Born to Run (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"Born to Run" is the 22nd episode of the first season of Lost
. It was directed by Tucker Gates
, written by Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz, and based on a story by Javier Grillo-Marxuach
. It first aired on May 11, 2005, on ABC
. The character Kate Austen
(Evangeline Lilly
) is featured in the episode's flashback
s. The title Born to Run is an allusion to the Bruce Springsteen
song
and album
of the same name.
), who is a doctor at the hospital. The two decide to dig up a lunch box
time capsule
that they buried back in 1989. Among its contents are Tom's toy airplane and a tape recording that they made to mark the occasion of the burial. Later, with Tom's help, Kate is able to be alone with her mother (Beth Broderick
) and apologize. Far from appeased, however, her mother begins to scream for help. Kate flees, knocking out a policeman before running into Tom, who gives her the keys to his car and climbs into it. When the police try to block their exit from the hospital, Kate implores Tom to leave, but he refuses. As the police open fire at the speeding vehicle, Kate rams theirs out of the way before crashing into another. With the car brought finally to a halt, Kate looks over at Tom and finds him dead. Distraught and left with no choice but to flee, Kate climbs out of the car and runs.
(Dominic Monaghan
) and Kate discuss the fame that awaits them if and when they are rescued, and this disturbs Kate. A survivor named Dr. Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
), a teacher, suddenly announces that the monsoon season is coming, where the winds go south, and that they have to go north to reach shipping lanes. He also exclaims that the raft must leave immediately so the forces of nature won't turn against them. This hits everyone hard. Thus, Michael Dawson
(Harold Perrineau) hurries to finish it, and Kate seeks a spot. Michael refuses, reiterating the fact that all places have already been booked. After a conversation with Sawyer (Josh Holloway
), however, he reconsiders, reasoning in spite of their deal that Sawyer has little grasp on the art of sailing and will be of little assistance once the voyage is underway. Sawyer storms off to confront Kate, whom he rightly perceives as his biggest threat, telling her that he knows why she wants to be on the raft: she wants to escape capture from authorities in the outside world.
Sayid Jarrah
(Naveen Andrews
) and Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
) meet John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
) at the hatch. Surprised at what he finds there, Jack asks Locke why he failed to tell anyone about it. There follows a brief confrontation between the two leaders, after which Jack states his belief that the hatch ought to be opened. This prompts a furiously nervous response from Sayid, who fears its content, and who actually brought Jack along to dissuade Locke from the idea, but the matter is left unsettled.
Michael suddenly becomes ill while working with Jin
(Daniel Dae Kim). Having returned from the hatch, and summoned by an urgent Kate, Jack examines him and searches for the cause of the illness. He eventually discovers some partially-dissolved drugs in a water bottle from which Michael has been drinking. Upon learning of this, the afflicted immediately suspects Sawyer, but, in short order, Kate also is suspected, leading Jack to confront her about it. She denies any involvement, apparently offended that Jack should think her capable of such a thing. Walt Lloyd
(Malcolm David Kelley
), meanwhile, assures Locke that he is not responsible either, fearing that he suspects him after his earlier sabotage of the raft
. When Locke touches his arm to assure him that his fears are unfounded, Walt becomes frightened and, in spite of having no prior knowledge of it, begs Locke not to open "it"; that is, the hatch.
Sawyer walks up to the recovering Michael and offers him a bottle of antacid. Angry at his ostensible cheek, Michael kicks him off the raft. Furious, and finally tested beyond the bounds that his patience allows, Sawyer exposes Kate's criminalism to everyone present. Stealing her bag, he empties it to reveal that Kate has pinched the passport of Joanna, the woman who drowned in White Rabbit
, in a bid to steal her identity. Kate was forced to admit that she was the person in the marshal's custody.
As the raft is hurried toward completion, Jack walks up to Sun (Yunjin Kim) and confronts her about the poisoning. Sun admits that she is the one responsible, explaining that she wanted to keep Jin from leaving. Jack has already reasoned that, with Jin and Michael working in such close proximity, it is easy for them to mix up their water bottles. He sees no reason to reveal her indiscretion to the others, though, and promises her that he will not do so. Later, in a private conversation with Kate, Sun swears not to tell anyone that the drugging was her idea. Her reasoning is flawed, however, for she believes that Kate's idea was hatched for the sole purpose of helping her.
That night, Kate and Sawyer say farewell and make something like amends, while Walt confesses to his father that he is responsible for the fire that destroyed the first raft. He explains that he wanted to stay on the island. Michael, surprised, says that they can still stay behind, but Walt insists that they leave.
mobisode "Tropical Depression", Dr. Arzt admits and apologizes to Michael that he made up the entire monsoon thing because he wanted the raft to leave immediately.
The voice message played back by Kate and Tom was recorded on August 15th 1989, in American date format, 8/15. This relates to the Oceanic Flight 815.
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...
. It was directed by Tucker Gates
Tucker Gates
Tucker Gates is an American television director and producer. He has directed several episodes of the J. J. Abrams shows, Alias and Lost, including the very last episode of Alias...
, written by Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
and Adam Horowitz, and based on a story by Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Javier "Javi" Grillo-Marxuach , born October 28, 1969 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a television screenwriter and producer, known for his work as writer and producer on the first two seasons of the ABC television series Lost, as well as other series including Charmed and Law and Order: Special...
. It first aired on May 11, 2005, on 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...
. The character 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:...
) is featured in the episode's flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
s. The title Born to Run is an allusion to the Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
song
Born to Run (song)
"Born to Run" is a song by American singer songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and the title song of his album Born to Run.- Songwriting :Written at in Long Branch, New Jersey in early 1974, the song was Bruce Springsteen's last-ditch effort to make it big. The prior year, Springsteen had released two...
and album
Born to Run
The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
of the same name.
Flashbacks
Kate is changing the license plate of her car, dying her hair, taking a shower, as well as claiming a letter under the alias Joan Hart. She returns later to her hometown to visit her dying mother and, while there, meets up with her now-married ex-boyfriend Tom Brennan (Mackenzie AstinMackenzie Astin
-Biography:Astin was born on May 12, 1973, in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Patty Duke and actor John Astin. His older half-brother is actor Sean Astin. He attended Ralph Waldo Emerson Middle School and University High School in Los Angeles, California...
), who is a doctor at the hospital. The two decide to dig up a lunch box
Lunch box
The lunch box, also referred to as a lunch pail or lunch kit, is used to store food to be taken to work or school. The concept of a food container has existed for a long time, but it wasn't until people began using tobacco tins to haul meals in the early 20th century, followed by the use of...
time capsule
Time capsule
A time capsule is an historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians...
that they buried back in 1989. Among its contents are Tom's toy airplane and a tape recording that they made to mark the occasion of the burial. Later, with Tom's help, Kate is able to be alone with her mother (Beth Broderick
Beth Broderick
Elizabeth Alice "Beth" Broderick is an American actress famous for her portrayal of the character Zelda Spellman in the television sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch from 1996–2003 on ABC and then the Warner Bros. network.-Early life:Broderick was born in Falmouth, Kentucky and grew up in...
) and apologize. Far from appeased, however, her mother begins to scream for help. Kate flees, knocking out a policeman before running into Tom, who gives her the keys to his car and climbs into it. When the police try to block their exit from the hospital, Kate implores Tom to leave, but he refuses. As the police open fire at the speeding vehicle, Kate rams theirs out of the way before crashing into another. With the car brought finally to a halt, Kate looks over at Tom and finds him dead. Distraught and left with no choice but to flee, Kate climbs out of the car and runs.
On the Island
Charlie PaceCharlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
) and Kate discuss the fame that awaits them if and when they are rescued, and this disturbs Kate. A survivor named Dr. Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
Daniel Roebuck
Daniel James Roebuck is an American television film actor, writer and producer, primarily in films, soap operas and television.-Life and career:...
), a teacher, suddenly announces that the monsoon season is coming, where the winds go south, and that they have to go north to reach shipping lanes. He also exclaims that the raft must leave immediately so the forces of nature won't turn against them. This hits everyone hard. Thus, Michael Dawson
Michael Dawson (Lost)
Michael Dawson is a fictional character played by Harold Perrineau on the ABC television series Lost. After losing a custody battle with Susan Lloyd , Michael does not see his son Walt for almost ten years. They reunite when she dies, but on their journey home, their plane crashes on a mysterious...
(Harold Perrineau) hurries to finish it, and Kate seeks a spot. Michael refuses, reiterating the fact that all places have already been booked. After a conversation with Sawyer (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
), however, he reconsiders, reasoning in spite of their deal that Sawyer has little grasp on the art of sailing and will be of little assistance once the voyage is underway. Sawyer storms off to confront Kate, whom he rightly perceives as his biggest threat, telling her that he knows why she wants to be on the raft: she wants to escape capture from authorities in the outside world.
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:...
) and 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...
(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 :...
) meet 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...
(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,...
) at the hatch. Surprised at what he finds there, Jack asks Locke why he failed to tell anyone about it. There follows a brief confrontation between the two leaders, after which Jack states his belief that the hatch ought to be opened. This prompts a furiously nervous response from Sayid, who fears its content, and who actually brought Jack along to dissuade Locke from the idea, but the matter is left unsettled.
Michael suddenly becomes ill while working with Jin
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). Having returned from the hatch, and summoned by an urgent Kate, Jack examines him and searches for the cause of the illness. He eventually discovers some partially-dissolved drugs in a water bottle from which Michael has been drinking. Upon learning of this, the afflicted immediately suspects Sawyer, but, in short order, Kate also is suspected, leading Jack to confront her about it. She denies any involvement, apparently offended that Jack should think her capable of such a thing. Walt Lloyd
Walt Lloyd
Walter "Walt" Lloyd is a fictional character portrayed by Malcolm David Kelley in the American ABC television series Lost. The series follows the lives of over forty survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Walt is introduced in the pilot episode as one of the survivors aboard the plane, which...
(Malcolm David Kelley
Malcolm David Kelley
Malcolm David Kelley is an American teen actor. He starred in the 2004 film You Got Served as "Li'l Saint". He also appears in the television series Lost as the character Walt Lloyd. A regular cast member in the show's first season , he has appeared only occasionally since due to a dramatic...
), meanwhile, assures Locke that he is not responsible either, fearing that he suspects him after his earlier sabotage of the raft
...In Translation
"...In Translation" is the 17th episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Tucker Gates and written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Leonard Dick. It first aired on February 23, 2005 on ABC. Jin-Soo Kwon is featured in the episode's flashbacks...
. When Locke touches his arm to assure him that his fears are unfounded, Walt becomes frightened and, in spite of having no prior knowledge of it, begs Locke not to open "it"; that is, the hatch.
Sawyer walks up to the recovering Michael and offers him a bottle of antacid. Angry at his ostensible cheek, Michael kicks him off the raft. Furious, and finally tested beyond the bounds that his patience allows, Sawyer exposes Kate's criminalism to everyone present. Stealing her bag, he empties it to reveal that Kate has pinched the passport of Joanna, the woman who drowned in White Rabbit
White Rabbit (Lost)
"White Rabbit" is the fifth episode of the first season of Lost. The episode was directed by Kevin Hooks and written by Christian Taylor. It first aired on October 20, 2004 on ABC. The character of Jack Shephard is featured in the episode's flashback.-Flashbacks:A young Jack and a friend are...
, in a bid to steal her identity. Kate was forced to admit that she was the person in the marshal's custody.
As the raft is hurried toward completion, Jack walks up to Sun (Yunjin Kim) and confronts her about the poisoning. Sun admits that she is the one responsible, explaining that she wanted to keep Jin from leaving. Jack has already reasoned that, with Jin and Michael working in such close proximity, it is easy for them to mix up their water bottles. He sees no reason to reveal her indiscretion to the others, though, and promises her that he will not do so. Later, in a private conversation with Kate, Sun swears not to tell anyone that the drugging was her idea. Her reasoning is flawed, however, for she believes that Kate's idea was hatched for the sole purpose of helping her.
That night, Kate and Sawyer say farewell and make something like amends, while Walt confesses to his father that he is responsible for the fire that destroyed the first raft. He explains that he wanted to stay on the island. Michael, surprised, says that they can still stay behind, but Walt insists that they leave.
Trivia
In the Lost: Missing PiecesLost: Missing Pieces
Lost: Missing Pieces is a series of thirteen video clips ranging in length from one to four minutes that aired during the hiatus between the 3rd and 4th seasons of the television show Lost, from which the series is spun off...
mobisode "Tropical Depression", Dr. Arzt admits and apologizes to Michael that he made up the entire monsoon thing because he wanted the raft to leave immediately.
The voice message played back by Kate and Tom was recorded on August 15th 1989, in American date format, 8/15. This relates to the Oceanic Flight 815.