Let's just say something was burning and it wasn't from the sunshine.

MAN OF SCIENCE, MAN OF FAITH

Season two starts with another eye opening like many episodes in season one. This time it's Desmond's eye. Looking back at the hatch, it definitely had a 70’s feel to it. We still have not been told what the vaccine was for that Desmond injects into himself. Here’s one for you, the song “Make Your Own Kind of Music” plays for exactly one minute and eight seconds (or 1:08) before the explosion makes it stop. Desmond rides the stationary bike at a rate of 16 miles an hour. Want some more of the numbers? There are exactly 42 holes in the shower head down in the hatch. I counted them.



When Jack has to choose, like his father said he would have to, he chooses to save Sarah (his future wife) instead of the other injured person. That other injured person just happened to be Shannon’s father, who is pronounced dead at 8:15. Jack is therefore indirectly responsible for Boone and Shannon being on the plane. If he had treated Shannon's father, she wouldn't probably go to Australia, and Boone would not follow her, and both will not end up on the plane.



Is the “Quarantine” message on the inside of the hatch door meaningful? Is it just a ruse to keep whoever is put into the hatch down there?

Shannon is the third person to hear the whispers. She also sees a dripping wet Walt. Walt delivers his backwards message to Shannon; “Don’t push the button. The button’s bad.”. Which means?



Hurley takes a moment to tell Jack about what the numbers mean to him.

In season one, Sayid talks about people having hope. This time Christian tells Jack he might want to try handing out some to his patients every now and again.



Locke makes it clear that he does not follow Jack’s thinking of waiting. It also helps to mark the beginning of the Jack/Locke division between the rest of the survivors.

Sarah’s boyfriend/fiancé was a spoiled little dickhead.



Did Locke mean it literally when he said he knew Kate was going to follow him back to the hatch?



Jack and Desmond have their first meeting in the flashback. Desmond tells Jack he was almost a doctor once. Theory time: is it possible that the Desmond in the flashback is the consciousness of Desmond after meeting the Losties on the island? Desmond almost seems to know that Jack did indeed fix Sarah but he doesn’t seem to recognize Jack when he sees him in the hatch until later. Desmond, for the first time tells Jack; “See you in another life, yeah?”. I have never heard him say this to someone other than the people he sees on the island.



Nice mural and hey, the key wiggles.

So Jack does “fix” Sarah and he still doesn’t believe in miracles? Of course he can’t, believing in them would mean that he was not soley responsible for making Sarah walk again. TPTB say that the title “Man of Science, Man of Faith” is not a direct notation to Jack and Locke but both are representative of Jack. He is supposed to be both. This episode shows us Jack's inability to just "let it go".



Contrastingly, Lord of the Flies is a book by the Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, the character Ralph is portrayed as logical and rational, while Jack Merridew is portrayed as superstitious and imaginative. The way these characters behave is very similar to how Jack and Locke behave. Thus, Ralph and Jack are both men of science, while Locke and Jack Merridew are men of faith.



Or, even another translation of the title could be Jack is the "man of science", while Desmond is the "man of faith". Jack believes that Sarah can not be fixed based on his scientific opinion, while Desmond has faith that she can and will be alright.



On the commentary for the episode on the DVD it is mentioned that something tragic and devastating happened to cause the magnetic wall to be put in place. When did this happen and what exactly was it?



TPTB also comment that they wanted the theme for season two to be that everything happens for a reason and they wanted to begin showing it very early.



ADRIFT

Michael has his son taken from him both in the flashback and on the island.



Still don’t fully understand why Locke took his shoes off when he entered the hatch. Was is for stealth purposes? Could it be similar to when Moses takes off his shoes when he first communes with God. Inside the hatch we see the Swan symbol for the first time.



Contrary to what Michael thinks, Sawyer can, in fact, take a bullet out of his shoulder with his bare hands. Sawyer also seems to know a little CPR as well. Good thing for Michael he does.



Locke ties up Kate (that’s not as hot as it sounds) and sticks a knife down her pants (not as hot either ... or is it?) so she can cut herself loose.



Kate likes Apollo bars. Didn’t Annie like them too? I’m just saying, that’s all. I liked seeing Kate shove it in her mouth anyway.

Desmond asks Locke how many of the survivors have gotten sick. I thought that Desmond knew that the sickness that Kelvin told him about was bogus.



The countdown timer is shown for the first time and we see the numbers get put into the computer for the first time as well.

Nice boob shot of Kate in the ventilation shaft. I can see why some people (like my buddy Cerpts) enjoy her so much.



I don’t believe for a minute that we were not supposed to see the DHARMA logo on the shark. That was there for a reason and in a way it foreshadowed the hydra station.

Michael gives Walt a stuffed polar bear in the flashback. A nice little coincidental touch or something more?



So, if the Others were going after Walt, how did they know he was on the raft? Was it just dumb luck that Michael shot off the flare and they found them? I really don’t see how they would have known that they were out there in the ocean. Is there still someone we have yet to see working for the Others?



The episode ends with Jin running towards Sawyer and Michael warning them about “Others”. We, of course, know it was the taillies but they still looked pretty ominous.



Michael, on the wreckage and in his flashback, spends his time alienating those around him (Sawyer, Susan) in his attempts to keep Walt safe and/or get him back. However, Michael does end up realizing the error of his ways both times, and "lets Walt go" in order to mend his relationships with those currently around him. In keeping with the title of the episode, both sets of events shown in this episode present Michael at times when he is "adrift" in his life, with no sense of direction or purpose, other than "get Walt back". In his past, this spiritual emptiness probably continued until the events of Special; in the present, he finds his way back to solid ground, giving a solid direction and purpose again.



Originally, this episode was supposed to be a Sawyer episode. Portions of the episode was filmed but then scrapped in favor of a Michael episode. I will post some screencaps from the scrapped episode soon.

You're gonna need the jaws of life to pop this bitch.

EXODUS

The season finale brings everything and everyone to the preverbial head. Or not depending on who you mean.

Danielle warns the survivors of the others. She says they are coming. How did she start the fire that caused the black smoke? Wasn’t she on the beach with the survivors when the smoke started?



We see Ana Lucia, who would have a bigger role in the second season, for the first time. I didn’t remember that she was in the first season finale, so this was a sort of pleasant surprise for me.



Sawyer and Jack have one of my favorite scenes of the season when Sawyer tells Jack about meeting Christian. In the normal, around about, Sawyer way, he gives Jack Christians final message.



We see the scratches on Danielle’s arms that she got from Claire. Boy what we didn’t know then, eh?

Danielle talks about the Black Rock, the dark territory, and Montand’s missing arm. Danielle sheds some light on what the smoke monster is when she tells them that it is a security system that protects the island. So she knows more about it than anyone else and she never fully comes clean about it.



Walt tells Shannon that he wants to give Vincent to her to watch after him. He tells her that Vincent needs her, she needed him as well.



Sawyer looks for Kate to say one last goodbye, just like she looked for him. Something tells me that if she had been there Sawyer might not have gone on the raft.



When Vincent swims towards the raft at the end of the episode it still causes me to tear up. It’s that good of a scene. Well, except for the goofy "smiling way to much guy" that walks by waving in the background.



As the group arrives at the Black Rock, Hurley asks the question; “Exactly how does something like this happen?”. Rousseau answers by asking him if he is on the same island she is on. Enough said. Her back story is still one of the most key elements that has yet to be explored. Now with her dying at the end of this past season getting more of her story might be harder to get than originally thought.



Locke talks about the Black Rock and says it was probably a slave vessel blah blah blah, more useless Locke knowledge that is suddenly useful.



Arzt blowing up; still shocks the hell out of me.

Watch Locke’s face when Kate tells Jack that carrying the dynamite is something she needs to do. He feels that Kate is coming around to his side.



In the flashbacks. Michael wants to get rid of Walt by pawning him off on his (Michaels) mother. Funny that that is exactly what ends up happening in the end. On the island it was fairly clear that Michael really didn’t want the responsibility of being a father to a ten year old boy. Mr. Friendly made sure he got that wish.



When you look at Locke’s face when the monster is heard, it seems that he is comfortable with it being near. Then look at his face when the monster comes toward him in the jungle, he’s frightened of the monster this time. Or should I say he is frightened of this monster this time. Look at his eyes when he is on the ground, you can see the shadow/reflection of the smoke monster. The one we now know (and love) is shown in Locke’s eyes. You didn’t see that the first time Locke came face to face with the monster. Different monsters - different reactions. The first time Locke saw the monster there was no dark reflection in his eyes. Is there more than one monster and each one looks different? Or did the effects team just not have enough time to put it in the first episode Locke saw the monster?



This time when we hear the monster we hear the most from it than we had ever heard previously. Let’s disect all the sounds for a second. We hear the roar or moan or call and we hear the adding machine/dot matrix sound. We hear the Hurley bird for the first time which may or may not be connected to the smoke monster. Then we hear something that almost sounds like a rollercoaster. Think about any rollercoaster you’ve been on, think of the sound when you are climbing up that first big hill. The metal clacks it makes as it goes up the track and being pulled by a huge pulley and chain system. Sounds similar doesn’t it? In case you haven’t figured it out, the smoke monster is one of the biggest mysteries of the show for me and I can’t wait for it to be explained. And it better be good or I’m writing my congressman!



Then the monster tries to take Locke down a hole which could be one of the Cerberus Vents (CVI, II, or III?). Kate drops a stick of dynamite on it’s ass (does the smoke monster even have an ass?) and it seems like the explosion of the dynamite happens very far away. After the explosion the smoke monster comes up out of the ground somewhere else. Maybe another vent? Oh, my brain!



Sun gets a healthy dose of belief in fate and destiny this episode.



Charlie is made of steel when he lets Sayid cauterize his head wound. Damn!



Still one of the wild cards, Hurley, we still do not know if he was meant to make the flight or not.



The first man of science/man of fate debate/argument/discussion or whatever you want to call it is still the best. Jack makes a good point about everyone wanting him to be a leader until he makes a decision that they don’t like. When that happens they give him the “who the hell are you?” act. Aside from that, one thing I didn’t understand was why Jack says that when they get the hatch open they are going to have a “Locke problem”. Sometimes this guy puts two and two together and gets five.



As season one draws to a close in my rehashing stage, I have one more thing to ponder. We know that this past season the finale was titled “There’s no place like home”. The episode was ironic in that it showed the Oceanic 6 leaving the island but in reality the “home” the title of the episode was referring to was the island. Let’s bring that all the way back to the end of season one and see if the title Exodus really applies to the folks on the raft as well as the rest going to the caves and away from the beach. Maybe the real “exodus” happened when all of the survivors got on the plane. The exodus was from the “real” world and they all made it (back?) to the island.



See you in a bit when we begin to tackle season two!



Hey, nice hatch. It's name is Richard.

Little Louder Omar, maybe then she'll hear you!

THE GREATER GOOD

For once I have very little to say about this and the next episode. Doesn't mean I am going to cheat you out of some quality screen caps from each episode.



The first thing you have to ask yourself is why did it take Locke so damn long to change that bloody shirt? I don't think he should have gone and talked to Shannon with Boone's blood still soaked on his shirt. Not the most couth move that Locke has ever made.



Just when you think we are getting over the trust issues with Kate she goes and drugs Jack. Admittedly he needed sleep but I think she might have crossed a little bit over into a gray area there.



In the flashbacks I learned that the CIA plays dirty. Who knew?



Locke admits to Sayid that is was him that knocked out Sayid and destroyed the tranceiver.



When Shannon shoots Locke was there a little but of divine intervention there? Sure looked like the shot should have been an easy kill but it only grazed him. The island needs him and it ends up costing Shannon.



In the grand scheme of things Sayid was not supposed to be on flight 815. He may be as yet another wild card.



I couldn't let a post go by without a Sawyer pic now could I?



Sayid choosing free will over fate?



BORN TO RUN



The opening scene is a clear reference to Psycho. The movie, by Alfred Hitchcock, is about a blonde woman on the run who drives into a motel. The motel room and the shower scene in the episode resembles the movie very much and even the music is similar to music in the horror movie. Kate's alias, Joan Hart, is the name of the actress that played the title character in the series Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. Beth Broderick, who plays Kate's mother, played Sabrina's aunt in the show.



In Kate's flashback we find out about Tom, the plane, and her mother. In the present we see that Sun can be more hardcore than Jin when she tries to poison him in order to get him to give up his spot on the raft.



Hurley lets Locke in on Kate's past by accident. Hurley complains there are too many secrets among the survivors: "How am I supposed to keep straight who knows what around here?"



The tape Kate and Tom made is dated 8/15.



The most interesting part of the episode is when Walt touches Locke. Walt suddenly knows about the hatch and tells Locke not to open it. Seems Walt has more powers than just being able to talk to the animals. What did Walt see happening if Locke did open the hatch? Did he see what actually ended up happening?



Don't know if this means anything but when Kate goes to see her mother in the hospital the sign on the door reads Magnetic Resonance Imagining. That's not what MRI stands for, it should be Imaging. Is this just a screw up or is it a subtle clue that means some if not all of the flashes are fake.



Sayid tells Jack that a hatch without a handle was perhaps "never meant to be opened from the outside". He wanted Jack to talk Locke out of trying to open it. Tee hee, silly Iraqi.



Walt decides to leave on the raft instead of staying even though Michael tells him that they can stay if he wants. Walt tells him "we need to go". Did Michael and Walt leaving change what Walt saw happening after Locke opens the hatch? Will we even know?



Poisoning Jin was Kate's idea. She has a history of this doesn't she!



Who was the letter from that Kate picked up at the hotel front desk? On the tape that her and Tom made Kate says she wants to run away and that Tom knows why. Is there more to the story of Kate and her father that we haven't seen? She said that he never did anything to her, only to her mother. Although I believe we have seen all of the flashbacks we are ever going to be seeing as pertains to the people we have already seen flachbacks of.