Lost: Something Nice Back Home

I think I might start off a lot of Lost recaps saying "wow, what a great episode," and maybe this episode doesn't quite deserve a lot of praise, but still, wow, what a great episode! And we actually learned some answers, some hints, clues, and a character who we thought was dead may actually be very, very alive? My mind hurts.

The recap: The beach folk are mad that Faraday and Charlotte's people on the boat aren't answering. Rose appears, almost for no other reason than to give Charlotte a quick insult. ("Just watch your tongue, red.") Jacks' appendix burst, which is normally hilarious on sitcoms, and normally just a cheap sweeps stunt in an hourly drama. Oh look, we're in the sweeps period! Good to know. Jack, being a control freak, demands that Kate hold a mirror so he can see Juliet perform the very routine surgery that she has done repeatedly. Kate does, until Jack freaks out and Juliet puts him under. She then later tells Kate that Jack kissed her, but that was just to prove to himself that he loves Kate. Aw...

Meanwhile, Faraday has a crush on Charlotte, and it's cuuute. Jin knows Charlotte can speak Korean after he caught her eavesdropping on him and Sun trash talking her. Awkward. He threatens Faraday's fingers (!) if Sun doesn't leave the island on the helicopter. What about you, Char asks. Jin doesn't even care. He just wants Sun to get back home. Aw! Does this mean you're still alive, Jin? Please?

Elsewhere, Sawyer's journey back to the beach with Claire, Aaron and Miles gets interrupted when Miles starts hearing voices, then magically knows that they are standing on Danielle and Alex's dead buried bodies, so they show us their dead buried bodies and, GROSS? Later, Frank comes out of nowhere, running away from someone?, and tells the Losties to hide. Keamy (killed Alex) and his men (!) are nearby. They are injured, but, alive. Even after the smoke/sand/soot/whatever monster attacked them. They escape, barely unnoticed (thanks, Aaron).

Then later at night, Claire wakes up to find Christian Shephard standing there. Her dad. Jack's dad. Alive. (?) She walks off with him, and that's the last we see of her. Sawyer finds Aaron in the morning, but no Claire-bear.

Jack's future: (Post-Kate's trial) In the future, Jack and Kate get naked together. A lot. And Kate never, ever wears pants. The sex is great, Jack gets along well with Aaron, and they are all happy. Until Jack visits Hurley. Hurley tells Jack that Charlie visited him, and that Charlie had a message for Jack: "You're not supposed to raise him." Also, Jack will be getting a visitor as well. Hurley said that he was happy until he got a visitor, then it all went downhill. Hurley, crazy, thinks they are all A) on the island still, B) dead. Whether any of this is true or not, it plants the seed of a self-fulfilling prophecy into Jack's gullible head. Jack tries to ignore it, by proposing to Kate. She accepts. Aw!

Slowly, Jack begins to think Kate is cheating on him. She says that she is meeting with one of the Mom's from the park, named Noreen. This may or may not be a lie. Because whoever she is meeting with, it's a favor, for Sawyer. Who we learn chose to stay on the island. (He's alive!) Jack, spiraling back into alcoholism, starts getting all mad and defensive, then Kate kicks him out of the house. But not before Jack unwittingly tells Aaron that Kate isn't his real mom. That kid's going to have issues.

Questions:
- Who is "Noreen"? Is she one of the mom's in the park? Is she Cassy? What favor does Sawyer need taken care of?
- Is Christian Shephard alive?
- Where did Christian and Claire go?
- Rose mentioned that people on the island generally get better, not worse. (Like in Jack's case.) Is that true? Or has she forgotten about all the dead "sacrifices" that the island has demanded?
- Was any part of Hurley's speech true?
- Where does the power for the medical station come from? (Nice shout out to fans, BTW... "Add it to the list." Nice.)
- What's Keamy's objective? And does it even match the captains? Or Naomi's?

Next week: Horace Goodspeed returns? After being dead 12 years? Anyways, we spend time around Jacob's cabin. And if press releases don't lie (they do), there should be some guest stars that Lost fans will really appreciate... (Thur., May 8, 10 p.m.)