Cowboys May Have Daddy Issues,
But Most Of The Other Issues Have
Been Resolved
















Yes, that's our first view of THE Hatch. Guess what? There's a
Scottish guy who's been living in it for three years. He has to push
a button every 108 minutes. When he fails to push it Flight 815
crashes. Had you guessed that by Christmas 2004?

All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues is arguably the first
transition episode in LOST. People move around -- a lot.
New ideas and story arcs are introduced and set in motion. Thing
is most of them have come full circle now.

For example, we know what happened to Claire. We know who
Ethan was. And while we don't know for sure, I'm guessing Ethan was
able to subdue and move both Charlie and Claire because he'd
been supplied with sedatives and even with other Others to help
him move the pair to the Staff Hatch. After all we know he had a
drop point (see Ben's dialogue at the end of One of Us) and he
probably had a walkie too.

We now understand clearly that Locke and Jack operate
differently when it comes to approaching, defining and solving
problems. This is the first time that conflict rears its head,
and frankly, after rewatching the episode, I blame Jack. He treats
Locke atrociously driven purely by his (Jack's) own guilt and by
setting impossibly high expectations for everyone as his dad had
set for him. At least that's my read on why Jack acts like such a
jerk with Kate taunting her about her fugitive status when she's
trying to help him.

We get a little more exposition about the Whispers setting up
Sawyer's next back story and Shannon's death. Think we'll ever
get anything more about them? Any whisper theories?

We see Walt manifesting his magical Island powers as he takes
down Hurley in backgammon. We also get the first bit of our
Hurley is a millionaire story when he tells Walt he'll get the
$20,000 Hurley lost to him in the game.

We get the beginning of the end for Boone as he walks around
the Island with the red shirt. And to make sure we didn't miss it,
Kate tells Shannon Boone is safe with Locke. Just one of many
times Kate is wrong.

We also start getting more information that will eventually
allow us to find the crosses in the survivors pasts. We learn
Locke worked at a box company. Just a few days earlier Hurley had
his chance to ask Locke what he did as he conducted his census,
but he failed to find out Locke was his employee. We learn Boone
ran a bridal business. I wish that had tied into Kate's wedding.
Maybe it did and I missed it the first time around.

And finally we get Charlie's third death avoidance (plane, cave in,
now hanging). This scene tore me up the first time I watched it,
and even now, it's very emotional to rewatch. The scene mirrors
the first part of Jack's flashback where he's unable to get back
the patient on the table. I noticed his father is able to call Jack
off where Kate is not, luckily for Charlie.

All in all, a very good transition episode moving LOST from a mere
survival tale filled with cookie cutter characters to a much more
complex story.