Yes, this episode is a little short. However, it seemed to work best as a very visceral, short episode. with a very fast pace. Next week’s episode should make up for this lack of length.
—-
Footsteps clamoring down the ladder to the Pearl jerked Ryan from his sleep, and he jumped up from the chair, spinning around to see Kevin leaping past the bottom rungs of the ladder, landing in a crouch before pushing himself up.
“Ryan,” he said, staring at him with desperate, bloodshot eyes. “He’s gone.”
Ryan sprinted toward Kevin, stopping a couple feet away. “How?” he asked, shocked.
“How do you think?” Kevin replied darkly. “He’s River freaking Tam.”
Ryan stared at him for a moment. “Is now really the time for a Firefly reference? I mean, I don’t even understand how–”
“He hit me in the head and ran,” Kevin interrupted. “Lighting fast.”
“Ran?” Ryan asked incredulously. “But he’s–”
“Not anymore,” Kevin grunted, gritting his teeth.
Ryan slapped the wall in helplessness. “I’ve gotta go get Claire,” he said quietly.
Kevin nodded. “Bring her here if you have to.”
Ryan didn’t even glance back as he scaled the ladder and leapt out of the hatch, running frantically toward the beach.
—-
6 Hours Earlier
When they finally pulled Ethan’s foot out, it was a mangled mess. There was hardly anything left that could have been defined as human; from mid-shin down, it was a bloody mess of clothing and flesh.
Ethan’s screaming had subsided as soon as they removed the biggest boulder, which had been pressing down on his foot and slowly grinding it into the rocks below. But the screaming hadn’t stopped because he was no longer in pain; the boulder had served as a tourniquet. He had passed out, gone into shock, and begun to lose a lot of blood from his mangled leg.
He was dead in an hour.
“That’s it,” Jack proclaimed, swallowing. “He’s gone.”
A silence fell over the camp as Jack covered Ethan’s body with a tarp. No one had known who he was, not really — but he was one of them. That meant something. Someone had to mourn him.
Ryan looked on in shock as Kevin shook his head grimly. “What the hell happened?” he asked quietly.
“You happened,” Kevin replied, biting his lip. “You did this. If you’d have let things lie, Charlie and Jack would have been in that cave when it collapsed, and they would have gotten out alive.”
“Thank God it was Ethan,” Ryan replied, struggling to justify himself. “That’s about, what, seven birds with one stone?”
“Probably more,” Kevin said bitterly. “But he was a person. He used to be… not crazy. You remember.”
“It doesn’t matter what he was,” Ryan replied shortly. “He was going to be dead anyway.”
—-
Plans were made to bury Ethan the following morning. They were agreed upon quietly between all of the survivors; if anyone disagreed, they didn’t say anything. They also agreed that someone would have to watch over the body. Animals had already entered the camp before and the desecration of a body, even by nature, was unthinkable.
Kevin drew the short straw.
—-
Ryan ran through the jungle, his lungs burning as the foliage whipped at his face. He stumbled over the gnarled roots of trees, grasping at trunks to steady his balance. The ground was still damp from the rain hours before, and his footsteps squelched in the mud.
He emerged onto the beach a sweating mess, blinking in the sudden appearance of the bright sun in the stead of trees. He glanced around, blinking, at the small crowd that still remained on the beach.
He found her sitting in the pantry, reading a wrinkled copy of Watership Down. Her sunhat was on, and a giant grin sparked when she saw him.
“Ryan!” she cried, looking up at him. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever!”
He smiled, sighing with relief upon his realization that she was unharmed. He collapsed to the sand next to her, leaning up against the metal box that had come to hold the camp’s meager collection of fruit.
“I know, I know,” he said, smiling mildly. “Things got out of hand last night.”
“I heard,” she said grimly. “I always thought that Ethan was a nice guy. It’s horrible what happened to him. Really horrible.”
Ryan nodded shortly. “Yeah,” he said, pausing. He couldn’t think of what to say. “Listen,” he said finally, realizing that he had only one option to keep her safe. “I have something to tell you.”
She looked at him expectantly, her smile softening. “What is it?” she asked.
“It’s… It’s very complicated. You’ll think I’m crazy.”
She didn’t say anything to that, just waited. He took a breath.
“Look,” he said, feeling a jittery anxiety rising within him. He closed his eyes. “I wasn’t on the plane. I wasn’t on flight 815.”
She frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?” she asked plainly. “Of course you were.”
“No,” he replied. “I’m… I’m from somewhere else. Sometime else.”
She snorted. “What are you saying?” she asked.
“Look, I know this is tough to explain, but I really need you to come with me, right now. You’re in real danger if you stay here. He’s coming.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Claire said. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Please, Claire,” Ryan pleaded. “I know something that nobody else knows. Well, Kevin knows, but nobody else.”
As she frowned at him, he felt strangely like Daniel Faraday. He was going to sound crazy, and she wouldn’t believe him. But he had to. It was the only way, as cliche as that sounded. He didn’t have another choice.
“I’m… from the future.”
—-
A knot had risen on the back of his head, and it was throbbing along with his pulse whenever he could bring himself to gingerly prod it. He’d bled a little bit from the rock, but it thankfully hadn’t done any serious damage. He wasn’t concussed.
The hatch door creaked open behind him, and there was a sudden clamor as a shadowed figure dropped down the shaft. The ten-foot fall ended with a clang, and Kevin spun around to see a figure standing behind him. The figure had only one foot, but was wielding a crutch undoubtedly taken from Jack’s medical tent.
When Ryan and Claire arrived at the hatch an hour later, there was no one inside.
—-
6 Hours Earlier
He was on a rock beside the body. The camp was sleeping uneasily around him; no one dared to venture back into their caves, so they were all on the far side of the clearing, tossing and turning uneasily. No one wanted to sleep next to the body.
He had been sitting there for two hours before he felt the sudden urge to talk. Ryan had retreated to the Pearl station to “keep watch,” though Kevin knew that Ryan’s only intention was to be alone for a while. His words had struck home, he knew.
“You know, Ethan, I’m sorry,” he said aloud, for no reason at all. His voice was a hoarse whisper, and would have sounded like a snore to anyone awake on the other side of the clearing. “You were a decent guy, I know that.”
He paused, taking a breath. “Ben forced you into this life, didn’t he? It was him and Widmore. You would have been normal if they hadn’t taken you. But you had to watch when they killed your parents. You had no shot at being anything other than crazy.”
He laughed quietly, bitterly. “But what the hell does that matter? Ryan was right. You’re dead anyway.”
Not bad. The limited length made it feel a little abrupt, and it seemed to also be very rushed, but other than that is was good. It’s obvious you’ve inserted the flash-forward foreshadowing to try and give it more depth, and it kind of paid off I guess. It’s understandable, given the amount of pressure you’re under to get the episode out and end the hiatus.
It will be interesting to see whether Ethan was miraculously brought back from the dead, or Jack has just made a premature assessment of his body after the accident, and Ethan has pulled a Shyla Stylez on him.
*that being, he faked it
I didn’t really understand the whole thing so im gonna re-read it tomorrow xD
But it feels good to read KL again
Glad your back !
Good to see the hiatus is over!
It’s nice to have Knowing Lost back. And while this episode does leave me confused I am still enjoying it.
AWESOME!
Finally! Great to have knowing lost back. This episode is mildly confusing and shocking. I wish it could be explained more. Maybe what happened will come out next Sunday.
I think the formatting is a bit confusing, with the jumping back and forth in time. Made it hard to picture what was going on.
Sam, have you ever just considerred taking Knowing Lost as a solo project? It seems to me as if the second you give responsibility to someone else, they dont come through with the goods, and I think you have the talent to do it yourself anywho. Think about it.
Awsome puzzle ep.
Starts when Ethan “dies”
plans to bury him and Kevin watches his body
Kevan talks to ethan
Ryan in the pearl with Kevin
Ryan goes to Claire
someone attacks Kevin in the pearl Claire and ryan show up with Kevin missing
So far the most “Lost-ish” episode!
But, when you got time, will you consider rewriting this ep? Some of the scene are just brutally cut off, like how Jack trying to save Ethan, how the one-leg figure attacked Kevin, and twice.
It’s a great story, no doubt, just the quality doesn’t fit in what you guys have been working on.
And, I think everyone will read this ep again after 1.09, so why not?~
Good episode after long hiatus.
So glad to have another episode, but as others have said before me it’s very confusing. I’m trying to figure out which part came first, etc. So LOSTish – love it. I also agree you should continue to write it yourself – just take your time. The longer it all takes, the more time we’ll have with the characters and with you. Good thing.
So did Doc Artz just totally blow you off?
Awesome! Thanks for taking over!
Good job once again, keep doing them yourself Sam!!!
Here are the parts in chronological order from what i understand
1.”When they finally pulled Ethan’s foot out, it was a mangled mess” until, “Kevin drew the short straw”.
2. “He was on a rock beside the body” until, “You’re dead anyway”
3. “Footsteps clamoring down the ladder to the Pearl jerked Ryan from his sleep” until, ” Running frantically toward the beach”.
4. “Ryan ran through the jungle” until, “there was noone inside”
poor episode the time switching thing is hard to accomplish in text
my understanding of what just hppened:ethan ended up dying from the cave collapse and the survivore had put his body aside:kevin kept watch over his body while ryan needed alone time so went to the pearl: while kevin was watching over the body ethan somehow got up and knocked kevin out and dissapeared:6 HOURS LATER: kevin ran to the pearl to tell ryan that “he’s gone”. Knowing thaT ethaan had kidnapped claire when as a drastic measure last time -this time he would do it again.Ryan immediatley runs to save claire and convince her to come back to the pearl.Meanwhile while kevin is at the pearl ethan comes down there and when ryan and claire come back -no ones there so itz
inferred that kevin was kidnapped by ethan
It was an interesting chapter, no doubt.
I’m going to have to point out what an earlier person did, and that is that the time skipping back and forth is not the easiest literacy technique to pull-off in text, even for the most advanced of writers. Unless you’re Stephen King, who I’ve known many to still be confused by his awkward jumps, it’s best to steer clear of the paradigm shifts and stay with familiar territory. It’s good to disorientate the audience, and throw twists, but jumping back and forth so rapidly between two periods in time is something to leave for the experts. As flashbacks this works, and when revealing a characters backstory in a single paragraph that relates to current events, this works too, but what you’re presenting is very fragmented.
I understand what you’re trying to do, make it seem like an episode of LOST, but Sam, you’re a good writer, you shouldn’t try and copy a style, develop your own, as you have been doing, even if this is a fanfic, each director has their style, as does each writer. The episodes you have written up until now have been wonderfully written in style, you should stick to that and there wont be a problem.
Keep up the good work, don’t let my criticism put you off, just trying to offer some constructive advice.
Like I said, story was compelling; style was something to be revised.
I liked the format. I would prefer short episodes like this every week than to have Sam get stressed making a long episode and need a break for a month. The jumping around was a good idea, it just needs to be refined so it is a bit clearer. Good work.
why was the episodes name changed?
This was quite the confusing episode that might have come across much better on screen than it did in print. In switching back and forth between characters and time it is really important that you don’t rely on ‘he’ so much. The characters are tough enough to tell apart through 8 episodes without that added confusion. Not my favorite episode but I’m curious to see where it goes from here.
Episode was short. Could be longer. But episode was great .
what is 1.09 called?
I thing Hall of Mirrors
I don’t think Ethan came back to life. I’m pretty sure it’s Smokey.
Yes i agree.
a little confusing but u get the jist of it…i may be wrong but in only 13…i never knew ethan watched his parents died in front of him
Welcome Back! Had to re-read back and forth a couple of times but hey, just like LOST! Good cliff hanger and looking forward to the next episode.
It’s great to see you back with more episodes. While you were on hiatus I was able to start rewatching Lost, which has really helped me in following your story. I agree with some of the people who thought the time shifting was a little confusing in this episode. On film you can see the characters and that helps you distinguish between them better. I still get Kevin and Ryan mixed up sometimes, and this added the confusion. In LOST, did they do time shifting scenes on the Island (other than the time travel episodes?) It seems to me that things happened in chronological order on the Island, just shifting between characters. I could be wrong, though, as I”ve only watched the first ten episodes so far and wasn’t really paying attention to that element. Anyway, for me the time shifting just adds to the confusion, though I think I pieced it together fairly well. It just seemed unnecessary. The episode would have been every bit as suspenseful without it. The story itself was intriguing and leaves me wanting more. Good work, and thanks.
so wouldn’t it make the most sense if mib had taken over his body? did anyone watch LOST?
wow! this is fantastic, and like everyone said, very LOST-esque. took me a while to realized how all the events pieced together in a continuous time frame, but if you consider it as if it were a filmed episode, it works itself out beautifully! keep it up!
I loved the Firefly reference. It’s my favorite show next to LOST and doesn’t get the attention it deserves so I thought that was great.