LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Episode 24, Exodus part 2

On-island Events: As Sayid prepares the beach group to head to the caves, Charlie asks him for a gun to protect Claire; Sayid refuses. As Hurley marvels at the spectacle of The Black Rock, Rousseau takes her leave of the group. Inside the ship, Jack and Locke discover its background as a slave vessel and Kate finds the dynamite. Arzt explains the dangers inherent in unpacking the dynamite but suddenly explodes in the process.

Shannon becomes emotional as she attempts to bring Boone's things along to the caves; Sayid validates her worries and offers to help. Hurley admits to Kate that he's bad luck and blames himself for Arzt's death. Jack and Locke work together to carefully unpack and transport the dynamite. Rousseau returns to the beach, shouting for Sayid, but in speaking with Claire, stirs up a memory of Claire scratching her in the dark. Charlie returns with Sayid to discover that Rousseau has taken the baby from Claire. Sayid reasons that Rousseau has taken the baby to give to the others who took her own child sixteen years ago; Claire begs Charlie to bring the baby, which she has suddenly named Aaron, back to her.

When the group reaches the caves, Sun asks Shannon if she thinks they're being punished by fate, but Claire is adamant there is no such thing. While resting near the Nigerian plane on the way to the black smoke, Sayid shows Charlie the heroin inside the Virgin Mary statues. As they return to the hatch with the dynamite, Hurley asks John what he thinks is inside the hatch. "Hope," Locke replies.

The Raft: The group sails by the unexplored edge of the island and marvels at its vastness; Sawyer sings Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," which catches Michael's interest. Michael explains the transmitter and radar screen to Walt while Sawyer reads everyone's messages from the bottle. As Michael shows Walt how to sail and Walt asks important questions about his parents' relationship, the raft hits something and the rudder breaks off. Sawyer swims off to retrieve it and Michael discovers Sawyer's gun in his shirt.

Flashbacks: In the airport before the flight, Jin encounters one of Paik's spies who knows he plans to run away with Sun and who threatens him. Charlie rummages about a hotel room searching for heroin, fighting a woman for the last remnants. Michael struggles to connect with his son and calls his mother to ask her to care for Walt when they return to New York. Michael ends the call, exclaiming, "He's not supposed to be mine!"

Greater Meaning: In the middle of all the action (kidnapping, explosions, raft in peril), important ideas are being reiterated concerning the characters. While Exodus part one showed several instances of change as well as stubbornness versus adaptability through current island events compared with flashbacks, this episode seems to expand on the same concepts while adding adding an element of redemption (pinpointed in Jin's case by Sawyer's song on the raft thus providing us with a well-defined theme). Jin had formerly been a criminal under Paik's employ, but has changed significantly both personally and professionally, if fishing skills and the building of the raft are to be considered to be occupational. Charlie has successfully kicked his drug habit and continues to write songs and be musical but he's added the role of caregiver and protector of Claire and Aaron to his duties. Michael's devotion to Walt hasn't changed, he's always loved his son, but the flashbacks take us through the challenges the two have faced while also showing Michael's frustration and desperation in those moments.

Together with Exodus part one, and through all of the previous episodes we've seen, LOST has given us a group of seriously flawed characters, each in need of his or her own unique redemption. The raft group (arguably minus opportunist Sawyer) redeems itself for past ills by working together to seek rescue; Charlie redeems himself through his devotion to Claire. Sawyer is a special character as he is motivated not by redemption but instead vengeance, however the Marley song is significant as it hints he may unconsciously be seeking what he sings about eventually (despite his actions thus far) suggesting he's just not there yet. He could have chosen to sing Skynyrd or Hank Williams just as he could have chosen to solely read rifle or porn magazines on the island, but he didn't. Sawyer is flawed like the others, but with complicated criminal influences (ala Kate, Sayid, and Jin), which is a direct contrast to people like Jack, Locke, Hurley, Sun, and Claire.


Further Questions:

1. Will the raft be okay?
2. Will Sawyer need the gun?
3. Will Charlie and Sayid get Aaron back?
4. Is Rousseau's daughter still on the island?
5. Will the others allow Rousseau to trade Aaron for her daughter?
6. Will the dynamite project work?
7. Will Charlie relapse after seeing the Virgin Mary statues?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 23, Exodus part 1

On-Island Events: Walt sees Rousseau lurking around the camp at the beach and alerts the rest of the survivors. Rousseau shares her history with the group; she had been seven months pregnant when her team came to the island. She delivered a baby girl that was taken a week later by others, whose presence was preceded by a pillar of black smoke. Rousseau insists the others are returning to take everyone, and the choices are to run, hide, or die.

Michael leads the group in preparing the raft for launch but Walt notices black smoke off in the distance.

Jack, Locke, and Hurley consider hiding everyone in the hatch and make plans to get dynamite in the jungle to blast it open. In the jungle, Sawyer discloses his experience with Christian Shephard to an emotional Jack and the two part ways. Charlie arranges a bottle for the survivors to write messages to give to the raft crew for when they get rescued as Jack, Kate, Locke, Hurley, and Rousseau head into the jungle for dynamite. Locke notices scratches on Rousseau's arm, which she claims to be from a bush. Rousseau leads the group through the dark territory toward their destination, the black rock, where she explains the rest of her crew was infected. Arzt decides to abandon the mission but is chased back by the island's monster. As it growls, clicks, and knocks over trees, Rousseau, Jack and Kate hide while Locke encourages Hurley to be calm and wait it out. Rousseau suggests the monster is a security system, meant to protect the island; the Black Rock is revealed to be an ancient slave
ship.

As the raft crew makes ready to depart, Walt gives Vincent to Shannon and Sun presents Jin with a book of useful English phrases for the journey. The raft proves to be seaworthy; the survivors cheer and wave goodbye to Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin. The last image to be seen is the pillar of black smoke rising up from the jungle.

Flashbacks detail the survivors' last moments just before boarding Oceanic 815: Michael struggles in parenting Walt in a hotel room; Jack meets a woman named Ana Lucia in a bar. Sawyer is revealed to be an experienced criminal James Ford by Australian police and is banned from ever returning to the country. Kate, in the marshal's custody, attacks him after he taunts her attachment to Tom's toy airplane. In the airport, Sayid leaves his luggage with Shannon, who bickers with Boone and later reports Sayid to a security officer for the sake of being difficult. Sun accidentally spills coffee on Jin while an American couple look on and make rude comments.

Greater Meaning: By providing six different flashback experiences, the episode is broader than any of the previous. Focusing on multiple survivors gives a sense of big events culminating, a large conclusion in the works that will affect each survivor as well as the entire group, but the mystery of two separate narratives is also important. The raft has set sail, exposing its crew to new experiences and new dangers (in such a tiny, confined space, how will the three men who have had multiple conflicts in the past get on with each other? and what about sharks, or storms at sea?), but if Rousseau is to be believed, others are coming to the beach. The title of the episode, Exodus, is significant, but Jack or Locke seem more of a Moses character than Michael or Sawyer, might the title be referring to an into-the-jungle exodus rather than one into the sea on a raft? Are there two exoduses at play here?

Michael and Walt have come a long way since their difficulties in the flashback, so has Shannon. Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Sun, and Jin seem to be wrestling with many of the same issues they'd had before the crash, namely ghosts from their past relationships or crimes, or in Sun and Jin's case, with each other. What does this say about the needs of each of these major players in the narrative? How will the events of either getting rescued or evading attacks from others affect who these survivors are and how they interact with each other? Sawyer and Kate were both previously criminals, and so was Jin. Jack's medical skills have proven useful on the island but is he good at leading? Sun seemed to be marginalized in early episodes but has begun to emerge as more than just a controlling criminal's wife and an interesting character on her own. What part does adaptation play in these characters' successes on the island, and who's had the most trouble with it? Major changes have happened, but not necessarily to everyone in the same measure.

Further Questions:

1. Will the raft succeed in finding rescue?
2. Can Rousseau be trusted?
3. How did The Black Rock wind up in the middle of the jungle?
4. Will they succeed in blasting open the hatch?
5. Are others really coming?
6. Will Jin ever get rid of the handcuff on his wrist?
7. What happened to Ana Lucia?
8. Are there more survivors we haven't met yet?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Episode 22, Born to Run

Events: In flashbacks, Kate colors her hair from blond to brown and receives a letter that makes her cry. She surprises a doctor friend, Tom, and tells him that her mother Diane is dying of cancer. She visits Tom in his home, who arranges for her to see Diane the next day and together they dig up a time capsule. Tom's toy plane is inside, along with a recorded tape from 1989. On the recording, a young Tom predicts the two will be married but a young Kate suggests they run away. When Tom comments, "you always want to run away, Katie," Kate replies, "yeah, and you know why." When Kate visits her mother, Diane reacts fearfully, screaming for help. Kate and Tom leave in Tom's car but Tom is fatally shot by police in pursuit.

On the island, Dr. Arzt encourages Michael to finish the raft and leave the island quickly while Sayid and Locke introduce Jack to the hatch. Kate approaches Michael about getting on the raft, but Michael has promised the open spot to Sawyer. Without warning, Michael becomes violently ill, and Jack discovers someone drugged Michael's water. Michael suspects Sawyer, who in turn exposes Kate's fake passport. Kate admits she was in the marshal's custody and was headed for prison but insists that she didn't poison Michael. Jack confronts Sun and she admits that she attempted to poison
Jin to keep him on the island; later it's revealed that this had been Kate's idea all along. As John Locke encounters Walt at the caves, Walt places his hand on Locke's wrist and implores him not to open it (the hatch).

Greater Meaning:We see that Diane clearly has a problem with her daughter, so who wrote the letter? There was money inside it as well, was this from Kate's father, whoever he might be? When Kate said the toy airplane belonged to the man she killed, she obviously meant Tom, but technically, Kate didn't kill him. Kate's life is messy and has a lot of conflicting stuff going on. There's a case being made for Kate's untrustworthiness---can she be trusted? The previous episodes have shown her to be skilled in the outdoors, brave, and empathetic toward the other survivors, aligning her with Jack and Locke's variety of leadership, but her past is shady and she seems evasive, even standoffish, right down to her core, which is very much like Sawyer.

Further Questions:

1. Will they ever open the hatch?
2. Does Kate ever reconcile with her mother?
3. How many crimes has Kate committed?
4. Will they launch the raft on time?
5. What did Tom mean about Kate not ever wanting to go home?
6. Why does Walt not want Locke to open the hatch, does he know something about it?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, Episode 17 . . . In Translation

Events: Brought about by a disagreement over Sun's choice in swimwear, Jin alarms the survivors with his possessive behavior over his wife. Michael attempts to intervene on Sun's behalf, but is slapped by Sun. Later, Sun apologizes to Michael for her actions and tries to convince Kate that she's doing the right thing, that Jin wasn't always so controlling.


The flashbacks show this to be true; Jin was a kind and tender husband, very much in love with Sun. In order to win Sun's hand in marriage, Jin agreed to work for her father, Mr. Paik, as an enforcer in the negative and violent aspects of his business. Jin is not initially violent in nature, but the episode suggests that he became so over time in order to please Mr. Paik and to provide Sun the luxurious lifestyle she expected. Eventually Jin seeks the advice of his father, a poor fisherman, who tells him to escape with Sun to America and to cut ties with Mr. Paik in order to save the marriage.

With everyone already suspicious of Jin because of his interactions with both Sun and Michael, Jin is blamed with the raft is set on fire. Sawyer assaults Jin and brings him to the beach where everyone begins shouting at him. Sun stops Michael from assaulting Jin by screaming in English. John Locke tries to shift the aggression off of Jin onto the others on the island and later reveals that Walt was the one who burned the raft. Jin leaves Sun in the caves and shows up the next morning with harvest bamboo for Michael's second raft.

Greater Meaning: Until now there had not been very many opportunities to empathize with Jin.
We'd seen controlling behavior before and a violent overreaction with Michael over Mr. Paik's watch, which were negative situations, and a few happy moments in Sun's flashbacks of the early days of their engagement and marriage. Seeing Jin bend to Paik's will and become violent does spark empathy for his struggle, as does his apology to his own father for his shame and the on-island scene of the beach confrontation. Jin is innocent of the crime of which he's being accused, but cannot understand what anyone is yelling at him or defend himself. Sun's ability to speak English was another major blow in a long line of major blows, and for better or for worse, he decides to help Michael, someone who he'd had nothing but trouble with until then to presumably see his own way off the island. As we saw in House of the Rising Sun, Sun had been prepared to leave Jin just before the Oceanic flight took off and crashed, and here, with Jin's father, it's shown that Jin was also troubled over the relationship. There seems to be a great deal yet unsaid about the goings-on of the Kwon's marriage, Sun's English, and Jin's secrets of his own. Jin and his father were shown to be caring and interacted easily with one another. Although his actions in the recent past have been unpleasant, it's as if we're being told not to give up on Jin just yet.

Worth noting is the fact that Hurley twice shows his empathy toward Jin, first when he tries to invite Jin to play golf, and second, when Michael charges Jin on the beach Hurley (with Jack) tries to keep the peace. Sawyer instigates aggression while John Locke reasons out Jin's innocence and blames the island's "others." How does Locke know what he knows? He's wrong about who burned the raft (he later discusses this with Walt) but knew enough to convince the group that it wasn't Jin. Walt and Locke both admit they like it on the island, and we've seen insight into Locke's particular reasoning for this. Locke's knowledge of the island and his concern over the "others" seem to suggest Locke may be in this for more than the short-term, raft or no raft.

Further Questions:

1. Did something major happen between Jin and Mr. Paik?
2. Why did Sun learn English and hide it from Jin?
3. Are there bigger reasons for Walt's wanting to stay on the island?
4. Was Locke just deflecting blame away from Walt or is he really worried about others on the island?
5. Will Jin and Sun reconcile?
6. Did Mr. Paik ever find out about Jin's father?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 13, Hearts and Minds

Stay away from her.

Events: Boone is having a hard time with Shannon and Sayid's budding friendship and expresses discomfort over lying to her about the hunting expeditions (hatch-digging excursions) with John. Through flashbacks we learn that Boone's relationship with Shannon has been put to the test through abuse and money issues, but more importantly, that Boone and Shannon happened to be in Sydney at the same time Sawyer was having his own little run-in with the Australian police. Boone's flashback also shows that the two are step-siblings and that Shannon manipulated Boone into having a fling that she got over but he didn't.

After John decides that Shannon's behavior has too strong a hold over Boone, he knocks him out, ties him up, and smears a botanical paste over his open head wound before leaving him alone in the jungle. Boone awakens to Shannon's screams and sees that she too has been bound. The bellowing black smoke attacks them both, chasing them through the jungle where eventually it seizes Shannon and leaves her to die on near a stream. Boone finds John and accuses him of causing Shannon's death, but John reveals to Boone he hallucinated the whole thing--Shannon is alive and well.

Greater Meaning: While the episode focuses around two of the supporting characters, Boone and Shannon, much effort was spent on John Locke's strategies as a would-be leader. Boone's attention (and devotion) is important to John, who has put the hatch above everything else on the island, even hunting, so John forces a decision on Boone with the help of whatever hallucinogen he smeared on his head. This is similar to what he did with Charlie's heroin addiction; for whatever reason, John Locke has showed a strong, consistent faith that the people he puts in these situations will emerge victorious. Locke's ability to read people seems to be highly developed, and he uses this to his advantage as a leader in a way that Jack does not. Now, on the island, Locke is confident and comfortable with himself where Jack is comfortable only in relation to his medical experience (off-island).

The questions of hunting boar, catching fish, and planting a garden all speak to the group's sustainability and continued survival on the island. It seems now pretty clear that no rescue is coming, so what they do, how they get along, and how they use the island is all the more important, which is something John seems to have embraced from the very beginning. As Jack is reacting, John is planning. Strategizing. The proverbial "hearts and minds" mean more to John than anyone else on the island.

Further Questions: 

1. Is Claire safe?
2. What is inside the hatch?
3. Will Shannon and Sayid hook up?
4. Will Jin and Michael bury the hatchet?
5. Why has Sun been hiding her English from Jin?
6. How did Jin get to be such a good fisherman?
7. Will Boone and John's relationship change?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 8, Confidence Man

Confidence Man

"Hold on!"

Events: Sawyer and Boone have a confrontation over Shannon's missing asthma inhalers. Jack gets involved but Kate intervenes, explaining that she might have better luck as Sawyer says they have "a connection." He doesn't give her the inhalers but when Kate asks about the mysterious letter he's been reading, and insists she believes that he still has human emotions, somewhere, Sawyer invites Kate to read the letter aloud. Written by an angry young boy, it implicates him in a murder/suicide after a con gone wrong,

As Sayid attempts to find out who hit him during the transceiver incident, Locke suggests Sawyer and gives Sayid his hunting knife. After Jack saves Shannon without medication he demands that Sawyer give up the inhalers, which Sawyer refuses to do. Sayid, who has experience with torture, can't get Sawyer to admit where the inhalers are so Kate agrees to kiss him instead but it turns out he knows nothing about them anyway. Convinced that Sawyer is lying, Sayid charges him with Locke's knife and inflicts a serious stab wound on his arm. After Jack treats the wound, Kate confronts Sawyer's self-destructive behavior, asking why he brings such anger and hatred upon himself. Sawyer admits he was the boy who wrote the letter and explains that he ironically became just like the confidence man who ruined his own family (which is illustrated in multiple flashbacks although he neglects to tell Kate that the sight of a young blonde boy seeking his mother's attention was enough to make him walk off a con job).

Unprompted, Sayid decides to leave the beach camp, disgusted with himself for having committed violence against Sawyer after he vowed never to do so again. He says goodbye to Kate and sets off up the unexplored area of the beach, alone.

"I know who you are and I know what you done."

Greater Meaning: Kate is specifically interesting for Sawyer in two ways: she's a criminal, like him, and she pays attention to him. It's clear that he desires her, having made suggestive comments several times before this, but after his letter is explained, we learn that it was Sawyer's mother who was conned and killed; he is a boy who grew up without a mother. Despite the fact that Sawyer went on to con women, it was the questioning little boy that drove him from the phony investment deal, which along with his obsession over the letter he wrote to the original "Mr. Sawyer" proves Kate was right in thinking he still had humanity. The exterior is of utmost importance for Sawyer, making people think of him a certain way, but Kate is really the only one who gets to learn the truth about him.

Further Questions: 

1. Did Sawyer's boss come after him for the money he left on Jess and David's floor, as he promised he would?

2. Will Jin find out that Sun speaks English?

3. Will Shannon's asthma come up again?

4. Is Jack jealous that Sawyer and Kate made out?

5. Where will Sayid go?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 7, The Moth

The Moth

"Give me my bloody drugs!"

Events: Charlie is in active detox from his heroin addiction; John attempts to distract him with exercise but it turns out he really just needed bait for a wild boar trap. When he asks Locke for the drugs he found inside the Virgin Mary statue back, Locke says he'll return them only after Charlie asks him three times, that giving him a choice in the matter is important. Later as people relocate to the caves, Charlie offers to help and things go poorly. Jack blows him off, ("We don't need you right now.") Charlie brightens when Hurley seems to notice his guitar, but Hurley has no real interest in it, he just needs Charlie to move it. Protesting the way he's being disregarded to Jack in anger, Charlie proclaims, "I'm a bloody rock god!" The force of his voice causes the cave he and Jack are in to collapse; Charlie gets out, Jack is trapped. After getting a group of people together to help Jack, Charlie asks Locke for his drugs a second time. John responds by showing Charlie a moth cocoon and explains in detail how the moth's struggle is difficult but necessary. Charlie ends up saving Jack by climbing into the cave himself and pushing back out. After his third request, John gives Charlie the drugs but Charlie throws the heroin into the fire.

In other events, Sayid, Kate, and Sawyer attempt to triangulate the source of the French woman's distress signal but just as Sayid switches on the transceiver someone clubs him with a stick from behind, knocking him down and thwarting the mission.

"I could help it,"

In flashbacks, Charlie's rock star lifestyle presents several moral challenges, prompting him to quit Drive Shaft after a priest's warning during confession. He admits to brother Liam, the lead singer, that the music is getting lost in the chaos of the band's success and implores that they both walk away if it gets to be too much. Eventually, Liam sings over Charlie's vocals at a concert, openly takes drugs, and misses sound checks. Charlie decides again to leave Drive Shaft but Liam responds with cruelty, driving Charlie to use drugs himself. Just before the crash of Oceanic 815, Charlie visits Liam in Sydney in an attempt to reunite the band but Liam, clean now, refuses. Charlie expresses his anger, blames Liam for his own drug addiction, and walks off.



Greater Meaning: The themes of this episode focus around religion and respect. Charlie has been religious in the past yet he actively experiencing drug addiction. The fact that he was singled out by a boar and before, a polar bear, suggests the monkey-on-the-back metaphor of drug addiction or a physical embodiment of being literally chased by one's demons. John compares Charlie to the boar in discussing the factor of choice that humans employ, not just a blind, animalistic devotion to physical drives (which in many ways, Charlie has lived in his experiences as a rock star). Religion seems to have been an influence in Charlie's life prior to the plane crash and his music career, but on the island, animal instincts, not just in him, become more important than an organized system of social rules and norms. Events on the island seem to have primal, immediate implications that supplant religion.

Early in the episode, Charlie is disrespected multiple times yet still insists that he can be useful. His former "Rock God" status, which earned him respect in the past, doesn't matter on the island; music is nice but actual survival skills are more valuable now. Charlie ends up proving his use in the best possible way----he earns the respect of the two most important people on the island (Jack and Locke) through what can be rightly viewed as sacrificial behavior: putting his own life at risk to save Jack and forgoing his own physical needs for the drugs to rise to Locke's expectations of him.

The issue of respect applies to many other character dynamics in this episode, too. While Jack and Hurley's disrespect of Charlie brings about serious consequences, Kate's disrespect of Sawyer does the same. In her dismissive treatment of Sawyer, Kate brings forth equally cruel and defensive reactions from him. Jin appears to consider Sun's comfort in relaxing his attitude on her wardrobe, moving toward respect, and Walt sees his own father, someone still somewhat unfamiliar to him, assert his skills and take charge, moving toward respect, and Locke, in the end, respects Charlie's decision to ask for the drugs a third time, although he had no foreknowledge that Charlie would destroy them.

Further Questions: 

1. Sayid insists their survival was extremely unlikely, so why did it happen? How?

2. Who hit Sayid, and why?

3. Jack admits to Charlie when speaking of confession that he's "no saint, either." What sins has Jack committed?

4. Will Charlie stay sober?

LOST: It Wasn't Purgatory, episode 6, House of the Rising Sun

House of the Rising Sun

Events: At the beach, there is an incident between Jin and Michael; Jin attacks, unprovoked, first punching his face repeatedly and then nearly drowning him as Walt looks on, horrified. Sayid and Sawyer break up the fight and handcuff Jin to a piece of plane wreckage, but as Jin and Sun don't speak English, no one can determine what happened between the two men or why. Jin seems defiant and even unstable after being restrained, but through Sun's flashbacks we see that he was once a gentle, tender man, and a very devoted partner.

Meanwhile, Jack, Kate, Locke, and Charlie head for the caves to get water; Charlie upsets a beehive while trying to get himself a fix of heroin. After runnning from the bees, Jack and Kate stumble upon two skeletons inside the caves, one with two rocks in his pocket, one is light, one is dark. Jack takes the rocks and hides them from Locke, who christens the remains, "our very own Adam and Eve."

Later, when Charlie tries again to sneak away for a fix, Locke stops him and takes the stash but helps him find his lost guitar. When Jack starts to relocate people from the beach to the caves, Sayid, Sawyer, and Kate stay behind.

After exhaustive efforts to find out why Jin attacked Michael, Sun approaches Michael near the jungle and speaks to him in perfect English. Through further flashbacks it is revealed that Jin worked for Sun's father, the work he did was all-consuming and violent, and that she had planned to leave him the day they boarded the flight in Sydney, but ultimately didn't. Sun explains to Michael that Jin attacked him because he was wearing a watch that had belonged to her father, which Michael had innocently picked up on the beach. When Michael scoffs, she says, pleadingly, "You don't know my father."

Greater Meaning: Toward the end of the episode, when Kate inexplicably refuses to move from the beach to the caves, Jack is confused and frustrated. He asks, "How did you get this way?" And while certainly not without his own complexities, Jack (and his question) makes an important point at this stage of the show, and not just regarding Kate. Many of the survivors have issues, problems, and this episode does a great job of uncovering them without seeming overwhelming. It would be easy to just completely write Jin off as a violent, reactionary man if we didn't see that he had once been quite the opposite. Michael might seem like an uninvolved, impatient father and Walt a defiant, annoying child had we not been shown little bits of their histories. And Sun could indeed have been marginalized as a stereotype, a wet rag of a wife, but the writers make sure to show us that she really wasn't. As the episode opens, Sun looks from group to group, understanding every word being spoken but unable to react or participate because of her secret. Whatever happened in her marriage during her husband's employ with her father was significant enough for her to learn English, privately, and to want to leave Jin; what happened between them? How did any of them "get this way?"

Did Old Man Shephard send the beehive, too?

On a different note, those skeletons in the caves? Clear evidence that not only were there other people there before the crash survivors (in the place where Jack's father's clinking ice led Jack to find water) but that there is some connection, even if it's merely aesthetic, to Locke's backgammon explanation from the pilot episode or by association, any game where two opponents face each other. Already there seems to be a division forming on the island and a fair amount of hostility between camps and decisions: Sayid, Kate, and Sawyer on the beach, Jack, The Kwons, and Hurley in the caves. Is this how civilizations form? The beach group still hopes to be rescued while the cave group is "digging in," or as Sayid said, "admitting defeat." Live together, die alone? Not quite there yet.

Further Questions:

1. Who were "Adam and Eve?"

2. What were the black and white rocks about?

3. What does Sun's father do?

4. How did Jin get blood all over him?

5. How does Locke know so much about nature?

6. What are Kate's trust issues?

7. Will Locke choose the beach or the caves?

Floored.

Wow. I don't know WHAT fricking end is up after that episode, which I thought was amazing, btw. We're getting close to the end now, and I'll say that I still think Jack and John are going to have to duke it out (DID YOU LOVE SMOKEY LOCKE'S "HELLO JACK!" AS MUCH AS I DID?), and while Jack might get the most press out of being the show's savior, I'm not entirely discounting Hugo. He's good, pure, and honest, and he's remained that way all along. He would see the good in people, were he required to somehow prove it, right?

Jack is the fixer. He can't NOT be the fixer! He wants to fix things. Matt thinks Sawyer and Kate are going to die. I think Kate's knocked up. Poor Illana, gone the way of Ernst. Just for the record though (and NOT in the flash-sideways), Sawyer has Clementine waiting for him "back home," Jin and Sun have their daughter. Kate has no one anymore, unless you count her old bitch-face rabbit mother who sold out her own daughter. Aaron = with the Grandmama. Jack has nothing but his mother. Hurley has nothing but his religious mother and Cheech. Ben and Lapidus probably don't even care.

Ding, dong, bell, Desmond's in the well. . . that was unpleasant. I hope he's okay.

My brain hurts. Here are some images.

A small complaint. . .

All right. It's about high time someone explained why all the mothers on LOST are of the RABBIT variety? As in, is there one that can actually be considered a good one? This Eloise Hawking business better have some MAJOR significance to what happens in the long run.

I can sort of see Rousseau not being able to get Alex back, as they probably would have killed her.

I don't get Claire abandoning Aaron to hang out with Christian in the woods.

I don't get Kate going back to the island and just leaving Aaron, who'd she had been raising since he was 3 months olds.

Sawyer's mother was killed (absent).
Sun's mother seemed like she was out to lunch.
No mention of Sayid's mother, Desmond's mother, or Penny Widmore's mother.

Hurley and Charlie Pace seemed to have okay relationships but Charlie's mother croaked.
Kate obviously has mama issues.

Jin's mother was an evil whore.

?????????

Lost Diaries: Episode 23 and 24

Exodus parts 1 and 2

"The French woman—Danielle Rousseau (guest star Mira Furlan)—shocks the survivors by showing up to the camp with a dire warning about "the Others" who are on the island, and the black smoke that precedes them. Meanwhile, Michael and Jin ready the raft for sailing. In flashbacks, we see the survivors final moments before they boarded their fateful flight."

read here

"The castaways on the raft run into unexpected trouble. Meanwhile, the remaining islanders attempt to blow open the hatch. Flashbacks continue to show the survivors' final moments before boarding their fateful flight."

read here

YES! Jack and Sawyer's Goodbye? I can't believe it. What is the fire burning business on the other side of the island? Sayid has keen insight into Rousseau's actions. Poor Claire. I don't think she can take much more of all this. What a wonderful show.

Here are the things I wrote when I originally finshed the first season, back in May. I thought they'd be, you know, relevant:


this is out of order from the lost diaries but i had to do it.

we finished it yesterday. it's like 24 now, where i keep thinking about it all the time and obsessing.
these are the thoughts i had after the end.....

hurley gets a lot of good one-liners (sarcasm)....like a security system that eats people?

wtf are the moving shadows/clicking noises? SERIOUSLY?

locke is okay with being pulled into the black hole? jack and kate threw TNT into the hole; the island is gonna be pissed.....

a "Locke problem?" if we live through this? science vs. faith. surgeon vs. freaky marlon brando guy?

funny how shannon seemed so random and insignificant at the beginning. now she gets to bone with sayid and hear the whispers! that's big!

sawyer and jack's goodbye is probably my favorite moment of the whole show. LOVE THEM BOTH. LOTS.

WALT. brian the step dad didn't want to raise him/said THINGS HAPPEN with him? what kind of "special" is this kid? he also said not to open the hatch. he TOLD locke this and he opened it anyway. you'd think that Locke would be able to sense if what walt was telling him was important....

where is beatrix kiddo on this island? don't let ANYONE mess with the pregnant chick OR her baby. what could be worse? sayid understands. do not try to understand her, she's a woman who's lost her child (rousseau). crazy old french bat. i'm sure this happens frequently in iraq; the losing of children.


WHAT IS WITH THE DELIVERANCE DUDES IN THE BOAT?!?!?!?!?!?!!? seriously! people have a way of being a bit too loose with their kids on this show. GRIP THEM TIGHTLY. do not let others remove them from your clutches. CHRIST. i have 3 kids and i am already mentally working out how i could cling onto them in the event of kidnapping island hillbillies or random tsunamis: zizzy on back, bubby in front helping me hold beebins. bite attackers with sharp teeth if need be. kick and flail like ruth stupes running away from the abortion house.


my theory on this is that it is an isolation booth that everyone is hooked up to, separately. the gvt is doing experiments on them, OR ALIENS. what makes me think this are the polar bears. and the random boats and planes. AND the hatch.
i made matt get season 2 last night. i am sooooooo excited.

Lost Diaries: episode 17

In Translation

"When the raft the survivors have been building mysteriously burns down, Michael is convinced that Jin is responsible for the sabotage, which only serves to escalate their rivalry. Meanwhile, Sun stuns her fellow survivors with a surprising revelation, and Boone gives Sayid a warning about his step-sister Shannon. Lastly, more details of Jin and Sun's troubled marriage are revealed through flashbacks"

read here

Ho hum. Sometimes Michael really REALLY annoys me. And the decisions that Jin makes often end up really screwing him. I have to say that Shannon and Boone ONLY interest me when they are separate from each other. Together they are totally LAME, anything that happens is totally LAME.

LOST Diaries: episode 6

House of the Rising Sun

"Walt and the others are shocked when Michael is brutally beaten, but only the non-English-speaking Jin and Sun know the truth behind the attack. Meanwhile Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Sayid argue about where the survivors should camp -- on the beach, where they're more likely to be seen, or in a remote inland valley where fresh water abounds; and Locke discovers Charlie's secret."
read here

Not bad. I wondered what the crap the story was going to be with those two. I really have to wonder about someone, even a fictional character who will beat someone in front of their child......this will have a direct link to the bit I'm eventually going to write about THE BRAVE ONE.....later. The business between Jack and Kate is already feeling very much like a marriage. Does she have a total attitude with him because he wanted to move the tribe into the cave instead of having some relations with her? Very much seemed that way. I am very much enjoying finding out about all these randoms.