Miles can't get a read on Sayid's body

At the temple, Hurley leans over Sayid's body to tell him that if he ever wants to talk, he's around. Miles, who is sitting on the other side of Sayid's body, looks puzzled. Clearly, he can't get a read on Sayid's body like he normally can with others. This is the point it became clear that Sayid is not dead.

The smoke monster/Locke wants to go home

At the four-toed statue, Locke/smoke monster is moving bodies around the room. I guess he wants it to be a little neater before he leaves.

Ben is staring at him and asks "What are you?" Locke says that he's "a who" not "a what." When Ben says that he's the monster, Locke says "Let's not resort to name calling."

Smokey Locke then tells him that the last thing that John Locke thought as Ben was choking him was "I don't understand." He said that Locke was irreparably broken, but he was admirable because he's the only person who didn't want to leave the island.

Ben then asks Smokey Locke what it is he wants, and Smokey says that he wants to go home. Where exactly is home for the smoke monster? Is/was he human at some point and brought or came to the island? The questions are seemingly endless here.

Hurley tells Dogen Jacob is dead, temple goes into lockdown + Zach & Emma

Back at the temple, we see Zach and Emma, the tail section kids, for the first time since the season 3 episode "The Brig." They come to bring food and water to the survivors at Cindy's behest. Behind them, an unconscious Sawyer is dragged into the room with Miles pushed in behind him. Miles says that they were jumped in the jungle and Saywer took out four others/natives before he was knocked out with a rock.

Hurley is summoned to Dogen's office/greenhouse for a talk. Dogen, thru Lennon, asks what Jacob told him and asks when Jacob is coming to the temple. Hurley tells them that Jacob is dead, causing Dogen to look panicked and angry.

An alarm is sounded and Dogen orders the others/natives to their posts and to prepare the ash around the walls. He says "Defense to the east wall!" and "Ten men to north side!" Some others/natives set up a platform and shoot off a rocket flare.

They seem to be incredibly panicked about what is likely coming to the temple. Have they had to prepare for this before or is this the first battle they've faced?

Kate hijacks Claire's taxi, Arzt glares at Sayid

A LAX, we see Sayid again staring at the photo of Nadia while waiting for his bags. Leslie Arzt is giving him a suspicious, almost creepy stare.

Meanwhile, Kate is plotting her escape from the airport. She makes her way through a secure door by watching an employee type in the access code. As she makes her way to the taxi stand, Neil Frogurt stops her and makes her get in line. She gets behind Hurley who is complaining about using the term Outback, presumably for his restaurant, Mr. Clucks.

Kate then notices the Marshall Edward Mars talking to police officers when they both catch each other's eye. He comes after her but she makes a break for it by hi-jacking a cab. The cab driver is played by David H. Lawrence XVII who plays Eric Doyle on Heroes. Kate pulls a gun on him and then discovers the passenger in the back of the cab is none other than Claire Littleton.

Translation of the red rug Locke cuts in "LA X"

A writer who goes by the name of "KeepingPace" at TheSanatorium.com unearthed this excellent shot of the red rug we see Locke/Smokey cut in the episode "LA X." This shot wasn't in the episode, but it is clearly after he cuts it because the corner is missing (see that here).

This seems to be the antithesis of Jacob's tapestry. The words on it are in Greek and are from the Iliad, attributed to Homer. They are:

Line 1:
νῦν τοι ἐελδέσθω πόλεμος κακός
“Now you must embrace this evil war”

Line 2:
ῥέε δ᾽ αἵματι γαῖα
“the ground ran with blood”

Line 3:
θανάτου δὲ μέλαν νέφος ἀμφεκάλυψεν
“then death’s black cloud enveloped”

The images on the rug also are much darker, featuring slaves and some violent images including what appears to be some kind of monster with multiple arms killing men. It's really interesting. I also wonder why this rug was in there with Jacob. Did he make that one too?

Check out screens of Jacob's tapestry and translation here. Check out more specific analysis of the red rug here.

The water in temple spring is brown, Sayid dies after dunking

Dogen leads the surviors through the temple where we can see a few natives/others working the the grounds. They are then led to the interior where the spring is located. Hieroglyphics are visible on the pillars of the room.

As they enter, Lennon notes that the water isn't clear and asks what happened. Dogen says that he doesn't know and proceeds to the steps of the spring, cuts his hand with a knife and submerges it in the water for a few seconds. He pulls it out and it hasn't healed. He then tells them that there will be risks if they heal Sayid and Jack, continuing his new trust fate kick, immediately agrees that they should proceed.

A few of the men remove Sayid's coveralls and proceed to carry him into the spring. They submerge him once Dogen has started an hourglass which appears to be filled with a mix of dark and light sand. Sayid starts kicking fairly quickly but they keep him down until the hourglass runs out and he is no longer moving. Sayid is in a Christ-like pose as he is carried from the spring and then Dogen confirms that he is dead.

Jack then briefly tries to resuscitate Sayid (which is similar to when he saved Charlie after he was hung  by Ethan), but gives up at Kate's insistence.

So was the water not clear because Jacob is dead? What exactly is the spring and how does it work? Presumably, this is where Richard brought Ben after Sayid shot him.

Jin smuggling large amount of cash + Sun doesn't speak up

At customs at LAX, Jin is bein questioned about the watch he is brought to the country and doesn't/can't answer questions and just points at a letter from Paik Industries. The customs agent goes through his bag, and discovers a large amount of cash ($10,000 bundles). An agitated Jin is taken to another room for questioning, while Sun is to be taken to a waiting room. The female agent asks her is she speaks English, but she says no.

So, in this timeline, does Sun know English and just doesn't want to reveal it, or did she never learn English? Also, was the cash a part of Jin's original plan for Sun and he to start a new life in America?

The temple is revealed + meet Dogen & Lennon + Cindy returns

As the survivors are brought out from the pathway under the temple wall, we finally get our first look at the temple itself. It's a large, tiered structure shaped somewhat like a pyramid.

The "temple master" Dogen, his translator Lennon and Cindy Chandler, the flight attendant from Oceanic 815 emerge from the temple. This is the first time we've seen her on the island since the season 3 episode "The Brig" (check out screens here).

Dogen speaks Japanese, and asks the survivors who they are and Cindy steps up and identifies them as being on Oceanic 815. Dogen says to shoot them and Hurley pipes up and says that Jacob sent them and tells them that Jacob gave him the guitar case. Dogen opens it to reveal a wooden Ankh, a symbol the complete four toed statue of Taweret was holding (see screens here). Dogen bows to it and the breaks it in half, then pulling a list from the hollow chamber. He asks them all there names and then tells them to bring Sayid inside to the spring. Lennon says that the paper said that if Sayid dies, then they are all in trouble.

How many other names were on the paper, which appears to be blank in one shot?

Miles finds out Juliet's message for Sawyer, "It worked"

As Sawyer and Miles finish burying Juliet in the jungle, Sawyer reveals his true intentions for asking Miles to stay behind. He forces Miles to use his ability to find out what Juliet was about to say when she died.

It turns out her final thoughts were "It worked." Sawyer seems confused by this, but does this mean that she somehow knew about that time did change somehow, causing the new Oceanic 815 timeline that landed safely? Will we be seeing Juilet again in this timeline? We'll have to wait and see.

Kate escapes from Edward Mars at LAX, Sawyer lends a hand

At LAX, Marshall Edward Mars brings Kate through customs and we see one of the numbers, 4, at the checkpoint labeled 4F. She then convinces him to let her use the restroom and while she's inside, is up to her old tricks again. She uses the pen she swiped from Jack on the flight to try and pick the lock on the handcuffs.

She drops the pen's spring though, which Edward finds, causing her to panic and kick the stall door down.She slams his head against the counter and he ends up bleeding from practically the same spot the case hit him on the original Oceanic 815 flight.

She makes a break for it ending up on an elevator with Sawyer who notices the handcuffs, but helps her evade two TSA officials who join them on the elevator.

Another interesting thing to note is that Kate leaves the Halliburton case she wanted so badly in season 1 in the restroom next to the Marshall's body. You'd think if it was still important to her in this timeline, she would have grabbed it.

The losties make their way under the temple wall, taken by the natives/others

Hurley, Kate, Jack, Jin and Sayid (on a stretcher) make their way to the temple wall where they head through the same hole that Ben and Locke go through in season 5.

The first thing they find is the remains of Montand and Hurley is concerned about his missing arm which Jin explains. He was carrying a pack with the book Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard. They come across the hole where Ben fell and saw the smoke monster (check out screens here, here, here & here).

Kate being Kate, crosses first and wanders ahead, causing Jack to chase after her. Jack hears the Hurley and Jin taken by the natives/others and then he himself is knocked out by them and dragged to the exit. The best part is when you see one guy scurry behind Jack before they catch him. Check out the screens below.

Stay peeled for our first glorious view of the temple itself in an upcoming post.

Oceanic loses Christian Shephard's coffin

After Oceanic 815 lands, Jack is called to the courtesy desk where he is told that his "cargo," Christian Shephard's coffin, is not in Los Angeles and the airline doesn't know where exactly in currently is. This will likely be a huge plotline in Jack's new timeline.

So, where the hell is Christian and what will Jack end up doing to find him?

Oceanic 815 lands at LAX + Charlie taken by police

Back on Oceanic 815, Charlie has been restrained and as he passes Jack he says "Should'a let that happen man, I was supposed to die." That sounds ominously like season 3.

When Jack returns to his seat, Desmond is gone and he asks Rose where he went and she says that she and Bernard were asleep.

Everyone prepares for the landing, each with different looks on their face. Sawyer and Hurley look fairly indifferent, Sayid looks at his photo of Nadia and seems eager to find her, Jin gazes at the Rolex watch he's supposed to deliver while Sun shows no emotion, Kate looks terrified and Jack looks pleased, yet surprised.

Charlie is first off and is escorted by two policemen. Edward Mars removes the infamous case which cracked him in the head on the first flight 815.

Boone says goodbye to Locke who seems happy like he was earlier. We then see that sad, miserable look fall across his face. Jack and he share a similar look as we saw at the start of the first flight 815. Locke forces a smile while Jack looks a bit dazed. We then see Locke lifted onto the chair and he is wheel off the plane. The look of sheer misery on his face is that of the Locke we've come to know, so was he lying about actually going on the walkabout to seem less pathetic than his life was/is or did his past actually change like it seems it did for other passengers?

Sawyer and Juliet's final moments at the Swan

After Sawyer gets into the Swan wreckage, he finds a barely conscious Juliet. Her state of mind is okay at first as she asks where they are and says that it didn't work because they're still on the island. She tells Sawyer that she hit the bomb so he could go home.

Then, her state of mind starts slip, a bit like when Charlotte was about to die. She says "We can get coffee some time. We can go Dutch." She then asks Sawyer to kiss her and he does. She then says that she has something very important to tell him, but loses consciousness and dies before she can tell him the important thing.

As Sawyer emerges from the wreckage carrying Juliet's body, he looks at Jack and says "You did this."

Was Juliet's mind in another time or timeline when she was approaching death?