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.

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").

Miles, Jin and Hurley see Charlotte and Miles head for the sub, Sawyer says 'good riddance' to the island

At the pier, a voice on the loudspeakers says "The submarine departs in 30 minutes. All evacuees, please proceed to the dock." Miles, Jin and Hurley are watching the women and children boarding the submarine. They see Charlotte and her mom getting out of a van followed by Pierre Chang, Lara and baby Miles. Lara wants to stay and help but Pierre yells at her "I want you to leave, now!" Miles realizes that his father his yelling at his mother because it's the only way he can get her to leave.

Miles then sees a jeep pull up with Sawyer and Juliet in the back. Hurley says it's okay because Sawyer always has a plan.

On the pier, Sawyer tells Juliet that they'll buy Microsoft and they'll bet the Cowboys in the 1978 Super Bowl which will make them rich. Sawyer tells her he's sorry and that they should have gotten on the submarine three years ago when Juliet wanted to leave. Juliet says that she's glad he talked her out of it.

Mitch tells them to get in the sub. Before Sawyer gets in, he looks back at the island and says "Good riddance."

It's good to see that Miles gets to understand that Pierre sent his mom and him away from the island to protect them, not because he didn't care. It's also good to see Sawyer commit to Juliet and get in the submarine. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought he might try to stay behind like when he jumped off the helicopter.

Daniel tells young Charlotte that she'll have to leave the island

As Jack, Kate and Daniel are walking towards the motor pool, Kate says that the others won't be happy to see them so they should be armed. She says there's a gun safe at the motor pool and Jack has the keys. Daniel gets distracted and tells them that he has something to do and will meet them in a few minutes.

Daniel heads towards and swing set where young Charlotte is swinging and eating a chocolate bar. Charlotte says "I'm not allowed to have chocolate before dinner." This is the same thing she said shortly before she died in the jungle. Daniel tells her that it okay and he won't tell. Charlotte introduces herself as does Daniel and he tells her that he's new here. Daniel tells her that hopefully soon, Dr. Pierre Chang will come and tell a bunch of people to get on the submarine and leave the island. He says that Charlotte and her mother have to leave in case what's he plans to do doesn't work. He says that he tried to avoid telling her this because he thought he couldn't change things, he now thinks he might be able to. He clearly upset young Charlotte which is what she'll later remember as she's dying.

Daniel sees Charlotte as a child at Dharma barracks

While sitting at a table in the Dharama barracks with the rest of the group, Daniel notices a young girl running around wearing a bright red dress who has red hair. He recognizes the girl and Charlotte and sort of gasps her name before his gaze is interrupted by Horace and Sawyer.

I would imagine that in weeks to come as long as we say in the 1970s, we'll see whether or not Daniel chooses warns young Charlotte about coming back to the island and possibly why her mother takes her from the island and why her father stays behind.

Charlotte dies with Daniel by her side

Daniel tells Charlotte about his conversation with Desmond at the Swan Station door. After a coughing fit, Charlotte slips to another time in her mind and says "I'm not allowed to have chocolate before dinner." Charlotte dies right after saying that. Daniel weeps by her side in an incredibly emotional performance.

Is there any significance to Charlotte's last words, or was she just revisiting a random time in her life just before her death?

Did Daniel warn Charlotte not to come back to the island?

Charlotte tells Daniel that she's been to the island before. She says that she grew up on the island and mentions the Dharma Initiative. She and her mom left the island a long time ago, but her dad stayed behind. She says that when her and her mom got back to England, her mom would tell her that the island wasn't real. Charlotte became an anthropologist so she could find the island and had been searching for it her entire life. She then tells Daniel that when she was little and living on the island, there was a crazy man who scared her and told her that she had to leave the island and never come back. He told her that if she ever came back, she would die. She then tells Daniel "I think that man was you."

So, Charlotte grew up on the island, but was probably not born there because she says that she "got back" to Englad meaning she was there before. Who was Charlotte's father and why did he stay on the island? How did Daniel warn Charlotte about the island in the past, why did he do it and why doesn't he remember it? I've said it before and I'll say it again. This time skipping/shifting thing is incredibly complicated yet oh so intriguing. I can't wait to learn more.

Charlotte's mind seems to skip through time

Back with the group on the island, Charlotte is still lying on the ground and her mind seems to be wandering through time, possibly like what happened to Theresa. She says "Why can't daddy come with us?" meaning she is presumably at a time when she was a child leaving the island with her mother but her father stayed behind. She follows that with "You know what my mom would say about me marrying an American." It's not clear when she thinks she is with that statement. That is followed by "You know, I know more about ancient cultures than Hannibal himself."

She seems to come back to the "present" when the group starts talking about keeping on moving towards The Orchid. Time skips yet again as the discussion is happening. Charlotte tells Daniel to go and then she seems to slip back to another time. She says "Turn it up. I Love Geronimo Jackson." Daniel decides to stay behind with Charlotte as the others go to The Orchid. Sawyer asks Locke "What happens if The Orchid ain't around anymore?" Charlotte pipes in and says "Look for the well. You'll find it at the well."

So, Charlotte is all over the place but manages to give the group some sound advice about the island, telling them to look for the well. We get a few interesting bits about her past, but nothing as substantial as what will come later. More on that in a later post.

Time skips twice, Charlotte gets worse, more nose bleeds

After two time skips in a row, Charlotte's condition gets worse and she collapses again, though this time without all the bleeding. When the group stops, both Juliet and Sawyer's noses are bleeding too. Charlotte leans forward and looks deadly serious and a bit crazy whilst speaking Korean to Jin. She switches to English and says "Don't let them bring her back, no matter what. This place is death!"

We learn later that Charlotte was warned against coming back to the island, but why is Charlotte so adamant that Sun should not come back? Is it just because of her own warning and experience coming back to island?