Lockdown

"Lockdown"
Season	2
Episode number	17
Airdate(s)	29 March 2006
Flashback	Locke
Days	61
Writer	Carlton Cuse Damon Lindelof
Director	Stephen Williams
Guests	Michael Emerson - Henry Gale Kevin Tighe - Anthony Cooper Andrea Gabriel - Nadia and Katey Sagal - Helen
Co-stars	Geoffrey Rivas - Father Chuck Theo Coumbis - Jimmy Bane
Transcript	S2E17 - Lockdown Transcript

Lockdown directs here, the name of the episode. For the event that occurred during this episode, please see lockdown incident.

"Lockdown" is the seventeenth episode of Season 2 of Lost and the 41st episode of the series as a whole. Locke finds himself trapped in the Swan during a resupply lockdown, forcing him to rely on Henry Gale for help. Out in the jungle, Ana Lucia, Sayid, and Charlie search for the balloon which would prove Henry's alibi.

Synopsis

Flashback

Locke and Helen now live together, and Locke prepares for a special picnic during which he is going to propose to Helen. While reading the newspaper, Helen sees the obits, and finds out that Locke's father has died.

At his father's funeral service, which Father Chuck delivers, Locke says to his father's coffin that he forgives him. Two men are watching the funeral from a distance; Locke notices a white car nearby that leaves as the funeral ends.

Nadia talking to Locke after his inspection

At this time, Locke has opened his own business, called "Welcome Home", where he works as a house inspector. He checks the house of a young woman and tells her that her husband will be happy. She corrects him and says she does not have a husband. As he is about to get into his car, the white car from the funeral stops beside him. Inside is Anthony Cooper. Cooper reveals to Locke that he faked his own death to hide from a couple of men he stole $700,000 from in a retirement con. He tells Locke that he's setting up a new identity, but that he's afraid he's being watched. He offers Locke a cut of the money if he withdraws it from a safety deposit box in the bank for him.

Jimmy Bane talks to Locke in his house

Though Locke refuses to be conned again, he is still swayed by a desire to win his father's love, so he goes through with it. He withdraws the money from the safety deposit box #1516. When he gets home, he finds out that Helen let in the two men he saw during Cooper's funeral -- his father's pursuers.

Locke and Helen, after she turns down his proposal

One of them, Jimmy Bane, asks Locke if he has seen his dad since his "death." When Locke lies and says he did not, Bane asks Locke's permission to check his bag. The only thing he finds is Locke's paperwork. Helen asks if John lied to these men, and Locke says he did not.

Locke brings the money to his father who waits at a local motel. Cooper offers Locke his part of the money, but Locke refuses. Cooper is leaving but suddenly Helen stands in the door way. She asks "Are you him?", and slaps him. Locke follows her outside and apologizes, but Helen does not forgive him. She refuses his proposal and leaves. His dad also leaves with his cab, and Locke is left shattered and alone, right when an Oceanic airplane flies over.

On the Island

After Henry's speech about what he would do if he was an Other, Jack commands Locke to put him back in the armory. Henry makes a comment about Jack’s behavior towards Locke -- "Why do you let him talk to you like that?" -- which makes Locke angrier than before. He throws Henry back to the armory, and orders him to shut up.

Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie looking up at the hanging balloon

In the jungle, the search party consisting of Ana Lucia, Charlie, and Sayid cannot find Henry’s balloon. Sayid confronts Ana and tells her that by believing Henry's claims she gave him two more days to plot his escape. Suddenly, Charlie calls out to them, and shows them Jennifer's grave. Ana wonders why it isn't raining in this area, and as they look up, they see Henry's balloon, just like he described.

Back at the Hatch, while working out, Locke starts to hear distorted noises from the speakers. Both Locke and Henry are intrigued by this noise, which turns out to be a countdown. As the woman's voice reaches zero, a lockdown process occurs in the Hatch, causing the blast doors to drop, locking Locke inside the living area. Just before the final blast door comes down, Locke manages to put a large pry bar under it. He decides to enlist Henry's help to get out of there, so that he can enter the Numbers and push the button on time. He makes a deal with him that he won't let anyone hurt him.

Hurley, Kate and Sawyer inviting Jack to play a hand of poker

Meanwhile at camp, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate play Texas Hold 'em for fun. Jack arrives, and displays a great knowledge of poker. Sawyer invites Jack to "put your mangos where your mouth is", and Jack agrees to play.

Locke's legs are crushed underneath the door

In the Hatch, the lights start to flicker. With great effort, Locke and Henry use the bar from the barbell set to raise the blast door, and once they've raised it about a foot, they prop it open with a metal toolbox. Locke tries to slide under the door, but the toolbox gives way, and Locke's legs are crushed underneath the door. Henry puts several weights from the barbell set under the blast door to stop it from further crushing John's legs. Locke then tells Henry that he has to crawl through the vents to get to the computer room, and then enter the numbers. Henry tries to climb the metal sehlving to reach the vent but falls, knocking himself unconscious. The alarm starts beeping.

Back in the poker game, Jack wins all of Sawyer's fruits. Sawyer says he wants his fruits back, and Jack suggests they play for the meds that Sawyer stole from the Hatch. Sawyer agrees. During the game, it is revealed that Sawyer has been to Tallahassee, and that something was burning, hence his knowledge to what certain medicine does. Finally, Sawyer loses the meds too. At the end of the game, Sawyer asks Jack why he did not ask for the guns along with the meds. Jack responds, "When I need the guns, I'll get the guns." With a strange look in his eye, Jack leaves, and Sawyer is somewhat shocked at this.

The blast door map

In the Hatch, Henry wakes up and goes into the vents. Locke hears the alarm that tells him only a minute is left. As Locke shouts to Henry, the alarm suddenly stops, the lights turn off, and hidden black lights turn on as we hear in the background the sound of the numbers flapping back the 108:00 position. On the blast door that crushed his legs, a hidden map appears. Locke stares at it, trying to remember every detail. The lights suddenly go on, and the blast doors go up. Locke barely manages to crawl into the computer room, but Henry is not here. He is behind Locke. Locke thanks him for not leaving him alone.

Jack and Kate discover the supplies

In the jungle, Jack heads to the Hatch and Kate catches up with him. She says she's happy he won in his poker game against Sawyer. She asks him if she can borrow some soap to take a shower, but Jack tells her a pipe is busted and that the water has been running muddy. Jack says he would like to accompany Kate back to the beach. Suddenly, they both see a light flickering beneath the trees. They discover that the source is a light beacon on a large pallet that was apparently airdropped. Inside the packaging they find a large supply of food marked with DHARMA labels. Charlie, Sayid, and Ana Lucia return from their journey. Jack asks what they found, and Sayid is about to tell.

Henry Gale's driver's license

In the Hatch, Henry takes care of Locke's wound. Locke asks what Henry did to make the doors come up. Henry responds that he punched in the numbers and hit "execute", but nothing happened except the timer ticking back to 108. The lights went out when Henry was in the vents already, and ten seconds later, the doors came up. He didn't do anything. Suddenly, Jack, Kate, and the search party enter the Hatch, and Sayid points his gun at Henry, while Jack pushes him against the wall. Henry asks if they have found his balloon and Sayid says they did, exactly as he described it. But still Sayid did not believe him, so he dug up the grave. Inside, he found not a woman, but a man. He shows him a driver's license of a black man -- a man named Henry Gale.

Trivia

General

• Nadia's home is inspected by Locke.
• Two Oceanic Airlines Planes are seen over the motel when Locke drops off the money.
• DHARMA Initiative playing cards are used to play poker on the beach.

Production notes

• A deleted scene from this episode shows Locke and Helen planning Anthony's funeral. When asked what Anthony's life was like by the priest, Locke admits to not knowing anything about his father.
• Eko, Jin, Michael, and Sun do not appear in this episode.

Bloopers and continuity errors

• On Henry Gale's license[1], the license number starts with an "M" when it should start with the letter "G" to correlate with the first initial of his last name.
• When Locke is approaching the faulty loudspeaker for the first time, he is on the same level as the speaker. In the next shot Locke needs a chair to reach up to the speaker.

Recurring themes

• Locke is trapped under the blast door. (Imprisonment)
• Sawyer, Kate, Hurley and Jack are playing Texas Hold ‘em poker. (Games)
• While Sawyer, Kate and Hurley are playing, five cards are seen on the table: 3, 6, 4, 8 and J. (The Numbers)
• Sawyer attempts to cheat by dealing from the bottom of the deck. (Deceptions and cons)
• After Jack wins all of Sawyer's mangoes, they raise the stakes to the medication that Sawyer stole. (Economics)
• Sawyer calls Hurley Muttonchops. (Nicknames)
• Anthony Cooper fakes his death to hide from the men he stole $700,000 from. (Life and death)  (Deceptions and cons)
• Locke doesn't tell Helen that he met with Cooper. (Secrets)
• Anthony Cooper's safety deposit box was #1516. (The Numbers)
• Cooper suggests that the $200,000 is the "best he can do" for what he did to Locke. (Redemption)  (Parent issues)
• Locke surveys a house for Sayid's former lover, Nadia. (Character connections)
• When Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie find Henry 's balloon, it starts to rain very heavily. (Rain)
• Henry Gale's driver license lists his address as 815 Walnut Ridge Road. (The Numbers)
• Many of the Numbers appear on the blast door map. (The Numbers)
• The blast door map is shown reflected in Locke's eyes. (Eyes)
• While Locke is trapped under the blast door, he repeatedly insists that they are running out of time for Ben to enter the numbers. (Time)
• Henry Gale is not who he says he is. (Deceptions and cons)

Cultural references

• Amarillo Slim: Sawyer nicknamed Jack after this professional gambler, famous for his poker skills and proposition bets. (Games)  (Nicknames)
• "Compared to What": This song by Les McCann & Eddie Harris is not the version from the album Swiss Movement (contrary to popular belief), but is very close to the version on the Swiss Movement. The version in this episode of Lost has yet to be determined. In the episode the song is playing on the Swan record player while Locke exercises. (Music)
• "I'll Share My World with You". This song George Jones is heard playing in Locke and Helen’s house. (Music)
• Blazing Saddles: Sawyer calls Hurley “Mongo”, after a strong, dumb character from this 1974 movie. (Movies)
• Cool Hand Luke: Sawyer calls Jack “Cool Hand”, after the main character in this 1967 movie, played by Paul Newman. (Movies)
• Cerberus: We learn from the map notes Locke saw on the blast door that the Monster is called Cerberus. In Greek mythology, Cerberus was the three-headed watchdog who guarded the entrance to the lower world Hades. (Religion and ideologies)

Literary techniques

• The title of the episode could be a pun: not only did the Hatch undergo a lockdown, but the blast door held Locke down when he tried to escape, making him a "man down" (injured). (Juxtaposition)
• During the poker game, Jack tells Sawyer he learned to play poker in Phuket, Thailand. Later, in "Stranger in a Strange Land", we know more about Jack's travel to Thailand, although he's not seen playing poker at any moment. (Foreshadowing)
• Locke sees a map on one of the blast doors that shows the location of a ? and several DHARMA stations. (Plot twist)

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: Lockdown/Theories

• Who or what makes the supply drop?
  • How was the supply drop accomplished without anyone noticing it?
  • Why are supplies still being dropped on the Island after the purge?
• What were the loudspeakers trying to say besides counting down?
• Does "Henry" have knowledge of what the button did, or what was behind the wall?
• Did "Henry" kill the original Henry Gale?
• Who buried the original Henry Gale?
• Did "Henry" cause the lockdown? Did he do something after he left John to end the lockdown?