1.11 - All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

As the Lostaways search for Ethan and Claire, Jack again has to confront the actions that led him to Australia. Locke and Boone discover another mystery of the island.

We can't account for all of our people. And, more importantly, who's to say that they are our people?
What?
Sayid said there were others.
Sayid said that we're not alone.
Semantics. --- John Locke, Jack Shepherd

Back home, I'm known as something of a warrior myself. --- Hugo "Hurley" Reyes

So a tribe of evil natives planted a ringer in the camp to kidnap a pregnant girl and a reject from VH1 has-beens. Yeah, fiendishly clever. --- "Sawyer"

Red shirt.
Huh?
Red shirt. You ever watch Star Trek?
No, not really.
The crew guys that would go down to the planet with the main guys, the captain and the guy with the pointy ears, they always wore red shirts and they always got killed.
Sounds like a piss-poor captain. --- Boone Carlisle, John Locke

Picking up directly from the last episode, Hurley is explaining to the others how Ethan is not on the passenger manifest; he was not one of the passengers on the plane. Jack asks where Ethan is and Michael says that he was out collecting wood. He then asks where Charlie is and Locke says he went after Claire.

Jack and Locke are racing through the jungle. Locke stops and calls Jack over. He has found Claire's bag. He points out signs of a struggle and where several people left through the jungle. Jack wonders how Ethan was able to take both Charlie and Claire. Locke says that according to Sayid there are "others" on the island and adds that the real question is not "how" but "why".

Jack wants to immediately go after them but Locke wants to get a search party together first. Jack just asks which way they went and Locke points. Jack takes off.

Flashback: Jack is in an operating room, his father watching through a window from an observation room. Jack is attempting to finish an operation but the others in the room keep warning that the patient's vitals are dropping.

The patient's heart stops and the doctors attempt to revive her, to no avail. Jack keeps trying after everyone else has given up and his father finally tells him to "call it". Jack strips off his mask and, with contempt, tells his father to "call it".

At the caves, Locke encounters Kate who says that no one at the beach has seen anything. She says she wants to join him on the search. Locke says he thought she would and gives her a knife.

Boone and Shannon approach. Shannon wants to just go back to the beach but Boone wants to join Locke and Kate. Shannon scoffs at this but Locke accepts Boone's help.

Michael, Walt and Vincent now arrive. Walt wants to have Vincent try to find a trail but Michael says no. Michael then asks Locke if he can join the search party as well. To everyone's surprise, Locke says no; he has everyone he needs. He says he and his party are heading north and that if Michael wants to form a second party, they should head south. Locke leaves and Kate and Boone, looking somewhat uncomfortable, follow. Michael looks angry.

Still in the jungle, Jack is attempting to find a trail. He stares into the distance.

Flashback: Jack and his father, Christian, are in the operating room and arguing. His father is angry that Jack barged into his emergency room and kicked him out. Jack says he was upstairs and a nurse came to get him. The nurse had said that Jack's father's hands were shaking and that he had cut an artery by mistake.

Jack's father angrily dismisses this and says that if Jack was upstairs, then why did they come get him from where he was eating lunch when the patient arrived? He starts to leave and Jack asks him how many drinks he had at lunch.

Locke, Kate and Boone catch up with Jack, who Locke says was walking in circles. Locke tries to get Jack to go back to the caves to tend to Sayid but Jack refuses.

Locke admits that he feels as if the situation is his fault. He spent more time with Ethan than anyone and never detected anything wrong. He also says that for all he knows about hunting and survival, Ethan knows more. He tells Jack to go back to the caves to be the doctor and let him be the tracker. Jack refuses.

Back at the caves, Michael is angrily getting ready to set out with another group to search. He says he is tired of being treated as a "second-class citizen" simply because Locke can hunt.

Walt disagrees. He says that Locke is a "warrior" and that everyone should listen to him. Michael says he doesn't want him to and that he is heading out to search, even though he isn't a warrior. Michael leaves. Hurley, who has been observing, tell Walt that some people consider him to be a warrior back home.

Locke is tearing a cloth into strips and tying them to trees to mark their trail, a task Boone takes over. Locke stops to rest, to the annoyance of Jack. Jack starts to confront him but Kate calls him to one side to ask what is wrong. Jack admits that he feels guilty because he didn't believe Claire and so blames himself for what happened.

Locke suddenly calls to them. He has found one of the pieces of tape that Charlie had kept wrapped around his fingers. They realize that he is leaving a trail for them. They follow the trail a bit further and find a second piece of tape.

At this point Locke finds a second trail and everyone is uncertain what to make of it. Kate suggests that maybe Ethan knows they are following him and doubled back to leave a false trail. Everyone is surprised that Kate knows about tracking. Eventually they decide to split up; Locke and Boone follow the new trail while Jack and Kate follow the trail that Charlie seems to be leaving.

Elsewhere, Sawyer and Walt are walking a trail and Walt is telling Sawyer what has happened. Sawyer wonders why anyone would kidnap Charlie and Claire and scoffs at the idea that Ethan wasn't on the plane, saying that he may have simply lied about his name. Walt says it would be stupid to lie about your name. Sawyer looks uncomfortable.

Walt says there could be a lot of other people on the island. Sawyer doesn't believe him and Walt tells him to go ask Sayid. Sawyer is surprised that Sayid is back and suddenly seems much more serious and thoughtful.

Back on the trail, Boone is tying a strip of red cloth to a tree and jokes about red-shirts on Star Trek. He then asks Locke what he did in the "real world", guessing he was either a taxidermist or hit man. Locke smiles and says he was the regional collections supervisor for a box company. Boone doesn't believe him.

On the other trail, Kate is struggling to keep up with Jack. Jack asks where she learned to track. At first she won't say anything but eventually tells him that her father was in a Ranger battalion and used to take her hiking and hunting in the woods. She learned from him. She then asks Jack if he has anything he wants to share.

Flashback: Jack arrives in his father's office at the hospital. His father has drawn up a report saying that the patient died of her injuries despite all the efforts of everyone in the emergency room. He wants Jack to sign the report.

Jack refuses, saying that his father was impaired and he knows it. His father counters that if Jack mentions alcohol, then his career will be over.

His father then apologizes somewhat to Jack, saying that he knows he treated him badly while he was growing up, but that by doing so he made Jack into the best surgeon in the city. He promises Jack that if he signs the report, then he will make it up to him and promises that the situation will never happen again. His pleas get through to Jack and he signs the report.

At the caves, Sawyer walks in to where Sayid is sleeping and sits next to him. Sayid wakes up and watches Sawyer cautiously, asking what he wants.

Sawyer claims he has come to get antibiotics from Jack then comments that Sayid looks as if he got a "karmic payback" from the island. He observes that he could beat Sayid up at the moment without reprisal. He picks up a straight razor that is lying nearby and starts playing with it.

Sayid tells him to go ahead but adds that he is sorry for what he did to Sawyer. Sawyer responds that he is "fresh out of sweet forgiveness". He then asks why Sayid came back.

Sayid tells him about his encounter with Danielle and what she told him about the "others". Sawyer asks him some more questions but Sayid finally gets frustrated and tells him to stop asking questions he knows he doesn't know the answer to.

Sawyer stands up and, tossing the razor aside, picks up his pack and leaves. As he does, he tells Sayid that the tide is coming up the beach and is about to take the fuselage and comments that he has kept Sayid's signal fire burning.

On the beach, Walt and Hurley are playing backgammon. Hurley is losing as Walt continually gets exactly the die rolls he needs. Hurley expresses disbelief and Walt tells him that Brian, his "other father", told him he was the luckiest person he knew. Hurley leaves and Walt yells after him that he owes him $20,000. Hurley yells back that he will get it.

Boone and Locke are still attempting to follow the trail. Boone says it has been some time since they saw any signs and Locke says he is following his instincts. He also says it will start raining in one minute. He suggests that Boone go back to the caves but Boone refuses.

He asks Boone what he did back home and Boone, somewhat embarrassed, admits he runs a wedding business. Locke seems surprised and Boone says that his mother is the "Martha Stewart of matrimony" and that he runs one of her subsidiaries.

At this point it starts raining. Boone asks Locke if he learned to predict the weather at the box company.

It is also raining on Jack and Kate, who find another of Charlie's pieces of tape. Jack hears what seems to be Claire's scream and rushes up a steep ravine towards her. Kate, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have heard anything and struggles to keep up with him.

Jack slips in the muddy ravine and tumbles to the base of the hill. He looks up to see Ethan standing over him. Ethan tells him to quit following him or he will kill one of them. Jack attempts to attack him but Ethan easily beats him and knocks him unconscious.

Flashback: Jack is in the hospital and sees his father talking to someone. A nurse identifies it as the husband of the woman who died and says he is threatening to sue.

Kate manages to revive Jack but did not see Ethan. She says the rain has washed away any trail but Jack rushes ahead, saying he won't let him do this "again".

Flashback: Jack and his father are at a medical board inquiry. Jack's father has just finished giving his version of the events that led the woman's death. Jack has apparently supported him and it appears the matter is over.

Then, one of the board members mentions that the woman was pregnant. Jack's father says he knew this but apparently Jack did not. He sits uncomfortably for several seconds before interrupting everyone and saying he wants to change his statement. He tells them that he was called into the operation because his father was operating under the influence and had cut the patient's artery. That, he says, was the cause of the patient's death.

Jack and Kate come across Charlie, who has been blindfolded and hung from a tree by vines tied around his neck. Jack yells and grabs Charlie's legs, pushing upward to relieve the pressure and yelling for Kate to cut him free. She struggles but manages to climb the tree and Jack manages to pull Charlie close enough to her to allow her to cut the vines. They lower Charlie to the ground but he is not breathing.

Jack immediately begins CPR but it has no effect and he is reduced to pounding on Charlie's chest in frustration. Kate breaks down into tears and soon Jack does the same, slumping to his knees in defeat.

Kate attempts to pull Jack away but, with a scream, he pushes her away and starts pounding on Charlie's chest again. Suddenly, with a deep gasp, Charlie starts breathing. Jack and Kate, now crying for joy, hold him as he coughs and gasps for air.

Later, at the caves, Charlie sits staring into the distance. Jack and Kate are trying to talk to him but he does not respond to them.

Michael arrives to a hug from Walt and who tells him of Charlie's return. He also says that Charlie hasn't said anything since he came back. There is no word on Claire.

Jack is quietly talking to Charlie, saying that he plans to go out searching again the next day but that he needs to know whatever Charlie can tell them. Charlie suddenly speaks, saying that he doesn't remember anything. There is a pause.

"Claire." he says, finally.
"What?" asks Jack.
"That's all they wanted." says Charlie, voice and face expressionless.
"They?" asks Jack.
Charlie continues. "All they wanted was Claire."

Somewhat later, Shannon is talking with Kate. She is worried because Boone and Locke aren't back yet. Kate says that they are probably all right.

Elsewhere, Boone is convinced they are lost but Locke feels that they are on the trail of something. Boone announces that he is going to follow the trail back and turns to leave. Locke stops him and throws him a flashlight, saying that Boone needs it more than he does.

Boone misses the flashlight and it hits the ground with a clang. Boone and Locke look at each other in confusion for a moment then start searching the area where the flashlight hit, revealing a plate of metal under a thin layer of soil. Locke taps it with his knife, revealing a hollow sound.

"What is that?" asks Boone.
"That", says Locke, "is what we're going to find out."

The two start clearing the dirt from the metal plate.