Episode - Two for the Road

Wow!!! Ok, not what I expected at all! And I think the wrong people got shot but we all knew it was coming and I still was surprised when Michael started shooting. “What just happened” was, I think, my initial reaction. Then it was “WHAT JUST #^$%*&%$# HAPPENED!!!!”

Recap:
"Two For The Road"
Air Date: Wednesday: May 3rd 2006

Michael is found in the jungle by Jack and Kate. He needs medical attention and they take him back.

Back at the hatch, “Henry Gale” attacks Ana Lucia. Locke saves her life at the last minute.

FLASHBACK, the man who shot Ana Lucia has been found dead. Ana’s mom knows the truth. Rather than face her Ana Lucia quits the police force. After a short time as a security guard at the airport Ana runs away to Australia with Jack’s dad, of all people.

Michael regains consciousness in the hatch and tells Jack and Kate that the others are weak, live in tents and eat dried fish. They also have a hatch, which they guard day and night. He also intends on taking his son back.

Ana Lucia wants a gun, presumably to shoot “Henry Gale”. And “tricks” one from Sawyer.

Back at the hatch Ana Lucia throws a knife to “Henry” and tells him to cut himself loose but when the moment of truth comes she cannot kill him.

Hurley attempts to court Libby with a picnic on the beach but forgets blankets. Libby volunteers to get them.

Ana tells Michael that she couldn’t kill “Henry”. Michael taking the gun says that he can and asks for the combination. After Ana gives it to him Michael shoots Ana in cold blood. Libby walks in and Michael panics shooting Libby in the stomach. He then opens the ammo room and shoots himself in the arm.

What the…..?????

Discussion and thoughts:

1. As far as the episode itself goes I again thought this one was a bit unsatisfying (except for the last two minutes). There was absolutely no mythology and no Science Fiction/Mystery. When are we going to see more smoke, or polar bears or buried hatches? Locke seems to be peripherally investigating the significance of the blast door map by looking at the blast door itself and by trying to draw the map from memory but it is not enough to satisfy my own curiosity. I have a feeling we won’t see more of this until the season finale.

2. Did anyone catch the Hanso Foundation commercial that aired in the middle of the episode? I have the end screen here:

The commercial begins with Leonard Da Vinci’s self portrait, then Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (my photo on my blog profile page, what a coincidence), a video of the Space Shuttle taking off, a DNA strand, Alvor Hanso himself (out of focus and in the distance), and then cuts to the above scene.

The commercial voice-over audio states: “Since the dawn of time man has been curious. Imagining all that is possible. The Hanso Foundation: Reaching out to a better tomorrow. Discover the experience for yourself. Call 1-877-HANSORG” I tried calling the number many times last night but always with the same message “Call Failed: Network Busy”. And I also notice that the Hanso Foundation web site is back up and running at:
http://www.thehansofoundation.org/
with a strange alternate site at:
http://www.bigspaceship.com/archive/hanso/Hans

1-877-HANSORG (877-426-7674)
I did get into the system but had a bad connection at the time and will update this section later. However, I can tell you that once you dial the number you have a few options. You can learn more about the Hanso Foundation (press 1) or go into Alvor Hanso's voice mail (press 2). If you pick Hanso's voice mail you get a message from a woman asking where he is and a German language message that mentions Geronimo Jackson. I'll try to keep up with this as we go and update accordingly. This is the beginning of the summer LOST game.

3. Here begins the 800 or so questions concerning Michael and his time on the "other" side of the island. After the final scene of the show I had way too many questions to write them down. I've formulated most of them this morning in the shower and on the drive to work. Diane helped with a few of her own last night.

a) Was Michael a prisoner of the "Others" or did he just observe them as he told Kate and Jack? And what happened to the rifle he took with him?

b) If Michael was a prisoner was he brainwashed or coerced?

c) Why is "Henry Gale" so important?

d) If Henry's mission was to collect Locke like he said why did Michael shoot two people to spring him from the ammo room?

e) Why is "Henry Gale" so important? Is he the head guy everyone talks about?

f) When Michael first wakes up in the hatch he seems very groggy and is mumbling. Did the “Others” drug him? Or is his dissidence in response to some type of coercion by the “Others” concerning Walt?

g) The episode ends leaving many unanswered questions... I assume that "Henry Gale" has made good his escape. But has he?

h) On a less important note (or perhaps not) Sawyer was on the beach reading a manuscript called "Bad Twin" by Gary Tro....... The rest of the name was not readable. Any significance?

I found this book on Amazon.com at the following web site: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401302769/002-7039970-8122443?v=glance&n=283155 with the following review:
Amazon.com Exclusive: “Author Gary Troup delivered the manuscript for his hotly anticipated thriller, Bad Twin, just days before he boarded doomed Oceanic Flight 815. Watch the recently uncovered video clip of Gary Troup on Book Talk interviewed by Laird Granger talking about the controversy surrounding his mysteriously out-of-print first book, The Valenzetti Equation, and his new novel, Bad Twin”.

And the following from: http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Lost/Badtwin.htm
'Bad Twin' by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof
‘Bad Twin’ is a private-eye procedural involving a wealthy heir's search for his nefarious brother, based on a supposed "found manuscript" by Gary Troup, one of the passengers killed in the crash of Oceanic flight 815; Troup apparently delivered the document to ABC’s sister company, Hyperion Books, just days before he boarded the ill-fated aircraft.
Hyperion has now commissioned a novel by a "well-known" mystery writer (whose identity is being a secret), which supposedly constitutes the book (ABC/Hyperion has previously hired best-selling mystery novelist Ridley Pearson to ghost-write ‘The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red’, a prequel companion-book to the Stephen King miniseries ‘Rose Red’).
Published by: Hyperion Books
Release Date: Spring 2006
Notes: *Featuring Jack, Kate, Locke, Charlie, Sayid, Sawyer, Shannon, Michael, Hurley, Jin, Sun and Claire

P.S. I ordered the book from Amazon.com today. I’ll let you know if it has any redeeming value or game clues. WHRIII

i) In the flashback Ana and Jack's dad go to a home in the suburbs and Jack's dad demands to see his daughter. This means Jack has a sister. With all the six-degrees-of-separation going on in this show I would venture to guess that Claire is Jack's sister. And there was a blue Jeep parked in the carport. I seem to recall Claire driving around in a blue Jeep. Anyone else remember that? Or am I mis-remembering? (And is that even a word?)

j) How did "Henry Gale" know that Ana-Lucia has killed someone? He calls her a killer when she confronts him so he knows, or has studied, her past.

k) What is Hurley going to do when he finds out that Libby has been shot? Is she dead? I, for one, don’t think so. We’ll see. One thing is for sure, it looks like I was wrong when I said Henry Gale was one of the ones to be killed before the end of the season. In a way, that is good news as he is a great character… one of those people you love to hate!

4. The numbers did not match at all in this episode. Michael states that there were only 22 people in the “Other’s” camp and that they had only 2 guns. The combination to the ammo room was 18R 1L 31R again not any of the numbers. And in the flashback with Ana and Jack’s dad a boat in the background had the following printed where the name should be “II IUVIUV” hmmm…

5. The Lost Experience has begun. Check out this website for more information….http://www.thelostexperience.com/