Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Lost - "D.O.C."


Episode Title: “D.O.C.”

Andi’s Deeper Meaning Guess: The beauty of using a TLA (Three Letter Acronym) as an episode title is that it is laden with potential meanings. Death of Charlie, Day of Contact, Department of Commerce, Department of Correction, Drug of Choice, etc, etc. However, this week’s protagonists are Jin & Sun, and the only current unresolved storyline they are involved in is Sun’s pregnancy. I think you therefore have to conclude that D.O.C. most likely refers to Date of Conception.





At the end of the regular ABC preview, Sun says “I lose either way.” Referring back to the series title, what we care about is whether the date of conception occurred before the plane crashed or after. In “The Whole Truth” we learnt that Jin was infertile. So if the baby was conceived before the crash, then it’s obviously not Jin’s and likely to be Jae’s, her English teacher. However, if the baby was conceived after the crash, well, we know what happens to people who get pregnant on the island. It’s fatal. Claire survived because she was already eight months pregnant when she arrived on the island – providing the ideal control case for Juliet’s theory that something happens at conception to make the body attack the foetus. That’s why the D.O.C. is so important, but Sun loses either way.

NB – Unlike last episode, this is a real catch-22 situation. Jin wants a baby, but if it was conceived off the island, it’s not his. If it was conceived on the island, it’s doomed.

But let’s explore a few other meanings, for fun!

The potential Death of Charlie (or Claire) has been an ongoing topic since the very beginning. Either those characters are cursed, or the producers made them annoying to viewers on purpose so we would root for their demise. I don’t think any other character has been put into harm’s way as much as these two. I feel bad just thinking about it. But how many times has Charlie “almost” died?





NB – Charlie has been hit by one of CFL’s traps before:



How about Drug of Choice? The 4-81516-23-42 drug was injected into Claire by Ethan when she was captured. At the time, Ethan said it was a vaccine but there wasn’t enough for Claire and her baby. It was the same drug Desmond injected himself with when he was in the Swan for three years. There is currently some at the beach camp, as Charlie found some in a supply drop.

Is this a drug that Juliet developed to save the mothers-to-be on the island? Desmond told Claire the drug doesn’t do anything but maybe it doesn’t do anything for males – could it have been designed to prevent death from pregnancy?

Before Alex rescued Claire, she was being prepped for surgery in The Staff. They had injected the drug into her, which someone had prepped her for a Caesarean or baby-extraction procedure. Could this be Sun’s dilemma? Either she accepts that she and the baby dies, or she takes the Drug of Choice, which means the baby has a chance of living, but she dies in surgery. She loses either way.

To be honest, I feel like we moved on from the drug, the sickness and the numbers – I don’t see the producers raising all this again, especially with the season finale so teasingly close. It would be a Pandora's box...

Episode Description: After discovering that all of The Others' pregnant women died before giving birth on the island, an extremely reticent Sun allows Juliet to examine her -- and uncovers the identity of the unborn child's father. Meanwhile, Desmond allows an unlikely nemesis to help save the life of a new, mysterious island inhabitant.

Guest starring are Byron Chung as Mr. Paik [Sun’s father], Andrew Divoff as Mikhail [Patchy], Marsha Thomason as Naomi [Parachutist], John Shin as Mr. Kwon [Jin’s father], Alexis Rhee as older woman, Esmond Chung as Paik's associate and Jean Chung as Paik's secretary.

Episode Breakdown: Isn’t it funny how many things can crash onto the island? You’d think the Pacific ocean was about as big as my bath tub. So, Naomi is a new, mysterious island inhabitant. We know from the book she was carrying that she speaks Portuguese, which happened to be the same language the two researchers working for Penny spoke. And, she was using a photo of Desmond and Penny as a bookmark. This is a huge reveal for the ultimate storyline. It means that Penny and her team know how to get to the island now. It’s no longer off-the-maps. So, we now have a path for a rescue attempt in series 4 or 5 from Michael or Penny.

Who is the unlikely nemesis? Well, I’ve never been to Korea, but I bet there isn’t much call for Russians out there. So unless there is another crazy everyone-is-connected or others-are-always-watching moment in the flashbacks, it’s safe to say the Patchy is still alive and well. We all saw what happened to him in the sonic barrier, but no-one checked his pulse afterwards. Our crack team just left him for dead. I don’t think the producers are going to open the cloning can of worms just yet, so I’ll bet it’s the same Patchy. To be fair, he did patch up Sayid after he shot him, so he has some medical skills which could save Naomi.

Meanwhile, Juliet learns that Sun is pregnant. Incidentally, if your wife is pregnant, do you leave her to go camping with buddies who don’t understand you? Anyway, she tells Sun all about how mothers-to-be are really dead-in-waiting and so they have to find out when Sun got pregnant, and therefore who the father is. They both go to the medical hatch, The Staff, and Juliet gets to perform crazy tests. She’d obviously need DNA from the fathers to do a DNA test, and since Jae isn’t around, it’ll be something around checking out how big the foetus is, and determining how many months pregnant Sun is. Long shot guess: Sun’s life is endangered by these tests – Desmond gets a flash and tells Jin, who starts running across the island to save her. Either that, or he’s running away from Mikhail, having been strangled by him earlier in the episode.

The flashbacks centre around Sun and Jin. I have absolutely no idea what’s going on, but I expect Sun’s father to be overbearing and Jin’s father to be wise and moral. I’ve just watched the preview for the 600th time, and I’ve realised that Sun’s hair when she says “I lose either way,” is strikingly different. It’s clearly in her flashback! So here’s the new flashback theory. We pick up where we left off in the Jin/Sun back story. Sun’s father has to have words with his daughter about her infidelity shaming him. But he isn’t the kind of guy that wants to have his dirty laundry aired. It would bring massive shame on his family if it became public that Jin was sterile. So he tells his daughter, “Either you get impregnated by my associate [Esmond Chung] or I tell Jin about your infidelity.” She loses either way (bingo!) Jin believes that Sun has been faithful to him, so she clearly has kept her secret from him. Esmond’s character, feels bad about the whole thing, especially as he works with Jin, so he tells the secretary to hand Sun an envelope of money. Sun refuses. Is that all the characters worked in? Great!

And finally, we’re going to see a shot of the others camping out. They are staring up at something – maybe the flare that Hurley fires, the helicopter, or smokey? This’ll just be a tease, setting things up for next week’s Locke episode.

Phew! Thanks to Brian for this opportunity, but I’m not doing that much work again for a TV show! It’s made me appreciate Brian’s posts a whole lot more. Are you pumped for this episode? I think this’ll be a decent episode but the real fireworks will be next week…
Discussion has already begun over at the forum. Clicky!

34 comments:

James said...

Andi - great job, I really enjoyed that. I especially loved all the pictures of Charlie getting hurt, haha.

Anonymous said...

I agree... AWESOME! You have pretty big shoes to fill, but you're doing a mighty fine job. Brian should be pleased.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, nicely done, Andi! I hadn't done a lot of thinking yet about what D.O.C. could signify, but now it seems to make perfect sense.

Can't wait for this episode... but at the same time I'm starting to dread the pending LOST withdrawals of the summer hiatus! This stuff is just too much fun.

heliopath said...

really really good stuff there. well thought out with some original ideas. for your sake i hope you were right but for my sake i usually prefer being surprised even after reading episode previews. maybe i should stop reading them.

but great work, lots of thought put in. its good to get fresh perspectives on the whole big picture.

Anonymous said...

Great Job, Cap'n! You may just be putting Brian out of a job!

Did anyone see the freeze frame from this weeks preview that shows the alternate result of the arrow shot? Apparently, the original script called for Desmond to save Charlie's life, but he still get's hit with the arrow. I guess the way it happened was Charlie gets spun around and takes the arrow right up his asshole! I mean, right smack in the middle of the starfish! I'm glad they changed that scened because it was pretty sick.

Anonymous said...

So, does Sawyer replace his eyeglasses with "Sexy Specs" from DOC? Please tell me Richard Golden isn't going to fall from the sky next!

Anonymous said...

A couple holes for you:
Patchy was in "one of us" in a flashback but in current time on the island, he's dead. He could be in anybody's flashback, I mean, who'd have thought that Juliet would be in Paulo's flashback. Anything is possible. Also, didn't Sayid check Mikhail's pulse? I'm almost sure he did. That dude was D.E.A.D.

Jin isn't impotent. He's sterile. Big, big difference. He can get wood, but he's shooting blanks.

I'll bet that Desmond turns to Danielle for help. They are right in her neighborhood. I'm not sure why she'd be a nemesis to Desmond, though.


Great job filling in, man. You did a really nice job.

andi said...

Thanks everyone.

Anon - Thanks for the impotence lesson. I updated the main post. Whilst Patchy was in a flashback, he was on the island. I will bet my dinner tonight that he isn't in an off-island flashback in this episode :) We'll see who's right though - my gut says he's alive!

Also, one final thought. When Sun says her line, she's clearly off the island. But she's talking English. That isn't usual, especially as her English teacher is dead in the flashback timeline (and he's not listed as a guest star). She must be speaking to some kind of medical expert because as everyone knows, English is the universal language of science. Either that, or her father found out about her English lessons, and sent his English speaking associate (boom!) to intervene.

jb_dean said...

Very good supposition but I would suggest looking at the preview one more time. The only time Sun's hair is different is when she's shown alone facing the camera. It's a lighter brown and her hair is swept over to look like bangs. The moment she says "I lose either way" she's speaking to Juliet (seen to our right) and is in the Staff exam room.

Anonymous said...

Oh man, Patchy is so dead! The only way he's coming back is if Jesus himself raises him from the dead! I usually have to spend quite a bit of time working on my act...you know, convulsing and bleeding out of my ears and neck. Once you nail it, you'll impress the ladies!

Also, any word on if that preview did show an arrow going up Charlie's ying yang?

Stef said...

Another great post! All you FOB's are doing a terrific job. :-)

Anonymous said...

what has happened to the comments in this place since Brian left??? It is a bit over the top sometimes. Sad when the age of a poster becomes OVERWHELMINGLY apparent!

Anonymous said...

Greatly done Andi, you actually made me excited about this episode! ;)

Anonymous said...

Patchy can't be alive - I'm sorry, but that's just out there. Think about the phrase, "unlikely nemesis". Why emphasize 'nemesis'? Because it is a contrast with ally. Someone we would think should be an ally to Desmond turns out to be his nemesis -- perhaps someone who doesn't want his visions to come true. Perhaps Claire who has heard that he nearly got Charlie killed? Danielle? Juliet? Not someone who is unlikely to be alive. Certainly if Patchy would be alive, he would almost certainly be a nemesis; why would he show up to the beach in any case?

Renee' said...

Very clever Andi!
I can't wait for show!!

Renee' said...

One more thing...
about Sun's hair, for only being on the island for around 71 days (according to Lostpedia) her hair has really grown! What's up?!

Anonymous said...

Hey Great Post Andi.

Good call on the title's double entendre. Although, I've been thinking about it and I don't want Charlie to die anymore. I've had a change of heart and I want Desmond to be able to save him. I can't explain it but I've got some way out thoughts on Desmond's purpose. So let's just say I hope this episode all has to do with Date of Conception. Personally I hope the island healed Jin's swimmers. And I hope it's not Jin's funeral this episode.

Anyone gonna speculate on the the preview shot of (IMHO) the Others camp?

And just a quick note about last ep and getting out of a crashing helicopter. You don't need an ejection seat (except maybe for single seat cockpit type attack choppers). What you don't remember the Matrix?

Anonymous said...

1. If you go back and watch "Par Avion" when Kate gets over the sonic fence, you can clearly see the actor, Andrew Divoff, breathing.

2. We never see Kate, Sayid, John, etc., take a PULSE or check ABC (airway, breathing, chest movement)!

3. In their podcast, Damon & Carlton suggested that Mikhail might not be dead.

Now, the breathing thing MIGHT have been a mistake similar to the crappy production of the Marvin Candle videos, but it seems much more likely that Patchy is still alive, even more likely than Kelvin still being alive.

Whatever your opinion is, you must admit that Patchy's seemingly fatal injury was rather ambiguous.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

If Jin is not the father of Sun's child.....why could'nt she simply deceive him and not tell him? Any way you cut it, he'd never know.

As for Juliette.....she is laser focused on doing and saying anything to anyone in order to get off the island and go home. As a result, as we all know, impossible to know when she is honest and when she is lying. Hopefully, if or when Jack finds out she's a lier, we'll get to see him smack her around a bit!

Alec said...

Just an off-the-wall thought: Maybe Patchy and Locke had a little deal, where Locke pushes Patchy into the fence, and Patchy (well-schooled in the arts of special effects, foaming tablets, and phony blood geysers) fakes his death... Discuss...

Anonymous said...

Andi, really good job! I enjoyed reading your take..

As for Patchy being alive (btw am I the only one that when reading "Patchy", thinks of patch dude on Days of Our Lives 20 yrs ago?) But I digress.. I'm hoping Patchy is alive, because he's wack-a-doo enough to really turn things upside down.

Anonymous said...

And Alec... you know if done right, foaming tablets and blood geysers can come in handy in getting you to the front of the line at Disney World... just sayin'..

Anonymous said...

Wow Anon so not cool. Heather's Brain didn't really say anthing mean she just asked why you felt the need to go that route. No need to get pissy. Many of us here agree with her and would prefer comments like those left out.

andi said...

Let's all leave the insults and discussion of body parts in the playground. And get back to the real reason for comments - saying how great I am :)

Renee' said...

Andi,
Please delete the comment from anonymous at 5:42. Totally offensive.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Andi, very true! HOW GREAT THOU ART!

I actually got caught up in the rudeness, I forgot to mention that was an awesome post!!!!

My appologies, and KUDOS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Very awesome analysis! I have mad respect for you. And what is up with the 8th grade humor from anon? Come on, dude....are you that immature that you are posting anal jokes? I respect everyone's opinion and thoughts from this blog. Grow up, dude!

Anonymous said...

It will be poor story telling to imply that Sayid would be so sloppy and allow Patchy to be left, unverified if he was dead or alive.

Jason said...

I doubt sayid believes anyone could bleed from every hole in their head and not die. I know that to me it seems pretty hard to believe. However I am surprised he didn't check for a pulse, but as we know from expose there are things that can make people look dead and even a doctor would have a hard time getting a pulse so maybe his heart slowed down and the others found him, realized what happened and saved him. who knows.

Anonymous said...

good point jason - thanks!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I guess that could be true... it wasn't a fake death, the effects would have been real. However, he would have had to return to consciousness when the fence was off, wouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

the forum is so busy now, i can not get in...so i am checking in here...THIS EPI WAS HUGE!!!!!!!!

I am not sure where to begin!!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, so Patchy really was breathing after he went through the fence. That was not another stupid production mistake!

And, wow, so Kate, Sayid, Danielle, and John really are THAT stupid...