Huge spoiler warning. Absolutely, positively DO NOT read the following blog entry if you have not watched all episodes of LOST up to and include last night’s “The Candidate.” You have been warned.
The time for witticisms and jokes about LOST officially died last evening. Our viewing party — a dozen people strong — was left entirely speechless by what transpired during “The Candidate.” I think Louise and I were the only two heartless bastards who were not weeping following the tragic deaths of Sayid, Jin and Sun, characters we have loved, despised, laughed at and loved again for the past six years. I don’t count Frank Lapidus among the dearly departed because I never felt any affection for him, and also it’s not 100% certain he’s dead (even though he most-likely is). Watching Lapidus die is akin to watching Mr. Friendly die. It’s a “meh” character death. I’m sorry to all the middle-aged women reading this who have come to know and love our one-liner spouting friend, but he just wasn’t that important.
Wow. So…this is the beginning of the end. Of all the Oceanic 815 crash survivors, we are left with only Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer and Claire. We imagine Rose, Bernard and Walt (WALT!) are out there someone, but for all intents and purposes these final five characters are all that remain from the original crash. By the way, how creepy was Bernard in that sideways flash! He was practically goading Jack towards the epiphany we’ve been awaiting for weeks now. “Maybe you’re onto something here?” Does Bernard know why everybody in the sideways flashes is connected but isn’t saying so? Is this because he, like Charlie, Libby and Keamy before him, is dead in the island reality? So many questions…re-watch that scene if you haven’t already. It’s loaded with information that could prove vital to understanding the connection between LA_X reality and island reality.
Come to think of it, there’s one joke I can make about tonight’s episode. Last week Doc Jensen gave Benjamin Linus 5:1 odds that he was “The Candidate.” HA!
What we’re left with are some theories about how this is going to tie together. Nate seems to think that we’re moving towards a moment when the remaining island characters are somehow transported (with help from Desmond) to the LA_X reality, where everyone is alive and leading their lives to a somewhat happier degree. Nate’s theory is that the three main pockets of electromagnetic energy on the island are used to move the island in different ways. The Swan failsafe moved Desmond through time. The Orchid station moved the island through space (by making it disappear from its geographical location). Perhaps the third pocket can move the island through dimensions, which will potentially bring the remaining castaways’ over to the LA_X timeline. I love the idea of each pocket of energy affecting the island differently when employed, but I don’t get how the people will be moved to a dimension in which they already exist. They can’t move physically because they already exist in LA_X time. They can’t move psychologically because their physical beings will still be present on the island. I don’t see how it could work, but then again I’m not a scientist.
In “Happily Ever After,” and the episodes since then, we have been bombarded with information and messages from characters about the wrongness of the LA_X timeline. “None of this matters,” Charlie tells Desmond. There is, in my opinion, no way Desmond wants to bring the remaining castaways into that reality.
Which leads us to another remaining theory: the Matrix-like cocoon that is keeping the Oceanic 815 oblivious to their true paths will be broken through and left behind. This week, like each episode before it, was filled with parallels between the island timeline and the alternate timeline. There were unconscious ramblings of John Locke, a “Whatever Happened, Happened” reprise, a “Catch A Falling Star” music box gifted to Claire by Christian Shephard, and the repeated (twice in one episode!?) “I wish you’d believed me” delivered by Jack back to Locke in LA_X time. The wall separating these characters from realizing that they’re not supposed to be in the LA_X reality appears to be unstable. I think it is much more likely that the characters move from this timeline to the island timeline than it is for the reverse scenario to occur.
Almost lastly, we have the theory that maybe LA_X is still just a “What if…” scenario, a potential epilogue that has been losing steam and crumbling further apart each weeks as the Man In Black loses his grip on Jack and Co.. Perhaps the season premiere was the beginning of what would have happened if the Man In Black got his way and ushered all the candidates off the island. At that time, he was in a position of strength, able to bend everyone he wanted to his will. Since then, we have seen characters chipping away at him, and as he has lost control of what he imagined would be an easy group to manipulate. As that has happened, simultaneously in the LA_X flashes, we have seen an increase in the amount of “bleeding” between timelines. Think of it as that photograph of Marty McFly and his brother and sister in Back To The Future. The less likely MIB’s dream to leave the island becomes, that potential reality begins to fade from existence, and eventually our characters will disappear from it in favor of the island reality.
And lastly, we have this video interview with Damon Lindelof from Hollywood Reporter that I think was posted during the “bye week” last week. In joking about the Sopranos finale he says, “The Sopranos ending only would have worked with the Sopranos. If we tried a stunt like cutting to black on our show, which is an entirely different animal and has a mystery engine to it, people would literally tar and feather us. And deservedly. No Journey [the band]. They will go on a journey, but there will be no Journey music.” So…did he just imply that maybe the Oceanic 815 will board one final plane together as they trust fate to bring them back to the island? The island…which will somehow resurface from the bottom of the ocean depending on how Desmond uses that last electromagnetic hot spot?
Oh, and one thing I missed because I did not offer any kind of review this week, but it has to be mentioned: Sayid’s death. What a perfect way to end that character’s story. It wasn’t some grandiose moment, he was gone in a flash, and his rushed delivery of those final lines was stunning. “It’s going to be you, Jack.” Positively awesome. Kudos, Naveen Andrews. You will be missed.
Who else will die before this thing ends? Sawyer? Yes. Kate? Yes. Richard Alpert? Yes. Miles? Yes. Ben? Probably. Widmore? Definitely. Jesus Christ. That basically leaves Hurley and Jack. And Hurley could easily die, too. Wow. So depressing. Who wants to eat some poison s’mores with Nate and I after the finale airs? We can hitch a ride on the back of a comet like the Heaven’s Gate cult. I bet they were just killing themselves so they wouldn’t have to face the agony of a LOST finale.
