Wednesday, February 23, 2005

S1Ep17 - ... In Translation (Jin's first flashback)

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

Hello once again my friends -

This episode was one of my favorites. I can't put my finger on it, but I loved it. And the funny thing is that "House of the Rising Sun," (Sun's flashback, early in the season) was one of my least favorite episodes.

On to "the issues":

1) The eye
SEVERAL episodes have started with a close-up on someone's eye, and this one did it again with Jin's eye. Maybe there will be some sort of significance to this later.

2) Sun's dad runs some sort of car company or car manufacturing company. I will bring that up again later...

3) When Sun slapped Michael and then came back to talk to him later, she said "I was protecting you from Jin, you don't know what he's capable of!"
After seeing the entire episode and seeing that, at least in what they showed us thus far, Jin did NOT actually kill anyone and seemed to be a good guy at heart, it makes me wonder if Sun thinks he IS a killer since she saw him with all the blood all over him.

4) Hurley being shown on Korean TV.
If right now you are saying to yourself, "What?" ... then there is just no hope for you. Two of you on this list (you know who you are) have already admitted to me that you did not catch the fact that when Jin first went to "deliver the message" and the guy said "Not in front of my daughter!" and they both turned to see the little girl with the dog watching TV, that HURLEY was on the TV shown getting into a car with some Korean words also on the screen. Now, if you did NOT see this, then I feel like a total failure, because I have obviously not done my job in TRAINING YOU to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be looking in the background and peripheral view of scenes for things just like this.

So of course those people on the boards who do NOT read the spoilers were all freaking out about why Hurley was on TV. I know why, but I'm not going to say, as you will find out soon enough. And yes, of course some nerd on the boards translated the Korean subtitles, but I'm not going to tell you that either, because it will ruin it. The one thing I will say, because I don't know if this is significant or not and therefore isn't a spoiler, is that some people were wondering that if the fact that Hurley was shown getting into a car was important because Sun's dad owns a car company. The other thing everyone was wondering, even those of us who know the spoilers, was why Hurley would be shown on KOREAN TV.

5) Can I just say once again how much I cannot stand Boone? Seriously, every time he comes on the screen I just start yelling. Now he was wearing some other lame tank top with some symbol on it that I'm sure signifies something, but no one on the boards has brought it up because, like me, they just don't care about him.

6) HUGE theme of "starting over" in this episode. Locke straight up says it to Shannon: "Everyone gets a new life on this island." Jin says to his father in his flashback near the end that he wishes he could start over, and that's when his dad tells him that he should just cold bust out once he gets to the U.S. and never come back.... At the end Sun also says "Can't we just go back... to the beginning?" Michael tells Walt that he wants to rebuild the raft. And then Shannon tells Sayid that she's ready to start over before they start sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

7) I could've done without Sawyer's obvious Lord of the Flies comment. I mean, they are literally turning into that, and we savvy viewers don't need it spoon-fed to us, thank you very much. But really, were you not seriously disturbed when Michael was going all berserker on Jin and everyone else, including Sun, was just STANDING there, watching it? I know Jack tried to stop it, but it was a fairly lame attempt that was easily deterred by everyone else. Very creepy. Also, some people thought maybe Jin does speak English. I don't think he does. They made of point of doing that weird thing where they showed everyone fighting on the beach and focused in on his ear and then you heard them all just sound like gibberish, as he would hear them. Also, even though she spoke English to him at the end... I think she was doing that because she still didn't have the guts to tell him in Korean that she was going to leave him (so he would really understand). We'll see. He obviously knows one English word, see #10 below.

8) Locke once again is rocking the hiz-ouse: his speech to Shannon about starting over and not giving Boone "exactly what he wants... your attention," and his "Everyone knows we are not the only people on this island!?!?!?!?!!" tirade, to his HUGE reveal (I think it will be very key) that his dad was "not cool," to him YET AGAIN knowing everything that's going on (both with Shannon and with Walt at the end). Yes, I'm starting the Locke Fan Club this weekend. Who's with me?

9) Something that didn't make sense to me: After all that, and learning that Jin also wanted to escape Sun's dad and start over, why would he tell her "It's too late?" when she was trying to reconcile? That I do not understand.

10) What I will say is that I think Jin and Michael have a lot more in common than meets the eye. Despite the fact that they are both obviously not perfect, they have both been shown in their flashbacks to be "good at heart." Michael didn't do anything wrong in his flashback and always loved Walt and wanted him back. Jin did EVERYTHING for Sun and even now doesn't want to tell her the truth about her father since he knows it will hurt her. If the island does divide into two camps, I am guessing they will both be on the "good" side. And Jin wins for best line of the episode when he tried to make peace with Michael at the end: "BOAT." Hurley is the runner up with "Didn't see that coming..." when Sun started speaking English.

11) So of course the huge twist was that Walt burned the raft. Which leads to many more questions: 1) Why did Locke cover for him? Despite the fact that Locke wants to stay on the island, too... typically Locke tries to steer people in the right direction. Maybe he was just trying to prevent Jin from getting any more of a beat-down and so he blamed it on The Others. Or maybe he feels that he needs to keep growing the bond he has with Walt for a bigger reason. 2) Did Walt start the fire the normal way, or ev-eeel-young-pyrokinetic-Drew Barrymore-in-"Firestarter"-style? 3) In that scene, did you notice that right before they had the deep talk, Walt once again rolled the dice the way he wanted? If you didn't notice that, seriously, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!?! 4) When Walt says, "Did you have a dad? Was he cool?" and Locke replied, "No... no, he was not cool," we now have a picture of a not-so-good childhood for Locke. His dad was mean, we don't know what happened to his real mom, but he was living with a foster mom, during which his sister died and then that resulted in his foster mom spiraling into a depression for 5 years before she ended up dying. Several people wonder if the fact that he probably lost a parent leads to his connection with Walt. But it seems like he has a lot in common with Sawyer, too? More to ponder. 5) Walt still gives me the creeps and I think he is a little selfish brat. Many people think he can't stay on the show since each season, only a month or two is supposed to have passed, so if it goes like 5 years, he will age more obviously than the adult actors, and so therefore he can't stay on the show. That has never been confirmed or denied and I'm sure the writers can find a way around that, but since I don't like him, I hope it's true. I am not a big fan of evil little kids (e.g: The Ring, Children of the Corn, etc).

12) And last, but not least... It was incredible the number of posts asking what the song was that played at the end before Hurley's walkman batteries died out. If those peeps had been hangin' with me for the last YEAR then they would know that that was the song "Delicate" by Damien Rice. For those of you who had seen the previews for (or the movie itself) "Closer," another song by Damien, "The Blower's Daughter" was in that. The bottom line is that it is an awesome CD and you should all get it. Also, an issue that has been discussed on the boards for a very long time was how Hurley could keep listening to his walkman 1) when it seems like the batteries could/should have been put to better use and 2) because it was so cheesy with the closing scene montages. I truly believe that him finally running out of batteries was a little "wink" to all the nerds on the boards. Triumph of the Nerds!

13) Speaking of nerds... if you think *I* am a nerd, then you have no idea. Seriously, I came across some crazy crap on the boards this time around, ranging from "Shannon and Sayid's kiss is a statement on the war" to people fighting quite viciously over whether Sun is "hot or not." But the Geek of the Week prize goes to the dude who made a diagram depicting all of the relationships on the show. Enough said.


POSTS FROM THE MESSAGE BOARDS

- Was that Hurley on the korean guys TV???
- Definitely him. Nice episode tonight. At the end I wondered aloud how many batteries he had for that CD player. Sure enough, it died right on cue.
- Locke totally coerced Walt into burning the raft. There's no way he isn't trying to keep everyone on the island.
- I agree, his reasoning for burning the raft was lame so I'm guessing there was another reason. If Locke knew why he wouldn't have asked. But he knew, perhaps suspects why. Remember, Walt is special. He's telekinetic in some way. Perhaps he has an unknowing psychic tie to whatever is manipulating things on the island. I'm guessing he and Claire's baby were brought there on purpose. No way is the island letting him leave. Burning the boat a test of some sort?
- Did anyone think that way his CD player just gave out at the end was a bad omen or something? I really hope he doesn't die. Without Hurley on that island everyone would just drown in their own drama.
- I laughed out loud... at the ending. I was rather disappointed - playing us out with insipid music and character montage? Is this "Lost" or "Dawson"? Run a little short on plot this week, did we? How clichéd. Then the batteries died and I realized I'd been played. Sweet!
- And I totally missed that he was on the television. I must be blind. Perfect ending this week. Absolutely perfect. And next week looks like some hardcore Lost "mythology" stuff. Combined with the Hurley back-story this one could wind up one of the best eps of the series. And how come no one's commenting on Sayid finally gettin' sum?
- I have a feeling Hurley was on the news for being a computer hacker/ virus creator. I have no evidence to back this up other than he looks like a computer geek.
- The scene where Locke yelled at everyone was much needed. The Hurley in the TV scene was cool. I was expecting Jin to already know English, which to me would have been better, but maybe he's going to learn from someone else. And Jin has a good heart, maybe he saw the kid burn the raft and he did not want to say anything.
- I'm starting to believe the theory that I've heard from a few others that this is all some big experiment -- there is no island. The main characters only THINK there's an island. Some characters aren't even real (like the pilot who died, like Ethan, maybe others) they're just manifestations of the experiment, like the Monster, like the polar bears, etc. Anyway, until proven wrong, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it. I think the writers have been pretty good with everything if that theory holds true.
- Does anybody else think that Michael and Walt are named for Michael Eisner and Walt Disney, and that that might say something about their relationship?
- I never thought that until you pointed it out, and you may be right... The LOST producers have admitted that Hurley is inspired by our own Harry Knowles. Then there's the name "John Locke". Claire's name may be symbolic too (i.e. clairvoyant). So I wouldn't put it pass them that Michael and Walt were named after Eisner and Disney.
- Wow, that’s so weird. Last night I was talking to my friend about the exact same thing. I think it’s a possible stab at that contrast between the two. I mean if you think about it Walt is special and "magical" and Michael is just a hot head trying to gain control. Abrams isn’t an idiot and this is an ABC show and I don't have to say it, but I will, Disney owns ABC.
- Has anyone thought of the possibility that the island is actually a small un-submerged portion of the lost continent of Atlantis? Or being that they're in the Pacific, perhaps Lemuria? Both were supposedly highly advanced, and some legends claim that these were actually lands teeming with not only highly advanced scientific technologies, but also practical forms of magic. I myself would love for the series to take this direction, seeing as how I believe the characters have already been using magic since their arrival on the island, whether consciously or unconsciously (Locke's ability to walk, Claire's fear of having her baby "raised by another," heck...more here than I care to mention right now?) To me, it feels like they're subconsciously manifesting the things they desire, the things they're afraid of, or the past that they've left unresolved. Sorta like the novel "Sphere" somewhat...maybe. Okay, not at all.

- e

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

S1Ep16 - Outlaws (Sawyer's second flashback)

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

Hello my dear friends,

I was disappointed in this episode, having had high hopes after it was being touted as one of the best three episodes of the season. However, it was chock full of good information, so here is the recap:

1) The whispers

Before this episode, people thought the whispers were: 1) People watching the castaways, who are actually in some sort of virtual-reality game, 2) Voices from the present trying to wake the characters up from a real-life coma, 3) Government figures talking about the experiment going on on the island that the castaways are unknowingly a part of, 4) A sign that someone has come down with "the sickness" and is going crazy, 5) Some sort of sound trick... they are actually people talking somewhere else on the island.

In this episode, Sawyer heard the whispers on separate occasions when he was alone in the jungle. It was clear that one of the things he heard was "It will come back around," which we learned at end were the dying words of the man Sawyer killed. While in the past there have been many different theories on what the whispers actually are, to me this episode makes it clear that the whispers are specific to the person hearing them (as in, Sayid is going to hear different things than what Sawyer hears), and that they are related to things that are haunting that person (as in, they are not happy childhood memories). Some people think now that only characters who have killed people will hear the whispers ... we know that Danielle (French woman), Sayid and Sawyer have all killed people, and so far they have all heard them. This theory can be built upon or trashed depending on if anyone else hears the whispers in future episodes. Also, on the "killing people" topic, we now know that at least 5 people on island are killers: Danielle, Sayid, Sawyer, Charlie and Kate. And Ethan if he's not really dead. That's kind of a lot of people. Someone said on the boards, 'Was this Oceanic Flight 815 or Con Air?"

2) I loved Terminator 2, so was happy to see Robert Patrick in the role of Hibbs. It was interesting when he said to Sawyer, "We both know you ain't
the killin' type..." he said this kind of sarcastically, and BEFORE
Sawyer killed the shrimp guy, so it leads me to believe Sawyer has killed someone else before that? Not sure.

3) The woman Sawyer was messing around with in the beginning is Michael's (Walt's dad) wife in real life.

4) In Homecoming, everyone on the boards wondered, "Now that the guns are out, do they go back in?" and at least THAT question was answered... the guns ALL went back into the case.

5) Jack made an interesting comment to Kate - "I don't want you to owe him anything." Jealousy because he likes Kate, or hates Sawyer, or a little of both?

6) MANY people on the boards think Ethan is NOT DEAD. He was CLEARLY still breathing in the shot of his body where Hurley and Charlie were burying him. However, I think this was just the fact that he was a LIVE actor and had to breathe. Hello?!?!?!!? Anyway, everyone was like, "Why wouldn't they BURN his body to be sure?" Point taken. I did like Hurley's comment about "I know how this is going to end, with us running and screaming through the jungle, and he'll catch me first."

7) Some good lines in the episode: ... Kate to Sawyer after she learns he's bothered by the boar: "Go tell Locke and he'll kill it!" Sawyer to Kate after her diatribe on boars not trying to seek revenge, "Thank YOU, boar expert." Sawyer to Kate after the I Never question about one-night stands, "I gotta drink for each one???"

8) Things learned from the I Never game: Kate was MARRIED. Was this the "man that she loved, the man that she killed?" The thing that has bothered me IMMENSELY about this scene is that Sawyer said "I never killed a man" and Kate drank. What is bugging me is WHY Sawyer would say that. Because remember, ONLY Jack and Hurley know that Kate was the criminal on board the plane, Sawyer did NOT know this. Is it just me, or is that a really strange thing to bring up in I Never? They go from wearing pink to having one night stands to being in love to KILLING someone? The only thing I can think is that he is on to her because in the pilot episode she pretended to not know how to use a gun, but then in ‘Homecoming’ they gave her one of the guns and she all of a sudden knew what was going on. But it still seems like a stretch. No one has brought this up on the boards that I can tell. Anyone have any ideas? If the time warp theory is correct and they actually are reliving a period of time over and over and some characters realize it and others don't, then this could make sense. Sawyer could've found out in a previous time loop that Kate killed someone.

9) Some more info revealed about Locke: His sister Jeannie died when he was young, and he had a foster mother. Once again, Locke seemed to appear right at the perfect time and tell Sawyer the story about the dog who his mom thought was his sister reincarnated. Ending with a "it's not your fault" sort of moral to his story. Although I was confused by this, because by the end of the episode when we see that Sawyer killed the WRONG person, I didn't understand what Locke's point with that story was. It wasn't Sawyer's fault for killing some innocent guy? Or it wasn't his fault that his dad killed his mom and then himself, so Sawyer just needs to let it go now? If it was the latter, then I guess it kind of makes sense. Regardless, Locke still rocks.

10) We learned Sawyer's real name MAY be James. At least that's what he called himself to the guy he thought was the real Sawyer.

11) So... the big twist near the end was that Sawyer had met Jack's dad in the bar. And they both kind of led to each other's demise... Sawyer helped Jack's dad drink himself to death (remember, Jack's dad died later that same night... was found in an alley by the police), and Jack's dad encouraged Sawyer to take care of whatever he needed to in order to be at peace. Obviously Jack's dad didn't know that entailed killing someone, but he was the one saying, "What are you sitting here for? Go do it!"

12) And finally, Sawyer had several chances during this episode to redeem himself and turn over a new leaf. He could've actually told Sayid that he also heard the voices, but then got all snotty again. He was mean to the little baby boar (even though he didn't end up killing the big one), and at the end he clearly started realizing, if not fully realizing, that he was talking to Jack's DAD. But yet he chose to end the conversation and not share with Jack the things that his dad said about him before he died. Unlike other characters such as Charlie and Sayid who have faced demons in their flashbacks and then kind of shed them, Sawyer hasn't.


There has been a big theory on the boards about the fact that since we are finding out that all of the characters have some sort of "six degrees of separation" thing going on before the crash, that perhaps they each hold the key to another's "redemption" and that that is the way off the island/out of purgatory/out of the game/to stop the time loop/choose your own theory.

Charlie needs Claire to prove he can take care of someone, Sawyer can help Jack get over his bad relationship with his dad if he tells him the stuff his dad said when they talked, Sayid can make Shannon see that she is not totally worthless, etc., etc. But it doesn't really work so well for a lot of the other characters, so I'm not sure how deep this theory can really go. However, I do think it may become more obvious as time goes on.

No posts from the message boards this week as there really wasn't anything too earth-shattering being debated regarding this episode, and because it's late Monday night and I am severely pressed for time to do the other recap!

- e

Saturday, February 05, 2005

S1Ep15 - Homecoming (Charlie's second flashback)

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

Hello friends -

I didn't like this episode, and neither did most people on the boards. Probably because we all guessed what would happen and were therefore bored. But that is our own fault.

Anyway, here is a recap of the major things that happened and/or things to think about:

1) Does Jin suspect that Sun knows English? Many people thought that he was acting fishy by asking her all of those questions about what was going on, like he was on to her. His flashback is next week, so I'm sure they're setting that up.

2) The guns have come out. Will they go back into the case or stay out? And how does JACK know how to use a gun? Everyone else made sense.

3) Where exactly did Claire come from? Had she escaped or was she sent back for some weird reason? How could she actually ESCAPE from the likes of Ethan anyway? Also, I noticed that at first her face looked all beat up-ish but then half-way through the show she looked perfect again.

4) The fact that we got to hear "You All Everybody" when they played it at the bar in the flashback was awesome. That song is so bad, it's good.

5) When Ethan came out of nowhere and took Jin out in the woods with a little stone (or whatever that was) and then choked Charlie, when he was first approaching it sounded like weird noises were coming at them from all sides, similar to what happens whenever the "monster" appears. But I think I was the only one who noticed that, it wasn't brought up on the boards.

6) Seriously my favorite part of the whole thing was when in the flashback that girl Charlie was dating said, "My father's off buying a paper company in Slough" ... in case you aren't down with the BBC America channel, that was a reference to the hit BBC show "The Office," about a paper company in Slough, England, that is run by this horrible boss who thinks everyone loves him (they're making a US-version this year which is also supposed to be good). It's one of my favorite shows. This was similar to in Locke's flashback when they referenced "TPS Reports" from the movie "Office Space."

7) It was VERY obvious in this episode that Jack and Locke have emerged as the two leaders. I thought the exchange they had about if they should tell the rest of the survivors about Ethan's threat, and whether or not to move everyone to the caves, was very interesting. Jack seemed kind of defensive that Locke had a plan and didn't think Jack's plan was well thought out.

8) Boone was once again in his 4 aces shirt, though no one brought that up on the boards. I seriously can't stand Boone and want him GONE. He was so lame falling asleep during his watch. LOSER.

9) So the dear Scott, I believe seen only once on the show overall, is gone. And yet Hurley still had to bring up always calling him Steve by mistake in the eulogy. Since every bone in his body was broken, this leads me to believe once again that Ethan is some sort of "super soldier." But then it still doesn't make sense that 1) Claire escaped and 2) Jack was able to beat him down at the end. A lot of people on the boards commented that Ethan had a bunch of scratches on his face and looked increasingly weak as the episode went on, so maybe he was losing his powers for some reason.

10) Three other overall comments: 1) I thought once again that Locke was awesome in this episode. 2) Charlie throwing up in the copier was the favorite scene of everyone on the boards. 3) Sawyer's comment about the polar bear thinking he was a "good shot" was also up there.

11) Overall I thought this episode was weak because the Charlie flashbacks were SO OBVIOUS ... it was like, gee, do you think they're trying to show us why he's so adamant on being able to "take care of" Claire? And I called Charlie picking up the gun and shooting Ethan as soon as I saw the previews two weeks ago. People were very annoyed because we all thought we would learn WHY Ethan wanted Claire and we didn't.

However, the next episode is supposed to be great, in the top 3 of the season, it's Sawyer's second flashback. I'm not holding my breath as I keep being disappointed lately, but I do know at a high level what it's about and I do think it will be good.


FROM THE MESSAGE BOARDS

- Oh my god, how sad was it when Charlie said "yea, we are friends"!!! sniff sniff
- I think those scratch marks on his face look like they come from a FEMALE....I think Claire fought back.
- Way to go Charlie!!! Woot! Woot! I think he was right, Ethan would not have told them anything. Since Claire is starting to remember maybe we will learn from her in one of the upcoming episodes what he wanted and where he was from.
- Oh CHARLIE!!!.... oooooooooo, she remembers peanut butter!!!! Are anyone else’s eyes starting to get misty???
- Can anyone see what Jack's tattoo is?
- Great episode .Way to go Jack for kicking his butt and Charlie for the great finishing move. Ding Dong the witch is dead, or is he......
- I don't think this is the end of it. I would not be surprised if someone else comes along and wants Claire's baby too.

- Will there / should there be repercussions for Charlie executing Ethan?

- I forgot to mention Locke! And nobody else in this whole post has! Jack asked Locke if he knew how to assemble a gun and Locke put it together as if he had been doing it his whole life! A box salesman would *definitely* not know how to do that.

- And I know that the flashback for Charlie was kind of weak but his story is just that he is a one-hit wonder rock star who did drugs - how far can his story go? His flashbacks just showed how he wanted to "care and protect" a girl and she turned him down. It was kind of a parallel to Charlie and Claire how he wants to protect her and care for her. His obsession for caring for Claire is probably derived from that past experience from Lucy.

- And Boone is a dud. And I'm not quite sure why Sayid would like the so un-Nadia-ish Shannon. She and Boone - yes. But she and Nadia - no.

- I think Locke was a box-company employee the same way Steven Seagal was just a cook in "Under Siege."
- In the scene where Jin asks Sun about what is going on... he asks Sun about "the baby", and it seemed to me he was looking at Sun's torso area, NOT at Claire. Could Sun be pregnant? The survivors have been on the island for just about a month now, so if Sun were pregnant, she wouldn't be showing yet, depending on how far along she might be. And it could easily be part of the reason why Sun had a "change of heart" about leaving Jin. Yet another weird theory...
- Locke and the gun issue: clearly, Locke had a history as a hunter and adventurer... that may even be how he was injured, who knows? Even, in a wheelchair, he had a case full of rather impressive knives. Being a box salesman doesn't mean he can't have outside interests and hobbies, however off the grid.

- There are two reasons why Charlie might have killed Ethan. Either he was distraught about the violence that had been done to him, Claire, and Scott ... or he was making sure that Ethan would not talk to anybody. Charlie and Claire both returned from their kidnapping with "amnesia." Maybe they have been programmed to protect the island's secrets.
- I am glad they killed the bad guy, but am wondering if that opens the gates for more Bigger and Badder guys....

- No questions got answered last night by Ethan, or by anyone else, and a new can was opened...the guns came out. Now they will be asking for them to come out every time something bad happens. The good thing - Teamwork was shown last night. Did anyone see that? They worked TOGETHER, more then they had before, watching the perimeter and playing on each other strengths and using what they knew about each other to support the whole group. That was a few brief moments of fun.
- I don't think Ethan would have talked, even if tortured, and it's pretty likely that the others would at least come looking for him, even if they didn't make a full-blown rescue attempt. And that could potentially put all of the survivors in danger. So I probably would have shot Ethan, too, though I might not have used so many bullets--that seemed a little excessive but probably true to the emotions behind the action. But Jack beating Ethan seemed a bit excessive too--near the end there were 4 people with guns on Ethan, so why'd he keep hitting him? Rage? Frustration? Vengeance? And during Jin & Sun's conversations, I was struck by two things: Jin seems to understand English also--I think he's testing Sun to see if she'll finally come clean. I think he knows that she speaks English--if he was involved in some sort of mob work, he probably knows that she took the classes. The second thing was during their talk about Claire's baby, I noticed a certain attitude between them that I thought of as poignant. Maybe they lost a baby at some point? She could be pregnant, too, but it seemed more wistful/sad to me.
- Alright, I can see Sayid using a gun, being in the Republican Guard and all. I can see Kate using a gun, being a con-artist. Locke...he's a hunter, 'nuff said. Sawyer... see Kate. But what I want to know is how in the Seven Circles of Hell's name does Jack know how to use a gun!?! This is the third death in the rain. I guess on this island rain is bad.

- Great Locke quote when seeing the guns "Why doc, you've been holding out on us."
- I was surprised to hear so many negative comments about the episode last night. At the very least, the character dynamics are taking on a very disturbing shape, something that's definitely going to have consequences during the rest of the season. Maybe it was a question of high expectations? Whatever the case, I liked getting a better look at Charlie's past, especially since it places so much of his time on the island in a new context. And any episode with a semi-obscure reference to "The Office" can't be bad, now, can it? (And so much beautiful, beautiful Claire!)

- I wonder if anyone on the island though about pulling a page out of the movie "Alive" and chowing down on Ethan. They have been without boar meat for some time right. Hey I know it’s morbid, but when you’re hungry, you’re hungry.



- e