Lost - Season 3 Episode 12 - Par Avion

Well, my fellow Losties, it would seem LOST has found it's groove for season 3. After a poorly constructed 6 episode arch and 13 week break, we now have seen ANOTHER 6 episodes of the show and I am all giddy with excitement again! Everyone is theorizing again, comments on the blog are growing, and the WOW's are coming regularly! And I must comment about my first LOST HDTV experience.....it deserves a SUPER WOW all by itself! I felt like I was on the beach with them trying to help Jin and Claire catch a bird from the Flock of "Sea Birds!" Anyway, no sense in delaying, let's discuss "Par Avion"

Back at the Beach
Okay, so the basic premise of this week's beach storyline had us following Claire, Desmond and Charlie with the help of an increasingly English-Speaking Jin (Hiro still ahead of him on Heroes) and a ridiculously "Non-Accent" English-speaking Sun as they try to catch a tagged "Sea bird" (I think they called it a sea bird just so we wouldn't start making connections to the band Flock of Seagulls) and send an SOS message. In case anyone is wondering what the term Par Avion means, it is a fancy word for "Air-mail." Ahh, those 5th grade history lessons are starting to come back to me now! Anyway, Charlie seems to be getting back to his normal self until Desmond has another flash of him dying attempting to help Claire catch a bird. This causes much argument throughout the episode between Claire and Charlie and Dessie....but all is well in the end and Claire becomes a believer in Desmond's "gift" as well. Other things of interest from this storyline:

• Sawyer has a new book! "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. This stuff gets too deep for me. If you really want to find out about the book, join the other crazies writing about it at wikipedia!
  
• The message Claire wrote to attach to the bird was a very nice synopsis of what we've all experienced watching this show for the past 3 seasons. We also get a confirmation that they've been on the island for 80 days now. (Also that it's been 2 weeks since the sky turned purple)

Claire Flashback
Finally we can confirm what we've all been thinking since almost a year ago! But we'll get there in a second. Claire's flashback traces her life immediately following a nasty car accident she had with her mother in the car. Her mother ends up in an indefinite coma. We learn a bit more about Claire's family background and also her previous method of earning a paycheck! Let's dive in!

• No sense in delaying - We finally confirm that Christian Shepard (Jack's Dad) is also Claire's father! For once, the producers didn't try to pull a fast one on everyone since it was pretty much figured out during episode 2x20 (Two For the Road - Ana Lucia Flashback) last season. However, I will contest that maybe they tried to confuse us by making the woman we saw in episode 2x20, Lindsey, Claire's AUNT instead of her actual mother. In the end, it's all the same. Jack and Claire are related. Half-Brother and sister. Jack is also UNCLE JACK to Aaron. Christian now has ties to 4 survivors of flight 815 (Jack, Claire, Sawyer, and Ana Lucia). We can bet there are more connections than that too. And we still have to think that somehow he is involved in this whole island mess.
  
• Implications of all of this. Well, Christian went to Australia to find Claire, even though Aunt Lindsey hates him. Jack went to Australia to get Christian, who ended up dying there from what we can only assume was an alcoholic binge (but who knows? maybe we'll find out in future flashbacks that perhaps someone else on the island was involved in his death.) Okay, sum up Mike! My point is, the whole reason that Jack was in Australia was basically because of his half-sister Claire. And then they end up being on the same doomed flight? Ahhhh that's some good writing!
• We learn that Claire has no idea of the name of her father. Meaning that it would be difficult for it to come up in a conversation between Jack and Claire that they are related. But guess who on the island probably DOES have that information? Yep, THEM crazy OTHERS! Perhaps they will unveil this information to Jack at an opportune time.
• Did I mention pre-pregnant Claire was a GOTH chick? Must've forgotten! She's also worked at a piercing/tatoo parlor. There was some crazy girl in there getting some crazy piercings. I'm gonna go ahead and guess we don't have to remember who she was! But one thing that lost.cubit.net made note of was that there was a tattoo pattern that we got a glimpse of that may have said "HURLEY." But this easily could've been HARLEY (as in Davidson). Thought I'd share the picture anyway and you could see GOTH Claire once again.
  
• Okay, so remember Claire's first flashback episode in season 1? The one where she argues with her boyfriend on having the baby? Remember when she said to him "My Mother will disown me" and he responded "Well she kinda has already" ? Don't worry if you don't remember it, that's why I'm here! Anyway, people are speculating that the writers have done some lousy writing because NOW we learn Claire's mother is in a coma. How could she disown her? Well, I'm sure the writers kept this in mind which is why we got the last scene with Pregnant Blonde Claire talking to her mother about how she avoided telling her about the pregnancy for awhile. As for the "already disowning" part of the season 1 quote.....well we also learn in this scene that Claire and her mother were in a HUGE fight right before this car accident...and that Claire wished her mother was dead. Hmm....doesn't that usually suggest DISOWNING? Sure, this may have not been the original plan for Claire's mother (well, we don't even know if Claire and Jack being related was an original plan), but I think we can say that they covered themselves pretty well with this storyline.
• For all you numbers fanatics out there, Claire's accident happened at MILE 108 on the odometer or trip meter.
  

Operation Rescue Jack - Mission: FIND BARRACKS

Well this section was packed with goodies wasn't it? As predicted, leaving Mikhail alive was a useful tool for the audience to learn more information about the others. While most of it was just reinforcing things that we already kinda knew about, he still let a few tidbits slide. We also see tensions rising between Sayid and Locke (The Magic Stick??? one of many comedic lines!) and suspicions of Locke's intentions are increasing with every episode. Let's see what we can dig up!

• We got a good look at the map (well the camera focused on it long enough for other WEBSITES to get a good look!) As you can see, there are several subterranean passages 20 feet deep as well as plumbing and refrigeration at Othersville. Good chance those passages will come in handy in a future episode. (perhaps they are interconnected to other hatches? of course that would defeat the purpose that DHARMA and the OTHERS were 2 separate entities on the island. Oh well, we'll see!)
  
• If you read the comments last week, I went back and forth on Locke's intentions/unintentions of blowing up the Flame Hatch. I suggested that Locke DID know of the C4 and intentionally blew the hatch. Then after re-watching, I realized we never saw him in the basement where the C4 was and started 2nd guessing myself. Of course, this is what we were meant to believe as he started telling Sayid the same thing....only for us all to discover that Locke STOLE some C4 from the Flame Station. So, I'm back with my original theory now! Locke has been through a lot on this island. He is one always looking for purpose in life and thinking the island was going to give him answers. Ever since he realized he was a pawn in an experiment he has been a wounded character yet still looking for answers...and still knows there is something up with his paralysis cure. And it looks from next week, he's going straight to BEN with an Agenda outside of saving Jack.
• Okay, so more information about the others. Well, thanks to our Russian translators last week we learned that our Russian guy had been briefed on at least ONE of the survivors, that being Sayid. Apparently, he had information on Kate and Locke as well. We would've found out about his prior connection to Locke but crazy Rousseau cut him off in traditional LOST fashion. If I'm a betting man, Mikhail was about to suggest that the last time he saw Locke, he was in a wheelchair....but what do I know? Mikhail tells us more about the LIST suggesting that people NOT on the LIST (like Kate) would not be able to comprehend anything he had to say. People not on the list are Flawed, Angry, Frightened. We confirmed that BEN is not the almighty "HIM" that the OTHERS all refer to. And we know from a prior episode this season that JACOB has a list! We have yet to meet this Jacob (or so we think). Mikhail also says he was brought to the island via the submarine, but ever since the sky turned purple (an electromagnetic Pulse), their sonar device is not working and it is impossible to navigate from the island. Looks like everyone is stuck there now! That should buy us a few more seasons!
• So we witnessed a brand new technology on the island. Locke put it best when he asked "How was I supposed to know they had Sonic Weapon Fences?" These columns surround the entire barracks area and apparently cause Brain Hemorrhages and foaming at the mouth until you're deaders. Farewell Mikhail. You've served your purpose. Locke's "SORRY" was a good time too after he pushed Mikhail into the invisible fence.
• So why did Mikhail say "THANK YOU" after Locke pushed him to his death? Why did Klugh ask to be killed? There must be some crazy punishment for failing in the OTHERS' Society. Something to keep tabs on.
• After Sayid, Kate, Locke, and Rousseau went all "Survivor meets the A-Team" on the fence (constructed a bridge OVER the fence), we finally get to the lovely town of Othersville. And wait...there's Jack! He's running towards Kate....he's attempting to escape! Come on Jack! You can do it! You can do it!.....woa wait a sec....there's a football! He caught it?? He's throwing it back to......ZEKE err...Tom! That tub of lard is throwing it back! They're having a catch? Jack is doing a touchdown dance? What is going on???? Ahhh yes....another crazy moment in the world of LOST. Are we meant to think Jack is brainwashed? Are we meant to think he's actually having a good time? Or is Jack just putting on an act to get some information and get back to his friends? We'll have to put that off for another episode! But that was a fantastic little twist at the end of the episode.
  
  
  
  
  Whew, that was a lot to cover. I didn't think I'd have too much to discuss, but then again, I never do! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings again. Feel free to share your thoughts as well! I always enjoy your opinions! See you next week as we finally get some dirt on Mr. Locke!