Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Lost, Ep. 17: Catch 22
A brief glimpse at my evening:
8-9: put my toddler to bed (usually my husband does it on Wednesday nights so I can watch the Canadian feed of Lost, but he was out)
9: came downstairs, flipped on the PVR, hit Play, and it jumped 15 minutes into the episode, then came a warning: Some of the program may be missing due to signal loss… and then it jumped all the way to the end.
9:05-9:45: Sat on the phone with a Bell ExpressVu technician, who first suggested I climb onto my roof and check the cables, then suggested he could send out a technician for the low price of $75 to jiggle a couple of cables, then said maybe I should just jiggle a cable from the back of the receiver. Yay. Spent the time from 9:45 to 10 praying that the ABC feed would work.
10: Began watching Lost with the rest of you. :)
11: Started blogging and couldn’t load a photo. Technology is not cooperating with me today.

Tonight’s episode was Desmond-centric, set before the Penelope years, in 1995 (as we see from the date of the wine Des is bottling). We discover that he’s actually a practicing monk (a monk?!), that he left a woman at the altar a year earlier, and that his use of the word “Brothuh” stems from referring to his fellow brothers in the monastery that way.

Kate continues to use Sawyer kind of the way Buffy used Spike. It was sad and unfair then, and it’s sad and unfair now. It’s interesting seeing Kate’s face as she watches Jack and Juliet together – haven’t we seen that same look on Jack’s face when he sees her joking around with Sawyer, and on Sawyer’s when she’s joking around with Jack?

This episode had some great dialogue between the characters, and it was nice to FINALLY have everyone back on the beach. It contained the classic “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” conundrum (i.e. the catch-22) and thankfully Desmond finds it in himself to save a human life over finding his true love.
At the end of the episode, the pilot of the helicopter wasn’t Pen after all, which is almost as devastating for the viewer as it is for Desmond. The flashback didn’t add too much to his character, and just seemed to serve the present story, but the search for Pen was intriguing, full of great dialogue. This episode was co-written by a newcomer, Brian Vaughan. (Up til now, he’s been a story editor on the show.) It might take the prize for generating the least number of questions this season.

Highlights:
  • Hurley and Charlie arguing about who would win in a battle of Superman against the Flash.
  • Hurley: Keepin’ Desmond company…’cause…we’re friends.
  • Kate showing Sawyer where her eyes are.
  • Sawyer referring to the Others as perverts.
  • Sawyer asking if Kate needs him to make a mix tape. HAHAHAHAHA
  • Hurley: Everybody likes marshmallows.
  • The guys whistling as they walk along the beach.
  • Jin doing Korean ghost stories while Charlie plays weird music. Hilarious! (the scared look on Hurley’s face was even better…)
  • Sawyer asking Juliet and Jack if they’re arguing over who their favourite Other is
  • Hurley telling Desmond that he’s going to have a coronary, and Desmond saying, “Actually, you’re not.”
  • “The Best of Phil Collins”

Did You Notice?

  • Desmond was a failed monk, Eko was a fake priest, Charlie was a flawed altar boy, Jack thinks he’s God but can’t get his way… what’s next? Sawyer was the prison chaplain?
  • Hurley believes The Flash could best Superman; the comic that Walt was reading was a Spanish version of The Flash and Green Lantern
  • Hurley really seems to be picking up on Korean
  • The copy of Catch-22 was called Ardil-22, which is the same title in Portuguese (remember, the guys at the end of season 2 were speaking Portuguese)
  • The scene of the outside of Desmond’s church appears to be the same church that Charlie was confessing in at the beginning of “The Moth”
  • Now we know from 1994-1995 Des was in a monastery. Then he spent 3 years with Penelope, which would take us to 1998. He joined the army, didn’t last long, then went to prison, and was on the island in 2001.

Interesting Facts:
Some biblical scholars believe that Moriah is the name of the mountain where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac. Others believe it means land of the Amorites, a group of Semitic people. There has been some speculation that it is the mountain where Jesus was crucified. Also, at first, I thought Ruth was pronouncing Celtic incorrectly, and that a Scottish person would say Keltic. But turns out, the K sound, while now considered the more correct pronunciation, is only used for the general word “Celtic.” When referring to the basketball or football teams, “Seltic” is the only proper pronunciation.

Nitpicks:
Charlie’s walking through the jungle in a rainstorm with a guitar on his back? Way to protect the instrument, Charlie.

Any Questions?

  • The big “Catch-22” of this episode is that Desmond needs to find Pen, but to do so Charlie would die, which is what happens in his vision. What I don’t get is, in his vision Charlie is standing below the body of the pilot, holding the parachute. So doesn’t it stand to reason that Charlie MUST SURVIVE in order to be one of the ones to catch the pilot? Am I missing something?
  • Monks can get fired? I had no idea.
  • Who’s the woman at the end? (Anyone else think at first that it was the little kid Mohinder kept seeing flashes of on Heroes?)

Next week: Jin and Sun in D.O.C.

16 comments:

The Chapati Kid said...

Good episode, although not that great. I saw the end coming from a mile. I didn't expect it to be Penny at all. Especially when the Portuguese Catch-22 came out. If Penny's first language is English, and granted that she may know how to speak Portuguese, would she REALLY read a second language novel while undertaking a dangerous and highly stressful flight mission? I think most people would read in the language that required the minimum amount of effort to parse. Then is the fact that when the camera's staying WAY too long on a character whose face is obscured, you can bet that 10 times out of 10, that character is never going to be who you think they are going to be. Or not really dead, as in the case of our favourite Season 3 protagonists Nikki and Paolo. And FINALLY, Penny is such a rich woman. Does ANYONE think she's going to jump off a plane in full fighter pilot garb (I mean, who wears gear like that in a helicopter?) to land in a jungle when she can just lie in bed and direct it all. An adventuress she is not.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ping-pong game (in India we call it "table tennis") between Jack and Sawyer. It was a great dynamic, I thought.

Re: Charlie holding the parachute. Desmond didn't actually see Charlie holding the parachute in his dream. He just saw the parachute being held out. Plus, the order of images in his vision were jumbled ("a jigsaw puzzle") so he wouldn't have known what came after or before.

What's the story about the cable? They could at least have answered that... or have they, and I missed it? Was it supposed to run electricity somewhere? Or something?

The Chapati Kid said...

And I'm so sorry to hear about your cable troubles, Nikki! Maybe you should feed the Bell ExpressVu guy some trotters and make him wash it down with stuffed cow spleen.

Anonymous said...

the thing is, i knew charlie wasn't going to die (at least, in this episode), because i knew from the info about the upcoming episode flashbacks that one of them was his. bah.

jin doing the korean scary stories around the campfire was *classic*. i love that they're integrating him and giving him personality and a storyline and even friends despite the language barrier. :-)

have to agree with the chapati kid that penny would be very unlikely to parachute into the jungle herself; if she were really THAT hands-on, she would have been the one at ice station zebra instead of the two portuguese dudes at the end of last season! (and good catch on the portuguese catch-22 ... i cannot believe i never cottoned on to that!)

Anonymous said...

Brian K. Vaughan is a renowed comic book writer, perhaps best known for Runaways, Ex Machina, and Y: the Last Man.

Apropos there was a Superman/Flash comparison. Any comic book geek could tell you that Flash would win in a race, whetehr Superman was flying or not.

Btw, did anyone recognize the pilot? I thought it might be Nadia, but they flashed her so fast I couldn't tell for sure or not.

LoyallyLOST said...

WOW! Another GREAT episode! I thought for SURE that Charlie had 'bit the dust'! But, then I got to thinking it was probably just one of Desmond's 'visions'. I actually had my hands over my mouth about to scream naughty language at those infernal 'let's kill 'em off' writers! But, I almost couldn't watch when they really went out into the jungle & I knew what was a comin'! Whew! We saved the junkie for another week!
Did ya notice something? During the visit with the monk where Desmond was turning in his monkiform, that there was a photo on the head monks' desk of him & another woman??? Perhaps the monks' mommy?
You could only see it for a nano second but, I caught it! I think, but don't quote me because I COULD be wrong~the woman in the photo was the woman in Desmonds' hour long back story in the store when he was picking out an engagement ring for Pen.
Also, they said there were 324 passengers on board(last weeks episode was re-aired again right before tonites in my neck of the woods). I JUST now heard it said. I really like how they re-air episodes so I can look for things I may have~no~HAVE missed! Ok, 324. The number 24 is in there. Cool! They cease to amaze me with those numbers! They used another number tonite but I can't remember what it was.
I loved how Hurley jumped & screamed when Jin was telling his story! They are HOW old??? LOL! That was a cute moment! Shows the little boy in all of them.
I am so looking forward to next weeks episode! What makes us think that Jin OR the other guy~I can't think of his name, but, let's just call him Baldy~is the father? Hmmm...probably is one of them. But, nothing, NOTHING surprises me on this show! THAT is one thing that makes it great!
Have a great time getting LOST!
Aloha!
LoyallyLOST

Anonymous said...

Hurley, sarcasticly, after it starts to rain: Thanks for the heads up about bringing an umbrella dude....

lol!

Anonymous said...

You should be familiar with Brian K. Vaughn. Joss just took over from him on the Runaways comic, and he's doing the Faith arc in Buffy Season 8.

I squeed so loud.

Flash always beats Superman. I guess because running is his speciality. Only fair, since he can't fly or stop a bullet.

I loved this episode, not for the plot, but for the character interactions.

And, I reluctantly admit, I like Sawyer now. This may go beyond like, in fact. Darn his identification with Spike.

Does this make Jack Angel? Cause he has so much in his past to be broody about, what with the being a rich young doctor and saving people's lives. He did turn on his own father, cause it would have been better to let him keep on performing surgery drunk. Geez louise. Hm, maybe Juliet is Darla. And Hurley is, um, that rich nerd guy who worked with Angel Investigations. Okay, that's enough of that.

I kind of freaked out when I saw Fionnula Flanigan's photo on the head monk's desk, but then again anyone who watched Nicole Kidman's films could tell you she's one of The Others.

Anonymous said...

When I first saw the parachuter, I thought it was Alex. The resemblance is sort of there...

Jin + High voice of victim = Win. Me and my mom were rolling around laughing XD

Nikki Stafford said...

Wow, 9:30am and already 8 comments! You guys are so quick. :)

Chapatikid: You know, I'm kind of like young Hurley in that earlier flashback we saw of him in Tricia Tanaka Is Dead: Even though I know the car needs a carburator, I close my eyes and hope that maybe, just maybe, it'll turn over when I turn the key. So I know that common sense says there's no way in hell that Penny would be under that helmet, I SO wanted it to be. I mean, imagine the fun Juliet and Pen could have playing twins on the beach!!
Also, I watched the episode twice and paused it and did a very slow screen-by-screen capture, and Charlie is indeed in Desmond's dream. He's standing at the top of your screen, looking straight up so there's no doubt he's there. Hurley is to the left, and you can't see who's on the right (unless you have HDTV, I'm sure). So yes, Charlie IS in his flashback.
I think a couple of weeks ago, while Sawyer referred to it as a ping-pong table, Hurley actually did call it table tennis. Maybe he's got some Brit in him? ;)
The cable was first seen in season 1, episode 9, I think it was, when Sayid left the group after he'd tortured Sawyer. He was walking along the beach and found the cable. Rousseau had put it there to help her find her way back to her hut in the jungle. Sayid followed it, then a few episodes later, Hurley came along the beach determined to find Rousseau himself, and he picked it up then.
And good idea! Next time the ExpressVu guys come over, I'll serve him some trotters. With ketchup to dip them in. LOL!

Nikki Stafford said...

fb and Maddy: I agree, Jin telling that story was the highlight of the episode. Did you notice he was telling the old classic fireside ghost story of the guy with the hook for the hand? At least I think that's what it was (he pulled his hand out and had pulled his hand up into his shirt, which is usually how you end that story). Don't remember a bird in it, though...

Brian and Colleen: Damn, I KNEW I knew Vaughan from somewhere; thanks for the notes. Why don't Carlton and Damon just hire Joss; they've poached a lot of his writers anyway? God, could you imagine a Joss Whedon-penned ep of Lost? I don't think I could take it I'd be so excited...

Brian: I paused on the pilot several times and had no idea who she was. I thought Nadia at first, too, but it definitely wasn't her.

LoyallyLost and Colleen: WOW, I totally missed the Fionnula picture!! Thanks so much for pointing that out; I'll have to go back and find it.

Colleen: Ah, you've come over to the Sawyer side. :) Hmm... good point about Jack and Angel; I mean, Jack's always been a bit broody, and he's not quite as hot as Angel, but you may be right. Wow, does that make Juliet Cordelia??

Amsted: OMG, I forgot to post that line. And just reading it in your comment made me laugh out loud again! How much do I love Hurley? I loved how this episode had a serious theme, but was still one of the funniest of the season.

Nikki Stafford said...

And can I also mention: there's a photo there today! Last night when I posted my blog the photo wasn't showing up at all, so I figured this would be a pictureless entry. What a shame it would have been to have lost Desmond... ;)

Anonymous said...

I like Charlie as he reminds me of "Lord of the Rings" and how cute he was there (you have to admit, he is somewhat Hobbit-like!), but his redneck, blaming attitude is a major negative. Either way, Desmond would be a loser if he'd let him take the arrow to the neck, or if he'd saved him. What to do?

This reminds me of a horror story I read in elementary school in a book called "The Shadow and Other Strange Tales," I think it was called. A kid saves a limping man from being hit by a car, and is cursed to save him from a similar fate for the rest of his life. I don't remember what brought this on or anything or even if I have the book at my parents' house (I'll look for it though). Poor Desmond. Claire, I'm sorry, isn't much better, as she seems to be a blamer, too. In some respects, much of the Losties could easily make up a lynch mob.

For the "Carrie" connection of last week, it did seem that while Juliet was tying up her tent, there seemed to be a build up of sorts to when Carrie got the blood dumped on her (as in the anticipation to some kind of climax). The edited seemed to indicate a build up of some kind, including her tying the knot. In the book "Carrie," I think there was some kind of pulley, with Chris and Billy in a back room and the bucket was in the rafters or something. There was much more build up and climax than the movie. The USA version of Carrie, now on DVD, was closer to the book than the '76 film.

I'll look for that book. I don't remember what the premise was, but it was interesting and seems to relate to Charlie and Dez. Great site!
Glenn

Michelle Rowen said...

This is going to sound crazy... but I think that the parachuter is Walt's mom (who allegedly died of a rare blood disorder) Susan Lloyd. I only say this because I thought she looked a bit like Nessa from Las Vegas, and I happened to come across a pic of the actress who played Lloyd...and it's pretty close.

Whoever she is, she knew who Desmond is -- probably because she's seen his pic.

I totally need a screen cap.

Anonymous said...

Walt's mom is on Bones. She's the boss this season.

Michelle Rowen said...

Then never mind. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Strangely I thought the woman who parachuted out of the helicopter looked like Michael's ex-wife, which of course isn't possible because she's dead but it really looked like her to me.