This article is about the episode. For the in-show event, see The Incident (event). For the orchestral piece, see "The Incident" (composition).



"The Incident, Parts 1 & 2" are the 16th and 17th episode of Season 5 of Lost, the finale of Season 5, and the 102nd and 103rd produced hours of the series as a whole. It was originally broadcast on May 13, 2009. Jack's decision to put a plan in action in order to set things right on the Island is met with some strong resistance by those close to him, and Locke assigns Ben a difficult task.

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Synopsis

Previously on Lost

Daniel tells Jack and Kate that the DHARMA Initiative are tapping into a massive pocket of energy that will one day cause Oceanic Flight 815 to crash on the Island. His plan to prevent that from happening is to destroy said energy by detonating a hydrogen bomb. (" The Variable ")

Flashbacks

Jacob

In 1867, a blond man (dressed in a white shirt and black pants) is in a stone-columned room, spinning thread for a tapestry he is weaving and using a long-bladed knife as a beater. Outside on the beach, he snares a fish and cooks it on a rock over a fire. As he eats, he watches a ship on the horizon: the Black Rock. Another man (dressed in a black shirt and gray pants) approaches him. He asks how the ship found the Island and accuses the blond man of having brought it there. He declares that one day he will find a "loophole" which will allow him to kill the blond man. The blond man appears unperturbed, promising in return: "When you do, I'll be right here." The man in the black shirt says, "Always nice talking to you, Jacob" and walks away, as the statue is finally shown in its colossal entirety, revealing it to depict Tawaret, the Egyptian goddess of fertility. ♪





Kate

Sometime in the late 1980s, a young Kate instructs her friend Tom on their upcoming mission. ♪ The two enter a general store and Kate attempts to steal a lunchbox. While at first it seems as if she has succeeded, she's caught on her way out the door by the shopkeeper, Mr. Springer, who threatens to call the police and her mother. Jacob appears behind Kate and offers to pay for the lunchbox, which satisfies the shopkeeper, who warns Kate never to return to the store without her parents. ♪ Jacob then makes Kate promise to never steal again. She agrees and Jacob teasingly touches her nose. ♪



Jacob lends James a pen.





Sawyer

In 1976, a funeral is being held for Mrs. and Mr. Ford. A young James Ford quietly looks on as their coffins are loaded into hearses. ♪ James is beginning his letter to Anthony Cooper, known to him as Tom Sawyer. Jacob approaches James and grazes his fingers as he hands him a pen to replace his own, which has just run out of ink. Immediately after Jacob's departure, James' uncle Doug prompts him to get ready to leave for the cemetery. Doug reads the first half of the letter James wrote and tells him he shouldn't seek revenge but move on, because "what's done is done." ♪



Jacob distracts Sayid while Nadia is hit by a speeding car.





Sayid

In 2005, Sayid and Nadia walk through Los Angeles. Jacob approaches Sayid and asks him for directions, mentioning that he is "lost." Nadia continues across the street, where a car hits her. Jacob touches Sayid's shoulder, then Sayid runs to her side as the driver drives away. As she lies mortally wounded on the street, she asks Sayid in Arabic to take her home. ♪



Jacob sees Ilana in the hospital.





Ilana

Sometime prior to 2007, Ilana lies in a hospital bed in Russia, heavily bandaged, when a nurse arrives and informs her that a person has come to visit her; she insists that Ilana should see him as he is her first visitor. Jacob arrives and apologizes to her in Russian for not visiting earlier. In English, he asks her to help him and she says she will. He is not shown making physical contact with her, but he is shown wearing black gloves.



Jacob visits John immediately after his fall from an eighth floor window.





Locke

In 2000, Jacob is reading a book on a bench outside a building in Tustin, California. Behind him, John Locke falls to the ground after being pushed out of an eighth story window by Anthony Cooper. As bystanders rush to the scene, Jacob calmly closes his book and approaches John. John appears to have died on impact, but when Jacob touches his shoulder, Locke gasps and opens his eyes. Jacob tells him everything will be all right and he is sorry this has happened. ♪

Jin and Sun

At their wedding, Jin and Sun exchange vows. Jin claims that being separated from his wife would be much like the Earth being separated from the sky. ♪ At the reception, after being congratulated by Sun's aunt, Jacob approaches and says he wants to give them his blessing. Touching each one of them on the shoulder with each of his hands, he tells them in Korean that their love is special and not to take it for granted. After he leaves, both are perplexed at exactly who he was, though Jin remarks that his Korean was excellent. ♪



Following a heated discussion with his father, Jack speaks to Jacob.





Jack

While performing his first solo surgery in residency, Jack accidentally nicks the patient's dural sac. He begins to panic, but Christian tells him to count to five and get a grip. ♪ Later, after his Apollo Bar gets stuck in the vending machine, Jack is angry at Christian for embarrassing him in front of his team. Christian implies that Jack doesn't have faith in himself. ♪ As Jack starts to walk away, Jacob offers him the candy bar retrieved from the machine. He grazes Jack's hand as he hands it over and says, "I guess it needed a little push." ♪



Young Juliet and Rachel learn of their parents' divorce.





Juliet

Juliet's father and mother tell her and Rachel they have to talk about something important. Rachel is upset and tells Juliet their parents are getting a divorce. They say they love each other but are just not meant to be together. Juliet is enraged and runs off, refusing their offers to help her cope. She cannot understand how two people can love each other but not stay together. Her mother tells her she will understand when she is older, but Juliet shouts that she does not want to. ♪

Hurley



Jacob gives Hugo the info he needs to get back to the Island.

In 2007, Hurley is being released from prison. He tries to convince the prison clerk that he shouldn't be released because he is a murderer, but the uninterested clerk states that the discharge form says he has been cleared, "so take your stuff and go". Hurley continues to protest, but the clerk merely directs him to the cab stand outside. ♪ Hurley hops into one, which he soon realizes is already occupied; he apologizes and makes to get another, but the passenger Jacob says he's only going a few blocks and offers to share. Hurley gets in; on the seat between them is a guitar case. After establishing that Jacob was not in prison, Hurley asks why he was waiting in a cab outside of one, to which he responds, "I was waiting for you, Hugo". Hurley then assumes that Jacob must be one of the dead people he sees and talks with, but Jacob assures him that he is not dead. He asks Hurley why he won't go back to the island. Hurley says he believes he is cursed and has caused all of the death and tragedy that has surrounded him: "That's why the plane crashed, my friends died, Libby, Charlie... and now they visit me, and I can't make it stop". ♪ Jacob rhetorically asks him to consider that perhaps the ability to speak with his dead friends could also be seen as a blessing, since he gets to "talk to the people [he's] lost", to which Hurley responds that it would be wonderful if he wasn't crazy. Jacob assures Hurley that he is not crazy. Hurley mulls over this for a moment before asking, "Who are you, dude?" Jacob responds by telling the cab driver, "I'm just up here, on the corner". He then tells Hurley about Ajira Flight 316 and says all he has to do is be on that plane. He touches Hurley on the shoulder and reminds him that it is his choice. As Jacob leaves the cab, Hurley tells him he left his guitar. Jacob says it's not his guitar and walks away. ♪

On the Island

1977

Kate, Juliet and Sawyer are on the submarine leaving the Island. ♪ Kate convinces Juliet and Sawyer they need to stop Jack from detonating a hydrogen bomb on the island. They manage to break free and force the captain to surface, telling him to continue on his course as soon as they leave the submarine. ♪ When they arrive on the Island, they are greeted by Vincent the dog, who has been in the care of Rose and Bernard for the past three years. Rose explains that she and Bernard are now retired and live a quiet life in their cabin near the beach, scavenging food and avoiding detection from the DHARMA Initiative. Bernard says all he and Rose care about is being together. When he says this, Juliet sees Sawyer look at Kate. Juliet insists they need to get to the Barracks and Rose points them in the right direction. ♪



Roger fires at Jack and Sayid.

Meanwhile, in the tunnels under the Barracks, Jack and Sayid dismantle the hydrogen bomb in order to remove its core, which is the crucial explosive. ♪ Sayid explains that he will be able to modify the bomb core so that it will detonate on impact. Richard Alpert and Eloise Hawking assist Jack and Sayid in entering the Barracks via the basement of Horace and Amy's house. ♪ Eloise is about to enter the basement to secure the area, but Richard knocks her out because she is pregnant and he doesn't want her traveling with them to detonate the bomb. He leaves Sayid and Jack on their own. There is a lot of activity outside, so Sayid dons one of Horace's DHARMA jumpsuits in order to blend in. However, as they cross the quadrangle, Roger Linus recognizes and shoots him in the stomach. A gunfight follows, but Jack and Sayid escape with Jin and Miles in a van driven by Hurley, who drives toward the construction site of the Swan while Jack treats Sayid's wounds. ♪ Hurley stops the van when he sees Juliet, Sawyer and Kate standing in his way. ♪♪



Sawyer and Juliet argue over her sudden change of mind.

Jack and Sawyer discuss the situation away from the other survivors. Sawyer expresses his opinion that "what's done is done" and that they shouldn't try to change the past. Jack argues it is his destiny to change the past and that John Locke has always been right about the island. ♪ Jack and Sawyer get into a fistfight, which is broken up by Juliet, who now agrees with Jack. ♪ When Sawyer asks what changed her mind, she tells him it was the way he looked at Kate. She tells him that although they love each other, they are not meant to be together, and that if they never meet, it means she will never have to lose him. ♪

Jack views the construction site, noting that the incident is about to happen. Jack pleads Kate for her support, which she gives him after his argument that preventing the plane crash is the best way for Aaron to be reunited with Claire, and that nothing in his life "has ever felt so right". With everyone now agreeing on the upcoming plan, Jack enters the construction site of the Swan station at the same time security officer Phil arrives with a team of armed men. On the orders of Radzinsky, Dr. Pierre Chang reluctantly continues drilling into the energy source beneath the construction site.

The other 1977 survivors assist Jack in taking the Swan site. As Jack sneaks into the area he is spotted by Phil, who begins shooting at Jack. To Radzinsky's surprise, a DHARMA van speeds into the gunfight, and Kate, Juliet, Miles, and Sawyer jump out and cover Jack. ♪ Sawyer grabs Phil and holds him hostage, telling Pierre Chang to stop the drill. Chang responds that he can't, since the drill is being pulled into the shaft by itself. ♪ Radzinsky shouts that the drill has hit the pocket of electromagnetism. As the gunfire stops, Jack drops the bomb's core into the drilling shaft, but nothing happens. ♪♪ Suddenly, a strange noise emanates from the site, a puff of steam shoots out of the shaft, and small magnetic objects like handguns and tools begin getting pulled into the hole. The energy grows and pulls larger objects like wheelbarrows, oil drums, and iron beams; Jack is hit over the head by a flying toolbox. The large drilling apparatus collapses, crushing Chang's hand; he is rescued by Miles and flees the site. ♪ Radzinsky and his men try to drive away in a jeep, but the magnetism topples the car and prevents them from escaping. Phil retrieves his weapon and smugly prepares to execute an unarmed Sawyer, but metal scaffolding falls on top of him and a flying rebar impales him, killing him. A heavy metal chain is pulled toward the shaft, wrapping itself around Juliet and taking her with it. Sawyer and Kate rush to her assistance, but their attempts to pull her out of the hole are futile, and she plunges down the shaft. ♪♪♪



A severely injured Juliet pounds Jughead's core with a rock.



Jack regains consciousness and helps Kate pull a distraught Sawyer off the wreckage of the drilling apparatus, which collapses into the shaft. In a pocket underneath the wreckage, a severely injured Juliet sees the bomb lying next to her, cushioned by the mud. She picks up a rock and hits the hydrogen bomb's fission core eight times until a flash of white and the noise of an explosion end the episode. ♪♪

2007

Richard leads Locke, Ben, Sun, and the Others toward the remains of the four-toed statue, where Jacob resides. ♪ Locke assigns Ben the task of killing Jacob and provides motivation by reminding Ben of the all the bad things that have happened to him. On the way, Richard addresses his skepticism to Locke, stating that though the Island has done miraculous things, it has never brought someone back to life. Locke counters that he has never seen a man that has never aged, which Richard attributes to Jacob. Claiming he wants to thank Jacob, Locke tells Richard that they must also "take care of" the other Ajira passengers. When asked, Locke simply answers, "You know what I mean." The group stops to take a brief break at the Oceanic survivors' old campsite. Sun sees the crib Locke made for Aaron, and when she turns it over she finds Charlie's ring. ♪ As Ben sits in solitude, Locke approaches him and notes the remnant of the hatch door behind them. Ben asks why it must be he who kills Jacob. ♪ Locke reminds Ben of all his misfortunes he had in the name of Jacob, a man he has never even met: "So the question is, Ben, why the hell wouldn't you want to kill Jacob?"

At the same time, a group of survivors from Ajira Flight 316, including Ilana and Bram, paddle a canoe to the main Island, bringing with them Frank Lapidus and a giant metal crate from the cargo of the plane. When Frank wakes, they tell him he may be a "candidate" and could be a friend to them. They open the crate. Frank is dismayed by what's inside. The group travels to Jacob's cabin, where they find the ring of ash disturbed. ♪ Ilana enters the cabin and finds it in disarray, deserted except for a scrap of cloth bearing a picture of the statue. Ilana tells the others that "he isn't there" and that someone else has been using it. She orders the cabin be set on fire, and the group proceeds to the statue.



The crate is revealed to hold the real, dead John Locke.

At the remains of the statue, Locke and Ben appear to be surprised when Richard tells them that this is where Jacob lives. ♪♪ Sun asks Ben what happened to the rest of the statue. Ben says he doesn't know, although Sun doesn't believe him.

As twilight falls, Locke demands to be led to Jacob. He brings Ben with him against Richard's wishes. Richard pushes a stone door open, and Ben and Locke enter a chamber in the base of statue. Locke hands Ben a knife, telling him that "things will change" once Jacob is gone. Ben looks up through an opening in the roof at the remaining foot of the statue.



Jacob falls against Ben after being stabbed and touches Ben's arm. (promotional still)

Outside, the Ajira group arrives, and Ilana asks for "Ricardus." She asks him, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Richard replies in Latin, "Ille qui nos omnes servabit" ("He who will save us all"). Ilana reveals the contents of the crate: John Locke's dead body, which Ilana's crew found in the cargo hold of Ajira 316. Sun asks, "If that's Locke, then who is in there?"

Inside the chamber, Jacob immediately recognizes the true identity of Locke's impersonator and remarks, "Well, I guess you found your loophole." ♪ The impostor replies that he had indeed, and that he's gone through a lot to be there.



A dying Jacob reveals to "Locke" that "they're coming."

Jacob tells Ben that no matter what he has been told, he still has a choice, that he can simply leave so the two adversaries can discuss their "issues." ♪ Ben asks Jacob about all the times he was neglected and ignored despite his faithful service, complains that Locke was the favored one, and asks, "What about me?" Jacob's only reply is, "What about you?" After hearing this Ben snaps and stabs Jacob twice. ♪ At this point, Jacob touches Ben. Jacob whispers to Locke's impersonator, "They're coming." The impersonator rolls Jacob into the fire pit in the center of the room, where he starts to burn. ♪♪





Trivia





Production notes



The inverted title as seen after Juliet detonates the hydrogen bomb.





Bloopers and continuity errors

There's no possible way Richard could have broken through a stone wall, with a block wall behind it, in only six blows with a sledgehammer. While concrete blocks are easily breakable, this is not the case once they are cemented together. Cementing them together solidifies them and makes breaking them extremely difficult, even for a jack hammer or kango.

As Jack and Sayid are leaving the Barracks, immediately after Roger shoots Sayid, Jack fires 11 or 12 rounds without reloading from a 1911-style .45, which typically uses a magazine that carries only seven rounds (plus one in the chamber).

During Kate's flashback to the 1980s, bottles of Malibu Tropical Banana and Absolut 100 Black can be seen on the shelf. Both products were not introduced until 2007. Additionally, a modern looking stereo system is visible in the background.

As Ilana's team reaches Jacob's cabin, the bald member of the team is seen shouldering his rifle with both hands. A split second later, he's seen lowering the crate containing Locke's body with three other members of the team.

The straps on Jack's surgical mask appear both above and below his ears in different shots during the surgery scene.

Two anesthesia containers are seen during the surgery, containing Enflurane and Halothane, two anesthesia agents that were mostly phased out and would most likely be rare to find in use in a modern hospital in 2001.

Christian Shephard appears significantly older than in flashbacks that take place chronologically later.

In the gunfight at the Swan site, Kate's gun is shown as out of ammo, but the next shot shows her continuing to shoot before replenishing the magazine.

When Sawyer is greeted by Vincent on the beach, a treat is visible in his left hand which Vincent proceeds to eat.

Sayid incorrectly refers to the core of Jughead as a "thermonuclear" bomb. The whole device is a thermonuclear bomb, which produces explosive energy through nuclear fusion, but the core is a nuclear fission bomb. No nuclear fission bomb in 1954 was small and light enough to carry in a backpack.

The word "DHARMA" moves around on Sawyer's jumpsuit: in the scene of Rose and Bernard's house, it's slightly moved up, as if it was drawn incorrectly. In the scene of Sawyer and Jack's "talk," it's back in its place.

The bloodstain on Jack's jumpsuit is inconsistent. In one shot it has clear stripes, in another it's all red.

While Jacob reads Flannery O'Connor's book we hear the sound of broken glass and instantaneously Locke hits the ground. Yet having fallen from a height of eight stories, he would've taken several seconds to hit the ground.

When the Man in Black pushes a stabbed Jacob into the fire pit, Jacob's figure is clearly a stunt model.

In the scene at the beginning with the unfinished tapestry, the Greek letters are wrong. Xi "Ξ" is used for epsilon "Ε" and zeta "Ζ" for the last sigma "Σ." This has been corrected for the later scenes with the finished tapestry. However the last word on the bottom line of the finished tapestry has an omicron "Ο" where there should be an omega "Ω."

Just before Jack is punched by Sawyer, Jack walks away, yet in the next shot they are standing next to each other again.

When Sayid, Sun and Jin see the remains of the statue in " Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1 ", they set off from the beach camp in a clockwise direction around the Island. In this episode, Richard leads the group counter-clockwise around the coast to reach the statue, passing through the camp on their way.

", they set off from the beach camp in a clockwise direction around the Island. In this episode, Richard leads the group counter-clockwise around the coast to reach the statue, passing through the camp on their way. In the last scene of Juliet at the bottom of the shaft, blood pours from side of her mouth, then she coughs up blood onto her chin. At different points when the camera cuts to the bomb and back to Juliet, the blood is gone and then returns. When she is banging on the bomb, most of the blood is gone from her mouth. In addition, when she is turning from her back to her stomach she is coughing; the scene cuts to her on her stomach and the sound of her coughing continues, although she is not actually coughing at this point.

During Sayid's flashback/encounter with Jacob off the island, Nadia is wearing a summer dress. Her left forearm is clearly visible and unblemished, as is her upper right chest. Both had been burned by Iraqi interrogators during the Gulf War, though neither appear to show it.

When the camera pans past Jacob's fire pit, while he is working on his tapestry, in the shot directly before the next scene outside, the flames are burning backwards.

When Captain Bird surfaces the Galaga to let Sawyer, Kate and Juliet off, the camera shows the submarine planes rotating backward. In reality, this would cause the nose of the submarine to drop instead of rise.

After the shootout at the Swan site and Sawyer tells Jack "Alright, you can come out now, Doc!", the camera shows Miles pulling the bolt back on his rifle and pretending to shoot again with no muzzle flash or bullet.

Hurley leaves the Los Angeles County Prison, though he was never sentenced, and thus would be incarcerated in a jail, not a prison.



The scene depicts Radzinsky already at the site.

When Radzinsky is coming to the Swan construction site by the van, we can already see Radzinsky near the construction. That's because the scene was re-used from " Some Like It Hoth " when Miles, Hurley and Dr. Chang are driving the van. We can even see a bit of Dr. Chang's lab coat through the window.

Music

The Season 5 soundtrack includes the following tracks from this episode:

Analysis

Recurring themes





At the beginning of the episode, Jacob wears a white shirt and his brother wears a black shirt.

Sun's wedding dress is white and Jin's tuxedo is black.

When Jacob is talking to Ben, half his face is shadowed.

The cover of Jacob's book has a white dove being struck with a black arrow.

The title, typically white lettering on black, is inverted at the end of the episode.

John Locke's face is half shadowed in various parts of the episode.

Jacob tells Ben he still has a choice: to do what his enemy says or to leave.

Jacob assures Hurley that he has a choice with respect to returning to the Island.

Juliet believes her love for Sawyer is never meant to be because of his affection for Kate.

Juliet claims that if they succeed at changing the past, then she will never have to lose Sawyer.

Sawyer tells Jack that if they succeed at altering the past, then Jack and Kate will be only strangers. Jack responds by asserting that "if it's meant to be, it's meant to be."

Juliet changed her mind about leaving the Island, first stopping Jack, then helping him to destroy the Swan.

The biggest illustration of fate versus free will is the detonation of the Jughead: is it possible for the time-shifting survivors to change the timeline, or is it the case of whatever happened, happened?

Jack comments that the crash of Flight 815 seems like "a million years ago." Kate replies, "Or thirty years from now."

Miles wonders whether the detonation of Jughead was in fact the Incident.

Jacob, like Richard, doesn't seem to age.

Regarding his tapestry, Jacob says, "It takes a very long time when you're making a thread, but I suppose that's the point, isn't it?"

Ben says he was told that he had to wait and be patient in order to see Jacob.

Juliet struck the Jughead core eight times.

When a young Kate and her friend were about to steal from the shop, the car they were standing besides has a plate number of "XA7 023."

AA 823 is shown on the bottom left corner of the crate carrying Locke's body.

Sawyer tells Jack that his parents died when he was eight years old.

Jack opens his eyes in surgery after counting to four. The Numbers ) ( Eyes

Sawyer calls Juliet "Blondie" and Miles "Enos." He also tells Miles that there "ain't no more LaFleur ."

." Sawyer calls the Barracks "Dharmaville."

Bram calls Frank a "Yahoo."

Christian calls Jack "Kiddo."

Other Themes





Cultural references

Literary techniques

Other





Storyline analysis

The Man in Black is frustrated that he can't simply kill Jacob, alluding to the Rules. Rivalries)

Juliet believes her love for Sawyer is never meant to be because of the reasons her parents—who claimed to still love each other—gave for their divorce, and because of his affection for Kate. Relationships)

Sawyer and Jack fight hand to hand. Rivalries)

Ben continues to be jealous of Locke's leadership of the Others. Rivalries ) ( Leadership

Radzinsky ignores Dr. Chang's demand to stop the drilling. Rivalries ) ( Leadership

Ben stabs Jacob to death with a knife. Crimes)

Richard says only the leader of the Others can request an audience with Jacob, and there can only be one leader at a time. Leadership)

Jack succeeds in dropping the bomb core down into the Swan shaft. A-Missions)

Juliet, Kate and Sawyer leave the submarine and return to the Island in order to stop Jack. A-Missions)

Locke leads the Others to Jacob, and succeeds in convincing Ben to kill him. O-Missions)





Episode connections

Episode references

Episode allusions



Locke watches as the thing that imprisoned him burns.





Unanswered questions

Unanswered questions Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. More details...

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: The Incident, Parts 1 & 2/Theories