Exodus (Lost)
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"Exodus" is a three-part episode of the first season of Lost. The first part constitutes the 23rd episode of the series and first aired on May 18, 2005. The second and third parts comprise the 24th and 25th episodes respectively; both first aired on May 25, 2005 back-to-back. All episodes first aired on ABC.
Unlike in previous episodes, where the flashbacks focused on only one character, Exodus centers around the stories of all of the characters, showing their final hours at the airport before boarding the plane. The characters given flashbacks in Part 1 were Walt, Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Sun, and Shannon, while the ones with flashbacks in Parts 2 and 3 were Jin, Charlie, Sayid, Michael, Hurley, and Locke.
Part 1
Rousseau's Warning
Rousseau comes to the beach camp to warn the castaways that enemies known only as the "Others" are coming. She tells her story again, and reveals that she was seven months pregnant when she arrived on the island; a week after her baby was born, she was taken by the "Others". She also mentions that their arrival was heralded by a column of black smoke.
Rousseau's warning hastens the launch of the raft. As they are pushing it towards the sea, Sawyer uses his lever incorrectly, and the mast is damaged. As Jin and Michael work to fix it, Sawyer feels like his work is unappreciated, and goes off into the woods to cut a new mast by himself. At this time, Walt notices a column of black smoke coming from within the forest.
Quest for dynamite
Locke suggests that the only place to hide their large group would be in the metallic structure that he has found, but still has no way to open. He suggests that they try Rousseau's dynamite, which would require them to venture back into the jungle, to a place Rousseau calls "the Black Rock". Jack plans a squad to depart; surprisingly, Arzt volunteers to go, as he supposedly knows how to handle volatile dynamite better than anyone else. Before they leave, Jack wishes Sawyer a safe trip, and Sawyer reveals that he spoke to Jack's father before his death: he tells Jack that his father was proud of him.
Jack, along with Kate, Rousseau, Locke, Hurley, and Arzt begin their journey into the woods when they hear the "Monster" again. They are scared, but are left unharmed. Rousseau tells them that the "Monster" is the island's security system. As they journey further, Rousseau states that they have arrived at the "Black Rock," which turns out not to be a geological formation, but the wreck of a wooden sailing ship. She then leaves them.
The raft launches
Back at the beach, the survivors makes final preparations for the raft's departure. Walt leaves his dog, Vincent, in the custody of Shannon, saying that Vincent was good company when his mother died, and that he might do the same for Shannon after Boone's death. Sun says goodbye to Jin, and hands him a notebook with common English language nautical words and phrases, written out phonetically in Korean. They make up, and he says that he will still go on the raft, as he wants to do this to rescue her. Charlie collects message from the survivors and puts them in a bottle, which he gives to Sawyer. Jin, Walt, Michael and Sawyer finally set off in the raft, which appears to be fully operational. Vincent attempts to paddle out and follow them, but Walt orders him to turn around.
But even as the survivor's hope of rescue is lifted, their struggle is not over yet; the column of black smoke continues to rise.
Flashbacks
Like the pilot episode, this one features flashbacks from multiple characters, each a single continuous scene from the perspective of one of them. They show what the protagonists were doing in their final hours before the flight.
In the first, Walt is watching Power Rangers: SPD in his room, which irritates his sleeping father. After an outburst, Walt attempts to run away with Vincent, but Michael brings him back.
In his flashback, Jack is conversing in the airport bar with another passenger on Flight 815 (Ana-Lucia Cortez) before the boarding of the plane. She flirts with Jack, who reveals that he is no longer married, and says that she is sitting in seat 42F.
In Sawyer's flashback, he has been taken into the police station. This is apparently three nights after his cameo in Hearts and Minds. The investigator tells him that he knows all about his cons, and books him on the flight out of Australia. It is revealed here that Sawyer headbutted the Australian Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister, Warren Truss.
Kate's flashback reveals that the Marshal knew that the toy airplane was the only thing of value left to her, so he had baited her with it. When he denigrates the memory of Tom, she attacks him, but is subdued.
Sun's flashback shows her bringing Jin coffee and food in the airport prior to their flight, while a pompous and arrogant American woman comments to her husband that the relationship between Sun and Jin is one of subservience — thinking that Sun does not understand English. Affected by her words, Sun accidentally spills coffee into Jin's lap.
In Shannon's flashback, she is waiting for Boone to attempt to upgrade their seats to first-class when Sayid asks if he can leave his bag with her. She agrees, and he walks off. When Boone returns, saying that the agent would not upgrade their seats because Shannon had been difficult during check-in, she storms off to try again, leaving Sayid's bag unattended. As a response to Boone's accusation that she's not a capable person, Shannon notifies a guard that "some Arab guy" left a suspicious bag in the waiting area.
Parts 2 and 3
Carrying dynamite
Jack, Kate and Locke go into the Black Rock and find the crate of dynamite. While attempting to handle the explosives carefully, Arzt triggers one of the sticks himself and is blown up. The remaining group members decide to continue their attempt to carry the dynamite, and wrap it in wet cloth. Locke suggests that they carry a redundant backup; in case one of the carriers blows up, the other will still be able to blow the hatch. Locke, Kate and Jack all want to volunteer to carry the dynamite, so they draw straws for the responsibility. Jack draws the long stick, so Kate and Locke carry it.
Locke's encounter
On their way back to the hatch, Jack and Kate see what seems to be a small cloud of smoke move in an unnatural way through some nearby trees, and they hear the rumbling of the monster. According to plan, Jack and Locke drop their packs, but Kate forgets and keeps hers on. Locke wants to get a glimpse of the monster, and ends up getting nearly under it. His leg becomes ensnared in what sounds like a chain mechanism of some kind, which drags him through the jungle. Jack grabs on to his arm and is dragged as well, and prevents Locke from being pulled into a hole in the ground. Although Locke pleads with Jack to just let him go, Jack instead tells Kate to grab a stick of dynamite out of his bag and drop it down, revealing that he had in fact switched the content of their packs. Kate drops the dynamite down the tunnel, causing an underground explosion, resulting in black smoke (similar to that seen before) coming out of a nearby hole on the horizon, moving in a bizarre, almost supernatural way, and disappearing, all in less than a second. The hold on Locke slackens and they are able to extract him. Later, Locke reveals that the reason he wanted to fall into the cavern is that it was his destiny and that he felt that the island was testing him.
Aaron kidnapped by Rousseau
On the beach, Sayid is leading the group back to the caves, awaiting Jack's party's return. Charlie and Claire are alone on the beach when Rousseau runs up, telling Charlie that she needs to see Sayid urgently. When Charlie runs off to get Sayid, Rousseau asks Claire if she can hold her baby, and Claire tries to make several excuses why she can't. Claire sees a strange scar on Rousseau's arm and has a short ambiguous flashback to a struggle between Rousseau and herself. Soon Charlie and Sayid (accompanied by Shannon) return to find Claire exclaiming that her baby has been taken, and Sayid surmises that Rousseau intends to attempt an exchange of Aaron (which Claire named her baby) for her own child, Alex, with the "Others". Charlie and Sayid go toward the black smoke, with little daylight left.
On their journey they encounter a trap set by Rousseau, which injures Charlie momentarily. Charlie's wound is bleeding profusely, and Sayid orders him to go back to the camp, but Charlie refuses. Sayid then cuts open a bullet, pours the gunpowder into the wound, and sets it on fire to cauterize the injury. They also encounter the downed drug smugglers' plane, and, ignorant of Charlie's junkie past, Sayid reveals that it is full of heroin. When Sayid and Charlie arrive on the beach with the black smoke, there are no other people, just a pyre. The sound of the baby crying alerts them to Rousseau hiding in the bushes. She cries and tells them that she overheard them saying that they were going to go after "the boy," and she thought that if she brought him to them, they would return her child. She returns the baby, and they reunite it with Claire. It is revealed that Charlie kept at least one of the statues filled with heroin in his bag.
Walt kidnapped
On the raft, the crew is sailing according to plan, and Michael bonds with Walt. Walt learns about Sawyer's long term search for revenge. Jin gives the watch which caused a fight between them earlier in the series to Michael as a gift. At one point, the rudder breaks off, and Sawyer dives into the water after it, risking his life. At this point, Michael discovers that Sawyer has a gun, but decides not to tell the others. At night, their radar sweep turns up a boat in the distance. They fire their single flare, and the boat approaches them. Though they think they are about to be saved, it turns out to be a group of strangers who demand that they hand over Walt. Sawyer tries to pull his gun, but he is shot by one of the other crewmen and falls into the water. Jin jumps into the water to try and save Sawyer, while the strangers overpower Michael and kidnap Walt. As they sail off, a woman throws an explosive on to the raft, destroying it. Michael cries out "Walt!" as he watches him disappear into the darkness.
The hatch awaits...
Meanwhile, Jack, Kate, Locke, and Hurley arrive at the hatch. They manage to set the dynamite up on the hinge of the hatch, and are about to set it off when Hurley notices the appearance of the numbers on the side. He yells at them not to light the fuse, but Locke does so anyway. Hurley tries to stamp it out, repeating, "the numbers are bad," but Jack tackles him, and the dynamite explodes.
Flashbacks
Jin's flashback follows Sun's from the previous episode. When Jin goes to the bathroom, he encounters a casually dressed Caucasian man who conversationally asks him for a paper towel in English. When Jin indicates that he speaks no English, the man switches to Korean. Seeming somewhat more menacing now, he then reveals that he works for Sun's father, Mr. Paik, and knows that Jin was attempting to run away with Sun. He tells Jin to complete his delivery of a watch to Mr. Paik's friend in California.
Charlie's flashback is of him looking for his stash before leaving for his flight. A girl from the previous night is in his bed. As Charlie finds the drugs, she asks if he has any left. He lies and says that he's out, but she can tell that he's lying and attacks him for the drugs.
In Sayid's flashback, airport security apologize for causing him inconvenience.
Michael's flashback is of him and Walt in the airport waiting for their flight. Walt is absorbed in his Game Boy Advance SP, and Michael is obviously frustrated that they can't connect. He gets up, claiming to need to call work, but he really calls his mother. He expresses his exasperation to his mother, and asks if she can take care of Walt, eventually offering to pay her. Locke makes a split second on-screen appearance, being pushed in his wheelchair, while Michael is on the phone. When Michael hangs up, Walt is right next to him, and may have heard the whole conversation.
Hurley's flashback is fairly comedic, and shows him waking up late for his flight due to a short circuit in the wall outlet that leaves his alarm clock without power. In a mad dash for the airport, he experiences several other problems, including a flat tire, arriving at the domestic terminal rather than international; he buys an electric scooter from an old man for $1600 and manages to get to the terminal just as they are closing the gate. When he is trying to cut a line on the way, the viewers can see Mr. Arzt, who is waiting in the line. The boarding agent is able to get them to reopen the doors for him, and he hugs her effusively. This is the longest flashback in the episode and, as expected, the numbers feature prominently. Hurley is shown to be staying in room 2342, his digital display in his car shows that it is 23 degrees outside, and he is originally going 42 km/h; when he gets a flat tire he slows first to 16, then 15, then 8, and finally 4 before the display cuts out altogether. As he is running through the airport, he passes a sports team wearing jerseys with the numbers in order. Another revelation from this flashback is that Hurley and Charlie stayed in the same hotel (Charlie yells at him for holding up a full elevator saying that some people have a plane to catch), and the elevator bank also looks exactly like the one in the hotel where Michael and Walt stayed. When Hurley gives his passport to the airport worker, we see that the Departure and Arrival times are 14:16 to 10:42, 16 and 42 both being numbers in the sequence. Finally, we see that the aircraft departs from gate 23.
In Locke's flashback, the airline staff have lost the wheelchair that is normally used to load disabled passengers on to the plane, and he must be carried on by two attendants. When he drops a pamphlet from his seat, he is unable to reach it. He is clearly frustrated by the whole situation, and struggles to maintain his dignity.
The final flashback is a montage that shows the group of strangers begin their fateful exodus onto the plane. Claire, eight months pregnant, struggles in the aisle to get to her seat. Kate is lead in handcuffs onto the plane. Sawyer searches for his seat with the guilt of his past. Jack puts his luggage into the overhead compartment, with Locke watching right behind him. Charlie tries to jam his guitar into storage. Sayid endures the glares of fellow passengers because of his ethnicity by looking at pictures of his lost love. Jin stares at the watch he is supposed to deliver, with Sun sitting next to him, both bearing secrets they know they must keep from each other. Michael fastens the seatbelt of Walt as he plays him Gameboy, ignoring the father he never knew. Shannon frantically searches for her inhaler in her purse, but Boone shows it to her, forcing her to smile. Hurley makes it on to the plane, giving Walt a thumbs-up before siting down, putting on his headphones, and reading a comic book. Arzt helps Claire put her luggage overhead. Finally, Jack, about to sit down, catches Locke's eye, and the two give each other a quick smile, unaware of the fate that binds them or the destiny that awaits them.
Trivia
- When Jin and Michael are repairing the raft, Michael angrily says to Jin, "No, no, no. This one goes there, that one goes there", which is exactly what Han Solo told Chewbacca in The Empire Strikes Back as they repaired the Millennium Falcon. This episode ran the day before the newest Star Wars film, Revenge of the Sith, was released. In the next episode, Sawyer refers to Michael and Jin as "Han" and "Chewie," respectively.
- In his flashback, Jack reveals his seat number to be 23 and Ana-Lucia tells Jack her seat is 42-F at the back. These are the last two in the sequence of numbers.
- The DVD contains two further flashbacks at the airport. Sayid is shown buying a tie (which is revealed to be used by Sawyer as he secures the raft) before being accosted by airport security. In Claire's flashback, she is at a coffee shop, sitting at a table handling her cup shakily. The pilot walks over to her to comfort her. He tells her that he sees pregnant women all the time on long flights. He says that he will make the ride extra smooth for her. She later tells him about the psychic she met in Raised By Another and the events that took place in the episode. The pilot tells Claire about his mother. He says that his mother went to a psychic. The psychic told her to marry a guy with a name that started with "R". She went for "Roger". She dumped her husband, Bernard, and she never found a man named Roger. In later years after the separation, Bernard made millions of dollars. This could be the same Bernard who was on flight 815, because the pilot says he is a dentist; in 2x07 "The Long Con" Hurly tells Sayid the Bernard on the island is a dentist..
- The plane seen flying over Hurley at the airport is a Boeing 747 owned by Japan Airlines.
- For the United Kingdom transmission, although aired back-to-back, Exodus Parts 2 and 3 were shown as two separate episodes, and appear as such within the Region 2 DVD set and the Region 4 DVD set for Australia.
- The smoke creature closely resembles the shadow creature from Stargate Atlantis. The shadow creature appeared in the 3rd episode of the first season: Hide and Seek, but has not been seen since. The two beings are both seen as clouds of black smoke that aren't afraid to attack a person. The only differences between them are that the one in Atlantis grows as it feeds on electricity and moves slowly round, while the one in Lost does not feed on electricity and can swiftly flee in an instant.
Goofs
- At the airport, Walt is seen playing with a Game Boy Advance SP, then later claims he needs more batteries for it. However, this hand-held console only uses a re-chargeable Lithium ion battery, something unavailable at most airports. Also, the sounds heard while he is playing do not correspond with the game he is playing.
- Although, in terms of the context of the scene taking place, Walt could have taken advantage of his father's lack of knowledge of Game Boy technology and asked to get batteries just as an excuse to derail the subject of what was going on.
