Jughead seems to have jumped the survivors back to 2007 where the remains of the hatch implosion are still in evidence. Everyone has survived unscathed though including Juliet who is trapped beneath the wreckage. Jacob comes to Hurly and tells him to take Sayid to the Temple to be saved. Juliet dies and Sawyer blames Jack. Meanwhile at the beach it begins to dawn on Ben who Locke really is. Bram and company try to kill him with guns but Locke turns into the smoke monster and kills them all.
Sawyer buries Juliet and asks Miles to tell him what she was going to say. Jack, Hurley, Jin and Kate take Sayid down into the temple. They are captured by more Others who let them live when they find a note from Jacob in Hurley’s guitar case. They drown Sayid in their healing water but he dies. Hurley tells them that Jacob is dead and they freak out, manning the defences and sending a flare to warn Richard. The Man in Black marches out to confront Richard, beats him up and carries him away. Sayid comes back to life.
Sayid is taken away and Dogan electrocutes him and sears him with a hot poker. He claims he was testing him. He tells Jack that Sayid is infected and that he must take a pill to get better. Jack won’t do it and forces them to admit that the pill is poison and Sayid has been “claimed.” Sawyer escapes and heads back to the barracks. Jin, Kate and two others go after him and Kate knocks her minders out. She follows Sawyer while Jin searches for the Ajeera flight. The two Others catch up to him but are shot by Claire.
“Locke” asks Richard to join him but he refuses. “Locke” finds Sawyer and offers to tell him why he is on the island. He leads him to a cave where he shows him the names of several of his friends, connected to numbers. He explains that they are all candidates to take over Jacob’s role as the island’s protector. He says that he wants to get off the island and Sawyer agrees to help him. Ilana, Ben, Sun and Frank take Locke’s corpse and bury him at the survivors beach camp.
Jacob gives Hurley specific instructions on how to get Jack out of the Temple and where to take him. He also tells Hurley to motivate Jack by saying “You have what it takes.” They run into Kate who continues her search for Claire. Jack admits he was broken and returned to the island hoping it would fix him. They find a lighthouse which has the names of all the candidates at each degree of a circle. When it focuses on Jack’s name he can see the house he grew up in. He is furious that Jacob has been watching him and smashes the mirrors on the lighthouse. Jacob tells Hurley that he got them away from the Temple to protect them from a bad man coming there. Meanwhile Claire brings the wounded Jin and Other Justin to her camp. She helps fix Jin’s leg while asking Justin where Aaron is. Jin tells her that Kate took Aaron but she kills Justin anyway. Jin decides to lie and tells her that Aaron is at the Temple. The Man in Black arrives and Claire claims he is her friend.
Sayid demands answers from Dogen and they fight. MIB sends Claire into the Temple to deliver a message. Dogen sends Sayid out to meet MIB with instructions on how to kill him. Sayid fails to do so and MIB offers him the chance to get Nadia back. Sayid returns and tells the Others that MIB wants to leave the island and will take them all with him. Those who remain behind will be killed. Kate returns and talks to Claire. Sayid kills Dogen and Lennon and the Smoke Monster storms through the Temple killing those in his path. Ilana and company return to rescue Miles and escape.
