Sea. 1, Ep. 13: Hearts and Minds

The first episode on the agenda for the fourth week of the Lost Rewatch is the Boone-centric "Hearts and Minds." If you've forgotten about this particular episode and you're groaning because it centers around Boone, let me remind you that it's a sordid tale of semi-incestuous relations, psychedelic head-trips, and screwy compasses. That's right. This episode nearly has it all!

In the beginning, we revisit Locke and Boone and the hatch that they've discovered somewhere in the jungle. Locke has plans to patiently devise a scheme to break into the hatch, but he wants to test Boone before he takes on the young Padawan as his hatch-cracking apprentice. Locke knocks Boone out cold and ties him up in a complicated fashion. One of Boone's arms is in front of him, and the other is behind. Whenever he leans forward, a tremendous amount of pressure is placed on the shoulder of his rear arm. It looks like torture. Locke applies some strange paste that he concocted earlier to the fresh wound on the back of Boone's head, and then he plants a knife just out of his reach, telling him that he'll be able to cut himself free once he finds the "proper motivation."

That motivation comes in the form of Shannon's screams. He calls to her and learns that she's also been bound to a tree by Locke. He forces himself forward to barely grasp the knife and proceeds to cut himself free. Then he goes after his step-sister, in whom Smokey has apparently taken interest. He frees her and they run off. They evade the Smoke Monster for a while, and Boone spills the beans about the hatch (precisely what Locke didn't want him to do), but their luck eventually runs out and Shannon's snatched and mutilated by Smokey.

Boone seeks vengeance that night, finding Locke and attacking him for what he did. But wait a second! None of it happened! It turns out that Locke is somewhat of a shaman, and that strange paste that he placed on the open wound on Boone's head had some hallucinogenic properties. 'Twas all imagined in Boone's head. But he passed the test, because he tells Locke that he felt relieved when he came across Shannon's shredded corpse. For Locke, this means that he can trust that Boone will no longer desire to gab about the hatch to his step-sister. It appears that the young Padawan is ready to become a full-fledged Jedi.

Of course, I've neglected the flashbacks in my synopsis. They show what the two step-siblings were doing in Australia. Boone was there to rescue his cherished step-sister from an abusive boyfriend, something that he had apparently done on two other occasions. Why did he keep doing it? Boone had been "in love" with Shannon from an early age. And that's where the semi-incestuous part comes into play: they consummate their bizarre relationship by bumping uglies shortly before they get on the doomed flight.

We also hear a small bit about how Boone's mother (Shannon's step-mother) had gipped her out of a nice chunk of change. It's just a little piece of information to tuck away for now, because we'll later learn about the troubles that followed Shannon after her father died in a car accident.

Other notes:

• The first mention of a strange magnetism on the island. Locke gives Sayid a compass (saying he doesn't need it anymore) and Sayid soon finds that the directions are skewed. He shares the information with Jack, saying that only a large magnetic disturbance could cause such an aberration. Looks like the writers knew what would be contained in the hatch before we even got past the door!
• Kate learns of Sun's secret English abilities. While gardening with the Korean, our fugitive notices something in Sun's body language as she listens to Kate talk. Kate calls her on it, and Sun realizes that she can no longer keep it a secret from her. Of course, we still have to wait a little while for Jin to get wind of this.

Even though these early episodes follow a lot of different characters, I just can't shake my funny feelings about Locke. They continue in this episode. How does he know how to make his strange drug? How can he navigate the jungle without needing a compass any longer? The questions linger without any solid answers. I keep beating this dead horse, I know, but I won't be surprised to find out that Locke has never been the John Locke we thought we knew. Or the John Locke with whom we became acquainted through his flashbacks. Something's been odd from the beginning, and they might drop a larger Locke bomb on us next season than the one we saw at the end of the fifth season.

Thanks for reading. Please, comment away! It'd be a tremendous help to know how many people (if there are any) are stopping by to read my Lost thoughts!