1.23 Exodus (part one)

Walt wakes up before Michael and heads off the beach to do a wee. He spots the French woman, and she sees him too. Carrying a rifle, she tells Sayid that she is here because, "The Others are coming." Danielle tells her story to the group: how, sixteen years ago, she was shipwrecked with five others. After seven months, she gave birth to a baby. That night, she saw black smoke, and ‘they’ came and took her baby Alex. She says they are coming again.

Locke believes her story may be true, but Jack wants to focus on the here and now and help Michael launch the raft. He rounds up all available help on the island so Michael can launch today instead of tomorrow. The raft is pushed partially down the rails to the water, but stops when a lever breaks. Just then, Walt sees the black plume of smoke that Danielle had foretold. Now they need a place to hide 40 people, and that means it’s time to tell everyone about the container. Locke believes that the hatch and container leads further down and will have plenty of space. Sayid wants more intelligence on the Others and thinks that the hatch could be theirs. Locke asks Danielle if she has any more dynamite; she says it is at the Black Rock and they must leave within the hour to make it back by sunset.

Jack makes a little speech to the group before heading out. Arzt intercepts him and warns him that the dynamite may have a use-by date due to exposure to the elements. Arzt asks to come along to ensure that the dynamite is handled properly, and Jack agrees.

Michael and Jin get to work on repairing the raft. Michael politely turns down Sawyer’s request to help.

Jack stops by to give Sawyer a pistol to take on the raft, just in case. Sawyer says the raft will be on the water before Jack gets back with the dynamite, so Sawyer takes to opportunity to tell Jack about his chance meeting with Jack’s father. Jack fights back tears as he hears how proud his dad was of him.

Kate asks to accompany Jack to get the dynamite, and Jack acquiesces.

Charlie is collecting messages in a bottle to put on the raft.

Danielle, Locke, Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Arzt head out to get the dynamite. Locke questions Danielle about a set of scratches on her arm that she says she got from a bush. Arzt turns back in fear just as they reach the Black Territory, a deeper part of the jungle.

Sawyer shows up at the raft with a perfect replacement mast, impressing Michael and Jin, who even stop arguing to express their praise.

As rain drenches the dynamite gang, Arzt emerges from the jungle, panting and yelling, "Run!" He is followed by the heavy stamping of the unseen beast. The beast turns away at the last moment. Danielle says it is a security system designed to protect the island.

In a moving scene, Walt gives Vincent to Shannon, telling her that she can talk to him about Boone in the same way Walt talked to him about his mom when she died.

Sayid gives Michael a radar device for tracking nearby ships, and a flare gun with a single flare.

The dynamite gang has reached their destination – the overgrown remains of a ship by the name of Black Rock.

Sun brings Jin a list of English words spelled phonetically, to help him on his voyage. Jin breaks down and says he is sorry.

People hug and say goodbye to those who are about to set sail. The raft launches without incident, and the four sailors are on their way.

Various flashback backstories:

Walt wakes up early on what may be the first night that he has spent with his dad. He looks out from his hotel room window at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, then turns on the television really loud to watch his favorite exercise show, waking his dad at 5.23am. When Michael asks him to turn the TV down, Walt gets angry and tries to take Vincent for a walk. Michael drags him back to the room, listening to the words, "You’re not my father."

Jack speaks to a very forward woman in the airport bar named Anna Lucia who overheard his argument about the casket. She says she is on the same flight, but is in the ill-fated back of the plane.

Sawyer is in trouble in a Sydney police station. The other combatant in his bar fight was an Australian politician. Sawyer gets deported and is told never to set foot in Australia again.

Kate is in handcuffs at the airport while the Marshall is checking his guns and taunting her quite with cruelty about her past mistakes.

Shannon is stretched out on a couple of chairs at the airport. A stranger (Sayid) asks her to watch his bag. When Boone comes back with the bad news that he couldn’t get them into first class (because Shannon had yelled at a clerk), she gets up and leaves. To impress Boone, she tells the first security guard she sees that some Arab left his bad unattended and headed for the shops.

Sun brings Jin some airport food and promptly spills the coffee on him. A nearby couple makes snide comments about Asian stereotypical relationships, thinking that Sun does not understand.

Comments

We finally get to see more of the survivors when they come out of the woodwork to help with the raft.

Is Danielle lying? Did those scratches come from a person, not a bush? How does she know that the Others are going to attack?

The Hawaiian rainforest scenery on the dynamite walk is quite beautiful.

Although I hadn’t noticed it before, Jin is still wearing the handcuff that Michael lopped off when Jin was being held prisoner for attacking Michael.

Memorable Moments

• Sawyer deciding to tell Jack of the words spoken to him by Jack’s father

• Walt’s touching explanation of how Vincent will take care of Shannon

• The launch of the raft

Quotable Quotes

"You have only three choices: run; hide; or die."
- Danielle

"C’mon, doctor! I got into a bar fight. Isn’t that a badge of honor in this country?"
- Sawyer in Australia

Sawyer: Jack! About a week before we all got on the plane, got to talkin’ to this man in a bar in Sydney. He was an American, too. Doctor. I’ve been on some benders in my time, but this guy, he was goin’ for an all-time record. It turns out this guy has a son – son’s a doctor, too. They’d had some kind of big-time fallin’ out. The guy knew it was his fault, even though his son was back in the states, thinkin’ the same damn thing. See kids are like dogs; you knock ‘em around enough, they’ll think they did something to deserve it. Anyway, pay phone in this bar, and this guy – Christian – tells me he wishes he had stones to pick up the phone and call his kid. Tell him he was sorry – he’s a better doctor than he’ll ever be. He’s proud, and he loves him. I had to take off, but something tells me he never got around to makin’ that call. Small world, huh?
Jack: Yeah.
Sawyer: Good luck, Jack.

Walt: I think you should take Vincent.
Shannon: Are you serious?
Walt: He’ll take care of you.
Shannon: What makes you think I need a dog to take care of me?
Walt: Vincent took care of me when my mom died. And nobody would talk to me. They pretended like nothing happened. So I had to talk to Vincent. He’s a good listener. You could talk to him about Boone if you want.
Shannon: Alright. But only ‘til you get us rescued, okay?