S2Ep17, Lockdown - (Locke's fourth flashback) - 3/28/06

Hello my dear friends,

Yes, it is safe to assume that I was flipping out during this episode. But enough about me... there is much to review, so we best get going.

YOU KNOW THE SAYING, "THERE'S ALWAYS SOMEBODY WORSE OFF THAN YOU"?

Well, that person would be John Locke. We already knew that he had been paralyzed, worked for "The Man" at a dreary box company late in his career after having been conned out of his kidney by his long-lost father and mother years before. And we suspected all didn't end up well with Helen, since before Locke went to Australia he was talking to a "love-line operator" (I'm trying to be tactful, out of respect) he was calling Helen, shortly before being denied his chance to go on a walkabout in Australia. But now we know that it was even worse for poor Locke... having finally forgiven his father at what he thought was his father's funeral, only to find out that daddy faked his own death to escape some unsavory characters to whom he owed a lot of money. Hmmm... Locke's dad was a Con Man? Remind you of anyone else?

So what does Locke do but HELP his father yet again by giving him all of his con-job cash that was hidden away in a safety deposit box, not even keeping any for himself. The desperation to receive some sort of affection or gratitude from his father cost him his relationship with Helen, who heart-breakingly turned down his proposal for marriage, leaving him sad and alone in a motel parking lot as a Very Ominous Oceanic plane flew overhead. *Sigh.* Poor Locke. Now I'm all depressed again. But all of these things happened to Locke PRE-island. Has he learned anything from his past?

The biggest question remains: How did he end up in a wheelchair? Considering the fact that I could barely watch the screen during the Lockebacks in fear of seeing him get a beat-down by the thugs, I dread the episode when we actually do see what happened.


LOCKE AND HENRY, SITTIN' IN A TREE

You had probably already figured from the previews, as I had, that Locke was going to get stuck within the blast doors and that Henry was going to have to help him out. However, I was truly surprised (not to mention horrified) that Locke attempted to slide UNDER the door once it was propped open, only to have it come slamming down upon his legs. I was quite confident that he was going to end up paralyzed again, and for a brief moment I was in complete turmoil thinking they were actually going to kill him off (he would lose too much blood or something). Trust me, I had my pen poised to write the first of many hate letters, should that have happened.

What I had thought was going to happen was that Henry would help Locke, Locke would put him back in the cell and all would appear normal once Jack returned to the hatch. I thought that since Locke's wound only appeared to be affecting one leg, he would explain it away somehow and that no one but Locke and Henry would ever know what had really transpired - and I foresaw this "secret bond" between them coming into play down the line.

Except that that's not what happened. So here are the theories on what DID happen and what the repercussions will be:


LESSON LEARNED: DON'T TRY TO SLIDE UNDER AN EXTREMELY HEAVY DOOR WHICH IS ONLY PROPPED OPEN BY A FLIMSY TOOL BOX

Now the question is: WHY did the doors go down in the first place? They made it a point of showing us that the countdown clock was working fine and was at 47 minutes. All of a sudden static comes over the speakers and a woman's voice is heard counting down - then the doors drop.

The prevailing theory on the boards is that the blast doors are timed with the "supply drops." But just so no one is confused, here is what I mean when I say "supply drops"... because there was some confusion about this on the boards:

1) The balloon Sayid and company found was the smiley face balloon Henry drew the map to... it was about a day's journey away from camp.

2) The parachute-looking thing that Jack and Kate found in the jungle was very near to the camp, and had recently been dropped/put there, as the flare/strobe light was blinking, and they would've seen it in the past 60 or so days otherwise. This parachute appeared to be an unmanned "supply drop" containing tons of Dharma-branded food.

So the theory is that perhaps when the Dharma Initiative was originally set up (and they thought there would only ever be two people in the Hatch), the way to ensure that the two people in the Hatch STAYED in the Hatch was to shut down the blast doors any time there was a supply drop. That would prevent them from seeing whoever was leaving the supplies, but perhaps also alert them to the fact that the supplies were there in the first place. We have no idea if we've seen all of the Dharma videos - perhaps there were instructions somewhere regarding what happens during the "re-stocking" procedures. The woman on the speaker did say something about "protocol."

There are really no other theories besides that one for why the doors dropped. Any other ideas?


DE PLANE! DE PLANE?

... But if it WAS a food drop - where was the plane that the supplies were dropped from?

Theories are:
1) The plane was completely silent somehow
2) There was no plane - the Others just put the parachute there and came and went in their usual Ninja Way
3) The parachute appeared to be dropped from the sky but really was brought up from underground
4) They are in some sort of Bermuda Triangle-ish area so no one would ever see or hear the plane
5) They're all too self-absorbed and busy NOT sharing information with each other, so no one noticed the plane



MAP QUEST

I counted to 5 after the "hatch map" was shown on the blast doors... and then figured, "Yep, it should be up on the boards by now." Not only is it up on the boards, but ALL of the random scribblings have been transcribed, translated and discussed to death.

So first, refresh your memory with the original shot of the map here.

Then, take a look at the transcribed map here to read the details fairly clearly. How did someone do that, you ask? The producers gave Entertainment Weekly a better version of the shot and then people went from there.

Since I would be writing for literally months if I was to attempt to analyze all that is on the map, I won't. I will paste in below some of the translations, and then cover some of the main points as well. But if any of you take a look at it and some other light bulb goes off to you, by all means, please add a Comment at the end of this post.

Map Issues and Questions:
- What is at the very top of the map? Since Locke's legs prevented the doors from going down to the floor, there may be other important information at the tippy-top. Which leads to another question - does Locke realize this? And either way, is he going to try to get a look at the map again? And on top of that... is he going to TELL ANYONE ELSE ABOUT IT!?!?!?!
- Who made the map? There is a big "I am here" near The Swan (original hatch). My guess is that it was Desmond or his previously-mentioned partner, Kelvin. Whoever made it had explored and/or knew about the other hatches, as well as some of the specifics of the Dharma Initiative, and had a thing for Latin and French phrases. Or, it could've been pieced together by more than one person over the course of time.
- If Henry is an Other, does he know the map is there? If so, he may not have wanted Locke to have seen it. If that is the case, what will he do to prevent Locke from telling anyone else about it?
- What is the big "?" in the middle? My take is that that is where some sort of radioactive waste is... as Sayid alluded to in an episode earlier this season - whatever is bordering the hatch is completely enclosed in concrete, and the only other place Sayid had heard of something like that before was Chernobyl.
- The "Cerberus system" and "Cerberus activity" are mentioned on the left-hand side. What is Cerberus? - and no, I'm not talking the hedge fund (dorks! you know who you are!). I'm talking the three-headed dog of legend who guards the gates of Hell. Most people on the boards consider "Cerberus" to mean Smokey, especially since it noted a "catastrophic malfunction" of Cerberus as well. And since I really hated the nickname Smokey all along, I'm going to call the black cloud thing Cerberus from now on until I have reason not to.
- No one knows what the various C.V.s stand for.
- The Flame hatch has not been discovered by the Lostaways yet. There may also be a reference to "The Pearl" as another hatch on the right.
- "Dharmatel" is mentioned frequently, along with IP-type addresses containing "the numbers" and words like relay, intranet and servers.
- "Activity minimal during lockdown and restocking procedures" in the bottom right led many to believe those two things are related.
- "Final resting place of Magnus Hanso" near the Black Rock on the lower right - Alvar's dad, perhaps?
- Throughout the map, there are many scribblings that allude to nearly every single weird "inexplicable" thing that has happened on the island. A sampling: listening station, gene therapy, extreme climate change, weather project, magnetic interference...
- There are a lot of years mentioned, specifically in the 80s. People still wonder if the actual Dharma Initiative was abandoned at that point and if "the lunatics are now running the asylum," so to speak.

Additionally, the map is in this week's edition of Entertainment Weekly, along with their take on a few of the key scribblings. However, I have the magazine and cannot make out ANY of the scribblings on it at all, so a huge shout-out needs to be given to my Brother in Usability, RS, who forwarded me the clearly transcribed map.


NEUTIQUAM ERRO ... OK, MAYBE I AM

Some translations from the map for yo' lazy asses:

Aegrescit medendo - The disease worsens with the treatment. The remedy is worse than the disease
Sursum corda - Lift up your hearts (to God)
Credo nos in fluctu eodem esse - I think we're on the same wavelength
Malum consilium quod mutari non potest - It's a bad plan that can't be changed.
Cogito ergo doleo - I think therefore I am depressed
Ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est - The wrath of the gods may be great, but it certainly is slow
Hic sunt dracones - Here be dragons (e: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Dragons!!!!!! Prayers = Answered.)
Nil actum credens dum quid superesset agendum - Don't consider that anything has been done if anything is left to be done
Liberate te ex inferis - Save yourself from hell
Mus uni non fidit antro - A mouse does not rely on just one hole


LONG TIME, NO SEE

Yes, that was Nadia (Sayid's old flame that he mysteriously forgot about after meeting Shannon) whose house was being inspected by Locke. People acted like it was big, new information that she was still alive, but we KNEW she was still alive from Sayid's second flashback when the FBI/CIA or whatever agency it was showed him a picture of her, TOLD him she was in California, and said that they only way they would tell him exactly where she was is if he cooperated with them. However, in this new episode it was very lame how she specifically mentioned to Locke that she "didn't have a husband." OK, writers, you made your point - Nadia is still alive, in California and does not have a husband - so if Sayid ever gets off the damn island he has a chance at a happy life. Unless Locke was lying and her place IS infested with mold!


REGARDING HENRY

Before we discuss the captivating Final Scene, let us remember some things that made Henry suspect long before Sayid busted him:

- As mentioned in a past write-up, "Henry" is mentioned in the backward audio track/whispers. Even if he is not the REAL Henry Gale, he may have been going by the name Henry. If he wasn't an Other, and we assume the Others are the ones in the whispers, then how else would they know his name?
- He was way too smug from the beginning
- He didn't die after the original Sayid beat-down
- He gave Sayid the Obvious Other Evil Glare
- He was asking tons of questions about the Hatch... but asking them in a way that almost implied he knew the answers
- He was pitting the Lostaways against each other
- He acted like he knew the numbers when Locke recited them. He repeated them quickly, then got knocked out and never asked for them again and STILL was able to enter them

And now, here is the transcript of the end of the episode. My brother has decided that he is going to start talking like Sayid because Sayid has such a way with words. I agree... it's almost like he's got his own Yoda-ish style goin' on (though I can never do justice to his crazy inflections via the written word):

JACK [entering]: Get away from him.
GALE: Wait, you don't...
SAYID [aiming his gun]: Step back, right now.
LOCKE: Sayid, it's okay.
[Jack grabs Gale and shoves him up against a wall.]
JACK: I said, "get away"!
LOCKE: I let him out -- some kind of lockdown or something -- he, he was helping me.
GALE: Couldn't you find my balloon?
ANA: Yeah, we found it.
SAYID: We did find your balloon, Henry Gale, exactly how you described it. We also found the grave you described -- your wife's grave. The grave you said you dug with your own bare hands. It was all there. Your whole story -- your alibi -- it was true. But still I did not believe it to be true. So I dug up that grave and found that there was not a woman inside. There was a man.
[Sayid shows him an African-American male's driver's license]
A man named Henry Gale.


AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhh!
That was awesome.

OK, so now what? It appears at this point that NotHenry either killed RealHenry, took his "back-story/identity" and then buried him, or that RealHenry was already dead (crashed on island and died in the process) and then NotHenry proceeded to bury him and steal his name. Was there really a "wife" of RealHenry? Probably not. However, there has been mention that perhaps RealHenry is Rose's brother. Hey, Eko's brother ended up on the island too - and Desmond and Jack had met previously... I mean, come on - stranger things HAVE happened! Here's a post on that topic:

- "We know of just about everyone and why they were traveling to/from Australia. With the exception of: Eko; Libby; and Rose and her husband. Maybe she and her husband went to Australia either to (a) see her brother off on his balloon trip around the world; or (b) went to Australia to meet her brother after his balloon trip around the world. Either way, he never made it. "

Back to NotHenry... Three things come to mind, all assuming that NotHenry IS an Other:
1) He may be the "him" that Ethan and Zeke referred to in Maternity Leave - as in, the Head Other. If he is crafty enough to plan getting captured, learn a lot about the Lostaways and still avoid getting killed, he could definitely qualify as Head Other in my book.
2) He may try to use Locke's gullible nature against him and "recruit" him over to the Others' side. Especially after seeing Locke's dedication to the numbers. Shout-out to my brother for that theory.
3) What are the Lostaways going to do with him now? MajorlyPissedSayid is back again next week...

THE FIVE EVENTS...

... mentioned in the previews for this episode - what were they? Here's my take on things that could qualify, not that it really even matters:

1) The blast doors went down, giving us insight into the "protocol" mentioned over the loudspeaker

2) Locke's leg was seriously injured again and/or Henry helped him by entering in the numbers

3) The Hatch Map was revealed

4) They found the Food Drop

5) They found the Smiley Face balloon... but Henry Gale is NotHenry Gale

BEST LINES OF THE EPISODE

[We see Locke and Helen drive up to the cemetery where Cooper's being buried.]
HELEN: You sure you want to do this? [Locke nods] We could just go on that picnic, you know.
LOCKE: Soon, I promise.
HELEN: Hey, maybe he left you his kidney?



JACK [exiting]: Don't call him, Hurley.
SAWYER [to Jack]: Hey, Amarillo Slim -- you think because you watch poker on TV you can tussle with the big boys?
JACK: I've got to head back to the hatch.
SAWYER: Hatch ain't going nowhere, Doc. How about you put your mangos where your mouth is?



COOPER: Hello, son.
[Scene switches to Locke and Cooper in a bar.]
LOCKE: What do you want?
COOPER: Look, John, I know what I did to you was wrong.
LOCKE: You stole my kidney.
COOPER: I was dying.
LOCKE: You could've asked me. You could have just asked me. What do you want from me?
COOPER: I killed myself off because there are 2 men out there who were going to beat me to it.
LOCKE: What'd you do, steal their livers?



JACK: But at least I'm not in your head. Well, I guess that's it.
SAWYER: What do you mean, "it"?
JACK: Sawyer, you're busted. I got it all. It wouldn't really be fair for you to go pick more mangos.
SAWYER: Oh, I've got a hell of lot more than mangos. You want to play real stakes, name 'em?
JACK [laughing]: It's a pile of fruit, man.
SAWYER: And I want it back.
KATE: Should I go and get a ruler?



SAWYER: So, where'd you learn to play cards, Doc?
JACK: Phuket.
SAWYER: What the hell were you doing in Thailand?
[Jack doesn't respond] What, you don't think I know where Phuket is? Just because I dropped out in 9th grade don't make me an idiot.



SAWYER: Okay, I'll call you with the aspirin and raise you with a bottle of Amoxicillin.
JACK: Do you even know what Amoxicillin is?
SAWYER: You may have been to Phuket, Doc, but I've been to Tallahassee. [Jack looks like he doesn't understand] Let's just say something was burning and it wasn't from the sunshine.


SAWYER: Hey, when I asked you what you wanted for stakes -- why didn't you ask for the guns?
JACK: When I need the guns, I'll get the guns.


UPCOMING EPISODES

This week: 'Dave' - As you may have figured out from the previews, this will be a flashback to Hurley's time in the mental institution. Also looks like the Lostaways go berzerker over the new food supply. Guest-starring Charlotte's husband from Sex & the City.

4/12/06 - 'S.O.S' - Rumor is it's a flashback that everyone's been curiously awaiting, and that the writers previously didn't think they'd be able to squeeze in this season.

3-week Hiatus

5/03/06 - 'Two for the Road' - No info on this one yet.

5/10/06 - "?" Named that because of the middle area of the hatch map, it has been said.

5/17/06 - "Three Minutes' - No info on this on yet, but the title creeps me out for some reason!

5/24/06 - Two hour finale - still untitled.


POSTS FROM THE BOARDS

- "The voice over the speaker was a woman's voice, counting down to 1; when she got to 1, the blast doors came down. I think this must have happened many times (maybe each time there was a food delivery?), because someone had lots of time with the doors down to draw that map on it, either Desmond or his other roommate. Some people have written about either of them going out to get the food that was left for them, but did they ever go out? As far as they knew, they were quarantined in a safe environment which they never left. So how did the food from the parachute drop get to Desmond et al.? Did somebody bring it to them while the blast doors were down?"
- "I know the tide is turning against Locke on this board, but I feel so badly for him that I just want to give him an hour-long hug. No wonder he loves the island so much. It's a 200% improvement on the life he left behind."
- "A tiger doesn't change its stripes. Kate runs, Jack fixes, Sayid tortures, Sawyer cons, AL shoots... and Locke trusts unwisely, and even when the person he trusts for once doesn't let him down (daddy, in this ep, or Henry), things turn out badly for him." - "The Locke backstory always makes me incredibly depressed. When Helen said no it was just heartwrenching. And the whole time I was waiting for be-bop and rock-steady to come and beat the crap out of John thus causing the paralysis."- "I was kind of hoping that when Locke opened the deposit box he'd find only a toy DC-3 and be all "The hell? What would anyone want with this?""- "WhoÂ’s taken a screencap of the image of the wall? Because I want that shit analyzed. Now!" - "One interesting thing I did notice was that two of the hatches are drawn in dotted lines and the other 4 are solid lines - that actually does make me think maybe the person who drew the diagram has explored the ones drawn in solid lines. Either way, the drawing is too cool."
- "Here's my guess: Desmond drew those. He probably didn't venture out much, but perhaps at the beginning? Or the person before him. There clearly is an "I am here" written on the picture, so obviously this was someone who didn't know the inner workings of Dharma. And the scratched out hatch...one that's been explored, perhaps? It's probably a guess that there is something connecting all of them. The question is, why was all that drawn in invisible (well not really) ink to be seen by a blacklight? And has Desmond forgotten about the button at all? Have the doors closed in on him? I'm very interested now."
- "More importantlyÂ…does Henry know what Locke saw? Anyone? Bueller."
- "I knew they weren't going to reveal how Locke ended up in the chair. That'll be pretty much the last Lockeback."
- "The wait for Locke's accident or shooting or whatever it is that causes his paralysis is killing me....it's almost like the death watch on Handsome Black Agent Curtis or Aaron the Wonder Agent in 24. "
- "Obviously he is not the "real" Henry Gale. But if he IS one of the Others, it suggests that the Others do not know all the secrets of the Swan Station and the Island, as NotHenry looked seriously freaked out when the doors came down - now, I can understand him acting for Locke's benefit, but why would he LOOK scared if Locke can't see him in the Armory? Perhaps he knows enough (i.e. there is something bad associated with Swan Station) to be very afraid when something weird happens. "
- "Did anyone think that maybe Henry didn't actually push the button? We didn't see him do it, and he looked kind of shifty as he was telling Locke that he had."
- "So evidently the hatch is a total hippie paradise...a pantry full of food, a library full of books, a stereo system with a big rack of LPs, and even blacklight paintings! Whoa, cool man! I guess we can all meditate on the ?-centered mandala."
- "I love how Sayid's all "yeah you thought I wasn't crazy enough to dig up a grave, well you thought wrong, bitch." Can't wait for the smack down."
- "I knew that Sayid was gonna dig this grave up. Like this is SAYID we're talking about."
- "Am I the only one who thinks that "fake" Henry Gale isn't an Other? I'm not sure why, but I just get the feeling he's not a Dharma Other, but some other type of Other? I was pretty sure as soon as Sayid started to look at the grave he was about to dig it up, but that was when I started to think he was from yet another group of people on the island. I'm probably just crazy."
- "I've never been a Jack fan, but I loved it when he was all, when I need the guns, I'll get the guns. Playa!"
- "When I want the guns, I'll get the guns." Don't hate the playa, Sawyer, hate the game."
- "You stole my kidney!" There is just no way to deliver that without it sounding completely hilarious."


BORAT, HERE SHE COMES

A moment of silence in "respeck" to the fact that this was the last Lost episode that my dear friend, and brother's girlfriend, JB, will have viewed in the U.S. this season. She is off to the land of Kazakhstan to make the world a better place. Let's hope she is met with a fast Internet connection upon arrival in order to download the final 5 episodes from iTunes!

Until next week,
- e

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