"Lost" Season 2 Episode 17 - Lockdown

No, fellow losties, it's no coincidence that this episode was called "LOCK" Down. For as we did see an actual lockdown in the Hatch, we coincidedly saw "LOCKE" go down in several ways. In the physical sense, we saw him trapped under the Blast door, and in the psychological sense we saw him DOWN on himself for having fear of abandonment. Yes, saw a whole new side to John Locke tonight. And we'll get to that in a bit. But let me get the routine comments out of the way first. "WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!" God, does anyone love this show as much as me? I mean, I think I can find enjoyment in the worst episodes out there! (hello? Fire + Water? I'm talking about you!) But this was far from the worst episodes. It may have been one of the most suspensful and fact revealing episodes to date in Lost. Yes, it may seem like we learned nothing tonight at first glance. But we learned a WHOLE BUNCH! And naturally, with every answered question, we opened up a few more in each of their places. The beauty of the writing strategy behind our favorite show. So, I have tons of goodies (some interesting, some ridiculous) to get into. And I'm sure some of you already researched and found them yourself. So let's just pass the ABC Recap link here and get underway!

http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/episodes/217.html

Locke Flashback:

• Okay first and foremost we finally saw how Helen (aka Peggy Bundy) leaves John Locke. This adds a bit more to the first flashback we see of Locke (in season 1) when he's talking to a person over the phone that he calls Helen (thought to be a "pay per minute type of lady that lets the crazy guy call her Helen"). John has got some serious abandonment issues that he's dealing with which may be what's leading him to look for more answers in life. Notice how when "HENRY" (if we can call him that) returns to the scene of the crime after "Supposedly" entering in the numbers; all that Locke cares about is that he didn't leave him. Can you blame him for having issues? His Dad used him for a Kidney and for transferring money to him so that he could start a new life after faking his death. And then when John tried to talk to the guy, he had an Oceanic Flight to catch.
• Yeah, the 2 planes that flew by were Oceanic flights. I doubt there is much significance...kinda like the stuffed Polar Bear that Michael bought for Walt in Michael's flashback this season. They just like to throw little stuff like that in our face.
  
• But what IS worth noting is the lady that Locke was talking to as he was doing his Home Inspector Job (Hmm, didn't he work for a Box Company prior to the crash?). Yep....you guessed it....it's Sayid's love of a lifetime - NADIA. And I think the key thing we found out in this exchange is that she is NOT married.
  
• Also, Locke's starting to bald more from his previous flashbacks. But he does look a LOT older on the island doesn't he? So when did all this stuff take place?
• So Locke's "Dad" conned a family out of $700,000. Can we assume that this is SAWYER's family? (which would definitely date this flasback quite a few years since Sawyer was a kid when his Dad killed his wife then shot himself) There were rumors before that Locke and Sawyer might be related after Locke knew Sawyer's real name, "James Ford" but we got nothing to tie this together by finding out Locke's Dad's name is Anthony Cooper (unless it's another alias). But a clean way to tie it together would be if Locke's "DAD" is the conman Sawyer was/is looking for. And, hmmm maybe if he DID catch an Oceanic flight out of LA, maybe HE's on the island too! (okay..now I'm just getting crazy!)
• I looked this one up, don't know the significance. When Helen sees Locke's Dad she asks "Are you Him?" remember this from anywhere? Yep, Desmond asked Locke the same question in the hatch.
• When Locke went to retrieve the money - the "Lock"box in bank was 1516 (15, 16 are 2 of the numbers ....we all know that by now!)

Jack/Sawyer Poker Game

"Should I go get a ruler?" Good one Kate! Yes, the testosterone battle between Jack and Sawyer continued, but this time Jack had other things on his mind. And with his best poker face he hustled Sawyer out of the medical supplies. We did start to find out that Jack has been to some crazy locations in his life where he learned how to play poker, and may have gotten his crazy tatoo (which is Matthew Fox's tatoo that we were told would eventually play significance in Lost). Maybe someone can help me out and remind me where exactly Jack said he had been. All I remember is that Sawyer got a "burning sensation" from a visit to the hole of America, Tallahassee.

Hatch/Beacon/Henry Business

All storylines tonight seemed to merge together by the end of the episode. That being the Search party of Sayid, Charlie, and Ana Lucia; Jack running into Kate while heading back to the Hatch after this poker game; and the Locke/Henry antics in the hatch during the "LOCKDOWN" I know, this is the stuff that really has our heads spinning and that's why I saved it for the last subject. Let's see if we can make some sense of everything.

• So our resident prisoner "Henry Gale" made a last strategic move to get John Locke on his side prior to the truth being uncovered. Locke, with all of his abandonment issues, now seems to have a debt to Henry for not leaving him when he was stuck under the blast door. It'll be interesting to see how Locke reacts to the news that this guy isn't even "Henry Gale"
• Okay, so the blast doors closed in the hatch. Why on earth did that happen? There was a countdown that came on the speakers and then BOOM....Locke was "LOCKED" in the hatch. Naturally, his first concern was getting to the numbers. Which got him into the predicament of getting his legs crushed. Ever notice how scared Locke gets when he fears not being able to get to the computer to enter the numbers? It's almost like he's scared of upsetting the powers that be. He believes that more answers will come if he keeps pushing that button. That is HIS job until he is told otherwise.
• I've talked to some and heard on P&S this morning that perhaps the LOCKDOWN procedure was to lock the Hatch residents in the Hatch as Supplies were dropped off. Maybe so they couldn't see "HOW" the supplies were dropped off? All we saw was a parachute and a bunch of Dharma food and a Beacon. Was this really a food drop-off from a plane? I just don't think we have enough information. But the closing of the blast doors seems to be an independent function from the entering of the numbers and it seemed to coincide with this food showing up.
• Another mystery is if Henry even entered the numbers which led to the blacklight display of the Bunkers on the Island. Maybe this was just "The Others" messing with Locke one more time to give him one more vision. Or...based on the information on the Map....maybe Desmond wrote this up after years of investigating the island and punching in the numbers? He couldn't have wandered too far to learn about the other hatches if he had to punch in #'s every 108 minutes.
• Here's a detailed version of what's on the map if you want to examine (click on Image then on bottom right corner of image you can expand even larger)
  (much much clearer if you use this link
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v301/kimsphotos/lost/243bfbf3.jpg):
  
• Black and White photo with details (click on image)
  (if too small still go to http://lost.cubit.net/pics/2x17/blastDoorMap.jpg)

Some helpful Latin Translations from map (Why was everything in LATIN? Who would've written this stuff?):

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

• Wow...you mapped out yet? Lot of information to digest on there. But at a high level, there is the Swan Station (occupied by our fellow survivors), the Arrow Station (where the Tailies were hanging out), the Medical Station (discovered a couple episodes ago), and now we can make out the FLAME STATION. Hmm, wonder what happens there? And of course we have that big question mark in the middle with some 3 dimensional drawing surrounding it. Is this what's beyond the concrete wall in the Swan Hatch that is causing the magnetic pull? And did Desmond use this map to figure out where he was going to run towards when he ditched Jack and Locke in the hatch? And again, did this map display because of the Clock going to 0 or because of the lockdown, or because SOMEONE (maybe fake Henry???) activated it knowing that Locke was the only one that would see it? All interesting questions....and more answers to follow (hopefully this season! lol)
• Just remembered, notice how Fake Henry knew the numbers very quickly when Locke told them to him. I really don't think "Fake Henry" had enough time to climb through the grate and punch the numbers into that computer. I think he did something else instead that activated the blacklight map. This would indicate that nothing happens with the clock runs to 0. But who knows?
• So besides all the Map craziness we also finally found house about "Henry Gale." His aliby almost checked out (they found the Smiley Face Balloon and a Grave), but detail oriented Sayid dug up his "wife's" grave and found the REAL HENRY GALE buried there. Note that his address is "815" Walnut Ridge and that his zip code adds up to 23. And btw...I was a big dork and looked up the address on Google Maps...doesn't exist, but the TOWN Does...and in that town there is a GALE Road! What does this mean? I'm going to guess ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
  

Okay, I've gone nuts with the details this week and did so much theorizing that probably none of this makes sense. But cut me some slack...this took me a lot of time! lol. We're inching closer and closer to that Season Finale and bringing the conflict with "The Others" to a whole new plateau of significance. And this episode did a fantastic job of continuing to set that stage. Looks like next week will be a new episode again. Not sure if you read the comments on the previous Blog but I noted the Season Finale will be May 24th. Based on this information, we can probably assume we'll have 2 more weeks of reruns between now and the finale. Let's go ahead and guess that they're going to happen April 12th and 19th! We'll know soon enough!

Have a good rest of your day. And please post comments on any theories or facts you've uncovered!