"Lost" recap: Aaron has two mommies

WARNING: Don't continue unless you want spoilers on this week's "Lost."

This week's "Lost" wasn't quite as brain-bruising as last week's premiere, but it did give us a lot of food for thought. We had torture, attempted poisoning, gunfire and the makings of the world's weirdest female buddy comedy ("She's Aaron's mom...and so is she!").

Once again, I'll be breaking this episode down in two parts: the on-island timeline and the off-island timeline. Let's start with on-island.

On-Island

We start this episode where last week's left off, with Sayid awakening from his death coma and the Temple transplants staring at him, gobsmacked. His resurrection seems to delight everyone, save a select few. Lennon, the Temple lieutenant, for one, seems totally freaked and rushes to tell his boss that "he's alive." Ummm...does he mean that Sayid's alive? Or someone else? I know a lot of people think Jacob has posessed Sayid, and Lennon's freak-out does seem to give that theory weight. The Temple boss, Dogen, also seems thrown. If these guys seem horrified, Sawyer is just plain angry. After all, Sayid "an Iraqi torturer who shoots kids" was given a second shot at life, and his beloved Juliet was not. Sawyer resolves to leave, and manages to make good on that threat.

Meanwhile, Dogen calls Sayid in for questioning. Jack tries to stop it, but is overruled. Shortly thereafter, we see Sayid strapped down in the Dogen's office, looking not unlike James Caan in "Misery." He even pleads "Whatever you're thinking of doing..." much the way Caan did when attempting to keep Kathy Bates from smashing his legs to bits. Alas, Sayid is equally unsuccessful, and Dogen shocks him and burns him with a hot poker. It's a test, Lennon said. And Sayid passed! Well, not really. Dogen is soon hard at work crafting a poison pill. He tries to use Jack's savior complex and guilt to persuade the Doc into getting Sayid to take the pill. Jack won't do it. He asks Dogen what's in the pill. He gets no answer. The boss tells Jack to trust him. Jack then utters a line that breaks my heart: "I don't even trust myself."

Sigh. Between that and last week's revelation that Locke's last thought was "I don't understand," this show is KILLING me!

Jack, in an attempt to get the truth, swallows the pill. Wow. I know everyone hates on Jack, but that was pretty badass. Dogen Heimlichs Jack, dislodging the pill, and admits it was poison. Sayid has been "claimed," Lennon later explains. There's a darkness inside him that's spreading and could take him over if something isn't done. Jack asks how they know this. Dogen replies that this is what happened to Jack's sister. Wait? Claire? Is Claire infected with something?

Meanwhile, Kate, despite Sawyer's strict admonishment not to, goes off into the jungle to look for him. Sigh. Kate is such a pain. Two of the temple-ites go with her...including Aldo! Welcome back, Rob McElhenny! Jin also goes, to protect her. Turns out, though, that Kate isn't going on a search. It's an escape. She clocks Aldo and his sidekick, Justin, and runs off. Jin stays behind. Eventually, Kate finds Sawyer at the house he shared with Juliet. He later reveals that he was going to ask Juliet to marry him before she died. Kate tries to take the blame for Juliet's death, but Sawyer won't hear it. It's his fault, he says, for convincing Juliet to stay in Dharmaville. Kate, meanwhile, reveals her reason for returning to the island. She wants to find Claire and reunite her with Aaron.

During their heart-breaking exchange, Jin is wandering the jungle, when Aldo and Justin resurface. Aldo wants to take Jin out but, before he does, he's shot by ... Claire. Who looks remarkably like Rousseau. And who may or may not have been setting traps in the jungle. Wait so...is Claire possessed by Rousseau? Is that what happened? WHAT IS GOING ON?

Off-Island

In the non-Swan, non-crash timeline, we, again, pick up where we left off, with a handcuffed, gun-wielding Kate jamming herself into a cab with Claire. The driver bails, leaving Kate to drive. Kate goes a short way, then boots Claire out -- without her suitcase. Kate goes to an autoshop to remove her 'cuffs, and the owner of the shop is both helpful and strangely incurious when Kate says she's wanted for murder. He must get a lot of escaped cons at his shop. Kate goes to change, foraging in Claire's bag for clothes. What she finds is a photo of pregnant Claire, some onesies and a stuffed whale. Kate softens and tracks Claire down. Kate learns Claire was planning to give her baby up to a couple in L.A., and offers to drive her in the stolen cab. Upon arriving at the house, Claire learns the couple has split, and the wife no longer wants her baby. Of course, Claire then goes into labor on the spot. Kate takes her to the hospital, where her doctor is...Ethan? Oh my God, really? I can't remember -- were the Goodspeeds on island when Juliet detonated the bomb? I thought they were. How is he still alive?

ARRRRGH!!!
Anyway, Claire tells Ethan that she's not ready to have the baby, and he delays the labor. Before he does his work, the baby's heart seems to stop, and Claire screams out, calling the baby Aaron. The baby is fine, but Claire still wants to delay delivery. Shortly thereafter, the FBI comes looking for Kate, and Claire pretends she left. Kate thanks Claire, and tells her she should keep the baby. Presumably because Kate doesn't know there's this other reality in which Claire is apparently possessed by a deranged Frenchwoman.

Here are some more thoughts on "What Kate Does."

* Look, I love Rob McElhenny and all, but it's still jarring to see the creator and co-star of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" pop up on the island. I kept expecting him to bust out some lame karate moves and engage in some latently homoerotic male bonding.

* The look on Kate's face when Claire calls her baby Aaron is devastating. It's almost as if she recalls the name and remembers that she was, for a short time, Aaron's mom. Very nice work by Evangeline Lilly.

* While Hurley seems to fully accept that Sayid is back from the dead, Miles still seems skeptical and starts quizzing Sayid about his brush with death. Clearly, Miles heard (or didn't hear) something that gave him pause. But what?

* My husband pointed this out -- the home of Aaron's almost-family kind of resembles one of the New Otherton huts.

* In the hospital, Kate asks Claire if she'd believe that Kate is innocent. Claire says yes. So is Kate innocent? We clearly saw her kill her dad in the original timeline. But what about this one? Did the destruction of the Swan site affect her actions?

* At the hospital, Kate gives her name as "Joan Hart." Well, it's mildly less conspicuous than Melissa Joan Hart.

* Was Kate really looking for clothes in Claire's bag? Pregnancy aside, I doubt Claire and Kate are the same size. Kate's so much taller.

* Seriously, what is the deal with Ethan?