Episode Analysis of 1.11 "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"

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

My LOST re-watch and in-depth episode analysis will include major details from the entirety that was 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. Then, come back here.

To read my original post on this episode, please refer to All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues.

This episode was written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and directed by Stephen Williams. It originally aired on December 8th, 2004.

This is a Jack Shephard flashback-centric episode.   

We begin exactly where we left off, in Raised By Another, in the caves, with Sayid unconscious, Hurley telling Jack, who is tending to Sayid's wounds, and Kate, who asks questions, about Ethan not being in the flight manifest, while Locke looks on in the background. The other survivors in the caves begin to become aware of the situation as Jack raises his voice. Michael joins them to talk about Ethan.

HURLEY: "He wasn't on the plane."

KATE: "Who wasn't on the plane?"

HURLEY: "Ethan.. The Canadian guy. He's not on the passenger manifest."

JACK: "Well, where the hell is he?" [He gets up from tending to Sayid's wound.]

HURLEY: "I don't know. I saw him yesterday, but now.."

JACK: [raising his voice] "Has anyone seen Ethan?"

KATE: "Sayid's leg.."

JACK: [talking louder] "Has anyone seen Ethan?"

1.11 All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

1. Ethan wasn't on the plane. He takes Claire and Charlie.
2. Locke says that he hunted with Ethan, and that he knows more than him.
3. Jack asks "How can one man drag off two people?" whereas Locke asks "Not how, why?"
4. "Be the doctor. Let me be the hunter." Locke, to Jack, about going to look for Claire.
5. Kate tells Jack her dad was in the Army, Ranger Battalion, stationed at Fort Luis, Washington, that she hiked with him for 8 hours and tracked deer. "It was like his religion."
6. Locke tells Boone he is a Regional Collections Supervisor for a Box Company. Boone doesn't believe him.
7. Christian tells Jack that he was hard on him so he could become a good doctor, that it was all for the greater good.
8. Sayid tells Sawyer about Rousseau and that he heard something in the jungle.
9. Walt and Hurley play backgammon. "My dad said I was the luckiest person he ever knew." Walt says, not Michael, but Brian, his step-dad. From Lostpedia
10. "I'm not letting him do this. Not again." Jack
11. Charlie is hanged by Ethan. Jack saves his life. From Lost Virtual Tour
12. "All they wanted was Claire." Charlie
13. "What are we following?" Boone "My gut." Locke
14. Boone and Locke find the hatch door while looking for Claire. From Lostpedia

Questions:

1. Will Hurley ever give Walt his money?
2. Jack fights Ethan. Why is Ethan so strong? Why does he look so robotic? From Lostpedia
3. How did Locke know where he was going if he wasn't following tracks? Did his destiny lead him to the hatch?
4. Why can Jack hear Claire but Kate can't?
5. Does Locke want Boone to be his apprentice?
6. When Walt and Hurley are playing backgammon, Walt keep rolling the number he wants. Is this because he's special? Does he make it happen?
7. Was someone helping Ethan?

Favorites:

1. "Back home, I'm known as a warrior myself." Hurley
2. "You owe me $20,000!" Walt "You'll get it." Hurley
3. "It's stupid to lie about your name." Walt, to Sawyer.
4. "The crew guys that would go down to the planet with the main guys, the captain and the guy with the pointy ears, they always wore red shirts, and they always got killed." Boone "Sounds like a piss-poor captain." Locke From Lostpedia
5. "You're either a taxidermist or a hitman." Boone, to Locke about what he does in the real world.
6. "Did they teach you how to predict the weather at a box company?" Boone

Notes:

1. Maybe it's just me, but the scene where Jack is operating is really creepy looking. Is an operating room usually that dark? The darkness and the shaky camera always gives me this weird feeling.
2. Jack's dad operated under the influence, and was fired because of Jack's confession, which led Christian Shepard to Sydney, Australia.
3. Jack has the crazy eyes again. He needs to chill out and stop trying to fix everything.
4. Charlie leaves the LATE tape from his fingers behind as clues. From Lost Hatch
5. Walt is just a kid, but he knows exactly how to work people.
6. Boone offering to help look for Claire and Charlie is what leads him to the hatch and finding the beach craft, which is what ultimately leads to his death. His Star Trek line and the red shirt is also foreshadowing of his death.
7. During the Jack saving Charlie scene, at first I was thinking there was no way that they'd kill Charlie, but by the end I started to believe that he really was dead, and I think this is the first time this show made me feel emotional. The music is awesome during this scene.