Flashback: A teenaged Claire and her mother are in an automobile accident. Claire suffers relatively minor injuries, but her mother is thrown from the car. Doctors stabilize her, but she remains in a coma. Tension is high between Claire and her aunt Lindsay – and it is only exacerbated when Claire’s father arrives. Claire’s mother had told her that her father was dead, but he has returned to Sydney in order to pay for her medical expenses and to see Claire again. He recommends that Claire let her mother go. Horrified, Claire tells him to leave, and doesn’t want to know so much as his name. A fateful choice, since her father is Christian Shepherd.
The Island: Claire sees some birds migrating south, and deduces that they might be able to attach a message to one of the birds’ tracking tags. She enlists Sun and Jin to help catch one, but Desmond scares them away, claiming to have been hunting boar. Claire does not believe the explanation, and accuses Charlie of hiding something from her. But Charlie is unwilling to tell her of the fate Desmond foresees for him.
As Locke, Sayid, Rousseau and Kate make their way toward the Others’ camp, Sayid and Locke argue over tactics, the fate of their prisoner Mikhail, and Locke’s destruction of the Flame station. One of those issues is settled when they encounter a perimeter of pillars bearing sensors. Locke pushes Mikhail across the sensor threshold – and Mikhail promptly has a cerebral hemorrhage and dies. The group may find their way over this obstacle – but they are not prepared for what they find when they finally reach the Others’ village.
written by Christina M. Kim & Jordan Rosenberg
directed by Paul Edwards
music by Michael GiacchinoGuest Cast: John Terry (Christian Shephard), M.C. Gainey (Mr. Friendly/Tom), Mira Furlan (Danielle Rousseau), Andrew Divoff (Mikhail), Gabrielle Fitzpatrick (Lindsey), Julian Barnes (Dr. Woodruff), Rhett Biles (Officer Barnes), Danan Pere (ER Doctor), Anne Elizabeth Logan (Head Nurse), John Medlen (Man at Crash Site)
LogBook entry by Dave Thomer