Spoilers ahead – Recap of episode and commentary.

I was on a plane last night when this episode aired so Allison and I watched it this morning before she left for the Butterfly place and I settled in for a work from home day. I head back on the road Monday to Parsons, KS and Tulsa, OK and Tri Cities, TN? It is going to be a busy week next week.

This was probably not the best episode of the season but it did confirm a couple of things (Aaron is part of the Oceanic 6) and that was just with the promo for the episodes starting back up on April 24th at the new time of 10:00pm. Man, that will be cutting into my sleep time.

So this was the episode that would tell us what happened to Michael in his time since leaving the island. Well, it looks like things fell apart for him rather quickly upon his return. Why do I say that? For one thing Tom (Mr. Friendly) was still alive and Ben was still in control (well he never lost control actually). This episode didn’t really tell us about how Michael and Walt got home, why he told Walt about Anna Lucia and Libby or what sort of story they have to tell people to hide who they are. Nope what we saw was Michael trying to kill himself multiple times.

Michael first attempts to kill himself by driving a car into a huge dumpster. First he pins a note to himself. My first thought with the note was that maybe he had to remind himself of things and he could have had memory losses or something. No, it was a note for Walt. We see a shadowy Walt at some point during the episode but I’m not even sure if it is the same kid.

Michal’s second attempt on his own life happens in an Alley where we see Tom approach. They scuffle and Tom tells Michael that the island will not let him (Michael) kill himself. The island still has things for Michael to do. And when Michael is ready he can meet Tom at the penthouse of the Hotel Earle. There is speculation that there are still things that Jack needs to do for the island so that is why his suicide attempt was thwarted at the end of last season.

Michael sees the news broadcast that flight 815 was found but cannot be recovered. He tries to kill himself a third time but even with a full barrel the gun just clicks. So Michael goes to see Tom at the Hotel Earle. The speculation that Mr. Friendly is gay was all but confirmed with his companion Arturo and his statement that he likes to indulge himself when he is on the mainland. I’m sure there was some point where Friendly had a lover or someone close to him that Ben exploited for his own means.

Tom gives Michael some documents that ‘prove’ that Charles Widemore has staged the 815 fake crash site so that he can go and look for the island. There is also speculation that the whole staged crash was Ben’s doing? I’m not sure either way. Tom tells Michael that he is to board a freighter in Fiji under the guise of Kevin Johnson. He will be a deckhand. And we know this because Michael constantly introduces himself as Kevin Johnson, deckhand. He must have done it 4 times in the episode.

We see Michael meet Naomi, Miles and Frank. Frank reveals to Michael that he believes the crash site is a fake. Naomi is nice to Michael and Miles busts his balls about lying about his name. I thought Michael was done for right then and there because he is so high strung. But Michael is saved by the bell and gets a call from Tom, then he tosses his cell phone. There is a package that has been sent to Michael, a tool kit with a bomb inside.

Michael assimilates to life on the freighter, he finds that there are some heavily armed men on board, Omar and Keamy. Again the question, guns for a rescue mission? After seeing this Michael brings the bomb to the engine room and activates it and awaits his death. Instead a little flag pops up with a message that says “Not Yet”. Later Michael meets George Minkowski and there is a person with a call for Michael in the radio room, a person named Walt.

The person is not Walt, it is master manipulator Benjamin Linus. Ben explains that there are innocent people on the freighter and Ben does not kill innocent people. Michael is to sabotage the freighter so they cannot get close to the island. The bomb will come into play later. Ben is an amazing manipulator here, he uses Michael’s guilt at killing Libby and Anna Lucia, he also chides Michael that he (Ben) was not the one responsible for killing them. No, they did not have to die. Also Ben used the phrase one of the good guys when he tells Michael that if Michael does the sabotage he will be one of the “good guys”.

On the island, we do not see anything from Team Jack this week. But with Team Locke had a nice little meal with Claire and Aaron (one of the Oceanic six), Karl, Alex, Danielle, Hurley, Sawyer, Locke, Miles and Ben. Ben explains that Michael is on the boat, Sawyer nearly loses it. Sawyer also confronts Locke about the 3.2 million dollars and Miles taunts Locke about Ben being able to get the money as Ben is a survivor.

Ben tells Alex that she must go to the Temple because if the people from the boat find out that she is his daughter they will use her as leverage. And he should know something about that strategy. Umm, Michael and Walt? So Karl, Danielle and Alex head to the temple. But along the way they are ambushed and Karl is killed. And Danielle is shot int he chest (I don’t think she is dead). Alex puts her hands up and shouts, I am Ben’s daughter. Black screen Lost logo.

So, who killed Karl and Danielle(?) ? Probably the rest of Ben’s people who got orders from Ben to kill anyone traveling with Alex.

5 weeks to a new Lost episode. The last five episodes of the season. What will we learn? What more questions will go unanswered. Are more people going to die? Will we see the Oceanic 6 make it off the island this season?

Check out TV Squad‘s recap.