2.7 The Other 48 Days

This is the story of the survivors of the tail section (Ana and crew).

An idyllic, emerald green island beach is puntured by bits of flaming metal and the tail section of a jet. Ana emerges from the water, gasping for air and surrounded by the panicked cries of survivors. Ana and Echo make it to the beach and help to pull out others. Ana saves a young girl by performing CPR.

Echo leaves the boy and girl with Cindy and goes into the water to retrieve bodies of those who drowned. Libby sets a man’s leg. Ana and Goodwin find Bernard, still in his seat and suspended in a tree. Ana talks him through the crisis. Goodwin, a Peace Corp worker, makes a fire by rubbing sticks together. Bernard asks Echo if he pulled any African-American bodies out of the water.

While sleeping the first night, there is a sound of a struggle. Ana and Goodwin find Echo, holding a bloody rock over two bloody bodies. He has killed two of the Others.

In the morning, an investigation finds that the dead Others have no shoes, no wallets, no tags on their clothes. Three people are missing. Ana says they should move off the beach and find a safer place, but Nathan argues that the signal fire should be kept burning. Ana says the black box will be enough to save them. But stewardess Cindy knows that the plane had been flying for two hours in the wrong direction, and, without a fire, no one will be able to find them. They stay on the beach, gathering food, and watching Donald, the man with the injured leg, get sick and die.

On day 5, Donald dies and is buried.

Day 12, and the gang is still on the beach. Nathan, who has a little of that ‘Ethan’ look and buil abut him, is acting a little strange, going off on his own when he is supposed to be going in pairs.

In the night, the Others return, taking the children and more. Ana kills an Other woman and finds a list of the nine survivors they took. Ana is highly suspicious of Nathan, who was missing for two hours the day before. But in the middle of grilling him, Goodwin diffuses the situation. They agree that they need to move off the beach.

Day 15: The group has been walking for three days straight. Nathan makes the decision to stop at a creek that has fruit trees, a rock wall.

Ana is digging a deep hole. Libby comes by to say that Nathan creeps her out.

Ana kicks Nathan and dumps him in the hole. Cindy also says she never saw him on the plane. Ana keeps visiting Nathan in the pit, asking him where the kids are.

Day 23. Somebody has been throwing food down to Nathan. Ana suspects Bernard, but it was Echo. Alone by the creek, Goodwin tells Ana that the group is worried about here – she has had Nathan in the pit for four days. Goodwin asks her to let Nathan go, but she says the worst is yet to come, promising to torture Nathan tomorrow.

In the night, Goodwin lowers a rope into the pit and frees Nathan, then promptly breaks his neck!

Day 25: Cindy wakes everyone with the news that Nathan is gone. Ana tells everyone they must move camp.

Day 26: Back on the beach, and now Ana is getting funny vibes about Goodwin.

Day 27: The group find a doorway in a hillside. The inside of the door is stamped, ‘Quarantine’. Inside, the wall is inscribed with the Dharma logo. There is power, lights, a bible, and a radio. Bernard tries the radio but gets only static. Goodwin says they need to use in on higher ground and tries to head off with the radio by himself, but Ana insists on accompanying him. As they climb, she asks his opinion on why they are being attacked. Goodwin says they took the strongest man that first knife, and Ana asks why they didn’t take him. They stop to take a break. Ana’s interrogation leads Goodwin to admit he is one of the Others. Ana returns to the group and says only that they are safe now.

Day 41: Bernard picks up Boone’s radio transmission from the plane, but Ana turns the radio off, believing it is the Others trying to track them down. Bernard wants to believe that there are other survivors – he has a vested interest in that – but Ana says there are none. Alone by the creek, Ana breaks down and cries. Echo finds her and finally speaks again. Ana breaks down and cries in his arms.

Day 45: Cindy and Libby find Jin floating up onto the beach. He is tied up and interrogated, with Ana of course thinking he is a threat.

We see a recap of the events that occurred when Jin, Michael, and Sawyer encountered Ana’s gang.

On Day 48, while searching for the missing Sydney, the whispering Others cause Ana to shoot at movement through the trees – it is Shannon whom she shoots.

Comments

Ethan, like Nathan, also said he was from Canada.

The writers did a great job of casting Nathan and making it seem as if he must be the villian. Consequently, I assumed that Nathan was going to kill the Peace Corp member Goodwin. It surprised me when the opposite happened.

A good writing job is done to paint Ana as a decidedly ‘gray’ character: neither all good nor all bad. This is a strongpoint of the series – virtually every character has good and bad points.

I like the way this information was revealed. First, a few episodes ago, we see Ana’s gang acting like savages towards Jin, Michael, and Sawyer – but we don’t know why. Now we see it from Ana’s perspective. It doesn’t excuse it but it explains it.

It took some creative structuring to actually use the same cliffhanger ending (the shooting of Shannon) in back-to-back episodes.

Memorable Moments

• Goodwin breaking Nathan’s neck

• The tense scene as Goodwin cuts an apple with a knife and shares it with Ana

• The moving scene at the creek when Echo talks and Ana cries

Quotable Quotes

Bernard: It’s my wife – I can’t find her.
Echo: I will pray for her.
Bernard: Where the hell are the rescue planes?
Echo: I will pray for them too.

Libby: You really think it’s possible that one of us is one of them?
Ana: Why do you think I’m digging this hole?

Ana: How come nobody saw you on the plane, Nathan?
Nathan: I was in the lavatory.
Ana: For two hours?
Nathan: I don’t remember seeing you on the plane, Ana-Lucia.
Ana: That’s because you weren’t on it.

Ana: Where are they? Your friends – Nathan? What did you -
Goodwin: If you had cut off his finger, and he still told you he was on the plane, I think maybe you would have started to believe you had the wrong guy.
Ana: Did you kill him?
Goodwin: Nathan was not a good person. That’s why he wasn’t on the list.
Ana: What about the kids? Did you kill them too?
Goodwin: Children are fine. They’re better off now.

Ana: What are you lookin’ at?
Echo: It’s going to be okay.
Ana: What, are you talkin’ now?
Echo: It’s been 40 days.
Ana: You been waiting 40 days to talk?
Echo: You waited 40 days to cry.

Ana: He has a broken handcuff on his wrist!
Echo: I’m not sure that is a threat.