Lost/The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party
Season 2, Episode 11
Airdate	January 18, 2006
Production Number	211
Written by	Elizabeth Sarnoff & Christina M. Kim
Directed by	Stephen Williams
← 2x10 The 23rd Psalm	2x12 → Fire and Water
Lost — Season Two

The Hunting Party is the eleventh episode of the second season, and the thirty-sixth episode overall.

Jack, Locke and Sawyer pursue a determined Michael after he heads into the jungle toward the dreaded "Others" in search of Walt. Meanwhile, Sun has a surprising reaction to Jin's desire to join the search party, and Hurley and Charlie commiserate over the age-old conundrum of "what women want."

Starring: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), 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), Cynthia Watros (Libby).

Guest Starring: John Terry (Christian Shephard), M.C. Gainey (Tom), Monica Dean (Gabriela Busoni), Ronald Guttman (Angelo Busoni), Julie Bowen (Sarah Shephard).

Plot Overview

The Island

• Inside the Swan, a thud wakes Jack and he finds Locke unconscious in the armory. Michael appears behind Jack and, holding him at gunpoint with a rifle, tells him that he is going off after Walt. Jack tries to reason with him, and offers to go with him, but Michael says he has to go alone. He then locks Jack and Locke in the armory. Sawyer and Kate come down to change Sawyer's bandages and discover the two locked in the armory. Locke gives Sawyer the combination to free them while Kate enters the code into the computer and reset the timer. The four of them go outside and Locke finds Michael's trail, but Jack tells Kate to go back to the Swan and take care of the button. Kate leaves, but instead she goes to the beach and asks Hurley to watch the button and then goes off after the other three. Jack, Locke, and Sawyer follow Michael's trail north and into unknown territory. Locke notes the trail is straight, like that of "a man who knows where he's going", and is not heading back to where the tail section survivors came from. The group hear gunfire and find evidence of a gun battle: 3 rounds from Michael's rife, but they heard 7 shots. As it gets dark, Locke loses the trail and Jack lights torches in order to see, but they are confronted by an Other - "Mr. Friendly". Sawyer realizes the man was on the boat that took Walt and raises his gun to shoot Mr. Friendly, but a gunshot is heard from somewhere in the jungle and a bullet grazes Sawyer's head. Mr. Friendly warns the group it'd be best if they kept their hands at their sides, and asks Locke to build them all a fire and he thinks it's time they all had a talk. Mr. Friendly tells them Walt is fine, that he's a very special boy, but tells the group that the only reason the survivors are living on the island is because they have let them live on it. Believing that he's bluffing, Jack tells Mr. Friendly he thinks there is only one guy out there with a gun, that there's more of them than of the Others, that if they had any real strength they wouldn't have had to send a spy — Ethan. Mr. Friendly yells out to "light 'em up", and a ring of torches are lit around the group by a number of hidden Others. He tells them that there's a line, and not to cross it, indicating that the Others will leave the survivors alone if they don't intrude any further. Jack balks at Mr. Friendly's demand to hand over their weapons to him, but he has a gagged and restrained Kate brought out. Mr. Friendly tells the party to throw down their weapons and leave or he'll shoot her in the head. They agree, relinquish their weapons, and leave. When they reach friendly territory again, Jack goes back to the beach. He sits down with Ana-Lucia and asks her how long it'd take to train an army.

• Hurley seems to have a bit of a thing for Libby and he tells Charlie while they're in the Swan listening to records. Charlie wonders if Claire misses him, but Hurley reminds him it's only been a day. Sayid appears and tells them the record they're listening to is depressing.

• Jin and Sun have an argument when he tries to leave to join the hunting party going after Michael. Sun is worried that something might happen to Jin, but Jin wants to find Michael as he is his friend. Jin finally decides to stay, but later tells Sun he didn't like being told what to do. Sun says she didn't like being told what to do either for the four years they were married in Korea.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Jack

Jack and his father, Christian Shephard, are in a meeting room examining X-rays of a spine. Christian tells an Italian woman, Gabriela, that her father, Angelo, is not a candidate for surgery due to the way the tumor is situated on his spine, making it impossible to remove. Translating for her father, Gabriela tells Christian that they didn't come all this way to see Christian, but rather to see Jack because he successfully performed an impossible surgery on a woman with a crushed spinal column. Jack tells her that his father is right, but Gabriela persists and Jack finally gives in and tells her he'll admit her father.

A month later, Jack checks an unconscious Angelo's vitals in his hospital room. Gabriela enters, asking Jack how her father is as Jack has been doing tests on him for a month now. She confesses that she doesn't believe in miracles, and Jack tells her that he's not too sure about that himself. Gabriela replies that his wife must feel differently, as she is the woman he fixed, and must be a special person to let Jack work until 4:30 in the morning. Jack realizes he completely lost track of time and excuses himself, saying goodnight to Gabriela. Jack arrives home and finds Sarah awake. He apologizes, but Sarah tells him that it's the price of being a miracle worker. Getting up to go to work, she tells Jack that her period was late and got a pregnancy test, but it was negative. Jack asks her if she wants to talk about it, but Sarah dismisses it and leaves.

Later at Jack's office, Jack is going over some papers with Gabriela. He tells her Angelo's tumor is aggressive, but they don't have to go through the surgery and he could lead a very normal life for at least another year. But Gabriela signs the papers and tells him that, even if he doesn't succeed, he's giving them a chance. Christian enters the room with reports Jack needs to sign, and asks if he's interrupting. Once Gabriela leaves, Christian warns Jack to not cross the line with Gabriela, that it may be okay with some people, but not for Jack.

The next day, Angelo's operation doesn't go as planned. In the hospital locker room, Jack tells his father that he got it all, that he had it. Christian tries to calm him down and let him know it's not his fault, telling him that Angelo was a sick, old man on an operating table for nearly 8 hours and his heart just gave out. Jack tells him he has to tell Gabriela, but Christian tells he already told her. He demands to know where she is, but Christian firmly tells Jack to go home. In the hospital parking lot, Gabriela gets out of her car that is parked near Jack's. She thanks him for tying, and Jack hugs her when she starts crying and apologizes. The two kiss and Gabriela tells him it's okay, but Jack pulls away, telling her he can't, and leaves.

Jack arrives at his house and finds Sarah clearing dishes. Asking him how the surgery went, Jack tells her that he died. Sarah tells him that her mother was over and Jack helps her with the dishes. She asks him how Angelo's daughter took the news and Jack tells her that Gabriela kissed him and he kissed her back. Jack says he made a mistake, but promises things between them will be different, that he's going to work less and be there for Sarah - he's going to fix things. Sarah cries, telling Jack that she's leaving him and was already leaving him. Her mother was there because she was helping Sarah pack. Sarah reveals to Jack that she's been seeing someone else, and tells Jack that he'll always need something to fix, before leaving.

Notes

Mysteries

• Where is Michael going? Does he know exactly where he's headed?
• How many of the Others are there?

Answers

• Mr. Friendly and the Others were responsible for taking Walt. (1x24 - Exodus, Part Two)
• Jack and Sarah got a divorce because Sarah was seeing another man. (1x20 - Do No Harm)

The Cursed Numbers

• Sawyer and Locke hear seven shots fired in the exchange, and Locke finds three shell casings belonging to Michael. That may mean the Others fired four shots.
• Sun and Jin have been married for four years.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Jack, Locke and Sawyer confront one of the Others - Mr. Friendly.

Characters

• Jack's relationship with Kate sours when she refuses to listen to Jack and ends up captured.
• Locke asks Sawyer about how he came to pick the name Sawyer when his real name is James Ford.

Trivia

The Show

• Much Ado About Zeke: Much fan speculation followed Sawyer's throwaway line to Mr. Friendly: "You and me ain't done, Zeke." The speculation primarily focused around the theory that Sawyer knew Mr. Friendly, hence calling him "Zeke" and that was his real name. However, Zeke is merely a nickname and follows Sawyer's modus operandi of referring to people through nicknames. Zeke is a character on the Muppet Show, and is the banjo player for Lubbock Lou and His Jughuggers. He has a shaggy beard, much like Mr. Friendly.
• Eko-less: Though he was the central character in the previous episode, Eko does not appear in this episode at all.

Allusions and References

• Alvar Hanso: Mr. Friendly cites a quote attributed to Alvar Hanso and can be found on the Hanso Foundation's website. The full quote is as follows:

From the dawn of our species, Man has been blessed with curiosity. Our most precious gift, without exception, is the desire to know more - to look beyond what is accepted as the truth and to imagine what is possible.

- Alvar Hanso, Address to the U.N. Security Council, 1967

Quotes

• Mr. Friendly: Just sit down, Jack. Nobody gonna hurt you. I come in peace.
• Mr. Friendly: Let me ask you something. How long you been here on the island?
  Jack: Fifty days.
  Mr. Friendly: Oooh, fifty days. That's, what, almost two whole months? Tell me, you go over to a man's house for the first time... Do you take off your shoes? Do you put your feet up on his coffee table? You walk into the kitchen and eat food that doesn't belong to you? Open the door to rooms you got no business opening? You know somebody a whole lot smarter than anybody here once said: 'Since the dawn of our species, man's been blessed with curiosity.' You know the other one about curiousity, don't you, Jack? This is not your island. This is our island. And the only reason you're living on it is 'cause we let you live on it.
• Mr. Friendly: We got a misunderstanding, Jack. Your people, my people. So listen carefully. Right here there's a line. You cross that line, we go from misunderstanding to... something else. Now give me your weapons, turn around, go home.

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