Lost: Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

Again, heaps of spoilers


I am beginning to think that the Lost folks (Cuse and Lindelof) are putting forward a single philosophy: shoot first and ask questions later.  In the LA plotline, Sun would be ok if Jin had just shot Bakunin when he had the chance.  Instead, baby and Sun are endangered.  And we now guaranteed another flash-sideways to resolve that.  Some of the flash-sides reached natural endings of various sorts (Jack's, Sayid's, Ben's, even Locke's) whereas Sun/Jin's is not, even more unresolved than Kate's or Sawyer's.  And only six or seven episodes left. 

Overall, a pretty straight forward episode with some fun lines from a variety of sources.  So, the plots were:

• Jin and Sun in LA: Not married but still lovers. The romance was sweet.  Too bad Daddy did not like this at all and set up Jin to die.  Turns out Sun had the right instincts. They should have ran once they didn't have the money.  
• Nice appearance by Bakunin, with both eyes intact.  Turns out he is a bit easier to kill in LA than on the Island.  Bakunin's last word were quite revealing--that Jin is not an assassin, that he is not Sayid since he didn't just kill him when he had an easy shot.
• Of course, this entire plot was incredibly predictable--that Jin was the target, that Dad took the money, that a gunshot would hit Sun in the belly. 
• Sayid should have double-tapped Keamy.  Gut shots are no guarantees, as we will learn next week or whenever we see Sun in LA again. 
• Which leads to my guess--that Sun lives, the baby dies, and she cannot have another one.  If they are going to be a bit soap operatic and predictable, I can follow along.
• Locke and Crew:  Some very interesting stuff revealed here.
• FLocke cannot leave without the candidates or at least without the candidates being accounted for.  Kate was on the wall, according to Cuse/Lindelof but editing made it hard to see.  So, FLocke is lying to Claire.  I think it is pretty clear now that FLocke cannot leave the Island if there is a candidate left behind--a new Jacob.  So, he will probably have to kill them all, and is using his candidates (Kate, Sawyer) as bait for the other ones.
• And he needs three--no more, no less.  That would be Jack, Hurley, and Sun, right?  Am I forgetting anyone?
• Of the Isabela crew, obviously Isabela, Frank, and Miles are disposable.  But wait, Frank is the pilot, so that means either one of the three candidates does not matter or Smokey can fly the plane?  The math here is confusing me.  Or Smokey, like Sawyer, is thinking of another way off the Island. 
• Jin is impatient and ready to run, as he does not want to be around Flocke--pretty strong feelings.  Jim has become one of the most rational actors on the Island.  He would not have been around at Flocke's camp if Sun had agreed to come over.  They seem destined to keep missing each other.
• So, Sayid is a Zombie?  He seems to react pretty strongly at the end.  More on that below.
• Widmore and pals: So, Widmore has everything set up but needed more time.  Zoe jumped the gun (we have yet another principal-agent problem). 
• The most interesting thing here is that they only stunned Flocke's crew.  They could have killed them, but chose not to.  This suggests that Smokey might have been responsible for the Ajira massacre after all. But Widmore is a lying sack of poo, so still hard to tell.
• Nice to return to room 23.  Like Bakunin, another bit of fun for the Lost producers to remind us of what we have seen and that it all matters, sort of.
• Jin's name is on a magnetic hotspot map.  Explains the presence of a geophysicist although not why she is second in command.
• Nor why he picked one that was so attractive on LA Law?  And one that apparently has taught classes and written a book about using stripping as exercise.  Why is she covered in dirt now?  Charles is clean, why isn't she?
• Widmore ups the ante--Flocke getting out means loved ones cease to be.  That seems a bit much. Evil getting out and spreading, sure that makes sense.  Of course, I just believe anything Widmore would say.  But perhaps Ben was always in the wrong and Widmore might have actually understood things better.  Of course, he wanted to kill Alex as a kid, so Widmore is a dirtbag, too. 
• And then the big reveal which was entirely unsurprising: Desmond is back and is the key to defeating FLocke.  Well, that is a mystery--how does Desmond's special-ness help?  He was the one whose mind could travel in time, but it is not clear how that works as a weapon. 
• The Beach Party: So Sun cannot speak English now.  Hmmm.  That seems pretty silly.  I know that running into a tree didn't affect my ability to speak Korean. 
• Nice that Sun is pretty focused.  Get her husband and get off the Island.
• Nice to see that Jack is consistent--making promises he cannot cash.  However, his bedside manner returned, and that was actually very good.  We are starting to remember the Jack that was, before we started to hate him.

A very self-aware, meta episode, chock full of great lines:

• Sawyer: "No, that would be ridiculous."  Essentially pointing out that everything, especially Flocke's existence is ridiculous.
• Miles's comment on Hurley's tracking skills: "Unless he is covered in bacon grease."
• Frank's response: "Don't mention bacon."  Frank really has not been there that long to be longing for bacon.  How much time has passed since Air Ajira crashed?
• Responding to Ben's question about their doubt about his Sun-story, why do they think he is lying: "Because he is speaking."  He got to join her group, but the trust here is fragile or non-existent. 
• Keamy: "Some people are just not meant to be together."  So, bring Sun and Jin back together on the Island is hardly inevitable, and she may die in LA as well.  Of course, if the producers think that Keamy is their voice, then, well, I worry about them just a bit.
• FLocke: "A wise man said a war was coming to the Island.  I think it just got here."  O'Quinn just chills with that line.
• Sawyer to Kate about being scared: "Really good at pretending I ain't."
• Flocke: "I don't like secrets."  But it seems his mind reading ability only works as Smokey.  That raises more complications and questions.

Lingering questions:

• How did Charles find the island?
• Smokey and Flocke have different abilities.  Smokey cannot fly across water, as we learned today.  But didn't he get across to kill the Ajira redshirts?  Or maybe that was Widmore after all.

Your thoughts?