LOST: The End - Part Three
Part Three: JACK and LOCKE.
My excitement for their final scenes was off the charts. I knew that Flocke would be killed by Jack and I knew that the injuries that Jack suffered during the battle would kill him (and I don’t do spoilers, I just felt it). Also, in the Alt, as set up by the episode previous to the Finale, I couldn’t wait for Jack to perform John’s surgery, and what could possibly go on during their post-surgical conversation.
The Island - ‘You’re not John Locke’
JACK: You're not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you're nothing like him. Turns out he was right about most everything. I just wish I could've told him that while he was still alive.
LOCKE: He wasn't right about anything, Jack. And when this island drops into the ocean, and you drop with it, you're finally gonna realize that.
JACK: Well, we'll just have to see which one of us is right, then.
I absolutely LOVE THIS. It's like through JACK, John Locke was fighting his worst enemy: the person who wants to destroy his special place and Jack just won’t let it happen. AHH. Even more than Jack/Sawyer and Jack/Sayid, I always wanted to see Jack/Locke work things out. Even though John hasn’t been on the Island for two seasons, but he’s still there, through Jack. Through his mission to protect what John once described as ‘beautiful’, Jack honors him by not leaving, by not giving up, by kicking Flocke off that cliff. It’s absolutely incredible.
While John is gone, his body lay buried on the Island, as he fought to the point of committing suicide to protect the Island, much like Jack’s body lay in the bamboo field, staggered breaths away from his final moments. There’s a wonderful symmetry to the fact that both Jack and Locke died to save the Island. Enemies in the beginning, brothers-in-arms by the very end.
Now, moving on to Flocke, the guy that Jack has to chase across the Island because John Locke WAS right, I was so happy to see Jack find him, engage in some EPIC battle with the stormy backdrop of a crumbling Island (“THIS. IS. SPARTA!!!” I couldn’t help it!) to complete the ‘The End of the World is Near”-type feel, as Jack drop-kicks him off the side of that cliff.
Do I need to go on? Naw. It was EPIC. The whole thing. Jack Pwns Flocke. Good trumps Evil. The End.
The Afterlife - ‘Thank you, Doctor’
I’m so very happy that Locke changed his mind and decided that walking again was important to him, even when he said that it wasn’t. Jack’s happiness at the change of heart was also heartwarming to watch. All the peace that Jack would ever need would be to give this man his legs. Unbelievable.
The moment that Locke receives his Island flashes, coupling with Jack having his first bout of memories, I knew that Locke would believe it at face-value and that Jack would resist it with all he had. For some reason, this scene reminded me of their tense moment in The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham, probably because of the fact that not only are they in the same physical positions (Jack at the door, Locke in the hospital bed), but the same incredible dynamic in is play: Locke pushes, Jack pulls.
When Locke said, “You don’t have a son” I could tell that it cut Jack like a knife through the heart. Even after that, Jack goes to concert, searching for David, whom I wanted to be real in spite of the fact that everything that WAS real was finally catching up to everything that wasn’t.
The moment in the church, when they smile and engage each other in friendly communion, I just couldn’t help but have flashes of my own: the tension that amounted due to Boone’s death, the Hatch, the Button, the freighter, the return to the Island, and Jack FINALLY coming to an understanding about what John was talking about and relying on that faith to fuel his own…it was perfect.
Thank you Jack and Locke for the infamous showdowns and for being beyond it all in the end.
~*~*~*~*~
Next up: The Shephard's Flock (Supporting Couples and More!)