LOSTBLOG -- "Whatever Happened, Happened"

And what happened was that Kate Austen betrayed the Oceanic Six by telling the truth about the island to two women she barely knows. Not that I can blame her, seeing as we still don't quite know why Jack -- or Ben, for that matter -- insisted they return, and all that lying sure didn't seem to help. Jack claims he felt he was supposed to come back to the island, but is that him or John Locke talking? I think Jack came back because, deep down, he knows his father is somewhere in that jungle.

At least Kate gave herself a good reason to return in tonight's episode: she's going to rescue Claire from her cabin fever. There can be no doubt that Claire (and, of course, Emilie de Ravin) will be returning to the show, possibly in the season finale, but certainly in Season 6.

Last week we got a true rarity, a good Sayid episode. This week we got a good Kate episode. Will wonders never cease? (What's next, a good Boone and Shannon episode?) Evangeline Lilly gave a great performance, maybe her best since "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" way back in Season 1. She was helped by Michael Giacchino, who gave us another one of those beautiful, building melodies over the climactic flashback. Good stuff.

What wasn't so good was the conversation between Sawyer and Richard, in which Alpert says Little Ben will "forget this ever happened," presumably referring to the events of the last two episodes. I was very intrigued by the thought of Big Ben's fixation with Juliet stemming from her operating on him in DHARMAville, as well as the idea that Ben knew who Sayid was when they first met in Season 2. (I guess Hugo and Miles kinda axed that theory with their "Back to the Future" conversation.)

Later we see Richard taking Little Ben into the temple, presumably for a date with Smokey, who will apparently rob Ben of his innocence and make him an Other for life. Whatever. Aren't we a little late into the game to still be spouting mumbo-jumbo like this? Can't anybody on this show just say exactly what the hell's going on? (Ah, but then why would we watch next week?)

But you might have missed one of the episode's biggest revelations from that sequence: Charles Widmore is apparently the leader of the Others in 1977. And now Little Ben is coming to camp.

As for the rest of our friends ... could Jack Shephard be any more annoying? I wonder what the post-read phone call between Matthew Fox and Damon Lindelof sounded like ...

Matthew: Yeah, Damon, it's Foxy. Look, I read the new script, and my character is still a cryptic, unlikable, whiny little douche.

Damon: It's all part of the plan, man. Just stick with us, we know what we're doing.

Matthew: You do know that I'm the star of this show, right? That I'm supposedly the hero, right? Would a hero let a little kid die on an operating table?

Damon: Don't worry, your big pay-off is coming, we swear.

Matthew: I sure hope so, because it seems like everyone has hated me ever since that episode where Bai Ling gave me a tattoo.

Damon: Oh come on, they hated you waaaay before that.

Matthew: Excuse me?

Damon: Sorry Matt, gotta run. Emerson and O'Quinn are here. Live long and prosper!

No, really, I did like this episode. I just feel like we've come to a crawl after the parade of shocking moments we got to start the season. This detour to DHARMAville with the Oceanic Six proves how much this show needs Terry O'Quinn, who tonight made his first appearance since "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." (And what an appearance it was.) We're also feeling the absence of Desmond, who must show up whenever we get our Benjamin Linus flashback episode. But more than anything, I want a Hatch-centric episode; it has to be coming, right? Radzinsky wouldn't make such a big deal out of it if it wasn't, right?

* * *

Best scene: Hugo acts as the audience and asks Miles how this show's time travel works.

Best performance: Evangeline Lilly, mostly for that last scene in the hotel room.

Best line: John Locke: "Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living."