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316 (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"316" is the sixth television episode of the fifth season
of ABC
's Lost
. The 92nd episode of the show overall, "316" aired on February 18, 2009 on ABC in the United States, and was simulcast
on A in Canada. The episode was written by showrunners and executive producers Damon Lindelof
and Carlton Cuse
and directed by Stephen Williams
.
In 2007, having recruited Sun-Hwa Kwon, Jack Shephard
and Benjamin Linus find a way to return to the island. Jack makes a last-ditch effort to recruit the other "Oceanic 6" survivors.
(Matthew Fox
), Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly
), and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) having returned to the island, three years since they left it in "There's No Place Like Home
". The narrative then shifts to 46 hours previous where the previous episode, "This Place is Death
", left off. Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) takes Jack, Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
), Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
) to a Dharma Initiative
station underneath the church called the Lamp Post, which was used by Dharma to find the island; since the island is constantly moving, they developed a way to predict where it would be at a given time. When Eloise mentions that the group only has 36 hours to get on Ajira Airways Flight 316 a Boeing 737-300 in order to return to the island, Desmond refuses to join them and leaves. Eloise then tells Jack in private that he must bring something that belonged to his father Christian Shephard
(John Terry
) with him on the flight and also gives him John Locke
's (Terry O'Quinn
) suicide note.
The next day, Jack gets a call informing him that his grandfather Ray (Raymond J. Barry
) has attempted to escape his nursing home. Jack goes to the nursing home and finds an old pair of Christian's shoes and decides to take them with him. Later, Jack returns to his apartment, where he finds Kate sleeping in his bed. He wakes her and asks where her adoptive son Aaron is, but she refuses to answer. Kate tells Jack that if he wants her to get back to the island, he must never ask her about Aaron. Then they kiss passionately and fall into bed. The next morning, Jack receives a phone call from a severely beaten Ben, who tells Jack that he must go to a butcher shop and retrieve Locke's dead body. Jack does so, putting Christian's shoes on Locke's feet in the process. He also leaves the suicide note in Locke's pocket.
At the airport, Jack, Kate, Sun, and Hurley all board Flight 316. Hurley was informed by someone other than Ben, and bought all the remaining seats on the plane, in order to spare the lives of potential passengers. Sayid Jarrah
(Naveen Andrews
) also boards the plane, in the custody of Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson
). Ben is last to board the plane, which momentarily disquiets Hurley. Also on board is Caesar (Saïd Taghmaoui
). Jack asks Ben as to what will happen to the other people on the plane, to which Ben replies: "Who cares?", leaving Jack speechless. During the flight, Jack realizes that Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey
) is piloting the plane and Frank realizes that they are going back to the island. Jack, who has been given Locke's note by a flight attendant, reads the note which says, "Jack, I wish you had believed me." The 737 hits turbulence and there is a flash of white light similar to that caused by the time shifts. The first scene replays, following which, Jack, Kate and Hurley are found by Jin-Soo Kwon
(Daniel Dae Kim), who is driving a Dharma van and wearing a Dharma jumpsuit.
" were written at the same time by executive producers Lindelof and Cuse. "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" was originally meant to be aired first, but the order was switched because they felt it made more sense and was "cooler" and "there is probably some good information to get in “316” before."
IGN
's Chris Carabott wrote that Frank's return in the episode was shocking, but seemed as though it was meant to be. He opined that: "The chances of Frank being on that plane are astronomical and the fact that he was supposed to be the pilot of Flight 815 just makes the situation all the more unusual. His appearance in this episode is absurd but after four and a half seasons of Lost it makes perfect sense." James Yates of the Staten Island Advance
wrote that it was "great" to see Frank again, as he had missed the character's presence, and hoped he would play a major part upon returning to the island.
Lost (season 5)
The fifth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States and on A in Canada in January 2009, and concluded with a two-hour season finale on May 13, 2009...
of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. The 92nd episode of the show overall, "316" aired on February 18, 2009 on ABC in the United States, and was simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
on A in Canada. The episode was written by showrunners and executive producers Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
and Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
and directed by Stephen Williams
Stephen Williams (director)
Stephen Williams is a Canadian film and television director. Williams has directed several modern day television programs including work as a regular director on the ABC drama series Lost, where he was also a co-executive producer...
.
In 2007, having recruited Sun-Hwa Kwon, Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
and Benjamin Linus find a way to return to the island. Jack makes a last-ditch effort to recruit the other "Oceanic 6" survivors.
Plot
The episode begins with Jack ShephardJack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
), Kate Austen
Kate Austen
Katherine Anne "Kate" Austen is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly. She is the de facto female lead...
(Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly
Evangeline Lilly is a Canadian actress, best known for her role as Kate Austen in the ABC drama, Lost.-Early life:...
), and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) having returned to the island, three years since they left it in "There's No Place Like Home
There's No Place Like Home
"There's No Place Like Home, Parts 1, 2 & 3" is the season finale of the American Broadcasting Company's fourth season of the serial drama television series Lost, consisting of the 12th through 14th episodes. They are also the 84th through 86th episodes of the show overall...
". The narrative then shifts to 46 hours previous where the previous episode, "This Place is Death
This Place is Death
"This Place Is Death" is the fifth television episode of the fifth season of ABC's Lost. The 91st episode of the show overall, "This Place Is Death" aired on February 11, 2009 on ABC in the United States, being simulcast on A in Canada...
", left off. Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan) takes Jack, Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
), Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
) to a Dharma Initiative
DHARMA Initiative
The Dharma Initiative, also written DHARMA , was a fictional research project featured in the television series Lost. It was introduced in the second season episode "Orientation". In 2008, the Dharma Initiative website was launched. Dharma's interests were directly connected with fringe science...
station underneath the church called the Lamp Post, which was used by Dharma to find the island; since the island is constantly moving, they developed a way to predict where it would be at a given time. When Eloise mentions that the group only has 36 hours to get on Ajira Airways Flight 316 a Boeing 737-300 in order to return to the island, Desmond refuses to join them and leaves. Eloise then tells Jack in private that he must bring something that belonged to his father Christian Shephard
Christian Shephard
Dr. Christian Shephard is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by John Terry. He is the father of lead characters Jack Shephard , who becomes the de facto leader of the survivors of Oceanic 815 after it crashes on an island, and Claire Littleton , another of the survivors...
(John Terry
John Terry (actor)
John Terry is an American film, television, and stage actor.-Early life:Terry was born in Florida, where he attended Vero Beach High School. He was also educated at the prestigious Loomis Chaffee prep school in Windsor, Connecticut, and began a career building original custom log homes in North...
) with him on the flight and also gives him John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
's (Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) suicide note.
The next day, Jack gets a call informing him that his grandfather Ray (Raymond J. Barry
Raymond J. Barry
Raymond John Barry is an American film, television and stage actor.-Personal life:Raymond John Barry was born in Hempstead, New York . His father, Raymond Barry, worked in sales. His mother, Barbara Barry , was also an actor, known professionally as B. Constance Barry...
) has attempted to escape his nursing home. Jack goes to the nursing home and finds an old pair of Christian's shoes and decides to take them with him. Later, Jack returns to his apartment, where he finds Kate sleeping in his bed. He wakes her and asks where her adoptive son Aaron is, but she refuses to answer. Kate tells Jack that if he wants her to get back to the island, he must never ask her about Aaron. Then they kiss passionately and fall into bed. The next morning, Jack receives a phone call from a severely beaten Ben, who tells Jack that he must go to a butcher shop and retrieve Locke's dead body. Jack does so, putting Christian's shoes on Locke's feet in the process. He also leaves the suicide note in Locke's pocket.
At the airport, Jack, Kate, Sun, and Hurley all board Flight 316. Hurley was informed by someone other than Ben, and bought all the remaining seats on the plane, in order to spare the lives of potential passengers. Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Jarrah
Sayid Hassan Jarrah is a character from the ABC show Lost portrayed by Naveen Andrews.-Season 1:Sayid fixes the transceiver recovered from the cockpit, and leads a group into the jungle in order to send out a distress signal. Instead, he picks up a looping message . He tries to locate the...
(Naveen Andrews
Naveen Andrews
Naveen William Sidney Andrews is a British American actor. He is best known for portraying Kip in the movie The English Patient and Sayid Jarrah on the American television series Lost.-Early life:...
) also boards the plane, in the custody of Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson is an English actress, raised in Thailand and Malaysia by a Burmese-Indian mother and an English father. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, and best known for playing Ilana in the ABC show Lost.In 2006, she played a Bengali character called...
). Ben is last to board the plane, which momentarily disquiets Hurley. Also on board is Caesar (Saïd Taghmaoui
Saïd Taghmaoui
Saïd Taghmaoui is a French actor and screenwriter. One of his defining screen roles was that of Saïd in the award winning 1995 French film La Haine directed by Mathieu Kassovitz...
). Jack asks Ben as to what will happen to the other people on the plane, to which Ben replies: "Who cares?", leaving Jack speechless. During the flight, Jack realizes that Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
) is piloting the plane and Frank realizes that they are going back to the island. Jack, who has been given Locke's note by a flight attendant, reads the note which says, "Jack, I wish you had believed me." The 737 hits turbulence and there is a flash of white light similar to that caused by the time shifts. The first scene replays, following which, Jack, Kate and Hurley are found by Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon
Jin-Soo Kwon, better known as "Jin," is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Daniel Dae Kim.- Prior to the crash :...
(Daniel Dae Kim), who is driving a Dharma van and wearing a Dharma jumpsuit.
Production
This episode and "The Life and Death of Jeremy BenthamThe Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" is the seventh television episode of the fifth season of ABC's Lost. The 93rd episode of the show overall, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" aired on February 25, 2009 on ABC in the United States, being simulcast on A in Canada...
" were written at the same time by executive producers Lindelof and Cuse. "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" was originally meant to be aired first, but the order was switched because they felt it made more sense and was "cooler" and "there is probably some good information to get in “316” before."
Reception
13.161 million American viewers watched the episode's premiere.IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Chris Carabott wrote that Frank's return in the episode was shocking, but seemed as though it was meant to be. He opined that: "The chances of Frank being on that plane are astronomical and the fact that he was supposed to be the pilot of Flight 815 just makes the situation all the more unusual. His appearance in this episode is absurd but after four and a half seasons of Lost it makes perfect sense." James Yates of the Staten Island Advance
Staten Island Advance
The Staten Island Advance is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only borough to have its own major daily paper, it covers news of local and community interest, including borough politics. As of...
wrote that it was "great" to see Frank again, as he had missed the character's presence, and hoped he would play a major part upon returning to the island.