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Written by: Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse
Directed by: Jack Bender
Flash Foward: Six survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 have returned to civilisation. The others are presumably dead. Hurley goes mad in a store and is sent to an asylum. Turns out he’s seeing Charlie – but is his old pal just a ghost, an illusion or something else? Charlie says Hurley knows what he must do. Hurley has another visitor – a rep from Oceanic called Abbadon who asks, “Are they still alive?” Hurley screams at him to get out. Jack is worried about what’s happening to Hurley and pays him a visit to make sure he doesn’t reveal anything he shouldn’t. Hurley tells Jack that he shouldn’t have sided with Locke on the island.
In the Present: As the survivors prepare for rescue, Desmond returns to tell them of Charlie’s death and his message. This splits the islanders into two groups; those who want to meets the rescuers (led by Jack and including Kate) and those who fear that they are falling into a trap (led by Locke and including Hurley, Sawyer, Claire and Ben – though the latter has little choice in the matter). Naomi dies from the gunshot wound inflicted on her by Locke but appears to cover for the survivors in her last message to her colleagues, who finally arrive, parachuting from a helicopter.
Verdict: Lost is back on form, big time. Who could fail to be intrigued by the developments in this gutsy, shocking opening episode? Okay, so it gets off to a good start by wrong-footing the Jack-weary. “Oh no,” you’re thinking, “ another plodding Jack-back to kick off the season – how predictable!” But it turns out Jack’s just a bit-player in a far more intriguing flash forward which concentrates on Hurley. Meanwhile, the pace of events on the island is heating up, and there’s a genuine feeling of desperation and edginess. Admittedly the show is still asking more questions than it’s answering, but at least they’re really interesting questions now.
Day: 92, 22 December 2004.
Trivia: Abbadon (the name of the Oceanic rep) is the name of a fallen angel, often identified as Satan, or sometimes the son of Satan.
Did You Spot? Charlie has the words “THEY NEED YOU” written on his hand.
Speculation: So now we’ve seen two dads in Jacob’s cabin. Coincidence?
Numbers: The letters H and O (the 8th and 15th letters of the alphabet – 815... spook!) turn up in a number of places in the episode.
Character spotting: Christian Shephard is seen in Jacob’s cabin wearing one trainer (is the other one the one that’s seen hanging from a tree in the pilot?). Hurley’s old boss can be seen filming Hurley’s crash.
Best Line:
Abbadon: "Are they still alive?"
Dave Golder
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