What the heck was Locke’s dream all about in 3.03 “Further Instructions”?
Well, first off, Locke, after the hatch incident in which he became mute, constructed a small tent called a sweat lodge. Apparently, if he lit a fire on the inside and poured enough water to fill the tent with steam, he would go into a state where he could meditate. As soon as John reached this state, Boone appeared and took him on a dream journey through Sydney International Airport — but what he saw was very weird.
“Someone in this airport is in serious danger, and you are the only one who can save them,” says Boone, as he pushes John, who is in his wheelchair, around the bustling airport.
As we see people that we recognize from the island, we realize that they are together just as they are on the island — you’ll see what I mean if you follow along.
The first people he recognizes come up quick. Charlie and Claire are standing in front of them. Charlie is playing with Aaron, whom Claire is holding. Just like on the island. Of course Boone says that they aren’t in trouble (for a while), and they move on…
Sun and Jin are standing in line, and as the camera pans back, we see Sayid standing directly behind them. Sayid taps Jin on the shoulder and points at something we can’t see. Almost like they were on the boat, and Sayid was pointing to something on the shore…
At the front of the line is Hurley, dressed in a flight attendant uniform, taking tickets. “Next please,” he says, as he types 4 8 15 16 23 42 into a computer terminal at the counter in front of him. It seems that Hurley is still obsessing with the numbers. We’ll return to Hurley in a moment…
But first, we see Desmond heading down an escalator, casually chatting with a couple flight attendants on the way down (all with weird-looking hair, from that camera angle at least). Boone says, “Forget it, he’s helping himself.” What could that mean?
Kate and Sawyer are standing in line next to eachother for the baggage check. They are flirting like they know eachother. A few people up the line is Jack, looking dejected and depressed, as he is being waved by Ben, wearing a flight attendant suit. Now, this is clear. In the same general place are Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Kate and Sawyer are getting closer to eachother while Jack is being broken down by the Others, more specifically Ben. Boone says, “There’s nothing you can do for them, not yet. First you have to clean up your own mess.”
Then, suddenly, the airport empties and Boone has John ascend the escalator. At the top he finds Eko’s stick… And the rest we know. But what does this dream mean?
Desmond showed later that episode that he had the ability to see into the future, although how much this is under his control, or if it is just a feeling of deja vu, is uncertain. Could this dream be part of John’s power? He somehow had knowledge of all that was going on on the island, too much for just knowing where those people were. He didn’t know that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were captured, but he saw Ben, signifying the Others, waving them. What is John’s new ability? Is it different from Desmond’s?
Something else I noticed was that all the survivors of the plane crash are in regular clothes… Except Hurley, who has a uniform on, as does Ben and the flight attendants who were following Desmond around. Desmond was wearing a suit, but he did not have an I.D. card like the other uniforms does. What could this mean? Does Hurley have a connections to the Others? If the uniforms do have something to do with the Others, then what was Desmond’s business with them? He had THREE uniformed people following him.
Hopefully some answers about all this will be given. I encourage you to look at the dream sequence again, it is very interesting.
