Tunisia; Day: Locke is carried into a clinic, yelling in pain. He calms down and asks where he is. A doctor rushes to his side, but speaks in Arabic, so I don't know what he's saying. My guess is that Locke doesn't either. (The wee Locke in my desk says, "I grew up in Tustin, California in foster care. Do you think I had a chance to learn Arabic, Cindy?") Locke continues to ask questions, including if anyone speaks English, but they don't answer him. The doctor gets some pills from a medicine chest, sticks them in Locke's mouth and says, "You swallow." Hey! Oh. Locke, woozy from the pain, looks around. He spies his old orderly Matthew Abaddon just watching. His presence understandably inspires Locke to again ask, "Where are we?" The doctor ignores his questions and has him bite down on a piece of wood while he resets the compound fracture on his leg. Locke screams as well as one can when one has a stick stuck in one's mouth and tied to the back of one's head, then his vision starts to blur, he loses depth perception and finally passes out from the pain. Me too.
When I come to (dear me, I just found on proofing that I missed that "to"), the wee Locke who lives in my desk drawer is lying on my mouse pad, about to puke, but I tell him to swallow it down like a man. We jump to the evening and when TV Locke wakes, it is because Charles Widmore is sitting by his bedside in this clinic/hospital/torture chamber, waking him. Let the poor bugger sleep as long as he can. Shudder. Locke looks down at his leg to see it in a nice, white cast. Widmore explains that the doctors "here" did their best with his compound fracture, but Widmore flew in a specialist to reset the leg. He pours Locke some water and says it's nice to see him again. Locke says, "Do I know you?"
Widmore chuckles and says he understands Locke's confusion. "I met you when I was 17 and now all these years later, here we are. You look exactly the same." He finally says "My name is Charles Widmore, prepare to die" once Locke asks. He's gobsmacked to learn it's only been four days in Locke's time since he walked into their camp and spoke to Richard. Locke figures out that the camera in the desert is Widmore's and so Charles explains, "That's the exit. I was afraid Benjamin might fool you into leaving the island, like he did with me. I was their leader." When Locke asks if Widmore means the Others, Widmore corrects him. "They're not the others to me. They're my people." Hmm. Locke said something similar this season too, when explaining to Sawyer why he didn't shoot young Widmore, after he snapped his comrade's neck to keep him from talking. Widmore says, "We protected the island peacefully for more than three decades. But then I was exiled by him... just as you were." Locke explains he wasn't exiled. Ben was already gone when he left Craphole. He stresses that he chose to leave. Widmore tries to pump him for information. "Why would you do that, John? You've come to bring them back -- the ones who left?" Locke's a lousy liar, but he gives it a go, shaking his head and finally saying no. Widmore says he understands why Locke is lying to him, but wants him to know: " All your friends who left the island? They've been back three years... And they've gone back to their normal lives, and none of them has spoken a word of truth about where they were." He hands Locke a copy of the London Daily Tribune which is sporting a big headline: "OCEANIC SIX SURVIVORS RECEIVE HEROES WELCOME." And you know, the big lie never makes much sense to me except for when Jack's explaining it and he's not explaining it right now, but am I wrong to think (judging by Locke's expression, I mean) that Locke sees this as some sort of betrayal? It seems that way. He's going to do everything in his power to help Locke on his quest to bring them back because there's a war coming, and if Locke isn't there, the "wrong side" will win. Who's more evil -- Ben or Widmore? Right now, I'm inclined to go with Desmond's theory that this is all a game and they're treating the Losties like pieces. It's driving me batty that I can't pick a side, here.
up, claiming that he worked for Oceanic Air. He's evil! You should not be trusting that guy." Locke, Hurley's general instincts may be no better than yours, but his moral compass is a precision-tuned instrument in comparison to your own, so lay off your quest for a mo' and hear the man out. Locke can't though. Locke tries to make his sale. Hurley stands up in a panic. "No, no, no! I'm not listening to you!" He puts his fingers in his ears. "La, la, la, la, la. I wanna go back in. I wanna go back in... No, I'm not going anywhere with you! Go away! Bye! Get out of here!" Two attendants lead him back inside.In the car, Abaddon reminds Locke he's had three failures now (and that's just at this latest quest). He tells him to step up his game or, "We're all in trouble." Locke asks Matthew what he does for Widmore. Abaddon smiles. "You're ready to talk about it now, huh? John, you're not really gonna pretend you don't remember that I was an orderly in the hospital right after your accident? That I was the one who told you to go on your walkabout? The same walkabout that put you on the plane that crashed on that island?" Locke admits to remembering. "I help people get to where they need to get to, John. That's what I do for Mr. Widmore."
Los Angeles, CA; Daytime; Kate's Place; Whenever: Kate refuses to return to the island with Locke. He thinks she doesn't get that everyone's in danger, but Kate doesn't give him a direct answer. Instead, she asks if he's ever been in love and reminds him how desperate (and she says it in italics and everything) he was to stay on the island. She says she finally realized it was because he didn't love anyone. Locke tells her a little about Helen, whom he loved. When she asks why it didn't work out, Locke chalks it up to anger and obsession. Kate replies, "And look how far you've come." Meeee-ow. Is this National Shit on Locke Month? I mean, I get why nobody wants to go back to Craphole -- it's Craphole for cry-yi-yi, and I even get why that might make them somewhat hostile to Locke, but what's with this gang of misfits with checkered, angry, violent, mournful pasts and not particularly perfect presents getting all high horse and tactless in the process? Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one. Yeah, I realize I just totally ignored the context of that verse. Sick kids. Busy weekend. Possibly sick me. You parents out there feel me, right? When your child is sick, that takes up more of your mind than you realize until you try to use that mind, and since I couldn't get that verse out of my head until I typed it out -- well, tag, you're it.