Lost – Recap – Episode 1

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Lost has finally made its grand return, and here I am, just a teeny bit late with my recap. I’m moving into an apartment with pro wrestler “The Product” Marek Brave and his girlfriend, and thus I don’t have any internet service there yet, so I’m coming to you from my hollowed out room for the season premiere of Lost.

Previously, on Lost… I’m glad they decided not to start from the VERY beginning, joining in in the waning moments of the season. Anyway, the others are coming, so run, hide or die. They have a plan, though. Blow the hatch, see what’s inside. Hurley sees the numbers on the hatch and tries to stop it, but it’s too late.

The second season opens with another open eye. A rythmic beeping sends the man sprawling out of his bed, sliding into a computer chair and typing a command into a computer and pressing execute. He then puts a record on, of a song I’ve never heard before, and does a morning routine of cleaning the dishes, working out, making a smoothie and injecting some kind of drug. After the injection, he hears a big boom and scrambles into action, arming himself with a gun from his arsenal and turning off all the lights, finally looking through a telescope that reflects off a mirror…at the bottom of the hatch.

LOST? Don’t be. Buy the DVD.

And now, a word from our sponsors… Excellent opening, and it finally silences the complainers who were wondering what’s at the other end of the hatch. Although it’s not much of an answer, because that bachelor pad is WEIRD.

We return with Hurley scrambling through the numbers, punctuating them with “we’re doomed and dead”. Kate: “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I just…have to pee. Good idea, go look through the burning death hole.” Kate peers in with Jack and Locke and Jack says that it doesn’t matter what’s down there, since there’s no way they’d get down that shaft quickly enough. Locke tosses a rock and guesstimates that it’s only fifty feet deep, tops. He suggest making a harness out of fuselage wire, but Jack wants to leave. Hurley concurs, but Locke wants to keep going since they’ve been through a lot to get to this point. Jack thinks it’s a moot point since the ladder is broken, and the 40 people are waiting back in the caves for the word of what to do about The Others. So for the night, Jack is done. Locke wants to know why…

…and we flashback to an emergency room as Jack is working to save lives. The passenger and the driver of the SUV arrive at the same time, but Jack chooses to save the woman. He removes a piece of the car from her and stabilizes her blood pressure, but at the cost of the driver. “Time of death: 8:15 AM.” The lady has to dance at her wedding, and I’m pretty sure the dead guy is her husband. Well, not anymore.

Back to the caves, as Charlie reassures a couple of survivors that the French woman set the fire herself to cause paranoia about “others” and that it’s all just smoke and mirrors. Sayid looks at Charlie with a hint of disbelief, but doesn’t speak up. Shannon is looking for Vincent, meanwhile, but no one’s seen him. Sayid goes to follow Shannon when she goes off to find the “damn dog”.

Locke and Hurley are still at the hatch, and Hurley wants to know why Locke decided to light the fuse even when Hurley was running at him, screaming and waving his arms to tell him not to light the fuse. Locke was just excited to get inside, after going to the Black Rock and getting the dynamite, he wanted to see what was inside. The Good Doctor adds that he wanted to save lives as well, and Locke concurs. Jack wonders if it was maybe Locke’s destiny to get to the hatch, and Locke can feel the sarcasm. But Kate shows the underside of the hatch door to everyone else. “QUARANTINE”.

Sayid and Shannon are trodding through the jungle looking for Vincent, but Sayid wonders if this is a good idea. He thinks that the dog will come back on his own, since he always does. Walt asking Shannon to look after the dog was the only thing ever asked of her, and if Walt were to hear that Shannon was too exhausted to look for him, it wouldn’t be acceptable. Just then, Vincent speaks up, and there he is. Sayid and Shannon try to trap Vincent, but he gets away as Sayid gives chase. Shannon loses track of Sayid, however, and trips over a rock looking for him. Shannon starts to hear the creepy voices again, and then turns her head to see Walt, drenched in water. He shushes Shannon, and Walt tries to tell her something but she couldn’t understand him. Sayid comes charging back, and Walt is gone.

And now, a word from our sponsors… Pretty weird hearing those voices again. I wonder if the man in the hatch creates those. That’d be pretty weird, eh?

Locke and Kate are walking back to the caves as Locke brings up that he might be insane for wanting to get into the hatch so bad, after all, five hours ago he was almost pulled into a hole by a big pillar of black smoke. Locke wonders if Kate saw THAT, and if she did…they must both be crazy. So what did Jack see?

Jack and Hurley are the other group heading back to the caves, as Hurley tries to look on the greener side of life. Sure The Others are coming to “eat” them, and once in awhile somebody blows up on Doctor Jack, literally, but Jack interrupts him to ask about the numbers. Hurley explains the story of the numbers, and then adds something I’ve never heard about his curse: The chicken joint he worked at got hit by a meteorite. Holy crap. Jack goes back to the psych ward thing, and Hurley denies that he’s crazy but Jack thinks that they’re just numbers. Hurley trashes Jack’s bedside manner and walks off…

…as we flashback to the hospital with Jack and the woman that she saved. The woman wakes up, and Jack explains that the other driver died, the one that she hit. Oh. I don’t think I was paying attention. Jack explains that her back is broken, and that the likelihood of her being mobile again is…extremely unlikely. His father interrupts Jack, and Jack wants to hear his criticism. His father asks for Jack to give out hope, but Jack doesn’t like false hope. His father says that false hope is still HOPE.

Shannon is creating hysteria back at the caves by claiming to have seen Walt and hearing whispers around her, but she can’t explain who was making the whispers. Sun asks if something happened to the raft, and Shannon counters Sayid’s hopeful message by saying that she KNOWS what she saw.

The hatch team has returned now, and Dr. Jack has to deliver a report on what they found. Jack explains the truth, but then says that there’s no way for everyone to be lowered safely. He then gives the bad news that Dr. Artz didn’t make it back, which gets people talking as Shannon asks if Jack saw “The Others”. This starts a clamoring amongst the survivors as Charlie tries to dismiss the conspiracy theory. Jack interrupts everything, and then delivers hope to the people by telling them that they’re all going to be safe as long as they’re all together. The sun will be up in three hours and everyone will be there to see that happen. Locke then grabs some cable, as he reveals that he’s going in. Locke agrees that it probably isn’t the smartest thing to do, but Locke is tired of waiting for the Others to come, if they exist, or waiting for the brave people on the raft to find and send help.

And now, a word from our sponsors… The struggle between Jack and Locke continues, as the flashbacks have an obvious connection to the main storyline here with a message of hope for the people even when faced with the possibility of others.

Back at the caves, Jack and Kate talk about the doctor’s optimism, as Kate commends Jack for giving them hope but then says that she’s going to the hatch as well. She knows that he can’t go, but Locke’s going in there, like it or not, and if Locke should break his neck….”Live together, die alone, right?” Jack is in disbelief.

Flashback to Dr. Jack explaining to the husband-to-be that her fiance might need professional care for the rest of her life, so love making or even going to the bathroom by herself might be out of the question. The man looks stunned as Jack just still can’t get a hold of this thing about giving hope and whatnot. In the operating room, the lady wants to tell Jack something, and tells Jack to come closer to her. She tells him that she knows she’s not going to be dancing anymore, but she looks forward to rolling around at her wedding, and the doctor is invited. Jack vows to fix her, and that’s the last thing she hears before she goes under. And with that, Jack is ready to begin.

At the hatch, Locke is preparing for his descent as Kate arrives behind him. Locke says that he was waiting for her, which is why he wasn’t halfway down the hatch. Locke then tells Kate to go down first, since she’s lighter and it might get more narrow at the end of the hatch. Kate then wonders if this isn’t Locke’s way of seeing if she gets eaten by something. Locke agrees with that, but is still ready to let her go. Kate is ready to go herself, and she begins her way down the broken ladder. Kate wants to know what to say if she wants to stop. “Stop.” Down Kate goes, and the ladder gives way to nothing as her breathing gets heavier. One of the trees holding the cable as a pulley snaps, and Kate goes down a long way before Locke finally grabs onto the cable, stopping Kate about 3/4 of the way down as she drops her flashlight. But Kate saying that she’s okay is enough for Locke. Kate sees the mirror at the end of the hatch and then begins her counting, seeing the light at the end of the hatch. The light fades to black and Kate wants to stop, and then comes back on. Kate thinks there’s somebody down there, but a magnificent beam of light shoots out of the hatch, and into the sky, as Locke asks if Kate is okay, but the weight gets a lot heavier on the cable, and Locke can’t hold on as the rope digs into his hands and causes him to bleed. The light turns off as Kate never gives a response to Locke’s frantic calls.

And now, a word from our sponsors… Holy crap, the Hatch dude is really freaky. I’m sure we’re about to get a piece of what Kate’s like inside the hatch before this episode comes to a close. And it’s definitely going to piss Jack off when Locke comes back with the bad news.

Jack’s got a gun, and he’s going back to the hatch. Jack changed his mind about waiting until sunrise, it seems. Hurley is worried, and for good reason. Jack arrives at the hatch and sees the cable, and then looks down into the hatch to see the cable extended down, with Locke nowhere in sight. Jack drops the torch, but it gets caught in the puddle of water at the end of the hatch and illuminates nothing. Jack wraps his hands to help him down the rope and heads down, deciding to slide…

As we flashback to Jack running the stairs in a stadium. Somebody else is running with him, though. Somebody much more athletic. Jack considers this a race now and he trips on a stair. The other guy comes over to him to help him out, as he was once a doctor and notices that Jack seems to have only sprained it. The almost-doctor hands the Good Doctor some water, asking him for his excuse for running. His excuse is the almost-doctor wants to race around the world. Jack is just trying to work a few things out himself, specifically a girl patient. Jack made a promise he couldn’t keep, telling him he could fix her when he couldn’t. He failed, but the almost-doctor wonders what would’ve happened if he did fix her. It would’ve been a miracle, and Jack doesn’t believe in miracles. The almost-doctor gives Jack some advice: “You have to lift it up. Your ankle. You’ve got to keep it elevated.” Desmond says goodbye to Jack, telling him that he’ll see him in another life. Oh man. Is that the guy in the hatch?

Jack hits rock bottom in the hatch, notices the mirror and then spreads his flashlight down the hatch. He sees the floodlight that abducted Kate, and as he gets closer to the opening at the end of the tunnel, he notices a longer tunnel. He brings out his gun to go into the dark and drab tunnel, first noticing a pair of shoes on the floor. Jack continues down the tunnel, noticing a key on a wire. He goes to get it, thinks twice of it, and then notices a camera panning to him. “Make Your Own Kind of Music” plays again and the floodlight hits, as Jack bails into a side room. It looks like the Thunderdome, with all sorts of equipment in it. Could this be the Security System? The prompt from the beginning of the episode sits on the computer, beeping. Jack goes to press “Execute”, but Locke interrupts him, as the record scratches and Jack draws his gun on Locke. Jack wants to know where Kate is, but another man puts a gun to Locke’s head.

And now, a word from our sponsors… Man, the creepiest scene in the episode set to a song like that. But I really want that song now.

We return in a flashback, as Jack is exhibiting good bedside manner with Sarah Sarah wonders if she’s alive, and Jack confirms this. Jack says that he ran every step in the stadium up and down. He hurt his ankle, so he didn’t finish. “That sucks for you.” Sarah wonders if her fiance is here, but Jack didn’t see Kevin. Sarah wants to know how the surgery went, and Jack decides to stop bullshitting, explaining that she had extensive back damage, but her spinal column was just irrepairable. “You’re going to be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of your life.” So weird that Jack is now at odds with Locke, another person who is…oh wait, she can wiggle her toes. She can feel the pressure on her legs, which means she’s definitely not paralyzed. Jack is crying tears of joy now, and so is she. It’s a miracle.

And now Jack and the man both have guns pointed at Locke, as the man, who is most definitely DESMOND tells Jack to put down the gun. Jack doesn’t want to put down his gun, so Desmond fires a warning shot, and then repositions himself behind Locke. Jack starts talking about destiny…and then notices Desmond’s face.

“…You.”