Oddly enough, after the second viewing, this episode resonated more with me on the technique in which the sideways and island worlds would mirror each other between flashes. In general, this was more or less probably the last "orientation" episode of Lost; that is, this episode served to put the characters in their proper places for the end-game in both realities. This is not to imply that I was bummed out by the episode this week, as it was probably one of the most poignant episodes is recent memory, as all the characters were (briefly) reunited, though some were oddly lacking in emotional resonance (see: Jack/Claire).
I usually do an Off-island/On-island rundown, but this week's altered narrative structure demands an equal change. "The Last Recruit" abandoned the character-centric take on the sideways realm, and instead served to closely mirror upon juxtaposition the conflict of the Losties in both worlds. Here are some mirrored scenes/storylines:
Sun/Jin
Off Island: Sun is wheeled in to the ER losing blood fast, when she curiously not only recognizes Locke, but seems angry/terrified (my Korean facial recognition may be off) by his very presence in the gurney next to her. Eventually, Sun and Jin are reunited upon her waking, to the news that her baby is OK as well.
On Island: Sun is carried along in Smokey's group losing patience fast. When Darth Locke approaches her in line, she is noticeably angry and writes down on her cry-pad that she blames him for her loss of speech. Ultimately, Sun and Jin or reunited on Hydra island, and Sun recovers her lost English.
Sayid
Off Island: Sayid flees the scene after killing an unarmed Keamy, back to Nadia's house. Upon reaching the home, Sayid admits to Nadia that because of his actions, he can never return as it would only put her in harms way. While trying to flee, he is apprehended by cop-Sawyer via the ol' "garden snake got yo' shoes" maneuver.
On Island: Sayid is tasked by Locke to shoot an unarmed Desmond. When confronting Desmond, Sayid hesitates and flexes a lot as Desmond asks him what Locke could have offered him to make him turn to the dark side. Sayid's reasoning: since Locke brought him back from the dead, he could bring back Nadia. Desmond counters with: even if you brought her back, how would you explain what you have done to bring her back? Desmond's fate unknown, Sayid is caught fleeing by Locke via the ol' "omniscient Smoke-monster" maneuver.
Kate/Sawyer
Off Island: Kate is brought into by doucher-cop Sawyer, who ponders how strange it is that fate would smack her car into his (not a sexual metaphor). Kate maintains her innocence, while asking why Sawyer helped her escape in the airport. She figures that he couldn't bring her in, because he was hiding the fact that he knows it was wrong that he had gone to Australia in the first place.
On Island: Kate is brought onto the boat by Sawyer, who wants to rendezvous with Jack and bring their group together again. When approached by crazy-Claire, Kate maintains her guilt for having raised Aaron. When Sawyer confronts Jack, the Doc figures that Sawyer is hiding the fact from himself that he he knows it is wrong to leave the island in the first place.
Jack
Off Island: Jack with help of his precocious and similarly-haired son, comes to the conclusion that like his father, Jack has inherited the baggage that comes with keeping things to himself. At the reading of his will, Ilana blows (up) Jack's mind with the reunion and revelation that Claire is his half-sister (thanks to the insistent charms of Desmond). Jack has to put his powerful waterworks on hold as Locke's emergency beckons his healing hands. Upon arrival, Jack is greeted with the dire news that the ER team has never seen injuries this bad, to which Jack responds by confidently taking the plunge into the surgery. Upon preparing to cut, Jack recognizes the familiar face of Locke in the mirror.
On Island: Jack refuses to keep things to himself as he questions the reasoning behind Smokey taking on the guise and familiar face of John Locke. Smokey dubiously admits to being the apparition of Christian Shepherd that led Jack to finding fresh water. Jack is later reunited with Claire, but the meeting doesn't last long as Claire tells Jack that whether he likes it or not, he is with Smokey. On the boat, Sawyer gives Jack the dire warning that unless Jack cooperates with the escape, he is off the boat - to which Jack responds by confidently taking the plunge into the ocean. Upon returning to the beach, he is greeted by the familiar face of John Locke.
All in all, this week was feat for further connecting the two worlds via storytelling shifts rather than the direct "memory download." Some quick thoughts:
Do you believe Smokey was telling the truth that he was Christian Shepherd? The circumstances would line up, in that both Locke and Christian were dead and on the plane before Smokey took their guises. Christian's likeness had been used many times prior Smokey assuming John Locke's appearance, though perhaps never in the directly physical form. If Smokey was Christian before - how would he make the shift, since Ilana was convinced that Smokey would be stuck in Locke's form. Also, how was Smokey able to appear off island to Jack in Christian's form, unless of course, it wasn't Smokey - which makes everything he said still questionable at best.
Oddly, no mention of Alpert's crew. That makes those of note still left on the island at the episode's end: Smokey, Jack, Alpert, Ben, Miles, Sayid, and Desmond (probably).
Best line of the night was Sawyer's response to hearing that Jack didn't feel complete off-island, "There are pills for that."
Do you think that isolating Jack was Smokey's plan all along? He took it pretty well that the other candidates, those people he has continually expressed needing to escape, went over to the enemy. Did he subtly orchestrate the rest of the candidates moving to Hydra island so that they can be killed?
I guess Claire was just too crazy to be a real sister for Jack, as he oddly completely leaves her to her fate and makes off with the rest of the Losties without even a second thought. Also, why couldn't Sawyer have responded to her reasoning for being crazy and following Smokey because "at least Smokey didn't abandon me," with, "Hey Jane of the Jungle, I saw you 'asplode!"
So, let me just go out on a limb and say that Michael Emerson deserves an Emmy for his work in the episode. This season has been really Ben-light, and it was refreshing to get several new looks at the character; there were ideas and perspectives that we really haven't been accustomed to in terms of what we thought we knew about him and his motivations.
Awhile ago, I posited a series of important questions about Ben. I added, in none-threatening green text, important info that was divulged this episode:
How much does Ben truly know about the island and its patron-deities?
- Clearly, Ben thought he had an intimate relationship with whichever entity occupied the cabin. Being that he has at one point been able to summon Smokey at will, my bet is that entity was probably the Man in Black who was trapped behind some of Jacob's ash. Was Ben an unwitting or knowing agent of said "evil incarnate?"
- One of the most integral lines spoken by Ben in terms of his true knowledge about Jacob: "Oh after all this time, you have decided to stop ignoring me." So either A) Ben was faking it in the cabin and no one was actually talking to him or B) he knew the person in the cabin wasn't Jacob, but was still following orders anyway. I am leaning toward (B) right now for the simple fact that he had knowledge of the entity in the cabin, like how it didn't like technology.
- It's funny, because for so long we have assumed that Ben was one of the masterminds pulling all the strings; but like he did with Sayid, what if he is just a pawn put in play by the Man in Black. I say the Man in Black because:
Not too much here, but his encounter with Smokey while digging his grave points more toward him being an unwitting aide to "evil incarnate" rather than knowing disciple.
This episode, personally, had me thinking that I had been giving Ben too much credit; like Richard and many other Others, he had been left out in the weeds and desperate for guidance from Jacob. However, I still think there is a legitimate logic question about that encounter in the cabin, but now I wouldn't put it past him with how much he has lied before on whether or not he was faking about seeing Jacob.
What gets Ben crossed off the list of "candidates?"
- Ok, so the "Linus" that was crossed out on the lighthouse wheel could have also been his father, but it's highly unlikely; only Ben eventually became an other after his resurrection in the temple. If the waters were clear, and Richard says "he will always be one of us," why has Ben been ignored by Jacob? Has he ever really met Jacob? He has methods of brainwashing people to believe in Jacob (see Alex's first/last boyfriend), though he goes to the cabin instead of the base of the statue to see his "master."
- What made Ben a "candidate?" Was his potential candidacy the reason why he was chosen to lead the others? Why then, did Richard never reveal the true location of Jacob's home?
Up until Jacob's demise at Ben's hand, he still held out hope that Ben would choose to do the "right" thing. This should serve as a warning to all those absentee parents: if you leave your kid in a car (island) to do what he wants, crack the window. They'll probably get all emotional and stabby later if you don't.
When Keamy killed Alex, Ben said he had "changed the rules." Are these rules similar to the ones the creepy boy told Darth Locke about: "You know the rules, you can't kill him."?
- This could be, more simply, rules of engagement that Widmore and Ben would not kill each others' family. Or, if we are to believe that Ben had knowledge of how events were supposed to play out, but they had been altered. This would be in reference to:
The most refreshingly "on the money" question in reference to this episode, as we finally found out what "rule" was changed: Ben chose the island, and Jacob let Alex die. For all you Jacob-haters, this episode must have been right up your alley, as Ben is the personification of everyone's gripe: why would a benevolent being, one who you gave up everything to protect, allow for all this terrible collateral damage and loss of life? Why would he not step in and use his "gift? " Why would an entity whose has been placed on this pedestal and the object of faith for so many, allow for these terrible crises of faith situations for his "chosen?"
Does Ben remember Sayid shooting him - or any of the castaways that had come back in 1977?
- If Ben knew how events were going to play out, and that the castaways had to end up in the past, has he had an edge this whole time?
Also not much here...
On to events on/off island:
Dr. Linus (Off-island):
• I feel like a broken record, so I should probably stop mentioning this "trend" after this week: Ben's off-island shenanigans once again fell into the theme of "cosmic second-chance." His alternate-reality "Dr. Linus" is a man who is dealing with those same personal struggles that mirror his on-island persona: the struggle for meaning, and the struggle for power.
• I really thought that off-island Locke would have a more rival-type role opposite Dr. Linus, but really he was pretty integral in pushing Ben down his mini-arc that climaxes in him becoming a not so bug-eyed creeper; he offered Ben support in his becoming principal when Ben voiced his disdain that he had to baby-sit the school's rejects while giving up his after school "history" club that serves to nurture the gifted students. Now think back to the end of season 2 and the beginning of 3 when Ben captured 4 of our 6 "listed" candidates handed down by Jacob himself; what exactly do you think his mirrored island self was thinking? Probably, "Why the heck do I have to babysit these damn rejects when I should be tending to my gifted flock of others?" Little did he know that the actual "gifted" ones were those four (well 3 after he let Hurley go), but he was probably crying buckets that Jacob wasn't talking to him. The point: Ben's grievances to his co-teachers were a very tongue-in-cheek way of pointing out why he started to become so frustrated with Jacob in the first place.
• Who knows if this is also why Ben got scratched off the list? Maybe Ben had been handed a list down from Jacob (or Richard from Jacob) to be a care-taker to these Oceanic castaway "rejects," but their importance was such an affront to Ben and the others who had given up all their lives to Jacob's cause. It probably wouldn't be that cool if you had to get shot, purge Dharma, instigate a coup of Widmore, and become the leader of Jacob's disciples just to then step aside and protect a few random people that drop out of the sky one day off an Oceanic plane. Great line, by the way, from Lupidus when he calls out Ben for being "nostalgic" for those days before the crash.
• The power-play, which I guess would mirror his coup of Widmore, was trying to blackmail the current douche-in-office, Walter Peck. Alright I know that's not his name but that actor always plays jerks, and he will always be the uber-douche "Walter Peck" (is a pecker) of Ghostbusters fame (You know, that city agent who opens the containment unit. Great type-cast btw). Ben enlists the aide of Artz (man I am loving these multiple shout-outs in both timelines - when Hurly mentions getting Artz on his shirt in the Black Rock) to get the dirt on the principal that would prove his illicit affair with the nurse. Ben is caught in a catch-22 of sorts, as Peck counters with the threat of trashing Ben's prized student, Alex, and her chances at getting into Yale. So, like on the island with Keamy (although with less brain-splattering), Ben is given the choice to "save" Alex or choose power.
• We get it, everybody gets a happy ending. Sheesh. Ben chooses Alex and giving up his car spot to non-exploded Artz rather than power. He probably also just condemned himself to more T.V. dinners and adjusting his father's iron lung. Speaking of which, we got some small but important info about when the island sinks: it has to be after Ben and his father already had joined Dharma and then get the opportunity to leave. If they both leave together - does that mean Ben is never shot and thus never tied to the island and the Others before the island is sunk?
Dr. Linus (On-island)
• Ilana and her bag o' knowledge. What didn't Jacob tell her? Apparently they were so close, she thinks of him as a "father." Aw, if only Jacob had touched Ben like that, Ben probably wouldn't have touched him with a knife. Seriously though, she grabbed Jacob's ash because she knew Miles could commune with the dead; more specifically, he could tell her exactly how Jacob died. One of the best line reads ever from Miles to Ben, "Uh oh."
• Ilana played surrogate leader to team Jacob, while team Jacob's once and future king, Jack, ran into the man that must have been losing mascara running around for three episodes: Richard. Like Ben (and frankly, like more than 50% of you in that poll), Richard is having a little crises of faith in Jacob. Hundred(s) of years - all for what? So that Jacob could die? That's when Richard drops the episode's biggest lore-bomb perhaps explaining his immortality and none-cyborg nature (go Hurley): If Jacob touches you, you cannot die. Now there needs to be some debate as to whether Jacob's touch just saves you from killing yourself, or whether it also means natural causes (such as aging = Richard). Jacob touched Sawyer and Kate as children, though they aged and Richard seemingly does not. Is there an extra special "fountain of youth" special massage touch you can buy? There might be more to it than that, but right now the only thing that was confirmed was that once you are touched, you cannot commit suicide - you can only die by another's hand. Suicide watch recount-time:
1. Jack tries to throw himself off a bridge, and fails.
2. Michael tries to shoot himself, and fails...at least until "Christian" said he "could go now."
3. Locke tries to hang himself and...well fails for about 5 minutes until Ben lends a helping tug.
• So wait, under those rules, why couldn't Smokey kill Jacob? Could it be, that it would be SUICIDE (dramatic sounds)?!? Hey, if Smokey and Jacob are just two sides of one coin, it might not be so far fetched.
• Awesome new-Jackness that followed: Russian roulette with dynamite! Jack pulled out his Lighthouse-gifted knowledge that Jacob had been watching him since he was a child, so if it was all true about himself being meant for something on the island (and not a lie as Richard had suggested), he couldn't kill himself. What does Jack get for his Jedi tricks? A new recruit! The teams stand:
Darth Locke
1. Sawyer
2. Sayid
3. Claire
4. Random Others
5. Kate?
6. Smoke monster (should definitely be counted more than once. It gets on point for every retarded dinosaur scream it makes)
Jack
1. Hurley
2. Sun
3. Jin (I don't think this is a stretch)
4. Ilana
5. Lupidus
6. Miles
7. Richard
8. Ben?!?
• Wait...Ben? Smokey visits Ben digging his own grave and gives him a way out. Curiously, he doesn't offer Ben a seat on his ship out of town, but offers Ben more power in what is presumably Jacob's vacant caretaker position of the island. I say presumably because it is only implied, and yet could also very well mean Smokey's job if he succeeds in leaving the island. Why can't Ben leave? This would fit in nicely to the whole "Locke's resurrection in Jacob's role and Ben's ascension to MIB status" for the series finale idea I had been thinking about.
• After "getting the jump" on Ilana, Ben does something his on-island persona has never done before: he doesn't shoot first, but instead shoots bullets of truth (that was corny, my apologies). He bears his tortured soul, and you know, it kind of makes sense. He let his own daughter die for the island - but for what? He hated Jacob for not caring or helping, but also realizes that he was sad and confused when he stabbed him. Ilana does a very Jacob thing and lets him die...er, I mean forgives him. Ben meanders back to the beach to start the process of mending fences and shelters, and just in the nick of time to see his new leader and former number 2 return. Can't wait for that conversation (awkward).
• What's long, hard, and full of seaman? Charles Widmore's sub!!! Does he have some unfinished business from his first time around, or is on a new mission?
If you made it through this wall-o-text, I salute you. It was a dense and fulfilling episode. Now, I am off to shag a nurse on my lunch break. Toodles!
- Jack lying low once again; wonder if this building to a point where Sawyer HAS to turn to him for help when shit becomes just too unmanageable for a lie.
- When do we get to the Juliet/Kate part of the love square?
- After Sawyer went all revenge angst on Jack, I thought maybe he would harbor a little grudge against Sayid for torturing him. There were some points where it seemed difficult to know if Sawyer was gonna let Sayid take the fall.
- Sayid is a badass. He is the only one to ever see through Ben's bullshit; yet is always indebted to him for giving him a purpose off the island (which isn't hard for the O6, they all needed purpose). However that purpose was killing and Sayid fashions himself a changed man, even though we know since childhood he has been rewarded for doing dirty work. He thought he was killing to keep his friends on the island safe. Yet, once he gets to the island and finds Sawyer and Co. all cushy, it dawns on Sayid once he sees creepy kid Ben that the bastard probably fucked with him to kill all those people; not only that, Ben probably hired the bounty hunter chick (She might believe her story, but it's probably Ben pulling the strings) to force him back onto the island. You can tell that Sayid is trying to lay out the implications of him being in the past as perhaps it is his punishment to die as an Hostile for all the sins he committed as a torturer and especially on behalf of one B. Linus.
- Once young Ben comes and offers to free Sayid as long Sayid takes him to Alpert and the others, Sayid may have already decided then to kill Ben and hopefully cleanse himself of all the wrongs he did on Ben's behalf and change the future. I thought at first that it was already Sayid's destiny (and by destiny, the future that lead cyclically led to the past had already been written by the past's events) to ferry Ben to the other's. There are a few implications here of what might happen as a result of Sayid shooting Ben:
Ben is alive! Does Dr. Jack make the choice to save Ben? Or maybe by wearing a protective vest or something, young Ben is forewarned of his potential fate by the Others or, perhaps more mind boggling, Locke/Ben who eventually come back even further into the past before the O6. It could all be a ruse by the Others to fully take Ben away from Dharma without them asking any questions - or to initiate a war that they know they will win. Young Ben could already have been a spy. Also, if future Ben had grown up with all of the O6 people in his past, and thus knowledge of future events, why would he send Sayid back in time to facilitate his own death? This leads to...
Ben is dead! The book young Ben handed Sawyer was named "Two Realities," which may have been a foreshadowing of where our Losties are headed. Ben dying would seemingly create a "paradox" in time UNLESS what Sayid did in his moment of self-redemptive clarity is create a new reality with a gunshot. Does future Ben disappear? Nope. The idea of multiple realities is that in a universe of infinite possibilities, EVERY possibility happens once with then an infinite set of new consequences. For our purposes then, there exist now TWO realities, or an "A" and "B" timeline. In the "A" timeline exists Sun, Old Ben, Locke, and Lupidus, as well as all the events on the island (including Ben NOT dying, and the rest of the O6 presumably living out their lives in the 70s). In the "B" Timeline, Sayid effectively hit the reset switch on the outcome of future events. Ok the big noodle cooker: why won't the Losties then disappear from the island? Because they got there from the "A" timeline/reality - where the past's events have already been secured.
Now the popular Lost idea of course correction is that there is a Master timeline/reality. Imagine a tree for a moment; small events and outcomes my changes creating smaller branches, yet those branches can only be supported by a strong singular trunk. After a while those branches will recede or feed back into the main trunk, because as the tree (time) gets taller and grows on, certain events must happen to avert the tree's destruction. Course correction is the idea that small changes or branches in time will never affect the outcome of the tree; they are just vestigial trappings that will feed back into the main trunk or timeline.
Multiple reality theory suggests that what Sayid did was not just create a new branch off the main tree, but a completely new tree standing side by side to the one they just fell off of. If a tree falls in the forest, how many realities are destroyed?
