“We’re a bit over our heads here.” – Nurse
“Yeah, I got this…” – Jack
C’mon, how could people not love this guy?
What a wonderful opening ten minutes. It was amazing in the fact that it wasn’t particularly action packed, and overall it was pretty mellow in tone, but it was jam packed with so much goodness. We got some answers, some long overdue reunions, and a few neat interactions. There was just a whole lot going on there.
The big reveal in that opening scene was that we seemingly got confirmation that Christian Shephard is, indeed, a manifestation of the Smoke Monster. I initially felt like Locke was being less than honest. We’ve seen him tell the truth before (or, at the very least, his interpretation of the truth), but we’ve also seen him tell untruths, and downright lies. His delivery of the confession felt like the latter. But you know what? This entire season I’ve been urging readers not to overthink things. I’ve been insisting that the writers aren’t trying to outwardly trick us when they give us answers or they ask us to interpret things. So I think it’s time I take my own advice.
And to tell you the truth, Christian being the Smoke Monster makes a whole lot of sense. Smokey taking over Locke’s body is almost identical to Christian’s scenario. And the Locke Ness Monster had knowledge that Jack’s pursuit brought them to fresh water. So, yes, until something else happens that makes me shift gears, at this point in time I openly accept that Christian was a manifestation of the Smoke Monster. This is what almost all of us originally thought anyway.
And I must say, I loved how the Locke Ness Monster got right to the heart of the matter. When Jack asked him who else he had disguised himself as, we all knew what he was asking. And we were all hoping to get that straight up answer. So it was so ultimately fulfilling when the Locke Ness Monster told Jack to just ask what he wanted to know – and Jack did – AND Locke answered! An excellent scene.
And it also led way to what I had hoped would happen in my Revisited column, which was the brother/sister reunion between Jack and Claire. I’ll admit, parts of the interaction felt a bit…..empty. I don’t know if this was an intentional thing, as Claire is bonkers and Jack tends to be emotionally distant, but it just doesn’t seem like any of the characters have managed to capture the proper emotional reaction to seeing Claire. This is a character they all cared quite deeply for, and they haven’t seen her for three years. But so far the response has been underwhelming. I was particularly surprised by Hurley’s distance. When he first saw her, was he even aware that she was crazy? Actually, did he even know she was alive? Yet he acted like he was awkwardly running into a former lover. Strange.
Wait, I had intended on this being a compliment. I meant to say that I’m happy they acknowledged that this is a familial reunion for them.
Speaking of Jack, how gloriously Locke-esque was he. When the Locke Ness Monster went on his verbal rampage, knocking the departed Locke down to size, I somewhat expected Jack to become deflated and completely lose hope. But instead, shockingly, he stuck up for his late rival. And near the episode’s climax, when he was talking to Sawyer, he might as well have shaved his head and given himself a bad ass scar. There Jack was, talking about how the island isn’t done with them yet, and referring to Sawyer by his given name “James.” And he brought up an excellent point – one that I think rattled Sawyer enough that he downright demanded that Jack get off the boat – that if the Locke Ness Monster wants nothing more than to get them off the island, there must be a reason why he doesn’t want them to stay.
And of course the allusion to Sawyer’s own leap of faith – a selfless act to ensure that the Oceanic Six got home safely – wasn’t missed. Hell, Smokey even uttered the same line Sawyer did when he swam up onto the beach: Good day for a swim.
I enjoyed the way Sawyer was forced to make harsh judgments on who could and could not come on their boat. It really accentuated how far they’ve come. In the past, it was always “save everybody, no matter who, and no matter their condition.” But here, Sawyer quite firmly stated that it’s going to be him, Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Frank. Most of those picks are obvious, as are the exclusions, but Frank was a curious choice. And while they’re not main characters, from a story and character point of view, it seemed odd that Sawyer would completely blow off Cindy and the children. He’s basically leaving them to die, and they’re clearly not evil or crazy.
It was really, really sweet seeing Sun and Jin reunite, but I also can’t help but feel like that reunion came up a bit short as well. I loved how Sun started speaking English once they embraced (although I could have done without Frank spelling it out) and it was a genuinely sweet moment. But, in an odd way, I found her reunion with Hurley and Jack more emotionally charged. But these two are great.
Oh, and Desmond is so totally still alive. As I said with Jin’s faux death a couple seasons ago, if it’s a significant character and they don’t actually show the death, don’t believe that it happened.
By the way, I echo Locke’s sentiments. It is nice seeing virtually everybody together again. It’s been, like, three seasons since that’s happened. Oh, and as a side note, I loved how the Locke Ness Monster had absolutely no reaction to the massive explosion near the camp.
Over in the sideways world, was I the only one who found the Ben/Locke ambulance seen oddly touching? It was almost tragic in a sense – a happier, more humane version of their twisted relationship. On top of actually murdering Locke, Ben has actively attempted to kill his island rival numerous times. Yet here Ben was, acting as his kin, riding in the ambulance with him as he assured him that he was going to be fine and that he was going to get married. It was a brief, touching scene. Perhaps the only one that managed to hit the right emotional buttons (actually, that’s not fair. I also really liked the Kate/Claire scene).
Speaking of Locke, I did catch that Sun recognized him – quite horrifyingly – when they were being brought into the hospital at the same time. As it has been stated, when in a life threatening situation, characters tend to have insight into their island lives. I think that’s what’s happening here, and Sun recognized John Locke as “The Locke Ness Monster.” I do have to say, part of me thought we might get a surprise Juliet appearance as she rushed to save Sun and her unborn baby.
Is it me, or did Desmond come off as exceptionally creepy in his interaction with Claire. Don’t get me wrong, Claire did a nice job of expressing this through increasingly uneasy facial expressions, but if I were her, I probably would have run away terrified. It is interesting that Desmond so actively attempted to unite her with Ilana, because – to my recollection (although variations of that sentence have gotten me in trouble) – Desmond never met Ilana on the island. One might argue that he was merely arranging a meeting between Jack and Claire, but I got the impression that he was legitimately surprised that Ilana was looking for Claire as well. I mean, how would he know that Ilana was also Christian Shephard’s lawyer?
And did I hear Ilana’s last name correctly? Was it Radzinsky? As in, the short fused guy in the Dharma Initiative? And the guy who painted the map in the hatch? In the island reality, she says that Jacob’s the closet thing she’s ever had to a father. This would make sense, as Radzinsky Senior was going loony on the island.
Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, 24, Heroes, and Smallville. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
