Episode Analysis of 1.05 "White Rabbit"

WARNING: If you have not already seen all of LOST, please DO NOT READ THIS.

My LOST re-watch and episode analysis will include major details from the entirety that is LOST, and will be written with the perspective of having seen everything already. You will be SPOILED if you read any further. It is far better if you learn the story of LOST for yourself, as it is meant to be seen. Trust me on this, and don't say that I didn't warn you first. Seriously. Stop it. Now. Go watch it.

To read my original post on this episode, please refer to White Rabbit.

This episode was written by Christian Taylor, and directed by Kevin Hooks. It originally aired on October 20th, 2004.

This is a Jack Shephard flashback-centric episode.

1.21 The Greater Good

1. Shannon grieves next to Boone's body. Sayid tells her that Boone was brave. From Lostpedia
2. Sayid is brought in by the CIA at Heathrow Airport to break up a terrorist cell with 300 lbs. of C4 in Sydney. They make him do it because he knows a man involved, Essam Tasir, who he went to Cairo University with, and they know where Nadia is. From Lostpedia
3. It's been 7 years since Sayid left Iraq.
4. They have a funeral for Boone. Sayid speaks about Boone trying to save Joanna. "I'll remember his courage and I know he will be missed."
5. Locke returns and tells them it was his fault, that they found a plane and Boone climbed up because his leg was injured. "It happened because he was trying to help us. He was a hero." From Lostpedia
6. Jack attacks Locke and calls him a liar in front of everyone, he tells Sayid about the hatch.
7. Sayid meets Essam in a Mosque. He tells Sayid that his wife, Zahra, was killed by a stray bomb when she was shopping.
8. Sayid finds a bugging device in smoke detector, he convinces Essam and friends that he knows about things like that.
9. "Perhaps it is not happenstance that you and Essam met at the Mosque. Perhaps it is fate." Haddad, Essam's friend.
10. Locke tells Shannon he's sorry, gives her Boone's bag and tells her he shouldn't have let him go hunting with him.
11. "He would've gone anyway." Shannon
12. Shannon asks Sayid to do something about Locke.
13. Kate drugs Jack with sleeping pills because he refuses to sleep.
14. Sayid interrogates Locke, asks about his scar, he says it's a war wound. Sayid asks about the plane, the radio, says he could use it for parts on the raft.
15. Locke takes Sayid to the plane, tells him that he isn't lying about it.
16. "I know when I'm being lied to. There's a plane." Sayid From Lostpedia
17. Essam tells Sayid that he's going to be the martyr in the operation.
18. The CIA wants Sayid to convince Essam to go through with the suicide bombing. From Lostpedia
19. Locke asks Sayid why he doesn't trust him, and Sayid calls Locke on carrying a gun without telling anyone about it. Locke tells him about the priest, Nigerian money, and the gun.
20. Locke confesses he knocked Sayid out and destroyed his equipment when he was trying to triangulate the signal to gain his trust, but it only angers him. From Lostpedia
21. "Is that a place you really want to lead people to?" Locke explains why finding the source of the distress signal was a bad idea.
22. Sayid tells Essam that he lost someone too and will participate in the bombing.
23. "Innocent lives will be lost in service of a greater good." Sayid
24. "It was fate that brought us back together." Essam
25. Sayid tells Shannon that he believes Boone's death was an accident. "I know how strong the need can be to find someone to blame." Shannon isn't satisfied with what Sayid has to say.
26. Walt is worried about going on the raft. "What if we die?"
27. Shannon steals the key for the Halliburton when Jack is sleeping.
28. Sayid reveals to Essam that he is working with the CIA, that he will give him 10 minutes to get away, but Essam turns on Sayid and then kills himself. From Lostpedia
29. Sayid saves Locke from Shannon, but Locke is still grazed by bullet.
30. Kate comforts Sayid because Shannon won't talk to him, says she just needs time.
31. "Time won't make a difference." Sayid
32. "There's always a choice." Sayid
33. Nadia is in Irvine, California. She is a lab tech at a medical testing company.
34. Sayid has his flight changed to the next day in order to claim and bury Essam.
35. Locke thanks Sayid for saving him from Shannon. "I did it because I sensed you were our best hope of surviving here."
36. Sayid demands Locke take him to the hatch, that he knew he was lying about it.

Questions:

1. Was Sayid in London at the same time as Nadia?
2. Why did Sayid say that Nadia was dead when he was on his was to see her from Sydney?
3. How did Shannon know where the Halliburton was?
4. When did Shannon learn how to use a gun?
5. Why is Locke so imperative to the island?

Favorites:

1. Charlie calls the baby Turnip Head.
2. Sayid and Essam playing football.
3. Hurley and Charlie singing I Feel Good to the baby.
4. "Hey, Chuckie, you wanna keep that kid quiet? Baby Huey's like nails on a chalkboard." Sawyer
5. "I liked that thing a lot better inside than I like it outside." Sawyer
6. Charlie following Sawyer with the baby because his voice makes Turnip Head stop crying.
7. Sayid telling Shannon that she doesn't know how to use a gun, and then she immediately shoots at the ground.
8. Sawyer reading a car magazine to the baby.

Notes:

1. Uh, Locke, maybe you should take the bloody shirt off before you confront everyone and try to convince them that you're not guilty of killing Boone.
2. Again, uh, Locke, maybe Shannon wouldn't have wanted to kill you if you hadn't gotten up and walked away right when she's in the middle of crying about her dead brother. No chick skills, Locke.
3. Even Walt is terrified by Locke in this episode.
4. Sayid saves Locke from Shannon in sacrifice of the greater good.
5. Shannon was actually going to kill Locke.

1.05 White Rabbit

From Lostpedia

1. "I don't swim!" Charlie
2. The woman who dies, drowns, is named Joanna. She wasn't supposed to be on the plane. She was scuba-diving and got an ear infection, her flight was delayed 2 days.
3. "I didn't try. I decided not to go after her." Jack
4. "I had a boy on my table today. I don't know, maybe a year younger than you. He had a bad heart. It got real hairy, real fast. Everybody's looking at your old man to make decisions, and I was able to make those decisions because at the end of the day, after the boy died, I was able to wash my hands and come home to dinner. You know, watch a little Carol Burnett, laugh until my sides hurt. And how can I do that, hmm? Even when I fail, how do I do that, Jack? Because I have what it takes. Don't choose, Jack, don't decide. You don't want to be a hero, you don't want to try and save everyone, because when you fail, you just don't have what it takes." Christian Shephard
5. "Who appointed you our saviour?" Boone
6. Jack's mom sends him to Australia to bring his dad back. They haven't spoken in 2 months.
7. 46 people now, minus Joanna and the marshal.
8. "I know where to look." Locke, about going to find water.
9. Jack, looking for his father in Sydney, wonders why he left his wallet.
10. The hotel attendant says he hasn't used the room in 3 days.
11. "Where are you?" Jack, when he's looking for his dad at the hotel in Sydney, he also says it in the jungle.
12. "A rabbit will always lead you to its hole." Sayid, about Sawyer and the stolen water.
13. "The white rabbit. Alice in wonderland." Locke, to Jack, about what he's chasing. Locke asks Jack what if he's not hallucinating seeing his father, the white rabbit.
14. "I'm an ordinary man Jack. Meat and potatoes. I live in the real world. I'm not a big believer in magic. But this place is different. It's special. The others don't want to talk about it because it scares them. But we all know it. We all feel it. Is your white rabbit a hallucination? Probably. But what if everything that happened here, happened for a reason? What if this person that you're chasing is really here?" Locke "That's impossible." Jack "Even if it is; let's say it's not." Locke "Then what happens when I catch him?" Jack "I don't know. But I've looked into the eye of this island. And what I saw was beautiful." Locke
15. "A leader can't lead until he knows where he's going." Locke, to Jack saying he's not a leader, but Locke encourages him.
16. Christian Shephard dies of a fatal heart attack at King's Cross Alley, Sydney, Australia. From Lostpedia From Lost Hatch
17. Oceanic Flight 125, non-stop flight to Singapore, over loud-speaker while Jack is talking to the woman at the desk.
18. Jack insists he has to be on the flight, landing in 16 hours.
19. Jack crying in the jungle, hears ice jingling in a glass, follows it, leads him to water, caves, luggage, and his father's empty coffin. From Lostpedia
20. They've been on the island for 6 days, waiting for rescue.
21. "It's been 6 days and we're all still waiting, waiting for someone to come, but what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you're about to crucify him? We can't do this. Every man for himself is not going to work. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. If you don't want to go come, then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now, and God knows how long we're going to be here. If we can't live together, then we're going to die alone." Jack

Questions:

1. Where is Christian Shephard's body? Is he really dead?
2. Why does Charlie say that he can't swim, but later we see him swimming?
3. When did Clarie get into astrology?

Favorites:

1. Walt brushing his teeth. Michael is so out-schooled by his 10 year old son.
2. Jack wandering into the jungle after the man he sees. "Dad?" From Lostpedia
3. "That pregnant lady fell down!" Walt
4. Charlie talking about Locke and his 400 knives.
5. "Where.. did.. you.. get.. this?" Sayid says that Sun understands him.
6. "I made this birthday wish 4 years ago." Sawyer, about Kate attacking him looking for the water.

Notes:

1. This is the first time we see Jack's unhealthy relationship with his dad. Christian adamantly telling Jack that he doesn't have what it takes makes me wonder if he really believed that, or if he was doing it because he knew that it would push Jack to prove him wrong. It also leads us to believe this is the biggest reason why Jack can never give up on anything, even when he knows that he is wrong, and also why he always has to be the hero and save or fix someone or something.
2. Jack tells Kate his dad died in Sydney.
3. Jack finds water while looking for his father, he wonders if no one is coming, tells everyone that they're going to start figuring out how to survive.
4. Sawyer is reading the book Watership Down. From Lost Hatch
5. Jack has the crazy eyes.
6. The man of science versus man of faith battle begins.
7. Everyone, except Boone, wants Jack to be the hero and he fights it, until finally at the end of this episode, he starts to give in and accept his role.