LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x22 - BORN TO RUN

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by Keds. Run faster, jump higher.

Kate's flashback brings into focus her relationship with the man she loved and killed. She has all kinds of tricks up her sleeve for avoiding the authorities including a stash of license plates and hair dye. But she is drawn back to Iowa when she discovers that her mother is dying of cancer. Her childhood sweetheart, Tom, works at the hospital. Guess Kate has a thing for doctors! She asks for his help securing a covert meeting with her mom who is being guarded by law enforcement around the clock. To pass the time before the meeting, Kate hangs out with the ex and discovers he is married with a son. Feeling nostalgic, they go dig up their time capsule from 1989, a year that is probably best left buried judging by the NKOTB lunch box. This is the lunch box we will see her steal in the Season 5 finale that Jacob pays for. Inside that box is Tom's toy airplane which Kate goes to extreme lengths to acquire on and off the Island. Also contained in the box is a tape where Kate and Tom ponder their future. Seems Kate has always wanted to run due to a rough family life, but they thought they would be married to each other. Reliving old feelings, they make out a little. That Tom's wife is a lucky lady! Wouldn't it be a coincidence if her name was Juliet?!

Kate finally gets her meeting with her mother, but it does not go well. Her mother yells for help like she said she would if Kathryn ever came near her again. Kate asks for Tom's keys and makes a beeline for the parking garage with security in hot pursuit. Tom decides in a moment of fatal stupidity to ride shotgun believing that this will force her to turn herself in. It's like he doesn't know her at all! Kate defiantly drives through a hail of bullets, then gets into a car wreck. Tom did not escape the gun play, and Kate left her true love dead in the passenger seat as she ran from the law.

On the Island, Charlie has Kate worried about what might happen should the raft venture be successful. Rescue parties would be aware that Kate Austen, the captured fugitive, was on the plane. Arrest would be unavoidable, and due to the immense fame any survivors would possess,(Oceanic 6) there would be nowhere she could run anyway. All her anonymity would be gone. Her only chance is to get on that raft, so she can disappear. Using Joanna's passport, the woman who drowned in White Rabbit, she plans to adopt a new identity. Her plan is foiled when Michael tells her all the spots are filled. Sawyer took the last slot. Sawyer gets a little miffed when he hears Kate has been casting doubt on the wisdom of allowing Sawyer to hitch a ride. He confronts her and lets her know that he's aware of her fugitive status. If she knows what's good for her, she will back off.

Later, Michael is sidelined from raft construction when he develops some severe stomach troubles. Jack checks him out and discovers that someone has deliberately poisoned his water. Because of the bickering that's been going on between them, Michael assumes that Sawyer did it. He kicks him off the raft prompting Sawyer to reveal what he knows about Kate to the group. Even Jack can't say for sure whether Kate would stoop to poisoning someone to get what she wants. Hell, she has already drugged him. Kate is temporarily shunned by the group, and Sawyer is given his spot back. It turns out Sun was the culprit in the poisoning game this time. Her intention was to keep Jin from leaving. She fears for his safety, and wanted him to be just sick enough to have to stay behind. But it was Kate's idea. She had a horse in this race, so it wasn't just sisters gotta stick together crap whatever Sun might think.

Even more important than all the raft drama, is the Hatch drama. Sayid demanded that Locke take him to the Hatch. Lies were no longer acceptable. Sayid then went to Jack, wanting his support in the Don't Open It campaign. Jack is furious that Locke neglected to tell anyone what he was digging up for the past three weeks, but Locke reminds Jack that there are things he didn't share with the group either. They both used their "best discretion". The conflict with these two goes deeper than any hatch, in any jungle, in any world! Though Jack is pissed, he does agree that they should open it to see what's inside that they can use. It could function as a shelter if nothing else. Sayid observantly notes that there is no handle which would seem to indicate that it is not meant to be opened. There are plenty of horrific things that could be inside. Like men who refer to everyone as "Brutha".

In other Island developments:

• Dr. Arzt makes his first appearance as the group's perpetual Debbie Downer and tells Michael that to avoid shifting trade winds which would send the raft to Antarctica he needs to launch his raft yesterday. WTF! Where was Arzt yesterday????


• Walt tells Locke not to open that thing. If Walt is psychic, shouldn't he know that trying to reason with Locke is a waste of time?


• Walt confesses to burning the first raft, and Michael is surprisingly understanding. Let me get this straight. Arson, no biggie. Reading a Spanish comic book, major discipline needed.

LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x21 - THE GREATER GOOD

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by The Big Book of Baby Names. You'll want a name for your kid ASAP, or people will start calling him any name they want. Like Turnip Head.

Sayid is in the awkward position of crushing on the girl who has just lost her brother (lover) in a tragic turn of events. He offers solace and comfort to an unresponsive Shannon. There isn't much he can do, but he does give a touching eulogy at Boone's graveside. Only to have the mood ruined by John Locke who finally decides to show his face. Seriously dude, you could have at least changed your bloody shirt. That is disturbing in the extreme. Jack, who has been running himself ragged first in his attempt to save Boone, then in his search for Locke, is not satisfied with Locke's explanation of what happened to Boone in the jungle. Locke is at least indirectly responsible for Boone's death because he lied to Jack about the cause of the injuries which affected the course of treatment. But, Jack suspects he might be more directly responsible because of Boone's last statements about John keeping secrets and a mysterious hatch. This is plenty of reason for Jack to wail on him at the graveside service.

After the melee breaks up, Locke apologizes to Shannon for any part he might have played in Boone's death. Shannon is all "Thanks, but I think I will have my boyfriend kill you anyway." Sayid does not trust Locke and asks to be taken to the beech craft under the pretext of gathering electronic equipment for the raft. Along the way he asks plenty of questions and is convinced that though John confessed to being the saboteur of the triangulation project and is being dodgy about the Hatch, that Boone's death was an indeed an accident. Shannon takes matters into her own hands by stealing the key to the gun case and cornering Locke in the jungle. Under a steady downpour of rain, she aims at him with every intention of killing him. All I could think of was how Shannon herself will be shot in a downpour. Jack, Kate and Sayid have no luck in talking her down. She pulls the trigger and would have met her mark if Sayid had not pushed her to the ground. Sayid is in the doghouse with Shannon, but he thinks that Locke might be their best hope of survival. He could not allow Shannon to kill him. What he did was in service of the Greater Good.

This was not his first time sacrificing a personal relationship to ensure the safety of the population at large. The CIA used their knowledge of the whereabouts of Nadia as motivation to recruit him to infiltrate a terrorist cell in Sydney that had enlisted his old college roommate. This friend had been tapped to perform a suicide bombing, and in order to get the required information, Sayid had to convince him to go through with it. In the end Sayid confessed to him in the minute before they were to go through with the plot, giving him an opportunity to escape. Instead, his friend killed himself. Taking care of funeral arrangements put Sayid on a later flight which turned out to be Flight 815.

In other Island developments:

• Jack is refusing all attempts to get him to eat and rest. So, Kate goes to her playbook and drugs him. She did it to her husband Kevin, and she suggested it to Sun as a way of keeping Jin from leaving on the raft. So, if you are on a date and someone offers you the Kate Special....just say no!


• Claire is as stubborn as her brother in her refusal to sleep when she is clearly in need of it. Good thing Kate was distracted with Jack. Drugging a new mother would be frowned upon.


• Walt is worried about sharks attacking the raft. Silly boy! That ridiculous! It's only abductions and explosives you need to worry about on open water. Oh yeah, and Dharma sharks, just kidding.


• Charlie begins his bonding with Turnip Head, but can't get him to stop fussing. Only Sawyer's sweet southern accent can lull the child into serenity. Can't believe Hurley's melodic screaming didn't work!

LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x20 - DO NO HARM

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by The Hangover on blu ray. Because your fiance's best man could do a lot worse than drinking at the rehearsal dinner!

Do no harm seems to refer to the Hippocratic Oath that is near and dear to the hearts of doctors. And especially one, Jack Shephard. He is fully committed to that oath, and if there is one thing Jack is good at, it's commitment. In the flashback to his wedding, he is struggling at the last minute to write vows and gets some advice from his dad. He fears that he might only be marrying Sarah because he was her surgeon that gave her a near miraculous recovery. Otherwise wouldn't the vows come naturally. And he worries about living up to expectations in the future. Christian eases his sons fears about being a good husband and father, and as a surgon he cannot be expected to write vows with ease. That's not his gift. He could use some work in the letting go department as far as his father can tell. That is his real weakness. For Lost, this is as good a moment with a parent that any character is gonna get! Jack's vows to Sarah are given off the cuff, but they are full of honest sentiment that moves everyone in attendance. I am sure this marriage is going to go the distance....of approximately 3 years.

On the island, Jack's commitment is being tested in his treatment of Boone. His injuries are not only extensive, they are severe. Treatment is given based on the information Locke gave before he disappeared. Believing Boone fell off a cliff, Jack sets his leg after taking care of his collapsed lung. The next challenge is a blood transfusion with someone whose blood type is a match to Boone's. Since no match is found, Jack, as a universal donor type, steps up and gives his own blood. Jack is determined to succeed in fixing Boone because he has made a promise to do so.

Sun fills in as scrub nurse while Kate goes to get the rest of Sawyer's alcohol stash. No, she is not looking to play another round of "I never". Jack needs it for sterilization purposes. On her way back to the OR, aka the caves, she runs across Claire who is very much in labor. Unable to leave her alone she enlists Jin to go fetch Jack. Since Jack is currently occupied, he sends Jin and Charlie back to Kate with Birthing 101 cliff notes. Claire is obviously very distraught at the prospect of giving birth in a jungle, but she is also scared about how to bond with a child she didn't want in the first place. Kate gives a nice pep talk reassuring her that she isn't alone in this. "This baby belongs to all of us. Maybe a little more to you, but mostly to me. Have my baby already, and then stay away from my son!!!!" It is ironic to hear Kate take a little ownership of Aaron at his birth when she takes full custody of him off island. And somewhere in those overgrown bushes Sawyer is looking on from the future...or past...or something.

As Claire gives birth to a healthy son, Sun does her best to convince Jack that amputation of Boone's leg would not save his life. It would only increase his suffering. He is too far gone, and Jack cannot save him. To which Jack utters Locke's famous line, "Don't tell me what I can't do!" Boone stops him from this unnecessary, drastic measure at the last minute. He knows he is dying. He also knows that Jack tried his best. He lets Jack off the hook. Before he dies, Boone tells Jack that he fell from a plane in the jungle. Locke wanted everything kept secret because of the Hatch.

So, life and death collide as the camp is introduced to baby Aaron while Jack tells Shannon that her brother lover is dead. Angry at the senseless death that might have been avoided if his treatment of Boone had been based on actual facts instead of Locke's lies, Jack is going to go find John Locke.

In other Island developments:

• Sayid takes Shannon on a romantical picnic where Shannon confesses that Boone isn't her blood relation, but he is in love with her. While you're making confessions Shann, maybe you should mention how you seduced him a month ago!!! Gees.

LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x19 - DEUS EX MACHINA

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by Lens Crafters. We promise we won't make you look like a steamrolled Harry Potter.

The episode opens with Locke, the toy store employee, explaining the game of Mousetrap to a child in a flashback. Obviously this is foreshadowing of Locke's coming troubles with his father as well as his ultimate end. But it has to be considered that all the castaways, not just Locke, are mice in a giant island mousetrap. All the pieces that represent the significant moments of their lives have been moved into place leading them to the Island where two cosmic-type figures have been using them for their own ends.

John's daddy issues kick into high gear when he encounters his mother, Emily Locke, at the toy store, and she tells him he was immaculately conceived. Um. Yeah. This peaks Locke's curiosity about his father, so he conducts a search and finds Anthony Cooper. A well-to-do Mr. Cooper welcomes John into his life and bonds with him over some manly hunting. Knowing what we do, Locke would be better off hunting with Dick Cheney! Because Anthony Cooper is a con-man that has failing kidneys. Locke, being a close blood relative, would be the perfect donor. So everything that seems spontaneous and natural to John has been orchestrated by a selfish father who has no interest in being a dad but every interest in avoiding death. After the surgery, Emily confesses the scam to John. A stunned Locke is denied entry at his father's home, solidifying the fact that he has been used in the worst way by someone who should have had his best interest at heart.

On the island, Locke's struggles are centered around the Hatch. He and Boone have tried various ways of opening it to no avail. The deus ex machina comes to him in the form of a dream where he sees Eko's brother's beech craft crash. Some rather jarring images of his mother pointing towards the crash site as well as a bloody Boone chanting "Teresa falls up the stairs, Teresa falls down the stairs" do not frighten Locke as much as the sight of him back in his wheelchair. When he wakes up, his new mission is to find that crash site. Boone follows along despite reservations.

Sawyer's got some problems of his own. His pounding headaches are making him a real treat to be around. Kate takes him to Jack for an exam. Jack makes the most of the situation by asking intensely personal questions about Sawyer's sexual history. Prostitutes, check. STD, check. Any recent outbreaks? That ought to keep the ladies, specifically Kate, off his junk. Nice try Jack! After Jack has his fun, he tells Sawyer that he is simply far sighted and needs glasses. But if he wants to continues his Island Book It program he is going to have to sacrifice some fashion points.

Locke and Boone discover some artifacts and a body from the plane which points them towards the beech craft hanging in the canopy. At this point John has lost the feeling in his legs, and he knows he is being tested. If he fails, the healing gift of the use of his legs will be taken away permanently. Manipulating Locke is so easy. He will avoid being crippled and all the helplessness that is associated with that at all costs. He doesn't know why, but he trusts his vision that the plane is important. And he elects Boone to check it out since he is indisposed at the moment.

Boone reaches the cockpit of the precariously positioned plane and finds the smuggled drugs. When the plane shifts, Locke tells Boone to get out. Besides the fact that there is no discernible need for anything on a heroine smugglers plane, the situation is becoming increasingly more dangerous. Boone spots some communication equipment and decides to give it a try. He announces a mayday into the static and gets a reply from Bernard on the other side of the Island. Unfortunately before either man can make the connection, the plane plummets to the ground crushing Boone in the process. Locke carries him to Jack explaining that he fell from a cliff.

In the confusion that follows, Locke slips away to the Hatch. Pounding on the Hatch in despair, he is inconsolable. He did what the Island wanted, so why was this happening? Inside the Hatch, an equally despondent Desmond hears a commotion from above and turns on a light that illuminates Locke from below giving them both the faith to carry on. Still gives me the chills to watch it.

In other Island developments:

• According to the timeline of when they crashed and the number of days stranded thus far, it's Halloween on Craphole Island! Sawyer is clearly going as Harry Potter. Claire just barely gets to be a pregnant nun. Locke was going to be Mr. Clean, but someone got blood all over his shirt. The nerve!
  
  
  
  

LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x18 - NUMBERS

This episode of Lost brought to you by everyone's favorite game, Connect 4....8 15 16 23 42



In order to contact nearby ships when he takes the raft out in the open sea, Michael would really like an electronic signalling device. Even if Sayid could configure something, there would be nothing to power it however. Sayid told them that Danielle Rousseau had batteries, but he refuses to tell anyone how to find her. She won't give them what they want, and he is not sure he even knows where to look for her. The only thing he can discern from her maps is that she resides in a place called Dark Territory. The Re-Max agent is probably going to recommend renaming that neighborhood, and I bet the bunker's curbside appeal leaves something to be desired too!

All thoughts of the battery become secondary for Hurley when he sees Rousseau's papers with the following numbers repeating down the page: 4 8 15 16 23 42 I would like to take this moment to thank Lost for bringing paranoia into my everyday life. After viewing this episode if I see the numbers in certain situations I can easily get creeped out. If my new shoes cost $48.15, I will wonder if buying them might lead to breaking my leg at some future date. And I am really attentive to flight numbers as well. This is not an isolated fear that I alone have. My brother once got a chill when his lunch total came to $8.15.


These numbers are significant to Hurley because they are the numbers he used to win the mega lottery. After his big win, terrible things happened around him that he attributed to the lottery win. There is an urban legend about lottery winners being cursed by their new found wealth. In Hurley's case, his grandpa died, a priest was struck by lightening at the funeral, his brother's wife left him for a waitress, the new house he bought his mother caught on fire, his mother broke her ankle and Hurley was falsely arrested for being a drug dealer. (He will be pursued by the police again once he gets off the island with the new charge being murder. Another false accusation. Come on LAPD!!) He goes back to the loony bin where he once resided to talk to a patient named Leonard. Leonard repeats the numbers continuously which is how Hurley came to hear of them. Leonard flips out when Hurley tells him he used the numbers to win the lottery. He screams that a box is open and won't be stopped. He tells Hurley that a man named Sam Toomey in Australia knows about the numbers. Hurley finds Sam's house in the middle of nowhere...literally. Blimey! His widow tells Hurley all about Sam and Leonard working for the U.S. Navy, listening to transmissions over the Pacific. They heard the numbers repeated one night, and Sam used them to win a bean counting contest at the fair. When bad things started happening he believed the numbers had cursed him. When he couldn't take it anymore, he shot himself. Mrs. Toomey does not buy into the curse, and represents the other philosophy that you make your own luck. Choice over destiny.

Since the numbers have ultimately brought Hurley to the Island, he will stop at nothing to talk to Rousseau himself about what the numbers mean. He steals the map from Sayid and takes off to find her. When Jack, Charlie and Sayid figure out what he's done they set off after him. They find him standing on one of Rousseau's traps, but thanks to his "spryness" he is able to avoid being wounded. They all reach a consensus to find Danielle together, but are soon separated when Hurley and Charlie cross over a ravine on a rickety bridge that falls apart leaving Sayid and Jack stranded on the other side. As Jack and Sayid attempt to make their way over to Hurley and Charlie they come across Danielle's bunker. KABLAAM! And it blows up. Well, that is one less step for the Extreme Home Makeover crew anyway. She knew Sayid would come back with his friends, so she booby trapped it and moved away. Charlie finds them sifting through the rubble. He had lost Hurley as they ran from a hail of bullets that Sayid rightly assumes came from Rousseau.

Hurley did not have a chance of outrunning Rousseau, but she is disarmed by him when he gives vent to his frustration over needing the answers as to the meaning of the numbers. He is willing to go along with a lot of island weirdness including a monster that might or might not be a pissed off giraffe, but the numbers have turned his world upside down. She tells him that her shipmates heard the numbers being transmitted and altered their course to investigate. The ship ran aground stranding them on the Island. They found the radio tower near the Black Rock where the signal was broadcast, but the sickness and eventual death of her group bumped solving the numbers mystery down the priority list. Instead she recorded the distress call that now plays on a loop. But seeing as how the numbers brought her to the Island, and she has subsequently lost everything she holds dear, she readily admits they are cursed. Overcome with relief at finally having someone take his side and not think of him as crazy he smothers Danielle in a bear hug. He also succeeds in securing a battery from her.


In other Island developments:

• Happy Birthday Claire! Enjoy your day with the island DIYer who will show you how to make a crib using upcycled milk jugs and double sided tape


• Charlie is really competing with Sawyer in the a-hole department when it comes to Hurley fat jokes

LOST AGAIN: EPISODE 1x17 - ...IN TRANSLATION

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by Rosetta Stone...language learning for individuals who might want to avoid false accusations with foreigners.

Flashbacks reveal life in Korea from Jin's perspective in this episode. He tells Sun's father that he is willing to do anything if it means he can marry her. Mr. Paik requests that he give up his dream of owning a hotel and come to work for him instead. Jin accepts gladly because Sun is the dream he wants realized above all others. He quickly realizes that working for Paik Industries is much more involved than just spending long hours at the office. His father in law soon has Jin making a house call to an influential public official who has displeased him. When this visit did not produce the desired results, Mr. Paik sends an assassin with Jin the next time to really hammer home the message. Ironically, through the use of extreme violence, Jin is able to save the official's life. To savagely beat a man in front of his wife and child sends a pretty strong message that eliminates the need for murder. This is the explanation for the blood Jin washes from his hands at home. Sun becomes aware of the brutal nature of Jin's work for her father at this moment, but she doesn't realize all he has had to endure for her sake. He has even denied his heritage by claiming that his father is dead. His humble origins, being a fisherman's son, embarrass him, so it is easier to avoid any interactions between the Paik family and his own. For all the sacrifices that Jin has made, he receives nothing but scorn and contempt from Sun, though her own father is the real villain.

The other survivors are uncomfortable watching from a distance when Jin goes off on Sun for wearing a "scandalous" two piece bathing suit. Don't ever go to Miami, Jin! Michael decides to intervene on Sun's behalf since he's got a little crush on her. She slaps him for his trouble. She later explains that she did it for his benefit. Jin is not someone to be trifled with, and if she had not rebuked him, then Jin would have beat him again. Michael makes a decision to stay out of whatever marital problems exist between these two; Sun is on her own.

Michael has other things to occupy his time anyway. He has been busy building a raft that will take 4 castaways, including Michael and Walt, off the Island. Jack asks who else has reserved a spot and is annoyed to discover that Sawyer bought his way on with building material he'd been hoarding. All of Michael's hard work goes up in flames when the raft is burned by a saboteur. Everyone immediately suspects Jin, and Michael and Sawyer are eager to exact revenge. Jack and Kate try to cool them all down, and make the point that there is no way to know for sure that Jin was the arsonist. Sawyer does not dwell on this point, but instead goes to apprehend Jin on his own. He brings him back to the beach where Jack tries to broker some sort of a peace. He is told to butt out, and the rest of the camp stands by and watches as Michael lets his anger propel him to beat Jin's face in. Reaching a breaking point, Sun intercedes for her husband and explains, in English, that he is innocent. Shock registers on everyone's face, including Jin's. There is some doubt over whether she can be trusted since she has been pretending since day one that she can't communicate with anyone.

Locke pours some cold water on the hot tempers by reminding them all that there are other people on the Island that haven't been too friendly in general. It doesn't make sense to suspect someone who would benefit from the raft's success. Locke suggests that it was one of "them". Considering the kidnapping and murder that Ethan was responsible for, arson seems like a misdemeanor that the "others" wouldn't have a problem committing. With Jin no longer seeming like the obvious culprit, he is off the hook. But Sun is on the hot seat with him now.

Jin is most unhappy that he had to learn about her bilingual abilities in this way. She has betrayed him and made a fool of him in front of everyone. They were having problems back in Korea, and he had made a decision, with some encouragement from his father, to start a new life with her in hopes of getting back on track. That meant leaving the employment of her father after the delivery of some watches to Australia and moving away where Paik could not influence their lives anymore. The Island represents their chance to accomplish this, and it is what they both want. Sun is contrite about her deception, and begs for a chance to start over and go back to the way things were for them in the beginning. But Jin turns his back and chooses to separate himself from her saying, "it is too late." She celebrates being a bachelorette again by wearing that bikini and staring defiantly out at the ocean.

Starting over isn't working for Jin and Sun, but Michael is determined to start re-building the raft. He uses the situation as a teachable moment for Walt, and despite the setback, he pushes ahead with his attempt to get off the Island. Jin joins his effort, and thus the fourth spot on the raft is taken. What Michael doesn't know, that Locke does, is that Walt was the one who burnt the raft. Someone neglected to give him the don't play with matches talk. Guess he'll be learning about the birds and bees from HBO.

In other Island developments:

• Sayid gives Boone a heads up on his blossoming romance with Shannon. Boone gives him an embittered warning about Shannon using men to get what she wants then dumping them. The real warning should be: don't mess with girls who mess with their step-brothers. Ew.


• A news story on Hurley winning the lottery can be seen on the Korean official's tv when Jin goes to give him a warning. Must have been a slow news day.
  

LOST AGAIN: EPISODE 1x16 - OUTLAWS

This episode of Lost brought to you by Ducket's neighborhood shrimp truck. Shrimp so hot it'll make you wanna slap yo mama....or avenge her death.

The episode opens with a young Sawyer witnessing the death of his parents. As he hides under the bed, his father shoots his mother then shoots himself. There are a couple things I am thinking at this point. First of all, we know that Jacob will be paying young Sawyer a visit in the very near future at his parents' funeral. At the same time, on an Island far away, adult Sawyer is happy and content with Juliet and has opted not to try to prevent his childhood trauma from happening. But the other thought going through my mind is how easily little James Ford could have turned into a Dexter Morgan with trauma like that. Lucky for him he only became a con man named Sawyer rather than a serial killer with a conscience. He does have the desire for revenge on the man that was responsible for seducing his mother and stealing the family's savings though.

When one of his old scam artist associates informs him that he has located the man responsible for all of Sawyer's family angst, he hops a plane for Sydney to settle the score. Finding the man working a shrimp truck, he finds it difficult to actually go through with killing him. So he heads to a bar for either liquid comfort or liquid courage. It is there that he runs into a miserable Christian Shephard who is on quite a binge. Christian shares the story of his recent falling out with his son and his belief that some men are fated to suffer. Just like the Red Sox will never win the series. (Back in the good old days anyway!) It is his way of shirking his responsibility in fixing the situation. He encourages Sawyer to do whatever he has to in order to avoid being in the same frustrating situation. After this uplifting pep talk, Sawyer works up the nerve to gun down the man he believes to be the original Sawyer. He quickly discovers that he was mistaken. His old associate had used Sawyer's intense need for vengeance to carry out his own dirty work. Whoopsie. With the dying man's last breath he utters the phrase, "It'll come back around."

This phrase comes back to haunt Sawyer in the jungle as he chases the boar that has invaded his tent and carried off his tarp. Sawyer is very disturbed by the whispers, but the fact that they are saying this particular phrase carries a horror of its own for him. After getting attacked from behind by the boar, he makes it his mission to track and kill the pig. Since this is an Island trek, of course Kate feels the need to insert herself. She offers up her tracking skills in exchange for the privilege of being able to get anything she wants from his stash at any time. She's got her eye on the gun Sawyer refused to give back to Jack after their Ethan escapade.

During the course of their search for Pumba, Sawyer becomes more convinced of the idea that the boar has singled him out to punish him. Locke adds some fuel to this fire by sharing an experience from his childhood. After his sister died in an accident, a dog showed up and his foster mother took it as a sign of comfort and reassurance from her deceased child. She acutally believed the dog was her daughter. When Sawyer finally has the opportunity to shoot the boar he's been hunting, his guilt prevails, and he decides not to. If there is even a chance that this boar is a reincarnation of the man he killed in Australia, he refuses to kill again. He doesn't need any more bad karma.

Meanwhile Charlie is struggling in the aftermath of shooting Ethan in the chest four times. Hurley asks Sayid to help Charlie since Sayid has some knowledge of post traumatic stress disorder. Sayid reaches out to Charlie by sharing the issues he experienced after executing a criminal. Taking a life, no matter how necessary, comes with baggage, and the best solution is to lean on friends rather than seek isolation.

Fulfilling his bargain with Kate, Sawyer goes to give Jack the last of the Marshal's guns. He finds Jack chopping wood and can't resist flaunting his deal with Kate. This leads Jack to utter his dad's favorite saying about the Red Sox. Sawyer realizes that Christian is Jack's father, but he does not share the information with Jack. Not yet. This scene is mirrored in the Season 1 finale in which Jack finds Sawyer chopping wood and gives him a gun to take on the raft. Sawyer tells Jack about his run in with Christian at this point in a very touching scene. So many daddy issues so little time.

In other Island developments:

• Charlie and Hurley bury Ethan. Of all the corpses on the Island, he would be the best zombie!



• Sayid should consider giving seminars to the islanders entitled PTSD: Killing Someone Will Haunt You Even if the Zombie Never Does. There are lots of survivors that could attend!



• Kate and Sawyer play a flirty game of Never Have I Ever. Never have I ever had an airplane bottle that has enough alcohol in it to last for an entire game of Never Have I Ever. Drink up you two.

LOST AGAIN: EPISODE 1x15 - HOMECOMING

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by the Heatherton C815 Copy Center. Anywhere. Anytime.

Locke and Boone have found Claire wandering in the jungle and bring her back to the caves for Jack to examine her. It becomes obvious that she is suffering from amnesia when she has a panicked reaction to all the people around her that had once been her friends. Jack explains the situation and reassures her that she and her baby are going to be fine. Naturally Charlie is relieved to see her alive and well, and he rarely leaves her side. When she asks for some insight into what had happened to them, who Ethan is and so forth, Charlie over-simplifies the situation by merely telling her that Ethan is the bad guy. He doesn't want to upset her with all the details of the harrowing ordeal. But in a way, for Charlie, it is that simple. Ethan is the bad guy. The man abducted Claire. He doesn't need any more information than that.

This belief receives some major reinforcement when Ethan attacks Charlie and Jin as they made their way through the jungle. He takes Jin out with a slingshot then lifts Charlie off the ground by the neck. With a menacing snarl he tells Charlie that if Claire is not brought to him then he will kill one person for every day that she is kept from him. There is not an inkling of doubt that he means what he says. Ethan really sucks! Thanks a lot for helping to birth him Juliet. It is puzzling to me why Ethan has scratch marks on his face. Claire did not scratch him; she scratched Rousseau. If I remember correctly, Alex told Claire to escape, so she never had to have a confrontation with Ethan. She just snuck away. Maybe Ben was so mad that Claire got away that he scratched Ethan's face in a fit of anger!

Charlie reports the altercation with Ethan, leading Jack and Locke to disagree on the proper course of action. Jack wants to go on the offensive, but Locke prefers a more thoughtful approach. It's best to avoid panic, so Locke wants to keep the information to a select few and set up a defensive perimeter around the camp as a measure of protection. They have no way of knowing if Ethan acted alone, so going after him puts them at a disadvantage. Jack sees the logic in this, but is uneasy with the thought that they have to sit around and wait for something to happen. (Which is exactly what he does when he returns to the Island in Season 5.) Kate suggests that it might be time to use the Marshal's guns, but Jack is even more resistant to the thought of putting guns in the hands of novices. So a sleepy Boone keeps watch overnight in addition to all the traps surrounding the camp. Too bad he can't keep his eyes open. Not that it matters since Ethan came into camp from the water and killed Scott in a gruesome and cruel manner.

Time to break out the big guns now! Jack hands out the Marshal's 9s to the men who are experienced shooters. Using Claire as bait, they plan to capture Ethan and get some answers out of him. Kate manages to weasel her way into the club when Sawyer gives her the gun he took off the Marshal in the pilot episode. Jack isn't thrilled with Sawyer intervening on Kate's behalf. He probably would have preferred to have her safely removed from the situation, but Sawyer seems to have enough confidence in Kate's ability to be able to handle it. Too bad no one shared that confidence in Charlie. He was denied a spot on the Ethan Hunt (pardon the cousin Tom Cruise pun).

This is especially offensive to Charlie because the whole episode highlights his struggle to embrace responsibility. He needs to prove that he can take care of someone. His flashback shows his heroin addiction leading him to con a rich man's daughter, Lucy. Finding himself genuinely liking her, he tries to hold down a stable job working for her father selling copiers. This is his attempt to leave his former life behind and become a potential provider for someone. His withdrawal symptoms interfere with his success, and he gets caught stealing a valuable antique from her. He tries to make amends, but she tells him he will never be able to take care of anyone. On the island, he is out to prove Lucy wrong.

With Ethan in pursuit of Claire, the others corner and subdue him. No one notices that Charlie is there. He picks up a gun that got kicked away in the scuffle and repeatedly shoots Ethan in the chest. Charlie believes the only real way of protecting Claire is to kill Ethan. Everyone is distressed that the chance to get information from Ethan is not possible anymore, but Charlie has no interest in anything but the absolute safety of Claire. Back at the caves, Claire approaches Charlie and lets him know her memory is coming back. She remembers peanut butter. AWWW.

In other Island developments:

• Steve needs a nametag because even Scott's death is not settling the confusion on who is who!
• Okay it didn't happen on the Island, but how awesome is it that Lucy's dad was going to buy a paper company in Slough! The Office fans getting some love.

LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x14 - SPECIAL

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by the Dear Diary Corporation. Put pen to paper and let it flow. Lock and key sold separately.

Walt is gone and Michael is trying to find him. This is an ongoing theme for these two. It starts when Michael and Walt's mother, Susan, split up, and she takes him to Amsterdam to live when he is just an infant. Michael always wanted to be a part of Walt's life, but Susan wanted to start a new life with her fiancee overseas effectively cutting Michael out of Walt's life. Because she had a well paying job whereas Michael was always struggling, she believed Walt would have a better life with her. Her boyfriend, Brian, could serve as a father figure in Michael's place. Upon her death, Walt's stepdad begs Michael to take Walt back. He never wanted to be a father in the first place, but it was what was required in order to marry Susan. Brian also seems to feel uncomfortable around Walt because of his special abilities. Strange things happen when he is around almost like he conjures things into being. Michael has been shut out for years, but now all of a sudden he has sole custody of a child that is a virtual stranger. This is the situation they find themselves in when they board Oceanic 815.

Michael finds Walt throwing knives with Locke, and he snaps. Locke doesn't see the harm in it because Walt is a mature and special kid. He shouldn't be talked down to. Michael isn't interested in parenting tips and forbids him from contact with his son. This incident serves as extra motivation for Michael to find a way off the island. He comes up with the idea to construct a raft, and has Walt help him salvage any scrap materials that might be useful from the wreckage. "This is us taking control of our destiny," he explains to Walt. And what a destiny they have ahead of them. It might end up alright for Walt in the end, but Michael becomes a tragic figure before he is blown to smithereens saving the friends he betrayed. And there is some question of whether destiny can be controlled or merely fulfilled.

While Michael is going through wreckage, Charlie is going through Claire's bags in search of her diary. Not being able to find it, Kate suggests to him that he check with the Island Hoarder. Sawyer's admits to having it, and cannot resist mocking Charlie by inferring that Claire wrote unflattering things about him. There are some punches thrown, but despite Sawyer's act, Kate knows he hasn't read the journal. He just wants people to believe he is worse than he really is. Once Charlie has the diary, he fights an overwhelming desire to read it. He gives in to temptation, and learns that Claire had been dreaming about the Black Rock. He is also pleased to see that Claire wrote about how much she liked and felt safe with him.

When Walt approaches Locke, Locke tells him that out of respect for his father's wishes they should not spend time together. Michael happens to appear at just this moment and misinterprets the situation believing Locke has disregarded his wishes. He yells at Locke, and throws Walt's polar bear comic in the fire as punishment while demanding obedience and respect. Resenting the authority of a man he thinks never cared about him, Walt runs off with Vincent yet again, and gets himself cornered by a polar bear. Locke go off in search of him, and together they hoist him out of the polar bear's reach. Maybe they should get a leash for Walt and forget about restraining the dog! After this harrowing experience, Michael and Walt bond over the letters that Michael had been consistently sending to Walt throughout his life. Susan had kept them but never given them to Walt. Michael retrieved them when he picked up Walt in Sydney, and this was proof for Walt that he had never wanted to be absent from his life.

Locke and Boone go out in the woods with the dog whistle in hopes of finding Vincent for Walt. There is some rustling, and out of the jungle stumbles a disoriented Claire.

In other island developments:

• Walt seems to be able to make the animals he reads about materialize. Don't think I want to be sitting next to him when it's time for his class to read Moby Dick.


• Shannon's major problem with the raft idea is that she gets seasick. Jack's look says it all!

LOST AGAIN: SEASON 1x13 - HEARTS AND MINDS

This episode of Lost Again brought to you by True North Compasses. Cause we can't all be Webelos.



Boone and Locke have been hiking out into the jungle early every day and coming back to camp late every night. When it started, they claimed to be looking for Claire, but their cover story now is that they are hunting for boar. In reality, they are digging up the hatch in secret. How did Desmond not hear them pounding around up there? Did he have Mama Cass turned up too loud or what? The others have noticed that they never come back with boar, and Shannon is giving Boone some grief for it. Boone wants to at least tell Shannon what they've been doing. Locke wonders why Boone cares so much about what Shannon thinks. He would rather keep it under wraps, and he will go to drastic lengths to keep it that way. When Boone persists in his need to tell Shannon, Locke gives him a nice knot on the back of his head.

When Boone comes to, he is tied to a log. Locke tells Boone that this is an exercise in letting go. And you thought yoga was bad! Locke uses the old parental cliche, this is for your own good and you'll thank me later. He slathers a nice homemade hallucinogenic paste onto Boone's open head wound, tells him the directions back to camp, and leaves a knife a few feet from him. When Boone has the proper motivation, he'll be able to get out of the predicament he's in.


Boone's motivation is clearly Shannon. Flashing back, he flies to Australia when she beckons him. She has invented a scenario involving her current boyfriend that leads Boone to believe she is being abused. He buys the boyfriend off with $50,000, but realizes later that he got scammed. Boone's mother won't give Shannon the money she is owed from her father's death, so Shannon has to con it out of Boone who is her step-brother. This time Shannon got played too because the boyfriend took the money and ran. An inebriated Shannon comes to Boone at his Sydney hotel and says she knew he would come for her since he's always been in love with her. Either out of gratitude or drunkenness she sleeps with him, but quickly decides that things should just go back to the way they were. If you look beyond how kind of icky this is, it does suck for Boone to be in love with someone that can play him like a toy. He has no control in this relationship.

While Boone is tied up and on his own, Locke runs into Sayid on his way back to camp. He is pouring over Rousseau's maps. He has rigged up a MacGyver like compass to assist in his project. Locke gives him the actual compass he has been using since he does not need it anymore. Is this the compass that has passed back and forth between he and Richard so much this past season? Sayid later notices with Jack that it doesn't point North. Not even close. Electromagnetic anomalies would explain a variance in degrees, but nothing as significant as what this compass displays. If only they knew how significant this really was! Can anyone say The Incident?


Whatever Locke put on Boone's head gave him the very vivid sensation of saving Shannon then watching the smoke monster kill her. (Great first look at Smokey.) Believing that Locke has caused the death of his "sister", he jumps him upon arrival back at camp. Locke explains that this experience was not real, but asks how he felt about Shannon's death. He felt relieved to be rid of something that had such a hold on him. Moral of hallucination: Time to let go. CC: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid. Locke the Leader tells Boone, "Follow me." And to the chords of chilling music, Boone does. This is very disconcerting to watch knowing as we do that this decision to follow Locke will lead to Boone's death. And it hammers home the whole last half of Season 5 when a "resurrected Locke" convinces the Others to follow him as well.


In other island developments:

• Charlie tells Jack he trusts Locke more than anyone else to save them all because he saved him from drug addiction. Charlie may want to get a new sponsor because his hero has taken to making wacky paste that will send you on a strange and scary trip!
• Jin and Hurley make comedy gold with kooky sea urchin mishaps, but that's the only thing that's golden since Jin refuses to pee on Hurley's wound to prevent gangrene. Hurley's name seems very appropriate in this episode with all the digestive issues.
• Though they've had some rocky patches recently, Jack and Kate sow the seeds of forgiveness with all their talk of passion fruit and guava.
• It is mentioned that Shannon was previously married, but we get no more information on the man. Poor bastard.
• Kate discovers Sun can speak English and is confounded as to why she keeps this from her husband. Sun asks Kate if she has ever lied to a man she loves. The question with the shorter answer is whether Kate has ever told a man she loves the truth.