HEARTS AND MINDS
We get to see what an odd and disturbing relationship Boone and Shannon had. Let's see - they had sex and they are brother and sister. Thankfully it was of the "step" kind.
We get to see a little more of the hatch as well. That's all the further they got in a week? What's up wid dat?
Hurley has a case of the brown apple splatters as he searches for the best leaves. Great scene.
Kate and Sun have stopped holding out hope for a rescue as they have started a garden. Some of them they plant from seed! Gonna be there a while maybe?
Shannon likes the rough stuff and has the bruises to prove it. Maybe Sayid and she would have made a great couple.
Locke whacks Boone over the head and ties him up because Boone wanted to tell Shannon about the hatch. Locke puts goop on Boone's head and throws a knife at his crotch.
There's Sawyer in Boone's flashback. Probably the coolest part of the flashback for this episode. Except the dirty family sex part.
The Locke and Sayid scene was a really nice Locke scene. "I was a Webelos.", Locke tells Sayid. Anyone having a problem remembering Locke as a "good guy" or at least a more likable character should go back and watch this episode just for that scene.
Boone is having a crazy jungle goop induced spacey trip. The island is communicating with Boone with Locke's help. Locke calls it a "vision quest".
Sayid and Jack figure out the island is goofy with compass points and magnetism. Or the compass is broke. Nope boys, the compass is fine. The island is f'ed.
The Jin/Hurley scenes are hilarious. In fact in an episode that is Boone/Shannon centric everybody elses scenes are so much better. They were the first Nikki and Paolo.
Charlie makes a statement that Locke is the one person he would put his faith in to get them all off the island. Isn't that some ironic foreshadowing.
You know what, the Boone/Shannon sex scene is disturbing no matter what. Even if they are step siblings. I wonder when there was a bigger feeling of disappointment for the viewers; when we thought Shannon was dead, or when it was shown to have all been a hallucination? It was actually a warning from the island. On a side note, the writers pointed out on the commentary for this episode on the DVDs that they wanted Locke to not be too good or too bad. They wanted him to flip flop back and forth. They wanted viewers to split down the middle between loving him and hating him. This points to the idea of duality and the "Bad Twin" theory.
The term "Hearts and Minds" is taken from the strategy used by the US Military to get the popular favor or approval (win the "hearts and minds") of the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War. It has become a popular term today denoting the way a society can use its military and public relations skills to conquer a country, not necessarily through brute force but through winning the "hearts and minds" of the people. The term also holds connotations with propaganda and propaganda's fictitious nature. Taken into context with this episode, Shannon conquered Boone not through the use of force but through the use of Hearts and Minds. She controls the relationship as the conqueror, and Boone fell for her "Hearts and Minds" ruses. Another way the title works is that Boone was in a way conquered by Locke. Certainly not the same way Boone was conquered by Shannon, but Locke manages to win Boone's allegiance by giving him a "vision" that allows him to let Shannon go. The "vision" itself is a ruse, thus playing into the "propaganda" nature of Hearts and Minds, but it also wins Locke the loyalty of Boone (just as Hearts and Minds tactics were designed to do). Through juxtapositions we see just how much of a smacked ass Boone really was and we see why his fate ended up being what it was. Boone tried to persuade both Bryan and Sayid to back off of his sister. Both times he failed. Boone's attempts to rescue Shannon (from Bryan and the Monster) both also ended in failure: Shannon took his money, and then Shannon "died". Boone's past attempt at rescuing Shannon only got himself more deeply in love with her; his vision quest on the Island helped him let her go as Locke told him a few times that Boone had to learn to do.
SPECIAL
Locke says that he knows Walt is "special" and he needs to realize his potential.
We first hear about the raft in this episode.
The island intervenes again and Michael is hit by a car causing him to not go to Amsterdam after Walt.
During Walt's flashback we see what kind of "special" Walt is when he is able to "call" (I guess that's what he does) a bird and it crashes into the window. It happens when he is mad at his Mother and her boyfriend or husband (Brian). We see that he was just reading about birds in his school book and as the camera pulls away we see a picture of the same bird in the book that is dead outside of the window. Later on after Walt's mother dies, we see that neither Michael nor Brian want Walt. Each for different reasons because I don't think Michael knew about Walt being different and he may have never truly known. Brian says that Walt is "different, somehow" and that when Walt is around "stuff happens". I guess that's as good of a description as any.
Back on the island we see that Walt has once again used his "special" powers that make him "different" and has now called a polar bear. Similar to the one in the comic book that Michael throws into the fire. Here is where some speculation comes into play. It would seem that Walt can only call the bird and the polar bear but not control their actions.
Did the island make Walt's mother sick and die to get Walt and Michael together so they too could be on flight 815? Just how powerful and all consuming is the islands influence. Looks like it's huge.
Just before Locke and Boone find Claire in the jungle Charlie reads in Claire's journal that she had been having dreams about the Black Rock. How and Why?
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