A Case of the.... Lost - Episodes 5-16 & 5-17

Before I discuss the finale, let me touch upon something regarding the pre-show recap.

My Revisited column earlier this week was devoted to the latest Lost review on the EW website. If you read through the article’s comments section, you’ll note that a number of people brought up the author’s bias for Sawyer and against Jack. I got that same impression from the show’s Executive Producers. I was utterly shocked that they attributed Kate’s entire Aaron story arc to her broken heart over Sawyer’s departure. To me – and I daresay most people – that was a clear case of Cassidy projecting her own feelings as she describe her own relationship with her (and Sawyer’s) daughter. They completely gloss over the Jack/Kate engagement, as well as Kate’s admittance that she’s returning for Claire. For that matter, they failed to mention Kate’s hurt, emotional reaction to Jack’s confession that he’d rather they never met. It seemed exceptionally strange to me that they’d more or less ignore every single facet of the Kate/Jack relationship (hey, remember how they, ya’ know, SLEPT TOGETHER the night before they left?) and explain all of Kate’s actions to her love for Sawyer.

I’ve got two trains of thought: The rational person would probably say that this is conclusive evidence that she’s truly in love with Sawyer. They’re THE Powers that Be, and they’re pretty much telling us how we should be interpreting these relationships. The skeptic in me, however, wonders if this was simply a deliberate diversion. I can’t think of any examples off the top of my head, but there were other instances throughout the episode where they were misleading or borderline untruthful about information, so who knows?

But as somebody who is partial to Jack and Kate ending up together (and yes, I’m guilty of being biased as well), I was a little unsettled by their presentation.

Now, onto the most anticipated finale on my television line up…

Click the "Read More" link for the finale review.

I loved the opening segment. I had previously read that they were getting an actor to portray Jacob, so I wasn’t shocked by the name drop. But I was a huge fan of the God/Satan-like conversation between Jacob and the man in the dark clothing. It’s been a while since my Bible as Literature class, senior year of college, but I got a definite sense of the Book of Job here. Essentially, God and the Devil (or, in this case, Jacob and the guy in dark clothing) are gambling on the nature of man. Do people remain good and faithful, even after they are faced with seemingly impossible obstacles? It almost seems like they summon people to the island, and these new arrivals face various challenges.

This is my early prediction (which I am typing immediately following the scene): The gentleman in the dark clothing is the human version of the Smoke Monster.

We learned quite a bit about our mysterious island controller. For one, he speaks many, many languages. Secondly, he’s played a part in the lives of presumably all of the Oceanic survivors, either before their arrival on the island (in the cases of Locke, Sun and Jin, Kate, and Jack – and hey, you knew it was only a matter of time before we got the flashback of Jack’s sack tearing surgery gone awry) or during their journey back (as with Hurley and Sayid). And honestly, how great was it seeing Jacob casually reading a book that has “rise and fall” in the title (I didn’t catch the exact wording) as Locke drops from the hotel window? It’s interesting, though, that Locke evidently died from the fall, only to be brought back by Jacob. And, as we learned from Richard, he apparently has the ability to grant people eternal youth.

Since I don’t really have a proper segue, I’ll get my observations of the scene between Jack, Sayid, Richard (and speaking of Richard that ship at the beginning of the episode – presumably the Black Rock – looked an awful lot like the one he was building in a bottle last episode), and Eloise out of the way now. First off, I thought it was wonderful that Jack, of all people, was the one who urged Richard not to give up on Locke. More than anything else, I think THAT illustrated how much Jack has changed. The other thing I found interesting was that Richard referred to Eloise as their leader. As some people noticed a couple of weeks ago, during their brief interaction together, it definitely appeared that Eloise was the one wearing the pants in her relationship with Widmore. So were they the original Power Couple, reigning as co-leaders of the Others? Or was Eloise the sole leader, meaning that Widmore was simply too prideful and claimed himself to be the leader in his revisionist history?

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the revelation that Rose and Bernard – with Vincent – have been surviving on the island, all by themselves, for the past three years. A large portion of me quite appreciates the simplicity and romanticism of the story. The smaller, more critical part of me can’t help but think about how much trouble 60-somewhat people had surviving, yet these two retirees with little to no outdoor experience managed to live quite comfortably (and maintained the brightness of their clothing) for three years. But you know what? Their absence was explained, and it gave the characters a proper, happy ending (assuming we don’t see them again). I’m sure this will only fuel the speculation that they’re the island’s Adam and Eve.

It was only a matter of time before Jack and Sawyer let loose and went at it in a brutal fight. How reminiscent was this of Jack’s private conversation with Ben a couple of seasons ago? In both instances, the leaders of two groups with conflicting interests met together to rationally discuss their differing opinion. There was some attempted coercion, but ultimately it resorted to brutality and violence.

As I noted earlier, I’m rooting for Jack and Kate. And I’m saying this as objectively as possible, but I honestly think that’s the happier ending. Everybody goes on and on about how this show is about personal redemption. In my eyes, Sawyer doesn’t need Kate to accomplish that. I think he can leave the island and be a better man than he was when he arrived. Jack, on the other hand, will be returning as a man who is spiritually battered. His one major flaw, pre-island, was his inability to maintain a healthy relationship. In my eyes, the best way for him to be “saved” would be to attain that with Kate. And based on his talk with Sawyer, I got the impression that he so desperately wants to be with Kate that he’d be willing to rewrite history. He’s not afraid of them becoming strangers. In his eyes, if it’s meant to be, they’ll find a way to meet each other and fall in love. If it’s not, he’ll never know what he missed out on.

And how badly did you feel for Juliet throughout the episode? I think perhaps the saddest moment was when she was on the raft with Sawyer and Kate, listening to them bicker in their playful way, as she looked back on the submarine submerging into the water. The symbolism was obvious: There go her dreams of living happily ever after with the man she loves. Even Rose and Bernard seemed to recognize her pain and winless situation, offering her some comforting tea as they prepared to leave. Her death was completely expected, which impacted the emotional aspect, but it was still sad. Actually, to tell you the truth, I was most sad that this gave the writers a reason to bring Kate and Sawyer back together.

I have to mention this, though. Did anybody else catch that massively poor continuity with Juliet and the blood on her mouth at the conclusion of the episode? One second blood is pouring out of her mouth, then she’s clean, then it’s smeared all over the place, then she’s clean again.

I found the climatic “Incident” scene pretty exhilarating. I appreciated how, when push came to shove, Kate did have Jack's back. And I have actually grown to like Dr. Chang quite a bit. I found it funny how, for the past three or four seasons, we’ve known him as this comforting, kind guy with names related to candles. Then we actually meet him, and we find out he’s a gruff, well, douche. But in the end, he turned out to be a pretty good guy. He helped evacuate the island and he assisted in overcoming the crazy Dharma folk. Oh, and who else was watching Chang’s arm every single time he appeared on camera, just waiting to see what would happen to him?

Oh, the irony. After all of his lying and manipulating, Ben was played like a fiddle. So here’s the assessment of the final scene and the revelation that Locke actually IS dead after all. As many people have theorized, the resurrected “Locke” we’ve been seeing has actually been the Smoke Monster (cases in point: Locke emerges from the jungle after Ben summons the Monster, the Smoke Monster appears in the Temple just after Locke excuses himself, and Locke doesn’t return until Smokey D. makes his exit, and finally the Smoke Monster/Alex commands Ben to do whatever Locke says). This actually sheds a lot of light on last week’s episode, where Locke somehow knew that his past self would appear in the jungle with a gunshot wound. It also answers the question of where this idea that he had to die originally came from. Anyway, as it is alluded to at the beginning of the episode, the Man in Black/Smokey is unable to kill Jacob for some reason. Smokey finds his “loophole” (as Jacob refers to it) by manipulating Ben to commit the deed. Additionally, Richard remarks that only the leader can enter Jacob’s home (not the exact wording). I assume that since Locke is dead, that role is reassumed by Ben (hence granting the Smoke Monster access).

And by the way, Jacob's "they're coming" comment? I think that refers to the fact that Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and everybody else will be returning to the present day. That’s how I see it, anyway. What do you think?

And I’m sure this observation didn’t go unnoticed, but the “LOST” screen at the conclusion of the episode was the inverse of what it normally is (“LOST” in black lettering against a white background, opposed to the opposite).

Now, next week will be the last Revisited column of the season, so let’s make it good. I know that I typically receive more responses when I ask specific questions, but I’m going to forego that for the moment (there’s just too much possible things to discuss).

But I’m not going to limit the discussion to the finale. Feel free to send me your thoughts on the season as a whole. Were any issues raised that you expected to get answered, but weren’t? Did anything in particular shock you? Did any explanation exceed your expectations? Were you let down by anything specific?

And, finally, where do you see things going? Did that photo-negative title card at the end of the episode indicate, to you, that things are getting completely rewritten? Do you see the final season kicking off with the plane safely landing in LAX?