Lost Reviews and News

Key Points from "One of Them"

Season 2, Episode 14 Episode Air Date: 02/15/06
Point 1
	Last week, we witnessed Sawyer's surprising power play. This week, it's Sayid's turn to shake things up. Much like Sawyer (up until last week), Sayid has been quiet this season. Sayid's Season Two started with a bang (ahem), but his booty buddy went and got shot by Ana-Lucia and since then, he's been mired in a post-Shannon funk. In this episode, that funk curdles into vengeance. Sayid's Violent Adventure begins when Ana-Lucia bolts from the treeline and rushes toward Sayid on the beach. The simple fact that Ana is within 500 feet of Sayid signals trouble -- the two aren't exactly BFF. Ana has thrown caution to the wind because she's just spotted something -- well, someone -- sneaking through the jungle. Sayid follows Ana into the brush and that's when they both see a tall, disheveled French woman walking carefully through the trees, a rifle slung over her shoulder. Sayid immediate recognizes the forest visitor as Crazy Danielle Rousseau and, because he doesn't want Ana to shoot any more of his acquaintances, he curtly instructs Ana to go back to the beach. Ana sneers in response, but she turns on her heel and moves back toward the shore (Sayid's Death Glare is supremely convincing). With Ana safely out of firing range, Sayid runs through the trees and curls in front of Rousseau's path. As it turns out, Sayid is exactly the person Rousseau is looking for. Of course, she doesn't explain why she's looking for him, nor does she explain why she's suddenly reappearing after that embarrassing black smoke ruse ("Exodus, Part 2"). Despite her lack of explanation, Sayid opts join Rousseau on a trip into the jungle. Shortly thereafter, Sayid realizes he's following an armed crazy woman through dense foliage toward an unknown destination. He stops in his tracks and demands answers. "Trust me," Rousseau says. Sayid pauses a moment, takes a breath, and then launches into an expository lecture that deftly outlines Rousseau's recent history with the castaways. "The last time we met, you arrived to warn us the Others were coming," Sayid says. "And then they didn't. And then you stole Claire's baby and ran across the island. You fooled us all by lighting a big bonfire on the other side of the Island, thereby sending huge billowing clouds of smoke high into the sky. Granted, this was a stirring visual that led to many fine cinematic moments during our tension-filled finale, but it was, at its heart, a lie. Moreover, when Charlie and I ran across the island in pursuit of you, Charlie discovered the stash of Virgin Mary heroin statues, and now we've got a wacked-out bassist from a two-bit rock band all hopped up on the sticky icky. So, considering all this, you might understand why a comment like 'trust me' doesn't hold much weight with me." Or something like that. The whole speech seemed out of place. The "Lost" writers don't usually resort to soap-opera-esque description dialogue. Nonetheless, Sayid's delivery would have brought a smile to Sami Brady's face. Moving on ... Rousseau offers a token of "trust" to Sayid by giving him her rifle. This temporarily appeases Sayid's concern and so the two once again set off to Rousseau's surprise location. Sometime later, Rousseau stops by a tree and pushes aside brush and vines. She reaches down and picks up a makeshift crossbow and a quiver of arrows (incidentally, Chewbacca uses a crossbow -- coincidence?). Before Sayid can comment on the similarities between Rousseau and Chewie, an unseen man yelps for help nearby. Sayid rushes into a clearing and sees a figure struggling in one of Rousseau's vine traps (she's a sucker for those things). Rousseau, who captured the guy the night before, has determined that this trapped man is an Other. The trapped man disagrees. He begs Sayid to cut him down, pleading his case by revealing "My name is Henry Gale! I'm from Minnesota!" We need to pause a moment to evaluate this new character's name. Last season, clever viewers (I wasn't one of them) discovered that Ethan Rom's name could be rearranged to spell "Other Man." With this in mind, I ran "Henry Gale" through the Internet Anagram Server. Herein are a few notable results: GALE HENRY (never would have guessed this one) A LEG HENRY ANGRY HEEL (shout-out to Charlie) GRAY HELEN (Locke had a "Helen" in his backstory. Hmm ...) HAL ENERGY And just because I'm a big dork with too much time on his hands, I also ran a query for "Henry Gale Minnesota." My favorite results included: A GENTLEMANISE HORNY (amorous condiments run amok?) A MENAGERIE SHOT LYNN A REMAGNETISE OH LYNN A LINEAGE HYMEN SNORT (the Internet Anagram Server is kinda dirty) Now that I've completely wasted your time, let's get back to the action ... So Sayid cuts down "Henry Gale" (if that's your real name) and guess what Henry does? He runs for the hills! But before he can reach the safety of the woods, Rousseau aims her crossbow and plants an arrow straight through Henry's right shoulder. He collapses to the ground, unconscious and bleeding. Sayid runs to Henry and checks his vital signs. Henry is still alive but, well, he's got an arrow in his shoulder and that can't be good. Sayid chastises Rousseau for shooting Henry, but Rousseau casually notes that if she wanted to kill him, she would have. She recommends that Sayid tie Henry up and take him back to Jack for medical care. "And then what?" Sayid asks. "You talk to him, Sayid," Rousseau says. "As I recall, that is what you do ... But know this: He will lie. For a long time. He will lie." Sayid gives Rousseau a darting look, then binds Henry's hands and hoists Henry's limp body over his shoulder. Rousseau watches as Sayid heads back into the jungle. He marches straight to the Hatch and deposits Henry on the floor. Sayid then wakes Locke (Locke is napping in the Hatch bunk beds, curled up in sheets with little Dharma logos all over them). Locke is understandably perplexed: a stranger with bound hands and an arrow poking from his shoulder is suddenly lying unconscious on the Hatch floor -- this wasn't really part of his day's mental plan. Before Locke can question Sayid about his new buddy, Henry starts to gain consciousness. Sayid immediately switches into interrogation mode, slapping Henry with questions. Through waves of pain and dripping blood, Henry reveals the following: He and his wife crashed on the island four months ago. The two were trying to fly across the Pacific in a hot air balloon (oh come on). His wife died three weeks ago. Henry claims that "she got sick." For most of his time on the island, Henry lived with his wife in a cave near the beach. The interrogation is cut short by Jack's arrival. Upon seeing the bloody arrow protruding from Henry's shoulder, Jack's doctor instincts kick in and he starts swabbing and fixing and healing the new patient. As Jack works, Sayid tells Jack that Rousseau believes Henry is an Other. Jack isn't phased. "What, you were gonna just let him bleed to death?" Jack asks mockingly. "I was trying to get honest answers while he was able to give them," Sayid counters. "And his wound is far from life threatening." Jack looks at Sayid with doctorly disdain. But Sayid looks back. His eyelids narrow and his face etches itself into the Death Glare. "Jack," Sayid says with eerie calm. "Do not untie him." Jack holds Sayid's gaze for half a second, then looks away submissively. I'm pretty sure he peed himself, too. First Ana-Lucia and now Jack -- Sayid has got his Death Glare mojo working in this episode! And that mojo keeps on working moments later ... As Jack tends to Henry's wound, Sayid and Locke hold a conspiratorial pow-wow beyond Jack's earshot. Sayid asks Locke if Jack knows the combination to the Hatch armory. Locke says he does ... for now. Sayid follows up with a second, more pointed question: How long would it take to change the combination? Locke is momentarily perplexed, but realization soon sets in: Sayid wants to use the armory to get the truth out of Henry by whatever means necessary. At first, Locke misunderstands Sayid's motives: "If you're angry ... looking for someone to punish ..." Sayid cuts Locke off with his Death Glare. "Why would I need to punish anyone? I want to find out who he is. I want the truth." Locke's face scrunches into a concerned squint as he gets a glimpse of Sayid's true bad-assedness. Sayid, fully aware that he's got Locke in the palm of his hand, notes that Jack will likely have a problem with his truth-seeking techniques. As such, he wants Locke to get working on that new combination as soon as possible. Locke cowers and abides by Sayid's decree. Now, I'm going to pause a moment to discuss a potential character discrepancy. In this episode, Sayid believes Jack is going to protest Henry's torture. But if you recall, Jack was the one who helped Sayid torture Sawyer in "Confidence Man." Moreover, Jack has a hair across his butt for the Others, so why would he immediately defend a guy who might be an Other? If anything, Locke would be the one most apt to disagree with torture. Am I missing something here? Have the electromagnetic pulses from the Hatch scrambled key personality traits? Next thing you know, Sawyer will babysit Aaron while Ana-Lucia sells Mary Kay products tent-to-tent. So anyway ... Locke sneaks off to reset the armory combination. A few minutes later, Locke and Sayid convince Jack to keep Henry in the armory for safety purposes. Jack agrees, and the three of them haul Henry's unconscious body (he passed out again) into the bare armory (remember: Locke emptied the thing last week). Jack and Locke turn to walk out, but Sayid stays a step behind. As Jack and Locke clear the doorway, Sayid grabs the latch and clicks the door shut. And that's when Henry's day goes from bad to Really Super Horrendously Bad. Inside the armory, Sayid binds Henry's legs as Henry grunts and gains consciousness. Sayid props Henry against the wall, taking particular care to dig his thumb into Henry's fresh arrow wound. As Henry winces, Sayid methodically begins to ask questions and poke holes in Henry's story. Sayid hammers at the facts, forcing Henry to quickly recall names and descriptions. Henry seems up to the task. He reiterates that he and his wife were living in a cave on the north shore of the island. Sayid peppers him with more questions: How far away is the cave? Why did you stay there for so long? Henry responds rapidly, saying they stayed on the beach so they'd be spotted by rescue planes. But then he says something very interesting (and perhaps, very, very stupid) ... "We had an emergency beacon ... a transmitter." "What kind of transmitter?" Sayid asks, his interest piqued. "An A.D.F. beacon," Henry says. "We wanted to be sure we'd be spotted." Henry doesn't realize he's talking to a communications expert. Nor does he realize that Sayid has, on two occasions, used radio equipment to monitor all sorts of frequencies around the island -- and so far, he's only heard two things: Rousseau's 16-year-old distress call and the "Moonlight Serenade" radio broadcast heard in last week's episode. Sayid files this "emergency beacon" tidbit into his mental torture file, then continues with his question bombardment: Q: What is your wife's maiden name? A: Murphy. Q: Where did you meet her? A: The University of Minnesota. Q: How did she die? A: She got sick ... it started as a fever, two days later she was delirious and "then she died." Q: What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? A: It was time for a Python joke. Henry is on the ropes, taking shot after shot. In a desperation move, Henry tries to divert Sayid, asking him -- begging him -- to tell him his name. Sayid's eyes narrow ... uh oh ... and out comes the Death Glare. "I was 23 years old when the Americans came to my country," he says firmly. "I was a good man. I was a soldier. And when they left, I was something different. For the next six years, I did things I wish I could erase from my memory. Things that I never thought myself to be capable of. But I did come to learn this ... There is a part of me which was always capable. [SINISTER AND SCARY PAUSE] You want to know who I am? [OH HENRY YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS ONE BIT] ... My name is Sayid Jarrah. And I am a torturer." Now that that's clear, Sayid continues his questioning. He asks Henry about the hot-air balloon, and Henry responds with all sorts of balloon tech specs -- how much air it can hold, how big it is, what you do when you need to use the bathroom, etc. -- and he also notes that if you were to look down on the balloon from above, you'd see a big yellow smiley face staring back at you (it's going to be very interesting indeed when Vincent prances into camp with a big shred of yellow fabric dangling in his mouth). Henry also claims to be rich -- well, he was rich. Sayid picks up on the odd tense. Henry freezes a moment, then says he's already thinking in the past. Sayid grows tired of all this balloon talk, so he decides to up the ante by adding a pair of pliers to the equation. He wraps the pliers around one of Henry's fingers and looks straight into Henry's quivering eyes. "Where is she buried?" Sayid snarls. Henry is dumbfounded, but Sayid presses on. He reminds Henry that he said he had buried his wife, so it shouldn't be a problem to describe the grave's location. Nor should it be a problem to describe how deep the grave is or how long it took Henry to dig the hole or even how he dug the hole (shovel? hands?). Henry's mouth flutters in fear. "I don't remember!" Henry screams. "You would remember!" Sayid shouts. "You would remember how deep! You would remember every shovelful! Every moment! You would remember what it felt like to place her body inside!" A tear streams from Sayid's eye. "You would remember if you buried the woman you love. You would remember ... if it were true!" Henry, fully aware that he's officially screwed, tries another half-assed diversion. He asks Sayid if he lost someone on the island. He asks who it was. Henry is desperate to find a connection, but what he doesn't realize is that he's just asked the dumbest thing possible. The Death Glare returns as Sayid recounts how Shannon was shot by accident ... and the reason she was shot was because the person who shot her was afraid ... "she thought she was someone else ... someone coming to hurt her ... SOMEONE LIKE YOU!" Sayid stands and drops the pliers. He clenches his hand into a fist, pulls back and unloads a powerful right hook into Henry's jaw. He follows with another and another, all the while screaming, "Tell me the truth!" Henry has a hard time telling him anything because his jaw is snapping and crackling into a million tiny pieces. Outside the armory, Jack hears the punches and the screaming. He demands that Locke open the door, but Locke refuses. Jack shoves Locke to the wall and at that very moment, the Hatch's countdown alarm blares throughout the structure. A showdown takes shape. Jack keeps Locke pinned to the wall as the alarm gets louder ... Locke can either open the door and reset the countdown, or the countdown will tick away and we'll finally find out what happens when the digits hit zero. Locke's fear is palpable -- that countdown freaks him out and he does not want to see what happens when it crosses the zero threshold. Locke turns and unlocks the armory door as the countdown reaches 10 seconds. With the armory unlocked, Locke bolts to the computer to punch in the reset code. Jack swings the armory door open. And at this point, I'm really glad I have TiVo. Within the span of 10 seconds we see: Locke reaches the computer and types in the wrong digits. As he hits backspace and tries to correct the mistake, the countdown reaches two seconds ... then one second ... And then it hits ZERO! In that moment, the alarm silences and the countdown clock spins wildly. The clock's second-digit panels suddenly settle into place: each shows a red panel with an icon (here's a screenshot). The right-hand icon appears to be some sort of upwards-pointing stick (or maybe a needle? Or a rocket?). The next icon is a bird. A second later, one of the minute-digit panels flips into place. It's a black panel with a feather (it resembles a quill standing upright in an ink bottle). As the panels continue to flip, a heavy mechanized sound whirs and thumps to life (could it be the electromagnetic doo-dad sitting in the Hatch's core?). Even though the countdown has expired, Locke looks at the keyboard and presses the last two digits. With the code inserted, Locke slams the EXECUTE button. The thumping machine noise cuts off and the countdown clock spins and resets to 108. What does all this mean? I have absolutely no idea. Technically, the clock hit zero. We know that when this happens, the Hatch is programmed to flip the ignition on some sort of giant mechanized device. What this device does and where it's housed are not known. We also don't know if Locke successfully reset the clock. It looks that way, but lord only knows what those icons and that machine did in the half-second they sprung to life. Meanwhile, back in the armory ... Jack busts through the door and snares Sayid's arms. Jack spins him from the armory as Sayid shouts "He's lying! He's lying!" With Sayid now outside the armory, Jack moves to slam the door from the inside. As the metal slab closes, Sayid looks in and sees Henry staring back at him. It's an odd moment: Sayid appears to have a revelation, but it's unclear what that revelation entails. On the flip side, Henry doesn't look scared, but he hasn't let down his guard, either. Rather, Henry has an "interested" look; it's as though he's reading Sayid rather than recoiling from him. Or maybe I'm reading way too much into this. Later, after all the torture turmoil has tempered, Jack, Sayid and Locke converge in the Hatch living room (we know it's the living room because it's decorated with some lovely Art Institutes originals -- I'm particularly impressed with the rock-desert picture hanging above the couch. It captures the desolation that comes when you're forced to press a friggin button every 108 minutes). Decorating aside, Sayid tells Jack that Henry is definitely an Other. Jack notes that Rousseau once thought Sayid himself was an Other, and she went so far as to strap him to a bedspring and pulse heavy electric currents through his body, "all because she thought you were one of them." Locke suddenly appears from out of nowhere (he was probably hunting for wayward film splices in the Hatch library) and offers this bon mot: "He is one of them. To Rousseau, we're all 'Others'. I guess it's all relative, huh?" Sayid, worn from the torture session, has neither the time nor the inclination to summon his Death Glare. In the closing moments of the episode, Sayid sits with Charlie on the beach. He's feeling chatty so he tells Charlie about his day: "Oh, you know, nothing major ... went for a walk in the morning ... moped about Shannon for an hour or two ... and then I ran into Rousseau and she led me to this guy she captured and then she shot him with an arrow and so I picked him up and brought him to the Hatch, And then after that, Locke and I conspired to reset the armory lock so Jack couldn't get in -- oh he was sooo mad -- and then I spent the rest of the afternoon beating the guy senseless with my fists." Charlie is slightly overwhelmed: the whole "finding an Other and torturing him" revelation is a lot to comprehend. But Sayid isn't done ... "Jack asked me how I knew ... knew for sure that this man was lying," Sayid says. "How I knew for sure that he was one of them. One of the Others. I know because I feel no guilt for what I did to him. [LONG PAUSE SUGGESTING SOMETHING BIG TO COME ...] But there is no way I can ever explain that to Jack, or even Locke. Because both of them have forgotten ..." Charlie's brow crinkles in confusion. "Forgotten? What?" The Death Glare returns! "That you were strung up by your neck and left for dead," Sayid growls. "That Claire was taken and kept for days, during which god only knows what happened to her [FORESHADOWING ALERT!]. These people, these 'Others,' are merciless, and can take any one of us whenever they choose." Sayid looks out at the ocean and prepares to unload a real whopper. "So tell me Charlie," Sayid says, shifting the Death Glare straight into Charlie's soul, "have you forgotten?" And with that, it ends. Charlie sits on the beach wondering what the hell Sayid is up to. Sayid stirs in his anger and plots his next step. At this rate, the season finale will showcase a collection of 14 independent anti-Other armies, each consisting of three castaways armed with sticks and pointy rocks. Jack and Ana-Lucia will miss the climactic battle when they sleep in after a night of body shots, Apollo Bars and Dharma erotic lotions. Sawyer will sell guns at 200% markup and earn enough to buy a new pair of reading glasses. And Sayid will save the day when he discovers that his Death Glare can actually be focused into a Death Ray. Oh yeah, it's gonna be great.

Point 2
	During his beat-down session with Henry, Sayid alluded to a defining moment from his past when his torture skills were first put to use. We actually witness this moment in Sayid's backstory segments -- and we also witness an unusual connection between Sayid and Kate (that's right!). Here are the backstory high points: After the U.S. invaded Iraq in the first Gulf War, the military used Sayid to translate during Iraqi interrogations. At one point, Sayid is asked to translate for his former commanding officer (a real nasty guy named Tariq). Tariq has knowledge about a captured U.S. helicopter pilot, but he isn't cooperating, so Sayid is brought in to both translate and prod his CO for information. The prodding doesn't work. Tariq tells Sayid, on a number of occasions, to kill the U.S. guards and, while he's at it, to kill himself and salvage the small amount of honor he has left. Sayid, who at this point is a young, wide-eyed soldier, is shaken by these exchanges. He gets shaken a whole lot more when a U.S. operative (played by the big dude from "Highlander") shows Sayid videotape from a chemical attack overseen by Tariq. The attack focused on a village inhabited by Sayid's relatives, and what happens to them isn't pretty (we don't actually see the results, but the screaming and thrashing heard on the tape suggest some very bad stuff). The U.S. operative, seizing the opportunity to play upon Sayid's need for vengeance, shoves a big wooden box toward him. Later, we learn what that box contains: a variety of picking, cutting, grabbing, slicing and dicing devices (manufactured by Ronco!). It's a torture kit, and Sayid is enlisted to "extract" information from Tariq. At first, Tariq mocks Sayid, telling him he'll never hurt a commanding officer, especially since he's the "son of a great hero" (an interesting new Sayid fact). But then Tariq gets nasty, ordering Sayid to suffocate himself with a plastic bag. He punctuates this suicide demand with a thick wad of spit, aimed directly at Sayid's eye. Sayid slowly picks up a pair of pliers. He looks directly at Tariq and there, appearing for the very first time, is the Death Glare. Sayid soon returns the wooden box to the U.S. operative. His hands are splattered with blood and his eyes are wedged deep into his sockets. He softly reveals Tariq's information: The downed helicopter pilot was killed and buried days ago. Apparently, those pliers worked. In the final backstory segment, Sayid tells the U.S. operative that what he made him do is something no human should ever have to do to another. The operative has some parting words for Sayid, as well. In Arabic, the operative says: "One of these days, there will be something you need to know. And now ... you know how to get it." Turning to the hinted-at Kate connection: When Sayid is first enlisted to translate, he works with a sergeant who looks eerily familiar. That eerie familiarity turns to overt recognition at the very end of the episode when the sergeant asks Sayid if he has a wife and kids. When Sayid answers "no," the sergeant looks down at a photograph in his hand. The picture shows a young girl with long brown hair and ... freckles. It's Kate! And the sergeant is Kate's adopted father! He's the same guy Kate visits in "What Kate Did," and you'll recall that for a brief moment during this visit, Sayid is seen on a television in the background. One last observation from the backstory: When Sayid is first taken prisoner, the background scene shows black smoke from an oil well billowing in the distance. It's an image that looks an awful lot like the black smoke that arced across the island sky in the Season One finale.

Point 3
	Jack and Locke need to go to couples therapy. They spent most of this episode bitching and moaning, and they almost came to blows during the aforementioned "countdown incident." Even worse, they've each got their own sneaky secrets, but they're not doing a very good job keeping those secrets. For example: When Sayid first locks himself in the armory with Henry, Jack's protests are met with this response from Locke: "You're raising an army," Locke says, surprising Jack with knowledge of his little army plan. "And why you didn't ask me to help, well that's your business, but there's only one reason to raise an army, Jack. And that's because we're at war. And like it or not, whatever Sayid has to do behind that door, that's a part of it, too." In one brief exchange, Locke managed to be wounded, passive aggressive and condescending (the trifecta!). The combined power of Oprah and Dr. Phil couldn't untangle this Gordian knot.

Point 4
	In a bizarre sub-plot, Sawyer blackmails Hurley into helping him capture a tree frog. I'm not making this up. Sawyer, who last season was haunted by a rogue boar, uses his keen Beastmaster skills in this episode to track and eradicate a croaking tree frog. The frog is driving Sawyer batty (froggy?) and Sawyer, with time on his hands and guns at his disposal, decides to tromp through the woods on a frogger expedition. Along the way, he stumbles upon Hurley, and Hurley is none-too-pleased to be found. I need to provide a little context for this next bit. One of the most persistent "Lost" questions is: Why hasn't Hurley lost any weight? The late Leslie Artz referred to this exact conundrum moments before he exploded ("Where are you hiding the carbs?!"). This is also the question most often posed by my own Mom ("Why is that guy still so big?" she asks, preferring to divert her focus from equally perplexing questions like: "How did they survive the plane crash?" or "Why are there polar bears on a tropical island?" or even "Why does Ana-Lucia only have one facial expression?"). In this episode, we finally get our answer to the Hurley mystery: He's eating ... a lot. SHOCKER! You see, Sawyer discovers that he isn't the only one with a secret stash. At the beginning of Season Two, you'll recall that Hurley was assigned the task of rationing -- and later, distributing -- the Hatch food supplies. He appears to have "rationed" a significant percentage of the foodstuffs for himself. Sawyer actually catches Hurley mid-bite (Hurley is dipping chips into an enormous tub of Dharma ranch dressing). Upon closer inspection, Sawyer discovers an array of Dharma-approved junk food. Hurley pleads with Sawyer not to tell the group. Sawyer proposes a deal: If Hurley helps him find the tree frog, Sawyer will keep Hurley's secret. I can't believe I'm still writing about this. So, to conclude this tree-frog-ranch-dressing plot, Hurley and Sawyer eventually find the frog. Hurley offers to relocate the creature to a distant part of the island. Sawyer has another idea. He crushes the wee little frog in his palm, then smirks at Hurley: "I hear with a little ranch, they taste just like chicken." And then it ends. Weirdest ... subplot ... ever. That's it for now. Be sure to drop by our "Lost" Forum for stimulating conversation and conjecture.

Next Episode:
"Pilot Parts 1 & 2" -- Go back to the beginning with this two-hour rebroadcast of the pilot episode. Airs: Wednesday, Feb. 22, 9 p.m., ABC.
Review by Mac Slocum. All photos and episode descriptions © ABC Inc.

Posted by Mac on February 16, 2006 10:20 AM | Email This

Isn't Henry Gale the name of Dorothy Gale's uncle (and Aunt Em's husband)in "The Wizard of Oz?" If so, I guess the hot air balloon reference relates to that.

→ 1. Posted by: marie at February 16, 2006 10:35 AM

Zeke was the another uncle in Wizard of Oz and is also Sawyer's nickname for the bearded Other.

→ 2. Posted by: JRaw at February 16, 2006 10:38 AM

An African or a European swallow?

→ 3. Posted by: SnakeJake at February 16, 2006 10:39 AM

Heh heh. That joke never gets old ;) -- Mac

→ 4. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 10:41 AM

Ok, who has a screenshot of the red timer icons?

→ 5. Posted by: Zeppo at February 16, 2006 10:43 AM

I second that. I haven't been able to find that screencap yet, so if anyone has it, please post the link. It was a pain the *ass* describing those icons and I'm sure the screencap will be much more enlightening than my drivel -- Mac

→ 6. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 10:47 AM

There's a chance that these hieroglyphics are what the clock showed after it counted to Zero.

Also, I am disturbed that Sayid would resort to torture again after what he did to Sawyer last season. But at the same time, I agree with Locke, they consider themselves at War now, and this is a part of it. I can only assume that we will learn that Mr. Henry Gale is indeed an "Other" (to which Henry moaned "An other what?").
Kudos to the writers for working in Hurley's weight issue. I knoew they wouldn't just leave that alone : )

→ 7. Posted by: Sarah at February 16, 2006 10:51 AM

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e183/Alyson3783/hieroglyphs.jpg

This is the hieroglypic link.

→ 8. Posted by: Sarah at February 16, 2006 10:52 AM

Here is a link to the screen shot of the symbols.
http://lost.cubit.net/pics/2x14/glyphs.jpg

→ 9. Posted by: kingnothing at February 16, 2006 10:53 AM

Great review as always, Mac...thanks again for providing the best Lost blog/forum on the net, in my opinion.
I have two points:
1. It's intersting that Jack was really hell-bent on seeing that counter go down to zero. He even said to Locke that he WANTS to see what happens. Or else, why wouldn't he have just reset it himself while Locke was unlocking the armory?

2. There was definitely something to that look between Henry and Sayid. Well, the actor's on for six episodes, so I think he WILL turn out to be an Other and will be killed.

→ 10. Posted by: christina at February 16, 2006 10:56 AM

'Zeke' was not a member of the Gale family. He was one of the farmhands; the Kansas farm analog to the Cowardly Lion, both played by Burt Lahr. So far, no one on the island is named 'Hunk' (Scarecrow) or 'Hickory' (Tinman), yet.

I've no doubt, however, that the 'Henry Gale' name was a nod to the "Wizard of Oz", especially when you combine it with the bit about the hot air balloon.

→ 11. Posted by: Deep Cover at February 16, 2006 11:08 AM

Anyone else think sawyer is going to have a grudge aginst every type of animal on the island before its all over?
season 1: Boar
season 2: Frog
season 3: chupacabra?

→ 12. Posted by: Adam at February 16, 2006 11:09 AM

Thanks Mac for the great wrap up! I am sooo glad to have found you! We had our tv emergency green screen with ear piercing squelch right at the scene where the crazy French woman gives the gun up to Sayid, so thanks again for filling me in to what I missed.

Anybody got a link to the screenshot of young 'Freckles'/Kate? I totally didn't make the connection...duh.

→ 13. Posted by: GeekyGal at February 16, 2006 11:09 AM

I think the symbols on the countdown clock (after it hit zero) were Egyptian hieroglyphs. Not sure what significance that might have, but there ya go ...

→ 14. Posted by: D at February 16, 2006 11:11 AM

Can't remember what the icons were exactly, or indeed what all the bases were called... but wasn;t one of them the Swan, the other the Arrow etc...

Isn't that what the icons were all about?

→ 15. Posted by: Alex in Scotland at February 16, 2006 11:13 AM

So, once again we have an "Other" about to talk and once again Jack-ass needs to stick his nose in and ruin it for everyone. Last time he was in a possition of weakness but he pumped up his chest and got all tough. This time they have an Other at an extreme disadvantage, yet Jack goes all sissy on us.

At some point the rest of the passengers are going to realize that in order survive on the island they are going to need some answers about the others, and in order to get those answers they are going to have to kill Jack.

Not that getting answers is the only reason to kill Doctor Idoit. A couple of days ago he was ready to form an amatuer army to go a provoke the superior forces of the others on their home turf like that wouldn't get everyone killed. This episode he risks god knows what, preventing Locke from entering the numbers so he can interupt Sayid's fact finding mission. Doesn't he feel he should consult the other 815 passengers before he makes decisions that are highly likely to put their lives in jeopardy?

I think our survivors should get together and elect Jin to go deliver Jack a "message" like he did for his last employer. If they tell Jin Jack was the one who kidnapped Sun in order to work up fear for his army recruiting, that would get him in the propper mindset.

→ 16. Posted by: KillJackOff at February 16, 2006 11:28 AM

And wasn't it a bit touching to hear Sawyer actually refer to Hurley as Hurley for once?
Mac, you are the BEST!I feel like I haven't really seen the episode until I have read your recap.
I just reviewed that part with the photo of Kate. It's defiinately her-at a young age, I think. I'll try to photograph my TV screen and post it for you all. (Unless someone beats me to it!)

→ 17. Posted by: Tazbee at February 16, 2006 11:29 AM

just a nitpick: Iraqis speak Arabic, not Iraqi :)

When is the next new episode?? Frak Repeats!

→ 18. Posted by: Geoff at February 16, 2006 11:36 AM

I don't think that the sergeant was Kates dad. Is anyone able to check the actors name in this episode and in 'What Kate Did'?

→ 19. Posted by: RD at February 16, 2006 11:39 AM

Got the pic of young Kate:

http://lost.cubit.net/pics/2x14/youngKate.jpg

→ 20. Posted by: GeekyGal at February 16, 2006 11:39 AM

Geoff -- Excellent point. I made the change. Apparently, my cultural ignorance increases the later it gets (at 2 a.m. I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating).

→ 21. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 11:42 AM

why would any survivor want to kill off jack? First of all in reality that would never fly since he is the main focus of the show itself. Second on the show it wouldn't make sense to kill off the only person with medical experience since every week someone has a major injury. I'll admit that it was out of character for Jack to be against the torture since it was he who suggested Sayid do the same to Sawyer. BUT he is a doctor and did take an oath to do no harm. So maybe he was just conflicted. It would be a grave injustice for the survivors to kill him off as well since it was he who saved many of their lives on the first day.

→ 22. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 11:50 AM

Mac, I just stumbled onto this site last week - it's the best Lost blog on the web, hands down. Thanks for the hard work.

Now, can someone please explain to me why Sayid was so eager to let Henry Gale go when he first saw him caught in French Chick's net: he cut him down, untied him, and let him run off into the woods, no worries.

But then, later, Sayid's torture-side comes out & all of a sudden he thinks Henry is an Other? When did Sayid's opinion of Henry change? Why was he so willing at first to let Henry run off, and then later so convinced that Henry was an Other? Doesn't make sense to me.

→ 23. Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 12:04 PM

Maybe it was just because he saw how determined Rousseau was that he was an Other, and he believed her. He seems to know when people are telling the truth or lying.

→ 24. Posted by: christina at February 16, 2006 12:08 PM

top episode, i think that guy is definitely an other, the look he gave when syed was dragged away confirmed it, WAR!!!!!

→ 25. Posted by: adam at February 16, 2006 12:09 PM

some other points of interest:

1.
Gale's from: Minnesota...Owned a Mining Company...
That's 3M: The "Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company".

2.
The hieroglyphics after counter hit oo translate as "cause to die". See this link:
http://lost.cubit.net/pics/2x14/glyphs.jpg

→ 26. Posted by: gryvatz at February 16, 2006 12:13 PM

This episode is riddled with character discrepancies. Jack, who was so eager to let Sayid torture Sawyer, in season one, about information about Shannon's inhalers, and wants to start an army, is totally against Sayid now torturing an outsider who may be one of the Others. Locke, a normally cool thinking, even keeled type, is all for it. Sawyer shows a soft side and feels bad about calling Hurley fat. Finally, Sayid the torturer originally lets this stranger go only to realize the near grave mistake after Rousseau shoots him with an arrow.
This could all be leading to major character development later on but for now lets just observe the fact that every man (or woman) on the island has at least two sides to him.

→ 27. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 12:16 PM

The hieroglyphics probably mean something like: 'CAUSE TO DIE.' (lost.cubit.net)

Wasn't it great to see Sayid again for a whole episode? He was one of my favs until Mr. Eko came along.

I wonder who would win in a Death Glare Battle. A Triple Threat Match between Lock, Eko and Sayid.

→ 28. Posted by: SnakeJake at February 16, 2006 12:20 PM

Oh, I left one out. Hurley, our lovable trustworthy teddy bear, who distributed all the food in one night so as not to cause an eventual internal war, horded an unknown amount of food from the pantry to keep for himself! Blasphemy! Where did we go wrong Hugo? Where did we go wrong? Basically this episode humanized many of the characters and made them more believable.

→ 29. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 12:20 PM

Haven't we seen those symbols that came up, on other Dharma hatches? Could it be that those symbols each represent a hatch? Just a thought...

→ 30. Posted by: Lisa at February 16, 2006 12:22 PM

What a great job the writers are doing of creating an environment where nobody knows who they can or cannot trust. This whole 2nd season has showcased how difficult it is to determine truth from lies and reality from lunacy.

That being said, I have a MAJOR beef with the writers in this episode. The clock counted down to zero, right? Right. But apparently there is a grace period after zero. I was very disappointed that whatever was beginning to happen with the hieroglyphics/weird whirring noises stopped happening when Locke hit the button, even though the clock had expired. Lame.

Other than that, great episode. The dynamics between the characters are so much more sophisticated than anything else on network TV right now.

→ 31. Posted by: KG at February 16, 2006 12:23 PM

I just want to ask if anyone else caught the DHARMA symbol on the shark's tale back in 'Adrift.'

→ 32. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 12:23 PM

These recaps are great! I've been watching Lost since the beginning, but only discovered this site a couple of weeks ago. I can pick up all the little things I missed like past character "connections" (i.e. Sayid captured by Kate's "dad" or Jack choosing to save Sarah rather than Shannon's father) and the clever allusions in the writing (i.e. "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" or the Glenn Miller Orchestra).

Anyway, my thought on Jack and the torture is this. Didn't Sawyer basically claim (or at least didn't deny) that he had Shannon's asthma inhaler medicine? They just wanted him to give it up. So they weren't really torturing an "innocent" man as far as they knew. As it turned out he never had the medicine, but they had no reason to believe that at the time. Maybe that's part of why Jack was hesitant to torture a man who was so vigorously protesting his innocence.

→ 33. Posted by: Bees at February 16, 2006 12:27 PM

I think Jack was right to stop the torturing. Sayid was obviously going psycho. Well, he always WAS a psycho. I want to believe Henry. I grew fond of him even if he's only been in one episode. He's going to be AT LEAST in six episodes, most probably more. I hope he won't die.

→ 34. Posted by: Ossit at February 16, 2006 12:31 PM

Agreed. But alot of time has passed since then and there have been numerous events that should have made Jack wary of any unknown people on the island. For those of us keeping score at home its Others: 1 murder (Scott or was it Steve), 3 kidnappings (Claire,Walt, the Stwewardess who's name I forgot), one attempted murder (Charlie). Survivors: 2 Murders (Ethan and Godwin). So Jack needs to get with the program and be a little suspicious.
PS I know there were other kidnappings by the Others I just cant remember the exact number.

→ 35. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 12:35 PM

It's foolish to believe Henry. That look at the end of the show said it all about him. He didnt have the look of a man who had just been terrorized and beaten. It was a smug look of a man who didn't crack against the worst Sayid could dish out.

→ 36. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 12:36 PM

When the Other "Henry Gale" claimed to have met his wife at the University of Minnesota, it reminded me of Greg and Karen Degroot at the University of Michigan.

Does anyone think there's some kind of connection there? It seems like he tried to pull a Verbal Kint, but not quite as skillfully. Why do all the Others seem to really good at creating fake backstories?

And do you think that Henry Gale got caught on purpose? Does he have psychic powers that allow him to read minds? Do any of the Others have psychic powers? Do all of them?

Was there really a man that crashed on the island in a balloon, and did the Others kill him? I hope that Sayid has a lot more time to torture this guy, but it looks like Jack-the-plot-device will keep the audience from getting too much information.

Hey, how many episodes are left in this season? I find it really interesting which episodes ABC is airing in between the new ones. I think the producers are asking the viewers to make connections between the old and the new. If that's correct, then what significance does the pilot have given the current context of the show?

Also, is it wrong of me to lust after Evangeline Lilly in the young picture of her we see in this episode? She was too young then, but she's plenty old now. Not that I would hit on her then. Or now, I guess, but still...

Love the reviews, mac! I can't wait until the producers ask you to write an episode.

→ 37. Posted by: Dan at February 16, 2006 12:38 PM

Great Mac - Love the Python reference. Talk about a Spanish Inquisition, eh? ;-)

→ 38. Posted by: hookedonlost at February 16, 2006 1:00 PM

I have TIVO and after the clocked ticked down to zero I watched the numbers roll in slow motion. Each number segment seemed to display a moving picture of some kind(like when you draw pictures on a pad and then flip through it real fast to make it look like the picture is moving). I don't have a hi-def T.V. so it wasn't very clear but there were definitely pictures of things being formed. Did anyone else try this and were you able to see anything?

→ 39. Posted by: M.E. at February 16, 2006 1:11 PM

Does anyone else think Sayid is a pretty annoying character? I mean, when he delivered the "I am a tor-tu-rer" line last night, I think I actually laughed out loud. Just a terrible actor. You're right, Mac - some of his lines were too 'soap opera' for this show. And when he was recounting to Henry how Shannon was killed - just brutal acting, so forced.

And Sayid's backstory provided very little. Yeah, we saw the Kate connection (which right now means very little), and it was kinda cool how the American guy really knew how to speak Arabic .. but other than that, what did we learn? Sayid was in the National Guard & he's good at torturing people. Whoop-dee-do.

I think Hurley's character is much more intriguing, being the main connection to the 'numbers' and all, and would love to see more of his backstory. Plus leaving Kate out of the entire episode is just totally wrong.

But I know I'm nitpicking - decent episode, great show.

→ 40. Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 1:13 PM

Did anyone get a good look at the logo on the new hatch door? I'd love to see a screenshot of it.

How many hatches do you think there are?
It's my opinion that there is either 5 or 6.
5 being the number of digits on the timer and 6 being the number of numbers in the universal LOST number (4 8 15 16 23 42).

→ 41. Posted by: RD at February 16, 2006 1:17 PM

My first thought, when seeing Hurley with the ranch dressing (besides a laugh) was SO WHAT? As I recall, Locke had Michael blow an entire jar of this ranch dressing away while teaching him to shoot. Probably more, surely it wasn't just the one shot. Ok, Hurley had some peanut butter too, and no doubt a couple of other items, but since Hurley gave so much to everyone else, I'm sure he would be cut slack for chips and dip. I think it was a total waste of time to try to explain why the actor, who ISN'T starving on an island, is the same size. And I have to agree, the whole frog subplot was just... strange. Did they think to make Sawyer a bigger bad@$$ because he mashed a frog? I didn't get it. I laughed when the hieroglyphs came up on the screen, first comment was, "Have to hit the blog tomorrow for a picture of that." An entertaining puzzle, but it seems hysterically obscure to work 3000 year old letters into your timing system, doesn't it? I look forward to what the preview showed, another D.H.A.R.M.A. station about to be revelead?

→ 42. Posted by: The Duf at February 16, 2006 1:17 PM

I thought there were six hatches, or 'stations.' Because when we see the 'Orientation' video, it says 'Station 3 of 6' or something like that. Right?

I'm thinking there's got to be more to the whole Hurley/Sawyer/frog incident. I don't know what - but I don't think the writers would 'waste' a whole segment on just explaining *how* Hurley has maintained his girth.

→ 43. Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 1:25 PM

The http://www.oceanicflight815.com/ site has changed!

There is now a night picture of the island, and a beacon shining up from some part of the island that is a link to http://www.thehansofoundation.org/

this could be old news, but this site USED to be the one with the seating chart did it not? and WHAT is the beacon?

→ 44. Posted by: Angus at February 16, 2006 1:32 PM

What if Henry Gale wasn't looking at Sayid when they were panning out of the new makeshift holding cell when Jack was pulling Sayid off of him. Here's a new idea to throw at you. If Henry Gale is an other and he knows about the hatch, maybe he was looking out to see if Locke was able to reset the clock, before all doomsday hit?

I mean I found it weird that he didn't ask Sayid or Jack where he was? I know if I had been living in a cave for four months I'd be wonder where in the world I was if I woke up in a concrete room with working electrical lights and all. I definetly think Mr. Gale is an other who knows a little more about the hatch than what we were given in last nights episode? What do you think?

→ 45. Posted by: Josh Sturgill at February 16, 2006 1:40 PM

wow mike, i think you're going to be the only one who feels that way about sayid. i LOVE him. i kept saying that to the tv (much to the dismay of the boyfriend ha ha). he is still one of my favorites i was so happy to see an ep about him.
mac-you made me laugh at loud a couple times reading this, anytime you can toss in a monty python and the holy grail (the greatest movie ever) refereance you should. also the part about jack peeing himself lord you should win an award.
this ep, i was very happy that -i- actually figured out that was kate. most of the time i miss those things (i admit it). it was also very interesting that the americans taught sayid hot to torture didn't see that one coming.
also wasn't the american dude in the xfiles? or er? and henry gale what is he from? he looked so stinkin familier to me, i was actually thinking he was in the show before. anyone?

→ 46. Posted by: Laura aka wolfie at February 16, 2006 1:46 PM

I'll bet that there is some truth in Henry Gale's story. It is quite possible that he crashed on the island via the hot air ballon, but perhaps it occured much, much earlier than four months ago as he stated. Perhaps he crashed and then joined the Other's cult. They do like the "good" people, so maybe they liked him and he then went through the cult initiation.

Another thought that I had was that he mentioned that he *was* rich... perhaps he ended up meeting up with some Other's cult members out in the real world and gave his money to them before ending up on the island.

I don't know. Just some thoughts that I had that I didn't see posted yet.

Marty.

→ 47. Posted by: Marty at February 16, 2006 1:49 PM

what in the world happened to jack? mr. "let's not talk about it but just take guns and go after michael and after sun's kidnappers" now suddenly has a soft side for strangers??? total crap if you ask me!!! he was one of my favorite characters but lately all i wanna do is punch him in the face and knock him out everytime he even shows up!! (sorry i just had to get that out of my system!)

is anyone else having problems accessing the screen caps on lost.cubit.net for last night's episode? i keep getting a cannot find server message.

i was really disappointed with the timer countdown too but i believe that something has been set in motion and we will soon find out what it is. what i didn't get was how locke was so calm about it. maybe the timer is just a psychological tool to manipulate people and locke has figured it out but doesn't want anyone else to know?????

that definitely was kate's father in sayyid's backstory and that was her picture. somebody said it wasn't so just wanted to clarify.

anybody got any more info on those hieroglyphics?

great review once again mac. i kinda thought the epi sucked but after reading your review i like it a little better. any ideas when the next new epi will air?

→ 48. Posted by: katePlusSun=Fun at February 16, 2006 1:49 PM

Since it appears that the earlier link isn't working, here is a link to the photo of the alleged young Kate: http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=photo7vc.jpg

My thought is that it is actually a young picture of Evangeline Lilly and that was her dad... er, step-dad.

Marty.

→ 49. Posted by: Marty at February 16, 2006 1:53 PM

forgot to mention-i don't think we saw sawyer's soft side when he apologized to hurley for calling him fat. i think he just wanted his help to find the damn frog and since he didn't have the food stash blackmail weapon anymore he had no choice but to say sorry. sawyer and soft? in your dreams!!! HE IS MR. BAD ASS!!!

→ 50. Posted by: katePlusSun=Fun at February 16, 2006 1:58 PM

The next new episode, titled "Maternity Leave," will air on March 1.

→ 51. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 1:58 PM

I agree with Mac and some other commentators about the character discrepancies in this episode. Jack and Locke seemd to have reversed roles. The only explanation I can see is that Jack regrets the prior decision to torture Sawyer and/or he thought the last torture was more valid b/c Barbie was dying of asthma.

On another note, it is clear that the writers are making great efforts to show that Jack (or anyone else for that matter) is no longer in control. From the guns, to not calling Jack about the injured Other, to the decision to torture, Jack is officially out of the loop. New and suprising alliances are forming, that is also clear.

→ 52. Posted by: texasrobster at February 16, 2006 2:03 PM

One other thing I thought was worth mentioning. Rousseau gave us some info about the Others. She KNEW that Henry Gale would lie for a long time. To me, this indicates that the Others have some kind of psychological training or resolve or even fanaticism that makes them mentally strong. Another tidbit to let us know how bad-ass the Others are.

→ 53. Posted by: texasrobster at February 16, 2006 2:12 PM

I missed the last 5 mins because the TV blacked out with an AMBER Alert. So, I'm in the dark from right after Sayid went psycho and closed the armory door on Henry Gale up to when they dropped him off in the middle of the desert with the bus fare. I want to know scene for scene, line-by-line what happened! Did they find out for sure if he was lying?

I knew it was Kate's father right away. I could tell my the shape of his mouth when he spoke. It was obvious! The other guy I thought just *might* have been Zeke because his voice was so familiar. I guess not, but I did realize it was that badass guard, Byron Hadley, from "The Shawshank Redemption."

→ 54. Posted by: Trinity at February 16, 2006 2:39 PM

Well, while I think Henry is an 'other' and is lying, I don't necessarily agree that it's proven yet, just because Crazy French Chick says so. Rememeber, as Jack pointed out, she thought Sayid was an 'other,' and we all know how that one turned out. And remember, she's crazy. Don't put too much stock in her 'info.'

→ 55. Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 2:39 PM

Angus - the site you are thinking about is www.oceanic-air.com

Josh - Henry did in fact ask a couple of times where he was - once when Jack started to operate on him and once in the armory.

Great recap, thanks for the info. Does anyone have a non photobucket, working screen cap of the heiroglyphics? Photobucket is websensed out for me (damn Federal Govt!).

→ 56. Posted by: Adam at February 16, 2006 2:42 PM

This is absolutely the most perspicacious, intelligent, brilliant site on the internet when it comes to LOST! I've been reading your reviews for several weeks now and this is the first I've posted. Thanks so much, Mac! You are the greatest!!

I, too, think there is more to the frog story. I thought tree frogs were poisonous, but was told, no, only if you boil their secretions...

But... still, I wonder. Sawyer did say, "This frog is killing me." Foreshadowing?

→ 57. Posted by: momof2js at February 16, 2006 2:48 PM

Let us all remember that Kate's dad isn't really here dad. The military father she thought was her biological father technically is her step-father. It was all in What Kate Did.

→ 58. Posted by: Marie at February 16, 2006 2:53 PM

Adam,
Will this help?

http://homepage.mac.com/awaspaas/.Pictures/lost.jpg

→ 59. Posted by: momof2js at February 16, 2006 2:53 PM

Interesting theory momof2js.

I immediately thought about the frog being poisonous (when Sawyer first picked it up). The only problem with this theory is that poisonous dart frogs have very bright colors and this frog did not.

As far as Sawyer saying that the frog is "killing" him, I saw the actor that plays Charlie on Jay Lenno and he DID say that more people would die this season (notice he said people and not person).

→ 60. Posted by: RD at February 16, 2006 3:06 PM

The links to hieroglyphs aren't working. and I would really like to see them. I also agree that each glyph is represented by a separate hatch, the hatch they're in is a crane the other was a arrow the one in the next episode looks like two serpants inner woven. and I also noticed a bit of animated flashing going on when the numbers fliped to glyphs. Perhaps all the hatchs have a count down device
that they are all connected, do they all rely on each other not to run down. I wonder if this has anything to do with the relationships on the island howw we are all reliant on eachother but at the same time we want to distroy eachother.

→ 61. Posted by: al at February 16, 2006 3:11 PM

josh holloway is proabably in the top three with regards to popular characters on the show so I can't say I could see him biting the bullet. So far they have only killed off characters that the show could do without like Shannon, Boone and Arzt. I know Shannon and Boone were main characters but I mean they were both really annoying and Sayid really needed something to be pissed about to get angry enough to torture again.

→ 62. Posted by: JAC at February 16, 2006 3:11 PM

I just saw alink to the glyphs and the one that looked like a bird wasn't a crane or swan it is crow or something like that. Since in egyptian glyphs there is a symbol of a crane, I going back on what I just said I dont think they have any thing to do with the number of hatchs or represent any hatchs

→ 63. Posted by: al at February 16, 2006 3:19 PM

Quick, random question: does anyone know where I can find Mac's write-ups for Season 1? I can't find them anywhere on the site. Thanks.

→ 64. Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 3:24 PM

Mike -- All of the reviews are available under the Lost Reviews link on the right-hand side of this page. The direct link is:

http://www.filmfodder.com/tv/lost/archives/cat_lost_reviews.shtml

Hope that helps! -- Mac

→ 65. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 3:27 PM

Got it, thanks.

→ 66. Posted by: Mike at February 16, 2006 3:42 PM

Before I say this, I will state that I am one of the strongest Lost defenders. I don't mind being patient while the mystery unfolds, season after season. However, the writers and the promoters need to tone down the build-up which almost always leaves us disappointed. Exibit "A" is listed below.

"an elusive island creature" = a tree frog

What the....

→ 67. Posted by: texasrobster at February 16, 2006 3:49 PM

texasrobster -- you bring up an excellent point. I couldn't figure out a good way to work it into a review, but I, too, take umbrage with the breathless episode descriptions. I tend to think these are crafted by a marketing department rather than the writers themselves.

The one that really stuck in my craw was the note about "Hurley's big secret." The way it was written, I figured Hurley was an Other. But no. His "secret" is that he's hiding food.

→ 68. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 4:02 PM

I also had an Amber Alert at the beginning of my episode which knocked out the show's sound...luckily I was able to rewind the DVR and hit 'mute' to turn on the subtitles!

Mac, that was your most ENTERTAINING and informative review yet. Please don't ever get hit by a bus...and if you do, please have the courtesy to just go into a temporary coma instead of croaking.

Speaking of croaking, I was rooting for the frog! They really went out of their way to again show Sawyer as a heartless bastard. But it's gonna come back to him soon. That whole Sawyer/Hurley side-story seemed so trivial. Hopefully it will have much more significance later.

They must film multiple episodes at once since each episode is usually missing so many characters. No Kate/Claire this time, but they'll be centric in the next new show.

Did anyone notice it was RAINING when Claire found the door in the preview? That could only mean TTTTTTTTrouble!

→ 69. Posted by: JoePike at February 16, 2006 4:28 PM

Didn't Rousseau say that she worked for a mining company?
Henry Gale owned a mining company?

→ 70. Posted by: EvilGator at February 16, 2006 4:29 PM

Henry's hair is a little too well maintained to have been holed up in a cave for 3 months. It's interesting; as I recall it, Evan had a similarly well-coiffed head of hair. In my opinion, this program is way to particular about getting the "little things" right, so I'm guessing that it's not an oversight and Henry in, in fact, a member of the Others.

→ 71. Posted by: Brian at February 16, 2006 4:30 PM

JoePike -- Whenever I see a bus, I'll be sure to set my internal organs for "coma" rather than "croak" ;) Glad you enjoyed the review!

Brian -- If I remember correctly, the other Other (Goodwin), was also surprisingly well tailored.

→ 72. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 4:33 PM

I remarked on the same thing last night. Goodwin, Ethan and now the alleged Henry all seemed to be well kempt, while the spokesperson and leader of the Others looks like he rolls around in the mud and collects twigs in his beard. Perhaps this helps supports the theory that there are multiple tribes of Others on the island.

→ 73. Posted by: Aimee at February 16, 2006 4:44 PM

Jack: how do you know he is one of the others did he tell you?

Sayid: No, but look at his hair its bouncy and well maintained and smells like strawberries.

→ 74. Posted by: bcooklti at February 16, 2006 4:48 PM

JAC, I believe, or at least hope, that the makers of the show will not be afraid to kill off really popular characters when they need to.

→ 75. Posted by: qkrnxtl at February 16, 2006 4:49 PM

I'm distressed that Sawyer, one of my favorite characters, has crossed over from a wounded, guilt ridden guy with a hilarious attitude to anti-social psycopath. These are the traits:
1. Glib and charming
2. Facility with lies
3. Egocentric and narcissistic
4. Short tempered and violent
5. Unable able to love or empathise
6. Lack of conscience
7. Risk taker and law breaker
8. Cruelty to animals
Really wanted to believe the bad boy had a heart, but I am so not happy with him now.

→ 76. Posted by: KH at February 16, 2006 5:20 PM

There is one thing that bothered me about this episode. On of the American army officials said that they had pulled Sayid's file and that is how they knew that he had family in that town. However, later on Kate's step-dad had to ask him if he had a wife or kids. Would this not be in his file since his relatives living in that town were? It makes me think that there was never any file pulled on him and that the whole "chemical test" was a fake video to make him do things he did not want to do.
Other than that, I think that Sayid's back story is getting old, I understand that he is a torturer. I wish that they would bring in some other dimension to his character, some more depth perhaps.
Another thing thatld like to find out is how much Rausseau knows about the others. It seems clear to me from her comments in this show and her bunker set up complete with torturing devices from the first season that she has tortured at least one if not more of them in the past. Also, from season one and her attempted baby swap it does seem that she may know how to contact them.
One point about Henry Gale's story, in the first season, when Jack first met Desmond, if I remember correctly, Desmond mentioned that he was training for some sort of race around the word, was that in a baloon, I do not remember. However, that look that he gave was deffinitly the look of a man who was not concerned as most men would be if shot with a make shift cross bow and then tortured by a genuine Iraqui.
And one last thing about the countdown. With the symbols and the mechanical noise, all I could think of is that each of the six stations were going to form into one voltron like super station and go off to destroy the world.
Thats all for know.

Hubguy

→ 77. Posted by: hubguy at February 16, 2006 5:25 PM

funny review, stupid episode.

Maybe there's a simple reason why characters begin to behave unpredictably: there are (too) many different writers for Lost and they seem to have quite different ideas about character development. Some people have noticed this before - the Lost story is getting inconsistent at some points and yes, it could really become a bad, yet complex, soap opera. The same had happened with "Alias" at some point (and there's this JJ Abrams connection...): one half of a season a character was the "good guy" until we learned about their dirty little plans at the end of the season... In my opinion, this scheme got worse and worse from season to season. Now Vaughn is "dead" in season 5 until he'll probably reappear at the end, because Sid gave him something "special" to drink... SOAP, SOAP, SOAP. I hope this will never happen to Lost. They should better bring it to an end after season 2 (or maybe 3), but please, NO LONGER!

I think this episode sucked for a couple of reasons:
- it delves too much into real-world problems (similar to this annoying 24-series) like torture and the war on Iraq. We can see this every day in the news, so there's no place for this on Lost in my opinion.
- I don't like the "one-armed bandid" idea at all. Why should someone implement something that silly? When it goes to zero, it explodes (or whatever), but WHY does it have to show silly symbols on the display at all?
- character development sucked. There are definitely too many storylines on Lost at the moment. They even can't keep the characters plausible anymore.

→ 78. Posted by: Margot at February 16, 2006 5:36 PM

Henry had shoes and the Others don't

→ 79. Posted by: Jack at February 16, 2006 5:44 PM

Sawyer has definitely put some bad karma onto himself by killing that frog, you wait and see.

Has anyone heard any estimates as to how long the creators would LIKE this show to go? Obviously TV only lasts as long as popularity dictates, but I'm curious if there is a 3-yr plan, 5-yr plan, what? To use a far-flung example, I can't see this show on 10 years from now. I just do not believe they would be able to keep it fresh that long.

One other comment on the hieroglyphs that I have not seen mentioned yet: it didn't seem like the numbers were simply yielding to some 'pre-set' value. You could see a color change of sorts as the symbols started to 'roll into place', which means (in theory) it doesn't have just one word to put up, but that many values are possible. No doubt that Locke got the numbers in too late, I think we all mostly agree there, but the system was willing to reset (grudingly, it seemed) as it had not -quite- finished whatever combination it was trying to select. A few seconds more, and I don't think the reset would have worked. So, at some point, that's surely what we will see happen.

→ 80. Posted by: The Duf at February 16, 2006 5:46 PM

A few thoughts in no particular order:

Interesting that the ranch dressing stays good for 7 years without refrigeration. This may answer some questions as to how long the food had been sitting in the hatch....I'm perplexed at how many characters not on the plane need to be reconciled. Are the Zeke 'others' and Ethan 'others' connected (I don't think so).... You would also think Danielle would be easy for the Others to pick off, being alone in the jungle and all-are they leaving her alone?....Where does Desmond fit into this mess? I think the Others like Henry and Ethan are programmed and part of a mind-control experiment..less not forget that the island is set up as a series of experiments.

→ 81. Posted by: ajudicator at February 16, 2006 5:46 PM

Hubguy
Why would you think all of the American soldiers would have access to the file that was presented to Sayid? Only one American soldier confronted Sayid with his file. In my dealings with the military, it is a as you need to know basis. I don't think that Sayid's information was need to know for everyone. Only the American soldier in charge needed to know. It did not seem odd that Kate's step-father didn't know about Sayid's family.
Also, Sayid's story offered some new information last night. 1. He was first a torturer for the United States. 2. He is the son of an Iraqi hero. 3. He has had contact with Kate's family. 4. His family was seriously injured or killed by his own people.
Hmmm. I think that it wasn't just about him being a torturer. It is what led him to be a torturer. His talent is he can get the information out of people that he wants to get?and he knows if it is the truth.
Margot, sorry you feel like you do about the show. Maybe you should just stop watching.

→ 82. Posted by: marie at February 16, 2006 5:49 PM

Duf,
It is a five year plan according to the creators of the show.

→ 83. Posted by: marie at February 16, 2006 5:52 PM

Interesting, so we aren't even halfway. Thanks Marie!

→ 84. Posted by: The Duf at February 16, 2006 5:53 PM

First time posting, but I've been reading for about a month and a half. Great reviews mac! I look forward to reading your review almost as much as watching the episode itself. Great stuff!

I, like you Mac, believe this show is hitting it's creative stride. The writers for this show know what they are doing and where they are heading. As far as last night's supposed character inconsistencies- I'm reminded of a recent interview with Matthew Fox(I believe it was in TV guide, but not sure) where he states that by the end of season two more people will be dead(and he includes the possibility of his own character Jack)and almost everyone will trust no one. I fail to believe the show's writers aren't aware of, and in control of, what we percieve to be character inconsistencies. I believe this season is heading towards a HUGE finale. Have faith fans!

The big american soldier from "Highlander" and "The Shawshank Redemption" is an excellent actor by the name of Clancy Brown.

Henry Gale, while I can't remember his real name, is another fine character actor who has been in a hundred things. One of his more recent ones was the film "Saw" where he played the disturbed hospital orderly who was holding star, Cary Elwes, family hostage.

Mac...again great stuff here...keep it up!

→ 85. Posted by: scorpio95628 at February 16, 2006 6:08 PM

Marie,
I understand the concept of a need to know basis, I just thought that Kate's Step father was in the room when the room when the video tape was show to Sayid so he would have been aware of such information. I do however, have to disagree that this back story was about how Sayid became a torturer, it was again about the dual nature that exists inside of every human, the potential for good and the potential for evil, evidenced by Sayid's comment that he realized that this ability to torture was inside of him all along. This is a common theme of this show with the Other's only taking the good one's etc... and is a common religious idea started with Zorastrians and continuing through almost every religion in existence today and that again is the reason for all the religious undretones of the show, i.e. Mr. Eko's Jeus Stick. I'm just saying that it would be interesting to bring in another aspect of Syaid rather than the conflicted torturer role always having to decide beteween his Friends or whaterever and his duty that is put upon him as this is all that we have seen of him. I think there could be more to the charicter.
I also agree with Margot to an extent, but only in relation to this episode. I just think that this is the low episode in the season and that the show is still great as I look forward to watching it every week. My only real complaint about the show is that this year seems to have too many breaks. The first season there were 24 or 25 episodes and I don't think that we are going to see that high of a number this year with all of the repeats that are being shown.
By the way, for anyone that missed part of the episode due to the amber alert, you can buy each episode on itunes for 1.99 which is totally worth it because you can pause and watch in slow motion etc...

That's all for now

→ 86. Posted by: hubguy at February 16, 2006 6:26 PM

Danielle may know that Henry would lie for a long time because she may have a history of torturing Others herself. She certainly was good to go with the rack and electrical shocks when she caught Sayid in her trap. Also, if she has been on the island for 16 years or so, she has had plenty of time to snare an Other or two.

Sawyer may need to worry about new karma he bought when he crushed that frog. When he let the boar go, the "It'll come back around" whispering was shushed. That frog squish might just come back around and cost him later. Remember - the writers have a reason for EVERYTHING they do, and this is not the last we have heard of this.

→ 87. Posted by: kcleahrose at February 16, 2006 6:27 PM

@marie
I'd like to see this show keeping its quality until the end. They won't be able to keep it interesting for 5 years. At the moment we see a totally new side in each character almost EVERY week (Jack, Chalie, Locke, Sawyer, Sayid, ...). I really think they should bringt the story to an end as long it is interesting.

But ABC doesn't seem to work like this. A show runs as long as it's provitable and not as long as it's good. "As long as it's provitable" for most shows means that it runs (at least) one season longer than it should according to the storyline.

Don't get me wrong - I did enjoy Lost in the past and I sure will enjoy some more episodes. My whole point is that they should bring it to an end at the right time, which means not to bloat the story just for the sake of letting the show run longer and longer. These surprises in character development won't be surprising forever and somehow I really don't care as much about these numbers as I did at the beginning of season two...

→ 88. Posted by: Margot at February 16, 2006 6:35 PM

Just one more thing, are we sure that it is Henry Gail and not Henry Gail, as an annogram for Henry Gail is Hear Lying and A Her Lying. I was not sure if his name was in the credits or anything.

→ 89. Posted by: hubguy at February 16, 2006 6:38 PM

For the "Henry had shoes and the Others don't" comment:

Was Ethan wearing shoes?

→ 90. Posted by: schiano at February 16, 2006 6:58 PM

Wow....what an episode . Some points i found breathtakingly arousing are as follows:
- I am now undeniabely certain that Locke has something to do with Dharma. It seems as if Locke was so scared of what would happen when the clock struck 0:00 that he: raced back to the computer, nervously typed in wrong numbers, saw that the numbers had gotten to zero, SAW the mysterious figures pop up instead of the numbers and then TYPES IN AN UNKNOWN CODE to reset the timer after it already counted down! Did anyone notice that?! This is insane!!! Maybe he doesn't want the losties to know what will happen, or maybe it was too early for the clock to strike zero. Can anyone expand on this and add their opinion?
- Does anyone think that the general/officer/whatever - whom we see Sayid talking to numerous times throughout the episode - is the man we know as Zeke. He has that noticeable, grizzly voice and the white facial hair Zeke is known for. Also he promised Sayid would use his torturing skills again after Sayid said he would not. Anyone else agree on this comment?
- I also think that Locke - apart from being connected with DHARMA - is the moderator of our group here. He sets everything in place through his own discretion. i.e regulating charlie to not touch the baby, making the decision to change the lock combination. He's the one who will help guide the group to the secret of the island and LOST.

A little farfethed? Possibly. I'm just trying to arouse some wild ideas. Thanks for the great review and web site Mac and with this we would not have the same outlook on Lost as we would without.

→ 91. Posted by: RM at February 16, 2006 7:21 PM

Mac,
awesome review i must say.

kcleahrose, yes i definitely agree. the writers do have a reason for everything they do.

See, I think that when Sawyer squashed the poor wittle tree frog =(, that some poison might seep through his skin or something.

And does anyone,have a video link for the "cartoon" with the hierogliphs? I thought that was real interesting. But what the hell was up with the gliphs? that really pissed me off cuz i thought i was gonna see like a massive Black Smoke invasion.

But i like how Jack is getting his Bad-assness out. I wouldn't shove Obi-Wan/Mr.Clean into a wall and ORDER him to open the lock.

But for the Previews for next episode.... WOW. Thats all i can say. WOW. Because, they're giving a Claire flashback on the island.(mind you this is the first island flashback we've had.) What the hell could be in that DHARMA hatch. Is Alavr Hanso gonna be in there or what?

And as for the Young-Kate picture... HOW? how does everbody on the island know/know OF each other. ITS RACKING MY DAMN BRAIN HERE!!!
And Sayid. WHOA. He beat the living piss out of Henry. Yeah, how is Henry perfectly tailored, and claim to be a victim of a "HOT-AIR BALLOON" crash. I mean do you actually take an Iraqi TORTURER(key word.), for a fool? And that smug little look he had on his face. what a BASTARD. were gonna see a kidnapping attempt soon i do believe on little Aaron.

AND WHEN THE IS MICHAEL COMING BACK!!!??? What the hell happened to him. Is he dead, is he kidnapped by the Others, is he alive somewhere going mentally insane!?

Amd one episode without Eko. MURPHDOGG NEEDS MR.EKO. He's the coolest dude on the island. Before him i thought Sayid, and Sawyer. But Eko blows them out of the water!

And i really want to see if Walt talks backwards.
I heard that from like 9,000 people already. So if you can send me a video link of Walt... I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!

That is the end of my massively long post.

Murphdogg.

→ 92. Posted by: murphdogg at February 16, 2006 7:41 PM

why the hell did it double post!?

→ 93. Posted by: murphdogg at February 16, 2006 7:43 PM

he Mac any possoble way u could delete one of those 2 posts?

Danke Schoen(german for thank u very much.)

→ 94. Posted by: murphdogg at February 16, 2006 7:45 PM

Murphdog -- You got it! Anyone who can use the phrase "MURPHDOGG NEEDS MR.EKO" and make perfect sense (and crack me up) can have a post deleted anytime, anywhere! Seriously -- that killed me.

→ 95. Posted by: mac at February 16, 2006 7:47 PM

LOL. thnaks Mac. And i obviously see you are MASSIVE Eko fan too.

→ 96. Posted by: murphdogg at February 16, 2006 7:50 PM

OK, so I am a Homer who believes that the LOST writers are on top of their game - and doing a phenomenal job every week of keeping the plates of drama spinning. I don't believe we saw any character discrepancies in last night's episode:
1) Jack - I completely agree with 'Bees' that Jack's approval of torture when it came to recovering Shannon's insulin was completely different than torturing an unknown man who had shown no sign of aggression or covertness. Jack has a strong moral compass and always acts on it without any hesitation. If it means going to war to get back Walt, Michael, and who knows-all; or if it means leaving Shannon's father on a table to die so that he can treat his future wife; or [fill in the blank] -- the man does what he believes needs to be done. But torturing a possibly innocent man is not on Jack's approved moral code.
2) Sawyer - Here I agree with 'Kate+Sun=Fun'. Sawyer's brief niceties to Hurley were only to get help in finding the frog, not to show him in the least as having a soft-spot. Sawyer will do ANYTHING to ANYONE to get what he wants. He is a selfish man who is the anti-thesis to Jack's character.
3) Locke - Remember Locke was a bit of a pansy prior to the crash. In many of his flashbacks he is driven by self-doubt and feelings of inferiority. I think Locke is the most complicated and well-crafted character of the bunch, and I think the last couple weeks have shown a bit of a regression back to his pansinesss - #1: he lets Sawyer dupe him; #2: he lets Sayid dupe him; and finally #3) he lets himself get all panicked when Jack holds him against the wall rather than saying something wise and self-assured, such as, It's all in the hands of Fate now, Jack. Do what you must. I mean he was willing to get sucked down a hole by a monster, but he doesn't want to see what is on the other side of the those freakin' numbers?! Still, I think this is all part of the complexedness of one, John Locke.

→ 97. Posted by: JL815 at February 16, 2006 8:57 PM

great review again, Mac! (chuckle) and love everyone's insights. so, if the writers have a reason for *everything* they do, why do they keep bringing up the Steve/Scott confusion? Ana-Lucia said it last week, and it struck me odd, because Scott/Steve/whichever died long before she came around...

→ 98. Posted by: silkyway at February 16, 2006 9:00 PM

What a great episode! The Kate in the picture scene was good. And the balloon guy looks like an "other" to me now too.

Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/

→ 99. Posted by: Christopher at February 16, 2006 9:20 PM

first of all, what a great synopsis. that was so informative. i really didn't catch the picture of kate, though i thought the guy did look familiar. i've also just discovered that henry gale is the name of dorothy's uncle in "the wizard of oz," and she takes off in a hot air balloon when she's leaving oz. so....either that's a REALLY big coincidence, or, gale is an other...or a dharma scientist...because he "was rich."

→ 100. Posted by: Kristen at February 16, 2006 9:30 PM

Maybe I am the only one that thinks this, but I got a "reverse psyhcology" vibe off Henry Gail/Gale when being interrogated by Sayid. By attempting to turn the tables and get Sayid to disclose that he, too, buried someone he loved, I felt as though he pulled a fast one on the
TOR-TU-RER and threw him off his game. I don't trust Mr. Henry Gail/Gale one bit and am completely convinced this guy is an Other (Maybe of the no-shoe-wearing sort that doesn't make noise when he walks...or wait...anyone notice that any time an Other has infilitrated the group, they are always well groomed? Ethan, Henry, Goodwin??? Maybe these are instructions from their Beard-With-Twigs-In-It leader....like they clean themselves up before heading out on an infiltratin' mission...). I think that by the end of his 6th episode, we will learn much more and he will have the information extracted from him...pun intended...

As for the poisonious frog theory...well, if the poison seeped into Sawyer's skin, then it did to Hurley too because Sawyer handed the smushed frog to him as he walked away....

As for the inconsistencies....I agree with others (no, not THOSE Others...) who have said they are not so much inconsistencies then they are developments in the story line....we are only in the middle of the second season....I think with patience, all will be revealed...

→ 101. Posted by: Vikki at February 16, 2006 9:59 PM

About the timer going past Zero, then resetting.

I believe that the timer is indeed, a fake, a test, and Locke just figured it out. Being that he entered the code late, and it still reset. He was the only one in the room, AND, he did not mention anything afterwards, though he did only have a short scene afterwards. Anyways, i think Locke thinks the timer is a fake, but since he was a believer in it before, hes going to keep it a secret and let everyone else play along with it like before

→ 102. Posted by: Alex at February 16, 2006 10:06 PM

Could it be that the Henry Gale/Wizard of Oz connection be yet another reference to the World War II era? I think Wizard of Oz came out just a few years before WW II and we've already had the gun, knife and Glenn Miller song from that time period.
By the way, this site and blog is terrific!

→ 103. Posted by: Jason at February 16, 2006 10:07 PM

Hi folks,

About the frog: An earlier post from momof2js said, "But... still, I wonder. Sawyer did say, "This frog is killing me." Foreshadowing?"

The frog appears to be a dark poison arrow frog. Poison arrow frogs are native to Central and South America. They have been artificially introduced to the Hawaiian Islands (presumably including Oahu, which is home to plenty of weird invasive species. Wallabies, for one. I don't think polar bears are there, yet, though. Yet.).

Check out the photos at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_Dart_Frog
and compare them to screenshots of the frog. (Can anyone provide these?)

Poison arrow frogs come in many different color patterns, usually bright, but offset with contrasting regions of jet black skin. The frog Sawyer caught was mainly dark, with moderate colored splotches (a green/blue color on my non-high-def TV).

So, the full roster of Arrows:
1) The Hatch that goes by that name.
2) The physical arrow that went through poor Henry's shoulder.
3) The possible "arrow" in the heiroglyphics (I'm skeptical about this one).
4) The poison-arrow frog.

Additional implication: If Sawyer doesn't wash his hands before he eats, he could well have the frog end up killing him. At the least, it could provide him with some more of his acute headaches?

Any other Arrows I'm missing? Could this be the hidden significance of the frog subplot?

→ 104. Posted by: Callan at February 16, 2006 10:27 PM

Mac – As always, Loved the review. In particular the references to Monty Python – perhaps the writers should bring Arnold the Killer sheep to the island to stalk Sawyer! …We don’t all have to be sheep! …which I believe the survivors are discovering.

Following Locke, Eko, or Jack might not be what it’s all cracked up to be. Speaking about Jack, I think he is being a butt-head because he is processing all of his impromptu meetings with Desmond --- they’ve always left him in emotional turmoil. I believe he has subconsciously figured out that the love of his life, Sarah, ran off with DESMOND! Desmond appears to have entirely too much memory/info on Jack’s lady love ...Well, that’s my take anyway.

I’m still of a mind that the island is a fabricated stress situation. The “survivors” have been brought there because they possess useful information be it genetic, ability or memory. Are there any “old folks” out there? Remember The Prisoner? Manufactured environment, strange happenings, big bubble thing dragging escapees back?

As to everybody seemingly acting “out-of-character” for the people we have come to know….. Extreme situations magnify necessary characteristics which will highlight even more, when the characters flip-flop once again. …Or, perhaps – this is “really” who they are……

Can’t wait for the next installment… both the show and Mac’s take…….

→ 105. Posted by: Edie at February 16, 2006 11:04 PM

RM: I too thought the CIA guy was Zeke. I thought they had similiar facial features - wrinkles on the forehead, tiny gap between front teeth, a larger than normal nose, etc.

Anyone have screen shots to compare?

Also, the Wizrd of Oz came out in 1939, i believe.

→ 106. Posted by: Po at February 16, 2006 11:12 PM

Clancy Brown, the guy who plays the American soldier (and I think torturer as well) also does the voice for Mr Crabs(sp?) on Sponge Bob and narrates car commercials. And after seeing how the man has aged, I can understand why. Of course, the man could probably still twist me into a pretzel - still badass.
I agree about Gale being an Other. Besides his hair, he only had about a 2 or 3 days growth on his face which would coincide with his traveling for two days after burying his wife. Also his clothes were too clean. As far as the shoes, I think that there are 2 groups of others. Zeke's group with shoes and the other group without. I think they are descendants of the survivors of the Black Rock. Ever notice how we have never seen anything but thier feet? We get to see all of Zeke's group, head to toe.
Does anyone else think Locke has become too much of a pacifist? Season one, he was a rock. Now he seems compliant and at some times very confused. Not exactly the guy everyone believed to be thier best chance to get off the island. Also, I watched season 1's finale again and, unlike Ecko, Locke was pissing his pants scared when the monster was in his face. Odd, since this was the second time he saw the thing and the first time said it was beautiful.

→ 107. Posted by: curtis at February 16, 2006 11:37 PM

Hey MAC, great review as always. For you and everyone else, I have a special treat. A friend of mine found an additon to the Hanso foundation website that ABC hasn't even planned to allow for it to go live, however it works. Play around and enjoy. I'm not going to spoil the secret and tell you what commands to put in once you get to the computer screen (or how to put the commands in for that matter). Play around and explore. (I do recocomend you ask the computer who is dharma, ask it where am I, and just type in dance, and type in sing). Those are the only hints, I'm giving. Have fun. The website is...http://emri.perception.net/

→ 108. Posted by: Sam at February 16, 2006 11:54 PM

I do not think that the cast in this episode was acting out of charicter. I think that the writiers are just sending them through there natural progression on the Island. At first there is going to be a closeness or happieness that they survived followed by curiousity and now we are gettin to the lord of the flies jungle shit. Locke is becoming confused because he went from being a self assured leader to getting duped out of all the guns by a con man and being involved in conflicts with several other members on the island. His fantasy is shot. As for Jack, he always needs someone to fix. When he let the first torture happen he was trying to fix Shannon. When he did not let this torture happen he was trying to fix Gale. With the confrontation with the other's he was trying to fix Michaek. This is very consistent. Sawyer, is still an inigma, he looked genuinely confused when Jin did not want to help him almost forgetting that he duped everyone just a few days before. But that is normal for him as well from what I can tell. As for the timer going down to 0 and still being able to be reset, this technology is not from today, it appears to be from the 80's and it's mechanicals did appeat to have to warm up before anything could happen so it would make sence that it could be shut down untill full start up. I do stick to my previous opinion of the stations coming together like Voltron, thatwould kick ass.
But I do think that this episode was a little slow and I still love the show and look forward to the next episode.

→ 109. Posted by: hubguy at February 17, 2006 12:20 AM

aaaaaaaaaaargh! what is up with the lost writers??? one crap episode after another!!
What the hell are they doing to locke's character.He didn't notice Charlie following him??Puhlllleease! And why on earth would he give in to sayid's death stare...i mean he has a kickass mr.clean death stare of his own.

→ 110. Posted by: nikki at February 17, 2006 12:24 AM

website is old news :) thanks tho!
shawshank...god how did i not know that? i've seen that movie 1800000000 times. duh....

→ 111. Posted by: Laura aka wolfie at February 17, 2006 12:35 AM

For you number enthusiasts: is there any significance to the amount of money the commander gave Sayid when he released him? It looks like he gave him six or seven $100 bills and said it was for bus fare back to Ramadi.

→ 112. Posted by: Ardie at February 17, 2006 2:11 AM

A few things...

First, I tried the respelling of Henry Gale as Henry GAIL through the anagram server and got a result of "Hear Lying". I thought that was interesting.

Secondly, I have questions about how much credibility we're putting into Rousseau and Desmond's existence and motives on the island. We can believe most of the passenger's stories because we see their backstories, but why do we automatically believe what Desmond and Rousseau say just because they say it? I wondered if they've been put there as 'plants' for Darma's experiment--put there to shake things up within the island's "society" for the experiementers to observe. One purpose of an experiment is to see how things react to certain stimuli, and I wonder if the DeGroots are somewhere laughing at the castaways reactions to the crazy situations they're throwing at them.

→ 113. Posted by: jerson at February 17, 2006 6:27 AM

hear lying? now that's sooo interesting. what a great episode this seems to be, i'll be looking forward to watching it a few months later when it airs in my country.

→ 114. Posted by: n/a at February 17, 2006 7:58 AM

Three things

#1. The frog sequence is there for a reason. I don't think it is to continue Sawyer's character development. My thought? Maybe the frog makes him sick and thus... Jack has to help him yet again.. shifting power on the island. Sawyer isn't dying anytime soon though.

#2. Locke has nothing to do with Dharma. He is so scared of that clock. I was under the impression he just finished up the code, not some code to override.

#3. Jack should get an emmy just for that moment he has Locke pressed against the wall. He looked so physco, his eyes were awesome. That was a great scene.

→ 115. Posted by: Fuber at February 17, 2006 8:03 AM

Swallow - HA!

→ 116. Posted by: Smiley Guy at February 17, 2006 8:12 AM

Great post JL815. Like most everyone that has posted already, I felt that some of the characters have been inconsistent lately; but, after reading your post, I do agree that they are complicated characters and are actually showing some personal attributes displayed in their flashbacks -- especially Locke. While he has been a rock-solid-fate-loving-jungle-man since they crashed on the island, his flashbacks (even of him most recently as getting on flight 815) show him in a very different light. I agree that the last two episodes are showing the true-passive-follow-the-leader-Locke.

Thanks,

Marty.

→ 117. Posted by: Marty at February 17, 2006 8:52 AM

I uploaded a picture of the frog and it seems to be a poisonous dart frog.

http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9653/frogger2eu.jpg

Maybe Sawyer is in for some hard times.

→ 118. Posted by: SnakeJake at February 17, 2006 9:18 AM

Geeze Mac...word about your excellent Lost reviews must be getting around. There are a TON of response postings now. I wonder what your site-hit ratio is now vs. Season One?

I think there's only 1 group of Others. I agree that any Other person who's been clean-cut or well tailored has been so just to fool or infiltrate the Lostaways.

The show is definitely changing. It's always nice to see the group uniting against a common foe (the Others, the monster, etc.), but without intricate character development the show will stagnate. Hence the major inner-Lostaway conflicts that will keep getting worse as time goes on. I actually see it as a natural progression for the characters and the group.

→ 119. Posted by: JoePike at February 17, 2006 9:58 AM

Does anyone have any thoughts about the sickness factor? Rousseau told them her crew got sick and died, Desmond runs off with syringes and vials of something, Henry tells them his wife got sick and died and on the next episode Claire's baby is ill?
Do I have it right about Rousseau or did she kill the people she was with?

→ 120. Posted by: brian at February 17, 2006 10:01 AM

I think Rousseau knows Henry Gail and both of them are the others and the whole "ive caught one of the others" act is just so they can get this Henry to get inside and find out something. I think this because when Sayid unties this guy he seems to pause for a sec to let Rousseau arm her crossbow and then runs in the direction of her so he can be shot but not killed (look at her facial expression after she shoots him), she then gives the suggestion that he be taken to jack to tend to his wounds. Anyone else think the same? Cant wait for the next episodes its getting really exciting now.

→ 121. Posted by: Dave Kellett at February 17, 2006 10:55 AM

Also why carry a gun and a crossbow, i think she knew sayid wouldnt trust her and the only way he would have come was for her to give up her rifle, the crossbow was placed right where she could use it to disable Henry, i think this was the plan all along.

→ 122. Posted by: Dave Kellett at February 17, 2006 11:05 AM

Regarding the "character inconsistencies" that have been discussed, the fact is that these characters are complex (and that's what makes this show great). If we could predict without fail what each and every character would do in any given situation, this would be nothing more than a crappy island soap opera. I welcome these "inconsistencies" as food for thought, keeping in mind that all we know about these characters is less than 2 months of island life and a few pre-island flashbacks. The "inconsistencies" are part of what makes it so difficult to determine who is lying, who is telling the truth, who is good, who is bad, etc....And that's the whole point of Season Two!

→ 123. Posted by: KG at February 17, 2006 11:20 AM

I dont think Jack changed his character. He's a doctor, and acts so. He's always to look after his patient's lifes. So, if someone's dying of asthma and other guy has the cure, he condones the use of torture on him. But if someone who arrives injured and hasn't harmed anyone (apparently), he doesn't condone it.

I also think that the island and everything going on is getting to him, and to everyone. Funny, nobody noticed this. Sayid, Locke, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Charlie.... loads of characters have changed for bad since they crashed on the island. No wonder, given what's happened there.

And, by the way, I am starting to hate Jack. He should either train an army or stay aside.

I want Sayid to take all the truth he can out of that Other.

→ 124. Posted by: Ducados at February 17, 2006 11:21 AM

The first season really focused on the strange things that are on the island, but shouldn't be.
We've finally seen the 'monster' but how come we havn't heard anything else about the polar bear, or Jack seeing his dad on the island, etc.? None of the characters are even talking about it (how unreal is that?). A lot of conversation that would happen in real life is lost in the effort of making the soap more suspensfull.

All hail the blog!!!

→ 125. Posted by: RD at February 17, 2006 11:23 AM

Anyone else here ever own a bolt action rife? If the gun was loaded, when Sayid pulled the bolt all the way back it would have extracted and ejected the round in the chamber. To verify it was loaded he would only pull the bolt back (slowly) just enough to peer in and see.

This is likely an intentional "mistake" because what they showed is more dramatic and obvious to a normal viewer, but maybe the rife was unloaded when she handed it to him. Ya never know with these writers.

→ 126. Posted by: KillJackOff at February 17, 2006 11:25 AM

Great posts everybody. A few comments.
1. The actor for Henry Gale is always a bad guy (Saw/The Practice). I wonder if we can take this casting as evidence that he is an Other. Just a thought.
2. After reading everyone's discussion, I too think that the characters are not inconsistent. I think we, as watchers, try to make them two-dimensional. Locke is not a super-hero you know. He can make mistakes and the writers are showing this.
3. I love the Voltron theory Hubguy
4. Margot, maybe you should stop watching the show. I, for one, like forplay. If you need more immediate satisfaction, sit-coms usually wrap it up in about 30 minutes.
5. Edie, interesting comment about Desmond and Jack's wife.
6. I too wonder why the Others are letting Rousseau live. She has definately crossed Zeke's imaginary line in my opinion.

→ 127. Posted by: texasrobster at February 17, 2006 11:44 AM

I am a bit new here so please be kind

Random thoughts:

• Clancy Brown (U.S. operative) his first/best role as Viking in original Bad Boys

• If he knew how to speak Arabic, did he not know enough to understand Sayid and Tariq when they were talking about overpowering their American captures?

• As for the hieroglyphs and the "grace period", you may recall in another older movie, "War Games" that computer unlocked all the launch codes successfully yet the world didn’t blow up. Maybe something about old computer technology being a little more forgiving :)

• Most dramas resort to soap opera type tactic to stay on the air. NYPD Blue was on for 12 years and in the beginning did you ever think Andy Sipowitz would be talking to his dead partner and son? Or, an entire episode would devoted to a novel written about the squad by a dead disgraced former detective (Mike Roberts)? Soap operas are on for many years with the most inane story lines because the sell a lot of soap. Has this show jumpe


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