The Orchid: Orientation Video

Can't see the embedded video? Click here to view
This video (which I believe is from The Lost Experience) gives a big clue about the powers of the island, and shows where future episodes might be heading. Apparently, it is possible for 2 of one thing to exist (probably by using some kind of time travel or phase jump, where those 2 #15 rabbits are the same beast existing in different areas of time, or something like that). I'll leave further theories to you...

4.13 There’s No Place Like Home (Parts 2 and 3)

Jack and Sawyer reach the Orchid and find Hurley – and Locke. Locke is wandering around, looking for the elevator. Locke asks to speak to Jack, and once again tries to convince him that Jack must not leave the island. He fails, but he fares better at convincing Jack that if they do go, they must lie about what happened.

On the boat, Desmond is examining the bomb. He has enough experience in this area to say that there is no way to disarm it. The best Michael can come up with is to delay the explosion by spraying the battery with liquid hydrogen.

Ben shows up to help Locke find the elevator. Together, Ben and Locke descend. Ben busies Locke with an informational Dharma video while he loads a chamber with everything metal he can find. Locke discovers that the purpose of the station was to use the natural elements of the island to do experiments in time travel. Keamy interrupts them, having been saved by his body armor. Keamy tells them that he is rigged with a dead man’s trigger – if he dies, the freighter will blow up. Intent on revenge for his daughter’s death, Ben mortally wounds Keamy anyway, and despite Locke’s efforts, he dies soon after. Ben sends Locke back to become leader of the Others, while Ben dons a warm coat and descends to an ice-filled cave.

Jack, Sawyer, and Hurley head for the chopper. Frank takes Sawyer, Hurley, Jack, and Kate on the chopper, but as they get over the ocean, the fuel gauge heads for empty. They discover that fuel is leaking out of two bullet holes in the tank. Frank says they need to lose a couple hundred more pounds to make it. Sawyer whispers something to Kate, kisses her, and then jumps out. the helicopter reaches the boat, and Frank lands, despite Desmond yelling ‘bomb!’ and trying to wave them away. Michael has run out of nitrogen, and the explosion is imminent. Kate, Hurley, Jack, Sayid, Desmond, Sun and Aaron get on the chopper; Jin tries to make it, but Frank has to take off before he can get there. Sun screams for Jin, but after the freighter explodes, Jack tells her he is gone.

Dan comes back for his second load of people. He pulls Miles and Charlotte aside and tells them they must get on the next boatload, for their own safety. Miles says he has decided to stay on the island, and, soon after, Miles convinces Charlotte to stay as well.

At the chopper, Kate runs out of the jungle, causing Keamy to draw his gun. Kate says she is being pursued by Ben’s people. Soon, all but Keamy have been ambushed. Kate and Ben take the opportunity to run off, with Keamy in pursuit. Keamy is gaining ground when Sayid tackles him. Keamy and Sayid fight, with Keamy getting the upper hand. Just as he is about to finish off Sayid, Richard arrives and shoots Keamy. Ben and Richard converse; Ben tells Kate and she and Sayid are free to get on the chopper and leave the island.

Sawyer successfully swims back to the island, where he sees Juliet sitting on the beach, drinking from a bottle of Dharma rum. She points to the ocean, where a plume of smoke marks the spot where the freighter used to be.

Ben turns an ancient wheel; the surrounding area becomes brightly lit. Above, the chopper is now has the island in view. Suddenly, bright light engulfs all; when it abates, the island is gone. Frank has no choice but to bring the chopper down in the ocean. The survivors all make it into the life raft. As night-time falls, a boat approaches. It is Penny’s boat; she and Desmond are emotionally reunited. Jack speaks to Penny and formulates a plan to dumb the survivors in a raft so they can paddle to a nearly island and be officially rescued there. This will lend credence to their story of being the only survivors of the crash.

The flash-forward:

Jack tells Kate that they were not meant to leave the island. Kate vehemently disagrees, and is angered that Jack would even suggest it. She also is angry that Jack would believe Jeremy Bentham’s claim that they must go back.

Sun journeys to England to offer her help to Charles Widmore.

In the mental institution, Hurley is visiting by Walt’s grandmother, who has brought Walt. Walt asks Hurley why no one came to visit him – except for Jeremy Bentham. Walt asks why they are all lieing; Hurley says it is to protect everyone that didn’t come back.

Sayid kills a suspicious man who was sitting in a car outside Hurley’s mental institution, that breaks in and convinces Hurley to come with him to someplace safe. Hurley agrees after Sayid tells him that Bentham is dead.

Kate dreams of Claire. Claire tells Kate, "You can’t bring him back, Kate. Don’t you dare bring him back!"

Jack breaks into the funeral parlor where Jeremy Bentham is in a casket. Ben is there. Ben tells Jack that he must go back to the island, and that he cannot go alone – he must bring everyone else, including the man in the casket. The camera moves overhead to reveal that the dead man known as Jeremy Bentham is John Locke.

Comments

Walt has grown so fast that he is almost unrecognizable.

Quotable Quotes

"Dude, I've been having regular conversations with dead people. The last thing I need now is paranoia."
- Hurley to Sayid

Locke: It's not an island. It's a place where miracles happen. And--and--if you--if you don't believe that, Jack, if you can't believe that, just wait till you see what I'm about to do.
Jack: There's no such thing as miracles.
Locke: Well... we'll just have to see which one of us is right.

Jack: What did you wanna talk to me about, John?
Locke: I want you to reconsider leaving the island, Jack. I would like you to stay.
Jack: You'd like me to stay.
Locke: Yeah, that's right.
Jack: You threw a knife into the back of an unarmed woman. You led half of our people across the island and got most of them killed.
Locke: Well, Jack, you put a gun to my head and you pulled the trigger. I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones.
Jack: Well, I' tell you what. You stay here in your little greenhouse, but the rest of us are going home.
Locke: But you're not supposed to go home.
Jack: And what am I supposed to do? Oh, I think I remember. What was it that you said on the way out to the hatch - that crashing here was our destiny?
Locke: You know, Jack. You know that you're here for a reason. You know it. And if you leave this place, that knowledge is gonna eat you alive from the inside out... until you decide to come back.

 

"Hey, Kenny Rogers. What you trying to do there, pick a lock?"
- Sawyer

Kate: We have to go back? We have to go back? Who do you think you are? You call me over and over again for two days straight, stoned on your pills, and you show up here with an obituary for Jeremy Bentham. When he came to me and I heard what he had to say, I knew he was crazy. But you, you believed him.
Jack: Yes.
Kate: Him, of all people.
Jack: Yes, Kate, I did, because he said that it was the only way to keep you safe, you and Aaron.
(Kate slaps Jack.)
Kate: Don't you say his name! I still have to explain to him why you're not there to read to him, so don't you say his name!
Jack: I'm sorry.
Kate: I spent the last three years trying to forget all the horrible things that happened on the day that we left. How dare you ask me to go back!

"Lie to them, Jack. If you do it half as well as you lie to yourself, they'll believe you."
- Locke

Locke: Ben, what did you do? You just killed everybody on that boat.
Ben: So?

4.12 There’s No Place Like Home (Part 1)

Ben seems to know how the island can be moved, and where this move can be initiated: at the station known as the Orchid. They stop as they near the Orchid. Ben digs up a case and uses a mirror to signal someone on a nearby mountain. At the Orchid, Ben, Locke, and Hurley discover that the soldiers are already there. Ben says he has a plan: he walks in unarmed and surrenders to Keamy, and gets a pistol to the face in reply.

Dan uses the dropped phone to monitor a conversation between Keamy and his troops, where their destination of the Orchid is mentioned. Dan consults his notes and, agitated, warns Charlotte that they must get off the island.

Jack decides to track the helicopter and asks Kate to go. Juliet objects strongly to the idea of Jack traveling so soon after surgery, but he ignores her. Jack starts to bleed soon after they start walking. And they meet up with an old friend – Sawyer (carrying Aaron). Sawyer has the bad news that Claire walked off into the jungle, that the soldiers are doing nothing good. Sawyer and Jack argue about whether they should still try to find the helicopter until Kate tells them to stop. Jack decides to head off alone; Sawyer reluctantly decides to accompany him. Kate takes the baby back to the beach.

Jack and Sawyer find the chopper, with Frank handcuffed to it. Sawyer frees Frank. Frank says that the soldiers are heading for the Orchid, and that they will capture Ben and do ‘nothing good’ to the people with them. When Sawyer tells Jack that Hurley is there, Jack knows they must go to the Orchid and try to rescue him.

Sayid lands on the beach but his plans to start ferrying people back are put on hold when he is told that Jack and Sawyer are heading for the Orchid and danger. Kate, who has just arrived back with Aaron, leaves Aaron with Sun, and heads back into the jungle to guide Sayid. On the way to the Orchid, they are surrounded and disarmed by Richard and a large group of Others. Together, they all begin marching to a common destination.

Dan volunteers to ferry people back and forth to the freighter. Only six people can fit, so Jin, Sun, and Aaron board the raft, along with some no-name survivors. Dan arrives safely, unloads his cargo, and heads back for more.

On the boat, Jin and Sun are reunited with Desmond and a apologetic Michael, who tries to explain that he was doing what he was doing to atone for his earlier behavior. Desmond discovers a crude bomb which is probably linked to Keamy’s detonator. Jin tells Sun to go to the far side of the boat while he and Desmond try to figure out how to disarm it.

In flash-forward:

The Oceanic 6 (Jack, Kate, Aaron, Hurley, Sun, and Sayid) are being helicoptered to an army base in Honolulu. There, they are reunited with their families – all but Sayid (who is adopted by Hurley’s mom) and Kate and Aaron (who have no one). They face some questions from the press, where they spout their agreed story. They claim that they clung to lifejackets and seats and drifted to an island off Indonesia. Sun lies and says that Jin died on the plane.

Sayid has a visitor: Nadia – and they embrace.

Hurley’s mom and dad throw a coming home party for him with a tastelessly chosen ‘island’ theme. Hurley’s dad gives him the restored Camaro. Hurley is initially thrilled, but when he gets in the driver’s seat and sees that the odometer numbers are on ‘481516’ and ‘2342’. Hurley leaves and car and flees on foot at high speed.

Sun has used the settlement money to buy a controlling interest in her father’s company. She delivers this news to him specifically to punish him for the death of Jin.

Jack is finally able to attend his father wake and deliver a short but moving eulogy. An Australian woman asks to speak to him, and confides that Christian fathered a child with her in Australia, and that ironically, the person was also on Oceanic 815. Her name: Claire.

Comments

Jack finally knows that Claire is his half-sister (we have known for some time, but neither Claire nor Jack knew).

The intriguing mystery now is figuring out how the six survivors got off the island – and how Sun and Aaron hooked up with them, since they are separated at this point in time.

I haven’t checked ahead to see if Lost will be continued for two more seasons (as per the original plan), but it doesn’t seem like it will. Everything seems to be tieing up nicely. And, frankly, I think it is time to call it a day. Four years is a long time for anyone.

It took a couple of viewings for me to finally recognize the actress who plays Oceanic representative Karen Decker as a Star Trek alumni: it’s Michelle Forbes, who played Ensign Ro Laren on Star Trek: Next Generations.

Nits

During the beach scenes, there are a number of sea turtles visible. They jump around in position a little. I assume that they could not be removed from shot because they are endangered and heavily protected.

Quotable Quotes

Ben: Listen to me very carefully, John, because I'm not gonna have time to repeat this. You're gonna go into that greenhouse through that hole there. Once inside, you're gonna turn left. Go about 20 paces until you see a patch of anthuriums on your left. They're in an alcove against the north wall. Face the wall, reach down with your left hand. You'll find a switch that activates the elevator. The elevator takes you down to the actual Orchid station.
Hurley: Whoa. Wait. What?
Locke: Okay, I'm sorry, Ben, but maybe I missed the part where you explained what I'm supposed to do about the armed men inside.

Sun: I don't understand. How'd you get back to New York?
Michael: Uh, Walt and I, uh, uh... we took Ben's boat and we followed his bearing. A couple of days, we came to an island, you know, with people. I sold the boat... we hopped a cargo ferry back to the States. Didn't tell anybody who we were.
Sun: And now you're working for Ben?
Michael: I do not work for Ben. I'm trying to make up for what I did. I'm trying to help you out here. Translate what I said.
Jin: I understand.

Carole: I believe I'm the reason he was in Australia when he died.
Jack: I'm sorry. I don't understand. Why would he have come to see you?
Carole: Oh, he... he didn't come to see me. I was still in the hospital. I never saw him. He came to see his daughter. My daughter, Mr. Shephard.
Jack: My father didn't have a daughter--
Carole: Yes. He did. If you don't believe me, check his phone records. Would you like to know the--the strangest thing about all this, Mr. Shephard? My daughter was on your plane, too. She was on flight 8-1-5. You were in the air for six hours, probably just a few rows from her and you never even knew she was your sister. She was one of the ones who died when your plane hit the water. Her name was... Claire. I didn't mean to burden you with this, but... you needed to know. I'm... sorry for your loss.

Sawyer: Hang on, Shaggy. You said the hit squad's gonna grab Ben Linus?
Lapidus: Well, I don't see what's gonna stop 'em.
Sawyer: What are they gonna do with the people that are with 'em?
Lapidus: Nothin' good.
Sawyer: Hugo's with Ben.
Jack: Son of a bitch.

Sawyer: You know this yahoo?
Jack: Yeah.
Lapidus: "Yahoo"? This yahoo dropped that phone on you guys so you could find me and I could fly you outta here. So why don't you do me a favor and get that back compartment? There's a toolbox. See if you can find something to get me outta these things.
Jack: You heard the man.
Sawyer: Well, all right. Can I get you boys a nice, cold glass of lemonade while I'm back there?

Sawyer: Cut yourself shavin'?
Jack: Juliet took out my appendix a couple of days ago.
Sawyer: You kiddin' me.
Jack: Nope.
Sawyer: Well, what else did I miss?

"You ruined my husband's life. It is because of you we were on that plane. Two people are responsible for his death. You are one of them. I am going to have my baby. And then we shall discuss the plans for the future of the company. Our company."
- Sun

"Hold up! You don't get to die alone."
-  Sawyer

Sawyer: Well, you better hope it ain't Sayid, 'cause if he's with those animals that just blew up half of New Otherton, you do not wanna tussle with 'em.
Kate: What, they tried to kill you?
Sawyer: Just like Locke said they would.

Miles: Hey, long time no see.
Sawyer: Hey, who are you talkin' to up there, Genghis?
Jack: Where's Claire?
Sawyer: We lost her.
Jack: You what?
Sawyer: She just walked off in the middle of the night. We looked for her for a day, but she was just gone. I was hopin' maybe she went back to the beach.
Jack: She didn't.

Kate: You're bleeding.
Jack: No, I'm not bleeding. I'm... I'm suppurating. It's... discharge. My body's just fighting the infection around the stitches.
Kate: You know when most people are lying and they can't look you in the eye? You do the exact opposite.

Charlotte: Daniel? What's wrong?
Daniel: Charlotte, did you hear what he said? They're going to the Orchid. They're using the secondary protocol.
Charlotte: What are you talking about?
Daniel: We have to get off this island. Right now.

Jack: We all know the story. If we get any questions that we don't wanna answer, or that we can't answer, let's just keep our mouths shut. It's okay. They'll--they'll think that we're in shock.
Sun: We are in shock, Jack.
Jack: Well... then this should be easy.

4.11 Cabin Fever

Locke, Hurley, and Ben are still trying to find the cabin, with no luck. There is confusion: Ben has been following Hurley, but Hurley has been following Locke. No one knows where the cabin is, so Locke makes an executive decision to make camp.

In a dream, Locke is visited by a Dharma employee Horace, who, a while back, was building a cabin for himself and his family. With new direction, Locke finds the mass grave and searches Horace’s pocket. He finds blueprints and a map to the cabin. Armed with the map, Locke tells Hurley that he should head back to the beach, but Hurley decides to stay, rather than go back by himself.

Upon reaching the cabin (at night, of course), Locke enters alone, with Hurley and Ben both choosing not to accompany him. Upon entering, Locke finds that Jacob is not there, but Christian is. He says he can speak for Jacob. Sitting next to Christian is Claire. Claire tells Locke she is fine. Locke asks the one question that matters: "How do I save the island?" When Locke emerges, he says the answer he received is: ‘He wants us to move the island’.

On the boat:

Sayid wakes Desmond to tell him that the helicopter is back. They see that one of the soldiers is badly wounded. Keamy, who saw that Ben knew everything about him, confronts the captain, believing that Gault betrayed him. Gault points the finger at Michael. Michael is chained downstairs – Keamy comes close to killing him, but settles for pistol-whipping him.

Keamy tells Frank to gas up the chopper, because he is going back. Gault tries to warm Keamy that he may be getting sick like the other crewmembers who killed themselves. Keamy ignores him and takes his key – and uses it to switch to the secondary protocol. Keamy says that the island is going to be torched and that he now knows where Ben will go.

Gault has set up a hiding place for Sayid and Desmond, but Sayid rejects that idea, asking instead that he be given the inflatable Zodiac to start ferrying people off the island. Gault agrees, and, a little later, Sayid heads for the island

Frank visits Michael and asks him why Michael didn’t tell him that he was a survivor of Oceanic 815. Michael tells Frank not to fly Keamy back to the island. Frank promises to take care of Keamy. Frank also laughs when Michael suggests that Widmore put the fake plane at the bottom of the ocean.

Omar wires Keamy with what looks like a detonator. Heavily armed, Keamy and his men board the chopper. When Frank refuses, Keamy kills the doctor and Gault. Frank relents, but he quickly bundles a tracking phone in a bag under his seat.

As the helicopter flies over the beach survivors, Franks drops the tracking phone. Jack takes this not as a warning, but as a sign that the chopper people want the survivors to follow them.

In flashback:

A young woman whose mother objects to her relationship with a much older man is hit by a car. She is six month pregnant and delivers a baby boy, who she is unable to accept. The boy (who is John Locke) is put up for adoption. Outside, in a waiting area, the ageless Richard watches.

Locke, as a young boy, is visited by Richard, who claims to run a school for special kids. On the wall is a picture of the smoke monster drawn by Locke. Richard tests Locke by presenting a series of items, and asking which one already belonged to Locke. Locke picks the wrong item; disappointed, Richard tells his mother that Locke is not ready.

Locke is now a teenager in high school, a geeky science kid who gets tormented by other kids. His science teacher tells him that a Dr Alpert from Mittelos wants Locke to go to science camp there in the summer. Locke wants to be cooler than that, and when his teacher tells him he cannot be the popular quarterback or a superhero, Locke tells him not to tell what he can’t do.

Locke is now post-accident, in rehab, trying to walk. He is visited by Matthew Abbadon (the man who visited Hurley in the institution and said he worked for Oceanic. Abbadon tells Locke he should go walkabout in Australia.

Comments

I suppose now we can assume that, sadly, Claire is dead. We still don’t know how or why she died.

There are probably lots of people who have watched Lost from the beginning, but bowed out as the show turned away from the original simple, gentler premise of survivors on an island, and became more like 24.

Since the doctor showed up dead on the island before he was killed on the boat, this seems to indicate that there is a time lag between the two areas.

Quotable Quotes

Ben: He actually thinks staying was his idea. Not bad, John. Not bad at all.
Locke: I'm not you.
Ben: You're certainly not.

"We don't have time for this. The people from the boat are already on their way back, and once they get here, all of these questions won't matter one bit. So why don't you ask the one question that does matter?"
- Christian

Ben: Did he tell you what we're supposed to do?
Locke: He did.
Ben: Well?
Locke: He wants us to move the island.

"The Island wanted me to get sick, and you to get well. My time is over John."
- Ben

4.10 Something Nice Back Home

Jack’s stomach problems have gotten worse. When he tries to intervene in an angry confrontation between Bernard, who tells Dan and Charlotte that they are lieing, Jack passes out. When he comes to, Juliet makes a more careful examination, rather than taking his word that he has food poisoning. She discovers that his appendix is about to go supernova. She sends Sun and Jin back to the medical station, stating that Jack cannot even be stretchered there for fear of his appendix bursting in transit. Jin and Sun do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of the required shopping list of surgical intruments; Dan heard this and volunteers to go (along with Charlotte). When Sun expresses distrust, Charlotte fires off another quip, and is strictly warned by Dan to cut it out. Dan and Charlotte do go, and they help to gather the materials. While there, Jin and Sun converse in Korean. Jin picks up on Charlotte’s hidden understanding of the language. Later, when he confronts her on this (in Korean), she lies and replies in English, stating that she has no idea what he is saying. He then tells her (again in Korean) that if she doesn’t admit her knowledge, he will break all ten of Dan’s fingers. She replies in Korean that she understands. Jin then makes her promise that when the helicopter takes them away, that Sun must be on it. Charlotte agrees with a tiny nod of her head.

Jack is now ready for surgery. He asked that he be given a local anaesthetic, and tells Kate to hold a mirror so he can watched Juliet. But when he panics and shifts around too much, Juliet asks Bernard to put him under. Jack pleads with Kate to help, but Juliet strongly insists, telling Kate to leave. Tears stream down Kate’s cheeks, but she is unable to react. Jack is sent under, and IMUPOHERE

Sawyer and gang:

Sawyer, Claire, Aaron, and Miles are making their way back to the beach when Miles senses something. He asks who Danielle and Karl are, then digs up their bodies in shallow graves. Sawyer steps between the site and Claire, seeking to protect her. Sawyer also steps between the glances that Miles throws at Claire, warning him that he will get a boot in the face if he doesn’t stay away. Their journey is interrupted again by Frank, who, armed with a tracking device, warns them that they must hide before the quickly advancing soldiers find them. Frank is able to bluff the soldiers into leaving the area.

They stop to camp, and, in the dark of night, Claire wakes to find what appears to be Jack’s father holding Aaron. She calls him ‘dad’. In the morning, Sawyer sees that Claire is gone. Miles tells that he watched her walk off into the jungle with someone she called ‘dad’. Sawyer hears Aaron close by, and finds him, alone but safe, under a tree. He hears Claire cries but cannot find her as the episode ends…

The flash-forward:

Jack has accepted Aaron, and he and Kate are living and loving together. Jack has become a model father figure, and all seems perfect…but then Jack thinks he sees his father walking away through the lobby. Ghosts are also haunting Hurley. He has stopped taking his meds, believing that they all died on the island. Jack visits Hurley; Hurley tells him about a visit he had from Charlie, where Charlie gave him a message for Jack: "You are not meant to raise him." Hurley also said that Charlie said someone would be visiting Jack soon.

Rather than being spooked by Hurley’s comments, Jack returns him, wakes Kate, and asks her to marry him. She readily accepts. But Jack is being haunted by the specter of his father. Visibly shaken, he asks his fellow doctor for a script for ?diazipane.

Jack gets suspicious of what Kate is doing when she has strange phone calls and stays out late. Fueled by drusgs and drink, he angrily confronts her. She tells him she was doing something for Sawyer. Jack says Sawyer chose to stay, and he (Jack) is the one who saved her. When Jack yells that Kate is not related to Aaron, and Aaron hears him, it seems certain that Kate will tell Jack to leave.

Comments

Kudos to the writers! I was wondering why Jack couldn’t be brought to the medical station; then, a few moments later, Kate asked Juliet that same question. And later, I was wondering why Jack didn’t just perform the operation himself (it is feasible). Soon after, Jack does say that he wants to watch the operation using a mirror. And few moments after that, Kate says she is surprised Jack didn’t take out his own appendix!

We can see now how Jack deteriorated into the bearded, alcoholic drug addict we saw in a later flash forward.

Nits

When Jack passes out, Juliet yells his name at him a lot – as if that is really going to work.

If the survivors were worried about Dan and Charlotte going to the medical station, why doesn’t Bernard go instead? Like Dan, he has medical training and can identify medical instruments.

Quotable Quotes

Rose: The day before we're all supposed to be rescued, the person that we count on the most suddenly comes down with a life-threatening condition, and you're chalking it up to bad luck?
Bernard: Well, what are you saying, that-that Jack did something to offend the gods? People get sick, Rose.
Rose: Not here. Here, they get better.

Jack: But he's not here, is he? No. No, he made his choice. He chose to stay. I'm the one who came back. I'm the one who's here. I'm the one who saved you.

Kate: Jack. You can't-you can't do this. If you have problems, you need to figure them out. Alright? 'Cause I can't have you like this around my son.
Jack: Your son? You're not even related to him!

Juliet: (To Kate) You know he kissed me.
Kate: What?
Juliet: The other day, when you came back from the other side of the island, Jack kissed me. It was nice. But it wasn't for me, it was for him. I'm pretty sure he was trying to prove something.
Kate: Prove what?
Juliet: That he doesn't love someone else.
Kate: Thank you, Juliet. Thank you for saving his life. (She leaves)
Juliet: (to Jack) I know you're awake.

4.9 The Shape of Things to Come

The doctor from the freighter washes up on the shore, his throat cut. Dan and Charlotte say they have no idea what happened. Dan mentions that he may be able to fix the sat phone so that Morse code can be sent. Kate offers to show him the materials they salvaged from the plane.

Dan is able to fix the phone. He asked what happened to the doctor. The Morse code reply, he says, is that the helicopter is coming back tomorrow and all is well. But Bernard also knows Morse code, and says the actual message is, "The doctor is fine." Jack confronts Dan forcibly for lieing, getting him to admit that they had no intention of rescuing anyone, but has to break off the confrontation when the stomach bug he has been enduring suddenly gets worse.

We can’t see the faces of Alex’s captors, but they are decked out in full army gear. We learn later that they are the mercenaries from the freighter. They force Alex to disable the perimeter fence; she takes that opportunity to send a coded message to Ben’s phone. Ben barricades the house, along with Locke, Hurley. Sawyer almost gets shot while rescuing Claire. Ben gets touchy when Sawyer and Claire try to get safely into the house, but Hurley ignores the gun pointed at him and lets them in. Soon after, the doorbell rings. It is Miles, sent with a phone so that Ben can talk to the mercenaries.

The mercenaries arrive with Alex at gunpoint, saying they will kill Alex if Ben does not come out. Ben tries to bluff them, saying that Alex is not his daughter, and that he is never coming out. They respond by executing Alex. Ben, heartbroken, says they have changed the rules, and disappears behind a locked steel door. Inside, away from prying eyes, he opens another stone door and descends into the earth. When he returns, he brings the smoke monster with him, and it attacks the mercenaries while the survivors go in the other direction. Ben’s plan is to take Locke and Hurley to see Jacob. Locke is required because Jacob will talk to him. Hurley is required because only he knows where the cabin is located. Sawyer gets sick of all this stuff and decides to go back to the beach, taking Claire and Aaron with him. Miles also decides to go back to the beach. Sawyer also wants Hurley to come, but Locke holds Sawyer at gunpoint, insisting that Hurley stay with him. Sawyer and Locke have a standoff that ends when Hurley agrees to go with Locke.

In flash-forward, Ben is face-up in the desert in Tunisia. It seems he must have transported there through a rift in time, as there is no indication of how he got there. Two arabs on horseback find him and appear about to take him prisoner when he goes all James Bond, whipping one and killing the other. He rides the horse into town and takes photos of a man who is hanging around at the funeral of Sayid’s wife, Nadia. Sayid confronts Ben. Ben explains that he has discovered that a man who was working for Widmore killed Nadia in Los Angeles. Later, when Ben confronts the man to give him a message for Widmore, Sayid steps in and empties his gun into the supposed assassin. Wrecked with sorrow and anger, Sayid begs Ben to tell him who to kill next. Ben promises to get in touch, as his mouth curls into that famous little smile of his.

In the dead of night, Ben goes to a penthouse and is able to enter silently. There, he wakes up Charles Widmore, to tell him that he is going to kill Penelope as revenge for Widmore’s killing of Alex.

Comments

This brutal episode features non-stop killing, maiming, executing brutality from start to finish. Even Hurley is serious in this episode.

Ben’s story about the man who killed Nadia seems completely contrived to put Sayid into revenge mode, yet Sayid buys it totally. Sayid is really losing his edge.

Why does Ben say that he cannot kill Charles Widmore? Are Ben and Charles not human? They sometimes act with the audacity of Greek gods – perhaps they are. Widmore also says that the island has ‘always’ been his. The way he says ‘always’ made me think that he was talking about a length of time longer than a human lifespan.

Nits

Who were those Others who stupidly run out of their houses to have a look when they hear gunfire (and promptly get shot)? I thought Ben said that all of his people had gone to the Temple – and we haven’t seen anyone else living at the barracks. Are they just disposable Others here to get shot?

Quotable Quotes

"Can't believe you're just giving him Australia. Australia's the key to the whole game."
- Hurley

Bernard: He's lying. What the message said was, "What are you talking about? The doctor is fine."
Daniel: You know Morse code.

Sawyer: (regarding Hurley) You harm so much as one hair on his curly head, I'll kill you!
Locke: Fair enough.

"Don't stand there looking at me with those horrible eyes of yours."
- Charles Widmore to Ben Linus

"I know who you are...what you are. I know that everything you have you took from me."
- Charles Widmore to Ben Linus

Charles Widmore: Why are you here?
Ben Linus: I'm here, Charles, to tell you that I'm going to kill your daughter. Penelope, is it? And when she's gone, when she is dead, then you'll understand how I feel, and you'd wished you hadn't changed the rules.

4.8 Meet Kevin Johnson

On the island:

Locke brings Miles to a meeting of all, and explains why Miles and his gang are here – but everyone already seems to know that. Outside, Sawyer asks Locke why he didn’t tell about Miles 3.25 million dollar bribe. Locke didn’t think it was meaningful or possible, but Miles says Ben will find a way to survive. To prove it, he points to how well Ben has done so far: one minute – locked up. The next – eating dinner with everyone.

Ben takes a moment to give Alex a map to the Temple and ask her to please flee there for safety, and to take Karl and Danielle there to guide her. They all agree and head out. Ben seems sincere, but as they leave, it seems his mouth curls into a tiny smile of victory. On the way to the temple, shots ring out; Karl and Danielle are killed, and Alex surrenders. The episode ends as she waits, arms extended, for the shooter to emerge from tall grass.

On the boat:

An alarm wakes Sayid and Desmond. They rush on deck to see the Captain beating a crewman who was trying to leave on the inflatable. He warns the crew about what happened to Minkowski after he tried the same thing.

Sayid confronts Michael and gets the entire story of how and why he is on the boat. When Sayid finds out that Michael is working for Ben, he drags him to the captain and tells the whole story.

Michaels’ flashback:

Michael is living in New York City – if you can call it living. Foolishly, he decided to tell Walt that he killed Ana and Libby. Walt has decided not to speak to him – he nows lives with his grandmother, who won’t even let Michael see him. Michael tries to commit suicide by ramming his car into a dumpster and shooting himself Neither works, and he is haunted by the ghost of Libby at every turn. He is also visited by Tom, who asks him to redeem himself and save the people on the island by going undercover on the freighter and killing everyone aboard – before they can kill the island inhabitants. Michael agrees.

It doesn’t take long for Michael to suspect that the freighter is not on a rescue mission – the gunplay and nonchalant demeanor of the crew indicates that they are more in the mercenary class.

Michael has been given a bomb, but when he detonates it, a little thingy pops up that reads, "Not Yet.’ Soon after, Walt calls – but it isn’t Walt at all – it’s Ben. Ben says that they are surprised that Michael detonated the bomb. Ben rigged it as a joke to prove that he isn’t as ruthless as Widmore, whom he says will kill everyone on the island. Ben asks Michael to make a list of the people on the boat, so the innocents can be spared. He then tells Michael there will be one more phone call when Michael can give Ben the list, and, afterward, to disable the radio room and engines.

Comments

This is a good but ultimately confusing episode.

Tom says that Widmore faked the crash of Oceanic 815. Yet in a previous episode, Charlotte claimed that Ben did it. Maybe Ben and Widmore are working together?

Tom also tells Michael to stop trying to kill himself because the island won’t let him do it. How does the island have such power?

I have the feeling that Captain Gault is going to say that he knows all about Michael already.

Is the shooter of Karl and Danielle going to be Mikhail? Is Karl dead? It certainly seems so. Is Danielle dead? I hope not – I would miss her.

Not only can Miles read dead people; he can read the living, too. When Michael gets on the ship, Miles tells him that his name isn’t ‘Kevin Johnson’.

Nits

Why would Michael tell Walt that he killed Ana and Libby? Wouldn’t that just make Walt feel guilty for it too? Big mistake. And would Walt really react by not wanting to talk to or see Michael? Wouldn’t he be more confused and less moralistic?

Ben says once the boat people have him, their orders are to kill everyone else on the island. Why would their orders be framed in that way? Why not kill everyone except for Ben to start with?

Quotable Quotes

Tom: Oh, you met some of them now. Got some names and faces and you're gettin cold feet, huh?
Michael: Yeah, actually I am.
Tom: Well here are a few more names for ya, Sun, Sawyer, Jack, Claire, her baby, and the only way you're going to save their lives is if you man up and get on that boat. Or maybe you wanna come back and explain to your kid how you let all of them die too. It's game time, are you in or out?
Michael: I'm in.

Minkowski: What, are you going Nicholson on us?
Michael: What?
Minkowski: You know, Jack Nicholson in The Shining, when he's bouncing that ball against the wall? Next thing you know, you're gonna go after your wife with an ax.

Michael: Walt?
Ben: I'm so sorry, Michael, but he's still in New York. So I'm afraid you're stuck with me. Michael? Are you still there?
Michael: You put me on this boat, talked me into blowing it up, and when I push the damn button, a flag pops up.
Ben: You actually activated the bomb?
Michael: (Shouts) It's not a bomb! It's a...It's a joke
Ben: There are people on your boat who are innocent. They have no idea that the man they work for is a monster, a killer without conscience or a greater purpose. I had to show you the difference between him and me. When I'm at war, I'll do what I need to do to win, but I will not kill innocent people.
Michael: Ana Lucia and Libby... they were innocent.
Ben: You killed them, Michael. No one asked you to. I don't blame you, Michael. We did have your boy. And what wouldn't a man do for his son?
Michael: What do you want?
Ben: I want you to compile a list of names... every person on your boat. When I call again, you'll give me that list. Then you will disable the radio room you're sitting in. When the crew is disoriented by their lack of communication, you'll take out the engines, too. That way, the boat can never get to this island, and your friends will be safe. Will you do that for me, Michael?
Michael: Yeah.
Ben: Then consider yourself one of the good guys.

Captain Gault: What the hell is this?
Sayid: This man is not who you think he is. He was a passenger on Oceanic Flight 815. I spent two months with him on the Island before he betrayed us. This is the man who sabotaged your radio room. He destroyed the ship's engine, and his name isn't Kevin Johnson. It's Michael Dawson, and he's a traitor.

4.7 Ji Yeon

Sun is getting more and more suspicious of the motive of Charlotte and Dan. She confronts Dan, asking if they are going to rescued. When Dan says it is not his call, and refuses to say whose call it is. Sun thanks him sarcastically, then decides to take herself and Jin to Locke’s camp. Juliet finds out by accident, and tries hard to convince Sun that she must stay to get rescued; it’s the only way to save herself and her baby. But Sun no longer trusts Juliet.

As Sun and Jin head out, Juliet intercepts them and tries one more time to convince Sun – and then Jin – that they must stay. Juliet appeals directly to Jin, telling him that Sun’s life and the life of the baby are in danger. When that doesn’t work, she tells Jin that Sun had an affair, and thought that the baby’s father was the other man. This gets Jin’s attention, and he turns back and returns to Jack’s camp. Sun is appalled, but Juliet says she had to protect her patient – Sun must get off the island.

Jin is initially silent but calm. He deliberately takes his fishing poles and, accompanied by the annoying, puppy-dog Bernard, gets some separation. Bernard talks about being married and how difficult and wonderful it is. Jin returns, calmer, and tell Sun that he understands. He realizes that what she did was done to another man – the man that he used to be.

On the boat, Sayid and Desmond watch as Regina, chained, jumps overboard to commit suicide. The captain forbids anyone to save her, for fear of losing more crew to the insanity caused by the proximity to the island. Sayid and Desmond are moved to ‘better’, supposedly quieter quarters, with a huge bloodstain on the wall. The doctor asks a crewman down the hall to clean it. The crewman responds – it is Michael! Michael is using a pseudonyn, and acts like he doesn’t know either of the two survivors.

The flash-forward:

Sun is giving birth, calling out for Jin. Across town, Jin is hurrying to buy the perfect huge stuffed panda and make it to the hospital. After a number of problems, he finally arrives, but it is then that we learn that the scenes of him are from the past, and the panda he is delivering is for Mr Paik to woo a Chinese businessman.

Hurley visits Sun not longer after the birth of Ji Yeon, and together they visit Jin’s gravesite.

Comments

This is a softer, emotional, well-written and sometimes beautifully filmed episode, as we learn (in a roundabout way) that Jin dies before his daughter is born. There is wonderful dialogue in this episode, such as when Jin refers to ‘that man’. At first, it seems like he means Sun’s lover, but he is referring to the man that he used to be. Another lovely scene is filmed in low, warm light inside Jin and Sun’s tent, as they discuss baby names.

We can assume that Michael is Ben’s spy – and Sayid and Desmond’s friend – on the boat. Remember also that when Michael left, Ben gave him the coordinates to sail by (which may have purposely been to place Michael on a course to the boat).

Captain Gault pretty much says that Benjamin Linus is the mastermind behind the faking of the crash of Oceanic 315.

Nits

I still don’t understand how anyone could fool anyone with 324 corpse bodies to replace the real bodies on Oceanic 315 – unless there was some kind of cloning done.

Quotable Quotes

Ray: (watching a blood stain in the wall) That shouldn't still be there. Damn it.
(calling a janitor) Hey Johnson is that you? Johnson!
Johnson: Yeah?
Ray: Mop this up.
Johnson: Sorry I gotta go up on deck.
Ray: (yelling) No, you have to mop this up.
(Johnson aproaches)
Ray: Kevin this is -
Sayid: Sayid.
Desmond: Desmond.
Michael: (shaking Desmond's hand) Kevin Johnson.
Sayid: Nice to meet you Kevin.

"Now here's the funny thing. This black box comes from oceanic flight 815. A salvage vessel recovered it from the bottom of the ocean. It took a considerable amount of Mr. Widmore's resources to procure it. It was found with the wreckage of the plane along with all 324 dead passengers. That's not the complete story, as you are well aware Mr. Jarrah, given the fact that you're standing here, breathing. The wreckage was obviously staged. Now can you imagine what kind of resources and manpower go into pulling oof a feat of that magnitude. Faking the recovery of a plane crash. Putting 324 families through a grieving process based on lie. But what's even more disturbing, where exactly does one come across 324 dead bodies. And that Mr. Jarrah, Mr. Hume, is just one of the many reasons we want Benjamin Linus."
- Captain Gault (to Sayid and Desmond)

4.6 The Other Woman

Charlotte and Dan have disappeared from camp without telling anyone. Jin saw them head into the jungle, but told no one. His reason? He took at face value Jack’s statement that they were friends and posed no threat. Jack seems to think otherwise, and quickly heads out with Juliet to track them, while Jin and Sun head out together, also to search. It starts to rain – always a bad sign – and Juliet encounters Harper, her therapist from her days as an Other. Harper is there to deliver a message to Juliet from Ben. She says that Charlotte and Dan are heading for a station known as the Tempest, there to release a deadly gas and kill everyone on the island. Harper tells Juliet she must kill them before they do so. Jack arrives, and also sees Harper, but she seems to disappear into thin air.

In flashback, we find out that Harper wasn’t much help to Juliet as a therapist back then, and her help deteriorated even more after she found out that Juliet was sleeping with her (Harper’s) husband, Goodwin. This worries Harper, because she (and everyone else) knows that Ben thinks Juliet belongs to him. Sure enough, somehow Ben does find out about the affair, although he never lets on. His reaction is to assign Goodwin to infiltrate the tailies, and to basically keep him on assignment there until it becomes a suicide mission and Goodwin is killed. To rub in this point, Ben drags Juliet all the way out into the jungle, without telling her why, and shows her Goodwin’s impaled and decomposing body. Now Ben reveals, in his own roundabout way, that he knew and the two of them, and that Juliet is his. For a moment, Ben lets his guard down and shows the full extent of his crazed, megalomaniac personality. Then he quickly returns to being just cruelly civil.

Meanwhile, Kate has stumbled upon Charlotte and Dan. Kate asks a few questions, and when the answers don’t sound right, she asks to look in Dan’s bag. She sees the gas masks, and then Charlotte bashes her on the head and knocks her out.

Jack and Juliet went up the hill…and find Kate, alive and groaning. Kate tells what happens and Juliet goes off to get her some water – but just keeps on going. Kate explains to Jack why she stayed with Locke.

Juliet reaches the Tempest. Dan is at the console, wrestling with commands while the vats of chemicals are about to explode. Juliet points her gun and tells him to back away, but he refuses. Charlotte arrives; Juliet and Charlotte knock each other around for awhile, until Charlotte is able to convince Juliet that they are there to render the gas inert and stop Ben from using it to kill everyone. Juliet lets Dan proceed, and he secures the tanks with a couple of seconds to go before disaster.

Jack and Kate arrive. Kate needs a lot of explaining before she will lower her gun, but, eventually, she believes Charlotte and Dan. Juliet tells Jack that Ben thinks she belongs to him, and that being near her will not be a good place to be when Ben wins this war – which she is sure he will. Jack and Juliet kiss – and Jack says Ben knows where to find him.

Over at Eggtown:

Locke is still pumping Ben for information, with little success so far. But in exchange for a semblance of freedom, Ben tells Locke that Charles Widmore’s boat is anchored off the island. Ben says Widmore is trying to find the island, and he has already killed anyone who has gotten in his way. Widmore already knows about the island, and views it as a tourist attraction – people will flock to see the place that cured the cripple Locke. Ben gives Locke a thick file about Widmore, but Locke says it still isn’t enough. Locke asks for the name of Ben’s man on the boat. Ben tells Locke to sit down. We as viewers don’t get to hear what Ben says next, but he must have told Locke what he wanted, because in the next scene, Sawyer and Hurley stop playing horseshoes and look on in shock and awe as Ben, unchained and alone, heads toward one of the buildings with a pile of towels.

Locke also has a visit from Claire. She wants to find out why the boat is her and asks to speak to Miles, feeling that a softer approach might work better than Locke’s methods. Locke is not receptive to her suggestion, mostly, it seems, because he views it as a criticism of his ability as a leader. When Locke mentions Charlie’s message about the boat, Claire reminds him that Charlie just said whose boat it wasn’t. Locke slams down the knife he is using, and the scene ends before we can see how this conflict is resolved.

Comments

The creators have done an excellent job of planning the structure of the complex relationships of Lost. I was impressed that we have only now learned why Goodwin was sent to infiltrate the tailies.

Harper seemed to disappear like a specter. Have the Others figured out some way to transport, bend time, or recall ghosts?

Every episode makes me just that little bit more creeped out about the kind of person Ben really is.

Nits

After Jack and Juliet find Charlotte and Dan’s trail, we never see them get a message to Jin and Sun – nor is there any way for them to communicate with them. So presumably, Jin and Sun are still searching!

It is an extreme health risk for Juliet to touch the multi-day-old rotting corpse face of Goodwin.

It takes quite a lot of time for people to reach the Tempest, giving the impression that it is a long way inland. However, after Jack, Juliet, and Kate arrive, some shots back toward the ocean direction reveal that the ocean is not nearly as far away as it should be after all that walking. Of course, it is possible that the track curved around and ended up near the ocean again, I suppose, but in that case, you would want to walk along the beach and then head in. The island looks mountainous, and you could always make better time by sticking to the beach as long as possible.

The behavior of Charlotte and Dan lends itself to television script cliché, and has very little basis in common sense. If your goal is to do something that the people around you will feel is in their best interest, then why sneak away to do it, and why bash everyone who tries to stop you? It’s the only negative about this episode.

Since Ben’s use of the gas may not have been imminent, I don’t think it was necessary for Charlotte and Dan to act like they had to disable it immediately, without sharing their plans with anyone. On the other hand, they were probably smart not to trust anyone, since as far as they know, Ben may have spies everywhere.

Quotable Quotes

Juliet: Ben, this is amazing. Seriously, you shouldn't have gone to all the trouble. I'm only gonna be here for six months.
Ben: Right, of course. But... we want you to feel at home.

Claire: I wanna know what's going on with Miles.
Locke: Right now, not a whole lot. I'm... bringing him food and water until he decides to talk.
Claire: I'd like to talk to him myself.
Locke: And why would you want to do that?
Claire: John, we have to find out who these people are and where they came from and why they're not interested in rescuing us.
Locke: And you don't think I'm gonna get that out of him?
Claire: No, I... I just think we might be taking the wrong approach. I mean, you killed one, Ben shot one, and now we're holding one prisoner. You know, it's not hard to understand why they might think we're hostile. I might be just a little less intimidating.
Locke: It's not gonna happen, Claire. You do remember what Charlie said about these people.
Claire: All Charlie said was whose boat it isn't. Don't you wanna know whose boat it is?

Jack: You people have therapists?
Juliet: It's very stressful being an Other, Jack.

Juliet: You knew this would happen. You sent him out here because you knew this would happen. You wanted this! You wanted him to die! Why?
Ben: Why? You're asking me why? After everything I did to get you here, after everything I've done to keep you here - how can you possibly not understand...that you're mine!

"John, three months ago in Gainesville, Florida, the virgin mary seemed to appear in a patch of mold on the side of an old housing complex. When the word got out, over 5,000 people came to see her face for themselves. You've survived an airline crash on this island. One minute, you're in a wheelchair. The next minute, you're doing jumping jacks. If 5,000 people came out to see a piece of mold, how many people do you think would come here to see you?"
- Ben

"Juliet... look me in the eye and tell me you are certain that Benjamin Linus wouldn't use this gas to kill everyone on this island! We know he's used it before. If you wanna stop us, you're gonna have to shoot us both."
- Charlotte

Juliet: (to Jack) Don't you understand? These people came here to wage war against Ben, and Ben's gonna win. Jack, and when he does, you don't wanna be anywhere near me.
Jack: Why not?
Juliet: Because he thinks that I'm his. And he knows how I feel about you.

Sawyer: What the hell you are doin' out?
Ben: (smiling) See you guys at dinner.

4.5 The Constant

Sayid, Desmond, and Frank are flying toward the freighter. Sayid wonders why Franks insists on flying straight through the only huge thunderhead in the sky. They shake and shimmy, but make it through. But Desmond is disoriented and highly agitated. He doesn’t recognize Sayid or Frank anymore, nor does he know why they know him or how he got into the chopper.

It seems that the trip from the Island to the freighter has caused Desmond to become unstable in time. On board the freighter, he is taken away and locked in a room to await the doctor. There, he meets Mikowski. The former communications officer is strapped to the bed and receiving sedative injections because he, too, is slipping back and forth in time. Even worse, Mikowski’s buddy suffered the same symptoms and is now dead.

Sayid works out a deal with Frank, trading his gun for Frank’s phone. Sayid calls Jack and says they made it safely, but tells of Desmond’s condition. Despite Charlotte’s chiding, Dan has decided the tell Jack and Juliet that some people exhibit ‘side effects’ when they travel to and from the island. Dan insists on speaking to Desmond, so Sayid and Frank bring the phone to the brig. After asking Desmond a few questions about where and when he is jumping to, Dan tells Desmond the next time he jumps, to go to Oxford and find him (Dan) in the year 1996 (8 years earlier). Dan gives him some settings and a name (Eloise) that must be important.

Desmond finds Dan in 1996 and convinces him that this is no hoax. Dan is experimenting with time jumps; Eloise is the lab rat that proves it can work. Dan isn’t able to help Desmond by stabilizing him, but he does impart an important tip: if Desmond can establish a constant in 2004, this wil stabilize him and save his life.

Unable to contact Penny, Desmond finds Penny’s father, and, surprisingly, the Desmond-hating dad gives Desmond Penny’s new address.

In the present, Mikowski leads Desmond and Sayid to the radio room, then dies from the effects of time travel. Despite wires being cut and the entire room in a shambles, Sayid is able to get a phone working in about 60 seconds. Desmond makes one more jump and is able to convince Penny in 1996 to give him her number, and not to change it for the next 8 years. He promises to call her on Christmas Eve, 2004. Desmond makes the call; he makes contact. He and Penny confirm their love for each other. Desmond has has constant, and he is saved.

Back on the island, Dan looks through his old notebooks and finds the following note: "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant".

Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, even if at times it was outrageous and silly. The performance by Jeremy Davies (Dan) was fun to watch – he puts so much energy and sincerity into his quirkyness.

It is looking more and more like there are two alternative timelines running here. In one timeline, the island exists and there are survivors of Oceanic 815. In the other timeline, there were no survivors and no island. And perhaps Ben found a way to escape from one timeline into another.

Dan’s notebook note (If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant) seems to indicate that he is also traveling through time.

The journal on auction is from a boat called the Black Rock (the same one that shipwrecked on the island). The first mate who wrote the journal, Tovard Hanso, has the same surname as Magnus Hanso, the founder of Dharma.

Nits

Despite the entire room being trashed, with huge bundles of wires severed, Sayid takes a look and says (in regard to fixing it): "Give me a minute." I had to laugh out loud at this – this seemed cartoonish.

Quotable Quotes

Minkowski: I'm George Minkowski. I'm the communications officer. Before they strapped me down here, all the calls to and from this boat came through me, in the radio room. And every so often, I'd get this flashing light on my console. An incoming call. We were under strict orders never to answer it.
Desmond: So? What's that got to do with me?
Minkowski: Those calls came from your girlfriend. Penelope Widmore.

Desmond: I'm sorry, how is a rat running through a bloody maze so incredible?
Daniel: What is incredible, is I just finished the maze this morning. I'm not going to teach her to run it until an hour from now.

(After entering the ship's communication room and seeing the equipment in complete disarray)
Desmond: Can you fix it, brother?
Sayid: Give me a minute.

Penny: I'll find you, Des -
Desmond: I promise -
Penny: No matter what -
Desmond: I'll come back to you -
Penny: I won't give up -
Desmond and Penny: (in unison) I promise. I love you.

4.4 Eggtown

Locke makes a fresh egg and melon breakfast and brings it to Ben, but when  Ben refuses to share any information about the ship, Locke takes it away. Locke endures more classic Ben needling about how Locke doesn’t know what to do next, but it appears to have no effect. But when Locke gets a little way down the hall, he slams the tray into the wall. Inside, Ben’s mouth curls into a smile: mission accomplished yet again.

Claire and Kate are enjoying a cup of coffee on the deck. Claire goes to make a cup for Sawyer. Sawyer asks Kate to move in with him, but she refuses. She doesn’t share her secret agenda. Kate asks Sawyer to leave.

Jin and Sun discuss where they will live after they are rescued. Jin wants to live in the USA, explaining that this is why he learned English. However, Sun wants to return home to Korea. Their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Jack, Juliet, Daniel, and Charlotte. Sun asks about Kate, and Jack tells her that she stayed with Locke.

Kate visits Locke and asks if she can speak to Miles. Locke asks her why; she says that is her business. Locke says no. There is a tense discussion about whether Locke is a dictator or not.

Kate sees Hurley carrying a tray of food. She tells him Locke asked her to bring it to Miles. But when she doesn’t know that Miles is being held at the boathouse, Hurley realizes he is being scammed. He still gives her the tray, but he makes her promise that she won’t spring Miles and won’t tell Locke that Hurley.

Kate asks Miles if his people know anything about her. Miles promises to answer that question if she will let him have 1 minute with you-know-who (Ben).

When Jack admits he is unable to get through the ship, Sun asks him if perhaps Locke is right – that the new people are going to try to hurt them. But Jack says that Locke has no idea what he is doing.

Kate asks Claire about Locke – how often he leaves his house, and whether he still has Ben in the basement. When Aaron cries, Claire asks Kate to pick him up, but Kate refuses, saying she isn’t good with babies.

Kate visits Sawyer and asks him to help her bust Ben out of his prison. Sawyer distracts Locke with a backgammon game, and fools Locke a little by telling him that Kate’s plan is to spring Ben and bring him to Miles. Locke and Sawyer go to the boathouse, but Miles is gone. Kate has brought Miles to Ben, instead. Miles uses his minute to tell Ben he will tell his employer Ben is dead, if Ben pays him 3.2 million dollars. Kate cuts short the conversation. As she and Miles are leaving, they meet Locke and Sawyer on the stairs. Locke orders Kate to go back to her house, taking possession of Miles at gunpoint.

Locke follows Kate back to her house and asks Claire to go away so he can talk to Kate alone. He asks her what Ben and Miles said to each other. Kate tells Locke about Miles extortion offer. Locke tells Kate that she is not welcome any more, and that he wants her gone by morning.

Kate visits Sawyer and tells him what happens. He takes her into his bed and promises to protect her. In the morning, she tells him she was not pregnant, and when she sees his gleeful reaction, she leaves. When Sawyer goads her about going back and forth between him and Jack, she slaps him hard – and still leaves.

Daniel is guessing at cards with Charlotte, when Jack interrupts, concerned about the whereabouts of Sayid and Desmond. He pesters Daniel and Charlotte for an alternative number. They admit there is an emergency number, and they dial it. A woman named Regina answers, but she says no helicopter has arrived.

Locke has chained Miles’ arms to the ceiling, apparently all night. He visits Miles in the morning, pulls a pin from a hand grenade, and shoves the grenade in Miles’ mouth.

 

The flash-forward:

Kate is in court, charged with a long list of offenses, with first degree murder being the most serious. Despite her well-known face as one of the Oceanic 6, she is remanded in custody, since her past history makes her a strong candidate to flee.

Kate’s lawyer asks her to enter a plea bargain, but she isn’t interested, nor is she willing to bring her son into court as a way of eliciting sympathy from the jury. But her lawyer does invite Jack to testify. Jack says that he crashed into the water and was saved by Kate. In fact, he says, she saved all 8 of the crash survivors: got food and water for them. He says they all would have died if it wasn’t for Kate. Kate interrupts him and says she doesn’t want to hear anymore –

Kate’s mother asks to speak to Kate, saying that she doesn’t want to testify anymore. But she wants to see Kate’s son. When Kate hears this, she tells her mom she is not welcome anywhere near her son, and asks her mother to go away.

The trial is halted when the star witness, Kate’s mom, refuses to testify. Kate strikes a deal that keeps her out of prison, but she is not allowed to leave the state.

As Kate leaves the courtroom via the back way, Jack intercepts her. Kate thanks Jack for telling the story, stating that it is a lie that Jack has repeated many times. Jack says he didn’t mean what he said in the courtroom – meaning that he does love her. Kate asks him to come over, but Jack wants to go for coffee. Kate says she knows why Jack doesn’t want to see the baby, but she cannot socialize with him until he is ready to deal with it. Jack says okay, and they part ways.

Kate returns home to her baby-sitter, who has just put the baby down for a nap. She wakes him, and calls him by name: Aaron!

Comments

I suppose Aaron has now been confirmed as one of the Oceanic 6.

Why is Kate saying that she is Aaron’s mother? Why – and how – did Kate get possession of Aaron? We probably won’t find out the answer to that question for some time.

I like the way Jack’s story of Kate, told in the courtroom, starts as a small lie, and becomes a bigger one.

Kate’s sick mother is wearing one of those oxygen tubes in her nose. Actors as patients are always wearing those tubes. I wish I had invested in the company that makes those tubes years ago!

When Miles is talking to Ben, just before he says, "It’s extortion…", his lips move. It could be a stutter, or he could be delivering a hidden message to Ben.

A poster called kkelley09, posting on YouTube, has this theory: 3.2 million dollars is a code. 3,200,000 matches the heading that Ben gave Michael to head for when he left the island. This can be extrapolated from the 3.2, combined with the 5 zeros. This indicates that the outsiders know where the island is located, and Ben has a week to act/deliver before the outsiders arrive.

Nits

The trial scene is goofy as only a TV trial scene can be. A defendant (Kate) objects, and the judge does not find her in contempt of court. The prosecuting attorney asks Jack if he is in love with Kate. Things like this don’t happen in real life.

Kate has suddenly developed a Canadian accent; she keeps saying ‘oat’ when she means ‘out’ (I think Evangeline Lilly must be slipping up, and the director isn’t noticing it).

Charlotte tells Jack there is another emergency number. She dials the number, then Jack says, "Put her on speaker." Regina answers the phone. How did Jack know that a woman was going to answer the phone? In the past, Mikowski or Regina answered the phone! And I don’t think Jack was calling the phone ‘her’.

Quotable Quotes

"I feel for you, John. I really do. You keep hitting dead ends. ... You couldn't find the cabin, you can't make contact with Jacob...you're so desperate to figure out what to do next, you're even asking me for help. So here we are, just like old times. Except I'm locked in a different room, and you're more lost than you ever were."
- Ben

Kate: I wanna talk to Miles. Where you keeping him?
Locke: Why do you need to talk to him?
Kate: Well, that's personal.
Locke: No.
Kate: And what gives you the right to decide whether or not -
Locke: You may think this is a democracy Kate, because of the way Jack ran things, but this is not a democracy.
Kate: Then I guess that makes it a dictatorship.
Locke: If I was a dictator, I would just shoot you and go about my day. Dinner's at 6:00 if you're hungry.

Kate: Are you taking that to Miles?
Hurley: Yeah.
Kate: Locke told me to do it.
Hurley: Good, that guy creeps me out.
Kate: He's still in the rec room, right?
Hurley: No, he's in the boat house......You just totally Scooby Doo-ed me, didn't you?

Miles: You bring him to me, and I will tell you everything I know about you.
Kate: Who?
Miles: Who do you think?

"Only 8 of us survived the crash, we landed in the water, I was hurt pretty badly, in fact - if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have made it to the shore. She took care of me, she took care of all of us."
- Jack

Ben: What makes you think I have access to that kind of money?
Miles: Do not treat me like I'm one of them! Like I don't know who you are and what you can do!

Sawyer: Beach? What, you're leaving? Because of this? That's that? You crawl up in my bed one second and the next you just...
Kate: Goodbye, James.
Sawyer: Don't make this about me, Kate. You didn't want a baby anymore than I did. You're just looking for some excuse to split, and now you've got one. But that's all right, Freckles, I ain't gonna hold it against you. I'm just gonna sit right here in my comfortable bed, because in about a week, you'll find some reason to get pissed at Jack, and bounce right back to me.

4.3 The Economist

Sayid meditates, then walks over to Naomi’s body and closes her eyes. He reads the inscription on her bracelet: "N, I’ll always be with you. R. G." Frank is ready to make a flight back to the ship, and he has room for three passengers. Sayid wants to go, to find out who these people really are. Sayid offers to get Charlotte back in exchange for a ticket on the chopper. Despite Miles’ complaining, Frank agrees. Miles invites himself along, and Sayid doesn’t object, although he still won’t give Miles his gun back. At Jack’s urging, Kate also goes, brandishing her gun.

Jack sends Juliet back to the beach to bring back Desmond.

Sawyer wants to get info from Ben by shooting off one toe at a time, but Locke says no, because then they would have to carry him. Locke leads his gang to what he believes is the location of Jacob’s cabin – but it is not there anymore. Ben says Locke is there to find out what to do next. Locke seems nervous but keeps control by saying they should keep moving toward the barracks. Hurley objects, suggesting that they let Charlotte go, rather than keeping her as a hostage. Locke says he is making the decisions now, and gets in Hurley’s face to ask if he has any objections to that.

Daniel sets up a testing device and asks that a payload be delivered from the ship. Some minutes later, the payload is delivered. Daniel compares numbers and seems worried.

Sayid’s gang reach the barracks and finds them seemingly deserted. While they are searching, they find Hurley, bound and gagged. Hurley says he had an altercation with Locke and was left behind. They continue their search in Ben’s house.

Juliet arrives back with a rifle-toting, happy-to-see-a-chopper Desmond.

Sayid finds a hidden room with many passports, at least one of them has Ben’s , they are ambushed by Sawyer, Locke, and Danielle. It seems Hurley was bait. Sawyer keeps Kate ‘prisoner’ in a room and tries to convince her that she should stay on the island with him and play house. Sayid convinces Locke to trade Charlotte for Miles.

Desmond questions Frank and Daniel about the picture of he and Penny that was found on Naomi, but neither one will say anything – they just trade portentous glances.

Sayid returns and tells Jack that Kate chose to stay behind. Sayid and Desmond board the chopper, with Sayid also asking that Naomi’s body be taken back. Charlotte and Daniel decide to stay behind.

As Frank is ready to fly, Daniel pulls him aside and cautions him to ensure that he come back in on the exact bearing that he flew in the first time. The chopper pulls away and heads over the ocean.

Sayid’s flash-forward:

Sayid is golfing in the Seychelles when he strikes up a conversation – and a bet – with another golfer. The other golfer wins the wager, but says Sayid does not need to pay when he finds out that Sayid is one of the ‘Oceanic 6’. This golfer’s instincts are right – Sayid shoots him, saying his name (Mr Angeline) as he does so. Apparently, the man was not a stranger to Sayid.

In Berlin, Sayid goes into a café and shares a table with an attractive young woman. Mutual attraction leads to small talk, a date, and, eventually, a relationship. But Sayid’s real purpose is to kill the woman’s employer. Unbeknownst to Sayid, the woman is aware of this, and is staying with Sayid to get information from him. A gun battle ensures; Sayid is shot but the woman is killed. Sayid visits a veterinarian’s office to get fixed up. The vet is none other than Ben, who is revealed to be Sayid’s boss. Ben has hired Sayid to assassinate a list of people who Ben says are threats to Sayid’s friends.

Comments

We now know 4 of the ‘Oceanic 6’: Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid.

Although I have glanced at reports that season 4 ratings are down, I personally am not seeing a decline in the quality of the episodes. The writing is still good, and I am amused by the introduction of new mysteries. The four new characters introduced, and their murky purpose, has served the story well. Granted, I still believe that season 1 was the strongest season, since I prefer the simpler ‘survival’ plot. There was more focus on personality and conflict. Now, there is a tendency to overplot.

Nits

It’s strange that Locke would give Charlotte to Sayid, knowing that this would enable Sayid to reach the ship. Since Locke has stated numerous times that he and his group do not want to be rescued, you would think he would want to inhibit Sayid from reaching the ship.

Why is Sayid able to trade Miles for Charlotte? At this point, Locke has already captured Sayid and Miles. Miles is no longer Sayid’s to hand over. If Locke wants Miles, all he has to do is keeping holding him prisoner.

Quotable Quotes

Sayid: Gun's a last resort, Kate.
Kate: You give Locke that same speech?

Kate: Kinda sucks, huh?
Jack: What's that?
Kate: Being told not to come along. Now you know what it feels like to be me.
Jack: Does that mean I should wait twenty minutes and go anyway?

Sawyer: What's in this cabin that's so important anyway?
Ben: John's looking for somebody to tell him what to do next.

Sawyer: You ready to give us the name, Gizmo?
Locke: He's not going to tell you who the spy is on their boat, James.
Sawyer: Yeah, why not?
Locke: Because that's the only thing keeping him alive.
Sawyer: Well here's an idea: why don't we take a gun, point it to his big toe and send that little piggy to the market. ... And if he still doesn't want to tell us, move on to the roast beef. Why don't we do that?
Locke: Because then we'd have to carry him.

Sayid: You're not the best candidate for this kind of mission.
Jack: What kind of mission is that?
Sayid: I'm going to make Locke give me Charlotte. And I'm going to do it without any bloodshed.
Jack: As opposed to the way I'd do it.
Sayid: Last time you encountered him; you put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. That's not good diplomacy.

Frank: What happened to Miles?
Sayid: I traded him.
Frank: Traded him?
Sayid: I promised you Charlotte. Here she is.
Frank: You cheated.
Sayid: Did I?
Frank: Yes, you did. Lucky for you, that guy's nothing but a pain in my ass.

Sayid: Naomi, were you close to her?
Miles: Nope. Met her on the boat.
Sayid: You don't seem particularly affected by her death.
Miles: Sure I'm affected. She was hot and I dug her accent.

Sawyer: Look around us, Freckles. We've got roofs over our heads, electricity, showers, beds -
Kate: How long, Sawyer? How long do you think we can play house?
Sawyer: Why don't we find out?

Frank: This guy Sayid, where's he from?
Jack: Iraq.
Frank: Iraq? So he's just gonna go and work everything out? What was he, a diplomat?
Jack: No... No, he was a torturer.

Miles: Where the hell did they go, Tubby?
Hurley: Oh - awesome, the ship sent us another Sawyer.

4.2 Confirmed Dead

The rescuers have arrived, but it’s never that easy on Lost. The first ‘rescuer’ to parachute in is Daniel. He meets Kate and Jack, and, after some hesitation, Jack admits he is Jack. It all looks rosy when Daniel is able to contact his boat using Naomi’s phone and confirm their position. Daniel’s descent to the island was not pleasant: in flashback, we learn that he was basically tossed out of the helicopter as a weight reduction exercise, to try to avoid a crash. Rescue is imminent now. But why is Daniel carrying a gun? Why are they really there? The answers will have to wait until Daniel hooks up with other members of his team. The second jumper, Miles, has landed on a rock ledge near the ocean and appears to be injured. But when Jack gets close, Miles jumps up, gun drawn, and demands to see Naomi’s body. Why? In flashback, we learn that Miles is a ghost whisperer. He has the talent to speak to ghosts. But we also see he is using that talent to hustle people (and ghosts) for money. He puts one haunting spirit at peace by finding and extracting a large wad of cash that the deceased had probably stolen. He could have given that money to the deceased’s mother…but he didn’t.

Ben is doing his usual crap-stirring, this time with Sawyer. After goading Sawyer about how he lost Kate to Jack, Sawyer suggests to Locke that they kill Ben now, before he causes more trouble. Locke says only Ben’s mouth is dangerous. Sawyer asks how Locke got a bullet hole, then. Locke shows how the bullet went straight through, and muses that it would have killed him if he still had a kidney on that side.

Miles is highly agitated. He is led to Naomi’s body and spends some quiet time with her, speaking in a low voice away from the others. When he finishes, he concedes that Kate was telling the truth – they didn’t kill her. Jack asks Miles to lower his gun but Miles has no intention to do that, even when Jack says that their friends have guns trained on his head. When the bullets start flying from the hidden Sayid and Juliet, Miles changes his mind, and gives up his piece.

The third member of the team, Charlotte, is hanging upside down from a tree, her parachute tangled in branches. She unhooks and dives into the pond below. When she surfaces, she meets Locke’s gang on the bank. Charlotte, we learn from a brief flashback, is an anthropologist. She is thrilled to find the survivors of Oceanic 815. But they are not so thrilled to find her. She wants to use her homing beacon to contact the freighter. But Locke says they do not want to be rescued.

Miles has tracked another member of their team, running from something, and coming straight for them. Vincent the Dog emerges from the bushes, wearing Charlotte’s homing beacon. Jack states that Locke must have Charlotte.

Jack’s mob finds the fourth member of the team, Frank (the helicopter pilot). Frank is an older, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing ex-hippie type who not only survived the crash, but also landed the ‘copter. Sayid’s investigation reveals that there is minor damage but that bird will fly. Frank’s flashback reveals a connection to Oceanic: while watching footage of the dead bodies found in the ocean trench, he knew that the body pictured that was supposed to be pilot Seth Norris was not him.

There is a standoff when Locke wants to continue toward the barracks, but Charlotte wants to go her own way. Suddenly, shots ring out. Ben has grabbed Karl’s gun and shot Charlotte twice in the chest. She survives, thanks to her bullet-proof vest. Sawyer goes nuts and wants to execute Ben there and then, but Locke says he will take care of the mess. But just as Locke is about to do something bad, Ben recites an encyclopedia’s worth of personal information about Charlotte and her team. It seems Ben has a spy on her boat. Ben’s valuable information grants him a temporary stay of execution.

Finally, we learn that Naomi was the team leader and the only one with experience in whatever their main objective is. Naomi was hired by the same man that visited Hurley in the mental institution in a flash-forward. Naomi does not seem convinced that the assembled team was suited for the mission, but she is confident she can pull it all together.

When Miles learns that Juliet was not on the plane, he gets even more agitated than normal, and demands to know where Ben is. He magnanimously reveals the true objective of their mission: to find and get Benjamin Linus.

Comments

As yet we don’t know why this team is there to get Ben.

If Frank is right, and the underwater corpse is not Seth Norris, then whose body is it? And are the other bodies genuine? How could they be genuine – everyone would know their loved ones were not genuine when they tried to identify the remains.

Nits

First Jack and then Sawyer have taken turns repeatedly pummeling Ben’s face, yet afterward, Ben has no broken jaw or teeth, no blurred vision, and no permanent brain damage. Aside from a lot of blood, he seems to have nothing wrong at all. In real life, he would probably be dead from infection from all those open wounds from which that blood is flowing.

Charlotte dives into a muddy pond, but the water in the underwater shot of her dive is clear and blue (almost as if it was filmed in a tank).

Quotable Quotes

Jack: Put the guns down.
Miles: Now why would I do that?
Jack: Because our friends are out in the jungle right holding a gun at your head and his head, so I'm gonna forget about the misunderstanding, just put the guns down!
Miles: Come on, how stupid do you think I -
(Shots ring out, and Juliet and Sayid emerge from the bushes with guns aimed at Miles and Daniel)
Jack: I don't know, Miles. How stupid are you?

Ben: Mind if I ask you a question, James?
Sawyer: Yeah I do.
Ben: Why'd you leave Kate behind?
Sawyer: Wasting your time, Yoda.
Ben: I know it's not pleasant but, let's face it, you really don't stand a chance now...
Sawyer: Chance of what?
Ben: James. Look at yourself. Yes, on this island you're brave, daring, handsome; you're someone, but if you left with them, back in the real world a low-life scam artist like you could never compete with a first class surgeon. I think Kate was really upset when you made your choice to come with us. Thank God she has Jack there to comfort -
(Sawyer attacks Ben)

Sawyer: Anyone want to tell me why we're keeping this guy alive?
Locke: We're keeping him alive because he's been on this island a lot longer than any of us. Because he has information we need and because apart from his mouth, he's completely harmless.
Sawyer: His mouth put that hole in your gut?

Sawyer: You mind telling us who you're getting your orders from, Colonel Kurtz?
Locke: I got 'em from Walt.
Sawyer: What the hell do you mean you saw Walt? In a dream?
Locke: No dream. It was Walt. Only...taller.
Sawyer: Taller? What, like a giant?

"The light... it's strange out here, isn't it, it's kind of like, it doesn't, it doesn't scatter quite right."
- Daniel

Sayid: You say you are not here on a rescue mission and the world at large believes us to be dead. But here we are alive and well and you don't seem remotely surprised to see us.
Miles: (sarcastically excited) Oh my God, you guys were on Oceanic flight 815! Wow! (pause) Is that better?

Miles: Where's the chopper?
Frank: I saw a cow.

Kate: Dan? Your name's Dan, right? Listen, Dan, I know that you don't want anyone to get hurt, right? So why don't you put the gun away.
Dan: Because Miles would kill me?

4.1 The Beginning of the End

The man on the boat says he needs to rejig the phone and asks to speak to Naomi. Jack lies and says that she has gone to get firewood.

Ben begs Danielle to take his daughter far away from this place, before everyone is killed. Danielle simply tells him to shut up, because Alex is not his daughter.

Jack and Kate suddenly notice that Naomi is missing. Ben says she crawled away. Kate find two trails – one is a blood trail and one isn’t. She suspects trickery, but Jack says Naomi was injured and wouldn’t have the strength for tricks. He says he will follow the blood trail, and asks Kate to lead the people back to the beach. They hug goodbye.

Jack and Danielle follow the blood trail, with Ben tied up and towed behind. When the trail suddenly ends, Danielle says they have been tricked. Jack reaches for the phone but it is gone. Ben says that Kate took it when she hugged him.

Kate finds Naomi, who attacks her and demands the phone. Kate begs her not to tell how she got hurt, saying that Locke is not one of them. Naomi takes the phone and tells the boat man that she hurt herself when she parachuted onto the island. She adjusts the phone, and the man says he has pinpointed her position. Then she dies.

The Looking Glass crew returns with the news that Charlie is dead. Hurley is most affected by this. The crew also brings Charlie’s message: "Not Penny’s Boat." This they take to mean that the people on the boat are evil. Sawyer wants to warn Jack using the walkie, but Sayid says they must not, because the evil boat people are probably monitoring their communication. Hurley ends this discussion by tossing the walkie in the ocean and starting out to get to Jack. Everyone else falls into step.

As it gets dark, Hurley falls behind and gets separated from the group. He ends up at Jacob’s hut. He hears whispering, looks inside, and sees a shadowy shape in the rocking chair, and another face popping up at the window. Scared, he runs, and is able to close his eyes and make the hut go away. When he opens his eyes, Locke is there. Locke gives him water and calms him down. Together, they go to find Jack and warn him about the boat.

Hurley and Locke reach Sayid and the crew. Sayid is angry at seeing Locke, but not as angry as Jack and his crew show up. Jack punches Locke, steals his gun, and pulls the trigger while pointing it at Locke’s head. The unloaded gun clicks harmlessly. Jack’s authority is undermined when Hurley reveals Charlie’s dieing message. Locke says he is heading for the abandoned barracks, stating that the security there is best. Everyone except for Jack and Kate go with him.

Hurley also volunteers to tell Claire about Charlie, in a very moving scene.

The rain starts falling (never a good omen). Jack and Kate reminisce about their initial trip across the island with Charlie to the cabin of the plane. They are interrupted by the sound of a helicopter. A solo man parachutes down, removes his helmet, and says, "Are you Jack?"

The flash-forward:

Jack watches Hurley crash his car. Hurley is arrested, yelling that he is one of the ‘Oceanic 6’. He is questioned by the cop who used to partner Ana Lucia. The cop asks Hurley if he knew her, but Hurley says he never heard of her. Hurley is seeing things and is sent to a mental institution, for which is he grateful – he feels safe there. In the institution, he is visited by a man who says he works for Oceanic Airlines, but Hurley doesn’t believe it. Later, he is visited by Charlie. Charlie says he is dead. Charlie also says, "They need you."

Jack visits Hurley and asks if he has told or he will tell. Hurley doesn’t answer. Hurley says they need to go back – that it needs them. Jack has cleaned up his act, although he is still drinking a little. He gets angry and says they can never go back. "Never say never, dude," says Hurley.

Comments

Cleverly, the creators are now using flash-forwards instead of flashbacks. Good – I was getting sick of those flashbacks.

The flash-forward in this episode takes place before the one shown in the previous episode. Previously, Jack had a beard and he had deteroriated to heavy drinking and drug use. In this episode, he is just a little unshaven, and is only adding a little bit of alcohol to his morning drink.

In the Future, Hurley apologizes to Jack for going with Locke. Yet we now know that Locke was never going to shoot Jack – the gun was not loaded. We also know that Jack was going to shoot and kill Locke – he fired the unloaded gun at his head. So who is good and who is evil? One thing is sure – Locke seems incapable of killing, but Jack could kill at any time.

Christian Shephard is seen in Jacob's cabin wearing a single white tennis shoe - the other shoe was seen hanging from a branch on the beach in the first episode of Lost.

Nits

During Hurley's car chase in the beginning of the episode, an ‘Aloha’ gas station sign is visible. Aloha gas stations are located in Hawaii – but Hurley is supposed to be living in California (Lost is filmed in Hawaii).

Quotable Quotes

Ben: Everyone who stays here is going to die. Now get Alex and get away right now. I don't care where you go. Just go. I will not have my daughter -
Danielle: (punches Ben in the face) She's not your daughter!

Hurley: I don't think we did the right thing, Jack. I think it wants us to come back.
Jack: Hurley.
Hurley: And it's going to do everything it can -
Jack: We're never going back!
Hugo: Never say never, dude.

3.22 Through the Looking Glass

Jack leads most of the survivors away, leaving Sayid and his two shooters. When 10 Others arrive, Sayid and Bernard hit their targets, causing This Weeks Obigatory Explosions, and killing 7 of the 10 invaders. But Jin misses the mark, and soon, the three shooters are captured.

Contacted on walkie-talkie, Ben demands information about where the rest of the Survivors have done. When no one speaks, Sayid is knocked about, and Ben says to kill Jin. Bernard caves, telling not only that the survivors are heading for the tower, but that they have a satellite phone. He also reveals that Karl is the one who warned them that the Others were coming.

Meanwhile, the survivors stopped to wait for the shooters, and hear only two explosions. Worried, some of them want to go back, but Jack is able to keep them moving for awhile.

Charlie is being beaten by the two rough women in the Looking Glass, but he isn’t saying much. They contact Ben. Ben seems very worried and tells Mikhail to go there and find out why Charlie is there. Mikhail is initially reluctant, wondering why Ben told them that the Looking Glass was flooded and inoperable. Ben says simply that he lied, and says he needs Mikhail to do this. Mikhail agrees.

The women again ask Charlie why he is there. He says he is there to shut the jamming signal. They ask how he will do it without the code. Charlie says he doesn’t need the code, because he is going to succeed. He seems so sure of himself that the women are looking a little bit uneasy.

Ben reveals his plan to head for the radio tower to convince the survivors not to use the phone. When Alex expresses an interest in going, Ben agrees, saying that he will take her to her new home. He also reveals tht the reason he tried to get rid of Karl was to stop her from getting pregnant (and dieing).

Desmond comes to after his knockout by Charlie, but doesn’t have much time to recover before the arriving Mikhail. Mikhail starts firing at him. Desmond dives and is able to make it up into the Looking Glass, and to hide before the women see him. Just as the more aggressive woman is about to torture Charlie with a spear gun and also accidentally find Desmond, Mikhail arrives soon after, saying that Desmond is in there somewhere. Charlie stirs up things by asking Mikhail why Ben had said that the station was flooded. He also reveals that Ben was jamming all transmissions. Ben rings and Mikhail confronts him about the jamming. Ben says that Jacob said to do it; it is all part of the plan to protect the island, which is currently under attack. Ben apologizes to Mikhail for not trusting him, and then asks him to kill Charlie and the women too.

Eventually goaded by Kate, Sawyer says he will go back. Jack says no, since with no guns, it would be a suicide mission. But Juliet says that she knows where there is a cache of guns. Juliet and Sawyer leave, and after some banter about who is screwing who, Juliet says there are no guns – she just said that because Jack would not have let them go. Hurley catches up, but Sawyer tells him to go back. As with Charlie, Sawyer uses Hurley’s weight to turn them away.

Locke awakens. His legs won’t move. He reaches for a nearby gun, and is ready to shoot himself. But Walt shows up at the edge of the hole and tells Locke to get up, because he has work to do. Locke’s face changes from despair to hope.

The group continues to head for the radio tower but stops when confronted by Ben and Alex. Ben asks to speak to Jack, saying that since Jack just killed 7 of his people, he owes him that. Jack and Ben walk a short distance away; Jack grabs Ben’s walkie just in case.

Ben says that Naomi is one of the bad guys, and if she is able to contact the outside world, everyone on the island will be killed. He urges Jack to give the phone to him. Having lost all his credibility, Jack doesn’t believe him, so Ben goes to plan B. He reveals that he is holding the three hostages, and says if Jack doesn’t turn over the phone in one minute, he will shoot them. Jack refuses, and three shots are fired. Enraged that his friends have been killed, Jack beats Ben for about the head until he is bloody.

Jack carries Ben back to the group and tells them to tie him up. Danielle takes this moment to walk up to and look longingly at Alex. From the ground, Ben reveals that Danielle is Alex’s mom. Danielle seizes the moment and gently suggests to Alex that they tie Ben up together in a true bonding moment, in more ways than one. Jack walks a short distance away and confides in Kate that their three friends are dead. He cautions her not to let anyone else know.

Sawyer and Juliet have reached the beach, but with no guns, they have no way to mount an attack. They hear a noise coming toward them – it sounds a little like the smoke monster. But it is Hurley, driving the van. He burts through the beach knowing out two of the guards. Sayid snaps the neck of one of the others with his legs. Tom surrenders to Sawyer, but Sawyer shoots him anyway; he says this is payback for taking Walt off the raft. Hurley uses the walkie to try to contac the Others, but gets Jack instead and tells him that everyone is okay. The survivors enjoy a brief moment of joy (especially Jack and Kate, who thought Sayid and the others were dead).

At the Looking Glass, Mikhail has made his choice. He shoots the two women, killing one and mortally wounding Bonnie. As he is about to shoot Charlie, Desmond jumps out and shoots Mikhail in the chest with a speargun. Charlie manages to convince Bonnie to tell him the code as a way of making Ben’s life miserable. Charlie does crack the code, and the jamming signal stops. Just as Charlie is leaving the control room, an incoming video message arrives. It is from Penny. When Charlie asks about her boat, she says she knows of no boat and knows no one named Naomi. At this moment, Mikhail appears at the outside porthole and detonates a hand grenade. Seeing what is about to happen, Charlie locks Desmond out of the control room, saving Desmond’s life but dooming his own. As the control room floods, Charlie has time to scroll a quick message on his hand: "Not Penny’s Boat." Desmond sees the message and touches his hand to Charlie’s against the glass before Charlie dies.

The main group reaches the radio tower. Naomi discovers that her phone is working. She is still being jammed by Danielle’s signal, so Danielle shuts it off.

Just as Naomi is about to make contact, she is struck by something and falls forward, blood pouring from her mouth. It is Locke, who has shown up just in time to throw an axe. He holds a gun on Jack and tries to get Jack to move away from the phone, but Jack refuses. When Ben tries to urge Locke to shoot Jack, Danielle nonchalantly knocks him out with a blow to the head. Locke backs down, while saying that this is not what Jack was supposed to do. Jack answers the call and tells the man on the other end that they are survivors of Flight 815. The man says he will get a fix on their position and be there soon.

Jack’s flashforward:

Jack’s full beard can’t hide his depression, nor can his parade of drinks dull it, as he heads back home on a flight to LA. When the stewardess cuts him off, he reads the paper instead – and finds out that someone is dead. Depressed beyond repair, he drives to a bridge and and gets ready to jump off. But a car accident turns him into a hero. Sarah comes to the hospital, but only because she is still listed as his emergency contact.

Jack tries to get involved in operating on the women who was seriously injured in the crash, but the surgeon on duty politely but firmly turns him away.

Jack goes to someone’s funeral (viewing) and is the only one to show up. He says he is neither friend nor family.

Jack is turned away at a pharmacist because his prescription has expired. He slams his fist down on the counter and stumbles out.

Jack goes back to the hospital to load up on prescription drugs after his own prescription ran out. The surgeon on duty confronts him, asking him gently what he was doing on that bridge at that hour, suspecting that he was trying to commit suicide. Jack has another shouting fit and stumbles out again.

In a squalid apartment, Jack calls someone on the phone and they agree to meet him out near the airport runway. It is Kate (and we now realize we are seeing the future). Jack says they must find a way to get back to the island – that they were never meant to leave. Kate says they were meant to leave, and that she must go back home because ‘he will be wondering’. Kate leaves, and Jack watches as a plane flies low overhead, taking off for destinations unknown.

Comments

Mikhail now has to decide whether to trust Ben once again (and kill three people) or perhaps team with the women to break away from Ben.

Charlie’s death scene was extremely moving. I will miss him as a character (and actor), despite his many faults.

The creators were very clever and sneaky to make us assume that the alternative glimpses we were seeing of Jack’s life had happened in the past, not the future, since all the other stories like that shown thus far were always from the past.

Whose funeral was Jack attending? From what little I could glean from freeze-framing the newspaper article, it is a man whose name starts with "Jo".

Who is Kate living with in the future?

It is now possible that the survivors will have to join forces with the Others to fight off this new threat, the supposed rescuers that will be contacted with Naomi’s phone.

Nits

In the opening scene, the radio tower group heads out with the ocean on their right. But in the next scene, the ocean is on their left! They have turned around!

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book to fire into the air (or the dirt) but not actually kill the person. But why does Ben radio ahead and tell Ryan to fire into the dirt three times if Ben’s voice is not heard? This is a silly strategy. It made sense for Ben to tell Jack that he would kill the hostages if the phone was not handed over. But by making believe he had killed all three of them, Ben lost any leverage he might have had to get the phone back! He would have been better off saying that he killed one of them, then threatening to kill another one in a minute if the phone was not handed over.

In his flash-forward, why is Jack speaking about his father as if he is still alive? Is this because the future the timeline the survivors returned to was different than the one they left?

Quotable Quotes

Richard: We're going to the radio tower?
Ben: Not we, Richard, me. You're going to take everyone to the temple as planned.
Richard: Now might not be the best time to go tromping off on your own.
Ben: Oh really and why not?
Richard: Because people are asking questions, Ben. About leaving home, about what happened to Locke, about Jacob. Not to mention the rapidly spreading rumor that everyone that went down to the beach is dead.
Ben: They're not all dead.

Tom: They're all dead. Diane, Ivan, all of em, dead. And Shephard and his people, they're all gone.
Ben: Gone, gone where?
Tom: I don't know. Did you hear me? They killed seven of our...
Ryan: Tom! Calm down and tell him the good news.
Ben: What good news?
Tom: We caught three of em. The one's who stayed behind to blow up the tents. Ben, they knew we were coming?
Ben: It was Juliet. She betrayed us.

Ben: Mikhail, you need to go down to The Looking Glass and find out what Charlie Pace is doing down there.
Mikhail: You told us The Looking Glass was inoperable, flooded.
Ben: I lied. Mikhail, I need you to go, now!
Mikhail: I can be there by dawn. But if Juliet told them about The Looking Glass, what else did she tell them?

Sawyer: So, you screwing Jack yet?
Juliet: No, are you?

"Here's a better question to ask Cyclops. Why did your little friend Ben tell you people that this entire station was flooded, when it isn't? Or, why these two have been jamming transmissions off the island."
- Charlie

Jack: You okay?
Kate: Yeah, I just, had a rock in my shoe.
Jack: He didn't mean it, you know.
Kate: What?
Jack: Sawyer. When he said that he didn't want you to go with him, he didn't mean it.
Kate:If he didn't mean it, why'd he say it?
Jack: I'm trying to protect you. That's why I asked you not to come back for me.
Kate: Hey. Why are you sticking up for Sawyer, he'd never do it for you.
Jack: Because I love you.

Ben: May I have my walkie back?
Jack: What?
Ben: There's something you need to hear. Please?
(Jack hands Ben the walkie-talkie)
Ben: Thank you. Tom are you there?
Tom: (over the walkie) Yeah, I'm here.
Ben: (To Jack) Your plan killed seven of my people. But the ones that you failed to kill are now holding you friends, Jin, Sayid, Bernard, at gun point.
Jack: And what's to stop me from snapping your neck?
Ben: Tom unless you hear my voice in one minute, shoot all three of them.
Tom: Got it.
Ben: (pulls out his watch) Bring me the phone Jack. (struggling is heard over the walkie) 40 seconds.
Jack: No, I'm getting them off the island. All of them!
Ben: Let me ask you something, Jack. Why do you want to leave the island? What is it that you so desperately want to get back to? You have no one, your fathers dead, your wife left you; moved on with another man. Can you just not wait to get back to the hospital? Get back to fixing things? (Jack moves forward) It's 20 seconds now, just get me the phone Jack.
Jack: No.
Ben: 10 seconds, bring me the phone.
Jack: No.
Ben: I'm not bluffing!
Jack: I won't -
Ben: 5…
Jack: Do it!
Ben: 4, 3…
Jack: No!
(3 gun shots are heard over the walkie)
Ben: I'm so sorry Jack.
(Jack attacks Ben and beats him, he then picks up the walkie-talkie)
Jack: Tom, are you there?
Tom: Yeah Jack, I hear you.
Jack: Im gonna lead my people up the radio tower and I'm gonna make a call. And I'm gonna get 'em all rescued, every one of them! And then I'm going to come and find you, and I'm gonna kill ya.

Tom: Okay. I give up.
(Sawyer shoots him in the chest)
Sawyer: That's for taking the kid off the raft.
Hurley: Dude, it was over. He surrendered.
Sawyer: I didn't believe him.

Ben: Jack! I know you think you're saving your people. But you need to stop this. It's a mistake.
Jack: The mistake was listening to you.
Ben: This'll be your last chance, Jack. I'm telling you, making that call is the beginning of the end.
Naomi: I've got it, I've got a signal!
Ben: Jack please, you don't know what you're doing!
Jack: I know exactly what I'm doing.

Ben: You have to understand, everything I did, I did for the Island.
Mikhail: The Island told you it was necessary for you to jam your own people?
Ben: Yes it did. You've always been a loyalist, Mikhail, now I'm asking you to trust me, to trust Jacob who told me to do this.
Mikhail: Why would Jacob ask you to lie to your own people?
Ben: Because this Island is under assault by forces stronger than anything its had to deal with in many many years. And we are meant to protect it, Mikhail, by any means necessary. The jamming was for everyone's security. We are in a serious situation here.

Locke: Please, put the phone down.
Jack: No, you're done keeping me on this island!
Locke: I will kill you if I have to.
Jack: Then do it, John.

Jack: Every Friday night I, I fly from LA to Tokyo or, Singapore, Sydney. And then I, I get off and I, have a drink, and then I fly home.
Kate: Why?
Jack: Because I wanted to crash, Kate. I don't care about anybody else on board. Every little bump we hit or turbulence, I mean I, I actually close my eyes and I pray that I can get back.