Jack & Kate Plus…One. (Lost: Season 4 Episode 10)

My husband is wondering if the writers’ strike has thrown off the writers’ game. You know, they’ve been out of practice so long they’re not doing their best work? Or they’re having to squeeze too much into one episode? Well, tonight’s Lost had me wondering. Don’t get me wrong, I loved this episode. But a few times I alternately rolled or averted my eyes from the screen.

So, let’s get to it. I want to see what you thought…

First. If you have been with me for any amount of time, you know that I do NOT have a soft spot in my heart for Jack. His king-of-the-island-i-can-fix-everything-man-of-science thing gets on my nerves. As does his kissing Kate & Juliet in practically the same day. So, to see a Jack flashFORWARD tonight was not very exciting to me. Granted, it did get better…

Second. Can we all agree that the Jack on The Island story was ridiculous? You know what? Let’s start with that one, ok?

The Island: King Jack
Jack pretends he doesn’t know why he’s sick. Juliet correctly identifies his problem as appendicitis. She recruits everyone to get ready for Jack’s surgery. Jin, Sun, CS Lewis & Faraday go to the medical station (where all the baby stuff is) and get supplies. (Why couldn’t Juliet just go?) Jin discovers that CS Lewis speaks Korean. He uses this knowledge to threaten her into making sure Sun gets off The Island. (That was actually pretty cool. Jin can be scary.)

Bernard & Rose (and random Losties 1-4) help sanitize a giant piece of metal that will soon be an operating table. Bernard and Rose have a conversation about healing. She wonders how and why their leader could get sick the day before their rescue. She believes only healing takes place on this Island. (I guess she missed the 10 dead bodies laying around…)

Jack wants Kate to assist in the surgery. Not as a nurse, no, as a mirror holder. Because he wants to be awake during it. Because, he is apparently, King of Everything now. Juliet grudgingly agrees until Jack starts moving around during the surgery. Then she and Bernard chloroform him. (Yay, Bernard! I like him more and more every week!)

Jack and Kate share a tearful conversation about…I don’t know. But they yell each other’s names emotionally several times. When the surgery is done, Bernard tells her she can go back in and see him. (Like he’s a new mom or something. Weird.) Jack is apparently still out. Juliet tells Kate that Jack kissed her. Kate is obviously upset by this. But Juliet (the noble, selfless, gracious Other that she is) says, “It wasn’t for me. It was for him. To prove that he’s not in love with someone else.”

Kate then breaks down crying (well, kinda) and says, “Thank you, Juliet! Thank you!”

Seriously. I’m sorry. That was just crazy talk.

Oh, and Jack wasn’t asleep either.

The Island: Sawyer’s Posse
Sawyer, Miles, Claire and baby Aaron are still walking through the jungle on the way to the beach. Suddenly, Miles turns Ghostbusters on them and says, “Who’s Alex and Karl?!’ Next thing we know, he’s found them SHALLOWLY buried (how ’bout their faces are sticking out of the ground!!) right below them. Sawyer correctly assumes that some of the freighter guys have done this. Miles is genuinely upset and says, “I didn’t sign up for this!”

Suddenly, they hear a noise in the jungle. Surprise, surprise. Who runs out? Smokey? No. A horse? Nope. Hurley? Nuh-uh. Charlie? I wish. Nope, it was just Lapidus, the helicopter pilot. He’s carrying a first-aid kit and demands they hide because Keamy is coming. Sawyer and his crew obey. We see Keamy and his crew (one of which is bleeding from his head and cannot walk) instructing Lapidus to take them to the helicopter.

Now, I thought Smokey tore them up. Doesn’t Smokey generally kill people? I guess Locke got away from him once. But didn’t he kill Eko? I’m a little confused on that point.

After Lapidus leads Keamy and his fatigued clothed men away from Saywer’s crew, they settle in for the night. Claire wakes up and can’t find Aaron. She looks up to see her father, CHRISTIAN SHEPHERD cradling Aaron.

When Sawyer wakes up Claire is gone. Miles says that she walked into the jungle with a man she called her dad. Sawyer is freaked. He runs into the jungle calling her name when he hears a baby’s cry. Aaron is perfectly displayed on a giant leaf. Sawyer picks him up. That’s all.

FREAKY.

Now, onto the part I alternately hated and loved…

The Jack flashFORWARD

We begin with Jack (ugh) waking up in a comfy bed taking phone calls as Dr. Shepherd (double ugh). He then walks downstairs, fixes coffee, glances at the newspaper and TRIPS OVER A CHILD’S TOY. He then walks into the bathroom, talks to a showering woman who turns out to be KATE.

The kiss so much I have to cover my husband’s eyes and get out my barf bag.

There is another scene of Jack reading a story to Aaron. Then he and Kate are like Ozzy and Harriet. It’s all very revolting.

Now Jack’s at work–at the hospital (no…I kinda missed where he was, but it wasn’t the same hospital he used to work in NOR the hospital that he will eventually go crazy in)…anyway, he’s at a hospital-doctor’s-officey type place. The secretary lets him know that a doctor has called about one of his friends.

So, Jack rushes to see Hurley at the mental hospital. This helps us place this flashFORWARD. We know Jack visited Hurely once before and Hurley was still ok. This time, however, Hurley is not taking his meds and is saying that he is dead. (So, the order of the flashFORWARDS: Sun, Hurley, Kate, Jack#2, Jack#1…does that seem right? Not sure where Ben & Sayid fit…)

The conversation between the two of them was, in my opinion, quite chilling. Hurley tells Jack that Charlie regularly visits him. Charlie has given Hurley a message for Jack:

YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO RAISE HIM.

Jack is obviously upset by this. He pretends not to be. And tells Hurley he MUST take his medication. Hurley says, “Charlie also says you’ll be visited by someone, too.”

Jack rushes “home” to Kate and asks her to marry him. She says yes. (Could I gag a few more times?)

Next scene, Jack is working late and wanders out into the hall because of a beeping smoke detector. He also sees HIS FATHER, CHRISTIAN SHEPHERD. (Twice in one episode!) He is freaked but is interrupted by a co-worker. He then asks the co-worker if she’ll write a prescription for him. She does.

AND SO IT BEGINS.

I can take all the sticky-sweetness of Jack/Kate now that I know he’s about to turn into the crazy man we saw at the end of last season. Is it bad to be excited about his imminent downfall?!

When Jack gets home, he interrupts Kate on the phone with Noreen, a mom from the park. How quaint. Jack doesn’t believe her. The next time he comes home, Kate comes in hours after him. He’s been drinking and taking his “meds”. He demands to know where she has been and who she was with.

She finally breaks down and says, “I was doing something for HIM…for SAWYER.” Yay! He has not been forgotten! My favorite Southern gentlemen lives on! Kate says she made a promise to him and she has to keep it.

Jack is ticked and says, “But I’m here now! He made his choice! He stayed on the Island! I saved you!” Kate has tears streaming down her face and then says that she can’t have Jack around her son if he (Jack) is going to act this way.

Jack begins to laugh and says, “YOUR SON? You’re not even related!!”

And who wanders in clutching a shamu doll? Aaron. Kate picks up “her” son and sobs. And that’s all.

*sigh*

That was pretty good, huh? As much as I hated the beginning of that flashFORWARD, I was loving the end. The Island has made it’s way into suburbia. Good stuff.

Questions Answered:
1. Jack & Kate do get together. At least for awhile.
2. We know how and why Jack begins popping pills and screaming about his dad.
3. Why Sun gets off The Island. Go Jin!

Questions I Still/Newly Have:
1. Is everyone else on The Island alive? Why oh, why did the Oceanic Six get off The Island?
2. What is up with Christian Shepherd? I wonder if he’s alive? I usually never go for he’s-alive-even-tho- we-all-know-he’s-dead plots, but this one is abnormal. The thing is, Miles can see dead people, so it may have been the ghost of Christian Shepherd…or Smokey…or Ben disguised…or time warped Christian.
3. What did Smokey do to Keamy’s men? Did Ben really call Smokey?
4. What is the promise Kate made to Sawyer? Is Sawyer alive? Is he happy? Does he need comforting? Can I visit him?
5. What happened to Claire? Is this when Kate gets Aaron? Does Jack find out he is Aaron’s uncle? Is that why he says, “YOU aren’t even related?” Because he knows he really is? And he actually thinks he SHOULD be raising Aaron?

Random Theory
The flashFORWARDS are on such a different time-speed that once the Oceanic Six decide to go back to The Island, they will meet up with themselves as if no time has passed. So, technically none of these flashFORWARDS will ever happen. Especially Jack & Kate living together.

(If you want some really weird theories, read this. We’re talking alien weird.)

In Conclusion
Come on, you know I loved it. I love to hate Jack and Kate. I loved every bit of it. BUT. I still want to see a Locke flashFORWARD. Is that asking too much? The poor man has been through a lot–he got shot and thrown into a mass grave. So, maybe he’s going off the deep end a little. At least give us a tiny little bit. Please!

OK. Talk amongst yourselves. (Oh, and I want to apologize again for being a complete girl about Ben’s weapon last week. I’ll do much better next time and never talk about guns or cars or airplanes.)

(I’m at ohamanda.com the rest of the week. Come see me!)