Jacob's Foot: The Candidate: Sadness

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="640" caption="Mourning Sayid, Sun and Jin"][/caption]

Um, I wanted to write about the words of Mr. Eko when he said "Don't mistake coincidence for fate" to Locke in season two in light of what's going on in the Sideways. You know, Jack's starting to feel like something's going on. Everyone he meets was on Oceanic 815. Things are falling into place in the Sideways world. I'm sure I'll get into that. But...uh...it's been 14 minutes since Act III of "The Candidate" ended. I still feel dust in the eyes. It's been merely 4 minutes since the episode ended. "Two For The Road," please take your second place trophy in the "Most Shocking Developments" awards of the show. "Through The Looking Glass," you have a new buddy atop the list.

Ladies and gentleman, I just watched Sayid, Sun, Jin and Lapidus die in a one act span. I'm sort of speechless but not speechless enough that I didn't feel compelled to update my status BEFORE the episode ended with a "holy BLEEP, LOST." Lindelof and Cuse, I had my suspicions LOST was going to up the ante in the final month. Joss Whedon, you think you hurt the fans deeply by killing off Tara? Lindelof and Cuse just assumed the throne in that department. Part of me wants to give an eulogy for Sayid, Jin and Sun. Scratch that. A LOT of me wants to write that actually. My love for season one knows no bounds as well as my love for the characters Sayid, Sun and Jin. Did I feel as sad as Hurley, Kate and Jack as they cried? Hell yes I did. Will I tear up writing this? Most likely. Yes, I'm well-aware of the Sideways world. I really like that world. That is why I will not write any eulogies for these characters. The End has yet to reveal itself. I will not merely go along without addressing the final moments for each of the three originals (I won't leave Frank out).

Thankfully, the writers gave Sayid a redemptive end. This has been a tough season for Sayid. He followed the false promise of goddamn NotLocke for awhile but the talk with Desmond at the well changed him. We saw only the Sayid we knew for six seasons tonight. How happy was I to hear him figure out what to do with the bomb? Pretty happy. It reminded me of Sayid trying to triangulate the signal in season one and all of the other cool stuff he always did. And then, when Sawyer made the poor decision to not trust Jack, Sayid took the fate of the bomb into his own hands. He told Jack that Desmond was on the Island, in a well, and that Jack was the one now. Sayid then took off with the bomb that doubled in speed because of Sawyer's trust issues with Jack. He got out soon enough for everyone to have a chance and then boom. On a recent podcast (I wrote about this already but it bears repeating), Damon talked about Sayid's story arc: if someone tells you that you're evil, does that make you evil? Likewise, if someone tells you that you're good, does that make you good? Sayid's thought of himself as a killer and when Dogen told him that he is infected, he believed him. Thankfully, Desmond cleared his head.

While in the cages, Sun and Jin had a nice moment when they talked about their daughter. Sun was happy her husband was able to see his daughter. Soon, sadness would come. Oh would it come. The four blocks of C4 tore a hole into the sub so it was sinking. Sun was trapped by a few things. Jin, Jack and Sawyer helped to free her and then Sawyer got a big knock on the head. Jack had to keep Sawyer afloat and couldn't help Jin. Jin told it was fine and to go. Jin wanted to be with his wife until the end. He tried to help her but he couldn't. Before Jack left, he gave them both a look that basically said goodbye. I wish Jack had said "I love you both" but oh well. He left. They were alone. Jin told her in Korean that he would never leave her again. He didn't. They died holding each other. And we knew they were actually dead when the water pulled their lifeless hands apart.

Allright. I feel like that's good for those characters. Onto the meat of this episode: Jack and John Locke.

Coincidence and fate. The famous words of Mr. Eko. This season has been built around those two ideas. Free will vs. Destiny and Predeterminism. What we're seeing as the series comes to an end is a reconciliation between free will and destiny. As Jacob told each candidate he touched, "you have a choice." It's the same words he said to Ben before Ben murdered him. Jack, in the Sideways and the Island world, is beginning to understand the relationship between both. This is good. It is good because he is The Candidate. Jackob. Fittingly, the episode revolved around two candidates: Jack and John Locke. The episode also focused on the MIB actualizing his plan to kill the remaining candidates so he can leave the Island. But I covered that and will write about more later.

I was hoping tonight's episode would find Locke and Jack remembering their experiences on the Island. I was hoping they would remember all that they had been through. It's getting there. We all know the story between the two: faith vs. science. The last words Locke spoke to Jack haunted him, made him a believer of the Island. I think it's great that Jack is that man for Locke in the Sideways. Oh yes I believe Jack is the Locke to Locke's Jack. He even uttered the last words that Locke wrote for Jack: "I wish you would believe me." Locke stopped, contemplated the words as if he had uttered them while laying asleep in a hospital bed recalling a memory that laid dormant for who knows how long and who knows why they are now memories. But Locke continued to roll his chair on the way to meet his Helen. The two characters shared a very poignant scene about loss and letting go. Jack told Locke that he had seen his father because he wanted to understand why he didn't want the surgery. Jack found a mute and paralyzed Anthony Cooper, a shell of the Island self we saw. Locke became angry and then emotional. He told Jack how he had become paralyzed. A week after getting his Pilot's license, he convinced his dad to be the first passenger and the plane crashed. Locke felt a tremendous amount of guilt. Jack was there to comfort Locke. He reminded Locke of what he told him in Lost Baggage Claim area: they lost his father's body, not his father. Jack told Locke that Anthony's gone and told Locke that it's okay to let it go. Jack admitted that he himself doesn't quite know how to let it go and told Locke that he was hoping he'd be the first to let it go. Will Locke think carefully about what Jack told him? I sure hope so. I would love to see John Locke walk again.

Locke is the other candidate in this episode. Jack told him he was one for a new procedure that could reverse Locke's paralysis. Locke did not have any interest. This sent Jack on his journey to figure out what happened to Locke. Along the way, he met with Bernard. Bernard recognized Jack from the plane ("you were flirting with my wife while I was away"). Bernard performed emergency dental work on Locke after his accident. Bernard sent Jack to his father because he didn't want to break doctor-patient confidentiality. Bernard seemed aware.

Jack and Claire ran into each other at the hospital. Jack saw her in the hallway and she was there looking for him. She had something her father left her in the will: a music box that played "Catch A Falling Star." Interestingly, she had no knowledge of the significance. I guess her father didn't sing the song to her as a child in the Sideways as he did in the Island as she informed her friend in "Raised By Another." Jack had no idea what the significance was. He was taken aback when he discovered she had been on the same flight as he. Jack might've set the world record for most times one has felt deja vu. The scene concluded with Jack offering Claire a place to stay in his place because "they're family." Jack is the king, ladies and gentleman.

What will happen when Jack becomes aware of these memories? I think he's the real key. Desmond's very important but he might just be an Abbadon figure. He sees things and puts people where they need to be. The redemption of Jack Shephard has been an amazing journey. One of the most effective scenes in 'The Candidate' is Jack, standing by the ocean, crying. He never allowed himself the time to grieve before he returned to the Island. He was obsessed with fixing everyone and everything. When Naomi died, he wanted to murder Locke. The same thing occured with Boone and so on and so on. This Jack cried. It was refreshing. And I loved how Kate reacted when she saw Jack. The hug, the tears. It was beautiful yet very sad.

More thoughts:

--Check out Doc Jensen's Instant Reaction in which he talks with Damon and Carlton about what happened tonight. I really enjoyed what they said about the Man in Black and how this season has been a long con and the particular part when Carlton says MIB is the villain of the season and possibly the entire series. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Also, my favorite part of the Instant Reaction is when Doc quotes Yunjin Kim as she relates the story Jack Bender told her before she filmed her death scene.

--Damon and Carlton must've had a conversation with Joss Whedon. The Sayid, Sun and Jin deaths felt like something Mr. Whedon would do in Buffy and ANGEL. Joss defended the sudden deaths of beloved characters by saying "we give the fans what they need. not what they want.' Indeed, all of us fans needed this because we've got to understand how big a bad MIB is. Certainly, if he's been the antagonist for the entire series, that's a pretty big deal. Going back to Whedon comparisons, I think the obvious comparison is Tara's death in "Seeing Red" as I mentioned above. Jenny Calendar in "Passion" ranks up there with Sayid, Sun and Jin. Regarding their own show, I think this surpasses the end of "Two For The Road" though it's still close in my opinion.

--Terry O'Quinn's very good. I had the whole 'MIB needs to kill the candidates' in the back of my head but he really sold MIB's desire to leave the Island. He was terrific in the Sideways too.

--Poor Frank died unnoticed. The internet community were unsure of his demise but it happened. He got destroyed by that door and then the water finished the job. Frank had some of the best lines of the season. I thought he would be more important but oh well. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a few members of thefuselage.com are arguing that Frank is alive. I'd be pretty cool with Frank being alive but I think he's dead.

--MIB is one clever bastard. The Ajira set-up. Jack caught on to his gameplan but Jack had destroyed Sawyer's trust. Claire seems to be safe because she's Smokey's girl. I'm glad she showed shock and surprise when he mentioned the sub sinking. Also, if you asked me last year if I thought Claire would be involved in a gun fight and dominating said fight, I would have laughed. She rocked it though. Hopefully she's done drinking the NotLocke kool-aid. She seemed pretty upset by his actions. Stop him, Claire! Also, STOP ABANDONING HER! Her anguish and agony damn near broke my heart and big kudos to Kate for asking about Claire and insisting they go back.

--Speaking of Claire, she and Jack received a mirror scene after they opened the music box. Add that to the list of looking glass scenes.

--Seamus also died in this episode. I wasn't a fan of his when he died. I didn't like the cheap shot he took on Sawyer. Widmore also continues to be a true bastard.

--Thank goodness the group stayed in the cage for only 15 minutes. This episode's pace was fantastic. Much happened, the plot advanced.

--Jaw dropped when Kate was shot. It was so odd seeing Kate hurt. She's Kate! I have a feeling she'll be the next to go. She's so badass! How she get hurt?

--Many fans have expressed their anger about the season and this episode. People are upset about the lack of closure for Sun and Jin's story. Well, their story isn't finished yet. One thing that must be remembered throughout is the fact that DL&CC have stated that the Sideways isn't an alternate universe. It's as real as the Island world. Same thing for Sayid. He can still end up with Nadia in the end. I think we'll see more of these three but I'd still like to thank Naveen Andrews, Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim for six glorious years for how they portrayed their great characters on the Island. The Sideways lives.

--I thought the plot progression off-screen was wonderful. Everyone on Hydra Island to begin the episode. Very good, LOST.

--Holy moly I just read (and it will soon be announced on Kimmel) that the LOST series finale is now 2.5 hours. That's about an hour and fifty minutes not counting commercials. We're essentially getting a film to end it all. A big thank you to the entire cast and crew, ABC and Bad Robot for this. Very exciting. That also means an even longer finale review/recap from Jacob's Foot. 'Twill be the final Jacob's Foot post as well. Get out the kleenexes.

--Matthew Fox was the MVP of the episode. He was outstanding.

--How does a person defeat a person who can transform into smoke? I'm still placing my eggs in the electromagnetism basket. But who knows. It's going to be awesome when he is defeated.

--I'll be happy when Richard, Ben and Miles show up again. I wonder what they're up to in New Otherton. They still should destroy the plane so MIB can't leave. I want Claire, Kate and Sawyer to get off the Island because Sawyer hates the place, Claire needs to be with her son and Kate should still be involved in Aaron's life. But I say: destroy the plane, Richard, Ben and Miles!

--I'd also be very happy to see Kate and Jack end up together but I don't think it's happening. The scene on the beach sold me on them. I just think Evangelline Lilly was terrific in it. I'm not even angry at Sawyer for doing what he did. Jughead wasn't too long ago after all. It's going to be interesting to watch Sawyer deal with the bomb and the aftermath. He essentially had the same luck that Jack had. Of course, Juliet said "it worked." Moving on.

--STEVE noted, as have some fans on TWoP, that only white characters remain. I have nothing else to add.

--Elizabeth Sarnoff & Jim Galasso wrote "The Candidate." Jack Bender, the no.1 director of LOST, directed this one. This episode hurt but it's a good episode. Loved the Jack/Locke stuff and I liked the emergence of MIB as a legitimate threat. I think there's going to be more sadness before all is said and done.

--Only 3 episodes left, 4.5 hours. The final episode has been shot and edited. It's all done. It's exciting. I'll miss the show though.

TO THE RANKINGS!

THE OFFICIAL LOST RANKINGS

We're getting to a real interesting time with the rankings. With characters being killed off, we have to figure out if we stop ranking them or continue ranking them because of the Sideways. We've been ranking Sideways Locke the entire season so we'll probably continue ranking Sayid, Sun and Jin. It's tough. Some cool changes for me and STEVE's rankings this week. Jin moves into STEVE's top 5. MIB remains at 3. I moved Miles out of the top 10 because he hasn't been seen and Sayid needed to get back into the top 10. I also moved Claire into the top 5 for the first time in the six seasons I've been ranking. Kate moves to no. 6 because she was outstanding this episode. Ben falls to no. 7. As for the rest, check it out. There's only three more for season six and then the all-time rankings and that's it.

AFTER EPISODE 14

RANKED: 5/5/2010

CHRIS

1. Jack

2. Desmond

3. Hurley

4. Jin

5. Claire

6. Kate

7. Ben

8. Sayid

9. Locke

10. Sawyer

11. Miles

12. Frank

13. Sun

14. Richard

15. Jacob

16. Man in Black

17. Widmore

STEVE

1. Desmond

2. Jack

3. Man in Black

4. Jin

5. Richard

6. Ben

7. Kate

8. Sayid

9. Frank

10. Sawyer

11. Miles

12. Jacob

13. Sun

14. Claire

15. Locke

16. Widmore

17. Hurley