Lost: Episodes 6-8

More Lost spoilers and sarcastic observations after the jump:

Episode 6 (House of the Rising Sun)

1. Hmm, I wonder what this episode will be about!
2. Kate asks about Jack’s tattoo, he refuses to tell her what it’s about. And knowing what we know now, we were all better off in the dark.
3. Sun is disgusted by her brute of a husband. Thinks back to when she met him–he was a waiter!!!! And she was super rich. Oh wait, they already knew each other! And they’re both afraid of her father. Honestly, the way their backstory unfolded was quite good. They seemed like very simple archetypes at first, but the flashbacks really subverted our expectations.
4. Speaking of our expectations, after watching Jin pummel the crap out of Michael on the beach (and after already seeing him treat Sun like an object), I think we all assumed Jin was a really bad dude. Anyway, Sawyer and Sayid break it up and handcuff Jin to some trash on the beach and ask Sun the question we were all asking: “what happened?” So, in keeping with this frustrating show, we cut away to Jack, Kate, Charlie, and Locke, traversing the jungle on their way to the cave where Jack found his dad’s empty coffin (and where we’ll soon find one of the longest-lasting mysteries of the show: the Adam and Even skeletons that everyone seems to think are Rose and Bernard).
5. In flashback we see Jin tell Sun that her father gave his permission for their marriage. He says basically that he’s agreed to work for her father. He doesn’t say a) that her father’s a gangster or b) that he’s agreed to commit some serious acts of violence for him. But we know, don’t we? WE KNOW.
6. Charlie stumbles upon a hive of bees. BEES? BEES!
7. Okay, so they found Adam and Eve. So this actually was a big deal, because it was the first indication that they weren’t the first human beings on the Island. Jack says that they didn’t die violently; “they were laid to rest here” and had been there for at least 40 or 50 years. Found in a pouch by the body? Two stones, one light and one dark. Symbolism!
8. Kate took off her shirt, and explains “it was full of bees”. Charlie says “I woulda guessed Cs”. Har har har!
9. Jin yells at Sun about how painful the handcuffs are. She thinks back to the good old days, when he paid for everything and treated her like crap. Just like Christian Shepperd! Oh, okay, like Sun’s father.
10. Jack wants to settle in the caves, because of the fresh water. Of course, somebody else (Sawyer, presumably?) will point out that they’ve been safe on the beach, and refuse to go. And so begins a well-trod Lost; trope: split up the group!
11. Michael yells at Jin and Sun. I wonder how long it’ll be before Sun admits that she speaks English. I remember being quite surprised when that was revealed–and I have to say, she did a really good job acting like she didn’t understand. But I guess I wonder why–I mean, I know Jin would have been upset (though I forget why at the moment), but they were kinda in a giant disaster. It could have come in handy at any of a number of moments.
12. Flashback to Jin coming home covered in blood. But it’s not his blood. Now Sun knows that Jin hurts people for a living! Now she slaps him! Now he looks angry. Probably because he resents her for turning into a monster, because it was the only way her father would condone their marriage. Poignant, y’all.
13. Locke confronts Charlie. He recognizes him from the preeminent Oasis clones, Driveshaft. Their first album, btw, was called Oil Change. He thinks Charlie’s been looking for his guitar. Spoiler alerts: a) he’s actually looking for heroin! and b) he will find that guitar eventually. PS: maybe that guitar is what Hurley had in the case on the plane in Season 5? Maybe that’s one of the things we’ll never get an answer to? Okay, later Locke figures out that Charlie’s chasing his high, and tells Charlie that if he gives the Island something, the Island might just give Charlie his guitar back. The audience rolls its eyes, but Charlie is a sap. But then Locke is like, you doofus, it’s right over there! And Charlie feels dumb for getting rid of his heroin.
14. Shannon and Boone: not in this episode. Rose: also not in this episode (except maybe in skeletal form!).
15. Flashback: So Sun had decided to leave Jin! SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO FLEE THE AIRPORT TO ESCAPE! No wonder Jin doesn’t trust her! But wait, back on the Island she speaks to Michael. IN ENGLISH!! Next flashback she’s at the airport, freaking out.  Jin brought her a flower–shoutout to the old days, when he was just (spoiler!) a fisherman’s bastard son. She doesn’t run away. And that’s why she ended up stuck on the Island.
16. Willie Nelson montage! The last line of the song: “Are you sure that this is where you want to be?” At that point it seemed dumb: obviously nobody wanted to be there! But, you know, turns out quite a few of them turned out to enjoy their time there and have no interest in returning to civilization.

Episode 7 (The Moth)

1. Remember when they still started every episode with a closeup on someone’s eyes? Well, they did. This one opens on Charlie, going through withdrawal while clumsily picking at his guitar. Locke convinces him to take a walk.
2. Remember when Jack decided on a plan and insisted on following it, forcing other people to choose to go with him or do something else? Oh right, he still does that. Anyway, he makes Kate decide to stay on the beach with Sayid. Sawyer acts like a total dick, takes over Jack’s sweet beachside shelter.
3. Charlie flashback! He goes to confession and talks about how awesome being in a band on the road is. Well, okay, I don’t think that’s the point I’m supposed to take from this. As an example of another message to take from this, Charlie decides that he has to quit the band. Meanwhile his asshole brother Liam (hey, can you think of any other asshole British rock stars named Liam?) is waiting to tell Charlie that their band got signed to a major label! So much for quitting.
4. Remember when Lock was awesome? Charlie begs Locke for his drugs back. In reply, Locke slits a boar’s throat.
5. Kate tells Sawyer she pities him because nobody loves him. Sawyer pretends she didn’t hit a nerve (CAN’T WAIT FOR “CONFIDENCE MAN”), but he gives her what she’s asking for (ew, gross, I was referring to a laptop battery).
6. Jack, brilliant physician, can’t tell that Charlie’s detoxing. He thinks Charlie’s just dehydrated. Charlie is annoyed, flashes back to arguing with his brother. Turns out Charlie was the brains of the operation–he wrote the songs while Liam just sang, danced, and got Charlie into trouble all the time. He promises Charlie that, if things get bad, Charlie can call it off and they’ll walk away. Gee, I wonder if Liam will go back on that promise later in the episode!
7. Back on the island, Charlie is feeling disrespected. Maybe because they are kind of treating him like a child. But also maybe because he’s a drug addict. Anyway, there’s a big cave-in and Jack is stuck there. Somebody’s gonna have to help him!
8. Sayid and Kate hike around. He points out that they survived a plane crash in which the tail broke off the plane in midair. Uh, yeah. That’s pretty weird.
9. Shannon, so hot and yet with such a bad attitude, is in charge of turning on the doohickey at a certain point. I wonder if she’ll screw it up!
10. Sawyer has his shirt off, for the ladies. Then he condescends to Charlie, who is sullen. And then we FINALLY get to hear “You All, Everybody” in flashback, where Driveshaft performs. Charlie gets annoyed because Liam steals his vocals or something. Backstage, an altercation occurs! That was Charlie’s chorus, dammit! Liam talks down to him and then does drugs off of a groupie’s boobs or something. This won’t end well.
11. Now Charlie finds Locke, who is butchering a dead boar in the jungle. Charlie seems kinda bummed out about something (maybe Jack being stuck in the cave?). Oh no, that’s not it, he just wants his drugs! Locke makes a forced metaphor about a moth, which is like Charlie. In that Charlie is not beautiful, and people want him to fly into a bug zapper.
12. Charlie volunteers to do something dangerous to rescue Jack. Maybe he’ll earn respect, and thus redemption? Spoiler: yep.
13. Kate flirts it up with Sawyer a little bit, as the audience gets an eerie premonition that they’ll keep seeing the same stupid crap happen with those two and Jack for the next 6 years. 2/3 of them get nauseous. Anyway, Sawyer finally tells Kate (inaccurately) that Jack’s dead in the cave-in. She runs away, leaving Sawyer to set off the gizmo to tell Shannon to turn on the doohickey. Will he do the right thing or is he an unredeemable jerk? Spoiler: right thing, duh.
14. In flashback, Charlie’s getting more and more irritated with Liam. He tells Liam that he’s calling it off–time to walk away. Then Liam starts yelling and is mean to Charlie about how Charlie’s nobody and Liam is Driveshaft! This can only lead to Charlie getting addicted to heroin (which, incidentally, nobody ever actually calls heroin on this show–just “drugs”). Spoiler: Charlie wears teal nail polish. Oh right, and he starts using “drugs” while crying.
15. Back on the Island, Charlie saves Jack after a lot of excitement that we all knew wouldn’t amount to anything, really. But, you know, it’s still kinda nice. Also, Charlie seems to be a big fan of volunteering to save people at the risk of his own life. I suspect he’ll do it again in a couple of seasons.
16. Lost was really good right from the start, but it would have been <em>even better</em> if Charlotte had been a series regular already. I miss Charlotte.
17. Flashback: Charlie was in Sydney to see Liam, who has cleaned himself up, has a family, etc. etc. Meanwhile, Charlie has lined up a comeback tour for Driveshaft. But Liam doesn’t want to go back! But Charlie needs; him to go back, to fund his drug addiction. Charlie pulls the brother card, begs him to come back. Liam points out that drugs are bad. Charlie guilt trips him. Liam offers to help him get cleaned up, Charlie stomps off in a snit, off to the airport. Then his plane crashes and he’s marooned on an island.
18. Jack finally figures out that Charlie’s in withdrawal. Nice work, genius. Then Charlie figures out how to get out of the cave-in thanks to–here comes some subtle symbolism–a moth! So yeah, Locke’s magical imagery turned Charlie into a confident guy who doesn’t use drugs anymore and saved the day! Kate is so relieved that she mounts Jack right in front of everybody. Basically.
19. The gizmo-doohickey plan works. Shannon and Sawyer: not total jerks after all! Duh. Oh, but then Sayid gets smacked in the head by… someone off camera.
20. Jack is helping Charlie get through his detox because Charlie is a moth or whatever. But Charlie is fiending and goes to find Locke as the audience says to itself, “he’s obviously going to ask for his drugs again, but only so he can throw them away, because he’s all growsed up!” And that’s what happens. He throws the horse into a fire and then, I shit you not, a fucking moth flutters around in the sky. If you were looking for things to make fun of about <em>Lost</em> you could certainly start with the sledgehammer-obvious use of imagery and metaphor. Another way to think about it: the show is idiot-friendly!
21. At the same time as Charlie’s redemptive act, Jack and Kate share a moment but don’t kiss or anything because Jack’s a weenie.
22. One more observation: isn’t there a Dharma station called “The Moth”? Answer: yes. That’s interesting–do you guys think it means anything?

Episode 8 (Confidence Man)

1. Sawyer… reads? But he seems so stupid! He left Watership Down on the beach while he skinnydipped. He’s so crude, I think it’s safe to assume that there’s nothing in his past to suggest that he’s more complicated than a total jerk. Here comes a flashback to prove me right about that.
2. In the flashback he’s sleeping with some woman and “accidentally” drops a bunch of money out of a suitcase. What a mystery! Then back on the Island he’s in the jungle, hears some noises, stumbles upon Boone rifling through his stuff. Tension!
3. Heh. Turns out Sawyer beat the crap out of Boone. Turns out he was just trying to get an inhaler because Shannon has asthma. Sawyer is like, “sucks to your ass-mar! THAT’s my stuff!”
4. Charlie chats up Claire (who wasn’t in the last episode!).
5. Back in the flashback, Sawyer tells his ladyfriend that he’s investing in some scheme that he tells her will triple his money. Say, turns out she wants to give him money to invest for her! From her rich husband! What a coincidence that Sawyer hooked up with this lady with lots of money, then a situation arose wherein she wanted to give that money to him! That’s all sarcasm, folks, because I happen to know he’s playing a long con on her, to get that money and run away. But I can’t remember if this was obvious the first time I saw it–I don’t think so. Anyway, back on the Island he tells Kate that he’ll trade some inhalers for “a kiss.” If this were on HBO I think he would ask for, er, something else. Anyway, Kate mentions the letter that Sawyer carries around all the time and suggests that it’s an indication that he’s a human being. He gets really mad and tells her to read the letter. This is actually super cool because it says:
   

   Dear Mr. Sawyer:
   You don’t know who I am, but I know who you are, and what you’ve done. You had sex with my mother, and then you stole my dad’s money all the way. So he got angry and he killed my mother. And then he killed himself too. All I know is your name. One of these days I’m going to find you and I’m going to give you this letter so you know what you’ve done to me. You killed my parents, Mr. Sawyer.

   So, okay, this was really pretty brilliant. It meshes with the flashback we’ve seen this episode, and gives us the expectation that the rest of the flashback will play out this way. It implies that as bad a dude as he has been at times this season, Sawyer is actually much, much worse. And what we eventually learn–that “Sawyer” was actually the boy who wrote this letter, and he witnessed his mother’s murder–is really quite astonishing. And of course that’s not all–besides writing the letter, the boy took the con man’s name, and started doing to other people what had been done to him. So now we know that Sawyer really <em>is</em> completely screwed up, but in a different and much more interesting way than we thought before. I think this was where people realized that the flashbacks could be more than simple backstory (e.g., Jack) or cheap, if effective, surprises (Locke). Very cool. Okay, back to making fun of stuff!

6. Shannon’s asthma-ing. It’s… not hot. Jack tells Sawyer to give him the inhalers. Sawyer declines. For the first, but not last, time, Jack punches Sawyer in the face. To prove me right, he does it again. Sawyer tries to make him do it again, because deep down Sawyer wants to be punished. Because Sawyer hates Sawyer. Flashback to Sawyer robbing the hot lady and her husband, because Sawyer is a total jerk.
7. Now Shannon can’t breathe at all. Boone keeps screwing things up because he’s a screwup. Jack talks her back to health because he’s a great leader. Hurley says “that was like a Jedi moment”. Sayid reveals that he knows how to torture people and suggests that he start on Sawyer. Jack is like, fuck the Geneva Convention–get torturing!
8. Charlie says what we’ve all been thinking: Hurley sure does seem fat, still. Why hasn’t he lost any weight? Hurley gets mad because he’s sick of people thinking he’s really fat. But he is. But anyway, it’s still kind of sad. Also, we still don’t know why he’s still fat. So we get the question acknowledged but not answered. This is a bit of a pattern on Lost.
9. Sayid knocks Sawyer out and gets ready to get some answers. Those of us who think torture is reprehensible feel disgusted. This is also a bit of a pattern on Lost. Anyway, they torture Sawyer and it’s pretty messed up. He pulls some sick psychological crap and says he’ll only tell Kate what they want to know. She shows up and he asks for the kiss again. She kisses him. He uses his tongue a lot. It’s kinda gross. Anyway, then he tells her that he doesn’t have the medicine. She punches him. Sayid is really mad. He has a knife. Somebody’s gonna get knifed. It turns out it’s Sawyer. Ow. Artery hit! Doctor time for Jack! As usual, he’s asked to save somebody he thinks is a jerk. As usual, he does it. You’d think we’d get tired of this crap but it never quite gets old, does it?
10. Boone takes care of Shannon. Sayid stares at her for a second. We and he both recognize that she’s a fetching woman.
11. Jin catches Sun speaking to Michael. Oh man, he’s gonna be soooooo pissed. Might he beat the crap out of Michael again? Yes, I suppose he might. But not at the moment. Did he notice that Sun was speaking English? I don’t think so but maybe.
12. Sawyer bleeds a lot and asks Jack to let him die. He says he would let Jack die if the tables were turned. But we know that deep down he’s a sweetheart and loves kittens. But in flashback we learn that, omg, the couple he conned had a kid! The kid must have written the letter but–wait–Sawyer’s calling the deal off? That doesn’t match what the letter said! So yeah, he was the kid, and when he saw that other kid he couldn’t go through with the con. Because he’s a kind-hearted person. Duh. Kate has figured out that he wrote that letter, and that he’s been acting like a jerk because he’s all messed up in the head. He comes clean to her and a bunch of losers on the internet start writing blog posts about how he and Kate should be together. It’s regrettable.
13. Charlie couldn’t get Claire peanut butter so he engages in some execrable mimery. It’s kinda hobbitty, and I mean that in the worst possible way. Stupid Charlie, that’s an empty jar.
14. Sayid is disgusted with himself for torturing Sawyer. He decides he’ll walk the beach and map the Island. Something tells me he won’t finish that project.
15. Weirdly, the episode ends with a montage while a song plays (that’s happened a few times earlier in the season, too–like the Willy Nelson song I mentioned for Episode 6). It feels kinda cheap and saccharine to me–other than the orchestral score, I’m used to any music coming from stuff actually playing in the world of the show (same as on The Wire. Anyway, everybody’s basically fine. Sawyer thinks about burning up the letter but changes his mind. That’s it.