Some of you might remember last year how I was pushing to raise money for Delta to DC, my non-profit project that took a group of kids to DC. Well, my friend Therese is taking it a step further by creating Honduras Bound, a project to raise money to take students in her Spanish class to Honduras. She is only $600 short of her fundraising target, which is totally doable.
If you can, chip in $25 or so. Every little bit helps -- trust me. I was able to take my kids to DC due in large part to a lot of people who were able to chip in small contributions. Kids in the Delta need these kinds of experiences more than anybody, so if you can help, please do.
Here's your well-reasoned, non-fanatical discussion for Episode 3.12: Par Avion.
These Weeks' Contributors: Ally, Claire, Laila, and Starr
Find a New Squeeze, Charlie
Laila and Claire have brought this up to me, and I think I'm pretty much on board with it: Charlie is putting himself in danger by being around Claire. Every single one of the accidents that Desmond foresees happens while Charlie is doing something for Claire. He gets electrocuted while with her in her tent. He drowns trying to save her. He slips and falls on a rock while trying to find her bird.
There's also the time that Ethan hung Charlie while he was chasing after Claire. So, is Charlie doomed because he's trying to help Claire? It's kind of a frustrating thing to consider because, through Claire, Charlie has reformed himself in a lot of ways. Why should he be punished for his noble deeds?
Infiltration
There is a ton to unravel here, so let's start at the beginning. The rescue party is marching onward with Mikhail and they interrogate him as to why the Others choose to stay on the Island. He says that they are not capable of understanding because they are not on "the list" that was written by a "great man." I am assuming that he is referring to Jacob's List, but we really don't know much more about what that is. Sayid scoffs at Mikhail, and Mikhail responds by rattling off their first and last names. He then gets cut off, about to mention Locke's paralysis. So are we to believe that the Others are a bunch of psychics or something? Maybe Dionne Warwick is "Jacob".
I noticed one thing about the implications of Mikhail's remarks (if we are to believe him). He said that Locke is not on the list. However, when Ben was captured by the survivors, Ben told Locke that he had come for him. Now, we know that Ben was completely lying in the hatch to get out of there, and so far we seem to be able to believe Mikhail. So, it seems clear that Ben was playing on Locke's need for acceptance (see below).
Anyhow, the party soon after finds the death pillars that surround the Barracks. Mikhail claims that they are an alarm system and do not work because the power went out after the purple light flashed (the hatch implosion). So, Locke pushes Mikhail through the pillars and Mikhail gets toasted. Locke is then faulted for Mikhail's death, but I don't think that he should have been. Mikhail clearly wanted to die if he told them it was safe, and he thanked them for pushing him through.
There is some question as to why Mikhail said "thank you" when Locke pushed him between the death pillars. I think that it's simply along the same lines as the last episode when Mikhail had to shoot and kill Klugh. It seems like it's just protocol for capture, plain and simple.
The part that really threw Sayid and Kate was the fact that Locke had C4 is his backpack, making it possible that Locke knew full well that the Flame was rigged with explosives. There is a ton of talk now about who is an Other that we've not known about. Locke's motives for coming on the rescue are strongly questioned. Some speculate that Locke wants to be an Other. All his life he has sought acceptance from people, and maybe he is looking for that same acceptance from the Others. This one instance of impropriety doesn't warrant a Locke-is-an-Other theory. Well, I don't think so anyway. Why he's not being truthful to Kate and Sayid does allude me. Locke's always been pretty upfront about things, even when he and Jack were fighting for a long time. But, Locke always seems to have reasons for what he does, however crazy they sometimes seem. I'd say wait and see.
On the other hand, the episode ended with the group spying Jack playing a friendly game of catch with Tom. Starr is a somewhat huge proponent of the Jack-is-really-an-Other theory; he's been pumping it for a couple of weeks now. As of now I'm not willing to bite on that argument either. The Others probably just showed Jack that he can either get along in the confines of the little village, or get zapped if he tries to escape. Why be difficult with your captors if they are willing to be decent to you? Besides, Tom probably just wanted to check out Jack's athleticism on the field because Tom probably has a huge crush on him.
Other Stuff
Claire referred to her mother in the past tense. Did that mean that she died between the time Claire told her she was pregnant and the time she got on the flight to LA?
Alright, that's all I've got for this week. Tonight it's the Locke backstory that we've been waiting for.
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, where a high school student held up a sign reading that across the street from his school. Some of the hypotheticals about acceptable school speech that the justices presented were pretty amusing.
What if, Souter asked, a student held a small sign in a Shakespeare class with the same message Frederick used. "If the kids look around and they say, well, so and so has got his bong sign again," Souter said, as laughter filled the courtroom. "They then return to Macbeth. Does the teacher have to, does the school have to tolerate that sign in the Shakespeare class?"
Justice Antonin Scalia, ridiculing the notion that schools should have to tolerate speech that seems to support illegal activities, asked about a button that says, "Smoke Pot, It's Fun."
Or, he wondered, should the court conclude that only speech in support of violent crime can be censored. "'Extortion Is Profitable,' that's okay?" Scalia asked.
OK, so I thought I was going to stop doing this, but apparently a few people actually read it. I also didn't do the one last week because it was a pretty inconsequential episode. Hurley finds a car. Woo.
But -- LOST is finally good again. I was really frustrated after the tattoo episode. The Hurley finding a car episode was OK, but not great. This past week's was almost season one quality. Will Gardner chimes in from the Mississippi Delta in agreement.
These Weeks' Contributors: Ally, Claire, Laila, Lindsay, and Starr
First of all, check out this clip that Lindsay sent. It's a Russian promo for LOST. Pretty weird. Check out the commercials for all of the other characters, too.
First of all, Mikhail's full name is Mikhail Bakunin, a Russian revolutionary who is considered the modern father of anarchism. Should we read anything into the names? Mikhail seemed a bit too organized to really be an anarchist, so I don't think I'm personally putting much stock in it.
The one bit of information that was really interesting was about the alleged purge. The DHARMA scientists allegedly went to kill off all the Others, or as they called them, Hostiles. Through the end Mikhail claims it's true. Can we believe the shifty Russian?
Two things that are worth posting are the note that Locke saw at while they looked around The Flame and the conversation leading up to Mikhail shooting Klugh. Here is the note:
... in some measure pushed Andrey Red note #1 away. Nadji was not
... Afghan resistance, however he was an excellent
... He was a second cousin of an influential
... who controlled of one of the northwestern
...ical specialist helping
... Mujahideen* used against...
... of courage Nadji compensated with his wits...
... of a fundamentalist. Just like all the radicals of that time, Nadji...
... at his madrasah** believed that they are holding back the West and...
were paving the way for Allah, so that he could erase the infidels from the face of the Earth, at the
time that Andrey believed that the fall of Afghanistan will become an impulse for
a new social revolution Red note #2
... "The Pakistanis arrived today", Nadji reported with a strong accent
in grandiloquent Russian.
... We knew that the ISI*** would be involved. And you...
... report this?" Andrey knew that he...
... "I believed that you...
I don't know a ton about the Russian-Afghanistan war, so I can't really speculate on the significance. What about you, Lindsay?
Here is the conversation that was in Russian:
Klugh: Mikhail. Mikhail! You know what to do.
Mikhail: We still have another way [out].
Klugh: We cannot risk it. You know the conditions.
Mikhail: There is another way.
Klugh: They captured us. We will not let them to get into the territory.
Klugh: You know what to do. That's an order.
Mikhail: We still have another way!
Klugh (in English): Just do it, Mikhail.
Mikhail: Forgive me. (shoots)
So, yeah, it's pretty much what you expected the dialogue to be. They were following protocol so that the survivors can't use her as leverage.
Another Baby Daddy?
Starr reminded me of an old question that hasn't been addressed but might get answered in this coming episode. While Jack's dad was in Australia, he wanted to see his daughter, Jack's apparent half-sister. The obvious candidate for the daughter is Claire. I almost don't want this to be the revelation, because it's too simple. I want LOST to be a bit more complicated, but without introducing a ton of new questions.
Other Stuff
Besides those two points, there were only a few other small things. The Mikhail thing was pretty huge, after all.
Ally points out that during the ping pong game, the non-Sawyer side should have asked for a TON more than him not using nicknames for a week. Yes, it was kind of funny, but Sawyer is all about competition and capitalism. I really wanted to see him have to give up something material. On the contrary, Hurley lived up to his archetype of being communal and gave Sawyer some of his things back anyway. When he did, he kind of acknowledged that Sawyer is "the kind of guy who needs stuff."
Laila compares Locke to Gilligan, which I agree with. Locke would not have left the crafty Russian on the ground like that.
I was upset that Sayid waltzed into danger in Paris. I expect him, like Locke, to have more sense than that. On another note, maybe Sayid has turned a new page, in that he won't torture people anymore or kill without cause. Does that mean the Island will kill him soon, though?
Sorry it was a little short this week. I wanted to get it out.
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Laila and Claire have brought this up to me, and I think I'm pretty much on board with it: Charlie is putting himself in danger by being around Claire. Every single one of the accidents that Desmond foresees happens while Charlie is doing something for Claire. He gets electrocuted while with her in her tent. He drowns trying to save her. He slips and falls on a rock while trying to find her bird.
There is a ton to unravel here, so let's start at the beginning. The rescue party is marching onward with Mikhail and they interrogate him as to why the Others choose to stay on the Island. He says that they are not capable of understanding because they are not on "the list" that was written by a "great man." I am assuming that he is referring to 
First of all, Mikhail's full name is 
