Lost - White Rabbit

What if everything that happened here…happened for a reason?

I was having a conversation with a fellow Lost fan and he had mentioned a previous episode where it started to rain and John Locke just remained out in the open to get drenched. That it didn’t matter, just allowing the rain to pour down upon him because it was of little consequence. Why not just let the rain bathe him for a while…John Locke had every reason to just enjoy the moment without concern for what might happen as a result. I mean, he had his legs and could walk. This island, for which John says he looked into the eye of, gave him something he had long desired and was unable…what we take for granted, Mr. Locke could now enjoy for himself. So that orange in his mouth for which Kate looks into his face with no reason, she probably felt, to smile, John Locke had every reason to feel a bit giddy. John Locke could be, in the episode, White Rabbit, a source of encouragement and wisdom to Jack, because the young man was in dire need of such. Carrying the burden of losing his father and being told by his father that he just wasn’t good enough—wasn’t leadership material—Jack resists the role despite being the man everyone seems to go to. John Locke has to remind him of that. Jack is shouldered with a burden to go to Sidney to find his missing father (Chief of Surgery), explaining just why he was in Australia to begin with. On that plane that landed on this island, Jack is now shouldered with the role of being a leader, despite always believing he didn’t have what it takes. Yet Jack was willing to dive right into the drink when a young woman named Joanna got carried off in a rip tide to perish. Rescuing Boone, who also attempted and failed to swim after Joanna, from drowning, Jack returned to the beach further beleaguered by the fact that despite his heroism no fruits come of it…except that Boone survived. Boone felt Jack should have left him to be and go after Joanna, but it was a no-win situation. Boone is alive because of Jack.

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

Seeing a figure in different areas of the island, Jack pursues this man, but what will he do if he catches him? And who is it? Who is Jack chasing? As Locke pulled from Alice in Wonderland, regarding the chase of the white rabbit (hence the name of the episode), John has to settle Jack into understanding that the island is special. That perhaps that figure, once it is realized is Jack’s father, isn’t just some hallucination, but a manifestation. That Jack isn’t going crazy (Locke once again halts that reasoning by pointing out that a crazy man doesn’t think he’s crazy but sane) when he sees that figure as his father, chasing after him but never quite truly confronting him, but that the island has a funny way of producing the extraordinary unlike anywhere else. Jack has been without much sleep, was on his way back to LA to bury his father, watched people die, has been under pressure to call the shots in many situations, couldn’t rescue Joanna, and has endured a life of being diminished by the one man who should have been his encouragement. His mother demanded Jack find his father (for which he does), and when he does locate him he had suffered a heart attack after severe alcohol abuse. So why was Jack’s father drinking himself to death (notice how distinctive the sound of the “rocks” in his glass place emphasis on the fuel of his demise and presence) if he could handle the pressures of his job as he so confidently boasts to his injured/bruised son who tried to help a kid being bullied? Was Jack’s father anymore worthy of being considered a leader as his son?

If we can’t live together we’re going to die alone

Jack follows his father to a cavern that has flowing water and even locates scattered dolls and a coffin…without a body. Breaking apart this coffin that no longer houses the dead body of his pops, as he vents forth some serious rage, Jack leaves the woods with a clearer head and sharper focus. And he is needed as the one who carted off a chest of remaining bottled water, Boone, is nearly taken apart by a mob of angry survivors. Boone had taken it upon himself to hold the water away so it wouldn’t be stolen, sparking an investigation by Kate and Sayid to locate the chest’s whereabouts. Jack must calm the rising temps and bring everyone to a chill. Before matters could get any hairier, Jack has the group realize that there could be no rescue and that it was time to organize and work as a community instead of “every man for himself”.

Outside of the main storyline involving Jack, I noticed Charlie’s tattoo: Living is easy with eyes closed. When Charlie brings a weakened Claire a small cup of water (later Boone is about to give her a bottle), that tattoo is at its most visible. I guess I hadn’t seen it before. If they are to survive on this island, eyes will have to be open. What alternatives are there, really? Wide-open and alert their eyes will need to be in order to truly live on this island.

Once again, Sawyer is suspected as the bottled-water thief. He had given Jin-Soo two bottles of water for a fish and it was perceived he was the one who took the chest of water. When Boone mulls over the mob’s anger towards him, Sawyer asks him how he feels to be the new “villain at the top”. Sawyer implies that Shannon could trade something in particular for some sand fly skin cream, mastering the sly and devilish smile certain to make many a viewer’s skin crawl.

Although not an altogether hefty scene, Claire and Kate having a bonding moment talking astrology and dividing the right and wrong attire is a pleasant conversation featured in a rather emotionally heavy episode. Matthew Fox has a weighty episode in White Rabbit, his Jack caught in a tide of ache and loss. He never quite made his dad proud and always carried the insecurity brought on by a father that didn’t believe he had what it took to be special. And yet, much like John Locke was granted legs so he could contribute to the camp, Jack is provided the chance to be the leader his dad never thought was possible. Again, there is just something about this island.