The Little Prince (Lost)

"**The Little Prince**"
"The Little Prince"
Lost episode
	In 1988, Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) meets Robert (Guillaume Dabinpons) and Danielle Rousseau (Melissa Farman)'s science team.
Episode no.	Season 5; Episode 4
Directed by	Stephen Williams
Written by	Brian K. Vaughan; Melinda Hsu Taylor
Production code	504
Original air date	February 4, 2009
Running time	42 minutes
Guest appearances
	Susan Duerden as Carole Littleton; Tom Irwin as Dan Norton; William Blanchette as Aaron; Emerson Brooks as Tony Nagy; Stephanie Niznik as Dr. Evelyn Ariza; Melissa Farman as Young Danielle Rousseau; Guillaume Dabinpons as Robert Rousseau; Marc Menard as Montand; Bruno Bruni as Brennan; Ane Tranetzki as Bellman; Alexandra Tabas as Nadine; Chris Marvin as Lacombe
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Jughead"	Next →; "This Place Is Death"
	Lost season 5
	List of episodes

"The Little Prince" is the fourth television episode of the fifth season of ABC's Lost.^[2] The 90th episode of the show overall, "The Little Prince" aired on February 4, 2009, on ABC in the United States, being simulcast on A in Canada.^[3] The episode was written by producer Brian K. Vaughan and co-producer Melinda Hsu Taylor and directed by Stephen Williams.^[2]

In 2007, Kate Austen tries to find out who wants custody of Aaron. Benjamin Linus and Jack Shephard continue their quest to reunite the "Oceanic Six". At the island, James "Sawyer" Ford and John Locke devise a plan which might possibly stop the time flashes, but encounter hostiles; while Jin-Soo Kwon, revealed to be alive, meets the younger Danielle Rousseau in 1988.

Plot

The episode opens with a flashback of Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) on Penny Widmore's (Sonya Walger) boat, following their rescue in early January 2005.^{[N 1]} Kate convinces Jack that when they return home, they should claim that Aaron (William Blanchette) is Kate's biological son, while in fact his mother is Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin).

On the Mainland

In late 2007,^{[N 2]} Kate leaves Aaron in the care of Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) in order to confront attorney Dan Norton (Tom Irwin), who is pursuing a maternity test for Kate and Aaron. Sun receives a package with a gun and pictures of Ben and Jack. Norton tells Kate that he is going to meet his client later and Kate decides to follow him. Meanwhile, Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) meets up with Jack and Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) at the hospital. An orderly armed with a tranquilizer gun attacks Sayid, but Sayid overcomes him, and when he finds Kate's address in his wallet he, Ben and Jack suspect Kate is the next target. The three decide to split up, with Jack going after Kate, and Sayid and Ben going to the prison where Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) is being held.

Jack and Kate follow Norton to a motel where he meets with Claire's mother, Carole (Susan Duerden). Once Norton leaves, Jack confronts Carole, who is only in Los Angeles to collect on a successful suit against Oceanic Airlines and has nothing to do with the maternity test. At the prison, Ben meets with Norton, who is also acting as Hurley's lawyer and is confident that he can have Hurley released the following morning. Ben and Sayid meet up with Jack and Kate, where Kate figures out that Ben has hired Norton to do the maternity test, while Sun, armed with a gun, watches the conversation from a car with Aaron.

On the island

Following the latest time jump,^{[N 3]} Charlotte is still unconscious. She eventually wakes up and the group of her, Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), Miles Straume (Ken Leung), John Locke (Terry O'Quinn), James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) leave to travel to the Dharma Initiative Orchid Station, where Locke believes he can find a way to leave the island. Several other characters begin to show similar symptoms to Charlotte's. Daniel informs them that the nose bleeds may have something to do with one's time spent on the island; however, this makes no sense to several of the group since Charlotte, who has the worst symptoms, has only been on the island for a few days. The latest time jump brings the group to nighttime, where Locke observes in the distance the light coming out of the hatch.^{[N 4]} Following screams, Sawyer witnesses the then-Claire and Kate during Aaron's birth.^{[N 5]} Another time jump brings them to the future. At their abandoned beach camp, they find a canoe which they use to paddle to the other side of the island. They are attacked by unknown assailants and another time jump brings them to the past,^{[N 6]} in the middle of a storm that caused a French science team's boat led by Robert (Guillaume Dabinpons) to run aground on the island.

In their emergency raft, the French team, Montand (Marc Menard), Brenan (Bruno Bruni), Lacombe (Chris Marvin), and Nadine (Alexandra Tabas) find Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) unconscious floating on flotsam from the freighter that exploded.^{[N 1]} They land on the island and question Jin after he wakes up. The episode ends with Danielle Rousseau (Melissa Farman) revealing her identity to a befuddled Jin.

Production

"The Little Prince" is the first episode of Lost to be co-written by Melinda Hsu Taylor, who joined the writing staff prior to the start of production on season five.^[4] The nocturnal ocean scenes were shot in a swimming pool, which had its bottom covered in black plastic. Over ten thousand gallons of water were used to create the storm. The outrigger canoes were made of painted fiberglass, and had their designs based on ancient Hawaiian canoes.^[5]

Reception

The episode gained 12.855 million American viewers.^[6] The episode brought in 380,000 viewers in Australia, ranking 33rd for the night.^[7]

"The Little Prince" received mostly positive reviews from critics. The A.V. Club's Noel Murray graded the episode a "B+", stating "[...] this episode made good use of Kate at different points on the timeline: showing her now, anxious about losing Aaron, and showing her three years ago on Penny’s boat, prepared to lie for Jack in order to keep Aaron safe, and showing her three years ago on the island, helping Claire bring Aaron into the world. In just a few short scenes, Lost lays the foundation for what that boy means to Kate."^[8]

Notes

^ ^a ^b As depicted in There's No Place Like Home.
^ After the events of The Lie.
^ As depicted in Jughead.
^ As depicted in Deus Ex Machina.
^ As depicted in Do No Harm.
^ Revealed to be 1988 in This Place is Death.

References

^ "Lost – Netflix". Netflix. Retrieved 24 November 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ ^a ^b "Lost (2/4-2)". ABC Medianet. January 16, 2009. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2009.
^ CTVglobemedia, (December 10, 2008) "A Gets Lost as Midseason Schedule Announced", A. Retrieved on December 20, 2008.
^ Bennett, Tara, (October 14, 2008) "Tales From the Freighter: New Transmissions – Unearthed Treasures". Lost: The Official Magazine, Titan Magazines. Issue #19.
^ Lost: On Location – The Little Prince. Lost: The Complete Fifth Season The Journey Back – Expanded Edition, Disk 5
^ Gorman, Bill (February 25, 2009). "American Idol has most DVR viewers, Gossip Girl has greatest share of viewing by DVR". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on February 25, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
^ Dale, David (March 7, 2009). "The Who We Are update: Week 10". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved April 11, 2009.
^ Murray, Noel (2009-02-04). "The Little Prince". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-03.

External links

"The Little Prince" at ABC
"The Little Prince" at IMDb

[Timeline-4] As depicted in There's No Place Like Home.

[Timeline2-5] After the events of The Lie.

[Timeline3-6] As depicted in Jughead.

[Timeline4-7] As depicted in Deus Ex Machina.

[Timeline5-8] As depicted in Do No Harm.

[Timeline6-9] Revealed to be 1988 in This Place is Death.

[1] "Lost – Netflix". Netflix. Retrieved 24 November 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}

[pr1-2] "Lost (2/4-2)". ABC Medianet. January 16, 2009. Archived from the original on February 4, 2009. Retrieved January 29, 2009.

[3] CTVglobemedia, (December 10, 2008) "A Gets Lost as Midseason Schedule Announced", A. Retrieved on December 20, 2008.

[10] Bennett, Tara, (October 14, 2008) "Tales From the Freighter: New Transmissions – Unearthed Treasures". Lost: The Official Magazine, Titan Magazines. Issue #19.

[11] Lost: On Location – The Little Prince. Lost: The Complete Fifth Season The Journey Back – Expanded Edition, Disk 5

[12] Gorman, Bill (February 25, 2009). "American Idol has most DVR viewers, Gossip Girl has greatest share of viewing by DVR". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on February 25, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2009.

[13] Dale, David (March 7, 2009). "The Who We Are update: Week 10". The Sun-Herald. Retrieved April 11, 2009.

[14] Murray, Noel (2009-02-04). "The Little Prince". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on February 7, 2009. Retrieved 2012-05-03.

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v t e Lost episodes
Season 1	"Pilot" "Tabula Rasa" "Walkabout" "White Rabbit" "House of the Rising Sun" "The Moth" "Confidence Man" "Solitary" "Raised by Another" "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" "Whatever the Case May Be" "Hearts and Minds" "Special" "Homecoming" "Outlaws" "...In Translation" "Numbers" "Deus Ex Machina" "Do No Harm" "Lost: The Journey" (clip show) "The Greater Good" "Born to Run" "Exodus"
Season 2	"Man of Science, Man of Faith" "Adrift" "Orientation" "Everybody Hates Hugo" "...And Found" "Abandoned" "The Other 48 Days" "Collision" "What Kate Did" "The 23rd Psalm" "The Hunting Party" "Fire + Water" "The Long Con" "One of Them" "Maternity Leave" "The Whole Truth" "Lockdown" "Dave" "S.O.S." "Two for the Road" "?" "Three Minutes" "Live Together, Die Alone"
Season 3	"A Tale of Two Cities" "The Glass Ballerina" "Further Instructions" "Every Man for Himself" "The Cost of Living" "I Do" "Not in Portland" "Flashes Before Your Eyes" "Stranger in a Strange Land" "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead" "Enter 77" "Par Avion" "The Man from Tallahassee" "Exposé" "Left Behind" "One of Us" "Catch-22" "D.O.C." "The Brig" "The Man Behind the Curtain" "Greatest Hits" "Through the Looking Glass"
Webisodes	Lost: Missing Pieces
Season 4	"The Beginning of the End" "Confirmed Dead" "The Economist" "Eggtown" "The Constant" "The Other Woman" "Ji Yeon" "Meet Kevin Johnson" "The Shape of Things to Come" "Something Nice Back Home" "Cabin Fever" "There's No Place Like Home"
Season 5	"Because You Left" "The Lie" "Jughead" "The Little Prince" "This Place Is Death" "316" "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" "LaFleur" "Namaste" "He's Our You" "Whatever Happened, Happened" "Dead Is Dead" "Some Like It Hoth" "The Variable" "Follow the Leader" "The Incident"
Season 6	"LA X" "What Kate Does" "The Substitute" "Lighthouse" "Sundown" "Dr. Linus" "Recon" "Ab Aeterno" "The Package" "Happily Ever After" "Everybody Loves Hugo" "The Last Recruit" "The Candidate" "Across the Sea" "What They Died For" "The End"
Epilogue	"The New Man in Charge"