LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, Episode 20, Two For the Road

On-Island Events: Jack is suspicious of Michael's sudden appearance but with Kate, helps him back to the hatch. While Ana Lucia is questioning "Henry," he attacks her but is thwarted by Locke. Ana Lucia confesses to Libby that "Henry" tried to kill her; Libby advises Ana Lucia not to do anything stupid in retaliation. 

Locke is confused about why "Henry" didn't try to kill him when he had the chance, when he asks "Henry" about it he replies that Locke is "one of the good ones." "Henry" admits that he has failed his mission and that before becoming ensnared in Rousseau's net, he had been on his way to get Locke. Ana Lucia asks Sawyer for a gun but he refuses.

Jack is unable to rouse Michael to consciousness; Locke thinks Michael's presence suggests the trade for "Henry" was accepted. Ana Lucia follows Sawyer out to the jungle and again asks for a gun. Sawyer declines once again but after the two have sex, Ana Lucia secretly manages to get one. Hugo and Libby make plans to go on a beach picnic. Locke covers for Ana Lucia when Jack notices her injury from "Henry." Michael wakes up with a headache but informs Kate, Jack, and Locke that he found the others. Michael states that the others were dirty and tent-dwelling but that he suspected they were holding Walt in a guarded hatch. 

Kate, Jack, and Locke confront Sawyer demanding guns while Ana Lucia confronts "Henry" in the armory. Unable to shoot "Henry" though she wants to, Ana Lucia hands her gun over to Michael, who in turn shoots her. Seeking blankets in the hatch for the picnic, Libby comes upon the scene; Michael shoots her, too. After he sees "Henry" in the armory, Michael shoots himself in the arm.

Flashbacks: Ana Lucia's mother brings her to the morgue to see Jason McCormick, the man responsible for shooting Ana Lucia and causing her miscarriage (who Ana Lucia shot). Ana Lucia hands in her badge and quits.

Ana Lucia runs into Christian Shephard at a bar in LAX; he invites her to accompany him to Sydney. Christian employs Ana Lucia as a sort of bodyguard and after drinking for four days, has her accompany
him to a house where he argues with a blond woman. "She's my daughter and I have a right to see her," Christian shouts.  

The next day, Ana Lucia drives Christian to a bar where he hits a passing Sawyer with the door of the car. Later while at the airport, Ana Lucia waits in a ticket line behind Jin and Jack, who pleads with an agent over securing his father's remains for Oceanic flight 815. Ana Lucia has an emotional phone call with her mother but says she's on her way home. 

Greater Meaning: Two for the road seems to reference Ana Lucia and Christian setting out on an adventure in Australia, but takes on new meaning at the episode's conclusion. Ana Lucia and Libby were killed by Michael, another survivor. Questions surrounding these sudden murders revolve around Walt, did Michael learn something that changed him or was he instructed by someone else to kill the two women? Is there indeed a trade happening, Walt for "Henry?" If so, this makes "Henry" more important than we may have realized. 

Other than Libby's dazed few moments in the hospital during Hugo's flashback, we have not seen any backstory on Libby's life; we know very little about her. Ana Lucia, on the other hand, has had two episodes devoted to her backstory and has had much dangled and then taken from her throughout the show's second season: 

1. Would-be mother - - - baby lost after getting shot

2. Reunification with mother and return to normal life, post revenge killing - - - Oceanic flight 815 crashes onto island

3. Romantic interest of Goodwin - - - betrayed and nearly killed by Goodwin 

4. Would-be leader of the tail section - - - outcast after accidentally shooting Shannon

5. Accepted island colleague respected by Locke, Sayid, and Jack - - - betrayed and killed by Michael 

Ana Lucia's inability to kill "Henry" allowed him to be saved by Michael and ultimately led to her own murder as well as Libby's. Michael needed Ana Lucia to give him the combination to the armory and trusting his intentions were if not honorable, then loyal to Ana Lucia and the rest of the survivors, she provided it. Knowing what we know about Ana Lucia's history, this is a very sad, very frustrating way for her story to end, but fit within the repeated potential-downfall seesaw that seemed to plague her existence. Michael's pained look and subsequent apology suggests he is upset about what he's doing; he's been nothing but an honest and helpful character thus far, devoted above all to his son Walt. In order for Michael to have turned to murder, something serious must be at play, most likely involving "Henry's" people.

Further Questions:  

1. Did Michael kill for the others?

2. Is Walt a bargaining chip?

3. Is Michael going to successfully get "Henry" out of the hatch?

4. Was Michael telling the truth about the others? 

5. Who is the daughter Christian was yelling about? Who was the Australian woman?

6. Will we ever learn more about Libby?