LOST: Episode 4.01 (Recap)

The Beginning of the End

The fourth season opener picks up pretty much where we left off last May. Except now it seems that the show's trademark flashbacks have been replaced with flash forwards (known as FBs and FFs from now on!), a storytelling device I think I'm really going to like. The FBs were becoming repetitive, especially in Jack's case. The FFs on the other hand, not only bust the story wide open but they also push speculation sky-high, and isn't that part of what we love about this show?


On the Island


We pick up right where we left off: Jack has made contact with the boat that is not Penny's, using the sat phone from Naomi, who has been stabbed in the back by Locke. Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin, Juliet and Bernard are at the beach camp, chillin' and reveling in their victory over the Others. Help is on its way and everyone is happy. Everyone except Locke. And Ben. And Rousseau says she's staying where she is.


Desmond comes ashore at the beach, without Cholly of course. He explains to the group about Cholly's death and his message about the boat that is not Penny's and they all argue about what they should do. Hurley, upset about his friend's death, takes charge and says they need to start heading to the radio tower to meet up with Jack's group. Night falls as they are walking, and Hurley gets separated from the group. He starts to panic, calling out for Sawyer and the rest when all of a sudden he comes upon Jacob's cabin. (If I recall correctly, Jacob's cabin was not this close to the beach before) Cue the creepy whispering. And then a light goes on in the window. Hurley peeks through and sees a figure in the rocking chair - one that looks an awful lot like Christian Shephard - and then some crazy person's eye pops into frame and we all scream with Hurley. He runs away but then the cabin appears before him again, this time in a different place. He closes his eyes, telling himself its not real, and when he opens them the cabin is gone. He falls backward - I guess he sort of passes out, and when he awakens Locke is looking over him. He fills Locke in on the details, including the story of Cholly's death and his message about the boat. They leave to catch up with Sawyer, Sayid, etc.


There is some silly intrigue with Naomi and the phone, but I'm not sure how important it was - I mean, we ended up in the same place when all was said and done. Short and sweet: Naomi was not dead and took off into the jungle. Jack thought she went one way, Kate thought she went another way. Kate was right. Naomi ended up convincing Minkowski that everything was alright, she reset the phone as Minkowski requested and then died. Kate hooked back up with Jack and the entire group at the radio tower, including Ben, start heading back to the beach.


Ultimately, everyone converges at the site of the cockpit of flight 815. Jack and Locke face off, and Jack totally wants to kill Locke and even tries to shoot Locke in cold blood, but the gun is empty. Locke doesn't trust the "rescuers" and Jack just wants off the island (and to save everyone else, the way he always does. I can't say I blame him, to be honest).


The entire group ultimately breaks into 2 camps that I think look like this:


Jack's Group: Jack, Kate, Rose, Bernard, Desmond, Sayid, Juliet, Sun and Jin

Locke's Group: Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Benry, Rousseau, Alex, Karl, Claire and Aaron


Locke's group head off to the barracks where they feel they will be the most protected - because of the sonic force field thing-y, I assume - and Jack's group waits for rescue.


As Jack and Kate talk, someone parachutes from a helicopter. As they approach him, the parachutist removes his helmet and asks, "Are you Jack?"

Flash Forward


It's a Hurley FF, and it seems to take place much closer to the time of the 'rescue' than Jack's did.


Hurley sees a dead Cholly in a store, freaks out and speeds away in his car.


[You know, when I saw that pile of mangos, or whatever, I thought, "They've piled fruit on the beach and are going to blow it up in celebration of not having to eat it anymore", and then I thought, "But that's really stupid - what if they're NOT rescued? What a colossal waste of food that is!" And then the car crashed through it and all that thinking was for nothing]


The cops chase him and when they eventually stop him and slap him in handcuffs, he starts yelling about how he is one of "The Oceanic 6". He's interrogated at the police station by Ana Lucia's former partner, who asks Hurley if he ever met her. For his own secret-squirrel reasons, Hurley denies ever knowing AL. While the cop steps out of the room, Hurley suffers another halucinations: He sees Cholly in the two-way mirror, swimming up to the glass like a fish in a tank. Then the glass breaks suddenly and Hurley freaks. The cop comes running back and when he sees Hurley freaking he suggests that he may want to seek some psychological help. Hurley is all to happy to return to the psych hospital. I think he feels safe there.


While in the hospital, Hurley plays some Connect 4, which is what you do when you're there, I guess, and he also gets a visitor. It's the man waving in the photo above, and his name is Matthew Abaddon. He claims that he is an attorney for Oceanic Airlines and has come offering to make nice with Hurely, to put him up in a nicer place. However, when Hurley asks him for proof of who he is, Abaddon cannot provide it. He gets all sinister-looking and asks Hurley if "they" are still alive. Man, he gave me the heebeejeebees. And it doesn't help that his name translates to Angel of the Abyss in the Book of Revelation. I guess he gave Hurley the heebeejeebees, too, because Hurley freaks and Abaddon slips away.


Hurley's second visitor at the hospital is even weirder: It's Cholly's ghost and Hurley is NOT happy to see him. In fact, it was Cholly that Hurley saw in the store and that's why he freaked out. Anyway, Cholly is there to remind Hurley that there is "something" he needs to do, that "they" need him, but Hurley will have none of that. He closes his eyes and counts to five and Cholly disappears.


Hurley gets one last visitor at Santa Rosa: Jack sees Hurley's police chase on the news and comes to the hospital to see how he is. They start playing HORSE and Jack stinks at it. They talk while shooting baskets, and Jack mentions that he's thinking of growing a beard. They shoot the breeze for while until Hurley finally asks Jack why he's really there. Jack asks Hurley if he's "going to tell." Hurley apologizes for siding with Locke and asks Jack if maybe they should return to the island. Jack says he will never go back. Hurley replies, "Never say never, dude."


And this wouldn't be a LOST recap without a Desmond screencap

Nice. But he's looking sort of skinny, don't you think?