Episode Report Card LTG: B- | 17 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Meet Kevin Johnson
By LTG | Season 4 | Episode 8 | Aired on 03.20.2008
I guess the big meeting is over, because Locke is leading Miles away from the cabin. Did they decide on a course of action, or did Locke just call them together to tell them they're all doomed? Sawyer follows them and asks Locke why he's still keeping secrets. He's referring to the enormous bribe that Miles requested from Ben to tell the Boaties that he's dead. Locke claims he didn't mention it because he knew Ben was already over the limit on his ATM withdrawals and wouldn't be able to get the money. Miles laughs -- he's certain Ben will find a way to get the money. Sawyer: "And how will he do that?" Miles: "He wants to survive. And considering a week ago you had a gun to his head and tonight he's eating pound cake, I'd say he's a guy who gets what he wants." Man, we never have pound cake at my neighborhood association meetings.
Back in the house, Ben is creepily watching Alex playing with Aaron (the baby formerly known as Turniphead). Everyone else is leaving the house. There are pictures of Alex on the walls -- does this mean Locke let Ben live in his old house? Even though he knew there were all kinds of secret cubbyholes around the place? Alex, Karl, and Rousseau are the last to leave. Ben calls out to Alex as she approaches the door, and all three of them turn to hear what he has to say. Alex, by the way, is looking totally glam. It seems that she visited the Craphole Island Salon, because her hair is looking incredibly full and shiny, and her makeup is just perfect. It's too bad she used up all the conditioner and left none for Rousseau -- her hair is still looking like a nest. Rousseau doesn't think they're interested in anything Ben has to say. But after Ben gives Alex a map of the way to the temple and tells her to flee there to avoid the Boaties' impending assault, Rousseau changes her mind and agrees with him. She's swayed by the idea that the Boaties would love to use Alex to get to Ben.
It's morning on the boat. Sayid and Desmond are on the deck, where Sayid has just found out from a crewmember that Michael is in the engine room. They find him there with another crew-type dude, fixing (or pretending to fix) the engines. Sayid feeds them the line that the captain sent them to help with the repairs. Michael sends his partner off to the supply room to get a pressure valve. After he leaves, Sayid throws Michael up against a piece of machinery and tells him to explain why he's on the boat, starting from the beginning.
And now it's the mother of all flashbacks. Michael is sitting in a crappy apartment in a big city. There's water dripping in the sink; that's a sure sign of squalor and depression. There are also unwashed dishes, so we know he's really hurting. Michael is writing something on a steno pad -- maybe it's a to-do list for all the cleaning he needs to take care of. He nearly tears up when he spots a picture of himself with baby Waaaaaaalt. He tears a piece of paper off the pad, exits the apartment, and gets into a car. He turns on the radio. Hey, it's the return of Mama Cass! Instead of "Make Your Own Kind of Music," the song is "It's Getting Better." Michael pins the piece of paper to his jacket. And then he starts the car and drives really fast down the empty streets, until he comes to some kind of dock or warehouse area. He speeds up and deliberately crashes the car into a cargo container. The screen goes black for a second, and then we see the remains of the wreckage. Mama Cass keeps on singing about how things are getting better every day. I'm not sure she would appreciate this ironic use of her music. But then again, she might be too busy choking on ham sandwiches to care. Commercials.