"Par Avion"

NOVEMBER 29, 2010

FOCUS: CLAIRE
EPISODE: 3.12
AIRED: MARCH 14, 2007

In my recap for “Tricia Tanaka”, I bemoaned the fact that Lost’s credits would often spoil a surprise, and there’s no better example of that than “Par Avion”, which promises John Terry (aka Jack’s dad) even though it’s a Claire episode. Hmm... we know he has a daughter in Australia, so – “OH SHIT! Claire and Jack are half-siblings!”... is something anyone who was reading the credits (and had average deduction skills) would realize, about a half hour before it was actually revealed in the storyline. I forget when I finally learned to not read them anymore, but it wouldn’t be the last time they spoiled something just by naming a guest star who you wouldn’t expect to see in the episode.

It also wouldn’t be the only thing to annoy me about the episode, which was co-written by someone named Jordan Rosenberg, who never had another writing credit on the show before or since. Claire’s sudden plan to put a message in a bird’s foot is possibly the most ridiculous thing on the show (including smoke monsters and time travel), and the fact that some of the other folks seem to think it’s a good idea is even worse. Somehow, Bernard’s giant SOS sign on the beach is a complete waste of time, but capturing a bird, writing a message, and sticking it between its claw and tag (migratory birds, Claire tells us, are tagged – and the way that we learn how SHE knew this is clunkier than anything else on the show) is a very good idea. OK, survivors.

Even more frustrating is Desmond and Charlie’s vague warnings and attempts to prevent Charlie from dying again. Wouldn’t just telling Charlie to sit still be enough? No, it somehow has to involve pretending to hunt a boar and trying to talk Claire out of it and following her around and all this other nonsense. The one saving grace is that Claire is told about Desmond’s visions by the end of the episode; it would not be un-Lost like to drag this sort of thing out for ages, as throughout the show the plot only really advanced due to the characters’ refusal to be straight with one another. So kudos, Rosenberg (and Christina Kim) for at least wrapping up Claire’s obliviousness before it got too annoying.

The rest of the episode shows Locke and co. as they keep heading toward Other-town, with Mikhail still in tow. He drops some vague stuff about “the list” and also hints that he knew Locke from before, which would be explained in Season 5 I believe. Then Locke tosses him through the microwave fence and lets him seemingly die (but Mikhail is seemingly indestructible, so that doesn’t work). We also learn Locke has some explosives, which is a subplot I forgot about, and can’t quite remember if it pays off (is that what he uses to blow up the submarine?).

Also, they get to the “town” at the end of this episode, another thing I thought would take longer when I first watched it. It’s a great, intriguing little moment, with Jack seemingly running away only for them/us to discover he’s enjoying a game of catch with Tom. Is Jack an Other? (No.) I love the edit too, with the slam cut to LOST after Jack spikes the ball – it’s the rare “fun” final shot in the series; usually even the more uplifting or breezy episodes end on some sort of downer or dramatic cliffhanger.

Otherwise, this one dips dangerously close to “Stranger In A Strange Land” levels of uselessness; the sort of wheel-spinning nonsense that came as a result of the writers not knowing how long they had to drag the show out. Luckily it would be one of the last such episodes, as ABC made the “3 more years” decision around this time. Interestingly, it’s actually the exact halfway mark of the entire show, as it’s the 61st of 121 episodes. Which means there’s no way in hell I’m going to finish by January 8th, which was the original plan (to finish in a Lost-centric 108 days, but I also realize now the date would be 1-08!), as I’d have to do 2-3 a day from now til then (and there’s another break coming up due to my holiday travel). Hopefully I’ll finish by the end of January though, by doing occasional doubles. But still, woo! I’m at the halfway mark!

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Maternity Leave"

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

FOCUS: CLAIRE
EPISODE: 2.15
AIRED: MARCH 1, 2006

Like “The Other 48 Days”, “Maternity Leave” takes place entirely on the island, which is fine since it’s Claire’s annual flashback episode, and her pre-island life is way more boring. And in a move that would become rather rare as the show went on, the episode addresses several issues of all sizes: small (Alex’s fate), medium (the scratches on Rousseau’s arm), and large (what happened to Claire after she was kidnapped). Plus these were mysteries that had only been floating around for a season – it would take another 5 years to explain who “Adam and Eve” were, long after I gave up caring.

It’s also the rare episode to have a female based “mission”, with Kate, Claire, and Rousseau heading out to find the Dharma station where Claire was being held (oddly, one of the others would concern Juliet and Sun going to the same place). It never really dawned on me until now how male-driven the show was, so it’s nice to see them get some time to bond while the guys are off doing something else (folks like Hurley, Charlie, and Sawyer barely appear in the episode). It also allows Emilie De Ravin to do something besides pout or get annoyed with Charlie for once; the scene with her and the baby at the end is the closest they ever really gave her to meaty material. I guess it just goes to show why most ensemble shows keep the roster to about 6-7, because Lost just had too many for its own good. At first, they were doing a pretty good job at keeping things even, but as the show went on and the story became more complex, a lot of characters were just completely left out in the cold, and Claire is probably the biggest example; even some of the dead folks had more fully fleshed back-stories. Hell, Juliet had just as many flashback episodes and she came into the show almost halfway through.

It’s also a good episode for Eko fans, as he has a great moment with Locke and Jack (when they tell him not to tell Ben what the alarm is for, he innocently replies “What IS the alarm for?”), and then tells his story to Ben before cutting off his little beard (I wonder if Ben kept it?). And I love the final scene of the episode, with Ben starting to show some of his true colors by getting under Locke’s skin (a lot of Dharma dinnerware has been destroyed on the show as a result of Locke’s inability to get the upper hand on this guy).

Glad the show was getting back on track with this one. Again, back to back it’s not so bad, but when it was airing, and you’d wait a week or longer for something like “Fire + Water”, it started looking pretty dire, especially when that was around the time I got Tivo and suddenly realized how many “great” things were on the air at all times. “Why watch this crap when I can record/watch the entire run of MILLENIUM on Sci-Fi?”

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...

"Raised By Another"

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

FOCUS: CLAIRE
EPISODE: 1.10
AIRDATE: DECEMBER 1, 2004

We return from our first Lost hiatus! There was a week off in between “Solitary” and “Raised By Another”, and such gaps would become common over this and the next two seasons, resulting in unbroken (and shorter) seasons that started in January, where there would be no breaks except for extreme cases (like the President talking or something). It’s sort of fitting that the episode would focus on Claire, who would be the first main cast member to take hiatuses from the show, not appearing for several episodes at a time.

Of course, Claire was always one of the least interesting “pre-Island” characters, as there wasn’t much intrigue or mystery with her past, except for the identity of her father, which wasn’t a mystery really, but rather something they decided to reveal to us in a later season. In fact, the one legit mystery about her was why her “psychic” told her to get on this specific plane, when we later find out he’s a fraud – and that is something they never bother to explain. Good work, guys. I actually distinctly recall this being the first time I ever fell asleep watching the show, as a result of "resting my eyes" during her rather generic flashbacks revolving around her boyfriend and adoption drama.

But this episode is the rare time that the A and B stories connect in a meaningful way (it’s also the first time a character has a “current time” voice-over for one of their flashbacks, I think). While Claire is being attacked and being hit on by Charlie, Hurley is trying to build up a roster of who’s who, putting names to faces and such. The subplot is mostly played for laughs, due to Jorge Garcia’s oft-improvised responses and lack of tact (calling Ethan by his wrong name, for example). It also has a wonderful little moment where he walks over to Sawyer and manages to get what he wants with no resistance on Sawyer’s part. In fact, Sawyer actually seems impressed and sort of charmed by the exchange, and it’s the beginning of their fan-pleasing bromance (all time favorite Sawyer moment – “If you hurt one hair on his curly head...”).

But then Hurley realizes that Ethan Rom (as everyone knows, this is an anagram for "Other Man". But it’s also one for "Hate Norm", which I think should be explored as well) wasn’t on the plane, just as Ethan turns full villain in front of Charlie and Claire. It also coincides with the return of Sayid, who is babbling about the French woman and the other stuff he learned. It’s the most tense the show has been in several weeks, frankly.

We also get a funny little bit about “Scott and Steve”, a running joke in the form of two sock characters that would ultimately die (one early on, the other I assume during the season 5 massacre). I could never tell them apart, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the producers switched their identities around just for fun. But at least they had names; we never found out much about the 25 or so other folks.

Another thing I liked about this episode was that it kicked Charlie’s affection for Claire into full gear. In early promos for the show (perhaps due to his LOTR fame), Charlie/Dom Monaghan was featured prominently, as if he was just as big a character as Jack (he’s up there in the Season 1 image I used to make the banner! And don’t think I haven’t noticed the visual “irony” of me being between the real-life couple), but he hasn’t been given much to do (even in his own episode) that didn’t involve his drug addiction. It’s nice to see a different, and quite sweet, side to the character, and Monaghan seems much more comfortable playing the lovestruck guy than a junkie. His fondness for Claire (which was sadly never equally returned, in my opinion) would culminate in one of the show’s all time best episodes (“Greatest Hits”), and watching this one again makes me sort of dread having to re-watch the episodes where she was afraid of him due to his drug habit. I wanted these two to be happy forever, dammit!

Good episode (on the island anyway). Worth the original wait.

Where are we?

PLEASE, GO ON...