I wasn’t expecting anything to come of it the second time around, but it kind of disappointed me that nothing was done with the concept of our Losties being in two teams. Team Jacob is this sad lonely little team with a dead figurehead, consisting of an interesting collection of original Losties, former Others, Freighter folk, and an Ajira Survivor. Team Man in Black has an imposing leader, strength in numbers, and most of the original characters, some there of their own free will, some out to play both sides for their own gain. That plus Widmore’s presence, and it feels like there’s a big conflict brewing.

Turns out, these groups aren’t opposed so much as divided. The set-up seemed to be there for something to happen, but it doesn’t really pan out. Instead, the momentum after Sundown is kind of squandered. But while Dr. Linus was low key but a great character study, Recon is just… low key.

Most of the island story is concerned with Sawyer doing a little recon (Oh, Re-Con! I get it!) over at Hydra Island. There are a handful of interesting discoveries. Another group of extras (the Ajira folk) have been wiped out, there’s some filthy, bespectacled, lady who manages to lure Sawyer into a trap (I kept waiting for the moment in which Zoe appear all cleaned up in the Afterlife, some sort of Hot Librarian type moment, but alas). And Sawyer is brought before Widmore, where he begins to pit him and Flocke against each other. I forget who suggested that removing Dr. Linus’s last scene would have both strengthened that episode and made this one all the more surprising, but I agree.

“…Eleven graves a diggin’…”

Dr. Linus kicks off two trends that last through Happily Ever After, one positive, one negative. The positive: there are a number of strong episodes that intensely focus on one character ahead of us. The negative, the momentum of the overall plot comes to a crawl for a little while, aside from the arrival of Widmore and Desmond. Still, Dr. Linus works really well as a character study, especially since it’s the culmination of the great Benjamin Linus arc that was set in motion during The Shape of Things to Come.

It’s mostly an episode about Ben as the fallen emperor, adjusting to not being in charge, trying to forge relationships with the likes of Miles and Frank (who gets more than two lines). But Ilana has discovered that Ben was responsible for killing Jacob, and demands that he dig his own grave, so the journey is an uphill one, to say the least.

Meanwhile, there’s a good subplot with Richard nearly killing himself in the Black Rock. I enjoyed Cool Richard in Seasons 3-5, but it’s great to see him start to become an actual character. Even better is Jack’s crazy confidence that the island has a plan and won’t let him die.