Wednesday, October 14, 2009

3.06 I Do

Follow along! The episode guide for “I Do” is in Finding Lost — Season 3, pp. 48-51.

I’ve always loved this episode. At the time, this episode aired and was the last Lost ep for 3 months, the final installment of the 6-episode “appetizer” that would precede the main course, starting the following February. So that end cliffhanger? It was a WHOPPER at the time. (As bad as Juliet banging a hydrogen bomb and the screen going white? NO.)

Fun things I noticed:
• I ♥ Nathan Fillion.
• “At least you won’t have to be disappointed for very long.” Still one of the best Jack lines EVER.
• You know, I’d love to find out where the women of the island got their underarm wax jobs before getting on the plane, because they’re impeccable and lasting FOREVER. Maybe Oceanic was offering free underarm electrolysis with every Sydney to L.A. flight purchased?
• I love Ben’s cunning. Jack says, “I need to get the hell off this island!” and Ben says, “Done.” Because Jack doesn’t know he’s not on the same island. Sure, Jack, we’ll get you off this island and… put you on this one. Oh? You wanted to be rescued? You didn’t say Simon Says…
• Pickett is the first person to mention Jacob by name. It’s interesting that it’s such a throwaway line that becomes SO monumental later.
• Juliet’s staring at Jack during the surgery like she knows what he’s doing.

Things that have new meaning:
• Kate usually has Patsy Cline music, and in this one it opens with that divine Ann Margret song, “Slowly.” Is there some significance to Kate always having these songs by strong-willed female singers from the 1950s and 1960s? Or is it just super-cool?
• I think it’s really sad we never saw Kevin again. I would have loved to have seen him in the flashforward reuniting with her, either to tell her he still loved her, or to end it and let her know how much she’d hurt him. I know it would have been really gratuitous (and for all the Skaters and Jaters, it would have just been annoying) but any excuse to get Nathan Fillion back on here…
• When Ben closes his eyes before going under, it seems bigger somehow, like he’s preparing for his death. He’s so sure of himself and confident in every other scene, but not here. I realize he’s putting his fate in the hands of Jack, but this is the same guy who’s tempted fate at every turn and never seemed scared.
• When Kate’s yelling at Sawyer, “Don’t you let go!” I couldn’t help but think of him holding Juliet’s hand and telling her not to let go. It’s almost like Kate was warning him of something that would happen 3 years later.

25 comments:

Gillian Whitfield said...

This is one of my favourite Kate episodes. The only one that comes before it is "Whatever Happened, Happened".

I LOVE when Picket said "Shephard isn't even on Jacob's list"! It continues to prove the writers aren't making it up as they go along.

Marebabe said...

Nikki, I completely agree with you about one of Jack’s greatest lines EVER: “Well, Ben, at least you won’t have to be disappointed for very long.” I giggled with delight the first time I heard that.

Juliet to Kate and Sawyer: “I’ll give you two some privacy.” Ha! Privacy-Shmivacy! Far too many cameras for that.

I also noticed the very sad parallel you mentioned. As Pickett was struggling with Sawyer, intending to execute him, Kate called out to Sawyer: “Don’t you let go!” The emotion and level of tension were exactly the same as what we saw at the end of S5.

I’ve never understood why Jack insisted that Kate repeat the “count to 5” surgery story when she was calling him to report that they got away safely. It must be because he recognized the possibility of there being an imposter. We now know that the possibility exists (because of NotLocke), but how on earth did Jack suspect it back then? Or was it simply that he realized there might be a talented mimic among the Others who could do a convincing Kate impression on the walkie-talkie?

In the Kate flashback, when Kevin surprised her with honeymoon tickets to Costa Rica, it made my brain wobble a bit, because I’d recently been following Jorge Garcia’s blog entries about his trip to Costa Rica (on “Dispatches From the Island”). As always, during this rewatch, my radar was tuned for any parallels and/or crossover thingies, and here I had fictional and real references to Costa Rica piled on top of each other. I actually had to pause briefly to sort them out, and then laugh at myself.

Jazzygirl said...

Okay I just watched all four in a row so I'm not sure I'm on the right episode here...but the funeral scene with Colleen. When I saw the funeral attire...all white...they are exactly the same style as what Jacob and Man in Black are wearing on the beach. Coincidence?
There were definitely some great lines in this one. I think Jack showed how much he cares about Kate...he saw her with Sawyer and that made him decide to help her escape, so she'd be happy. I love how he had his own agenda in the surgery...and question...why isn't Ben intubated?
I'm so emotionally exhausted right now from watching all of them!

Susan said...

Jazzygirl made many of the comments I was going to make ;)
I love Jack's line about how Ben won't have to be disappointed for very long. I also love the way he orders his captors around in surgery.

I think Jack wants Kate to tell him the count to 5 story to prove that she isn't being held by the Others with a gun to her head (or Sawyer's). If she was, she probably would have told a fake story and Jack would know what was up.

Marebabe said...

@Susan: That makes sense. It's subtle and devious, which is probably why I didn't think of it myself. I guess I'm more direct in my thinking, and the finer points of strategy sometimes escape me. I totally suck at "Risk", for example. ;)

Kate said...

I really didn't like this episode very much at all, which is weird cause the Kate flashbacks are usually some of the most interesting to me and these just disgusted me for the most part. I just found it so extremely against her character, even though I know why it makes sense, her trying to escape into a "norm", but...I don't know. I just felt "bleehhhh" through most of it.

I do like the on-island happenings a lot though, and am equally puzzled by why Jack made Kate repeat the 5-count story. It seemed so...unnecessary. For the dramatic effect of it, sure, but from the character's points of view...what the doodle was that for?

The thing that really gets me in this, and I cringe saying it because there's a part of me that just wants to blindly accept anything and everything that the Lost writers send at me, but I really, really, really struggle with the fact that Kevin, an active cop, actually married a woman who is wanted worldwide for murder, was chased to Australia and back and somehow not have a clue? Or any of his family for the matter? And how did Kate get such good legal documentation that she was able to get MARRIED under a fake name and ID...is it really that easy to fake ID, social security, name, birth place, family...that all would have had to change or it would have been an instant redflag in any computer database that a she's on America's Most Wanted. I really want to believe it...but I find it hard. I'm sorry Lost! My faith wavers on very little else!

Maybe it's that "friend" Beth who's somehow an inside-dealer of fake papers/IDs. =P


P.S. Risk is one of my favorite games ever!! =D

The Question Mark said...

What a great way to leave the audience hungry for more! Those last few minutes were more intense than every episode of ER combined.

Ann Margaret's "Slowly" is one of the sexiest songs I've ever heard. I LOOOOOVE when the writers start episodes off with a golden oldie. I think "Slowly" suits Kate, because it is about a girl who is in a relationship, and she wants her man to take everything slow, so that she can enjoy and savour every moment of being with him. Kate, a person who couldn't sit still to save her life, will never be able to take anything slowly. This song is to Kate what "Make Your Own Kinda Music" is to Desmondo.
Irony at it's finest! :)

Debi said...

This has always been one of my favorite Jack stories. I know it has Kate flashbacks, but the main plotline has Jack making a decent plan that almost works (he can't be blamed for Kate coming back for him and Locke blowing up the sub) and acting decisively. Much, much better than the angry, not thinking-Jack of Season 4 or the even worse doped, crying Jack of Season 5.
This was about the time that I first started watching - just in time for the long break! I know I was a late starter, but since I don't own a TV, I was a little slow finding out about Lost.
I have been reading an interview with Michael Emerson (Lost magazine), in which he states that he hopes the series ends with the narration pulling back and showing things from a different angle and suddenly everything makes sense. I've been trying to imagine what such a different angle might be. My best guess is a parallel world, as in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King (we know how much the writers like King). The mind of a person can travel between the worlds (at certain doors), but they have to inhabit another's body (perhaps the reason that bodies are so important on Lost?) The only drawback is that King takes 7 very long novels (I've only gotten through 2) to develop his world, and the Lost writers only have one season left.
Other ideas for another perspective include a very elaborate 3-D action game (think the hologram deck on Star Trek) or someone telling a story to a child (think Princess Bride). We've been told that it is not someone's dream (at least not Hurley's in "Dave"). Any other thoughts?

JS said...

!

There's a magazine!?! How did I miss this!!

JS said...

I also thought of the "don't you let go" line in light of season 5. The emotion was high in this moment, and the emotion was heightened for me remembering how it was used in S5.

I have to go with Katey on the believability here. Though Kate knows how to stay under the radar, I am not sure she is so great at the full on con. I wonder what her ex-hubby thought when he saw her come back and go through her whole trial. That would have been a good place for him to pop up.

Nikki Stafford said...

Re: Jack telling the story about counting to 5. I actually thought that was some great storytelling in this episode, because it works on two levels. First, the obvious: If Kate were captured, as someone here suggested, she could be held at gunpoint and telling Jack she's OK and he wouldn't know if she's lying unless she tells this story. Or they could mimic her voice somehow and he wouldn't know if she's telling the truth. So, as with any show where you have an evil twin and you ask them both a question and only the real one answers correctly, Jack's asking her to tell him the one thing only Kate would know.

But the choice of story is symbolic as well. He could have said, "Do you remember that story I told you one night around the campfire," referring to something completely different, but he chose THIS story, because he wanted it in her head. At the time he told it to her in the first place, he was asking her to do something quickly, under duress, and to "let the fear out" to make a quick decision and get things done. He needs that message in her head right now, and it's like a subtle way of telling her to let the fear in for 5 seconds and then RUN.

So I thought him asking her to tell him that story was really well done. I'm surprised to see so many people had a problem with it! :)

tiasabita said...

Love this episode, one of Jack's best performances. So sweet when he sees Kate and they touch thru the glass. However, his mood changes when Sawyer's name is brought up!

Was that Alex's voice in the intercom that said, 'The door. Check it."?

@JazzyGirl, not only was Ben not intubated but he would have to have been intubated while on his back then turned prone for spinal surgery. But where's the suspense in that?!

@Katey and JS - 1000% in agreement that it was difficult to believe that Kevin the cop didn't have Monica checked out or at least that one of his buddies didn't check her background. She must have charmed them all like she did the mother-in-law. But she is a master forger/identity thief/thief in general. I think of the trunk full of license plates in a coming episode and the ID of the drowned woman, Joanna, that Kate burned the picture off of, presumably to also steal her identity when they got rescued. Do we know where this story fits in time-wise with her other escapades? If it was an earlier one then it's even harder to believe that Kevin wouldn't have also been on the hunt for her along with the marshall. Maybe he didn't want the embarrassment of having been duped or maybe he just loved her so much and wanted her to be free. But even if he didn't know her real name before the O6 came home surely her face would have been plastered all over every TV and paper afterwards. Maybe we'll find out something unfortunate happened to him.

And I second the question - There's a LOST magazine?

Nikki Stafford said...

The LOST Magazine's been around since season 1. They're very hard to find; you'd have to go to a very large magazine store or bookstore with a giant magazine area, and then go to the sci-fi area that has the magazines devoted to shows. :)

Fred said...

@Gillian Whitfield: I agree with the Pickett remark and Jacob. But what I want to know is how did Pickett see the list. Wouldn't it have been given to the leader, but as we see Ben never got to meet Jacob. So was it given to Richard? And then Richard showed it to the Others. This would effectively marginalize Ben's position as leader. Really confused about this.

@Marebabe: notice Kate says to Kevin, "What have you done?" The smae line Kate's mother says to her when she comes to the diner after blowing up Wayne.

I'm not so sure Jack's motives are so pure. Yes, he threatens Ben's life to allow Kate to escape, thinking he is still on the main island. But I see it more as Jack and Sarah, when he asks "is she happy." Having seen Kate and Sawyer, Jack just wants to have a clean break from Kate, let her have Sawyer, and then put all this behind him. In this case he just wants to get off the island and home because there is just to much emotional pain where Kate is concerned. (I mean, really, how many people do we all know who had a bad break up and then decided they'd take a long holiday in Europe or some other location, just to reset?)

Marebabe said...

@JS, tiasabita, Nikki, and everyone else who is interested in Lost Magazine, here’s the scoop! For US/Canada: www.titanmagazines.com or call toll free 1-877-363-1310 quoting LOST24. For UK/EIRE/Australia/NZ www.titanmagazines.co.uk or call 0844 322 1250 quoting LOST24. And then in the fine print there’s this: For Eire & AUS/NZ prices call +44(0) 1795 414 932. They’re a bit pricey no matter where in the world you live, but it’s a high-gloss, quality magazine, and I’m glad to have a subscription. The cool thing is that you can get back issues as long as they’re available. I have all of them except #1. The latest issue is #25. It’s published 6 times per year, and a couple times a year it’s expanded to a 100-page yearbook. This is probably the main reason I waited so long to acquire Nikki’s books, because I’ve been getting these magazines every other month. But really, there’s no substitute for books like Nikki’s. The Lost Magazines are mostly about great photos, cast and crew interviews, and letters to the editor-type stuff.

Austin Gorton said...

Does it make me terribly unromantic that whenever the Kate/Sawyer horizontal mambo starts my first thought is always "ew, who wants to have sex in that condition? You're both sweaty and dirty and probably stinky, and fairly sore, I'd imagine, as well as hungry and thirsty."

I know, I know, I'm missing the point. :)

Nikki, I loved the "five seconds story" detail as well. To me, it showed that Jack HAD carefully thought this plan out, and was familiar enough with the Others' methods (using one person to get someone else to do their bidding) that he wanted to setup a check against that kind of manipulation by being able to tell if Kate was being coerced or not.

Oh, and I imagine most Barnes and Nobles carry the Lost magazine. The store at which I work does, as does most of the others around here, at least.

Nikki Stafford said...

Teebore: LOL! You and me both. I always watch that scene when they kiss and think, "Ew... they must both smell like fish biscuits. Blech." ;)

tiasabita said...

Thanks everyone for the LOST magazine info and thanks to Marebabe for such super in-depth info! I actually looked on ebay this afternoon and there are quite a few for sale but, yes, pricey. I will check B&N. But I've got Nikki's books! Teebore, yesyesyes, I always think 'Ew' whenever anyone evens hugs much less kisses or more! I guess they've had bad breath and been skanky for a while now so who notices?!

Debi said...

More on Lost magazine. Titan Magazines does sell most of the back issues for list price (currently 1, 2 and 3 are not available and I think issue 6 or 9, I forget which). I got to their website via the ABC Lost web site. They have also put out a book Lost:Messages from the Island which is the best bits of the first 6 issues for $10 new and $7 used on Amazon, if you want to see what sort of articles they have before you buy more.

JW said...

Nikki's books are far better than Lost Magazine (except picture wise, where glossy magazines with access to the set and the rights to publish photos from the series will obviously have an edge).

I have to admit, I didn't really like this episode. Maybe it's cause I'm not really into the whole love triangle thing.

I do like Nathan Fillion. But I can't watch anything he's in now without thinking how terrible it is that Firefly isn't in its seventh season. It's like watching Patrick Stewart play a writer in a comedy after Star Trek TNG was cancelled in its first season. What a waste. :(

Rebecca T. said...

@Nikki: I ♥ Nathan Fillion.

Me too!!!!!! I didn't know who he was when I first saw this episode but have since become a hugemongous fan (thank you Firefly, Castle and Dr. Horrible) I would have loved to see him come back. He and Kate were soooo cute together.

sidenote @JW: a friend recently introduced me to the wonder that was Firefly and I get so sad every time I think about the fact that it's all over. ALL OVER ;-;

I always feel like Pickett's line about Jacob is such a throwaway one, though. It's like it was only there to get us wondering about who Jacob is and to look back at later and be like, whoa!
It still doesn't make sense to me. If everyone knew Jacob's lists, then what made Ben special and if Ben was the one making up the lists, then it wouldn't have differed from Jacob's. Because it seems like Ben hasn't really been in contact with Jacob and it's all very confusing to me. Am I missing something or does anyone else agree it seems odd?

I have often wondered why they decided to have "Monica" marry a cop of all people. I too find the believability a little thin there.

I understand why Jack wanted to tell Kate the story, but I cannot STAND that story after we learned the truth behind it in S5 because it makes me more annoyed at Jack than usual.

Though I did love his acting in this episode. It was masterfully played. I agree that it is such a sweet look on his face when Kate comes through the door.

re: Lost magazine - we carry it at the Borders I work at as well (sorry can't help putting a plug in whenever B&N is mentioned ;)

Susan said...

I know a lot of people can't stand the counting to 5 story after The Incident, but think about it from Kate's point of view. You've just been in a plane crash and you're terrified, and now you're sewing up some stranger. Would you rather hear him tell a story about how he conquered his fear, or a story about how his dad put him in timeout? Jack chose the parts of the story that would help Kate (and it obviously worked because we see her at least twice use the counting to 5 thing for herself).

Rebecca T. said...

I would just like to add that of all the people I love to hate on this show, the marshal is my number one choice. I cannot STAND that man!

Denise said...

@Nikki:
>>Re: Jack telling the story about counting to 5. I actually thought that was some great storytelling in this episode, because it works on two levels....<<

I think this storytelling actually worked in three levels there. Kate does radio in just right after Jack made a mistake - this time not on purpose - and is now amidst a big mess and under a lot of pressure to save Ben's live. When Kate starts to tell Jack this story it looks like as if he is calming down and does continue the surgery in a way more competent and confident manner. I loved that scene and episode.

Anonymous said...

I always think of that look on Sawyer's face as he is watching Kate exchange words with Jack over the walkie talkie. I wonder if this was the first time he ever wondered if Kate was using him as some kind of substitute for Jack?

Or that she didn't love him as much as she loved Jack?