Close-up of an eye that pops open. The camera pulls up and we see Jack lying on his back surrounded by stalks of bamboo. We can't help but feel déjà vu as Jack sits up, unsure where he is. He looks around. It's extremely similar to where he first woke up on the island. So... does that mean... he's back on the island? He realizes he's clutching a piece of paper in his hands, and we catch a glimpse of two words: "I wish..." Then Jack hears... splashing? Someone calling for help?
Jack runs through the jungle and bursts into a clearing with a lagoon. Hurley is in the water struggling to swim to the shore holding on tightly to a guitar case. Jack jumps in and helps him over. Then Jack spots Kate on the rocks near the waterfall lying face down. Jack rushes over to her. She starts to come to, confused and disoriented. Relief floods Jack's face. She's okay. She asks are we...? Jack says yeah, they're back. Then she asks what happened?
WHOOSH to Eloise Hawking in the church with Jack, Sun, Desmond and Ben. She turns to the group and says let's get started. She leads them down a spiral staircase, through an underground tunnel to a metal door with a turn-wheel and a faded Dharma logo on it. Hawking turns the wheel, and they step into the Lamp Post station. It's filled with old computer towers, and swinging across the middle of the room is a large metal pendulum. The entire floor is a map of the world.
Hawking explains this is how they found the island. The room was constructed years ago over a unique pocket of electromagnetic energy. The energy connects to similar pockets all over the world, but the people who built the room were only interested in one: the island. A man built the pendulum on the theoretical notion that they should look for the island not where it is but where it is going to be. He presumed, correctly, that the island was always moving. While the island's movements seem random, she has overcome the unpredictability with mathematics -- a series of equations that indicates the probability of where it will be at a certain point in time: windows that while open provide a route back. Unfortunately the windows don't stay open for long. Their window closes in 36 hours.
Desmond can't believe they're going back to the island willingly. He is only there to deliver a message from her son, Daniel Faraday: only she can help them. Hawking points out that she is helping. Desmond says consider the message delivered and leaves. Hawking stops him and says the island isn't done with him yet.
She hands Jack a binder that indicates all the air routes which fly over the coordinates where she believes the island will be in a little over a day from now. There is an airline flying from L.A. to Guam that is going through their window -- Ajira Airways flight 316. If they have any hope of going back, they have to be on that plane, that flight. They have to best recreate the circumstances that brought them to the island in the first place. That means as many of the same people as they can bring. If they can't get everyone, then Hawking says the results will be unpredictable.
Hawking then takes Jack aside to her office and gives him Locke's suicide note. Jack asks why would Locke kill himself, and Hawking says to help Jack get back. Locke is a proxy, a substitute for Jack's father. They need to best recreate the conditions of the original flight. Jack needs to get something that belonged to his father and give it to Locke. Jack thinks it is ridiculous, but Hawking tells him that's why it's called a leap of faith.
Jack visits his grandfather, Ray, at a nursing home. Ray tried to run away for a fourth time but was caught. Jack warns him that they'll throw him out if he tries it again. Jack helps him unpack and breaks the news that he's going away for a while. Jack sees a familiar pair of wingtip shoes and asks about them. Ray says they were his father's. Jack asks if he can take the shoes, and Ray says sure.
Jack arrives home and discovers Kate lying on his bed, and she looks awful. She's clearly been through something and is in a state of grief. She asks if he's still going back to the island, and he says yes. Kate says she's going with him. Jack asks what happened? Where's Aaron? Kate tells him that if he wants her to go, he can never ask her that question again. He can never ask about Aaron. Jack nods, and then she kisses him. Desperately. Their kisses become deeper, and they fall back onto the bed.
The next morning, Kate sees the wingtip shoes and tells Jack he might want hiking boots for the island. Jack explains that they were his fathers. When he went to pick up his dad's body in Sydney, he didn't have any nice clothes with him. Jack bought a suit there for him but forgot the shoes. Jack thought who's going to see his feet? So he used a pair of old white tennis shoes he had with him... because his father wasn't worth a nice pair of shoes. Or worth the effort it would take to get them.
His cell phone rings, and Kate uses the opportunity to leave. She tells him she'll see him at the airport. Jack answers the phone, and it's from Ben. He's been beaten up badly. He tells Jack that he was sidetracked so he needs Jack to pick up Locke's body. Jack goes to the butcher shop, and Jill leads him back into the meat locker where Locke's coffin rests on a gurney. Ben told her to give him the van, so she leaves to pull it around back. While she's gone, Jack puts his father's wingtip shoes on Locke's feet. He also leaves Locke's suicide note unopened in the coffin. He's already heard everything Locke had to say -- he wanted Jack to go back and he is.
Jack checks in at the Ajira counter at LAX. He sees Kate arrive, but she barely acknowledges him. In the security line, Jack is surprised to see Sun. She tells him if there's any chance that Jin is alive, she has to go. Then they both see Sayid being escorted past the security line by a woman who flashes a badge. She guides him through the terminal, and he has a jacket draped over his forearms hiding his hands underneath.
At the boarding gate, the announcement for pre-boarding is called. The attendant says there's good news for those on stand-by -- there are plenty of seats available. Hurley runs up to the woman. He tells her there's a mistake. She says there are 78 seats open, but Hurley insists those are his seats. He bought all 78 of them and no one else can have them. She tells him people are just trying to get where they need to go, but Hurley looks over and sees a mother with two kids. He knows what's going to happen with the plane, and he says everyone can wait and take the next plane. She acquiesces. Jack sees Hurley and walks over. How did Hurley know? Hurley says all that matters is that he's there, right?
They board the plane and take their seats. They all exchange looks. Then as the door is closing, Ben hurries on. Hurley sees him and is instantly upset. He doesn't want Ben to come. Jack tells Hurley this is their one shot. Hurley is not happy but gives up. The flight attendant crosses to Jack and hands him Locke's suicide note. They found it in the coffin during the security screening. Everyone takes their seats, and the plane lifts off. After take off, the captain makes his welcome announcement -- and it's Frank Lapidus. Jack gives his name to the flight attendant and asks to speak with him. Lapidus comes out of the cockpit and says hello. He tells Jack he's been working for Ajira for the last eight months and flies this route a lot -- and then he stops mid-sentence when he sees Sayid. Hurley. Sun. And Kate. All sitting on his plane. He looks at Jack and instantly realizes -- they're not going to Guam, are they?
Later that night, Ben convinces Jack to open Locke's suicide note and read it. Jack does, and Locke's final words were, "I wish you had believed me." Jack's overcome by the sentiment -- and then BUMP. The plane rattles and the cabin light flicker. More bumps. Jack freezes. Could this be it? BUMPBUMPBUMPBUMP!! This is it, and everyone knows it. Then WHAM! The plane shakes around like it's in a blender. There's a rising hum and a white light -- a flash is coming. The bright light and searing noise wash over our people as --
WHOOSH to the island right where we left off. Jack is helping Kate up. She's disoriented. She asks where the plane is. Jack doesn't know. After the light, he woke up in the jungle. Where's Sun? Sayid? And Ben? Jack suggests they fan out and search for them, but then they hear a song playing on a car radio getting closer. A van smashes through the brush and stops in front of them. The driver jumps out wearing a jumpsuit and carrying a rifle, which he points straight at Jack, Kate and Hurley. But then they get a good look at the driver, and they realize -- it's Jin!
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