First, I feel an introduction is in order: Hello, my name is Adam. I have a blog called the Principia Adamaca and somehow Mike and I found each other and, even stranger, somehow got to respecting each other’s work. Long story short, he invited me to contribute to this site from time to time, so here I am!

There wouldn’t be any point in me recapping an episode that’s already been wonderfully recapped, so I’ll just supplement what Mike has already said and point out some interesting things I caught, and of course offer up my speculation as best I can because, hey, that’s half the fun.

Last night’s episode, while not my favorite of the season, was still among one of the best hours of Lost so far. What made the story so interesting, I think, is we largely know how it turns out – Jack and Kate split up with Jack going all crazy later.

But Jack proposing to Kate! How cute was that?! (Though at first, I did think it was Juliet in the shower).

Of course Kate, who Jack gave the benefit of the doubt since season one when he decided to trust her even though she was apparently a convict, had to go a mess things up by sneaking around behind his back. The first hint was when she was on the phone, saying things like “I have an hour, Jack’s not supposed to be back yet,” and then playing it off as her friend from the playground. We all knew she was lying, but about what?

This whole sneaking around behind Jack’s back thing got me wondering about the “He’ll be wondering where I am” line from the end of last season. At this point we’re led to believe she was talking about Aaron, but what if she wasn’t?

Later, the truth late came out: Sawyer, of course. Something about a promise she made. My mind immediately started reeling, trying to remember if there was ever a conversation between Kate and Sawyer about a promise, because that all sounded very familiar. I went online and tried to look it up, but, alas, found nothing. That’s not to say it didn’t happen, though. Remember, too, that Kate had past dealings with one of Sawyer’s “associates” at one point in her life, Cassidy, whom Sawyer even had a baby with: Clementine.

Having someone you love go and sneak around on you when you’re not around would be enough to drive me crazy, too. So it was nice to see why Jack was the way he was at the end of the third season. And he’s totally justified in that one line he had that generated so much speculation, when he said something like “go get my dad and if he’s drunker than I am, you can fire me, too!”

There was speculation at that time that Jack had confirmed that his father was indeed alive after they got off the island. Some said it might have been because of some sort of resurrection force on the island. I think we got the confirmation last night that he wasn’t speaking in the literal sense, but I do believe that he really does see him. So when Jack said “go get my father and see if he’s drunker than I am” he was obviously in a delusional state and let that nugget slip out.

What’s even more interesting, however, is exactly why Jack was seeing his father. Or rather, how.

I think Charlie might be a clue. If you’ll remember back to the season four opener, Hurley’s friend at Santa Rosa saw Charlie, too. In other worlds, he wasn’t just a figment of Hurley’s imagination. They haven’t developed much on that yet, so I have to believe it was a story device to let the audience know: “yes, Charlie is more than just Hurley’s vision.”

But it can’t be Charlie, he’s dead! So who is it?

Cosmic forces initiating some sort of course correction? Methinkso.

There was something else in last night’s episode that made little sense unless taken as a storytelling device to let the audience know something: the smoke detector.

We’ve seen the smoke monster take human form before, in the form of Yemi’s brother. (Not to mention, thanks to ABC’s Lost podcasts, we’re able to cheat a little bit and get the producers confirmation on this). So, I think that somehow, when Jack bellows “We weren’t meant to leave!” it has something to do with course correction and the forces of the island (such as the smoke monster) are interfering with their lives.

But why does their have to be this “course correction” If Jack and Co. were never meant to leave the island, how could they leave in the first place? Why would the island allow it? I think, as we found out last week, “the rules have been changed,” so all bets are off. And I’d bet it all began with Desmond, saving Charlie that first time when Penny really was about to parachute down to the island, but it was Naomi instead. I could be way off, but maybe that one event sent ripples down the timeline that need to be corrected.

If that’s the case, things are sooooo messed up by now. Silly Dharma Initiative and their time travel experiments! It scares me a bit to think how messed up the timeline has gotten since the parachuting incident (if that indeed really was supposed to be Penny). Reminds me of a book I read once, “Millennium” by John Varley. Basically (spoiler alert for the book), the timeline gets so messed up and the universe has to correct itself so much that to survive, the main characters have to travel millions of years into the future until the ripples have settled, where they are revealed as essentially “Adam and Eve, Take 2.”

Whew! So, sometimes I get going a bit too far. I get ahead of myself.

But, like I said, that’s half the fun, so thanks for listening! Now it’s my turn. I know there is a discussion on Mike’s other post, so I don’t want to take away from that. But what do you think? Could the promise have something to do with Clementine? Is Jack’s father a form of course correction, setting him up on a different path? Is Rousseau really dead? Really?! Sure, that was her body, but… really?!?