Because You Left: The Lie

Welcome back, LOST! :)

So last night's episode was chock-full of some serious, no-joke ANSWERS. And I LOVE IT.

Last night's "Because You Left: The Lie" centered on guilt-ridden Hurley, who is readily uncomfortable in lying to everyone in regard to the fate of the island and his fellow castaways. Seeking some support on Penny's Searcher before the O6 made landfall, Hurley looks to Sayid, who basically shoots him down. Promising to return the favor, Hurley tells Sayid that someday, when it's Sayid who needs help, Hurley won't be around to assist. This, however, was not the case last night, as Hurley repeatedly put himself in danger trying to revive his unconscious amigo. I wonder how that promise will play out in the rest of the season, and whether or not there might actually come a time when Hurley won't help. I can't really see that charateristic in the Hurley we all know and love, but his pizza pocket-throwing alter ego certainly showed Ben where he could stick it. I loved the creepy look Hurley tossed Ben as he threw himself at the mercy of the police. (Completely disregarding Ana-Lucia's dictate to stay away from the cops. Uh, take your own advice, Ana Lulu!) Though, Mr. I-Cannot-Tell-A-Lie Reyes seems to have no problem telling a huge one to the popos.

Ben, on the other hand, is running around in circles trying to arrange for the O6 to make their comeback to the island, utilizing the help of butchers all over Los Angeles County. I have the nagging feeling that we've seen Jill the Butcher somewhere before, but I can't put my finger on it. Anyone?

One of Ben's first moves is to reduce Jack's 12-step program into one simple step: Ben: "Are you looking for your pills, Jack? I flushed them down the toilet." Jack: "Oh. Thank-you. I was just about to do that myself." After that, Ben takes the body of Jeremy Bentham (I feel your pain, Hurley, I need a cool code name, too!) to the butcher shop, telling good ol' Jill that she must keep him safe, because if not, everything they're about to do will be for nothing. Oh, ok, well when you put it that way... WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

Meanwhile, back on the island, the remaining castaways (and apparently, Daniel and those in the zodiac when the island went down were "in the radius," and are therefore also included) are toggling through the space-time continuum, much to Sawyer's dismay. After Daniel schools the survivors on the rules of time-travel (i.e., we're on a string, moving backwards and forwards, but unable to create a new string, aka, don't try and change the past. Um, seriously, didn't we already learn that from Back to the Future?!), he goes ahead and breaks them: making contact with Paddy-in-the Hatch, Daniel tells Desmond that he must go back to Oxford, and make contact with his mother. Her name is-- oops, time traveling again. I'm not quite sure I understand how that won't significantly "break the rules." Let's see, breaking the rules, where have we heard that before? Oh that right! When Keamy killed Alex! So does Ben's realization that "he broke the rules" refer then, not to some twisted game being played between him and Charles Widmore, but rather to the rules of time-travel? Things that make you go hmmm...

Thankfully, though, the enigma of Danny's Mom is short-lived. Though it's never explicitly stated, I'm fairly certain that Mommie Dearest is no other than Mrs. Hawking, last seen teaching Desmond the rules of Universe Course-Correcting. Except, now she's in her own private lair underneath what appears to be a church, fiddling with computers, making mathematical calculations, and determining that Ben and the O6 have a window of 70 hours in which to get back to the island. (Think it's possible she could postulate on how long it will take to get Aaron potty-trained?) So then, Ben's kinda concerned, since the clock is now ticking (seriously, when did LOST become 24?!) and Hurley just told him to suck it, and the other O6ers are spread rather far and wide.

Those other O6ers include Kate, who has returned to her old "run from your problems" ways, and has hit the highway with Aaron after some goons (probably hired but Chucky Widmore, but never confirmed as such) show up on her doorstep demanding DNA samples from her and Aaron. After a moment of indecision (To call Jack, or not to call Jack, that is the question), her phone rings, and the caller ID indentifies an "unknown caller." Mmm-hmm, we all knew who that was: Sun, fresh from her detention at the London airport, meets with Kate for a cuppa tea and to chew the fat. Oh, and you know, to partially blame Kate for Jin's death (in not so many words), since Kate promised Sun she'd get Jin, then... you know, didn't, and he, like blew up and stuff. Sun's demeanor through all of this certainly makes it difficult to ascertain just whose side, exactly, she's on. She has said that she blames Ben for Jin's death (...why, exactly?), and Jack mentioned in the season finale last year that she blames him as well. However, her convo with Katie Fugitive didn't do much to convince me otherwise that she just holds grudges against everyone. Mark my words, she's going to be pretty hard to convince to go back to the Island, what with all her revenge-taking and whatnot.

Finally, back on the island, Locke is confused as to what he's supposed to be doing. (What else is new?) After his romp through time, he meets up with Richard, who tells him that in order to save the island (note that he didn't mention anything about the people on the island), he has to get everyone who left to come back, and in order for that to happen, he has to die. Oh, ok, makes perfect sense.

Charlotte, meanwhile, is seeming to exhibit the classic symptoms of being unstuck in time. Kristin seems to think that Charlotte is not suffering from unstuck-in-time-ness, but rather exhibiting classic signs of pregnancy. Eh, I think that's a stretch, and condering the spoilers running around that someone is going to die next week, I'm not holding out much hope for the fearless redhead. I'm bummed, Charlotte was a pretty interesting character, and I'm not convinced that her story arc is finished. (Plus, I'm starting to get a little ticked about them introducing new characters only to kill them off a short time later. See: Nikki and Paoulo (though I do agree they needed to die), Neil Frogurt, and now CharChar. Over it, Darlton!)

And my final point, to which I alluded in a quickie, commercial break last night: How has it been 4 years, and I haven't clued in on the significance of Christian Shepherd's name?! Hello, he's a CHRISTIAN SHEPHERD! Sound like anyone you know? Maybe someone else who rose from the dead? Is Christian JESUS?!