Welcome to the LOST Rewind for episode 3x03, ‘Further Instructions’.

Timestamp: Day 69

I will begin at the beginning ;)

During the reign of King Herod the Great, there lived a Priest called Zechariah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zechariah_%28priest%29) and his wife Elizabeth. Both were good and righteous before God. Their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was barren and, like her husband, was advanced in years. Whilst Zechariah ministered at the Temple, an angel sent from God announced to him that his wife would give birth to a son, (whom he was to name John) and he would be the forerunner of the long-expected Messiah. Citing their advanced age, Zechariah asked for a sign whereby he would know the truth of this prophecy. In reply, the angel identified himself as the Archangel Gabriel, and added that because of Zechariah's doubt he would be struck dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things happened. When their son was born it was assumed that he was to be named after his father, as was the custom. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John, and so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing tablet: ‘His name is John’, he regained the power of speech. John (the Baptist) went on to pave the way for the coming Messiah.

As illustrated by the Bible story, this episode is largely about Trust, Faith and Renewal

Alive!
Locke, Eko and `Desmond’s survival of the hatch implosion is about as unlikely as Jack’s survival of the plane crash, and the opening shot of Locke’s eye mimics the opening shot of the Pilot.
Q: What is the process by which people are saved on Lost and wake up in the jungle?
Q: Consider the rebirth imagery that pervades this episode – what might it be hinting at?

Flashback
John’s misplaced trust in Eddie breaks up the family on the commune, his attempt to ‘fix it’ results in his failure to shoot Eddie. This helps set up the storyline later in S3, which culminates in Locke not being able to personally kill his father Cooper.
Q: Is his choice not to kill Eddie/his father and that he is a ‘good’ person connected to his ‘communion’ with the Island?
Q: What do you think the Island’s criteria for ‘good’ are?
Q: How come it was ok for him to kill Naomi – what is the difference? Is it about revenge?

On the Island
John wants to atone after losing his way. He blames himself for the breaking up of the ‘family’ after being wrongly convinced that the Swan was a con and too preoccupied with it to protect JKS
‘Further Instructions’ was what Eko said they would wait for in ‘?’ as they were ‘guided’ through dreams to the Pearl. In FI, Locke gets his agenda in a sweat lodge through a shamanistic-style hallucination. After this experience, we see Locke regain his voice and his sense of destiny, saying “I’m going to save Mr Eko’s life”
He embarks on a season long agenda that involves another ‘purge’- this time of the Dharma stations and paraphernalia. Locke’s sense of purpose revisits his early S1 persona (hooray!) and continues right through to the S3 finale where he kills Naomi and tells Jack ‘you’re not supposed to do this’ as he makes the call to the freighter.
Q: Whose agenda is being followed here?
Q: Was what happened to the Swan part of the same agenda?
Q: Have all of Locke’s ‘instructions’ come from the same source? - Was his S2 excursion down the hatch part of this same overall ‘mission’ or was it caused by ‘instructions’ from somewhere else?
On the one hand, the end result of him finding the Swan hatch was its implosion, which could have been the first target on his seek and destroy ‘list’.
On the other hand, the whole planet was put in danger by the sequence of events.
Q: What are the implications of this? (especially in the light of Ms Hawkings later introduction) Can people’s actions and choices be manipulated and predicted with such accuracy so as to set in motion this whole chain of events? – if so what about the plane crash?

Hunter but not Killer
John, the hunter, who had spent most of last season farming numbers, gets back on track. The airport trip sequence sees him first regress (can’t walk/can’t talk) and later possibly signifies an ascension, shown by his ascending the elevator towards the bright light at the top. (Jacob’s ladder?)
Q: What clues do you think may be hidden in the imagery of the vision that have since been resolved or may be resolved later?
(For example we see Jack taking off his watch at the security barrier, the story of the watch has just been told in the first Mobisode.)

Reborn as Leader – We see John’s actions start to affirm him as leader. This affirmation is illustrated by Charlie, who started the episode despising John and finds renewed respect for him after his bravery and oration.
Q: Does John want to be leader or is he treated as such by default because of the absence of Jack and Sayid?

The saving of Mr Eko
Q: Why does the Island tell Locke to save Eko, only for him to die at the hand of the Island's ‘security system’ a few episodes later?
Q: Is it a test or atonement for Locke?
Q: Could it be something to do with Eko’s stick which John gets more instructions from as he finally notices the writing ‘lift up your eyes and look north’ at Eko’s burial.

Desmond – the ‘b’ story centres around Desmond, who, in accepted convention a la ‘Terminator” and ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’, wakes up naked in the jungle. His first cast-iron knowledge of the future is revealed.
Q: How does this development for Desmond’s character colour how we interpret his actions, past and future? How does it fit into the Island’s story, is it a clue as to the nature of what makes the Island special?

Q: What is the process by which people are saved on Lost and wake up in the jungle?
Q: Consider the rebirth imagery that pervades this episode – what might it be hinting at?

For better or worse I think TPTB want us to concentrate more on why Locke was saved than how. I'm sure there'll be a somewhat plausible explanation for it (as Damon once stated, there's nothing in LOST you wouldn't find in a Michael Crichton novel) but it probably won't be enough to silence the "haters."

I think Locke, and Desmond and Eko, were all together saved from the implosion to each give them a second chance: for Locke to be the Man of Faith, for Eko to make peace with his own inner demons, and for Desmond to... well, I dunno.


Q: Is his choice not to kill Eddie/his father and that he is a ‘good’ person connected to his ‘communion’ with the Island?
Q: What do you think the Island’s criteria for ‘good’ are?
Q: How come it was ok for him to kill Naomi – what is the difference? Is it about revenge?

I think Locke isn't necessarily a "good" or "bad" person. He is simply as he states here a "hunter". Whether he kills what he hunts is another matter. The Island at this point is telling him what to hunt, which in and of itself is "good" to the Island, if inexplicable to everyone else.

Q: Whose agenda is being followed here?
Q: Was what happened to the Swan part of the same agenda?
Q: Have all of Locke’s ‘instructions’ come from the same source? - Was his S2 excursion down the hatch part of this same overall ‘mission’ or was it caused by ‘instructions’ from somewhere else?
On the one hand, the end result of him finding the Swan hatch was its implosion, which could have been the first target on his seek and destroy ‘list’.
On the other hand, the whole planet was put in danger by the sequence of events.
Q: What are the implications of this? (especially in the light of Ms Hawkings later introduction) Can people’s actions and choices be manipulated and predicted with such accuracy so as to set in motion this whole chain of events? – if so what about the plane crash?

I think the world was never in any danger, at least from the Island's perspective. The Island knew all along that whatever twist and turn it made Locke follow would turn out all right. And it's not so much being able to predict the future but being able to step out of it and seeing the past and future as one ever present moment -- I think that's what may allow the Island (or who/whatever) to know just how to manipulate these situations.

I think we can't really know what the end result of blowing the Swan is until we know why the sky turned purple.


Q: What clues do you think may be hidden in the imagery of the vision that have since been resolved or may be resolved later?
(For example we see Jack taking off his watch at the security barrier, the story of the watch has just been told in the first Mobisode.)

What strikes me is when I first saw that I thought the comments about Desmond hinted he could be a threat. But turns out he was helpless as he was "helping himself."

I wrote this in that mobisode's thread: I think the crucial refeence here is Ben forcing Jack to remove his watch in Locke's vision from "Further Instructions." I couldn't quite figure it out other than interpreting that to be Ben stripping Jack of something -- perhaps his free will to do the surgery.

Now with this added layer, that the watch can symbolize Jack's choices in love, we can reinterpret the vision as Ben using that choice against Jack: on the Island, Jack chose to be with Kate, but Ben robbed him of the fruits of making that choice when he engineered the Hydra imprisonment so Kate and Sawyer would be together.


Q: Why does the Island tell Locke to save Eko, only for him to die at the hand of the Island's ‘security system’ a few episodes later?
Q: Is it a test or atonement for Locke?

I think it's a twofold effect on Locke and Eko. As you say, it's a way for Locke to atone for losing his way and reaffirming to the Island that he's now it's willing and faithful servant. And it gave Eko the chance to resolve his personal demons in "The Cost of Living".

This has become the episode of unfullfilled promises for me. Like most of the mini-season it didn't really seem to make much sense in the long run. Can anyone help to make sense of it for me?

Locke: He pledges to help his friends after the 'mess' he made with the Swan Hatch. I thought S3 would be the season when we would see Locke at his most heroic and selfless. But instead of helping his friends as promised in S3 we see Locke going off on his "own journey", which involves making more messes (complete with explosions, dead bodies, etc) and working against his friends attempts to be rescued. Return of the Hunter? More like Return of the Sabateur...

Hunter but not Killer

Locke killed Naomi and attempted to kill Mikhail in S3. He manipulated Sawyer into killing his father. Dress it up however you like - Locke IS a killer. I don't really see what the point of the Eddie FB was in retrospect. Maybe just to establish that Locke can't kill people that he knows personally (as he failed to carry out his threat to kill Jack).

Eko: In ep3 the island tells Locke to save Ekos life. In ep5 the island uses Smokie to kill Eko. I wish the island would make up its bloody mind. This just seems like a glaring inconsistancy.

Desmond: What happened to the Swan? How did Desmond (and the others) escape and end up scattered around the jungle? Why was he naked? Why are none of the characters asking these questions themselves? I'm a little tired of waiting for the answers myself. Also in this ep Desmond has his first "flash" predicting Locke's speech. This is his only flash that doesn't feature the usual Charlie death motif. Why? Is Locke somehow significant to Desmond? Or is this just another inconsistancy?

Charlie: Did Locke himself predict danger/death for Charlie? He orders Charlie not to go inside the polar bear cave, saying that he is not meant to go in there. Did Locke somehow sense that Charlie would be killed by the bear? Maybe the "saving Eko" mission was not really about saving Eko but about luring Charlie into another death trap?

This ep confuses me...

I'm with you, Falafel...this episode is a very odd one and had me scratching my head quite often, and I think the episode of unfulfilled promises name works quite well for it. Also, something about the way it was shot really bothered me on my first viewing, and here on my third I'm still pretty bothered by it. Something just seems really off, and I'm not sure if it's camera-work or make-up or something else.

It actually had me thinking that Charlie after the hatch blew up is not really Charlie and is instead the island and/or smokie. Of course, I don't think that's really the case, but during this episode, at least, I think it's plausible, especially with the Hieronymus middle name we get in ep 8.

I think Locke isn't necessarily a "good" or "bad" person. He is simply as he states here a "hunter". Whether he kills what he hunts is another matter. The Island at this point is telling him what to hunt, which in and of itself is "good" to the Island, if inexplicable to everyone else.

i can see what you are saying, maybe the island's idea of good is different from the conventional, but locke does come across as a good person to me from his flashbacks. tragic, but good.

I wrote this in that mobisode's thread: I think the crucial refeence here is Ben forcing Jack to remove his watch in Locke's vision from "Further Instructions." I couldn't quite figure it out other than interpreting that to be Ben stripping Jack of something -- perhaps his free will to do the surgery.

Now with this added layer, that the watch can symbolize Jack's choices in love, we can reinterpret the vision as Ben using that choice against Jack: on the Island, Jack chose to be with Kate, but Ben robbed him of the fruits of making that choice when he engineered the Hydra imprisonment so Kate and Sawyer would be together.

love that! brilliant :)
100%
This has become the episode of unfullfilled promises for me. Like most of the mini-season it didn't really seem to make much sense in the long run. Can anyone help to make sense of it for me?

Locke: He pledges to help his friends after the 'mess' he made with the Swan Hatch. I thought S3 would be the season when we would see Locke at his most heroic and selfless. But instead of helping his friends as promised in S3 we see Locke going off on his "own journey", which involves making more messes (complete with explosions, dead bodies, etc) and working against his friends attempts to be rescued. Return of the Hunter? More like Return of the Sabateur...

i can see where you're coming from, but i think locke is firmly in the island's corner and executing it's agenda to purge the island of all the trappings of dharma which seem to be a distraction to those trying to live in harmony with it.
also, locke said he would bring jack etc home ( to the beach), bring the family back together, and in some ways he achieved that.

Locke killed Naomi and attempted to kill Mikhail in S3. He manipulated Sawyer into killing his father. Dress it up however you like - Locke IS a killer. I don't really see what the point of the Eddie FB was in retrospect. Maybe just to establish that Locke can't kill people that he knows personally (as he failed to carry out his threat to kill Jack).

yes he is a killer i guess. now on the island, he is on a mission ( i think TPTB said he was 'marching to the beat of his own drum' ) he is a zealot of the island and i s'pose if he is carrying out the island's wishes then he thinks he is justified in it.
the eddie thing was to show how locke couldnt kill someone in cold blood before he was
'reborn' on the island. m afraid i had no sympathy for his father. he had it coming big time.

Eko: In ep3 the island tells Locke to save Ekos life. In ep5 the island uses Smokie to kill Eko. I wish the island would make up its bloody mind. This just seems like a glaring inconsistancy.

yes that was confusing but i guess that the island wanted eko to have a chance to face some of his demons. i think CR gives some good insight into this in his TCOL rewind.

Desmond: What happened to the Swan? How did Desmond (and the others) escape and end up scattered around the jungle? Why was he naked? Why are none of the characters asking these questions themselves? I'm a little tired of waiting for the answers myself. Also in this ep Desmond has his first "flash" predicting Locke's speech. This is his only flash that doesn't feature the usual Charlie death motif. Why? Is Locke somehow significant to Desmond? Or is this just another inconsistancy?

i think hurley did ask why des was naked, and i guess no-one else saw him. as for their survival it isnt any more/less plausible than them surviving the plane crash imo.

the charlie death think is an odd one, and it must be hard for charlie lovers to be objective about it, but i havent discounted the possibility that desmond's flashes of charlie were more of a vision than precognition, but yes it's confusing:)

Charlie: Did Locke himself predict danger/death for Charlie? He orders Charlie not to go inside the polar bear cave, saying that he is not meant to go in there. Did Locke somehow sense that Charlie would be killed by the bear? Maybe the "saving Eko" mission was not really about saving Eko but about luring Charlie into another death trap?

good point about locke

Also, something about the way it was shot really bothered me on my first viewing, and here on my third I'm still pretty bothered by it. Something just seems really off, and I'm not sure if it's camera-work or make-up or something else.


YES! I totally agree with you. I have a hard time explaining just what exactly was off about how this episode looked/felt, but something definitely wasn't right. There was something artificial about it; also, choppy and rough. As if it hadn't been edited properly? I dunno.

Anyway, this episode ranks as my worst ever. I really disliked it on first viewing. Especially as this was the episode we were all waiting for - the fall out from the hatch implosion. This should have been big, but just felt underdeveloped and badly executed. Also, I'd been so looking forward to the return of the polar bear, but it's appearance here just felt tacked on and pointless in the long run. Shame.

Biggest Lost disappointment.

I like this opening - anything that starts in the velociraptor grass and begins a flashback “Woke up this mornin’…” is more than ok by me. John has played Jazz and Blues now :wub: but if he's into Beniamino Gigli ...I shall drop with the shock.
Alive!
Locke, Eko and `Desmond’s survival of the hatch implosion is about as unlikely as Jack’s survival of the plane crash, and the opening shot of Locke’s eye mimics the opening shot of the Pilot.
Q: What is the process by which people are saved on Lost and wake up in the jungle?
Q: Consider the rebirth imagery that pervades this episode – what might it be hinting at?

Atomic re-construction a la Star Trek teleportation? done soon enough, the mind is preserved – too late and you get a Christian automaton. A zombie, if you will. And if they did.

The whole thrust out the dark of the lodge, blinking into the light sweatiness, unable to articulate speech thing hadn’t escaped me. Similarly the appearing bloodied from the cave.

Flashback
John’s misplaced trust in Eddie breaks up the family on the commune, his attempt to ‘fix it’ results in his failure to shoot Eddie. This helps set up the storyline later in S3, which culminates in Locke not being able to personally kill his father Cooper.
Q: Is his choice not to kill Eddie/his father and that he is a ‘good’ person connected to his ‘communion’ with the Island?
Q: What do you think the Island’s criteria for ‘good’ are?
Q: How come it was ok for him to kill Naomi – what is the difference? Is it about revenge?

Revenge for what? John is one of the least vengeful characters I can think of. He gets upset and angry – but seeks explanation, not retribution. The motivation for Naomi’s killing is an important question; but it’s not parricide! (a pet theory). What did Walt tell him I wonder?

On the Island
John wants to atone after losing his way. He blames himself for the breaking up of the ‘family’ after being wrongly convinced that the Swan was a con and too preoccupied with it to protect JKS
‘Further Instructions’ was what Eko said they would wait for in ‘?’ as they were ‘guided’ through dreams to the Pearl. In FI, Locke gets his agenda in a sweat lodge through a shamanistic-style hallucination. After this experience, we see Locke regain his voice and his sense of destiny, saying “I’m going to save Mr Eko’s life”
He embarks on a season long agenda that involves another ‘purge’- this time of the Dharma stations and paraphernalia. Locke’s sense of purpose revisits his early S1 persona (hooray!) and continues right through to the S3 finale where he kills Naomi and tells Jack ‘you’re not supposed to do this’ as he makes the call to the freighter.
Q: Whose agenda is being followed here?

That’s the $64,000 question.

Q: Was what happened to the Swan part of the same agenda?

Alright; that’s the $64,000 Question …or do I have to do a little Dr Evil inflation adjustment?

Q: Have all of Locke’s ‘instructions’ come from the same source? - Was his S2 excursion down the hatch part of this same overall ‘mission’ or was it caused by ‘instructions’ from somewhere else?

I have…. two Euros and forty seven pence dug out the back of the sofa. Will that fix it?

On the one hand, the end result of him finding the Swan hatch was its implosion, which could have been the first target on his seek and destroy ‘list’.
On the other hand, the whole planet was put in danger by the sequence of events.
Q: What are the implications of this? (especially in the light of Ms Hawkings later introduction) Can people’s actions and choices be manipulated and predicted with such accuracy so as to set in motion this whole chain of events? – if so what about the plane crash?

I dunno. But I did toy with the idea that the Island had grown tired, and wanted to be free of the cycle it was trapped in (it’s a girl thing).

Hunter but not Killer
John, the hunter, who had spent most of last season farming numbers, gets back on track. The airport trip sequence sees him first regress (can’t walk/can’t talk) and later possibly signifies an ascension, shown by his ascending the elevator towards the bright light at the top. (Jacob’s ladder?)

My dad fell down Jacob’s Ladder in Wales, hiking… slipped off a footpath took a dive and injured his back. It’s by Devil’s Bridge. No kidding. He lay in the stream bed with water running in at his neck and out the leg of his pants.: http://www.pumlumon.org.uk/map/pla_8/_pic1.jpg when is a metaphor not a metaphor? I haven't a clue.

Hmmmm. Eko and Boone each made ascents in pursuit of John’s faith – and they’re both dead. The Swan and Pearl were accessed by descents… and the consequences of both still reverberate.

Celts believed the underworld was accessed through water – something to do with its reflectiveness – like a Looking Glass. Another world much like this one.

Q: What clues do you think may be hidden in the imagery of the vision that have since been resolved or may be resolved later?
(For example we see Jack taking off his watch at the security barrier, the story of the watch has just been told in the first Mobisode.)

That blasted orange bridge! It’s on a post card in Isaac’s gaff – that could use some explanation. What is the deal with San Francisco? ….earthquakes, Alcatraz, trams…?
It stands on Route 101, I’m reading now… how neatly Orwellian.

Reborn as Leader – We see John’s actions start to affirm him as leader. This affirmation is illustrated by Charlie, who started the episode despising John and finds renewed respect for him after his bravery and oration.
Q: Does John want to be leader or is he treated as such by default because of the absence of Jack and Sayid?

If John is treated like a leader it’s because he acts like one: reassuring, inspiring, unifying. Not a bad spot of breach filling from the usual go it a-loner.

The saving of Mr Eko
Q: Why does the Island tell Locke to save Eko, only for him to die at the hand of the Island's ‘security system’ a few episodes later?
Q: Is it a test or atonement for Locke?
Q: Could it be something to do with Eko’s stick which John gets more instructions from as he finally notices the writing ‘lift up your eyes and look north’ at Eko’s burial.

Could be a misinterpretation on John’s part “They have him” may mean ‘Eko is being played by Them’. John was being warned or informed rather than called to arms.

But then - much as I adore this incarnation – I don’t much trust Boone either; he could give Juliet a masterclass in the art of the faux-sympathetic, pitying, sarcastic ‘look’.

To trust or not to trust Dark Boone… what a delicious dilemma. PLEASE that we see him again.

Desmond – the ‘b’ story centres around Desmond, who, in accepted convention a la ‘Terminator” and ‘The Time Traveller’s Wife’, wakes up naked in the jungle. His first cast-iron knowledge of the future is revealed.
Q: How does this development for Desmond’s character colour how we interpret his actions, past and future? How does it fit into the Island’s story, is it a clue as to the nature of what makes the Island special?

Wakes on the Island naked yes; but was dressed on his arrival in London circa whenever it was – and not in his Dharma coveralls. If he replaced another himself…. Where’d his displaced other self go? Nuts. I’ll have my work cut out Rewinding # Flashes…

Much to anticipate from this episode; the Hulk? - there’re a few generally mild mannered dudes on the Island you wouldn’t like when they were angry.

<--- too tripped out for more. So Eko's enigmatic encouragings will have to go ignored.

Desmond: What happened to the Swan? How did Desmond (and the others) escape and end up scattered around the jungle? Why was he naked?

It's actually a sort of rule in some time travel stories that you can't take your clothes with you. When he appeared naked, before he even predicted Locke's speech, I started speculating he'd time traveled or something similar.

i think hurley did ask why des was naked, and i guess no-one else saw him. as for their survival it isnt any more/less plausible than them surviving the plane crash imo.

If you rewatch that part, you'll notice that Desmond explains to Hurley his conclusion that the key turning must have caused "the electromagnetic anomaly". Why would he express it that way...exactly like the computer screen message in the Arctic station?

Welcome to the LOST Rewind for episode 3x03, ‘Further Instructions’.

Timestamp: Day 69

I will begin at the beginning ;)

During the reign of King Herod the Great, there lived a Priest called Zechariah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zechariah_%28priest%29) and his wife Elizabeth. Both were good and righteous before God. Their marriage was still childless, because Elizabeth was barren and, like her husband, was advanced in years. Whilst Zechariah ministered at the Temple, an angel sent from God announced to him that his wife would give birth to a son, (whom he was to name John) and he would be the forerunner of the long-expected Messiah. Citing their advanced age, Zechariah asked for a sign whereby he would know the truth of this prophecy. In reply, the angel identified himself as the Archangel Gabriel, and added that because of Zechariah's doubt he would be struck dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things happened. When their son was born it was assumed that he was to be named after his father, as was the custom. Elizabeth, however, insisted that his name was to be John, and so the family then questioned her husband. As soon as Zechariah had written on a writing tablet: ‘His name is John’, he regained the power of speech. John (the Baptist) went on to pave the way for the coming Messiah.

As illustrated by the Bible story, this episode is largely about Trust, Faith and Renewal

Flashback
John’s misplaced trust in Eddie breaks up the family on the commune, his attempt to ‘fix it’ results in his failure to shoot Eddie. This helps set up the storyline later in S3, which culminates in Locke not being able to personally kill his father Cooper.
Q: Is his choice not to kill Eddie/his father and that he is a ‘good’ person connected to his ‘communion’ with the Island?
Q: What do you think the Island’s criteria for ‘good’ are?
Q: How come it was ok for him to kill Naomi – what is the difference? Is it about revenge?

On the Island
John wants to atone after losing his way. He blames himself for the breaking up of the ‘family’ after being wrongly convinced that the Swan was a con and too preoccupied with it to protect JKS
‘Further Instructions’ was what Eko said they would wait for in ‘?’ as they were ‘guided’ through dreams to the Pearl. In FI, Locke gets his agenda in a sweat lodge through a shamanistic-style hallucination. After this experience, we see Locke regain his voice and his sense of destiny, saying “I’m going to save Mr Eko’s life”
He embarks on a season long agenda that involves another ‘purge’- this time of the Dharma stations and paraphernalia. Locke’s sense of purpose revisits his early S1 persona (hooray!) and continues right through to the S3 finale where he kills Naomi and tells Jack ‘you’re not supposed to do this’ as he makes the call to the freighter.
Q: Whose agenda is being followed here?
Q: Was what happened to the Swan part of the same agenda?
Q: Have all of Locke’s ‘instructions’ come from the same source? - Was his S2 excursion down the hatch part of this same overall ‘mission’ or was it caused by ‘instructions’ from somewhere else?
On the one hand, the end result of him finding the Swan hatch was its implosion, which could have been the first target on his seek and destroy ‘list’.
On the other hand, the whole planet was put in danger by the sequence of events.
Q: What are the implications of this? (especially in the light of Ms Hawkings later introduction) Can people’s actions and choices be manipulated and predicted with such accuracy so as to set in motion this whole chain of events? – if so what about the plane crash?



I thought of the same Bible story when I saw this. John was struck dumb due to his lack of faith just as Zechariah was. Hmmm. Ben was also silent throught most of his flashback as a child.

I think it was ok for him to kill Naomi cause she's some kind of threat. If it's true that it's "not Penny's boat," then she could be on the verge of exposing the Island and the survivors to great harm...and Locke couldn't let that happen. Now, his father is a different story. He's an evil man, but Locke couldn't kill him? Why?

I'm glad to see Locke get back to his S1 strength, but he is still altered from his experiences on the Island. He's not quite the same Locke. He's more ruthless.

This has become the episode of unfullfilled promises for me. Like most of the mini-season it didn't really seem to make much sense in the long run. Can anyone help to make sense of it for me?

Locke: He pledges to help his friends after the 'mess' he made with the Swan Hatch. I thought S3 would be the season when we would see Locke at his most heroic and selfless. But instead of helping his friends as promised in S3 we see Locke going off on his "own journey", which involves making more messes (complete with explosions, dead bodies, etc) and working against his friends attempts to be rescued. Return of the Hunter? More like Return of the Sabateur... I agree. Several things in this episode set up Locke to be the new beach leader, but it just didn't pan out that way later on. Right down to the first image of Locke waking up on his back in the jungle - same image as Jack waking up in the Pilot.

Locke killed Naomi and attempted to kill Mikhail in S3. He manipulated Sawyer into killing his father. Dress it up however you like - Locke IS a killer. I don't really see what the point of the Eddie FB was in retrospect. Maybe just to establish that Locke can't kill people that he knows personally (as he failed to carry out his threat to kill Jack). I think that was set up very well. And getting others to do your dirty work doesn't make you a better person - I think it's showing just another way Locke is weak.

The airport trip sequence sees him first regress (can’t walk/can’t talk) and later possibly signifies an ascension, shown by his ascending the elevator towards the bright light at the top. (Jacob’s ladder?)
Locke's look up the escalator reminded me of "?" and Eko's climb up the cliff in Locke's dream. And why did Eko climb the cliff in the dream? Because Locke had lost movement in his legs again. It's all interwoven with the site of the Nigerian plane and Boone's fall resulting in all the blood that he ended up being covered with in the vision.

Locke and Eko: Locke's conversation with an unconscious Eko where he confessed to him that he was wrong to have blown up the hatch reminded me of Kate's conversations with the unconscious Sawyer in WKD. And Eko, like Sawyer, woke up to show he had been listening all along. Some people are just easier to talk to when they're out cold. :rolleyes:

Welcome to the LOST Rewind for episode 3x03, ‘Further Instructions’.

Timestamp: Day 69

‘Further Instructions’ was what Eko said they would wait for in ‘?’ as they were ‘guided’ through dreams to the Pearl. In FI, Locke gets his agenda in a sweat lodge through a shamanistic-style hallucination. After this experience, we see Locke regain his voice and his sense of destiny, saying “I’m going to save Mr Eko’s life”
He embarks on a season long agenda that involves another ‘purge’- this time of the Dharma stations and paraphernalia. Locke’s sense of purpose revisits his early S1 persona (hooray!) and continues right through to the S3 finale where he kills Naomi and tells Jack ‘you’re not supposed to do this’ as he makes the call to the freighter.
Q: Whose agenda is being followed here?
Q: Was what happened to the Swan part of the same agenda?
Q: Have all of Locke’s ‘instructions’ come from the same source? - Was his S2 excursion down the hatch part of this same overall ‘mission’ or was it caused by ‘instructions’ from somewhere else?
On the one hand, the end result of him finding the Swan hatch was its implosion, which could have been the first target on his seek and destroy ‘list’.
On the other hand, the whole planet was put in danger by the sequence of events.
Q: What are the implications of this? (especially in the light of Ms Hawkings later introduction) Can people’s actions and choices be manipulated and predicted with such accuracy so as to set in motion this whole chain of events? – if so what about the plane crash?


Two things that I loved about this episode. We got confirmation that Locke has been a mystical seeker since before reaching the island. We've known that he's been searching for family and direction for most of his life, but this episode showed us that Locke was already primed to believe that direction could some from more esoteric sources.

And in the vision he receives, Locke is a stand-in for the audience. We see a series of familiar characters in somewhat familiar circumstances. Our visions are brief and fragmented. And we're left with the job of deciding what those visions mean and what action they demand. After 70-odd episodes I'm not sure where Lost is going. If his FI vision is the type of direction that Locke is getting, no wonder his actions are so hard to understand and change direction so often. He's taking big, life-altering actions (blowing up the sub, killing Naomi) on the basis of evidence that's incomplete and requires significant interpretation--even if it's coming from a reliable source to begin with.

Two things that I loved about this episode. We got confirmation that Locke has been a mystical seeker since before reaching the island. We've known that he's been searching for family and direction for most of his life, but this episode showed us that Locke was already primed to believe that direction could some from more esoteric sources.

And in the vision he receives, Locke is a stand-in for the audience. We see a series of familiar characters in somewhat familiar circumstances. Our visions are brief and fragmented. And we're left with the job of deciding what those visions mean and what action they demand. After 70-odd episodes I'm not sure where Lost is going. If his FI vision is the type of direction that Locke is getting, no wonder his actions are so hard to understand and change direction so often. He's taking big, life-altering actions (blowing up the sub, killing Naomi) on the basis of evidence that's incomplete and requires significant interpretation--even if it's coming from a reliable source to begin with.

That is completely true.

Do we even know where he came from? Was Anthony Cooper his real father?

Also, why did that Polar Bear attack Mr. Eko and drag him back to that cave?

Geronimo Jackson Shirt..
we have seen it before and it is an obscure and very real record from the 60's...

however as an anagram we can get" Major Con Soigne" out of GJ
A carefully operated and major con.

interesting.

This was, IMO, the most enigmatic episode of LOST's first five seasons. I'm probably in the minority here, but it was also one of my favorites. It seems to be full of hidden clues, but the problem is that we don't yet have the context to put them all together just yet. Here's my take, given what we know as of the end of season 5...

John's flashbacks to his experience at the commune may foreshadow his involvement with the Others. Like the Others, the commune residents were willing to follow instructions without questioning the motivation or judgment of their leaders. As Eddie told John about Lizzy, "What she really wants is a daddy, like everyone else here". Eddie also warned Locke that "your family's got too many secrets". I'm guessing that the Others' big secret has yet to be revealed, and that it may have something to do with the MiB's loophole, and why he set it up in the first place.

The similarities between Eddie and Ben are interesting. Take, for instance, their families of origin. Eddie told John that "Mom's dead. Dad's a drunk.", and he later told Mike that his Geronimo Jackson shirt was "one of my dad's old shirts", suggesting that his father had DHARMA connections. To me, these parallels suggest that Ben may be working undercover, like Eddie, waiting for the opportunity to turn the tables on Jacob's nemesis and open John's eyes to the deception of the Others.

And Locke's sweat lodge vision of Boone may also have had deeper meaning than we could have known at the time. When Boone told John that he was there to help him "bring the family back together", I think he was referring to something more than simply rescuing Mr. Eko (especially since 'the island' seemed to be through with Mr. Eko (http://images.wikia.com/lost/images/6/63/EkoMonster.jpg) anyway). I'm guessing Boone was stressing the importance of bringing the O6 back to the island, a theme which would be echoed later by Richard, Eloise and Christian. After all, the O6 were central in the airport vision, and ,in the vision, John saw himself as wheelchair-bound, just as he would be after turning the FDW.

We still don't know whether it was Eddie or Eko who was correct in his assessment. Is John a farmer, or a hunter? Maybe he will turn out to be both (or perhaps neither).

Charlie had a couple of great lines in this episode, including this one, as he watched Locke mix up his whacky-paste...

CHARLIE: What's that? You're not taking drugs are you, John? I only ask because of the strict zero tolerance policy you've enacted, and I wouldn't want you to have to start punching yourself in the face.

Oooooh, SO much potential for this oft derided episode to pay off in the wake of Jack, Juliet and Jughead's contribution to the Season 5 finale (tough luck Doc, she's with Sawer - lol)

<-- totally stoked to see Eddie the narc (and the under used Isabel) in this month's LOST Magazine. :biggrin: But a little more exploration of what he was really doing in John's life would be nice.

And may I just add: BOOOOOOOOOON!!!! :jump:

This episode opens almost the same as the pilot episode, except, it's Locke's eye that opens up and Desmond is running by like Vincent.

Eddie the narc was born 6.12.94

Ephesians 6:12
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Law and criminality, light and darkness, an earthly struggle reflecting a higher struggle.

How far back did Locke become the "candidate" of evil / the anti-candidate?