LOST: Down the Hatch | Season 1, Episode 5: “White Rabbit”

LOST: Down the Hatch | Season 1, Episode 5: “White Rabbit” Josh Wigler (@roundhoward) and Mike Bloom (@AMikeBloomType) sprint off after ghosts in the jungle in their quest to make sense of “White Rabbit,” the fifth hour of ABC’s LOST.   In the latest Down the Hatch, Josh and Mike follow the good doctor Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), who stands front and center in his very first flashback episode. After shaking up the format of the podcast a little bit (see if you notice!) but not enough to impact the time limit (cue the wheel spin!), Josh and Mike dig deep into Jack’s emotional experience reconciling with the death of his father and the weight of their tense relationship, how those themes impact not only that character and the series at large but the podcasters themselves, and much more. A refresher on the plot of “White Rabbit” … In “White Rabbit,” Jack embarks on a race through the forest after laying eyes upon his father, Christian Shephard (John Terry). Only one problem with that: Christian died in Sydney, days before Oceanic 815 took flight. Jack’s bewildered trek through the island sees him recalling his turbulent past with his father, hanging off a cliff and hanging onto his sanity. On both of those latter counts, Jack finds help in the form of John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), the men of faith and science engaging in a conversation that is quietly one of the best scenes in all of LOST.   Back at the beach camp, water becomes a critical issue as a woman drowns in the ocean and the rest of the survivors’ drinking supply dwindles down to nothing — first because of their own drinking needs, and then because “some git nicked it,” as Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) puts it. The thief in question: Boone (Ian Somerhalder), who steps in for Sawyer (Josh Holloway) as the most hated man on the beach. But before everyone can eviscerate Boone, in comes Jack with the iconic “live together die alone” speech, a phrase that echoes throughout LOST forever more from that moment onward.   “White Rabbit” was directed by Kevin Hooks and written by Christian Taylor. It first aired on October 20, 2004. About Down the Hatch … LOST: Down the Hatch is a full-tilt spoiler-filled rewatch of LOST. Every week, Josh and Mike break down an episode of LOST with the benefit of knowing the series’ full trajectory, using the following structure as a guide: We Go “Fourth” – Josh and Mike begin each podcast with a deep-dive into the story both in front of and behind the camera, and they do so with the assistance of… 8 Sounds – The events of LOST pop right off the camera and straight into your ears with eight memorable moments replayed on the podcast, helping us guide through the story; 15/16 Others – Josh and Mike answer questions and comments sent their way through the official e-mail address: [email protected]; 23 Points – Each week, Josh and Mike hand out points for the best and worst characters of the episode in question, in a foolhardy attempt to determine the most and least valuable players in the LOST pantheon; 4.2 Stars – Josh and Mike will attempt to create an official Down the Hatch ranking of every episode of LOST, by rating them all on a scale from 0 – 4.2. Josh and Mike will offer their individual scores, listeners’ scores will be averaged as a third data point, then the three points will be combined for the podcast’s official score on each episode. Each episode of Down the Hatch clocks in at no less than 42 minutes. If it clocks in at longer than 108 minutes, Josh and Mike have triggered a crisis! Consequences may (and almost certainly will) ensue thanks to the Frozen Donkey Wheel. Additional reading/listening/viewing from the podcast: LOST Soundtrack Analysis – 1×05 “White Rabbit” (Jim Fels) David Fury on Genre Smash! (Writers Guild Foundation) More on Watership Down and how it relates to LOST (Lostpedia) Watership Down on Amazon (in case you want to read along with Josh) The 23 Points Tracker (Felipe Chamon on Twitter) The Sawyer Nickname Tracker (Patricia Riley on Twitter) Various other Down the Hatch tracking items (Jordan from Wisconsin on Google) Previous Down the Hatch episodes: In Which We Go Back Last Call Before the Rewatch Season 1, Episodes 1 + 2: “Pilot, Part 1 + 2” Season 1, Episode 3: “Tabula Rasa” Season 1, Episode 4: “Walkabout” RPG Episode #1: “Autopilot”