'Lost' - "Par Avion"

Yet another good Lost episode. I think they're trying to spoil us. What do you think?

The past few weeks have seen the show move more forward in story than I feel the entire "fall" season did. Oh, yeah... there are some new mysteries. But, at least I'm finding the show interesting once again.

This episode was basically Claire-centric, but once again running a bit light on the flashbacks. Light in the amount of time spent, not on the news contained within them, that is.

The Flashbacks
A younger Claire, sporting dyed black hair and even a punkish look about her, crashed her car while driving with her mother. Her mother wasn't expected to live and Claire went through a major guilt trip over it all. Not helping that guilt trip was her Aunt Lindsay, who seemed to bear a grudge against Claire even before the accident.

Oh, wait, we've seen her before. We saw her some episodes back yelling at Jack's father, Christian Shepard! Could they be? Would they be? Yes, they are! Claire and Jack are half-siblings. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. Back to the story...

Claire and her aunt find out that a mysterious benefactor has told the hospital he'd pay all the bills. It's pretty obvious that Claire's mother will probably remain in a vegetative state for the rest of her life with no chance of recovery.

Then Claire comes across Dr. Shepard in her mother's room. He admits to being her father, said he spent a lot of time with her when she was very young. But her mother (and aunt) didn't like the idea that he had another family, thus they became estranged. She made peace with her mother before boarding Flight 815, but wanted nothing to do with her father.

The Island - Sayid, Locke, Kate Storyline
Sayid, Locke, Kate, and the captured Mikhail (eye-patch dude) followed the electrical wiring map Sayid had found at the Flame Station. Locke is still acting a bit out-of-character, bickering with Sayid. Locke and Rousseau both think that Mikhail should have been shot, that he's of no use to them. And, of course, Mikhail himself would rather be dead than captured.

Kate asked Rousseau why she didn't ask her more about her daughter, Alex. Rousseau's answer was odd. She said something about if Jack were missing six years, not knowing him, didn't want to know. Hey, don't ask me. It was almost as if she was avoiding the question or frightened about what Alex may have become... or worried that Alex had forgotten her.

Mikhail told them that they had arrived on the island by submarine, but that an electromagnetic pulse two weeks ago had destroyed almost all of their technology. Kate angrily started questioning him. He told her that they (Sayid, Locke, Kate) were "not on the list." According to him, they were flawed -- angry, weak, frightened. He started to say "Ben is not..." before trailing off. Not the leader? In reference to Locke, he also trailed off. "I know he was para..." Paralyzed, for sure.

They came across what appeared to be some sort of electronic barrier fence doohickey to the Barracks, their planned destination. It looked like fat short telephone poles with metal spheres separated by open space.

Mikhail (remember, he wants to die), told them the fences were defunct along with all of their equipment. He told them the barrier surrounds the entire barracks area. Locke freaked, saying not to touch the poles or go through the open area. Then he shoved Mikhail through.

Mikhail said, "Thank you." He then immediately started foaming at the mouth and blood spurted from his ears. Poof, the Patch is dead.

Sayid questioned whether Locke was there for Jack or not. "Of course, I'm here for Jack. Why else?" Locke is still acting weirder than Locke normally acts. Sayid found some C4 explosive in Locke's bag. Now, Locke had told him earlier that he wouldn't have followed "Enter 77" had he known about the explosive. Yet he knew and took some. "It never hurts to have some C4."

They decided they could climb over the barrier and, using some logs, did so. They sneaked up on the Barracks... and there was Jack. Jack was having a good ol' time playing football with his friends. So, perhaps Rousseau thought brainwashing? I don't know.

The Island - Claire, Desmond, Charlie, Etc. Storyline
Charlie decided to "seize the day" and take Claire on a picnic. Of course, we know that when Desmond approached and suggested he join him on a hunt, that he would be saving Charlie from yet another death. But Claire doesn't know about that.

Claire saw some migratory birds fly above and thought that if they could capture one, they could send a "rescue us" note with it. But Desmond was pretty insistent. Charlie knew what had to be up, so he went with Desmond. Claire was really ticked off and enlisted Jin and Sun to help her with the birds.

Just as they were about to catch one using chum, Desmond shot and scared the birds away. He claimed he was following a boar. Claire thought he didn't want her catching the birds for some reason.

Claire followed Desmond as he went along the beach, climbing some rocks, then rescued a bird. When she confronted him, he told her about "his gift." He also told her that Charlie died (again) right on the rocks by where he picked up the bird.

Aw, Claire and Charlie got all lovey-dovey once again, attached a note to the dove's leg and set it into the sky.

And, there ya go...