Everyone is heading for the caves by nightfall, but Claire is having a panic attack. The baby is wet and crying and Claire doesn’t want any help from Charlie. Charlie asks Sayid for a gun to protect Claire, but Sayid reminds him that the last time he killed someone. Sayid tells him to help Claire get packed and to carry her baby.
Danielle leaves after leading the group to the ship. Jack, Locke, and Claire go inside to get the dynamite, with Arzt and Hurley waiting outside. The ship hold contains skeletons of slaves. Outside, Arzt complains to Hurley about feeling left out of the main clicqué, and how no one cares about the other survivors. Arzt also wants to know why Hurley has not lost any weight, which he assumes means Hurley is getting better and more food.
When Jack and Locke emerge carrying the crate, Arzt boisterously takes over, opening the crate gently and wrapping a piece of dynamite that has aged and is ‘sweating’ nitroglycerine. He secures it by wrapping it in Kate wet shirt, but as he is waving it around, it explodes.
The sailors are amazed at the size of the island. Sun is still on the beach, gazing at the horizon.
Shannon is struggling with a couple of big pieces of luggage, some of which is things that belonged to Boone. Shannon is also very scared, and Sayid offers to help.
Kate and Hurley reflect on the explosion of Arzt. Hurley says that his own bad luck caused it. Before trying to move more dynamite, Locke and Jack reflect on whether they need to take the risk. Locke says it is the only way, and they carefully load the three sticks of dynamite that will be required to blow the hatch.
Danielle rushes back to camp, demanding to see Sayid. Charlie leaves Claire to find him, and Danielle, acting obsessed, asks to hold Claire’s baby. Claire then sees the scratches on Danielle’s arm and has a flashback to her abduction, when she made those scratches. Danielle knocks Claire out and steals the baby. After Charlie is done blaming Sayid, they head off to try to catch her.
The group is bringing back two sets of three dynamite sticks. Kate, Locke, and Jack draw straws, and Kate and Locke ‘win’.
Michael turns the transmitter on to see if anyone picks them up, while Sawyer entertains himself by reading the personal messages in the bottle, ignoring Walt’s attempts to make him feel bad about it.
Sayid and Charlie stop to get guns, and Sayid tells Charlie that he believes Danielle is heading for the plume of smoke to trade Claire’s baby for the one she lost 16 years ago. Claire and Sun arrive. Claire is hysterical and wants to come, but Charlie manages to calm her down. Claire tells Charlie to get Aaron back (she has finally chosen a name).
Michael lets Walt steer the boat for awhile. Walt and Michael talk about how they stayed apart all those years. Walt says his mom made a mistake in keeping them apart. Their conversation is interrupted by a jarring collision. They have hit a submerged log, which has knocked the rudder off. Sawyer dives in and save the rudder. When Michael gives him his shirt back, he finds the gun but doesn’t confront Sawyer.
Carefully, Kate dons her volatile backpack and the group heads back, with 90 minutes to go before sunset.
Claire and Sun have reached the caves, along with almost all the other survivors. Sun tells Shannon that Boone died bravely, and asks if they are being punished for things they did before.
Sayid take a break from their pursuit of Danielle to let Charlie catch his breath. They stop at the plane where Boone fell. Sayid fills Charlie in on the details, and tosses him a statue, which breaks to reveal bags of heroin. Charlie stares down at the bags.
The dynamite gang encounters the security system. All flee except for Locke, who goes toward it. Jack heads back to get Locke. Locke is knocked down, then dragged away, and is about to be dragged into a hole when Jack grabs him. Jack tells Kate to get the dynamite from his pack (he switched packs with Kate, unbeknownst to her) and she throws one stick down, freeing the protesting Locke (he wanted to be let go, saying he would be okay).
Jin has finished attaching the rudder. Michael finds the phonetics prepared by Sun, and Jin shows off some of his new words. Jin gives the famous watch to Michael, the one that he fought over and that he was supposed to deliver to California. Michael is very moved by the gift.
Sun makes tea for Claire, and reassures her that Charlie will bring the baby back.
Charlie falls for a Danielle booby-trap and gets a gash above his eye. Sayid tells Charlie he is bleeding too much and must go back, but Charlie refuses. Sayid seals the wound with burning gunpowder.
Hurley and Kate discuss numbers. One of Hurley’s unlucky numbers is 23. 23,000 is also the amount of money the farmer took as the reward for turning her in.
Locke and Jack discuss why they are on the island. Locke thinks it is so much more than a plane crash – he says the island brought them all here, and that they are all a part of destiny.
It is night on the raft, and Sawyer convinces Michael to turn the transmitter. Michael has figured out that Sawyer has come on the raft to die. Their conversation is interrupted by a beeping from the receiver – something is out there in the darkness.
Locke and gang have reached the hatch and get the dynamite ready for blasting.
Sayid and Charlie reach the source of the plume of black smoke, but there are no prints and no Others. The sound of a crying baby means that Danielle is nearby. She is disappointed that she was unable to make a trade. Sayid uses charm and sympathy to get the baby back, but Charlie has to ruin the moment by hurling abuse at Danielle.
Just as Locke is about the light the fuse, Hurley reads his unlucky number stamped on the side of the container, and begs Locke not to light the fuse. Locke ignores him and lights it anyway. As they take cover, the dynamite explodes.
Sawyer and Walt convince Michael to fire their only flare just as the blip is about to head off the radar. The blip turns and heads back in their direction. The sound of an engine is heard, and a boat heads for them, turning on a light. Their joy at being found is quickly dashed when the captain of the boat demands ‘the boy’. Sawyer fires but is too slow – he is hit with a bullet and falls overboard, and Jin dives in to help him. Walt is taken, Michael is beaten, and one of the crew throws a bomb on board the raft – which goes up in flames.
Sayid and Charlie return with Aaron, bringing a bit of hope to the group. Shannon hugs Sayid. Charlie has tucked a statue into his pack.
The hatch has blown open. Locke and Jack look down at a long laddered passageway leading deep below the island.
Jin’s flashback: When Sun spills coffee on Jin, he heads to the men’s room to clean it up. There, a man tells him he works for Sun’s father. He has been following him and knows he is planning to run. He tells him he must take the watch to California, or lose his wife.
Charlie’s flashback: Charlie is about to leave Sydney, and is searching frantically through his hotel room until he finds his last remaining stash of heroin. His one-night stand awakens, wanting one more ‘bump’; when Charlie says there is no more, she doesn’t believe him, and beats him before leaving.
Michael’s flashback: At the airport, Michael asks Walt if he wants something to eat, but Walt keeps playing a video game and ignores him. Michael leaves to make a phone call to his mom, to tell her that he has to get to work at 5am and doesn’t know how he will look after Walt. His mom is unable to help. Walt overhears the whole thing.
Hurley’s flashback: Oversleep, broken cars, slow clerks, and wrong terminals all conspire to stop Hurley from making the flight that will get him home for his mother’s birthday – but he still makes it. Talk about bad luck…
Locke’s flashback: Locke has to be carried onto the plane when the special loading wheelchair is not available. He is demeaned by this, but grateful that he made the flight.
Everyone’s flashback: We see all the survivors as they file on board the plane.
Comments
Arzt’s bitching session is a funny self-referential take on the fact that the scriptwriters have chosen to concentrate on a select group of survivors, ignoring about 40 or so other people on the island. I’m not sure if Arzt is complaining about a clique or about the scripts. Likewise, Locke’s take on things also sounds like he is bowing to the scriptwriting gods, by saying that everything that is happening is fate, destiny (scripted?).
Sun’s theory about fate punishing the survivors reminds me of my theory – sometimes, it feels like the island is the afterlife – neither Heaven nor Hell – purgatory (but usually closer to hell).
In keeping with the scripting theme, just where is this island? How could there be pirates so close by? Are they actually a lot closer to inhabited land? This would seem to make sense, as the pirates had a small motor-driven boat with limited range. More and more, these scenarios are feeling like they are at the mercy of someone or something – be it scriptwriters, fate, or god.
The first time I watched this episode, I was still unsure where Danielle stood in regard to her allegiance to the Others. That's because I totally missed the truth in her statement about them: "They said they were coming for the boy." Of course, the boy she heard them whispering about was not Aaron, but Walt!
Memorable Moments
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The shock of Arzt blowing up real good
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The final shot of the hatch passageway leading deep underneath the ground
Quotable Quotes
Jack: What about you? Do you want to carry some dynamite too? What?
Hurley: You got some…Arzt on you.
Sun: Do you think we’re being punished?
Shannon: Punished for what?
Sun: Things we did before. The secrets we kept, the lies we told.
Shannon: Who do you think is punishing us?
Sun: Fate.
Hurley: So, dude, what do you think’s inside of that hatch thing?
Locke: What do you think’s inside it?
Hurley: Stacks of TV dinners, from the 50s or something, and TVs with cable, some cell phones, clean socks, soap, Twinkies, you know, for dessert, after the TV dinners. Twinkies keep for like 8000 years, man.
Locke: I like Twinkies too.
Hurley: C’mon, man, what do you think’s inside?
Locke: Hope. I think hope’s inside.
"Whoever named this place ‘Dark Territory’ – genius."
- Hurley
Locke: Boone was a sacrifice that the island demanded. What happened to him at that plane was a part of a chain of events that led us here, that led us down a path, that led you and me to this day, to right now.
Jack: And where’s that path end, John?
Locke: The path ends at the hatch. The hatch, Jack. All of it, all of it happened so that we could open the hatch.
Jack: No, no, we’re opening the hatch so that we can survive.
Locke: Survival is all relative, Jack.
Jack: I don’t believe in destiny.
Locke: Yes, you do. You just don’t know it yet.
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