[US/IRL] 3X09 - "Stranger In A Strange Land" [** SPOILERS WITHIN **]

Basq

- WARNING: THIS THREAD WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN "STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND" -

Episode Title: "Stranger In A Strange Land"
Airdate: February 21st 2007

Synopsis (from TV.Com):

Jack recalls the time he spent in Bangkok, Thailand, and the interesting people he met while he was there, including a talented tattoo artist and the formidable Sherry.

Next New Episode: 3X10 - "

Tricia Tanaka is Dead

" - February 28th 2007

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SPOILER WARNING:

From now on, this thread shall reveal details of the episode mentioned above. If you have not yet seen this episode, please do not move any further down the thread.

This episode shall air on:

• ABC (US) - February 21st 2007
• Sky One (UK/IRL) - February 26th 2007
• RTÉ2 (UK/IRL) - February 27th 2007

If you are sure you have seen the episode as mentioned above (on the channels on those original airdates), you can move down further in order to discuss the episode.

Otherwise, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED - there shall be major plot details of the episode revealed and discussed below with no spoiler tags used!

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stevejazzx

7

Great episdoe, loved it even considering the lack of information we get about the overall story. I thought Jacks backstory was really interesting and the Julliette by trial thing was very curious altogether. Ethan was their surgeon and so they replace him with Jack? How did they get onto that ship in the end and it looks like they're looking at something from the ship also....that was a bit confusing.
As the scene with Cindy I'm at a complete loss there, a little girl who whispers into Cindys ear and asks how is 'Anna Lucia' doing like Anna Lucia was a star on some show the kids been watching...

kaimera

8

First things first, Thailand ****ing rocks!

"Stop ask questions and lets have fun" *phwoar*

I actually think this was a better ep than last week. Not much happened story wise but I enjoyed it a lot more.

Jacks tattoo backstory I did like.

New char, Isabelle, the 'sheriff' of the others. Interesting.

New island where the others actually live. Of course there is. Nothing is easy in Lost.

The Kate/Sawyer stuff was ok.
Sawyer and the kid in the jungle "Cowboy up..crying in the jungle..." Excellent!

I'm still not sure if they are playing Jack tho. The whole Jules thing I'm wary of.

Haven't a Clue

3

Right, that was the biggest load of ****e since 'What Kate Did' in s2. That was woeful.

After the great episode last week when we got to see some of the original gang, they go and spoil it again by focusing on Jack and the others. What could make this episode much worse I wondered? Well, Jack's flashbacks for one.

I now despise Jack more than I've despised any other tv character on telly. Nothing more than a big string of misery on the island, but judging by the flashbacks, that side of him's the lesser of two evils in comparison to him 'I guess I'm a nice guy' side. What an absolute wanker.

Then we'd Kate having another bloody row with Sawyer. Oooh, never saw that one coming. KATE HAVING A ROW WITH SAWYER? Jesus, the writers are really thinking of original ideas now. God knows next week they'll probably be riding again.

Now, as regards to these three mysteries going to be revealed:

1 - The kiddies - We got one scene in which we saw them. The only answer we got there is that they're still alive. Hardly the mystery bloody solved.

2 - Where the others live - Erm, didn't we know that from the first 5 minutes of s3?

3 - Jack's Tattoos - Did anyone actually give a ****e what they meant or how he got them in the first place?

This Sayid episode in a couple of weeks better be good. It's last chance saloon time for lost. Meanwhile, this episode will have to do with the lowest rating I've given for any of them - 4.

Narcissus

8

That was a really good episode. I enjoyed it more than last weeks. Jack's flashback was fairly good.

"Cowboy up!..." was classic!

Are they going to another island or back to the losties island?

stevejazzx wrote:

As the scene with Cindy I'm at a complete loss there, a little girl who whispers into Cindys ear and asks how is 'Anna Lucia' doing like Anna Lucia was a star on some show the kids been watching...

She was probably one of the kids that the others took from the tail section.

gustavo

6

That was a meh episode for me , although i did enjoy it as i do all the episodes , for some reason i couldnt warm to it , the whole backstory thing seemed a bit pointless , interesting stuff on the island though , liked Sawyers line " yea that was a humdinger"

danniemcq

stevejazzx wrote:

As the scene with Cindy I'm at a complete loss there, a little girl who whispers into Cindys ear and asks how is 'Anna Lucia' doing like Anna Lucia was a star on some show the kids been watching...

yeah they were the kids that were in the tail section, they obviously got attached to anna when she was helpin them the first day (didn't she actually rescue one of the kids from drowning???)

and i'm lookin now for the dharma station logos was there a scorpian like one om the hatch blast door? there was one on the stand in the trial room was there not.

overall story was pretty poor though although why was it such a taboo for jack to get his tat

/edit never mind it's the hydra logo i think

stevejazzx

7

danniemcq wrote:

yeah they were the kids that were in the tail section, they obviously got attached to anna when she was helpin them the first day (didn't she actually rescue one of the kids from drowning???)

and i'm lookin now for the dharma station logos was there a scorpian like one om the hatch blast door? there was one on the stand in the trial room was there not.

overall story was pretty poor though although why was it such a taboo for jack to get his tat

oh yeah of course!
I knew they were the kidnapped kids...just forgot they knew Anna lucia

Gingervitis

Agree with you there totally Haven't got a clue, that was probably the worst episode of lost i've seen...well, ever. one of the few times i almost turned it off half way through. Just 'cause they're trying to jumpstart the career of Bai Ling (the tattoo chick), that is no reason to put one of the most pointless, unrevealing flashbacks of the series. What a revelation: Jack is a leader! wooo...also bears are known to defecate in temperate forest regions:mad:
Never saw such an episode where nothing happened plotwise, there didn't seem to be any connection between Jack and anyone else, leaving every conversation to be forced beyond belief, and the only good thing about the episode was Jack getting the s hit kicked out of him.
Anyone notice the housewife hostage from prison break as the sherrif? she was typically woefully "enigmatic"; if there was ever an indication of lost jumping the shark, that was it.
eh, i'll just stick to heroes and prison break...

Snake Plisken

6

Big step down from last weeks episode, I'd only give this a seven, Kate Sawyer thing was boring, Tattoo artist, while attractive, I was hoping she'd turn out to be a ladyboy, what a shock Jack would have got think they were just looking at the stars at the end, pretty poor episode overall.

Snake

BopNiblets

That sheriff "woman" sounds like a dude...

Yeah, didn't like that episode at all, back to J,K and S and the Others again, they could have at least shown Kate and Sawyer meeting up with the rest of the guys, and

And wtf was all that tattoo crap about?
The only thing that would make those guys beat up Jack if it had said "I hate Thai people", and it didn't!
I don't get that at all.

JACK ASK MORE QUESTIONS YOU TWAT!
"We're here to watch"
WATCH WHAT GODAMMIT?!?

And didn't the preview say 3 questions would be answered this episode?
Well if they were, they were crap questions.

Bah humbug.

Haven't a Clue

3

BopNiblets wrote:

That sheriff "woman" sounds like a dude...

Yeah, didn't like that episode at all, back to J,K and S and the Others again, they could have at least shown Kate and Sawyer meeting up with the rest of the guys, and

And wtf was all that tattoo crap about?
The only thing that would make those guys beat up Jack if it had said "I hate Thai people", and it didn't!
I don't get that at all.

JACK ASK MORE QUESTIONS YOU TWAT!
"We're here to watch"
WATCH WHAT GODAMMIT?!?

And didn't the preview say 3 questions would be answered this episode?
Well if they were, they were crap questions.

Bah humbug.

They went off to watch the court thingy of Juliette. Which was also very poorly done.

abelard

7

I liked this episode.

Flashback was bad, but I don't think pointless.

I think there was a bit of a revelation on who the Others actually are. Combine the indoctrination from 2 episodes ago, Karl's reply when Kate asked him why they took the other survivors, the actions of Cindy, the appearance of this sheriff and the revelation that Ethan was a surgeon, and I think you discover that the Others are supposed to be a self contained society. Whereas before I thought they were a group of scientists, it seems they were created as a utopian society, verging on a religious cult. Perhaps they chose people specifically for their skills and mentality (remember how they hand-picked Juliet) to create a "perfect" society. I get the feeling that they have some higher goals (probably religiously related), however, beyond a social experiment. Who knows, maybe they were trying to prove/disprove the existence of God?

i can't really understand why they would operate the hatches though. The electromagnetism thing could have simply been a means of isolation, but perhaps they felt they could "channel the power of God" or some such. Furthermore, the existence of the polar bears could point to some sort of genetic experiments to prove/disprove the theory of evolution? And we all know how tied in that is to arguments about religion.

anotherlostie

4

Meh. I feel a bit like John Locke and his crisis of faith. Except mine is with the show. For two and a bit seasons I've been an avid fan and accepted all the twists and turns, but lately, the show seems to have stalled. Could they not pick up the pace?

Sawyer and Kate fighting over Jack/ having sex - yawn. Get them back to camp and move on the story please. I want to see Locke, Sayid, Hurley and co. Damnit I'll even take Nikki and Paolo at this stage, if it means seeing Patchy again. And please God let someone mention the name Alex to one of those that knew Rousseau. I'd like to see her back soon.

Jack and the tattoos; Jack not knowing what is going on. JUST LIKE IT WAS FOR HIM ON THE ISLAND. We get it. (And now he knows how the viewers feel). Isn't Sun enough Asian totty for them? Achara knew there was something spooky about Jack; I think at this stage with the flashbacks, this is old hat, and isn't going to have the impact of,say, the original Claire story.

Cindy and the kids - looked forward to seeing how this would play out. But we pretty much saw all the clip, bar the Ana Lucia reference, in the promos. And then Jack shouted and then they were gone. Disappointing.

Back to RTE for me from next week.

lukin

Gingervitis wrote:

Anyone notice the housewife hostage from prison break as the sherrif?

Heck yeah, that's who she was. Thanks.

L31mr0d

5

this episode just sank lost to my 3rd favourite program after Heroes and 24. Nothing was answered, and another bleedin character was introduced??? FFS. Its like the way countries just start printing as much money as possible in a market crash. Why don't they bother to develop some of the actual characters and stop introducing new ones for god knows what reason. The back story of jack was pointless imo, the only thing I remotely liked about this episode was when jack did a recap of what the others had been up to, showing us they aren't mindless drones and can remember what happened yesterday.

Its got to the point now where I expect nothing of value to be revealed in each episode, which is sad because they could of done so much with Lost.

Mr E

3

Prison Break, Heroes, 24 and even Jericho kicked Lost's ass this week.
Very poor episode.

Hyzepher

i actually thought this episode was interesting but on a very subtle level.

There was always a question mark over Jack's tattoo - ever since we had his flashback where he didn't have it. I think the Asian girl is revered by her people and her "gift" is deemed as sacred - so its not so much the tattoo but the fact that Jack was given the "gift" and is obviously an outsider. I think the meaning of the tattoo is also important "He walks among us but is not one of us" - or something like that. Obvoiusly it is very relevant ot Jack's current situation, so whether the Asian girl knew of his impending plight or it was just a coincidence we'll have to wait and see.

I also notice that the "5" and "stars" part of the tattoo were added later. Obviously after Jack left Thailand - so it might of been an effort to mask the meaning of the tattoo or maybe to reinforce the meaning.

I think this episode sees the end to the smaller island and we will see a bigger concentration back on the main island. Whether Kete brings Locke etc to the smaller island or to the Others "Home" will determine whether Jack will be saved anytime soon.

I think Kate/Sawyer will mention Alex back at the camp and this will be the centre of Sayid's episode as he will put 2 and 2 together.

Cindy and the kids may have undergone the same fate as Karl hence their compliance with the Others -however they obviously still remember their past.

I think the conversation between Kate and Karl was interesting as it was hte first time that one of the characters actually got answers to their questions - important answers as well. I particularily like the answer from Karl where he states that the kids lives are not better then theirs (Kate et al). I took this to imply that the Others are very ware of the history of each of the survivors which would imply that they might have known they were coming to the island.

I'm still not sure of Juliette. Is it an act to fool Jack or was she really in danger. After the trial they seem to have no issue with her despite her just killing one of them. The trial also implies that this sort of thing has happened before.

The boats at the end rules out a tunnel connecting the islands. Of course bears can swim so I assume thats how they made it across.

Episodes like these can be misleading as they often are building up to something more revealing over the coming episodes.

Hyzepher

L31mr0d

5

TmB wrote:

Prison Break, Heroes, 24 and even Jericho kicked Lost's ass this week.
Very poor episode.

true that... even though PB wasn't the best this week, it was still better than the rubbish that's spewing out of lost recently. They need to stop introducing new characters, and get the cast down to a core number of people that get featured every few episodes. I mean my hopes for this season where that they'd expand what was going on in that arctic bunker, and BLEEDING WELL explain WTF that giant stone foot was???

Yet they go ahead and introduce a plethora of new characters, feature them for 2 or 3 episodes then go off on another tangent. Its gotten to the point that I can't even remember what the original Losties are up to or know about. I mean when Charlie said "where's Eko" I was like, "oh yeah nobody even knows about that yet?"

gustavo

6

Gingervitis wrote:

Anyone notice the housewife hostage from prison break as the sherrif? she was typically woefully "enigmatic"; if there was ever an indication of lost jumping the shark, that was it.
eh, i'll just stick to heroes and prison break...

I knew i recognized her thanks!

randomchild

Hyzepher wrote:

Cindy and the kids may have undergone the same fate as Karl hence their compliance with the Others -however they obviously still remember their past.

I dont think thats the case. If you look at what Karl said about what the others did to people, he sounded like he approved of it. I dont see how he could approve of what was happening to him.

Oh and "Stop ask questions and lets have fun"? Sounds like a swipe at fans moaning at the writers for not revealing answers!

lukin

This ep was complete s***e and is a perfect example of why some people hate this show. Nothing of any relevance to the plot happened at all, more stupid flashbacks revealing totally uninteresting things about the characters (Jack got his tatoos in Phuket where he had a fling with a hot Asian chick;wow).
It is now two days since Kate and Sawyer escaped but they are still not back with the rest of the crash survivors; we all know why: the script-writers want to fill in a few episodes and this is a handy way of doing it.

Basq

Yep.. it's unanimous - this episode was utter muck..!

Noticed it was written by two unknowns though. Cuse and Lindelof should be on writing duties exclusively.

So poor after last week's fantastic episode.

Waltons

basquille wrote:

Yep.. it's unanimous - this episode was utter muck..!

Noticed it was written by two unknowns though. Cuse and Lindelof should be on writing duties exclusively.

So poor after last week's fantastic episode.

Agree 100%! Really didn't enjoy this ep at all

FrankGrimes

L31mr0d wrote:

I mean when Charlie said "where's Eko" I was like, "oh yeah nobody even knows about that yet?"

That was just the last straw for me where it just became clear the storytelling on this show is now woefully convoluted to such an extent that the rhythm of the plot has been destroyed by artificially tangents and ploys that are designed simply to buy more time to drag out the series.

As the fella said in A Bronx Tale, there's nothing sadder than wasted potential. This show had the potential to be brilliant, halfway through the first series they had it bubbling nicely and it should've gone on to be a fantastic show that rewarded the viewer with intriguing plot developments while balancing it with just the right amount of new plotlines to keep them interested.

What has transpired shows a lack of confidence in the writers' belief that they can keep the viewer interested by a fascinating long-term storyline, so instead, they are focusing on ploys and tangents to drag it out, and the continued use of the backstories is just an insult to the viewer as they reveal very little and contain the most oblique suggestions that they actual contain useful information.

Seems every week the majority of people are kidding themselves that 'that episode didn't reveal anything, the backstory was irrelevant, but it's still great'. The writers are actually probably taking the p1ss out of the audience and the only social experiment of interest is their plans to see just how long people will put up with a story that is never told. I'm out.

BopNiblets

Unanimous!

doonothing

"we're here to watch"
thats one of the biggest mysteries of lost revealed? twaddle!!!
sigh. watching the promos of lost seems like the better option now, all the scandal, none of the backstory.

Star Lord

6

I liked it, but yeah, it didn't accomplish a lot!

At least we now know where the Hydra station is now though, and the others are heading back to the main island, so I expect things to get more interesting very soon!

Gave us a few answers too... I hope we get a little bit of the backstory of what happened to Cindy and the kids, aslast we saw of them in S2 ep. 5, they were filthy, barefoot, and making no noise while they were creeping past Eko and Jin while they were hiding in the bushes!

Hydra symbol from the "meeting room" where the court was being held:

cooker3

I knew it was a bad sign when I seen it was another Jack flashback story then again it has been a whole 8 episodes since we had our last one! I don't care about the tattoo and I don't care about Jack. I never want to see another Jack flashback story!

It was a big let down after last weeks episode. Nothing much happened, why didn't Kate and Sawyer ask more questions of Karl. I would have been bombarding him, same with Jack of Cindy. At least that is the last episode on small island so hopefully things will pick up for next week.

chocolic<

does anyone else think Cindy is an other and WAS an other?

she said Goodwin was definatly on the plane which he wasn't..

she disappeared without a struggle.

could be a reason why the plane fell with her being a flight attendent

could be how the others have a list of names..

Jacks tatoo..Isabel..could be reading part of it...part that Achara didn't write..yeah didn't find whole Jack story intresting..but a surgon that can't fly a kite?

AdMMM

3

There wasn't one element of that episode that I liked. Jacks flashbacks were far too prolonged and for the most part did nothing to develop the storyline at all! Maybe the only interesting part was what could be set up for the future episodes now that Kate, Sawyer know that The Others live on their island!

I've spent the last week watching through my archive of TV Shows; Heroes, Firefly, Las Vegas, Nip Tuck, Arrested Development and I can safely say that I'm enjoying them much more than I'm currently enjoying Lost. I really hope that I can continue to watch Lost with my usual enthusiasm but that episode really leaves a lot to be desired.