Lost - "Lockdown"

Episode Title: “Lockdown”

Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: Wow – this is perhaps the deepest meaning on Lost ever. Where to begin? The most obvious place, of course – check the dictionary meanings of the word!

Lockdown:

1. The confinement of prison inmates to their cells as a security measure following a disturbance in the prison.
2. A prison, especially a high-security one.
3. A device that secures a piece of equipment, especially a computer, so that it cannot be moved or stolen.

Interestingly, each of these could seemingly apply to our world inside the Swan Hatch.

1. Clearly the Hatch is our “prison”. Not only is it the only place with seal-you-in-against-your-will “blast doors”, but there’s also been the whole “use-a-room-as-a-jail-cell” deal with Henry. In fact, one could view the whole Henry Gale situation as a “disturbance” that causes the Lockdown in the first place, as described by the definition. Everything seemed to be going fine inside the Hatch (seemingly) until he showed up. Coincidence?
2. A simpler version of explanation one, missing the whole “disturbance”. Again, could apply to the Hatch, it would just mean that Henry Gale has nothing to do with the Lockdown.
3. This is a definition I was personally unaware of – but is quite intriguing. Could it be that the Lockdown is caused by someone using the computer inappropriately? Remember that the Orientation video explicitly states to not use the computer for anything other than entering the Numbers, lest another “Incident” occurs. It’s not crazy to think that using it for some other purpose (Internet porn, Fantasy Football) would trigger this security feature and “Lockdown” the entire Hatch so that no one can leave. The only thing is, I’m not sure who would use the computer for something else. Michael was our most likely candidate, but he’s now MIA. Perhaps if Henry Gale is given more freedom inside the Hatch, he could trigger something. That would sure make it seem like he was an Other, sending a “distress signal” of sorts to his Other brethren.

Regardless of which scenario plays out, a literal “Lockdown” of the Hatch is a given. However, this isn’t “Brian’s Literal Meaning Guess”, it’s “Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess”.

When I first read the title, before even thinking of a prison-esque Lockdown, I looked at the two words in the title and saw “Locke” and “Down”. Even in writing this post, my fingers are tempted to write “Lockedown” each time. But what would that mean?

John Locke is going to lose his ability to walk.

How? Not sure. Perhaps his ability to walk is somehow tied to the huge magnetic core of the Hatch, and when the blast doors come down during the Lockdown it blocks these magnetic waves from reaching him. Or vice versa, perhaps the doors closing increase the intensity of the magnetic field and cripple him.

I was also originally thinking perhaps a Blast Door could come down on his legs, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the case in the previews…

At any rate, that’s my guess for the real reason Locke loses his reason to walk. But John isn’t going to see it like that. He’s going to view it as the Island punishing him, probably for their capturing and holding of Henry Gale. Locke views the Island as magic, and this magic gave him the ability to walk. He thinks that if you give something to the Island, it gives you something in return. Now he’s going to think that if you take something from the Island, it takes something from you. They took Henry Gale. Now the Island is talking John’s legs.

The one thing I can’t get a read on is how “Lockdown” could apply to the flashback. It’s a Locke flashback, so perhaps something sad happens and causes him to be emotionally or spiritually “down”? But there haven’t been any clues to that so far. But we’ve got enough deeper meaning for one week just on the Island, so I’ll let the flashback part slide…


TV Guide Description: When the hatch suddenly takes on a life of its own, Locke is forced to enlist the help of an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Ana Lucia, Sayid and Charlie go off into the jungle to find out the truth about Henry.

TV Guide Breakdown: The interesting part of the “Hatch suddenly taking on a life of its own” is the word “suddenly”. One would think that if the Lockdown was a result of not entering in the Numbers, it wouldn’t be considered “sudden”, but rather an almost expected result. However, in the previews, you can hear a siren going off while the Blast Doors are coming down – the same siren we heard when the Numbers weren’t entered (and is that Desmond’s voice I hear?!).

(PS – speaking of Desmond, we all wondered where he ran off to early this season. It turns out he went to Los Angeles to work undercover for the German government. Of course! Great twist, Lost writers!)

I’m on the fence, but I almost think it would be more exciting if the Lockdown wasn’t a result of the 108 timer going off – but rather put a blast wall between John Locke and the computer, causing him to freak out as the timer ticks closer and closer to expiration. Imagine that suspense!

Moving on, Locke being forced to enlist the help of an unlikely ally (Henry Gale) goes hand in hand with my “Locke loses his ability to walk” theory. With just the two of them trapped inside the Hatch, he’ll need Henry to scope a way out… like through the heating ducts for example:




But can Henry be trusted? Given everything he’s been through, wouldn’t you think if he did find a way out, he would ditch Locke and just go running off? Is this the start of an alliance of Locke and Henry?

Lastly, the preview takes us all for old people (or Will Riley) who fall asleep halfway through episodes of Lost. Because we clearly saw Ana-Lucia, Charlie, and Sayid going through the jungle in the second half of last week’s episode. This episode will show them discovering the Balloon, and wondering about the repercussion of this discovery. But I’ve already discussed that in detail below. That’s right, I got my “The Whole Truth” analysis done ahead of time this week. What, you weren’t checking the Blog daily for updates? For shame!


I’m not going to lie, I’m mega-pumped for this week’s episode – probably as excited as I’ve been for any Lost this year. The commercials hint at “Five Revelations” this episode, each more shocking than the one before. If I were writing the episode, here would be my five revelations (coincidentally, if these happened, it would be the best hour of Lost ever):

1. The Blast Doors come down, the 108 Countdown runs out (and whatever happens after that!).
2. Desmond returns (at least in voice, over the speakers in the Hatch).
3. Locke loses his ability to walk (and thus, we learn how he could walk in the first place).
4. Henry Gale’s whole story checks out (and our Survivors are forced to grapple with the repercussions of their actions).
5. After helping him escape the Hatch, Locke forms a pact with Henry Gale - and becomes a spy for the Others.

(and if I could have #6, it would be “Kate finds a piece of luggage full of bikinis and has a fashion show for the other Survivors” – but I won’t get greedy…)

Caliente!

The one thing that worries me is that the commercial almost hypes it up too much. I hate it when my expectations are too high and I inevitably walk away disappointed (see: every DMB concert I attended from 1998 to 2001).

Let’s hope this isn’t the case. Happy watching!