“The Other 48 Days”
We open on the beautiful beaches of our favorite island–but as the tail section of Oceanic Flight 815 comes hurtling out of the sky and crashes into the water, we know we are on the other side of the island.
Just as we saw in Lost’s series opener, chaos reigns as flaming pieces of fuselage and injured passengers are scattered everywhere. There are some familiar faces: Bernard, Libby and Cindy. Some new ones: Goodwin, Nathan. Mr. Eko carries a young girl named Emma from the water as her brother looks on, terrified. And then finally, Ana Lucia, who administers mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and saves Emma, promising to reunite the little girl with her mother. Fat chance.
That’s because this group of survivors have an entirely different 48 days on the island. As we watch those days unfold from the viewpoint of the Tailies, we learn that their existence has been very difficult. These people have been under attack and of the 23 that initially survived the crash, only four will make it.
The first attack happens at night, but Eko manages to kill the two strangers. Ana Lucia examines the bodies to find they have no keys, wallets or shoes. These people were obviously here before them. And while they deal with the terrifying fact that they are not alone on the island, three other survivors go missing. The Others are here.
Another attack and this time, they take the children. Ana Lucia pursues the attackers and ends up killing one of them during a struggle. She searches the body and finds a list of names and descriptions of every person who has been taken thus far. Someone among them is in cahoots with the Others. Evidence points to Nathan, a guy who seems to spend a lot of time away from the group and whom nobody remembers from the plane. Ana Lucia digs a hole and throws Nathan inside in an attempt to find out the truth. But when Goodwin lets him out, only to kill him seconds later, we realize that Nathan is not the culprit.
The group come across a bunker with the familiar Dharma logo and a radio inside. Ana Lucia and Goodwin hike to higher ground to try the radio, but we realize that Ana Lucia is starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Finally, she realizes Goodwin wasn’t wet the day they crashed, meaning he was never in the ocean. Yep, he’s one of them. He admits it and tells her the kids are fine, but then lunges for Ana Lucia, who kills him before she can get any further information. She returns to the bunker and declares that they are safe now.
And that’s when our two worlds begin to collide as we catch up to present day: Boone’s distress call comes over the radio, and Bernard responds with, “We’re the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815″; Jin washes ashore, followed by Sawyer and Michael; Michael, Jin and Sawyer are thrown into the familiar hole; the Others take Cindy; and finally, the fateful encounter with Shannon in the jungle that ends in a deadly gunshot.
