The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party
Season	2
Episode	11
Airdate	January 18, 2006
Flashback	Jack Shephard
Days	51
Writer	Elizabeth Sarnoff Christina M. Kim
Director	Stephen Williams
Guests	John Terry - Christian Shephard Julie Bowen - Sarah Monica Dean - Gabriela Busoni Ronald Guttman - Angelo Busoni M.C. Gainey - Mr. Friendly
Transcript	S2E11 - The Hunting Party Transcript

"The Hunting Party" is the eleventh episode of Season 2 of Lost. Jack faces tension as he wakes to find a gun-toting Michael, who leaves to find Walt. With the help of Locke and Sawyer, Jack heads out to bring Michael back before he gets killed by the Others.

Synopsis

Flashbacks

Jack and his father Christian diagnose an elderly man with a spinal tumor and determine that he's not a candidate for surgery. But the man and his daughter reveal that they specifically sought out Jack: they know about his accomplishments with Jack's wife Sarah - how he enabled her to walk after her spine was crushed in a car accident - and they're looking for a miracle. Much to his father's dismay, Jack agrees to perform the surgery.

Jack and the man's daughter, Gabriela, form a connection - a dangerous one, according to Christian, who warns Jack to keep his distance. But Jack is spending nights and weekends at the hospital, working overtime, while Gabriela is there at her father's side through a myriad of tests and pre-surgical procedures. And this is causing disharmony at home - Jack and Sarah's marriage is paying the price because Jack is considered a "miracle worker." She tells Jack that the pregnancy test she took was negative. He asks if she wants to talk about it, but she refuses. She calims she has papers to grade, and leaves the room.

After seven and a half hours of surgery, Jack loses his patient on the operating table. Christian blames the man's age and weakened heart, but Jack blames himself, frustrated at his inability to save him. Jack leaves the hospital and finds a distraught Gabriela in tears, waiting in the parking lot. And in a moment of grief and weakness, they share a kiss. But Jack pulls away and tells Gabriela that he can't. He returns home to Sarah and comes clean about the encounter. He vows that things will be different; that he's going to put more effort into their marriage; that he's going to fix it. But Sarah feels that Jack will always need something to fix and reveals some news of her own that leaves Jack reeling. Sarah informs Jack that she is leaving him and that she has been having an affair for some time. Jack lets her leave without much of a fight.

Realtime events

Jack wakes up at the hatch to find an unconscious Locke, lying on the floor in the armory. Behind him Michael shows up with a gun, aiming to Jack's body. He tells him he is going for a journey after his son, because this is his right, his father right. Jack offers help, saying that he will join his journey, but Michael says he has to do it alone, and locks both of them in.

When Locke finally wakes up, Jack tells him what happened. Locke confesses and says he gave him a gun for shooting practice. Back at the beach, Kate wakes Sawyer up (throwing a banana at him, claiming she did not find a rock), telling him that Jack needs to change his bandages. They enter the hatch, and discover that Locke and Jack are locked up in the armory. While Kate enters the numbers to the computer and pushes the button, Sawyer opens the armory door, finding Jack and Locke collecting guns for their mission to try and save Michael. Sawyer decides to join them, claiming that he needs his doctor around him. Kate also wants to join, but Jack refuses, because someone has to be there to take care of the button. The Hunting Party leaves, without Kate.

On their way across the island, Sawyer asks Jack why he did not let Kate join them. Jack responds quietly and says he knows Sawyer loves her. Locke figures out that Michael is not going back from where the Tailies came. Back at camp, Hurley tells Sun (that translates to Jin) that Michael took off, stole some guns and "went all commando". Jin begins to pack, hoping he could catch up with the Hunting Party, but Sun stops him. He tells her Michael is his friend, and Sun responds that she is his wife.

The Hunting Party

Back on the trek, Jack and Locke discuss the question who are they to tell anyone what they can or can’t do, and what will Jack do once they caught up with Michael. The three of them climb a mountain in the jungle, while Locke and Sawyer discuss the meaning of Sawyer's nickname. Locke says he knows his real name is James Ford, and asks who did he get if from. Sawyer asks "Who says I got it from anybody?", when seven gun fires are heard from the distance. They run towards the sounds, hoping to find Michael alive. Locke finds a mark on a tree, where a bullet grazed it. They also find three of Michael's shell casings. Sawyer encourages them to keep going, and Jack asks him if he is out here for Michael or for "pay back for getting shot?". Sawyer asks Jack the same question, which he does not answer.

At night, the three of them argue after Locke loses Michael's trek. Their disagreement is interrupted by a familiar face out in the middle of the jungle, who apparently knows their names. Sawyer recognizes him as "the son of a bitch that shot me on the raft" and tries to shoot him, but a bullet from the bushes is grazing Sawyer's ear with a bullet. Jack asks where Michael is, but Mr. Friendly responds that Michael is not going to find them, and asks from John to build them a fire.

Back at the Swan, Charlie and Hurley listen to and old music, of a band called "Geronimo Jackson". They discuss whether Claire misses Charlie, and whether Hurley has a chance with Libby. Sayid shows up, asking where Jack and Locke are. Hurley and Charlie update him and tell him about Michael's quest, and that everyone went after him - Jack, Locke, Sawyer - and Kate.

Back at the jungle, Mr Friendly says that Walt is fine, and he's a very special boy. He castigate them for walking into someone's kitchen, eating food that is not theirs, opening doors to room they got no business opening. He also quotes "somebody a whole lot smarter than anybody here", saying that "dawn of our species man's been blessed with curiosity." Jack says he doesn't believe him, and brings up the theory that Ethan was sent as a spy. Friendly says that it's an interesting theory, and shouts "Light 'em up!" In a moment, a ring of touches lights up, and the Hunting Party discovers they are surrounded.

Kate is taken hostage.

Friendly warns the four of them that right there, there is a line, and they are not allowed to cross it. If they would, they would go from "misunderstanding" to "something else". He also says that the island is theirs, and the survivors still live on it because They let them live on it. He calls an Other named Alex to bring "her" out. A head-bagged Kate is handed to Friendly, that makes the Hunting Party to give up all of their guns to Kate could go free. The Others disappear, and the four castaways return to camp without accomplishing anything.

On the trek home, Jack isn't happy that Kate took it upon herself to follow them out there and put herself in harm's way. Though she tries to apologize, he shuts her down and gives her the cold shoulder. On the beach, he turns to Ana Lucia, and says he heard she was a cop, and that she killed one of Them. When she verifies these facts, Jack asks her how long it would take to build an army.

Trivia

• When The Hunting party go off to find Michael all (With the exception of Kate whom wasn't meant to go) of their names start with the letter "J", Jack Shephard , James "Sawyer" Ford, and John Locke
• Tom a.k.a. Mr. Friendly says "don't take your shoes off". Locke did take his shoes off when he first got into the hatch, but Jack did not.
• Tom also said to Jack: "A smarter man than anyone on this island once said 'From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity.' " This is the first half of a quote from Alvar Hanso in his 1967 address to the United Nations Security Council (as shown on the Hanso Foundation website)
• The Italian guys have a strong American accent when they speak in Italian.

Here is the full transcription of dialogues in Italian:

Father: "Digli di smettere di bisbigliare, non sono un idiota!" - Tell them to stop whispering, I am not an idiot!

Daughter: "Papà lui è come gli altri, non lo farà." - Dad, he's just like the others: he won't do it.

Father: "Non ci proverà? Perchè?" - Won't he try? Why?

Father: "Signore, non sono venuto fino a qui per lei, sono venuto qui per suo figlio." - Sir, I didn't come here for you, I came for your son.

Father: "La ringrazio tantissimo!" - Thank you very much.

Goofs

• In the flashbacks, Jack stares for a moment at the x-rays behind him. In the corner of the X-rays there is the date '16 Nov 2005'. This would suggest that the flashbacks may be slight visions of the future or another continuity error.