This episode of Lost Again brought to you by Lens Crafters. We promise we won't make you look like a steamrolled Harry Potter.
The episode opens with Locke, the toy store employee, explaining the game of Mousetrap to a child in a flashback. Obviously this is foreshadowing of Locke's coming troubles with his father as well as his ultimate end. But it has to be considered that all the castaways, not just Locke, are mice in a giant island mousetrap. All the pieces that represent the significant moments of their lives have been moved into place leading them to the Island where two cosmic-type figures have been using them for their own ends.
John's daddy issues kick into high gear when he encounters his mother, Emily Locke, at the toy store, and she tells him he was immaculately conceived. Um. Yeah. This peaks Locke's curiosity about his father, so he conducts a search and finds Anthony Cooper. A well-to-do Mr. Cooper welcomes John into his life and bonds with him over some manly hunting. Knowing what we do, Locke would be better off hunting with Dick Cheney! Because Anthony Cooper is a con-man that has failing kidneys. Locke, being a close blood relative, would be the perfect donor. So everything that seems spontaneous and natural to John has been orchestrated by a selfish father who has no interest in being a dad but every interest in avoiding death. After the surgery, Emily confesses the scam to John. A stunned Locke is denied entry at his father's home, solidifying the fact that he has been used in the worst way by someone who should have had his best interest at heart.
On the island, Locke's struggles are centered around the Hatch. He and Boone have tried various ways of opening it to no avail. The deus ex machina comes to him in the form of a dream where he sees Eko's brother's beech craft crash. Some rather jarring images of his mother pointing towards the crash site as well as a bloody Boone chanting "Teresa falls up the stairs, Teresa falls down the stairs" do not frighten Locke as much as the sight of him back in his wheelchair. When he wakes up, his new mission is to find that crash site. Boone follows along despite reservations.
Sawyer's got some problems of his own. His pounding headaches are making him a real treat to be around. Kate takes him to Jack for an exam. Jack makes the most of the situation by asking intensely personal questions about Sawyer's sexual history. Prostitutes, check. STD, check. Any recent outbreaks? That ought to keep the ladies, specifically Kate, off his junk. Nice try Jack! After Jack has his fun, he tells Sawyer that he is simply far sighted and needs glasses. But if he wants to continues his Island Book It program he is going to have to sacrifice some fashion points.
Locke and Boone discover some artifacts and a body from the plane which points them towards the beech craft hanging in the canopy. At this point John has lost the feeling in his legs, and he knows he is being tested. If he fails, the healing gift of the use of his legs will be taken away permanently. Manipulating Locke is so easy. He will avoid being crippled and all the helplessness that is associated with that at all costs. He doesn't know why, but he trusts his vision that the plane is important. And he elects Boone to check it out since he is indisposed at the moment.
Boone reaches the cockpit of the precariously positioned plane and finds the smuggled drugs. When the plane shifts, Locke tells Boone to get out. Besides the fact that there is no discernible need for anything on a heroine smugglers plane, the situation is becoming increasingly more dangerous. Boone spots some communication equipment and decides to give it a try. He announces a mayday into the static and gets a reply from Bernard on the other side of the Island. Unfortunately before either man can make the connection, the plane plummets to the ground crushing Boone in the process. Locke carries him to Jack explaining that he fell from a cliff.
In the confusion that follows, Locke slips away to the Hatch. Pounding on the Hatch in despair, he is inconsolable. He did what the Island wanted, so why was this happening? Inside the Hatch, an equally despondent Desmond hears a commotion from above and turns on a light that illuminates Locke from below giving them both the faith to carry on. Still gives me the chills to watch it.
In other Island developments:
- According to the timeline of when they crashed and the number of days stranded thus far, it's Halloween on Craphole Island! Sawyer is clearly going as Harry Potter. Claire just barely gets to be a pregnant nun. Locke was going to be Mr. Clean, but someone got blood all over his shirt. The nerve!
John Locke the hunter and outdoors man. This is our first impression of Locke in this episode that elevated him into one of the most beloved and mysterious characters on the show. He has always been a person of questionable motives on the Island, and no one can quite figure him out even at this late date. In this first encounter with him, most of the survivors are truly freaked out by him and all his hunting knives. On the heels of an invasion of the fuselage by wild boar, Locke steps into prominence by offering his services as a hunter to help solve the food shortage and rid the camp of a threat at the same time. Kate and Michael volunteer to help Locke. But, gasp, Kate has ulterior motives. She is going to do Sayid a solid and put up an antenna to help locate the distress signal. But she drops the antenna while in a tree and breaks it. Kate is lucky that Sayid didn't break her face when she brought it back to him in pieces. The dude tortures women and will go on to break a man's neck using only his legs! I guess she had a good excuse with the whole there was a smoke monster coming thing. Actually, it was headed for the area where she and Michael had left Locke after Michael was gored and they decided to head back to camp. Locke was determined to continue the hunt alone. Since Kate had seen the smoke monster unmercifully rip the pilot to shreds, she took Locke for a goner.
Locke eventually emerges from the jungle dragging a dead boar behind him making him a respectable figure, but through flashbacks we learn that Locke is a very beaten down and pitiable man. He has delusions of grandeur that are displayed in his alternative reality game in which he calls himself "colonel". He believes he is in a relationship with a phone sex operator that he calls Helen. He has made plans to go on an Australian walkabout. But at every turn he is incapable of escaping the reality of his situation. He has a humdrum job at a box company (anyone else notice the smokey like sound his calculator made?) where his boss openly mocks him. "Helen" reminds him that he is her client, and their relationship is nothing more than professional. He is prevented from going on the walkabout. It's hard to understand why everyone seems to be picking on poor John until the big reveal.... 
Locke is in a wheelchair!!!! It was almost impossible to see this coming and is stunning while still being heartbreaking. He has our complete sympathy at this point. I admit to getting teary at the scene in the walkabout office.
Then cut to the moment immediately following the crash when Locke wiggles his toes and cue chill bumps! This is Lost at its finest. Completely shock us, and then show us a scene we've already watched only this time it takes on a different meaning. 
