A Case of the.... Lost - Episode 6-14 Revisited

I’m exceptionally pressed for time today, so this is going to be a shortened Revisited column. Normally I would forgo doing one for the week, but after such an exhilarating and significant episode, how could I skip it? Although, surprisingly, I didn’t receive much reader feedback. Anyway, in the interest of getting this written and posted before the episode (those reading on Inside Pulse likely won’t have that luxury), I’m going to introduce yet another format! I’m going to divide this column up by where the column came from, rather than the more organized (but also more time consuming) topic breakdown. Let’s ride.

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The first comment comes from our good friend Frank (not the pilot from the series), who had this to say:

hey so if widmore was on the island and following richard at one point, shouldnt he know the LNM cant kill the candidates?

Ya’ know, if you think about it, this season not only revealed to us Richard’s history, but it also showed us how little he actually knows. I mean, he’s been on the island for almost 150 years, yet he seems relatively clueless about the major island mysteries. He’s like Hurley to the nth degree – he’s going purely based on faith.

Besides which, if we assume that Richard knows about the candidates (which I’m not sure is the safest assumption – he seemed decidedly less knowledgeable on the subject than Ilana), we shouldn’t presume that he shared this information with the rest of the Others. I mean, Ben didn’t seem to know anything about any candidates. I’m not sure what Widmore knows, exactly, but I’m willing to bet (I’m not) that he didn’t receive it from Richard.

Over at the EW.com episode review, I extracted the following tidbits:

The drowning of Jin and Sun were tougher pills to swallow. The long-separated lovers finally reunited in the previous episode. Now: Ciao! Brutal. They died holding each other, but we weren't shown that image. Instead, we were given a shot of their joined hands unclasping, and I found it ice-cold that the final visual of Jin and Sun should emphasize separation, not unity.

I disagree with this interpretation. I didn’t see the last image being that of separation, instead I saw it as them spending their final moments hand in hand. Recall Locke’s conversation with Jack in the sideways airport. Using Locke’s perspective – which Jack ultimately agreed with – once you die, your body is just a lifeless physical object. Your soul has already moved on. So Sun and Jin’s hands unclasping was just a confirmation to the viewer that they were, indeed, dead. But symbolically, we are meant to understand that until the very end, they were together. These were two lifeless hands coming apart – not their relationship.

My only quibble: If Jack was right — if Smokey's plan required that the castaways trigger the bomb themselves — then good thing for Smokey that Kate got shot, because otherwise Jack never would have looked inside his backpack and found the bomb.

I’m not sure how I feel about comments such as these. I mean, obviously, the scene wouldn’t have played out so dramatically if every single facet of Smokey’s plan didn’t go exactly the way it went down. But is that ultimately a fair criticism? I’d like to think that Smokey had a number of contingency plans. I think that’s a relatively safe assumption, considering that the entire plot never would have worked if Jack wasn’t on the sub – and he made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of getting on there. So what would he have done if there was no resistance from Widmore’s men, but he did have to deal with a stubborn and faith-fueled Jack? For that matter, what would Smokey have done if Widmore never wired the plane to explode?

I think the most likely scenario is that he would have physically forced Jack in there, and in the realization that Smokey isn’t truly on their side, Jack would have realized that this isn’t his pack, and bada bing they find the bomb. I’d also like to believe that Smokey had the timer on some sort of loop, as in, it would have continually counted down until it was discovered.

Over in the comments section of the EW.com review, this observation was offered:

Everyone should know that Lupidus's role is to fly the plane away on the last episode. Of course everyone either flying away or trying to fly away is going to be part of the finale. Lupidus is not dead.

That may sound a little too simplistic, but I actually think that is a wonderful argument for why Frank might still be alive. And if you consider that they put so much effort into confirming that Sayid, Jin, and Sun are dead, it does seem a little odd that they’d be so vague about Frank. I’d like to believe the end game sees our heroes getting off of the island, and Frank provides the perfect excuse/conveyance to make that happen.

Over on Scott Keith's blog, one of his readers had this to say:

I’m half-expecting the final scene of the show to be a conversation between Jack and Locke that mirrors the first scene of the season 5 finale (paraphrasing from the first scene- “Anything that happens before then is progress”, “Good talking to you, Jacob”). I hope not- I’d prefer to see a definitive end to the Man in Black or his escaping the island. Seeing our characters as just two more players in this long-running interplay between good and evil on the island would make them seem less important than those who have been on the island before and those who will come in the future.

A lot of people have made the observation that they see the series ending with a person in Jacob’s position (presumably Jack) and a person in MIB’s position (likely Locke) re-enacting the scene at the beginning of the season 5 finale. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they did as well. But this poster brings up an interesting point: Is it a bit unfulfilling if we learn that these people we’ve followed and cared about have just been a bit part in an ongoing loop? Wouldn’t it be more satisfying if we discovered that our heroes are something more special – that they’re the ones who put an END to this cycle? I keep having visions of Jack taking Jacob’s throne, and it makes me a little sad. To me, Jack living alone on the island doesn’t seem like a happy ending. Him leaving the island and finding healthy love and happiness does.

And last but not least, over at my blog, DaBooty made this post:

I loved the episode through and through mainly because I felt like it was moving at a very fast pace. Jin and Sun's death was very moving and very sad, though I did not get choked up until Hurley lost his shit on the beach. Something about Hurley sobbing like that really touched me because it made me realize what a significant loss it was for them and for us. The whole time I was torn between thinking Jin should really go so that he can raise his daughter or no he shouldnt because Jin can't leave her there to die alone

As for what to make of Widmore. I have to believe that he was trying to protect them all with that sonic fence around the cages to keep the Locke Ness Monster out. He probably knows that LNM needs to kill all of them so that was why he was protecting them. Unfortunately they didnt protect the power switch very well.

I absolutely loved Jack in the episode. Standing up to the Locke Ness Monster and then trying to convince Sawyer not to pull the plugs out. I really felt for him because we know what happened the last time Jack asked them to trust him and I had a feeling that Sawyer unfortunately was not going to go along for the ride this time.

One thing that you didn't touch on though was that JACK IS THE CANDIDATE! I thought this episode confirmed what many suspected, which is that Jack is Jacob's replacement. When Jack was trying to convince them to let the timer run down, he demonstrated his understanding of the free will game that Jacob and LNM were playing and he became a player in it himself. That is why Sayid said to him "its you, jack" right before he ran away with the bomb. Sayid knows that Jack has taken over.

Like I said, I’m not sure how I feel about Jack being the candidate, for the reasons stated above. Scratch that, I don’t mind him being the candidate, I mind him staying on the island. But yes, I did catch Sayid's line. Although part of me wonders if this was a deliberate swerve, and that Sayid merely meant that Jack has to be the one to rescue Desmond, because Sayid will be dead. Nonetheless, all signs indicate that Jack is the candidate.

Also, DaBooty makes a great observation that I missed during the episode – basically being the last time Jack asked Sawyer to trust him, it resulted in Juliet's death. Hence why Sawyer’s decision was so difficult. Nice catch.

Anyway, I’m late. Sorry for the half-assed article. Enjoy tonight’s episode!