Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Both Ends Against The Middle
By Cindy McLennan | Season 6 | Episode 8 | Aired on 03.16.2010
Later, at dinner, he asks her about life as an archaeologist (this week, not an anthropologist). She says she is exactly like Indiana Jones and they flirt about whether or not she has a whip. When Charlotte wants to know why Jim became a cop, he asks her if she's ever seen Steve McQueen's Bullitt. Since she hasn't, he says he won't bore her with an explanation. Charlotte sees right through his smoke and mirrors and tells him to tell her the real story -- not just what he tells all the other women. It's clear that despite his better judgment, Jim likes being challenged by her, even if he's not inclined to bare his soul. He ends up saying, "Well, I guess I got to a point in my life where I was either going to become a criminal or a cop, so I chose cop." That's wholly true and yet only part of his truth. Whatevs. It totes works on Charlotte, who says filthy things with her eyes that I am so not repeating here. When James responds to her look with a "What?" Charlotte says, "You know what." Ba bang! Cut to...
Jim Ford's Bedroom: Insert a lot of purple prose here, that concludes with Jim and Charlotte totally doing it. Am I counting wrong, or has he now had as much sex in this one episode as he had in the five and a half years prior? After the loving, Jim runs his tan hand up her pale, freckled back. Charlotte says, "Not bad, considering I didn't have that whip." Jim dares her: "Bring it, next time." They giggle and kiss, and when he gets up to get her a glass of water, she asks if she can borrow a T-shirt. He tells her to look in the top drawer on the right. Wrapped in his green sheet that does wonders for her already wonderful complexion, Charlotte pauses to look at the books lying atop his bureau (Watership Down; A Wrinkle In Time; and Lancelot). Here, you can insert a lot of literary blah-blah we've been saying about this show since the beginning, but it's blah-blah that never helps us figure out a damned thing.
Charlotte opens the dresser drawer which only seems to contain pants, so she digs through it rather quickly. This is a weird choice either on Mader's part, or the director's, because it looks like she's rifling with a less than honorable purpose, but after everything shakes out, it seems she just wanted a freaking shirt. Anyhow, during the course of her sifting through Jim's drawer, she finds a blue binder labeled SAWYER. When she lifts it up, a Ford family portrait (young Jim, Deadly Daddy, and Mendacious Mommy) slips out. Charlotte opens the binder to replace the picture, only to see an old newspaper clipping featuring the same photo, and the headline: "Local Man Kills Wife, Self -- Survived by 9 Year-Old Son." I'll touch on that 9 year old business, later.
Just then, Jim comes in. "What the hell are you doing?" She tries to explain that the picture just fell out while she was looking for a T-shirt, but he can't stop yelling, "What did you see? What did you see?" long enough to listen to her. And when he does stop yelling, "What did you see," it's only to yell, "Get the hell out!" Charlotte struggles not to cry as she retrieves her clothes and leaves the room to change. In all the hubbub, the Ford Family Photo seems to have fallen to the floor. Jim picks it up and stares at it, as we cut to...
Island Reality; Shores of Hydra Island: Sawyer walks up the beach and through the jungle until he comes across the Hydra Station and the sex cages. He stops in Kate's cage to fondle her discarded sundress that never made her feel one bit like a lady. So, now he's totally over Juliet who died days ago and is back into Kate? The fleeting nature of romantic love on this show may just be the most consistent element of the entire series. Oh look, we're back on the main island at Camp Faucke. I need a new paragraph.
Camp Faucke: Sayid is sitting (like a bump) on a log when Kate comes up, sits next to him, and asks if he believes "Locke" can get them off the island. Sadder than ever, Sayid says, "Yes, I believe him." When Kate asks if he's all right, his whisper is hoarse. "No." She narrows her eyes, but before she can think or speak, Claire comes up behind her, pulls Kate off the log and onto the ground, climbs on top of her and holds a knife at her throat. Kate screams for Sayid's help, but he just watches these funny little ants who look just like people, or would, if other people existed in his world... which they clearly do not.