So let’s start at the beginning, where we pick up with the reunion of the Losties at Camp Flocke. As much, as it was nice to see nearly all of the main characters in one place at the same time, this scene was all about Jack and Flocke....as, Flocke says, “We have some catching up to do.” So Jack steps into Flocke’s office for a little chat:
JACK: You look just like him.
FLOCKE: Does it bother you?
JACK: What bothers me is I don’t know what the hell you are.
FLOCKE: Sure you do.
What an interesting way to respond. Flocke doesn’t come out and say he is the smoke monster, as he has said to others. Instead he leaves it ambiguous, reminding me on the line from the Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”: “Pleased to meet you.....hope you guess my name”. I waffle back and forth as to whether or not Flocke/Man-in-Black is the devil, some other mythological entity, or the just a man imprisoned in hell/purgatory/limbo. And the constant misdirection doesn’t help.
JACK: Why John Locke?
FLOCKE: Because he was stupid enough to believe he was brought here for a reason. He pursued that belief until it got him killed. And because you were kind enough to bring him back here is a nice wooden box.
JACK: He had to be dead before you could look like him.
FLOCKE: That’s right.
I like Flocke’s comments regarding why he chose Locke. I’ll come back to this a little later in another important discussion in this episode.
A dozen stunningly beautiful people on this island and you choose to become the old, bald guy?
JACK: Who else have you looked like?
FLOCKE: Jack, what do you really want to ask me?
JACK: The third day we were here I saw...I chased my father through the jungle....my dead father. Was that you?
FLOCKE: Yes, that was me.
JACK: Why?
FLOCKE: You needed to find water. This may be hard for you to believe Jack, but all I’ve ever been interested in is help you.
Last week, I interpreted Michael’s comments regarding the whispers and not being able to “move on” as meaning that the island manifestations of the dead, like Christian, were not MIB taking their form. Now, we have Flocke telling Jack (and later we learn he told the same thing to Claire) that he was Christian. The real question here is: Is Flocke telling the truth? To be honest, I haven’t got a clue. To me, Flocke appears very sincere...but, I have to believe that Flocke/MIB’s motives are not altruistic. I went back to see if there were any times in the series when Christian appeared on the island at the same time as Flocke. From a timing standpoint, it does appear possible Flocke was taking Christian’s form. But, I’ve still got a feeling that there is more to the Christian story than just MIB using his guise. The Jack/Flocke discussion continues:
JACK: To help me? To do what?
LOCKE: Leave. But because Jacob chose you, you were trapped on this Island, before you even got here. Now Jacob's dead. We don't have to be trapped anymore. We can get on an airplane and fly away anytime we want to.
JACK: If we can just fly away wherever we want, why are you still here?
FLOCKE: Because it has to be all of us.
Funny, that Flocke sounds an awful lot like John Locke. Flocke wants them ALL to get on the Ajira plane to leave the island. John Locke wanted to get ALL of the Oceanic 6 to return to the island together.
JACK: John Locke was the only one who ever believed in this place. He did everything he could to keep us from leaving this place.
FLOCKE: John Locke was not a believer, Jack. He was a sucker.
Note, how Jack defends Locke’s actions....a complete reversal of the opposition that Jack displayed in the early seasons. But Flocke, who is ironically in Locke’s form, derides John Locke.
The scene shifts to the sideways universe and John Locke in an ambulance, following Desmond’s hit and run. When asked about a contact, Locke groggily says, “Helen Norwood....I was gonna marry her.” It makes me wonder if he is referring to his fiancée in the sideways timeline OR has he seen a vision of his main-timeline life in which Helen has died.
Locke’s ambulance arrives at the hospital at precisely the same moment as Sun’s, who has a gunshot wound in her pregnant stomach. As the gurneys are wheeling side-by-side into the hospital, Sun looks over and recognizes Locke, and says in Korean, “No...no....it’s him”. Clearly, Sun has had a vision of her island life and interprets Locke, as the imposter Flocke. When this happens, it appears that Locke’s mouth turns to an ever so slight smile. Could it be that Locke, not only has had a vision of island-Locke, but perhaps Flocke too? That would be an interesting twist.
It’s just a flesh wound.
We then switch back to the island, where Claire is following Jack and Flocke. Flocke leaves them alone to catch up. After discussing how MIB pretended to be their father (by the way, when did island-Claire ever find out that she and Jack were half-brother and sister?) and Claire’s feelings of abandonment, they talk about Jack joining Team Flocke:
JACK: Actually, I haven’t....haven’t decided if I’m coming with you.
CLAIRE: Yeah, you have.
JACK: What do you mean?
CLAIRE: You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us. So, yeah, whether you like it or not, you're with him now.
We’ve heard this before about how once MIB (or Jacob) talks to you, you are his. I’m still not sure exactly how this works (if it is some psychic connection or just his persuasiveness), but they have emphasized this point so much on the show, that it had better be important enough to give us some kind of explanation.
Back at Camp Flocke, Sawyer starts planning a jailbreak now that almost all the LOSTIES are back together. But he isn’t interested in taking everyone:
SAWYER: Sayid ain’t invited. He’s gone over to the dark side.
HURLEY: Yeah, but you can always bring people back from the dark side....I mean Anakin...
SAWYER: Who the hell is Anakin?!?!
While I laughed out loud at this, I have to wonder if Hurley is right. Is there still good in Sayid? Can he be redeemed? We may have a clue later in this episode.
We flip back again to the sideways timeline, where Detective Ford (aka Sawyer) offers prisoner Kate an apple. Apples appear throughout religion, mythology, and folklore as having mystical powers or representing a temptation (or forbidden fruit)....the most famous story being Adam and Eve’s temptation in Eden. Perhaps we are being left a clue that Sawyer and Kate will turn out to be the skeletons dubbed Adam and Eve in the caves from Season 1. Maybe. But then again, it was Eve who tempted Adam with the apple. And in this case, Kate turns down the apple. In the bible, the apple is a representation of original sin. Note here that James, eats the apple, but Kate does not. Kate claims innocence, when James rattles off her rap sheet. James, though is exposed by Kate as being deceptive and having less than honorable reasons for being in Australia. Maybe the apple is showing us that James is the sinner and Kate is the innocent, despite them being in the roles of cop and criminal, respectively. The other possibility is that the apple is symbolic of their island roles, where Sawyer has sided with the Man-in-Black, but Kate has not given in to this temptation.
An apple a day, keeps the smoke monster away.
During this scene, James notes how odd it is that they were on the same flight, saw each other in the elevator at the airport and then she crashed into his car; “It’s almost like someone’s trying to put us together.” A curious choice of words....he could have said “coincidence” or “fate” or “destiny”, but instead says, “someone”. Is Jacob (or perhaps the island....which almost seems to be a character on the show) somehow the driving force of the crossing paths of the Losties in the sideways universe? Hmmmm....
James’ partner, Miles, has ID’ed the “jaboney” that was responsible for killing Keamy and his men. And that jaboney is, of course, Sayid.
Back on the island, Widmore’s hench-woman, Zoe comes brazenly into Camp Flocke. She says, “You took something from us and we want it back.” When Flocke feigns ignorance, Zoe sends a message via walkie-talkie to her people to, “show them what we are capable of.” A weapon is launched and detonated very close to the camp. Note that Flocke doesn’t even flinch. We’ve seen that he is impervious to bullets in the Season 6 premiere, “LA X”....so, my guess is that he can’t be harmed by other conventional weapons either.....he is made of Smoke after all. Zoe says that they have until nightfall to return what they took, hands Flocke the walkie and heads out. Flocke’s response is to smash the walkie and then comments, “Well....here we go.” Implying that the war Widmore once did portend, has now begun.
If you were gonna start a fire in my camp, you could have at least brought marshmallows.
We return again to the sideways universe, where Claire is heading to an adoption agency. But Desmond, the man on a mission to show the Oceanic survivors a glimpse of another life, intervenes and convinces her that she needs to see a lawyer. He says that, “You could find yourself in a situation that is irreversible.” Recall Jack’s words to Locke in the Season premiere: “Nothing’s irreversible.”
It turns out that Desmond’s lawyer is Ilana. When she meets Claire, she notes that, “This is quite a coincidence. We’ve been looking for you.” Silly Ilana....don’t mistake coincidence for fate.
To be honest, this scene didn’t work that great for me. While I recognize that Desmond is steering the wheel of destiny here, how does he know to bring Claire to see Ilana? I usually give LOST the benefit of the doubt on these things, but I just don’t see how Desmond can go from seeing “Claire Littleton” on a flight manifest, to bringing her to see Ilana (who we later learn is the attorney for Christian Shephard’s will)? I guess it has something to do with his new insights from the other timeline....but I’m not seeing it.
Back in the main timeline, Flocke gives Sawyer an assignment to get a boat to transport everyone to Hydra island. Sawyer recruits Kate to help him with the boat and then tells Jack about his plan....instructing Jack to bring Sun, Hurley and Lapidus (Sayid and Claire are out).
Meanwhile, Flocke gives Sayid an assignment to kill Desmond, who was thrown down a well last week.
FLOCKE: That’s not going to be a problem, is it Sayid. You still want what you asked me for.
SAYID: Yes I do.
FLOCKE: Then do what I said.
Flocke is continuing to leverage Sayid’s loss of Nadia to gain his unquestioned loyalty. This becomes the setup for the next very important scene.
Sayid approaches the well and finds Desmond sitting at the bottom (seemed much further down when Flocke dropped the torch in there last week). This should be like shooting fish in a barrel for Sayid, but Desmond has a new sense of understanding, now that he has visited the sideways universe (and likely retains knowledge of both realities in both timelines).
DESMOND: So what did he offer ya? If you’re gonna shoot me in cold blood, brotha…I think I have a right to know what you’re getting’ in exchange for it.
SAYID: He told me I could get something back I lost.
DESMOND: And what did you lose?
SAYID: The woman I loved.
DESMOND: And where is she now?
SAYID: Dead.
DESMOND: And what makes you think Locke can bring her back?
SAYID: I died…and he brought me back.
DESMOND: So, what will you tell her?
SAYID: What do you mean?
DESMOND: This woman--when she asks you what you did to be with her again…what will you tell her?
Wow....that’s some pretty good stuff right there. First, notice Sayid’s acknowledgement of being brought back from the dead. If there is any semblance of the old Sayid left in that body, he must realize that trying to bring Nadia back is pointless. A few episodes back, he told Flocke, “Anger. Happiness. Pain. I don't feel it anymore.” Even if he gets Nadia back, he won’t be able to love her.....all he has now is an empty desire. Also, Sayid notes that it was Flocke/MIB that brought him back. While there has been much speculation about this....this is the first time anyone has stated it on the show. Finally, note Desmond’s closing argument here. It plays very much into sideways-Sayid’s feelings of not being worthy of Nadia’s love that we saw earlier this season in “Sundown”. Also, recall what Michael did in Season 2 to save Walt (killing Ana Lucia and Libby). We later learned that his relationship with Walt was severed after he told him what he did. Sayid is in a no win situation.
Come on down brotha....the water’s fine.
After this scene we flash to Nadia and Sayid in the sideways, where he has killed to protect her. She knows that something is wrong: “What did you do, Sayid?” Clearly, Desmond is right that Nadia would not be happy about killing as a means of bringing them together. When the doorbell rings, Sayid makes a break for the backdoor, but he wasn’t prepared for Detective Ford and the old garden-hose-tripwire trick. Sayid is under arrest.
Back on the island, Sawyer and Kate make it to the boat (notice that it is the “Elizabeth”....Libby’s boat that she gave to Desmond and landed him on the island). Kate makes a push for bringing Claire with them on their escape plan, but Sawyer will have none of it: “She’s dangerous, you really want her around Aaron?”
As Team Flocke treks through the jungle to the rendezvous point with the boat, Jack and Claire talk a little more:
JACK: How long have you been with Locke?
CLAIRE: Ever since you left.
JACK: So you trust him?
CLAIRE: Yeah.
JACKS: Why?
CLAIRE: ‘Cause he’s the only one that didn’t abandon me.
I’m sure that made Jack “I’ll save you” Shephard feel about two inches tall.....but it couldn’t have affected him too much, because a minute later, when Loacke heads back to see what is keeping Sayid, he grabs Sun, Hurley, and Lapidus and takes off to find Sawyer at the secret meeting point. Claire, of course, notices their departure.....abandoned again (maybe if you took a bath once in the last 3 years Claire, people wouldn’t be running away from you).
Flocke does find Sayid and asks about Desmond:
LOCKE: Did you kill him, Sayid?
SAYID: Of course, I did. Go and check, if you like.
Obviously, there is no way Sayid killed Desmond. Hopefully, this is Sayid’s chance at redemption. Hurley was right....just like Anakin!
Meanwhile Jack and company make it to the boat. Just when it looks like they have a clean getaway, here comes Claire...toting a gun and wanting to know where they are going. Kate tries to diffuse the situation with Claire:
KATE: We’re leaving the island.
CLAIRE: Then why aren’t you waiting for John?
KATE: Because that’s not John and whoever he is, he’s not one of us. Come with us Claire.,...
With Kate extending her hand to Claire, these lines are an homage to, believe it or not, “The Sound of Music”. It mirrors the scene where the Von Trapps are attempting to escape the Nazis, and Capt Von Trapp tries to convince young Rolf to join them (for more see my Rodgers and Hammerstein blog).
Kate ends up playing the Aaron card to get Claire to join them.....but Claire knows that this isn’t going to end well: “He finds out we are gone.....He’s gonna be mad.”
We next travel back to the sideways, where Jack and his son David are heading to the Ilana’s law firm. We learn that they are there for the reading of Christian’s will. Ilana asks him, “do you believe in fate?” She then introduces sideways-Jack to sideways-Claire and learns that she is his half-sister. He grabs his head in a way that seems like more than just being shocked. I have to believe he received a flash of the main-timeline.....stronger than any of the momentary flashes he received before. Before he can digest too much of this, he gets an emergency call from the hospital....destiny calling.
We return to Sawyer’s escape boat for probably THE scene of this episode. When most of the group heads below deck to grab some food, Sawyer decides to spend a little quality time with Jack. But Jack isn’t interested in small talk and gets right to the heart of the matter:
JACK: It doesn’t fell right.
SAWYER: What doesn’t feel right?
JACK: Leaving the island
SAWYER: You wanna tell me why not?
JACK: Cause I remember how I felt last time I left....like a part of me was missing.
Remember that Sawyer didn’t leave the island with the rest of the Oceanic 6 (he jumped off the chopper). He can’t understand what the O6 went through....for they felt just like he did before they left the island.
JACK: We were brought here because we were supposed to do something, James (NOTE – I don’t think Jack ever called him ‘James’ before). And if Locke...if that thing wants us to leave....maybe its afraid of what happens if we stay.
Jack’s got a point. Jack came back to the island for a reason. It wasn’t just so he could leave again. So, while getting away from Flocke was a good idea from Jack’s perspective, he never had any intention of just leaving the island.
But this is not the discussion Sawyer was looking for:
SAWYER: Get off my damn boat.
JACK: What?
SAWYER: You got a decision to make and you make it now. Either you’re with us and you keep that damn crazy talk yourself or you’re going in the water.
JACK: James, this is a mistake...... and I know there’s a part of you that feels that. The island’s not done with us yet.
SAWYER: Yeah, well I’m done with this island. So you want to take a leap of faith Jack, then take it. But get off my damn boat.
JACK: I’m sorry that I got Juliet killed.
And with that...Jack jumps into the water. What an epic moment. It seems to me that Jack jumps into the water for the greater good....just like Sawyer did when he jumped from the chopper. He does take a leap of faith.....recall back in Season 2, when they first needed to push the button, Locke said to Jack, “I can't do this alone, Jack. I don't want to. It's a leap of faith, Jack.” Jack is now a disciple in the church of John Locke. He is all-in....committed to whatever destiny has in store for him. And Sawyer does know that Jack is right.....but now Sawyer is playing the old-Jack part, fighting the man-of-faith. And just like John Locke was right, so too will apostle Jack be correct. They ARE here for a reason. As Flocke said earlier, Locke pursued his belief in the island until it got him killed....but my guess is that Jack will succeed where Locke failed.
Cannonball!!!!
We jump back to the hospital....where we find both Sun and her baby are just fine (completely bogus....but I’ll roll with it). We then switch over to Jack heading into the OR. Jack looks into the face of the patient through an upward facing mirror....John Locke. I’ve frequently noted the use of mirrors this season in the flash sideways. Note here though, that Jack looks into the mirror and sees Locke....the man he has become on the island....the man-of-faith. Jack says, “I think I know this guy”. Jack is right literally (from the airport), figuratively (he IS the new Locke on the island), and perhaps trans-reality (as Jack has likely seen an island timeline vision after meeting Claire).
I think I know that guy.....Kojak?
Team Sawyer arrives on Hydra island, but is not exactly warmly greeted by Team Widmore....expect for one person. Finally Jin and Sun, see one another and run into each others arms for a loving reunion. For a split second I thought the sonic fence would still be on....that would have been hilarious....if after all this time, they are killed just before they embrace. But, alas, this wasn’t a time for comedy. It was a long time coming (since the freighter was destroyed...three years), but Sun and Jin finally found each other.
Moving on.....Zoe, gets an order from Widmore to shoot more weapons at Team Flocke. By this time Jack has come ashore...right where Flocke is. Jack confirms that Sawyer took the boat, but Flocke doesn’t have time to worry about it because....INCOMING! The explosions go off, killing many of Team Flocke and sending Jack flying. Flocke doesn’t care about saving anyone but Jack. He rescues him. Once in a safe position, Locke says, “Jack you all right? Don’t worry. It’s gonna be OK. You’re with me now.”
Mom....mom.....look at me do a cartwheel!
And with that, the Man-in-Black has secured his last recruit. And maybe the only one that really matters. I’m not buying Flocke’s everyone needs to leave the island together story. Maybe, the only candidate he really needed was the one he has now. Jack Shephard and John Locke have always been at the heart of LOST. Now, Jack and the entity impersonating Locke are together for the series endgame......I smell greatness.
Jack.....wake up.....”Idol Gives Back” just ended.
Here are a few misc items:
- Best line of the week goes to Sawyer: “We’re gonna ditch Locke. You, me, Jack, Hurley, Sun and that pilot that looks like he’s stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie.”
- Runner up also goes to Sawyer (he had a lot of good ones this week), when he refers to Frank as “Chesty”.
- The adoption agency and law firm are on floor 15 (one of the numbers)
- Jack takes a call from David’s mother. Again, she is referenced, but not revealed. I’ve got to believe this is somebody important....I’m guessing Juliet. Note the curious “thank you” he says to her.....it must mean something.
- Locke’s dural sac is “obliterated”. Note that Jack inadvertently cut the dural sac of his first solo surgery patient, as we learned, way back in the series pilot.
Next week there is no LOST episode....so no blog entry. I will be visiting an alternate reality during the 1 week hiatus....Walt Disney World. After this break there are only 4 more LOST episodes to go. I am positive they will be spectacular!
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