LOST - The Candidate (Thoughts and Feelings)

The last few scenes of this episode are exactly what I love about LOST. They were emotionally potent, well written, fantastically acted and above all else they were well executed and fit the show’s purpose. It’s been clear all season that Sayid’s character was being written off and his demise has seemed almost certain. He already died once this season and arose to be “claimed”, and in this time allowed Smokie to kill many people and acted as his right hand man. Sayid’s character has always been about redemption, about weighing the good he’s done with the bad, which makes him as big a part of this show as anyone. His death showed him choosing a good deed, giving himself the ultimate redemption, as Desmond’s words at the well snapped him out of his evil state. We got the old Sayid back, even if it was just for a little bit. While I’m sad at the plight of this once great LOST character and disheartened to see how much the writers had written him off, I couldn’t think of a better last image for the fans to have of him.

Jin and Sun have always been fighters. Since Season 5, these two have been working tirelessly to find each the one they love, and finally in “The Last Recruit”, they were reunited, albeit briefly. Many fans have shown anger at their deaths, but for the show’s purpose the death was powerful and fit well without feeling forced at all. It was meant to show us that Smokie is truly evil and capable of killing anyone, according to Damon and Carlton, and in that case they succeeded. Above all else, them dying in each other’s arms is the testament to the battle they’ve put up to be together. Even with death staring them in the face, Jin wouldn’t flinch and showed no fear. The acting was brilliant, and what I personally loved was his use of Korean, their native tongue, to deliver the most emotional line of the episode. The death made their fight to be together all the more worth it.

The John vs. Jack scene in the hospital was so well scripted and really lends itself to die hard LOST fans who hang on every word the show writes. One of the most underrated aspects of season 6 are just how many conversations and moments take place that direcly mirror an older moment of the show, but in an opposite way, this being one of the long list of these moments. Jack telling John “I wish you had believed me” seems to trigger a flashback to the island life, which makes sense since we hear John saying that phrase earlier as he was sleeping. The question is how much does Locke remember and is he conscious that on this island, he is an evil smoke monster. Does he recognize Jack from this timeline? This scene portrays Terry O’Quinn’s always phenomenal acting, as you truly get a sense of how broken and defeated he is at his father’s death and how much of a burden it has put on his life.

One thing I wondered all episode was: “Where is Widmore?” Obviously we see him locking them up early on, but after Smokie’s attack he is no where to be seen. The question is how much of a hand did he have in the day’s events. He moved the pylons, for no good reason since they were blocking Smokie from getting past the beach, and left only two men to guard the plane he presumably rigged. Was Flocke being truthful when he said he wanted those men to die and put them there for show? Obviously Widmore must have known all his men would die, as he seemingly didn’t really give them much protection. It’s clear, I think, that Widmore is neither good nor evil. He wants to stop Smokie but clearly doesn’t value the lives of anyone, as he proved by threatening to kill Kate. Much like many of the larger forces of the show, he will manipulate and lie to anyone about anything to get them to follow him. The question is also why he wasn’t on his sub, and if he knew anything about the attack or the LOSTies trying to escape on it. Without a sub, what will become of Widmore and how will he leave the island (if he survives)?

You have to wonder what Flocke means when he says he’s going to finish what he started. Obviously he wants to kill the remaining candidates to get off the island, but he can’t directly kill them. He has two options he could go: attacking Kate/using her as leverage against Jack and Sawyer, or going straight for Desmond. I think he’s heading for the well, as he probably recognized that Sayid did not kill Desmond but couldn’t stall in his plan and needed Sayid to still think he trusted him. Also, Jack is presumably heading straight for the well as per Sayid’s direction. Will Locke kill Desmond and if he tries, what can the surviving 815-ers truly do to stop him? It’ll be interesting to find out, as right now Smokie seems unbeatable.

The episode on Tuesday, May 11^th is entitled “Across the Sea” and will center around Jacob and the Man in Black. I feel like most of the remaining “burning” questions will be answered in this episode. Among them, I think we’ll find out who the young boy is, when Jacob and MIB got to the island, why they are there, what relation they have to one another, who MIB’s “crazy” mother is, why Jacob was tasked with keeping MIB guarded on the island, and various other historical moments between the two enemies. We’ll probably find out when the statue of Taweret was built, seeing as how we’ll probably get a historical time-line of the island through the eyes of the two oldest inhabitants of the island. Should be a great episode. Namaste.