Rewatching LOST: 1.24 “Exodus, Part 2″

As the first season finale begins, Danielle Rousseau brings a warning to the survivors: the Others are coming. Jack and Locke come up with a plan to hide everyone from these mysterious island inhabitants, but it means a dangerous trek into the island’s Dark Territory. Meanwhile, the raft is finally completed and departs from the island.

• Sayid takes charge in Jack’s absence and sends the beach survivors to the caves, then has a heated conversation with Charlie, who demands a gun from him so he can protect Claire, who’s distraught and tired regarding the sudden move. Sayid refuses to hand over a weapon, citing what happened the last time Charlie had one, and instead tells him to focus on helping Claire get moved.
• At the Black Rock, Danielle suddenly takes her leave of the group, having fulfilled her part of this bargain. Jack, Kate, and Locke head inside the ship to retrieve the dynamite, while Hurley and Arzt wait outside. Inside, Locke determines that the Black Rock was a slave ship, en route to a mining colony from the eastern coast of Africa. Kate finds the explosives and Jack suggests they carry it outside before opening it. Arzt freaks out when he sees them handling it with less care than he feels they should, and demands that they set it down. He takes over opening the crate, but accidentally sets off a stick of dynamite and blows himself to pieces.
• Michael, Walt, Jin, and Sawyer get a good look at the island while sailing away from it on the raft, and it’s big — possibly bigger than we’ve ever known. Michael wonders aloud just how an island so huge had never been discovered. Later, they conduct their first periodic use of the radar equipment, searching for other boats, but find nothing. Sawyer meanwhile, breaks open the bottle of personal messages Charlie gave him and reads them. Michael teaches Walt drive the boat with the rudder, and Walt asks for the first time why Michael didn’t stay together with Walt’s mother. Michael tries to defend his ex-wife’s decision to keep him away from Walt, but Walt tells his dad that his mom was wrong to keep them apart, and Michael’s touched by the boy’s realization. They’re all jarred suddenly as the rudder breaks lose after hitting a log. Sawyer jumps in the water and fishes the rudder out before it can sink. While helping Sawyer out of the water, Michael discovers the pistol given to Sawyer by Jack.
• Shannon struggles at the beach, trying to take all of Boone’s possessions with her on the hike to the caves. When Sayid asks about this, she nearly has a meltdown over their plan to hide from the Others, saying it’s all “too much” for her to handle. Sayid carries her bags for her, taking a step closer to reestablishing the bond between them that was damaged when Boone died.
• Hurley confides in Kate his belief that Arzt died because Hurley came along on this search for dynamite — because he’s bad luck. Locke and Jack very carefully take six pieces of dynamite and place them in their backpacks — only the driest pieces, to minimize the risk — while continuing to learn more about one another and their opposing ideals. They need only three sticks, but Locke suggests doubling up to ensure success, should one of them end up like Arzt. Kate wants to carry one of the packs of dynamite, but Jack argues vehemently against it, so Locke tells them all to draw straws in order to end the argument. Kate and Locke win the contest.
• Danielle returns to the camp in a panic, screaming for Sayid to Charlie and Claire. But it’s just a ruse. When Charlie goes to find Sayid, Claire spots the four scratches on Danielle’s arm and has a flash of memory — she gave Danielle the scratches during a struggle in the jungle! When Charlie catches up with Sayid, they hear screams for help coming from the beach. It’s Sun, who’s just found Claire knocked out and the baby gone — having been stolen by Danielle. Sayid and Charlie they take off for the place where Jack buried the steel case and retrieve a pair of guns. Sayid says Danielle is headed for the Others at the pillar of black smoke so she can trade Claire’s baby for her own — her daughter Alex. Claire and Sun catch up to them and Claire angrily insists on coming along until she falls into tears in Charlie’s arms, blaming herself for losing the baby, whom she names on the spot: Aaron. Charlie promises to get Aaron back.
• The beach party arrives safely at the caves, but the sun is sinking fast. Sun approaches Shannon and asks her opinion about Jin’s belief that they all may be on the island undergoing punishment for past sins, thanks to the hands of fate. Claire chimes in, saying they’re not being punished because there’s no such thing as fate.
• Sayid and Charlie come across the downed beech craft as they run towards the pillar of black smoke, and rest briefly to catch their breath. Charlie discovers the Virgin Mary statues filled with heroin, and is sorely tempted by his old addiction.

• On the day that Oceanic 815 departed from Sydney…
  • Sayid was picked up by airport security, thanks to Shannon’s prank. But he was quickly let go after they examined his bag and found nothing wrong with it.
  • In the bathroom, Jin was approached by a man who worked for Mr. Paik, Sun’s father and Jin’s ruthless employer, whom he was planning to escape from on this trip. The man threatened Jin with losing Sun if he carried out his escape plan, telling him that he had never been free, and he never would be.
  • Charlie ransacked his hotel room, looking for his hidden drugs, before the flight. A girl he’d picked up in a bar the night before was still there. She was a fellow heroin junkie and the two of them fought over what remained of his supply, until she angrily stormed out.
  • At the airport, Michael tried to make up with Walt after their fight that morning, but Walt ignored his attempts to talk. Michael then made a phone call on a pay phone to his mother, complaining about how difficult it was going to be for him to juggle Walt and his work — and he asked his mother if she could take Walt. She turned him down and he hung up the phone, only to find Walt standing right behind him. But he didn’t know how much the boy overheard.

• Michael’s question is a good one: how is it than an island so big has never been discovered by the rest of the world?
• What are the circumstances around Claire’s struggle with Danielle during her abduction by Ethan?

• The scratches on Danielle’s arm came from Claire, presumably from some time during her abduction by Ethan.
  Question: How did Danielle get the scratches on her arm? 1.23

• This is the tenth episode of the series to begin with a close-up on a single eye opening. In this case, the eye belonged to baby Aaron.
• Arzt’s death goes down in Lost history as probably its most iconic for a “redshirt” character. The character was meant to be grating, yet the actor, Daniel Roebuck, gave such a comedically nerdy take on Arzt that you couldn’t help but enjoy watching the way the other survivors reacted to him. (His scenes waiting outside the Black Rock with Hurley still make me laugh out loud.) He had only minutes of screen time, yet he is missed by many viewers to this day.
• Leslie Arzt is the fifth of the original 48 survivors of Oceanic 815’s midsection to die on the island. With the addition of little Aaron, there are now only 44 survivors remaining.

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Image credits: “Rewatching Lost” logo by Robin Parrish. Season 1 cast promotional image and Oceanic Airlines logo: American Broadcasting Company.