Lost: James sure does have a lot of sex

I was excited for this episode because I thought we would finally find out what team Sawyer is playing for. Of course, in the world of Lost, just when you realize how things are playing out they pull the rug right out from under you. The flash-sideways stories have been revealing the true nature of the characters over the past few weeks. Sayid: bad, Jack: good, Ben: good... Sawyer: still a question mark. In fact, just as it seems like he's getting redemption and putting himself on the path of good by begging Miles to talk him out of killing the real Sawyer... BAM! Kate literally smacks him out of it. This seems like a parallel to what's going to be happening on the island. Sawyer is a wild card, and the variable of Kate in his life could possibly push him in either direction.

It's interesting that Sawyer is a cop in the flash-sideways... especially since we know he saw Kate's handcuffs on the plane and helped her escape security. Why would a cop do that? Again, there seems to be something about the combination of Sawyer and Kate that creates an unpredictable outcome. Can't wait to see what happens after Sawyer "catches" her running from the authorities.

Back on Team Smoke Monster, we finally get to see where Jin has been hiding - he's been sleeping next to Claire's creepy fake baby. Clearly, Jin doesn't want to be a part of this team. He doesn't really want to do anything but find Sun. Honestly, I could care less about either of them at this point. I hope their story becomes a little more interesting because both of these characters are getting a little annoying just complaining about how they want to find the other to anyone who will listen.

Mr. Smoke Monster has ultimate control over his group. When Claire attacks Kate, Smoke gives her a good smack and sends her to her room crying, later to return with a disturbingly weird and creepy apology to Kate. Sayid is powerless at this point, not able to react or care when Kate's throat is almost slashed by Crazy Claire. Again, will Kate and Sawyer join their ranks, or will they overcome evil? Either way, they better come up with a better plan than "taking the sub off this rock". Have they been watching the same show as we have?

Some random observations:

Yep, that was Charlie's brother in the police station looking for Charlie.

Nice to see Charlotte, and interesting how she's working in a museum with Mile's dad (The star of the Dharma instructional films, Dr. Chang). Maybe her bad one night stand with James Ford will somehow push her towards Faraday in the flash sideways world?

They sure did make a big deal about that locked room on the sub. Wonder what's in there? If I had to make a guess it starts with a "D" and ends with an "esmond". How else is he going to get to the island at this point?

I'm not sold on the fact that Widmore wants to kill the Smoke Monster. In fact, his body language kind of led me to believe that he was playing Sawyer. I think Smokey sent Sawyer over to the island to test his loyalty and make sure that Widmore had arrived. Charles Widmore was instrumental in getting Locke to rally everyone to get back to the island... he must have known that Locke would be the perfect vessel for the Smoke Monster to work his master plan. I think Sawyer is going to freak when Widmore and Locke meet on Hydra Island and shake hands.

So, Anthony Cooper is still a con man in the flash sideways? He must have somehow rehabilitated himself after causing the death of James' parents. Locke's flash-sideways life was great... his father was still on the wedding guest list and obviously didn't ruin his life by conning him out of a kidney and abandoning him.

Does anyone buy the fact that Smoke Monster's mother was crazy and that his path would have been different if she raised him differently? I'm not sure if this was important information or if he was just making something up to manipulate Kate. Time will tell on that one.

OK, that's enough for this morning... your thoughts?