“Walkabout”

Lost season 1, episode 4
Original air date: October 13, 2004

The episode opens with a flashback to Locke on the beach, right after the crash. He wakes up and wiggles his toes, and then finds his shoe and puts it on. When we come back to real time, Walt's dog is going crazy, and Michael tells him he has to control it, since it's keeping everyone on the beach awake. However, the dog has a good reason to be upset: there are beasts in the plane rummaging amongst the bodies. As Jack and Sawyer investigate, the beasts charge out and they seem to be pigs of some sort. Razorbacks, according to Locke, who suggests that they hunt them. Locke then reveals that in his luggage, he has a full set of knives, which stuns and rattles the other survivors. He recruits Michael and Kate to hunt with him, because he estimates that what they saw in the plane were babies, maybe 100 pounds apiece, and that there must be a 250-pound mother nearby. He says it'll take at least three people to distract the hogs enough for him to tackle a baby and slit its throat.

Kate has another reason for going on the hunt — Sayid has made antennas to boost the signal for the transceiver. He needs them to be triangulated around the island, so Kate plans to place one up in a tree for him. Unfortunately, as she and Michael and Locke hunt the razorbacks, they're charged by one, which gores Michael's leg. She tells Locke that they need to take Michael back to camp, but he tells her he's still going after the hog on his own, and he calls her "Helen," which confuses everyone. She tells him he can't do that, and with a very determined look on his face, he says "Don't tell me what I can't do," as he storms away. As Kate helps Michael back to camp, she climbs a tree to place Sayid's antenna. Unfortunately, while she's up the tree, they hear The Thing, and it startles her into dropping the antenna. From her vantage point, she sees that The Thing is headed straight for Locke. It comes upon him, and he stares up at it, unafraid, with an almost rapturous look on his face.

Back up a bit and there are a series of flashbacks about Locke's life before the crash. He gets a phone call at his desk, and someone calling him "Colonel" says they've acquired a target. Locke suggests meeting at their regular rendezvous point, which turns out to be the break room, where he meets another employee for a Risk-like game. Locke's snotty young manager comes in and tease him about his game and his "Colonel" thing, because as he says, he's perused Locke's file in Human Resources and Locke's never been in the military. Locke says, "It's just a game. It's my lunch hour; I can do what I want." The manager snickers at him, and then asks about the Walkabout Locke had a brochure for on his desk. Locke gets quite upset that his manager was going through his things, but says it's a spiritual quest in the Australian outback that he's planning to undertake. The manager laughs at him, but Locke's lunch partner asks if "Helen" knows about the trip yet. The manager sneers that Locke couldn't possibly have a woman in his life, and Locke, again upset, tells him about Norman Croucher, a double amputee who climbed Everest because it was his destiny. As the manager leaves the room, Locke says, "Just don't tell me what I can't do."

We then see Locke on his bed, talking to Helen on the phone, telling her about his Walkabout. He invites her to come, and tells her that he has two tickets. He's excited for the Walkabout and excited that he finally told his manager off. "Helen," though, tries to gently explain that they've talked about this: she can't meet a client. He gets quite upset, then, asking if that's what he is to her. She suggests that he get a therapist, and he tells her he has a therapist. He wants her to come with him, but she ends the conversation, saying that if they keep talking, she'll have to charge him for another hour. He tells her he doesn't care about the money, but she hangs up.

Back on the beach, Jack has to convince everyone to take anything of value from the plane and that they're going to burn the hulls at sunset. Sayid objects, because they don't know that the dead would want to be burned, that they might have religious objection. Jack overrules him, though, because the dead bodies will only attract more beasts, and if they bury the bodies, the beasts will only dig them up. Claire tries to convince Jack that there should be a memorial service with anything they can figure out about the dead. Jack declines to be a part of it, so Claire organizes it, and by the light of the bonfire, she reads names, organ donor cards, one couple's wedding album, itineraries, etc.

While they're organizing the memorial service, Jack has to go talk to Rose, who has been sitting apart from the group for days. She was across the aisle from him on the plane, and as they were about to crash, he told her he'd keep her company until her husband got back, since she seemed very nervous. She's fingering her husband's wedding ring, which he always gave her for safekeeping, because his hands swelled when they flew. Jack tries to convince her to come back to the group, and she says he doesn't have to keep her company anymore. He eventually does convince her to come back, and he tells her that Claire's going to hold the memorial service, if Rose would like to say something about her husband. Rose tells Jack her husband's not dead; he thinks she's delusional, but she reminds him that the survivors from other parts of the plane probably think that this whole group of survivors is dead, too. As they turn to make their way back to the others, Jack sees a man in a suit, standing on a hill. Jack's incredulous, and takes a step toward him, but Rose calls to Jack. Jack turns to her, and then looks back again, and the man is gone.

Boone tweaks Shannon about the food rationing, and she says she can take care of herself. It turns out that that means flirting with Charlie until he and Hurley stand in the ocean trying to spear a fish. Charlie eventually gets one, but when he presents it to Shannon as a dinner they can share together, Boone intervenes and begins arguing with Shannon about whether this is what she means by "I can take care of myself." Charlie's left holding the fish, looking on.

When Kate gets back to the beach, she gives Sayid the broken antenna, which he throws in anger. Claire had come upon an envelope with Sayid's name on it during her search, and it contained pictures of a robed Muslim woman, which Sayid caressed. He now seems more frustrated than before. Kate also tells Jack that Locke's gone, having encountered The Thing in the jungle. Jack gets distracted by what she's saying when he sees the man in the suit again, standing at the edge of the jungle. He pursues him this time, but when he gets into the jungle, he and Kate run into Locke, bloodied, but dragging a boar.

Finally, we see Locke in the office of the tour company running the Walkabout, where a tour operator is telling him he can't go on the Walkabout because of his condition. Locke says the condition is not an issue — he's had it for four years and it doesn't stop him from doing anything. The tour operator says it is an issue for their insurance company, since the Walkabout is grueling even for young, healthy people. He tells Locke he's sending the rest of the group, because it's not fair to hold the tour for him any longer. Locke gets very angry, as the operator tells him that they'll put him on a plane back to Sydney at their expense and that's the best they can do. Locke begs the operator to just put him on the bus, saying "I can do this!" The operator says, "No, you can't," and as he leaves the office to send the bus on its way, Locke yells after him, "Don't ever tell me what I can't do! Ever!" Locke is confined to a wheelchair, and we again see him right after the crash, wiggling his toes. No wheelchair needed.