Lost Recap: "The Candidate"

Wow. Is anyone else out there in shock? Lost came back from it's week hiatus and blew our minds (and certain other precious cargo) to smithereens. This is what it has come to. These are the stakes.

Jin! Sun! Sayid! Lapidus!? Well, we don't care so much about you and your fate is still uncertain, but Sayid and the Kwons are gone! How shocking and awful?! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The Island World basically picked up where we left off two weeks ago except our castaways had been moved from the beach at gun point to the old Hydra cages at gun point. There was a pointed reference to Season 3 as Widmore threated Kate's life to get Sawyer to cooperate and put down the gun he had stolen off a red shirt neo other. Last time Kate and Sawyer were here, it was Sawyer's life hanging on Kate's decision to cooperate with red shirt vintage others. (Or maybe retro other... vintage others would probably be in Dharma past). Sawyer, of course, gave it up. Meanwhile Jack awakes to find he too is on Hydra Island with Sayid and FLocke. The plan? Rescue his friends. Get off this effing island once and for all. This escape seems it's what a lot of this season has been leading up to and I was surprised how easy it seemed to be going. FLocke went all Smokey and offed a bunch of neo others while Jack released his captive friends. They all made their way to the plane where, after pointedly swiping a wrist watch, FLocke found C4 on the plane rigged to explode as soon as they turned the plane on. Hey, maybe this guy is really on their side. Maybe he's telling the truth. Maybe all he really wants is to get off this island and be out of Jacob's grasp like he has been saying. They decide to commandere the submarine which went a lot easier that expected as well. Something has to happen right? Then Kate got shot. I'm not going to lie. I gasped a little bit. These neo others are suprisingly bad shots however and everyone else made it on the sub execpt Claire and FLocke who Saywer purposely abandoned. The sub departed. They were home safe. Saving Kate even looked hopeful with the T-shirt in Jack's bag to provide pressure. They were home free. But there was no T-shirt in Jack's bag. Just the bomb from the plane and the wristwatch counting down...

We now know FLocke's end game. Get them all into one place and end it. After all, he did tell Jacob just this in "Ab Aeterno" a couple episodes ago:

Jacob: So you tried to kill me?
MIB(Man In Black- Pre-Flock): You expect an apology?
Jacob: No, I guess I'm just wondering why you did it.
MIB: Because I want to leave. Just let me leave Jacob.
Jacob: As long as I'm alive you're not going anywhere.
MIB: Well then you know why I want to kill you. And I will kill you Jacob.
Jacob: Even if you do somebody else will take my place.
MIB: Well, then I'll kill them too.

So, as we know, MIB did succeed in killing Jacob. The Candidates- 4 Locke, 8 Hurley, 15 Sawyer, 16 Sayid, 23 Jack, 42 Kwon- were chosen as possible replacements. So to be able to leave the way he's been wanting to do for at least over a hundred years, MIB has to make sure all of the candidates meet their end before they take on Jacob's role of Island Keeper. We've been told by the creepy forest ghost children that FLocke can't kill the Candidates himself. He has to get others to do it and I believe Jack was right in his plea to Saywer not to tamper with the bomb when he theorized that FLocke expected one of them to set it off. Had it run down to zero nothing would have happened. Sawyer couldn't trust Jack, however after his plan to blow Jughead resulted in Juliet's death. So he pulled the cords... and the clock started ticking faster. Sayid, in a moment of fast thinking and redemption told Jack about Desmond, alive!, in the bottom of the well. When Jack asked why he was telling him this Sayid ominously replied, "Because it's going to be you Jack." He then grabbed the bomb and ran as far away as he could before he exploded. All chaos broke loose after this as the sub started its decent into darkness; Lapidus got pummeled by a flying sub hatch- fate unknown, but it doesn't look good, Sun was trapped behind some debris, and Kate was still shot! Jack gave Hurley a breath tank and instructed him to take Kate to the surface. Jack, Sawyer, and Jin then tried to free Sun who, it turns out, was pinned down far more hopelessly than first thought. Sawyer got knocked out by a falling beam. Jin ordered Jack to go, leaving them alone and get Sawyer to safety. Jack protested, but an all knowing look from Jin silenced him. They both understood. As Jack swam Sawyer and himself to safety, Sun and Jin said their weepy watery goodbyes. She begged him to leave but he promised he'd never be away from her again. And he stuck to that promise. How could he leave her when he had just found her again? This was one of the most touching and emotional scenes Lost, or TV for that matter, has ever given us. Jin and Sun have often been the heart of this show and last night we saw that heart die. Together. As one. The way it should be.

A Lost Blogger on EW.com Jeff "Doc" Jensen wrote something really great I wanted to post here. In response to people complaints that these two were never individuals. They were always Jin & Sun. He wrote:

What the hell is so wrong with only focusing on Jin and Sun as a marital unit? Let me tell you what's wrong with that: Nothing. I think it's awesome that Lost chose to tell us a story about two people who took their marriage seriously, who worked through their problems when their union was in crisis, who forgave each other for their sins and redeemed their transgressions by using them as opportunities to build a stronger relationship (Jin's admission in ''Ji Yeon'' that he was basically responsible for Sun's infidelity was a powerful expression of grace and reflection), who saw themselves a better and greater when they were together than apart. I am grateful that Lost told that story.

I agree.

Now we know that MIB is in fact quite evil. The villain of this show, and if he were to escape the Island bad things would happen indeed.

Theory time! There is a lot of debate about what Sayid meant when he said, "It's going to be you Jack." My take? I think it's obvious. He's the one to take Jacob's place when then defeat the Man in Black once and for all. He will be the new Jacob. And I think Man of Faith Jack will happily accept this as part of his destiny. Kate may even stay and be his hottie island goddess. (THAT's a show I'd watch.)

Neat info! The Man In Black is also the name of the villain of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. This series and The Stand are some of the Executive Producers main inspirations in the saga that is Lost.

The Sideways world was pretty cool and all as we found out more about Locke's back story, but nothing really notable enough to discuss on here. Why does this exist?! Please give us a good answer!

One more thing! I love what they're doing with Saywer. He is now responsible for a Jughead size f*** up. Nothing short of this would have allowed him to forgive Jack. Now, for the first time ever, they can truly join forces to fight something a much greater evil. And the Island needs them to work together. 

Next episode is entitled, "Beyond the Sea." I have been told that it is a Jacob and Smokey flashback episode and if that's the case... wow. Hello answers! Hello crazy mind blowing story! Hello finding out exactly who those bloody skeletons are! Also, Beyond the Sea, was the song that Rousseau wrote all over her maps that Sayid enlisted Shannon's help to translate. That episode ended with Shannon singing Beyond the Sea in French. I've always really loved that moment and I love that this title references that. But whatever happens next week, expect me to blue myself.

4 John Locke, 8 Hurley Reyes, 15 James "Sawyer" Ford, 16 Sayid Jarrah, 23 Jack Shepherd, 42 Jin & Sun Kwon