“LOST” is back this week, thank God.  I know it’s only been a week, but if you’re like me, you needed your “LOST” fix badly.  This week’s episode was “Namaste”.  According to Wikipedia, the word namaste is a greeting used by people in India and Nepal.  The literal translation is “I bow to you”.  I didn’t read this until after this week’s episode, which now puts all of these different theories and ideas in my head about the show as a whole.  Maybe this is important.  Maybe the word namaste is clue to what the island is all about.  We’ll see.

When we last saw Sawyer, he had met up with Jack, Kate, and Hurley.  Sawyer and his crew are living with the Dharma people in the year 1977.  He must now find a way to help these three and still keep the secret that they are all from the future.  Sayid is on the island in 1977 and his appearance ends up causing some trouble for Sawyer.  Also on the island is Sun, Ben, Frank and everyone else from Flight 316.  But the question is when are they?

Spoilers….......................................

This episode was very good and was intense for me as I watched it because I really wanted to see how Sawyer was going to be able to juggle all of these problems and still keep the secret. I think this episode is more of a set up to what will happen in the remaining eight episodes of the season.

Sawyer is lucky as he is able to use a Dharma submarine as a cover story. The sub is coming to the island with some new recruits for the Dharma Initiative. Everyone who comes on the trip is sedated so no one sees anyone else. Along with Juliet, they are able to put Jack, Kate, and Hurley on the recruit list so they can hide basically from the whatever may happen if the Dharma people find out who they really are.

Unfortunately Sayid is not with them as he escaped the crash on his own and is running through the jungle. Jin is with one of the Dharama people and “capture” Sayid. Sawyer aka LaFleur is called in as head of security to investigate. Sayid is assumed to be one of the “Others” who exist in 1977 and has broken the truce that Dharama has with the Others. He is soon imprisoned until Sawyer finds away to help him.

The other ongoing story is Sun, Ben, and Frank who are with all of the other people who crashed on Flight 316. Ben doesn’t care about anyone else except himself and his mission so he leaves them; Sun sees this and goes after him; Frank sees Sun and goes after her. They make their way back to the main island where they come across the Dharma/Others compound in which they encounter of all people Christian Shepard! How can they see him? Well, only Sun and Frank see him because as I forgot to mention that Ben is unconscious since Sun knocked him out because she doesn’t trust him.

Sun’s main concern is trying to find Jin. Christian gives her her answer. He goes into a room which contains photos of each year a new Dharma group was recruited. He points to a picture from 1977 which contains a picture of Jack, Kate, and Hurley. My theory is that Sun, Frank, Ben, John, and everyone else on Flight 316 are in the present or 2007 as I believe that was the year when they took off. Why did some end up in 1977 and some in 2007? Who knows? How will they all get back together is an even bigger one.

The big moment in this episode I believe happens toward the end when after they’ve been processed by Dharma and it’s night, Jack takes it upon himself to visit Sawyer. He finds Juliet there and realizes, oops she’s shacked up with the Sawyer! Jack comes in to get an update and decide on a game plan, but Sawyer takes it upon himself to give Jack a verbal smackdown. At first I was taken a back and was wondering why Sawyer was acting this way, but I think the reason is because he looks at the current situation they are all in as Jack’s fault. I understand why Sawyer feels the way he does and I understand why many fans of “LOST” feel the same way towards Jack. For whatever mistakes Jack has made that led to the predicament that they are all in now, Jack, like he said in the episode, was trying to get everyone off the island. That’s really in the end what everyone wants Maybe he had his own selfish reasons as well, but Jack did his best and is a caring individual.

One thing is for certain, Sawyer is now the leader of the Lost Crew. The confrontation with Jack here in this episode is almost primal. A new lion has taken over as the leader of the pack. You could see the beginning of Sawyer assuming the role of the leader when he met up with Richard Alpert in the “LaFleur” episode. I like Jack, but I think right now he’s too emotional and we need someone who will stop and think before they act - and that’s exactly what Sawyer is doing right now. I just wonder how this “love rectangle” of Jack/Kate/Sawyer/ Juliet will all work out in the end.

The episode ended with a very cool little moment with Sayid in prison and he gets food delivered to him by non other than a young Benjamin Linus. From the trailer for next week’s episode, it seems that maybe Sayid will try to kill him in the past as he states he now knows why he is here and what he must do.

In conclusion, I come back to the word namaste or I bow to you. Why did the Dharma people have to say that when they were taking the new recruit picture in 1977? Does I bow to you refer to Jacob? According to the Wikipedia entry for the word namaste, it is used by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. Maybe the story behind the island is taken from one of these faiths. Is their a four-toed God in one of these faiths? I don’t know. I don’t have the time to research. If anyone has information I’d love to hear it.

Next week’s episode is “He’s Our You”. Who does this refer to? I’m thinking Sawyer, but Wikipedia states the episode centers on Sayid. We’ll see. Can’t wait and see you next week.