Episode 16: “What They Died For”

Introduction

I really like this episode. I think it filled in more information than the previous episode, whose sole purpose seemed to be explaining the Big Picture. Also, it seemed to do a good job setting up the finale. Overall, I think we know most of the backstory about the Island, why everyone is there, and the motivations of Jacob and the Nemesis. There’s still a little mystery left; but there always will be.

Flashsideways: 2004

In this episode, and this is continuing from a few previous ones, Desmond is concerned with getting everyone to recognize their alternate realities. He also seems to be setting up some sort of plan. Not everyone is together, but they all seem to be where Desmond wants them to be: Locke is going to have the surgery; Sayid is with Hurley; Kate is with Desmond; I’m not sure where Sawyer is. They’re obviously setting something up for next episode. I don’t really have much of an idea, but I do feel as if it’s feasible to close this reality up. The bigger question is how will this reality be connected to the real-reality.

Jacob’s Explanation

Jacob’s explanation for his motivations, why everyone was “summoned” to the Island, and what they need to do is quite simple: Jacob made a mistake in making his brother into the Smoke Monster. If the Nemesis leaves the Island, evilness will spread throughout the world, or something like that. [This part of the Big Picture is still fuzzy. Why is the Nemesis evil? Or why is releasing him from the Island so bad? Does the Nemesis want the life source? Does he want to destroy it?] Jacob knew his evil twin would eventually kill him, so he had candidates ready to take his place. Now he needs one of them to do just that. As I supposed, Jack steps forward. After he becomes the new Protector, they are informed that they need to stop and/or kill Un-Locke.

Ben, Widmore, and Un-Locke

So is Ben bad again? I don’t like the idea, especially since they made such a point emphasizing his redemption. Is he playing along to find a way to destroy Un-Locke, playing his part well by killing Widmore? Does he really care about “ruling” the Island? Either way, Zoe throat is slit by Un-Locke, Widmore is shot by Ben (after Widmore explains what Desmond’s purpose is), and the Smoke Monster kills Alpert. Ben and Un-Locke go off, only to find Desmond gone from the well. Un-Locke explains that this is fine, since Desmond is resistant to the electromagnetism, and his new plan is to destroy the Island. [Quick question: Why did he tell Ben that? Isn’t the carrot Un-Locke is dangling in front of Ben the position of ruling the Island? Now that he knows it will be blown up, will he follow Un-Locke and kill the candidates for him? Ah, I think I have it. Un-Locke doesn’t need Ben now, since he will somehow have Desmond blow up the Island, thereby killing all of the candidates without Ben’s help.]

Finale / Desmond

So where are they going with this? On the one hand, Un-Locke wants to use Desmond to blow up the Island. On the other hand, Jack and his crew need to kill Un-Locke. I think the key to all of this is Desmond. I think that they need Desmond to do their part. Everyone needs Desmond. And this somehow connects to the parallel world, where Desmond is running around and setting up another plan. They can go a lot of different places with this, but I think they’ve set themselves up well for a number of reasons: First, the objectives of both sides are clear. Second, the majority of the Big Picture is answered. I don’t know about you, but I’m psyched for the finale!

By the way, I think the plan right now is to watch it at Ed and Daria’s Thursday evening.

Episodes 14 and 15: “The Candidate” and “Across the Sea”

Introduction

I plan on going through these two episodes rather quickly, and dedicating a little more time to the most recent episode, the penultimate one.

13: Flashsideways: 2004

The real Locke awakes from his successful surgery. Jack thinks he could make him walk again, but Locke refuses the offer. We find out Locke took his father, Anthony Cooper, on a plane ride, and they crashed. Locke was paralyzed from the waist down, but Cooper became comatose. Locke sees his situation as punishment, a purgatory of sorts, and his guilt disallows him to take Jack up on his offer of possible healing.

13: The Island: 2007

All of the candidates are together. When they – and this includes Un-Locke – find the plane rigged with explosives, they go to the sub. Everyone gets on except for Un-Locke and Claire. This was Un-Locke’s plan. The apparent theory is that Un-Locke cannot kill any of the candidates, so he tries to set them up to mistrust and kill one another. It sort of works. Sawyer distrusts this aforementioned theory, as espoused by Jack, so he pulls out the wires to the bomb Un-Locke put in Jack’s bag. This accelerates the bomb. Sayid tells Jack where Desmond is – then the bomb instantly kills him. This was pure sacrifice, and it allows Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sawyer to reach the shore. Sun and Jin don’t make it… (What about Frank? I think he’s coming back. Who else will fly the plane?)

14: Jacob and… What’s His Name?

I mainly like this episode, but I disliked a bunch of it, too. Let me try to summarize what we learn: Jacob and The Nemesis are twins. A nameless woman, known only as “Mother,” kills the brothers’ real mother right as they’re born. She is the Island Protector before Jacob. We assume she isn’t the first, since she mentioned arriving on the Island just like the pregnant woman, apparently washing up on shore. She seems to be protecting some sort of life source – a life source that cannot leave the Island, even though it will be desired, or else bad things will happen.

As children, Jacob doesn’t lie, but his twin is more sneaky. He doesn’t seem evil, just more devious. Mother likes the Nemesis more. But the Nemesis wants to leave the Island after seeing other people on the Island that came from another country. He leaves, and Jacob chooses to stay.

After much time has passed, the Nemesis, along with the help of others he is with, discovers a possible way to leave the Island. When Mother finds this, she destroys the well and kills all of the men. The Nemesis is pissed off (and rightfully so, right?) and he kills Mother. In a fit of rage and revenge, Jacob throws the Nemesis into the life source, since he has heard that going in there would be worse than death. The Nemesis exits as the smoke monster, and his physical body is dead.

Quick Thoughts

I like the idea of going back and explaining some of the Big Picture, but I’m hesitant that this was the best approach. The storyline doesn’t explain the Nemesis’ evil-ness; it makes Jacob look highly flawed – in fact, why is he any better than the Nemesis? He stayed with Mother, who doesn’t seem to be a positive character. Importantly, the good vs. evil or man-is-inherently-good vs. man-is-not conflict really goes by the wayside; in its place, we get more of a disorganized feud between two flawed people.