Adjacent to the LOST Recap that Might Re-awaken?

 I'm back!

(Because ones of you out there in the vast Internet sea actually said to my face "You've got to update your blog!" Those six words have only every been utter in that sequence and directed at me once before . . . by the same kind person. And so, the Universe was trying to tell me something and who am I to fight against the Universe?)

Andbutso . . . you might guess from the fairly clear blog title what this is about. And why be surprised, because I venture to guess that 30ish percent of WWYG?! is already about this. And LOST was one of the original spurs that made me start blogging almost twenty years (?!!!) ago anyway. So, its Old Home Week back here on the digital ranch.

Grace shared this video with me on Friday. And I watched it. And by and large I appreciated it. Heck, I appreciate anyone who takes time to think about LOST--especially if that thinking results in the conclusion that We didn't appreciate LOST at the time!

Damn right you didn't. But I'm here to tell you that I.DID. 

I was drinking the glowing cave water from the opening minutes of episode one! And that is no surprise to anyone who has read WWYG?! in the past. But though I did appreciate Drew's support and his positive thoughts on one of the most impactful shows in TV history . . . and one of the most important TV shows in my adult life.

But he is wrong about one critical thing.

But before I get to what Drew is wrong about, I guess I should say that if you HAVEN'T watched LOST then you will be somewhat spoiled by the video above. So I guess go make one of the best decisions of your life and a. bookmark this post for future reference, b. devote 5,400 hours of your life to watching a show that premiered in 2004. And once you are done, c. come back to watch the video.

But . . . Drew's big mistake is that he argues that LOST is best watched in a binging environment and that it suffers from a week-to-week viewing. Having been an O.G. network television watcher I must STRONGLY disagree. Because watching LOST week-to-week gave me and my friends time to discuss, time to dissect, time to ponder what the actual f just happened on this week's show. Beyond that, LOST helped create the second-screen, entertainment discussion ethos that all prestige television thrives on currently.

LOST helped propel TV-themed podcasts. Back when podcasts were first emerging. And the dedicated fans of LOST tuned into those few LOST casts to listen to theories and hear from the actors and the producers and generally wallow in everything related to the show. We scoured the Internet for clues. We checked out the random book references from our libraries and tried to understand. The Easter Egg culture of TV (for all that is good and bad about it) sprung up from the mysteries that defined LOST. (Hell, the creators even designed a few off-season Internet "experiences" to keep people engaged during the summer. Remember Alvar Hanso?)

So . . . sorry Drew . . . the weekly release was a very helpful environment in which to watch the show. And if you are taking my advice to join in on the whole thing, consider taking your time. There are so few TV experiences anymore that are going to offer you 121* immersive episodes full of intrigue, plot twists, and unexpected joys. 

(And if you are interested in the show and need something to nudge you forward, why not check out my partial list of LOST Rewatch episodes. It'll be fun reading, I promise!)

As an aside . . . I 100 percent do AGREE with Drew's assessment that Michael Giacchino's music and scoring is a key element of what makes the show beautiful.

In summary . . . LOST is a beautiful treasure that should be savored. Please consider diving in and when you do, dive in all the way. 

#4 8 15 16 23 42

* Why didn't Lindelof and Cuse do the right thing and make is guaranteed that the show would end with 108 episodes?

LOST Rewatch: Live Together Die Alone (COV120D-19)

Credit:  tle1lost.wordpress.com

Can you believe that we have reached the end of Season 2? It has been a very long and interrupted journey. I am excited to examine new plots in season 3. I am excited to remind myself about "The Oceanic Six." (Intrigued? Stay tuned!) And I am excited to swap out the Season 2 logo for another of a different color.

But before we get to those things, we need to examine "Live Together Die Alone." Do you remember those words, spoken by Jack in Season 1 . . . back when he was a bit more admirable . . . a bit more heroic . . . and bit less churlish and quick to anger . . . a bit more humble? That was then. This is now. And now, angry Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sawyer (a.k.a. The Only Lostaways That Matter*) are headed off with Michael to confront the pitiful--so Michael says--band of primitive Others on the far side of Mystery Island.

But! 

Remember that Sayid had identified Michael's odd behavior? And how he warned Jack that Michael had been compromised? Well, he and Jack have a plan to circumvent whatever plan Michael may be following through with the Others and Henry Gale, because Sayid is going to sail around the Island with Jin and Sun to get to the Others camp while the rest of Michael's crew cut through the slower jungle overland route.

Where did they get a boat? Oh--I forgot to tell you about who was on the sailboat that arrived at the end of "Three Minutes." It was Desmond! He came back, against his will, he said because the Island doesn't want to let him leave.

It is in this FLASHBACK that he learn much more of Desmond's backstory. We learn that he used to be a part of the Royal Scots armed forces. That he was in military prison for something and then discharged after serving his sentence. We learn that he is disliked by a gruff, Tywin Lannister lookalike actor who's character name is Charles Widmore. We learn that Desmond is in love with Penelope Widmore--the daughter of Charles, and that Daddy doesn't like it. So much so that Charles is willing and able to try and pay Desmond off to keep him away from Penny forever. We learn that Desmond ended up on the Island because he was trying to win a Widmore-sponsored solo round-the-world sailing race, mostly to spite Charles and also to earn enough money to buy back Penny's love (maybe?). We also randomly learn that Desmond's boat: the one that sailed him around the world and accidentally to the Island, and then back again (currently being used by Sayid) was first owned by the recently departed Libby. And we learn that Desmond is a committed Charles Dickens fan.

We further learn (this is a two-episode length finale, y'all!) that while on the Island, Des was saved by Inman--formerly an American soldier who worked with Sayid in Iraq and now a part of DHARMA. Inman is down in the Swan Hatch alone and desperate for a button-pushing partner. 

Speaking of the Hatch and the button . . . in the non-Flashback B plot, John Locke has teamed up with current Desmond to simulate a Lockdown and trap Mr. Eko outside of the computer station. John and Desmond was to prove once and for all that this button nonsense is just that . . . nonsense. They are going to make the counter go to 000 00 and see what happens. But Eko responds by enlisting Charlie to find the leftover Black Rock dynamite and blast his way back to the computer before the world ends.

While waiting for the timer to count down, Desmond gets second thoughts, remembering his time with Inman. He comes to (re?) believe that the button is actually doing something real. Because one time when he didn't punch the numbers in fast enough* bad stuff actually started happening. Such as:

1. weird hieroglyphs took the place of the zeros on the counter
2. the warning speaker kept repeating SYSTEM FAILURE
3. everything began shaking like an earthquake
4. all metallic items were drawn to and stuck upon the concrete bunker wall in the most dire-seeming fashion

Thinking back upon this Desmond realizes that this moment of SYSTEM FAILURE was the same day that Oceanic 815 crashed. So, he believes that there IS a purpose to the button and this Incident that is mentioned in the Swan Orientation film is something to be taken seriously.

And by now the timer has hit zero. And all of the above is happening. And John realizes that . . . he made a mistake and famously says (with a worried look) "I was wrong." But shit is happening now and how to fix it?!

They can't!

Only Desmond has the key--literally--to fix the problem. Something else he inherited from Inman in the FLASHBACKS--a DHARMA shaped key that can be inserted into a small lock under the floor of the Hatch. The keyhole is ominously labelled Failsafe and Inman drunkenly told him once that activating this would release the magnetic pressure building up behind the wall. But he also thought that it would destroy the Island and themselves at the same time. But Desmond will sacrifice himself to save others.

But not THOSE Others . . . because while all of this is happening at the Swan, Michael and his suspicious band are still traveling to the Others camp. And by now Jack has told them of his worry that Michael is a liar. And thus trapped, Michael has admitted that he killed Ana and Libby to free Henry--all done to save Walt and get him and his son off the Island. They are captured by the Others and taken to a dock where they are bound and gagged. Then Henry appears with the Season 1 ending boat to give Michael and Walt freedom. As all of this is transpiring, the Failsafe is triggered on the other side of the Island, the sky turns purple, a deafening thrumming noise fills the sky everywhere, and something happens at the Hatch. 

We see that Charlie made it back to Lostaway beach. But we don't know Locke's, Desmond's, or Eko's fate. And we don't know what will happen to Jack, Kate, or Sawyer who are being held by Henry and the Others. Also, Sayid, Jin, and Sun were unsuccessful in sneaking up on the Others, so we don' t know if they survived the Failsafe event.

The final scene? Two scruffy scientists in some Arctic setting get a computerized warning that a magnetic anomaly was detected. They quickly make a phone call to Penny Widmore to tell her that they think they have found him!

Next Season!

* both to the viewing public, as well as to the Others?

* He was chasing Inman--who was stealing away to taken Desmond's sailboat to escape the Island, then accidentally killing Inman in the struggle, then quickly returning to the Hatch because he knew time was running out.

LOST Rewatch: Three Minutes (COV115D-19)

Credit:  tle1lost.wordpress.com

"Three Minutes" follows hot on the heels of the events of "?". The Lostaways are still trying to understand the events of "Two For the Road" while the fresh graves of Libby and Ana Lucia remind them of what they don't know.

They don't know who "Henry Gale" actually is. Nor where he has gone. (Though Michael has some ideas about that.)

They don't know the truth of how Ana and Libby died. (Though Michael definitely know the information about that.)

They don't know that Michael has plans to lead a few of them--Jack, Kate, John, Sawyer, and Hurley--into a trap. (Though Sayid has suspicions about that.)

They don't truly know what the Others are up to . . . or what is going on with Walt. (Though the events of this episode clue the viewer a bit closer into THAT.)

We get several mini-FLASHBACKS in this episode, not into anyone's far past. But into the thirteen days prior when Michael ran away from Swan Hatch in search of Walt. We see that he was chased by Jack and co. and how Michael was caught up by Capt. Beardo and his merry band of boat-going others. How he was gagged and in the wings when Beardo confronted Jack and co. about the line in the jungle that the Lostaways were not to cross. We see that Michael was taken back to the primitive-seeming camp that the Others have on some unknown part of the Island--huts alongside an ocean bluff. Michael sees another Dharma-sealed door to what looks to be a fifth Hatch. But there is no entrance.

Michael is held in a hut and not permitted to see anything or talk to anyone but a mysterious woman called Klugh. She is given the name "Miss Klugh" in the credits . . . clue . . . get it? (Don't worry. It won't really add up to anything in the end.) She is the one that tells Michael that only Kate, Jack, Sawyer (here identified at James Ford), John, and Hurley are to return with him. Miss Klugh gives Michael a hand-written list of these names. If he can lure these people to them, the Others will give Michael a boat and he and Walt can go free . . . off the Island? After promising to make that happen, Michael gets to see Walt for three minutes in the hut. It is the first time we've seen Walt since he was on the boat at the end of Season 1--minus a few visions here and there in previous episodes. Their reunion is tearful and it properly motivates Michael to carry out the plan--which will result in the two tragic deaths and the freeing of "Henry."

Other random thoughts while watching this episode:

1. At one point, Sawyer--while insulting Hurley and Kate in order to argue that Sayid should be included on Michael's mission--says the following: "Look if Pippy Longstockings and the Grape Ape get to go, then I vote for the Red Beret." It's the most amazing example so far of Sawyer's particular word salad of pop culture references/insults/nicknames. And my kids were so confused by it that they didn't even know how to respond.

2. One of the Others takes blood from Michael by simply jamming a hypodermic into the meat of his upper shoulder and I just laughed out loud. Of course, that isn't how you draw blood. But it is so stupid its' funny.

3. Charlie is demonstrating that he is no longer beholden to the heroin by throwing the remaining Virgin Mary statues into the ocean waves. Ignoring the fact, naturally, that he is barely getting the statues past the breakwater and that they will wash ashore in the tide within hours. But . . . now that I think on it a bit unless Nigerian souvenier making is very high quality, the seams on the statues won't be enough to protect the heroin from seawater. So . . . I guess Charlie did it right after all.

4. And speaking of the ocean bringing things back to the Island, something does come back at the very end of the episode. A fancy-looking sailboat! I wonder who is inside?

LOST Rewatch: ? (COV114D-19)

Credit:  tle1lost.wordpress.com

I am still working my way through the end of Season 2 of the LOST Rewatch and there are only a few episodes that remain as we wrap up the season of the Hatch. And that is an appropriate adjective to this episode in particular because the A plot of "?" deals with hatches.

Remember back in "Lockdown" when the blast doors triggered (because the Dharma food pallet drop was taking place) and John got injured by the door crushing his leg? And remember who during that lockdown, blacklights switched on and he saw a hand-drawn image of some sort of hatch-based diagram? And in the center of that diagram was a big question mark?

Well, if you don't happen to remember that--you can read my recap of that episode here. But if you are ready to move on, let's focus on what actually happened in "?".

The beginning of it is mostly the immediate aftermath of what Michael did in Swan hatch when he murdered Ana Lucia and Libby, freed "Henry Gale", and then intentionally wounded himself with a self-inflicted shoulder gunshot to turn the suspicion away from him. He had deniability as Jack and Sawyer and Kate come rushing back to the Swan to find out what happened. And Jack--ever the opportunist--uses this crisis to out-maneuver Sawyer once more. He forces Sawyer's brief humanity to expose where he is keeping his stash of guns and medicine . . . so that Jack can get the Virgin Mary heroin he needs to put a lingering Libby out of her misery. Jack knows that he can't do anything to prevent her death and so he wants to pwn Sawyer again, just like he recently did during their mango-fueled poker game.

But that isn't truly important. Sure, there is sadness with the death of two more characters. And Hurley is devastated when he learns what happened to Libby. And he feels guilty that he forgot the blankets that drove her to the Hatch in the first place. And Sawyer regrets his recent snarky (if sexy) last encounter with Ana that allowed her to palm him revolver that allowed the deaths to occur.

But the true focus of the episode is Eko and John. Because Eko began having Island prophetical dreams of his priest brother Yemi--who told him that he and John needed to find the Question Mark. Eko doesn't know what any of that means. But he has Island-faith that John will understand and that together they will succeed.

Yemi pops up in more than one vision-dream during this episode--first to Eko and then to John when they are hiking out into the jungle in search of the promised Question Mark. It prompted me to consider that Yemi had (briefly) become the new Walt--a visionary individual who only serves to prod along the plot in mysterious ways.

And yes, there is lots of dreaming in this episode and much talk of miracles. Because that is the subject of the FLASHBACK! We learn that Eko spent his time after Yemi flew away from Nigeria in the drug runner's plane serving as a supposed priest. And weirdly enough, no one challenged his doctrinal authority or anything. So much so that he was working within a diocesean structure as a miracle authenticator. Eko had been planning to go to the U.S. and probably lose himself in a new country and ditch this fake priest role. But another priest interrupted his plans and sent him to Sydney to authenticate a story of a young girl who was supposed to have drowned but instead came back to life during the autopsy. (And . . . yes . . . the girl in question, named Charlotte, was the daughter of the psychic that was visited by both Claire and Rose in previous episodes.) But that is not important.

What is important is that there is much talk of miracles in the Flashback B plot and I think it was there to give viewers some slim hope that Libby might recover from her gunshot wounds. Not that any of the characters ever gave that indication. But I think it was there to toy with people's expectations at least a bit. But in the end, no help resulted and Libby died before she could tell anyone that Michael was responsible for the killings and for the freeing of "Henry."

While the Lostaways are preparing for a dual funeral, Michael is frantically trying to convince Jack, Locke, Kate, Sawyer . . . and Hurley? . . . to come with him on a raid of the primitive camp where Michael is sure that "Henry" is escaping back to. Michael semi-demands that no one else may help, no matter how logical it might be. (And that includes Sayid, which raises red flags for some of the observant Lostaways who think that Michael must have been compromised during the time he was missing and searching for Walt.) But more on that to come in the next episode . . .

Back in the now, John and Eko do succeed in tracking down the "?" in question. It is an entrance to a fourth Hatch station built below the precise location where the Nigerian drug plane crashed. This station, the Pearl, is simple compared to the Swan. It has some comfortable swivel chairs and a bank of TV monitors . . . and lots of notebooks. According to another Orientation film that Eko discovered--hosted by Mark Wickmund, who looks identical to Marvin Candle from the Swan film--the Pearl station is an observation post. It seems that the Dharma people in Pearl and supposed to snoop on the people in the Swan. Does this mean that the number punching in Swan station is just a bunch of baloney? John now certainly thinks so and in anger and frustration, he vows to abandon the Numbers and the Swan and put all of that behind him.

But Eko is now even more committed--and he vows to take over the task of number punching. He has taken over the faith of the Hatch in ways that John no longer has--which ties neatly into his Flashback religion sequence.

But bigger questions loom. Will Michael's treachery be verified by Sayid? Will Michael convince the right people to go with him to invade the Others camp? What does the Other's camp actually look like? Why did Michael betray his friends? What is the true nature--if any--of the Pearl Station . . . or the Swan Station for that matter?

LOST Rewatch: Two For the Road (COV112D-19)

Credit:  tle1lost.wordpress.com

PREVIOUSLY . . . on LOST Rewatch . . .

Well! My last Rewatch post was OVER three years ago. Back in March 2017. I ended with season 2, episode 19: "S.O.S."

You can read it here, if you want to get back into the flow of things. And I ended that post with the tease of we would find out what the returning Michael was up to next time. But I didn't think it would take so loooong!!

But hey--life happens. I'm sure when Michael crashed on the mystery island with his estranged son, he was not prepared to find it a magical island with smoke monsters, weird visions, and marauding Others. He didn't expect to successfully build a raft only to have that raft be attacked by Captain Beardo and his Other pirates. And he didn't expect Walt to be taken. But all of that happened in season 1. And for most of season 2 the mystery of Walt's disappearance was unresolved and Michael was mad. Everyone was focused on the Tailies and how they upset the balance of the Lostaways lifestyle on Jack Beach. And people were trying to figure out what was going on in the Hatch with the Numbers. And everyone was still recovering from Shannon's death. And everyone was doing everything else but solve two significant problems. First, what about Walt? And second, does anyone want to be rescued off of this place?

Michael left to solve the first problem. And in "S.O.S." Bernard tried to solve the second. But he succumbed to the magic pull of the Island to come to terms with what Rose wanted. And now, after being gone for a while Michael has suddenly returned and he has been taken down into the Hatch to recover after wandering through the jungle from wherever he has been. And when he is in the Hatch, he finds Ana Lucia struggling with her own confused feelings. She has a gun that she took from Sawyer--after she tricked him into sex so that she could grab one of his guns when he wasn't paying attention. And now that she has the gun, she is struggling to determine what her plan is and why. 

For you see, in the FLASHBACK . . . we learn that Ana crossed paths with a drunk and despairing Christian Shephard. After Christian lost he job because Jack ratted out his on-job drinking, he was falling apart. Christian convinces Ana to serve as his world-travelling bodyguard companion and they go to Sydney . . . so that Christian can harass a woman on a dark rainy night? The dialogue isn't entirely clear, but we know that he is drunk and is demanding to see his daughter. (Who might THAT be?)

Ana eventually tires of Christian's aimless drinking and whatever and leaves him behind in the bar. As she leaves, she bumps into Sawyer, who is going into the bar after failing to kill his nemesis. He is about to have his own Christian encounter!

But Ana is still struggling to reconcile her hatred over the man who attacked her and caused her to lose her baby. (And whom she then killed in outright anger.) And she quit the police due to this despair. And her time with Christian didn't help. And then she crashlanded on Mystery Island. And then she got mixed up in all sorts of fights with Others.And she let her anger run free. And it caused her to kill. And then she accidentally killed Shannon. And people hate her. And she hates herself. And now she's got a gun. And she is trying to figure out what to do with that gun and with Henry Gale. And she doesn't know how to proceed.

In happier news back on Lostaway Beach . . . Hurley is recovering from his recent antics with "Dave." And he is pleased that Libby was there to help him out and that she seems to dig him. And so they are going to have a picnic! But Hurley forgot the blankets. So Libby headed down to the Hatch to grab some.

But when she got there, she arrived at the worst time. 

For you see--we now learn what Michael is there to do. He sweet-talked Ana as she struggled with the gun. And he got it away from her. And then he SHOT her with it . . . just as Libby turned the corner. And Michael SHOT HER as well! And that is how one of the most dramatic and unexpected moments in LOST history happened.

And here is where I interject a bit about my own personal history with this. When I first began this Rewatch, it was partly to get Grace interested in the show. And she was definitely into it. But this episode broke her. (She was in Middle School at the time.) She was so unexpectedly upset with Michael's turn and with Ana's (and Libby's) death that we stopped watching the show for almost six months.

So, now--as I've started the Rewatch again with Hannah, we got to the same episode. And Grace and I were anticipating how Hannah would react to this plot turn. And she WAS upset. But we only took a week's break this time. And so, as we near the end of season two, I rejoin my Rewatch blog commitment. It will give me something to write about that isn't COVID related, at least.

See you next entry . . . when we deal with the immediate aftermath of What Michael Did.

LOST Rewatch: S.O.S.

Credit:  tle1lost.wordpress.com

Today it is Season 2 episode 19.

With a title like S.O.S. you can expect some discussion of rescue to be the focal point and you would be right.

What might surprise you is that the focal points of this episode are Bernard and Rose.

You see, as we've witnessed in the previous two episodes, the mysterious parachute drop of the DHARMA Initiative food pallet threw many personalities into conflict on Lostaway beach. And this time around, we see that Bernard is pretty salty that everyone seems pretty comfortable living on a mysterious island and not really committed to escape or signalling rescue or anything of that sort.

The reason that Bernard wants to get home so badly? (Other than the obvious, I guess.) Well, we learn through FLASHBACK! that Rose is suffering from some type of cancer. And Bernard is determined to cure her with whatever means are available. (Hence his commitment to getting off the Island.) Rose and Bernard were flying from Australia to the United States when the plane went down and Bernard is going to enlist whomever he can find into signaling a passing plane, I guess.

Unfortunately, all the other Lostaways are busy with their own problems and aren't interested in helping Bernard. Locke is still healing his leg from the blast door incident in "Lockdown." And he's very concerned that Henry Gale is lying to him about not punching in The Numbers, as was revealed in "Dave." So, John is undergoing a big confidence of crisis.

Jack, meanwhile, who--as we know--has never met a direct order he didn't want to break, is scheming to traipse back through the jungle and cross the imaginary line in the ivy that was established by "Mr. Friendly" and the Others in "The Hunting Party" (s2 e11).

Of course, whenever Jack goes somewhere, Kate is bound to come as well. Remarkably, however, Sawyer decides NOT to tag along with time, so there is at least one corner of the Island's geography that might not be infected with their dysfunctional love triangle nonsense.

Back at Lostaway Beach, Bernard's efforts to create a press gang of workers for the S.O.S. sign are going poorly. Mr. Eko and Charlie are too busy constructing their weird church, Our Lady of the Tides. Hurley (not really featured in this episode) is probably enjoying some picnic-style Apollo Bars with Libby. Jin was helping Bernard briefly, but he is more interested in improving his English-speaking skills and as a dentist, Bernard is only interested in teaching him the words "rock" and "floss".

Soon, Bernard is toiling alone, increasingly frustrated.

Speaking of frustrated, Locke hobbled back down to Lostaway Beach and has a chat with Rose. He claims that he is done with the Hatch, since he is not entirely sure if Henry is telling him the truth about The Numbers countdown. Rose, ever serene, tells Locke not to worry. And she inquires about the pace of his leg healing. Locke says that Jack believes the injury will heal in four weeks. But Rose smiles and tells John that they both know it won't take that long.

As the FLASHBACK! informs us, Rose encountered wheelchair-bound Locke in the Australia airport and knows that the magic of the Island has healed his paralysis. So, it is no surprise when she informs Bernard to quit working on the S.O.S. sign--because the Island has cured her cancer and she has no intention of ever leaving the Island's magic again. Happily, Bernard and Rose embrace.

And speaking of embraces . . . Jack and Kate are having a typical interrogation of their complex feelings toward each other while traveling through the jungle. These two are distracted enough to get caught in one of Danielle Rousseau's net snares. But cooperation, uncomfortable body contact, and a well-trained gunshot get them free.

Jack and Kate never do make it to Mr. Friendly's  (formerly named here as "beardo") borderline because . . . who should come stumbling out of the trees in the episodes final seconds?

MICHAEL! (Whom, if you can't recall, we haven't seen since "The Hunting Party.") What has he seen and what will his return mean!?!!

More on THOSE questions . . . next time.

LOST Rewatch: Dave

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

Yesterday, we relaunched the LOST Rewatch and I'm back at it again today with episode 18 of Season 2--"Dave."

Remember in yesterday's post when I callously joked about Hurley eating Apollo Bars because of the mysterious food pallet that parachuted down into the jungle? Well, that was an insensitive joke . . . but it is also a relevant one because this episode focuses on Hurley's problems with over-eating and his food eating compulsions.

Yes, this is one of those great moments in LOST when they devote an episode to our man Hugo--the soul of the Lostaways and the crash survivor you'd most want to hang out with in absolutely any circumstance. But, maybe not when he's moping--which he does quite a bit in this episode. For, as much as many boxes of CEREAL, PEANUT BUTTER, CHOCOLATE BARS, Dharma-brand WINE, and other delicious foodstuffs are to people who have been stranded on a tropical island for six weeks, Hurley is going to have to confront his demons.

And those demons--in part--go by the name of Dave.

For you see, as we learn in the FLASHBACK that Hurley was once a resident of a mental hospital. And his "Lenny" in that place went by the name of Dave. But as the flashback progressed, it became increasingly unclear whether Dave actually existed or if he was a manifestation of Hurley's mental issues and his eating phobia in particular. (For you see, we learn that Hurley checked into the Santa Rosa institution because an upstairs apartment balcony collapsed while Hurley was standing on it with others.

Hurley has since heaped that trauma upon himself and his weight, despite evidence which made it clear that the balcony was improperly constructed. In the institution, Dave served as Hurley's enabler--helping Hurley break out the building to steal food (even though Hurley is there voluntarily and could leave whenever he wanted).

Back on the island, Hurley reveals to Libby that he has been hoarding food and that he is very concerned that Jack has asked him to be in charge of this new bounty of parachute food. While Hurley is struggling to confront his issues, he is again confronted with Dave, who appears on the island in the middle of the jungle (wearing the same pajama/robe/slippers combo that he wore at Santa Rosa).

Dave tells Hurley that obviously this plane crash/castaway/crazy Hatch underground/save-the-world button pushing experience is a fantasy that Hurley is dreaming in the Institution. And Dave encourages Hurley to snap out of this Buffy-like delusion by forcing his brain to accept reality . . .

. . . by jumping of the island cliff. It totally won't hurt because it isn't real!

While Hurley struggles to determine what is real and what is not, Libby shows up at cliffs edge and talks him off of it. Hurley is sad that everything is so confusing, but Libby gives him a nice smooch on the lips and we leave the episode behind with some happiness that our man Hugo has found some love and appreciation in his castaway life.

Oh . . . a brief look at "Other" stuff--

Remember how Sayid and Ana Lucia were off searching for Henry Gale's balloon? But maybe it was an Other's trap? But Henry totally said it wasn't a trap? But maybe Henry has been lying the whole time and confusing John? And maybe he's really an Other who let himself get captured so he could find out what the Lostaways were doing? But then Henry helped Locke punch in The Numbers to prevent catastrophe? But Locke saw the blacklight painting? Remember . . . ?

Well, turns out that Sayid and Ana Lucia come back from their search, interrogate Henry and force him to finally reveal his true nature. He is NOT Henry Gale, hot-air balloon enthusiast from the upper Midwest (Wisconsin?). He is actually a member of the mysterious jungle-loving Others.

Oh, and he definitely did NOT punch those numbers in. He just stood there and watched the counter flip over to 000:00 and NOTHING HAPPENED! Or at least that is what he tells an increasingly frantic and confused John Locke.

Poor Locke! Will he ever learn the truth behind the numbers?!

LOST Rewatch: Lockdown

Oh man. Who would have ever guessed that I was going to bring this cul de sac of an idea back to life? For that you can thank my co-worker Jennifer who foolishly chose to ignore my advice (while taking Dean's advice) to watch "Deadwood" before beginning her exploration of LOST. I am so energized by trying to convince her otherwise, that I need to spend some time getting back into my pointless recapping of a show that was off the air just after the Affordable Care Act became law and was (probably . . . to most people) last relevant to people when George W. Bush was the most embarrassing president in living memory.

(And now that I've driven away half of my audience . . . let's get back into it.)

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

We ended our previous journey mid-way through Season 2, with the episode "The Whole Truth." Now we are going to learn more about Hurley in the strangely titled episode "Lockdown". (No . . . I'm kidding. In case you missed that ACME anvil of a title, this episode devotes itself to our favorite true believer John Locke.)

Now . . . this episode was one of the most pivotal of the entire series, so it is really great that I took about a decade off before getting to this recap. In summary, we'll say that Henry Gale begins the episode munching on the same bowl of cereal where we left him, smirking at the worried Locke and Jack (who are now very worried that they have let Gale lead Sayid's search party into a Other booby trap where Henry's hot air balloon is supposed to be).

But don't worry! Henry was totally kidding with his buddy jailors down underground. He consents to being locked back in his Hatch closet, while Locke frets that he's been duped again.

Again, you say? When has our Jungle Man John been tricked before? That wooshing noise and facial closeup means we're headed for a . . .

FLASHBACK!

Here we see functional-legged John getting ready to propose to Helen (once again played by Katey Sagal). But when Helen notes that John's father has died, the secret plans he has are put on hold to attend the funeral. We later learn that Locke's dad has faked his death to avoid being caught in a con and The Man from Tallahassee wants his gullible son to get some cash for dad from a safety deposit box that is surely being watched by the angry people who were conned. Locke is prepared to do this to win his dad's love . . . but Helen wants John to keep away from this criminal. Which John won't do . . . and Helen gets so mad that she breaks up with John and he is left alone--with no girlfriend and once more estranged from his absentee grifter of a dad.

So . . . back in the Hatch, John is riding Desmond's stationary bike when he hears some mysterious static from the "stereo-system." There are still plenty of minutes on the Button's countdown clock, so this is a weird development. As he's investigating . . . a claxon begins to blare and John sees some blast doors begin to descend in the living areas of the Hatch. He quickly wedges a tool box to stop one of the doors from shutting him out completely. He tries to shimmy under the gap, but the metal buckles and the door comes down on his leg, shattering some bones. Stuck and injured, Locke has no choice but to shout through the vent system to Henry to crawl through the ducts, get into the computer room and input The Numbers (4 8 15 16 23 42 . . . remember?) before the timer completely reaches zeroes.

Henry thinks this is all a bit nuts, but he agrees to it--as long as he knows Locke will owe him a favor. But! While Henry is negotiating the ducts and punching in the numbers, the countdown warning begins to blare and John gets worried that time will run out. And then . . .

the lights shut off/blacklights switch on/ and John sees THIS on the wall:

And THIS is the reason this episode is so important! A brand new mystery is revealed and the world of the Hatch expands even further! What could this mean?!!

Oh . . . and back on Lostaway Beach, Kate sees a beeping light in the jungle and she and Jack head off to investigate. Turns out. . . somehow a big pallet of food was parachuted into the jungle and isn't THAT an odd development?

Quick!

Somebody tell Hurley that there are Apollo bars and peanut butter! There will be a feast on the beach to tide everyone over until I sit down to write a new recap for Season 2, episode 18--"Dave".

LOST Rewatch: The Whole Truth

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

When we last left the LOST Rewatch efforts, we were here.

And yes, that was a LOOOOONG time ago.

How long? Well, check your AppleWatch to help you determine the passage of time. (There, future digital anthro-historians . . . now you can accurately calibrate the cultural moment when I sat down to write this blog post in the early 21st century . . . when digital technology was still important and before we had implanted digital wetware into our biological systems. Funny how we joked about the "Resistance is futile" line from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but failed to recognize how futile was our own resistance to the coming digital singularity as engineered by our corporate-Constitutional masters at Apple Computers? And how we scoffed at the Borg's own choice to digitize themselves in the search for perfection? When we didn't realize that we would soon begin to sell off our redundant organs to join the Cult of JIves? Those were simpler, more organic-based times.)

****

AndbutSO. . . LOST, season 2.

When last we left . . . Henry Gale was still manipulating John Locke and Jack Shepherd and nursing their seething inner insecurities. He's also messing with Sayid and getting him all riled up. But he continues to maintain that he's just a simple hot air balloon enthusiast from Minnesota. (And we all know that Minnesotans are famously insidious and devious.)

And speaking of devious . . . how about an episode featuring Sun and Jin? Those two NEVER tell each other the truth, amirite? She's speaking English behind his back. He's going goonish dirty work for her father that he never owns up too. And who's dog IS that anyway?

But everything looks above board at the start of the Flashbacks. Certainly, the slinky lingerie that Sun is sporting doesn't leave much fabric to hide anything . . . amirite again? But Jin ruins the SexyTimes by getting all clinical. I guess he'd much rather only enjoy marital relations with his beautiful wife if there is the guarantee of procreation involved. Or is Jin lying AGAIN about something else? We may never know because Mr. Thermometer has definitely ruined the mood. Sun is taking her satin nightgown and is going home.

Credit: images4.fanpop.com

As the Flashback progresses, we learn that the Kwons have consulted with a fertility doctor. The doctor informs them that Sun is infertile so they won't be having any children anyway. This further drives a wedge in their shaky marriage and helps drive Sun to meet up with her former suitor, hotel heir Jae who is spending time with Sun teaching her English.

In news on the Island, the fun times of present-day Jin and Sun continue. She is trying to find relaxation and motivation in her garden of plants. But Jin is worried that she'll again be abducted by "the Others" (but really Charlie) and rips up her plants. The Island is full of other types of suspicion as Locke asks Ana Lucia to use her cop interrogation skills to investigate the veracity of Henry Gale's claims as to who he is and where he comes from.

In the course of Ana's interrogation, she gets a map to where Henry claims his balloon is located. And so she and Sayid (and also Charlie--who as you may remember has been on the outs with everyone lately), head off to follow the map and see what they can see.

And so the episode ends with Henry Gale out of the gun locker cell, due to some sort of calculation of good behavior that he sold to Locke.  But Jack is also there with John and both of them are splitting time between giving suspicious side eyes to each other while also keeping a careful eye on Mr. Gale. But their careful gaze doesn't prevent them from giving Henry a nice bowl of Dharma Flakes to enjoy in the Hatch kitchenette.

Oh and yeah . . . that map that Henry gave to Sayid and Ana? It absolutely was just proof of his identity and his hot air balloon location. It definitely WAS NOT a prelude to an Other-driven trap on some secluded spot of the Island.

Promise . . . you guys!

LOST Rewatch: The Whole Truth

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

It's been a while, hasn't it my friends? How have you been over the last few months?

As I mentioned a little while ago on the blog, the LOST Rewatch experience ground to a halt unexpectedly one Friday night. I was watching "Two for the Road"--a critical season 2 episode that I haven't yet summarized here yet. And I was watching it with Grace. And some unexpected things happened--which I won't describe here as that is to come when the episode recap is written.

But Grace didn't react well to these events. And so Lynda strongly suggested that we stop. And so we did. I didn't want Grace having nightmares. But I didn't want to rewatch these episodes by myself either. So, things hit PAUSE for an undetermined amount of time. And . . . well, just in the last few weeks, Grace said that she wanted to start up the Rewatch again. I was quite happy with this idea, but my blog was busy with some other stuff that some television watchers might have been interested in.

So, I had to wait until Dean was finished with his guest blogging duties. And Grace and Sarah and I committed to a once-a-week, Friday night schedule of episode watching. And, here we are.

Now . . . as last left things, the Lostaways were mixed up with all sorts of turmoil because of the arrival of Henry Gale. Our mystery balloonist was being held captive in the Hatch's armory by Jack, John, Sayid, Eko, Kate, and Sawyer. The inner cadre hadn't made it widely known to the rest of their "friends" that this Man from Minnesota was being interrogated, detained, and under suspicion by their Leaders. In the most recent recap episode, however, the show has shifted to other topics--specifically Claire's concern over Aaron's fever.

credit: www.images.tvrage.com

But in "The Whole Truth" we shift to Sun and Jin with another glimpse into their tumultuous marriage pre-Flight 815. And on the Island Sun is trying to determine whether to tell Jin that she fears she is pregnant . . . which is odd, since the Flashback tells us that Jin was sterile.

(Not the the Korean fertility doctor admits to Jin publicly that he is the one with the problem. Because Jin works for Mr. Paik and the doctor is seriously worried about getting his practice destroyed by the vengeful industrialist. Oddly, however, it doesn't seem to be a problem to publicly state that Mr. Paik's daughter is infertile, even if that is not true. I guess Mr. Paik won't be emasculated by the fact that he has an infertile daughter? Which won't drive him into some sort of doctor-destroying rage? Patriarchy . . . amirite?)

ANYWAY . . .strike four or strike five for Sun and Jin's marriage, I guess.

Sun is already getting involved with Jae, the smooth-talking (and smooth-headed) son of a hotel magnate. He is teaching her English and hoping to teach her some other things as well. But for now, they are developing a deep friendship. Maybe they don't know the English word for infidelity yet?

ANDBUTSO . . . if these two kids can't have a baby, then why is Island Sun fighting morning sickness and keeping her suspected condition from her husband? Might the baby actually belong to Jae after all?

In the end, the answer to that is no . . . because, as we viewers know, the Island has some magical healing properties. It has already reanimated Locke's legs and eliminated Rose's cancer. So, it should be no problem at all to bring Jin's moribund sperm back to life, or widen his vans deferens or whatever. The Widmore-brand pregnancy test that Kate acquired from Sawyer's stash indicates that Sun is definitely pregnant. Hurray! (Because Claire and Aaron need to get taken down a peg or two.)

What else is happening?

Well, Locke has decided to get Ana Lucia involved in the Henry Gale party. He asks her to use her police interrogation skills to see if the prisoner's balloon story is full of hot air. So, she arrives and gets the same story about Gale and his wife crashing on the island and he even helpfully provides a map to the location of where his balloon is (and where he buried his wife). Sayid and Ana and Charlie follow the map to Henry's indicated spot and begin to search. What will they find, I wonder?

The episode ends with one of my favorite moments . . . Henry is having a morning bowl of Dharma Flakes with Jack and Locke. When Henry learns that Sayid and Ana have used his map to go searching, Henry muses that it sure is a good thing he's not a bad guy. Because if he was, then sending some people off to a mysterious location might be the best place to set an ambush, right?

Bemused smile, munching of cereal. Hey, can you pass the milk?

The LOST Rewatch is on its way back!

credit: http://fc08.deviantart.net/

The LOST Rewatch is slowly, sloooowly reawakening from its month (months?) long slumber.
Now that the WWYG URL is mine again and now that the blog is functional and public again and now that Grace has gotten over her fear and shock of Michael shooting Ana Lucia and Libby (SPOILER!) . . . well, we started watching the last episodes of season 2 in the last week or so.

That still leave me probably half of the season that I still haven't officially recapped and blogged on. But baby steps everybody.

Just like how Desmond's sailboat eventually turns back to the Island, no matter where he tries to sail it . . . I WILL return to Why Won't You Grow?! and the LOST Rewatch will begin again.

See you in another post, brotha.

[gif credit: www.giphy.com]

LOST Rewatch: One of Them / Maternity Leave

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

Finally, FINALLY, dear readers we have reached that important pivot point in LOST when you can demarcate a BEFORE and an AFTER.

Because with this episode, you reach BHG and AHG--which is Before Henry Gale and After Henry Gale. Everything that was BHG was great and I loved it. But only in hindsight, after watching all six seasons of the show can you appreciate everything that came AHG. All the subtlety. All the confusion of motive. All the intricate layers and layers of lies and mistruths and everything that came along with our favorite balloonist from Minnesota.

Oh, Henry Gale. How glad I am to have finally reached your presence on this series. But, is he One of Them--as Rousseau so confidently tells Sayid when she leads him out into the jungle to show our Iraqi friend the hapless Henry suspended from a rope net? We spend the rest of the episode and the next several ones trying to uncover the truth of Henry.

Did his wife die on the Island and did Henry bury her underneath their globe-trotting balloon with a Smiley Face? Sayid doesn't think so, because as he tearfully yells at Henry, "You would remember how many shovelfuls of dirt in the grave if you had to bury the woman you loved!" (He's still recovering from the loss of Shannon, poor fellow. And I estimate that it took 650 shovelfuls of dirt for Sayid to dig her grave on Boone Hill. It might have been 375 with a standard shovel, but with something mocked up from bamboo and plane wreckage, it likely takes longer.)

But no matter Henry's protestations, Sayid doesn't believe him. He beats Henry up really badly and leaves him locked up in the gun closet of the Swan Station, where Jack and Locke are secretly keeping him stored while they try to decide what to do with him.

And Sayid is left with his thoughts and his tortured past. And the Flashback adds more torture to that past, informing the viewer how this simple member of the Iraqi Republican Guard got mixed up with the torture business in the first place. It was the Americans in Iraq that gave Sayid the tools and the opportunity to open himself up to this black part of himself--a part that he tells Henry had always been there.

So we leave the Flashback with Sayid on the side of an American blacktop highway that stretches from Baghdad and toward oil fires. His pockets are full of American dollar bills and his mind is full of doubt. And the episode ends with no clarity on the veracity of Mr. Gale. Is he One of Them? Was Sayid one of them to his Iraqi countrymen?

***

Speaking of truths . . . remember when Claire had no memory of what happened to her following her abduction by Ethan Rom? Well, she goes on a truth-finding journey of her own in Maternity Leave.
Spurred on by an apparent fever that Aaron has contracted, Claire is desperate to find some medicine that will help her heal the baby. But Sawyer has all the meds and anyway, Claire is convinced that the sickness is a result of something that Ethan did while she was in his control. But she can't recall what happened.

So, she turns to Libby--one of the Tailies that Hurley has a crush on--and enlists her skills as a clinical psychologist. Claire believes that a bit of hypnotism can bring the memories back, and it does seem to work. She gets flashes of Ethan in a doctor's lab coat, long-needled syringes, mysterious medicines, and a crib mobile featuring 747s. Also a brief glimpse of a teenage girl?

From all of these snippets, Claire is convinced that she can locate where Ethan was holding her and find some medicine that will help heal the baby. Jack is sure that the fever is most likely just roseola, but Claire is on a mission. She enlists the help of Kate and they begin to track back to where Claire thinks the memory flashes are leading her. Along the way, they encounter Rousseau. And Claire believes that Rousseau knows where she was being kept because she already has a memory of a struggle with Rousseau in the jungle that led to scratches on the Frenchwoman's arm. Claire's mention of the teenage girl in one of her recovered memories is all that Rousseau needs to go along.

Through some serendipity, the find the ivy-covered entrance to another DHARMA station (marked with a caduceus symbol). But the inside is abandoned with Lynchian flickering lights and empty medicine cabinets. Claire's memory of the place is bright, cheerful, and featured a fully-stocked nursery room with room decorations and a rocking chair. The place they find is decrepit, only featuring some clothing lockers with what looks to be costumery--such as a fake beard--and some makeup glue.

(More on that hmmmmm-inducing moment to come in a later episode.)

Claire didn't find the medicine she was searching for. Rousseau didn't find her now-grown daughter that she had been looking for. And Claire realizes that in this place Ethan and the Others were preparing to surgically remove Aaron from her pre-labor and most likely (?) kill her to clean up the evidence. But with the help of the teenage girl, Claire was able to escape the scheduled night of the surgery. Claire's memory of Rousseau struggling with her was a drug-addled misinterpretation of Rousseau trying to keep Claire quiet and safe from the searching Others who had realized that Claire was no longer in their captivity.

Claire and Rousseau part on better terms and she and Kate return to the Beach. Luckily, Aaron's fever has broken and he is on the mend. Claire owns up to the fact that she had prepared (pre-crash and during her drug-induced captivity) to give up Aaron to others. But she now vows to never part from him again.

And, oh yeah . . . back in the Swan Station? The mind games of Henry Gale continue. He maintains his story that he is a crash survivor from Minnesota. But he's not above needling John about the seeming subservience that our bald friend shows towards Jack. Naturally, this bothers John, who angrily shoves dishes around in the kitchen--within earshot of Henry locked in the gun locker.

Is Henry smiling?

LOST Rewatch: The Long Con

With a name like this, you know the episode is about our friend Sawyer--or as Locke now knows of him as James Ford (which is his actual name, as John discovered from Hurley's airplane manifest.

And there are many other discoveries being, um . . . discovered on the Island in this episode. And most of those discoveries are internal ones, as people test their knowledge of each other.

Jack and Locke are still trapped in their never-ending struggle to one-up each other every single day. This time they are testing each other over who controls the combination to the Swan Station's gun safe--which now holds all the crash survivors guns, plus the Virgin Mary heroin statues and all of the airplane's collected medicine. Both Jack and Locke know the combination and they agree to only open the door in each others presence. (How long will this truce last? Well, a typical television episode is about 48 minutes long, so . . . )

Also, Kate and Jack are testing their romantic attraction to one another--something that has been off and on again throughout the 50+ days since the crash. Lately, though, things have been a bit rocky. Kate ignored Jack's commands in "The Hunting Party" and followed him, Locke, and Sawyer during the hunt for Michael. And her kidnapped presence became a key bargaining chip when the beardo Other captain drew his line in the "sand" telling the Lostaways to keep out. Also, Jack heard a delirious and feverish Sawyer declare his love for Kate when he was recovering from the gunshot wound under Jack's care. So, Jack has a tender heart and a bruised ego.

Speaking of bruised egos, outcasts Sawyer and Charlie are also suffering from them due to recent events. Sawyer is mad that during his absence on the raft, his medicine stash was taken by the rest of the group. And Charlie is mad that Claire and Locke don't trust him anymore and that he is seen as a baby-stealing, potentially heroin-taking nut job. (And, well, they may be right to fear that out of him, as much as I do like Charlie.)

In the Flashback, we learn that Sawyer was running another long con on some woman named Cassidy. And he tried the "breaking-open suitcase" trick that we've seen him do in previous episodes. But Cassidy immediately sees the move for what it is. And she propositions Sawyer to let her in on the action, becoming his con assistant. So, Sawyer and Cassidy work together on items, big and small. But eventually, they begin a big con that gets Sawyer mixed up with some other dudes and Sawyer has to leave her to protect her. And, given what we see . . . he seems to have loved her--at least a bit.

So, what happens in the end? After all of the questioning of each other between all of our Lostaways and after the having of all of their personalities tested? . . . The last thing that you would expect.

Sun gets attacked while working in her garden. A bag is slapped over her head and she is dragged into the jungle. She fights off her mysterious attacker and escapes, but this event throws the Beach into turmoil as they search for the person responsible.

And in the confusion that occurs around Sun's attack, we find out a few things. When Jack goes back to the Swan Station to get some guns and prepare to fight back . . . whoops . . . the guns are all gone--along with the medicine!

It turns out that Sawyer decided to pull a fast one on everyone and take the confusion of the attack to take control of all of the guns and the medicine.

A triumphant but angry Sawyer bloviates to the entire Lostaway Beach--"You took my stuff while I was off trying to save you on the raft, getting shot! But now, I'm back and I'm taking back what is mine. There's a new sheriff in town! And you better get used to it."
.
And in the final moments, we learn that Charlie was Sawyer's accomplice--trying to attack Sun (at least a bit) to cause the diversion that allowed Sawyer to pull off his plan. Charlie wasn't really trying to hurt Sun, but he did want to help Sawyer because Charlie wanted to humiliate Locke--who beat him up during the last episode.

So, Charlie's slide to the Dark Side seems to be progressing quickly. But next time on LOST--why does Sawyer work so hard to make everyone hate him?

LOST Rewatch: The Hunting Party / Fire + Water

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

Ever since the Tailies arrived on the beach to share the Island with the original pack of Lostaways, there has been tension. And while that tension has been focused on personality conflicts--everyone hates Ana Lucia, Jack and Locke are bickering over the Button, Claire and Charlie are dealing with couply-type squabbles--the most significant conflict has simultaneously grown in tension and also been shoved to the backburner: what is going on with the Others.

This question has been growing in tension because the Tailies have brought to the front of everyone's mind the idea that the Others are more than just the delusional squawking of Danielle the French Chick. The Others are indeed murderers who have plans and are pretty lethal.

Also, don't forget please about their stealing of Walt--which amazingly has been shoved to the far backburner by everyone it seems--even by Michael (who didn't stomp around screaming WAaaaaaaalllt as much as I remember him doing).

But now Michael has the computer hook up--or so he thinks. And he is pretty sure that he knows where Walt is. So he runs off in search of his boy. So Jack and Locke and Sawyer (and Kate, who can't be told to stay behind) race after Michael. But they encounter the bearded boat captain deep in the jungle and beardo delivers an ultimatum to our Lostaway leaders. This far; no farther. Michael is with us and you can't come any closer. So turn around and head back the way you came. We have suffered your presence on this Island, but don't think that you are in charge here. And beardo reinforced this message with a show of hidden Tiki torch strength as well as holding Kate hostage to keep Jack's bravado at bay. Cowed, our Lostaways slink back to the beach without Michael and with a new rift forming between Jack and Kate.

(What is the Flashback? Well, we learn that Jack's marriage to Sarah the crash victim did not go well. He was distant and a workaholic and she decided to have an affair to be appreciated and also decided to leave him. Jack's obsessive personality was on full display as he attempted another miraculous spinal procedure on an Italian dude with a hot daughter. The surgery didn't work out and Jack was sorely tempted to cheat on Sarah. He resisted, only to discover her plans already in place to leave. Flashback Jack is despondent, but Sarah is right when she says that "He always needs to fix something.")

And now there is plenty for Jack to fix on the Island: his trust in Locke, his relationship with Kate, his status re: the Others. It's all falling apart.

But he's got a plan. He sidles up to Ana Lucia at the end of the episode and casually asks "How hard would it be to train an army?"

Action Jack is getting ready to go to WAR!

***

In the next episode, we watch the slow descent of Charlie Pace into villainy . . . sort of. But it starts with the slow descent of Charlie Pace into a sort of madness. He's having weird nightmares featuring baby Aaron being swept out to sea and Charlie trying to save him. But that always turns into strange sleepwalking events that make it look as if Charlie is trying to abduct the baby. Given Claire's past history with abductors and her current distrust of Charlie due to the Virgin Mary heroin revelations . . . she's not willing to listen to any of Charlie's protestations of innocence.

Also, in Claire and Aaron's new role as protector, John Locke takes this opportunity to beat Charlie up pretty good right in front of everyone. Heck, even Hurley looks at Charlie with doubt in his eyes.

What is a washed-up former rock god gonna do? Well, he'll start blathering on about how baptism is what Aaron needs. And he'll even try to set a small fire in order to divert everyone's attention so that he can take the baby again to get some sort of baptism going. But things just go even worse for Mr. Pace. And he is now a Beach pariah, commiserating with Sawyer in the shantytowns on the outskirts of Lostaway beach.

It's a shame really. We the viewers know that Charlie is confused and just trying to help. But no one will listen to him. And he is not acting normally at all. So things look pretty bad for Charlie--and they're gonna get worse.

LOST Rewatch: The 23rd Psalm

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

Hey, do you know who we don't know much about on LOST, season 2? Mr. Eko, right? He's this big, near silent, seemingly religious individual who likes to carry around big tree branches like Buford Pusser. (And, like Pusser, he doesn't carry that stick for show. He used it in "The Other 48 Days" and since then has been carving scripture verses in it. It was from this initial killing incident on the Island that he remained silent for 40 days.)

So, these things we know. But let's learn more. And that is what this episode is about. We learn that Eko was once the biggest boy in his Nigerian village. And he had a strong sense of loyalty. This he demonstrated when the warlord's army rolled up in town, disrupted the kid's soccer match, and tried to brainwash Eko's brother Yemi into becoming a killer by gunning down a random old man in front of the village Catholic Church. But Eko stepped in and took the gun and did the killing himself to save Yemi the shock of it all.

And because of all of this, Eko grew up to be a stone-cold drug runner who was quick to kill with a knife to get what he wanted. We also learn that Yemi grew up to be a priest. And that Eko concocted the plan that got bundles of heroin in Virgin Mary statues, in a Beechcraft airplane, (remember the Beechcraft airplane, Boone's ghost?) along with priests in the plane, flying and crashing into the Island years before Eko himself crashed along with the rest of Flight 815.

So now we know more about Eko. But we also learn in this episode that the recurrence of heroin on the Island is doing strange things to Charlie. It's not that he is tempted to taking the drugs again--though he insists on carrying a Virgin Mary statue in his backpack at all times and he also has a stash of five other statues hidden in the jungle. But he's not using . .  do you understand?!

Still, Claire doesn't want Charlie around baby Aaron anymore since he's proven to be untrustworthy. And that drives Charlie into a typical (pre-Moth) Charlie spiral of feeling underappreciated and overlooked. So when Eko demands to know where this Beechcraft plane is on the Island, Charlie agrees to take him. And all the while he's whinging about how people think he's a liar and why won't Claire trust him and how come Locke is moving in on his (fake) (not-)Baby Mommy and making him an exile and even discovering his stash of heroin statues and taking them away from him and locking them up in the Swan Station's gun safe, and His News is all of Woe!

But Charlie has to grow up. And Eko is here to help him, along with his trusty "Jesus stick." The two mismatched pair find the plane, burn it, and refrain from getting high off of the smoke.

Still . . . in the end, Charlie is shifting to the dark side. He is living on the outcast side of the beach with Sawyer. (More on HIM to come.) And our favorite rock god is not very happy.

LOST Rewatch: What Kate Did

Credit: tle1lost.wordpress.com

What Kate did?

Well, she was untruthful. And she was a runner. And she was a murderer. And she strings dudes along. And she is asked to use her kisses as currency. And she has a fixation with toys. And she knows how to shoot. And she can track. And she's a daddy's girl (but certainly NOT a step-daddy's girl.)

Oh, you mean what did she do in this episode?

Well, she saw a black horse in the jungle. And she saw feverish Sawyer speak to her through someone else's voice. And she began to fear that she was losing her mind. And she first promised Jack that she would look after Sawyer in the Swan station and then she decided to abandon him when she started to freak out--thinking that she was going insane.

So, as usual, Kate says she will do something and then she decides that she will do something else. And that upsets Jack. But when Kate cries, Jack feels bad. But Jack also feels bad because feverish Sawyer mumbled that he loved Kate--which is certainly something else that makes Jack feel bad--because Jack wants to control everything and everyone and he doesn't like Sawyer--sick or not--and he doesn't want Sawyer trying to be Kate's boyfriend.

By the end of the episode, Jack has decided to let Sawyer become Kate's boyfriend, but he's going to start keeping his own secrets and become Ana Lucia's boyfriend instead.

What else happens? Well, in the Flashback, we learn that Kate "did" what she did by killing her step-father, who was abusive to her mother and was inappropriately creepy towards her. And we also learn that Kate's biological father was in the Army and decided to leave his marriage to her mom because she was a.) still in love with Wayne--Kate's step-dad and also b.) Wayne ACTUALLY was Kate's real dad and no one had bothered to tell her. And Kate couldn't stand the fact that a creep like Wayne was actually related to her through blood. So, Kate blew up her step-dad and the house and awarded the home insurance money to her Mother, expecting thanks. Instead, Kate's mom was horrified and so Kate began her runaway journey.

Also . . . Eko is hanging out in the Swan station with Locke and trying to reconcile the swank conditions there with what he remembered from the Arrow station on the Tailies' side of the Island. Also, he tells Locke that he discovered bits of a film, which Eko believes are part of the Orientation film that Locke uncovered a few episodes back. And somehow Locke knows how to splice the parts of the film together and they learn that the missing part of the Orientation film informed the inhabitants of the Swan station NOT to use the computer for anything other than punching in the Countdown code.

This is relevant because now Michael is snooping around the computer a bit more and hanging out in the Swan station a lot more. And he is definitely interested in trying to use the computer for messaging (non number-punching) purposes. Especially after Michael is attracted to some strange beeping and types in Hello? and eventually gets into a conversation with the computer which eventually ends with "Dad?"

Was it Walt on the other end of that computer message? That seems improbable, right?

Oh well . . . I guess we'll find out later.