In the opening scene, we finally meet Jacob. He’s spinning yarn (on an Ashford Traditional) and weaving a tapestry of some sort on a standing frame loom. Then he goes outside, catches himself some fish and sits down on the beach to cook it and watch an incoming ship, presumably the Black Rock. It must be the 1800s. While Jacob is eating his breakfast, a man greets him and sits down. He accuses Jacob of “bringing” the Black Rock, otherwise there would have been no way for them to find the island. The man is quietly angry and says outsiders only bring corruption and destruction to the island, that it always ends the same. Jacob says it only ends once, and anything before that “is just progress.” The man faces Jacob and announces he very badly wants to kill him, and that one day, sooner or later, he will find a loophole that enables him to do so. Jacob is unimpressed. The camera pans back and we see that the entire exchange occured beneath the Egyptian statue.

Over the years, we see that Jacob is responsible for bringing about events that get our Lostaways on their path to be on Flight 815, essentially bringing them to the island. At some point in all of their pasts Jacob has appeared, always the same age, to physically touch them and say a few persuasive things. The most interesting of these brief meetings is between Jacob and Hurley in a taxi, immediately after Hurley is released from jail. Jacob tells him that perhaps instead of being cursed, he is blessed and that he is definitely not crazy. He speaks plainly to Hurley, telling him to go back to the island and which flight he should take to get there. He leaves behind a guitar case, which Hurley brings with him.

As we left off last time, we know that Jack has taken up Faraday’s mission to “set things right” and detonate Jughead at the Swan station. He believes the effect this will have is to prevent Flight 815 from crashing and they will go on with their lives as they were originally meant to. Sayid is helping him complete this mission with Richard and Eloise, but once they remove the bomb’s core from Jughead and plan the rest of their assault, Richard clocks Eloise on the head and takes her away, saying that Jack and Sayid are on their own and he is just protecting his leader. Jack and Sayid continue through the tunnels and emerge in one of the houses in Dharmaville (presumably Ben’s future house) to find chaos outside. People are running every which way because of the order to evacuate the island of all non-essential personnel so Jack and Sayid, wearing Dharma jumpsuits, try to walk through unnoticed.

Unfortunately, they fail and get shot at. Sayid gets shot in the gut and Jack helps him get away. They’re met by a VW bus, but luckily it’s Jin who opens the door and pulls them in; Hurley and Miles are with him. They drive as fast as they can to the Swan station. Jack explains he has a plan.

In the meantime, Kate is on the submarine with Juliet and Sawyer. She says she’s there because she needs their help, that Jack is planning to detonate a nuclear bomb at the Swan station and they have to stop him. Sawyer says no, that he’s chosen to leave with Juliet and that’s what they’re going to do. But when the guy with the sedatives comes by, Juliet knocks him out and decides they must help Kate. At gunpoint they force the submarine to surface and the three of them paddle back to the island in a raft.

Surprise! When they arrive ashore who walks out of the jungle to greet them? Bernard and Rose! They’ve deliberately stayed hidden and built themselves a house and have been living for the past three years in happily retired bliss. They’ve been keeping an eye on the events surrounding them and they occasionally raid Dharma for food. They point out the way Sawyer, Kate and Juliet need to go in order to reach the Swan.

Hurley abruptly stops the VW bus and everyone wants to know why…it’s because Sawyer, Kate and Juliet are standing in the middle of the road, like superheroes, pointing guns at the bus. Jack gets out and he and Sawyer go for a walk to have a talk. Sawyer tries to convince Jack not to set off the bomb and demands to know why Jack wants to start all over again. Jack says it’s because he lost Kate, and wants to go back to a time where he still has a chance. Sawyer points out that they won’t even know each other and that Kate will be in handcuffs. Then they beat each other to a bloody pulp.

Juliet walks up and stops Sawyer from nearly killing Jack. She says she’s changed her mind and thinks they should set off the bomb after all. What’s changed her mind? A memory of her parents getting divorced, and she gives Sawyer the same speech her mother had given her in the past. She loves Sawyer so she’s letting him go. Kate also talks with Jack and he brings her around as well by telling her that if it works, Aaron can be with his mother, Claire, because she’ll still be alive. So now everyone is on board and the plan is to throw the bomb down into hole being drilled at the Swan station.

While this is happening, Pierre Chang is fighting with a crazed Radzinsky, trying to convince him to stop drilling into the pocket of energy. Radzinsky yells maniacally about having come to the island to change the world, and that’s what he’s going to do, and he goes on about the importance of channeling the electromagnetic energy.

Thirty years in the future, Ilana and her group have made it across the water and are talking about Lapidus and what they should do with them. Ilana wants to keep him around just in case he is a “candidate” for something; they discover he’s awake and they go from being menacing to being friendly toward him. They show him the contents of the big crate they’re carrying, and Frank is dismayed. They go to Jacob’s cabin and find the ash encircling it has been disturbed. Ilana goes inside and finds that Jacob has long since left the cabin and finds a bit of tapestry illustrating the giant Egyptian statue. They head off in search of it.

The statue turns out to be the same place John, Ben, Richard, Sun and the rest of the Others are going. John is on a quest to “meet with” Jacob, but we know he’s already told Ben his plan is to kill Jacob. Ben divulges his plan to obey John completely, because that’s what the island’s spirit in his daughter’s body told him to do, and this makes John happy because he’s planning to make Ben kill Jacob. Ben asks why he’d want to do such a thing, and John reminds Ben how even through sacrifice and loyal service, Jacob has never, ever respected Ben as leader.

They finally reach the statue which by this time is just a leg. John and Ben follow Richard to the door, and Richard is appalled because only one leader may enter. John insists on bringing Ben inside with him, so Richard shows them how to enter and leaves them. The chamber is the one we saw at the beginning of the episode, Jacob’s tapestry is long finished and he is sitting in the corner.

At this time, Ilana’s group reaches the base of the statue and she asks for Ricardus. Richard steps forward and she asks him the question, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Richard replies with a Latin phrase that translates to, “He who will save us all.” They open the crate and show Richard, it’s Locke’s dead body. John is REALLY dead.

Inside the chamber beneath the statue, Jacob greets them and says to John, “Well, you’ve found your loophole.” Jacob recognizes this body of John to be the same man he was speaking with at the beginning of the episode. Ben seems confused and asks if “John” has met Jacob before. “John” replies vaguely, and instructs Ben to go ahead with his task. Jacob faces Ben and tells him that no matter what “John” has told him, Ben has a choice; instead he can walk away and leave the two men to their issues. Ben asks Jacob for validation and when he gets none, he decides to stab him multiple times. Jacob, dying, says, “They’re coming!” and “John” rolls him into the fire.

Back at the Swan, Jack and his crew manage to fight their way onto the scene and Jack drops the bomb, which Sayid has rigged to detonate on impact, down into the well. It does not detonate. Suddenly the electromagnetic energy escapes and starts to pull everything metal down into the well, including Juliet. Chang gets pinned but Miles saves his father. Juliet isn’t so lucky, and after professing their love for each other, Juliet lets go of Sawyer’s hand and falls in. She doesn’t die, however and finds herself within arms reach of the bomb. She grabs a rock and with her last energy smashes the bomb over and over again until it explodes.

AND THAT’S ALL! Dammit. See you in 2010.