And Then There Were Three

Moral ambiguity? What ambiguity? At the start of season six, I was firmly in the "Smokey might not be all bad" camp. This week Lost showed us, “There is no ambiguity...[the Man in Black] is evil and he has to be stopped.”

There are a lot of questions about when the Monster can take action, and who he is able to kill. Well, he can certainly dish up the slaughter - he must have killed a dozen people between gunfire and his Monster Rampage.


So, Locke really lives to blow up submarines with C4! Maybe that's his special purpose? Back in season three, viewers and Losties alike gasped "What the fuck?!" when Locke destroyed the Other's submarine - at the time it was the only way off the Island. Huh, just like now...those producers love repeated actions and images.


(hey, that music box plays Catch a Falling Star!)

Speaking of repeated actions, I thought for sure Sayid was going to pull a Charlie: locking the door behind him and maintaining the sub's internal pressure. Instead, he stood there doing nothing while the Monster's plan played out. He might have saved the Kwons, but I think it's Sawyer who bears the responsibility here - and expect to see him have a hard time dealing with it.

Anyway, it was still a bit like Charlie all over again, because if the Losties had only taken thirty seconds to secure the bulkheads, they could have blocked off the flooding and raised the sub, no problem. But, I digress.

Sun and Jin are gone - or are they? They're both still alive in the sideways, and I'm convinced there will be a "but we all live on" type ending. They've got to somehow "close the loop" on this crazy sideways, injecting the memories of their past in the "real world" into their X-selves. "See ya in another life, brotha."


A repeated phrase that I really enjoyed in this episode was, "I wish you had believed me." John was muttering it under his breath just before he woke. Jack repeated it in the hallway, trying to get Locke X to agree to spinal surgery. And of course, these were sort-of the last words of John Locke. When Jack X said it in the hall, for just a moment Locke hesitated. Was he remembering something? Hiding something? Is he "flashing" to the life of Island Locke, or is he MiB in disguise, just about to make his escape?


It does seem like John Locke. And man, I really loved that scene with them in the hallway. Terry O'Quinn was always one of my favorite character actors, but he's jumped into my list of all time greats. I watched it several times, and it was another great use of a repeated phrase (and honestly, I find it more emotional than the hackneyed drowning of the Kwons). John tells Jack he looked his father in the eye and said, "Trust me...and we barely got off the ground. I still don't re-....I don't remember what I did wrong. But I remember it was my fault." That kind of guilt reminds me a lot of the John Locke from seasons two and three, who was carrying this heavy spiritual burden. But that John Locke is dead now.

Back on the Island, there's no doubt Flocke planned this entire thing. He tells Claire, "Trust me. You don't want to be on that sub." You can see in his eyes - he's thrilled.


Even as Flocke, he's been saying "Don't tell me what I can't do" but we know for sure one thing he really can't do: kill one of the candidates directly. I think this must be what the mysterious boy meant when he said, "You know the rules. You can't kill him." I think he was referring to Sawyer, who was being led out to the Monster's cliffside cave.

So, apparently the Monster cooked up this scheme to get all the candidates into the sub with a bunch of C4. I don't know what we're supposed to make of the fact that the ancient Smoke Monster somehow slapped a digital watch onto some explosives and made a bomb, nor the insanely ridiculous digital countdown speeding up when Sawyer pulled the wires. And I don't understand how Jack lighting the dynamite was different from Sawyer pulling the wires on the bomb...so, I'll just move on.

The battle over the bomb was another great repeated moment though. Last time Sawyer trusted Jack about a bomb, Juliet died. There was no way in hell he was going to take it on "faith" that everything was going to turn out fine this time. Fate (or...something) has conspired to put Sawyer in this position where pulling the wires was the only decision he could have made. It was a brilliantly tortured moment, and I like where it leaves Sawyer. I really enjoyed his bitter performance at the beginning of the season, and now he'll be even more twisted. So twisted, in fact, I'm starting to think he's a perfect candidate for the Man in Black.

Now, there are only three candidates left: Hurley (8)+ Sawyer (15) = Jack (23) Or maybe, Jack - Hurley = Sawyer, as in Jacob, Richard, and MiB? Speaking of Richard...


Hey, remember Ben, Richard and Miles?

They trooped off to the Barracks to get explosives and blow up the Ajira plane, never to be seen again. And shouldn't Sawyer be worried? As a friend pointed out to me, season six has painted Miles and Sawyer as BFFs. Plus, they worked together in the DI for three years. Why does Sawyer now have no problem leaving Miles in the lurch? He's not even a second thought here. Fans still remember, and many were wondering if Richard, Ben, and Miles planted the C4 Flocke found on the plane. It's possible we'll see a flashback to those events in the epic finale, but more likely it was Widmore.

Widmore is more of an enigma than ever. Was that his C4 in the Ajira plane? If so, did he plan to use it on Flocke or the candidates? Why did Wimore put the candidates in cages behind the sonic fence to protect them, then have his people shooting at them minutes later? Since MiB has been exposed as "pure evil" we should probably assume most of what he says is a lie. Therefore, when he says Widmore's the bad guy, the opposite is true - so Widmore is probably working for Jacob. This make sense too, as Widmore was an Other and even the Leader. Wimore tells Sawyer, "I'm doing this for your own good." I guess maybe the C4 was his "fail-safe" against the Monster.

Or, what if Widmore really is power hungry, like some have told us, and he just wants the Island for himself? Now that Jacob is dead, Flocke will be gathering the candidates to kill them and try to escape. If Widmore could kill all the candidates, plus the Man in Black, he wipes out the power elite of the Island and takes it all for himself. Ehhh...probably not. We will see Eloise and Charles again, and I expect them to get some closure in the final episode.

And now, maybe MiB can use Claire to kill the rest of the Losties. He can't do it himself, but they sure left her high and dry with "evil incarnate". It was heartbreaking to see the moment she realized they were leaving her yet again. Who wants to bet Claire is the one shooting at the outrigger?



Flocke is off to finish what he started. Whether he means killing Desmond, killing the Losties, escaping the Island, or something more will remain to be seen. Whatever he's up to, he means business!


Next week, we travel back in time with Jacob and his Nemesis "Across the Sea". The title reminded me of this little ditty way back in season one: