Sunday, February 25, 2007

>: 56 STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND

Open with the happy young couple rowing back “home”, Kate feeling guilty in more ways than one. Old Carl (Karl?) mutters the most crucial bit from his indoctrination tape “God loved you as he loved Jacob”, reminding us to keep our eyes peeled for Jacob, the guy who wrote a list that Jack is not on, according to Danny in the last minutes of 3.6. Is he the Eyepatch Man? The Doctor who recruited Juliet? Ian McShane?
I’m continuing to dig Tom’s performance. They take Jack away down the hall and put Juliet in his room, and that look she gives him when they pass, well, it kind of makes me mistrust the whole enterprise again, beginning with her supposed Ben mutiny. We KNOW they play those mindgames and are all about the behavioral conditioning and studying. Ben said the next two weeks were going to be hell, was that all shot to pieces by Sun killing Colleen or are we still on track? Certainly seemed like Kate and Sawyer were manipulated into the sack.
And we get a new mannish creepy face.
And back with Jack on another island. ANOTHER Jack flashback? Better be good, I mutter. Enter Bai Ling, the freaky freak who Lucas cut from Episode III conspiring to form the Rebellion. We know they’re in Phuket, where Jack learned how to play poker, and we’re probably going to find out about those tattoos.
Got to laugh at Jack pushing the silverware button in the cage.
Meet Isabelle, suitably disturbing. The Sheriff, mm? Jack lies for Juliet.
Best scene of the week has to be Jack waking up to . . . the captured survivors! That was played to perfection. Aw, Cindy, we knew you’d be back. They’re here to Watch, huh? “It’s not that simple.” Welcome to the island, Cindy. The little girl wanting to know how Ana-Lucia was doing, followed by Jack’s reaction was priceless. It’s getting frustrating, being manipulated by those Others, yes.
Sawyer getting Carl to cowboy up was entertaining, though probably can’t lead to anything good. Also, incredibly frustrating for him to let more potential answers slip away into the night. I know we won't learn What and Why until it's time, but it's getting hard waiting.
And back with Ben, who’s got to survive the infected wound, if only because he’s turning in such solid performances. He orders Juliet to be marked. Ouch.
Nice of her to come back with the grilled cheese and toothpicks, though. So, Jack is clearly buying it. Which makes me wonder all the more. Elizabeth Mitchell is definitely playing a complex enough range of emotions across Juliet’s face at all times that she could be on anyone’s side. A big deal is that we have no idea what Ben was telling her on the table back in 3.7. That seems more important now.
Nice of Isabelle to translate the tattoo: He walks amongst us but is not one of us. But Jack says it’s what they say, not what they mean. Do they mean Stranger in a Strange Land? Or is the first line a direct quite from the Heinelen text?
A return to the all-score, no-dialogue outro we’ve come to know and love. Seemed a little forced the first time through, but more solid the second time, especially in light of not trusting that ol Juliet. Yeah, I think she is a’setting him up, for real and for true. What she’s setting him up FOR can be Big Unanswered Question #95.
No Easter eggs really this week, after all the Desmond madness last week. Juliet’s eight-point mark looks mostly like an upside-down Scientology cross, but surely they’re not going to go THERE, even if Ethan is Tom Cruise’s cousin in “real” life. The only other thing is it was Ash Wednesday. If they really are circling the web out to include non-LOST sources, like putting the Desmond/Penny stuff on Valentine’s Day or casting Finoula Flanagan from Amenabar's The Others as Ms. Hawking, you could sure draw a parallel, Juliet getting marked for her sin on the beginning of Lent. A stretch, yas, but this show gives you long arms. Just like Michael Jordan. #23.

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