Season 6, Episode 14: "The Candidate"

I am getting ready to leave for Jamaica tomorrow morning, so this is going to be quick (sorry!)

Last's week episode was called "The Candidate" - which has double meaning as we have seen that Jacob is looking for a "candidate" to replace him as protector of the island, and we also see in the alternate reality that Jack seeks out Locke as a "candidate" for surgery to FIX him.

In the alternate reality, we see many parallels to Jack as the leader, the savior, the "shephard" that he was on the island. Once again, he is always trying to fix things. For the first time, he is refused that opportunity and that kills him. He always has to be the one to fix everything. I thought it was interesting that Locke's reason for NOT wanting the surgery is because of the guilt he feels over putting his father in a vegetative state after the plane crash that he caused. Especially because on the island in real life time, most everyone there feels some sort of guilt for something in their pre-crash life and we see how they deal with their sins, forgiveness and guilt on the island. Now we learn that Locke is guilty over hurting his father (which of course is ironic because it was his father who put him in the wheelchair in real life) - he doesn't want to be "fixed" if his father can't be.

I also loved how Jack met Bernard, and slowly he started putting the pieces together of all the survivors he has met now that were on his flight from Sydney. He is finally understanding that this is not a coincidence, there has to be some meaning behind all of these meetings with people on his flight, most notably his own half-sister, Claire. As well as Locke and now Bernard.

Also, when Jack was in Locke's hospital room as he was waking up from surgery, Locke starts mumbling things like "push the button" and "I wish you had believed me." Of course these are memories from the island, I'm just wondering if Locke really starts to remember or if this is only evident in his "dream." There is a point when Jack is talking to him trying to convince him to have the surgery and says the same thing back to him, "I can help you...I wish you would believe me." Once again, Locke seems to ponder for a moment, almost like he has a memory or a "deja-vu" experience. You have to wonder if he is starting to have these memories from his "previous" life (the same way Desmond, Faraday, and Hurley have all had).


Okay, so back in island time, we learn that Locke "saved" Jack. He claims that he has had every opportunity to kill him, as well as the rest of the survivors, but that he is choosing to SAVE them, and to help them get off the island. It seems convincing, and for a moment you almost wonder if he is telling the truth. Locke uses this to gain Jack's trust and to help him convince the others that they should trust him. When he helps them out of the cages after the smoke monster kills all the guards, Jack tells Kate, "I'm with him." This is the first time he has acknowledged that he is "with" Locke. Of course we later learn that it was all a hoax, and that Locke got him to do exactly what he wanted. He got them all into a confined space, knowing they were going to leave without him, and now he has a bomb on the submarine.

As the bomb is ticking down, Jack tries to convince Sawyer that it CAN'T blow up. Because Locke cannot kill them. He asks Sawyer to trust him, but Sawyer says he doesn't and he tries to disarm the bomb. This only speeds it up, causing it to blow up. I think that if they had listened to Jack, it would not have blown up - but because Sawyer messed with it (which Locke knew he would), it blew up. So really he had to get Sawyer to kill them, because he knew he couldn't. Just like with Jacob, there are "rules" and he couldn't kill him, so he had to manipulate others to get someone else to do it. It is the same thing with the remaining "candidates" - he could not kill him, so he gained their trust and then got them exactly where he wanted them so he could kill them and leave the island. He can't leave the island unless they are all dead.

Anyone with a heart surely had to cry during the scene where Jin and Sun died. Oh my goodness, so sad. I think Sun and Jin have come so far...and really when you think about it, it was the ISLAND that saved them. Before the plane crash, Sun was having an affair, on the verge of leaving Jin, who was working as a hitman for her father. When they first arrived on the island, they would barely speak to each other and he treated her like a slave. Now, they truly are in love, they have a child together (which is a miracle in itself) and Jin gave up his own life so that he could die with Sun, as he promised he would never leave her again. The ISLAND really was what brought their love back together. Which kind of goes along with the alternate reality theory of LOVE being the commonality between the two worlds. Now we have LOVE which really is what the island gave them.

After their death, we see Kate, Hurley and Jack sobbing for their loss. Once again, Jack is heartbroken over something that he could not fix. It killed him to just walk away from the submarine knowing he could do nothing to save them. Notice that when he is crying, he goes out by himself and stares at the ocean. This is the third time we have seen this analogy of "staring out at the ocean" - first with Jacob at the lighthouse, then with Sawyer in the boat, and now with this. Remember Jacob talked about Jack having to "stare out at the ocean for awhile" before he could really "get" what his purpose was on the island.

We are left with Kate who has been shot. Desmond is still in the well, and Sayid has informed Jack that he has to do something to help Desmond. I want to know when did Sayid become "good" again? It seems like he lost all of his allegiance to Locke, and he sacrificed his own life in the submarine in order to save the others. Does this mean that he was no longer infected with the darkness? I think something happened between him and Desmond when he was supposed to shoot Desmond, and he questioned him for what he would tell Nadia if he was able to see her again - that he KILLED in order to be with her again? I think Desmond's special powers were somehow able to "cure" Sayid of the "darkness." It was after he left the well where he was supposed to kill Desmond that he changed, no longer following Locke, but now helping his fellow survivors. He kills himself in order to save them.

The final scene shows Locke telling Claire that he has to "finish" what he set out to do. Somehow he knows that all of the candidates are not dead yet, and he needs them all to be dead in order for him to leave. The only remaining candidates are Sawyer and Hurley, now that Sun and Jin are dead. (Widmore told Sawyer and Kate that there are just 4 names left on the list...Hurley, Sawyer and the Kwans). Now that is just Hurley and Sawyer.


Like I said above, I am getting ready to leave for Jamaica in the morning, so I'm not sure if I will even be able to watch Lost on Tuesday night. If not, I will have to wait until Friday after I get back home. But check back for the blog post, I will get it done eventually. I know I have been a slacker lately with writing the posts in a timely manner, but I have just been so busy that it usually takes me a few days before I can sit down and write the blog post. Only a few weeks left, so I will try to be better these last few episodes!!