‘Lost’: Brush up on your Egyptian

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Just when ‘Lost’s’ producers had sent us rushing out to pick up copies of the King James Bible with their allusions to Doubting Thomas and Christ-like iconography, now it appears we’re going to have to learn all about the ancient Egyptians’ beliefs in the afterlife as well.

It turns out Hurley’s watercolor of the Great Sphinx last week was apparently just a preview of what’s to come. In ‘LaFleur,’ we finally got a glimpse of the rest of ‘Lost’s’ famous four-toed statue, and although we only saw the back of it, it looks like it would be right at home in the Valley of the Kings.

But which Egyptian god is it? It could be Anubis, sure. But the ears look wrong. Maybe it’s Thoth? He passed judgment on the dead, among his other duties. The possibilities are endless, and we won’t know for sure until we see that face. Will it have an animal’s face -- or the face of someone we know?

Meanwhile, Paul, the dead Dharma Initiative member, went to meet his maker wearing an ankh, the Egyptian symbol of eternal life. And when Richard Alpert showed up looking quite angry after two of his men had been killed, he was satisfied by taking Paul’s body with him. Why’s that? Perhaps it’s because a lot of the Others’ membership is made up of people who aren’t as dead as we originally believed. You know, like Christian Shephard or even poor, missing Claire.

But besides the statue, the biggest question I came away with from this episode was, who was the baby boy delivered by Juliet? Someone we know already? Or was this birth just a minor plot point to be forgotten about? I really doubt the birth was just a throwaway, and I suspect we weren’t told the kid’s name on purpose. Nor did we learn his mother’s last name. I’m sure there will be more on that to come. Because if that kid was born successfully on the island, what happened between 1977 and 2004 to make all pregnancies a one-way death ticket for the mothers?

For those ‘Lost’ fans more interested in the romance than the mystery, the great Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet love square just connected two more dots as Juliet and Sawyer finally hooked up. And judging by the frosty relationship between Jack and Kate, it’s amazing that it was Sawyer who turned out to be the more stable boyfriend. Well, stable for all of three off-camera years. Now that Kate’s back on the island, I suspect his relationship with Juliet will go south fast. And that would make two relationships that Kate has soured for poor Juliet. How much of that sort of thing can one woman take before she finally snaps? Something tells me we’re about to see a big Juliet-Kate confrontation. Very soon.

It was nice to hear Sawyer finally reference the fact that everyone believes Richard Alpert wears eyeliner, although the producers have gone on record explaining that actor Nestor Carbonell simply has thick, dark eyelashes. No matter. If we take into account the newly Egyptian bent to the show, then we have to consider that Alpert’s eyeliner is kohl, and wearing it is just a habit he picked up during his days cruising the Nile. (One thing that continues to bug me -- if the island does have its roots in ancient Egyptian culture, why is the island’s exit point in modern-day Tunisia and not Egypt?)

Two weeks before our next ‘Lost’ fix (I thought they instituted the late start date to avoid skipping weeks?), so that’s plenty of time for everyone to get up to speed on mummification, pyramid power and the proper response Juliet should have to ‘Freckles’ ’ return.

Still, Sawyer’s conversation with Alpert about the fate of the ‘Jughead’ bomb leaves me disturbed. Is the whole island going to blow up?

--Patrick Kevin Day