I can feel it coming in the air tonight...

Oh Lord.

That was a solid episode. The flashback story wasn't particularly gripping, but there were a lot of smaller things to take in that made me like it - more on that later. The main story was pretty great, and even the shippy island subplot was entertaining. You could really feel that this episode was another "calm before the storm" episode, though this may be the last one as we might have finally seen the storm - arriving via parachute.

I'm going to start a new tradition for this episode and start expressing myself in the two ways I know best - random lists and awful puns.

1. Jurley is love
I adore the quad of characters that went on this week's jungle expedition. Hurley and Charlie discussing the Flash and Superman? Be still, my fangirl heart.....There may have been all sorts of spoon licking beach action in this episode, but the only couple I cared about was Jin and Hurley. There have been several scenes lately where Jin will say something in Korean, and Hurley will not understand, but respond as though he does. A la expose

Jin: *Korean*
Hurley : Yeah, I know!

But the ghost story tonight was so hilarious. The look on poor Hurley's face, and the knowledge that he had no idea what Jin was talking about....wonderful.

2. Wanna spoon?
Jack shooting down Kate's spoon lick was eye-roll inducing at first, but then I started thinking. Remember season two Jack? The Jack who wasn't sorry that Kate kissed him? The Jack who turned into a puddle when he caught Kate getting out of the shower? The Jack who cared about his people and what happened to them? Clearly we're dealing with a new person - at least for now. In other news, I was very dissapointed that Sawyer was sort of okay with being used...I had so hoped that when Kate put the moves on him, he would get wise and tell her she couldn't have her spoon and lick it too....but apparently she can...God, thats a terrible mental image....The ping pong match between Sawyer and Jack was the next step in this symbolism fest. The ping pong match sort of represented the upper hand - Sawyer had taken Jack's place as the new beach leader, and he even scored the Doctor's girlfriend. He was even winning at some form of a contest. He's sitting pretty and apparently loving it. Only one problem Jack couldn't care less. He even tells Sawyer that the fact that he won isn't really something to be proud of. That goes a lot deeper than table tennis.

3. Oh Brotha....
The flashback was mildly interesting. A lot of us thought that we would get to see Desmond's life in the army, and we got the exact opposite - turns out he was a temporary monk. One thing I will say for this flashback is that it tied into the island story like few flashbacks have managed to. The story of Abraham and Isaac was a perfect match for the Desmond and Charlie plot. The Moriah Vineyard was a great reference, but it didn't really mean anything...it was just there to be neat and make people like me say "Hey! Thats the mountain where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac!" One thing I will say is that, while I usually love the random number references, 108 bottles sounded especially forced and awkward there - and I can't help wondering if it was meant to. I liked meeting Ruth, but Kenneth was another story. I understand that you're upset that this guy has hurt your lover's feelings, but if he had never done so, she wouldn't be your lover...so.....I personally think you should be thanking him in a weird, cosmic, LOST way....The last scene of the show took my breath away, quite literally. I didn't inhale until the "LOST" title came up at the end of the episode. I knew what was going to happen, but somehow I was still thinking "My god....what if that really is Penny...and what if she really is dead? How utterly tragic would that be?" and I felt tears welling in my eyes. Moments like this are exactly what make the show. The other thing that makes the show appeared about one minute and eight seconds prior, and it gets its own number.

4. Friends don't let friends photoshop mugshots and personal photographs
When Desmond was "fired" from the cloth, he went to return his robes and bir farewell to his superior. The one who told him that monk-hood wasn't his destiny. That he was going to do something bigger and better, and that he shouldn't regret walking away from this particular path. Sound familiar? Well it looked familar, too, about five seconds later when the camera lingered oddly over a photograph on the Abbot's desk. Could it be? Of course, this is Lost we're talking about! In said photograph we see the Abbey and Abbot accompanied by none other than Ms. Hawking from the ring shop. Take a second and third look at that photograph if you haven't already. It is very very strange looking. Ms. Hawking was one of my favorite flashback characters, and I have been eagerly awaiting her return. My head is still spinning from this one moment. Could she know the Abbot by circumstance? Are they related? Did they somehow conspire to bring Desmond to the right path? Did the Abbot know that if Desmond became a monk, he would meet Penny. And if he met Penny, he would eventually wander into that ring shop? Oooh, the possibilities.

5. Just parachute me
This is gonna be short and sweet (compared to the rest). My theory, which some people share, but this was my initial reaction before reading other people's theories, is this. The parachutist was Penny. Desmond saw this in his flashes, even though it wasn't revealed to us in the episode. The photograph was inside of the book because Penny had it. Everything was going great for Des, until he saved Charlie - thus "changing the picture on the box." Penny wasn't in it anymore, but since it only changed a bit, we get one of her associates instead. I had this great thought that didn't play out that once he saw that it wasn't Penny, he would reach for the photograph, but it would be gone. I suppose it could still happen next week, but you can bet I won't be holding my breath.

This week will be a filler episode for me....they could tell me that Jacob was Kate's horse, and I would still only want to see The Brig. But lets talk about next week anyway, since they're making me wait.

****SPOILERS*****

So lets make sure we get this out there....we will find out who the baby daddy is this Wednesday. Somehow I have a feeling that we'll find out that its Jin, just like we found out in I Do that Kate chose Sawyer (ie: we won't really),....in which case I will be angry. The title of course is "D.O.C." or "Date of Conception." So I guess that is how we find out - Juliet determines the d.o.c., and based on that date there is only one person that the baby daddy could be. Although I don't know who that could be....I'm still a little dissapointed that it won't be Michael - I wanted the Dave LaChapelle commercial to mean something....Its interesting to note that Jae Lee won't be in this episode (Can I take this time to note that I met someone named Jae Lee the other day? It was spelled the same and everything. You can imagine the look of shocked ecstasy on my fangirl face), although that doesn't rule him out as the father. In Kristen's interview, she reminded Yunjin that she had presviously said that she and Daniel were told conflicting stories from the producers - one was told the Jin was the father, the other was told he was not. When Kristen asked who had been given the right information, Yunjin replied that they both were. This leads me to believe one of two things : a.) Yunjin Kim knows how to get fans talking, or b.) This was not your standard conception. I tend to lean toward b, but then I wonder what could be different about it, and thousands of shark jumping scenarios enter my mind...so.....I guess we'll find out in two days.

Here's an updated overview at whats to come the rest of the season:

3.18 - D.O.C. (Jin and Sun centric)
3.19 The Brig (Locke centric, featuring on island flashbacks)
3.20 The Man Behind the Curtain (Ben centric)
3.21 Greatest Hits (Charlie centric)
3.22 Through The Looking Glass (Jack centric, 2 hour finale airing at 9:00 et, preceeded by a clip show at 8:00 et)

I have something really exciting and pretty big coming up to keep everyone entertained over the unfairly long hiatus, and I would like to get as many fans as possible involved - and there are lots of different ways to be a part of this. I'll be talking about it more as the season winds down, but if you'd like to know about that, just ask me and I'll make sure to involve you somehow.

Let me know what you think of the new format for the site, with the text reviews and a podcast for select episodes. I can almost guarantee that I will not be doing a podcast this week, but that I will be doing one the following week. But hey - my expectations for this episode are pretty low, so maybe that will help. Don't forget to leave me some nice (or not so nice) commentary, and if you ever want to talk Lost, my screen name on AIM is heartsandminds13. Also, if you send me ANYTHING graphics related, it WILL be displayed on this site.

'Till Wednesday, namaste <3