Season VI, Episode 14 – The Candidate

Line of the night – “Now I’ve got the gun, dough boy.” – Sawyer (kind of weak, but ok).







All I can say is…WOW! I’d be willing to bet 23-42% of you cried at one point or another this evening. Joe Britz, I’m looking in your direction. Tonight was one of the most emotional episodes of the entire series. The LOST series is going down like the plot to Predator, i.e., main characters getting knocked off throughout the course of the story line with potentially only one protagonist in the end. In Predator, just when I started to enjoy Hawkins' sense of humor he gets killed, then just as I develop an affinity for Blaine's sarcasm, he gets a laser through the chest. The same theme has applied to LOST, just when we get to enjoy Sun and Jin being reunited, they drown??? Please tell me this fairytale has a happ ending...for the love of pete.

We begin with Jack welcoming John Locke (and the rest of us) back from his lethargic state of surgery. Dr. Shephard explains to John that he repaired his dural sac and noted the spinal injury that caused his paralysis, “I think you’re a candidate!” Jack begins to explain a new procedure that could restore feeling in John’s legs. “I think I can fix you.” - classic Jack Shepard. John is not interested, and I was hoping we would view yet another 'classic Jack move' wincing with the hand on the forehead, but to no avail.

WHOOSH to the island, Sayid welcomes Jack back from his lethargic state (I spy with my little eye parallelism). Sayid paddled to Hydra Island with Jack and Flocke. We transition over to Widmore’s camp where Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Lapidas, Hurley, Sun and Jin are being forced back into the Polar Bear cages…I wonder if there are any fish biscuits left? Widmore is attempting to protect the 4 candidates in his custody: Sawyer, Hurley, Jin and Sun. Kate’s name was not on the ‘list’. They are trying to get the pylon fence running because Flocke’s coming!!

WHOOSH to 2004, and Dr. Bernard Nadler is making bleaching trays (according to Angela). So let’s talk about the elephant in the room right now! Where the hell are Rose and Bernard? They were on the island in 1977, and theoretically should still be on the island now! Were Bernard and/or Rose ever a candidate? Dr. Jack asks Bernard the reason why he had to perform emergency oral surgery 3 years prior on John Locke. They also discover they were both on Oceanic Flight 815. Bernard doesn’t break the code of patient confidentiality, but he does inform Jack that John came to him with another man, Anthony Cooper. “Good luck Doc, I hope you find what you’re looking for.” (Hmmm, does that mean Bernard knows about their former lives on the island?)

WHOOSH to Hydra Island, “It’s just the 3 of us now.” Flocke’s goal is to get the rest of the LOSTIES from Widmore and get on the plane. Jack asks, “Why should I trust you?” (Which seems to be the theme of the episode, trust). Flocke reveals that he could have killed Jack at any time, but instead he saved him, and now he wants to save his friends too.

Back at the Polar Bear cages, Sawyer informs Kate that her name, indeed, was on the cave wall, but it was crossed out. Sun and Jin finally share some much anticipated dialogue, and Sun talks about their daughter, Ji Yeon. Just then the power shuts down and Frank Lapidas takes the words right out of my mouth, “Uh Oh!” Here comes the Whooo pissed off ticka ticka sound, and Hurley’s response is, “annnddd we’re dead.” Smokey takes out all of Widmore’s men and Jack frees them from the cell. They make it out into the jungle and Jack again reinforces that he is not going with them. Sayid appears out of the jungle and this is the first time in quite a long time that we have the entire original group together minus everyone that’s died (Boone, Shannon, Dr. Artz, Paulo, Nikki, Charlie, my boy Mr. Ecko, etc.).

Whoosh back to 2007 and Jack meets Peg Bundy at the nursing home that appears to be caring for Anthony Cooper. She takes him back to meet Anthony and as I look around, my twisted theory-driven mind begins to ponder if the rest of the nursing home patients are actually other influential island flashback characters, “maybe we’ll see Jack’s original wife, Sarah, really old!”…Wishful obscure thinking, I guess. Fun fact: Sarah Shephard is played by the same actress that captivated us in Happy Gilmore, and is currently on Modern Family. Jack meets Anthony Cooper and Mr. Cooper looks like he just got his bell rung by Sawyer.

WHOOSH to the island and Flocke is approaching the Ajira Airways plane. Bullets appear to have no effect on him, and he proceeds to kill 2 more of Widmore’s men. He takes one of their wrist watches…why? Flocke proceeds onto the plane and finds 4 sticks of C4 explosives. Flocke attempts to convince everyone that if they had turned on the electrical components of the plane, it would have blown up. “That's twice you’ve saved our asses, I guess I was wrong about you,” replies Sawyer. Flocke suggests they take the submarine to get off the island. Again, Jack states that he will help, but he is not going with them. As they start to walk to the sub, Sawyer grabs Jack and asks for 1 more favor. He still does not trust Flocke, so he tells Jack to force Flocke into water and Sawyer will take care of the rest. I wonder what happens when Flocke gets wet? Does he multiply like a mogwai?

WHOOSH to the hospital room and John Locke says the following in his sleep, “Boone…push the button…I wish you had believed me.” Locke’s having a relapse of his former past, and this moment deserves a semi 'fist pump like a champ'. Claire’s at the hospital to see her half-brother. Jack grabs a delicious Apollo Bar and they sit down to discuss their father. Jack informs Claire that their dad was found in an alley outside a bar in Sydney, he had drunk himself to death. (No change from the original time line which is surprising). Claire opens the gift from Christian Shepard, we have a reflection moment, and discover it’s a jewelry box that plays the melody to “Catch a Falling Star”, which is Claire’s famous nursery song. Claire and Jack also discover that they were on Oceanic 815 together. Jack has no idea why Christian gave Claire this gift. Jack offers Claire a place to stay while she is in Los Angeles, “we’re not strangers, we’re family.”

WHOOSH back to Hydra Island. Our LOSTIES are all lined up ready to commandeer the submarine. Frank and Sawyer make it on to the sub and take control of the crew. The rest of the group makes a break for the submarine, and for some reason the LOST writers want us to see that Flocke is handing Jack his backpack ever so gently (hmmmmm). At this point, I’m guessing Flocke put the C4 explosives in his pack, but for who…for what? “Are you sure you won’t reconsider Jack…whoever told you you needed to stay had no idea what they were talking about!” Jack’s response to Flocke, "John Locke told me I needed to stay!” Cue the shotgun handle to the gut, and Jack forces Flocke into the water… Widmore’s men begin to fire upon them from the tree line, and Kate takes a bullet to the left shoulder. It’s a scene from Young Guns, and we’ve got some great action going on for the first time in a long time. Flocke pulls himself out of the water, and I am guessing that he can’t transform into Smokey in this condition. So he takes a handgun and starts killing more of Widmore’s men (how many guys did Widmore bring with him???). Before Claire or Flocke can get on the sub, Sawyer closes the hatch and the submarine begins to dive.

Jack is on the sub, and asks Jin to find a shirt in his pack for compressing the gunshot wound to Kate’s shoulder. All Jin finds is 4 sticks of C4 attached to the wrist watch timer. Jack provides some key insight to the situation, “We did exactly what he wanted…nothing is going to happen. Locke can’t kill us. Everything he has done has been to get us here. He said he can’t leave without us, but I think he can’t leave this island unless we are all dead. He told me he could kill anyone of us anytime he wanted…what if he hasn't killed us because he’s not allowed to? What if he’s trying to get us to kill each other?”

“Stay out of my way Doc!” Jack interrupts Sawyer and adds, “if he wanted to kill us, why put a timer on the bomb? We are going to be ok Sawyer, you just have to TRUST ME!” “Sorry Doc, I don’t!”, and Sawyer proceeds to pull the 2 leads out of the bomb. This causes the bomb timer to speed up exponentially. Sayid grabs the C4 and tells Jack where to find Desmond, “you are going to need him.” Sayid also tells Jack, “Because it’s going to be you!” Sayid takes off running, and the bomb explodes! RIP Sayid Jarrah, I will miss your badass fight and torture scenes.

Interestingly enough the rupture in the submarine hull causes an alarm to go off that sounds exactly like the alarm that went off in the Swan Station if the timer went below the 4 minute mark. Lapidas gets nailed by a submarine hatch door and I guess he’s out cold. Hurley takes Kate, and Jack takes Sawyer out of the sinking submarine. Jin stays with Sun whose pinned by some bent pipes (rrrright). Jin can’t get her out, and they share their final moments of life together, “I won’t leave you!” Wow! That’s all I can say is, “Wow!” I was never a big fan of our Korean friends, but Wow! Didn’t think they would knock them both off…who is going to take care of Ji Yeon?

WHOOSH to 2004 and John Locke is leaving the hospital. Jin walks by and John does a double-take. Jack makes one last attempt to recruit John for the spine surgery. Locke still has yet to make a decision, but he does explain to Jack how he ended up in a wheel chair and how Anthony Cooper ended up in a catatonic state. Jack says, “Whatever happened, happened!” A recurring theme over the past several seasons. They both get pretty emotional at this juncture, so I hope they touch hands and experience a glimpse of their alternate worlds. Jack says, “I can help you, John. I wish you had believed me.” Well how about that…Jack’s the man of faith these days. Coincidentally, “I wish you had believed me” was the content of John’s suicide note to Jack Shephard.

WHOOSH to the final scene of the night, and only Hurley, Sawyer, Kate and Jack are alive from the sub. Jack walks to the waters edge, looks out into the ocean and just starts to cry. I get the impression that Jack is looking for Jacob to provide some guidance or reasoning behind what has transpired. I mean, seriously, 3 main characters that we've connected with over 6 seasons are now gone!? On the other side of the island, Flocke and Claire are alive and on the dock. Flocke explains that the submarine sank, but there are still people alive. Claire asks him what he is going to do, and his response is, “I’m going to finish what I just started.”

BAMM…LOST

So after one episode following the long awaited reunion of Sun and Jin, the writers decided that they both should drown. Wow! I still think all of the Losties will converge at St. Sebastian’s hospital and be fine in the end, or at least I hope!

I think Jack finally understands what has to be done, and his importance based on what Sayid said right before he became martyr, "it’s going to be you."

Sayid's been a zombie since his resurrection, following orders with no emotion. After his encounter with Desmond at the well, it appears that he's had a change of heart, and they 'old, badass' Sayid resurfaced to help his friends in their darkest hour.

I don’t think Sawyer will question Jack again, do you?

We should be seeing Miles, Richard and Ben Linus in the very near future, so I wonder if they will all be working together to stop Flocke?!?


Until next week, Namaste and Good Luck!

-Slice