Meet Kevin Johnson

In the last episode filmed before the writer's strike, "Meet Kevin Johnson," Lost gives us a little back story on how/why Michael ends up working for Ben on the freighter. It was a good episode and I felt that it provides a sufficient break in the action leading up to the second half of the season.

So Michael can't die
On the freighter, Sayid and Desmond confront Kevin Johnson (Michael) in the engine room and want answers. Michael begins to fill them in how he ended up leaving the island and ending up on the freighter.

It turns out that no matter what Michael would do -- slamming his car head first into a dumpster, putting a gun to his head, attempting to set off a bomb on the boat -- the island won't let him die...at least not until his work is finished.

Michael is haunted by visions of Libby and the guilt he feels for killer her and Ana Lucia, as well as leaving the other 815 survivors on the island. Now, he has a mission to protect the island from the freighter folk. He and Walt had a falling out, since Mike decided to share the haunting information that he killed the two tail-sectioners. What was he thinking?

So what is up with the island's ability to keep Michael alive? Is his mission simply to keep the island safe from Widmore and his freighter or is there more to it? Does his actually mission involve Walt? Did the island not want Walt and his special powers to ever leave?

I found it hard to believe that Michael wanted to die. His whole time on the island was spent either trying to get Walt back/trying to get off the island. Even with Walt not wanting to talk to him, why would he want to just kill himself? I understand the guilt is a huge burden, but he and his son are safe. Like the Oceanic 6, life off the island isn't as great as Michael thought it would be.

The real Mr. Friendly
So Mr. Friendly is a little too friendly. We finally get confirmation that Tom is Lost's gay character. The producers have hinted that we may see a gay character and with Tom's line to Kate earlier in the series about her not being his type, many fans speculated on Tom's sexual orientation.

With that out the way, I found his conversation with Michael more interesting than the other man in the hotel. Tom told Michael that they've been watching him. Of course they let him go, but they never really let him go. The Others (especially Ben) always have a plan. Now, Ben needs Michael to do some dirty work for him...to redeem himself to his boy and make all that guilt go away.

The Others got Michael a job on the freighter and his mission is to kill everyone on it. So how'd they get Michael that job? If Widmore really is their enemy, how can they just position someone on his boat without the captain or crew even meeting him? Do they have someone else on the inside, ie working for Widmore?

Who really faked the 815 wreckage?
Tom provides all the documentation needed to prove that Widmore staged the wreckage of Flight 815. He produced receipts for the plane and showed Michael where the dead bodies were recovered from. So who's telling the truth? The captain told Sayid and Desmond that Ben had planted the wreckage and The Others say it was Widmore. It could be either or neither.

Tom could have simply shown Michael the information that they used to staged the wreckage and changed the receipt to say it was Widmore, but when Ben says that they are the good guys, I think there's something to that. With the way Ben operates, is staging the wreckage something he could do...would the island let him? Widmore seems capable of doing it, but what if there's a third party who has pitted the two groups against each other, like maybe The Economist or whoever Abbadon is really working for (if its not Widmore). More to this tale, there is.

Everyone's lying about something
Michael makes it to the freighter and is greeted by Minkowski and Naomi. When he boards the boat, he meets up with Miles, who is on to him. So what does Miles really know about Michael? He knows that he isn't really Kevin Johnson, but does he know anything else? He's mentions that everyone on the boat is lying about something. So what's everyone's story? What's really going on with the freighter folks?

Later in the episode, Frank is talking with Kevin Johnson about Flight 815. He mentions how cool it would be to find survivors. Does he know Michael was part of the survivors? We already know that he is on to the staged wreckage, but what more is he on to? How much was the crew let in on, Ben staging the wreckage, possible survivors, about the island, etc.? It's interesting that both Frank and Naomi have mentioned the possibility of finding 815 survivors, when the general public is left to believe that they're all dead.

What happens to Kevin Johnson now?
Once Michael finished his story, Sayid grabs him and drags him into the captain's quarters. he reveals Michael's true identity and says that he's been sabotaging the freighter's mission. Sayid was quick to turn Michael in. Does he really think the captain is telling the truth, despite Michael's message not to trust the captain? He is really holding a grudge against Michael to take the word of someone he's known for a short period of time (who also let's his crew kill themselves and throws down with them if they try to leave the freighter). It will be interesting to see what happens to Michael now that he's been caught.

Two down, who's pulling the trigger?
The war is starting on the island. Ben wants to make sure Alex is safe (or does he?) since she's his daughter and would be a target, so he sends her, Karl and Danielle off to find the rest of The Others at the Temple. While looking for it, they are ambushed and Karl and Danielle are shot. Alex gets up and let's it be known that she is Ben's daughter, in hopes that this will spare her life. With that, Lost is on a 5-week hiatus, and we are left with new questions to ponder.

So who is shooting at them? It looked to be darts and not bullets coming at them. Was it the rest of The Others, who perhaps were told by Ben to take out Karl and Danielle? Was it another group from the freighter or someone never before seen group? There's been rumors of a good set of Others and a bad group. Is this the bad set? I'm not sure which way I'm leaning here, but I think it's going to be a surprise group...the real bad guys of the island.

The promos teased that someone would die and that turned out to be Karl. My thinking is that the audience is supposed to think that both Danielle and Karl are goners, but Danielle has too much backstory to tell. She'll be around for a while. The producers have said that they'd like give more of her backstory in the future, so why would they kill her off now?

Well, now Lost takes a break to film the rest of the season. I am digging the fast-paced action of season 4 and with three episodes being cut, the rest of the season will be even more fast-paced. Lost has been providing answers this year and isn't holding back on the entertainment.

*Photos from Lost-Media.com