TOUCHDOWN! Or What Up With John Locke?

"Claire, I'm your father."

You know, I really cannot over-emphasize the importance of watching each episode of "Lost" at least twice. The things you pick up on are truly revelatory.

That said, I must make a confession, that even after two viewings of the most recent episode, "Par Avion", I still don't understand why Desmond had to scare away the birds that Claire, Jin, and Sun were about to capture. Had they caught them then, would not have Charlie had no reason to go searching for others and find his watery death instead? Oh well, maybe the particular birds about to be trapped were not tagged, but they never really made that clear. Can anyone solve this little mystery for me? Thanks in advance.

One more mystery, how is a note written on a piece of paper and stuck inside a bird's tag supposed to make it all they way back to civilization without getting 1) wet and illegible, 2) Lost (pun intended), or 3) dropped in the ocean. Claire's optimism about her plan seemed just a little over zealous.

But, the real intrigue in this episode was trying to figure out what the hell was up with Locke and what the relationship between him and Patch Man was? The first time I watched it, I knew something was up, but the second time I picked up on something really important. Patch Man did not just know John from reading a dossier on him. Patch Man says "The John Locke I knew was par..." He certainly was about to say "paralyzed." He said he knew John, and he apparently meant it. And the way, Locke acted around him and subsequently killed him, those two clearly have some sort of ugly history.

I suspect that we are going to learn some more of that history tonight. My guess is that we'll find out what paralyzed Locke and Ibet it is going to prover very interesting.

So, the last scene of the episode was cool, eh? Jack running towards his friends, seemingly trying to escape, but instead cutting on a dime and catching a well thrown pass from Mr. Zeke Tom Friendly. Smiles all around as Jack spikes the ball in celebration. Very odd. Has Jack been brainwashed already? (I doubt it.) Playing along with them to save his ass? (Maybe) Have they already arranged his transportation home? (Probably not since they there seem to be problems getting to the island now that the beacon has been destroyed.) I hope that along with the focus on Locke tonight they also move Jack's storyline along. And if they want to kill Charlie off tonight, that would be fine too.

We'll know more soon.