Could there have been 2 parachutists as why would the black girl have the picture and the book?

I'll third it.

I liked the Jin part, and thought the episode was decent. It pretty much was a segue to the rest of the season though, a stop gap between the mid and end of the season though.

For me that really is the difference between standard episodes like this and the ones that really shine. In Juliet's recent episode (something that I think could also be seen as a transitition episode) at least her flashbacks made us sympathetic enough that the ending was like a big slap in the face. This time the way the episode had unfolded and the run-of-the-mill monk bits made the ending far too predictable. I'm just not sure if it's the writing or directors to blame for the shift in quality, because it's certainly not Desmond or the actor who played him.

I dunno. I think the term "shift in quality" is thrown around too loosely here. Not every episode can or should be a balls to the wall actioner with double crosses at every turn. Catch-22 was more about character and story of Desmond/Charlie with some Kate and Sawyer and Jack romantic dynamic thrown about. It wasn't necessarily a throw away, but I don't think the quality of the writing was bad... i dunno. You just can't make every episode a life-or-death-we're-gonna-tell-you-10-things-about-the-others.

You have to accept these types of episode in every season. However, the story was interesting, provided some character clarification for Desmond, delivered some comedy, and the flashback gave a good amount of insight into the characters. This kind of ho-hum episode is not a bad episode like say... Stranger in a Strange Land.

I still don't think Juliet's ending is a slap in the face. Juliet wants off the island, she is clear on this, that is her central motivation. Ben thinks he's playing her like he played Michael. She's not trying to please the Others and not trying to please Jack (well... not yet anyhow).

No, the girl recognized Desmond.

I thought it was a good episode, one of the better ones, better than anything in season 2 for me. The Desmond ones are always well done for some reason. I get the impression the writers just really enjoy writing his story.

I suppose so, I'd comment more but my memory of how some episodes played it isn't as sharp as I'd like. What I was getting at isn't that I mind there being transition episodes that establish the plot later on, like a three-six episode arc per se. It just feels like there's some that end with me feeling like this was a damn great hour of TV that shed some light or gave me a different perspective on a character or actor or just kept me never looking at my watch, and this wasn't one of them. As you said, it's by no means subpar, just the weakest Desmond episode thusfar.

This episode was pretty great. Desmond continues to be my favorite character on the show, besides Locke. My favorites would be Sayid, Sawyer, Ben, and Juliet. Hopefully none of these characters die by the end of the season *Crosses fingers*

Pretty brutal opening death scene for Charlie at the beginning. The camping scenes (with the guys whisting "The Colonel Bogey March"), as well as the hilarious scary story told by Jin and Hurley's resulting reaction were priceless.

It looks like the end of the season has a good chance of kicking lots of ass.

Yeah but when your previous episodes are Live Together, Die Alone and Flashes Before Your Eyes, that's a lot to overcome

couldn't she have know him also? and was this the first Desmond vision that was wrong as wh was the girl, Penny, shown in the vision.

I don't think he saw the woman as Penny but more like he saw flashes of Penny's face in between flashes of the vision.

Desmond never saw the face of the woman. He saw a flash of the actual photo. He assumed it was Penny, especially after they found the picture.

The conclusions that I draw from this are pretty straightforward:

Desmond pushed the fail-safe (Live Togehter, Die Alone: Season 2 finale)
Electromagnetic-purple-explosions-in-the-sky (Season 2 finale)
Penny wakes up when the Antarctica station reports they've found the island (Season 2 finale)
Penny is rich, and her father has connections to the Island/Dharma/something (established as part of online game)
Penny gives picture of her and Desmond to searchers (conjecture)
Helocopter crashes in the ocean off the island, girl parachutes (Catch-22)
While parachuting, pack drops in the jungle (conjecture)
Desmond finds parachuter, she recognizes him from the picture as Desmond.

I don't know what happens yet, I haven't read spoilers for this.

Her name IS Naomi though.

There's actually quite a few trivia bits on Catch-22 on http://www.lostpedia.com

- Brother Campbell has a picture on his desk with him and Ms. Hawking in front of the monistary (Ms. Hawking is the store clerk from Flashes Before Your Eyes, who convinces Desmond not to buy the ring and that he can't change the future without it catching up.) Also of note is that Ms. Hawking's name is derived (probably) from Stephen Hawking.

- The Hula figurine that they found in the jungle is similar to one that's in Hurley's Hummer in Numbers from Season 1

- "The copy of Catch-22 found in the jungle is a Brazilian edition, published by Editora Record (identifiable by the logo). In Brazil, the language spoken is Portuguese, the same language the "snow men" spoke in the listening station at the end of the season 2 finale "Live Together, Die Alone"

- "The arrow pierces Charlie's neck in the flashback, while the actual arrow pierces the neck of Charlie's guitar. "

- "Ruth tells Desmond it was a good thing he wasn't found by a shepherd or he'd be "off with the sheep". In "Live Together, Die Alone", Desmond is found by Jack (Shephard) in his boat, and eventually he joins the Losties."

- "Brother Campbell tells Desmond that they have only made 108 cases of wine. (The Numbers) "

- "Ruth's House number is 234. (The Numbers) "

http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Catch-22

that seems to fit.

I am catching up with the episodes I missed over the last weeks and up to the 16th now (One of US). I must say, there is some imrpovement to be seen in comparison to the last season. Not quite as excellent as the first, but it is getting very very good.

I am only disappointed that the season finaly will feature yet ANOTHER Jack flashbacks.

I actually thought it was one of the season's better episodes.

Clearly we don't know enough about Jack yet.

Maybe he was a serial killer????????

Maybe he has a few tattoos where the sun doesn't shine?

Don't highlight this unless you want a gigantic spoiler. I mean... huge. HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE. This is from Spoilerfix about episode 3.19 "The Brig"



I flippin love this show.

^ I kind of saw that coming, but HOLY FUCK still. Thanks, Andaroo.

That's some crazy shit...

*resists huge urge to highlight spoiler*

I'm a little biased to the Desmond stories because the actor who plays him grew up in the same obscure place I did at roughly the same time, so it's like seeing a "hometown" guy make good. Not that I ever heard of him before the show. But I think even without that I'd still like those episodes a lot.

sweeeettt

I've been expecting the island exists in some kind of alternate universe/time period for a while