Because You Left

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"Because You Left"
Season	5
Episode number	1
Airdate(s)	21 January 2009
Centric	Various
Writer	Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
Director	Stephen Williams
Guests	Sam Anderson - Bernard Nadler L. Scott Caldwell - Rose Nadler Nestor Carbonell - Richard Alpert Alan Dale - Charles Widmore Tom Irwin - Dan Norton William Mapother - Ethan Rom Sonya Walger - Penelope Widmore Sean Whalen - Neil "Frogurt"
Co-stars	Brad Berryhill - Anxious Guy William Blanchette - Aaron Jeremy Colvin - Security Guard Michael Dempsey - Foreman Leslie Ishii - Woman Sven Lindstrom - Crew Member Cindy Paliracio - TV Anchor
Uncredited	François Chau - Pierre Chang
Transcript	Because You Left transcript

"Because You Left" is the premiere episode of Season 5 of Lost, originally broadcast on January 21, 2009. It is the 84th episode of the series. Jack and Ben attempt to assemble the Oceanic Six for a return to the Island while the survivors left behind begin skipping through time following the Island's "move".

Synopsis

Introduction

Pierre Chang in the Orchid

Faraday under cover

At 8:15 a.m., Pierre Chang wakes up at his home in Barracks next to his wife. He then gives his baby a bottle before getting ready for the day as the record he puts on starts skipping. Inside one of the buildings, he begins shooting the first take of the second DHARMA Initiative orientation video, this time for the Arrow station, but is interrupted by a worker concerned about a problem at the Orchid. The worker leads Chang to the Orchid, in full construction. Men who have been working underground to create the second level of the station have destroyed 6 drill heads trying to drill a seemingly impenetrable wall. Another worker tells Chang that there is an open chamber behind the wall, showing him a print-out revealing an image of the frozen wheel behind the wall. At this moment Chang discloses that there is an incredible amount of energy on the other side of the wall, almost limitless, and enough to make space and time travel possible. Chang tells the worker to do nothing more to the wall because infinite harmful energy could be released by doing so. As Chang leaves he bumps into another worker who is revealed to be Daniel Faraday dressed in a construction worker outfit.

On-Island

The Beechcraft crashes

The results of the "Island moving" have immediate effects for all the survivors left behind. After the white flash, Locke finds that Richard and the Others have vanished, and that it is now raining. Meanwhile, Juliet and Sawyer notice that the burning freighter has mysteriously vanished, finding Bernard and Rose who frantically report that the camp itself has also disappeared. Daniel Faraday arrives with those from the Zodiac boat, including Neil Frogurt, and explains that "The camp isn't gone, It hasn't been built yet". Faraday tells everyone that they must go to something that was man-made on the island, and Juliet points out that the Swan station is about a fifteen minutes hike from the beach.

Ethan holds John at gunpoint

Meanwhile, Locke witnesses the Nigerian Beechcraft plane crash onto the Island. Locke arrives at the crash site and tries to climb up, searching for survivors, but is stopped by a bullet piercing one of his legs. A stunned John falls to the ground. The shooter is revealed to be none other than Ethan. Locke tries to explain to him that he knows who he is and that Ben appointed John as the leader of the Others, but Ethan does not believe him and prepares to shoot him. However, a white light flashes, causing time to shift again. Locke looks to see that it is now night, and the Beechcraft has fallen from the cliff edge. The other survivors also find themselves in darkness on their trek to the hatch. Sawyer demands that Faraday explain what is happening. Faraday says that it would be too hard to explain to a quantum physicist, much less Sawyer. However, after Sawyer loses his temper, he concedes and tells them to imagine the Island as a record, only now the record is skipping due to what Ben Linus did at the Orchid station. As a result, the Island is now dislodged in time, with either the island moving or the survivors. Faraday suggests that it is likely that they are the ones moving.

Alpert's compass

The group arrives at the Hatch, which is still a crater, prompting them to conclude that they are in a time after Flight 815 crashed. Sawyer argues that they could change the past by stopping Jack and the others from launching the helicopter (which they believe crashed in the ocean). Faraday, however, is adamant that the past is like thread - one can move back and forth but cannot under any circumstance begin a new one. Meanwhile, Locke encounters Richard Alpert, who removes the bullet from his leg and gives him a compass which he must give to Richard again in a different time frame. He also tells John that the only way to save the Island is to get those who left back. In order to do that, Locke is told that he will have to die.

Daniel "reminds" Desmond

Another flash occurs and the hiking group find themselves looking at the Swan station, now intact. Sawyer repeatedly knocks on the back door, but nobody responds. Faraday reiterates that Sawyer cannot get to Desmond because if it hadn't already happened, it cannot happen. After everyone else leaves, however, Faraday himself knocks on the door and manages to speak with Desmond. Faraday tells Desmond that he is uniquely special, and that only he can help them because "the rules" don't apply to him. Daniel instructs a confused Desmond to seek out his mother in Oxford if he escapes the Island.

Off-Island (Three Years Later)

Hurley with the discarded gun

In 2007, Ben and Jack discuss their plan to find the other members of the Oceanic Six. Meanwhile, Hurley and Sayid arrive at a safehouse after Sayid killed a man spying on Hurley at Santa Rosa Mental Institute. Hurley is now wanted for the murder of that man. When Hurley comments on Sayid's paranoia, Sayid reveals that he has been working for Ben Linus and cautions Hurley that, if Linus ever tells him to do anything, to do the exact opposite. However, the safe house has been compromised, and Sayid battles two men. Though he manages to kill them, Sayid is shot with a anesthetizing dart, rendering him unconscious. A passer-by notices the dead body of one of the men Sayid had killed, and takes a picture of Hurley with a gun in his hand and covered in what appears to be blood, but is actually ketchup. Hurley rescues Sayid, and the two escape.

Sun confronted by Widmore

At Heathrow Airport in London, after trying to check into her flight on Oceanic Air to fly to Los Angeles, Sun is confronted by Charles Widmore. Sun reveals her desire to kill Ben, a trait they seem to share.

Meanwhile in LA, Kate is approached at home by Dan Norton, an attorney working for an unknown client. Norton seeks to conduct a test to determine if Aaron is actually Kate's child. Kate refuses to allow the test, and when Norton leave to enlist the help of law enforcement, Kate frantically packs bag, grabs Aaron and runs.

Des and Penny sailing to Oxford

Back at the funeral parlor Jack asks Ben how everything happened, to which Ben replies it was because they left. They leave the parlor with Locke's body in tow, where they discover that Hurley has broken out, hindering Ben's plan to reunite the Oceanic Six.

Finally, on a sailing boat with Penny in an unknown location, Desmond wakes up, remembering what Faraday told him. While Penny brushes off the experience as a bad dream, Desmond realizes that it was actually a memory. He sets off for Oxford to find Daniel's mother.

Trivia

General

• A green ceramic alien head is visible under the stereo on the shelf as Pierre Chang walks into the Barracks recreation room and films the orientation film for The Arrow.
• The Arrow filming includes workers sporting the main DHARMA logo: Fern ("crew"), Jay ("worker"), and presumably Kyker (the director named on the clapper board, a likely reference to Lost property master, Rob Kyker who also played Jacob for a time). They are interrupted by Eric ("construction") and meet Tony ("construction") and Faraday, dressed as Joe ("construction").

Production notes

• Daniel Dae Kim is credited as a regular, despite the assumption that Jin has died.
• All main characters appear, though Jin appears only in reused footage from "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2".
• This episode marks the first time Pierre Chang appears outside a DHARMA video on the show.

Bloopers and continuity errors

• Pierre Chang can be seen wearing a Swan logo despite making the orientation video for the Arrow.
• When asked if all of the Oceanic survivors were accounted for, Sawyer replies that Locke wasn't with them, but doesn't mention Claire.
• After Desmond recalls his "memory" he goes above deck to begin pulling up the anchor, but in actuality the chain is going in the reverse direction, lowering the anchor.
• When Daniel Faraday is on the raft, Neil Frogurt can be seen next to him. Neil Frogurt was never on the raft in the Season 4 finale.
• Goldie parachuted from the Beechcraft into the trees near the crash site, but we see the plane fly very low and crash quickly, leaving him no time to have done this. This also does not match Locke's Vision in "Deus Ex Machina", where he sees the plane crashing directly down into the trees from the sky.
• The DHARMA worker wearing the Fern shirt is portrayed by a different actress than the one seen in (Lost: The Complete Third Season (DVD)).

Recurring themes

• The people on the Island are skipping through time. (Time)
• The public begins to grow suspicious of Aaron's paternity. (Parent Issues)
• Desmonds meets Daniel for the second time before Daniel arrived on the Island. (Character connections)
• The clock at the start of the episode shows 8:15. (The Numbers)
• As Sun goes down the escalator at the airport, the woman on the intercom mentions flight 23 to Paris at Gate 15. (The Numbers)
• Daniel tricks the other people to leave him alone at the Hatch, so that he can speak to Desmond alone. (Deceptions and Cons)
• The DHARMA orientation films are filmed in front of a movie set in the Barracks recreation room with costumes and props to make it appear that Pierre Chang is in a study or office. (Deceptions and Cons)

Storyline analysis

• Sayid kills two men in the safe house. (Crimes)
• Juliet and Sawyer are seen as new leading figures for the castaways. (Leadership)
• Sawyer "slaps" Daniel for not telling what is happening. (Rivalries)

Cultural references

• "Shotgun Willie" a song by Willie Nelson, from 1973, by the album of the same name.
• Star Trek: Voyager: Faraday appearing at the time when the orchid was built could be a reference to Seven of Nine being present when the Voyager still is in drydock at Utopia Planetia in the episode "Relativity."
• A Christmas Carol: Sawyer calls himself "the Ghost of Christmas Future," a reference to one of the spirits who visits Ebenezer Scrooge in the book by Charles Dickens.
• Ginger: Sawyer calls Charlotte "Ginger" after he slaps Daniel Faraday. Ginger is a reference to redhead Ginger Grant, a character of Gilligan's Island, which was a TV show about a group of people that were lost on an island after their tour boat was caught in a tropical storm.
• Dilbert: Sawyer calls Daniel Faraday "Dilbert" when Faraday tries to convince him of the futility in his plan to enter the Swan Station through the "back door" to stock up on supplies. Dilbert is a white-collar engineer, the main character of an American comic strip written and drawn by Scott Adams.
• Watchmen: When Locke asks how Richard knew his leg was wounded, Richard says Locke told him, even though Locke hasn't actually told him yet. This is similar to a scene in Watchmen in which Dr. Manhattan states he knows Laurie is sleeping with Dan Dreiberg, even though she hasn't told him this yet; when she does mention this a few minutes later, Dr. Manhattan acts surprised as if he never knew.
• Slaughterhouse Five: The Islanders are "unstuck in time" like Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of the Kurt Vonnegut novel.
• Quantum Leap: Faraday begins his explanation of the rules of time travel by saying "Time is a string," which is how Dr. Sam Beckett begins his theory of Quantum Leap time travel.
  

Literary techniques

• The episode begins with a record skipping, which is later used as a metaphor for how the island is moving through time. (Foreshadowing)
• Kate tells Aaron that the train in his cartoon won't go into a tunnel because he will never come out, foreshadowing their evacuation from their home moments later, and perhaps their return to the island. (Foreshadowing)
• Faraday insists that they can't change the past or stop what's happening, and Sawyer asks him who can; Faraday doesn't respond. This foreshadows Faraday's statement that Desmond is special and the "rules" don't apply to him, implying that Desmond can, in fact, change things. (Foreshadowing)
• When Locke is separated from The Others, he is left in the jungle with nothing but a knife and his wits; literally the situation he longed for in Walkabout. (Irony)

Episode references

• The episode begins with Pierre Chang putting on a record, much like in "Man of Science, Man of Faith" and "A Tale of Two Cities".
• Pierre Chang being annoyed after having been interrupted is reminiscent of his reaction in The Orchid Orientation Video's outtakes.
• Pierre Chang and Eric ride in a DHARMA van similar to the one used by Ben and his father and discovered by Hurley
• We finally see how the Beechcraft crashes. ("Deus Ex Machina") ("The 23rd Psalm")
• Chang and Faraday reference "rules that can't be broken" regarding time travel. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") ("The Shape of Things to Come")
• Locke's climb to the Beechcraft is reminiscent of Boone's and Eko's climbs at the same location. ("Deus Ex Machina") ("?")
• When Locke explains to Richard that Ethan shot him, Richard replies "What comes around goes around", presumably in reference to Charlie shooting Ethan. ("Homecoming")
• Charlotte's nose starts to bleed. ("The Constant")
• Richard's compass is similar to the one that Locke appears to have claimed in his childhood. ("Cabin Fever")

Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Because You Left/Theories

• Why did Richard Alpert and the rest of the Others not move through time like Sawyer, Juliet, Faraday, and the rest?
• Why does Richard tell Locke that in order for the Oceanic 6 to return to the island he has to die?
• Who is Daniel's mother and why does Desmond need to find her?
• Why do the rules of time not apply to Desmond?
• Who hired Dan Norton?
• Is Claire moving through time with the rest of the Oceanic 815 survivors, and if not, why?
• Was Pierre Chang's baby born on the island? If so, how?
• Who are the men that are trying to assault Sayid and/or Hurley?
• Why did it take Daniel two hours to get back to the beach after talking with Desmond?
• Who were the men trying to kill Juliet and Sawyer?
• How did Daniel end up working for DHARMA?
• Why don't Walt or Jin have to come back to the island?
• Does Ethan remember Locke from their encounter by the smuggler's plane?
• Why doesn't Desmond remember Daniel from their 1996 meeting?
• Why does Sayid instructs Hurley not to trust Ben when he spent the last years working for him?
• Where did the Island go? if it's just people traveling in time as Daniel says, and the O6 saw the Island disappear, then where is it?

External links

• ABC Medianet Press Release (12/31/08): Press release