Now we're really getting into it, strap in for this one because there is a lot going on in this episode. I even considered splitting this post into 2 parts, but lets not complicate things.

Not only do we open another episode with another eye, but it's young Jack's eye. Long before the island was ever a part of Jack’s life. Or was it? Now how cool is that!? (Sorry for those of you that read this without being up-to-date on Lost, but by now I am sure that you’ve realized that I have included info that may spoil it for you if you are trying to catch up.) So back to the coolness; I was in the middle of writing that the opening scene flashback in which young Jack is being harassed by school bullies was long before the island was ever a part of his life. However, after giving it some thought, adult Jack might very well be causing trouble on the island as a member of the DHARMA Initiative in the late 70’s at the very same time that young Jack is being bullied back in L.A. I think its an awesome and interesting concept to wrap one’s mind around, and certainly not something that could be realized without having seen season 5. 

In this flashback to Jack’s childhood, he explains to his father Christian that he was trying to help one of his friends that was being jumped by bullies. In his efforts, he was then attacked by those bullies and received a couple of black eyes for his trouble. The intimidating and seemingly cold parenting tactics of Christian led him to teach Jack a lesson about the actions he should take as he continues his life’s journey. Christian says, “Don’t decide, don’t try to save everyone, because when you fail, you don’t have what it takes.” A powerful statement certainly, but even more intriguing when you know Jack the way we know him now. It is as if these words stuck with Jack or even haunted him throughout the rest of his life causing him to purposely do the opposite every time he was faced with that decision. For the first 4 seasons he desperately wants to get everyone rescued from the island. Here are some more examples of Jack saving or trying to save people:

- He tries to save everyone in need of help when the plane first crashed

- He tries to save the Marshall

- He tries to save Joanna (an unknown survivor) from drowning later in this very episode

- He tries to save Boone

- He saves Charlie in season 1 when taken by the others (which we will get to)

- He tries to save Claire in season 1 when taken by the others (which we will get to)

Ya know what? I can see this list getting out of hand real quick and I am sure that I am bound to leave some examples out. But clearly, he does not heed his father’s advice in not attempting to save everyone.

Interestingly enough, Charlie repeatedly and frantically tells Jack that he can’t swim, which is why he couldn’t go in and attempt to save the drowning woman himself. Why is this interesting? Because anyone that is current on Lost knows that at the end of season 3, Charlie volunteers to swim down to an underwater DHARMA station to help the rest of the survivors communicate with a ship that’s near the island. Swimming down to the station and even attempting to come back up is a challenge for anyone because of its depth, but especially someone who ‘can’t swim’. When the survivors are putting together their plan at the end of season 3, Jack asks Charlie if he is sure he wants to take on that role (seemingly forgetting that Charlie told him that he couldn’t swim early in season 1) and Charlie reassures Jack that he wants to do it and can be counted on because he had earned accolades in swimming competitions as a child. We’ve seen Charlie learning to swim as a kid in a flashback of an upcoming episode, whether he is lying about his swimming accolades or not is irrelevant because it is clear that he can in fact swim. So what this means is, Charlie is lying about his ability to swim in episode 5. Again the theme of dishonesty is present here, but we (the audience) are not certain that this is a lie until later in the series, even if Charlie's behavior comes across as a bit fishy at this time. I’ve spent a fair amount of time talking about one specific lie that may seem relatively insignificant, but it actually couldn’t be more significant to the nature of this show.

Things tend to come full circle on this show, and by the beginning of episode 5, the writers have planted the seeds for Charlie’s story-line to come back to this a full 3 seasons later. Watch how it works:

- Woman drowning in the ocean

- Charlie lies about his ability to swim so he doesn’t have to attempt rescuing her

- Woman drowns / dies in the ocean

- Roughly 100 days later (3 seasons) To give the survivors the best chance at rescue, Charlie not only swims, but drowns and dies in the ocean after fulfilling his role in the plan.

So yes, the woman that Charlie told Jack about did end up drowning, but it was because Jack found Boone struggling in the ocean before he could even get to the other woman. In fact, when Jack reached Boone, he thought he had rescued the person Charlie was talking about. Boone catches his breath and asks Jack “Did you get her?” This is when Jack realizes that there are two people in need of rescue. He opts to bring Boone back and attempt rescue of the other woman after he brings Boone back. This decision is one that Jack beats himself up over, like his father said he would when Jack was a kid.

I know I said I wouldn’t really mention promotional bottled water too much more, but it actually takes center stage in this episode for a brief time because their supply is running low. And I actually saw a custom polycarbonate water bottle sneak its way into the show when we see the entire water supply that the survivors have left. 

While Jack is chasing his ‘white rabbit’, someone steals the remaining water supply. Knowing that the camp is already understandably restless, John Locke quickly volunteers himself as the one who will go seek out water for the camp, stating that he is the best candidate to do so since he ‘knows where to look’.

It is of course, the hand of John Locke who helps Jack get back up and in essence saves his life. Remember, Locke was supposedly looking for water because he ‘knows where to look’, but there is no water where Jack is. Seems like something else is going on there. How did Locke know where to be in order to save Jack? Regardless of how or why, this leads to a very important conversation between these two characters. In fact, this conversation defines John Locke’s character and even goes a long way towards defining the Jack/Locke relationship throughout the course of the series.

To paraphrase and shorten the conversation, it went along the lines of Locke telling Jack that he believes everyone was brought to the island for a greater purpose. That everything happens for a reason and that things are different on the island than they are anyplace else. He even says that he is a ‘meat and potatoes kind of guy, doesn’t believe in magic’ but then attempts to convince Jack that perhaps his hallucinations of his father are not hallucinations. Locke infamously says that ‘he looked into the eye of the island, and what he saw was beautiful’ referring to the prior episode when he and the smoke monster meet ‘face-to-face’. (He could have been shown something similar to what Ben saw in season 5 when the smoke monster seems to encapsulate Ben and then shows him visuals.) Jack sort of shrugs off the notion of the hallucinations being real and tries to join Locke when he tells Jack that he is headed off in search of water. Locke then stops Jack, tells him to go on his own so that he can continue his own personal journey. If that isn’t talk of someone who knows what’s going on, I don’t know what is!

Why would Locke suggest that they don’t trek through the jungle together in search of water? (Especially if Locke ‘knew where to look’) In my opinion the answer lies in the state of John Locke and my theory on how he is already partially overtaken by the ‘man in black’ and/or the smoke monster.

Yes, Locke did know where he had to be, but it had nothing to do with water. He had to save Jack from dying, then he had the conversation with him about how special the island is. He then sent Jack on his way alone. Jack made camp at nightfall and heard the familiar sound of ice and liquor moving around a glass. A sound he knew so well from his father. After having chased around his father all day, Jack quickly follows the sound into some caves where he finds fresh running water and a potential alternative shelter for the survivors.

Speculation about what is going on here [with Jack's father Christian] is at an all time high and will continue to be until we get more answers in season 6. We know the ‘man in black’ took the form of John Locke after Locke’s dead body was brought back to the island. Christian’s dead body was also brought back to the island on the crashed flight 815. So does this mean that the ‘man in black’ has taken the form of Christian? It certainly coincides with the 'fake' John Locke form that we saw in season 5. It was the 'man in black' looking like Locke, but is not quite a ghost. He can pick things up, touch you and talk to you. But if so, how does Christian appear and disappear suddenly? I think it may be because the ‘man in black’ is also the smoke monster: an entity without true form that can give itself human form.

Although, speaking of Jack's demons, he does get emotional when he happens to stumble upon his father's casket lying amongst other debris from the plane. When he opened the casket, he was expecting to see his father's body, hoping to get closure on his 'hallucinations' of him. However, the body is missing, much to the chagrin of Jack. Despite this, the water and discovery of the caves lead Jack back to the shore where he steps back into his leadership role and gives his famous speech about having to ‘live together or die alone’.

I wasn’t dead set on watching this show and to be honest, even once I decided to give it a try, I was still unsure if this would be the type of show that I enjoy. I just couldn’t get this preconceived notion out of my head that this would basically be ‘High School Musical’ in sitcom form. I heard good things about it, and in the end I decided that I appreciate Jane Lynch enough that it was worth giving it a try. Turns out I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. It was definitely funny and despite the fact that it had elements of a true old fashioned musical, it was tolerable. I have grown to become used to characters breaking out in song out of nowhere in Disney movies, and when it’s the South Park kids you know its going to be hilarious so I will willingly accept it there as well. But generally I am not the biggest fan of random songs sung by the characters to move the plot.

That being said, the show is about a high school glee club so I guess that is to be expected. Plus the singing is well done, so it was pretty cool to hear their version of Kanye West’s ‘Gold Digger’. Which brings me to my next pleasant surprise about the show, it is unexpectedly complex. Or at least it seems so far. The scene in which they sung ‘gold digger’ was nicely mixed in with shots of the glee club teacher’s wife who we have come to understand is a gold digger, or for lack of a better term, she manipulates her husband and basically demands the finer things in life despite the fact that he wants to be a responsible and modest spender. Not to mention, his wife is lying to him about being pregnant and he seems to be wanting more in his relationship because he more or less openly flirts with another teacher, who also has strong feelings for him in return. Borderline adultery and it’s only the first episode! 

This coincides with the story of a football player who is falling for his fellow glee club mate, but refuses to break up with his popular head cheerleader girlfriend. Jane Lynch plays the rugged cheerleading squad coach who loathes the glee club and looks to disband it. She sees a perfect opportunity to get a leg up on the glee club when her head cheerleader decides to join the glee club in an effort to spy on / keep her boyfriend from falling for someone else. Let the drama begin to unfold.

So aside from the occasional random song, the show was quite funny, entertaining and has an interesting storyline that seems to tie itself together pretty well. Then again, I might have just been in the back-to-school spirit with all the great custom school giveaways that have been flying around recently. I used to be able to see such items without thinking about how a logo got there, but while I was watching ‘Glee’ last night I couldn’t help think about the wide variety of school promotional items we have at Motivators.com every time I saw a student holding up a custom foam finger with the school’s logo on it or someone wearing a custom hoodie with the school name written across the chest. As it has been said before, they’re everywhere! Schools are an easy target though, I wonder if promotional items will make their way into any of the other new fall shows?

This actually started as a comment added to the string that began after the last post, but its better to let it out here and let the battle continue. So let me get this straight...by the logic I am reading about in both of your comments, they should've just squeezed Harry Potter all into one book, right? For every question in Lost there is an answer. There are constantly other mysteries popping up and other questions being answered, they just may not be coming as fast you want them to. If people don't have the attention span to move with the plot, then shows such as NCIS and sit-coms are really better for them. Lost is written much like a novel (or series of novels) or a screenplay. As I have said, it is not your average show by any means, which is why you may have to wait an entire season to get an answer that you are looking for, but if movies answered questions in the first 15 minutes to cater to the impatient, they wouldn't be very good and there would be no suspense. Not to mention this makes for absolutely killer finales and premieres.

Sidenote: obviously all shows are about the relationships of the characters, because without knowing and understanding each relationship, situations fall flat. That being said, every other criminal investigation show is about the relationships and character development as well. Heck, I've said it before and I'll say it again, all shows must have character development! Everyone knows that. I will give you that not every show crime show is based around humor, but thats just not what I'm looking for in this case. I love comedy, but if we are comparing Lost and NCIS and you are claiming NCIS is a comedy show, it is like comparing apples and oranges. In the same breath I will also say that there certainly has been shows about the evolution of man, unless I am the only person that can recall shows in which the main character(s) had supernatural abilities.

Plus, the plot of Lost is influenced by how real life would react. Even in fantasy situations, I look for realism because it helps further make you a believer in said fantasy. Theoretically if you found a hatch on a mysterious island that you crash landed on and never knew existed, do you think you would know exactly what the history was behind the hatch within hours? If Harry Potter was crammed all into one book, there would be nothing more to look forward to, nothing to stimulate your brain and make you think about what you have seen and what can possibly come next based on what you've seen so far. I'm not a huge Harry Potter follower so I dont know for sure, but did Potter fans not speculate, wonder or look forward to whats going to happen in the next book? Of course they speculated and wondered....why? Because they didnt get answers to all of their questions yet! With Harry Potter, like Lost there is a logic and a plan to it all.

I admit I liked Heroes, the first season was awesome, but allowing your fans to help you write story lines is just an indication that they don't have a plan and everything they've been building towards can just disappear, or in Heroes' case; disappear, then reappear. I couldn't take it anymore when Sylar was switching between bad guy and good guy more frequently than it happens in professional wrestling. Even if there was a tentative 'plan' and this was a plot device at the end or beginning of each episode, I will sum it up like this: I remember saying at the time that I still watched each week, that shocking twists are good, but only when it happens every so often. It felt for a while like every episode had some sort of shocking twist that quickly started to feel forced. I would be willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume that the corporate heads at NBC forced them to adjust storylines based on fan feedback. Adam, you even admit that Heroes couldn't keep up the good work in one of your prior posts:  "Without getting into too much plot detail Heroes has not been able to keep the same continued suspense, excitement and basic long term story interest. We are now in Season 3 and there are still good episodes but overall the magic from Season 1 is long gone." Sorry, I didnt mean to play dirty, but with that quote in mind, Heroes is still closer to Lost's playing field than NCIS is.

Now dont get all red in the face just yet, Sarah. I watched my very first full episode the other night because it was on TV, and you're right, that show should be considered more of a comedy than drama. (Which makes a Lost vs. NCIS debate almost completely irrelevant) In my opinion, it looks like they enjoyed the dynamic that was created in 'House' and they attempted to do something similar. I will say this much, it cant be easy to write for a show that has undertones of serious situations while at the same time having characters that absolutely cant help but to make a wise crack or attempted joke after every sentence. After only one episode under the belt, my main criticism is that there were just too many joke attempts. Maybe it's because I dont know the characters as well as you do. As I watched it I was thinking that next time I was going to keep a pad, pen and stopwatch nearby so I can mark how many seconds go by between each attempted joke.

I didnt say I dislike NCIS, and I said last week that Heroes might be worth my time again now that I can catch up without having a week to mull it over in between episodes. But the real bottom line is, we can debate our favorite shows until the cows come home and perhaps never come to an agreement or understanding, but I sure do enjoy our debates. Nothing but love for you guys.

I agree Heroes was once at the top with the likes of other cult classics. Unfortunately it was a big fall from grace after its first season and I couldnt even watch anymore after the first few episodes of season 3. It's possible I would be willing to give it another try with no commercials or weeklong breaks in between episodes, but it got too random and flip-floppy for me and I dont really buy them having a 'master plan', which I think is important (especially in shows like this). Sure, you have to be able to adjust and change course here and there. For example, Lost had to adjust story lines and kill off characters based on some actors that opted out and some that were let go for unexpected reasons. But for me, the disappointing thing about Heroes is that it looked like they had a plan and stuck to it in season one, which was awesome, but then allowed polls, critics and ratings to fuel their story lines too much in the following seasons. Who knows? Maybe all those downloads are from season one, I think it would be interesting to see what the breakdown is there. Either way, it's nice to see that Lost is right on their heels and NCIS is...wait a minute, could this be? I dont see it on this list! Interesting. Take that Sarah! Just kidding, all in good fun but I had to take my swing when the opportunity presented itself. ;)

If you haven't seen it, click here to see that list and read Adam's Blog.

So far, each of the first three episodes has given us an initiation to the plot and of course character development. This episode doesn’t stray far from these devices, but this time we get a much closer look at John Locke.

We've gotten very little about him thus far, yet he has still been one of the most intriguing main characters. This episode begins with John’s eye opening right after the crash. We've seen a version of this awakening before when we saw everyone reacting to the crash in the pilot episode, but by the time this episode is over, we will find (and see) that the opening scene of this episode is far more powerful than we could have thought when first viewing it. I am of course referencing the fact that in the beginning of this episode, the audience does not know that Locke was paralyzed from the waist down before getting on that flight. Knowing what we do now, it is quite an emotional scene. Just imagine the wave of emotions that would come over someone after (a) getting into and surviving a plane crash, but (b) waking up with a newfound appreciation for life now that his paralysis seems to have been undone! This was the afore-mentioned 'miracle' that Locke told Walt about in a prior episode. I'd say that qualifies as a miracle. Maybe that’s why Locke has that quiet confidence or calmness about him while everyone else seems frantic and confused. It becomes evident that Locke may not want to leave the island because of this development, but in typical Lost fashion, we won't know what is motivating Locke until the end of the episode.

However, after season five we know now that Locke decided to book the Walkabout tour because Matthew Abaddon convinced him that it was his destiny during his time in the hospital when Abaddon was acting as his orderly, though under the employment of Charles Widmore. This is definitely a key to understanding that a majority of the people on that flight were strategically placed there or convinced to be there by someone or something that was acting on behalf of the island. In some cases, the word 'destiny' is appropriate, while in other cases it seems like more of a chess game, using people as the pieces.

But on the other side of that coin, he is offering his services to help the camp hunt for food. He also shows a knowledge of boar behavior that nobody else seemed to know. If not for John Locke, the camp that was already beginning to unravel would have been in more trouble because of the lack of food or ability to hunt it.

Interesting fun fact(s): When Locke, Kate and Michael go on their expedition to hunt boar, Kate takes the opportunity to climb a tree so that she can set up a device for Sayid that may help them triangulate the location of the French woman's signal. Kate is known by many amongst the cast as 'monkey'. There's a cute little nickname that perhaps Josh Holloway thought of since Sawyer is the king of nicknames in the show, but no matter who came up with it, Evangeline Lilly earned this nickname because she loves to climb trees and anytime you see Kate climbing a tree there is no stunt work involved. It’s really her climbing the tree.

Locke's jerk boss is the same jerk boss that Hurley has to put up with at Mr. Cluck's before he wins the lottery.

At the end of Locke's first flashback, we hear the signature sounds of 'the monster'. Though to the unknowing viewer, it was mistaken for the sound of his calculator tape. Which brings me to another interesting question/theory which I wouldn’t have been able to come up with until I saw the season 5 finale. Of course this is still what some may call a stretch, but knowing Lost and knowing what we know now, I guess anything is possible.

Theory: So when Kate and Michael think that Locke is dead because they saw trees being knocked down and the sound of 'the monster' headed right for Locke, we as the audience are lead to believe (through camera angles) that Locke not only encountered 'the monster', but certainly got a clear look at it. Though, when Michael later asks Locke if he saw it, Locke suspiciously says no. Could it be possible that the mysterious 'man in black' from the season 5 finale IS in fact ‘the monster’ and has already begun his takeover of Locke's likeness? I mean, it’s a complicated theory and there may be many reasons to dispel it, but I am not necessarily suggesting that Locke was not Locke this early in the series, just that his encounter with 'the monster' (who may or may not be the 'man in black') has already begun guiding or even dictating Locke's actions in some form and must wait until Locke passes away before he can fully takeover his form. Not to skip to the next episode prematurely, but in the next episode Locke seems to have an understanding or bond with the island that he didn’t quite have before. I go into greater detail on this theory at the Simply TV Blog where for the first time I have added to the already mind-bending ‘Lost Theory/Theories of the Day’. Tell me what you think...

I've been so wrapped up in Locke that I nearly missed the only appearance of a promotional product in this episode, but they can't slip one by me! Rose was given an Oceanic custom printed blanket by Jack right before he noticed his father dressed in a suit, standing in the distance.

I have to be honest about this one [Christian Shephard], when I first saw it I had no clue what was going on and I still kinda don't. Sure, some more light has been shed on this subject, especially in the next episode. But despite anything we know about the appearance(s) of Jack's father, I am hoping that season 6 gives us a more detailed explanation of the appearances of people that shouldn’t be there or are supposedly dead. I have my suspicions but I'll include that theory in another blog.

Tabula Rasa - the actual definition or meaning of Tabula Rasa has to do with the theory that people are born as a blank slate. All knowledge a human has, comes from their experiences. In other words, this theory leans towards the idea that a mean person was not just born that way, but became that way thanks to their past experiences. A very interesting theory when it comes to Lost. Mainly because you start to get the feeling (especially in this episode) that these people are going to have to get used to their new lives on the island. Though it has only been a few days since the crash, rescue hasn’t come yet even though nearly everyone has expected it. 

Almost all of the survivors were strangers before they took off from LAX. Now they have slowly gotten to know each other and have to live together in this community of other survivors. But as Jack so aptly puts it at the end of this episode, "It doesn’t matter who we were or what we did before the crash, three days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over" While that sentence very nicely ties the episode together and helps illustrate the definition of the episode title, it did come on the heels of Kate telling Jack that she wanted to confess her crime to him since Jack now knows (and has let Kate know) that he is aware of her criminal past. But Jack decides to let her off the hook, thereby making us, the viewers suffer for many more episodes before finding out what exactly Kate did. Not to mention, Jack asks the dying U.S. Marshall what Kate did, but the Marshall doesn’t tell him. So Jack does want to know, but he allows Kate the courtesy of not feeling forced into the confession. Is it Jack’s crush on Kate? Or is it just a good way to extend an intriguing and curious mystery?

This episode sort of revolves around Kate for the most part. She is featured in the flashback which is post-criminal activity while she is on the run from the Marshall. In this flashback we not only see how Kate gets caught, leading her to be a passenger on the plane, but more importantly we see some of our themes that we talked about from last episode continued in this episode. The man whose farm that Kate lands on in Australia, takes her in for a few months only to be the one that gives her up to the Marshall. So what themes? Glad you asked…

- Kate lied to the farmer about her name and reason for being in Australia

- The farmer also lied to Kate, telling her that he would drop her off in town when really he was delivering her to the authorities after finding out that she was wanted for criminal activity.

- The entire crew of Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Charlie, Boone and Shannon lie to the rest of the camp about the transmission that they heard over the radio. (Even though Kate does tell Jack later on)

- As Kate goes after her wages that were hidden in a tin can in the middle of the night, she is caught by the farmer. He tells her that she should’ve felt comfortable enough to let him hold on to her money, rather than hiding it in a can. She responds by saying: "I got trust issues." Ironic since she would have her trust abandoned by said farmer only hours after that moment.

- Speaking of irony, the man gave up Kate because of the reward: $23,000. Hmm where have I seen the number 23 before? Further indication that the writers knew what they were doing with these numbers right from the beginning.

Though this is not a theme that we have talked about before, we definitely see some good development of Jack's character in this episode. Character development is of course a major theme in any good show, but as arguably the ‘main character’ (at least in this season) Jack is focused on quite often.

In his efforts to save the Marshall's life we are seeing Jack's tendency to always want to fix things. We will see this repeated in many ways throughout the series, but in this episode, this character trait revolves mainly around Jack's responsibility as a doctor. Aside from the pilot episode of course, we see here how Jack is the ‘never-give-up doctor’ who always seems to be willing to believe that he can fix it, save it, or make it better. Though the camp wants Jack to put the Marshall out of his misery, Jack refuses to give up on him. Claiming that he is "not a murderer" even though he later is forced to be the one that puts the Marshall 'out of his misery' after Sawyer takes matters into his own hands and misses his shot at the Marshall's heart with the one bullet the camp had left. This episode definitely continues to mold Jack as the rational, reasonable hero character that we have seen from the beginning.

'Reasonable' is a quality of Jack's that will stick with him until only very recently. Until season 5 Jack is the rational-thinking 'man of science' through and through. In my opinion, this is illustrated with an explanation point when Hurley asks Jack if the 'monster' was a dinosaur and Jack easily and confidently says 'No'. Hurley questions how Jack can be so sure and Jack (in typical Jack fashion) says it’s because 'dinosaurs are extinct.' Of course! How could Hurley not have thought of that? It MUST be something other than a dinosaur that makes that horrific roaring sound, knocks down trees and tosses humans around with ease. We know now that it is in fact NOT a dinosaur, but it was definitely typical of Jack to write off the possibility of it being a dinosaur with such confidence and ease. A much different tune from the Jack we know in season 5 that seems to think anything is possible even if it seems unreasonable or irrational. That’s why it's funny seeing these episodes again after knowing what I know now. That line may not have seemed so significant, but it was definitely important character development.

*Sidenote about important character development in this episode: We see how Walt is a 'special' character and/or how the island is 'special' when it immediately stops raining after Walt's father, Michael promises that he will go find Walt's dog, Vincent "as soon as it stops raining'.

Last but not least, speaking of character development, we get a little more acquainted with one of my favorites; Mr. John Locke. We have seen him speak to Walt, but we still know relatively little about him. He whittles a dog whistle to find Walt's lost dog, then he kindly allows Michael to take the credit for it because he thought it would help better the relationship with his son. A very nice gesture indeed. So what’s with this Locke guy exactly? That’s all we know so far, but I got goosebumps again when watching the final scene of this episode even though I have seen it several times before. Everyone seems to be happy and getting along now, but how do you not get some sort of feeling when that camera slowly pans around Locke as he watches Michael, Walt and Vincent the dog while the gentle, uplifting music fades to a creepy silence. I know from speaking with a few different people that the end scene really hooked them into thinking that Locke was going to be an evil character.

I must admit, that ending scene does do a great job of implying that this may wind up being the case, but I've watched enough TV that even when I first watched it, I thought they might go the other way this time. It’s hard to explain, but it was just a feeling I had. I think it might be due to the following dynamic that the writers subtly put forth; Locke was portrayed as mysterious, quiet, knowledgeable, perhaps with an agenda, but still comes across innocent, genuine and kind (especially after the act of finding Vincent and allowing Michael to take the credit.) One thing is for sure, we want to know more about Mr. Locke, and that’s exactly what we get in the next episode: Walkabout.

But what promotional products make an appearance? I know you were dying to know. The promotional bottled water is back, but it remains throughout most of the series so I think it’s the last time I will mention it.

However I did see a few new ones: Jack’s custom printed mini flashlight helped him find medicine in the dark remains of the fuselage of the plane, and later in the episode Sawyer uses a promotional Bic lighter to attempt lighting his cigarette after shooting (but not quite killing) the Marshall. Did anyone else find it weird that the lighter didn’t work so he threw the cigarette in frustration? Clearly there was a fire burning right next to him, but who knows…maybe cigarettes just don’t taste the same when lit over a large campfire.

So I know at the end of my last post I said I would be back with the episode two summary / fun facts blog the next week, but unfortunately I got caught in a net. So without any further adieu I give you episode 2: Pilot. Though they technically ended an episode and started a new one, it is obvious by the episode title that this was intended to be aired all at once, basically making it all one episode. With the most obvious fact now out of the way, it brings me great joy to dive into the second half of the premier that changed our lives (well a lot of us anyway). We ended the first half of this extended episode with the pilot of Oceanic 815 being violently ripped out of the fuselage by the mysterious monster. Jack, Kate and Charlie locate the bloody body high up in the branches of a tree, left wondering what exactly they are dealing with in regards to the monster. Clearly they themselves did not get a good look at it, helping to further build that bond between character and viewer. As of now, none of us have a clue what’s going on, something that would have been more frustrating to the viewer had the characters known something that we didn’t. It’s bad enough we haven’t even seen a pixel of whatever this monster is yet, but at least they don’t know either. So to distract the viewer from the big question, we almost immediately get thrown into our second flashback of the series. Mr. Charlie Pace.

We know heroin comes back to haunt him in a big way, but right now he is concerned with the one bag that he left on the plane. When Jack, Kate and Charlie go on their expedition to find the transceiver, Charlie retrieves his heroin bag and soon begins lying in order to keep his secret. We see this theme of dishonesty and secrecy repeat itself throughout this episode and the series.

- Kate is keeping secret that she is a criminal, though Jack soon finds out.

- Jack then lies to Kate to allow her to think she is still keeping said secret.

- Though not quite a secret since he was willing to be honest when asked, no one knows that Sayid is a member of the Iraqi Republican Guard except for Hurley (who asked) and “if the fat guy knows, everyone knows.”

- Sawyer quietly reads a letter to himself and keeps said letter and his back story a secret for quite some time.

- Sun was unfaithful to her husband before getting on the plane. She also secretly speaks English. Michael and Kate will eventually find out about this, but they then keep it a secret for her.

- Locke asks Walt if he wants to know a secret. (What is his secret? Walt later tells his father that Locke’s secret was that he experienced a miracle. Maybe this is what he really told him, but we never saw it so I guess we don’t know for certain. We know now that Walt is also a ‘special’ character. Perhaps their interaction was more involved than Walt made it seem.) 

At this time, Locke also introduces the next big theme of the show, which we are revisiting in a major way as of the season five finale. As he teaches Walt about backgammon, he sums it up by simplifying it to its core terms. Two sides: one is light, the other is dark. Many see this as a metaphor for good vs. evil. We see it appear many more times throughout the show, but most recently in the season five finale as we find out that Jacob is feuding with another mysterious man on the island: Jacob wearing white and the other man wearing black.

These are the most significant points that came up in this episode as it pertains to the rest of the series. Of course there is the polar bear mystery, which has had some light shed on it since its first appearance, but overall relatively insignificant. I’m sure a good number of us had higher hopes for the polar bear since it was so odd for it to be on a tropical island in the first place, but then just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, the team of Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Charlie, Boone and Shannon hear an eerie transmission when they finally obtain a signal on the repaired radio they found. A French woman repeating herself on a loop for 16 years, saying “Please help me, I am alone on the island now. Please someone come. They’re dead. It killed them, it killed them all.”

- How could I forget about all the custom imprinted bottled water being passed around and re-used? Oceanic airlines had to get these bottles printed somewhere didn’t they?

So last night capped off this season of ‘The Next Food Network Star’ on Food Network of course. I thought that this year’s talent was pretty decent in comparison to some of the prior seasons, and the final two contestants this year made it ‘the most difficult decision that the judges have ever had to make in the history of this show’ said Bob Tuschman, Food Network’s Senior Vice President of Programming and Production. In the final episode of each season, the finalists shoot a pilot for their very own show as a final challenge to see who will be the best fit. This year both Jeffrey and Melissa repeatedly proved that they deserved to be the final two. Each with their own unique style and culinary point of view, either of the two would’ve made great Food Network personalities. Their mini-pilot episodes confirmed this and probably made it even more difficult to decide. In the end, Melissa, mother of four, and her cooking survival tips helped her win out in hopes that busy working parents who still need to get a home-cooked meal on the table will appreciate her helpful hints and advice. Though Jeffrey was charming and a great chef, I guess they felt that Melissa’s concept and personality was one that would reach more people. We will see as her first episode actually airs on Food Network next weekend.

With one reality-based competition cooking show over, comes an onslaught of new episodes of our old favorites. We of course know that Hell’s Kitchen has already started, but coming in August / September are the new seasons of Top Chef, The Next Iron Chef and a new season of Chopped (Only this time featuring past Chopped champions squaring off in a tournament style battle).

This is an exciting time for all the ‘foodies’ and reality fans alike. I am not huge on reality TV, but in my opinion cooking competitions are comparable to sports in their own right. Not that you have to be athletic or even in good shape, but these chefs, caterers and home cooks are giving it their all in hopes of cashing in on a great opportunity and in many cases a big prize. If a little drama slips in there, so be it, but you can definitely learn something or just become inspired to cook for yourself more often. In some cases, the chefs own restaurants in the near vicinity that you may want to check out after seeing the delicious dishes that they create. Either way, I will be tuned in to watch them battle it out on both Food Network and Bravo in the coming months, quenching my thirst for new television programming to watch while my other favorites remain on hold until the upcoming television season.

Sidenote: Food Network is airing a new show later this month in which everyone’s favorite figure skater takes advantage of an iconic parody song featuring his name. That’s right, the name of the show is: 'What Would Brian Boitano Make?' I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. I don’t know if I will be checking that one out, but I can only imagine that the theme song is destined to fail unless it involves those cute little South Park kids. I’m guessing it wont, and I’ll also go out on a limb and guess the show wont have a very long shelf life either, but intriguing nonetheless. I wonder how Trey Parker and Matt Stone feel about this?

Title of this episode is pretty self explanitory as all shows begin with an episode named 'pilot' its just ironic that this first episode involves a plane crash. This is a great episode and in many ways sets the tone for the series. Obviously we have come a long way from then, with plot twists and events that we never could've seen coming. But we begin with the first of many episodes that begin with a closed eye that dramatically opens. The sound/music is mysterious and borderline creepy as we see our main character's pupils dilate.

This of course is Jack Shepherd, whom as we soon see is 'the hero' and main character of the series (at least for now). Interestingly enough Michael Keaton was supposedly in the running to play this character, but I think Matthew Fox does a fine job. Some will disagree, but I think a show like this is almost better suited for actors that are not necessarily 'big names'. No offense Foxy, you're a big name now, but Michael Keaton played Batman and Mr. Mom!! Even if the way Jack's character was written remained the same, it just would've given the show a slightly different feel. After coming to in the middle of the jungle, Jack finds that he has a small bottle of Vodka in his pocket. He gains his bearings and runs like someone is chasing him. No one is, but we shortly come to find out that he is in a hurry to get to the beach to find and help survivors of the plane crash that he was just a part of. On his way to the beach he passes by a random shoe hanging from a tree branch. This winds up being somewhat of a cliffhanger because it is not explained right away. This is only the beginning of the giant cliffhanger we know as 'Lost'. Jack gets to the beach and immediately starts helping everyone he can. When helping one, he is directing another and already eyeing the next victim that he intends to save or help. Jack quickly finds a character attempting to administer CPR on another passenger, he stops him because he was performing CPR incorrectly. The young character named Boone suggests that they 'do one of those thingys where they puncture a hole in the patients neck to create an airway'. Enter our first promotional product: the promotional pen! Jack plays along and sends Boone on a fools errand to go find pens while he properly administers the procedure and revives the victim. But after the smoke has cleared and everything that could be done was done, Boone comes back with a plethora of promotional pens. Jack thanks him and takes them.

Early on we have themes that will be a major part of the show in almost all future episodes: Jack as a hero / plot driver, Jack and his alcohol, the presence of the cliffhanger, and the mysterious and creepy soundtrack. The soundtrack was actually developed by using actual pieces of the plane wreckage as percussion instruments. And yes, the plane used on set was an actual plane.

Some other quick notes worth mentioning are the 4 scrapes on Jack's face. We know now that 4 is an important number later on in the series, but the writers were throwing things like this into the mix as early as episode one. It could of course be a coincidence, but there are other subtle examples of 'the numbers' appearing.

Suvivors (that we know of) = 48 -- 4 and 8 are both prevalent numbers.

Flight # = 815 -- 8 and 15 are prevalent numbers.

In the show's very first 'flashback' we see Jack on the plane while in the air before it crashes. He is sitting in seat 23A -- 23 is a prevalent number. This flashback is also significant because it is another theme that we see in nearly every episode from this point forward. The flashbacks help us get to know the character by showing us some of their past experiences. Sometimes it shows us how they got to this point, while other times it shows us how said character reacted in certain situations back at home as an indication of how they may react to a situation currently taking place on the island. In some flashbacks we see characters interracting with each other or being in the same place at the same time before knowing each other / crashing on the island. It shows us that it can be a small world and this also remains as a theme of the show.

In this flashback we see how Jack got his small bottle of Vodka. He was given the extra bottle by the flight attendant who would eventually become one of 'the others' - we eventually learn that everything that happens on the island happens for a reason. This is not only a recurring theme, but also leads one to wonder what the flight attendant's purpose is/was. Also in this flashback we see a character named Charlie frantically running to the bathroom, but we dont know why until episode 2.

After playing hero, Jack settles down with our second promotional product sighting! A custom sewing kit!

This is where he meets another main character named Kate. She helps him sew up his wound as they get to know each other. But here we get another recurring theme of the show. Dishonesty. Kate didnt exactly lie to Jack yet, but she wasn't completely honest either as we will eventually find out that she was a wanted criminal and was on the flight because she was being transported from Australia to L.A.

Jack, Kate and Charlie set out to find the cockpit in hopes of locating a transceiver that will help a rescue team find them. They find the cockpit with the injured pilot inside. This is where he informs them that they are 1000 miles off course after losing signal and turning back towards Fiji. Bad news for these characters because they had hoped to be rescued soon, especially if they found the transceiver. Not only are they off course, but they are confronted with the mysterious 'monster' that they heard the night before. We as the audience have no clue what this 'monster' is because we dont see it. We just know it makes a loud sound and knocks down trees. Jack, Kate and Charlie also know now, that it can grab a person when it yanked the pilot out of the cockpit, but they didnt get a look at it. They just ran like hell to get as far away from it as possible. Talk about a cliffhanger! I definitely thought it was a dinosaur at first, but it has since been made very clear that this is not the case.

Another fun production fact is that when filming Jack, Kate and Charlie running away, the actors were asked to simply run in place while the camera operator shook the camera to create the appearance of running. All this suspense leads to Jack, Kate and Charlie eventually finding each other while at the same time discovering the pilot, covered in blood and dead, laying across the top of a huge tree. The character and the audience are more perplexed than ever in regard to this monster. The perfect time for the end of the episode. Back next week with notes from episode 2.