Episode Report Card Daniel: B- | 0 USERS: N/A YOU GRADE IT Orientation
By Daniel | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on October 4, 2005
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.So the hatch is a âcommuno-research compound,â the Dharma Initiative, the brainchild of B.F. Skinner devotees from the University of Michigan (Wolverines suck!) for studying meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology (polar bears fighting!) and, um, how a man can survive when his only entertainment is Mama Cass records and old Apple II games (âGO W: You cannot go that way. SCREW THIS: I donât know how to screwâ). But like drug deals in action movies, things went wrong. This hatch is Station 3, to study the islandâs unique electromagnetic properties. The nice scientician on the orientation film says there was an âincidentâ but doesnât say what it was, just explains that when the alarm sounds, the code must be entered into the computer. Lockeâs all, cool! Sign me up! But Jack thinks itâs all garbage, and when a stray bullet from Desmondâs gun breaks the computer, Desmond takes off running, leaving the Lostaways to figure out what to do. Sayid and Hurley are brought back to the hatch, Sayid to fix the computer and Hurley hopefully not so they can set up âfat guy eats all the food in the pantryâ plotlines or âeveryone thinks fat guy ate all the food in the pantry but really he didnât and everybody learns a valuable lessonâ plotlines. Jack and Locke have an annoying fight about faith, with Locke insisting Jack push the button, and Jack refusing, until the last moment, like that proves anything. Michael, Jin and Sawyer are thrown in a pit by a huge guy whose name is probably not Adebisi. Michael tries everything: âHey!â and âWhereâs my boy!â and âEm City represent!â but nothing works. Girlfighter Michelle Rodriguez gets thrown in with them to gain their trust, which they do, since sheâs another survivor, but turns out sheâs helping the Adebisians. In the flashbacks, Locke follows eight simple rules for boinking Peg Bundy, and stalks his kidney-stealing asshole of a father. It ends badly. But Locke flashbacks generally rule, and these are reliably good, but hey. You guys had me with the combover. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Just want to point out, off the top, that the shot of "the Others" on the beach is a different one than we supposedly saw "previously" on Lost. I hate when shows do that. This one's less silhouetty, and they're not advancing. Just standing there, all Warriors-like, glaring at Michael, Jin, and Sawyer.We pick up right there this week, with the lead Other (let's assume, as he's the biggest, the meanest-looking, and he's in front) hopping down from the rock the group is standing on and striding towards our heroes. He's played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who played model prisoner Adebisi on Oz, so until I learn his actual name, Otherbisi it is. He's carrying a rather large, round stick, and when Sawyer gets up, Otherbisi gives him a Barry Bonds across the jaw. Former cellmate Michael "Augustus Hill" Dawson gets no love either, with a one-two combination in the gut and the back, and Jin gets clubbed with a rather frightening-looking Otherbisi bringing down an overhand skull-cracker.
Now our heroes are being dragged through the jungle in nets. As far as the theory that the Others (if these are the Others Rousseau warned about) are descendants of the slaves from the Black Rock, there appears to be a blonde woman and at least another white or possibly Asian woman dragging the guys. Michael, Jin, and Sawyer are thrown into brush-covered holes in a clearing in the jungle. Michael groggily says, "Where's my boy," and gets louder at Otherbisi, who's looking down into the pit. "What'd you do with my boy?" yells Michael, although I don't think any of these Others were on the biker gang pirate ship. Otherbisi drops the brush cover back down on the pit and walks away while Michael futilely yells for him to come back.
How many times do we have to see the Desmond/Jack standoff? I've seen this as often as I've seen The Big Lebowski, and no points for guessing which one I enjoy more. "Do you want him to die?" and "Is this what you were talking about, Locke?" and all that. Locke gets the "we're going to flashback with this guy" shot, so this is promising.
There's Locke, with a pretty stellar comb-over. Excellent. This episode gets an A-plus right here. He's in what appears to be an Al-Anon meeting, or maybe just some sort of group therapy session. Some sad young woman is talking about her mother stealing her money again, thirty dollars this time (Locke rudely checks his watch), when she wants a drink, and says, "I know it may not seem like a lot of money to some of you, but it's a lot to me.