A Tale of Two Cities

See Literary works for information about the book which inspired the title of this episode.

"A Tale of Two Cities"
Season	3
Episode	1
Airdate	October 4, 2006
Flashback	Jack Shephard Juliet Burke
Days	68
Writer	Damon Lindelof J.J. Abrams
Director	Jack Bender
Guests	John Terry - Christian Shephard Julie Bowen - Sarah Shephard M.C. Gainey - Tom William Mapother - Ethan Rom Brett Cullen - Goodwin Blake Bashoff - Karl Julie Adams - Amelia Stephen Semel - Adam Isabelle Cherwin - Little girl Alexandra Morgan - Moderator Sonya Seng - Receptionist Sally Davis - Teacher Julie Ow - Nurse
Transcript	S3E01 - A Tale of Two Cities Transcript

"A Tale of Two Cities" is the Season 3 premiere of Lost, and the 48th episode of the series as a whole. Jack, Kate and Sawyer find themselves in unusual locations after being kidnapped by the Others, who reveal themselves to be more sophisticated than anyone could have previously guessed.

Synopsis

Introduction

Juliet and Amelia, before the book club meeting at the Barracks.

The episode begins in a woman's house. She is preparing to host a book club meeting. Initially she plays some music (Downtown by Petula Clark), then looks at herself in a mirror. She seems upset, and trying to keep her composure. The oven timer goes off and she discovers the oven is billowing smoke: her muffins heve burnt. She hurriedly takes them out, burning her hand in the process. The doorbell rings, there is a woman at the door. Outside, a man is working on the plumbing. The two women go inside; the book being discussed is Carrie by Stephen King. A man named Adam complains about the woman's -- now identified as Juliet -- choice of this book and remarks that "Ben" wouldn't read it "even in the bathroom". Juliet argues with Adam.

A rumbling, possibly an earthquake, occurs, shaking the house and occupants. After it ends, they run outside, revealing that the house seems to be in a cul-de-sac community. They look up and witness the mid-air break-up and crash of Oceanic 815. The man who claimed to be Henry Gale tells Ethan Rom and Goodwin to go to both of the crash sites and act as survivors, and provide him with "a list" in three days. The camera pulls back to reveal that this community of houses is in a clearing in the jungle on the Island.

Flashbacks

Jack spying on Sarah

Sipping his coffee from a distance, Jack watches his wife Sarah from his car, as she plays with her young pupils at kindergarten. He notices her joke with a man there, and frowns as Sarah whispers something into his ear.

Later, Jack arrives at a divorce meeting. In the waiting room, he tries to spark conversation with Sarah, but she seems more interested in initiating the proceedings than talking to her ex. Jack’s attempts to reconcile are also quickly interrupted as Sarah’s phone rings, and Jack overhears her laughing to the person at the other end. Jack asks her what his name is, a question we gather he has asked her many times since their separation. Jack tells Sarah that she can have whatever she wants in the divorce, but he has a right to know the name of the man who is with his wife. Instead of answering, Sarah walks out.

Jack is surprised to see Christian answer the phone when he rings one of Sarah's contacts

At the hospital, Jack is trying to track down the man, phoning Sarah’s contacts pretending that he has found her phone. His father, Christian, enters and tells Jack to accept the fact that Sarah has moved on. Jack disregards him, and phones the next number he has on his list. To his surprise, his father’s phone begins to ring. Asking him why his wife has been calling him, Christian tells him to simply "let it go". Jack refuses to listen, shouting for his father to tell him the truth. Christian says that it is because she was afraid for Jack’s health. The argument soon gets heated, as Jack touches a nerve by calling his father a drunk. Christian storms out of the room, but not before repeating that Jack needs to “let it go”.

Later, Jack is with a patient when he notices Christian’s cell phone ringing outside the room. Christian laughs as he chats, and Jack seems to suspect that his father has been lying to him. After his shift, he stalks Christian to the Lynford Hotel. Bursting into the room he entered, Jack finds that he is actually in an AA meeting. However, undeterred, he demands Christian’s cell phone, but is asked to take a seat by the team leader. He immediately stands on guard, and starts mocking his father and things in his past. Explicitly accusing him of sleeping with his wife, Christian shakes his head in disgust. As Jack moves to leave, Christian yet again tells him to "let it go". This time, Jack retaliates, charging at his father and tackling him to the ground.

Jack finally lets go

Jack sits in a cell, but is quickly told that that someone has paid his bail, meaning he’s free to leave. As Jack leaves, he finds that the person was Sarah, who tells him that she’s called him a cab. She runs out, and as Jack follows, he sees a man waiting by a car for her. He demands to know if that’s him, and Sarah replies that "it doesn’t matter who he is, it just matters who you’re not." She reveals that a drunken Christian phoned her, asking for her to help Jack, and that his alcoholism is something for Jack to fix now. She then leaves, ushered away by the man with her.

Realtime events

Kate at breakfast with "Henry Gale".

Kate wakes up in a bathroom with Tom standing over her. He tells her to take a hot shower. She says she won't while he's there, but Tom only laughs and tells her she's not his type. He leaves and she takes a shower. When she emerges, Tom has taken her clothes and has left her a dress instead. She changes into it, reluctantly. Tom and two Others bring her to a beach, where "Henry" is waiting at a covered table with chairs, freshly cooked food, utensils, and coffee, with a pair of handcuffs on the side. He compels her to handcuff herself, and when she asks why he's doing all this, "Henry" responds that he gave her a dress to make her feel "like a lady", fresh food to make her feel at home, allowed her a view of the beach because her friends are seeing the same beach, and utensils to make her feel civilized. He tells Kate that he gave all those things to her so she'll have something to hold on to, because the next two weeks will be very unpleasant.

Trying to get the door closed

Jack wakes up in a holding cell. He sees an open door, but when he walks towards it, he learns there is a thick glass wall blocking his way. He begins struggling with some chains hanging from the ceiling when Juliet walks into the room on the other side of the glass. She tells him that she wants to give him food, but he must move away from the door. Jack refuses to cooperate with her and continues to yank on the chain. When Jack asks about the yellow button Juliet replies it is for emergencies. Jack thinks he hears a voice from an intercom on the wall of his cell which sounds like his father telling him to "let it go" even though Juliet tells him the intercom has not worked in many years. After a number of exchanges, Jack is seemingly convinced that he needs to eat. When Juliet enters with the food, he attacks her and drags her out into the hallway. "Henry" is waiting and tells him that Juliet cannot open the nearby door, or it will kill all of them. Jack throws her away, and "Henry" runs out of another door, closing it on Juliet. Jack opens the first door, which pours water into the hallway. Then he and Juliet manage to close the door and Juliet tells Jack to push the yellow button, but when Jack turns, Juliet knocks him out.

Sawyer is taken back to his cell

Sawyer awakes in an outdoor cell. He looks around and see the structures and other cages. Also he notice some speakers. He looks around his Cage and see a strange contraption inside that has a large "button" with a knife and fork painted on it. Assuming the contraption provides food, he tries to figure it out, but another prisoner in the cell opposite his tells him not to. He continues, and is shocked by electricity. The other prisoner starts to ask him some questions about the survivors camp location. Then he picks his lock and picks Sawyer's and tells him to run the opposite way. He does, but Juliet finds him and tasers him in the neck. Sawyer is returned to his cell, and the other prisoner, Karl, is forced to apologize for asking him to help with his escape. Before their escape Karl asks Sawyer about his camp. After some experimentation, and with the help of a large rock he found outside the cell, Sawyer soon figures out the "gizmo" that delivers food and water. The water streams out a pipe into a trough, kibble falls on the ground, as does a large fish biscuit with the word DHARMA on it -- it's obviously "pet food."

Kate's cage at the Hydra

When Tom later puts Kate into the cell that Karl had occupied, he tells Sawyer that the bears figured it out in two hours. Tom does not identify these bears as polar bears and it is unknown if the bears Tom refers to are in fact polar bears or not.

Kate is brought to the now empty cell across from Sawyer's and he tries to make her feel better by joking around. She seems distraught, so Sawyer asks if she wants something to eat. Kate says yes, so Sawyer throws her the fish biscuit, which she eats pitifully. Kate also has visible cuts from the handcuffs and Tom remarks "cut you up pretty bad, didn't they."

Later in the episode, Juliet returns and reveals she knows much about Jack, who is back in the cell. She tells him how she has his father's autopsy report, his divorce record, information on his friends and family, etc. Jack only wants to know if his ex-wife is happy, and Juliet says she is. She also tells him he is being held in an aquarium tank in the Hydra, another DHARMA station, which is underwater. Jack agrees to Juliet bringing him food, so Juliet steps into the hallway, where "Henry" is standing, waiting. He tells her she has done a good job, and she says, "Thank you, Ben," revealing "Henry"'s real name.

Trivia

• In the official podcast, Damon Lindelof explained that the "two cities" refer to the two "societies" of the Others and the survivors.
• During the "Previously on Lost..." recap before this episode, we see the scene at the Pala Ferry pier from "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1" where "Henry" says "Your friends are coming home with us," in response to Hurley's question. However, rather than using that actual dialog, you can see that Henry's line has been dubbed over, and he now simply says "You're coming with us".This was, perhaps, done to delay the surprise of the Others' homes in the first scene, or at least to keep the idea of such a connection from being made before the surprise is revealed.
• A dove is visible flying when the camera captures the whole home space of the Others.
• Kate's cage was taller than Sawyer's cage, and had platforms at different levels. There appeared to be no mechanisms as in Sawyer's cage.
• When Karl tells Sawyer to run, Sawyer runs past what looks like a bird cage.
• Kate and Jack were shown with a needle wound in their arms covered by a bandage, but Sawyer was never shown to have a similar wound (however a promo picture did show Sawyer with his sleeves rolled up to reveal a bandage).
• When Tom pushes the latch down on Sawyer's cage, he doesn't actually close the shackle on the lock (possibly a production error).
• This is the first appearance of Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet. Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro are also first credited in this episode, but do not appear.
• This episode featured the fewest regular cast members to date, five -- Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Ben and Juliet. The remainder of the regular cast do not appear and aren't mentioned. This would later happen again in "Stranger in a Strange Land".

Cultural references

• A Tale of Two Cities is a book by Charles Dickens. This is the second reference to Dickens in the series. The other is Our Mutual Friend.
• The song Jack listens to in his car radio while watching Sarah at her school is Moonlight Serenade, the same song Hurley and Sayid picked up on the radio in "The Long Con".
• The CD That Juliet places in her stereo is actually a dualdisc CD/DVD with the serial of "JN 94743". This serial belongs to the album Okemah and the Melody of Riot, by Son Volt and was released in 2005. The CD is taken from the jewel case for the album Speaking In Tongues by Talking Heads.
• The novel being discussed by the book club is Stephen King's Carrie.
• The crossword puzzle is the Monday, July 31, 2006, Los Angeles Times crossword puzzle, authored by George Shayler.
• During Jack's flashback when he follows his father, Jack's father's car was a 2007 Mercedes-Benz.
• Tom and Ben both do a very subtle "Namaste"-style bow during the episode. Tom does it in the shower-room when he tells Kate that she's not his type. Ben does it at the very end, when he tells Juliet that she did a good job.

Recurring themes

• The nurse that was in the operating room with Jack is the same nurse that looked after Locke after he donated his kidney. (Character connections)
• When Jack is playing with the telecom button, the voice of his father comes on saying, "let it go." (Fate versus free will)
• In the beginning of the episode, Juliet says, "Here I am thinking that free will still exists." (Fate versus free will)
• A copy of the novel Redemption by Leon Uris is displayed on Jack's office bookshelf. (Redemption)
• Juliet makes 16 muffins. (The Numbers)
• Kate's locker number is 841. (The Numbers)
• During Jack's first flashback, the time on his pager is 7:15:23AM, and on the crossword puzzle, the answer to 42 across and others are of relevance to Lost. (The Numbers)
• Ben's true name is finally revealed (Cons and deceptions)

See also

• List of books on Jack's shelf

External links

• Press Release
• Promotional Photography