Kate is kind of devious, but I tend to go for the crazy gals anyway, so she floats my boat fine. And while we already know she's like Sawyer in certain ways, criminal ways, we also learn she shares some of Jack's troubles. She just can't let go, and she does some stupid stuff for love.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
With her mother on her deathbed, Kate returns to Iowa to see her one final time and needs help from a ravishing young doctor (hm, coincidence?) named Tom Brennan — the love of Kate's life and her childhood sweetheart. He agrees to help, but in the downtime the two go and dig up a time capsule they planted under a weeping willow tree in a pasture. Inside the bitchin' New Kids on the Block lunch pail, among various other childhood memories was Tom's plane. The two share a kiss in the car before heading to the hospital for a few minutes with dear old mom.
But the goodbye doesn't go as planned for Katie, that's what Tom calls her, when Diane panics and begins hollering for help. Kate, still a fugitive, must flee again and does so in Tom's car, which he refuses to get out of when they are cornered by a deputy leaving the hospital's parking garage. Undaunted, Kate drives through the cop-car barricade and Tom is shot and killed in the process. She grabs his plane and flees on foot, but will come to blame herself for Tom's death.
On the island, the jockeying for a spot on the raft begins. Kate tries to talk Michael into giving Sawyer the boot, since he had bought his way onto the first raft and didn't necessarily deserve a spot on the second. But when Michael's water is poisoned one afternoon, Sawyer and Kate are pitted against each other in trying to curry Michael's favor. When Michael decides to boot Sawyer from the raft, presuming he poisoned him, Sawyer rats out Kate's fugitive past — and the fact she plans to assume JoAnna's identity in order to run if rescued — to the entire group and she becomes the newest pariah when she admits she was on the plane in the marshal's custody.
Jack has figured out it was neither Kate nor Sawyer who poisoned Michael. It was Sun, but she was trying to make Jin sick so he wouldn't leave on the raft. She fears he will die at sea, but fears never seeing him again more. Jack, using his discretion, opts not to tell the others, while Sun opts not to tell Jack it was Kate's idea — a clever back-up strategy to get on the raft. Sawyer ends up back on the four-person raft.
Meanwhile, Locke has Sayid bring Jack out to the hatch. Both Locke and Jack continue to distrust one another, but the truth is that both are keeping secrets from the larger group when they feel it is appropriate. Jack, like Locke, wants to open the hatch. He believes much-needed supplies can be found inside. Sayid, however, thinks it was sealed and handle-less for a reason and that it's best left alone.
Walt issues an ominous warning when Locke grabs his arm. He'd gone to Locke to tell him that he didn't poison his dad, suspecting Locke might think he did since he had burned the first raft. But when Locke touches him, he freaks out and tells Locke not to open it. The "it" isn't clear, but we assume it is the hatch. Of course, "it" could also refer to something Locke may have to open in Season 6 too, but for now we'll assume it was the hatch. Walt confesses the arson to his dad, but has changed his mind and now wants to leave, fearing the future on the island now more than moving again apparently.
QUOTABLE
"When I was a little girl, I thought that once I found the man I loved I would be happy forever." — Sun to Kate
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Season 1, Episode 21: The Greater Good
Sayid is the moral compass of the show in many ways. He's done a great many bad things, but in the name of truth and/or country (or, on the island, in pursuing meds for Shannon). He's also shown great compassion in freeing Nadia at great personal risk. But he's the ultimate moral conundrum, doing good things (stopping a terrorist) for the wrong reasons (selfishly to find Nadia) and occasionally doing bad things out of a perceived duty to the greater good.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
The CIA has detained Sayid in London and bribes him into infiltrating a terror cell in Sydney in exchange for the whereabouts of Nadia, who he's been desperately trying to find since leaving the Iraqi Republican Guard. His former college roommate, whose wife was killed by a stray coalition bomb, is part of an organization that has hijacked some C4 and will target Australian civilians. When Assam, the roommate, experiences doubt, Sayid is ordered to convince him to go through with it or they'll arrest Nadia. Sayid does so by agreeing to participate with Assam, who commits suicide upon learning of his pal's deceit in an effort to recover his own lost love.
Back on the island, Jack returns from trying to find Locke to bury Boone. During the ceremony, Locke returns and tells the group the truth, but Jack doesn't believe him. He attacks Locke, angry that he couldn't save Boone and that Locke's lies affected the course of treatment. Locke tries to make amends with Shannon, giving her Boone's personal effects and asking for her forgiveness. But she's unwilling to grant it and instead asks Sayid for retribution.
Sayid agrees to check out Locke's story. He starts by asking Locke to take him back to the plane under the auspices of salvaging radio parts. But really, it's an interrogation and fact-finding mission. During the course of their dialogue, Locke admits to sabotaging Sayid's effort to find the broadcast signal, but continues to lie about the existence of the hatch. Despite that fib, Sayid is convinced Boone's death was accidental and doesn't kill him.
Shannon then takes matters into her own hands and decides she'll go after Locke, swiping the key to the gun case from a sleeping Jack, who'd been drugged with sleeping pills by Kate after refusing to rest in the wake of Boone's death and despite passing out when going after Locke. It's Sayid who tackles her as she squeezes off a round that grazes Locke's temple. The episode ends with Sayid, who changed his flight and wound up on Oceanic 815 when he insisted the CIA allow him to claim Assam's body rather than have it be cremated (which is against Islamic custom), demanding Locke take him to the hatch.
QUOTABLE
"I did it because I sensed you might be our best hope of surviving here, but I don't forgive what you did and I certainly don't trust you." — Sayid in response to Locke thanking him for saving his life
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
The CIA has detained Sayid in London and bribes him into infiltrating a terror cell in Sydney in exchange for the whereabouts of Nadia, who he's been desperately trying to find since leaving the Iraqi Republican Guard. His former college roommate, whose wife was killed by a stray coalition bomb, is part of an organization that has hijacked some C4 and will target Australian civilians. When Assam, the roommate, experiences doubt, Sayid is ordered to convince him to go through with it or they'll arrest Nadia. Sayid does so by agreeing to participate with Assam, who commits suicide upon learning of his pal's deceit in an effort to recover his own lost love.
Back on the island, Jack returns from trying to find Locke to bury Boone. During the ceremony, Locke returns and tells the group the truth, but Jack doesn't believe him. He attacks Locke, angry that he couldn't save Boone and that Locke's lies affected the course of treatment. Locke tries to make amends with Shannon, giving her Boone's personal effects and asking for her forgiveness. But she's unwilling to grant it and instead asks Sayid for retribution.
Sayid agrees to check out Locke's story. He starts by asking Locke to take him back to the plane under the auspices of salvaging radio parts. But really, it's an interrogation and fact-finding mission. During the course of their dialogue, Locke admits to sabotaging Sayid's effort to find the broadcast signal, but continues to lie about the existence of the hatch. Despite that fib, Sayid is convinced Boone's death was accidental and doesn't kill him.
Shannon then takes matters into her own hands and decides she'll go after Locke, swiping the key to the gun case from a sleeping Jack, who'd been drugged with sleeping pills by Kate after refusing to rest in the wake of Boone's death and despite passing out when going after Locke. It's Sayid who tackles her as she squeezes off a round that grazes Locke's temple. The episode ends with Sayid, who changed his flight and wound up on Oceanic 815 when he insisted the CIA allow him to claim Assam's body rather than have it be cremated (which is against Islamic custom), demanding Locke take him to the hatch.
QUOTABLE
"I did it because I sensed you might be our best hope of surviving here, but I don't forgive what you did and I certainly don't trust you." — Sayid in response to Locke thanking him for saving his life
Season 1, Episode 20: Do No Harm
Another Jack episode, where we see the difficulty he has putting boundaries on his emotions.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Boone is in bad shape. His leg is crushed and a lung has collapsed, but Jack promises Boone that he will save him. This, of course, is nothing new for Jack, who married a woman (Sarah) he made a similar promise to when she landed on his operating table after breaking her back in a car wreck.
A delirious Boone, who is floating in and out of consciousness after having his leg set, tells Jack about the plane and the hatch, though he can't really articulate what either means. Meanwhile, on her way back from getting Sawyer's alcohol, which Jack needs to perform surgery on Boone, Kate encounters Claire in the jungle going into premature labor. She cries for help, a call answered by Jin. Kate stays with Claire while Jin goes to get Jack, but he's transfusing his own blood into Boone at this point and can't help. He tells Charlie that Kate will have to deliver the baby, which she does successfully.
Sun, meanwhile, makes Jack stop giving blood to Boone before he kills himself and they soon discover that the blood is pooling in Boone's mangled leg anyway, a sign of compartment syndrome from a crushing injury and not from a fall as Locke had told the survivors. Angry that Locke lied, and set on confronting him with a murder allegation, Jack's focus is still on saving Boone, but the only way to do that is to chop off the dying leg. When Sun protests and tells Jack he can't save Boone, he channels Locke in shouting back, "Don't tell me what I can't do" in response. Upon stirring to consciousness, Boone tells Jack to let him go and lets him off the hook for promising to save him.
Elsewhere, Sayid takes Shannon to a secluded beach for a picnic date, hoping to get lucky (which presumably he does). Shannon, though, tells him that she needs to take things a little slow out of respect for Boone. She won't find out that her step-brother died until returning to the main beach the next morning. The moment stands in stark contrast to the survivors greeting Claire and her baby's arrival a few hundred feet away.
QUOTABLE
"Commitment is what makes you tick, Jack. The problem is you're just not good at letting go." — Christian to Jack when he struggles to write his vows before marrying Sarah
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Boone is in bad shape. His leg is crushed and a lung has collapsed, but Jack promises Boone that he will save him. This, of course, is nothing new for Jack, who married a woman (Sarah) he made a similar promise to when she landed on his operating table after breaking her back in a car wreck.
A delirious Boone, who is floating in and out of consciousness after having his leg set, tells Jack about the plane and the hatch, though he can't really articulate what either means. Meanwhile, on her way back from getting Sawyer's alcohol, which Jack needs to perform surgery on Boone, Kate encounters Claire in the jungle going into premature labor. She cries for help, a call answered by Jin. Kate stays with Claire while Jin goes to get Jack, but he's transfusing his own blood into Boone at this point and can't help. He tells Charlie that Kate will have to deliver the baby, which she does successfully.
Sun, meanwhile, makes Jack stop giving blood to Boone before he kills himself and they soon discover that the blood is pooling in Boone's mangled leg anyway, a sign of compartment syndrome from a crushing injury and not from a fall as Locke had told the survivors. Angry that Locke lied, and set on confronting him with a murder allegation, Jack's focus is still on saving Boone, but the only way to do that is to chop off the dying leg. When Sun protests and tells Jack he can't save Boone, he channels Locke in shouting back, "Don't tell me what I can't do" in response. Upon stirring to consciousness, Boone tells Jack to let him go and lets him off the hook for promising to save him.
Elsewhere, Sayid takes Shannon to a secluded beach for a picnic date, hoping to get lucky (which presumably he does). Shannon, though, tells him that she needs to take things a little slow out of respect for Boone. She won't find out that her step-brother died until returning to the main beach the next morning. The moment stands in stark contrast to the survivors greeting Claire and her baby's arrival a few hundred feet away.
QUOTABLE
"Commitment is what makes you tick, Jack. The problem is you're just not good at letting go." — Christian to Jack when he struggles to write his vows before marrying Sarah
Season 1, Episode 19: Deus Ex Machina
Locke's undying optimism and faith will be put to the test — both in the real world and on the island.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Growing up, Locke loved the game Mouse Trap and it's a good thing, because he finds himself caught in the island's web and Anthony Cooper's web of deceit.
On the island, he is still obsessed with opening the hatch and believes a trebuchet will do the trick. It doesn't, but it does fire shrapnel into Locke's leg. Curiously, though, he doesn't feel a thing. In fact, he soon discovers he can't feel anything in his legs, which suddenly seem to be failing again. During a nightmare, he sees himself in a wheelchair again, but also sees a Beechcraft crash in the jungle. He's convinced it's a vision and talks Boone into journeying with him to find the plane despite Boone's growing doubts about Locke's, well, sanity.
The two come across a dead Nigerian priest — carrying a 9mm — in the jungle. Pressing on, Locke eventually collapses but protests Boone's pleas that they return to camp. Instead, he relays that he'd been in a wheelchair before the island healed him. As he bares his soul, Locke also spots the plane in the jungle canopy and Boone climbs up to investigate. Inside, he finds Virgin Marys stuffed with heroin as well as a radio. While sending out a mayday, and getting a response, the plane shifts and Boone crashes down with the wreckage before he can respond again.
Locke gets Boone back to the caves and into Jack's care, but lies about the circumstances of his injuries. He tells the other survivors that Boone fell off a cliff while hunting boar then disappears. Back at the hatch, a distraught Locke sobs in the rain atop the hatch only to have a light click on inside and beam up through the unbreakable window. Perhaps every seeming setback, the trebuchet and failing legs and Boone's injury all occurred to ensure Locke was there at that exact moment to see the light, so to speak.
Before his days in a wheelchair, we see Locke working in a toy store and hounded by a nut-job, red-headed woman — do they come any different? redheads or women? — claiming to be his mother. Raised in foster homes, Locke never knew his parents and, according to his schizophrenic mother doesn't have a father as he was immaculately conceived. Unwilling to take her at her word, Locke hires a private investigator to find out about his mom and dad.
And so, we are introduced to a new character, Anthony Cooper. Charismatic, apparently wealthy and eccentric, Locke is immediately drawn to his father, who takes him on hunting escapades and fills a void in Locke's life. Cooper's real agenda, however, is to find his unwanted son because he needs a kidney and doesn't want to wait out life on the donor list enduring dialysis. Locke agrees to give Cooper a kidney only to have his father disappear immediately after surgery. Since that was all he was after in the first place, Cooper wants nothing to do anymore with Locke.
Elsewhere, Sawyer is experiencing headaches and must reluctantly seek Jack's help. He embarrasses him in front of Kate, asking about his history with prostitutes and STDs, but eventually lets on that Sawyer needs glasses and fixes him up. Of course, he did it for Kate not Sawyer.
QUOTABLE
"I've done everything you asked me to do. Why did you do this to me?" — Locke crying atop the hatch after Boone was severely injured on the trip into the jungle to the Beechcraft
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Growing up, Locke loved the game Mouse Trap and it's a good thing, because he finds himself caught in the island's web and Anthony Cooper's web of deceit.
On the island, he is still obsessed with opening the hatch and believes a trebuchet will do the trick. It doesn't, but it does fire shrapnel into Locke's leg. Curiously, though, he doesn't feel a thing. In fact, he soon discovers he can't feel anything in his legs, which suddenly seem to be failing again. During a nightmare, he sees himself in a wheelchair again, but also sees a Beechcraft crash in the jungle. He's convinced it's a vision and talks Boone into journeying with him to find the plane despite Boone's growing doubts about Locke's, well, sanity.
The two come across a dead Nigerian priest — carrying a 9mm — in the jungle. Pressing on, Locke eventually collapses but protests Boone's pleas that they return to camp. Instead, he relays that he'd been in a wheelchair before the island healed him. As he bares his soul, Locke also spots the plane in the jungle canopy and Boone climbs up to investigate. Inside, he finds Virgin Marys stuffed with heroin as well as a radio. While sending out a mayday, and getting a response, the plane shifts and Boone crashes down with the wreckage before he can respond again.
Locke gets Boone back to the caves and into Jack's care, but lies about the circumstances of his injuries. He tells the other survivors that Boone fell off a cliff while hunting boar then disappears. Back at the hatch, a distraught Locke sobs in the rain atop the hatch only to have a light click on inside and beam up through the unbreakable window. Perhaps every seeming setback, the trebuchet and failing legs and Boone's injury all occurred to ensure Locke was there at that exact moment to see the light, so to speak.
Before his days in a wheelchair, we see Locke working in a toy store and hounded by a nut-job, red-headed woman — do they come any different? redheads or women? — claiming to be his mother. Raised in foster homes, Locke never knew his parents and, according to his schizophrenic mother doesn't have a father as he was immaculately conceived. Unwilling to take her at her word, Locke hires a private investigator to find out about his mom and dad.
And so, we are introduced to a new character, Anthony Cooper. Charismatic, apparently wealthy and eccentric, Locke is immediately drawn to his father, who takes him on hunting escapades and fills a void in Locke's life. Cooper's real agenda, however, is to find his unwanted son because he needs a kidney and doesn't want to wait out life on the donor list enduring dialysis. Locke agrees to give Cooper a kidney only to have his father disappear immediately after surgery. Since that was all he was after in the first place, Cooper wants nothing to do anymore with Locke.
Elsewhere, Sawyer is experiencing headaches and must reluctantly seek Jack's help. He embarrasses him in front of Kate, asking about his history with prostitutes and STDs, but eventually lets on that Sawyer needs glasses and fixes him up. Of course, he did it for Kate not Sawyer.
QUOTABLE
"I've done everything you asked me to do. Why did you do this to me?" — Locke crying atop the hatch after Boone was severely injured on the trip into the jungle to the Beechcraft
Season 1, Episode 18: Numbers
Those big bets Hurley has been making in backgammon with Walt? Yeah, he ain't been bluffing. He owes the special little 10-year-old $80,000 at last count, but he's good for it as a Mega Lotto Jackpot winner. Of course, Hurley won using numbers he came across in the ramblings of a fellow psych ward patient at the asylum where he was at for unknown reasons. Now, he's convinced the numbers and, by extension, the money are cursed.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
4-8-15-16-23-42 ... It's an endless refrain by Lenny in the psych ward where Hurley spent some time. He used those numbers to win the lottery, but immediately bad things start to happen. At the press conference where he unveils himself as the winner, Hurley's grandpa Tito keels over and dies of a heart attack. A priest is struck by lightning at Tito's funeral and his brother's wife leaves him. The house he buys for his mother also burns as he takes her there for the first time (when she sprains an ankle on the curb getting out of his giant yellow Hummer). At the scene, Hurley also is mistaken for a drug kingpin and falsely arrested.
In every instance, Hurley actually profits — the house was over-insured, the cops paid a settlement, etc., but Hurley becomes suspicious of the money. He's goes to find Lenny, hoping to learn the origin of the numbers, but he's aghast that Hurley used them to play the lottery and insists he "must get away from those numbers or it won't stop." Eventually, he winds up in Australia trying to find Sam Toomey in Kalgoorlie, an old Navy buddy of Lenny's. The two heard the numbers over and over and over as they monitored communications at a military listening post in the Pacific. Like Hurley, Sam won money with numbers, but insisted it was cursed money when bad things — a wreck the cost his wife her leg — started happening.
Upon finding the numbers ... 4-8-15-16-23-42 ... scrawled on some of Rousseau's maps, which Sayid stole weeks earlier, Hurley becomes obsessed with finding her in the hope she can explain the numbers' meaning or at least ease his mind. Hurley, who owns the box company Locke works at and was on a TV in the background the first time Jin confronted the environmental minister in the prior episode, sets out to find Rousseau on his own, but Jack, Sayid and Charlie follow shortly after.
Hurley hates the thought that he's crazy for thinking the numbers are cursed. When Jack and Sayid are separated from Hurley and Charlie at a suspension bridge, he presses on trying to locate Rousseau. In the ensuing melee, Hurley comes face to face with Rousseau, who also believes the numbers are cursed much to Hurley's relief. It was that voice repeating those numbers that prompted her ship to change course and run aground, but she has since changed the message. It's now the message the survivors originally discovered in French.
In yet another cute twist, Rousseau gives Hurley a battery, which will be used to power a radio on the raft that could be used to call for help. It's ironic because the final scene of the previous episode shows the batteries in Hurley's CD player dying as he sits on the beach listening to music. Not so cute is the fact Hurley believes he caused the plane crash and the numbers, we discover at the end of the episode, are stamped on the outside of Locke's hatch.
Elsewhere, Locke asks for Claire's assistance in a woodworking project and helps her begin to piece together her past as he assembles a cradle for her unborn baby. It's her birthday, but it's not a happy one because she worries the baby will know she wanted to give it up for adoption. Locke assures her it will also know it wants to take care of it now.
QUOTABLE
"There's no curse. Bad things happen. You make your own luck, Mr. Reyes. Don't blame it on the damn numbers." — Martha Toomey, when Hurley comes to her claiming he's been cursed by the numbers 4-8-15-16-23-42
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
4-8-15-16-23-42 ... It's an endless refrain by Lenny in the psych ward where Hurley spent some time. He used those numbers to win the lottery, but immediately bad things start to happen. At the press conference where he unveils himself as the winner, Hurley's grandpa Tito keels over and dies of a heart attack. A priest is struck by lightning at Tito's funeral and his brother's wife leaves him. The house he buys for his mother also burns as he takes her there for the first time (when she sprains an ankle on the curb getting out of his giant yellow Hummer). At the scene, Hurley also is mistaken for a drug kingpin and falsely arrested.
In every instance, Hurley actually profits — the house was over-insured, the cops paid a settlement, etc., but Hurley becomes suspicious of the money. He's goes to find Lenny, hoping to learn the origin of the numbers, but he's aghast that Hurley used them to play the lottery and insists he "must get away from those numbers or it won't stop." Eventually, he winds up in Australia trying to find Sam Toomey in Kalgoorlie, an old Navy buddy of Lenny's. The two heard the numbers over and over and over as they monitored communications at a military listening post in the Pacific. Like Hurley, Sam won money with numbers, but insisted it was cursed money when bad things — a wreck the cost his wife her leg — started happening.
Upon finding the numbers ... 4-8-15-16-23-42 ... scrawled on some of Rousseau's maps, which Sayid stole weeks earlier, Hurley becomes obsessed with finding her in the hope she can explain the numbers' meaning or at least ease his mind. Hurley, who owns the box company Locke works at and was on a TV in the background the first time Jin confronted the environmental minister in the prior episode, sets out to find Rousseau on his own, but Jack, Sayid and Charlie follow shortly after.
Hurley hates the thought that he's crazy for thinking the numbers are cursed. When Jack and Sayid are separated from Hurley and Charlie at a suspension bridge, he presses on trying to locate Rousseau. In the ensuing melee, Hurley comes face to face with Rousseau, who also believes the numbers are cursed much to Hurley's relief. It was that voice repeating those numbers that prompted her ship to change course and run aground, but she has since changed the message. It's now the message the survivors originally discovered in French.
In yet another cute twist, Rousseau gives Hurley a battery, which will be used to power a radio on the raft that could be used to call for help. It's ironic because the final scene of the previous episode shows the batteries in Hurley's CD player dying as he sits on the beach listening to music. Not so cute is the fact Hurley believes he caused the plane crash and the numbers, we discover at the end of the episode, are stamped on the outside of Locke's hatch.
Elsewhere, Locke asks for Claire's assistance in a woodworking project and helps her begin to piece together her past as he assembles a cradle for her unborn baby. It's her birthday, but it's not a happy one because she worries the baby will know she wanted to give it up for adoption. Locke assures her it will also know it wants to take care of it now.
QUOTABLE
"There's no curse. Bad things happen. You make your own luck, Mr. Reyes. Don't blame it on the damn numbers." — Martha Toomey, when Hurley comes to her claiming he's been cursed by the numbers 4-8-15-16-23-42
Season 1, Episode 17: ... In Translation
Jin paid a high price to marry Sun, but we never knew how much of his soul had to be sacrificed until this episode. It's an episode about making the most of poor situations and persevering.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Jin's dream was to open a restaurant and hotel, but he went to work for Sun's father, Mr. Paik, instead. Sun is his real dream, he said. Jin even forgoes a honeymoon to impress Paik. But the job quickly morphs from a middle management position to Paik's special assistant, which is code for muscle to protect his business assets. Jin, though, fails in his first assignment to get the environmental minister to reopen a factory he ordered shut down.
The next day, Jin is ordered to return to the minister's house with a hit man to learn how he's supposed to "deliver a message." Rather than have the man murdered in front of his wife and daughter, Jin races into the house first and beats the man, telling him to reopen the factory but also saving his life. It is this incident that tied into an earlier scene when he arrived home covered in blood and was confronted by Sun.
The new job is taking its toll, though, and Jin — despite being ashamed of his father, telling Paik he was dead rather than invite a mere fisherman to the wedding — eventually seeks his father's counsel. He can sense that he is drifting apart from Sun because of his work. Jin's father helps him re-prioritize and suggests he give up the job and settle in the United States with Sun after running the final errand, which took the couple to Australia.
On the island, Jin and Sun get into a confrontation as she continues to test marrital boundaries and cultural customs in their new setting by wearing a skimpy bikini on the beach in front of everyone. Michael comes to Sun's rescue, but Sun steps in and slaps him for interfering. She later said it was to save him from Jin. "You don't know what he's capable of," she warns. Meanwhile, Micahel's raft is set ablaze and he's convinced his rival, Jin, did the deed, which is a good assumption since Jin's hand is burned. Sawyer, who had bought himself a spot on the raft, beats Jin and takes him to Michael for the arson.
Unwilling to defend himself, Jin, who doesn't speak English and actually burned himself trying to douse the flames, takes several shots to the chops from Michael. Upset at watching her husband get wailed on, Sun blurts out for Michael to "stop it. Leave him alone," so the cat's kind of out of the bag at that point: She knows English, and nobody is more shocked (and hurt and dismayed) than Jin. He leaves his wife at the caves and moves back to the beach.
Elsewhere, Sayid and Shannon are growing closer, while Locke suggests to the survivors that perhaps it was the island's other inhabitants — who've already kidnapped and killed some of them — that burned the raft. Still, dissension is growing. And with good reason, the arsonist was one of the survivors and Locke knows it was Walt, who said he burned the raft because he doesn't want to move anymore and he likes being on the island.
QUOTABLE
"Everyone gets a new life on this island, Shannon. Maybe it's time to start yours." — Locke
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Jin's dream was to open a restaurant and hotel, but he went to work for Sun's father, Mr. Paik, instead. Sun is his real dream, he said. Jin even forgoes a honeymoon to impress Paik. But the job quickly morphs from a middle management position to Paik's special assistant, which is code for muscle to protect his business assets. Jin, though, fails in his first assignment to get the environmental minister to reopen a factory he ordered shut down.
The next day, Jin is ordered to return to the minister's house with a hit man to learn how he's supposed to "deliver a message." Rather than have the man murdered in front of his wife and daughter, Jin races into the house first and beats the man, telling him to reopen the factory but also saving his life. It is this incident that tied into an earlier scene when he arrived home covered in blood and was confronted by Sun.
The new job is taking its toll, though, and Jin — despite being ashamed of his father, telling Paik he was dead rather than invite a mere fisherman to the wedding — eventually seeks his father's counsel. He can sense that he is drifting apart from Sun because of his work. Jin's father helps him re-prioritize and suggests he give up the job and settle in the United States with Sun after running the final errand, which took the couple to Australia.
On the island, Jin and Sun get into a confrontation as she continues to test marrital boundaries and cultural customs in their new setting by wearing a skimpy bikini on the beach in front of everyone. Michael comes to Sun's rescue, but Sun steps in and slaps him for interfering. She later said it was to save him from Jin. "You don't know what he's capable of," she warns. Meanwhile, Micahel's raft is set ablaze and he's convinced his rival, Jin, did the deed, which is a good assumption since Jin's hand is burned. Sawyer, who had bought himself a spot on the raft, beats Jin and takes him to Michael for the arson.
Unwilling to defend himself, Jin, who doesn't speak English and actually burned himself trying to douse the flames, takes several shots to the chops from Michael. Upset at watching her husband get wailed on, Sun blurts out for Michael to "stop it. Leave him alone," so the cat's kind of out of the bag at that point: She knows English, and nobody is more shocked (and hurt and dismayed) than Jin. He leaves his wife at the caves and moves back to the beach.
Elsewhere, Sayid and Shannon are growing closer, while Locke suggests to the survivors that perhaps it was the island's other inhabitants — who've already kidnapped and killed some of them — that burned the raft. Still, dissension is growing. And with good reason, the arsonist was one of the survivors and Locke knows it was Walt, who said he burned the raft because he doesn't want to move anymore and he likes being on the island.
QUOTABLE
"Everyone gets a new life on this island, Shannon. Maybe it's time to start yours." — Locke
Season 1, Episode 16: Outlaws
Sawyer and revenge are central in this episode as the spotlight shines on his pursuit of the real Frank Sawyer as well as a malicious boar that seems to be taunting him. Much of the major revelations come in flashbacks during this episode unlike many hour-long parcels.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
With her angry husband beating down the door, Sawyer's mom hides her young son under his bed and tells him not to come out no matter what he hears. And what he hears is his angry father shoot his mom then sit down on his son's bed and eat his own gun. Sawyer's real name, of course, is James, which we learn later in the episode, but he adopted the name Sawyer as a reminder of the man whose con crippled his family and made him who he is.
A con-man nemesis, Hibbs, comes to visit Sawyer as he's running a new con and claims to know the whereabouts of the real Sawyer. Hoping to read him the letter he has carried for a couple decades, and possibly murder the jerk, Sawyer goes to Australia based on Hibbs' information. Upon first confronting "the real Sawyer," he finds that he doesn't have the nerve to commit murder. But a chance meeting with Christian, Jack's drunken father in a dive bar, convinces Sawyer to go through with the murder as a way to ease his suffering. After blasting the shrimp-van operator, he begins reading his letter and discovers it was a setup by Hibbs. He didn't kill Frank Sawyer but instead murdered a man who owed Hibbs money.
Also during the discussion with Christian, there is a reference to Australia as hell, which is curious and fuels certain theories about the show's ultimate meaning, but Christian also says: "It's fate. Some people are just supposed to suffer. That why the Red Sox will never win the damn Series." It's that last part that Jack repeats in Sawyer's presence, cluing him in to the fact that he met Daddy Shephard — and heard Daddy Shephard relay how grateful he is for his son, how proud he is of Jack and how much he admires the courage it took for him to get him fired. Sawyer, of course, doesn't tell Jack just yet.
On the island, a boar rifles through Sawyer's things as he sleeps and hooks his roof tarp upon squealing off into the jungle. Sawyer, who becomes the next to hear the whispers in the jungle, tracks down his tarp the next morning, but is once again attacked by the boar. Sawyer is now convinced the boar is out to get him, so he's determined to get the boar as a measure of revenge. Kate winds up trying to help him find the boar — the two play I never during a night in the jungle, when we learn she once was married and both are killers. That night, Sawyer dreams the boar is his father; it also rifles through his things and pees on his shirt while leaving Kate's stuff alone. Eventually, Sawyer confronts the boar and has a chance to shoot it at point-blank range, but decides to let it go in peace.
QUOTABLE
"What I'm saying is, you look a man in the eye and point a gun at him, you find out who you really are, mate. And should you find that you're not a killer, there's no refund." — The gun dealer in Sydney when Sawyer buys a revolver to shoot his namesake
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
With her angry husband beating down the door, Sawyer's mom hides her young son under his bed and tells him not to come out no matter what he hears. And what he hears is his angry father shoot his mom then sit down on his son's bed and eat his own gun. Sawyer's real name, of course, is James, which we learn later in the episode, but he adopted the name Sawyer as a reminder of the man whose con crippled his family and made him who he is.
A con-man nemesis, Hibbs, comes to visit Sawyer as he's running a new con and claims to know the whereabouts of the real Sawyer. Hoping to read him the letter he has carried for a couple decades, and possibly murder the jerk, Sawyer goes to Australia based on Hibbs' information. Upon first confronting "the real Sawyer," he finds that he doesn't have the nerve to commit murder. But a chance meeting with Christian, Jack's drunken father in a dive bar, convinces Sawyer to go through with the murder as a way to ease his suffering. After blasting the shrimp-van operator, he begins reading his letter and discovers it was a setup by Hibbs. He didn't kill Frank Sawyer but instead murdered a man who owed Hibbs money.
Also during the discussion with Christian, there is a reference to Australia as hell, which is curious and fuels certain theories about the show's ultimate meaning, but Christian also says: "It's fate. Some people are just supposed to suffer. That why the Red Sox will never win the damn Series." It's that last part that Jack repeats in Sawyer's presence, cluing him in to the fact that he met Daddy Shephard — and heard Daddy Shephard relay how grateful he is for his son, how proud he is of Jack and how much he admires the courage it took for him to get him fired. Sawyer, of course, doesn't tell Jack just yet.
On the island, a boar rifles through Sawyer's things as he sleeps and hooks his roof tarp upon squealing off into the jungle. Sawyer, who becomes the next to hear the whispers in the jungle, tracks down his tarp the next morning, but is once again attacked by the boar. Sawyer is now convinced the boar is out to get him, so he's determined to get the boar as a measure of revenge. Kate winds up trying to help him find the boar — the two play I never during a night in the jungle, when we learn she once was married and both are killers. That night, Sawyer dreams the boar is his father; it also rifles through his things and pees on his shirt while leaving Kate's stuff alone. Eventually, Sawyer confronts the boar and has a chance to shoot it at point-blank range, but decides to let it go in peace.
QUOTABLE
"What I'm saying is, you look a man in the eye and point a gun at him, you find out who you really are, mate. And should you find that you're not a killer, there's no refund." — The gun dealer in Sydney when Sawyer buys a revolver to shoot his namesake
Season 1, Episode 15: Homecoming
Ah, a good ol' Charlie episode: Turns out he was quite the douche in his pre-island life. Of course, that was probably to be expected of a heroin addict in his spiral toward rock bottom.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Claire returns from the jungle and Locke brings her to Jack, but when the doc rouses her she has no memory of the crash or anything that has happened after that. Got it?
In a flashback, we see Charlie running a nifty scam with his junkie buddy and dope supplier. He uses his status as the Drive Shaft lead singer to woo a girl and get her to take him back to her place, where his job is to swipe something of value that can be sold for heroin money. Trouble is, he kind of falls for well-to-do Lucy, whose father offers Charlie a job as a copy-machine salesman. He's trying to do right, but without a fix through the weekend after refusing to steal from Lucy, Charlie ruins his first sales pitch, capping a stupendous display by yakking all over a copier. Before heading to work that day, he also had swiped Winston Churchill's cigarette case from Lucy's dad collection of assorted junk, the drug's power proved too much. His drug problem and thievery, of course, upset Lucy and prompt her to declare that he'll never be capable of taking of another person.
Back on the island, Charlie, of course, is eager to prove that he can, in fact, care for Claire, who has become something of a pariah among the other survivors. She still doesn't know that she's been kidnapped, but everyone avoids her upon her return — except Charlie, for the most part. Ethan also makes his triumphant return, finding Charlie in the jungle and insisting that he return Claire to him or he'll kill one survivor a night until he brings her back. This is the first concrete evidence we have that Claire escaped and wasn't released back to the survivors' population as part of some evil scheme. Just how she got away, though, remains a mystery.
Ethan makes good on his promise the first night, killing Scott Jackson — an inconsequential character in every respect. Shit, his mother already assumed he was dead after the plane crash, so it didn't really affect anyone. It did, however, spur Jack into loaning out the marshal's guns as a small group hatched a plot to capture Ethan and interrogate him. Using Claire as bait, Jack, Locke, Sayid, Sawyer and Kate are each armed with a 9mm and positioned to nab Ethan. Jack gets to him first, is disarmed but wins round 2 against The Others' super doc.
Before Sayid can go to work, though, Charlie, who wasn't supposed to be with the group (since he didn't have a gun and didn't know how to use one even if another had been available), picks up Jack's gun from the mud and unloads a clip into Ethan's torso. So much for answers, huh? For the survivors as well as the viewers. But Charlie, who very nearly was killed by Ethan, had his reasons.
QUOTABLE
"I wasn't going to let that animal anywhere near her again." — Charlie explaining why he blew away Ethan
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Claire returns from the jungle and Locke brings her to Jack, but when the doc rouses her she has no memory of the crash or anything that has happened after that. Got it?
In a flashback, we see Charlie running a nifty scam with his junkie buddy and dope supplier. He uses his status as the Drive Shaft lead singer to woo a girl and get her to take him back to her place, where his job is to swipe something of value that can be sold for heroin money. Trouble is, he kind of falls for well-to-do Lucy, whose father offers Charlie a job as a copy-machine salesman. He's trying to do right, but without a fix through the weekend after refusing to steal from Lucy, Charlie ruins his first sales pitch, capping a stupendous display by yakking all over a copier. Before heading to work that day, he also had swiped Winston Churchill's cigarette case from Lucy's dad collection of assorted junk, the drug's power proved too much. His drug problem and thievery, of course, upset Lucy and prompt her to declare that he'll never be capable of taking of another person.
Back on the island, Charlie, of course, is eager to prove that he can, in fact, care for Claire, who has become something of a pariah among the other survivors. She still doesn't know that she's been kidnapped, but everyone avoids her upon her return — except Charlie, for the most part. Ethan also makes his triumphant return, finding Charlie in the jungle and insisting that he return Claire to him or he'll kill one survivor a night until he brings her back. This is the first concrete evidence we have that Claire escaped and wasn't released back to the survivors' population as part of some evil scheme. Just how she got away, though, remains a mystery.
Ethan makes good on his promise the first night, killing Scott Jackson — an inconsequential character in every respect. Shit, his mother already assumed he was dead after the plane crash, so it didn't really affect anyone. It did, however, spur Jack into loaning out the marshal's guns as a small group hatched a plot to capture Ethan and interrogate him. Using Claire as bait, Jack, Locke, Sayid, Sawyer and Kate are each armed with a 9mm and positioned to nab Ethan. Jack gets to him first, is disarmed but wins round 2 against The Others' super doc.
Before Sayid can go to work, though, Charlie, who wasn't supposed to be with the group (since he didn't have a gun and didn't know how to use one even if another had been available), picks up Jack's gun from the mud and unloads a clip into Ethan's torso. So much for answers, huh? For the survivors as well as the viewers. But Charlie, who very nearly was killed by Ethan, had his reasons.
QUOTABLE
"I wasn't going to let that animal anywhere near her again." — Charlie explaining why he blew away Ethan
Friday, November 27, 2009
Season 1, Episode 14: Special
We know Michael didn't raise Walt — and, so far, he's seemed like a predominantly hot-headed and over-bearing character — but now we get some context for the father-son relationship and Michael's intensity. He's an extremist and strong-willed but also not very easily daunted.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
As the episode opens, Michael is once again searching for Walt, who has a tendency to wander off and pal around with John Locke much to the ire of his father. Walt, indeed, is with Locke learning to throw a knife. When Locke suggests he try a visualization technique, Walt finally sticks a knot in the tree with the 8-inch blade. The implication is that Walt has visions either of the future or that somehow influence the future. Upon finding his son, Boone is also there with Locke and Walt, Michael again threatens Locke not to spend time with Walt.
When Walt wanders off the next day and again seeks out Locke, Michael issues his most dire threat yet — that he will kill Locke — if he catches Locke with Walt again. It's almost as if Michael found Locke on the island's sex-predator list.
Michael and Walt were separated early in Walt's life when his wife, Susan, took a job in Amsterdam and took Walt with her to Europe. Eventually adopted by Susan's husband/boss (... incidentally, Michael never married Walt's mom, which smacks of racism just a tad, but I digress ...), Walt spends time in Italy and Australia as his corporate-lawyer parents chase the good life. Michael, meanwhile, struggles to find work and is severely injured when a car hits him. When Walt's mom dies from a blood disorder, though, Brian decides he can no longer be responsible for Walt and dumps him back in Michael's lap.
Michael went to Australia to bring Walt back to New York. He's adamant that Walt not grow up on the island at the very least, which prompts him to begin building a raft. The episode is rife with irony and the not-so-subtle undertones that dog parent-child relationships. The parent wants a batter life for the child; the child wants his own and very often a different life from the parent. Michael burns a possibly prophetic Spanish comic book Walt is enjoying; Walt later burns his raft. Michael insists his son must get off the island; Walt, tired of moving around all his life, is content to stay put.
Michael and Locke reconcile when Walt goes missing. Vincent breaks his leash and scampers into the jungle, Walt gives chase and eventually gets pinned in a grove of trees by a polar bear. With help from Locke, Michael saves Walt. Later, he gives his son the letters and drawings he'd sent throughout his childhood that Susan had always kept secret.
The episode ends with Claire, whose diary Charlie has been scouring, wandering out of the jungle all scratched up and haggard but still very much pregnant.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
As the episode opens, Michael is once again searching for Walt, who has a tendency to wander off and pal around with John Locke much to the ire of his father. Walt, indeed, is with Locke learning to throw a knife. When Locke suggests he try a visualization technique, Walt finally sticks a knot in the tree with the 8-inch blade. The implication is that Walt has visions either of the future or that somehow influence the future. Upon finding his son, Boone is also there with Locke and Walt, Michael again threatens Locke not to spend time with Walt.
When Walt wanders off the next day and again seeks out Locke, Michael issues his most dire threat yet — that he will kill Locke — if he catches Locke with Walt again. It's almost as if Michael found Locke on the island's sex-predator list.
Michael and Walt were separated early in Walt's life when his wife, Susan, took a job in Amsterdam and took Walt with her to Europe. Eventually adopted by Susan's husband/boss (... incidentally, Michael never married Walt's mom, which smacks of racism just a tad, but I digress ...), Walt spends time in Italy and Australia as his corporate-lawyer parents chase the good life. Michael, meanwhile, struggles to find work and is severely injured when a car hits him. When Walt's mom dies from a blood disorder, though, Brian decides he can no longer be responsible for Walt and dumps him back in Michael's lap.
Michael went to Australia to bring Walt back to New York. He's adamant that Walt not grow up on the island at the very least, which prompts him to begin building a raft. The episode is rife with irony and the not-so-subtle undertones that dog parent-child relationships. The parent wants a batter life for the child; the child wants his own and very often a different life from the parent. Michael burns a possibly prophetic Spanish comic book Walt is enjoying; Walt later burns his raft. Michael insists his son must get off the island; Walt, tired of moving around all his life, is content to stay put.
Michael and Locke reconcile when Walt goes missing. Vincent breaks his leash and scampers into the jungle, Walt gives chase and eventually gets pinned in a grove of trees by a polar bear. With help from Locke, Michael saves Walt. Later, he gives his son the letters and drawings he'd sent throughout his childhood that Susan had always kept secret.
The episode ends with Claire, whose diary Charlie has been scouring, wandering out of the jungle all scratched up and haggard but still very much pregnant.
Season 1, Episode 13: Hearts and Minds
Ah, incest finally comes to the crazy world of Lost. OK, so it's not real incest but rather step-incest. Boone and Shannon have always been bit players in this epic melodrama, but some back story was still needed. Turns out, there's a reason for the jealousy the pair exhibit as there also was some heat once upon a time.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Boone's feelings for his sister to this point could have been taken as mere over-protectiveness, which would be more than understandable given the circumstances. But his over-the-top reaction when Sayid begins wooing Shannon by bringing her a pair of cute shoes he found, shows there is perhaps more depth to his Boone's sisterly passion.
Boone continues to help Locke dig up the hatch almost daily, lying to Shannon about trying to find Claire and telling others the two are hunting. The deceit is wearing on Boone, who wants to let Shannon in on the secret. Locke, however, has other ideas, knocking Boone unconscious, drugging him and leaving him tied up in the jungle alone. During the subsequent hallucination, Boone tells Shannon about the hatch and the pair are kidnapped by Locke. Boone frees himself and finds Shannon, helping her free as well before the pair are chased by the smoke monster, who kills Shannon.
In a flashback, we see Boone arrive in Australia and attempt to bribe Shannon's boyfriend into leaving her alone. She manipulated the whole thing, faking a phone call in which she was being beaten by her boyfriend and further staging a bruise on her forehead. Desperate to help the sister he loves (a little too much), Boone and Sawyer come within arm's length of one another at a Sydney police station, where he is trying to file a report about his sister's plight. Unable to get the cops to take him seriously, he offers $50,000 if the boyfriend will leave.
Of course, it was all a ploy by Shannon to get at some of the inheritance she felt she was wrongly denied. When her own boyfriend double crosses her and takes the money, Shannon goes crawling back to Boone and seduces him as a form of payment for his loyalty. She also gets him to fund her return trip to the United States, which landed the naughty nympho step-siblings on Oceanic 815.
We find that Boone is actually relieved when he finds out that Shannon didn't die. But he also learns that he was relieved to unburden himself of his sister and all her drama when he thought she was dead. It is only then that he can let Shannon go and worry about his own life.
Kate, who is helping Sun scavenge seeded for the garden and grove she has carved out of the jungle, learns that she speaks English. Now, she and Michael are in on the secret.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Boone's feelings for his sister to this point could have been taken as mere over-protectiveness, which would be more than understandable given the circumstances. But his over-the-top reaction when Sayid begins wooing Shannon by bringing her a pair of cute shoes he found, shows there is perhaps more depth to his Boone's sisterly passion.
Boone continues to help Locke dig up the hatch almost daily, lying to Shannon about trying to find Claire and telling others the two are hunting. The deceit is wearing on Boone, who wants to let Shannon in on the secret. Locke, however, has other ideas, knocking Boone unconscious, drugging him and leaving him tied up in the jungle alone. During the subsequent hallucination, Boone tells Shannon about the hatch and the pair are kidnapped by Locke. Boone frees himself and finds Shannon, helping her free as well before the pair are chased by the smoke monster, who kills Shannon.
In a flashback, we see Boone arrive in Australia and attempt to bribe Shannon's boyfriend into leaving her alone. She manipulated the whole thing, faking a phone call in which she was being beaten by her boyfriend and further staging a bruise on her forehead. Desperate to help the sister he loves (a little too much), Boone and Sawyer come within arm's length of one another at a Sydney police station, where he is trying to file a report about his sister's plight. Unable to get the cops to take him seriously, he offers $50,000 if the boyfriend will leave.
Of course, it was all a ploy by Shannon to get at some of the inheritance she felt she was wrongly denied. When her own boyfriend double crosses her and takes the money, Shannon goes crawling back to Boone and seduces him as a form of payment for his loyalty. She also gets him to fund her return trip to the United States, which landed the naughty nympho step-siblings on Oceanic 815.
We find that Boone is actually relieved when he finds out that Shannon didn't die. But he also learns that he was relieved to unburden himself of his sister and all her drama when he thought she was dead. It is only then that he can let Shannon go and worry about his own life.
Kate, who is helping Sun scavenge seeded for the garden and grove she has carved out of the jungle, learns that she speaks English. Now, she and Michael are in on the secret.
Season 1, Episode 12: Whatever the Case May Be
It's a Kate episode with a central message of atonement and self-forgiveness. It's about faith and forgiveness as associated with one's own self-worth and divinity.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
The episode starts with sexy Kate high in a tree picking fruit. She's also being stalked by Sawyer and together the two of them discover the marshal's case in a pool beneath a water fall. Initially, Kate claims it is hers — and it did contain the model airplane that belonged to the man she loved — but it also contained four 9mm handguns with ammo.
Sawyer keeps the case at first, but can't open it. Kate, meanwhile, continuously tries to steal it. She went through a lot of trouble to get the airplane back, staging a bank robbery and then betraying the man she'd seduced to aid in the robbery. Fittingly, the safe deposit box that contained the miniature plane was Box 815.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get the case from Sawyer, he is finally persuaded by Jack, who threatens to withhold antibiotics that are treating the knife wound Sayid put in his upper arm. But he insists that Kate open the case in his presence. She reluctantly agrees, so Jack learns of the little place, which means so much to Kate. Of course, that's because it once belonged not only to the man she loved but one she killed (or more appropriately, who was killed because of her actions).
Super-hot but "useless" Shannon, as she is dubbed by Boone, helps Sayid translate the French notations on Rousseau's papers. Turns out, the translation doesn't make much sense as it is the lyrics to Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Actually, it is the lyrics to the French version, which is La Mer by Charles Trenet, a song later recorded by Bobby Darin among others with drastically different lyrics.
Continuing the theme that Rose is a life-giver, perhaps the Eve found buried in the caves, she helps coax Charlie back to life spiritually after he returns in the wake of Claire's abduction. He continues to blame himself for her predicament, but Rose — who continues to claim her husband lives — insists he forgive himself.
QUOTABLE
"It's a fine line between denial and faith, but it's much better on my side." — Rose to Charlie
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
The episode starts with sexy Kate high in a tree picking fruit. She's also being stalked by Sawyer and together the two of them discover the marshal's case in a pool beneath a water fall. Initially, Kate claims it is hers — and it did contain the model airplane that belonged to the man she loved — but it also contained four 9mm handguns with ammo.
Sawyer keeps the case at first, but can't open it. Kate, meanwhile, continuously tries to steal it. She went through a lot of trouble to get the airplane back, staging a bank robbery and then betraying the man she'd seduced to aid in the robbery. Fittingly, the safe deposit box that contained the miniature plane was Box 815.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get the case from Sawyer, he is finally persuaded by Jack, who threatens to withhold antibiotics that are treating the knife wound Sayid put in his upper arm. But he insists that Kate open the case in his presence. She reluctantly agrees, so Jack learns of the little place, which means so much to Kate. Of course, that's because it once belonged not only to the man she loved but one she killed (or more appropriately, who was killed because of her actions).
Super-hot but "useless" Shannon, as she is dubbed by Boone, helps Sayid translate the French notations on Rousseau's papers. Turns out, the translation doesn't make much sense as it is the lyrics to Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Actually, it is the lyrics to the French version, which is La Mer by Charles Trenet, a song later recorded by Bobby Darin among others with drastically different lyrics.
Continuing the theme that Rose is a life-giver, perhaps the Eve found buried in the caves, she helps coax Charlie back to life spiritually after he returns in the wake of Claire's abduction. He continues to blame himself for her predicament, but Rose — who continues to claim her husband lives — insists he forgive himself.
QUOTABLE
"It's a fine line between denial and faith, but it's much better on my side." — Rose to Charlie
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Season 1, Episode 11: All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
Yet another Jack episode. It's already the third in which he figures prominently in the flashbacks. Then again, that's because he's got the most convoluted back story to unveil.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
So, Ethan Rom wasn't actually on the plane. That means he's got some explaining to do, but first the gang goes to rescue Claire. Of course, she and Charlie already have been abducted by Ethan, so all that Jack and Locke find is a Claire's baggage. Despite Locke urging him to be sensible and muster a search party, take-charge Jack immediately tears off into the jungle in search of his missing friends. Locke goes back to camp and enlists Kate and Boone to help him.
Eventually, the trio catches up to Jack, who is not a tracker, and begin to follow a trail presumably left by Charlie, who is dropping the the pieces of the tape around his knuckles — it reads LATE — for rescuers to follow. There is suspicion that it also might be a ploy by Ethan, which is when we learn Kate has tracking skills and the foursome splits into two tracking duos. Jack and Kate follow the correct trail and come upon Ethan, who beats Jack senseless and threatens to kill Charlie if they don't give up the rescue effort.
Undaunted, Jack and Kate press on only to find Charlie hanging from a tree blindfolded. Kate cuts him down and Jack attempts CPR, eventually saving him. Charlie, though, doesn't remember the kidnapping, he only remembers that "all 'they' wanted was Claire."
Down the other trail, Locke can predict the precise arrival of rain. He and Boone stumble upon the hatch.
In a flashback, the tension between Jack and his father is revealed. Initially, we only see Jack stubbornly refusing to call a patient dead on the operating table. Christian urges him to call it, but later we learn that his father had nicked an artery while performing surgery drunk. It wasn't Jack's patient, it was his father's that Jack was so desperately trying to revive. He reluctantly agrees to sign a report about the incident after some coercing from Christian, but when he learns the patient was pregnant at a morbidity and mortality hearing, Jack rats out his dad. It ruins Christian professionally.
Meanwhile, the curious case of Walt continues as he defends Locke to his self-righteous father, deduces that The Others are natives and is declared the luckiest person he's ever known by Hurley after a $20,000 game of backgammon.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
So, Ethan Rom wasn't actually on the plane. That means he's got some explaining to do, but first the gang goes to rescue Claire. Of course, she and Charlie already have been abducted by Ethan, so all that Jack and Locke find is a Claire's baggage. Despite Locke urging him to be sensible and muster a search party, take-charge Jack immediately tears off into the jungle in search of his missing friends. Locke goes back to camp and enlists Kate and Boone to help him.
Eventually, the trio catches up to Jack, who is not a tracker, and begin to follow a trail presumably left by Charlie, who is dropping the the pieces of the tape around his knuckles — it reads LATE — for rescuers to follow. There is suspicion that it also might be a ploy by Ethan, which is when we learn Kate has tracking skills and the foursome splits into two tracking duos. Jack and Kate follow the correct trail and come upon Ethan, who beats Jack senseless and threatens to kill Charlie if they don't give up the rescue effort.
Undaunted, Jack and Kate press on only to find Charlie hanging from a tree blindfolded. Kate cuts him down and Jack attempts CPR, eventually saving him. Charlie, though, doesn't remember the kidnapping, he only remembers that "all 'they' wanted was Claire."
Down the other trail, Locke can predict the precise arrival of rain. He and Boone stumble upon the hatch.
In a flashback, the tension between Jack and his father is revealed. Initially, we only see Jack stubbornly refusing to call a patient dead on the operating table. Christian urges him to call it, but later we learn that his father had nicked an artery while performing surgery drunk. It wasn't Jack's patient, it was his father's that Jack was so desperately trying to revive. He reluctantly agrees to sign a report about the incident after some coercing from Christian, but when he learns the patient was pregnant at a morbidity and mortality hearing, Jack rats out his dad. It ruins Christian professionally.
Meanwhile, the curious case of Walt continues as he defends Locke to his self-righteous father, deduces that The Others are natives and is declared the luckiest person he's ever known by Hurley after a $20,000 game of backgammon.
Season 1, Episode 10: Raised by Another
A Claire episode. The plot thickens as The Others, who already have infiltrated the survivors, are further revealed. We also learn about Claire's life before Oceanic 815: her failed relationship and the decision to put her baby up for adoption.
Claire is innocence and naivete personified, but she also represents the advancement of wisdom.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Claire awakens to a crying baby but is no longer pregnant and encounters a black-eyed Locke (who may not, in fact, be Locke but rather the foreshadowing of Jacob's nemesis, but we'll get to that). Anyway, alien-looking Locke warns that everyone must pay a price because Claire gave her baby away. She checks her baby's crib but finds only blood and then comes out of the nightmare screaming with blood on her own hands. The blood, though, is only from her forming fists so tight her nails dug into her palms. She's still preggo, but the dream hints at the terror to ensue.
We don't yet know it, but women have stopped getting pregnant on the island. Ethan, a plant from The Others, is actually a doctor who tries to perform tests on Claire while she sleeps. These attempts at an amniocentesis frighten and awaken Claire, but not everyone is convinced the attacks are real. Jack, for one, thinks they are stress-induced and suggests a sedative, which enrages the hormonal and protective mother-to-be.
Jack's lack of faith prompts Claire to leave the caves and return to the beach, but something goes horribly wrong on her move. Her contractions start as Charlie tries to escort her back to the beach, but they are met by Ethan on the trail.
In a flashback, we meet Thomas, a painter who knocks up Claire when she was supposed to be on the pill. He eventually leaves her and Claire seeks out a psychic's advice, but the psychic refuses to reveal her fate or that of her unborn child. All he will do is warn her that she must raise the child, because danger swirls if her baby — Baby Aaron — is raised by another. She presses on with adoption plans nonetheless until no pens will work as she tries to sign over the rights to her still-unborn child. Sensing it is fate, Claire reneges and leaves the attorney's office only to be hounded by the psychic who eventually talks her into taking Oceanic 815.
In the wake of the attacks on Claire, and concerned the group doesn't know enough about each other, Hurley, whose real name is Hugo Reyes and who refuses to divulge the origin of Hurley, gets the flight manifest from Sawyer and begins a census. He's the one who discovers that Ethan was never on the plane. Meanwhile, Sayid returns and reports Rousseau's existence.
Claire is innocence and naivete personified, but she also represents the advancement of wisdom.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Claire awakens to a crying baby but is no longer pregnant and encounters a black-eyed Locke (who may not, in fact, be Locke but rather the foreshadowing of Jacob's nemesis, but we'll get to that). Anyway, alien-looking Locke warns that everyone must pay a price because Claire gave her baby away. She checks her baby's crib but finds only blood and then comes out of the nightmare screaming with blood on her own hands. The blood, though, is only from her forming fists so tight her nails dug into her palms. She's still preggo, but the dream hints at the terror to ensue.
We don't yet know it, but women have stopped getting pregnant on the island. Ethan, a plant from The Others, is actually a doctor who tries to perform tests on Claire while she sleeps. These attempts at an amniocentesis frighten and awaken Claire, but not everyone is convinced the attacks are real. Jack, for one, thinks they are stress-induced and suggests a sedative, which enrages the hormonal and protective mother-to-be.
Jack's lack of faith prompts Claire to leave the caves and return to the beach, but something goes horribly wrong on her move. Her contractions start as Charlie tries to escort her back to the beach, but they are met by Ethan on the trail.
In a flashback, we meet Thomas, a painter who knocks up Claire when she was supposed to be on the pill. He eventually leaves her and Claire seeks out a psychic's advice, but the psychic refuses to reveal her fate or that of her unborn child. All he will do is warn her that she must raise the child, because danger swirls if her baby — Baby Aaron — is raised by another. She presses on with adoption plans nonetheless until no pens will work as she tries to sign over the rights to her still-unborn child. Sensing it is fate, Claire reneges and leaves the attorney's office only to be hounded by the psychic who eventually talks her into taking Oceanic 815.
In the wake of the attacks on Claire, and concerned the group doesn't know enough about each other, Hurley, whose real name is Hugo Reyes and who refuses to divulge the origin of Hurley, gets the flight manifest from Sawyer and begins a census. He's the one who discovers that Ethan was never on the plane. Meanwhile, Sayid returns and reports Rousseau's existence.
Season 1, Episode 9: Solitary
A Sayid episode — and also our introduction to Danielle Rousseau. We learn details of Sayid's complex history, which involved telecommunications and torture for Iraq's Republican Guard. We also learn of Rousseau's complex history and see a new alliance formed, an alliance that becomes of great importance to the survivors (but also to Rousseau).
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Sitting on the beach and staring at Nadia's photo, Sayid discovers a cable on buried in the sand. While following it into the jungle, hoping to find a power source, he is captured by Danielle Rousseau. She proceeds to torture Sayid for information about Alex, who we come to find out is Rousseau's child. Sayid makes friends with Rousseau by fixing her music box.
It is also revealed that Rousseau was part of a science team whose ship ran aground, landing them all on the island. The other members of the team were taken by a mysterious illness, which prompted Rousseau to shoot each of them one by one.
Rousseau tells Sayid of The Others, the island's violent original inhabitants who are known mostly as whispers in the jungle. We presume they too are sick. Upon escaping from Rousseau's lair, Sayid is hounded by the voices.
In a flashback, we see Sayid torture Nadia (or at least be put in charge of her torture). We learn that the two were childhood sweethearts, Nadia, a beautiful girl from a rich family, and Sayid, the neighborhood boy she'd shove in the sand — ah! young love. By tugging at his heartstrings and appealing to the good in him, she convinces Sayid not to carry out her execution. Instead, he shoots himself in the arm and kills a friend to facilitate her escape.
Back at the survivor's beach, while Jack continues to treat the injured and focuses on survival, Hurley becomes concerned about the group's dynamics. His solution: a two-hole golf course, which provides the needed levity through the First, And Hopefully Only, Island Open.
QUOTABLE
"You'll find me in the next life if not this one." — Nadia to Sayid when he helps her escape
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Sitting on the beach and staring at Nadia's photo, Sayid discovers a cable on buried in the sand. While following it into the jungle, hoping to find a power source, he is captured by Danielle Rousseau. She proceeds to torture Sayid for information about Alex, who we come to find out is Rousseau's child. Sayid makes friends with Rousseau by fixing her music box.
It is also revealed that Rousseau was part of a science team whose ship ran aground, landing them all on the island. The other members of the team were taken by a mysterious illness, which prompted Rousseau to shoot each of them one by one.
Rousseau tells Sayid of The Others, the island's violent original inhabitants who are known mostly as whispers in the jungle. We presume they too are sick. Upon escaping from Rousseau's lair, Sayid is hounded by the voices.
In a flashback, we see Sayid torture Nadia (or at least be put in charge of her torture). We learn that the two were childhood sweethearts, Nadia, a beautiful girl from a rich family, and Sayid, the neighborhood boy she'd shove in the sand — ah! young love. By tugging at his heartstrings and appealing to the good in him, she convinces Sayid not to carry out her execution. Instead, he shoots himself in the arm and kills a friend to facilitate her escape.
Back at the survivor's beach, while Jack continues to treat the injured and focuses on survival, Hurley becomes concerned about the group's dynamics. His solution: a two-hole golf course, which provides the needed levity through the First, And Hopefully Only, Island Open.
QUOTABLE
"You'll find me in the next life if not this one." — Nadia to Sayid when he helps her escape
Season 1, Episode 8: Cofidence Man
A Sawyer episode. Ah, the famous peanut butter episode, which reminds me of a joke ... Q: What's the difference between peanut better and jam? A: I can't peanut butter ... Oh, never mind. This is a blog about Lost, a reference for each episode of stuff that caught one Lost addict's attention, Namely mine. It's not, however, a forum for dirty jokes (unless Sawyer wants to tell them. Am I right? Or am I right?)
In many ways, Sawyer oddly becomes our conscience. He reminds us that there's a little good in everyone, and often a lot more than meets the eye.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Sawyer's charms are on full display in this episode, which helps explain his conniving ways and introduces us to his life as a con man (away from the island that is). It opens with him reading Alice in Wonderland and Kate catching a glimpse of him boffo. Mommy likey.
Sawyer, the bad ass, is also on display as he catches Boone rifling through his stuff and pounds him. He was trying to snatch his step-sister Shannon's inhaler, which he assumed was in Sawyer's stash. Sayid, with approval from other survivors including Jack, tortures Sawyer with bamboo under the fingernails in an effort to find the medication.
Of course, such behavior flies in the face of Sayid's declaration that he'd never torture again and Jack's declaration that the survivors were not savages. The survivors already are angry with Sawyer, though, because Locke deflected blame for the destruction of the transponder onto Sawyer.
We also learn of Sawyer's letter to the real Sawyer, who seduced his mother and fleeced his father, leading to a murder-suicide he witnessed as a young child that robbed him of his parents and set him on his life course. Of course, down the road, when Sawyer starts a con that he comes to find out involves a kid, he bows out, revealing that there are limits to his deceit.
The torture (and the letter) only bring Kate's feelings for Sawyer, who cons her into a passionate kiss while being tortured even though he doesn't have the meds they want anyway, to the surface. It also leads to a fight between Sawyer and Sayid, that gets Sawyer stabbed in the arm and forces Jack to save his life. In the aftermath, an ashamed Sayid strikes out on his own to map the island.
Oh, yeah, as for the peanut butter: Preggo Claire craves it and Charlie insists he's going to get some for her. Dudes will do anything for a lady they love. We're such a sad lot. Unable to find any, he pretends to have a jar of the sweet goo, which — though imaginary — he gladly shares with Claire. She giggles.
QUOTABLE
"That's all you've got." — Sawyer to Jack after taking a couple on the chin from the doc
In many ways, Sawyer oddly becomes our conscience. He reminds us that there's a little good in everyone, and often a lot more than meets the eye.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Sawyer's charms are on full display in this episode, which helps explain his conniving ways and introduces us to his life as a con man (away from the island that is). It opens with him reading Alice in Wonderland and Kate catching a glimpse of him boffo. Mommy likey.
Sawyer, the bad ass, is also on display as he catches Boone rifling through his stuff and pounds him. He was trying to snatch his step-sister Shannon's inhaler, which he assumed was in Sawyer's stash. Sayid, with approval from other survivors including Jack, tortures Sawyer with bamboo under the fingernails in an effort to find the medication.
Of course, such behavior flies in the face of Sayid's declaration that he'd never torture again and Jack's declaration that the survivors were not savages. The survivors already are angry with Sawyer, though, because Locke deflected blame for the destruction of the transponder onto Sawyer.
We also learn of Sawyer's letter to the real Sawyer, who seduced his mother and fleeced his father, leading to a murder-suicide he witnessed as a young child that robbed him of his parents and set him on his life course. Of course, down the road, when Sawyer starts a con that he comes to find out involves a kid, he bows out, revealing that there are limits to his deceit.
The torture (and the letter) only bring Kate's feelings for Sawyer, who cons her into a passionate kiss while being tortured even though he doesn't have the meds they want anyway, to the surface. It also leads to a fight between Sawyer and Sayid, that gets Sawyer stabbed in the arm and forces Jack to save his life. In the aftermath, an ashamed Sayid strikes out on his own to map the island.
Oh, yeah, as for the peanut butter: Preggo Claire craves it and Charlie insists he's going to get some for her. Dudes will do anything for a lady they love. We're such a sad lot. Unable to find any, he pretends to have a jar of the sweet goo, which — though imaginary — he gladly shares with Claire. She giggles.
QUOTABLE
"That's all you've got." — Sawyer to Jack after taking a couple on the chin from the doc
Season 1, Episode 7: The Moth
A Charlie episode. Poor detoxing Charlie. He's still pretty much a laughable wreck at this stage. We learn that he was a rock star before his drug-addled life, though, and see him emerge from his struggle even stronger.
Charlie is set up to represent atonement; our frailty but also our resilience.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Kate's fugitive past comes to light and Sawyer suddenly moves into Jack's place after the doctor moves to the caves. It's symbolic of the way Sawyer also tugs at Kate's heartstrings.
But this episode is all about Charlie, who begins his career as Drive Shaft's brainchild reluctantly only to fall headfirst for the wild scene. He makes a pact with his brother Liam that if things get out of control, the band will give up the spotlight. Things come to a head when Liam tramples Charlie's line in the chorus of "You All Everybody," the band's omnipresent hit song. The battles with his brother lead Charlie to begin using himself. Of course, Liam will get clean, become a family man and move to Australia, while Charlie becomes a burnout.
Back on the island, Charlie's fight with kicking heroin mirrors his love/hate relationship with fame. He and Locke reach an agreement that Charlie can have his heroin back, but only if he asks Locke three times for it.
In the meantime, a grumpy Charlie causes a cave-in that traps Jack while wailing about his life as a "rock god." Michael, with a background in construction, leads the effort to dig out Jack safely, but ultimately it fails and Charlie puts himself in jeopardy to try and atone.
Sayid, Boone and Kate are intent on triangulating Rousseau's distress signal. Shannon will be in charge of switching on the transponder on the beach, while Kate and Boone handle another. Of course, Kate bails quickly upon learning Jack is trapped. Boone gets the job done anyway, but Sayid fails when he's conked from behind by a self-serving Locke — he doesn't want his life away from the island back — before he can switch on his transponder.
Eventually, it's a moth that leads Charlie and Jack safely from the cave. Once out, Charlie finds Locke and asks a third time for his heroin, disposing of it in Locke's fire after it's returned as promised. Another moth flies away in the firelight, symbolizing Charlie's metamorphosis.
QUOTABLE
"Struggle is nature's way to strengthen the moth." — Locke in a parable to Charlie, who is trying to kick a heroin habit
Charlie is set up to represent atonement; our frailty but also our resilience.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Kate's fugitive past comes to light and Sawyer suddenly moves into Jack's place after the doctor moves to the caves. It's symbolic of the way Sawyer also tugs at Kate's heartstrings.
But this episode is all about Charlie, who begins his career as Drive Shaft's brainchild reluctantly only to fall headfirst for the wild scene. He makes a pact with his brother Liam that if things get out of control, the band will give up the spotlight. Things come to a head when Liam tramples Charlie's line in the chorus of "You All Everybody," the band's omnipresent hit song. The battles with his brother lead Charlie to begin using himself. Of course, Liam will get clean, become a family man and move to Australia, while Charlie becomes a burnout.
Back on the island, Charlie's fight with kicking heroin mirrors his love/hate relationship with fame. He and Locke reach an agreement that Charlie can have his heroin back, but only if he asks Locke three times for it.
In the meantime, a grumpy Charlie causes a cave-in that traps Jack while wailing about his life as a "rock god." Michael, with a background in construction, leads the effort to dig out Jack safely, but ultimately it fails and Charlie puts himself in jeopardy to try and atone.
Sayid, Boone and Kate are intent on triangulating Rousseau's distress signal. Shannon will be in charge of switching on the transponder on the beach, while Kate and Boone handle another. Of course, Kate bails quickly upon learning Jack is trapped. Boone gets the job done anyway, but Sayid fails when he's conked from behind by a self-serving Locke — he doesn't want his life away from the island back — before he can switch on his transponder.
Eventually, it's a moth that leads Charlie and Jack safely from the cave. Once out, Charlie finds Locke and asks a third time for his heroin, disposing of it in Locke's fire after it's returned as promised. Another moth flies away in the firelight, symbolizing Charlie's metamorphosis.
QUOTABLE
"Struggle is nature's way to strengthen the moth." — Locke in a parable to Charlie, who is trying to kick a heroin habit
Season 1, Episode 6: House of the Rising Sun
A Sun episode. We learn the origins of Jin and Sun's relationship, but also sees the seeds of its undoing. How Jin came to be so controlling and what Sun planned to do about it are revealed, so we begin to see Jin as more than a potential wife-beater and Sun as more than a wilting lily.
Sun represents quiet strength and resolve. She also symbolizes rebirth and second chances. She's a nurturer by nature, which is why she will plant a garden, help heal with her herbs and, quite possibly, why she took to Jin in the first place.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Sun comes from high society, the daughter of a rich businessman. Jin, the son of a fisherman, is merely a waiter, but the two fall madly in love. Jin, though, must sell his soul to the devil, in this case Sun's father, in order to gain her hand in marriage; he must go to work for her father.
Returning home bloody one evening, we learn of Jin's sinister side. A fed up Sun slaps him when he won't explain himself, but Jin grows more possessive. Eventually, we learn of Sun's own infidelity as well as her plot to escape from Jin's tyranny. But a chance encounter with a flower at the airport, Jin sweetly gives her a bud as he did when first trying to woo her, reminds her that she still loves her husband.
On the island, the group discovers the caves, which are a source of water. They also discover Adam and Eve, a pair of corpses at the caves ringed by black and white stones. Yin and Yang, anybody? Jack suggests moving to the caves rather than lugging water to the beach every day, but not everyone is so easily convinced. Many haven't given up the notion of rescue. Kate is among those who refuse to settle at the caves.
Locke's role as soothsayer/savior is further developed when he correctly predicts that Charlie will again see his guitar but also confronts him about his heroin addiction. Locke offers to help Charlie get clean.
Sun represents quiet strength and resolve. She also symbolizes rebirth and second chances. She's a nurturer by nature, which is why she will plant a garden, help heal with her herbs and, quite possibly, why she took to Jin in the first place.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Sun comes from high society, the daughter of a rich businessman. Jin, the son of a fisherman, is merely a waiter, but the two fall madly in love. Jin, though, must sell his soul to the devil, in this case Sun's father, in order to gain her hand in marriage; he must go to work for her father.
Returning home bloody one evening, we learn of Jin's sinister side. A fed up Sun slaps him when he won't explain himself, but Jin grows more possessive. Eventually, we learn of Sun's own infidelity as well as her plot to escape from Jin's tyranny. But a chance encounter with a flower at the airport, Jin sweetly gives her a bud as he did when first trying to woo her, reminds her that she still loves her husband.
On the island, the group discovers the caves, which are a source of water. They also discover Adam and Eve, a pair of corpses at the caves ringed by black and white stones. Yin and Yang, anybody? Jack suggests moving to the caves rather than lugging water to the beach every day, but not everyone is so easily convinced. Many haven't given up the notion of rescue. Kate is among those who refuse to settle at the caves.
Locke's role as soothsayer/savior is further developed when he correctly predicts that Charlie will again see his guitar but also confronts him about his heroin addiction. Locke offers to help Charlie get clean.
Season 1, Episode 5: White Rabbit
This is the episode where Jack will emerge as a true leader of the survivors and we see his instincts for protecting others in a flashback at the start of the episode. Jack takes a beating as a child trying to protect another boy, Mark Silverman. Saving people quickly becomes quite the theme of the episode.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Charlie — who a Beatles lyric tattooed to his back "Living is easy/With eyes closed" — alerts the beach-dwellers to a situation at sea, but since he can't swim he couldn't dive in to save a drowning lady several yards off shore. Jack swims out to save Boone, who had initially gone to save the JoAnna, a random and otherwise unknown survivor who was loved to SCUBA and had been bumped onto Oceanic 815. Only 46 survivors — that we know of — remain now.
Jack again sees his father, first in the water and then walking into the woods as Boone berates him for saving his life instead of JoAnna's. Christian, who is Jack's father, is the Chief of Surgery at the hospital where Jack also works. We learn in this episode that he has left for Australia on a bender, something for which Jack's mother blames him. She asks her son to bring back Christian.
In flashbacks, we see how hard Christian is on Jack, telling him not to be a hero and that he doesn't have what it takes. We also see a hard-drinking Christian die in an Australian alley. Of course, back on the island later when Jack finds his father's coffin it is empty.
The white rabbit, it seems, refers not only to Jack's quest to return his father, which ultimately he will have to do in a coffin. But also to his relationship with Locke, who saves him at one point in the episode when Jack has fallen from a cliff and is hanging by vegetation. The depth of Locke's love affair with the island, his "special island," is revealed. He has looked into its eye and seen its beauty.
When water goes missing at camp, the assumption is that Sawyer snagged it. He doesn't do much to deny it, but in the end it was Boone, who must be saved by Jack — the very man he was so angry with at the episode's beginning.
QUOTABLE
"A leader can't lead until he knows where he is going." — Locke to Jack, as he convinces him to become a leader of the survivors
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
Charlie — who a Beatles lyric tattooed to his back "Living is easy/With eyes closed" — alerts the beach-dwellers to a situation at sea, but since he can't swim he couldn't dive in to save a drowning lady several yards off shore. Jack swims out to save Boone, who had initially gone to save the JoAnna, a random and otherwise unknown survivor who was loved to SCUBA and had been bumped onto Oceanic 815. Only 46 survivors — that we know of — remain now.
Jack again sees his father, first in the water and then walking into the woods as Boone berates him for saving his life instead of JoAnna's. Christian, who is Jack's father, is the Chief of Surgery at the hospital where Jack also works. We learn in this episode that he has left for Australia on a bender, something for which Jack's mother blames him. She asks her son to bring back Christian.
In flashbacks, we see how hard Christian is on Jack, telling him not to be a hero and that he doesn't have what it takes. We also see a hard-drinking Christian die in an Australian alley. Of course, back on the island later when Jack finds his father's coffin it is empty.
The white rabbit, it seems, refers not only to Jack's quest to return his father, which ultimately he will have to do in a coffin. But also to his relationship with Locke, who saves him at one point in the episode when Jack has fallen from a cliff and is hanging by vegetation. The depth of Locke's love affair with the island, his "special island," is revealed. He has looked into its eye and seen its beauty.
When water goes missing at camp, the assumption is that Sawyer snagged it. He doesn't do much to deny it, but in the end it was Boone, who must be saved by Jack — the very man he was so angry with at the episode's beginning.
QUOTABLE
"A leader can't lead until he knows where he is going." — Locke to Jack, as he convinces him to become a leader of the survivors
Season 1, Episode 4: Walkabout
A Locke episode. Still unsure what to make of the mysterious John Locke, his predicament and reverence for the island begin to come into focus. He wakes up wiggling his toes in astonishment. It's easy to assume that his awe is simply at being alive, but we quickly learn there is a great deal more to John Locke, who initiates the boar hunts to feed the survivors.
Locke represents many things, notably a longing for something better. The soul's endless journey for peace.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
In a flashback, we see Locke as a disrespected middle management type, who plays Risk on his lunch break. Moving forward we find an increasingly distraught Locke, who seems obsessed with a women we only know as Helen. He also comes to believe that a Walkabout is his destiny.
The Walkabout is a Journey of Spiritual Renewal to make peace with the earth that he intends to take in Australia. Only one problem: Locke is confined to a wheelchair, so the organizers of the Walkabout refuse to let him participate. Ironically, of course, his faculties are restored (even heightened it would seem) and he finds his spiritual journey on the island. It's a journey that culminates in his encounter with the Smoke Monster, which curiously doesn't devour Locke as it did previous survivors it came across.
Helen we eventually learn is ... what? a phone-sex operator, who Locke tries to invite to Australia with him. She refuses, but we learn that Locke vehemently protests people placing limits on him: "Don't tell me what I can't do," he says, a refrain that will cycle back around.
We also are introduced again to Rose, whose behavior has worried Boone and others. Jack is asked to make sure she's OK. She tells Jack he has a good soul and also offers the first hint at the tailies, telling Jack that her husband Bernard isn't dead. She seems quite confident, but we're initially unsure if she's merely looney tunes.
Seeking closure and something familiar, the survivors have a memorial for those who did die. Jack, who has seen (halucinated?) his father at the jungle's edge, refuses to participate, yet another peek into the stubborn and borderline petulant side Jack often displays.
Locke represents many things, notably a longing for something better. The soul's endless journey for peace.
MAJOR PLOT POINTS
In a flashback, we see Locke as a disrespected middle management type, who plays Risk on his lunch break. Moving forward we find an increasingly distraught Locke, who seems obsessed with a women we only know as Helen. He also comes to believe that a Walkabout is his destiny.
The Walkabout is a Journey of Spiritual Renewal to make peace with the earth that he intends to take in Australia. Only one problem: Locke is confined to a wheelchair, so the organizers of the Walkabout refuse to let him participate. Ironically, of course, his faculties are restored (even heightened it would seem) and he finds his spiritual journey on the island. It's a journey that culminates in his encounter with the Smoke Monster, which curiously doesn't devour Locke as it did previous survivors it came across.
Helen we eventually learn is ... what? a phone-sex operator, who Locke tries to invite to Australia with him. She refuses, but we learn that Locke vehemently protests people placing limits on him: "Don't tell me what I can't do," he says, a refrain that will cycle back around.
We also are introduced again to Rose, whose behavior has worried Boone and others. Jack is asked to make sure she's OK. She tells Jack he has a good soul and also offers the first hint at the tailies, telling Jack that her husband Bernard isn't dead. She seems quite confident, but we're initially unsure if she's merely looney tunes.
Seeking closure and something familiar, the survivors have a memorial for those who did die. Jack, who has seen (halucinated?) his father at the jungle's edge, refuses to participate, yet another peek into the stubborn and borderline petulant side Jack often displays.
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