SPOILER ALERT – SPOILERS BELOW – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

This was yet another set-up episode in a season that seems like it has been full of them, but we also had  a lot of movement and a lot of things happening, which really served to increase the momentum of the season.  Let’s star dissecting, shall we:

• In Sideways world, more of our characters came face to face, but I was hoping for a scene where everyone was all together, in the same room at the same time.  The hospital seems like a likely place for that to happen, with Sun recovering, Locke in surgery with Jack (you all caught that mirror moment, right?), and Claire expecting.   Of course, Kate is in jail, and Sawyer just arrested Sayid, so maybe a jail scene?  Hurley could walk in to fight a parking ticket, I suppose.  Either way, more and more paths are crossing in Sideways world in a meaningful way, and things there will surely be coming to a head soon.  We were given two hints at people there being aware of their Island selves – with both Sun and Jack remembering Locke.  Now it’s no surprise that Jack recognizes him, as they chatted at LAX (or should I say LA X?), but I think he were meant to believe that there was more to it than that.
• On the Island, we got some very interesting developments.  Jack the believer joins Sawyer’s group, only to realize that he doesn’t want to leave the Island again.  He thinks that if FLocke wants them all to leave the Island so badly, maybe that alone is a good reason to stay.  There’s our thinking leader!  Of course, when FLocke tells him “You’re with me now,” Jack didn’t offer up much resistance.  Then again, he was just nearly blown up.  Which begs the question: Why did FLocke save Jack?  He can’t kill the candidates directly, but surely he doesn’t have to necessarily save them if they’re getting shot at, right?  And he is planning to kill them all eventually (or so we’ve been led to believe), so why not just get him out of the way now?  Maybe he’s planning to use him to get the rest of the candidates back.  Either way, it has to be Jack who is “the last recruit,” and it also seems more likely that Jack will be Jacob’s replacement.
• And speaking of killing people, I think its pretty clear that Desmond was finally able to get through to Sayid, albeit after he’d already killed  a heckuva lot of folks for FLocke.  So did Sayid rescue Des?  That would explain what took him longer than expected.  Sayid seemed fairly confident that he could bluff FLocke into not checking to make sure he did his dirty work – it seems like there are multiple cons going on at once…
• …Like for example Widmore changing his deal with Sawyer and company.  I was getting a vibe akin to Vader altering his deal with Lando, but maybe that’s just me.  Why would he want them executed?  If he wants to stop FLocke, doesn’t he need the candidates?  And how was he able to get a fix on FLocke’s location without Zoe there to track him?  And does he think he can blow up FLocke to kill him?  Shouldn’t he know that won’t work?  Or will it?
• And what about the big reveal in the episode, that Christian was Smokey in disguise?  Like I said last week, it seems odd to me that the show would be giving out fake answers to big mysteries at this point, so let’s just assume that every time we’ve seen Christian, it was Smokey.  How is that possible, if Smokey is confined to the Island?  We’ve seen Christian off the Island twice (I think) – he appeared to Michael on the Freighter before it blew up, and he appeared to Jack at his hospital.  The Freighter appearance could be reasoned that it was close to the Island, so Smokey could get there, but he has said that he can’t just fly over the ocean.  And the appearance to Jack was a big motivator to get him back to the Island, so why would he want Jack to come back to the Island if now his whole mission is to help him off it?  I am utterly vexed by this.  Also, Claire referred to being kept company by her father and her friend, FLocke.  Yet she knows they are one and the same?  Even for a crazy lady, that seems weird to me.  It did also seem to be revealed that Smokey needs the body of the dead person he is inhabiting to be on the Island, which makes sense for how he could assume the forms of Christian, Locke, and Eko’s brother.  But how and why he was off the Island as Christian I do not get.

And I will have two weeks to ponder, as there is no new Lost next week – BOOO.  I guess that just gives us more time to theorize – anyone got any brilliant insights?