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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Lost 6x13 - "The Last Recruit"


I don't think I've ever been more impressed with Jack than when he jumped off that boat. His transformation is complete. He's practically an all-new character. Jack's been a source of frustration and disappointment for six years. You always wanted to think the best of him but we too often saw the worst. His character has been redeemed.

It's pretty satisfying to see Jack completely changed. He takes orders, he's calm, he's thoughtful. He sincerely apologized for getting Juliet stuck in V. He has faith. And he sure does love the Island - well, maybe not, but he believes in it. If only the late John Locke could see Jack now; he'd smile that squinty-eyed crooked smile of his.

Is Jack with Smoke Locke like Smoke Locke thinks? Maybe after Jack recovers from being exploded on the beach, he might beg to differ.

"You can always turn someone back from the Dark Side. Anakin?"
"Who the hell's Anakin?!"

Many's the time I wish we never found out the hell Anakin is. Has living on the Island for the confusing and contradictory amount of time he has obliterated Sawyer's pop culture knowledge? He was Mr. Nickname. He should know who Anakin is. He knew that Lapidus looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie. (Maybe Sawyer's reference points are still stuck in the 70's).

They could have called this episode "Everybody Betrays Locke". The Candidates couldn't wait to bail on Smoke Locke and take off on their plan B. Sayid probably even betrayed Smoke Locke and lied about offing Desmond in the well. Where was Sayid at the end when the Widmore missiles blew up all of those Others? Did Sayid follow Locke back to the beach?

The episode started out with more straight up answers: "Were you, Smoke Monster, inhabiting Christian's dead body?" "Yes." "Why?" "So Jack could find water." Wow. The Smoke Monster should have said, "All I've ever wanted to do, Jack, is just tell you all these answers to your questions up front. It just didn't work out that way."

I really thought for a second Kate's attempt to reason with Claire would get her if not killed, then shot. I don't think Kate's been injured on the show. She hasn't been shot or stabbed or stepped in a bear trap. She's been fucked in a bear cage... I'm digressing. I was hoping while they were eating the canned goods in the galley of the boat, someone would have encouraged Claire to use the bathroom sink and wash her hair or something.

Kind of out of the blue, because with all the other stuff going on it sneaked in under the radar a bit, we got the Jin and Sun Island reunion we've waited two seasons for. "Looks like someone got her voice back." Frank Lapidus Spells Things Out.

Meanwhile, in the sideways universe, Sun recognized Locke. Did she just recognize him from Oceanic 815 or was there a cross-reality realization? Jack recognized Locke too from their meeting at the airport. Dr. Linus found out Locke's first name, and it's a manly name like John and not a girlie name like Leslie (Arzt).

Jack and Claire had family reunions in both realities. I was impressed by how Jack's moppet son walked exactly like he does when they were walking down the hospital corridor on the way to Jack's surgery. Also, Claire has been pretty well established to be super-duper trusting. She got in the cab with Kate after Kate cab-jacked her at the airport, and she trusted Desmond pretty quickly before going into the law firm to meet the cleans-up-nicely corporate hot Ilana. (KABLAMMO!)

Detective James Ford and Kate have a lot of fun potential in the sideways universe. He's the scruffy cop with a mysterious secret, she's the wanted, sexy fugitive with a heart of gold. And Miles makes for a great third wheel. It's a shame the sideways universe won't continue as its own show. I liked how Miles and Jimmy tripped up Sayid and caught him so handily.

Incidentally, Sayid has been a hired assassin for Ben Linus and a zombie (would be) assassin for Smoke Locke. He has four episodes left to find a way to become an assassin for Charles Widmore and complete the Lost Super Villain trifecta.

So whatever happened with Richard, Ben, and Miles' plot to blow up that plane? Are they already on Hydra Island? I guess we'll soon find out.

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