Jacob's Foot: Lockdown!

THE LOST EPISODE OF THE DAY

[caption id="attachment_1035" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="lostpedia.com"][/caption]

The episode: Lockdown

Original Airdate: March 29, 2006

Written By: Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof

Directed By: Stephen Williams

Content (from ABC.com press release/lostpedia): Locke finds himself trapped in the Swan during a resupply lockdown, forcing him to rely on Henry Gale for help. Out in the jungle, Ana Lucia, Sayid, and Charlie search for the balloon which would prove Henry's alibi.

Why It's Worth Re-Watching: The best part about this episode is the Locke/Ben interactions. It is the first episode in which main story revolves around these two characters. This episode is also great to watch with the knowledge of what happened in 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham' from this past season. In 'Lockdown,' Ben saves his life, and as we later find out, Ben was traveling to bring Locke to The Others. Locke's communion with The Island, his specialness are what makes Locke a deep threat to Ben as the series unfolds, and in 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,' Ben ends Locke's life.

Another interesting thing to note: when Locke is trapped under the door, he sends Ben to put the numbers into the computer and press the button. The Hatch briefly goes haywire and then goes back to normal. Ben doesn't return immediately (in this episode, as you read in the content, finding out whether Ben is an Other or not is big so the viewer doesn't know what to think when Ben disappears). Ben does return and tells Locke that he didn't press anything: " I did what you told me to. I punched in the code and pressed the execute button, but nothing happened other than that clock flipping back. I was climbing back into the vent when the lights went out. 10 seconds later the doors went up. I didn't do anything." His purpose was to break John's spirit (which he did). In 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,' Ben fills Locke's life with purpose and meaning, telling Locke that Locke has no idea how important he is. And then he kills him. The parallels fit into the 'season five is mirroring season two' that Lindelof and Cuse have spoken about. This episode is totally worth the re-watch for Ben/Locke.

As for the other happenings in the episode, Jack and Sawyer play a poker for fruit and meds. Locke loses Helen in this episode (Helen comes back in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham) because of his father (I addressed this in the original recap for The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham which can be accessed in the archives of Jacob's Foot). The Dharma Food Drops occur in this episode (which is why the lockdown takes places). These food drops are directly related to time-travel (as is the radio feed Sayid and Hurley pick up in another season two episode). Also, this episode is the episode with the blast door map in which Smokey is deemed Cerberus by Radzinsky (something I addressed in a past Jacob's Foot posting (it's a rant be warned)).

It's a terrific episode written by the kings of LOST Mr. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The always excellent Stephen Williams directed it. Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson were both fantastic. Here's a video from Lockdown (part two has lousy sound sync):



The full episode is on hulu.com/lost along with a whole bunch of other LOST episodes.