• Written By: Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse
• Directed By: Jack Bender
• Backstory: Walt/Michael, Shannon/Boone, Jin/Sun, Sawyer, Kate, Jack
• Featured Storylines: Danielle

Exodus, Pt 1

In a hotel in Sydney, early morning. Walt looks out the window at the city, and then turns the tv on full blast. Michael wakes up and notes the time and tells Walt to go back to sleep. Walt says he always watches the show. Michael asks Walt to turn it down. He turns it up, saying Brian always allowed him to do what he wanted. Walt stalks out of the room, Michael follows him out, dragging him back to the room under protest.

Encampment. Walt wakes up, next to Michael, and wanders off to take a leak. He sees motion in the brush. It’s Danielle, carrying a rifle. He watches for a moment until she’s seen him, then starts calling for help. Everyone wakes up. Turniphead starts crying. Sawyer realizes it’s Danielle. Sayid asks what she’s doing there. She says, ominously, that The Others are coming.

--commercial break—

Danielle explains to the castaways what happened to her team 16 years ago. She says she was 7 months pregnant then, and delivered herself. The baby was only with her for a week, when she saw a pillar of black smoke. That night, they came and took her daughter, Alex, and that they are coming again now. They only have three choices. Run, hide or die.

Down the beach, Jack tells Locke he thinks Danielle is out of her mind, and that he needs to concentrate on the thing he knows, which is the launching of the raft. He approaches Michael, and asks how things are going. Michael says they still need rails to move the raft to the water. Jack runs off to round up the castaways to do the job. They soon get it all ready, and start pushing. They get it about halfway, when something breaks, seemingly Sawyer’s fault. They argue for a moment, then Walt points out black smoke on the horizon.

Back on the beach, Danielle explains to Jack that it’s easy for her to hide, much harder to hide 40 people.

Hurley, Locke and Sayid take her out to the hatch. She says she has no idea what it is. Hurley’s skeptical about whether it can fit anyone. Locke says there must be another way in, and therefore there must be space. Sayid says it’s a bad idea. Locke asks Danielle if she has more explosives. She says there’s dynamite at the black rock, but they have to leave right away to get there.

--commercial break—

--flashback--

Jack’s sitting at a bar in the airport. A young woman sits down next to him and orders a tequila and tonic. She asks Jack why he was yelling at the girl at the checkin counter. She says she’s on his flight, and mentions his dad dying. She asks how it happened. He explains it was a heart attack. She notes he’s not drinking much, and he says he’s not much of a drinker. She notes his lack of a wedding ring, and asks if he’s married. Still amused at her audacity, he smiles and says not anymore, and orders another drink for her. She tells him her name is Ana Lucia. He asks her why she’s drinking at noon. She says she hates flying, and got stuck in the back, in 42F. Jack notes he’s in 23B. She gets a cell call, and says she’ll see him on the plane. She tells him the worst part is over and walks off.

Encampment. Jack tells the castaways that he needs to go get some supplies, and that while they’re doing that, the rest should work on getting the raft ready to go, then go head to the caves. He wanders off. Arzt runs after him, and tells him his plan is off. Jack wonders how he knew, and Arzt mentions Hurley not keeping secrets well. Arzt says he needs to go with them to make sure they use the dynamite correctly.

At the raft, Michael and Jin bicker about what needs to be done. Sawyer offers to help but they blow him off.

--flashback—

Sawyer’s at the police station in Sydney. He’s confused as to why he’s there just for a bar fight. The officer tells him that the person he fought with was a government official. He reads off a long petty crime rap sheet for “James Ford” and says he’s not even worth prosecuting, and instead they’re deporting him.

Jungle. Shirtless (!) Sawyer is chopping up some bamboo. Jack approaches him. He hands over one of the guns, in case they need it on the raft, and says he’s giving the others to Sayid. Sawyer notes that by the time they get back from their trek, the raft will have sailed. Jack says good luck, and walks off. Sawyer stops him, and tells him the story about how he met Jack’s father. Jack thanks him, and walks off, crying silently.

--flashback—

The marshall is sitting with the airline authority, explaining why he needs five guns in his case. He tells the story of how Kate got the toy plane. She gets slowly more incensed, and finally attacks him.

Beach. Kate finds Jack, and notes he’s heading out. She says she wants to go with. He notes she won’t be around for the raft launch. She says she’s not good at goodbyes. He tells her to get her stuff.

Charlie’s collecting messages for a bottle to go on the raft. Locke doesn’t write one. Hurley hands one over, and tells Charlie not to look at it.

Jack comes over to say his goodbyes to everyone. He tells Walt to look after his dad, shakes hands with Jin.

Kate looks around the raft area, and asks Charlie if he’s seen Sawyer. He says no, and tells her to take care.

On the trek, Locke notes that Danielle has some nasty scratches on her arm. She says it came from a bush. He’s skeptical.

They walk through the jungle, and Danielle finds a piece of cloth tied to a tree. She notes that they’re now in The Dark Territory. She says that’s where it all began, when her team got infected, and one lost his arm. Arzt panicks and decides to go back on his own.

Raft. Michael and Jin are working hard. Sawyer brings out the bamboo mast he’s cut, and gets ready to pitch in.

Jungle. It’s started to rain. They stop, hearing something. Arzt comes crashing through the brush, and tells them to run. They hear the noise of the Gargantubeast.

--commercial break—

Arzt, Jack, Kate and Danielle run away, but Locke grabs Hurley and tells him to stand still. Danielle drags the others to safety. Suddenly the noise fades, and Locke says it’s headed the other way. Danielle says they’re safe now. Kate asks her what it is. She says it’s a security system, to protect the island. They all regroup and set out again.

Encampment. Walt approaches Shannon, who’s folding Boone’s clothes. She asks him what he wants. He tells her he thinks she should have Vincent, to take care of her, saying Vincent was a good listener when his mom died. She tears up and thanks him, and says she’ll take Vincent, but only until they get rescued.

--flashback—

Shannon is sitting in the airport, doing a word puzzle. Sayid sets his bag next to her, and asks her to watch it for a moment. She shrugs and says whatever. Boone comes up and tells her he couldn’t get them into first class, and that maybe she shouldn’t have yelled at the gate agent. They storm off and start bickering. She says she wants to go back and try again. Boone says she’s not capable of anything like that. She tells him he has no idea what she’s capable of. She stops a security guard and tells him that “some Arab guy” left his bag unattended. She smirks at Boone.  

Raft. Sayid gives the radar device to Michael, explaining that it should only be turned on once an hour, to conserve power. He hands Michael a flare gun and says there’s only one flare, and to be careful when he uses it.

Jungle. Danielle leads them to a path, and shows them The Black Rock… which is an old sailing ship, run aground.

--commercial break—

Airport café. Sun struggles with a tray she brings to Jin. He asks what took so long. She says there was a long line. An American couple in the back whisper disparagingly. Sun accidentally knocks Jin’s coffee into his lap. The woman in the other couple says something nasty. Her husband tells her to be careful. She says relax, they don’t speak English. Sun looks away, ashamed.

Raft. Sun comes up to Jin and hands him a notebook filled with English words she’s spelled out phonetically in Korean for him to learn. He pauses and says he’s sorry. They apologize to each other. She asks him to not go. He says he still has to go, because he needs to save her. He tells her to stay with Jack, he’ll keep her safe. She asks who will keep him safe. They embrace, and kiss goodbye.

Charlie collects the last of the messages, and the castways all say goodbye to Jin, Michael, Walt and Sawyer. They get the raft into the water, and start drifting off. Vincent tries to follow, but turns back. The sail is raised, and they’re on their way. Jin and Sun stare longingly at each other as the raft floats away.

Meanwhile, back on the island, the pillar of smoke still rises…

--end Episode 23--