Eloise Hawing shoots Daniel Faraday at the others/hostiles camp

As Daniel, Kate and Jack get close to the others/hostiles camp, Kate tells Jack that what they are doing is a mistake and is insane because they are going to erase everything that's happened to them. Jack says that they disappeared off of an airplane and ended up in 1977, so he's getting used to insane.

They reach the others camp and Jack and Kate duck behind some plants. Daniel says "Wish me luck" and heads towards the camp. Jack begins to stop Daniel but Kate pulls him back. Daniel heads into the camp, gun in hand and fires two shots to keep one of the others from picking up his gun. Daniel tells everyone not to move and that he wants to see Eloise.

Daniel continues to ask to see Eloise until Richard Alpert comes out and says that she's not here. Richard looks at Daniel and asks "Do we know each other?" Daniels says that it doesn't matter and he needs to see Eloise. Richard again says that she not here and Daniel asks where the hydrogen bomb that they told them to bury is. Richard asks him to put the gun down but Daniel says that he has three seconds until he shoots. After he counts the number 2, a shot is heard and we see that Eloise has shot Daniel in the back. Richard is upset and asks her why she shot him. Richard tells her that Daniel wasn't going to shoot him.

As Daniel is lying on the ground dying, he looks up at Eloise and says "You knew. You always knew. You knew this was going to happen. You sent me here anyway." Eloise asks "Who are you?" Daniel says "I'm your son." Richard and Eloise are both stunned as Daniel draws his last breath.

So Eloise knew that when she sent Daniel to the island that she would end up killing him in 1977. What monumental event or events is she trying to make happen or not happen that she is willing to sacrifice her own son?

Daniel Faraday is Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking's son

As Eloise Hawking is leaving the Marina Medical Center in Long Beach, Charles Widmore is waiting for her outside. Widmore asks her if Desmond is alright and she says that he's fine. Eloise tells him that Penny is inside and that he should go inside and say hello. Widmore says that his relationship with is daughter was one of the things he had to sacrifice. Eloise gets angry and says "Don' you talk to me about sacrifice Charles. I had to send my son back to the island knowing full well that..." Widmore interrupts and says "He was my son, too, Eloise." Eloise slaps him across the face then turns around and gets in a cab.

So it was a little surprising, but not monumental that Daniel is Charles Widmore's son. It was not as obvoius as the Pierre Chang and Miles relationship. Charles widmore uses the word "was" when referring to Daniel being his son, so he seems to know that he died in 1977.

Eloise Hawking apologizes to Penny, Desmond is in recovery

We go back where we started at the beginning of "The Variable" which is the Marina Medical Center in Long Beach. Penny is stunned to find out that Eloise Hawking's son is Daniel Faraday. Eloise says to Penny "I came, Penelope, to apologize. Your husband has become a casualty in a conflict that's bigger than him, that's bigger than any of us." Penny asks if Desmond is going to be okay and Eloise says that she doesn't know. She then says "For the first time in a long time, I don't know what's going to happen next."

At that moment a couple of nurses come in and one says that Desmond is in recover and is asking for Penny. The nurse says that Desmond is going to be okay and that the other nurse will watch Charlie. Eloise leaves the room after Penny does.

Penny goes into Desmond's room and says "I though I'd lost you." Desmond says "I promised you, Penny. I promised you... I'd never leave you again." Then there is another dramatic Desmond and Penny kiss.

So why is it that Eloise Hawking's ability to see the future is not working right now? Does this have something to do with the impending war that Widmore referred to in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham?"

Also, does anybody else think that it might have been a bad idea to leave young Charlie with a stranger, even if she is a nurse?

Daniel explains his theory about variables, his plan to detonate an h-bomb

Jack, Kate and Daniel stop at a creek to rest. Jack asks Daniel why he needs a gun to talk to his mother. Daniel says "You don't know my mother Jack." Jack asks him if he's ready to tell him why his mother was wrong and why they don't belong there.

Daniel says that in about four hours, the Dharma folk are going to be drilling at the Swan station site and accidentally tap into a massive pocket of energy which will be released and be catastrophic. He says that they will then have to cement the entire area in like Chernobyl and the containment that is built over it is watch the losties called the hatch. He continues saying that because of the accident, they will spend the next 20 years keeping the energy at bay by pressing a button. Desmond will one day fail to push the button which will cause Oceanic 815 to crash on the island. Because of the crash, the freighter will be sent to the island and the entire chain of events from the crash on will occur because of the accident on this afternoon.

Daniel explains that during his entire life he has studied relativistic physics and he has always believed that whatever happened, happened. He says that he spent so much time focused on the constants that he forgot about the variables. He says that people are the variables in the equation and that they have free will and can change their destiny.

Daniel says that he thinks he can negate the energy under the Swan station. He says that if he does this, the hatch will never be built and Oceanic 815 will land in Los Angeles like it was supposed to. Kate asks him how he plans to destroy the energy. Daniel says "I'm gonna detonate a hydrogen bomb." This leaves Jack and Kate stunned.

So if Daniel is correct and they do what he had planned, the entire show would theoretically be negated. This does not seem like a likely outcome. We can easily assume that the bomb he wants to detonate is Jughead from the episode of the same name. The others/hostiles would have buried the bomb if they listened to Daniel in 1954.

Sawyer and Juilet are captured by Radzinsky

Back at the barracks, Sawyer and Juliet are packing up Dharma food (rice, powdered milk and chicken soup can be seen) and clothes so they can leave. Sawyer tells Juliet that she called it the minute the others got back to the island and he should have listened to her. Sawyer asks her if she still has his back. Juliet asks "You still got mine?" At that moment, the alarm sounds throughout the barracks.

Outside, Hurley is carrying the guitar and a backpack and Jin is behind him as they see Radzinsky and the two other guys rushing through the barracks with guns. Jin says something in Korean.

Radzinsky and the two guys burst into Sawyer's house and Radzinsky asks where Sawyer has been. Radzinsky yells that he was shot by a physicist and the new recruits are helping him. He says that the Dharma Initiative has been infiltrated. Sawyer tells him to calm down and then Phil can be heard banging around in the closet. Sawyer says that it sounds like the noise was outside, but Radzinsky heads down the hall. He opens the closet door to find Phil in the closet and then he and the other guys turn their guns on Sawyer and Juliet. Radzinsky screams and Sawyer and Juliet do get down on the ground and the both put their hands up and surrender.

This is what's been expected since Jack and the others came back to the island. The survivors life with the Dharma Initiative is falling apart. The question is, what will be the consequences of their actions? Also, what will happen to Hurley, Jin and Miles. Will they be captured too?