“Abandoned”
After Sayid makes a new shelter for Shannon, she invites him inside to spend the night. Finally, the two of them consummate their simmering passion. But later, after Sayid leaves to get some water, Shannon is surprised by another ghostly visit from Walt, still dripping wet and seemingly trying to warn her. She screams bloody murder but by the time Sayid rushes back, Walt is gone. Sayid tells the shaken Shannon that it was probably only a dream. Shannon believes otherwise and feels angry and hurt Sayid won’t believe her.
In flashback sequence, we get to see how Shannon became so callous. She wasn’t always. In fact, when we see her, she’s younger and happy, teaching ballet to girls. She even lands an internship with a prestigious dance company in New York. But then she’s hit with some awful news–her father has been killed in a car accident, leaving her to deal with her cold stepmother, who suddenly cuts Shannon off from any financial support. Boone tries to help, but we can see that Shannon has been pushed down a path that will change her forever.
Meanwhile, halfway across the island, Ana Lucia and Mr. Eko are leading what remains of their party on a trek to join our castaways and unite the clans. But they have to hurry. Sawyer’s infection is getting much worse–and the ever-present danger of the Others hovers around them. Then silently and without warning, another of their clan simply disappears. Mistrust and paranoia surge as they fight their way through the jungle and into the driving rain– never knowing they are on a collision course with tragedy just moments away.
Sayid tries desperately to connect with Shannon, who has resorted to using Vincent to try and track Walt. When he finally catches up to her in the jungle, she tells him she knows he thinks she’s crazy and that once they are rescued, he’ll leave her–because everyone leaves her.
But Sayid promises her that he will never leave her no matter what happens and that he believes her. In fact, he loves her, with all his heart. As they fall into an embrace, Sayid suddenly sees something that couldn’t be there. He sees Walt, confirming all of Shannon’s fears. She takes off after him into the jungle and it takes a moment for Sayid to jar himself into action. But that second is all it takes. A shot rings out, and Sayid finds Shannon stumbling towards him, shot in the chest. She falls into his arms and dies. When he looks up, Ana Lucia is standing there, with the smoking gun pointed right at them.
Life on this island just took another tragic turn.
