Recap of Lost: "The Candidate"
Because I watched it twice last night - partly because I'm a tv masochist, and partly because that's the way networks in my country roll. And I feel that I should state right now that my iTunes playlist is on shuffle as I write this, and Madonna's "Holiday" is probably the least appropriate accompaniment I can think of to this episode.
Right. So it's been so long since the last episode I've kind of forgotten what happened - oh right, explosions and whatnot. Did anyone notice where Ben got to? Did he die and I just missed it? Whatever, he doesn't show for this episode, so let's forget him for now.
So Jack wakes the hell up only to find himself in an outrigger, not dead, and accompanied by Evil!Sayid (who may or may not still be evil; more on that later). Everyone else who was with Sayid (including Ben? I seriously can't remember, for shiz) has scattered into the jungle. Sayid gives him the four-one-one on the others - captured by Widmore, in terrible danger, need saving, and all of that. He proposes they and Locke go get their dumb asses. Jack looks perturbed by all the evil, but agrees. He still doesn't want to leave the island, but he'll help his dumbshit friends go home.
Oh, actually, let's get all the flash-sideways stuff out of the way first, because it's not as gutwrenching interesting as the island stuff. So Doctor Jack has repaired Locke's dural sac (hehehe ... sac) after the car accident, but wants to know why Locke doesn't want Jack to fix his paraplegia - Locke is a "candidate" (hey!) for an operation that might do just that. He goes to see the dentist who fixed Locke's teeth three years ago (right after he became crippled) hoping for some answers. It's Bernard! Hi Bernard! He won't mess with doctor-patient privilege, but after finding out he and Jack were both on flight 815, Bernard tells Jack to go see some dude called ... wait for it ... Anthony Cooper. Jack is amazed Bernard still remembers all this stuff about a patient from three years back, but Bernard is all "pshaw, of course I do!" I think there's some kind of reverse-parallel whatever going on here - Sideways Bernard cares a great deal about the past, while Island Bernard couldn't give a flying fish biscuit about the future, or something. Whatever, I'm sure it's significant.
Anyhoo, Jack goes to see Anthony Cooper at his nursing home, is briefly held up by Helen who is all "GTFO Jack, John doesn't want you to de-cripp-ify him". Jack doesn't get why, so Helen lets him see Anthony ... and Anthony is a vegetable. It's actually pretty sad, but given what we know about NotSideways!Anthony, I don't know how much sympathy we have.
Jack goes to see Locke in hospital, he's asleep and mumbling some pretty island-sounding stuff. Jack is about to be all WTF, but notices Claire standing in the hall (Jin also strides past in the background carrying flowers - were they for Sun in flash sideways? I don't even know, y'all - but we don't really pay attention to him). Claire was looking for him - Jack had to bail on the will reading last episode, but Claire was given a wooden music box and told that Christian really wanted her to have it. She doesn't get the significance, and is hoping Jack does. The music box plays "Catch A Falling Star" - what else? - and there are some Meaningful reflection shots of Jack and Claire in its mirror. Because, island, and lighthouse, and reflections, and parallels, and all that. Jack finds out Claire was on 815 too, but doesn't tell her he was. He's wigged. He doesn't know what the music box is all about, but he thinks Claire should stay with him instead of in a motel, because they're not strangers, they're family. Aw. He's got years worth of "you're my little sister, I must protect you and fix everything" to make up for.
Locke is leaving the hospital, and runs into Jack. He tells Jack that the reason he wants to stay chairbound is that he totes deserves it - he's the cause of his dad's vegetation, because he was piloting the plane that crashed with the two of them in it. His guilt issues, let me show you them. Jack gives him a "you must let go and forgive yourself" type of speech, and I'm not sure where we really landed on that, but that's the end of Sideways now.
Islandtime. Widmore's goons (along with that dude ... you know, that guy? What's he been in? For serious, I must know) are blathering about the pylons or something, and want to lock the Lostaways in the Hydra cages. Sawyer Does Not Want. There's some slight scuffling about who has the guns, will Widmore really kill Kate, yeah I guess he would, names and lists and candidates, Sawyer gets a rifle to the gut, everybody into your damn cages. This situations sucks quite a bit, but there's potential for Kate to reach the keys when Sawyer knocks out That Guy. She's almost popping her shoulder out trying to reach the damn things, and Lapidus is for some reason kicking the cage bars (oh, trying to edge the door further out so she can reach? IDK), but OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE, IT'S JACK SHEPARD! He grabs the keys and frees them all, we run off into the jungle. Sayid appears, everyone freaks the hell out and pulls guns on him, but Jack tells us all to CTFD (calm the fuck down), so it's all okay. Hi-ho Ajira plane, away!
Locke is hanging out at the Ajira plane, breaking necks and walking through bullets like you do when there's downtime. He steals a dudes watch, and I don't know WTF that's about - some kind of statement about time on the island or something? Whatevs. He snoops around the plane and finds a buttload of C4 ("Fuck me!" "... Oh darn." "Harry, there's enough C4 in this thing to put a hole in the world!" ... sorry, I couldn't help that). Losties turn up and want to know why all the corpses. Locke shows them the C4, suggests they all sub it instead. Sawyer's like, dude, I'm sayin'. He also thanks Locke for saving their asses yet again and says he was wrong about him. This sounds unusually contrite for Sawyer, so I'm not sure I believe his sincerity, but no-one gives any indication they agree with me, so whatever. Claire starts to apologise to Locke for hanging with the Lostaways again, but Locke tells her it's okay in that creepy parental "I'm disappointed in your behaviour but not in you" voice. They all head for the submarine, Sawyer pulls Jack aside. He still doesn't trust Fake Locke after all. He understands that Jack doesn't want to leave the island, but will he do Sawyer one last solid and throw that fool Smoke!Locke NotMonster into the drink? Yes, he totally will.
A quick note on Sayid and Claire - are they not evil anymore? Did their evil dissipate when they were separated from Locke? Did I miss something here? Just seems like everyone started trusting them again a little too quickly. I mean, they seem less evil, but IDK? Also, there was a recent Ausiello spoiler about a new romance brewing among the lostaways, but Aus didn't give any hints because he thought there was no point seeing as we'd never see this one coming in a million years anyway. My money was on Sayid and Claire, like as an Evil Sex Buddy kind of thing, and also a deeper when-we-were-still-good-our-island-loves-were-taken-from-us-woe kind of thing, just to remind us that Shannon and Charlie actually existed at some stage. I also thought I saw them holding hands at one point, but maybe that was just my crappy little tv screen and the fact that I was playing with my iPod rather than paying actual attention? I'm not sure. Anyway, for reasons I'll explain later, my guess is now Sawyer and Claire, but we'll get to that. The important thing right now is that their evil is uncertain, but Claire's hair is still matted and gnarly looking. Girlfriend needs a brush.
Submarine. It's looking very action movie right now. We're all crouched down listening to Sawyer fill us in on the battle plan. Just because there are no visible Widmorites doesn't mean they aren't there, and btw, there could be some on the sub. Sawyer will go first, along with Jin, Sun, Hurley and Lapidus. The rest of them will follow, and will Jack and Locke cover us *significant look*? I think I see Sawyer's battle plan here - he wants to take his best buddies (Jin and Hurley) with him so he can protect them, and he knows Jin won't leave Sun. He wants Lapidus with them for A) his tech skills and B) his near-red-shirtness - after all, if they do go down in a blaze of gunfire, perhaps Lapidus will get shot instead of someone else. He wants Kate to hang back for the same reason - if Sawyer's group get killed, Kate might be able to save herself, or Jack might be able to save her. Jack doesn't want to go with them anyway, Sawyer doesn't want Locke with them, and he really couldn't give too much of a fuck about Claire or Sayid. I think. Anyway, good plan in theory.
Sawyer et al get to the sub without too much drama, so the rest of them book it too ( I would like to point out that Locke is holding backpacks and gives one to Jack. You may need this later). Hurley, Lapidus, Sawyer, Jin and Sun are in the sub. Lapidus clocks a crewmember and says "nothin' personal". Hee. Sawyer threatens the captain. Awesome, it looks like we're going home. Oh, don't get excited. Of course we're not. Because suddenly, gunfire from above. Sawyer looks up, wondering how in the fuck the rest of them could screw up such simple instructions as "get in the mofoing sub, for srs". Above decks, everyone is shooting everyone else and it's kind of a clusterfuck. Kate is hit. Jack has just knocked Locke in the water as per Sawyer's request, but now he see Kate, and realises this is not of the good. Sayid and Claire are firing on everyone. Claire is a kick ass shot. I'm just sayin'. Jack hollers at them to get in the sub. Sayid complies, helping get Kate down there too. Inside the sub, Jack barks at Hurley to get a first aid kit. Sawyer asks Sayid who's still up there, Sayid replies that Claire is still upstairs getting her GI Jane on. Sawyer goes up and tries to get her to come into the sub, but she's really feeling that gun right now, and holy fuck here's Locke getting out of the water and killing the rest of the Widmorites. He looks like he's going for the sub now too, so Sawyer doesn't have time to wait for Claire. He shuts the door, tells Lapidus over the radio to tell the captain to take this big motherfucker down, and we're away.
Claire sees that they're abandoning her again, and she's almightily pissed, but Locke grabs her and is all "trust me, you don't want to be on that sub". She looks like she kind of does, but I guess Locke is the expert on these things.
On the sub, Kate is gasping in that breathless I've-just-been-shot-and-it-sucks way that they can't leave Claire, but there's really not much time to worry about that right now, because Kates shoulder is pissing blood and Hurley can't find the first aid kit. Jack tells Jin to check his bag (the one Locke gave him ... yeah, that's right!) for a shirt he can use to compress the bleeding. Jin pulls out a big dirty bomb and everyone suddenly wonders what would have been so wrong with just hanging out on the beach today.
MaybeEvil!Sayid is being his usual techy self and checking out the bomb. He's pretty sure that if the two wires are pulled out at the same time, the bomb will be disarmed, but pretty sure and sure sure are two very different things when there's a bomb on a submarine, and Jack Does Not Want. Sawyer, however, Does Want, so they fight about whether to do it or not. Make a decision here jackasses, because you have less than four minutes until we're all singing a much different tune. Jack thinks there's some scary island forces at work, and that Fake Locke isn't actually allowed to kill them all himself, so he's engineered this whole shebang so that they kill each other and do his dirty work for him. Therefore, if Sawyer fucks with the bomb they all die, but if he leaves it the hell alone, the timer will run out and nothing will happen. That sounds as shady to Sawyer as it does to me, so he pulls the wires out. Everyone flinches, but nothing happens, because the timer has stopped! Yay Sawyer! Sawyer is a fucking hero! Well ... for about six seconds, because then the timer starts up again, and in speed-mo. Sawyer is a fucking moron, evidently.
Sayid not-evils to Jack that once they get back on land, he'll need to go and find Desmond, because Fake Locke wants Des dead, and therefore he must be mega-important, or something. Jack wants to know why Sayid is telling him this, and Sayid says "because it will be you". Then, before anyone can stop him, he grabs the bomb and does a Harry Bolter to the other end of the sub. Kaboom.
Everything is all dark and shaky, there are creepy red warning lights, and it is getting very Titanic up in this bitch. Water is leaking in around a portal, and Lapidus has evidently seen Titanic and knows that leaking subs do not end well. The portal thing crashes inward, and suddenly we're in the midst of a far more aquatic experience than anyone had anticipated this morning. Just for the record, it's at around this point that I lost track of Lapidus, so I'm not sure if we're supposed to assume he died here? Whatever, but I didn't notice him after this point. Everyone else is still alive, except presumably Sayid, who I think we can assume is now spread out across one end of the submarine. Damn.
Main part of the sub, second clusterfuck in twenty minutes. Jack has to get Kate out of here, but Sun's screaming in a really panicky kind of way. My feminist sensibilities are momentarily offended at the concept of the two females being injured and useless to the rescue mission, but Sawyer will join them in a sec, so I'll STFU. Jack tells Hurley to get Kate out, Hurley looks unsure but Jack tells him it will be okay, he'll get the others, and Hurley, You Can Do This. Hurley decides to Do This, so he and Kate GTFO. Sawyer yells for Jack to help him and Jin - some huge fridge-looking thing is pinning Sun against the wall. Seriously, what is that thing? On my craptacular little screen it looked like a refrigerator, but why would a submarine have a refrigerator right in the middle of their important-central-navigation type area? Particularly the kind of white, Fisher-and Paykell type of deal you see in the average kitchen? This is possibly not the thing to focus on.
The three guys are trying to pry this not!fridge of Sun, but just as they succeed, something crashes down from above and knocks out Sawyer. This is a problem, as Sun is still pinned by a pipe or something, and it's even more rigid than the fridge thing. Jin and Sun tell Jack to get Sawyer out, Jack says no, they can all do this together. Jin repeats, no, get Sawyer the hell out, he'll get Sun. Jack agrees, and hands him something (a wrench? IDK. Crappy little screen), says Jin should take it as he can get Sawyer out without it. That sad piano theme is starting to play in the background, and I'm starting to get a This Does Not End Well kind of feeling. Jin says no, Jack should take it, and they suddenly share this horrible understanding-filled glance, because in that instant they know that Sun can't be saved, and Jin won't leave her to die alone, so neither of them will be leaving the sub, and I don't like this show anymore.
Jack leaves, dragging Sawyer with him. Sun now has that terrible look on her face too, and tried telling Jin to leave and save himself. Jin cannot be having with that, and I'm surprised she doesn't pull the whole "Ji Yeon needs at least one of us" line, but it's not like this moment isn't soul destroying enough already. He tells her (in Korean) that he'll never leave her again, then tells her (in English) that he loves her, and suddenly they're the elderly couple in Titanic who lay in their bunk holding onto each other and waiting to die. I'm a fucking mess, y'all.
Cut to outside the sub. The sub is drifting slowly downwards. Cut back inside, it's all quiet - the creepy red light now looks far less urgent, and that devastating piano tune is still playing. Sun and Jin are dead. We see them holding hands, and then Jin's hand slowly falls away from Sun's.
Beach. Jack pulls Sawyer out of the water, starts to revive him. Sawyer is coughing but still out cold. At least we know he's alive. Hurley drags Kate out of the water. She was scared Jack hadn't made it, and they hold each other. Hurley asks if Sawyer is alright, Jack says he was hit pretty hard but he's breathing. Kate asks about Jin and Sun - Jack just shakes his head.
Kate cries. Hurley sobs. I curse this show and my love for it. Jack suddenly has to Not Be Here Right Now and walks down to the water's edge. Over his shoulder we see Hurley and Kate crying while Sawyer lies on the sand. Jack stares off into the distance and he starts to cry too, and I know everyone is always ripping on Jack for crying all the time in this show, but I'm crying too, which means Jack gets a pass and everyone can just STFU.
Cut to Locke, who is apparently psychic smoke. He tells Claire that the sub exploded. Claire is incredulous - "what, you mean they're all dead?" I'm not sure how she feels about that. Locke replies "Not all of them," and Claire's epression is still hard to read - surely the fact that "not all of them" are dead should indicate to her that some of them are, and that this is a bad thing? She's more interested in where Locke is buggering off to.
"To finish what I started."
End credits.
Whoa.
So okay, to quell the tears, here are some things to ponder.
Firstly, my Claire/Sawyer theory. The way I look at it, once Sawyer wakes up, he's going to have some severe guilt issues. He kind of hated himself after he botched up the Marshal's euthanasia, he definitely kind of hated himself for not being able to save Juliet, and he's pretty likely to blame himself for the deaths of Jin, Sun and Sayid (and Lapidus?). I guess it kind of is his fault, depending on how you look at it, but I'm too sad about the whole thing to really be hating on him right now. My point, however, is his guilt is likely to extend to Claire - he didn't know when he closed the sub door that Claire was better off not being with them, so really what he was doing was abandoning her. Again. Because, the first time she disappeared was on Sawyer's watch too. I mean, yeah she's kind of evil now (or is she? GOD I DON'T EVEN KNOW), but it's only because she wanted her baby back. So maybe all this guilt + sadness = new understanding, or something. Maybe. Then again, we only have, like, two episodes left, so I'm not sure what the point would be in going down this road now.
Secondly, my Jin Is Not Really Dead theory. Yeah, you heard me. See, we only saw his hand holding Sun's, or rather, we saw a hand. Maybe it wasn't really him? Or, better yet, maybe he didn't just drift away from her (and yes, show, I See What You Did There, the only way to part them was in death. You bastards.), perhaps he was pulled? And revived just in the knick of time? If this is the case, who could have saved him? My theories:
1. Sayid. Because he didn't really die either. His evilness saved him. His evilness also allowed him to psychically communicate with the Locke Monster and tell him about the explosion. Or maybe it was some kind of super secret island miracle magic that rewarded Sayid for his courageous act and saved his life, allowing him to save Jin. Maybe. I'm not holding out a lot of hope for this one, because with two episodes to go, I think we can assume Sayid is a goner. Ah well, he went out on a high note.
2. Lapidus. Because seriously, where did that guy go?
3. Locke. Could he have teleported himself down there and saved Jin? But why would he do that? Because Jin is a "candidate"? If memory serves, they weren't sure if it was Jin or Sun who was a candidate, so perhaps he either figured it out, or decided that at least saving one was a good idea? Unlikely, seeing as he was the one who planted the bomb. Unless he thought Jack would win and not let Sawyer detonate it? But then why do it at all? Gah. Besides, how could he have left Claire without her noticing?
I think I might be clutching at straws with that one, because Jin and Sun both looked really, really dead. And the sad piano does not lie.
Something else to think about - the whole "candidate" thing. Jack, Sawyer and Hurley are the only remaining possibilities, as far as we know. Being that Jack has been set up as the leader right from the start, is it safe to assume that he's the one who'll be central to the whole thing at the end? And if so, are things about to end badly for superfluous candidtates Sawyer and Hurley? Not to mention non-candidates Kate and Claire. But if Locke can't kill them and they have to kill each other, can we really see Jack pulling the trigger on any of them? I sure as shit can't.
Also, are Rose and Bernard still on the island? Or did they get lost in some space-time-continuum-disruption-flash thingy? IDK. And what happened to Vincent? I hope that cute little guy is okay.
This show make me sad in head.