Lostwatch: The Wishing Chair

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't watched last night's Lost yet, go to that magic box in your living room, the box that will make anything you want appear, if you only think of it...

ABC/MARIO PEREZ

Well! I wonder how they're going to get out of this one. I don't mean Kate, Locke and Sayid. (Although I do hope we're not in for another long stretch of cages and fish biscuits--get cracking, Rousseau.) I mean the writers, who have their work cut out to make the appearance on the island of Locke's father plausible. (More plausible than Locke getting the ability to walk back?, you ask. More plausible than a plume of smoke that can pick people up and kill them? OK, OK. But still.) Is the not-really-dead Christian Shephard in the next room? Hurley's dad? Is there a whole Hall of Daddy Issues?

Presumably there's not a magic cabinet that can teleport people from flashbacks, much as we'd all like to see Julie Bowen on the island. Dad must somehow fit into the plans of the Others, who must have tricked/Shanghaied him here--given that Locke's ability to walk makes him a person of interest, and Lost is fond of the-con-man-gets-conned stories. Still, I'm a bit puzzled why, if Locke is so significant to the Others, they didn't nab him earlier, say by putting him on Hurley's list at the end of last season. (I guess it's because only Ben, but not his underlings, knew Locke could walk when the list was drawn up, but the Others are pretty omniscient when they need to be.)

But about that walking. This was the flashback we'd been waiting for, and for once you couldn't say it was irrelevant to the present-day storyline. But while it's fine and all to know how Locke got paralyzed, at this point I think we're all a little more interested in how he got healed. Or, maybe more important, why, which seems to be the question gnawing at Ben. It was worth the price of admission to see Lost's two best actors, Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn, go tete-a-tete, and Locke seemed to genuinely get under Ben's skin, especially with his charge that the Others are "Pharisees" who don't really have a connection with the island, suggesting that Locke has passed some moral/spiritual test that Ben failed, and has the legs to prove it. (Incidentally, if the healing theme is becoming important, does this mean we finally get to see Rose again?)

Anyway, my highlights:

* "No, John, unfortunately, we don't have a code for 'There's a man in my closet with a gun to my daughter's head.' Although apparently we should."

* The from-below shot of Locke opening the sub hatch, mirroring the original opening-the-hatch scene.

* Locke's father offering him a pour of the same aged whiskey Mr. Widmore denied Desmond.

* Great staredown between Jack and Locke after the sub gets deep-sixed.

Next week: Nikki and Paulo get their moment in the flashback sun. Don't tell me you're not curious.

Bonus question: So, if Locke's dad (a con man) is "The Man from Tallahassee," then is Sawyer (a con man) connected with him? Consider this exchange from last season: JACK: Do you even know what amoxicillin is? SAWYER: You may have been to Phuket, but I've been to Tallahassee. Let's just say something was burning and it wasn't from the sunshine. (Also--OK, I cheated and found this out at Lostpedia--Kate was carrying a ticket to Tallahassee when she was arrested.)

Bonus bonus question: First person to guess the reference in the post title gets one wish from the magic box! No fair Googling!