Hearts and Minds

"Hearts and Minds" is the thirteenth episode of the first season of the American television series Lost. The episode sees Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) experience a vision quest, believing his stepsister Shannon (Maggie Grace) to be dead. Through a series of flashbacks, it is revealed that Boone is in love with Shannon, and that they slept together prior to crashing on the island. The episode was directed by Rod Holcomb and written by Carlton Cuse and Javier Grillo-Marxuach. The writers sought to reveal the backstory of Boone and Shannon by surprising viewers with the nature of their relationship. At the same time, they wanted to use the relationship to bring Boone and Locke closer together, and decided on a vision quest to make this happen. "Hearts and Minds" first aired on January 12, 2005, on ABC. The episode was watched by an estimated 20.81 million viewers and received mixed to negative critical reception. Critics tended to view Shannon and Boone's story as uninteresting, but expressed appreciation for John Locke's (Terry O'Quinn) "darkly mysterious" actions. Plot Flashbacks Shannon calls Boone and, after he overhears sounds of violence, asks him to come to Sydney. When he gets there, he sees that her boyfriend, Bryan (Charles Mesure), has been beating her. Boone reports this to the police, and reveals that Shannon is his stepsister. While Boone is speaking to the officer, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) is brought to the station handcuffed and shouting in anger. The detective effectively ignores Boone.