Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Sayid confronts Michael about his presence on the freighter, and a long flashback explains the journey that brought him there. After leaving the island with Walt, Michael returned to New York and confessed his killings to his son. Walt now lives with Michael’s mother and refuses to see him. Haunted by Libby, Michael survives a deliberate car crash. Tom then finds him and claims the island will not allow him to die because he still has work to do.
Tom blames Charles Widmore for the staged wreck of Oceanic 815 and recruits Michael to infiltrate the freighter as Kevin Johnson. Michael boards in Fiji with a package supplied by the Others. When he activates its apparent bomb, it produces a message instead of exploding. Ben later contacts him and says innocent crew members must be spared. He orders Michael to gather information and sabotage the radio room and engines to prevent the ship reaching the island.
Back in the present, Michael’s explanation fails to persuade Sayid. He takes Michael to Captain Gault and identifies him as both a survivor of Flight 815 and the saboteur. On the island, Ben tells Locke’s group that Michael is his spy. He sends Alex, Rousseau and Karl toward the Temple for safety. Their journey ends in an ambush: Karl and Rousseau are shot, and Alex calls out that she is Ben’s daughter to stop the hidden attackers from killing her.