Cabin Fever (Lost)
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"Cabin Fever" is the eleventh episode of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost and eightieth episode overall. It was aired on May 8, 2008 on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada.[1] The episode was written by supervising producer Elizabeth Sarnoff and Kyle Pennington and directed by Paul Edwards. According to a press release, "John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) is enlightened as to the whereabouts of Jacob's cabin, and life aboard the freighter becomes perilous."[2] The episode was written alongside "The Shape of Things to Come" and "Something Nice Back Home".[3] "Cabin Fever" was watched by 11 million American viewers and received mostly positive critical reviews.
Plot
The episode begins with a flashback to the 1950s, when 16 year old Emily Locke (Holland Roden) is preparing for a date with a man twice her age. Her mother tries to stop her from going out, but Emily escapes and is struck by a car. The trauma triggers the premature birth of John (as an adult portrayed by Terry O'Quinn). John's life is monitored by Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) and Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick), each of whom attempts to influence his life.
In the present day, Locke, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) are attempting to find a cabin inhabited by Jacob, the de facto leader of the Others. They are initially unsuccessful, but an apparition of deceased DHARMA Initiative member Horace Goodspeed (Doug Hutchison) assists Locke by pointing him to the Initiative's mass grave. There, Locke extracts a set of blueprints from Horace's jacket, and uses it to locate the cabin.
On the freighter Kahana, mercenary Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand) returns from his unsuccessful attack on the Barracks, the former home of the Others.[4] Enraged that his mission was unsuccessful and several of his colleagues were killed, he accuses Gault (Grant Bowler) of giving him up to Ben, but Gault tells Keamy that Michael is the actual spy. He tries to kill Michael by shooting him, but just as in "Meet Kevin Johnson" when Michael tries to commit suicide, the gun jams. Gault (Grant Bowler) then tells Keamy that Michael is vital to repairing the engines, because he is the one that sabotaged them initially. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), fearing Keamy's intentions, uses a Zodiac boat to return to the island, hoping to save as many people as possible. Desmond refuses to accompany him, saying that he would never return to the island after he left.
Several hours after Sayid leaves, Keamy stages a mutiny. A soldier receives a message from the island saying they found the doctor's body, but the doctor protests that it's impossible since he's alive on the boat. Keamy orders Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) at gunpoint to prepare the freighter's helicopter; Lapidus refuses, and Keamy kills the ship's doctor Ray (Marc Vann) and Gault in response. Lapidus acquiesces and Keamy leaves the freighter with a group of mercenaries, intending to "torch the Island". When the helicopter passes over the survivors' beach camp, Frank drops a bag containing a satellite phone onto the beach.
At the end of the episode, Locke enters the cabin alone and meets the deceased Christian Shephard (John Terry), who is speaking on Jacob's behalf and is accompanied by his daughter Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin). Christian warns Locke that Keamy's mercenaries from the Kahana are already en route to the Island, and that the Island must be moved.
Production
Recurring guest star Nestor Carbonell appeared in seven episodes of Lost's third season as Richard Alpert and the mysteries surrounding his ageless character were heavily discussed among the fan community.[5] While producing the final episodes of the third season, Carbonell was cast in a starring role on the new CBS series Cane. The writers modified their original story plan for the third season in anticipation for Carbonell's potential unavailability. Despite Carbonell's willingness to return to Lost, CBS president Nina Tassler ruled out another Lost guest appearance.[6] Cane was canceled during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, freeing Carbonell from his contract with CBS.[7] Executive producer Carlton Cuse cited this as an unintended positive consequence of the strike.[8]
Reception
"Cabin Fever" was viewed live or recorded and watched within five hours of broadcast by 10.78 million American viewers.[9] It attained a 4.7/13 in the key adults 18-49 demographic,[10] ranking Lost as the nineteenth most watched program of the week,[11] two places up from the previous episode, "Something Nice Back Home".[12] "Cabin Fever" was watched by 392,000 Australian viewers, making Lost the thirty-third most watched program of the night.[13]
Robin Abrahams of the Boston Globe published an analysis exploring disability on her blog. A paragraph analyzed the scene where the "disabled-in-the-eyes-of-others Hurley" and the "disabled-in-his-own-mind Ben" shared a candy bar, which she thought was "kind of good and ... awful"; she said "It was great to see the most hateful and most lovable characters sitting on a log sharing a chocolate bar." However, she thought that the scene did not use its full potential in emphasizing Hurley's empathy and Ben's reaction.[14] However, Kristin Dos Santos of E!, who gave the episode a mostly positive review, was critical of the scene; she thought that the scene wasted time and was "cruel and unusual punishment" to air before the cliffhanger ending.[15]
References
- ^ "Weekly Primetime Program Schedule". ABC Medianet. 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ "Locke Discovers the Whereabouts of Jacob's Cabin, and Life Aboard the Freighter Becomes Dangerous" (PDF). ABC Medianet. 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ Lachonis, Jon (2008-03-13). "Darlton Lost Interview". UGO. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ "Something Nice Back Home". Lost. Season 4. Episode 10. 2008-05-01. ABC.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|episodelink=ignored (|episode-link=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ Lachonis, Jon (2007-07-18). "Cane Star Nestor Carbonell Leaves Lost Future in Doubt". BuddyTV. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ Sepinwall, Alan (2007-07-18). "Lost at CBS". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (2008-03-12). "Ausiello on Grey's, Lost, Smallville, Tree Hill and More!". TV Guide. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ Jensen, Jeff (2008-02-22). "7 Writers' Strike Postscripts". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ "Weekly Program Rankings" (PDF). ABC Medianet. 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ "Weekly Primetime Ratings" (PDF). ABC Medianet. 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ Seidman, Robert (2008-05-13). "Nielsen Weekly Top 20: Idol Wins, Zucker and NBC Nowhere to be Found". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ "Weekly Program Rankings". ABC MediaNet. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2008-07-07.
- ^ Dale, David (2008-05-16). "The Who We Are Update: Nine back on top". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Abrahams, Robin (2008-05-11). "Extraordinary bodies and "Lost"". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Dos Santos, Kristin (2008-05-08). "Lost Redux: "Destiny Is a Fickle Bitch"". Watch With Kristin. E!. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
