The one that crashed their plane! GAH!

9:45 – Flashback. Miles gets some food at a food stand. As he’s walking away, a van pulls up & some guys grab him. In the van, Miles tells the men that they owe him a fish taco. Heh. A guy named Bram in the front seat tells Miles they don’t want him to go on this expedition. Looking closer, this guy is one of the guys working for Ilana on the beach (he’s there when she knocks Franks out). Miles plays dumb, but Bram knows everything. He asks Miles, “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?” Of course Miles does not. Bram says until he does, he’s not ready to go to the Island. He says he knows Miles want to know about why he’s the way he is, about his past & most importantly, about his dad. Miles says he doesn’t care about his father. But he does care about money. And he’s willing to not go if they give him double what Widmore offered. $3.2 million. AKA, what he demanded & got from Ben to forget about finding him when he was with Locke’s camp in New Otherton in season 4. Bram tells Miles they aren’t going to pay him & his men throw him out of the van. He tells Miles he’s playing on the wrong team. Miles asks what team Bram’s on. Bram says the one that’s going to win. Well, duh, thinks Miles.

9:48 – In 1977, Hurley & Miles are in the van, at night. Hurley thinks it’s super duper awesome that Miles gets to hang out with his past father. Miles doesn’t think this is cool at all & says so & Hurley pushes & pushes until suddenly Miles yells that if he’s going to get into his business, he’ll get into Hurley’s. He grabs his journal & jumps out of the van. Miles reads some of it…& it turns out to be the script to The Empire Strikes Back. Hurley was going to send it to George Lucas to save him the trouble of writing the sequel & perhaps make some minor improvements, like for serious, Hurley? Miles thinks this is the stupidest thing ever, but Hurley says at least he isn’t afraid to talk to his own father. Ooooh, burn!

9:49 – In Dharma-ville, Sawyer finally arrives back at his & Juliet’s love shack. Juliet greets him, but then Sawyer realizes Jack is also there. Jack is there to let them know that Kate might or might not have spilled the beans. Sawyer’s annoyed but thanks Jack for letting them know. As Jack leaves, Phil comes up to Sawyer. He says he knows who took the kid. He holds up the tape that Miles left to erase at the station. “You.” Sawyer gets that look in his eyes & you know things aren’t going to end well for Phil.

9:51 – Sawyer gestures Phil inside saying there’s an explanation. Phil says there better be & predictably, as soon as Sawyer has ascertained that Phil hasn’t talked to Horace yet, he clocks him unconscious. Heh. Sawyer tells Juliet to get some rope. She nods, like maybe this kind of thing happens all the time in Dharma-ville.

9:53 –PS: Juliet does look extra pretty in this scene, which is good luck for Sawyer during his upcoming Phil-torture, right?

9:56 – Flashback. The man that Miles was talking to you earlier is raking his yard when Miles arrives back. Miles is there to return the man’s money because he lied about being able to talk to him. But since this is Miles, this isn’t the lovey dovey moral moment we think it is. Miles says he’s doing this because it’s not fair to the man’s son to let his father have that peace. If he wanted his son to know that he loved him, he should have told him himself, when he was alive. Oooooh, SNAP!

9:58 – Hurley & Miles arrive back at Dharma-ville. Hurley apologizes for what he said. He hated his dad too, since his dad left when he was 10. But he’s glad he gave him another chance. Yeah, Hurley, but your dad is Cheech. Come on. Are you really going to stay mad at him for long? Miles tells him it’s totally not the same, cause don’t you get it? Miles doesn’t WANT to know his dad. Hurley says that that was Luke’s attitude too. As in, Luke Skywalker. Hurley basically says tells the whole movie as a metaphor & leaves & it makes Miles think. He walks by Chang’s house & sees through the window Pierre reading to his baby son, playing with him lovingly. Tears leaks out of his eyes as Miles realizes that maybe Hurley knows what’s he’s talking about after all…or maybe it’s just out of loss. It’s all he ever wanted.

9:59 – Then his mother comes into view, Pierre has a phone call. He passes the baby off & gets up to leave. As he comes out the door, Miles snaps out of it & turns to get out of view, but Chang spots him. Luckily, all he says is “Miles, I need you.” Miles is surprised for a moment. “You do?” Yep, the sub’s arrived & he needs Miles’ help unloading the passengers. Miles thinks it’s new recruits, but Chang says no. It’s scientists from Ann Arbor. Hmmm…scientists, eh?

10:00 – At the pier, Miles helps people off the sub. Someone asks for help getting out & Miles goes. He looks in shock as the guy turns out to be…Daniel Faraday! OMG!! YES!!! Where have you been, Danny boy? Dan’s smiling & looking lucid. He greets a stunned Miles. “Long time no see,” he says. Annnnnnd scene. GAH!!

10:01 – Next week, on Lost. A Lost Special. The O6 story from a new perspective…this better not mean a clips show. Also, I hear there’s a Faraday episode up soon, can we skip to that, like right now? Please? Pretty please?