D.O.C. (S:3;E:18)

Editor's note: Apologies for the lame posts lately. It's that time of the year? Wait...what time of year, you say? It's NFL Draft time of the year. If you check out www.phsports.blogspot.com you'll see where most of my time was committed, especially with my latest mock draft. So, basically, what I'm saying is, this episode will have commentary come in bits and pieces. Check back for updates to this posting. Thanks for understanding.

1) Juiciest bit first. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this. We could see it coming, but I was hoping it would be left alone. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing where Naomi says that flight 815 was found, and all the passengers are dead. I know a lot of people thought Donnie Darko was a cool movie, depicting different universes falling along the same timeline, and how breaking the time continuum caused strange things to happen

2) Does this mean that Mikhail actually died, when we saw him die, and now he's alive in this alternate universe?

3) Naomi speaks several different languages as she's dying. In Portugese, which seems to be her native tongue, she says "I am not alone"

4) How would Juliet know that Kate is pregnant? Other than knowing that her and Sawyer have been together 2 times...it's hard to tell. However, Juliet is a fertility expert. She probably has ways to tell.

5) So...did Desmond die in the hatch? Mikhails ears were bleeding...why isn't there blood on his uniform now? Are people recreated by the magic box on the island? Is that why Flight 815 was found, with all survivors dead, but they're alive on the island? Remember when Bea asked Mikhail to shoot and kill her? Maybe she's alive again too? What if Boone and his sister are alive again? Eko? Eko...Eko...Eko.

6) Is Jack going to die before season's end? He's wearing the red shirt, which Star Trek fans (or "Trekkies" as they like to be called) should know the significance behind that. Ok...fine...I'm not a Trekkie, but I know. The dude in the red shirt always dies. Remember...it's always Bones, Spock and Kirk....with Yoeman Johnson. And Yoeman Johnson always dies, and he's usually in a red shirt.

7) So, Jin had a semi-honest job working as a dealership manager for Mr. Paik. But, it was Sun who basically sold him into slavery to his father so that she could save face.

8) Thank goodness, Anna Nicole wasn't playing the role of Sun. We would have had to do multiple paternity tests. Jack, Ben, Jin, Michael, Sawyer, Walt, Vincent...

9) Next Episode is "The Brig" (for real this time)...and focuses on this character.

Catch-22 (S:3;E:17)

Tell me truly, O passion, is this your trickery?
(Mathnavi of Rumi (E.H. Whinfield tr), The Masnavi Vol 5)

1) First things first. Desmond's vision. Many have been commenting on the fact that we saw Charlie die in Desmond's vision, however he's present in a vision that happens after when he should have died. He was holding the parachute to catch the girl in Desmond's vision. I also like the fact that Charlie was shot in the neck in the vision, and in real time, his guitar was shot in the neck. So, what we have here is a conflict in the vision. We don't know if it has happened before, as this was the first vision we actually saw of Charlie dying.

2) So, when Desmond was a monk, and he'd been fired, we saw a picture of that lady who told him that he can't change fate. In the head monk's office, there was a picture on his desk of him and that lady who wouldn't sell Desmond the ring. There was talk of Abraham and Isaac. The ultimate sacrifice. Vozzek (a poster on Dark UFO) talks about the discussion about Superman and The Flash. There was a flash behind Hurley before Desmond decides to save Charlie. I guess it was the same flash that the black cloud made when it was near Kate and Juliet. Vozzek makes a good assumption. Was that a break in the time continuum? Desmond challenges fate. From what I understand, changing fate, and causing a break in the time continuum spells chaos. How will this effect the outcome of what happens on the island?

3) The photo in the Catch 22 book. Desmond has one of them. There was only one picture taken. But, then again, Penny could have made a copy. She had one on her nightstand at the end of season 2. Did she give that copy to Naomi before sending her to get Desmond?

4) From Lostpedia: "Moriah Vineyards" is an anagram of both 'harmed visionary'. Moriah is also the name of the mountain where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac.

5) From Lostpedia: The hula doll found in the jungle looks like Hurley's doll in his Hummer

6) From Lostpedia: The Brazilian version of Catch-22 is interesting, because in Brazil they speak Portuguese. Same language the guys spoke at the listening station at the end of season 2.

7) So does Kate have confidence issues? She obviously still has feelings for Jack. She tries to boost her self-esteem by sleeping with Sawyer after seeing Jack and Juliet having a moment. So, what if Juliet is trying to get Kate pregnant? Sun concieved away from the island. From what we understand, the problem with pregnancy on the island happens when conception occurs on the island. Is Juliet just flirting with Jack, because she knows Kate will go running to Sawyer?

8) Ok...so how far can a helicopter fly? I touched on this in my commentary on last episode. The island isn't far away from somewhere. Where that somewhere is, I don't know.

9) Next Episode is called "D.O.C." and is about this character

(Note: There is more to comment on. However, I am short on time and wanted to get something out there now)

Season 3 Finale, Fan Theories

Some interesting fan theories of the season finale:

• Locke's father was hiding in Christian Shephard's casket, hence no body when Jack smashed the coffin, and that's how he ended up on the island.
• Christian Shephard is Jacob
• The "Vincent is the Monster" theory builds
• Jack is in on Ben's plan without Juliet knowing. We think he's an Other, but instead he double-crosses Ben
• Penny makes it to the island somehow, but Desmond ends up dying to save her
• The finale will end showing someone with four toes
• With the magnetic anomolly discharged, Dharma can find the island again and sends in their troops
  

My favorite fan theory of the season finale, from a dude named Raymond:

End scene: The Losties have won the Battle for the Beach largely because while Juliet served as a Trojan Horse for The Others, Locke served the same function for The Losties. Ben has been captured. He's injured, bug-eyed and bloody.

Locke tells Jack that Ben has Jacob's list in his possession.

Locke: Let's get a look and see if we can make some sense of it.

Jack: Give me the list, Ben. Now.

Ben: Are you sure, Jack? Are you sure you want to see it? Be careful what you wish for.

Jack: No more mind games, Ben, just give me the list.

Ben: Alright, Jack, you're the boss, you're the leader. Here it is.

Jack takes the list. His face goes white.

Locke: It's alright, Jack. It doesn't matter if your name isn't on it, we don't even know what it means. It probably means nothing.

Jack: No, it's not that.

Locke: What then, what?

Jack: This is my handwriting.

One of Them (S:3,E:16)

"One of them, was named "the Demon," from his treachery."
(Divine Comedy of Dante, Purgatory Canto 14)

1) Looks like the writers were hellbent on answering a lot of questions. So many things were tied together. I found it funny that they called the Benry episode in season 2 "One of Them" and they called this one "One of Us" and they both turned out to be one of them in the end.

2) I'm a little unsure about the orange juice and tranquilizer thing. Was there any implication that the Sub took longer than a day to get to the island? How long to tranquilizers knock you out? I know that if a tranquilizer is strong enough, it can kill you. So...I guess what I'm saying is...the island might not be that far away.

3) Speaking of things I'm unsure about. Is Jack a good leader? Jack is getting on my nerves, much like at this same point in last season. His character just bothers me. So much authority, yet so many bad decisions. Weak intuition. I mean, wouldn't he be more careful?

4) So, we see one of the issues the Others are having with the island. They can't procreate there. In fact, it works backwards. Instead of augmenting their numbers with child birth, pregnancy eventually brings the numbers down with the deaths of the pregnant mothers. The Others are becoming extinct. On the Hanso Foundation website, the company vision is to "bring rebirth to a dying land and a dying people". I liked the part where Juliet mentioned this among the losties when helping Clare, then the camera panned on Sun. Does this mean Sun will die? However, this problem wasn't always there. Benry said he was born on the island. Aaron was born there. So what's the deal? Rousseau had Alex on the island. If there is a situation with Dharma and "Hostiles", maybe Dharma poisoned the "Hostiles" and that is why they die from their pregnancies.

5) So, we've heard "Him" before...but, now we are sure it's someone named Jacob. His name was mentioned in the Room 22 scene with Karl, which Karl muttered again on the pontoon boat. Apparently, Jacob has special powers like the ability to cure cancer.

6) It's too bad that we can't see Ana Lucia tell Juliet that she killed Goodwin. We could always use another cat fight. Will the topic ever come up? I'm surprised it hasn't yet, then again, I may need to go back and watch some early episodes this season to see if it did.

7) So we see that Mikhail was the main inhabitant of the Flame hatch. He was pretty adept with the equipment there, especially when they coordinated with the camera-man to show Rachel to Juliet. This could (emphasis on "could") feed the theory that the island isn't as far away from the U.S. as we've been led to believe.

8) The most chilling scene of the episode was Juliet reciting "the plan" to Benry. Handcuffing herself to Kate. Setting off the implant in Clare, giving her symptoms. Gaining the trust of the Losties.

9) Speaking of Kate, we all saw her embrace with Sawyer. Now that they've been apart, and Kate has seen that Jack's allegiance is to Juliet, I can see Kate and Sawyer rekindling something. Then again, I can see Sawyer going back to his old ways and pissing her off again. Sawyer is evolving, but the old Sawyer thrived on everyone hating him. You don't exactly turn that around overnight.

10) What did Sayid do in Basra? Basra was the site of a major revolt against Saddam in 1991, which was put down with heavy force.

11) Here's a number for you:

Picture Courtesy of www.lostpedia.com

12) Speaking of these "implants" (like the one in Claire), does Juliet have an implant? Maybe when they brought her in the "submarine," they put an implant in her.

13) Next episode is called "Catch-22". Not sure who it's about but, I'll guess. I say it's Desmond. But, I'm a little disappointed. From what I understood from interviews with the writers at the beginning of the season, we could possibly see flashbacks of Benry, Rousseau or even an episode about Penny in realtime searching for Desmond. Four episodes left. I'm guessing the final episode could be Ben's flashback. Will we find out anything about Michael or Walt? They got the entire season off. Of course the kid that plays Walt is probably getting close to 6 feet...so he may never return to the show...as the show is at about 90 days now.

Left Behind (S:3,E:15)

1) Found this tidbit on Wikipedia: The title of the episode, "Left Behind," is also the title of a novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins giving a fictional account of what might happen after the "rapture." (The rapture is the future vanishing of Christians to meet Christ in heaven, believed in by many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians.) After Kate, Juliet, Jack, and Sayid are left behind by the Others, Sayid says regarding the Others' sudden disappearance, "It's like fifty people disappeared into thin air." The novel "Left Behind" was later made into a movie.

1.1) The movie "Left Behind" was poked at by a Simpson's episode called "Thank God It's Doomsday" as a book called "Left Below"

1.2) This could also be a reason why there were advertisements for that new movie "The Reaping" as that movie is based on the "rapture"

2) Back to the storyline. We're back to classic LOST. We see another connection between two characters. Cassidy, who in flashbacks is carrying Sawyer's daughter, has a link to Kate. Although too much of the connections would be over-kill, I love this type of stuff. Especially the part where Kate is probably the one the convinces Cassidy to call the police and put Sawyer in jail. Imagine if Sawyer found that out. By the way, where can I get a "Cowboy Up" hat?

3) Kate is caught in a funny place. In this episode, whether it's flashbacks or the present, Kate is with a woman that's involved with one of her men. These triangles include Cassidy, Kate and Sawyer, and Juliet, Kate and Jack. Kate, in some ways reminds me of Emma in the book "Madame Bovary" (by Flaubert). She's considered by all to be beautiful, but to the trained eye they see the steely look in her eyes, her covert control in relationships, her afinity for doing things that you wouldn't expect from a lady (tracking, blowing things/people up, a mean left-hook), and, of course, her involvement in triangles. In fact, it's a masterful piece by Flaubert. I did a phychological profile of Emma back in college for my Gender Psychology class. Evangeline Lilly (acting similar to her role as Kate) would make a perfect Emma Bovary.

4) Has Juliet been banished by the others, or is this another one of Benry's mind games and she's in on it? It's very easy to say that she's been banished, and that her story of being afraid to be left behind was true. However, this would be a strong chess move by Benry and the Others, as they could have been mentally training Jack to think that Juliet is a "Stanger in a Strange Land" among the others. Gotta love the scenes from the next episode, and what Sayid says to Juliet. I'm growing a respect for Sayid's character. He's a trained professional. He can read anyone, and is a master of extracting information from people, through physical or mental avenues. If Sayid is cool with her after next episode...I think I'll be cool with her.

5) So Kate's mother, Diane, warned Kate about screaming for help next time she saw her. So I guess the next time they saw each other was in the hospital.

6) Once again, the conman (Sawyer) gets conned (by Hurley). We saw this happen in season one ("Outlaws") when Hibbs convinces Sawyer that a man named Duckett is the real Sawyer. It turned out that Sawyer was conned by Hibbs, when Duckett was actually someone that owed Hibbs money, and Sawyer was unknowingly doing Hibbs' work. However, this con put Sawyer into a good light. Hurley pulled the "Survivor Con" on Sawyer, telling him he was being voted off the island. Hurley's character is evolving. He's playing a deeper role. Before he was just good for jokes and silly moments. Now he's partly responsible for the evolution of Sawyer's character. My favorite (and probably everyone's favorite) part of the episode was the look on Sawyer's face when baby Aaron was handed over to him.

7) It turns out that the Others don't know much about the Monster (The Black Cloud), unless Juliet was lying. She said that she knows it doesn't like the sonic fence that they have. When the black cloud approaches Juliet the first time and made those flashing lights, it did not seem like the same thing that happened to Eko. Then again, the focus was on the cloud in that episode. In this episode, the focus was on Juliet's face. I'm interested to see what images it extracted from her. I guess we'll see when there is an episode about Juliet's flashbacks.

8) Is Locke one of the Others now? It seems that way. The writers, at the beginning of the season spoke of one of the Losties and one of the Others switching allegiences. This is probably it, with Locke and Juliet. Locke now knows of Kate's past, and while he said the Others aren't forgiving, it almost seemed like Locke was even less forgiving. One of the sites mentions that Locke's hand was bandaged. Did he beat the hell out of his dad? Why didn't we see anything else on Locke's reuniting with his dad?

9) Some Easter Eggs (Thanks to Wikipedia, LOST on ABC, and other websites dedicated to LOST): a) Kate goes by the name "Lucy". The Feast of Saint Lucy occurs on December 13, which is the same day that the events of Left Behind occur. The Losties have a feast on that day. b) We hear the same Patsy Cline song again...this seems to pop up at least once a season. c) In a previous episode, Locke talks about his favorite board game, Mousetrap (one of my favorites too) and there was one in the Others' rec room. d) Lots of pinball games and other things in the rec room. I would have just stayed there.

10) If the Others have vacated their village, will Jack consider bringing the Losties back to their. Running water and houses to live in would be nice. But, then again, it could bring about greed and other things that ruin our society. This could be an interesting plot if they choose to go with it.

11) Next Episode is called "One of Them" and focuses on this character's flashbacks.