Not in Portland (7 Feb. 2007)

Sawyer and Kate struggle to escape the island while Jack sabotages Ben's surgery, and Juliet's plan to make a deal with Jack to kill Ben on the operating table is exposed.

Director:

Stephen Williams

Writers:

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

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Emilie de Ravin

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah (credit only)
Henry Ian Cusick	...	Desmond Hume (credit only)
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton (credit only)
Michael Emerson	...	Ben Linus
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes (credit only)
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon (credit only)
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon (credit only)
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Elizabeth Mitchell	...	Juliet Burke
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace (credit only)
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke (credit only)
Kiele Sanchez	...	Nikki Fernandez (credit only)
Rodrigo Santoro	...	Paulo (credit only)

Storyline

Jack successfully deals the freedom of Kate and Sawyer along the surgery of Ben, and Alex helps them to escape from The Others in her boat. Meanwhile, Juliet recalls her life in Miami, when she developed a successful research of pregnancy treatment having her own sister as guinea pig. Then she recalls when she was invited to lead a research team in a laboratory in Portland.

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Plot Keywords:

hit by a bus

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 February 2007 (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

LOST Coincidences with 04 08 15 16 23 42 numbers, etc. 04 - 4 guns in Marshal's metal case. - 4 years ago Hurley's Grandpa had a heart bypass operation. - Sam Toomey, Leonard Sim's friend source of numbers, died 4 years ago. - John Locke has been paralyzed for 4 years. - 4 people sailed off on the raft. - Ana Lucia was shot 4 times through her vest. - Ana Lucia went into psyche therapy for 4 months. - Sgt. Sam Austen, who Kate thought was his true father, was in Korea up till 4 months before Kate was born, making Wayne the true father. - Henry Gale and his wife crashed on the island in their balloon 4 months ago. - American army pilot was killed by Tariq (Sayid's commander) and buried 4 kilometers away. - Charlie was the fourth person to pass the alley when he interfered with the mugging. 08 - Kate wanted item in bank safety deposit box #815. - Oceanic Flight 815 - 8 days after the crash, some move into the caves. -Sarah's (Jack's wife) had an accident 8 months before her wedding to Kevin. 15 - Boone spent 15 hours on a plane to get to Shannon in Sydney. - Young Kate and Tom buried their time capsule on Aug.15 1989 (08-15-1989). - Adam Rutherford, Jack's patient and Shannon's dad, died at 8:15AM. 16 - 16 hours after the crash, they find the pilot and transceiver. - French S.O.S. repeating for 16 years. - Deadline to take Jack's Dad's body home for the funeral, 16 hours. - 16 weeks without a lotto winner then Hurley won. - Leonard and Sam heard the numbers being transmitted 16 years ago while on duty in the Pacific. - 16 years ago, Danielle Rousseau and her team of 5 followed the six-number transmission to the island and got shipwrecked. - Before the flight, Hurley pays $1,600.00 for a scooter at the airport. -Shannon's New York internship is 16 hours a day. 23 - Jack's plane seat, 23B - Reward for Ray Mullen, $23,000.00. - From the plane's tail section, 23 initially survived after the crash. - Sayid was 23 years old when Americans came and taught him how to torture and interrogate. - Karl was in room 23 in the episode "Not in Portland"- There were 23 people on the deck that Hurley was on when it collapsed. 42 - By the end of the first season, only 42 survivors are left. - Ana Lucia's plane seat, 42F. - Locke's last item in his crossword puzzle is 42-Down. Polar Bears - Michael's gift to young Walt was a Polar Bear stuffed toy. - There are polar bears in the comic Walt is reading. - Polar bears are included in the orientation tape of The Dharma Initiative. - Sawyer kills a Polar Bear on the island. - Walt is attacked and trapped by a Polar Bear, he is rescued by Michael and Locke.

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Quotes

Edmund Burke: [Talking on phone] Because you're insufferable and you're mean. Well you asked for the truth Mom.

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Crazy Credits

The producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the people of Hawaii and their Aloha spirit.

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Connections

References Underdog (1964)

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Soundtracks

"End Title"
Written by Michael Giacchino
Performed by Hollywood Studio Symphony Orchestra

User Reviews

"We're not quite in Portland"

If you listen to podcasts and interviews with the head writers of "Lost" recorded before season three's opening six-episode mini-season/pod the intention behind those episodes becomes clear. They were excited to do a pure action/adventure story, a captivity/escape tale much like films and television they grew up with and enjoyed. We got something in that vein, but it never really came together, never blossomed into anything more than cheap, predictable melodrama. What's most remarkable about "Not in Portland", in many ways the final chapter of the Hydra island pod of stories (since "Stranger in a Strange Land" doesn't exist), is that it represents the Hydra island storyline FINALLY becoming what the writers must have had in their heads while planning it out.

"Not in Portland" doesn't lack some brilliant character-based writing, particularly for Juliet but also for Jack and even Ben, but it also doesn't lack the sort of thing the entire Hydra island pod should have had: loads of well-executed action within the established genre format of the jungle captivity/escape story. I can't think of anything that could have been done better here- "I Do", the previous episode, milked everything for cheap soap-opera tension. "Not in Portland" features very similar situations with lives hanging in the balance, dramatic attempts at escape, 'shock moments', etc. but it's all in the great "Lost" tradition of keeping everything deeply connected to the overall story and to the characters and mythos of the series. Everything here is worthwhile. Kate and Sawyer's escape and Ben's surgery are handled superbly, with a shift of focus in the writing to Juliet, already a compelling character, and in this episode proving to be one of the show's most intriguing and conflicted characters.

The flashback sees Juliet attempting to get her sister, who has cancer, pregnant through experimental science. Due to previous experiments and presumably this as well, The Others (naming themselves 'Mittelos Bioscience) led by Richard Alpert attempt to recruit Juliet and bring her to the island. This sort of thing can go horribly wrong if done without subtlety and grace (*cough*"Cabin Fever"*cough*), but it's all very strongly-written here by Carlton Cuse and Jeff Pinkner.

A massive return to form after an uncertain (to be kind) start to the season, this 'spring season debut' introduces us to the superb bulk of season three which would keep us on the edge of our collective seat until the spectacular, jaw-dropping audacity of the finale.