LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Season 2, Episode 22, Three Minutes

On-Island Events: Michael's attempts to find Walt are replayed in a then-and-now style. Michael stands outside the hatch, reads a pink piece of paper, and then sets it on fire. Jack tries to discuss a strategy in going after the others but Michael wants to call the shots. Hugo voices concern about Ana Lucia and Libby's bodies and Jack agrees they will bury them and go after Walt the next day. 

Michael cleans Libby's blood from the floor as Eko shares his thoughts about hell and sin. Michael meets Jack in the jungle and again insists that he decide the way they go after Walt; he wants Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hugo, and no one else. Jack agrees. Michael returns with Jack to the beach and shares the news of Ana Lucia and Libby's murders. Michael becomes angry when Sawyer asks Sayid to come along on the expedition and later speaks to Sayid about it, stating he must be the one in charge. 

Eko announces to Charlie that he will be staying in the hatch, no longer participating in the building of their church; Charlie reacts poorly. Later Charlie follows Vincent to Sawyer's tent, where the heroin statues have been stashed and tosses the statues into the ocean. 

As Kate and Hugo dig the graves for Ana Lucia and Libby, Michael tries to encourage Hugo to come along on the journey to rescue Walt. Hugo apologizes but states emphatically he will not go along. As Sayid and Jack walk to the funeral on the beach Sayid suggests that Michael has been compromised. Jack wants to speak directly to Michael about it but Sayid prefers to keep their suspicions secret in order to create an advantage. Jack gives Ana Lucia's eulogy; Hugo gives Libby's and tells Michael he's changed his mind about going along. Just as they finish the funerals Sun points to a boat coming near their beach.

Flashbacks: Michael encounters some of the others; they exchange gunfire and eventually capture Michael. As it turns out, the others keep Michael in the jungle until dark and eventually confront Jack, Locke, and Sawyer as it happened before when the bearded man and his people lit up the torches. Alex, the teenage girl who saved Claire, speaks with Michael and asks about Claire and the baby. After Jack, Locke, Sawyer, and Kate leave the jungle, the bearded man redistributes the weapons he took from the group and Alex apologizes before knocking Michael out with the butt of one of the guns. 

The next day Michael arrives with the others at a cliffside tent settlement and he meets Miss Klugh, who asks him a series of questions about Walt. "Did Walt ever appear in a place he wasn't supposed to be?" she asks; Michael is confused. Later Michael demands he be allowed to see Walt; Miss Klugh delivers him and allows Michael to speak with him for three minutes only. Walt says he's not been harmed but that he's being made to take tests. "They're not who they say they are, they're pretending," Walt explains. After they take Walt away Miss Klugh tells Michael that in order to get his son back he will need to retrieve their man, who is being held by his people. She gives him a list of four people, "James Ford" being one of them, and promises Walt will be freed if Michael succeeds. 

Greater Meaning: Since seeing Michael suddenly murder Ana Lucia and Libby we have wondered what would drive him to do such a thing, and now we know: "Henry's" people are using Walt as a bargaining chip. It seems that Michael wasn't lying about having seen the others in their camp (canvas tents, dirty clothes) but something still appears to be missing in our ability to understand who the others are and what they do --- the fake beard, costumes, and makeup that Kate found in the medical station. When Claire had her flashbacks of Ethan and his people preparing to operate on her, the man Ethan spoke with was the bearded man, sans beard. He was dressed in typical-for-the-timeframe clothing, the others were dressed in professional medical garb. Now Michael sees the group of others dressed in shabby clothing living in makeshift huts. Do they live this way and then don medical uniforms and practice medicine when the need arises or do they live in a modern, more sophisticated area and simply pretend to be a primitive people? Why do they want to fool Locke, Kate, Sawyer, Jack, and Michael but didn't bother to try to fool Claire? Walt confirms that the others are "pretending." Why are they doing this? 

Further Questions: 

1. Will the others keep their promise to Michael and allow him to reunite with Walt?

2. What was that list all about, and why only the four names?

3. Who is the leader of the others? 

4. What did Miss Klugh mean when she asked about Walt "showing up in a place he wasn't supposed to be?"

5. What are the others going to do with Michael's blood sample? 

6. How did Walt communicate with Michael on a computer? 

7. Will Sayid follow the group?