Catch-22

Season 3, Episode 17, Aired
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Episode Summary

When Desmond has a flash of a stranger arriving on the Island, he recruits Charlie, Hurley and Jin to join him. Meanwhile, Kate seduces Sawyer after witnessing Jack and Juliet together.
9.1
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Fan Episode Reviews (105)

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  • Necessary Setup???

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By Dante_Edy, Jun 15, 2010 Report Abuse
    Objective - Since Desmond is one of the Main Cast Characters, and the episodes were he was the Main character was so successful, the producers decided to build one more episode about him, since he was impossible to put a episode about him later in the season. So, you have is flashbacks and mission on the Island as the primary focus and the Kate subplot reaction about Jack. Good material or so it seemed.

    Flashbacks - Pure from Boring Kingdom. The beginning can fail to catch your attention. The complication phase is inexistence, the climax is not there and you simple dont care for an ending.

    Event on The Island - Just wasting your time. The beginning was strong, but then, the complication phase was about Desmond deciding to save Charlie or not. I didnt Catch the Climax, and the ending does not justify the whole structure of this episode.

    Kate Reaction - Kate subplot was really strange. Her slut reaction to Sawyer was something that does not make sense to me. In the Middle, what was cool was seeing Sawyer reaction, when he learn why Kate did it. Maybe this was the Climax of this subplot, because Sawyer made some minor jokes that is funny anyway.

    Overall:

    1 - Plot Holes: Silver. Didnt Noticed but I didnt care either. The only thing here that is strange is Kate Slut reaction, which is something that does not make any sense to me.

    2 - Time and Scenes Management: Bad. Showing us what would happen in the beginning of this episode was a bad idea from the writers, since you wait too long for the part you want to see and with the flashbacks, this became very boring.

    3 - Surprises/Twist/Shocks/Cliffhangers: The beginning can get you by surprise, this was well done, the ending is a surprise, but not very interesting yet.

    4 - Action: None, but wasnt an episode for this.

    5 - Funny: Bronze. The Ghost Story Scene made by Jin. Maybe some comments between Hugo and Charlie.

    6 - Drama: .Bronze. Almost Irrelevant. The Scene with his loved one was nice.

    7 - Tension/Fear: Weak. Almost inexistent.

    8 - Excitement Level (curiosity/Mystery/Doubt/Revelations: Nearly Bronze - . Maybe you want to know what happens with Charlie, but when the episode begins to be boring, it is difficult to care and is impossible to him to die, only if was Charlie flashback in game, like many other character like Ana Lucia, Shannon and Eko maybe this would become true.

    Overall, this episode was unnecessary, maybe the ending, but the entire episode is about wasting time and does not have the ability to entertain for too long, only if you are a super fan that rate 10 or 9 to every episode.moreless

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  • Another vital episode, but not for the reason we thought at the time

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By DavidB226Morris, Jun 15, 2010 Report Abuse
    It is now becoming increasingly clear that Desmond is the wild card in the island. The Others may know everything about the survivors of Flight 815, but they clearly had no idea about Desmond's existence. They didn't know about his boat, and when Juliet was getting set up in the final scene of the previous episode, she looked at Desmond without any hint of recognition at all. Because of this, there's an excellent chance that he will be the savior of those on the island. The first time this becomes possible occurs here in 'Catch-22' Once again his flashes are telling him that Charlie's life hangs in the balance, but this time, if he doesn't let fate carry through, there's a good chance that the other part of his vision won't come true--- and this time, the vision involves rescue from Penelope.

    Each flashback in Desmond's past seems to be happening before the previous one, and this one has another huge shock --- he was a monk, which also explains why he calls everybody 'brother'. Furthermore, before he became a man of the cloth, he was engaged to a woman named Ruth. He left her at the altar because he believed he had a higher calling, but as always the women who love Desmond see through his facade. She tells him" next time you want to break up with someone... just tell the girl you're too bloody scared." (Unfortunately, he won't learn his lesson, will break up with Penelope for the exact same reason, and hear almost the exact same line from her.) The interesting thing comes after he breaks his vow of silence to talk with Ruth, and then proceeds to get liquored up (Desmond seems to get more drunk than anyone else on the island) He is then fired by Brother Campbell who tells him that he has some kind of destiny before him, but God isn't part of it. (Which leads us to wonder is someone else leading Des on? In the last flashback, we can see that there is a photo of Ms. Hawking, a.k.a. the ring lady from 'Flashes Before Your Eyes'. Is it possible that he is somehow leading him down this path.) Before the flashbacks ends, we also see Campbell last act was to inadvertently introduce Desmond to Penny, who is buying wine for her father.

    Now that he's on the island, Desmond is no longer running. He tried to get away from his destiny before--- he ran when he thought the hatch was going to explode, got onto a boat and tried to escape--- but he couldn't get away. But now Desmond is trying to move forward, now that he sees another of his flashes, and this one seems to lead to Penelope.

    We know that Penelope has been searching for the island, and now Desmond seems to get proof. But in order for his vision to become a reality, he needs Jin, Hurley and Charlie to take him on a journey. While they are out camping, they see lights in the sky, and what appears to be a helicopter, and soon evidence that someone parachuted out, and that person may well be Penny. But in order for this to work, Charlie needs to run into one of Rousseau's traps, and he has to take an arrow to the neck.

    Once again, however, his basic goodness gets in his way, and he saves Charlie. But as soon he does, he thinks he has changed destiny, and that now Penny won't be there--- which would seem to be borne out by the fact that Penny is not the woman in the plane. But if you watch the flash carefully, you can see that Charlie and Jin were there while Desmond cut the woman down, meaning he had to be there in order to save her. Was the flash giving him conflicting information? Or did fate change so that Penny wasn't there? We will later see that Penny was nearby, but is it possible that she really would have saved them then?

    Meanwhile, on the beach, things are returning to normal, sort of. The triangle of Jack, Kate and Sawyer has be reformed, only now, it's become a square with the coming of Juliet. Kate is glad to have Jack back, but now he's been distant and unfamiliar, and seems to favor Juliet instead of her. This leads to another shift which ends up putting Kate willingly in Sawyer's arms. He's got a catch-22 of his own in that he loves Kate, but she still seems to be carrying a torch for Jack. however, those feelings are what drive her to Sawyer's bed. However, in typical Sawyer fashion, he doesn't seem to mind that he's being used as long as he gets what he wants. He can live with this--- for now.

    Whichever side of the Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle you come down upon--- and I was one who didn't hold much care for either--- Desmond's love for Penny may be far more vital. Was this woman sent by Penelope? We will later learn that she wasn't. Then why did she have a photograph of Desmond with her? Why was Desmond the first word out of her mouth? We will later learn a lot about this woman--- and it will be very difficult determining how much of what she said was true. The episodes centered around Desmond's are easily becoming the most eagerly awaited of the bunch, not just because Cusick is such a fine actor or because the love story is taking on the appearance of epic proportion, but because unlike most of the people on this island, Desmond seems to be the most eager to go. He wasn't on the plane, but it's becoming clear his destiny his ensnared with those of the passengers on it. The question is, will this destiny eventually be true for everybody?
    My score:9.5moreless

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  • Test

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By napen, Jan 09, 2009 Report Abuse
    Desmond hizo lo que no deba hacer: salvar a Charlie. Otra vez cambi el destino para prolongar lo inevitable. Otra vez salv su vida y quin sabe quin se lo hizo pagar caro. Igual parece que si del destino se trata ya saba que esto iba a pasar... entonces? Desmond realmente puede postergar los hechos o eso es lo que cree? Porque si hay algo tan poderoso que puede intentarlo hasta conseguirlo... Si el destino existe realmente no hay nada que hacer y no creo que realmente le permita a Desmond jugar con l. o al menos ganarle. Charlie va a morir, Penny jams volver con l, no importa cuantas veces lo intente.moreless

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  • Has rescue fianlly arrived?

    8.5
    "Great"
    By martync7, Jan 04, 2009 Report Abuse
    Following Desmond's last two centric episodes, both of which are favourites of mine, the earliest of which, "Live Together, Die Alone", Season 2's finale, is currently at time of writing this review my favourite episode of the series, the anticipation of "Catch 22" was well-deserved. So too was the payoff that this episode should have rewarded us. However, this episode is a slight disappointment. On one hand it provides us with an old fashioned adventure, something that prior to perhaps the Enter 77 arc, was sadly absent from the series. The adventure had been something that had been missing from the first half of the season when we were stuck in the cages of the Hydra Island. But once Kate decides to embark on her "Rescue Jack" mission [perhaps the best thing that Kate has done for the series so far] the adventure we all loved from the first seson returned.
    And even though there have been more stalls in between the sense of adventure has returned. In "Catch 22" the adventure feels like it was inspired by Season 1's "Numbers" and so it is rather ironic that "Rousseau's spiky death traps" and the Cable, two things that were memorable parts of that episode return here. Unfortunately, the same excitement that "Numbers" generated from that Jungle quest isn't mirrored here and this brings up the other hand of "Catch 22", which is that despite the promise of adventure the episode doesn't feel adventurous enough. Much of the first half of the episode is spent amongst the survivors arguing over Desmond's visions and his attempts to form the camping party. All this provides some comic moments but is also largely uneccesary and only stalls the adventure to come. When they do start their trek all that seems to happen for a while is whistling, ghost stories told round the camp fire and more arguments over the visions Desmond has. It is not until Charlie's near death that things start to get interesting.
    Elsewhere on the island thelove triangle or quadrangle now, is given some quality time, which drags the episode even more.
    The potential for the episode, as promised with the shocking teaser, doesn't reveal itself until the very end when Desmond sees the fallen Parachutist in the tree. This moment when the identity of the parachutist is revealed is perfectly mixed with the flashback in which Desmond meets Penny. The emotion and anticipation of that final moment builds well and Henry Ian Cusick's performance in this moment is great to behold. You're left wondering who the hell the parachutist is when it is revealed not to be Penny. If it wasn't for this final moment, the mini-adventure, and Charlie's near-death experience then this episode would have fared less for me. It was particularly nice to see the Cable again. The last time we saw it was Season 1 and since then some fans were wondering what the heck is was for and if it was connected to an underwater station. Mikhail mentioned an underwater beacon and that cables run down to it in "Enter 77" and "Par Avion". Despite not giving us any information on the cable and its purpose, in light of the exposition that had gone before, fans convinced in themselves that an underwater DHARMA station existed and that they would one day see it. Their prayers were duly answered by the end of the season.
    For all those fans that didn't lie awake at night thinking about Cables, the rest had forgotten about it. Despite Hurley and Sayid respectively discovering the cable only 2 months ago island time, it feels like an eternity for the viewers, even without the live first broadcasts.
    The writers keep risking showing us something and then not raising it back up until several seasons later. We don't even know what Adam and Eve are yet and they were discovered before even the Cable.
    However, returning to the cable in this episode, onlyt helps to allay fears that the writers don't know what they are doing. Even if they don't know what they are doing at least they don't forget things that have introduced seasons ago and this is a good sign.
    Lost gets sexed up again in this episode as a seductive Kate visits Sawyer's tent for some sex. All this lovey-dovey stuff is not necessary to the Lost plotline but it does help keep Lost an all-rounder. Lest we forget that the series isnot just a sci-fi series and not just about an island. One thing that did peturbe me was the fact that there wasn't that much tension with Juliet this episode. Sawyer was all over Juliet with threats in "One of Us" but in this episode he remains at bay and any suspicions with Jack are held off too. Why would Sawyer be so reticent with Jack, enough to play Table Tennis with him or joke to him in front of Juliet. Luckily suspicions are raised again soon but this seems a little inconsistent, reminding me of when Claire was abducted and the next thing that Jack and Kate did was argue over a case.
    Lost does not want to repeat this literary technique too often. Lost is a series which relies on its momentum and you feel that it is building at this stage of the series. And it would only get better.....moreless

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    1 0

  • A Desmond-centric episode.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Writer2000, Nov 13, 2008 Report Abuse
    All things considered, I absolutely loved this episode. All of the story lines in this episode were great. In my opinion, the flashbacks of Desmond's life were great. I loved the whole story line with Kate being upset about Jack and Juliet spending time together and seducing Sawyer in order to make herself feel better. That was definitely my favorite story line of the episode since Sawyer is one of my most favorite characters on the show. I only wish that Juliet had been featured more in this episode. All in all, I thought that this was a very well written, well acted, well made episode of Lost from everyone involved, and I can't wait to watch the rest of my Lost: Season Three DVD set.moreless

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    0 1
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • When Hurley tells Desmond he can't move much faster because he's "not exactly the Flash", a lens flare briefly appears on screen at exactly the same time the word "flash" is said. Edit
    • The flashback should have been taken place in 1994, because in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" Desmond says to Mr. Widmore that he and Penelope have been together for 2 years, yet that conversation occurred in 1996 which is only one year later. Edit
    • Jin's Korean language ghost story translates as: "And the girl turned to the man who saved her and said, 'Thank God. I was afraid you were the Hook Man.' And the man looked at the girl with a smile and said, 'Don't worry, little girl. My hook is....STILL IN YOUR FATHER'S HEAD!". Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • Though credited, Michael Emerson (Ben), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), and Yunjin Kim (Sun) do not appear in this episode. Edit
    • International Air Dates: Denmark: May 16, 2007 on Kanal 5 The Netherlands: October 19, 2007 on Net 5 Belgium: October 29, 2007 on VT4 Spain: Monday November 5, 2007 on FOX TV Spain The Czech Republic: Sunday December 23, 2007 on TV Nova Macedonia: Sunday December 30, 2007 on A1 Germany: Monday January 21, 2008 on Pro7 Italy: Monday January 28, 2008 on RAI 2 Middle East: Sunday February 1, 2009 on MBC action Edit
    • This was the first episode of LOST available for download in widescreen, 16:9, format from iTunes. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • (Jack and Sawyer playing ping-pong) Sawyer: It's kinda strange, uh? Being back. (Jack starts laughing) Something funny? Jack: Kate said the same thing in the kitchen last night. Sawyer: (unsettled) She did, uh? Jack: She did. (Sawyer doesn't pay attention and loses the point) 19 point. Sawyer: So, you guys ate together, huh? Jack: No, Juliet and I had dinner together last night. Edit
    • Sawyer: What? My doorbell busted again? What the hell are you doing? Kate: Shut up and don't talk. (Kate kisses Sawyer) Sawyer: You cryin'? Kate: I said shut up! (Kate kisses Sawyer again) Sawyer: You got it. (Sawyer and Kate make out) Edit
    • Kate: What's this? Sawyer: Your mix tape. (pause) Well, you gonna take it, or ain't ya? Kate: The Best of Phil Collins, huh? Sawyer: Don't get picky. And, if Bernard asks, I don't know a thing about it. Kate: Thanks, James. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • "Catch-22" is a reference to the novel Catch-22 written by Joseph Heller and published in 1961. It is a satirical fiction that tells the story of the US army in World War II, and centers around the experiences of a soldier, Yossarian. The phrase 'Catch-22' is used to denote a situation that's outcome depends on a contradictory thing happening, thus making the first thing impossible to happen. In this episode, Desmond's vision suggests he cannot find the parachutist without Charlie but, if Charlie comes along, he will be killed by one of Rousseau's traps and they won't find the parachutist. Edit
    • Arrow of time The arrow that was first seen in Desmond's glimpse of the future killing Charlie, and later missed killing Charlie through Desmond's intervention, might be representative of the Time's Arrow. This is an idea which was first brought up by British astronomer Arthur Eddington and made popular by Stephen Hawking's "A Briefer History of Time". There has been a novel of the same name written by Martin Amis, as well as an episode of the Sci Fi shows "Sliders" and "Star Trek: TNG". The idea behind the Time's Arrow revolves around the movement of time in one direction, but allowing it as well to move in the completely other direction. Originally when Desmond saw the arrow kill Charlie, he saw that he would be reunited with his love Penny. That was Desmond's driving force behind looking for the parachutist. When Desmond stops Charlie from getting impaled by the arrow, he changed time, or changed the direction of "Time's Arrow". Considering Desmond may have affected time before, this representation may be accurate. Edit
    • Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze: Sawyer claims the ping pong table fell from the "purple haze" - referring to the implosion of the Swan - a reference to this song recorded in 1967 by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Edit

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