A Tale of Two Cities (Lost)

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“A Tale of Two Cities”
Lost episode
Flight 815 as it crumbles out of the sky.
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 1
Guest stars	John Terry (Christian Shephard), Julie Bowen (Sarah), M. C. Gainey (Tom), William Mapother (Ethan), Brett Cullen (Goodwin), Blake Bashoff (Karl), Julie Adams (Amelia), Stephen Semel (Adam), Isabelle Cherwin (little girl), Alexandra Morgan (moderator), Sonya Seng (receptionist), Sally Davis (teacher), Julie Ow (nurse)
Written by	Story by Damon Lindelof, Teleplay by J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof
Directed by	Jack Bender
Production no.	301
Original airdate	October 4, 2006
Episode chronology
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"Live Together, Die Alone"	"The Glass Ballerina"
List of Lost episodes

"A Tale of Two Cities" is the season premiere of the third season of Lost. It aired on October 4, 2006 on US television, making it the 48th episode of the series. The episode was written by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, based on a story by Lindelof and directed by Jack Bender. The character of Jack Shephard is featured in the episode's flashbacks.^[1]

[edit] Plot summary

Jack, Kate and Sawyer begin to discover what they are up against as prisoners of "The Others."

The Others' village

The episode begins with a new character, Juliet, preparing for a book club meeting in a modern suburban home, but things are going wrong. She cries as she listens to a CD recording of Petula Clark's "Downtown," and she burns her hand as she tries to grab burning muffins out of the oven, scattering them on the floor of the kitchen just as the doorbell rings. The club is in the middle of a heated discussion of Stephen King's Carrie^[2], a novel about misfits, bullying and telekinesis, when they are interrupted by what sounds like an earthquake. The group leaves Juliet's house and, looking for the source of the shaking, and "Ben", previously known as "Henry Gale" to the survivors, appears along with Ethan. They all look up to watch Oceanic Flight 815 break apart in mid-air. "Ben" quickly orders Goodwin and Ethan to join the survivors, stay undercover, and provide "lists in three days." The camera zooms out to reveal that the suburb is actually on the Island and is inhabited by The Others.

In his flashback: Jack is going through a divorce from his wife Sarah Shephard. He demands to know who she has been dating, but she refuses to tell him, so he spies on her and steals her cellphone. He proceeds to call every number in her phone, saying he found the phone and is trying to locate the owner when in reality he is obsessed with finding out with whom his wife is having an affair, as she repeatedly refuses to tell him. His father Christian walks into the room, tells Jack to leave it alone, but Jack dials a number and Christian's cell phone rings. Jack then follows Christian to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, accuses him of sleeping with his wife and physically attacks him. After Jack is arrested, Sarah pays his bail, and tells him Christian is no longer sober. She then leaves with an unidentified man, after telling Jack that he can fix his relationship with his father.

Back in the present: Jack wakes up in a cell in the Hydra Station, where Juliet gently interrogates him. At one point Jack attacks her and attempts to escape, holding an improvised weapon at her throat. He orders her to open a door, but she refuses to comply, claiming that doing so would kill them both. Ben appears and Jack says he will kill Juliet if the door is not opened. Ben replies that she would die anyway if it were to be opened. Jack throws Juliet away, and when he opens the door water starts rushing into the hallway (and later Juliet reveals the Hydra station is actually underwater and that sharks or dolphins could be kept). Ben runs away and shuts the door in Juliet's face, leaving her with Jack as the water continues rushing in. Juliet helps Jack struggle into an adjoining room, tells him to push the button which she had previously told him was for emergencies. He does so and she knocks him unconscious, picking him up so he doesn't drown in the water which is now draining from the room. When he awakes, she shows Jack a file which she says (though neither Jack nor the audience sees to confirm this) contains documents about his entire life, including his divorce and his father's autopsy report. Juliet asks Jack if he has any questions about Sarah. He pauses for sometime and then, rather than asking who the other man was, he asks, "Is she happy?" Juliet replies yes, very happy.

Kate wakes up on the floor of a locker room. Tom tells her to shower and put on a dress, after which she is led to an elegant breakfast on the beach with Ben, who tells her to put on handcuffs before she can eat. She asks him why he is doing this, and he tells her that he wanted to give her something pleasant to remember, as the next two weeks will be "very unpleasant."

Fish biscuit

Sawyer wakes up in a cage in the jungle near the Hydra station. A teenager, Karl, in a nearby cage initially ignores Sawyer but then later expresses interest in Sawyer's camp and unlocks his cage then Sawyer's. However, they are both caught and Tom makes Karl, who is now beat up and bloody, apologize to Sawyer before taking the teen away. Sawyer figures out the mechanical puzzle in his cage, receiving a fish biscuit, a pile of peanuts and water, though Tom says it "only took the bears two hours." Kate is then put in Karl’s (now empty) cage and Tom promises to bring antiseptic for her arms which appear to have been somewhat badly abraded by the cuffs or perhaps somehow else damaged. Sawyer asks her if she is hungry and tosses her the biscuit.

[edit] Trivia

• This is the first episode that J.J. Abrams has been directly involved in since the show's first season.
• Locke gives Ben (as the fictitious Henry Gale) a copy of the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel The Brothers Karamazov to read, prompting Ben to ask Locke if he has any Stephen King instead, in Maternity Leave (Season 2). Chronologically, this event follows the reading of King's "Carrie" in the Others' book club.
• The CD that Juliet is listening to is not in its original case. It is in the case for the Talking Heads album, Speaking In Tongues.
• Charles Dickens has been mentioned in the show many times, especially by Desmond, a particular devotee of his work. The name of this episode is derived from Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities.
• Although credited, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), and Terry O'Quinn (Locke) do not appear in this episode.

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A Tale Of Two Cities (Lost)

[edit] References

1. ^ TV Guide, October 2-8, 2006, Vol. 54 No. 40, p. 24
2. ^ Screenshot composite linked from the Fuselage on October 4, 2006