'Lost': Whatever the Case May Be

Look, not every episode of Lost can be incredible. Some will merely be decent, which, when compared to most television, is still quite excellent. And then there are episodes such as this one, in which the show has interesting ideas but only semi-successful execution. You can objectively look at this episode and see how it did things correctly, and laid groundwork for later events, but in many ways feels like it ran in place for 42 minutes, seeking to catch its narrative breath after a solid stretch of universe-expanding episodes. If you liked this ep? Well, you're probably not going to like this recap. Fair warning, y'all.

Whatever the Case May Be

4) In Short

"Get me a ticket for an airplane...well, the key to one, at least."

8) On the Island

Kate's up a tree, picking fruit. It's about as thrilling as it sounds. She makes her way back to camp, but hears a twig break in the jungle. Now, given previous events on the Island, it's quite possible that would made the noise was a monster, a polar bear, or a psychotic native. So Kate does the logical thing and THROWS A ROCK IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SOUND.

Turns out Sawyer's the one making all the racket, in the name of protecting her. He's got a sore kneecap for his efforts thanks to Kate's aim. The two argue, and eventually come across a waterfall cascading into a natural body of water. Claire's gone, Charlie's in shock, and the camp's generally freaked out, but it's PG-13 swim lessons for Kate and Sawyer as the two aquatically frolic.

Sawyer correctly points out that they need "something good" after recent events, but I'd direct them back to Hurley's Putt-Putt of Happy if I had my druthers. The entire scene reeks of "Note from Studio: more hot people in less clothing please." And maybe I should just let it go, but the show is better than this.

While swimming, they notice corpses in the water. Ew. Looks like some of Oceanic 815 made its way this deep into the jungle. Sawyer wants to add to his Island stash; Kate's fine sitting this one out. That changes when she sees a metallic case under the corpses. She enlists Sawyer's help in dislodging it from its watery grave. However, her inability to open it shows Sawyer she was lying when she claimed it to be hers. Sawyer wants answers. Kate wants no part of it. The Suitcase of Stupidity stays with Sawyer.

Back on the beach, it looks like Keith Moon threw everyone's belongings into the ocean. Turns out, the tide is rising unnaturally fast, according to Sayid. Jack notes that the entire fuselage will soon be washed away, and busts out his "Let's all Move to the Caves" PowerPoint presentation again. Sayid points out that the jungle's not safe. Don't think Kate's in his Fave Five, since she didn't get the memo on that.

Jack wants Sayid to take him to Danielle. Look, Jack, I know you're upset about Kate almost skinny dipping with Sawyer, but isn't this a little...oh, you want information about the Island, not...hey, never mind, it's all in the past. Sayid seems to have pushed aside all belief in the strangeness of the Island, chalking up her words to madness and what he heard in the jungle to simply the wind. That line might work for Patrick Swayze, buddy, but you're not fooling me.

Jack presses on, inquiring about the maps and documents obtained from Mademoiselle Coco Puffs. Sayid screams, "Dammit, Jack, I'm a torturer, not a translator!" Sayid's got a serious case of the wiggins due to all the recent events, and it's a look that seems familiar, given a certain scene in a veterinarian's hospital in Season 4.

Shannon is grilling Boone about all his time with Locke, and I'm waiting for a Fire Island joke to come from her snotty lips, but it never does. Like everyone in this episode does to someone else, Boone straight up lies to her about his actions and intentions: he tells her they are looking for Claire. Her skeptical glare is met with an accusation; apparently, the less-than-dynamic duo is considered a joke on the Island (really?) and maybe she could stop tanning and start helping already.

Later than night, Kate espies Sawyer with the Suitcase of Stupidity. She thinks he's asleep, he's obviously not, and for a criminal on the run she does a lot of dumb stuff in this episode. I've seen five year-olds who broke cookie jars smoother than Kate in this installment. Kate leaves without the briefcase. (This is a recurring theme.)

Sayid limps up to Shannon, who took Boone's harsh words...well, not to heart. More to tan line. Sayid needs her French skillz to interpret Danielle's documents. Shannon's convinced that Boone put him up to it. Sayid's all, "You mean Mr. Useless?" She's hesitant to help, but few can resist Sayid's silky siren call for long. Elsewhere, Michael and Hurley mock Sawyer's efforts to pick the suitcase's lock, and Boone swipes an ax for John Locke, and Rose verbally kicks Charlie's butt into gear. Got all that? Excellent.

While Sawyer's up a tree, trying to break the suitcase open, Kate swoops in for the steal. Pretty sneaky, Kate. Sawyer gives chase, and for the fifty-seventh time in this ep, takes the case away from her. He promises to give it back if she discloses the contents. He doesn't care so much what's inside so much as why she wants it so badly. She refuses. Again. Good. God.

Back on the beach...Iraqi teacher...the subject...of Shannon's fantasy. OK, we're not quite in Police-territory yet, but I'd forgotten about the makeshift workspace they create for themselves in deciphering the Diary of a Mad French Woman. They sotra make cutesy eyes at each other, and most viewers at home are going, "Um, dude, phone call for you...it's the picture of Nadia on the other end!" Again, feels like a Studio note: "Less weirdness, more smoochies!"

Back in the caves, Jack comes across Sun making makeshift Bayer. Kate barges in, stating there's a problem. She explains that the case in question contains weapons, weapons now in the hands of everyone's favorite Southern troublemaker. She then reveals she knows where the key is: inside the marshal's back pocket. Grody. Jack doesn't believe for a second that mere guns and money are in this case. There's a case of the "don't believe Kates" going around on the Island. Wonder if Sun can whip up something to cure THAT.

Back on the beach, Rose continues to console Charlie, and man, I wish the show could have consistently used Rose as well as they did in this scene. She's just a lovely character, and probably the only one who could break through Charlie's malaise, self-loathing, and guilt. The scene stays just this side of preachy, and that's a hard act indeed.

We're at the grave site now, with both of them quickly overwhelmed by the stench of dead marshal as they dig. Kate reaches into the grave site, and extracts the wallet. She drops it upon finding maggots within, but Jack sees through her palming technique, and forces her to open her clenched palm with the key inside. By my count, Kate is something like 0 for 87 so far in her attempts to open the Suitcase of Stupidity.

Back at Craphole University (team name: The Smokies!), Shannon's stumped by the French woman's ramblings. Turns out the words bear no relation to the equations, which stumps both, frustrates both, and leads to class being dismissed without any further insight into Danielle's mind or the Island's mysteries.

Jack confronts Sawyer about the case, and threatens to stop Sawyer's medical treatment unless he complies. It's times like this that some of us miss how freakin' cool Jack Shephard used to be. Then two part, after bonding over what a liar their mutual love interest is. Warms the cockles of yer heart, don't it?

Jack takes the case back to Kate, and honors their agreement to open the Suitcase of Stupidity together. Inside the suitcase? Everything she mentioned, save one thing: an envelope marked "Personal Effects." Inside that? A toy airplane. This entire episode...for that. Jack presses her for its meaning, and she finally screams, "It belonged to the man I killed!" Niiiice, Jack. Way to make her reveal her murderous past. No biscuit for you. Oh well, least they have some guns now. Maybe those will eventually become useful.

The Beachies make their way to their new, less tide-inflicted campsite. Rose tells Charlie there's a fine line between denial and faith; she prefers the latter. She's talking about Bernard, but could easily be talking about Claire. Nearby, Shannon makes her way over to Sayid, revealing the source of some of Danielle's writing. Turns out, while in Paris, she babysat a child obsessed with the Pixar film Finding Nemo, and in that movie? This song. Which may or may not hold huge meaning for the show as a whole. In any case, Boone seems pretty peeved she's singing it. Now why would a brother be mad about a thing like that?

15) Off the Island

A man in a New Mexico bank refers to Kate as "Mrs. Ryan," ostensibly in there for a loan application. Her cover story is that she's a photographer commissioned to create a coffee table book of...zzzz. Sorry, fell asleep. Kate flashbacks do that to me. In any case, while talking to the bank officer, a couple of cats from Grand Theft Auto bust in and hold everyone hostage. It's robbery time, y'all.

The main baddie has the manager at gunpoint, asking for the keys to the vault. While his henchmen are distracted, Larry the Cable Guy saddles up to her and says he can get 'er dun. This hunk of New Mexico man actually succeeds in stripping a robber of his weapon, which slides conveniently over to Kate. However, she claims not to know how to use a gun, and in the confusion, the would-be hero gets clocked, and the head honcho takes Kate back into a private room. And then...it's business...it's business tiiiiime. Lookie what we have here.

Smooch-tastic time over, Kate (aka, "Maggie) asks her compatriot (Jason) to hit her. Um. OK. A bloodied Kate gets dragged back out into the open. They eventually con the manager into opening the vault for the two of them. In the middle of cleaning the bank out, Jason gets the bright idea to go all Bond villain and tell the manager the entire plot and motivation behind said bank robbery. This leads to a John Woo-esque gun standoff, ending when Kate takes out all three robbers with a gun she's in fact quite adept at deploying.

She asks the manager to open bank deposit box 815. The manager insists it takes two keys to open it, and lo, she has the second (but wasn't on the signatory card, thus the robbery...holy overkill, Batman). Inside the box? A familiar envelope.

16) The Mythology

1. When Sayid makes note of how unusually fast the tide is rising, one can't help but wonder if forces were at work pushing the people away from shore and into the heart of the jungle. I really wonder how long we've been seeing two opposing forces working for and against our Lostaways.
2. I'm curious to see how much "La Mer" eventually pans out in the overall mythology of the show. It could simply be something cool and mysterious to throw in for the sake of being cool and mysterious, but those lines seem to carry quite a bit of meaning.

23) The Moment

Well, if held at gunpoint, I'd say Kate taking down three bank robbers like La Femme Nikita. Not that we thought she was a fragile creature before, but it lent an air of menace to her character that made one sit up and take notice.

42) In Retrospect

This was as mediocre as I remember. Yup. Pretty much on the nose. Very little in the way of new reveals second time around. Sometimes, an episode is just an episode.

108) In Summary

Not to beat a dead horse (we'll get to that in "What Kate Did"), but this is a serious let-down after the one-two punch of "Solitary"/"Raised by Another" and the better-upon-second-viewing "All Good Cowboys Have Daddy Issues." Kate's almost pathetic attempt at opening the case, coupled with the complete letdown of the reveal, only augment the general apathetic approach to Claire's disappearance. Yes, the Rose/Charlie stuff was nice, but too little, too late. Maybe the monster will make an appearance next time and shake things up a bit.

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Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.