Lost Season 3 Episode 01: A Tale Of Two Cities

Ooh~ Back to back Lost!;) Well, here now we have the much-awaited season 3 premiere! "A Tale of Two Cities" is a change of pace from life lost and confused on the mysterious island in the eyes of the survivors of 815. Now they are lost and confused but in the realms of the Others, who are much less so.

The scene opens with a woman upset, cheering herself up by singing along to the music playing, as she goes about her business. It all seems very normal, very ordinary, very suburban... So just why are we watching her and her book club blathering on about bad books and Ben, who I presume is the reason she's upset. A lover's tiff? A break-up? Oh well... And then her house starts to shake and after the shaking subsided, the book club went outside to check out what's happening. Wait, is that creepy Ethan?! And hey, it's Henry Gale stepping out of that house yonder! What is going on? The Others' pasts eh? So we join them as they look out at the sky in puzzlement and we see the source of the commotion: a plane is flying past, lower than usual. The plane tears apart and there's smoke and the tail and fuselage lands on 2 different sites on the island. Henry dispatches Ethan and Goodwin to the site and pose as fellow survivors, if there are any. Ahh, so it's all tying in now... Henry walks up to the upset lady from before and looks at the book in her arms. You can feel their tension. I presume he is the reason for her being upset, ergo that would make him Ben? We'll see.

The lady's name is Juliet and she gently tries to get an imprisoned Jack to abide by her rules. She gives him food if he promises to behave. The first time, he doesn't and attacks her as she makes her way from the other side of the Plexiglass to open the door to his "room". He jumps on her and the plate of food shatters to the floor and he creatively uses a shard of the broken plate to threaten her neck. He forces her out and gets her to open a door. She refuses saying that if she did, they would die. Henry materializes out of nowhere and agrees. So he told Henry that if she didn't, he'd kill her. And Henry says go ahead, because if that door is opened, they'd all die anyway. And I swear there's a moment between Henry and Juliet. Hmm, I guess they're giving us hints... Jack, as stubborn as ever, opens the door. Water gushes out and Juliet gets him to press the emergency button which drains the water before knocking him out. He comes to and we know that they are underwater in another one of the Dharma Initiative's stations: the Hydra. We learn Juliet is a doctor.

The flashback shows Jack growing obsessed with Sarah and their divorce, and more importantly, the man she is with. He even goes so far as to call all the names on her phone list because one of them is him. When he finds out that she's called Christian, his father, he questions why that is. His dad says that Sarah called him for help because of Jack's obsession. Later when Jack sees Christian laughing and talking on his cell phone, he follows his dad to a hotel and barges into the room his dad entered. He confronts his dad with his worst fear: his father is the other man. But it turns out that he has barged in on an AA meeting and the co-ordinator said that his dad has managed to be sober for 50 days, for which they're proud. Jack scornfully talks about his dad's boozing and how maybe the reason for his abstinence is because of his new lady friend before storming off, his father calling after him. Later, we see he is in jail and Sarah has come to bail him out. He is ashamed and when chasing her out, he sees the other man (not Christian) and demands Sarah to tell him who that guy is. She is in tears and said that she came because Christian called her. And she could hardly understand him because he was so drunk. Heart-breaking=( In the present time, when Juliet asks him if he'd like to know something (she has this huge folder on his life - the Others are damn freaky. Although, Juliet seems pretty accessible so far.), he just asks if Sarah is happy now instead of his name like we'd expect. Juliet says yes and he cries, breaking down as he agrees to play by Juliet's rules.

Meanwhile, earlier on, Kate has been asked to shower and wear a dress before being brought to a nicely laid-out breakfast table by the sea. There's Henry and he tells her to put on handcuffs. When she prods him about where her clothes are and everything, he tells her they burned the clothes. He tells her that she's there so she can feel calmed and look out at the sea and feel comforted that Jack and Sawyer are alright somewhere, looking at the sea too. He tells her that he gave her that dress to wear so that she would feel like a lady. Because the next two weeks are set to be hell. Sawyer has been locked in a cage with a food dispenser (?!) which he manages to get a fish biscuit and grains plus some water out of after figuring out the way it worked. Across from his cage is another cage where a young guy is locked in. When this guy tries to escape, he picks Sawyer's lock too and tells him to run. But they get caught. Juliet shoots the dart that they used in the season finale to subdue the 4 and he falls to the ground, writhing, before being dumped unceremoniously back in his cage. Later, we see Kate being brought to occupy the recently vacated cage across from Sawyer's. She looks so upset and Sawyer looks heart-broken to see her upset. He asks her if she's hungry and tosses her the fish biscuit.

From before, as Jack is crying and leaning against the back wall, we see Juliet stepping out from the room behind the Plexiglass, about to bring some food to Jack. When she steps out, who is there but Henry. He tells her that she did a good job. She simply replies, "Thank you...Ben." Well, that settles it. He is Ben. And those 3 have got it rough eh?=(

Next ep: Episode 02 "The Glass Ballerina"

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Now, let's discuss what has been bothering me personally... Where is my Rodrigo?!

The Mystery of My Missing Hottie

Okay, I should explain. I've been excited for ages now since I learned a few months ago that my beloved Rodrigo Santoro would be part of the Lost cast! *squeal* A reason to melt into a puddle of bliss in front of my screen;) So then when this episode started rolling, I catch sight of his name in the starring list as plain and sigh-inducing as day.

But I watch the entire ep with eyes wide open and he never even materializes! Sob sob sob. Sooo I figured if he was credited, he simply has to have featured at some point, right?! So I play the ep over again and watched like a hawk. I figure he can only be one of the Others, and must feature minutely in one of the scenes with the Others. And finally, I centre in on some blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes that could be him. It was hard to take screenies because "he" seriously just whizzed by! There was never a clear shot to indicate that yes, this is the man I've been waiting for. But yeah, I think that the guy in yellow that tanned girl is talking to is him. He also features as a blur behind Juliet in the last 2 screenies. Of course, I can't be sure but I'm going to think so for tonight;) The best shot I have is the one where he's talking to the tanned girl and it kinda looks like him;D

On imdb, someone had written that he's going to feature in 4 eps (so far?), one saying his name is Neil on "The Glass Ballerina" ,which was written as Ep 3 of the season, and another saying he's Paulo (which sounds far more likely) on "Further Instructions" which is slated to be Ep2. He obviously can't be both (unless he lies about his name or something in Others-esque fashion) but, short of watching the eps or being in the Lost loop, there's no way of knowing for certain. We don't know how right the source is because, while the summary that Sayyid puts Jin and Sun's life on the line when trying to determine Jack's location is true, "The Glass Ballerina" is the next ep, not the 3rd. The only thing that's against my theory that he's the guy in yellow and one of the Others is that back when I heard he was going to be one of the cast, he was supposed to be one of the background survivors with 2 other females and they're meant to have been on the island all this time. He's supposed to be attached to one (Kiele Sanchez) and her name appeared on the premiere's starring list too (the tanned girl?). Rodrigo said, "I'm going to be one of the survivors from the plane that apparently was on the island all this time. I'm going to be a character with a past." So hmm? It doesn't sound like he's been there all this time as one of the Others... I was actually under the impression that he's one of the 48 survivors. Ack, I really don't know. Maybe their names just appeared prematurely? Wait and see I guess... I think he's meant to appear early on so I'm thrilled and waiting for that!;)

What could he be doing on Lost? Threatening to de-throne the yummy Josh Holloway and Matthew Fox?;) Well, maybe, maybe not. Writer Damon Lindelof says not to necessarily expect to see him as the show's 'new hunk': "On [Lost], what you see is never what you get. We also think he is an incredibly talented actor. He's a guy who's perfect for Lost because he's a face that the American audience is not familiar with, but he's been in the business long enough, you know, [that he's also] an awesome actor that makes some really interesting choices. And he's certainly not interested in being the hunk on the show, nor are we interested in writing that for him. Although I think when people start to see him and surmise what role he's going to play on the show, that's the place they're going to go to. 'More eye candy for Lost!'"

The reason why Rodrigo is one of my most favourite guys to love is not just because of his extreme hot-ness, although he is that gorgeous. He's also humble and not bothered about being a big stud. He's successful and famous and rich but he tries to remain calm and humble. He still meditates and does sports when he can and he refuses to move to LA. He treasures his home, his shelter: Rio de Janeiro, where he can listen to The Doors, read Shakespeare and watch movies starring his favourite actors. He's too cool for school. I think that's my thing. Hehe, because my list includes the likes of Takeshi and Johnny Depp. Too cool to care about silly things=) I love that. And he's the exact type I like too (okay, if you haven't noticed, I have a gush sesh going on so you can divert your attentions if you feel so inclined ^_~): he's tall which I really like, but not too tall. He's lean but not narrow and muscled for function and not packed, which I also really appreciate. Plus, he's damn bishie!=D And yet masculine. Another of my ideals met. Ahh...I could go on but just in case any of you are still reading lol, I'll spare you and instead leave a pretty pic to feast on=D