"After all, you are a hunter, John."

Further Instructions

Finally, we get to find out what happened to Locke, Eko and Desmond after Desmond used the fail safe key. Sort of.

We open with a closeup on Locke's eye. He's lying on his back somewhere in the jungle, post-incident. As he looks around, he sees someone running through the jungle nearby. It's Desmond, who appears to be naked, confused and scared. Locke tries to call out but finds he can't speak. Desmond runs off without seeing Locke.

Locke stands (I thought he wasn't going to be able to walk) and Eko's Jesus Stick, which had been with Locke at the time of the explosion, falls from the treetops and lands near him.



One of the inscriptions reads: "Lift up your eyes and look north." Have we seen that before?

A short time later, Locke returns to the beach camp, where Charlie and Claire see him approach. They are completely unconcerned about his well-being and simply wonder where he's been and why he's taking apart one of the shelters. Locke takes the shelter materials with him to the site of Eko's church, which is still just a frame. Charlie follows him there and gets all obnoxious with him as he asks where he's been and where Desmond and Eko are. Locke mimes to Charlie that he is unable to speak, and he needs to talk to the island.

Back at the beach camp a short time later, Charlie is working on repairing the shelter Locke took apart when Locke approaches with a pad and paper. Charlie continues with the jerk routine as Locke asks him to help and stand guard outside the "sweat lodge".

Flashback. Locke drives down a country road in an old pickup. I think we are supposed to assume that this flashback takes place after the thing with his father and the money. He stops to pick up a cute little hitchiker named Eddie. Eddie's running from a dysfunctional family, too, and hopes to find work in Eureka (Washington state?). A cop pulls them over for a broken tail light and asks to see what's in the back of the truck. Locke comes right out and tells him: "Groceries and guns." He shows the cop that he has all the proper paperwork and the cop lets them go.

Back on the island, Locke has built his sweat lodge inside the church's frame. While Charlie stands guard (obnoxiously) outside, Locke lights a fire inside the sweat lodge and eats some psychedelic black goop he whipped up earlier in the scene. Suddenly, a hand grips Locke's shoulder, and it's Boone! Well, it's Locke's sweat lodge-induced hallucination of Boone.

Boone tells Locke that it's good to see him, and with tears in his eyes, Locke tries to tell him he's sorry. This is the stuff that O'Quinn is so good at. Boone replies that it's okay, he's just "the sacrifice the island demanded", throwing Locke's words back in his face. John mimes that he can't speak and Boone tells him not to worry, he'll speak "when he has something worth saying." Boone tells him that he'll help him find his way again so he can bring the "family" back together, and then says he wants to show him something. Locke tries to stand, but Boone says he's going to need his wheelchair this time.

Locke's vision transports him to an airport, where Boone is pushing him in his wheelchair. The airport is supposed to represent the island, I think, and Boone tells him that someone at this airport is in danger and Locke's the only one who can save him. As they move about the place, we see Charlie, Claire and Aaron, and Boone says, "Not them, they'll be fine...for a while"; then we see Sun, Jin and Sayid together at a ticket counter, where Hurley types the numbers into a computer, and Boone says it's not them, either. Locke sees Desmond walking with a couple of flight attendants, and Boone says, "Forget it, he's helping himself." Then we see Sawyer, Jack and Kate in the security line and Henry Gale (Benry) is the security guard and Boone tells John there is nothing he can do about them, not yet: "First, you have to clean up your own mess."

Boone disappears and reappears at the top of an escalator and calls out to Locke. Locke drags himself up the escalator and finds Eko's blood-covered Jesus Stick and Boone, covered in blood, tells him, "Clean it up John. They've got him."

Back at the sweat lodge, the vision quest has ended and as John gets up to leave, the vision of snarling polar bear comes at him. He jumps out of the lodge, where Charlie stands waiting, a little less obnoxious. Locke pulls out his big-ass knife, walks up to Charlie and finally has something worth saying: "I'm going to save Mr. Eko's life."

Charlie joins Locke in the search for Eko. As they walk through the jungle they find Eko's cross, a pool of blood and a tuft of white fur. John tells Charlie to go back to the beach, that "bad things happen to people who hang around with me." Charlie refuses.

Flashback. Locke and Eddie are still riding in the truck. They arrive at some kind of farm/commune. A farmune, let's say. It seems this is where Locke is now living. As they get out of the truck, Locke points out the sweat lodge to Eddie. Ah, that's where it comes from. He tells Eddie that you use a sweat lodge to meditate on your direction in life, to find out whether you're a hunter or a farmer. Eddie asks him which he is, but Locke just smiles enigmatically. They join the rest of the farmuners for dinner and Locke introduces Eddie to the gang, including the leaders Mike and Jan. Everyone is very nice and welcoming and all crunchy granola. (and Eddie is adorable) Locke says grace before dinner, thanking God for making him less angry and for helping him to find a new family.

Back on the island, we're walking, we're walking...Locke and Charlie comes across a very large hole in the ground, which Locke says is where the hatch used to be. He somehow deduces that the hatch imploded, and I have to say, that's where they lose me. If the hatch imploded while Locke, Desmond and Eko were in it, wouldn't they have been crushed to death? How does an implosion cause things like human bodies and hatch doors to be blown a great distance away? They had better explain this.

Anyway, they come across an "active kill", which means there's probably a polar bear nearby, and there is, and as they're running from it John throws his knife at something in the woods and hits the canteen Hurley is drinking from. Dude.

Hurley is on his way back to the beach with instructions from the Others about not trying to save Jack, Kate and Sawyer, etc., and he tells Locke and Charlie what happened. They send Hurley to the beach and continue looking for Eko. At last, they find the entrance to a cave, probably the bear's den.

Flashback at the Farmune. Eddie checks out a girl he thinks would be good for Locke and says that what she really wants is a Daddy, just like everyone else at the Farmune. Locke is not amused. They go peach picking and Eddie asks Locke what is going on at the greenhouse, where people are carrying in bags of fertilizer. Locke tells him to nevermind but Eddie continues the line of questioning. He wants to know why no one will tell him what goes on in there even though he's been at the Farmune for 6 weeks. He tells John he thinks they're planning to blow something up and he wants in. John laughs and says he'll talk to Mike and Jan.

Island. Charlie waits outside the cave as John enters, armed only with his knife, a torch and a can of hairspray. You'll see.

On his way back to the beach, Hurley runs into Desmond, who is absolutely starkers. Hurley is embarrassed (a little too embarrassed, if you ask me) and asks Desmond what happened, but Desmond says he doesn't know. Hurley gives him a very large tie-dyed t-shirt he had stowed in his backpack.

In the cave, Locke almost trips over an old, beaten up Tonka Truck - you know, one of those old, metal toy dump trucks. Now where did that come from?

Flashback. As promised, Locke goes to the greenhouse to see Mike and Jan, but when he gets there he finds them in a frenzy, packing up all their shit, including the marijuana they've been growing there. John asks what's up and they tell him that Eddie is a cop and they blame him for bringing him to the Farmune. John tells them that it's not too late, that he can fix this. He can clean up his mess.

En la cava. John finally finds Eko, semi-conscious and lying near the bones of what I can only presume were previous human polar bear meals. As he goes to help Eko a polar bear grabs Eko by the feet and begins to drag him away. John pulls out his trusty hairspray and lights the spray with his torch, turning the can into a flamethrower. The bear runs off far enough to let Locke escape the cave with Eko.

Hurley and Desmond are walking (Jesus, there was a lot of walking in this one) back to the beach, talking about what happened when Desmond used the failsafe key. Desmond says there was an implosion. Like I said, they had better explain this. Hurley tells Desmond how the Others took Jack, Kate and Sawyer and Desmond tells him not to worry, that Locke will go after them, he "said so in his speech." Hurley's all like, what speech, dude? A bit uncomfortable, Desmond apologizes and says he must be a bit shook up from the "implosion".

As Locke and Charlie carry Eko, Locke tells Charlie that Boone told him that he has to clean up his mess. If Locke had let Eko continue pushing the button, the "implosion" wouldn't have happened and everyone would be alright.

Flashback. Locke and Eddie are in the woods, with hunting rifles. Eddiey falls for the oldest trick in the book ("hey, what's that over there?") and Locke points his rifle at him. He gets Eddie to admit that he's a cop. Locke asks, "Did they know it would be me driving (when you were hitchiking)?" Eddie says yeah, "they chose you, John. Because you'd be amenable for coercion." Another blow to John's self-confidence. Eddie tells Locke that he won't shoot Eddie, that he's not a murderer, not a hunter. He's a farmer. John is near tears and says, "No, I'm a hunter." But Eddie walks away anyway and John lowers the gun.

Locke, Charlie and Eko stop near a stream and Charlie goes to get water for Eko. John talks to the unconscious Eko, telling him that he's sorry he ever doubted him: "If I let you keep pushing the button, I could have gone with them, I could have protected them. I could have saved them. Eko wakes and gives John "further instructions": "You can still protect them. You can still save them. You will find them. After all, you are a hunter, John." Charlie comes back and John tells him that Eko is awake. Except he's not, he's still unconscious. Was that the island talking to John?

Locke and Charlie finally arrive back at the beach with Mr. Eko as people, including 2 new characters (a man and a woman), approach and ask what happened. Hurley has also arrived and he tells them all about Jack, Kate and Sawyer, and about Benry's instructions that they not try to rescue them. Locke makes a short speech about how everything is going to be alright, how he's going to find Jack, Kate and Sawyer and bring them home. As he says this, Hurley looks sideways down at the beach, where Desmond is wearing his cute little t-shirt dress and throwing stones into the ocean. Deja vu.



Tonight: Sawyer gets tortured!