"The Man behind the Curtain" --A recap, review, and lots of questions.

Well, LOST and Michael Emerson did not disappointment me. What an episode this one was! What a wonderful, scary ride “The Man behind the Curtain” was.

The episode began with a woman screaming her head off. She was in premature labor, in the middle of a hiking trail with nobody around her but her husband. She delivers a healthy baby boy, whom she names Benjamin. Roger Linus, Benjamin’s father, manages to bring his bleeding wife and newborn son to the highway and he is helped by a wealthy couple driving a 1960 Karmann Ghia. The woman, Emily [more about that later (1)], magnificently played by Carrie Preston (Michael Emerson’s wife), dies shortly after giving birth inside the Karmann Ghia. The birth took just 32 miles outside of Portland. We now know that Ben was not born on the island. He lied about that.

At the Other’s campground, Locke brought his dead father’s body on his back. Ben was not pleased at that sight. (2, 3) He was also experiencing dissent among his people. The tape recorder was gone, but was not in Juliet’s possession as he thought it would be. Tom did not answer to his questions. Locke started insisting that as he did accomplish his part of the bargain by bringing his dead father to the camp, Ben should now fulfill his part of the bargain and take him to see Jacob. As much as Ben wanted to stall, John Locke would not allow it. This time Ben had no choice, but to keep his word.

In the flashback, about 10 years after Ben's birth, Roger and Ben arrive on the island via submarine. They are to be part of the DHARMA Initiative. Roger was hired to be a workman (a janitor), something the man resents. (For those of you who cannot remember it properly, Roger Workman was the skeleton that Hurley found inside the VW bus in the “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead” episode.)


At the beach, Sawyer shows the castaways the tape recorder that Locke gave him. They now had proof that Juliet was a mole. Upon being discovered, she told them that after she examined Sun, she told Jack what Ben was making her do. The LOSTies were surprised that Jack did not inform them. “It was time to catch up,” Jack said. However, he had a plan.

At the camp, Mikhail came running to tell Ben about Naomi’s arrival and the need to attack the LOSTies’ camp right away, Locke’s insistence to Ben to go see Jacob, and Ben’s insistence to Locke that he would need to wait, was resolved by Locke beating up Mikhail and by neither Tom, nor Richard helping despite Ben’s orders for them to stop the carnage.(4) Ben had lost his power among his people. He had only one recourse: To show everyone that Locke was not special. So he took Locke to see Jacob.

We find out that Roger was a lousy father, did not care for his son, was constantly drinking, didn’t care about his son’s education, and always failed to remember his own son’s birthday. And Roger’s word, “Kinda hard to celebrate on the day you killed your Mom. She was just seven months pregnant, we went for a hike, but you had to come early. Now, she's gone, and I'm stuck here on this Island, with you.” (No wonder Ben is messed up. He has daddy issues as well.)

When Ben arrived on the island, he was a quiet, weepy child, and always pining for his mother. He made a friend named Annie, who for his birthday carved two wooden dolls. One represented her, the other represented him. He also learned through Annie that the natives, who were known as hostiles, were people to fear. The DHARMA Initiative, which was created to find harmony, found hostility.

Ben’s pining for his mom enabled him to see her spirit come to him on the island. The first time he saw her was in his house, the second time was around the pylons. She told him not to follow her. It was “not yet time.”

Ben found the code to disable to pylons and used his pet rabbit to make sure that the pylons were turned off. As he ventured outside of their compound, he met up with Richard. Not a younger Richard, but the same-age-as-today Richard. The only difference was that Richard was wearing what we might call "pirate clothes." (5)

Upon some questioning, Richard found out that Ben was looking for his dead mother who did not die on the island and was communicating with Ben. This information was very important to Richard. It made Ben special, and his mother’s message of “not yet time,” told Richard to await Ben’s growth. Ben, who wanted to join the hostiles, had to wait patiently.

A few years have passed, Ben was now a young adult, and a “chatty Cathy” his father called him. The DHARMA education paid off. This young and shy child evolved into a confident young man. We learn that DHARMA, however, is a cast-system-based society. Ben, despite his great education, was now a workman, simply because his father was a workman.

Once again, it was Ben’s birthday, and Roger forgot. To make up for his faux pas, his father invited him to go drinking beer at the mesa together. Roger somewhat apologizes to Ben about forgetting his birthday. Roger is no longer bitter about his wife’s death. But it is too late. Ben murders him by placing a gas canister that inflicts a terrible death. Ben just sits there and watches his father die.

Meanwhile, we find out that this was the day of the purge. (6) A number of DHARMA Initiative people were killed off. The hostiles were wearing masks, so they were saved. We find out that Ben, not only is a murderer, but he is a mass murderer.

So, are we to believe that in order to be in the Other’s good graces, one must be able to kill one’s own father? So Kate should be a great candidate.

Ben takes Locke to see Jacob. Just before he goes, he and Locke stop at a brook to fill up their canteen. Alex shows up and tells him that as he is going to see Jacob who should take the gun that she gives him. Ben is obviously stunned and angry. Alex in a snide remark wishes him a happy birthday. (7)

The cabin that Jacob lives in is dilapidated and surrounded by a mysterious powder that Ben made sure to skip over. Upon entering the cabin, Locke sees nothing but run-down furniture. Ben is talking to Jacob, but there was nobody sitting on the chair. Locke sees Ben as a pathetic man who was grasping at straws. Just as he was about to leave the shack, Jacob speaks to John by saying, “Help me!” Ben can’t hear Jacob. Locke, thinking that Ben was the one saying the words, asks him what did he say, and attempts to repeat what he heard when Ben denies saying anything, Jacob starts making a rumpus to make a disturbance. He throws the lantern that Ben brought in on the floor, smashing it to pieces and creating a small, contained fire. During these events, we see Jacob for a fleeting moment. Ben, who was not able to hear Jacob as Locke was able to, is now thrown aside by Jacob. Sadly, Ben realizes that he is no longer the favored son. (8)

Locke runs out of the cabin somewhat shaken up. Ben follows a few moments later and he hangs a now-completely recovered (as if it was never broken) lantern on the hook outside the house.(9)

Ben upset with Locke being the favored one now, takes Locke to the mass grave wherein all the bodies of those he killed a number of years ago. Ben tells Locke that he is not a native son, and then shoots Locke. He asks Locke to tell him what Jacob had said to him. When he heard that it was ‘help me,’ he tells Locke that he hopes that Jacob helps him, and walks away. (10)

Final thoughts

Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson are just great together. I hope that the powers to be do not kill either character off in the near future. They have a gold mine in their hands with these two seasoned actors. They definitely steal the scenes when they are among other actors, but together, they are so good. Neither one upstages the other. Both just compliment each other. If I had my druthers and I was a director, I would cast those two on Broadway on a revival of the Odd Couple. I would love to see them both weaving their magic in front of the audience: Terry as Oscar and Michael as Felix. Maybe one day my dream will come true.

Questions

(1) Not only was "Emily" Ben's mother's name, it was also John Locke's mother's name. Both women did not raise their children. Is Ben a mirror image of John Lock? Is he the evil and Locke the good one? Is it the case of black and white stone, ying and yang?

(2) Would Ben feel differently had he known that Locke did not kill his father?

(3) Would Ben get angry had he found out that Richard helped Locke find a loop-hole in his performing patricide?

(4) Why did Tom and Ben let Lock beat up Mikhail?
(5) Was Richard an original member of the Black Rock boat? Why didn’t he age?

(6) When did the purge occur? Could it have occurred about 16 years ago? That was about the time that Alex was born and the time that Danielle described the sickness. Could they have been affected by the poison gas? Danielle and her crew were not near enough to the actual massacre, but some poison may have crept over to their quarters.

(7) What is with Alex? Why is she so against Ben? Is it because the dislikes her boyfriend? Why does she have daddy issues? Was Ben a lousy father? It looked as though, like Locke, she was not able to do her own dirty work. Hence, she was almost begging for Locke to do it for her. Is patricide on of the major issues in LOST?

(8) Why is Ben no longer the favored son? Is Ben holding Jacob hostage to enable him to rule over the Others?

(9) What is with the lantern? How did it get to be fixed? Was it course correction? Did the past get altered to save the future?

(10) Is Locke dead? Probably not. Maybe Jacob will help him. He was shot in the kidney area, and guess what? Locke’s daddy stole his kidney. Locke should be fine.

There are still many questions left to answer. LOST is still going strong. Next week’s episode is “Greatest Hits,” a Charliecentric episode.

Source for photos: Michael Emerson Web Site

Click on the pictures to view the larger versions.

The Brig—What Did We Learn So Far?

So what did we learn in this episode?

We learned that Kate can have sex in Sawyer’s tent, but cannot sleep in his tent or with him for that matter. (Hmmm, I wonder whether this bit of information was really that important.)

We learned that Locke’s father was the real Sawyer of James Ford’s nightmares. This was no big reveal for the die-hard fan.

We learned that in order to embrace the island, Locke has to get rid of the demon (his father, Anthony Cooper) that plagued him ever since his kidney was stolen from him.

We learned that the Others have an extensive file on them. One of their files (James Ford’s) was given to Locke to read.

We learned that Richard has some issues against Ben. (Or does he? I think he was sent to Locke by Ben. And, furthermore, I think the speech Richard gave about Ben being distracted by minor things and not worrying about the real issues was something Ben told Richard to say. Ben wanted Anthony Cooper dead. Why? I don’t know.)

We learned that Naomi has a very sophisticated, state of the art, and perhaps extremely futuristic telephone that Sayid has never seen. (Are we getting hints of time travel again?)

We learned that Oceanic Flight 815, according to Naomi, crashed into the ocean, leaving no survivors. But the fact that she is among the survivors of that flight who claim that the plane crashed on land after breaking apart in the air, does not seem to disturb her at all. (I certainly would have been freaking out and wondering whether I was in the twilight zone.)

We learned that the castaways do not trust Jack anymore, and they are hiding Naomi from him. But then, can we blame them? Jack has been acting really strange, almost as if he, as Locke, has joined the Others. If Jack knows something that is beneficial to their cause, he should start sharing. After all, his friends are now firm believers in “united, we stand; divided, we fall” theory. Jack spoke about that theory in his “live together; die alone” speech, but he never followed it through.

We learned that Danielle is using some dynamite. However, the big question is, what is she intending in blowing up? I guess, we will find out about that in the finale. Hopefully, she won’t blow up somebody we care about a lot.

We learned that Locke is looked upon as being special. Cindy, Ben (who later retracted the statement), and Richard told him so. However, Locke is not totally accepted into their society, which is quite apparent because everyone has tents to sleep in. John Locke has to sleep outside totally unprotected from the elements. What must he do to be accepted? Does Ben need to approve it? Does Locke have to be initiated? Ben certainly alluded to that to Locke.

We learned that Kate is so jealous of Juliet that she is willing to spill the beans to Jack in front of Juliet just to show him how much people distrust him for being Juliet’s friend. In other words, we learned that Kate is still a juvenile.

We learned that Anthony Cooper is unrepentant and is still an arrogant fool.

We learned that they possibly may be in hell or, at least, according to Anthony Cooper. However, I think that line was just thrown at us to foil us. After all, this is LOST that I talking about.

We learned that James Ford finally was able to avenge the death of his parents by killing the real Sawyer: Anthony Cooper. But we also learned that James was sickened by his murderous act. James as we knew him will be no more. There is a new sheriff in town for sure.

Last minute observations:

After watching this episode, I came to the conclusion that being a “good person” is really important to the Others. However, they have a weird sense of being “good,” and they are ready to get rid of the “bad” person by any means, even murder.

Murdering a bad person does not seem to be sinful. Murdering their own (and by their own, by definition alone means that the person has been classified as a “good” person) is punishable by death, unless commuted by their leader, namely Ben.

When Juliet murdered Picket, she was tried for murder. Alex told Jack that in their society the eye-for-an-eye rule was observed, and by murdering one of their own, Juliet was to die. At Jack’s insistence (he refused to help Ben’s festering wound if Juliet was to be sentenced to death), Juliet’s death sentence was changed to being marked. (However, I believe that this particular incident was orchestrated by Ben to give him a way of saving Juliet’s life. That way, he was not viewed as a weak leader; after all, he was forced by Jack to reduce the sentence. One thing that we must always remember is that Ben is always 10 steps ahead of everyone he is conning.)

Something else observed

The Brig starts with Locke pouring over some data and someone banging to get out of some room. Then we are taken to the events that occurred 8 days before. John is surprised to see that his father was brought to the island. Ben claims that Locke brought him over by thinking about him; Locke claims that he did not. It is interesting to see how Ben manipulates John. He does warn John not to go near Anthony Cooper, but since John does not listen, Ben allows John to remove the gag from Anthony’s mouth. Anthony is not a very cooperative and nice person. He bites the heck out of John’s hand. Tom had to laser him to stop biting. Question: Where in the world did Tom come from? He certainly was not there in the “Man from Tallahassee” episode. Richard was there. Interestingly, Richard was absent from this scene. The continuity people should pay attention to this. LOST fans are notorious about sweeping this show with a fine tooth comb.

Screen captures courtesy of michaelemerson.net

D.O.C.

This episode begins with Sun working on her garden. She is approached by Jack, who asks her about her pregnancy. Sun is suspicious of Jack’s intentions. Even though he is a doctor, before he was kidnapped, Jack had no such concerns with the castaway’s health. He never approached them, they had to approach him. Does Jack know about the fact that pregnant women die on the island? Is he, as Juliet is, working for Ben? I wouldn’t put it past that Ben promised Jack that he would get off the island if he cooperated with whatever instructions Ben gave him. As far as I have seen, Jack has been acting suspiciously ever since he helped Ben get better. (Question: Why is Jack wearing red shirt lately? Is he next to go? Are the creators playing a joke on us?)She is approached by Jack, who asks her about her pregnancy. Sun is suspicious of Jack’s intentions. Even though he is a doctor, before he was kidnapped, Jack had no such concerns with the castaway’s health. He never approached them, they had to approach him. Does Jack know about the fact that pregnant women die on the island? Is he, as Juliet is, working for Ben? I wouldn’t put it past that Ben promised Jack that he would get off the island if he cooperated with whatever instructions Ben gave him. As far as I have seen, Jack has been acting suspiciously ever since he helped Ben get better. (Question: Why is Jack wearing red shirt lately? Is he next to go? Are the creators playing a joke on us?)

We are taken to Sun’s flashback. She is a newly wed who is approach by a stranger who threatens divulge the secret that Jin’s mother was a prostitute. She blackmails Sun to give her $100,000.00 to keep this secret quiet. To make a long story short, Sun finds out where Jin’s father lives and visits him. She finds out that, indeed, Jin’s mother was a prostitute and his father was not even sure that he was the biological father. One thing that I found that Jin, more than likely, except for his shame for having a fisherman for a father, must not have many, if any, father issues. The elderly Kwon seemed to be wise and nice.

At the beach, we encounter Desmond, Hurley, Charlie, and Sun trying to figure out who the woman parachutist is. She moans in Spanish that she is dying and, Hurley, being of Mexican descends understood it. They found that a branch cut into her lungs, and she was slowly dying. Hurley accidentally fires off a flare gun that the parachutist had in her backpack. The flare attracts none other but Mikhail, whom we thought to be dead after his encounter with the security system around Othersville. Desmond has no idea who the man is, but Hurley and Charlie inform him that Kate had told them where Mikhail lived and that he was killed by the security system.

Mikhail, after kung-fu fighting with Jin, promises to fix the injured woman if he is allowed to leave afterwards. The woman starts talking in Italian that she is dying. Mikhail understands her and translates it to Desmond. As far as I could tell, it seemed to me that Mikhail was awaiting the flare gun. Could it be that the parachutist was expected?

Meanwhile, Sun finds out from Juliet that pregnant women on the island die before giving birth. Juliet offers the possibility of some hope. She is to follow her to the medical station. Sun informs Julie that she heard from Claire and Kate that the station was empty. A beautiful way to show the fans that, yes, indeed the castaways do communicate among each other. First, we find such information from Hurley and Charlie and now Sun. There have been complaints that the castaways seem clueless and don’t seem to be communicating with each other, as they would have done had the story been real. So, once again, the creators give a nod to the audience. The interactivity among the producers and the fans is just one of the many things that makes me absolutely love this show.

Juliet tells Sun that Kate and Claire did not know where to look. All the furniture that was used to lure Claire was hidden away. Juliet informs Sun that the woman were brought to the station to die. Sun, however, may have hope. If her baby was conceived off the island, she will not die. If the baby was conceive on the island… that bridge would be crossed when needed.

Sun was sure that the baby was conceived off the island, as Jin was declared to be sterile. Juliet, unfortunately, informed her that the sperm count of males on the island was five times that of males off the island. Jin may not bee infertile.

We are given some more hints regarding the powers of the island. Mikhail’s uniform is caked with dried-up blood. He was badly injured by the security system. Now, we don’t know whether he did indeed die. No one checked his pulse when the security system perforated his ears. My hunch tells me that he was injured, but he healed.

In fact, after Mikhail saved the parachutist life, he did tell them that she would heal in one day. Charlie was stunned at the news, but Mikhail told him that “On this island, the rules are a bit different.”

While Mikhail was removing blood from the parachutist lungs, she whispered in Portuguese that she was not alone. Mikhail translated it that she had thanked him. Now why would she divulge this secret? Did she want to warn Mikhail? Did she give some vital information to Mikhail to take to the Others?

Meanwhile during Sun’s flashback, we find out that Jin was just a simple floor manager in her father’s company. However, because she asked her father for the $100,000.00 she needed for the blackmail money, he decided that from then on, Jin was to work for him. In essence, it was Sun’s desire to protect Jin that caused the rift in her marriage. Either way, she was damned if she did; and damned if she didn’t.

Juliet informed Sun that she conceived on the island. She was doomed to die. Although Sun was happy that the baby was Sun’s, ironically he would never be a father. Sun would more than likely die before the second trimester of her pregnancy ended.

Although, Juliet seemed genuinely concerned for Sun. She seemed to be on Sun’s side. However, when Sun was not looking, Juliet sends a tape-recorded message to Ben regarding Sun’s pregnancy. She informed him that more information will be forthcoming about the other women on the island, especially Kate Austen. Juliet does whisper after she turns the tape recorder off that she hates him, nonetheless, at this time, it is hard to decide whose side Juliet is on—probably on her own side. She wants to be off the island so badly, that she will do anything at all. Is that what Jack is doing as well? Only time will tell.

Had not the title of the previous episode been “Catch 22,” it could have been used for this one. Sun, as Desmond, faced a catch-22 situation. She is damned if Jin is the father of the child, and she is damned if the father of child is not Jin. She would have been damned if she didn’t give the money to the blackmailer; and she was damned for giving the money to Jin’s mother.

I could end my recap here, but I would cheat my readers of one of the best ending lines so far. While the parachutist was recuperating, Hurley informed her that he was a survivor of Oceanic flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles. “Not possible,” she said, “They found the plane; there were no survivors.” To this Hurley says, “What?” He was so stunned that he didn’t even say “Dude.”

So how can we account for her statement? Well there are a few possibilities. One possibility might be that LOST may be dealing with different parallel time lines. I would like to interject my theory.

Flight 815 was not supposed to have crashed on the island, but it was not supposed have reached its destination either. According to the pilot, just before the smoke monster killed him, the plane was 1,000 miles off course. They were not on the way to Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Desmond did not press the button on time. The plane was drawn into the island by its magnetic field. The fake crash was already set up for the press. Whether I am right or wrong, we won’t know for a few weeks or months. We shall see.

Next week’s episode is “The Brig,” a Lockecentric episode.

Addendum:

My crackpot theory

The killer of the babies and mothers is not the island, but the supercharged sperms that the men on the island produce. Because Jin was sterile, Sun is safe. Jin's sperm became of normal count. Sawyer, however, is now supercharged and his sperm may kill Kate. Now, there is a another possibility to this theory that would save Kate. The women on the island had older uteri. Maybe Kate, being younger is still safe.

"Catch 22"

In this episode, we find out why Desmond says “Brutha” all the time and what his visions actually look like. I did not like this episode the first time I saw it. I decided to watch it numerous times to see whether I missed something. But no, I just did not like it all. However, unlike some other LOST fans, I understand that not every episode will be a great episode, and not every episode will be an episode that I will enjoy. Unlike some LOST fans, I watch LOST and go for the ride even if the episode does not whet my appetite. I equate LOST to a thick novel: Some chapters are boring and some are exciting. Having said that, Let me discuss “Catch 22,” the Desmondcentric episode.

So far, I found that Desmondcentric episodes somewhat bizarre. Maybe I am not a very versed in Sci-Fi. I found “Flashes before Your Eyes” hard to follow and hard to understand. But as I said earlier, I am not very knowledgeable about Sci-Fi. Moreover, I will also admit that I have never read Catch 22. OK, don’t shoot me, I am not native to the United States and, by the time I started school in the United States, Catch 22 was not required reading in my school’s curriculum. But I know what the phrase catch 22 means. And Desmond was caught in a catch 22 situation. If he were to let Charlie die, Penelope would come to find him. If he were not let Charlie die, Penelope would come down to save them. Or was she?

The episode started with Charlie, Desmond, Jin, and Hurley are trekking through the jungle arguing whether Flash or Superman is the faster DC-comic character. Suddenly, we witness Charlie’s death. His throat is pierced with an arrow. Holy cow, what a way to start! Of course, it was just a glimpse of Desmond’s future visions.

As the episode progresses, we get similar glimpses of Desmond’s visions. Hurley finds the cable that goes out to the ocean, Charlie gets killed. Desmond’s job is to gather the people in his vision to go and fulfill the future. The silliest line I found was Hurley trying to convince Jin to come with them, “We’re going camping.” Camping? Come on, everyday they are camping. They live on an island with make-shift tents. But Hurley is funny, and Jin falls for it.

We get a glimpse of Jin telling ghost stories in Korean and Hurley and Charlie laughing their heads off. I’m sure that they didn’t understand Korean, but the friendship is definitely cemented.

On the beach, Sawyer enters Kate’s tent while she is dressing, and we get a glimpse of Kate’s underwear. Why has LOST lowered its standard to become a cheap-sex soap opera? Concentrate on the mystery and the characters. There is no need for the sex. No new viewers will be picked up with the gratuitous sex. Let’s face it, LOST needs to be watched from the beginning, so no new viewers will stay and watch the drama.

Sawyer found out that Jack was aware that he and Kate paired up at the Hydra. Hence, he requested some “afternoon delight” from Kate, which she refused. Later on in the evening, Kate flirted with Jack and got nowhere. It seems he is more interested in Juliet. This made Kate jealous and went to Sawyer and had angry sex. At this point, I am so sick and tired of Kate and her hormones. Hopefully, she’ll get pregnant and will be one of the five casualties we have been told will occur before the end of this season. I would rather have her die than Ben anytime.

The next day, Sawyer found out that he was being used by Kate. He confronted her, but still kept his tent door open for her to visit. So, Sawyer is not only horny, but he does like Kate. I wish that he’d wised up and drop her, once and for all.

During Desmond’s flashback we found out that he was previously engaged to marry a woman he dated for six years. Rather than telling her that he didn’t want to go through with the marriage, he gets drunk, and when he is sober joins a monastery to become a monk. Apparently, Desmond has commitment issues.

His ex-fiancée’s brother finds him in the monastery and gives him a bloody nose for having left his sister the way Desmond did. Desmond confronts his ex-fiancée and after he leaves her he feels guilty enough to start consuming the wine the monks make. He is found out savoring the wine and is fired from the monastery. Just as he is to leave the monastery, he meets Penny whose father is an avid consumer of the monks’ wine. So now we learned how he met his superrich girlfriend.

There is an interesting photo on the desk of the head monk. It is the monk and the clock-shop lady from “Flashes before Your Eyes.” It was this lady who predicted that Desmond’s life is pointless and he cannot escape his destiny. So is the monk a seer as well? I hope that we will find out the relationship that the monk and this lady have and what their motives towards shaping Desmond’s future is about.

At the camper’s beach, they witness a helicopter approaching and crashing. A blinking light of a parachutist is seen descending the sky. In the morning, they find the parachutist backpack. Inside there’s a Portuguese version of Catch-22 and a Xerox copy of Desmond’s picture with Penny. Desmond is sure that Penny is there to save him.

As they go on looking for the parachutist, the actual vision Desmond had earlier is now a reality. Charlie is about to die. As I said earlier, the whole purpose of the episode was to show that Desmond was caught in a bind. If he were to help Charlie, he might lose out on Penny. On the Other hand, could he let Charlie die? While in training as a monk, Desmond was dealing with similar dilemma while discussing Abraham’s sacrificing his son Isaac. Abraham was going to go through with it, but God intervened. My question is as follows: Who is not to say that God did not intervene in Charlie’s sacrifice? Desmond was going to let Charlie die, but then he pushed Charlie away from the path of the arrow. Hence, Desmond felt that the sequence of events was changed. In fact, we were shown that the parachutist was not Penny, but someone else. But who is to tell that she was not the one supposed to come and not Penny. After all, even before Charlie was supposed to die, the parachutist backpack had a Portuguese version of Catch 22.

Next episode is “D.O.C.” a Jin- and Suncentric episode.

“Left Behind” (A Katecentric Episode)

This episode was a display of the many ways Kate was left behind. Although Kate is not my favorite character, because I just can’t empathize with her, I found that in this episode, I actually felt sorry for her.

The Flashback

Most of the time, I find Kate to be an annoying character that always makes the worst choices ever. However, watching this episode I learned that Kate is loyal to those she loves and will do anything for them, even murder.

Kate’s loyalty was apparent with her relationship with her mother. Her mother was abused by her stepfather (who in reality was her biological father). Kate decided to help her mother escape the abuse and set her off financially. She took out an insurance policy on their house, set the house on fire, making it look like it was an accident. Kate, however, didn’t think that her mother would put her husband above her own child and call the authorities on her daughter. Kate couldn’t understand that her mother was happy with her life, despite the abuse she was experiencing.

Throughout the episodes of LOST, we always come across that most, it not all, of the characters have deep father issues. Kate, so far, is the only one to, not only have father issues, but also mother issues. She is truly left behind.

The Beach

Meanwhile at the beach, Sawyer is being threatened that he might be kicked out the clan if he doesn’t mend his ways. I guess, that’s another form of being left behind. Sawyer tries his best to mend his ways and then he finds out that it was a cute con made up by Hurley, who felt that the only one left to lead the castaways with all the other leaders gone was Sawyer. I question what will happen once Jack, Kate, and Sayid come back with Juliet. Will Sawyer still be the leader or will Jack reclaim his post?

The Others

In this episode we learn that the Others left their little village with John Locke, leaving Jack, Sayid, Kate, and Juliet to fend for themselves. My question is as follows: Was Juliet really left behind? Why wasn’t she in the compound with Jack and Sayid? Why was she handcuffed to Kate in the middle of the jungle?

When Kate asked the same question, Juliet replied that Ben loved mind games. Was this Ben’s idea? Juliet certainly did make it sound that she was left behind and Ben was playing with her and Kate’s mind. However, I think that the only mind Ben was playing with was Kate’s.

Ben didn’t take in consideration that the smoke monster would appear suddenly. Juliet, who at first feigned ignorance of the smoke monster, certainly knew how to defend herself from it. She ran right towards the pylons, set it to work, and watched the monster slink away. This was the first lie she was caught in.

In order to escape the monster, Juliet had to have Kate’s cooperation, who at the time was not willing to run in the direction that Juliet wanted to go to. So Kate took the key to the handcuff and set herself free. Juliet was caught in the second lie told: Juliet was not handcuffed to Kate unwillingly. Either she (as she claimed to Kate) did the handcuffing, or Ben was the culprit or even the mastermind.

For someone who was left behind, Juliet certainly knew where Sayid and Jack were left when the Others left the village. Sayid, who, in my opinion, is the only one aware of any danger, of any question that need to be asked, and of any precaution to take did not want to have Juliet come back to the beach with them. Jack was adamant. Juliet was left behind, she would come with them. Juliet and Jack, walked in the front together, Kate was left behind with Sayid.

What the Episode Had to Offer

We got to meet Cassidy (Sawyer's girlfriend who gave birth to his daughter Clementine). Cassidy and Kate crossed paths. Kate helped Cassidy in a con that was going bad, and, in turn, Cassidy helped Kate meet with her mother for the last time. The male audience got to have girl fights, girl mud wrestling. We learned why Kate's mother yelled for help when she was dying in the hospital of cancer. All in all it was an OK episode.

Next Week

Next week, we will be shown “One of Us,” which will be a Julietcentric episode. Hopefully, we will learn whether Juliet is a plant or was actually left behind by her people.

Source for the screen captures: lost-media.com