White Rabbit

A leader can’t lead until he knows where he’s going

Firstly, for those of you who are wondering why I didn’t title this episode review “If we don’t live together, we’re going to die alone”, then I have my reasons. If this episode hadn’t have been Jack centric and hinted more towards the survivors seeing Jack as a leader, then I would definitely of titled it after Jack’s very meaningful quote which he announces during his episode ending speech. Why I chose “A leader…” is because it stood out more to me during the episode. The whole Jack and Locke conversation in the jungle stood out so much to me more than anything else in the episode in fact. The quote ties in with Jack being seen as a leader to most of the survivors but as he doesn’t want to, as Locke says he has to “know where he’s going”, which is easier said than done. Yet Jack achieves this by the end of the episode. His speech at the end confirms this so well and guarantees Jack’s dedication to surviving. Fairly good excuse? Thanks!

Although I found this episode an episode with a lot of meaning, I felt Jack’s flashback’s lacked greatly in directing us to a deep meaning. Out of the many flashes in this episode, only at part 5 of the flashback plot does it actually go somewhere. Alright we learn that Jack and his father’s relationship back when he was a kid wasn’t great but it never really meant anything to what we know of Jack now. Only when we learn along with Jack that his father has died do we realise why Jack seeing his father on the Island is such a big deal to him. Since so many years are missed during the flashback plot, we don’t know how Jack and his father’s relationship has developed since his childhood as well as the reasons why Jack’s father is in Australia and what influenced Jack’s feelings towards his father. Moving on to the last part of the flashes, we see Jack begging for his father’s coffin to be put on to the plane. There is definite suggestion that this may not be possible by the women at the airport helpdesk. Imagine if Jack wasn’t able to fly his father’s coffin to LA! It would have changed the episode entirely. If the coffin never arrived on the Island then MIB would never have ‘taken’ Christian’s body and influenced Jack to follow him into the jungle, therefore never having the conversation with Locke and never finding the water source and therefore the coffin. This of course would have influenced Jack’s feelings towards being the survivor’s leader. So it was Jack’s fault that this episode worked out like it did. But then again if he couldn’t get his father on the plane then he may not have flown to LA anyway.

Sorry for ranting on about this episode’s flashes but at least they’re out the way now and we can focus entirely on the rest of the episode. Again we see an example of Jack trying to do the impossible and what he knows he can’t do. After saving Boone from drowning he tries to save the women known as Joanna. It is clear from before he reaches the shore with Boone that it’s too late. Yet that’s not a good enough excuse for Jack is it. He has to try. It’s the whole marshal scenario again pretty much – he knows he can’t save them but he feels he has to try because that’s just the way he is. Fair does Jack, at least someone tries. While Jack moans to Kate that he “didn’t try” to save Joanna, which is complete crap, he again sees the man he saw at the end of Walkabout. A man dressed in black. Kate makes the assumption that Jack hasn’t slept enough which Jack being Jack denies entirely. It’s a boring assumption compared to what Locke has to say later on. Once again, and believe it or not for the last time, we see Jack protesting against having to make decisions for the camp. Hurley and Charlie are to blame this time. Being simple minded guys they definitely see Jack as a leader and someone to run to when stuff gets bad. Good job they don’t ‘hallucinate’ too then and see a random man dressed in black on the beach. Jack does however and runs after the figure as he turns and walks into the jungle. Jack follows him into the jungle only for the figure to turn round and show his face properly to Jack. As Jack realises that the figure is “dad”, the figure just turns and walks off again. At this time, we don’t know anything of Jack’s father’s whereabouts except that we are guessing he wasn’t on the plane for obvious reasons. If this surprised you enough then damn you’ve got a shock soon! So we get the feeling that Jack is being led somewhere by his father…when I say father of course I mean MIB. Learning that this was actually the work of MIB far later on in the show was a great moment. This is why I love the writers! It shows that they didn’t make up everything as they went along or else how else could they explain Jack seeing his father on the Island. It opens up questions about the episode that influence some great theories. Why was MIB leading Jack into the jungle in the form of his father. To test him? Testing him in a unique way compared to how he tested everyone else it seems. An ever more difficult question to answer is why did MIB lead Jack to the water source at the end of the episode? I’ll get to that bit later. As Jack follows the body of his father into the jungle, I noticed another thing that shows that the writers weren’t making it up as they went along. So we know that Jack’s father is MIB on the Island and to back this fact up, did you notice that there is no hint of Jack being stalked/seeing/hearing the monster at all whilst he is in the jungle? Surely the monster would have jumped with joy at being able to chase a survivor in the jungle who were on their own! Notice that too?

Back on the beach, we see a great relationship continuing to develop in the form of Charlie and Claire. Charlie takes on the caring duties for Claire and finds her water and comforts her when she mentions she feels the odd one out on the Island. It’s clear that Charlie has feelings for her already, despite her being a “ticking time bomb of responsibility waiting to go off”. It’s so sweet! Also happening on the beach is the search for the missing water supply which sets off the trend of Sawyer being blamed for pretty much everything. It’s amusing to have so many questions answered with something along the lines of “I bet it’s Sawyer”. Watching Sun and Jin being questioned for stealing the water I once again feel like screaming at Sun at her ignorance. She could of solved the problem much easier if she acted like she partly understood if anything. She’s a total piss take. Have I mentioned that I used to despise Sun and Jin? Up to Season 2 anyway. It didn’t last long. Must have been Jin’s heroics at joining the raft party.

Back in the jungle after Locke saves Jack from falling off the cliff edge, we get to the best part of the episode by far in terms of importance, meaning and character development. Locke tries to explain to Jack why he is a leader. He makes a good point that everyone treats him like one. Jack tells Locke he “doesn’t have what it takes”, referring back to the earlier flashback plot. He still believes that his father was right about him. The conversation changes to Jack explaining to Locke about him “hallucinating” and following the figure resembling his father into the jungle. Locke gives Jack some words of wisdom. Maybe Jack wasn’t hallucinating. What if he did see his father. How though? Locke’s opinion and reasoning is explained throughout his speech he gives to Jack which goes like this:

I’m an ordinary man, Jack. Meat and potatoes. I live in the real world. I’m not a big believer in magic. But this place is different. It’s special. The others don’t want to talk about it because it scares them. But we all know it. We all feel it. Is your white rabbit a hallucination? Probably. But what if everything that happened here happened for a reason?

What if this person you’re chasing is really here? He is clearly wanting Jack to consider the possibilities that the reason he ‘saw’ this person is because of the Island. Remember, Locke doesn’t yet know that Jack’s father is dead, neither does he know who Jack is talking about. Jack states that it would be impossible for the person he is chasing to actually be here. Locke negotiates and agrees with him but leaves the possibility of the person Jack is chasing being on the Island open. Why? Well, Locke tells Jack that “I’ve looked into the eye of this island and what I saw was beautiful”. Locke leaves that statement open to Jack to make him think about what he’s saying. So what does Locke mean by all this? In a nutshell, Locke obviously believes that the Island is special and can make things happen and he wants Jack to consider this. He exaggerates his thoughts on the Island being special to Jack and suggests that maybe he saw his father because the Island made him see it – meaning that it happened for a reason. It’s crazy but surprisingly it makes sense. Well depending on how you interpret it. So Locke leaves Jack telling him to “finish what he started”. Hell, I may have been able to interpret the above but this is meaningless. Maybe Locke means that Jack has to find who he was chasing. And by finding this person, Jack will find out where he is going and can then lead…something like that anyway!

Nearing the end of the episode doesn’t mean things get any less complicated, no way! Jack once again sees his father and follows him through the jungle until he stumbles upon a scene with a large water source and caves which is scattered with wreckage and items from the plane. So MIB led Jack to a source of water that has become top priority to find to keep the survivors alive. But did he? Or did he lead Jack to his father’s coffin which just happens to have ended up here? Of course it didn’t just happen, it was fate! Generously, fate has given Jack a water source and caves to live at for all the survivors. As for the coffin, whether fate intended to lead Jack here we don’t know. But if you look at it at a different angle, Jack’s father led him here and this is the last time we see him. It’s almost like Christian’s body jumped out of the coffin, walked to the beach, found Jack and got him to follow him back to the coffin where he would find what he needed most. Yet that would be too simple of course. So Jack does the inevitable and opens the coffin lid only to find that his father’s body wasn’t there. That sure sparked belief in Locke’s theory that maybe Jack did see his father. As for why Jack turns angry and smashes the coffin to pieces is a bit odd, as surely he would be too shocked to react quite like that. Not that Jack hasn’t had enough shock to last him a fair while recently. Maybe he just felt so confused that something had to give. I can sympathise.

Back on the beach we have Jack’s speech which is the second highlight of the episode. After recovering from what he found in the jungle, he steps forward after realising where he is going as a leader. Here’s the speech:

Leave him alone! It’s been six days and we’re all still waiting. Waiting for someone to come. But what if they don’t? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning just going for a swim and he tried to save her, and now you’re about to crucify him? We can’t do this. Everyman for himself is not going to work. It’s time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we’re going to survive here. Now, I found water. Fresh water, up in the valley. I’ll take a group in at first light. If you don’t want to go come then find another way to contribute. Last week most of us were strangers, but we’re all here now. And god knows how long we’re going to be here. But if we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone.

Jack, thankfully has given up most of his hope of rescue. He knows it’s time to act and most importantly, to survive. The water gave him hope of surviving until whenever and if it hadn’t have been for Jack then the water crisis would still have been a big issue. He knows it’s better to tell the survivors straight rather than watering it down for them. He knows someone has to lead and he seems the one to do it. The importance of “Live together, die alone” is that it holds its purpose throughout the show right up until The End. The term “live” definitely spells out Jack’s thoughts on the topic of rescue and he knows that so easily people could die, just like earlier in the episode. Inspiration never seems to be Jack’s strongpoint, but he nails it perfectly this time!