Lost: Episodes 18-20

Things are heating up in Lostville.

Episode 18 (Numbers)

1. Hurley back story! Oh boy, you guys, this is a big one. No pun intended. Anyway, we open on them working on the raft. Meanwhile, Jack wants to get batteries from Rousseau, but Sayid says he doesn’t know how to get there. Also, he freaks out a lot about it. Hurley stares at Rousseau’s paper, which include The Numbers (this is their first appearance, omg).
2. Flashback to Hurley watching the lottery numbers come in. It’s The Numbers! 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. So uh, Hurley just won millions of dollars! So then he faints.
3. Hurley wants to know what’s up with the numbers on Rousseau’s papers. Sayid doesn’t know. Hurley flashes back again to Tricia Tanaka interviewing Hurley’s family, including his old grandpa Tito. Who dies of a heart attack right there. Yikes.
4. On the Island, Charlie catches Hurley packing up to look for Rousseau. Charlie wants to go along but Hurley says he needs some alone time. On the beach, Locke asks Claire to help him out with something. He’s cryptic about what he wants, believe it or not! Meanwhile, Sayid and Jack figure out that Hurley went after Rousseau. They’re going to go after him.
5. In flashback, Hurley is taking his mom for a surprise. He exposits about a bunch of bad/unlucky stuff that has happened since he won the lottery. He suggests that the money is cursed, and his mom punches him and says that’s blasphemy! They eventually get to the gigantic new house he bought for her. She immediately falls down and breaks her ankle. And then the new house is on fire. And then the police show up and draw guns on him. And then they arrest him. Later, he finds out that all his money is increasing a lot. He’s a majority owner in a box company… say, guess who works in a box company? His accountant asks where he got the numbers. Hurley realizes… it’s not the money that’s cursed–it was the numbers! While they discuss it, a guy throws himself off the roof of the building.
6. On the Island, he’s managed to find the cable Sayid had followed into the jungle. He almost gets killed in a trap, but Sayid, Jack, and Charlie warn him. He barely manages to jump free of the spiky trap. On the beach, Michael and Walt are working on the raft while Sawyer tries to read Watership Down.
7. Flashback. Hurley’s somewhere, looking for someone named Lenny. He’s freaking out a little bit. Then we figure out that it’s a loony bin. He finds Leonard, who is one of the crazies. He asks Lenny, who is muttering the numbers to himself, what they mean. Lenny’s not very cooperative until Hurley tells him he won the lottery with the numbers. Lenny expresses some concern–he says “you’ve opened the box!” and starts really freaking out. He advises him to get away from the numbers. He says he got the numbers from some town in Australia. I guess we know how Hurley ended up in Australia.
8. In the jungle, the boys stumble upon a rope bridge across a canyon. Hurley starts walking across it even though he’s a big fella. He makes it across. Then Charlie crosses but the bridge breaks behind him. Jack and Locke are stuck behind.
9. Hurley appears at a house in the middle of nowhere in Australia–Sam Tumi’s house! He’s the guy Lenny got the numbers from. But now he’s dead. Hurley asks about the numbers, and Sam’s wife says that when he was in the Navy, Sam heard the numbers speaking the numbers over the static on the radio. And then Sam used the numbers to win money on some dumb contest. Then bad luck followed Sam around for the rest of his life–til he killed himself. And Hurley is cursed now. This is problematic. She says there’s no curse though–she says all this stuff would have happened anyway. “You make your own luck, Mr. Reyes. Don’t blame the damned numbers.” He doesn’t seem convinced though.
10. Locke and Claire are making something, but he won’t say what (and she doesn’t know). At the same time, Sayid and Jack stumble upon an area that Sayid says is familiar–close to Rousseau. Then Jack sets off a landmine! Actually though, it was a bomb in Rousseau’s shelter, which she had booby trapped. Hurley assumes they’re both deadzo because he’s cursed. He explains to Charlie that–oh wait, someone’s shooting at them! So they run away. But Hurley trips. Then Rousseau catches him. He shows her her notes and asks her to explain the numbers. She says she doesn’t know. Typical. Hurley is annoyed. He says “I WANT SOME FRIGGIN ANSWERS!” and Rousseau tells him that her ship wrecked because they were investigating the radio tower transmitting the numbers. She says the tower is up b the Black Rock. She still doesn’t know anything about the numbers though, except that they brought her to the Island. Hurley hugs her, which must have been a big strange surprise for her. Charlie stumbles upon Jack and Sayid, and says he lost Hurley. But then Hurley shows up, with the battery! He saved the day.
11. Claire tells Locke that it’s her birthday tomorrow and says it doesn’t really matter. So true, Claire. It doesn’t mean anything at all. Aw, but check this out: it turns out Locke was having Claire help make a cradle for her baby. That’s pretty sweet. I admit it.
12. Hurley tells Charlie he thinks the plane crash might have been his fault. Charlie gets mad and is like, “you think you’re the only person with baggage???” Charlie reveals his drug problems and says that wasn’t Hurley’s fault. Then he asks Hurley to share his secrets with him. Hurley tells him about the lottery, and Charlie thinks he’s lying. Which is funny. And then we close-up on the hatch and HOLY CRAP THE NUMBERS ARE ETCHED INTO IT! That is awesome. Great episode.

Episode 19 (Deus Ex Machina)

1. We start with previouslies about Locke and the Hatch. We open on Locke, in flashback, working at Wall-Market or some equally transparent fake Walmart. He’s showing some kid how the game Mousetrap works. A weird old lady asks where the footballs are. Any chance that’s not his birth mother hunting him down?
2. On the Island, Locke and Boon have gotten the hatch pretty well excavated. And they’ve built a trebuchet. If this doesn’t work they should try a helvetica. And, spoiler alert, it’s not going to work. In fact, the impact of trying to break the hatch just exploded the trebuchet. Locke is really mad. So mad he doesn’t even notice the shrapnel sticking out of his leg. His poor little leg. After patching it up he realizes he has no sensation in hi legs. He burns his foot and can’t feel that. Ruh roh. The next day they’re chatting. Locke says “everything breaks if you apply the right force” and then he says “the Island will tell us what to do” which sounds a little crazy!
3. Back at Walmart, Locke sees the crazy lady following him and gets hit by a car but gets back up. He tracks her down and asks what’s up. She says–spoiler alert–she’s his mother! Also, she’s crazy and obsessed with destiny and specialness. Guess that’s genetic. He asks about his father. She says, John, you dolt, you don’t have a father. You were immaculately conceived! So yeah, she’s nuts.
4. Sun and Kate are gardening. Sawyer complains about headaches, because this is one of the funniest sideplots in the history of the show–Sawyer needs spectacles! Meanwhile, Boone tells Locke that they can’t get the hatch open. Locke says “don’t tell me what I can’t do” but Boone points out that if they’re supposed to open the hatch, why haven’t they done it? Locke starts babbling about signs, and destiny. And then a prop plane crashes on the Island. Which is weird. But weirder even than that is that Locke sees a vision of Boone bloody, saying “Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs,” and his crazy mom lady pointing at the sky, and himself in a wheelchair again. Then he wakes up because it was not real.
5. Back at Walmart, it’s confirmed that she’s his mom. A private investigator suggests that Locke shouldn’t seek out his dad. But he gives him the choice, and Locke says he wants to know. Then he finds the guy, Anthony Cooper. He’s an old jerk who conned Sawyer’s parents but we don’t know any of that at this point. Right now he seems like a nice old man. He suggests that Locke’s crazy mom is crazy, asks if Locke has a family. He asks if Locke wants to go hunting. Locke says yes.
6. Locke tells Boone about his crazy-ass dream, and tells him that he knows where to go to find what they need to open up the hatch. Boone expresses doubt. Locke asks who Theresa is–Boone asks how he knew about that. Locke says he doesn’t know how but that they have to follow what his dream said. So, off they go. Meanwhile, on the beach, Michael and Jin are doing a good job on the new raft. Except Jin just keeps yelling at Michael in Korean to go faster. Jack talks to Sawyer about his eye problems. Sawyer’s worried about a brain tumor, but doesn’t want Jack to run any tests.
7. Elsewhere, Locke’s legs are acting up a bit. He and Boone found a dead body–a priest! An Eko’s brother Yemi! But they don’t know that yet. They do figure out that it’s a Nigerian priest though.
8. In flashback, Locke finds his dad hooked up to a dialysis machine, “by accident”.
9. Sawyer is mad about all the hammering because his eyeballs hurt. Jack runs tests and then starts pestering him about whether he’s ever frequented prostitutes or contracted an STD. It’s kinda funny. At the same time, in the jungle, Locke has trouble walking. He tells Boone about the wheelchair situation, and how the Island fixed his legs. And then he talks again about destiny and stuff and how they need to find something to help open up the hatch. Boone carries him, like Jesus did on the beach when things were hard. He also tells Locke that Theresa was his nanny, who fell down the stairs and broke her neck. Locke laughs creepily. But then he looks up and sees the plane! Yemi’s plane!
10. In flashback, Locke’s dad calls him “son” and it’s pathetic. He drops a big ol’ hint about how he’ll die soon without a liver. I wonder where this is going! Next flashback scene is the Locke boys in matching hospital beds pre-surgery. Locke says “this was meant to be”. This is so sad.
11. On the beach, Jack brings over a bunch of glasses for Sawyer to try on. Sayid ends up putting two glasses frames together for Sawyer so he can look totally hilarious while he reads. He gets made fun of, which is cool by me. I wonder if they’ll explain in Season 6 why Sawyer doesn’t have to wear his glasses all the time anymore. Perhaps the magical Island cured his hyperopia!
12. Boone’s climbing up the vines along the cliff where the plane is stuck. Locke doesn’t seem too worried about the possibility of the plane falling with Boone inside, killing him. But since I’ve seen this show before, I am kind of worried about that. Anyway, in the plane Boone finds a bunch of maps and another skeleton and shrieks like a child. And then he finds a ton of drugs stashed in plaster Virgin Marys. Locke decides to get up off his ass and help him and then he’s super demoralized because he thought there’d be something else in the plane. And then Boone tries the radio and it works! But the plane lists ominously. Locke yells to Boone to get out but it’s Boone’s destiny to die in a plane crash. So he speaks into the radio, saying the name of their flight and asking for help. And then the plane crashes off the cliff. It doesn’t look good for our boy. Locke crawls over there just in time for yet another character to be cradled in somebody’s arms. Locke suddenly has the strength to carry Boone, which is nice. Locke carries him to the rape caves and Jack takes a look, but Boone’s totally dead, guys. Cut to:
13. Locke wakes up in the hospital, looks over at his dad’s bed, sees… an empty bed! You got played, sucka! The nurse tells him his dad’s long gone. His crazy mother comes in to tell him that it was all a con, right from the start! No good deed goes unpunished, pal. Locke gets out of the bed. He seems upset. He drives back to his dad’s place, but the guard won’t let him in. It’s a predictably ugly scene. Locke drives away in a rage, understandably.
14. Back on the Island, it’s nighttime and Locke is screaming into the hatch, “why did you do this to me?” I guess that’s the end of the episode, because clearly nothing interesting will happen after that.
15. Oh wait. The hatch lit up from the inside! WHAT IS GOING ON?

Episode 20 (Do No Harm)

1. According to the episode summary on Netflix, Boone is still alive in this episode. But I don’t think I’m surprising anyone by observing that he’s totally dead meat.
2. Okay, we open up on Jack trying to save Boone. Hurley is thinking about fainting but he’s tough. I will skip over all the ER jibber jabber and just say that Jack does a bunch of medical crap which is kinda gross.
3. We flash back to a guy I now recognize from the season finale of Dollhouse, getting a tuxedo on for a wedding. But whose??? That’s right–Dr. Shepherd, soon to be Mr. Shepherd! But it was only the shortest of flashbacks because now we’re back in the rape caves where Jack tells Boone he’s gonna save him. Because Jack is obsessed with saving everybody. This is why I’d make a bad doctor, incidentally–I’d always be like, “this one’s a goner, let’s go deal with people who just need penicillin.” All right. Kate runs to the beach to get all of Sawyer’s alcohol, to something something medical. Jack’s sewing the crap out of Boone’s chest, nastily. Jack says he needs a blood transfusion. Not sure how that’s gonna work. Also, Jack has to set the leg. If you’ve ever seen a tv show with broken legs in it, you know how that goes. Charlie shows up and asks some questions and Jack freaks out.
4. Flashback to “the future Jack Shepherd”–also known as the hot WASP mom from Modern Family. She’s telling a story about her irreparable back injury–which Jack promised to fix. And then he did, you guys! And then she fell for him! But he can’t fix the irreparable back injury in his father’s heart, can he? Anyway, she toasts him in a way that suggests that she doesn’t love him as much as she feels like she owes him for fixing her back. She’ll probably dump his ass later in the series.
5. Kate, running through the jungle, falls down like a doofus. Then she hears something. OMG. It’s Claire. She’s having a baby! If you look closely in the background you can see a time-traveling Sawyer peeking in! Well, no, but it’s Lost canon that he’s there somewhere! Anyway, they start crying for help and of course the only person who can hear her is Jin, the mute fisherman. Still, he finds them and figures out what’s going on via pantomime. He runs to the caves to get Jack, who is trying to figure out Boone’s blood type. And who is also freaking out a lot. Boone moans that he’s A negative, and asks for Shannon. Sayid and Shannon are on a romantic jungle walk to the beach, where he’s prepared a picnic which Shannon will always remember as the place where she was getting to third base when her brother died. Anyway Jack, the resident drama queen, is going to give Boone his blood.
6. Flashback: Jack’s playing piano with his wife. They’re playing heart (Jack) and soul (Locke) while discussing what he’ll say for his vows. And will his dad show up? WILL HE?
7. Jin shows up looking for Jack. He finds him giving blood. OMG. Claire’s having a goddamn baby! Everybody freaks out a little bit. Jack tells Charlie what to tell Kate about this baby-having stuff. Jack explains that he won’t be showing up there because he’s staying with Boone. Later, Boone is up and talking a little bit. He tells Jack that a plane fell on him. Which is accurate. He also mentions a hatch. Then he says Locke said not to tell about the hatch. Then he asks for Shannon. Then he passes out. Shannon’s making out with Sayid on the beach, btw. Then she tells Sayid that Boone’s her stepbrother, and that he’s in love with her. Sayid’s like, that would have been good to know before we started making out. Anyway, Shannon makes clear that she wants to kick it with Sayid some more but doesn’t want to get too carnal just yet. And as if to see what she’s hoping to avoid, we cut directly to Claire having contractions. She is also freaking out, which makes some sense. Kate talks her down and then after what I can only describe as a lengthy, sweaty scene, Claire has herself a little baby boy.
8. Sun notes that the blood transfusion isn’t working, and they both accept the fact that I acknowledged in the last recap: Boone’s not gonna make it.
9. Flashback: Jack’s getting completely wrecked at the hotel pool. His dad finally shows up and they have a nice little bonding session regarding Jack’s vows. Christian asks if Jack loves her. Jack says yes but Christian makes a good point when he asks why Jack’s not with her right then. Jack’s worried that he asked her to marry him because he saved her life. Which he did. Because Jack is obsessed with fixing everything all the time. Christian says that Jack’s not good at letting go. Think there’s any chance that applies to anything in the rest of this episode?
10. Speaking of which, Jack has decided that in order to save Boone he’ll need to amputate the leg in a gruesome, gruesome operation. Sun points out that this is some sick, sick shit. Jack says something we’ve heard before: “don’t tell me what I can’t do!” I think I speak for everyone when I say that we really, really don’t want to see this. Saints preserve us, he ends up not doing it, because Boone wakes up and is like, what are you doing??? I’m totally toast already! Boone tells him to just let him die already, for fuck’s sake. Jack makes a “this is so hard for me” face and then says okay. At the same time, Kate is coaching Claire through the labor. Here comes the sweating, screaming, and crying.
11. Flashback to the wedding ceremony, where Jack is supposed to say some vows, and it looks like he might not go through with it. But then he says some crap about how he’s not good at letting go, and how she fixed him. Which sounds nice but it’s total nonsense. Anyway, they get married.
12. Claire has a baby boy. Charlie and Jin totally gaped at her ladyparts, I bet.
13. Jack lays Boone down on the stretcher. Boone says “tell Shannon… tell Shannon… tell… *die*”.
14. In a pretty awesome scene with no dialogue, we see Claire walk to the beach holding her little baby. Even the extras seem delighted. They’re all beaming. Then we turn around and see Sayid and Shannon walking up, both glowing with the sheen of young love. Jack walks over to lay a big old bucket of bad news on Shannon. It’s rough. She breaks down. Where’s Shannon’s Emmy?
15. So, in a one life ends as another begins moment, this might be a good time to say that maybe Claire should have named the kid “Boone”! That would have been a nice tribute to a young man who survived one plane crash only to die in another.
16. Jack cries on the beach and Kate comes over to say hello. Jack says “Boone didn’t die–he was murdered!” And then he goes after Locke. And he’s pissed.
17. Next time on Lost: I don’t know, but presumably a) someone’s getting punched in the face; b) someone’s running through the jungle in the rain; c) someone’s arguing with someone else about fate vs. self-determination; d) Michael is yelling “WALT!”; and e) we’ll learn in flashback that someone isn’t who we thought they were.