Lost/Recap/S01/E04 Walkabout
Season 1, Episode 4:
Walkabout
Flash Back! Locke wakes up moments after the crash of Oceanic 815 and wiggles his toes for a few moments.
It's been four days since the crash. At night on the beach, people hear something moving around in the fuselage. Jack investigates and finds wild boars eating the bodies. Later, Jack Kate and Sayid discuss what to do about all the bodies. Jack proposes turning the fuselage into a funeral pyre and cremating the dead; Sayid objects, since they don't know what religion or culture the dead might've belonged to, but Jack says they need to ensure the boars don't get them. Kate realises that Jack is hoping to use the burning fuselage as a signal fire. Next morning, Sayid works on a device to triangulate the source of the Frenchwoman's transmission and whatever power source it's using. Michael tries to stop Walt from hanging out with Locke. Jack and Sayid break up a fight between Sawyer and Hurley, who claims that Sawyer is hoarding the last of the food. Locke enters the discussion (in dramatic fashion) and proposes they hunt the wild boars for food using the dozens of hunting knives he checked onto the plane.
Hurley: Who is this guy?
Flash Back! Locke receives a phone call from someone who addresses him as "Colonel" and tells him the rendezvous point is clear for 1300 hours. He's interrupted by Randy, Locke's boss at the cubicle farm where he works, telling him that he needs the TPS reports. Locke goes back to work on his computer and receipt machine.
Kate volunteers for the boar-hunting trip, and Jack questions why she's so keen to hike "into the heart of darkness" every chance she gets when they know the Monster is out there. She admits she's going to plant Sayid's triangulation device in the jungle. Their conversation turns to Locke: Kate thinks he knows what he's doing, but Jack doesn't quite trust anyone who packs a case full of knives on a plane. Michael is also going on the hunting trip, and (with difficulty) asks Sun to watch Walt while he's gone. Claire asks Jack to lead a memorial service before they burn the bodies, but he has no interest, and Claire decides to do it herself. Boone notices Rose sitting by herself and tries to talk to Shannon about it, but she's more interested in her crossword. He questions how she's going to eat on the Island and Shannon claims she can catch a fish easily. Charlie is taking a sniff of his heroin when Shannon interrupts and convinces him to catch her some fish. Boone asks Jack to talk to Rose, whose been sitting alone without eating or drinking since the crash and the death of her husband. As he did with Claire, Jack shrugs off the request, not wanting to get involved, but winds up taking Rose some water and a blanket anyway. In the jungle, the hunting party finds a boar trail. Michael talks about Walt, who'd been living with his mother in Sydney until her death two weeks earlier. Kate is saved from talking about why she was in Australia by Locke telling them to be silent. Michael attracts the attention of a boar and it charges, gouging his leg.
Flash Back! In a breakroom, Locke and a co-worker play a Risk-like game and are interrupted by Randy (who is a douchebag). Randy wants to know about the "walkabout" that Locke is so keen on doing.
Randy: So, you wander around hunting and gathering food, right? On foot?
Locke: Not that you would understand, but a walkabout is a journey of spiritual renewal, where one derives strength from the earth and becomes inseparable from it.
Randy also scoffs at the idea that Locke has a woman in his life, or that he'll even be able to go on a walkabout. Locke tells the story of a double-amputee who climbed Everest because it was "his destiny".
Slightly dazed and calling Kate "Helen" by accident, Locke tells her to take Michael back to the beach and goes looking for the boar on his own, ignoring Kate when she says that he can't do it on his own. On the beach, Charlie has enlisted Hurley's help in fishing with a makeshift spear. Claire finds one of Sayid's possessions, an envelope containing photographs of a woman, and returns it to him. Rose finally starts talking to Jack, telling him that he's "off the hook" for the promise he made to keep her company until her husband returned.
Flash Back! Locke is talking on the phone to Helen, telling her that he's going on the walkabout and bought a plane ticket for her as well, but she says no because she isn't allowed to meet with customers. She hangs up so that Locke doesn't have to pay another $89 and he slams the phone down in anger.
As Kate and Michael head back to the beach, they stop so that Kate can climb a tree and plant Sayid's triangulation device. She reaches the top, but drops the device when she hears the sound of the Monster. It emerges from the trees in front of Locke (though we don't see what it looks like) and he stands his ground. At the beach, Sawyer gives Claire some wallets he found for the memorial service. Sun uses plants to make a kind of toothpaste. Kate and Michael return, but Locke's absence is noticed, particularly by Boone. Charlie brings Shannon a fish and she offers it to Boone as proof that she can fend for herself; he apologises to Charlie for letting him get roped into their argument. Jack asks Rose to speak about Bernard at the memorial service, but she calmly tells him that her husband is still alive, somewhere on the Island with the other people who were in the tail section of the plane. As they walk back to the beach camp, Jack briefly sees an older man in a suit standing at the edge of the jungle. Kate returns the broken triangulation device to Sayid, and she encourages him to try again. When Jack returns, Kate tells him that Locke is gone. As he explains about the memorial service, Jack sees the man in the suit again and runs into the jungle after him; instead he finds Locke, bloodied and dragging a dead boar. That night, Claire leads the memorial service. Charlie skulks in the shadows and takes another dose of his dwindling heroin supply. When he arrives at the service, Kate asks where Jack is. Jack is sitting alone on the beach. Michael compliments Locke on bringing back the boar, and asks about the Monster; Locke claims he didn't see it.
Flash Back! At the walkabout office in Melbourne, Australia, the operator tells Locke that he can't go on the very physically-demanding trek because he lied by omission, neglecting to tell them about his condition. Locke demands to go on the walkabout, saying that he can do it, but the operator tells Locke that he can't, and leaves.
Locke: [trying to follow in his wheelchair] Don't you walk away from me! You don't know who you're dealing with! Don't ever tell me what I can't do, ever! This is destiny. This is destiny! This is my destiny! I'm supposed to do this, dammit! DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!
Moments after Oceanic 815's crash, Locke wakes up, wiggles his toes, tests his legs and stands up, amazed.
The memorial service continues, and Locke watches as his wheelchair is burned in the fire.