“Meet Kevin Johnson” is the eighth episode of Season 4 of Lost, originally broadcast on March 20, 2008. Sayid confronts Ben’s spy on the freighter, and Ben urges daughter Alex to flee Locke’s camp in order to survive an impending attack.
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Synopsis
Flashbacks
Michael crashes his car
Walt at the window
Tom goes to see Michael in a New-York alley
Michael meets Miles
It is some time after Michael and Walt left the Island. Late at night, Michael sits in his dingy apartment in Manhattan, writing a letter to Walt. When he is finished, he exits his residence, enters his car, and pins the letter to his lapel, driving out into the night. He careens down by a pier before intentionally crashing his car into a shipping crate.
Michael wakes up in a hospital, sharing a room with another, older man. The attending nurse enters and Michael recognizes her as Libby, whom he shot while on the island. Michael starts screaming and quickly realizes he was dreaming when “Libby” disappears. The real nurse enters and explains that he was found badly hurt with no identification, only his letter to Walt. She asks if she should call Walt, and Michael shakes his head “no”.
Michael later goes to his mother’s home, full of Christmas decorations, asking to see Walt, but she refuses. As he leaves, he turns back to see Walt at his window, who turns away. He goes to a pawn shop and exchanges the Rolex watch Jin gave him for a gun and a box of ammunition, then proceeds to a back alley to commit suicide. He is stopped by Tom, who informs him that the Island won’t let him kill himself, and that he has “work to do“. Tom tells Michael to meet him in a penthouse suite of a New York hotel. A short while later, Michael attempts suicide with the gun in his apartment, but the revolver does not fire - he checks to make sure it’s loaded, and though the cylinder has 6 bullets in it - none even have an indentation from a firing pin. About to try again, he is interrupted by the news on television of the discovery of the Oceanic 815 wreck.
Confused by this, he meets Tom at his hotel, where Tom (enjoying the company of Arturo) explains Widmore’s plan to fake the plane crash to keep others from looking in the right place for the Island. With Michael’s help, Widmore’s ship, the Kahana, can be stopped and all occupants of the Island can be saved. His alias on the boat will be Kevin Johnson. Feeling guilty for murdering Ana Lucia and Libby, and not wanting the rest of the Oceanic 815 survivors to be murdered either, Michael agrees to help. Tom gives Michael a fake US passport with the name “Kevin Johnson” and orders to sabotage the ship by setting off a bomb.
While boarding the freighter at the Port of Suva, Fiji, Michael meets Naomi, Miles, and Minkowski. He begins to have second thoughts about setting off a bomb which will destroy the ship, but a phone call from Tom reminds him to follow through if he wants to save the remaining 815 survivors living on the island. While the ship is underway, Michael meets Frank, who confides that he knows that the Oceanic 815 wreckage is a fake.
The note inside the “bomb”
Ben talks to Michael over the radio
On the ship, Michael attempts to set off the bomb, but it does not explode. Instead, a note appears that says “NOT YET”. Michael is told he has a phone call from Walt, but it actually turns out to be Ben, phoning from the Island. Ben informs Michael that there are innocent people on the freighter, and that the plan was never to kill them all, because Ben isn’t that kind of person. Instead, Michael is to get Ben a list of everyone on board, report the list back to him, and then disable both the radio and engine. Michael is told by Ben that he is “one of the good guys“.
Real-time events
On the freighter
Sayid exposes Michael
Sayid and Desmond are suddenly awakened from their sleep to a shrill alarm, and run out on deck to find Captain Gault stopping two of his men from getting on the tender. He throws the first crew member down, and repeatedly punches the second man, and warns everyone he doesn’t do this to scare but to protect them all. He makes mention of what happened to Brandon and Minkowski the last time someone left the freighter.
After the fight, Gault instructs crew member “Johnson” to clean up the mess. Sayid, knowing it is Michael, approaches him, however Michael indicates he does not want to talk at this time. Sayid insists, and asks Michael why he’s on the boat. Michael answers “I’m here to die.”
Sayid and Desmond later discover Michael is in the engine room, where Sayid confronts him regarding his presence on the boat. Michael then tells his story, whereupon Sayid asks him if he is truly working for Benjamin Linus. Michael confirms this is indeed true, and Sayid drags him into Capt. Gault’s room, revealing Michael’s true identity as the saboteur, a spy, and a survivor of Oceanic 815.
On the Island
Alex crouches down behind a tree after Karl and Danielle have been shot
Locke holds a meeting with everyone at the Barracks, and tells them he is informing them of everything he knows. Miles confirms they are after Ben Linus. Sawyer questions why they don’t just turn Ben over to the freighter people. Ben retorts that if the freighter people capture him, they will then proceed to kill everyone on the island. Miles does not protest this point.
Later, Ben persuades Alex to go to a location he calls “the Temple” with Karl and Danielle, and he tells her that the rest of the Others are already there. He provides them with a map. Ben tells Alex that she is in danger because the people that are coming to the island would use her to get to him. He assures her that her mother will protect them. Karl and Danielle agree that they should go.
Some time into their journey, Danielle, Alex and Karl take a water break. As Alex and Karl sit next to each other, a silenced gunshot hits a nearby tree, then another punctures Karl’s water bottle. Rousseau tells Alex and Karl to get up and run, but Karl is immediately hit in the chest by gunfire. The remaining two hide behind a tree and assess the situation. Alex wants to go to Karl, but Rousseau tells her that Karl is “gone” and that they need to make a run for it. They get to their feet, but Rousseau is hit by gunfire and falls to the ground. Alex stands up, puts her hands in the air and says, “I’m Ben’s daughter!”
Trivia
General
- Michael’s flashback is suggested to have taken place sometime between Days 68 (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 (the day the Others leave the barracks), as Ben is shown at his barracks house.
- Likewise, Tom’s appearances would seem to have been set between Day 74 and Day 80 as he was at the Hydra before Day 74 and at the Barracks on Day 80.
- The Kahana left port in Fiji prior to Day 87 (the day Naomi arrived on the Island).
- This episode’s flashbacks are the first to be in the form of a story (supposedly) being told to another person.
- “Flashes Before Your Eyes” was told in the context of a story by Desmond to Charlie and Hurley.
Production notes
- Charlotte, Daniel, Jack, Jin, Juliet, Kate, and Sun do not appear in this episode.
- 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.
- One of the few episodes of the series to take place almost completely in flashback. This is the longest flashback to date, beating “Flashes Before Your Eyes” by just a few seconds.
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)
- 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 Rousseau 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)
- 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 told Michael, when trying to kill himself, that “the Island won’t let you”. (Fate versus free will)
- Miles guesses Michael’s name isn’t Kevin, and says that 80% of the crew is lying about something. (Secrets)
Cultural references
| Cultural references in LOST (direct references only) |
|---|
| Art • Books • Cars • Games • Movies and TV • Music • Philosophy • Religion and ideologies • Science |
- Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse Five, is mentioned as an answer on the game show Michael is watching. (Books)
- The Shining is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Minkowski remarks that Michael reminds him of the film’s main character, played by actor Jack Nicholson. (Movies and TV)
- Star Wars: Before his death, 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 is a fictional hotel which is a metaphysical manifestation of hell itself for an awkward, isolated New York City writer in the 1994 Coen Brothers film Barton Fink. (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)
- The Godfather: Miles Straume is eating, and offers Michael, an orange before getting on the freighter. Oranges are seen in each instalment of the Godfather trilogy before deaths or assassinations. (Movies and TV)
Literary techniques
- The episode centers around Michael’s storyline leading to his involvement with Ben as a spy on the Kahana. (Flashbacks)
- 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)
- Ben says that Charles Widmore is “without conscience” even though Ben killed, amongst 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 engines, the same 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 Rousseau seriously wounded by gunfire but with their condition and the identity of the assailant(s) unknown. (Cliffhanger)
- Michael becomes depressed and suicidal upon leaving the island. In “Through the Looking Glass“, Jack becomes depressed and suicidal upon leaving the island. (Juxtaposition)
- 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
| Storyline analysis |
|---|
| A-Missions • Crimes • Economics • Leadership • O-Missions • Relationships • F-Missions • Rivalries |
- Michael attempts to detonate a bomb in the engine room of Kahana with the goal of killing himself and everyone on board. (Crimes)
Episode references
- Before attempting suicide, Michael says “I’m sorry,” just like he did immediately before shooting Ana Lucia. (”Two for the Road“)
- Michael trades the watch that Jin gave him. (”House of the Rising Sun“) (”Exodus, Part 2“)
- 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“)
- When Libby appears in Michael’s vision she is carrying blankets, just as she did when he shot her. (”Two for the Road“)
- Tom is revealed to be gay. Tom once remarked that Kate wasn’t his “type.” (”A Tale of Two Cities“)
- 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“)
- 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“)
- 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.” (”Live Together, Die Alone“)
- Michael guesses that Naomi is from Manchester, England. Charlie, also from Manchester, guessed that fact as well. (”Greatest Hits“)
- The bomb Michael is given has a button labeled “EXECUTE,” much like the computer in the Swan. (”Adrift“)
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: Meet Kevin Johnson/Theories
Flashback
- How is Tom able to travel from the Island?
- How did Michael and Walt reach the United States after leaving the Island?
- Who staged the phony crash of Oceanic 815 in the Sunda Trench?
- How did Miles know that Michael was not who he claimed to be?
On the Island
- Why does Ben feel the Temple is only for the Others?
- Who was shooting at Alex, Karl, and Rousseau?
- Are Karl and Rousseau dead?
- Who are the “innocent people” among the freighter’s crew that Ben intends to spare?
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