And with those last six words of Sayid's life, we're left to assume that Jack is destined to be the new Jacob.Boom! Two weeks was worth waiting for a jam-packed episode of Lost like last night's. Hell, they went over by 2 minutes (thank God I was watching live and not on my DVR or I would be pissed!) and we didn't even have enough time for a "Previously on Lost" montage.
Off island we follow the story of Jack and Locke. Jack is obsessed with understanding why Locke won't receive surgery to make him walk again. Jack is convinced that Locke is a "candidate". His obsession leads him to Bernard the dentist (who we learn is still married to Rose, even in the parallel universe). Bernard sends Jack to visit Anthony Cooper (The dude who, on the island timeline, was the real Sawyer, a con-man and the reason Locke couldn't walk). in the parallel timeline Anthony is a very different man. He, presumably, didn't have such a dark past and was a good father to Locke. Even with his fear of flying, he agreed to join Locke on his first solo flight which had horrible consequences: Cooper the vegetable.
I sense that Locke is becoming self-aware of the alternate timeline. His body language and reaction to Jin walking down the hallway suggests that he kind of knows what's up. It's getting late in the game to throw around wild theories... but what if Locke off-island isn't Locke at all - but the man in black who was finally able to escape the island? Bum-bum-buuuum!
On-island it's a very different story. Locke is revealed as pure evil. Any doubters out there who thought Jacob was going to turn out to be the bad guy can pretty much pack it in now... Fake Locke has been conning the whole group all of this time and finally pulled his plan together. His goal was to get them all into a confined space and blow them to pieces. When Jack refused to get on the plane, the plan needed to be changed... he counted on them flipping the script - so packing them all on the sub with a time bomb became Plan B. Crazy Claire wasn't necessary to the plan, since she's no longer a candidate now, so her not being on the sub didn't really matter at all.
Jack, now certain of his fate, was the only one who figured out in time what was happening, and how to prevent it. Fake Locke couldn't kill the candidates, but he could use the loophole. So, if Fake Locke set the bomb, it would be most certain that it wouldn't work and they would all survive. However - if the bomb was altered, and it wound up being some idiot (Sawyer) among them that technically set it off, then all bets would be off.
Boom goes the sub - With only 4 hours of storytelling left, it was time to weed out the unnecessary characters and get this storytelling into quick gear. Let's take a moment to mourn the dead:
Sayid - Well, we already said goodbye to him the first time he died... but this time, he was able to atone for his sins. We learn that he didn't kill Desmond and that he now knows that Jack is the "candidate". He pulls a Charlie and makes one final sacrifice for his friends.
Lapedis - Or is he really dead? I'm guessing yes. Dude was lucky to make it this far in the show. We're going to miss him running around, frowning and looking like Gopher from Love Boat.
Sun and Jin - I'll admit, I cried when they died. The tears were for all of those pointless hours of having to sit through their drawn out storyline to wind up finding out that it was completely unnecessary filler. Bah. Call me heartless, but they should have killed them off last season and saved us the torture of "will they meet again or won't they" story lines that went absolutely nowhere.
So now we're left on the beach with the "Final Four". Jack, Hurley and almost dead Sawyer and Kate. Sawyer will most certainly be OK... but Kate took a pretty good gunshot to the chest. Couple that with her being "crossed out" on the cave wall and she's pretty much a goner by the time we wrap up the Kate and Sawyer off-island story.
But wait, let's not forget about Desmond... the group must be on their way to rescue him. Hopefully by the time they get there, off-island Desmond will have gotten all of the Oceanic passengers together to return to the island.
And where are Ben, Miles and Richard? Last we saw them, they were headed to get explosives to blow up the plane. I'm sure they will meet up with Widmore very soon.
And what about Widmore? He tried to protect the candidates from Locke... putting them all in a cage and surrounding them with the smoke-repellent fence. Widmore even told them that he was, believe it or not, protecting them.
And, finally, let's not forget about Rose and Bernard. They're still out in the jungle, aren't they?
Next week's episode is the one I've been waiting for all season. It's rumored to be a full-on flashback with Jacob and The Man in Black. Until then... Namaste!
Hey Boris! Couple of interesting things that came out of this episode for me, curious what you think. The one thing I always found odd was the drastic differences between their lives in the alternate universe. Obviously it caused the flight not to crash, which would effect their lives AFTER they landed, which was the case in the earliest episodes.
ReplyDeleteHowever, recently we've been seeing many things were vastly different before they even got on the flight, like Locke's relationship with his father, Sawyer being a cop, Jack having a son (guess we can't be sure if that was true before) etc. I wondered why this would be, and it clearly implies their lives were effected by the island long before that flight, and the island being destroyed changes everything.
I know I'm rambling, but I'm getting to the point. So the Man in Black needs them to kill eachother so he can get off the island which we find out in this episode. So my first thought is wouldn't the bomb kill them all thus releasing him? And if that is the case, why are all their lives so much better in the alternate universe as opposed to worse given that he's evil?
Hey Boris, always like your thoughts. So what I've been wondering is, why is it that their lives are so vastly different in the alternate universe? I understand why they'd be different AFTER the flight lands, but clear it has effected them from the start. The bomb went off in the 70's, but clearly some of the people on the island already were alive and moving toward their path before this.
ReplyDeleteThe only explanation I can think of was something I noticed in this episode. If the man in black needs them to kill eachother to get off the island, maybe he was released when the bomb went off, because clearly they all could have died during the blast.
But what doesn't make sense, is if that's the case, why are they all better people in the alternate universe?
Chad - We've known from the first episode of this season that the alternate time line isn't different because the plane didn't crash... but because Jacob never steered the passengers towards the island during the early part of their lives. In this alternate reality, the island was already sunk before Oceanic 815 even took off. That's an important part of the storyline. Their lives are different because they weren't touched by Jacob, not because they didn't crash.
ReplyDeleteAlso, not all of their lives are better off of the island. Kate is still on the run, Sawyer is still hunting Anthony Cooper. Sayid and Nadia never got together and now Sayid is under arrest for murder.
Excellent re-cap, as always.
ReplyDeleteI am confused about one thing, but I am probably missing something here. As you pointed out, Anthony Cooper, Locke's Dad, was a good father to Locke in the alternate universe. However, Sawyer the cop in his altername universe is still hunting Cooper for causing the death of his parents. We learned that was reason why Sawyer was on the plane from Sydney, searching for Cooper who he thought was there.
If Cooper is "good" in Locke's altenate universe, how can he still be "bad" and still a con-man in Sawyer's?
On another note, as much as Jin and Sun annoyed me, I still shed a tear when they died! :)
All of your observations were qreat. I don't think we know for sure that Lapedis is dead or not, but the show doesn't really have any use for him. Finally, Jin and Sun are gone, but the creators will probably have one of them come talk to Hurley.
ReplyDeleteAs for next week, the actor who plays the man in black(original) said that the episode will deal with the beginning. Also we'll get to see the "crazy mother" that he had. Should be interesting
Also, the jewelery box with the mirror, i had to go back and watch it. It just seemed wierd that they would put that in the episode, I didn't see anything but I was wondering if you got anything out of it.
And finally, Jack telling Locke "I wish you would believe me" about the surgery, nice flashback to Lockes "suicide note"
Boris - how does your theory about off-island Locke being the man in black hold any water? We know the man in black is the most evil being to ever roam the earth and if he ever did escape he would reek havoc upon the earth, someone said that... Alpert maybe? So if he did get off the island why would the most evil being ever be relegated to a poor, helpless victim like off-island Locke?
ReplyDeleteBoris, here is where I am confused on that though. So in the alternate universe they blew up the island and it is now underwater. If Jacob is no longer leading them, why is most of their lives better? I realize not all are better, but even the ones who aren't certainly aren't any worse off.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I feel like setting off the bomb would be them killing eachother, which would ultimately release the MIB, which would lend itself to the theory you have of him being Locke in the alternate universe.
Also, I don't recall who was crossed off the list. Is it possible that Hurley, Jack, Sawyer are better off because they are yet to be crossed off the list?
Hmmm...yes, why would they take Jin/Sun so far to kill them off this way? It seemed out of place, actually. But, they still existed in the sideways life. For a second, I thought the twist would be that Locke is good and he knows that in order for their lives to be unaffected by Jacob, he has to kill the island people off so their other selves can live a life not manipulated by anyone else but of their own free will. Think about it - Jacob seems good, but he did, in fact, mess with them.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, in the off-island time line, Jin and Sun escaped mob life and are expecting a kid, Locke and Jack seem like they're going to make peace with their pasts, Desmond has the approval of his almost-father-in-law and may find Penny after all - he did the first time. Remember how long that took for those two to find each other? As for Sawyer, yeah, his parents are dead, but he seems to be on the straight path as far as avenging them goes, and he'll probably set Kate right. Maybe, as a cop on her side, he can pull some strings to get her story told. Remember she kept saying she wasn't a murderer. She looks at the event as necessary because she saved her mom from abuse. And Lapidus, yeah, you nailed that one, Boris. That was the best line of your analysis. Love Boat..ha ha!
I really think Desmond is the key to the whole plot. At some point, the on and off island stories are going to have to converge. Which means that all the characters would have to re-live their lives without Jacob's influence... But Jacob died far after their childhoods... hmmmmm... that must mean that something will happen that causes them to all jump back in time and live their lives without the island even in existence.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the off island story is actually the end of it all. They all kill the man in black and the island along with him and jump back in time (somehow via Desmond) to all meet again on oceanic 815 and become friends from another lifetime...
But what about Daniel Faraday's (or should I say Daniel Widmore's) mom and Widmore's now wife Eloise Hawking?? Daniel was onto something in a previous episode that he shared with Desmond, and Eloise said something like "You're not ready to know the truth" or something like that... What does Eloise know? Were they all brain-washed or something? Is the alternate universe really the same universe but in the future AFTER they get off the island? Why do they all "remember" each other? Or was it the nuclear blast that created a new "string" as Daniel explained in season 5 when he said that time was like a string and that you could only move up and down not create a new string that branches off of it... but then he also said he was wrong and that the nuclear blast could alter the time line (or something like that).
Either way I truly believe that the on and off island stories will have to converge at some point. Likely in the final episode. HOW is the question I still can't answer...
Im be annoyed for awhile now about so many characters being killed off. It seems if the writers cant wrap up a story line or want to bring in some random character for a short spell, they just kill them off.(the passengers on the 2nd flight, echo, shannon, boone,the canadian from season 1, anna,ethan, libby, rosseau, the others,sun, jin etc etc
ReplyDeleteCould SUn and Jin's daughter be the next jacob? She shares their name.
Boris you said that Locke has to be evil but I'm wondering if he really is the "good" one. What if he has to kill everyone on the island in order for them to remain in the alternate universe where everyone is better off. I think the way the writers are making it seem that he is so evil really means that he is good. I agree with the person who wrote that Kate may not even be a murderer at all or that even if she was she was protecting her mother so she would be better off too. I still don't get how Sayid was "changed" like Claire and how that fit into the story if he died being regular Sayid and died saving everyone elses life.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great episode... It would seem that the flash sideways really isn't just a 'what if' but some kind of simultaneously ocurring timeline. Is the answer then, to bring all of the sideways characters to the island (on an Ajira flight)? Maybe Jack will still be able to 'save' everyone, by allowing them to choose to stay with him on the island, or continue their lives in the sideways universe?
ReplyDeleteI believe also that Desmond's ability to survive electromagnetism is the key to killing smoke Locke. They're going to have to somehow trap Locke with Desmond, and Desmond is going to have use some kind of device that Widmore has to kill him. Desmond must somehow be protected by the 'law' of the island, or Locke would've killed him himself.
Right from the beginning of this episode, I knew that Jack would most likely be the one. His transition from a man of science to a man of faith is complete, and I think there is no truer believer than a non-believer convert. I loved the scene on the sub with the time bomb- that's where Jack's final transformation took place.
I think Lapides is probably dead, but since they didn't show his body in the sub, you never know.
I wonder what makes Kate a non-candidate now. Most of the other candidates had to die to get their names crossed off.
To the people who wonder why, without Jacob, most people's lives are better, well its because this is a classic good vs evil type story, and even further, it's like a god vs devil story. Those who keep faith and do not give in to temptation walk the difficult path (to test and strengthen their faith) and are ultimately rewarded for it. Those who give in to temptation are rewarded quickly, but ultimatelly suffer because of it. As much as I HATE to draw this paralell, look at most of the followers of god in the old testament- they ALL suffered. God wanted Abraham to sacrafice his son to prove his faith, Lot lost his wife while fleeing Soddom, hell- the entirety of the jewish people believe that they are to suffer in life in order to be exhalted in death. Furthermore, god and the devil never have it out between each other, they are forced to manipulate people to fight their fights for them, without either of them being able to directly interfere. Sound familiar?
ANYWAY, I am excited to see how the man in black becomes the smoke monster, and how the whole thigs comes together.
I agree with "Anonymous" from May 5th. Even though Sun & Jin were getting annoying, I don't think their storyline is pointless.
ReplyDeleteI bet their child (Jacob touched both Sun & Jin simultaneously)is important & I further suspect that Widmore has her on the island as we speak!