Lost Episode 411Cabin FeverI broke into hysterical laughter as the episode drew to a close last night. Not that my laughter had anything to do with mirth; it was the kind of laughter when you basically just have to either scream or laugh. I mean, seriously –
Move the island!!!!!!!!!!!! What.The.Frak! Have you ever heard anything more … incredulous before?
The flashback in this episode was John Locke’s – who
always has the best flashes. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I don’t care much for Locke, but the thing with Locke-centric episodes is that I always end up feeling more kindly toward him. It’s like his flashbacks are deliberately setup in a way to make us feel for this man. And seriously speaking, one would have to be a cruel, cold, heartless monster to not feel for him.
Locke’s flashback begins just prior to his birth, when his young mom gives birth to him prematurely at six months. Locke overcomes all types of illnesses and survives his first few weeks. Sadly, his mother gives him up for adoption.
We next see John Locke as a young child, living in foster care. He gets a visit from Richard Alpert who tells him that he runs a school for very special children (so Harry Potter! LOL) and that he needs John to do some tests for him. Richard is not happy with John’s answers and leaves.
Teenage John Locke is the kind of kid who gets beaten up and stuffed in lockers. When a teacher hands him a brochure for a science camp being held by the Mittelos Laboratories, Locke declines to go, muttering his trademark phrase “
Don’t tell me what I can’t do”.
Finally, we see Locke after his fall from an 8 story building. He’s wheeled back to his room by someone who we’ve seen before – Matthew Abbadon. Mr. Abbadon plants the idea in Locke’s head of going on an Australian Walkabout.
Meanwhile, back on the Kahana, Keamy and his men return from the island. Keamy is ready to kill Captain Gault (who doesn’t seem as untrustworthy as Michael claims he is). The captain reveals that Michael is Benry’s spy and then goes on to save Michael’s life.
Keamy reveals a secondary protocol which seems to involve much ammo and a weird thing strapped his (rather lovely, muscular) arms. Things get weird when someone tells Dr Ray that a message was received in Morse code claiming that the doctor’s body had been washed ashore.
Keamy gets ready to go back to the island after fatally shooting the captain, but Frank refuses to go. Keamy slits the doctor’s throat and claims he’ll continue killing someone until Frank agrees. What can Frank do but agree. But he stashes a satellite phone into a zippered bag which he drops on the losties camp as the helicopter flies over.
Before being murdered, Gault helps Sayid and Desmond escape. Desmond chooses to stay behind, saying that he has been on that island for three years. Sayid promises to be back soon with the first group of Losties, and leaves the Kahana and heads back to the island.
And we haven’t even got to the best part of the episode as yet – Locke, Benry and Hurley are still in search of Jacob’s cabin but appear to be lost. Locke dreams of a man named Horace who tells him that when Locke finds him, he’ll find the cabin.
The next morning, the unlikely trio head for the Dharma death pit where Locke finds Horace’s skeleton and retrieves a map from his pocket. Once the find the cabin, both Benry and Hurley choose to let Locke enter the cabin on his own.
In the cabin, Locke doesn’t see Jacob, but instead encounters Christian Shepard who is speaking on Jacob’s behalf. Much to Locke’s surprise, Claire is also lounging in the cabin. When he rejoins Benry and Hurley, Benry wants to know what the plan is. Locke says that Jacob wants him to move the island.
That’s the point that I started laughing like a crazy woman. I mean, move the island?!?! I still giggle now. It’s just so… so... freaking crazy! This I cannot wait to see. How does one move an island?? Although, seeing as Locke has a button pushing fetish, he may just blow the island up instead.
Anyway, the key points from the episode are:
• Jacob wants Locke to
move the island. And if you look at info given to us in the future flashes it seems that Locke does in fact move it, as Widmore doesn’t know where it is anymore. How he does it though, I have no idea, and I have no intention of even speculating on that one.
But I must mention this little tidbit that I read… some speculate that the island will not be physically moved, but will rather be moved in time. Interesting!!
• Locke dreams of Horace, who, if I am not mistaken is the same Horace that was present at Benry’s birth, and who “recruited” Benry’s father to Dharma. Also, if I remember correctly, Benry was also born prematurely. Another similarity between the two of them.
• Benry seemingly hands power over the Locke, stating that it’s Locke’s destiny. It surprised me, because I had envisioned this power struggle between Benry and Locke. I’m kind of disappointed, to tell you the truth. But I don’t believe that it ends there at all. Benry seems to be genuinely afraid of Jacob, and supposedly does whatever Jacob tells him to do.
Benry is scared enough of Jacob to hand over power to Locke. He also tells Locke that his time as the Chosen One has ended and Locke’s has started. One has to wonder about this though. Benry has proved himself to be a master manipulator, so, could this just be another of his ploys? Whatever it is, I can’t imagine that this is the last we’ve seen of this power battle.
• Christian is “speaking” for Jacob. Okaaayy. The Christian mystery continues, and apart from thinking that Christian could be Jacob, I still don’t know what to think of this all. And why would Jacob need a mouthpiece anyway? He didn’t seem to need one with Benry.
And to add to the confusion, Claire has now happily joined dear old daddy. What’s interesting is that this is a Claire that we’ve never seen before – carefree, calm, unstressed. And she seems totally unbothered that Aaron is somewhere without her.
It could be that the theory that Claire is dead (and has been dead from the time the cottage exploded in “The Shape of things to come”) is true or Claire is doped up. She was this way – unperturbed about anything – when Ethan had kidnapped her and doped her up.
• Locke’s link to the island goes all the way back to when he was a cute little baby. Consider the following - Premature Baby Locke overcomes all types of sicknesses to survive. Young boy Locke receives a visit from Richard Alpert who doesn’t seem to age at all.
Teenaged Locke gets an invitation from Mittelos Laboratories, and grown-up Locke gets a visit from Matthew Abbadon who plants a very important idea in Locke’s head.
Now, has Locke’s future been ordained from the start, and Jacob/the Island/The others have been trying to recruit him from the very beginning? But how would Abbadon fit into this? From my understanding, he isn’t an Other, and works for Widmore.
Or… does Richard somehow do that time-traveling thing that the Others seem to do and goes back into the past to try and secure Locke’s destiny? Either way, his fate is now soundly linked to the island.
• What is Keamy up to? He’s definitely up to no good, and just what is that device he’s got strapped to his arm? And where is he headed on the island? I’d take a wild guess and say that according to his secondary protocol, he’s headed to where Jacob’s cabin is supposed to be.
• For me, one of the most interesting things was that the Morse code message about the doctor being dead was received before it even happened. Another time difference between the island and the rest of the world demonstrated.
Those are the key points, I think. I’m not exactly sure if I’ve left something out. Also very interesting is the way in which Locke manipulated Hurley into staying with him and Benry. Is this because he needs Hurley to do whatever it is that he needs to do??
I also wanted to mention the satellite phone that Frank drops on the losties camp. Jackass assumes that it must mean that that he wants them to follow him. Perhaps Franks wants them to hide!!
And Hurley sharing his chocolate with Benry was just too cute.
It’s this kind of episode that makes you want to tear out your hair in frustration while simultaneously clapping your hands in glee. This show just gets better. But I would really like to start getting some answers now.
What we have learnt from this episode:
• John Locke seems to have been destined for this island since birth
• Keamy kills both the doctor and the captain
• Christian is Jacob’s spokesperson.
New Questions:
• How is Locke going to move the island?
• What is Keamy planning?
• What is Claire doing with Christian?
• What is the thing on Keamy’s arm?
Interesting Trivia from
this site
• This episode is a record for the longest time period between the earliest and latest flashback (it starts on the day of Locke's birth and ends not long before the island, making the span about 45 years)
• The Delerue Center for Rehabilitation is where Locke received physical therapy for the injuries he sustained in his fall.
• The music that Emily (Locke's mother) is listening is "Everyday" by Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly was a famous victim of a plane crash.
• The "second protocol" mentioned by Keamy shows the exact same Dharma symbol from Ben's Coat on the episode "The Shape of Things to Come"
• John Locke was asked to identify items that already belonged to him. This test is used to find the next Dali Lama after the old one dies, proving the reincarnation.
• The comic book shown to Locke when he is a boy has a picture of Jacob in the cabin on the cover.
• In the locker that teenaged John Locke was locked in, there was a poster for the Geronimo Jackson album Magna Carta. The same album had been found by Charlie and Hurley in the Swan hatch in "All Things Musical". When Locke picked up Eddie in "Further Instructions", he was also wearing a Geronimo Jackson T-shirt.
Interesting Screencaps (from
this site)
Christian Shepard
Sayid on his way back the island
Young John Locke's drawing - Smoke monster?
Teen Locke