3.13 The Man from Tallahassee

Kate, Locke and Sayid watch as a seemingly happy Jack talks to the wheelchair-bound Ben and shakes his hand. Kate wants to go in guns blazing, but a more sensible plan is hatched by Locke: they will wait until night, and then send Kate in to talk to Jack, with Locke and Sayid as backup. Kate enters Jack’s room and finds him comfortably playing the piano. Jack is upset that Kate has come back for him, and for good reason – he may seem comfortable, but he is being watched constantly. Within seconds, a swat team bursts in, guns drawn, and captures Kate. Sayid is captured soon after. Kate swears that there are only two of them in the party.

Kate and Sayid are separated, with Kate kept in a basement room, and Sayid chained outside. Jack visits Kate and tells her he is leaving the island tonight as per a promise made by Ben. Jack whispers to her, promising that he will come back for her.

Meanwhile, Locke has managed to enter Ben’s room, and, holding Ben at gunpoint, demands to know the location of the submarine. When Alex enters the room, Locke holds Ben hostage and demands that she get Sayid’s backpack. Alex agrees. As she is getting the pack from Sayid, Sayid mentions to her that she looks like her mother, and contrary to what she has been told, her mother is alive.

Jack and Juliet visits Ben just before leaving. Jack asks Ben for a favor: to let his friends go after he leaves. Ben confirms first that Jack would not leave if Ben said no. But Ben says ‘yes’: he promises to let them go as soon as Jack has left the island. He makes this hollow promise knowing that Locke is blowing up the submarine at that moment.

Locke finds and blows up the submarine, just before Jack and Juliet are about to board. They all meet on the dock to watch the fireball and throw fiery glances at each other.

Ben frees Locke and brings him to a room to show him what came out of his ‘magic box’ that can make anything appear: it’s Locke’s father, Anthony Cooper, sitting in a chair, bound and gagged.

Locke’s flashback: Locke has stopped attending therapy but still is living a threadbare, joyless existence. Old wounds are reopened when a young man named Peter Talbot shows up at his door, telling him that Anthony Cooper (Locke’s father) is just about to marry his mother and hustle her out of her savings. Locke acts like he knows nothing of the man, but soon after he tracks down Cooper in a florist shop and tells him he must cancel the wedding and stop the scam. His dad agrees, but a couple of days later, Locke finds out that Talbot is dead. Suspecting his dad did it, Locke confronts him at his high-rise apartment. Cooper seems amiable, but suddenly attacks, pushing Locke through the eighth-story plate-glass window. Locke is, I suppose, lucky to only break his back in the fall.

Comments

With great dialogue, deviously tense situations, and pacing quick enough to cover any anomalies in logic, this episode is by far the best one of season 3, and perhaps the best one for the entire series. It is highlighted by the tension of Kate entering Jack’s room: how will he react to this surprise? It could go so many ways. And, of course, anytime Locke and Ben are in the same room, there are fireworks. In fact, Terry O'Quinn (Locke) won the Emmy of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in this episode.

Nits

I’m still trying to figure out if it makes any real sense for Locke to blow up the submarine, or if it was just another excuse for the writers to blow up something big. Of course, we now know that Locke will blow up anything that could mean they get off the island (although he didn’t sabotage the boat).

It’s too bad Ryan (the man guarding Sayid) didn’t have a walkie so he could confirm that Ben asked Alex to get Sayid’s pack.

Quotable Quotes

"This is going to be more complicated than we thought."
- Locke (on rescuing Jack)

Locke: The Man from Tallahassee? What is that some kind of code?
Ben: No John, unfortunately we don't have a code for "there is a man in my closet holding a gun to my daughter's head". Although we obviously should.

Ben: Would you mind helping me get into my chair. No tricks, I promise. I just want some dignity. You of all people should understand what means to want some dignity. Thank you. So tell me John, how do you plan on piloting our submarine. It’s a complicated piece of machinery. You just don't press submerge.
Locke: I'll figure something out. For all you know I was a commander in the Navy. Put your arm around my neck and I'll lift under your knees.
Ben: What's in the pack, John? If you met Mikail, that means you were at the communications station, which means you found the explosives. So you're not planning on piloting the submarine anywhere, you're planning to destroy it. I know you, John Locke.
Locke: You don't know me at all.
Ben: I know you were born in California. I know that you were raised in foster care. I know that you wasted a large part of your life in Tustin, pushing papers at a place that manufactures industrial boxes. I know that you spent the four years prior to arriving on this island in a wheelchair, and I know how you ended up in it.

Locke: Where do you get electricity?
Ben: We have two big hamsters running around in this giant wheel in our secret underground lair.

Ben: I know you think you need to do this John, but if you blow up my submarine, I'll have a big problem with my people.
Locke: Is that supposed to be an incentive not to blow it up?
Ben: I was born on this island; not many of my people can say that. Most of them were recruited and brought here, and as much as they love this place, as much as they would do anything to defend it, they need to know that they can leave if they want to. The sub maintains that illusion.
Locke: So you're lying to them?
Ben: No... they're here because they want to be here. Some of them are just not ready to make a full commitment yet. But you John, you've already made that commitment. And now you have a choice, because if you stop and think, I can show you things. things I know that you want to see very badly. Let me put it so you'll understand: picture a box. You know something about boxes, don't you John? What if I told you that somewhere on this island there is a very large box and whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it, when you open that box, there it would be. What would you say about that John?
Locke: I'd say that I hope that box is big enough for you to imagine up a new submarine.
Ben: Why are you so angry John?
Locke: Because you're cheating. You communicate with the outside world whenever you want to, you come and go as you please, you use electricity and running water and guns. You're a hypocrite. You don't deserve to be on this island. If you had any idea what this place was you wouldn't be putting chicken in your refrigerator.
Ben: You have been on this island for 80 days, John. I have been here my entire life. So what makes you think you know this island better than I do?
Locke: Because you're in the wheelchair, and I'm not.

Sayid: Alex?
Alex: How do you know my name?
Sayid: You look just like your mother.
Alex: How could you know? My mother's dead.
Sayid: Yes, I am sure that is what they told you.

Jack: They hurt you?
Kate: No. Did they hurt you?
Jack: No.
Kate: What is all this?
Jack: This is where they live.
Kate: And the people they took? The kids?
Jack: They're all safe.
Kate: Safe? So, you're with them now?
Jack: I'm not with anyone, Kate.

"You remember earlier, John, when you called me a cheater? When you said I didn't deserve to be on this island? Well, get this, there I was shaking hands with Jack and thinking "I'd give almost anything to come up with a way to stop him from leaving." Because, to let him go would be a sign of weakness, of failure, of defeat. My people would see that, they would know it. And that, John, would be the end of me. But, to kill him, that would be cheating. Because my people also heard me make a promise. And, to break my word, that would be the end of me too. And then, you came striding out of the jungle, John, to make my dream come true."
- Ben

3.12 Par Avion

Charlie has prepared a beachside picnic for Claire, but she is distracted by her great idea to catch a banded bird from a passing flock and attach a message about the castaways. Desmond shows up, looking worried and imploring Charlie to come boar hunting with him. Charlie doesn’t want to. Desmond tries other things to stop Claire from catching a bird, including firing his gun nearby, and then claiming his had fired at a boar. Charlie also tries to convince Claire that she is wasting her time. Claire gets angry at Charlie’s lack of faith in her and kicks her out, but her curiosity about why Desmond and Charlie are so negative about her idea leads her to follow Desmond. She finds him trapping a bird that he somehow knew would be in a certain place. Desmond levels with her, telling her that he foresaw Charlie drowning on rocks while trying to fetch that very same bird. Claire finds Charlie and says she understands everything, and takes him back in.

Tensions between Locke and Sayid have escalated since Locke blew up the Flame. Sayid and Locke argue about whether to follow the electrical map, with Mikhail stating flatly that they are on course, and Kate breaking the stalemate by suggesting that they keep going.

Kate tries to ask Mikhail some questions; Mikhail says he came to the island by submarine. All other questions are not answered, with Mikhail patronizingly says that they are incapable of understanding because they are not on the list.

They reach a series of posts which appear to be a barrier around the barracks. Mikhail claims that is was a security grid, but that it stopped working when the hatch exploded. In response, Locke pushes Mikhail through the posts. Mikhail says, "Thank you", and then foams at the mouth and soon dies. The others conclude that he was killed by a sonar blast. Sayid and Kate are angry at Locke for pushing Mikhail through, but Locke claims it was a mistake.

Plan B is to fell a tree and climb over the barrier post. This works, and soon, the group is in a patch of jungle. There, hidden away, they are shocked to see Jack, having a football catch with Tom, and seeming to be quite happy and joyful while he is doing this.

Claire’s backstory: Claire is a young goth who, while driving a car with her mother as a passenger, is involved in a serious accident. Her mother is in a coma, with little chance for recovery. The hospital expenses are being taken care of by a mysterious person who wishes to remain anonymous. But he (Jack’s father) shows up for a visit, encouraging Claire to pull the plug. Claire does not, choosing to leave her mother in a comatose state, perhaps too wracked by guilt to take the final step.

Comments

We have learned in this episode that Locke’s recent bumbling has been perhaps by design. In some ways, he seems to have previous knowledge of Mikhail’s house. He nabbed some C4, but still blew the place up. He pushes Mikhail into the border fence and killed him, then seemed to protest too loudly that he had no idea Mikhail would die. I have the feeling that Locke is holding a huge secret about himself.

We also now know that Claire and Jack are half-siblings, although they do not know it yet.

It appears that Jack may have been brainwashed, although it doesn’t seem like enough time has passed for this to have happened. Or maybe, he has been cloned.

Nits

The speedometer in the car has both miles and kilometers, with the kilometers on the inside ring. This matches an American speedometer; however, the accident took place in Australia. In Australia, speedometers have had only kilometer measurements since about 1973.

In Australia, where this story takes place, medical expenses are paid for by Medicare, a government-funded system. There would be no need for Jack’s father to pay for any expenses. Additionally, even in America, it would be unlikely that the surgeon would be aware of or care who was paying for the expenses. This would be handled well behind the scenes by administration staff (this one is a common Hollywood script cliché).

If Jack’s father wanted to remain anonymous, why did he show up at the hospital room?

Quotable Quotes

"I woke up this morning and I thought, ‘It's time to stop feeling sorry for yourself and seize the day.’ And, I can't think of anyone I'd rather do some ‘day seizing’ with than you."
- Charlie to Claire

[Sayid pulls a block of C4 out of Locke's pack]
Sayid: I thought you didn't know there was any C4.
Locke: Well, I stand corrected.
Sayid: Why did you take it?
Locke: You never know when a little C4 might come in handy.
Sayid: You'll have to do better than that.

Mikhail: I misspoke. What I meant to say is, ‘You're not capable of understanding.’
Kate: And why am I not capable?
Mikhail: Because you are not on the list.
Kate: What list?
Mikhail: The man who brought me here, who brought all of my people here, he is a magnificent man.
Kate: If Ben's so magnificent, then why did he need one of us to save him?
Mikhail: Ben? Ben is not - I will try to make this as simple as I can. You are not on the list because you are flawed, (to John) because you are angry, (to Sayid) and weak, (to Rousseau) and frightened.

3.11 Enter 77

Sawyer is wondering where Kate is, but is distracted by the discovery of the remains of the ping pong table that blew out of the exploding hatch. Sawyer has a ball for it, but will only give it up if someone will play him for it. The representative is Hurley, and Hurley smashes him. The cost for Sawyer: no nicknames for a week. Hurley shows him some mercy and gives Sawyer back some of his magazines.

Sayid is beginning to show doubts that Locke’s instincts about how to find the others are going to bear fruit. But while Sayid is off looking for real fruit, he sees a cow – and behind it, a lone house with a satellite dish, and a man with an eyepatch. Sayid walks around the place and says he is sure that it is completely isolated. Sayid approaches unarmed, and is promptly shot in the arm. Kate and Locke advance, guns drawn, and a truce is made, and they are taken inside. The man identifies himself as Mikhail, the last living member of the Dharma Initiative. He sews up Sayid’s arm as he tells that he refused to enter Dharma’s war against the ‘hostiles’, and, because of that, he has been allowed to live in this place – a Dharma station called the Flame. The purpose of the station is to communicate with the outside world – but the satellite dish and sonar systems are not working.

But Sayid tells Kate that he noticed that the stirrups on the horse are mounted for a much shorter person.

Meanwhile, Locke has wandered off and gotten obsessed with playing a computer chess game. While Locke is still in the other room, Mikhail tries to fight his way out, but Sayid and Kate are able to (barely) subdue him. He is tied up. Sayid and Locke now believe that Mikhail was sent to this place to restore the communications systems that probably stopped working when the hatch exploded. Sayid finds a trap door underneath the carpet leading to a basement. Kate and Sayid first find that the whole place is wired with explosives.

Locke wanders off when he should be guarding the unconscious Mikhail, summoned by the beep and ‘your move’ of the chess game. Locke is able to win, even though Mikhail had said it was impossible. Upon winning, he gets a video message from that Dharma scientist, telling him that manual override has been achieved, and to press 24 for pallet drop, 32 for station uplink, 38 for mainland communication. Locke presses 38, but receives a message that satellite communications are down. The next message is to press 56 for sonar access. Locke does: sonar is inoperable. The video says to enter 77 if there has been an incursion on this station by the hostiles. Locke is about to enter 77 when he is held at knifepoint by the revived Mikhail.

Meanwhile Kate is attacked by the black woman that was dealing with Michael. The ‘Other woman’ is subdued, and a standoff occurs outside. But the prisoner exchange goes awry when the black woman convinces Mikhail to shoot her dead. Mikhail is taken prisoner; his pleas to be put out of his misery are ignored. Sayid has found a map of underground communication lines that will lead them to the main barracks of the Others, and doesn’t need Mikhail anymore, but refuses to kill him.

Kate, Sayid, and Mikhail go outside and Sayid calls Danielle. Locke hangs back and stupidly presses 77. As they walk away, the house explodes.

Sayid’s backstory: He is working as a chef at a restaurant in Syria, and masquerading as a Syrian. He is approached by an Iraqi man who says he likes his cooking and wants him to switch to another restaurant. When Sayid visits the restaurant, however, it is a trick. The man’s wife is ‘Nadia’, and she identified Sayid as the man who tortured her in Iraq. Beaten to within an inch of his life, Nadia changes her mind and allows Sayid to go, stating that she will not go down to that level.

Comments

One interesting comment by Mikhail: he says the hostiles have been on the island for a long time (he infers that it may have been many generations).

Why has the show turned so nasty? Why did the black woman and the Russian man ask to be shot? Up to now, no one in the Others has seemed so fatalistic, suicidal, and kamikaze. In a way, Hurley and Charlie’s attitude in the last episode was a bit suicidal too – driving that vehicle downhill toward the rocks seemed particularly stupid.

This is the second episode in a row that the writers have worked a huge explosion into the script – I’m noticing the start of a possible trend here - to blow big things up.

The first part of this episode was excellent, until plot holes, character stupidity, and downright nastiness diminished it.

Since I am watching these episodes about a year after they originally aired, I am aware that the show’s rating have dropped in the latter half of season 3, and even more so in season 4. I’m interested in exploring why this happened, and I am noticing already that this episode’s rating on tv.com is ‘great’, which is below the usual episode rating of ‘superb’.

Nits

When Sayid initially said that he was sure that the eyepatch man was alone, I questioned this in my mind. The Others seem to have underground structures everywhere; why wouldn’t Sayid also assume this, or at least leave this open as a possibility?

I found it unbelievably stupid that Locke would stop guarding the prisoner in order to continue his chess game. When he wandered back to the game, I was really hoping nothing stupid would happen.

Sayid discovers explosives mounted at various locations in the basement. Kate asks him what they are for, and he says, "I don’t know." Uh…maybe they are for…blowing the place up? What other purpose could they serve?

And finally, why would Locke even consider entering the 77 code? Sure, it makes sense to enter the codes to check if the satellite dish or sonar is working – it would be to their advantage to gain this type of communication. But of what advantage would it be to get the reaction to an insurgency?

Quotable Quotes

"I’m going to find some fruit – and then, John, we’re going to have a rational conversation regarding our next move."
- Sayid

Sawyer: Ooh! Looks like Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon got something good. Lay it on me.
Sun: No nicknames. If you lose, no nicknames for anyone for a week.

Kate: Where are you going?
Danielle: I have no interest in that man inside the house. I have survived on the island precisely by avoiding these types of encounters. I'll wait for you by the stream...For those of you who survive.

Sayid: What's wrong?
Kate: Doesn't make any sense. Why would they let him stay here, with all this stuff, all this equipment?
Sayid: Actually, it makes perfect sense.
Kate: What are you talking about?
Sayid: The reason they let him stay here is because he is not Dharma. He is one of them.
Kate: He shot you and you just let him-why are we still sitting here?
Sayid: We are sitting here, Kate, because I am certain he is not alone.

3.10 Tricia Tanaka is Dead

Hurley is standing at Libby’s grave, talking to her, telling her how much he misses her. He moves down the beach and finds newly shaved and moping Charlie. Charlie tells Hurley that Desmond told him he was going to die. But rather than cheering Charlie up, Hurley says Desmond might be right – that he is cursed. At that moment, Vincent runs up, holding part of a decomposed arm and hand. The hand holds a lucky rabbit’s foot and key. Vincent runs off with Hurley following him. The trail ends at an overturned Volkswagen mini-bus.

Hurley is inspired by the discovery of the car, and returns to camp, looking for volunteers to fix it up. He is only able to get Jin to help, and only because Jin doesn’t know what he is volunteering for.

Kate asks Sawyer to say, ‘sorry’. Sawyer changes the subject and talks about Little House on the Prairie - and says he has nothing to be sorry for. (Frankly, I don’t know what he has to be sorry for, either). They return to camp and are greeted warmly by the survivors.

Sawyer and Kate return to camp. When Sawyer finds out that Hurley was a party in stealing his stash. Sawyer finds Hurley at the mini-bus, and is about to confront him about his stash, but is instead co-opted to help with the vehicle – especially when he finds out there are cans of beer inside. They flip the vehicle, but Jin says it will not start.

Kate debriefs Sayid and Locke, telling that the Others probably have another boat, and that the Others live on this island. Kate heads off to get help.

Hurley gets an idea – he goes to fetch Charlie to do it with him. His idea: to push the car off a steep decline and jump-start it. Hurley and Charlie ride the bus at high-speed down the hill, just avoiding rocks at the bottom, and, by some miracle, are able to start it up and even get the CD player going.

The guys return to camp. In a music video segment, Charlie recounts his day to Claire, Jin gives Sun a beautiful flower, and Sawyer sits by himself at his tent, looking lonely, consoled only by sipping his stale Dharma Initiative Beer.

Hurley is still in the bus, making lazy circles until the thing dies.

Deep in the jungle at night, Kate meets Locke and Sayid, and they make plans to rescue Jack. Shots ring out – it is Danielle. Kate asks her to help them find the Others camp, motivating her with the fact that the dark-haired girl with the Others is named Alex (her daughter’s name).

In flashback, Hurley is a young boy whose motorcycle-riding dad (played by Cheech Marin) is just heading out for a supposed short trip. Fast-forward 17 years later, and Hurley’s newly purchased chicken fast food restaurant is hit by a meteor (or asteroid – he’s not sure which), killing Tricia Tanaka, the reporter who moments earlier was interviewing him for a puff piece. Hurley is convinced he is cursed, even more so when his long-missing father returns. His father tries to convince him that the curse is untrue, but his method (bribing a tarot card reader) is seen through immediately by Hurley.

Comments

They are really trying to ploy us with this Kate/Sawyer romance thingy, and it isn’t working for me, especially the music-video ending, where Sawyer wistfully gazes at some of the other couples and then sips his lonely bitter beer. I’ve always thought Josh Holloway looks like he should be playing the rougher, sexier dude who exists on every daytime soap opera, and now he is playing him on Lost. Nor has he ever shown an inclination to be in love with anything. I mean, I can accept the fact that he comes up with a wiki’s worth of quotes on every aspect of pop culture, an amazing achievement for a guy who does not fit the bill of someone who sat around watching TV and reading Who magazine all his life. I know the writers are just adding a little lighthearted fun in that area. I know the writers tried to explain it away in this episode by saying that he watched TV for two months straight when he had mono as a boy, but last episode, he made a truly obscure quote about Bobby on the Brady Bunch, and this episode it was a Little House on the Prairie!

The Hurley ‘car-starting’ plot point seems a little like the ‘Hurley golf course’ plot from season one.

Nits

Kate says she is heading off to get help. Locke asks, "Help from who?" Shouldn’t it be obvious to him that it must be Danielle she is heading for? Who else could it be?

Hurley’s bright idea is to push the car off a steep incline. The guys push the car a short distance, and, sure enough, it is perched at the edge of a very deep valley. The only problem is, this means that earlier, when Hurley was chasing Vincent, he would have had to climb/run up this very steep hill at some other point. I think this would have taken him well over an hour with his physique…whereas his pursuit of Vincent was made to look much shorter and…flatter.

Quotable Quotes

 

Jin: Sawyer.
Sawyer: Jin-bo! How you doing?
Jin: Good... see... you.
Sawyer: Well, look at that! Somebody's hooked on phonics!

Hurley: Get up. We got work to do.
Sawyer: What's your problem, Jumbotron?
Hurley: Shut up! Red ... Neck ... Man ...
Sawyer: Touché.

3.9 Stranger in a Strange Land

Kate and Sawyer and paddling back to ‘their’ island. Kate tells Sawyer they have to go back for Jack. Sawyer and Karl both say they will be killed if they go back. Sawyer, who is paddling the boat, holds sway – for now.

Tom visit Jack in his cell to tell him he is being moved. Jack thinks he is being taken to be killed. Tom says it isn’t true, and wonders why Jack would think of them that way. Jack gives a few examples of why he thinks that way (child-kidnapping, etc.) Tom infers that Jack is throwing stones from his glass house, but, frankly, I don’t understand how Tom can argue that the survivors are on the same moral plane as the Others.

As they head for their new location, Jack sees that Juliet is in his old cell. He also passes a new, mysterious member of the Others – an older, angular woman, dressed like a Nazi secretary.

Jack is placed in Sawyer’s old bear cell and fed food in paper plates squeezed through the bars. Tom identifies the angular woman as the sheriff. Jack also learns that Juliet is in trouble.

Sawyer convinces Kate that they should not sail around the island back to their people, but should instead make land and make camp. Kate is getting more and more annoyed by Sawyer’s control. Karl wakes up and gives some information about the Others. They live on ‘this island’; they do ‘projects’; they give kids a life better than the ones that the survivors can give. Karl reminisces about his nights with Alex, gazing at the stars in their back yards.

Jack experiments with pressing the bear button a few times, killing time until Juliet visits. She says his vitals are low and he has a fever. Juliet asks Jack to take a look, but Jack refuses. Juliet explains her motivations – she is in trouble for killing one of their own – the man that was going to kill Sawyer (and Kate, I assume).

Jack is visited by the angular Isabel, who questions whether he knows what his tattoo means. He says he does. She’s very arrogant. She asks Jack to come with her. Jack agrees. The destination is an inquiry into Juliet’s mis-deeds. Jack is asked whether Juliet asked him to kill Ben. Jack lies and says she did not. Isabel seems sure Jack is protecting Juliet, but Jack plays is straight and asks to go back to his cell.

While in his cell, Jack is visited by 20 or so people (including Cindy and the children). Cindy says they are there to watch – and they all seem to be docile and brainwashed. Jack reacts angrily, especially when one of the kids asks how Ana Lucia is doing. Jacks yells at Cindy to go away.

Kate wakes up and believes Karl is gone, but they find him a short distance away in the jungle, crying. Sawyer goes alone to talk with Karl – his talk starts off with a hard punch to the arm. Sawyer tells Karl that Alex is worth the time, and he should go back ‘home’ and try to find her.

Jack is visited by Alex. She wants to know why he saved Ben, even after all the evil that Ben do. Jack finds out that Juliet is about going to be sentenced to death for killing Pickett just before he was going to murder Sawyer and Kate. Jack says he saved Ben because he said he would. Jack finds out that Ben is still in control of the group, and asks to get out of the cage, so he can convince Ben to avert Juliet’s execution. Jack burst into OR and stops the Others surgeon from doing something with a syringe. Jack says Ben needs to be closely monitored by a doctor. The cost is that Ben must stay Juliet’s execution. Ben cannot move, so instead he sends a note with Alex. Alex bursts into the meeting with the note. Juliet’s life is saved; instead, she is ‘marked’.

Juliet visits Jack at his cage and shows him her marked back. Through the bars, Jack treats her with the leaf of an aloe plant. Juliet asks why he saved her life. Jack says Ben promised both of them passage off the island, and they together must ensure that he keeps his promise. Juliet tells Jack they are heading back to the ‘home island’.

Karl is gone. Sawyer and Kate start heading back to camp, but first, they discuss where they stand. Sawyer thinks Kate made love to him only because she thought he was a dead man. She doesn’t deny it.

Jack is taken to the beach, where he is going to be transported back to ‘his island. Like some biblical tableau, Jack rides with Ben, watching over him.

Somewhere in the jungle, Karl sits by a campfire, contemplating his next move, and looking up at the stars. Alex sits under the stars on the ship returning to the island. Jack and Juliet stand on the bow, and share a special look.

In flashback, Jack is vacationing on the beach in Thailand. His failed attempts to build a kite attract the help of a striking young Thai woman named Achara. Jack and Achara start a relationship, but the elusive Achara only visits when she wants, and keeps what she does a mystery. She says she has a ‘gift’, and that is all she shares. Their relationship is steaming – her nocturnal visits seem to be enjoyed by both of them – but Jack wants to know more about her. She says there are things happening here that he could never understand – like her gift. She tells him to just have fun and to stop asking questions. But Jack follows her one night and finds her place of work – a tattoo parlor. He demands to know her gift – she says she can read people. She defines him perfectly – a leader who is angry and scared. He demands that she tattoo this on his arm. The next day, he is beaten by a gang of angry Thai men, and told to leave the country, while Achara watches from a distance, crying.

Comments

Those tattoos on Jack are real. Matthew Fox had them before he began his work on Lost. The producers thought they worked well with his character, so they didn’t cover them up and worked them into the story.

The writers have done a great job of evolving Jack’s character from a pure, albeit reluctant hero, to someone who is deeply tormented and even a little insane.

Quotable Quotes

(Sawyer punches Karl in the arm)
Karl: Ow! What was that for?
Sawyer: So you’d cowboy up! Cryin’ in the jungle – I thought you people were supposed to be tough.

"Anyway, look, Karl – I’ve been with a lot of girls – some of them worth the trouble, some not. Every now and then, there’s one – one you name dumb stars with."
- Sawyer

Jack: I’d be much more impressed with you people if you had a good surgeon>
Ben: We had an excellent surgeon, Jack; his name was Ethan.

Jack: Do you see who I am, Achara?
Achara: Yes.
Jack: Who am I?
Achara: You are a leader, a great man, but this... this makes you lonely, and frightened, and angry.
Jack: Good. Now, put it on me. Put it on me!

Isabelle: [about Jack's tattoo] ‘He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us.’ That's what they say.
Jack: That's what they say. It's not what they mean.

3.8 Flashes Before Your Eyes

Desmond interrupts Charlie and Hurley as they are rifling through Sawyer’s stash, and tells them they must come with him into the jungle. There, Locke and Sayid are waiting. Locke tells them that Eko is dead. Desmond suddenly runs at high speed back to the beach, with the others following. Desmond dives into the water for no immediately apparent reason, but soon we see a body floating further out. Desmond rescues Claire – she had gotten caught in an undertow while swimming.

Charlie wants to find out how Desmond knew that Claire was drowning. When he finds a bottle of scotch in Sawyer’s stash, he has his weapon. With Hurley in tow, Charlie invites Desmond to have a drink. Desmond initially refuses, but when he sees it is McCutcheon whiskey, he agrees. Charlie gets Desmond drunk, but Desmond reveals nothing, and when Charlie calls him a coward, Desmond almost strangles him.

Charlie carries Desmond to his tent, where they trade apologies. Charlie asks Desmond for information one more time. Desmond says his life flashing before his eyes won’t stop. Desmond explains that he was not saving Claire – he was saving Charlie. He says Charlie dove in after Claire and tried to save her and drowned. He also says that Charlie was electrocuted by the lightning as well. Desmond says he can’t protect him forever.

Desmond’s backstory / time travel: When Desmond turned the key, he was transported to time to his flat, three years ago. Penny has moved in with Desmond (after he refused to move in to her luxury flat). Desmond realizes immediately that he has been there before. Desmond visits Penny’s father, ostensibly to get a job, but in reality he asks to marry Penny and wants her father’s blessing. Instead, he gets an insult to his character – that he is not good enough to share a drink of fine McCutcheon whiskey – that he will never be a great man. Outside the office, he runs into Charlie, busking. He tries to convince Charlie that he knows him, but is seen as a nut. He visits a scientist friend, who tells him that time travel doesn’t exist. Desmond looks at the soccer game on TV in the pub and predicts – incorrectly – that one team is going to come from behind.

Desmond goes to buy a ring for Penny. The clerk tells him he cannot buy the ring, because he is not meant to marry Penny – he is meant to go to the island and push the button. Somehow, this woman is aware of his traveling through time and knows the way the timeline is supposed to play out. Desmond ignores her, and prepares to ask Penny to marry him anyway, but at the last minute, he backs out, saying that they are not meant to be together. Later, back in the pub, his soccer game prediction comes true, and he realizes he is not crazy.

Comments

All over, Desmond sees the numbers. A delivery man is bringing something for room 815. The clock says 1.08.

It’s ironic that Charlie is busking an Oasis song (Wonderwall), since Charlie and Liam have always seemed like they are very similar to the two brothers from Oasis.

I know from my Star Trek that when it comes to time travel and alternative timelines, you shouldn’t think about the logic of it too much, because it will make your brain hurt.

Quotable Quotes

[Charlie and Hurley are ransacking Sawyer's stash]
Hurley: Dude, I don't know about this.
Charlie: See, you're looking at this all wrong. He would want us to do this.
Hurley: He'd want us to ransack his tent and take his stash? Yeah, that sounds exactly like Sawyer.
Charlie: Well, he stole all this in the first place. I mean, people need food, they need medical supplies, they need... [Finds adult magazines] ...shocking amounts of pornography.

Charlie: So, you're telling me you saw a flash of Claire drowning this morning so you knew how to save her?
Desmond: I wasn't saving Claire, Charlie... I was saving you. This morning, you dove in after Claire. You tried to save her but you drowned.
Charlie: What do you mean? I didn't drown.
Desmond: When I saw the light hit the roof, you were electrocuted. And when Claire was in the water, you drowned trying to save her. I dove in myself so you never went in, I tried, brother, I've tried twice to save you, but the universe has a way of course correcting and I can't stop it forever. I'm sorry - I'm sorry because, no matter what I try to do... you're gonna die, Charlie.
[closing line]

3.7 Not in Portland

Sawyer and Kate beat up their captors and take off into the rainy jungle. Juliet calls Jack’s bluff, sending Tom to recapture, and, if necessary, kill, Kate and Sawyer. She believes Jack will not let a patient die on the table. Jack swears he will. Juliet now tells Jack that Kate and Sawyer cannot escape because they are on another island.

Jack tells Tom that Juliet wanted Jack to kill Ben. Tom tells Juliet to leave the operating room.

Danny and his friends head off in pursuit of Kate and Sawyer, who have reached the beach. There’s a firefight that ends when Sawyer runs out of bullets. Kate and Sawyer are about to be captured when Alex shoots Danny with her slingshot and hides them in a camouflaged pit. When the danger has passed, Alex says she has a boat that they can use, but first they have to help her rescue her boyfriend Karl.

Ben regains consciousness and asks to speak to Juliet. Juliet returns, and Ben requests to speak to her alone for 3 minutes. Jack waits at the observation window and watches carefully. Ben says something – we can’t hear – and when Juliet comes out, she asks Jack to finish the operation. Why would he want to do that? Because Ben has ordered Juliet to help Kate and Sawyer escape.

Sawyer, Kate and Alex fool the sole guard Aldo and break into an underground hatch, where they find Karl being brainwashed in room 23. Sawyer carries Karl away and they reach the beach. They are about to launch the boat when Danny appears, gun drawn, ready to shoot Sawyer first. Danny is shot by Juliet just before this occurs. Juliet tells them they can go, but insists that Alex must stay to be there when Ben awakens. Kate contacts Jack just as he is having his own problems on the operating table, having accidentally severed Ben’s artery. Kate relates the story that Jack told her that first day on the beach while she was sewing him up – how he had five seconds of panic on the operating table before saving a girl that he had accidentally endangered. Jack makes Kate promise never to come back for him. Kate and Sawyer begin paddling back toward their island, carrying Karl with them.

Jack has finished the operation, and asks Juliet what will become of him. She says he will go back to his cell until ‘they’ figure out what to do with him. Jack asks what Ben said to her that made her change her mind and want to save him. Juliet says she has been on the island for three years, two months, and 28 days, and Ben promised that she could return home.

Juliet’s backstory: Juliet is a fertility doctor who has left the shackles of her dominating ex-husband to make headway in causing pregnancy in a mouse. She is also working on getting her sister pregnant through injections. A research organization (Mittelos Bioscience) is very interested in taking her on board. Their representative, Dr Alpert, says that they are based out of Portland. They make a pitch and offer her carte blanche to lead a team and do whatever research she likes, but she gets scared, having lost all confidence. She also says that her ex-husband (whom she works for) would never approve. When they offer to help, she flippantly says the only way to change things would be if her ex-husband was hit by a bus. Later, Juliet’s sister does get pregnant, and, coincidentally, her ex-husband does get hit by a bus. While filling out paperwork in the morgue, Juliet is again approached by Dr Alpert and his associate Ethan. Now they say that their base is ‘not in Portland’.

Comments

Apparently, Alex has been told, and believes, that she is Ben’s daughter, but this is practically impossible, seeing as she was (probably) stolen from Danielle when she was a baby

Juliet and the others now appear to be prisoners in one form or another, being held against their will.

Memorable Moments

Sawyer repeatedly slamming Danny Pickett’s head into the bear button, until Danny gets a nice volt of electricity

Quotable Quotes

"Tell him I said, ‘hi’. Get to the point!"
- Sawyer, commenting on Kate’s small talk to Jack

"Don't get mad at me, just 'cause you were dumb enough to fall for the old Wookiee prisoner gag."
- Sawyer to Aldo

Jack: I need you to make me a promise, Kate.
Kate: Jack -
Jack: Promise me that you'll never come back here for me. Don't come back, Kate.

Jack: What did he say that made you want to save his life?
Juliet: It doesn't really matter what he said.
Jack: It matters to me. After everything that I have been put through, you owe me an answer. I want to know what he said.
Juliet: I've been on this island for 3 years, Jack. 3 years, 2 months, and 28 days. He said that if I let him live and I helped you…that he would finally let me go home.

3.6 I Do

Ben and Juliette enter Jack’s cell and ask him if he will operate. Jack toys with them, first making it sound like he will operate (and stating that Ben’s tumor will become inoperable in a week), and then refusing to do the operation, and even gloating that Ben won’t have to be disappointed for long.

Locke makes the decision to bury Eko where he died – in the jungle. Locke heads back to camp to get shovels – alone – but Sayid insists on accompanying him. They discuss the ‘monster’ that killed Eko. Locke says that perhaps the monster brought everyone to the island – and that Eko died for a reason. Locke is leading Eko on a little detail first – to find Eko’s prayer stick and bury it with him.

Kate is fetched from her cage for work detail, but she insists that Sawyer go too. Alex breaks into the work area, knocking out a guard or two with her slingshot before being subdued. She warns Kate that they will kill Sawyer the way they killed her boyfriend (Karl).

Juliette arrives in the work area and asks Kate to put a hood over her head and accompany her – otherwise Pickett will kill Sawyer. Kate is led to Jack’s cell, where, through glass, she begs him to do the operation so that Sawyer will not be killed. Sawyer is happy to see her, but disgusted that she has been sent to ask him to do the operation.

During Eko’s burial ceremony, Locke looks at his prayer stick and reads, "Lift your eyes and look to the north."

Kate climbs out of her cage and releases Sawyer from his. He then tells her that they cannot run – they are on another island. Kate kisses Sawyer; he kisses her back – and they make love.

Jack’s intercom bleats a message for him to try the door. He finds the armory, and grabs a loaded revolver. He sees the six retro TV screens, of of which shows Kate and Sawyer locked in a resting embrace. Henry comes in. Jack points the gun at his head, then for no apparent reason agrees to do the operation tomorrow.

Jack starts the operation. Before going under, Ben asks about Alex. The operation appears to be going well when suddenly the EKG monitor starts beeping fast. Jack knocks out the other doctor and says he has made an incision in Ben’s kidney sack that will kill him in an hour. He tells an Other to get Kate on the walkie talkie

Pickett is just about the execute Sawyer in front of Kate when he is interrupted and told to give his walkie talkie to Kate. Jack tells Kate that she has an hour head start. He tells her to remember the story he told her on the beach and the radio him in an hour with the story to let him know she is safe. Kate tries to say that she cannot leave without him, but Jack interrupts, yelling for her to run.

Kate’s backstory: Kate is getting married to a cop (Kevin). She is going under the name Monica, however. When she receives a valuable piece of jewelry from her mother-in-law, we think she is going to do a run. She is still on the run, but this is no scam; she really loves the guy, and has the ridiculous idea that maybe her pursuer will stop chasing her. That’s not going to happen, so instead she stays in the marriage for a period of time (perhaps a few weeks) before telling her husband that she is a fugitive, drugging him so he cannot pursue her, and taking off again. She leaves the valuable jewelry in Kevin’s hand.

Comments

Kate looks very Mary-Tyler-Moorish with her suburban curled hair.

It’s nice to see the talented Nathan Fillion (Captain Reynolds from the sci-fi tv series and movie Firefly) as Kate’s husband in her backstory.

As Sawyer is about to be killed, I thought he looked a little like those classic paintings of Jesus Christ (see Freckles, chapter 16, verses 10 through 12).

Nits

Jack looks at an x-ray and asks Juliette when it was taken. She says a week ago. Jack then states that at the rate the tumor is growing, Ben must be operated on immediately. How can Jack tell the rate the tumor is growing by looking at just one x-ray? Wouldn’t he need to see a couple of x-rays from different dates to make that determination?

Is Kate psychotic? She knows she is on the run, but she takes time out to get engaged, get married, buy or rent a house, make dinners, etc.

Kate has got to be the most out-of-control, emotional con artist ever. She’s constantly breaking down and crying nowadays, which perhaps is more of a reaction to the fact that she is trapped on the island(s).

I thought that Kate and Sawyer’s lovemaking scene was way too romantic for the circumstances. These people are imprisoned and being tortured, and they take time to kiss and rip off their clothes like actors! If they were going to be having sex under those circumstances, it would have been a lot quicker, more basic, and with a lot less kissing –like they do on the Discovery Channel, so to speak.

Kate needs to interrupt Jack’s walkie talkie yell message to ‘run’ and tell him quickly that they are on another island and there is nowhere to run.

Quotable Quotes

Ben: Well, Jack I'm very disappointed in your decision.
Jack: Well, Ben, at least you won't have to be disappointed for very long!

Kate: No, Sawyer. We're a team. You break the rocks, I haul them away.
Pickett: (opening Sawyer's cage) All right. Fine. Lord knows I wouldn't want to break up the team.

Sayid: So you believe that this monster decided that Eko was supposed to die?
Locke: I believe Eko died for a reason. I just don't know what it is yet.

Jack: I'll get it out, your tumor. And I'll keep you alive. But I need your word. I need what you promised me before. I need to get the hell off this island.
Ben: Done.

Locke: When the hatch exploded, your prayer stick fell out of a tree right on top of me. So, Sayid and I came out to get it, because it didn't seem right to bury you without it. I'd like to think you died for a reason, Mr. Eko. I just hope that it's not too long before we find out what the heck it might be.

"When I was in residency, my first solo procedure was a spinal surgery on a 16-year-old kid. A girl. And at the end, after 13 hours, I was closing her up and I accidentally ripped her dural sack. It's at the base of the spine where all the nerves come together. Membrane as thin as tissue, and it ripped open. Nerves just spilled out of her like angel hair pasta, spinal fluid flowing out of her and the terror was just so crazy, so real and I knew I had to deal with it. So I just made a choce. I'd let the fear in, let it take over, let it do it's thing. But only for five seconds, that's all I was gonna give it. So I started to count. One, two, three, four, five. And it was gone. I went back to work, sewed her up and she was fine."
- Jack (story told to Kate in episode 1.01, and referenced in this episode by Jack)

3.5 The Cost of Living

Sayid has arrived back at the beach camp, where he is checking out Eko. When he leaves, Eko is only partially conscious, but gets a visit from the spirit of his brother Yemmy, carrying a lighter. Yemmy tells him it is time for him to be judged. Soon after, the structure holding Eko catches on fire. Eko is dragged out by Charlie and company. Soon after, Eko disappears into the jungle.

Locke has a plan to get Jack, Kate, and Sawyer back by making contact with the Others from the computer at the Pearl Station. Desmond has said that the station computers can be used to communicate with each other. Locke finds out that Eko mentioned his brother’s name before disappearing, so Locke thinks Eko is also headed for the Pearl (or the plane above it, anyway). Unlike Jack, Locke invites anyone who wants to come along. The group is joined by Nikki and her partner.

Eko is drinking from a stream and patching his battered body with mud when he is visited by the smoke monster. The monster seems to scoot away when Locke and gang arrive a few second later.

At the plane, all but Eko descend. The computer only goes one way (incoming), so no message can be sent, but Nikki suggests they hook up one of the other TVs. Briefly, an underground scene with a mainframe computer displays, then a man with a patch in that other location notices that he is being videod, and shuts the feed. Locke says not they’ll be expecting them – and he is not displeased by that revelation.

Up top, Eko discovers that his brother’s body is no longer there. But Yemi again appears. Eko follows him a distance away, but given the chance to confess, he refuses, saying that he is not sorry for the things that he did (including killing a man to save his little brother’s life). At this, Yemi says he is not his brother and retreats into the jungle. When Eko follows, Yemi disappears but the smoke monster returns. This time, it is not just curious; it is aggressive, grabbing Eko, slamming him against trees and fatally bashing him into the ground. Locke arrives just before Eko dies and hears his last words: "We’re next."

Meanwhile, in the Others camp, Jack is visited by Ben and asks him some questions about his tumor. Ben says he doesn’t know what Jack is talking about, but his face says something else. Ben is there to ask Jack to wear a white tunic and go to Colleen funeral, where her body is launched to sea on a flaming pyre. At the funeral, we get confirmation that Jack guessed correctly – Ben asks Juliet why she told Jack about his situation.

Ben visits Jack again and admits they were going to try to win Jack over and get him to voluntarily operate on Ben. Ben feels blessed that two days after he found out he was dieing from a spinal tumor, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. He asks Jack to think about performing the operation.

Jack’s next visitor is Juliet. She puts in a videotape which she says is the movie To Kill A Mockingbird, and she talks to Jack while it plays, telling him that Ben is a great man and saying the performing the operation is definitely the right thing to do. But the videotape is not what she said: it is a home-made movie of her holding cue cards that, in summary, say that Ben is dangerous and a bad man, and that some of the Others want change. She asks Jack to kill Ben on the operating table and make it look like an accident, and that she will protect him.

Eko’s flashback extends the story of what happened after he survived the ambush of their drug flight. Eko, in priest’s garb, took over Yemi’s church for a few days before flying off to London to continue studying (as Yemi had planned to do). During that week, Eko stood up to a miliitia that was planning on taking 80% of the vaccines that were to be delivered. But his bravery just got an innocent woman killed. When he is caught trying to sell the vaccine to another shady character, the militia leader threatens to cut off his hands. Eko goes postal with a machete inside the church, killing all three militia men. When he emerges from the church, a woman tells him that the church is not sacred and can no longer be used, and that Eko must repent – and he owes his brother a church as well.

Comments

Eko will be missed. Every line he delivered was pure and beautiful. He is a mesmerising actor on screen, and no doubt will get heaps of roles after this – in fact, I wonder if he wrote himself out.

The ‘tailies’ (tail section survivors) are now almost extinct. With Eko’s death, the only remaining tailie that we are certain is alive is Bernard. However, Cindy and the kids were taken by the Others, and, if what Ben says is true, they are still alive (Ben says they are not murderers).

This episode gives us no glimpse of Jin or Sun (although we can assume they made it back to camp with Sayid). We also don’t get to see Kate or Sawyer.

It’s possible that the guy with the patch is the one that dispatched the smoke monster. The patch guy could also be a member of another group (not the Others). At least, that’s my theory at this point in time.

Now we know why Eko was building a church on the island: it was payback to Yemi for corrupting the one in Africa.

Beware Juliet! Remember that she may not be as innocent as she claims to be. Remember that when Juliet was holding a gun to Kate’s head, Sawyer felt that she would have pulled the trigger, no questions asked. It could be that Ben is a much more benign leader than Juliet would be.

Nits

Why does Ben feel so blessed that a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky? Ben can leave the island at any time to get treatment.

Quotable Quotes

"Two days after I found out that I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky. If that's not proof of God I don't know what is."
- Ben to Jack

Sayid: What did he [Eko] say, John?
Locke: He said: 'We're next.'

Desmond: That’s quite a coincidence.
Locke: Don’t mistake coincidence for fate.

Juliet: He let you out?
Jack: Gave me a new shirt too.

Daniel: Are you a bad man? My mum said you're a bad man.
Eko: Only God knows.

Juliet: You want to guess what's for lunch?
Jack: I'm not... I'm not big on mysteries.

3.4 Every Man For Himself

The Others arrive to escort Jack now has the TV in his cell all the time, but he expresses annoyance to Juliette that it is always playing cartoons. He is starting to work on Juliette emotionally, goading her about how she is subservient to Ben, trying to cause conflict in much the same way as ‘Henry’ did to Locke and Jack when he was incarcerated. They are interrupted by Ben, who insists that Juliette come away because they have a ‘situation’.

The Others come to escort Sawyer to the work area, but they area interrupted by the return on Colleen on a stretcher, just fresh from being shot by Sun. After they go, Sawyer hatches a plan to electrocute the next Other to visit his cage.

The next visitor is Ben. Sawyer grabs him and pushes the food button, but the electricity has been turned off by the Others in advance. Ben beats Sawyer in a way that makes him appear to have had quite a lot of experience at it. Sawyer is carted away, strapped to an operating table, and injected in his chest with a huge hypo. When he awakens, Ben brings a bunny in a cage and shakes and agitates the cage until the bunny dies. Ben explains that like the bunny, Sawyer has has a pacemaker inserted that will explode his heart if he gets too excited. Ben gives him a heart monitor watch so he can know when to calm down. It has been done to control Sawyer. Ben warns Sawyer that if he tells Kate, they will put one in Kate too. Sawyer is returned to his cage. His first test is to cool himself off because he can’t look away when Kate changes into her newly received change of clothes.

Kate is able to squeeze out of her cage, but she has no intention of escaping alone. She tries to break the lock on Sawyer’s cage, but he tells her forcefully to go on her one, saying that if she really loves him, she will leave him. But she says she only said that to stop Pickett from hitting him. Kate returns to her cage. Of course, this whole scenario is being watched by Ben on a monitor.

Juliette visits Jack’s cell in a panic and asks him to help her save Colleen. A hooded Jack is marched past Kate a Sawyer’s cages, but their cries are possibly not heard due to the loud alarm that purposefully blares during this exercise. Ben is not happy to see that Jack has been allowed into their inner sanctum. As Jack goes into the operating room, he glances at a series of hanging x-rays that Juliette says do not belong to Colleen. Jack tries to save Colleen but it is too late. Angry that his wife has died at the hands of one of the survivors , Pickett takes it out on Jack’s face, but doesn’t stop until Kate admits she loves him.

Ben insists that Jack be left for a time handcuffed to the table that holds Colleen’s lifeless body. When Juliette returns, Jack tells her that the x-rays belong to someone who has a tumor on their spine. He asks who he has been brought here to save.

Ben bring Sawyer to the top of a cliff, forcing Sawyer’s heart monitor to the limit. When Sawyer asks if he is trying to kill him, Ben says they put noting inside him, and brings out the supposedly dead rabbit, very much alive. Ben says he did it because the only way to gain the respect of a con man is to con him. Sawyer punches Ben, but Ben still tells him why he bought him to this place – to show him that they are actually on a small Alcatraz-like island, across from the larget Lost island – and that there is no escape.

Our beach scenes are short and centred on Desmond. He approaches Claire and asks her to move down the beach so he can repair her roof. She doesn’t understand, because her roof is okay. Charlie steps in and says he can do it himself. After taking a break to give golf tips and borrow a five iron, Desmond puts together a lightning rod near Claire’s structure. Moments later, the rains come, and soon after, a large burst of lightning hits the rod. Had it not been there, it would have hit Claire’s structure. Charlie, Claire, and the observer Hurley are all left open-mouthed.

In flashback, we find out that while in prison, Sawyer used his con skills to find the location of 10 million dollars that was stolen by another inmate. He hands over this information to the police, and in return is freed from prison and given a commission. The commission is put into a bank account for his daughter (whom he fathered with Cassie).

Comments

A couple of times in this episode, Jack is starting to hear fleeting sounds from the old intercom in his cell. He can hear Sawyer screaming with fear as they lower the large hypo towards his sternum. And he can hear bits of an Others conversation as they discuss the Colleen incident.

Does Kate love Sawyer? Does Sawyer love Kate? Does Jack love Kate? Do I love Kate?

Ben claims that they are not killers. That’s true – they are just innocent sadistic torturers!

I am thinking that Ben’s cult may have some relationship to the early 20^th century eugenics movement.

Quotable Quotes

"Watch and learn, little lady. [pushes food button] There’s juice pumpin’ into this box from somewhere. Next time someone comes to pull me out, I’m gonna wait ‘til they step in my little swimmin’ hole, then I grab ‘em. Zap! They fall back from the shock; I snag the keys. [pauses] Bet the bears never thought of that."
- Sawyer to Kate

Ben: You know what a pacemaker is?
Sawyer: What?
Ben: They stick them in the tickers of people who've had bypass work, whose hearts need just a little jump. A kick start. The rabbit had a small pacemaker set to deliver its kick start should it get too excited. Or anxious or frightened. Or should it try to escape. Assuming that you were telling the truth about your age and weight your resting heart rate should be about 70 beats per minute. Your active heart rate, however...that would be about 140. Which is the point at which your pacemaker...will cause your heart to explode. Which is how I know that you're going to start behaving now. The watch monitors your pulse. If you get within 15 beats of your danger zone it'll start to beep. If and when it beeps you're going to want to relax yourself. Do some deep breathing. Some yoga.

"Whose X-rays are those outside? Those are spinal X-rays and they belong to a man about 40 years old and there is a large tumor on his L-4 vertebrae. And I just happen to be a spinal surgeon. So, tell me, Juliet, who am I here to save?"
- Jack

"What, don't you read? It's from Of Mice and Men. You'd like it. Puppies get killed."
- Sawyer to Ben

Ben: A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. It don't make no difference who the guy is, as long as he's with ya. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.
Sawyer: What the hell are you talking about?
Ben: It's from Of Mice and Men. Don't you read?

3.3 Further Instructions

Locke awakens on the jungle floor. He is alone, covered with blood, but alive. He sees Desmond moving through through the jungle a short distance away, and finds out he has lost his voice when he cannot call out to him. Locke heads back to the beach with a purpose. He builds a sweat lodge on the site of Eko’s unfinished church, and asks Charlie (through written notes) to stand guard while he takes home-made halucenogenic drugs and has a vision quest. In his visions, Boone tells him to clean up his own mess.

Locke heads into the jungle to save Eko, with Charlie trailing behind. They find a dead boar – Locke calls it an ‘active kill’ – signifying that the bear will return to keep feeding. Sure enough, the bear does return, forcing Locke and Charlie to run away. A little later, a second rustling sound occurs, and Locke throws his knife in that direction, narrowly missing Hurley. Hurley shares his experience, then heads off toward the beach. He meets the naked Desmond, who tells of instigating the failsafe. Hurley lends Desmod a big tie-dyed shirt to wear.

Locke discovers that Eko has been dragged off by a polar bear and taken into a cave. At Locke’s behest, Charlie waits outside while Locke enters the cave, fends off the bear with a torch and hairspray, and drags Eko’s blood-covered and unconscious body out.

Locke and Charlie carry Eko back toward the beach. When they stop near a stream, Charlie moves away to get water. Eko speaks to Locke, telling him it is not too late to save Jack and the others. When Charlie returns, Eko is unconscious – or perhaps still unconscious. Perhaps Eko’s words were happening with the remains of Locke’s halucenogen-induced state.

While Desmond tosses rocks into the ocean, Hurley looks at him a muses about how he knew what Locke would say before he said it.

Locke’s backstory show how he was a member of a cult-like group who seemed, on the surface, to be good, law-abiding people, but who were actually storing guns and growing a selling marihuana. Locke picks up an innocent-looking hitchhiker and brings him back. When it turns out that the young man is a cop, sent there specifically to expose the drug ring, Locke is blamed for the problem. Locke promises to fix it, but after setting up a situation where he could kill the cop, he in unable to pull the trigger.

Comments

The dynamics of the group has now changed, with Locke taking over sole leadership now that Jack is unavailable. There’s a good possibility that Locke could be a more personable, compassionate leader.

Desmond’s exposure to the meltdown seems to have graced him with the power to foresee the future.

We now know that Sawyer is being kept in a bear cage, and that there were more than one bear, and that the bears are somehow related to either Dharma or the Others.

It appears that the Others might be a cult splinter group of the Dharma initiative.

Quotable Quotes

 "You do realize I despise you Locke? You do recall punching me in the face several times accusing me of being on drugs when I was clearly not?"
- Charlie

"You're not taking drugs are you, John? I only ask because of the strict zero tolerance policy you've enacted, and I wouldn't want you to have to start punching yourself in the face."
- Charlie

3.2 The Glass Ballerina

Kate and Sawyer and taken from their cages under armed guard and forced to do backbreaking work. Kate is told to break rocks with a pickaxe while Sawyer wheelbarrows them away. She objects to wearing the sun dress, and she asks to see Jack first, but her demands are met first by threats of being shocked, and then by Sawyer being shocked. It’s only a quarter strength charge, but Sawyer still is in great pain and takes minutes before he can walk again.

There is conflict on the boat when Sayid wants to sail further north and light another fire. Jin is concerned about his pregnant wife and says they should turn back. Sayid does not want to abandon Jack. Sun sides with Sayid (say that three times fast!) and says she will help Sayid sail the boat. They find the long jetty where Jack and friend parted company with Michael and Walt. Sayid lies, saying the jetty is deserted and that it is a good place to make a signal fire. Later, he reveals to Sun his real motivation – the signal fire will attract the Others, and Sayid will capture two of them and work them for informtion. Sayid asks Sun to hide this information from Jin, but Jin now knows enough English to already know what is going on. Upon hearing that Sayid believes that Jack has been captured, Jin asks to be given a gun. He demonstrates the he knows how to use one. Sun returns alone to the boat, where Sayid says she will be safer; he tells her the location of a gun hidden in the cockput. However, we have had a glimpse at the Others behind the scenes, and know that they have found out about the boat and want it, and have already sent out a team to get it.

Alex hides in the bushes and talls to Kate, asking about Karl, and telling she is wearing her sun dress and it looks better on her.

Six of the Others board the boat. Sun shoots the woman who is team leader and is able to escape, narrowly avoiding gunshots. Sayid apologizes for leading them into danger, and suggests that they start walking back.

Juliette offers Sawyer a canteen of water – he pours it on the ground, then suddenly walks up to Kate and kisses her. This gets the attention of the guards. Sawyer overpowers two of them and gets their rifle, but is forced to give it back when Juliette points a handgun at Kate’s head. Sawyer gets a punch for his trouble, and he and Kate are returned to their cages.

Jack only makes one small appearance in this episode, but it is an important one. He is in his cell, visited by Ben, who pulls up a chair and tells him if he cooperates, he will be allowed to go home. Jack belives that Ben and the Others are trapped, but Ben proves that they have contact with the outside world by rattling off a series of new events that have happened since Jack got stranded. One of them – that the perenial loser Red Sox won the baseball World Series – makes Jack laugh – until Ben rolls a TV out and shows footage of the Sox clinching the series.

The backstory follows Sun. She almost gives in to the temptation to sleep with Yee. Sun’s father finds out about the alleged affair, and, without telling him why, asks Jin to ‘take care of’ Yee. Jin resists but gives in when Sun’s father tells him he is a son, and he must uphold his family’s honor. Jin beats up Yee but stops short of killing him, instead telling him to leave the country and never come back. Jin leaves and while he is down at his car, Yee jumps and kills himself, still holding the pearl necklace that he bought for Sun (and that she refused to take).

Comments

We were all fearing for Sun’s life when we saw that she was going to be ‘safe’ on the boat (since we know that the Others were coming to get the boat). Thank goodness another major female character wasn’t killed!

Ben and his mates are looking more and more like a cult. We learn during the Jack/Ben scene that Ben’s full name is Benjamin Linus, and that he has lived his whole life on the island. We also now know that they could leave if they wanted to, but they have chosen to stay.

We still haven’t found out what is happening with the people back on the beach: are Locke and Eko alive?

Nits

It’s always a bad idea to split up a group, as Sayid soon finds out when Sun is almost shot and captured while being ‘safe’ and alone on the boat.

Memorable Moments

The subtle glance that Jin makes toward Sun’s fathers hand when that hand is laid on his shoulder

Quotable Quotes

Pickett: Alright, here's the jig - see these rocks, here? That's where you two come in. [points to Kate] You're going to chop them loose. [points to Sawyer] And you're going to haul them out of here.
Kate: You expect me to work in this dress?
Pickett: Well, it's up to you? You can take it off if you want.
Sawyer: [leers at Kate for awhile, then snaps back to reality, and turns to Picket] How dare you?

Sawyer: Are you having fun yet, Freckles?
Kate: Quit staring at my ass.
Sawyer: Give me something else to stare at.

Sawyer: You taste like strawberries.
Kate: You taste like fish biscuits.

Sun: Why are you lying to me, Sayid?
Sayid: And what would you know about lying, Sun?
Sun: You're putting our lives in danger.
Sayid: I'm fairly certain our friends have been captured. There are tracks all over the dock. They're fresh -- as recent as yesterday.
Sun: You said this dock was abandoned.
Sayid: That would be part of the lying you mentioned.