Lost Recap - The Candidate

Wow, looking at my notes for this one and there is a ton of stuff to cover. That means LOTS OF SPOILERS... in case you were wondering.

Last week we left with Sideways Jack performing surgery on Locke. We start tonight with Locke waking up from surgery. Jack gives him details on what happens and mentions his original spinal injury. "I think you're a candidate," he says, referring to a selective surgery that could possibly make him able to walk again. "I think that I can fix you." Sounds good to me, since both versions could certainly use some fixing. Flip to the island and Jack is waking up from his own injuries. "Welcome to Hydra Island," Sayid tells him. Oh, and Sawyers group? They had been ambushed by Whidmore's people in the last episode, and are now being locked away in some very familiar cages (well, familiar to Sawyer anyway).

Mission statement: Sideways Jack is on mission to find out what caused Locke's accident, since he won't tell Jack himself or let Jack help him. Meanwhile the Locke-ness monster is on a mission of his own - to convince the rest of the group that it is in their best interest to all leave together. Now that I know how this ends I can't help but think "Like lambs to the slaughter..." but I am getting ahead of myself here. What I thought at the time is just as relevant: Jack got it right when he said they should stay on the island. Let me do the math for you: Smokey = bad, therefore, what Smokey wants = BAD IDEA. Whatever he says you should DO THE OPPOSITE. Right, moving on then...

Jin and Sun share a lovely moment just before the lights go out on camp Whidmore. Foreshadowing or coincidence? You decide (but there is no such thing as coincidence, in this show or life). Storms appear seemingly out of thin air and Smokey makes like the smoke monster he is and smokes him some Whidmore flunkies. Then Jack sets his captured mates free, and instead of saying "thank you" they ask what he is doing there. Now that's gratitude for ya!

Back in Sideways Land, I can't help but wonder what would make Locke so against this surgery. Unless he feels guilty about some element of the accident... like he deserves what he got maybe? Then we see what happened to his father and that becomes the most likely scenario. Yet we are still missing a crucial piece to the puzzle (but that comes later).

Other things that confuse me: Why people think bullets will actually be able to do anything to a SMOKE MONSTER. He takes the form of dead people and turns into SMOKE! Bullets ain't gonna do nothin' to him. And hello there plane that is almost perfectly in tact even though it should probably be in a million pieces right now. Isn't it lucky that all they probably need to do is hot-wire the thing and it will fly like a beauty? Oh, explosives, eh? Didn't see that one coming... Sawyer saying, "Guess I was wrong about you" to Smokey also had me confused until I realized he was just pretending to keep him from getting suspicious. The scene went something like this for me though:

Sawyer: I guess I was wrong about you.
Me: Sawyer, you weren't wrong! He is using you to get what he wants. Why are people on these shows so stupid?! Arrrrrrggghhhh
*five seconds later he is planning to stab Smokey in the back* (well, figuratively).
Me: Yay! You do have two brain cells to rub together!

To be fair, Sawyer has proven to be a smart, conniving, son-of-a-bee in the past and I shouldn't have doubted him so easily. In my defense, I was watching 24 last night and the writers have made a few characters so incredibly stupid that I'm praying this is all some kind of trick so they can redeem themselves. (President Taylor, I'm talking to you).

Back in the hospital, Locke is mumbling some "nonsense" in his sleep. Things like "push the button" and "I wish you had believed me". Connecting with events on the island? Possibly. In fact, very likely. (Especially that "push the button" stuff). Jack is starting to see a connection too, at least regarding the passengers of Oceanic 815. Seeing him and Claire made me really hope this world is the one we are working towards. Or maybe we can get the best of both worlds. Maybe they can learn from their experiences on the island but get to be as happy as most of their Sideways selves seem to be.

Back on the island, the gangs all back together - and they are attempting to hijack the sub so they can blow this Popsicle stand. Little do they know that it is their sub that is going to blow. Smokey tries to convince Jack that whoever told him to stay on the island was wrong but Jack replies "Locke told me to stay" then pushes him into the water. Awesome! A gunfight ensuing and Kate gets shot - not so awesome. And Sawyer totally leaves Claire behind to keep Smokey from coming with them - also not awesome. Claire is definitely going to be on Smokey's side after that (unless Jack has some family bonding moment with her and convinces her otherwise). Right now it looks like the only way Jack and Claire get their happy family is in the Sideways world. Claire complains about getting abandoned to which Smokey tells her, "You don't want to be on that sub." That is when I knew something bad was going to happen. (Exact words: Oh, God. What is going to happen next?) Cue bomb set to go off in under 4 minutes. "We did exactly what he wanted," Jack tells them all. (Me: "Yes you did. But you knew that before you did it, Jack") My other thought here was that we can't kill them all because there are still like 3 episodes left. Right? Jack seemed to agree with me as he said "Nothing's going to happen. Locke can't kill us." We already demonstrated their not being able to die (or at least not being able to kill themselves) in a previous episode. Jack added to this his theory that Smokey needs them all dead, but he needs them to all kill each other. (See, even the characters have their own theories about where this is all headed). Unfortunately there is no way of testing this since they pull the wires anyway. Sayid runs away with the bomb in hand, saving them all (sorta). At least his final act was a good one. But *gasp* there is a huge leak in the sub now. So that's what happens when explosives blow up inside the sub! Oh, and Sun is predictably in danger, because that couple was only allowed to be happy for about five seconds this season. Sun telling Jin to "save yourself" reminded me of when Jin warned them all the boat was going to explode in a previous season (which is the reason they had been separated in the first place!). My theory is that it doesn't matter who dies here though because the two worlds are going to merge together and they will all live happily ever after. Because THESE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH, DAMMIT! (Whew, got that out of my system). So Jin tells Sun, "I'll never leave you again" and we all cry a little and curse the writers for torturing this couple so. The only consolation is that they leave the world together.

Final revelations for the evening: Sideways Locke was in a plane crash. He had had his pilots license for a week and begged his dad to be his first passenger (even though Dad was hella scared of flying). The plane crashed and now he feels guilty because Dad is basically a vegetable. When Jack was talking to him I found it interesting that in the first season Jack and Locke were complete opposites but the Sideways versions seem to have a lot in common (at least with their father issues).

The island segment ends with some of the group washing up on shore of the island. It seems to only be Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer though. Is Jack right that this is what Smokey wanted? This exchange makes it seem that way:

Claire: Where are you going?
Smokey: To finish what I started.

There are only 3 episodes left in the series (if you count the 2-part finale as one episode) so we don't have much longer to figure all this out. Last minute predictions accepted... NOW.