Widmore thinks the world of Desmond, has paintings of scale with black & white rocks

Desmond enters Charles Widmore's office in Los Angeles and is met by Widmore with a bit hug.

Once we come back, we see Desmond staring at a model sail boat on Widmore's wall, possibly having a slight memory of his boat in the original timeline. Widmore is on the phone telling someone to get Charlie arraigned and get him out of there.

Widmore tells Desmond that his son is a musician (Daniel Faraday/Widmore) who is playing his wife's (Eloise Hawking/Widmore) charity event with the band Driveshaft. He asks Desmond to keep an eye on Charlie and make sure that he makes it to the event.

Widmore tells Desmond that he has a great life because he has no family, commitments or attachments, but Desmond doesn't seem convinced that it's so great. Widmore then opens a bottle of MacCutcheon's whiskey and shares a shot with Desmond, telling him that "Nothing's too good for you."

So clearly, this entire scenario is backwards. Instead of loathing Desmond and deeming a shot of MacCutcheon's being worth more than his life, Widmore loves Desmond and says nothing is too good for him. And there's so much more to come.

Also, if you look on the wall in Widmore's office, there are two paintings of a scale with black and white rocks on either side. One has a white frame and the other is black. In both of them, the rocks on each side seem fairly balanced.

Desmond crosses paths with Hurley & Claire, Minkowski is his driver

At LAX, we see Desmond in a daze, staring at his reflection in the Oceanic flight status board. Hurley walks by him and says that the bags for 815 are at carousel 4 (one of the numbers).

At baggage claim, Desmond helps Claire with her bad since she is struggling to retrieve it. He asks her if she's having a boy or girl, and she reveals to him that she doesn't know. He offers Claire a ride but she tells him that someone is picking her up (as we know, that didn't happen). As she's walking away, Desmond tells her confidently that she's having a boy. He seems to remember this from the original timeline.

As Desmond walks further, he approaches none other than George Minkowski, who introduces himself as his driver. Desmond reveals that he wants to go straight to the office and that he was in Sydney closing a deal for the boss (Charles Widmore). Minkowski tells Desmond that if he needs anything while he's there, just let him know (it's a bit like Matthew Abbadon's offer to Locke in the season 5 episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"). Then Minkowski awkwardly offers to get Desmond a prostitute, which he quickly turns down.

Electromagnetism moves Desmond's consciousness to sideways timeline

As Simmons' charred body is taken out of the box, Widmore stops to look at him and then proceeds to have his men force Desmond inside. They hit Desmond in the face and then tie him to a chair in the center of the room between the solenoids.

Widmore tells Desmond that he should be fine if everything he's been told about him is true. One guy asks Desmond if he has any keys or changed on him, which he doesn't. Widmore tells Desmond that after this is over, he's going to ask him to make a sacrifice, which prompts Desmond to ask what Widmore knows about sacrifice. Widmore tells Desmond that his son (Daniel) died for the island and that his daughter (Penny) hates him and he's never seen his grandson (Charlie).

Widmore and the other men leave, locking Desmond inside. Desmond freaks out and breaks free from the chair. Inside, Jin demands answers from Widmore. Widmore says Desmond is the only person he knows of that survived a catastrophic electromagnetic event and he needs to know if Desmond can do it again.

Seamus powers up the system, but hesitates in flipping the switch. Widmore comes over and pulls the three levers causing the solenoids in the box to light up. The gauss meter pushes past the maximum reading of 200, the picohertz reaches about 174 and the EMF reading is 242.7958.

Suddenly, as Desmond stands between the solenoids, there is a bright flash and we see the sky shot from the Oceanic 815 window from "LA X." We cut to Desmond standing at the flight status board at LAX.

So Desmond is transported from the main island timeline to the sideways timeline. But what exactly does Widmore have planned on the island if hitting Desmond with a big dose of electromagnetism is just a test for a bigger event later? Presumably, Widmore has heard from someone that Desmond survived the implosion of the Swan Station. Also, what is the sacrifice that Widmore wants Desmond to make? It certainly seems ominous.

Simmons is charred in the electromagnetic device, Widmore doesn't care

After Desmond attacks Widmore, he insists that Zoe start a test, even though she says it's not ready. Jin follows her to the Hydra Station's generator room, passing a makeshift wooden box connected to some heavy duty cables.

Once they're in the generator room, Seamus and many others panic as they prepare to set up the test a day ahead of schedule. Seamus says they need to get a functioning E.M. field. When the generator is turned on, it fails. Seamus sends a man named Simmons outside to the box to check the contacts on the solenoids.

Seamus turns to a white rabbit in a cage that is named Angstrom and tells it that it will be going into the box next. Anders Jonas Ångström was a Swedish physicist who studied terrestial magnetism, light and optical phenomena.

One of the technicians discovers it's a bad breaker and throws the switch as Simmons is inside the box examining the coils. The solenoids emit a bright light and Simmons is tossed across the box. The cameras go out and then the system is powered down. when Jin, Seamus and Zoe arrive at the box, they see the charred remains of Simmons' body.

Charles Widmore comes to the box and is unfazed by Simmons' body. Desmond is brought to the entrance and looks terrified of what could be coming next.

Desmond learns he's back on the island, attacks Widmore

Desmond wakes up in the infirmary on Hydra Island to see Zoe standing over him. Desmond is disoriented, but demands to see Penny. Charles Widmore enters and tells him that Penny and his son Charlie are safe, but he can't see them because he has brought him back to the island.

Upon learning this, you can see rage building inside Desmond who then attacks Charles Widmore with his IV. Charles' head is cut and he leaves the room.

Desmond is revealed to be the package, Sayid sees him from water

At Locke's camp, Sawyer reveals to Kate that he is worried because he's depending on the idea that Charles Widmore is going to kill Locke. At that moment Locke strolls back into camp. He questions where Jin and Sayid are, and Locke indicates that Sayid is still on Hydra Island to discover what Widmore is hiding on the submarine.

We then see Sayid emerge from the water not too far from where the submarine is docked. Zoe and Seamus can be seen removing a drugged-up Desmond from the submarine. They drop him on the dock where Desmond comes face-to-face with Sayid. Desmond looks confused and disoriented as Zoe and Seamus pick him up and take him towards land.

Sun puts her trust in Jack, communicates by writing

Near the beach camp, Jack approaches Sun who is sitting alone next to a fire on the beach. Jack hands her a notepad, telling her that she might be able to write in English even though she can't speak. It turns out he was right.  Jack says that he went back to her garden to see if Locke was there, which he wasn't, but he did find a stubborn tomato that apparently didn't know it was supposed to die.

Using the notepad, Sun apologizes and tells Jack that Locke said he has Jin. She says that she didn't go with Locke because she doesn't trust him. She says that she does trust Jack, who says that if she goes with them, he promises that he'll her and Jin on the plane and get them off the island.

So it seems that Jack is either lying to Sun, or he's not onboard with Richard's destroying the plane plan. Either way, the conflict should get interesting.

Jin shoots Mikhail in the eye + Sun is shot & pregnant + Sayid half-helps Jin escape the freezer

At Keamy's restaurant, Jin hears Sayid shooting Keamy and his men. Sayid enters starts to leave him there because Jin can't explain who he is. Jin begs for him to free him by repeating the word "free." Sayid puts the cutter from shelf in Jin's hands and tells him "Good luck," leaving Jin to free himself.

Mikhail arrives at the restaurant with Sun and finds the bodies on the kitchen floor. He doesn't realize that Jin is playing possum (pretending to be dead) on the floor. When Mikhail leans down to Keamy who is not dead, Jin stands and holds a gun to Mikhail's head.

Jin tells Sun to move back. Mikhail then attacks Jin and two wild shots are fired during the struggle. Mikhail breaks free and grabs a knife, but Jin shoots him in the eye, the same eye he was missing when he was on the island.

Jin then realizes that Sun has been shot in the abdomen. As he starts to carry her to get help, Sun reveals that she is pregnant. Could this be baby Ji Yeon and if so, will she survive this incident? Also, if the baby is Jin's, how is it that he's not infertile since he hasn't been to the island?

Jin sees photos of Ji Yeon for the first time

At the building housing Room 23 on Hydra Island, Charles Widmore admonishes Zoe for not following the timeline of their plan and taking Jin too soon. She replies that she should have put a mercenary in charge then instead of a geophysicist. He then asks her to go get "the package" from the submarine and take it to the infirmary.

Widmore apologizes to Jin for taking him from the other island. He then gives Jin a digital camera that he says they found on the Ajira plane in Sun's luggage. Jin looks through the pictures on the camera which are of his daughter Ji Yeon with Sun. He has never seen his daughter before this moment, so he's obviously quite emotional. Widmore tells Jin that he has a daughter to and he knows what it's like to be kept apart from her.

Widmore explains to Jin that if the thing that looks like John Locke is allowed to leave the island, that everyone that they care about will cease to be. He asks Jin to come with him so he can show him "the package," which is a who, not a thing.

Mr. Paik emptied Sun's account, wants Keamy to kill Jin

At the bank, Ms. Kendall, the bank employee, informs Mikhail and Sun that Mr. Paik emptied Sun's account into another one of his own accounts. When Sun asks why her father would do this, Mikhail implies that she should know why.

At the restaurant, Omar bangs Jin's head against the door as he's leading him into the freezer. Keamy cleans up the cut and tells Omar to go get the "Arab guy," meaning Sayid.

Keamy explains to Jin that he's taping him to the chair in case he finds out that Keamy was hired by Mr. Paik to kill Jin. He says that Paik wanted him dead because he didn't keep his hands off of Sun. Jin doesn't understand a word he says and actually thanks him once he's done taping him up. Keamy tells him that some people are just not meant to be together.

So it's clear in the sideways stories that Mr. Paik is still a bastard, but now wants Jin dead. So Jin and Sun are not fairing well in this timeline either.

Hurley brings Richard back to camp, Sun doesn't like Richard's plan

Sun returns to camp and Jack examines. He believes she may have aphasia which affects the language center of the brain. Ilana then smiles when she see Richard and Hurley return to the camp.

Richard tells everyone to pack up because they need to go to Hydra island and destroy the Ajira plane so Locke can't leave the island. Sun fervently objects to the plan of destroying the plane since she wants to leave the island with Jin, but no one can understand he impassioned rant since it's in Korean. She angrily storms off.

So is the loss of the English language really being caused by aphasia, or is it possible, as some have theorized, that Sun may have partially slipped into a time where she didn't speak English (like the sideways timeline)?

Locke & Widmore face off at the sonic fence on Hydra Island

Locke reaches Hydra Island alone in a canoe and immediately sees the portable sonic fence set up all the way down the beach. Seamus and other armed members of Widmore's group take shots and Locke and tell him not to move. Locke says that he comes in peace.

They walk up the beach towards the Ajira plane with Locke staying on the ocean side of the fence. Charles Widmore emerges and Locke knows who he is. Widmore reveals that he knows that Locke is obviously not really Locke. He says other than that, all he knows is "myth, ghost stories, and jungle noises." Locke points out that Widmore knows more that he's letting on since he knew to put up the sonic fence pylons.

Widmore denies that he took Jin, causing Locke to repeat Widmore's words from season 5. Locke says "A wise man once said that war was coming to this island, I think it just got here."

So how much does Widmore actually know about the black smoke/Man in Black/Locke? Clearly he knows more than he's letting on, but how much is that? Something tells me this war is going to have a few casualties.

Sun looks at herself in mirror, Keamy takes her & Jin to Mikhail

At the hotel room, Jin and Sun panic when there is a knock at the door. Jin hides in the bathroom and on her way to the door, Sun stops at the mirror and gives herself one of those knowing looks like she may remember something from the original timeline.

Keamy enters the room and Sun gives him the watch, but he wants his money. Omar comes to the door and tells Keamy that Jin wasn't in his room. Keamy notices two champagne glasses in the room and knows that Jin is there. Omar finds Jin in the bathroom. Keamy tells Omar to get him Mikhail since he can speak Korean (we haven't seen Mikhail since the season 3 finale "Through the Look Glass").

Later, Mikhail translates for Jin and Sun who tells them what happened to the money at customs. Sun offers to go to the bank and get the money for Keamy. Mikhail goes with Sun to the bank while Keamy plans to take Jin to the restaurant. Jin begs him not to tell Mr. Paik about his relationship with Sun, and Keamy tells him that he'll keep the secret (we later learn that Mr. Paik already knows).

You'll notice that in this timeline, Mikhail has both of his eyes, so that's a plus for him at the moment.

Locke says that Claire & Kate are not candidates, the smoke can't cross water

At the camp, Locke asks Sayid if he can swim and tells him to wrap a gun in plastic.

Locke asks Claire what is wrong because she is nervously watching them. She asks if her name is on the wall of the cave, but Locke says it's not, but says that he does need her. He tells her that Kate's name is not on the wall anymore, but he needs Kate to convince the three other people he needs to leave the island. He says that once Kate fulfills her purposes, then "whatever happens, happens," implying that Claire can do what she wants with her.

As Sayid and Locke prepare to leave for Hydra island, Sawyer questions them, and asks why Locke can't just turn into smoke and fly to other island. Locke says that if he could do that, he wouldn't be on the island. He says that he's going to Hydra island to get Jin back.