Line #67 Recap/LostS01E04Walkabout


1	'''Season 1, Episode 4:'''
2
3	!Walkabout
4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lostlockewalkabout.jpg]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:''"DON'T EVER TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO, EVER!"'']]
6
7	->Written by Creator/DamonLindelof, David Fury, & Monica Macer (uncredited).
8	->Directed by Creator/JackBender.
9
10	->''"Not that you would understand, but a [[TitleDrop Walkabout]] is a journey of spiritual renewal, where one derives strength from the earth. And becomes inseparable from it."''
11	-->-- '''John Locke'''
12
13	{{FLASHBACK}}! Locke wakes up moments after the crash of Oceanic 815 and wiggles his toes for a few moments.
14
15	----
16
17	It's been four days since the crash. At night on the beach, people hear something moving around in the fuselage. Jack investigates and finds wild boars eating the bodies. Later, Jack Kate and Sayid discuss what to do about all the bodies. Jack proposes turning the fuselage into a funeral pyre and cremating the dead; Sayid objects, since they don't know what religion or culture the dead might've belonged to, but Jack says they need to ensure the boars don't get them. Kate realises that Jack is hoping to use the burning fuselage as a signal fire. Next morning, Sayid works on a device to triangulate the source of the Frenchwoman's transmission and whatever power source it's using. Michael tries to stop Walt from hanging out with Locke. Jack and Sayid break up a fight between Sawyer and Hurley, who claims that Sawyer is hoarding the last of the food. Locke enters the discussion (in [[ImprobableAimingSkills dramatic fashion]]) and proposes they hunt the wild boars for food using the dozens of hunting knives he checked onto the plane.
18
19	->'''Hurley''': Who ''is'' this guy?
20
21	----
22
23	{{FLASHBACK}}! Locke receives a phone call from someone who addresses him as "Colonel" and tells him the rendezvous point is clear for 1300 hours. He's interrupted by Randy, Locke's boss at the cubicle farm where he works, telling him that he needs [[Film/OfficeSpace the TPS reports]]. Locke goes back to work on his computer and receipt machine.
24
25	----
26
27	Kate volunteers for the boar-hunting trip, and Jack questions why she's so keen to hike "into the [[Literature/HeartOfDarkness heart of darkness]]" every chance she gets when they know the Monster is out there. She admits she's going to plant Sayid's triangulation device in the jungle. Their conversation turns to Locke: Kate thinks he knows what he's doing, but Jack doesn't quite trust anyone who packs a case full of knives on a plane. Michael is also going on the hunting trip, and (with difficulty) asks Sun to watch Walt while he's gone. Claire asks Jack to lead a memorial service before they burn the bodies, but he has no interest, and Claire decides to do it herself. Boone notices Rose sitting by herself and tries to talk to Shannon about it, but she's more interested in her crossword. He questions how she's going to eat on the Island and Shannon claims she can catch a fish easily. Charlie is taking a sniff of his heroin when Shannon interrupts and convinces him to catch her some fish. Boone asks Jack to talk to Rose, whose been sitting alone without eating or drinking since the crash and the death of her husband. As he did with Claire, Jack shrugs off the request, not wanting to get involved, but winds up taking Rose some water and a blanket anyway. In the jungle, the hunting party finds a boar trail. Michael talks about Walt, who'd been living with his mother in Sydney until her death two weeks earlier. Kate is saved from talking about why she was in Australia by Locke telling them to be silent. Michael attracts the attention of a boar and it charges, gouging his leg.
28
29	----
30
31	{{FLASHBACK}}! In a breakroom, Locke and a co-worker play a TabletopGame/{{Risk}}-like game and are interrupted by Randy (who is a douchebag). Randy wants to know about the "walkabout" that Locke is so keen on doing.
32
33	->'''Randy''': So, you wander around hunting and gathering food, right? ''On foot?''
34	->'''Locke''': Not that you would understand, but a walkabout is a journey of spiritual renewal, where one derives strength from the earth and becomes inseparable from it.
35
36	Randy also scoffs at the idea that Locke has a woman in his life, or that he'll even be able to go on a walkabout. Locke tells the story of a double-amputee who climbed Everest because it was "his destiny".
37
38	----
39
40	Slightly dazed and calling Kate "Helen" by accident, Locke tells her to take Michael back to the beach and goes looking for the boar on his own, ignoring Kate when she says that he can't do it on his own. On the beach, Charlie has enlisted Hurley's help in fishing with a makeshift spear. Claire finds one of Sayid's possessions, an envelope containing photographs of a woman, and returns it to him. Rose finally starts talking to Jack, telling him that he's "off the hook" for the promise he made to keep her company until her husband returned.
41
42	----
43
44	{{FLASHBACK}}! Locke is talking on the phone to Helen, telling her that he's going on the walkabout and bought a plane ticket for her as well, but she says no because she isn't allowed to meet with customers. She hangs up so that Locke doesn't have to pay another $89 and he slams the phone down in anger.
45
46	----
47
48	As Kate and Michael head back to the beach, they stop so that Kate can climb a tree and plant Sayid's triangulation device. She reaches the top, but drops the device when she hears the sound of the Monster. It emerges from the trees in front of Locke ([[ShakyPOVCam though we don't see what it looks like]]) and he stands his ground. At the beach, Sawyer gives Claire some wallets he found for the memorial service. Sun uses plants to make a kind of toothpaste. Kate and Michael return, but Locke's absence is noticed, particularly by Boone. Charlie brings Shannon a fish and she offers it to Boone as proof that she can fend for herself; he apologises to Charlie for letting him get roped into their argument. Jack asks Rose to speak about Bernard at the memorial service, but she calmly tells him that her husband is still alive, somewhere on the Island with the other people who were in the tail section of the plane. As they walk back to the beach camp, Jack briefly sees an older man in a suit standing at the edge of the jungle. Kate returns the broken triangulation device to Sayid, and she encourages him to try again. When Jack returns, Kate tells him that Locke is gone. As he explains about the memorial service, Jack sees the man in the suit again and runs into the jungle after him; instead he finds Locke, bloodied and dragging a dead boar. That night, Claire leads the memorial service. Charlie skulks in the shadows and takes another dose of his dwindling heroin supply. When he arrives at the service, Kate asks where Jack is. Jack is sitting alone on the beach. Michael compliments Locke on bringing back the boar, and asks about the Monster; Locke claims he didn't see it.
49
50	----
51
52	{{FLASHBACK}}! At the walkabout office in Melbourne, Australia, the operator tells Locke that he can't go on the very physically-demanding trek because he lied by omission, neglecting to tell them about his condition. Locke demands to go on the walkabout, saying that he can do it, but the operator tells Locke that he can't, and leaves.
53
54	->'''Locke''': ''[trying to follow in his wheelchair]'' Don't you walk away from me! You don't know who you're dealing with! Don't '''ever''' tell me what I can't do, '''ever'''! This is destiny. This is '''destiny'''! This is my '''destiny'''! I'm '''supposed''' to do this, dammit! '''[[CatchPhrase DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!]]'''
55
56	----
57
58	Moments after Oceanic 815's crash, Locke wakes up, wiggles his toes, tests his legs and stands up, amazed.
59
60	----
61
62	The memorial service continues, and Locke watches as his wheelchair is burned in the fire.
63
64	----
65	!Tropes in this episode include:
66
67	* BadBoss: Randy is a complete and utter jerk who belittles his underlings. More egregious once we know that he's demeaning a guy in a wheelchair.
68	* BaitAndSwitch:
69	** In Locke's first flashback, he answers a call where he's addressed as "Colonel", implying that he was a military officer before the crash. It's quickly revealed that he actually works in a cubicle, and "Colonel" is just a nickname a friend of his uses during their regular game of TabletopGame/{{Risk}}.
70	** Randy's doubts that Locke is capable of handling a walkabout initially come across as a crack about Locke's age. After TheReveal, Randy's remarks become more [[JerkassHasAPoint pragmatic]] and more [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain discriminatory]].
71	* BerserkButton: DON'T tell Locke what he can't do. Although for most of this episode it comes across as TranquilFury.
72	* BlatantLies: Locke denies seeing the Monster, even though he was face to face with it.
73	* BriefAccentImitation: Randy puts on an Australian accent while reading Locke's walkabout pamphlet.
74	* CatchPhrase: Locke's "Don't tell me what I can't do!" appears for the first time in this episode.
75	* ContinuityNod:
76	** Jack assumes that whatever is rifling through the fuselage is Sawyer, whom Jack caught looting the wreck and stealing from the corpses within in [[Recap/LostS01E03TabulaRasa the previous episode]].
77	** Rose offers to let Jack "off the hook" for [[Recap/LostS01E01PilotPart1 his promise to stay with her until her husband got back from the bathroom]].
78	* DoubleMeaningTitle: The title refers both to the walkabout Locke was intending to go on in Australia and to Locke regaining the ability to walk after the crash.
79	* DueToTheDead: Claire leads a memorial service for the victims, reading names from passports and drivers' licenses along with any personal details they found.
80	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: While Locke has been seen throughout the previous episodes, here he firmly establishes himself as the group's hunter by throwing a knife just inches from Sawyer's head.
81	* {{Flashback}}: Locke is the focus of the flashbacks. They show that he was a sad, lonely man who worked in a dead-end job at a cubicle farm. His only companionship was a phone sex operator with whom he tried to have deep conversations with rather than her intended role. Oh, and he was actually paralyzed and denied access to a walkabout.
82	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Locke tells Randy about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Croucher Norman Croucher]], a double-amputee who climbed Mount Everest (though in real life, Croucher did not accomplish that feat) to defend his own plans to go on a walkabout. Why Locke mentions Croucher and his disability specifically becomes clear in the WhamShot in Locke's final flashback.
83	* FreudianSlip: Locke mistakenly refers to Kate as "Helen" during the hunt.
84	* HandSignals: Locke uses these to get Kate and Michael ready to attack one of the boars.
85	-->'''Michael:''' Hey, quit giving us the steal signal!
86	* IRejectYourReality: Locke tries to tell the tour guide that his paralysis won't be a problem, even though it clearly would be.
87	* InsaneTrollLogic: Shannon's idea of proving to Boone that she can take care of herself is to charm Charlie into catching a fish for her. She smugly presents it as proof of her self-sufficiency to an unimpressed and disgusted Boone.
88	* IntimateTelecommunications: Before the crash, Locke was calling a phone sex operator and having deep, personal conversations with "Helen." Before hanging up, she says that these calls aren't what she does.
89	* ItBeganWithATwistOfFate: If Locke had been honest with the tour company about his paralysis, his application would have been denied and he wouldn't have been in Australia in the first place.
90	* {{Jerkass}}:
91	** Locke's boss Randy seems bad enough on a first viewing, considering that he constantly belittles and demeans Locke for no good reason, but gets even worse after TheReveal when you realize that he's been mocking a disabled man.
92	** Shannon wasn't exactly been endearing in the first three episodes, but she shows a particularly bad attitude here; she insults Boone's concern about Rose (and straight-up admits to not caring when Boone talks about her condition), manipulates Charlie into catching a fish for her, and smugly presents ''Charlie's'' efforts as proof that she can take care of herself.
93	* JerkassHasAPoint:
94	** As much of an asshole as Randy is, he's right that Locke is not capable of doing a walkabout and is just torturing himself by refusing to admit it.
95	** Shannon callously ignores that Locke didn't come back with Kate and Michael, but she correctly points out that without more food, everyone is screwed.
96	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: After his encounter with the Monster, Locke managed to find, catch, and kill a boar (something he previously said would require at least three people), and bring said boar back to camp on his own.
97	* OnceMoreWithClarity: The first flashback is Locke waking up on the beach after the crash and looking at his foot. The end of the episode replays the moment, along with footage from the Pilot episode of Jack asking for his help, but now the audience has context for ''why'' he was so amazed by his toes moving.
98	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Randy is more a bully than a villain, but his remarks towards Locke, regardless of [[JerkassHasAPoint their validity]], come across as him just looking down on a disabled man.
99	* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:WordOfGod is that Locke deliberately chose Helen the phone sex operator to be this for his ex-girlfriend Helen Norwood.]]
100	* RewatchBonus: Watching the episode again, the fact that Locke is always shown to be sitting in the flashbacks becomes apparent.
101	* RightBehindMe: When the survivors hear some rustling inside the fuselage, Jack thinks it's Sawyer looking for more stuff, only for Sawyer to point out that he's standing behind him.
102	* RingOnANecklace: Rose wears her husband's wedding ring on a necklace whenever they fly because his fingers swell in altitude. She holds onto it as she sits on the beach, firm in her belief that he survived and will come back.
103	* SceneryCensor: A non-nudity example. The scene in the travel office is staged in such a way that Locke's wheelchair is not visible, with a pamphlet stand blocking a view of the rear push handles.
104	* SkewedPriorities: At being told that Locke didn't come back from the initial hunt, Shannon's first response is "so there's no food?".
105	* StaringDownCthulhu: Locke becomes the first character to face down the Monster without fleeing in terror.
106	* TitleDrop: A paralyzed Locke tries to go on a walkabout.
107	* UnrevealAngle: Locke's encounter with the Monster is shot from the Monster's point of view, so although Locke finds out what it looks like, the audience does not.
108	* WaistcoatOfStyle: Locke dons his hunting vest for the first time.
109	* WhamEpisode: The revelation of Locke being paralyzed before the crash is the first indication that there's something magical about the Island.
110	* WhamShot:
111	** Jack sees a familiar man in a suit just outside the camp.
112	** In the final flashback, we see Locke in a wheelchair at the walkabout office, revealing that he was paralyzed before the crash and regained the ability to walk on the Island.

Context Recap / LostS01E04Walkabout