Lost/Adrift

Adrift
Season 2, Episode 2
Airdate	September 28, 2005
Production Number	202
Written by	Steven Maeda & Leonard Dick
Directed by	Stephen Williams
← 2x01 Man of Science, Man of Faith	2x03 → Orientation
Lost — Season Two

Adrift is the second episode of the second season, and the twenty-seventh episode overall.

With the abduction of Walt fresh on their minds and their raft destroyed, Michael, Sawyer and Jin fight for their lives and discover a new predator in the roiling ocean. Meanwhile on land, Locke must descend into the hatch when one castaway goes missing inside.

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Maggie Grace (Shannon), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (John), Harold Perrineau, Jr. (Michael), Michelle Rodriguez (Ana-Lucia).

Guest Starring: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Tamara Taylor (Susan Lloyd), Saul Rubinek (Finney).

Plot Overview

The Island

• With the raft destroyed, Sawyer pulls Michael onto a remnant of the raft's decking and resuscitates him. Michael yells into the darkness for Walt, but Sawyer tells him Walt is most likely not in shouting distance and he should save his energy. However, with Jin nowhere to be found, Sawyer calls out for him. After a while, the two start to argue over whose fault Walt's abduction was. Michael blames Sawyer for making him fire the flare, but Sawyer tells Michael it's his fault—the people on the boat were after his kid. As they fight, the two discover a shark with a DHARMA symbol has been circling them, probably due to Sawyer's shoulder wound. Using his bare hands, Sawyer removes the bullet lodged in his shoulder. As Sawyer swims to one of the raft's pontoons, Michael shoots the shark with Sawyer's gun and swims out to the pontoon. As the sun rises, Michael and Sawyer find themselves floating back to the island. Michael tells Sawyer that it was his fault for what happened, but vows he'll get back his son. As they arrive on the beach, a tied up Jin rushes out of the jungle pursued by a group of others.
• Locke descends into the hatch after Kate. He removes his shoes near the bottom of the shaft, as they were squeaking too loudly, but he is ambushed by an armed Desmond. Desmond asks Locke if he is "him" and Locke tells him he is, but fails to answer a cryptic question given to him by Desmond. Desmond orders Kate to tie up Locke, but Locke tells him she's a fugitive and dangerous, and that he's just a regional collections manager for a cardboard manufacturer. Desmond buys it and orders Locke to tie Kate up, but Locke secretly slips a knife into Kate's jeans before Desmond leaves her locked in a storage room. Kate is able to free herself and begins to work her way through the ventilation ducts. Locke tells Desmond about the Oceanic crash and the raft, but Desmond asks him how many of his group have gotten "sick, as in ill, as in dead." As Locke tells him no one has gotten sick, a beeping sound is heard. Desmond moves Locke into a computer room and orders him to enter a number combination into a computer terminal: 4 8 15 16 23 42. After Locke hits execute, a timer above a doorway resets to 108:00. The two hear a voice and Locke tells Desmond that it's their doctor, Jack. Desmond gets a look at Jack through the scope and tells Locke the doctor has a gun. Desmond turns on music and Jack ducks into the computer room where, in a ventilation shaft, Kate tries to get Jack's attention but she can't be heard above the music. As the music is turned off, Locke appears with a gun pointed at his head. After Jack refuses to drop his gun, Desmond fires a warning shot which hits the ventilation grate that Kate is behind, nearly hitting her. In the stand-off, Jack recognizes Desmond.
• At the caves, Jack tells Hurley he's changed his mind and heads off to the hatch. Claire discovers Charlie's Virgin Mary statue and Charlie tells her he found it out in the jungle. She tells Charlie she didn't realize he was so religious, but Charlie tells her he's not, but the statue might come in handy.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Michael

At a custody attorney's office in New York City, Michael is discussing the paperwork concerning Susan Lloyd and Walt. Susan and Brian Porter want to take Walt to Rome, where Susan just got a new job. The attorney, Finney, tells Michael that Susan wants him to relinquish his rights as Walt's father so that Brian can adopt Walt, that it's the only way they can proceed with the adoption. Michael refuses and asks the attorney how he can stop Susan from going to Rome. They can file an injuction to prevent her from leaving the city, but the attorney warns Michael that the legal proceedings are going to take a lot of money.

Michael and Susan meet with their attorneys. Susan's attorney, Calloway, asks Michael why it's been 14 months since he has last seen his son. Michael tells her it's because Susan took him to Amsterdam for work, but Calloway asks him why he didn't have a problem with her doing that but, now that she's going to Rome, he's filing an injuction. She reminds Michael that Susan paid for his several surgeries, weeks in a private hospital room, and his extensive rehabilitation. Finney tells Michael she's baiting him, that he needs to calm down, but to no avail.

Later, Susan speaks with Michael in private. She tells Michael she thinks he's going to win in court and keep her from leaving the country with Walt. Susan tells him that in Rome she'll be a senior partner at the firm and able to give Walt anything he needs. She reminds Michael that he's still on disability and is about to be evicted from his apartment. He needs to take care of himself, get back on his feet financially so he can get back to pursuing his art. Susan asks Michael to let Walt go.

At a park, Susan brings Walt, as a toddler, to see Michael. She tells Michael she's sorry for being late, but her plane is leaving first thing in the morning. Michael pulls a stuffed polar bear out of his bag and gives it to Walt. He tells Walt he's not going to see him for a while, but knows that Walt's mommy and Brian are going to take good care of him. He tells Walt that he loves him and always will.

Notes

Mysteries

• Who was Desmond expecting?
• How did Jin make it back to shore? And how did he subsequently escape?
• How does Desmond know about the sickness?
• Why does the shark have a similar logo on its tail as the one present within the hatch bunker?
• Who was the group chasing after Jin?

Answers

• Locke's shoes were the ones Jack saw at the bottom of the hatch.
• The numbers typed into the computer reset a timer of 108 minutes.
• Kate was knocked out by Desmond. She was eventually tied up and left in a food storage room, but escaped. (2x01 - Man of Science, Man of Faith)

The Cursed Numbers

• Desmond must type in the cursed numbers every 108 minutes, which is the sum of the numbers.

Scrutiny

• As the shark swims past the camera, you can see a similar logo to the ones scattered throughout the hatch bunker.
• The logo consists of trigrams encircling a swan.
• The record player in Desmond's hatch has changed from a silver model (in 2x01 - Man of Science, Man of Faith) to a different, wooden model.

Arc Advancement

Referbacks

• Man of Science, Man of Faith: Much of this episode takes place at the same time as the previous one. The scene where Jack enters the hatch and encounters Locke and Desmond is seen again, but this time from Kate's and Locke's perspectives rather than Jack's.
• Raised by Another: The flashback scenes where Michael and Susan battle for custody of Walt and negotiate with each others' lawyers is incredibly similar to the same scenes that Claire had in her flashback. Not only does the room appear the same but the chairs are in the same position and the camera is in the same place.

Trivia

The Show

• Snowman: Desmond's question "What did one snowman say to the other snowman?" is a children's riddle. The most well-known answer is "Do you smell carrots?"

Behind the Scenes

• Awards: For his role as Desmond in this episode, Henry Ian Cusick was nominated for an IVy Award for the 2005-06 season for Best Guest Actor or Actress in a Drama Series.
• We're Saved!: When Sawyer wakes up on the pontoon near the end of the episode, a sailboat can be seen off in the distance above Sawyer's shoulder in the upper left corner. It's only seen for a second as the camera pans slightly to the right to remove it from the frame.
• Guest Star Begone: ABC initially advertised in the press release for the episode that actress Jolene Blalock would appear. However, she did not appear and was not credited as the episode switched from being centered around Sawyer to being about Michael.
• Nielsen Ratings: On its original airing, this episode was watched by 22.66 million viewers, winning the night for most total viewers. It also received at 9.4/23 among adults 18-49.
• Unappearing: Maggie Grace, Naveen Andrews, Malcolm David Kelley, Michelle Rodriguez and Yunjim Kim do not appear in this episode.
• Location, Location, Location: The law office where Michael and his lawyer meet with Susan and her lawyers is a conference room at the Hawaii State Supreme Court in Honolulu. This is the same room seen in Claire's flashback in Raised by Another.
• Hash Marks: While being escorted by Desmond, Locke noticed a large number of hash marks written on a wall. According to Jim Spencer, the production designer, there are over 9,000 of these hash marks in various sizes on the wall.
• The Shark: The shark in this episode is a 14 foot long tiger shark. A full-scale fiberglass model was created for effects shots in addition to a CGI model. The CGI model included a DHARMA logo branded on its tail as an easter egg. Executive producer Bryan Burk claimed the easter egg was supposed to be much harder to notice, but they mis-timed the shot and the logo appeared brighter than they intended.

Quotes

• Sawyer: What are you gonna do, splash me?