Man of Science, Man of Faith

Season 2, Episode 1, Aired
EDIT

Episode Summary

Jack, Locke and Kate explore the mysterious hatch but Jack decides to wait before going down into the hatch. Kate and Locke aren't so patient. When Shannon chases after Vincent the dog, she encounters a familiar face in the jungle.
9.4
out of 10
EPISODE RATING: Superb
2,277 votes
  • Your Rating: 10
    "Perfect"
  • Your Rating: 9.5
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 9
    "Superb"
  • Your Rating: 8.5
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 8
    "Great"
  • Your Rating: 7.5
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 7
    "Good"
  • Your Rating: 6.5
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 6
    "Fair"
  • Your Rating: 5.5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 5
    "Mediocre"
  • Your Rating: 4.5
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 4
    "Poor"
  • Your Rating: 3.5
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 3
    "Bad"
  • Your Rating: 2.5
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 2
    "Terrible"
  • Your Rating: 1.5
    "Abysmal"
  • Your Rating: 1
    "Abysmal"
Rate It

Watch Online

Netflix
Subscription
Amazon
Buy
iTunes
Buy
Hulu Plus
Subscription
Amazon Prime
Free Trial/Subsc...

Cast & Crew

See All EDIT

Fan Episode Reviews (148)

See All

  • Awesome.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Sarah_LOST, Oct 12, 2010 Report Abuse
    Jack, Kate and Locke investigate the hatch and find Desmond, a man living inside. Shannon sees Walt in the jungle. In flashbacks, Jack operates on his eventual wife and meets Desmond. Wow - an aweseom way to start season two of Lost. John and Jack head to head once again, I love the friction their both so powerful. Locke wants to go down the hatch, Kate goes with him and then soon after Jack follows. I love all the scenes inside the hatch their awesome. I love the way Jack has spoke and seen the guy in the hatch before. Oh I love Jack's back story. Shannon "sees" Walt.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    3 1

  • Welcome back Lost, we now have a lot more questions for sure. The opening episode of this season is magnificent, the exploring of the shaft, the guys on the raft,the others starting to voice their own concerns,this is going to be a good season me thinks.moreless

    10
    "Perfect"
    By captainbritain, Aug 10, 2010 Report Abuse
    Season 2 starts off with a man going through his morning ritual of getting up, excercising and then eating his morning rations, until his record on the player jumps and scratches. He runs over to the power board and kills all the power, then he goes over to a piece of equipment and begins to look through a series of holes. The end view is of it going upwards towards the hatch.

    Hurley tried to warn them that the numbers were bad, but Locke lit the fuse anyways. They then go back to camp as there is about a 40 or 50 foot drop into the base of the shaft. They need more gear to access it. Walking back through the jungle Hurley explains to Jack about the numbers, he sort of understands but does comment on anything, apart from to ask Hurley "You were on a psych ward?".

    We have a flashback to Jack in ER, where Sarah had been admitted following her car accident, Jack was the only Dr in there, but as he was treating her, he was unable to treat the other one, who died. She said before Jack leaves that she has to dance at her wedding.

    Shannon has a small freak out when she realises that Vincent is missing, so she goes off to search for him, followed by Sayid, she sees Vincent, who runs further into the jungle, Shannon trips and on getting up sees a soaking wet disappointed Walt staring at her.

    Back on the beach, everyone is getting angst, the people are getting nervous but Jack manages to persuade them that everything will be okay and to settle down, the sun will be up in 3 hours. Locke is preparing a few things as he is going back tonight, as he tells jack that he is going down there tonight. Kate tells Jack that she has to go, if nothing more to make sure that Locke doesn't kill himself or get eaten.

    Jack has another flashback to Sarah, this time its after her surgery, he is venting off some anger by running up and down steps inside a stadium, he races another that joins him, but due to fatigue he hurts his ankle, a slight sprain. He sits waiting for Sarah to become awake,as she does, he tells her that the operation was not a success, that she'll be paralysed from the waist down for the rest of her life, she accuses him of fibbing, as she can wiggle her toes.

    Locke is helping Kate down into the shaft, she gets half way, then the ancorage device snaps, leaving her to plummet a little, but she drops the torch. She goes down a bit further before she tells Locke to pull her up, he tries but the vines are pulled through his hands fast, causing them to bleed, a bright light then is shone up the shaft and into the night sky.

    When Jack arrives, he finds no one near the entrance to the shaft, so he uses his own stuff that he brought with him to descend into the shaft. He creeps around until he hears noises and then bright lights, he steps into a control room of some description, full of 70's / 80's style computer equipment, he goes over and is about to type on the old keyboard, when Locke appears and tells him not too.

    We then see that Locke has a gun pointed at his head, the person behind the gun wants Jack to drop his, he doesn't but recognises the person as Desmond, the other guy from the running up and down the stairs in the stadium.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    4 0

  • For a JAck Centric Episode, was very Good!!!!

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By Dante_Edy, Aug 10, 2010 Report Abuse
    When I Knew that this season premiere of Lost would be a centric-Jack episode, I "lost" my will of seeing this episode.

    However, when I began to watch, I was amazed. JAck Flashbacks fit very well into the Island event - the Hatch.

    The first 4 minutes was simple great. Sawyer, Michael and Jin dont appear in this episode, however this not effect this episode in nothing. The dialogues between the characters was very well done.

    Shannon has her share of participation when she saw Walt, another mystery, but since the insland can make you see things, this is irrelevant for now.

    Entering tha Hatch, well, this part this part bought some time. I Felt this cliffhanger was forced, but since this is a season premiere, we need some good cliffhanger, even if this was forced.

    Overall, strange scenes, good flashback scenes, some suspense, new mysteries, good dialogues and a great cliffhanger make this episode deserves a 9.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    3 0

  • Open at one end; shocks at the other

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By DavidB226Morris, May 03, 2009 Report Abuse
    Like much of Season 1, 'Man of Science, Man of Faith' with an eye, but the sequence seems so out of context with what we've seen on Lost. It appears to be a flashback or a retro existence, complete with the music of Mama Cass. It is not until we hear an explosion that this seems to snap, and not until a few seconds later that we realize that what we saw happened at the bottom of the hatch a few minutes before 'Exodus' ended, though we still have no idea who or what this is.
    Now that the hatch that he has spent the better part of last season trying to get into is finally open, Locke has apparently forgotten all the threats to the survivors, if indeed they were in his frame of reference at the first place. He needs to see what's at the bottom, and the damn the danger of whatever orders are being given. So, the first possible opportunity, he takes a torch and heads out into the woods. Then after something (conceivably) horrible happens to Kate, he follows her down. Locke seems to believe that it is part of his destiny to see what is at the bottom of the hatch, but once he finally does get down there, his characters will under one of the biggest shifts of everybody on he island, starting with the moment he gets there.
    Jack, on the other hand, seems more than willing to call the whole thing off. He does have to care about the safety of his people, and right now he doesn't think whatever's in the hatch will do it. Especially, when he sees the word 'Quarantine' written on the other side. He tries to offer reassurances to the people at the caves, but as Hurley mentions, his bedside manner sucks. (He also seems very self-centered; Hurley finally has the guts to tell someone about his past and what the numbers meant, and Jack apparently stops listening the moment he hears the words "psych ward". And He wonders why there's so little faith in him.)
    The flashbacks involving Jack are not nearly as strong as some of the others, like Locke or Sayid's. This is mainly because Jack wears his heart on his sleeves, and the revelations are not so amazing as the usual ones. Nevertheless, this one is critical to the show for several reasons. We see Jack dealing with the car accident that paralyzed the woman he married. In doing so, we learn several things about Jack. First, he is a pragmatist, who only believes in empirical evidence. This is so deeply ingrained in that even when he manages to perform a miracle and restore Sarah's legs, he doesn't believe what he done. Second, despite this, he feels a compulsion to help fix things. Sarah was engaged before the car accident, but her fiance, given what we saw, jumped ship because it would be too difficult. Jack wanted to make sure not only that Sarah danced at her wedding, but that there would be someone to dance with as well.
    None of this is exactly earth-shattering. What turns out to be is a scene that we probably thought was a throwaway --- Jack, trying to run off his feelings of failure after the surgery runs into a man named Desmond, who is training for a race around the world. He tries to gives some encouragement and hope to Jack (echoing Locke, which probably wouldn't go over well any better then) But it's not until the end of the episode after Jack, Locke and Kate have reached the bottom, and find that Locke is being held at gunpoint --- by Desmond. It's a good thing the episode ends right then, because I definitely needed to process the shock.
    Then again, we also need to process some of the other stuff we've seen. Inside the hatch (yeah I know, it's really a bunker; the writers called it a hatch, it's a fricking hatch). There's a lot of old music, a record player, exercise bike, food, medicine of some kind, a shower, a bun bed, and a boatload of guns. Oh, and there's this computer, and something that's making a beeping sound. Naturally, we don't learn the import of any of this, or for that matter the mural that looks familiar, along with what appears to be a Dharma hexagon symbol that we've seen before (and will see again, a lot)
    Kate's attitude is somewhat perplexing: she completely seems to agree with Jack about his argument of not exploring the hatch, but at the first possible opportunity, she leaves and goes out to help Locke get down there. Why is she so desperate to get answers? She doesn't believe in destiny.
    So much of the episode is focused on the hatch and the people around that we almost forget about the other people at the caves, who all seemed to be seized with the same level of paranoia. Shannon is apparently hallucinating seeing Walt in the jungle, as well as hearing the whispering in the woods, Charlie's ranting about Rousseau's sanity, Hurley's starting to get upset that no one ever takes him seriously (a legitimate concern given the reactions of the other castaways) we barely see Claire, Sayed or Sun, and oh yeah, we still have no clue as to what happened to Michael, Jin and Sawyer! (Then again, this part at least would be consistent with the writers setting up cliffhangers with one set of characters, and leaving another group hanging for the length of the episode. So never mind. ) However, there are a couple of other minor revelations during the episode. The mural, I'm still not sure what it means, but we have seen it before in "Special", and we will later see again in relation to Desmond is season3. The more interesting revelation is another throwaway. The other person involved in the SUV accident is a man named Adam Rutherford, who we shall soon find out is Shannon's father. Furthermore, the kind of injury that Sarah suffers is almost the exact kind that Locke had prior to crashing on the island. Is it possible that this is the kind of surgery that he would try to perform, but would fail at (Seems unlikely, as Locke probably would have remembered Jack then.)

    'Man of Science, Man of Faith' is a fascinating episode, yet I have no doubt it ended with a lot of people frustrated. The season premiere is supposed to answer all the questions left open in the cliffhanger, not leave a lot of them unanswered as well as add a load of new ones. But that's what makes Lost unique. It not only pushed the envelope; it created new ones.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 0

  • Y se va la segunda...

    9.2
    "Superb"
    By napen, Aug 29, 2008 Report Abuse
    Ah! que nervios! Desde que me compr el pack de DVDs hasta que llegu a casa (media hora despus). Con la cajita en la mano tratando de no leer demasiado, imposible. Ya s que hay un Dharma, que en la escotilla hay algo ms que un escondite. Pero no importa, el suspenso y las ganas de poner play all y no dormir total que importa son las mismas que la primera temporada.
    Aparte: Alguien ley el libro "La invencin de Morel" de Adolfo Bioy Casares? Es increble el parecido con esta serie, cada vez ms. Si no lo leyeron y pueden conseguirlo es altamente recomendable.moreless

    DO YOU AGREE?

    1 0
 

Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

See All

  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • Charlie seems to be more convinced than the other survivors, that there are no "Others". However, in "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues", he said to Jack "All they wanted was Claire" ("They" being "The Others"). Edit
    • At the beginning of this episode, Desmond types in spaces between the numbers, using the space bar. However, in every other episode, there is no space bar used (the computer automatically puts them in). Edit
    • The shower head in the Hatch has 42 holes. 42 is one of "The Numbers". Edit

  • Notes

    ADD NOTES
    • A deleted scene shows Sun asking Shannon about her mysterious encounter in the jungle, and Shannon claims she was tired and didn't see anything. Edit
    • Ian Somerhalder (Boone Carlyle) is no longer credited with the starring cast. Edit
    • This episode marks the first appearance of Desmond Hume, played by Henry Ian Cusick. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • (Jack sitting at Sarah's bedside when she wakes up after the surgery) Sarah: Wow, you really smell. Jack: Yeah, I went for a run. Sarah: You smell like you ran far. Jack: Well, I showered and I guess I just didn't cool. I wanted to get back down here and check on you. It was a Tour de Stade. Sarah: What? Jack: When you run all the steps in every section of a stadium up and down. Sarah: Why would you do that? Jack: Ahm, I'm intense. Edit
    • (After Jack has given Sarah her grim diagnosis) Shephard: You might want to try handing out some hope every once in a while. Even if there's a 99 percent probability that they're utterly, hopelessly screwed, folks are much more inclined to hear that 1 percent chance that things are going to be okay. Jack: Her spine's crushed. I tell her that everything's going to be okay. That's false hope, dad. Shephard: Maybe. Maybe, but it's still hope. Edit
    • Desmond: I don't fancy your chances of catching up with me tonight, though. Jack: I wasn't trying to catch up. Desmond: Aye, of course you weren't. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • The Internationale: "We'll live together or we'll die alone" is a line from the English-language (Billy Bragg) version of this famous socialist, anarchist, communist, and social democratic anthem. Edit
    • Lord of the Flies: In this book by the Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding, the character Ralph is portrayed as logical and rational, while Jack Merridew is portrayed as superstitious and imaginative. The way these characters behave is very similar to how Jack and Locke behave. Thus, Ralph and Jack are both men of science, while Locke and Jack Merridew are men of faith. Edit
    • Hurley tells Jack that his "bedside manner" sucks. Jorge Garcia (the actor that plays Hurley) was also in the show Becker, in which the tagline was "His bedside manner is no manners at all". Edit

Show Forums

See All
Last Activity
Replies

Watch Lost Full Episodes

See All

Related Shows

Season 2 Episodes

See All
Ep 24
Live Together, Die Alone (2)
Ep 23
Live Together, Die Alone (1)
Ep 22
Three Minutes
Ep 21
&#63
Ep 20
Two for the Road
Ep 19
S.O.S.
Ep 18
Dave
Ep 17
Lockdown
Ep 16
The Whole Truth
Ep 15
Maternity Leave
Ep 14
One of Them
Ep 13
The Long Con
Ep 12
Fire + Water
Ep 11
The Hunting Party
Ep 10
The 23rd Psalm
Ep 9
What Kate Did
Ep 8
Collision
Ep 7
The Other 48 Days
Ep 6
Abandoned
Ep 5
...And Found
Ep 4
Everybody Hates Hugo
Ep 3
Orientation
Ep 2
Adrift
Ep 1
Man of Science, Man of Faith
 
Destination Lost

Contributors

Become a contributor
More
Less

TV Listings

Full Listings
BROWSE | Shows | Videos | News | Listings | Forums | People | Photos | TV.com Blog

CBS Entertainment | About TV.com | About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Ad Choice | Terms of Use