Episodes of Lost season 1: Encyclopedia II - Episodes of Lost season 1 - Deus Ex Machina

Episodes of Lost season 1 - Deus Ex Machina

• Original airdate: March 30, 2005
• Flashback: John Locke
• Written by: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
• Directed by: Robert Mandel

The episode begins with a younger Locke, with hair, working in a discount superstore. He demonstrates the children's game Mousetrap to a boy, calling it his favorite game. A mysterious older woman appears to be watching him in the store, and later in the parking lot. When he confronts her, she reveals that she is his birth mother, Emily Annabeth Locke. John inquires about his natural father, but she tells him that he had no father, and that he was "immaculately conceived" (likely meaning that his was a Virgin Birth).

On the Island, the trebuchet Locke and Boone built fails to break the glass on the metal hatch the two discovered. Locke is unaware that a broken shard has lodged itself in one of his legs until Boone tells him; he later discovers he has no feeling in his feet or legs. When asked about how they would open the hatch, he tells Boone that the Island will send them a sign, and they see a small aircraft, a Beechcraft 18, crashing into the jungle. However, this turns out to be a dream, which concludes with Boone covered in blood, repeating the phrase "Theresa falls up the stairs; Theresa falls down the stairs." Later, when describing the vision he had, he asks Boone, "Who is Theresa?" and is told that she was his childhood nanny whom he believes he caused to fall to her death in his family home. Locke insists that they have to locate the plane, which is eventually found hanging in the trees.

Meanwhile, Sawyer is having increasingly painful headaches, which are not helped by Sun's herbal remedies. Kate, acting as a go-between, convinces Sawyer to accept Jack's medical assistance. After a brief examination, Jack asks him a series of embarrassing questions — "Have you ever slept with a prostitute?"; "Have you ever contracted a sexually transmitted disease?"; "When was the last outbreak?" Jack finally reveals that Sawyer is suffering from hyperopia or farsightedness, and Sawyer's excessive reading is straining his eyes, giving him headaches. Sayid melts together the halves of two pairs of glasses which, when worn by Sawyer, are described by Hurley as looking like "someone steamrolled Harry Potter."

In flashback, Locke hires a private investigator to get information on his father and mother. The investigators tells him that his mother has been committed in the past, and gives him the address of his father, Anthony Cooper. He goes to his father's affluent home, where he is admitted and welcomed. His father appears to take Locke under his wing, taking him hunting several times. Arriving early one day, he sees that his father is on dialysis. His father mentions that he would need a transplant, but is pessimistic about his chances on the waiting list. Locke volunteers to give his father his kidney.

Back on the island, Boone climbs into the plane, at Locke's request as his legs have apparently stopped working. The plane contains statues of the Virgin Mary filled with heroin, flown by drug smugglers under the guise of Nigerian missionaries. Boone checks the radio which still works and subsequently makes contact, saying "We're the survivors of flight 815". After a brief pause, "We're the survivors of flight 815" is heard back over the radio. Just as he possibly makes contact, however, the plane falls out of the tree and crashes to the ground with Boone inside. Locke hoists a badly injured Boone on his shoulders and returns to the camp.

In his flashback, Locke wakes up in the hospital after the kidney transplant to find that his father has gone home for private care. His mother appears and reveals that his father concocted a scheme to convince Locke to give up his kidney. Locke pulls himself out of the hospital bed and drives to his father's home, where the once-friendly guard is not allowed to let him inside. Locke drives away at the guard's pained insistence and screams at the betrayal.

On the island, Locke makes it back to the cave with Boone, saying that he fell from a cliff while they were hunting. Jack springs into action but Locke disappears into the jungle to yell and scream in anguish on top of the hatch. The episode ends with a light coming on inside the structure.

Episodes of Lost season 1 - Trivia

• The question over what was said on the radio in response to Boone was in question for some time after this episode. Many believed the transmission said "There are no survivors of flight 815" while others believed it was "We're the survivors of flight 815." The 2nd season episode The Other 48 Days as well as the subtitles in the first season's DVD box set give the definitive answer as well as who was on the radio talking to Boone.
• Deus Ex Machina, the episode's title, is Latin for "god from the machine"

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Deus Ex Machina", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki