sammi says

The bomb has detonated on the island. We flash to see Oceanic flight 815 still in the air. Jack and Rose chat through the turbulence. The turbulence ends and the plane does not crash. But who decides to take a seat next to Jack? DESMOND! Whaaaaaaat? He was looking super sexy, but he was never on 815, so what’s really going on here? Meanwhile, back on the island Kate wakes up in a tree. Jack, Sawyer, Jin, Hurley and Miles are all close by, disoriented from the explosion. Clearly this is some sort of alternate reality. It’s hard to say whether or not what’s happening on the plane is reality or if being on the island is real, or if it’s both real, so I’m just going to go ahead and take the plane/LA story line as it’s own. Feel free to skim over this insanely long recap but be sure to read what we learned in this episode, my theories/questions and the death tracker

On the island...
Kate, Sawyer and Jack realize that they are at the site of the hatch. Sawyer is pissed. He kicks Jack right in the face sending him tumbling into the hole. Sawyer blames Jack for Juliet’s death and is even angrier that his plan to reset time did not work. But through some crazy miracle Kate hears a feeble voice calling for help. It’s of course Juliet, who somehow survived detonating a hydrogen bomb. The gang starts digging up the metal to save her. Back at the Dharma van Sayid is still suffering from a gunshot wound and near death. Jin and Miles run to help save Juliet. Hurley starts seeing dead people again and comes face to face with Jacob (who was stabbed and thrown into a fire at the end of season 5). Jacob sends Hurley on a mission to save Sayid telling him to take him to the Temple.

Back at Jacob’s foot-statue-home, Ben and Locke (the Man in Black is possessing John Locke’s body) are still inside hovering over the fire. Ben looks terribly confused and frightened. Outside of the foot, Richard makes sure that Ben comes face to face with Locke’s dead body on the beach. He goes back into the foot and bring the Ajira “In the shadow of the statue” folks with him. They of course go nuts and start firing at Locke. Locke disappears and we hear that familiar noise of the smoke monster. Smokey takes out all the Ajira folks but the Ajira ogre surrounds himself with a circle of white ash which apparently Smokey can’t get through….it takes all of 5 seconds for Smokey to knock him out of the circle and kill him. Smokey disappears, Locke returns….clearly the Man in Black is also the smoke monster. Ben looks like he’s going to pee he pants, Locke’s response? “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”

At the hatch, Sawyer finds Juliet under the metal. They share some words and a kiss and Juliet dies in his arms but not before mentioning she had something really important to tell him. Jack, Hurley, Kate and Jin take Sayid to the Temple. Sawyer and Miles hang back to bury Juliet. Sawyer forces Miles to find out Juliet’s last thought, which is, “It worked.” At the Temple the gang is captured by the Others and brought into the Temple. What was up with the Others back in the their crazy tribal clothes? The Others who lived at the barracks dressed in modern clothing. Either way, they are about to shoot the group but Hurley once again saves the day and turns over the guitar case that Jacob gave him back in LA. Inside the case is a wooden ankh, inside it is a note. The Others ask the group their names. I’m assuming their names are all on the list. Jacob’s lists were referenced in the early seasons. The Others tell them they must save Sayid or else really bad stuff will happen. So they put Sayid into a pool of some questionable spring water and flip an hourglass. Sayid starts thrashing about but eventually drowns. Jack performs never ending CPR despite Kate begging him to stop, reminiscent of his fight to save Charlie’s life after he was hanged by Ethan. It doesn’t work. Cindy, a tailie and the flight attendant from the original Flight 815 who was captured by the Others is alive and well as are the two children who were also taken. The Others want to know where Jacob is and Hurley tells them he’s dead. The Others start going crazy, manning their posts, spreading ash and shooting a flare into the air. The gang starts to panic, wondering what’s going on, the Other’s say it “isn’t to keep you in, it’s to keep him out.”

Inside the foot, Locke (Man in Black) and Ben have a heart to heart. He reveals that the real Locke’s last thought before Ben murdered him was, “I don’t understand.” He says Locke was wise; he was the only one who didn’t want to leave the island, the only one who realized how pitiful the life he left behind really was. But the Man in Black wants the one thing John Locke didn’t….he wants to go home. They return to the beach and Richard sees the flare. He realizes who Locke (Man in Black) really is. Locke says it’s nice to see Richard out of his chains, leading us to believe Richard came over on the Black Rock, the slave ship shipwrecked on the island. Locke (Man in Black) knocks Richard out and throws him over his shoulder. At the Temple we see one last glimpse of the gang and holy shit, Sayid’s alive.

On the plane….
While all hell is breaking loose on the island we keep seeing glimpses of Oceanic flight 815. Kate is still a prisoner. Sayid is looking at a picture of his long, lost love, Nadya. Sawyer talks to Hurley who claims, “he is the luckiest guy alive.” Hurley is hassled by Arzt! Sun and Jin are together, Jin acts as oppressive as always. Boone is sitting next to John Locke. Boone says he left Shannon in Australia. John says he did in fact go on his walkabout. Boone says if “this thing goes down, I’m sticking with you.” So bittersweet considering that happened during the first crash and his friendship with Locke caused Boone his life. Flight attendant, Cindy, calls for a doctor because someone’s passed out in the bathroom. CHAAAAALIEE!!! Charlie’s unconscious with a bag of heroin down his throat which sends Jack looking for a pen…..like in the pilot episode where Jack sends Boone on a frenzied search for a pen. Jack saves Charlie but Charlie claims he “was supposed to die.”

Captain Norris (aka Greg Grunberg, the pilot who was Smokey’s first kill) makes the announcement the plane is about to land. Kate escapes from the air marshall and has a little encounter with Sawyer in the airport elevator. In her desperate attempt to flee she jumps in the cab line ahead of Frogurt who is not having it. The air marshall is on her tail so Kate hops in a cab with none other than her good pal Claire Littleton. Jack finds out that his father’s coffin was never put on the plane. Locke, who is still wheelchair bound (despite telling Boone he did his walkabout) is missing his bag of knives. Jack asks John about his condition and says he’s interested because he’s a spinal surgeon. John says he can’t be fixed. Jack says, “Nothing is irreversible.” Quite the role reversal of faith verse science, eh?

In this episode we learned…
Man in Black is the smoke monster.
Man in Black is in fact inhabiting John Locke’s body, despite the fact his actual dead body is on the beach.
White ash, like the ash surrounding Jacob’s cabin, repels Smokey.
Jacob is dead. The Others are very afraid of the Man in Black.
According to Juliet’s last thought, detonating the bomb worked.
Sawyer is not going to take Juliet’s death lying down.
Everyone minus Shannon and plus Desmond are on Oceanic Flight 815 in some sort of alternate reality.

My theories and questions…
So as we suspected last season, the Man in Black is able to possess or take on the appearance of dead people on the island. That’s how we’ve seen Christian Shepard (Jack’s dad) walking around and giving advice saying he was acting on Jacob’s behalf. Especially important consider Christian told Locke before spinning the donkey wheel he was “going to have to die” if he wanted to set things right in season 5. Did the Man in Black want Locke’s body? I believe the Man in Black also possessed Alex’s body (Ben Linus’s daughter) when she told Ben to do whatever John said. I don’t think Sayid is really all of a sudden magically alive, I think it’s the Man in Black.

I can’t even take a stab at how the whole alternate reality, 815 landing situation is going to play out.

I thought Juliet being alive for a final goodbye was pretty cheesy. I understand they had to bring her back to refresh everyone's memories how in love she and Sawyer were to justify his anger this season, but I could have done without it.

I loved the chat between John and Jack at the airport. It was interesting to hear Jack sound so positive and John say he couldn't be fixed. It was great hearing the old John Locke, not the evil one. I squealed when I saw his giant orange peel smile.

I'm really looking forward to finding out Richard's backstory. Why doesn't he age? Is he a leader or a follower? Why does he wear eyeliner?

Death Tracker
I came up with a little rundown of people who are dead, who we thought were dead and people who were dead but aren’t anymore at the end of season 6, episode 1.

John Locke- definitely murdered by Benjamin Linus in season 5, although the Man in Black is using his body.
Juliet- presumed dead at the end of season 5 after detonating a hydrogen bomb, actually alive, but only for ten minutes or so...long enough to say goodbye to Sawyer but eventually kicked the bucket.
Sayid- wounded at the end of season 5, still wounded, then drowned and declared dead, yet comes to at the end of the episode.
Charlie- drowned in the hydra station in season 3, in alternate reality almost died choking on a bag of heroin, resuscitated by Jack.
Boone- crushed by beachcomber and died in season 1, alive on flight 815 in alternate reality.
Leslie Arzt- high school science teacher who blew himself up with dynamite in season 1, alive and well on flight 815 in alternate reality.
Frogurt- yogurt storeowner, shot and killed with flaming arrow by Widmore’s group in season 5, alive and in LA in alternate reality.
Seth Norris- pilot of Oceanic 815, first victim of the smoke monster in season 1, alive and safely lands the plane in alternate reality.

Thoughts? Theories? I loved the episode. I’m so glad it’s back and I feel like we’re finally going to be rewarded for all our hard work trying to figure out this madness!