Thursday, March 22, 2007

'Lost' - "The Man From Tallahassee"

Jackie's TV Blog, Lost
Now we know they're trying to spoil us with good episodes back-to-back! Another mystery solved, yet a new mystery posed. At least we're running even.

Tonight's episode was Locke-centric and the flashbacks sure weren't skimpy on this one. The time element for them was substantial and the back-story told was vital.

We didn't see Hurley's beat-up DHARMA-mobile (nor even Hurley); this wasn't a fun fluff episode. No time to fool around and have fun in this episode!

In Flashbacks:
John was receiving disability payments from the government for depression. (And, yes, he could walk at this point.) He bristled at being asked personal questions about his parents and then told the woman behind the desk at the disability office that he had stopped going to therapy as it was useless. She promptly temporarily suspended his benefits until he resumed.

In his dingy room he ate chicken while watching television when there was a knock on the door. It was a young man named Peter Talbot who wanted to ask questions about an Adam Seward who was about to marry his mother. "Why ask me?" Locke asked. Well, it was because he had donated a kidney to him. Of course, we knew him as Anthony Cooper, Locke's biological father and con man. Locke denied knowing him and told Talbot it was an anonymous recipient.

Locke then tracked down his father insisting that he call off the wedding. He knows that his father is just marrying her for yet another con job. The father agrees to do so. But, once a con man, always a con man.

Detectives show up at Locke's door asking about Talbot. After Locke denied knowing him, then claimed he was soliciting, they told him they had a slip of paper with his name and address from Talbot's pocket -- he had been murdered.

Locke confronted his father who (of course) denied killing Peter Talbot. He told Locke that he had been intending to call off the wedding when Talbot was killed and the timing hadn't been right to tell her. He said he was a con man, not a murderer. He then asked Locke to meet them both in his room and he'd call it off right in front of him. Oh, no! No intended bride, just a shove out of an eighth-story window. So now we know why Locke was in a wheelchair.
LOST: The Scary Wheelchair
Locke's next flashback was in a hospital room being questioned by detectives. He's paralyzed not only from the fall, but with some sort of wheelchair-phobia. The orderly tries to get him in the chair and he cries and panics. Sheesh, he knows he's paralyzed. Why the silly fear of something which would offer some mobility? It was like a scene from "When Good Wheelchairs Go Bad" or something! I expected the music from Jaws to start up.

On the Island:
Sayid, Locke, Kate, and Rousseau are still peeping at Jack playing football with the Others like they're all great friends of his. Ben, in a wheelchair, and Juliet are on the scene now, all friendly with Jack. While Sayid is worried about safety, Locke proposes they approach Jack alone to see if he wants their help escaping.
LOST: Kate
Kate made it into the barracks and followed the sound of a piano playing. When she found Jack, he wasn't too thrilled to be found. He told her they were watching him. Sure enough, she's lunged on with guns and captured, along with Sayid. The others ask who else is with them and Kate told them that they were the only two. (Remember, Locke and Rousseau are somewhere around... Rousseau hiding in the woods.)

Locke had a different target. He went looking for Ben and found him. Ultimately, he was looking for the submarine. Ben told them there wasn't one, so Locke told him of Mikhail. Alex came into the room and Locke took her gun to the head to hide in the closet as someone approached. Ben told Richard (he's from that "Not in Portland" episode) to "bring the man from Tallahassee." Locke questioned if that was code. Ben laughed and said there was no code for "a man is holding my daughter in the closet with a gun."

Ben and Locke talked about the wheelchair -- the fact that Ben is in one and Locke no longer needs one. Ben questioned him on how he would pilot the sub, but admitted he knew that he had the C4 explosive and planned to destroy the sub. Ben told Locke he knew how he ended up in the wheelchair. Then he asked, "Did it hurt?" "Of course it did. I felt my back break."
LOST: Ben
As Ben and Locke talked, Kate and Jack were talking, too. Jack told Kate that all of the abducted were safe and lived there. He reminded her (rather adamantly) that he had told her not to come back for him. She claimed she didn't think he meant it. Jack told her he had made a deal to save Ben and was to leave the island with Juliet in the morning. Juliet arrived at that point and they left Kate.

Sayid was being held outside, chained to a swingset (or something). Alex had been sent by her father to get his pack. When she said that to the one holding Sayid, he said, "You look like your mother." When she said her mother was dead, he told her not to be sure about anything that they tell her. Bam. He gets a beat-down.

Back to Ben and Locke -- Locke is questioning about how they have power and such. Ben told him there would be a big problem if he blew up the submarine. He said that while he was born here, most of the others weren't. He has to have something to show them there's a way off the island and the sub was it. "You have a choice. I can show you things. I know the island better. There is a magic box and you just never know what may be inside. Jack and I made a deal. It's a one-way ticket. If the submarine goes, it can never come back due to the anomaly. I also promised him in front of my people."

So, Ben wants him to blow up the sub -- that's the way he keeps Jack and all of the people won't think he broke his word. As Alex walked Ben to the sub, she told him that Ben manipulates people, that's what he does best. Rousseau, in the woods, saw Alex and just froze.

Jack asked Ben for one last favor, to let his friends (Sayid and Kate) go free once he's off the island. Ben agreed it wouldn't serve him to keep them. Juliet thanked Ben for keeping his promise and both head to the dock. Locke approaches them, all wet. He looks at Jack. "Sorry, Jack." BOOM, the sub blows up.

The scenes cut to Locke all chained up. Ben yelled that he had really done it now. Locke protested, saying that he knew that Ben wanted the submarine blown up all along as he knew the C4 was in Sayid's pack.

Ben told him that to let Jack go would have been a sign of failure, but he couldn't break his word. So Locke came along and made a dream come true. Back to the magic box... "When I asked if it hurt, I meant did it hurt to know your own father tried to kill you?" He told Locke that he knew he communed with the island not only because he didn't need the wheelchair, but it was the one place his father could never find him.
LOST: Anthony Cooper or Adam Seward
"I want to help you. Let's go look in the magic box."

In there was Locke's father, bound and gagged on a chair.

LOST [thunk]

Okay, what I'm wondering is if his father (the man from Tallahassee) is really there or something like the smoke monster thing. A shape-shifter? An idea put in John Locke's head?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Locke's dad is really there, though how is a good question. I wonder if he was in the tail section of the plane and was kidnapped by the others the first night? Maybe using an alias so his name wouldn't have been on the flight manifest? Or the box is magic! ;)

Anonymous said...

Jackie,

Once again you amaze me!! Great LOST recap!

jk in los angeles

Anonymous said...

When Ben first described the box, he said something like "imagine anything you want in that box". Now the question is, would Locke want his father there? Like Jackie, I wonder if it's a figment of his imagination or if the island can produce anything one wants. Especially since Locke "communes" with it.

Great job, as usual, Jackie!

~Susan from MA

dawn said...

did anyone notice when jack when to the game room that held kate the man who he was playing football with cautioned Jack to be careful there listening. Whats up with that. Could the others be switching over to jacks side

Anonymous said...

Dawn,
I totally thought the same thing. Maybe its just Tom has changed his mind about Jack after some male bonding, but it seemed like when Jack told the men that busted in the room not to hurt Kate they listened. Why? Very strange.

Jackie S. said...

He has arms. He's bound and gagged on a chair. His arms are tied behind him.

Anonymous said...

I heard then say "Be careful" I didn't hear after, "they're listening." Hmmm, indeed...

Anonymous said...

What is the name of the song that jack's playing piano ?? please help !! I search it since long times