"A Tale of Two Cities"
Lost episode
Flight 815 as it crumbles out of the sky.
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 1
Written by	Teleplay: J.J. Abrams Damon Lindelof Story: Damon Lindelof
Directed by	Jack Bender
Production no.	301
Original airdate	October 4, 2006
Guest stars
Julie Adams Blake Bashoff Brett Cullen M.C. Gainey William Mapother John Terry Julie Bowen Stephen Semel Alexandra Morgan Julie Ow Sonya Seng
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Live Together, Die Alone" "The Glass Ballerina"
Lost (season 3) List of Lost episodes

"A Tale of Two Cities" is the third season premiere, and fiftieth episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost. The episode was written by co-creators/executive producers J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, based on a story by Lindelof and directed by executive producer Jack Bender.^[1] When the episode first aired on October 4, 2006 in the United States, it was watched by an average of 19 million American viewers.^[2]

The episode begins with the introduction of Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) and The Barracks.

The character of Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) is featured in the episode's flashbacks.^[3]

[edit] Plot summary

[edit] Introduction

A new character, Juliet Burke, prepares for a book club meeting in a modern suburban home, but things are going wrong. She cries as she listens to a CD recording of Petula Clark's "Downtown," and burns her hand as she tries to grab burning muffins out of the oven, just as the doorbell rings. The club is in a heated discussion of Stephen King's Carrie^[4] when they are interrupted by what sounds like an earthquake. The group leaves Juliet's house and Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), previously known as "Henry Gale" to the survivors, appears along with Ethan Rom (William Mapother), looking up to watch Oceanic Flight 815 break apart in mid-air. Ben quickly orders Goodwin (Brett Cullen) and Ethan to join the survivors, stay undercover, and provide "lists in three days." The camera zooms out to reveal that the suburb is actually on the Island and is inhabited by The Others.

[edit] Flashbacks

In Jack's flashbacks, Jack is going through a divorce from his wife Sarah (Julie Bowen). He demands to know who she has been dating, but she refuses to tell him, so he spies on her and steals her cellphone. He proceeds to call every number in her phone, and his father Christian Shephard's (John Terry) cell phone rings. After following Christian to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Jack accuses him of sleeping with his wife and physically attacks him. After Jack is arrested, Sarah pays his bail, and tells him Christian is no longer sober. She then leaves with an unidentified man, after telling Jack that "now he has something to fix."

[edit] Real-time events

Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) wakes up on the floor of a locker room. Tom (M.C. Gainey) allows her to have a shower and afterwards, by taking and burning her clothes, forces her to change into a dress, after which she is led to an elegant breakfast on the beach with Ben, who tells her to put on handcuffs before she can eat. She asks him why he is doing this, and he tells her that he wanted to give her something pleasant to remember, as the next two weeks will be "very unpleasant."

Fish biscuit

James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) wakes up in a cage in the jungle near the Hydra station. A teenager, Karl (Blake Bashoff), in a nearby cage initially ignores Sawyer but then later expresses interest in Sawyer's camp and unlocks his cage then Sawyer's. However, they are both caught and Tom makes Karl, who is now beaten and bloody, apologize to Sawyer before taking the teen away. Sawyer figures out the mechanical puzzle in his cage, though Tom says it "only took the bears two hours." Kate is then put in Karl's (now empty) cage.

Jack wakes up in a cell in the Hydra Station, where Juliet gently interrogates him. At one point Jack attacks her and attempts to escape, holding an improvised weapon at her throat. He orders her to open a door, but she refuses to comply, claiming that doing so would kill them both. Jack throws Juliet away, and then opens the door. Water starts rushing into the hallway. Juliet helps Jack struggle into an adjoining room, tells him to push a button which she had previously mentioned was for emergencies. He does so and she knocks him unconscious. When he awakes, she shows Jack a file which she says contains documents about his entire life. Juliet asks Jack if he has any questions about Sarah. After a pause, he asks, "Is she happy?" Juliet replies yes, and walks outside, and Ben congratulates her on a job well done.

[edit] Production

A cameo appearance was made in this episode by the elderly Julie Adams, who was the bathing beauty in the 1954 classic film Creature from the Black Lagoon.^[5] Only five characters of star billing appeared in the episode: Michael Emerson, depicting Ben Linus, was promoted to a main character for the third season, and Juliet Burke, played by Elizabeth Mitchell, made her first appearance; the other three were Matthew Fox playing Jack Shephard, Evangeline Lilly as Kate Austen and Josh Holloway as Sawyer. Henry Ian Cusick was also promoted to a main character as Desmond Hume, along with new characters Nikki and Paulo, played by Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro respectively. Malcolm David Kelley (Walt Lloyd), Harold Perrineau (Michael Dawson), Michelle Rodriguez (Ana Lucia Cortez), and Cynthia Watros (Libby) were no longer credited as main characters.

There is a deleted scene from the beginning of the episode, where Juliet and Amelia discuss Ben's feelings for Juliet. This scene was later made into the twelfth "Lost: Missing Pieces" mobisode, "The Envelope".

The scene with Kate in a dress was gotten from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the idea of making "tom-boyish" Kate vulnerable.^[6]

[edit] Reception

The episode was watched by 1.972 million viewers in Canada on CTV, easily winning its timeslot.^[7]

Matthew Fox submitted this episode for consideration on his behalf in the category of "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series" at the 2007 Emmy Awards. ^[8]

[edit] Tom's sexuality

In the episode, Tom tells Kate that she is not his type.^[9] This comment resulted in online discussion in regard to Tom's sexual orientation,^[10][11] and Lindelof and Cuse hinted that a Lost character would later be outed.^[12] Gainey joked, "if [Kate's] not your type, you're gay", and began playing the character as such.^[13]

After the broadcast of "Meet Kevin Johnson", Lindelof and Cuse confirmed that the line from the third season premiere is an allusion to Tom's sexuality, but felt that it needed to be explicitly confirmed in the show, although Lindelof noted that the confirmation scene in "Meet Kevin Johnson" "was not subtle, to say the least".^[14]

[edit] References