5.2 The Lie

In the Lost beginning, there were a small group of provision-free survivors forced to fend for themselves on a wild island. Once again, this is true, at least for a few moments; until out of the air fly numerous flaming arrows. Whereas Bernard was unable to get a fire going, someone on the other side of the trees was having better luck. Their first arrow wiped out the annoying Neil Frogurt. No longer would he berate Bernard’s Boy Scout skills or call Sawyer an inbred. Other arrows hit trees, usually when people were hiding behind them and poking their heads out for a look, as they have been wont to do since the first cowboy and injun movie.

But flaming arrows were not the only problems. Sawyer and Juliet ran into some crazed and armed British troops with a penchant for extracting information from their prisoners by using a Middle Eastern style of punishment – the lopping of the hand. In this case, it was Juliet’s hand. Fortunately for her, Locke came out of nowhere, fists and knife flying, and killed / scattered the crazy soldiers.

One other problem belongs to Charlotte. She had a nosebleed in the last episode, and this time, she mentions to Dan that she is losing her long-term memory. Dan may know something about what is causing her condition (perhaps it is a symptom of time-jumping), but if he does know anything, he’s keeping it a secret.

On the mainland, Hurley is visited by the Ghost of Ana Lucia past. She tells him to change his clothes and get the drugged Sayid to a safe place. With no other shirt to turn to and no other place to go to, he chooses a yellow ‘I love my Shih Tzu’ ‘T’ and home. His dad helps him by deflecting the staked-out cops, and again by driving the nearly lifeless body of Sayid to Jack. Jack takes Sayid to the hospital and revives him, but he gets a near strangling as thanks before Sayid realizes who he is strangling and stops.

Meanwhile Hugo gets some peace of mind when he tells his mother the true abbreviated story of what happened after the crash. His peace is short-lived, for Ben comes to visit. Warned off by Sayid, Hurley doesn’t accept Ben’s plea to come with and return to the island, and instead, complicates Ben’s plans by turning himself into the waiting arms of the LAPD.

Dejected, Ben has to report to the Queen of Time (Mrs Hawkings) that he is having some difficulties. These are compounded when she tells him that he only has 70 hours to get everyone back on the island, and that if he fails, bad things are going to happen (one again, I believe this is ‘Ghostbusters’ style  bad).

Comments

Just when I was enjoying the situation where, a small group of survivors had to fend for themselves on an island, with no ‘Others’ to threaten them, those arrows came flying.

Memorable Moments

Þ   Watching Ben trying once again to use his art of persuasion, this time on Hurley

Quotable Quotes

Ben: Any Luck?
Ms Hawkings Yes, what about you?
Ben: I'm having some difficulties.
Ms. Hawkings: Well, you better get busy, because you only have 70 hours.
Ben: What, no, no, that's not enough time. What I need…
Ms. Hawkings: What you need is irreverent. 70 hours is what you got.
Ben: Look, I lost Reyes tonight. So what happens if I can't get them all to come back?
Ms Hawkings: Then God help us all.

Ben: John's casket is outside in a carpet van. I need to move it somewhere safe.
Jack: Safe? He's dead isn't he?

5.1 Because You Left

Somewhere in time, Dharma has discovered the existence of the ‘big wheel’. The workers building the Orchid want to drill in there, but the drills keep melting. Dr Candle shows up flaming mad (forgive the pun), insisting that they stop drilling lest they release the time-related energy within, which, he assures them, would be ‘bad’ (Ghostbusters ‘bad’, I think). Dan is there, working nearby, taking in all this talk of time energy, his mouth watering. He’ll undoubtedly write this all down in his little notebook at his first opportunity.

Ben has convinced Jack that they must gather everyone up and return to the island, otherwise everyone they left behind will die. And why is Locke dead? Because Richard told him that the only way to get everyone back to the island is to die. It kind of reminds me of an old Star Trek Next Generation episode, where a pesty, formerly omnipotent character named ‘Q’ asks, "How can I convince you people that I’m mortal?" "Die," replies Worf.

Anyway, the only main thing that Lost shares with Star Trek is time travel. For some reason, we want to believe the when Ben turns the big wheel, the island moves to a new place. What is easier to believe is that the time period where the island sits (with a buffer area surrounding the island large enough to encompass Dan’s boat) has been moved. Dan comes back to explain to Sawyer, Juliet and the rest (note: the phrase ‘and the rest’ © the song from Gilligan’s Island season 1) that the island is stuttering through time. Sure enough, a series of whiteouts occur, and each time, island features disappear or re-appear. Hatches are blown up, then intact; the camp is gone; the freighter is gone.

At one point, a frustrated Sawyer bangs on the door to the hatch to elicit help from Desmond. Dan pesters him to stop, assuring him that this attempt to change what originally happened must fail. But after Sawyer leaves, Dan consults his little handwritten notebook, then suddenly, after a proverbial light bulb appears over his head, begins banging on the hatch door himself. Desmond answers in full contamination suit, pointing a gun at Dan and ready to fire it. Dan calms him down enough to live, tells Desmond that he is ‘special’ and ‘immune to all this’, and then asks Desmond to return to Oxford and find Dan’s mother. Desmond awakens on the yacht with the cat in the hat (sorry, I meant  Penny - her mouth for some reason reminds me of the cat in the hat). He says he did not have a dream – he had a memory. He immediately begins ratcheting sails and heading for Oxford.

On the other side of the island, Locke is encountering the same stuttering time in the vicinity of the drug plane. First, the plane crashes, a sure sign to him that he has traveled back in time. Then Ethan from the past (who does not know him) shoots him in the leg and is about to finish the job when time jumps again. Now, the plane is on the ground. Richard shows up (he of the eye makeup) and seems to know about time jumping. He treats Locke’s leg and gives him a compass, with instructions to give it back to Richard the next time they meet (since Richard will not recognize him). Most importantly, he tells Locke that the only way to make things right is to get everyone back on the island, and the only way to get them back on the island…is to die.

Kate has been suspected by some mystery person of not being the biological mother of the fair-haired boy she is caring for. A lawyer wants to take a couple of blood samples, but Kate slams the door, quickly packs, and takes her son on ‘vacation’.

Sun is stopped at the airport by Widmore to discuss their mutual goal, which Sun states is to kill Ben Linus.

Hurley and Sayid are on the run. Hurley is already a suspect in killing the man found dead outside the mental institution from which he escaped (Sayid is the killer). At Sayid’s apartment, Sayid is ambushed by and kills two more guys. Hurley foolishly picks up the gun (as people are wont to do only on TV and in the movies) and he is photographed by at least one bystander with a cell phone. He’s got some ‘splainin’ to do – unless, of course, he escapes back to the past.

Comments

Ah, for the good old days of season 1, when time didn’t jump, there were no outsiders, the only issue was how to survive on a wilderness island after a plane crash while being stalked by mysterious feral ‘others’. But the characters have been around so long in our minds and are so real, that we can basically watch them be made to do anything at this point. I know, however, that you could never get anyone to start watching Lost now – they would be way too confused. So viewer numbers have to drop off, as some people are inevitably going to stop watching as time goes on.

It’s good to see that Bernard can still overact at the same high level as when he first got to the island.

Richard’s quote about knowing Locke had a bullet in his leg because Locke ‘will’ tell him indicates that we are going to be jumping back and forth in time in future episodes. For example, there will be a scene in Richard’s future where Locke gives him the compass and tells him that they met in the past and Richard treated Locke’s leg. Something like that, anyway.

Nits

Locke pulls his knife from and leather sheath, and, for some reason, the sound effects people dubbed in a metal ‘schwish’ sound, like when two swords cross.

Kate is never actually served with the court order; I believe she has to take it in her hand to be considered served, and she never does. In addition, lawyers generally do not run around serving court orders. It’s a time consuming process (for example, what if she wasn’t home or if she just never opened the door?). This is a specialty job done by Process Servers (for a lot less money than lawyers make).

Quotable Quotes

Jack: How did we get here...? How did all of this happen?
Ben: It happened because you left, Jack... Now let's get started shall we?

Hurley: Wait. He's on our side now?
Sayid: Listen to me, Hurley. If you ever have the misfortune of running into him [Ben], whatever he tells you, just do the opposite.

Daniel: Desmond didn't know you when he first came out of there. You never met. Which means you can't meet.
Sawyer: This would all be fascinating, if I was listening to you.

Miles: Why are we going back to the beach, if there's nothing to go back to?
Juliet: So stay here.
Miles: That chick likes me.

Hurley: Want a fry?
Sayid: No, thank you.
Hurley: You know maybe if you ate more comfort food, you wouldn't have to go around shooting people.

Hurley: So that dude you pocked outside Santa Rosa, who was he?
Sayid: I don't care. He was armed and he was watching you. That made him an enemy.
Hurley: You think he was going to kill me?
Sayid: I'm not taking risks after Bentham died.
Hurley: You mean Locke?
Sayid: Yeah, I mean Locke.
Hurley: I need a cool code name.

Locke: What is this?
Richard: It's a compass.
Locke: What does it do?
Richard: It points north, John. Look, I wish I had time to be more sensitive about this because it's a lot to swallow, but you need to know it in order to do what you gotta do. So I'm just gonna say it, okay? The only way to save the island, John, is to get your people back here. The ones who left.
Locke: Jack, Kate? But the chopper was headed for the boat. The boat...
Richard: No, they're fine, John, and they're already home, so you have to convince them to come back.
Locke: How... How am I supposed to do that?
Richard: You're gonna have to die, John.

The Orchid: Orientation Video

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The flash-forward:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Comments

Walt has grown so fast that he is almost unrecognizable.

Quotable Quotes

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In flash-forward:

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

Sayid has a visitor: Nadia – and they embrace.

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

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

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

Comments

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

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

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

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

Nits

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

Quotable Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4.11 Cabin Fever

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

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

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

On the boat:

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

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

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

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

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

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

In flashback:

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

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

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

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

Comments

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

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

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

Quotable Quotes

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

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

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

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

4.10 Something Nice Back Home

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

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

Sawyer and gang:

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

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

The flash-forward:

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

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

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

Comments

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

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

Nits

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

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

Quotable Quotes

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

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

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

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