Tonight on LOST: 'The Last Recruit'

The cryptic title is "The Last Recruit" -- meaning, presumably, the last Lostie ostensibly to be recruited to UnLocke's tribe. [But don't hold me to that; I'm just guessing here.] ABC describes tonight's Lost episode thus: "Alliances are forged and broken as the Locke and Jack camps merge." We could have guessed this, of course, since last week's ep ended with Hugo, Jack, Sun and Frank arriving at Camp UnLocke, and with Jack staring at UnLocke in disbelief.

Yeah, the Doc had heard about the MiB taking on the resurrected appearance of Locke, but this was the first time Jack had actually seen his old frenemy's form as inhabited by Smokey. Jack having been the one who saw the real Locke in his coffin, and Jack having been the one who put his dead dad Christian's shoes on dead Locke's feet prior to loading the coffin on Ajira 316 (doing so under instructions from Eloise Hawking, and what was that all about, anyway?) -- well, it's understandable that the Doc would be having a mental moment where his Man of Science past is (as the Bible would say) "wrestling Jacob" in his Man of Faith present.

So (except for Richard, Miles and Ben, who are off on their own personal mission to kill Smokey) we've got our Losties more or less reunited now. Except, of course, for Sun, whose husband is once again the missing piece of the reunion puzzle; the kidnapped Jin is still at Camp Widmore over on Hydra Island. But since that is where UnLocke's crew apparently is bound for the next and possibly final skirmish, there is a good chance that Sun and Jin will reunite at some point soon. Maybe even tonight.

Or not. These Lost writers can be a cruel bunch, after all. Witness Desmond, who was kidnapped from his Long Beach hospital bed, drugged, transported back to the last place he wanted to go, tied up, subjected to a massive electromagnetic event in the name of saving the world (again), and now has been kidnapped once more by Sayid -- and thrown into a well by UnLocke. Poor Des! As Original Recipe Locke once told little Walt: "You're not having a good month."

I predict we won't will see any more character-centric flashes into the Sideways World during these last few episodes of Lost. Instead, I think we'll start to see many of our alt-Losties gathering, for one reason or another, at St. Sebastian's in LA-X. Alt-Desmond is giving little psychic pushes to them, as he did to Hugo -- or as in the case of alt-Locke, Des is giving him a great big smack with a Honda. Coincidentally, alt-Jin should be showing up at the ER with a wounded, pregnant Sun. It's about time for alt-James to make a reappearance with alt-Kate (our favorite fleeing felon and freckled femme fatale!) in police custody, too.

But when will we see alt-Juliet? According to ABC, Elizabeth Mitchell isn't listed among tonight's guest stars. Yet I can't help thinking that we'll see alt-Juliet as a doctor at St. Sebastian's (and, I'm betting, as Jack's ex-wife and David's mother), at some point soon. Surely she and alt-James will need to meet up, let the sparks fly, and plan that destiny-fated coffee date?

Remember that, as in recent weeks, Lost will run a couple of minutes long tonight and will be followed by Elizabeth Mitchell's new series, V.

And remember that next week -- for the only time in this final season -- we will not get a new episode of Lost. Instead, we'll get a repeat of the stellar episode "Ab Aeterno," revealing the backstory of that mysterious, ageless Island consigliere, Richard Alpert.

Come back to Losties Island tonight after the show ends, and comment on "The Last Recruit"!

Tonight on LOST: 'Happily Ever After'

ABC's official summary of tonight's Lost episode: "Desmond wakes up to discover he's back on the Island."

And as Tweeted last week by showrunner (and co-scriptwriter, with Carlton Cuse, of tonight's ep) Damon Lindelof: "In one week, the conversation is going to change."

Taken all together, this means we can probably expect some real revelations from tonight's installation of Lost.

That title, for instance. Last week, in "The Package," we heard the phrase "happily ever after" from the sarcastic lips of killer-for-hire Martin Keamy, taunting poor English-less Jin as he was being duct-taped up in that walk-in fridge.

It appears that Des was drugged, put on a submarine and brought to the Island against his will by his formidable father-in-law, Charles Widmore. Obviously, as Eloise Hawking told Des at the Lamp Post station in LA, the Island is not yet done with him. Tonight's ep does not bode well for Desmond's "happily ever after" with his little family.

Widmore's apparently willing to sacrifice his already-rocky relationship with daughter Penny (and by extension, grandson Charlie) if it means saving the Island, and the world at large, from MiB. What's more, he expects Des to sacrifice too -- not just for his Lostie friends this time, but for the sake of Penny and Charlie's very existence. At least, that's what Widmore implied last week when he spoke to Jin about how Sun and their little Ji-Yeon would "cease to be" if MiB escaped from the Island.

Tonight, I hope we'll get at least some hints about how the alt-reality is connected to what is happening on the Island, and to the war that has now begun in earnest.

It will be fascinating to see what's happening in Desmond's alt-reality. Is he still married, and if so, is his wife still Penny? Does he still have psychic powers? Does he cross between realities, as he did in "The Constant" and "Flashes Before Your Eyes"?

Check back here as soon as the show ends to discuss "Happily Ever After" in the comments!

Tonight on LOST: 'The Package'

Tonight on Lost, "The Package" is a Sun/Jin-centric episode. But we'll see some other old, familiar faces too.

ABC's promo, which is marginally more informative than last week's, says:

Sun and Jin desperately continue their search for one another, and Locke confronts his enemy.

Since UnLocke's biggest enemy, Jacob, is now dead (though still hanging with Hugo in his very special, Obi-Wan Kenobi way), this means UnLocke must be confronting his other enemy, former Others leader Charles Widmore, who has arrived on neighboring Hydra Island, via submarine. Widmore is, as the enhanced version of "Recon" reminded us, "a very dangerous man," even if he is not a man who can turn into murderous black smoke. And just exactly what or whom has Widmore got locked up aboard that sub of his, anyway? Maybe his son-in-law Desmond, who's been MIA since S6's premiere ep, "LA X"? O Brother Des, where art thou?

That enhanced version of "Recon" also reminded us that in the S5 finale "The Incident," UnLocke told Richard (who at the time still thought this was John Locke, Jacob's anointed leader) that he would have to "deal with" the Ajira 316 survivors. In the "Recon" scene showing the Ajira massacre victims on Hydra, the subtitles noted that we don't know what happened to them.

But we can guess, can't we? We know who carried out another recent mass killing, at the Temple.

My personal belief is that this is why Richard has been so distraught and suicidal: not just because because he temporarily lost faith in Jacob, but because he has realized that he was complicit in those Ajira murders, which he had believed he carried out at Jacob's behest. Now he knows that he was unwittingly the instrument of UnLocke, a.k.a. the MiB or Smokey. What's more, Richard must be wondering if the previous mass killings we know he participated in -- the US Army brigade in 1954, and the Dharma purge in 1992 --- were not also instigated by MiB, masquerading as Jacob. No wonder Richard has believed he was in hell, or at least destined to go there.

Speaking of destinies: Are Sun and Jin destined to reunite tonight? Frankly, I would not bet on it happening -- not in the Island timeline, anyway. Though of course, we should see the Kwons together in the 2004 Sideways World.

But wait: Are the Kwons even married in that parallel universe? I'm not convinced that they are.

In the Season 6 premiere ep, "LA X," it was deliberately made difficult for viewers to see if either Sun or Jin happened to be wearing a wedding ring. In the few shots where their left hands were briefly in the frame, no rings were spotted -- not by me, at least. And at the LAX Customs desk where Jin was questioned about the illicit cash he was carrying, the female Customs agent addressed Sun by her maiden name, as "Ms. Paik." Hmmmm.

On the other hand, Jin still treated Sun in the same abrupt, domineering way that he did in the early days of the original timeline -- including that whole "button up your sweater" thing. Would he be that overbearing to his boss's daughter if they weren't married?

Maybe yes -- say, if Jin were Sun's bodyguard, anxious for her not to attract male attention. Or maybe yes, if the Kwons were already divorced and simply traveling together for some Paik business-related reason.

So: Check back here tonight, as soon as Lost ends, and tell us what you thought of the episode.

Remember, tonight's show again runs a couple of minutes long. It will be immediately followed by a new episode of V, starring Elizabeth Mitchell -- our late, beloved Juliet.

Will fans' 15 top LOST mysteries be solved?

EW.com's Doc Jensen just posted a list of the top "15 must-answer mysteries" that fans hope will be explained in the sixth and final season of Lost.

Some seem likely to be answered, such as No. 5, "What happened to Claire?" After all, Emilie de Ravin (right) is to be back as a series regular, so we should be seeing a lot of her, and presumably we'll find out what happened after Claire walked off into the jungle with Dear Old Dead Dad.

Only Locke has seen her since then, hanging with Christian inside Jacob's cabin. He was asked not to tell anyone he'd seen Claire, and he didn't tell. And now ReaLocke's really dead, it seems, not magically resurrected after all. (Although "Esau," aka Jacob's enemy, certainly seems to know everything that ReaLocke knew, plus a whole lot more.) So, once Claire reveals herself in Season 6, we should learn more of the mystery behind her vanishing. Maybe we'll find out whether she's actually alive or just among the Island's numerous walking dead. Miles (whose Island-bred talent lets him hear the dead) certainly didn't seem to think that Claire was entirely alive after apparently surviving a house explosion -- but then, after the Season 5 finale, we don't yet know what happened to Miles, either.

Other mysteries may never be completely explained, such as No. 14, "What's Libby's backstory?" For one, Doc says, the Lost producers have said that actress Cynthia Watros is unlikely return to the show. For another, the show runners are going to do extremely well if they can just unravel the major plot points in the 18 hours they have allotted to finish the Lost saga. Compared to the larger Island mythos, Libby's backstory is relatively small potatoes.

My theory is that Libby went into a depression after her husband David died, and that's when she went to the Santa Rosa mental hospital to recover. She remembered Hugo from Santa Rosa, but he doesn't remember her. After she was released, she met Desmond and gave him David's boat, the Elizabeth, to compete in the Widmore solo-sailing race. Three years later, she boarded Oceanic 815 and crashed on Craphole Island. She survives with Ana-Lucia, Bernard and the Tailies, then treks to the Losties' beach, where she makes friends with Hugo, hypnotizes Claire, and gets tragically shot by Michael in the Hatch. End of story. (Sorry, Libby.)

UPDATE: Doc Jensen's also presenting a short Lost-related course on "The Cult of 'Cult TV' " --with the option of a fun but tricky "Final Exam" on Season 5. Its 26 multiple-choice questions will determine if you've really been paying attention.

And there's more... ABC.com has begun signing up participants -- er, make that "students" -- for "LOST University", and Doc J explains what that's all about. He says:

Included among the many real-life academics on staff is actor Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday), who proved himself something of a science egghead the last time I interviewed him.

Lost U's mascot is, of course... a polar bear.

You may go to the http://lostuniversity.org/index.php site and sign up now to be notified by e-mail when "enrollment" beings in two months.

Are we going to learn more about Smokey?

Watch with Kristin at E!Online gives us some SLIGHT SPOILERS for an epsiode airing at the end of April.

Mrs. Hawking and Daniel Faraday are both coming back for "The Variable" on April 29 (which just so happens to be the series' 100th ep). Also present are Penny and Charles Widmore and Charlie Hume (not to be confused with Charlie Pace).

As for the variable itself, it will almost certainly tie back to the equations and notations from the blast-door map we saw in season two, which included such bon mots as "Geological composition likely to cause magnetic disturbances/interference with weather project," "Primary nexus of Cerberus-related activity" and the infamous Valenzetti equation. Come on, who else wants a monster-centric ep? Remember, the only rule about flashbacks is that there are no rules.

Before the end of the season, Smokey is totally gonna get himself some backstory!