The episode opens with a flashback of Kate Austen and Jack Shephard on Penny Widmore's boat, following their rescue in early January 2005. Kate convinces Jack that once returning home that they should claim that Aaron is Kate's biological son, while in fact his mother is Claire Littleton.
On the Mainland
In late 2007, Kate leaves Aaron in the care ofSun-Hwa Kwon in order to confront attorney Dan Norton, 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 meets up with Jack and Sayid Jarrah 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 is being held, following his arrest in "The Lie". Jack and Kate follow Norton to a motel where he meets with Claire's mother, Carole. 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 at the end of the previous episode "Jughead", Charlotte is still unconscious. She eventually wakes up and the group of her, Daniel Faraday, Miles Straume, John Locke, James "Sawyer" Ford and Juliet Burke leave to travel to the, where Locke believes he can find a way to leave the island. During the course of the episode several others 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. 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 has brought the group to November 1, 2004, the day of Aaron's birth, an event that Sawyer witnesses, and the death of Boone Carlyle. Another time jump brings them to the future. At their 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 1988, in the middle of a storm that caused a French science team's boat led by Robert and his pregnant wife Danielle Rousseau to run aground on the island. In their emergency raft, the Rousseaus, Montand, Brenan, Lacombe, and Nadine find Jin-Soo Kwon unconscious floating on flotsam from the freighter that exploded in "There's No Place Like Home". They land on the island and question Jin after he wakes up. The episode ends with Danielle 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. 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.
Reception
The episode gained 12.855 million American viewers. The episode brought in 380,000 viewers in Australia, ranking 33rd for the night. "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."
