S3Ep17 - Catch-22 (Desmond's third flashback)

Hello my dear friends -

Q. Why does Desmond always add "brotha!" to the end of everything he says?

A. Because he used to be a monk. OBVIOUSLY, DUH?!?!?

Ummm, I have to admit that I think they were really reaching there to make Desmond's previous (and from what I could tell, VERY brief) stint in the monastery be the reason why he always says, "brotha!"

I have many weird phrases that I am somewhat known for, and there's no explanation for any of them, so I never really even questioned why Desmond kept saying "brotha" in the first place. Note to the Lost writers: It's OK if you don't explain every little thing! I mean, are we going to learn the back-story of why Kate actually has freckles at some point in time? It's too much.

But don't think that I didn't like "Catch-22," because I most definitely did. While it wasn't as information-packed as the previous week's episode, it did keep moving the overall story along on several fronts, and since Desmond is my second-favorite character on the show, I was bound to be happy about his extra screen-time. It can also be stated at this point in time (as objectively as possible) that Locke and Desmond have hands-down had the best flashbacks of all characters - three-for-three with Desmond and six-for-six with Locke. You won't find any crappy story lines about cursed tattoos with those two!

Most people I talked to thought the episode was fine, but they COMPLETELY MISSED the BIGGEST CLUE in the episode! You can see if you can be counted in with those people or not shortly, and then see if your opinion of the episode changes.

But before we get into that... how could anyone not love Jin telling the ghost story, complete with the flashlight to his face? That was, honest to God, one of my favorite scenes in the entire series thus far. Totally classic. Many people also enjoyed the "Colonel Bogey March" whistling scene as the guys trekked along the beach.

And I always like it when the title of the episode is especially clever. Not only is "Catch-22" the book that fell from the parachutist's backpack, it is also a term used for a "no-win" situation... when you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. And that's definitely what Desmond found himself struggling with - should he let Darth Hoodie die in order to be reunited with his true love? Or could he not bring himself to be responsible for someone's death when he knew he could prevent it - even if that meant forsaking his happy reunion and possible rescue from the island?

Let's move into the analysis... and get the lame love-quadrangle update out of the way first.


TROUBLE IS A WOMAN

I am very much OVER the Sawyer-Kate-Jack-Juliet sub-plot. They all have a lot of other things to be worrying about, wouldn't you think? Juliet needs to worry about why she can only make one facial expression - and why Smokey took pictures of her. Sawyer needs to worry about all of the nicknames he needs to unleash with a vengeance after his punishment is lifted - and why he threw $8 million worth of diamonds into the ground. Jack needs to worry about why he now sucks so badly - and how Sayid is going to usurp his Lostaway Leader title. And Kate needs to worry about not being the next one to get pregnant - and why Juliet was able to karate-flip her in the game room. A Phil Collins Greatest Hits tape is going to do no one any good when The Others return!!!

While we will cover more about Penelope much later, since this section is all about love, I will include here a fan's note about the significance of Penelope asking/telling Desmond to help her take the wine to Carlisle:

"In traditional folklore, "The Lady of Carlisle" was beautiful and virtuous and would not give herself to any man unless he could prove to her that he was of "high honor" and "High degree." Two men vied for her heart, one a soldier and one a sailor. She "threw her fan into the lion's den" and said that whichever man was brave enough to return her fan would gain her heart. The soldier would not risk his life for her love, but the sailor said he would return her fan or die. He entered the lion's den, retrieved her fan, and won the lady fair!

When Penny mentioned the city of Carlisle I thought immediately of this legend - Desmond being both a soldier and a sailor. As a soldier he was running from Penny, but as a sailor he was prepared to risk his life to "prove himself worthy" of her."



'95 WAS A GOOD YEAR (BUT THEN AGAIN, NOT REALLY!)

So my original plan for this section was to list all these cool things to remember about 1995, and then mention the Monk Wine along with them, all sneaky-like. But then I actually looked up 1995 to jog my memory, and a whole bunch of pretty depressing stuff happened in that year. Even the things I could refer to from pop culture ended up having not-so-funny things happen with those same topics in later years, so... I got nothin'.

Except that it's when we know Desmond's flashback took place because it was the year on the wine label.

Other people on the boards said that it was in 1996 that he broke up with Penny (this was gathered from his previous flashback), and after that proceeded to join the Royal Army, go to jail, and then enter the sailing race. I was quite surprised that they went even further back in Desmond's life rather than showing us, say, his time in the Army and perhaps why he was kicked out (as most people figured they would do), but I'm really glad they showed us how he and Penny first met. And how he basically ran away from his previous girlfriend (actually, fiancée) right before their wedding. Speaking of that...


BITTER RUTH

When the guy busted into the monastery and clocked Desmond in the face, I thought, "Oh, I get it, he was just using the monastery as a hiding place because he had been involved in some sort of crime and people were looking for him." But, I was wrong. He had actually bailed out on his attacker's sister, Ruth, right before he was supposed to get married to her:

DESMOND: OK, yes, I was scared about the wedding, so I had a few pints too many, maybe I, I raised my eyes, and I asked am I doing the right thing, and that's the last thing I remember. And when I woke up, I was lying on my back in the street, and I dunno how I got there and, there was this man standing over me, Ruth. And he reached out his hand and he said to me, can I help you, brother. And the first thing I noticed was the rope tied round his waist, and I looked at him and I knew, I knew, I was supposed to go with him. I was supposed to go with him, I was supposed to leave everything that mattered behind, sacrifice all of it, for a greater calling.
RUTH: Well it's a good thing a bloody shepherd didn't help you up, or as I suppose you'd be off with the sheep, wouldn't you? Next time you want to break up with someone, Des, don't join a monastery. Just tell the girl you're too bloody scared.

There were five things I thought were of note in this scene:

1) Ruth is NOT cute and was not a good fit for our favorite Scotsman!
2) The ten bazillion crosses hanging all over the place - definitely playing up the religion theme again big-time with this episode (more on that later).
3) The fact that Ruth challenged Desmond to be upfront when he was going to leave his next girlfriend, rather than just running away. We know that he didn't follow that advice in his relationship with Penny when he randomly broke up with her for no good reason.
4) Ruth mentioned that if he had been found by a shepherd, he'd be off with the sheep now. Many people on the boards mentioned that he IS now with a shepherd... Jack Shephard, and has become part of the "flock" of Lostaways (hey, I just report what I read, OK?), and...
5) Desmond's explanation for how he ended up with the monks (he blacked out and awoke with a monk standing over him) was very bizarre AFTER having noticed THIS on Monk Guy's desk:

Say it with me now, "BOO-YA!!!"

WHEN IS A MONK NOT A MONK?

When he has a picture of Freaky Jewelry Store Lady on his desk!

Before I get into this, I just need to give MYSELF some major props for spotting the picture (which was shown for two milliseconds rather than the usual one millisecond to MAKE SURE people noticed it) without the aid of Tivo - shout-out to KG and EG for kickin' it old-school in their condo! Anyway, I nearly choked on my own gasp of breath after witnessing the picture flash by. And I was shocked by the number of people I talked to the next day - at least a dozen - who had not seen it.

HAVE I NOT TAUGHT YOU PEOPLE ANYTHING?!?!

Really, I give up.

Click to see the picture in the context of the scene when Desmond was leaving the monastery.

For me, this moment made the entire episode. I can only assume that the producers allowed such a horribly-pasted-together picture to be used as a prop because they wanted people to notice it and start theory-mongering. As a funny side note, there is actually a theory that the photo was purposely made to look fake because depending on what happens in Desmond's life, the people in the picture change out "Back to the Future with peeps vanishing from the family photo"-style! Do I think that could be the case? No, I do not.

Other people think that the picture was made to be so obvious because that way we would know that Desmond himself probably saw it several times, and that therefore his previous flashback ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") was just a jumble of memories from his past, and that woman from the monk's picture was inserted into his trippy experience as the Freaky Jewelry Store Woman. Do I think that could be the case? No, I do not. This one I have more to go on, because the producers confirmed in a podcast that Desmond DID experience those things and go back in time. So I can only trust that they are not trying to mess with us.

[Pause]

I can't believe I just said that.

So what DO I think is the significance of that woman being in the monk's picture? While I am not going to spend time thinking of who exactly she is in relation to the monk (sister, etc.), I think that there are a few plausible explanations for why he knows her and how, if at all, it has relevance to Desmond:

1) It has no relevance, it was just another one of those coincidences of characters being thinly linked by a common acquaintance, none of which have proven to be hugely significant in the show so far (because remember, it's usually only the viewing audience that knows about the link, not the characters themselves).

2) Both Freaky Lady (I can't keep writing it all out) and Monk Guy have the ability to see the future and/or jump around in time, and they know what is supposed to happen with Desmond, so they ensure that he doesn't get married to Ruth (which is why Desmond doesn't actually remember passing out - they probably drugged him to ensure Monk Guy was standing over him when he awoke) and also ensure he meets Penny. Does that seem evil for a monk to do? Not if he knows that there are bad consequences if Desmond's life doesn't unfold as planned. Remember that Freaky Lady had told Desmond that if he didn't do his thing pushing the button on the island that "every one of us" would die. You may ask, however, "Why would they need to ensure anything with Desmond if the universe is always able to "course correct" itself?" Because maybe they learned that sometimes the universe does NOT course correct, and they only learned that when Desmond himself started being able to jump around in time after he turned the fail-safe key.

Yes, this is all very complicated, but basically the premise is that at some point in time after Desmond turned the fail-safe key, he was able to jump around and relive different parts of his life. And when he did so, he started changing things, which ended up causing a domino effect with other events changing later as well. So people like Freaky Lady and Monk Guy need to step in more and more to make sure things go the way they "should." In this theory, FL and MG (getting really lazy now) are not even affiliated with anyone from the island, they are just kind of lone rangers protecting the universe, if you will.

3) Another theory keeps much of what is discussed above the same, except that FL and MG ARE affiliated with either DHARMA or The Others or some other group related to the island. In this scenario, much of Desmond's life has been orchestrated, even his meeting of Penny, as Widmore Corporation, her father's company, was hinted at having a long-standing relationship with the monastery. Some even wondered if his "vow of silence" was actually a subtle training tactic for his excess of alone time in the hatch years later. There are too many variations on this overall theory to write them all out, but some of the most important things to think about include:
- If FL and MG are somehow affiliated with the island, is it because Widmore Corporation (as well as Mr. Widmore himself) also has something to do with the island? Did Penny's dad want Desmond to end up on the island? And if so, was that because he thought that it would be a way to keep Desmond away from his daughter for good, or was it because he actually wanted Desmond to find something out about the island (unknowingly - like he was part of an experiment)?
- If you believe the above, then is it possible that Penny was a part of the scheme but then ended up falling for Desmond? Or was everything about Penny fake from the beginning - she was just with Desmond as part of the master plan, which is why she came back to find him years later after he left prison rather than just staying out of contact.
- Was perhaps only Freaky Lady involved with the island, but she influenced Monk Guy (because of whatever relationship she has with him) to get Desmond to join the monastery and then ensure he met Penny?


I am not sure what I make of this whole mess. I would like to believe that Penny is good and has perhaps now (in present time) found out what happened to Desmond, knows that her father is involved somehow with his disappearance, and therefore was able to figure out that she needed to look for an electromagnetic anomaly to find him again. So I don't really buy the fact that absolutely EVERYTHING was a set-up, including her relationship with Desmond. However, I think there is now a high possibility that either FL or MG had been involved in Desmond's life from an early point without him even knowing it, but I am not sure if they are connected to the island necessarily.

Anyone else have any other ideas?

I'M SETTING BOOTY TRAPS.
YOU MEAN, 'BOOBY TRAPS?'
THAT'S WHAT I SAID! BOOBY TRAPS!

I want everyone to thank me right now for NOT including the nas-tay picture of Charlie with the arrow through his neck that is on all other Lost blogs. No one needs to see that again.

Including Desmond, apparently. At the ultra-last second, he decided that he couldn't go through with his plan of just letting Darth Hoodie suffer Death by Crazy French Chick's Arrow-Trap.

I do think that starting off the episode with Desmond's premonition (thereby fooling us into thinking it was actually happening) was a powerful tactic. It made me feel even sorrier for Desmond for being cursed to see the future. Who wants to see violent scenes like that all the time? Perhaps that should be the motivation for him to just let Darth Hoodie kick the bucket - no more gruesome visions!

Or maybe Desmond just needs to pay closer attention to his own visions - because many fans pointed out that, as you can see here, Charlie is still shown in the parachute flash. So if he had actually died because of the arrow, he shouldn't be in that future flash, since their rescuing of the parachutist happened after the trek through the jungle when the arrow trap was sprung. Some people took this to mean that Desmond was shown the arrow flash in order to prevent Charlie from dying, and the parachute flash proves that he was meant to still be alive later. I'm not sure about this one - quite honestly I think this could just be a film-editing goof.

Or... they are just getting frickin' lazy! Seriously, check out this comparison of screenshots from this episode and Desmond's previous flashback!

When I first saw the series of flashes, I thought to myself, "those looked like PAST scenes with Penny." Now when I look closely at the comparison in the link above, it seem certain that all they did was turn the background green to make it appear that Penny and Desmond were being reunited in the jungle or something. Stuff like that MAKES ME MAD! They better address this on the next podcast, that's all I have to say! But for now, we are left to wonder which of these scenarios is the correct one:

1) All of Desmond's flashes are from the future, and even though the producers were totally lazy in reusing a past frame of Penny and not chopping Charlie out of the parachute flash, the bottom line is that Charlie WAS meant to die and Penny WAS meant to show up on the island. Because Desmond saved Charlie, someone else showed up on the island.
2) Some of Desmond's flashes are from the future and some are from the past, but he was just so blinded by wanting to see Penny again that he wasn't paying close enough attention. So the parachutist was never supposed to be Penny in the first place, he was seeing old flashes of his time with Penny. It should also be noted that ALL of Desmond's flash sequences have a weird tint to them, so maybe this was truly supposed to be a flash from the past and people were just reading into the greenish hue in the background.
3) Desmond's flashes can be of both things that are going to happen no matter what, and things that can he can change, and if you pay enough attention, the flashes can even subtly show the outcome of how Desmond chooses to take action on his visions. This is why they showed both Charlie dying and being alive at a later point in time.

I am going to run with Option #1 above just for simplicity's sake. Yeah, right - it's still not simple! Because if we assume that all of Desmond's visions were from the future and chalk those two points covered above up to just being mistakes, then I still do not understand WHY Desmond thought that letting Charlie die versus saving him was going to have an effect on WHO the parachutist was? That just makes no sense to me. Surely Desmond didn't think that whether Charlie lived or died at that one moment could that have CHANGED who was under the helmet? I mean, the person was already on the island by that point in time. So did the bodies suddenly switch out or something? I didn't really get what the connection between the two events was, other than that, at a very high level, Desmond seemed concerned that he wasn't able to bring himself to let the visions happen as he had seen them. He seemed to be thinking at the end of the episode that it was a "test from above" that he was failing because he kept trying to save Charlie. When I would actually look at that the opposite way - wouldn't he fail if he let Charlie die when he could have done something about it? I think Desmond is drawing faulty conclusions.

BIBLE SCHOOL


One of the biggest debates on the boards this time around was regarding the parallel that many people drew between the Bible story Monk Guy discussed with Desmond about Abraham being tested and Desmond himself being tested by his visions:

[He looks at the “Moriah Vineyards” label]
DESMOND: Moriah. I find the name the brothers have chosen for the wine made here interesting.
MONK: And why is that brother?
DESMOND: Well Moriah's the mountain where Abraham was asked to kill Isaac. It's not exactly the most festive locale, is it.
MONK: And yet God spared Isaac.
DESMOND: Well one might argue then, God may not have asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in the first place.
MONK: Well then it wouldn't have been much of a test, would it brother? Perhaps you underestimate the value of sacrifice.

... and nine years later on the island...

DESMOND: Because if I'd told you the truth you wouldn't have come.
CHARLIE: Oh and you needed me to come. Cause I was part of your vision. You thought that the only way you could get your girl back was if I took an arrow in the head. You would have sacrificed me!
DESMOND: If the flashes don't happen exactly how I saw them, the picture changes. I was supposed to let you die, Charlie.
CHARLIE: What's that supposed to mean?
DESMOND: It means it's bloody pointless. I keep saving your life, and what good has it done? It's just gonna keep happening again and again, maybe that's the point, eh? Maybe it's a test.
CHARLIE: Test?
DESMOND: Like God, testing Abraham, except I failed, because I changed what I saw.

The scenes above have caused a lot of people to jump to the following conclusion:
Desmond is Abraham and Charlie is Isaac. Therefore, Desmond is supposed to "sacrifice" Charlie in order to fulfill his visions, but Charlie WILL END UP BEING SAVED by either divine intervention or some other means. The key is that Desmond absolutely cannot intervene, but he keeps doing so.

You may be thinking, "Hmmm, I can see that, but didn't e write a few months back that she thought that the show would be taking a pretty depressing stance on existence if Charlie actually dies, therefore proving that "you cannot change your fate and everything is pre-determined?"" Yes, I did write that, and I still believe that. Although I wouldn't be sad if Darth Hoodie was sent to the Big Hatch in the Sky, I do think it would be a somber turn for the show if he was to actually die because he was "supposed to." Soon, word would spread across the Lostaways that Desmond had foreseen Charlie's death and wasn't able to stop it, and Desmond would become even more of an outcast than he already is, and everyone else would probably lose any motivation they have left since their fate is apparently already sealed.

There is proof, however, that they could be leading the viewing audience toward another Charlie Dies!-fake-out. And the third time will most surely be the charm (the first was when he was hung from the tree by Ethan, the second was the arrow vision (we didn't actually SEE the other visions, so they weren't fake-outs for the audience)).

Shout-out to my brother for unearthing this crazy clue (among many others in this write-up)...

Back in Hurley's last flashback, Charlie was wearing a "Bob Dylan's Highway 61" t-shirt. You may be like me and think, "I don't know what that is - I don't like people who mumble and don't comb their hair!" But then you would not know that the Mumblemeister's song in question has these suspiciously-relevant lyrics:

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No." Abe say, "What ?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
The next time you see me comin' you better run"
Well Abe says, "Where do you want this killin' done ?"
God says. "Out on Highway 61."

It is moments like this that the writers and producers redeem themselves for all of the other little mistakes they make on the show. Because if they really did have Charlie wearing that t-shirt back in that episode so that some nerdalicious geek would realize the connection to the Bible story discussed on the show months later, then that is pretty damn brilliant. Just like when Charlie was singing "And maybeeee, you're gonna be the one that saves me...." from Wonderwall when he met Desmond in "Flashes Before Your Eyes." I love that stuff.

Lastly, one other smaller point that I don't want to lose sight of is that in the Bible, the son of Isaac is Jacob. And we all know that The Others love them some Jacob!


IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A BIRD *OR* A PLANE

For people majorly into comic books, the "Superman vs. The Flash" debate between Charlie and Hurley spawned an onslaught of theories about the "deeper meaning" of why these fictional heroes were included in the dialogue. I didn't even realize that The Flash was played by four different characters within comic-land, so I am not going to do justice to any of the theories. Just know that most of them have to do with time travel and parallel universes. If you MUST know more, then you can get your Flash fix here.



ALOHA!!

So Charlie doesn't kick the bucket just yet, and they continue on in the jungle to rescue the mystery person trapped up in the tree. On the way, they find a Hula girl doll on the jungle floor, and various other items in a backpack. People were FREAKING OUT on the boards that we had seen this doll before, and then a race ensued to see who would be the first one to find the screenshot from a previous episode. Except that no one did. Some people were positive that a similar doll had been in Hurley's Hummer, or in Kate's truck... but no proof was found.

If YOU have actual proof of this doll appearing before in the series, then leave a comment with the link to the screenshot and you will be a hero to thousands.

For now, we can only concern ourselves with the things that appear to be more immediately relevant: the picture copy, the book, and the phone (click here to see a collage of all backpack items).

- The picture copy: There has been a raging debate on the boards about whether there were two copies of the Desmond/Penny picture, or only one. The producers settle that debate below in the Podcast Debrief section. To me, the obvious meaning of the picture is that whoever this chick is, she was most likely sent by Penny, especially since she said "Desmond..." at the end and he didn't seem to recognize her.

- The book: The book is in Portuguese, yet another clue that the parachutist was most likely sent by Penny, as the dudes in the tent at the end of Season 2 who called her to report the electromagnetic anomaly also spoke Portuguese. Why they appeared to be in the Arctic remains a mystery.

- The phone: Two things about the phone: It appears to be a phone that is more modern than they would have back in 2004. Also, before it went dead, it was getting "three bars" for its signal. The overwhelming consensus is: "Sayid can fix it!"

THE ISLAND NO LIKEY AIRCRAFT

One thing I am consistently amazed by when reading the message boards is how much "stuff" all these random people know. There's always some doctor who is chiming in or some psychologist or, in this case, someone who knows a lot about helicopters. Apparently helicopters do not have the ability to fly very far. And people typically do not parachute out of them, either. This has lead people to wonder if there is some sort of base nearby that the helicopter came from, and if the woman actually knew she was going to have to launch herself out.

I personally wondered, "What made the helicopter crash?" There was definitely a grinding metal sound, so I thought either the engine died or... the helicopter ran into an invisible force field! But then I wouldn't be able to explain how the woman got through the force field. Unless it was just some sort of field that messed with machinery... or maybe the magnetic forces on the island were wreaking havoc on its navigation system. Who knows.

All I do know is that there is a lot of debate on the boards about who the girl is. I already stated my opinion above - I think she was sent by Penny. Others think she is somehow connected to Ben because they claim she was in a picture in his office. Since I cannot find a clear shot of it, I can't include it here. I saw a marked-up screenshot, and I do not think it is the same woman in the slightest.



PRE-D.O.C. THEORY ROUND-UP

If you don't know what D.O.C. stands for yet (the title of the next episode), it is covered in the Podcast Debrief below. I will give you a hint - it ain't about eyewear!

It seems from the previews that the next episode is going to center around Sun after she learns what happens to pregnant women on the island. Many people anticipate that we may get an answer to the "who is Sun's baby daddy" ongoing debate. So in preparation for that possibility, here is a recap of the most prominent theories:

1) Sun was having an affair with Baldy (real name: Jae) before leaving for Australia, and therefore the baby is his, especially because Jin was infertile.
2) Even though Jin was not able to father children (which he doesn't even know, he thinks Sun was sterile) in the real world, the island performed yet another miracle and the baby is actually Jin's.
3) Shout-out to K.O. for the theory that The Others impregnated Sun via injection, as we know Juliet has done before with the male mouse and with her sister. While we have not seen any evidence that this was done, there are a lot of other things that have been revealed via flashbacks that we didn't know beforehand, either. So it is a possibility.
4) It is "The Island's" baby. No one physically impregnated Sun, she just "became" pregnant.
5) It is someone else's baby that we don't even know of yet. Because we all know that Sun is a play-ah (from the Himalayaaaaas!).

Regarding the problem of pregnant women dying on the island, my dear friend B.K. offers this very plausible theory: "In the psuedo-science of LOST, perhaps there is a correlation between the pregnancy problems and the cancer cures. The island soups up the immune responses for anyone living on the island, getting rid of any cancer in the bodies of people on the island. Didn't Juliet mention that the mothers' bodies were rejecting the fetuses because their bodies were attacking the fetuses as if they were something foreign? Well, perhaps that same biological response working in both cases."

I think this is a very possible explanation. Benry could actually know about this phenomenon (and didn't necessarily share it with Juliet), which is why he was ultra-surprised to find out that HE had a tumor (which still would be inexplicable).

OFFICIAL PODCAST DEBRIEF

As in previous posts, this section was written in transcript format, covering the official podcast done with the producers where they make random comments and answer fans' questions. It does contain what could be considered minor spoilers about whether we will or will not get answers to certain questions, and it even actually answers a few questions. But skip it if you don't even want to know what will eventually be covered in the series. Rest assured that I left out anything that *I* wish I hadn't heard.

Q. Did someone push Jae (Baldy) out of the window?
A. I can see how someone would have thought that, but he did have the pearl necklace. From the script, it was clear that he committed suicide. But the way they edited it, I can see why people wondered. I think the character who played Baldy wished there was more to it, but there's not. He is dead and he jumped himself, no one pushed him.


Q. Did Desmond change things by letting Charlie live?
A. He did probably change things, so there may be new iterations of how Charlie is supposed to die now. The real question is, "Are they just postponing the inevitable? Is there some way for Charlie to lift the premonition that he's going to die? What if Desmond were to die and the flashes stopped - would Charlie then still have to die?"


There were TWO copies of the pictures at the end of Flashes Before Your Eyes - Desmond had one, Penny had one. In the book was a copy of Penny's picture.

You will find out who the parachutist is very soon.

The cable is the same one that Sayid found way back in "Solitary" in Season One, and that Hurley found again later when he was going back to find Rousseau to get the battery. We are surprised that no one is asking the question, "What is this wire?!?!"

We promise you that you will find out where that wire leads this season.

D.O.C. stands for Date of Conception. Sun is going to just open up an envelope and it will tell her who the father is [e: they are joking about that part].


Q. Was Ben conceived in a test-tube or does he have human parents? Was he conceived on one of the islands? Who was the father of the baby of the woman who died on the table in "One of Us" - was it Ben?
A. Ben was not conceived in a test-tube, he has human parents. He says he was born on the island, but he has never mentioned his own conception. Not sure if we can believe him about being born on the island. Ben was not the father of that woman's baby.


Q. Did baby Aaron say "Claire" in the last episode?
A. No.


Q. Since it would be odd to travel by a submarine all the way from Miami to the South Pacific, is it reasonable to believe that a flight was taken to some intermittent stop where they then got on the submarine?
A. That would be a reasonable theory.


Q. Is Jacob like "The Cobra" on Exposé? Is Jacob going to end up being someone we've seen before that we're shocked to find out is actually Jacob just like Hurley was shocked to find out that Mr. LaShade and the Cobra were one in the same?
A. It would be awesome if Jacob turned out to be Billy Dee Williams, but that is not true. But it will be a shock. [e: see how they did NOT really answer that question?]


Q. I am so sick of people saying that Jack's father, Christian Shephard, is not really dead. Please confirm that he is dead.
A. He is dead.


Q. Why is the art so similar between that in Desmond's apartment, that in Widmore's office and that created by Claire's boyfriend, Thomas?
A. Well... busted! This is because our producing director (Jack Bender) is an artist. And he decides to add his touch to the show. That is his artwork in both episodes, and that's why it looks so similar. Nothing more. The hatch mural, the artwork in Widmore's office, it was all him.


Q. Are we ever going to see a Rousseau flashback? If so, please include Montand and his missing arm.
A. We want to do one, we just haven't gotten there yet. But if we do, it will definitely not be complete unless we see Montand. rent "Wages of Fear," which was the inspiration for Montand.



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


DESMOND: Hey. Where's the wire?
HURLEY: D'you eat those mushrooms Jack warned us about?



[Jack grabs the kit and gives it to Desmond]
DESMOND: Thanks.
[Jack notices Hurley staring out into space]
JACK: Something wrong Hurley?
HURLEY: Nah, uh uh, just, keeping Desmond here company. Cause... we're... friends.


SAWYER: You know, did you tell the Doc? About you and me.
KATE: No. But he knows. He saw us on one of those surveillance monitors.
SAWYER: Thought you said the camera was broken?
KATE: Well they had another camera.
SAWYER: [Mumbles] Perverts.
KATE: Anyway, he knows.
SAWYER: Well now that, that's out the way, maybe a little afternoon delight.



JIN: Camping?
HURLEY: Yeah, you know, like sleeping under the stars, fire on the beach. Marshmallows.
JIN: [Nodding] Camping.
[He stands thinking]
JIN: Yes.
HURLEY: [To Desmond] Everybody likes marshmallows.



RUTH: Desmond. You can never begin to explain what you did. You left one week before the wedding, everything was planned bought and paid for. You just disappeared completely.
DESMOND: I had a calling.
RUTH: We dated for six years, and the closest you ever came to a religious experience was Celtic winning the cup.



[At the beach, Juliet is working on her tent with Jack]
JACK: You a doctor or a carpenter?
JULIET: What, your dad never taught you to use a hammer?
JACK: No, my dad taught me how to drink.
JULIET: Oh, at least it's something.
SAWYER: Hope I'm not interrupting. You two arguing over who's your favorite Other?


JIN: Walkie-talkie!
HURLEY: [Taking it] No dude. That's a satellite phone.
[He turns it on, but it quickly turns itself off]
HURLEY: Crap, it's dead.
CHARLIE: Shocker.



KATE: What's this?
SAWYER: Your mix tape.
[Kate laughs]
SAWYER: Well, you gonna take it or ain't ya?
[Kate does so]
KATE: The best of Phil Collins, huh.
SAWYER: Don't get picky. And if Bernard asks, I don't know a thing about it.


JIN: Who's Penny?
HURLEY: She's this chick Desmond used to date. And now he thinks she fell from the sky. So we're gonna go save her life, and she's gonna get us rescued. Dude, even if I spoke Korean it wouldn't make any sense.





WISE WORDS FROM THE BOARDS

- Is it just me, or is Desmond channeling Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees?
- Those character moments, like the whistling of the "Colonel Bogey March," or Jin's ghost story, were why I fell in love with this show in the first place. Great, great stuff!
- And holy crap on the opening! And the tent sex! So that's why they moved the show to 9:00...
- Monks crating wine. Awesome!
- I was not expecting Sanjaya to show up though, that was cool.
- Nice to know Bernard is still alive.
- After Catch 22 I began to think that perhaps Desmond's visions were being sent to him by some outside source. I started thinking about this because of the paradox presented by Des' flash. He never would have trekked into the jungle if he hadn't seen the vision in the first place. The vision did not in fact predict the future, but rather created it. This is known as a predestination paradox.
- One other thing we learned in Catch 22 is that Desmond's life has been directed and adjusted according to some third-party's idea of what Desmond's life should be like. The fact that brother Campbell was in on it shows that this conspiracy goes really deep.

UPCOMING EPISODES

4/25 - D.O.C. - Preview 1, Preview 2 and Preview 3! Each has a slightly different part at the end.
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

We've arrived at the Final Four! Can you hear my brain melting down from there?

Forewarning: I am going to be traveling until Monday, so there is a good chance I may not get the "D.O.C." post up the night of May 1st. I will leave a short message on the site if this is going to be the case.

Until then, enjoy the next episode,
- e