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"Meet Kevin Johnson"

Season

Episode

4

8

Airdate

March 20, 2008

Flashforward

{{{flashforward}}}

Flashback

Michael

Day(s)

96-97

Written by

Elizabeth Sarnoff
Brian K. Vaughan

Directed by

Stephen Williams

Special guest star(s)

{{{specialguests}}}

Guest starring

Cynthia Watros - Libby
M.C. Gainey - Tom
Anthony Azizi - Omar
Blake Bashoff - Karl
Grant Bowler - Captain Gault
Starletta DuPois - Mom
Kevin Durand - Keamy
Jeff Fahey - Frank Lapidus
Mira Furlan - Danielle Rousseau
Tania Raymonde - Alex
Fisher Stevens - George Minkowski
Marsha Thomason - Naomi Dorrit

Co-starring

Galyn Gorg - Nurse
James Locke - Jeff/Mechanic
William P. Ogilvie - Gus/Pawnbroker
Francesco Simone - Arturo
Jill Kuramoto - Female anchor

Uncredited

Malcolm David Kelley - Walt Lloyd[1]

Episode transcript
[[{{{transcript2}}}|Part Two]]

Episode Images

"Meet Kevin Johnson" is the eighth episode of Season 4 of Lost, originally broadcast on March 20, 2008 in the United States. Sayid confronts Ben’s spy on the freighter, and Ben urges his daughter Alex to flee Locke’s camp in order to survive an impending attack.

Synopsis

Flashback

Michael crashes his car

Late at night, a visibly distraught Michael sat in a rundown Manhattan apartment, scribbling furiously on a scrap of paper. After he finished transcribing his message, he spared a tearful glance at a picture of him with Walt as a baby. Michael exited his residence, entered his car, and pinned the message he just wrote to his lapel. He turned on the radio to hear Mama Cass singing "It's Getting Better" and accelerated down the road, tires skidding rapidly. He careened down a pier at this high speed before intentionally crashing his car into a shipping container.

Michael awakened in a hospital room he was sharing with an older man. An unseen nurse entered and offered him an extra blanket, but when Michael looked at her, he recognized her as Libby, whom he fatally shot while negotiating his release from the Island. Michael began screaming, but woke up to realize the vision was not real. The actual nurse entered and explained that he was found badly hurt with no identification, only a letter addressed to someone named Walt. She asked if she should call Walt, and Michael shook his head "no", too ashamed to make eye contact.

Walt at the window

An unspecified time later, Michael visited his mother's home, which was decorated for Christmas, and asked to see Walt, citing his long-held claim that it is a "father's right". She refused, saying that Michael gave up his rights as a father when he refused to explain where he and his son had been for the past two months, only to return with false names, and left Walt in the care of his grandmother. She then added that Walt had nightmares every night, awakening with screams, and it was she who comforted him - what should be a father's duty. She fiercely decreed that until Michael was willing to answer for what he did to Walt to scar him so badly, he had forfeited his parenthood. Distraught, Michael left and saw Walt (not much older than when he left the Island) through a window. Walt returned his gaze with a mixture of complacency and contempt, only to shut the blinds.

Michael and Tom meet again

Michael went to a pawn shop and exchanged the Rolex watch Jin gave him for a gun and ammunition, and then stumbled into a back alley to commit suicide. Pointing the gun to his temple, just moments before he pulled the trigger, he was suddenly approached by a man asking for the time. Michael quickly hid the gun from sight and began to answer "no," but the man emerged from the shadows of the alley into Michael's vision, retorting, "C'mon, not even for an old friend?", and Michael recognized him as Tom, the man chiefly responsible for kidnapping Walt on the Island.

Newly invigorated, Michael stood and fired a shot, but was disarmed and overpowered by Tom. When Tom offered a truce, Michael took advantage of the timing and broke a discarded champagne bottle over Tom's head. Just as Michael was about to thrust the shards of the bottle into Tom's neck, Tom aimed his own gun at Michael's head, forcing the two into a stalemate. Michael begged Tom to shoot him, only to be scoffed at. Tom soon realized Michael was driven to commit suicide because he lost his relationship with Walt after confiding in him that he had killed Libby and Ana Lucia to rescue him. Tom informed Michael that the Island won't let him kill himself, because Michael still had "work to do". Tom handed Michael the gun and told him he could try killing himself again if he didn't believe him, and that he would be in the penthouse suite of the Hotel Earle when Michael was ready to talk, saying Michael's help was needed.

A short while later in his apartment, Michael tried to shoot himself in the head, but the revolver would not fire. He checked to make sure it was loaded, and though the cylinder had 6 bullets in it, none even had an indentation from a firing pin. As he raised the gun to try again, he was interrupted by a television news report concerning the discovery of the Oceanic 815 wreck, confirming all 324 passengers dead.

Confused by this, he went to the penthouse suite where Tom was enjoying the company of Arturo. After asking Arturo to leave, Tom explained to Michael that the wreckage was a fake, staged by "a man named Widmore" to keep others from looking in the right place where the real plane crashed: the Island. Widmore wants to keep the Island for himself and will kill everyone on it if he isn't stopped. With Michael's help, Widmore's freighter, the Kahana, could be stopped and all occupants of the Island could be saved.

Michael asked for proof and Tom gave Michael a file with documents that showed exhumed graves in Thailand and a purchase order from Widmore's company for an old 777 plane. Tom told Michael he had a job on the freighter and his alias would be Kevin Johnson. Tom handed him a U.S passport. Michael questioned why he would go back to work for "you people," and protested that he won't go back to the Island. Tom sold it as his only opportunity to redeem himself for what he did and said that he wouldn't be going back to the Island. His mission would be to get on the boat and "kill everyone on board."

Michael meets Miles

While boarding the freighter at the Port of Suva, Fiji, Michael met Minkowski and Naomi, the latter of whom informed him that he received a crate that would be delivered to his room. Michael/Kevin meets Miles, who said he "knew" Kevin was not his real name. Miles laughed at Michael's shock and said not to worry, as 80 percent of the people on the boat were lying about something. Michael began to have second thoughts about killing everyone on board he had "put faces with names", but a phone call from Tom reminded him to follow through if he wanted to save the remaining survivors living on the Island. When the ship was underway, Frank and Naomi argued over who would go on the first trip to the Island. Frank reminded her he is the trained pilot, but Naomi said she was taking the first trip and he didn't need to know why. Frank then introduced himself to Michael. After Michael said he was looking for adventure, Frank shared his belief that the Oceanic 815 wreckage was a huge fake, similar to the way people believed the moon landing was faked, "but real". Frank said that Charles Widmore was interested in finding the real wreckage and discovering what happened to the passengers, with the hope of rescuing them. Frank seemed excited about meeting survivors from the crash.

The note inside the "bomb"

Days later, at full sea, Michael heard guns being fired. He went to the deck and saw Omar and Keamy, amongst others, laughing while target practicing with machine guns. Shocked to discover this, Michael said he thought this was supposed to be a rescue mission, but Keamy only brushed off the remark. Back in his room, Michael opened his crate and found a case in it. He took the case to the engine room and found a bomb inside. Michael input the combination for the bomb, but hesitated to push the EXECUTE button to set off the bomb. Suddenly, he heard the same Mama Cass song he was listening to in the car when he tried to commit suicide. He saw another vision of Libby who told him not to do it, and then disappeared. Michael said, "I love you Walt". and pushed the button. The bomb's 15-second timer expired, but the bomb didn't explode. Instead, a flag popped up with a note around it that said "NOT YET".

Ben talks to Michael over the radio

Later on, Michael was throwing a ball against the wall when Minkowski told him he had a phone call from the mainland from a person named Walt. After Minkowski gave Michael some privacy in the radio room, it turned out that "Walt" was actually Ben, phoning from his house at the Barracks. Ben informed Michael there were innocent people on the freighter, and that the plan was never to kill them all, because Ben wasn't that kind of person. He gave the fake bomb to Michael to show him the difference between a man without a conscience, namely Widmore, and himself. He claimed that even in a war he did not want to kill innocents. Michael told Ben that Libby and Ana Lucia were innocent, but Ben replied that Michael himself killed them and the Others didn't ask for their death. Ben then ordered Michael to get him a list of everyone on board, report the list back to him, and then disable both the radio and engine so that they could not get to the Island, therefore saving the people on it. Michael was obviously shaken up, but Ben told him that he could now consider himself "one of the good guys".

On the freighter

Sayid exposes Michael (promotional still)

Sayid and Desmond were awakened by a shrill alarm and ran out on deck to find Captain Gault had stopped two of his men from getting on the tender by beating them up. He threw the first crew member down and repeatedly punched the second man, saying the rules of desertion still applied. The Captain told the crew he didn't beat the men to scare everyone but to save everyone's lives. He said the crew should remember what happened to Brandon and Minkowski after they left the freighter.

After the fight, Gault instructed crew member "Johnson" to clean up the mess. Sayid approached him to talk, and when Michael indicated it was not a good time, Sayid insisted on learning why Michael was on the boat. Michael answered, "I'm here to die."

Later, Sayid and Desmond, after having asked a crew member, discovered Michael was in the engine room. The two men went down to the room to confront Michael regarding his presence on the boat. Michael then asked Jeff, the other man in the room, to leave. Michael began telling his story: the information contained in the flashback. When he was finished, Sayid asked him if he was truly working for Benjamin Linus. Michael confirmed this. Sayid grabbed Michael and dragged him into Captain Gault's room, revealing Michael's true identity as the saboteur, a spy, a traitor, and a survivor of Oceanic 815.

On the Island

Alex crouches down behind a tree after Karl and Danielle have been shot

Locke held a meeting with everyone at the Barracks, and told them he was sharing everything he knew with them. Miles confirmed the people from the freighter were after Ben Linus. Sawyer suggested they just turn Ben over to the freighter people. Ben said the orders of the freighter people were to capture him, then kill everyone else on the Island; Miles does not deny it.

Later, Ben persuaded Alex to go to a location he called "the Temple" with Karl and Danielle, and he told her the rest of the Others were already there. He provided them with a map. Ben told Alex she was in danger because the people who were coming to the Island would use her to get to him. He assured her that her mother would protect them. Karl and Danielle agreed they should go.

Some time into their journey, Danielle, Alex, and Karl took a water break. As Alex and Karl sat next to each other, a suppressed gunshot could be heard and a bullet struck nearby, then another punctured Karl's water bottle. Just a second later, a third bullet ripped through his chest. Danielle urged Alex to leave Karl and take cover. The two hid behind a tree and assessed the situation. Alex wanted to go to Karl, but Danielle grabbed her and told her that she loved her and they needed to make a run for it. They got to their feet, but Danielle was immediately hit by gunfire and fell to the ground. Alex stood up, put her hands in the air and yelled, "I'm Ben's daughter!"

Trivia

General

• Michael's flashback is suggested to have taken place sometime between Days 68 (November 28, the day Michael and Walt leave the Island, as Michael is estranged from Walt since he revealed what he did on the Island) and Day 82 (December 12, the day Ben and his people leave the Barracks).
  • Likewise, Tom's appearances would seem to have been set between Day 74 (December 4) and Day 80 (December 10) as he was at the Hydra before Day 74 and at the barracks on Day 80.
  • There were Christmas trees visible in Michael's flashback, which suggests this happened in or near the month of December.
• Korean inscriptions on back of the Rolex watch that Jin gave to Michael translate to "congratulations," "mutual cooperation," "business development," and "Mr. Paik."
• Michael hears whispers and sees Libby just before he activates the bomb on the freighter. This is the first time the whispers are heard off the Island.
  • On the ABC Lost website, this scene is shown in the Lost: Revelations 408 clip. In this clip, the whispers are incoherent. However, in the actual aired episode, the whispers begin with the Mama Cass song that played on the car radio when Michael tried to kill himself the first time. The lyric heard says "it's getting better"
• This episode's flashbacks featured four deceased characters: Libby, Minkowski, Naomi, and Tom.
• Danielle calls Alex by her full name, Alexandra.
• The title of this episode was spoken by Tom to Michael.
• "Kevin Johnson" and "Dean Moriarty" share the same passport number: HNSO12153. ("The Economist")
  • The passport number: HNSO12153 references Hanso (HNSO) and two of the Numbers 4 and 8 (1+2+1=4 and 5+3=8).
• According to Libby's badge, Michael is in (the fictitious) Manhattan Springs Hospital.

Production notes

• Charlotte, Daniel, Jack, Jin, Juliet, Kate, and Sun do not appear in this episode.
• This is the first episode to include Miles since "Eggtown".
• Cynthia Watros is the first former cast member to return to the show as a guest star to not be credited as a "special" guest star.
• Kewalo Basin, the small commercial harbor in Kaka’ako, was transformed into the Port of Suva, Fiji’s largest port and gateway to its capital city, for this episode.
• This is the second longest flashback to date, exceeding "Flashes Before Your Eyes" by just a few seconds, and surpassed only by "The Other 48 Days" which takes place entirely in flashback.
• Malcolm David Kelley confirmed in an interview [2] that he was the actor playing Walt in his brief appearance.
• This episode was followed by a month-long break due to the writer's strike.
• In France, the episode is titled "Seconde chance," which translates to "Second Chance."

Bloopers and continuity errors

• In "Catch-22", Naomi's helicopter crashes in the water, but in the subsequent episodes the freighter crew still has a helicopter, which implies that they had two before Naomi crashed. However, in this episode during the scene where Naomi is arguing with Frank Lapidus, Only one helicopter is present on the pad.
• On the freighter, when Tom hangs up the phone after he speaks with Michael, a dial tone is heard. Only landline telephones give dial tones.
• At the end of the episode when Alex is ambushed, Tania Raymonde's left eye contact can be seen slipping out of place, showing her naturally brown eye underneath.
• In the ambush scene at the end of the episode, character Karl's actor Blake Bashoff reacts to the first shot by turning his head towards the source of the sound at the same time the shot can be heard. The sound effects appear to be edited into the scene too late.
• The water bottle in Karl's hand in the final scene has only one hole. The bullet entered the bottle, but did not exit.
• Blake Bashoff's hearing protection is visible after Karl is shot.

Recurring themes

• Michael said that he's on the boat to die. (Life and Death)
• Michael tries to kill himself 5 times in the episode: once in a car accident, once in the alley with a gun, twice in his apartment with the gun, and once again on the freighter. (Life and Death)  (Sacrifice)  (Car accidents)
• As he is about to kill himself in the car, Michael says "I'm sorry." (Regularly Spoken Phrases)
• A game show is on TV during Michael's suicide attempt in his apartment. (Games)
• Ben told Michael that he can consider himself one of the good guys. (Good and bad people)
• Michael is on the boat to redeem himself. (Redemption)
• Sayid reveals Michael's status as a "traitor" to Captain Gault. (Deceptions and cons)  (Secrets)
• Ben needs Michael to get him a list of the people on the boat. (Lists)
• Karl and Danielle are attacked and left for dead by unknown assailants. (Life and Death)
• Michael "sees" Libby twice. (Dreams and visions)
• Michael's mother is upset with Michael for his behavior toward his son, Walt. (Parent issues)
• Walt won't talk to Michael over disappointment due to Michael's murders. (Parent issues)
• There is a closeup of Michael's eye as he wakes up in the hospital. (Eyes)
• Ben pretends to be Walt to get Michael on the phone on the freighter. (Deceptions and cons)
• The bomb Michael is given via a care package is a fake. (Deceptions and cons)
• Hinted at in "A Tale of Two Cities," it is revealed that Tom is gay. (Relationships) (Secrets)
• Tom tells Michael, when trying to kill himself, "the Island won't let you." (Fate versus free will)
• Miles guesses Michael's name isn't Kevin, and says that 80 percent of the crew is lying about something. (Secrets)
• The bomb timer counts down from 15 seconds. (The Numbers)
• The clock in the Barracks' house marks 8pm. (The Numbers)
• Michael came back to civilization anonymously and with minimal contact with his family, living by himself in poor shape. (Isolation)

Cultural references

• Kurt Vonnegut: The author of Slaughterhouse Five is mentioned as an answer on the game show Michael is watching. (Literary works)
• The Shining: Minkowski remarks that Michael reminds him of the main character from this 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. (Movies and TV)
• Star Wars: Before he is shot, Karl says, "I've got a bad feeling about this." This is a line that is spoken in every episode of Star Wars. (Movies and TV)
• Cass Elliot: The song playing in the car when Michael tries to kill himself is "It's Getting Better" by Cass Elliot, who also recorded "Make Your Own Kind of Music." (Music)
• The Hotel Earle: This is the former name of the Washington Square Hotel. [3]
  • In the 1991 Coen Brothers film Barton Fink, this is the name of a fictional hotel, which is a metaphysical manifestation of hell for an awkward, isolated New York City writer. (Movies and TV)
• Star Trek: The second sneak peek for this episode featured the "red alert" sound effect from Star Trek: The Next Generation as the freighter's alarm. This was altered for the broadcast version. (Movies and TV)
• Hinduism: When we see Ben talk to Michael on the radio, at the beginning of the shot there is a statue of a Hindu deity in the foreground. (Religion and Ideologies)
• The Great Escape: Michael throwing on the ball against the wall references Hilts doing the same whilst in the cooler in The Great Escape.
• Crime and Punishment: This novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky may have inspired several key elements of Michael's story:
  • In this episode, Michael goes to a pawn shop to trade a rolex watch. In Crime and Punishment, the main protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov exchanges his dead father's watch for a loan by an extremely mercantile usurer.
    • Just like Michael, Rodion tries to commit suicide several times, but something always stops him from doing so. In the end, the character is forced to redeem for his crimes and face his punishment in order to stop the guilt that tortures him.
  • In Two for the road, Michael kills Ana Lucia in order to free Ben, but is forced to kill Libby as she accidentally witnesses the murder scene. Just like Rodion assassinates the usurer, but is forced to kill an innocent witness, the usurer's sister Elizaveta, Russian equivalent of Elizabeth. (Literary works)

Literary techniques

• Michael trades Jin's Rolex watch for a handgun with which to kill himself. On the Island, Jin tried to kill Michael over the same watch. (Irony)
  • Right after the trade, Tom shows up asking Michael about the time. (Irony)
• Ben says that Charles Widmore is "without conscience" even though Ben killed, among other people, his own father. (Irony)
• When Michael attempts his automotive suicide, an optimistic song is playing. (Irony)
• Tom tells Michael, "You still have work to do." (Regularly spoken phrases)
• Michael is seen attempting to fix the same engines that he agreed to sabotage. (Irony)
• Ben calls Michael "one of the good guys." (Regularly spoken phrases)
• Sayid turns in Michael because he works for Ben. In the future (as seen in "The Economist"), Sayid himself works for Ben. (Irony)
• Michael made terrible sacrifices to get Walt back from the Others, only to lose him again after telling him about killing Ana Lucia and Libby. (Irony)
• Frank talks to Michael about the idea of finding 815 survivors alive. (Irony)
• The episode ends with Karl and Danielle seriously wounded by gunfire but with their condition and the identity of the assailant(s) unknown. (Cliffhanger)
• The episode employs an atypical "narrative bookends" style framing device in which Michael's flashback is revealed as if he were telling the story to Sayid and Desmond. (Flashbacks)

Storyline analysis

• Michael attempts to detonate a bomb in the engine room of the Kahana with the goal of killing himself and everyone on board. (Crimes)

Episode references

• Michael trades the watch that Jin gave him. ("House of the Rising Sun") ("Exodus, Part 2")
• Walt is living with Michael's mother. Before their plane took off, Michael called her to ask if she would take Walt. ("Exodus, Part 2")
• The bomb Michael is given has a button labeled "EXECUTE," much like the computer in the Swan. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith")
• Michael tells his mother that he wants to see Walt "because he's my son. That is my right," just as he told Jack. ("The Hunting Party")
• Before attempting suicide, Michael says, "I'm sorry," just like he did immediately before shooting Ana Lucia. ("Two for the Road")
• When Libby appears in Michael's vision, she is carrying blankets, just as she did when he shot her. ("Two for the Road")
• Michael is bouncing a tennis ball against the metal door of his ship's quarters. It would appear that Michael is again bouncing his tennis ball in "Ji Yeon" when Sayid tells Desmond that the annoying noise is not made by a machine.
• After leaving the Island, Michael tells Walt about killing Libby and Ana Lucia, thus making Walt hate Michael. ("Two for the Road")
• Before pressing the "Execute" button on the fake bomb, Michael says, "I love you, Walt," echoing Desmond saying, "I love you, Penny," before he turned the fail-safe key in the Swan. ("Live Together, Die Alone")
• Ben calls Michael "one of the good guys." Before he left the Island, Michael asked him who they were and Ben responded "We're the good guys, Michael." ("Live Together, Die Alone")
• Ben tells Michael to make a list of the people on the freighter, just as he once told Ethan and Goodwin to make lists of the survivors of Flight 815. ("A Tale of Two Cities")
• Tom is revealed to be gay. This was alluded to in an earlier episode when Tom remarked that Kate wasn't his "type." ("A Tale of Two Cities")
• Tom confirms that the Island has strange properties when it comes to death, by telling Michael that he won't be able to kill himself because "...the Island won't let you".
• Upon learning that Locke is not handing Ben over to the freighter people, Claire asks, "so he's one of us now?" ("One of Us")
• Michael guesses that Naomi is from Manchester, England. Charlie, also from Manchester, guessed that fact as well. ("Greatest Hits")
• Michael becomes depressed and suicidal upon leaving the Island, and is unable to kill himself. Later, Jack becomes depressed and suicidal upon leaving the Island, but was interrupted when trying to kill himself on the bridge. ("Through the Looking Glass")
• When crew members nearly take a raft off the boat, Captain Gault reminds them of what happened to the last two men to do so, specifically calling out the late Minkowski. ("The Constant")

Unanswered questions

For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Meet Kevin Johnson/Theories

Flashback

• How is Tom able to come and go from the Island?
  • Why does Tom say that only "some" of the Others can come and go to the Island?
• Who are the "innocent people" among the freighter's crew that Ben intends to spare?
• How did Ben manage to contact the people on the freighter when he talked to Michael?

On the Island

• Why is the Temple only for the Others?
• Why did Libby tell Michael "Don't do it"?

External links

• ABC Primetime Grid
• ABC Medianet Press Release Bundle (02/22/08): [4]