4.11 - Cabin Fever

Title’s significance: Get it? Like Jacob’s cabin! Except we might also connect it to Captain Gault’s theory about his boaters having extreme cabin fever, if we want to ascribe Keamy’s irrational behavior to that and not to him just being bonkers.

Recap: Flashbacks remind us that Locke is special – so special, in fact, that Richard Alpert visited him several times, at his premature birth and during his childhood, administering a curious test which Locke seems to have failed; after being paralyzed, Locke was visited by Matthew Abaddon, who encouraged him to go on a walkabout and promised to see him again. On island, Locke, Ben, and Hurley argue over who knows where Jacob’s cabin is. Keamy returns to the freighter, pissed that Freighter Prisoner Michael (variant action figure) sold him out and even more pissed that he can’t seem to kill Michael. Locke dreams of Horace Goodspeed, stuck on a loop in the jungle; following his dream, Locke goes to the mass Dharma grave, reveals the truth about it to Hurley, and finds a map to the cabin. Meanwhile, Keamy accesses the secondary protocol while Sayid convinces Gault to assist a rescue mission; Frank frees Michael as Sayid returns to the island (Desmond stays behind). When Frank refuses to fly Keamy back, Keamy kills the doctor and Gault, convincing Frank to assent, but on the way Frank drops a pack with a tracker in it, which the survivors promptly find. At Jacob’s cabin, Ben finally concedes that Locke is the new chosen one, so he and Hurley wait outside while Locke enters; inside, he encounters Christian, who’s chilling with Claire and who tells Locke that he needs to move the island to save it.

Thoughts: Locke-centric episodes are almost always my favorites, and even though this one wasn’t written by Damon & Carlton (where were they this season?) I really enjoyed it nonetheless. This is due in large part to being one of the better “get our characters into place” episodes, but it’s also because this episode joined my three favorite characters together and revealed that they’re like a highly dysfunctional and distrustful family. And if I were to make a DVD of “Ten Episodes that Prove that Locke is The Chosen One,” this would make the list for sure. Episodes like this one make me want to stay up until three in the morning watching LOST.

Favorite moment: Ben shrugs off shooting Locke, saying, “I really wasn’t thinking clearly.” That, or Hurley sharing his candy bar with Ben. Probably that one. It's such an odd moment, but it's so striking since the most evil character on the show is sharing something with the most genial one; it's also brilliantly acted by Michael Emerson, who's the undisputed king of pregnant pauses.

Characters introduced (in order):

• MRS. LOCKE, Locke’s grandmother
• MR. GELLERT, Locke’s science teacher

What we learned:

• Locke was born three months premature.
• Horace built Jacob’s cabin.
• At one time, Ben had dreams that gave him guidance, but now Locke is having those dreams.
• Baby Locke was invincible.
• Locke drew a picture of the smoke monster when he was a child.
• Ben didn’t decide to initiate The Purge; their leader did.
• It was Abaddon’s idea (perhaps Widmore’s) for Locke to go on a walkabout.
• Abaddon went on a walkabout once.
• Keamy kills/killed Doctor Ray and Captain Gault.
• Christian is not Jacob, but he can speak for him.

Questions:

• How did Richard Alpert know when Locke was going to be born?
• What was Richard’s test supposed to prove about Locke?
• Which items “already” belonged to Locke?
• Who led The Others before Ben?
• What is the secondary protocol?
• What’s the nature of the device strapped to Keamy?
• What was Matthew Abaddon’s miracle?
• Will Locke and Abaddon ever meet up again?
• How can one move the island?
• Was that really Claire in the cabin?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Richard remarks of Locke’s dexterity at backgammon, “You seem to know the game pretty well.” Knowing that backgammon on the show is already a symbol of good and evil, just how in tune with the whole good/evil battle is Locke, and which side is he on?
• “There are consequences to being chosen... because destiny is a fickle bitch.”
• Jacob. Cabin. Christian.