adrift
There has been a recent revolution in storytelling of showing different parts of events that take place concurrently. While this has mostly been seen in films, it has not transferred to television to a great extent (certain episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have done something similar). So for an entire episode of Lost to take place concurrently with the events of last week's episode is something not commonly seen in television before.
The idea of time in this series becomes apparent with this episode. While the audience has come to know the characters over the past year, Locke says that they have only been on the island for 44 days. The passage of time is very strange in this episode. The audience spends half the time with Michael and Sawyer in the aftermath of the attack on the raft, picking up directly after last season’s finale, just like the premiere. They have lost contact with Walt, who has been taken by the Others, and Jin, who does not make his appearance until the end of the episode. The other part of the episode shows what else took place during last week’s premiere, mainly Locke’s descent into the Hatch. The flashbacks deal with Michael’s quest to gain custody of Walt, which echoes his quest after his kidnapping from the raft. Again, certain questions are answered, while sever more are raised. For the first time, the passage of time shown gives the audience the sense that these people have not been here for very long.
Make Your Own Kind of Music
Where Jack’s descent into the Hatch was full of chaos and confusion, Locke’s is much more orderly. This mirrors their characters. Jack is never sure where he is going. He is the man of science, no matter how much he tries to be one of faith. Locke is always in control, because his faith lets him maintain that control. There does not seem to be many questions answered about what is in the Hatch, but some light is shed on its purpose, and on the man inside. He tells Locke that his name is Desmond, so he is most likely the same man who met Jack in the premiere. He is waiting for someone, although even he does not know who that person is. He has been down there for a very long time. There is some kind of infection on the island that Desmond is being kept safe from. There is a failsafe in his computer. He must enter the numbers into it to reset the timer every 108 minutes (108 is the sum of the numbers that plague so many of the characters on the show). The Hatch is a quarantine zone, and Desmond is meant to be protected from the infection. The infection made Rousseau’s team sick sixteen years ago, and presumably the other survivors of the plane crash seen at the end of the episode are also infected.
So why aren’t the characters we’ve been following for a full season sick? Why aren’t Rousseau or Desmond seemingly ill? There are two possibilities. One is that Jack has somehow kept these characters from becoming sick. His interaction with the other survivors of the plan crash has kept them healthy. Ana Lucia, a character portrayed by Michelle Rodriguez (whose name appears in the opening credits this season), is possibly not sick as she interacted with Jack at the airport in the season finale. She was in the back of the plane during the crash, and as her name appears in the opening credits, one can assume that the people at the of this episode are not the Others, but rather more survivors of the plane crash. Jack’s wife was able to walk again after being paralyzed in a car crash, as was Locke after arriving on the island.
The other possibility is that the children kept them from getting sick. The main group of survivors had Walt with them, and later Aaron after Claire gives birth. Walt obviously has some kind of strange supernatural power. Something strange lies in Aaron’s future, as was shown in Claire’s flashback episode in season one. Rousseau gave birth to a girl named Alex shortly after arriving on it the island. It’s possible that this child kept her healthy. While this child could not keep her team from becoming ill, presumably Rousseau never became sick. She might be crazy, but she states that she had to kill her team because they became infected. This would explain why the Others wanted Alex and Walt, as they are somehow able to stave off this infection from those around them. It is also possible that Desmond has either been in the Hatch since he was a child (although he is somehow able to leave occasionally), or that he has one of the immune children in there with him. He sleeps in a bunk bed, and the mural centered on the number 108 which Jack examines in the premiere seems to have been created by a child. Each of these theories have some kind of volition, and the truth will most likely be revealed somewhere down the read.
Walt Likes Polar Bears
There are few actors who could keep a string of scenes where all they do is sit on a raft in the middle of the night and make it interesting. The fact that Harold Perrineau and Josh Holloway pull these scenes off as well as they do is a testament to their acting skills and the writers of the show. Not a lot happens in those scenes. Michael yells for Walt. Sawyer sees a shark. The shark most likely has do have something to do with the Hatch, as it bears the same symbol as Desmond’s uniform and everything inside of the Hatch.
It is assumable that the people shown at the end of the episode are other survivors of the plane crash. They seem to be infected with whatever is on the island. But that is all the information that the audience receives before the credits roll. If that is in fact the case, they do not have Walt, and Michael’s search will continue as the series goes on. Michael’s flashback story mirrors his words on the boat, about how he wants Walt to know that he’s coming for him. He feels blame for Walt’s kidnapping after trying to blame Sawyer, just as he probably felt blame for Walt’s mother taking the boy away from him in the first place. The scene where Michael says goodbye to Walt and gives him a stuff polar bear is a strange bit of foreshadowing, and might simply be an in-joke to viewers. Although, everything on this show seems to be significant in some way, so this might be addressed later.
Questions Unanswered
The audience is still left with questions by the end of the episode. Where is Walt? What exactly is going on with Desmond and who is he waiting for inside the Hatch? What happens if that timer reaches zero? Does the name on the candy bars Kate takes ("Apollo") hold on significance? What has happened to these other survivors? Is Rose’s husband there? At the moment, there is still only speculation, and there most likely will be for some time. But that is what makes this show so damn interesting.
A screengrab of the symbol on the shark.
The secret of the Hatch is that it's actually a giant adding machine.
Michael gives a two year old Walt a stuffed polar bear.
The idea of time in this series becomes apparent with this episode. While the audience has come to know the characters over the past year, Locke says that they have only been on the island for 44 days. The passage of time is very strange in this episode. The audience spends half the time with Michael and Sawyer in the aftermath of the attack on the raft, picking up directly after last season’s finale, just like the premiere. They have lost contact with Walt, who has been taken by the Others, and Jin, who does not make his appearance until the end of the episode. The other part of the episode shows what else took place during last week’s premiere, mainly Locke’s descent into the Hatch. The flashbacks deal with Michael’s quest to gain custody of Walt, which echoes his quest after his kidnapping from the raft. Again, certain questions are answered, while sever more are raised. For the first time, the passage of time shown gives the audience the sense that these people have not been here for very long.
Make Your Own Kind of Music
Where Jack’s descent into the Hatch was full of chaos and confusion, Locke’s is much more orderly. This mirrors their characters. Jack is never sure where he is going. He is the man of science, no matter how much he tries to be one of faith. Locke is always in control, because his faith lets him maintain that control. There does not seem to be many questions answered about what is in the Hatch, but some light is shed on its purpose, and on the man inside. He tells Locke that his name is Desmond, so he is most likely the same man who met Jack in the premiere. He is waiting for someone, although even he does not know who that person is. He has been down there for a very long time. There is some kind of infection on the island that Desmond is being kept safe from. There is a failsafe in his computer. He must enter the numbers into it to reset the timer every 108 minutes (108 is the sum of the numbers that plague so many of the characters on the show). The Hatch is a quarantine zone, and Desmond is meant to be protected from the infection. The infection made Rousseau’s team sick sixteen years ago, and presumably the other survivors of the plane crash seen at the end of the episode are also infected.
So why aren’t the characters we’ve been following for a full season sick? Why aren’t Rousseau or Desmond seemingly ill? There are two possibilities. One is that Jack has somehow kept these characters from becoming sick. His interaction with the other survivors of the plan crash has kept them healthy. Ana Lucia, a character portrayed by Michelle Rodriguez (whose name appears in the opening credits this season), is possibly not sick as she interacted with Jack at the airport in the season finale. She was in the back of the plane during the crash, and as her name appears in the opening credits, one can assume that the people at the of this episode are not the Others, but rather more survivors of the plane crash. Jack’s wife was able to walk again after being paralyzed in a car crash, as was Locke after arriving on the island.
The other possibility is that the children kept them from getting sick. The main group of survivors had Walt with them, and later Aaron after Claire gives birth. Walt obviously has some kind of strange supernatural power. Something strange lies in Aaron’s future, as was shown in Claire’s flashback episode in season one. Rousseau gave birth to a girl named Alex shortly after arriving on it the island. It’s possible that this child kept her healthy. While this child could not keep her team from becoming ill, presumably Rousseau never became sick. She might be crazy, but she states that she had to kill her team because they became infected. This would explain why the Others wanted Alex and Walt, as they are somehow able to stave off this infection from those around them. It is also possible that Desmond has either been in the Hatch since he was a child (although he is somehow able to leave occasionally), or that he has one of the immune children in there with him. He sleeps in a bunk bed, and the mural centered on the number 108 which Jack examines in the premiere seems to have been created by a child. Each of these theories have some kind of volition, and the truth will most likely be revealed somewhere down the read.
Walt Likes Polar Bears
There are few actors who could keep a string of scenes where all they do is sit on a raft in the middle of the night and make it interesting. The fact that Harold Perrineau and Josh Holloway pull these scenes off as well as they do is a testament to their acting skills and the writers of the show. Not a lot happens in those scenes. Michael yells for Walt. Sawyer sees a shark. The shark most likely has do have something to do with the Hatch, as it bears the same symbol as Desmond’s uniform and everything inside of the Hatch.
It is assumable that the people shown at the end of the episode are other survivors of the plane crash. They seem to be infected with whatever is on the island. But that is all the information that the audience receives before the credits roll. If that is in fact the case, they do not have Walt, and Michael’s search will continue as the series goes on. Michael’s flashback story mirrors his words on the boat, about how he wants Walt to know that he’s coming for him. He feels blame for Walt’s kidnapping after trying to blame Sawyer, just as he probably felt blame for Walt’s mother taking the boy away from him in the first place. The scene where Michael says goodbye to Walt and gives him a stuff polar bear is a strange bit of foreshadowing, and might simply be an in-joke to viewers. Although, everything on this show seems to be significant in some way, so this might be addressed later.
Questions Unanswered
The audience is still left with questions by the end of the episode. Where is Walt? What exactly is going on with Desmond and who is he waiting for inside the Hatch? What happens if that timer reaches zero? Does the name on the candy bars Kate takes ("Apollo") hold on significance? What has happened to these other survivors? Is Rose’s husband there? At the moment, there is still only speculation, and there most likely will be for some time. But that is what makes this show so damn interesting.
A screengrab of the symbol on the shark.
The secret of the Hatch is that it's actually a giant adding machine.
Michael gives a two year old Walt a stuffed polar bear.
