THIS PLACE IS DEATH

Or, Well, Well, Well

[Originally Aired February 11, 2009]

Sun sits in her car, watching Ben and the rest at the marina. Her phone rings. It is mom asking where she is, when she'll be home. Mom puts Ji Yeon on and she says to come home soon. Sun hangs up and walks to the group. She pulls a gun. Kate runs to the car to get Aaron. Jack tells her to put down the gun. She aims the gun at Ben. "If it wasn't for you, Jin would still be alive." He tells her he didn't kill Jin. No one killed Jin. "Jin's still alive, and I can prove it." How he knows is beyond me, especially considering that Jin is in 19-fucking-88 at the moment. With Rousseau. Speaking of which... Jin tells Rousseau he wants to find his camp and asks if they saw a helicopter. All the Frenchies can pick up on their radio is some dude spouting off 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 ad infinitum, so they ask Jin to take them to the radio tower. He agrees, since he doesn't know where the fuck he is exactly, but can find his camp from the tower, and then hopefully his wife. They trek through the jungle and Rousseau says her baby is kicking. She asks for water but Nadine, who is carrying the canteen, is missing. Uh oh. Then there's the buzzing and clicking. What is that, they ask Jin. "Monster." They start to argue over who saw Nadine last and where to look for her. Jin tells them all to keep moving. Then the smoke monster growls and Nadine's body drops from a tree. Damn. Rousseau cries and then the monster appears and grabs one of the Frenchies. It starts to drag him away but the rest of the team holds onto him. They are all dragged through the jungle to an ancient looking temple. The temple? The one Ben sent all the Others to? The monster sucks the man into a hole at the temple's base. They all struggle to hold onto his one free arm. Then.... rip! His arm pops off and he's sucked down into the darkness. Damn! They drop the limb in the dirt. Then his voice comes up from the darkness, begging for help. They all head in to save him. Except Jin. Jin tells Rousseau not to go either, being pregnant and all. Then time slips again and Jin is alone. The withered arm is still there, but the temple is otherwise deserted. He heads back toward the beach and finds two dead Frenchies with bullets in them. He hears Rousseau. She's arguing with her lover. Jin on spies them from the bushes. The two point rifles at one another in a standoff. She says to him "You're not Robert, you've changed. That monster changed you." He responds "There is no monster. It's just a security system that guards the temple, that's all." He begs her to lower her rifle. She does and he pulls the trigger. Click. Oops! She shoots him in the face. Damn! Jin yells and she points the rifle at him. "You! You disappeared! Are you sick too? You're a carrier!" She shoots at him but misses. He runs away and time shifts. Still, he hears a gun cock behind him and a voice tells him to turn around slowly. It's Sawyer! Yay! They hug. Sawyer says he thought Jin had died on the boat. Jin says he was in the water when the boat exploded. The rest of Sawyer's group shows up. Jin asks if they know what happened to Sun. Locke says they need to get back to the Orchid to bring her back. At the marina, Ben tells Sun he can take her to someone who can prove Jin is still alive. Who, asks Sun. "The same person that's going to show us how to get back to the Island." Uh oh. Everyone freaks out. Kate says fuck this and leaves. Sayid says fuck this and if I see either of you again I'm kicking your ass. Ben says proof is a short drive away. "We can be there in thirty minutes. You'll have proof. Proof that he's alive. Or you can shoot me and never know." A half hour later they've still not arrived at their destination. Sun asks what the fuck. Ben apparently forgot there's traffic in L.A. Sun says he better not be lying. Jack says if he is he'll shoot him. Ben pulls over the Reincarnation van. "If you had any idea what I've had to do to keep you safe, to keep your friends safe, then you’d never stop thanking me! You want to shoot me, then shoot me. But let's get on with it! What's it going to be?" Sun tells him to drive. In the jungle, Jin asks Locke how he plans to leave the island. He isn't sure yet, but he'll figure it out at the Orchid. Then time shifts again and Charlotte falls down. She moans and writhes and says to Jin "Don't let them bring her back. No matter what, don't let them bring her back! This place is death!" Damn! Then she starts sputtering bullshit like she's a four-year-old. Sawyer says they have to keep moving but Faraday refuses to leave her behind. They agree to move on without Faraday and Charlotte, even though they have no idea when they are. What if the Orchid isn't even there yet? "Look for the well. You’ll find it at the well," says Charlotte. Eventually, like after a commercial break, Locke, Miles, Sawyer, Jin and Juliet find the orchid. Then there's a flash and the Orchid disappears. Shit. Locke turns around and notices and old stone well with a rope dangling down it. "How the hell did Charlotte know this was here?" How indeed? Charlotte tells Faraday she grew up on the island, her parents were in the Dharma Initiative. Then her mom moved back to England told her they were never on an island. That's why she became an anthropologist, and she's been searching for the island ever since. Faraday asks why he's telling her all this. Because, she says, when she was a kid a crazy man told her to never come back here, if she did she would die. "Daniel, I think that man was you." Damn! Charlotte dies. Back at the well, Jin makes Locke promise not to bring Sun back. He says to tell her that he washed up on shore and they buried him. He hands Locke his wedding ring to offer as proof. Locke heads down the rope in the darkness. Then the flashing starts and time is about to skip again. Uh oh, Locke is fucked. So he lets go. He hits the bottom and screams. Up top Sawyer pulls hard on the rope. But it is no good. The well is gone. The rope disappears into the dirt. Damn! He stars digging. Juliet tells him it's no use. Damn! Down below Locke yells up to Sawyer, but there is nothing but rock above him. A bone sticks out of his leg. Damn! Old Man Shephard appears out of the darkness and says hello. "I'm here to help you the rest of the way." He tells Locke he fucked up (big surprise) and says that when he came to the cabin he told Locke to move the island. Not Ben. "But Ben said.." Shephard says "Hey, dumbass, has listening to Ben over done you any fucking good?" He asks if Locke is ready to go. Locke doesn't know what to do once he leaves. "There's a woman living in Los Angeles. Now once you get all your friends together, and it must be all of them, every one who left, and once you've persuaded them to join you, this woman will tell you exactly how to come back. Her name is Eloise Hawking." Locke thought he was supposed to die. "I suppose that's why they call it sacrifice." Shephard tells Locke to drag his self over to the wheel and put it back on it's axis. "All you have to do is give it a little push." Locke crawls around to the wheel. It's not turning. It's clanking about, like it's jammed. Locke nudges it and it starts turning again. Shephard tells him to say hello to his son and then time shifts again. In L.A., Jack, Ben and Sun arrive at a church. Ben hands Sun Jin's wedding ring. She asks how he had it. He got it from Locke, he explains. "I'm sorry I had to bring you here before I gave it to you, Sun. But all those people back on the island, Jin included, need our help. There is a woman in this church and she can tell us how to get back to your husband. But we're running out of time, Sun. So I need you to decide right now. Will you come with me?" Yes, she says. Then Desmond approaches and asks why the fuck they've come to see Faraday's mother. Damn! So, let me get this straight: Eloise Hawking is Faraday's mother? And she's the woman who sent Dez to the island. And is probably the same Ellie that Faraday said looked familiar when he was talking to her. In the Fifties. Damn. (And he named his rat after her! Ha!) Hawking looks around and says she told Ben to get everyone together. This iss all he could do on short notice he says. "I suppose it will have to do for now. Let's get started."