Rewatching LOST: 2.02 “Adrift”

The fates of Michael, Sawyer, and Jin are revealed after the destruction of the raft. At the Hatch, Locke and Kate meet Desmond before Jack’s arrival.

• At the Hatch, we’ve rewound to before Jack arrived back there to descend the rope inside, to just after Kate plummeted and Locke was left holding the empty rope. Frantic to save her, Locke re-secures the rope and climbs down it after her. Inside, he soon discovers an octagonal logo affixed to one wall with a swan and the word “DHARMA” written across its center. He investigates the living quarters we saw Desmond residing in, in the previous episode. Soon he comes across Kate, who has been rendered unconscious and is just waking up. Just as they’re reunited, Desmond appears with his shotgun and asks the cryptic question, “Are you him?” Locke, believing his destiny to be at hand, says yes. Still unsure, Desmond asks another passcode-type question: “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?” When Locke doesn’t know the answer, Desmond demands to know who Locke and Kate really are. Kate tells him they were in a plane crash a month and a half ago. Desmond retrieves some rope and orders Kate to tie Locke up. Locke tells Desmond that Kate’s a fugitive and she’s the one he should be afraid of. Desmond is convinced, so Locke ties Kate up, but he slips her a small knife before Desmond has him shove her into a dark room.
• Alone inside, Kate makes quick work of freeing herself from her bonds and turns on a light switch. She’s stunned to find herself in a storage room filled to the brim with non-perishable food, all labeled with the same octagonal “Dharma” logo that Locke saw earlier. She spots a ventilation shaft in the ceiling and climbs up inside. She later witnesses the scene between Jack and Desmond from the other side of a vent in the geodesic dome.
• Locke explains to Desmond about the crash of Oceanic 815, and Desmond seems surprised to hear that the rest of the world is “still out there.” Desmond asks how many of the survivors have gotten sick, and Locke replies that no one has. The computer starts to beep just then, and Desmond takes Locke to the computer room — the geodesic dome where Jack will later meet Desmond, which also includes a countdown clock mounted on one wall — where he urgently instructs Locke to input a series of numbers into the computer, before the countdown clock gets to zero. The numbers he has Locke enter are none other than the Numbers Hurley believes to be cursed: 4 8 15 16 23 42. Locke enters the numbers and hits the “execute” button, and the countdown clock resets itself to 108 minutes and zero seconds, beginning the countdown anew. Just then, Jack arrives and calls out into the facility, looking for Kate. Locke explains that this is Jack, their doctor, and Desmond uses the facility’s surveillance equipment to see that Jack is carrying a gun. The scene quickly plays out as before: Jack is confronted by Locke and Desmond, and Jack immediately recognizes Desmond.
• At the caves, Claire finds the Virgin Mary statue in Charlie’s backpack and asks him about it, but he plays it down, claiming to have found it in the jungle and knowing nothing of its significance.
• Picking up right after the end of the Season 1 finale, Sawyer emerges from the water with a bullet in his shoulder to find the raft destroyed, the wreckage burning, and Walt taken by the Others. While Michael cries out in despair for Walt, Sawyer swims to a piece of the wreckage and drags Michael out of the water just after Michael passes out. Sawyer resuscitates Michael, but Jin is nowhere to be found. The two of them bicker as the insanity of their situation becomes real, but they’re interrupted by the arrival of a shark that’s drawn to the blood draining from Sawyer’s shoulder wound. The two of them argue further and Sawyer jumps ship, swimming to a smaller piece of flotsam nearby. Enduring great pain, Sawyer extracts the bullet from his shoulder with his bare hands. Later, Sawyer tries to make conversation, noting his observations about the tiny boat that the Others used to take Walt: he says it wasn’t the kind of boat built for use on the open sea, with a range of maybe one hundred miles — meaning that it could only have come from the island. He reminds Michael that the Others said they were “coming for the boy,” and it looks like they did just that. Michael is still angry about the entire situation and argues with Sawyer again. Amid their quarrel, Sawyer’s tiny life raft falls apart, leaving him stranded in the ocean, and with no choice but to return to Michael’s raft. It’s not long before they spot another piece of the raft: one of the two large pontoons that held it afloat. Sawyer enters the water to swim toward it, but not before he gives Michael his gun. The shark returns as Sawyer swims, and Michael shoots it. The two of them make it safely to the pontoon, and collapse there until morning, when Michael wakes up crying in grief over losing his son. He tells Sawyer that it was his own fault that this happened, because he brought Walt on the raft, and then he vows on the spot to get Walt back. Sawyer spots the island on the horizon, noting that the current must’ve brought them back. They paddle to shore, but as soon as they arrive, Jin comes running out of the jungle, his hands bound behind him, and warns them that the Others are pursuing him — and the three of them look up to see a small group of tribal-looking people approaching.

• When his ex-wife Susan and her new beau Bryan Porter asked for full custody of Walt, Michael arranged with his lawyer to sign an injunction keeping them from leaving the city, as a way of delaying her attempts to take Walt away from him. After a meeting between their lawyers, Susan managed to talk Michael into letting Walt go, because it was what was best for him.

• What is Dharma?
• What’s the meaning of the question, “Are you him?”
• What’s the answer to the question, “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?”
• Why was Desmond so surprised to hear that the rest of the world still existed, outside of the island?
• Since the Others were planning to abduct Walt all along and not Aaron, how did they know Walt would be found on the raft, instead of at the beach with the rest of the survivors?

• Locke removed his boots to keep them from alerting Desmond to his presence.
  Question: Whose boots did Jack find inside the Hatch? 2.01

• “Adrift” is the second Michael-centric episode of the series.
• The “Apollo” candy bar Kate discovers in the Swan Station’s food storage room is a running gag among J.J. Abrams properties. The fake brand has made an appearance in nearly every TV show and movie he’s had a hand in.
• It’s a question never asked or answered, but the implication of Desmond’s intense distrust and suspicion of Locke, Kate, and Jack can only mean that he believes they could be Others.
• Locke told Desmond that there are only 43 survivors from Oceanic 815 remaining. By my count, he’s off by one: there are really 44. But maybe he didn’t count baby Aaron as one of the survivors.
• The infamous Dharma shark appeared in this episode, the very first reference to the animal tests we would later learn were being conducted by Dharma on the nearby Hydra island. Keen-eyed viewers noticed something odd when the shark swam right in front of the camera, but it was only by slowing down the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it footage that the Dharma logo could be clearly seen on the shark’s hide.
• Once again the connection between Walt and polar bears is reinforced: Michael’s parting gift to little Walt was a stuffed polar bear. Probably more of a wink at the audience than a genuine clue, though.

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Image credits: “Rewatching Lost” logo by Robin Parrish. Season 2 cast promotional image and Dharma Initiative logo: American Broadcasting Company.