S3Ep4 - Every Man for Himself (Sawyer's fourth flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

We are now 2/3rds done with the mini-season!!! While I am depressed about that, I'm still fine with The Powers That Be breaking up the season into two parts rather than giving us a smattering of re-runs for months on end. Plus, Jack Bauer will be back in January to tide us over.

On to 'Every Man for Himself' - another Sawyer flashback. I thought the show was back on track with this episode, recovering nicely from the blahness that was Locke's flashback. Although it was a little dark for my taste... I'm totally over Sawyer getting a beat-down every other minute, and was not a fan of the bunny-shaking scene, despite the fact that said bunny ended up OK. Here is what I gather we should be thinking about as a result of this episode...


EVENFLOW, BROTHA!


I saw Pearl Jam in concert a few months ago, and was really surprised that Eddie Vedder didn't take the opportunity to tell all of his fans in the audience that he was going to be launching an acting career on Lost. He's so humble! Who knew that Eddie has been the guy playing Desmond all along? Shout-out to DW for pointing out that they are one in the same.


In other Desmond news - it seems very obvious now that he can see into the future. Whether he actually realizes that that's what he's doing remains to be seen. But he definitely foresaw the lightning strike near Claire's tent. The question I have is - did he see a vision of the lightning striking the tent and bursting it into flames and/or hurting someone, because if so, then that means he has the power to CHANGE what he sees in a vision to prevent it from happening. I figure that has to be what is going on, because why else would he try to get Claire to move if he didn't think something bad was going to befall her? Regardless of how exactly he is getting his information about the future, I still don't think he fully realizes what is going on with his new ability. He acted confused last episode when talking about Locke's speech... he obviously thought that it already happened when referencing it to Hurley, when in reality the speech had not yet been made.

And I guess more than just Hurley can see him. Damn. And now more people than just Hurley are suspicious of him, too.

One theory on the boards worth mentioning is that Desmond is somehow living his life (or some period of time in his life) over and over until he "gets it right." So, it's not like he necessarily is seeing into the future, it's just that he is remembering things that he needs to do from each time he makes a new try. Some of you who have been with me since Season 1 may remember that this "time loop" theory was one that I was (and still am) a strong believer in...


WILL WORK FOR J.J.


JAVIER!!!! Oh, how I've missed you.

Let it be known that if you work for J.J. Abrams once, chances are you will work for him again. Let's not forget that the pilot of doomed Flight 815 was yet another Felicity alum...




SPEAKING OF SHE OF THE CURLY LOCKS...


Lost needs to take a lesson from the Felicity playbook, because THAT show knew its way around a love triangle. Felicity, Noel and Ben could take Kate, Sawyer and Jack any day when it comes to dramatic moments, longing glances, mixed emotions and flip-flopping. Hell, Jack isn't even around - so how can Kate "choose?"

Although many people think that's exactly what she did when she repeated Jack's "Live together, die alone" mantra to Sawyer after telling him she only said she loved him to get Pickett to stop his rampage.

Let's face it, Kate has continually been asking about Jack, and went totally berzerker when he was marched out with the sack over his head. Yes, she stayed with Sawyer in the cages, but I don't think that really signifies anything. She's smart enough to know that she'd get caught if she tried to run on her own. Plus she just saw Jack, so she may want to stick around to see if he gets marched by the cages again. And really, what's left for her back in the Lostaway camp? Nothing. My bet is that she will end up with Jack, since supposedly she WILL "make a choice" this season. However, if she wants to screw things up with both of them, then she can chop her hair off a la Felicity.



NO REST FOR THE WICKED



So Colleen dies, and Pickett unleashes his fists of fury on Sawyer for revenge...

Raise your hand if you are sick of Sawyer getting the crap kicked out of him every episode.

Seriously, ENOUGH already.





THE CON MAN GETS CONNED

I am really glad that the whole "Faux Pacemaker o' Doom" thing got wrapped up in one episode, because I really didn't need to be having nightmares about exploding hearts. Between the Sawyer-chained-to-the-table/huge-ass-needle/Pulp-Fiction scene, the bunny-rattling scene, the Stopwatch o' Fear and the beat-down by Pickett, Lost got a little too violent and dark for my taste. I hope the worst is over.













What we did learn from all of those scenes is that the only thing Sawyer really cared about was protecting Kate. He was going to save her from the Pacemaker o' Doom, even if that meant forgoing a chance to watch her change her clothes - I mean, is that love or what? So I think he is left utterly confused now. She said she loved him, then claimed it was only to save him from Pickett, then she tried to break him free, only to climb back into her cage when he refused to escape with her. She must be staying for the fish biscuits. But now Benry definitely knows how to get to Sawyer...

The Sawyer flashbacks themselves, while entertaining because they featured a few good character actors, only served to further the "con man with a heart of gold" impression we already had of Sawyer. If nothing else, it was interesting to learn he has a daughter out there (named Clementine, how perfect is that?), and that when all was said and done, he did care about making sure she was provided for.


HE'S NOT THE BOSS OF YOU!

Over in Hydra Hatch land...

Jack: Am I gonna keep watching cartoons or...are you gonna tell me why I'm here?
Juliet: I hope you like blueberry. If not, I can...
Jack: Should I talk to Benjamin?
Juliet: Sorry?
Jack: Should I talk to Benjamin? Because, I'm starting to think that you're just the person who brings me my food.
Juliet: You can talk to him all you want, but he won't tell you anything.
Jack: You work for him.
Juliet: No, I don't work for him.
Jack: He's in charge?
Juliet: Well it doesn't work that way over here Jack. We make decisions together.
Jack: Really? Because, when I was holding that broken plate at your neck he seemed happy to just let you die. I mean it felt like he made that decision on his own.
Juliet: You don't know what you're talking about. I don't answer to him.
[Ben opens the door and rushes through]
Ben: Juliet! I need you!
Juliet: Can it wait?
Ben: The sub is back. We have a situation. So come with me now.


Jack: 1, Juliet: 0.

However, what was interesting to me about that scene was that this exact same tactic was used by Benry to try to influence Locke back when Benry was being held prisoner:

LOCKE: Well, Dostoyevsky had his virtues, too. He was a genius, for one. Bullfighting isn't everything.
GALE: So, which one are you?
LOCKE: I'm sorry.
GALE: Are you the genius, or are you the guy who always feels like he's living in the shadow of a genius?
LOCKE: I was never very much into literary analysis.
GALE: I just don't understand why you let the doctor call the shots.
LOCKE: No one calls the shots. Jack and I make decisions together.
GALE: Right, okay. My mistake.
[Locke leaves the armory, starts to do the dishes, and then loses his temper, swiping all the dishes on the counter to the ground.]


These parallel scenes tell me that we shouldn't underestimate Jack - he may just outsmart The Others yet.


WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW...






As you might have caught in the scene I pasted in above, Benry mentioned that "the sub is back." If The Others have a submarine, then that would explain how they came out of nowhere when jumping onto the sailboat with Sun.

Some people think that "sub" could also have meant subway or substitute.








I'M NOT A DOCTOR... BUT I PLAY ONE ON THE ISLAND


Sawyer: [Muffled, over the intercom in Jack's cell] Wait! Wait! What are you doing!? No!
[Shot of Sawyer lying on the table]
Sawyer: [Muffled] What the hell are you doing!? Let me out of here!
[Shot of needle near Sawyer's chest]
Jason (An Other): No! You have to go through the sternum. The sternum! Like in the movie...
Other Man: I know! I know.
Sawyer: [Muffled] Wait! No! No!
Other Man: 1!
Sawyer: [Muffled] What are you doing?
Other Man: 2!
Sawyer: [Muffled] Wait!


Uh....
"Like in the movie???"

Something leads me to believe that The Others don't have a staff of real doctors on hand. First, you have the scary statement made above. Second, Juliet told Jack that she was a fertility doctor and didn't seem to know how to perform certain parts of surgeries that people on the boards claim a "real" fertility doctor would've learned in med school. Third, we had seen in Claire's flashback that Ethan knew how to handle needles and injections, but he's now dead. And fourth, they had to bring Jack in to help out. So who was the team of doctors huddling around the operating table that Claire spied in her flashback last season? Not sure. Either way, that hatch (Medical/Caduceus) is on the other island, whereas we now know that the Hydra is definitely more remote and probably couldn't call up that team of people in an emergency.


And then we had this exchange between Jack and Juliet near the end of the episode:

Juliet: I'm going to take you back now. Um, I'm...I'm sorry for bringing you here.
[Juliet bends down to unlock the handcuffs and Jack grabs her wrist]
Jack: Whose x-rays are those? Outside? Those are spinal x-rays and they belong to a man about 40 years old. And whoever he is, he has a very large tumor on his L-4 vertebrae. And I just happen to be a spinal surgeon. So, you tell me, Juliet, who am I here to save?


And I would ask... WHY does Jack need to save whomever it is that has the tumor? Why are The Island's magical powers not working on this tumor - too fried from curing Rose's cancer and Locke's legs and even possibly Jin's infertility?


What makes me nervous about all of this is not so much that they may have kidnapped Jack in order to save Benry... but rather, why did they take Sawyer and Kate? I still have a very bad feeling about what is going to happen to them - especially Sawyer.



OTHER RANDOM THINGS TO NOTE

- When Jack was watching cartoons in his cell, one of them was of a Swan swimming around - which some people figure was a nod to the Swan Hatch.
- The intercom in Jack's cell does seem to work intermittently, even though Juliet cliamed it had been out of commission for years. Before, Jack thought he heard his father's voice through it. This time he definitely heard Sawyer's scuffle. So what is going on with that thing? Some people think it is being controlled by the "good" Others, like Alex and perhaps some of the other kids who were raised on the island.
- Sun is now officially a killer as Colleen has died. She joins the ranks of Charlie and I'm sure a few others who became killers once they were on the island.
- Yet another book was mentioned - "Of Mice and Men." Three points to you if you have any idea how this relates to Lost, except for the speech Benry recited from it at the end of the episode.
- A lot of people are rooting for a Claire/Desmond hook-up now...




DUALING ISLANDS



The big reveal at the end of the episode was that they are not actually on the same island as is the original Lostaway camp. Or are they?

Many people on the boards think that this is yet another hoax by Benry, because pretty much everything he has said to the Lostaways has been a lie so far. To this point, others have brought up the fact that neither Kate, Jack nor Sawyer has recalled taking a boat from the ferry where they were first kidnapped. But perhaps they were drugged and don't remember it?

I personally think it's pretty hard to fake another island... So...

If there are two islands, then the general consensus is that the creepy utopia village we saw in the premiere is on the original island, and only the Hydra hatch is on Falcatraz (board nickname for the mini-island). Remember that Benry said that Ethan and Goodwin could make it to the crash sites in an hour, and those sites did appear to be on the same island as was The Others' village. It is also true that the Hydra does not appear, or is at least not clearly marked, on the hatch map that Locke saw last season - which would make sense it if wasn't on the same island as the Swan. So the belief is that The Others live on the main island and take a sub from the Pala Ferry to Falcatraz for "work."

And in case you are thinking that the operating room where Jack attemped to save Colleen was the same one where Ethan took Claire... just stop thinking that, because you are wrong. The Ethan/Claire operating room was clearly in the Medical/Caduceus hatch, which was definitely on the original island because Claire escaped from it and was able to find her way back to the beach.

MR. EKO... FROM JESUS STICK CARRIER TO... NASDAQ BELL RINGER??

Hey CG - get Locke to open for us one day and I'll build a shrine to you...



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


Pickett: Time for work!
Sawyer: Sounded a little stuffy there, Chinatown. Need to blow your nose?
Pickett: Give me an excuse.
Sawyer: I thought I just did. What I gotta do, talk about your mother?




[Ben, Juliet, and the others carrying Colleen run through the cage area on their way to the Hydra. Pickett joins them.]
TOM: She's hurt bad, Juliet.
JULIET: Keep her steady.
PICKETT: She's going to be fine, right? She's going to be okay?
KATE [to Sawyer]: What happened?
SAWYER: WE happened.



Sawyer: Watch and learn, little lady.
[Sawyer activates the shock mechanism in his cage]
Sawyer: There's juice pumping into this box from somewhere. Next time someone comes to pull me out... I'm going to wait until they step into my little swimming hole. Then I grab them. Zap! They fall back from the shock, I snag the keys. Bet the bears never thought of that.




SAWYER: You get little mints on your pillow at night, too?
MUNSON: Sorry?
SAWYER: You're here, what, a week? And you're on tote bag duty? I've been here 9 months; I'm still pushing trash.
MUNSON: What does that mean?
SAWYER: You think the warden's breaking up those fights because you're cute, Costanza?




[Kate opens the bag of clothes and prepares to change]
Kate: Turn around.
[Sawyer watches Kate's bare back as she puts on her shirt adn his pulse rate goes up and the watch starts beeping]
Kate: What's that?
Sawyer: It's just my watch. It's busted.
Kate: When did you get a watch?
Sawyer: Look! I don't tell you everything! Just leave me alone, dammit!
[The beeping gets faster]
Sawyer: Put some clothes on!



Juliet: Col. It was short for Colleen. I shouldn't have...uh, I should have come to get you sooner.
Jack: It wouldn't have mattered. There wasn't any more that you could have done. She was... she was dead before you put her on the table.
Juliet: Are you... are you just saying that to make me feel better?
Jack: [Sort of laughs] I don't...I don't care about making you feel better.
[e: I was cheering at that one.]



BEN: You ever been to Alcatraz -- take the tour? Right now you're standing on a small island roughly twice the size of Alcatraz. And that over there -- that's your island -- the one you've come to know and love. I just wanted you to know there's nowhere to run.
SAWYER: You did all this just to -- just to keep me in a damn cage?
BEN: We did all this because the only way to gain a con man's respect is to con him. And you're pretty good, Sawyer. We're a lot better.



FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

- I loved Sawyer in the very beginning, where he saw the shot Colleen, guessed "we" did it, and was thrilled- I was with him all the way on that. I so wanted to tell him that it was Sun- he'd be so proud of her.
- Too bad Sayid got waylaid by Rousseau and never completed his circle-all-the-way-around-the-shoreline-and-make-sure-this-really-is-an-island plan. Then the Lostaways would already know about the Little Isle of Horrors.
- And loved Jack's little smile, with "I don't care about making you feel better." Juliet looked a little stung by that. WTF, girl. You're keeping him in a cage.
- I thought it was funny that Sawyer seemed so disgusted with Benry for killing the bunny. It was like, dude, you've killed a PERSON. Uh... not that that stops me from finding him terribly attractive. Though I was disturbed by the return of the half-ponytail in the flashbacks.
- I don't know why Benry pulling the bunny out of his stylish American Eagle messenger bag was so funny, but it just really was to me.
- When Benry started quoting OM&M with the music in the background, did anyone else think he was going to burst into song? I was totally hoping he would.
- I thought Benry's 'Of Mice and Men' quote was telling today... "when a man is lonely too long he gets sick." These people have been cut off from reality for too long.
- I thought the quote was telling, particularly because in making it Benry revealed that he is a freaking genius, if we didn't already know that. With no advance warning he is able to quote at length from Sawyer's (allegedly) favorite book, an appropriate passage that Sawyer himself doesn't recognize. Okay, that is a little scary.
- Wish Desmond had managed to ground that lightning strike on Paolo's useless ass.
- 'Live Together Die Alone' is Jack's motto. 'Every Man for Himself' is Sawyer's. Thus the significance of Kate's words: She has chosen to side with Jack. (Of course.)
- And what was the deal with the defibrillator being broken? The Others can manage to maintain the surveillance system, the submarine (probably), and the friggin' fish biscuit dispenser system, but they can't be bothered with a fairly simple life-saving device?
- I loved the episode for the same reason I've loved all the episodes so far this season - they reinforce the idea that for as much as the Lostaways are trying to reinvent themselves on the island, they are all still very much the same people they were before the crash. For better or worse.
- What's interesting is Kate's admission she loved Sawyer got the mad captor to stop, rather than pushing him to finish Sawyer. Why would that be? If the mad captor were looking for real payback, wouldn't he prefer to kill a Lostie that was loved, because he lost someone he loved? Instead, Kate's admission stopped him. Interesting, no?
- Good episode. We finally get some answers (as little as they may be) after three episodes. Juliet is a fertility doctor - interesting connection since the Others kidnapped Alex, Walt, Claire and those other children from Flight 815. I'm guessing Benry is the one with the spinal tumor, which helps explain why they took Jack. But why Sawyer and Kate? Do they want Sawyer to impregnate Kate so they can do experiments on her baby? I'm hoping they don't go there though.
- Anyway, I'll continue to watch, but I'm getting tired of the Others. I gave a little cheer when the Other flatlined. At least that's one less Other to deal with. Cold, but true.
- ... and one less blond woman to keep straight. Even the Other woman are not faring well in the death count. No wonder they need a fertility doctor.
- I'm fully vested in the party of disbelief now. Castaways, including ones we haven't seen or heard from, have been on an island for 2 damn months and they never walked around the outside and *looked*? There could be a damn Holiday Inn on the other side for all they know! WTF?
- There's the series finale right there: they go on a walkabout and find a tropical resorts on the other side of the island, and they're saved! Hah.
- Alls I'm gonna say is, if I ever was dumb (or mean) enough to toss my bunny into a messenger bag and haul her up the side of a mountain, Foo Foo would chew right through the bottom of the bag in about 2.5 minutes and hop her little ass somewhere where no one was going to paint numbers on it. Poor bunny. I hope it bites the hell outta Benry when they get back. I wanted to stuff him into a messenger bag, see how he likes it.
- Please, Jack, use your skills as a bargaining chip and ask a frickin' question!! How about "Where are the kids?" or "What are you people doing here??"
- I like how Ben's appearance is deceiving me time and again. He appears to be upper management, wears nerdy glasses, neat clothes, knows entire Steinbeck passages by heart, yet is not afraid to get his hands dirty and beat Sawyer. Never saw that one coming. And I loved it! Ben continues to amaze. For me the greatest character addition to a show since Alan Shore and "The Practice."
- Interesting that toward the end of the episode, Benry refers to the other island as "your island" to Sawyer - ie. "that's your island, the one you've come to know and love." Probably nothing, but an interesting contrast to Zeke's "this is our island, and the only reason you're living on this island..." speech.
- I have never understood the Jack-hate, and in writing this I will probably be cut down... but I like Jack. I have not seen him as condescending and arrogant, but rather a stressed person in the reluctant position of trying to lead in this crisis. He totally takes his surgeon persona into how he responds to things. I work with surgeons. They take charge in a crisis. That seems very in character to me. So why do people hate Jack so much, when all is easily forgiven about Sawyer and the guns? Sawyer is not a team player for the most part, but Jack usually is. Why does Sawyer get such a break?



PREVIEWS

I linked to the preview for 'The Cost of Living' below... and when I watched it "live" I literally squealed with fright when eye-patch-dude showed up on the monitor. Who is THAT guy?!?!

Then some people on the boards pointed out that in the Swan Hatch mural, there is a drawing of a guy with one of his eyes crossed out (upper right, the eye on the right has an X through it). And let us not forget the GLASS EYE that the Tailies found in the chest in their Ghetto Hatch in "Another 48 Days"...


I say: "Bring on the pirates!!!"

I also say: "They drew that mural at the beginning of Season 2, so STOP SAYING that the writers haven't thought things through!!!!" Seriously, if you look really hard, you can see a bunny with an 8 on his back, too.



[Um, I'm lying. Stop looking for the bunny in the mural. I pasted the real one in below if it makes you feel better.]


TWO MORE TO GO...

11/1 - The Cost of Living

11/8 - I Do

Then we are DONE 'TIL FEBRUARY!!!! I can't take it.

- e