Charlie clips and caps of this episode up at Beyond Grey

• Written By: Javier Grillo-Marxuach
• Directed By: Stephen Williams
• Backstory: Jack
• Featured Storylines: Kate, Locke, Boone

All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues 

We open about halfway through the credits because my DVR munged the first few minutes of the show. Jack and Locke are pawing through the jungle, looking for Claire and Charlie. Locke determines that it was probably Ethan that dragged them off. They argue for a few moments about whether to organize a search party, and Jack finally dashes off on his own…. 

--flashback—

Jack and his father are working on a dying patient in an operating room. Jack’s father tells him to call it, but Jack wants to keep working. Jack finally tells him to call it himself.

Caves: Locke is setting up a search party. He asks Kate what the word is on the beach, she tells him they’ve seen nothing. Boone approaches Locke, wanting to join the search party, to Shannon’s protests. Walt asks Michael if he can come, Michael tells him no. Locke says they have enough people already, and Michael volunteers to arrange another party. Locke agrees and says they should go south, while the main party goes north. Michael looks perturbed. 

Jungle: Jack stumbles through the brush looking for clues….

 --flashback---

Jack and his dad, alone over the now-dead patient. His dad complains about Jack barging in on his operation. Jack tells him that one of the nurses came to get him, because they didn’t trust Dad to do the surgery since his hands were shaking. Dad arrogantly wonders why they called him first, since he was in a restaurant having lunch, and Jack was right upstairs. Jack asks Dad how many drinks he had at lunch

Jungle: Locke and Kate catch up to Jack. Locke tells Jack he should go back to the caves and tend to Sayid’s injured leg. Jack wants to keep searching. Locke says this was his fault because he had hunted with Ethan and never suspected anything. He tells Jack he doesn’t want anything to happen to the island’s only doctor. Jack asks when they’re going to be going.

Caves: Michael is ranting to Hurley about Locke being looked up to by everyone because he’s the hunter. Walt says he’s more than a hunter, he’s a warrior, and suggests Michael should listen to him. Michael tells Walt he’s not going to listen to Locke, and doesn’t want Walt to, either. He tells Walt to stay with Hurley, and storms off. Hurley tells Walt that back home, he was something of a warrior, too. Walt rolls his eyes.

Jungle: Locke is tearing up a red shirt to mark where they’ve gone. Boone is confused, assuming Locke could lead them back. Locke says it’s possible he might not make it back. Jack and Kate come back down the hill, they haven’t seen anything. Locke says he wants to rest for a bit. Jack protests, saying the sun will be setting soon. Locke insists. Kate takes Jack aside and lays into him about being a pain to Locke. She asks Jack why he’s so freaked out. Jack explains that he thinks it’s his fault because he didn’t believe Claire when she said she’d been attacked. Locke calls to them. He’s found one of the bits of tape Charlie’s had around his fingers. They determine that not idly do the leaves of DriveShaft fall, and decide to follow the trail.

--commerical break— 

Jack finds another of Charlie’s bits of tape. Locke says he’s not sure, that there’s another trail leading another direction. Kate suggests that the tape might be left as a dummy trail by Ethan. The gang are surprised at Kate’s tracking ability. Jack suggests they split up. Locke agrees.

Caves-Beach trail. Walt explains to Sawyer what happened, that people think Ethan took them. Walt tells Sawyer Ethan’s name wasn’t on the manifest. Sawyer suggests that maybe Ethan lied about his name. Walt says it’s stupid to lie about your name. Sawyer pauses for a moment at that, and then asks where Walt thinks Ethan came from. Walt says he thinks Ethan was already on the island. Sawyer is skeptical about the whole thing. Walt says if Sawyer doesn’t believe him, he should ask Sayid, who said they’re not alone. Sawyer is surprised, confirming that Sayid’s back.

Jungle: Boone is on marker duty, and explains to Locke (thank you, Javi!) about the Star Trek red shirt phenomenon. Boone asks what Locke does for a living. Locke explains that he was a regional collections supervisor for a box company. Boone sarcastically says “yeah, right.” 

Trail 2: Jack and Kate. Jack pesters Kate about her tracking skills, asking where she picked those up. She’s annoyed, but explains that her father used to be an Army ranger, and loved to go hiking in the forests with her. Kate then asks Jack whether there’s anything he wants to share. 

--flashback— 

Jack’s dad’s office at the hospital. He has a statement about the patient’s death that he wants Jack to sign. Jack lays into him, and refuses to sign, saying he was impaired. Dad tries to play on Jack’s sympathy, complaining that he could lose his license, and starts buttering him up. And then he goes for the heart and plays the Daddy card, saying how proud he is of the man and doctor Jack has become. He promises that the mistake of the previous day will never happen again. Jack signs the paper.   

--commerical break--

Caves: Sawyer approaches a resting Sayid and gets in his face, babbling about Karma and payback. Sayid asks him what he wants. Sawyer picks up a straight razor and plays with it menacingly. Sayid tells him to take a shot, but to know that he left out of shame for having tortured him and that he hadn’t intended to return. Sawyer says he’s unsympathetic. Sayid explains about what happened when he was kidnapped, and about Danielle’s story of murderring her team, and there being “others.” Sayid explains about hearing voices in the jungle when he was coming back. Sawyer puts down the razor and tells Sayid that the tide is coming in, and will soon engulf the plane wreckage, but that he’s kept Sayid’s signal fire going. He gets up and leaves. 

Clearing: Walt is beating Hurley at Backgammon. Hurley takes offense, saying he once took 17^th in a tournament. Walt says he’s just lucky, and says his dad (“not Michael, Brian, my other dad”) says he always has been. Walt wins and wants to play again, but Hurley walks off, saying he has a meeting. Walt complains that Hurley owes him $20k. Hurley tells Walt he’ll get it. 

Jungle: Boone thinks they’re lost, and complains to Locke about that. Locke asks him what he does for a living. Boone explains that he runs one of his mother’s wedding empire subsidiaries. Locke says he should head back, because it’s going to start raining. Boone says he’ll stay. It promptly begins to rain.  

Jungle part 2: Rain-soaked Kate and Jack find another of Charlie’s tape bits. They hear echoes of a scream. Jack follows it, trying to scramble up an embankment. Kate tries to follow him. Jack slips and falls down the hill. He looks up to see Ethan over him, who steps on his chest, and says that if they don’t stop following him, he will kill one of them (Claire/Charlie.) He kicks Jack’s ass for emphasis, knocking him out. 

--commercial break— 

--flashback— 

Jack is walking down a hall in the hospital. He sees his father talking to a man and asks a passing nurse who the man is. She tells him that’s the husband of the woman who died the day before, and that he’s threatening to sue. Jack sees his father lay a hand on the man’s shoulder, in the same faux-sincere way he’d done to Jack.  

Jungle: Kate brings Jack around. Jack explains that he saw Ethan. Kate is doubtful, and tries to get Jack to stop, because the trail is washing away. Jack dashes up the hill anyway.  

--flashback— 

Administrative hearing about the wrongful death. Jack’s dad is sitting there lying like a dog. The hearing coordinator asks if Dad knew that the patient was pregnant. Dad says he did, but the look on Jack’s face says he had no idea. They’re getting ready to wrap up, and Jack stops them, saying he needs to revise his statement. He explains what really happened. 

Kate clambers up a hill, Jack behind her, and they see…. 

Charlie, limp, blindfolded, hanging in a tree. Jack grabs him, taking the weight off of his neck, and tells Kate she needs to cut him down. She scampers up the tree, and after some doing, they manage to get him cut down. Jack notes that Charlie isn’t breathing and begins to perform CPR. Normal CPR doesn’t work, and Jack starts pounding on Charlie’s chest. It becomes apparent that it’s not working. Charlie isn’t moving. Kate makes Jack stop pounding, and the camera pulls away. Then Jack suddenly starts pounding again, Kate sobbing away beside him. And Charlie finally gasps a breath! Jack cradles him in his arms. 

--commercial break— 

Caves, night: Charlie is sitting in front of the fire, silent. Michael returns, and Walt tells him that Charlie hasn’t said anything since they got back, and that they didn’t find Claire. Jack is checking over Charlie, who is unresponsive. He tells Charlie he has to say what happened. Charlie finally says, dully, that he doesn’t remember anything. After a pause, he whispers that Claire was all“they” wanted.  

Shannon talks to Kate, saying she’s worried that Boone and Locke aren’t back yet. Kate tells her not to worry, that if there’s anyone Boone is safe with, it’s Locke. 

Jungle: Boone and Locke are stumbling through the dark, and Boone asks if they’re lost. Locke says they’re not. Boone suggests they go back. Locke tells him to suit himself and tosses him a flashlight. Boone misses the catch, and the flashlight falls to the ground with… a metallic thud? They both crouch down, seeing that there is something metal and hollow-sounding buried under the leaves and dirt. They paw away at the debris, trying to figure out what the item is….