3.13 - The Man from Tallahassee

Title’s significance: Anthony Cooper is “the man from Tallahassee,” brought to the island and now a pawn in Ben’s machinations.

Recap: In his flashbacks, Locke gets a lead on his father’s location and follows him, learning that Anthony Cooper is getting married. When two detectives reveal that Anthony Cooper’s would-be son-in-law is dead, Locke knows his father killed him and confronts Cooper, who pushes Locke out of the window and paralyzes him. Upon encountering Jack in Othersville, Kate insists he’s been brainwashed and wants to rescue him, but Locke says Jack must have a good reason, so they agree to corner him when he’s alone. When Kate approaches Jack in his Others-shack, he asks her to leave because he’s being watched, but Others storm in and take Kate and Sayid prisoner; meanwhile, Locke breaks into Ben’s home and demands to see the submarine. Ben deduces that Locke wants to destroy the submarine and taunts Locke about his backstory. Jack confronts Prisoner Kate and reveals that he is buddy-buddy with The Others because they’re sending him home; he promises to come back for Kate. While Ben and Locke discuss the island’s healing factor, Sayid meets Alex, who doesn’t know the truth about her parentage. Ben speaks about a box that can deliver whatever you want, and Locke leaves to blow up the submarine – which he does. Knowing the submarine is about to blow up, Ben promises Jack he’ll free Kate and Sayid as soon as Jack leaves the island. Locke suggests that Ben manipulated him, and Ben reveals that he’s brought Locke’s father to the island.

Thoughts: This was a fantastic episode, due mostly in part to the banter between Locke and Ben and the fantastic acting exhibited by Terry O’Quinn in this episode. There’s no question that Locke and Ben are the two most fascinating characters on the show, with the most complex motives, and this episode marks the beginning of the tipping point on the scale of power between Locke and Ben. This is when the series really started to turn around for me, mostly because the writers put a new and heavier spotlight on the Locke/Ben dynamic, which is itself material enough for an entire series on its own.

Favorite moment: “No, John, unfortunately we don't have a code for ‘There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head.’ Although we obviously should.” That, or when Ben tells Locke that the island is powered by “two giant hamsters.”

Characters introduced (in order):

• PETER TALBOT, his mother’s being conned by Locke’s father
• RYAN PRYCE, militaristic Other

What we learned:

• Locke suffered from depression.
• Jack knows how to play the piano.
• Richard takes orders from Ben.
• Ben doesn’t know why Locke isn’t paralyzed anymore.
• Alex doesn’t know about her parentage.
• Locke’s back broke when his father pushed him out of an eighth-story window.

Questions:

• Why was Locke’s paralysis cured immediately, but Ben has been allowed to suffer?
• What’s the nature of the box that Ben describes to Locke?
• What is Richard Alpert’s role with The Others?
• Did Cooper kill Peter Talbot?
• What brought Cooper to the island – Ben, the magic box, or the island?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• When Locke tells Ben that he’s a hypocrite and a Pharisee, is that just Locke talking, or is Locke at that moment serving as a mouthpiece for the island at large?

3.12 - Par Avion

Title’s significance: “Par avion” is French for “by air” – y’know, like airmail – but it also shares the root word for “bird,” the crux of Claire’s plan.

Recap: Focused around a car crash in her past, Claire’s flashbacks answer the question we’ve been asking – Christian Shepherd is her father. After the accident, Christian revealed that he wanted to euthanize Claire’s mother. While picnicking with Claire, Charlie’s told that he needs to go hunting with Desmond; meanwhile, Claire gets the idea to send a message via a tagged sea bird. Mikhail taunts the survivors about a “list,” which he says does not bear their names because they are flawed in some way; they encounter a sonic fence. Desmond accidentally sabotages Claire’s bird trap, while Locke throws Mikhail into the fence to test it; it’s very much active, and Mikhail is seemingly killed. The A-Team develops a plan to climb over the sonic pylons as Desmond captures a bird for Claire and reveals the truth about his visions. The A-Team make it to The Barracks – Othersville – and find Jack happily playing football with Tom Friendly.

Thoughts: Not a terrible episode, but not a landmark great episode, either. I couldn’t get behind Claire’s plan – in realtime or on rewatch – because it’s both an impossible means of rescue and terribly anticlimactic, so it’s almost irrelevant. The A-Team plotline, though, was interesting, even if Mikhail’s lying about everything. The ending of the episode sets up nicely what the whole season is about “us vs. them” and whether there’s really a difference.

Favorite moment: The reveal that Christian is Claire’s father.

Characters introduced (in order):

• CAROLE LITTLETON, Claire’s mother
• LINDSEY LITTLETON, Claire’s aunt
• DR. WOODRUFF, Carole’s doctor

What we learned:

• Claire was in a bad car crash with her mother.
• The Others have a submarine.
• Kate is not on “the list.”
• A security perimeter encircles The Barracks, and it’s still active.
• Locke stole some C-4 from The Flame, which proves he knew the building would explode.
• Christian Shepherd is Claire’s father.
• Claire never knew her father’s name.

Questions:

• How does Mikhail know what he knows about the survivors of Flight 815?
• How did the sonic fence get on the island?
• What does Locke have planned for the C-4 in his bag?
• Why did Locke blow up The Flame?
• Will the homing pigeon plan work?
• Has Jack flipped his lid?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Mikhail says that Kate is not on “the list,” but I notice he conspicuously does not mention whether Locke is on the list. I’m assuming the list is Jacob’s, so what’s the significance of who Jacob has chosen?

3.11 - Enter 77

Title’s significance: “Enter 77” is the code that corresponds to a Hostile incursion on The Flame, resulting in the station’s demolition.

Recap: In some inconsequential flashbacks, Sayid meets a woman he tortured in Iraq, who is seeking revenge; Sayid maintains his innocence, but the woman releases him and forgives him. While the beach camp looks for a ball with which to make a ping-pong table, Sayid and Locke quarrel about the bearing that they’re following before Sayid stumbles across Eyepatch Man and his satellite-equipped hut. Sawyer agrees to play ping-pong with his former stash and a week’s worth of nicknames as the stakes. Mikhail, the Eyepatch Man, weaves a story about The Dharma Initiative and The Purge while Locke plays chess against Mikhail’s computer, and Sayid deduces that Mikhail is lying. When Mikhail realizes this, he attacks but Kate prevails; while Sayid and Kate investigate The Flame’s basement and find Ms. Klugh there, Locke beats the computer chess game as Mikhail attacks him. At her request, Mikhail kills Ms. Klugh rather than let her be captured; Hurley defeats Sawyer, who’s already having problems with the no-nickname thing. At The Flame, Sayid finds a map to The Barracks, but the station self-destructs after Locke enters “7-7” into the computer.

Thoughts: While Sayid’s flashbacks weren’t exactly riveting and didn’t really tell us anything new, this was still a pretty good Damon/Carlton episode, especially the stuff with Mikhail, who answers a lot of questions we have about Dharma while leaving us wondering how everything fits together.

Favorite moment: I think Mikhail’s story about Dharma is the best part of the whole episode.

Characters introduced (in order):

• SAMI, a fellow Iraqi looking for revenge on Sayid
• AMIRA, Sami’s wife, tortured by Sayid and looking for revenge

What we learned:

• Eyepatch Man’s name is Mikhail Bakunin.
• Mikhail’s hut is not the radio tower.
• Mikhail claims to be the last living member of The Dharma Initiative, but Sayid knows him to be an Other. Mikhail has been on the island for eleven years.
• The satellite dish is called The Flame, but Mikhail claims the satellite hasn’t functioned in years.
• The Dharma Initiative launched a war against The Hostiles, called The Purge, which ended disastrously.
• The Flame is the hub of all the other Dharma stations.
• The A-Team suggests that the purple skies disrupted communications.
• Mikhail kills Ms. Klugh.
• Sawyer’s not allowed to use nicknames for a week.

Questions:

• What is the nature of the truce that Mikhail mentions?
• What killed the members of The Dharma Initiative.
• What did Ms. Klugh know that she didn’t want the survivors to know?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Nothing really shows up here that isn’t accomplished by the time Season Six cues up – the Dharma stuff is mostly Season Five material.

3.10 - Tricia Tanaka Is Dead

Title’s significance: Hurley speaks these words – “Tricia Tanaka is dead” – after the incident at Mr. Cluck’s.

Recap: In Hurley’s flashback, we meet his father who took off when he was a boy but returned after Hurley won the lottery. Hurley buys a Mr. Cluck’s, which is destroyed by a meteorite before Papa Reyes returns. Daddy takes Hurley to a psychic, whom he’s paid to convince Hurley there is no curse; Dad promises he’ll still be at home when Hurley returns. On the island, Hurley blames himself for Charlie’s impending death as Vincent emerges from the jungle with a severed decaying arm; Hurley chases after him and follows him to a derelict Dharma van, which he plans to get running again. Sawyer and Kate make their way back to the beach camp, but Sawyer’s just irked that someone took all his scotch and porno, and Kate fills in the beach camp about what The Others have in terms of boats and vows to go get Jack. Hurley, Jin, and Sawyer try to get the van running again and succeed when Charlie helps them push it downhill. Followed by Locke and Sayid, Kate finds Rousseau in the jungle and asks for her help.

Thoughts: Combined with “Stranger in a Strange Land,” this episode marks the time when LOST jumped the Dharma shark. Sure, I love Hurley episodes as much as the next guy, and Nikki’s obligatory twelve seconds on camera dressed like a skanky version of Shannon are always entertaining, but this is LOST – I’m looking for something more. Having said that, this episode is downright hysterical, with the car plot as the pinnacle of ridiculous comedy. I do, however, like how the writers ended up making Roger Workman one of the most important parts of the show’s mythology with one simple flashback.

Favorite moment: Sawyer teaches Jin English, but all he teaches him are the “only three things a woman needs to hear” – “I’m sorry,” “You were right,” and “Those pants don’t make you look fat” – before Hurley gets his verbal revenge on Sawyer with the immortal “Shut up, red... neck... man.” (“Touché.”) Seriously, the episode is worth it just for this moment.

Characters introduced (in order):

• DAVID REYES, Hurley’s dad (Cheech Marin!)
• TRICIA TANAKA, titular dead anchorwoman

What we learned:

• Hurley’s dad left home when he was little but returned when he won the lottery.
• There’s an abandoned Dharma van in the jungle.
• Hurley bought Mr. Cluck’s with his lottery winnings, but it was later struck by a meteorite.
• Johnny ran off with Starla.
• Sawyer lived in a trailer when he was a kid.
• “Roger was on a beer run.”
• Hurley hired butlers from Bennigan’s.
• Locke is using the message from Eko’s stick as a bearing to find Othersville.

Questions:

• Where did the Dharma van come from?
• Who’s “Roger Work Man”?
• Where’d the dart in the jungle come from?
• Why didn’t the Dharma people get to finish their dirt road?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Hurley’s dad tells him that he can make his own luck, which throws the whole “curse” thing into question.
• Kate tells Sawyer that “anticipation” is the worst part. Those of us who are dying for Season Six can definitely empathize.
• Hurley and Sawyer come into conflict about whether hope exists on the island. Does it?

3.09 - Stranger in a Strange Land

Title’s significance: Both in Thailand and among The Others, Jack is the stranger in a strange land, a reference to a passage from Exodus.

Recap: Jack gets flashbacks that cover his time in Thailand and answers the question of his tattoos, which he received from ‘gifted’ tattoo artist Achara. On the Hydra island, Jack and Juliet meet Isabel, “the sheriff,” while Ben recuperates. Juliet’s in trouble for killing Pickett, and Jack refuses to treat Ben’s infection. Sawyer and Kate make it to the main island with Karl while Jack tries to cover for Juliet. As Jack finds that Cindy and the children have joined The Others, Sawyer consoles Karl by telling him to “cowboy up.” Jack learns that Juliet’s “verdict” is going to be read and tells Alex that he saved her father because he promised he would, admitting to Ben that he may never walk again. Ben commutes Juliet’s sentence but orders her to be “marked.” Sawyer turns Karl loose, which angers Kate, who feels guilty about the whole “cage sex” thing.

Thoughts: This is just one of the worst episodes of LOST – maybe flat-out the absolute worst – and I’m glad that the crew of the series agrees with me on that one. Bad flashback, worse acting, and irrelevant tangential plotlines that go nowhere and are never revisited. Thank God this inspired the producers to turn their act around and set an end date for the show before things got too out of hand.

Favorite moment: “You mean like the Steal a Kid Off a Raft project? That was a humdinger.” That, or Sawyer’s “cowboy up” session with Karl in which he calls Alex “Slingshot Sally.”

Characters introduced (in order):

• ISABEL, The Others’ sheriff
• ACHARA, tattoo artist in Thailand and Jack’s romantic interest
• CHET, Achara’s brother

What we learned:

• God loves you as he loved Jacob (repeated from the Room 23 video).
• Jack took up kite flying in Thailand.
• The Others only work on the Hydra island; they live on the mainland – they don’t even like coming to the Hydra island.
• With the abducted children, Cindy has joined The Others.
• Isabel may be the sheriff, but Ben is still in charge.
• Ethan was a surgeon.
• Achara tells Jack that he is “a leader... a great man” but is also “lonely and angry.”
• Jack’s tattoos read, “He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us.”
• The Others have another boat to get them from island to island.

Questions:

• Is Achara’s gift metaphorical or supernatural?
• Why has Cindy joined The Others?
• How does Karl not know about The Brady Bunch?
• What’s the significance of Juliet’s mark?
• What do Jack’s tattoos “mean”?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• I really hope this episode turns out to be an insignificant blip on LOST’s radar.
• Although... the statement that Ben may never walk again instantly calls to mind Locke. Is this another indication that the two are bound together by fate/coincidence/Jacob?

3.08 - Flashes Before Your Eyes

Title’s significance: They say that, before you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes. This time, it’s Desmond getting the flashes.

Recap: Flashbacks are strange this week in that Desmond actually relives events from 1996 while being unstuck in time after turning the failsafe key. Desmond asks for Penny’s hand from Widmore, who didn’t respect him. After meeting a street-performing Charlie, Desmond has a pint with a physicist named Donovan who tells him that time travel shouldn’t be possible, at which point Desmond learns that the past has changed. He meets Mrs. Hawking, a mysterious jeweler who knows everything about Desmond and introduces him to course correction – the idea that some things are predetermined and that people have a “path.” Knowing things are hopeless, he breaks things off with Penny but learns too late that he really can change things. In the present on the island, Desmond saves Claire from drowning – before anyone else knows she’s drowning. Hurley reveals to Charlie that Desmond can see the future, so they devise a plan to get Desmond drunk and find out what’s going on. After fighting with Charlie, Desmond reveals that he was trying to save Charlie, not Claire – but he worries that he won’t be able to.

Thoughts: I know I’ve said that Carlton is the stronger writer in my favorite duo on this show, but this episode proves that Damon can knock it out of the park without the other half of LOST’s dynamic duo. On rewatch, this episode feels every bit as relevant as it did back in the day, and I’m sure this’ll make my list of favorite episodes for Season Three.

Favorite moment: For me, it’s Charlie, Desmond, and Hurley all getting smashed before Hurley asks, “Are all your songs about drinking and fighting and women with one leg?” But I do appreciate the stuff with Mrs. Hawking, just because it’s so delightfully significant.

Characters introduced (in order):

• DONOVAN, a physicist consulted by Desmond
• MRS. HAWKING, a “temporal policeman” who knows all about Desmond’s future

What we learned:

• After turning the failsafe key, Desmond was blasted back into 1996.
• Desmond tried to get a job with Mr. Widmore.
• Desmond worked set design for the World Shakespeare Company.
• Widmore promises Desmond that he will never be a great man, but Penny disagrees.
• The universe plays by the rules of “course correction.”
• Mrs. Hawking says that pushing the button is “the only truly great thing” that Desmond will do.
• The picture with Penny was taken on a street corner in London.

Questions:

• Can Desmond really see the future?
• Where does one even get “shocking amounts of pornography” like Charlie finds in Sawyer’s stash?
• Does Widmore have an island connection as the paintings in his office suggest?
• How does Mrs. Hawking know everything?
• Is Mrs. Hawking real?
• Can Desmond change the future or not?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• If I were making a DVD of “The Ten Most Important Episodes Before Season Six,” this would definitely make the collection. (Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll make that list.) The stuff about course correction and about changing the past is gold and will be pivotal while we predict whether or not the Jughead plan really worked – and if so, to what extent.

3.07 - Not in Portland

Title’s significance: Richard Alpert tells Juliet that his facility is “not quite in Portland.”

Recap: In Juliet’s flashbacks, we learn about her sister and how Juliet stole chemicals from her ex-husband to give to her sister; she was recruited by Richard Alpert to join a science team on the island and joined after her sister became pregnant and her ex-husband was hit by a bus. On the Hydra island, Kate and Sawyer make their escape, but Pickett chases them to the beach. Juliet tells Tom that Jack’s bluffing, but Jack insists that he’ll let Ben die. Alex ambushes The Others and shows Kate and Sawyer her secret hiding place. Suddenly, Ben wakes up and asks for Juliet, but he has Jack and Tom leave the room; Juliet emerges and promises to help Kate and Sawyer escape. Alex offers Kate and Sawyer their boat as long as they free Karl from Room 23 – a brainwashing room. At the boat, Pickett tries to stop Sawyer and Kate, but he’s shot by Juliet, who stops Alex from leaving with Kate, Sawyer, and Karl. Jack gets the tumor out of Ben

Thoughts: Solid episode, and no surprise – it was written by Carlton. We get a lot of answers in this episode, mostly about Juliet and what motivates her (getting off the island). What we don’t quite know is what The Others – and Richard Alpert – are after. For that, we’ll have to stay tuned.

Favorite moment: Edmund got hit by a bus!

Characters introduced (in order):

• RACHEL, Juliet’s sister
• EDMUND BURKE, Juliet’s ex-husband
• RICHARD ALPERT, recruiter for “Mittelos Bioscience”

What we learned:

• Karl is Alex’s boyfriend.
• Ben and Juliet “got history.”
• Alex is Ben’s daughter.
• Juliet’s ex-husband got hit by a bus!
• Juliet killed Pickett.
• Juliet has been on the island for a little over three years.
• Ben has promised to let Juliet go home.

Questions:

• What did the injections meant to do for Rachel?
• What’s Ben and Juliet’s “history”?
• Why is Ben claiming to be Alex’s father?
• What’s going on in Room 23?
• Was there something supernatural at play when Juliet’s husband was hit by a bus?
• Why would the purple skies prevent The Others from taking Ben to an off-island facility?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• This episode introduces Richard Alpert, and we still don’t know who he really is or what he wants.
• There’s something up with the Room 23 video. For that, I’m embedding a YouTube video of it.

3.06 - I Do

Title’s significance: This episode focuses on Kate’s flashback marriage and also on a few other characters (especially Jack) promising to do things they later end up reneging on.

Recap: This episode’s flashbacks answer our questions about Kate’s marriage, which we discover was to a policeman named Kevin Callis; though the marshal agreed to call off his manhunt if Kate stayed put, she couldn’t do it and ended up running again. On the Hydra island, Jack threatens not to do the surgery on Ben while Locke tells Sayid that he believes Eko died for a reason. Juliet offers Kate a way to save Sawyer by having her ask Jack to do the surgery. While burying Eko, Locke notices a message on Eko’s prayer stick – “Lift up your eyes and look north.” When Sawyer tells Kate that they’re on another island, the two engage in one of LOST’s most infamous moments – cage sex. When Jack learns that Kate has chosen Sawyer, he agrees to the surgery but sabotages the operation halfway through, gaining enough leverage to free Kate and Sawyer from Pickett under the threat of killing Ben.

Thoughts: Not Damon & Carlton’s best, but one of the more gripping of Season Three thus far. Perhaps the most important element of LOST’s history gets introduced in this episode – a mysterious man named Jacob – so keep one eye open for future mentions of him.

Favorite moment: “Cage sex” is certainly a memorable one, but my favorite’s gotta go to the “They’re gonna kill Sawyer!” moment.

Characters introduced (in order):

• KEVIN CALLIS, a police officer whom Kate marries
• MRS. CALLIS, Kevin’s mother

What we learned:

• Alex claims that The Others killed her boyfriend.
• Kate was married to a police officer for a time.
• The marshal’s name was Edward Mars.
• Jack wasn’t on “Jacob’s list.”

Questions:

• Who’s Alex’s boyfriend?
• What will Locke find up north?
• Why does Ben ask after Alex before surgery?
• Who is Jacob?
• Who’s on Jacob’s list, and how does it differ from Ms. Klugh’s list?
• Why isn’t Jack on Jacob’s list?
• Will Jack let Ben die?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• First mention of Jacob. ’Nuff said.

3.05 - The Cost of Living

Title’s significance: Eko tells “Yemi” that everything he has done has not been wrong because it enabled other people to live – that he has paid “the cost of living” for others.

Recap: As Eko flashes back to his work as a priest in Nigeria, he remembers protecting the church from warlords who tried to steal their vaccine supply. On island, Eko sees an apparition of his brother Yemi, who tells him that it is “time to confess.” The Others hold a Viking funeral for Colleen as Jack deduces that it is Ben who has a tumor on his spine. Desmond tells Locke and Sayid that the Swan computer could communicate with other stations; realizing that Eko is heading for the Nigerian plane (but unaware that Eko is being stalked by the smoke monster), Locke sets out for The Pearl, saying “We’re all going to the same place.” Ben tells Jack that he needs him to save his life, while Locke meets up with Eko and discovers that Yemi’s body is no longer in the plane. In The Pearl, Locke sees a man with an eyepatch on one of the monitors, but Eyepatch Man knows he’s being watched. Juliet tells Jack that Ben is a dangerous liar and asks him to kill Ben during the surgery. Another apparition of Yemi lures Eko into an open field, where Eko says that he has nothing to confess; “Yemi” says he is not Yemi, and the smoke monster appears and kills Eko, who before dying tells Locke, “You’re next.”

Thoughts: Pretty good episode, though I’m sorry to see Eko go since he had become one of the most interesting characters on the show. I can understand that he no longer had a place, though; if Locke has regained his faith, there is no need for another person to feel as passionately as Locke without getting in the way. I also think that Kiele Sanchez is actually a rubbish actress, since there’s nothing convincing about her role as Nikki in this episode; her lines seem stilted and forced, and just about the only thing she has going for her is the fact that she’s a pretty face.

Favorite moment: I have to hand it to the interactions between Eko and the black smoke monster, at once fascinating and terrifying.

Characters introduced (in order):

• DANIEL, Eko’s altar boy
• AMINA, Daniel’s mother and a helper of “Father Tunde” (Eko)
• EMEKA, a ganglord who clashes with Eko
• EYEPATCH MAN, an unnamed mystery figure.

What we learned:

• The tumor is Ben’s.
• Yemi’s church was boarded up after Eko went to London.
• Eko built the island church to make up for the boarded-up church in Nigeria.

Questions:

• Why was the smoke monster following Eko?
• What station did Locke see?
• Who is the Eyepatch Man?
• Why does Juliet want Ben dead?
• If that wasn’t Yemi, who was it?
• Why did the smoke monster kill Eko?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• With his faith safely back, Locke tells Desmond, “Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.” Which will win the day when the series is over?
• The smoke monster behaves very mysteriously in this episode (yeah, like that’s something endemic only to this episode). Its motives, its mechanisms (machine or otherwise), and its ultimate role in the island’s goings-on remains to be seen and is one of the chief mysteries that LOST must resolve to satisfy its audience going into this final season.

3.04 - Every Man for Himself

Title’s significance: The title comes from Jack’s speech in “White Rabbit,” in which he says that “Every man for himself is not going to work.”

Recap: Sawyer’s flashbacks illustrate his time in prison after conning Cassidy, who visits him in prison and reveals he has a daughter; after conning a prisoner into revealing where he hid his embezzled funds, Sawyer gave the reward money to his daughter. At the beach, Desmond tells Claire her roof needs to be fixed, but she and Charlie don’t see a problem. Jack asks Juliet why he’s in a cell, but she’s called away when Colleen returns, wounded. Sawyer develops a plan to escape, but Ben thwarts it, roughs him up, and installs a pacemaker in his heart to keep him docile. Juliet brings Jack to save Colleen, but it’s too late; after Colleen dies, Pickett lashes out at Sawyer, and Kate admits that she loves him. When Desmond builds a lightning rod next to Claire’s tent, saving her from being struck, Charlie begins to catch on. Ben takes Sawyer for a hike, where he reveals that the pacemaker was a phony and that The Others live on their own separate island right next to the main island.

Thoughts: This was a good episode, let’s not kid ourselves – plenty of action, character, and suspense. But right around this point in Season Three, it seems the only mystery the show is concerned with is, “What’s up with The Others?” Most of our central cast is being neglected – when was the last time anyone saw Rose and Bernard, and is Charlie ever going to get more than one line each episode this season? Since this originally aired in a six-episode run with a long hiatus between, I guess it makes sense to have a six-episode mostly-self-contained arc, but on rewatch it feels every bit like stalling that it did during the original run.

Favorite moment: The moment when Ben kills the 8-bunny is so bizarre that it’s unforgettable, but Hurley’s baffled reaction to Desmond’s lightning rod – “Is that... art...?” – is priceless and classic.

Characters introduced (in order):

• MUNSON, an embezzling prisoner with Sawyer
• WARDEN HARRIS, a rotten warden imprisoning Sawyer off-island
• CLEMENTINE (mentioned), Sawyer’s daughter with Cassidy

What we learned:

• Sawyer was in prison for conning Cassidy.
• Ben hates needles.
• Sawyer has a daughter named Clementine.
• Colleen died from Sun’s gunshot wound.
• Kate loves Sawyer.
• Juliet is a fertility doctor.
• The Others are on another island adjacent to the island we know and love.
• Ben claims to be a better con man than Sawyer.

Questions:

• Whose spinal X-rays are up in the Others’ medical station?
• Was that the same bunny?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Unless Clementine becomes as important a baby as Aaron, not too much of mythological significance happens in this episode.