Lost with LOST: Playing "To Tell The Truth"

There's a series of DirecTV commercials airing right now that pit "Cable", Dish TV, and DirecTV against each other on a fake version the gameshow "To Tell The Truth"--a show that had aired on and off since 1956 (if you're wondering, it's also the show being depicted in the opening scene of Catch Me If You Can). Anyways, the reason that I thought of the show is that it is quite relevant to the sixth and final season of LOST. Let's say that Jacob, Charles Widmore, and the Man In Black/FLocke were the three contestants on the show. Now Jacob is like DirecTV in the commercial because they're the ones who the audience expects to tell the truth. But imagine if they were actually pitted against each other in the gameshow version and you are a Castaway and you had Jacob, Widmore and FLocke all telling you to follow him and he could get you off The Island. Who do you believe? Now that's the question. I wrote about the search for truth in LOST on Tuesday before the show aired. But I believe even more now, after watching "The Package" that the show is after exactly that--truth. Not only figuring out who is telling the truth but figuring out the true person inside you and allowing that person to get out. The problem is that in the characters search for truth on LOST, there are casualties along the way. Jin and Sun certainly fit into that category and although "The Package" was a huge drop from the epic "Ab Aeterno", it was still a good episode.

Sun-dry Thoughts

As I've seen this Sideways World, I've asked the question: how do we know that some of these events wouldn't have occurred if the Castaways hadn't reached Los Angeles? Like what if Jack really has a son and he's just never talked about him in the "Island World"? I'm pretty sure we know that Sawyer isn't a cop back in the Island World, but Kate and Claire have followed their Island storylines in the Sideways World. So are we sure that Jin's mission to America wasn't to deliver that watch and got whacked for doing it? I mean he may have gotten wind of Jin's plans to run away (if he hadn't gotten plans of his own daughter's). Maybe he sent him to America to get him killed. Not totally out of the realm of possibilities.

This Sideways story told us how Jin got from being interrogated about his money at LAX (or is it now LA X?) to Keamy's restaurant and also how he got that gash on his head (damn Omar, you have to be more careful). We learned that in the Sideways World, Jin and Sun aren't married*, but are very much in love. It also seems like a gentler, kinder Jin that we saw at the beginning of the show. So maybe not being married to Sun was going to work out OK for him. Him and Sun were planning to run away anyways, though I guess Daddy Paik wasn't so happy about that one. Sun says that it's nice knowing that no one was watching them was certainly untrue in this episode and ironic considering "Lighthouse" where we found out that Jacob had been, in fact, watching all of them. Coveting your neighbor's daughter? Sounds like the 10th Commandment right there!

*Side Note: Could this be another result of the loss of Jacob. Without him there to bless them at their wedding, maybe the wedding never took place? Or is that too much of a stretch? I'm thinking that what we're seeing with the Sideways World isn't the loss of Jacob anymore. Maybe it is "what if the bomb went off". Or maybe something else, entirely. I'm still betting it was previewed in The Constant where Desmond was flashing back and forth between two worlds: The Island World and The Sideways World. Maybe, maybe not. But it's my theory, dammit!

I was about done with the Sideways World telling me that everyone would eventually meet each other, but I felt this episode was less of a reunion special and more of a story. Well, except for two-eyed Mikhail...who lost his eye anyways. It was definitely symmetry also that Keamy didn't die the first time he was shot. Though it was only good enough to tell Mikhail that there was a Korean guy with a gun to his head. Oops. In the ensuing mayhem, Sun gets shot in the stomach...a stomach that has a baby (Is Jin now fertile? Is Sun having a love affair again and it's the other man's this time? Tough call there).

The Island Sun wasn't having much fun either. She got frustrated about not being able to find her husband, she oddly lost the ability to speak English after being chased by FLocke. Her frustration about the plan to blow up the plane was comical since none of the other characters could hear her and the solution Jack had to have her write down her thoughts may be something that saves all the Castaways. Or maybe not. I'm still trying to figure out if blowing up the plane is a good idea. More on that in a bit.

Jin and Tonic

Jin, Kate, Claire, Sawyer and Sayid. That's basically the flock that FLocke has to begin the episode. And after FLocke goes off hunting for Sun, he loses Jin to an attack of tranquilizer darts. Poor Sayid has gotten knocked out by those each of the past two seasons. Tough life. We’ll get back to Sayid later on. But FLocke is not happy and commissions Sayid to help him after Jin. They take the boat to Hydra Island where FLocke is immediately shown guns. Not sure what that’s going to do to him. He “surrenders” and Widmore comes trouncing out of the jungle. They engage in a double-speak that has me wondering whether either knows anything about the other—or whether they both know more than they’ve been sharing. The final declaration? FLocke says “a wise man once said war was coming to The Island” (does he mean Widmore or did the Man In Black say this and Widmore picked up on it? Hmmm…). THIS MEANS WAR.

Jin is taken to, of all rooms, Room 23, something we had discussed a few weeks back as the place Karl was mindfucked with. Karl’s punishment was for trying to date Alex and the threat of getting her pregnant. Jin is sort of in the same predicament in his Sideways life. Zoe (the Tina Fey look-a-like) takes him to her leader. It ends up she wasn’t supposed to take him so quickly and it also ends up she’s a geophysicist. Jin was kidnapped because of his Dharma mapping? That’s so lame. I was hoping it was because of his supersonic sperm or his amazing Rosetta Stone transformation into an English speaker or something more enlightening than he drew a map once upon a time. It seems like Widmore needs to get to one of the pockets of electromagnetic energy on The Island. For nefarious purposes? We’re soon to find out, I’m sure*.

*Side Note: So what are my top 5 reasons that Widmore wants to get to those pockets? 1) There’s a fountain of youth there or some way to make him live forever like Richard Alpert, 2) It’s what will defeat the Man In Black, 3) He wants to sink The Island like we saw in the premiere, 4) Finding it will allow him to become Jacob and rule The Island, and 5) He wants to somehow turn The Island into a Jurassic Park-like amusement park/medical vacation spot. I like the 5th one the best.

Widmore shows Jin a camera with pictures of Ji Yeon and it seems to soften a hardened Jin. This is a guy who hasn’t seen his wife in years or his daughter ever. While I got the sense this episode that he’ll be eventually reunited with Sun, I’m wondering if there’s any chance he’ll see his daughter. I’m thinking not, but I’m open to change my mind and I like happy endings. Widmore does tell Jin he has something—actually someone—else to show him. Widmore makes himself seem like a good guy even though I have a feeling he's still not. Although I’m not sure it’s what in the locked room, we see a groggy Desmond being carried from the ship. Welcome back, Des, you unlucky bloke. See you next episode, bruthah!

*Side Note: Could it be that both Kwon's are a candidate as a pair and that's why they've been kept apart? Could Jacob have kept them apart to keep them away from MIB or could MIB be the one keeping them apart from stopping them from becoming the candidate together? Or could it actually be Ji Yeon (which is truly both Kwons together) that's a candidate represented by "Kwon" on the cave ceiling? Or are none of these people's candidates and this is just an MIB mindfuck? Debate.

Who else sees Desmond? None other than Zombie Sayid who is lurking in the darkness of the water right outside the sub. He’s not feeling anything now-a-days anyways—pain, anger, happiness, all gone. Which FLocke says is good for what is coming. Does that mean that Sayid will have to kill someone? Die himself? Endure pain? Not be swayed by please from his comrades? I’m very curious. Poor Sayid. He just looks miserable. I think he looked like he was in better shape when Nadia was killed.

Speaking of FLocke, I’m sort of wondering if his ability to turn into smoke is gone--or if this is another example of him not telling the truth. He could have done it chasing after Sun and didn’t. He could have done it to get across the water to Hyrda Island and didn’t (which led to this hilarious exchange between him and Sawyer after Sawyer asked why he didn't just turn into Smokey: "You think if I could do that I'd still be here on this Island?" "No, because that'd be ridiculous"). Maybe he’s no longer able to do it. Maybe “Sundown” was the last time he would be in that form.

I’m also wondering if he’s lost his ability to turn into dead people. What if Jacob’s instructions to Hurley have all actually been Man in Black? Maybe going to the temple and getting Sayid infected was all part of MIB’s master plan? Maybe he appeared as Isabella last episode and told Richard and Hurley they needed to blow up the airplane because he needs to get them there to escape The Island. I don’t particularly love that idea because I like to think Jacob and Isabella aren’t MIB’s manifestations…but I’m not sure anymore. It was especially ominous, looking back on it, that FLocke was watching Richard and Hurley last episode while that whole scene took place.

Conclusion

There were a few more things to discuss this episode but this was basically it. Jack made a promise to Sun he probably shouldn't have made. Miles crack about Hurley not being able to track unless Richard was covered in bacon grease was some nice humor after last week's uber-serious episode. As was Ilana not believing Ben "because he was talking" (and Ben is suddenly sort of a lovable character--it sickens me a bit). The countdown clock for V was as annoying as advertised. Lastly, Claire and FLocke's conversation was a tough one and one that seems ominous for Miss Austin. It seems that FLocke needs Kate to convince people to come...but after that, she's expendable. "Whatever happens, happens," said FLocke. Sounds like Daniel Faraday's "whatever happened, happened." But this has a lot more evil injected into it.

Overall, it's hard to top an episode people have waited years for, but "The Package" provided a good follow up. I feel that after our 10 Commandments were laid out there, we're ready to go. I think that we're finally at the point where the base is set and it's time to get going. So what comes next? Maybe we find out why Desmond was truly special. Maybe we find out what FLocke's ultimate end game is. Maybe we find out who is telling the truth. But we're certainly going to hear half truths and double speak as we play "To Tell The Truth."

How did you feel about "The Package"? How do you feel about the season as a whole? Have a theory on the Sideways World or Desmond's role? Do you believe that Sun's lack of ability to speak English is truly about her head knock? And why did FLocke leave her instead of carrying her off back to his camp? Have any clue what Widmore wants? Leave your comments below and join in on the discussion.

Pictures from New York Times, G4, and iF Magazine, respectively