S4E11 - Cabin Fever

I know I can get long-winded so I’ve broken my recap into three summary-level options. For those with the time and like to overanalyze like me, please see the long recap. For those who just want the highlights, refer to the medium. Finally, for anyone that just needs a quick fix, scroll to the very bottom.


***LONG RECAP***
So, Locke was born 3 months early. It seems there are many “miracles” in John’s life. I can’t remember if it was the first or second season, but I do remember his mom popped in for a surprise visit while he was working in that department store and told him about his dad. The weird thing is, I always thought his dad, being the con that he is, was conning Locke’s mom at the time he knocked her up, but seeing how young she was, I don’t see what his angle would have been. Didn’t Locke’s “grandmother” tell her daughter that so-and-so was twice her age? If Locke’s mom was around 16, then that would make Locke’s dad 32 years older than him. He didn’t seem THAT much older, but whatever, I won’t get too bogged down with that.

Anyway, the biggest what!? in the next two flashbacks was a visit from the island’s very own Richard. I remember thinking it was strange that Richard didn’t seem to age from when Ben originally met him on the island when he was young, but I thought MAYBE they just did a bad job in making him look older, but then again, they did such a good job with Ben’s dad. Well, this is certainly confirmation that Richard is not aging, at least not at a perceptible rate. It also occurs to me if “time-travel” is an option, then he may just be popping around time. His test with young Locke was very interesting. I wonder if any of those items were things that he comes across later on as a kid, or if we will see him with one of these items later on while on the island? It seems like Richard is trying to discover “gifted” children similar to how they wanted to study Walt.

His next flashback was interesting because of the “summer camp” he was invited to. It was hosted by Mittelos labs. I believe that is the same company that Richard was “recruiting” for when he first met with Juliet, so obviously it is a front for island inhabitant candidates.

This brings us to his last flashback and to me, the most intriguing. Another person is now interested in Locke’s miraculous recovery. This time it is the tall black guy, who pretended to be a rep from Oceanic when speaking to Hurley and then later pops up as Naomi’s contact when putting together the freighter expedition for Widmore. At first I thought it was crazy how he, too, didn’t seem to age, but then again, Locke’s accident wasn’t too long before the plane crash so I don’t find it as suspicious as Richard popping up in 1960. However, it did solidify something in my mind, which is how that dude is obviously working for Widmore.

It’s almost like Richard and the black guy (I just read somewhere that his name is Matthew) represent the two sides in some way. You’ve got Richard on Team Island, and Matthew on Team Widmore. If Richard isn’t time traveling and is just preternaturally young, then obviously he’s been working “for the island” in some way shape or form even before Ben came onto the scene.

That wouldn’t surprise me from Ben’s comments to Locke during this episode. I got the impression that the island can “choose” someone, then just as easily “unchoose” them. Perhaps there was some leader of the others/hostiles or whatever you want to call them, even before Ben. His comment about how the island gave him spinal cancer while it healed Locke ties in to Rose’s comments about how it healed her, yet gave Jack an appendicitis. I’m not going to even try to understand the pecking order behind who gets healed and who doesn’t, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

Anyway, Locke has a vision of Horrace (same guy that convinced Ben’s dad to come work with Dharma, I think) chopping down trees to build what will be Jacob’s cabin. I don’t know if it was supposed to be spooky because he was “dead”, but the nosebleed he had stood out to me because of the significance it has with time travel on the island. You know, everyone that’s about to die because of too much time travel has a brain aneurism. It turns out it’s a dream (so at least he’s not seeing ghosts), but then again how do we explain who he saw in Jacob’s cabin?

Remember when I said how freaky it would be if the next time we saw Claire she was watching the brain wash video with the others somewhere? Well, strike that, because it was even freakier to see her chilling out with her dead father and a knowing smile on her face. And what’s up with Christian’s advice to Locke about how to save the island? Move it? What’s he going to do, convince all the remaining survivors to gather on the beach and push?

In the meantime, the chopper has arrived back at the freighter and the militia-guy is ready to go all commando. We see how Sayiid escapes in order to get back and rescue his friends (and also potentially why only six can be saved because of the boat’s max capacity). We see why the doctor gets a close shave and also witness the captain getting shot. It seems the only people left on the boat now are Desmond and Michael. Maybe a few extra militia people, but most of them seemed to have left on the chopper.

Looks like Jack and friends may be following the chopper thanks to the tracking sat phone that Frank dropped, Sayiid is on his way to the rescue, Locke is going to come up with some bizarre way to “hide” the island by moving it, and it appears that in the next episode we’ll even see a bit of the Oceanic Six’s homecoming. It really feels this mini-season is wrapping up nicely, though I would say that the new emphasis on time travel has left a sour taste in my mouth.


***MEDIUM RECAP***
Locke was a miracle baby. Thank you, March of Dimes!
Richard is either a time-traveller or crazy old.
The head militia-dude is one mean hombre. No secret, there.
Locke is special, sort of.
Mittelos summer camp is fun… if you like being brain washed and held captive.
Matthew isn’t “just an orderly.” Not by a long shot.
Claire plays beer pong with her dead father in Jacob’s cabin.
Locke plans to tie a rope around the island and pull hard.


***SHORT RECAP***
Huh?