Locke has moved Ben from the rec room to the basement in Ben’s house. As he brings Ben breakfast, the master manipulator works his mojo on the sensitive Locke. “Here we are, like old times, except I’m locked in a different room…I feel for you John, I really do. You keep hitting dead ends.” It’s true. Locke can’t find Jacob’s cabin, he’s not sure who to trust anymore. Ben is getting to Locke, once again.
Sitting on a porch nearby, Kate sees Locke storm out of the house, all pissed off. Then Sawyer walks up for a cup of coffee, smiling devilishly. “I’m not moving in with you, James,” Kate says point blank. “Then why did you stay?,” he asks. He thinks it’s because Kate is pregnant, but she won’t give anything up and tells him to go home. Is she preggers?
Kate’s flash forward begins: She is hurried into a courthouse, with the paparazzi clicking away. She may be one of the Oceanic Six, with one of the most famous faces out there right now, but she must face the consequences of her actions, going on trial for her crime. She pleads not guilty but is taken into custody for the duration of the trial because, as the prosecution puts it, “she is the very definition of a flight risk.” So Sawyer was right. The only thing waiting for her back in the real world is handcuffs.
Later, she is talking to her lawyer. He is having a tough time with the case since she confessed killing her stepdad to her mom, who is now the prosecution’s star witness. But, he says, if they bring “him” in, it could generate sympathy. Kate rankles. “You are NOT bringing my son in.” Whoa. Well, I guess that answers my earlier question. Or does it?
In court, Kate’s lawyer springs a surprise on her. If he can’t bring in her son, he has called Jack in as a witness, much to Kate’s chagrin. The lawyer questions Jack about how he knows Kate, and we finally hear the cover-up story: As Jack tells it, the plane crashed but only eight people survived. Kate was instrumental in saving most of their lives, except two, who eventually died, leaving just the six on the island waiting for rescue. Yes, he found out she was a fugitive, but no, he never asked her if she was guilty. The prosecution has just one cross-examination question: “Do you love Ms. Austin?” Jack replies, “No, not anymore.” I doubt that.
Then Kate faces her mother, who is still sick. She tells Kate her feelings about what she did all changed when she thought Kate was dead. She doesn’t want to testify against her–but she does want to see her grandson. Kate looks at her incredulously, “You came here to make a deal?…I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
Back on the beach in real time, Jack arrives to inform everyone they should be rescued soon. But Jack can’t get the boat people on the phone. Sayid hasn’t called in yet, which is a little weird since he left the day before. Sun looks concerned. Maybe Locke was right and these people aren’t here to rescue us. One thing to note from last episode: When Daniel asked the freighter to send a payload, it didn’t show up until 31 minutes later. A timing device on the rocket shows it’s 31 minutes ahead of the time he has on the island. Time is somehow slower on the island. I knew there has to be some kind of time/space thing going on.
Later, Charlotte is testing Daniel’s psychic abilities by having him guess what cards she’s holding, but he seems to be off his game. Psychic abilities? Jack and Juliet walk up and want to know why no one is answering the phone, is there another line? There is one only used for emergency; Juliet hands the phone to Charlotte, “This is an emergency.” Charlotte calls and gets someone. “The people on the island want to make sure their friends are OK,” Charlotte asks. But the chick on the other line doesn’t know what she’s talking about. No one has shown up. Uh-oh.
At the Others Barracks, Kate asks Locke if she can talk to Miles, which he promptly nixes. “This isn’t a democracy, Kate. Not the way Jack ran it,” Locke says. “Then it’s a dictatorship,” Kate shoots back. But you know Kate. She usually gets what she wants, and soon gets Hurley to inadvertently tell her where they are keeping Miles–at the boathouse. Kate goes to see Miles and asks him if he knows who she is–and what she did. He’ll tell her everything she wants to know if she brings him Ben, so he can have just one minute of his time.
Sharing a pad, Sawyer and Hurley banter as they do when Kate shows up. Sawyer knows she isn’t there to get back together with him. “If you didn’t stay behind for me, tell me you want to use me for something,” says Sawyer. Yes, she wants to use him to help her bust out Ben. Later, Sawyer shows up at Locke’s door with a backgammon set in an attempt to distract Locke. Sawyer wants Locke to promise him he won’t hurt Kate. He does, and then Sawyer tells Locke about Kate’s plan to bring Ben over to see “Bruce Lee” in the boathouse. If Miles has something to say to Ben, Locke wants to hear it. Off they go to get Miles.
Except Kate has busted Miles out instead and brings him to Ben. Miles tells Ben that he can either let the man he works for–who has been spending a lot of time and energy finding Ben–know where Ben is or he can tell him that Ben is already dead. For $3.2 million, of course. Ben looks at him amusedly, “You’re trying to blackmail me?” “Extortion if want to get technical,” Miles replies. “Then why not 3.3 or 3.4?,” Ben quips. “Do not treat me like I’m one of them. I know who you are and what you can do!,” Miles yells at Ben. Miles gives him one week to get the cash, as Kate drags Miles out.
And yes, Miles knows all about Kate. He knows about all of them from Oceanic 815. He tells Kate she should just stay on the island. Of course, Locke and Sawyer show up just as they were leaving. Locke is none too happy. Later, Locke questions Kate about what transpired between Ben and Miles, and she tells him. But Locke can’t trust Kate anymore and he tells her she has to leave by the morning. She is no longer welcomed.
Locke pays a visit to Miles, back in the boathouse and tied with his hands up. Locke is a man on a mission. He says Miles WILL tell him who he is, who the boat people are and what they want from Ben. But first, Locke sticks a grenade in Miles mouth, telling him to bite down hard. Then he takes the pin out and says there’s no use having rules if you don’t punish when they are broken. He walks out while Miles gags on the grenade. Locke’s getting very Ben-esque, don’t you think?
Meanwhile, Kate goes to see Sawyer to tell him about being kicked out. “He banished you? Well, I un-banish you. You can stay right here, I’ll keep you safe.” Aw, Sawyer is so sweet on her. Kate is very tempted to stay with him, especially after they have some good sex. But the next morning, it all goes to crap. Kate tells Sawyer she’s definitely not pregnant, and he’s ecstatic about it, which ticks her off. “I’m going back to the beach,” she says. “You’re looking for a reason to split and here it is,” Sawyer responds. “That’s OK, I’ll just wait here in my comfy bed cause in about a week, you’ll get pissed at Jack and you’ll come bouncing right back here.” She slaps him for that and then walks out.
But here comes the good stuff. In Kate’s flash forward finale, Kate gets off with 10 years probation when her mother doesn’t testify. As she leaves, Jack is waiting for her in the garage. She thanks him for helping her, but she’s heard him tell that story so many times, she’s wondering if Jack believes it. He does tell her he lied about what he said, that it wasn’t true. He doesn’t say it, but he still loves her. She smiles and asks him to follow her back to her house “for a visit.” But he backtracks and says he can’t, that maybe they could have coffee another time. “I know why you don’t want to see the baby, Jack,” she says. “But until do, until you want to, there’s no you and me going for coffee. But, if anytime you change your mind, come and see us.” At this point, you think it’s Sawyer’s baby for sure, right? Well…
We see Kate pull up to her house. She’s greeted by the babysitter who says she just put the baby down for a nap. She can’t wait to see him and goes up to his room. He’s a cute little blonde-headed boy, about 3 years old or so. He definitely looks like Sawyer. Then he wakes up. “Hi, Mommy.” She pulls him close, so happy to see him. “Hi, Aaron.”
WHAT? Aaron, as in Claire’s baby Aaron? What happened to Claire? Why doesn’t Jack want to see him? Holy man!
