S2Ep11 - The Hunting Party (Jack's fifth flashback) - 1/18/06

Hello my dear friends -

I must say, when I learned a few weeks ago that this episode was going to be yet ANOTHER Jack flashback, I was frustrated. But I am happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Hunting Party,' and thought it was actually much funnier than TPTB probably intended it to be...

Most people on the boards thought it wasn't nearly as good as Eko's flashback, that the writing was very poor, and were annoyed that the Lostaways didn't ask more questions to Zeke/Chief Hillbilly. However, the fact that they actually talked to Chief Hillbilly (C.H.) at all was such a surprise to most that that outweighed the annoying aspects of the show.

MICHAEL

This poster summed it up best:
"Harrold Perrineau did a good job at looking the part of batshit crazy."

Chief Hillbilly said that Michael will never find them. So who gave Michael the directions via IM, and where is he now?

JACK!BACKS / FLASH!JACKS

Summary of the Jack!Backs in this episode, which revealed very little new information:

• Jack is always trying to save everybody.
• Jack neglects his wife because he's a crazy workaholic.
• Jack's dad disapproves of Jack's actions on several levels.
• Jack does NOT save Yanni's European uncle.
• Jack "kisses back" the extraordinarily beautiful Italian chick, but of course still does the right thing and walks away and even tells his wife about it just to drive home the point of how "moral" and "right" Jack is always trying to be.
• Jack's wife was already cheating on him and leaves his ass anyway.
• Matthew Fox displays his incredible crying skills once again.

THE ABSOLUTE ONLY thing I thought was useful from that flashback was fairly major. It was at the end, when she confessed that she'd been seeing someone... someone else. That made me pause and think... 'hmmm.... his wife said she'd been seeing someone... I think I vaguely remember a picture in Desmond's room that caused Jack to do a double-take...'. Tivo to the rescue - thank God I still had 'Orientation' saved. Indeed, there was a picture in Desmond's room in the hatch of Desmond and a woman. The camera paused on it a second, showed Jack looking quizically at it, and then moved on. I of course also paused on it, and can't really tell if it's Sarah (Jack's wife). It's not definitely her, but it's not definitely NOT her, either (figure THAT sentence out!). Whomever it was was kind of shaded in the picture. However, I remember when I watched that episode that I thought it was extremely weird that when Jack confronted Desmond in the jungle, they had this exchange:

DESMOND: You're a doctor, right? There was this girl -- you were worried -- you said, you said you failed her. That was you.
JACK: It doesn't matter.
DESMOND: Was she okay, the girl?
JACK: It doesn't matter.
DESMOND: What happened to her?
JACK: It doesn't matter.
DESMOND: How can you say it doesn't matter?
JACK: I married her! [Jack breaks down crying.]
DESMOND: Right, and you're not married to her anymore, then?

Huh?
I mean, with ALL that has happened to both of them, and with the fact that they had met years before and now were both on Freak Island, isn't there anything else they could think to talk about? Like perhaps, "Hey Desmond, if you think the island is going to blow up if we don't push the button, then where exactly are you going right now?" They definitely had Desmond ask Jack about "that girl he saved" for a reason, and my guess (and this is a spoiler-free true GUESS) is that Sarah will have ended up being involved with Desmond in some way. However, if seems if that were the case, Desmond at least would KNOW that he was dating Jack's ex-wife. Someone on the boards said that she couldn't have been involved with Desmond because Desmond had been on the island for three years, and he would've already been on the island by the time Sarah left Jack. But since I'm still not positive that things are moving in a linear fashion (time warp/loop theory), I wanted to mention this possibility.

Despite the fact that I immediately thought about Desmond, everyone else on the boards thought that Sarah was either having an affair with Jack's dad, or with Gabriela (Italian chick). ?!!?!? I highly, highly doubt either of those two scenarios are going to pan out.

GOOD GOD - I just typed out ALL of that above and then came across this site - this guy has the screen cap of Desmond's pic and thinks that he was with the woman who was supposed to adopt Claire's baby before she backed out (even though that woman was married and with her husband when trying to get Claire to sign the adoption papers). And some people aren't even sure it's Desmond, either. I'm way too confused now and must stop thinking about this - so judge for yourself - you just need to scroll down a little bit once you hit this site:

Desmond's Hatch Picture

One last comment on Flash!Jack - his tattoos were airbrushed out. Thus guaranteeing us a SIXTH Jack flackback at some point in the series - the writers have specifically said they will incorporate those tattoos into Jack's story.

SHE'S NOT GONNA TAKE IT. NO! SHE AIN'T GONNA TAKE IT!

SHE'S NOT GONNA TAKE IT... ANYMOOOOOOORE.

Jin: I don't need a hat.
Sun: [paraphrased]: Yes, you WILL wear this goofy hat.

Don't mess with me...

Jin: "... But Michael's my friend!"
Sun: "...And I'm your wife."

BOOYA!

Jin: "I don't like being told what to do."
Sun: [paraphrased] "I didn't like being bossed around for 4 years either, you bastard!"

Ooohhhhh, snap!

Sun: 3, Jin: 0

Sun's mad as hell and she's not going to take it anymore! I love it.

LOCKE

Locke served to deliver up one of the recurring themes of the series tonight: free will. The whole "don't tell me what I can't do!" line has been uttered by both Jack and Locke in the past, and now Locke's trying to remind Jack that Crazy!Michael is going to do whatever the hell he wants.

From a poster:

"My favorite conversation was the one between Locke and Jack on the theme of "Who are WE to tell him (Michael) what he can or can't do?" Quite right, Locke. Which brings us to the theme for the episode, Jack doesn't like being told what he should or shouldn't do... not by the Chief of Surgery, and certainly not by the Chief of the Island-billies."

One last point on Locke: we now know why he was calling Hurley 'Hugo' in Season One - he actually saw the manifest and hence also knew Sawyer's real name.

WHAT'S UP WITH GERONIMO JACKSON?

Since Charlie specifically mentioned that he had never heard of this band, you KNOW all of the nerds immediately did all the work for us and researched Geronimo Jackson, and came up with... nothing. The current theory on the boards is that it was actually a high school band J.J. Abrams (show creator) was in or something. Since they specifically mentioned it, I am sure it will play some strange part in the show in the future.

Another poster's comment on that hatch scene (which was my favorite scene of the episode):

"Even though he was only there for about twenty seconds, I loved Sayid. "This music is quite depressing." And then after hearing that 'everybody' had gone to look for Michael: "Who's everybody?" which of course could be translated, "How'd I get stuck with you B-group losers?""

HILLBILLIES R US, AGAIN

The reappearance of Chief Hillbilly, who is referred to as "Mr. Friendly" in the transcripts and the cast list, elicited many comments from the boards:

• "Oh, no, Zeke is Rupert from Survivor! Either that or a really lost, disgruntled Santa Claus."
• "The Gortons Boatbilly sure is a stickler for manners, isn't he?"
• "I've just had a thoughtI They're in a mysterious place. There are polar bears. The guy who seems to run the place is a fat guy with a long white beard who seems to want all the "good" people and children with him, They're at the North Pole! The others are Elves. It all makes sense now!"
• "The thing that bugged me about Zeke was that his beard and eyebrows (especially eyebrows) seemed like they might come loose at anytime and fall off. You'd think that they could afford some better hair and makeup artists at this point."

Another totally random, interesting side-note:

"M.C. Gainey played Zeke, who is officially named "Mr. Friendly." For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Gainey's work, he is also the naked guy in "Sideways." "

Here's a very important point that I totally missed while watching the show:

"Zeke quoted Alvar Hanso! Holy shit! is all I can say: (from The Hanso Foundation web site):
“From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more - to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible.” - Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N. Security Council, 1967"

This point above of course lends credence to the theory that either Chief Hillbilly is Mr. Degroot (U of M research who started the Dharma Initiative, which was funded by Alvar Hanso), or that The Others are the result of the Dharma Initiative's experiments gone awry - they were brought to the island for the experiments, abandoned, and now control the island with the wide array of strange tools provided to them by the hatch stations.

Despite the fact that no one except Locke asked ANY good questions to Chief Hillbilly (Locke asked "How do you know our names?" and got no answer), we did still learn a few things from their encounter.

1) Either there are many Others and they can hide really well, or they have Star Wars-like force field technology along with "Clapper"-ish remote-torch-lighting abilities. I am actually too ashamed to tell you how many times I rewound the scene where Sawyer moved to shot at Chief Hillbilly and instead was grazed himself. I was POSITIVE that he did shoot at C.H., that I heard a "ping!" and that the bullet bounced back at him off of a force field instead. A few others on the boards thought this, too, so I don't feel so bad. But my co-worker CF called me out on the fact that I "just want there to be a force field." Yes, I do! Upon several re-watchings, I still won't totally let go of that hope, but do admit that it's a tad more likely that before Sawyer pulled the trigger, someone out of sight shot something at him and had incredible aim so as to just graze him but not really hurt him. Those same invisible Others must have lit the torches on command, too.

One funny post on the torches:

"Zeke (paraphrasing): That's an interesting theory. Light 'em up!
[Multiple torches are lit.]
Jeff Probst steps into the scene: How's everyone's doing tonight? On this island, fire equals life. Etc. etc. Okay, let's get started. The fifth person voted off of the island tonight is..."

2. Could there be two groups of Others? People have mentioned this before - that perhaps the likes of Ethan and Goodwin were not from the same group of Others as Chief Hillbilly is. Everyone on the boards noticed C.H.'s weird reaction to Jack attempting to suprise him by revealing that he knew they sent a spy, Ethan, into their camp. He was kind of looking like, "What are you talking about?" and then said his "That's an interesting theory" line. Another reason people think that there are two groups is that while Ethan an Goodwin viciously killed people, C.H.'s group never has killed anyone that we know of. They kidnapped Walt, shot Sawyer in the shoulder, fire-bombed the raft, shot Sawyer again when they definitely could have killed any of the Three Stooges, and also let Kate go. If they wanted to kill the Lostaways, they have had several chances and have not done so.

3. Walt is apparently fine, and definitely "a very special boy." A reason to think that Goodwin and Ethan ARE from the same group that C.H. is from is that when Goodwin talked to Ana Lucia before his death-by-spear, he told her that the children taken from her camp were all fine. Meaning that both C.H. and Goodwin are a part of some group(s) on the island that kidnap children, but maintain that those children are not being harmed. The fact that C.H. mentioned again that Walt was a very special boy leads me to believe that they know he has some sort of "powers."

4. Is there literally a line/boundary on the island C.H. doesn't want them to cross? C.H. pointed to the ground and told Jack that there was a line, and that once they cross that line, they will go from misunderstanding to "something else." This had fueled my belief that there literally was a force field. Others on the boards feel that if the Lostaways venture past that point where C.H. was standing, it will lead to the "Exit" from the island because it's all a part of a big virtual reality game. Maybe they realize that bizarro ships and planes keep crashing on the island and just want to claim a section of it for themselves. Who knows.

5. Alex lives. When C.H. ordered Kate to be brought out, he said, "Bring 'er out, Alex!" Of course he must be referring to Danielle's (French Chick's) daughter, Alex, who was stolen from Danielle 16 years ago. But since the Lostaways never tell each other ANY critical information, I'm sure no one will share a debrief of the C.H. encounter with Sayid, who in turn could have told Danielle. Sigh.

6. That was definitely NOT a German accent... but Chief Hillbilly was indeed holding a German gun, specifically a Luger, popular in WW2. That, combined with the fact that Ana Lucia noticed that Goodwin has a 20-year-old U.S. Army knife with him, seems like some sort of clue.

THE KATE HATE RAGES ON

My friend DC emailed me to ensure that I didn't actually want Kate to die - and I must admit to you like I admitted to him: no, I did not actually want her to be taken out by Chief Hillbilly, of all people. However, I am in the minority... Here is a representative sampling of posts related to Kate ruining the Three Musketeers' plan:

• "Okay all together.......go ahead and shoot her! Perfect opportunity!"
• "And Kate? You are dumb. I wish they had taken her out. "
• "Please, Mr. OtherBeard, please shoot Kate. PLEASE. So that she can get off my TV. I knew Kate would follow them anyway, and I knew she would make things worse. Because that's Kate. The hate for Kate just tripled. "
• "I don't usually hold with violence against women, but someone has to slap the stupid right out of Kate. Preferably Mr. Eko (because he's the biggest and strongest on the island). With his 'Jesus' stick. Why is she still alive and Shannon is dead? Right now, Ana Lucia is a dear friend compared to what I feel about Kate. Does she ever contribute anything useful?!!??? I'm not suprised that EL and DM are dating since they play the two most annoying characters on the show."
• "Nevertheless... Our favorite morons were totally led into an ambush, and it was painfully obvious and avoidable. I'm back and forth on Kate; in her bank robbery scene she was all ultimate sexy action ninja shoots three guys in a second, but more recently the Marshall was just smacking her around before her ghost horse intervened. Still, I'd guess she'd know enough not to just blunder through the jungle shrieking, like Elmer Fudd hunting wabbits. Is "Miiiiichael!" the new "Waaaaaaaalt!" or what? Shut your face, dumbass, people are trying to kill one another, try to keep your exact location a bit of a mystery, eh?

But here was the best one:

"Dear Locke, Jack & "James,"
Thank you for ruining a perfect opportunity to rid my TV and my life of Kate.
Signed, Disappointed Viewer"

TRAINING AN ARMY

The final line by Jack, "How long do you think it would take to train an army?", sent chills down many a spine. For those of you fearing this is going to turn really lame really quickly, fear not - I don't think they are going to really spend the rest of the season showing us Lostaways in Boot Camp.

Here are more posts from the boards that show you where the majority of heads are at on this topic:

• "Wouldn't it make more sense to ask, oh I don't know, a trained soldier about training an army?"
• "Word. Either Jack knows Sayid would tell him it’s a dumbass plan, or this is a lame way for the writers to shove Ana-Lucia down our throats in place of a far better character."
• "I 'd like to see how well this army is going to come together. If Ana Lucia is putting it together, though, there might be some friendly fire. "
• "Heh, good point about, you know, asking SAYID about training an army. Not to mention... if the Others are watching you closely enough to know all your names, they just miiiiiight pick up on the fact that you're working on a little militia. Just sayin'. "
• "Jack is a complete idiot. I can understand why his wife left him. Maybe that's why his father was a drunk, so he could drown out Jack talking. Now he wants to raise a army to fight the Others, with Ana Lucia. That will be the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, or if they do shoot someone, it'll be each other. I got a lot of laughs out of this episode even though I don't think the writers intended that. "

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE, IN WHAT WAS PROBABLY THE EPISODE WITH THE MOST FUNNY LINES IN THE SERIES TO DATE

KATE: Morning.
SAWYER: Did you just throw a banana at me?
KATE: Couldn't find any rocks.
SAWYER [smiling]: There are nicer ways to wake a man up, Freckles.

JACK: [Sawyer walks back to the vault] Hey, what are you doing?
SAWYER: What does it look like? I'm coming with you.
JACK: You're still on antibiotics.
SAWYER: It's a good thing I'm traveling with my doctor, then.

LOCKE [to Sawyer]: Does any of this look familiar from when you were coming back?
SAWYER: Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf.

[Jack, Locke and Sawyer use some vines to pull themselves up a steep slope.]
SAWYER: Are you sure Mike went this way?
LOCKE: What do you ask?
SAWYER: Oh, I don't know, Mr. Clean, I probably would have gone around Mt. Vesuvius.
LOCKE: Why'd you pick that name?
SAWYER: Ain't it obvious? All you need's an earring and a mop.

SAWYER: What do you mean you lost it? [the trail]
LOCKE: He's a man, not a boar.

JACK: You don't just lose a trail! You just don't want to find him.
LOCKE: Yeah, that's right, Jack. I've been running in the jungle toward the sound of gunfire because I don't care about Michael.

HURLEY: So what do you think's the story with that Libby chick?
CHARLIE: The story?
HURLEY: She's kind of cute, right? You know, in a I've-been-terrorized-by-the-Others-for-40-days kind of way.
CHARLIE: Yeah, there is that.
HURLEY: I think I have a chance with her. I mean, it's the classic desert island scenario. If I ever had a shot, this is it.

CHARLIE: Do you think Claire's missed me yet?
HURLEY: Dude, it's been a day.
SAYID [entering room, hears country music]: This music is quite depressing.

Fan-favorite:
SAWYER [to Mr. Friendly]: You and me ain't done, Zeke.

PREVIEWS

Next (this week's) episode appears to be Charlie-centric again (argh!), showing him smashing open a Virgin Mary statue, Locke questioning him on if he's using again, him warning Claire that Aaron's in danger, Claire pushing him away, Charlie cutting something and setting something on fire, a huge fire (not necessarily the same thing Charlie was lighting), and baby Aaron floating around in a basket at sea, and then being taken out of said basket by an unseen person once back on land.

Enjoy it - there's another short break (a repeat of Hurley's flashback, Numbers, on February 1st) afterward again...

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