Because You Left - Plot

Plot

The episode begins in the late 1970s, when the Dharma Initiative has begun to build stations on the island. Dr. Pierre Chang (François Chau) begins to film the orientation film for the Arrow Station, when he is informed of an incident at the construction site of the Orchid Station. Upon arriving there, he realizes that the workers have found the "unlimited" energy source that the Dharma Initiative has been looking for, which will enable them to manipulate time. As he leaves the station, he bumps into Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), who is dressed as a Dharma construction worker.

On December 30, 2004, following the island being moved in "There's No Place Like Home", the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, the freighter team, and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) begin to erratically jump through time, while the Others are unaffected. The first jump takes them to the day when the Beechcraft carrying Mr. Eko's brother crashes onto the island. John Locke is shot in the leg by Ethan Rom (William Mapother), who has not yet met him and therefore does not recognize him. Meanwhile, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Juliet and the freighter team head to the Swan Station in order to determine when they are. A second jump brings the group forward in time to after the destruction of the station, saving Locke from Ethan in the process. When pressed for an explanation by Sawyer, Daniel Faraday likens the experience to a record skipping. Locke is approached by Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), who recognizes Locke and treats his wound. He informs Locke that they will be strangers at their next meeting, and thus gives him a compass to get his younger self to trust Locke. He explains that the only way to stop the erratic movements through time is to bring back everyone who has left the island, and to do that Locke will have to die. At the Swan station, which is now intact, Sawyer tries to contact Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), who is inside. Daniel asserts that the past can not be changed, and since Desmond didn't know Sawyer already when they first met (later in Desmond's timeline), Sawyer cannot be successful. No one answers, and everyone heads back to the beach. Daniel stays behind and knocks again, and Desmond emerges dressed in a hazmat suit, thus belying Daniel's original assertion. Daniel tells him that if Desmond's future self and the survivors of 815 make it off the island on the helicopter then he should go to Oxford University and find Daniel's mother, in order to help the survivors. Another jump occurs just before Daniel can give his mother's name.

In 2007, back in Los Angeles, two lawyers visit Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly). They deliver a court order for a maternity test for her and Aaron, Claire Littleton's (Emilie de Ravin) son, whom Kate is raising as her own, but refuse to reveal their client's identity. In London while en route to Los Angeles, Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) is confronted by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) at the airport. She tells him that she wants to kill Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson), a desire they seem to have in common. Following Hugo "Hurley" Reyes's (Jorge Garcia) breakout of a mental institution, he and Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) go to a safehouse, which has been infiltrated by two armed men. Sayid kills the men, but not before one of them shoots him with two potent drugged darts, knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile, Ben and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) have left the funeral parlor with Locke's body. They discover that Hurley has broken out, hindering Ben's plan to reunite the Oceanic Six. On a boat in an unknown location, Desmond wakes up, having remembered what Daniel told him, and sets off for Oxford.