LOST: The Candidate
Spoiler Alert: How can this be?! People are dying and it’s starting to sink in that this show is coming to an end. I don’t like it, not one bit. However, I loved this episode, I was totally crying, I’ll admit it. In the alt world, we have Locke coming out of surgery with Jack as his doctor and Jack is trying to persuade Locke to do an elective surgery that may make him walk again. Locke doesn’t want the surgery though, he wants to punish himself for what he did to his Dad. I knew that the reason for him being in a wheelchair had to be different this time, because when he and Helen were planning their wedding, they had mentioned his Dad attending and that hinted that they had a good relationship, but they haven’t said much else, until now.
Pretty ironic that his injured himself and his Dad from crashing a plane. The significance and symbolism is becoming so great in the show, that you almost have to just throw it out the window and enjoy the episode like a normal person, almost. While Jack is visiting with Locke, Claire shows up and wants help trying to figure out why their Dad had left a jewelry box to her. A box that was playing the favorite song of the show, Catch a Falling Star. There was a significant moment of Claire and Jack seeing their reflection in the mirror and I believe Crazy Claire has this box with her now on the island. I think I remember her having it in her little hut where Jin was taken to have his leg fixed. Jack also invited Claire to stay with him, instead of the motel.
Locke was also starting to remember this other world. As Jack watched him sleep, creepy, Locke started mumbling things like: push the button, and I wish you had believed me. There was no Desmond present, but his work was done with Locke. There was also a weird encounter with Jack and Bernard as they realized that they both flew home on flight 815. Jack also knows that Locke was on the flight and now Claire. Finally, Jack is becoming important again.
Now on the island, stuff got crazy. I am using all of my strength not to use an exclamation after everything. Jack had passed out after the Widmore bombing from two weeks ago and when he woke up, he was on Hydra Island where Sayid and Locke had taken him. They were planning on going to release all the others from the captivity that Widmore had put them in. Locke did his smokey trick and wiped out the guards like they were paper cut outs of people. Jack then helped them out of the cages. The three scariest words to ever come out of Jack’s mouth were, “I’m with him.” Speaking of Locke of course, I couldn’t believe, first that he would do anything with John Locke, and certainly not Locke the monster.
The group quickly make their way to the plane where Locke already was and he had discovered C4 hidden in the plane and deemed it unsafe and changed the plans to head to the submarine instead. It was way too eerie that they seemed to jump on the sub with no problem. Even when they did start showing up and shooting at them, Locke just shot them all down with a single bullet to the head anyway. Sawyer had worked a plan with Jack to not let Locke onto the sub. Jack had also made the decision not to go with them. He feels that he belongs on the island now. Can you say candidate?
However, things did not go according to plan. Kate got shot, and I thought she was a goner for sure. It was just a flesh wound to the shoulder though. Jack helped Kate back on the sub and Sawyer decided to take off without Locke and Claire. Which also meant that Jack was leaving, or was he? When he opened his backpack, he found that C4 from the plane had been set to detonate in about three minutes. Sayid thought that the bomb could be stopped if you pulled the wires out simultaneously, but Jack thought that it wouldn’t detonate. He is finally starting to figure things out. He told everyone that maybe Locke can’t kill us, he’s not allowed to, but he’s hoping that we kill each other, then he would be able to leave the island. So if this correlates with Jacob, then that might explain a few things. MiB only wants to kill Jacob and “go home” but he is not allowed to kill him. If he could figure out how to get someone else to kill him, aka Ben Linus, then he could be free. But maybe because he had all these candidates to take over for him, in a way, Jacob is not dead yet. This might explain why he has seen him in the jungle. So, if he can kill all the candidates and still follow the rules of the game, then he wins and can be free, thereby killing everything that ever existed.
So, here is where is started getting really upsetting. The bomb is ticking away and Sawyer doesn’t believe Jack and pulls the wires out which stops the time, for a moment. Then it starts ticking really fast and Sayid makes a sacrifice that I never saw coming. Before he runs to the back of the sub with the bomb, never to be seen again, he tells Jack where Desmond is (I knew he didn’t kill him) says that he will need him to beat Locke and that Jack will be the candidate! So that’s it? Jack is the candidate? Does anyone else even matter now? It kind of explains how the bomb going off seemed to injure everyone in some way, except Jack. I know, Hurley didn’t seem to be hurt either, but I’m trying to make a point.
When the bomb explodes, Lapidus is the first to go, I think. The boat collapses in, spilling water into the sub at rapid speeds which knocks him over. We don’t see him again, so I am assuming that was the end of Lapidus. Jack convinces Hurley to leave and take Kate to the surface, which they do. Jack and Sawyer try desperately to help Jin remove some heavy equipment that landed on Sun during the explosion. During this, something falls on Sawyer’s head and knocks him out. Now Jack has to make a choice to save Sawyer, or stay to help Jin with Sun. Jin convinces Jack to go and he does. The next part had me balling. I knew he wouldn’t leave her, they have been apart for way too long. Why would one of them leave the other? She is never freed from the boat and Jin drowns with her. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They had both been through so much, and now their daughter would have no parents.
When the four survivors reached the beach, Sawyer was still out, but breathing and when they realized what had happened, they all broke down and cried. A reason well worth crying for, and it was probably long over due. Locke was still standing on the dock with Claire and he announced that the sub had sank. Claire became worried and asked if they are all dead. He said, “not all of them.” He then started heading back and she asked what he was going to do, and he replied, “finish what I started.”
What an excellent episode. The emotions ran high, and so did the action. It’s still strange that they are this close to the end and there are still so many mysteries left to be unveiled. I think we are pretty sure that MiB just wants to kill all the candidates. Still not sure about the motives of Widmore, but I want to believe that they are good. I am still feeling the Jacob vibe from Desmond, since he is still alive. I am really most curious though, of how the two worlds will collide. There could be some strange rupture in time which would let everyone still be alive and happy. I am probably just wishing, but I guess we will have to keep watching. Until next week.
I give The Candidate 5 “submarines” out of 5
by Angela Davis
ALSO: for those in the Kansas City area, Lost In Reviews is hosting a free screening of the two hour finale of LOST at the new Studio Movie Grill, located in the Zona Rosa area. Click here for more information and to reserve your seat!
