This may be one of the toughest episodes I?ll ever have to review. While I enjoy the complexity of ?Lost? and am a huge time travel fan, this episode left me somewhat curious, mostly entertained, and quite honestly, very confused.

The time shifting has left the remaining islanders stranded in the 1950s, where we ultimately see a young Charles Widmore. We also see a Richard Alpert who doesn?t recognize John Locke because it?s the 1950?s version of Alpert, who doesn?t age and looks exactly the same as he always has. In that regard, he?s the Dick Clark of the ?Lost? universe.

I was heartened to see that Desmond and Penny have found happiness, and have a child name Charlie. That was probably the most predictable element of the episode, and the most logical. Desmond searches for records of Faraday at Oxford, but they deny his association with the institution. But Desmond finds his old lab and learns some disturbing stuff about the nature of Faraday?s experiments, which ultimately leads to a confrontation with Widmore -- the old version of Widmore that is.

We meet a gun-toting damsel who causes distress named Ellie, who may be a young Mrs. Hawking, or a young Danielle Rousseau. Or she may just be a girl toting a gun -- we simply don?t know yet.

If there is a problem with ?Lost? this season, and this episode in particular, it is that the various time shifts and the alternate versions of characters really is getting confusing. My wife, who is a semi-regular viewer, asked, ?Who are all these people?? I tried to explain, but found that I couldn?t -- at least not in one or two sentences.

While I enjoyed the episode, I do fear that ?Lost? is spinning out of control. Complexity is a good thing, but only if it is accompanied by some clarity. This episode added complexity without clarity. As a regular viewer, I can, with some effort, make sense of most of what is going on in this episode. That doesn?t bode well for viewers who might have to miss an episode and may find it easier to simply give up than catch up.

What Worked

Henry Ian Cusick is a fine actor, as is Terry O?Quinn. They were able to carry an episode that left out nearly every other major character.

What Didn?t Work

Nobody overdoes birthing scenes like ?Lost.? Also, no Jack, no Kate, no Claire, no Sayid, no Ben, and I can?t believe I am going to say this: no Hurley! Not the best episode in terms of cast utilization, but adding just one more element might have made my brains melt. Oh wait -- that was on ?Fringe? this week.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

"Jughead? was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Paul Zbyszewski. It was directed by Rod Holcomb. "Lost" stars Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Michael Emerson.

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