I haven't written a side topic prologue recently. I plan on writing a separate note at some point, tagged with different people probably, about a bigger topic. Hint... Akshay and Jas are both somehow involved. I will write about the Thursday night NBC sitcoms at some point too. Maybe next week.
Doc Jensen also predicted that Ben would be the candidate, as this episode was titled "The Candidate". Before the episode began, I predicted that it would be Locke. Jensen says (see here: http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/05/04/lost-countdown-candidates/) that Ben is the one Jacob's actually been grooming, and he's been throwing MIB off with these other candidates and is also using this time to train and teach Ben. I wouldn't mind that, but I just felt like Locke as the candidate would work best in my eyes. Partly because I thought that would help lead to my hope that Locke will become a savior to the Island, not just some dope who got duped by MIB. Then again, I didn't even know who the candidate was going to be actually. What I mean by that is that I don't believe there will be a Jacob or MIB at the end of the show (I think I've mentioned this in previous posts. Maybe not) because all this progress will lead to an end to that, as Jacob suggested at the end of Season 5. Maybe the candidate is the one who will help defeat MIB. So ironically, Locke would stop... the other guy that looks exactly like him.
SPOILERS AHEAD about today's actual episode and not about theories
And... at the end of this episode I'm less clear about who "The Candidate" is referring to compared to how I felt about who "The Last Recruit" referred to. Locke was the "candidate" that Jack talked about for a surgery, and Sayid implied that Jack was the one, thus coining him as a potential reference as well. It's not really clear to me though. I would guess that Jack is the candidate, along with the last recruit, but that seems weird that he would be the reference for two straight weeks. Other thoughts? Either way, this episode was incredible regardless. Maybe the best episode of the season so far... I'll have to think more on that, since the Desmond-focused episode was great too. There's no doubt that some of the best episodes in most dramas have important deaths in them. Important deaths can only be used rarely, but when they are used, man oh man. This is no different. With the show nearing its end, characters will have to die and all endings will not be happy. But it will make for great story.
Jin and Sun's deaths might have been one of the most powerful emotional moments in the show's history, if not the. Off of the top of my head, it's up there with Charlie's death, Desmond/Penelope in The Constant, the freighter exploding at the end of Season 4 (and seemingly Jin), and Arzt's death (just kidding). Before the show even came back from break, I heard from two people that they were crying from it. I was close to tears too. It was really really sad, and I don't have to spell out why. I sometimes cry, sometimes just don't cry with scenes like that. I was also very sad when Hurley/Kate found out about it on the shore. Is it strange that Jin decided to stay even though he could conceivably go back and take care of his daughter? Maybe. But at the same time, all he knew for 3 years was to reunite with Sun. He told her he wouldn't leave her again. He didn't.
Sayid's death was important as well, although the episode had to move on. Because Sayid has gone to the dark side at one point this season and because he did already technically die, it wasn't as important to have such a dwelling focus on his death. This action along with his decision not to kill Desmond still puts this version of Sayid on the good side for me in the end. His sacrifice was ballsy and selfless, and it goes hand in hand with the Sayid I knew and adored as a character. There was the moment too where Hurley asks about getting Sayid on the sub, and Jack replies "There is no Sayid." And I thought that was a fitting statement to make note of his death.
*I don't actually know if Lapidus died or not. When I was writing this, I didn't even think about it and first submitted it without mentioning Lapidus. Then I was just reading Alan Sepinwall's review (http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/lost-the-candidate-watership-down) and he said Lapidus died. So if so, RIP Lapidus. If not, I guess we'll see.
Because the exact nature of the LAX timeline still isn't clear, and because all 3 of those characters (along with folks like Boone and Charlie) are still alive in that universe, it makes me wonder what might happen with that. Frankly, I don't really want them to somehow come back alive in a way that cheapens their Island deaths.
That might have been partly why I wasn't as emotionally devastated while watching that scene, since I was wondering "wait, are these deaths final or not?". Another reason why I might have been refraining from tears was because I was also pretty angry in the moment still towards Sawyer. For all the likes that there are about Sawyer, this certainly has not been a good stretch for him. From his failed desires to keep his Dharma life together to his decisions that have led to the deaths of these characters, he has been a character of frustration to watch. I still like him on the overall, just like I do like most of the characters (including Kate), but as I've touched on before, if you have been a greater Sawyer>Jack fan in the past, I imagine you might be better understanding by preference for Jack.
Jack's actions in this episode were again stellar. His revelation about the bomb not exploding if they didn't mess with it, akin to his dynamite scene with Richard (dynamite sticks, not like DY-NO-MITE awesome), was awesome. The scene where he argued with Sawyer about not touching the C4 was great. It's too bad that Kate getting shot forced him to get on the sub, but at the same time, I guess it was better that he was on the sub to do what he could to save everyone and to get Sayid's message.
Sayid's message was a little fast, and I wanna rewatch it, but from what I heard and from what Faheem corresponded with about it, he told Jack about Desmond in the well. Then Jack asked why he was telling him this, and Sayid said "cause it's gonna be you." There has been so much transformation with Jack this season. Let's not forget earlier in the episode when Jack/Locke are talking while walking toward the submarine (remember when Locke exploded another sub in Season 3 to the frustration of Jack and Juliet?) and Jack says "I'm not leaving the Island". I'm not gonna lie, I'm loving this rejuvenation of Jack. It's like the summer of George (Seinfeld reference)! I think I've touched on this before, but part of the reason I'm such a fan of Jack, despite his crappier periods, is because I always hoped for an upward turnaround like this. And I was right. I'm almost certain I've already written something like this in a recent post. Whatever. Suck it, Jack-haters! Just kidding, keep reading my blog!
So where do we go from here on the Island? I imagine Richard/Ben/Miles hook back up with our main characters next episode, Desmond is found, and Locke has at least one tricky ploy next week. And I imagine we'll learn more about Widmore's purposes. And... let's predict that one more character whose name is in the main cast credits dies next week.
And no, I haven't forgotten about the excellent LAX story with Jack and Locke (and Bernard!). First, I just wanted to make note of these exchanges that I liked:
Helen: You saved John's life. Why can't that be enough?
Jack: Because it's not.
Locke: What makes you think letting go is so easy?
Jack: It's not.
(This parallels, for me, the Season 2 dialogue where Locke asks why it's so hard for Jack to believe, Jack asks why it's so easy, and Locke says "It's never been easy." A Favorite Quote on my Facebook profile.)
There were a lot of great lines, especially in that final scene between Locke and Jack where Jack says that he wished Locke would believe him, a wonderful reference to Locke's suicide note to Jack in Season 5. The reveal of how Locke got paralyzed was really moving and made great sense of why he refused to get fixed. Their talk about how what happened happened, and how Jack wanted Locke to move on so that he could too... that was great. Jack's scene with Claire was cool too. Still, I'm waiting on people to figure stuff out, especially when the characters have certain reactions to things that make their brain tick. Come on, people! There are only 4 hours left! Let's do this timeline merger shindig! Desmond, run into someone again! I won't theorize more at the moment on the LAX stuff yet. I wrote a lot already.
Some extra notes:
-Ah cocky Dr. Shephard. Believing in fixing Locke with an impossible surgery. Being a stubborn doctor beast.
-When that random guy was douchy to Sawyer and hit him before going into the cage, I was like man, I hope that guy gets owned. And he did! Smoke monster'd! Ah TV. Letting us take joy in deaths.
-Minor plot hole that I don't really care about. If Bernard remembered Locke and Anthony Cooper enough 3 years later, how could he have not noticed Locke, who was behind him on the plane and who he must have seen at some point on the flight? Oh well.
-Sayid talking to Jack about the other people. Oh, yeah, they either got killed or scurried off. Typical LOST, bringing in randos, and then getting rid of them, whether it be with the freighter exploding or the flaming arrows or what have you. Time to focus on the main characters.
-Still strange that Jin and Sun were speaking in English. Just didn't make sense. At least they spoke some Korean near the end.
-Jack got a Rolo!
-At one point during the episode, I wrote "It's really nice to see the whole gang back together again. Even if someone's probably gonna die soon." Yeah... it ended up being 3 people. Sigh.
-Kate getting shot didn't even become a major deal (aside from making Jack get on the sub) after what happened with the 3 deaths. But it did seem to hint with their interactions again on the shore that Jack will win in the battle for Kate's heart.
-Finally, a point of exercise. Do you guys ever think of the alternative to what might happen in the plot, and think about how it couldn't happen the other way for the story to work out? It's really an irrelevant thing to think, and I usually brush it aside, but I feel like doing it with this episode. What if Jack had convinced Sawyer to stop? Then the bomb would have just not gone off, and they would be in the water, able to leave the Island if they wanted to. And that would simply not work for the sake of the story. So, it's not like that would have ever happened. Know what I'm sayin'? But yeah, just a pointless side tangent.
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