TV Review: Lost Episode 2.17

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

From ABC: When the hatch suddenly takes on a life of its own, Locke is forced to enlist the help of an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Ana Lucia, Sayid and Charlie go off into the jungle to find out the truth about Henry.

My Rating: 3 out of 4

This episode of Lost titled Lockdown was Locke centric, and probably one of the most confusing episodes of this season in my mind. With the episode being centered on Locke's past, the majority of the episode was also focused on Locke. He is also the focus of the present events of the episode. After Henry Gale tells Locke and Jack, this whole map might have been a set-up, Jack goes in search of Ana Lucia, leaving Locke at the hatch.

Strange events begin to happen. Locke hears sounds over the speaker system, and the hatch blast doors comes down, separating the living quarters from the computer room. Henry offers to help him get the blast doors open, but he had to promise to help him no matter what happens with the others. Locke agrees and releases Gale, and the two get the one blast door slightly up. Knowing that time for the alarm is short. Locke's first instinct is to get through the opening and to the alarm before it goes off. However, the tool box the two used to hold up the door is crushed and catches his legs. Due to Henry's quick work, the door doesn't fall further, but Locke knows he is stuck, and if the door continues to lower he will lose his legs.

Locke tells Henry about the alarm and tells him how to get to the computer room through a vent in the pantry. He leaves Locke just as the alarm begins to sound off. The alarm countdown gets faster until it goes off. Henry has successfully pushed the button we learn. The power does go out though, and in those split seconds it is out Locke sees some type of diagram on the blast door. Once the lights come back on, the doors go up and he frees himself. He drags himself to the computer room and there is no sign of Gale. At first he thinks the man has run off, but we soon see him come from the area of the vent. He helps Locke to a better position, and this is when everyone arrives.

Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie had been off scouring the island looking for Henry's balloon. They do find it quite early on in the episode, and they also find the grave site of what is supposed to be Henry's wife. We don't see them until the very end of the episode again. As for Jack, his search for Ana Lucia had him happen upon a game of poker being played by Sawyer, Kate and Hurley. After a few playing suggestions, he ends up joining the game himself, instead of returning to the hatch as was his original plan. He is quite good at the game, and it ends up being just him and Sawyer at the end. They raise the stakes a little and Jack wants all the medicine that Sawyer took from the armory if he wins. He does, and Sawyer asks him why he didn't ask for the guns instead. Jack simply states that when he needs the guns he'll get them.

Kate follows him into the forest, and this is when they find a parachute delivering food to the island has landed. Sayid, Charlie and Ana Lucia meet them there, and they all return to the hatch together. They find Henry out of his room, and over Locke, so everyone jumps to Locke's defense. Henry asks if the three found his balloon, and Sayid tells them they had. They also found the grave, but instead of Henry's wife, they found the real Henry Gale buried inside. It appears we might be dealing with one of the others the entire time.

As for Locke's back story, this was probably the most confusing part of the episode at first, but I did catch on. Katey Segal returns this episode as Locke's girlfriend, and early on she finds an obituary of his father. They attend his funeral, but as it turns out he is not dead, but playing dead to throw off some bad men on his tracks. It appears he stole some money that belonged to them, and he needs Locke to help him retrieve, which he does. However, the men aren't that dumb, and they do figure out the father might still be alive. When Locke delivers the money. his girlfriend shows up, and it looks like this puts an end to their relationship.

After the preview for this week's episode, I truly expected more fireworks and drama from this episode. It was a good episode, and the ending was done wonderfully, but I found this episode a bit hard to watch really. It didn't keep my attention much. I usually love Locke centric episodes, so that surprises me a bit. We have another new episode next week.