"D.O.C."

Another good episode of LOST tonight; not quite as good as last week but this one definitely had a killer moment at the end.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!

The main focus of the episode was of course the paternity of Sun's baby. I'm glad to see that it is in fact Jin's and that it was conceived on the island, however we all know what this means for Sun... Juliet said that no woman on the island has made it through the second trimester which Sun notes should give her two months. That should put us right about the series finale by my calculation. Was anyone really surprised when Juliet went back to the Staff Station to "tidy up" and actually left a message for Ben. She can say that she hates him all she wants under her breath, but that isn't going to make me sympathetic to her plight. And what was with the comment about getting a sample of Kate soon? Did Kate and Sawyer's rendezvous in the polar bear cage result in Kate becoming pregnant?

It was also very interesting to learn that Sun is essentially responsible for all the grief that her father gave Jin. Of course she took the hush money to protect Jin from his mother, but by taking it, her father decided to make Jin's life a living hell. Jin's longer work hours began to drive them apart and eventually led to Sun's affair with Jae Lee. It is obvious that she regrets her affair, but she has no one to blame but herself.

Meanwhile, in the story that just kept adding surprises, we picked up with Desmond, et al. where we left off last week. The parachutist was barely conscious and had a pretty bad injury. Luckily, Mikhail ran out of the jungle to help!!!!! How in the hell is he even alive? The last time that we saw him, blood was running out of his ears and he was foaming at the mouth. If the island has such strong healing powers, does anyone ever really die? In any event, he agreed to help if they let him go when he was done. He did some fancy field triage with some great sucking sound effects when he drained the parachutist's lung. When he was done with her he left, but not before trying to steal the satellite phone. Thankfully Jin was paying attention and was able to get the phone back before they sent Mikhail on his way.

So the final scene was the real punch in the guts. Is this the "game changer" that the producers have been saying would be coming all season? The parachutist started to wake up and ask where she was. Hurley was the only one with her and thankfully told her who they were, that he didn't know where they were and that they survived the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. She said it was impossible because the wreckage of Flight 815 had been found and that there where no survivors. Hurley responded the same way that every single person watching this episode probably responded: "What?" Awesome! I can't wait to see where this is going!!!

Next Week on LOST:

My Willie Nelson Handshake

Back in September, Willie Nelson was passing through south Louisiana on the way to somewhere and was stopped by police on Interstate 10 just outside of Breaux Bridge, LA. He and his passengers were ticketed for possession of various drugs and let go. Today he appeared in St. Martin Parish court, which just so happens to be the courthouse in which I am working. I was minding my own business in the Clerk of Court's office when a real commotion began at the front entrance. It wasn't long before I learned who had shown up for court. Many people ran to the courtroom to catch a glimpse of the country legend, while I just tried to go about my daily business. Apparently, he met with the DA in his office to avoid a mob in the small courtroom, so many people returned to work without so much as a glance of the red-headed stranger.

After about an hour, the security guards watching the closed circuit TV monitors in the front of the courthouse started saying that Willie was on the move and was being escorted out of the building through the side door. I wasn't far, so I hurried to see a small crowd at the door but no Willie Nelson. I pushed my way through the door and there he was at the bottom of the steps. Dressed in a black suit, cowboy boots and dark sunglasses, his long hair in a single trademark braid, Willie was happily signing autographs and posing for pictures.

I made my way down the steps and positioned myself for a couple of quick pictures with my camera phone. He seemed to be enjoying the attention, but the parish police were trying to move him along to his awaiting car. Satisfied that I had seen the man up close, I decided to make my way around his awaiting car and head back to work in the courthouse. At the same moment, he was making his way around the other side and before I knew it, we were alone behind the car standing face to face. I instinctively held out my hand and said hello. He amiably smiled, said hi and shook my hand. Rather than delay his departure any longer, I moved along as he got in the car to leave. In all the times I have seen Willie Nelson in concert, I never thought I would ever have the opportunity to shake the man's hand, let alone while on the steps of the courthouse in St. Martinville, LA. I have to say that I had a pretty great day today!

"Catch-22"

I've been busy so this week's LOST blog is a little late, but better than never! I really liked this week's episode and can definitely feel the buildup to the end of the season. So without further ado...

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I have liked the Desmond character since he was introduced and am always eager to learn more about his mysterious and seemingly very important back story. This week his back story didn't really seem to be going anywhere at first, but it's importance became much clearer as the episode neared it's conclusion. Incidentally, I couldn't help but think of how much the short-haired, clean-shaven Desmond looks like a young Dustin Hoffman (think Little Big Man). Anyway, I loved learning why Desmond calls everyone "brother." But more importantly, the purpose of this flashback and episode seems to be how Desmond's "flashes" are really a test of his faith and his need to face his fear. As he and the abbot discussed the story of Abraham and Issac, we are to draw a parallel to Desmond and Charlie. Desmond has so little faith that Charlie will avoid death without his help, that he feels he must intervene constantly. However, I think that what we, and Desmond, were supposed to learn, is that he must trust that Charlie will be able to save himself. Then again, the abbot had a picture on his desk of himself with the lady from the ring store in Desmond's last episode which could point back to the need for the universe to "course correct" when something has been tampered with on the fate time line.

But what of the island story? Is Penny really coming for Desmond? I think that we have our first connection to the final moments of the second season finale. The crashed helicopter pilot's pack contained a Portuguese copy of Joseph Heller's "Catch-22." As many will remember, the two men at the listening station at the end of season two spoke Portuguese. Coincidence? Not if you count the picture of Desmond and Penny between the pages of the book.

But why did the helicopter crash? I believe that there is just something about the island that draws people to it i.e. Desmond's boat, Eko's brother's plane, the real Henry Gale's balloon, and even Oceanic Flight 815. That being said, I don't believe that Desmond caused the crash of 815 due to his failure to enter the numbers and push the button on September 22, 2004. I think that there is more to it than that and we might just get a little more light shed on the topic before the end of this season.

And finally what does the title refer to? Is it just because the book is seen in the episode? I say no. Desmond was terribly concerned not to change anything he saw in the flashes because he was convinced that doing so would alter the course of events that were to come. By saving Charlie again, he altered things. Notwithstanding what I have already written about Desmond and Charlie, is it possible that Desmond saving Charlie resulted in the parachutist not being Penny? Much like Schrodinger's Cat, we have no idea who the parachutist is until the helmet is removed. Might it have been Penny had Charlie died? Was Desmond indeed supposed to sacrifice Charlie to be reunited with the love of his life? I guess we'll have to wait for more answers to clarify this conundrum, but I would like to think that the title referred to the choice that Desmond was forced to make.

Next Week on LOST:

Some conspiracy theories just won't die...

Uncomfortable Questions: Was the Death Star Attack an Inside Job?

You be the judge, but the questions certainly are uncomfortable.

So it goes.

The world lost Kurt Vonnegut but he will live on in his voluminous writings. I have read pretty much everything he has written and I loved most of it. Although I couldn't always draw the line between his satire and his true beliefs, I was certainly entertained by his fantastic imagination and some wonderfully written stories. So it goes.

"One of Us"

It's that time of the year...LOST is gearing up for the season finale in a few weeks and started setting it up with last night's great and revealing episode. Can you feel the tension building?

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It was very cool to see another Juliet flashback even if I despise her character. With the flashback continuing her story where we last left it, I was expecting more of the same attempts to paint her as a victim of the Others. The reality we ended up seeing in the end is that although she may be a victim, she is still a willing participant in the terrible and things the Others are doing. Not liking her character to begin with, it wasn't hard to totally hate her in the final minutes of the episode. Are there any honest people on this island?

It was nice to finally get some of the Others' perspective between the time Flight 815 crashed and now. Was Ethan acting alone or was Juliet with him administering the drugs to Claire? Was Juliet present when Claire was being held in the Medical Station? I wish we got a better answer to these questions, but from Ben and Juliet's "con"-versation at the end of the episode, it is clear that Ben had knowledge of what Ethan was doing to Claire. What is the endgame though? Do they know that Sun is pregnant? Is she the target that Juliet was sent to acquire? Or are the Others finally coming to take Aaron? I think it is the former, but one never really can tell where LOST is going.

One of the biggest, yet most subtle reveals of this episode is the fact that the real world knows that Flight 815 disappeared. The scene with Mikhail in the Flame Station watching all of the news channels covering the story of the missing flight was very cool. The way that Ben approached the Flame and made his presence known really made me wonder if Mikhail wasn't telling the truth about his back story when he met Sayid. He might have really been a survivor of the Dharma Initiative who made a deal with Ben. He seems to have been the intelligence gatherer of the operation. I wonder what his sources are that reveal such private and personal information about the Losties. Perhaps it's the Smoke Monster.

We learned that no one on the island has ever had cancer, yet Ben ended up with a tumor. He claimed that Jacob cured Juliet's sister's cancer when it returned, but when has Ben ever told the whole truth. I'm guessing Juliet's sister's cancer never really did come back. But didn't Ben look scared when he admitted that he didn't know why or how he could have gotten a tumor? If that was a con, he's really good! The producers have hinted that Rose and Bernard will be back later in the season and it got me thinking that perhaps their story will be about Ben's attempts to learn how Rose's cancer was healed by the island. Whatever their story, I think that what I've taken away from recent revelations is that the Island itself has turned on Ben and he doesn't know why. Will he find the answer in Locke or Rose? Only time will tell.

Jack is back on the beach, but I'm not sure that he will fall right back into the leader role. I'll be expecting Sawyer and Sayid to be fighting Jack's authority until they can get get some answers out of Juliet or until she is dead, whichever comes first. Kate seemed pretty happy to be back with Sawyer. She just needs to get over Jack and realize that Sawyer cares about her. She'll soon learn that Jack is too busy harboring a spy to have time for Kate's indecisiveness.

Next Week (and the rest of the season it seems) on LOST:

What A Good Friday!

I was off work yesterday due to Good Friday in the largely Catholic south Louisiana which made for the start of a long weekend. We already had plans to drive to Houston for a concert in the evening but we got an added bonus in the afternoon before we left Lafayette. As she has written on Grope For Luna, Roxi has been working hard on her dissertation and not really reading anything but articles for reference. She did however recently read a book for pleasure by local author Greg Guirard called "PsycoTherapy for Cajuns." She especially liked a story dealing with a cultural miscommunication between a group of Cajuns and a Hollywood film crew filming a movie in Acadiana. She wanted to quote the story in her dissertation about communication but needed permission so she emailed Guirard on Thursday. He quickly emailed her back and invited us to Pie Day at his house on Friday.

I grew up in Lafayette and felt like I knew quite a bit about Cajun culture but I have never heard of Pie Day. Apparently, Pie Day is a very old tradition to break the fast of Good Friday. Friends and family gather for their only meal of the day and only eat pie. At first I was worried that all the sugar would make me sick, but after reading the article, I was happy to see that they also eat "salty" pies with crawfish, eggplant, etc.

So at 11:00 AM on Friday, we made to drive to Greg's house on Mercier Bayou on the Atchafalaya Basin levee. We arrived right about noon to a yard full of people and a delicious assortment of pies. After introducing ourselves to Greg, we dove right into the pies. We started with the salty pies and filled our plates with various crawfish and shrimp pies, quiches and eggplant and mushroom pies. They were delicious but we couldn't wait long before going to the dessert table. We loaded up my plate with pecan, strawberry, cherry, pudding and key lime pies. After finishing off the plate and cleaning up our dishes, we laid on the hammock to let ourselves digest before our drive. After a short while, we thanked our host and got on the road to Houston.







We made our drive to Houston to see TV on the Radio. I have been enamored with the band since Roxi included one of their songs on a mixtape for me and when we saw that they would playing in Houston on a Friday night we just had to be there. The opening band, The Noisettes, were good but TV on the Radio were fantastic.



I wasn't sure what to expect from the show since most of the music on the recordings is electronic but was pleasantly surprised to see the band play all the songs with live instruments. The songs were faster and louder than the recordings which lead to a very energetic show for the sold out venue. They played for about ninety minutes and closed with a raucous version of "Staring At The Sun." Needless to say, Roxi and I really enjoyed the show.



So at 12:30 AM, we made it to my parents' apartment a few miles from the venue to get to sleep. We reflected on our day and how in the span of twelve hours we ate lots of pies with a big Cajun family in Catahoula, LA and saw a great show by TV on the Radio in Houston, TX. I'd say that classifies as a Good Friday!

"Left Behind"

So after last week's fluff piece with Nikki and Paulo, we are going to get back to the meat of the story, right? Well, not exactly...

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!

Not a whole lot happened in this episode. We found out that Locke left with The Others, while Kate, Jack, Sayid and Juliet were left behind. Kate and Juliet had a little fight over Jack but were interrupted by the monster in the jungle. Interestingly enough, Juliet doesn't know what it is either. However she does know that it doesn't like the sonic fence. That was pretty cool looking. As for what we know about the smoke monster, this time it appeared to be taking pictures of Juliet when it first approached in the jungle. Maybe it was gathering data on her for the first time kind of like it did with Mr. Eko and presumably Locke on their first encounters.

In any event, Kate's flashback was pretty pointless other than the fact that she met Cassidy and teamed up with her to get to visit her mom. We learned why her mom reacted the way she did in the hospital in one of Kate's season one flashbacks, but it wasn't something that I was losing sleep over. In fact, Kate's flashbacks are about as useful as Jack's at this point, and by that I mean, not very. I like to see these characters on the island, but I think I'd rather learn more about the back stories of Danielle, Ben, Tom, Desmond, etc. Maybe by the end of the season we'll get one or two of those, but I'm not holding my breath.

It looks like the ABC promo people haven't learned their lesson for overhyping an episode based on the promo for next week. There were hints that a lot of information would be revealed, but I'm definitely not expecting too much on that front. A little info will be appreciated, but there's no need to potentially alienate more viewers and fans by these kinds of promos. But I guess I should wait and see before I pass too harsh of a judgment.

Next Week on LOST: