Line #68 Recap/LostS01E05WhiteRabbit


1	'''Season 1, Episode 5:'''
2	!White Rabbit
3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lostwhiterabbit.jpg]]
4	[[caption-width-right:350:''"Dad?"'']]
5
6	->Written by Christian Taylor.
7	->Directed by Creator/KevinHooks.
8
9	->''"Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And god knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."''
10	-->-- '''Jack Shephard'''
11
12	{{FLASHBACK}}! As a young boy, Jack tries to stop some bullies from hurting another kid, and gets punched for it.
13
14	----
15
16	It's been six days since Oceanic 815 crashed. When he sees someone drowning, Jack swims out into the ocean and saves Boone, but Boone says that he only swam out to save a woman who was drowning. By the time Jack gets Boone back to the beach and swims out again, the woman has drowned. Later, as Jack angsts over not being able to save her, he again sees the older man in a black suit and tennis shoes (see the previous episode) standing in the ocean. He asks Kate, but she claims not to have seen him. Sun asks Jin what they should be doing, since it appears no one is coming to rescue them, but Jin insists that they don't need the other survivors. While reading ''Literature/WatershipDown'' on the beach, Sawyer is approached by Shannon, who wants some insect repellent from his stash. He demands $5,000 for it, or at least an IOU, and she refuses. Hurley and Charlie tell Jack that their supply is water is almost completely gone; they keep asking Jack what to do, but Jack refuses to take on any kind of leadership role.
17
18	----
19
20	{{FLASHBACK}}! Young!Jack, his face covered with bruises, gets scolded by his father, Christian, for trying to help the other kid. Christian tells Jack that he shouldn't make any decisions.
21
22	->'''Christian''': You don't want to be a hero, you don't try and save everyone, because when you fail you just don't have what it takes.
23
24	----
25
26	On the beach, Boone gets angry at Jack for saving him instead of the woman, and asks why Jack has somehow been appointed leader. Jack is distracted when he sees the man in the black suit and tennis shoes walking into the jungle and runs after him. When he gets close enough, he recognises the man as his own father, Christian. Stunned, Jack lets Christian wander off into the jungle.
27
28	----
29
30	{{FLASHBACK}}! As an adult, Jack is told by his mother, Margo, that Christian has gone to Australia after losing his job, which was apparently Jack's fault. Margo tells Jack to go and bring Christian back.
31
32	----
33
34	Determined, Jack sets off into the jungle. On the beach, Claire collapses and they carry her into Jack's tent. Charlie goes to bring her water and discovers that their supply is gone. Kate suggests searching for a freshwater source. Locke reminds them that things will get "ugly" when the other survivors discover someone has stolen the last of the water, and volunteers to look for Jack and/or another water source. In the jungle, Jack is wandering about aimlessly, looking for Christian.
35
36	----
37
38	{{FLASHBACK}}! In Sydney, Jack searches his father's hotel room and finds alcohol, pills and Christian's wallet. The hotel manager tells him that Christian hasn't been back in several days and when last seen, he was in a state of extreme drunkenness.
39
40	----
41
42	Christian seems to appear and disappear randomly, and Jack attempts to follow. While running after him, Jack trips over, falls down a hill and almost goes over the edge of a cliff, barely hanging onto a loose tree root. Locke arrives moments later and pulls him to safety. On the beach, Charlie brings Claire what little water he's been able to scrape together, and assures her that Jack will return soon and Locke will find water. He jokes around with her, and Claire thanks him for talking with her and not being intimidated by her pregnancy. Hurley discovers that Jin and Sun have some water; Sayid and Kate suspect them of having stolen it, but Jin indicates that he got the water from Sawyer. They follow him to his stash of goods but don't find any water; Sawyer says he traded the water to Jin for a fish. In the jungle, Jack and Locke discuss the survivors' situation: everyone is treating Jack like their leader, but he doesn't want the job because he believes he'll fail and that he "doesn't have what it takes". When Jack admits that he's chasing something, something he ''knows'' can't really be there, Locke compares it to the [[TitleDrop white rabbit]] from Literature/AliceInWonderland.
43
44	->'''Locke''': If I came to you and said the same thing, then what would your explanation be, as a doctor?
45	->'''Jack''': I'd call it a hallucination. A result of dehydration, post traumatic stress, not getting more than two hours of sleep a night for the past week. All of the above.
46	->'''Locke''': All right, then. You're hallucinating. But what if you're not?
47	->'''Jack''': Then we're all in a lot of trouble.
48	->'''Locke''': I'm an ordinary man, Jack, meat and potatoes, I live in the real world. I'm not a big believer in magic. But this place is different. It's special. The others don't want to talk about it because it scares them. But we all know it. We all feel it. Is your white rabbit a hallucination? Probably. But what if everything that happened here, happened for a reason? What if this person that you're chasing is really here?
49	->'''Jack''': That's impossible.
50	->'''Locke''': Even if it is, let's say it's not.
51	->'''Jack''': Then what happens when I catch him?
52	->'''Locke''': I don't know. But I've looked into the eye of this island. And what I saw was beautiful.
53
54	Locke leaves to search for water, and tells Jack to keep searching for his "white rabbit".
55
56	----
57
58	{{FLASHBACK}}! At a morgue in Sydney, Jack identifies Christian's dead body. He's told that Christian's extremely high blood-alcohol level brought about a massive heart attack.
59
60	----
61
62	Later that night, Jack hears a sound in the jungle and follows it to a set of caves with a freshwater stream. He finds luggage from the plane, including a coffin.
63
64	----
65
66	{{FLASHBACK}}! At Sydney Airport, Jack argues with the woman behind the counter over whether he can check his father's body, already in a coffin and ready for the funeral, onto his flight.
67
68	->'''Jack''': I'm standing in front of you in the same suit that I'm wearing to my father's funeral and I'm asking you a favor. In sixteen hours I need to land at LAX, and I need that coffin to clear customs because there's going to be a hearse waiting there. And I need that hearse to take me and that coffin to a cemetery. Why? Chrissy, why can't I just bring him to a funeral home and make all the arrangements? Why can't I really take my time with it? Because... because I need it to be done. I need it to be over. I just--I need to bury my father.
69
70	----
71
72	At the caves, Jack opens his father's coffin, only to discover that Christian's body isn't inside. In anger, he takes a large stick and smashes the coffin to pieces. On the beach, the survivors discover that Boone stole the water. He claims he was trying to take responsibility but the others don't listen until Jack returns and berates the survivors for their "every man for himself" attitude. He tells them about the water in the caves and starts trying to organise everyone, taking up the leadership mantle.
73
74	->'''Jack''': Last week most of us were strangers, but we're all here now. And God knows how long we're going to be here. But [[CatchPhrase if we can't live together, we're going to die alone]].
75
76	----
77	!Tropes in this episode include:
78
79	* AmbiguousSyntax: PlayedForLaughs.
80	-->'''[[TheNicknamer Sawyer]]:''' You're in my light, sticks.
81	-->'''Shannon:''' Lightsticks? What the hell is that supposed to--
82	-->'''Sawyer:''' Light, comma, sticks.
83	* BackFromTheDead: Jack's father has apparently been raised from the dead by his body landing on the Island.
84	* CatchPhrase: The first utterance of Jack's most famous one:
85	-->''"If we can't live together, we're going to die alone."''
86	* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Christian calls Jack out for having this in the flashbacks, stating that Jack shouldn't keep trying to save everyone because he doesn't have what it takes to deal with it when he fails.
87	* ComplainingAboutRescuesTheyDontLike: Boone is angry with Jack for taking him all the way back to the beach when he claims he could have made it on his own, instead of leaving him and saving Joanna instead. It's clear he's suffering SurvivorGuilt, since his own unsuccessful attempt to save her ultimately prevented Jack from doing so.
88	* DidntThinkThisThrough: Boone steals the last of the camp's water in order to ration it. Unfortunately, he didn't ''tell'' anybody he did this, so when the water is found gone and he later tries to give some to Claire, everyone is quickly at his throat over the theft, and if it hadn't been for Jack, things would have gotten very ugly.
89	* DissonantLaughter: After Locke pulls him to safety, he asks Jack if he's all right. Jack, who, among other things, just had a narrow brush with death, has barely slept in a week (during which time he's been constantly stressed), and has been chasing [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane a hallucination, ghost, or vision]] of his late father through the jungle, starts laughing deliriously, much to Locke's bemusement.
90	* DramaticIrony: Sawyer tosses Kate the Marshal's badge, sarcastically calling her "new sheriff".
91	* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Christian Shephard's first appearance has him [[TheAlcoholic with a drink in hand and quickly pouring himself another one]] while calmly lecturing Jack (who is a child at the time) [[AbusiveParents that he doesn't have what it takes to be a hero]].
92	* ExhaustedEyeBags: Lack of sleep leaves Jack looking pale, with dark circles under his eyes. Both Kate and Hurley notice, though Jack brushes them off.
93	* {{Flashback}}: Jack gets his first centric episode as the flashbacks show him going to Australia to claim his father's body.
94	* InnocentlyInsensitive: As Boone is calling him out for saving him instead of Joanna, Jack becomes distracted by the vision of his father off in the distance and leaves to follow him, giving the impression that he's ignoring Boone's grievance.
95	* ItBeganWithATwistOfFate: If Jack hadn't been so stubborn with the check-in attendant, his father's coffin wouldn't have been allowed on the plane and he likely would have gone on a different flight.
96	* JerkassHasAPoint: Callous and emotionally abusive drunk though he may be, Christian isn't wrong when he tells Jack that he can't handle failing to save someone; failing to save Joanna at the start of this episode weighs heavily on Jack, contributing to his already stressed and sleep-deprived mental state.
97	* KickTheDog: After all is said and done, a smirking Sawyer asks Boone how it feels to take his (Sawyer's) place "at the top of everyone's most hated list".
98	* TheLoad: Despite being a lifeguard, Boone's attempt to rescue the drowning Joanna fails miserably and ends up causing her death when Jack has to rescue ''him'' and can't reach her in time.
99	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: For most of the episode, Jack isn't sure if his visions of his dead father walking around the Island are hallucinations or if he really has been resurrected, and his discovery that his dad's coffin is empty at the end of the episode doesn't give him full closure on the matter. It's not until much later in the series that the truth behind this mystery is revealed.
100	* NeverFoundTheBody: Played with; Christian is confirmed dead on screen when Jack identifies him in a morgue in Sydney, but Jack starts seeing him on the Island, seemingly alive, and finds his coffin empty.
101	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
102	** Boone's attempt to rescue Joanna himself gets her killed; Boone's strength fails before he can reach Joanna, and Jack has to save him before going back for Joanna, who is now too far out to be rescued before she drowns.
103	** Jack following the vision of his father instead of addressing Boone's SurvivorGuilt leads to Boone stealing the water from Jack's tent, triggering the conflict for the rest of the episode.
104	* NotMeThisTime: After learning that Sawyer gave Jin and Sun two bottles of water, Kate and Sayid assume that he is the one who stole the camp's remaining supply. As it turns out, Sawyer simply traded the last of his own water to Jin in exchange for for a fish, hoping/expecting to get some more water at the next rainfall.
105	* RedShirt: We don't even learn Joanna's name until after she's already dead. Lampshaded by Jack, who points out that he never bothered to get to know her.
106	* ShamingTheMob: The other survivors are understandably pissed at Boone when he is revealed to have stolen the water, but Jack calls them out for it, pointing out that he tried to save Joanna earlier that day and that the survivors can't afford to fight amongst themselves.
107	* ShoutOut: Sawyer calls Jin [[Film/TheKarateKid Mr. Miyagi.]]
108	* SurvivorGuilt: Boone is badly shaken up that Jack saved him instead of leaving him to save Joanna.
109	* TitleDrop: Locke mentions the white rabbit from ''Alice in Wonderland''.
110	* TranslationByVolume: Sayid slowly shouts at Sun while asking where she got the water bottle from. Jin manages to get the message and point them towards Sawyer.
111	* {{Troll}}: Sawyer takes an attempt at bartering from Shannon as a good excuse to mess with her; when Shannon asks for a bottle of bug repellent, Sawyer brushes off her attempt to buy it, implies he wants to trade sex in exchange for it, then asks for $5,000, quipping that he'd accept an IOU. An annoyed Shannon throws the repellent back at him and stomps off, Sawyer smirking in amusement all the while.

Context Recap / LostS01E05WhiteRabbit