"Showdown At Sundown"

This week's header caption is brought to you by my nephew Ian, mentioned here often, because we watched the episode together after school Wednesday. We used to rewatch with his big brother Lee also, but he's got lots of after-school sports now (hi Lee!). Ian thought that it was pretty funny how Ben reacted to Sayid's eeevilness. He made a lot of comments during the episode, so some of them are mixed in with my thoughts.

Uncle Sayid? Wow, this flash-sideways timeline is like a flash-diagonal in it's bizarreness. I figured that TPTB were setting us up for something surprising here, but I didn't expect that. I didn't foresee much of anything in this episode, for that matter.

Ian and I both agree that this was a great fight scene, although it was a shame to see Dogen's lair trashed up. Little did we know that later he wouldn't be needing it anymore anyway.

One thing we did guess was that the baseball belonged to some iteration of Dogen's son, in whatever universe or timezone.

We're both pretty confused but intrigued by Claire's allegiance to Flocke. But we're guessing that three years with the freak would change anyone. We still need to know how he got her to walk away from baby Aaron so easily, but I'm not hopeful that we will be getting any information on that ever...at all. Although it might be just as simple as her death after the explosion left her fodder for MIB to take over.

It was fun Jack-spotting in the hospital passing Sayid and Nadia. A commenter on either TLC or EyeMSick mentioned that perhaps in this timeline Jack decided to operate on Shannon's dad instead of Sarah. I'm sorry that I can't remember who said that, but it's an interesting idea to think about as to the ramifications of the difference in choice.

So Dogen gives Sayid a Sting sword to kill the Orcs with, but it doesn't work. That caught us off guard as well. We figured that MIB would kill Sayid then and there, not pull a slick bargain on him.

But bargain he did, and he began to sound a lot like a certain snake in a garden. I'm still somewhat confused about how it relates to what happened in the FS timeline though. Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing Keamy show up as another form of his over-the-top bad guy self, although I could respect him a little more as a mercenary than just a Mafia type thug. There's no logic in that thought at all, I realize.

I'm just disliking Cindy more and more every time she shows up...and she hardly ever does! Something is just very off about her, IMO. Perhaps she's just so distraught at the death of her boyfriend Gary...ah, who cares.

Well, I'm very confused (along with Amy Lynn at TLC) that Kate spent all that time telling Claire various details about Aaron, but failed to mention anything at all about her mother having him. Telling her would also reveal that she's alive (thanks The Other Lisa at TLC) and not in a coma anymore. Not that Kate would have known about the accident, etc., but it just felt that TPTB underestimated us in this area here. Or, maybe I'm underestimating them and they have plans for explaining such a glaring omission of dialogue. Kudos to Emilie De Ravin in her Rambo version of Claire, she's doing a great job of playing crazazy.

Ian and I feel that Dogen probably wasn't being specifically punished by Jacob in having to make the choice of saving his son and being banished from The World, as some are looking at it. It's kind of a Zen thing maybe. It was entirely Dogen's fault that his son was hurt, but it's a trade-off that had merit and dignity where none might have existed otherwise in the tragic situation. Not only in making some restitution for his foolish act and to pay Jacob for the "miracle", but to honor the gift that Jacob gave to Dogen and his son of allowing him to live. It's maybe not just a one-sided bargain to avoid the shame and suffering he caused in The World, Jacob needed him for an important task and it would be something that's also an honor to uphold, especially in Dogen's culture. That's just my take on it anyway, I could be totally off.

Give a 'Standing-O' to Naveen Andrews for his outstanding performance which flowed seamlessly between the suffering tragic, a compassionate hero, and newly formed demon. He was just amazing and this episode should be used in acting classes to exhibit the range an actor can aspire to. Seriously.

OK, we're really amazed about why Kate followed someone that she knew was dead in L.A., into the jungle with a bunch of people that she hates, without showing any concern for her pals left behind in the temple with Smokey. It's just not up to her usual Amazonian Warrioress attitude. Does she have a plan? Is she playing it by ear until she gets a plan? I'm leaning towards that angle at this point. Unless she has somehow been claimed because she didn't follow Jacob's request of giving up the life of crime and it made her susceptible to MIB, that's always an option too I suppose.

I think that everyone agrees that this episode had the creepiest and most compelling ending ever so far. It was a haunting rendition of Perry Como's big hit, like it was never heard before. The use of the song got me wondering: is the falling star a reference to MIB being the Lucifer who fell from grace in Heaven? Or alluding to the possibility that the island might be a fallen "star" or meteor that landed on Earth? And what about this part of the one verse that Claire sang: "For love may come and tap you on the shoulder some starless night, Just in case you feel you want to hold her, You'll have a pocketful of starlight." That sounds like some kind of loophole to me.