Episode Report Card LTG: B- | 0 USERS: N/A YOU GRADE IT Meet Kevin Johnson
By LTG | Season 4 | Episode 8 | Aired on March 20, 2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.It's old home week on Lost. Sayid confronts Michael and forces him to tell the story of how he came to be on the boat. It seems that after he left the island, he destroyed his relationship with his son by telling him that he killed Libby and Ana Lucia. Despondent, he tries to kill himself, "tries" being the operative word. He survives, only to be haunted by visions of Libby and visited by a not-yet-dead Tom (who claims that Widmore is actually behind the faked wreckage of Oceanic 815). Tom tells him that the only way he'll redeem himself for his murderous ways is to destroy the freighter, preventing the Boaties from killing everyone on the island. Michael signs on to the boat's crew, and his resolve is strengthened when he sees Keamy and the other tough guys gleefully planning mayhem. Michael sets a bomb he was given by Tom, but it fails to go off. Why? Because, as Ben tells him in a phone call, there are some innocent people on the boat who don't deserve to die -- Michael's mission is to allow those innocent people to get away before killing everyone else.
After hearing this story, Sayid smacks Michael around, drags him to the captain's office, and turns him in as a traitor.
Meanwhile, on the island, Ben convinces Rousseau to take Alex and Carl to the Temple to keep them safe from the Boaties' impending attack. But along the way, they are attacked by snipers. Who kill Carl. And then Rousseau. Noooooooo!!! Alex, who clearly learned a thing or two about survival from Ben, seems to save herself from being killed by shouting out that she's Ben's daughter (and therefore a nice hostage). Want more? The full recap starts right below!
A cab pulls up at the pier where the freighter is docked. Michael gets out and walks up to the boat. Minkowski greets him and asks him if he's the engineer. Michael tells him he's just the deckhand. Minkowski: "Well, we're all equals on this boat." Yes, equally liable to get beat up by the captain. George welcomes Michael aboard and sends him to check in with Naomi. They engage small talk, and then she tells him that a crate was delivered for him. Michael walks up the gangway and passes Miles. Miles tells him that his name isn't Kevin, and then reassures him that most of the people on the boat are lying about something. Michael's cell phone rings. It's Tom, calling to check in. Tom can sense that Michael is developing sympathy for the human beings he's meeting on the boat, so he lays on a guilt trip about how all of Michael's friends will die if he doesn't do what Tom tells him to. Michael commits to going through with it. And then Tom tells him to ditch the phone.The boat's in the open water, and Michael's on the deck. He overhears Frank and Naomi arguing about who will fly the first mission on the chopper. Naomi leaves, and Frank walks over and introduces himself to Michael. As they make small talk, Frank tells Michael that he's on the boat because he knows that the plane crash was faked and he's hoping to find survivors. He also claims that Widmore also believes that the plane is still out there somewhere.
Michael is in his berth contemplating the crate, which he still hasn't opened. He doesn't seem able to work up the nerve to open it. Later, Michael is on deck doing some deckhanding. He hears some shooting, and sees Keamy and some other toughs skeet shooting with some machine guns. Having witnessed he utter brutality that is skeet shooting, Michael decides these bastards need to be stopped. So he opens the crate and finds a plastic suitcase inside. I wonder how long it will take before he works up the nerve to open that one?
Michael walks into the engine room with the case. He opens it and we see that it contains a bomb. He anxiously sets the bomb, but just before he pushes the button to start the countdown, we hear the distant strains of "It's Getting Better." Look out, it's the ghost of Mama Cass! Except it's not -- it's actually the ghost of Libby, who appears and tells Michael not to do it. He closes his eyes and she disappears. He opens his eyes and pushes the button to start the countdown. And then he closes his eyes again. Make up your mind, Michael! He whispers that he loves Walt and waits for the explosion.