LOST The Candidate, first thoughts

Happy Star Wars Day!

As I'm sure that you're aware, Star Wars is a major influence on LOST, including tons of references throughout the series (Some Like it Hoth for instance).

Since it is May the Fourth (be with you), I'll sprinkle some Star Wars references throughout the post...

THESE AREN'T THE DROIDS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR

I'm starting to think that Desmond isn't attempting to wake the LOSTies up to the original timeline as I originally thought. Like Esau was attempting to do on the Island, I think Desmond in the LA X timeline is attempting to get everyone together. That is what he accomplished with running over Locke in the car. As a bonus, he also opened Jack's eyes (whoa, flash back to the opening shot of the series, creepy) to the weird interconnectedness of Flight 815. Had Jack just met Locke on the plane and then operated on him, not a huge coincidence, but meeting Locke and having to operate on him led him to Bernard who was also on the plane. Then he discovers the sister, that he didn't even know he had.... (at least they never kissed, even for luck), was also on that plane. Jack is suddenly much more willing to listen to something crazy, which I'm sure he will hear when he meets Desmond, than he would have been otherwise, whether he has been woken up to the other reality or not.

And as we all know, it is hard to see other realities, it is like looking into the future. "Difficult to see. Always in motion the future is."

So I don't think that it is as important that the LA X timeline LOSTies are fully awakened to the other reality. It is more important that they are together and awakened to the connections that they share.

Speaking of Jack, it was a great moment when he released his friends from the cage, although it would have been awesome if Kate had said, "Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?"

I AM YOUR FATHER

Anthony Cooper.

Whereas in the original timeline it is Anthony Cooper that causes Locke to be paralyzed, in the LA X timeline, it is Locke's fault and his father is brain dead because of it.

I really think Locke will play an important role in finishing off whatever needs to happen in the LA X timeline and save everyone in the Island timeline.

The understanding of who Anthony Cooper was and what he did to him in the original timeline will probably give Locke the courage he needs to allow Jack to help him. Or for Locke to help Jack do whatever Desmond needs him to do.

Despite the fact that Locke and his father appear to have a healthier relationship in the LA X timeline, remember that Sawyer is still looking for the man who caused his father to kill his mother and himself and as in the original timeline, that person was Anthony Cooper.


I'VE GOT A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS

Jin and Sun stole the show with their emotional Island ending. I knew that there was no way that Jin would leave Sun again, and I am completely okay with how their story ended on Island, and anyway, we saw Jin taking Sun flowers in the Sideways timeline, so we haven't seen the end of them yet, I suppose.

I knew, however, that when the show reunited them before the finale, that we were going to be losing them soon. Wish I wasn't right, but damn, the show did their death well. Very emotional.


IT'S A TRAP!

All those that wanted to argue against Jacob being the good guy and the Locke-less Monster being the bad guy, I will now accept the admission that you were wrong. Esau couldn't kill them himself, it would have been against the rules, but like he did with Jacob, he could manipulate others into doing his dirty work for him, in this case, the LOSTies themselves.

However, Sayid sacrificed himself to save the others...


I FEEL THE CONFLICT WITHIN YOU. LET GO OF YOUR HATE

So, apparently there is hope for Creepy Claire yet, since Sayid had his Vader redemption moment (Luke: I've got to save you! Anakin: You already have, Luke. You were right. You were right about me. Tell your sister, you were right.) I'm sure that Jack will realize that this means he can tell his sister and save her as well.


THAT BOY IS OUR LAST HOPE

The show was entitled The Candidate, and I think that it is now pretty clear that Jack is the one that is meant to take Jacob's place. At least it seems that that is what Desmond told Sayid, which led Sayid to this redemptive situation. And I think that Desmond somehow is aware of exactly what is going on and what needs to be done to fix the situation created when Esau killed Jacob.

Of course, when the above bold quote was told to Yoda, Yoda replied "No. There is another." So, I suppose there could still be a twist to come there.

Until Next Time, you can tell we're getting to the end with the very emotional deaths of Jin and Sun and Sayid. I think that somehow Frank is going to make it to shore safely. After all, if Jack decides to stay and become the new Jacob, everyone else who survives the next few weeks will be able to fly away safely, and they'll need a pilot to get them there. The Island isn't done with you yet, Frank Lapidus. The Force is strong with this one. May the 4th be with you... always...

Josh Man

LOST Lighthouse, first thoughts

"Someone is coming to the Island, I need you to help them find it."

In case you haven't noticed,this season is following a very similar pattern with the first season. We have the Jack-centric two part opener, followed by a Kate is a fugitive episode, followed by a Locke in a wheelchair wanting to go on a Walkabout episode, that could describe either the first season or this, the last season.

The fifth episode/hour of season one was called White Rabbit, and it was the episode where Dr. Jack sees his dead father walking around on the Island and he follows him, to find the caves, the Adam and Eve skeletons, and the water that would save their lives. He also found his father's empty casket which he proceeded to smash up.

All of that is touched on in this episode.

White Rabbit of course refers to a character from Lewis Carrol's Alice books, and in this episode, Jack reminisces about reading Lewis Carrol to David, which is interesting, because he also read that to Aaron, which caused Kate to talk about what a great dad Jack is. This is shown throughout the LA X timeline as he interacts with David as well as discussed by Jack and Hurley on their Season 1-esque trek through the jungle to yet another new feature on the Island. More on it later.

That episode in Season One gave us our first look at an Infected by the Darkness person, Christian Shephard. Now we get some up close and personal with another, Claire Littleton, Christian's daughter, Jack's sister, Aaron's mother. She is giving a serious Rousseau vibe. Like Sayid (and Christian for that matter) Claire died and was taken over by this infection. (Making her line, "If there's one thing that will kill you out here, it's infection," nice LOSTian irony). Claire was inside one of the barracks in New Otherton that was blown up by Krazy Keamy and the mercenary tribe. Sawyer dug out what appeared to be an alive Claire, but slowly it became clear that something was different if not wrong with her. If you recall, she actually left Aaron behind to go with Christian, which makes it interesting that she is on such a search for him now. Before she left with Christian, Miles seemed very interested in her, and as someone who speaks with the dead, I'm sure his spidey-sense (or whatever the ghost-whisperer version of that is) was going crazy.

So, it isn't much of a surprise for us to hear a couple of episodes ago that Claire is infected like Sayid (and Christian), and ultimately it isn't much of a surprise that we get to learn a little more about her since this episode is connected to the episode we first saw a dead man walking.

Finally, speaking about Claire, it seems that she doesn't see Smokey as Locke like everyone else does, but perhaps sees him as he is.

Moving on to the other dimension, this episode, along with The Substitute, allows us an in your face look at some of the changes in the LA X dimension. Jack has been married, like in the Island timeline, and is now divorced, like in the Island timeline, but here he has a teenage son, named David. David, of course, is an important part of the Hebrew Bible (also referred to as the Old Testament by us Christians) and also important to the lineage of Jesus Christ. David, before becoming king was a shepherd. Jesus also often used shepherd imagery. In LOST, David and Christian both have the last name of Shephard, and both have important biblical names. You could also make the argument that the name Jack fits into this as well, since Jack can be a nickname for someone named John, and Jesus' cousin, who foretold his coming and his importance was named John (and referred to as John the Baptist). Okay, Bible lesson over for this week.

Back to the timeline differentials, last week, Locke and Helen were still together, and more importantly, Locke and his father were not estranged.

Despite the differences, the timelines still appear to be bleeding together at least in the LA X timeline. Jack examines his scar from having his appendix out, which occurred in the Island timeline in season 4 in the episode Something Nice Back Home, but apparently occurred when he was 7 or 8 in the LA X timeline. While he remembers that this surgery took place as a child, the reality of that scar and the surgery preformed by Juliet is tickling at his brain.

It is interesting that in the LA X timeline, Dogen, who has a child of his own, is at the same recital that David is at. Apparently Dogen and Jack are as connected as any of the other LOSTies.

Finally, the Lighthouse. We finally know how Jacob was able to keep an eye on his candidates, and perhaps even discover by looking in the mirror who those candidates are (and what number they correspond to). The name connected to 108, the number that they were supposed to turn the dial to, by the way is Wallace, and (sadly since that is the last name of my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew although perhaps being a candidate isn't the best thing ever) was crossed out. We haven't yet been introduced to anyone on the show with the name of Wallace.

Also of note are the crossed out names on 109, Friendly, oh how we miss you Tom Friendly, 117, Linus, being everybody's favorite bad guy Benry, and 124, Dawson, either Michael or Walt.

Jacob certainly didn't seem too dismayed that Jack destroyed the lighthouse, but then I guess Jacob doesn't really have any use for it anymore anyway.

Until Next Time, next week's episode is called Sundown, which leads one to believe it will be Sun-centric. This would also make sense since the episode after White Rabbit was a Sun-centric episode entitled House of the Rising Sun. I wonder if this will continue the week after, since that episode was a Charlie-centric one and he is dead on Island. Can't wait to find out!

LOST Something Nice Back Home, first thoughts

Very mixed bag episode.

The flash forwards stuff was awesome, and the Island stuff not involving Dr. Jack was amazing as well, but the Dr. Jack Island story line seemed beyond pointless.

I mean, after the flash forward phenomena, any "danger" the Oceanic 6 face isn't going to be very suspenseful.

Not only that, but we're in the midst of a Dr. Jack flashforward in the very episode.  We know that he's going to be fine in the future, because we're seeing it before he ever goes under the knife.

Very poorly plotted to be the main Island storyline.

It did give Rose the opportunity to comment on how the Island was making Dr. Jack sick just when they needed him the most, but that was really the only way that the impact of Dr. Jack's health on the survivors was looked at at all.  I think that should have been the point, how their leader getting sick was effecting the other LOSTies.  The actual surgery and such should have been greatly downplayed and the effect said surgery was having on everyone else should have been the focus.

If that had been the case, this would have gone from a so-so episode to one of the best, because everything else in the episode was brilliant.

Let's stay on the Island, but go to the other side where Sawyer was leading Claire, Aaron, and Miles back to the beach.

There definitely seems to be some Sawyer/Claire romantic foreshadowing going on.  Sawyer got all jealous when Miles watches Claire from a distance and imposed a restraining order on him, which caused Miles to do nothing when Claire up and left their camp site to follow none other then Christian Shephard, her and Dr. Jack's father.

Do you all remember my prediction as to why Dr. Jack seemed to be wary of hanging with Aaron in the Kate episode Eggtown?

I said that I thought Sawyer and Claire would see Christian, Claire would say "That's my dad" and Sawyer would say, "That's Dr. Jack's dad" and then Dr. Jack and Claire would know that they were brother and sister.

Well, it looks like I might have been pretty close.  If Sawyer goes after Claire and finds her with Christian, then realization happens, but another possibility is that Miles sees Christian somewhere and tells Sawyer (and or Dr. Jack) that it is Claire's father, causing realization to happen.  Either way, by the flash forward future, Dr. Jack knows, because he says to Kate, "You're not even related to him," which implies that he himself is.

Apparently, the mercenary baddies escaped Smokey more or less intact, giving us the opportunity to know that we can at least trust Frank the pilot, as he protected our merry little band from the Freighter Mercenaries.

I'm beginning to think that the four on the Island (C.S. Lewis, Faraday, Miles, and Frank) and Michael on the boat are the only Freighties that we can trust.

Alright, let's head to the future.

A whole lot was given to us in this flash forward.

We got to see how Dr. Jack goes from happy Island survivor to bearded, suicidal, drug addicted Dr. Jack.

We know now why drunk (and drugged up) Dr. Jack told the doctor to go upstairs and fetch his father in last season's finale, because by that point he'll probably have had quite a few conversations with Christian.  As of yet, Dr. Daddy has only gotten to say "Hello, Jack," but I'm sure it won't be long before we get to "You've got to go back to the Island, Jack".  (Leading to Dr. Jack's plaintive cry, "We've got to go back!" from last year's season finale.)

It's nice to know that Charlie is still visiting Hurley.

Okay, let's talk about the phone call that got Dr. Jack all riled up.  I have no doubt that Kate was talking to Cassidy, Sawyer's ex and the mother of his child.  If you'll recall, he got a large amount of money while in prison working on a con with the warden and used that money to set up a bank account for his daughter Clementine.  Kate and Cassidy already know each other as well.  I think that Sawyer wanted Kate to check on his daughter and make sure that Cassidy and Clementine were doing well and were provided for and Kate is honoring that request.

You know Sawyer would never want Dr. Jack knowing that he was a concerned father.  Can you imagine what that would do to his reputation?

Anyway, it is nice to know that Sawyer stuck on the Island still fraks with the Dr. Jake/Kate relationship.  Even displaced in time and space, this love triangle stays strong.

Did you notice what Dr. Jack said about Sawyer though?  He said that our favorite con man chose to stay behind, chose.  Very interesting.

Until Next Time, I wish that the "Dr. Jack has surgery" storyline hadn't dominated the episode, because then this episode would have been brilliant.