Season 3, Episode 13:
The Man from Tallahassee
In flashbacks, Locke is visited by a man named Peter Talbot, who is concerned that his mother is marrying Anthony Cooper, and knows Locke donated a kidney to him, though Locke claims he's never met him. Locke meets Cooper, and demands that he call off the wedding. Two detectives tell Locke that Talbot is dead. Locke confronts Cooper, who tries to kill him by pushing him out a window. Locke is paralysed, and Cooper flees the country.
On the Island, Rousseau abandons the group at the Barracks. Kate enters Jack's room, but she and Sayid are immediately captured by the Others, who have been watching him. Jack tells Kate that he has made a deal with the Others, and they are going to let him and Juliet leave on their submarine.
Locke enters Ben's room to interrogate him about the submarine, and takes Alex hostage. Locke makes Alex retrieve Sayid's pack with the C4. Alex meets Sayid while finding it, and he tells her he knows her mother. Alex escorts Locke to the submarine, while Danielle watches from the trees. Locke blows up the submarine just before Jack and Juliet were about to board. He realizes Ben wanted him to blow up the submarine. Ben brings Locke to see a secret prisoner the Others have been holding: his father, Anthony Cooper.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Batman Gambit: Ben pushes all of the right buttons to trick Locke into blowing up the submarine, all while making Locke think it was his own idea.Locke: You don't have to pretend to be disappointed anymore. We both know you wanted it to happen. That's why you left the C-4 in Sayid's bag: because you wanted me to make it happen.
- Blatant Lies: Anthony Cooper tells Locke that he is not a murderer, moments before pushing him out an eight-story window.
- Chekhov's Boomerang: The C4 Locke used to blow up the Flame, which the previous episode revealed he had taken a block of for his own purposes, comes back again as he uses it to blow up the Others' submarine.
- Continuity Nod:
- Right before pushing Locke out the window, Anthony Cooper pours himself a glass of MacCutcheon whiskey.
- Once again, Kate maneuvers her handcuffs out from behind her back.
- Cruel to Be Kind: The nurse who brings Locke out in his wheelchair for the first time after his fall takes a tough love attitude towards getting him out of bed, telling him rather gruffly that he doesn't care if Locke wants to get up or not, but it's clear he just wants Locke to make some productive steps instead of wallowing in self-pity.
- Death Glare: Locke destroying the sub DID NOT sit well with Jack.
- Destination Defenestration: Cooper attempts to kill Locke by pushing him out of an eight story window.
- Foreshadowing: In the flashbacks, Locke is watching an episode of Exposé when Peter visits him.
- Morton's Fork: As Ben points out to Locke, his deal with Jack and Juliet was a lose-lose for him. Either he allows them to leave the Island as he promised, which his people would take as a sign of weakness, or he breaks his word, and proves himself a liar. Ultimately Ben finds a way around this by having Locke destroy the submarine for him, allowing him to keep his word without letting them leave.
- Offing the Offspring: A failed attempt at this by Anthony Cooper: he pushes Locke, his son, out of a window, but only succeeds in paralysing him.
- Oh, Crap!: Anthony Cooper's eyes widen in horror when he sees Locke in the Others' basement.
- The Reveal: It's finally revealed how Locke wound up in a wheelchair: his own father pushed him out of a window after he uncovered his latest scam.
- Single Tear: Danielle weeps a solitary tear when she sees Alex.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Locke and Ben spend much of the episode trading sarcastic barbs.Locke: Where do you get electricity?Ben: We have two giant hamsters running in a massive wheel at our secret underground lair...Locke: Yeah, that's funny.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: With Danny Pickett's death, this episode introduces Ryan Pryce, who replaces him as the Others' resident Jerkass security guard.
- Title Drop: While Locke is holding Alex hostage in the closet, Ben tells Richard to bring "the man from Tallahassee."Locke: The man from Tallahassee? What is that? Some kind of code?Ben: No, John, unfortunately we don't have a code for "There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head." Although we obviously should.
- Too Dumb to Live: Locke believes his father killed Peter and decides to confront him alone, without the police who are already investigating Cooper. He's then pushed out a window.
- Wham Episode: The reason for Locke having been in a wheelchair is revealed, Locke destroys the Others' only means of leaving the Island, and Anthony Cooper has been brought to the Island by the Others.
