(S03E12) In the words of Keanu Reeves, whoa. There was a ton of information to process in this episode. "Par Avion" featured at least three major shocks, all of which were pretty satisfying. Claire has had so few flashback episodes that I was not sure what to expect. This episode definitely helped me to understand (and like) Claire much more.
The Flashback
I was relieved to finally see a Claire-centric episode that did not revolve around her baby. The flashback scenes made her far more interesting in her own right than as the mother of a potentially evil child. We learned that a very goth Claire was responsible for a car accident that put her mother in a coma. A familiar face from "Two For The Road" also showed up: Lindsey, the woman Christian Shephard confronted about his daughter. It turns out that she's Aunt Lindsey, and Christian is actually Claire's father! I was spoiled on this part, but I still found the revelation exciting.
Christian, who had been anonymously paying Claire's mother's medical bills, came to Australia to convince Claire to humanely end her mother's life. According to Christian, he had visited Claire when she was very young, and even sang to her ("Catch a Falling Star," perhaps?). Claire was unmoved by the conversation, and didn't even bother to ask Christian his name before telling him to leave. The lack of curiosity on the part of the Lost characters continues to infuriate me. Christian tried to stress the difference between hope and guilt, but Claire kept her mother alive anyway. Many years later, a pregnant Claire visited her mother to make a tearful apology. Emilie de Ravin's performance made this scene extremely touching.
Claire seems to have very few personal demons, unlike the rest of her island roommates. As of the current episode, she has made amends with her mother, met her father, and kept her baby. Everyone else has had a huge personal issue with which to come to terms. What is Claire's purpose on the island? Perhaps it relates to her relationship with Charlie.
The Beach
The Charlie-Claire relationship was front and center in this episode, which likely thrilled some and annoyed others. Charlie surprised Claire with a picnic breakfast and an eagerness to "day-seize" with her, but he changed his tune quickly after Desmond showed up. Desmond gave Charlie a very obvious hint that going hunting was in his best interest on that particular day.
Suddenly, Claire came up with an idea for getting everyone off the island. She noticed a flock of tagged birds, and formed a plan to catch one and attach a note to it. It wasn't a bad plan, actually, but Charlie and Desmond did not go along with it. Claire's suspicions ultimately led to her discovery of Desmond's death visions. Charlie lived to seize another day, thanks to Desmond's interference, and Claire got her bird. I am glad that Claire and Charlie's relationship has become less of a roller coaster; the arguing was getting old. Now Charlie has someone other than Hurley with which to confront death and say "Whatever, man." Can Claire change Charlie's future, though?
The Jungle
Members of the rescue party did a lot of fighting among themselves this week. After blowing up The Flame station, Locke clearly was not to be trusted, and Sayid knew it. Locke's "ignorance of the C-4" excuse did not fly with the group, and he tried to change the subject by suggesting that Mikhail be killed. The always-suspicious Rousseau was very much in favor of that. Danielle also conveniently interrupted Mikhail just as he was revealing his knowledge of Locke's former paralysis.
Why do the Others need to know so much about the crash survivors? Mikhail made it sound as if the survivors have been sized up according to their "flaws." Neither Locke, Kate, or Sayid made "the list," but who has? Quite a few of the Tailies were kidnapped, but the fuselage survivors were left alone (except for Walt and Claire). Perhaps each of the survivors are bound to each other through their flawed characters.
Mikhail also revealed that Ben Linus is not at the top of the Others' hierarchy. Where, then, is Ben's place in this structured community? He still seems fairly high up, but there could be several layers within the group that we do not know about. Unfortunately, we will not get those answers anytime soon, thanks to Locke. The man is building up a horrible trend of screw-ups (or deliberate sabotage). After reaching a strange line of pylons and sensors, Locke decided to use Mikhail to "test" the security system.
With all due respect, Mikhail's death scene was really cool. The bizarre noise, the blood spurting from his ears, the frothing at the mouth--this death had it all. Sayid and Kate were, naturally, furious with Locke, while Locke seemed apathetic about the entire thing. Sayid finally questioned Locke's motives for coming on the rescue mission, echoing the thoughts of numerous viewers. The C-4 that was found in Locke's backpack only made matters worse. Whose side is this guy on?
After finding a way over the pylons, the group finally reached The Barracks (that was fast), only to be surprised once more. Jack was happily playing football with Tom, like some sort of carefree college student. What in the world? I was completely faked out by Jack's racing toward the rescue party. Whatever made him so friendly toward the Others in such a short time cannot be good.
A few thoughts:
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Add Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead to the Lost library; Sawyer was reading it in the final beach scene.
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Was Mikhail telling the truth when he said that the underwater beacon stopped working after the EMP? If it is true, then Michael and Walt will never be able to return to the island.
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Why doesn't Danielle want to know anything about Alex? I didn't really buy her answer.
See you next week for the Locke flashback episode!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
3-15-2007 @ 10:18AM
Losties said...
Cristian is the central figure of the show. anyone noticed how he is connected to most of the losties?
operated on Shannon's dad
Anna Lucia relationship
Sawyer in the bar
Jack
Claire.
oh btw 3x13 us and ca trailers:
http://www.dharmasecrets.com/forum/index.php/topic,10198.0.html
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3-15-2007 @ 10:31AM
h8rain said...
Finally we got more answers than questions! I was seriously about to give up on Lost, because it just seemed to never answer anything. Let's hope the rest of the season is as good as this episode.
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3-15-2007 @ 10:27AM
Bill said...
I would've gone with "In the words of Joey Lawrence..." but maybe that's just me.
I liked the episode, too. It wasn't great, but we got the Jack/Claire siblings reveal that the more observant viewers have kinda seen coming out of the way, and the action with the rescue party was pretty cool. Mikhail's death sorta reminded me of the "brown noise" from South Park, which detracted from the drama of the scene. But it was still pretty cool. Sad to see him go, though, he was pretty interesting.
http://popculturejunk.blogspot.com/
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3-15-2007 @ 10:30AM
Mattso said...
Great episode. I loved the Jack moment at the end, and the show is really catching my attention again in a lot of great ways. They're pulling me back in.
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3-15-2007 @ 10:33AM
Gordy said...
Rousseau's explanation makes perfect sense to me. I mean, she's loved Alex forever, yet, Alex doesn't even know she exists. To know about her daughter's stolen life would only hurt and anger her--hence, making her lose focus and make mistakes. Makes perfect sense to me.
As far as the beacon, the only other time I've heard that word used was from the guys in the artic, when they called Desmond's fiance.
Locke's episode next week is really being hyped up. I hope it lives up to it.
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3-15-2007 @ 10:37AM
Akbar Fazil said...
Doesn't Claire's mother being in a coma contradict her previous flashback with the father of the baby? I seem to recall mentioning of being disowned.
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3-15-2007 @ 10:39AM
Jason said...
What was the reason that Kate was not in the list? I never could make out what he was saying. She was too...what?
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3-15-2007 @ 10:44AM
Erin Martell said...
Akbar Fazil--the transcript for "Raised by Another" contains this dialogue:
Claire: My Mom would disown me.
Thomas: She basically has already.
I guess there's some room for interpretation, but it's iffy. Good catch!
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3-15-2007 @ 10:48AM
Erin said...
Jason--I think Mikhail told Kate she was flawed. Locke was angry, Sayid was weak, and Danielle was frightened.
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3-15-2007 @ 10:59AM
Mrs.Mga said...
Oh, and then did Mikhail say something like, "We thought you were a Par..." to Locke? As in Parapligic?
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3-15-2007 @ 11:01AM
Lou said...
was there ever a flashback story of Kate having a failed pregnancy? If so, that might explain her "flaw" in the light of all of the fertility subplots
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3-15-2007 @ 1:31PM
Hugeliver said...
Well, I think they've managed to bring me back!!
Although, I find it hard to believe that someone of Jack's calibre would be playing football with these people. Something MUST be up, but are the Others really THAT stupid to fall for it??
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3-15-2007 @ 11:08AM
BobbyBuz said...
@7. "What was the reason that Kate was not in the list? I never could make out what he was saying. She was too...what?"
I believe he said "flawed" was the reason.
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3-15-2007 @ 11:15AM
Ryan said...
Man, I really liked this episode. First, I have to talk about the end when Jack was happily playing football. Just the way they shot the scene, how Matthew Fox acted, and how the others reacted made me laugh SO HARD (in a good way). Good job.
Then there were Claire's flashbacks. For some reason I had it in my head that maybe Locke's dad was Claire's dad. I don't know why, but it makes much more sense for Jack's dad to be her dad. Still it surprised *me* and that's cool. Plus emo/goth Claire is pretty cool and *I* totally both not wanting to know her father's name.
And yead Charlie lives to seize another day (darn!) but I do like that Claire now knows. But how about the extended Sun/Jin scenes? Woot!
Props to everyone involved with this episode.
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3-15-2007 @ 11:18AM
summer said...
okay...this makes me flash back to season 1 when the psychic Claire visited insisted she must be on THIS flight to go give the baby to a certain family in California....I never learned the follow-up on that (since the innocent days of season 1, we didn't know about that dharma initiative yet).
Did that psychic work for the others?? Or did he know something we don't yet. Was there an answer to that?
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3-15-2007 @ 5:41PM
Jon said...
Erin,
Your review summed up perfectly my number one frustration with Lost:
The lack of curiosity on the part of the Lost characters continues to infuriate me.
If I were on there, I would have explored and mapped the entire island. I would have examined all the equipment and documents found in the hatch and anywhere else, and I would have asked lots and lots of questions. I am continuously amazed that the survivors from the crash don't show more interest in the island and what is happening to them.
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3-15-2007 @ 11:19AM
BobbyBuz said...
"Claire seems to have very few personal demons, unlike the rest of her island roommates"
I would consider being responsible for your mother's comatose, "brain dead" condition, being abandoned by your father, being an unwed mother and deciding to give up the baby major personal demons.
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3-15-2007 @ 11:19AM
Akbar Fazil said...
Erin: I would say that is a bit of a continuity flub on Claire's mom 'disowning' her.
Mrs.Mga: I'd say Mikhail was going to say Locke was "paralyzed"
To all, Mikhail did say Kate was flawed.
I still say something is up with Rousseau. She has got to be an other. My money is on she was banished sometime ago.
Can't wait to see what is up with Locke. Why did he blow up the station?
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3-15-2007 @ 11:20AM
Haggis said...
A damn fine episode, with lots of information and a few good answers. They are certainly redeeming themselves after the train wreck that was the first part of this season.
@ #10: He said "para.." as in paralyzed. I think Kate might have caught onto this one.
Really looking forward to John confronting Ben next episode. And we finally get to see the scene that was shown WEEKS ago with Jack: "I told you never to come back for me!"
The Daily Haggis - http://www.dailyhaggis.com/
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3-15-2007 @ 11:26AM
Brian said...
Looks as if Locke's motives might be to get revenge against Ben, at least according to next week's preview (which I do not trust anymore).
But I am reminded of the scene when Ben helped save Locke when Locke's leg was trapped under the blast door in the hatch. Will Locke go after Ben in an act of revenge for lying to him? Or has Locke been sabotaging Kate/Sayid/Danielle's attempt to get at Ben in order to "make up" for Ben saving Locke's legs under the blast door.
Good episode. Probably the all-around best one since the hiatus.
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