S3Ep18 - D.O.C. (Sun's third solo flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

Pass the cigars around the island - Jin is the baby daddy!

I really enjoyed D.O.C. While there was not as much "hidden" stuff in the episode as there has been in the past few installments, the multiple story lines definitely kept moving along and it is clear that they have been building up to an action-packed Final Four. As I have been traveling since this episode aired, I am relieved (and so are my fingers) to have less to report on this time around, as everything that happened was relatively (key word) straightforward.

And a big "thank you" to my brother for pulling information together for me while I was gone!




ANOTHER CATCH-22

I can't exactly put my finger on why, but I was immensely digging Sun's flashbacks. At the end of the episode, I was struck by how complex of a character she is (and I HATE when that term is slapped on a person just because they deal with some "issue," so trust that I paused before writing that to make sure I meant it). We knew that she had been rebelling against her father from a young age, that she was having an affair with Baldy, that she had learned English (unbeknownst to Jin), that she was planning to leave him at the airport but had a last-minute change of heart, and that until she arrived on the island, she hadn't killed anyone. Then she killed Colleen on the island, and we found out in this episode that she was actually the one responsible for Jin's "promotion" to Senior Beater-Upper at her father's "company," which she undoubtedly grew to regret down the road. But, one could argue that she turned Jin over to do her father's bidding only to spare him from what apparently was an even worse fate - to suffer "great shame" if it was made public that his mother had been a Lady of the Night. I love love LOVED the scene when she visited Jin's father, by the way - it actually brought a tear to my eye. And I think the writers did an excellent job (over the course of all of Sun and Jin's flashbacks to date) of showing how "Mr. and Mrs. Kwon's" relationship has come full circle - from a head-over-heels couple who fell in love despite their societal class differences, to a deceitful and somewhat violent marriage on the verge of collapse, back to being lovey-dovey over the news of Sun's pregnancy. If you were to re-watch Season One, trust me, you would be impressed with how they have slowly but surely brought out the strong side of Sun's character that we only saw glimpses of in the beginning of the series. Two other scenes I enjoyed were when she was all up in Juliet's face at the beginning demanding answers, and when she threatened Jin's birth mother at the end. Sun is by far my favorite female character on the show (I know that's not really saying much, though).



I LOVE IT WHEN YOU CALL ME BIG POP-PA


In the "some people are way more nutso than I am" category,
check out this page that shows possible links (through great feats of translation) between Sun's father's company and The Hanso Foundation, and this page that focuses on the Paik Automotive logo to prove the same thing. Apparently these were the same suspicions raised in last summer's "The Lost Experience" interactive game for Crazy Fans. And lest you forgot, The Hanso Foundation is the financial backer of The DHARMA Initiative.




BABIES R US, IT WAS NOT

Back on the island, for some inexplicable reason, Sun not only decided to go with Juliet to the Medical Hatch, but also spilled her entire life story. While I can see why Sun may have figured that it was worth the risk to go with Juliet to learn about the health of her baby, why she would ever think it was a good idea to share with Juliet that she had cheated on Jin was beyond me. Now Juliet can use that against her. Dumb, dumb move.

In the medical hatch, we also saw what became of all of the decorations that had been in the room Claire stayed in during her abduction... they were all put into the secret room that was apparently where they brought the mothers to die. ?!?! Creepy.

Of course, the four most important things we gleaned from Juliet and Sun's scenes are that: 1) the baby was conceived on the island and is therefore Jin's, 2) no woman who got pregnant on the island made it past their second trimester, giving Sun basically two months left to live, 3) men are VERY fertile on the island, even if they were sterile off of the island, and 4) Juliet has been leaving reports on her time with the Lostaways for Ben on a tape recorder in the Medical Hatch.

Let's take these one by one:

1) The baby is Jin's

There were a lot of conspiracy theorists out there who thought that Juliet only SAID that so that she could report to Ben that Sun conceived on the island. Then, if Sun ended up not dying (because she had actually conceived pre-island), Juliet could finally claim victory with the treatment she had devised, and Ben would let her leave. However, the producers have already shot this one down, as you will see in the podcast debrief section. The baby IS Jin's.

Other people disputed the timing that Juliet stated (90 - 53 days = making the Date of Conception approximately day 37 on the island) - saying that technically Jin and Sun were still in a fight at that point in time because Jin had found out that Sun spoke English (Day 33). They didn't reconcile (remember, she tried to poison him so he wouldn't leave?) until the moment Jin left on the raft (Day 44), and that was literally right before he got onto the raft, so there was no lovin' until he got back (Day 48). You would THINK that the writers would be more careful than that, so I am not going to worry too much about this one and chalk it up to Juliet's estimate being slightly off.

On a related note, I must admit that I was really surprised that the baby was Jin's. I thought for sure that the reason why they had the flashback scene where Jin's father talked about raising Jin even though he couldn't be sure that he was actually his biological father was going to be a parallel to Jin unknowingly raising someone else's biological son. I also thought that it would be the easier way, quite frankly, to wrap up this whole story line - Sun would live, but she would live forever with the reminder and guilt of her infidelity. Now the plot, as they say, has thickened.


2) Sun's fate

So now, Sun apparently has two months to live. Since we are near the ninety-day mark three seasons in, two more months could roughly translate to be two more seasons. And guess what? It has widely been rumored that the show will end after Season Five. Sounds like part of a Grand Finale plan to me...

The question has also been posed on the boards about why Sun doesn't ask Juliet if she can abort the baby if they both know that neither she nor the baby will live otherwise? I have no idea if they will couch this subject on the show - but I highly, highly doubt it. You would think that if Sun was thinking that way, she would've already brought it up to Juliet.

To me, the bigger question is - is anyone going to tell Jin what's going on? Technically, only a small handful of people on the beach know about the situation with pregnant women on the island - Kate, Jack and now Sun (I double-checked the transcripts, Charlie and Claire were never told the whole story). Will anyone let Jin know that Sun's time is now limited?


3) Ultra-fertileness (I made that term up, can you tell?)

The producers repeated in the podcast that the fact that men have five times the normal sperm count while on the Island may be one of the most important things we've learned to date. I think it goes along with Patchy's statement about how everyone heals more quickly on the island, with Locke's ability to walk, and with Rose's cancer disappearing. Admittedly, Rose only FELT like her cancer was gone, we never got any hard proof, but if you remember in her flashback, she and Bernard had visited that bush doctor guy who told her of certain spots on the earth that had healing properties. I had always chalked the island up to being one of those (or perhaps only certain parts of the main island). I think the whole mega-sperm-count thing goes along with that. And quite frankly, I also think that is pretty gross! It is quite obvious that men write the show, by and large. I think in the next episode it will be revealed that men can do 100 times the normal amount of push-ups before tiring, and that they can chug 20 beers without feeling any effect. Actually, now that I think about it, there always had been a theory about The Others having super-strength - if you remember Ethan's early fights with Jack, he seemed to be almost robotic (until Charlie shot him six times). Perhaps all of these things are connected.


4) Juliet's reports

JULIET: Ben, it's six a.m. on Saturday morning. Kwon is pregnant, the fetus is healthy and was conceived on-Island with husband, he was sterile before they got here. I'm still working on getting samples from the other women, I should have Austen's soon. I'll report back when I know more.
[She turns off the recorder]
JULIET: [Pauses] I hate you.


I will start off on this topic by saying that as lame as it was that Sun told Juliet about her infidelity, it was even lamer that she did not follow her back into the hatch. Hellooooo?!?!?! It was obvious at that point that Juliet was up to something sketchy. I thought she was going to go back in there to somehow email the ultrasound pictures to someone, or go into another-as-of-yet-unrevealed secret room, but instead she left the audio report for Benry. And then of course she just had to make sure that we all know just how conflicted she is by dramatically stating (to no one) that she hates him.

This scene gave us two major bits of information:

1) Benry probably isn't too far away if this was their predetermined spot for leaving messages for each other... and,
2) Juliet was not sent as a mole to the Lostaway beach because they already knew Sun was pregnant - that genuinely seemed to be a surprise to Juliet. Instead, her purpose on the beach seems to be to take "samples" from all of the women, but of what, we can't be sure. Some people on the boards think that because she specifically mentioned Kate (Austen), that there is a good chance that The Others think Kate will become pregnant because they know about her tryst with Sawyer in the cage, and they know what good odds there are of conceiving on the Island, and that therefore the samples do have to do with seeing who, if anyone, is pregnant. I don't know enough to know what kind of "samples" Juliet could take that could determine pregnancy without being really obvious, though. I hope to God this show doesn't dissolve into Juliet going around trying to hold cups under all the women when they go #1 in the jungle or something. For all we know, the samples could be of something totally unrelated to pregnancy, and the Sun news was just a bonus for The Others.



RETURN OF THE PATCH

I just *knew* he wasn't going to stay dead.

Patchy was back in all his glory, in what appeared to be a response to the flare gun being fired. This immediately caused many people to assume that Parachutist Chick is an Other, and that she was expected. More on that shortly.

First we must deal with how Patchy has returned to life. The producers basically answered this question in the podcast debrief, but since they also said it WILL be quickly referenced on the show, I will not mention it here. If you want to know in advance, read the Official Podcast Debrief section below. If not, then rest assured that you will find out how Patchy survived at some point during the remaining four episodes.



SHE TALKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS

When Parachutist Chick was rattling on and on in all those different tongues (at least five), it was one of those moments when I once again regretted not learning more languages back in the day. French has gotten me nowhere except being able to read some signs in Canada, and knowing how to order a grilled ham and cheese sandwich (le croque-monsieur!) while in Paris. French Chick/Rousseau hasn't even spoken French since the freakin' pilot episode in the radio transmission?!?! C'est la vie.


I really hope that no one who reads this blog was naive enough to think that Parachutist Chick ACTUALLY said "Thank you for helping me" to Patchy, per his translation.

No, she said.... drum roll, please: "I am not alone."

D'oh!

But before we get into the theories around THAT statement, we must first address the fact that she specifically spoke a bunch of different languages to ensure she knew which ones the Lostaways DIDN'T understand, but Patchy did. I mean, why else would she say everything else in English later on? This is a major reason why a lot of people think that she, too, is an Other. She could've been trying to tell Patchy that there were other people with her that he needed to go look for.

The flip-side of that argument is that perhaps she knew that Patchy was bad, and she was lying and telling him that she wasn't alone more out of fear than anything else. Kind of like, "Hey, I'm not alone, there's five really big guys with me and they will kick your ass if you do anything to me!" But I don't really buy that one.

Another possibility is that she thinks Patchy is someone he is not. As he was the one who was actually helping her wound, she may have thought that he was with some "friendly" group that she was told about, but didn't really know how to identify. Since he didn't respond back to her statement, this is possible. It would have been an ideal opportunity for him to get more information from her, but he didn't.


SO... WHO IS SHE?


In my book, the only concrete piece of evidence we have about this woman's identity is the fact that she was carrying a photo of Desmond with her, and said his name when she first came to. This is why I think that the most likely scenario is that she was sent there to specifically look for Desmond. It doesn't necessarily mean that she is "good," all it means is that her purpose was to find him. She could've been sent by Penny, or she could've been sent by the Widmore Corporation (at the behest of Penny's father). I'm still leaning toward "she was sent by Penny" because the Catch-22 book was in Portuguese, which is what the guys in the tent who reported to Penny were speaking. Additionally, this would explain why she may know nothing about Flight 815 (or only knew what she heard on TV), because Desmond was not connected to that flight, so it wouldn't be Penny OR Widmore's concern.

However, it does appear that Patchy appeared on the scene right after Hurley fired the flare gun. So it could be that Parachutist Chick is in some way related to The Others and had a pre-arranged signal to meet Patchy. We know that there were some people, like Bushy Eyebrows Long Eyelashes Guy, who came to and from the Island often. And we know that ever since Desmond turned the fail-safe key, The Others lost communication with the outside world. If Locke really did blow up the submarine and/or hide it, then perhaps Parachutist Chick is an Other who had no way to get back to the Island other than to fly close enough to it and then eject when the magnetic force pulled down the helicopter?

Regarding the other people who may or may not be with her... options are:

1) Penny IS on the island as well, rendering Desmond's visions accurate.
2) She was lying, no one else is with her.
3) Other Others are with her.



DO NOT EVEN MENTION, MUCH LESS THINK, THE P WORD!!!


PARACHUTIST: Who are you?
HURLEY: Hugo Reyes. I crashed here on Oceanic Flight 815. A bunch of us survived, is that why you're here, were you looking for us?
PARACHUTIST: 815. Flight 815? The one from Sydney.
HURLEY: Yeah!
PARACHUTIST: No, that's not possible.
HURLEY: Yeah I know. It wasn't easy but we found food, and a hatch...
PARACHUTIST: [Interrupting] No. No, Flight 815 they, they found the plane. There were no survivors. They were all dead.
HURLEY: What?!


So before anyone goes down the path of thinking that the producers lied back in Season One when they assured everyone that the characters are NOT in that awful limbo between Heaven and Hell known as Purgatory, you should know that the producers stated once again, just a few days ago in the latest podcast, that the Lostaways are STILL not in Purgatory. Phew.

OK, now that that's out of the way, what meaning do the Parachutist Chick's statements about Flight 815 have for our beloved Lostaways?

Possible scenarios:

1) She was lying. If she is an Other, or "bad" in some other sense, she may want the Lostaways to lose hope and/or question their sanity.
2) She is telling the truth as SHE knows it. If she was sent there to look for Desmond and is in no way connected to The Others or Flight 815, then she may relaying what she knows to be true from the media. We know from Patchy's video room that there was a search for Flight 815 right after it disappeared in September. What we do not know is how that search was brought to closure. There is a possibility that there was a huge cover-up to make it seem like Flight 815 had crashed and everyone on board had died. Before you think that the media couldn't be manipulated, go see Wag the Dog. Yes, it's a fictional movie, but still. Don't be naive, people!!!
3) They were never on Flight 815. The "real" Flight 815 did crash and everyone did die, but the flight that the Lostaways were on was a different flight, that was manipulated by The Others, DHARMA or some other group, to have that specific set of people on it (who believed they were on Flight 815).
4) Desmond did something with his time-traveling that changed what happened (don't ask me to explain this one, because I can't).

I vote for #2.



OK, OK, *WE GET IT!*

Did you notice how they are now trying to make it VERY obvious that characters have been talking to each other off-camera? First, you had Charlie knowing who Patchy was because Kate and Sayid had told him. Then you had Sun saying that Kate and Claire had told her about the presence of the Medical Hatch. I think it's fair to say that we don't need to be complaining about why the Lostaways don't share information anymore.


EVERYBODY WAS KUNG-FU FIGHTING!




You may be wondering where Jin picked up those wicked moves when he threw the beat-down on Patchy. Eagle-eyed viewers spotted old karate trophies in his dad's home. Hi-YA!








OFFICIAL PODCAST DEBRIEF

I have written this section transcript-style for you once again... minus spoilers. The following is what producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof had to say about "D.O.C." and the next episode, "The Brig."

- So we found out that Jin is the daddy.
- And that men have 5 times the normal sperm count on the island. That may be the most important salient fact we've learned in three seasons.
- The circuit is complete now with their flashback - we learn that Sun was directly responsible for Jin getting promoted to do bad things for her father. She took the money to help Jin avoid shame if he learned about his real mother, but it ended up causing problems in their marriage later when Jin came home with blood on his hands. But she knew the consequences, her father basically told her that he would own Jin after that point.
- But what everyone is really talking about is what the parachutist said to Hurley at the end of the episode - that it's impossible that they're the survivors of Flight 815, because they found that plane and there were no survivors of its crash.
- Everyone's immediately going to say, "Those guys were lying! It IS purgatory!" What would we say to that?
- We would say that we were NOT lying and that the island is still NOT purgatory.
- What are the other possibilities then? 1) She's lying. 2) Conspiracy theory - they DID find a plane with bodies on it. Who could be responsible for that? Have you ever seen the movie Capricorn One - where they stage the moon landing?
- It will get more interesting in the next episode. She will expand upon her mission.
- What's up with Mikhail (Patchy)? We thought he was dead? There are a few explanations for that - 1) The fence was not turned up high enough, so he survived, or 2) He did die and the island brought him back to life. People probably wouldn't like the second answer. He may throw a sentence at an explanation in the future - I would stay tuned for that. But I would go with the first answer.
- Let's move on to The Brig. We wrote The Brig [e: They rarely actually WRITE the episodes themselves anymore]. It answers one big question - where the heck has Locke been? What has he been doing, what have The Others been doing? We will find out what they've been doing and where they went or are going.
- Here's what I want to know. Last we saw Locke, he was saying good-bye to Kate in the game room. But before that, the last we had seen of him was when the door was opened and his father was sitting there. I would want to see what happened in between those two moments - what he did after he saw his father sitting there. Where did his dad come from? What's up with that?
- We've been waiting six weeks to find out how Cooper (Papa Locke) got in the room. And we will find out.

Fan Questions & Answers:

Q. It was hinted at in Season Two that Desmond brought down Flight 815 by not pushing the button. But now the hatch is gone, and the helicopter with the parachutist in it met the same fate. Is this supposed to mean that there is something OTHER than the electromagnetic anomaly causing the crashes?
A. That's an interesting question - because we've seen a few crashes now - Yemi's drug plane, Rousseau's research vessel, the Black Rock is in the middle of the jungle... So the button is not the only reason for crashes on the island, but when you are talking about a 747, it's going to take something major to bring you down - more than the average electromagnetic pulse. If you're a major vessel, you're going to need the extra kick of the button not getting pushed to bring you down.

Q. Toward the end of the debate when Hurley and Charlie were debating The Flash versus Superman, there was a blue flash on Hurley's forehead. What was that?
A. That was a camera angle that caused an effect that looked like a spark. We never saw it when we edited it, and we don't mean to discount the fact that people saw the blue spark, but we didn't see it or mean for it to be there.

Q. I know that you guys said that there will be scientific or pseudo-scientific explanations for everything in Lost, but I'm hoping that there will be some bordering-on-supernatural elements. Will you at some point revisit the psychic's prediction for Claire's baby and Walt's seeming ability to predict or manipulate future events? Moreover, is there more to The Others obsession with children and babies than just the womens' inability to get pregnant? Are they interested in children who have special abilities?
A. Yes to all. And, we were drunk if we ever said there would be scientific explanations for anything. PSEUDO-science is the key - basically, if it's something that could appear in a Michael Crichton novel, like nanobots or dinosaurs or time travel, then that is what pseudo-science is to us. [e: I definitely got the vibe that they were trying to tell people that there will NOT be scientific explanations for everything and that they regret having ever said anything close to that. Which, as you know, is fine by me. Bring on the unicorns!]

Q. Are we going to get back to the four-toed statue any time soon?
A. What do you mean by soon?
Q. Before the show ends?
A. Yes.
[e: That means it won't be this season]



WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

- I knew something was off with Mikhail saying she was telling him thank you. That dude has shifty eyes...I mean, eye.
- If Hell (purgatory) is a beautiful desert island with hot chicks sunbathing, women and food falling out of sky, faster healing, and screaming infants being hauled into the woods away from the camp...then sign me up, Satan!
- If they crashed on 9/22/04, then 9/23/04 was “one full day.” And if they’ve been on the island for 90 days, then Christmas is coming in just a few days.
- In addition, the "either way, I lose" stuff reiterated some of the themes of the Island, specifically 'inevitability.' Sun tried to spare Jin from shame, but brought it to him anyway. They couldn't have a baby, but she finally got pregnant, and they won't have a baby anyway, because the baby and Sun will die. Just like Desmond trying to save Charlie - the end is inevitable, only the route to get there changes.
- Sun is usually pretty smart, but not following Juliet back into the hatch was dumb. Just because someone is nice to you (or, sort of nice to you after scaring you while you’re asleep and taking you on an apparently secret trip to a secret “death room” inside an old hatch) doesn’t mean you should trust them. Although it did allow for a pretty cool scene: Juliet stops the tape recorder and says “I hate you” with a crazed look on her face.
- In regards to the wreckage of the "other" Flight 815 that was maybe kinda partially found... perhaps The Others didn't fake it, but the Hanso Foundation -- in conjunction with Widmore Industries, Paik, and whoever else -- did. The Hanso Foundation (via their branch organization the DHARMA Initiative), nutbars that they are, went to that island for a specific purpose. Whatever that purpose was, it was seemingly aborted during "the Purge." I'm not sure how badly The Others really want most of the castaways to stay there, with the exception of Walt, Locke and a couple of the baby mommas. But if Widmore (and, consequently, Hanso) had reason to believe that a new team of "subjects" had crashed there, they may have (and could have more easily) faked a plane crash in order to discourage search parties and sacrifice the Losties as guinea pigs in an attempt to do whatever it is they came to that island to do 20 years ago. Or maybe The Others did it for similar reasons. Or maybe neither of them did it and it's got something to do with Desmond's time-trippin', I don't know.
- A con on the media seems the most likely choice to me. The Others must have planted some part of the plane, or a replica of it, meant for the world to find. As far as bodies being identified, if there were no survivors, couldn't everyone have died in an explosion, and there were no human remains left? Maybe the real world just found part of the plane (perhaps the tail was recovered) and the Others put it somewhere to be found.




BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


Desmond: I said, who are you?
Charlie: He's the guy who shot Sayid. Kate told us he lived out in that station that Locke blew up. He's an Other.
Hurley: I thought Locke killed that guy with the electro-fence thingy.
Desmond: You've got 5 seconds to talk...or I fire this gun, brother.
Patchy: That's a flare gun.
Desmond: And how do you think it will feel...taking a flare to the chest at this range?
Patchy: As your friend pointed out, I already died once this week.



Desmond: You know brother, by my count...you've killed more of them than they've killed of you.
Charlie: They started it.





[Jin grabs the phone from Mikhail and shoves it towards Desmond's face]
JIN: Phone!
CHARLIE: You stole this.
PATCHY: How could you respect me if I didn't try?
CHARLIE: How about I take your other eye? Would you respect that?
PATCHY: [Motions to his ear] Sorry, what?




Sun: [Subtitled] Why didn't you tell me you were Jin's mother?
Jin’s Mother: [Subtitled] I gave birth to him. But that does not make me his mother.
Sun: [Subtitled] You know how powerful my family is. My husband believes that you are dead. Do not force me to make that a reality.






[Hurley sits with the parachutist. He attempts to make the satellite phone work, and holds it to his ear]
HURLEY: [Sarcastically] Mom?





THE FINAL FOUR

5/2 - The Brig
5/9 - The Man Behind the Curtain
5/16 - Greatest Hits (previously called 'The Truth About Lying')
5/23 - Through the Looking Glass - TWO-HOUR SEASON FINALE and special episode afterward


There you have it. I am très excited about "The Brig" - Locke is BACK, baby, YEAH!!!! I think I'm going to have a nervous breakdown.

Enjoy,
- e

S3Ep11 - Enter 77 (Sayid's fourth flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

See, don't you appreciate Hurley's episode all the more now... after having to sit through MORE violence yet again in "Enter 77?"

But at least, to many people's enjoyment, there was finally some plot progression - and someone (Sayid) finally did something smart by TAKING A MAP from the hatch, so they now know the way to Othersville. The majority of people I have talked to, as well as the better amount of people on the boards, liked this episode. I, however, was quite disenchanted with it because it made my man Locke look like a total idiot. But more on THAT later...

And while there wasn't as much going on along the lines of "free will vs. fate" as there has been in recent episodes, there definitely was another major theme of the series touched upon again: "People can't/don't really ever change," or, as Sawyer has said, "Tigers don't change their stripes." Through flashbacks over the course of the three seasons, we've seen Jack as the Reluctant Leader, Sawyer as the Con Man with a Heart of Gold, Locke as the Kind of Pathetic Drone with High Aspirations of Greatness, Kate as the One Who Will Always Run Away, and Sayid as the Conflicted Torturer. This episode showed that Sayid cannot really escape who he is... he was a torturer in his past, he used his methods again years later on the island on both Sawyer and Benry, and my bet is that he WILL torture or kill Patchy when push comes to shove. Remember when, after he had tortured Sawyer to try and find Shannon's (R.I.P.) asthma medications, Sayid went off into the jungle and told Kate that he had vowed to never torture again and was disappointed with himself for doing so? Well, that didn't stop him from kicking Benry's ass just a few weeks later! And remember, characters who actually DO find redemption end up getting killed off... So let's hope that Sayid remains a bad, bad man for a long, long time.

I will apologize upfront that I had about 1/10th of the time I usually have to devote to this write-up, so prepare to be underwhelmed. I am also going on a short vacation this weekend, so I will most likely not be able to get next week's post up by Tuesday night as usual.

Now that that's out of the way...


THE JESUS STICK SAYS...

When they were burying Eko and John noticed the new inscription on the Jesus Stick, I called that John was going to take that as "a sign" to go north. I didn't realize that he would also use the Bible chapter and verse as the compass bearing, as well... which explains this exchange:

LOCKE: Are we still on course?
[Sayid pulls out a compass and checks. His expression is condescending]

SAYID: We are still heading North on a bearing of 3-0-5. Yes.
LOCKE: I'm sensing a lack of confidence.
SAYID: We've been walking for 2 days...following a compass bearing provided by the carvings on a stick!
LOCKE: And?
SAYID: You really think we're just going to chance upon where The Others are?
LOCKE: I don't know what we're going to chance on, Sayid, but...my bearing is the only bearing we've got.



TWO LIVES DOWN, SEVEN TO GO

I was pretty convinced that Patchy's cat was the same one that Sayid had encountered in Paris when he was held captive behind the restaurant. Helllooooo, it was even named Nadia (Sayid's long-lost love from Iraq)?!?! And because we have already seen Jack's Zombie Dad, Kate's black horse and Dave's slipper (Hurley's imaginary friend) on the island, I just figured that this was another example of something from the characters' past lives showing up inexplicably in the jungle. I also supposed that an explanation for these things would come with the overall "big answer" about what is going on on the island, probably not until the series' end.

However, most people on the boards seemed sure that in this case, the cat wasn't from Sayid's past. It was simply a very similar-looking cat that reminded Sayid of his experience being held captive, which influenced his decision to not kill Patchy at the end. Fans pointed out that Nadia was a female and that the woman holding Sayid hostage referred to her cat as a "he."

I still think they look exactly the same!




HE'LL ALWAYS BE 'PATCHY' TO ME...

We now know the identity of the mysterious "Patch-man" who Locke, Sayid, Nikki, Desmond and Paulo previously saw on a monitor in the Pearl Hatch. He is Mikhail Bakunin, and it seems very likely that he is an Other.

Once again we have a character whose name has meaning... "the real" Mikhail Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary, and is often considered "the Father of Modern Anarchism."

I am going to continue to call him Patchy, however, because if nothing else, it is easier to type.


HOSTILITY NOW!

After shooting Sayid in the shoulder, Patchy lets the Lostaways into the Flame Hatch and quite easily and quickly starts giving them a whole bunch of information. Despite lying upfront that he was the last living member of the DHARMA Initiative, apparently everything else he said was true. While there are a few different scenarios that I think are plausible now that we know he had a connection to Ms. Klugh, I think the most obvious explanation to believe at this point in time is that Patchy is an Other.

While I was quite confused about what was true and what was a lie from what Patchy said when I first watched the show, upon reading the transcript, it became much clearer.

Things that are probably true:

- By and large, Patchy lived alone. Ms. Klugh may have come to forewarn him about Sawyer and Kate's escape, or to tell him that something had gone awry with the communication system after the failsafe key was turned, but it truly doesn't seem like he had a lot of regular contact with anyone at all. He even seemed to avoid whatever huge conflict "The Purge" was:

MIKHAIL: They're all dead, of course. They foolishly initiated a war against the Hostiles. A "Purge" they called it.
SAYID: And how did you survive this purge?
MIKHAIL: By not participating in it. I told you...I like being alone.

- His aversion to conflict and interaction with other people seemed eerily similar to Danielle's when she said: "I have no interest in that man inside the house. I have survived on the island precisely by avoiding these types of encounters."
- He used to be in the Soviet Army, had been stationed in Afghanistan, and came to the island 11 years ago.
- The purpose of The Flame hatch WAS to communicate with the outside world... but the satellite atop the building apparently hasn't worked for years.
- If the guard of The Flame thought that the hatch had been compromised, he or she had the means to destroy it (via the explosives lining the lower level).
- I actually do believe that there is a third group of people whom we have not met yet, and they are "The Hostiles." The reason why I do not think (but admittedly am not sure) that The Others are The Hostiles is because I think we can assume that Patchy is an Other (from his connection to Ms. Klugh), and he was obviously thought Sayid was someone to be scared of at the beginning. There are also too many references he makes to The Hostiles for them to not be a separate group.
- Sayid believes that Patchy is an Other: "The reason they let him stay here is because he is not DHARMA. He is one of them."
- The DHARMA Initiative members are all dead (or at least Patchy truly believes they are). And they were all killed by "The Hostiles" during "The Purge." Now, we aren't totally sure if The Hostiles are who we've come to know as The Others, and we're not really sure what The Purge was, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.
- The Flame hatch was "the hub" and had cables running underground to all of the other hatches, including an underwater station that emits sonar pings to help guide submarines to the island.
- I *think* Sayid believes that The Hostiles were the DHARMA Initiative members (which I disagree with). It seems like Sayid now believes that since Patchy hated DHARMA, but was initially trying to fake like he was in the Initiative, he just used the term "hostiles" to describe DHARMA:

MIKHAIL: I was never a member, but everything else I told you was true. I moved into this station after the purge.
SAYID: The purge in which a group of scientists attacked your people?
MIKHAIL: Believe what you want, but that is what happened.

I think Sayid meant "a group of scientists" to mean the DHARMA Initiative. I at first thought he may be talking about Danielle's original group of scientists, but since she stated from the time Sayid first met her that she never SAW anyone else on the island, but only heard "whispers," I don't think she was lying. So I don't think her group ever had some big face-off with The Others. And I still think The Hostiles were NOT the DHARMA Initiative members.

Confusing things Patchy said:

- When Sayid first attempted to come near The Flame hatch, Patchy yelled out: "I didn't cross the line! We had a truce! This is my land - you said I could stay here!"

This immediately made me think of when Zeke (back when he was Hillbilly Zeke with the beard) told Jack, Locke and Sawyer that they could never cross past the area in the jungle where they had captured Kate, and that it was "their island" and they were only letting the Lostaways live on it. Zeke is an Other... and we can only assume now that Patchy is an Other, so why did Patchy act like he had been given a similar ultimatum? What group did he assume Sayid was a part of in order for him to act so truly scared? Once again, I can only assume that there is a third group of people out there who are The Hostiles.

MIKHAIL: After it was over, 4 men appeared in the yard. They offered a truce. They said to imagine a line that extended all the way around the valley. As long as I did not cross it...I would be left alone.

Perhaps The Others learned the "don't cross the line!" technique from The Hostiles?

- Something that then made me doubt that The Others were different from The Hostiles was this comment from Patchy regarding the submarines: "Yes. The Initiative used one to bring us here. But I can imagine only that the Hostiles have either destroyed or commandeered it by now." We know that The Others DO have a submarine (it was mentioned early this season by Colleen (who got shot by Sun))... so either Patchy is an Other but is so out of touch with them that he doesn't realize they have a submarine, or The Others and The Hostiles are the same group.
- What was the true purpose of the chess game? If the hatch guard was actually in trouble and needed to blow up the building, it seems kind of ridiculous and time-consuming to expect that they would have to win the chess game in order to be able to enter in the self-destruct codes. However, perhaps Patchy and/or his predecessors were trained on the right moves to make in order to win the game. Perhaps Locke was THAT SMART that he figured it out on his own (I have to try to redeem him!).

Or... perhaps Patchy himself never knew the hidden commands in the chess game at all. As he claimed at the end to never be a part of DHARMA, maybe he took over an abandoned hatch, was allowed to live there by the hostiles, and simply never beat the chess game:

MIKHAIL: Heh, don't waste your time. For 10 years I have tried to defeat that game.
CHESS GAME: Ready To Play?
MIKHAIL: But it was programmed by 3 grand masters. And...it cheats.
LOCKE: Hmmm.


- He mentioned that he met the DHARMA Initiative members after responding to an advertisement in the Kiev newspaper after the Cold War ended. The ad apparently read, "Would you like to save the world?" Since he later admitted to lying about being "the last living member of the DHARMA initiative," and actually said that he was NEVER a member of DHARMA, it is unclear how/why he got to the island in the first place. Kelvin had used the phrase "... just saving the world" to Desmond before when explaining the purpose of the button, and had also talked about "joining the DHARMA Inititative" after he left the U.S. Army. So... was Patchy familiar somehow with how DHARMA actually recruited people, as his story sounds very similar to Kelvin's? And also noteworthy is that both Kelvin AND Patchy used the term "the hostiles":

DESMOND: Well, if you don't want me to go crazy, next time let me go out.
KELVIN: Well, you want to go out there with the quarantine and the hostiles?
DESMOND: I haven't been outside for 2 bloody years! Yes, I want to go. I was in the army for God's sake!

Since Kelvin actually admitted to being in DHARMA and I don't think he had any reason to lie to Desmond, this once again proves to me that DHARMA members were not "The Hostiles."


MOTHER RUSSIA - BERZERKER!

So is Russian known by all Others? Somehow I can't imagine Zeke busting out any Russian. But Ms. Klugh and Patchy were obviously fluent. Here is what they were saying during the tense scene at the end, which concluded with Ms. Klugh getting shot:

The translation:

Klugh: Mikhail. Mikhail! You know what to do.
Mikhail: We still have another way [out].
Klugh: We cannot risk. You know the conditions.
Mikhail: There is another way.
Klugh: They captured us. We will not give (or let, or betray) [unintelligible].
Klugh: You know what to do. It is an order.
Mikhail: We still have another way!
Klugh (in English): Just do it, Mikhail.
Mikhail: Forgive me. (shoots)


PURPLE HAZE


HURLEY: Must have landed in the jungle when the hatch exploded.
SAWYER: I thought the hatch collapsed?
HURLEY: Look dude, all I know is the sky turned purple. After that I don't ask questions.

... later...


KATE: How do you know he isn't alone?
SAYID: The horse outside is still saddled and the stirrups are set up for someone much shorter than this man.
LOCKE: You think the others sent someone to keep him company?
SAYID: They sent someone out here because they lost communications.
LOCKE: Maybe when the sky turned purple.


So two times in this episode alone (and at least 2 other times this season that I can remember off of the top of my head), a character mentioned "the sky turning purple" - an event also known as "Desmond turning the failsafe key." Desmond's action obviously had some effect on communications with the outside world... we know that Penny's guys in the tent at the end of Season 2 finally detected "an electromagnetic anomaly" at that moment, and then Zeke also alluded to a communications issue when he was helping Jack with Benry's surgery. Now Locke is putting two and two together.


DID HE OR DIDN'T HE?

There was a lot of contention on the boards as to whether or not Sayid actually tortured that woman. I thought it was very clear that he did... and that his flashback paralleled what was happening on the island with Patchy initially pretending to be someone he wasn't. But some people thought that he was just agreeing with the woman in the hopes of being let go, since apparently all she wanted him to do was confess. I'm not really sure why what he REALLY did matters - we know he has copped to torturing many people in his past, so I think this controversy all boils down to some Sayid fans who were holding out hope that he "would never torture a woman" or something like that. But I would ask those people to remember his very first flashback, where we essentially knew that he was going to have to torture Nadia (even though they didn't show it on-screen). Like I said at the beginning of this post, Sayid is a bad, bad man!


WOE IS ME

What in the heck is happening to Locke? How lame was it that he LEFT THE PRISONER to go finish his computer game of chess? And then he enters in codes without having any idea what would happen... very dumb. While I will defend him and say that he honestly had no idea that the place would BLOW UP if he entered 77, it still was pretty risky to just start following the video instructions like that.

My friend LI believes that there is a possibility that Locke has been "compromised"... that perhaps when he was spending all that time with Benry in the original hatch, that Benry gave him some sort of instructions to follow. The line he uttered in this episode was definitely suspicious:

LOCKE: Well...I've played a lot of computers and I'm...pretty sure they don't know how to cheat. That's what makes being human so...distinctly...wonderful.


I find it hard to believe that Locke is working for The Others, however, and not just because I don't want to believe it. I just think that everything points to the fact that he was proven wrong with the first hatch (remember his famous words to Eko: "I was wrong..." as the hatch was falling victim to the magnetic force), and now he's overly anxious to be in the right again. Because he doubted "the island" before and it had disastrous results, he is now completely following all instincts without a second thought. Which isn't a good strategy, either... but I feel like he is so desperate to be a hero and to do something important, that he is essentially panicking into error. I think he truly set out to prove that "the sign" he received from the sun shining on the Jesus Stick was valid, and he really does want to rescue Jack. I think his stupid actions in this episode are either the result of really horrible writing, or him just thinking that he's "on to something" that could've proven helpful.

Although I have to admit that the previews for this week look hilarious - I think Locke essentially pushes Patchy into the force field - much to the frustration of Sayid. It's like Locke just doesn't give a crap anymore and is just doing whatever he wants!


FRENCH OR FAUX?

How many people thought that Danielle was going to end up knowing Patchy somehow? I thought that that was going to be the case (which is why they kept her away from The Flame for the majority of the episode), and then expected her to kill him as soon as she saw him. But, I guess I was wrong.





BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

SAWYER: Uh, uh, uh. We need to do a little Quid Pro Quo first. I know I've been gone a while and y'all thought the general store was having a going out of business sale. But now I'm back, and I want what's mine.
NIKKI: Yeah, but it wasn't really yours to begin with.
SAWYER: A, it was mine when I took it. B, who the hell are you?!


[Jin and Sun converse in Korean]
SAWYER: Oooh. Looks like Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon got something good. Lay it on me.
SUN: No nicknames. If you lose...no nicknames for anyone. For a week.
CHARLIE: Nice!


MIKHAIL BAKUNIN: [Speaks to the cat in Russian]...Nadia!
SAYID: What did you just say?
MIKHAIL BAKUNIN: I told Nadia to be polite because you are my guests.
SAYID: Nadia?
MIKHAIL BAKUNIN: Mmm. After Nadia Comaneci, the greatest athlete the world has ever known.



[Cut to beach at the ping pong table. A crowd has gathered. Sawyer is bouncing the ball on the paddle at one end of the table]
SAWYER: So! You really the number 1 draft pick, Grimace?




HURLEY: Sorry I beat you so bad, dude.
SAWYER: Sorry you hustled me, you mean.
HURLEY: My mom had a table in her basement and I played a lot at the insti...ti...place I...hung out for a while. I got kinda good.



UPCOMING EPISODES

3/14 - Par Avion, the Canadian TV preview, and the U.S. preview.
3/21 - The Man from Tallahassee
3/28 - Expose
4/4 - Left Behind
4/11 - One of Us
4/18 - Catch-22
4/25 - D.O.C.


There you have it, my friends. Here's to Locke regaining his awesomeness next episode...

- e

S3Ep9 - Stranger in a Strange Land (Jack's seventh flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

GOOD GOD, THIS EPISODE WAS AWFUL?!?!?

I'm really tempted to just holler "That was crap!" and call it a day for this write-up. I was extremely disappointed by "Stranger in a Strange Land"... I think it might have been one of the worst episodes of the series. First off, this was Jack's SEVENTH flashback - SEVENTH?!! And that's not even counting the mini-flashback in the Season One finale where they showed what everyone was doing in the airport before boarding Flight 815. The worst part is that I am sure there has to be at least one more Jack!back, because we know that he was not on "Jacob's list," meaning that he is not "good," and so we still do not know what he did in his past that was so awful (although hooking up with Bai Ling may be considered unforgivable by many). I hope in the meantime, however, they start evening up the score with flashbacks for the other characters a bit more.

Secondly, this flashback told us literally nothing except that Jack may have an STD. Really, think about it - we already knew that Jack had tattoos, and since the robotic "Sheriff" Other woman at the end recited what Jack's tattoo said, why did we even need to be subjected to Bai Ling? I would have preferred a flashback for Alex, Zeke, or hell, even The Sheriff instead.

I had read a long time ago that they were going to try to respond to "fan demand for sex scenes for Jack." Well, they failed miserably, because on top of the fact that Jack is much better as The Mad Doctor than as Cheesy Over-Aged Backpacker Looking For a Good Time, there weren't really even any sex scenes anyway. And all you need to do is pick up any Us Weekly and look on the back page's "Fashion Police" section to see Bai Ling all scantily-clad in some horrible outfit, so it's not like we were getting anything new with her, either. I demand an hour of my life back for having to deal with witnessing her scary hair (what WAS that thing on her head?), listening to her broken English and cringing at her non-existent acting skills.

Yep, this episode was a failure all around. By and large, people across all message boards are mad and disappointed as well. Perhaps if the previews hadn't raised our expectations so much about the "three major questions" getting answered, there wouldn't be the level of Hate that there is on the boards and across the fan base right now.


WANTED: ANSWERS

You all know that I get annoyed by people who are always whining about how they "want answers." I continue to contend that you should not be watching this show if you demand instant gratification. However, I do get mad when the "ABC Promo Monkeys," as they are so fondly referred to on the boards, say "Next Wednesday...The answers to three of Lost's biggest mysteries are finally revealed..." and then they serve up crap like "Stranger in a Strange Land." Here are the three questions that we can only assume they answered (this is the general consensus on the boards):

Q1) What does Jack's tattoo mean?
A1) We now know the answer, but this was definitely NOT one of the BIGGEST mysteries?!?!?

Q2) Where are the kids, Cindy, and the other people who were taken from the Tailies?
A2) They are still safe on the island (though we can't be sure if the other adults who were taken were there as we don't know what they looked like in the first place).

Yeah, in this episode we did SEE the two kids and Cindy for the first time after they'd been taken, but we already knew they were safe as Ana Lucia had asked Goodwin about this in Season Two:

ANA: What about the kids? Did you kill them, too?
GOODWIN: Children are fine. They're better off now.

Note that Goodwin's line is very similar to Karl's "We give them a better life" from this latest episode.

Q3) Where do The Others live?
A3) On Craphole Island

... but once again, WE ALREADY KNEW THAT from the Season Three premiere when they showed them all running out of the book club meeting and panned back to show their location!?! And Zeke had already told them before that "This is OUR island, we are LETTING you live on it" and then forewarned them not to "cross the line." They should know that their fans have better memories than they are giving us credit for...

In a weird way, however, the fact that this episode was poop is kind of good news for ME, at least, because now I don't have to spend 4 days straight having a nervous breakdown trying to finish this write-up like I did last week. Perhaps The Powers That Be were trying to ensure that fans' heads didn't explode by not following up Desmond's awesome episode with another great one.

Nah, I actually think they just needed a filler storyline and wanted a reason to hang out in Thailand for a bit.


THE LAND OF SMILES... OR BEAT-DOWNS?

And speaking of Thailand, that was another thing that made me mad about this episode... me, and I'm sure the Tourism Authority of Thailand?!?! What's up with making my Thai peeps look all crazy? I spent a month backpacking in the southern Thai islands many years ago, and granted, the only kind of tattoo I got was of the henna variety (it was of a crazy gecko scaling my ankle, in case you're curious), so perhaps that's why no one came and beat the crap out of me afterward. At least they showed a Jack as a tourist loser attempting to fly a kite - that was realistic.

OK, so you get the point - I am bitter about the episode. I will attempt to stop complaining. Here are the things worth noting for the future...


POT, MEET KETTLE


ZEKE: What kind of people do you think we are, Jack?
JACK: Oh, I don't know, Tom -- the kind of people that would take a pregnant woman -- that would hang Charlie from a tree -- would grab our people out of the jungle -- would kidnap children. That's the kind of people I think you are.
ZEKE [tapping the glass]: You see this glass house you're living in, Jack? How about I get you some stones?


Most people on the boards took Zeke's comment to be a shortening of the phrase "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Zeke obviously thinks that either Jack himself or the Lostaways in general are pretty horrible people, and resents Jack's accusations. The following two posts from the boards illustrate both sides of the story:

The Lostaways' defense:
"The Losties have done as much "harm," for lack of a better word, as The Others, the difference being the Losties were forced into the situation and are surviving in a strange place -- The Others are at home on the island and could have acted with open arms and support to the Losties. The Others had the upper hand, but chose to initiate contact with lies and abductions -- actions that can't be interpreted in any other manner but hostile."

The Others' defense:
"Well - they murdered Ethan and Goodwin and Colleen, and tortured their frickin' leader! So in the Others' eyes, the Losties have certainly done their share of bad..."

What was odd to me about that early scene with Zeke and Jack was that Zeke seemed truly stunned that Jack would ever think that they would kill him.


CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT

Another thing that was strange to me was how both Zeke and Alex were troubled by the fact that Jack sacrificed himself for Kate and Sawyer.


ZEKE: Let me ask you something. You risk your neck to cut them loose, and they run away and don't ever look back...
JACK: Thanks for the sandwich.

... later...

ALEX: Ben -- why'd you save his life? All this time -- after all he did to you and your people, you should hate him. But you still fixed him up, even after your friends got away. Why?
JACK: You're his daughter.
ALEX: Answer the question.


I found these two scenes interesting because all I can guess is that Jack is not acting like they assumed he would. From what we know of The Others, they are definitely doing experiments, and we now have proof after the Clockwork Orange Rave Room that some of these experiments are performed on humans. They probably thought they had human behavior all figured out. They obviously brought Kate to the island as leverage to use against Jack, and Sawyer was there as leverage to use against Kate. I believe they are now puzzled that Jack is making decisions that they couldn't have called themselves.



SOMEONE *PLEASE* SHOOT THE SHERIFF!

Ugh, first we have Freaky Second-Hand Store Lady in Desmond's flashback last week, and now we have another new Creepy Lady - The Sheriff. The main thing noted about her on the boards was how awful her voice was. She barely had any inflection at all, and quite frankly, I kept wondering if she was really a man because her voice had an oddly deep quality to it.

Anyway, she apparently is the head of Law & Order: Craphole Island Unit, and was heading up a little investigation into Juliet's recent behavior.
I love that Jack wouldn't give her what she wanted:

ISABEL: That true, Jack? Did Juliet ask you to kill Ben? [he doesn't respond] The question's simple. Did Juliet ask you to kill Ben?
JACK [smiling]: No. No, I was lying. I would have done anything to get my friends out. And turning you people against each other was my best chance of creating chaos.
ISABEL: Why are you lying for her, Jack?
JACK: I'd like to go back to my cage now.

The Sheriff was none too pleased later when Benry saved Juliet from execution at the last minute. Everyone on the boards took this to mean that despite all of their "rules" and their apparent "judicial system," Benry really does have the ultimate say-so. I hope we don't need to see The Sheriff again any time soon, I don't sleep well as it is.




THE HUMAN ZOO


I feel like they missed a really good opportunity to have freaked us all out during the scene when all of those random people were staring at Jack in the cage. But instead, it fell flat with yet another dose of stilted dialogue that cut off before providing any real insight:

[Back on the island, Jack wakes up startled in his cage. The camera reveals about a dozen people standing outside the cage.]
JACK [frustrated]: What?!!!
CINDY [approaching]: Hey, Jack.
JACK: Do I -- do I know you? 815, you were the stewardess.
CINDY: Cindy.
JACK: What are you doing here -- with them? I thought you were taken -- you were -- you were captured.
CINDY: They're not, um -- it's not that simple.
JACK: What are they doing here, right now? What are you doing here?!!
CINDY: We're here to watch, Jack.
JACK: Watch what?
[The little girl, Emma, from the tail section approaches.]
CINDY: What is it, sweetheart?
[Emma whispers in her ear and waits with a big smile.]

CINDY: She wants to know how Ana-Lucia's doing.
JACK: Are you serious?
CINDY: What?
JACK [angry]: If you've got something to watch, Cindy, go watch it!! Go!!


How lame was it that Cindy was all, "Hey, Jack!"? I will tell you: VERY LAME!

Here are the two main revelations we can gather from this scene:

1) Cindy either may have been one of The Others from the beginning, or she is now brainwashed, and "watching" the experiments may be part of the overall initiation...

and

2) Cindy truly did not know what happened to Ana Lucia.

Overall, everyone was frustrated that Jack just told her to go away rather than trying to get more information out of her.



THE SCARLET ASTERISK-THINGY

Juliet's "branding" was definitely a major event in the episode. When The Sheriff read the note from Benry indicating that Juliet's life should be spared, but that she should instead "be marked," Alex, Zeke and The Sheriff all physically recoiled. Many on the boards therefore assumed that to The Others, being marked was worse than death. So what is the significance of the mark - both in its design and in what it signals to the rest of The Others?

Regarding its design, I felt like people were really grasping at straws on this subject. Yes, I will totally admit that I do see the resemblance to the Scientology cross, and while the guy who played Ethan IS Tom Cruise's cousin in real life, and while show creator J.J. Abrams DID direct Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible III, I don't think Mr. Couch-Jumper's influence has pervaded the show just yet.

Other people thought that the mark resembled a symbol often used for the North Star, and then convinced themselves that it fit with the Jesus Stick inscription: "Lift up your eyes and look north."

Frankly, I don't think it is meant to be any existing symbol that we would recognize. However, I do think the signficance of "marking" someone is an idea they took from a few different religions and famous stories. Alex said that their rules were essentially "an eye for an eye," a phrase which comes from the Exodus chapter of the Bible, as does the title of this episode, "Stranger in a Strange Land." Here are thoughts from people who seem familiar with the subject:

- "In the Bible (Genesis 4), Cain kills Abel (Juliet killed Pickett) and God marked Cain so nobody would take vengeance on him and kill him. Hmmm, maybe the mark is a mark of protection... interesting."

- "I certainly think this may be a Cain and Abel reference. Here is some insight on the topic from answers.com: "God “set a mark upon Cain” to protect him in his wanderings. The “mark of Cain” now refers to an individual's or humankind's sinful nature."

- "Yesterday was Ash Wednesday if you are Catholic, and I was watching this episode with my cross of ashes on my forehead, thinking what the priest said as he put them on: "Turn away from sin." So this can all be a coincidence, or this mark on Juliet is similar to the mark on Cain."

- "I studied Theology pretty extensively and that is the reason why traditionally Christians never got tattoos, and why during the early 20th century bikers were so feared. To mark your body was a grievous sin."

One last post brought up a point having nothing to do with religion: "Juliet getting a mark paralleled Jack's tattoos as a basis for being an outcast-leader, thus propelling their relationship and co-dependence."

I think we are going to have to wait (surprise!) to understand the meaning behind the branding, but I do think that it is strange that it was put on her lower back. If it was meant to be shameful (like The Scarlet Letter), why wouldn't it have been somewhere a tad more noticeable? Some people are convinced that the mark is a sign for Smokey to kill Juliet, which I think is way out there.

Here is one idea that I do think is on the money, however: "You know that we will be seeing this mark on someone before the season is over. And since it is in a fairly concealable location, it will be on someone "surprising". "Gasp! Why does (insert character here) have the Others mark!?!?!"



HE WALKS AMONGST US, BUT HE IS NOT ONE OF US


The only other thing I liked in this episode, besides Juliet getting the mark, was the meaning of Jack's tattoo - I think it is a cool saying. That's not what his tattoo really means, however, but I will cover that in a minute.

So obviously "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us" first and foremost signifies a leader. Someone who is obviously like everyone else at face value, but who has that special something that makes him or her stand apart. We've been witnessing Jack's "reluctant heroism" ever since the series' pilot, so it's not like the meaning of the tattoo was any big shocker.

As one fan put it, "I think it absolutely applies to his situation now with The Others. But I also feel it probably fits for the rest of his life as well. I doubt Jack has ever really just been one of the gang. He graduated top of his class (med school) and did it a year faster than anyone else. He's been busy trying to be a good man rather than just being one. His push for something better in himself could never let him be content being him. It's hard to be at one with other people when you're not even one with yourself."

What worried me was Jack's comment at the end:

ISABEL: "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us." Your tattoos -- that's what they say.
JACK: That's what they say. That's not what they mean.

Uh, I don't get it. Is he trying to say that he wants to be one of The Others? Is he trying to deny that he's a leader? Does anyone have any other ideas?

The tattoo's meaning dove-tailed nicely with the title of the episode. As mentioned above, 'Stranger in a Strange Land" is a phrase mentioned in the Bible, but it also could be taken much more literally - Jack was an outsider in Thailand, he is an outsider amongst The Others, and overall - the island is quite a strange place for any of them to be. There is also a sci-fi novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein which revolves around a human raised on Mars being returned to Earth. And just to be EXTRA thorough, according to TV.com, "the episode title could also be an allusion to the song of the same name by Iron Maiden, about an Arctic explorer who dies and is found a century later by another team of explorers."

And to those of you wondering why the tattoo was in Chinese even though they were in Thailand, I offer you this wisdom from tattoo.com: "Thailand has a large Chinese population. Life in Thailand is saturated with superstition. People are convinced that benevolent and sinister powers direct their destinies and a lot of time is dedicated to appealing to these powers for help and kindness. In Thailand the sacred and profane are completely intertwined and interdependent. For more than 300 years, Thai men have visited with tattoo arjan (master), listened to the teachings and received tattoos in an effort to understand their destiny and exercise some control over it."

And, as I mentioned above... sorry folks, but Jack's tattoo's meaning was purely made up and created by the writers. Matthew Fox has those tattoos in real life, and they have said all along that they were going to work them into the show. Way back in Season One, Kate asked about his tattoos and Jack acted all skittish. Its actual translation is: "Eagles high up, cleaving the space" - a verse taken from a famous poem called Ch'ang-sha by former Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-tung (yeah, you remember him from history class back in the day!). According to TV.com, "The poem itself has a much deeper meaning as we can see in the end of the second stanza when the poet asks: "Who masters fate's rise and descent?" - which might have influenced the writers' translation." Yes, that sure sounds like a poem that a Free Willer would like!

And remember, we still don't know how/why he got the big number five or the other tattoos. All I ask is that Bai Ling doesn't turn up again as the tattoo artist for those!

That brings up the issue of the timeline - when in Jack's life did this flashback take place? My guess is that it was after Sarah left him, but before his dad took off for Australia. However, it could've also been before he met Sarah.



THE LOVE BOAT

I almost hurt myself pulling at my hair and face when the horribly sappy final scene aired. What was UP with that "gazing at the stars" montage and all of the Karl/Alex and Jack/Juliet longing glances? Not to mention the awfully cheesy music. The better not ever pull that type of crap again.

Some people were able to ignore the sugary sweetness and focus on the boat. I thought it was the same boat used to kidnap Walt, but most people on the boards think that what they were using to cross back over to Craphole Island was a much bigger vessel. I'm not sure if it matters one way or the other, but thought I should mention it.

The bigger question at the end of the episode was, "Is Jack right in trusting Juliet?" Remember that even Benry forewarned him, "Juliet doesn't care about you, Jack. It doesn't matter what she's done. No matter what you think -- she's one of us." In my opinion, Jack doesn't really have much choice BUT to attempt to form an alliance with Juliet. She clearly has a different agenda than the rest of The Others', and Jack is smart to try to leverage that to his benefit. If he actually falls for her, then yes, he is an idiot. I like Kate more than I like Juliet, and as you all know, that is really saying something.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


SAWYER [singing]: Show me the way to go home/I'm tired and I want to go to bed/I had a little drink about an hour ago/And it went straight to my head.
KATE: Stop.
(This folk song, "Show Me the Way to Go Home," is sung by the three shark-hunters in Jaws while waiting out the night on their small boat)




KATE: Turn the boat around, Sawyer. I mean it.
SAWYER: Have you lost your mind? We just got away.
KATE: Just do it.
SAWYER: You give me one good reason to turn around!
KATE: Because we can't leave Jack behind!
SAWYER [pausing and staring at her]: Yes we can, Freckles, because that's what he asked us to do. You think about it -- if we go back there -- what do you think Captain Bunny Killer's going to do if he catches us?



[Cut to Sawyer approaching Karl. Karl quickly wipes his eyes. Sawyer punches Karl in the arm.]
KARL: Ow!! What the hell was that for?!
SAWYER: So you'd cowboy up. Crying in the jungle -- I thought you people were supposed to be tough.
KARL [shoving Sawyer]: I am tough.
SAWYER: Sure you are, Bobby. [Karl looks puzzled] Bobby, the Brady Bunch?
KARL: What the hell's the Brady Bunch?


BENRY: The cavalry has arrived, at last.
JACK: I'd be more impressed with you people if you had a good surgeon.
BENRY: We had an excellent surgeon, Jack. His name was Ethan.




WORST LINES OF THE EPISODE

ACHARA: There are things that happen here that you could never understand.
JACK: Like your gift?
ACHARA: Yes, like my gift. [they kiss and roll off the bed, laughing] Are you having fun with me, Jack?
JACK: Oh, yeah.
ACHARA: Then stop ask questions. Let's have fun.




JULIET: Why did you help me?
JACK: He told you he was going to let you go home. He told me the same thing. We're going to make sure he keeps his word.
JULIET: And how are we going to do that?
JACK: Together.



WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

- I won't say it was worthless b/c I love the show, but did we really need to devote an entire episode to Jack's tattoos? What's next? Two episodes on Kate's freckles? Why does she have freckles if neither of her parents have freckles?!? PLEASE no more filler episodes!
- As someone who's seen every single episode of the show so far, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that was the worst one. So what we learn from Jack's tattoo is that he's a reluctant leader? Sorry, folks, that's not learning. That's repeating. That aspect of Jack's character has been firmly established since the first season. Maybe since the first friggin episode.
- Jack's tattoos mean: "Party of Five"
- I think it is similar to the scar Ben will have from the surgery. No one believed Jack when he said he'd lied about Juliet asking him to kill Ben. Remember Alex said "an eye for an eye?" I think putting the mark on her spine and simulating an incision and stitches would be a gruesome reminder of what she planned.
- How is Juliet's mark going to affect anything? I don't see any of them going around in belly shirts. Is someone really going to see it? And more importantly... what does the mark mean for her. Three strikes and you are out?
- And when you "mark" someone isn't the point of it to be visible so that everyone can see it? I would have liked it to have been on her cheek or forehead!
- Anyone think the ending, where Karl and Alex are looking at the stars was a little bit... An American Tail?
- That was some Fivel Goes West shit at the end.
- I almost expected to hear "Somewhere Out There" during the looking-at-the-stars montage at the end.
- Hmm, we should have expected a terrible episode the second they cast Bai Ling. ICK.
- I had to avert my eyes. Avert my EYES! From Matthew Fox in a sexual scene. It's just not right.
- Bai Ling is Skankness on Two Sticks. I didn't want to look at her on screen too long for fear of catching an STD in my eyeballs.
- Serious meta this episode, with Jack screaming, "If you have something else to watch, go watch it!"
- Also I hate how these people act in ways that I can't imagine normal people thrown in the same (admittedly absurd) situation would act. Sawyer's just escaped a completely psycho situation and he's whistling and singing while he rows the boat? They have an Other in their possession and they just don't keep firing the questions at him? WHAT experiments? HOW do the Others plan to make the world better? Kate wants to go back and get Jack even though she knows she's outnumbered - instead of getting back to their island and assembling a posse? Where the hell is Sayid to be the BRAIN of the operation here? Also, if they're going to have an Asian subplot, why cast Bai Ling, the worst living actress on the planet, instead one of the zillions of Asian actresses out there who CAN act?
- The sheriff was played by Diana Scarwid who played Joan Crawford's daughter in "Mommie Dearest"... I wonder how Juliet was marked? I hope it wasn't with a wire hanger.


UPCOMING EPISODES

2/28/07 - Tricia Tanaka is Dead

3/7/2007 - Enter 77

3/14/07 - Par Avion

I've seen a few extra clips of "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," and I can confirm that Sayid actually speaks in this one, yay! The good news is that it really CAN'T be worse than last week's show, right?

Enjoy,
- e