Quick Take: Lost, "The Last Recruit"
"If you're gonna shoot me in cold blood, brother… I think I have a right to know what you're getting in exchange for it." – Desmond to Sayid
Review: Lost, "The Last Recruit"
(S0612) To open, Jack (Mathew Fox) and Not Locke/Smoke Monster (Terry O'Quinn) have an extraordinary conversation by a camp fire. For fans of Lost, seeing Jack and Locke together brings back memories of earlier seasons, a "simpler" time when, apart from the vast mysteries concerning the island, you could pretty much pose Jack as the leader of the skeptics, and John Locke very much the Believer-in-Chief.
Now things are different, scrambled, altered, but at the same time we're learning more about the nature of the island and its most powerful forces than we ever have before. "John Locke wasn't a believer, Jack. He was a sucker," Not Locke/Smoke Monster says. Of course, it's hard to tell what to believe from Smokey, but this opinion seems to be real. Not Locke also reveals that he took the form of Jack's dead father early on. That tidbit alone helps to "cover" a wide swath of ground in terms of explaining people who "shouldn't" be there (but is there any connection with Hugo's dead people sightings?).
Most importantly, Not Locke gets back to the theme of needing the original Lost group to all be together in order for them to leave the island as one. This explains too, we're told, why Not Locke had to encompass the body of the deceased John Locke himself. Not Locke explains that now that Jacob is dead, his "hold" on the Losties is broken, and they are free to leave… as long as they are all together. Why that is yet another question, of course!
Connections and revelations are a theme in this episode, and we've been trending that way over the course of this final season. Some have criticized Lost for being "too little / too late" in terms of wrapping up plot lines and filling vast holes. I completely disagree. While there were certainly better seasons than others and times when the show felt a little meandering, it nearly always worked as pure fun and sci fi/adventure even at its worst. And now, I think those that have stuck along for the ride are being rewarded with the best season of all, perhaps save the first when everything was still new and shocking and totally exotic.
But back to connections: the "convergence" of our heroes in the alternate reality is accelerating, as are memories of sorts from another world, or an alternate reality compared to their own timeline, if you want to get technical about it. Sun (Yunjin Kim) enters the hospital after being shot at the same moment as The Real John Locke (is that Twitter handle taken, by the way?) arrives after being run over by Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick). And meanwhile, alt-reality cops Sawyer and Miles (Ken Leung) are both tending to captured fugitive Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and scoping out Sayid leaving the scene of the kidnapping/shootings on a security camera. "Check out this jabroni," Miles said. Miles in a scene goes, well… you know, a long way. Later on we see a reunited Jack and Claire, and Jack, whom we've long known is a spinal surgeon, is brought into work on The Real John Locke. Jack's immediate if fuzzy recognition perhaps shows us that the connections between the two works are getting stronger, or that we're closer to a "breakthrough" of some sort between the two realities.
Back in main storyline reality, Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and Jack have a reunion as brother and sister, but it's far weirder than what we might expect. Claire states that now that Jack has spoken to Not Locke, there's no more choice (free will?), that they are all going to leave the island together. This hearkens back to Sayid's mission when sent out from the Temple. Don't talk to him, they warned him. Just kill him.
Sawyer seems to be the one who's most wise to the fact that a) Not Locke may be pretty much on the Not Nice/Very Evil side b) Sayid has gone to the dark side for real and c) Claire is really Crazy Claire after all. After some classic Lost whispering and maneuvering, Sawyer arranges for the gang (minus Sayid and Claire) to steal a boat to head over to Hydra Island. But, just as on Gilligan's Island, something gets in the way of best laid plans. While Kate convinces Claire to come with them once the latter got the drop on them with a rifle, Jack literally jumped ship midway through, claiming that something just "didn't feel right" about leaving the island. Fascinating that Jack is evolving into a True Believer in his own kind of way.
If we're to believe the promos for next week's show, Claire, crazy or not, is right: Not Locke is looking most Not Happy indeed.
More thoughts on "The Last Recruit":
Video: Quick Take: Lost, "The Last Recruit"
Check out the shenanigans and action from Hulu, while available:
Recap: Lost, "The Last Recruit"
On the island: Locke's group:
- Locke explains to Jack that they are not trapped on the island anymore; they can use the Ajira plane to fly away but all of them have to be on it
- Zoe delivers Locke a message: Widmore wants back what Locke stole; if Locke doesn't give it back, Widmore will attack the group and kill them
- Locke asks Sayid to go kill Desmond
Read more at ABC.com.
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