Here's a recap of last night:
Not part of the plan: With most of the castaways on their way to the radio tower, Jin, Bernard and Sayid stayed behind to act as dynamite snipers. As the Others approached the tents in hopes of harvesting expectant mothers, Sayid and Bernard set off their explosives, extinguishing several red-shirt baddies. But Jin missed the shot, and Tom, Pryce and another Other used the delay to capture the gunmen.
Losing ground: Ben got the news about the less-than-successful raid, and ordered his men to kill Jin if they couldn’t get any intel on Jack and his group. Bernard sang like a canary, and Ben, with Alex in tow, hit the trail. Meanwhile Richard was instructed to stay the course with the rest of the Others, onward to “the temple.â€
He’s baaaack: While it probably came as a surprise to absolutely no one that Locke still lived, his sudden suicidal tendency while lying in the mass grave was a bit of a shocker. Though even that wasn’t half the jaw-dropper as the appearance of his savior, Walt. Well, some kind of vision of Walt, at least. That’s right, barely passing for a kid anymore, the long-lost spawn of Michael talked Locke into choosing life and going for a walk.
A helping hand: After regaining consciousness and dodging bullets, Desmond dove into the watery hatch with Mikhail hot on his heels. Bruised and battered, Charlie got some unlikely help in dealing with Ben’s comm station flunkies from Mikhail. Once Ben’s lies about the jammed signals were known, he ordered the women killed. Mikhail managed to off one of them, before Desmond shot Mikhail with a spear. Shot, not killed.
A hero’s end: With the surviving station attendant giving up the code to deactivate the jamming signal, Charlie got the job done and received a message from Desmond’s girlfriend Penny — she knew nothing of Naomi; she didn’t send her. Just then Mikhail appeared on the other side of the glass holding an active hand grenade. Charlie sealed the door to protect Desmond from the blast. As the room flooded, Charlie wrote Penny’s message on his hand and slapped it on the door for Desmond to read. Charlie, and once and for all, Mikhail, died.
Reunited: When Ben finally reached Jack, he warned that Naomi was a liar. She represented people who would eliminate them all. Ben offered to trade the hostages for her radiophone. No deal, so he told Pryce to kill the hostages. Jack, not aware it was a fakeout, delivered a satisfying and overdue pounding to his rival. With Ben down for the count, Rousseau got her long-awaited, tearful meeting with Alex.
Rescue efforts: Earlier, Sawyer and Juliet broke away from the group and went to investigate the reason for only two explosions back at camp. When they saw the captives, they tried to come up with a plan. No need. Hurley barreled through in the old Dharma van and ran over Pryce.
No more Mr. Friendly: With Pryce out of the way, a still-bound Sayid killed the other Other (with only his ankles!), leaving just Tom standing. With nowhere to run, Tom surrendered. But giving up wasn’t good enough for Sawyer, who shot Tom, telling him it was payback for the adduction of Walt. Dang! As Others go, he will be missed.
Life and death: Once Rousseau’s old message was disabled, Naomi picked up a clear signal and tried to make contact. Seconds later, she was dead with Locke’s knife planted in her back. Locke threatened to shoot Jack if he tried to use the phone. But killing Jack was a line he wasn’t willing to cross, and Jack successfully made contact with the ship. “Sit tight! We’ll be right there,†was the return message.
Flash-forward: Flashes of Jack’s life played out, from working at the hospital drunk and drugged, to seeing his ex-wife pregnant by another man. The doc was at rock bottom, and even came close to taking his own life. After being the only person to attend the funeral of an unnamed, but obviously relevant person in his life, he finally made met with someone he had struggled to reach. Kate! That’s right, this was not a flashback. Welcome to the future, wherein Kate and Jack are off the island and Jack’s obsessed with going back. Consider the game changed.