Lost - "Whatever the Case May Be" Revisited

Another Lost repeat this week. I find the outrage that people express whenever Lost is a repeat to be pretty funny. It's almost as if these people have never watched a serialized network drama before. For the uninitiated, there's something like 40 weeks of programming during a typical network "season". Traditionally, a full season of any program is 22 episodes. Therefore, there are always 18 weeks of repeats each season- or 18 weeks when the show is not on. That's right, almost 50% of the time. (We're actually lucky with Lost - it was a full 24 hours last season, and the same looks to be the case this year.)

Granted, some networks are moving towards more of a "year-round programming" concept, and doing "non-stop seasons" a la 24 - but most TV shows are going to have repeats in the months of October, December, January, March, and April (and all summer). They're not sweeps months. It's the nature ofthe industry. Get over it.

Honestly, as cool as it is to watch new episodes of 24 each week, for a show like Lost, I prefer having it last as long as possible. Since there is so much to think about and research on the show, it's downright mentally exhausting to watch, analyze, predict, and write about each episode week in and week out. If nothing else, repeats give me a chance to rest up... and forget about how quickly the show likes to drop and ignore promising storylines (but I digress).

It's like a bye weekduring the NFL season. Without them, I would probably die from exhaustion. Which brings us to this week - another repeat, this time of Season 1, Episode 12: "Whatever the Case May Be".

As I've said before, I'd like to think that there is some master plan, and they pick the repeated episodes for a reason. It might be to remind us of characters we haven't seen in a while. It might be to remind us of a storyline that hasn't been referenced in a while. Or it might be picked at random by network executives who mock my overanalysis. Either way, here are a few points to ponder this week:

1. Kate's Criminal Past. Granted, she is uber-hot and most of her crimes are easily justifiable - but deep down inside, she's a badass who knows how to wield a gun and use people for her advantage. She's feisty. We were very recently reminded that Sawyer isn't all cuddly when he stole the guns - will we soon get a reminder that Kate is also somewhat of a wild card on the Island?

(Note: The real highlight of the episode...)





2. CFL's Notes. Yes, CFL (Crazy French Lady to the new reader outthere, because typing "Rousseau" is too hard) scribbled The Numbers a lot, but there looks to be a considerable amount of other information on her papers that have never been explained. Finding Nemo song lyrics. A map of the Island showing a boat that looks very similar to the Others'. Strange mathematical equations that even Sayid can't figure out. Will any of these ever come back into play? Or do we write them all off as CFL being crazy?



3. Tide Rising. In the end, I think this small scene is the main reason for repeating this episode. Freakishly, the tide suddenly rises very quickly and the Survivors are forced to gather their belongs and move up the beach. This is a very important point that hasn't been mentioned in quite some time. This is also the only episode that ever referred to it. Why? Yes, there is the practical excuse that it gave the set crew an "out" for not having to put up the crashed Fuselage on the beach every week. But it also seems to indicate that this Island isn't just your run of the mill Island full of crazy people. There's something crazy about the Island itself. Like, is it even an Island? Our foolish cast still hasn't ventured around the entire perimeter. Is it somehow mechanical? We've seen Hatches leading to a very developed underbelly, holes appearing for "The Monster" to spring from, and trees flying out of the ground as if shot out. Is this Island somehow a living, breathing thing?

Let's see how long these pictures will stay up!