Lost Watch: He's Baaaaack!

Episode Title: Meet Kevin Johnson
Air Date: March 20, 2008

So, Michael's back.

Most of last night's episode was a flashback of what everyone's favorite murderer/ artist/ dedicated dad has been up to since he and Walt split at the end of season 2.

After Sayid and Desmond were able to get some alone time with "Kevin," the freighter's janitor, Sayid demanded that he tell the tale of how he ended up on the ship. After "Kevin" asks one of his co-workers to go fetch a part, the janitor tells his sorry tale. And since the story takes nearly a whole episode to tell, the supply closet the co-worker runs off to must be very far away.

Michael tells Sayid how he came to the boat and became "Kevin Johnson." He was living in New York, but not with Walt, his son who he loved so much that he murdered two of his friends to save. Walt can't look him in the eyes... because Michael made the mistake of admitting that HE MURDERED TWO OF HIS FRIENDS TO SAVE HIM. Probably not the best strategy to build a father/ son relationship on.

Michael attempts to kill himself, but can't seem to pull it off. After obtaining a gun from a pawn shop, he runs into none other than dapper, gay, and ass kicking Other Tom, who tells him that he won't be able to kill himself... because the island "won't let him." After Michael finds it impossible to shoot himself in the head, he knocks on Tom's door at a swanky hotel where he is given the assignment of infiltrating the freighter and killing everyone on board... in order to save his former castaways on Mystery Island.

Obviously, Michael is a little hesitant to take the assignment from The Others, who did, you know, kidnap Walt and turn him into a murderer. But Tom tells Michael that the man who commissioned the freighter, Charles Whitmore, was the one who staged the fake Flight 815 wreckage... which is exactly what the freighter's captain claimed BEN DID in last week's episode.

So who's lying? Michael is convinced that Whitmore's the man behind the fake crash, because Tom shows him documents and photos that seem to implicate the mysterious businessman. And after Tom tells him that once Whitmore's crew gets to the island, they are supposed to kill everyone there, it's enough to convince Michael to sign up for the covert mission, in order to save the people he sold out to leave with his son in the first place.

Michael arrives at the freighter, checking in as "Kevin Johnson," and meets the crew we've gotten to know in the last few weeks. A mysterious box arrives for "Kevin," which turns out to contain a bomb that Ben wants him to use to blow up the freighter (which seems like a bit of a stretch, because if this Whitmore guy was capable of staging a fake plane crash, wouldn't he have some way of preventing spies with bombs boarding his ship? Just sayin'.)

Michael attempts to detonate the bomb, which turns out to be a dummy with a little note that says "not yet" on it. Nice touch Ben, you demented fuck.

"Kevin" receives a call to the ship from someone claiming to be Walt... who of course turns out to be none other than the puppet master himself, one Benjamin Linus. Ben tells Michael that the bomb was a test, and that he would never "kill innocent people," even when he is fighting a war. Obviously, the whole thing is some sort of fucked up psychological trick that Ben is playing on poor Michael, but it's clearly an effective one.

Anyway, back in the present, Michael finishes story time. Sayid's one question is "so you're working for Benjamin Linus?" and when Michael nods, he drags him to the captain and tells him everything. For some reason, the captain looks unimpressed... so maybe they knew all the time. And maybe, just maybe, selling out Ben's spy to Whitmore's people is a bad idea... we did learn earlier this season that Sayid himself is working for... Benjamin Linus.

Back on the island, Ben tells his daughter, Alex, to find safety because the people coming to the island will want her once they find out she's his daughter. Alex's boyfriend and mother, Rosseau (Warrior Princess,) join her as they follow Ben's map to "The Temple" (a hatch we still haven't seen that Ben says will keep her safe and which might finally help explain that creepy four toed statue that appeared at the end of season two and still hasn't been addressed again,) where they are ambushed. Alex's mom and bf are both killed, but she is spared when she throws up her hands and says that she's "Benjamin Linus's daughter."

Which, methinks, was probably all part of the puppet master's plan. Again.

So, we've got another five weeks to wait until more "Lost" goodness because the writer's strike delayed production on the hsow for nearly three months. Were those internet residuals really worth making us wait that long for "Lost?"