1x2, Pilot Part 2

There was a rumor circulating that in the Season 4 finale, the Pilot of Oceanic Flight 815 was supposed to have a flashback. This did not pan out. I wonder if we will ever see such a flashback, and if so, what purpose it would serve (that is, what mysteries would it answer)? The fact that Frank Lapidus was pulled as the pilot of the flight at the last minute seems to suggest some sort of conspiracy. If Season 4 had been its full length, we may even have gotten to see more of Lapidus' backstory.

My guess is that the replacement of Lapidus with the other pilot was a machination of someone seeing flashes of the future, just like Desmond. Someone wanted Oceanic 815 to crash on the Island, and they knew for that to happen, Lapidus had to be replaced. It's the same reason Desmond asked specifically Charlie, Hurley, and Jin to accompany him into the jungle when Naomi crashed her helicopter: any deviation from his vision would re-write the whole thing. In the same way, someone put that Pilot on the plane to achieve a specific goal (even though I'm sure the Pilot had no idea of the reason why he was put on the flight). I suspect sometime in the next two seasons we'll see in a flashback our Pilot being notified about the last-minute assignment by someone of the likes of Matthew Abaddon, Charles Widmore, or Ms. Hawking. For now though, we'll leave him dead in that tree.

This episode had a consistent theme of people being trapped. Walt found the handcuffs, a symbol of imprisonment. Sun is bound by her husband's domination, forced to button every button on her shirt, lest she betray any immodesty. Jin is trapped by his own jealous insistence on protecting his wife, as well as his language barrier. His efforts to share the fruits of his skill of fishing are all rejected, due in no small part to his inability to communicate. The castaways' rejection of his gesture of kindness is all the more degrading since we know how ashamed he is of his fisherman upbringing.

Fear of the Monster keeps the castaways imprisoned (mostly) on the beach. Even though we do not understand it at this point, we see the first instance of Sawyer reading his letter, a ritual that will imprison him until he set free by the murder of Cooper (which, appropriately, occurs in the brig of the Black Rock). With the show progressing over so many years, it is easy to forget how much the characters have evolved. Going back and re-watching these episodes has the same effect of Season 4's Jin/Sun flashback/flashforward episode. Showing us the character of Jin as he used to be (distant, degrading) acts as a helpful reminder of how the Island (and Sun) have changed him.

To the same effect, we are reminded of how far Sawyer has come. In this episode, he hands out his first nickname ("Lardo", to Hurley). Juxtaposing that with the image of Hurley and Sawyer playing Risk and horseshoes at the Barracks makes us appreciate their friendship all the more. Sawyer came to the Island as an angry jerk who was looking out only for himself. Now, he seems ready to become a leader of the castaways (if there are any castaways still remaining on the Island after it moved).

Finally, there is the true prisoner: Kate. She escaped her bonds on the plane and landed free, but in her heart she is still a captive and a fugitive. In a symbolic baptism, she strips off her clothing in the water, an attempt to renew herself and shed the bonds of her old life on the run. If this were not a network show, I wonder if she would have shed all of her clothes to strengthen the metaphor, especially given the recent revelation about the writers' hidden profanity in the Lost scripts (if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this fascinating and amusing article). On the other hand, it is appropriate that she leaves on her underwear, as no matter how much she tries, she is not able to shed her past as a fugitive entirely on the Island. It is not until she leaves the Island, cuts a deal with the prosecutor, and has possession of Aaron that she can finally stop running (perhaps it is intentional, then, that the next time we see her in the chronology of the show she is naked in the shower at the house with Jack, as she is now completely rid of the bonds of her fugitive past).

This theme of imprisonment will become a staple of Lost, both literally (Ben imprisoned in the Swan; Kate, Jack, and Sawyer held captive by the Others) and figuratively (practically everyone having some sort of confining problem). The goal of prison is both to punish and to help cure, so it is understandable why people quickly cottoned to the idea of the Island as purgatory: these people are being punished, but they are also transformed and becoming better.

One final note: you have to admire the dedication of Marshal Edward Mars, who regains consciousness and asks immediately, "Where is she?" You think a more natural question would have been: "What happened?" "Why are we on an island?" "What's with this metal sticking out of my body?" But no, he's only got one concern, and that's making sure Kate doesn't run again.