Wednesday, May 5, 2010

'Lost's' 'The Candidate' Made Me Cry, Dammit

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episode of Lost.*

Seriously, do not proceed if you haven't yet watched "The Candidate" . . .


If I were going to make a list of Losties who I wanted to die, I would've put Sawyer and Kate way ahead of Sun and Jin. In a tragic, self-sacrificing, Shakespearean, eternal love kind of move, Jin decided not to abandon Sun when she was pinned down by debris in Widmore's sinking sub which was racing to the bottom of the ocean after the Man in Black/Smoky Locke's bomb went off. The husband and wife, who traveled through time and hell to find one another again, died together, holding hands, leaving their baby girl an orphan. It recalled Charlie Pace's drowning in the Looking Glass station, a scene at which I also sniveled like I was watching a Hallmark Mother's Day commercial.

Yeah, I know, Sayid died too, sacrificed himself for the sake of his friends, spared (most of) their lives with his heroics. Despite being "claimed," Sayid was noble in the end. But I didn't feel badly about him dying, though I found watching Sun and Jin drown wrenching. "I won't leave you," Jin said. "I will never leave you again." *sniff, sob*

In addition to tears, "The Candidate" also provided some information, like the fact that Smoky Locke can't function well in water (needs a boat) and he can't kill the candidates, but is trying to appeal to their worst instincts to get them to kill one another. As Jack said, "Locke said that he can't leave the island without us. I think he can't leave the island unless we're all dead."

So that leaves candidates Sawyer and Jack to fight it out over the affections of former candidate Kate, and Hurley to fight with . . . who? I don't see Hurley killing anyone, unless it's by accident. And now that the candidates know that Smoky Locke wants them to kill one another, won't they go out of their way NOT to do so? But I suppose they could always meet their maker at the hands of Widmore's people, who shot Kate in the shoulder.

I really liked the sideways-flashes in "The Candidate" where Jack said John Locke was a candidate for a special kind of surgery that might be able to restore his ability to walk. We learned that Locke's father was also in a wheelchair and sustained irreparable damage to his brain and spine when John's maiden flight as a pilot ended in a crash. John harbored such guilt for the incident that he wouldn't even consider the surgery Jack offered, as a penance of some kind. On the bright side, I cheered when I saw Bernard and how the sideways-flashing Jack is finally figuring out that there's a weird connection between the Oceanic 815 passengers.

However when Widmore showed up and locked the Losties in the cages again, I groaned. It felt like it was back to the future with Kate and Sawyer in a cage. As Sawyer said to Kate, "Feel like we're running in circles, back in these cages?"

And where, might I ask, do you think Richard and Ben have scampered off to?

Outstanding questions: Do they have enough time to resolve the sideways-flashes with the events unfolding on the post-crash/post-Jughead island? Enough time to explain the business with Desmond and the electromagnetism, plus the hunting down of the Losties in the sideways-flashes? Enough time to redeem Jack? (Worth noting: In previewing this episode for The Boston Globe, Don Aucoin wrote, "Jack has some questions about what Locke is up to. And we Lost viewers have many, many questions of our own. Which we know deep down will never be answered.")

What'd you think about Sun and Jin's deaths? How much stock do you put into Sayid's last words, "It's going to be you Jack?"

Image credit: Mario Perez/ABC.

2 comments:

The Rush Blog said...

[So that leaves candidates Sawyer and Jack to fight it out over the affections of former candidate Kate, and Hurley to fight with . . . who?]


You're still interested in the love triangle? I don't think Jack, Kate and Sawyer are any more. Jack has made it clear that he will no longer pursue a romance with Kate. Kate is more interested in Claire's fate and getting her back to Aaron. I think Sawyer is still grieving over Juliet, but is now trying to ignore his feelings.

Meredith said...

I hope you're right, as I was never a fan of the triangle. By putting Sawyer and Kate back in those cages, however, the episode reminded you of what happened the LAST time Kate and Sawyer were there.

But you can't ignore that the Man in Black could use Kate as leverage against Jack and Sawyer.

Totally unrelated, but I want to know why Kate's name was crossed off on the cave wall.