Ah yes, the episode in which we learned Sun is a pathological liar, Jin is a romantic schmuck, and Henry Gale is one scary, scary dude. In fact, so many things are set in motion that it's hard to rectify episodes such as this with the general "nothing ever happened in Season 2" complaints that people (such as me) often lob at the show. I still say that momentum of Lost was at its slowest during this season, but I certainly was not bored watching this one again, I can assure you.

The Whole Truth

4) In Short

"Jin and Sun really planted that garden, no doubt about it."

8) On the Island

Jin rushes into Sun's garden, demanding she return back to the beach. He's terrified she'll be taken again by the Others. When she refuses, he proceeds to tear up her garden, declaring there's no more reason for her to stay out there. You stay classy, Jin!

Hey, it's Pamela Anderson! Oh, oops, no, it's Ana Lucia, running along the beach. When she returns to her tent, she finds Locke eating a banana. She informs Ana Lucia that they have a potential Other in the hatch, and that she'd like her to figure out if he's telling the truth. He feels her experience with the Others, and as a cop, could help crack the case. Looks like Henry's final words in the last episode have led Locke to try and get him out ASAP.

Sun storms back to the beach, when she suddenly keels over, apparently ill. Rose and Bernard walk by, mid-argument, and notice Sun hunched over. Looks like Bernard forgot her birthday, thus the source of the fight. (If this were Season 4, Faraday could explain how it might not actually be her birthday, but that's a topic for another day.) Despite their best efforts to get help for Sun, she asks to be left alone.

Jack comes out of the Swan shower to find Locke shaving in the nearby sink. "The steam opens up my pores," Locke says, in one of my favorite line readings ever. Just is, can't explain why. Locke retroactively explains his plan to re-motivate Henry via Ana Lucia. Jack agrees to talk to her, but Locke informs him she's already inside with Henry as they speak.

Ana Lucia and Henry exchange mild "pleasantries," if you will, inside the armory. Henry's reluctant to retell his story, in that no one so far seems to believe it. Ana Lucia recounts how she once mistook a man for an Other, and doesn't make the same mistake twice. Henry has this, "I so wish I could thank you for eliminating my romantic rival," look in his eyes.

On the beach: Sawyer's reading Judy Blume, when Sun comes over looking for his medical stash. Ruh row. He won't let her look through it by herself, however, which forces her to tell him what she wants: a pregnancy test. Double ruh, double row.

Back in the hatch, Jack frets about the activities inside the armory, while Locke calmly sorts through the hatch's record collection. Inside, Ana Lucia is grilling Henry to no avail. She wants Henry to draw up a map to the balloon, stating its discovery would clear him up. Henry worries that an incorrectly drawn map would mean his demise, but he eventually concedes that he knows where it is. He states he's a dead man anyways, since the Lostaways are simply looking for a scapegoat to punish. Ana Lucia states if he doesn't draw up that map, his hypothesis will come true.

Sun goes deep into the jungle to take her pregnancy test, when who should she run into but Hurley, once again (sigh) stealing food for his own private use. After an awkward conversation that both want as quickly over as possible, Hurley leaves. Sun looks down at her test, which is manufactured by a group called Widmore Labs.

Ana Lucia asks Jack and Locke to let her out of the armory. She wants more time to talk to him, but wants to do so the following day, to give Henry some time to think. That is, she says, if it's OK with Jack. Jack gets this great "oh NOW you ask" look on his face. She goes to the beach to talk to Sayid about her Henry problem. Turns out Henry drew her the map she requested, and she knows Sayid wants to discover the truth as much as she does about their newfound Hatch buddy. Charlie decides to tag along with the merry group to find the balloon.

Along the way to the balloon, Ana Lucia notices two things: that Henry's map seems fairly accurate, and that Charlie's packing heat. She's semi-relieved by the first and semi-terrified of the second. After a brief standoff, Sayid of all people insists that Charlie hand the gun over to Ana Lucia. Why no one's curious as to how Charlie got a gun semi-blows my mind.

Sun asks Kate to sit with her while she waits for the results of the test. "Who flies with a pregnancy test?" Kate asks. Darn good question, Kate. Maybe someone who anticipates crashing on an island with a weird history of pregnancy-related deaths? Just a wild, wacky theory. Sun thanks Kate for her surfeit of support and lack of penetrating questions around Jin's absence. The results are in, and Sun is pregnant. Kate's curious as to Sun's horror at the result.

They seek a second opinion in Jack. Jack does a lovely two-step as he insists Sun tell her husband the whole truth and then straight up lies to Kate about the activities in the hatch. That's Dancing with the Stars-type material right there.

Neither Ana Lucia nor Sayid can sleep after making camp that night. She once again apologizes to Sayid for what she did to Shannon. Sayid coldly notes she was merely trying to protect her people, laying the blame upon the Others. He then suggests that once they accurately determine Henry's identity, something will have to be done to rectify the wrong incurred upon them. The following morning, it starts raining heavily. They come across the field detailed on the map, only to find nothing. Sayid wants to immediately head back, but Ana Lucia insists they investigate more before going back to the Swan.

On the beach, Bernard is trying to capture an oyster for Rose's birthday. Jin informs him no oysters exist on this part of the Island. Sawyer swoops in to take advantage of Jin's lack of English skills to call him "Daddy-O" and various other nicknames. We hear the conversation from Jin's point of view, and apparently, foreigners hear English as Agent Cooper heard the backwards-talking midget in the Black Lodge. Um, OK.

Jin is in Sun's garden, trying to repair the damage he caused earlier in the episode. He apologizes to Sun, saying she's the only one on the Island he can talk to there. Getting a little misty here, people. Sun admits she's pregnant, much to Jin's elation. But she immediately tells him she's got something else she needs to admit: that it was Jin, not her, that was the problem when they tried to conceive. Jin's confused as to how she could be pregnant now. She insists she's never been with another man. Jin declares it a miracle. They hug, and Sun's eyes betray that she's a lying liar that lies.

A little later on, the two discuss baby names. Jin wants to know if it's OK to tell the other Lostaways, and the two quickly determine that everyone probably knows already, due to the Island social scene being the Island version of Gossip Girl. Sun asks to stay behind for a little bit by herself, while Jin prepares their lunch. He reluctantly acquiesces, and then says, "I love you" in English to her same statement in Korean. Damn you, Jin. Damn you to heck.

In the hatch, Jack lets Henry out of the armory for some breakfast. Henry turns into a four-year old once out, asking about anything and everything he sees. He wants to know about the computer, the food stash, and mocks them for their lack of curiosity about the hatch. He then casually drops the map into the conversation, which sends ripples of panic through John and Locke. Henry then delivers one of the great Lost monologues of all time on the befuddled duo:

Wow, you guys have some real trust issues, don't you? Guess it makes sense she didn't tell you. I mean, with the two of you fighting all the time. Of course, if I was one of them -- these people that you seem to think are your enemies -- what would I do? Well, there'd be no balloon, so I'd draw a map to a real secluded place like a cave or some underbrush -- good place for a trap -- an ambush. And when your friends got there a bunch of my people would be waiting for them. Then they'd use them to trade for me. I guess it's a good thing I'm not one of them, huh? You guys got any milk?

15) Off the Island

Sun is standing in from of a mirror, all dolled up for a night of...um, television watching. Yea, television watching. Jin, Master Mood Killer, asks her if she's taken her temperature. Looks like they've been trying to conceive for a year, without success. With the mood broken, Jin takes the moment to suggest seeing a fertility specialist. Things quickly go downhill as the two fight about his job with her father. Jin suggests that if a baby were in the picture, Papa Paik might give him a safer job. "A baby will change everything," he says. No diggity, no doubt.

Sun furtively walks down a hotel hallway. She enters a room, and who should be there but Jae. We're supposed to think they are gonna...um, watch some television of their own, but he's merely giving her English lessons. However, it's clear there's a bit more under the surface as the two conduct their lesson.

Sun and Jin are in the officer of the fertility specialist. The news is not good: advanced endometriosis, which is scar tissue in the fallopian tubes. (Thank you, handy closed captioning for the Korean impaired!) The doctor insists there's no chance of them conceiving. Interestingly, Sun doesn't seem too upset, whereas Jin flies off the handle, blaming Sun for trying to trap him. "Oh yes. I was trying to trap the son of a fisherman." Well, the only boy who could ever teach her...was the son of a fisherman. Yes he was. He was. Oooh, yes he was. (Oh, by the way, Jin storms out. Natch.)

Back in the Jae School for English Lessons and Flirting, the teacher asks the student why she is so distracted. She confesses that she was glad to find out to couldn't ever bear children. Jae gets down to brass tacks: why has Sun continued her lessons one month after achieving basic fluency? She reveals she's going to America, and leaving Jin. Jae hints she should stay in Korea, but maybe for a man with a lot less hair.

Sun is out and about, walking her dog. The fertility doctor pulls up next to her, with something urgent to say. Turns out he lied in the office, for fear of angering the employee of Papa Paik. (Gotta love that logic: destroy his daughter's honor, but save the honor of his employee.) He leaves, with her shattered on the sidewalk.

16) The Mythology

Well, the insertion of the Widmores into the Lost mythology has to be the biggest piece dropped on our unsuspecting heads. It's unclear if the Widmore mythology was in place at this time, or if they merely piggybacked off a prop detail for later purposes, but does it really matter? This chicken/egg type discussion distracts like so much Henry Gale monologuing.

Let's set aside the Widmore/Linus World War for a second and focus on Kate's question: who WOULD bring a pregnancy test on a plane? And specifically, a plane that crash lands on an island we now know is in the crosshairs of the founder of the company that makes the pregnancy test? We've had two seasons now in which the subject of childbirth on the Island is a major tentpole, so let's take a peek at this topic.

Reader SFOBrit had an interesting take on childbirth in the recap for "Maternity Leave," in which he said:

It's clear that willing things on The Island can make them happen so perhaps the collective will of The Others to have a savior be born meant that all other children would not carry to term.

This would reinforce the idea that Aaron is truly "The One" since he did carry to term.

I'm not sure I completely agree with this, but I think inserting the "mind into matter" aspect of the Island into the realm of childbirth is a deft move and worth exploring. Because Alex and Aaron violate any attempt to make a hard-fast rule about the way babies are produced on the Island. At best, you can say, "So long as you land on the Island in the third trimester, you're safe." Claire landed when eight months pregnant, and Danielle arrived around the same time. And as my wife pointed out in the comments, Karl is a whole other case I don't even want to try and shoehorn in now.

What I like about SFOBrit's theory is that it fuses two things that the Dharma Initiative tried to fuse: science and the supernatural. And by "supernatural," I don't mean ghosts and aliens so much as things beyond our normal understanding. There's a game out right now called "Too Human," which is a cybernetic take on Norse mythology. The idea here is that the use of things like laser canons and advanced armor would seem to the untrained eye as god-like magic. Or, to quote Lost analyst J. Wood,

Arthur C. Clarke, the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey (he wrote the book as Kubrick made the film), wrote that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

There are a myriad sci-fi/fantasy/genre shows that explore this notion, so in that respect Lost is far from unique. But it's still helpful to say that here that childbirth on the Island is a matter of both scientific advancement AND something akin to faith, which I think is SFOBrit's point. And where faith and magic intersect is where "mind into matter" happens.

But obviously, mere will isn't the issue, because it's not like The Others wants their own to get knocked up and killed. And this is where I deviate slightly from SFOBrit, because I'm not sure the Others are trying to have children to conceive of The One. I'd wager they merely want to perpetuate a society in their own version of Eden. The will that's thwarting them may not be their own, but Jacob's.

That's a lot to download, and I'm still working through all this myself, but hopefully this is a good starting point for this discussion.

23) The Moment

Henry's last speech just kills.

42) In Retrospect

1. Every time I see Locke and Jack butt heads, I want to step in and slap them both. Henry pretty much did this by episode's end, and yet they STILL DIDN'T LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER.
2. This is the episode in which you really, really start to feel the claustrophobia of the hatch. Whereas it was largely forgotten for a while after "Everybody Hates Hugo," it becomes an increasing focal point for the rest of the season.

108) In Summary

Three episodes involving Henry Gale, and three winners in a row. Coincidence? I think not.

With "Fire+Water," the show felt like it hit a wall. While the first quarter of the season focuses on the Tailies, the middle quarter sort of meandered, unsure of what to do with all the new characters introduced into familiar settings. The Hatch was abandoned, characters regressed, and overall the show lost momentum.

But Gale's presence allowed a ramping up of plot, mythology, and most importantly, tension. As Sayid himself notes a few episodes back, the Lostaways had seemed to forget the danger they were in. And Henry's introduction into their back yard forced everyone (both in-show and in-production) to ramp up their game significantly.

I still feel in many ways that Season 2 is the weakest of the seasons, but trifectas such as these last three episodes have gone a long way of raising its esteem in my eyes.

Comments

So, Lost is basically Fantasy Island on crack. That should have made the "crossover" post... Ben: "Juliet, da plane, da plane!"

But it does seem like whatever you want to happen ends up happening. The others have been looking for a savior for so long, the childbirth connection could be there. But what happened to Ben being the island savior? If Richard had selected Ben (or did Ben select himself) to take over the natives, why the effort to find someone to give birth to the savior? Ben has shown himself to have a strong connection to the island. Now he may have fallen out of favor with Richard or Jacob, but that would have happened well after the childbirth experiments. So, for now, I'm not totally convinced women can't give birth because they aren't carrying the next leader.

A-Rob | Sep 26, 2008 11:48:48 AM | #

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"I'd wager they merely want to perpetuate a society in their own version of Eden."

That is a fantastic point, Ryan, and one that has only been hinted at in the show. If you take into consideration the fact that Tom makes Karl apologize to Sawyer for his escape attempt, the mysterious "good people" argument, the funeral ritual for Colleen and Juliet's trial, it really does seem that the Others are enacting their own form of utopian social engineering...

...or maybe it's far more ancient a society than that...?

JeffC | Sep 26, 2008 2:00:29 PM | #

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My favorite part of this episode is during the shower scene where Locke steals a glance at Jack's "little Shepard". Great stuff!

Blue Sean | Sep 26, 2008 2:20:01 PM | #

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There's gotta be some other parallel universe where Jack & Locke have a bromance going on.

Anyway, I think in order to understand the effects of the childbirth situation on the Island and how it relates to the Others, you first have to understand one simple fact; the Others are fundamentally divided. Richard and his ilk want to follow Jacob/the Island and enact his/its will; Jacob wants to get the frak out of his cabin and stop the forces of darkness that are slowly closing in; Ben wants to protect the Island and do Jacob's will, but he often ignores that in favor of his own desires; and the rest of the Others that don't fall into any of the above...just want to live out their lives in New Otherton, preferably with the ability to breed.

So Aaron is pretty much the centerpiece of everything. The regular Others (Juliette) want him to study him from a scientific position and see why he was born and their children weren't; Jacob wants him because he just might be the key to freeing him and overthrowing the darkness; Ben sorta wants him because Jacob wants him, but also because he wants his people to have babies so he needs Aaron to study; and Richard SHOULD want him, as he may be the prophet/messiah that he thinks Ben and Locke are.

Now as for the pregnancy test being on the plane, well...since we find out in later seasons that Widmore probably indirectly sent that plane (and/or some people on it) to the Island, we could theorize that he knew about the pregnancy issues there and sent the test along with his agent.

Other Sean | Sep 26, 2008 10:00:25 PM | #

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As I mentioned in "Maternity Leave", everyone tends to think the Psychic with Claire knew the plane would crash and therefore make her have to raise the baby by herself as what he told her must happen. But what if there were really "good people" in California as he mentioned to her so she would take the flight to Los Angeles....and what if those people were from Mittelos Bioscience and one Richard Alpert...that would be a good twist....and the Others would have their savior. Also I think Ben never really was the one the Others were looking for but his persuasive manipulative ways made him their leader under Jacob until Locke came around. Ben was probably the one who got them into wearing regular clothes and using the Dharma homes and having a weekly book club, which I believe got the Others away from their true goal of finding an island savior. They began to do more of what Ben wanted to do and what his real plans were we don't know for sure but it does involve keeping Widmore away and getting a mother to successfully give birth on the island.

Jacoby | Sep 27, 2008 8:46:28 AM | #

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Is it just me or that "Ads by Google" tumor getting bigger by the day?

JeffC | Sep 27, 2008 10:52:59 AM | #

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Well I seem to be in a pattern of getting too busy for "Lost" during the week, and catching up on the weekends. It took a while to watch three episodes and read three blogs, but here I am finally at Saturday night all caught up. Whew!

What great in-sight you all have. I lent my older boy the First season of "Lost" and he called me this morning and said that he loved it and wanted to borrow the second season (I said I would lend it when I'm finished). I mentioned this web-site, if he wanted to find out more and read in-depth analysis. Anyway, I'm just glad to have a family member as a "Lost" fan!

An aside -- I should have mentioned this on the "Long Con" thread, but you had passed me when I finally read it yesterday, but my Dad's absolute favorite quote was "A leopard never changes his spots". I grew up hearing that, and I often repeat it. How nice to hear that quote had an episode built around it.

Debra | Sep 27, 2008 5:11:50 PM | #

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My dad's favorite quote was, "Would you kids shut the hell up, I'm trying to watch the game!" He's from Pennsylvania, and everyone knows they're hard-core when it comes to sports.

Sorry for the off-topic post again.

Revenant | Sep 27, 2008 8:35:14 PM | #

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Funny...(or maybe not so funny)!

Debra | Sep 28, 2008 11:42:11 AM | #

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this is way off topic but appraently people with "sean" in their user name seem to WANT jack and locke to have a sexual tentsion. ENOUGH! nooo none of that!

secret lady | Oct 6, 2008 10:22:25 AM | #

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