Ben Linus is bloody again, calls Jack

Jack gets a frantic call from Ben asking him to pick up Locke's body and Simon's Butcher Shop and take it to the airport. We can see that Ben is wet and has blood all over his face, but no where else.

So is the blood his or is it someone else's? He must have ended up in the water at some point, but how? It seems that keep his promise to an old friend didn't go so well.

Kate no longer has Aaron, Jack explains Christian's white sneakers

Jack goes back to his apartment and immediately goes to make himself a drink. Once again, he doesn't even take a single sip before he is interrupted again. He hears a noise and when he goes to investigate, he finds Kate lying on his bed. She has clearly been crying and is now prepared to go back to the island with Jack. When he asks where Aaron is, Kate says "Don't ask questions. If you want me to go with you, you'll never ask me that question again. You will never ask me about Aaron, do you understand Jack?" She kisses Jack and the scene ends, but they presumably had sex.

The next day, Jack makes Kate coffee and pours her orange juice but Kate is acting incredibly distant. Jack moves Christian's shoes which he got from Ray to from the table prompting Kate to question their practicality for the island. Jack tells her that they're Christian's, but when he was in Australia, he told the people preparing Christian's body for transport to just put a ratty pair of white sneakers on him because no one would see his shoes. He also says that "he wasn't worth a nice pair of shoes to me or the time it would take to go out and get them." Kate then asks him "Why hold onto something that makes you so sad?" This from the woman who kept a toy plane for years that reminded her of the mistakes she had made. The phone rings and Kate sees an opportunity to make her exit.

So what happened to Aaron? Did she give him to someone or was he taken from her? What happened in that 24 hours or so that made her do a 180 on going back to the island? Why does she act so strange and distant the next day? One answer we got was why Christian has been wandering around the island and elsewhere wearing his suit with white sneakers. It was an interesting answer that reiterates the sad relationship between Jack and Christian.

Jack goes to see his grandfather Ray Shephard, gets Christian's shoes

Jack goes to a retirement home and talks to Mr. Dorsey about his grandfather, Ray Shephard. It seems that Ray has made numerous attempts to escape from the home and is at risk of getting kicked out. Jack finds Ray watching a magic show, which incidentally features a white rabbit, an animal we've seen many times before on the island.

Jack and Ray go to Ray's room where there is a suitcase sitting on the bed. Jack asks where the bus Ray was on was headed, but all Ray says is "Any where it goes is somewhere better than here." Jack goes to help Ray unpack and finds a pair of Christian's shoes in the suitcase. It seems that Ray accidentally packed the shoes when attempting to quickly escape the home. Jack takes the shoes.

Ray was Christian's father who gave him the watch which Christian passes on to Jack in the mobisode "The Watch." Ray is also Claire's grandfather and Aaron's great-grandfather.

It seems that it is fate or possibly the power of the island that Jack's phone rings right before he takes a drink. And then Ray just happens to have Christian's shoes when Jack is supposed to give Locke something belonging to Christian. Things seemed to fall into place quite easily for Jack to push him even further towards faith.

Jack stares at his drink, gets phone call

After the scene at the church with Ben, we see Jack sitting at a bar staring at a drink. Just as he's going to pick it up, his phone rings. It's a call from someone about his grandfather.

Something about this scene seems vaguely reminiscent of when Jack met Anna-Lucia at the airport bar in Sydney before boarding flight 815.

Ben tells Jack about Doubting Thomas, leaves to fulfill a promise

Jack comes out of Eloise Hawking's office and finds Ben in the sanctuary and he appears to be praying. Ben goes to light a candle and asks Jack what Ms. Hawking told him. Jack replies "Nothing that matters" and then asks Ben about who Eloise Hawking is and how she knows so much about the them and the island.

Ben's looks up at the painting "The Incredulity of Saint Thomas" by Michelangelo da Caravaggio and starts telling the story of Thomas. He tells jack that when Jesus wanted to go back to Judea knowing he would most likely be murdered, Thomas told the other apostles that they should go with Jesus so that they can die with him. He continues saying "But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery." He then tells the story of "Doubting Thomas" who refused to acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus. Ben chooses an intersting way to describe this saying "He just couldn't wrap his mind around it." Thomas need to touch Jesus' wounds to be convinced. When Jack asks "So was he?," be replies "Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later Jack."

Ben then starts to head out the church before Jack stops him to ask where he is going. Ben replies "Oh, I made a promise to an old friend of mine, just a loose end that need tying up." He then tells Jack he'll see him at the airport and leaves. When then see Jack sit in the pew and look upward as if he's slowly starting to move closer towards faith.

Ben's speech about Thomas seems to have at least two meanings. One is that Jack is Thomas. He refuses to have faith in the power of the island. The other is that Locke could possibly be resurrected like Jesus once his body is returned to the island.

Something else interesting about this scene is that Ben seems to be praying and once again lights a candle (he also lit one in "The Lie"). While Ben is telling Jack the story of Thomas, he also phrases it in a way that could lead one to believe that at one time he didn't have faith.

And last but not least, what is the promise that Ben needs to fulfill? I only know of one promise that Ben has made which we saw last season.