Whatever Happened, Happened. True story.

This episode of LOST starts off with Kate going to visit Cassidy, Sawyer's girlfriend. We find out what Sawyer told Kate right before he jumped off the helicopter: to take care of Clementine, his daughter. We also find out what happens to Aaron while Kate is on the island: she gives him back to Carole Littleton, Claire's mother. During the course of these events, Kate reveals to both Carole and Cassidy that there are other survivors still on the island, and that she's going back to find them.

• We now know Kate's reason for going back: to find Claire. (Or so she says...) But what about her revelations? Non-Losties now know the truth about what happened on the island. What will happen now that the secret is out?

On the island, shit is a mess after the DHARMA van drives itself into a barrack. Sawyer tells Miles to gather Kate, Jack and Hurley to keep them safe. Jack asks if they're under house arrest, and Miles answers, "No, you're free to leave...but I'll shoot you in the leg." When Juliet can't fix Ben's gunshot wound and asks Jack for help, Jack refuses. Kate gets upset and asks him what he's doing, to which Jack replies, "Making some sandwiches." When Kate presses him further, Jack argues that helping Ben won't change the outcome of anything. He also tells her that he's already saved Ben once, and he did it for her.

• Ouch. I have to admit, I would have done the same thing in this situation. Here I am, back in 1977, being told repeatedly that nothing I do can change the future. So why bother helping the bastard who tries to kill me in thirty years?

The scene where Miles tries to explain time travel to Hurley and then calls him a dingbat is my favorite scene of the episode. Part of me thinks that the writers included this scene to try and explain this time travel business to those who don't stalk Lostpedia. And it actually made sense. Sort of. The scene ends with Hurley posing the question, "But when we first captured Ben and Sayid tortured him, then why wouldn't he remember being shot by that same guy when he was a kid?" Hmm....

Frustrated that Jack won't help young Ben, Kate decides to take him to the one other person on the island who can help him: Richard Alpert. Sawyer catches up with his beloved Freckles and helps her carry Ben into Hostile/Other territory. When they encounter Richard, he explains that if he takes Ben, Ben will not remember any of this, will lose his innocence, and will "always be one of us."

• This would explain why Ben doesn't remember being shot by the same man who tortured him. And it turns out that Kate and Sawyer help Ben become the sick, twisted man he is today. How about that.
  

One of the Others tries to stop Richard from taking Ben, saying that Ellie and Charles won't be happy. We see Richard carry Ben into The Temple.

• The same Temple where the Smoke Monster "ate" Montand, one of Rousseau's men. The same Temple that turned the rest of her crew wonky. The same Temple where Jin tried to save them. Might this explain why Danielle Rousseau and Jin don't recognize each other in 2004 Island time, even though they met in 1988? This Temple seems to be a place that Richard frequents quite often. Might it also be the reason why Richard doesn't recognize Sawyer or Juliet or any of the other Losties? Methinks this Temple has some sort of mind-erasing capability.
  

The episode ends with present-day Ben waking up in the Hydra to find Locke watching over him. When Ben sees Locke, Locke says, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

• The look on Mr. Linus' face: priceless.
  

Thoughts? Flaws in my Temple theory? Theories of your own? LOST makes my brain parts hurt...