Summary of Lost 2.1 from AICN

[retro_eidas]

AICN has heinously spoiled the first ep of "Lost's" second season.

Here's a summary of the episode for those who can't wait until next week. All others turn away now.

4

8

15

16

23

42

Okay, you have been warned.

The season opener starts with a "previously on Lost" recap of events which happened last season. After that the buzzing of an alarm clock goes off and we are in someones room. The unknown man wakes up and is going about his morning routine of working out, making breakfast, showering, etc. During his routine, an explosion is heard and the room shakes. The man rushes to grab a gun as the camera moves away and out of the room, down a corridor, and up a shaft to show Locke and Jack peering down the hatch.

The flashbacks in this episode center around Jack in what seems to be his earliest flashback to date, excluding the childhood ones. He is sporting a new, longer, haircut and we see him in the emergency room treating victims of a car crash. He is forced to decide between working on the man who was hit or the woman who crashed her car into the other guy. He chooses the woman and works his magic. After the emergency room sequence we see that the woman is in fact Julie Bowen who played Jack's wife last season. She needs an operation because her spine is crushed and will almost certainly be permanently paralyzed for the rest of her life. Jack isn't too optimistic about her situation.

Afterwards, Jack is called aside by his father who tells him that he has to be optimistic at times even though it may be giving false hope. Jack then promises Sarah that he will fix her before starting the operation. Next we see Jack running up and down stairs in a stadium. Jack slips on a stair and twists his ankle, but another runner comes over and helps Jack. They get to talking and the other guy's name is Desmund. He is an athlete training to go around the world. He talks to Jack about his promise to fix Sarah and that he broke his promise and they talk about miracles happening. Desmund gets up and before leaving says, "see you in another life." Sarah wakes up after the surgery and

Jack is sititng by the bed. He tells her that he broke the promise and that she is paralyzed from the waist down. She says that he must be joking because she can wiggle her toes. They share a happy moment.

Note that this all takes place throughout the episode through several flashbacks, not just one like I described it.

Back on the island, Hurley explains to Jack about the numbers being bad luck and Jack replies, "they're just numbers." Seeing that the ladder down the hatch is broken, Jack decides to go back to the others and tell them that they need to find somewhere else to hide since they can't lower everyone into the hatch one by one. Back at the camp, Shannon has lost Vincent and goes off looking for him along with Sayid. They are seperated and Shannon sees a drenched Walt standing in the middle of the jungle. Sayid comes up behind Shannon and she turns back but Walt is gone. Jack tells everyone that they can't go into the hatch, but they can make cmap there and that they'll be fine. Locke comes back to gather some cables because he is going into the hatch. After talking with Jack, Kate decides to go along with Locke.

Locke lowers Kate into the hatch and at the bottom, she says that theres something down there. Next thing you know white light is shining out of the hatch and Locke pulls up a Kate-less cable. Locke decides to go in after her. Jack goes after Kate and Locke and gets to the hatch to see no one there. He uses the cable to descend into the hatch.

At the bottom is a long corridor, reminiscent of a submarine in the way that there are pipes all over. There is a wall with a large mural painted on the wall with the paints still on the ground next to it. Then there is a sound of a motor which turns out to be something like a surveilance camera. Jack pulls out the gun and all of a sudden loud music starts playing and bright white light is shining down the corridors. Jack turns down a hall away from the light and makes his way into a large room with lots of computers and machinery. He is about to press a button on one of the keyboards when, from behind, Locke says, "you shouldn't do that." Jack turns around and pulls the gun on Locke. Then a gun is pulled to the side of Locke and we see the mysterious man from the beginning, but not much of his face. After some threats and a false shot being fired, we see that the mysterious man is actually Desmund, whom Jack met in his flashback. Jack says, "you...?" and the episode closes with the trademark "LOST" and DOOSH sound.

And an addendum in the talkbalk (which we pretty much know from the promos):

i forgot to add to the report something quite important. after blowing the door off of the hatch, kate realizes that the door has the word "quarrantine" posted on it.

Some very anticipatory thoughts before seeing the episode myself? I suppose "Desmond" (although "Coco Krispies Man", tm strangerface, is catchier) is proof that the Lostaways most likely have been stalked by the Island PTB, probably most of their lives. "Desmond's" little underground flat is also reminiscent of a Mount Weather-inspired fall-out shelter of some sort. Although perhaps a little less well-equipped. The sounds of it, it's almost like a living time capsule (with items from various times.... a phonograph, 80s-styled decor, etc?). Wonder if there's a toy airplane within it's recesses? We can only hope! [/sarcasm]

Although with all the (Kubrickian?) bright lights and a surprise apartment? I half-wonder if "Desmond" is soon to be transcended into a Star Child and will search the cosmos for the rest of eternity. Did Crazy!Hal trap him on Craphole? Did Flight 815 get swallowed by a Monolith?

Also no Michelle Rodriguez. Yet. Thank goodness for small favors... until she does appear and starts macking on Sawyer and/or Sayid... of which I'll either have to keep saturated with much (MUCH) Cuervo or scratch my eyes out. Whatever comes first I suppose.

Entirely random, but are we supposed to be looking at the Freudian aspect of Hatch? Blowing of the Hatch ... Locke lowering Kate into the Hatch... and all that? I guess I can't help myself. Kate (and Locke) with her (their) mommy issues, being lowered into the womb of the "Heart of Darkness" where she's finds (and is taken prisoner?) "Coco Krispies". Maybe it's too anticipatory to make predictions, but I'm making one... if Kate doesn't already have a bun in the oven, she'll have one by the end of the season. Possibly Desmond's... or maybe Locke's? *eg* I've suspected for some time she may end up going Nadine Cross to Locke's Randall Flagg.

I notice the "alarm going off" intro is being used again. It was used for Hurley in his Exodus flashback. Not sure if that means anything or nothing.

Also wouldn't be shocked the other unfortunate car crash patient who Jack couldn't save ties back to someone on the island.

Although one thing not included in the above (this tidbit from the Fuselage):

The music is playing REALLY LOUD "Sing my own kind of music, play my own special song..." sees the computer....looks like something from the 80's. [Jack is] about to touch a button [says "Execute"] and [Locke] says "I wouldn't do that"

Between the "Execute" button, the nefarious, lonely occupant and the underground bunker (fall out shelter?)... this reminded me of a book I read in high school.

Level 7 is the diary of Officer X-127, who is assigned to stand guard at the "Push Buttons," a machine devised to activate the atomic destruction of the enemy, in the country's deepest bomb shelter. Four thousand feet underground, Level 7 has been built to withstand the most devastating attack and to be self-sufficient for five hundred years. Selected according to a psychological profile that assures their willingness to destroy all life on Earth, those who are sent down may never return.

Then again, I could be predisposed to consider this theoretical purpose for the hatch (and Desmond) since it fits with my previous thoughts in regards to what's happening in "Lost". Probably nothing to the theory. Level 7 is a good book, regardless.