This episode was apparently supposed to air before 316. It begins with Cesar searching in the Dharma station on Hydra island. He finds Daniel’s notes. This is crucially important, as it explains how the Others knew details about when the plane would come, and thus built a runway. Daniel eventually met up with those who returned on Ajira 316, and wrote it down.
Then we learn that John Locke is on the island, alive.
Then the story goes back to when he left the island, and woke up in the desert in Tunisia, his leg badly broken. Men speaking Arabic come and get him and take him to a hospital. Matthew Abaddon is there. They set his leg. When he wakes up, Widmore and Locke talk. He says he met him when he was 17, yet here he is, looking exactly the same. He asks him how long it has been for him since they first met. He says four days.
Widmore says that he was exiled by Ben. Locke says that he left willingly. Widmore tells John that his friends have been back for three years. Widmore offers to help him bring his friends back. He says that there is a war coming, and if John is not back on the island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.
Widmore gives Locke a fake Canadian passport, money, and a phone, as well as a folder with the whereabouts of his people. He has been watching them, because he is concerned about the future of the island. Widmore says that he sent the boat to the island to get rid of Linus, because now it is Locke’s time to lead. When he leaves, Widmore wishes John good luck and godspeed. A wheelchair is provided.
Locke goes to see Sayid in Santo Domingo first, where he is working to build a school for a charity. Sayid says that Ben manipulated him, and asks who is manipulating John. Sayid says that if John changes his mind, he is welcome to come back there and do some real good.
Next in New York, Locke goes to see Walt. Walt had been having dreams about John being on the island, surrounded by people who want to hurt him. He does not ask Walt to return to the island. And we see Ben Linus watching.
Next Locke goes to see Hugo. At first, he assumes John is dead. When he sees Abbadon, he says that he is evil and that John should not be trusting him. Matthew tells John that he helps people get where they need to go, and reminds him of the time when he was an orderly in the hospital, and told John to go on a walkabout, leading him to the island.
Next, John talks to Kate. She says he was desperate to stay on that island because he never loved anyone. He tells her about Helen. He says it didn’t work out, because he was obsessed. Kate says “Look how far you’ve come.” Then we learn that Helen died in 2006 of a brain aneurism. Then Matthew Abbadon is shot, and so John gets in the front seat of the car and drives away, and is in an accident. When he comes to in the hospital, Jack Shephard is his doctor and asks him what he is doing there. Locke says they have to go back. Jack asks him whether he has ever considered the possibility that his delusions of his importance are just that, delusions, and that he is just a lonely old man. Locke tells him that his father, Christian, says hello.
Next we see Locke writing his suicide note, and throwing out the phone that Widmore gave him. He uses an electrical cord to make a noose. He is ready to step off the table, when there is a knock at the door. It is Ben. He says that he is trying to protect him. Ben killed Abbadon. Ben says that Widmore sould have killed him, and was using him to get back to the island. Ben tells him that he is important and asks him to let him help him. Locke says he is a failure. Ben tells him that whatever he said to Jack worked – he booked a ticket to Sydney, returning in the morning. Ben helps Locke down from the table. When Ben gets the last piece of information that he needs – that Eloise Hawking is the one who can get them back to the island – Ben strangles John, then cleaning up and making it look like a suicide. Before leaving, Ben says he will really miss John.
Then back in the present day, Cesar tells John Locke about the people who disappeared, and other people who got hurt, as well as the pilot and a woman who ran off, taking the passenger list. When he sees Ben, he says that he is the man who murdered him.
This is a fascinating episode to re-watch, since it seems on the first viewing to validate Locke’s faith, and yet with hindsight, knowing what follows, we know that it does quite the opposite – that Kate’s words about him were on target, and that his belief in his own self-importance left him open to manipulation. Yet ultimately, Jack will say that Locke was right about a lot, and that Smokey dishonors him by taking on his appearance.
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