Remember - 6x17 & 6x18: The End

It worked.

"The End" worked. At least for me. There are many, many, many other people out there over the course of the last 3 days who have come out to say that it didn't work. Do I care about those people? Nooooo. I mean, they are entitled to their opinion, but the majority of them didn't seem to get it. I'm not trying to sound superior when I say that, but the points they make are based on personal expectations. No, demands. "It was a terrible finale because Walt didn't come back," or "It ruined the entire series because they didn't give us any answers."

'They didn't give us any answers.' Have they been watching the show for the past 6 years?

Look, I agree that there were some things I was hoping to get more information about, but if you went into the finale with a checklist of all the things they "needed" to resolve once and for all, then why are you watching this show? This show was never about giving answers; it was about finding them. Finding them in your own life. Finding them amongst the friends and co-workers you talked with. Finding them by observing and thinking and feeling. Finding them through listening to podcasts or reading discussion boards, if that's your thing. But for them to simply tell us everything would go against everything that this show, as true fans know it, was about.

What was the light in the well? What do YOU think it was? How was the flash-sideways created? How do YOU think it was created? What did Jughead actually do? What do YOU think Jughead actually did?

~ ~ ~

This is actually not the way I intended to begin this post, the first of what will be several about LOST's grand finale, "The End (Part 1 & 2)," but I'll go with it. Boy, have I heard some spectacularly lazy people who just couldn't open their minds enough to understand what the writers and producers of LOST accomplished. And I believe what they accomplished is nothing short of perfection.

As I get into the actual episode (finally!), I guess I'll begin with my interpretation of it. Let me tell you that I have not watched it again after Sunday night, partly because I don't feel I'm ready. Sound strange? Yeah, it is. There were a lot of emotions flowing as I watched it, and it's almost like I'm afraid to go through all of that again. I've listened to half of one podcast about it (granted, it's a 5-hour podcast) and have barely been able to get onto the Fuselage, my discussion board of choice, so I've honestly had little outside "influence," so to speak. The best feedback about the episode that I've heard came from the people I watched with at our finale viewing party. I'll talk about that in a future post. I've also just been trying to process all of it on my own. I finally feel like things have settled in my mind and I can post about it, but be forewarned, this will not be a comprehensive, detail-packed, quote-laden post. This is purely an initial reaction.

Here's my take on "The End": this was a story about Jack, both on and off the Island. On the Island, after being made the new protector, he faces off against the Monster. After Jack and the Monster, for their own very different reasons, help Desmond get into the well of light, where he removes a plug (or should I say a "cork"...?) that changes the light from a glowing golden color to a red, menacing one, the Island starts shaking and crumbling. Is the oft-rumored volcano on the Island finally making its presence known? While the Island begins to literally fall apart, Jack follows the Monster to the edge of the cliffs above the cave with the names inside. They have a very dramatic knock-down, drag-out, until Jack hits the Monster in the face. And he bleeds. He is no longer immortal, and they both realize it. The Monster gets the jump on Jack, and is trying to plunge a dagger into Jack's throat - in the same place he kept having a cut appear in the flash-sideways - until a shot rings out: Kate shoots the Monster in the back, telling him, "I saved a bullet for you," in reference to a scene earlier in the show. Jack decides that he must go back to the light well and undo what Desmond has done. Hurley and Ben help him down, where he finds Desmond's unconscious body, and ties the rope around Des. We knew that Jack would sacrifice himself, but here is where it hits home that he really will. He puts the plug back in, and the water flows back as well as the light, and Jack collapses on the ground, laughing as he is enveloped by the water and light.

In the flash-sideways, our Losties continue to cross paths, especially at the Driveshaft/Daniel Widmore concert, but this time, those that hadn't fully remembered their Island life did. Claire gives birth to Aaron with Kate by her side, just like on the Island, and Charlie wanders in from the stage to experience it as well. This dramatic event causes them to remember the Island. Hurley drives Sayid to a seedy ally where Shannon walks out and is promptly hit by a douchebag, which naturally causes Sayid to run out and protect her. When they meet, they remember. As they kiss, Boone is there, smiling with Hurley over the scene, and it's clear that he knows what Hurley knows.

Now I will mention the three reunions that hit me the strongest. First, after all of my comments about how the death of Sun and Jin didn't affect me to much, their scene in the hospital, when they see Ji Yeon on the ultrasound and remember everything, made up for it. Wow. And a later scene as they both calmy and happily refuse Detective Ford's protection and leave the hospital was one of the first things I picked up on about what we would find out at the end.

Juliet and Sawyer. Spectacular. What a scene. Their realization about their Island past was exhilarating, and it also revealed why Juliet said "we should get coffee - we can go dutch" in the season premiere before she died.

But the one that surprisingly touched me the most was when Kate and Jack met after the concert. The way Kate walked slowly toward him. The way she took his face in her hands. The way he was struggling to understand what was going on, and how we could tell that he was sensing something. But the part that killed me was when Kate told him, "I've been waiting for you for so long." At the time, before I had figured out what was actually happening, it had a sentimental impact, but after the episode ended, it was one of the scenes that really stuck with me. I just felt this weary joy that Kate must have felt, and it was beautiful. From then on, she was his guide, helping to lead him to what he needed to see. Instead of tagging along and following him as she did throughout the series, now she was leading him.

The flash-sideways, according to Christian Sheppard, was a place that had no time, and was created by the Losties so that they could meet up in death. My take is that they didn't sit down one day and consciously create this place; it was created in their hearts, though the deep connections that bound them together because of their experiences on the Island. And I'll say this now - the Island was real. It happened. There is no doubt about that.

The flash-sideways was, for some, a playground (Hurley); for others, a place to resolve outstanding issues (Sawyer), or to come to terms with things they struggled with in life (Jack). But most of all, and this is how I keep thinking of it, it was a waiting room for the "other side" (which is yet another thing that people had a negative reaction to - "it's heaven, that's so lame." Who said it was heaven? What do YOU think it is?). This was especially apparent when Jack entered the room in the church with the casket. I will get into this scene in much more detail in a future post, but here are my quick thoughts: I love that the casket was empty. I love the conversation they had. I love all of the religious symbolism, especially the stained-glass window. It's a scene I want to watch over and over again.

Once Sun and Jin realized what was happening in the flash-sideways, from that point on, I was a mess. Tearing up. Joyful. Sad. So what got me to finally break down? When Vincent came out of the bamboo forest and laid down next to a dying Jack, it was all over for me. That pushed me over the edge. I know why it did personally, but even if it didn't have a personal meaning, I think I still would have been devastated by it. I'm tearing up as I type this just thinking about it, that's how hard it hit me. With no exaggeration or hyperbole, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.

The reunion in the church was a blur for me at that point. I vaguely remember which characters were there. I remember Kate looking back at Jack and leading him to a seat in the pew. I remember Jack sitting down in the church as he collapsed to the ground on the Island. I remember Christian opening the doors and letting the light in.

The Ben and Hurley scene outside the church, as well as Locke's rising from his chair, was, at the time, really jarring for me. I still hadn't fully figured out what was going on, so Locke simply getting out of his chair and walking with no struggle was wonderful. And the conversation Ben and Hurley had, I'm looking forward to listening to again. Ben wasn't ready, he knew it, and for the first time ever, you believed what he said. He knew he still had issues to work out, and had the perfect opportunity to do something good with his life in having a family with Danielle and Alex. I guess even though he knew he was dead and that where he was wasn't the "real world" (though I'd argue it's as real as any other life), he still wanted to "live" his life.

The eye closing was crushing, satisfying, fitting. It was perfect.

My thoughts are going to be all over the place in these posts, so forgive me for not being that organized. When I recap the show and comment on each scene, that should be easier to follow, at least. For now, I'm just trying to get what's on my mind out there, and to see what you think about everything.

Some things I plan to touch on in future posts:

My finale party experience.

The Island's light.

Why the Island was underwater in the flash-sideways.

How the "waiting room" demonstrates fate and free will.

Was Shannon really Sayid's true love, and not Nadia?

What "the rules" were all about. Or maybe there were no rules...

When Widmore exposed Desmond to the electromagnetic energy in the shed near the Hydra, he traveled into the flash-sideways. Now that we know what the flash-sideways really was, think about what that means.

Let me leave with you this until next time:

Crashing in the Island is a metaphor for life. Depending on your religious leanings, you might say that we don't set a course for this place, we are brought here, and for a reason. Or, scientifically, we are an accident. We crash here just as much as the Losties crashed on the Island. We end up here. We are the only living things (that we know of) in our little corner of the universe, and we don't know why. We are strangers when we arrive here, and we leave our lives with connections to other people who we have grown to love throughout our lives. We go through trials and tribulations as we learn to survive on this Island of life, and we experience joy, discovery, pain, enlightenment, disappointment, betrayal, and resolution. It's through these experiences that we make connections, which, in "The End," is what it's all really about.

What do you think? You will have plenty of opportunities to comment when I get more specific about the episode, but what I'm really interested in is your take on the finale, and what questions you still have. I'd like to take a shot at answering them for you, so send 'em in!

Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

He Has Work To Do...

...and he's trying to get as much of it done as he can!

No, this is not my post about the finale. This is a post to say that I will be posting about the finale. I have grades due tomorrow morning and I still have some correcting to do, which is what I'm up to now. Is it going a lot more slowly since all I can think about is LOST? Absolutely.

I have this other strange thing going on today: I have this urge to not talk about LOST, to throw all of my memorabilia in a box and put it away for awhile. It's not because I didn't like the finale - that will be extremely clear in my actual post: I absolutely loved it, especially after thinking about it so much - it's almost like I can't handle it being over. Which I can't. I am genuinely sad that we will never see our Losties, or discover new Dharma secrets, or set foot on the Island, ever again.

A lot of people, including some of you, have asked for my thoughts, which, number one, is extremely flattering, and two, I will certainly do very soon. There is so much I want to say, so much I want to ask, and it will take me a while. I will probably have more than one post about it, too. I'm also thinking about what's next for this blog, if anything, and I want to talk about that, too.

I just have some things to take care of first (including needing to process "The End" a bit more). Keep checking back...

Namaste

"We're Very Close To The End" - 6x16: What They Died For

Okay, I'm starting this post at 12:49 a.m., so if it's brief, forgive me, but I'm keeping my eyes opened with toothpicks at this point.

I just finished watching tonight's penultimate (how rare is the occasion to use that word?) episode of LOST, "What They Died For," and I have to tell you two things:

1. I loved it.

2. I was a little emotional throughout the entire episode because I think it's finally hitting me: this wonderful universe we've been living in, this ultimate escape from our lives, this mysterious Island that we've spent the last six years on in our minds and hearts, will only exist for five more days. That's it. Five days. There's no telling how it will end, or what kind of life it will take on after the final "LOST" appears on our TV screens, but I do know that this excitement we feel, these discussions we have, the anticipation, confusion, wonder, anger, sadness, and every other emotion one can feel from watching this show will never be experienced again. No other show will be like this.

I've been thinking about loss quite a bit lately, and among the many, MANY thoughts and emotions, good and bad, that come out of that process, one that I felt so strongly tonight is appreciation. Losing something like this makes you appreciate it in and of itself, but also the role that it has played in your life, and how it has changed your life. I know that some of you out there have had a similar experience of this show coloring, and sometimes even clarifying, your life, as it has with me. If you haven't had that same experience, I suppose this all sounds awfully hokey, but hey, it's my blog.

So, before Sunday, I hope you all have a chance to appreciate this show for what it has done for you, whether it has provided you with entertainment, or whether it has quite literally changed your life. Either way, this journey we have been on which is quickly coming to an end was worth it. And hopefully, the destination will be just as worthwhile and satisfying.

So, my post tonight will be written through the lens of someone who had a big smile on his face throughout the episode, who shouted "Holy shit!" at least twice, and actually is having trouble remembering all of the details of the show because I was just so thankful to be sitting on my couch on a Tuesday night at 9:00pm watching LOST. Because it will never happen again.

So I guess my biggest point, and I'm not quite sure why it's coming up first, was my biggest "Holy shit!" moment: Ben blowing away Widmore! WTF?!?! Yeah, we knew he'd been wanting to, but what happened to 'you know we can't kill each other, boy'? What's changed? What did I miss? Was that all b.s.? As shocking and somewhat frustrating as it was, I have to say that as a Ben fan, it was also a little satisfying, especially after he says that he didn't want Widmore to have his daughter back.

Is Ben reeeeeaaaally helping the Monster out now? "Who else can we kill?" Really, Ben? What's his endgame? Will he be the one to eventually kill the Monster? Or, now I'm thinking that he will be the new Richard Alpert...

...who apparently was thrown into a tree and was killed by the Monster? But he can't die...right? Since Richard's apparent demise happened right in front of Ben, and based on their history, it's sort of poetic that Ben would be the new advisor. He and Richard are both responsible for a death that they are truly sorry for. We know Richard is (was? I'm really trying to figure this out...) immortal, and suspect that maybe, since he was healed in the Temple pool when he was a child, Ben is, too. Maybe he doesn't even know this. Regardless, when the Monster freight-trains Richard, they way that Ben calmly looks around and then sits in a patio chair was priceless.

The other great moment was the meeting around the campfire. This will probably be one of those scenes that some fans will complain about as being forced, like the entirety of last week's episode, or the reveal of what the whispers are, but I thought this scene was very natural and weighty. We know why Kate was crossed off the list in the cave (but again, not in the lighthouse - are only the dead crossed off that one? I'll have to look back and see if maybe that's the explanation): she's a mother to Aaron. She has someone at home off the Island to be responsible for, so she is not the ideal candidate - but of course, Jacob gives her the choice to be the protector if she wants to. We know why he brought them to the Island: because their lives weren't good, because they were lonely, and because they all needed to be fixed. I found that part of the conversation especially touching, and was getting some pretty strong religious vibes going on. And we know who the new protector will be: again, whoever chooses to be the protector. And it came as no surprise that Jack speaks up, and that he agreed to drink the blessed water to officially become the new Jacob........so we think...! I still have a feeling that there's going to be more to it than that, but we'll see.

Another interesting thing about that scene is that Jacob, in his child form, takes the ashes from Hurley (why he had to be his 13-year-old self, I have no idea), and then puts them into his campfire. Once the fire burns out, Jacob will be gone. I'm not sure what to make of that at the moment - I'm sure there's something there of significance, but I'm not getting it right now.

I'm almost beginning to think that there is no magic to being the protector. A lot of fans have been pondering if there is any magic to Jacob at all. The only thing I could say to confirm that he is magical, if you will, is that he hasn't aged (or is this due to time travel? Have the years that have passed for him been a lot more brief than we assume because the Island has been time-traveling? Could he have actually killed Brother last year in Island time?), and that he only appears to those he chooses to appear to.

Oh, another great scene was Hurley showing up to help Ana Lucia - Ana Lucia! - break Des, Kate, and Sayid out of the transfer to the county lock-up! It was a lot of fun. Hurley apparently remembers everything after his moment on the beach with Libby - including Ana Lucia! - and they're all going to the museum for the Widmore's concert for Daniel. (Sorry, but I have to say this - I cannot wait to see Kate in that dress Des chose for her - I'm biting the palm of my hand like Lenny as I type this ; )  ) David, Jack's son, mentions a concert that he wants to make sure Jack goes to, too - it must be the same one, right?

My mind is already working on how a scene will play out with all of our Losties in one place, suddenly remembering their Island lives, and then............poof? Flash? What will happen?

I literally cheered out loud when Alex told Ben to let her and her mother drive him home, and Danielle got out of the car! I was so excited to see Rousseau again! And they hit us over the head with it, but obviously a Ben - Danielle relationship is in the offing. Creepy, yes, but in this alternate story, very appropriate.

Finally, yet another Jack and Locke scene that I loved. Locke has finally come to the realization that it's fate that he keeps crossing paths with Jack, even if Jack warns him not to "mistake coincidence for fate," and he decides he wants to do the surgery.

And the great thing is that we now know that if they're going to give us answers, they have to do it in the next episode, because it's the last one!

(See? That's thinking of it positively, right?)

What did you all think of this episode?

Well, tonight was the kick-off of my own LOST finale week. On Thursday night, I'm going to the Quick Center at Fairfield University to see a simulcast of Damon and Carlton being interviewed live by the New York Times. Then, unfortunately, on Saturday night, I'm working, so I will miss the re-airing of "Pilot," the first episode of LOST, which I means I will miss watching it for the 7,435th time. I am DVRing it, just in case they do something special.

And then on Sunday is the big finale party! Again, if any of you that didn't get the Evite and would like to come, please comment on this post and let me know! You are more than welcome to join us.

That's all for now. I'm assuming I will likely post one more time before the finale, but this week is jam-packed for me, so I may not get the chance. Either way, until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

Sorry...

...doesn't put the delicious Triscuit crackers in my stomach now, does it?

What else can I say, besides a Billy Madison quote? 

Life hit hard last week, so I honestly haven't had the chance (or, sadly, the motivation or focus at times) to post about last week's episode, "Across the Sea." Obviously. I will try to post something tomorrow evening before the next episode, but in case I don't, some quick, quick thoughts:

Why did Brother turn into an evil smoke monster when Jacob threw him into the Well of Light? Was he really a bad person? Is bad, as we have learned with some of our characters, a relative term? Is he "bad" because he chose to associate with humans? And if he was human to begin with, as we know he was, does that make him inherently evil in Mother's eyes? 

Raised by another, indeed. It's been there all along.

Mother was totally a smoke monster. I'm convinced.

I think Mother was running a long con, but on whom, I'm not sure. I thought this out a few days ago, but I'll have to go through that again. Basically, I think she wanted Brother to end up in the Well, but there's more too it (including an explanation why).

This episode was HUUUUUUGELY controversial amongst fans. People either liked it or absolutely hated it. Where do I fall? Well...I definitely didn't hate it, and I always love the Island mythology. I could watch it all day. I've decided that my indecisiveness about this one was it's timing, or placement in the season. I understand it - once they've revealed that the Monster is truly the antagonist, they give us this episode to again make us question if he is evil, and to tell his story, which is something we've been begging the producers to show us. But still, this close to the finale, it just felt very odd.

People who hated it thought the acting and writing was wooden, the Well of Light was hokey, and most of all (and I think I'm with them on this), showing Jack, Kate, and Locke at the Caves from Season 1 insulted the intelligence of hardcore LOST fans. Once Jacob laid them both down in the cave, we knew that they were the skeletons. Along with that, Jack said in that original scene that their clothing had only decayed for about 40 years. Um, haven't they been there for 2,000 years? (That's according to Jorge Garcia's script reading on the "Geronimo Jack's Beard" podcast.) Damon and Carlton explained their inclusion of that scene this way: they wanted to show that our Losties, when they found "Adam and Eve" in the cave, had no clue back then what had happened on the Island, and that so much had happened. To them, this was some deserted island that they had accidentally crash-landed on. But now we know that an entire universe of people and events that actually affected them thousands of years later occured at that very place. To the producers, it was a way to put the Jacob/Monster story in perspective for the overall story of our Losties. I like that explanation.

So for now, that's all, but again, I really, truly will try to post a little more tomorrow. We'll see how things go.

Until then,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt

2.5 Hours!

No, don't worry - that's not a countdown to the finale. But ABC (?) announced this week that they are adding even more to the finale on May 23 - a half-hour more. So as it stands right now, you will be watching two-and-a-half hours of LOST goodness for the last time.

I really wish they were doing a live, Cheers-style cast Q&A afterwards, but we all know how that turned out for the actors who played our favorite Bostonian barflies. (Hint: alcohol was involved. Lots of alcohol. Allegedly. On live national television. Which was totally appropriate for a show about a bar if you ask me, but some people - NBC - got a little upset at said actors' behavior.) I guess Jimmy Kimmel, which will now immediately follow the finale at 11:30, is going to have cast members on, but I've also heard reports to the contrary, so who knows at this point.

Some of the actors - Michael Emerson for sure, as well as at least one more that hasn't been named yet -will be at the LOST Podcast with Jay & Jack finale party at the Orpheum Theater in L.A., so they will be in the L.A. area (which is where Kimmel films) at least, so it's possible they'd make an appearance. My guess at the other actor who will attend the Jay & Jack event would be Jorge Garcia; Jorge and Michael in particular have been very giving to the fans over the years by appearing on various podcasts, giving interviews to fan websites, etc.,  - they seem to have as much fun with the show as we do, with Jorge even having his own LOST podcast this season co-hosted with his girlfriend, Beth - so I could see them being involved. I don't think any of you listen to the podcasts out there, but I think it's amazing what Jay and Jack have accomplished in their five years of podcasting about LOST: a father and son team from North Carolina that simply started talking about the show on the internet have built a little fan empire, have befriended actors and producers of the show, are having a finale party at a major theater in L.A. with said actors and 2,000 fans, and have a now-annual 30-hour podcasting marathon which raised over $20,000 for Autism Speaks just this past March. It's incredible how much of a presence they have had. Ahhh, if only I had gotten the blog started earlier... ; ) 

Enjoy this week's new episode!

~ Matt

"You're The One" - 6x14: The Candidate

Oh, no way. No way.

Did that all just happen in one episode?

After weeks of slower, more "setup" episodes that got the characters where they needed to be, things finally began going into motion. Make no mistake - tonight was part one of the series finale.

Let me try to put it all in some kind of order, because it's all flying through my head right now.

The cages revisited. I was with Sawyer there: no way would I get in there again! But what pissed me off even more was when "doughboy" hit him in the gut with the butt of his rifle. He got what was coming to him, though, courtesy of ol' Smokey. I still love when he shows up! And all of a sudden, they're out of the cages. I have to say, for a multi-millionaire (billionaire?), Widmore hired the most incompetent group of fumbling idiots to run his missions for him. Seriously, Sayid just turned off the power at will? Really? Bang-up job, guys! I'm almost beginning to think that maybe Widmore wanted it to happen this way, but...why go through all that trouble? If you're really in on it with the Monster, why not just let them go with him and let him do his thing? Or is it more of a Mrs. Hawking "course-correcting," or Faraday "what happened, happened," thing?

So they get to the Ajira plane, only to find that the Monster has snapped the neck of one incompetent idiot and shot the other, and (after he takes one of their digital watches...hmmm...) he's discovered that the plane has four blocks of C4 explosive wired to the electrical system. So, on to the sub. Again, Sawyer is whispering to Jack about secret plans and such and "ya gotta do me this one last favor, Doc," you know, even though he kicked him off the boat and all. (I'm not a fan of what they've done with Sawyer this season. The writers seem to have taken all of his cleverness away from him, and that makes him a shell of the character we love. Maybe it's just me. He just seems like he's a dupe for the Monster at every turn now.)

Oh man, the sub - apparently, this was the Monster's plan all along (of course): get all of the candidates in one place, and kill them. I'm giving myself props for being half right: he was planning to kill them all, but since Widmore compromised Ajira (and why wouldn't the Monster just use the explosives-laden plane? Probably because he knew Jack wouldn't get on it), he used the sub instead. He was never going to take the plane off the Island. So, again, what exactly does he want? The Island all to himself? No, because he has always said that he wants to be free, but has that been a ruse all along? While Jacob has been busy finding ways to keep him on the Island, he's been plotting to simply kill everyone so they'll leave him alone. Nah. It's far more interesting to think about what he'd do it he escaped into the world.

Kate is shot. Matt is shocked. But not too much. Once I saw that it was just her shoulder, I yelled, "Just count to five and shake it off!"Total plot device, but I can respect that. I mean, did she seem all that bothered by it later when they washed up on the beach? Did you even remember she had been shot in the first place?

I might be wrong, but I think Sayid tells Jack, "you're the one" - right before he runs off with the bomb to blow it up in a distant section of the sub. (More on that later...) He gives them a chance to survive. Is his sacrifice, finally, his absolution?

Jack's speech on the sub was legendary...except that he was wrong, for the most part. Who knows, maybe it wouldn't have gone off if Sawyer hadn't pulled out the wires, but again, keep repeating to yourself, "Whatever happened, happened..." Just as Jack believed that their destiny was not to be killed on the sub, what actually did happen on the sub was supposed to happen that way, for reasons that we don't know of yet. I really, really like Jack as a believer.

Now we know why Sun freaked when she saw Locke in the hospital. Did she see her fate on the Island at his hands? Did she not speak of it to Jin because she's okay and happy in the Alt. 2004? And what does this possibility mean for what the flash-sideways are? If Sun and Jin are truly okay in the Alt. timeline, can it still be something the Monster created to (sort of) grant their wishes if they came with him? Especially after tonight, that theory seems to have, ahem, sunk.

And was anyone else less than touched at the demise of Sun and Jin? As they were speaking their last words, I was actually going back through seasons past in my mind and remembering them fondly, but there they were dying, and I couldn't muster up too much sadness for them. As much as I wanted Jin to escape because he could, I knew he would never leave Sun. By the way: Titanic much? "I'll never let go, Jin - I'll never let go!" Toniann and I were texting about this, and I heard a really good explanation about this lack of emotion on a podcast: they were apart for so long, and Sun was repeating "Have you seen my husband?" to everyone in earshot for so long, and it took them thirteen episodes just this season to finally reunite them - complete with a really cheesy line from Frank - that we just completely lost any interest in them. By this time, they sort of became caricatures of themselves, and in the face of a far more emotional story like Penny and Desmond's, Sun and Jin sort of fell by the wayside. Toniann had a good point, though, that I as a single man didn't consider and she as a mother of twins did - what about Ji Yeon, their daughter? Couldn't Jin have saved himself for her? So now there will be a child in South Korea with mommy and daddy issues...

Where I did lose it was after Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate washed up on the beach. When Hurley realized that he lost his friend Jin - friends since the early days of Season 1 - and he broke down, so did I. God, I love Hurley.

I was convinced that once the Monster acknowledged that the sub sank (but didn't blow up - no smoke, eh?), and Claire was like "WTF?" that he was going to simply kill her. I thought Claire was done for in an episode that we already had to deal with the death of Sun and Jin, but of course, she's not a candidate, so why would he waste his time? Besides, as he says, not all of them are dead, and he has to go finish the job. So does he sense that the four remaining Losties made it to the beach? Is he referring to Miles, Richard, and Ben?

Hey, wait a minute, I just realized - did Frank die on the sub? Oh man, that suuuuucks! I get it - now that the ruse of flying the plane off the Island is over, he has no purpose, and they wasted no time offing him. I loved Lapidus, too bad.

Okay, on to the flash-sideways. 

First, Dr. Bernard Nadler makes an appearance! This is the first "hey, we were both on Oceanic 815 - what a kawinky-dink!" moment of several in the episode. He gives him the name of Anthony Cooper, who - shocker! - was in the same accident that paralyzed Locke. So now we know they seemingly had a truly good relationship in this Alt. 2004.

About the Jack and Claire scene - hey, um, do you guys maybe, um, want to, um, exchange phone numbers or something? I get that it's awkward, but still, you are family. At least Jack finally offered to let her stay with him. 

Jack still has not flashed, and neither has Locke, but he seems to be close. (More on that later...) Does it have something to do with what happens on the Island? When Jack and Claire were looking in the mirror at the same time, it still didn't break through to Jack. Claire apparently had her moment in the hospital with the panic about Aaron in "LA X" and that's all she needed to have. But Jack, besides a few inklings, has yet to have that major breakthrough that I'm expecting him to have due to his importance in the story. They keep tempting us with a connection to Locke, but tonight, yet again, John balks at the chance for surgery and leaves.

The Jack and Locke conversations in this episode were classic LOST. This was Season 1 caliber Jack and Locke. John was just throwing out lines from episodes past as he slept in the hospital: he said "push the button" and another line that I can't remember, and Jack busted out with "whatever happened, happened" and "I wish you would've believed me," which is what Locke wrote to Jack before he attempted suicide and then Ben killed him. Who's going to flash first? Or will they still need each other to do so, and it will happen at the same time? Jack still can't convince Locke to have the surgery because Locke is punishing himself for his father's vegetative state as a result of crashing a John-piloted plane. I couldn't help thinking of Locke's responsibility in Boone's death, also from a small plane falling to Earth.

Anthony Cooper is in a wheelchair, too, but is in much more dire circumstances than his son. That's karma for you. He can't smooth talk his way out of things this time.

So in reference to the title, who is the candidate? I have two main contenders (besides Hurley, who I still think is going to have a major part to play, but it doesn't seem like they're setting him up to be the candidate). These will come as no surprise to anyone:

1. Jack. Based on what Sayid said in the sub before the bomb went off, and his total Jacob-like attitude, and that he's the hero of LOST, and that this episode, "The Candidate," was centered on him, they are almost telegraphing that he's the man. But...

2. Kate. Sawyer tells her (and notifies those in the audience that hadn't read about this on various blogs) that her name was indeed on the cave wall, though it was crossed out. We know her name is on the lighthouse wheel, and it's not crossed out. This seems to mean that Jacob, who most agree was in control of the lighthouse, has Kate as a candidate, and the Monster, who controls the dark cave, has her off the list. Which means that maybe Jacob knows something that the Monster does not. I've said on the blog before that Kate could be Jacob's wild card - that she is in fact the #1 candidate. Is this likely? I dunno. Is the Island where she has been running to all her life? Is this where she proves that she is a good person? Do we take into account "behind the scenes" facts about the show such as how Jack was originally supposed to die in the Pilot episode, and Kate was going to be the main character/leader of the Losties?

What do you think?

I'm off to spend a few minutes on the Fuselage to see what others are talking about. (Or not - I just tried to check on something and the site is getting hammered right now - the page won't even load. Oh well...)

Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt