Maybe it's because I've had a cocktail, or maybe it's because it was just good M Night Shyamalanian story telling... but that was a good show.
We learned all about Locke today. John is his first name... we also learned the name of the African American woman whose husband was in the tail section of the plane (which separated from the rest of the fuselage before the crash). I think we learned her husband's name too. And the pregnant woman... but I don't remember them. Sorry.
But who cares... this was all about John Locke (or maybe Jon Lock IDK). Several flashbacks to his life before the crash..., he's a cube dweller in some bland American office run by a guy half his age. He calls himself Captain or Corporal or Commander or something, but he isn't. He's just a lonely guy who lives a fantasy life of military role-play games, TPS reports (Office Space nod Lost? Nice!), and falls in love with his phone sex lady. He's the opposite of a bad ass. But he has big bad ass dreams. He wants to go on "Walkabout" in the Australian Outback. Only there is one small problem, which is easily disguised with some "omissions" by the filmmakers. But we'll come back to that.
BTW, "sideburns," who plays Locke's boss, is a bigger asshole than Greg Tolan in "Just One of the Guys."
While we're flashing back to Locke's patheticness, we are also on a hunt for Wild Boar. It seems that the survivors have eaten all the food that was left in the wreckage of the plane and now it's time to hunt. In the opening scenes of this episode Walt's adorable yellow lab Vincent starts barking at something... but no one can tell what it is, so in a suspenseful (dark) sequence inside the fuselage full of dead bodies, Dr. Jack shines a flashlight into the wreckage only to find two glowing, beady, yellow eyes looking back! After they dart out of the plane, scaring the living crap out of everyone, Locke explains that they are baby boars... and that if they want to eat, they need to find the momma boar so they can kill and eat her. He announces his plan to step up (the brilliant irony of that phrase is coming up) to the challenge by throwing one of several fancy knives he's packed. You know, the kind of knives that weird eBay collectors in the suburbs buy just to have because they're dangerous? I bet if we could go to Locke's house he'd have a Kill Bill Kantana sword set proudly displayed over his mantle (even though he probably couldn't reach it... keep reading).
OK... so long story short. Kate and Walt's dad and Locke are hunting boar. Walt's dad gets hurt so Locke goes off on his own and is promptly attacked by the Giant Animal Noise Machine... I'm pretty sure it's the same one that at Captain Exposition in Episode 1. As soon as he sees it (HE does, we don't) it's a hard back cut to the beach where we see Dr. Jack comforting the African American woman whose husband was in the tail. She says he's still alive. Jack says that's impossible, and that she is suffering from PTSD. THEN Jack sees a guy in a suit standing near the trees at the edge of the beach. He looks away and when he looks back, suit guy is gone. What is a guy in a SUIT doing on the beach!? Suit guy makes another appearance and this time Jack follows him into the jungle only to find Locke dragging the momma boar's body. The Giant Animal Noise Machine didn't kill him.
So we're all about to live happily ever after. We have fresh boar, we're lighting a bonfire to cremate the bodies of the dead passengers inside the wreckage. Pregnant girl is reading the names of some of the passengers (based on passports and other personal belongings in their luggage) as we watch in quiet reverence. Then Locke's final flashback...
He's in Australia, arguing with a Walkabout tour guide. "You didn't tell us about your 'condition'," says the guide. "I can't take you."
"But it's my DESTINY!" Locke pleads.
"No... you are not coming."
And as the tour guide storms out of the office toward the bus full of waiting Walkabout Tourists, Locke grabs the rails of his wheelchair and thrusts himself toward the door. Yeah, for 4 years, John Locke has been in a wheelchair. But ever since the plane crash... he can walk! The filmmakers have been very good at incorporating his wheelchair into scenes very subtly. Used to carry luggage, firewood, injured... we never questioned it. But as the light of the bonfire grows, John catches a glimpse of the chair and we realize... holy shit, it was HIS wheelchair.
So here's my theory... Locke really is a bad ass, former military, hard core guy. 4 years ago he's psychologically injured and looses the use of his legs (again, this is MY THEORY). Wife and kids killed by a drunk driver or something else horrible... he blames himself... psyches himself into believing he's paralyzed as "punishment" and it's the crash that snaps him out of it. Like on the Flintstones. Fred gets conked on the head and thinks he's an Englishman named Fredrick... until he gets conked on the head again and turns back into Fred. The crash is Locke's conk. OR this is the afterlife and when you are dead, anything is possible...
We're left with some questions... what is the rest of Locke's story? Why didn't the Giant Animal Noise Machine kill Locke? Who is the dude in the suit who appears mysteriously only to Jack? Will the castaways want to eat bar-b-que'd boar after watching a fuselage full of human carcases burn?
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