Lost - "The Last Recruit"

Tonight's episode of Lost, "The Last Recruit," seems to be referencing, at least to me, one Dr. Jack Shephard.  Smokey has said that he must gather the remaining candidates before he can get off the Island.  He has Sayid, Sawyer, Jin and Kate (it is up for debate whether Kate is still a candidate).  Sun and Hurley are at least now both in the same camp as Smokey, but so is Jack.  Whether or not he is willing to follow Smokey is what is at issue.  The look of utter confusion and disbelief that struck Jack's countenance when he saw Smokey as Locke standing there was priceless.  Will the good doctor be receptive to Smokey's plan?  Can the others convince him, or will he have some other plan up his sleeve? 

Further, what will be going on in the Sideways world?  Darlton said in their most recent "Official Lost Podcast" that tonight's episode will not be character-centric.  What I'm expecting to happen is that all of our characters will converge on evidently the only hospital in all of Los Angeles.  There, they will have some kind of cosmic awakening and realize that "they have to go back!"  Jack's already there, Sun, Jin, Locke and presumably Ben are probably on their way too.  I'm not sure how Hurley, Sawyer and Kate will get there, but at least the latter two are together (because Sawyer arrested Kate back in "Recon").

As far as what else I expect to see tonight, I think we'll get a classic Jack vs. Locke debate/standoff, although Locke is no longer Locke.  As much as it has been important for Jack to discover that he can't fix everything, I do miss "Leader Jack," so I hope he asserts himself a little tonight.  We saw in the creepy Willy Wonka preview lat week that Desmond was not killed by his descent down the well, so how will he get out?  Will he encounter anyone down the hole, like Christian Shephard?  How the heck will he get out?!?  I also expect further frustration that Sun and Jin will be kept apart, but maybe, just maybe, I'll be pleasantly surprised and they will finally reunite at the end of the episode. 

Other than these things, I really don't have many more expectations.  It's getting harder and harder to expect anything with such few hours left.  Moreover, I'm not sure I want to have any expectations, lest I be disappointed with the conclusion of the series.  So, anything more that what I've listed above will be nothing but gravy.  I'll be back this weekend with some thoughts on "The Last Recruit," our last episode for two weeks!  Until then...

Enjoy.