LOST Recap and Discussion: 6.14 The Candidate

DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED TONIGHT'S EPISODE AND DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED

Don't even try to tell me you made it through this episode without some tears. We are down to just three candidates and lost three beloved characters in deaths that were actually quite fitting and touching. An excellent episode tonight and it's finally hitting me that LOST is soon going to be over forever. And then what will we do?

No previously on LOST business, we are down the wire folks. The episode opened in the sideways universe where Jack is tending to Locke who was, as you may recall, hit by a car driven by Desmond. Jack fixed Locke up and tries to get him to consider a surgery that would fix him. Locke turns Jack down.

Meanwhile, the Losties who tried to escape have been captured and put back in the cages. Figures! FLocke takes Sayid and Jack over to free them.

Sideways Jack can't seem to let go of the idea of fixing Locke and goes to see Bernard to get some information about how Locke had his accident--apparently this is supposed to be the key to whether or not Locke might be a candidate for the surgery. Bernard tells him Locke wasn't alone, but was with a man named Anthony Cooper, we know, of course, that's Locke's father.

Island Jack insists he won't be leaving the island and FLocke says he hopes he'll change his mind, but he could use his help getting the others. When Jack questions why he should trust him, Locke says something like, "because I could kill you." HINT JACK!!! This is not a REASON to TRUST someone. This is a THREAT. Any doubt about FLocke should be dissipating.

In the cages, we get a touching and beautiful scene where Sun and Jin talk about Ji Yeon and Sun gives Jin his ring back. Sniff. Also, Sawyer lets Kate know her name was crossed off the cave wall and she isn't needed. Jack, Sayid, and Flocke/smokey make it possible for them to escape the cages. They all run off together.

Sideways Jack goes to see Anthony Cooper. He sees Helen there. Helen asks Jack to leave them alone and asks why saving Locke's life can't be enough to which Jack replies, "because it's not." He sees Anthony Cooper, and learns he's Locke's father.

Flocke goes and kills the people guarding the plane and finds some explosives there. He convinces the gang they need to take the submarine. Sawyer asks Jack to make sure Flocke doesn't go with them. AAAAHH! Is this foreshadowing? Will Jack be the new guardian of the island?

Back at the hospital in sideways land, we get a truly chilling moment when Jack stands over Locke who is mumbling in his sleep about the button and then "I wish you had believed me" (this is what was written in the "suicide note" Jack got.) Jack chats with Claire and invites her to stay with him in a sweet and touching moment.

And the assault on the sub begins. Lapidus and Sawyer and all go on the sub, and when Flocke tells Jack whoever told him he needed to stay on the island was wrong, Jack knocks him into the water and says "John Locke told me I needed to stay." And Kate asks what happened and....gets shot! They are all frantic to leave and in a great repeat of the first time they left the island...they are leaving Claire behind all over again. Jack asks for his bag to get his shirt to put pressure on Kate's wound and discovers the explosives in his pack.

And....discussion about whether or not the explosives can be stopped. Jack suggests Flocke can't actually kill them and is trying to get them to kill each other. He asks Sawyer to trust him, Sawyer doesn't, pulls the wire and the clock freezes for a second and then goes. Sayid quickly tells Jack that Desmond is in a well and is alive. Flocke wants him dead so Jack will need him. Why? Because it's going to be you, Jack.

And Sayid runs off with the explosives. Sad as I am to see Sayid die, this is in fact, the perfect death, one made from gut instinct to try to save his friends. Sayid has found his redemption.

And Lapidus gets killed by a door blasting off? The sub quickly fills with water. Panic. Sun is trapped. Hurley takes Kate up. Sawyer is hit by flying debris and Jack takes him up. Sun is still trapped. Jin fights to free her but can't. Sun begs him to leave her, but he won't, he won't ever leave her again. Beautiful, gutting, heart-wrenching this death, as this couple feels the water rise around them, as Jin futilely tries to free Sun, as she begs him to leave, and as they finally accept their fate, expressing their love for each other. The bittersweet music of LOST plays as the sub sinks.

Sideways Jack asks Locke once more why he doesn't want the surgery. Locke says his father's condition is his fault, he had his pilot's license just a week and asked his father to fly with him. They discuss loss and letting go and Jack expresses that he was hoping Locke could go first in the letting go department.

Our few remaining Losties gather on the beach and grieve the loss of their friends. Me too, how could you not cry during that scene of raw emotion? :(

Flocke gazes out at the water and announces that the sub sank. Claire seems a bit disturbed by the idea that they are all dead, but Flocke assures they are not all dead. Flocke heads off to finish what he started.

**I read today this episode would be a game changer and that a significant character would die. Well that was putting it nicely, I feel like 4 significant characters died! (though Lapidus was less so)

**Will it be Jack? Will we be left with one man standing? Can I take any more deaths?

**Did you notice how strong the mirror motif was in this episode? Almost everything off island mirrored something from previous episodes. This is a very powerful technique in my opinion, it gives the story such a strong sense of interconnectedness which is LOST does best!

**Sun and Jin---waaaah! What will happen to Ji Yeon???

**Tell me all your thoughts, predictions, etc. I read today the finale has been extended by 30 minutes, so the entire finale event will be 5 and a half hours long. A truly epic send-off.