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"Man of Science, Man of Faith" is the Season 2 premiere of Lost, and the twenty-sixth produced hour of the series as a whole. With the hatch now open, Kate and Locke ignore Jack's warnings and venture down the shaft without him.
With 23.47 million viewers during its initial airing, this is the most-watched episode of the show.
Synopsis[]
Previously on Lost[]
- Danielle Rousseau enters the beach camp and warns the survivors that the Others are coming. Jack and Locke make a plan to blow open hatch with some dynamite. ("Exodus, Part 1")
- Just as the Hatch is about to blow, Hurley notices the Numbers inscribed on the side of the hatch and frantically warns Locke to stop. Locke ignores him and lights the fuse. ("Exodus, Part 2")
Flashback[]
Early in the morning at St. Sebastian Hospital, two victims of a car accident are brought in. The female victim, Sarah, is first pushed through the ER on a stretcher with a piece of steering column sticking out of her chest. Jack walks in as the surgery immediately turns to action. The paramedic informs Jack what had happened: "Tire blew, car jumped the divider, went head-on with an SUV." As Jack asks where the driver of the SUV is, a second stretcher containing Adam Rutherford is steered into the ER. Jack has to make a decision, whether to operate on Adam or the woman. Jack focuses his attention on the woman and as he saves her life, Adam dies on the table with the time of death at 8:15 AM. The woman is saved, and after Jack is about to leave the ER she mumbles. The interns question what she said and Jack says, "She said 'she has to dance at her wedding.'" Jack leaves and the woman continues to mumble the same words. ♪
Later, when Jack returns to check up on Sarah, she asks the fate of the man she hit, and Jack tells her that he died in the ER. Sarah begins to cry. She is confused as to why she can't feel anything, Jack tells Sarah the probability of her regaining her ability to walk is extremely unlikely. Christian Shephard interrupts the two and calls his son over to have a word with him. Christian chastises Jack's inability to give hope to people, saying, "People are more inclined to hear that one percent chance that everything is okay." Jack tells his father that to tell Sarah anything different would be giving her false hope.
Jack has a word with Sarah's fiance, Kevin, and they discuss her future. Jack says Sarah may need professional care for the rest of her life, but Kevin is focused on whether they will be able to make love.
Jack is getting prepped for Sarah's surgery when she calls him over and tells him she knows she will never dance again. She jokingly reassures Jack that she may be able to roll around instead and invites Jack to her wedding. Jack is taken aback by the sudden invite and tells Sarah that he is going to fix her.
After the surgery, Jack takes a jog in a stadium. He notices another man who is jogging up the staircase next to him. Jack races to catch up to him but rolls his ankle and falls. The man comes to Jack's aid and introduces himself as Desmond. After taking a look at Jack's ankle, Desmond reveals that he was almost a doctor. After Desmond asks why Jack was "running like the devil was chasing him," he discusses Sarah's procedure and how he made a promise he couldn't keep. Desmond wonders out loud whether he actually did save her, but Jack tells him it would be a miracle. Desmond leaves with a final bit of advice: "lift it up" (referring to Jack's ankle).
Early the next morning, Jack is sitting next to the sleeping Sarah. She wakes and asks whether she is alive or not. The two have a brief conversation which then leads to Jack delivering the devastating news: he wasn't able to fix her. Sarah asks if Jack is "yanking her chain" and asks why she can wiggle her toes. Jack tests her legs and feet and asks if she can feel it. Jack and Sarah become very emotional when they realize a "miracle" has happened and she will recover. ♪
On the Island[]
A man rises from a bunk bed and enters the Numbers into an Apple II computer. He gets dressed and begins his day as the camera moves about the surrounding rooms, which contain an assortment of objects dating from the 1960s to the present. He puts on some music, begins an exercise routine, has a shower, makes himself some breakfast, and injects himself with something from one of the shelves. He is suddenly interrupted by what seems to be an explosion and his whole home shakes, stopping the record player.
The man rushes to arm himself and uses some kind of security system made up of a series of mirrors to look down a hallway. As his gaze reaches further and further through the complex, it continues up a shaft that reaches high up, and eventually to the faces of Jack and Locke. ♪ They are peering down, sitting around the now-open hatch. ♪♪
Jack expresses reservations about entering the shaft, noting that they should wait for the sun to come up before anything is done. Locke, on the other hand, feels that their entry should not be delayed, even after Kate points out that the back of the Hatch door reads "QUARANTINE." At the same time, at the caves, Shannon and Sayid search the jungle for Vincent, who has run off. The pair find the dog in a clearing and attempt to catch him, but he runs off again. The two are separated and while alone, Shannon hears the whispers of the jungle. Walt appears; dripping wet and speaking backwards he says, "Don't push the button. Button bad." When Sayid returns, he finds Shannon on the ground, but Walt has disappeared.
Kate disappears into a bright light.
During the walk back from the Hatch, Hurley shares with Jack his story about the Numbers inscribed on the outside of the Hatch, but is disappointed by Jack's response. Upon reaching the caves, Jack explains the situation to the survivors, promising them they will be all right, as long as they stay together. No sooner does Jack finish this speech than Locke appears, carrying cable and saying he is going into the Hatch. Soon after, Kate follows behind him. While Locke is easing her down the shaft, Kate realizes there is something in the Hatch, and Kate mysteriously disappears when there is a sudden burst of light from within the Hatch. ♪
Back at the caves, Jack arms himself, deciding that he is going after Kate and Locke. At the Hatch, he finds no one there. ♪ He rappels down the shaft and finds a maze of passageways. He comes across a colorful mural painted on the wall featuring the Numbers, including their sum, 108, prominently in the center of a sun. He also discovers a spot where the key to the Halliburton case he carries around his neck is pulled up, attracted by a strong magnetic force. ♪ Finally, after being surprised by a bright light and loud music, he enters what appears to be an underground geodesic dome. ♪ It contains an array of computer equipment from various decades, including an Apple II computer, its prompt glowing. As Jack is about to use it, Locke appears and tells him not to touch it. Jack raises the gun and asks, "Where's Kate?" Locke does not answer, as the resident of the Hatch has a gun pointed at Locke's head.
Locke tells Jack to put the gun down. The gunman threatens to shoot Locke if Jack doesn't surrender. Jack refuses, instead taunting Locke about his destiny. Finally, the gunman steps out, and Jack recognizes him and says a single word: "You..." ♪
It's Desmond.
Trivia[]
- During the opening scene, Jack and Locke can be seen in the lens of the telescopes and in the reflection of the mirror before the big reveal of the camera panning up toward them.
- Kate can be faintly heard yelling for Jack over the music, as is later shown in "Adrift".
- Adam Rutherford, the driver of the SUV, who hit Sarah's car, is actually Shannon's father, as is later shown in "Abandoned".
- This is the second Jack-centric episode (featuring Sarah) in which one of Shannon's relatives is killed. In "Do No Harm", Boone dies on the Island; in this episode, Adam Rutherford dies in flashback.
- This Episode was rated TV-14.
Production notes[]
- This is the only season premiere of the series not to include Sawyer.
- This is the first episode of the show to not feature Sawyer or Michael.
- Michelle Rodriguez joins the cast as a regular in this episode as Ana Lucia, although she doesn't appear until "Adrift".
- This is the first appearance of Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond).
- Malcolm David Kelley's name is restored to the main credits for his guest appearances this season as Walt.
- With 23.47 million viewers, this was the highest-rated episode of Lost on ABC. The episode had 14.91 million viewers more than "Dead Is Dead", the lowest-rated episode. (Ratings)
- An audio commentary by Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Bryan Burk, and Jack Bender for this episode is available on the Season 2 DVD.
- The Swan Mural was painted by episode-director Jack Bender.
Deleted scenes[]
- A deleted scene shows Sun talking to Shannon about seeing Walt in the jungle.
- A deleted scene shows Charlie reminding Jack that Kate may have wanted him to tell her not to go into the jungle to Locke.
Bloopers and continuity errors[]
- The set dressing of the Swan is somewhat different between the opening scene of this episode and subsequent appearances. This included things such as the computer being next to the bed, the type and placement of lamps, the style of record player and arrangement of records and the relative cleanliness of the living quarters. These discrepancies led some fans to conclude there were two separate timelines. In reality, the producers simply decided to dress The Swan differently between its first appearance and subsequent ones.
- Desmond types in spaces between the Numbers using the space bar at the beginning of this episode, but in the next episode when he directs Locke to enter the Numbers, there is no space bar used (the computer automatically puts them in).
- While Charlie is telling some survivors that nobody is coming to get them, one of the survivors looks briefly at the camera.
- When Kate is getting ready to go down the hatch she steps onto the top rung with both feet. Then the camera changes to from inside the hatch and she A) hasn't stepped her left foot in yet and B) steps to the next rung with her left foot.
- A wall clock is visible in the hospital scene in which Sarah wakes up and talks to Jack. The seconds hand is not moving, stopping the clock permanently at about 6:12 and 17 seconds.
- When Jack is giving the speech to the survivors in the cave, he says they still have four guns. This is wrong, as they have five. There was a total of six guns: one from the marshal's ankle holster, four inside the Halliburton case, and one found on Goldie's corpse. Sawyer was given one gun to take onto the raft, but that would still leave five with the survivors.
Music[]
The opening song, "Make Your Own Kind of Music" plays in several subsequent episodes. The cue that plays right after appears on the Season 2 soundtrack as "Peace Through Superior Firepower". Later parts of the episode introduce a theme for the Swan station and a love theme that initially characterizes Jack and Sarah's relationship
In addition, a new unnamed musical cue that signifies characters entering the Swan Station plays during Locke's reveal of his decision to leave the caves and go to the station, and Kate's descent down the shaft. The motif shares similarities with "Flash Forward Flashback", notably in the first note of both cues.
Analysis[]
Recurring themes[]
| Recurring themes |
|---|
| Animals • Black and white • Character connections • Children • Coincidence • Death • Deceptions and cons • Dreams • Economics • Electromagnetism • Eyes • Fate versus free will • Games • Good and bad people • Imprisonment • Isolation • Leadership • Life and death • Literary works • Mirrors • Missing body parts • Nicknames • The Numbers • Pairings • Parapsychology • Parent issues • Pregnancies • Psychology • Rain • Redemption • Relationships • Religion • Revenge • Salvation • Secrets |
- The episode opens with a close-up of Desmond's eye. (Eyes)
- Adam Rutherford is pronounced dead at 8:15 AM. (The Numbers) (Life and death)
- Adam Rutherford is Shannon's father. (Character connections)
- Shannon sees Walt in the jungle, dripping wet and speaking backwards. (Dreams and visions) (Children)
- Hurley confesses to Jack that he thinks the Numbers are cursed. He also tells him that he was once in a psych ward. (Secrets) (The Numbers)
- Jack mentions that there are still 4 guns left (1 being with the raft crew). (The Numbers)
- Kevin and Sarah's wedding was to occur 8 months after the car accident. (The Numbers)
- When Kate is descending the hatch, she starts counting to five, to overcome her fear, and stops at 4. (The Numbers)
- Jack and Desmond share a tour de stade at a stadium. (Character connections)
- Jack attempts to save Sarah, but doesn't believe he succeeded. She miraculously recovers nonetheless. (Miracles) (Salvation)
- The song "Make Your Own Kind of Music" plays for (1:08) before the record player is stopped by the explosion. (The Numbers)
- The Numbers (as well as their sum, 108), are visible on the Swan mural. (The Numbers)
- Desmond is riding his stationary bike at a rate of 16 mph. (The Numbers)
- The mixer flask Desmond is holding contains about 15 to 16 cubic centimeters of juice. (The Numbers)
- The shower head in the Swan station has 42 holes. (The Numbers)
- In the beginning of Jack's last flashback, he is sitting next to a machine with the number 8 on it. (The Numbers)
- The huge electromagnetic force in the Hatch is introduced when the key around Jack's neck is pulled toward it. (Electromagnetism)
- Jack mocks Locke by telling him it was their destiny to open the hatch. (Fate versus free will)
Cultural references[]
| Cultural references (direct references only) |
|---|
| Art • Automobiles • Games • History • Literary works • Movies and TV • Music • Philosophy • Religion and ideologies • Science |
- "Make Your Own Kind of Music": This song by Mama Cass Elliot is played on the record player by Desmond when he starts his day in the Swan bunker. (Music)
- The Internationale: "We'll live together or we'll die alone" is a line from the English-language (Billy Bragg) version of this famous socialist, anarchist, communist, and social democratic anthem. (Music) (History)
Literary techniques[]
| Literary techniques |
|---|
| Comparative: Irony • Juxtaposition • Foreshadowing Plotting: Cliffhanger • Plot twist Stock characters: Archetype • Redshirt • Unseen character Story: Flashbacks • Flash-forwards • Flash sideways • Framing device • Regularly spoken phrases • Symbolism • Unreliable narrator |
- A man named Desmond was revealed to be living in the Hatch. The episode opening suggested that the events shown (Desmond in the Hatch) were occurring off the Island, possibly in the recent past. (Plot twist)
- Off the Island, Christian tells Jack to "try handing out some hope once and a while." On the Island, Jack makes a speech to the survivors at the caves in order to give them hope. (Juxtaposition)
- Jack's inability to just "let it go" and his urge to "fix" things is established. (Foreshadowing) (Regularly Spoken Phrases)
- At the end of his conversation with Jack, Desmond says, "See you in another life, yeah?" (Regularly Spoken Phrases) (Foreshadowing)
- The episode ends with a man holding a gun to Locke's head in the hatch. Jack recognises the man. (Cliffhanger) (Plot twist)
- Kate remarks to Jack that Locke could break his back if he fell down into the hatch. Jack is a spinal surgeon. (Foreshadowing) (Irony)
Storyline analysis[]
| Storyline analysis |
|---|
| A-Missions • Crimes • Economics • Leadership • O-Missions • Relationships • F-Missions • Rivalries • S-Missions |
- Jack and Locke's rivalry continues with Locke wanting to enter the hatch and Jack disagreeing. (Rivalries)
- Jack reasserts his leadership over the Losties when he returns from the hatch, telling them everything's going to be alright. (Leadership)
- Locke enters the hatch to explore it, and Jack follows shortly after. (A-Missions)
Episode connections[]
Episode references[]
- Hurley tells Jack how he won the lottery. ("Numbers")
- Hurley also mentions to Jack that his business was hit by a meteor (he corrects himself, saying meteorite). This fact would be verified later. ("Tricia Tanaka Is Dead")
- Jack's operation on Sarah is shown. ("Do No Harm")
- The detonation of the dynamite on the hatch door is shown from Desmond's perspective. ("Exodus, Part 2")
- During Jack's flashback in the stadium, Desmond tells him to "lift it up." While this is initially a suggestion for Jack's ankle, it is also a foreshadow for the series finale ("The End"), where the stone "cork" must be lifted to take away the Man in Black's power. Interestingly, it is ultimately Desmond who lifts the stone from the Source's center, and Jack who replaces it.
Episode allusions[]
- Kate conquers her fear by counting to five when descending down the hatch. ("Pilot, Part 1")
Unanswered questions[]
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
|
- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Man of Science, Man of Faith/Theories
- How is Walt able to appear to Shannon?
