Jack appears to be the candidate on the island while Locke is a candidate for surgery in the sideways world. Sideways Locke is woken up by Jack after his surgery. “Welcome back.” Jack explains that he was hit by a car and that his surgery went well and everything is back where it belongs. Jack asks how Locke was paralyzed and thinks he might be a candidate for a new procedure that could lead to Locke walking again. Locke says “no, thank you.” Jack is confused, and just then Helen walks in and thanks Jack for saving him.
On the island, Jack wakes up in an outrigger, and Sayid says “welcome to Hydra Island…at least you didn’t have to paddle.” Widmore brings all the people he’s gathered together and tells them to get into the cages. Sawyer grabs a gun and threatens to kill Seamus but Widmore points a gun at Kate and explains that he has a list of names of who he needs to protect. He says that Kate’s not on that list and that he’ll shoot her if Sawyer doesn’t put his gun down. (Ford, Reyes and the Kwons are on the list.) Widmore puts them in one of the polar bear cages and asks if the fence is live yet, because “he’s coming.”
Jack goes to visit a dentist (not Rambo) named Bernard Nadler. Jack asks Bernard about a patient, John Locke. He wants to know how Locke was injured. He mentions the flight, and Bernard immediately says “Oceanic 815…I sat across the aisle from you…you were flirting with my wife Rose when I was in the bathroom. That’s pretty weird…maybe you’re onto something here.” Is Bernard island-enlightened? He has a weird aura about him, and doesn’t seem very troubled by his “flirting” accusation. He then helps Jack out by giving him the name of the man who was in the same accident as Locke: Anthony Cooper. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Back on the island, Jack gets up and out of outrigger and Sayid explains that Locke saved Jack after the mortar attack. Locke shows up and says that they need to go rescue Jack’s friends. “They’re not my people, and I’m not leaving the island” says Jack. Locke says that Jack should trust him because he could kill him right then and there, though I think he was bluffing, as it seems the “rules” state that he cannot kill the candidates just like he couldn’t kill Jacob. Locke says he saved Jack and now he wants to save the rest of the people who were captured by Widmore.
Sawyer and Kate are locked in the cage, and Sawyer explains that Kate’s name was crossed off in the cave he told her about. “He doesn’t need you, Kate.” Jin and Sun sit and talk about Ji Yeon. Sun says that little Ji is with Sun’s mother, and Jin explains how he saw the photos on her camera. Sun puts his ring back on his finger. The power then goes out on Hydra Island. In the distance, the smoke monsters bellow is heard. Just after, it comes flying out of the woods and takes care of Widmore’s henchmen with no trouble. Jack runs out of the woods, grabs the key and lets everyone out of the cage. Free again, the group tromps through the jungle towards the plane. Kate asks Jack if he’s coming with them, but he says he isn’t “meant to go.” Sawyer thanks Jack for coming back for them.
Sideways Jack goes to see Anthony Cooper. Just as he’s at the front desk, Helen walks in. Jack says that he wants to talk about the accident, and she urges him to “just go” and “leave this alone.” He says “it’s not” enough to have saved his life. She lets him in, and explains that Anthony Cooper is Locke’s father. He’s a vegetable.
Locke gets to the plane ahead of the group, takes some bullets and just keeps on walking before taking out a few of Widmore’s guys who were guarding the plane. He steals a watch off of one of them after snapping his neck. On the plane, he inspects some wires and takes something out of the overhead compartment. Then the group arrives, just as Locke is getting off the plane and saying that those men were only guarding the plane for show and that Widmore wanted everyone in the same place at the same time so he could kill them all. The new plan is to take the submarine if they want to leave. “That’s twice you’ve saved our asses; I guess I was wrong about you,” says Sawyer. However, as they walk to the submarine, Sawyer tells Jack that if he doesn’t want to leave that’s his own business, but he needs Jack to make sure that Locke doesn’t get on the sub when everyone else does.
Continued belowSideways Jack goes back to Locke’s bedside. In his sleep, Locke says “push the button” and “I wish you had believed me.” Island dreams? Claire comes to the hospital looking for Jack. He gets an Apollo bar from the vending machine and they sit down to talk. Claire has a box with something that Christian wanted her to have. (Rousseau also had a music box when she arrived on the island. She has Sayid fix it for her when he followed the cable on the beach to her little hut.) Claire asks how Christian died. They then realize that they were on the same flight from Sydney to LA. They open the box together; it plays “Catch a Falling Star.” (The same song that Claire asked the adoptive parents to sing to her child, just as her father had done for her; the same song that the mobile hanging above the crib in the Staff nursery played; the same song she sang while she was put in the hole of the Temple.) They look into the mirror together, which continues to sideways mirror theme, but this was the first time two people looked into the same mirror. I’m curious if this means anything. Jack says he doesn’t know why he wanted her to have the music box, and then offers to let her stay at his place.
The group on the island arrives at the submarine, ready for whoever might be hiding and ready to take them out. Sawyer leads a group down to the dock and they board the sub and sneak up behind a crew member who leads them to the captain. The second wave of the group then heads down to the dock leaving just Locke and Jack still waiting in the bushes. Locke switches his backpack with Jack’s and hands Jack his. Locke asks Jack to change his mind; Jack responds by pushing him into the water. Kate is then shot in the chest. Widmore’s men are in the trees shooting towards the sub. Jack grabs Kate and helps her into the sub. Claire, apparently a skilled markswoman from her three years in the jungle, picks a few of them off with no problem. Locke climbs up out of the water and takes care of the rest. Sawyer heads back up and tells Claire to get in the sub, but he’s forced to shut the door because Locke was heading to the sub. “They’re leaving us!” Claire exclaims. “Trust me, you don’t wanna be on that sub,” says Locke. Jack had told Hurley to look for a first aid kit, but he was unable to find one. Jack tells Jin to open his pack. Jack opens it only to find a bomb with a timer. 3:54 until explosion. “We did exactly what he wanted.” Sayid takes a look at the bomb but can’t seem to do anything. Jack says that “nothing is going to happen.” After his experience with the dynamite in the Black Rock, Jack knows that he can’t die until his purpose on the island is fulfilled. “Everything that he has done has been to get us here, he wanted to get us all in the same place at the same time; a nice, enclosed space where we had no hopes of getting out of…he told me he could kill any one of us whenever he wanted, so what if he hasn’t because he’s not allowed to? What if he’s trying to get us to kill each other.” Sawyer doesn’t trust Jack on that, so he pulls the wires out. The bomb stops momentarily, and then starts ticking faster. Sayid explains that there’s a well and Desmond is in it. “Locke wants him dead, which means you’re going to need him.” Jack asks why he’s telling him this, to which Sayid says “it’s going to be you Jack” before grabbing the bomb and running down the hall while it goes off. Frank goes to find out what happened when he’s hit in the head by a door (and never seen again, presumably dead) that flies off due to the water that then starts rushing in. Sun is pinned by a giant metal object, and Sawyer and Jin can’t get her free. Jack tells Hurley to take Kate out. Something falls on Sawyer’s head and knocks him out. Jin still can’t free Sun, and she urges him to go and save himself. He says no. Jack urges Jin to go but he refuses and keeps trying to free his wife. Jack swims out carrying Sawyer. Sun tells Jin he needs to go, but he says he can do it. “I won’t leave you.” I was waiting for her to mention Ji Yeon, and tell him to leave so she’d have a father, but he tells her (in Korean) “I wont’ leave you. I will never leave you again.” At this point it’s sunk in for both of them that they’re about to die. “I love you, Sun.” “I love you.” They kiss, as Giacchino’s score swells. Shots of the submarine, both inside and out are shown before we see their lifeless hands drift apart in a Titanic-esque scene.
Continued belowLocke is being discharged from the hospital. As the orderly pushes him down the hall, we see Jin walk by with flowers. Jack approaches Locke and tells him that he went to visit his father. Locke says that he was in a plane crash. “I had had my private pilot’s license for a week and I begged my father to be my first official passenger. He was terrified of flying…I told him he could trust me. I don’t remember what I did wrong, but it was my fault.” So in the original timeline, Cooper paralyzed Locke. In the sideways world, Locke (albeit accidentally) paralyzed Cooper. Jack then reminds Locke of the conversation they had at the airport where Locke told Jack that Christian was gone. “It hurt to hear that but I knew you were right. Your father’s gone too, Mr. Locke, and you can punish yourself as much as you want and that’s never gonna bring him back…what happened, happened. You can let it go.” Locke asks him what makes him think letting go is so easy. “It’s not, in fact I don’t really know how to do it myself. That’s why I was hoping that maybe you could go first.” Locke says goodbye and wheels past him towards the exit. “I can help you John,” says Jack. “I wish you believed me.” For a moment Locke stops, but then he continues. Did he remember that line from his suicide note, or was he just stopping to consider the offer?
Jack makes it to shore with Sawyer, who coughs up some water. Hurley and Kate arrive just after. Hurley asks if Sawyer’s okay and Jack says he’s breathing. Kate asks about Jin and Sun. Jack can’t even say the words, but Hurley and Kate realize that they’re gone. Hurley starts weeping, and I think that made an already tragic event even worse. If there was anyone who hadn’t cried yet, I think we all did with Hurley.
Locke and Claire are on the dock. “It sunk,” says Locke. “They’re all dead?” asks Claire. “Not all of them.” Claire asks where he’s going, to which he replies “to finish what I started.”
Wow. What an episode. I’ve watched it four times now, and each time I really wanted to just skip the death scene. I never really even liked Sun at all, but to see those two go out like that (not to mention Sayid be a hero) was really powerful; Jin kept his word that he’d never leave his wife even though it meant Ji Yeon would be an orphan. I found this scene to be even more touching that Charlie’s death. Damon and Carlton said the point of all of this was to show everyone definitively that a. no one is safe, not even the main characters and b. Locke is absolutely evil, despite his claims to the contrary. I’d say that they did the job very well. I really don’t know what to make of the island hints in the sideways. Does Locke remember the island or was he just dreaming about it? I kept waiting for someone to have a breakthrough, and it didn’t happen.
Also, for those who haven’t heard, the finale (Sunday, May 23) has been extended by 30 minutes. It will air from 9-11:30 PM, so we’re essentially getting a full length movie as the final episode. Fuck yeah!
