| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"Par Avion" is the 12th episode of Season 3, and originally broadcasted on March 14, 2007. After noticing some migratory birds, Claire hatches an impressive plan to get the survivors of Flight 815 rescued. Meanwhile, Sayid, Kate, John and Danielle continue their trek to the barracks with prisoner in tow.
Synopsis
Flashbacks
The car wreck
A left eye with heavy black eye-liner slowly opens; it is Claire. She has awakens to slowly realize that she is sitting in her automobile immediately after a severe car accident. She is cut, her airbag is deployed and deflated, the windshield has been completely shattered, and her mother's body has apparently been thrown through it onto the pavement outside. When her door doesn't work, she crawls out through the windshield to her mother, who remains motionless.
At the hospital while Claire's forehead wound is being stitched, a policeman, Officer Barnes, enters and questions her about the accident. She immediately becomes very defensive when she believes he is implying the fault was hers, or that her mother may die.
Returning to the hospital after briefly going home for a shower, Claire finds her aunt Lindsey in her mother's room. They have a brief confrontation where Claire is accused of not caring about her mother, when a doctor enters the room. He informs them that the surgery has stabilized her mother's condition, but upon further questioning from Claire, he indicates that her mother may be in a permanent coma. When Aunt Lindsey says that they can't afford such long term medical care, the doctor reveals that the entire medical bill has been covered by an anonymous benefactor.
Claire meets her father, Christian Shephard
Claire later returns to visit her mother to find an American doctor, Christian Shephard, in the room, lightly touching her mother's forearm. When Lindsey enters the room, she immediately demands to know what he is here and begins to argue heatedly with him. Claire is confused as to his identity and why Lindsey knows him. Eventually the man reveals that he is Claire's father, that she had been told was dead.
Sometime later, Claire is working in a tattoo and piercing parlor when Dr. Shephard enters, and asks her to join him for a conversation over coffee before he leaves Australia. Although she is angry, eventually Claire agrees.
Claire and Christian share a cup of coffee and discuss her mother's fate.
During their meeting at a coffee shop, Christian explains that he had a fling with her mother some years ago that resulted in her birth, and that he had visited occasionally when she was younger, but that the fact that he had another family in the United States eventually made her mother and Lindsey too resentful. Christian then attempts to persuade Claire that because her mother's prognosis is so poor, letting her die outright may be the right thing to do. When Claire does not agree, and stands and begins to leave her father forever without even knowing his name, he suggests that it is her guilt for her mother's condition, rather than hope for her recovery, that may be her true motivation.
Many months or years later, Claire returns to the hospital to visit her still-comatose mother, which now seems to be a routine; she is sporting blonde hair and is obviously pregnant. She turns the television on to a nature program showing a scene of migratory birds flying in formation. She explains to her unconscious mother that she is pregnant, and is about to give the baby away for adoption. She also apologizes to her mother, explaining that she now understands better how hard it was for her mother to raise her. Sobbing, she then apologizes for arguing with her mother during the fateful car ride, where she told her that she hated her, and wished she was dead, and takes responsibility for the subsequent accident.
At the beach camp
Charlie's breakfast and "G-Day" note to Claire
Claire awakens in her tent to a plate of fruit beside her with a message attached to it, reading, "G-Day."
Charlie arrives at her tent, carrying Aaron, and tells her about a picnic he's planned on the beach, and arranged for Sun and Jin to take care of Aaron while they dine. Before Charlie and Claire can settle into their picnic, Desmond comes out of the jungle requesting for Charlie to come hunting with him. Although Charlie is reluctant, Desmond subtly implies to him that he has received a vision telling him Charlie will die if he remains with Claire. At the same time, Claire notices seagulls flying in the air and announces that she has realized a possible way of getting off the island.
Claire explains that the seagulls are migrating south, and that scientists have tagged them to see where they land in comparison to where they took off from. She devises a plan to capture a seagull and tie a rescue note to its leg in hopes that a scientist will find and read it, and enlists Sun and Jin to help. She attempts to persuade Charlie as well, however, he remains uncharacteristically pessimistic, refusing to help. While Jin prepares a net, Claire and Sun chop up fish to use as bait. Sun muses this is precisely what her mother feared - her growing up to cut bait. Claire and Sun briefly discuss their parent's expectations for them before the net is completed and they begin the seagull catching. While a lone bird is attracted to the trap, the group's attempts to capture a bird are thwarted when Desmond fires a hunting rifle, claiming to be boar hunting, and scares the bird away. Frustrated, Claire demands that Charlie tell her why he and Desmond do not want her to catch a bird. When Charlie refuses, Claire stammers that she doesn't want liars raising Aaron.
Desmond explains his vision of Charlie dying to Claire.
Distraught, Claire decides to find out what's going on for herself. She follows Desmond to a rocky area off the coastline, where he effortlessly captures a seagull from a grassy nest on the rocks. Claire confronts Desmond, saying that based on how easily he found the bird, he knew it would be there. Desmond whimsically replies, "How would I know that?" After a long silence, Desmond gestures to a rock, saying that that's where Charlie fell into the ocean, was slammed repeatedly against the rocks by the current, and subsequently died.
Returning to camp, Claire tells Charlie that Desmond told her about his visions of Charlie's death. Claire writes a rescue note and Charlie ties it to the seagull's leg. The note informs the reader of the survivors' current circumstances, and encourages them to never give up hope on finding them. Claire releases the bird while Charlie solemnly stands beside her. She promises that they can face his supposedly doomed fate together, and that she has not given up hope on him either.
En route to the Barracks
The sonic barrier that surrounds the entire barracks
We join the search party while they rest. Sayid checks the map he found in the Flame Station to ensure they are still on the right path, and Locke notes that it being an electrical map, it may not be completely accurate. Sayid retorts that the electrical map is more reliable than Locke's "magical stick," which Locke soulfully denies, adding that it led them to The Flame. At a river stop, Kate asks Rousseau why she isn't more interested in her daughter. Using Jack as a metaphor, she explains that if Kate had not seen Jack for 16 years, despite how much she cared for him and his wellbeing, he would never remember her, nor would he know of her efforts to find him.
Later, Kate asks Mikhail how he arrived on the island, despite Rousseau's assurance that anything he says will be a lie. Nevertheless, he recalls that he was approached by a man when he was 24 and arrived on a submarine. She asks him if his people can come and go as they please. They can to some extent, he explains, but because since the underwater beacon was deactivated after the electromagnetic pulse, the submarine cannot return to the island if it left, but can still leave. Kate admits she cannot understand why they would wish to remain on the island willingly, and Mikhail says that they wouldn't understand. Kate demands for him to answer, and Mikhail explains that they could simply not comprehend why they would want to be on the island. Only those on the list, he says, would understand their reason to be on the island, but that Kate, Locke and Sayid are not on this list. That the list is made by the same man who brought all the "others" to the island. When Kate and Sayid mention that Ben being the leader, Mikhail says that Ben isn't the leader. Mikhail then explains that Locke is not on the list because of his anger and that Sayid is not on the list because he is "weak and afraid". Sayid laughs that the Others are not as omniscient as they want the survivors to believe, a claim which Mikhail rebuttals by addressing them all by their first and last names. He says, sarcastically, that Sayid and Kate are strangers to him, however, he has a memory of a John Locke, but that he must be mistaken because the John Locke he knew was "para--". He is cut off by Rousseau, who beckons for the group to examine what she has discovered.
Mikhail hemorrhages as he's trapped in the sonic barrier
Rousseau finds a series of metallic posts with knobs on either side of the top established on a parameter surrounding the Barracks. When asked what its purpose is, Mikhail responds that it once was supposed to guard the barracks, but that it is now broken. Sayid suggests that they bypass it - an impossible feat, because the fence completely surrounds the barracks. Frustrated, Locke pushes Mikhail forward to test it, and Mikhail is gruesomely killed upon coming in between two of the poles, blood gushing out of his nose and ears, accompanied by a haunting buzzing sound.
Jack playing football with Tom/Mr. Friendly
Before he dies, Mikhail gasps a "thank you" to Locke. Sayid questions Locke's motives for accompanying them, and Locke is found to be hiding C4 in his backpack, showing he knew The Flame was wired with explosives, contrary to what he claimed earlier. They climb over the sonar gate using a tree that they cut down, placing it atop the poles and using it to climb over them, thus bypassing their deadly security system.
Once past them, the group makes a short, uneventful journey to the barracks, where they hide behind various wildlife on the outskirts of the town. Surprisingly, the barracks are not a military installation as their name implies, but a more modern, suburb-like area, complete with inviting houses, sidewalks, decorative plantlife, and recreational utilities. The others do not notice them, instead focused on their merriment, some bike-riding, others jogging, or socializing. Suddenly, Kate sees Jack racing toward their hiding place. Kate shouts his name and begins to move toward Jack, but is held back by Sayid long enough to see that Jack is nonchalantly playing football with Tom. As the scene comes to an end, Jack is seen spiking the football to the ground, simulating a touch down.
Trivia
- Par Avion is French for "by plane". It is used on airmail letters like the one "sent" by Charlie and Claire.
- There are two instances where the flight of birds are featured prominently (Claire sees them while standing with Charlie, and as Kate and the others are about to cross the fence). Romans used augurs to examine the flight of birds and determine whether a course of action already decided upon met with the approval of the gods.
- Aves is the Latin word for "bird."
- Matthew Fox played wide receiver for the Columbia Lions during his college football years. [1] Fox also starred in the film "We Are Marshall", a film about the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team.
- Claire sets Aaron on a Bondi Beach t-shirt. This beach is a popular location near Sydney.
- Visible at the Barracks are men and women using a lawn fertilizer cart, bicycles, swing sets, carrying backpacks. There is also a child.
- In Claire's tattoo shop there is flash that says "Alex".
- Charlie doesn't actually attach the message to the seagull, it is quite clearly visible in the palm of his hand. This is most likely because he, along with Locke and Rose, knows what fate will await him should he leave the island and be separated from Desmond.
- This is most likely a prop error, as the actors were probably instructed to not literrally tie a note to a bird. The note is not visible in the wide shots as his right hand is noticeably open and Claire is seen holding his left hand.
Recurring themes
| Recurring themes |
|---|
| Animals • Black and white • Character connections • Children • Coincidence • Death • Deceptions and cons • Dreams • Economics • Electromagnetism • Eyes • Fate versus free will • Games • Good and bad people • Imprisonment • Isolation • Leadership • Life and death • Literary works • Mirrors • Missing body parts • Nicknames • The Numbers • Pairings • Parapsychology • Parent issues • Pregnancies • Psychology • Rain • Redemption • Relationships • Religion • Revenge • Salvation • Secrets |
- Claire's mother is in a coma. (Life and Death)
- Claire once told her mother she hated her and later rejects her father. (Parent Issues)
- Claire wants to use birds to communicate with the outside world. (Animals)
- Sawyer is reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. (Books)
- Claire and Jack are revealed to be unknown half-siblings. (Connections)
- Claire changed her hair from blonde to black. (Black and White)
- Desmond insists that he was hunting boar when confronted by Claire. (Animals)
- The flashback and island scenes begin with closeups of Claire's eye. (Eyes)
- Claire initially tells Charlie to stay away from her, but in the end, says they will get through his situation together. (Isolation)
- Unknown to be half-siblings, Jack and Claire are on the same flight and Claire happens to be on the same flight as her father's corpse. (Coincidence)
- Claire thinks she can get everyone off the island by attaching a message to a tagged seagull before it migrates, though Charlie only pretends to attach the message. (Salvation)
- Jack was playing catch football with Tom. (Games)
- Claire apologizes to her mother for treating her badly. (Redemption)
- The odometer in Claire's car ends in 10.8 in black and white letters (Black and White) (The Numbers)
- Mikhail claims that "He" is a "magnificent" man. (Good and bad people)
- Claire works in a piercing/tattoo shop. Her half brother Jack has a tattoo which has only been partially explained to date (Connections)
Storyline analysis
| Storyline analysis |
|---|
| A-Missions • Crimes • Economics • Leadership • O-Missions • Relationships • F-Missions • Rivalries • S-Missions |
- The rivalry between Lindsey and Christian Shephard is clarified. (Rivalries)
- The rivalry between Sayid and Locke is intensified when Locke kills Mikhail. (Rivalries)
- Part II of the A-Mission to rescue Jack is complete when the A-Team reach the Barracks. (A-Missions)
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
|
- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Par Avion/Theories
- Why do the barracks require such extreme security measures?
- Will Claire's plan for rescue yield any results?
- How did Mikhail know the surnames of the survivors, and how did he know about Locke's paralysis?
- Has Jack made a deal with the Others or somehow been "converted" by them?
- What is the list that Mikhail referred to?
- Why does Mikhail thank Locke for killing him?
- When Kate climbed over the Sonic Barrier, and examined Mikhail's body, why did he appear to be still breathing?
- Is Mikhail actually dead?
- How do the Others safely cross the Sonic Barrier? When Flight 815 crashed, Ethan and Goodwin had limited amount of time to make it to the wreckage.
- If subterranean passages are available, why didn't the team attempt to search them out?
- Will Claire and Jack realize that they are half-siblings?
- Was the fence built to keep people in or out?
- How had Rousseau never come across the fence in her 16 years on the island?
- Why did Christian Shephard tell hospital staff he was the doctor attending Claire's mother? Why didn't he just say he was a visitor?
- If the Fence was sonic, why didn't it affect the rest of the group? How was the sound contained so precisely?
- If Desmond can see the future why is he so secretive about it?
- If Desmond wanted to prevent Charlie's death on the rocks, why did he thwart Claire and Sun's effort to catch a bird?
- Jack's "new" tattoo: it can be seen when he's playing ball at the end of the episode... what is it?
External links
- ABC Medianet (Press Release)