I think I’ve figured out what it is specifically about Lost that gives me the willies…and causes me to beg my husband to not be away on business on Wednesday nights…because the show scares me…especially when it’s dark outside. The Bachelor scares me too, but in a different, more manageable way (anyone see that train wreck of a slumber party last night? Glad Mary, Queen of Tots is still around).

It’s the music. Lost has that intense, head-pounding score that indeed, makes my head pound. At the end of each episode I have this odd feeling that I, too am trapped on a surreal, mystical desert island with an eclectic mix of people and odd supernatural goings-on. Oh wait, I do. I live in a Dallas suburb. Hee.

As is de rigeur for each episode now, we focus primarily on one character. This time, it was Jack’s turn…Jack…de facto leader and accidental savior of Camp Fuselage. Turns out, Jacko isn’t the calm, cool, collected, confident guy we thought he was. Jack grew up with a troubled father, a distracted mother (Veronica Hamel!) and the mindset that he wasn’t good enough to do anything drilled into his head, what appeared to be every day. Sheesh…the guy made it through medical school…that’s got to count for something.

Anyhoo…Jack’s dad goes off on one of his habitual mental health sabbaticals, this time to Australia, and Mommie Dearest commands Jack to go get him and bring him home. We discover Jack’s dad had a heart attack and you just know a lot went unsaid between those two, because poor Jack wasn’t raised with the guts to tell his father off. One thing I love about Lost is how it ever so subtly points out to the audience that if not for a twist of fate, all of these people would have been on a different plane. Last week, because Locke was rejected from the Walkabout, he was on his way home early. This week, the ticketing agent at Oceanic didn’t want to let Jack and his Undocumented Dead Dad on the plane and suggested, “Perhaps another carrier…” might be able to accomodate them. Nooooooooooooooo…Jack wants to fly Oceanic and he wants to fly it now.

The guy that Jack keeps seeing…on the end of the beach, in the waves…that’s his dad. At one point, Jack starts chasing Dad through the jungle, slips and falls and is hanging off a cliff when Locke just happens to wander by (small island?) and saves our fair hero. I know folks think Locke is creepy, but he knows what the deal is on the island…and we’re starting to clue in, as well. Camp Fuselage is where you come to grips with the misery in your life…and you either triumph over it or you don’t. Locke tells Jack that everyone is looking to him to be the leader, whether he likes it or not…so it’s time to step up and assume the role. First though, Jack has to figure out what he’s chasing. After another sprint through the jungle (or the Turtle Bay Resort, as I’ve discovered…beautiful hotel, by the way…I’ve been there) Jack happens upon a fresh water spring (good thing, since the camp’s out of water) and Dad’s coffin. No dad, though. Oooooooooooh. {wiggling Halloween fingers} Jack beats the crap out of the coffin, gets out 38 years of pent-up anger and hostility and frustration…then pulls it back together and comes back to the beach.

He tells everyone that it’s unlikely anyone is coming to get them so it’s time to get organized and settle in. Yay! Can you take the blunt object you used to turn Dad’s coffin into firewood and knock Sawyer around a bit? Thanks so much.

What did you all think of last night’s episode?