Messages in a Bottle: LOST Thoughts #7

Okay, so I sort of figured that last night's episode of Lost ("S.O.S.") would be the last episode before sweeps, the one that sort of sets up a bunch of things that will later pay off and which leads up to the season finale. And I wasn't completely wrong, but we did get a touching Bernard/Rose flashback, some sexually tense Jack and Kate scenes, and the return of the prodigal castaway.

Bernard decides to build a huge S.O.S. message on the beach (against Rose's wishes), but he can't get much help from the other castaways. Locke feverishly attempts to sketch what he can remember of the map he saw during the lockdown. But the poor guy just can't get completely recall what he saw. Frustrated, he nearly lets the timer reach zero before Jack forces his hand. And a frustrated Locke is never a good thing. (For one, people tend to get killed. See: Carlisle, Boone.) Later, he attempts to get info out of their prisoner(a.k.a. The Other Formerly Known as Henry Gale)--whether he input the numbers or pressed execute--but Prisoner 24601 just won't talk. Has he taken a vow of silence? Not sure, but he does give us a truly wickedly evil smile. Shudder.

Jack wants to go back out to the line they're not supposed to cross. (Remember when Sea Captain/Zeke/Mr. Friendly kidnapped Kate and told them that they were watching them? You know, back when we thought Sea Captain's skeezy beard was real?) His brilliant idea: trade the prisoner they have for one of their own. Namely, Walt. But our own Other can only laugh at that hare-brained scheme (really, not one of Jack's best); they are not going to give the castaways Walt. Oooh, scary. So he knows all about Walt. Very interesting...

(Crack-brained theory of the week: could the reason the Others want/need Walt have to do with the "Him" they keep referring to? Is he an apprentice--not the Donald Trump-variety--or heir to this mysterious Mr. Man? Or just because of his psychic abilities?)

Flashback of the week belongs to Bernard and Rose, whom we discover meet rather late in life and fall in love quickly. They meet cute on a snow-covered city street, where Bernard helps Rose get her car out of a snowdrift... and falls face down into the snow in the process. It's Rose who asks Bernard out for a cup of coffee. After only dating for five months, Bernard takes Rose to Niagara Falls, where he proposes to her... only to learn that she has cancer and only has about a year to live. (What is it on this show with awkward proposals?) Bernard is shocked but still wants to marry Rose and Rose accepts the proposal. On their honeymoon, they go to Australia (!), where secretly Bernard wants Rose to see a healer/shaman named Isaac, whom he has given a $10,000 donation. Rose is outraged; she's already made her peace with her condition.

But she's there so she goes in to see Isaac, who is a world-famous healer and who has had A LOT of success healing people with serious illnesses. Isaac tells her that there are certain locations in the world where there is a confluence of energy (ley lines?) that he can tap into to heal people. Energy like magnetism (ding, ding). This is one of those special locations. He can draw on this energy and transfer it to someone else (double ding, ding). Isaac puts his hands over Rose's face and tries to heal her, but stops suddenly and says that he cannot heal her. Rose is hardly surprised by this but Isaac says that it's not that she can't be healed, but this is not the place to heal her. Isaac offers to repay Bernard but Rose tells him to keep the money; she's going to lie to Bernard and tell him that Isaac was able to cure her.

In the present day, Rose tells Bernard about her lie, but says that while Isaac didn't cure her, it doesn't mean she's not cured. It's this place. The island. It's cured her somehow. Bernard is shocked but then understands now why Rose didn't want him to build that S.O.S. sign on the beach; she's afraid if she leaves the island, her cancer will return. It's the island that's keeping her alive.

Which brings me to Rose and Locke. I absolutely loved that there was a connection between the two of the them. The scene where Locke sits out on the beach--in Rose's spot--and Rose chances upon him was beautiful in its simplicity and for what wasn't said. Locke is frustrated about his leg injury and Jack's prognosis that he'll have to be off of his leg for three weeks. But Rose can only smile and say that they both know it won't take that long, causing Locke to smile as well. See, Rose saw Locke in his wheelchair back at the airport in Sydney; she knows he was paralyzed and now he knows that she knows that. They've both been cured by the miracle of the island and it's their secret.

So is the cause of their miraculous recoveries the source of that electromagnetic force underneath the hatch? Isaac did speak of magnetism and the castaways do have some HUGE magnetic mumbo-jumbo nearby. So the island is definitely a source for healing energy. Which leads me to wonder: was the stadium where Jack met Desmond for the first time? It was only after meeting Desmond--and being touched by him--that Jack was able to miraculously cure his fiancee Sarah. So was there any energy transfer there? And if so, is Desmond a natural healer/shaman or was he somehow carrying that energy inside him and was able to pass it along to Jack, who in turn, healed Sarah? And if the stadium wasn't the source of the energy, where was? Could it be that Desmond had been to the island before? Or to another power source? Curious...

The encounter leaves Locke spiritually refreshed and he returns to the hatch, where Ana-Lucia tells him that she pushed "his" button. But Locke can only reply that it's not his, not anymore. And then he sits down and starts to draw the map from memory.

So it turns out that Eko and Charlie are building a church. I figured as much last week with the consecrated trees and, oh, Eko's whole religious viewpoint. Personally, I'd rather they build a treehouse (complete with monkey butlers) than a church, but to each his own. I'm more troubled by the fact that Charlie always needs to be subservient to someone rather than be independent. First Jack, then Locke, then Sawyer, and now Eko. But at least, he hasn't been Hoodie Charlie lately... which is a good sign.

Jack and Kate trek out into the jungle where they get caught--sexily, I might add--in one of Rousseau's traps (at least they assume it was one of Rousseau's; it wasn't as advanced as the Others' and had a doll as bait). Managing to unfree themselves, they land atop one another in a rather charged moment. Kate finally (finally!) tells Jack about how she, Claire, and Rousseau discovered another station and that the station's lockers contained costumes and theatrical glue and a fake beard. Jack is stunned that she would keep this from him, but she says she was waiting to be let "back into the club." They reach the invisible line in the grass--the point of no return--and Jack shouts for hours for anyone to come out there, but no one does and day quickly turns to night. They sit around a fire and Kate apologizes for kissing Jack a few episodes back but Jack was glad she did. As they are about to kiss (oooh!) there's a rustling in the trees. They jump up, expecting to see an Other but instead they discover... a sickly looking Michael!

So, the prodigal finally returns in the form of the long-missing Michael. He seems feverish, almost delusional. Is he infected? Is he going to lead the castaways into a trap? Has Michael become one of Them? (Interesting too, that just as Michael shows up, Vincent returns as well. Is there a connection?)

On the next Lost (whenever that may be): Michael tells the castaways that he knows the location of the Others, that they are barely armed, and that they are going to get Walt back (uh-oh); Libby offers Ana-Lucia some words of warning; Ana-Lucia draws a gun on the prisoner, who attacks Ana-Lucia and says, "you are going to kill her, Ana-Lucia"; and Jack makes a play for Sawyer's stash of guns.

I cannot bloody wait.

What's On Tonight

8 pm: Survivor: Panama--Exile Island (CBS); Will & Grace/My Name is Earl (NBC); Smallville (WB); American Inventor (ABC); That '70s Show/The Loop (FOX); Everybody Hates Chris/Love, Inc. (UPN)

9 pm: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS); My Name is Earl/The Office (NBC); Supernatural (WB); American Inventor (ABC); The OC (FOX); Eve/Cuts (UPN)

10 pm: Without a Trace (CBS); ER (NBC); Commander in Chief (ABC)

What I'll Be Watching

8 pm: Everybody Hates Chris.

As I am not only of the 12,000 lucky TV Academy members who are receiving the entire first season of Everybody Hates Chris this week, I'll be tuning in tonight for a brand new episode, directed by none other than the show's narrator/executive producer, Chris Rock. On tonight's episode ("Everybody Hates Corleone"), Chris sets out to get expelled from Corleone Middle School in order to avoid his beatings at the hands of the school bully. Something tells me Rochelle won't be too happy about this turn of events...

8:30 - 9:30 pm: My Name is Earl.

If you missed either of these episodes of My Name is Earl, here's your chance to catch them... or watch them again if you've seen them. In the first repeat episode ("Barn Burner"), Earl builds a holding pen for an ostrich in order to make up for burning down a barn as a kid, but was it really Earl who was responsible? In the second Earl repeat of the night ("O Karma, Where Art Thou?"), Earl fills in for a newlywed so he can take his wife on their honeymoon, but soon discovers that the man's boss (guest star Jon Favreau) is a bully. Hmmm, another program about a bully tonight? I sense a theme.

9:30 pm: The Office.

Unfortunately, The Office is a repeat tonight. But NBC is reairing the second season premiere ("The Dundies"), in which the downtrodden employees of Dunder Mifflin are forced to suffer through the annual office awards at a local Chili's restaurant. Classic.