Lockdown (Lost)
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Lockdown is the 42nd episode of Lost. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams, and written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. It first aired on March 29, 2006 on ABC. The character of John Locke is featured in the episode's flashbacks.
Plot
What's done is done
Henry Gale, despite his sinister demeanor at the end of the last episode, tries to convince Locke and a very suspicious Jack that he was just making a bad joke about leading Sayid, Charlie, and Ana-Lucia into a trap. Jack insists Henry draw another map, but Locke says "What's done is done." Jack becomes angry, orders Locke to put Henry back into the armory, and leaves. Henry asks Locke why he lets Jack talk to him like that. Locke is silent, but grabs Henry roughly by the neck and throws him into the armory. Back in the clearing, Sayid, Charlie, and Ana-Lucia have found both the balloon and the grave, apparently confirming Henry's story.
Locke's father
In the flashback, we see the continuation of Locke and Helen's relationship from Orientation. Locke is preparing a picnic lunch for the couple, and we see that he packs an engagement ring into the lunch. Helen inquires what the picnic is about, and Locke tells her it is, indeed, a surprise, and to read her regular obituaries while he finishes up. She looks at the paper and sees the name "Anthony Cooper", Locke's father.
A game of poker
Back on the island, Jack's medical attention is sought by several people, and he realizes that he needs to get the medicine back from Sawyer if anyone is to receive medical treatment without going broke in the process. Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley are nearby playing poker. While Kate and Hurley are playing for fun - mostly - Sawyer is obviously in it for the loot. Jack takes the opportunity to win the medicine back.
Blast doors at the hatch
In the hatch, Locke is seen pedaling furiously on the stationary bike while listening to some music. Suddenly, he stops. He hears some static noise coming from the speakers around the hatch. Locke goes to look at the computer, notices the prompt is blinking (like how Michael found it in "What Kate Did"), and sees that the timer has 47 minutes left. A few seconds later, over Henry's protests from inside the armory, Locke hears a female voice announce "5...4...3...2...1". At 1, the blast doors quickly begin to shut. First, the computer room is sealed off, then the window, then a door begins to close over the exit. Locke reacts quickly, grabs a crowbar, and dives to slide it under the door to stop it from closing completely.
Forgiveness
Back in the flashback, Helen and Locke have postponed their day's picnic to go to Locke's father's funeral. Helen asks if Locke is sure he wants to do this. He is, and they go as the only attendees. Not even Locke's mother is there. However, two mysterious men in a silver Mercedes briefly get out and cast menacing glares in Locke's direction before driving off. At the conclusion of the funeral, Locke stands next to the coffin and says, "I forgive you."
Locke is trapped
Meanwhile, Locke has formed a truce with Henry to get the blast door open. Together, the two are able to wedge it open and slide a toolbox underneath to prop it open. Locke hastily tries to slide under the heavy door, and is rewarded with the door crushing the toolbox just enough to trap his legs painfully under the door. Henry, following Locke's instructions, quickly grabs a stack of weights from the exercises area, and puts them under the door to stop any further pressure on Locke's legs. As it is obvious Locke will not escape soon, he tells Henry how to get into the computer room through the vents to input the numbers. Henry goes into the pantry to access the vents, but he slips climbing the shelves and lies stunned on the ground. Locke yells for Henry, but receives no answer. At that point, the horn speaker alarm begins blaring.
Suspicious circumstances
Back in Irvine, California, Locke is assessing a piece of property that Nadia is purchasing. As Locke is about to leave, he sees the same silver Mercedes across the street from the house. When he approaches the vehicle, the window rolls down to reveal his father, who is in fact quite alive. They go to a bar, where Anthony reveals that he faked his own death to escape from the consequences of his "retirement con", of $700,000. He says that the two men are looking to kill him for real this time because of the con. He wants Locke to go to the bank to get the money for him from a safety deposit box, and keep $200,000 as payment. Anthony confesses that it won't pay Locke back for what he went through, and that if he doesn't see Locke again, he would understand. Locke goes to the bank to get the money, and races back home with the intention of taking Helen out to dinner. The two men are waiting at his house, though, and start questioning Locke about his father. Helen defends Locke and tells the men to get out. The men ask what is in Locke's bag; he replies that it contains work papers. When they ask to look at it, the men find it does contain work papers. The two men leave, having not found what they came for. After the men leave, Helen asks Locke if he was lying about not having seen his dad that day. He says he wasn't lying and that he hadn't seen him.
Back at the beach
On the island, Jack is soundly trouncing Sawyer at poker. He suddenly announces that he will go all in ;and also tells Sawyer that a small group of people are watching their game from afar. Sawyer, defending his pride, challenges Jack's hand and loses his stash of medicine. He tells Sawyer that he will pick up the medicine later, and starts heading back to the hatch. Kate tries to follow him, claiming she hasn't had a shower in days. Jack quickly makes up a story about a busted water pipe, but quickly recovers by promising to let her know as soon as it is fixed. Jack then tells her that he does not need to attend to the hatch, and offers to walk Kate back to the beach. While contemplating Jack's offer, Kate sees a flashing light over Jack's shoulder. Both race over to see what it is and find an enormous package of food (with the DHARMA logo) attached to a parachute, seemingly some sort of air drop. They hear rustling in the bushes, and Sayid's search party emirges from the jungle.
The blast doors go up
In the hatch, Henry slowly gets up as the timer begins to go off. Gaining his footing again, he climbs hurriedly into the vent, disappearing from Locke's sight. The timer begins to beep rapidly, signaling the beginning of the 1-minute countdown. Locke begins to get nervous, but suddenly the alarm stops, there is a whirring noise similar to the jet engine-like sound in "One of Them" and the lights go out. Seconds later, blacklights come on and a diagram is revealed on the blast door that Locke is trapped under. It appears to be a map of the island compounds, with a swan symbol and a "I am here" for the current bunker. It is only shown briefly before the ordinary lights turn back on and the blast doors retract to their normal positions. Henry steps out of the computer room and tells Locke that he only did what Locke asked him to do, nothing more.
Losing everything
Rounding out this episode's flashback, we return to the motel where Locke's dad said he would be. Locke has taken him up on his offer and empties the money out onto a table. Anthony asks about "the woman you were with at my funeral". Locke tells his dad that her name is Helen and he is going to ask her to marry him over dinner that night. Anthony seems to approve of this and congratulates John just as he is leaving-- opening the door, however, he sees Helen standing right there. Helen is obviously hurt and reprimands Anthony with strong words and an even stronger slap to the face.
She leaves and Locke chases after her. Locke claims he was going to tell her everything eventually, but she throws it back in his face, saying that Locke chose his father's love over hers. While saying that he can't live without her, Locke gets down on one knee and proposes. After a long silence, Helen shakes her head and drives away, leaving Locke to stare at his father getting into a taxi cab to drive away as well.
Another Henry Gale
Finally, we see all three island stories converging in one place. Jack rushes in and grabs Henry off of Locke; with Charlie, Ana-Lucia, and Sayid right behind him. Locke tries to defend Henry, saying that he was helping him after the blast doors came down.
Sayid confirms that they found the balloon and the grave and they were exactly where Henry had said they were. However, Sayid adds that he was still skeptical as to the validity of Henry's story, so he dug up the grave to verify it was his wife's, and found a man's body instead--a body with the photo ID of a man named "Henry Gale".
Trivia
- The woman buying the house that Locke inspects is Sayid's Iraqi girlfriend, Nadia.
- Two planes fly over Locke when he's at Flight Line Motel. Both planes have the Oceanic logo on their tails.
- Locke's father stashed his ill-gotten fortune in a box numbered 1516, referencing two of the numbers.
- The number of the address on the real Henry Gale's ID card is 815. Also, when the zip code (55391) is added together, the answer is 23. Both of these are referencing "the numbers".
- The episode has also been referred to as "Lockdown", alluding to its central character, John Locke.
