Wednesday, April 25, 2007

D.O.C. Instant Analysis

Rutkowski's Several Word Review: Full of nuggety goodness.

I didn't really know what to expect for this episode. I enjoy the flashbacks involving Sun and Jin because I'm that rare breed of person that likes to read subtitles while hearing languages that I don't understand, but I wasn't sure how much story they had left to tell. As it turns out, it appears that there is quite a bit more left. I'm going to break my instant analysis down into two parts, first reflecting on the flashback, and then on the action taking place on the Island.

Sun and Jin's awesome flashback: Intrigue aplenty! As if the honorability of Jin's father wasn't in question enough to the Paiks, it turns out that his mom is even shadier. Not only does she have some things in common with the neighborhood bicycle (oh snap!), she's even shameless enough to use this fact to blackmail Sun. I particularly enjoyed the Trashy-Moms-Blackmails-Sun-Sun-Blackmails-Questionable-Father bit during this episode, and found it quite revealing that Mr. Paik for at least a little while was willing to allow Jin to work in the family business, without working in the family business. Upon finding the money, Jin also had the wisdom to foreshadow the consequences of being in debt to Sun's father, but the ending also made it clear that Sun is a crime boss's daughter and that crossing her has consequences as well.

Awesome Island action: There's a leadership void on the beach, and maybe Jack doesn't have the chops anymore. Havng an identifiable leader around is great when you need people to fall into line, but when you want answers like Sun does, it's time for action and that's what we got when Sun chose to confront Juliette directly. The result, of course, was that she was given answers, and hopefully we can expect similar occurences in future episodes as our Lostaways force the action. I wasn't entirely surprised that there was more to the medical hatch than previously discovered, but it was downright chilling when Juliette explained how the room they went to was a place where pregnant women prepared to die. The hospice hatch? Creepy. Juliette seemed to genuinely enjoy working with Sun, deepening the mystery surrounding her motives.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle, events with the campers took more twists than a Chubby Checker record. Our parachutist we soon discover suffered some ugly injuries during her descent, and it appears as though she's speaking multiple languages. I've never been delirious, but I find it interesting that she was trying to communicate something multilingually. After Hurley fires a flare, we find out that Patchy (?!?!) is alive and well, and also got to witness Jin's Chuck Norris impression. Patchy saves the parachutist in gruesome fashion, and then attempts to make off with the satellite phone. I can't quite figure him out - living through the fence is weird enough, but Ben's reaction to him, and with the cloudiness of his motives... we just don't have very many pieces to his puzzle. The action on the Island ends with Patchy leaving the campers behind, and the parachutist telling Hurley that to the outside world, flight 815 was found and that there were no survivors.

Things to chew on:

-Jack was wearing red. For some reason, my gut is trying to tell me something about this that my head hasn't figured out. Any ideas?

-Jin was in the military, meaning the count of military connections continues to grow. It strikes me that there's more to the story of Jin's service and why military service is such a prevalent theme on the show.

-So, the medical hatch was built with a secret passage. What does this tell us about its construction and the original purposes behind its usage? Also, the recorder - is that just for Juliette, or are other Others communicating in this way at various points on the Island?

-We're definitely going to need some translations for this episode. It sure seemed like some interesting things might be uncovered from this episode with the help of some Chinese/Italian/Korean speakers.

-Juliette said that in her 3 years on the Island, she lost 9 patients. The Others have been sustaining some serious casualties since our Lostaways arrived, and it looks like previous to that they were having some big time population issues as well. This has to be of some concern.

-Patchy acknowldged to the campers that the Island does indeed have healing properties, and it looks like we can add Jin's fertility to the list of miracle healings.

-Is it just me, or is something about Desmond reminiscent of Locke and his interactions with the Island and the Others?

-It appears as though Juliette's mission is to get "samples" from the women on the beach. Well, that's weird. Looks like Kate's up next. Whatever that means.

That's all for now. I'll go into things in much greater detail for the complete analysis, and I'm already formulating ideas regarding Juliette's actions and our mysterious parachutist. If you have any ideas, don't hesitate to leave comments or visit the message board.

58 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOO HOO I am first! I am so excited about this episode!!!

Unknown said...

It's about time somebody besides Sayid demanded answers! Granted, Sun only got a few morsels, but its more than Jack got in a whole season! Bah, we need a leadership revolt on the beach!

Anonymous said...

I am so with you on the rebecca!

Another thing I wanted to say something about...for a split second, when parachutist says flight 815 was found and there were no survivors...Hurley's face looked like he was thinking..."Man, MY MONEY!"

Ha, just kidding...anyway, I really thought this episode had so much in it, I will have to watch it again!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh, dang...I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO SAY GREAT INSTANT REACTIONS! thrid time is a charm!

You all have done such a great job in Brian's absence, he will be so proud of all of you!!!!

My name is Patrick. said...

What about Juliet saying she hates Ben? Clearly, he has something horrible planned in the next few days for the survivors and she doesn't like it. She must be participating in it because of something he has promised her...

Anonymous said...

I am convinced that anything Juliet does, is strictly related to her sister! She is in fear of what they can do to her, like her ex and that is what keeps her in play. It is a major game these others play! I am very interested to see what this ONE WEEK thing pans out to be, but it must be to find more women to get prego. The others need more 'mates' as it was discussed before that they are falling off in rapid numbers!

Anonymous said...

*Nearly entire episode*....*last 10 seconds*..."Oh by the way, we found you guys, and you were all dead" WHAT
?!?!? HUH?!?!

heliopath said...

is purgatory theory back on the table?

ok i know it was killed before but come on, u guys all thought of it when she said that. it would Somehow make sense. (all these weird unconnected people arrive on the island from different crashes etc)

Smoke monster as the final judge. People who are not good enough "die" by his hand. The rest of the island is a test, to see if u go to hell or heaven. or heck maybe to see if u go back to earth (get rescued) or die for good.

Characters that we see are on the boarder so they must still be reviewed, they have a chance to make up for it.

the reason why it was a "bumpy ride" for julliette and had to be drugged had to do something with crossing dimensions into this purgatory place.

maybe also why no one really goes back to earth? maybe richard & ethan did somehow.

ok another question
how the hell was Ben born on the island if female's cant give birth?

makes no sense. but if u believe the purg thing then he died as an infant and lived his entire life on the island. No judgements because he hasnt had a full life.

i dont know but it adds up more than it should.

it makes sense with the last line of the episode.


lets see what happens in the analysis. lets so where the hell these funny guys are going with this thing. becides laughing at confusing the hell out of us.

cheers

heliopath said...

maybe the others stay neutral, dont do anything bad just go along with their research and weirdo cult lifestyle. But julliette, who killed one of her own and got branded is now being tested by smokey too? (encounter from a few episodes ago?)

Renee' said...

If Juliet needed a "sample" from Kate, why didn't she get it when she was caged on Alcatraz?

Unknown said...

Jin's service in the military is most likely due to the fact that all Korean males have mandatory 2 years military service. So it's not he voluntarily joined, it is something all Korean guys have to do when they turn 18 or 20 or something.

Renee' said...

Great post RutkowskiLives!
Looking forward to your In Depth Analysis...don't keep us waiting!!!

Anonymous said...

Is Juliet going to collect a typical "sample" for a pregnancy test?

Ewwwwwww.....

Anonymous said...

The producers clearly ruled out any idea that LOST is about purgatory on at least one podcast. Something else must be up with flight 815. Maybe it's about time travel and our lostees are living on some alternate timeline due to Desmond's actions. Another therory may be that the reach of the Others off island is as such that they were able to manipulate the way in which the crash of 815 was spun in the media. The confusing thing about that idea however is that the dialogue revealed "they found 815....and there were no survivors".

Was a great episode....LOVED seeing Jin kick Patchy's ass....he's not to be messed with.

Sun's backstory was interesting too....in the end, Sun showed her true color when confronting Jin's blackmailing mother with a chilling threat.

Anonymous said...

We need someone to translate what Mikhail heard the parachute women say (in Italian?). When asked, Mikhail said "she said thank you" but obviously was lying.

On another point, Juliette is shown to be a conflicted person. She has been shown, this episode and past episodes, to be a caring person who values life (birth). However, she has been hardened, by circumstance and by Ben, to be driven to do anything to get off the island and return home.

Anonymous said...

Renee, the sample may be from a pregnant Kate. If a man's count is 5 times normal, then Kate may be pregnant...that is unless Sawyer had some protection in his wallet.

Anonymous said...

Question: Did Senor Patchy perform a tracheotomy (sp?) on the parachutist? If so, doesn't that eliminate the ability to talk until it is removed?

I also agree that Kate is the next to join the Prego convention...

Stef said...

Great post, Rutkowski! :-)

I agree it's looking more and more likely that Kate is preggers, too. Exponentially increased sperm count on the island? That was a weird little factoid for us to learn!

fearlessweaver said...

The only significance to wearing red I can think of is a reference to the original Star Trek ... the characters in the red shirts were always the ones to die.

Either the Others staged an elaborate duplicate crash site (seems unlikely) or some kind represents a different reality. The true nature of the island seems to encompass a lot of the prior theories: a little bit purgatory (they're all dead, in a sense), time travel (or, at least, an alternate time line) and cloning (all the survivors are doubles of their original selves).

Anonymous said...

I believe Patchy performed what we called in the army as "treatment for a sucking chest wound". It wouldn't effect her ability to talk. Also, my languages are a little shaky, but I think the 'chutist said "I know you," in Italian. Again, not sure, but I know the keepers of the blog will decipher in depth.

Mike said...

sinkingdeeper: Not a tracheotomy -- I don't know the exact science of it, but he jammed a tube through her chest into the lung. With a vent of sorts, the blood was able to flow out and air in. Kind of like when you open a can of juice at both ends so that it pours or, more applicably, what happens to Wahlberg's character in Three Kings (fantastic movie if you've never seen it).

anonymous/stef/etc: Agreed. Looks like my guess that The Others were attempting to breed Kate & Sawyer may not have been so far off after all...

Anonymous said...

About the no survivors of 815, maybe the powers at be just lied about finding the wreckage, as they probably should have had the capabilities to, and couldn't, they just assumed everyone is dead and that is the story the gave to the public. It is the most logical thing I can come up with at this time.

Steve said...

Patrick,

That's what i was going to say. To me, that line was one of the biggest of the episodes. "I HATE YOU" shows that Juliet isn't do this our of her own free will. He's got something over her... a blackmail per say. I think this episode shows that she's NOT a bad person, but is willing to do whatever it takes for whatever the blackmail is... getting off the island or Rachael health, or both.

Rebecca said...

I'm truly confused about Juliet. "I hate you" to Ben. Hmmmm is she good or bad. Is she once again bargaining with Ben to get her two faced azz off the island?

Loved the tough side of Sun. Interesting how her actions are the reason Jin is in the family business.

I think Patchy saw the flare and was going to meet the parachutist. He had to have been there for her. She said something to him that he translated as a thank you. Yeah, right.

I LOVE LOST!! xoxo RIP

Anonymous said...

Great episode! The fact that the island contains magical healing powers was mentioned at least 3 times. Twice by Patchy and once by Juliet.

I think the "others" and their deep pocket corporate sponsors may have strewn some wreckage about in the ocean somewhere and the outside world assumes that that is where the plane crashed and that there were no survivors. Why not? They have to get their test subject somewhere.

Oh by the way I finally placed the actress playing "Namoi" she was also Vanessa, the "Hot little Brit" from "Las Vegas" a few seasons ago.

JerryP.

Anonymous said...

Could it be possible that the parachute girl may be an other and thats why Patchy was there? Just a thought...

Great analisys man, way to go!

Renee' said...

Naomi says: "I am not alone" not "Thank you" to Patchy.

Anonymous said...

Something to chew on:

We saw real-time news coverage of an airborne Flight 815 when Ben/Juliette/Patchy watched from the communication station. Not positive, but I think the broadcast had a "LIVE" stamp. Will go back and check tonight.

How would networks get footage of a plane that was 1,000 miles off course before it crashed?

Two Flight 815s? Decoy? Hmmm...

Anonymous said...

good catch justme...
awesome comments and thoughts everyone...
I was so tired last night and so excited I couldn't put anything together!

Oh, I want to scream that I have no TIVO!

Anonymous said...

here's my theory on the whole "everyone from 815 died" -- it's a set up from the others. they made sure that no one would come looking for the survivors. so they made a replica plane and made sure someone would find it. they obviously have technology and power, so that seems like a plausable explanation. the last 10 seconds of the show always tries to freak you out and make it be some crazy thing, but usually has a simple explanation. anyone agree?

Anonymous said...

How do we even know that Naomi is telling the truth about flight 815?

Anonymous said...

I have my suspicions about Naomi and felt that she was testing different languages to see which they DID NOT understand. She tried Chinese with Jin, and let's face it, Hurley doesn't exactly look Hispanic/Latino/Spanish. Finally, she realized no one spoke Italian and used it to communicate with Mikhail.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone else notice that Hurley did a couple of suspicious "oops" type things last night?

1) Setting off the flare gun that brought Patchy to them; &

2) telling Patchy about the phone

What's that all about? Is he Jacob (I don't really believe that, but I've read it here before), or is he just that clumsy with what he says and does?

Anonymous said...

My guess is that Naomi was sent to restore communication and a side mission to look for Desmond.

Jason said...

Has anyone ever seen the movie based on Steven King's Book the Langoliers? Basically a plane flies through a gap in time and when they land they are alone and the world is empty. It turns out the got lost in time somehow the only way out is for them to fly the plane back through the hole. The pilot of 815 said they were 100 miles of course because he lost communications. What if he flew through a hole in time and thus it made a duplicate of the plane. One plane was found with everyone dead. The other continued flying until it crashed on the island. Thus everyone did die but the copies of them survived or vice versa maybe the copies died but the originals are on the island. Who knows.

Anonymous said...

GREAT, GREAT POST! Excellent, EXCELLENT episode!

--A trachiotomy (sp?) is puncturing the voice box. Mikhail punctured her lung to relive the fluid. The same thing happened in the movie 'Three Kings.'

Andi, mega props to you for calling the "Mikhail is still alive." I wonder if the sonic fence wounded him and knocked him unconscious and the island "regenerated" him.

Man, it sounds like chicks can get pregnant by coming within five feet of a dude. Chicks BEWARE!!
*Kate's probably pregnant...so, she may be killed off next season (so she can work on her movie career).

My thoughts on the cast:

*Juliet is PURE evil...and she hates Ben.

*Hurley is a moron.

*Jin (and every other asian) knows kung fu.

*Desmond looks like Eddie Vedder with a scottish accent (but can he sing Alive?).

*Charlie is making a ton of sense.

*Sun needs to be on an episode of Maury Povich.

*Jack is taking Locke's position as a tool (that is being used and abused).

*Mikhail can follow a flare and raise from the dead (a la Lazarus)...can't hide a phone, either.

Anonymous said...

Can't the pregnant women get an abortion and avoid death? Or is it something else to do with being pregnant?

Jason said...

What if the problem is not in the pregnant women at all? What if it has to do with the men and thier super sperm? Juliaet could be treating the effects of this particular disease without fighting the cause of it.

Anonymous said...

I also suggest Austin becomes pregnant as well as Juliette w/presumably Jack or even Goodwin being the daddy if the timeline works out OK.

heliopath said...

i like the alternate theories about the plane crash. Maybe jacob has that much of an earthly reach, ability to manipulate things that they faked the 815 crash?

its not like noami or anyone knew any of the survivors so couldnt ID them or anything. i guess its doing more with the time travel, alternate weird place in time and space

Anonymous said...

I am going for the conspiracy theory that WITH MONEY YOU CAN...and they duplicated the plane to hold off searches.

Bad news is that it wasn't necessary...the piolot told us first season, 1,000 miles off course.

I really believe they (Mittelos) have outstretched hands...remember Juliet's Ex???

This is a true indication to me that there is no way Others and DHARMA are seperate...as well as the hatches have secrets they know about.

Anonymous said...

I think the parachutist "Namoi" may be working for the others. I think when Locke entered the code 77, they sent her to the Island. That explains why Patchy decided to help her. She had the satilite phone because the communications center was blown to smithereens. She had the photo of Desmond because she was bringing a profile on him to Ben. What do you think?,,Larry

Anonymous said...

By the way Naomi is another Biblical name just like Bem, and Jacob. This adds to the likelihood she is connected to the others instead of just searching for Desmond on Behalf of Penny. Besides, Desmond doesn't always understand what he sees in his visions. He had interpreted part of the vision of Penny coming in the helicopter because he longs for her.....Larry

Anonymous said...

"laur said...
here's my theory on the whole "everyone from 815 died" -- it's a set up from the others. they made sure that no one would come looking for the survivors. so they made a replica plane and made sure someone would find it. they obviously have technology and power, so that seems like a plausable explanation. the last 10 seconds of the show always tries to freak you out and make it be some crazy thing, but usually has a simple explanation. anyone agree?"

That is exactly what I thought when Naomi said that. I don't think Purgatory is back on the table.

If Sun has about 2 months to live, and each season is approximately 1 month in "island time", that would line up with when the producers want to end the show... Based on what Juliet said last night, I don't think any of the Losties will die from pregnancy, even if they are/become pregnant, simply based on how slow time moves on the show.

One other thing, I can't believe Sun is the reason Jin had to beat people up!!!! Didn't she get mad at him when he came home with blood on his hands & shirt?? Kind of hypocritical!

Anonymous said...

I'm just irritated at Juliet and I don't know what Ben must have over her for her to supposedly hate him so much, but still do whatever he wants. If everything she does is about going home and being with her sis, Ben shouldn't have anything on her since the sub has been blown up. Can't trust her.

And while I don't want Naomi to be an Other, it is odd that she knew to use Spanish when Hurley was there, but to use Italian when Patchy was there. Like she wanted only him to understand.

Anonymous said...

There's one thing that I don't know if anybody noticed, or whether it's just me and my paranoia :D

Naomi, when she first said "help", I thought she did it in Portuguese. I'm Spanish, and I think I can distinguish pretty well between Portuguese and Italian.

And later, she started saying "eu no...", and "eu" is Portuguese for "I". So I don't know if she speaking Portuguese could be important or not, and maybe that's why Patchy quickly said she was speaking Italian.

But maybe this is not important at all, but with Lost, we all know every little detail counts :D

Regards!
Luis

Anonymous said...

I don't believe Naomi is connected to or associated with the Others. She was shown to have a picture of Desmond....and uttered Desmond's name.....to show that she was sent, presumably by Penny...to find him. She spoke in various tongues in her effort to find one that was recognized. If, as suggested on this board, that she was sent to bring info on Desmond, she would not just have a folded picture inside her book. Furthermore, speaking of her book...the reason they show a Portugese version is to create the link between Naomi and the Portugese sailors that were reporting directly to Penny. Finally, if her purpose was to bring communiciations to the island, the phone would not be out of battery power! I submit it is 100% likely that Naomi will be shown to be an agent related to search efforts funded by Penny!

As for mystery of her saying flight #815 was found and there were NO survivors.....whatever actually happened (ie; DHARMA faked the crash, etc), it obviously means to our survivors that NO one, other than Penny, is looking for them and it is accepted they are all dead.

Anonymous said...

I came across another blog which answers some questions:

http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/blog/index.jsp?uuid=6b216f1d-a86e-484e-b975-6a91fd7b612b

Naomi spoke in Portuguese to Patchy and said "I am not alone."

@ anonymous up a post: I don't know why Naomi would speak "in various tongues in her effort to find one that was recognized". Why would she need to guess what language would be understood; she apparently knows Desmond and knows he speaks English. Unless she doesn't really know English and Hurley imagined the whole Flight 815 has no survivors bringing back the he's crazy story!

Anonymous said...

I am not getting the whole timing of Sun's pregnancy. She has been pregnant 50 some days and they have been on the island 90 days. There is enough time in between there that she should have know that she wasn't pregnant by the guy she had an affair with (forgot his name). Plus when did he die anyway, just before they left?

Anonymous said...

I like justme's speculation that Naomi was trying out different languages to find one that no one understod BUT Patchy. She knew Desmond's name, so she should know to speak English to him. But it seems that she wanted to give a message just to Patchy: "I am not alone" which he understood and lied about to Desmond, Hurley, and Jin. I also think it's very interesting that soon after Hurley fired the flare gun, Patchy came racing to the rescue. Kind of like he already knew what he was going to find. So I'm thinking she does have some connection to the Others.

Anonymous said...

If they staged a crash site, how could Michael and his son suddenly reappear in civilization? I don't think Michael made it back to the outside world.

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to throw out a couple of thoughts I had regarding this episode and the commentary being discussed here.

Flight 815 found and no survivors -
I tend to fall in the staged by the others category. Given the plane broke up and scattered debris all over the island. How hard would it be for the Others to locate the black box, and haul it along with some smaller wreckage pieces and a couple of corpses out to sea with the boat they had given Michael. Of course that deception gets blown outta the water if Michael and Walt do make it back to civilization.

Naomis' "I'm not alone" comment and Mikaels deceptive translation - I believe she is there at Pennys request, and since Mikael kept everyone but Des at a distance and only he knows what was said. Now he and he alone could make contact/intercept the other arriving parties for who knows what purposes (get off the island, prevent losties rescue, steal whatever vehicle they arrived on, acquire new and non-EMP'd communication equipment (sat phone etc) that the rescue party may have so that he may once again resume his role as Communication Officer with the Others)

Loved the Sun/Jin backstory.
I hope Juliet will eventually turn on Ben and help the Losties.
Awesome, Mikael survives the sonic fence.
I still find it hard to believe that Lockes dad is really physically there.

Enough rambling for today,
I love this Blog!
Peace out.

Anonymous said...

am I the only one that got bothered with juliette's I hate you in the end? that was really conspicuous. why was she cursing ben? what could ben still be holding over her head that would force her to spy on the survivors?

Rebecca said...

Okiegal said...
Did anyone else notice that Hurley did a couple of suspicious "oops" type things last night?

1) Setting off the flare gun that brought Patchy to them; &

2) telling Patchy about the phone

What's that all about? Is he Jacob (I don't really believe that, but I've read it here before), or is he just that clumsy with what he says and does?

11:48 AM

Hey I noticed that about Hurley too. He was a little suspicious.

Rebecca said...

Cathy said...
If they staged a crash site, how could Michael and his son suddenly reappear in civilization? I don't think Michael made it back to the outside world.

6:18 PM

Things that make you go HMMMM.....

Anonymous said...

First of all there is no way Michael and his son were set free. That is the last thing the others would allow happen.

How hard is it for the others to obtain a copy of that picture of Des. and Penny. They can do anything they set their mind to.

I believe the parachute lady was a product of the others to throw the losties off. It was a big set-up. Unless I am missing something didn't Ben send one of his croonies to the outside world to take pictures of Juliettes sister. Then he told the guy hurry back. Or was that just a flashback of a long time ago that I am confused with.

Anyhow, I am so sad there are only a few episodes left. Is it true next season is the last and if so when does it start again?

Anonymous said...

Nice summary.

FYI: Military service is mandatory for all Korean men. So, it's not a surprise that Jin was in the military... now if he was special ops or something like that, that could be flushed out in future episdoes!

Anonymous said...

What if Naomi is a double agent working for Darma/others but hired by Penny to infiltrate the island and look for Desmond? That would explain how she knew some many languages like the others and where the island was. The pictures was stashed in her private book but no the main reason why she was sent to island.

I completely buy the fact that a fake flight 815 was "found", Naomi is looking for Desmond not out survivors anyway. I did think it was interesting how fast Patchy got to Desmond and co. It does seem like maybe he was waiting for her.

On a side note, the point was made the Claire had been "implanted" with a device activate remotely to allow Juliette to come and save the day. What if Patchy also had something similar and that he was able to fake his death to try and prevent the others from finding the barracks? All of the others may have this little trick up their sleeve. Maybe Mrs. Klue (spelling?) was eluding to this activation back at the communication station but Patchy wanted to continue on with the survivors.

Just my 2 cents, I love this Blog and check it all the time! Thanks for all the hard work from everyone.

Jennifer W.