It can be argued that Lost is always at its best when it’s focusing on its key mysteries. It can also be argued that it’s at its best when it really hits into the core of a character. This week’s episode, focusing on the enigmatic and weaselly Benjamin Linus, fires both barrels, and the result is something that fans are already hailing as one of the series’ finest hours.

This week on Lost: tensions rise. Lines are drawn. Sides are chosen. And shit gets real.

Season Six of Lost has been calling back to Season One quite a bit. I’d try to start some in-depth analysis regarding symmetry, coming full circle, and duality, but really, the show’s got enough symbolism going on as-is, and it hardly needs me to add to it.

Like a six-year-old onion, the layers of Lost’s mysteries are being peeled back, bit by bit, with the unwanted outer husks having long since been discarded in favor of the meaty center therein. At that center, it seems, is the true nature of the Island itself, and the feud between Jacob and this so-called “Man in Black” who, like Locke before him, doesn’t want you to tell him what he can’t do.

In the early seasons of Lost, Kate was always this tough-as-nails, no-nonsense, ass-kicking sort of gal. Well, except for when the writers got lazy or forgot, at which points she’d randomly turn into a fawning, helpless damsel in distress. More recently, she’s just kind of been a thorn in a lot of people’s sides.

Well, now that we’ve got two universes, we’ve got two Kates, and both of them seem to be back in Ninja Mode, just like how we forgot we used to love.

The past week saw the airing of the premiere of the final season of Lost. A week earlier, Apple made their big iPad announcement. Now, it’s time for Losties and Apple fans to bond—over knowing what it feels like to constantly be made fun of for liking something that other people shouldn’t even have to care about.