Tuesday, May 4, 2010

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.

7 comments:

Davis said...

A few points: 1) Bernard seems to know what's going on, and I suspect that Bernard and Rose are much more important to the show's creators than they are to the fans (not that I don't enjoy them, but it did take me a LONG time to notice that they were missing for most of last season). 2) I believe the song is "Catch a Falling Star" and my immediate thought was that maybe Christian had sung it to Claire as a baby, and that this was the reason for giving it - it would have meaning for Claire. 3) I'm starting to think that Widmore wants to save the island, and yes, he's willing to kill Kate and whoever else he views as expendable in order to save the candidates. 4) I suspect that the Man-In-Black planted the explosives in the first place, when the Ajira first landed on the island. He only then went and retrieved them for show; if any of the candidates arrived at the plane while he was still aboard, they'd find him discovering the explosives. 5) Kate's name is crossed of the cave wall, but that cave belongs to the Man-in-Black. I'm not sure that cross-off can be trusted; it may just be his best guess as to who is a candidate. Having said that, it makes me wonder (regarding point 3 above) where Widmore got his list. 6) Yes, Desmond restored Sayid's soul with a casual conversation. 7) The remaining candidates don't really know Frank. He somehow managed to hide his rescue with the Oceanic 6 and just return to a normal, un-famous life for those 3 years. But they all lived with Sun & Jin those first 108 days, and then Sawyer lived with Jin the next 3 years, whereas he only met Frank for what was for Sawyer a very brief chopper ride. So, I can forgive their deference to the closer friends. 8) And, finally, Angie and I were yelling at the TV that Sun should be telling Jin to go raise their child, but Jin's never actually met their child, and would naturally feel more compelled to stay with his improbably trapped wife. And, yes, it's Sawyer's fault.

That's all I got. Thanks for reading.

Anonymous said...

Sun and Jin.
Worst. Parents. Ever.
Bernhard and Rose will rescue Desmond from the well and take him back to their hippy commune where they will explain their hippy definition of the island in vague terms that will provide "answers" in a zen and open ended interpretive manner. That's my guess. Also made stronger by berhards smug know it all Yoda appearance last night.

Andrea said...

I thought the same thing about Bernard/Rose. They are still on the island somewhere doing something. I don't think they get to just exist. They have to be important somehow. I am really looking forward to next week's ep. We need to know more about this 'man in black'. I am wondering if he even pre-exists Jacob. Like what if Jacob was also one of a list of candidates and MIB got all of them to kill each other and Jacob was left. Just like Jack will be left. Or something? And yeah Jin, Sun, Frank and Sayid can all thank Sawyer for killing them.

regan said...

I thought Frank was gonna get it when he walked ahead of everyone else to the plane. I was saying, "no, no, no!" to the tv. I guess when he died later I had already sort of prepared myself for that. But, yeah, you would think he'd get a better send-off than "Aw, hell." SLAM!
At first I was so, so sad about Sun & Jin. Then I got angry and yelled at the tv (yet again), "Jin, GO so that you can be with your daughter!" But, they have been with us since the very beginning and that really felt like a huge loss.
Sayid, ehhh. They have written him off since the start of the season and it was like he was already gone for me. Which I hate because I do miss the old Sayid.
Widmore is totally confusing me too. And I agree with all of the other comments, Bernard & Rose have to be important somehow...right?
These episodes are definitely feeling like someone is pressing fast forward. I wish they had about 3 more shows scheduled than they did for this season and could slow the pace down a little bit.
Also, I missed the first 10 min. or so, did they show Richard and Ben? Where are they? They sure are taking their time getting to the other island. If that had been dynamite instead of C4 I would have thought it was them that rigged the plane instead of Widmore.

Wes W. said...

Nice thoughts, folks.

Davis, maybe Bernard knows what's going on because Rose is his constant? I dunno. And I don't think MiB planted the explosives, because he looked generally angry to see them on the plane. Though it is a possibility, since he grabbed the watch on the way in. Also, we don't know that the cave belongs to the MiB. He said it belongs to Jacob. Though I tend to think you're right.

Jay, I'm not sure what happened to Rose and Bernard after 'The Incident'. They weren't close to the blast, so maybe they stayed in the 70s? Maybe they're Adam and Eve?

Andrea - very possible MiB predates Jacob. I suspect we'll find out next week more about them both.

Regan - you didn't miss Richard or Ben. Also, I agree, they could have planted the bombs.

Mitch said...

Daaaaaaang!

Stacy Evans said...

hey Wes! Stacy (from Mck) here. I like your blog a lot! Great analysis.

This is what I think will happen in the series finale. Everybody that died in the "real" Lost universe will be in the alternate universe like the plane crash never happened but they will all remember what happened in the other universe, that "everyone" died (Sawyer, Kate, Hurley etc will all die too). We already see them starting to remember. It will be a happy ending sort of. And what will be the real mind **** is that they will all go back to the island and start the cycle anew.

Just guessing though..