you don't lose when you lose fake friends...
Locke’s going through his socks… and he pulls a diamond ring out from one of the balled-up pairs. - song in the background is “I’ll change the(?) the world with you” - He goes to the kitchen to pack up a picnic basket. Helen enters and asks what she did to deserve this? “Can’t a fella take his girl out for a picnic lunch just ‘cause?”
Are his fequent anachronisms just a personality quirk, or he is actually a man out of time? Helen goes to the table to read the paper while drinking her morning coffee, and Locke slips the ring into a napkin while packing it in the basket. She enjoys reading the obituaries because it’s the “nicest part of the paper. No one ever says anything mean about someone once they’re dead.”
- is she buttering John up so he'll attend his dad's funeral, perhaps? -
Locke always thought the funnies were the nicest part (I guess he hasn’t been reading Garfield for the last 15 years). Helen looks down at the paper, and asks Locke if his dad’s name is Anthony Cooper. It is.
“He’s dead.”
I guess the picnic’s canceled.
At the breakfast nook under the hatch, we’re right where we left off last week. Jack orders Henry to draw the map again, so they can find Ana and the others. Henry says he was just making a joke, that there’s nothing out there but his balloon. It was a stupid thing to say and he’s sorry. Locke chimes in. “It’s too late, she’s already long gone, Jack.”
“So what’s done is done?”
“That’s right, Jack.”
Jack tells Locke to put Gale back in his jail and leaves. “Why do you let him talk to you like that?”
Finally, Locke grows a pair. He hauls Henry up from the table and tosses him in the armory.
It’s pouring rain and thundering loudly in the jungle. Ana, Sayid, and Charlie have been searching for three hours now. Ana wants to keep looking, but Sayid is worried that Henry sent them on a wild goose chase so he could buy himself more time to try and escape. He wants to head back right now. Charlie shouts for them to join him; he’s found the grave. It’s piled with rocks, and there’s a bamboo cross stuck in it. – it could be anyone in there. If Henry is an other, he could have been the one that killed Gale, so of course he would know about the balloon. He’d also be pretty good at drawing a map of the island, which he was. – Ana notices it’s not raining at the gravesite, and all three look up to find an enormous smiley face looking down on them from the trees above.
Ana looks smugly satisfied, Sayid looks disappointed, and Charlie is flashing back to a Happy Mondays show in Madchester.
L O S T
On the beach, Hurley tells Jack that Ana, Sayid, and Charlie took off into the jungle yesterday. He wants to know why he’s not in the loop, and Jack tells him there is no loop. Saved by the crying baby… Jack is pulled away by Claire, who wants him to check on Aaron. The baby is doing fine, and Jack gets up to leave. Claire flinches briefly as he pats her back before going on his way. Weird. Libby’s next in line at the free clinic, complaining of a sea urchin sting. Jack suggests Neosporin, and she tells him Sawyer’s asking ten loads of laundry per tube. They look over at the beach and see Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer playing cards for fruit.
Under the hatch, Henry is reading in his cell while Locke exercycles, listening to "Compared to What" (an older song; but the lyrics certainly stand the test of time), by Les McCann. Some crackly feedback starts up under the music, and there’s a woman’s voice in there (…minutes…lockdown…). Locke gets off the bike to investigate. He turns off the stereo and checks on the computer, which is idling away with 47 minutes remaining on the counter. Tracing the sound to a loudspeaker in the hall, he grabs a tool from a tool chest and starts poking around – LOUD BLAST – (…until lockdown…). Henry is startled by all the noise. “What was that?”
Flashback – Locke and Helen are sitting in his car at the cemetery. - there's a very weird headstone in the foreground with a face on it - Locke’s a little nervous, so Helen tries to lighten him up a bit, “Hey, maybe he left you his kidney!”
It works, and they get out of the car. It’s just the two of them sitting graveside, while a priest speaks and a young version of the old guy from phantasm stands to the side. Locke notices two shady fellas watching from a distance while pretending to lay flowers at another grave. He glances away from them, past the groundskeeper, to a silver benz idling nearby. He looks up at the priest somewhat suspiciously – is he wondering if this funeral is some elaborate con? – before getting up and walking to the coffin.
“I forgive you.”
The silver car drives away. What happened to the shady guys?
CRACKLE SNAP – back under the hatch. (please proceed…personnel…) Henry is shouting for Locke, wanting to know what’s going on out there. Locke, straining to hear the voice as it is, tells Gale to shut up. A countdown starts (...9...8...7...6...5)
“Maybe you should get Jack.”
(...4...3...2)
“I said shut up!”
(...1...lockdown.)
The blast doors Michael discovered rapidly descend from above, but Locke manages to slide a crowbar under one before it shuts completely.
“What happened?!?”
Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate are engaged in a poker game at the beach, using a Dharma deck, of course. Showing is a 3 of clubs, 4 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, 8 of clubs, and the jack of hearts. Jack walks over to find that “Muttonchops” Hugo doesn’t really know how to play, and Sawyer’s taking advantage of that. “Amarillo Slim” Shepherd advises Hurley to fold – he’s got a baby straight. So he’s holding a 2 and a 5. Sawyer’s got the flush. We see Kate’s hand, and she has a face card and a 4? And Sawyer’s holding 2 clubs. Sawyer’s intrigued by Jack’s poker knowledge, and goads him into staying to play a hand or two.
In the swan station, Locke can’t get the door to budge on his own. He tells Henry everything is fine.
Flashback – John’s the owner of the “Welcome Home” home inspection company, inspecting a home for Nadia, Sayid's love.
That would make this what, no more than ten years ago? She was working in Tustin, according to the Feds that recruited Sayid in Australia, so that's probably where we are now. LA team realtors are selling the house. Welcome Home’s phone number is 714.555.0116. The address of one of the houses on the street is 94-1007… kinda weird? Weird to me. Locke spots the car from the cemetery (CA license # 4TRI019) parked across the street and walks over to it. The window rolls down to reveal a very much alive and breathing Anthony Cooper.
They go to a bar to talk, and Dad tells Locke he knows what he did was wrong, but he was dying. “You could have just asked me."
“What do you want from me?”
He explains to Locke that if he hadn’t killed himself off, a couple of guys looking for him would have beaten him to it. “What’d ya do, steal their livers?”
Actually, he took them for $700,000.00 in a retirement scam. They seemed young for that, no? A clue that Locke’s dad is likely the man Sawyer has been searching for? Anthony needs Locke to get the money from a safe deposit box, because the two guys may not be fooled and could be watching for him at the bank. - But they know what Locke looks like from the funeral, and Tony knows they were there, right? Were they with him? Is this all a con on the far too-trusting Locke? - Dad gives him the key and offers him $200K to do the job, along with instructions to meet him at the Flightline Motel before tomorrow night, when he will be leaving, money or no.
What if Locke just kept it all for himself and Helen? Is this some kind of test?
“If I don’t see you again, I’ll understand.”
John’s checking out the ductwork in the locked-down swan station. He tells Henry they’re locked in. - It looks like there’s some kind of door in the floor of the armory – Oh Locke, don’t let him out. Jesus. And Henry’s making demands as well. If he’s going to help, he wants Locke’s assurance that he won’t let “his people” do anything to him. Things have happened and they have no one to blame except for him. “Protect me…no matter what.”
Locke opens the door and asks the prisoner who he is. “My name is Henry Gale. I’m from Minnesota, and I crashed on this island just like you.”
John believes him and gives him his word. Henry can barely conceal his delight at how easy it is to manipulate this guy.
At the makeshift card table on the beach, “Cool Hand” Jack’s pair of kings beat Sawyer’s pocket queens, cleaning him out of mangos. Sawyer wants to up the ante, and Kate wants to measure their manhood. Of course she does. She still can't choose, maybe that would be the deciding factor? From the look Locke gave Jack last episode, I'm thinking he might come up short... Sawyer’s getting serious, and he tells “Mongo” to go hit the buffet table and leave the men alone, so Kate and Hurley leave the boys to play in their sandbox. Jack wants to play for all the medicine Sawyer stole from the swan station.
Back down there, Henry and Locke are leveraging their escape. They manage to raise the door a few feet, and Locke uses some superhuman strength to hold it there while Henry slides the tool chest under to brace it. Locke starts to slide himself under the door, and before Henry can stop him, the fucking thing comes down on his legs!! Henry, with what seems agonizing slowness, stacks weights under the door to relieve the pressure on John’s legs. He tries to pull Locke out, but he’s been pinned, quite literally, to the floor. Henry tells him they can just wait until someone comes, that it’s only a matter of time.
“Yeah, but we don’t have time.”
Flashback – Locke’s in the bank vault containing Anthony’s safe deposit box. It’s number 1516, of course. He opens up the box to find the cash, and starts moving it into his bag. He comes waltzing home with a bag over his shoulder a short time later, only to find Helen and the two men from the cemetery in the kitchen. “These men say they know your father.”
Jimmy Bane introduces himself, and asks if Locke has seen his dad since he died. Locke acts dumbfounded, and Jimmy explains that they’re not sure he’s really dead. He mentions that Locke didn’t look too shook up at the funeral, and this sets Helen off. She snaps at Jimmy, telling him to leave, and he agrees – as soon as Locke shows him whats in the bag. They spill the contents over the table, and it’s just full of home inspector stuff. “Well there you go. Thanks for the coffee, miss.”
If Lost has taught me anything, it’s to always have a spare bag when you’re filling another with cash. John apologizes to Helen once the men have left, and assures her he was telling the truth.
Sawyer’s dealing the latest hand at the card table. Jack tells him he learned how to play in Phuket, and is surprised that Sawyer knows it’s in Thailand. Just cause he’s a 9th grade dropout don’t make him an idiot. “Far East, huh? I wouldn’t have taken you for a world traveler. That where you got the art on your shoulder?”
Jack just tells him to deal the hand again, this time from the top of the deck. “Well, I had to try,” smiles Sawyer.
Under the hatch, Locke is filling Henry in on the button. They have to push it every 108 minutes, but no one is sure what it does. It needs to be pushed very soon. Locke tells him to go through the vent in the pantry out to the dome so he can enter the numbers and press execute – exactly those numbers in exactly that order. – so why didn’t they just try to get out that way in the first place, instead of trying to raise the blast doors? – Henry falls from the shelves while trying to hoist himself up, and ends up knocking himself out. (or is he faking?) The four minute countdown begins.
Libby joins Hurley and Kate, who are watching the high stakes poker game from a distance. We find out Sawyer has contracted some STDs in Tallahassee, but hey, who hasn’t? Jack goes all in, forcing Sawyer’s hand. Some silvery blonde woman and bald dude join the group watching from afar.
Sawyer calls. All Jack has is a pair of 9’s, but it’s more than enough to beat Sawyer’s pair of 5’s. Doc’s got his medicine back, and Sawyer wants to know why Jack didn’t play for the guns.
“When I need the guns, I’ll get the guns.”
Back in the swan, Henry comes to and climbs back up and into the vent as the loud ten second alarm starts blaring.
Flashback – Locke gets out of his truck at the Flightline motel just as an Oceanic plane is coming in for a nearby landing.
Dad lets him in his room and starts moving the money from one bag to another. He asks about Helen, and Jack tells him he’s going to ask her to marry him tonight. He’s like a little puppy dog, so trusting. Is that why the island chose him? His dad doesn’t give a shit about him, but Locke can’t see that because he wants so badly to believe otherwise. Dad leaves John’s $200,000 on the table, telling him he can afford a nice honeymoon now. Locke tells him he didn’t do it for the money. “Then why did you do it?”
He doesn’t answer.
“Bye, John.”
As Anthony turns to leave, the motel map is prominently displayed over his shoulder. A little foreshadowing? He opens the door to find Helen standing there. She asks Anthony, “Are you him?”, then she slaps him, telling him they were moving past him. Locke is almost comically speechless in the background. Helen runs off, and John rushes after her, brushing past his dad. He catches up to her as shes getting in her car, and she tells him he’s made his choice, he chose his father’s love over hers. Locke, stammering, gets down on one knee. You idiot… He proposes, and she shakes her head no before driving off. Dad looks his way as he gets in his cab, and drives off as well, as another Oceanic plane comes in for a landing (that was quick). Everyone Locke loves leaves him. Helen’s reaction to John is going to parallel what happens to him on the island when everyone finds out he’s trusted Henry. I still think she was in on the whole thing though, and it was some kind of long con. It all seemed staged. I’m not sure what the con was, or what part everyone played, but maybe we’ll find that out when we find out how he lost the use of his legs. You know, midway through season 5.
Under the hatch the alarms are still sounding as Locke is calling out to Henry – suddenly the noise stops and the counter shuffles as another noise starts up, the magnet? – The lights go out. Black lights turn on and illuminate the room Locke is trapped in. He is shocked when he looks up and sees what’s been drawn on the door that’s pinning him down. Is he really the chosen one on the island? Is his puppy-like trust a good thing on the island? Has his hatch decided to show him its secrets, just like the island itself did last season? I’ll get into the map of the hatches and the island in another post (it reminds me of King's Dark Tower and the wheel of Ka), but here's a cool picture.
Locke studies it, the map reflecting in his eye as he tries to commit it to memory.
The florescent lights flicker and come back on as the blast doors recede back into the ceiling. Very nasty when it pulls off of and out of Locke’s leg. Ow. – nice clear shot of the left side of the mural, for a reason? – Locke yells for Henry as he drags himself into the dome. Did Henry turn the lights on so Locke could see the map? Is this all part of the Others plan? It’s been just a minute since the clock flipped. Henry appears in the doorway, much to Locke’s surprise. “What, you thought I was gonna leave you here?”
He helps John up, and Locke thanks him for not leaving him.
“You’re welcome, John.”
Are they recruiting/slowly brainwashing him to their side?
It’s nighttime outside, and Jack is walking through the jungle back to the hatch when Kate catches up. She wants to tag along so she can take a shower. Jack says the plumbing’s busted and the water is running muddy - sounds like a personal problem to me. “I’ll let you know as soon as we get things worked out down there.”
Kate’s glad he beat Sawyer. Jack offers to walk her back to the beach and she’s about to say okay (maybe?) when she spots a light flashing though the trees. They move to investigate, and find a parachute attached to a huge bag/net/parcel with a beacon flashing atop it. Kate pulls out a box of D.I. mac n cheese…
“It’s food.”
Operation Dharma Drop. They’re startled by Sayid, Charlie, and Ana arriving at the scene. Jack looks very relived to see them alive. “What’d you find?”
Looks like Kate is in the loop now.
- This feels better, doesn’t it? Sure Sawyer was a bastard a few episodes ago, and Charlie maybe even moreso, but just to have everyone interacting again feels somehow right. Comfortable. Them against the island and the others, rather than against themselves. We’ll see how long this lasts. -
Under the hatch Henry is tending to Locke’s bloody leg. Henry tells him all he only entered the numbers and watched the counter reset. He was climbing back in the vent when the lights went out, and ten seconds later the doors went up. “I didn’t do anything.”
- I think the lockdown is automatic when Operation Dharma Drop is in effect, trapping the occupant(s) of the swan station in that room, and allowing an other someone time to bring the goods down into the station. Are the blast doors to protect the deliveryman from the quarantined occupant(s) of the swan? I think so… and to keep said occupants from finding out who is resupplying them as well? Desmond never mentioned this happening… has it not happened for more than three years? That would mean Des would have had nothing to do with the map Locke just saw. speaking of said map, a notation in it, "activity minimal during lockdown and restocking procedures", would seem to bear out my theory here. Michael found the blast doors in the corridor by the computerdome, so that area is probably sealed off too. is this so when they open up the hatch to get the supplies their living quarters aren't 'contaminated'? it would explain why there's red paint in the hallways - from this post: "there’s also what looks to be some type of red moat around the eyemsick house, and a red arrow beneath it pointing up. it looks like something is circled in red out of view behind the yellow paint canister.
the red moat is-IMPORTANT. There was red on the floor around kates shoes, and it looks like the rest of the tunnel floor is red also. Now we’re all sick." –
Locke asks Henry if he thinks it was just a random occurrence.
“Don’t look at me. It’s your hatch.”
Tell the trusting person what he wants to hear and he’ll trust you that much more. Gale is cunning… he reminds me a bit of Keyser Soze in this episode.
Jack and the others arrive, and he pulls Henry away from Locke as Sayid holds him at gunpoint. Locke tries to explain that Henry was helping him, and Henry asks if they found his balloon. Sayid tells him they found it, along with the grave.
“It was all there, your whole story, your alibi. It was true.
“But still I did not believe it to be true. So I dug up that grave, and found that there was not a woman inside, there was a man.”
He holds out Henry Gale’s Minnesota drivers license.
Henry is a smiley-faced black dude with a moustache, who was born on 8/11/61 (I think) and lived at 815 Walnut Ridge Rd in Wayzata, MN, 55391 (23). Driver’s license number M-152-996-431-000. The date next to his signature is 8/11/03.
“A man named Henry Gale.”
L O S T
Are his fequent anachronisms just a personality quirk, or he is actually a man out of time? Helen goes to the table to read the paper while drinking her morning coffee, and Locke slips the ring into a napkin while packing it in the basket. She enjoys reading the obituaries because it’s the “nicest part of the paper. No one ever says anything mean about someone once they’re dead.”
- is she buttering John up so he'll attend his dad's funeral, perhaps? -
Locke always thought the funnies were the nicest part (I guess he hasn’t been reading Garfield for the last 15 years). Helen looks down at the paper, and asks Locke if his dad’s name is Anthony Cooper. It is.
“He’s dead.”
I guess the picnic’s canceled.
At the breakfast nook under the hatch, we’re right where we left off last week. Jack orders Henry to draw the map again, so they can find Ana and the others. Henry says he was just making a joke, that there’s nothing out there but his balloon. It was a stupid thing to say and he’s sorry. Locke chimes in. “It’s too late, she’s already long gone, Jack.”
“So what’s done is done?”
“That’s right, Jack.”
Jack tells Locke to put Gale back in his jail and leaves. “Why do you let him talk to you like that?”
Finally, Locke grows a pair. He hauls Henry up from the table and tosses him in the armory.
It’s pouring rain and thundering loudly in the jungle. Ana, Sayid, and Charlie have been searching for three hours now. Ana wants to keep looking, but Sayid is worried that Henry sent them on a wild goose chase so he could buy himself more time to try and escape. He wants to head back right now. Charlie shouts for them to join him; he’s found the grave. It’s piled with rocks, and there’s a bamboo cross stuck in it. – it could be anyone in there. If Henry is an other, he could have been the one that killed Gale, so of course he would know about the balloon. He’d also be pretty good at drawing a map of the island, which he was. – Ana notices it’s not raining at the gravesite, and all three look up to find an enormous smiley face looking down on them from the trees above.
Ana looks smugly satisfied, Sayid looks disappointed, and Charlie is flashing back to a Happy Mondays show in Madchester.
L O S T
On the beach, Hurley tells Jack that Ana, Sayid, and Charlie took off into the jungle yesterday. He wants to know why he’s not in the loop, and Jack tells him there is no loop. Saved by the crying baby… Jack is pulled away by Claire, who wants him to check on Aaron. The baby is doing fine, and Jack gets up to leave. Claire flinches briefly as he pats her back before going on his way. Weird. Libby’s next in line at the free clinic, complaining of a sea urchin sting. Jack suggests Neosporin, and she tells him Sawyer’s asking ten loads of laundry per tube. They look over at the beach and see Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer playing cards for fruit.
Under the hatch, Henry is reading in his cell while Locke exercycles, listening to "Compared to What" (an older song; but the lyrics certainly stand the test of time), by Les McCann. Some crackly feedback starts up under the music, and there’s a woman’s voice in there (…minutes…lockdown…). Locke gets off the bike to investigate. He turns off the stereo and checks on the computer, which is idling away with 47 minutes remaining on the counter. Tracing the sound to a loudspeaker in the hall, he grabs a tool from a tool chest and starts poking around – LOUD BLAST – (…until lockdown…). Henry is startled by all the noise. “What was that?”
Flashback – Locke and Helen are sitting in his car at the cemetery. - there's a very weird headstone in the foreground with a face on it - Locke’s a little nervous, so Helen tries to lighten him up a bit, “Hey, maybe he left you his kidney!”
It works, and they get out of the car. It’s just the two of them sitting graveside, while a priest speaks and a young version of the old guy from phantasm stands to the side. Locke notices two shady fellas watching from a distance while pretending to lay flowers at another grave. He glances away from them, past the groundskeeper, to a silver benz idling nearby. He looks up at the priest somewhat suspiciously – is he wondering if this funeral is some elaborate con? – before getting up and walking to the coffin.
“I forgive you.”
The silver car drives away. What happened to the shady guys?
CRACKLE SNAP – back under the hatch. (please proceed…personnel…) Henry is shouting for Locke, wanting to know what’s going on out there. Locke, straining to hear the voice as it is, tells Gale to shut up. A countdown starts (...9...8...7...6...5)
“Maybe you should get Jack.”
(...4...3...2)
“I said shut up!”
(...1...lockdown.)
The blast doors Michael discovered rapidly descend from above, but Locke manages to slide a crowbar under one before it shuts completely.
“What happened?!?”
Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate are engaged in a poker game at the beach, using a Dharma deck, of course. Showing is a 3 of clubs, 4 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, 8 of clubs, and the jack of hearts. Jack walks over to find that “Muttonchops” Hugo doesn’t really know how to play, and Sawyer’s taking advantage of that. “Amarillo Slim” Shepherd advises Hurley to fold – he’s got a baby straight. So he’s holding a 2 and a 5. Sawyer’s got the flush. We see Kate’s hand, and she has a face card and a 4? And Sawyer’s holding 2 clubs. Sawyer’s intrigued by Jack’s poker knowledge, and goads him into staying to play a hand or two.
In the swan station, Locke can’t get the door to budge on his own. He tells Henry everything is fine.
Flashback – John’s the owner of the “Welcome Home” home inspection company, inspecting a home for Nadia, Sayid's love.
That would make this what, no more than ten years ago? She was working in Tustin, according to the Feds that recruited Sayid in Australia, so that's probably where we are now. LA team realtors are selling the house. Welcome Home’s phone number is 714.555.0116. The address of one of the houses on the street is 94-1007… kinda weird? Weird to me. Locke spots the car from the cemetery (CA license # 4TRI019) parked across the street and walks over to it. The window rolls down to reveal a very much alive and breathing Anthony Cooper.
They go to a bar to talk, and Dad tells Locke he knows what he did was wrong, but he was dying. “You could have just asked me."
“What do you want from me?”
He explains to Locke that if he hadn’t killed himself off, a couple of guys looking for him would have beaten him to it. “What’d ya do, steal their livers?”
Actually, he took them for $700,000.00 in a retirement scam. They seemed young for that, no? A clue that Locke’s dad is likely the man Sawyer has been searching for? Anthony needs Locke to get the money from a safe deposit box, because the two guys may not be fooled and could be watching for him at the bank. - But they know what Locke looks like from the funeral, and Tony knows they were there, right? Were they with him? Is this all a con on the far too-trusting Locke? - Dad gives him the key and offers him $200K to do the job, along with instructions to meet him at the Flightline Motel before tomorrow night, when he will be leaving, money or no.
What if Locke just kept it all for himself and Helen? Is this some kind of test?
“If I don’t see you again, I’ll understand.”
John’s checking out the ductwork in the locked-down swan station. He tells Henry they’re locked in. - It looks like there’s some kind of door in the floor of the armory – Oh Locke, don’t let him out. Jesus. And Henry’s making demands as well. If he’s going to help, he wants Locke’s assurance that he won’t let “his people” do anything to him. Things have happened and they have no one to blame except for him. “Protect me…no matter what.”
Locke opens the door and asks the prisoner who he is. “My name is Henry Gale. I’m from Minnesota, and I crashed on this island just like you.”
John believes him and gives him his word. Henry can barely conceal his delight at how easy it is to manipulate this guy.
At the makeshift card table on the beach, “Cool Hand” Jack’s pair of kings beat Sawyer’s pocket queens, cleaning him out of mangos. Sawyer wants to up the ante, and Kate wants to measure their manhood. Of course she does. She still can't choose, maybe that would be the deciding factor? From the look Locke gave Jack last episode, I'm thinking he might come up short... Sawyer’s getting serious, and he tells “Mongo” to go hit the buffet table and leave the men alone, so Kate and Hurley leave the boys to play in their sandbox. Jack wants to play for all the medicine Sawyer stole from the swan station.
Back down there, Henry and Locke are leveraging their escape. They manage to raise the door a few feet, and Locke uses some superhuman strength to hold it there while Henry slides the tool chest under to brace it. Locke starts to slide himself under the door, and before Henry can stop him, the fucking thing comes down on his legs!! Henry, with what seems agonizing slowness, stacks weights under the door to relieve the pressure on John’s legs. He tries to pull Locke out, but he’s been pinned, quite literally, to the floor. Henry tells him they can just wait until someone comes, that it’s only a matter of time.
“Yeah, but we don’t have time.”
Flashback – Locke’s in the bank vault containing Anthony’s safe deposit box. It’s number 1516, of course. He opens up the box to find the cash, and starts moving it into his bag. He comes waltzing home with a bag over his shoulder a short time later, only to find Helen and the two men from the cemetery in the kitchen. “These men say they know your father.”
Jimmy Bane introduces himself, and asks if Locke has seen his dad since he died. Locke acts dumbfounded, and Jimmy explains that they’re not sure he’s really dead. He mentions that Locke didn’t look too shook up at the funeral, and this sets Helen off. She snaps at Jimmy, telling him to leave, and he agrees – as soon as Locke shows him whats in the bag. They spill the contents over the table, and it’s just full of home inspector stuff. “Well there you go. Thanks for the coffee, miss.”
If Lost has taught me anything, it’s to always have a spare bag when you’re filling another with cash. John apologizes to Helen once the men have left, and assures her he was telling the truth.
Sawyer’s dealing the latest hand at the card table. Jack tells him he learned how to play in Phuket, and is surprised that Sawyer knows it’s in Thailand. Just cause he’s a 9th grade dropout don’t make him an idiot. “Far East, huh? I wouldn’t have taken you for a world traveler. That where you got the art on your shoulder?”
Jack just tells him to deal the hand again, this time from the top of the deck. “Well, I had to try,” smiles Sawyer.
Under the hatch, Locke is filling Henry in on the button. They have to push it every 108 minutes, but no one is sure what it does. It needs to be pushed very soon. Locke tells him to go through the vent in the pantry out to the dome so he can enter the numbers and press execute – exactly those numbers in exactly that order. – so why didn’t they just try to get out that way in the first place, instead of trying to raise the blast doors? – Henry falls from the shelves while trying to hoist himself up, and ends up knocking himself out. (or is he faking?) The four minute countdown begins.
Libby joins Hurley and Kate, who are watching the high stakes poker game from a distance. We find out Sawyer has contracted some STDs in Tallahassee, but hey, who hasn’t? Jack goes all in, forcing Sawyer’s hand. Some silvery blonde woman and bald dude join the group watching from afar.
Sawyer calls. All Jack has is a pair of 9’s, but it’s more than enough to beat Sawyer’s pair of 5’s. Doc’s got his medicine back, and Sawyer wants to know why Jack didn’t play for the guns.
“When I need the guns, I’ll get the guns.”
Back in the swan, Henry comes to and climbs back up and into the vent as the loud ten second alarm starts blaring.
Flashback – Locke gets out of his truck at the Flightline motel just as an Oceanic plane is coming in for a nearby landing.
Dad lets him in his room and starts moving the money from one bag to another. He asks about Helen, and Jack tells him he’s going to ask her to marry him tonight. He’s like a little puppy dog, so trusting. Is that why the island chose him? His dad doesn’t give a shit about him, but Locke can’t see that because he wants so badly to believe otherwise. Dad leaves John’s $200,000 on the table, telling him he can afford a nice honeymoon now. Locke tells him he didn’t do it for the money. “Then why did you do it?”
He doesn’t answer.
“Bye, John.”
As Anthony turns to leave, the motel map is prominently displayed over his shoulder. A little foreshadowing? He opens the door to find Helen standing there. She asks Anthony, “Are you him?”, then she slaps him, telling him they were moving past him. Locke is almost comically speechless in the background. Helen runs off, and John rushes after her, brushing past his dad. He catches up to her as shes getting in her car, and she tells him he’s made his choice, he chose his father’s love over hers. Locke, stammering, gets down on one knee. You idiot… He proposes, and she shakes her head no before driving off. Dad looks his way as he gets in his cab, and drives off as well, as another Oceanic plane comes in for a landing (that was quick). Everyone Locke loves leaves him. Helen’s reaction to John is going to parallel what happens to him on the island when everyone finds out he’s trusted Henry. I still think she was in on the whole thing though, and it was some kind of long con. It all seemed staged. I’m not sure what the con was, or what part everyone played, but maybe we’ll find that out when we find out how he lost the use of his legs. You know, midway through season 5.
Under the hatch the alarms are still sounding as Locke is calling out to Henry – suddenly the noise stops and the counter shuffles as another noise starts up, the magnet? – The lights go out. Black lights turn on and illuminate the room Locke is trapped in. He is shocked when he looks up and sees what’s been drawn on the door that’s pinning him down. Is he really the chosen one on the island? Is his puppy-like trust a good thing on the island? Has his hatch decided to show him its secrets, just like the island itself did last season? I’ll get into the map of the hatches and the island in another post (it reminds me of King's Dark Tower and the wheel of Ka), but here's a cool picture.
Locke studies it, the map reflecting in his eye as he tries to commit it to memory.
The florescent lights flicker and come back on as the blast doors recede back into the ceiling. Very nasty when it pulls off of and out of Locke’s leg. Ow. – nice clear shot of the left side of the mural, for a reason? – Locke yells for Henry as he drags himself into the dome. Did Henry turn the lights on so Locke could see the map? Is this all part of the Others plan? It’s been just a minute since the clock flipped. Henry appears in the doorway, much to Locke’s surprise. “What, you thought I was gonna leave you here?”
He helps John up, and Locke thanks him for not leaving him.
“You’re welcome, John.”
Are they recruiting/slowly brainwashing him to their side?
It’s nighttime outside, and Jack is walking through the jungle back to the hatch when Kate catches up. She wants to tag along so she can take a shower. Jack says the plumbing’s busted and the water is running muddy - sounds like a personal problem to me. “I’ll let you know as soon as we get things worked out down there.”
Kate’s glad he beat Sawyer. Jack offers to walk her back to the beach and she’s about to say okay (maybe?) when she spots a light flashing though the trees. They move to investigate, and find a parachute attached to a huge bag/net/parcel with a beacon flashing atop it. Kate pulls out a box of D.I. mac n cheese…
“It’s food.”
Operation Dharma Drop. They’re startled by Sayid, Charlie, and Ana arriving at the scene. Jack looks very relived to see them alive. “What’d you find?”
Looks like Kate is in the loop now.
- This feels better, doesn’t it? Sure Sawyer was a bastard a few episodes ago, and Charlie maybe even moreso, but just to have everyone interacting again feels somehow right. Comfortable. Them against the island and the others, rather than against themselves. We’ll see how long this lasts. -
Under the hatch Henry is tending to Locke’s bloody leg. Henry tells him all he only entered the numbers and watched the counter reset. He was climbing back in the vent when the lights went out, and ten seconds later the doors went up. “I didn’t do anything.”
- I think the lockdown is automatic when Operation Dharma Drop is in effect, trapping the occupant(s) of the swan station in that room, and allowing an other someone time to bring the goods down into the station. Are the blast doors to protect the deliveryman from the quarantined occupant(s) of the swan? I think so… and to keep said occupants from finding out who is resupplying them as well? Desmond never mentioned this happening… has it not happened for more than three years? That would mean Des would have had nothing to do with the map Locke just saw. speaking of said map, a notation in it, "activity minimal during lockdown and restocking procedures", would seem to bear out my theory here. Michael found the blast doors in the corridor by the computerdome, so that area is probably sealed off too. is this so when they open up the hatch to get the supplies their living quarters aren't 'contaminated'? it would explain why there's red paint in the hallways - from this post: "there’s also what looks to be some type of red moat around the eyemsick house, and a red arrow beneath it pointing up. it looks like something is circled in red out of view behind the yellow paint canister.
the red moat is-IMPORTANT. There was red on the floor around kates shoes, and it looks like the rest of the tunnel floor is red also. Now we’re all sick." –
Locke asks Henry if he thinks it was just a random occurrence.
“Don’t look at me. It’s your hatch.”
Tell the trusting person what he wants to hear and he’ll trust you that much more. Gale is cunning… he reminds me a bit of Keyser Soze in this episode.
Jack and the others arrive, and he pulls Henry away from Locke as Sayid holds him at gunpoint. Locke tries to explain that Henry was helping him, and Henry asks if they found his balloon. Sayid tells him they found it, along with the grave.
“It was all there, your whole story, your alibi. It was true.
“But still I did not believe it to be true. So I dug up that grave, and found that there was not a woman inside, there was a man.”
He holds out Henry Gale’s Minnesota drivers license.
Henry is a smiley-faced black dude with a moustache, who was born on 8/11/61 (I think) and lived at 815 Walnut Ridge Rd in Wayzata, MN, 55391 (23). Driver’s license number M-152-996-431-000. The date next to his signature is 8/11/03.
“A man named Henry Gale.”
L O S T
posted by karmacomedian at 10:57 AM
