'Lost': Par Avion

With Season 4 putting Claire back into central importance, episodes such as this provide Lost fans with an opportunity to see what important clues the show might have buried about her part in the shape of things to come. Between the identity of her father and the mysterious circumstances surrounding her car accident, there's a lot to chew on. While her on-Island actions are more than a bit lacking, the flashbacks take on potentially new significance. Let's get into it!

(Make sure you read my initial take on this episode here.)

Par Avion

4) In Short

"I'm like a bird. I only fly away. I don't know where my soul is, but now I do know where the home of the Others is. So, there's that."

8) On the Island

Claire wakes up from a fitful rest to find Charlie has set up a breakfast-in-bed situation for her. She's surprised by the change in his mood; Charlie is apparently all about carpe diem since the incident with the van. He suggests leaving Aaron with Korea's most dysfunctional couple while the two of them take a stroll.

In the jungle, Sayid's analyzing the map obtained from The Flame while Mikhail sits silently, suffering from the worst case of the Mondays ever. Locke and Sayid argue over their next move, and everyone argues about whether or not to kill Mikhail. It's like an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, only I don't want to end my own life while watching it. As the party bickers, Mikhail smirks and observes.

Beach picnic time! Charlie's served up Dharma's finest cuisine on a blanket for the two of them. But before they can enjoy some Dharma Puffs, Desmond comes out of the jungle, rifle in hand. He suggests he and Charlie go hunting for boar in a tone Charlie immediately understands. While they talk about "hunting boar," Claire notices some birds flying in the nearby distance. Suddenly elated, she tells them she knows how to get off the Island and runs off.

Back at camp, Claire explains the plan: she wants to catch one of the birds that just flew by, attach a message, and hope that the scientists that have tagged said birds will read the message upon landing at their final destination. As she excitedly relates her plan, Charlie and Desmond exchange "ruh row" looks from afar. Charlie's strategy to dissuade her? Out and out insults. Yea, that'll work, Chuckie.

In the jungle, Kate wants to know why Danielle hasn't asked a thing about Alex since learning she was alive. Danielle responds that she hasn't because she's unsure she even wants to know the answers. (Is this how the show wants us, the viewing audience, to treat the larger mysteries of the show?)

What follows is a FANTASTIC scene in which Mikhail describes how he came to the Island (via submarine) and why such a route is no longer possible (the sky turning purple knocked out the homing beacon attached to the underwater station). When Kate asks why he would ever want to return, he sarcastically replies that she could not understand because she wasn't on the list. The word "list" sets everyone on edge, and sends the orchestra into Ominous Village. Mikhail says the list was created by a "great man," a person not Ben but above him in the Others' hierarchy, and those with him are not on the list due to various shortcomings inherent within them. Mikhail also knows a whole lot about people he just met a few hours ago as well. Masterful scene.

Just before Mikhail can reveal that he knows about Locke's previous paralysis, Danielle notices something nearby. That something? A series of metallic pylons, stretching out in each direction as far as the eye can see.

Back at the Island's version of To Kill a Mockingbird, Claire and Jin are building a trap while Sun's stuck on chum duty. Tasty!  The two women discuss their mutual mother issues, with Claire mysteriously talking about her mother in the past tense. Just as they are about to capture a bird in their trap, Desmond fires his gun from the jungle. He claims to be hunting boar; Claire doesn't believe him for a second.

Isn't it pylonic...don'tcha think? Sayid conjectures the pylons are a type of security system, and that the group should merely go around them when possible. Mikhail insists 1) there's no going around, they encircle the Barracks, and 2) they haven't worked for years anyways, so don't bother. Fed up with Mikhail's words, John shoves him between the pylons, where we learn 1) oh hell yes, they work, and 2) once inside, they make you froth at the mouth and spurt blood from your ears, while a large humming sound plays accompaniment. Let me say this in my best howard Cosells: DOWN GOES MIKHAIL! DOWN GOES MIKHAIL! Frakkin' awesome.

Sayid and Kate have this hysterical, "Can you BELIEVE this guy?" look between them as they observe the latest victim in Locke's Destructopalooza. They're not so sure he's come for Jack as much as something else entirely. Their suspicions are aroused further when they find some C4 in his backpack, which contradicts his earlier story about not knowing of its existence inside the Flame. Locke didn't exactly put a "For Sub!" stickie on it, but he might as well have.

Claire takes her verbal assault back to the camp, where she takes her anger out on Claire. She takes her aggression up at notch by once again banning Charlie from the baby. This marks the approximately 12th time she's done this in the history of Lost. Right about now, Charlie's thinking death isn't such a bad option.

Montage time! We're gonna build a branch ramp...A BRANCH RAMP! Kate volunteers to go over first. She scoots up, pauses just before reaching the fence, and manages to go over successfully. Boy, that's an odd hole in the defenses. Not as odd as a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port, but odd all the same. It's almost as if the fence were constructed for something continually tied to the ground. Curious.

On the beach, Claire and Sun have a bitch fest about Charlie. Sun sees the rocker and Desmond fighting nearby, so Claire decides to get some answers. Damnit, she wants the TRUTH! But can she handle it? She follows Desmond along the rocky shoreline, and is shocked to find he's actually trying to get of the elusive birds. After he successfully grabs it from its makeshift nest, she wants to know how he could have possibly known the bird was there. He points to a nearby series of rocks, and tells her that's where Charlie slipped and died. Or rather, where he would have. Des probably should have clarified that up front.

Claire returns to the beach, bird in hand. Turns out Desmond told her everything, about the visions and Charlie's part in all of them. They take the bird to the shore, newly written note to the outside world in hand. Claire declares she hasn't given up on Charlie just yet, visions be damned. She then releases the bird into the air, where it joins the rest of its flock.

The birds fly overhead Kate, Sayid, and Locke, who have finally arrived at the Barracks alongside Danielle. They soon see Jack running towards them...to catch a football from Tom. The would-be rescuers think, "I'm gonna run through the sonic fence to wash this image from my mind."

15) Off the Island

We open on a pair of eyes. What is this, Season 1? Oh, it's Claire. With...black hair. And little pieces of glass in said hair. And blood on her face. And a mother a few yards away, having sailed through the windshield. Looks like Claire has herself a more-than-tiny accident along the highway.

In the hospital, a police officer is asking Claire about the accident. She gives a conflicting version of the accident than the truck involved in it, going so far as to lie about who was driving their car at the time of the crash.

When she visits her mother later on, her Aunt Lindsey chastises her for leaving the hospital to take a shower. The doctor who performed the surgery comes in and tells them both that Claire's mother might never wake up, due to the massive trauma sustained to her head during the crash. Lindsey worries about the cost inherent to keeping her sister in the hospital indefinitely, but the doctor assures her that an anonymous benefactor has already agreed to pay her costs. Here's a hint: it's not the Deal or No Deal banker.

During a later visit, Claire learns of a new doctor tending to her mom. That doctor? Good ol' Christian Shephard, of course. He tries to leave upon seeing Claire, but Lindsey walks in and FLIPS OUT upon seeing him. I guess she's not a fan of his mullet in this episode. In the ensuing argument, Claire learns that Christian has been paying for her mother's bills. Oh, and he's her Daddy. That too.

Christian visits Claire at her job, where she's a tattoo+piercing artist/barista. That absolutely can't be sanitary on any level whatsoever. He's leaving the country that night, but wants one cup of coffee with his daughter. They go to the food court in the  mall in which she works, where they catch up on old times: the fling, the betrayal, the fifth of bourbon before bed each night.

What almost approaches something friendly turns sour when Christian starts discussing ways to end her mother's pain. As Claire leaves, she tells him she never wants to know him name. Boy, that's convenient. He begs her not to confuse hope with guilt, then leaves.

A now-blonde and pregnant Claire visits her mom in the hospital. She turns on the television. On the TV? Migratory sea birds. Fancy that. Claire talks to her mom, assuming she can hear her daughter. She tells her mom about the pregnancy, and how she's going to give away the child. She admires her mother for the strength she showed in raising her, the strength she herself presently lacks. She then apologizes for everything she said in the car pre-accident: how she hated her, and wished she were dead. Breaking into tears, Claire declares the accident to be her fault.

16) The Mythology

Well, Christian as Claire's father was one of the worst "secrets" the show ever had. They all but announced this fact in Season 2's "Two for the Road," so this episode's confirmation was nice but not exactly earth-shattering. But given the events in Season 4 between these two, it's worth looking at the flashbacks through a window in Jacob's cabin.

I have proposed throughout the We Have to Go Back campaign that one must look at everything done by Christian Shephard before his death as ways to prepare his children for the events to come. That is to say: he knows somehow that these two will end up on Oceanic 815 together. In fact, he may have chosen Australia as his place to die for the specific purpose of not only uniting them, but ensuring that he himself got on the Island to watch over them in the way only the Island could allow.

Much like Ms. Hawking, he can't necessarily direct affect the course of future history, but can through subtle shadings push things in a way that suit his liking. The problem with Christian is that he's a much weaker, more fallible person than Ms. Hawking, and as such doesn't adequately prepare either child for live on the Island. Moreover, once his body lands on the Island, his essence is seemingly split between the father he wanted to be and the father he actually was.

The Christian/Claire dynamic is one that seemed decently interesting in Season 3 but seems downright pivotal to the story of Lost at this point. Sadly, we're going to have to wait until Season 6 to get final answers on this intriguing aspect of the show's mythology.

23) The Moment

Mikhail walking through the pylon curtain.

42) In Retrospect

1. It's all well and good to mock John's inability to not cause carnage with every step he takes, nevermind every move he makes. But his almost impulsive actions stem from what he believes to be vindication in the wake of the Swan's implosion. He's been given a second chance to do the Island's work, and as such has no time for thought: he relies solely on instinct. That is, of course, until Ben throws a huge monkey wrench John's way and gets Locke all stuck up in his brain again.
2. Which came first: the smoke monster or the pylons? Discuss!
3. I'd place the odds on Christian having sung her "Catch a Falling Star" to her at 3-2, making its appearance inside the Staff hatch all the more curious, no?
4. We've seen a lot, a LOT, of car accidents in Lost. Some are man-made, some are Island-mad. Almost none simply are pure-and-simple accidents. Under which category do you think Claire's accident falls?

108) In Summary

An ep that really takes on new meaning with Season 4's events. If you had to construct a "Top Ten Most Important Lost Characters," wouldn't at least two of the Christian/Claire/Aaron trio make it? I could even argue all three should be, although I hadn't even conceived of such a list until starting this paragraph. So like, don't hold me to that. Promise? Good.

Point is this: while the pylons were cool, the birds lame, and the ending a total shocker, what really matters in this episode is the relationship between Christian and Claire. Because in the space between those two people lies a host of answers about the biggest mysteries in Lost.

Leave your thoughts about this episode below!

Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude, then peruses Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to join the all-new Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed. Pretty soon he'll have as many platforms as Desmond had flashes.