Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 538 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT I Was Dreaming When I Wrote This
By Cindy McLennan | Season 5 | Episode 4 | Aired on 2009.02.04
Littleton's looking at a tarted-up picture of Claire in happier days, when a now-drenched Jack knocks on her door. She recognizes him immediately and invites him in while thinking: Thank goodness I don't own this rug. He's dripping all over it. What an ugly, ugly American. Where's his umbrella? His Mac? His Wellies? Why is the recapper putting Brit words into my antipodean mouth? I blame that insidious Charles Widmore, who can't decide from whence he came. Where are my Tim Tams, damn it? All this internal narration has left me a bit peaked. Claire's mum exclaims she hasn't seen Jack since his father's funeral and asks how he even knew she was in L.A. Jack doesn't meet her eyes at first. "I knew you were here, Ms. Littleton, because I followed your lawyer." Why she doesn't kick him out of there or run out herself is beyond me. TV people are... different. When she asks Jack why he'd follow her lawyer, he finally returns her gaze. "I did it because, um -- I understand that you feel the need to do this, but I need you to know that everything that Kate and I have done -- it was for Aaron." Jack waits for a spark of recognition in her eyes. I hope he's not holding his breath, because all she can says is, "Who's Aaron?" And she means it. Jack blinks his eyes and looks at the floor for the brick that must have just fallen from his pants. Carole then adds, "I'm afraid I'm not following you." Jack recovers and asks what he should have asked at the outset. "Ms. Littleton, what are you doing here in Los Angeles?"
We jump to Jack running through the rain -- back to Kate's car. He orders her to drive away, call Sun, and tell her to bring Aaron to the Long Beach Marina -- where they'll all meet. Kate wants a little explanation of what happened inside the motel room, so Jack says Carole doesn't know anything; she's just in town to pick up her settlement from Oceanic. She still thinks Claire is dead and doesn't know Aaron exists. He conveniently leaves out the part where he may have tipped her hand to that last bit, and it's just as well, because I'm pretty sure Kate could kill him with her pinky. Kate says, "What, and it's just a coincidence that her lawyer happens to be the same one that's trying to take my son?" Jack doesn't know -- all he knows is that whoever is trying to take Aaron, it's not Carole Littleton. Let's think really hard Jack. Who manipulates the truth into a lie? Come on. I know you probably killed some brain cells on the Oxycontin, but you can do it. Think. Think. Think.