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Well just randomly I’ll start with the “Say Anything” reference, because, after all, the radio IS key!

— jazprof

Though I generally see a theme of repetition, I don’t really have a unifying idea on this episode, and lots of questions left—thought maybe if I just list a bunch of them they could be springboards for other ideas.

1) Well just randomly I’ll start with the “Say Anything” reference, because, after all, the radio IS key! The evil and manipulative father is certainly a Lost connection. What I find most interesting though is a contrast between thinking of the radio as either a device for communication, or as the communication itself. Hurley asks Sayid for the radio; Sayid mentions that the radio only worked momentarily and is now mostly giving off static—Sayid’s focus is on the radio as communication device and it’s ability to help them get off the island. Hurley doesn’t care as much about the radio as a device—the radio itself is the communication—the communication to Libby that he cares for her. Hurley’s focus is on island.

2) Circles & Identities: Christian—AC’s recent post on Alex’s name and the idea that Dharma gave lesser identities to people based on their function (Roger Workman) made me notice that when Christian and Ana meet they both talk about having lost their work identities (stopped being a cop, stopped being a doctor). And then I also noticed what I thought was an odd line Christian has about fate—that fate has brought Ana and he together for the same reason fate does anything—”so that we can help each other out.” That’s not what I usually associate with fate. It does seem to connect with Hurley’s use of the radio though, and of the general theme of cooperation as a means (vs. fear) on the show. The names they adopt too are repeats—Tom, Kate’s former love; Sarah, Jack’s former love. And Ana’s meeting with Christian in the bar prefigures Ana’s meeting with Jack. I’m not exactly sure how these two were supposed to help each other out, but I don’t think it succeeded. One thought was that Christian’s most important identity—and the one his fate is circling back to—is not being a doctor, it’s being Jack and Claire’s father. Which also got me thinking—why does he need a bodyguard in order to try and visit his daughter? That seems to speak of some powerful forces not wanting him to make that connection? Is it just Lindsey (Claire’s Aunt) that he’s afraid of? Maybe where this failed is when Ana left Christian at the bar where he runs into Sawyer—he mentions fate again. Fate has put the bar there? So that Christian can return to his identity as an alcoholic? There seem to be benevolent and tragic versions of repetition going on. In the benevolent version, fate keeps giving Christian the opportunity to reflect on his role as father or reconnect with his children. In the tragic one he’s led back to drinking and he encourages Sawyer to go repeat the scene with Frank Duckett only this time with a tragic outcome.

3) Circles & Identities: Ana. The chain of events leading to Ana getting killed seem to be that first she asserts being a cop to Ben. She identifies him as a killer, yet notices that unlike most killers he’s not talking. Of course, she IS talking and the FB is reminding us that she’s a killer. So dividing things into black and white allows her to deny that part of her identity and project it onto Ben. Ben attacks her. She goes in search of a gun to kill him. She has sex with Sawyer to get the gun. Brings it back and tries to use the escaping prisoner routine to kill Ben. She can’t bring herself to do it, but she gives Michael the gun—again in a way denying she’s a killer, but still she would be complicit in Ben’s death if that is what had happened. So maybe it is not only Ana’s identity as a killer which fatally repeats here, but the fact that she doesn’t completely face the fact that she is?

3) Hurley actually does keep going in circles. (Libby references a Flinstones ep where they keep passing the same tree.) I also think about how Libby thinks Hurley is hoarding food again (repeating his old identity) when he’s actually trying to do something new. I’m not sure if this can be tied to Libby’s death or not—her death seems so random. I guess the only thing I can of is that Hurley thought of bringing food, but not about the non-food item, the blankets. Other things I notice but am not sure what to make of—they don’t actually make it to the Sayid/Shannon beach (the beach of doom, I thought), but return to the same old beach. Don’t know what to make of that contrast. And Libby says to Hurley “It’s OK if you’re lost.”—OK to keep going in circles? Keep circling until you get it right?

4) Sawyer says to Jack about Kate “She ain’t in my head, Doc” in Lockedown Sawyer says, “Think you’re in my head, Doc?”—what’s that about?

Key characters

Short Name	Full Name	Episodes	Theories
Ana-Lucia	Ana-Lucia Cortez	2.20, 2.7, 2.8	139
Dr. Christian	Dr. Christian Shephard		339

Key episodes

#	Title	Aired	Central character	Theories
2.20	Two for the Road	5-3-2006	Ana-Lucia	96

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