Lost with LOST: Flight attendants, please prepare for arrival.

The penultimate episode of LOST was uncharacteristically all over the place.  It didn't focus on a single character or storyline.  It also didn't answer some important questions from the last episode, such as the true nature of the golden sewer or how the MIB is going to destroy the island.  But it did advance the plot in a way that says: "Please stow your tray tables and raise your seat backs into the full upright position, we are cleared for landing."  Everything seemed to set up the grand finale.  The pace of the episode was brisk, and it did a commendable job of preparing us for the final battle on Sunday night.  I can't say I loved it in the way that I loved "Ab Aeterno" earlier this season, but it wasn't a frustrating letdown like last week's biblical flashback was.  Let's just say that the show has its ducks in a row, and it's time for the main event.

Sideways World

We begin, as always, with a closeup of Jack's eye.  Jack still has the cut on his neck from the airplane, only this time it is smeared with more fake blood.  His son asks whether mom is joining them at the concert that night (more on this later...) but does not disclose the mom's identity.  We need to know this.  Oceanic calls to report that Christian's coffin is en route to Los Angeles.  Jack is naturally relieved but completely unaware that "Oceanic" was really Desmond Hume on his cell phone.  This is another sign that Desmond knows far more than everyone else in the Sideways World.

Later Desmond returns to Locke and Ben's school.  Right before it looks like Desmond is going to run Locke over with his car (again) Ben jumps out to stop him.  Desmond gets out and beats the shit out of Ben,** claiming that he isn't there to hurt Ben, but is instead trying to help Locke "let go."  Ben believes him because right in mid-beatdown, he flashes over to the parallel universe and remembers Desmond beating the shit out of him on the island.  This means we can add Ben to the growing list of people who are aware of the other side: Desmond, Hurley, Libby, Faraday, Eloise, and Charlie.

**Is it me, or does Ben get beat up more than any other character?  It's to the point where he doesn't even look right without bruises and cuts on his face.  It doesn't matter whether he's evil Ben or innocuous Dr. Linus.  He's always getting hit.

Locke soon learns about Ben's encounter with Desmond and realizes that the whole getting-run-over-then-meeting-Dr.-Jack thing isn't a coincidence.  This prompts him to revisit Jack in the hospital and submit to the spinal reconstruction procedure, a conversation that produced a great "I think I'm ready to get out of this chair" line.**  Unfortunately, this is obscured by the writers' resuscitation of the old free will vs. fate debate as Jack says it's all just a coincidence and Locke swears it's meant to be.  What's more interesting is how Jack embraced his fate via free will later in the episode...

**I love the symbolic (or not so symbolic?) connection between Sideways Locke and FLocke.  SLocke wants out of his wheelchair and FLocke wants off the island.  Both are constrained and are ready to leave.  That's all I've got on this issue, but this is probably significant in some way.

In any case, many more connections are established in the Sideways World.  Desmond reports himself to the LAPD for his hit-and-run on Locke and beatdown of Ben.  He is thrown into jail by Starsky and Hutch Sawyer and Miles, where he is placed in a cell alongside Kate and Sayid (good to see him alive again).  Alas, this is just temporary.  Once all three are being transported to county jail, Desmond makes Sayid and Kate promise to go along with him if he facilitates their escape.  They agree and the van promptly stops, whereupon -- wait for it -- Officer Ana Lucia opens the door to help them get away!  Hurley shows up with a boatload of cash to pay off Ana Lucia for her treasonous efforts.**

**This was a hilarious and informative scene.  Hurley says to Desmond "I didn't know Ana Lucia was going to be here!"  Ana Lucia says, "Do I know you, Tubby?"  Hurley says no and Desmond says she's not ready yet.  Basically, this reveals the objective of this week's Sideways World storyline: Desmond is collecting (almost) all of the Losties from the Sideways World for an as-yet-unrevealed purpose.  Hurley takes off with Sayid and Desmond takes off with Kate, who receives a dress that she'll need for a concert that night.  Looks like that purpose is slowly being revealed...Desmond is planning a big reunion with Jack later that night.  We just don't know what's going to happen there.

The last really important part of the Sideways plot wasn't actually that exciting.  Sneaky hot Alex invites "Dr. Linus" to her house for dinner.  Ben drags his feet but Alex's mom pushes the issue.  Who is Alex's mom?  It's Danielle Rousseau, of course, who has not only cleaned up her look quite nicely but also insists that Ben come over, "even if they have to kidnap him."  Ben doesn't flinch, but I do, because I remember when Ben kidnapped Alex away from Rousseau on the island.  It gets even juicier when Ben and Rousseau gaze romantically at each other in the kitchen.  Alex's father died when she was two, so technically the door is open for Ben, but how is this plotline going to be resolved in 2.5 hours?  It ain't.  Let's move on.


Island World


Okay, so the Sideways World was consumed with the all-knowing and cleverly-scheming Desmond, who was hard at work rounding up the Losties for a reunion at Jack's son's concert.  That's all well and good, but the best parts of this episode happened on the island.

It's clear that sides are being drawn here.  Kate says that they need to kill FLocke.  Jack, who teetered on this issue only a few episodes ago, is now fully on board with this plan.  Sawyer, who looks super guilty for killing Sun and Jin,** seems willing to let Jack take over and announce their plan to find Desmond, which is essential to stopping FLocke.

**Sawyer should feel guilty.  He kicked Jack off the boat, helped FLocke steal the submarine, prevented FLocke from boarding the doomed submarine, and pulled the wires from the bomb, thereby fulfilling FLocke's plan to destroy the sub and causing the deaths of Sayid, Sun, and Jin.  He also managed to get knocked unconscious, which prevented Jack from saving Jin, which turned poor little Ji Yeon into an orphan.  Son of a bitch!

Finally we are reunited with the Ben/Richard/Miles group.  Ben leads them to New Otherton where he has hidden lots of C4 in the secret room behind the bookcase.  Before they can leave to "blow the plane to hell," Widmore and Zoe show up.  Widmore fires a shot across the bow, "As usual, Benjamin, I am three steps ahead of you.  Jacob told me everything I need to know to get here."  But before more insults can fly, FLocke arrives in a big way.

Richard goes outside to distract FLocke so that the others can escape.  He walks around warily until Smokey swoops in out of nowhere and throws Richard's body really far.**  FLocke approaches Ben and asks him to kill some people.  If Ben is successful, he can have the island all to himself when FLocke leaves.***  Power-monger Ben is excited by this idea and promptly reveals that the outrigger belongs to Widmore, who is hiding in the closet.

**It is possible that we just witnessed Richard's death.  While ageless, he is not immortal, and he is presumably able to die once his purpose on the island has been fulfilled.  His purpose was to serve as the intermediary between Jacob and Jacob's candidates.  Now that we have identified Jacob's replacement among the candidates, Richard is no longer needed, and he is "free to die."  But if that was his death, what a subpar death for such an important character!  After all he did for Jacob, the Others, the Losties, and the island, he deserved better than that.  Unlike Lapidus, however, I bet that we'll find out Richard's fate in the finale.  I'm simply suggesting that his fate is death.  Maybe that isn't such a bad thing, since he can finally be with his wife.

***Later in the episode, however, we learn that MIB intends to destroy the island.  So theoretically, there will be nothing left for Ben to inherit and control.  A liar has been conned by a bigger and better liar!

FLocke tells Ben he doesn't want to be in the closet to see what he's about to do.  Ben, fully aware of what's going to happen, says "I want to see this."  What does he get to see?  The second Zoe opens her mouth, Widmore shushes her, and FLocke slices her across the throat with his knife (perhaps "the" knife from last episode).**  I doubt many tears were shed for her character's death.  I, for one, was happy to see her go.  Anyway, FLocke threatens Widmore with killing Penny when he gets off the island, so Widmore lays his cards on the table.  He brought Desmond to the island because of his resistance to electromagnetism -- he is a "measure of last resort."  He doesn't want to say more in front of Ben, so FLocke tells him to whisper the rest in his ear.

**Was this a little too much, even for FLocke?  Perhaps unnecessarily gory or graphic?  Referee Mills Lane says he'll allow it.  It's Zoe, after all.

Boom goes the dynamite!  Ben shoots Widmore several times, killing him easily.  "He doesn't get to save his daughter," Ben says coldly.  "Did you say there were some other people to kill?"  YES!!  OLD BEN IS BACK!!!  Old Ben is once again working with pure evil to get what he wants.  And he's doing so by killing people.  So long, sniveling Ben, we much prefer the evil and narcissistic version of you.

Finally, the part you've all been waiting for.  Want to know the deal with Jacob and his candidates?  Well, here's what went down.  Jacob appeared to Kate, Sawyer, Jack, and Hurley.  They can all see and hear him now.  His ashes are on fire and when they go out, he goes out.  Meaning, he's dead once and for all.  But until then, he wants to tell them everything they need to know about protecting the island.**

**What's this?  You think Kate isn't a candidate because her name was crossed off in that cave??  Not so fast.  To fix the plot holes caused by A.) their insistence on keeping Kate alive to answer the longstanding question of who she ends up with, and B.) not having anything to do with her character since she has not heretofore been a candidate, the writers simply had Jacob announce that "I crossed your name off because you became a mother -- it was just a line in a cave, and the job is yours if you want it."  Lame.  Who honestly thought for one second that Kate has even a shred of a chance at getting that job?  Of course she had no shot.  Why is she even on the show anymore?

Then Jacob really gets into the juicy stuff.  He says he made a "mistake" a long time ago -- namely, creating the Smoke Monster.  Jacob knew he was responsible for the havoc that Smokey would wreak, and he knew that eventually Smokey would kill him.  So Jacob brought the candidates to the island so he could find a replacement, despite Sawyer's obvious point that he was just fine in his old life.  "No," says Jacob.  "I didn't pluck any of you out of nowhere.  You were all flawed.  You were chosen because you're like me, all alone, looking for something you couldn't find, because you needed the island like it needs you."  Jacob then explains that their job is to protect the light at the center of the island by making sure it never goes out.  Jack asks if it's possible to kill Smokey.  Jacob says I don't know (I'm calling bullshit on that, btw).

Jack responds by volunteering to take Jacob's place.  Jacob explains where the heart of the island is: beyond the bamboo ridge from "where Jack woke up."  Jack says nothing is out there but Jacob assures him that there is.  Jacob takes Jack's cup, brews a tasty beverage, says a little prayer, and hands it back to Jack.  He swallows the whole thing and looks up with this unbelievable expression of realization.**  Jacob says the magic words: "Now you're like me."  It's official.  Jack is the new Jacob.

**I think this was one of Matthew Fox's few bright moments as an actor on this show.  Well done.

Lastly, we close with Ben and FLocke walking through the jungle.  FLocke says he likes to walk, rather than travel in Smokey form, because it reminds him of being human.  He also reveals that Widmore** said Desmond is a "fail-safe" (remember that phrase?) in case FLocke killed everyone on the island and Jacob/Jack needed one final way to prevent him from leaving.  So what does FLocke plan to do with Desmond?  He needs his help...to destroy the island.

**It is possible that Widmore is not as bad as we all thought.  I'm still not certain that he wasn't coming to the island to exploit it somehow, but on the other hand it's clear that he wanted to stop MIB from destroying it altogether.  He believed in the island so much that he gave his life for it.  And I actually believed him when he said Jacob spoke to him.  I guess I'm saying that Widmore's intentions might have been benign.  One thing is clear, though.  There won't be any final showdown between FLocke and Widmore in the finale.  That showdown occurred last night, and FLocke emerged victorious.  Now we're on to Jack vs. FLocke.

Conclusion (borrowing a bit from our 24 recap format)

Episode grade: B+  This episode was more about lining things up for Sunday's finale than it was about blowing away the audience.  The downside was that character development was minimal due to the frenetic and scattered pace of the episode.  The upside was that we got some major answers about the candidates, about Jacob, about Jacob's replacement, about Widmore, about Ben, about Desmond in the Sideways World, and so on.  Plus, not too many additional questions were posed.  We have to be happy about that.

Best moment of the episode: This is a tie between Jacob's line to Jack ("Now you're like me") and Ben's line to FLocke after killing Widmore ("Did you say there were some other people to kill?").  So good.  We got what we want and what we expect -- Jack the Savior, and Ben the Evildoer.

Body count in this episode: 3 (Richard, Zoe, Widmore).  Also, all three were killed in spectacular fashion.  Smokey wiped out Richard, FLocke sliced Zoe's throat in cold blood, and Widmore was gunned down point-blank by Ben.  Pretty intense stuff.

My analysis looking forward: The battle lines have been drawn.  Jacob's burning ashes are about to go out and Jack is going to take the reins.  He will lead Hurley, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, and (hopefully) Desmond against FLocke, Ben, and Claire.  I'm not sure where Bernard, Rose, and Vincent are.  Ditto for the rest of Widmore's people.  But how much do they really matter?  All that counts now is whether Jack & the Good Guys can protect the island's undefined source of light from FLocke, Ben and Claire.  Sure, we desperately want to know what the Sideways World is, and how that entire storyline will be resolved, but isn't that secondary in our minds?  We know it probably affects the Island World, but don't we really just want to know the fate of the island and our beloved characters?  In my view, if we get any more answers than that, we will be very lucky.  What I'm learning is that we'll be okay even if we don't.