Lost
“Lockdown”
Originally aired March 29, 2006
It’s a play on words. Lockdown = Locke Down. Because Locke? Is trapped? By a big ol’ door that came down during … (wait for it) … a lockdown of the hatch? Locke is down! Get it?! GET IT?
Yeah, yeah, but it’s more than just an easy pun. In this episode, Locke is down not only physically, but emotionally. With Helen, Locke was looking forward, moving to a bright future, one free of the emotional baggage that his father left him with after abandoning him for the second time. Forward, not back. Up, not down. But Locke, he can’t let go. And because he can’t let go, because he can’t look forward, because he can’t look up, because he is a slave to his father’s emotional manipulations, Locke loses everything. Locke loses love, Locke loses a life free of his awful father, Locke (eventually) loses his job, Locke loses his mobility and his freedom. Locke is down.
But sometimes one must be at their lowest point, their most vulnerable to finally reach awareness. Sometimes one must be at their weakest and have their ego fully stripped away so that they may come to understand their place in the universe. To see the light. Sometimes the only way to fully see what is above oneself is to be knocked down.
So, apparently Locke has been hiding an engagement ring in his sock drawer! And he’s planning on taking Helen on a picnic where he’s going to propose! And all of this is very sweet and awesome, until Helen has to go an read the obituaries (because no one ever says anything bad about someone once they’re dead. Of course, she should run that by Stalin. Or Hitler. Or Pol Pot. They might disagree.), and discover Locke’s dad’s name. Picnic officially ruined.
Lost note: It’s interesting to note that Jack tells Sun in “…And Found” that he lost his wedding ring and then had a replica made, but now it’s just rattling around in his sock drawer, and that Locke has hidden Helen’s engagement ring in his sock drawer. Spoiler for paragraph 10! Locke’s engagement ring will probably meet a similar fate to Jack’s fake ring.
Helen and Locke are the only attendees at Cooper’s funeral, which, you know, just isn’t that surprising, frankly. Well, it’s surprising that Locke would attend, but, you know, good for him for being a better person than all that. And when the priest asks Locke if he has something to say, Locke gets up and forgives his father. Oh, but wait, it looks like there are other people at the funeral: a couple thuggy-looking guys, and some anonymous so-and-so in a silver Mercedes. Hmm.
Some new information about Locke: he was a home inspector back in the day. Not only that, he owned his own business! You go on with your bad self, Locke! And after inspecting Nadia’s new home (yes, that Nadia), Locke notices that same silver Mercedes lingering across the street. Locke heads over to investigate, and whaddya know?! It’s Cooper! He has risen!
Lost note: Nadia appears in Charlie’s flashback in “Greatest Hits” when he saves her from a mugger in an alleyway in London. What up, Nadia?
Locke and Cooper go out for a drink–although that’s probably not the best of ideas for either of them, what with only two kidneys between them and everything. Cooper explains that he’s REALLY REALLY sorry for stealing his kidney. No, like REALLY sorry. Now, here’s the deal. Cooper had to fake his death because he may have ripped off those two thugs that were at the funeral?
Yeah, them. Yeah, he kinda ripped them off for $700,000, which is now maybe sorta locked in a safety deposit box that he can’t get to. That’s where Locke comes in. He needs to get the money out and bring it to Cooper. He can even keep $200,000 for his troubles! Here’s the key — just go get the money, bring it to the motel by the airport tomorrow. Cooper’s got to split tomorrow, money or no money. And if Locke doesn’t show up? Locke? Daddy understands.
Dilemma!
But it’s Locke, so he retrieves the money from safety deposit box #1516.
When he comes home that afternoon, it appears that Helen has been entertaining visitors: one Jimmy Bane and his friend The Heavy. Jimmy has a couple of questions for Locke: namely, has Locke been hanging out with his dead father recently? Helen is sassy and begins yelling at these dangerous men about how much Locke has been through, and his daddy issues. Etc., and so on. So Jimmy has The Heavy grab Locke’s duffel bag and dumps it out and OH NOES!? Is the jig up? But no! Locke’s smarter than that. Goodbye, thugs!
The next day, Locke shows up to the Flightline motel, money bag in hand. Inside, Cooper counts his cash, while asking Locke about his girlfriend. When Locke reveals that he intends to propose to her that night, Cooper suggests that Locke’s cut of the money will pay for a nice honeymoon. But, of course, that’s not why Locke helped his father. He helped him because he’s a sap easy mark son desperate for his father’s approval and love.
But before Locke can reveal that, Cooper leaves, but sentimental mush makes him uneasy. Cooper opens the door, and who should be there, but one very unhappy soon-to-be-fiance, Helen. She demands to know if Cooper is “him,” and then gives him a much-deserved slap right across his bad daddy face. After all, she and Locke were getting past all the baggage he left for Locke when he took his kidney. And now Helen is hella mad. Mostly at Locke. She storms away from Locke, as he calls after her that he can explain, but dude, Helen’s past ‘splainin’. Locke then goes for the big guns, professing his love for her and dropping to his knee to propose. But instead of being a big romantic moment, it’s just pathetic. Helen leaves. So does Cooper. And once again, Locke has a sad. POOR LOCKE.
Lost note: Oceanic airlines coming and going.
Out in the jungle, in the rain Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie have been looking for “Henry Gale’s” balloon for 3 solid hours, and nothing. Sayid is all TIME TO GO BACK AND TORTURE THE LYING LIAR! Until Charlie discovers a small cross in an area where it’s not raining, because it is covered by a giant yellow smiley face balloon. Uh-oh! Looks like Sayid has some apologizing to do!
Lost note: And, hello, Widmore Labs! What are you doing sponsoring a balloon, hmmm?
So, yeah, remember the little funny that “Henry Gale” made, about drawing a map to an ambush that would attack Sayid and Ana Lucia? He TOTALLY was kidding. Ha ha ha! Jack and Locke don’t see the humor in this, however, and they send “Henry Gale” back to his room to think about his behavior for a little while.
Jack heads out to try to track Ana Lucia, et al, and asks Hurley if he’s seen them. Hurley has, but has no idea where they went other than somewhere in the jungle. No one tells Hurley nothin’, because he’s not in the loop. Jack assures Hurley there is no loop, but Hurley knows better. LOOP, DUDE. LOOP.
Indeed, Hurley.
And apparently Jack has hung his “The Doctor Is In” sign, because here’s Claire and Libby looking for a little medical advice. Patient #1, Aaron, is fine. Patient #2, Libby, however, has stepped on a sea urchin, and the Neosporin is being hoarded by Templeton, along with all the other medications.
So. Jack comes up with a scheme. Sawyer is busy playing poker with Hurley and winning. Jack interjects some advice to Hurley, and Sawyer invites him to join the game. Just as Jack planned. When Jack wins all of Sawyer’s mangoes, Sawyer suggests that they raise the stakes. Just as Jack planned. Suddenly, they’re playing for the medicine stash, and despite Sawyer’s attempts to cheat, Jack wins. Just as Jack planned. When Sawyer asks why Jack didn’t play for the guns, Jack quietly informs him that when he needs the guns, he’ll take the guns.
Lost note: Sawyer asks Jack in this scene where he learned to play poker, and Jack simply says Phuket. In “Stranger in a Strange Land,” Jack’s mysterious past in Thailand is revealed. And it involves a lot of half-dressed The Bai Ling. While they play, Sawyer reveals that he spent some time catching STDs in Tallahassee. Which is interesting in that Kate was buying a bus ticket to Tallahassee when she is caught by the Marshall in “What Kate Did,” and Cooper was in Tallahassee when he was caught by the Others and brought to the island, we learned in “The Brig” (and not, ironically, in “The Man from Tallahassee.”). Lesson here? Don’t go to Tallahassee. Unless you want to be caught/catch something.
Jack heads back to the hatch that evening, and is followed by Kate, who wants to take a shower. Jack lies through his lying teeth and says that the plumbing is busted. But he offers to walk her back to the beach, so he’s not completely lacking in manners. On their way back, they not only discover a DHARMA food drop, weirdly delivered via parachute, but they also discover Sayid, Ana Lucia, and Charlie. And they’ve got news about “Henry Gale.”
Who, back at the hatch, is having a time out while Locke gets a little exercise. His workout is interrupted, however, by some feedback and a voice coming over the speakers in the hatch. It’s somewhat unintelligible, and Locke doesn’t know what the heck is going on, so he checks the computer. Nope, all good there. He fiddles with the speaker, and that’s when the voice announces 17 minutes until lockdown. Um, what?
The speaker is saying something? about protocol? And Locke and “Henry Gale” (who is still locked in the armory) have no idea what’s happening. A countdown from 10 begins, and “Henry Gale” suggests that perhaps Locke should seek Jack’s help. This doesn’t go over well with Locke. Not that he has much time to think about it, as the blast doors seem to be coming down all around him. Locke FREAKS, and manages to slide a crowbar under the last door, just in the nick of time. “Henry Gale” wonders what happened. Who knows, dude. Who knows.
Locke tries to lift the door with the crowbar. I don’t think that’s going to work, yo.
Locke comes to this conclusion, too, and decides that the only way to lift the blast door is to take a leap of faith and let “Henry Gale” out of the armory to help. “Henry Gale” requires a promise from Locke that if he helps Locke lift the door, Locke will protect him from the other survivors. Locke opens the door and asks “Henry Gale” who he is, one more time. “My name is Henry Gale. I’m from Minnesota. And I crashed on this island just like you,” is his reply. So Locke gives him his word. Oh, Locke.
The two manage to lift the door high enough to shove a toolbox under it, but then Locke gets ideasy, and decides to slide himself under the door. But OH NOES! the door crumples the toolbox and crushes Locke’s legs. The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh, Locke? “Henry Gale” stacks a bunch of weights under the door to keep it from completely coming down on Locke. Which, you know, was a nice thing to do, right?
Just to make things more fun, the computer is set to go off soon. And not only is Locke unable to do anything about it, but the computer is behind a blast door, too. Which seems like a bit of a design flaw — although, I suppose if one knew the protocol, one would have had plenty of time to get to the computer room before the doors went down. But still. Locke gives “Henry Gale” instructions for the computer, and urges him to climb through the vent in the pantry to get to the dome. However, “Henry Gale,” in the process of climbing the shelves to get to the vent, falls and knocks himself out. Things just aren’t going in Locke’s favor.
But not too much later, “Henry Gale” comes to and manages to successfully climb into the vent and disappear into the dome as Locke listens to the alarm become increasingly louder and more urgent. The alarm suddenly stops, the numbers flip, but then? The lights all go out, black lights turn on, and Locke is suddenly facing an elaborate map of all the hatches written in Day-Glo ink!
Locke takes in as much as he can, and then the lights come back on, and the blast door lifts off of Locke (OUCH). Locke drags himself to the computer room, looking for “Henry Gale” who isn’t anywhere to be found. Uh oh. But just as Locke is getting panicky, who should show up behind him, but “Henry Gale.” He helps Locke up, and Locke thanks “Henry Gale” for not leaving him. OH, LOCKE.
As “Henry Gale” helps Locke to the couch, he explains that he entered the numbers, the timer started flipping back, and he headed back to the vent to return to Locke. That’s when the lights went out — he didn’t do a thing to make the blast doors go up. Locke asks “Henry Gale” if he thinks it was all random, and “Henry Gale” is like, beats me, dude. Your hatch.
This is when Jack, Sayid, and Ana-Lucia enter. And they’re ticked. It seems that Sayid wasn’t satisfied by merely finding the balloon and the grave — he dug the grave up. And whaddya know, but it wasn’t a woman buried there at all. Nope. There was a man. And his name was Henry Gale.
See? It says so right here on his driver’s license.
BUSTED.
When the episode first aired, the big takeaway was the blast door map. So exciting! What did it say? Were there any important clues to be found? Well, yes and no. In retrospect, the biggest take away from the map is the giant “?” in the center, which obviously plays an important role in upcoming episodes. It’s not coincidental that it’s the largest and most obvious element that even the most casual viewer who doesn’t take the time to pause her DVR to obsess over every little detail, can catch. That said, there are a handful of other pieces that are very interesting about the map:
- The Flame makes its first appearance
- There are suggestions of other unnamed hatches for the first time, all of which seem to radiate off of the center “?” station
- Some sort of incident happened in 1985, involving “AH/MGD” ? (Alvar Hanso? and who else?)
- Something called “Cerberus” had a catastrophic malfunction (could this be Smokey?)
- There is a suspected “shut down” date of 10.28.84, but of what?
However, the ultimate truth of the map is that it might not be particularly reliable. At this point, we have no idea who created it, and why. How much of the information is accurate? Is it all a ruse of some sort? How much use is it really, and what was the artist’s intention?
And here’s the thing. Yes, yes, the map is valuable in its own right, and I’m not giving it enough credit with being a valuable tool, especially at this point in the story when we still knew so little about the fate of DHARMA or the other hatches, and so on and so forth. And the map was used in a number of other sources including as a puzzle, and in the videogame Via Domus. Both sources reveal new information.
But here’s the thing; it’s difficult to worry too much about these items, as I am of the belief that no one clue that could open up a central mystery of the show should or would be hidden in extra materials. Perhaps I’m being idealistic and giving the creators too much credit for not being blinded by merchandising greed. But one of the reasons that I don’t give the puzzle or the video game, or even the blast door map in the episode too much attention, at least in the minutia, is that I believe, deep down, while the easter eggs are great fun, they will only give you hints to the big answers, not the answers themselves.
But, like I said, maybe I’m just being idealistic.
And this isn’t to say that I think the map is worthless! No! To the contrary! I think it’s HUGELY important! But — and this is going to shock you, I’m sure — I think its true importance is as a symbol. When the blast door traps Locke, he quite literally becomes illuminated.
John Locke becomes enlightened. Locke may not comprehend much, and he may not have absorbed all the information available on the map, but while he was pinned down, suffering, he was graced with secret knowledge. He is the the only one that knows about the map; it’s almost as though he has been initiated into a secret mystery cult, privy to information that is not available to most.
From Wikipedia.com:
Esotericism or Esoterism is a term with two basic meanings. In the dictionary sense of the term, it signifies the holding of esoteric opinions, and derives from the Greek ἐσωτερικός (esôterikos), a compound of ἔσω (esô): “within”, thus “pertaining to the more inward”, mystic. Its antonym is exoteric. In the scholarly literature, the term designates a series of historically related religious currents including Gnosticism, Hermetism, magic, astrology, alchemy, Rosicrucianism, the Christian Theosophy of Jacob Böhme and his followers, Illuminism, Mesmerism, Swedenborgianism, Spiritualism, and the theosophical currents associated with Helena Blavatsky and her followers. There are competing views regarding the common traits uniting these currents, none of which involve “inwardness”, mystery or secrecy as a crucial trait. Esoteric knowledge, in the dictionary (non-scholarly) sense, is thus that which is available only to a narrow circle of “enlightened”, “initiated”, or specially educated people.
And it’s almost as though Locke has been chosen to receive this knowledge for some other purpose. But what? Again, we’re headed to a place where it’s difficult to talk about this episode without discussing what comes next, so let’s just jump in with both feet. Mr. Eko later has his own revelatory moment, when his brother appears to him and tells him to help John, and Mr. Eko demands that Locke take him to “the question mark.”
This leads to events that ultimately test Locke, and test his faith in his purpose there on the island. But this moment is part of Locke’s initiation, part of (but not completely) his apotheosis, a moment (not the moment) when his consciousness and understanding of the island expands.
Interestingly, in the first season, Locke had a similar moment, in “Deus Ex Machina.” In that episode, the island shows Locke the vision of Boone and the plane, etc., etc., and it takes Locke’s use of his legs away. In “Further Instructions,” Locke is again given a vision, but he loses his voice. For Locke to receive knowledge, it appears he must be disabled in some fashion. In shamanism, one is initiated as a shaman after having experienced some sort of serious illness or injury. The injury or illness is the event that sets the shaman apart from the ordinary, it is what transforms him. For Locke, every time he receives some knowledge from the island, his legs literally go out from under him.
Interesting.
Of course, the loss of Locke’s ability to walk corresponds to what we’ve discussed all season; the characters’ reversals of fortune. All the ground they made in the first season is for naught, it would seem. Sayid tortures, Sawyer cons, Kate runs and Locke can’t walk. Again.
And it’s interesting that this physical reversal corresponds to an emotional one for Locke, both in the flashback and the events on the island. In both the flashback and in the hatch, Locke blindly trusts. Locke places his trust in men whom he absolutely should not trust. And why? Because they make him think that they are placing their trust in him.
Cooper suggests that Locke has the option to take his money and run, but that he trusts that Locke will not do that. “Henry Gale,” or Fenry (Fake Henry), in the meantime, asks for Locke’s word to protect him, insinuating that 1. he’s innocent, and 2. he trusts Locke. Now, both men, Cooper and Fenry, live up to their word to Locke. Cooper gives Locke his share of the cash, and Fenry enters the numbers into the computer. Regardless, this is the old Locke, this is the easily conned Locke, desperate to not be abandoned, desperate for his father’s love. When he is so grateful for Fenry staying with him when he had the opportunity to run, Locke has become once again that pathetic crippled sap that he once was.
And again we’ve returned to a couple of our big themes: cons and abandonment. Jack cons the conman in the poker game; Cooper is pulling multiple cons, what with his “death,” the con on Jimmy Bane, and something of a con on Locke, pretending to care about Locke and to feel remorse for stealing his kidney; and Fenry’s entire persona is a con. And Locke’s fear of abandonment after having been abandoned by his parents multiple times, and then the love of his life, shapes his relationship with Fenry.
Of course, both of these themes are overarching in the series, with the O6 having abandoned the island and those on it; and the elaborate con that they, and others, are pulling on the outside world regarding the island.
The other recurring theme that they play with in this episode is the empty coffin, the death that isn’t. Like Cooper’s coffin in the flashback, Christian’s coffin on the island was empty when Jack finally found it in “White Rabbit.”
Furthermore, you have the dead who are not dead, like Niki and Paulo, (and Jin) and you have the dead who won’t go away like Charlie and Boone. And Yemi. And Ana Lucia. And Christian. On Lost, death is not the end of the story. And with a coffin, you need to check it before you bury it, because chances are? It’s empty. Unless Locke’s in it. In which case, you’re going to want to empty it.
And all of this can be tied to what I think is the most important line in the episode, if not the series, even though it was a throw-away line by Hurley: “LOOP, DUDE. LOOP.” I know, I know, there is a strong possibility that I’m very VERY wrong, but I’m sticking to my guns here, and will continue to argue that there is some kind of time loopiness going on with the island. It’s less of a stretch now that we’ve had Desmond running around in time, and the island has poof! disappeared somewhere (sometime?) but whatever.
What’s key is the image of the loop, a circle, a closed, fixed O. (And I know I’ve mentioned it about a bamillion times, but the original title of the pilot episode was “The Circle.”) The way time is imagined in the show is complicated, but also kind of beautifully simple.
Time is immutable. And all time is now. Therefore the dead are never really gone, the coffin is empty, our father is always with us. But perhaps more importantly, if time is immutable, and we can’t change the past — except to create a closed loop as Desmond does in “The Constant” — we must let go of the past. We must move forward, and not regress in a futile attempt to change what has happened.
At this moment in the story, Locke and Jack and Sayid and Sawyer and, well, just about everyone, is looking backwards, moving backwards. But it’s a fruitless exercise. Just as in this episode, Locke is locked in the past: he risks his relationship with Helen to chase after his father’s attention, just as he does in “Orientation”. (And there is something to be noted here about how neither Locke nor Jack can maintain a healthy relationship because of an inability to let go, and that perhaps it’s part of their destiny, but I’m distracting myself.) Locke thinks that by repeating past mistakes, he can change something, will win his father’s love. By helping his father retrieving his money, maybe this time his father won’t abandon him like he did the last time Locke did a hugely dangerous favor for him when he gave him his kidney. But you can’t change the past, and the more you try, the more you’re doomed to repeat it.
Loop, dude. Loop.
Hey! Have you received your DHARMA sneak peek? AWESOME.
AWESOMEAWESOMEAWESOME.That is all.
Lost originally aired on ABC and is now available to stream on Hulu and IMDb.
This post originally appeared on the Hearst site Tubular.