LaFleur

Do you think my mother will ever watch Lost with me again? The first week of Lost after I return home, and it's all about Sawyer. If I were her, I wouldn't watch Lost with me either.

And what an episode it was! Josh Holloway has really grown as an actor, making Sawyer one of the most compelling characters on a drama full of characters. The con man conned his way into the Dharma Initiative, and before he knows it, he is an upstanding member of the Initiative. So much so, that he's chief of security and arranges with Miles to keep Horace's alcoholic indiscretions "on the down low". How did that happen?

Well, I don't know if or when we'll find out. But it all makes sense. Locke disappears, leaving the Left Behinders with two more skips in time - some ancient time when the four-toed statue was intact, and then to 1974. Sawyer is clearly trying to keep it together, and takes on a leader role, a move which Juliet clearly supports. His moral compass remains in tune, leading to the rescue of Amy from the Hostiles, and their eventual capture by the Dharma Initiative. He figures out just the right thing to tell Richard Alpert to prevent the end of the truce between the Initiative and the Hostiles. He's still the con man though, deciding that lies would be safer than the truth. So, Jim LeFleur was born (apparently LaFleur is a common Creole name).

As for Sawyer and Kate, this one hour made me now root for Juliet, who's been second to Kate before. What a sweet couple Sawyer and Juliet made! He talked her into doctoring Amy, even though she's not had any successful birthing experiences on the island. She made him dinner, but more importantly, she supported him, in a way I don't think I've ever seen Kate do (for Jack or Sawyer). Juliet had his back, even if she didn't like his decision. What a great partner! I don't want to see her pine for Jack and I certainly don't want to see Sawyer pine for Kate. But, I doubt that wish will be granted.

That said, Sawyer's face when he saw Kate was exactly what I had hoped to see all those episodes ago in The Little Prince. Despite his assertion to Horace that he couldn't even remember what Kate looked like, the moment he saw her, he looked like a man in a desert eyeing a cold glass of water. Kate, what have you done to deserve this?

Other random thoughts:

• Pay attention to all the Egyptian symbols in this season. We've seen hieroglyphs before, and now an ankh and a statue that looks like Anubis, the Egyptian god with a jackal head, associated with mummification and the afterlife. Remember when Jin, Sun, and Sayid saw the four-toed statue?
• Remember Horace Goodspeed? We met him in the early 1960s, when he met Roger Linus after Ben was born and as Emily died. Horace then encouraged Roger to join the Dharma Initiative. Horace, of course, was killed in the Purge of 1992. He also showed up in one of Locke's dreams, telling Locke that he needed to find his body for what eventually turned out to be blue prints for Jacob's cabin.
• I want to throw dynamite at trees. It looks so entertaining.
• Pretty cool to see the con man at work. Haven't seen that in a while.
• Charlotte's body did not skip in time with the other Left Behinders. I nearly cried watching Daniel's devastation. He clearly loved Charlotte. He repeated, "I won't tell her. I won't do it." Does he mean that he plans to not tell Charlotte to stay away from the island? And I wasn't sure whether to be touched or freaked out when he stared at the red-headed girl. Yes, I'm sure she's Charlotte.
• Did you notice we never saw Daniel in 1977?
• Daniel releases the Left Behinders to act: "Whatever happened happened."
• I wonder if my mother likes Sawyer without a beard?
• I was so happy to see Juliet successfully deliver Amy's baby.
• Jin's English is much better.
• There were a number of scenes that just got to me, including Daniel mourning Charlotte, the guards' obvious fear at waking LaFleur/Sawyer, Juliet's recognition of Richard Alpert, Sawyer's conversation with Richard Alpert, Sawyer convincing Juliet to deliver Amy's baby, Sawyer giving Juliet a rose, seeing Juliet and Sawyer spooning in bed, and Sawyer greedily eating up Kate with his eyes.
• How long will we keep looking? As long as it takes.

I finally feel like we're back where we seemed to be heading when the season first started. "316" and "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" were excellent shows, but, as I commented before, I felt like we were in a holding pattern. But that's okay, they're back.

Except for one thing - no new Lost next week?