Date of Deception

So, Sun's pregnant. I didn't care when we found out and I didn't care when I learned that this episode would revolve around that very thing.

I care now!

Juliette is playing a far deeper game than I ever suspected and she's not playing on the side you might imagine. Sun's date of conception is way more important than I could have ever believed.

Add to that two unexpected resurrections. One of a man and one of a theory. Read on.

This week opens with Sun in her garden. Jack shows up and offers to help, but he's really there in a medical capacity. He does a verbal work up on her while she reassures him repeatedly that she and her pregnancy are doing fine.

Aside from Jack's somewhat disconnected manner, the one thing that really stands out in the scene is how the camera work shows off that tattoo of his. Perhaps the best shots we've seen of it are in this scene and it almost seems to be a focal point. It might just be a coincidence, but I kept hearing "He walks among them but is not one of them" every time he was on camera.

Flash to Sun walking down a Korean boulevard, talking to her new husband on her cell phone. They talk of furniture and boxes and of course the bed. When Sun takes a seat on a bench, the woman sitting beside her notices her and points to a picture of her wedding day in the newspaper. The woman steers the conversation to Sun's powerful family and the difference in status between her and her new husband.



"It would bring much shame if it was known that Mr. Paik's daughter married the son of a fisherman."

"I know that and it doesn't matter."

"Really? Did you know that he was also the son of a prostitute?"

Obviously, Sun didn't know. The older woman demands one hundred thousand dollars for her silence.

Out in the jungle, the four refugees from Stand By Me have found their body. Only she's alive and speaking Spanish. Hurley's translation tells them that she's saying that she's dying. A quick examination reveals that she's been impaled on a branch from the tree on her way down. Since they can't move her safely, Desmond reasons that they need to bring Jack to her.

He plans to run, but Charlie thinks he's daft to try. It's too far for one thing and it's through dense, Other infested jungle for another. Desmond's answer is that since no one knows that the four of them are out there, he'll be safe from attack by the Others. He would have been right if Hurley didn't pick that moment to fire off the flare gun.



Oops.

In their apartment, Sun is unpacking the boxes they were talking about when Jin returns home. She has pictures of herself and her family to decorate with and asks if he has any of his family. He tells her that they didn't have a camera when he was growing up and when she asks if perhaps his Father left some pictures for him, he tells her that he was in the army when his Father died. She reminds him that he told her that he was only sixteen when his Father died, but when being caught in the lie infuriates him, she drops the subject.

On the beach, Sun and Kate are working on a shelter together. Sun wonders what happened to Jack while he was with the Others. She's noticed that the good Doctor seems different since he's been back. Kate tells her the little she knows about Jack's captivity and how he cooperated for a chance to get off the island.

"Do you believe him?"

Sun tells Kate about Jack's early morning visit and how it raised some suspicions about the good Doctor. Sun worries that perhaps the Others want her baby and just maybe they've found a way to subvert Jack into getting it for them. Her suspicions turn to Juliette and what she did for the Others. Kate tells her that the camp's newest addition was the Others' fertility doctor, spurring Sun into action. She storms across the sand and confronts Juliette.

"I want to know what's going on. I want answers. What are you people doing? Why are you taking children? What happens to pregnant women on this island? What happens..."

"They die. They all die."

Can it be? First Sayid asks the questions we've all been asking, then a round table discussion, now Kate shares information with Sun and Sun in turn asks questions...

Apparently, Juliette isn't the only new addition to the survivors' camp. Somewhere along the way, logic and common sense have slipped in and made themselves at home.

Beneath the jungle canopy, the mysterious parachutist has begun speaking Chinese instead of Spanish, so none of the group can understand her delerious ramblings. Desmond doesn't want to remove the branch from the wound, but Charlie figures that leaving it in could just make things worse. He also thinks that maybe Desmond is playing God with the woman's life because he saw it in one of his flashes, and the British rocker isn't thrilled with the idea. He thinks that Desmond might not understand what's at stake.

"Lest you forget, she said my bloody name. She had a photo of me and my girlfriend. Do I understand? I understand better than the lot of you."

As he's preparing to set out back to the camp, he hears a noise in the jungle. The men grow wary as the sound nears. Desmond frees his machete from his belt. The foliage parts to reveal...

Bakunin.



Remarkably froth free.

Obviously he faked being killed by the fence, and I'll buy that the foaming at the mouth and the seizure were just good acting on his part, but how the hell did he fake bleeding at the ears? My only guess is that the fence is dangerous enough to cause the bleeding and he just played up the rest. Still, it's a stretch.

After several tense seconds, the one-eyed man beats a hasty retreat into the jungle. Jin gives chase and eventually takes him down. The two men struggle, but eventually Jin beats Bakunin into submission.



Back with the parachutist, Desmond tries to interrogate their prisoner. Charlie offers what he knows about the man.

"He's the guy who shot Sayid. Kate told us he lived out in that station Locke blew up. He's an Other."

Hurley's statement, "I thought Locke killed that guy with the electro-fence thingy," brings a knowing smirk to Bakunin's face.

Do my ears deceive me? More information sharing? Logic and common sense making themselves at home, indeed.

Desmond presses for more information from the Russian.

"You've got five seconds to talk or I fire this gun, brotha."

"That's a flare gun."

"How do you think it will feel, takin' a flare to the chest at this range?"

"As your friend pointed out, I already died once this week."

When the parachutist mumbles something, Desmond notices that Bakunin understands what she's saying. This time, she's speaking Italian. She says she's dying. Fortunately, the Russian was a field medic in the Soviet Army. In return for his freedom, he will save the woman by ventilating her punctured lung. Desmond agrees to Bakunin's terms.

Back in the world, Sun has managed to find Jin's Father. With just one look at her, he knows instantly who she must be. He invites her to his humble home and the two share tea. Mr. Kwon asks about the wedding, leading Sun to ask why he wasn't there.

"What did he tell you?"

"He told me you were dead. Why would he say that?"

"To avoid the shame of where he came from."

"And is that why you told him his mother died when he was a baby?"

Mr. Kwon shifts from tea to liquor for the next part of the story. It seems that Jin's Mother was a prostitute and even though he raised him, Mr. Kwon was never sure if he was actually the father.

Paternity insecurity runs in the family...

Mr. Kwon begs Sun to never tell Jin that they've met or that his Mother is still alive. He desperately wishes to keep his son from suffering that shame.

So far as I can see, Mr. Kwon is the noblest man we've met in the entire series. If he was my Father, I'd be proud to be his son. I just hope all this secrecy isn't hiding more than just the shame of being from a fishing village.

In her tent on the beach, Sun's sleep is interrupted by someone clamping a hand over her mouth. It's Juliette and she wants to try to help Sun, but in order to do that, Sun must agree to follow her into the jungle in the middle of the night. Alone.

For the sake of her baby, she does just that.

The two women head to the Medical Hatch.

"Claire and Kate told me about that place. It was abandoned. There found nothing there."

"That's because they didn't know where to look."

Juliette plans to use the ultrasound machine in the hatch to determine the Date Of Conception for Sun's baby. If Sun conceived off the island, then she'll probably be fine, but if not...

Sun visits her Father's office and asks for the blackmail money. When he questions why she needs such a large sum, she tells him that it will be in return for her continuing to pretend not to know what Mr. Paik really does, as long as there are no questions asked.

"We do not live in a world where there are no questions asked."

Funny. Sun lived on an island where there were no questions asked for almost three months.

"I am doing this to spare someone I love a deep shame."

"If the money is for your husband it is he who will bear this debt. He will no longer be a floor manager. He will be working for me."

Sun weighs the unpleasant prospect of her husband working for her Father against the shame he would have to face before she takes the money. I'm betting that the fact that Jin will never have to wear that silly powder blue jacket again probably sealed the deal for her.

Out in the jungle with the injured parachutist, Bakunin asks if the boys know anything more about her or if she had anything with her.
"A book and a fancy radio phone thingy..."



"Does it work?"

"Like I'd tell you."

With Desmond's help, Bakunin uses a syringe to pierce the woman's chest cavity, evacuating the excess air and blood from around the collapsed lung before removing the branch from the wound.



After the field surgery is complete, the patient starts talking again. I don't know exactly what she says, but it ain't "Thank you" like Bakunin claims.

(*Unconfirmed translation side note: Several sites around the web suggest that she says something like "I am not alone" or "There are others." Given that the copy of Catch-22 was in Portuguese, there is a decent chance that she might be accompanied by one of the Brazilicles from last season's cliffhanger.*)

Juliette leads Sun to the door of the Staff Hatch where Ethan kept Claire. In short order, Juliette gets the lights on, but before she can do more, Sun wants to understand her motivation. Juliette tells her how news of pregnancy was once the best news a woman could hear, but on this island it's a death sentence.

"I'm helping you because I want to give good news again."

This little tidbit seems to convince Sun that she can trust Dr. J. The two women head deeper into the facility, and in what looks like the locker room where Kate found the fake beard and theatrical glue, Juliette locates a switch that opens a hidden door. With Sun's help, Juliette moves a bank of lockers out of the way and lets herself in to the room. The door is near to a foot thick, more like a bank vault door than anything, and it leads them into a room decorated as a nursery.

"Why is this room hidden?"

I'm more interested in why it's reinforced like a nuclear bunker.

"It's where we brought the women to die."

Bakunin gives the parachutist a final examination.

"She's fine. Keep the wound as clean as you can. She should be better in a day."

"A day? Her lung was punctured."

"On this island, the rules are a bit different. Maybe a day and a half."

(*Head scratching side note. The Marshal took a nasty piece of shrapnel to the chest, but had a real surgeon there to help him, yet he died. This woman takes a branch through her lung and has a field medic do primitive jungle surgery on her. So how why did the Marshal not benefit from the island's awe inspiring healing powers? Or Boone? Or Shannon, Ana Lucia or Libby for that matter? I smell a rat.*)

After this pronouncement, over Charlie's objections, Desmond allows Bakunin to go free. As he leaves, Jin has the presence of mind to check on the backpack they found, and sure enough, the satellite phone is gone. Jin sprints after the Russian man, catching him and taking back the best chance that they've had for rescue since they arrived. Charlie's seen enough.

"You stole this?"

"How could you respect me if I didn't try?"

"How 'bout I take your other eye? Would you respect that?"



Bakunin baits him with a cocked ear and a cockier attitude. Either that or the sonic fence really did do his hearing in, which I doubt.

Once again, over Charlie's objections, Desmond sets Bakunin loose. I know that his attitude is going to end up causing the survivors a bunch of trouble, but I'd say I agree with Charlie's assessment of the situation. Letting Bakunin go is going to prove to be a mistake.

In the medical hatch, while Juliette prepares the sonogram, Sun lets the fertility doctor in on the secret of Jin's infertility. Juliette lets Sun in on the fact that a man's sperm count increases five-fold on the island, dramatically increasing the odds that Jin might well be the father.

Suddenly there is a transformation in the room. Juliette goes from cold and calculating Other to warm, cheerful and encouraging fertility doctor. It's dramatic and unmistakable. She seems genuinely interested in helping Sun just then.

She warns her that this early in the pregnancy she might not see a heart beat or even the baby. The measurements that Juliette will take of the fetus will determine when the child was conceived and that will tell them who the father is. The test also puts Sun in a no win situation. If the child was conceived before the crash, the baby isn't her husbands, but if conception occurred on the island, she is going to die like all the other pregnant women Juliette had as patients.

Back at their apartment in Korea, Jin arrives home. A momentary slip of the mind sees Sun send Jin into her purse for the mail key. He finds the money that she got from her Father. When he asks what it could possibly be for, she claims that it was for furniture and a honeymoon. Jin's pride is wounded. He will provide for her, not her Father. His passion for being her husband and for taking care of her reminds her just how much she loves him and sends her out of the apartment with the money, determined to save him from the shame of his birth, despite the burden of the debt she's placing him in.

In the hatch, the sonogram reveals Sun's baby, in all it's pixilated glory. We even see the "little flutter" of the child's heartbeat. Juliette does her calculations and determines that the child is 53 days along. Sun got pregnant on the island. Despite the fact that the pronouncement is a death sentence, Sun is happy that Jin is the father.

(*Ignorant male side note: I have no idea what one would expect to see in a sonogram, but it seems odd that Juliette takes the time to warn Sun about the possibility of not hearing a heart beat early in the pregnancy and then we see a very pronounced heartbeat from the fetus. Considering that she's telling Sun that the baby is only 53 days along, rather than the more than 90 days that would make the child Jae's, isn't this a little suspicious? Or am I just reading more into this than is actually there?*)

(*Timeline Sidenote. 53 days? So, Sun and Jin were doing the deed 37 days after the gang landed. Let's see now. In "The other 48 days", Jin arrives back on the beach on day 48, so 11 days prior to that, give or take a day. It's been months since I watched the first season, but I'm pretty damn sure that Sun and Jin weren't on speaking or spanking terms on day 37. Something's fishy here.*)

Sun delivers the money to the blackmailer. It wasn't much of a shock to learn that the woman was, in fact, Jin's mother. What was nicely shocking was the spine that Sun displayed as she handed over the cash.

"You know how powerful my family is. My husband believes that you are dead. Do not force me to make that a reality."

Leaving the medical hatch, Sun asks how long before her pregnancy kills her.

"Most of the women made it into the middle of their second trimester. Nobody made it to their third."

"That gives me two months. I am very happy the baby is Jin's. You gave me good news, Juliette."

Juliette heads back in to the hatch to make sure that all evidence of their visit is erased. As she waits for the Doctor to clean up the site, she seems to be doing some of that pregnancy math in her head...

Juliette finds a small tape recorder:

"Ben. It's six AM on Saturday morning. Kwon is pregnant. The fetus is healthy and was conceived 'on island' with her husband. He was sterile before they got here. I'm still working on getting samples from the other women. I should have Austen's soon. I'll report back when I know more."

Click. Off goes the recorder.



"I hate you."

(*Theory side note. Juliette is playing a double game, methinks. I think that her plan is to convince Ben that she's found a way to treat the women who conceive 'on island' by passing Sun's baby off as an 'on island' conception when in fact it was Jae's all along. This would explain why she's obviously lying to Sun about the conception date. I also think that she's got Jack in on it, which would explain his odd behavior with Sun and his acting so overprotective of her. Just a theory.*)

As they put together a stretcher for the recovering parachutist, Charlie is still arguing for not having let Bakunin go. Desmond places himself firmly outside of the us vs. them scenario.

"You know, brotha, by my count, you've killed more of them than they've killed of you."

"They started it."

Charlie graduated from the Academy of School Yard Diplomacy.

Hurley casually dials the satellite phone. For just a second, I really thought he'd got through...



His fantasy call is interrupted by the patient returning to consciousness.

"Where am I?"

"You're on an island. Are you here to rescue us? Are there more of you? Can you make your phone work?"

"Who are you?"

"Hugo Reyes. I crashed here on Oceanic Flight 815. A bunch of us survived. Is that why you're here? Were you looking for us?"

"815? Flight 815? The one from Sydney?

"Yeah."

"No, that's not possible."

"Yeah, I know, it wasn't easy. But we found food and the hatch..."

"No, Flight 815, they found the plane. There were no survivors. They were all dead."

"What?"

Let those Purgatory theories resurrect all over the 'net! Dammit.

Monk and Disorderly

Combinations are the greatest invention ever. Cookies dunked in milk, jam added to peanut butter, pizza and beer. It's amazing how two great elements can be mixed together to give you a new sensation that is even better than the two together have any right to be.

This week we were treated to perhaps my favourite combination. Comic books meet Lost. Which also explains why I love "Heroes" so much, but I digress.

My inner geek really missed the Green Lantern and The Flash "Fast Friends" comic book references that dried up after Michael tossed the comic into the fire in a fit of pique. To have Hurley and Charlie debating the outcome of a fantasy race between the Man of Steel and the Fastest Man Alive was better than Lost and comics put together have any right to be.

Of course, that's probably because their whole conversation could easily have been created from the transcripts of a similar debate I often had with my outer geeky friends when I was a kid.

Let's face it, I get giddy whenever one of my favourite shows shows any interest at all in comics. To have a whole episode of Lost that turns on an age old comic book debate was maple syrup on my pancakes.

Not everyone will have as much fun watching Hurely and Charlie debate the finer points of the DC Comics universe as I do. I guess it depends on your perspective.

More perspectives to be depended upon as we go...

This week opens with Desmond, Hurley, Charlie and Jin cutting their way through the dense jungle in the rain. After all this time on the island, don't they know better than to do ANYTHING while it's raining? I mean, bad things happen in the rain on Mystery Island. Regularly.

As they fight their way through the undergrowth, Hurley and Charlie are debating about the relative speed of superheroes.

Charlie figures that Superman has the advantage, but Hurley's contention is that in a pure foot race, The Flash will win.

(*Geek side note. This scenario has been played out in the comics a few times, once in the animated Superman series from the 90's and even briefly on Smallville a few seasons ago. Smallville conceded that Superman might lose to The Flash in a foot race. Most the other races were usually interrupted by various villains, leaving the matter unresolved, or worse yet a draw. In the few instances where a clear victor emerges, it is always The Flash, but barely. In one iconic race, the result was both of the heroes winning, depending on which relativistic perspective was used to view the results.*)

As Charlie asks Hurley if his rules would include fitting Superman with a pair of kryptonite...

His train of thought is interrupted by an involuntary tracheotomy, courtesy of a booby trap, presumably set by Rousseau.

Despite Desmond's best effort, the Hobbit is off to that great Shire in the sky.

Only, he isn't.



In a bizarre reversing flashback, events rewind until Desmond's eyes snap open on the beach. A quick scan of the beach reveals an unperforated Charlie wandering around, hale and hearty. Desmond drops his fishing and chases down Hurley to ask him about the "wire".

(*Continuity sidenote. In this "Flashback-back" we see Charlie holding the parachute, arrow free. Seems odd that this "flashback-back" goes forward first, then backwards. Seems doubly odd that when it goes forward the dead guy is there lending a hand.*)

One man asking another where to find the "wire" could have taken this show in a whole different direction.

Fortunately, Hurley misses the Brokeback Innuendo and suggests that perhaps Desmond ate the mushrooms that Jack warned them about.

"Listen to me. There's a wire, a cable, buried in the sand. Do you know what I'm talkin' about?"

"This is future crap isn't it."

"The cable. Do you know where it is? This is important."

"Why?"

"Because someone's coming."

Sometime in Desmond's past, a monk brings him the robes of a novice and silently hands them over. It seems that our man Hume has passed the test of a vow of silence and entered a monastery. The monks set the test of silence to varying lengths, depending upon how sure they are of the conviction of the one wanting to become one of their number. We aren't told how long Desmond's test lasted, but the impression is that it was a longer than usual test.

"For whatever reason, your path has lead you here, and now you're one of us. Welcome Brother."
I could swear it sounded like "Welcome Brotha."

"Thank you...Brotha."
That one I'm sure of.

On the beach, Desmond and Hurley borrow the First Aid kit for Desmond's "twisted ankle".

Jack asks if Des wants him to take a look at it.

"Taped my share of ankles." Shaking his finger at him, Jack recalls their first meeting, back in the real world during his aborted Tour D'Stade.

"Right."

The two men make off with the First Aid kit before Hurley's odd behavior can arouse Jack's suspicions.

Before he's willing to go on a hike that seems destined to end in the need of a First Aid kit, Hurley demands an explanation.

"I saw a sequence of events. Things that are gonna happen."

"Whatd'ya see?"

"It was like a sorta...jigsaw puzzle. Only I didn't have the picture on the box, so I don't know how the pieces fit exactly. But one of the pieces. The first one. It was you pulling the cable out of the sand."

"So what are the other pieces?"

"If I tell you that, it'll change the picture on the box."

"So what? Isn't that the point? Preventing something bad?"

"Not this time."

"So you're not trying to stop something from happening. You actually want it to happen."

"More than anything."

Speaking of wanting something more than anything, Sawyer saddles up to Kate's tent, opening it just in time to see her pulling her jeans up and over said something.

"What's up?"

Sawyer's eyes wander as he answers "I wanted to ask you something."

"I'm up here."



(*Fellow drooly guy side note. To quote the immortal Homer Simpson in similar circumstances: "I've made my choice."*)

Sawyer wants to know if Kate told Jack about their little tryst in the cage.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, how 'bout a little afternoon delight?"

Kate's not buying what Sawyer's selling this time around. Poor guy. I guess he's only sexy when he's behind bars in a cage full of dried bear shit.

"D'ya need me to make you a mix tape?"

"Yeah, why don't you do that."

Ouch.

Desmond and Hurley set about recruiting Jin to fulfill Desmond's prophesy. Hurley gets the Korean guy to come "camping" with the boys. The marshmallows sold it.

Desmond heads of to gather up the fourth for their trek. When he tries Hurley's "camping" routine on Mr. Pace, the Brit is having none of it. He's suspicious of Des's motives for wanting him to come along. Desmond reassures him that he's only a part of the mosaic, not it's focus. Conveniently, he leaves out the part where Charlie tries to swallow an arrow without using his mouth.

Won over by the Scot's reassurances, Charlie agrees to join the fellowship of four.

Marching in a ragged line down the beach, the four men whistle a ragged version of The Colonel Bogey March.

(*Badly Whistled Famous Melody Sidenote. The Colonel Bogey March is inextricably linked with the movie "The Bridge Over the River Kwai," a film about prisoners who are forced to toil for the enemy and ultimately destroy their creation. You don't suppose...nah.*)



Hurley spots a familiar landmark and in short order, Jin finds the cable and Hurley frees it from the sand, just as in Desmond's vision.

As he pulls it free of the sand, he shares with the group.

"Last time I followed this wire into the jungle, I almost got kebobbed by one of Rousseau's spiky death trap things."

Desmond suggests that they make camp rather than risk trekking into the jungle, since it's getting late.

In the monastery, a newly minted novice named Desmond helps bottle the wine made by the monks. The wine is named after the mountain where Abraham was asked to kill Isaac, Moriah.




"Not exactly the most festive locale is it?"

"And yet God spared Isaac."

"Well, one might argue that God need not have asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in the first place."

"Well then, it wouldn't have been much of a test, would it brother? Perhaps you underestimate the value of sacrifice."

As the two men discuss sacrifice, a man comes in who has asked to speak to Desmond. He actually has no words to speak, only a message that he delivers with his fist.

The man apologizes to the monk he didn't punch and the bleeding Desmond also asks for his fellow monk's forgiveness.

Back at the survivors' camp, Kate and Jack strike up a conversation in the kitchen. Kate feels odd being back among the castaways with no escape plans to make, no jungle to run through. Jack suggests that she enjoy it while it lasts.

"I'm sure something'll go wrong soon enough."

As Kate tries to draw him out, Jack cuts the conversation short, borrowing Kate's spoon and tossing her a casual good night. She's devastated as she watches him return to Juliette's side and share dinner and laughter.

To relieve her pain, she seeks out Sawyer who is only too happy to oblige, despite the tears he notices. Not exactly a knight in shining armour, is he?

Ziiiip...

Sorry folks, I just have no words to describe Jin's Korean ghost story. Except to say that I loved it.



As Hurley goes into a tale about the Chupacabra, Charlie slides over to Desmond and spots the picture he carries of himself and Penny.

"That's not bad, Des. Not bad at all. So how did you manage to leave her behind and come here?"

"Because I'm a coward."

"Sorry."

"You and me both, pal."

Desmond tells Charlie about how Penny had once tracked him down, telling him that with enough money and determination, anyone could be found. He tells him how he sometimes hoped that she hadn't given up on him this time, and somehow she was out there looking for him.

Just then the gang hear a strange noise. Mechanical. Rhythmic. Growing.

It's a helicopter.

Suddenly two high pitched squeals interrupt the nearing sound of the helicopter and its steadily increasing rhythm becomes choppy and laboured.

"Is that how a helicopter's supposed to sound?"

No, Hurley, definitely not.

The sound becomes more chaotic, finally ending in a loud splash and stopping completely.



As they try to formulate a rescue plan, something in the sky catches Jin's attention. They watch as it descends into the jungle.

When speculation runs the the possibility of another food drop, Hurley reminds them that Desmond said that someone was coming.

Desmond is ready to lead them out to find the person he saw in his vision. When Charlie asks why they should risk, Desmond tells him "Because that's the way it's supposed to happen."

"Well I guess it's supposed to happen without me."

Since Charlie is an important component in Desmond's prophetic vision, he relents. They'll go at first light.

Desmond knocks on a door that opens to reveal the monk-puncher, Derek. Desmond is there to explain to his ex-fiance, Ruth, why he couldn't go through with their wedding. It seems that he had a calling. A calling that started with a few too many pints down at the pub and ended with a monk helping him to his feet from his back in the street.

"And I knew, I knew, I was supposed to go with him. I was supposed to leave everything that mattered behind, sacrifice all of it for a greater calling.".

"Well, it's a good thing a bloody shepherd didn't help you up, or I suppose you'd be off with the sheep, wouldn't ya?"

Baaa

Back on the beach, Sawyer confronts Jack about some of the changes that have happened while he was gone. Namely, the ping-pong table.

"Where'd you get the table?"

"Don't you recognize it? Fell out of the purple haze when the hatch went 'BLAM-O'. If we don't play every hundred and eight minutes, the island's gonna explode."

Sawyer also thinks it's odd being back, no escape to plot, back in his old digs like nothing had happened.

Jack tells him about his conversation with Kate about that very thing. Sawyer learns that after their little talk, Jack went off with Juliette. The con man puts 2 and 2 together.

Walking through the jungle, Charlie tries to get Desmond to reveal what is supposed to happen next. Des claims that there is no next for him to reveal. Charlie doesn't buy it, but Desmond reminds him that he's saved his life three times and that Charlie should trust him by now.

Hurley forces them to take a break. As they stop, Charlie finds a hula girl dashboard ornament and as Hurley sits, Desmond spies something in the tree directly above him. Using the big guy as a ladder, he retrieves a backpack. Inside is a satellite phone. Dead batteries, naturally.

(*Recapper premonition side note. Remember how Sayid managed to somehow get a laptop battery to power the transceiver? Who's betting that they'll be conveniently out of batteries of any kind when the satellite phone finally makes its way into his hands?*)

Along with the useless phone is a copy of Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" in Portuguese.

(*Literary side note. "Ardil" translates directly as "scheme" but I'm assuming that they would go with "close enough" for the title translation. Catch-22 was originally titled "Catch-18" but because of a similarity to another novel published around the same time, it was changed to "Catch 11". Then the original "Ocean's 11" came out and they changed it to "Catch 14". Apparently, 14 isn't a funny number and a final change to Catch 22 happened. The number 22 works well in the context of the novel anyhow, since it mimics the double bind that the catch places on those it applies to. 22 also alludes to the deja vu elements of the novel, which replays the same scenarios from different perspectives.*)

Inside the book is a copy of Desmond's picture of he and Penny. Did anyone else sit just a little closer to the tv right then?

On the beach, Sawyer brings Kate her "mix tape" that he promised. It's Bernard's "The Best of Phil Collins".

"So, why'd you jump me last night?

"What?"

"Was it 'cuz you saw the Doc hangin' out with Juliette?

"It is not like that."

"It's not? You ain't gotta use me, Freckles. All ya gotta do is ask."

Back in the jungle, Charlie is wondering if Desmond thinks that whoever bailed out of the helicopter is Penny.

"Earlier I hoped it, now I know it."

When Charlie asks why Desmond didn't just tell them what he suspected, the explanation that Desmond was afraid to change anything seems good enough for him.

"If whatever you're seein' leads to your girl getting us rescued, why would we want to change anything?"

"Right."

Of course there is the little matter of Charlie's impending extreme piercing...

Naturally, as doom creeps nearer, the rain starts.

"Thanks for the heads up about bringing an umbrella, dude."

In the monastery, Brother Desmond is drunk on a hundred quid bottle of wine. Brother Campbell is irritated since they've only bottled 108 cases this year.

"It's just as well we've taken a vow of poverty then isn't it?"

Desmond's behavior gets him fired.

I had no idea that monks could be fired.

"You've just spent too much time running away to realize what you may be running toward."

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Whatever comes next."

Or whoever.

In the rain soaked jungle, Jin wants to know who Penny is.

"She's a chick Desmond used to date. And now he thinks she fell from the sky, so we're gonna go save her life and she's gonna get us rescued."



"Dude, even if I spoke Korean, it wouldn't make any sense."

Desmond tries to get the group to move faster, in case his lady love is injured.

"I'm moving as fast as I can. In case you haven't noticed, Dude, I'm not exactly The Flash."

Right at this moment an odd flash of light crosses Hurley's face. I suspect it's just a trick of the light, but the timing was weird.



As Hurley and Charlie debate the relative speeds of two fictional heroes, Desmond sees the booby trap that's responsible for killing Charlie in his vision. His own personal Catch 22. Remember I mentioned that part of Desmond's "flashback-back" showed Charlie holding a part of the parachute, despite the fact that he'd clearly just been killed by the arrow? I believe that that was Desmond's Catch-22. Part of the same "flashback-back" showed Desmond kissing Penny. I think he saw the result of Charlie's death AND the result of him saving Charlie in the vision. He realizes that if he lets Charlie die, he may get back to Penny, but if he doesn't save him, he won't be there when they find the person in the tree and that might mean that that person won't be able to help get them rescued. What to do? Much like the results of the race between The Flash and Superman, it will really depend upon where he views the results from.

This time, Charlie gets to finish his thought: "What if we just fit Superman with a pair of kryptonite ballet slippers...what the hell?"

"Aww...Charlie, DUCK!"

Desmond has decided on his perspective.

Charlie doesn't have the whole picture, so he's understandably ticked when he realizes that Desmond knew about the arrow all along.

"You'd have sacrificed me.",

"The flashes don't happen exactly how I saw them. The picture changes. I was supposed to let you die, Charlie."

Desmond wonders if maybe he's being tested and failing by changing what he sees when he sees Charlie die. Abraham and Isaac.

Jin calls out and the two men run to join him. It's the parachutist.

In Brother Campbell's office, Desmond brings his novice robes back. Brother Campell suggests that Desmond might get a ride into town with one of the brothers if he doesn't mind doing some heavy lifting. On the desk is an interesting photograph.



(*Photoshop side note. Is it just me or do these two look like they're photoshopped into the picture rather than actually standing there?*)

Turns out that the "heavy lifting" was several cases of wine to be loaded into the back of an SUV, owned by none other than Penny. The connection between them is immediate and palpable. When she learns of his getting fired and the grand plan that God apparently has in store for him, she has an answer for his skepticism.

"Well, maybe they're right. I mean, just think, if you hadn't got fired we wouldn't have met, and then how could you possibly help me unload these crates in Carlisle?"

Who the hell picks up at an abbey?

While they flirst we see flashes of Desmond climbing up the tree to free the parachutist. The three men on the ground cushion her fall. You have to wonder if it would have been as gentle if just Hurley and Jin were there, or even if they would have gone on to find her once Charlie died...

She's alive. She's also not Penny. Actually, did Penny strike anybody as the "Parachute onto Mystery Island" type? Penny is definitely more a "Find me someone willing to parachute onto Mystery Island for a price" kind of gal, but Desmond still seemed suprised that it wasn't her. I guess it depends on your perspective.



Not Penny has something to say.

"Desmond."