Sawyer tells Locke the Widmore plan, tells Kate they're taking the submarine

When Sawyer comes back to the main island, Locke is there to meet him. Sawyer tells him that all of the Ajira passengers are dead and Charles Widmore is on Hyrda island with at least six armed guards. He also mentions that they're hiding something on the sub and are setting up sonic fence pylons. He tells Locke about the deal he made with Widmore and claims that Locke can now change his plan of attack to get the jump on them. Locke says that he appreciate's Sawyer's loyalty.

Later, at the camp, Sawyer approaches Kate who asks if he's working for Locke now. Sawyer says that he's planning to let Widmore and Locke fight it out. He tells Kate that the two of them will take the submarine off of the island.

This was easily the least dramatic ending of a season six episode so far, but it'll hopefully lead to more interesting plot points. There have been too many plans to take a submarine off of the island though.

Sawyer tells Miles the truth, captures Kate after she crashes her car

In the flash sideways, Sawyer calls Miles to his car outside the police station and shows him the "Sawyer" folder. He tells Miles about his parents' deaths when he was 9 and that he's been hunting down "Sawyer" since he graduated from the police academy. He was chasing down a lead in Australia and got the name Anthony Cooper and has been calling them one by one (which we saw him doing earlier in the episode). Sawyer says that he plans to kill "Sawyer" once he finds him and Miles says that if he would have known, he would have tried to talk him out of this hunt.

Suddenly, a blue car slams into their car from behind. A hooded  person jumps out of the car and starts running. Sawyer and Miles chase cut them of at the end of an alley and Sawyer slams the perp against a chain fence. He spins the person around to reveal Kate and Sawyer is stunned to see the woman he helped escape at the airport.

So clearly, Sawyer in the the flash sideways is very, very similar to himself in the original timeline, hence him helping Kate escape at the airport. It really seems that the only major difference here is his occupation and his friendship with Miles. He's still consumed with vengeance, but in a more controlled environment.

Claire apologizes to Kate, thanks her with a hug

As Kate is walking back towards Locke's camp, Claire approaches her. Kate pulls her gun but Claire starts crying thanks Kate for looking out for Aaron. Claire hugs Kate, who tells her it's okay.

What exactly caused Claire's sudden change of heart? Did she make this decision on her own or did Locke play a role in it? It certainly seems like a quick 180.

Sawyer makes a deal with Charles Widmore, something is locked in the sub

Sawyer makes his way into the submarine where there is another armed guard. Zoe leads him down a corridor past another guard who is seems to be guarding a room with multiple padlocks on it. Sawyer aks about it, but Zoe tells him it's none of his business.

Sawyer enters the office and Charles Widmore introduces himself and extends his hand, which Sawyer does not shake. When Sawyer says that he knows that Widmore sent the freighter to the island to kill them all. Widmore replies "It's sad, really... how little you actually know." Widmore then tells Sawyer that his team did not kill the Ajira passengers either, but he doesn't expect Sawyer to believe him.

Sawyer tells Widmore that he'll go back to the main island and tell Locke that there was no one on the island as long as the people on his own boat are not harmed and are given safe passage of the island. Widmore agrees to the deal, but seems very skeptical that he can trust Sawyer.

So what is Widmore keeping in the locked room? Is it a person or a thing? Also, what is Widmore's mission on the island? Since his people are setting up the sonic fence, it seems that he wants to keep the smoke monster away, but whose side is he really on?

Sawyer watches Little House, is rejected by Charlotte

Sawyer comes home to his apartment, which is incredibly sparse and lacking any personal touches like photos or art on the walls. He goes to the fridge which is mostly empty except for beer, orange juice and Chinese food containers. In the freezer there are four of the exact same frozen dinner, "Country Fried Beef Patties." We can also see a bandage on his hand where he clearly hurt himself when he punched the mirror after talking to Miles.

He sits down with his food and a beer and watches Little House On the Prairie (Sawyer told Kate that he watched the show as a kid in the season 3 episode "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead"). In the episode, Charles tells Laura "That's the way you live this life. Each day, one at a time. Now, if you spend your whole life worryin' about something that's gonna happen, before you know it, your life's over and you spent an awful lot of it just worryin'. Hey, you heard that? Now that's what life's all about. Laughin' and lovin' each other. And knowin' that people aren't really gone when they die. We have all the good memories to sustain us until we see 'em again." This clearly hits home with Sawyer and the death of his parents.

Sawyer takes a 6-pack of beer and a sunflower (just like he gave to Juliet in the season 5 episode "LaFleur") to Charlotte's place. She answers the door and is appalled to see him. She rejects him saying that she doesn't know whether he is just lonely, guilty or completely mad. After she closes the door, Sawyer leaves the flower at her door and leaves.

This scene is a clear sign that just because Sawyer made better decisions in the flash sideways, that does not mean that he is happy. He is clearly still tortured by the death of his parents and is living a lonely life, likely unable to connect with women in Charlotte is an indicator.

Widmore's team setting up portable sonic fence, Sawyer taken to submarine

As Sawyer is being marched across Hyrda island by Seamus, Zoe and the others, they pass another group of people who appear to be setting up a portable version of the sonic fence that surrounds the barracks (or New Otherton as Sawyer calls it). Sawyer stays silent during the trek.

As they reach the dock where a submarine is being guarded by two armed men, Sawyer looks a bit stunned. Once they reach the sub, Zoe tells Sawyer to go inside because "he" (Charles Widmore) is waiting for him. Sawyer obliges and climbs in.

So is Widmore's team trying to keep the smoke monster (Locke) away from the sub? Is he worried that Locke may actually try to leave via the sub? It's certainly an interesting short bit of info.

Locke tells Kate he had a crazy mother, now Claire is one too

Back near Locke's camp, Kate is sitting alone amongst the trees crying. Locke comes over and apologizes for the incident with Claire and says that he told her the others had Aaron to give her an enemy to hate, therefore something to live for. He then promises Kate that he will keep her safe just like he promised the rest of the group.

Locke then takes Kate down to the beach where he shows her Hydra island and tells her that's where he sent Sawyer. He tells her that he is not a "dead man" as she referred to him earlier. He tells her a long time ago, before he looked like Locke, he had a mother who was crazy. Because of that, he had some "growing pains" which he is still dealing with and could have been avoided if things had been different. He tells Kate that he told her all of this because now Aaron has a crazy mother too.

So how much of Locke's story can we believe? Did he actually have a crazy mother, or is he telling Locke's story, because Locke's mother was certainly a bit looney? Locke did get emotional during the story which would lead one to believe he's telling the truth, but you never know because he seems to be a master manipulator.

Sawyer figures out Zoe is lying, is ambushed by her people

Zoe tells Sawyer that she was on the Ajira flight and was off gathering wood when she heard screaming. She says that she came back and all of the other passengers were dead. Sawyer says that he'll take her back with him to the main island.

As they walk towards the canoe, Zoe asks a few too many questions about the people on the main island and whether they have guns. He's careful not too answer to specifically until she asks about guns, when he says they have plenty of those. She takes too long to answer questions like where she was flying and what she was going to Guam for.

Sawyer pulls a gun on her, but she whistles and several armed men, including a guy who seems like a leader named Seamus, emerge from the tree line. Sawyer gives up without a fight and says "take me to your leader."

So who are these people that we learn a little later work for Charles Widmore? Do they have any history with the island, or are they more hired guns like on the freighter? One thing is certain though. Either Zoe is supposed to be a really bad liar or the actress Sheila Kelley is really bad. I'd like to think it is the first option.

Liam Pace is looking for Charlie, Miles confronts Sawyer about trip

At the police station, Liam Pace, Charlie's brother, is trying to get information about Charlie's arrest when Oceanic 815 landed. The officer at the desk is currently too busy to help him. He asks Sawyer for help as he passes by, but Sawyer tells him that drug crime is not his department.

Miles then pulls Sawyer aside and confronts him about why he went to Australia. He figured it out by getting a record of Sawyer's credit card transactions. Sawyer refuses to tell Miles what he was doing is Australia, so Miles tells him that they are no longer partners. After Miles leaves, Sawyer punches a mirror.

In this scene, Liam does not look like the nerdy, sweater wearing family man that Charlie visited in Australia in the original timeline, so I wonder how different Charlie and Liam's stories are here?

Sawyer inspects the Ajira plane, discovers dead passengers, meets Zoe

Sawyer makes his way to the Ajira plane, where he inspects it to see if it actually could be flown off of the island. Amongst some remaining luggage and discovers a trail of drag marks leading into the jungle.

He follows the trail to discover a pile of decaying bodies, which are the remaining Ajira 316 passengers. Then he sees a woman, Zoe, dart through the jungle. He chases her down and tackles her. She begs him no to hurt her and says that she's the only survivor left.

Claire attacks Kate, Locke slaps Claire, Sayid does nothing

At Locke's camp, Kate approaches Sayid who seems to be in a daze. He says that he believes that Locke will take them off of the island.

Suddenly, Claire grabs Kate and pins her on the ground, holding a knife to her neck. Locke comes over and pulls Claire off of Kate and tosses her onto the ground. Claire screams that Kate took Aaron and Locke says she did what she had to since Claire was missing. Claire is still panicked, so Locke slaps her to calm her down and tells her she is behaving inappropriately and tells her to go wait for her across the camp. Kate is teary eyed and stunned as Locke goes to talk to Claire.

This is a weird side of Locke/the smoke monster. He's scolding people and tossing Claire around like a sack of potatoes. Also, Sayid just sits there and lets Claire attack Kate. What is going on in his mind and heart right now?

Sawyer revisits the Hydra station, finds Kate's old dress

Sawyer reaches the Hydra island in the canoe and heads to the abandoned Hydra station. He somberly revisits the polar bear cages where he and Kate spent so much time in the first part of season 3. He finds the flowered dress that Ben gave Kate to wear that prior to that belonged to Alex.

Sawyer goes on date with Charlotte, she discovers his Sawyer file

Sawyer meets his date that Miles set up for him at a restaurant, and it turns out to be none other than Charlotte Staples Lewis. She reveals that she travels the world for her work as an archeologist, and she gets him to reveal why he became a cop. He says that he reached a point in his life where he was going to become a criminal or a cop, and he chose to be a cop.

They later have sex at Sawyer's place and after he leaves to get some water, she discovers a blue folder with the name Sawyer written on it in his top drawer while looking for a t-shirt. Inside is an article about his father killing his mother and himself, just like in the original timeline. There is also a photo matching the newspaper photo as well as other negatives and slides inside the folder. When he returns, he snaps at her and forces her to leave.

Also, on his dresser, we can see the books Watership Down (Sawyer was reading it multiple episodes of season 1), A Wrinkle In Time (Sawyer was reading it in season 1's "Numbers") and Lancelot (Sawyer was reading it is season 2's "Maternity Leave").

Locke tells Sawyer he's the smoke monster, sends him to Hydra island

As Locke leads his group across the island, he tells them that they are going to stop and make camp in a clearing for a few days. Sawyer objects to this in front of everyone, wanting to know why they're not leaving the island.

Locke and Sawyer go to talk privately where Locke reveals to Sawyer that he's the black smoke and that he killed the people at the temple when they chose to stay. He says that the people who stayed were convinced that they're protecting the island from the smoke (Locke), so it is either "kill or be killed."

Locke then leads Sawyer to the beach where there's an outrigger canoe sitting. He tells Sawyer to go to the Hydra island and do some recon on the remaining Ajira 316 passengers that he claims may include people that want to do them harm. He says that the plan is to fly the Ajira plane away from the island.

So is any of what Locke is saying true? We know a lot of what he said is a lie, but is the Ajira plane really part of his plan?

Detective Ford is calling Anthony Coopers, hiding it from Miles + Pierre Chang is alive

In the flash sideways, we see Detective James Ford (Sawyer) calling a list of people named Anthony Cooper, telling them that he's looking for the owner of some unclaimed property. He asks one if he was in Alabama in 1976, the same year and place where his parents were killed. He has a list of names, which he scratches out after the first call and is interrupted by Miles during the second.

Sawyer lies to Miles about what he's doing and Miles becomes suspicious when Sawyer temporarily forgets about his supposed vacation in Palm Springs.

Miles also tells Sawyer that he has set him up on a date with a friend who works with his dad, Pierre Chang, at a museum. So in this timeline, it seems that Pierre Chang is not dead, seemingly busting the theory that the island sank when the bomb went off.

Claire says goodbye to squirrel baby, Locke reassures the kids & others

At Claire's shack, she packs up a few things and silently says goodbye to squirrel baby as Kate enters. When Kate asks what that is, Claire says "It's all I had."

Then Locke addresses everyone outside of the shack and tells Cindy and the kids that the black smoke killed those who stayed at the temple. Sayid snaps out of his daze briefly because he knows Locke is the smoke. Locke tells Zach and Emma that he's going to take care of them. He then leads them away from the camp.

We then see a brief exchange between Kate and Sawyer, where we hear Sawyer's repeated sentiment that he's not "with" Locke or anyone.

Sawyer is a cop in flash-sideways, Miles is his partner + the numbers

So we enter the flash sideways scene which appears to be Sawyer doing the pigeon drop con which we've saw him do a few times in season 1 and 2. The time on the clock that Ava points out is 8:42, which are two of the numbers.

The tables on Sawyer when Ava pulls a gun. Sawyer tells her that he's a cop and that all he has to do is say the magic word and police will storm the room.

She doesn't buy it, so he says "LaFleur" and cops break down the door and arrest Ava. Miles is one of the detectives and comes in a tosses Sawyer his badge.

That's a nice flip for the flash-sideways timeline and it's good to see Miles and Sawyer's 1970s on island relationship continue off of the island.