Lost, Season 3, Ep 17: Catch-22 (4/18/07)

Charlie and Hurley trek through the jungle. Charlie steps on a trip wire and SCHLICK! An arrow embeds itself into Charlie's neck. Then FLASH! Hurley lifts a cable out of the sand. FLASH! In the night sky, a blinking red light slowly descends. FLASH! Jin shouts and pulls a sheet taunt. FLASH! A helmeted figure dangles from a tree in a tangle of cords. FLASHFLASHFLASH! The images repeat themselves, finally resting on the photo of Desmond and Penny Widmore - and then FLASH!

Desmond gasps, sweating and disoriented. For the first time we experienced what it's like for Desmond to see the future. He finds Hurley and wants to be taken to the cable in the sand. Why? Because he knows someone's coming. Desmond explains he saw a sequence of events that are going to happen. Usually he sees just one thing, but this was different. It was like a jigsaw puzzle, and he doesn't know how the pieces fit together. Hurley wants to know what the other images were, but Desmond's worried if he tells it might change events.

Hurley realizes that Desmond wants the events to happen and guesses that "someone coming" relates to them getting rescued.

FLASHBACK to Desmond silently waiting in what looks like a small prison cell. A monk comes in and tells Desmond it's time. The monk says that God tests our faith in many ways. A vow of silence challenges one's patience and faith, and he wasn't sure Desmond would last a week let alone a month. But he passed the test and now Desmond is one of them. "Welcome, Brother."

On the island, Sawyer slips into Kate's tent and catches her changing clothes. He asks if she told Jack about him and her. She tells him Jack saw them together on the monitors. They had cameras on the cages. Then Sawyer asks her for a little afternoon delight. Kate walks out on him. Sawyer asks what he has to do, make her a mix tape?

Because Charlie and Jin were also in Desmond's visions, he has to convince them to come, too. Jin easily agrees, but Charlie is suspicious of it. He doesn't want to go.

Desmond lies and tells Charlie nothing will happen to him. He agrees to go. Hurley leads them to the cable. He lifts the cable out of the sand, and Desmond smiles. It's the vision he saw. They're on the right track. They make camp and wait for Desmond's mysterious "someone" to show up.

FLASHBACK to Desmond in the monastery helping the other monks bottle wine. Brother Campbell explains the name of the winery, Moriah Vineyards, was taken from the name of the mountain where Abraham was asked to kill Isaac. Another monk tells Brother Desmond he has a visitor, a guy named Derek. Desmond doesn't react as Derek punches him. Derek looks at the other monks, apologizes and leaves.

On the island, Kate runs into Jack in the kitchen area. They chat about how strange it is to be back, and then Jack leaves taking two bowls of oatmeal. Kate watches as he crosses to Juliet's tent and eats dinner with her. Kate is stunned. She crosses to Sawyer's tent, tells him not to talk, and she kisses him passionately and rips his clothes off.

That night, Desmond looks at the picture of him and Penny. Desmond explains he tried to run away from her but still she tracked him down. He now hopes she spent the last three years doing the same. Then they hear the sound of a helicopter out over the dark ocean. But then the sound changes and it crashes into the ocean. Then they notice a blinking red light slowly falling to earth. It's another one of Desmond's images he saw. They can't see what the beacon is attached to, but they watch as it falls into the jungle.

FLASHBACK to Desmond visiting Ruth, sister to the guy who punched Desmond. Desmond apologizes for disappearing one week before their wedding. Desmond says he had a calling.He was scared about the wedding, but after blacking out from drinking too much, he woke up in the street with a monk helping him up. Desmond knew then that he was supposed to leave all that mattered to him behind for a greater calling. Ruth ridicules his story, telling him next he wants to break up with a girl to simply tell her he's scared.

On the island, Desmond races through the jungle looking for the beacon. He finds a bag hanging in a tree containing supplies and a high-tech satellite radio-phone. Hurley quickly tries it, but it doesn't work. They also find a copy of the Desmond and Penny photo. They're shocked. Who would be carrying the same photo? Desmond is convinced it's Penny coming to rescue him. As they continue looking for Penny, they get to a clearing and Desmond realizes this is where he saw Charlie impaled by the arrow. He struggles whether he should say something to Charlie or let it play out, desperate not to change anything that would alter him finding Penny, but at the last minute he relents and shouts a warning. Charlie ducks, and the arrow lodges in the neck of his guitar.

At the beach, Sawyer brings Kate the mix tape. Kate is charmed. It's a genuinely sweet moment. Then Sawyer asks if she jumped him the night before because she saw Jack with Juliet. Kate denies it, but Sawyer doesn't buy it. He tells her she doesn't need to use him.

All she has to do is ask.

Charlie confronts Desmond about the arrow. Desmond says if the flashes don't happen the way he saw them, it changes the future. He was supposed to let Charlie die, but he's saved him again and again and again. What good has it done? Desmond guesses that it's a test, like God testing Abraham, but he's failed. He's changed what he saw, and now everything he wanted is gone. But Jin shouts for them in Korean. They follow him and find the parachutist dangling from a tree in a web of cords.

FLASHBACK to Desmond in the monastery. Brother Campbell tells him he's not cut out to be a monk - he's been fired. Desmond protests, but Brother Campbell tells him the Abbey isn't the place Desmond was meant to end up. Before he leaves, Desmond helps load cases of wine into a waiting car. The driver is Penny Widmore! This is how Desmond and Penny officially met. She is charmed by him, and he's captivated. There's definitely chemistry between them - it's love at first sight.

On the island, Desmond cuts Penny down.

Desmond removes her helmet & and sees that it is not Penny. It's a woman Desmond has never seen before. He's stunned and confused. Who is this woman? Her eyes flutter open, and she sees him. Before she loses consciousness, she mutters one word: "Desmond?"

This was a really good episode last night. There were a lot of great one liners, for laughs. Such as when Sawyer and Kate were talking in her tent (while she was dressing... hot scene) and she informs Sawyer that Jack already knows that they had sex, because of the cameras. Sawyers mutters "Perverts" about the others watching them. LOL

Who is this lady that crashed upon the island? Why did she have a picture of Penny and Desmond? Was she sent there by Penny, to help find him?

I loved the scene between Jack and Sawyer, playing ping pong.

Sawyer: Finally, something that I can beat you at, Doc.
Jack: I haven't played since I was 12... I wouldn't be too proud.

Something like that... that was funny. At least they were talking, and getting along.

Two men, both in love with Kate. But her heart is Jack's... and her body is Sawyer's. Meanwhile, Jack is putting his focus on Juliet, but he isn't in love with her.

I'm assuming that the girl that parachuted into the island is there because of Penny. She must work for her - like those two guys. But what crashed into the water? Was it another person? Or was that the helicopter? What was that red light? was that the girl in the tree?

So, Desmond told Charlie that things HAD to happen like they did in his visions because if he changes something, then the pictures change right? But didn't Des see a picture of a pair of feet dangling from a tree in his visions? if he CHANGED his vision by rescuing Charlie, wouldn't that have changed since it came after? maybe he actually WASN'T supposed to save charlie!

And someone told me that the woman in the photo with the monk was the same woman from the jewelry store who told Des about his fate. IS THAT TRUE? i missed it dangit!

I think that the helicopter went down in the ocean. The red flashing light was the beacon, on the body of the woman, who probably ejected herself from the cockpit... knowing that the helicopter was going to crash.


That's what he said to Charlie, when they got into the argument. He said that he was supposed to die. So, in saving Charlie from that, he POSSIBLY changed the events... the outcome. I don't know.

The picture of the monk, and the lady, on his desk, was shown so dang fast. It could have been the lady from the jewelry store. Maybe someone got a screen shot of it. I can look in the Lost board and see if anything pops up.

OKay... go here:

http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/

It will give pics from last nights ep... and one of them is the pic on the desk. And you are right... it's the same lady.

I caught that "catch-22" book "Ardil-22" and I think it's portuguese. I wonder what that means? It must mean something, they practically shoved the book in our faces.

Yeah... someone said that the book is Portuguese. Also, they said that the woman who was in the helicopter looks like she could be Portuguese. And, the two men (working for Penny) at the end of season two... their accents were Portuguese. So, it could be a huge connection. *shrug*

well i think the only thing the book itself references is the situation that Desmond was put in. Either he sacrifices charlie so that penny can get to him, or he sacrifices penny getting to him so that charlie lives. catch-22. that's how I took that.

it's the portuguese part that was a head scratcher - and now that you've mentioned all the other portuguese connections, i'm enthralled.

Right... I was thinking the same thing. Catch-22 for Desmond, either way. Either he lets Charlie die, so that Penny can show up there... or he saves Charlie, and Penny doesn't show up.

Now, my question is this. Had he allowed Charlie to die, do you think that the woman in the tree would have been Penny? Or, do you think that had he allowed Charlie to die, something else would have happened? Did Desmond alter anything at all by his actions to save Charlie?

Isn't there a reason that he's been given these visions, of seeing each way that Charlie will die, so that he can save him each time?


As for the Portuguese connection.... I'm quite lost. Unless Penny has hired a group of Portuguese people, to work on finding Desmond.

Penny has, in the past, shown that she will spend whatever amount of money it takes to track him down. Remember in his flashback, last season, she showed up when he was in America?

I don't remember her showing up in america at all. hmmm.

they better give us a reason for Des having those visions. though i'm sure they WON'T.

good news though is that the show is doing great. and no more repeats ever and no breaks! excellent.

and now, next season, they're doing the no repeats, no breaks, like FOREVER. can't wait.

OH, didn't they tell us that Walt and Michael were coming back by the end of season 3? I remember them saying that, and that walt's age will take a part in the story. HMMM. can't wait til next week now. I'M SO EXCITED.

Yeah, Desmond was standing in the rain... I think that he was signing up to do the sailing thing (I think that's what it was). Penny gets out of a car, and walks up to him. Desmond asks how she found him, and she says... "With enough money and determination, you can find anyone."


Wait a minute... they aren't going to give us ANY reruns in season four? And they are going to play straight through the season without some huge f'n break? OMG, that will rock.


I don't remember if Walt and Michael are coming back or not. If they do, I can only assume that they never got out of there.

Yep, the lady in the pic with the monk was Data's mom on Star Trek, so it is really her.

Funny that she guided Desmond in his flashback, if thats what it was, or his time travel, and this episode the monk guides him on his way as well.


Makes you wonder if they are angels or something...

Or the lady might have been in his past for real, and the smoke monster took her form for the dream/vision. I dunno.

Yeah, no reruns in season 4. of course, they also don't start until January (WHICH SUCKS!) But they're running it through til the end - straight.

And I heard that if next season isn't their last, then the 5th is for sure. I can't imagine life without the anticipation of the next lost episode

WHAT? Lost isn't coming back until JANUARY 2008?

Wow, I didn't even know that!! I guess that I can see why they will have no reruns.

I wonder if they will lose a fan base because of taking such a long break.

I will continue with the show, because I really do love it.



If they can keep people's interest, and not give up filler, and crap, episodes... then I can see 'em going to the 5th season. Otherwise, they need to wrap it up next season.