Lost/The Man from Tallahassee

The Man from Tallahassee
Season 3, Episode 13
Airdate	March 21, 2007
Production Number	313
Written by	Drew Goddard Jeff Pinkner
Directed by	Jack Bender
← 3x12 Par Avion	3x14 → Exposé
Lost — Season Three

The Man from Tallahassee is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Lost, and the sixty-second episode overall.

Ben tries to persuade a determined Locke to call off his destructive plan by offering him some of the secrets of the island, and Kate's reunion with Jack does not go off as planned when she discovers that he has made a deal with "The Others."

Starring: Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond), Emilie de Ravin (Claire), Michael Emerson (Ben), Matthew Fox (Jack), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), Josh Holloway (Sawyer), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), Terry O'Quinn (Locke), Kiele Sanchez (Nikki), Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo).

Guest Starring: Kevin Tighe (Anthony Cooper), Nestor Carbonell (Richard Alpert), Mira Furlan (Rousseau), M.C. Gainey (Tom), Brian Goodman (Ryan Pryce), Cleo King (Government Worker), Tania Raymonde (Alex).

Co-Starring: Patrick J. Adams (Peter Talbot), Barbara Baehler (Mrs. Talbot), Marlene Forte (Detective Mason), Don Nahaku (Detective Reed), Stephen Bishop (Kincaid).

Plot Overview

The Island

• At the barracks, Locke, Sayid and Kate watch Jack playing catch with Tom until Juliet pulls him away to a building. As the group watches, Sayid notices Rousseau has left, but they keep their eye on Jack. Juliet brings a wheelchair-bound Ben out who shakes hands with Jack, and Locke realizes that the situation has become more complicated than originally anticipated. Kate and Sayid argue over whether or not Jack wants to be rescued, but Locke comes up with a plan to approach Jack under the cover of darkness and find out what's going on with him, rather than going in guns blazing.

  That night, with Jack alone in one of the houses, Locke tells Sayid to cover the front and for Kate to go in through the side while he goes around back. Sneaking inside the house, Kate finds Jack playing a piano and confronts him. Jack yells at her to leave and that he's being watched, motioning to a CCTV camera mounted on a wall, but two armed Others enter and subdue Kate. Two more Others bring a restrained Sayid inside. One of the Others questions Kate as to who else is with them and, after Jack tells her to answer him, Kate tells the man there is no one else.

  Kate is handcuffed and left on a pool table in an activity room. She manages to slip her handcuffs from her back to her front when Tom enters, telling her he didn't expect to see her again so soon. He lets Jack inside, gesturing to the presence of listening devices inside the room and telling him to be careful, and leaves. Jack pulls up a folding chair and the two talk. Kate asks him if he's with the Others now, but Jack tells her he's not with anyone. He reminds her that he told her not to come back for him, but Kate tells him she thought he didn't mean it. Jack tells her that he made a deal with the Others, that they're going to let him go home in the morning. Juliet enters and tells Jack they need to go, and leaves. As he leaves to follow her, Jack tells Kate that he wished she didn't come for him but he promises to come back to the island for her.

  Sayid is handcuffed to a swing set and guarded by an Other when Alex appears. She tells the Other her father sent her to get Sayid's pack. The Other, Ryan, gives her the pack. As she leaves, Sayid asks her if she's Alex and tells her he knows her name because she looks like her mother. Alex tells him her mother is dead, but Sayid tells her that's only what the Others told her. Ryan hits Sayid in the ribs to shut him up and orders Alex to leave.

  After Locke has left to blow up the submarine, Jack and Juliet arrive at Ben's house so Jack can ask him another favor. He wants Ben to let his friends go after he leaves, and if Ben says no that would stop him from leaving. Knowing that Locke is going to destroy the submarine, Ben agrees to let Kate and Sayid go as soon as Jack leaves the island. Juliet thanks Ben for keeping his promise and they leave.

• Inside Ben's house at night, Ben hears something and turns on a reading lamp by his bed. Locke emerges from the shadows, gun drawn, and tells Ben to keep his voice down. Ben offers to tell him where Jack is, but Locke tells him he isn't looking for Jack - he's looking for the submarine. Ben feigns ignorance, but Locke tells him Mikhail told him all about the submarine right before he killed him. Alex calls for Ben at his bedroom door, but Locke grabs her and holds her hostage when Tom knocks on the front door. Locke hides in a closet with Alex as Tom enters, telling Ben that Kate and Sayid are at the barracks and somehow found them. Ben orders Tom to split them up and find out how the two found the barracks. After Tom leaves, Ben orders Richard to bring him the man from Tallahassee. After the men leave, Locke orders Alex to bring him back a pack Sayid is carrying. Ben tells him that his daughter currently hates him, but Alex agrees to do what Locke asks.

  After she leaves, Ben asks Locke to help him into his wheelchair. He asks Locke what's in his pack, deducing that if he met Mikhail then he was in the communications station and found the C-4 explosives, and is planning on using the explosives to blow up the submarine. In his wheelchair, Ben tells Locke that it was difficult being in the hatch with him all that time, unable to ask him how he was walking again lest he reveal his true identity. Locke simply tells him, now that he knows who he really is, to ask him now. Ben eagerly asks Locke if it was immediate the moment he arrived on the island, and Locke tells him it was. Locke then realizes Ben is wondering why it hasn't happened for him, why he isn't healing as fast as he would like.

  Locke and Ben go into Ben's living room and Ben offers Locke some leftovers in the refrigerator. Ben tells Locke that if the submarine is destroyed then he has a big problem with his people, which only makes Locke wonder how that would make him not want to blow it up. He tells Locke that he was born on the island whereas most of his people were recruited and brought to the island. As much as his people love the island and would do anything to defend it, they need to know they can leave whenever they want - the sub maintains that illusion. They want to be on the island, but some of them are not ready to make a full "commitment" yet. Ben offers to show Locke things he knows Locke wants to see very badly. He asks Locke to picture a very large box on the island and whatever you imagined would appear inside it. Locke rejects Ben's overture and tells him he's cheating, that he and his people could communicate with the outside world whenever they want to, could come and go as they please, use electricity and running water and guns. He believes Ben is a hypocrite and doesn't deserve to be on the island as he doesn't know what the island really is. Agitated as to how Locke is speaking to him like that when he's lived on the island his entire life, Ben asks him how he thinks he knows the island better than he does. In response, Locke simply tells him he's the one in the wheelchair while he's not.

  Alex returns with the pack, and Locke tells the two that Alex is going to take him to the sub and then he'll release her. Before they leave, Ben tells him that he made a deal with Jack. In less than an hour, Jack is going to leave the island on the submarine and it's a one-way ticket. The anomaly wiped out their communications with the outside world and the sub can never return to the island. Whether Locke destroys the submarine or lets Jack leave on it the end result is the same - no one is going to find the island. Locke decides to continue on his current course of action and leaves. Outside, Alex tells him that her father is manipulating him as that's what he does, manipulate people. She leads Locke to a dock with the submarine and Locke lets her go, apologizing for getting her involved. Alex heads back to the barracks as Rousseau watches from a distance. Locke descends into the submarine and finds it empty. As Jack and Juliet, with armed Others escorting them, arrive at the dock to go home, they find Locke walking down the dock from the submarine. The Others order Locke to his knees and Jack asks him what he's doing there. Locke apologizes to Jack as the submarine explodes behind him.

  Locke is handcuffed to an overhead pipe and left alone until Richard brings Ben to see him. Locke tells Ben that he doesn't have to pretend to be disappointed anymore about the submarine being destroyed, as they both know he wanted it to happen and that's why he left the C-4 in Sayid's bag. Ben orders Richard to uncuff Locke. He tells Locke that he was shaking hands with Jack and thinking he would give anything to stop him from leaving, because letting him go would be a sign of weakness, failure and defeat. People would see that and know it, and that would be the end of him. On the other hand, he couldn't kill Jack because his people heard him make a promise and, to break his word, that would be the end of him, too. But then Locke came striding out of the jungle and made Ben's dreams a reality. Locke sarcastically asks him if he's going to start talking about the magic box again, but Ben tells him he's going to show him what came out of it. Traveling down a hallway, Ben tells Locke that he wanted to know how Locke felt when his own father tried to kill him, because his father is the reason he destroyed the submarine. He believes Locke has some kind of communion with the island and that makes him very, very important. Locke doesn't understand what he's talking about when referencing the island, but Ben offers to help him understand. Asked why he's offering to help, Ben tells Locke that he's in a wheelchair while Locke isn't. He has Richard open a door and inside is Locke's father.

The Flashback

• Flashback: Locke

Locke is in an office being questioned by a government worker. Asked if he has considered seeking out his biological parents, Locke tells her he doesn't see how the question is relevant. The worker tells him its relevant because she has to figure out if his condition has improved in order to determine if the government is going to continue paying him disability insurance. Noting that Locke has stopped submitting his therapy bills for reimbursement, the worker is told he stopped going because he believed it was a waste of time. In response, the worker temporarily suspends his benefits and tells him they'll continue once he resumes his therapy sessions for his depression.

At his small apartment, Locke is eating a TV dinner while watching TV when he hears a knock at his door. The young man at the door identifies himself as Peter Talbot and asks to speak to Locke, grabbing Locke's attention by asking how many kidneys he has. Continuing their conversation inside, Peter tells Locke that his mother met a man named Adam Seward, a retired computer programmer from Ontario, two months ago and fell in love. After his mother agreed to marry Adam, Peter thought something was wrong and checked up on Adam, discovering that he was named Anthony Cooper and was the recipient of a kidney transplant from Locke. Locke tells Peter that it was an anonymous donation and he never met the man.

At a flower shop, Locke finds Cooper with Mrs. Talbot as they shop for flowers for their wedding. Cooper notices his son watching and excuses himself, heading over to talk with Locke. He asks how he found out about the wedding and Locke tells him the woman's son found him and asked him why he donated a kidney. Locke surmises that Cooper is conning Mrs. Talbot; marrying her only for her money. He's not going to let Cooper ruin the Talbots' lives, and threatens to tell her the truth if he doesn't call off the engagement. Cooper agrees to Locke's terms and leaves.

Locke pulls into his apartment complex and heads to his apartment when two detectives approach him. Detective Mason asks him if he knows a man named Peter Talbot, but Locke tells her he doesn't know him. Detective Reed gives out some physical stats and Detective Mason tells him they believe Peter was at his apartment two days ago. Locke tells them that Peter was a solicitor and he sent him away, but Detective Mason tells Locke that Peter's family is worth over $200 million and is curious as to what Peter was doing as a solicitor. Locke tells the detectives he doesn't know the man, but Detective Mason questions him as to why Peter had Locke's name and address in his pocket. Wondering why they would be looking through Peter's pockets, Locke learns that Peter is dead.

Locke goes to Cooper's apartment to confront him over Peter Talbot's death. Cooper asks him why he would kill Peter, seeing as how he's been conning people for a long time and isn't about to sweat some rich kid. Locke demands to know why Cooper is still with Mrs. Talbot and is told that Cooper didn't end his relationship, that he was trying to find an angle to get some money out of her before he skipped town. But Peter died and his plan got shot to hell because of it. Mrs. Talbot called off the wedding, so there's no longer any profit in it for him. He tells Locke that he's a con man, not a murderer. Not satisfied with his father's answer, Locke wants to know that, if he called Mrs. Talbot, would she verify Cooper's claim of the wedding being called off. Cooper motions towards a telephone but, with Locke off his guard, Cooper knocks his son through a window and down eight stories to the ground below.

Alive from the fall, Locke is in a hospital with the two detectives. Detective Mason tells him that his father fled to Mexico after their encounter and has disappeared. Locke's physical therapist enters the room and ushers the detectives out, telling them Locke has a busy day ahead of him. The therapist brings out a wheelchair and tells Locke it's time to get himself out of bed. Locke tells him he can't do it, but the man reminds Locke he fell eight stories and survived, so he doesn't want to hear what he can't do. The therapist picks Locke up and places him in the wheelchair before stepping out. Alone and confined to the wheelchair, Locke cries to himself.

Notes

Mysteries

• What is the metaphorical box Ben spoke of?
• Why is Ben not healing faster?
• Is Anthony Cooper really on the island?

Answers

• Locke was in a wheelchair because his father threw him out of an eighth floor window. (1x04 - Walkabout)
• Ben is the real "bad" Other. (3x05 - The Cost of Living)
• Locke took the C-4 because he thought it might be useful against the Others. (3x12 - Par Avion)

The Cursed Numbers

• Locke was living at 168 San Juan St. #201, Tustin, CA 92780. 16 and 8 are two of the numbers.
• Locke fell 8 stories and survived.

Scrutiny

• Lost Time: When Alex returns with Sayid's pack, the clock behind Ben changes time between shots. This is more than likely a simple production error.
• Geography: Alex leads Locke through the jungle and to a dock with the submarine. However, in "Enter 77", Mikhail noted that the security system encircled the barracks and the map from the Flame backed up his statement. Alex and Locke would have had to travel through the security system and quite a distance away from the barracks to get to the ocean and the sub. It is possible the two used the subterranean passages marked on the map of the barracks and this was simply not shown, but whatever method would also have been accessible to Rousseau as she was able to make her way to the coast to watch Alex leave.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Kate's rescue attempt goes bad and she is captured with Sayid.
• Locke uses the C-4 from the Flame to destroy the Others' submarine.
• Ben was honoring his promise to let Jack and Juliet return home, but they are stuck on the island after Locke destroyed the sub.

Characters

• Rousseau sees her daughter for the first time in sixteen years.
• Alex is told that her mother is alive.
• Locke's father is apparently on the island.

Referbacks

• 1x01 - Pilot, Part 1: Ben asks Locke if his legs were healed immediately the moment he arrived on the island. Locke was able to walk immediately after the crash in "Pilot, Part 1."
• 2x07 - The Other 48 Days: Kate asks Jack if the kids are safe. Two kids were taken by the Others in "The Other 48 Days."
• 2x14 - One of Them: Ben tells Locke it was hard being in the hatch all that time and not being able to question Locke as to how he was walking again. Ben was captured and brought to the Swan in "One of Them."
• 2x23 - Live Together, Die Alone: Ben tells Locke that an anomaly wiped out their communications with the outside world and the sub can't return to the island. The anomaly Ben is referring to is the activation of the Swan's fail-safe device in "Live Together, Die Alone."
• 3x01 - A Tale of Two Cities: While trying to figure out why Jack is acting friendly towards the Others, Kate tells Sayid that they were drugged when the Others captured them. In "A Tale of Two Cities", Kate noticed an injection mark on her arm that was covered with a bandage when she woke up at the Hydra.
• 3x06 - I Do: Jack tells Kate that he trusts the Others because she told him to when she asked him to save Sawyer's life. In "I Do", Kate was brought to see Jack to convince him to perform the operation on Ben. She told them they were going to kill Sawyer but, if he performed the operation, they would let them all go.
• 3x07 - Not in Portland: Jack reminds Kate that he told her not to come back for him. In "Not in Portland", Jack tried to make Kate promise him not to come back for him.
• 3x12 - Par Avion: Locke tells Ben that Mikhail told him about the submarine before he killed them. These two events transpired in "Par Avion."

Trivia

The Show

• Missing in Action: Desmond, Claire, Hurley, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Charlie, Nikki and Paulo do not appear in this episode.
• MacCutcheon: Cooper pours a glass of MacCutcheon whiskey for Locke before throwing him through a window. MacCutcheon was Charles Widmore's whiskey of choice and seen in "Flashes Before Your Eyes" both on and off the island.
• Gold Car: When Locke talks to his father at the florist, a gold Pontiac drives by in the background. A gold Pontiac nearly hit Locke in the parking lot of his place of work in "Deux Ex Machina", a gold Pontiac struck Michael Dawson and sent him to a hospital in "Special" and a gold Pontiac collided with Tom Brennan's car that Kate was driving while attempting to flee the police in "Born to Run."

Behind the Scenes

• Music: The music played as Locke descends into and explores the submarine is "The U-Boat", a track from the Medal of Honor soundtrack. This soundtrack is by Michael Giacchino, the composer for Lost.
• Location, Location, Location: The Others' barracks is YMCA Camp Erdman in Waialua, HI. Locke's apartment complex is located on the corner of Laau St. and Date St. in Honolulu, HI. The Others' submarine dock is located at the Moli'i Fish Pond at Kualoa Ranch, a 4,000 acre working cattle ranch in Kaaawa, HI.

Allusions and References

• A Brief History of Time: A Brief History of Time is seen in Ben's house. The book was written by Professor Stephen Hawking and first published in 1988. The book attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes and superstring theory, to the nonspecialist reader.
• Admiral MacCutcheon: Cooper pours a glass of MacCutcheon whiskey for Locke. In "Enter 77", Charles Widmore says that MacCutcheon whiskey is named after Admiral MacCutcheon, an admiral in the Royal Navy who retired with more medals than anyone before or since. Admiral McCutcheon is a character in the 1997 TV movie remake of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Lost actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje played a character in this remake.

Quotes

• Locke: Where do you get electricity?
  Ben: We have two giant hamsters running in a massive wheel in our secret underground lair.
  Locke: Yeah, that's funny.
  Ben: There's leftovers in the refrigerator, help yourself. I ate most of the dark meat. Sorry.
• Ben: I know you think you need to do this, John. But if you blow up my submarine, I have a big problem with my people.
  Locke: Is that supposed to be an incentive not to blow it up?
  Ben: I was born on this island. Not many of my people can say that. Most of them were recruited and brought here. And as much as they love this place, as much as they would do anything to defend it, they need to know they can leave if they want to. The sub maintains that illusion.
  Locke: So you're lying to them.
  Ben: No. They're here because they want to be here. Some of them are just not ready to make a full... commitment... yet. But you, John... You've already made that commitment. And now you have a choice, because if you stop and if you think, I can show you things. Things I know you want to see very badly. Let me put it so you understand. Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don't you, John? What if I told you somewhere on this island there's a very large box. And whatever you imagined, whatever you wanted to be in it... when you opened that box there it would be. What would you say about that, John?
  Locke: I'd say I hope that box is big enough to imagine yourself up a new submarine.
  Ben: Why are you so angry, John?
  Locke: Because you're cheating. You and your people communicate with the outside world whenever you want to. You come and go as you please. You use electricity and running water and guns. You're a hypocrite. A pharisee. You don't deserve to be on this island. If you had any idea what this place really was, you wouldn't be putting chicken in your refrigerator.
  Ben: You've been here eighty days, John. I've been here my entire life. So how is it that you think you know this island better than I do?
  Locke: Because you're in a wheelchair... and I'm not.
• Ben: You remember earlier, John, when you called me a cheater? When you said I didn't deserve to live on this island? Well get this. There I was, shaking hands with Jack and thinking I would give almost anything to come up with a way to stop him from leaving because to let him go would be a sign of weakness, of failure, of defeat. People would see that, they would know it, and that, John, would be the end of me. But to kill him... That would be cheating. Because my people also heard me make a promise and to break my word... that would be the end of me, too. And then you came striding out of the jungle, John, to make my dream come true.
  Locke: You're not going to start talking about the "magic box" again, are you?
  Ben: No, John. I'm going to show you what came out of it. When I asked you earlier if it hurt when you suffered your injury, I think you misunderstood me. Seems fairly obvious that when a person's back smashes into a hard surface after being thrown from a building it's going to sting a little. But I wasn't really asking you about the physical pain.
  Locke: What? You want to know if it hurt my feelings?
  Ben: No, John. I wanted to know what it felt like when your own father tried to kill you. He's the reason you destroyed the submarine, isn't he? You're afraid. You're afraid of him and this is the one place he can never find you. This is the one place he can never get to.
  Locke: What do you want from me?
  Ben: I don't know how it happened. But you seem to have some communion with this island, John, and that makes you very, very important. You have no idea what you're talking about, of course, but in time you'll have a better understanding of things. So what do I want? I want to help you, John.
  Locke: Why?
  Ben: Because I'm in a wheelchair and you're not. Are you ready to see?