Spotlight: Lost – The Candidate

This week’s Lost sees the deaths of 4 main characters, which is the main reason I’m looking at it in this week’s Spotlight. Part of me really hopes that the series does not end with the Alternaverse and Island World combining to make one true timeline where everyone is still alive, because that would both suck and blow!

A Missed Opportunity

I really thought the writers were going to make a really cool revelation this week. In the flashsideways universe John Locke and his father Antony Cooper (it isn’t explained why they have different names) are involved in a car crash which paralyses John and sets his father into a vegetative state. I hoped that this would explain Antony Cooper’s appearance on the island in season 3. Cooper turned up out of nowhere, he claimed he had just died in a car crash and that the island was hell. The idea that Antony had, instead of being killed in the Alternaverse, had instead been thrown through the veil to land on the island seemed pretty damn cool to me.

However, as was later revealed, John had lied about the car crash, it had in fact been a plane crash, so it seems unlikely then that the Antony on the island and the Antony in the flash sideways were the same person. 

The Deaths

Locke now has all 6 candidates in his little group. We know that only by killing them all can he finally escape the island. He also has Kate, who Sawyer revealed this episode had been a candidate, but her name had been scrubbed from the wall. If I’m honest that is far more interesting than any of the other mysteries.

He leads them to the plane, which Widmore has rigged to explode, so he then leads them to the sub. Once there Sawyer tries to ditch Smokey and escape. Jack has vowed he will never leave the island, Sawyer accepts this but he tasks Jack with dealing with Locke.

“You get him in the water, I’ll take care of the rest.”  Sawyer explains. What did Sawyer hope would happen if Jack pushed Locke in the water? We know that Locke cannot cross the water, otherwise he’d be able to the leave the island, but surely Sawyer must have realised he couldn’t just kill Locke by getting him a bit wet?

Anyway the plan kind of works and Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Kate, Jack, Sayid, Hurley and Frank all set off in the submarine. Claire is left behind again, although that was pretty much her own fault. During their escape attempt Kate was shot, once the sub is moving Jack goes into his back pack to find a bandaid instead he finds four blocks of C4 wired to a watch. The islanders have no time to return to the surface in order to get rid of the bomb, so their only hope is to defuse it.

Jack points out that Smokey cannot kill them, it is against the rules. (I’m thinking that maybe Alex was a candidate, that was why Ben believed she could not be killed???) So Jack proposes they do nothing, that the bomb will not go off. Sawyer however, having lost Juliet to Jack’s belief in the greater agenda, pulls out the wires, which only speeds up the clock. 

Realising they are all about to be blow to bits Sayid grabs the bomb and runs. He doesn’t even close the hatch behind him… The bomb goes off… FOUR BLOCKS OF C4 and yet… AND YET… Everyone but Sayid is fine. Here is an image of what one block of C4 did to the sub back in season 3. One block… not four… 

Anyway, despite the fact that everyone should have died, the sub begins to take on water, rather slowly I might add considering the side of it was just blown completely out. Frank, who was not with the others comes down to investigate and gets pummelled with a hatch that buckles and flies loose under the pressure of the water.

Frank is not seen or heard from again this episode. As nobody bothers to rescue him (or even ask where he is) can we assume he is dead? If he is it’s possibly the most lame-ass death ever. I really like Frank’s character and he never really got used the way he should have. Certainly, his return to the island seems to have been for nothing if he died here, he wasn’t even a candidate for goodness sake… in the end he was simply collateral damage. 

The explosion causes some pipes to fall and pin Sun to the wall. Jin refuses to leave her. Hurley is tasked with getting the wounded Kate out of the sub, while Jack has to deal with an unconscious Sawyer. Jin is left alone to try and save Sun. When the two of them realise she cannot be saved, neither of them suggest that Jin should at least survive to LOOK AFTER THIER DAUGHTER! The final shot we see of Sun and Jin is of them holding hands, until they die and finally  let go.

Part of me thinks that this is deliberate, that we don't actually seem them die, just their hands separating and that Jin has swam to safety. However, if my other theory is correct, that the two universes will eventually collide, then Ji Yeon will be reunited with her parents then, so it wont matter that her father selflessly sacrificed himself in a pointless Romeo and Juliet moment.

The survivors swim to shore where Kate’s mortal wound seems to have healed reasonably nicely. The episode ends with Locke realising that he had failed to kill most of the Candidates and so he heads off to finish the job.

It is possible that he didn’t in fact kill any of them, if Jin is alive, then Sun wasn’t a Candidate and as Sayid stopped being one when he died at the start of the season, the remaining five Candidates are still alive.

Desmond

Before he died Sayid told Jack to find Desmond, this confirms what we knew, that he had not killed Des. It also means that Desmond, like the other Candidates cannot be killed by Smokey. What is it that protects them? Jacob’s touch? Did Jacob visit  Desmond too?

Ok, so this has been a rather cynical Spotlight. After all, possibly four of the main cast just died, but it’s difficult to feel for the character when the show has become so ridiculous and unbelievable.

Anyway, this has been My Two Cents… Until Next Time…