Further Instructions

"Further Instructions"

"Further Instructions" is the third episode of the third season of Lost. It aired on October 18, 2006, making it the 50th episode of the series. The episode was written by Carlton Cuse and Elizabeth Sarnoff and directed by Stephen Williams. The character of John Locke is featured in the episode's flashbacks.

The episode was originally going to air October 11, 2006, but was replaced with The Glass Ballerina.

Plot

Locke wakes up in the jungle and sees a naked Desmond run by, but Locke cannot speak. Eko’s stick falls from above nearly hitting him. In the frame of Eko's church, he builds a sweat lodge and convinces Charlie to stand guard. Locke takes an hallucinogenic drug and enters the lodge in order to "speak with the Island." There, Boone appears to help him "find [his] way again, so that [he] can bring the family back together". Locke (mutely) apologizes for the day Boone died, and he accepts the apology, however, in a taunting and seemingly sarcastic manner. Locke's hallucination takes him to Sydney airport. Boone wheels Locke through the airport where he tells him someone is "in serious danger." He first sees Claire and Charlie together with Aaron, who Boone says will be "Okay...for now." He later encounters Desmond, who is accompanied by three unidentified, identical women (3 fates?) and Hurley in separate incidents but Boone deems Locke unable to save any of them. Locke then sees Jack, Kate, and Sawyer going through a security check run by Ben Linus but is told there is nothing he can do for them yet; first he must "clean up [his] own mess." Locke finds Eko’s stick covered in blood and Boone tells him "they have him, you don't have much time". Upon exiting the sweat lodge he sees a flash of a polar bear. He recovers his ability to speak and tells Charlie he is going to save Eko.

File:BooneDream.jpg

Boone, as he appears in Locke's hallucination

Locke and Charlie track Eko, who Locke believes has been captured by a polar bear. They pause at a large pit in the ground where the hatch imploded. They encounter Hurley, and Locke nearly kills him by throwing a knife that luckily hits Hurley's canteen. Hurley then tells them that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were kidnapped by the Others, and "Henry Gale" is "like, their leader."

While continuing back to the camp alone, Hurley finds Desmond naked and lends him an enormous tie dyed t-shirt. Desmond says the electromagnetic anomaly may have been destroyed, and Hurley questions why Desmond was not destroyed. Desmond mentions Locke's speech and his plan to save Jack, Kate and Sawyer. However, Hurley points out the fact that Locke never said that.

Locke finds a toy truck, bones, and a pearl station shirt in the polar bear's cave. He rescues Eko from the polar bear by building a makeshift flame-thrower from a torch and a can of hair spray. While Charlie fetches water from a stream, Locke apologizes to an unconscious Eko for his lack of faith. Eko appears to briefly awaken and tells Locke that he must rescue Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Upon arriving at camp, Hurley informs the camp that Jack and the others have been captured. As an explanation, Locke announces to the survivors that he plans to rescue Jack, Kate, and Sawyer, as Desmond indicated to Hurley earlier. Hurley mentions to Charlie a sense of déjà vu.

File:Left of the hatch.jpg

Locke and Charlie look at the remnants of the hatch.

In flashbacks, Locke is a member of a commune. He considers its members his new family. One day Locke picks up a young hitchhiker, named Eddie, who tells him he is leaving home. They are pulled over and the officer finds a duffel bag full of guns in the truck, but Locke provides the paperwork for them. Eddie joins the commune, but after six weeks, he asks Locke why he is never allowed to know what is going on in a greenhouse (into which he sees an exceptional amount of fertilizer going). Eddie expresses his discontent with being kept out of the secret and affirms to Locke his desire to be "in" on "whatever you guys are trying to blow up." Locke laughs and says he will talk to the commune leaders, Mike and Jan.

Upon entering the greenhouse some time later, in which marijuana is grown, Locke finds Mike and Jan in the midst of a frantic preparation to flee. They blame Locke for bringing Eddie, who they have discovered is an undercover police officer. Locke promises to fix the situation. He takes Eddie hunting and holds Eddie at gunpoint. Eddie says that Locke was chosen because his psych profile said he would be “amenable for coercion”. Eddie walks away, stating that Locke will not shoot him because he is "a good man”, though Locke insists that he is a hunter, not a farmer.

Cast Notes

• Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro make their first appearances as Nikki and Paulo in this episode.