Lost Episode 4.4 "Eggtown"

Well, let's get the BIG SHOCKER out of the way before we discuss anything else. Aaron is now under the care of Kate. Wow, um, there must have been some pretty intense "gun to your head" type mess of a situation to end up trusting Kate to raise your child. I must admit I did not see this coming at all. I expected Kate to call the baby James, thus revealing that Sawyer was the father, but the Aaron thing totally blindsided me. What the fuck happened to Claire? Maybe she gets pushed out a helicopter in an upcoming episode. I definitely can't imagine her giving Aaron up willingly, so hopefully something terrible didn't happen her, like getting pushed out of an elevator. Now I'm going to be worried about Claire's safety on the island, or not, cause she's lame. I also wonder if we're supposed to consider Aaron to be one of the Oceanic Six. Lost needs to stop relying on the "shocking ending" formula. It's getting stale. Unless of course it really is something worth shocking us over.

The other big event in the episode was the reveal that the helicopter has not made it to the freighter. At least that's what Regina said. Since we know nothing about the freighter people it's quite possible they could be lying and holding Sayid and Desmond captive. Either that or Lapidus accidentally flew the helicopter into some sort of wacky time fuck.

Another question (as usual) we're left to ponder is regarding the motivations of Miles. Why would he need precisely 3.2 million dollars? Not only that, but how does Ben possibly have access to that much money? It's obvious that Ben, or his evil twin, is getting a lot of work done on his time off the island. However, I have no clue how he'd manage to have millions stashed away.

Yet ...another ...mystery arrived when Jack testified about what happened to Flight 815. He claimed there were only eight survivors, and out of those only six made it off the island. I'm still DYING to know what happened to everyone else. Along with the excessive amount of questions, I'm sick of the way this episode brought back some classic Lost tropes. There was the opening close up of an eyeball, the black and white backgammon game, and Ben being held captive by Locke yet again (been there). There were also a few novels on display, not to mention a late night showing of Xanadu. While I can't fathom a way anyone could find double meaning in the Xanadu viewing, I'm sure some of those books hold some clues. Locke handed Ben VALIS by Philip K. Dick, but I'll have to rewatch to see what book Sawyer was reading (done that).

Overall, this episode was more of an attempt at a character study of Kate than an hour jam packed with mythology. That's okay by me, even if it does mean I have to wait longer to have some mysteries answered. At least now we know why Kate wasn't a fugitive when she visited Jack in the season 3 finale, and we also know who the "he" was she referred to at the time. Aside from exploring Kate's future, we also saw the emergence of a frustrated, insecure, totally badass John Locke. Locke is never more dangerous than when he's unsure of his purpose, and Ben made sure to remind John that he's having no luck getting any answers. Shoving the grenade in Miles's mouth was a fantastic moment.

Bottom Line: A decent episode but the worst so far of the season. A few good moments (Kate's scene with her mother, Locke jamming the grenade in Miles' mouth) don't make up for an overall mediocre episode. Plus Evangeline Lilly just makes Kate soooo dull. Love ya Evangeline, but cmon.

Questions:

Was there any significance to Faraday having trouble remembering the three cards?

Why is Kate taking care of Aaron?

Is Aaron one of the Oceanic Six?

How does Ben have access to millions and why does Miles want such a specific amount?

What happened to the helicopter?

B-

P.S. In a recent interview Damen Lindelof and Carlton Cuse said there is no relation between Naomi's and Elsa's bracelets. Ok, so why the fuck even make it a point to emphasize the bracelets in the episode? Sometimes I hate these people.