lost - lighthouse

In the season four episode "Something Nice Back Home," the survivors lost track of one of their most innocent members. Claire Littleton got up in the middle of the night and disappeared. She left her two-month old Aaron behind and was only seen again by Locke in Jacob's cabin, which he kept to himself. This threw me for a loop. The episode prior to that, Claire's cabin at the Barracks was blown apart by a missile, and she survived. I was thoroughly convinced that, even though she walked around for two more days and carried her son and held conversations, she was somehow dead, if not dying.

Alas, Claire Littleton returned to LOST two weeks ago when she saved Jin from two edgy Others. She shot one in cold blood and took the other hostage. Claire is obviously a changed woman. Her hair is a ratty mess and her eyes aren't all there. She tells Jin, while dressing his wounds (another thing Claire doesn't do) that she has been on the island for three years. She's been there since they left. However, she has a friend. Someone has been telling Claire that Aaron is still on the island, and that the Others have been holding him for three years. She was shot once trying to get him back, and she was tortured like Sayid.

Claire lifelessly kills her captured Other when he refused to tell her where her son is. She kills him even after Jin confesses that Kate took him off the island and raised him as her own. When she presses Jin for more information, he tells her that he lied, upon which Claire says that she would kill Kate if she actually took Aaron and raised him. Well...yeah. After this awkward exchange of lies and unwanted truths, Claire's friend finally arrives - it's Locke. Jin is confused, just as Locke is slightly confused to see him there, but Claire is happy that he has joined them. This was indeed a collective "what-the-hell" moment.

In the alternative reality, another "what-the-hell" moment ensues when Jack goes to school in his opening scene to pick up his son- the son he never really had. This is the first glaring difference in these other realities. If Jack had a son before, it certainly was never revealed. Jack's son, David, has an iffy relationship with his father, much like Jack did with Christian. It is revealed that, whoever David's mother is, she and Jack are divorced and he lives with her primarily. She is out of town, so Jack has him for a while. Jack's mother asks him to go through his father's thing with her, so he leaves David alone with the promise to return with food and pizza.

At his mother's house, Margo inquires about a Claire Littleton that Christian has included in his will. Both she and Jack have no idea who the girl could be. Jack returns home to find that David has gone and is nowhere to be found. After a typical "too-involved" Jack investigation, he discovers that David has an audition for a performing arts school. He goes and watches his audition, unbeknonwst by David. They have a heart to heart afterwards and Jack attempts to preemptively combat the problems his father made with him.

Honestly, if this were another show, it would be just as amazing. A show about a group of people who were on the same plane and keep running into each other for unknown reasons. I approve. I also approve of next week's promo. Fire and creepy cuts and a new Sayid. Tempted!