2.02 - Adrift

Title’s significance: Michael and Sawyer are, quite literally, adrift after the raft’s destruction.

Recap: Flashbacks cover Michael’s uphill attempt to gain custody of Walt, culminating in his letting Walt go. After the raft’s explosion, Sawyer and Michael latch onto some driftwood while Jin drifts away, but there are sharks in the water. Michael and Sawyer feud over who’s to blame for Walt’s disappearance; Sawyer theorizes that the boat that took Walt came from the island. Michael kills a shark while Sawyer retrieves one of the raft pontoons, which they use to sail ashore; back on the island, they find Jin and several armed folks to whom Jin refers as “Others.” At the hatch, Desmond asks Locke if he’s “him”; Locke says he is but doesn’t know the answer to Desmond’s security question. He tells Desmond that Kate is dangerous and gains his trust while tying up Kate and stuffing her in the closet; Kate cuts herself loose and finds out the closet is a fully-loaded supply room while Locke tells Desmond about the plane crash. Locke learns that Desmond must type the numbers into the computer every 108 minutes, as Jack enters the hatch (as we saw last episode). At the camp, Claire finds Charlie’s Virgin Mary statue, and he gets defensive about it.

Thoughts: This episode was a good follow-up to “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” but it allowed itself to slow down a bit more and prolong the mysteries surrounding the coming season. While the episode is paced more leisurely, the momentum is still high, especially with the episode ending, which reveals, for the first time, Others (or so we think).

Favorite moment: Sawyer’s “Well, I’ll just stop bleedin’ then!” and his Jack Bauer-like method of removing a bullet from his own shoulder – with his bare hands.

Characters introduced (in order):

• FINNEY, Michael’s not-so-hotshot lawyer (was Barry Zuckercorn busy?)

What we learned:

• Something called DHARMA was involved in the construction of the hatch.
• Charlie always tries to be funny when he doesn’t want to answer a question.
• The boat that abducted Walt had to have come from the island.
• There’s a full supply room in the hatch.
• Desmond must type the numbers into the computer every 108 minutes.
• According to Susan, Walt likes bears.

Questions:

• What is DHARMA?
• Who did Desmond think Locke was?
• What did one snowman say to the other snowman?
• Why is Desmond so interested in the timetable of the plane crash?
• Why would The Others want Walt?
• Why would Desmond think that the world doesn’t exist anymore?
• Does Desmond ever leave the hatch?
• Why does Desmond have to type in the numbers?
• Are those really The Others?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• This episode establishes what’s going to be the backbone for the rest of this show by introducing The DHARMA Initiative into the story. Right now, it’s just an octagonal logo, but DHARMA eventually dominates the fifth season. What role will The DHARMA Initiative play in Season Six, and will we ever find out just what they were doing on the island?