"Loop, dude, Loop." Confidence Man, Solitary and Raised by Another.

Hi Losties!
I encourage you to read my original detailed notes for each of the episodes. That is where you may find the clues to very important things that set a thread for all the other episodes and it's really where you'll find the meat of the story. After all, it's all in the details!
So click here for detailed notes on...
✈ Confidence Man
✈ Solitary
✈ Raised by Another.
I hope you find them useful.

The following are the short "Readers Digest" versions for the re-watch.

Confidence Man is not only a wonderful look into Sawyer's "life" but touches on Jack and a few other Castaways.











Question: “How do I know this is real?”
Answer: Uh, you don't!

Here on the sandy shores of depression where the Castaway's condition is that they are carrying extra emotional baggage and they are trying to heal their suffering.
We are brought right into the concept of everything coming back around. Yes, the laws of Karma as well as the "loop" concept.

Sawyer is holding on to deep heartache he suffered in childhood with losing his parents to the cunning ways of a conman. The truth of the letter he clings so tightly to is finally brought to light.
Unfortunately Sawyer becomes the man he was hunting, complete with wooing the married rich lady, Jess, and convincing her and her husband, David to blindly get involved in a shady investment.
His suspicious "mark" David wonders if there is a loophole with this "too good to be true" deal he's getting into with Sawyer.
The con progresses until confident sharpie Sawyer gets a Flash of Conscience when he sees that the couple has an innocent young fair haired son. This seems to hit too close to home for Sawyer so he literally walks out on the transaction.

The "Island" events bring us right back, deep into the rabbit hole when it is revealed Sawyer is reading the book about bunnies; Watership Down. Apparently the book really belongs to Boone. Boone claims that book was in his bag along with Shannon's asthma inhalers, which are conveniently missing and assumed to be in Sawyer's stash of acquired goods.
Sadly Shannon is in the midst of a major asthma attack.

In an effort to retrieve the much needed medicine, Jack, Sayid and Kate take to strong arming Sawyer into giving the sick girl her medicine.  Sawyer goes with the flow of this, and even admits to knowing his torturing at Sayid's hands "has to happen".   So after some deal making with Kate and being tortured by a damn spinal surgeon and a genuine Iraqi, it is revealed Sawyer doesn't have nor ever had the inhalers. This triggers a fight between Sayid and Sawyer, where subsequently Sawyer is stabbed in the bicep.

As Jack is tending to bleeding Sawyer, Sawyer says to Jack, “Let go. I know you want to.”
Sawyer feels Jack has been waiting for this to happen so he can be a hero again, “Cause that’s what you do. Fix everything up all nice.”

It's all in your head!
Hmmm...Yeah, that's what I've been saying!  But I can't help but wonder if it's just a nod to consciousness or is it also a hint to how part of their adventurous "Island" journey is literally happening.

Jack tells suffering Shannon that "It's in your head"; the asthma attack is coupled with anxiety. Jack shows total confidence and "belief" in his task of getting Shannon to breathe through her asthma attack.   It really wasn't a Jedi moment as much as it was a glimpse into not only the power of believing things can happen in this magical and mystical place, but the power to believe in "you".

Charlie playfully convinces Claire she is enjoying creamy peanut butter by playing make-believe with an empty jar and the use of imagination.

Time out!
Sayid feels such shame for what he did that he decides to set off alone and map the "Island".  Kate shows concern for him as she warns him about "what is in the jungle", but Sayid feels there are worse things to fear than what is in the jungle.  That is true.   I feel Sayid fears the deeds he is capable of toward another human, and this is indeed worse than who/what is in the jungle.

Jack has got some major bottled-up emotional issues that seem to keep him on the verge of blowing up. I was unsettled by Dr Jack, a man who took the Hippocratic Oath to never do harm to anyone, actually admits to Kate that killing Sawyer would "feel good".  That is one disturbed physician!  But he is totally hot.
Over the years anytime we had a rabbit or bunny brought into the story regardless of trying to convince us they represent "something else",   I always connected the "rabbit" to the Alice in Wonderland/down the rabbit hole metaphor and not other mumbo jumbo.

Let's not ignore the wonderful title of this episode as it is no doubt a warning to be on the lookout for cons, tricks and razzle freakin dazzle.


Solitary.

Game on!
Sayid- “This isn’t a game, Nadia.”
Nadia- “Yet you keep playing it, Sayid. Pretending to be something I know you’re not.”

But while we're at it...how about a round of golf!  Yes, the ongoing game hint presents itself yet again.  It's not the first or last time you'll get the hint to playing a game, not by a long shot!

Hurley builds a golf course so the Castaways have something else to do with their time besides sitting around waiting for the next bad thing to happen.  Good call! 
The clue to the Castaway's being involved in a loop, do-over and/or another go-around on the "Island" is again reinforced when Charlie uses and explains the golf term "Mulligan".

AC/DC!
Sayid self imposes his own "time out" or better yet, some alone time. He heads off to think about his previous actions {and to find what he's looking for}, but so he's not totally without a purpose, he will map the "Island".   As he sits on a deserted beach looking over the photographs of a beautiful woman, something sticking out of the sand catches his eye.
Ah, the discovery of the cable that powers the "Island".
Apparently electricity runs from somewhere under the water and right through the jungle to juice up other points of interest on the "Island.  While following the cable into the jungle unfortunately Sayid is snagged by a trap that leaves him injured and hanging from a tree...unconscious.

Sayid wakes up in the hole in the ground that Danielle lives in.  Sayid is strapped down with wires attached to him.  Rousseau's makeshift machine uses battery power and cables to shock/zap Sayid as a means of interrogation.
The soldier who majors in communications interrogation for his army's prisoners is now the prisoner on the receiving end of torturous interrogation.

We're shown that while in the military Sayid was responsible for the woman we see in the photographs while she was his prisoner.  He had feelings for her and now is without her. Rousseau is without her love Robert, her science team and her child. Rousseau tells a tale and we learn a little bit about why she is solo in her rat hole. The lonely lady fears the "Island sickness".
It's important to note that Sayid states Nadia is dead 7 years, with no mention of him being on Oceanic flight 815 on his way to L.A. to go and find her alive. {Remember that for an upcoming episode.}

Sayid fixes Danielle's music box containing a tiny dancing couple.   It was in this episode that I really got a supported sense that there is someone/people involved in orchestrating the "Island" experience.

Class is in session.
Walt is impressed to see Mr. Locke's talents as a "hunter" and woodsman.  He shares with Locke, “I just want to learn how to do what you do.”
Locke and Walt share something very important and I can't help but wonder if Walt will follow in Locke's "Island" footprints.

An important item to note is Michael's comment regarding his role/job "In a previous life". There are other hints to this life and "another life" and/or the next life.  Yeah, that counts as another go-around too.

This episode reinforced the matter of mental and emotional heath.  Here with Sayid there is his need to come to terms with guilt and the deeds he knows he is frighteningly capable of.   This "Island" journey forces you to confront all the things that are contributing to the causes of your own suffering.

The hints and imagery to electricity, energy, power, juice, currents and electromagnetism throughout the story will and do tell us a lot about what goes on with the mysterious "Island". But let's not forget that we always need to keep in mind the word play LOST tends to do with what we're shown. Things will have more than one meaning.

Back to the matter at hand...For Sayid it seems he himself needs to "Admit what you've done and the pain will stop".
Metaphorically for him and the Castaways it is the emotional pain and thoughts they are hanging on to that is keeping them literally trapped.

I will share with you that through the years I have presented a few ideas as far as the actual "Island" experience.  With this episode title it relates to the "Island" residents feeling alone. But I had thoughts on the possibility Jack and the gang are not random visitors to "this place" {of course} and maybe they are prison inmates or mental patients that have been put into this situation as a means of therapy and enlightenment.   Or does the possibility exist that they are "native" to the "Island"?    And then of course I have my thoughts on that they can enter the "Island" journey whenever they want to; possibly with the help of science and technology.
We'll get into more on all of that as we progress.

No matter how it is occurring it is important to remember...there are whispers to be heard on the wind in the jungle, but there's no such thing as monsters. You should only fear the monster that lives inside of you.

Raised by Another.
This is a very important and informative episode!










Alright kiddo, its nap time!
Extremely lucid dreams, sleepwalking, and text book anxiety nightmares are the topic of the day.   Mind you there is a high pitched ring associated with said "dream".
All we hear throughout the episode are things like, “You’re dreaming" or "You were sleepwalking”.
Ahem...does this kind of thing qualify as one of those "happening in your head" types of occurrences?!  Yeah, that's what I thought.
By the way Claire may be a sleepwalker but Jack has been told he's a sleep talker.

Claire experiences a bizarre phenomenon while sleeping alongside of her fellow cave squatters.  Claire is awakened by the faint cry of a baby. When Claire looks down she sees that she is not pregnant.
Well, see the rest for yourself...

Claire wakes up screaming yet she doesn't feel the weird experienced events are a dream or nightmare, but they are very real.   So is the dream visions of future events or past events or memory?
In Claire's dream-like encounter Locke is in the role of the psychic; the psychic in this story plays a direct role in getting Claire to the "Island".   We also hear Locke say “He was your responsibility but you gave him away, Claire. Everyone pays the price now."
This is spoken as if it has already happened and there are consequences for this action.

In "Flash" events Claire is involved with artist Thomas. She learns that she and doubting Thomas are "pregnant".  The dialogue that the two have while taking and reviewing the "pee on a stick" pregnancy test is very important. There is also a clue to a wrong-bad diagnosis; which of course brings me right back to the "on Island" events of Claire noticing she's not pregnant.
Thomas the noble decides the two should give playing house a go.

"Flash" events take an interesting turn when Claire and her friend Rachel visit an Australian psychic, Richard Malkin. At first glance Malkin seems gifted, so much so that he aborts the reading as a means to not share that what he "sees" is blurry.

After a few months of Claire getting settled into domestic bliss, Thomas drops the bomb on her claiming he just can't do it.
Later Malkin seems genuinely concerned about Claire and her situation and even offers a few solutions. Claire makes up her own mind to put the baby up for adoption against Malkin's insistence; he feels Claire and only Claire need to raise this baby.

Make a wish on a falling star.
As pregnant Claire is in the attorney's office signing adoption papers, we learn she has an attachment to the song "Catch a Falling Star".    It is a song she claims her daddy sung to her when she was young.  Keep in mind we also learned in this episode Claire has daddy abandonment issues.
Claire happens to abandon her idea of putting the baby up for adoption only to let Malkin convince her to give the baby to a couple in L.A...  Malkin orchestrates all her arrangements to ensure the plan is brought to fruition.

While in the jungle with Charlie, Claire begins having labor pains but seems to be able to "wish" them away.

Head count!
Hurley decides to start a census.  He feels keeping tabs is a good way to police their "Island" home; "The point is we gotta find out who everyone is.”
It is interesting to see that Hurley mistakes Ethan for Lance, but more importantly to me was his moments spent with Locke at the beach.
Hurley tells Locke he thought it would be a good idea to get everyone’s name and place of residence.
Locke- “And who’s checking on you?”
Hurley- “Uhhh, me.”
Locke- ”It was a joke.”
John goes on to say, “You already know my name. I lived most of my life in Tustin California.”
Hurley inquires further, “Cool. Reason for travel. The reason you were in Australia.”
John- “I was looking for something.”
Hurley, seemingly baffled by that reason asks if he found it. As John looks up toward the jungle area he says, “No. It found me. Anything else?”
Nope.
So Hurley hurries away and up to someone he already talked to because he wanted to get away that person/Locke. {Interesting, huh.}

Sayid returns back to camp with a warning, "We're not alone".
And Hurley warns Jack the camp has an interloper!

Blurry is bad.
OK, according to Malkin the psychic, when he "sees" things "blurry" that means it's bad.   But there is no doubt that its clear to see on "Island", off "Island" and here with Claire's "real dream-like incident", events all blur together.   This draws a picture for me that the Castaways are never out of the confines of the "Island" experience.
But the metaphor to need to see things clearly is very important.  One of the reasons they are on the "Island" is because they can't see things clearly.

I personally don't believe in Psychics and I feel they fall under the category of conman.  They take advantage and mislead vulnerable, desperate and hopeless people. A Psychic shouldn't be the guide in your destiny.

I'll leave you with this...
Charlie- “It’s not all in her head”
Jack- "This place. It can kinda mess with your head a little and maybe make you see things that really aren’t actually there.  Now, I know it feels very real…”

Some overall clues for you to keep in mind:
ROM
Execute
Cable
Power
Hive- A hub or center.
Hive mind- one of several forms of collective consciousness.
Hive is an abstract strategy bug-themed table-top game.
The sounds of mechanical/machines.

As with all the episodes it is important to pay attention to the Flash Whoosh as it doesn't always segue into a "Flash".

Until next time...

Love to all who are "LOST"™