It's very surprising that Christian Taylor didn't write more than one episode, because White Rabbit has some incredible dialogue. Some of the series' most memorable lines are featured here:
Locke: I looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful.
Locke: What if everything that's happened here, happened for a reason?
Jack: But if we can't live together, we're going to die alone.
Doesn't get much better than that. The Locke/Jack scene is extremely well written, setting the stage for a series-long clash between the two. Bonus points for the uplifting scene where Charlie brings Claire water (love the "400 knives" joke), and when Christian tells young Jack that he just doesn't have what it takes.
More bonus points: Jack's mother says "not after what you did!" to Jack, yet we get no clue what she's referring to until later in the season.
There's some shaky acting by the youngsters in the opening scene, a scene which thankfully is very short and doesn't set the tone for the rest of the episode. Once we get back to adult Jack, Matthew Fox essentially carries the episode on his back (with some major help from O'Quinn).
This is the first episode where we really get to see a bit of an edge to altruistic Jack. After losing Joanna to the riptide, fatigue and despair begin to grab a hold of him and Fox plays off that perfectly.
There weren't many opportunities for dazzling effects in White Rabbit, however the opening scene with Joanna drowning was executed quite well. The urgency of the Losties racing to the shoreline was punctuated with an ever-so-slight increase in the film speed. Later on, Jack spills off the edge of a cliff and holds onto a root for dear life — the scene works but the execution falls a bit flat. Why did Locke extend his hand so slowly, and why was that shot the one that made it in?
Bonus points for the wide nighttime shot of the island as Jack bashes the empty coffin in the caves.
I've watched White Rabbit closely a handful of times but this time I enjoyed it even more than usual. I think it's because I now know the full arc of the series and the finale retroactively makes White Rabbit more poignant. Over time this episode will not only hold up well but might actually ascend to one of the classics.
Major emotional impact in more ways than one. Again, knowing how Season 6 unfolds has made this episode more powerful than it already was, in terms of the Jack-Christian AND the Jack-Locke dynamic. There's such desperation in Jack's eyes as he chases Christian into the caves, and that desperation would stay with him for the rest of his days.
