Episode Report Card LTG: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Can't Keep A Dead Hobbit Down
By LTG | Season 4 | Episode 1 | Aired on 01.30.2008
Back on the beach, Juliet digs a grave for one of the dead Others (Tom, I think). And Hurley and Bernard contemplate the ocean. Hurley tells Bernard about having won the lottery, and then expresses some relief that by the time they get back to civilization, his vast riches are likely to have already been divided up by his family. And then Hurley tells Bernard that he wants to do a cannonball. Having received Bernard's permission, he makes a slow motion run to the ocean and jumps in. I kind of expected him to run into Charlie's corpse in the ocean, but instead he just turns around to see that Desmond and his boat have arrived back at the beach.
On the beach, Desmond is telling Sayid, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, and Bernard that they can't let Jack contact the boat. He freaks out when Sawyer tells him that the call has already been placed. Hurley walks into the argument, and keeps asking where Charlie is until Desmond finally notices him and tells him that Charlie is dead.
Back at the tower, the satellite phone rings. It's Ed McMahon, calling to let Hurley know that he won some more money. No, not really. It's the guys on the boat -- they're having trouble locking in on the signal, and they need someone to "rejigger" some of the settings on the phone. (That's a technical term.) The boat guy asks for Naomi, and Jack lies and says she went to get some firewood. And then Kate notices that Naomi's corpse is gone. Jack hangs up on his rescuer. Rude. He walks up to Ben, who must have seen what happened to Naomi's body, and asks where she is. Ben gives one of his patented smart-ass non-answers. Commercials.
Back at the beach, Hurley is stunned over news of Charlie's death, while everyone else argues over whether they should radio Jack to warn him about the boat not being Penny's. Sayid makes the very logical point that radioing Jack would likely also tip off the people on the boat that they know what's up, since they can no doubt pick up the transmission. Sawyer announces that since he has the radio, he'll make the call. So Hurley grabs the radio and tosses it into the ocean. That settles that.
At the tower, Rousseau tells Jack that she found a trail of Naomi's blood, and that she must have crawled away. Gee, it's too bad they don't have a trained medical professional who might have examined Naomi to figure out whether she was dead or whether her wounds could be treated. Rousseau thinks Naomi couldn't have more than a ten-minute head start, so they should go after her right away. Jack agrees, but announces that they are going to take Ben with them, because he doesn't want that silver-tongued deceiver left alone with any other Lostaways. Apparently, only Jack is smart enough not to be manipulated by Ben. HA! Sorry, I just couldn't keep that one in. Jack then tells the other Lostaways to head back to the beach so the boat guys can find them more easily. As everyone else wanders off, Kate runs up to him and tells him that she found Naomi's trail. Jack tells her that Rousseau already found the trail, and Kate wonders if it's the right one, pointing out that Naomi might have created a dummy trail for them to follow; Kate thinks they should follow both trails. I'm not sure why she leapt to the conclusion that there are two trails, rather than assuming that she and Rousseau found the same one, but whatever. Jack dismisses her concerns in a rather patronizing way, and sends her back to the beach with everyone else. She gives him a big hug, and Ben looks like he just saw something very interesting. He must not be used to the sight of human affection.