A Case of the.... Lost - Episode 6-16 Revisited

Wow, so it’s finally upon us. In just a few hours this show that we’ve all become so invested in is coming to an end. If we’re going to get the answers we want, it’ll happen by the end of the night. And if we don’t find out then, we’ll never know. It’s kinda surreal, actually.

So I’m going to do my best to have my initial Lost finale thoughts up in a timely fashion tonight, but I have a feeling I may need a bit of time to really comprehend all we had just seen. I mean, on top of being a super long episode, it’s likely to be chock full of mythological and revelatory tidbits. As it happens, I’m so incredibly worried about a spoiler popping up on one of my various feeds (I’m looking at you, Inside Pulse) that after posting this column I’m “going dark.” Which means no Internet until the episode starts.

Before revisiting last week’s episode, my complete list of the top ten episodes of Lost have now been revealed! I know what you’re all thinking: Where’s “The Constant”? Somehow I knew that would be the omission that would make everybody scratch their heads. I actually have my reasons, which I’ll probably explain in a column to supplement my rankings. But I do encourage everybody to check out the list is you haven’t already. A LOT of thought went into it, and while you may not agree with my inclusions or the specific rankings, it was a labor of love and my own personal way of commemorating this fun, innovative series.

Alright, let’s revisit the penultimate (there’s that word again!) episode of Lost!

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JACOB & THE CANDIDATES
While I was working on my Top Ten Lost episodes list, I started thinking about how each episode would be remembered in the grand scheme of things. At the moment, I believe that “What They Died For” will be revered as the episode in which the remaining four candidates came face to face with the island deity, where he explained his purpose and the role he has played in their lives on and before they arrived on the island. Let’s take a look back at some observations regarding that scene.

Young Jacob's spirit showed up and demanded that Hurley fork over Ilana's leather sack containing his ashes. Hurley obliged, Jacob swiped and scrammed, and I had questions. Why did Ghost Jacob appear to Hurley in his 13-year-old kid form instead of his ageless 43-year-old adult form? (I don't know.) Do spectral entities on The Island have the ability to interact with the physical environment, or just their mortal remains? (I say: The latter.) Has Jacob always had the option to make himself visible to all the castaways, or did he require the ceremonial burning of his ashes to be so illuminated? Again, I say the latter. – EW.com review

I’m going to tackle this one by one. I, too, found it strange that Jacob appeared to Hurley as a 13 year old boy, when he had previously appeared as his adult self. But the question of whether these spectral entities can interact with the physical environment is a tough one to question, mostly because there hasn’t been much consistency. For example, Ghost Dad Christian Shephard seemed to indicate to Locke that he couldn’t help him get to his feet to turn the donkey wheel. Yet he held Aaron. And he grabbed the photo of Jin and the rest of the crew with the Dharma Initiative. This bears the question of why Jacob would need any representative (in this season’s case, Hurley) if he has the ability to appear in a ghostly form AND physically interact with the world around him. So I think their abilities go beyond their mortal remains, but I honestly don’t know what extent they reach to. However, I can buy into the theory that he needed his remains to be burning in order to be seen by everybody (which would explain why Ilana collected them to begin with). Then again, Sawyer and a couple of others did see him in his 13 year old ghostly form, so know knows?

One other thing, I was kind of wondering why Hurley made a point to say that he didn't want the job. He has done so much to help Jacob, it would seem to me like he would be a good choice. I just found it odd that they went out of their way to have him say that. – DaBooty, my blog

I think DaBooty’s choice of words here are great – they had him go “out of their way to have him say that.” The line really did stick out like a sore thumb, and I’m curious as to why they did that. And DaBooty is right, Hurley did do a great deal to help Jacob – I’d actually say he’s done more than any other character this season. So why wouldn’t he want the job? But I guess it could also be pretty fair to say that unlike Locke in the past and Jack in the present, Hurley never seemed too keen on staying on the island. When presented with the option of going home, he tends to take it.

THE NEW ISLAND PROTECTOR
As many people expected, Jack ended up taking the mantle of the new island protector. Throughout the season, and particularly over the past few episodes, Jack has been rechristened, combining his scientific, logical thinking with John Locke’s island faith. The result has been a calm, concise, clear headed leader – the seemingly perfect person to inherit such a responsibility.
The Candidates forged into the jungle. Destination: Desmond's well. If Fake Locke wanted Des dead, then Des must be important. En route, Sawyer nearly buckled from guilt and grief. ''I killed them, didn't I?'' Jack squared up on him and told him the truth. ''No. He killed them.'' In their few scenes together this season, Sawyer has done nothing but heap physical and emotional abuse upon Jack for his Juliet-destroying Jughead recklessness. Yet with the tables turned, Jack gave him grace as well as the gift of perspective. Hopefully Sawyer will use it to see a way out of his crippling despair and toward the heroism that will be needed of him in the final act. I've always hoped that the end of Lost would offer some understanding/reconciliation between Jack and Sawyer. My favorite moments with the pair have nothing to do with them fighting. (Of course, they're probably my fave moments because they're so different from their usual dynamic.) Sawyer telling Jack about meeting his father in season 1. Sawyer and Jack in The Hatch and talking about Ana Lucia at the end of season 2. Jack teaming with Sawyer to free Frank Lapidus at the end of season 4. Perhaps the finale will see them resign their animosity once and for all and bind them permanently as allies in survival and partners in redemption. – EW.com review

I was actually going to bring up the difference between Jack and Sawyer’s response to this season’s major deaths in my original column, but I didn’t want to come off as too pro-Jack or anti-Sawyer (a character I quite like). But the EW.com reviewer hit the nail right on the head here. Jack very easily could have carried a grudge over Sawyer’s harsh reaction to Juliet’s death, but he didn’t. In fact, he did the complete opposite, alleviating Sawyer’s guilty conscience. Yes, Sawyer has since admitted that Jack isn’t responsible for Juliet’s demise, but he’s never told that to the doctor himself. For all Jack knows, Sawyer still blames him for what happened.

But I do have to note that Sawyer attempted to con both Widmore and the Smoke Monster….and both of them ended up completely playing him. Brush up on your skills, buddy.

And I COMPLETELY agree with the assessment that Jack and Sawyer have had incredible “friendly” scenes together. In fact, I could probably do a top ten list of such scenes (and nobody would agree with that one, either). In addition to the conversation they had about when Sawyer met Jack’s father, other favorites include their playful ping pong match (in which Sawyer coyly said, “Finally, something I can beat you in”) and their heart to heart in last year’s “The Incident.” How interesting was it seeing Jack confess to Sawyer – his one-time competitor – about his love for Kate? And for Sawyer, who was happily in love with Juliet, to fully support him? These two truly are gold together, and I really do want them to have some sort of reconciliation in the finale.

Regardless, I am not convinced Jack will still have this job by series' end. I'm wondering if Jack might come to some radically different conclusions about how The Island should be managed — perhaps the conclusion I came to in Point Number 1. Stepping off that obsession, I wonder if Super-Jack will need to sacrifice his life in order to stop Fake Locke from extinguishing The Source forever and turning reality into a burnt-out husk of meaninglessness. Maybe he should work up his own list of candidate replacements, just in case. – EW.com review

I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I just don’t see Jack as the island protector in the long-term, either. I just don’t see the series ending with Jack living the rest of his natural life alone on the island. Will he sacrifice his life in a heroic manner? Will he vanquish Smokey, making the job moot? Will somebody else take over the job for him? I don’t know. I’m just not sure it’s a full time thing. Hence why they took the time to have Jack ask how long he’d be doing it for.

I loved the episode. Just a few comments. I think Jack should have been a little more interested in what he was signing up for, it is a rather big commitment. Also, I thought the fact that Kate's name was crossed off because she is a mother confirms that Jin was the candidate. Jacob does not really have much love/respect for father figures anyway. – DaBooty, my blog

I actually didn’t mind Jack’s lack of interest or questions too much, because it seemed somewhat consistent with his newfound belief system. Jack hasn’t been asking too many questions the past few episodes. He’s just been going with the flow and doing what feels right. So I wasn’t particularly bothered that he didn’t seem entirely concerned with what he was signing up for.

I’m inclined to believe that Jin was the candidate as well. Until I hear different, at the moment I’m basically going with the idea that the candidates were the ones who time traveled. It’s always bothered me that some of the characters on the Ajira flight didn’t travel back to the 70’s, and there hasn’t been any explanation for why. So I’m basically assuming that candidates traveled, and non-candidates didn’t.

And isn’t it interesting that the OTHER character on the show who has an odd respect for mother’s is….Ben!

THE SMOKE MONSTER & BEN
“What They Died For” also hinted at the possibility that Ben has reunited with his dark side. It seemed like the one-time leader of the Others had turned over a new leaf and was attempting to redeem himself for all the bad things he had done. Did he turn his back on that new mentality, or is he merely using the Locke Ness Monster in an attempt to gain precious information?

The reviewer at EW.com presents one possibility:

Ben is conning Fake Locke. Recall that Ben had broken ranks with the castaways over Hurley's plan to try and hug it out with Smokey. That didn't work so well — for either side. Ben, himself something of an evil mastermind, must have realized that; he must have realized that Smokey only needed him because something had gone wrong. Smokey was coming to him out of weakness, not strength. Smokey radiated intimidation — but I'm betting Ben saw through the tough-guy veneer. Smokey is vulnerable. And he's scared. And Ben knows it. His plan: Stick by his side, figure out what can kill this man-thing, take him down. Ben is on the side of the castaway angels. He must be! (Then again, if Island Ben does go totally dark, it does set up the dramatically delicious moment when his more morally principled Sideways doppelganger becomes fully ''Island Enlightened'' and remembers all his past life crimes. There goes that happily ever after with Rousseau and Alex.) – EW.com review

Honestly, I don’t see the writers taking the time to write Ben’s redemption, only to have him disappear for several episodes and have him revert back to his dark self. I’m inclined to believe that, yes, he’s merely using the Smoke Monster to figure out a way to defeat him. This idea is supported by the following observation:

Also, Ben has to turn out to be good. If he didn't have a trick up his sleeve than why bother with the walkie talkie with Miles. – EW.com comments section

Excellent point. Why would Ben tell Miles to take the walkie talkie if he didn’t plan to reunite with him at some point? Yes, I’m definitely thinking that Ben is conning Smokey. Or, at least, he’s trying to.

If Ben has always been wrong about being Jacob's chosen one for a period of time, then that means his tenure as the leader of the Others was fraudulent and invalid — which means that Charles Widmore was probably quite sincere in his persecution of Ben. Megabucks Chuck never wanted to get back to The Island to exploit it. He wanted to get back to The Island to save it from Ben's corrupt administration. Still, I'd like to think that through it all, Jacob was always in control and will remain in control until his ashes evaporate in the campfire. I cling to my theory that Lost will end with Ben installed Island guardian, and that in fact, his Island story has been about preparing him for the job and to be worthy of the job. – EW.com review

Granted, we still don’t know a whole lot about Jacob – relatively speaking, anyway. But I have a hard time believing that he would let some faux leader take control of the island, especially if he’s being corrupted by his nemesis. And I also have trouble believing that Widmore was some altruistic hero. That being said, I do like the idea that Ben is growing into the leader he was always intended to be. Unlike Jack, I COULD see Ben happily living on the island as its new protector, and viewing it as a happy ending for that particular character.

THE SIDEWAY S WORLD
Things are really beginning to come together in the sideways world. More and more characters are meeting and interacting with each other, and several of them have been enlightened, having glimpses of their island lives. There are a few ideas I want to discuss that won’t be touched upon in the below comments, so let me get this out of the way now. A few people have told me that they believe Jack will kill Locke in his surgery, so that the Smoke Monster can’t take over his body. This is not the first time I’ve heard this idea, and it STILL makes no sense to me. Keep in mind that the only way that the Smoke Monster can manifest itself into somebody’s body is if that person dies. So if Jack kills Locke, he’s really only assisting the Smoke Monster. Further, the Locke Ness Monster is NOT John Locke. So the Smoke Monster doesn’t need anything to happen to Locke in order to take over that world. Locke is just one of many bodies that it has manifested itself as.

Secondly, Desmond grabbed a dress for Kate and told her that they’re going to a concert. My initial thought was that he was taking her to the Daniel Faraday/Charlie Pace rock-off. And then I realized that Jack’s son is having a recital as well. It’s been noted before, but Jack seems to have the most to give up in the sideways world. He’s got a son, with whom he’s developed a loving and healthy relationship with. He’s also building a relationship with his half sister Claire, who is carrying his nephew. And it seems like he’s come to terms with the way his father had treated him. It would take a whole lot to convince him to give all of that up. Perhaps his love for Kate is the only thing that could turn him around. And thus far Kate’s still unaware of her island life as well, so maybe seeing Jack will trigger some memories for her as well (and this isn’t coming from a person who wants them to end up together – recall that Kate was staring longingly – almost familiarly – at Jack outside the airport as she got into the cab in hopes of escaping.

This concert could actually end up being the metaphoric Locke wedding that everybody figured the characters would meet each other at. Desmond and Kate end up there to meet Jack. Everybody thinks Jack’s wife will end up being Juliet. And perhaps Sawyer comes once he hears that Kate escapes (and he sets eyes on Juliet). Maybe David’s new aunt Claire comes as well. And perhaps this is ALSO the concert being held by Faraday and Charlie Pace. So Charlie and Claire meet as well. And this might also be the event Miles is going to, which Charlotte will be at. So Daniel sees Charlotte too. You get the point.

Anyway, here are some other observations.

The story also tried to suggest the possibility of a love connection between Dr. Linus and Alex's mother, and all of this, I think, was in service to this idea: Perhaps not everyone in the Sideways world would be better off with Island Enlightenment. Let's say this really is Reincarnation Land. Don't these souls deserve to live out the new existence they've been given by the cosmic Wheel of Life? Should Sideways Ben be robbed of happiness in this life by being saddled with the memories and consciousness of his damaged and damned Island-word self? Should Rousseau and Alex be victimized anew by being made to meld with the fate-screwed people they once were? Can they decline getting hit with the Enlightenment whammy stick? Do the Sideways world peeps have any control over the process that Desmond seems determined to unleash? – EW.com review

This is an excellent, excellent point. Somebody like Ben has so much to lose and nothing really to gain from being enlightened. And I’m sure there are many other characters that fit in the same category. I mean, even Jacob admitted that he was pulling these people from crappy lives. But in the sideways world, not all of their lives are all that crappy.

As to which world the series will end in, I have to think it will be the island world. The sideways people are having visions of their island life, not the other way around. Those visions are making them realize that their existence might not be "real" or what it is "supposed to be." Desmond is trying to enlighten them because ultimately I think the island world is where everyone ends up. Then again, I think Darlton are about to throw us a curveball and I dont think it will end how any of us think. – DaBooty, my blog

Good observation and I think that’s a fair point. However, considering that the sideways world is in 2004, and these characters are having visions of things that happened in 2008 (like Desmond beating on Ben), I’m beginning to think that the sideways world could be the end game. As in, the crash survivors are successful in killing the Smoke Monster, and this is their “reward.” They live in a world where the island never existed, where people who died are still alive, but they all retained their memories of what happened.

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS
Here’s some stuff that just didn’t fit in any other category, but I thought were still worth mentioning.

Did you see Kate slump against Sawyer? Was that Lost's way of telling us that Kate had ''made her choice''? A nation of Skaters would like to think so. But was Sawyer choosing her? A nation of Suliets would say, ''That matter was settled 30 years ago.'' (Go ahead, Skaters. Flame me with your hate. It tastes so delicious.) – EW.com review

Well I’m just relieved that the Skaters aren’t just attacking me, then. Man, those are some vicious, bitter, angry people, huh? I did catch that head slump, but I didn’t read into it all that much. As one of the posters on the EW.com review noted, Kate tearfully telling Jack that she couldn’t find “him” (not “them,” since Sawyer was right there) was far more telling. For that matter, so was Kate grabbing onto him when he stitched her up. But speaking of Kate and Jack…
Something that has been replaying itself in my head was....why did Kate throw herself at Jack the night before they took the Ajira flight back to the island?! It didn't make sense...it wasn't like she appeared to do it out of love.
Jacob said that Kate's name had been crossed out when she became a mother. Instead of mother to Aaron, maybe she is pregnant?! – EW.com comments section

I definitely buy into this idea (and that’s another reason why I don’t see Jack spending the rest of his life on the island). Actually, back when the idea of needing a proxy on the Ajira flight was introduced, I had assumed that Kate was pregnant and that she was representing Claire. I think the key to this will be if they even bother mentioning the night they spent together in the two hour retrospective or the “Previously on Lost” segment. If they do, expect something like this to play out.

Rest In Peace, Charles Widmore. The quick-tempered billionaire enemy of DesPen love — a pharmaceutical magnate with a penchant for prog-rock-inspired construction projects — joins a long list of Lost characters who get offed from the show with pitiless dispatch and leave behind a mess of unresolved questions. This season alone: Dogen, Lennon, Ilana. Before them: Faraday, Charlotte, Patchy. This is too much of a trend to not wonder if there's a point being made here. Death comes suddenly. We all leave the world unresolved to various degrees. It's all deep and meaningful... and yet even I felt a touch unsatisfied. I wanted to know more of Widmore. Remember back in season 4, when he bitched to Ben about being plagued with ''nightmares'' — what was that about? Who was Penelope's mother? And did he dump Eloise Hawking before or after she turned into the hammy shock-haired horror from The Others? Regardless, I thought for certain we'd get a scene that offered a more substantial explanation for his return to The Island, one that gave Alan Dale the chance to chew some scenery with a meaty oration about Charles Widmore's CharlesWidmoreness. Nope. But we move on. – EW.com review

This is an interesting observation/rant. I had forgotten about the nightmares, but now I’m intrigued again. Then again, certain items are insignificant. In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter who Penny’s mother is? But I like the point about how death comes suddenly, and sometimes it happens without the opportunity to neatly tie everything up.

I really hope that was not the end of Richard and that he is just up in a tree somewhere. The guy lives for hundreds of years and then gets wiped out in a flash. I guess that is how Lost does things, but man...that sucks. – DaBooty, my blog

Yeah, I don’t think he’s dead. That’s not to say he won’t die, but I just feel like they’ll do it in a more conclusive manner. When it comes to death and survival, I don’t think they’re going to leave much to the imagination with the show coming to an end.

Okay, so between this column and the 11-part Top Lost episodes list I did, it feels like my hands are going to fall off. I’ll get my initial thoughts on tonight’s episode posted ASAP. But enjoy the show! And try your best to enjoy it for what it is, and not what you expect it to be. Otherwise, you’ll likely only end up disappointed.