Wednesday, March 17, 2010

LOST: Recon

Alright, I admit this was a slower episode. And anything following a Ben-centric episode is going to pale in comparison. However, I still liked the episode. Plus, this season has been on its A game from the start, so what was an OK episode for this season was still a great episode over all, right? Plus it had my favorite of the Sideways intros. Speaking of, lets get to it.

2004
Sidways starts will Sawyer in the middle of his same ol' con.  Sleep with the chic, "accidently" open the briefcase full of money, tell her about the business deal, blah, blah. But this time the girl doesn't buy it. She pulls a gun on Sawyer (who I will be calling Jim for the rest of the Sideways story because otherwise it is going to be confusing considering where this one goes.) and Jim pulls a gun back on her. She says his dimples aren't good enough to pull this con (aren't they?) but he tells her she isn't as smart as she thinks. He is a cop and all she had to do was bring the briefcase to her husband who was the real mark. She doesn't buy it, but to prove he is telling the truth Jim says the "magic word," La Fleur!!!!! And in rushes a ton of cops including Miles. When the girl finally realizes Jim is a cop, his answer is "Surprise!"  Indeed!! Notice that the Sidways seems to be the "bad guys" making better decisions? However, one decision that Jim hasn't changed in this reality is his hunt for Anthony Cooper aka Sawyer, Original Recipe. (See- calling him Jim so much easier here). But when Miles sees he is trying to find Anthony Cooper, Jim just says it's for tickets to a game. Miles can tell something is up, but takes Jim at his word. Miles also decides to set Jim up with a chic he knows from the museum (gee.... I wonder who would work at a museum?!) Surprise again! (not really) It's Charlotte, looking fabulous. I miss her. I wonder if she had chocolate before their dinner date. She is an archaeologist in this reality too. Of course. Something tells me she probably still has a Dharma connection too. When she asks Sawyer why he became he cop he said there came a point where he was going to be either a criminal or a cop, and for some reason that I hope we eventually discover, in this reality he chose cop. And this is enough to make Charlotte go home with him. Oh who are we kidding. It's Sawyer, he could have chose criminal and she still would have gone home with him. Back at his place, after the nookie, she looks for a t-shirt, and instead finds Jim's Sawyer file. He is none too happy about it, and throws her out. At 3am. Classy, Jim, classy! The next day, back at the station, we get my favorite sideways easter egg so far this season: Liam Pace (Charlie's brother) trying to bail Charlie out of jail. Good to know Charlie isn't dead yet. I hope. Miles gets rough with Jim since he, of course, heard about his less than gentlemanly treatment of Charlotte. He ran a credit card check and saw that Jim was in Australia not Palm Springs. Jim says it is none of his business and Miles comes back with the not wanting to be partners anymore bit. So, of course, Jim punches a mirror. And then stares in it. Sideways realities always seem to involve looking in mirrors. Maybe seeing their other self? I don't know... Anyway, now alone again Jim goes home and does what any grown man does at home alone. He watches Little House on the Prairie, with the ever insightful Michael Landon, "If you spend your whole life worrying about something that's gonna happen, before you know it, your lifes over and you spent a whole lot of it just worrying... That's what life is all about. Laughing and loving each other. And knowing that people aren't really gone when they die." Did Team Darlton secretly write Little House back in the day just so one day they could use that clip?! It inspired Jim too - he brought a pretty sunflower and beer (but sadly, not Dharma beer) to Charlottes, but she said to get out. He blew it. Awww... The next day he waits outside for Miles and gives him the Sawyer file. Jim tells hijm all about Anthony Cooper and his mom and dad and his plan to hunt down Cooper and kill him. When Miles asks why Jim never told him, he says he was afraid Miles would talk him out of it. And then a car rams into them and someone pops out of it and is on the run. Jim and Miles chase them down and when Jim catches them, he takes of their hood and finds..... Miss Kate Austen. As Jim says, "Son of a bitch!"

2007
Let's go back to calling Jim Sawyer now. So, the reason Sawyer wasn't with the rest of UnLocke's crew at the Temple: he was with Jin back at Claire's camp. UnLocke comes back with everyone, and Sawyer sees Kate. He's a little nicer to her than the last time they were together! Kate sees Claire's creeeeeepy baby. She gets the "Damn, this chic is nuts!" face. Everyone gathers around so UnLocke can talk and give them an update. Flight Attendent Cindy asks what happened to everyone else at the Temple and UnLocke says that Smokey killed them, failing to mention that he is Smokey. Details! Kate takes Sawyer aside and asks what he is doing with UnLocke, and he makes it clear that he "ain't with anybody." As always, Sawyer is the lone wolf. UnLocke tells everyone he wants to set up camp somewhere else. When Sawyer basically says, "Ummm.. WTF?" UnLocke pulls him aside for a one on one. Sawyer wants to know when they are getting off the island, as promised. UnLocke tells him that he is the Smoke Monster and that right now it is either kill or be killed and he doesn't want to be killed, so just follow the plan. He sends Sawyer to go back over to the Hydra island and do recon on the other group. UnLocke's plan is to use the Ajira plane to get off the island. Sawyer gets there and see the cages and finds Kate's dress. He reminices to himself. Aww. He also goes past the garage Juliet worked in. More reminicing. Awww. Back on the main island, Kate goes over to a very trance-like Sayid. Sayid tells Kate he believes UnLocke and when she asks if he is okay, he says no.  You know, cuz he's infected. Then Crazy Claire jumps Kate and holds a knife to her throat. Kate screams to Sayid to help her but he just sits there.  You know, cuz he's infected. UnLocke finally shows up and rips Claire off Kate and when Claire goes off about Kate taking the baby UnLocke said she just did what she had to, smacks Claire and says she is being "completely inappropriate." Understatement! Kate is a wee bit shaken up. Over at Hydra, Sawyer finds the Ajria plane (not hard, cuz it's a small island and a big plane). He sees a trail leading away from it and finds a whole lot of dead bodies. Ew. He hears running and chases down a woman, Zoe. She claims to be the only one left from the flight. Sawyer asks what killed all the people and she says she doesn't know, she was in the jungle gathering wood, heard screaming and found them all dead. On the main island, UnLocke apologizes to Kate because he was the one that let Claire believe that Aaron was at the Temple. He needed Claire to focus her anger. When she asks where Sawyer is, he offers her hand to go and show her. Note that she didn't take it. I'm thinking that was a good thing, since touching Jacob has it's consequences. UnLocke takes Kate to the beach and points at Hydra to show her where Sawyer is. When she points out he could have just said he was on the other island, he tells her he wanted to talk. Men. He says that even though she calls him a dead man, he is not dead. He is just in the form of one. He talks about his mother being crazy and that it resulted in "growing pains" and problems he is still working through! Still!! They need a therapist on the island, not a surgeon! Like all people with issues, he says this could have been different had things been different with his mommy. And now poor Aaron has a crazy mom too. Uh Oh.  Back on Hydra, Zoe is stupid and starts asking too many questions, and Sawyer sees through her con. A few guys come out of the bushes, and they escort him to see Widmore on the sub. Sawyer notes a heavily locked door on the sub. What/Who is in there? Sawyer and Widmore have a chat (Alan Dale rocks!) where Widmore claims he wasnt the one to kill the Ajira passengers. (But who cares since they were all extras! Remember last season this exchange:
Jack: What about all of them?
Ben: Who cares? 
Exactly! Sawyer says that Locke sent him, and when Widmore says that Locke is dead, Sawyer pushes past the BS pointing out that everyone and their mother knows that the man isn't really Locke.  Sawyer agrees that in exchange for safe passage off the island with his people, he will tell UnLocke the coast is clear. They shake on it. Back in the jungle, Claire goes all weepy and apologizes to Kate saying she knows that Kate took Aaron because she cares about her and about Aaron. It would seem that when people are infected that they are still in there somewhere. Or maybe I'm just hoping. When he gets back to the island, Sawyer tells UnLocke that he told Widmore everything, so now UnLocke can be prepared for that. Kate asks Sawyer why he is running errands for UnLocke, and he says that he is playing both sides and then just going to let them fight it out so that he and Kate can get off the island in the sub....


So, it wasn't as exciting as some weeks, but it sure set up a whole lot of island craziness.

Only a few good quotes this week since there was no Hurley and Miles was barely on.

Zoe: Thank God!
Sawyer: Trust me. God's got nothing to do with it.



Kate: That's very insightful. Coming from a dead man.
UnLocke: Well, nobody's perfect.


Sawyer: Alright, Alright. You got me.  Take me to your leader.


Widmore: Do you know who I am?
Sawyer: Of course I do. You're the fella who sent a freighter to the island loaded with guys to kill us all.



So... thoughts?  Next week is the Richard-centric episode! I. Can't. Wait.  Seriously. And we get to find out what the island is. I can't believe how quickly this season is flying by. I can't deal with it. I'm getting a little sick to my stomach thinking about it! I need to get out more. Until next week, Losties...

3 comments:

Annette said...

I'm wondering if Desmond is locked up in that sub. Not sure why, but it was the first thing that popped in my head. I also wonder how Sawyer plans to escape in the sub. Does he know how to pilot one? I enjoyed the little glimpse of "Watership Down" on Sawyer's dresser too. I love that kind of attention to detail! My favorite line was Miles to Sawyer "You wanna die alone?". Nice parallel to Jack's "Live together or die alone" mantra. I have always chosen Jack as "my" guy on the show. But this episode had me wanting to curl up with Sawyer and watch "Little House". ;) Also, is it wrong that I laughed when UnLocke slapped Claire?

Well...probably not my favorite episode but I think it's pivotal to the plot because FINALLY here is Widmore...and it seems like the good vs. evil will be between Widmore and UnLocke. So...because it's LOST...I LOVED IT!!!

Unknown said...

Okay, so the episode was good. I like Sawyer but a Sawyer-centric episode without Juliet was ridiculous! I mean come on! That made me mad. I love when UnLocke slapped Claire and the whole exchange between Kate and UnLocke about Claire being like the crazy mom he used to have. Love the blog!

Melissa said...

Annette- I wondered if it was Desmond too. He is still in the opening credits as a regular, and this would get him back on the island scene. Just as long as he still winds up with Penny in the end! And I totally laughed too when UnLocke slapped Claire!

Katie- Totally agree. I miss Juliet. (We love characters named Juliet, apparently!) BUT, I know she will be back before the series is over, so there is hope.
Thanks for the love!