Blog 12; Lost

It’s been a while since I have written about Lost, and a lot has developed over the past few weeks that have really pushed this season into the home stretch. One of the major criticisms of the earlier episodes in this final season is that the flashsideways story are unnecessary to the overall story and, while sentimental and giving our characters closure, they are diverting our focus from what we really want to watch; the island storyline. A few weeks ago, with the return of Desmond, the purpose of the flashsideways has finally come into the picture and we are getting important plot lines and answers on AND off the island.

This weeks episode, entitled “The Last Recruit,” tells the off island story of multiple characters instead of focusing on just one of them. This was the first time they’ve done this since the season premiere. As for on the island, a majority of our characters are finally in the same place at the same time (at least in the beginning of the episode). The episode opens with the reunion of Jack and Locke, even though it’s not really Locke, and they discuss what the Man in Black wants and why he can be John Locke. Since day one, John Locke has always believed in faith and destiny. The MIB says that because Locke was stupid enough to believe and have faith and stupid enough to feel like he was on the island for a reason, Locke was extremely vulnerable. The MIB was easily able to manipulate Locke into leaving the island, convincing him he had to die and return, which would ultimately allow the MIB to take form as Locke.

The MIB said he can only take form of someone on the island that is dead, which leads Jack to ask the question he’s been wanting answered since the fifth episode of the series in “White Rabbit.” Jack asks the MIB if he took the form of his father, Christian Shepherd, when Jack followed him around and was eventually led to the caves. The MIB confirmed that he was Christian Shepherd at that time. While this may be true, I personally do not believe that every time we’ve seen Christian Shepherd, it was the MIB taking form of him. When the freighter exploded with Michael on board, Christian Shepherd appeared to Michael to tell him he had served his purpose. We learned earlier this season that the MIB cannot cross water and, therefore, that Christian could not have been the MIB. Also, we’ve seen Christian Shepherd off the island after the Oceanic Six got home. Jack saw him in the hospital lobby, when ironically the SMOKE alarm went off. While this may have been a major clue, this also does not make sense since the MIB cannot leave the island so we can attribute that version of Christian to Jack being on drugs. Finally, last season when Sun and Frank walked to the barracks, they were met by Christian Shepherd who told them where their friends were (in Dharmaville in 1977). At the same time, in different stories, we see John Locke “resurrected” and living with the Ajira airline survivors. The Smoke Monster could have been Christian then gone back to being Locke then back to Christian, but this seems unlikely. However, after Sun and Frank met with Christian, they were told to wait for John Locke. This may mean that Christian was the MIB.

A lot of the remaining on island portion of the episode focused on developing the characters’ storylines and showing how much they have (or have not) changed now that they are all back together. Locke and his camp, now complete with Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Frank, are now planning on going to the Hydra Island. Locke sends Sawyer on a side mission to take the sailboat over to the Hydra Island; he sends Sayid off on a side mission to go and kill Desmond who is currently sitting at the bottom of the well where Locke pushed him down. A major development this week is we are continuing to see Locke lose control. Sawyer is already playing him by having an agreement with Widmore, and Sawyer includes Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Frank on his plan, which also already includes Kate. Sawyer tells Jack to ditch the MIB at some point on the trek, and find the dock with the sailboat so they can all sail over to Widmore and head home on his submarine. When Locke goes to check up on Sayid, Jack sees this as his opportunity to escape and takes Hurley, Sun, and Frank with him to the sailboat, leaving Claire behind who watches them escape.

Locke went to check up on Sayid, who was instructed to do what he does best and kill Desmond in order for Locke to fulfill his promise of bringing Nadia back. When Sayid finds Desmond, he seems to have no hesitation in shooting him until Desmond starts talking. Desmond, along with having no fear, also seems to be the only one who knows exactly what is going on in both timelines. I would not be surprised if Desmond was sharing his consciousness on and off the island after Widmore opened him up to the other world with the electromagnetic exposure. Desmond asks Sayid why he was doing this and listening to Locke; Sayid told him that he was promised the love of his life to return from the dead. While Desmond did not find that as a shock, he asked Sayid if that’s what he really wanted. He asks Sayid that when Nadia asks what Sayid had to do in order to bring her back, what would he tell her? Sayid has no response to this. After killing countless people and doing inhumane deeds for Locke, the real Sayid seems to be resurfacing by pushing through this “sickness” that allows Locke to have control over him. When Sayid meets up with Locke, Locke asks him if he has killed Desmond. Sayid nods his head and says to go check for himself if he doesn’t believe him. I am not convinced that Sayid killed Desmond, in fact I am certain that he did not since we, as viewers, did not see this happen and considering it would be the end of a Lost favorite, we would get to see his departure. This occurrence is another instance that proves Locke is losing control over all of his “followers” now that Sawyer and co. are sailing away and Sayid hasn’t been following orders.

Jack and company, followed by Claire, meet up with Kate and Sawyer on the sailboat; however, before they can sail away, Claire starts pointing guns and threatens to rat them out to Locke. Kate takes charge and tells Claire how sorry she is that she took Aaron and left her behind. Claire says that she is with the MIB because at first he appeared as her father (Christian Shepherd), and he was the only person that did not leave her behind and kept her safe for the past 3 years. Claire also seems to be resurfacing and is able to accept Kate’s apology and decides to join the crew, despite the possible consequences when Locke finds out.

After the sailboat starts sailing away and finds food in the lower deck, Kate, Sawyer, and Jack pilot the boat. Sawyer is steering and joking around with Kate, and Jack is staring out into the water. Sawyer goes over to talk to him, and Jack tells him that this is wrong. Jack has finally realized that the island is not done with him and he has already made the mistake of leaving too soon the first time; he is not about to do it again until he serves his purpose on the island. Sawyer does not accept all of this “destiny” talk and allows Jack to make a decision: stay with them and shut up or jump off the boat. Jack does the latter and swims to the shore. When the boat arrives at Hydra Island, the crew is met by Widmore’s group of scientists. Sun and Jin have their long awaited reunion, only to be cut short by the Tina Fey looking scientist getting orders from Widmore that his deal with Sawyer is off. When Jack gets back to the shore, Locke finds him and greets him. After being threatened earlier that he will be bombed if he does not arrive to Widmore at sundown, Widmore’s crew starts bombing Locke. This is ineffective, but sends Jack flying into the sand. Locke picks him up and carries him to safety and tells Jack not to worry because “you are with me.”

The off island story in the alternate timeline is a lot less eventful, but continues with the stories of characters that have previously been left in the air earlier this season. It opens up with Ben being questioned about what happened to Locke. Locke is in an ambulance and the EMT asks him if there is anyone they can contact. Locke responds by saying “Helen. Helen Norwood. I was gonna marry her.” While this can easily be interpreted as the Helen that Locke lives with in the alternate timeline, Locke could also be talking about the Helen in the other timeline that Locke knew before crashing on the island. After this near death situation, the real John Locke could be resurfacing and could now be informed about his other life where he was set to marry Helen before he was paralyzed. When Locke arrives at the hospital, he is being pushed around in a gurney while Sun can be seen being pushed in a wheelchair. She sees Locke and can be heard saying, “It’s him.” This is signifying that Sun has also been informed of her other life, just like Charlie and Desmond were, and she knows about the MIB being Locke.

Another off island story has Kate being questioned at the police station by Sawyer. They already recognize each other from the elevator in the airport after being on the same flight. Kate says that Sawyer let her go because he did not want anyone to know that he had been to Sydney. At this point, Miles tells Sawyer that there have been multiple shootings in a restaurant and they think they have a lead. We are then shown Sayid arriving back at Nadia’s house and telling her he has to go. Nadia suspects that Sayid has done something bad, and Sayid tells her the he took care of her and she doesn’t have to worry any more. At this point, the doorbell rings and Nadia tries to stall the police officer who just happens to be Miles. Sayid escapes through the back only to be tripped by a garden hose that Sawyer is tugging. Sawyer then takes Sayid into custody.

The final off island story is composed of the gathering of Desmond and Claire. Desmond offers Claire some
legal help because of her adoption since a lawyer Desmond knows owes him a favor. When Desmond brings her to this lawyer, it turns out to be Ilana, who says she has been looking for Claire. Jack and his son David are also at Ilana’s law agency where they are about to discuss Christian Shepherd’s final will and testament, and Jack has been looking for Claire Littleton since she was mentioned in the will. At this point, Jack is called into surgery by the hospital and has to leave, taking his son David with him (whom he now has a much better relationship with since we last saw them in “Lighthouse.”) In the hospital, Jack is on the phone with David’s mother about how he was called into surgery; David is going to stay at the hospital until Jack is done, so he and David can go out to dinner. Jack scrubs in and is briefed about the patient having a broken spine that Jack seems to not be worried about, saying, “I got this.” Jack looks into the reflection of some equipment on the floor where he sees John Locke, which leads Jack to say, “I think I know this guy.”

While being an extremely eventful episode, “The Last Recruit” also seems to be setting up for something HUGE to happen in the few remaining episodes of the series. On and off the island, the characters are getting to where they need to be in order for all the stories to come together. The alternate timeline and the current island timeline are bleeding through to each other, and it appears sacrifices are going to have to be made. Widmore already warned Desmond about a sacrifice he’s going to make. This sacrifice is probably going to have to be the characters giving up one of the timelines in order to protect the world from The Man in Black from leaving the island. These sacrifices include some characters giving up happiness and love in the alternate timeline of redemption in the island timeline. Also, a lot of characters alive in the alternate timeline that are dead in the island timeline (i.e. Libby, Boone, and Charlie) may have to sacrifice their lives in order to defeat the MIB. With this season coming to a close, I could not be more excited for the end, even though I’m upset that Lost will be over. Until that time comes, all we can do is wait and ponder like we have for the last 5 seasons.