Lost Season 6 Analysis and Commentary (Episodes 14 – The Candidate)

Wow!  Talk about an intense episode!  This week’s “The Candidate” was a heck of a good episode.  While I don’t think it was quite up to “Ab Aeterno” (the Richard-centric) or “Happily Ever After” (the Desmond-centric), it was without question the most accessible to all levels of LOST fans.  In fact, even though we are still two and a half weeks away from the series finale, the show has clearly entered finale mode.  If you didn’t like this one, might as well stop watching now.

Clearly, all of the major action was on the island, but I’d like to begin with the sideways timeline.  It is funny that this close to the end of the series, I really don’t understand where the sideways timeline is going.  It is interesting and like the character interactions, but I’m still lost as to how this will tie into the main timeline.  It’s clearly coming, but I can’t figure out how it will work.

Anyway, so the newly run-over John Locke is awakened by Dr. Shephard in the hospital.  Locke’s reaction is, “I know you”.  Jack interprets this as their interactions following the Oceanic 815 flight, but I have to believe this is Locke “knowing” Jack from a flash of the main timeline, courtesy of Desmond’s hit and run.  Dr. Shephard inquires as to how Locke’s initial injury occurred (the one that put him in a wheel chair), but Locke deflects. 

Jack says to Locke, “I think you are a candidate.”  Obviously, Jack is talking about a candidate for surgery.  But as we now know, “candidate” has an entirely different meaning on the island.  I wonder if Locke, who has likely had his island-flash, has cognizance of his post-death existence, as the Man-in-Black is using his form.  This could mean that Locke may be associating “candidate” with his island visions.  It is more likely though that John’s island “memories” end with his death (can’t wait to see his reaction when he sees Ben Linus again).

When Jack explains that he thinks he can fix John, the response is simply “No, thank you.”  Locke’s fiancée Helen comes in and she expresses her gratitude for helping John.


I think I see my reflection in his scalp.

Undeterred, Jack goes on a fact finding mission to the dentist who worked on Locke following his accident (not to nitpick, but how come the hospital records indicate who did emergency oral surgery on Locke, but not the nature of the accident?  I’ll suspend disbelief).  The dentist turns out to be Bernard Nadler....of Rose-and-Bernard fame.  Much to Jack’s puzzlement, Bernard indicates that Jack and Locke weren’t the only two people to have a chance encounter on a recent flight from Australia: “Oceanic 815. I sat across the aisle from you. If memory serves, you were flirting with my wife, Rose, while I was in the bathroom. It's pretty weird, huh?”  Pretty weird, indeed (I’ll discuss this more in just a bit).

Bernard isn’t able to divulge any of the info Jack is looking for, but he is able to give Jack the name of the person who was in the accident with John Locke.

JACK: That was three years ago... you just remember that?
BERNARD: Of course I do, Jack.

Notice Bernard’s sense of omniscience.  If I had to guess, I’d say that Bernard has had his vision of the island world and knows exactly who Jack is and why he is there.  Maybe it happened during the turbulence on Oceanic 815.  Recall that he seemed very much at peace on that flight. 

Bernard gives Jack the name....Anthony Cooper (John Locke’s father).  As Jack leaves, Bernard says to him, “Good luck, doc. I hope you find what you're looking for.”  Again, Bernard seems to know something that Jack doesn’t.  It kind of reminded me of Rose and Bernard’s appearance in last season’s finale, when they tried to convince Juliet to stay for tea instead of going on the mission to blow up the H-bomb. 

So Jack sets out to find Anthony Cooper in a local nursing home.   Before being admitted to see Cooper, Helen sees Jack and wants to know why he is there.  She repeats John’s wishes of not wanting the surgery.

HELEN: You saved his life.  Why can’t that be enough?
JACK: Because it’s not.

Won’t Jack ever learn?  I thought he made some good progress earlier this season in “Lighthouse”, but it seems that Jack is back to his old ways of needed to fix everything.  He just can’t seem to take his fathers advice: “Let it go, Jack.”

As it turns out, Anthony Cooper is now a vegetable, so Jack finds another dead end.  While the irony of Cooper in a wheelchair is not lost on me, I have to say I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see the old con-man back in action again....he was one of the best villains on the show.


The greatest con ever....there’s nothing wrong with me and I get weekly visits from Peg Bundy.


This leads Jack back to the hospital, where is stands over a sleeping Locke.  Locke begins to talk in his sleep and says, “Push the button” and “I wish you had believed me.”  “Push the button”, clearly is a references to the adventures in the Swan Station from Season 2.  “I wish you had believed me”, was the suicide note Locke addressed to Jack last season.

Jack notices Claire in the hall outside Locke’s room, and she asks him for a chat.  But first he stops off a vending machine for an Apollo Bar....looks like the same vending machine (but in a different room) that screwed Jack out of a bar in last season’s “The Incident” before Jacob touched him.  Once he gets a little sugar in his system they start to talk about their father Christian.  Jack tells Claire about his trip to Sydney and how Christian body was lost by the airline on the way back.  Again, to Jack’s amazement, he learns that Claire was also on flight 815.

Note the confluence of Oceanic 815 passengers.  At the hospital we have Jack, Locke, Claire, Sun, and Jin.  At the police station (not seen in this episode) we have Sawyer, Kate, and Sayid.  Hurley and Charlie are the only ones who are not with either group yet.  Seems to me, it is just a matter of time before all 10 are in the same place at once (although, I think it is possible....perhaps likely....that Charlie’s role is done).

Claire shows Jack a music box that their father willed to her: “my father especially wanted me to have this.”  Jack asks to take a look.  When he opens it, the song playing is “Catch a Falling Star”....a tune long associated with Claire and Aaron...back to season 1.  Note how when Jack and Claire look into the Music box, both of their reflections can be seen.  This is the second time in two episodes that Jack has looked into a mirror and sees a different face (last episode it was Locke).  Mirrors have clearly been important all season, but I can’t quite put my finger on why Claire and Jack should be seen in the same image.  Perhaps, just as last episode he saw himself in Locke.....maybe he sees himself in Claire as well.  Notice that right after this, Jack invites her to stay with him, because they are family.

(I’m not going into the island story yet, but immediately after Jack says, “we’re family”, we switch to the island timeline where Jack is with all of the surviving members of the Oceanic 815 flight that are still on the island....his real family).

Before leaving Jack, Claire, and the music box, I want to note that this scene again deepens the enigma that is Christian Shephard.  Christian MUST be important to the overarching mythology of the series.  And the fact that we are almost at the end of the series means it must be epic.  There has to be a HUGE reveal associated with Christian that is coming in the final episodes.


You know....I think he might be prettier than me!

The final scene in the sideways is between Locke and Jack.  But first, as Locke is wheeling down the hall, he passes Jin (who is carry flowers) and seems to take note of him.  Clearly there is some recognition for Locke when he sees Jin....he knows him from his island flashes.

Jack stops Locke on his way out and informs him that he went to see his father.  Locke is frustrated that Jack is prying into his personal life, but relents and tells him what happened to him:

LOCKE: I was in a plane crash.  I had had my...my private pilot’s license for a week and uh...I begged my father to be my first official passenger.  He was terrified of flying.  But I looked him right in the eye and told him he could...trust me.  And we barely got off the ground.  I still don’t r....I don’t remember what I did wrong.  But it was my fault....it was my fault.

Notice the irony here....in the island timeline, Locke can walk because his is in a plane crash.  Here, Locke is confined to a wheelchair, because of a plane crash.

Jack tries to convince Locke that he can’t punish himself forever for what happened to his father.

LOCKE: What makes you think letting go is so easy.
JACK: Its not.  In fact I don’t know how to do it myself.  That’s why I was hoping you could so first.
LOCKE: Goodbye Dr. Shephard.
JACK: I can help you, John.  I wish you believed in me.

Again, this last statement echo’s the John Locke suicide note from last season:

Jack,
I wish you had believed me.
JL

Obviously these words mean something to Locke.  As he pauses before he leaves the hospital. 

All this is very good stuff, but again, I still don’t know how this will all come to a resolution....and we have only 4.5 hours left (they announced this week that the finale has been extended by 30 minutes....woo hoo!).

So, let’s jump to the main timeline, where we had one hell of a rip-roaring ride.

Jack wakes in an outrigger canoe and Sayid informs him that they are on Hydra island.  The scene switches to Team Sawyer being marched into the Hydra station grounds at gunpoint.  After Sawyer turns the tables on one of Widmore’s lackeys, Charles himself shows up and puts a pistol to Kate’s head.

WIDMORE: Drop the gun! Put the gun down or I'll kill her!
SAWYER: You ain't gonna kill anybody. Otherwise you wouldn't be throwin' us in a cage.
WIDMORE: I have a list of names. Ford, you're on it. As are Reyes and the Kwons. Kate Austen? She's not. It doesn't matter to me whether she lives or dies.
KATE: Don't listen to him.

Sawyer, of course, drops the gun as he knows Kate is not a candidate.  Later, he explains to her that her name was crossed out on the wall of the cave.  (This was a point of major internet speculation following the episode “The Substitute” as Kate’s last name “Austen” was not shown on the cave wall.  It was later explained by the producers that her name was there and crossed out, but ended up getting edited out of the scene.)  However, recall that Kate’s name was NOT crossed out on the lighthouse wheel....indicating that possibly Kate is a “secret candidate”. 


Listen Ford, I’ve been blogging on jack-n-kate-4ever.com for 3 years now...for the last time stay away from her or I’ll kill her myself!


Widmore informs Sawyer that they are being locked up for their own good.  While Sawyer doesn’t believe him, I do.  We still don’t know exactly what Widmore’s motivations are, but if he stands opposed to the Man-in-Black, we must assume he is on the side of “good”....how “good” remains to be seen.

Charles asks his team if the fence is “live yet”.  This was a little confusing as we have seen the sonic fence active in previous weeks.  Later, it becomes clear that the fence was moved....possibly to lure Flocke to the Ajira plane.  When Widmore is told it will be an hour before the fence is ready, he replies: “We haven't got an hour! Tell them to work faster! He's coming...” 

In the next scene, we are back on the beach with Jack and Sayid.  Flocke shows up and fills Jack in on the Team Sawyer situation and asks for his help “break your people out”.

JACK: They're not my people. And I'm not leaving the island.

While Jack’s intentions relative to staying on the island may be genuine, he is not being truthful relative to them not being his “people”.  From the day the plane crashed, Jack Shephard has been the “shepherd” of the Losties.  Recall this exchange from Season 1:

JACK: I'm not a leader.
LOCKE: And yet they all treat you like one.

They ARE his people, and he IS their leader.....always has been, always will be.  He has often denied this role, but has always lived up to it.

Flocke continues to hold out hope that Jack will go with them:

FLOCKE: Well Jack, I'm hoping you still change your mind about that. But your friends do want to leave. And since they just ran away from me, on my own boat, I'm gonna need your help convincing them that they can trust me.
JACK: Why should I trust you?
FLOCKE: Because I could kill you, Jack. Right here. Right now. And I could kill every single one of your friends. And there's not a thing that you could do to stop me. But instead of killing you, I saved your life. And now I want to save them too. So will you help me?

Now, we know that Flocke is lying, because of what he was told by the mysterious boy in the jungle earlier this season: “You know the rules. You can't kill him.” (presumably referring to Sawyer....a candidate).

Meanwhile, Team Sawyer are all locked away safely in their cages (home sweet home for Sawyer and Kate).  Sawyer says to Kate: “Feel like we're running in circles? Back in these cages... except last time the gun was to my head.”  Sawyer is also talking to the audience here, as we often see circular storytelling on LOST....characters repeating similar circumstances again and again. 

In another part of the cage, Sun and Jin are enjoying some alone time talking about their daughter, Ji Yeon.  While this seems like throw-away dialogue, I don’t think it is....I’ll come back to this a little later.  Sun also produces Jin’s wedding band, which she has been carrying around the entire time she has been searching for Jin.  When she places the ring on his finger, this represents a re-affirmation of their wedding vows (recall Jin’s wedding vow to Sun: “We will never be apart, because being apart would be like the sky being apart from the earth. With this ring, I make my promises.”).

Suddenly, the power flickers out and we hear the familiar Smoke Monster howl.  Smokey makes fast work of Team Widmore and Jack springs “his people”. 

KATE: What are you doing here?
JACK: I'm with him. Come on.

Ha!  Hard not to like that!  Remember the previous episode was entitled, “The Last Recruit”.  Jack’s statement about being “with him” seems to affirm this recruitment, but as we will soon learn, Jack has already been recruited....by someone who looks a lot like MIB’s current form.

After the mayhem at the Hydra station, Flocke scouts out the Ajira plane.  Widmore’s guards can’t do anything to stop him...bullets having no effect.  After killing them, Flocke takes a wristwatch off one of the guards and enters the plane to retrieve something connected to some wires.  The rest of the Losties arrive on the scene, where Flocke shows them the C4 explosives he claims Widmore was planning to kill them with: “He wants to get us all in the same place at the same time... a nice confined space we have no hope of getting out of... and then he wants to kill us.” (This is the same exact plan Flocke will implement on the sub later in the episode).


Don’t look....there is severe weather in the area!


Note that this scene is the first time all surviving island-bound members of the original Season 1 main cast are in the same place since season 4:

Jack
Sawyer
Kate
Sayid
Hurley
Sun
Jin
Claire
Locke (being portrayed by MIB)

Flocke tells the team that the sub is their best option to get off the island.  Sawyer apparently agrees, but Hurley’s not so sure:

HURLEY: Dude, wait... he's not supposed to leave the island. I mean, Alpert said that--
SAWYER: Screw Alpert. He ain't here.

This raises the question: Where is Alpert?  I guess we can surmise that he planted the explosives on the plane....but I have to believe he and Ben have a better plan.  They have both proven to be pretty resourceful....so I am assuming that they can do a little better than the old C4-with-exposed-wires-in-the-overhead-compartment trick.

Anyway, Sawyer cozies up to Flocke, and then brings Jack aside to pull him into a con:

SAWYER: Hey doc, listen up... you don't wanna leave this island, that's your own damn business. But I'm gonna ask you for one last favor. I don't trust that thing one bit, so here's what I need you to do... once we get to the dock, you make sure it doesn't get on the sub.
JACK: How am I supposed to do that? You saw what it did back there.
SAWYER: Just get it in the water, I'll take care of the rest.

This is sort of interesting, as a theory I’ve read (I think it was originated by the excellent Vozzek69 at DarkUFO) is that the Smoke Monster/MIB has issues with water.  Hmmmm....

At the sub they gather to develop their strategy....with Sawyer taking the lead:

SAWYER: Just ‘cause there ain’t any goons on the dock, doesn’t mean they ain’t on the sub. We’re goin’ in hard. Got it? Lapidus, Hugo, Jin, Sun--you’re with me. The rest of you wait 30 seconds, head down the dock behind us. [to Jack and Locke] You think you two can get our backs?
JACK: Absolutely.

I thought this was a delicious little call back to the Season 6 episode, “LaFleur”:

SAWYER: You still got my back?
JULIET: Absolutely.

Jack using the same words to Sawyer as Juliet (the woman Sawyer loved and Jack killed) is just so perfect.  I think Sawyer even notes it, as he pauses for a second after this.

The first group makes it into the sub and takes over control, and the rest head down the dock:

FLOCKE: You sure you won’t reconsider, Jack?
JACK: Yeah, I’m sure.
FLOCKE: Whoever told you, you needed to stay had no idea what they were talking about.
JACK: John Locke told me I needed to stay.

And with that, Jack pushes Flocke off the dock and into the water.  This was definitely the “YES!” moment of the season.  Jack’s statements this season have convinced me that he is 100% onboard with the “Locke Plan”.  AND This was the punctuation mark on it.

Before Jack can get away, Kate is shot and he carries her into the sub.  Now everyone is on board except for Flocke and Claire.  Sawyer yells up for Claire to join them, but she is too busy shooting up Team Widmore notice.  Flocke does notice and heads toward the sub.  Sawyer closes the hatch and orders them to submerge.  Claire is left behind again, but Locke consoles her, “You don’t want to be on that sub.”  We find out why, as Jack opens his backpack to find the C4 from the Ajira plane, with a timer made from the watch Flocke took off the dead guard.

HURLEY: Dude, where did that come from?
JACK: Locke…We did exactly what he wanted.


Son-of-a-bitch....I hope nobody notices I just peed my pants.


They radio Lapidus in the control room to surface, but realize that they don’t have enough time.  Sayid thinks the bomb can be diffused by removing two of the wires simultaneously.  Jack doesn’t agree:

JACK: Nothing’s gonna happen.
SAWYER: What?
JACK: Don’t pull those wires out.  We’re OK... Nothing’s gonna happen.
SAWYER: If I don’t pull these wire, Locke’s gonna blow us to Kingdom C...”
JACK: No he’s not.  Locke can’t kill us
HURLEY: Uhhh....what?
JACK: This is what he wanted.  This is what he’s been waiting for.  Everything that he has done has been to get us here.  He wanted to get us all in the same place at the same time in a nice enclosed space where we had no hopes of getting out of.

Note Jack’s explanation is the same as Flocke’s for the bomb being on the Ajira plane.

JACK: Locke said that he can’t leave the island without us.  I think he can’t leave the island unless we are all dead.  He told me he could kill any one of us whenever he wanted.  So, what if he hasn’t, because he’s not allowed to.  What if he is trying to get us to kill each other?

Jack, of course, is right.  Just like Alpert couldn’t kill himself earlier this season, Flocke can’t kill the candidates.  It is against “the rules”.

Sawyer is buying none of this, though. 

JACK: Nothing is gonna happen.
SAWYER: Its not your decision to make.
JACK: He can’t kill us
SAWYER: I’m not going to sit here and do nothing.

Note the similarities here between this discussion and the Jack/Locke argument about pushing the button in the Swan Station in Season 2 (one of my all-time favorite LOST scenes):

JACK: The last number's 42.
LOCKE: You're sure?
JACK: Yeah, I'm sure.
[LOCKE enters 42, and is about to press the execute button.]
LOCKE: You do it, Jack.
JACK: What?
LOCKE: You have to do it.
JACK: You do it yourself, John.
LOCKE: No, you saw the film, Jack. This is a two-person job, at least.
JACK: No. It's not real. Look, you want to push the button, you do it yourself.
LOCKE: If it's not real, then what are you doing here, Jack? Why did you come back? Why do you find it so hard to believe?
JACK: Why do you find it so easy?
LOCKE: It's never been easy!
KATE: Maybe you should just do it.
JACK: No. It's a button.
LOCKE: I can't do this alone, Jack. I don't want to. It's a leap of faith, Jack.

Just as Locke convinces Jack to push the button (which he ultimately does), Jack tries to convince Sawyer to take a leap of faith and not pull the wires:

JACK: James, we are going to be OK.  You just have to trust me.
SAWYER: Sorry doc....I don’t.

And Sawyer pulls the wires.  (This is definitely a reaction to Sawyer trusting Jack in “The Incident” and getting Juliet killed)  The timer pauses for a moment and then the countdown resumes at an accelerated pace.  Sayid immediately says to Jack:

SAYID: Listen carefully. There is a well on the main island half a mile south of the camp we just left.  Desmond’s inside it.  Locke wants him dead, which means you are going to need him.  You understand me?
JACK: Why are you telling me this?
SAYID: Because it is going to be you Jack.

I interpreted this to mean that Jack is “the candidate”.  He is the one who must protect the island.

And with that, Sayid picks up the explosives and runs to the other end of the sub, where they detonate.

Recall this exchange from last episode:

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's Anakin?

Hurley was right.  This was a total Darth Vader moment.  Sacrificing himself for the good of those he loves.  Sayid has his redemption. 


At least Vader got to wear a cool mask and cape....I’ve been running around in this tank top all season.

Lapidus is struck by a breech door, before the room fills with water.  While it is left ambiguous, I think it is a safe assumption that Frank is dead (a somewhat sudden and less than heroic exit for a fan favorite). 

Jack helps Kate up and passes her and an oxygen tank to Hurley to get her to the surface. 

HURLEY: I have to go after Sayid!
JACK: There is no Sayid!

(cool line)

Sun is trapped under some debris.  Jin calls for Sawyer to help.  Here is where we see the real measure of Sawyer....despite coming across as a self-center bastard, when the chips are down, Sawyer is a hero.  He and Jack run (or swim) to Jin’s side to help him free Sun.  They are unsuccessful and Sawyer is knocked out by falling pieces of sub.  Jin tells Jack to save Sawyer and that he will stay with Sun.  Jack does take Sawyer out...along with the last oxygen tank.

In a heartbreaking scene, Sun urges Jin to leave and save himself.  But Jin refuses to leave: “I won’t leave you.  I will never leave you again.”  (Remember that wedding vow.)  They kiss and profess their love and end up drowning in a Titanic-like demise. 


Sun....I don’t really understand English that well....didn’t Jack say, “Stay here.  Help is on the way.  You won’t need the oxygen tank?”


A couple of things struck me about this scene.  First, a major thumbs up to the writers for killing off 3 major characters so suddenly.  This is especially true for Sun and Jin, who were just reunited last episode.  It takes balls to kill main characters.  I was reminded of Damon Lindelof’s awesome New York Times Op-Ed piece on Harry Potter entitled, “The Boy Who Died” (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08lindelof.html), in which he talks about the how Americans love surprises and nothing is more surprising than killing major characters.  I’m guessing that many more deaths will follow. 

The other thing I noticed about this scene was that neither Jin nor Sun mention their daughter.  I couldn’t believe Sun didn’t say to Jin: “You must save yourself for Ji Yeon’s sake.”  Now recall the discussion about Ji Yeon from earlier in the episode.  This tells me that her orphaning will not be ignored.  Remember that we never really knew who the candidate “Kwon” was....Jin or Sun.  But the possibility remains that “candidate Kwon” is Ji Yeon.  I guess we’ll see.

In the next scene, Jack emerges onto the beach, with Sawyer in tow, where Hurley and Kate are waiting.  Kate goes immediately to Jack and embraces him, “I couldn’t find you.”  Notice that it is Jack she goes to first....not Sawyer.  She asks, “What about Jin and Sun?” (Poor Frank....nobody even asks about him.  Although, I understand why the writers did this....because to mention Frank waters down the impact of the loss of Jin and Sun to the survivors)  Hurley breaks down with loud emotional despair.  Jack walks away and wades into the ocean.  He looks up at the sky a couple with a teary, questioning look....as if asking God “why?”.  It reminded me of Locke’s breakdown in Season 1’s “Deus Ex Machina” (after Boone is killed) when he asks the island, “I've done everything you wanted me to do, so why did you do this to me?”


Worst....vacation....ever!!!


Finally, we move to the dock where Flocke and Claire are watching the sea. 

FLOCKE: It sunk.
CLAIRE: What, the submarine?  But, they were all on it, everyone.  They’re all dead?
FLOCKE: Not all of them.
CLAIRE: Wait.  Where are you going?
FLOCKE: To finish what I started.

An excellent end to an excellent episode.  If it didn’t hit you already, it should be clear now....the end is near.

Here are a couple of misc items:
- Best line of the week goes to Hurley (when he hears the Smoke Monster coming): “...and, we’re dead.”
- Apparently airline pilots know a lot about running subs.

That is it for this week.