Drowning, Not Waving: Sea of Love on Lost

"We're not strangers; we're family." - Jack

Last night's episode of Lost ("The Candidate"), written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Jim Galasso and directed by Jack Bender, may have started off a little wobbly with yet another switch-up among the alliances and another about-face with their destination but, by George, the last twenty minutes of that episode still has me in tears the morning after.

We can cross a few more names off the cave wall now, thanks to an episode that definitely brought the emotional painfulness back to Lost as well as brought things full circle to the notion of family and the bonds between these characters. When Lost first began, it was essentially a story of survival as a group of strangers--united by tragedy--had to discover a way to stay alive, deciding whether to live together or die alone.

Over the course of six seasons and countless threats to their survival, these disparate characters have grown into something akin to a family. A highly dysfunctional one, granted, but one nonetheless. The invisible threats of fate that linked them at the beginning have been replaced by strong emotional tethers. When Lost-X Jack calls Claire "family," it's not just about their newly discovered sibling bond but about all of the characters on the series.

Family, after all, is what you're willing to lay down your life for, to make the ultimate sacrifice, to stay to the bitter end as the waters rise up over your head. What's united these castaways all along is love.

So what did I think of this week's episode of Lost? Grab an oxygen bottle, bite into an Apollo bar, open up the music box, and let's discuss "The Candidate."

As I mentioned earlier, I found the first half of last night's episode a little tiring. This season, we've seen an endless array of alliance permutations as the castaways splinter, reform, and splinter again, choosing between following Jacob and following the Man in Black, between staying on the island or leaving, between heading for the plane or the sub.

It's felt, to steal a phrase from Sawyer this week, like they've been "running in circles."

With only a handful of episodes remaining, I wanted some real emotional impact, some major stakes raised, rather than just another trek through the jungle or another double-cross of ol' Smokey. Fortunately, the Lost writer gods must have been listening to me because the last twenty minutes of "The Candidate" packed in more plot twists and unexpected tension than several entire episodes.

And, thanks to the death of three major characters (and the assumed death of another), we saw the castaways shattered in a way we haven't seen them in a very long time. Escaping from the wreckage of the submarine, they're scared, shaken, and very sad. Those moments on the beach bring it all home. There's been so much talk of supernatural entities, candidates, and greater purposes that it's become easy to lose sight of the true battle going on here: survival. The deaths of Sun and Jin and of Sayid are an inescapable reminder that they--and we--are just all too mortal. When your time is up, it's up. You don't always get to have the happy ending that you deserve.

I thought that the submarine sequence was gorgeously shot and that the entire last twenty minutes or so--from the time they arrive on the dock to the very end of the episode--had me on the edge of my seat, either gasping in shock (Kate's shooting) or sobbing (Sun and Jin's death). I had a feeling, as soon as I saw that the Man in Black had removed the C4 explosives from the plane that something awful was about to unfold but even I couldn't have predicted that the producers would be killing off three major cast members in one fell swoop. (As well as leaving the fate of poor Frank Lapidus so ambiguous, though I can't imagine that the pilot survived.)

The Man in Black. Say what you want about the mysterious Man in Black, but he's a master manipulator, a cosmic trickster who lies right to your face with a wink and a smile. He knows exactly what he'll encounter on the Ajira plane as soon as (if not before) he steps into the clearing and dispatches Widmore's flunkies without breaking a sweat. Yes, I'm saying that he knew he'd find explosives on the plane because he knows that Widmore has planted them there and left just two redshirts to guard the plane. Why? Because he steals a watch off one of the corpses before he even boards the Gilligan's Island-style bamboo staircase to investigate the plane.

He knew that he'd use the watch to create a ticking bomb that he'd use to kill the remaining candidates... just as he knew that Sawyer would once again try to double-cross him. He was counting on everything playing out just the way it did, in fact. Hell, he was so confident that he let the group in on his plans, displaying the C4, and telling them that Widmore's plan would have them all in one place, in a confined space, with little chance of escape.

And that's just what happened. While it's not Widmore's plan, I believe that the Man in Black always knew just how he'd attempt to get rid of the castaways. While he claimed that he needed them to escape the island, I believe that the reverse is true: he needs the candidates to be dead before he can leave. No replacement for the jailer means that the exit will no longer be barred to him. As long as there is someone to take Jacob's place, he's trapped on his island prison.

So what does he do? He proves that he knows the castaways all too well. He knows that Sawyer will attempt to escape and betray him... and that Jack will likely be caught up in the escape plot, which he is. All he has to do is sit back and let the counter go off and his trouble with the candidates will be over.

Which seems a bit at odds with his inability to kill the candidates, with the fact that his hands are tied due to certain rules that govern the island. Or does it? We've been told that the Man in Black can't kill them and, in fact, he often goes to great lengths to save their lives (Jack, Sawyer). So how could he think that his bomb threat would work?

Because he knows these castaways inside and out. Had they waited out the clock, the bomb wouldn't have gone off, as Jack suggests. They're protected by Jacob's influence. But because Sawyer removed the wires and tampered with the mechanism, he is therefore acting on his own behalf and unleashing a threat against the others. (As Jack said, the Man in Black wants them to kill each other.) It's not the Man in Black's hand on the detonator, but Sawyer's. He knew that someone on the sub wouldn't follow Jack's belief that they were protected and therefore provide a loophole by which the candidates would be vulnerable to death.

Then there's the matter of the ending, as the Man in Black and Claire wait on the docks. He's immediately aware that the sub has sank to the ocean floor (though obviously it can't be seen from there) as well as the fact that not all of the candidates perished in the explosion. Grabbing his pack and his gun, he sets off to "finish what [he] started."

That anyone could say that the Man in Black is nothing less than evil incarnate is beyond me. He doesn't want to help the castaways. He wants off this rock and is prepared to kill all of them to do so. He can't directly cause their deaths but he can create a situation that, once one of them acts, will lead to their deaths (i.e., Sawyer pulling out the wires). As for that scene on the dock, you might be wondering just how he knows that the candidates aren't all dead. Simple: he can leave the island once they're all dead. If he can't leave, then they are still alive. Just as he knew the sub had sank, so too does the Man in Black know that the way is still barred to him. Escape is still not a possibility.

Widmore. So what was Widmore's game then? Why throw the castaways into the bear cages? He claims that he's doing it for their own good and, while I've doubted Widmore's motives in the past, I do actually think he's telling the truth here. He orders his men to move the sonic fence around the cages and locks the castaways inside in an effort to shield them from the Man in Black.

Which would mean that Widmore's mission is to keep the castaways alive. The longer they live--and the more of them that do--the less chance the Nemesis has of escaping the island. Widmore is attempting to keep the balance between light and dark, to keep the scales even as Jacob's candidate is called. He knows, therefore, just what the Man in Black is attempting to do.

So why rig the plane with explosives? To stop the Man in Black and his few remaining followers. After all, when the plane was likely rigged, Widmore already had the majority of the candidates--save Jack and Sayid--in his custody. So if the plane went boom, it would likely only kill the Man in Black's followers. (He did seem to take an awful lot of precautions to keep the Man in Black from the candidates but didn't think about back-up generators, clearly.)

Sun and Jin. I was one of the viewers who was disappointed by Sun and Jin's reunion two weeks ago, which--after all of this time--lacked a real emotional hook. Yes, it was cut short by the arrival of Widmore's men and the brandishing of firearms, but I didn't feel like the brief moment of reunion was strong enough, given how long many of us have rooted for these two to find one another again. This week, they get a brief scene in the bear cages where Widmore's men have stashed them as they talk about Ji Yeon and Sun returns Jin's ring, another symbol of coming full circle. (We also find out just who is watching Ji Yeon back in South Korea.)

(I was surprised that there wasn't a moment of frisson passing between Sun and Widmore, who had, after all, had some words together back in Seasons Four and Five about their mutual interests and Sun's desire to kill Benjamin Linus. But, alas, there wasn't even a flicker of recognition between the two.)

Here, we get the scene that their entire relationship has been building to as Sun is trapped in the wreckage of the sinking submarine. Faced with an impossible decision, Jin can either escape and save himself or they can die together. The fact that the Kwons were always represented with a single candidate number--42--is a poetic foreshadowing of the way they exit the world: bound together, united, hands intertwined. Their moment of unity is heartbreaking and beautiful at the same time: an undersea ballet of billowing hair and clasped hands, a blue-hued postcard of the power of true love. These two never get their happy ending but they also get to die together, in each others arms, beneath the sea. It's only in death that their hands are separated...

(Sigh. I'm getting choked up just thinking about it again.)

Sayid. I was glad to see the old Sayid again, even if it was just one last time at the end of his life. For too long, we've seen a cold, emotionless Sayid, a walking zombie, who cared little for anyone else. But this week, Sayid seems to spring back to life again, recalling the Sayid from the earlier seasons, with his knowledge of defusing bombs. A zombie wouldn't willingly sacrifice themselves for the greater good, but Sayid--now once again alive, it would seem--does just that. He tells Jack about Desmond's location and instructs him to find Desmond and tells him that he is the one, the candidate of the title. And then he runs with the bomb and is blown to smithereens. He redeemed himself with that one act, proving that redemption is possible for anyone, regardless of their past actions.

Frank. And then there's Lapidus, who is felled by a bulkhead as the compartment fills with water. I don't see how Frank could have possibly survived that and escaped the submarine in time. I'm sad to say that our 1970s style pilot may actually be well and truly dead.

Claire. Like Sayid, Claire too seems to be more in touch with her emotional state this week, perhaps influenced by proximity to the castaways. Just as she is stunned that they would leave her behind once more, she seems terrified that the Man in Black has killed them all on the submarine. It's as though she's seeing the Nemesis clearly for the first time in all of these years. (There's also a brief moment of emotion when Sawyer thanks the Man in Black for saving their lives at the Ajira crash site and says he was wrong about him. Claire seems to react briefly to this comment as though she's all too aware that the Man in Black is far less kind than he seems.) There's not only a sense of horror on the dock but also deep sadness for the fact that some of her former comrades in arms may be dead or dying. Could it be that Claire has come back from the land of the shadows at last?

Kate. Would Widmore actually have killed Kate? I think he might have. He's proven himself to be an ends-justify-the-means sort of guy and he knows that Kate isn't a candidate to replace Jacob and therefore is expendable. If killing her would protect the others, he's all too willing to do so in order to prove a point. And it's Kate who gets shot on the dock, after all. Did Widmore give instructions not to hit any of the others? Hmmm...

Jack. I have to say that I've liked Jack a hell of a lot more since he finally embraced his destiny and became the man of faith that Locke had pushed him to be for so long. But we also see here a Jack that is shaken by uncertainty. He believed that, if they let the counter go off, there would be no explosion. That they couldn't be killed. I do feel that Jack was right: it was Sawyer's involvement that led to the explosion. Just as the dynamite didn't kill Jack and Richard Alpert, the bomb here would have failed to detonate when the timer reached zero. But because Sawyer chose to pull the wires out, it's his action that has consequences for the rest of the group and his hand on the trigger.

Despite Jack's conviction about the bomb, it doesn't make the aftermath any less painful for him. Saving Sawyer's life and getting him back to the beach and reuniting with the wounded Kate (who was desperately looking for him), the group succumbs to tears as Jack walks over to the water's edge at stares up at the heavens as he too begins to cry. It was a powerful scene that spoke volumes about Jack's journey and his struggle to believe in something unseen, something powerful and invisible, and give himself over to his destiny. But it doesn't cut any less to lose the people that matter to you. To lose the family that keep you going and protect your back. Lost might be about love but it's also about lost love just as much.

Lost-X. The flash-sideways this week brought together a number of characters, most notably Jack, Locke, and Claire (though Jin is glimpsed en route to Sun's hospital room as Locke wheels by). Locke-X, following his surgery, appears to have regained the lost memories from the island, as seen by his use of "push the button" and "I wish you had believed me" (from his suicide note to Jack). Which means that Desmond successfully awakened him, even if he's still not completely connected to those memories yet. But there's enough of a tenuous connection that he feels a profound sense of deja vu at the end when Jack utters those words to him, "I wish you had believed me."

This John Locke is one who refuses to take a leap of faith and who won't allow Jack to operate on him--after he's told he's a "candidate" for a new spinal surgery--to enable him to walk again. While the other timeline's Locke was paralyzed after being pushed out a window by his villainous father, Anthony Cooper, here his paralysis is a punishment for injuring Cooper in a plane crash just a week after getting his pilot's license. The other Locke saw the magic of the island because he was able to walk again; it was proof positive of the existence of something bigger than him, of something mystical and powerful. But here, Locke can't let go of his past. He's atoning for an accident but carrying around tremendous guilt for making his beloved father catatonic. Because he will never walk again, neither should John.

It's interesting here that the tables have been turned. Whereas Anthony Cooper did nothing but harm to John and use him, here he's a much loved father for whom Locke would do anything. Locke finally got his perfect family but at a staggering cost. Here, he's to blame for the fate that has befallen them and he's unable to move through his guilt.

Jack's advice to let go is a particularly profound one. That's been the struggle of each of the characters since the beginning of Lost, really. The flashbacks have illuminated their personal conflicts throughout their pre-island lives while, in the present, they attempt to move on, to let go of their conflicts and flaws, to accept who they are and become fully formed people. Could it be that once the two timelines come together again (as I believe they will once the island is raised up from the ocean floor) the survivors will finally receive their missing pieces, the parts of themselves that they needed to complete their very being?

The Music Box. Jack seems staggered that he keeps encountering people that were on Oceanic Flight 815 with him, from Bernard Nadler (yay!) and John Locke to his half-sister Claire Littleton. I wanted there to be a bit more of a shocked reaction from Jack than there was; after all, this is seriously weird. If you were on a plane from Sydney to Los Angeles and kept running into people who were on the flight a week later in strange and unpredictable ways, wouldn't you think there was something profound going on here, something that was propelling each of you to come together again?

While Jack goes in search of Anthony Cooper and attempts to heal Locke (his need to always fix things seen again here), he's surprised when Claire visits him at the hospital, bringing an item that their father had bequeathed to her. It's a music box that just happens to play "Catch a Falling Star," the nursery song that Claire had been singing a few weeks back. It also contains another appearance of the looking glass as well, as both siblings stare into the box, their reflections staring back at them. Could it be that these two are the next to "awaken"?

Jack is not going to let Claire go. He invites her to stay with him, saying that they're not strangers but family. As I mentioned earlier, this is an important piece of the Lost puzzle and, here in the alternate reality, we're going to see these characters be pushed together closer and closer as their purpose becomes clear.

Jack, meanwhile, doesn't want to let Locke get away either. He wants to fix him, to help him let go of his demons, his guilt, and his shame. Both of their fathers are gone, lost to them, and nothing they do--not punishing themselves, certainly--will fix that. Whatever happened, happened and hey have to let go and move on. They have to believe.

And they have to find what they're looking for. It's a subtle comment made by Bernard to Jack but it carries significant weight here. Just what is Jack hoping to accomplish? What are each of them looking for? And by coming together once more, will they achieve that end?

Ultimately, the writers are telling us that we're at the end of the narrative. The players are narrowing as the bodies begin to stack up once more on the island. I don't think we'll be seeing Sun and Jin again. Unlike Michael, their souls will be free to leave the island and won't be trapped there to whisper in the jungle. The final battle approaches and it will likely be a bloody and horrific one as the Man in Black makes his final gambit to escape his prison and unleash himself on the world. Will the remaining castaways be able to stop him and restore balance on the island? Are they each prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice? And will Jack be able to fulfill his destiny and become Jacob's replacement and the island's protector? I can't wait to find out over the next three episodes.

What did you think of this week's episode? Were you as moved as I was by Sun and Jin's death? Now that we're moving into the final act of Lost, where do you think the story is going? How do the timelines connect to one another? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on Lost ("Across the Sea"), the motives of the enigmatic Man in Black are revealed.