3x00 – A Tale of Survival

Transcribed by Rosario Garcia, profarosario@hotmail.com

This episode was intended to be both a wrap up of season 2 and a recap before season 3. It is narrated by Michael Emerson’s (fake Gale’s) voice.

[Voice] Once upon a time, there was an island. Some said it was in the South Pacific. But you wouldn’t find it on any map. Many people have been drawn to the island throughout time … lost in their travels, lost in their lives.

[Sequence of images: the beach; its waves washing ashore; the Black Rock wooden ship; the Pale Ferry beach]

[Voice] One such man was ship wrecked; wash up on its shores. His name was Desmond. He was found by a man named Kelvin … and taken to an underground shelter. But Kelvin had been entering a code to a computer every 108 minutes for a very long time. [Images of Desmond desperately steering the sailboat under the storm; Desmond unconscious on the shore; Kelvin bringing him to the Hatch]

DESMOND: What’s all that about, then? [looking at the countdown]

KELVIN: Just saving the world…

[Voice] He soon convinced Desmond to help him. And together, they saved the world with every push of the button for the next 3 years. It seemed they might be there forever, but there was ONE possible way out…

KELVIN: [drunk] Turn this key and this all goes away. Phew!

[Voice] Kelvin led Desmond to believe it was unsafe to go outside. Then one day Desmond risked exposure and discovered… he’d been deceived.

[images of Kelvin putting on the yellow uniform, Desmond following him and discovering the boat]

DESMOND: What’re you doing with my boat?

KELVIN: What do you think? Come with me?

DESMOND: WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME?

KELVIN: I LIED BECAUSE I NEEDED A SUCKER TO SAVE THE WORLD AFTER I LEFT!

DESMOND: You crazy old… (they start fighting) God! [when he sees Kelvin had hit his head hard on the rock, grabs the key and runs back to the hatch] Oh my God…

[Voice] By the time Desmond returned, 108 minutes had passed without entering the code...

Desmond was trapped and alone, or so he thought… but at the moment of his greatest despair, he was amazed to discover… he was not alone on this island after all…

[images of Desmond at the computer, entering the code, hieroglyphs showing on the counter; computer’s voice “system failure”; Desmond drinking from a bottle, clearly considering suicide, hearing Locke’s voice from outside the hatch, turning on the light and laughing/crying of relief, Locke, outside of the hatch, after Boone’s accident;]

[Voice] … So who is *this* man? He was one passenger onboard Oceanic 815. It was a flight like any other… a plane full of strangers, bound from Sydney to Los Angeles. Among them, the doctor who lost his father … and lost his way. The girl next door, turned fugitive; the con man out for revenge, who killed the wrong man. The couple, whose marriage was slipping, the soldier, the rock star, the lottery winner, the single mother-to-be and, of course, the man whose faith was lost, and whose body had failed him…

[images: Locke at the wheelchair; Mr. Eko at the check in; Michael and Walt sitting on the plane; Jack putting his handbag in the compartment; Kate entering and then drinking with her hands cuffed]

[Voice] These were just a few of the many who were brought together high over the ocean, but something they could not understand at the time… [images of inside the plane being torn apart, etc] … something that caused their plane to split apart and fall from the sky… [scene of the tail section falling in the water] … they could not imagine how they survived such a crash… but then again they could never have imagined the power of this island and the tests it would provide. Two groups of passengers survived. They would be separated for a time. And before they united, would experience with the island in very different ways.

[scene of Jack talking to Kate for the first time]

JACK: Excuse me!... Do you ever use a needle?

KATE: I made the drapes in my apartment.

…

KATE: I might throw up on you.

JACK: You’re doing fine.

[Voice] 48 survivors from the fuselage were brought together by the crash.

HURLEY: [to Claire] Hungry?

CLAIRE: Yeah. [Hurley giving her the plane food] Thanks.

[Voice] They came from all walks of life.

JIN: [subtitled] Don’t worry about the others. We need to stay together.

…

JACK: [to Kate] I don’t know your name.

KATE: I’m Kate.

JACK: [smiling] Jack.

[Voice] But they were all soon to discover that this was not an ordinary island. Not by any stretch of imagination.

[scene of their first night on the island, when they see trees at the distance, being uprooted, and the Lostzilla sound]

CHARLIE: Terrific.

[Voice] A new day arrived. The survivors got acquainted.

HURLEY: Hurley, oh just… [putting his has out to shake but taking it out, as Sayid was busy]

SAYID: Sayid. [shaking hands]

HURLEY: Hey, how do you know to do all that?

SAYID: I was a military communications officer.

HURLEY: Oh, were you Air Force? Army?

SAYID: The Republican Guard.

…

CLAIRE: Peanut butter?

CHARLIE: Just like you ordered.

CLAIRE: It’s empty.

CHARLIE: Don’t snug, it’s full, … full to the brim… oh God, makes you want a glass of milk, extra smooth… it’s the best bloody peanut butter I’ve ever tasted!

CLAIRE: [laughing]

[Voice] They were strangers thrown together, each with different priorities.

JACK: What’re you doing in here? What’s in the bag?

SAWYER: Booze, smokes, a couple of Playboys. What’s in yours?

JACK: Medicine.

SAWYER: That about sums it up, don’t it?

JACK: You do this back home, too? Steal from the dead?

SAWYER: You’re just not lookin’ the big picture, doc, you’re still back in the civilization.

JACK: And where are you?

SAWYER: I’m in the wild…

…

SAWYER: So what is it about that guy…? Jack? What is it about him that makes you all… weak in the loins?

KATE: Do you have to be a pig or it just come naturally?

SAWYER: It’s he’s a doctor, right? Yeah, ladies diiig the doctors. Yeah, gimme a couple of band-aids, a bottle of broxide… I can run this island, too

KATE: You’re actually comparing yourself to Jack?

SAWYER: The difference between us ain’t that big, sweetheart…

[Voice] Across the island, the 23 survivors from the tail-section had a much different experience.

ANA: You couldn’t find any matches?

GOODWIN: I asked around but I couldn’t find any.

ANA: What are you? A boy-scout?

GOODWIN: I’m in the Peace Corp.

ANA: I’m Ana Lucia

GOODWIN: Goodwin.

[Voice] And on their first night, something terrible happened… [Scenes of the children being taken and Eko killing two of them] …a deadly confrontation.

ANA: What happened?

NATHAN: Who are these people?

ANA: I don’t know. But they are here in the jungle with no shoes, nothing in their pockets, no labels on their clothes... these people were here before us.

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

[We see John sitting on the beach, looking at a checkers board, Walt coming to talk to him for the first time]

JACK: How’s your son?

MICHAEL: Walt? Yeah, I think he’ll be aright.

JACK: How old is he?

MICHAEL: Nine, ten! Ten.

…

LOCKE: Do you play checkers with your pop?

WALT: No. I live in Australia with my mom. She died a couple of weeks ago.

LOCKE: You had a bad month.

WALT: I guess.

[Voice] Before the crash John Locke had lost faith in his life, but he rose from the wreckage with the ability to walk, and with renewed faith, he explored the island and found new purpose.

LOCKE: I’m an ordinary man, Jack, I live in the real world, but this place is different, special. We all know it, we all feel it. What if everything that happened here happened for a reason?

[Voice] Yet he still yearned for answers, his search to discover the great mysteries of the island led him to a hatch in the ground.

JACK: Oh, my God. What is this thing?

LOCKE: Exactly.

[Voice] And he believed in his heart that in this hatch… the answers would be found.

LOCKE: The path ends in that hatch. All of that happened so that we open the hatch.

[Voice] Across the island, the tail-section survivors would have another encounter, with the same group, who they would come to call ‘The Others’. And it was clear ‘The Others’ were very determined to preserve their way of life.

ANA: They dragged nine people into the jungle. The kids! And there’s no sign of them?

[Voice] Amid so much uncertainty, Michael wanted desperately to get his son Walt off the island.

SUN: [already in English] Are you alright?

MICHAEL: He can’t grow up in this place.

[Voice] So he built a raft. And after 40 days on the island, they were ready to set sail in search of rescue.

JIN: [subtitled]: Stay with Jack. He’ll keep you safe.

SUN: [subtitled]: Who will keep you safe?

[Voice] But they would find out it was not their time to leave the island… when they were intercepted by a group… of ‘The Others’

MR. FRIENDLY: What's going on? What are you folks doing this far out here?

MICHAEL: We were, we were -- the plane crashed. We were on the island for months, man.

MR. FRIENDLY: Well, it's a good thing we found you. Only, the thing is, we're going to have to take the boy.

MICHAEL: I'm not giving you anybody

MR. FRIENDLY: Well, alright then.

[The floodlight is turned off. Sawyer draws his gun, but is shot first by one of the two men, and falls into the water. Jin dives in after him. The two men jump onto the raft. One grabs Walt and the other fights with Michael.]

WALT: Dad! Dad!

MICHAEL: No!

[Michael gets pushed into the water. Walt is taken onto the boat screaming. A woman throws a Molotov cocktail from the steering compartment and the boat takes off. Michael dives under the water before the raft goes up in flames.]

WALT: Help me!

MICHAEL: Walt!

WALT: Help me! Dad! Please!

MICHAEL: Walt! No!

[Voice] And on the same night the raft was stopped at sea, the survivors would finally open the hatch they discovered.

LOCKE: Kate, you run the fuse, Jack and I will rig the charges.

[Voice] They had no idea what laid beneath. How could they know that inside, was a man desperate for his freedom? But one fact was unmistakable: two very different worlds were about to collide.

[scenes of the hatch door being blown up, and Desmond hearing the noise and getting ready to ‘welcome’ the intruders]

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

[Voice] Amid so many questions, the hatch was blown open, and the survivors could only hope to find the answers inside.

[image of Locke entering the hatch, and finding Kate lying on the floor]

LOCKE: Kate! Easy, easy, easy…

KATE: Behind you! [We see Desmond]

[Voice] Desmond shared his story of shipwrecking on the island and spending three years of his life at the station, entering the code into the computer. Jack and Locke watched the film that described the importance of the station.

DR. MARVIN CANDLE: …every 108 minutes the button must be pushed. From the moment the alarm sounds you will have 4 minutes to enter the code into the microcomputer processor.

LOCKE: We’re gonna need to watch that again.

…

JACK: You really think this is happening.

DESMOND: Why wouldn't it be?

JACK: Do you ever think that maybe they put you down here to push a button every 100 minutes just to see if you would? That all of this – the computer, the button – it’s just a mind game? An experiment?

DESMOND: Every single day?

[Voice] Help had arrived for Desmond. He could not leave quickly enough.

LOCKE: What are you doing? Are you leaving? Where are you going?

DESMOND: As far as I can run, brother.

[Voice] Desmond was gone. But Locke was ready and eager to take over his duties. And they explored the hatch in greater detail.

[Scene of Sayid hammering the wall]

SAYID: On the other side of this door, there’s more concrete. I’d say it’s at least 8 to 10 feet thick.

JACK: Did you see this? [Showing his key being pulled towards the magnetic field on the wall]

SAYID: Interesting.

[Voice] Across the island, after a long night at sea, the raft survivors washed ashore without Walt…they soon met the survivors from the tail section.

SAWYER: [to Mr. Eko] So, what’s your name, anyway?

MR. EKO: Mr. Eko.

SAWYER: So, what’s that like, Mr. Ed?

[Voice] And together they began a long hike across the island, to unite with the rest of the passengers.

[Scene of Jack opening the bathroom door in the hatch, to find Kate coming out of the shower, wrapped in a towel]

JACK: Hey!

KATE: Hey.

JACK: You, uhm, you took a shower.

KATE: Had to see if it worked. You could use one.

JACK: Maybe a little later.

KATE: I’ll leave the shampoo for you.

[Voice] Sawyer had suffered a gunshot wound on the raft. And as the group neared the fuselage campus, his condition grew worse.

MICHAEL: [to unconscious Sawyer] Sawyer!

…

MR. EKO: Where is the doctor?

…

JACK: I got him.

KATE: Where are we headed?

JACK: Bathroom. He's burning up. We've got to get him in the shower - bring his fever down.

LOCKE: Hello.

EKO: Hello.

[Voice] The two groups were now together…

KATE: Sawyer? Hey, you have to listen to me, okay? The only way that you are going to get better is if you take this pill. Now swallow, swallow. Good! Good.

JACK: Nice job. I never learned the whole whisper-in-the-ear thing in med school.

[Voice] … but there many issues … were just beginning.

KATE: I’m sorry.

JACK: Are you?

KATE: Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m not as perfect as you!

JACK: What’s going on here?

KATE: Just forget it.

JACK: No, no, don’t walk away from me.

KATE: Just let me go. (crying).

JACK: [holding her] It’s OK. It’s alright, it’s alright.

[Kate kisses him and walks away]

JACK: Kate!!

…

[scene: Charlie playing his guitar while Claire is trying to give him a haircut]

CLAIRE: All right. Can you stop moving or I’ll cut your ear off?

CHARLIE: So, what’s the first thing you’re gonna do when we get rescued?

CLAIRE: You know, I don’t really know…

CHARLIE: You can hang around with me in LA. You and Turniphead.

CLAIRE: Thanks.

CHARLIE: Smashing! Check this out. This is track two. It’s called – sorry – it’s called ‘Monster eats the pilot’

[Voice] The survivors begin taking shifts entering the code into the computer. But one day, when Michael was in the hatch, something very strange happened.

[scene of Michael reading the message on the screen, replying it and finding out it ‘was’ Walt on the other side.]

[Voice] Could it be Walt? Or was it a trap created by ‘The Others’? Regardless, Michael made up his mind. He would wait no longer, and no matter what it took, he would find his son.

JACK [calling out]: Locke!

[We hear a moan in the background and Jack finds Locke knocked out on the floor of the gun vault.]

JACK: John.

[We hear the sound of a gun and see Michael point a rifle at Jack.]

MICHAEL: Stay in there. Stay -

JACK: Michael, what are you-?

MICHAEL: I'm going after my son, and nobody is going to stop me, okay? Okay, that is my right. That is a father's right.

JACK: Listen, we can do this together, okay?

MICHAEL: I have to do it alone.

[Michael closes the door of the vault.]

[COMMERCIAL BREAK]

[Scene of Jin coming out of the tent, Sun after him, and Hurley greeting him]

[Voice] With the two camps united, loved ones were brought together, and relationships evolved.

[Scene of Kate visiting Sawyer, and throwing him a banana]

KATE: Morning!

SAWYER: There’re nicer ways to wake a man up, Freckles.

KATE: Come on, it's time to go get your bandages changed.

SAWYER: [standing up and coming *really* close to Kate’s face] Thanks.

KATE: [laughing] Come on!

…

[at the hatch]

KATE: Jack!

JACK: In here, in the armory. Michael locked us in here.

SAWYER: What'd he say?

KATE [hearing the timer start to beep]: I got it

SAWYER [opening the door]: Howdy, boys.

[Jack hands Locke a gun.]

LOCKE: What are you doing, Jack?

JACK: We’re going after him. [He grabs a rifle and exits the gun vault].

SAWYER: Hey, what -? What happened?

LOCKE: Michael went after Walt.

…

KATE [to Jack]: You got a gun for me?

JACK: You're not coming.

KATE: Excuse me?

JACK: Someone has to be here to take care of the button.

KATE: So why should that person be me? I can track, carry a gun -

JACK: You're not coming! You're staying. Let’s go.

[Voice] Michael was on his own. A father determined to find his son.

[We see Michael running through the jungle. He stops to check his compass and continues running. He comes across a man peeing.]

MICHAEL [shouldering his rifle]: Hey, put your hands up. Don't move.

PICKETT: You're Walt's old man, aren't ya?

MICHAEL: What? [Suddenly Mr. Friendly is right behind Michael and takes the rifle. Michael breaks away and runs firing a pistol behind him.]

[Voice] Michael’s determination would lead to a meeting in the jungle. [JACK: He’s close.] … with ‘The Others’.

MR. FRIENDLY: Hey there, Michael.

MICHAEL: Where is he you son-of-a-bitch?

PICKETT [entering with Kate in a hood]: Hey, look at what I found?

MR. FRIENDLY: [to Michael, in that friendly-threatening way] You make *one* sound… Get ready with the torches. I'm going to talk to her people.

LOCKE: I think we'd better head back.

JACK: You know what happens if we just turn around and go back? We're never going to see him again.

MR. FRIENDLY: You're exactly right, Jack.

[Voice] It was the first real meeting of the two groups. And it was not friendly, but that was understandable, both had something to protect.