Lost: Par Avion

Babelfish translates Par Avion as “By Plane” but my rudimentary understanding of French tells me “Aeropostale” means “Air Mail” so I don’t know about the whole plane connection. “Bird” seems a more likely scenario/translation, but maybe the title refers to the note Claire pens at the end of the episode, describing how they all came to be on the island.

Prior to watching the episode, but knowing the title and the promos concerning a “connection” between two characters, we thought maybe “Par Avion” suggested a link between Kate’s toy plane and Flight 815 and/or a plane in Claire’s arc. Could still be a possiblity.

Here are some questions in lieu of thoughts this time around.

  1. Did Jack get a tattoo from Claire at some point?
  2. If he was in Australia following his dad and Claire worked at a piercing/tattoo joint, it could happen. Plus, we didn’t see the backstory on all of his ink.

    CLARIFICATION: Jack might have gotten a tattoo in the same shop or been in her backstory in some way without a direct connection. It was late last night. Sorry for the confusion.

  3. Is Claire’s mom a twin?
  4. Sure looked like it to me.

  5. Did everyone suspect Christian was Claire’s dad?
  6. We saw Lindsey in Season 2’s “Two For The Road” where Michael shoots Libby and Ana Lucia, but we didn’t see Claire (in the flashback).

    The whole verification of this theory makes me want to re-watch EVERY interaction between Claire and Jack dating back to Season 1.

    UPDATE: Also, Why was Christian so desperate to talk to Claire in that previous flashback? Do we think that occurred before or after the hospital scene from last night?

  7. Do all the Shephard children have parent issues?
  8. Claire hated her mom, Jack hated their father (as did Claire once she met him), plus this entire episode was a referendum on parents and parenting (see Rousseau’s angst about her daughter).

  9. Does Claire have powers like Walt’s?
  10. I’m beginning to think that Charlie is marked for death not by the universe, but by Claire. She wanted her mother dead and it happened and she’s seemed to want Charlie dead at times and Desmond has saved him (recently). I really think she has some kind of ability.

  11. Are there latent effects to Claire’s stay with the Others and will there be lasting effects to Jack’s apparent brainwashing at their hands?
  12. Now that they’re connected and they’ve both been held for long stretches, it’s a vague, valid question that I just wanted to write down.

  13. What are Locke’s real motives?
  14. “Crazy” is not a valid answer. For everyone who thinks the producers & writers have had to cram all of Eko’s spirituality and character (since he died/left the show before they really wanted him to), what does this episode mean for his character? I guess we’ll know more next week.

  15. Since Sawyer is seen reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, does this make Locke Howard Roark?
  16. I’ve got nothing, but it seems to fit. The man seems to embody all that is this Objectivist hokum (and, by extension, Libertarianism) as he strives for something noble and pure and philosophical but hasn’t won a goddamned thing.

  17. Hope versus Guilt – are we sure those are good counterpoints?
  18. I’m withholding my answer until next week, but I’ve got to think that they’re better at explaining Locke than science versus faith. I think – now that we’ve seen Locke compared/contrasted against Jack, Eko and Sayid – that the truest manifestation is his own struggle against himself.

    He certainly can’t stop playing games and being all “human” but he also can’t stop pontificating. Maybe, and this sounds nuts, he’s his own bad twin.

  19. Is the “Around the World in 80 days” reference too cutesy?
  20. I’m not even sure it’s referenced, but I feel somewhat smarter for typing it.

  21. If zombie Mikhail (who I’m not convinced is dead) is a pathological liar, how do you feel about his explanation of The List and The Leader?
  22. I hate to keep eluding to next week, but I think both things are as much crap as his borrowed story from his Dharma doppleganger – secondhand and probably only partly true.

I’m done. Sleep. Comment.

7 thoughts on “Lost: Par Avion

  1. Hah, CLAIRE marks people for death! Brilliant explanation! I was wondering why Charlie could risk death with Hurley and yet be perfectly fine. Time for Desmond to try to break them up, I think.

    I would totally read The Fountainhead on an island. Kills a lot of time!

  2. Seth, did you not get that friggin’ missing child alert during the tattoo parlor scene? I missed the whole effin’ thing. :/ Wondering if it’s worth rewatching on the ABC site.

    I’m not convinced Patchy is dead either but I do think that Ben isn’t the leader of the Others. Well, I do think that there’s someone above him. Ben clearly seems to be their local leader or the face of the Others. But once they reveal that Christian is the real leader… Whoa, nelly! [I really do believe that. Sort of.]

    Also, perhaps it’s more than coincidence that there’s more than one blonde female on the island who wishes a “loved one” dead. Makes me wonder what Shannon said to/thought about her dad or Libby to/about her husband. Aw… Shannon. I miss you.

    And the Canadian promo seems to indicate that Jack’s neither as brainwashed nor as Other-friendly/loyal as you might believe. YMMV

  3. RSL, I think you’re right about Jack. Having seen the CTV promo on dharmasecrets.com this morning, I’m inclined to think he’s just using Mr. Friendly or Juliet as a way to make a bigger play.

    Also, I’m pretty sure Locke’s C4 blows up the sub next week.

    Lastly, I’m with you on Christian leading The Others. He has too many touchpoints to main characters.

    I’m also convinced that Ethan is the doctor who told Christian about Claire’s mother and may even turn out to be Claire’s OBGYN.

  4. Oh, Seth! If you weren’t married [and straight] I could kiss you. Your validation of my Christian leading the Others theory made my week. Yeah, I kinda think Locke blows up the sub too. There’s a hellacious amount of theorizing that Locke not only doesn’t want to leave the island but wants no one else to either. It’s the one place where he’s special, and all. Oh, UrkelJohn… When will you ever learn.

    Explain that bit about Ethan though, willya?

  5. Crazy Ethan Theory: Ethan is the doctor/medical Other who, we’re seeing this season, has had much to do with Juliet and I’m speculating other medical folks in the past.

    Christian mentions that he got a call from a colleague in Australia about Claire’s mom. If we think Christian is at the head of Dharma or The Others, then one of his “agents” tipped him off and it makes sense that it would be Ethan, though it could just as easily be someone like Juliet or Ben (if he’s ever been off the island).

    I just see Ethan as playing a larger role in the “recruitment” of folks, basically and since he’s a “doctor” I’ve made a logical leap.

  6. Seth, I totally think that’s a good theory. It dovetails so nicely with the whole Christian leading the Dharmothers (I’m trying out a new phrase) thing. Following my “Ethan is responsible for Juliet’s sister’s pregnancy” theory it might be interesting if Ethan were somehow responsible for _Claire’s_ as well. To maneuver her into position to get her on the island.

  7. Hunter Maxin says:

    Some new (to me, at least) food for thought. Someone brought this up with me, and it just made so much sense, it was time to put it out there:

    Rousseau is an OTHER.

    When Sayid followed the cable that leads to the sonar bouy he found Rousseau. Was she in charge of gaurding that cable the way Bakunin guarded the satellite dish?

    She excused herself from approaching Bakunin’s hut (The Flame).

    Rousseau made sure that Sayid got all of her old information (maps etc.) which helped them get into the hatch.

    She talked about Black Rock enough to make sure they would go there.

    In fact, Ben might really be Alex’s father. Rousseau ended up coincidently catching Ben, and handing him over to Sayid. Is there any other way that Ben could have entered the hatch?

    In fact, Rousseau is the one who non-mortally wounded him…not like her at all.

    When the Russian guy was going to spill the beans on Locke, Rousseau interrupted him.

    Rousseau wanted to immediately kill the Bakunin.

    THe only people to discuss the sickness – Rousseau and Kelvin (and for Kelvin it was part of a hoax). Is it a red-herring with her as well.

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