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Episodes: Reviews

1.13 Hearts and Minds

Boone: "So the player got played. Poetic, don't you think?"

It may have been Boone's episode. But for him, it's all about Shannon.

Boone's obsession with Shannon has always been overtly sexual and somewhat ooky, so it didn't surprise me that they've slept together. I found it revealing that Shannon and Boone, step-siblings with no blood relationship, constantly refer to each other as brother and sister. Is it their way of trying to normalize their twisted relationship? Technically, it isn't incest, but it's certainly unhealthy. Emotional incest, perhaps.

Shannon manipulates Boone out of long habit. (I especially thought the way she subtly allowed Boone to see the bruise on her forehead was very interesting.) The prime motivator in their relationship may be that Boone had money, and Shannon did not. I suspect she finally slept with him back in Sydney because she thought she was losing him and/or his money, and it backfired on her. It explained the way they've been treating each other on the Island, anyway.

Locke was mixing the drug in the gourd long before Boone talked about spilling their secret to Shannon, so what Locke did to Boone was premeditated and intentional. It reminded me of the way he manipulated Charlie with the drugs, and I'm now almost certain that Locke was the one who knocked out Sayid. Locke is manipulating everyone. As always, the big question is, is Locke good or evil? Is he really tapped into the Island, or is he delusional?

Whatever his motivation, Locke was as happy as a clam, smiling, relaxed, and patient. He is finally the most popular kid in school, the only one who knows, or thinks he knows, the truth. (When he said that "smart animals adapt quickly to a new predator in their environment," he wasn't talking about the boars.) The Michelangelo story he told Boone was about realizing potential. Was Locke really doing what was necessary to help Boone survive? He was certainly correct that Boone needed to let go of his obsession with Shannon and move on. If that was indeed what happened here.

Boone said at one point that Shannon was "smart and special in a lot of ways" and I believe him. I understand why some fans don't like Shannon; she's not at all likeable. But she's a fascinating character, and she adds complexity and drama to the show. And I don't think she can help being an emotional cripple; she has "victim" written all over her. There must be something major about her that we still don't know.

Sayid was clearly smitten. He looked at Shannon like he wanted to sprinkle her with salt and pepper and dig in. And he doesn't strike me as the type to be interested in women with no substance. Okay, I realize that there are limited opportunities on the Island and that Shannon is hot, but he didn't show an interest in her until they began working on the map together, did he? Sayid is nothing like Bryan, not her typical kind of guy, and he's very, very smart; I doubt she'll be able to pull his strings the way she did Boone's. Shannon and Sayid could be great for each other, or a train wreck waiting to happen. Very intriguing.

The Hurley and Jin scenes were actually sweet as well as funny. (What's Korean for "please pee on my foot"?) Hurley even hurled, living up to his nickname ("Over the lips, past the gums, yadda, yadda, oh, god.") Jin's actions toward Hurley made him appear more deserving of Sun's love than I originally thought. And speaking of Sun, Kate now knows Sun's secret. Sun may be the most interesting woman on the island, as well as possibly being the most valuable to the survivors. She is something of a botanist: eucaplytus for asthma, aloe for moisturizing, and now a secret garden and orchard?

This week's winner for Most Obvious Symbolism was the door; it wasn't just the mysterious hatch, either, because there were a lot of other doors in this episode. What the hell is that hatch? An abandoned submarine? An entrance to the Hellmouth? Plus we also learned that Locke's compass was wonky. Either that, or north wasn't north. Another subtle piece of evidence that the Island isn't reality?

Character bits:

-- Boone's last name is Carlisle. His mother, Sabrina Carlisle, married Shannon Rutherford's father when Boone and Shannon were ten and eight.

-- We got a brief glimpse of Sawyer being arrested in the police station scene. Sawyer was angry, and shouted something about giving the bottle back.

-- Claire was still missing. No one was doing anything about it.

-- Jack was treating Charlie's withdrawal with aspirin.

-- Locke was a cub scout, a boy scout, and a webelo. No surprise there; totally in character.

-- Sayid gave Shannon a pair of brightly colored shoes, still in the shoebox. He's a smart man; that was an appropriate gift.

-- Michael was looking at a wooden box from his own luggage. I suspect it will figure in his backstory, when it comes.

Other bits and pieces:

-- This episode opened with a close-up of Boone's left eye. Boone has blue eyes, though, and this one looked green. Green eyes are traditionally symbolic of jealousy, of course.

-- Kate said it had been over three weeks since the crash. I may have to adjust my timeline; I thought it was later than that.

--There was more of the cage/prison imagery when Boone and Shannon were hiding from the Monster. And we finally got a drug-induced hard-to-see hallucination of the Monster which, of course, doesn't count.

-- I'm so glad they cast Terry O'Quinn as Locke. He's a damned good actor and can handle being at the center of a complex story like this.

-- In an interesting, almost unnoticeable crossover, the Driveshaft song "You all everybody" was playing during a party scene in the Alias episode that aired right after Lost.

Quotes:

Jack: "Please tell me you found a coffee bar."

Charlie: "Chances are he probably killed all his mates at the post office the day his mum forgot to put a cookie in his lunch tin." Yet there's a contradiction, since Charlie still thinks Locke will save them all.

Very good. Not what I expected, and I like that. Three out of four polar bears,

Billie