'Lost' - "D.O.C."

As we near the season end, we're finding out a bit more each week. At least to this point, I'm much more satisfied with the series than I was last year at this time. I now think the writers may actually have a plan.

I think so, anyway.

Tonight's episode was Sun-centric and told us a bit more about her past, as well as Jin's. Oh... and we found out whose baby she's carrying, too! That was a concern and, alas, remains a concern for a different reason.

In Flashbacks:
A happy Jin and Sun, newly married, are planning their life together -- a new apartment, plans down the road... the future. They're deeply in love, but trouble is brewing.

Sun is approached by an older woman on a park bench. The woman recognizes her as the daughter of the man who owns Paik Automotive. She looked at the wedding picture and soon tried to extort Sun. Not only is Jin's father a mere fisherman, but his mother is a prostitute. For a sum of $100,000, she'll remain quiet about it. She gives Sun three days to get the money.

Sun questioned Jin about his parents. He had told her that his father had died, but he was in the army when he passed. Sun knows the timeline is off -- Jin would have had to have been in the army at the age of sixteen. He was staedfast about it, so she dropped the conversation.

Sun then tracked down Jin's father. She told him that Jin had told her that he was dead. He told her he wasn't invited to their wedding and that he had raised Jin alone as Jin's mother "had many men." He did not want him to suffer the shame.

Sun went to her father's business to ask him for the money to pay off the woman. He originally denied her, but she told him of the shame it would bring to the family. She told him that she knew what he did and how he operated his business, but if she had the money she would keep pretending not to know. He gave it to her.

Jin saw her at the business, but she told him she didn't want to bother him at work. Then he found the envelope of money. She lied and told him her father gave it to her for their honeymoon and furniture. Jin told her to give it back to him because "I don't want to owe him anymore than we already do."

Instead of giving it back, she met the woman. As she gave it to her, she told her that she knew she was Jin's mother. The woman said, "I only gave birth to him." Sun shoved the money at her and told her to never contact them again.

On the Island:
In the Sun storyline, she was approached by Jack and was suspicious of several health-related questions he asked her about the pregnancy. She went to Kate asking if she had noticed any changes in Jack since he returned, since he started being around Juliet. Sun was worried that the Others want her baby and that Jack was working with them.

Kate told her that Juliet is a fertility doctor and how she helped Claire. Sun went to Juliet and asked her what happened to pregnant women on the island.

"They die. They all die," replied Juliet, feigning ignorance of Sun's pregnancy.

Juliet told Sun she could help her, but she needed to come with her alone and trust her. Sun was reluctant, but went along.Juliet had promised an ultrasound which could pinpoint the time of conception -- whether the baby was conceived on the island or before. Of course, we know that if the baby was conceived on the island, it's Jin's baby. Before they arrived on the island, Jin had been diagnosed as having too low of a sperm count for conception. And, Sun had a fling before they came to the island. So either way, it's bad news as babies conceived on the island means the mother dies.

Juliet led Sun down a hatch and through a hidden door, then declared the baby was conceived since the plane crash. The ultrasound revealed that Sun was in her first trimester; Juliet told her that pregnant women who conceive on the island don't live to the third trimester.

When Sun asked about the room, Juliet told her it had been the nursery. But then it became just where they would bring the pregnant women to die. She had tried to help nine other mothers in three years, but all of them died.

Juliet told Sun that the island affects sperm count, making it six times higher than elsewhere. She and Sun both started to leave, but Juliet told Sun that she just wanted to double-check that they had covered their tracks. Yeah, right. Instead, she called Ben to tell him she was collecting samples. She said, "I hate you." Then she hung up the phone and rejoined Sun.

In the Jin, Hurley, Desmond, Charlie, and Woman From the Skies (Naomi) storyline -- She woke up speaking Spanish. Hurley translated and said she claimed she was dying. They noticed that she had impaled her chest on a tree branch and was surely dying. Hurley picked up a gun which fell from her pack... BANG. "Oops." At least it was just a flare gun.

Then the woman spoke in Chinese. Jin recognized the language, but didn't know what she was saying. And then... then... MIKHAIL came through the bushes! Yes, dead Mikhail! Jin started to fight with him as he fled, then held the flare gun to his neck. Mikhail pointed out that it was a flare gun. Someone else told him it would still be bad at close range.

"So? I already died once this week."

Mikhail made a deal with them that they'd let him go and he'd help Naomi (not that they knew her name yet). She spoke again, this time in Italian. She said she was dying. Mikhail intubated her lung to relieve the build-up of blood in her lung. He told the others that healing is different on the island and she should be okay soon.

Naomi said "thank you" to Mikhail in yet another language. Desmond told Mikhail he could go and Charlie had a fit. "He's one of them! We can't keep letting them go!" Desmond told him that they've killed more of the Others than the Others have done to them.

But when Mikhail left, Jin chased after him and retrieved the phone that Mikhail had lifted (Naomi's). Mikhail left.

Naomi then regained consciousness once again. "Where am I?" Hurley was with her and he went on and on: "Are you here to help us? Were you sent here to rescue us? We were on Flight 815. We're the survivors!"

"Flight 815 out of Sydney?," asked Naomi. "That's not possible. They found the plane. There were no survivors. All of the passengers were dead."

"What?"

LOST [thunk]

Oh, what an ending! And, how is Mikhail alive? Is it due to the healing powers of the island? If so, why have others died? Or was he never dead at all? And... he seemed to crash through the bushes looking for Naomi, not realizing that Desmond and all were there. He wanted that phone and he was the communications guy. He also asked what else she had in the pack. What's the connection?

Oh... and have we been watching dead people for three years?

I see dead people, y'know.

'Lost' - "Catch-22"

Another good episode, although this one created more questions than answering them. Just what we need... new mysteries when I would like to know more about the giant polar bear!

The episode was Desmond-centric, a character whom we get in occasional bursts, but one of the more mysterious characters on the island. The flashback sequences showed us a bit more of his psyche and, more importantly, explained why he calls all men "my brother." I had thought it an affectation, but there is indeed a reason.

In Flashbacks:
Desmond is a monk just completing his vows of silence. There's your "my brother" reasoning! At the monastery, they produce wine (and imbibe a bit, too). The Head Monk told Desmond that he underestimates the power of sacrifice. He spoke of the story where Abraham was asked to kill Isaac and Isaac was spared by God. Desmond mentioned that Isaac was saved anyway, but the Head Monk said the importance of the story was that Abraham was willing to make the sacrifice.

Then a man arrived at the monastery and punched Desmond in the nose. No, not a random man. It was Ruth's brother (I think). Remember, Ruth was Desmond's fiance that he unexpectedly deserted shortly before the wedding. Desmond then went to talk to Ruth. He thought he owed her an explanation. He said he woke up on the street at one point and heard a voice ask, "Can I help you, brother?" He knew he was supposed to go with him... sacrifice all answering a greater calling.

After the confession, what does Desmond do? He went and got wasted on the expensive and rather rare wine they produced at the monastery. He thought he wasn't cut out to be a monk. But the Head Monk left him no choice; he fired him. "God has different plans for you, bigger plans." Head Monk told him that he spent to much time running away to realize what he was running toward.

It was then that Desmond met wealthy Penny. She arrived at the monastery to take a shipment of wine for her father. Desmond helped her load the shipment and told her he was a fired monk.

On the Island:
The show opened with Charlie and Hurley in an animated debate of Superman versus the Flash walking through the woods with Jin and Desmond. Then something impales Charlie in the upper chest/low neck area. Whap! Scenes of dark clouds with a red beacon light in them. Oh, so confusing, but they meant something to Desmond.

Ah, but it was a vision of Desmond's, not actually happening. Not right at that time, anyway. Cut to Desmond telling Hurley he needed him to find the cable wire, something also in the vision. When Hurley asked why, all Desmond said was a cryptic, "Someone's coming."

Desmond asked Jack for the first aid kit, explaining that he had to tape up his twisted ankle. Hurley demanded more of an explanation, so Desmond told him it was indeed a vision, but one like a jigsaw puzzle with no accompanying picture. He didn't know how the pieces fit. But he saw Hurley pulling the cable out of the sand, so he needed him to do that. This was a vision he wanted to happen, not to stop or change.

They needed both Jin and Charlie to complete the vision troop. He told Charlie that someone was coming to the island and denied that his life was in danger. (But.. but... the WHAP arrow!)

They whistled "Bridge Over the River Kwai" as they headed to the area where the cable was buried. They set up camp after Charlie and Hurley balked at going into the dark jungle. While Jin told ghost stories in Korean to Hurley and Charlie, Desmond sat a distance away looking at the photo of Penny and himself.

The sounds of a helicopter came from the distance, but they soon sounded a bit wrong. The men were at the beach as the helicopter crashed into the ocean. Then they saw a red beacon in the sky which indicated someone had ejected. (Do people really eject from helicopters? Maybe they jumped.)

Desmond wanted to immediately go to where the beacon seemed to go down, but the others refused. Since he knew they had to be with him according to his vision, he agreed they would go at first light. Now, in his vision, Charlie dies. Desmond wanted the vision to go according to plan so that he could have Penny, his love who ejected from the helicopter.

But, when the time came, he couldn't sacrifice Charlie to obtain Penny. The Superman versus the Flash argument was ongoing and Desmond spotted the trap with the arrow. He yelled "Duck!" before the trap-arrow hit Charlie. He was sure that he would lose Penny, but couldn't do it to Charlie. Charlie realized that Desmond had to know about the arrow. Desmond told Charlie he was supposed to let him die. He reminded him it was pointless. It would happen again and again until Charlie died.

"I'm so sorry, Penny."

They first found a pack, apparently from the ejectee. In it was a copy of Catch-22 in Polish, a cellphone which died the second they turned it on, and the photo of Penny and Desmond which was tucked in the pages of the book.

Jin spotted the ejectee hanging from a tree and Desmond climbed to cut her down. The others were ready to catch the body in a blanket. Yes, they were pretty sure it was a body, not a live Penny.

Ah, but it wasn't Penny at all. When Desmond removed the mask from the ejectee, it was an unfamiliar face. And, she was alive, just barely. According to the credits, the character is Naomi.

She knows Desmond and utters his name before passing out. He doesn't seem to know her.

LOST [thunk]

Wait! Wait! How could I forget the thrilling love triangle now square betwixt Sawyer, Jack, Kate, and Juliet? Kate doesn't seem to know what (or whom) she wants. She appears upset that Jack is paying attention to Juliet, so she jumps Sawyer's bones. She told Sawyer that Jack knew about them, he saw it on the monitor at the Others. And so forth and so on.

"Lost' - "One of Us"

I knew it! I knew it! Once an Other, always an Other! And, most certainly, you definitely can never trust an Other. Not that I'm the sort of person who'd say, "I told you so."

But...

I told you so.

This episode was great for advancing the story. It was Juliet-centric and clued us in on at least some of the "experiments" on the island and why she was there.

In Flashbacks:
Juliet's story began where her last flashbacks ended in a previous episode. Juliet and her sister Rachel, the one whose pregnancy despite her cancer was due to Juliet's efforts, were headed to Mittelos BioScience where Juliet agreed to a six-month work contract. Of course, it was all mysterious and no sane person would go for it, but Juliet did. I find it interesting if you play with "Mittelos" you can get "lost time" or "time lost." A clue? Who knows?

After being told that she would be "there" for six months, Juliet asked where "there" was to no avail. They gave her a glass of orange juice and tranquilizers so she would sleep for the trip and all they'd tell her is that she was going to a special place unlike she's ever imagined.

She awoke in the submarine, bound because "the last leg is a bit rough." She went up the hatch, met Ben who told her that he'd be working with her.

What sort of work? Well, there's a problem on the island. Every woman who becomes pregnant dies. Since Juliet's expertise is in that area, we now know why they recruited her.

But Juliet wanted to give up. She couldn't save the lives of the pregnant women and, after so long (when she had been told six months), she wanted to go home. She was worried about her sister. Ben (remember, he likes mind games) told her that Rachel's cancer had returned. But if she stayed, Jacob could cure her. If she goes home, her sister would surely die.

After three years on the island, she was awakening with her boyfriend Goodwin. (Goodwin was a boyfriend, too? I thought Ben was!) Then she saw the x-ray of Ben's tumor and freaked. She went to Ben with it and he freaked, too. She referred to it as cancer. She confronted Ben with the fact that he said Jacob could cure Rachel's cancer. She accused him of lying to her. If they had the cure for cancer, why would Ben have or worry about cancer? She wanted to go home, but Ben told her Rachel was fine. No, she can't go home.

Then the flashbacks became like deja vu all over again. Juliet was once again playing Petula Clark's "Downtown" with the book club gathered in her living room. The plane crashed. Ethan was dispatched to play a crash survivor, etc.

Ben took Juliet to the Flame Station where Mikhail showed her images on the screen of a very live Rachel with her toddler, Julian. A newspaper was shown to reflect the date of September 22, 2004 -- thus proving it was current. Mikhail was studying the plane crash and Ben was hoping there would be a pregnant woman on the plane to further their experiments. "I'm not a liar," Ben said.

The last part of the flashback sequences was almost current news. Ben and Juliet planned it all. Well, more specifically, they planned that they would leave Juliet behind, the handcuffed to Kate bit, and Juliet would infiltrate the crash survivors. See! I told you! I don't trust them! Although the ending of the flashback won't make sense without what's happening on the island in this episode... she activated the implant in Claire. Evil, I say! Ben also told her he'd see her in a week.

On the Island:
Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Juliet were still heading to the beach camp after they left the Barracks. When they made camp, Kate went with Jack to get wood. He told her he trusts Juliet. He also told her of his deal with Ben. Meanwhile, that left Sayid and Juliet together. Sayid told her he wants to know everything. "Who are you?" Juliet told him that if she told him, he'd kill her. Then Jack interrupted their talk claiming that Juliet was under his protection.

Back at the beach camp, Claire wasn't feeling well. She even slept through Aaron's crying, so Charlie volunteered to take the baby so she could rest. Then, as if by magic, the three (Sayid, Jack, and Kate) arrived at the camp. All was hunky-dory with Kate and Sawyer hugging like there was no tomorrow and folks tickled pink to see Jack again.

Until, that is, Juliet arrived. Sawyer flipped out. Juliet pretty much exiled herself away from the crowd. When Hurley sat to talk to her, he mentioned that she was one of "them" but wasn't on the dock when he and others were accosted. She told him that happened to be her day off.

Sayid, Sawyer, and most of the camp held a meeting because of their concern about Juliet. Unlike gullible (and very annoying) Jack, they don't trust her at all. They don't think it's enough that Jack trusts her. Good thinking, folks! They also talked about Locke going with the Others. They have no idea what he's doing or why.

At the meeting, Claire took a turn for the worse, vomiting blood. Jack tried to help her, but Juliet asked Kate to bring him over to her. When questioned why, she said, "I think I did it to her." She wanted to retrieve some serum placed by Ethan.

As she got it, Sayid and Sawyer snagged her. She told them a convoluted story about Ethan getting blood samples, the pregnancy bit, Claire was a "control case" and more. She also claimed that Ethan kidnapped Claire on his own -- nothing to do with her. But, without the injections of serum, she would die. "I can fix this."

She also told them that she doesn't understand how they became the "moral police." She brought up that Sayid never told the other crash victims the extent of his torture days, nor did James (Sawyer) tell about killing a man before getting on the plane. They looked stunned. She told them to skip the righteousness -- she needed to get the serum to Claire or there would be more blood on their hands. Wow, Juliet. I've gotta say, she is good!

After returning to the camp, Jack told Juliet that if the serum didn't work he couldn't protect her anymore. Oh, but of course it worked. Heck, we know it was a plan and Jack's a doofus to believe Juliet. Jack gave her supplies and pointed out an area for her to set up camp a bit away from the others.

"You want to get off the island as much as we do. You're one of us," Jack told Juliet.

LOST [clunk]

Now, I think the plan to save Claire is definitely a ploy to gain trust for Juliet. But I wonder about Sun's pregnancy. She obviously hasn't died. Juliet had told Ben that she thought whatever was killing the women happened at conception. Does this mean that Sun's baby is her dead lover's from previous to the flight?

And, what is that darn Locke up to?

Oh... and why the hell is Jack so gullible and trusting?

What is going to happen in a week when Ben sees Juliet again?

'Lost' - "Left Behind"

We seem to be in a fluff/not fluff episode pattern as this winter/spring season goes on. Last week's episode, while a bit disturbing at the end, really didn't advance the actual story much at all. This week the story advanced, we learned a few more things, and a few new questions arose.

That's Lost for you.

Last night's episode was Kate-centric and we learned a bit more about her background.

In Flashbacks:
Kate's in Iowa where her car has broken down. She introduced herself to the tow truck driver as Lucy. Once they arrived at the service station, the owner was about to call the police on a woman selling jewelry as he suspected a scam. Lo and behold, that woman was none other than Cassidy. You remember her, right? She's the woman who fell for Sawyer, became pregnant, and he took off with all her money.

Kate saved Cassidy from the cops being called when she claimed to know jewelry, then quickly bought a necklace and declared the goods the real thing. As the two women were left along, Kate told Cassidy she wanted her money back. Cassidy knew from instinct that Kate didn't just do her a good deed for nothing; Kate did herself a good deed. Kate didn't want the police to see her.

Kate admitted to Cassidy that she had killed her stepfather and was in Iowa to talk to her mother. She wanted to know why her mother turned her in to the police and knew the feds were watching. Cassidy told Kate her story -- how she was pregnant by a man she loved who stole her life savings.

Sure enough, when Cassidy dressed as Kate, U.S. Marshals immediately surrounded her. Kate told Cassidy that her stepfather beat her mother and that she (Kate) blew up the house with him inside after taking an insurance policy on the dwelling. She just had to know why her mother betrayed her. After all, she's her daughter and did it all for her.

In the diner where Kate's mother worked, Cassidy accidentally spilled a dish on the mom so that she would go into the ladies room where Kate was waiting. Kate asked her why and her mother would only say, "I loved him. You burned him alive. You did it for you. You did it for yourself." She told Kate she wouldn't tell the two men who are in the diner watching for her, but she never wanted to see her again.

As Cassidy and Kate split up, Kate wanted to know the name of the man who did Cassidy wrong. Cassidy didn't tell her even though Kate offered to go after him. Of course, it would have been interesting if Kate had learned exactly who Cassidy's man was, eh?

On the Island:
Kate's still handcuffed in the billiards room of the Others. Locke came it to say goodbye to her. He told her he was leaving with the Others and Jack would stay behind. When Kate asked if he was going home, he told her he didn't want to go home. And, he added that she could never come with them. They told him all about her, who she is and what she had done. There was no forgiveness. He left and Juliet arrived to deliver a sandwich. Kate tried to attack her, but Juliet's one tough cookie... she knocked her to the floor.

After getting up Kate saw the Others, including John Locke, rapidly packing and then putting on gas masks. Gas masks? Wham! A cannister of gas is thrown into her room.

She awoke outside in a field handcuffed to Juliet. Yes, you heard me right. As she tried to get a knife from Juliet's pocket, Juliet awoke. Neither knew what had happened and Juliet was unaware that the Others went away (and left her behind) until Kate told her.

As they discussed heading back, Juliet told Kate that Ben plays mind games with people -- it's his thing. A violent thunderstorm approached, so they took cover. Juliet told Kate that Jack had told her not to come back for him and, by doing so, she had ruined his chance to get off the island.

The somewhat mechanical stomping noises started as the monster, perhaps not exactly the smoke monster, went after them. So they ran and hid some more.

Juliet told Kate she wasn't aware of that monster. She also dislocated her shoulder for the fourth time. Since Kate was still going on about Jack, Juliet told her that Jack saw her with Sawyer on the monitors. It broke his heart. Juliet went on to say that Kate doesn't even know Jack, but she knows everything about him.

Then it was time for the smoke monster to chase them. They headed to the Barracks, but Kate stopped at the barrier fence. Juliet told her the fence had been deactivated, but Kate was leery

All of a sudden, Juliet magically had handcuff keys, unlocked her cuff, and headed to a power box on the fencepost. She got Kate through, then activated the fence. She said the smoke monster couldn't go through it, and she was indeed right.

When Kate questioned her about having the key all along, Juliet told her that she handcuffed herself to her because she had been left behind. She thought if they were stuck together, they may possibly overcome the past and she wouldn't be left behind by them, too.

They went on to rescue Sayid and Jack, also left behind by the Others. Kate went for Jack and cried about him not needing her help and how she screwed up things for him. She told him the Others had left without him. "Even Juliet?" "No, they left her behind, too."

"Now what?" "Now we go back."

Island Fluff Stuff:
Hurley, the devious rotund fellow he is, came up with a scheme to encourage Sawyer to be a nicer person. He told him that the folks on the island were planning to hold a vote to banish him (Sawyer) as he created so many problems. Sawyer fell for it and ran around being nice to Claire and Aaron, apologized to Hurley for calling him rotund, tried to gut a fish he caught on his own, went hunting with Desmond, killed a wild boar, threw a picnic... and so forth.

He found out it was all a hoax thanks to Charlie. "You tricked me into being decent!," he shouted at Hurley. Hurley told him that he was the best choice for the next leader as Jack, Locke, and Sayid were all gone. Sawyer said he didn't want to be a leader. Hurley pointed out Jack never wanted to be a leader, either.

And that was what happened. Now, it seems that the two monsters are definitely different. The first sounded mechanical and sort of stomped. The second was the actual smoke monster. Juliet knew the barrier fence would repel the smoke monster. What else does she know?

Will the survivors of Flight 815 believe that Juliet was really abandoned by her comrades? Where did they all go? And, what's Locke's position with them? All in all, a good episode! What did you think?

'Lost' - "Exposé"

Remember the episode a few weeks back which I called fun fluff? The one in which Hurley found the DHARMA Bus? It was a fun episode, but it was fluff as it really didn't have much to do with the ongoing storylines and didn't move things forward.

I feel last night's episode was also fluff. Oh, not fun fluff -- more of a disturbing fluff, but fluff nonetheless. Now, I'm not saying either episode wasn't entertaining. Both were entertaining and interesting. But they're both fluff for not moving the story forward. And, after the past few weeks of answered mysteries, fluff glares.

This episode reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where they did the whole thing backwards, starting from the ending and then leading to the actual beginning. Also, the episode addressed the two new characters, Nikki and Paulo, which were supposed to be introduced in the fall season premiere when they were supposedly caught having sex in Jack's tent. That scene got cut, and the show never explained the two new faces on the island at all.

The writers gave their mysterious appearance more than one nod in this episode, speaking for the audience via none other than Sawyer himself. Good. I'm glad he's as confused as the audience is! The episode was Paulo and Nikki-centric. Someone had to ask it... "Who the hell are Paulo and Nikki?"

In Flashbacks:
Nikki was working on the set of an Australian hit TV show which had stripper pole-dancer types working in some sort of undercover dealings led by their boss, played by Billy Dee Williams. Nikki played the character of Corvette in Exposé; a character who was killed off in the episode we saw "filmed."

Ah, but Nikki had a thing going on with the show's director, Howell (or is it Howard?) Zuckerman. No, she wasn't interested in him, per se. He was an old rich man. He was a target for Nikki and her boyfriend, Paulo. She poisoned him with something which would make it look like a heart attack. Then she and Paulo stole a nesting-doll which we'd later find out had a pouch or bag of diamonds worth eight million dollars.

They caught up on the news of his death as they waited to board Flight 815 out of Sydney. They saw Shannon and Boone pass through arguing and declared they would never become a bickering couple like that. They're too much in love, after all. Paulo put the nesting doll with its bag of diamonds and his nicotine gum together in a bag for the flight. He decided he would quit smoking so he could live longer with his true love, Nikki.

That's basically the content of the real flashbacks although the beginning of the story on the island was just about the end. Not quite the end, but it set forth the puzzle which would unravel. It's hard to explain, but I'll do my best.

On the Island:
Hurley and Sawyer were playing ping-pong when Nikki staggered out of the woods, collapsing in front of them. "Dude, Nikki's dead," said Hurley. "Who the hell is Nikki?," asked Sawyer. But she wasn't dead. She uttered something which sounded like "Paulo lies." Then, her eyes remained open as she died in front of Hurley, Jin, and Sawyer.

They checked -- there were no marks on her, no sign of trauma. Jin thought it was the island monster. Sawyer didn't think so. Was it poison? Heart failure? The Others?

They notice dirt under her nails and went the direction from which she had arrived.

There was Paulo, very dead with his eyes open, too. They dragged him back to the beach and put his body next to Nikki.

Sawyer produced a gun and decided he was going to do a "perimeter sweep." The phrase confused poor Hurley who must not watch serious crime shows, although he's thrilled by Exposé. When Hurley questioned Sawyer about where he got the gun, Sawyer told him "off of one of them," referring to Nikki and Paulo.

Leaving Sawyer, Hurley went to Desmond to ask if he knew anything. After all, Desmond has his "power." Nope, he didn't. But he told Hurley that he saw Sawyer and Nikki fighting over something earlier in the day.

Armed with that information, Hurley went to Charlie and Sun. Sun really thought that it was the Others who killed them because her own experience when kidnapped was so horrible. Charlie then confessed to her that he was the one who kidnapped her and that Sawyer wanted it to look like the Others did it. When confronted by Hurley and Sun, Sawyer said that the fight was because Nikki wanted the gun. Hurley demanded it back and we find out there were no bullets in it all along. Sawyer also found a walkie-talkie in Paulo's stuff which indicated he was working with the Others.

Sawyer found what Nikki was digging about -- a pouch of diamonds. He tried to give them to Sun who slapped him. The diamonds are worthless on the island. She told him she wouldn't tell Jin, as that would make another grave on the island.

They dug a large double-grave in the beach for Nikki and Paulo, both of their eyes were still open. Sawyer tossed the diamonds in as Hurley gave a eulogy. "They killed each other for diamonds." Sawyer once again asked, "Who the hell are they?" They covered the grave with a huge mound of dirt.

Oh, but that's not the whole story. In island quasi-flashbacks, the story of Nikki and Paulo's time on the island after the crash of Flight 815 was told. Hey, they were at the crash scene in the season opener and we just didn't notice them!

75 Days Ago: Nikki and Paulo are frantic to find their bag which contained the nesting doll diamond stash and Paulo's nicotine gum. Ethan told them the plane split into two parts and we saw Boone once again.

57 Days Ago: Nikki went to the now dead (exploded) school science teacher, Leslie Artz, to see if he could give her an idea on the trajectory of the other part of the plane. While there, she looks at his bugs. He told her about a Medusa spider as she looks at one jar. He reminds her of the mythological Medusa, after which the spider is named.

48 Days Ago: Paulo and Nikki were still searching for the bag. Paulo found it while in a pond, amongst seats of dead bodies from the crash. He found it and lied to her.

32 Days Ago: Paulo, chewing the nicotine gum, was burying the nesting doll of diamonds on the beach when approached by Locke. Locke told him "things don't stay buried here." Yes, it sounded a bit Stephen King-ish. He went on to explain that high tide was due and and beach erosion would un-bury the item. If he wanted to bury it, he should go inland.

Paulo went to the Pearl Hatch, something he and Nikki found during their search. They also found Yemi's plane. He hid the nesting doll in the tank of the toilet. But then Juliet and Ben arrived, apparently using the tunnel to get in. Paulo eavesdropped at they talked about making Jack do the surgery to save Ben. When Juliet asked Ben how he would get him to perform the surgery, Ben said, "Like I do with anyone. I'll find out what he's emotionally invested in and exploit it." They left and then Paulo left after pocketing a walkie-talkie he found in the monitor room.

9 Days Ago: Locke, Jack, and others are in the Pearl Station. Paulo, fearing his hiding place would be found, retrieves the pouch from the nesting doll, then smashes the doll itself to destroy the evidence.

12 Hours Ago: Paulo and Nikki were talking -- she's upset that they missed Thanksgiving two weeks ago. They talked about not finding the bag of diamonds was probably the best thing. They're all lovey-dovey. After all, the diamonds would have torn them apart. Paulo got up to get some wood (or something), Nikki picks up the nicotine gum package which fell from his pocket.

Knowing that Paulo lied to her, she then went to Sawyer to get a gun (hence the fight with Sawyer). As she leaves, Sawyer calls out to her, "Who the hell are you?"

8 Hours Ago: Nikki confronted Paulo with the gum package and told him she knows he has the diamonds. She figures they're hidden on him, and whips out a jar with a Medusa spider in it. As she lets it bite him on the neck and its venom does its stuff, she told him that the bite would paralyze him for about eight hours and it should strike quickly due to where he was bit. She retrieved the bag of diamonds from down in his pants and... wham... Medusa spiders! One bites her on the ankle. She buries the bag of diamonds quickly, then stumbles to the beach where she collapsed in front of Sawyer, Hurley, and Jin.

So, she didn't mumble "Paulo lies." She mumbled "Paralyzed." Now they're buried alive. Vincent, the dog, grabbed the blanket from them before they started the burial, so the dog may be aware they're alive. And, I have a feeling that Locke's statement about things not remaining buried on the beach may indicate they'll unbury themselves. Seeing as the last timeline given was eight hours and the effect of the venom is eight hours, they're just about unparalyzed.

It creeped me out as they buried them alive.

As I said, this was a very interesting episode. But, for the most part, all it did was explain Paulo and Nikki's appearance on the island. Is there any significance to the numbers in their island storyline? Yes, eight is a major Lost number and it's significant as the venom lasts eight hours. But the others?

Who the hell are Paulo and Nikki, anyway?

TV Newsy Bits - Monday, March 26, 2007

Remember, folks -- there is now a Dancing With the Stars blog discussion post for those who wish to discuss the show, just head here. I'll be reading the comments and you never know... you just might get me watching the show!

In actual TV Newsy Bits I found out there:

• BuddyTV has an exclusive interview with last night's losing team from The Amazing Race 11: All Stars, Teri and Ian.
• Celebrity Spider has an in-depth promo peek at next week's two-hour episode of The Amazing Race. Location and a bit of brouhaha mild spoilers, but not finish order or anything huge.
• Apolo Anton Ohno, now on Dancing With the Stars, announced his 2010 Winter Olympic plans to ET Online.
• The Los Angeles Times has an intriguing article about the John Locke character on Lost. Remember, I said long ago that Locke was the key to the island!
• Looking for unusual television and entertainment related bits, as well as viral videos? The relatively new This Just In website (a Time Warner joint venture between HBO and AOL) always has the odd. And, I enjoy odd, don't you?

TV Newsy Bits - Saturday, March 24, 2007

Oh, I'll be so happy when March Madness is history. It's been wreaking havoc with the schedule of my favorite CBS shows. Plus, the gentleman who lives downstairs, usually a quiet retired single man, has been having friends over and I keep hearing random cheering and booing during the game times. Another man and I were entering the elevator the other evening when we heard loud whoops. We turned to each other and said, "March Madness."

One good thing about the schedule changes on CBS this past week is that I actually watched the season one finale of The Wire on BET at 9 PM on Thursday. I generally don't catch it at that hour as I'm either watching C.S.I. or writing about Survivor. The episode of The Wire was so powerful, I think I'll be taping it when it re-airs at 1 AM tonight.

I am so hooked on the show! When the season two (in real life season four recently ended on HBO) starts, I noticed its start time is 10 PM (April 5). Now, that might be a doable time for me to watch the show without hunting it down in the middle of the night to tape it. I admit to cheating and have read ahead on the episode recaps on the main HBO site. I just can't get enough! I'm also looking forward to theme song change to Tom Waits from the Blind Boys from Alabama. I think that's such an interesting touch -- the same song, "Down in the Hole" by Tom Waits, sung by a different artist or group each season. Also, I now relate "The Farmer in the Dell" to Omar. Yikes.

Here are the TV Newsy Bits I found out and about on the web:

• Reality News Online has an interesting interview with self-proclaimed Survivor nerd/geek, Anthony Robinson. What does he really think of Rocky? An excerpt: "He lives on planet Rocky. In his world, he equates being an aggressive jerky loud in-your-face person with being a man. In my world, it’s just not. I live on a different planet than he does. There are some big men in the world who are quiet, calm, collected, and prefer to deal with people in a rational, civilized way."
• Heather Mills has placed her own wager that her artificial leg will stay on just fine during her time on Dancing With the Stars according to the Celebrity Spider. She thinks the websites with the bets are a lot of fun.
• Zap2It.com is reporting that this coming Tuesday's live performance show of American Idol will run overtime -- seven minutes into the the next hour, thus trying to take some of the Dancing With the Stars audience. They (FOX) claim it's because the show just won't fit into a mere hour. Yeah, right. Oh, it's a dog-eat-dog world, isn't it? Gwen Stefani (hey, someone who's popular now and someone whose talents I actually like) will be mentoring the top ten contestants.
• How did Tallahassee take to being the focus of the con man image on Lost this week? The local paper (online) has the reactions of men (and women) from Tallahassee. Also, Celebrity Spider has a detailed promo for next week's episode -- mild spoilers within.

'Lost' - "The Man From Tallahassee"

Now we know they're trying to spoil us with good episodes back-to-back! Another mystery solved, yet a new mystery posed. At least we're running even.

Tonight's episode was Locke-centric and the flashbacks sure weren't skimpy on this one. The time element for them was substantial and the back-story told was vital.

We didn't see Hurley's beat-up DHARMA-mobile (nor even Hurley); this wasn't a fun fluff episode. No time to fool around and have fun in this episode!

In Flashbacks:
John was receiving disability payments from the government for depression. (And, yes, he could walk at this point.) He bristled at being asked personal questions about his parents and then told the woman behind the desk at the disability office that he had stopped going to therapy as it was useless. She promptly temporarily suspended his benefits until he resumed.

In his dingy room he ate chicken while watching television when there was a knock on the door. It was a young man named Peter Talbot who wanted to ask questions about an Adam Seward who was about to marry his mother. "Why ask me?" Locke asked. Well, it was because he had donated a kidney to him. Of course, we knew him as Anthony Cooper, Locke's biological father and con man. Locke denied knowing him and told Talbot it was an anonymous recipient.

Locke then tracked down his father insisting that he call off the wedding. He knows that his father is just marrying her for yet another con job. The father agrees to do so. But, once a con man, always a con man.

Detectives show up at Locke's door asking about Talbot. After Locke denied knowing him, then claimed he was soliciting, they told him they had a slip of paper with his name and address from Talbot's pocket -- he had been murdered.

Locke confronted his father who (of course) denied killing Peter Talbot. He told Locke that he had been intending to call off the wedding when Talbot was killed and the timing hadn't been right to tell her. He said he was a con man, not a murderer. He then asked Locke to meet them both in his room and he'd call it off right in front of him. Oh, no! No intended bride, just a shove out of an eighth-story window. So now we know why Locke was in a wheelchair.

Locke's next flashback was in a hospital room being questioned by detectives. He's paralyzed not only from the fall, but with some sort of wheelchair-phobia. The orderly tries to get him in the chair and he cries and panics. Sheesh, he knows he's paralyzed. Why the silly fear of something which would offer some mobility? It was like a scene from "When Good Wheelchairs Go Bad" or something! I expected the music from Jaws to start up.

On the Island:
Sayid, Locke, Kate, and Rousseau are still peeping at Jack playing football with the Others like they're all great friends of his. Ben, in a wheelchair, and Juliet are on the scene now, all friendly with Jack. While Sayid is worried about safety, Locke proposes they approach Jack alone to see if he wants their help escaping.

Kate made it into the barracks and followed the sound of a piano playing. When she found Jack, he wasn't too thrilled to be found. He told her they were watching him. Sure enough, she's lunged on with guns and captured, along with Sayid. The others ask who else is with them and Kate told them that they were the only two. (Remember, Locke and Rousseau are somewhere around... Rousseau hiding in the woods.)

Locke had a different target. He went looking for Ben and found him. Ultimately, he was looking for the submarine. Ben told them there wasn't one, so Locke told him of Mikhail. Alex came into the room and Locke took her gun to the head to hide in the closet as someone approached. Ben told Richard (he's from that "Not in Portland" episode) to "bring the man from Tallahassee." Locke questioned if that was code. Ben laughed and said there was no code for "a man is holding my daughter in the closet with a gun."

Ben and Locke talked about the wheelchair -- the fact that Ben is in one and Locke no longer needs one. Ben questioned him on how he would pilot the sub, but admitted he knew that he had the C4 explosive and planned to destroy the sub. Ben told Locke he knew how he ended up in the wheelchair. Then he asked, "Did it hurt?" "Of course it did. I felt my back break."

As Ben and Locke talked, Kate and Jack were talking, too. Jack told Kate that all of the abducted were safe and lived there. He reminded her (rather adamantly) that he had told her not to come back for him. She claimed she didn't think he meant it. Jack told her he had made a deal to save Ben and was to leave the island with Juliet in the morning. Juliet arrived at that point and they left Kate.

Sayid was being held outside, chained to a swingset (or something). Alex had been sent by her father to get his pack. When she said that to the one holding Sayid, he said, "You look like your mother." When she said her mother was dead, he told her not to be sure about anything that they tell her. Bam. He gets a beat-down.

Back to Ben and Locke -- Locke is questioning about how they have power and such. Ben told him there would be a big problem if he blew up the submarine. He said that while he was born here, most of the others weren't. He has to have something to show them there's a way off the island and the sub was it. "You have a choice. I can show you things. I know the island better. There is a magic box and you just never know what may be inside. Jack and I made a deal. It's a one-way ticket. If the submarine goes, it can never come back due to the anomaly. I also promised him in front of my people."

So, Ben wants him to blow up the sub -- that's the way he keeps Jack and all of the people won't think he broke his word. As Alex walked Ben to the sub, she told him that Ben manipulates people, that's what he does best. Rousseau, in the woods, saw Alex and just froze.

Jack asked Ben for one last favor, to let his friends (Sayid and Kate) go free once he's off the island. Ben agreed it wouldn't serve him to keep them. Juliet thanked Ben for keeping his promise and both head to the dock. Locke approaches them, all wet. He looks at Jack. "Sorry, Jack." BOOM, the sub blows up.

The scenes cut to Locke all chained up. Ben yelled that he had really done it now. Locke protested, saying that he knew that Ben wanted the submarine blown up all along as he knew the C4 was in Sayid's pack.

Ben told him that to let Jack go would have been a sign of failure, but he couldn't break his word. So Locke came along and made a dream come true. Back to the magic box... "When I asked if it hurt, I meant did it hurt to know your own father tried to kill you?" He told Locke that he knew he communed with the island not only because he didn't need the wheelchair, but it was the one place his father could never find him.

"I want to help you. Let's go look in the magic box."

In there was Locke's father, bound and gagged on a chair.

LOST [thunk]

Okay, what I'm wondering is if his father (the man from Tallahassee) is really there or something like the smoke monster thing. A shape-shifter? An idea put in John Locke's head?

Tonight's Schedule: 'Survivor 14: Fiji' - 'American Idol 6' Results Show - 'Lost'

It's going to be a busy night for me (and my TV). Here's the lowdown:

8 PM EDT: Survivor 14: Fiji - I'll post East Coast Updates on important events and the boot as the show airs here in the NYC area. A full review/recap should be posted late tonight.

9 PM EDT: American Idol 6 Results Show - Stop back here by 9:30 PM EDT to see who got voted off the show, as well as the entire bottom three. I'll be posting and updating an East Coast Update entry as the show progresses, but won't be writing full review/recap later.

10 PM EDT: Lost - I'll be watching, taking screen shots, and writing notes. Due to the late hour (and the fact that my Survivor recap probably won't be up yet), a full review/recap should be posted sometime early tomorrow evening after I return home from work.

Stop on back!

'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...

'Lost' - "Enter 77"

Last week's episode was fun fluff. This week's episode was intense. Lots of action, some mysteries addressed to an extent, new territory explored (and exploded) -- it was the type of episode I like to see. Graphic artist Zoetawny created a new Lost tag for me. She rocks, y'know!

Although the episode was Sayid-centric this week, it seemed to me that there wasn't as much focus on him as many of the others received during their character-specific shows. Usually the flashbacks are about even with the new show content, but there was overwhelmingly more new show stuff tonight rather than focusing on the past.

The Flashbacks
Sayid was working as a sous-chef in Paris under the name Najeev when a customer complimented him on the meal he cooked and offered him a job. It turned out to be just a ruse to capture him. The husband believed that Sayid was the Iraqi who tortured his wife and burnt her arms. He decided to torture Sayid as Sayid had done to his wife.

Sayid kept denying he was responsible until confronted alone by the wife. Then he weeped and admitted his guilt. "Yes, I remember you. Your face has haunted me." With a cat on her lap, she told him that since she was burned, she refused to leave her home. Some children were torturing the cat in the alley below and she left to save it. She claimed it gave her reason to leave. While the cat clearly adores her, it sometimes bites or scratches. She believes it does so because it forgets that it's safe. She knows what it's like to never feel safe.

After he admitted guilt and apologized, she planned to let him go. She told him she'd tell her husband that she was mistaken... he wasn't the one who tortured her. She refuses to be one who will torture, do that or be like that.

On the Island
The beach scenes were basically fluff with no mention of the DHARMA bus from last week. This week Hurley found a ping-pong table. (He's finding a lot of stuff lately, isn't he?) He came across Sawyer who's still fussing about his missing stuff. The never-introduced to us due to a cut scene Paulo told him that everyone shared everything. And, the writers must read our thoughts... Sawyer turned to him and said, "Who the hell are you?"

It turns out Sawyer had the ball and would only give it if he could play for the return of his stuff. Jin and Sun decided if he loses, no nicknames for anyone for a week. Little did he know, Hurley is practically a pro at ping-pong. So, no nicknames for a week and there was our fluff.

Meanwhile in the woods, Kate, Sayid, Locke, and Rousseau were on their mission to save Jack. Sayid saw a horse and a structure with a satellite dish through the trees. He gave the others his gun and tried to approach. As he went by the horse, they showed a camera shot of the saddle and stirrups, but I didn't understand then why they showed it. I would soon enough. Rousseau had left Locke and Kate to wait by the stream as she "avoids confrontations like this." She had never seen the place before.

As Sayid approached the structure which was more like a shack than a house from the outside, he passed a sitting cat. The cat looked just like the one from the flashback. [Cue LOST thunk] Before he could walk to the door, the Eye Patch Dude we saw on the monitor some episodes back shot him in the shoulder. Sayid insisted he was unarmed. The man shouted, "You crossed the line! We had a truce! You said I could stay here and you'd leave me alone!"

Sayid, joined by Locke and Kate, convinced the Patch Dude that they had crashed on a plane and they weren't the "hostiles" he thought them to be. He told them his name was Mikhail Bakunin and that he was the last living member of DHARMA. He told them after he left the Soviet Army, he joined DHARMA by replying to a newspaper advertisement which read "Would you like to save the world?" (Shouldn't they save the cheerleader first? Oops, wrong show.)

Mikhail said that he refused to go to war with the "hostiles" -- his name for the Others. DHARMA lost the purge and he was offered a truce. He couldn't go into the valley and they wouldn't cross the line where he was stationed. His place is known as the Flame Station. It was the center for communication with the outside world, yet the equipment didn't work. He also told them that the hostiles were on the island before DHARMA.

He gave Sayid medical aid, removing the bullet from his shoulder with skill and ease. As Kate explored around, she found odd things like huge sides of beef in industrial sized refrigerators. (Or.. people! Soylent Green... it's people! Okay, I think it was beef.) Locke found a computer room with a chess-playing program all in motion as if it was waiting for him.

Mikhail offered to cook them dinner and advised Locke that the computer cheats and always wins. Locke balked at that saying only humans cheat. He told them the doppelganger-cat was named Nadia after Nadia Comaneci, the gymnast. What Locke and Kate didn't realize was that Sayid knew Mikhail wasn't being honest and most certainly, wasn't alone. Those horse stirrups were the clue that tipped him off... they were set too short for a man Mikhail's size.

While Locke messed with computer (why does he do that?), Mikhail realized that Kate and Sayid were onto him. They captured him and knocked him unconcious. Then Locke peeked in. (What is with him?) Sayid and Kate went to search for the other person and anything else of interest, leaving Locke in charge of the captive Mikhail.

They noticed a basement hatch and explored where it led, coming across explosives and DHARMA manuals, as well as a map. The whole place is rigged with C4 explosives set to detonate. Oh... they also found the other Other, a woman that Kate recognized from the dock kidnapping, Miss Klugh.

Oh, but that silly Locke. The computer was prompting him to take his chess turn, so what does he do? He takes his eyes off of his prisoner and plays chess! Argh. He wins and is very satisfied that the computer didn't cheat, he was right. But then the computer went into some kind of overide mode. "Enter 38 for Mainland Communications." "Enter 56 for sonar access." So, he did. The computer said that communications and access were both down. "Enter 77 for invasion of hostiles." All of the time, the DHARMA training tape was cutting in and out.

Bam! Mikhail grabs Locke. When Kate and Sayid get upstairs, they have a stand-off outside of the station. They have a gun on Miss Klugh and Mikhail has one on Locke. Klugh spoke very heatedly to Mikhail in Russian, apparently telling him to shoot her. So, he did.

Oh, but what had Locke done? He hit the darn ENTER 77! Argh again. Before they could grab anything out of The Flame Station, it blew sky-high. At least Sayid had the map to the Barracks with him. He said he would decide the fate of Mikhail. They met up with Rousseau by the stream leaving Nadia the Cat looking just a bit forlorn.

Great episode!

'Lost' - "Tricia Tanaka is Dead"

And, she certainly is... dead, that is.

While I enjoyed watching this episode, I'd have to label it as "fluff." Fun fluff, but fluff nonetheless. It didn't answer any questions, but at least it didn't bring up any new major mysteries.

The episode was Hurley-centric, something we really haven't seen in a while. It was a bit shmaltzy and contrived, I thought.

In Flashback:

A young and cute Hurley likes to work on cars. One won't start and he insisted to his father that it needed a new carburetor. His father, played once again by Cheech Marin (of Cheech and Chong fame), relied on hope to start it. "Having hope is never stupid. You make your own luck." Then he vanished from his family for seventeen years.

The flashbacks fast-forwarded to after Hurley won the lottery as the show went on, going more into how he felt cursed and folks died around him. He bought a Mr. Cluck Chicken Shack and became the boss of his ex-boss. While a television news reporter, Tricia Tanaka, was doing a news story about the grand opening, a meteor crashed through the restaurant killing her and burning Mr. Cluck to the ground. So, yes. She is dead.

His father returned after his extended absence as Hurley was packing to go to Australia. Since he believes the lottery numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) are cursed and he got them there while in rehab, he feels he must return. It turns out his mother had called his father and the "dad" was supposedly worried about him. He took Hurley to a gypsy who admitted for $10,000 that the father had set up the whole "get rid of the curse" act at the request of his father. His father told him he should give away the money (to him, I think he hopes). And, once again, he told Hurley that you make your own luck. Oh, and Hurley actually still had the car featured in the first flashback.

On the Island:
Hurley told Libby's grave the story of the big kidnapping. He thinks he can only talk to her and misses her. Charlie told Hurley that Desmond told him he was going to die (had actually died twice, but was saved). Hurley, but of course, is sure it's all his fault as he's cursed.

Vincent (the dog) came up to them with an almost mummified human arm, hand intact, in his mouth. Dangling from the wrist of the arm was a lucky rabbit's foot and a key on a chain. Hurley, who we now know is a car fanatic, recognized the key as a car key and got all excited, wanting to find the car on the island.

At the camp, Sun told Jin that she was only going to speak to him in English apparently trying to increase his skills in the language. Jin was the only one willing to go with Hurley to find the car.

There it was, overturned in the woods, with a skeleton (whose arm was gone missing) behind the wheel. The skeleton had a DHARMA uniform with "Roger Work Man" embroidered on its chest. So, Hurley decided his name must be Roger Workman. The vehicle itself was a late 60s VW Microbus with a DHARMA insignia in place of the VW one on its front. As they tried to remove Roger so they could get the vehicle upright, his head fell off and rolled to the floor.

Roger apparently had been on a beer run as the van had several cases of DHARMA beer within.

As they worked on the van, Kate and Sawyer returned to the camp and a happy reunion was had by all. Well, that was until Sawyer saw his belongings had all went missing... including his expensive Scotch. Charlie and Desmond 'fessed up and implicated Hurley. Sawyer went to confront him so he could yell at him, too. Charlie tried to get Desmond to tell him when he'd die, but Desmond told him it doesn't work that way.

Instead, he got a bear hug and Hurley told him he could have the beer from the microbus. Of course, as Sawyer reached in, he came across the skull of Roger first. Sawyer told Hurley that Roger had to be a janitor as it was "Work Man" and not "Workman" on the uniform. They righted the van and Sawyer imbibed beers with his new bud, Roger. He also gave Jin English lessons telling him the only things he needs to talk to a woman:

1. I was wrong.
2. I'm sorry.
3. No, that doesn't make you look fat.

Hurley convinced Charlie, Sawyer, and Jin to push the microbus hoping he could pop the clutch to jump-start it as the battery was shot. They pushed it to the edge of a very steep valley which had huge boulders, trees, and stuff about midway down. Sawyer told him it was too dangerous, but Hurley decided "you make your own luck" and there was no curse. Charlie jumped in for the ride.

Sure enough, just before a certain death by boulder, Hurley popped the clutch and it started up. When the engine started up, the radio was blaring "Shambala" by Three Dog Night (also playing in the first flashback scene of the show). All four went for a joy-ride with some beer-imbibing happening, too.

Heading back to camp with a case or two of beer, Sawyer took a moment to note that everyone had a sort of a partner (or more) except himself. Aw, that's what he gets for being surly most of the time.

Meanwhile, Kate decided that she had to save Jack despite her promise to him. She sought out out the French woman, but instead ran into Sayid and Locke who were tracking her. They wanted to help her, but... bang! A shot rang out! The maid screamed! Wait, there's no maid. It was Rousseau, the French woman. Kate told her that her daughter Alex is with them and she needed her help.

Lost [clunk]

So, that's that. It didn't really move the story forward much, as I mentioned. Now, mind you, I thought it was an enjoyable enough episode, but...!

'Lost' - "Stranger in a Strange Land"

Well, I think I enjoyed the novel of the same name a bit better. ABC hyped and hyped this episode claiming we would have the answers to three of the mysteries. Hmmm... yes, they answered the meaning of Jack's tattoo, but then brought up the possibility of another meaning.

As for the other two mysteries, I think things are a bit murky. I believe the questions where exactly do the Others really live and why do they abduct the children. Or, maybe one mystery was why Jack saved Ben. If you think anything else was remotely addressed, let me know. I may be missing something.

This episode was Jack-centric and I'm beginning to think I prefer when they focus on Locke, Sayid, Charlie, and the others who weren't captured by the Others. I like smoke monsters and giant polar bears. I'm kind of tired on the ongoing love-triangle drama between Kate, Sawyer, and Jack.

In Flashbacks
The flashback segments brought us back to when Jack was living the easy life in Phuket, Thailand. He met a young woman named Achara while helping a young boy with a kite (which Jack himself had no clue how to fly). They struck it off well together, shared a bed, shared dinners at her brother's restaurant and were having a great ol' time of life.

When he mentioned his father, she told him she didn't want to hear about him. "You are here to find yourself." And, then she told him that she had "a gift." No, not the kind of gift you give someone, more like a special power sort of thing.

Jack was intrigued by Achara's mystery and followed her to find her going into what I thought was a brothel. Hey, she was dressed hooker-ish, high-class hooker, but hooker indeed. I was wrong, though. It was a tattoo parlor of sorts. She told him that she "can see who people are" and make special tattoos for them. She refused to tell Jack "who he is," but said he was a leader and a great man who gets very angry. She reluctantly put his tattoo on him, but warned him there would be consequences.

Jack returned to the beach where he frightened the child he had helped earlier. Achara's brother and a group of men came along, looked at the tattoo and stomped Jack senseless telling him to leave the beach, leave the country.

On The Island - Kate, Sawyer, and Karl
Sawyer, Kate, and Karl were still where we last left them -- rowing to their island. Kate wanted to go back for Jack, but Sawyer nixed the Freckles... and blah, blah. Karl came to for a moment to tell them that "God loves you as he loved Jacob."

Sawyer and company land on the island to make camp overnight. Sawyer and Kate kept arguing, Karl spoke again. "You shouldn't fight. You're lucky to be alive."

They asked Karl about the Others. He told them that the Others didn't live on "that" island, they lived on this one (where 815 crashed). That island was only used for projects. When asked why they abducted the children, he told them it was to give them a better life. When pressed "a better life than whose," he told them, "A better life than yours." We found out he has no clue who the Brady Bunch were, but he did have a backyard when growing up.

Karl is bereft without his beloved Alex. Sawyer, kind soul that he is, told him to "Cowboy up!" When Sawyer told him if he loved her that much, he should go back to get her, Karl told him that if he did, he'd be killed this time.

That got Sawyer thinking about his own situation with Kate (and Sawyer). He told her she only was with him the one time because she thought he was a dead man. The main island scenes ended with Karl star-gazing and a shot of Alex doing the same -- something they used to do together.

The Other Island - Jack, Ben, and More
Jack was being moved from the dry dolphin tank area to the cages so that the Others could put Juliet in the tank. No, they're not happy that she shot the one who tried to kill Sawyer and Kate. She's a prisoner and they (Jack and Juliet) cross paths in handcuffs to their destinations.

There's a new sheriff in town and her name is Isabel. Jack later found out that Ben, if he could be, is still the leader and Isabel is just his top gun... or something to that effect.

Juliet, accompanied by guards, asked Jack if he would help Ben. Despite her own predicament, she had been asked to check his failing condition. His sutures show signs of infection and it could be life-threatening. Jack pressured her to tell him why she's in trouble and she told him she just killed someone. She asked that he attend to Ben as a personal favor. Jack doesn't want to help either Ben or Juliet, no way, no how.

Isabel stopped by his cage and started to speak Chinese. She mentioned his tattoo. Jack said that he had been lying when he told Tom that Juliet asked him to kill Ben. When asked why he was lying for Juliet, he said he wasn't. He was lying so his friend could escape.

Jack was put back in the polar bear cage and we endured a flashback incident in Thailand. Upon returning our view to the cage, it was almost like the cage was in an actual zoo with folks milling about looking at the animals (Jack).

Jack recognized some of the Taillies -- folks from the tail section of the plane who were abducted as they were being led by Ana Lucia. One of them, Cindy, spoke with him. She told Jack they were watchers, just there to watch. Um, okay. They didn't know that Ana Lucia had died. He tried pressing for more information, but she was frightened and left. One of the abducted children, Zach, turned to look at Jack while clutching his teddy bear. He looked very eerie, for the lack of a better word.
After the watchers scattered, Alex came along and broke the surveillance camera to the cage. She demanded to know why Jack saved Ben. He told her that he would answer her questions when she answered his about Juliet -- where was she, what was happening. Alex told him she had killed "one of us." The penalty would be death, an eye for an eye and all that. Jack then told her that he saved Ben because he said he would. He demanded she get him out of the cage.

He went to Ben and attended his infection on the basis of Ben saving Juliet. Ben gave a note to the trial folks and Isabel despite telling Jack that Juliet doesn't care anything about him because "she's one of us."

Jack was told by Alex that Juliet's life would be spared, but she would be a "marked woman." They branded her back with a mark sort of like this -- >|<. Juliet brought him a sandwich and told them that everyone (including him) had to head back to the other island. Isabel later came along and told him that his tattoo means "He walks amongst us, but he's not one of us." Jack denied that meaning and I have to say that something stronger had to set off Achara's brother for the beating and exile. The Others and Jack rowed out to a large ship and [Lost clunk]...

All in all, I preferred last week's episode. How about you?