Episode 12 - Par Avion
2 January 2009
Review
Present: Claire sees migrating birds and thinks she can attach a message to a tagged bird to help find rescue. Desmond and Charlie try to dissuade her and have secret conversations. Eventually she follows Desmond who captures a bird for her and tells her the truth about his visions. Sayid and company find a defence system around the Others camp and Locke kills Mikhail by throwing him through the sonic barrier. They climb over it and arrive at the Others camp only to find Jack playing football with Tom.
Flashback: Claire is in a car accident which puts her mother in a coma. Christian Shepherd is paying the bills for her and when he arrives we learn that he is Claire’s father. He tells her not to keep her mother alive for her own guilt. She refuses to even learn his name. Finally she apologises to her mother before leaving on Flight 815.
The Good: The revelation that Claire and Jack are half-siblings is an interesting one. It certainly keeps up the suspicion that Christian Shepherd has a bigger role in Lost than just being Jack’s father. He continues his role as a nuanced character by telling Claire not to keep her mother alive out of guilt. It’s a well written exchange because we know of some of the guilt Christian has gone through and that his advice comes from a genuine place. However it is perfectly reasonable for Claire to see his behaviour as self serving and uncaring. Having “abandoned” Claire years ago, she has no reason to trust him and of course letting her mother go would spare him a great financial burden.
Claire’s idea to help the survivors find rescue is good to see. It is a logical idea to use the tagged birds and it is very rewarding to see someone trying to find a way off the island. Claire’s goth look in her flashbacks looks convincing and is an effective way of making her look younger and different. Her daddy abandonment issues also offer an explanation for her poor treatment of Charlie despite all he has done for her (see 210 for example). It could be she pushes him away because she is testing whether he will leave her like her own father did.
Meanwhile John Locke continues to behave in strange ways on the other side of the island. Having let the island down by losing his faith he seems determined not to let anyone derail his destiny. He lies to Sayid and company about blowing up the flame station and is carrying C4 for some reason. Even more extraordinarily, Mikhail is about to reveal that Locke was paralysed and Locke throws him to his death. We can assume Locke didn’t know he was going to die but his behaviour looks awfully like he was trying to silence Mikhail. The question is why (see The Unkown) but in the meantime he is fascinating to watch. Again the mystery of the Other’s lists rears its head with Mikhail claiming that none of them were on the list because they are all flawed in some way (see The Unknown again). It’s good to see this idea of the Others special morality being explored once again as it seems so important to their purpose as a society. The sonic fence is an interesting idea and makes for some good visual scenes, including Mikhail’s brutal death. It’s also good that Kate asked Mikhail questions about the Others anyway, including how do they get off the island, which again, would be her first priority.
The final shot of Jack playing football with the Others is a clever cliffhanger. It seems a lot less suspicious to us than it would to Kate and company but it is still intriguing to wonder how he has fitted into their society.
The Bad: Charlie and Desmond’s behaviour makes no sense. If Desmond had told Charlie not to climb on any rocks to catch birds, wouldn’t that have been enough to save his life? Why did Desmond need to stop Claire from catching a bird? Surely if she had caught one, Charlie could have stopped looking? And why does Charlie need to lie to Claire and try and discourage her? It makes him look really unkind and unhelpful. It feels as if the writers didn’t think that story through at all.
Adding to which is Claire’s note at the end. It seems far too long to fit on paper small enough to tag to the bird, it doesn’t look like they wrap it in anything to protect it from water and although it has nice sentiment in it, it hardly gives off the kind of necessary distress you would expect in such a rescue note. Couldn’t she have signed it? Or listed some people who had survived or mention that they are on an island approximately so many miles across with boars on it and Dharma Initiative bases. You know that kind of thing!
Claire’s flashback isn’t filmed ideally either. When she jumps out of her car to check on her mother, about twenty people run in at the same time. The shot looks incredibly choreographed. Then the policeman who interviews her treats her like crap which is odd. Her back-story has also clearly been changed because references in her first flashback (110) strongly implied her mother wasn’t in a coma. I don’t have a big problem with this as it’s not easy to plan out every detail of a show before you start making it. Desmond telling Claire “that’s where Charlie died” is ridiculous. It is said for drama’s sake but you would never start explaining yourself that way and risk worrying and upsetting her.
Mikhail being interrupted in the middle of the word paralysed is infuriating. Are we honestly supposed to believe that the torturer Sayid wouldn’t ask again immediately how Mikhail knew Locke before? In the next scene Sayid is deeply suspicious of Locke’s motives so he clearly would have wanted to know. The writers want both to keep things a secret and to give us clues. But they can’t have it both ways when they make characters look stupid and unbelievable like that.
Finally Rousseau’s argument about not wanting to know details of Alex’ life makes no sense. Yes you can understand that she may not want to hear the news that Alex has a mum and a dad and a life and is happy and doesn’t know or care about Danielle. But she is going to the Others’ camp to see her daughter right? So she is about to find all that out anyway. So what’s the deal, she doesn’t want to ruin the surprise? Again, thoughtless writing.
The Unknown: Is Jacob the magnificent man Mikhail speaks of? The fact that the Others know Locke recovered from a broken back seems to add validity to Ben’s claims that he was coming for Locke when he was caught by Rousseau (220). Presumably Mikhail could have found out about Locke’s paralysis the same way he knows Kate’s name. But he almost implies he has met him before. Has he? Does Locke throw him through the fence to shut him up? If so why doesn’t he want anyone to know he was paralysed? What is Christian Shepherd’s role in Lost?
Best Moment: Kate quizzing Mikhail about the Others. It’s exactly what you imagine would really happen. His arrogance and certainty add further intrigue to who the Others really are, what it is they are doing here and what gives them this conviction. His answers hint at great revelations until he is foolishly interrupted.
The Bottom Line: The overall arc plot of Lost seems to be going in the right direction. Locke and company arriving at the Others camp should provide very interesting viewing. However the details of this episode are sloppy and poorly thought out. It has sadly been a feature of this season. We can only hope that Lost can eventually pull itself together and produce more great television like it has done before.
Feedback
Add your comments on this episode below. They may be included in the weekly podcasts.
’)