Lost, Season 3, Ep 12: Par Avion (3/14/07)

Claire wakes up to a perfect day on the island: Charlie is taking care of Aaron and has prepared a picnic. Desmond approaches Charlie to go boar hunting with him, hinting it might be better than spending the day on a picnic. Charlie gets it but Claire is upset.Just then, a flock of migratory birds flies overhead, and a glint of sunlight reflects off a tag on one of the birds. Claire suddenly realizes how they can get off the island. The birds are being tracked. If they can capture one, they can send a note for help.

Flashback to Sydney where Claire is in a bad car accident. Her mother has been thrown through the windshield and lays on the street, bloody and unconscious. But this Claire is not the sweet blonde we've come to know on the island. This Claire is dressed all in black, with dyed-black hair and thick mascara. At the hospital, Claire is defensive and tells an officer that a truck forced them off the road. The officer thinks Claire was driving too fast, but Claire angrily insists it wasn't her fault.

After cleaning up, Claire checks on her mom and finds her Aunt Lindsey there. The doctor comes in and tells them Claire's mom has suffered severe head trauma. She'll need life support to stay alive. Claire is devastated. Lindsey says they can't afford the costs, but the doctor assures them the expenses have already been paid.

On the island, Sayid, Kate, Locke, Rousseau and Mikhail trek through the jungle. Kate doesn't understand if they have a way off the island why anyone would want to come back. Mikhail says they wouldn't understand because they are they are flawed. They aren't on the list because they are angry, weak and frightened. The list was made by the man who brought all the Others there. He's a magnificent man, and it isn't Ben.

Suddenly, Rousseau spots an endless ring of cement pylons that disappear into the jungle as far as the eye can see. It's the Others' security perimeter. Kate starts to walk through, but Sayid stops her. He says the sensors would be triggered. Mikhail claims it hasn't worked for years - Locke grabs Mikhail and shoves him between two of the pylons.

Instantly an odd, electronic sound rings out. Abruptly, Mikhail starts twitching. His eyes roll back in his head, blood trickles out of his ear and saliva foams at the corners of his mouth.He falls over and spasm violently. Then he goes still. Everyone is stunned.

Jin and Sun help Claire try to capture one of the birds when BAM! BAM! BAM! Gun shots ring out and scare the birds away. It was Desmond hunting for boar. Claire is incensed and immediately suspicious. She knows it somehow involves Charlie. She confronts Charlie about his and Desmond's behavior. Charlie struggles whether to tell Claire about Desmond's prediction. Instead he says her plan is a crazy scheme and he doesn't want to advocate false hope. Claire is angry and hurt. She thought she could count on him. She now realizes she's on her own and tells Charlie to leave.

Back in Sydney, Claire discovers her mother has a new visitor - it's Dr.Christian Shephard, Jack's dad. Claire doesn't know him, and is about to ask who he is when Lindsey walks in.

Lindsey and Christian immediately start arguing. She doesn't want him there and tells him to go. Christian says Claire deserves to know the truth, but Lindsey won't hear of it. Claire shouts for them to stop arguing. She realizes he's the one paying the hospital bills. Reluctantly, Christian admits that he is her father.

Over coffee, he explains that he had a fling with her mom. She got pregnant and had Claire. Christian visited a couple times when he could, brought her toys and sang to her. However, Aunt Lindsey and Claire's mother didn't like that he had another family and told him to stay away. He's here now to help Claire. He says her mother's alive but not living. He suggests thinking about taking her off life support and not keeping her alive for the wrong reasons. Claire gets angry. She tells him paying the bill doesn't make him noble. She has hope her mom can get better.

On the island, Sayid surmises the noise was a sonic wave that caused a cerebral hemorrhage in Mikhail. To avoid the sonic trigger, they decide to go over it by cutting down a tree and using it to crawl over a pylon.

Sayid gets the ax out of Locke's bag and discovers inside a brick of C-4 from the farmhouse/Flame station. Sayid immediately questions Locke's motives. He's not really there for Jack, is he?

Back in Sydney, a cleaned-up Claire visits her mom. She's eight months pregnant. Although still in a coma, Claire tells her mom she's pregnant but giving away the baby. She tearfully apologizes for the accident and for all the terrible things she said to her.

On the island, after watching him argue with Charlie, Claire decides to follow Desmond and find out what's going on. He goes to a rocky enclave on the ocean and finds one of the birds trapped. Claire wants to know how he knew the bird was there. Desmond relents and tells her about his visions. He then points out the spot where Charlie died trying to get the bird for her. Claire takes the rescued bird back to Charlie. She tells him Desmond explained everything to her and asks him to release the bird with her.

Charlie reads Claire's note: they are the survivors of flight 815, and they are alive.

Please do not to give up on them. They attach it to the bird and release it. They watch as it joins the flock and flies away.

Kate, Sayid, Locke and Rousseau reach the Others' barracks, and immediately they see Jack running towards them. He's escaping! Kate is about to call out to him, but Sayid stops her. Jack suddenly stops, turns - and catches a football that Mr.Friendly throws. It's a disturbing tableau: Jack smiling and playing catch with the Others. What is going on here?

Very interesting episode. The fact that Locke pushed the Patch eye guy through the pylons disturbs me. Right as the patch guy was about to say something to Locke, about Locke... the French lady interrupts and points out the pylons. I wonder if he knew that something was about to be revealed, and was hoping that he would be killed.

Jack playing football with Mr. Friendly is disturbing. What's up with that. He was smiling, and laughing. Has he been turned? Or is he trying to gain their trust so that he can either break free, or figure out a way to get help to the island? Or, was he given some deal, that if he stayed with them, for good, and made a life there, that they (the Others) would leave the rest of the plane crash survivors alone?

ANSWERS!!! PLEASE!!

I wonder when/if Claire and Jack will find out that they have the same father.

Locke is wiggin be out. I'm really interesting in that character. "I'm not here for Jack..."! That bit in the previews has me pumped for tomorrow's episode.

I think that Jack has been turned.

If Jack's been "turned" then it's going to be interesting to find out HOW he was turned, of if he just saw something that convinced him otherwise. Or, maybe he and blondie bumped booty, and he's just thinking with his other brain.