1977

The episode opens Daniel Faraday's death, this time as seen through the eyes of Jack and Kate. After he gets shot, they try to run, but Charles Widmore rides up on his horse stops them.

In the tent, Jack is a believer in Faraday's theory that they can change the future so that everything that's happened to them will never happen.

Ellie walks in and wants to know why Faraday needed the bomb.

She assures them she'll believe whatever they say because she just killed her son, the same man who told him to bury the bomb 23 years earlier - before disappearing into thin air no less.

Jack tells her that by using the bomb, they can alter the future and undo what Ellie just did to her son. She's all for it, but says that unfortch, someone built an entire village over it. The Barracks.

Meanwhile, Sawyer and Juliet are being interrogated by Phil and Radzinsky. Sawyer won't tell them where Kate went so he gets knocked around.

Phil then slaps Juliet instead, and Horace figures out that the fat guy, Hurley, is also in on ... whatever it is these people are in on.

While this is going on, Miles and Hurley are about to escape to the beach, when Dr. Chang encounters them. He asks if they're really from the future.

Hurley tries to lie and say they're not, but Chang catches in him various lies and he finally admits that yes, he's from the future.

Chang now believes what Faraday told him about needing to evacuate the entire Island, so he goes to see Horace and stumbles on the bloody and bruised Sawyer.

He orders everyone on the submarine, now.

Sawyer offers to help draw the DHARMA folks a map to the hostiles' camp, as well as tell them whatever they want to know, in exchange for a ticket out of there on the sub. They agree.

While this is going on, Ellie tries to take Kate and Jack to the Barracks to get the bomb. Kate wants no part of this and tries to leave, but the Others don't let her. That is until the others (except for Ellie) are shot, out of nowhere ... by Sayid!

Sayid tries to wrap his head around changing the future, which he thinks he already did by killing Ben. Kate tells him Ben did not actually die.

As they board the sub, Sawyer and Juliet seem happy to bid farewell to the place that has caused them so much misery ... but another passenger is arriving on the submarine at the last second: Kate.

Richard, Jack, Eloise and Sayid take a swim down to the underground tunnels beneath the Barracks where the bomb was hidden. They travel through the caves and find it. Now what?

2007

Richard Alpert gets a visitor in the form of John Locke, leader of the Others, who tells Richard that they have an errand to run.

It's hard to tell who Richard is more surprised to see, Locke or Ben, who is meekly following John and looking all sorts of banged up and pathetic.

Sun, who somehow has no idea who Richard is, learns that he's very, very old and immediately asks if he knows what happened to her husband and friends in 1977. Richard says he saw them and watched them all die.

Locke, Richard and Ben go to run their errand. Locke doesn't reveal much other than to request a meeting with Jacob.

Ben is skeptical, but Locke tells Richard he needs to go help a man who's been shot in the leg. The man who was shot is John Locke.

This is the scene in the season premiere when Richard helped dig Ethan's bullet out of Locke's leg before giving him the compass.

While Richard helps the Locke from the past, present-day John and Ben talk about how the island told Locke to do this - after which Locke deduces Ben has never actually seen Jacob.

Richard returns after telling Locke he has to die to bring the Oceanic Six back ... to discover that Locke really did die, only to come back and be reborn. Insanity.

The trio returns to the beach camp where Locke addresses the Others. They all take orders from Jacob, who no one has ever seen, so Locke asks that they now come along with him to see Jacob.

Ben and Richard worry that Locke is trouble.

They next morning Locke leads a pilgrimage to Jacob and Ben voices concern.  Locke lets Ben in on a little secret, namely that he's not interested in reuniting with his friends in 1977.

Why is Locke going to see Jacob? To kill him.

Bong.