The Greater Good (4 May 2005)

After burying one of their own, tempers flare as the castaways' suspicions of each other grow -- and an unlikely survivor vows revenge. Meanwhile, Claire and Charlie struggle to calm her newborn.

Director:

David Grossman

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Emilie de Ravin, Matthew Fox

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Maggie Grace	...	Shannon Rutherford
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Malcolm David Kelley	...	Walt Lloyd
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Harold Perrineau	...	Michael Dawson
Ian Somerhalder	...	Boone Carlyle
Donnie Keshawarz	...	Essam Tasir

Storyline

After the death of Boone, tempers flare as the castaways' suspicions of each other grow, while an unlikely survivor (Shannon) vows revenge against Locke, unfairly blaming him for Boone's death leading her to steal the keys to the late marshal's briefcase containing the guns. Meanwhile, Claire and Charlie struggle to calm her newborn baby boy. Sayid meets with Locke in the jungle and learns of the existence of the mysterious hatch, leading to more of Sayid's background story about why he came to Australia and was blackmailed by the CIA to nab an old friend whom was a terrorist suspect.

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Plot Keywords:

cia | revenge | terrorist | hatch | australia | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic Korean

Release Date:

4 May 2005 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode's original title was going to be "Sides".

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Goofs

Sayid and Essam are sitting in a plaza, and you can see newspaper boxes over their shoulders. Australia doesn't have newspaper boxes.

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Quotes

Locke: [to Sayid] Okay, I'll tell you something you *don't* know.
Sayid: Please do.
Locke: The first week after the crash, there was a cave-in. Jack was trapped. Do you remember that?
Sayid: Of course.
Locke: You, Kate and Sawyer went out into the jungle to triangulate a signal.
Sayid: [suddenly worried] Yes.
Locke: You were hit from behind, knocked unconscious. When you woke up, the transceiver, your equipment was destroyed.
[long pause as both men look at each other and Sayid realizes what Locke is telling him]
Locke: That was me.

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Connections

Features Half-Life (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

"No more lies."

Given the show's nature and ensemble cast, it was to be expected that Lost would lose a major character during its first season, so it shouldn't come as a big surprise that Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder), one of the less intense and mysterious people on the Island, met his demise at the end of the previous episode, an event that nevertheless had a huge emotional impact and is used by the writers to set up the proper season finale.

Thinking Boone was murdered, Jack sets off to find Locke, but is convinced by Kate to return to the camp and rest after his search proves unsuccessful. While the other survivors bury their departed comrade, Locke shows up and tries to explain, but Jack refuses to listen and is determined to take matters in his own hands. The thought is shared by Shannon, who asks Sayid to take care of Locke for her. Elsewhere on the Island, Claire reluctantly allows Charlie to take care of her newborn baby, with some help from Sawyer and Hurley.

As Sayid ponders what to do with Locke, his presence in Australia prior to the plane crash is explained: having become an informant, he was sent to Sydney to infiltrate a terrorist cell in exchange for Nadia's whereabouts. Upon completing the mission, he was given a plane ticket to Los Angeles, and the rest, as they say, is history...

After an episode that was heavy on personal tragedy (part of which is retained in this offering's flashbacks), The Greater Good returns to the show's main themes and escalates the conflict in view of the imminent finale, with a first glimpse of the strained Jack/Locke relationship. In the acting department, Andrews gets to do his usual best, and Maggie Grace turns in a truly believable, grounded performance, finally letting go of the "California chick" stereotype of earlier episodes in a permanent fashion. Yet another sign of the series having found its feet as the end of the first season approaches.