S3ep15 - Left Behind (Kate's sixth flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

I had to chuckle when I came across this post from the boards, because it summed up "Left Behind" for me:

"This episode was better than it seems like it should have been. If that makes any sense."

Wednesday rolled around quickly last week, and I didn't really have any expectations about "Left Behind." I knew it was going to be a Kate flashback, and I knew from the previews that they were going to try to satisfy male fans by having a cat-fight between Kate and Juliet in the pouring rain in the jungle, but other than that, I knew nothing about what would happen. I honestly didn't see how they could possibly do another Kate flashback as it seemed like we already knew all there was to know that was important about her background.

However, I give them credit for pulling it off - I did enjoy the show and while it wasn't one of the best of the season, it did keep moving things along and we got new information. Some people thought this was the best Kate flashback on record, and liked how it tied back to Season One by directly referencing when Kate's mom started screaming for help when Kate visited her in the hospital (which we now know was the next time Kate saw her after the bathroom scene from this episode). But NOW I really feel like they can never have another Kate flashback. We shall see...



OH, IF HE ONLY KNEW

I thought it was extremely clever to tie Sawyer's ex-girlfriend and partner-in-crime, Cassidy, in with Kate. We had seen Sawyer in that area of the country before as he was served by Kate's mom in the diner in one of his previous flashbacks ("The Long Con"). I was actually hoping that Cassidy would then ask Kate to help her scam the money back from Sawyer in return for her helping Kate out, and that Kate would still never know who the mystery man was, but alas, they didn't go that route. But it was interesting nonetheless. And in an inadvertent way from their final conversation, Kate did motivate Cassidy to turn Sawyer in to the authorities, which I also thought was crafty.

Kate: So, this guy who ripped you off...you gonna give me his name? Tell me where I can find him? You almost got arrested for me, Cassidy. I want to help you.
Cassidy: I'm pregnant.
Kate: [Whispering] Oh.
Cassidy: It's his. The baby's his. [Crying] And I still love him.
Kate: So call the cops... have him locked up.


... less than a year or so later, in the "Every Man for Himself" flashbacks, which took place while Sawyer was in prison:

Cassidy: Hello, Sawyer
Sawyer: It's James Ford. And I know you know that because you got it right when you pressed charges.
Cassidy: You're mad at me?
Sawyer: Well look where I am.
Cassidy: Well what did you want me to do? You conned me!
Sawyer: Something you want?
Cassidy: Yeah. Yeah, there is.
Sawyer: Come on, I got license plates to make.
[Cassidy pulls out a picture of a blue-eyed, blond-haired baby girl and slides it over to Sawyer] Sawyer: Hmph. What's this?
Cassidy: This is your daughter.



THIS IS *NOT* ALL FUN AND GAMES!

While Kate was being held in the game room awaiting her fate, she absentmindedly began playing with backgammon game pieces. A lot of people jumped all over this, as backgammon has been shown and played several times in the series, and many people feel the game represents the show's theme of "good versus evil."

Remember this speech by Locke (to Walt) in the pilot episode of the series:
"Backgammon's the oldest game in the world. Archaeologists found sets when they excavated the ancient ruins of Mesopotamia -- 5,000 years old. That's older than Jesus Christ. But their dice weren't made of plastic. Their dice were made of bones. Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark."

Another game that was shown in the game room was Mousetrap, which we've seen before on the show as well, when Locke worked at some sort of Sam's Club-ish looking place:

[Shot of Locke's hand setting up a Mousetrap game as an employee in a department store. A kid walks up.]
KID: What's that?
LOCKE: A game. It's my favorite game, actually. I used to play it with my brother. It's called Mousetrap.
KID: How do you play?
LOCKE: Well, you start with all these parts off the board. And then, one by one, you build the trap - shoe, bucket, tub - piece by piece it all comes together. And then you wait 'til your opponent lands here on the old cheese wheel. And then if you set it up just right, you spring the trap.


NICE KNOWIN' YA

Speaking of my man... I will admit to being very disappointed in Locke. While I definitely understand why he felt the need to stay with Benry and figure out the secrets of the Island, especially since Papa Locke is now in tow, I thought he owed Kate more of an explanation for his departure than he gave her. I guess the fact that he checked in at all was more than he had to do, but his good-bye speech was pretty cold, especially the whole "I know what you did" part. I can only imagine what's going on in Kate's mind since she has good reason to believe that both Jack and Locke have been brainwashed.

Speaking of that - COULD Locke be brainwashed in any way? I personally don't think so, as there are reasons to explain why he would want to leave with The Others. Also, only a matter of hours had passed since he set the explosion and was captured, so it would have had to have been some heavy-duty brainwashing to take effect in that short amount of time. However, it has been noted that Locke had a bandage wrap on his right hand when he came to say good-bye to Kate. He didn’t have this before (but he did have the black eye before) when we last saw him (which was when Papa Locke was revealed). There is a contingent that assumes the bandage is because he had an I.V. either to help him gain strength back... or to brainwash him (and the I.V. that Karl had when he was in the Clockwork Orange room is cited for comparison).

Luckily, Sayid doesn't appear to have changed yet. At the end of the episode he was like, "Why are we taking this skank back with us??? I say once again, you people are all idiots!"


BUH-BYE

What's up with The Others just cold busting out of Othersville? Why the rush? Why all the gas masks if they were only throwing the canisters into specific buildings while they were all out in the open air? The whole thing seemed very strange to me. It doesn't seem like they would need to leave the barracks simply because three Lostaways (whom they all had in captivity) found their location. For now I'm going to chalk it up to the directors just wanting to make that scene more dramatic than it really was, but some have guessed that there may be something else going on that we are not clued into yet.

So where did they go? Well, we all know that Falcatraz is only where they worked, and it didn't really have living quarters there. As covered in the "Not in Portland" write-up, there is supposedly a third island that is more of an "observation station," so perhaps they went there. Maybe they went somewhere else on the main island? Either way, I am just not clear at all as to why they had to leave Othersville. Anyone have any ideas?

Even though we may not know where The Others went, we do know that they left no evidence of their departure behind:

Sayid: I checked all the houses. Everyone's gone. No weapons... no trail...
[Kate walks up to the group]
Kate: [Speaking softly to Sayid] Hey.
Sayid: It's like 50 people disappeared into thin air.

Might this be evidence of an underground tunnel system? We have thought this may be the case ever since seeing the Hatch Map, with what appeared to be connecting lines between the hatches. And as pointed out in last week's write-up, it seemed like Benry and Juliet disappeared down a tunnel when they visited the Pearl station. If they were going into tunnels, it may make more sense that they were wearing gas masks if they feared someone or something may retaliate against them.



BLONDES HAVE MORE FUN... LYING

First off, what's up with the Karate Kid moves by Juliet at the beginning of the episode? When she just flipped Kate over like it was nothing? I don't think they teach you that stuff in med school...

Secondly, she certainly had me fooled the entire time she was handcuffed together with Kate. To find out that SHE cuffed them together and that she DID know about Smokey and that she had the handcuff key all along - I was truly surprised. However, although it's difficult to trust anything she says at this point, I do think she really hadn't ever encountered Smokey close-up before, and I really don't think she knows exactly what he is.

Thirdly, did anyone else notice that Juliet knew it was going to rain? In this show, I take that to be more meaningful than a casual "Hey, it looks like it might rain." She KNEW it was going to rain.

Finally, some people on the boards wondered if Juliet was really left behind on purpose... as in, The Others really trust her to be "one of them" (note that the title of the next episode is "One of Us"), and are expecting that she will be keeping tabs on the Lostaways, and perhaps finding out even more about them, and then reporting back in some way to The Others.

Shout-out to SA for sending along word of this debate on the boards: was Juliet actually in the group of people packing up to leave and donning gas masks in the beginning of the episode? Some point to the blond with the blue shirt (same color as what Juliet had on in the jungle) as looking very similar to Juliet. Others think it is definitely NOT her, and point to a different belt, a different walking stride, and the fact that it would make no sense. If she truly was left behind by The Others, she wouldn't have been part of the preparations to leave. And if she was left behind to be a spy, they wouldn't have wanted Kate to have possibly spied her through her window.


However, even if Juliet wasn't a part of the gas mask crew, I think there is evidence (on top of all of the lies I mentioned above) that points to the possibility of her being used as a mole. Take this statement, for example:

Juliet: Sayid's in one of those backyards down there. I'll go get him. You should get Jack.

Juliet KNEW that Jack and Sayid would be back at the camp, but she didn't mention Locke. Why would that be? If she had truly been shut out by The Others, then last she knew, they had captured Locke after supposedly blowing up the submarine. However, if she was "left behind" on purpose, she may have slipped in making her statement above, because it shows that she wasn't expecting Locke to be around because she knew that he was leaving along with The Others.

Furthermore, even though Juliet later admitted to cuffing Kate and trying to make it seem like they were "in it together," how could she have been sure that the sonic fence was off? It could have been off previously, but how could she know that The Others had not turned it back on after ditching the barracks? She was POSITIVE that it was off... and some people think that the only way she could know that for sure is if she were in on The Others' scheme.


THE FORCE FIELD OF DOOM'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN

Our favorite violent black smoke cloud has returned... and it appears that the Force Field of Doom may have been built specifically to keep Smokey away from The Others' barracks. Which means that The Others do not control Smokey. Which also means that Papa Locke is probably NOT an apparition courtesy of Smokey (which was one of the three theories covered in "The Man from Tallahassee" write-up). I wouldn't totally rule out that possibility just yet, but it is definitely looking less and less likely. I can only guess that The Others have just been going about their business on the island, built the force field to keep Smokey out, and are able to travel between islands to do their experiments and projects. And that Smokey is one of the "mysteries of the island" that has nothing to do with them.

Did you notice all the flashes that occurred when it was "looking" at Kate and Juliet? Were those the much-hypothesized "mind scans?" Some people mentioned that the white flashes have not occurred before, which is correct... Eko's encounter definitely had no flashes. Other people thought that Juliet looked and acted more affected by the flashes than Kate did, or that it was specifically targeting Juliet.

Since we now know from Patchy (with confirmation from the producers in one of their official podcasts) that The Others are NOT DHARMA, and since it appears that The Others are just as afraid of Smokey as the Lostaways are, then perhaps Smokey is the remnant of a DHARMA experiment. If you remember the Hatch Map that Locke saw on the wall during the "Lockdown" episode, there was reference to "Cerberus" (named after the mythical three-headed dog monster which guards Hell), which many people thought to be the real name of Smokey. Smokey definitely looked more like a three-headed monster in this episode than ever before. And there was also a note on the Hatch Map about an "incident," which some people think may be an event that led to Smokey having a life of its own. We are still supposed to find out more about Smokey in this season, and it seems that they are most definitely building up to that point (as Smokey was mentioned and featured prominently in the past two episodes).

One thing that we do know right now is that Smokey didn't choose to or isn't "smart" enough to go over the top of the sonic fence. It has been wondered if Smokey is somehow connected to the ground, as it always seems to fly pretty low to the jungle floor, and has tried to drag Locke down a hole, and seems to have the ability to uproot trees.

Lastly on this topic... as Juliet and Kate were running from Smokey, I was confused by Juliet saying, just like Patchy had, that the force field was no longer working.

[They run to the edge of the perimeter of the sonic fence and Juliet continues to pull Kate forward]
Kate: Stop. Wait.
Juliet: What are you doing?
Kate: I know what happens when you step through those things...
Juliet: No. They are off, Kate!
Kate: We will go along side them.
Juliet: We don't need to. We can go around. They're off!


Juliet went in between the pylons, and then Kate went through them, and THEN Juliet armed the force field. To many on the boards, this confirmed the suspicion that Patchy is not really dead. They believe he somehow faked his brain hemorrhage. To that, I say: "Saaaaaay whhhhaaaaaa?" Last I checked, it was pretty hard to start foaming out of the mouth and bleeding out of your ears on cue. But I will agree that something fishy is going on with the force field apparently being on with Patchy went through it, but off when Juliet and Kate went through.

A ha! I just thought of the explanation. The force field is usually on, and therefore Patchy was lying when he said that it hadn't worked for years... and therefore, he died after Locke pushed him between the pylons to test it out. However, since Juliet may still be in The Others' good graces and could be being used as a spy, she could've known that the force field was turned off in order to protect her and Kate from being sizzled.

Watch Juliet enter in some familiar numbers to arm the system.


THE LOVE QUADRANGLE

I think it's fair to say that Jack is totally done with Kate. I think Juliet built Kate's expectations up that there may still be a chance for reconciliation with the Mad Doctor, but when Jack asked if Juliet was still around, I think that was a telling moment. And obviously Jack has enough of a bond with Juliet that he's going to defend his decision to bring her back to the Lostaways' camp. Thickening the plot is that Sawyer seems to have embraced his leadership status by the end of the episode, only to have the Mad Doctor return right afterward.

I predict: mounting tension, many stolen glances and at least one heated argument before they all have to work as a team again against some common enemy. Damn, I could write this show.

Also, does anyone else besides me think that they should just take over Othersville? I hope Jack's idea is to only go back to the beach just to get everyone else and then head back across the island so they at least have some of the creature comforts supplied in the barracks.


RANDOM THINGS

Two things I figured I should probably note, though I'm not sure what they mean or IF they have any significance...

1) The gas canister that was shown landing in the game room with Kate is manufactured by a real company (which has never been done before on Lost):

See its specs here.


2) Sawyer was reading Watership Down... again. People aren't sure if he just ran out of books or if this has some sort of meaning.

While we're on the topic of Sawyer - I'm intentionally NOT mentioning the lame sub-plot of the "banishment con" pulled by Hurley. Who DIDN'T see the fact that it was all a trick coming from a mile away?



WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

-Nikki and Paulo stayed dead! Happy day!
- How in the hell long was Jack unconscious for? I mean, Kate is gassed and wakes up with Juliet in the jungle. In the daytime. They spend all day and all night and some of the next day in the jungle. When they get back to Othersville, Jack is still unconscious??? Did he get the super-extra dose??
- And Jack? I am sorry that you didn't get to go home. More sorry than you'll ever know. But when the lady I'm supposed to believe you love is crying and apologizing for trying to save you and you just sit there like a block of ice? And you don't bother to mention that her rescue attempt wasn't, in and of itself, the reason you're still on Craphole Island? That Locke literally blew your chance, not her?
- Smokey is officially no longer scary. It already knows that it doesn't like the sonic fence, but hasn't figured out that, since it is f-cking SMOKE it could FLOAT OVER THE TOP OF IT to get at its prey???? Jesus H. Christ. When it scanned Juliet, did it pick up her blankness via osmosis??
- Loved seeing Smokey again this episode. With regard to why it didn't just rise above the sonic boom, I don't know how much vertical range it has - why does it always go through the trees rather than over them?
- I wonder if the monster's flashes were what Locke saw when he said he saw it as a 'bright light.' It also seemed Juliet was looking right at it, while Kate was blocking her eyes. Hmm...
- At the "Yay Sawyer" scene at the end I was just waiting for the Ewoks to come out a play a little jam on some Storm Trooper helmets.
- "We should take everything we can find and move out. I can't see why anyone at the beach would want an encampment with shelter, fresh water, electricity, quite possibly food, and also a monster fence. No reason to bother moving into this settlement or even telling anyone else that it exists. In fact, I've already forgotten that I've ever been there." I can really see why Jack is the uncontested leader here.
- It would have made no sense to stay at Othersville. The Others have a cache of weapons they took with them, surveillance equipment that they may be able to access from their new location, and the 815 folks have been safe on their beach since Ethan (and Michael) left. Why stay in a place where they'd be sitting ducks when The Others decided to return or kick them out?
- Why is everyone assuming from the last five minutes of tonight's show that Losties are never ever coming back to the Others' community? All Jack said is, "Now we go back." If for no other reason, somebody needs to go back to tell the other Losties about the Others' setup.
- Locke joining The Others is probably the best thing that ever happened to the Lostaways. If his past track record is anything to go by, the Others' new camp will be in flames by the end of the season, with Locke standing outside with a contrite look on his face.
- Alas, I miss Locke already. However, I also get the feeling that once Ben and the Others hear his endless drivel about the island's mystical nature, his stolen kidney, his Daddy issues and how they really shouldn't rely on all their modern-day conveniences, they'll realize just how truly batshit crazy and balls-out nuts he really is and send his ass back to the Jack on their super-top-secret commuter jet in the underground hanger.
- Once again my favorite part of the episode is the expression on Sayid's face as he realizes that another of his compatriots has made an idiotic choice. First, Locke made the communication station go boom and now, Jack brings a possible mole into their camp. Someone tell me why Sayid is not the leader?
- Once again, Sayid is the only one who's making sense at this point. I loved the look he gave after Jack said Juliet was left behind too. It was sort a "Okay. We'll see how long this takes to bite you in the butt" sort of thing. I feel so sorry that he always has to rescue these people. I'd love to see him and Rousseau (and possibly Desmond) just go off together and leave the rest to fend for themselves.
- I do love Hurley and Sawyer together, though. I shall call them... Surley.
- You know what would be kind of cool? If in the very last episode of the series, they have a reveal where we find out her name is not really Kate. Just like all her made up names in her flashbacks....It could go something like this:
Jack: I can't believe I allowed myself to trust Juliet.
Sayid: Good thing I was able to shoot her in the head.
Jack: I'm sorry I've been such a Jackass, Kate.
Kate: My name's not Kate, burn in hell.
Of course, given that we have heard her mother address her as 'Kathryn,' and her childhood sweetheart address her as 'Katie,' it seems rather unlikely...
[e, but it WOULD be hilarious!]



PODCAST DEBRIEF

I listened to the weekly "official" podcast by the producers and thought the following comments were important (forewarning: while I left out any true spoilers they mentioned, I did include a few comments that may be deemed by some as vaguely spoilerish, so if you want to be completely safe, skip this section entirely).

Q: When are we going to see Locke again?
A: Not for a while - 4 weeks - episode 19.

They also mentioned the fact that he was soaking wet when he returned from the dock... Which to me means that that point is significant.


Q: How much does Juliet really know about the smoke monster?
A: It seems like Juliet is able to act... she says she's never seen it before, but she knows how to repel it. I wouldn't take her at her word.


Q: Why did Ben ditch Juliet?
A: Two possible explanations: maybe he was tired of her... or maybe something else is going on. Maybe there is something personal between the two of them and she pissed him off. There's clearly some tension there.


Q: Something is bugging me since seeing Exposé. Nikki and Paulo were reading a newspaper with the date of September 24th, but we know that the crash was the 22nd.
A. I can't explain it. I'm going to leave now and fire someone. I'm pretty sure that it was September 22nd, the day of the crash. Actually, they were in Australia, which was the day ahead, and maybe it was the late edition... there's a prop supervisor, Greg, and I'm sure he has some way to explain it. I'm sure they called him and asked about the date of the newspaper.


Hmmm, I can't tell if they're just trying to cover a mistake (which they've done before), or if there IS significance to that date being two days later than it "should have been." The producers kept saying that the Nikki and Paulo episode was going to be a major "game-changer," and then no one could figure out why as it seemed to be a stand-alone episode. Perhaps this was the biggest clue in that episode. I have a theory, but I'm not saying it in case it's right because I think it would be better for everyone to be surprised!


Q. Will Rousseau ever have a flashback? She must know so much about the island.
A. Yes. But I would argue that she seems to know less about the island than our Lostaways, who have only been there 80 days, when she's been there 16 years and always says "I've never seen that before!"


Q. Will we learn more about the Degroots?
A. Yes.




LEGOS RULE!

See what this super-fan with a lot of time on his hands constructed.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


[Cut to shot of the beach. Sawyer is attempting to catch a fish with a long bamboo pole while Sun and Jin cast nets into the water a short ways away. Sawyer looks at Sun smiles. Sun looks away angrily]
Sawyer: [Sighing and talking to himself] Ain't gonna get the Korean vote.



Claire: Is uh...is there anything I can do for you?
Sawyer: No. I just came by to...say your baby's...
[Aaron cries out again]
Sawyer: He's not as wrinkly as he was a couple of weeks ago.




Desmond: So what's your angle, brother?
Sawyer: My angle?
Desmond: Well you...haven't spoke 3 words to me and...suddenly you want to be my hunting partner.
Sawyer: My angle is I got hearts and minds to change. And politics is all about bribes. Since money don't mean squat on this island, I gotta give the people something they like. And people like meat.





Kate: How's your shoulder.
Juliet: Awesome.




Kate: You don't know anything about him.
Juliet: I know where he was born. I know what his parents did for a living. I know that he was married...and who he was married to. I know why he got a divorce. I know how his father died. I know his height, his weight, his birthday, and his blood type. What do you know about him, Kate?




Sawyer: Leader? What the hell are you smoking?
Hurley: Jack's gone...Locke's gone...Kate and Sayid...[Shrugs] You're all we got. Paulo and Nikki died, we all looked to you. Then again you totally tried to steal their diamonds, but we wanted to look to you. Look around. You made everyone happy. Just for today, they can eat boar, laugh, and forget that they're totally screwed.





Sayid: She is not coming with us.




UPCOMING EPISODES

4/11 - One of Us
4/18 - Catch-22
4/25 - D.O.C.
5/2 - The Brig
5/9 - The Man Behind the Curtain
5/16 - Greatest Hits (previously called 'The Truth About Lying')
5/23 - TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE and special episode afterward


There you have it.

I am cautiously optimistic and excited for the next two episodes, from what I've heard about them. Let's hope Sayid lets Juliet have it! Maybe he secretly has been carrying that cat from Patchy's hatch with him this whole time and will unleash it to go ballistic on Juliet. That would be very cool.

On a completely unrelated note, I nearly had a nervous breakdown on Sunday night as I foolishly chose to "upgrade" my blog's template and lost many changes I had made to the lay-out. But because of my HTML skillzzzz that I miraculously recalled from the late 1990s, I recovered the template. You actually shouldn't see much difference, but one enhancement that I am happy about is the fact that you can now easily access all past write-ups from the menu on the right-hand side near the top of every page. I still need to load in my Season One write-ups that were all done via email, but... baby steps.

- e

S3Ep6 - I Do (Kate's fifth flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

First and foremost, happy holidays and Happy New Year. Perhaps, like me, you received all of the Lost action figures as gifts and are extremely happy because mini-Locke can now be with you, always.

If you did not get the Lost toys, fear not... as we are just weeks away from the return of the show on February 7th, so you can get your fix again soon.

Since "I Do" aired months ago, you may need to refresh your memory of what actually happened in the episode before reading my take on things. If so, choose between: a comprehensive yet succinct summary or a longer, but funnier recap.

Once you remember what in the heck happened back in early November, read on.


I will start out by saying that I thought the fall finale was awesome, and I watched it not once, not twice, but three times for both my viewing pleasure and to ensure I would cover absolutely everything for you, my loyal readers. I would put the last five minutes of the episode up there with some of the most intense television moments of all time (others include some of the early, scary X-Files episodes as well as when Lucy and Carter got stabbed on ER.)

They definitely set us up well for the February premiere.


KA-, OOPS, I MEAN MONICA

Let's just get Kate's flashbacks out of the way right up front, shall we? Don't get me wrong, I did actually enjoy the flashback scenes, but once again they didn't really give us anything new. We had already known that Kate had been married, as she told this information to Sawyer back in Season 1 when they played "I Never." But now we find out that - gasp! - it was to a Miami-based COP, of all people.

They really chose to play up the contrast between Kate's real life and her alter-ego Monica's faux one... from the priest's exaggerated speech at the wedding ("With Monica, what you see is what you get"), to her 60's-housewife hair-do, to her drawing smiley faces on French Toast and picking up food for that most revered of stable suburbian married life, Taco Night. She was well on her way to becoming a Stepford Wife, I dare say. Alas, the good life could not last for Kate, as her aww-shucks hubby wanted to take her to Costa Rica, which meant she would have to get a passport, which meant she would either have to manufacture a fake one or run the risk of blowing her cover. No, it was not meant to be - no leisurely vacations at all-inclusive resorts with fruity umbrella drinks and cabana boys running around were in the cards for our dear Kate.

After a lame, foolish, last-minute attempt to gain sympathy from The Marshal, on top of a pregnancy scare, Kate realized she had no other choice but to... drug her husband and bust outta Wisteria Lane.

If the flashbacks proved anything to me, it was that Kate was meant to end up in a cage on a deserted island with a fellow con artist. Like so many other of our beloved Lostaways, she really has nothing to go back to in the real world, and the island is the only place where she can be "free."


FAKE-OUT EXTRAORDINAIRE - OR -

CRAZY!JACK RISING, PART 1

Now, back to island happenings.

The tone of the episode was set early on - that tone being "Jack has gone absolutely crazy and just doesn't care anymore!"

I loved the initial scenes with Jack, Juliet and Benry... Jack very much led the two Others to believe that he would be performing the surgery on Benry, only to pull the proverbial rug out from under them at the last minute, and then add on a snotty zinger just for good measure:

JACK: You took these blood tests, made all the notations? [Juliet nods.] How old are the x-rays? JULIET: A week.
JACK: [To Ben] The tumor on your spine is borderline inoperable. And at the rate it's growing, that borderline goes away in one week.
BEN: [Unemotional] Oh.
[Jack and Juliet exchange a look.]
JACK: The OR in the other room, is that fully equipped?
JULIET: Yes.
JACK: Anesthesia? Sterile?
JULIET: Yes.
JACK: You needed to be in surgery yesterday.
BEN: Alright, then. Whatever you need, it's yours. I'm ready.
JACK: [Laughing] No, I think you misunderstood me. I didn't say I was gonna do it. I just wanted you to understand how you're gonna die. [Sardonic laugh] You think I believe you people? You think I trust you? That I'm just going to do the surgery, and then I'm just going to HOPE that you let me go?!
JULIET: Jack!
JACK: [Throws notebook at her face, behind partition] No, don't!
[The three exchange tense looks.]
BEN: Well, Jack. I'm very disappointed in your decision.
JACK: Well, Ben. At least you won't have to be disappointed for very long.

BOO-YA!

WORST. PLAN. EVER.

Good God, Alex! If you're going to attempt to take down the Others and free their hostages, don't use a freaking SLINGSHOT??!! Come ON!

Yes, back on the chain gang, Kate and Sawyer share a brief moment of hope when speakers start blaring that there has been a "compound breach" and Pickett fears aloud that "the doctor" has escaped. But then it's only young Alex who busts onto the scene, lamely flinging stones at various Others and shouting at Kate and Sawyer to run. Shortly thereafter she is easily captured by an Other who simply lifts her off the ground and carries her away. However, before Alex is shuffled off, she does say a few things that should be noted:

- She was apparently attempting to free Sawyer and Kate: "Come on, get up, GO!"
- She asks to talk to Ben. Which is important because until this point, we were not sure if she even knew who Ben was or had any direct contact with him.
- She is extremely worried that The Others have done something to her boyfriend. I think it is safe to assume that the younger guy who was originally in what is now Kate's cage is the boyfriend in question, as Alex also questioned Kate about his whereabouts in a previous episode.
- She believes that they are going to kill Kate's "boyfriend." We can assume this means Sawyer.
- She does not trust The Others overall: "Whatever they say, don't believe them!"

After seeing this scene, I couldn't help but wonder if the whole thing was staged. I mean, did Alex REALLY think she could free those two and then escape herself, when surrounded by a ton of Others who all have guns?? I had to think that perhaps it was a set-up to get Kate and Sawyer to think that Alex is on their side, so that they can just fall into a trap later on. Or it could've been a set-up to scare Kate even more into believing that they really would kill Sawyer (right after Alex is taken away, Kate is approached by Juliet to "help save Sawyer's life").

But there is of course also the possibility that Alex is just young and stupid and acting irrationally because she thought they had killed whats-his-face.

THE REUNION - OR -

CRAZY!JACK RISING, PART 2

So Kate gets dragged into Jack's holding cell (still separated from him by the glass partition, mind you - I'm sure just so they could have that over-played, cheesy 'hands attempting to touch through the glass' scene) and they are reunited for the first time since being kidnapped.

Despite its cheesiness, I thought this scene was powerful and it's fair to say that the scowling doctor's face did light up when he saw Kate. Even better was the totally awkward Juliet watching them in envy and then muttering, "Uh, I'll give you two some privacy."

The next few minutes re-convinced me that Lost has some of the best damn actors on television. We have already previously bowed down to Jack's man-crying abilities, and I have also mentioned before that Kate has concocted her fair share of priceless expressions over the three seasons. As they were brought together in the Hydra hatch, it was impressive to watch the tone turn from a happy reunion to an emotional (but unspoken) fearing of what had happened to the both of them, to a realization of what was really going on by Jack, and the resulting shock at Jack's lack of compassion by Kate.

JACK: [Both hands against clear partition] Hey. You Ok?
KATE: Yeah. You?
JACK: Yeah, I'm great. [Both holding back emotion] Where are they keeping you?
KATE: Outside. In a cage.
JACK: Sawyer?
KATE: He's in a cage, too. They're making us work.
[JACK: Work? On what?
KATE: I dunno what it is, but it's big. We're hauling rocks, and...
JACK: Hey. Did they hurt you?
Kate starts to cry.]
JACK: Kate, hey. Hey. It's gonna be alright.
KATE: Jack. You have to do it. This thing that they told you, this operation.
[Jack looks up at the video camera, where a red light is blinking.]
KATE: She said that if you do it that...
JACK: What did they do to you?
KATE: Jack...
JACK: What did they do to you?
KATE: Nothing!
JACK: How did they get you to ask me?! What did they offer you?!
KATE: [Crying] Nothing!
JACK: Then what are you doing here?!
KATE: They're gonna kill Sawyer! [Breaks down into tears] I'm sorry!
[Jack turns away from partition.]
KATE: I'm so sorry! But she said that if you do it, and you do it soon, they'll let us go!
JACK: And you believe them?
KATE: I have to. [Jack is silent] Jack? Please...
JACK: We're done here.
KATE: Jack!
JACK: [Shouting out at camera] Hey! We're done in here!

Then we see eeeeevil Benry at his wall o' monitors staring grimly at what is unfolding in the cell. "Get her out of there," he orders Juliet. Benry realizes that Jack indeed is only looking out for #1, and Kate and Sawyer were not luring enough bait for the Mad Doctor, as Benry had obviously counted on.

Or were they?

GIRL, I'D LOVE TA SHOW YA, SHOW YA.... MY JUNGLE LOVE!

Once back safely in her cage, Kate realizes that the Mad Doctor is most certainly never going to get with her now, so she thinks, "Ahhh, what the hell, I will go have some fun with Mr. Tortured Soul of the Great One-Liners." So she climbs out of her cage and tries to coax Sawyer to run away with her, only for him to finally break the news to her that they are in fact stranded on another island. After a brief spat used only to build the tension before their climactic love scene, Kate finally succumbs to Sawyer's advances.

OH EE OH EE OH!

Not to ruin that moment for all of you Kate/Sawyer 'shippers, but let me just say this: Two months on the island... no toothbrushes or toothpaste... much eating of fish biscuits... intense love scene. Ponder.

As a side note, many think that the title of this episode was meant not as a reference to Kate's marriage flashbacks, but as Kate's answer to Sawyer's question about whether or not she meant it when she said to Pickett that she loved him. Kate remained silent and Sawyer was the one to say, "I love you, too."

A MAN HAS THE RIGHT TO CHANGE HIS MIND - OR -
CRAZY!JACK RISING, PART 3

Back in the Hydra hatch, Jack is sulking about how no one can appreciate what it is like to be the Mad Doctor. He crashes on a freaky island shortly after his wife left him and his father died, sees his Zombie Dad running around, saves half of the people who survive, finds himself in the middle of a love triangle, gets kidnapped, and now is a pawn in some twisted mind game - with Benry promising him freedom if he saves him, and Juliet hinting to him that he should botch the surgery, and Kate telling him that he can save Sawyer by performing the surgery, and the truth of what is really going on lying nowhere in sight.

Then comes a garbled voice from the intercom, sounding suspiciously like Alex. The voice tells Jack to "try the door," so Jack finds that the door is unlocked, and proceeds to sneak out of his cell and in to Benry's lair, where there just so happens to be tons of guns, and, oh, HOW CONVENIENT, a video camera shot pointed right at Kate and Sawyer and their sinful snuggling.

Once again, Jack gives us some of the most priceless expressions, as he stares befuddled at the screen, looks down, and then arrogantly laughs at what is before his eyes. All while missing Benry sneaking up behind him.

BEN: If it helps, I was surprised, too.
[Jack swings around and points the gun in his face.]
BEN: If I were a betting man, I would have picked her and you.
JACK: Shut up.
BEN: Well. I suppose this would be the proverbial nail in my coffin, wouldn't it?

And then, for no reason other than the fact that he is Crazy!Jack, Jack does a complete 180 and tells Benry that he will indeed perform the surgery, and not only that, he'll do it in a matter of hours, the following morning. Then he snarls, just to make sure Benry understands: "I need to get the hell off this island."



Benry replies with, "Done." And of course I had to wonder, "Hmmm, did Benry mean that LITERALLY, because technically they are on Alcatraz, so Benry could get Jack off of THAT island and put him back on Craphole Island and not be breaking his word." I guess we will see. That is, if Benry survives the operation...

But regardless of the outcome of the surgery, I think that in the end, Benry's plan to use Kate and Sawyer for leverage against Jack worked. Not in the way that it was originally intended to, but it still worked nonetheless.

And don't think for a second that Jack's "accidental release" from his cell wasn't intentional. Benry and/or the rest of The Others KNEW what was being shown on that screen, and they probably figured they should try a last-ditch effort to push Jack over the edge. And for whatever reason - be it because Jack realized that Kate loved Sawyer, or because Jack realized that perhaps he could at least save the happy couple if not himself, or because Jack didn't really didn't care about anything anymore after seeing that video - it worked.


THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

The time finally came for Benry's surgery. I have to admit that I kept waiting for Jack to find nothing there... I honestly thought it was all an elaborate scheme to see what Jack would end up doing - and that the x-rays were not actually Benry's and therefore there was no tumor. It shows how much I'm expecting twists in the show, I guess. I also found it hilarious to see Jack dressed up in scrubs with the Hydra logo all over them.



Before Benry goes under, he makes two interesting comments:

1) BEN: Whatever happens, everything will be very different, won't it?
JACK: No doubt about it.

What exactly did they mean in this exchange, I wonder? There is the most obvious course of thought which is that it is probably going to take a long time for Benry to physically recover from the surgery, so he will be in no position to be bossing everyone around. It could also mean that if Jack is successful, there will be a change in the dynamic between those two. But now, knowing what Jack ended up doing, there's a whole nother layer of complexity to their comments. I will cover that shortly.

2) BEN: Juliet. Did Alex ask about me?
JULIET: No. We took her home last night. I don't know where she is now.

Hmmm, very strange. So not only did Alex demand to speak to Ben the day before, Ben is now asking if Alex asked about him before his surgery. This leads me to believe that he played a role in raising her on the island, like a father figure or something. The "we took her home" comment by Juliet confirms my statement from a prior write-up that the Others actually live on the main island and only come to Alcatraz for their various experiments and side projects.


THE JESUS STICK LIVES!

Let us not forget about all of our other poor Lostaways! We didn't see hardly any of the other main characters for the majority of the first six episodes, and the finale was no different. However, you can rest assured that that will change shortly after the show resumes in February. In the meantime, we did get to see a few minutes of the small group left to deal with Eko's death, led by my man Locke.

After the hatch implosion and Mr. Eko's death, it is safe to guess that Locke is going back full-steam-ahead to his shaman-like ways on the island, as he has now been given many justifications to "believe in the island" again. He seems intent on understanding why the island wanted Eko to die. When tramping through the jungle with Sayid to find Eko's beloved stick for inclusion at the grave site, Locke hints at his next vision quest:

SAYID: So, what killed Eko?
LOCKE: Folks back at the beach call it "the Monster." I don't really have a name for it. You don't believe in monsters?
SAYID: I believe in what I can see. But obviously you have. So, why don't you tell me what you think it is?
LOCKE: Might be what brought us here.
SAYID: So, you think that this Monster decided that Eko was meant to die?
LOCKE: I believe that Eko died for a reason. I just don't know what it is yet.


I believe that Locke will find his purpose again - and that he will think that purpose is to understand Eko's death and subsequently to find Jack, Sawyer and Kate. When making the speech at Eko's make-shift funeral, Locke seems to have found his first clue:

LOCKE: Rest in peace, Mr. Eko. Thank you for helping me find my...
[Suddenly, Locke stops, and focuses on the stick.]

Not only is Locke zeroing in on this new carving on the stick, but he also probably noticed that "John" is right beneath it, in reference to a different Bible passage (John 3:05). But it could read as, "Lift up your eyes and look north, John."

My call is that the Alcatraz island is to the north, and that Locke will be the one to figure this out and to organize a group of Lostaways to save the kidnapped three. Other people on the boards, however, feel that it's another hatch that is to the north ("The Flame"), and that is where they will find Patch-Man.

WHO THE HELL IS JACOB?

JACK: Scalpel.
[Juliet hands him the scalpel and he starts cutting. Pickett is up a tier in observation, watching.]
PICKETT: Let's go. [Walks off with a man]
OTHER MAN: Ben's just gone into surgery.
PICKETT: Ben just put his life in the hands of one of them! Shephard wasn't even on Jacob's list.


Whoa, whoa, whoa. BACK up. Who is Jacob??? That was definitely a "stop and rewind multiple times tivo moment" for me. So three very important things came out of that brief scene:

1) Literally the second Benry's surgery began, Pickett took off to go kill Sawyer, with absolutely no fear of reprisal. To me, this confirmed that they really had no other use for Sawyer than as leverage for Kate (who was leverage for Jack). If Benry had other plans for Sawyer, Pickett wouldn't have felt confident enough to risk carrying out his revenge... he only went to kill Sawyer after he was sure the surgery was under way.

2) You can infer that Jack is NOT a "good person." If we are assuming that this unknown character Jacob is the one behind the "good people" lists, then you can assume that all the Others know who was on those lists because they were sent to kidnap those people early on. What we as viewers do not know is why Jack would NOT be considered a good person. To this point in his flashbacks, he hasn't done anything horrible like killing anyone on purpose. In my view, this opens up ALL characters who we previously thought were "good" (except Locke, because Benry told him he was "one of the good people" and Locke also saw the white light from the Monster) as possibly being "bad." Something tells me another Jack!Back is in the not too distant future...

3) There is some dude named Jacob who may be the one controlling everything, not Benry, as previously assumed. So Jacob is most likely the "him" that Benry spoke of while captive and that Pickett and Ethan referenced in one of Claire's flashbacks. Could Jacob be the crazy pirate patch guy? I don't think so. I think it is someone we haven't seen at all yet. And the name "Jacob" carries all sorts of religious connotations...



THE FIVE MOST INTENSE MINUTES OF LOST - EVER (so far)

From the point when Pickett left the surgery watch-room until the episode's end credits are what I am counting as some of the most intense television I have ever seen. I was seriously disturbed at the dark turn the show took near the end when Pickett came for Sawyer. The rain is pouring down, and Pickett and his no-name henchman just bust into the cage and there is no doubt about what they plan to do.

PICKETT: Step away!
[Sawyer punches out the man with him and grabs Pickett's hand with the gun. There's a scuffle, and Sawyer ends up with Pickett's gun pointed at Pickett, but Kate has been overtaken by the Other man.]
PICKETT: You let go, or I do her too!
[Sawyer looks over at Kate, who is helpless, pinned at gunpoint up against the cage bars by the second Other man.]
PICKETT: Let go!
KATE: Don't you let go! Don't you think about it, Sawyer, you fight! No! Sawyer, NO!!
[Sawyer lets go and lets Pickett have the upper hand. He is pushed face-first into the cage bars, and Pickett holds the gun to his head.]
KATE: No, NO!! Sawyer, PLEASE! You get your hands off of him!
PICKETT: Get on your knees! [Pushes Sawyer to his knees]
KATE: Please!! I'll do ANYTHING YOU WANT!!!!
PICKETT: I want you to watch.
SAWYER: Close your eyes, Freckles.
KATE: Stand up!
SAWYER: CLOSE YOUR EYES.
[Sawyer closes his eyes, as Pickett prepares to shoot him execution style.]
KATE: NO! NO! NO!
PICKETT: This is for Colleen. You son-of-a-bitch!

I thought the dialogue between Sawyer and Kate was heart-wrenching and I think it was some Evangeline Lilly's best acting of the entire series. Her screaming "I'Ll do ANYTHING YOU WANT!" still moves me to tears, just to think about it. And then Pickett's sickening "I want you to watch" just left me nauseous. I'm seriously all stressed out again now just re-reading the dialogue! Shudder.

When watching it live, I knew that there were only a few minutes left of the show at that point, and I honestly thought for a brief, painful moment that they were actually going to kill Sawyer. Because they started playing the sad "this person is dead" music! Those damn score-writers and their trickery!



CRAZY!JACK HAS ARRIVED! (still part of the intense 5 minutes)

Wooo... wooo.....!!!!! The Crazy Train is pulling out of the station and I'm totally on board because the Mad Doctor is the conductor!!! The outpouring of love for Crazy!Jack was at all-time high levels across every single Lost site and message board I visited. EVERYONE LOVES THEM SOME CRAZY!JACK! He just doesn't care anymore and he is doing it HIS WAY.

He didn't keep his "do no harm" oath and just perform the surgery on the up-and-up. Nor did he accidentally botch the surgery on the sneak-tip per Juliet's video instructions. He just made a big ol' cut in a place he wasn't supposed to, punched out the other surgery attendees, demanded the walkie talkie, and then assumed his rightful Position of Power on the island. The best was how Zeke was just left staring with his mouth hanging open.


After Zeke composed himself, he was able to catch Pickett via walkie talkie right before Sawyer met an untimely fate. And then, the final heart-pounding moments of the episode were spent between Jack and Kate.

KATE: Jack? Jack!
JACK: Kate? You have about an hour headstart before they come after you.
KATE: Where are you? Where are you?
JACK: You remember what I told you on the beach? The day of the crash. You remember what story I told you when you were stitching me up? [Kate is silent on other end] DO YOU REMEMBER IT?!
KATE: [Crying] YES! Yes, I remember!
JACK: When you get safe, you radio me, and you tell that story.
KATE: Jack, please.
JACK: If I don't get a call from you in the next hour, I'm going to know something went wrong, and [turning to Tom] HE DIES!
KATE: I can't leave without you!
JACK: Yes, you are. Go!
KATE: Jack! I can't!
JACK: Go, now!
KATE: I CAN'T!
JACK: KATE, DAMMIT, RUN!!!!

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I'm totally stressed out again?!?!?!

So a few things about the final moments:

1) What exactly is Jack's plan now?
I don't see a good outcome for Jack overall in this. Even if he sews up Ben (which, I don't think he has actually REMOVED THE TUMOR yet, so he still has to do that, which isn't a walk in the park), all of the Others are going to hate him. Why would they keep him alive past Ben's recovery now? And if Ben ever was going to keep his promise to take Jack "home," why would he do it now? If Jack doesn't finish what he started with the surgery and lets Ben die, then he's got even bigger problems. Juliet probably won't be on his side anymore, either, as he didn't screw up in a subtle way as she wanted him to. All I can figure is that Jack had already realized he was never going to get off the island and that the Others were liars (hence his speech to Kate in the cell), but after seeing Kate and Sawyer together in the cage, his God Complex kicked back in and he thought, "Well, perhaps I can do something so that those two can at least live happily ever after." He is essentially sacrificing himself, in my mind. Also, I recently read an interview with the show's creators and they reiterated that the characters' names often have specific meanings... so when you think about Jack Shephard, you could infer that perhaps he is trying to look out for his remaining "flock."

2) What is Juliet going to do now?
As I stated above, Jack didn't exactly go along with her plan, and she is at risk of being exposed by Jack as a traitor, since he definitely has nothing to lose now by telling someone about her plan to defer attention away from himself.

3) Why didn't Kate TELL HIM THEY HAD NOWHERE TO GO???
This was annoying to me... she just kept going "I can't!" "I can't leave without you!" instead of "We are on another island and there is no way off that I know of!" I KNOW that they were just wanting the totally intense effect so they didn't want Jack and Kate to get into that conversation, and I hope that no one gets mad because this is kind of spoilerish, but just know that they DO cover the fact that they are on another island and need a boat to get off in the next episode (hey, I fell off the spoiler wagon just a little bit, what can I say?). So I am less annoyed now that she didn't bring that up right away, and I hope you are, too.

4) What exactly is Ben's role?
So we know that someone named Jacob is most likely running the show behind the scenes. And we know that Juliet has some sort of conflicted history with Ben. Yet it is very clear at the end that Ben definitely has some power over Pickett and Zeke - even if that it's just that they care about him enough to not want him to die. Pickett was very ready to shoot Sawyer and the fact that he didn't says to me that his fear of or respect for Ben overpowers his extreme anger and need for revenge.

5) What is the story Jack was referring to that he wants Kate to repeat to him?
The story is (I looked it up in the Pilot transcript to be sure) about his first solo surgery as a resident, and how he totally screwed up and made a bad incision on a 16-year-old girl, but he only let the fear take over for 5 seconds, and then he continued on with the surgery and it ended up OK. Kate has used this "being afraid for 5 seconds" strategy two other times in the series. It has been debated on the boards if there is any deeper meaning to why Jack chose this story, but I think it was simply because Kate is the only one who would know it.

The last comment I will make about this episode is that I think it would have been much more appropriate as a Jack!Back. Had we found out in this episode why he is considered a "bad" person, it would've perfectly complemented his "I don't give a crap about anything" actions on the island. That is what makes a strong episode overall - a seamless melding between one of the character's past and present actions. This was clearly Jack at his most awesome. I guess we will just have to wait for his next flashback - which will undoubtedly come this season.

WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

- So, Alex = the Island's Bart Simpson? I never laughed so hard - girl is scrappy.
- Love Jack as a badass, if he'd have whipped this action out earlier I wouldn't hate him so much. - The sad music they were playing at the end almost had me convinced that they were going to kill Sawyer. (e - SEE! I wasn't the only one!)
- At this point, there is no way I can believe the Others are at all good. The manipulation and abuse they have exhibited towards the survivors are just beyond anything that could be reasonably reconciled with me through a well-written subplot. Even if it does turn out that there is a believable rationale behind the mind games Benry and Juliet have played with Jack and Kate or the physical beatings Sawyer's endured from Pickett, I will still be hard-pressedto believe that there wasn't some alternative to their actions.
- Dammit, I was ready to let this show go. Not only can I not let it go but Jack has surpassed Sawyer as my favorite character.
- I have never thought much of EL as an actress, and yet, here I was, blubbering like a baby in two of her scenes. She did awesome.
- If that asshole Danny Pickett doesn't die in the next 16 episodes I'll be mad.
- I think it's fairly clear that "Eko the White" will be returning in the future. (e - had to include that one for the LOTR fans out there)
- Holy....Wow. What a great final scene. Jack sacrifices himself for Kate and Sawyer. Talk about a hero.
- Not much for Jack-haters to chew on for this ep.
- I actually thought Danny was going to kill Sawyer anyways, after receiving the "call" (probably because he was one of Juliet's followers). That was a tense moment, I was literally on the edge of my seat. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, praying that we wouldn't end the episode with that scene. Instead we got the depressing ending where Jack will think that Kate and Sawyer are safe by giving them 1 hour head start, without knowing that there is nowhere to go.
- I don't know. The situation is dire, but I'm not convinced it's completely hopeless... Yet. Still, a lot can happen in an hour. If Jack Bauer can take out a cadre of terrorists and save his girlfriend and her father, then I'd like to think Sawyer and Kate can run a mile or so and at least find a decent hiding spot until they can figure out how to get back to Craphole Island.
- 6 episodes, no Vincent. Very sad. I think he must be hanging with Rose and Bernard since we didn't see them either.


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

[Back on the island, Kate awakens as the cage door clanks. The siren is blaring "Warning", and Sawyer is throwing rocks at the feeding apparatus in his cage.]
KATE: Hey.
SAWYER: Hey yourself.
KATE: What are you doing?
SAWYER: Throwin' rocks.
KATE: Thought you had to pull the lever.
SAWYER: I know how to get a damn fish biscuit.

KATE: I saw Jack. They brought me in to see him. They want him to do surgery on Ben.
SAWYER: Who the hell is Ben?



[Back on main island, Locke is talking over Eko's grave, with Desmond, Sayid, Nikki and Paulo standing in a circle, with heads bowed.]
LOCKE: When the hatch exploded, your prayer stick fell out of a tree right on top of me.



KATE: What if I told you I was a fugitive? [Kevin is speechless] What if I told you I was on the run for blowing up my father, and it was only a matter of time before you found out?
KEVIN: This isn't funny.
KATE: [Crying] It's not a joke. I almost had a baby, Kevin. Me, a baby! I can't do this! Taco night?! I don't do taco night!
KEVIN: Ok, calm down, Monica...
KATE: My name's not Monica!


JACK: Hand me another hemostat. [Jack clamps a vessel] Swab again. [Juliet assists]
[When the Other man with them turns, Jack takes the scalpel and makes a deliberate incision in Ben's back. Immediately, the heart monitor beeps faster as Ben's pulse increases.]
JULIET: What happened? Is he Ok?
OTHER MAN: His blood pressure's dropping. He shouldn't be bleeding like that!
JACK: Nope, no, he shouldn't.
[Jack punches the Other man in the OR out, and he goes crashing into a small table. Tom watches from the above observation deck, speechless.]

UPCOMING EPISODES

I laughed so hard when the previews for the rest of the season had not only the voiceover man, but also the graphical text reading, "No Repeats... NOT... EVEN.... ONE!"

I highly suggest you watch the preview again to get yourself hyped up for February.

The February 7th episode is entitled "Not in Portland."

From the preview, we can see that Jack is still as crazy as ever, Kate and Sawyer appear to be running through the woods but have someone chasing and shooting at them, Locke looks happy, and Desmond hints that something horrible happened to him when he turned the key.

For those of you who have either been watching the now-canceled "Day Break," or who have seen the sneak-peek "Lost Moments" posted on the Internet (they originally aired during "Day Break"), you know some more of the details of what will happen when the show returns. I'm not going to provide those links as I consider them major spoilers and if you really want to see them, you can find them yourselves. But I will say that I watched all of them and they were fairly interesting, and Jack is definitely still off his rocker, so if nothing else, that is something to look forward to!

LIFE UNFORTUNATELY IMITATES ART
In a eerily similar scene to when Kate blew up her dad's house, Evangeline Lilly's real-life home in Hawaii burst into flames recently. Luckily, no one was home, and it was deemed to have been an electrical malfunction.

I GUESS ALL THAT FACE-MAKING PAID OFF

For the 2007 Golden Globe Awards - Lost was nominated for Best Series - Drama, and Evangeline Lilly (Kate) was nominated for Best Actress - Drama!

The show airs January 15th. It is, in my humble opinion, the BEST awards show because it combines both movie and TV awards. But Terry O'Quinn/Locke was robbed again??!?!

Here are all the nominees.

IF YOU'VE GOT 7 MINUTES...

This silly (in a good way) video set to a Weird Al cover tune compilation is a good way to pass the time. Shout-out to Uncle Grambo for passing along the link!

DAMMIT, I'M TIRED ENOUGH AS IT IS

Lost will now be on two hours later than its original air-time in Season 1, one hour later from Seasons 2 and the beginning of Season 3.

10 PM ET now, still on Wednesdays, at least!

So there you have it, my dear friends. Now we just have to wait until February 7th. Going forward, I have no idea how I'm going to be able to keep up with 16 episodes straight (that has never happened before, and I've actually really needed the time when they used to show reruns to pull everything together) so I will forewarn you that you are going to have to be patient with me when the show returns. It is going to be tough to balance my commitment to The Man, my attempt to have some semblance of a life, and writing this blog, which usually takes a full 1.5 days on the weekends. But I will do my best!

Until then, once again, Happy New Year,
- e

S2Ep9: What Kate Did (Kate's fourth flashback) - 11/30/05

My dear friends,

Hello and Happy New Year. It has been a long time, no? So long that after watching this episode 3 times AND reading the transcript when it originally aired, I still couldn't really remember the details of what happened, so I had to read the transcript yet again just now. I will provide a quick recap so that we are all on the same page. If you have a better memory than I do, you can scroll down to the next heading in all caps to bypass the recap.

RECAP
The episode begins with a shirtless Jin emerging from his tent, much to the delight of female fans everywhere. He is closely followed by Sun. Hurley gives Jin the thumbs up. Jack is tending to Sawyer's bullet wound in the Hatch. Sawyer is mumbling incoherently about Kate and says that he loves her. Kate is off climbing trees in the jungle, and then sees a random black horse. We cut to a flashback where she helps put some drunk creepy guy named Wayne to bed and then rides off on a motorcycle as the house Wayne is in explodes. She then goes to a diner where her mom is working and there are innuendoes that Wayne is abusive to Kate's mom. Kate also implies that she has done something to take care of this problem and hands her mom an insurance policy and then leaves.

Back in real time, Kate takes over watching Sawyer in the Hatch so Jack can go to Shannon's funeral. Sayid makes a lame speech at the funeral. Sawyer is possessed by Wayne and freaks Kate out so she bolts. Jack and Locke find Sawyer sprawled out on the floor when they return. Charlie finds Kate back in the jungle. We get another flashback of Kate trying to escape to Florida via train, but the Marshal captures her. Back in the hatch, Locke finally cuts the d@mn handcuff off of Jin. Michael realizes there are "blast doors" in the hatch.

Jack finds Kate wandering around confused in the jungle. They kiss and then she runs away looking all horrified. Back in the hatch, Michael, Eko and Locke watch the Dharma Initiative tape. Kate is now by Shannon's grave. Sayid tells her that he saw Walt. In another flashback, we see the Marshal and Kate in a car that swerves off the road after nearly hitting a... drumroll please... black horse. Kate takes this opportunity to kick the Marshal out of the car and drive off, thus beginning her life as a fugitive.

Back in the hatch, Michael starts checking out the vast computer system, while Eko schools Locke on the story of Josiah and the Book of Law. He then passes Locke the Bible he found in Hatch Lite and we see that there is a cut-out holding a roll of film in it.

We go back to Kate's flashback and see her visit her dad in an Army office. Her dad knows the Marshal is looking for her. Kate tells her dad that in the process of making a scrapbook for him for his birthday, she realized that he could not be her biological father, and that she therefore knew that Wayne was. Her father confirmed that this was true. Back in real time, Kate whispers to Sawyer about how he reminds her of Wayne and how that disgusts her because she's attracted to him. Sawyer wakes up and thinks they've been rescued because he hasn't seen the Hatch before and is confused by the fact that he's in a bunk-bed. He is dismayed to find out they are indeed still on the island and makes several humorous comments on the subject. It should also be noted that Sawyer's hair is utterly wacked out. Both Sawyer and Kate see the black horse in the jungle, so it was not a figment of Kate's imagination. Kate pets the horse and then it runs off.

Meanwhile, Jack and Ana Lucia waste precious alcohol on the beach. Back in the hatch, the episode closes with Eko and Locke watching the newly spliced video - which pretty much still doesn't say anything we haven't heard before. It just reiterates that they shouldn't use the computer for anything else other than entering the code... and if they do, it could result in another "incident." While in the other room, the computer starts beeping even though the clock is only at 51 minutes, and Michael basically starts instant messaging on the computer:
MONITOR: Hello?
MICHAEL [typing]: Hello?
MONITOR: Who is this?
MICHAEL [typing]: This is Michael. Who is this?
LONG DRAMATIC PAUSE
MONITOR: Dad?
Around the country, viewers simultaneously gasp one of three things: 1) "Whoa." or 2) "Say whaaaaaaaa?" or 3) "D@mn this show for not being on again for 6 weeks!"


On to episode comments...

R.I.P. SHANNON RUTHERFORD
Not only did we finally say goodbye to Shannon, but we also bid adieu to the total lack of chemistry that was "Shayid" (a term created by the crazy boarders, which is just as good as TomKat or Brangelina, don't you agree?).

KATE - SMOOTH CRIMINAL? OR: EVEN MORE DADDY ISSUES
I have mentioned before that several characters have "daddy issues," (Jack, Locke, Walt, baby Aaron, Sun, to name a few) and now we can add Kate to that list as well.

Moving on to the big event covered in Kate's flashback... I'm probably going to create a few enemies with this statement, but I really don't think what Kate did was THAT bad. I mean, if I'm supposed to believe that she is this criminal mastermind that's been on the run for several years, I really was expecting her Original Crime to be something just totally insane that had no justification whatsoever. There had been such build-up to it. But attempting to put an end to her mom's suffering by blowing up a house that just so happened to have her alcoholic, abusive stepfather/actual birth father in it? I was underwhelmed. Somehow in the years that followed she became skilled enough to coordinate bank robberies and elude Federal agents and local police, as well as clever enough to create disguises for herself and still keep in touch with whoever it was that sent her the letter in "Born to Run" telling her that her mom was in the hospital?... it just doesn't add up.

But there is a much bigger, darker side to Kate that we learned about in this episode, according to this message board post: "I think the most shocking aspect of Kate's backstory was that she is a scrapbooker. That speaks volumes."

In all seriousness, you should read this very detailed profile on the character of Kate, which pieces together everything we know about her so far in chronological order. Then at the bottom you will see links to the other characters' profiles. I was getting all excited thinking that I could quit working for The Man and get a job writing Lost character profiles for Wikipedia until I realized it is by and large run by volunteers. : (

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Austen


IT'S ABOUT TIME
I'm glad Jin finally got that handcuff off. That's all.

KATE-JACK-SAWYER LOVE TRIANGLE
So now we know that Kate feels that since Wayne is her birth father she herself will never be "good," and therefore is not "good enough" for Jack in her mind. Yet she will also not allow herself to follow through on any attraction to Sawyer because he reminds her too much of Wayne. Well then I see no more purpose for her on the show. However, since I don't think she's going anywhere any time soon (and since Ana Lucia has taken over as my Most Hated Character), I will say that I think this whole concept of "good people" is playing and will continue to play out since apparently The Others only kidnap those who they think are good as we saw with The List in "The Other 48 Days," and since it was also a theme in this episode.

SAWYER/WAYNE
Was Sawyer somehow really possessed by Wayne? If yes, then at what point did the possession begin? Was it Sawyer talking about Kate when he said "Where is she?" and "I love her" at the beginning, or was he talking about someone else from his past that we don't know about yet? Or was he already Wayne at that point? Was he ever really Wayne and did he ever really say "Why did you kill me???" to Kate, or was that all a hallucination much like Jack seeing Zombie-Dad? I have no answers for you, only questions. Sorry.

BLACK BEAUTY
There was much discussion on the boards about what exactly the black horse represented, if anything. Boarders pointed out that the black horse represents famine in the Bible (one of the four horses of the Apocalypse). Somehow I do not see the connection there with this episode. More logical theories are that the horse represented "innocence" or "hope" or was Kate's savior in some way. Other people thought that perhaps Kate willed the horse into existence as it saved her before in her life and she needed help again now. This could be a possibility as we think we've seen happen on the show before (Walt willing the polar bear into existence, Jack willing Charlie back to life, etc.).

BLAST DOORS
Here is my prediction: At some point, the blast doors are going to go down - and some people will be trapped inside. Extremely creative thinking on my part, I know.

I'LL FORGIVE YOU IF YOU MISSED THIS ONE
Because I did, too - and I KNEW it was going to be there (sometimes I can't avoid spoilers)! Sayid was on the TV monitor when Kate went to visit her dad in the Army office. I have seen it blown up and from slightly later screen captures - it's definitely him. We have not seen this part of his history in his flashbacks yet, but I am pretty sure there will be another Sayid flashback coming up soon.

WHAT ABOUT POOR EX-MUTE CHICK?
I just wanted to point out that no one has thought twice about the fact that Cindy disappeared into thin air the previous day. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

LOCKE AND EKO
I have to admit that I was a tad worried when Eko started telling his story to Locke, because if they turned him into some religious fanatic I was going to be mad. But it was all good, thankfully. Everyone is loving the Locke and Eko interactions... I hope TPTB (the powers that be) don't turn them on each other.

Regarding Eko's big line of the night, "Don't mistake coincidence for fate" - people were divided as to what he actually meant by this. The best way I could sum up the debate was that the general consensus was that while both Locke and Eko of are a similar nature and therefore aren't going to be in opposition as much as, say, Jack and Locke are, that Eko has more true spiritual faith while Locke is believing in the Island and fate. Some people thought, as I did, that when Eko was telling the story to Locke before he revealed the hidden film, it was actually meant to serve as kind of a warning about worshipping "false idols" as Locke is kind of worshipping the island.

ORIENTATION VIDEO
There was controversy amongst the nerds on the boards who claim that Dr. Marvin Candle (the narrator of the Orientation video) looked different in the spliced footage, so that therefore that footage was not meant to be part of the Station 3 video that Locke was watching, but rather another video in another hatch (supposedly there are 6 stations across the island). I have seen the comparison - the biggest difference to me is that his hair is parted differently.

Here is where I need to wonder: are people reading too much into this? The producers of this show are only human - they probably shot the extra scenes later and didn't exactly match up everything exactly. But then again - this is Lost - and TPTB are smart and KNOW everyone examines every little detail... so were the slight differences in Candle's appearance on purpose? Once again, no answers for you.

CLARIFICATION ON THE COUNTDOWN CLOCK
According to some posters on the boards who I definitely trust, the clock only counts minutes until it gets down to 4 minutes and the buzzer starts going off. THEN it starts also counting down seconds. So the clock did not "freeze" at 51 minutes at the end of the episode when Michael noticed the message like many people (including me) thought.

GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Who knew that really old computers had instant message technology loaded onto them? This had to have been the beta version of AIM or something. Regardless, the "Dad?" at the end WAS freaky and definitely a surefire way to ensure viewers return after the 6-week hiatus. This is yet another example of why I am so glad I'm not into the hard-core spoilers anymore because several people on the boards knew that scene was coming and therefore it was no big surprise to them. After my initial shock, all I could think was that you KNOW at the very last shot of the episode Michael was pursing up his lips to once again yell his trademark
"WAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!"

A few of the posts on this subject were so hilarious to me that I had to pull them into the write-up because I know not everyone has time to read the boards, and I thought that all should be entertained, so here are the top three:
1)
"It would have been funny for Michael to type: "OMG!!!! WALT! WTF!!!"

2)
>: OMG WALT IZ THAT U
>: YEA DAD ASL PIRATES TOOK ME LOL LOL LOL"

3)
"Love that the Others look like something out of "Deliverance" and don't wear shoes, but they have e-mail. WTF?"


So the question at hand is just that... Is it really Walt typing, or is it The Others? Or someone else? And what is going to happen now that Michael broke the "do not use the computer for anything else but entering the code" rule? I really have no idea on this one. I find it hard to believe that Walt is just hanging out somewhere else playing on a computer, and find it more likely that they are somehow being watched and that someone is playing with Michael's head. What will be interesting to me is if Michael tells anyone about it. If he does and the word gets spread around, will Sayid (or now Kate) tell Michael that Sayid thinks he saw Walt the previous day? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE:
Locke: Hello again.
Eko: Hello.

EKO: I have something I think you should see. If you don't mind, I will begin at the beginning. Long before Christ the king of Judah was a man named Josiah.
LOCKE: Boy when you say beginning, you mean beginning.

[Jack chopping wood, as Hurley approaches.]
HURLEY: Hey. [Jack doesn't answer] So, Rose's husband's white, didn't see that one coming.

KATE: [after long speech to 'Wayne' who she thinks is inside of Sawyer]... And every time that I look at Sawyer -- every time I feel something for him -- I see you, Wayne. It makes me sick.
SAWYER: [finally wakes up] That's about the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

LOCKE: ...I mean, think about it. Somebody made this film. Someone else cut this piece out. We crash -- 2 halves of the same plane fall in different parts of the island -- you're over there, I'm over here. And now, here's the missing piece right back where it belongs. What are the odds?
EKO: Don't mistake coincidence for fate.


NEXT EPISODE: 1/11/06

Remember when I said I'd heard of two different things that the next episode could be about? Well from the look of the previews, I think one of them was right. I believe the first episode of 2006 will be entitled "The 23rd Psalm" and will be the highly anticipated Eko flashback. For you heathens out there, the 23rd Psalm is the "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" one, which at the very least you should've recognized from Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" because they played it approximately every 11 minutes in 1995. From the scenes shown, it appears that Eko will face The Monster. I will only say this: IF THEY DARE KILL OFF EKO.... well..., ok, realistically, I will still watch the show, but I will have to at least organize a sit-in or something. I will not tell you what the other thing was I heard the episode could be about, in case they do it in the future.

Finally, I'm kind of mad at the writers for not showing us the initial words between Jack and Ana Lucia after they met in the jungle, or the first reactions of the original Lostaways to seeing the person who just killed Shannon. Cop out.


HE WAS ROBBED
Golden Globe Nominations for Lost:
Best Drama
Best Actor in a Drama (Matthew Fox/Jack)
Best Supporting Actor in a Drama (Naveen Andrews/Sayid)
WHAT? NO TERRY O'QUINN/LOCKE NOMINATION???? I DEMAND JUSTICE!!!!!!


Until next time,
- e

S1Ep22 - Born to Run (Kate's third flashback)

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

Hello everyone -

I bet a few of you were wondering if I would protest doing this write-up because it is once again about Kate, my least favorite character. Well, the only reason why I am still doing it is because the Kate Hate on the boards is SO OVERWHELMING, so powerful, that I was anxious to paste in some of the posts because they are so vicious. I'm now going to make a bold statement: There are some people out there who hate Kate even more than I do. And this write-up is dedicated to those people across the country who, like me, are continually befuddled each week when the show doesn't end with Kate being eaten alive by the Monster.


Issues/topics in "Born to Run":


1) Who wrote Kate the letter she read at the beginning?

Obviously whoever it was has been in contact with her enough to know 1) Where she was, 2) What her fake name was and 3) That she would need money. Some suspect it was the ex-boyfriend guy, but I don't because he seemed shocked to see her. Some suspect it was her father, a sibling, a stepfather, or another childhood friend.

And by the way, that opening scene where she "washed out" the platinum blond dye was ridiculous. Most people were just mad that that scene didn't end with her being stabbed in the shower a la Psycho.

2) Dr. Artz aka The Science Teacher - or - Where Did THIS Guy Come From??!?!!?!?!!?

There are many problems people have with the sudden appearance of The Science Teacher:
a) He's a bad science teacher, as trade winds go east/west and not north/south as he said (I plead ignorance on this one... just reporting what people on the boards claim to know… although I DID know that Antarctica was the only piece of land south of them - are you impressed?)
b) If they're going to introduce a new character, they should've done it more subtly over the course of the season. For instance, Rose, Steve, the guy with the rash, etc... these people have had bit parts the whole time... it would be more believable if one of them spoke up rather than some totally new guy who everyone else is talking to on a first name basis all of a sudden.
c) It seems contrived because it's like they NEEDED a reason to speed up the raft's launch, so all of a sudden they create this science teacher. Why didn't he say anything the past few weeks they've been building it?!?!?!

3) More Lord of the Rings connections!

Kate's True Love was played by MacKenzie Astin, who also played the young Andy Moffatt from Facts of Life (You take the good, you take the bad, you ... I'll stop). In real life, he is the younger brother of Sam the Hobbit, and was also once the roommate of Merry Brandybuck (Charlie). If you really want to be weirded out, consider this: Charlie and Kate are dating in real life (strange but true), yet in this episode Kate was kissing Charlie's real life ex-roommate.

3) The Hatch

The one part of this episode that everyone DID like was the Craphole Island Holy Trinity of Locke, Jack and Sayid discussing the hatch. Everyone was annoyed by Jack thinking they should open it because he doesn't see what's so bad that could be in there. I will let you read the posts for peoples' reactions to THAT idiotic reasoning.

The "discretion" argument between Jack and Locke was also awesome, but even better was Sayid's face the whole time, he was very amused. I just like how finally these two had to admit that they both have hid information from the group at large because they thought it was the right thing to do.

4) Sawyer

People really need to stop blaming him for EVERYTHING. I mean, come on.
He didn't take the water early on in the season, he didn't have the inhalers, he gave Kate the alcohol for Boone when they needed it, and he didn't poison Jin. He has actually done a lot of good things on the island in addition to being eye candy for all the women, so really they must stop accusing him every time something goes wrong because it is getting old and tired.

5) Hurley

Once again proving that the producers/writers did intend for him to be "the voice of the audience" when he shouted, exasperated, "How am I supposed to keep straight who knows what around here?"

6) VH1's Behind the Music: Driveshaft

I TOTALLY missed this, but I guess the song Charlie was writing while Claire was cutting his hair was entitled, "The Monster Ate the Pilot." I will watch this again tonight to catch that, but everyone on the boards got a kick out of it. The more sentimental board posters liked the idea of Charlie, Claire and Turniphead shacking up in LA, but most people just felt it was lame.

7) Kate is the WORST

OK, so Jack knows that Kate's a fugitive, she's proven she knows how to use a gun, she wanted the Halliburton case with 4 guns in it, and she drugged Jack last episode. But yet she has the gall to get all offended when Jack asks her if she poisoned Michael? Sista, please!

8) The Time Capsule

So Kate and her True Love dig up some time capsule they made back in the day (8/15 1989, to be exact. Yes, 815 AGAIN), which was housed in a New Kids lunchbox. Hey, I went to see them in concert (shout out to DY, who I believe was with me?), so I can't make any rude remarks. But then again, I also saw Milli Vanilli three times in concert (shout out to DY and Nerdy P, both of whom I KNOW were with me at those... you've been OUTED). In this lunchbox is ... dum dum dum... the toy plane. And also a cassette tape, which reveals that even back then Kate wanted to run away, and her True Love should supposedly "know why." This has led to much speculation about Kate being abused or whatnot, and that perhaps she killed whoever was hurting her. I have no idea what to think anymore. I really don't.

9) Walt stars in The Dead Zone

First, Walt wants to make sure Locke knows he didn't poison his dad, which I actually thought was a good scene and smart of the writers to do... If I was Walt I would've done the same thing.

But then Locke touches him and Walt supposedly gets some sort of vision about what will happen when the hatch is opened, and pleads with Locke not to open it. Definitely freaky... awwwwwwwwwwwww.... FREAK OUT! Le Freak, c'est chic!


10) So What Did Kate DO, for the love of God!??!?!

For those of you thinking the mystery of Kate's past was solved this episode, you are dead wrong. And the reason why I am especially mad is that it means there's no way we're getting around having to wince our way through MORE Kate flashbacks in Season 2. There is significant evidence now to suggest that whatever Kate did was a horrendous crime. Or else, it better be since they've established the following evidence:

a) Episode opens with Kate changing her looks, having a stash of license plates, and sneaking into a hotel room like she's no stranger to doing that. She also is using an alias, as we have seen her do in her other flashbacks.
b) There is an ARMED GUARD sitting outside her mom's hospital room. There IS a slight chance that her MOM was a criminal, or possibly her dad/other relative was and they needed to protect the mom from someone, but most likely it was for Kate, since...
c) She covered her face with the flower bouquet when passing the guard
d) She was able to break into the back of her True Love's alarmed car
e) She said "I'm so sorry for everything I've put you through" to her mom (by the way, Hurley made nearly the exact same apology to his family at the press conference after he won the Lotto)
f) Her mom, who quite possibly could've been possessed by a demon, starting freaking out when she saw Kate... not out of joy, but out of horror and fear. She obviously thought Kate was going to kill her as she was trying to scream "Help me!!!!"
g) The mom causes enough ruckus for the guard to come over, giving Kate no choice but to uppercut him and bust out...
h) Using her True Love's car to escape, she attempts her getaway but he jumps in beside her. She asks him to leave but he's like, "No... you know what? Forget that wife who stuck with me through med school and my new beautiful baby and the fact that you're a criminal and I haven't even seen you in years... I think I want to ride with you to my death in the most lame escape attempt EVER." Watch it again, I swear he said that.
i) She drives straight into the police, and then finally crashes, only to then notice that True Love has been shot to death. But tramps like Kate, baby they were born to ruuunnnnn*..... so she hops out of the car, LEAVING THE TOY PLANE BEHIND and THUS ENSURING much to my dismay that we must endure another Kate flashback to see how the toy plane ended up in the safety deposit box. Although it still is strange that when Sawyer outed her as the fugitive to everyone else, she said, "what I SUPPOSEDLY did."

Once again, ensuring another flashback.

*(I also saw Bruce Springsteen in concert (damn, DY, we've seen a lot of concerts together!), and I apologize for using his song lyrics in the same sentence I mentioned Kate. However, it's the writers' fault as they named this episode and I feel that was totally disrespectful to The Boss)


11) Sun Resorts to Poison

I can't believe Sun fell victim to Kate's evilness and not only took her suggestion to poison Jin, but also didn't see through Kate's completely selfish reason for suggesting that route. Many people feel that Jack saying, "Say goodbye," to Sun is foreshadowing Jin's demise.

12) Freaky Walt Part Deux

Before, Walt wanted to stay on the island so badly that he burned the first raft. So tonight he cops to torching it to his dad, and then Michael responds, "We don't have to go if you really don't want to leave that badly." And Walt's like, "Oh no, we GOTS TA GO!" because he KNOWS that something wicked that way will soon come. I thought that besides the demon-possessed mother, Walt's "Yes, we do." response to "We don't need to go!" was the scariest part of this episode. Why doesn't he tell OTHER people besides Locke to not open the hatch?!?!?!



Best Line:

Dr. Artz to Sawyer: "Because I'm a Doctor...And you're a hillbilly!"


POSTS FROM THE MESSAGE BOARDS

- All right, that wasn't supposed to make me feel bad for Kate, right? Cause... no. My hate has only intensified. Greatly. I want her to go on the raft... alone... and I want it to sink. Slowly.
- So...Everytime Kate gets into a motor vehicle, someone is screwed. I'll never buy her as a farm girl after seeing her foam that beer terribly. I know it was thrown, but girl, you gotta tap that! The Mortal Kombat Uppercut of Doom in the hospital did a lot to regain the (dirt) street cred.
- At least The Hatch is back. The Hatch is creepy. It's a much better character than Kate.
- Oh good, now I have a thoroughly legitimate reason for hating Kate. Excellent. Way to kill your childhood sweetheart, coward. Oh, yes, everyone else hates her too! Woo-hoo!- I love this show but after nearly every episode, I feel so stupid. This was Kate's third episode and I'm still confused. Newsflash, writers! Kate is not all that interesting of a character. She's annoying and always up in someone's grill. One rule for next season: Less Kate, more Sun. Learn it, live it, love it.
- I loathe Kate and her stupid toy plane, but I admit, that part where her mother started crying for help was downright creepy. - So Jack's gonna let everyone assume Kate poisoned Michael, even though he himself thinks Sun did it? And he's gonna try to lecture Locke about keeping secrets? Smug jackass. I vote Hurley mayor of Craphole Island.
- Why do I suspect Kate killed her father somehow as well?
- Now, besides the monster, the Others, the Black Rock, the black and white stones, the empty coffin, Adam and Eve and the numbers, we have Why is Kate running to begin with? Why is Kate's mom so freaked? and the all important, "How did she get the toy plane she left in the back seat of the Doc's Beemer?
- And Jack? I can think of a billion things that could be in that hatch. Most of which I don't want to find. And sure, I agree the best-case scenario would be a lifetime supply of food and medicine. But, gee, I don't know, I think monsters, a virulent disease, dead bodies, lostzilla, polar bears, nuclear weapons or a stash of serial killers are way worse than your worst case scenario of NOTHING???
- I think the reason for Charlie's haircut was to emphasize his metamorphosis into Boone II: the new biggest tool on the island. Did anyone else notice that he got the exact same mullet that Boone was sporting towards the end?
- I don't think Walt wants to go necessarily. He said -- we have to go. Even creepier in my opinion. It's like he knows it's his and his dad's destiny to be on that raft -- Either to get away from whatever is going to happen on the island, or because something has to happen on the raft. Kid knows.- I can't wait for the hatch to be opened. Only two more years and 1,000 more flashbacks and we'll see that the hatch leads to the hottest nightclub on the island or something equally as disappointing.
- I may be the only one, but I'm intrigued by all the inconsistencies to Kate. What's the original reason she's on the run? Why did her mom act like that? If she grew up in Iowa, how does being from Canada and hunting with her US military dad come into play? How long was she involved in Tom's life and who knows how to find her? Someone had to know where and who to send that letter. What's up with all the names? How'd the airplane end up in New Mexico and why wasn't it important enough to grab tonight, but is important enough to rob a bank for in the future? I honestly don't think she's lying about the stuff she's said on the island. She didn't lie tonight.

- e