LOST- Recap- Michael Returns

We begin this episode with Locke bringing Miles (from the freighter) in front of the Losties in an effort for "full disclosure." Explaining that there will be no more secrets, he encourages Miles and Ben to reveal what is going on. We learn that the freighter folks are here for Ben (no surprise,) and also that Michael is the man on the boat, which is a little less than welcome news.

With this revelation, we're transported to the freighter where Sayid confronts Michael and demands an explanation as to how he came to be on the boat. Flash back to Michael, alone, depressed in his apartment. He pins a note to his chest, get in his 1970s car and then drives it full-speed into a wall.

Flash forward just a little, and we find Michael in a hospital bed, alive, bruised a bit but fine. He is however very haunted by Libby, one of his victims from the hatch a few seasons ago.

Flash forward just a little bit more, and now out of the hospital Michael goes to his mother's house but isn't allowed in, after requesting to see Walt. We discover that he and Walt aren't talking, and that his mother wants to know where they were these last two months, and that Walt has nightmares and is very, very distressed. Michael leaves with a mission to kill himself once again.

After pawning Jin's watch for a gun and bullets, he tries to off himself in an alley, but the gun jams. On the second attempt, Mr. Friendly appears out of the shadows and informs Michael that no matter how many times he tries, "the island" won't let him die, because he still has work to do; he then tells him they have a job for him. Reluctantly, Michael follows Mr. Friendly back to his hotel to learn about this job.

It is here that we discover that the "discovered" plane at the bottom of the ocean was in fact a fake. It was dropped in a trench with the aid of a freighter. The plane was bought by Widmore, the freighter that transported the plane, payed for by Widmore, (Penny's dad) the bodies on the plane came from a cemetery in Thailand, excavated by Widmore and that Widmore did this so that nobody would look for the real plane, so that he would have full access to the island. Also, Widmore planned on killing everyone on the island.

The job for Michael was to go undercover on the boat as a deckhand and kill everyone on board before they got to the island.

Once on the boat, Michael finds a care package in the form of a bomb, and after a few encounters with the creepy boat people, decides to set it off- this will be his atonement: saving the people on the island in exchange for killing Ana Lucia and Libby.

When he activates the bomb however, a little flag pops up that reads "no yet." Michael then gets a call in the radio room. It's Ben, who tells him there are some innocent people on the boat and he isn't a complete monster, he only wants the bad people to die. During this conversation, we also learn that nobody told Michael to kill Ana Lucia or Libby, that was all Michael.

Flashback to reality, discovering that Michael is working for Ben is all too troubling for Sayid, who then drags Michael before the captain and exposes him as a traitor and the person who disabled the radio.

Final scene, Ben tells his daughter Alex to go to "the temple" where the rest of the "others" are hiding. He tells her it isn't safe where she is and if people discover she is his daughter, she will suffer. He convinces Rousseau to take her, saying "your mother will protect you." So Rousseau, Alex and boyfriend head off into the jungle. While taking a water break, boyfriend says he doesn't think this is a good idea; suddenly a bullet comes whizzing out of the jungle and kills him. Alex and Rousseau hide behind a tree. Rousseau tells Alex they have to run on the count of three, on three they stand, and another bullet comes whizzing out of the jungle and kills Rousseu. Alex is left, terrified. Suddenly, she stands, hands in the air, and proclaims "I'm Ben's daughter, I'm Ben's daughter!!!"

End of show.

So this is what we know: Michael killed Libby and Ana Lucia on his own, Ben didn't order their murders. Widmore did plant the plane in the tench, just as we suspected. Ben is still bad news, arranging the killing of Alex's boyfriend and Rousseau, and he's still playing the manipulation game (Michael and the bomb) that he is oh so good at.

Also, here's my thought, if they really want to stop Widmore, why blow up the boat? Widmore can just get another boat...you kill Widmore if you want to stop Widmore. But that's just me.

We now have a one-month break from Lost, to which I say bah! Enjoy the reruns, folks.