Lost – “Par Avion”

Gone to the Birds:

Lost’s Migratory Movements

This week’s episode of Lost was all about birds, both literally and metaphorically.

The Raven – John Locke

Finally we get to see a little bit more of Locke’s nefarious planning leading up to next week’s episode. We knew that his actions with the computer were sketchy, and that he certainly seems to have somewhat different motivations than Kate in this scenario, but it is becoming clearer that Locke has his own mission of sorts here.

Much of this was precipitated by an explanation of the list by Mikhail, specifically regarding the John Locke he once knew. Is this the John Locke who fought boars and found his way into his hatch? If anything, it’s the John Locke we once knew ourselves and have been yearning for. I certainly believe that it is the John Locke who steals C4 and seems to have his own special plans for the Others once he gets into their Barracks.

The return of Locke as a character of important and, most important, mystery has been one of the reasons the show has improved greatly over the past few weeks, and this episode appears to send us heading further towards finding out more about Locke’s past.

The Pigeon – Dr. Christian Shepherd

You know how, when you’re in a park of any sorts, you see a whole lot of pigeons? Well, it appears that Dr. Christian Shephard is the backstory equivalent for Lost. Now having been spotted in the back stories of four different characters (Jack, Sawyer, Ana Lucia and Claire), there’s little question that he is somewhat important to the mythology of all of these characters.

We didn’t learn too much new about Christian in this episode, except that perhaps his frequent tips to Australia make a bit more sense. I would have to go back and watch his visit to the house while under the care of Ana Lucia to see if it connects to Claire or to some other character, but either way I like this continued development. John Terry is good in the role, his bones are sitting somewhere on the island, and it was somewhat nice to see a back story have some sort of ramification on the show’s overall mythology after a few very insular back stories.

The Common Indian Myna – Claire

Now, apparently, the Common Indian Myna is an invasive pest in Australia, which is kind of how I felt about Claire in this episode. Don’t get me wrong, the character isn’t quite that awful, but the problem was that it was a diversion to the much more interesting storyline regarding the search for the Others’ barracks.

It just sometimes feels like it’s a different show we’re watching, and this is frustrating when the other storyline involves people suffering from cerebral hemorrhage. Claire’s storyline wasn’t terrible in terms of backstories go, but her quest for a sea bird was too similar to everyone else’s quests to get off the island and provide hope for the future. Much like Bernard’s, however, there really wasn’t much hope in the least, and it was all rather misguided.

I like that we’re returning to long-forgotten characters, but I just felt like there were more important stories to be telling…and therefore it was a storyline very similar to an invasive pest.

The One That Flew the Coop – Jack

He’s fraternizing with the Others, playing football with Tom? From the preview, he’s being all friendly with even Ben? We knew that Jack was in fairly good spirits with the Others when they left the small island, but how did this all develop here? I’m assuming that it’s in an attempt to save Juliet’s life, but it’s clear that he’s not too concerned about escaping anytime soon (The running towards them was a neat little freakout).

I think it adds an interesting dynamic to things, and I very much like how this storyline is moving quite quickly. Whereas often these storylines have taken awhile to develop, this has moved quite quickly. One episode wandering in the woods following North, one episode at the Flame, one episode getting past the sonic boom fence, and then bam! They’re at the barracks. Some nice little mythos tidbits along the way (Some interesting stuff with the list and the talk about leaving and coming to the island [For its healing properties?]), and some neat action sequences, and we find ourselves at a crossroads.

This is the kind pacing we saw in the show’s first season, and I think it’s a return to form of sorts. Now that we’re back to an integration between the Others and our castaways, let’s see if it can continue.

If you didn’t get a chance to see the episode, continue on for a recap.

We open to a black-haired Claire’s eye. She’s bleeding, having set off a car’s airbag in some form of collision. There is a body on the ground, apparently her passenger…which is her mother. (Honestly, more parent issues?) Anyways, she wakes out of her dream as Charlie is spending some time with Aaron while Claire has her little nap.

Claire questions Charlie’s newfound love for life after his depressive “I’m going to die phase” but he wins her over with a picnic down the beach.

Meanwhile, Locke and Sayid are spending some time with the electrical wiring map, and Mikhail is being kept alive against Locke’s and Rousseau’s wishes. Kate, however, agrees with Sayid and thinks that they should just move on and get on with it.

Meanwhile, back on the beach, Desmond is spending some time hunting while Claire is getting ready to enjoy her beach picnic. Desmond is insisting that Charlie go hunting, clearly looking out for his best interests (aka his life), but he resists just long enough to witness Claire spotting some birds in the sky and deciding that she knows how to get off this island. Somehow, methinks that Charlie’s life may be in danger should he stick around to see her crazy plan.

“Lost”

Claire runs back to Jin and Sun, and Claire decides that she needs to catch birds. She wants some nets, you see, to catch some sea birds. The sea birds are tagged, you see, so if they put a message on them they will take it to climates further south. As Desmond stands off in the distance, Charlie gets all down on the idea; Claire spots him, and realizes that Desmond is having a rather negative impact on things.

We return to a hospital room as Officer Barnes is visiting our friend Claire. She claims a truck forced them off the road while she was driving, and that she has no father to contact. Ms. Littleton has no idea how fast she was driving, and is angry at these questions when her mother is not yet dead.

On the island, Kate and Rousseau sit by the stream to have a little female bonding time. Kate has a question: “I told you that your daughter was living them them…and you haven’t asked me a single question about her.” I never looked to her as a feelings type of gal, and she concurs; she knows that Alex would have no clue who she is, or that she ever existed. She doesn’t want the answers to those questions, it would be all too painful to her.

It’s time for a session of “Grill Mikhail,” sponsored by “He won’t give you any answers, says Rousseau.” Now we’re getting into some neat stuff about the List, the man who brought all of these people here. This magnificent man is not Ben, but rather someone else; you are not on the list because you are flawed, because you are angry, because you are weak and frightened. Mikhail knows more about them than they realize, especially Locke, who he appears to have a connection with (Much as Ben did).

Rousseau, however, frustratingly interrupted the discussion to spot a long line of metal structures in an open field. This seems to signal their arrival at the camp of sorts.

Back on the beach, Claire is building her bird net with Jin as Sun arrives with some fish guts. Sun takes a chance to talk about her mother, which is of course nice and timely for a Claire-related flashback. Claire’s mother was a librarian, you see, and we flash back to said mother in a rather sorry state of disrepair in a hospital room.

As she enters the room, she meets with her Aunt Lindsay who seems to be rather angry with Claire. A Neurosurgeon enters and starts to discuss the rather severe head trauma involved. Lindsay, in particular, seems unimpressed by this news, and Claire realizes that she’s rather dependent on the life support. It could be days or weeks or years until she wakes up, which scares Lindsay in terms of money…but a mysterious benefactor has paid for them. How odd.

Meanwhile, Jin has finished the trap and Claire is rather perturbed when gunshots are heard. Desmond appears to not want her to catch these birds, there’s little question about that.

Sayid, up by our mysterious pylons, wishes to know what they are. Sayid believes they are security barriers, an alarm system, and asks Mikhail what it is. He claims that it is not functioning, and that they couldn’t even go around it if they tried. Sayid seems interested, but Locke decides to test the theory by sending Mikhail over the border…

Where he proceeds to frackin’ foam at the mouth and bleed all over the place. Which was awesome.

We return to some rather confused castaways looking at a cerebral hemorrhage victim, and Locke notes that they never would have traded him anyways. Locke is being kind of sketchy, and is especially defensive about his pack. The reason is clear, as Locke has taken one of the blocks of C4…which means he knew it was there, and that he likely knew the shack was going to blow. I like a return to Locke’s motives here.

Charlie is keeping Aaron, you see, and is defensive as Claire accuses him of colluding with Desmond. Charlie claims it’s all about false hope (Not true), and Claire decides that she doesn’t want her baby around liars…and now she’s going just a little bit crazy in this situation. Man, Charlie, too high-maintenance for you.

Claire returns to the hospital with a new haircut, and her mother appears to have gotten a new doctor. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s Jack’s father. Who, now that I remember correctly, is actually Claire’s real father. Or, at the very least, an acquaintance of sorts. Mr. Shephard is the one paying the pills, taking care of all of this; and who is he? He’s Claire’s father. Duh. Claire? Not so ready for that particular piece of news, and one wonders why Jack and Claire never got a chance to have a heart to heart in all their time on the island.

We return to Locke chopping down a very tall tree and the beginning of the construction of a large pole with which to cross over the barrier between the pylons. They need to give the sensors a wide berth, and Kate decides to cross over first. She crawls her way up the pole, and she stops at the threshold between possible sonic pulse and no sonic pulse. She jumps to the ground…no sonic pulse. But the music is staying quite ominous as Locke decides to go over next. Nothing happens, however, after he crosses successfully.

Sun is crazy if she thinks that Claire has reason to be upset, although Desmond and Charlie talking off in the background looks fairly suspicious. Claire wants answers, and we apparently want to know more about her father’s introduction into her life. As she works piercing some ears, he enters into the tattoo shop. He wants coffee, and she wants nothing to do with him. In the end, they compromise with coffee.

Father and daughter have a fair amount of things to discuss, and Dr. Shepherd calls it a “fling” of sorts. He came out a bunch of times when she was little, as we may have seen when he hired Ana Lucia. His reason for being here now is actually quite sinister; he wants her to help him in finding a way to have her mother taken off life support. She doesn’t want to know Dr. Shepherd’s name, even, which at the very least writes away the Jack connection.

Claire is following Desmond now as he heads towards a rock formation. Desmond has found one of the birds, and manages to…pick it up with his bare hands from a nest of sorts. It appears that he had one of his premonitions, as Claire kind of figures out based on his straight trajectory. She wants to know what the hell is going on, and now we see if Desmond is going to tell her.

Yep…right over there was where Charlie was going to slip and fall, smashing his head into the rocks and breaking his neck multiple times. That’s where Charlie died, you see. Awkward.

Claire comes back with the bird still magically in her hands and it has a tag on its foot; Charlie admits she was right, and Claire reveals that she knows about the visions. As Charlie asks if she believes all of that, we flash back to Claire, pregnant with Aaron, just before she left on her flight to LA. The nature shows she watched appear to have been with her comatose mother, as she stops by to visit.

Claire needs to tell her that she’s pregnant, you see; she’s giving it away, and she wishes that her mother was there to help her through it all. Claire takes a guilt trip for the awful things she said to her in the car: how she hated her, and that she wished she weren’t her mother, and that she wished she was dead. It’s all Claire’s fault, apparently. I’m not really objecting here, to be honest.

Charlie is dictating the survival message that they are placing on the bird’s tag. Sawyer gets his second shot of the episode, reading a book…I didn’t get to see, unfortunately. Desmond takes a break from saving Charlie’s life, and Jin and Sun are taking care of Aaron. They don’t want to be given up on.

It’s Claire’s words, and she’s not giving up on Charlie either. She claims that he’s going to be okay…I’m doubting this, but she can dream all she wants. They let the bird roam free into the sky, and I have to wonder to what extent people are going to notice the tiny slip of paper in its feet. It won’t actually be effective at all…but anyways, we return to important people.

Those important people are Kate, Sayid and Sawyer, along with Rousseau. They appear to have arrived at the Barracks, and indeed they have; there is a bicycle. And Jack is coming running towards them. He is, however, too busy playing football with Tom to notice, and spikes it in celebration of a touchdown with aplomb at episode’s end.

“Lost”