In these episodes, Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) leads Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) to the mysterious Black Rock to get dynamite for them to blow open the hatch door, as the threat of the Others looms near.
Meanwhile, Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), his son Walt Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelley), James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) and Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) set sail on the raft they built in hopes of finding rescue.
When an awakened Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) asks him to turn it off, Walt throws a tantrum and flees the room with his dog Vincent.
In the airport lounge, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) converses with another passenger on his flight, Ana Lucia Cortez (Michelle Rodriguez).
During a conversation with the customs officer, the Marshal reveals that he had baited Kate with Tom Brennan's toy airplane.
At the check-in, Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace) waits for Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) to get them a first-class upgrade, when Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) asks her to watch his bag.
As Boone chastises her, she walks up to a police officer, telling them that "an Arab guy" left his bag unattended.
Sun overhears comments from an American couple regarding her apparent submissiveness to Jin and is forced to pretend that she does not understand their conversation.
Early in the morning, Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) arrives at the beach to warn the survivors that The Others are coming, and tells them more of her own story.
She was pregnant when she came to the island sixteen years ago but the Others—their arrival heralded by a column of black smoke—came and kidnapped her baby, whom she has not seen since.
As the raft prepares for launch, Sayid gives the team a radar emitter and flare gun, while Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) gathers messages from the remaining castaways to put in a bottle, and Walt leaves Vincent with Shannon, telling her Vincent was a good listener when his mother died and she can talk to him about Boone.
Sun says goodbye to Jin, handing him a notebook of phonetically written English terms to help him communicate with the others.
Hurley awakens late for his flight due to a short-circuit in the wall outlet that leaves his alarm clock without power.
Airline staff tell Locke that the wheelchair that is normally used to load disabled passengers on to the plane is missing, and he must be carried on by two attendants.
Sayid endures the subtle racism of a fellow passenger sitting near him by looking at pictures of his lost love (Andrea Gabriel).
Michael fastens the seatbelt of Walt as he plays Game Boy Advance SP, ignoring his father.
Finally, Jack, about to sit down, catches Locke's eye, and the two politely acknowledge each other, unaware of what awaits them.
On their way, Jack and Kate see what seems to be a small cloud of smoke move through some nearby trees, and they hear the rumbling of The Monster, which ensnares Locke's leg and drags him through the jungle.
Jack then instructs Kate to drop a stick of dynamite into the tunnel, which causes an underground explosion, resulting in black smoke coming out of a nearby hole on the horizon, and disappearing.
When Sayid and Charlie arrive on the beach with the black smoke, there are no other footprints or people, just a pyre on the sand, though they discover both the baby and Rousseau nearby.
"[4] Chris Carabott from IGN "loved" Tom's first appearance because "It's a great scene and our first introduction to The Others besides Ethan's infiltration of the camp.
[7] Erin Martell from AOL's TV Squad listed Tom in her five "most entertaining guest roles" from the first three seasons, commenting "I am counting his first episode as my favorite.