Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Early Reaction to Lost 613: Did I even have one?



Lost 613, The Last Recruit, seemed to me the ultimate set up episode.  I've never said that about an episode before, as every time I've ever heard someone else refer to an episode in that fashion ("They were just moving pieces around the Island, getting them in place for the next episode"), it always bugged me.  I thought it was the coward's way of saying you didn't like an episode.  And recently a lot of people used that very description to impugn one of my favorite episodes of the season, The Package.

But now, with only five hours left, for the first time that is exactly how I feel.  A lot of pieces got moved around the board, while we got a few new answers and a few new questions, but nothing was extremely revelatory, and intense character development was put on hold for a week (or two, since Lost is off next week).

I'm going to need to watch it again before I mess with any sort of major recap, but here are a number of things that hit me like a kiss from a sonic fence...(just click 'read more')


  • Smocke confirmed he can only impersonate dead people whose bodies are on the Island.  This means Smocke was not Ben's mom, nor was he Isabella.  So, either their actual ghosts are somehow trapped on the Island (unlikely), Smocke is lying about who he can impersonate (possible, but it seems late in the game for that), or those ladies were Jacob (BAZINGA!!!).
  • I have not read anything yet about last night's episode, but I wonder how many people picked up on this idea.  I first jumped on board this something-was-wrong-about-Isabella-being-there bandwagon back during my Ab Aeterno recap, when I thought something was hinky with the ghost of Isabella who interacted with Richard through Hurley.  Then a few days later I did a rambling post in which I flat out said Isabella and Ben's mom could not have been the MiB or ghosts, so they had to be Jacob.  I feel like this was confirmed yet again last night, but I have felt I was very right about things before and still ended up being way off base in the end    going all the way back to the first time I ever tried to kiss a girl.
  • Oh, and even though I want to take most information now at face value, I'm still a little unsure about believing it was Smokey who was the Christian Shepherd who led Jack to water (but couldn't make him drink).  
  • Maybe Smokey was the Christian from White Rabbit, but something about Terry O'Quinn's delivery in this scene gave me pause.  And I found it interesting that Smokey felt the need to ask Jack who he meant when Jack asked him which other dead people Smokey had appeared as.  It was almost as if Smokey needed Jack to say who he meant, because Smokey just wanted to take credit for whatever it was Jack needed to hear.
  • I got the feeling that Smokey knew there was another Christian out there, and Smokey wanted to make sure he knew what Jack saw that Christian do before Smokey copped to it.  Otherwise, Jack might have been able to trip Smokey up in a lie.
  • I'm sure Smokey can and has appeared as Christian, especially to John Locke and Crazy-Eyed Killa Claire. But perhaps Smokey never appeared as Christian to Jack.  If so, then Smokey would need Jack to bring up the circumstances, else Smokey would not be able to lie convincingly.  
  • This whole Smokey-Christian thing is minor beans, but it did sort of stick in my head.  And there has long been a school of thought that there are two different Christians (at least) on the Island, so that is feeding into my doubt on this one thing.
  • I still think Widmore is a good guy even if he does end the episode by ordering guns pointed at our Losties, but I'm open to having my mind changed.  
  • But guns pointed at the Losties does not indict Charles just yet.  If the guy wants to ensure that Smocke stays on the Island, killing the Candidates may just be the easiest way to do so.  Smokey says that he cannot leave without them.  So if they are dead, then can he still leave?  I don't know, but I'm waiting to learn more before I jump into this one.
  • You would think if he didn't really need the Candidates, then Smocke would never have saved Jack's life last night, nor Sawyer's life back at the caves.  For that matter, he could have had his "people" shoot them at any time over the course of the season, so I am assuming he doesn't want them dead. 
  • If Smocke doesn't want them dead, then maybe Widmore wanting them dead just means Widmore is pragmatic rather than evil.
  • Unless Widmore really does have a deal with Smokey.  That would mean he just captured the candidates for Smocke, which would be something I never saw coming in a million years.  
  • Sayid went to kill Desmond and, false drama aside, he couldn't do it.  Hey, I got something right!  Bazinga!
  • Well, I think I got something right.  I really don't think Sayid killed Desmond, but I guess until we see Desmond again, we don't know for certain.  But old Des sure hit Sayid right between the eyes with his final question, didn't he?  Very Jacob of him, eh?
  • They are now purposely leaving Sayid's true love open to interpretation.  When Desmond asked, "Where is she now," I thought to myself, "Hey, now we are going to find out!"  Then Sayid said, "She's dead," and I thought, "Hey, curse you, Dartlon!"
  • Regardless of who Sayid thinks is his true love, I'm still banking on Shannon, as I have been ever since Sundown.  Sayid's a zombie now, so what does he know from true love, anyway?
  • If you think that's all BS, go watch the Sayid-Shannon romance play out again in S1 and S2.  It was well done, extremely moving, and it meant a whole shit-load to Sayid even if it meant nothing to you.
  • Yeah, I'm on Team Shannon.  What's it to ya?
  • I might as well just cut off my testes, rent all the Twilight movies, and be done with it.
  • OMG-OMG-OMG     Jin and Sun hooked up.  Holy Crap!
  • I didn't see that Jin-Sun reunion coming.  Frankly, I had thought they would never meet again, and I was not looking for it to happen when it did (with all the guns being pointed every which way). 

  • Then Jin came out from behind the tree and my heart stopped!


  • I'm such a 12 year old girl.  My wife is going to read this and punch me.
  • I don't care.  OMG-OMG-OMG     Jin and Sun hooked up!!!!
  • Actually, in the end I thought that scene didn't get quite the play I had hoped it would (you know, in my 12-year old girl heart, anyway).  I wanted it to be a bit more momentous after three years apart.  The actors did great, and the surprise of it happening at that moment was great, but then I think the writers and the director kind of rushed it to a close in order to get back to everyone pointing guns every which way.
  • "Looks like someone just got her voice back" exemplified how rushed that reunion was.  That moment alone should have been played well enough (and long enough) for us to realize what Sun speaking English again meant without needing Burt Reynolds to voice it for us.
  • I just think this episode was a bit overstuffed with plot, and so the Sun-Jin reunion sort of got shafted a bit.  But what do I know?  I'm just a 12 year old girl.
  • Seeing Jack and Locke (or at least the thing that looks like Locke) reverse their positions on fate, destiny, and the Island is pretty damn cool, isn't it?  That's where having six years to play this out really paid off, because it happened organically and is all the cooler for it.
  • I had no trouble with how long it took Jack to make up his mind not to go to Hydra Island.  In fact, I thought it had to be that way, because that was the opposite of the old jump first, look second Jack we have grown to know and not love.  This time Jack took his sweet time, looked first, second, and third, then jumped.
  • Jack jumped off something and swam back to the Island.  Anyone else find that a sweet callback to Sawyer jumping off the helicopter in the season four finale?
  • Jack didn't fight Sawyer (not even verbally); he just jumped off the boat.  How very Jacob of him.
  • So, who is more Jacob-y, Jack or Desmond?
  • If Jack and Desmond end up in a long conversation now, will they Zen each other to death?
  • Expectations were certainly confounded when Jack and Locke did not meet until the last seconds of the episode, and Locke was under anesthesia when they finally did.  I confess, when Jack was at the lawyer's office, I thought, "Man, Jack and Locke are not even going to meet.  Jack's not even going to perform Locke's surgery!"
  • Hey, the episode was almost over, and Locke had been at the hospital since the beginning.  I figured they were throwing us a typical Lost curve ball.
  • Turns out it was just a slider, as Jack was ready to start cutting as the episode ended.
  • My hope that Locke's toes will play an important part in someone waking up is still alive.
  • Sideways Desmond worked some more of his magic on Claire and Jack, bringing the half-siblings together (with Ilana, no less), but no one "woke up" during this episode.  Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.
  • Hey, we saw Ilana.  And she didn't go boom!  She looked good in big girl clothes, too.
  • I sure didn't agree with Smocke at the end when he told Jack, "You're with me now."  I think Locke's in for a bigger surprise from Jack than the one he got from Desmond.

WE NOW INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED LOST EARLY REACTION...

  • We now interrupt your regularly scheduled early reaction to Lost in order to add a few bullets here after the fact (and after reading once around other blogs and comments), because I want to go over an idea I've seen repeated a few times: that Jack died and was resurrected by Smocke following the "Incoming!!!" bombs dropped by Widmore and his mighty band of geophysicists.  
  • People are relating this to how Sayid died and came back "infected" and how Claire possibly (probably?) died and came back infected.  
  • I just didn't see the final scene at all like that.  Jack was blown sideways by the bomb's explosion, but he immediately opened his eyes and raised his head before Smocke ever touched him.
  • If Darlton meant for us to infer that Jack died and was brought back to life by Smocke, then they did a piss-poor job of it.
  • Which is why I don't believe at all that is what they meant us to infer.  
  • Jack did not die last night, folks. 

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED LOST EARLY REACTION, ALREADY IN PROGRESS...

    • Dr. Linus didn't even know Mr. Locke's first name, but he felt he should get in the ambulance and ride to the hospital with him anyway.  
    • I just love Dr. Linus.  

    • I just want to take Dr. Linus home and bundle him up in my arms and take care of him.
    • My wife now thinks I am officially gay.
    • Yeah, like she couldn't figure that out from me founding Team Shannon and shipping over Jin and Sun.
    • I once said that Darlton would make me care for Benjamin Linus over my dead body.  I said I'd quit watching the show if they even tried.
    • I'm such a dick!

    And we're done!

    I'm going to re-watch this sucker before I try and go into it in any more depth.  Check back tomorrow (or the day after) for a more detailed recap and more erroneous predictions.  But before I go, let me ask you something:

    Do you agree that Smokey just confirmed for us that he was not Isabella or Ben's mom?  And if they were not Smokey, then who were they?

    Sound off in the comments below.  They are open and no log in is required.  Just have an opinion and an attitude.

    10 comments:

    1. Not only did the Sun-Jin reunion get short shrift, but the resolution to Sun being shot ("Hey, you're fine, and, hey, the baby's fine") made that whole gag seem a little bit manipulative.

      TEAM SHANNON! TEAM SHANNON!

      Yes, Jacob was Isabella and Ben's mom. He had to be. I can see no other explanation. And did not that freaky looking butterfly that presaged Isbella's appearance in the Black Rock have the same coloring as the Hurley Bird? The MiB can turn into black smoke to whisk around the Island, so perhaps Jacob can turn into psychedelically colored animals.

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    2. Schmoker, you are not the only Jin-Sun shipper in the world. I was also simultaneously blown away by the suddenness of their reunion, yet then also disappointed by the suddenness of its conclusion.

      I cannot see any better alternative to your idea that Jacob was Isabella and Ben's mom. You seem to be right on with that idea. The only other thing that occurs to me is that maybe Jacob has the power to bring off-island spirits to the island. That is another possibility which you may have not considered, but it does not seem all that likely.

      I'm also team Shannon. But I fear that we are not only in the minority but also wrong. It just seems like the show forgot all about Sayid's love for Shannon after she died.

      Thanks for keeping your comments open, as I have no google or blogspot ID, and I have no intention of getting one. It's nice not to have to comment anonymously. And some blogs won't even let you do that.

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    3. the color of the font in this blog post sucks.
      hard to read.

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    4. If anyone else is having trouble with the font color, please let me know. Seems to work fine on my computer, but then again, I already know what I wrote.

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    5. Blog font works for me, but it might be hard to read on a small screen.

      So, how long until we get Dr. Linus/Schmoker fan fic?

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    6. Assuming we can take anything at face value, Schmoker, you are right that Smokey confirmed last night that he could not have been Isabella or Ben's mom. Were they Jacob or were they ghosts? Man, how could we even begin to guess at this point?

      With five hours to go, I assume we will find out soon.

      Jack did NOT die. How could they kill Jack five hours from the end? If Jack is going to die, it will be in the finale.

      With Sun and baby turning out to be fine following her being gut shot (yeah, right!), all of a sudden the Sideways World is looking much more happily ever after again. That makes me think they are going to have to sacrifice that happily ever after in order to keep the evil contained. So, now I am back to thinking the sideways-verse is going to have to go away again. Or what is it that they are sacrificing?

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    7. Speaking of Sun, someone just emailed me to say that I was wrong about no one waking up in this episode. Sun spoke English on the hospital gurney, the argument went, so did she not wake up?

      Well, I'll say that no she did not, and here is why:

      1. If she really "woke up" all of the way, remembering everything in the way that Libby, Hurley, and Desmond did, then I think the scene in the hospital bed with Jin did not bear that out. She would likely have had a lot to tell him had she actually remembered everything, and even post-bullet to the baby bump, I don't see her waiting to speak up about that.

      No, more likely when she awoke she forgot about the flash she had, and that 'a flash' was all it was.

      2. Charlie and Daniel both flashed on a few things, but not everything. Ditto for Desmond, who didn't get it all back until he met Penny (and touched her). Sun definitely had a flash, because she remembered Locke (or Smocke) as well as English, but that doesn't mean she woke up.

      I think when people get it all back, the show won't make us guess. We will be shown for certain. Of course, not everyone may wake up. There are only five hours left, so that isn't enough time to do centric hours where everybody wakes up on their own. So, if everyone is going to wake up, some people are going to have to wake up together.

      Yeah, there is going to have to be a group-wake scene. (Sexy-sexy)

      I'm just hoping that if there are any centric episodes left, that we get a Lapidus episode somehow. I don't want some silly episode about him just to because I think he deserves to be fleshed out. No one "deserves" anything at the moment. I'm just hoping that Darlton have some big plan for Frank that they are going to spring on us in the last five hours.

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    8. The Skeptical SonApril 22, 2010 12:22 PM

      Ok, I read this post second, and now I think you are a comedian. You made me laugh a lot, anyway. The line about Desmond and Jack Zenning each other to death was a spit up my coffee moment.

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    9. Schmoker, I just had to tell you that I really like your blog.

      I only came to LOST after season 3 so I don't understand everything that happens and would never be able to figure it all out, but I'm totally addicted to it and I like your style.

      Ryan's blog gives me the "high end" review - yours makes it a little easier on me.

      I don't want anybody to die.

      I think if I had to choose between Desmond and Jack being Jacob, it'd have to be Jack because I think Desmond is TOO perfect - I don't think he has ANY bad in him at all.

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    10. Thanks, Jan. I'm wondering if perhaps Des being so good will mean he ends up being the replacement MiB? Are we going to find out that at one time the MiB was a really good man who got tricked into taking a really shitty job, and then it drove him insane?

      Thanks again, and please spread the word.

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