Lower Decks

If you don’t know yet, Losties, this is it.  “The Last Recruit” feels like the final calm before the storm, and with only three regular episodes to go, you have to know that things are about to kick into gear.  Because the alternate universe is starting to come together, and all of the action in the main timeline seems to be headed to Hydra Island for a final confrontation.  As Locke said…here we go.

This episode felt like part one of a three-part finale to me.  There isn’t a whole lot of action, but a lot of action is set up.  Almost like a game of chess, pieces are moving into place, and we’re simply waiting for one side or the other to make their first move.  The episode is also multi-centric, adding to the “finale” feel.

So after everything that’s happened in this show, everything’s going to take place on the Hydra Island?  That seems wrong to me for some reason, almost like the action is happening off-Island.  I know it’s technically the same place, but I hope that things move to the main Island before things are said and done.

It’s also odd that the confrontation seems to be between the Man in Black and Widmore, moreso than any of our main characters.  When this show first started, I assumed (and I imagine several others did the same thing) that the final confrontation would be between the survivors and the Others.  At this point, the survivors are almost bystanders in the conflict between Widmore’s men and the Monster’s men.

Of course, our main characters will obviously play into it somehow.  Sawyer’s plan to escape while the two sides are fighting doesn’t seem to be working, and Jack has hurled himself back into the middle of things.

I’m going to begin my analysis with Jack, who seems to have come out of his awkward transition from “man of science” to “man of faith” completely.  I’ve mentioned it before, but I haven’t really liked Jack’s character after he left the Island because it’s just so strange to see his character evolve so much.  The three-year jump was a lot of it, but I think they’re finally to a point where it doesn’t feel wrong anymore.

I really like the idea, though, particularly since the “science vs. faith” and “fate vs. coincidence” arguments have been around since the first season.  To see Jack picking up where Locke left off might be weird, but it’s certainly fitting for what the show has established.

And maybe it will happen later, but it’s odd that no one else had the same transition.  Despite all the crazy stuff that’s happened on the Island, no one else really has followed in John’s footsteps.  Everyone else has decided to leave the Island behind.  Even Claire, who might be the most changed is okay leaving the Island.

But you do have to wonder about Jack.  Because the episode begins with Claire telling Jack that he decided to be with the LockeMonster as soon as he let him talk (something that’s been said of both the Monster and Jacob), and it ends with the Monster saying that Jack is “with” him.

If that’s true, it paints the “get off my boat” scene a bit differently.  Because if you take that scene at face value, Jack is going back to “confront” the Monster.  Because, he’s right – if the Monster is truly evil and he wants everyone to leave…shouldn’t they stay?

But if Jack was “convinced” or “turned” or “claimed” or “recruited” – then maybe he said that but didn’t really believe it.  And maybe instead of becoming the next Jacob, Jack might be destined to become the next Monster.  Wouldn’t that be a strange twist?

So now that Desmond was “stolen” from Widmore, he sends Zoe to send the LockeMonster a message.  And that message is…we have missiles.

And I couldn’t help but laugh at that.  The guy is the smoke monster, and as far as we know, he cannot be killed by normal means.  He’s been stabbed and shot already, and he’s no worse for wear.

You can’t say that Widmore doesn’t know what he’s dealing with because he set up the sonic pylons around his base of operations because he knows the Monster can’t travel through them.  So it seems like Widmore knows exactly who he’s dealing with, and he still decided to use the missiles as some kind of trump card.

Taking out the idea that the missiles might be “special” or “magic”, is there a chance that the Monster isn’t allowed to leave alone?  So maybe Widmore’s backup plan is simply to kill everyone on the Island and leave the Monster all by himself.  Because outside of that, I just can’t believe that Widmore thought the missiles would have any effect on the Monster itself.

So now Sawyer’s group (which includes Kate, Sun, Lapidus, and Claire) is at Hydra Island, but they’ve been taken prisoner by Widmore’s men.  It’s interesting that Widmore would back out of his deal with Sawyer – not because it was backed out because Widmore can’t be trusted but why he backed out is interesting.  Did they assume that it was some kind of attempted invasion?  Or did they assume that Sawyer showing up meant Desmond was dead?

Like I said earlier, we know where the Monster and Widmore stand, but we don’t really know the role of our main characters.  We will obviously find out soon enough.

Speaking of Desmond, he begins the episode in the same well that the Monster threw him in last week.  And ever since coming out of the flash-sideways universe, Desmond has had a strange sense of calm.  Zoe even threw out the theory that their device had fried his brain because of the way he was acting.

When Widmore wanted to go ahead with his plan, Desmond smiled and went along.  When Sayid wanted to take him to the other Island, Desmond smiled and went along.  And even when the Monster took Desmond to the well, he simply smiled and went along.  The Monster questioned him on his lack of fear, and Desmond responded that there was no sense in being afraid.

And I figured that Desmond has some kind of flash about what was going to happen.  That he knew the end game and all of the stops along the way, and that explained why he wasn’t worried about anything.  He knew he’d be kidnapped, knew he’d be taken to the Monster, and knew he’d be thrown down in the well.

But when Sayid comes to kill him, Desmond isn’t calm anymore.  He seems sad and/or worried as he questions Sayid about what he’s about to do.  It could possibly be that Desmond is simply playing his part in this (and that he’s supposed to be scared), or it’s possible that Desmond wasn’t as much “scared” as he was “injured.”  Either way, he didn’t seem like a guy who knew what was about to happen.

Did Sayid kill Desmond?  I doubt it.  Desmond is much too important to just kill off, particularly off screen, and he’s still going to have a role in the end game.

But I couldn’t believe that the Monster simply took Sayid’s word for it when he was told that Desmond was dead.  Here is a guy who can potentially throw the Monster’s whole plan off – Widmore’s secret weapon – and the Monster doesn’t want to check?  I couldn’t believe that, especially since the Monster can just turn to smoke and cover great distances in just a few seconds.

Now there does seem to be some kind of issue with actually killing Desmond.  Because if the Monster wanted Desmond killed, he could’ve easily done it himself.  Unless there’s some kind of rule against killing certain people – and remember that the mysterious boy told the Monster that he “can’t kill him.”

The only story that was left off this week was Richard’s small group trying to blow up the Ajira plane.  I wonder if they’ll go back and follow that team to the Dharma Barracks, or if they’ll just show up on Hydra Island with explosives.  As I’ve said, we’ll know it all soon enough.

In the flash-sideways universe, everyone seems to be coming together.  Like I said earlier, this was a multi-centric episode that focused on the different “candidates” ending up in the same place.

- Sawyer ends up with Kate at the police station.  They flirt, and Kate tries to bargain her way out of going to jail with the information that Sawyer was in Australia.  So far, it doesn’t work.  Sawyer then goes and arrests Sayid, who will also probably end up at the police station.

- Sun, Jin, Jack, and Locke (and maybe Ben, who came to the hospital with Locke) all end up at the hospital.  Three of the six main candidates end up in the hospital, with Jack doing surgery on Locke and Sun recovering from her gunshot wound.

- Claire and Desmond end up at the law office of Ilana, who is in charge of settling Christian Shephard’s will.  Two notes – Jack finds out that Claire is his half-sister in the flash-sideways universe and we still haven’t seen John Terry (the actor that plays Christian) this season.

The only unaccounted-for person is Hurley, who is presumably with Libby somewhere.

So everyone is coming together, and we get another glimpse of the “main” universe when Sun sees Locke with a terrified look.  It’s unknown, at this point, the significance of the alternate universe, but you have to think it means more than simply showing people that fate was supposed to bring them together.

Also, with Jack about to work on Locke, it paints a slightly-less malicious picture of Desmond’s hit and run.  Jack should be able to save John, and there’s an odd chance that Jack will correct John’s spine entirely.

What’s funny about it is that Desmond is acting a lot like Jacob in the other universe.  Desmond’s encounters with the other survivors are brief but meaningful, and they’re similar to Jacob’s meetings with the survivors in the original timeline.  I wonder if Desmond has replaced Jacob in the flash-sideways universe, and if so, is he a candidate in the main one?

And before I leave, there were two big events in the episode.  The first is that Jin and Sun are back together after three years apart.  Unfortunately, Jin and Sun have already had a meaningful reunion (after Jin returned from the disastrous raft trip), and this didn’t seem to have the same impact that it should have.  But it’s still nice to see them together again.

Then there’s the revelation that the Monster was Christian Shephard all along.  It’s not a huge revelation because we already knew that he’d portrayed other dead people.  It’s still nice to finally have official confirmation that Christian Shephard is dead and probably has no connection with the Island outside of being Jack’s dad.  That also might be why we haven’t seen him.

It doesn’t bring up the question of how Jack saw Christian off-Island after the rescue of the Oceanic Six.  Was that just a vision, or did the Monster find a way to show himself to Jack?  If that’s the case, is that something he can do while still “trapped” on the Island?

So just three episodes left, and the lines are being drawn.  It’s almost over, folks.  Enjoy it while it lasts.