zorro said…

I think this episode definitively proved that “whatever happened happened”. The writers, through Miles, thoroughly debunked (and ridiculed) the viewpoint of the alternate timeline crowd, represented by Hurley. The only question that Miles/the writers couldn’t answer was why Ben didn’t recognize Sayid in the Swan. (Although I don’t think that was a huge issue, since we don’t know that Ben didn’t recognize Sayid.) But we got the answer to that question at the end of the episode: Ben emerged from whatever Richard did to him in the Temple without a memory of what had just happened. This could possibly also explain why Ben claimed that he had been born in the island—his earliest memories were after the Temple.

Awesome episode! Like others said, probably the best Kate episode ever. (I love the return to the old style episodes!) It perfectly demonstrated Kate’s motivations for leaving Aaron behind and returning to the island. Evangeline did a stunning job.

Oh, and next week’s episode looks like an instant classic.