Episode 16 - What They Died For

Well I can't believe the series is wrapping up and we only have one episode left ... what a long ride it's been! I hope you all tuned in last night because good old Jacob confirmed quite a few things for us!

SUMMARY

Flash Sideways

Jack wakes up in his apartment and has a small cut on his neck. His son enters the bathroom to tell him he made breakfast and Claire joins them at the table. They talk about Jack's son's concert that night and how they're all going to attend, the son urges Jack not to get weird when his mother arrives. Jack receives a call from Oceanic to tell him they found his father's coffin. The caller is actually Desmond who is watching a healed Locke cross the parking lot at school. Ben Linus notices him and attempts to make a citizen's arrest when Desmond gets out of the car and starts beating him up. Ben has a flash of recognition from a previous beating from Desmond in his other life and Desmond tells Ben he was trying to help Locke "let go" and flees. Ben relays this message to Locke and Locke urges Ben not to call the police. Locke instead goes to visit Jack and tells him the series of events and how he wants to proceed with the surgery. Jack urges him not to confuse coincidence with fate but Locke believes its his destiny and Jack agrees to help. Meanwhile Desmond goes to see Sawyer and turns himself in for Locke's hit and run and attacking Ben that morning. Sawyer puts him in a cell with Sayid and Kate. They are then transported to county jail, even after Kate asks Sawyer to let her go. Once inside the transport truck, Desmond asks Kate and Sayid if they wanted to leave and they agree to trust Desmond with whatever he asks in return for their freedom. When the truck stops after they promise, Ana Lucia lets them out and Hurley meets them to exchange $150k to Ana Lucia for her services. Sayid goes with Hurley while Kate goes with Desmond who informs her they are going to a concert. Meanwhile Ben is offered a ride home from school from Alex's mother Danielle Rousseau. At dinner Ben gets choked up when Danielle tells him that Alex views him as a father figure.

Island

The losties mourn the loss of Sun, Jin, and Sayid when Jack makes the decision for the group to carry on to find Desmond in the well after stiching up a wounded Kate. While journeying inward Hurley sees a flash of young Jacob who asks him for the ashes Ilana gave him. He runs away with them and Hurley chases after to find the older Jacob at a fire. He tells Hurley that he will only be alive for as long as the fire burns. Soon Kate, Jack, and Sawyer come across Jacob and to Hurley's astonishment they can all see him. Jacob sits them down to explain why he brought them there. He said he made a mistake a long time ago and knew one day he would have to pay and he brought them to the island to help him defeat Smokey and to become the new protector of the island. He explains that one of them will have to assume the role and he is giving them the choice. Jack agrees and believes it is his purpose for being there so Jacob guides him to the light source of the island. He explains to Jack that it's location is beyond the bamboo he woke up in when he first landed on the island. He goes to the stream, cups water into his hand and says a prayer. He gives the water to Jack who drinks it and assumed Jacob's role.

Ben, Richard, and Miles approach Othersville in hopes of getting enough C4 explosives from Ben's house to blow up the plane. Before entering Miles becomes aware of Alex's body and Richard reveals that he buried it. While inside Ben's secret closet they come across Zoe and Whidmore. Whidmore explains to Ben that he's already laced the plane with explosives and that he's always a step ahead of Ben. When Whidmore reveals that he's here to help he tells Ben that Smokey is on his way. Miles freaks out and decides to retreat to the jungle. Richard thinks he can reason with Smokey and Ben decides it's time to face the music and he wants to wait outside for Smokey. They tell Whidmore and Zoe to hide in the closet. Smokey appears in Othersville and knocks Richard Alpert into a tree. He appears to Ben as Locke. Ben spills that Whidmore and Zoe are inside and armed. Locke asks Ben to help him kill people so he can get off the island. Once inside Smokey kills Zoe once she speaks. Smokey then asks Whidmore why is really there and he will not harm his daughter once he gets off the island. Whidmore tells Ben to leave since he won't say it in front of him and whispers it into Smokey's ear, however before he can finish Ben shoots Whidmore. Smokey is surprised by Ben but tells him he knows what he needs. Ben asks Smokey who else he needs to kill.

Ha wow - that was a tough once since there were about 4 different story lines but I hope I got everything! On to the last top 10 where I can actually speculate - I can't believe we only have 1 episode left!

1. The death toll in this episode is up in the air. Yes, we lost Zoe (thank god because those glasses were killing me!) and a big player Whidmore. But we also are led to believe that Richard Alpert is dead too. But I'm not buying it since he was important enough to dedicate an entire back story episode on him. Plus we want to see him reunite with his long lost wife! Whidmore was a shock because he has been a key player in this since the very beginning ... mysteriously funding the research and trips to the island, and searching for it himself. But I guess if others (Smokey) know his plan that Desmond is his fail safe, others will find out and try to stop Smokey.

2. My problem with this episode is the way Jacob chose his candidate. It seemed too easy. He narrowed it down to his top four apparently and let them choose amongst themselves. Of course Jack couldn't resist the opportunity and Sawyer nailed it on the head when he said Jack has a God complex. Jack just seemed like the obvious choice and in a show where the obvious is never usually the right answer I would have thought they'd gone a different route. That being said I don't think Jack will be the final candidate ... I was always thinking it would come across Hurley's plate since he's the most compassionate and compliant character on the show. I also think crossing off Kate because she became a mother was ridiculous because HELLO it's NOT HER BABY! Wouldn't Sun have been crossed off too? That answer angered me.

3. I think we got our answer with how Jacob knows everything he knows. It seems to be inherited once you accept the position of the island's protector. A look of knowing and understanding came over Jack's face at the end where it seemed like Jacob's knowledge passed along to Jack. We also learned that Jacob didn't want the job but held on to it for as long as he could and that Jack would have to do the same. I guess he'll hold on for another two and a half hours.

4. I liked how the flash sideways were mimicking the other universe, in that Jack and Locke had an almost exact conversation of what they had on the island. They're all inherently the same. And although we know that Desmond's ultimate plan is to get them all in one place, which will be this concert, we still don't know what his end game is. Besides getting them all to remember the alternate universe I can't speculate on what will then happen.

5. Jacob told the candidates that his job was to protect the light from the MIB and that it will now become Jack's job. But why is that different from Mother's job? Mother didn't have a Smokey to protect the light as far as we know - so what was her job on the island? I think this is going to frustrate a lot of people, not knowing how she got there, what her purpose was and I honestly don't think we'll get an answer. I think if we think of the island as the beginning of time and a protector must exist to protect it at all times whether its Smokey or some other evil threat then perhaps we don't need to delve much more into it. I'm a little unsatisfied with it but then again I've been preparing myself for having some mysteries remain just that.

6. Sayid and Kate seem to be last on the list for Desmond to clue into their alternate lives so it was funny to see how clueless they were. I like that Hurley is on team Desmond and seems to remember both lives now. They're going to gather everyone at the concert - Jack and yes, I'm going to say it, Juliet because she will be the mother of his child. I was thinking about it a lot and decided that Jack's son purposefully has bright blue eyes so that could be the trait he got from Juliet. It kills me that they were even together in this universe but I feel a little better knowing that it didn't work out. Juliet will reunite with Sawyer when he shows up to arrest the fugitives and Kate with Jack attending his son's concert. I'm sure Charlotte, Miles, Faraday, Libby, etc will all be there too! I won't lie - I sort of envision my ending for Lost to be like that of Titanic - everyone will be together in heaven and Jack and Kate will get together while everyone else claps in approval. Hey, a girl can dream can't she? Oh and my friend Maureen came up with a good point - Juliet before she died had asked Sawyer to go for a cup of coffee - she bets that Juliet will say this to Sawyer when she meets him at the concert ... so it was a little flash forward to that moment where they all meet up again? Time will tell!

7. Ben kills me sometimes, he really does! I was a little mad when he shot Whidmore because come on! I wanted to hear what he had to say about Desmond being the fail safe and what his plans were with him. He acted too fast when he shot Jacob and now he is just a crazy man when he shoots Whidmore. And his reasoning was really dumb too - ok so he didn't kill Penny when he had the chance and decided to let her go but now all of a sudden he's like, screw it, kill Penny? Seems like he's going to be Smokey's henchman now and kill off all the candidates which he can now since a candidate was chosen - me thinks Hurley, Kate, and Sawyer are no longer safe from being killed off since they're not candidates so they better watch their back!

8. It was funny to see Danielle Rousseau in a dress, and flirting with Ben Linus nonetheless! So Alex's love for Ben was really as a father, what he wanted all along. Good because in the last episode with them it was a little creepy.

9. Now that Jack is immortal will his first order of business be to create another immortal friend like Jacob did with Richard? I hope so and I hope he chooses Kate! Nah they've got to find Desmond first and protect him, or use him as the fail safe key ... but didn't they do that after season 2?

10. One thing I liked was how Jacob just sat them all down to explain some stuff because that's what always bugged me, is they would capture someone who has the answers and then never try to get it out of them. And they reacted as I would have, asking him to clarify why they brought them. His answers were lame - because they were all flawed and not happy with their current lives. I would say that just about sums up everyone in the world. Jacob said the island needed them and they needed the island. I can get on board with that but I probably could have used something like why he put them through such a rigorous test to narrow it down to them 4 to just be like, well who wants it?

So that's it folks - the last regular episode ever. If ever there was a time to post your final theories its now because after Sunday's finale there is no more! I've appreciated everyone who comments and puts some thought into it each week and I truly hope for all our sakes that we get our answers. Oh and one favor I will ask is that if the worst happens (Jack and Kate do not end up together) we keep our gloating to a minimum. Thank you.

xo

B