Lost (TV Series) Par Avion (2007) User Reviews

Revelations and Hope

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 17 March 2007]

Claire recalls her car accident in Australia, when her mother was severely wounded, and while in coma in the hospital, she had a chance to know her biological father and learn about migration of birds. When she sees seagulls in the island, she decides to capture one tagged bird to send a message to the biologists that monitor the birds. However, Desmond sabotages her trial, and she does not understand the reasons. Meanwhile, Sayid, Kate and Locke find a set of towers surrounding and protecting the camp of The Others. When they successfully trespass the perimeter, they see Jack and have a surprise.

In this great episode, there is an important revelation about the bonds between Claire and Jack. The rescue team finds the secret spot where The Others live and the mysterious behavior of Jack increases the mystery in the plot. And the most important, there is a sequence with the charismatic characters of the survival camp that we fans have learned to love. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Note: On 8 April 2013, I saw this episode again on DVD.

Claire

[nananow · 8/10 · 1 April 2022]

So while I enjoyed the episode, we are once again having to suffer through the nasally, shrieking and foot stomping of Claire. She seems incapable of reasoning an issue without a tantrum and suppositions first. Her instincts are to challenge and accuse in a childlike manner while lies form as easily as nursery rhymes. We are now having to accept her contrite and almost conciliatory attitude which is almost harder to swallow than her nature. I feel alone in my assessment of claire, but it has been with me throughout the series. This is my second go through and nothing has changed for me.

"I'm not giving up on you either, Charlie"

[gridoon2024 · 8/10 · 18 March 2009]

"Par Avion" is another episode, like "The Cost Of Living", that manages to balance multiple story lines running at once and make all of them count. The on-island beach-camp stuff focuses on Claire and Charlie, whose relationship, for all its rocky periods, is one of the sweetest on the show. But Desmond's visions about Charlie's future continue, and once again he has to do everything he can to cheat fate. Meanwhile, Locke, Kate, Sayid, Danielle and their prisoner from "Enter 77" Mikhail have some intriguing confrontations ("You weren't on the list") and encounter the mysterious "sonic fence" on their way to the Others' base. The flashbacks show how Claire finally learned the truth about her father, and give Emilie de Ravin a few shining moments. But the absolute best part of "Par Avion" is, IMO, the very last scene: a scene so brilliant, it could only have come from LOST. *** out of 4.

Back to Lost

[dragonpyr13 · 10/10 · 14 March 2007]

Okay, even though I am an avid Lost fan, I'll admit that it seems Lost hasn't been, well, Lost this season. Though with this episode, Lost has really gotten back on track...

I'll say: this contains spoilers, so be warned.....

First of all, the Claire flashbacks were classic: the flashbacks were used to show the viewer why she made the choices she did, why she is who she is. And, the flashbacks probably gave us what seemed like the first answer in the history of the show: who Claire's father is (though it wasn't brought up til the beginning of the episode).

And in Lost fashion, it's revealed to be Christian, Jack's father. I've been wondering who it was Christian visited when he was with Anna Lucia last season. I actually presumed that it was Claire, though it turns out to be her aunt (I presume it isn't her mom according to my timeline...I could be wrong, but that'd explain why that woman was yelling at him as Claire's aunt hates him). Right when the nurse mentioned the American doctor, I remembered Claire's earlier comment about not knowing her father, and I put 2 and 2 together...

I also liked the seagull storyline. It seemed believable, unlike some of the things that have been going on...

Now to John Locke. Locke, as we all know, is one of the most important characters, though we don't know about his accident, and it also seems that he knows more than he puts on about the island (what was the eye-patch guy gonna say about him?!?!). Seems like we'll know more about him next week.

And the end of the show. WHAT was that? Jack playing football with Tom at the modern jungle village-place? The only thing I can think of is the Others blessed Jack with their unlimited knowledge as to what the heck they're doing there, so on....other than that, I have NO clue. See, that even adds to how Lost usually goes. A story is wrapped up in an episode, and a 30 second add-on at the end leaves the viewer wondering "what the...." I love it.

I really think Lost is getting back on track, and I believe it'd be even more so if it came on at 9....but that's just me.

Par Avion

[ametaphysicalshark · 15 December 2008]

"Par Avion" is reminiscent of one of those slightly tiresome season 2 episodes with a lot of walking to places, an irrelevant, time-wasting on-island plot to go with the walking, and a 'what the hell?' moment to cause people to forget the hour gone by and tune in next week. The episode is held afloat by the fact that the walking to places part of things (specifically it's Kate, Sayid, Locke, and Mikhail making their way from the Flame to the Barracks) is quite enjoyable, and by the excellent flashback which features a major revelation. The plot with the birds is unnecessary and entirely pointless, so much so that it has become something the writers themselves joke about and point to as the ultimate example of stalling due to network negotiations. All in all this is merely a linking episode with no real power on its own, but the flashbacks are good and well-acted.

By hopeful air

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 24 April 2018]

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

"Par Avion" is not quite classic 'Lost' overall, although there are elements of it, but it's towards the top half of the third season if not quite at the very top. It is a great episode with very little to dislike and from personal opinion it is not my definition of a filler/transition episode. Everything with the birds/seagulls may not have been the most crucial part of the story, but it did serve a point in Claire recalling and learning about her past. It may not be the most tautly paced 'Lost' episode and not the most eventful in terms of the island events.

On the other hand, "Par Avion" gets a lot of credit for giving some much needed and long overdue development to Claire. What is done with her and how she's developed makes for one of the more interesting and emotional personal stories of the season and for one of the best acted and progressive flashbacks of the season too.

The flashback is beautifully acted, Claire is written and developed the best she was up to this point of 'Lost' and it features a major revelation that leaves one floored and is one of the most shocking revelations of the season. The ending was a surprise too. There is character progression and there are elements that do advance in terms of the island events, like with The Others and the mystery of them and Jack's behaviour.

All the acting is excellent, particularly here from Emilie De Ravin.

Loved too the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, the effective use of music, the nicely done writing and the controlled direction. Things don't get dull either.

Concluding, great episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox

to the author of "Back to Lost"

[ron23804 · 9/10 · 15 March 2007]

While I agree that this episode was great, I cannot dismiss other episodes this season as being either equally great or even better - the "Desmond-centric" episode especially comes to mind. There have been a couple of seeming "clunkers" this year, but while they may come across as "filler" episodes now, who knows how relevant to the Lost mythology they may someday become?

You may have noticed prevailing "black" and "white" themes presented in Lost. We have another occurrence of this with the "Goth" Claire versus the "good" Claire. We now also have a further timeline marker with the differing colors of Claire's hair.

As far as Claire's father being Jack's father, I felt this gave us viewers validation that sometimes the clues presented on the series are not red herrings. For this I was glad. As viewers, we already surmised that Claire and Jack shared the same father from having deduced previously presented clues. To have this proved provides a sense of satisfaction and knowledge that we can indeed accurately guess at least some of the mysteries presented on Lost. To this end, we have now learned that Claire does not know the name of her father. This is a plot point that can be used as a clue. Why do the writers feel the need for the viewers to know this? The answer is so that neither Jack nor Claire can deduce their true relationship. From this I theorize that Jack and Claire will find themselves in an almost if not completely romantic relationship in the not so far future (perhaps season three's finale?) a la Luke and Leia from Star Wars.

On the subject of deducing clues, as for Jack's playfulness at the end of this episode, I conclude that what we witnessed was indeed not Jack, not the Jack we've seen in previous episodes at least, but was in fact a brainwashed Jack (or if the show is leading where I really think it's leading, and in that case would be a cloned version of Jack).