• Written By: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse
• Directed By: Robert Mandel
• Backstory: Locke
• Featured Storylines: Boone, Sawyer

Deus ex Machina

We open on a younger Locke. He’s a worker in a toy store, demonstrating Mousetrap to a boy. He sees a woman staring at him, and asks if he can help her. She nervously asks about footballs, and then walks off. He watches after her.

Jungle. Locke is playing with the hatch, telling Boone that they’re going to try to break the glass with a trebuchet. Boone is skeptical, wonders about why Locke never tells anyone about himself. Locke says his story would bore. They wind up and release the trebuchet, which comes down on the glass, but doesn’t break it. Locke is frustrated and bangs on the glass. Boone calls out to him, calling attention to his leg, which has a piece of shrapnel sticking out of it. Locke yanks it out, with no pain.

Night. Locke bandages his leg, and then starts poking at it, trying to see if he can feel anything. Nothing.

--commercial break—

Jungle. Boone asks Locke why the trebuchet didn’t work. Locke says it wasn’t strong enough. Boone is skeptical and asks what if it doesn’t work. Locke says that the island will tell them what to do. Boone is all wtf?

--flashback--

Locke spots the woman in a parking lot, watching him. He follows her, gets bumped by a car. He finally catches up with her and asks why she’s following him. She tells him she’s his mother.

Over coffee, Locke starts asking her questions. He explains about having been raised in foster homes. He asks her what she wants from him. She tells him that he’s special, part of a design. She says it’s a sign of things to come. He asks about his father. She says he doesn’t have a father, that he was immaculately concieved.

Back on the island, Sawyer stalks over to where Sun is planting in the garden. He asks her which of two plants he should use for his headache. She indicates one, and he says it’s not helping. He stalks off.

Kate approaches, and asks Sun what was up with that. Sun explains that Sawyer’s been having headaches that even his stash of aspirin isn’t helping.

Caves. Jack is shaving (and doing a rather poor job) Kate approaches and starts asking about headaches. Jack quicky surmises she’s not talking about herself. She tells him it’s Sawyer. He blows her off, saying if Sawyer wants help, he’ll ask for it.

Jungle. Boone approaches to where Locke is building something next to the hatch. Locke tells him he’s late for work. Boone starts bellyaching, Locke tells him that they were “supposed” to find the hatch. Locke goes off about the island showing them a sign and testing their faith. Locke sees a small plane crash in the distance. He points it out to Boone, who is standing there, staring. Things start getting weird, with Boone’s image replaced by Locke’s mother, pointing, and then Boone, covered in blood, repeating “Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs.” Locke is suddenly in his wheelchair again.

Night. Locke wakes up from his dream.

--commercial break—

Early morning. Locke wakes up Boone, and they set out.

--flashback—

Locke is sitting with a private investigator who has a file on his mother. He explains that she had been institutiionalized before for schizophrenia. Locke asks about the file on his father. The investigator cautions him that that won’t have a happy ending. Locke says he wants to see the file.

Locke drives up to a gated house. He tells the guard he’s the son of the man who lives there. The guard says Mr. Cooper doesn’t have a son. Locke tells him he doesn’t want anything. The guard calls up to the house and Mr. Cooper lets him in.

Inside the house, Locke meets his father. They have a drink, and Locke explains about who he is and how his mother found him. His father says he didn’t know Locke existed until about a year after he was born. Locke says he doesn’t have a family, his father says he doesn’t have one, either. He asks Locke if he hunts, and invites him on a hunting trip.

Jungle, by the hatch. Locke explains to Boone about his dream. Boone is skeptical, and then Locke asks who Theresa is, and repeats the words Boone said in his dream. Boone is shocked. Locke asks if Boone will go with him to find the plane. Boone agrees.

Beach. Michael and Jin are working on the raft. They bicker a bit over it. Michael explains to Jack how the building is going. Jack sees Sawyer sitting against a tree with a cloth over his eyes. Jack  approaches him, and asks if he’s sensitive to light. Sawyer blows him off. Jack walks away. Sawyer calls him back, asking if that’s a serious problem. Jack says that depends on what’s causing the headaches. Sawyer shrugs, and says it’s not like it’s a tumor. Jack asks him why he would think that. Sawyer says his uncle died of a brain tumor. Jack asks if Sawyer’s having phantom smells. He says no. Jack asks if there are some tests he can do. Sawyer blows him off. Jack walks away.

Jungle. Boone is skeptical about Locke’s dream. Locke suddenly loses his balance and stumbles. As he gets up, he sees a cross necklace hanging from a tree. They look at it, and wonder where it’s from, whether any of the castways would be out this far. Locke looks up in the tree, and tugs on a vine. Down comes a dessicated corpse.

--commercial break—

--flashback--

Locke drives up to his father’s house. The guard smiles at him, and asks if they’re going hunting again. Locke goes into the house. His father is sitting there, hooked up to a dialysis machine, and it’s apparent Locke is early. Locke asks what’s up with that. Dad says his doctor says he needs a transplant, but he’s on a long waiting list.

Back in the jungle, Boone notes that the body looks like a priest, and wonders how old the body is. Locke says he doesn’t know, 2-10 years. He finds Nigerian money on the body. Boone wonders what a priest is doing there. Locke finds a gun on the body and says he’s not sure he’s a priest.

Beach. Some castaways are making noise, putting a shelter together. Sawyer yells at them. Kate says that’s enough, and drags him off to see Jack.

Caves. Jack is checking over Sawyer, asking him questions, as Kate looks on. Jack asks him several invasive questions, about having had sex with prostitutes and had STDs, to which Sawyer answers yes. Sawyer finally gets mad and stomps off. Kate giggles. Jack grins at her, and says Sawyer needs glasses.

Jungle. Locke starts getting weaker. Boone asks what’s going on. Locke stumbles and falls. Boone wants to get him back to Jack. Locke blows him off, and tries to get up. Finally he gives up. He explains he was in a wheelchair. Boone asks why. Locke doesn’t answer. Frustrated, he tells Boone that the island changed him and now it’s trying to take it back. He says the island is still trying to lead him on to find something to get into the hatch, and he has to keep going. Boone helps him up.

--flashback--

Locke and his father are out in a field, shooting doves. Dad’s being all daddy with him, says he’s glad his mom brought them together, and thank goodness it happened now, while they still have time.

Boone helps Locke over to a resting place. They sit down, and Boone explains that Theresa was his nanny, and says he would sit in bed all day and call her on the intercom. One day she took a bad step and fell down the stairs and broke her neck. He was six. Locke starts laughing. Boone gets angry, and then Locke points up, indicating something he can see over Boone’s shoulder. It’s a plane, teetering on the edge of a cliff.

--commercial break--

Boone and Locke talk about the plane. Locke says what’s important is what’s inside it, and that Boone is going to have to climb up to it and find out. Boone agrees, and sets off

--flashback--

Hospital. Locke and his father are side-by-side in a room. He takes his father’s hand. It soon becomes clear that he’s agreed to give his father a kidney. Locke says it was meant to be.

Beach. Jack approaches Sawyer. He notes that Sawyer’s been reading a lot. He tells him he has hyperopia. Sawyer looks concerned. Jack grins and tells him he’s farsighted. He hands him a box of glasses to try on. Sawyer tries on several pairs, which don’t quite work.

Cut to Sayid, melting apart a couple pairs of glasses, and sticking them back together.

The melted pair works. Hurley walks past and needles Sawyer for his new fashion statement. Kate giggles.

Jungle. Boone’s climbing up vines, trying to get to the plane. He gets into it, trying to not upset its balance. Inside, he finds a map of Nigeria, and a bunch of bodies. The plane starts to tip. He cries out, then says he’s fine. Locke tries to move, to get closer to him, but can’t quite stand. Boone finds a box and pitches it out the window. In it are plaster statues with bags of heroin. Locke is upset, and says he doesn’t understand. The plane wobbles more as Boone climbs into the cockpit and fumbles with the controls. He finds the radio. Amazingly, it works. The plane starts to tip more, but Boone is determined. He grabs the reciever and starts trying to get someone on the radio. Locke yells at him, telling him to get out. Boone gets someone on the radio! He tells them that they’re the survivors of flight 815. The voice on the radio says “WE’RE the survivors of flight 815! (oookay!)

The plane falls, end over end, crashing down into the ravine below. Locke scrambles over as best he can, and drags a bloodied Boone out of the plane. He picks him up and fights his legs, trying to get him back to camp.

--commercial break--

Caves. Kate asks Jack if he knew about Sawyer’s eye problem before or after he asked the invasive questions. Jack grins. She thanks him for helping Sawyer. He says he didn’t do it for him.

Locke comes in, carrying Boone, calling for help. Jack asks what happened. Locke tells him he fell off a cliff. Jack starts working on him. He tells Kate to find something to stop the bleeding. Jack asks again what happened, but Locke is gone.

--flashback--

Locke wakes up in the hospital to find himself alone. He asks the nurse where his father is. She says she didn’t know he was his father. She tells him that Mr. Cooper checked out and went back home under private care. She says he left no messages. Locke’s mother comes in. She tells him that it was his idea, and that she’s sorry. She explains that she needed some money. She says that his father told her where to find him, and that he knew Locke wouldn’t give him the kidney unless he thought it was his idea. Locke is upset, and says he wouldn’t do this to him. He disconnects himself from his IV and gets up.

He pulls up to the gate. The security guard stops him. He gets out of the car, bleeding from his stitches in the back. He stalks to the gate, staring at the security camera. He finally drives off, and then stops down the road, screaming and banging on his steering wheel.

Jungle. Locke is crouched over the hatch, yelling at it, asking why it did this, pounding on the hatch. A light comes on inside of it.

--end episode 19--