Peggy Hailey (the one not in italics) and Mark Finn (the one who is) try to understand the latest episode of Lost. Bear with them.

I have a dream. It's not a big dream. It's just a little dream that goes something like this: Kate blathers at gun-wielding Claire about Aaron and "I'm sorry" and "he should have been raised by you." Claire resists, but we can see in her face that she wants to believe; that Kate's words are working. As we focus on Claire's face, the gun goes off. Kate falls.

That is SO WEIRD! I'm having the same dream! Did we meet in another life? See what I did there?

Sigh.

I know. She can't die fast enough.

Question number one: Was UnLocke telling the truth about being Christian, or was he yanking Jack's chain? I would wonder if he was hiding the presence of some other supernatural being, but since the two (if there were two) were clearly in cahoots, that wouldn't make sense. But if he was Smokey, how did he appear to Jack back on the mainland (and how did Claire appear to Kate?)? Who the hell was that? If he was telling the truth, then this is the latest in a long string of exceedingly disappointing "answers."

Locke was telling the truth about being Jack's Dad, yes. As for the off-island appearances, there are three explanations.

(1). It was Jacob, not Esau, and thanks very much for telling us that he can shape shift, too. (2). Esau can manifest himself using some part of the island. Maybe the lighthouse. Maybe something else. Dunno. (3). Those two were guilt manifestations, which would suck and blow at the same time. I know who shot J.R., if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

Confirmation that all may not be lost with Sayid (if anyone was ripe for a "Dying Vader-Destroys the Emperor Before Kicking Off moment, it's him. Yay to Des for using logic on the character most likely to be swayed by it. The question of whether Des is dead doesn't even need to be discussed.

That was pretty cool. We're pretty good on the whole "Desmond just became the literal Deus Ex Machina" thing. I know some folks will be shocked when he turns up in the two hour finale, but we can just be smug about it now.

If Sayid can be redeemed, what about Locke? I don't know how they'd manage it, but I would pay money to see Terry O'Quinn fighting himself, Locke vs. unLocke.

Nope. I think Locke as we know him is gone, daddy, gone. Ben killed him, and off-island, at that. I think the soliloquy about Locke was appropriate, in that it is a certain kind of truth. Now it's up to UnLocke to fix things.

Yay for finally Jin and Sun getting together! I was yelling "Turn those danged pylons off!", expecting their reunion to end poorly. It's cute that seeing Jin cured Sun's aphasia and all, but it makes the whole aphasia plotline pointless. If you make it so no one can understand one of your characters, then by the gods give them crucial information they can't communicate to everybody else. Otherwise, it's another ploy by the writers to make Jack look good. He's doing just fine with that this season. We don't need to be beaten over the head with it.

I was holding my breath when they were running toward one another, and a sick sad part of me wanted the field to still be on. Because that would have been so satisfying, story-wise. The aphasia thing was pointless, and I'd go so far as to call it the first stumbling block of this season.

Nice screen time for Sun, but ultimately it was Go Nowhere Do Nothing plotting.

As much as I love Desmond, alt-Des stalking alt-Claire was creepy. We know he only has her best interests at heart, but she doesn't, and "naive" shaded over into "stupid" there. It was nice to see un-blowed-up Ilana again, though.

It was borderline stupidity. Desmond is pretty likeable, though. It was a nice way to keep Ilana relevant. I really liked seeing Alt-Jack with his kid. Notice the increasing similarities between this Jack and that Jack.

Someone's been reading our conversations. It's the only thing that makes sense.

Once again, we question Widmore. It's not really a surprise that he double-crossed Sawyer, but I still can't get a handle on why. He talks about the larger themes of good/evil, dark/light, but he doesn't act on them in any rational way.

Does he believe that only he can contain Smokey? Is there some kind of power in ruling the island? Now that he's given up his son and his daughter to this crazy island is he unable to let it go and admit he was wrong all of these years? Is he doing the right thing and being all Lost-y in neglecting to explain himself?

Everyone is telling people what Widmore will do once he gets control of the island. But no one has asked him directly. The same thing with Unlocke. He says, he just wants to go home. They say he'll destroy everything. Those two statements aren't contradictory. And unLocke answered everyone truthfully to date.

But no one is bothering to ask Widmore what his real agenda is.

What if Widmore represented that moral compass by any means necessary worldview. What if Widmore is trying to kill the devil, so to speak? The thinking being, if UnLocke is dead or contained, there's less evil in the world, and so you're welcome, planet.

But to do that, he's got to break a few eggs to get to his omelet. I don't think that's it, strictly, but I am willing to bet that there's a turn coming in his character that casts all of his actions in a different light.

Will any reference be made to Ben and Richard again until the plane goes "Boom"?

I'm thinking No.

So Jack is the island's last recruit. The cork. Does unLocke really believe Jack's on his side? Jack came back because he didn't want to leave the island. UnLocke wants very badly to leave the island. What's his thought-process here? Does UnLocke know Sayid was lying about Des? Why can't he sense that spark of not-dark in Sayid? Does he have a plan?

Was Sawyer's betrayal part of it? If so, he has to know Sayid's not fully gone. If not, he's a crappy judge of character.

Now that he's removed the cork up his ass, he's free to use it on the island. I don't think UnLocke has factored in Jack's change. This is because for five seasons, Jack has wanted off the island. He wanted it so bad, and everyone knows it, and so UnLocke is taking it for granted.

UnLocke does have a plan for Sayid, but not for Jack. That's the set- up. At least, it is until we watch the next episode and everything changes again.

They keep mentioning people will start dropping like flies, yet they keep not dropping. Guesses on who will or won't survive the whole thing:

Sayid, I'm sorry to say, is a goner, but he will redeem himself before shuffling off this mortal coil. Widmore will go, too, but I still don't know if it will be a "take that, you dastardly villain!" death or an "oh my God, he was the good guy!" death.

Sawyer might well elect to sacrifice himself, but I think he will survive. Kate will survive because the writers hate me.

Claire will not survive, so that Kate will get to keep Aaron. Sun and Jin are goners, but I hope I'm wrong.

My biggest prediction: Hurley will die (but if you strike me down, I shall only become more powerful).

Sayid and Kate are goners. Hurley will definitely die. And they will kill one of them: Sun, probably, but not Jin. Mean, ain't it?

I think Locke and Jack will be the last two on the island. They will become the new Jacob and Esau. That's my prediction.

The flash-sideways is the happy ending -- for everyone. Or as happy as they can be. Rose accepting her cancer, for example. So, if there's a happy ending out there, then everyone is killed off except for the two people that have to stay on the island. And thus the cycle begins anew.