(35) - Everybody Loves Chicken

Doesn't everybody chicken? Hurley sure does, as he turned his Mr. Clucks into an international franchise, which in turn helped him to give back. According to Dr. Chang, Hugo and "giving" became synonymous, as he gave to charities and started his own charity. And he was soon to receive an award from The Human Fund (awesome Seinfeld reference). Was his mom happy? Yes. But she knew Hugo needed a woman in his life, a woman who was not his mother. We'll come back to that though. First, past predictions that deal with this episode:

• Desmond is able to kill LockeMonster
• Well, judging by the fact Locke threw him into a well, I'm going to say TRUE. How is he able to kill him? No idea, but LM was sure spooked by him.

I think that's about it. No, let's eat "Everybody Loves Hugo."

1. LOST is a love story. The show is defined by the relationships that are kept and the one's that are destroyed. Desmond/Penny = Constant, Charlie/Claire = Drowned, Sun/Jin = Fluxuating, Hurley/Libby = Real. Last night, after three and a half seasons, Libby returned from the dead. Not in the Island timeline, but in the alternate reality. She had checked herself into Santa Rosa after seeing Hurley on the TV and getting bombarded with flashes and feelings which she never had before, which apparently came from another life. After bumping into Hurley at Spanish Johnny's (seriously, odds they're both there that night? Zilch. That sort of stuff only happens on TV. Wait a second...), she truly believes they were together in another life. Hurley wasn't 100% sold, but something was "off" about the whole encounter. He believed her, he just didn't feel it.

Desmond, fresh off of obtaining the Oceanic 815 passenger list from George, apparently started with the R's and found Hugo and stalked him to one of his Mr. Clucks, and urged him to give the girl another shot. To see exactly what she meant. Ahh, the matchmaker, it suits you Desmond. That accent, the hair, it could work on a different show. We'll get back to Desmond later, who went psycho. So Hugo made a generous donation in exchange for some face time with Libby. He asked her on a date, and they went on a picnic! At the beach! The date that never happened was happening. And then Libby kissed Hugo, and that was all he needed. The thoughts and emotions that filled Island Hugo have now downloaded into Alto-Hugo. "Dude." Desmond was looking on, and saw that the connection was made. One down, a few more to go.

2. Island Hugo is becoming the alpha male. People are listening to him. He's taking charge. Ilana and Richard were the two people on Team Jacob that were barking orders. Their new orders were to get dynamite and to blow up the Ajira Plane. Sun didn't like this idea, and apparently neither did Hugo. He was willing to go along with operation blow plane up until he was visited by an old friend/enemy: Michael. Michael's message? Don't do this, people will die, and it's going to be your fault. GUILT! Remember in this timeline, Hugo feels very badly about his weight. He believed it was his fault a deck collapsed and two people died. If he wasn't so big, it would have never happened. That's why he was in Santa Rosa. And remember the season two episode (and this episode's counter), "Everybody Hates Hugo." Hugo wants people to like him and for people to not die.

So he argues with Ilana about blowing up the plane: he doesn't want to be stuck with this "thing," the dynamite is unstable, etc. Ilana kept getting fed up, slammed down the bag of dynamite, and BOOM! Arzt all over again! Ilana blew up. I guess I should have seen it coming looking back, but at the same time, we have this whole Ilana backstory which I guess we're never going to see. Why was she in bandages when Jacob came to see her? How has she been training all of her life for her stay on the Island? How does she know Jacob? Why was the closest thing she's ever had to a father? And with one explosion, that was all gone. Will she come back to have those questions answered? Probably not, that's my guess anyways.

What to do next? Richard says to do the same thing: get more dynamite. But this time, Hugo is all for it. Obviously something was up, we just didn't know what it was. It turned out that Hugo snuck ahead of the entire crew (how is that possible?), got to the Black Rock first, and blew up the entire ship. Gone. No more. Goodbye Black Rock. Richard is extremely upset. WTF DUDE?! And then there's a split in Team Jacob. On the one side: Alpert, Ben Linus & Miles. On Team Hurley: Hugo, Jack, Frank and Sun. Why the split?

Hurley made up some BS that he was talking to Jacob who said we should go talk to LockeMonster. Richard called his bluff, but Hurley grew some balls and said that he didn't have to prove anything to him. Linus went with Richard because I'm assuming he knows LM won't give him another chance once he declined his initial offer. Miles went with Richard because I guess after Hurley told him he listens to what dead people tell him (and that they can be trusted more than alive people), that freaked him out. So he peaced. Why did Jack stay with Hurley? Because he trusts him completely. He knows he was making up the Jacob BS, but he has fully realized that he cannot fix everything. With Juliet now dead, he has realized he cannot be the ultimate fixer, and as much as it pains him to realize that, he does. And with that, it is now official (not official, but in my head official), Jack is the new Jacob. That's the transformation. Looking out on the ocean after smashing the Lighthouse really transformed his way of thinking. After this revelation by Jack, we get another answer to a LOST mystery.

3. The whispers. Hurley pieced it together himself: the whispers are all the people who have came to the Island and have died. Michael clued him into the rest: They cannot move on due to something they have done or not atoned for. They are stuck. They cannot move on to whatever is beyond the Island. The producers brought the whole the Island is purgatory theory right back into play. Michael then tells Hurley that if he ever sees Libby again, to please tell her he is sorry. But don't tell Ana Lucia? Fucked up Mike.

4. Sawyer is getting impatient with Locke. Whyyyyy are they waiting??? Stop being a whiny bitch Sawyer. LM was carving a long wooden stick when Sawyer approached him. What's that, a spear? LM's response: he's not sure what it is, but when the time is right he'll know. AKA, relax Sawyer and sit your ass down. You don't want to? Then I'll tell you a little bit more: They all came back to the Island as a group, and that's how they have to leave. I'm calling BS on this. Again, my theory is that he needs all the Candidates together so he can wipe them out all at the same time, this way Jacob's essence cannot fill a human host. Sawyer didn't come in on the plane, neither did Jin. Bologna if you ask me. He wants everyone to die, we know this.

Sayid returns, with the package in tow. He had tied Desmond up to a tree in case he wanted to run off. Desmond's response was that he had no where to run, so why even try? LM cuts him free, and asks him do you know who I am? "Of course. (pause) You're John Locke." Locke smiled and dismissed Sayid so he and Desmond could go on a walk and have a chat. What was so odd about this exchange? Something bugged me. Desmond is now this enlightened being, he knows he has to do something "important." He knows about the alternate universe. Sawyer called LockeMonster on his bluff, he knew immediately it wasn't him. Jin knew it wasn't Locke. So what gives? Why didn't Desmond know? And that's when I thought, that Desmond did know. That he was correct. That he was staring at John Locke.

• Yes I know. That makes no sense. We saw the dead body, and dead is dead. John Locke died when Ben strangled him. We get it. But what if, just what if, the loophole that the man in black was talking about wasn't looking like John Locke, but becoming John Locke? What if John Locke finally understood the Island and what it wanted from him, or what it wanted to use from him, and he was ok with it? What if the loophole was that the Man in Black got John Locke on his side? How do you explain the dead body, you ask? No fucking clue. Is this theory correct? 100% incorrect. But I thought it was interesting to add. Desmond seeing LockeMonster for who he really was: John Locke.

Anyways, they go for their walk and come upon a well. One of they many wells on the Island. Dug by man, deep deep into the Island. Why? Because they wanted to understand the Island and its properties. They knew It was/is special. Des told LM that he was kidnapped by Widmore, and what they wanted from him was to help identify electromagnetic hot spots on the Island. How does he know this? Experience, he says. LM clearly didn't like this answer. He knows Widmore is on to something. LM asks Desmond why he isn't afraid. No one on this Island saw him except for Sayid and LM, and he is alone with LM now. Why isn't he afraid? Because there is nothing to be afraid of. Uhhh wrong answer buddy. LM proceeds to push him down the well. There goes Team Jacob/Team Widmore's one hope to save this universe. LM goes back to his crew, Sayid questions him about Desmond and before he can really give an answer Team Hurley shows up. They want to talk. But no one can get hurt! That's the rule! LM hands over his knife, sounds good. Team Hurley comes out, Jack last. Sees Kate, Sawyer, and then, holy shit, John LOCKE?! WTF???!!! Craziness.

5. Cut to Alto-Verse (that's my new way of saying the alternate universe). Desmond is being creepy and staring at little girls at a high school. Orrrrrr he's just waiting for Locke to get out of class and cross the street so he can run him over with his car!!!!! Make sense? Not yet. But it obviously will. Desmond has either gone mad (which he hasn't, he just got Hugo and Libby together) or he wanted to kill John Locke for some reason. Or, he wanted Locke to connect with his Island consciousness. Maybe for some people, love is the connection. For others, it's pain. And what has John Locke felt all of his life: PAIN. Major daddy issues, including getting a kidney stolen and being tossed out a window. So for Desmond to make Locke's connection, he had to put him through a ton of pain. Now Locke will get sent to the ER and run in to...Dr. Shepherd!!! Ahh how the world goes round and round.

I don't believe Desmond ran over Locke because he doesn't want LM to transfer consciousness into Alto-Locke. I don't think Island Desmond and Alto-Desmond have a current link. I think Alto-Des has all of the thoughts that Island Desmond had, and vice versa.

6. Predictions!

• Continuing a past prediction: Jack will be the new Jacob. 
• Desmond ran over Locke so he can experience a shitload of pain hoping that would connect him to his Island counterpart (wait....that makes no sense. Maybe he did run him over hoping he'd die...)
• Sayid will help Island Desmond out of the well. I know this is out of left field, but I'm hoping all of Sayid's soul didn't die. And since he's the only other person who has even an inkling where Desmond might be, he'll track him and help him out.

 I'm hungry for chicken.

(34) - Penny's Boat?

Welllll I didn't think there'd be a better episode than "Ab Aeterno" until the season finale, and of course, I'd be wrong. "Happily Ever After" is the episode. The one where we finally, finally see what this alternate universe is supposed to be. Before that, let's deal with some past predictions:

• Desmond aka "the package" is actually the Desmond from the alternate world
• Ehhhh false. Whatevs.
• Desmond wasn't on the plane in the premiere. He was skipping through universes.
• Well we're led to believe that this isn't true. But I'm not sold. Check below.
• Alternate Universe consciousnesses will be coming to the Island
• Possibly. Still not sure where Desmond's head is at, but we'll see.

Ok, let's get "Happily Ever After." This is another long one, as this episode is the benchmark for the rest of the season.

1. Widmore kidnapped, drugged and brought Desmond to the Island because he is the only person known to have survived a massive electromagnetic explosion. Desmond obviously flips out and starts beating Charlie-boy with the IV stand. After being restrained, Charles tells Desmond that the Island wasn't done with him yet, and that he's going to need to make a sacrifice. What has Charles ever sacrificed? Oh nothing, just his tenure on the Island, his marriage, his son who was shot by his own mother, other than that nothing at all. Widmore needs to make sure he can survive that explosion again, so they need to test it out. They accidentally fry another member of Team Widmore before Desmond, who sees the after effects of the explosion. He tries to get free, but Widmore flips the switch before Desmond can get free and hopes Desmond is able to survive. What follows is truly, amazing.

We are flying through the clouds. My first thought was that his consciousness was rebooted ala after the hydrogen bomb explosion, and he was going to be on Oceanic 815 with everyone else. Instead what we got was a reflection of Desmond (the first of TWO reflections), staring back at himself, but the camera refocuses and we see he's trying to find the baggage claim for his flight (or is he? check the bullet point below). Hurley confirms that it's on carousel #4. As he's waiting for his bag he tries to make small talk with Claire asking about her baby, who seems taken aback by the questions. But she's nice enough to make small talk as Desmond helps with her bag. As they're leaving Desmond offers her a ride (huh? why?), but she says she can take a taxi, after which he tells her it's a boy.  So what does this mean? Keep reading.

2. Desmond finds his driver, and who it be? Old George Minkowski, the freighter electronics officer who once got too close to the Island and went crazy from his conscious constantly time travelling. How apropos, don't you think? Desmond, the one guy in the world (maybe one of two -- Faraday?) who's mind can withstand the Island's electromagnetic force, being driven around LA by the best example we've seen of the effects of said electromagnetic force. George is extremely talkative, and apparently has the hookup. He can get anything Desmond wants or needs, including some ladies of the night. He only asked about that because he noticed he wasn't wearing a ring. Huh? But wasn't he wearing a ring on the plane when we saw him the premiere? What gives? My take:

• There is one version of Desmond, but he can skip through realities. When we saw him on the plane in the premiere there was only one Desmond, and at that moment he happened to be on the plane. He was "in flux" after his gunshot from Ben. Widmore grabbed him when he was in the current reality. Desmond's consciousness changes depending on what reality he is in, without Desmond knowing the change. When Widmore fired up the machine to test it on Desmond, it awoke his other consciousness and placed him at the LA airport (NOTE: I do not think Widmore is aware of other realities. He might be aware of the possibility of other realities, but I do not think he believes they exist). Wasn't he staring at his reflection in an odd way? Almost like, what am I looking at? Where am I? So, Desmond was on the airplane, and Hurley and Jack did see him, but he wasn't on the plane the entire time. And due to his "in flux" consciousness after Ben shot him, his alternate life was also "in flux." So when he was on the plane, he was happily married to whoever it may be (most likely Penny). That marriage wasn't a fixed thing. When Widmore created Desmond's second consciousness, his in flux consciousness became stable in the alternate universe, without a wedding ring. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's my best explanation.

3. George drives Desmond to see the boss. Mr. Charles Widmore. In this alternate reality, Desmond has earned what he has always wanted (according to Eloise, more later) -- Charles Widmore's approval and affection. He even shares his 60 year old scotch with Des, who he deemed unworthy in another life. Desmond is Charle's go-to guy, the "best, fix-it man," as Eloise says. His current task: babysit a spoiled, druggie rock star who was arrested on Oceanic 815 and make sure to deliver him to his wife's fundraiser, where their son, a musical genius, was going to combine classical music with modern rock. Playing the parts:

• Rock Star -- Charlie Pace
• Wife -- Eloise Hawking
• Son/Musical Genius - Daniel (Faraday) Widmore

No problem, says Desmond. Consider it done. He drives himself to go pick up Charlie at the police precinct (which is weird, because every other scene he's being driven around by George). As he approaches the front door, we see reflection number TWO for Desmond. He gets closer and closer to the reflection, a little foreshadowing I presume. Let's talk about the reflections for a second. I haven't really mentioned them in depth yet because I thought they were a too-obvious ploy for the audience to say, "Oh s/he's staring at her/himself!!! They must know about the alternate universe!!" But now we have Desmond's reflectionS. With a capital "S," because he is the first person to have two reflections. Why is this significant? We weren't sure at the moment, but by the end of the episode we understood. The rules do not apply to Desmond. At the end of the episode he understands this. He knows what he has to do. More later. I'm going to come back to the reflection angle in a bit, because there was another reflection which my mouth dropped at.

4. Charlie immediately walks across traffic to a bar to grab a drink. He clearly does not care about his life. Desmond follows him, says one drink, and then he's out. What follows is a nice, eye-opening conversation. Charlie tells Desmond the story of the plane and how he choked. How he got spooked by the Marshal on the plane, went to the bathroom to swallow his drugs, and at that moment the plane hit turbulence, and he choked. And he was losing consciousness, or, was he merging consciousnesses? He described a vision of a blonde, rapturously beautiful, and he knew her, and he loved her, and he felt safe with her, and just as he was about to embrace her (Claire? Virgin Mary Statue), Jack and Sayid "saved" his life. He had felt true love, mind bending and altering love. The kind of love that makes you never want to leave it, the kind of love that only exists in movies. But he can't quite get Desmond to understand, who chalks it up as nice poetry. Desmond gives Charlie a choice to stay or leave, but it wasn't actually a choice. 

They're driving along, driving along, DriveShaft's hit comes on the radio, "You All Everybody," when asked Desmond says that it's good "for what is is." Charlie says he feels bad for him, for his life, Desmond's response, "Why? Because none of it's real?" Whaaaat?? He's obviously referring to Charlie's mind altering experience with love, and how that is truly real, and that Desmond's material wealth and possessions are "fake," but what a question. "Because none of it's real?" None of it is real. THIS reality was never supposed to happen. Good one Desmond. 

Charlie proceeds to give Desmond a choice, but just like his choice, it was never a choice. He takes the wheel and plunges the car into the depths of the ocean. Desmond tries to free Charlie but needs some air, and then goes back down to try and open Charlie's door.  And then the strangest thing happened. How it happened I am not sure. It couldn't have been Charlie's other conscious switching universes, because he is dead in the current timeline, maybe it was the Island? In any case, Charlie lifts his left palm and holds it up to the window, just like in the season three finale "Through the Looking Glass," when he found out the freighter wasn't Penny's boat, wrote NOT PENNY'S BOAT on his hand, and held it up to the glass on the door as Desmond was trying to pry it free. That was when Charlie died. And BOOM - the link was created. The sound dropped, and we heard the loudest silence we've heard on the show. Flashes before Desmond's eyes, and he wasn't quite sure what he was seeing. And as quickly as they came, they went away, and Charlie passed out. Desmond obviously saved him, and then woke up in the hospital. 

Desmond tries to get up to see Charlie, to ask him questions, but the doctor said the CT scan was inconclusive and he wasn't going anywhere until "we find out what's going on inside your brain." Umm good luck Doc. No one has any idea. Desmond heads to the MRI room, where the technician explains to Desmond that if there's any problem, to "push the button" (ala the Swan Station), and then Desmond goes in for his MRI. The machine turns on and it sounds like the countdown clock from the Hatch being reset to 108:00. Then it gets loud, and then the sound drops again. The MRI has triggered the alternate universe consciousness, and Desmond gets more and more flashes of his "real" life. Charlie, Penny, baby Charlie. He slams on the button, gets out of there and goes to find Charlie. Charlie cannot explain what he saw it or why, but he says the only thing that matters now is to find Penny. Charlie isn't playing the concert because nothing matters now, except finding his love. And with that, Charlie is gone, hopefully returning in the finale.

5. Desmond explains what happens to Charles, who is upset with how everything went down, and says that he, Desmond, is going to have to explain to his wife what happened. And according to George, Mrs. Widmore is not a pleasant lady. If she doesn't get her way, you will get dead. Desmond approaches her, she turns around, and her mouth and eyes drop for about a millisecond, because she recognizes who he is immediately. Apparently, even though she's in another reality, she still knows "everything." More on this in the next paragraph. Also, check out what she's wearing on her dress: two parallel lines with stars in each line, but both at different parts of the line. Hmmm, alternate realities? Two Desmonds? Anyways, they have their chat, and to Desmond's surprise, Eloise is fine with Charlie backing out at the last second. "Rock stars bring a certain, unpredictability." "What happened, happened." (The episode "Whatever Happened, Happened" aired in season five when Kate tried to save Young Ben Linus from Sayid's gunshot wound). Not a big deal at all. Strange. As Desmond is leaving, he hears the guest list being read aloud, and who should he hear, but none other than "Milton, Penny (solo)." He tries to see the list, but Eloise intervenes and begins to get angry. She kicks everyone out and begins her explanation.

Eloise says that Desmond needs to stop. That someone has clearly affected the way he sees things. That what is happening is in fact, a violation (part of the rules?). That whatever it is he thinks he is looking for, he needs to stop looking for it. He doesn't need this list because his life is perfect, and that he has attained the one thing he has always wanted -- her husband's approval. And when questioned how does she know what he wants, her response: "Because I bloody do." He cannot see the list because he is not ready yet. Eloise really is all-knowing, in both universes. This happened in the season three episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes," when we find out what happened to Desmond after he turned the failsafe key and imploded the Hatch. Eloise has now had to explain herself twice to Desmond, in two different realities. What is he not ready for? Merging the universes, in my opinion.

6. Desmond is in the limo, drinking, and tells George to just drive around. He's depressed that he might not ever find out about Penny Milton. Cut to outside the limo, looking at the window where Desmond is sitting. We cannot see in because the windows are tinted. We see a reflection approaching the window, but we can only see the outline of who it is. We cannot make out the face. Daniel (Faraday) Widmore cannot see his own reflection, and neither can we. What the hell does that mean? So not only do we get TWO reflections of Desmond, but we get a reflection of Faraday which we can't even make out. Does that mean his alternate universe consciousness is dead? That would make the most sense. Or is it deeper than that? He had the same mind bending and altering experience that Charlie had when he was at the museum and saw a redheaded woman eating a chocolate bar. Obviously Charlotte, and the chocolate a nod to what she told Faraday as her consciousness was going back and forth between time periods, and he told her that she wasn't allowed to eat chocolate before dinner. So maybe, we cannot see his reflection because he knows about the other universe?

In any event, he begins to explain to Desmond that after he saw Charlotte, that night he wrote in his notebook a very advanced, quantum mechanics equation, that only someone studying physics their whole life could have known. We know in the other timeline Faraday was a renowned physicist, so after his encounter with Charlotte, thoughts from his other consciousness downloaded into his own consciousness. He tells Desmond, what if all of this, this whole life, we weren't meant to live this life. That we had some other life. He goes further, saying that what if the only way to stop something very bad from happening was to set off a massive amount of energy, ala detonating a nuclear bomb. Faraday says he doesn't want to set off a bomb, but believes he already did, in another lifetime. Why is he telling Desmond all of this? Because Desmond asked about Penny, his half-sister.

7. And where does Desmond find Penny? At the stadium where he was training for his race around the world, where he first met Jack, where he told Penny that he was leaving her to prove to her father that he was worth his daughter's love. He approaches her, asks if she's Penny, and goes to shake her hand, and at first touch, the sound drops again, for the third time, and Desmond awakes back on the Island.

He survived the electromagnetic explosion, again. Widmore knows he's ready. He extends an arm to help Desmond up, and Desmond takes it. And before Widmore can even attempt to convince Desmond to help him, Desmond says you said I was brought here to do something important. Well let's do it.

Zoe and two Team Widmore members are walking with Desmond, and Zoe is questioning the quick turnaround. She said they "fried his brain," when Sayid pops out of nowhere and takes down the two goons, and tells Zoe to run. Sayid tells Des that these people are bad and that they have to leave, to which Desmond easily agrees. I'm not sure what to make of this. I don't think Team Widmore is bad, I just think they have a different agenda. Plus, Sayid has no soul. So we can't trust him.

Snap back to sideways Desmond, and he has collapsed on the ground. Penny jokes she must have quite an effect on him. He asks her for coffee, and against her better judgement she agrees to meet him in an hour. Penny + Desmond = Awesome.

Desmond goes back to the limo, and finally makes a request of George. To get him the flight manifest of Oceanic Flight 815. Why? Because he has to show them something. LOST!

8. Predictions!

• There was only one version of Desmond, and he was "in flux" between the two universes until Widmore tested him on the Island. When that happened, the alternate reality Desmond became a constant.
• Widmore is unaware of the alternate universe, and just wants to use Desmond to stop Evil Incarnate so he will be able to live forever
• Desmond is going to be able to present all the losties with a choice of which reality they would like to live in: Alternate or Actual. Then he will be able to merge both consciousnesses into a super-consciousness in whichever reality they choose. (Stealing this from Doc Jensen: BOTH consciousnesses will have to want to merge, otherwise it will not be able to happen)
• Claire and Sayid will be unable to merge consciousnesses because they both have no souls
• Desmond is the key. He will is the "star" in both realities that can make this possible.

Way too long, apologies. Hurley next week.

(33) - I Don't Like Secrets

We got a nice Jin and Sun flash sideways story Tuesday night. First let's deal with some past predictions:

• Sayid and Claire's souls are lost
• Jury is out on Claire, but Sayid expressed to LockeMonster that he can no longer feel anything. (Sidenote: In one of the more comical moments of last night, look at when Widmore's goons attack LM's camp, when the stinger hits Sayid he falls in the funniest way.)
• Desmond is behind the double locked door on the sub
• Boom! The Package! Desmond is speciallllll

I think that's about it. Let's open "The Package." I'm hoping for a short recap tonight. I'm going to Indianapolis tomorrow for the Final Four. I know my buddy Adam needs my blog, and since I won't be able to write it while I'm away, I'm trying to power through it right now. Let's do it!

1. Desmondo is the package-o. Not really a rhyme. But Widmore told Jin he was going to use the "who" to destroy LockeMonster. How? Is Desmond the only one that can "kill" LockeMonster? We know from Faraday that the rules do not apply to Desmond, whatever that means. We know in the season six premiere, he was sitting on a plane with Jack, and then he wasn't. He just disappeared. We know Faraday's mother, Eloise, told him that the Island was not done with him yet. We know Charles Widmore has always thought of Desmond as being unworthy for his glass of scotch, let alone his beloved daughter Penny. DOUBLE-U TEE EFF? Why Desmond? Obviously these questions will be answered. My guess? The Desmond you see is from the alternate universe. "The rules" do not apply to Desmond. These must be the same rules that the little boy was talking about to LockeMonster earlier in the season. He said to LM, "You know the rules. You cannot kill him." Obviously LM wants to prove him wrong: don't tell him what he can't do. Well, since "the rules" do not apply to Desmond, is he able to kill LockeMonster? Yes. 

2. Is Widmore being sincere with Jin? We know him as a piece of shit, evil mofo. What's his endgame in all of this? It can't simply be to just kill LockeMonster and save our universe (he said that if LM were to get off this Island, we would all cease to be). I still think his aim is eternal life. And I still think he will become the new Evil Incarnate. You cannot kill Evil Incarnate. I know above I just said Desmond will be able to kill LockeMonster, and I still think that's true. Remember, LM is just a body. His essence is Evil Incarnate. He'll be able to kill LM but the essence of Evil Incarnate will still exist, and it will take up shop inside of Widmore, where he'll have to try and find another loophole. Happy everlasting life.

3. I want to quickly touch on the sideways Jin and Sun life. Awesome storytelling. Every Jin and Sun story is always an outstanding episode. And no, not much happened by way of Island life, but we got a few answers, and the acting by DDK and YJK (Jin and Sun, respectively) was superb, as always.

4. LM doesn't like secrets. So he sent poor, soulless Sayid on a mission to find out what the package was. With this news I'm sure LM will begin his final phase of whatever plan he has. That obviously involves getting all the candidates together. We know he wants to kill them, he told Jacob this. LM wants to leave the Island. My guess: when there's only one candidate left, Jacob's essence takes over that body. Since there are six candidates left, LM will get them all together and kill them all at once, this way Jacob's essence will have nowhere to go and LM will be free to leave the Island.

5. A wise man once told LM that a war was coming. Who was that wise man? Charles Widmore, in the season five episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." And it looks like that war is here. But is Widmore on Jacob's side? I am still nowhere near sold on this. I think Widmore is a third party, just looking for his everlasting life. He knows that he will have to take the side of Jacob though. He knows the consequences if LM leaves the Island. He knows that LM is not John Locke, and the rest he's heard from a combination of ghost stories, tales and strange noises in the night. Before he came back to the Island he knew he needed an ace in the hole: the package. Desmond.

6. Zoe needed Jin to go over pockets of electromagnetic energy on the Island. Why? We know Widmore was pissed off she jumped the gun. She brought Jin back early. Too early. His plan wasn't fully ready yet. That's going to bite him in the ass. 

7. LockeMonster lied. The first lie that I can remember. Last week I made it a point that both Jacob and Man in Black spoke in half truths, never lies. But LM lied to Claire. Twice. First she asked if her name was on the cave wall, when in fact it had been. Second she asked if Kate's name was, and he replied no not anymore, when we know it's not crossed out yet. She might not be a candidate, but it is still on the wall/lighthouse wheel. We know LM is a master manipulator, and has manipulated Claire for the past three years on the Island. LM said that he needs Kate to get three more people before he can leave the Island (Jack, Hurley, Sun), and after that "whatever happens happens." AKA, if you decide to kill Kate because she stole your baby, then go for it. I won't stop you again.

8. Sun, relearn English please. Is it aphasia? Or some black smokey magic? Either way, her not being able to speak English will hurt the candidates down the road somehow. Not sure how, but in a time of war she won't be able to write on a tiny fucking notepad, that's all I know.

9. What does that tomato mean???????? Is there hope among the chaos? Last tomato standing?

I think I covered mostly everything. Some predictions!

• The Desmond that Widmore has labeled as "the package" is in fact the alternate reality Desmond that disappeared off Flight 815
• The rules do not apply to Desmond, therefore he is able to kill LockeMonster
• Charles Widmore will become the new Evil Incarnate after Desmond kills LM, the ultimate fuck you to your father-in-law that has literally made your life a living hell
• LockeMonster aims to eliminate all of the remaining candidates at once so that Jacob's essence cannot claim a body, and therefore he will be free to leave his Hell, the damned Island