LOST Rewatch: Man of Science, Man of Faith

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Previously . . . on LOST.

We begin Season 2 where we ended Season 1--obviously. (Well, maybe that is not obvious? Maybe it could have started somewhere completely different with different characters or something. But that might confuse people and it most certainly would have stressed out the fans of LOST that spent all of that time between Season 1 and Season 2 (May to September 2005, if I recall) trying to figure out what was down the Hatch and whether the Others were really a thing or whether it was just a fever dream Rousseau had. And what was Smokey and lots, lots more.

So, here we are at the start of season 2 and everything is grand and the episode begins with . . . this?

It was a very unexpected way to begin anew. And now that I think about it, maybe it was starting the show in a new place with new people in an unpredictable way. But after that, we join up with our Lostaway pals at the top of the Hatch shaft as Locke, Kate, John, and Hurley discuss how to get down into that hole. Well, Hurley and Jack don't want to get down there. Hurley has no interest and Jack says that the shaft is too narrow, too deep, and too without-a-functional ladder to serve as a quick way to hide the rest of the Cave dwellers from the supposed attack of the Others. (Remember from the end of season 1, that is why they were blowing it up in the first place--or at least that is why Jack was going to do so--as a way to protect everyone from the Others.)

So Jack and Hurley convince Locke and Kate to return to the Caves. I mean, the Hatch isn't going anywhere Jack says and let's just worry about going down into it in the morning. Locke reluctantly agrees. They head back to the Caves and Jack makes another inspirational speech about how everyone is going to be safe and they'll all live to see the sunrise and it'll all be okay, all right?

Except . . . well, Locke decides that he just doesn't feel like waiting. So he gathers up some vine rope and heads back into the jungle, at night, with the possibility of the Other attack around every tree trunk. And if Locke is gonna go, then Kate also decides to go--to, you know, keep him safe. But also just to keep moving because maybe the Hatch if full of tiny toy airplanes, right? Have you ever considered that? Jack reacts to this news as you expect him to. With clenched jaw disbelief and a sad shake of the head.

 Locke and Kate team up to rappel (or belay . . . something?) down into the Hatch's shaft. But the rope slips and Kate falls and Locke loses purchase and she basically disappears. There's a big dramatic shift of floodlights into the jungle sky and Locke is left alone with maybe Kate being dead. Oops!  So, Locke ties himself off on the rope and starts to head down there himself to save her.

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Oh . . . the Flashback for this episode is the immediate aftermath of Jack's future wife, Sarah's car accident that brought her to the hospital and how badly she was injured and how Jack was performing a desperate surgery on her that had pretty slim odds. (The odds of which he callously tells her ahead of time.) We meet Sarah's original fiance who bails when he comes to believe that his future wife won't be all hot and nimble and bendy and stuff anymore . . . so, no thanks.

But Jack is a bit too decent to tell crippled, pre-surgery Sarah that she was planning to marry a douche bag. So he keeps quiet about that. He does, however, perform the surgery and is convinced that it'll never work.

To get over his frustration, he goes to a nearby football stadium and runs the stairs to work out his tension. He meets another runner named Desmond, who is training for an around-the-world sailing race. (Desmond appears to believe that modern sailboats are pedal powered . . . because why else would he be improving his cardiovascular health? I'm no doctor, but that seems an odd choice.) Desmond and Jack chat during a water break and . . .  whatever, right?

Back at the hospital, Sarah incredulously informs the sweaty Jack that she is able to wiggle her toes. Stunned, Jack rejoices with her. And their romance begins.

The scene then shifts to Jack back at the Caves, who had decided he doesn't want to wait until sunrise either. Hurley is peeved, but Jack ignores him. Jack just wants to be where Kate is!

When he gets to the Hatch again, there is no one there. Jack manages to make it down the shaft by utilizing Locke's secured, but abandoned rope. At bottom, he begins exploring and finds:

• painted murals on the wall
• a strange magnetic force in one hallway
• a pair of shoes
• an odd, dome-like chamber with Apollo-astronaut-era computers and magnetic tape machines
• an Apple-II computer with a blinking, expectant monitor
• John Locke being held captive by a mad gunman

Wait! What was that last one?! Locke being held at gunpoint?! Even though he is concerned, Jack doesn't miss an opportunity to deride Locke's expectation of Found Destiny at the bottom of the Hatch. Also, where might Kate be?

But most importantly . . . hey dude with the gun. Who are you?

Suddenly Jack sees past Locke's face and really notices the guy in the khaki jumpsuit with the Crazy Eyes. It's Desmond! His stadium stair running buddy from several years ago!

Why?!!! What? What'll happen next?