Episode 401 - "The Beginning of the End" of Slow Starts

The answer to at least one question, a few bizarre cross-over moments, and the creation of two long-suggested factions. Yup, lostophiles, Lost is back, with its most satisfying premiere since the pilot episode. So without further ado, let's recap "The Beginning of the End."

Preliminary Blogger's Note

As many of you have probably noted, my M.O. last season was to recap flashback clips in the past tense and island clips in the present. Now that we've added flash-forwards to the mix, this may seem odd, so let me know if this is unduly hard to follow.

Flash-Forward- Hurley

Although Jack made a few appearances in the FF this week, make no mistake - this was Hurley's episode. Hurley literally burst into the FF by leading police on a high-speed chase in his dad's red Camaro. Ultimately, the car crashed into a fence and police surrounded it. Hurley tried to run, but as the police easily overcame him and shoved him into a wall to subdue him, Hurley blurted out, "Don't you know who I am? I’m one of the Oceanic 6.”

For those of you who did not dare venture over to the separate spoiler site, this confirms the meaning of the "6" that has been snuck into ABC's promos. We now know that six of the 815 survivors will make it back, presumably with the freighter people. Obviously, we also now know that three of the six are Jack, Kate and Hurley. Hurley was one of the "final four" revealed in internet spoilers/ prognostications. I promise not to discuss the other three in this space until they are revealed in subsequent episodes.

Hurley was taken to a police station, where he was questioned by, of all people, Ana Lucia's former partner, "Big" Mike.
Big Mike reminded Hurley (and told us) that the chase started when Hurley saw something in a convenience store that spooked him and sent him fleeing. He then asked if Hurley knew or met Ana Lucia. Hurley's response, sorry, never met her, raised two big questions:

1. Just what did the Oceanic 6 tell the outside world went down after the crash? (We know from "Through the Looking Glass," and, from Hurley's comments in this episode, that it's something dishonest).


2. Given that Ana Lucia died well before rescue, why didn't Hurley tell Big Mike the truth? Surely being buds with the cop's late partner couldn't have hurt in this situation.

As any of you who played along with Find815.com over the past few weeks, or who saw the hacked Oceanic Airlines ad that aired during "Eli Stone" after Lost last night knows, the wreckage of flight 815 in fact was found in the Sunda Trench off the coast of Indonesia, so Naomi's claim that the world knows our Lostaways all died appears to have some validity...except for the fact that we know many of them survived and most of the plane landed on the island! Aaaaaigh!

Anyway, back at the station, when Hurley was left alone, he saw in the one-way mirror a vision of Charlie swimming, with the words "They Need You" written on his hand, then crashing through the glass, sending Hurley into hysterics.

When Big Mike asked if Hurley was trying to get sent to the nuthouse, Hurley asked if he could make that happen right away.

Apparently, he could, as we soon encountered Hugo back at Santa Rosa. Interestingly, he seemed to be taking comfort playing Connect 4 the way his former fellow patient, Leonard, from whom Hurley learned the numbers, used to do. Hurley's peaceful rec-room time was interrupted by a visitor named Matthew Abaddon (I didn't catch the last name at the time, so thanks to Jeff Jensen at ew.com for this little nugget). Abaddon claimed to be an attorney for Oceanic airlines. He offered Hurley an upgrade to a better facility with ocean views (like Hugo would want to see the ocean!)Abbadon could not produce any I.D. when asked to confirm his identity, making Hurley suspicious. Finally, Abaddon asked Hurley a question that must be on all of our minds - "Are they still alive?" This set Hurley off, prompting Abaddon to make a graceful exit.

Big question marks raised here. Obviously, we now wonder, what does happen to the roughly 42 people who are not part of the Oceanic six? Also, while it would stand to reason that whatever lie was cooked up to explain the return of six survivors would have been issued by Oceanic. So why would an Oceanic lawyer now wonder if other people are still alive? Is he even referring to the rest of the Lostaways, or could this be a reference to something bad happening to the freighter people, or somebody else, like Dharma? And if Abaddon does not work for Oceanic, who does he work for?

Also, as you can see in the screencap above, there was apparently a "fish" motif running through the episode. I confess I missed this, so thanks again, "Doc" Jensen. Jensen suggests the running theme is meant to equate Hurley with Jonah, the biblical prophet who, after running from his charge to save others, was swallowed by a big fish before he ultimately did his prophety duty.

Later, while Hurley was painting igloos (some connection to Season 2's Arctic researchers?) another patient warned him there was a guy staring at him. That guy turned out to be…Charlie?

Charlie was who Hurley saw in the store, sending him on his high-seed chase. Charlie told Hurley he was dead, but also "here." He certainly seemed to be there, and convinced Hurley this was not just a hallucination by slapping him hard in the face. Given that another patient seemed to see him, as well, I wonder what to make of this... Charlie told Hurley he had to do something – the realization of which was the real reason Hurley ran. "They need you Hugo, you know they need you." Again with the "they"? Hurley counts to five, and Charlie’s gone. More on this later...

Hurley's next visit was from Jack, who by now was "back doing surgical stuff."

That this FF takes place before the previous one was revealed when Jack told Hurley he was "thinking about growing a beard." (You had to love Hurley's line, "You’d look weird with a beard, dude," particularly since we all know this is true). Hurley then got a little confrontational, asking if Jack was checking to see if he was nuts, was he "going to tell?" As Jack was about to leave, Hurley apologized for joining "team Locke" (see below). Jack smiled and called that water under the bridge. Finally, Hurley told Jack the meaning he seems to have divined from his Charlie visits, "I think it wants us to come back." "It's going to do anything it can..." Jack's response, "we’re never going back," was one that did not phase Hurley. "Never say never, dude." Perhaps this encounter planted the seed that would later culminate in broken Jack's "we have to go baaaaaack, Kate."

Island Time - The Beach Crew

Island action begins where we left off - with jubilant groups on the beach and at the radio tower. On the beach, Hurley, with the prospect of rescue settling in, surmizes that his lotto winnings are probably gone since the world thought he was dead. Rather than get upset by this, he tells Bernard, "when we get rescued, I'm finally going to be free." To celebrate, Hurley does a cannonball into the ocean.
Swimming back, he finds Desmond has returned. Desmond then tells the beachniks about Charlie's death and his message, "Not Penny's Boat." Sawyer wants to warn Jack, but Sayid argues that making the call now would alert the new arrivals of their suspicions. Hurley, determined to pay heed to his lost little buddy, resolves the conflict in Sayid's favor by chucking the walkie-talkie into the ocean. The beach party decides it would be best to gear up and find Jack's group on their way back to the beach to warn them in person. As guns are distributed, a remarkably chipper Sawyer quips, "and here I thought I was going to get a good night's sleep."

Hurley falls behind on the trek through the jungle. Dropping back, Sawyer asks if he wants to talk about Charlie, an uncharacteristic bit of tenderness for his favorite target of torment, and perhaps indicative of gratitude for Hurley's big save with the Dharma bus. But Hurley, on a mission and unwilling to get floored by his feelings, responds “we’ll probably get to Jack faster if we don’t talk.”

Before long, Hurley falls behind so far that he finds himself alone. As he runs, screaming for his buddies, he hears (what I thought was the) whispers, and finds Jacob's shack, which has a light on inside. The first thing Hurley sees inside is a signature Lost head scratcher - Christian Shepherd rocking in Jacob's chair, in his familiar funeral suit and white sneakers.

A thought on this strange attire for the Christian spectre. Now, while I doubt a guy named "Christian Shepherd" is meant to be a Jewish character, the out-of-place sneakers to me call to mind Yom Kippur, when many Jews traditionally wear sneakers with their nice suits. Since "atonement" is a running theme on Lost, and Yom Kippur means "Day of Attonement," I wonder if that has anything to do with this.

Suddenly, another face appears in the window, staring back at Hurley. My first thought was that this was the Charlie phantom that would later haunt Hurley in L.A. But as this screencap reveals, it most certainly was not our favorite late one-hit-wonder. Could this be Jacob?


Hurley turns and runs screaming…back to the shack? He closes his eyes and mutters “there’s nothing here,” and, just like that, the shack is gone. Suddenly, John Locke finds Hurley. Hurley tells John, "Jack should never have called those people." John replies that he couldn’t agree more. Minutes later, John and Hurley rejoin Sayid and the rest of the beach party at the wreckage of the flight 815 cockpit. Sayid is none too pleased with John's recent efforts, including blowing up the sub and detonating the Flame communications station.

Island Time - Radio Tower Group
Back at the radio tower, amidst the euphoria of Jack's sat phone call to the freigher, Jack takes Kate aside and says he will kill Locke if John ever shows his face again. As the group prepares to leave, Sun muses that she can't believe she would have her baby in a hospital. Ben, still bloodied and tied to a tree, begs Danielle to take Alex and get as far away as possible. "Everyone who stays will die." Unfortunately, Ben refers to Alex as his daughter, prompting another slug from Rousseau.

Minkowski calls back and says there's RF interference blocking the sat phone's transmission (the island, it would seem, really did not want to be found, eh?) Suddenly, Jack realizes Naomi is gone. Ben delights in reporting seeing her leave but says he doesn't know where she went. Rousseau and Kate find separate bloody trails. Jack tells Kate to lead the group to the beach, and he and Rousseau will catch up after the found Naomi (with Ben in tow). They hug, allowing Kate to snag the phone from Jack's pocket. Not heeding Jack's orders, she follows the second blood trail.

Minkowski calls back, and asks for Naomi. “We’re looking for her,” Kate responds. After she hangs up, Naomi jumps her, using the knife plucked from her own back to keep Kate still.

Kate insists that Locke was not one of them, and that her group would never hurt her. Naomi reconnects with Minkowski, and, following his instructions, changes the tracking frequency on the phone, enabling the freighter to find them. Apparently believing Kate, Naomi lies to Minkowski, saying she was hurt by getting impaled by a branch as she landed. As she again starts to fade, she tells Minkowski, "tell my sister that I love her." Then Naomi falls over again, dead for real this time.

The main group then reconnects with the beach group at the cockpit section. Jin and Sun and Bernard and Rose have tearfully happy reunions. Claire, by now concerned, looks around hoping to see Charlie.

In the most tear-jerking moment of the episode, Hurley tells Desmond he will tell Claire about Charlie. Hurley then bursts into tears, giving Claire a big hug, as he relays the story of Charlie's sacrifice. Suddenly, Jack appears and clobbers Locke. After a brief scuffle, Jack gets hold of Locke's Dharma pistol. Locke, looking up, says, "you won't shoot me Jack." But Jack pulls the freakin' trigger! As it turns out, the gun wasn't loaded, but Jack pulled the trigger!!!!


Sayid and Sawyer pull Jack off Locke. Locke, admitting he had some 'splainin' to do, says, “all I’ve ever done has been in the best interests of all of us.” Kate returns and says Naomi is dead (again) but her people are on their way. Locke announces he's going to the Barracks, since the Others have left and its the only partially secured place on the island. He implores his fellow survivors, "if you want to live, you have to come with me." Jack responds that nobody would go with him, until Hurley speaks up – "the last thing Charlie did was warn us that the people on the boat are not who they said they were. I’m not listening to you. I’m listening to my friend. I’m listening to Charlie." Not surprisingly, Claire follows. Ben, knowing the benefit of choosing the hard place over the rock, asked Jack for permission to go with Locke. Alex and Karl, knowing the best way to stay safe on this island is to be where Ben puts himself, go along, and Danielle joins them.

That's when the surprise affiliations begin. Rose, despite her fear of leaving the island, tells Bernard she's not following Locke anywhere. Sawyer, on the other hand, moves to joins Team Locke. When Kate, dumbfounded, asks what he's doing, he tells her, "same thing I’ve always done, Kate, surviving." The look he gives seems to suggest he wants her to come, too, but always believing she'd ultimately choose Jack, he doesn't even ask. As it starts to rain, Locke says, "you’ll know where to find us, when you change your mind."

Other surprises, in my mind, are Sayid and Desmond, who stay with Jack. Sayid, ever the suspicious one, is not somebody I would have figured would put himself out there for the freighter people to find. On the other hand, he previously said he was willing to give his life to secure rescue. As for Desmond, I'm a bit surprised he chose to stay, given that he was the one Naomi used to dupe them into thinking she was there to save them by her dishonest reference to Penny.

Finally, following the departure of Team Locke, Jack and Kate pause at the cockpit to reflect on the death Charlie, and how long it seems since the three of them first trekked to that spot. Their reverie is interrupted by a helicopter, from which parachutes a character Jeff Jensen tells us in named Daniel Faraday, played by "Saving Private Ryan's" Jeremy Davies. Faraday, seeing Jack and Kate, asks, "are you Jack?" And the episode ends.

Parting Thoughts
Again, thanks to Jeff Jensen for this, but does Hurley have some strange mind-over-matter powers? Did he will the Dharma bus back to life, then will Jacob's shack to disappear, and then will Charlie away? Did these powers manifest themselves as bad luck because of his low self-esteem? Or is he just nuts?

What is the "it" that wants the Oceanic 6 to return? The island? Something on the island, like whatever Jacob/ smokey/ Christian Shepherd is?

Who are "they," and why doesn't Abaddon know if they are alive? Is it the rest of the Survivors? The Others? The freighter people?

How did the Six become the Six? It isn't just Team Jack, since Hurley led the charge to to Team Locke. And why are the Oceanic Six celebrities, from whom people want autographs?

And how ominous is the title of next week's episode, "Confirmed Dead?"