2.17 - Lockdown

Title’s significance: The Swan goes into lockdown mode in this episode; it’s also a pun because the incident pins Locke to the ground – “Locke-down.”

Recap: In Locke’s flashbacks, he attends the funeral of his father, only to learn that his father faked his own death; when his father asked him for help in retrieving some money he stole, Locke complies, but Helen finds out and refuses to marry him. Back at the hatch, Henry says he was just joking about the ambush but continues to try to play Locke against Jack; the searchers find a grave right under the smiley-face balloon. When Locke hears strange noises coming from the speakers in The Swan, he begins to investigate, and The Swan suddenly goes into lockdown. Locke enlists Henry’s help, at the price of promising his safety; they pry the blast door up, but it falls and crushes Locke’s leg. Meanwhile, Jack’s playing cards with Sawyer, with the medicine cache as the wager, and he wins. Pinned, Locke sends Henry to the computer to push the button; black lights come on and reveal an intricate map painted on the blast door, but when they go out, Locke sees that Henry didn’t flee, though he claims he did nothing to end the lockdown beyond enter the numbers. In the jungle, Jack and Kate find a Dharma supply drop just as the searchers return; they’ve found Henry Gale’s balloon, but they also found the real Henry Gale’s grave. So who is this guy?

Thoughts: Damon & Carlton, Locke & Henry. Do I need to say anything else at this point?

Favorite moment: It’s got to be when the blast door map is revealed. Only possible competition is the moment when Sayid reveals who the real Henry Gale is.

Characters introduced (in order):

• No new characters introduced, except the two men that are looking for Anthony Cooper

What we learned:

• Locke owned a home inspection business called “Welcome Home,” where he met Nadia and inspected her house.
• Anthony Cooper stole $700,000 and had to fake his own death.
• Jack learned to play cards in Thailand.
• A map painted on the blast door shows a slew of hatches all around an octagonal shape.
• Locke asked Helen to marry him, but she refused.
• “Henry Gale” isn’t really Henry Gale.

Questions:

• What caused The Swan to go into lockdown?
• What was Jack doing in Thailand?
• Who painted the blast door map?
• What does the blast door map show?
• So who is this guy calling himself Henry Gale?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Jack tells Locke, “What’s done IS done.” Could this be a reference to the Jughead bomb not having worked?
• This episode sets up Locke and Henry as foils for each other; they could very well have been brothers in another life. There’s a long-running connection between the two of them, right down to the fact that their mothers have the same first name. What’s going to be the end result of this connection?
• I get the feeling there are all kinds of things hidden on the blast door map. For that reason, I’m linking to Lostpedia’s hi-res image of the blast door map.