"Whatever Happened, Happened"

May I first start off by saying Jack is an idiot. If he had just saved little Ben's life, Ben would not have been evil and all would have been right with the world, but nooooo, Jack is way to arrogant and stuck up to save the life of an innocent child. Let's look at it like this: had Jack saved Ben he would have remembered being shot and almost killed by a "Hostile" and saved by a "Janitor" named Jack Shepherd. Had this happened a)if the Purge happened Ben would have been killed in it and Widmore would still be on the Island leading the Others which could be good or bad, but would most certainly have altered the course of the lives of the 815 survivors, b)if the Purge didn't happen or perhaps Ben survived the purge he probably would have been much kinder to (and slightly confused) to Jack and company when they showed up on the Island the second time AND he would most likely harbour a horrible hatred of the Others/Hostiles, and c)who knows what sort of drastic differences to the plot of Lost would have been created.

Last night's episode was absolutely magnificent. Finally we know a)what happened to Aaron, b)why Kate came back to the Island, and c)what happened between Kate and Cassidy regarding Sawyer and Clementine (I still wonder if Kevin ever tried to contact Kate after the crash though). I had al lightbulb moment while watching last night about how the Oceanic 4 and friends will get back to the future, Widmore told Locke that Ben took over as leader of the Others and exiled Widmore back to civilization. In order to get back to civilzation Widmore was forced to turn the wheel which would have moved the Island (or certain people on the Island, through time (this is also might be the "Incident" mentioned in the Swan Station Orientation video), 30 years into the future perhaps. Anywho last night's episode was further evidence that neither I nor Aaron is anywhere close to winning the bet we have going due to the fact(s) that Kate and Jack had a major falling out and Sawyer told Kate that they never would have worked out because he wasn't "fit to be her boyfriend" (however he did call her Freckles for the first time in three years, but then again he also told her to shut up and scram).

Once again I'm going to break down the episode in (what I hope is) an easy to follow manner that simply highlights the key events/things you will probably need to know and understand in order to follow future episodes:

1977:

• Ben survived Sayid shooting him and was brought back to New Otherton by Jin.
• Kate met Ben's dad Roger Linus and the two had a friendly talk about being made greese monkies and janitors by the Dharma people.
• Horace caught Sawyer and Kate in the end of an argument (Kate wanted to know what was going on w/Ben and Sayid, Sawyer didn't want her to draw attention to herself) which could have (but didn't as far as we know because the two managed to make up a semi-convincing cover story about Sawyer asking Kate if she saw anything suspicious) blown their cover.
• Sawyer and Horace determined that Sayid had been busted out by somebody with access to Janitor's keys.
• Upon going to the infirmary to check on Juliet's progress with Ben, Sawyer met Roger and asked him for his keys, when Roger went to his pocket where his keys normally resided they weren't there informing both Sawyer and Roger that Ben was the person who helped Sayid escape.
• Sawyer put Jack, Kate and Hurley under House Arrest via Miles to keep them out of the way.
• Juliet (not actually being a surgeon) could not fix Ben's injuries and thus asked Sawyer to ask Jack for help.
• Jack being the arrogant bastard he is refused to save the dying child.
• Hurley and Miles had a confusing and amusing argument about the past (1977) being their present and since whatever happened, happened they cannot possibly change the outcome.
• Kate had a falling out with Jack about him refusing to help Ben and how she didn't like the new Jack who just sat around and did nothing to which he rebutted that he had already saved Ben once for her (and apparently he didn't plan on doing it again) and that she didn't like the old Jack to which Kate responded by storming out of the house and slamming the door behind her (so much for house arrest).
• Kate (who must be O-neg) gave blood to help sustain Ben's life. Whilst giving blood she had a nice conversation with Roger about parenthood.
• Ben went into hypoxic shock and Juliet didn't know what else to do so she and Kate decided that Ben's only hope rested with the Others/Hostiles.
• Kate took Ben in a Dharma bus to the sonic fence on her way to take him to the Hostiles.
• Juliet sent Sawyer after her to help her with her mission.
• Sawyer shut the fence off and carried Ben into the jungle on the other side with Kate.
• The two had an interesting conversation about their relationship, Cassidy, and Clementine.
• The Hostiles arrived and informed Sawyer and Kate that they were in violation of the Truce.
• Sawyer asked them to take Kate, Ben and himself to Richard in order to save Ben's life, the Hostiles complied.
• Richard greeted Sawyer genially and asked who Kate was.
• Richard agreed to save Ben, but warned Sawyer and Kate that if he did this his innocence would be gone and he would forever be one of them (an Other/Hostile).
• Kate and Sawyer agreed to the consequences and apparently headed back to New Otherton...L O S T
  

Present (On Alcatraz):

• Ben woke up with Locke next to him.
• Locke welcomed Ben back to the land of the living (for now)...L O S T

Flashbacks:

• Kate went to visit Cassidy right after getting back to civilization spilling the beans about what really happened on the Island and giving her the settlement money she got from Oceanic as Sawyer's restitution.
• Cassidy figured out that Kate was lying about Aaron and asks her why even though she told her all about what really happened on the Island she still lied about who Aaron was. Kate replies that she lied because she had to.
  
• Cassidy tells Kate that she thinks Sawyer is a coward and that the only reason he jumped was because he was afraid of what would happen relationship-wise if he didn't. She also shares that she thinks he is an idiot for thinking that sending Kate with a restitution of money that isn't even his and a message that he wants Clementine to be taken care of makes up for everything that he put them through. She tells Kate that she has nothing but sympathy for her and her situation.
• The Flashbacks then go to the night that Jack, Ben, Sun, Sayid, and her all met at the marina. It shows that after she drove off she went to a grocery store to get Aaron something to drink.
• While there her cell rings and upon seeing that the caller is Jack she turns the phone off and puts it away. In the short instant while she checked her phone Aaron disappeared.
• Kate frantically runs through the story asking everybody she sees if they have seen her son. She finally spots a blonde woman leading him to the check-out about to make a lost and found announcement.
• She then goes to Cassidy's house and the two discuss Kate's situation.
• Kate admits that she has always expected someone to try to take Aaron away from her and wondered why it hadn't happened yet.
• Cassidy suggests that this feeling is due to the fact that Kate "took Aaron" first.
• The flashbacks then go to the night that Kate showed up at Jack's appartment, only now she is at the hotel where Mrs. Littleton (Claire's mum) is lodging.
• Kate explains everything about Aaron to Mrs. Littleton and tells her that Aaron is in a room a few doors down waiting for her (Mrs. Littleton) when she is ready. She explains that she has told Aaron that he will be staying with her while she is away and that she is his Grandmother.
• Mrs. Littleton asks Kate where she is going and Kate tells her that she is going back to the Island to find and rescue Claire...L O S T