Lost Episode 6.14: "The Candidate"

Hey folks. That was a fast-paced episode. Not my favorite of the season, but by no means bad. I just prefer the more weird, character-driven episodes to the action-packed, gunfight episodes. And I don't mind a little sadness and saying farewell to a few characters, but the parts that were supposed to make me tear up just didn't do much for me this episode. I don't have the time or energy to do a full synopsis tonight (been running on a lack of sleep due to kid issues) but here's a few thoughts. Pictures have not been posted online by the time I wrote this, so you'll have to rely on your own mind-pictures.

IN THE FLASH-SIDEWAYS...

JACK AND LOCKE MEET... AND NOTHING REALLY HAPPENS: After all the build-up and wondering about what it would be like when Jack and Locke meet at the hospital (after Desmond sent Locke there), there was very little payoff in this episode. Locke didn't seem to fully regain his island memories, though he said a few key words in his sleep. And Jack basically just became obsessed with learning why Locke wouldn't want to be able to walk again. Erin and I guessed the reason pretty early on... that he was punishing himself for hurting his dad in an accident. Meh. It's kind of cool that Flash-Sideways Locke has his pilot's license, though, if they do try to go back to the island or if his consciousness does start to drift back to the other time line into Flocke's body that might come in handy.

BERNARD? REALLY? Guys, you've only got four episodes left. Please don't use them on Bernard the Dentist. This may shock you, but I don't care where flash-sideways Bernard ended up, especially if it's in the same place he was in the regular time line before the crash.

CLAIRE AND JACK AND A MUSIC BOX: I liked that Jack was getting freaked out in the Flash-Sideways by all the coincidences taking place. The music box was strange, mostly because of the song it played, which was the creepy lullaby that Claire sang in the "Sundown" episode. Why did Christian give that to her? Also interesting that Claire is going to move in with Jack. Will she give birth to Aaron while staying with him? We did note that Claire and Jack looked at their own reflection again...

BACK ON THE ISLAND:

WHAT'S WIDMORE'S DEAL?: Widmore takes Kate hostage and says he will shoot her if they don't get in the bear cages. He reveals that the only ones he cares about are the four candidates, which I guess at this point are Hurley, Jack, Sawyer, and one of the Kwons. This is really confusing to me. Why did Widmore come to the island? To exploit it or to protect the candidates? And if he's trying to protect them, why would he plant a bomb on the plane? If he just wanted to stop the Man in Black from getting off the island on the plane, then he should have just blown it up before they got there, not just rigged it with explosions to trigger later. The explosives make me think that he wanted to kill the candidates, too. Confusing.

HOW DID MAN IN BLACK KNOW ABOUT THE EXPLOSIVES? Ok, remember when Flocke snapped those dude's necks who were guarding the plane? Well, he stopped afterward and grabbed one guy's watch, which was weird. But then we later saw the same watch on the C4 he put in Jack's backpack. So, if he grabbed the watch before seeing the C4 in the overhead compartment, then he must have already known it was going to be there. Maybe he's just a step ahead of Widmore mentally? He must be really good at chess.

WHY IS KATE'S NAME CROSSED OFF THE CAVE WALL? Any thoughts? I have a few wild guesses. Is it because she did something evil to join Man in Black's side without knowing it? Or because Jacob knows she's only there for Aaron's best interests, and not there to protect the island? Or, on that note, is it possible the Man in Black IS Aaron, and Jacob knows that once Kate learns that she will join his side, because she cares for him?

SAYID IS APPARENTLY GOOD AGAIN: So, we learned that Sayid listened to Desmond's advice not to shoot anybody just to bring your lover back from the dead, because if you do she will think you're gross and weird. And now he's a changed zombie, and ready to help the candidates. This is a pretty quick change, because a couple of episodes ago he was staring blankly as Claire tried to kill Kate. He later proves his goodness, though, by exploding himself to save the others. But not before telling Jack: "It's going to be you." I guess he means Jack is going to have to save everyone, and become Jacob's replacement. Cool. I thought that was a pretty good send-off for Sayid. Which brings me to two disappointing send-offs.

FRANK!!!! IF THE OTHER CHARACTERS DON'T GRIEVE FOR YOU, I WILL: Hey writers! Don't kill off Frank. One, because he rules. And two, because you haven't done ANYTHING at all with his character yet. He gets like one line an episode: "Aw hell" or "Probably." He could have at least done something cool before dying. And what was up with Hurley and Jack crying about Sun and Jin and Sayid but not even giving Frank a shout-out? Poor Frank. I'm only hoping that after he got hit by the sub door, his body floats out of the sub and into a secret underwater hatch full of numb-chucks, where he awakes, arms himself, then makes a dripping but awesome return at the last minute in the finale. The other option is that he's just dead now, because he got hit with a door. 'Hit with a door' is officially the worst Lost death ever, if that is the case.

SUN AND JIN, SELFISHLY DYING SO THAT THEIR CHILD CAN BE RAISED BY KOREAN MAFIA: As a parent, I could not stand the Sun and Jin death scene. First of all, Sun should never have left her kid to go to a secret island from which escape is highly unlikely. Secondly, when trying to convince Jin to leave her in the sub so that he can live, it didn't even come across her mind to point out that one of them should survive to raise their child. Lame. One point to bring out here... So, we know that candidates can't die, unless they kill each other. So is everyone's death here Sawyer's fault? Because once he touched the bomb, unplugged it, it became his action and not Man in Black's? I think Jack was right, if they had left it alone they wouldn't have died (except maybe Frank and Kate, who are not candidates.) Also, Did Flocke know that Jack and Sawyer would find the bomb in his backpack and try to unplug it, causing their own deaths?

ONE MORE THING ABOUT THOSE EXPLOSIVES: Flocke put the bomb in Jack's backpack. How did he know Jack would get in the sub? Jack was planning not to. Was Flocke counting on the fact that Widmore's men would be there to chase them onto the sub? Either way, you don't mess with Smokey because he's always one step ahead. Also because he can turn into a deadly pillar of smoke.

FLOCKE FEELS A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE: So, Flocke tells Claire that he knows the sub has drowned, and that he knows some folks are still alive from the blast. How does he know this? I'm guessing when they're all dead he'll feel that he's free of the island, and he knows he's not free yet because he's still stuck there.

That's all I've got for now. More later when I'm not exhausted. Did you notice anything else interesting? I did notice Kate got shot, but somehow that was one of the least eventful parts of this action-packed episode. Plus she got shot in that area between the shoulder and the heart that is totally safe to get shot in, if you're starring in a movie or TV show.

Here's what I saw in the preview for next week's episode:

Clearly this is a Man in Black/Jacob focused episode. Awesome. I predict that minds will yet again be blown. The preview opened with Man in Black and Jacob sitting down for a game of some kind involving long sticks. I'm guessing it's not Jenga. Then we see a cool clip of Locke from Season one, explaining backgammon to Walt and holding up the white and black game pieces. Then we see that young blonde kid running through the jungle. Then a super says, "There are two sides to every story." Cut to this really creepy shot of Locke, sent to me by Zach, which features Locke with both light and dark eyeballs:


Wha? A dream sequence maybe? Looks weird. Then a super says "Good/Evil" and both Jack and Locke and Man in Black and Jacob are shown. Then it ends on Man in Black's threat to Jacob at the end of Season 5, "Do you have any idea how much I want to kill you right now?" I hope we'll finally get Smokey's name next week. The episode is strangely entitled "Across the Sea." Can't wait.

That's all for now. Must. Sleep.