LOST - 6x16 "What They Died For" - Episode Review
Lemonade, anyone?
Plot summary: Locke carries on with his plan while Jack’s group searches for Desmond.
Written by Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Elizabeth Sarnoff. Directed by Paul A. Edwards.
Due to my wonderful working schedule, I find myself writing this review less than 12 hours before the series finale is scheduled to air. Today, as it has been many times since 2004, is a LOST day, and fittingly, on its last day, I’m thinking about all that’s come before, and all that’s about to be revealed. I’m not terribly anxious (not nearly in the same way I was for, say, BATTLESTAR or THE SHIELD’s finale, or even DEATHY HOLLOWS), but at the same time, its going to be a bit strange, having all the pieces finally in place, with nothing left to puzzle over (aside from the expected twists tonight). LOST has been the great episodic mind game of the last decade, and certainly there was nothing like it (or nothing to replace it, no matter how hard the other networks tried to duplicate it). Its absence will be considerable.
“What They Died For”, the show’s penultimate episode, set the final pieces in play for tonight’s big finale, while providing a solid reminder of what made this show so compelling in the first place: crazy plot movement, great characters, solid acting. It had arguably one of the best Flash Sideways sequences of the year, and cleverly downplayed one of the biggest plot moments of the entire season in Jack’s acceptance of Jacob’s role. And given the frustrating elements of “Across the Sea”, this episode helped alleviate some of my concerns for tonight - after all, I’ve always felt the show functioned best when it wasn’t a complete slave to its mythology, and allowed itself to cut loose with some rollicking adventures of the week (which would often provide said answers at run, and in the most unexpected ways possible).
For instance, I was recently complaining about the lack of Ben/Locke interactions this year (and how it may have contributed to the lesser quality of the season). Their often brilliant tennis matches have always been one of the most rewarding aspects of the show, for both plot and entertainment value); and now with Locke’s newfound power completely upending the dynamic, it’s great to watch Emerson play all the confused, frightened, and awkwardly brave moments. I love how he handled the porch scene this week, almost as a soldier going into a no-win battle, but one determined to go out standing. Thing is, and he’s said it himself before, Ben always has a plan, and I don’t think for a second he’s not conning the Man In Black. Killing Widmore was both a bonus and a necessity in this plan, and entirely understandable given all that’s passed between them. Hopefully Ben will get his redemption and die a noble death, although living might be a suitably appropiate punishment for his sins. That being said, his weird, wonderful AU interlude with Alex and a clean and (no longer insane) Rousseau might bear better fruits in another life...
After a wholly depressing moment on the beach waiting fruitlessly for survivors from the sub explosion two week ago, the remaining Candidates finally got a campfire sitdown with Jacob. While he didn’t blow my mind with any shocking new revelations, what he had to say fit perfectly into the overall mythos, and easily built upon the reveals of “Across The Sea”. The reasons why they were all picked had strong religious undertones, not surprisingly. “I chose you because you were like me,” Jacob stated in the show’s “big” reveal. “You were all alone. You were all looking for something that you couldn’t find out there. I chose you because you needed this place as much as it needed you.” Since we know Jacob was as lost as our O815-ers, it lent the scene a bittersweet pathos: God (the old and the new) is as flawed as the rest of us. I also found it interesting that Jacob took Kate out of consideration because she became a mother; maybe because said attachment would take priority over Island responsibilities.
Finally, in his mad quest to “show something” to the AU O815ers, Desmond’s plan also took full flight, and if we don’t quite understand the end point of it all, damned if it wasn’t fun to watch unfold. The show’s brought us to a nice parallel where our favorite Scot’s going to be the key to both plotlines, and their assumed convergance in the finale. And while a fully aware Hurley was a big plot point, a more subtle one has been the slow progress of Jack’s neck scar (first glimpsed in “LA X”). Does that mean there’s a throat slitting in store for the good doctor?
It’s been a great ride over the years. Looking forward to the final barrel roll tonight…
Other notes:
• Great snark as always by Miles this week (“What’s that, a secret-er room?”). What are the odds of him surviving this week? And if he dies, will he be able to talk to himself?
• Something I’ve wondered about the past few weeks: Jacob can leave the Island, and yet MiB can’t. My questions: (A) Who’s minding the store when he does, and (b) Will Jack be beholden to the same rules, or is he going to get to make up his own, like Jacob did? Also, is he going to be like a kid in the candy store with his new “super powers” this week?
• Once again, by covering up the guest cast names, I was able to preserve the surprise appeareances of Mira Fulan, Tanya Raymonde and Michelle Rodriguez.
• Lots of people on the internet seemed to think that was the end of Alpert. I won’t believe it until I see his body this week; besides, you would think being immortal by Jacob’s touch would specifically preclude death by Smokey.
Episode Grade: B