"Eggtown" (Season 4, Episode 4)

The ending to last night's episode, "Eggtown", was either what you expected or you obviously have never read my blog before this or don't work with me and listen to my daily theories on the show and were thus surprised. Allow me a moment of self-congratulation on suspecting the "him" in future Kate's life in last season's finale was not a boyfriend or husband, but a baby. And Claire's baby Aaron at that! I can't wait to see the circumstances that led to this. Is whatever happened so bad that this is why Jack cannot bear to see him? Or does it have something to do with Jack learning that Aaron is his half-nephew? (Remember, he and Claire have the same dad. They just don't know it - yet.) My co-worker Shannon is late getting on the "Lost" bandwagon so she is furiously watching the first three seasons. Yesterday, she mentioned that she had just watched the Season 1 episode "Raised by Another" where Claire visits the psychic. In it, the man first warns Claire that her unborn baby should not be raised by another (an Other), then insists that she give her baby to a couple in Los Angeles, going so far as to buy her airline ticket. Could this man and woman actually have been a vision of Jack and Kate in the future?

Best Line

• "You just totally Scooby Doo-ed me, didn't you?" Hurley to Kate after she tricks him into revealing where Miles is being kept.
  

Did You Notice?

• If anyone has a theory as to why last night's episode was titled "Eggtown", I would love to hear it. Sure, Locke served Ben eggs and eggs play a part in pregnancy, but Eggtown?
  
• Another trademark "Lost" eye close-up. This time of Locke as he awoke in Ben's hospital bed.
• On the refrigerator door was a can of Dharma Initiative spiced pork (better known as Spam).
  
• The book Locke provided to Ben was science fiction author Philip K. Dick's "VALIS". This is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System. (Is this what the smoke monster is?) The plot summary from the author's website describes the book: "A coterie of religious seekers forms to explore the revelatory visions of one Horselover Fat; a semi-autobiographical dialogue of the author. The groups hermeneutical research leads to a rock musician's estate where they confront the Messiah: a two-year old named Sophia. She confirms their suspicions that an ancient, mechanical intelligence orbiting the earth has been guiding their discoveries." (Light reading, then.) Locke's suggestion to Ben to re-read it as he might catch something he missed the second time around sounds like the show's writers inside joke to all the obsessed viewers (who, me?).
  
• I liked the almost deja vu aspect of Ben locked up and Locke as his captor going back to the similar situation in Season 2 in the hatch. Even the ability of Ben's words to drive Locke to a show of frustration and anger.
• It appears Sawyer may be living in Juliet's house. In which case, the clothes he offered her would have been Juliet's.
  
• The bearded man in the crowd outside the courthouse sounded like he shouted "We're gonna get you back!" Was he referring to the island? And was it me or did he look like Rupert from "Survivor: Pearl Islands"? Another inside joke? An island survivor like Kate?
• The judge's last name was Galzethron. I could find no significance to this but wanted to note it.
• We learned the answer to the eternal question of which came first - the chicken or the egg? At least in regards to Locke and his culinary skills: Eggs for Ben's breakfast and chicken for dinner. Was this a subtle reference to circularity or paradoxes?
• I'm not certain but this may have been the first time we've seen a clean-shaven Jack. (At least since "Party of Five". No, come to think of it, he had perpetual five o'clock shadow even then.)
• Since Jack swore to tell the truth and proceeded to do everything but that, I'd say he was guilty of perjury. Why did Jack say only eight passengers survived the crash of Flight 815 and Kate was the reason for their survival? How did Kate try to save the other two? The story that has been concocted by Oceanic Airlines (Dharma?) will be an interesting revelation.
• Another sitcom spin-off possibility: "The (Really) Odd Couple" starring Felix Sawyer and Oscar Hurley.
• Sawyer was reading "The Invention of Morel" by Aldofo Bioy Casares. Amazon.com summarizes it as "a masterpiece of plotting, comparable to The Turn of The Screw and Journey to the Center of the Earth. Set on a mysterious island, Bioy's novella is a story of suspense and exploration, as well as a wonderfully unlikely romance, in which every detail is at once crystal clear and deeply mysterious." That last line could easily sum up "Lost"!
• Hurley offers the video tape viewing choice of "Xanadu", the 80's movie starring Olivia Newton John (whose husband in real life went missing) as a Greek muse who takes human form to inspire an artist or "Satan's Doom", which may be the heavy metal band of the same name.
• Add Red Wine in a Box to the list of Dharma Initiative food stuffs.
• Locke playing backgammon with Sawyer harkens back to the pilot episode where he played with Walt (and asked him the question "Do you want to know a secret?" of which we still haven't learned what that secret was).
• Who is the "he" Miles obviously needs to report. Scary Mr. Abaddon?
• The exchange between Miles and Ben regarding the money seemed to me like it was a code, much like Naomi's dying words, "Tell my sister I love her", were a code. Another co-worker of mine, Scott, pointed out that the dollar amounts discussed, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4, could all be versions or variations of a plan and Ben was confirming it to Miles. Could Ben's comment that it was black mail ("extortion" Miles corrects him) be code for Mr. Abaddon? Black mail/black male? And did the two days being changed to a week have a hidden meaning?
  
• Kate was once again listening to a song by Patsy Cline (who died in a plane crash) as she has in a number of her other episodes. This time it was "I've Got Your Picture" with the lyrics "I've got your picture, she's got you." Appropriate if Kate thinks she's lost Jack to Juliet.
• In case you missed it, the sound we heard when Kate and Sawyer were in the bedroom before he referred to Montezuma was the toilet flushing as Hurley used the nearby bathroom.
• Why was Charlotte testing Faraday with the playing cards? Checking his level of ESP?
  
• Since the chopper has not yet shown up at the freighter, could this confirm my suspicion that the island is more than just 31 minutes in the past?
• I loved the reversal of traditional roles with Sawyer and Kate the morning after. She's done what she needed and is dressing to leave as he begs her to stay.
• Was Kate's mom named Diane Jansen as a tip of the hat to TV actor David Jansen who played "The Fugitive", not unlike her daughter's previous life on the run? (For you young kids, this was the series on which the Harrison Ford movie was based.)
• Why was Kate more than willing to not leave California for 10 years while on probation?
  
• And now we have the fifth member of the Oceanic 6: Aaron. I hear by the seventh episode, we will learn the identity of the remaining one. Will it be Ben using an alias? Could it be Michael?
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• Locke gave Ben the last 2 eggs.
• Locke told Kate dinner was at 6.
• Kate was likely to get a 15 year sentence.
• Jack said there were 8 passengers who survived the crash of Flight 815.
• Miles asked for $3.2 million from Ben and 2 days to deliver it.
• Kate's mother had been told she had 6 months to live for the last 4 years.
• Faraday guesses of the 3 playing cards included the 6 of clubs and a red 10. The card he got wrong was a 3 of spades.
  
• Kate was offered 4 years jail time, then time served with 10 years of probation.
• Her lawyer pointed out that she had saved 5 people.
  

Previews - Next week's "The Constant" reveals the circumstances surrounding the chopper's attempt to return to the freighter. Desmond will be featured in flashbacks, although with him you never know where (or when) he might end up. In the one scene, a short-haired, clean-shaven Desmond demands of a long-haired Faraday: "Am I gonna die?!"