"We're very close to the end, Hugo."YES! THANK YOU, LOST WRITERS! Unlike seemingly everyone else on the internet who writes about this show (seriously, if we read one more "Questions Lost Needs to Answer" article we're going to gouge our eyes out) we really don't have a shopping list of requirements to fulfill in order to enjoy the finale. But there was one thing we really hoped to see before it's all over: the end of man-purse Ben and the return of Ben, the Brilliant Son of a Bitch. Watching him shoot Charles Widmore and then say in that wide-eyed psycho way that we missed so much, "Did you say there were some other people to kill?" just made us sigh with Lost happiness, like we just slipped into a Snuggie with a cup of cocoa. Ben bliss.
This was easily the most satisfying episode all season. It pains us to say this, but we really think the writers dropped the ball on Season 6. We're still men of faith when it comes to how it's all going to be wrapped up, but we had to slog through a lot of tedious stuff to get there. The fucking Temple.
Remind us why we spent 4 or 5 episodes there? Thankfully, this episode felt like an old-school Lost episode in so many ways. All the things we loved were there: fantastic character moments, unexpected deaths, funny lines (don't ever leave us again, Miles) and...not so much answers as a feeling of culmination. Everything coming to a head. Everything that everyone went through is about to pay off. What They Died For.Once again, an episode begins with a shot of Jack's eye opening, just as the pilot opened. That alone served as a nice callback to how it all began, but then we got the extra bonus of finding out that the island's Magical Vagina is not far from where that original shot took place. Another nice callback to the pilot was having Jack stitch up Kate just as she stitched him up in the scene where they first met. She sure bounces back from a gunshot wound pretty fast. Yeah, yeah. Magical healing island and all that.
In fact, we liked everything about that opening scene on the beach: Kate talking about Ji Yeon, which was needed after the Kwons' Ji Yeon-less death scene; Sawyer and Hurley, staring out at the ocean, hoping for survivors to wash up with the wreckage; Kate laying her head on Sawyer's shoulder. We're as tired as everyone else is of the whole love triangle, but that was a sweet moment between old friends.
Jack and Sawyer also had a nice moment together as Jack admitted his own mistakes and absolved Sawyer of any guilt for the mistakes he's made. They both looked traumatized and worn out in that scene, the burden of everything they've been through in the last 6 seasons etched on their faces. They understand each other now. They both made decisions that resulted in the death of others. "I've been wrong before," says Jack, and that's a somewhat monumental shift for this formerly cocky-to-everyone-else's-detriment guy.
Still, while this episode resulted in several shining moments for Jack, it has to be said that in any reality, DESMOND HUME IS THE MAN. Watching him gleefully pull strings to get the band back together in L.A. was a joy to see. Was he really going to run down Locke again? Because that would have been kind of hilarious. Apparently the plan was to just keep on running him over until his memories returned. And why haven't his memories returned anyway? Desmond only needed to punch Ben a couple times to get him to remember. Hurley only needed one kiss. We suppose it's because Locke hasn't "let go" of the baggage of what he did to his father. Question: How exactly does Desmond know how to find all these people in L.A.? He turned himself in for the hit and run, seemingly because he knew Kate and Sayid would be in the cells next to him. How would he know something like that?
Alt Alex thinks Ben is "like, the nicest guy ever," which is cute and awfully ironic. But how about that Danielle Rousseau! In a dress! And heels! And access to hair products! What a jarring scene, seeing her that way. And the possibility of a Ben/Danielle love connection in the L.A. timeline is extremely weird and yet it makes a strange sort of sense. How much did Ben remember after Desmond beat him? He got a mirror moment in the school nurse's office as well as a very island-Ben-like line: "It's Dr. Linus, actually."
"He doesn't get to save his daughter." Was island Ben justified in killing Charles? Who cares? We wanted killer Ben back in the worst way. Smokey promised him the island and that seemed like a good enough reason for Ben to follow his orders, but by the end of the episode Smokey was telling him that he plans to destroy the island, so where do Ben's allegiances lie? We're happy enough to see him ditch the man-purse, but we have to admit, we will squeal in our seats on Sunday if it turns out Ben has a typical Linus Master Plan of his own. He's been too damn important in this story to not have a major role to play in the climax. In addition, he gave Miles a walkie-talkie just before he left the group and that's GOT to mean something down the line.
Widmore brought Desmond back to the island because of his "unique resistance to electromagnetic energy," as a "last resort." Just what the hell is Desmond supposed to do? And where the hell is he on that island? Smokey later refers to Desmond as a fail safe, which is a callback to the fail safe key he used to destroy the hatch.
When the 4 candidates met up with Jacob for his little campfire chat, it was a nice touch by the writers to have Hurley assume they couldn't see him. It's one of those things that isn't really needed in a scene, but putting it there sort of grounds it in the reality they've created. As for that chat, it was good to hear some things that really needed to be said, such as Jacob's admission that all of this was due to his own fuckup and Sawyer's much-needed
"Why do I got to be punished for your mistake?" To which Jacob replied that none of them had happy lives before the island. "I chose you because you needed this place as much as it needed you." Remember, back in the season opener Smokey told Ben that crashing on the island was the best thing that ever happened to these people.Plus, we got an answer as to why Kate's name was crossed off the candidate list: because she's a mother, which pretty strongly implies that Sun was not the Kwon candidate. Now, one could argue that by all rights, Jin being a father should have disqualified him as well, but remember: Jacob's not the most modern of thinkers and he's also got some serious mommy issues.
Even more importantly, Jacob's reasons for doing what he's been doing make a lot more sense now. Last week's head-scratcher of an episode left us with the distinct impression that this whole thing was about Smokey and Jacob using countless people as pawns in their little family squabble. Thankfully, it's a little more important than that. The fate of the world is apparently at stake because Jacob has known all along that Smokey was going to eventually find a way to kill him, so in order to keep the world safe, he had to find someone to replace him.
Jacob acted like any of them could have been his replacement, but like we said a couple of weeks ago, it's always been Jack. We're not saying he knew it was going to be Jack because that would make him quite the asshole for putting everyone else through all this shit, but all signs pointed to Jack all along. He gave them all the choice to decide, but that was another of his tests. The candidate had to be the first one to volunteer for it. It was a classic test of bravery like you'll find in any hero's quest-type story. "This is what I'm supposed to do." If only poor John Locke had lived to hear Jack say those words.
And thankfully, we got a bit of the old Sawyer back, despite the gravity of the situation and the beating they've all taken: "I thought that guy had a God complex before."
Also, apparently the little wine ceremony between Jacob and Mother last week didn't require wine at all. The candidate merely had to drink something that the guardian prayed over (assuming those mumbled words were a prayer). Matthew Fox has been doing a great job all season but the look on his face after he drank was a wonderful bit of acting. A combination of the relief that comes after making a big decision and the realization of what that decision entails. Although his expression could have a more mystical interpretation. He may have
gained a total understanding of his role after drinking from the cup. "Now you're like me," an echo of Mother's words to Jacob when he became the guardian. It's kind of mind-blowing to consider that Jack, who we've all been following for six years now, is essentially not a human being anymore.Okay, we're losing coherence (if we ever had it all). Commence random thoughts:
* The cut on Alt-Jack's neck, just like the cut he had in the season opener on the Alt Oceanic flight. We racked our brains back then to try and think of a time he sustained some sort of injury on his neck and we came up blank. Rather than an echo of something we've seen before, could this be an echo of something we haven't seen yet?
*Just before he died, Sayid told Jack that Desmond was in the well, which means that Sayid wasn't the person who helped Desmond escape. So who is? Who's not accounted for? Miles? Claire?
* Alt-Locke and Alt-Jack together again, talking about fate and faith, just like old times. "Maybe this is happening for a reason" is an old Locke favorite and Jack's response of "I think you're mistaking coincidence for fate" is a callback to Mr. Eko saying the same thing to Locke when he tried to blow up the hatch. An Eko echo. And yes, we admit it. We've been waiting all season to make that pun.
* Yikes. Is Richard dead? Does the immortality clause expire when Jacob dies? If so, that's not such a hot sendoff for such a long-standing character with such an epic backstory.
* Okay, so Smokey tells Ben he's going to destroy the island. In the alternate timeline, the island is at the bottom of the ocean and if that's not an example of "destroyed," we don't know what is. We may have to once again let go of our "Alt-Locke is really Smokey posing as Locke" theory in light of that conversation he had with Alt Jack about letting go and wanting to be out of his wheelchair, but we're still sticking to our theory that the alternate timeline is what happens as a result of the conclusion of the current events on the island. In other words, Jack fails and Smokey destroys the island, which somehow results in an altered timeline where the crash of O815 never happened. If that's the case, where the hell IS Smokey in the alternate timeline? Is he hiding out disguised as one of the previously dead characters (or even a character who hasn't died yet in the main timeline)? If our theory is correct (and it's about as likely as our Locke theory was, which is to say, not very), then who is Smokey in the alt-timeline?
*David Shepard is one creepily adoring kid, wouldn't you say? Maybe he's Smokey. Maybe we're at the wild-eyed stage of this post and we're just going to start throwing out any harebrained theory that occurs to us. IT WAS ALL VINCENT'S FAULT!
*Always fun to see bitchy Ana-Lucia again. Interesting to note Alt Hurley's reaction to her, which implied that, like Desmond, he remembers pretty much everything about the island timeline.
* We were never the types of Lost fans that hated Kate, which seemed to become the thing to do in the last couple of seasons. We still think she can be an arresting character (pun sort of intended) when the writers give her something to do. Example: When the candidates met Jacob for the first time, it was refreshing to see that it was Kate - not Jack or Sawyer, which would have been predictable - who instantly got up in his face about all the death he's caused. All she needs is some motivation and the character becomes very watchable.
* Jack=Jacob. If we ever do find out Smokey's name, we wouldn't be a bit surprised if it was some archaic form of the name "John" since that's what this is all coming down to and what it's always been about: Jack vs. "Locke."
* "Don't be ridiculous. It's in my secret room behind the bookcase." Only Michael Emerson could sell that line. Honestly, we think we might miss him the most after this is all over. He really deserves another meaty role pronto. He can do that chilling psycho stuff so well and then he can turn around and do a vulnerable moment, like when Danielle said he was like a father to Alex, that'll make your heart ache.
* Seems like the convergence point for all the survivors is going to be this concert at Miles' dad's museum. Miles is going, as is Jack, David and probably Claire. It looks like Desmond is taking Kate there. Jack's ex-wife is going to be there and that has to be Juliet. We have a feeling that's going to be one entertaining concert. The only thing that could make the possibility of all these characters coming together under one roof more exciting would be if Driveshaft were up on the stage giving it their all. That's probably asking for too much, but it would be kind of sweet to hear "You All Everybody" one more time before we say goodbye for good.
