S1Ep12 – Whatever the Case May Be (Kate’s second flashback)

[This message was initially sent as an email to friends, it was loaded into this blog 2.5 years later]

Hello -

**** GENERAL COMMENTS *****

I will start off by saying that I am sorry this message is ridiculously long. There is more than usual to cover as people on the chat boards have been going NUTS since there had been a three-week hiatus and then finally a new episode. Also, I had more time on my hands during the winter break to be a total nerd.

With that said, unfortunately, most people including me didn't like the first episode of 2005 - Kate's second flashback (I will abbreviate it throughout this message as WTCMB), calling it "the worst episode yet" or my personal favorite, "The Emperor Has No Bikini Top" in honor of Shannon's sunbathing scene. The reasons were that 1) Kate is annoying to most people, 2) Locke was hardly in the episode and 3) nothing has been resolved at all since the pilot and people have become impatient.

Oh ye of little faith, do not abandon the show just yet, I say! It is still better than everything else on TV! While I was disappointed with this episode as well, I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that they are going to redeem themselves this week and that we will get one little teeny clue as to something that is possibly going on, and a bigger clue within 4 weeks. More on that later. If you don't have time to read all of this message, just BE SURE to watch this week's episode, and if possible, watch it the night it airs (this is for you, Tivo freaks) because I am quite positive that people are going to be talking about it the next day and you will have the surprise ruined.


***** MESSAGE BOARD TOPICS ***********

Below as usual are some highlights from the message boards.

The issues being thrown around on the boards of late include (both from WTCMB and overall theories/issues):

New Theory:
This was the only thing I've read for a while about the show that made me pause and think, "Hmmm, I think this person may be on to something." The person basically just threw it out there and admitted that they didn't have a ton of "proof" to support it, but the idea is that the island is stuck in some sort of time loop that is equivalent to 4 years. Some people on the island have been there for a long time and are living through each loop, but some come in (new people to the loop) and some leave (they die), and it is the "monster" who is deciding who stays and who goes. Through memory (thus the reason for flashbacks), people can realize what's happening and try to stop it. This person mentioned a few things that I had noticed before: The first time Kate and Sawyer wrestle in an early episode, he says "I've been waiting 4 years for this" (I remember thinking that was strange, but many people also think they knew each other before the crash anyway...). Also, Locke had mentioned in his flashback that he had been in a wheelchair for 4 years. The signal has supposedly been playing 16 years
(4 x 4). This person thinks Claire and her baby have something to do with stopping the loop and that's why they were taken. They also thought that the metal thing Locke came across was part of THEIR plane from the original time it crashed that had sunk into the ground. I just thought of this one: The skeletons they found in the waterfall cave may end up being their OWN. Remember when Jack pulled out the bag with two rocks (black and white) in it? Well that was probably Locke's body or something. Things like the polar bears and the original ship crashing, etc., just keep happening over and over, which is why Danielle is positive that there are no monsters - she had figured out what's going on. I really don't know if this is plausible because too much doesn't fit into it, but I definitely thought it was a cool idea in general and I would not be surprised now if SOME sort of time warp thing is going on.


Unnatural rising of the tide:
Sayid mentioned at the beginning of WTCMB that the tide was coming in way too quickly out of nowhere. While most people agreed that this was eerie timing because of the tsunami, the theories about this are: 1) someone is controlling the atmosphere around the island (government project theory), 2) the island itself "wants" them to all move into the jungle so it's forcing them there 3) some other catastrophic event happened to the rest of the world and the waves are the after-effects 4) it was foreshadowing that "the tide is turning" for the survivors 5) it is nothing more than the fact that it was too costly for the producers to keep the airplane props on the Hawaiian beach (they have admitted this, but I doubt that there isn't a way they're weaving it into the plot since Sayid specifically mentioned it).

Sawyer's ummm.....
People were OBSESSED with the fact that Sawyer's pants were slipping down when he was swimming with Kate. Hey, I just report the facts.

Numbers
Guess what number appeared again this episode? 815. Kate wanted them to open box 815. Also the same number as their flight that crashed.
The airplane she had in the envelope had 5025 on it. No one has mentioned this on the boards. So I am just a dork.

Why is no one looking for Claire?
People were very mad about this. Everyone seems to pretty much have gotten over it?

Kate's toy model airplane
Half of the people seemed to be annoyed that that's all that was in the envelope. Some people thought she never knew what was in the envelope until that moment because they think the police captured her right after the robbery (you can see that the bank manager DID hit the alarm button when the masked guys came in) Some people think that the envelope was switched. Some people think that there MUST be more to the airplane than just being a toy airplane (I agree). Fewer people than I expected mentioned the fact that it was freaky that it WAS AN AIRPLANE in the first place.... - hello, was she not just in an airplane crash? Coincidence? I think not.

Kate = bad
I do not think Kate is an overall "good person" anymore. And she is my least favorite character on the show. Most people agree with me. : ) Side note - they were in New Mexico in the robbery. Someone thought that Hurley said he was from New Mexico... not sure.

Man she loved = dad?
When she said "A man I loved... a man I killed!" some people think it is her dad she is talking about. Especially since she has mentioned him a few times, said he was in the army, and the toy plane looked militaristic (is that a word?).

To clear up any confusion, "the man she loved" was definitely NOT the guy robbing the bank that she kissed mid-robbery (LAME!) ... because she was trying to get in the safety deposit box that belonged to this mystery man, so it was obviously NOT the guy in the flashback. People on the boards seemed confused about that. But I am not. : )

Religious aspect
Religion has come more openly into the show at the end of WTCMB with Rose's prayer and telling Charlie to ask the Big Guy Upstairs for help. And how much do you want to bet that Rose's husband does show up at some point in the series?

Beyond the Sea/Finding Nemo
The song at the end that Shannon song was "Beyond the Sea" - it played at the end of Finding Nemo, which was the movie she couldn't think of the title for. There is an English and French version of the song with slightly different lyrics.


Sayid/Shannon future love connection
If you did not call that when you watched the show then you are hopeless.


Previews - no one on the boards is even close to guessing what it's about...
I am personally shocked that very very very few people on the boards have called what is going to happen in the next episode. Does it not look GREAT? My favorite part was with Locke beaned Boone, I rewound that several times and laughed each time. Because I cannot stand Boone.


POSTS FROM THE BOARDS

- Now, what if Claire wasn't supposed to be on the plane? What if the psychic put her and the child on the plane, because for some reason the two of them will stop the loop. Could be why Ethan took them.
- Was Hurley even in the episode last night? Could the metal door be from an old/abandoned/"abandoned" WWII bunker? Seems like reason enough to go through the trouble of building something underground. Has that been thrown out there anymore? I'm guessing it'd be Japanese.
- Sayid is an ex-military officer for Iraq. Iraq has less coastline than Iowa. I'm not sure Sayid’s the guy I'd be consulting the tide charts with. "Jack, I just discovered another island mystery. The water, taste it. There appears to be a salty flavor unlike any water I have ever had before."
- I love that the writers of this show seem so open to embrace so many different styles of mysticism and faith-systems; and, not just that, but that, the way they do it, we see exactly how similar the roles these peoples' beliefs take in their (not exactly day-to-day) life. Rose and Charlie praying, Claire's astrology, Sayid's praying...I kinda want to assume, too, that, when Locke sits alone on the beach, looking out to see, he's meditating. I kinda have to assume, too, that Sawyer is an agnostic or atheist, especially based on his very pragmatic disbelief of Walt's retelling of Claire's kidnapping & everything.
- How can you call Locke a Buddhist? The guy hunts more than Ted Nugent and last I checked Buddhists do not kill living creatures. And just because Charlie prayed does not mean it is going to be the second coming of Jesus Christ on the island. Let's see, Charlie just quit using drugs, the girl he liked was just kidnapped, and he had a very-near death experience. Who wouldn't pray after that? I pray every time I run a yellow light that it doesn't turn red, that doesn't mean a war of the angels is going to show up in my front lawn. This show is not going to turn into some kind of Left Behind novel, because then it would suck. The writers seem to know how to use faith in a story, but not overuse faith in a story.
- I find it to be very interesting that Rose is almost convincing me that her husband is not dead. Anything could be in the case - Perhaps Geraldo will appear and open the case for us and find that this is where Capone hid everything.
- No one is mentioning what Locke and Boone are doing out in the jungle. It obviously has to do with that metal object they found last episode. Then in the previews Locke knocks out Boone when Boone tells Locke that he wants to tell everyone about what they have found. Any thoughts about what they found? It’s probably a Starbucks. They are everywhere. Locke and Boone having a couple of caps and fraps. And what about Claire, everyone seems like ‘oh well, not a big deal.’

- e