Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip: Season 1, Episode 6 – “The Wrap Party”

studio 60

I haven’t watched Saturday Night Live in probably ten years. I pretty much stopped watching television in college, and when I started a TV routine again, SNL wasn’t included in my lineup. This goes for most late-night TV, actually, as I usually hit the bed fairly early, or when I don’t it isn’t due to watching television. As I write this David Letterman plays in the living room and I realize it has been as many years since I’ve watched him.

I say this because I believe that Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip is the best new show on television. Scratch that, it is the best show on television period. And I’m sure I’m not getting half the inside jokes.

I mean I realize that it is a behind-the-scenes look at a SNL-type show complete with a Lorne Green look-a-like, but other than that, if there are insider jokes I certainly don’t get them. But still, it is a darn good show. I love the comedy, the drama, and the extensive cast.

It’s even made me start liking Matthew Perry, and I hate Matthew Perry.

There has been a lot of talk about Aaron Sorkin and how the show is similar to his other shows, but having never watched any of his other shows, I wouldn’t know. What I do know is it has great dialogue, contains a lot more story than an hour show has any right to have, and is the best freaking show on TV.

Plot: A continuation of last week’s episode beginning with the show-within-the-shows conclusion, and a wrap party on set. Danny is still out to set up Matt with some women to make him forget Harriet. His choices are three struggling bimbo actresses who can’t grasp the concept of Matt writing for the show and not wanting to star but are quickly distracted by the real stars.

Tom’s parents arrive and it is apparent that his father does not approve of him living in Hollywood or being part of such a thing as a television show. They also apparently have never heard the classic Abbot and Costello sketch, “Who’s on First.”

Jordan asks Harriett to be her friend (as she seems to not have any) and to get her an autographed ball from her baseball-playing boyfriend. The two do become closer, but alas the boyfriend hits on Jordan.

An elderly gentleman wanders backstage and Cal spends his time trying to determine who he is. As it turns out the man was a World War II veteran and a writer for the original comedy show that worked in Studio 60, but only got one sketch on air before he was blacklisted.

Simon takes Matt to a comedy club to hear a popular black artist, as he feels the show is discriminatory for not having any black writers. The comic tells lame black vs. white jokes and both men are angered by this. They remain in the bar and Simon relays his history of growing up in the ghetto and his desire to pull other young men like himself out of the mire.

Another comic gets on stage and completely bombs, though his material is smart and sophisticated. He is promptly offered a writing job at Studio 60.

Best moment: The ending with Matt, Danny, and Cal talking to the elderly gentleman about the old times. It was sentimental and sweet, but I’m an old sap.

Rating: ***1/2
This episode was a little schmaltzy and not nearly as funny as previous ones. But it has some good dialogue and I really enjoyed watching Jordan try to make friends and Tom working things out with his parents.

Highlights:

Tom giving his dad a vinyl copy of “Who’s on First.” Again schmaltzy, and again I’m a sap.
Matt getting frustrated with the hot chicks. “When you say you write the show, what does that mean?”
Harriett on last week’s near kiss: “I nearly had a Matt relapse, but I’m fine now.”

The Office: Season 3, Episode 5 – “Initiation”

the office - initiation
Plot: Having been hired as a permanent employee, Ryan decides he needs more experience as a sales rep. Dwight is the top salesman in the office and as such Ryan asks him to take him on a sales call.

Dwight decides instead of an actual call he will create a fraternity-like initiation, and takes Ryan to his family farm. There he lectures him about planting seeds, leaves him in the middle of the field, and quizzes him inside a barn. Dwight’s cousin, Mose, runs around wearing the word “fear” on his chest. Eventually, Dwight declares the two must fight, as Ryan needs to cast out “fear.”

After Ryan runs out, Dwight takes him on an actual sales call, where they both fail miserably. Upset, Ryan chunks raw eggs at the building and Dwight joins in.

In Stamford Jim and Karen fight over a squeaky chair.

Back at the main office, Jan is getting sick of Michael’s work ethic and asks Pam to give a report on what he does all day. Pam is only able to write down two items: Imitates Cosby, and Waited in Line for Pretzel.

The pretzel comes from the free pretzels that the office gives away once a year and is a big hit amongst staff members.

As the show closes Jim calls Pam accidentally expecting her to already be gone, intending to get the automated menu as he forgot Kevin’s extension. The two exchange a friendly, awkward conversation before being interrupted by the returning Dwight and Ryan.

Funniest moment: The initiation questions: “What is Michael’s greatest fear?” “What is the Dharma Initiative.” Watching Mose prepare for a fight was brilliant.

Rating: ****
Once again The Office proves to be the funniest show on television, with a heart. It was nice to see Ryan get some screen time and Dwight’s initiation was priceless. He’s so incredibly awkward and dumb and unintentionally hilarious. Yet I’ve known so many just like him. Pam got great laughs keeping tabs on Michael.

The show tends to be ending in a sweet moment, and the phone conversation was an especially nice touch. I think we’ve all been in relationships like that, where there is so much to say, and yet no one says anything. I both hope Pam and Jim wind up together and hope they stay apart for years to come.

Best gags:

Pam accidentally renting the zombie flick 28 Days Later when what she wanted was the mushy Sandra Bullock comedy, 28 Days.
Ryan to Dwight when Dwight mentions that the temp agency could have sent him anywhere: “I think about that every day.”
The opening gag where Dwight quizzes Ryan with brain teasers and Ryan answers them all correctly, often before the entire teaser is spoken.
Jim singing “Lovefool” to the annoyance of Karen and the delight of Andy.

My Name is Earl: Season 2, Episode 5 – “Van Hickey”

my name is earl van hickey

Numbers Scratched Off: #50 – Kicked Tom out of the band
#51 – Slept with Ralph’s mom

Funniest moment: Randy and Earl dancing in a strobe light to “Mr. Roboto”

Plot: Earl makes amends with Tom, an elderly gentleman they kicked out of the band (consisting of Randy, Earl, Ralph, and Tom) just before their one and only performance. Seems Tom was making all the ladies a little weirded out.

Tom will only forgive Earl if he lets him back in the band. So they get the band back together only to have it disbanded again when it slips out that Earl slept with Ralph’s mom. The night after the concert Earl’s date fell unconscious and Randy’s mom was there and willing and…well one thing led to another.

The only way Ralph feels Earl can amend this problem is to let Randy kill him. He’s serious too and places a large handgun against Earl’s temple ready to do the deed. Earl manages to talk him out of it by vowing to marry Ralph’s mom.

They marry and everything goes well until Ralph realizes the marriage has not been consummated. Earl digs everything about the marriage – the home-cooked meals, the conversation, and the house cleaning – except for the idea of sleeping with Ralph’s mom.

Once again killing is threatened, but Earl is saved by Tom who begins a relationship with Ralph’s mom after the band played their second gig.

Rating: ***
Ralph is a new character to me. I suspect he’s been around in other episodes, but he felt kind of tossed in for the gag, and as such kind of knocked the appeal of the show down a notch. If I see him more, I may warm up to him.

The band gag was kind of lame as was the concept of sleeping with/marrying the old lady. Jason Lee pulls it off as usual with his abundant charm, and I can’t have anything but love for Ethan Suplee. There were a couple of great gags and that more than made up for the less-than-stellar plot

Best Gags:

Joy playing “Red Rover” with some elderly folks at a home (which she is doing to help her pending court case). A lady with a walker is called and it takes her ten minutes to get across to the other side.

Randy to some groovy chicks: “We’re rock stars. You can tell from my rock star pants. See all the zippers. Guess what’s in this zipper – licorice.”
Groovy chick: Maybe I’ll see what’s in the other zippers.”
Randy: “More licorice”
Earl on sleeping with Ralph’s mom: “She wasn’t young, but she was conscious.”

Lost: Season Three, Episode Three – “Further Instructions”

lost further instructions Well I am back in the Lost fold – looking forward to new episodes, mesmerized by the mysteries – and once again am not writing a play-by-play, but more of a gut response to the episode. For the detailed plot, go to Wikipedia’s episode guide, and don’t worry, if it isn’t updated now, it soon will be.

Locke is back – bloody and mute, but back nonetheless. It is amazing how central he is to the show. He is really the heart of everything that goes on, and the first two episodes without him felt empty because of it.

Luckily the third episode of the same number of seasons was very Locke-centric. Even the flashbacks were about him – and what flashbacks they were. It seems our faithful Locke was not always the nice guy and spent some time (pre-box job in a wheelchair, but post-give internal organs to dad) with a group of marijuana growers.

I liked Locke finding solace in a commune-type atmosphere, and even the pot didn’t bother me for he’s shown knowledge of psychedelics on the island, but the undercover cop stuff seemed a little trite. Especially the conclusion of the flashback with Locke pointing his rifle at the cop, but ultimately letting him go. I was really hoping that the guy would get hurt, not as a cop, but as a friend of Locke. It would have tied up better with the whole ‘everybody who follows me gets hurt’ deal with the rest of the episode.

Was it me or was the big guy growing the marijuana Mr. Friendly? I swear it was, but I’m lousy with faces.

The polar bear is back – that’s cool. I’ve been wondering about those bears since the first season. It is still a bit peculiar that no one has seen one since it seems to live not so far from the hatch – or where the hatch used to be.

There is a freaking hole where the hatch used to be! Was that cool!

Hurley is back and I think he’s now a polar bear. I mean the bear was chasing them, then Locke threw his knife at the rustling and suddenly there’s Hurley, but no bear was around. I mean, he kind of looks like a bear so maybe he is one.

I’m now hoping for a Locke/Eko showdown with the others.

The whole Locke in the hut o’mystery dream sequence was a little too conspiracy theory to me. I’m not much for overt symbolism and the airport full of all the characters was just too much. I’m sure lots of fans will slow-motion the scene and come up with wild theories as to why each character was where – Hurley is behind the counter, what does that mean? – and I’ll probably read them, but I haven’t much interest in the mess right now.

Mother freaking Desmond is now some psychic! I loved the mysterious mention of Locke’s speech followed by denial followed by it coming true.

Very cool.

Lost: Season Three, Episode Two – “The Glass Ballerina”

lost the glass ballerina

In lieu of giving a scene-by-scene run down of this week’s episode, I am going to point you to Wikipedia’s episode guide, which gives the plot details in full. Instead, I’ll give some brief feedback on what I thought about the episode.

What a difference a week makes. For last week’s season premiere, I was waiting with bated breath. All summer I couldn’t wait until the new season premiered. This week I hardly gave it a thought, and nearly forgot about it entirely.

I have to say that I am finally starting to tire of the entire program. This has nothing to do with this week’s episode, for it was a good one, but rather I am being worn down by the perpetual non-reveal. Every time they give us a hint at what it might all be about, they add in another half dozen mysteries. I can’t really blame the show for this, for if they gave us the hard facts the show would be over. It’s just beginning to feel like the perpetual state of blue ball that was life before love and I’m finding myself ready for some celibacy.

This may pass, as it has been a rough week personally and my general malcontent may have soured the show for me for the moment. I’ll continue to watch and we may find that next week I’m right back into the fold.

The two big reveals tonight were some background information on “Henry Gale” who is now known by his real name, Benjamin Linus. He tells Jack that he has lived on the island his entire life, posing a lot more questions about who the Others really are, and what their purpose on the island actually is. The other reveals also involved Ben as he informs Jack that if he cooperates he will be set free and sent home. To make Jack believe he shows him a television set and plays a piece of last year’s World Series with the Red Sox winning the pennant.

Big reveals for sure, but again it only reveals enough so that we ask even more questions about what’s going on. I have always felt that Lost can only conclude in ridiculousness. I cannot fathom how they will manage to end the series in a manner that will satisfy everyone and not be cheesy. I tend to hope they end it sooner rather than later as it will only become more impossible as the series continues.

I very much enjoyed the Sun backstory with her cheating on Jin with Jae Lee. Sun has been one of the few characters without a miserable back story and we begin to see her past is none too sunny.

It’s also interesting to see Sawyer be sweet to Kate without any of his obnoxiousness dirtying it up. It is as if seeing Kate in a situation she can’t get out of, polishes his feelings for her.

The one scene that bothered me was when Sawyer gets the gun off of the one guy, but puts it back down when Juliet threatens Kate. It is the second time Kate’s helplessness has turned the upper hand on the castaways, and in this case, it felt almost false. If Sawyer had really had the rifle it seems more like him to have started shooting and sorting it out afterwards. But maybe that’s just me and my callousness.

Again it was a good episode and I enjoyed it immensely. I hope that my feelings are fleeting and that once my personal life is sorted out a little more, I’ll continue to love the show. I do wish they’d give us something solid that we could lean upon instead of this continual barrage of whispers in the dark.

The Office: Season Three, Episode Four – “Grief Counseling”

the office grief counseling

Originally posted on October 13, 2006.

My all-time favorite show is Cheers. One of the things I loved about the show was its pre-title gag. It often had nothing to do with the plot of the episode but was a hilarious way to start things off. One of my favorites had someone tapping their pencil which was followed by a few more tappings which morphed into the whole bar singing “We Will Rock You.” Silly – yes. Hilarious – absolutely.

This week’s Office episode started with a similar bit of nonsense having Michael do the old walking down the stairs, while really just squatting behind some boxes bit. The real gag was Jan asking him to get her some coffee in the “warehouse” and watching Michael crawl to the break room to get it. Dumb – yes. Perfect comedy – absolutely. Especially when Michael says he’s like “Bette Midler in For the Boys.”

We’re back to two offices in unrelated events, but they managed to keep both stories cohesive and funny. Stamford keeps getting the smaller, more gag-y stories, while Scranton gets actual plot lines, but this makes sense since we know Scranton better.

Stamford evolved around the flirtations of Karen and Jim. It starts with Jim being asked to essentially babysit Karen to ensure she finishes a task. Karen obviously miffed, rails on Jim about some potato chips when the vending machine is out of her preferred kind. Jim turns it into a flirty mission by spending the rest of the day making calls to find the chips.

In Scranton, Michael’s old boss, Ed Truck, has passed away through a drunken decapitation and he spends his day disrupting work to deal with his own grief.

In one particularly fine moment, Michael laments that they take a day off to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and “he didn’t even work here.” Instead of a day off, Michael and Dwight begin discussing a full-sized statuary tribute that turns into a raging robot which Dwight designs a six-foot extension cord for, so that it can’t attack.

Later Michael brings the staff into the conference room so that they can discuss their grief. Michael starts by saying that it “feels like my heart has been dropped into a bucket of boiling tears and someone else is hitting my soul in the crotch with a frozen sledgehammer and a third guy is punching me in the griefbone, but no one hears me because I’m terribly, terribly alone.”

Dwight recollects that he was actually a twin as a fetus, but he absorbed the other person and feels stronger for it.

They then pass around a ball to talk about any moment in their past when they were grieved but this quickly turns into a mockery as the staff recounts moments from such films as Million Dollar Baby, the Lion King, and, Weekend at Bernie’s.

In order to restore order, Toby tells Michael that death is part of life and recalls a bird that crashed into the door that morning. Michael runs to rescue the bird, going as far as to give it water in the break room before finally admitting it is dead.

Everybody then has a funeral for the bird in the parking lot before burning it in its final resting Kleenex box. Pam manages to say some very touching words obviously meant to comfort Michael. Similar to how Jim spoke kindly to him at the convention Pam now shows her own kind soul as the episode ends.

My Name is Earl: Season 2, Episode 4 – “Larceny of a Kitty Cat”

my name is earl larceny of a kitty cat Originally posted on October 13, 2006.

I think I am enjoying the new method of starting out with something on the list, but shuffling over to something only sort of related. The show has always had a way of moving in directions you’d never find on a map, so the disjointed way of crossing off a listed item is kind of fun.

This week’s episode involved finding a poor cat that Earl stole back when he was married to Joy. See Joy had entered a cat into a contest and was afraid that another cat, Sebastian, would win and so she sent Earl to go “Tonya Harding” on it. Earl steals the cat, but can’t break its little kitty legs and instead takes it to the “sleepy cat ladies” house.

This becomes #56 on the list and Earl heads over to the owner’s house to clear things up.

But first, I forgot to mention how Earl came to think of #56. Randy and Earl were walking when a black cat crossed their path, they turned to go the other way and the cat crossed across that way. So Earl and Randy had to sit on the sidewalk for three hours for the black cat curse to go away. As soon as the time was up the cat again crossed their path and thus reminded Earl of the list.

Sebastian’s owner Judy still holds a torch for the cat (and even has a shirt with Sebastian’s picture on it and the words “Have you seen me?”.) They trudge over to the “sleepy cat ladies” house and find Sebastian, a little bit older, and a lot fatter.

Meanwhile, Randy takes a shine to Judy and to woo her, pretends to love cats – though he is quite allergic in reality.

In the funniest segment of the night, we see a sequence of Randy’s past girlfriends and how he often pretends to be something he is not. There is the goth art chick, the Hasidic Jew, and the black power girl. They all like Randy until he acts more like himself and lets out something very un-kosher like “Did Martin Luther King’s dreams have aliens in them?”

Upon breakup, Randy goes through a long period of doing nothing but lip-synching along to Cyndy Lauper’s “Time After Time.”

Eventually Randy does tell Judy he doesn’t like cats and she agrees to give Sebastian away to be with him. Sebastian goes to Earl who decides the cat is list-worthy due to having to give up contests over what Earl did. So, Earl spends his time getting the cat in shape, while Randy continues to woo Judy.

The cat does get in shape, but only places second. Judy falls hard for Randy, but he begins to realize she treats him just like a cat. So Earl gives back the cat and Judy gives Randy back to Earl. And all is right with the world.

The Office: Season 3, Episode 3 – “The Coup”

the office the coup

“Movie Monday” is an apparent office staple where the office watches thirty minutes of a movie each week. It started with some official training videos, morphed into random medical videos, and has now moved into such Hollywood fare as Varsity Blues.

Of course, Angela doesn’t approve, but everyone else seems to enjoy the half hour of non-work.

Jan comes in during the middle and breaks up the party, yelling at Michael for doing something so obviously non-productive. Angela takes this moment to decide Michael will run the office into the unemployment lines (possibly fueled by last week’s rumors that Stamford may be taking over the Straton branch. She corners Dwight in the break room and tells him that he deserves to run the office, not Michael.

Meanwhile, at the Stamford branch, the office plays Call of Duty religiously (ie while at work) and Jim sucks at it. This brings up some contention between the other members of the staff as they play on teams. Although it does bring a little flirtation from Karen.

Dwight secretly calls Jan and they meet at a restaurant. Dwight throws down on Michael, positions himself for a take-over, and seems to know way too much about Jan’s choice of clothes.

Jan calls Michael to inform him of the potential hostilities, and Michael uses this to pretend he has been demoted and that Dwight is now running the office. Dwight begins talking like a crazed dictator stating that only a few will remain in the office and makes a poorly conceived speech to the office prompting Jan to throw out this comment,

“I have this old vacuum that doesn’t work. Maybe if Dwight doesn’t work out we could make that the manager.”

Some new clothes are delivered to Pam that she ordered online and she gives a quick fashion show at lunch, but quickly puts back on her old sweater when Creed refuses to leave after obviously staring at her cleavage.

Eventually, Dwight insults Michaels’s car which causes him to blow the gag and let Dwight know he is still in charge. Dwight grovels and begs for his old job back and Michael agrees only after they “hug it out bitch.” Well and then Michael forces Dwight to wear a sign lettered “liar” and stand on a table.

My Name is Earl: Season 2, Episode 3 – “Sticks and Stones”

my name is earl sticks and stones

Originally posted on October 07, 2006.

I know, I know, I’m late on this. I was exhausted Thursday night and I forgot about it Friday. So I’ll use my notes and my lagging memory to give this week’s run down.

While holding down a lady at the motel for her face waxing Earl decides to cross off number ninety-one to the list, “made fun of Maggie Lester for having a mustache.” In the requisite flashback, we see Maggie introduced to the class for the first time and Earl makes your basic Tom Selleck, joke with “Maggie PI.”

Earl and Randy drive out to Shady Grove which is something of a freak town, housing many folks from a traveling sideshow – there’s the super tall guy, the fat lady, the super short guy, the guy with hands like lobsters, and of course the bearded lady who happens to be Maggie Lester.

Earl has a nice afternoon with Maggie who happens to be a very nice lady and she forgives him for making fun of her. Randy has a good time feeling her beard Yet as he is leaving they poke fun at the rest of the freaks and Earl realizes he can’t take Maggie off the list until he learns not to make fun of people for their differences.

So, the freaks have a barbeque and Earl learns that they are all good people.

In the funniest joke of the night, Randy asks the guy with a giant horn on his head if he’s able to take his head on a plane. Horn head guy replies no, not since 9-11, but that they are all doing what they can.

In celebration of his new friends, Earl tries to take them all out for ice cream, but they refuse for they would be made fun of outside their comfort zone. Earl thinks that’s silly, but then remembers a time he was made fun of for being different – when he was young he couldn’t jump off the high dive because of his freakishly hairy nipples.

Earl confronts the coach who made him take off his shirt only to be told (and held to the ground by an ear pinch) that the coach did it to him so that he’d learn to appreciate his differences.

Earl gains confidence and decides to jump off the diving board, and invites all his freak friends to watch. They are at first hesitant, but eventually show up and everybody decides to jump in. Earl’s story concludes by showing all the freaks took on real jobs and are happy.

The Joy side plot revolves around her meeting her deaf lawyer and not being willing to accept her as a lawyer. There were some good gags over Joy being so politically incorrect to an obviously intelligent lawyer (played with usual aplomb by Marlee Martin). When Joy finally sucks it up and apologizes to the lawyer, she winds up laughing in her face over the way she talks.

Overall a good episode, but nothing spectacular. I am beginning to think that I would probably not watch the show that often it changed schedules and no longer be the lead into The Office.

Lost: Season 3, Episode 1 – A Tale of Two Cities

lost a tale of two cities I have been anticipating tonight since the season two finale ended. I haven’t been this excited about TV since … well, ever. The season three premiere of Lost was like some crazy primitive religious rite. Fans and friends have been hyping it up for months. I was literally shaking with anticipation.

And then it began.

There are people in a house discussing a book. Who are these people? This must be a flashback. I had heard the new season was going to focus on The Others, so maybe this is a flashback to one of their early lives. The discussion gets heated and then there is something. An earthquake.

The house shakes; the people move close together, near support beams. The shaking stops and they run outside. It is a lovely looking place, with bright sun, and blue skies, like the suburbs of paradise. Then someone, a worker or someone, pops out from underneath something. Is that Ethan?

Holy crap it is. This must be Ethan’s back story. But no, there’s Henry Gale. This must be the aftermath of the explosion from the end of last season. What’s that in the sky? It is a plane — crashing.

It’s Flight 815; we’re seeing the crash from The Others’ point of view. Immediately Gale orders The Others to investigate and specifically tells Ethan to pretend he is a survivor.

Bam, commercial. Wow! That’s all I can say. Even my wife is impressed and she has totally lost her Lost momentum this summer.

After the break, we see what The Others have done to Kate, Sawyer, and Jack. Kate is in a large cinder block building with Zeke telling her to take a shower. She is defiant as ever but does take the shower only to find her clothes missing and a new girly dress in its place.

Sawyer awakes in a cage. It looks like something out of a whacky circus and there is an unknown man in the next cage. Sawyer uses his usual charm to question the man but gets nothing but silence in return. Amongst a variety of odd gadgets located in the cage, Sawyer spies one marked with a fork and knife. Pushing it, he gets only a warning. Pushing it again, the strange man warns him not to do it again. Sawyer does and is electrocuted.

Jack awakens in a small windowless room with one wall made out of a strong invisible plexiglass-type substance.

Commercial number two, WTF? We’re 14 minutes in and already at commercial number two! Last season was bad enough with commercials every 10 minutes, now we’re down to seven? Those bastard network executives.

After the break, we’re back to Jack and now he’s pulling on some chain trying to escape. A woman enters and offers him food. Jack refuses, playing the strong, stubborn Gandhi.

Kate is taken to the beach where she has breakfast with Henry Gale who tells her he wants her to have a pleasant memory because the next two weeks are going to be very unpleasant.

The unknown man in the cage next to Sawyer breaks free and lets Sawyer out. They run but are quickly captured by the woman who has been talking to Jack. Zeke makes the other escapee apologize to Sawyer before being taken back.

Eventually, Sawyer manages to figure out the series of levers to push and the food button now releases a doggie bone (with the word Dharma on it) and some more dry food, plus a stream of water. While eating, Kate is brought to the now-empty adjacent cage. Sawyer, obviously moved to see Kate plays it straight and is kind to her. He even tosses over his doggie bone for food.

Meanwhile, Jack finally gives in and accepts the food offered by the woman. She forces him to sit in the corner so that she can open the door and bring the food. As she opens the door, Jack runs for her and manages to subdue her with a sharp object. They leave the room only to find more doorways. Stopping at one Jack tells the woman to open it.

She refuses saying she’ll die if she does. Henry Gale comes in stating she’s right. Jack doesn’t listen and opens the door. Immediately, a flood of water pores in. Gale closes an escape door in the woman’s face letting her and Jack fend for themselves. They escape by pressing an emergency button and the woman knocks Jack unconscious.

I should mention the flashbacks for this episode involved Jack and his ex-wife. It is during the moments when she has filed for divorce and Jack realizes she has found someone else. Jack has gone crazy with jealousy and begins doing things to find out who this man is – calling all the numbers on her cell phone, berating her about it and even accusing his father of knowing something, if not being that man.

Once things are cleaned up from the water, the woman begins telling Jack she knows everything about him. She begins telling him all kinds of things she shouldn’t and couldn’t know by simply paying attention to him on the island. Jack asks her about his ex-wife and is told she is happy. Then, Jack finally fully accepts submission and food. As the woman is about to enter, Henry Gale tells her she’s doing a good job and we fade to black.

It was a great episode. Lots of good emotional pull with the back story, a great introduction to new mysteries involving The Others and what exactly they are doing, and plenty of ‘Oh My Gosh’ moments. I do kind of wish they had spent a few moments with our friends on the other side of the island, but the teaser for next week showed we’ll be seeing plenty of them.

Strangely, though I immensely enjoyed the episode, I feel a little letdown. It is probably the down from a big high, but it feels strange knowing what happened after so many months of speculation.

No worry though; I’ll be back up next week when episode two airs.