And Then There Were Four

"The Candidate" was a confusing and sad episode of Lost, but what surprises me most is we've only got four hours left and they still haven't explained that much. And since they're going to spend an hour (or much of it) showing the history of Jacob and MIB, there's even less time than that.

Most of the gang had parts in this show, but its heart, just like the heart of Lost, was the Jack/Locke relationship, in both the Island and the sideways world.

We start with altaLocke waking up post-surgery. Oddly, no eye shot. Don't they have those in altaworld? Jack is there to tell him what happened. He worked on the dural sac rupture among other things--just the first of many callbacks to previous episodes. He also thinks Locke could have his paralysis fixed--he's a "candidate" for a new surgical procedure. Aha. Jack is gung ho, and I must say, I like to see the old gung ho Jack. But Locke, like we saw earlier in the altaworld, doesn't want to be fixed. I think we'll find out more about this.

Helen comes in and thanks the Doc. I think this is the first time we've seen Helen with any Lostie but Locke.

Back to the Island--Hydra Island, actually. Jack has woken up from the mortars, after Sayid (and Locke?) rowed him to the location.

The rest of the gang is being forced into the old bear cages. Widmore's geophysicist thugs aren't much help, but Widdy himself threatens Kate at gunpoint. This is an old Other trick, and it always works on the Losties. Widmore makes clear she's not a candidate, and he only needs to keep them alive. (How did he get this list? Who gave it to him? Jacob? Is he cahoots with MIB?)

Widmore tells Sawyer it's for his own good. I have no idea if this is true. But Widmore certainly knows Flocke is coming, and they've got to do whatever it is they've got to do.

In altaworld Doctor Jack searches for Locke's dentist to find out about how he was hurt (Locke was tight-lipped). In this world, it's a good bet he wasn't pushed out the window, but then how? You can't escape your fate in altaworld. (Maybe it's more a deal with the devil--you get what you think you want, but you have to pay for it in ways you didn't see.)

The dentist, natch, is Bernard. He remembers Oceanic Flight 815. He even remembers Jack flirting with Rose. (Locke didn't meet long with Rose, but did they talk long enough to learn she's married to his dentist?) Bernie can't tell Jack confidential info, but he remembers Locke's dad's name, and that he can tell. The whole thing happened three years ago, and Jack is surprised Bernard remembers the name "Anthony Cooper." Bernard replies "of course I do, Jack." Is Bernie "awake" in altaworld? Who else is awake? Is everyone who was never a candidate in on it?

At Hydra, Sayid explains the mortar attack. It's just Jack, Sayid and Flocke. All the rest are dead or scattered--it's an old rule of Lost that if you follow either Jack or Flocke, and you're not listed in the credits, you won't last long.

Flocke comes by and spills the plan. Rescue Jack's friends, then run for the plane. Jack says he won't leave the island. Flocke seems to take it well, though he hopes he'll change his mind. He notes all can trust him because he could kill them and hasn't. Hmm.

At the cages, Sawyer and Kate reminisce about the good times spent there. He also tells her about the candidates--it's true, her name is crossed out, (did we see that?), Widmore doesn't need her. Jin and Sun talk in English (is she tickled she can speak it again, and tickled he can speak it to her, so they go for it?). She gives him back his ring. (He doesn't ask if Locke did what he told him not to do and that made her come back.) It's not a bad scene--better than last week's reunion.

The power goes out and it's clear Smokey is on the way. Hurley figures they're dead, but Smokey just wants them to escape. He kills a guy and the rest run away (I think--we don't care). Jack runs in, grabs the keys and opens the door. Come with me if you want to live. By the way, he's with the Smoke Monster now.

The gang marches to the plane. Jack once again explain he's not getting on that plane. Is this Casablanca? They run into Sayid, who's once again with them. He may be claimed, but he's still acting the good guy. And a good guy to be on your side in a war (as Locke said in Season One).

Jack goes to see Cooper, but Helen's there. She tells him to leave. She asks isn't saving John's life enough. He's says it's not. As I said, I like the old Jack, who has to save people. Helen takes him to Locke's dad, who's a vegetable in altaworld. I bet he'd rather be tied up in the Black Rock.

Flocke approaches the plane and quickly dispatches Widmore's guards. He picks up a watch from one. What for? He goes on the plane (with newly built wooden steps) and easily finds a bunch of C4, wired up and ready to go, presumbably planted by Widmore. The rest of the gang catches up. Lapidus sees the plane and says "let's see what it'll take to get this baby to fly." I don't know--a few months in a fully stocked repair hangar? This whole idea of flying a plane again that crash-landed has always seemed silly to me. If it could fly, why didn't they fly it off the island soon after they'd crashed?

They see the carnage and Locke comes out, explaining he's done it. He also explains Widmore expected all this to happen. (Okay, so what is Widmore doing? I guess he's moving on to the main Island, though we'll soon find he left the sub behind. Did he take an outrigger?)

Flocke shows them the explosives. Widdy's plan, he says, was to have them all in one small place and kill them. The plane's not safe, there may be more hidden C4. So let's take the sub. This confused me. After all this talk about the plane, for weeks and weeks, MIB changes on a dime. Sawyer said this was his plan to begin with, but why wasn't it Flocke's plan? I got the impression he needed candidates, and he need the flight to be as close to the original crash as possible. So either the writers are temporizing, or Flocke's had a different plan all along.

Hurley notes Flocke isn't supposed to leave the island, but Sawyer overrules him. But Sawyer has plans of his own. He tells Jack to hang back (since he's not leaving anyway) and force Flocke into the water so they can make a clean getaway.

At the hospital, Locke is barely conscious, and saying "push the button" and "wish you had believed me." As he flashes to the other world (Desmond's plan?--and where the hell is Desmond?) Jack's new half-sis Claire drops by. He offers her an Apollo Bar, just like his meeting with Jacob. Soon he's explaining his father drank himself to death in Sydney, and he was there to pick up the body, which he lost. She says was it Oceanic 815--Jack wonders was everyone on that flight? (Too bad Charlie didn't see her there.)

She has something Christian gave gave her--a music box that plays "Catch A Falling Star." What else? They both look in its mirror. I thought we might be past that in altaworld, but not yet. He invites her to stay with him--they're family, after all. (Maybe she'll invite Kate along--they got close during that kidnaping thing.)

The sub seems unprotected. The gang plans its assault, with Jack and Locke going last. The first wave doesn't include Sayid either--he'd be the one I'd pick. Sawyer, Lapidus and the rest take over pretty easily. (For a second I thought they got Minkowksi, but that's not possible.) The rest of the gang is on the dock, and Jack pushes Flocke in the water. Easy. Too easy. Widmore's gang starts shooting from just off-shore. What were they waiting for? Is this planned?

Kate's hit, and Jack carries her into the sub. Flocke climbs out of the water and shoots almost everyone. Sawyer wants to get going, and there's not time to get Claire aboard with Flocke out there. They dive, with Jack inside. Claire is unhappy, but Flocke (her best friend for years) tells her she doesn't want to be on that sub. Aha, this is his real plan.

Kate is unhappy Claire didn't make it, though she also might be disturbed she's bleeding heavily. Jack gets his pack and they see Locke placed a time bomb (using the watch--when did he have the time to put that together) with the C4 in it. They have less than four minutes before it goes off, though I'm not sure if that includes commercials.

Jin calls Lapidus and tells them to resurface, but there's not enough time. Sayid, explosives expert, explains the deal. He seems just about back to normal here--maybe he just needed an impetus to be the old Sayid.

Now it gets confusing. Jack figures this was Flocke's plan all along. But if they don't try to defuse the bomb, it won't go off, because Flocke can't kill candidates. Okay, maybe this is true. I see the logic--if Flocke could, and needed them dead, he would have done it already. So I guess he has to get them to kill themselves. So if they don't pull the wires, nothing will happen. (This is a callback to so many things at once--pushing the button, setting off Jughead, lighting Richard's dynamite, pulling the pin on Mikhail's hand grenade.)

Is that it? What are the rules for Flocke? He can't kill candidates? We've seen Smokey kill an awful lot of people, and judge even more. Can he only do this to non-candidates, and former candidates? Is that consistent? Or is Smokey different when he works as the island security system?

But okay, he can't kill candidates. But he can corrupt them, and have them kill themselves. But how about having non-candidates kill them? Why couldn't he let Widmore's people ambush them back at the plane? Or have Widmore's C4 blow them up on the plane (assuming it was Widmore's--Flocke seemed to be ready for it)? Would the island not allow it? Yet it will allow other candidates to kill them? Or is it that the final candidates he has to kill all at once because if one is left alive, he'll become the new Jacob.

And so what is his plan? Isn't having Jack bring his pack aboard with the bomb enough to kill everyone there? Or does it have to be more intentional? By why then would improperly defusing it kill them, since that's not intentional? If mistaken defusing can kill them, why can't mistaken bringing-you-backpack-on-the-sub do it as well?

And how far ahead has Flocke planned? Is he playing it by ear? It seems to be (as I guessed once) that what he has to do is kill all the candidates. Then he can get off the island, because only a candidate (even one who's not a trained Jedi yet) can keep him there. I guess he had to kill Jacob, too. (Can Jacob keep creating new candidates while alive, or does he get 360 and that's it). What if MIB killed them all and Jacob were still alive--is that a no go, because then MIB can't kill Jacob so he's stuck for good? Or would it allow him to concentrate all the more on finishing Jacob off?

And this plan in particular. Was the time clock set no matter what? Would it go off in they didn't check Jack's pack? Were those Widmore's people working with MIB, or even some MIB Others, shooting Kate, so they knew as they were diving Jack would check his bag and find the bomb? Or does the bomb only start once the pack is opened? What's their guarantee they'll all be around to watch the explosion? No matter what else happens, why can't they just place it at one end of the sub and run to the other, which is sort of what happened?

By the way, the theory that Widmore is working with Flocke makes more and more sense. He seemed to put the Losties in the cages to attract Flocke (they were literally jail bait), but was that the plan. Flocke, Jack and Sayid sure seemed to have it easy. And Flocke sure seemed to be ready for that C4 on the plane, taking that watch. Did he figure it out, or was it already worked out with Widmore. Maybe Widdy has a deal, once MIB rules the world. As far as I can tell the main thing that doesn't fit is Widdy bringing Des. Widdy is interested in the EMG stuff, and seems to want to use the Island for his own purposes, while MIB definitely didn't seem to want Des around.

I suppose the show will answer all these questions before it's done, but for all I know, the producers may figure they've already answered most of them.

Anyway, the Doc is probably right, but James won't listen, and pulls the wires, which makes the bomb tick even faster. (He's trusted the Doc on this kind of stuff before and remember where it got him.)

Sayid, now completely unclaimed (?), tells Jack where the still-alive Desmond is (we knew he wasn't dead), and runs away with the bomb. No torpedo tubes to get rid of it, like in the movies? Sayid tells Jack "it's going to be you." Does that mean Jack will have to do what Sayid was gonna do? Or does it mean he'll be the new Jacob--people have noted the similar names before. Does this also mean Desmond explained it all to Sayid?

The ship takes on water. I assume the crew will die, but we only care about regulars. Lapidus looked like he might have died--we don't see him get off, but we don't see the body either, so who knows? If he is dead, he's had nothing to do this season, so I'm not sure what the point was. (Though I've always liked Lapidus. He was used not unlike Hurley, just a bit more cynical--a guy who stands on the sidelines commenting on the action like a member of the audience. He was also one of the nicest guys in the show.)

Hurley carries out bleeding Kate. Jack carries out knocked-out Sawyer. Jin and Sun are left, and Sun's leg is stuck. She wants him to go, but he won't. (Jack saw what was happening, but Jin told him to leave.) It's a very touching moment (not unlike Charlie's--or Saw), and Jin says, finally in Korean, "I won't leave you, I will never leave you again" and they both say I Love You in English. Very touching, yes, but they're leaving an orphan behind. At least she's got a rich granddad to raise her. I don't see Hurley winning a custody fight.

They die by the red flashing light. (Do they get a flash to altaworld? We do get a glance of Jin in the hospital). Anyway, I think Jin dies. He could be waiting till she's gone and then make his move.

At the hospital, a black orderly pushes Locke in a wheelchair, but it's not Abaddon. Jack comes up and tells Locke he want to see his father. Locke spills the beans. He'd just got his pilot's license and begged his dad to be his first passenger, though Cooper hated flying. Locke crashed, paralyzing himself and doing worse to his beloved dad. Could this be the same con man Cooper who destroyed Sawyer's parents? (If not, why the different last names?)

Jack tells him about his problems with his own dad, and he hopes Locke can finally let go. He notes what happened, happened. They share a moment, but Locke can't go along. He wheels away and Jack shouts after him "I wish you believed me." Locke stops. Where has he heard that before? Then he wheels away.

Hurley, Kate, Jack and Sawyer--the survivors of the survivors of the survivors--make it ashore. (To the main island?) Three candidates and the girl who sleeps around. Sawyer is alive, barely. When they find out about Jin and Sun, Hurley and Kate break down--this is tougher to take than the original deaths, since the Kwons went out the way they wanted. Jack cries too. He's trying to do what's right, but it never seems to work out. He walked right into the trap.

At the Hydra dock, Flocke tells Claire "it sunk". She wants to know if they're all dead. "Not all of them." He goes of to finish what he started. Uh oh.

LOST

While we seem to have a good idea of what MIB wants to do now--basically get the candidates to kill themselves (though how now that they know that?)--how powerful is he? He can't kill them, so why should they do anything? Or can they leave? How would that fit into his plans? Would at least one have to stay to be the prison keeper? Or can he kills them?

Maybe MIB can kill them, or have them killed, but if he knocked them off one at a time, they'd figure out his game, so he needed to do it all at once.

By the way, I've gone back and forth on whether MIB is evil, but I think this episode settled it. He may believe he's an alright guy, but no one else has any reason to think that. In fact, it appears this whole season has been Flocke's long con. We can't trust anything he says, and, when it comes down to it, we're not sure of what he can and can't do. Perhaps he can kill candidates. Perhaps he can get off the island. The only thing we know for sure he's trying to do is get out of the bottle.

I'm starting to think Jack and Kate are Adam and Eve. It's made sense all along, and who's left?

Here's an interesting comment at the AICN talkback: "First Hank busting up some Mexican twins and now Jin and Sun are gone? Fuck you television. You're getting too fucking awesomely amazing."

I guess Jack and Sawyer are even now. Jack got Juliet killed, and now Sawyer fought Jack's plan and got a whole bunch of others killed.

When will the merge between the two worlds take place? I can't believe they're waiting for the final episodes. Maybe it's the last thing that happens. But I figured, dramatically, the connection had to start about halfway through. I guess the gamechanger for them was Des realizing there are two different worlds.

Is anyone actually dead, by the way. As long as they exist on at least one world, is that good enough?

Before all those great Ben and Locke scenes, there was Jack and Locke. It was nice to see them together again, in both worlds. Jack (et al) went through a lot in the island world, while Locke had it tough in LAX world. It's nice to have Helen, but look what he had to go through. He couldn't avoid paralysis or a plane crash.

And speaking of Ben, where the hell is he? He hasn't done much this season, but it certainly can't be long before team Ben/Richard/Miles comes back into play. Ben and Richard know the Island better than the Losties, and there are plenty of freshly killed people Miles can talk to.

And what about Desmond? Stuck in the hole on the island, MIA in altaworld? Must be getting a little hungry down there. But does he hold the solution? For either world? And doesn't Widmore still want him?

And what about Naomi?