Hello,
If you haven't seen the "Walkabout" episode of "Lost", please don't read this blog until you do. "Walkabout" is the fourth episode of Season 1. I don't want you to miss the thrill of discovery. Over the last couple of days I've watched "Lost" Season 1, Episodes 3 to 5. I'm too lazy to write about all three, but I do want to highlight the amazing fourth episode "Walkabout". This is one of the best episodes of any series I've ever seen. This was just an amazing episode.
This episode focuses on the mysterious John Locke, the character played by Terry O'Quinn. O'Quinn was born to play this role, it's like he's coming home. He inhabits the character of John Locke so well. I love the misdirection of this episode is amazing, it's on par with "The Sixth Sense". The writing, direction and acting in this episode is spectacular. I truly understand why this show was so loved. I was at the library yesterday and I was longingly looking at the DVD's for the final season of this episode. I still have a long way to go.
The survivors have been on the island 4 days now. "Walkabout" starts off with John Locke flashing back to right after the plane crashed. We see him lying on the beach and he seems to slightly in shock. He looks at his foot and he can wiggle his toes which he acts like that isn't unusual. He calmly puts on his boot. The action returns to the present and Vincent the dog is barking as there are some creatures in the remains of the crashed plane. A group led by Jack, who else?, investigates and 3 boars come out of the plane and run back into the jungle. They had been foraging for food.
It's hard to get the measure of Locke, he knows that the foraging animals are boars. Why does he know what previously would have been random knowledge. I expect to be learning many more things about Locke as the show continues. He seems to be quite the boar expert without being boaring. (Sorry, but I couldn't resist the pun.) For instance, he knows the proper way to hunt boars without a gun. At this point that seems believable, we are still learning about the characters. In an example of this show's sly humor, Sawyer mocks the absurdity of the plan. This seems to be a hint for what we will find out at the end of the episode.
It's time for another flashback. Locke is sitting at his desk, he receives a call with someone calling him Col. Locke. Again this is believable. Maybe he's in the National Guard and this is his civilian job? Again J.J. Abrams and the other creators of this show are creatively misdirecting us in style. Again very much like "The Sixth Sense", in that the payoff we get is amazing. It's even more amazing as we don't see it coming.
Back to the island Michael, Kate and John are going hunting. Michael asks Sun-Hwa Kwon if she can babysit Walt. Earlier he had seen her bathing topless. Is this a sign that these two might have a future. He's not married and she doesn't seem to like her husband. Shannon manipulates Charlie, using the allusion to sex and flirting to get what she wants. This seems to be a pattern from her previous life. While many people are taking advantage of the tabula rasa, Shannon isn't one of them. I love how Charlie thinks people are going to recognize him. His claim to fame is being a bassist in a one hit wonder band.
Hurley seems to be the Chicken Little of the island. He's taking it up on himself to pass on information of what's going on in camp. He doesn't seem to want to get his hands dirty, he expects other people to act on the news he brings. Hurley tells Jack that Rose has been sitting on the beach for several hours. Although Jack is very busy, Hurley thinks he should go check on Rose. At this point Jack is resisting the leadership mantle, but he still drops everything to check on Rose. Rose is suffering from some post-traumatic shock. She says her husband isn't dead and she seems very sure she's right. Is she psychic or is this more magic of the island?
It's time for John, Kate and Michael to go boar hunting. Michael asks Sun-Hwa Kwon as well as he can to babysit Walt. We still don't have a true idea of the true measure of anyone, especially Locke. In trying to ambush a boar, Michael speaks loudly. The boar escapes injuring Michael. Kate and Michael go back to the camp while Locke continues hunting by himself. He's taking full advantage of this new lease on life. He continues to hunt alone in spite of he being the one that says that three people are needed to kill a boar.
It's time for the next flashback. Locke's asinine boss telling Locke he wants those TPS reports right at noon. (Again I love this show's sly sense-of-humor. TPS reports is a shout out to the hilarious "Office Space".) His boss doesn't want them at 12:15 or 12:30. "Lost" very effectively uses flashbacks to better tell the story. (I liked "Flash Forward" but one of it's big weaknesses was not using flashbacks very well.) Locke's boss is a bully. He loves to torture and mock Locke that he's going on a walkabout. Again the show's misdirection is amazing. Other than being a jerk, we have no idea why Locke's boss is so openly mocking him. The big motivation for Locke is telling him what he can't do. Later Locke is in the lunchroom eating lunch and playing a board game with a work friend. His friend alludes to Helen. Locke talks to Helen on the phone that night, he's been talking to her for 8 months. (Looking back this tells more about what Locke was like before the crash.) Is Helen his wife, his girlfriend? Again with knowing so little about Locke's character we also know very little about the seeming woman in his life. Locke tells Helen he has two tickets for the walkabout. Hey wait, maybe it is his girlfriend. However she considers him just a customer and will have to charge him $90 more to continue to talk to him. We are starting to think of Locke as a loser, someone who has been beat down by life. He thinks he stood up to his boss, but he didn't really.
Back to the present and John is hunting alone. He sees something in the jungle. When later asked about it he says he didn't see anything. He doesn't seem to be frightened of anything on the island, in fact he loves the island. Although it seems he was a loser, now he seems to embracing his potential self. The person he can be now is what he has always wanted to be. It was the previous episode that was titled "Tabula Rasa", but Locke is taking full advantage of this blank slate. The new super charged Locke comes back with a boar.
We see the memorial service that Claire organized occurring. The fuselage is on fire in the background. Again we see Kate. She seems to have plenty of clothes and her hair is nicely done again. Come on she can't be that bad can she? Anyone with lips like her can't be evil, can they?
It's time for the climactic flashback. Locke is at the walkabout's office. Abrams misdirection is in full effect. We have no idea we are in for a major shock. The walkabout agent tells Locke that anyone in his "condition" physically can't go on the walkabout. We have no idea what's coming so I wonder if he has a heart condition? We see from a side view that Locke is in a wheelchair. Gasp! All the hints that maybe we should have saw come back on us now. For instance we understand why he was looking at his own wiggling toes with a bemused expression earlier. The way this was filmed and acted was genius. In the present Locke looks towards the fire, sees his former wheelchair and smiles. In episode five Locke claims the island is "special," and that everything that happens does so for a reason. He says, "I looked into the eye of this island and what I saw was beautiful." (Thanks to wikipedia.org for helping fill in some of the things I missed.)
"Lost" is like a can of Pringles, you just can't stop at one. I'm trying to limit myself to one episode a day, so I can see what will sink in. For instance, you've noticed that I write about some characters and don't write about other characters. I'm guessing who are the most relevant until we find out in the show. I've been thinking about this show all day and can't wait until I get home to see episode 6, "House of the Rising Sun". Is that a reference to Sun-Hwa Kwon or to the song by the Animals or to neither. This show already has had at least two literary references. We see Sawyer reading "Watership Down" and episode 5 has multiple allusions to "Alice In Wonderland" including the episode's title.
themusicaddict
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