Eggtown

Tonight’s episode wasn’t as dense or thrilling as weeks past, but it still closed with a single word, a single name, that scored a palpable hit. Aaron, Claire’s baby, is one of the Oceanic Six… but calls Kate mommy. And so my head spins with possibilities. Kate must be claiming Aaron as her biological son, hence her refusal to let her mother see him. The rest of the Oceanic survivors must also be keeping Aaron’s true parentage secret. And something must have happened to Claire, as seeing her son is apparently too much for Jack.

But wait. Desmond had a vision of Claire and Aaron boarding a helicopter. Does Claire technically make it off the island but not to rescue? Or are the details Desmond’s visions in flux? There is that time discrepancy, after all.

And there’s still the big mystery of why Early Future Jack is generally together and fighting to put The Island behind him, and Late Future Jack is a mess and desperate to return. Could it be that the Jack we saw tonight was tortured about leaving people, including Claire, behind… but the Jack that we saw at the end of Season Three was pushed over the edge by learning who Claire really is?

All this wild conjecture sprouting from the closing moment of “Eggtown,” a curiously named (apart from the eggs in the first scene) and leisurely paced episode that brought a few morsels of information on the island, and a flash forward that seemed to be the natural end of Kate’s character arc as we’ve followed it since 2004. Her story’s not over, of course — note the conveniently imposed “don’t leave California” restriction that’ll no doubt land her back in hot water — but unlike Sayid’s jaw-dropping future, Kate pretty much ended up where we expected.

Was she truly transformed by her experiences on The Island? Probably not, since her freedom was based on a fabricated tale of heroism. Was she truly transformed by becoming a mother? Possibly, though how that happened doesn’t exactly bode well for them. Once again, it seems escape from The Island doesn’t mean our survivors can escape their true natures. Kate is still living a lie.

As for events on the island, a couple of tantalizing reveals. Miles doesn’t just know Ben, he knows what he’s capable of. But again we got a sense of that from “The Economist.” The fact that the helicopter has disappeared, though, is “far more than weird.” And the writers are not being subtle about the fact that Minkowski has been missing in action for some time, with the increasingly mysterious Regina up to something on the boat. Locke’s brief rush of confidence has again been flushed away by the reliably sinister Ben, but that’s nothing new.

Actually, I love when the show rewards viewers who have been aboard for the long haul, such as that opening scene with Locke bringing a captive Ben food and a book, only to leave in frustration, throwing said food to the floor. The exact scenario played out in the hatch in Season Two, making tonight’s reference a near brilliant touch… were it not for the fact that Ben called attention to it.

Jen is already trying to retract her Skater status, tonight expressing some frustration with Kate. To be sure, Kate made a pretty bad deal with Miles. Huge upside for Miles, huge risks for her, all for a ridiculous piece of information (“Do you know who I am?”). And getting all pouty with Sawyer seemed like exactly the wrong tactic. She just found out she probably can’t return to the real world. So of course she runs back to Rescue Central. On the other hand, looking back, it was clear the whole point of all that tension was to make us presume that Kate’s future son was James Jr.

Notes and Notions:

  • Jen was annoyed at how easily Kate seemed to get off after everything law enforcement previously did to capture her. Was this a federal trial? What of the other states that suffered the wrath of Kate? I, however, have no problem believing that being famous is enough to keep you out of jail.
  • Jen was also very surprised to see Diane again, considering she was once on her death bed. Interesting that she thought she lost her daughter in a plane crash, but still lived beyond every medical estimate.
  • The “don’t leave California” restriction really seemed arbitrary. It seemed to be specifically inserted to generate drama when Kate inevitably wants to leave (presumably to the island, if Jack ultimately convinces her). Isn’t she one of the most recognizable faces in America? Pity about that Golden Ticket.
  • What was with Charlotte’s test for Dan with the playing cards? Now that we know he had a “caretaker” in “Confirmed Dead,” I suspect it was just a basic memory exercise. But any time there’s a game in this show (backgammon!), there’s always something else going on.
  • Claire’s conversation about motherhood with Kate, in hindsight, was pretty “anvilicious.”
  • Speaking of Claire, it was good to see her again, but kind of jarring to see her making coffee and hanging laundry. We saw Hurley mourn Charlie’s death, but she seems to have gotten over it quick. “The Beginning of the End” really seems to be as far as the writers are going to let that tragedy leak into Season Four.
  • Sawyer Nicknames: “Montezuma” for Hurley. “Bruce Lee” for Miles. Which, Jen notes, is a recycled nickname. Jin got pegged with that one a while back. (There’s a great list at Lostpedia.)
  • Favorite Lines: Sawyer to Hurley: “Got something in your eye, Hugo?” Hurley to Kate: “You just Scooby-Doo’d me, didn’t you?” Miles to Kate: “This is hot.”
  • Movies: “Xanadu.” An interesting choice. If they were going for cheesy, why not throw some “Exposé” in the VCR instead? Says Jen, “‘Xanadu’ is often compared to ‘Brigadoon,’ and ‘Brigadoon’ is about a mysterious town that only appears for some people.” Check out the Wikipedia entry for ‘Brigadoon‘ and ‘Xanadu.’ Hmm.
  • Music: “She’s Got You” by Patsy Cline. Her catalog is clearly Kate’s soundtrack.
  • Books: “VALIS” by Philip K. Dick, and a what looked like a paperback release of “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
  • Locations: Hawaii State Capitol for Kate’s arrival, the prison meeting with her lawyer, and her meeting with Jack in the parking garage. The YWCA was where they built the courtroom. Anyone know where Kate’s house is?
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51 Responses to Eggtown

  1. Danie says:

    “# frank Says:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 7:24 am

    Question: On the stand jack said the plane crashed on the island – so how does that jibe with the discovery of the other plane in the ocean?”

    Could this be why they were given settlement money and a golden ticket? Plenty of planes have crashed. Perhaps Oceanic had to make a settlement in order to make up for the cover story of a fake plane crash with no survivors. Suddenly, there are survivors, so it’s possible they were sued.

    Just an idea. Overall this season makes my headspin–which is good. But I found this episode lackluster.

    So glad to have Ryan and Jen back on the airwaves so to speak! You were missed!

    Danie

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