S6Ep8 - Recon

Hello my dear friends -

Remember when I mentioned in early February that I'm working on a book and that my Lost posts would have to be significantly shorter this season... and then I proceeded to still spend hours on them? Unfortunately, "e's Bite-Sized Recaps" are now going to have to kick into effect. Not only am I in the thick of interviewing people about stuff that will be in my manuscript (which is due in May), but I also saw the draft of my book's jacket for the first time yesterday.

!!!!

For those of you who watch Saturday Night Live, once I laid eyes on the cover I felt like shouting, "'Cause this here's REAL!" There's no turning back now, I MUST finish this book.

So... here are my short and sweet thoughts on Recon -- hope you still find them insightful! And to any new Long Live Locke readers... if you roll your mouse over the pictures in my posts secret messages will pop up -- ooohhh, ahhhh.

Flashes first...


I FOUGHT THE LAW
AND
THE LAW WON

That hussy messing around with Sawyer wasn't the only one fooled by his undercover brotha-ness. As I stated in my "LAX Part 1" post, I was absolutely positive that in the sideways timeline, Sawyer was still a con man and had set his sights on the gullible, happy-go-lucky multimillionaire otherwise known as Hurley. I love it when I am wrong (only with things related to this show) -- I totally didn't see it coming that Mr. James Ford was a cop. My favorite part of the episode happened very early on when he uttered the code word "LaFleur" and that chick was like, "Le What?!?"

I was also very happy to see Miles as Sawyer's partner -- they make a good team. So good, in fact, that Miles could sense Sawyer had been hiding something from him. Maybe in the alt timeline Miles can read more than just corpses? Anyway, even though Sawyer was on the right side of the law in this version of events, he still was hunting the man who scammed his parents. Meaning, the main issue he needs to find peace with in his life has not been resolved in the alt timeline -- unlike Jack's daddy issues and Locke's acceptance of his paralysis and Ben's quest for power.

Sawyer knew the guy he was looking for was "Anthony Cooper" and had been making calls in his spare time to try and track the con man down. Eventually in the last flash he spilled the whole story to Miles and admitted that he went to Sydney because he thought he had a hot lead on Original Sawyer... but alas, it was a dead end.

The problem now is that we know Locke is the son of the man Sawyer's after, and that he's currently in LA and enjoying an apparently healthy father-son relationship. It may even be possible that Cooper changed his way years ago, maybe right after what happened with the Ford family. But who wants to bet we're going to see Locke's happy world get blown to hell when Sawyer finally realizes that the revenge he's been seeking can be carried out just a few miles away? (Oh Lord, what if it's at Locke's WEDDING?) That's the way I'm leaning... of course the other possibility is that Sawyer gets ready to kill Cooper, Locke intervenes and convinces Sawyer that his father's a changed man, and then Sawyer can finally put it all behind him and everyone lives happily ever after. It could happen. It's the alt timeline -- anything could happen!


'CAUSE YOU KNOW IT'S OVER
BEFORE IT BEGAN

In the midst of Sawyer and Miles' bickering about what Sawyer was hiding, Miles set his partner up on a date. We all thought it was going to be Juliet, didn't we? Yes. So once again I was blindsided when it ended up being Charlotte -- though since Miles did indicate the woman was a colleague of his father's "at the museum," maybe I shouldn't have been as surprised. Regardless, there was Charlotte all dolled up and RAAWWWRRR-looking at the restaurant, and it was only a matter of like two seconds before she and Sawyer decided they needed to take a roll in the hay. That part kind of freaked me out, to be honest. They did not seem right together. I wish I could erase it from my mind.

Then Charlotte had to get all snoopy (it's in her blood... she's a digger), find the forbidden portfolio and get kicked out of Sawyer's place wearing nothing but a blanket. Later Sawyer regrets reacting so harshly and, classy guy that he is, shows up at her door with a six-pack (of beer... 'cause he had his shirt on). My brother wrote me that he was positive Faraday was going to pop up behind Charlotte at her place -- skinny tie in full effect -- and taunt Sawyer. "Don't hate the playa, hate the game!" That would've been AWESOME. You missed a huge opportunity there, writers. I didn't think about the possibility of Faraday making an appearance, but I WAS 100% positive that Sawyer would end up running into Juliet as he walked down the hall of Charlotte's building. I think I'm still in denial that Juliet wasn't in this episode. Aren't they going to meet for coffee and go dutch, like her dying words hinted? I just don't get when that's going to happen now. I WANT TO SEE IT HAPPEN, dammit!

One more thing about Charlotte -- it did enter my mind that she might've been looking a little too hard in that drawer for a t-shirt. I mean, why would she be digging furiously underneath all of his other clothes? It was kind of like she was hurrying to try and find something before he came back in the room, which doesn't really jibe with the situation. But... I might be grasping for straws -- it's probably too late in the season to think that she, Miles and Miles' dad are part of some sort of conspiracy revolving around Alt Sawyer. So let's turn to the bigger story line -- the one about how all of the 815ers just can't seem to stay away from each other in LA.


HAVEN'T WE MET?
YOU'RE SOME KIND OF BEAUTIFUL STRANGER
YOU COULD BE GOOD FOR ME
I'VE GOT A TASTE FOR DANGER

In the final flash segment, right after Sawyer hands Cooper's file over to Miles and tells him about his plot to kill the man he holds responsible for his parents' death, a car crashes into them from out of nowhere, and since it was nearing the end of the episode I was thinking "Oh, here we go again, who in the hell is THIS going to be?" I was not counting on anyone obvious. Since we already had Charlotte and Charlie's brother Liam make cameos, I figured it would have to be another semi-random. Like Abaddon or Claire's psychic or Mr. Eko or somebody crazy like that. But once we saw a person bust out of the car, then I knew it was Kate with the po-po after her yet again.

She fell into Sawyer's trap and when he slammed her up against the fence they were both like, "Hey... I know you, I know you!" I have to admire these characters' memories. There is no way I would recognize anyone I spent a matter of seconds with on an elevator days earlier. But then again, maybe if I shared an elevator with the likes of Sawyer it would be a different story.

Before we flip over to the Island events, can I just say that I used to freakin' LOVE LOVE LOVE Little House on the Prairie and really got a kick out of seeing Sawyer watch it? I read all of those books and watched the show like a maniac growing up, and that series is why I continue to love Jason Bateman to this day, thank you very much. Ah, the memories. Well, I'm actually still trying to forget the memories of people calling me "Nellie" back in grade and middle school (you know, 'cause of my last name), but there's no need for me to get into that right now.



Enough reminiscing... on to the Island!


NOW THIS LOOKS LIKE A JOB FOR ME
SO EVERYBODY JUST FOLLOW ME
'CAUSE WE NEED A LITTLE CONTROVERSY
'CAUSE IT FEELS SO EMPTY WITHOUT ME


Finally, it's revealed where Sawyer's been... he's been helping nurse Jin back to health at Camp Crazy Claire. But they've soon got company; Fake Locke returns with Claire, Sayid, Kate and all of the Others who decided to tag along. Cindy and The Kids are there, too, and when they ask what happened to everyone who stayed behind, Fake Locke had to break it down for them like this: they're all dead. Sorry in advance for the nightmares, little boy who looks like a girl because he has hairbands in his hair.

Then Sawyer and Fake Locke go off to have a private chat and Fake Locke tells Sawyer straight-up that he is Smokey. THANK YOU writers for finally squashing any remaining doubt left in those who didn't want to accept this until they saw Fake Locke physically transform into a puff of blackness. (Remember the FX budget? That scene was never gonna happen.) Sawyer strangely took this news in stride. I guess after all he's seen on the Island nothing would be that shocking, but a dude who can morph into a giant killing machine made of clouds seems like it should still rank pretty high on the WTF-o-meter. But I digress.

Their walk-n-talk leads them to the beach, where Fake Locke tells Sawyer that he needs him to bust over to Hydra to scope out the situation. Of course I then thought Sawyer was going to be shot on his way there... by time-traveling Juliet, of all people. (Some of you wrote me after I mentioned this in my last post, asking what I was talking about. I'm talking about the scene in "The Little Prince" where the time-traveling Losties are in the outrigger and are shot at by an unseen group of people, also in an outrigger. Juliet fires back -- and appears to hit one of them. But then another time flash whips them into a different year, so we never saw who was in the other canoe.)

Sawyer agrees to Fake Locke's plan and sets out for the other island.


SMACK THAT

Fake Locke rejoins everyone else just in time to save Kate from Crazy Claire. Maybe this is awful, but 1) I thought it was HILARIOUS how Sayid just sat there all bored-looking while Claire jumped Kate and had a knife at her throat and, 2) I thought it was even better when Locke up and slapped Claire across the face. Snap out of it, woman! Kate's reaction was priceless -- she realized she was with a bunch of really messed up peeps and was kicking herself for her new No Tagging Along policy. She could've been chilling with Hurley and Jack instead of coming face to face with the evil Squirrel Baby and then being attacked by a weave with a life of its own while Dead-Eye Sayid was off in la-la land replaying some of his all-time greatest ninja-breakdancing moves in his head. (He decided his best was still the twist-kick-neck-snapper he used on an Other in "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1.")

After calming Claire down, Fake Locke took Kate to the beach, told her what he'd asked Sawyer to do, and then revealed that he knew how she must be feeling after seeing Crazy Claire, because his mother was cuckoo, too. His exact words were, "Because... my mother was crazy. A long time ago, before I... looked like this... I had a mother, just like everyone. She was a very disturbed woman. And, as a result of that, I had some growing pains. Problems that I'm still trying to work my way through. Problems that could have been avoided had things been different."

Now, as I've said too many times to count, I don't think they're ever going to reveal the Man in Black's name. And I'm still leaning toward thinking that he's some sort of devilish figure. But many Lost fans started calling the Man in Black "Esau" from the first moment we saw him in the Season Five finale, because in the Bible Jacob and Esau were warring brothers. Esau was supposedly a kinda hairy hunter dude, and Jacob was "a simple man." And guess what? Their momma had some issues. I'm not going to go much further than that except to provide this link I found which gives a quick overview of how their mother (Rebecca/Rebekah) helped screw over Esau. There are SO MANY parallels between this story and the Jacob/Man in Black subplot on Lost that someone could write a book about it... but that person's not gonna be me. Though I thought I'd at least bring the Jacob/Esau story up at this point as some food for thought.

However, since I must always try to play devil's advocate (pun intended) wherever possible, I think that another valid theory is that Real Locke's memories are still inside of Fake Locke (the Man in Black knew Real Locke's dying thoughts, and we've heard him used Locke's trademarked "Don't tell me what I can't do!" line, too). Locke's birth mother was kind of nutso -- remember that she told her son he was immaculately conceived and then proceeded to sell him out to Anthony Cooper, his birth father, who was badly in need of a kidney. I think that qualifies for crazy. And I think I just convinced myself that Fake Locke is drawing from Real Locke's memories, despite the fact that he said "before I looked like this" in his speech to Kate. Keepin' hope alive, yes I am!


BUT DON'T PLAY WITH ME
'CAUSE YOU'RE PLAYING WITH FIRE

Sawyer makes it safely to Hydra, fondles Kate's old dress at the cages, and then comes across a nasty stinkin' heap of dead bodies. One chick named Zoe is still alive, and immediately 1) I thought she was Grown-Up Annie... but then reconsidered because she was asking Sawyer SO many questions, and 2) My husband yelled, "Hey, that girl was the roommate in Singles!" (He was right.)

Zoe was on Widmore's team, and soon Sawyer was face to face with the man himself in the depths of the submarine. Widmore seemed surprised that the Man in Black had taken Locke's form, but nonetheless, he wanted him delivered on a platter, and Sawyer said he'd do just that if it ensured he and his friends could take leave of the Island once and for all. It was a deal. Then Sawyer went back (without getting shot at, phew... but you KNOW that scene is just around the corner...) and spilled everything to Fake Locke. No one should've been surprised that Sawyer was going to try and play both sides. He said as much to Kate, and then told her that he planned to use the sub to escape. Did anyone else think the last scene was a little anticlimactic? "We're not takin' the plane... we're takin' THE SUB." As if that was some huge twist or something? I was like, "Huh? Why is that how this episode ended?" But whatever. We'll see how well Sawyer's plan works. Won't he need to know the exact coordinates to follow in order to be able to break free from the Island's grip, though?


I'M NOT THE MAN THEY THINK I AM AT HOME
OH NO NO NO

Last week I ended with my thoughts on Widmore, so I'm going to close out that same way this time around. I still think Widmore's up to no good, although it's becoming a little clearer that he is not on the same "side" as the Man in Black. Since we know that the Man in Black is also Smokey and Widmore's team was putting up a sonar fence -- pretty much the only thing (besides Magic Ash + Alive Dogen) that can keep Smokey at bay... AND since Widmore seems eager for Sawyer to bring the Man in Black to Hydra, it seems like he intends to fight, kill and/or capture him.

But that doesn't mean Widmore is on Team Jacob. He could just be out for himself -- he's always been driven by wanting to regain control of the Island. He was so insulted and blinded by rage when Ben banished him that he's pretty much dedicated the rest of his life to finding a way back. While Ben recently learned how pointless this sort of quest for power can be, Widmore isn't quite there yet.

Even though I am no fan of Widmore's, there's something that makes me very sad about the thought of Fake Locke/Smokey killing him. I hope that doesn't happen. And I hope he has Desmond hidden away in that locked room in the submarine, for God's sake. We've seen Des for only a matter of minutes this season, and it was waaay back in the premiere, at that. It's been too long. Lost fans demand to hear "brotha!"


BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

SAWYER: LaFleur.

CHICK: Le WHAT?

[Kate looks at Squirrel Baby in horror.]

KATE: What is THAT?

SAWYER: What happened back at the temple? How'd you know to rescue everybody from that smoke thing?

LOCKE: I didn't rescue them. I am the smoke thing.

KATE: Sayid, are you alright?

SAYID: No.

A GENTLE REMINDER

This is a gentle reminder because I know those of you who spoiled me on next week's episode (a full week before we saw the preview for it) only did so because you thought I would be excited. But I really, REALLY don't want to know what's coming up in future installments, so please -- even if I wonder about something in a post that you have intel on, don't share it. I'd like to continue to be blissfully ignorant about the ten hours we have left. Thank you!

And I didn't get to it this past weekend, but I definitely will be posting the March contest this coming weekend, so stay tuned for a chance to win another cool Lost t-shirt.

Until then,
- e

S5Ep8 - LaFleur

Hello my dear friends -

As I mentioned at the end of my last entry, I'm leaving for vacation tomorrow... so this post is going to be (relatively) short. Let me start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed "LaFleur." The character interaction in this episode was some of the best we've seen all season. And how much did that Sawyer and Ageless Richard convo rock?

Almost as much as finally getting a look at the four-toed statue...


WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

The hour began with what transpired above ground once Locke descended into the well but before he turned the FDW. Namely, Sawyer, Jin, Miles and Juliet stared up in wonder at the back of the four-toed statue -- which was much more than just a foot back in the day.

This opening scene is -- by far -- what's been buzzed about the most across the Lost community over the past 24 hours or so. Shortly after "LaFleur" ended, reader ML from Greece sent me a link to the Wikipedia entry for Anubis (also known as Inpu), the Egyptian God of mummification and the afterlife. Over the course of time, Anubis "became considered more the gatekeeper and ruler of the underworld, the "Guardian of the veil" (of "death"). Consequently, he was said to protect souls as they journeyed there, and thus be the patron of lost souls."

Lost souls, get it?

Then I came upon this picture from the wonderful Eric and Jeremy Headington at GetLostPodcast.com, which compares pictures of Anubis to what we saw on the show.


From what I've seen, pretty much everyone is jumping on the Anubis bandwagon, especially since he carries an ankh (the symbol for "eternal life" -- helloooo, Ageless Richard?) -- which was also featured on the show in the form of Dead Paul's necklace. (No, that was not the unpronounceable symbol that Prince used to go by, though that would've been awesome.)

And while I definitely agree that Anubis is a likely candidate for the statue... I think there's another possibility that warrants some serious consideration.

Enter Taweret.


Um, yeah... see the crown-thingy? The ears pointed back? And the FOUR TOES?

And guess what this babe is the Egyptian goddess of? Fertility. She's also the protector of pregnancy and childbirth.

BOO-YA!

So my vote is that the statue is Taweret, and (in addition to the stuff I wrote above) here's why:
- In "D.O.C.," Juliet told Sun that men were extra-fertile on the Island. (One might assume that women are, too.) Maybe the statue has "powers"?
- While we can't be sure whether or not the statue is still in its original form once the crew landed in 1974, we did see Juliet deliver a healthy baby three years afterward. Perhaps the moment that the statue was destroyed and/or crumbled was when the pregnancy problems began, and that was after 1977?
- Like Anubis, Taweret also carries an ankh (so the "eternal life" angle remains covered), and in her other hand was usually a sa (a symbol for "protection").
- My husband, who put up with me talking to myself, rewinding/pausing the show ten bazillion times and scribbling notes Wednesday night, said, "That statue is clearly a woman. Look at the hips on that thing!" Once I learned about Taweret, his comment made much more sense, as this deity is known to have a little junk in her trunk. Anubis, on the other hand, is a slender male.

For the record, some also think the statue could be yet another Egyptian god, Horus. However, I simply don't see that many connections to the show with Horus, so I'm not going to research that one any further.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what theory proves to be correct. Here's the funny thing, though (or sad thing, considering how much time us Lost fools have spent/will spend debating this): I'm not sure it even matters which particular god/goddess the statue represents. Perhaps all that's important for us to know is that a long, long time ago, the statue was most likely of an Egyptian deity and then it was eventually reduced to a four-toed foot.

Or maybe we're simply supposed to make a connection between this specific ancient civilization and the Island and stop batting about crazy ideas like "The statue is Sawyer!" or "It's Locke's foot in a cast!" (Both of which I previously bought into and which many people still believe.) After all, we've seen hieroglyphics in the FDW chamber, on Ben's secret-room's door, and on the Countdown Clock o' Doom. Heck, even Hurley was giving us a hint last episode by drawing the Sphinx.



In addition to the clue about Ancient Egypt's possible influence on the Island, I think it was critically important we learned that at the moment the group saw the statue in all of its towering glory, Locke was underground and the Frozen Donkey Wheel was still there at that time. So that bad boy is OLD. As in OLD old. Meaning (like I speculated about in my "Jughead" write-up), even the native Hostiles and Richard might not have known of the FDW's existence (or what it could do) until those pesky mortal humans started messing with it.

With all that in mind, maybe the question we should be asking about the statue and the FDW is: who built them?


On to the Island events of 1974.


DON'T SAY THAT
LATER WILL BE BETTER
NOW YOU'RE STUCK IN A MOMENT
AND YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF IT

Once Locke realigns the FDW and jets to the future, the flashes stop and the rest of the group comes to rest in 1974. They reunite with poor Daniel, who -- frozen in the spot where Charlotte died (though her body vanished) -- is mumbling to himself, "I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna tell her." We can only assume he means that he's going to try and stop himself from warning Little Charlotte about what will happen to her if she ever returns to the Island in the future. From the information Charlotte had shared with him before she passed on, Daniel most likely knew exactly when in time the group had landed.

Before too long, everyone heads out to the beach, but stops in their tracks at the sound of gunshots. We see two old-school Others in traditional Hostile garb, pulling the same head-bagging tricks that were used on some of our 815ers in earlier seasons. The Hostiles had killed a dude named Paul and were now dealing with his wife, Amy.

My guess is that the couple was picnicking in a forbidden territory and thereby broke the "truce" that existed between the Hostiles and Dharma. For that, Paul was shot and Lord only knows what they were going to do with Amy. But Sawyer and Juliet intervene and take out Amy's captors.

In return, Amy attempts to fry them with the sonic fence on their way back to the Barracks. Talk about pure evil, huh? I was like, "Oh no she didn't!" when she took out those earplugs as everyone else collapsed. Then I thought, "Really? You'd only need to stuff some cotton in your ears to get around the fence o' doom? Why hasn't Smokey thought of that?"

Anywhoo... thankfully, no one is seriously hurt by Amy's shenanigans, and Sawyer -- using his con man skillz -- is able to concoct a quick cover story when questioned by DI leader Horace Goodspeed (loved the Black Rock reference). In the meantime, the rest of the group is chatting out on the patio, and Daniel spies a tot who is most likely Little Charlotte. When she waved to him, my heart broke into a thousand pieces.



Speaking of Charlotte... here are two important things I gathered from this episode, which only apply if the young redhead Daniel saw was indeed Charlotte. And I must say, it would be pretty lame if it doesn't turn out to be her, right? So:
- The information Ben rattled off about Ms. Lewis in "Confirmed Dead" was incorrect. She's clearly well into toddler stage by 1974, so obviously she was not born in 1979 as Ben stated last season. This may just mean that Charlotte lied and/or Abaddon purposefully changed her background information in whatever file Michael read on the freighter -- which he then passed to Ben. (Yes, I'm assuming that's how Ben got his intel even though it was never explicitly shown. What would be the point of having Michael as a mole if he wasn't collecting info about those on board?)

- Once the group landed in 1974, Charlotte's body disappeared because a person cannot exist in two places at the same time -- dead or alive. Or should I say that this is my hope for the storyline of the show, and I'm sticking to it. Maybe it's because I really don't like all of the "This person is actually also THIS person" theories that have grown in intensity this season, but I strongly believe my reasoning explains what happened to Charlotte's body, and will also be why no 815er will ever "see his/herself" or be able to exist in two places at the same time. Watch, I'll probably be proven wrong in the next episode just because I'm so confident about this.


I GOT NOT MEANS TO SHOW IDENTIFICATION
I GOT NO PAPERS TO SHOW YOU WHAT I AM
YOU'LL HAVE TO TAKE ME JUST THE WAY THAT YOU FIND ME
WHAT'S GONE IS GONE
AND I DO NOT GIVE A DAMN

Little Charlotte runs off... and then the Othersville alarms start blaring. Richard -- who doesn't even need to bother with earplugs because that's how he rolls -- strides right through the sonic fence. Horace gets nowhere with him, so Sawyer is like, "Screw this, I'm going out there. Behold LaFleur!"

Richard's all, "And whooooo are you, tough guy?" and Sawyer goes, "Remember Jughead? Remember Baldy? Yeah, I said it! Do I have your attention now?" This was my favorite scene of the night, if for no other reason than it simply made sense for Sawyer to drop some knowledge on ol' Bushy Eyebrows. Isn't that what we're always wishing these characters would do -- share information? While we didn't get to see everything the two men discussed, we know that it ended with Richard asking for Paul's body, which was very, very disturbing and creepy.

Amy relents, removes her husband's ankh necklace, and Dead Paul becomes the property of the Hostiles. Horace gives Sawyer an "A" in Negotiations, and as a reward tells him that his group can stay for two more weeks.

A few important things about these scenes:
- I'm not going to have time to pull together all the Best Lines like I usually do, but hands down, the very best one was: "Your buddy out there with the eyeliner? Let me talk to him." Brilliant. Fans have been snarking about Alpert's penchant for makeup since his character was first seen on the show (I even referenced it once again in a picture caption last week), so I loved the sly shout-out to the audience.

- This was 1974, and Richard was looking as clean-cut as ever... similar to how he was in 1954. However, we know that before the decade is over, he's going to appear to Little Ben with long hair and wearing stankity threads. That's the only time we've ever seen Richard look fairly foul, so what's up with that? Was that whole get-up just part of an act to mystify Little Ben into working with him? Similar to how Mr. Friendly/Tom/Zeke had his Gorton's Fisherman outfit and prop beard when he took Waaaalt and later threatened the 815ers in the jungle?

- A big "thank you!" to reader DS, who messaged me with this idea about Ageless Richard and made me laugh out loud... until I realized he could be onto something: "With all the Egyptian mythology themes in the show I couldn't help but wonder if Richard Alpert (R.A.), with his Egyptian eyeliner eyes, is really RA the Sun God." Now, I don't want to go as far as to say that I agree Ageless Richard might actually BE an ancient deity in human form, but having Sawyer call out his eyeliner might have been meant to serve two purposes: 1) an in-joke for fans, and 2) a hint -- another connection to the Ancient Egyptian culture where both men and women were known to pretty up their peepers.

- Horace referred to Richard's people as "indigenous." While many of us had always assumed that the Hostiles were native to the Island, I don't believe (but don't have time to check for sure) it's actually been confirmed until this point. However, that still doesn't address whether or not the likes of Widmore and Ellie were also natives (and if so, why they have British accents while Alpert doesn't), or if Richard perhaps recruited them from the outside world.

Despite the fact that Horace told Sawyer that his group had only two more weeks before they'd be shipped off on a sub to Tahiti, we know that they ended up staying put. For three years they got their Dharma on, which brings us to... 1977.


THIS WOMAN'S WORK

While Horace is out getting trashed and setting off explosives (don't we all do that when we're having a bad day?), his partner Amy (the same woman who Sawyer saved in '74 and who used to be married to Paul) goes into labor. We learn that expectant mothers were normally sent back to the mainland as their due date neared, and therefore a doctor was NOT in the house. This leads Sawyer to blow Juliet's cover and insist that she perform a C-section on Amy. Much to Juliet's delight and surprise, she's successful. Amy and Hungover Horace are the proud parents of a baby boy.

Things of note for these scenes include:
- Amy and Horace got together at some point after 1974 but before 1977. Previously, we saw Horace with a different woman, Olivia, in "The Man Behind the Curtain." Those two pulled off the side of the road to help Ben's father after Emily Linus went into early labor with Ben in Oregon's woods. That must have been sometime in the early to mid-1960s, based on Ben's assumed age. Once Ben and his dad got to the Island over a decade later, we saw Olivia again -- she was one of Ben's teachers. So what's her story, and what is her relationship to Horace? Sister? Friend? Co-worker? Luv-ah?

- A child born in 1977 would be 27 by the time 815 crashed -- assuming he survived The Purge. I truly have no guesses as to who this kid could grow up to be or whether he'll even be significant. I've heard rumblings that some people think it's Karl, Alex's boyfriend, but that doesn't fit to me. Did he really look to be ten years older than Alex? Also, we know Horace was killed in The Purge, so why would his son be spared? And wasn't Karl a Hostile/Other in the first place? Anyway, I'll stop ripping on theories since I have none of my own for this topic!


ARE YOU REALLY HERE?
OR AM I DREAMING...
I CAN'T TELL DREAMS FROM TRUTH
FOR IT'S BEEN SO LONG
SINCE I HAVE SEEN YOU
I CAN HARDLY REMEMBER YOUR FACE ANYMORE

I don't know about the rest of you, but I saw the Sawyer/Juliet hook-up coming from a mile away. As soon as we learned that they'd been stranded in the '70s for three years, I was like, "Yep, it's on." What I did not expect to see, however, was how truly happy the two of them looked. I mean really, Sawyer was killing me with that damn flower.



He even upgraded from Dharma Wine-in-a-Box with Kate to a classy bottle of Dharma Merlot for Juliet. If that's not livin' the high life, then I don't know what is.

And then we all braced for what was coming.

Jin, who'd apparently been scouting "grids" on the Island just in case Locke ever returned, finds that three of the Losties have finally made their way back. Just when Sawyer had declared that he'd forgotten all about his old flame... and immediately after what looked to be a saucy night of lovin' with Juliet... he gets the shock of his life.

I've said several times over the years that I couldn't care less about the whole Juliet-Jack-Sawyer-Kate love quadrangle, and my feelings haven't changed. But that doesn't mean I didn't choke up during the final scene of "LaFleur." Did Josh Holloway bring it or did Josh Holloway bring it in this episode? The look on his face when the Dharma van rolled up and Jack, Hurley and Kate climbed out was incredibly moving.



And so now we have two weeks to wait for the full-on reunion. Since Sawyer didn't inform Juliet of Jin's news, I can only imagine that he's worried she won't be very pleased... or that he's not quite as "over" Kate as he previously assumed. Can I also just ask what in the hell became of Rose, Bernard and Vincent? Are we meant to believe that Ajira 316 can make it to the Island, and that some of its passengers can be 'flashed' back to 1977, but that those three have been wandering around in the jungle for three years? Where is the love?!?

Anyway... I think that's about all I can do for this episode, folks. Please don't holler at me that I forgot something. I didn't forget it, I just chose not to include it because a tropical island is awaiting my arrival very shortly!


Enjoy resting your mind until the 18th... I know I will.

- e

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

Hello my dear friends -

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

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


EVENFLOW, BROTHA!


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


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

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

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


WILL WORK FOR J.J.


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

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




SPEAKING OF SHE OF THE CURLY LOCKS...


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

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

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



NO REST FOR THE WICKED



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

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

Seriously, ENOUGH already.





THE CON MAN GETS CONNED

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













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

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


HE'S NOT THE BOSS OF YOU!

Over in Hydra Hatch land...

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


Jack: 1, Juliet: 0.

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

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


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


WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW...






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

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








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


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


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

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


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

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


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


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



OTHER RANDOM THINGS TO NOTE

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




DUALING ISLANDS



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

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

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

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

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

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

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



BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE


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




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



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




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




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



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



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



FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

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



PREVIEWS

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

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


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

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



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


TWO MORE TO GO...

11/1 - The Cost of Living

11/8 - I Do

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

- e

S2Ep13 - The Long Con (Sawyer's third flashback) - 2/8/06

Hello my dear friends -

We're half-way through the season and the proverbial tide has turned - welcome to a much darker Lost. I was surprised to find that on the boards, fans were split down the middle on last week's episode (The Long Con) - people either loved it or hated it - there was no gray area this time whatsoever. Count me in the "loved it" camp for several reasons:

1) Some of the spoilers I had accidentally come across did not turn out to be true, which kept me on my toes and made it more enjoyable overall.

2) Though some things my peeps and I called from a mile away (Sawyer pulling the long con on Locke to get the guns for himself), there were enough twists and turns to make things interesting - especially when it came to guessing who exactly Sawyer was working with.

3) I love anything that is remotely Lord of the Flies-ish, because besides the fact that that book (and the old school movie - Piggy! The Conch Shell!) rocks, I am always fascinated by human nature in general, and by what people will do when put in a new situation - especially one that is threatening. I just quickly skimmed some Cliff Notes on The Lord of the Flies, and came across two interesting things - which most likely have no relevance to Lost, but I will mention them anyway:
- One of the leaders of the boys in the book is named Jack.
- "A stick sharpened at both ends" is referenced in the book as quite a threatening object - used by "the savages" for "impaling one end in the head and another in the ground." Sure hope there's no connection to Eko's Jesus Stick, which is also sharpened on both ends...

Geez, now I want to read the book again.

But before I run out to Borders... I will finish this post.

So as with The Lord of the Flies, this episode reminded us to beware of "the enemy within." Yeah, The Others are all freaky and whatnot, but at this point they could probably sit back and spend their free time trimming their hillbilly beards and cutting off more khakis, because I think our beloved Lostaways are on the verge of self-destructing without anyone else's help.

FEELING A LITTLE SHEEPISH NOW, JACK AND LOCKE?

Jack and Locke's attempt to play nice at the beginning of the episode devolved into plotting against each other and caused them both to look like idiots at the end. A few things to note:

- Some people on the boards actually thought Locke was being serious when he told Jack that he could always use the heroin for therapeutic reasons. COME ON. Even I am not that blinded by the fabulousness that is Locke. If the statues are left unbroken, you have several characters who KNOW what is inside: Charlie, Locke, Jack, Sayid, Claire and Eko (off the top of my head). If Locke was really only concerned about saving the heroin for pain-killing purposes rather than for leverage or some other not-so-noble reason in the future, he would've kept all of the heroin together in some unmarked container. And as for this line: "YOU want to break seven statues of the Virgin Mary? I'm superstitious." No way. He may be reading too much into "signs that the island is sending him," but he is NOT religious or superstitious. He definitely wanted the statues to stay whole for a specific reason, we just don't know what that is yet.

- Some may argue that Locke broke the pact that he and Jack made to be sure to tell each other should either one of them ever want to take any guns out of the ammo room. I of course do not see it that way. While Locke probably believed Sawyer's warnings that Jack was coming for the guns a little too quickly, he had good reason. Anyone would agree that Jack has flown off of the handle several times in the past and could easily get all worked up again after Sun's attempted kidnapping and want to go teach Zeke and crew a lesson without thinking it through. Also, to anyone who thinks that Jack would've actually listened to or consulted Locke before taking the guns out, had Locke kept the guns where they were and had been in the hatch himself, I say: "Brotha/Sista, please." Jack had hardly ever listened to Locke's cool-headed reasoning in the past... he wasn't about to start then.

SAWYER

"Sawyer, you magnificent bastard!"

This phrase was uttered so many times on the boards that I would be remiss not to mention it.

But Sawyer retorts, per his last line in The Long Con:

"I'm not a good person."

I believe that statement is still debatable... but for now, it serves to once again illustrate one of the main themes of the show: what makes someone "good" or "bad"? Most of the time Sawyer does act completely in his own self-interest, but there have been glimmers of hope for him, including: telling Jack about the bar meeting with his dad, attempting to thwart the Others' kidnapping of Walt, threatening to beat down Seabilly Jim if he hurt Kate, giving Kate all the alcohol with no questions asked when Boone was dying, and so on. But masterminding the Sun kidnapping attempt, fooling Kate into suspecting Ana Lucia and thus setting off a series of events to plot Locke against Jack and achieve Sawyer's goal is quite dastardly.

On another topic, there was much discussion about Sawyer's other "long con" - the one he pulled on Cassandra in his flashback. First off, people now think that he was most likely talking about Cassandra -not Kate- when mumbling his "I love her" comment in the hatch to Jack a few episodes back.

On a similar note, people were split as to whether or not Sawyer would have gone through with the con on Cassandra, had she given him a different reaction at the end. This post explains it best:

- "She let him down in her response to the situation, and I think he decided it wasn't worth pursuing because he gave her the choice to say "the money doesn't matter, you're what counts," and she blew it. And I don't think Sawyer would let himself "love" someone until he had utter faith in them to say that."

Others thought he never intended to do anything but keep the money for himself:

- "One of the things I find interesting is that Locke has been presented as a character whose life has changed (or at least whose true nature was liberated) on the island, while Sawyer is presented as the torch boy for the other side of the argument, that people do not really change. I still believe that Sawyer wants to be good; he is just hopeless about his ability to do so, or at least it is easier to use the tiger/stripes argument as a crutch because change is hard, change takes work, change hurts."

"NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN, BOYS! YOU ALL BEST GET USED TO IT."

Regarding Sawyer's coup d'etat - while everyone applauded the shake-up in the Lostaway's leadership and power structure, people were split as to whether or not Sawyer is the best person to now have control of the guns. Here is a sampling of posts:

- "Actually, I take the position that the one person Sawyer was NOT looking out for is number one. Sawyer is actually the one person I'd want in control of the guns right now. He has been the most pragmatic since day one -- every action, every decision. We know that Sawyer has feelings (deep ones), and this episode was no different. Unlike Jack and the rest, we also know that he is willing (and able) to set them all aside to do what needs to get done. Does he do bad things? Yes. Does he know exactly what he is doing? Yes. He is the *only* person on the island that is in complete control. Does that make him "likeable"? No. Does that make him interesting? Hell yes. I don't see this as a power play, as much as I see it as Sawyer trying to rein people in. Do we really think hauling off and building up an army to fight The Others on Jack's whim is a wise idea? Neither does Sawyer."

- "Actually Sawyer may or may not be the wisest person to have the guns right now. On one hand, he is neither Locke, nor Jack, and the two of them have entirely too many hidden agendas and mutual mistrust to be in charge of the weapons. On the other hand, who knows how bribable Sawyer might be. He keeps saying he has needs. If Kate, or Ana Lucia really want those guns, they probably could get them. Or maybe not. See... Sawyer as the sheriff is an unknown quantity, and that's what makes it interesting."

- "As much as I don't like the "you took my stuff" rationale, I do like the fact that there's a new dynamic in the Lostaway leadership. Light vs. dark, faith vs. science, was getting set up a little too neatly. A wild card is always good!"

- "Sociopathic tendencies aside, I consider Sawyer better to make judgments about the guns than Jack or Locke or especially Jack AND Locke. He's a happy medium when it comes to knowing what's going on and how to handle it. I'm glad they're under his control. Stakes went WAY up, and as someone said, it's a whole new ballgame, once Charlie attacked Sun. Like damn."

- "These people need to get on the same page. You think any of the Others ever give Zeke shit? Think Alex would've hid the torches before their big showdown in the clearing? Or somebody would speak intelligibly in the jungle, rather than whisper menacingly? No, they accept him as a leader, and they do as he says. In the meantime, the Lostaways are all pulling in opposite directions."

- "The balance of power has shifted, and though I love Jack, I am happy to see this happen, because I think it's realistic. In our society, what Charlie and Sawyer did was wrong. But isn't it amazing how the rules can change, and the con man and the junkie can be among the most savvy in a society in which there are no rules?"

Yes... the game has changed, my friends... The Game Has Changed.

I LOVE NICKNAMES

Darth Hobbit
Darth Hoodie
Sith Lord Mini
Anakin Charlie

Those are just but a sampling of the brilliant nicknames Charlie earned himself on the boards for rockin' the black hoodie and lurking in the shadows all episode. The funny thing is, no one seems quite as annoyed with him anymore now that he just straight up did something really bad. And I find it fascinating that his hate for Locke trumps his drug habit as a reason to help out Sawyer. Here are a few more posts on this subject:

- "I don't think that either Sawyer or Charlie intended to hurt Sun. Sawyer had become almost friends with Jin, and I don't see him deliberately hurting Sun.. his cons are not about hurting people. And Charlie has that whole protector of the female race thing going on, so he wouldn't try to hurt her either. I think her head bump was an accident, which her account supports."

- "Interesting that Charlie turned down the Hell Marys. He's got something new to keep him interesting and off drugs. Revenge. Cool."

GET YOUR READ ON

There was yet another book capturing the spotlight briefly on the show... Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." Except, the thing is, it's not really a book, but rather a very, very short story.

I'm about to tell you what the story is about, so skip the rest of this paragraph if you don't want to know for some reason... The story seems to be about this guy escaping from his own hanging... until the end when it is revealed that everything that happened is simply what went through his mind during the split second in which he was hanged. This led some people to bring up the #)R$%#)%(&#$*&!!! purgatory theory again, and a few others to wonder if the show will turn out to be all the things that were going through one specific character's head during the crash, right before they died. I sincerely hope that's not the case... and it wouldn't really explain the flashbacks, unless the series was supposed to be showing what ALL crash victims were thinking right before they died. Pause. Hmmm... Naahhhh, they wouldn't.

If you would like to read the story (it will take all of 5 minutes), here it is:

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

OTHER STUFF I WANT TO MENTION BUT CAN'T THINK OF A CLEVER, ALL-ENCOMPASSING SECTION TITLE FOR BECAUSE I REALLY WANT TO HURRY UP AND GO WATCH '24' NOW

- The manuscript "Bad Twin" that Hurley found and was shown reading briefly is going to be the infamous "marketing tie-in" for the show. As in, they are actually going to sell that book at some point in the near future. The story goes that it is a manuscript that one of the not-so-lucky passengers had just tried to sell to an agent right before the crash. This unfortunate passenger (named Gary Troup) left a copy behind as well, and so said agent will attempt to make money off of the fact that the author was on the mysterious flight 815 that was never found, and will publish the book posthumously. Lame idea? Possibly. Or brilliant, "next generation marketing" idea? Possibly. Will I still buy it either way? Definitely. The Lost creators know millions of suckers when they see 'em!

- I loved the Ana Lucia and Kate staredown sequence.

- The ongoing Scott vs. Steve joke (nowAna Lucia is mentioning it???) is getting old. Enough already.

- Did anyone else laugh when Jin kept saying "Gun!" "Gun!" I don't think I was supposed to laugh, but he just sounded kind of goofy.

- I really thought in the final scene when Sawyer looked over to the driver's seat of the black car, that Locke's dad was going to be there. Because after all, that guy is the MASTER of the long con by getting Locke to give him a kidney?!?!? Anyway, he wasn't there, so oh, well. If *I* wrote the show, he would've been.

- Jack sucks and is now in my #1 Most Hated Character position. Good God, he annoys me. Kate is down to #3!

- Did you catch Hurley mentioning that Bernard was a dentist? I was thinking his back-story would be something more exciting than that. But regardless, I certainly hope that mention means that we will get a Bernard and/or Rose flashback some time in the near future. Where have those two been, by the way? Sure, it's only been like 4 days on the island since their reunion, but are they still cooped up in some tent cuddling somewhere and hiding from the rest of the freaks ... still?

I TOLD YOU TO KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED!

How many of you noticed Kate's mom as Sawyer and Gordy's waitress?

You missed it? You need to go through my Lost-viewing-boot-camp! Fine, I'll indulge you - see it here, but be forewarned that this site is packed with spoilers:

Kate's Mom in Sawyer's Flashback

END OF EPISODE "WHOA" MOMENT #1

To refresh your memory before we all hail the nerds who investigated this:

HURLEY: Wait, what's that?!
SAYID: It's Rousseau's signal.
HURLEY: Oh, crap.
SAYID [changing the dial]: But this radio has a wider bandwidth.
HURLEY: Hold it, stop! Do you hear that!
RADIO [with spotty reception]: That was the... Duke Ellington... orchestra featuring... up next on WXO, the Glen Miller Orchestra with Moonlight Serenade.
[The song begins to play with good reception.]
HURLEY: Whoa, you hear how clear that is? It's got to be close, right?
SAYID: Radio waves at this frequency bounce off the ionosphere. They can travel thousands of miles. It could be coming from anywhere.
HURLEY: Or, any time... Just kidding, dude.

So first off, you KNOW I was freaking out when Hurley said the "or any time" line. Because yes, I fully admit that I want there to be a time warp or loop, just like a few episodes ago when I wanted there to be a force field. And if they threw in a dragon, a wizard, a few elves and then some robots for good measure, I would probably quit my job and just spend all day watching and re-watching episodes of Lost. Which leads to the question - did the writers give Hurley that line because they've always said he's supposed to "be the voice of the audience" and they know that everyone on the boards has been talking about this time warp/loop theory and therefore they knew everyone would go berzerker if Hurley alluded to it? Or in other words, did they put that line in just to screw with our heads? I will sadly admit this is a possibility.

HOWEVER, and I really mean this, so don't blow me off like I'm a crazy lunatic - even though I am: the nerds who researched the exchange above came up with some very interesting things that I really do not think should be ignored. All of the points below are posts from the boards, so you can read through them below and then decide for yourself if Hurley's line was just a throwaway comment:

- Glenn Miller is from the WW2 era.
- Did anyone make out the radio station's call letters? It was a W, which would make it east of the Mississippi.
- WXO which are letters 23, 24, and 15 of the alphabet and I'd like to thank the creators of Lost for making me look for the numbers anywhere and everywhere.
- Speaking of which... nice touch making the call letters of the station "WXO." Only the oldest radio stations carry a three-letter call sign. Fairly common in the 1930s and 40s, but not so common today. Just like the music being played. Maybe Hurley was right, after all. Come to think of it, how old were the bodies in the cave? Didn't Jack guesstimate that they'd been there since the 1940s? Hmm.
- On December 15, 1944, Glenn Miller was scheduled to fly from England to Paris to play for the soldiers who had recently liberated the city. His plane departed from Twinwoods Airfield, Clapham, a village near Bedford, but disappeared over the English Channel and was never found. Miller's disappearence remains a mystery; the fact that neither Miller's remains nor the wreckage of his plane (a single-engined Noorduyn Norseman UC-64, USAAF Tail Number 44-70285) were ever recovered from the Channel have led to many conspiracy theories over the years.
- Wait... does that mean that Glenn Miller is (*gasp*) – on the island?! Now that’s what I call a plot twist!! Maybe they’ll find his plane stuck in a tree somewhere, too? That would be wicked sweet. Who knows, maybe the radio in old Glenn's plane has been playing his damn song on a loop for 16 years.

OK, so now that you've read all that, you can decide if it was significant. One last thing on the time warp/loop stuff... before anyone emails me about all the recent chatter on the boards about "proof" of time travel - rest assured that I have read all of that and know that the writers are admitting to a few things they screwed up on. For example, in Jack's most recent flashback, the date on an X-ray says "Nov 2005." How can that be, if that was a flashback? There are several other similar things that I don't have the energy to write out that were just straight-up mistakes, and they all deal with time, and it's got fans worked into a fever pitch. However, I will end with this, which I believe I have said before: the writers have said, "We've never said WHEN this is all taking place."

END OF EPISODE "WHOA" MOMENT #2

The "Charlie reveal" at the end definitely surprised me. At first, I didn't even think "how did Sawyer find the statues if he stayed in the hatch?" Then I thought that Kate helped him, until she confronted him. Then thought it was Ana Lucia, and suspected her up until Darth Hoodie emerged. What I loved about this episode is that both Charlie and Sawyer did what they did for no other reason than just good ol' testosterone-fueled jealousy. Charlie wanted Locke to look like a fool and Sawyer doesn't like Jack and that's about all there was to their reasoning. And if they were willing to fake a kidnapping attempt with Sun of all people - basically for those lame reasons... what else will they be willing to do in the future?

RANDOM FUNNY POSTS FROM THE BOARDS

- Sayid staring at the new radio: "Must...resist...urge...to fix...communications device!"
- Was Vincent in on the Long Con? If so: awesome!
- I think Jack and Locke need to breakdance fight for supreme leadership. While it would make about as much sense as any other "confrontation" they've had, it would more entertaining. Season 2: Electric Boogaloo?
- All I want is Jin to borrow Eko's Jesus stick and beat Sawyer and Charlie with it.
- On a lighter note, Vincent the shifty-eyed dog is getting fat. What the hell are they feeding that dog??!?
- Anyone else notice that the rain immediately followed Vincent's scene (and the weather had not indicated rain prior to that)? I'm still working on my rain theory. It *always* rains when someone gets hurt/killed/kidnapped. It *only* rains when someone gets hurt/killed/kidnapped. This time, though, the losties set up the kidnapping. It wasn't the "island". So, I'm not sure how it all fits.
- I hope Jack found a bottle of Xanax in Sawyer's stash. The man could totally stand to pop one of those bad boys. As Hurley might say, "Dudes, chill."
- Loved Charlie going all Emperor Palpatine at the end.

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

[Back on the beach, Sawyer is coming back to his tent from a swim and sees Charlie building a shelter nearby.]
SAWYER: Well, well, now look who had to relocate to the suburbs. [Charlie doesn't respond] Ain't that just like a woman? She keeps the house and you get the cheap-ass apartment. Man, I thought these people hated me, but I've got to hand it to you -- stealing a baby, trying to drown it -- now, that's a new low. You even made Locke take a swing at you. Hell, that's like getting Gandhi to beat his kids.

KATE: I heard Jack took your pain killers.
SAWYER: Well, I guess me and the Doc are on the outs. One less Christmas card I'll have to send this year.

HURLEY: Hey, man. You gonna put the lime in the coconut, drink 'em both up? [Sayid doesn't respond] Lime in the coconut? The song?
SAYID: What do you want, Hurley?
HURLEY: So, I'm over at Rose and Bernard's tent -- did you know he's a dentist? Well, that's not all he's been holding out on us. The guy picked up Boone's signal from the Norwegian plane.
SAYID: Nigerian.

SAWYER: It's worth a look. Let me ask you something -- this whole scenario make sense to you?
KATE: What do you mean?
SAWYER: Think about it. First off, how'd she get away? The woman doesn't weigh 100 pounds soaking wet.
KATE: She was fighting for her life. People are capable of almost anything...
SAWYER: You couldn't get away. You versus Sun -- hot oil death match -- my money's on you, She-Ra.

KATE: Hey, what's going on?
SAWYER: It looks like the good folks of Island Town are about to form a posse -- get themselves armed up. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Jack didn't find himself that horse of yours and start leading the charge in a big white hat.

SAWYER: Hate to interrupt whatever the hell it is you're doing. What are you doing?
[We see a bunch of books thrown on the ping-pong table that Locke has presumably already looked through.]
LOCKE: I'm alphabetizing.
SAWYER: Oh, sure. Sun gets attacked in the jungle and you figure it's a good time to start the damn Dewey decimal system. Good thinking.

SAWYER: Well, actually, John, I'm here to help you -- give you the heads-up.
LOCKE: Heads-up?
SAWYER: Seems Jack's on his way over here to open your little gun closet and take whatever he needs. You should know he's not alone. The whole camp's pretty shook up about what happened to Tokyo Rose. I'm guessing everybody's going to want to play Cowboys and Indians. And once those guns are out and about -- something tells me they ain't never going back in.

(Note: this next one makes it into the Best Lines of the Series echelon)

[We hear the sound of the timer alarm in the Hatch and see Sawyer open his eyes in front of the computer, apparently awakened. He inputs the numbers as Jack and Jin enter.]
JACK: What are you doing here?
SAWYER: One second, I'm like this close to the high score on Donkey Kong.

PREVIEWS

Do you really think the counter gets to zero? Do ya? Do ya?!?!?!?!!?

By the way, I may have lied in my last post (unintentionally, of course). It looks like there will not be an episode on 2/22 because of the Olympics (yes, they are on another network, but so was the World Series, and they delayed Lost because of that). Right now, they are showing a rerun of the original two-hour pilot episode on 2/22. If you can catch that, I highly recommend it - it's very cool to watch now that you know how things have unraveled. The schedule currently shows Maternity Leave airing on 3/1. I will put a short post up if I learn otherwise. This week's episode, One of Them, is still good to go.

The most recent ABC Lost podcast (done by the writers) supposedly had a lot of good info in it. I haven't listened to it yet, but found this brief write-up of some major points. I do not consider any of these spoilers, but if you literally want to know nothing about even general themes of what may happen, then read no further.

- The Long Con-writers were itching to get Sawyer back to his roots, Han Solo fashion. They've consciously reset characters back to where they were last season - we will see the results of those changes in the upcoming episodes.

- The necklace con actually happened to Carlton (one of the writers)!

- They will do more with characters lives intertwining in their pasts like with Sawyer and Kate's Mom.

- The Long Con launched the narrative focus for the next 5 episodes of the show.

- Sayid's flashbacks will be from an earlier point in time than all his previous flashbacks.

- They will soon deal with the question of why they didn't ask Zeke more questions about the Others when they had the chance. (Erika: Hallelujah!) We will get more answers about the Others this season.

- They attempted to explain past mysterious statements they've made about 'the numbers' never being explained. They did not mean we would not learn their significance and the purpose they serve, just that on some mystical level we may never understand why they pop up all the time.

- There are thematic similarities between Lost and Darron Aronofsky's movie "Pi" (Erika: This scares THE CRAP out of me because I HATED that movie!!!!! Aaaahhhhh!!!! Also, I believe Darron will direct a future episode, and I think I mentioned that before)

- They have reiterated that we will definitively learn why the plane crashed by the end of season 2.

That's all, folks!

Til next time,

- e