LOST- Episode 26: Adrift

  Previously on LOST, the whole finale happened as well as last week's episode- quite a long and tedious clip montage.  Can we just assume that everyone knows what's happening and not waste the first ten minutes from now on?

  This week's show opens in the direct aftermath of the raft debacle.  Walt is screaming for his dad, Michael is screaming for Walt, and Sawyer surfaces amongst the fiery wreckage screaming for Michael and Jin.  Sawyer is clearly wounded ( he was shot at the end of last season) but he manages to drag himself and Michael on to what is left of their raft.  Michael is now unconscious for some reason, so Sawyer starts punching him in the chest.  I suppose Jack taught a class on that.

    Meanwhile, the writers have started messing with the timeline and POV because we are back at the hatch right at the time Locke has lost Kate.  He ties the rope to the ladder and heads down into the dark unknown- cueing the creepy LOST title screen in the process.

  Back at the raft, Sawyer's CPR is successful and Michael wakes up to resume yelling for Walt.  He flashes back to his meeting with a lawyer.  To try and stop Walt's mother from taking him out of the country yet again, Michael has searched high and low throughout TV Land and found the guy that handled Niles Crane's divorce from Maris.  The lawyer informs him that Susan would like Mike to rescind all rights to his son so Brian can adopt him.  Michael liked the other idea of filing an injunction to keep them from leaving the city.  The lawyer reluctantly agrees and warns Michael that this will be expensive.

  In the present, Sawyer tells Michael to stop screaming because Walt can't hear him anyway.  Michael counters that all he has left is the small chance that maybe his son can hear him. 

  In the hatch, Locke is moving slowly and quietly calling Kate's name.  He takes off his shoes to become even quieter, explaining that oddity from Jack's trip last week.  He walks into Desmond's kitchen and opens the window shades to find a bright light bulb staring back at him.  He finds Kate on the floor, but before he can do anything, Desmond is at his back with a gun.  Desmond asks hopefully, "Are you him?"

  Back at the raft, Michael has stopped yelling for Walt, but Sawyer has started yelling for Jin.  The two argue over whose fault the whole mess was and Michael ends up ordering Sawyer to get off his raft.  Just then, something goes bump in the night right underneath them.  Sawyer has his gun ready but Michael says it won't work because it got wet.  Sawyer unloads to show him that the bullets and powder are dry, but another bump from below causes him to drop everything.  They realize they are under shark attack because of Sawyer's bleeding shoulder.  The arguments continue until Sawyer jumps into the water to get himself on a different piece of the wreckage.

  Michael flashes back to the clash of the lawyers, where Susan's Super Bitch pretty much tore him a new one.  His own lawyer tries to warn him that he is being baited but Michael is so headstrong, he insists on answering the damning questions about his relationship or lack thereof with Walt.

  Back in the water, Michael expresses his disbelief that Sawyer is trying to remove the bullet in his shoulder by hand.  Sawyer grunts and screams but manages to get the job done.  The king of sarcasm then asks for a band-aid before passing out.

  In the hatch, Locke takes a chance and says that, yes, he is 'him'.  It doesn't take long for Desmond to expose the bold lie when Locke cannot answer the question, 'What did one snowman say to the other snowman?'  Locke tosses his knife away and says they mean no harm, but Desmond is skeptical.  Kate helpfully offers that they were in a plane crash.  Desmond seems intrigued that this happened 44 days ago but says nothing about it.  He forces them into another room where along the way they see an awful lot of prison-style slashes on the wall counting the days Desmond must have been in there.  Desmond wants Kate to tie up Locke, but when Locke reveals their occupations as 'Box Company Schmo' and 'Fugitive', he successfully convinces Desmond to switch things around.  Kate is horrified to be thrown under the bus like that, but Locke whispers it's best for everyone before slipping a knife into her pants.  Despite her angry protests, Locke follows orders and locks her in a dark room.

  At the caves, we get a replay of Jack deciding to go to the hatch before the camera slides over to see what Charlie and Claire are up to.  Claire snoops through Charlie's bag and finds the Virgin Mary, which as you'll recall is full of heroin.  He gets flustered and immediately trades her the baby for the statuette.  He tells her he is not religious, but it's a nice thing to have handy. 

  In the ocean, Saywer speculates that it wasn't the flare that made the Others come.  Rousseau said they were coming for the child and that meant Walt.  This does not sit well with Michael who splashes the water and breaks up the logs holding Sawyer's little raft together.  Sawyer climbs back onto Michael's and tries to make peace, but Michael will not even look at him, saying Sawyer has no idea what it feels like to care for someone else.

  This triggers a flashback to Susan meeting Michael without lawyers present.  She thinks she is going to lose in court and asks Michael to just give up since it would be better for everyone.  He could recover from his accident and get back to his art while she could accept her promotion and Walt could be well-cared for.  Michael does not answer, but the look on his face says that deep down he knows she is right.

  In her dark prison, Kate strugglesto free herself.  She cuts herself loose and turns on the light only to find that she is locked in.  She turns around and sees that she is in a large storage room.  After joyously eating a candy bar and stuffing some more in her pockets, she moves a crate and climbs up toward the air vent.  The ironclad law of TV and movies states that air ducts must always be large enough to crawl through and the designers of the hatch have made no exception.

  Meanwhile, Locke explains what he knows about the plane crash and Desmond seems very surprised that the world still exists out there.  They exchange names and then Desmond asks how many of the survivors got sick.  Locke says none and wants to know if that's why it says QUARANTINE on the inside of the hatch door.  The conversation ends when an alarm goes off.

  Still at gunpoint, Locke is taken over to Desmond's computer and ordered to enter 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.  Locke asks what will happen but gets no answer.  When he hits 'Execute', a small counter shuffles itself to 108  00.  In the distance, they hear Jack calling for Kate and Locke so  Desmond rushes over to his telescope.

  As Kate crawls through the vent, Desmond begins to play his record and turns on the bright light Jack had to duck from last episode.  Kate sees Jack through the vent but he can't hear her calling him because of the music.  We then see last week's stand-off from Kate's point of view.  Desmond's warning shot nearly hits her.  Jack recognizes Desmond (again) but the scene advances no further.

  Back at the raft, the boys spot one of their pontoons and Sawyer decides to swim for it.  He hands Michael the gun and heads off.  Michael sees a shark going for Sawyer and starts firing away.  There is an explosion of blood, followed by eerie silence.  Michael paddles the raft over to the pontoon to find Sawyer alive and safe.  Since it took him exactly two seconds to make the paddle, I'm thinking it would have been much safer to do that in the first place.

  Michael flashes back to a park bench where he has clearly decided Susan was right and is saying his final good-bye to his toddler son.  He gives him a stuffed polar bear and promises he will always love him. 

  Day has broken on the ocean and Sawyer wakes to find Michael sobbing to himself.  Michael tearfully admits that the whole raft disaster was his fault for taking Walt along in the first place.  Sawyer cheers him up by pointing out that the current has brought them "home" to the island. 

  When they get ashore, they are amazed to see Jin running toward them with his hands tied behind his back.  They untie him and manage to get one English word out of him:

  Others.     

  The three look up to see that they are surrounded by quite a few armed people- none wearing welcoming smiles.

  Next time on LOST: Our three rafters are captured and find themselves in the same primitive cell as Jack's airport friend, Ana-Lucia.  Meanwhile, Jack and Locke continue to argue.