Season 4: Episode 11

This was pretty much a Locke-centric episode.

FACTS

1. The doctor is still alive on the Barge at the beginning of the episode.

2. Keemy’s gun jams when he tries to shoot Michael.

3. Locke was a premature baby born six months into his pregnancy.

4. Horace was one of the murdered members of the Dharma Initiative, has been dead for 12 years, and appears to Locke in a dream instructing (or at least providing him with clues) as to how he can reach Jacob’s cabin.

5. Richard Alpert is present shortly after the birth of Locke.

6. Richard Aleprt visits Locke when he is a young child who is playing backgammon. On the wall there is a drawing by young Locke appearing to resemble someone being attacked by the black smoke monster.

7. Richard administers a test to young Locke asking him to select which item belongs to him with the choices being a baseball glove, a well-worn book of laws, a vial of sand, a compass, comic book concerning a mystery, and a knife. Young Locke selects the knife, after fiddling around with the sand and the compass, a result Richard finds disappointing.

8. The leaders of the Dharma Initiative decided to wipe them out, according to Ben.

9. Keemy consults the backup plan from the safe which has a Dharma cover and then states that he plans on torching the Island.

10. Keemy has a bomb or some type of explosive device strapped to his arm by his assistant.

11. Abaddon wheels Locke through he hospital and tells Locke to go on a walkabout on Australia

12. Keemy slits the doctor’s throat and his assistant shoots the Barge’s captain.

13. Sayyid takes a motorboat to go back to the Island in an effort to help save the remaining survivors.

14. A package from the helicopter drops on the survivor’s camp containing a telephone tracking device.

15. Christian Shepard claims to speak on behalf of Jacob.

16. Claire is in the cabin with Christian Shepard.

17. Locke reports to Ben that while in the cabin he was told to move the Island.

ANALYSIS

A. Locke

Since this episode is largely about Locke, it seems to make sense to separately analyze the issues relating to Locke. He is obviously one of the key characters in LOST even though he is not one of the Oceanic Six.

1. Locke shares many similarities with Ben. His premature birth parallels that of Ben. Their mothers have the same name: Emily. Both grew up without their mother present (Locke’s grandmother appears to be raising him.) A figure from the Island (Horace) is present at Ben’s birth just as another figure from the Island (Richard) is present at the time of Locke’s birth. Locke, like Ben, is recruited to the Island based upon promises of educational opportunities with the offer accepted in the case of Ben and rejected in the case of Locke (summer chemistry camp).

2. Locke is a reincarnation of some figure important to the Island. At the time Richard visits the young Locke there is a drawing on the wall made by Locke basically of the smoke monster. The test Richard administers to young Locke is similar to the type of test one hears in certain cultures are used to determine whether a child is a reincarnation of some important figure.

3. The Others and Widmore have been searching for an opportune time to bring Locke to the Island for many years. Richard’s test when Locke was six for a special “school” was aimed at determining whether the time was ripe. Milos Laboratories, which offers Locke a place in its summer camp while Locke is in high school, is another obvious front for the Others/Richard. Abaddon suggests the Australian outback trip in an obvious attempt to cause Locke to wind up on the Island.

4. Locke's destiny is to assume an important role and position of control with respect to the Island. Richard has stalked Locke from the very time of his birth. Abaddon (who works for Widmore) also stalks Locke and urges to go on the trip to the Australian Outback that eventually causes him to wind up on the Island. Each side is trying to curry favor with Locke. This seems to be a recognition of the fact that his destiny is to exercise some meaningful control the Island.

5. The Island has been protecting Locke from death. He was pushed out an eighth floor window and he really ought to be dead. He was shot by Ben and he is still walking around as healthy as he can be. In all other cases, the Island has acted as a shield from death only for those who are away from the Island after having spent considerable time on the Island.

6. Locke in many ways is supplanting Ben. Ben was an intermediate figure awaiting Locke’s arrival. Ben’s power to have visions through dreams vanished when Locke arrived on the Island as did his ability to communicate directly with Jacob. It is possible, therefore, that Ben was just a bridge figure awaiting Locke’s arrival. It is also possible that the two are meant to compliment each other. Locke is more of the straight shooter and Ben more conniving.

B. Other Analysis


1. There is a disparity in the time line on the Island. Keemy slits the doctor’s throat on the boat at least a day after he washed up dead on the beach.

2. Claire is dead according to the conventional definition of life and death. She was dead last week too. That’s why she is in the cabin with Christian Shepard who, so far as we know, is also dead. She is one of the people, who by virtue of some as yet unknown characteristic, lives on despite being dead. Her death is also likely the reason why Miles was so fascinated with Claire last episode because Miles as a medium was able to recognize that she was, in fact, dead.

3. The package was dropped on the survivor camp so that Keemy could return and select people to be killed. That is why there is a telephone tracking device in the package. Jack, who has about the world’s worst judgement (see Season 4: Episode 1, Thesis __) incorrectly concludes that they want the survivors to follow them into the jungle. Alternatively, it was dropped by Lapidus to aid the survivors. However, dropping a package unnoticed while flying seems somewhat impractical.

4. The rescue and removal of Aaron and Kate from the Island is pre-destined and desired by Jacob. Christian Shepard makes that clear with respect to Aaron and we have already seen that Kate is one of the people who is supposed to raise Aaron.

5. After spending a period of time on the Island, one acquires an immunity from death off the Island. Once again Michael can not be shot dead, this time by crazy Keemy. See also, Season 4: Episode 9; Analysis 7.

6. Keemy is one bad ass. No analysis necessary.

7. Sayyid may not reach the Island in the Zodiac motorboat. The doctor’s body has already washed up on shore. One would expect that traveling by motorboat would allow Sayyid to reach the Island before the effects of the current which washed the doctor onshore. Therefore, Sayyid should already have been on the Island. That he did not arrive before the doc evidences that he may not have made it by boat. Either that or the time travel thing really does not make any sense at all.