Measure of Last Resort: Letting Go on Lost

"We're very close to the end."

While those words are spoken aloud by Jacob on the latest installment of Lost, they might as well have been spoken by tireless showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, signaling to the audience that the curtain is about to drop on six seasons of storylines and the final battle between good and evil, with the fate of a mythical island and the entire world hanging in the balance.

Tonight's penultimate episode of Lost ("What They Died For"), written by Elizabeth Sarnoff and Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards, definitely moved the players and their pieces into their final positions. The episode, offering a mix of humor and heartbreak, delivered some serious forward momentum and brought the story back once again to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 after last week's polarizing detour into outright parable ("Across the Sea").

The six seasons of Lost have given us a number of character studies of some deeply flawed individuals, granting the audience the ability to not just come to know them through their actions on the island but those that came before, via the trademark flashbacks that defined the early seasons. These strangers, thrust together by invisible threads of fate, seemed to be put through these trials in order to emerge on the other side complete individuals, unencumbered by trauma, strengthened by their experiences, finally able to let go and achieve catharsis. The island then isn't just a mystical place but a prism through which to see ourselves, to witness our flaws, and to strive to be better human beings.

While the mythology of Lost might involve a millennial battle between two sibling deities for control of an ancient power source that we all have within us, at its heart, it's about the mythic journey we each take over the course of our lives, the quest of the hero, whether we're a doctor, a fugitive, a con man, a rich kid, an absent father, or a failed rock star. It's the human journey, our collective story, that endures.

So what did I think of this week's episode of Lost, the series' second to last? Pour yourself some water, cook up some coq au vin, move the bookcase, and let's discuss "What They Died For."

This was my second time watching this week's episode, the first being at last week's amazing and moving Lost Live: The Final Celebration event here in Los Angeles (which you can read more about here) and, after the disappointment of "Across the Sea," marked a return to form for the season, providing us with some answers (why were these individuals selected by Jacob, who will succeed him, why was Kate's name crossed off), as well as some signs of increased relevance to the Lost-X storyline, which this week featured a major turning point as things began to coalesce on the other side.

While there was a fair amount of humor here (Miles, and even from some unexpected avenues like Benjamin Linus), there were also some really touching and evocative moments, such as Sawyer watching the life preservers from the sunken submarine wash on shore. Standing there silently, there's an immense sense of palpable loss and grief as Sawyer sees the items wash up as Kate puts her head on his shoulder before the entire group unites, silently, to stare out at the ocean and the final resting place of their friends.

Sawyer's guilt over their deaths is keenly felt. Walking through the jungle, he sadly asks Jack, "I killed them, didn't I?" But whereas Sawyer earlier this season blamed Jack for Juliet's death, Jack offers forgiveness instead, telling him that it was "Locke" who killed them.

Likewise, I loved the moment where Jack has to sew Kate up after tending to her gunshot wound, using a black piece of thread and a needle to keep her alive and infection-free. It's a nice callback to the pilot episode of Lost as Kate finds Jack in the bamboo grove and has to stitch him up. There's a nice sense of coming full circle here, retracing our steps all the way back to the beginning, all those years before.

That bamboo grove is, of course, highly significant. Not only is it the location where Jack landed after the crash and where he first opened his eye on the island but it's also right near the cave, the heart of the island. And that's what Jack's purpose has always been about: just as he knew he had to go back to the island, so too does he have to be the one to follow in Jacob's footsteps... and his own, retracing his own journey back to the beginning, his eyes fully open now.

Jacob's ashes are dying out and once the fire burns out, he'll be gone forever. So too is true that Lost's embers are fading. With only two and a half hours left, it too will cease to exist, except for in our memories. I'm not ready to say goodbye. Not yet and possibly not ever. But that's a fact of life and death. We don't get to make the rules. We rarely get to say our goodbyes on our own terms and too soon do good things come to an end...

Lost-X. This week's episode began to speed things up in the divergent reality, with Desmond acting once again as the catalyst for change, awakening the sleepwalkers from their slumber and working to bring them all together... at the museum charity event that many--if not all--the important players of the Lost storyline will be attending, from Charlotte and Miles to Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Jack, and Jack's ex-wife (cough, Juliet, cough). They were always meant to come together, to be together, and Desmond is yanking those strings that bind them to one another, creating a web that ensnares everyone aboard Oceanic Flight 815.

But before then, there's still much to be done. Desmond nearly runs Locke over again but instead savagely attacks Dr. Linus at the school, awakening his impossible memories and sending a message to Locke: that he wasn't trying to hurt him but rather trying to help him "let go," the very message that Jack had told him several episodes back. The encounter shakes Locke enough that he seeks out Jack and tells him that he wants to get out of that wheelchair. He wants to walk again. He wants to believe that there is a purpose to everything, that life isn't just a series of meaningless coincidences, but rather something complex and guided by destiny. He is making that leap of faith, finally.

Jack, meanwhile, has another encounter at the looking-glass, waking up to discover that his neck is bleeding. It's the second time this has happened, the first time being in "LA X," when he found blood under his shirt collar. Just what does it signify? That the two worlds are bleeding together? That he's said farewell to his mortality on the island? That in bleeding, there is the truth of another world? A pathway to enlightenment? In the meantime, he shares a breakfast with what's left of the Shepard clan before getting a call from Oceanic Airlines saying that Christian's coffin has been recovered. Little does he know that it's Desmond...

Lost-X Ben. As for Benjamin Linus, he gets a quiet evening with Alex and Danielle Rousseau as she cooks him coq au vin. There's a beautiful familiarity between the three of them, a damaged family comprised of people who need each other, even though they're not related by blood. The profound sadness that Ben experiences when Danielle tells him that he's the closest thing Alex has ever had to a father is heartbreaking; even he is taken aback by how much her comment cuts him to the quick.

In the other world, of course, he's forced to contend with Alex's grave outside the house they shared... as he comes face to face with the man he blames for her death. Here, she refers to him semi-humorously as the exiled Napoleon. Fitting, really. And Ben gets his own moment to gaze into the looking glass, realization slowly dawning that something is not right with the man reflected back at him.

Desmond.Desmond turns himself in to James at the police station, getting locked up with Sayid and Kate, who continues to plead her innocence to James Ford. But while the cops scratch their heads about why Des would turn himself in, he enacts a brilliant stratagem, breaking them out of police custody with the help of Ana-Lucia and Hurley. (Hurley recognizes Ana-Lucia from the mainstream reality--his memories would appear to be fully actualized--while she has no idea who he is.) And Desmond sends Hurley and Sayid on a mission while he and Kate head to the museum.

Just what will happen next week when all the players are assembled? Just what is Desmond's plan? I'm not entirely sure but it's important that they all come together in the same place and are all awakened in time to... What exactly? Raise the island from the ocean floor with the power of positive thinking? Make a leap of faith to save not only their world but another? Sacrifice their happiness to save humanity?

Meanwhile, we learn just what Desmond's role is within the battle between Jacob and the Nameless One: he's a measure of last resort, a literal failsafe that can be employed by Jacob if the Nemesis is able to kill off his candidates. His resistance to high levels of electromagnetism seem to signify just what he's meant to do: fuse with the energy at the Source and sacrifice himself in order to prevent the Man in Black from ever leaving the island. After all, he did just that at the Swan Station, propelling himself into a divergent reality before the universe had to course-correct. He was exposed to massive quantities of the same energy that flows at the Source. If we all have a spark of that energy, is it possible that Desmond has more of it than normal people? A larger dose that enables his consciousness to travel through time and space. Could it be that he is meant to return it? To return to the Source and give it back?

However, the Nameless One has his own plan for Desmond, as he confides in Ben: he wants to use Desmond to destroy the island, just as Desmond destroyed the Swan Station. No island means no cork in the bottle, which means--as I surmised earlier this season--that the Man in Black intends to smash the metaphorical bottle once and for all.

Ashes. We finally got confirmation (not that there was any doubt in my mind, ever) that Hurley swiped the bag of ashes from Ilana's stuff after she exploded a few episodes back. Here, he's visited by Young Jacob, who demands he turns the ashes over to him and then leads him to the Ghost of Jacob, who sits waiting patiently at a campfire to tell the candidates just why Sun and Jin and the others died and what their purpose is.

"When the fire burns out, you'll never see me again," says Jacob. "We're very close to the end."

Richard. What a sad end for poor Richard Alpert as the smoke monster comes soaring out of the jungle and smashes him against a tree. It seems as though Jacob's gifts are fading, just like the final embers of the fire. Richard's immortality was more longevity than imperviousness. Was his purpose fulfilled? Was the island done with him? Or are the rules no longer applying as there is no candidate to replace Jacob and therefore no jailer to enforce the rules? Curious.

It does seem as though Richardo is dead, though. Could he have survived? It's certainly possible, but not probable. I dare say that we've seen the last of him, at least in this timeline...

Ben and Widmore. Ben, meanwhile, sits in a rocking chair of his old house, waiting for the inevitable. But the Nameless One doesn't want to kill Ben; instead he offers him the one thing that Ben has wanted his entire life: power. Ben makes a Faustian bargain once again, trading his redemption for the possibility of controlling the island after the Nemesis has left.

With no use for Zoe (particularly after she is told not to speak to him, which makes her "pointless"), the Nameless One slits her throat and then turns to Widmore, offering him yet another bargain. If he tells him just why he came back to the island and his plan, he will spare Penny's life. For his part, Widmore claims that he had been visited by Jacob after the freighter incident and that Jacob showed him the error of his ways... and he brought Desmond back to the island to act as Jacob's final failsafe.

Would Widmore betray all of humanity to protect the life of his estranged daughter? Love, after all, trumps everything... But, though he whispers his secret in the Nameless One's ear, Ben shoots Widmore three times, enacting a bitter vengeance for the murder of his daughter, Alex. "He doesn't get to save his daughter," he says viciously... and then asks about the other people the Nameless One wanted him to kill.

Has Ben really sided with the Nemesis? For one, Ben isn't really ever on anyone's side except for Ben... and then there's the fact that he specifically gave one of Widmore's walkie talkies to Miles (before he went careening off into the jungle to save himself) and then shut Widmore and Zoe in the secret room behind the bookcase. Why would he want to stay in contact with Miles if he was looking to kill all of them? I'm hoping that Ben has something up his sleeve, a payback for his manipulation at the hands of the Nameless One.

Jacob. The remaining candidates gather in the darkness around Jacob's campfire as he tells them about the Source and his culpability in the creation of the smoke monster. His replacement will have to make sure that the light never goes out and prevent the Nameless One from ever attaining the Source. "I made a mistake," he says. "I am responsible for what happened to him."

So why did Jacob bring them to this island, a fate that Sawyer views as a punishment rather than a reward. "I didn't pluck any of you out of a happy existence," he says. "You were all flawed... and, like me, all alone. You needed this place as much as it needed you." And that is the mission statement of Lost right there: that a place can save you as much as you can save it. That the stewards of this magical kingdom on Earth might be just as changed by the experience as much as they change the island itself. Oz and Narnia, after all, needed warriors to save them from those who would corrupt the land and cast it into darkness and ice.

So why was Kate invalidated? It's a simple answer: she became a mother. (It's likely why the Kwon of 42 was perhaps Jin rather than Sun.) In stepping into motherhood, her responsibility was to care for her child rather than sacrifice her life and her entire existence to guarding the island. He couldn't ask that of her, nor could he expect her to be willing to do so. But in the end it's "just a chalk line in a cave," according to Jacob. If she wants the job, it's hers. It really is about choice.

Jacob claims that they have to find a way to kill the Nameless One and prevent him from ever reaching the Source and ending everything. But Jacob has always been about free will; he wants them to have the choice that he never did. As Ilana predicted, it isn't a coronation but an election, a means of someone volunteering themselves, sacrificing their very future--possibly for all eternity--to protect this place.

Jack. The ultimate candidate is, of course, Jack Shephard. This has always been his purpose, from his "God complex" (Sawyer's words) to his intrinsic need to fix everything. He was born to fulfill this role and follow Jacob, a true shepherd in every sense of the word. He sacrifices everything now that he can truly see the world for what it is. Over the course of six seasons, the scales fell from his eyes and he became the man of faith that John Locke always wanted him to be, a believer in the profound and powerful, the unseen and the inexplicable.

He's initiated into the circle of magic by the ritual of transference, one that uses a cup or chalice (here Jack's tin cup), a liquid (water or wine), and some words. But it's not the single ingredients that matter but the confluence of them as well as the intention and meaning of those words, the belief that wishing and hoping and praying can make you god-like and the drink that follows the benediction is a symbolic conclusion to the ritual at hand.

We see at the very end a Jack Shephard much changed, one who opens his eyes truly for the first time to see the truth of the island and his role in this grand tapestry. This is now his burden to shoulder "for as long you can," Jacob tells him. With those final words, Jack has become like Jacob, an immortal guardian of the island and keeper of the Source. A Christ-like figure who sacrifices his humanity to step into the divine.

We stand now on the precipice, one last chapter to a story that began back in 2004 when a group of strangers crashed on a seemingly deserted island and were forced to live together or die alone. The remaining survivors are about to enter a final showdown between the forces of light and those of darkness. Only one side can win as the scale tilts inexorably in one direction. Will good triumph over evil?

With two hours remaining, there are likely innumerable mysteries that will not be solved. But Lindelof, Cuse, and Co. will have to answer some plot-rooted ones: Will Jack be able to stop the Nameless One? Is he the final guardian of the island? Will he have to utilize Desmond as a final ditch effort to prevent the Nameless One from leaving the island and destroying reality? Will someone else have to replace him? And how will this all end? Will the island be destroyed? Will it rise up once more? Will the story end or will it continue on forever, at least in the minds of the viewers?

In the end, Lost can only end once. It will likely be filled with heartbreak, sacrifice, and loss but also with the promise of hope and healing as well. Regardless of how it all comes together on Sunday, there will never be another series quite like this one and I feel incredibly blessed and honored to have traveled with these characters on this incredible journey. As we bid a final farewell to them in just a few days' time, I'm ready to take one last jaunt through the looking-glass. I'll see you all on the other side.

Do you agree with the theories above? Can the ending satisfy everyone? Are you as heartbroken as I am that there's only one episode of Lost left? Head to the comments section to discuss.

On Sunday's series finale of Lost ("The End"), details tk.