I don’t quite know why this episode was entitled “Eggtown”. As far as I’m concerned it should have been called “Liars” or “Everyone Lies”.
Before I get started on my notes, there was a blooper near the beginning of the episode. I’ve never seen one on the show before so it surprised me. When Locke throws Ben’s uneaten breakfast and tray at a wall (which looked like concrete), the wall bounced!
It seems to me that Locke is starting to lose it. Despite his protestation to Ben that he’s in control (he knows that Ben is just playing his little mind games with him), the scene in the hall with the bouncing breakfast shows that Locke really is frustrated that he’s lost favor with the island. He even looks to Sawyer for vindication that he’s a “good” leader. Then, of course, he overreacts with Miles by putting a live grenade in his mouth to keep him quiet. Locke says he is doing it so that people will understand that there have to be consequences for violating Locke’s wishes. But I think a grenade in the mouth is a bit extreme. Was it the act of a man whose mind is going mad? I think so.
Locke tells Miles during the grenade encounter that he is “responsible for the well-being of the island.” Is that something he has come to believe on his own, or is it something he has been told by Jacob? Is this more evidence of Locke’s delusions?
Island Kate seems so conflicted to me… I think that she really wants to leave the island, but is being tempted by Sawyer’s proposition that they stay on the island together, as a couple. Before she decides what to do, I think that she wants to know if there is any chance that, after all she has done, there would be a life for her off the island. She looks to Miles for the answer. She wants to know if they (the freighter folk, but in essence the “outside” world) know who she is and what she has done. Of course they do… her crimes wouldn’t have been dismissed that easily. Miles gives her a piece of advice; stay on the island… no one would know that she hadn’t died. I think at the end she realizes that she and Sawyer would never make it together (he’s happy when Kate announces she’s definitely not pregnant, a sign that he’s not really that committed to their relationship).
I don’t yet understand the significance of the scene between Charlotte and Dan. Charlotte seems to be testing Dan’s ability to remember cards. But remember them from when, two minutes ago or a long time ago? Was it meant to show that Dan has had some psychic ability in the past and perhaps he has lost it or was this test to demonstrate that Dan has some kind of short-term memory problem? Charlotte seems to be encouraged that Dan remembered two out of three of the cards. She calls it progress. I guess we’ll have to learn more about this later.
Miles is such a jerk. His snotty comments irk me, but he is an interesting character and such a contrast from all of the other freighter folk.
We learn that despite Miles’ statement in an earlier episode that he doesn’t know why he was hired to find Ben, at least he knows who Ben is and what kind of power Ben has off the island. It was nice to see Miles get the upper hand, if even for a moment, when he tells Ben that the man he works for has put a lot of time and energy into finding Ben. Ben even looks a little frightened. Ben seems to know who Miles is; he knows the person that Miles works for and is afraid of him (or is at least as frightened as Ben ever shows).
But Miles has an agenda of his own, apart from the person that hired him. He needs money… precisely $3.2 Million. (I have no clue as to the significance of that figure, but it’s got to be for something very specific.) And he’s willing to tell his boss that Ben is dead in exchange for the money. He’ll even go so far as to silence Charlotte (who knows that Ben is alive). What could his separate purpose be? I just don’t know yet.
We learn that the helicopter has not made it to the freighter yet. Has it met some dire fate, or perhaps Regina is lying and Sayid and Desmond are being held captive? Next week’s episode will apparently tell…
On to Kate’s off island future…
I would say that what we saw in this episode happens fairly quickly after the Oceanic Six are “rescued”, so therefore I believe it happens before Hurley begins to go crazy and before Jack begins to snap under the secret that they are all hiding.
What do we learn about the fate of the characters? Well, we learn that they are all liars; that they have concocted a story meant to cover up what really happened to them.
From Jack’s testimony we learn that the lie begins with only eight survivors of the crash of Oceanic 815. (Wow, does that mean that all of the other forty-some people that really did survive are killed off or are left behind??) Jack’s tale recalls that the eight landed in the water and only through Kate’s efforts did they make it to land on a deserted island. Jack was badly hurt, and Kate nursed him back to health. She was the one that helped feed and shelter the castaways. She was the reason they survived. She was heroic. (Jack does not explain how only six were rescued.)
Jack lies that the Federal Marshall that was transporting Kate back to the United States died in the crash, that Jack never spoke to the Marshall, and that he learned of Kate’s legal condition directly from Kate. Jack never questioned Kate about why she was in custody because he felt that after what she had just done for the survivors, that she had earned his trust. Did he forgive her because he loved her? Perhaps, but he lies again and says that he doesn’t love her anymore.
Kate is very afraid that she will have to serve jail time… but she’s committed murder (along with several other felonies) and has admitted it to her mother. What would she expect? Why is it so important to her that she not serve any jail time? It must be that she is afraid of what will happen to her “son” if she does.
(The rest of my notes assumes that Aaron is indeed the son of Claire and not Kate’s own child that she has named Aaron in honor of Claire’s baby.)
I think that something must have happened to Claire on the. Remember that the psychic declared that Aaron had to be raised by Claire. Perhaps after Claire’s death/absence, someone from the island group had to raise him and Kate has been entrusted with the task of acting as Claire’s surrogate.
Why does Kate refuse her mother’s reconciliation advances? Why does Kate refuse to let her mother see or get close to Aaron? Is Kate’s hatred of her mother because of her betrayal that strong? Perhaps Kate rejects her mother because she knows that if she goes to jail that her mother will try to take Aaron, and that Kate knows that Aaron must be raised by her. I know. It’s a stretch. But I think that it’s the only plausible explanation.
Also, why is Kate – a woman that couldn’t settle down in one place (remember her marriage to the police officer) – so quick to accept the plea agreement that requires her not to leave the state of California for 10 years? Even the DA is surprised that Kate accepts the deal. Maybe it’s because it gives her a perfect excuse not to have to go back to the island. Maybe this is why she turns ignores Jack’s later plea to go back with him.
Back to Jack for a final comment. Jack still loves Kate, and it appears that Kate would love for something to happen between the two of them. But something is holding Jack back… it’s Aaron. Could it be that Jack was the cause of Claire’s death/absence, and that he just can’t face Aaron because of that? (Does Jack know that Aaron is his nephew?) I think that Jack is heartsick because he knows that he could have Kate if it weren’t for the fact of Aaron.
