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With a title like S.O.S. you can expect some discussion of rescue to be the focal point and you would be right.
What might surprise you is that the focal points of this episode are Bernard and Rose.
You see, as we've witnessed in the previous two episodes, the mysterious parachute drop of the DHARMA Initiative food pallet threw many personalities into conflict on Lostaway beach. And this time around, we see that Bernard is pretty salty that everyone seems pretty comfortable living on a mysterious island and not really committed to escape or signalling rescue or anything of that sort.
The reason that Bernard wants to get home so badly? (Other than the obvious, I guess.) Well, we learn through FLASHBACK! that Rose is suffering from some type of cancer. And Bernard is determined to cure her with whatever means are available. (Hence his commitment to getting off the Island.) Rose and Bernard were flying from Australia to the United States when the plane went down and Bernard is going to enlist whomever he can find into signaling a passing plane, I guess.
Jack, meanwhile, who--as we know--has never met a direct order he didn't want to break, is scheming to traipse back through the jungle and cross the imaginary line in the ivy that was established by "Mr. Friendly" and the Others in "The Hunting Party" (s2 e11).
Of course, whenever Jack goes somewhere, Kate is bound to come as well. Remarkably, however, Sawyer decides NOT to tag along with time, so there is at least one corner of the Island's geography that might not be infected with their dysfunctional love triangle nonsense.
Back at Lostaway Beach, Bernard's efforts to create a press gang of workers for the S.O.S. sign are going poorly. Mr. Eko and Charlie are too busy constructing their weird church, Our Lady of the Tides. Hurley (not really featured in this episode) is probably enjoying some picnic-style Apollo Bars with Libby. Jin was helping Bernard briefly, but he is more interested in improving his English-speaking skills and as a dentist, Bernard is only interested in teaching him the words "rock" and "floss".
Soon, Bernard is toiling alone, increasingly frustrated.
Speaking of frustrated, Locke hobbled back down to Lostaway Beach and has a chat with Rose. He claims that he is done with the Hatch, since he is not entirely sure if Henry is telling him the truth about The Numbers countdown. Rose, ever serene, tells Locke not to worry. And she inquires about the pace of his leg healing. Locke says that Jack believes the injury will heal in four weeks. But Rose smiles and tells John that they both know it won't take that long.
As the FLASHBACK! informs us, Rose encountered wheelchair-bound Locke in the Australia airport and knows that the magic of the Island has healed his paralysis. So, it is no surprise when she informs Bernard to quit working on the S.O.S. sign--because the Island has cured her cancer and she has no intention of ever leaving the Island's magic again. Happily, Bernard and Rose embrace.
And speaking of embraces . . . Jack and Kate are having a typical interrogation of their complex feelings toward each other while traveling through the jungle. These two are distracted enough to get caught in one of Danielle Rousseau's net snares. But cooperation, uncomfortable body contact, and a well-trained gunshot get them free.
Jack and Kate never do make it to Mr. Friendly's (formerly named here as "beardo") borderline because . . . who should come stumbling out of the trees in the episodes final seconds?
MICHAEL! (Whom, if you can't recall, we haven't seen since "The Hunting Party.") What has he seen and what will his return mean!?!!
More on THOSE questions . . . next time.
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