LOST Season 6 Finale: Initial Reactions

SPOILER WARNING: DO NOT read this until after you've watched the series finale episode of LOST!

So this is it.  LOST is over.  "The End."

I'm going to post more detailed notes about the finale soon, but I needed to spend some time to get some of my thoughts written down.

First I need to discuss the flash-sideways.  We find out in the finale that this entire season the so-called "flash-sideways" have been nothing more than a fictional universe concocted by the collective minds of the Oceanic Flight 815 passengers (plus a handful of other people like Desmond, Penny, and Juliet, apparently) as a way for them to have a "class reunion" of sorts before passing on into the afterlife.  (I'm sure there will be different interpretations, but that's what I got out of it.)  The flash-sideways didn't really take place in 2004; it was only meant to look like it did.  This, of course, fooled the viewers into thinking that when Juliet detonated the hydrogen bomb in 1977, this event created a rift in the space-time continuum that created a parallel universe, including a new 2004 where the Island had sunk long before Oceanic Flight 815 took to the skies.  It turns out there was no rift, no sunken Island, and no parallel or alternate 2004.  In fact, as evidenced by Hurley and Ben's conversation outside the church, the flash-sideways actually took place sometime in the future—probably a long time in the future, since Hurley and Ben had clearly spent some time working together on the Island, and presumably Hurley would have lived as the protector of the Island for a long time before ultimately dying, like Jacob.  What really bothered me was the fact that the writers completely ripped off the flash-sideways storyline from a terrible 2008 movie that was in itself a ripoff of LOST in many respects.  Or perhaps, as conspiracy theorists might suggest, the writers of Passengers somehow heard about the ending of LOST and stole the flash-sideways concepts for their awful movie.  Either way, now that I know what the flash-sideways really was and how it concluded, I would rather have skipped the entire flash-sideways plot altogether and had a much shorter season and a much more enjoyable final episode of LOST.  If you haven't seen Passengers and you have a masochistic desire to subject yourself to watching it to compare it to the flash-sideways, you can watch the movie instantly online if you have a Netflix account: http://netflix.com/Movie/Passengers/70104310

Thankfully, in spite of the flash-sideways the whole series didn't crash and burn in the final episode.  Setting aside the bizarre "class reunion" post-death ending that takes place sometime in the future, there was also the "present-day" (technically 2007) ending that shows Kate, Claire, Sawyer, Miles, Richard, and Frank leaving the Island for (hopefully) the last time.  We also get to see Jack's ultimate heroic sacrifice (or stupid, totally avoidable sacrifice, depending on your perspective), giving his life to save the Island along with Hurley, Ben, Desmond, Rose, Bernard, Vincent, and anyone else who may have been living somewhere on the Island.  Hurley becomes the new Jacob when Jack dies, and Ben finally gets his wish of being someone important to the Island, a true right-hand man rather than just a pawn in someone else's game.

It's a bit odd, though, that there's no more Man in Black, no more smoke monster—no more evil force to oppose the forces of good on the Island.  So what's Hurley going to do?  Maybe the cycle of people coming to the Island, fighting, etc. described by the Fake Mother and the Man in Black will continue.  Maybe Hurley will help everyone who arrives on the Island to get back home; Ben said that taking care of people is what Hurley does best.  In any case, it just doesn't seem like the Island would be as interesting without a smoke monster.

...Or maybe when Jack brought back the light, the Man in Black was resurrected again as the smoke monster.  More theories, mysteries, and observations about the finale will be posted here soon.

All in all, I've thoroughly enjoyed LOST and I'm glad that I've taken this journey.  To everyone who contributed in any way to the making of LOST, thank you!

Be sure to tune in to my (potentially) last-ever live LOST podcast, Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 10 PM Pacific (1 AM Eastern).  Listen live, participate in the chat, or call in to discuss the finale.  Details are here: http://talkshoe.com/tc/16338

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"What They Died For" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 16, "What They Died For".

News
I will be recording my live podcast about the series finale episode on Tuesday, May 25th at my usual time, 10 PM Pacific (1 AM Eastern).  There will NOT be a podcast on Sunday night.  If you would like to call into the (potentially) final live episode of the podcast, mark your calendars for Tuesday!

In other news, Alex Castex-Porter (aka Congested, a regular caller on the podcast) has relaunched his site AudiblyLost.com in anticipation of his upcoming documentary on the LOST podcasting phenomenon.  He just released a video trailer for the movie, which you can watch at http://vimeo.com/11838904 — please share with your friends!

Additional insights into "Across the Sea" from Geronimo Jack's Beard (not spoilers):

• The script confirms that Claudia and the Fake Mother spoke to each other in Latin, not Latin and English (the English spoken in the episode was for the viewer's convenience, not meant to be interpreted as the characters speaking English to each other).
• According to Jorge Garcia, the script says that the game that Boy in Black (BIB) found is called Senate, "which may be essentially a precursor to Backgammon, which was introduced [by John Locke to Walt] in the Pilot."
• Beth Shady points out that BIB said "everyone will have to play by your rules," not "I will have to."  At that time BIB and Jacob knew about the other natives on the Island, but BIB's wording is interesting because they only associated with each other and their Fake Mother.
• The script says that the knife that the Man in Black threw at the magnetic well is the same knife that Dogen gave to Sayid.

Season 6 Episode 16 "What They Died For":
2004, Flash-sideways:

• Jack wakes up, looks in the mirror, and his neck is bleeding
• Why?!  He hadn't even shaved yet!
• "maybe he sleepshaves" -diesel929
• David asks Jack if he's coming to the concert, and Jack asks David if his mother is coming (we still don't know who she is yet - should be revealed in finale!)
• "mom is julliet, there's no one else left,lol" -kane
• "david's blue eyes are a give away" -kane
• "speaking of eyes, did you see Jack's eyes, they were brown when he was talking to locke in his office." -kane
• Maybe he met Juliet in medical school!
• Or it could be Sarah, Jack's wife from the original timeline
• "it's annie" -diesel929
• In all seriousness, it won't be.  The executive producers have said that Annie was a minor character and they're done with her story
• Claire comes out to eat breakfast with them; she's living there too
• Oceanic Airlines calls Jack to tell him that they found the coffin and it will arrive later that day... but it's not Oceanic, it's Desmond
• But wait, later in the episode we find out that Desmond is going to David's concert... so what's the purpose of Desmond's phone call?!

2007 on the Island:

• Jack stitches up the bullet wound in Kate's chest
• Kate says they have to kill "Locke" (MIB) because he killed Sun and Jin, who had never gotten to meet his daughter
• Jack agrees that they need to kill Locke
   
• Jack tells the rest of the survivors (Hurley, Sawyer, and Kate) that they're going to go save Desmond because obviously Locke doesn't want Desmond alive

2004, Flash-sideways:

• Desmond beats up Ben and Ben has flashes of Desmond punching him in the original timeline
• How did Des know that Ben was part of original timeline?  Did Des have flashes that made him remember Ben?

2007 on the Island:

• At New Otherton, Miles hears a dead person's thoughts
• Richard explains that he buried Alex after Ben left New Otherton, and Ben thanks Richard
• Ben goes back to his house to get C4 from his secret room
• Ben: "It's where I was told I could summon the monster.  That was before I realized it was the one summoning me."
• Richard says they're looking to blow the plane to hell
• They hear Zoe in the kitchen, they don't recognize her, and Charles Widmore walks in and Ben is surprised to see him
• Charles Widmore says he already rigged the plane with explosives, and that Jacob personally invited him back to the Island
• Zoe sees Locke docking a boat

2004, Flash-sideways:

• Ben gets cleaned up and Locke rolls by in wheelchair
• Where did this take place?  In a hospital?  At the school nurse's office?
• Locke: "A fight?  With who?"
• This line is funny because the use of "who" instead of "whom" has been brought up on The Official LOST Podcast
• Ben says he thinks he "saw... something."
• Ben tells Locke that Desmond said he was trying to get Locke to "let go"
   
• Miles says he's going to a fundraising event at his dad's (Dr. Pierre Chang's) museum that night, and Charlotte will be there so James says he's not going
• Desmond turns himself in to James for hit and run and for beating up teacher
• Desmond gets put in the same cell as Sayid and right next to Kate's cell, and Desmond acts as though it's all according to plan
• This is ridiculous!  How could Des know that he would get placed right next to Sayid and Kate in jail?
• "mrs hawking [Eloise Widmore] told him" -diesel929
• "maybe it was farradork [Daniel Widmore, aka Dan Faraday] then" -diesel929
• "the informant has to be the chauffer [George Minkowski]" -kane

2007 on the Island:

• Sawyer feels bad because of pulling the wires on the bomb in the sub - he didn't trust Jack so he feels responsible for Jin and Sun's deaths
   
• Young Jacob steals the ashes and other things that had been in Ilana's pocket away from Hurley, claiming "they're mine"
• Why is Young Jacob appearing?  Why not normal age Jacob?  It doesn't make any sense.
• "sawyer saw him too" -kane
• "richard did not" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• "so young jacob was real??" -kane
• Yeah, apparently -- he stole the ashes from Hurley and took them to (or morphed into?) older Jacob
• "maybe he liked his younger self cause he didnt have a chidhood. plus hurly didnt even know who he was" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Hurley not recognizing him gave him a chance to steal the ashes
• "oh what about this he was his kid self because he knew he was going to die so he gave his kid body one last huzzah" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Hurley chases after him and sees the older Jacob sitting next to a fire
• Jacob: "My ashes are right there in that fire.  When it burns out you'll never see me again."
• Why?  Jacob's ashes had already stopped burning by the time Ilana found them.  Why does re-burning his already burnt ashes make him disappear forever?
• And seriously?  That's what the ashes were saved for all this time?  I was kinda hoping someone would throw them at MIB or make him eat them or something to defeat him, but oh well.
       
• Ben says to Charles that he's not interested in hiding from MIB
• Widmore warns that MIB is going to kill him
• Richard says he knows MIB and all he wants is for Richard to join him, and maybe if they leave together it will give the rest of them a chance to get away safely
• The smoke monster shoves Richard out of the way like a train
• Will Richard be okay?  Is he still immortal?
• I think Richard will show up at some point and surprise us out of the blue and save the day
• "i think richard will kill ben" -diesel929
• MIB comes to Ben and says "Just the man I was looking for"
• MIB: "I need you to kill some people for me, Ben. ...  Because once I leave this Island you can have it all to yourself."
• "All right."
• "Good.  Now whose outrigger is that out there on the dock?"
• "Charles Widmore's."
• "And do you know where I can find him?"
• "He's hiding in my closet."
• "do you think smokey knew about the secret closet? and if ben didnt snitch would it have known they where there" -mibmadedonkeywheel

2004, Flash-sideways:

• Alex Rousseau notices that Dr. Linus is beaten up
• Danielle Rousseau introduces herself to Ben as she offers to take him home with them for dinner
• "oh yeah, you coming with us or i'll have to kidnap you,lol" -kane
• "yes, i caught the kidnapping line" -diesel929
• Danielle: "He died when Alex was 2."
• Danielle: "You're the closest thing to a father she's ever had." (Same as original timeline)

2007 on the Island:

• MIB slashes Zoe's neck
• "dont forget the line smokey gave widmore after he killed zoe: you told her not to talk to me so she was no use anymore" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• MIB says he'll kill Penny Widmore when he leaves the Island unless Charles tells MIB why he came back to the Island
• Charles says something about Desmond's resistance to electromagnetism, and wants to tell the rest to MIB in private (without Ben hearing)
• Charles whispers to MIB, and Ben shoots Charles multiple times, presumably killing him, explaining "He doesnt get to save his daughter."
• Ben gets revenge for Alex's death
• MIB says "No harm done" because he got the information he wanted from Charles
• Ben asks if there was anyone else MIB wanted him to kill, and MIB smiles evilly
• Does MIB want Ben to kill the candidates?  Would Ben kill Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley?  Just to supposedly get the Island to himself?
• MIB doesn't keep his promises; he promised Sayid his woman back, then sent Sayid to his doom on the sub with a bomb
• The only reason MIB would need Ben to kill anyone is if he needed someone to kill the candidates; MIB can't kill them, but MIB can kill anyone else he wants to.  That's why he's using Ben
• "smoke monster needs ben to be his assassin but ben will double cross him" -diesel929
• "where is miles?" -diesel929
• "miles is out in the jungle somewhere with a walkie talkie. miles does have a walkie talkie, ben gave it to him" -kane
   
• Jacob appears to Kate, Sawyer, Jack -- Hurley is surprised they can all see him
• Kate: "I want to know that Sun and Jin and Sayid didn't die for nothing."
• Jacob: "I'll tell you why I chose them and why I chose you.  And then I'll tell you everything you need to know about protecting this Island because by the time that fire burns out one of you is going to have to start doing it."

2004, Flash-sideways:

• John Locke visits Jack and talks to him about the airplane and the apparent coincidences that brought him back to Jack, leading up to Desmond telling Dr. Linus that he wanted to help Locke "let go" -- the same words Jack said to him
• Jack: "Mr. Locke, I want to fix you, but I think you're mistaking coincidence for fate." (an oft-repeated line on the show)
• Locke asks Jack to fix him

2007 on the Island:

• Jacob: "I brought all of you here because I made a mistake. ... You call him the monster.  But I'm responsible for what happened to him.  I made him that way.  And ever since then he's been trying to kill me."
• Jacob: "I didn't pluck any of you out of a happy existence.  You were all flawed... alone... you needed this place as much as it needed you."
• Kate: "Why did you cross my name off the wall?"
• Jacob: "Because you became a mother.  It's just a line of chalk on a wall.  The job is still yours if you want it, Kate."
• Jacob: "You have to protect it from him."
• Sawyer: "You want us to kill him?  Is that even possible?"
• Jacob: "I certainly hope so because he is going to try to kill you. ... I'm not going to pick, Hugo.  I want you to have the one thing I was never given.  A choice."
• Kate: "What if none of us chooses it?"
• Jacob: "Then all this ends very badly."
• Jack: "I'll do it.  This is why I'm here.  This is what I'm supposed to do."
• "Is that a question, Jack?"
• "No."
• "Good.  Then it's time."
• Is Jack going to go see the light?
   
• "You remember that bamboo field you woke up in" -- near where the light is
• "Do you have a cup?"
• Jacob whispers something in Latin and then instructs Jack in English, "Drink this."
• Jacob: "Now you're like me."

2004, Flash-sideways:

• James says he's shipping Jarrah, Hume, and Austen off to the county jail
• Kate tries to talk James out of it but he says "Nice knowing you"
• Des in car to Kate and Sayid: "I think it's time to leave."
• Ana Lucia Cortez is the cop driving the van and she asks where Desmond's friend is with all the money - it's Hugo
• Hugo gives Ana Lucia $125,000 and she drives off
• Des says that Ana Lucia isn't ready yet
• Des told Sayid to go with Hugo
• Des tells Kate she's going to a concert with him, and he hands her a dress

2007 on the Island:

• Ben: "Why do you bother walking?"
• MIB: "I like the feel of my feet on the ground.  Reminds me I was human."
• MIB looks for Desmond in the well
• MIB: "He said Desmond was a failsafe.  One final way to make sure that I never leave this place. ... I'm going to find him.  And when I do, he's going to help me do the one thing I could never do myself.  Destroy the island."
• So MIB would be okay with the destruction of the Island?
• Foreshadowed by MIB smashing the bottle with the cork, perhaps
• Does this mean MIB got his wish in the flash-sideways timeline?  Did he get free in the flash-sideways timeline?

Other questions, comments, and theories discussed in the chat:

• "do you think penny is going to show up in the finale?" -diesel929
• Maybe in the flash-sideways
      
• "flock left Claire on the other island. didn't he? everyone leaves her on the island" -baileybear
• Unless he killed her... but I don't think they'd do that without showing us.  I think we'll see Claire again in the finale.  It would only be right.
• "so what is claire doing?" -diesel929
• "[MIB to Claire:] 'claire they ditched you again.  please kill hurley' 'ok'" -diesel929
      
• CrapCastBilly's theory is that it's not the Jughead bomb that caused the rift, it was the sinking of the Island -- and when the Island sinks in the original timeline, the two timelines will merge.
• He also thinks it's possible that the Island from the original timeline may be the one we saw sunk in the flash-sideways (I disagree with that theory; I think it was pretty clear in the show that the sunken Island was in the flash-sideways)
   
• "desmond will connect them" -diesel929
• Yeah, otherwise why waste our time with all Desmond's actions in the flash-sideways?
   
• CrapCastBilly points out the electromagnetism reference and how Desmond must be the savior?  He's taking care of things on both sides
    
• CrapCastBilly's theory: maybe the concert is the benefit for the museum - Des will call Sawyer say I'm here come arrest me, (or Sawyer shows up with Miles after all) runs into Jack's (wife / ex-wife) who is Juliet(!) and she says to Sawyer "Let's go dutch."
• Maybe Charlie and Claire will meet up at the concert!
• Sawyer meets up with Juliet, Daniel sees Charlotte there, Jack is going to see Kate, Hurley took Libby there on a date? but Hurley is with Sayid -- maybe to pick up Nadia, and then they'll pick up Libby on the way.  ;o)
• "piano recital/geronimo jackson/drive shaft concert" -diesel929
    
• "now that Jack is Jacob is MIB stuck?" -baileybear

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Screenshots: http://gallery.lost-media.com/thumbnails-1558.htmls

Preview for the final episode:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhCeGBwHHs4

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"Across the Sea" Discussion

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the JoshMeister, Alex aka Congested, and other fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 15, "Across the Sea".

Season 6 Episode 15 "Across the Sea":
Flashback:

• A woman (Claudia) comes out of water gasping - she's pregnant and wounded
• Another woman says in Latin, "You hurt?  Let me help you."
• Claudia and the other woman both speak Latin and English
• Woman: "If there are other people on the Island, I will find them."
• Claudia gives birth - "His name is Jacob."
• She didn't pick a name for the twin - Esau?
• In the Bible, Jacob and Esau were twins, but Esau was born first (not the other way around as in the LOST story of Jacob and his brother)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esau
• I called him Esau in my notes since the young boy was never named in the show and I needed something to call him other than Man in Black since he wasn't a man.  In the script he's called "Boy in Black" according to Kenton Duty, the actor who played young Jacob (see interview link in spoiler section; some of the interview may contain spoilers)
• Woman kills Claudia with a rock
• How does she expect to feed the babies without their mother's milk?
• "boar milk" -kane
• This must be the mother that the Man in Black was telling Kate about
• Her name is apparently just "Mother" in the script; we never get her name in the episode, either
   
• Esau teaches Jacob how to play a game - it has light and dark pieces like Backgammon, the game Locke taught Walt
• This young Jacob, by the way, is the boy that the MIB saw in the jungle in previous episodes
• Why did the MIB see young Jacob, rather than seeing Jacob at the age when he died?
    
• Woman: "Do you love me, Jacob?  Then tell me what happened."
   
• Woman to Esau: "Jacob doesn't know how to lie.  You're... special."
• She says she left the game for Esau, refuting his belief that it came from "across the sea" (the episode title)
• Woman: "There is nowhere else.  The Island is all there is."
• Esau: "What's dead?"
• Fake Mother: "Something you will never have to worry about."
• Why do Jacob and the MIB seem to be (mostly) immortal?
• Was Mother lying, or wrong?  MIB looked like he died when he became the smoke monster; his body was left behind, and Jacob buried him.  Is he supposed to not be dead, even though he no longer has a body?
• Is Mother currently immortal because she's the current "Jacob" (Island protector)?
• Mother doesn't seem to be immortal because she was impaled by MIB
• Jacob was immortal but was impaled by Ben because MIB found a loophole; if Mother was immortal like Jacob, what was the loophole MIB used to kill her?
   
• Jacob and Esau chase a boar - a scene straight out of the book "Lord of the Flies" which Sawyer has mentioned before
• Natives kill the boar
   
• Mother: "We are here for a reason."
• "What reason?"
• Mother: "It's not time yet. [She gives into pressure from Esau.] Come with me"
• Mother: "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt, it always ends the same."
• Same line as MIB used in Season 5 finale
• Mother: "I've made it so you can never hurt each other."
• How?
• Was this a lie?  Jacob was able to bloody his face, and threw him into the light which seems to have (apparently, sort of) killed MIB
• Glowing tunnel in the stream
• Mother: "This is the reason we're here.  Don't go in there."
• Mother: "A light.  The warmest, brightest light you've ever seen or felt.  And we must make sure that no one ever finds it."
• Mother: "A little bit of this light is inside every man.  And they always want more."
• Mother: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
• "there's a theory, that's it's the garden of eden down there,lol" -kane
• She says "It will have to be one of you" who protects the light forever
   
• Playing game
• Esau: "You can't do that Jacob.  It's against the rules.  One day you can make up a new game and everyone else will have to follow your rules."
• Esau sees a manifestation of his real mother, Claudia, but Jacob can't see her
• Hurley can do this too
• Esau is "special" -- and Jacob is not?  Esau has communion with the Island and can see dead people --congested
   
• Claudia leads Esau across the Island to the natives' village
• "They came here 13 years ago.  The day before you were born."
• Claudia tells Esau the truth that he comes from "across the sea" (the episode title again)
   
• Fake Mother tells Esau "You will never be able to leave this Island."
• Esau vows to prove it one day, and goes off to be with the other people
• "i wonder how mib introduced himself to that camp. hey hows it going i been wondering around in the jungle for 13 years and taught myself english" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Fake Mother tells Jacob she couldn't let him go with Claudia and her people because "I needed you to stay good."
• Jacob: "Then why do you love him more than me?"
• Woman asks Jacob to stay with her, and he says "Yes.  For a while."
• At the time I wondered: Does he plan to go with the other people when he leaves her?
       
• Older Jacob building a tapestry on a loom, still with his fake mother
• Jacob watches MIB with the other people and plays the game with him away from the others
• Jacob frequently watches and visits MIB
• MIB says he found a way off the Island and throws a dagger at a magnetic well
• Jacob doesn't want to leave the Island because it's his home, and MIB says "Well it's not mine"
   
• MIB is a blacksmith, making weapons
• Fake Mother visits him
• MIB says he's searched for the light for 30 years, and figured out another way to reach it
• Esau pulls a stone out of the wall and the light shines through onto a wheel
• The wheel (apparently the frozen donkey wheel) is part of "a system that channels the water and the light.  I'm going to turn it and when I do I'm finally going to leave this place."
• "the light went out so it got cold" hence the freezing of the wheel -mibmadedonkeywheel
• "the light can't go out" -kane
• Mother said earlier: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
• Fake Mother bashes MIB's head against the wall near the light opening
• Was she trying to kill him to stop him from leaving the Island?
       
• Fake Mother wakes up Jacob and said "It's time."
• Mother: "You're going to protect it now."
• Jacob: "What's down there?"
• Mother: "Life, death, rebirth, its the source, the heart of the Island.  Just promise me, no matter what you do, you won't ever go down there."
• "before jacob and his brother there was no balance. she said it herself the light is life, death and rebirth  all in one. i think now the light is only life and rebirth" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Jacob: "Would I die?"
• Mother: "It would be worse than dying, Jacob.  Much worse."
• How does she know?  Were there already smoke monsters prior to the MIB?
• She pulls out a bottle, says something in Latin, and gives it to Jacob to drink
• She says he'll protect this place as long as he can
• Mother: "Please, take the cup and drink" - Biblical reference?
• Taking the cup is a metaphor for committing to a task or duty, especially a difficult one
• Jacob was uneasy about taking the cup, similar to Jesus:
• Luke 22:42 "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."
• Mother: "Now you and I are the same"
• Both protectors of the Island
• This may also be another scriptural reference/metaphor.  See this passage in which Jesus prays to the Father that the disciples may become "one" ("the same" in Mother's terms) "even as we are one" (being perfectly united in purpose; in the case of Jacob and Mother, their purpose is to be protectors of the light):
• John 17:21-23 "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one..."
   
• MIB wakes up above ground, back of head has blood on it
• The well has been covered up with dirt and rocks, and there's a fire elsewhere on the Island - all his people are dead and their structures are burning
• How did Fake Mother kill all those Other People?!  Is she a smoke monster?  
• "i think she was a smoke monster" -kane
• Does being a smoke monster explain how she knows what entering the light will do to you?
• She can't be a smoke monster because MIB killed her by impaling her - MIB can't be killed that way as we know from when Sayid tried - no blood
• "sayid was a candidate. maybe he [Sayid] couldn't kill him [MIB]" -kane
• However, Bram shot MIB and he didn't bleed then either, and Bram was not a candidate
• Maybe there's another smoke monster on the Island, and that's how she knew what going into the light would do, and also how the other people died
• MIB recovers his game board and gets very angry
   
• Mother finds her camp, loom, etc. destroyed and Esau's game is there
• She opens it and finds a white and black stone.  She examines the black one and is impaled from behind by MIB
• Is she Eve from the caves?  Then who's Adam?  (We find out later)
• Jacob throws the MIB into the light and he comes out as a blast of black smoke - the Smoke Monster
   
• Jacob later sees MIB's dead body at the stream and brings it to the caves next to his fake mother's body - Esau is "Adam" from the caves
• So he no longer has a body - this must explain what the MIB meant when he said Jacob had taken away his humanity
• This may also explain why the MIB can't be shot/stabbed… although he does still seem to have some physicality because he can hold guns, he carried Richard and later Sun, etc.
• Flash to when Jack and Kate found the bodies and the stones in the bag
• They didn't show that Jack guessed they had been decomposing for something like 50 years
• "the episode was supposed to be named 23 A.D." -mibmadedonkeywheel -- if that was the original title of the episode that would mean it's been nearly 2000 years but Damon Lindelof said in an interview (linked in the spoiler section because the interview may contain spoilers) "it's several thousand" years

Other questions, comments, and theories discussed in the chat:

• Did the smoke monster exist prior to MIB being thrown into the light?
• Looked to me like the MIB became the smoke monster immediately after entering the light
• "like it took his mind maybe" -mibmadedonkeywheel
• Very interesting theory!  This makes sense because we know the smoke monster has John Locke's memories.  Perhaps the smoke monster already existed before, but it just took the MIB's memories
          
• Alex (congested) thinks that the MIB/smoke monster wants to get into the alternate timeline where there is no cork because the Island is sunk
   
• What happened to the light in the alternate timeline?  It's under the ocean with the Island, or was it extinguished?
• Mother: "A little bit of this light is inside every man.  And they always want more."
• Mother: "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere."
• So if the light goes out, what happens?  Everybody dies?  Becomes corrupt?
• Did the light go out in the flash-sideways timeline when the Island sunk?
   
• "now the question is who found out the pylons would keep smokey out" -mibmadedonkeywheel
   
• "i just wish I knew half the stuff she knew. seems like there was a lot she didn't share with Jacob when turning over the job." -cliftongibbons
   
• "i bet locke will come from the sideways and battle mib to see the light" -mibmadedonkeywheel
   
• "oh one more thing when mib went to live with the camp he learned greed,mistrust and all the other bad things from them. and it was like their mother knew that he had to take in all that bad energy. jacob stayed pure" -mibmadedonkeywheel

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• Congested's alternate version of the scene where Jacob buried Mother and Man in Black (with Jack, Kate, and Locke clips cut out): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn0wo5P4x30

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Various clips of Jack, Ben, Sun and Jin, the temple, clips from the flash-sideways (James punching the mirror), MIB breaking the bottle, Locke (both in casket and alive)
• The Doors song "The End" plays
• "The End" is the title of the final episode of the series finale according to The Official LOST Podcast
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTMGCvPeY18 

Geronimo Jack's Beard:

• After Sayid tells Jack that Desmond is in the well, he also says "It's going to be you, Jack."  According to GJB, "you" is underlined in the script.  When I watching this scene, I assumed that Sayid meant that Jack would be the one to save Desmond.  However, Beth Shady (aka Sidekick22) from GJB points out that in the script, the stage direction just after this line says "And Jack's just as confused by that as we are."  Jorge Garcia and Beth Shady both believe that Sayid meant that Jack was the candidate who would replace Jacob.  This theory would seem to fit with the episode title ("The Candidate") as well as the centricity of the episode (Jack-centric), even though Jack called Locke "a candidate" for reconstructive spinal surgery in the flash-sideways.  Perhaps the remark about Locke being "a candidate" was a red herring, and the candidate is Jack.  On the other hand, how would Sayid have known that Jack would be the candidate to replace Jacob?  Sayid was infected and on the MIB's side.
• Alex (congested) doesn't think Jack replacing Jacob is going to be the main ending of the show

The Official LOST Podcast:

• Carlton Cuse said the issue of Kate apparently not being a candidate will be addressed in the show.
   
• Not all people who are dead on the show are manifestations of the Man in Black.  Hurley sees dead people on a regular basis because he has a special ability, so he can see genuine dead people such as Isabella.
   
• Not all of the "rules" (e.g. Ben and Widmore's rules) will be revealed.  Carlton Cuse: "Some of them will become clear.  Others you as an audience member are gonna get to speculate about after the show is over."
• Maybe this has to do with the rules that Esau said in this episode that Jacob would get to make up
   
• Carlton made a casual comment about the Egyptians building the Taweret (four-toed foot) statue, but Damon seemed surprised so this may or may not have actually been decided by the writers
   
• Next week's episode is titled "What They Died For" and Damon said that after watching "The Candidate": "Now you understand, perhaps, what that title means."
  

Interviews:

• HitFix interview with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse:
• http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/exclusive-interview-lost-producers-damon-lindelof-and-carlton-cuse-talk-across-the-sea
   
• Comic News Insider interview with Michael Emerson ("Ben"):
• http://www.comicnewsinsider.com/2010/05/episode-258-michael-emerson-returns-part-1.html
• Ben has scenes with Widmore this season
• Flash-sideways?  Flashback?  Or just on the Island?
• Alex (congested) speculates that Ben and Widmore see each other on the Island - maybe that's where Ben and Richard have been
• Michael Emerson also said that he filmed a 14-minute epilogue that's apparently going to be on the Season 6 DVD
   
• Lost Causes interview with Kenton Duty ("young Jacob"):
• http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lostcauses/2010/05/13/lost-causes-ab-aeterno
• The actor said he will be back on the show in at least one scene with a number of the main actors
• Based on Congested's recollection of the interview, it sounds like Ben's group may reunite with Jack's group... but how does the young Jacob character tie in with them?

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"The Candidate" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 14, "The Candidate".

Season 6 Episode 14 "The Candidate":
2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke wakes up from surgery and sees Jack
• Jack asks what caused Locke's original spinal injury that put him in a wheelchair
• Jack: "Because I think you're a candidate"
• Jack offers to fix Locke, but Locke refuses

2007 on the Island:

• Sayid to Jack: "Welcome to Hydra Island"
    
• Sawyer and Kate get put back in the cages
• Charles Widmore reveals that Kate isn't on his list, but Ford, Reyes, and the Kwons are
• Interesting... then why was Austen not crossed out in the lighthouse, as confirmed on an Official LOST Podcast?
• "i stopped taking damon and carlton seriously in season 3" -diesel929
• Widmore asks if the fence is live yet, and they say in about an hour
• Widmore says they haven't got an hour because "he's coming"

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Jack introduces himself to Bernard Nadler and asks about Locke's original injury
  Bernard gives Jack the name of the man who was with Locke: Anthony Cooper
• They realize that they were both on Flight 815

2007:

• Sayid to Jack: "Locke saved you."
• Sayid says "It's just the three of us now" because the rest of them scattered when the bomb was dropped
   
• The Man in Black asks Jack to help him convince his friends to trust him
    
• Sun puts Jin's wedding ring back on him
• The power goes out and the pylons stop working, and then the smoke monster appears and kills one of Widmore's men
• Jack shows up and takes the dead Widmore guy's keys and sets his friends free, explaining "I'm with him"
    
• Jack says that Sayid turned off the generators

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Anthony Cooper is in a nursing home
• Sawyer had been looking for Anthony Cooper
• "the james ford con may have been the last of his cons. he had been redeemed." -diesel929's theory
• Or perhaps Anthony Cooper was still in the middle of his long con of John Locke when the accident happened

2007:

• MIB finds a strange wire in the plane; is it rigged with explosives?
• MIB explains to the candidates that the plane was rigged with C4
• MIB says they need to take the submarine instead
• Sawyer pretends to be on the MIB's side, saying "Maybe I was wrong about you"
• Claire apologizes to MIB and he says it's all right
• Sawyer tells Jack to not let the MIB in the sub because he doesn't trust it

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke mutters in his sleep, "Push the button" and "I wish you had believed me"
• Lines from original timeline!  Explanation?
• Claire shows up and asks if she can talk with Jack
• Jack gets an Apollo bar from the machine
• Jack figures out that Claire was also on Flight 815; he's starting to figure out that something is weird
• Claire said she'd never even met "this man" presumably meaning her father
• In the original timeline, Claire remembered that Christian Shephard used to sing "Catch a Falling Star" to her when she was little.  Apparently in this timeline Christian didn't visit her and sing to her, or at least he stopped visiting her earlier in her life prior to the time she can remember
• Claire asks how Christian died; Jack gives the same cause of death as the original timeline
• Claire has a music box that Christian left for her that plays "Catch a Falling Star" and she doesn't know why
• Jack offers to let Claire stay with him instead of her hotel

2007:

• Sawyer and Frank Lapidus enter the sub and take control
• MIB tries again to convince Jack to board the sub, and says whoever told him he should stay didn't know what he was talking about
• Jack says that John Locke told him that, and Jack pushes the MIB into the water
• Jack made the point that he can't kill them, so the MIB couldn't directly get revenge on Jack
• Kate is shot
• MIB gets out of the water and begins taking out Widmore's men with gunfire along with Claire
  Sawyer chooses to leave Claire behind on the dock because the MIB begins to approach the sub
  Jack discovers that the MIB gave him a backpack with a bomb in it; it has less than 4 minutes left
• Sayid tries to defuse the bomb
• Jack says "Locke can't kill us" and tries to convince Sawyer not to pull the wires because they'll be killing themselves
• Sawyer pulls it anyway and it ticks down rapidly
• "when did Sawyer work for the bomb squad?" -baileybear
• Sawyer inadvertently killed Jin, Sun, and Sayid (and Frank?) if Jack is correct
• Sayid tells Jack about Desmond and then runs with the bomb to get it away from them, and sacrifices himself
• "Sayid was redeemed" -baileybear
• Here's confirmation that Desmond really is still alive; Sayid didn't kill him
• Jack, Jin, and Sawyer try to rescue Sun, who's trapped, but it's not enough to save her
• Sawyer gets knocked unconscious and Jack takes him to the surface
• Jin stays with Sun and they die together underwater
• Who will raise Ji-Yeon?  Why did neither of them think of their child?
• It's frustrating that Jin wouldn't save himself; this is similar to Charlie deciding to shut himself in rather than shut himself out with Desmond

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke explains how he got injured: "I was in a plane crash" and his father was his first passenger, and the accident was his fault, and now his father will never walk or talk again
• Jack: "What happened, happened.  And you can let it go."
• Jack: "I *can* help you, John.  I wish you believed me."

2007:

• Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, and Kate are all alive on the beach
    
• MIB: "It sunk."
• Claire: "What, they're all dead?"
• MIB: "Not all of them"
• Somehow he seems to have a connection with the candidates where he knows if they die
• MIB tells Claire he's going to go finish what he started

Other questions, comments, and theories from the chat:

• Question in chat: "do we think ajira plane isnt done yet?"
• I never thought it had a chance of working to leave the Island anyway
• "im telling you i could swear that wndshield busted. didnt a stick impale the copiloot? a stick that crashed through on impact of the olanding... lostpedia:  The co-pilot died when a tree branch came through the window and harpooned his chest, spraying blood over Frank Lapidus." -diesel929
• "Maybe MIB just used the excuse of the plane to get all the lostees together" -baileybear
• "that is the only thing that makes sense" -diesel929
   
• "interesting tidbit from lostpedia:  As of the end of this episode, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Claire, and Walt are the only main cast members from Season 1 who are still alive in the original timeline." -diesel929
    
• "the only candidates left are Jack, Sawyer and Hurley" -baileybear
• ...unless Ji-Yeon is the Kwon candidate!
• Maybe Widmore does know that Kate is still a candidate, but he was tricking Sawyer
    
• Theories: Will Kate die?
• "she can' die.  she has to resolve something with Claire first" -baileybear
• "someone needs to tell claire that her mom is out of the coma. i thnk kate should be that person. and that aaron is with his grandma" -diesel929
• "weird thing is Claire never asked where her son is" -baileybear
• ...unless that conversation happened off-camera, or was filmed but didn't make the cut to the show
• "the lost lowdown went into deep discussion about this on their podcast. the last recruit" -diesel929
   
• "what is desmond there for?" -baileybear
• Has he already fulfilled his purpose?  Widmore got him to consciousness-travel to the alternate timeline, and now in the alternate timeline Des is bringing together the Flight 815 people and getting them to have memories of the original timeline.  Perhaps that was Widmore's whole purpose in bringing Desmond back to the Island
   
• When Des ran into Locke he may have wanted to get Locke to have a near-death experience so he would remember the original timeline; we didn't get confirmation that Locke remembers it in this episode, other than his mutterings while asleep in the hospital being from the original timeline

LOST News:

• The series finale episode has been extended from 2 hours to 2.5 hours, as reported here and later confirmed on The Official LOST Podcast (thanks to KateJack for the tip)

Screenshots and Easter Eggs:

• There were once again reflections in the flash-sideways: a reflection of Jack and Claire was seen in the music box's mirror (screenshot)

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• Locke from Season 1: "Two players, two sides.  One is light, one is dark."
• Shots of the Man in Black and Jacob
• Looks like it may be a MIB/Jacob-centric episode about their origins
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyulYb5wUVA 

Geronimo Jack's Beard: (spoiler about characters in the finale)

• Hurley, Kate, and Ben are all in the series finale episode (listen here)

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Season 6 Donation Goal Reached!

As of this morning, I've reached my donation goal! Thanks to everyone who made a contribution. You can still donate if you wish, but I no longer need any more donations to help pay for getting LOST on my TV this season.

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"The Last Recruit" Discussion

[Listen to this episode!] [Subscribe to the MP3 feed via iTunes]

the JoshMeister and fellow LOST fans discuss Season 6 Episode 13, "The Last Recruit".

Season 6 Episode 13 "The Last Recruit":
2007 on the Island:

• Man in Black to Jack: "I think we have some catching up to do."
• Jack to MIB: "Who else have you looked like?"
• Jack asks whether the apparitions of Christian Shephard were the MIB
• MIB: "Yes, that was me."
• Jack: "Why?"
• MIB: "You needed to find water. ... All I've ever been interested in is to help you.  Leave. ... Now Jacob's dead.  We don't have to be trapped here. ... Because it has to be all of us." 
• "MIB to jack 'because Jacob choose you, you were trapped on this island, before you even got here'. there must be a pull to the island from Jacobs' touch" -RedWalrus

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Locke says he was going to marry Helen Norwood
• Sun and John Locke get to the emergency room at the same time
• Sun recognized Locke: "What is he doing here?"
• Did she recognize him from the plane, or from the original timeline on the Island?

2007:

• Claire to Jack: "Did he tell you that he was the one pretending to be our father? ... You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us.  Whether you like it or not, you're with him now."
• According to Jorge Garcia on Geronimo Jack's Beard, Claire's line "You decided the moment you let him talk to you, just like the rest of us" was not in his version of the script
   
• Sawyer tells Jack, and Kate tells Sun, their secret plan to steal the submarine

2004 "flash-sideways":

• James Ford talks to Kate about her record
• "did Sawyer call Kate freckles in the squad room or did i hear wrong?" -baileybear
• Yep, he did
• Miles fills in Sawyer on the multiple homicide at the restaurant, and they plan to go after Sayid because he was caught on camera leaving the scene

2007:

• Zoe: "You took something from us, and we want it back."
• Zoe calls someone on her walkie-talkie and says "Do you have a fix on my position?  Show them what we're capable of," and a bomb is dropped and explodes nearby
• Zoe: "You have until nightfall ... or next time we won't miss.  Call me when you're ready for us to pick him up."
• They actually did miss the next time, later in the episode  ;o)
• Zoe leaves the walkie-talkie with the Man in Black
• As the members of the Man in Black's camp watch, he smashes the walkie-talkie and says "Well, here we go."

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Desmond tracks down Claire and offers to get her a lawyer to represent her with the adoption process for free
• Des and Claire go to floor 15
• Ilana Verdansky says she's been looking for Claire and asks Desmond to speak with her alone for a few minutes
• "speaking of ilana, how did des know she was looking for claire?" -kane
• We finally get her last name now that she's dead
• Her last name does not appear to be on the list of candidates in the cave or in the lighthouse

2007:

• Sawyer asks Jack to help them escape
• Meanwhile, MIB orders Sayid to kill Desmond and MIB asks Sayid if he still wants to be with Nadia again
• Is the MIB lying?  Or being deceptive?  Or will Nadia come back as a "zombie" like Sayid?
• "sayid will have to die to be with nadia. mib can't bring back the dead just like jacob couldn't bring back isabella." -kane
• "MIB can't kill Sayid right now though because he's on the list of candidates" -kane
  
• Desmond tries to reason with Sayid
• Sayid: "I died and he brought me back."
• Des: "So what will you tell her?  This woman, when she asks what you did so you could be with her again, what will you tell her?"
• Sayid shoots, but did he kill Desmond?
• Later when the MIB confronts Sayid about whether he went through with it, Sayid says he did but smiles to himself shortly after the MIB seems to have believed him
• kane and baileybear agree with me that Des is still alive
• "why didn't Zoey just take her crew and retrieve Desmond?" -baileybear
• I don't think Widmore's people knew where Desmond was
• "another one is why didn't flocke and the gang take zoey hostage,lol" -kane

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sayid: "Nadia, I'm leaving, and I'm never going to be able to come back again."
• Miles knocks on the front door
• James arrests Sayid as Sayid tries to escape out the back

2007:

• Kate is upset that Sawyer didn't tell Jack to bring Claire because Kate promised to bring her back
• Sawyer asks Kate if she really thinks it's a good idea for Claire to be around Aaron, and Kate doesn't argue
• They swim with the guns.  Wouldn't that wet the gunpowder and possibly prevent it from firing until it dried out?
   
• Claire watches Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Frank run off
• They get to the boat (the Elizabeth, Desmond's old boat which the MIB has claimed as his own) and Claire approaches with her rifle drawn
• Kate convinces Claire to come with them
• Claire: "He finds out we're gone, he's gonna be mad."

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Jack is walking with David and talking to David's mom on the phone
• Jack and David came to see Ilana
• Ilana introduces Jack to Claire
• Jack: "You were in my father's will.  Do you mind if I ask you how you knew him?"
• Claire: "He was my father, too."
• Jack gets a call; there's an emergency at the hospital and he says he has to reschedule

2007:

• Jack says that leaving the Island "doesn't feel right"
• Jack: "We were brought here because we're supposed to do something."  He says that maybe they need to stay on the Island, not leave, in order to thwart the Man in Black's plan
• Jack: "The Island is not done with us yet."
• Sawyer makes Jack leave the boat, and Jack apologizes for Juliet's death
• Kate watches as Jack swims back to shore and they exchange looks
• I think Jack wants Kate to feel guilty and come back for him, which she always does
• Theory: Jack's going to stay on the Island and become the next Jacob
• Or maybe Kate will; her name was crossed off in the cave but not in the lighthouse.  Perhaps Jacob did this intentionally to trick the MIB into thinking she's no longer a candidate

2004 "flash-sideways":

• Sun is at the hospital in recovery, and Jin tells Sun that their baby is going to be fine
• Jack was called in to work on Locke, and Jack recognizes him
• Jack had talked with Locke at LAX when Locke lost his knives and Jack lost his father's body, and Jack offered to give Locke a free consultation about his spinal injury
• Theory: Jack is going to not only repair Locke's car crash injuries, but he's going to make him walk again
• "i agree. makes sense. lots of people have been expecting it to happen this season" -diesel929
• "unless he pulls a "ben" on him,lol, (when jack had to do surgery on ben)" -kane
• The dural sac was also mentioned in the Pilot episode of Season 1: "It was when Jack counted to five when he was operating on a girl and he cut her and her nerves spilled out like angel hair pasta" -RedWalrus

2007:

• MIB to Jack (after Jack swims to the beach): "Nice day for a swim"
  MIB: "Sawyer took my boat, didn't he?"
   
• The sonic fences are turned off so Sawyer and his friends can get through
• Sun and Jin are finally reunited
• Sun can speak English again
• "funny they don't talk korean" -RedWalrus

• Zoe makes them all kneel, and Jin does too
• Zoe tells someone via her walkie-talkie to bomb Locke
      
• The first bomb explosion lifts Jack through the air
• "great explosion, Jack really flew, liked the sound effects ...just like Kates' lost of hearing in LA X" -RedWalrus
• MIB carries Jack away from the beach and tells Jack he's okay, and "You're with me now."

• "kate and jack are adam and eve, i think. maybe it was another time loop" -kane
• "think its' rose and bernard" -RedWalrus
• Maybe, but wouldn't they have jumped back to 2007 with Kate, Jack, Sawyer, etc.?
• "even if it's rose and bernard, it would have to be another time loop" -kane
• "Now that the stones are more significant to us now maybe they aren't adam and eve. rose and bernard that is" -RedWalrus
• "yeah, i thought jack still had the rocks" -kane
• "Probably in that backpack he's been hauling around for ever" -RedWalrus

SPOILERS:

Preview for next week's episode:

• HIS SOUL HAD GONE MAD... BEING ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS
• MIB: "[If I could?] kill you..."
• MIB: "I'm going to kill every single one of your friends."
• MIB: "There's not a [?] that you can do to stop me."
• MIB shoots someone on team Widmore
• Someone says something like "men were dead"
• Kate with clenched teeth and eyes closed
• Flash of Claire and then of the MIB's eyes and then Sawyer
• Charles Widmore: "He's coming"
• Flash of blurry Jack
• Ring being put on someone's finger - looks like a woman's hand putting a plain gold band on a man's finger
• Probably Sun returning Jin's ring
• Sawyer saying "He doesn't need you, Kate"
• Kate in the dark, apparently behind bars, with eyes wide open looking frightened
• THE HORROR
• Flash of Sun with eyes wide open
• A hand (MIB's?) grabbing a wire (perhaps in the sub?)
• Sayid in foreground, with Hurley, Sun, Jin, and the Ajira plane in the background
• MIB grabbing Claire from behind
• Sawyer holding a handgun in the jungle with Sun behind him
• Jack and Claire looking into a mirror together
• Sun turning her face toward the camera
• The MIB's angry face, with Claire's hair at the bottom of the frame
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0faS0REHPE 

• The next episode is titled "The Candidate"
• Does the title refer to Jack again, or perhaps Kate?  Who will be the candidate to replace Jacob?
• "kate really has nothing to go back to" -kane

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