"Par Avion"

What a great episode it was! It was back to the old LOST that I just loved. In fact, this was the first LOST episode that I thoroughly enjoyed and the character Ben was not in it. Ben is my utmost favorite character. Since his addition, I think LOST went up a few notches. So, when there’s no Ben, I find it hard to enjoy that episode. But this one, I enjoyed immensely.

The flashback wasn’t stale. It was not something that has been rehashed over and over again as the other flashbacks have been. This is probably because Claire did not have many flashbacks. She had three before this one. So we learned something new about her. It confirmed that she is Jack’s half sister; but neither she nor Jack know it. I wonder how this little information will affect the story line as it develops. It will be interesting to see it unfold.

We learned that Claire’s mother was killed in a car accident. Although Claire claimed that the truck driver was at fault, the fault was really Claire’s. Claire was in the midst of an argument with her mother and wished her dead. As she felt guilty about it, she kept her vegetative mother alive. Her biological father, whom Claire never met, paid her mother’s medical bills. It was then that she met Christian Shepherd. Claire never once asked his name. In fact, she told him that she had no desire to ever see him.

On the other side of the island, Kate, Sayid, Danielle, Locke, and Mikhail were on the way to find Othersville. We learned from Mikhail, whom the fans affectionately call Patchy, that Ben is not the top leader of the Others and that Kate, Sayid, and Locke, were not on the “list” because they were flawed. He was about to say to Locke that the Locke he knew was "para…." But Danielle cut him off. Did she cut him off because she knew certain secrets that she didn’t want the castaways to find out? There’s a new question now for the fans to ponder about. I am of the opinion that Danielle knows more than she lets on. She is either on the hostiles’ side or the Others’ side. I have not figured out which one as of yet.

Another question to ponder is what was Patchy going to say? Was he going to say paralyzed, paramilitary, or even paranormal? Unfortunately, Patchy’s life was cut off short. As the group reached the perimeters of Othersville, we found that the barracks were surrounded by pylons that were either an alarm or a sophisticated electrical-fencing system. The ever so “I’m-ready-to-do-anything” super-Kate was ready to go through the system, but Sayid stops her. The trap could be deadly. Before Sayid could try out the system by throwing a stick or any other decoy, Locke shoves Patchy into the fence. Mikhail appears to be stuck there and says, "Thank you." Then he begins to seize, and his mouth foams. He falls inside the perimeter and dies all bloodied up through his ears and nose from the hemorrhage from his brain.

Sayid is now suspicious of Locke. For not only did he lie that he didn’t know that the Flame station he blew up in the previous episode was rigged with C4s, he had C4s in his backpack. Moreover, when asked why did he so callously throw Patchy into the fencing system, he seemed not to have any remorse. He even voiced that he had not wanted the guy in the first place to be with them. Both Kate and Sayid claimed that Mikhail could have been useful for information or for trading, Locke begged to differ. My new questions are as follows: Did Locke throw Patchy into the pylons because Patchy came close to revealing something about Locke? Or did Locke throw him into the fencing system because Locke is an Other or a member of the Hostiles? Perhaps these questions will be answered next week with the episode “The Man from Tallahassee," which is going to be about Locke’s back story and how he came to be paralyzed.

Back at the beach, Claire had an idea on how to get off the island. She would catch one of the birds and place a note on their tags about them being stranded on the island. The birds would soon migrate and would take the note with them to other parts of the world. Did Claire think this through? The birds feet would get wet and the note would be in shreds by the time it would reach the outer perimeter of the island. Nonetheless, the castaways needed hope and Claire provided it.

In order to do what she set out to do, she would need Charlie’s help. Charlie's life, however, was once again at peril, and Desmond made sure that Charlie would not be near the ocean where the birds were. Angry with Charlie's lack of help, Claire threw him out of her tent again. She didn’t want liars to be near her son. Eventually, Desmond explained the situation to her, and she promised to stick by Charlie, as a good friend should.

Here’s a question that I have seen floating around. It is not originally mine. I first saw it posted by robvangraham in lost_tv, and I will quote it here:


I think Desmond has it wrong about Charlie….

Desmond has saved Charlie’s life now on three separate occasions:

· The Lightning.

· The Drowing.

· The Rocks.

The connection getting overlooked is that CLAIRE is the one who leads Charlie into mortal peril. EVERYTIME.

· It was Claire’s hut that was nearly struck by lightning.

· Charlie went into the water to save a drowning Claire.

· Charlie fell into the ocean trying to get a bird for Claire.

However, when Charlie goes zooming down a hill towards some rocks in a beat up old DHARMA bus, no Desmond. No worries.

Perhaps it isn’t that Charlie is fated to die, rather it is Claire who leads him to his death.

I think those are valid concerns, because if we really think about it, in Season 1, Charlie was hung from a tree and left for dead when he was trying to save Claire from Ethan Rom.

I wonder whether this question will ever be answered. So many questions, so few seasons to go. I know that a lot of people complain that every time a question is answered, three more are opened. I don’t mind it, though. It just means that LOST will be prolonged by that much more time. I love that aspect of the show.

The episode ends with Kate, Sayid, Locke, and Danielle reaching Othersville. It is a utopialike town. Kate sees Jack running towards her. He stops and catches a football. He was not running away. He was having fun with the Others. Kate was devastated.

But the episode is all in all full of hope. All you have to do is to read Claire’s note to see that:

To whom it may concern, we are the survivors of Flight 815. We have survived on this island for 80 days. We were six hours into the flight when the pilot said we were off course and we turned back toward Fiji. We hit turbulence and crashed. We've been waiting here all this time. Waiting for rescue that has not come. We do not know where we are. We only know that you have not found us. We've done our best to live on this island. Some of us have come to accept we may never leave it. Not all of us have survived since the crash, but there is new life, and with it, hope. We are alive. Please don't give up on us.

Next week is “The Man from Tallahassee,” which is Lockecentric.

(Photos to follow)



In the meantime, here's a recap of the whole episode: