I haven’t commented on developments in the show "Lost" recently because there didn’t seem much to say, but this week’s episode  increases the intensity level of the plot with the return of Michael, who now appears to be an agent working undercover for the Others.  Is he a kind of brainwashed Manchurian Candidate, or has he been told that he must  accomplish his "mission" successfully if he was ever to see his son, Walt, again? Or has he just been convinced that the Others are OK, and he has willingly enlisted in their cause?  Not enough information to know yet.

It’s quite possible that Michael passed the test, for his issue was his earlier willingness to give up his son to his stronger-willed ex-wife.  His willingness on the Island to do anything to get him back could very well have been the path of his redemption.  But he doesn’t seem like someone who has been lost and then found.  He’s still got issues to be resolved.

The episode also intensifies  one’s sense of ambiguity regarding the Others–Are they evil or are they good?  Is Henry the lying sneak the Survivors  believe him to be?  Is he a figure who evokes what’s worst in each person he meets so that it comes out front and center for them either to confront and subdue or do they remain rather controlled by their own inner demons?  Is he a Tester, in this case testing Locke (whom he tells was one of the good ones he was coming to take back to the Others (Remember the scene in the First Season when Locke is being dragged away by the monster only to be pulled back by Jack.  Locke was OK with being taken away before, but he’s not all that sure now.) And is he testing Ana Lucia, whom he tells was earlier perceived as redeemable by the Peace Corp Other (forget his name) she killed.  Was she given one last chance, and did she take it by choosing not to shoot Henry?  Did she lose it again by giving the gun to Michael thinking his intention was to kill Henry even though she could not?

I think a case could be made for Henry being a Satanic figure–in the root meaning of the word, which means "accuser" or "adversary" in the court of what-goes-around-comes-around cosmic or karmic justice.  Isn’t this the stance he takes toward Ana Lucia when he accuses her of killing two of the Others, including one who was her advocate?  His job is to test the worthiness of those who would pass to the next level.  It’s the role the Satan figure plays in the Book of Job, where he’s one of the angels who has the ear of God and who convinces God that Job is obedient only because his life is easy.  What if we made it more difficult.  Would his faith remain as strong.  As it turns out, his faith was that strong.  Job passed the test.  I think it’s in this sense that the Survivors are being tested by the Others like Henry.  They seem malevolent, but deep down they are hoping that you prove worthy and pass the test.  We’ll see if that’s right.

In any event, Michael’s return at first appears to be a call to arms for the Survivors to attack the camp of the Others which he describes as austere, unarmed,  and peopled mainly by older women. Jack and Locke run off to get the guns from Sawyer.  This leaves Michael alone to accomplish the first part of his mission, which is to give the final test to Ana Lucia and to free Henry.  He’s shaking and distraught as he does it (he’s seems hardly a willing agent in all of this), and he is startled by Libby’s unexpected appearance. 

But apparently whether it was his intention or not, "It is written," and it’s time for Libby to go as well. And what about Libby? Was her test to love somebody who was physically
repulsive?  Or was it about something she did to Hurley while they were both at the mental hospital for which she had to make amends?  Is her death going to turn the good-natured, but morally ambiguous, Hurley into a vengeful monster?

So nothing so far has developed to undermine my Purgatorio hypothesis, and several things have developed to support it. From the next week episode’s preview, it appears that the shamanic Eko is going to come back into the plot as a key actor to counter the assault faction.  I see two factions developing.  It will be interesting to see who sides with Eko, or if anyone does. (Will Locke?)  The show, so far, has failed to disapppoint.  (I’ve pretty much lost interest in "Desperate Housewives"–once the Dana mystery was cleared up, nothing really to drive the plot.  Every episode seems forced, and I don’t find myself caring about these cartoon people at all.)