S6: The End

4/16/2012

Tonight I watched the first 40 minutes of the last episode.  I figured that I could get two good workouts, shower and watch the remaining finale relaxed because I know I'm going to be a mess, at least I was the second time I watched it.  It really didn't hit home the first time I watched it with my friends at my LOST finale party almost a full two years ago, but I watched it a second time a day or two later and it really got me worked up, especially the end scene.

In the first 40 minutes, the episode started out great showing where every important character is on the island and where they are in their flash sideways while beautiful music played.  Juliet made her first appearance in the flash sideways which opened Sun and Jin's eyes during their baby's sonogram.  It was a really touching scene.  The only other attempt at a touching scene was Sayid and Shannon, but it really didn't do anything for me probably because the show has been mostly focusing on Sayid and Nadia.  Maybe if Shannon's character got some more development, maybe I would have felt different.  But it looks like there are going to be some key scenes at the hospital and the imminent party that is happening at the Widmore residence.  I look forward to those on my next workout.

On island, everyone meets up at the Source, save for Richard, Miles and Lapidus who are on Hydra island planning to escape the island via the plane.  Claire appears out of no where and decides she doesn't want to go with them.  But anyway, at the Source, the MIB plans to sink the island using Desmond and Jack plans on using Desmond to kill the MIB.  Both of them lower Desmond into the Source, which is very reminiscent of the Hatch scene.  Even the MIB comments on that fact and Jack and him have a few words.  I'm definitely looking forward to the events that are about to transpire between the MIB and Jack.

To be concluded...

4/17/2012

As it turns out, I watched 30 more minutes tonight and realized that there was enough time to get one more work out in so that's what I'm going to do.  There was a lot of cool stuff that happened in that half hour.

On island, Desmond removed a giant rock at the Source, and the light went out and steam came shooting out for the hole where the rock was.  All hell was breaking loose, but it turned out that one byproduct of Desmond's actions, besides the destruction of the island, was the mortality of the Smoke Monster.  An epic fight ensued between Jack and Locke/MIB.  The MIB mortally wounded Jack and before he could finish Jack off, Kate showed up and shot the MIB.  Jack kicked him off the cliff, finishing him off for good.  Things seemed better for a moment, but the island started shaking again.  Jack decided he need to go turn on whatever Desmond turned off.  Hurley and Ben went with him.  Kate and Jack had a heartfelt goodbye, then she and Sawyer headed to Hydra island via Desmond's boat.  She was determined and had Jack's support to get Claire off the island.  Lapidus, Richard, and Miles continued to work hard to get the plane fixed so they could get off the island once and for all.

Off island, in the flash sideways, we had greats things happening at two places, the concert and the hospital.  At the concert, Claire had her baby and in those ensuring moments, Kate, Claire and Charlie's eyes were opened.  At the hospital when Locke began to move his foot after surgery, his eyes opened too.  And last, but certainly not least, Sawyer and Juliet ran into each other and their eyes were opened as well.  Juliet repeated some of her dialogue from the first episode of this season which was great as it tied it all together nicely.

To be concluded...for real this time...

4/18/2012

And in the final half hour of LOST, the only person whose eyes have not been opened are Jack's.  On island, he made it back to the Source, saved Desmond and put the rock back into place which turned the light back on.  The island stopped rumbling.  Moments before, the plane took off with Claire, Kate, Miles, Sawyer, Richard and Lapidus.  As they flew overhead, Jack laid on his back in the bamboo field, saw the plane and smiled as Vincent laid next to him as his eyes closed for the last time.  Great moment and great final scene.  I loved that he didn't die alone.

In the flash sideways, it was revealed that the flash sideways world was pretty much a place the Losties created to meet so eventually they could all move on together.  So, in other words, it was purgatory.  When Kate touched Jack's face images flashed in his head, but he didn't accept it.  He wasn't ready to let go.  Later on when Jack touched his father's casket more images flashed and still he remained confused.  Thankfully, his father appeared to explain to him (and the audience) what was going on.  Jack came to grips that he was dead, hugged the rest of his friends in the church and then it was filled with light.

Overall, I really enjoyed the way the flash sideways were intertwined with the events on the island in the finale.  It was very well done.  The writers did a fantastic job with the finale and with the entire series.  There was some gold mixed with bronze and silver, but the series as a whole was very enjoyable on second watch.

Hats off to the people in charge of the music.  It was perfect.  Knowing when to use the powerful music that played during the emotional reuniting scenes, and then having it perfectly silent when Jack and his father spoke to each other was great and whomever's job it was to make those choices knew what they were doing.  It's hard to think of a scene that was poorly scored - I can't think of one.

I'm going to let the finale and the entire series settle and I plan on coming back to post one last blog entry on my entire experience.  In case that I don't, it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway - there are VERY few complete series that are worth the time and energy to watch once, let alone twice.  LOST is one of those series that I see myself revisiting at least 1 or 2 more times in my lifetime.  I loved "The Shield" and I tried starting that up again, and I found it difficult to continue with it.  Once I finally got over the hump of some the Season 3 episodes of LOST, the rest of it seemed like a fun down hill ride.  Until next time, I'll see ya in anotha life, brotha!

S6: What They Died For

In the penultimate episode, Jacob finally has a sit down with the remaining candidates:  Jack, Hurley and Sawyer.  Kate is there too and it's revealed that her name was crossed off by Jacob when she became a mother, but the job of becoming the protector of the island was hers if she wanted it.  Jack stepped up and became the new leader.  As Jacob's remaining ashes are burned in a fire, he will disappear for good.  ?Before the fire burns out for good, Jacob has told Jack what he needs to protect the Source for as long as he can.  If he could kill the Smoke Monster too that would be great.  Jacob really messed up and he's hoping his successor can fix the mistakes he made.

Locke/MIB/Smoke Monster is tying up loose ends.  He kills Zoe and Ben kills Widmore.  The MIB recruits Ben as he needs him to kill some more people for him.  Miles takes off into the jungle and the MIB in the form of the Smoke Monster rails right into Richard, sending him flying into the jungle.  No idea where Claire is currently.  Desmond is not in the well where the MIB last put him, but the MIB is not worried.  He's going to use Desmond to destroy the island.

In the flash sideways, things are getting exciting.  Locke goes to Jack and decides to have the surgery so he can let go.  Desmond turns himself in for running down Locke and in doing so gets transferred to a different prison with Sayid and Kate.  He works something out with Anna Lucia and Hurley, and they are set free.  Desmond puts his plan into place as Sayid goes with Hurley and Kate goes with Desmond.  Hurley's eyes appear to be open, but not anyone else's yet.

I enjoyed this episode as I forgot what happened to Widmore.  I liked that he sacrificed himself to save the island in the end, but he said he was three steps ahead of Ben.  It was a shame that he didn't survive.

I liked that Ben appears to be bad again, but I think he's just playing the MIB and buying his time until he figures out what to do.  He can't blow up the plane if he's dead, but at the same time, he likes the idea of being in charge of the island, which is what the MIB is promising him.  So I guess they are using each other.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time that if Ben does kill the people the MIB wants dead that the MIB will just kill Ben.

"The End" is 104 minutes so I haven't decided if I'm going to watch the whole episode next time I work out or split it up into two work outs.  I believe the episode aired in its entirety on the same day, but if I remember correctly I think there was a clear point where it can be split into two episodes.  I guess we'll see how I feel.  I'm sad that it's almost over.

S6: Across the Sea

Once upon a time a pregnant woman survived a ship wreck and washed onto the shore of a desert island.  On the island, she met this crazy woman who appeared nice as she helped her deliver her two sons.  After the sons are swaddled, the crazy woman took a rock and killed the once pregnant woman.  The crazy woman took the boys as her own and they called her Mother.  They did this for 13 years until one day, the dark haired son with no name saw his dead mother.  She opened his eyes to the truth and he decided to leave his brother Jacob and the woman he called Mother to live with the others who were ship wrecked on the island.  Thirty years later, Jacob became protector of the island, the MIB killed Mother, and Jacob ended up throwing his brother into the "source" of the island.  The Smoke Monster wass born or unleashed, not sure which, but Jacob found his dead brother's body at the mouth of the river and put it back in the cave with his dead Mother.  Jack, Kate and Locke's 1st season Adam and Eve has been identified.

I remember on first viewing with friends that this episode had some really great moments and it showed us so much that we wanted to see, yet in the end, we craved more.  After watching it a second time, I really wanted to know how Mother carried the MIB up the well after knocking him out, filled the well with dirt and killed everyone and burned the village.  My theory is that she also had the abilities that the Smoke Monster had, but that's something left unanswered and never confirmed in the show.

This episode did confirm that Jacob and the MIB appear to be playing a game where Jacob makes the rules.  Both of them can't directly hurt each other hence why the MIB had Ben kill his Jacob.

And last, but certainly not least, the creation of the Smoke Monster is finally revealed.  After six seasons we are introduced to a part of the island called the Source that we don't hear about until the end of show to explain something that we've been hearing about and dealing with since the first episode.  It boggles my mind, but somehow it works.  In the end, the Source, Smoke Monster, all that stuff was created or why it exists isn't going to matter -- what matters and has always matter is seeing how the characters that we have grown to love and care about deal with all that stuff.

S6: The Candidate

Things actually move pretty fast in this episode.  Turns out Widmore isn't mad at the Losties; he's trying to protect them.  He puts them in the cages and has the electric pylons surrounding them.  Moments later, Sayid takes out the power, and the Smoke Monster goes on a rampage.  Jack shows up and frees his friends and they head towards the plane.  Locke/MIB gets there first, finds a bomb and uses this as an opportunity to convince everyone to take the sub.  At the sub, Locke/MIB pulls the old switcheroo and gives Jack his bag with the bomb in it as everyone save for Locke/MIB and Claire end up in the sub.  Sayid surprisingly sacrifices himself allowing everyone to escape except for Sun and Jin.  We don't see Lapidus escape, but we'll find out what happens to him later.  On the beach the survivors weep for their friends, and Locke/MIB declares that he has unfinished business.  I think he's talking about Desmond.

Off island, Jack is primarily featured as he wants to fix Locke so he can walk again.  He interacts with Claire, Bernard, and Helen.  He learns that Claire and Bernard were also on the same flight, but he doesn't dwell or see the significance at the time.  He's pretty blinded on wanting to fix Locke who refuses Jack twice in this episode.

It's pretty clear that Jack was Locke/MIB's last recruit in the previous episode and he's also the most likely candidate in this episode as he is the only one who does NOT want to leave.  He makes a lot of assumptions on the sub that he appears to pull out of his ass, but he just so happens to be right so we'll see how this all pans out very shortly.  With the sub officially sunk, the only way off the island for everyone is the plane.

S6: The Last Recruit

Now that the everyone is back together again, save for Jin, it's time to do something, right?  Well, it appears not.

Locke/MIB chats with Jack and reveals that he took the form of his dead father to help him.  Jack and Claire get to chat, but I don't remember it being anything significant even after watching it only a few hours ago.  Unfortunately, these scenes don't hold a lot of water on second watch.

They get back to the camp, and Zoe shows up demanding Desmond then she demonstrates what they are capable of and orders an airstrike that I assume is coming from the sub.  NOW that Locke/MIB's hand is forced, he decides to put his plan into action.  Sawyer decides to put his own plan into action too.

In the end, Locke/MIB and Jack are together.  Sayid is around somewhere after supposedly killing Desmond in cold blood, but that wasn't shown, so Desmond was probably able to convince Sayid not to kill him.  The Losties and Lapidus take Desmond's boat to Hydra island, Sun and Jin are finally reunited in a brief but touching scene where Sun remembers how to speak English again, and Zoe, per Widmore says to Sawyer that the deal is off, and they are ordered to kneel in the sand as another airstrike is ordered on Locke/MIB and his people.  (Let's not forget that Ben, Miles and Richard should be popping up again soon, I don't remember but maybe that's why Widmore/Zoe is not happy.  Or maybe it's because Sawyer was supposed to bring Locke with him.)

In the flash sideways world, we see a little of everyone starting to cross paths.  Jack meets Claire for the first time and has to do to surgery where he recognizes Locke from the airport.  Sawyer questions Kate and later arrests Sayid.  Desmond is shown interacting with Claire to help push her in the right direction and Ilana gets a cameo.  Also, Sun wakes up after being shot and she and Jin talk.  There is a brief moment earlier when Sun is getting wheeled into the hospital and she freaks when she sees Locke being wheeled in also.  So a lot of good connections being made, which I enjoyed, but it only felt like chess pieces being put into place, just like on the island.  Just when you think something is going to happen to move the plot along, it appears to crawl more than run or even walk.

S6: Everybody Loves Hugo

As the season and the show is reaching its climax, it's time to move the plot forward.  This episode nudges the plot along with Desmond nudging Hugo in the flash sideways, and Locke nudging Desmond down a well on island.  Also, this is a bit of a stretch, but in the flash sideways, Desmond also "nudges" Locke with his car.

Hugo puts on his leadership pants on the island with a little influence from Michael.  Why Michael and not Jacob?  Probably to connect the Libby story line more and also to reveal that the voices on the island are trapped souls.  Unfortunately, since I've never been a huge Libby or Michael fan, these attempted connections to pull at the heart strings are lost on me.  The only part that I did like in the flash sideways was seeing Hugo start to remember being on the island when he kissed Libby.  Well that's not the only part I liked -- Desmond running down a wheel chair bound Locke was pretty surprising as well, at least it was the first time I watched this episode.

On island, because of Hugo's actions, he inadvertently splits up the "good guys" group.  Richard, Ben and Miles head to the barracks to get grenades and the like to carry on their mission of blowing up the Ajira plane.  Hugo, Jack, Sun and Lapidus head to Locke's camp.  So all the candidates, save for Jin, are in one place.  With them finally all coming together, this should make Locke/MIB happy and this should move the plot along.  Locke/MIB did say earlier in the episode to Sawyer that there is a difference between doing nothing and waiting.  Sawyer is as impatient as the audience is right now and hopefully some big things will be happening soon in the final episodes.  I don't recall how many episodes there are left, and I'm purposefully not looking so I can maximize my enjoyment of what is to come, as I've been doing through this entire rewatch.

S6: Happily Ever After

Now that "the package" aka Desmond  has been revealed, it's time for Mr. Widmore to bombard him with electromagnetism.  Why?  It's not revealed, but it's a test that if he passes will result in him being able to save the world from the MIB.

The by product of the test is that Desmond is shown to almost be transported to the flash sideways timeline.  There he has money, power, respected by Widmore, and appears to be happy.  But as fate would have it, Desmond meets Charlie and Daniel who talk about love.  Later on, Desmond meets Penny face to face and falls in love at first sight.

Then he "wakes up".  He's back in the present, but there's something different about him.  His eyes have been opened.  He was only unconscious for a few seconds, but now his mind can travel back and forth between reality and the flash sideways reality.

Desmond episodes have always been pretty great since he is someone that is outside the whole Oceanic 815 story, but very much tied to the island.  He's not a candidate.  He wasn't brought to the island.  He doesn't care who Jacob is or was.  He is a man, who wanted the approval of a father of a woman he loved who wouldn't give it to him.  In trying to prove himself, he ends up where he needs to be and ultimately ends up with Penny again and realizes that he doesn't need her father's approval to be happy.  So hopefully, in the end, Desmond does get to live happily ever after.

S6: The Package

The writers tricked me.  I thought that an episode featuring both Jin and Sun would lead towards their reunion, but it appears that I was wrong, which is a good thing because it's nice to be surprised when watching these episodes a second time.

In Locke camp, not much is going on there.  They are just hanging out and Zoe from Widmore's camp takes it upon herself to kidnap Jin.  At the beach camp, there isn't much going on there either.  They are waiting for Richard.  Meanwhile, Locke meets up with Sun and tries to recruit her but he fails.  So not only do these two soul mates not cross paths, they actually go farther apart in distance now that Jin is on Hydra island.

In the flash sideways, our happy couple is not married but fooling around behind Sun's father's back.  Mr. Paik is on to them, closes Sun's bank account and send Jin on an errand to deliver a watch and money to the Keamy, the hitman, not knowing that the money is payment for Keamy to kill Jin.  But having already seen Sayid's story, we know what happens to Keamy, and thankfully for Jin, Sayid hands him a box cutter before leaving.

So moving the plot forward, it's time for Widmore's group to use "the package" aka Desmond.  He has something important to do with the electromagnetic properties of the island that Zoe seems interested in since that's why she took Jin in the first place.  Thankfully, Richard comes back and he has a plan which is to destroy the plan so Locke/MIB can't leave.  And Sayid is on a covert operation on Hydra island for Locke/MIB.  So the chess pieces are being put in place and we'll see which ones move in the next episode.

S6: Ab Aeterno

Since we, the audience, have first met Richard we've always wondered who this guy was.  Later on when we realized that he doesn't appear to age we wondered even harder, if that's even possible.  Finally in the final season, all (rather, a lot) of our questions about Richard get answered.  What's great about the sad story of Richard is that we get to learn more about Jacob and the MIB as well.

Some great scenes include Jacob "baptizing" Richard in the ocean, seeing the statue again and how it was destroyed, finding out how the Black Rock first arrived on the island and pretty much every sit down scene with the MIB and Richard about Hell and the devil, then Jacob and Richard about evil and the cork, MIB and Richard again with the white rock and lastly with MIB and Jacob revisiting the bottle and the cork.

This episode was pretty much one giant Richard back-story which wasn't a bad thing.  There was nice bookend theme with Hurley being able to talk to Richard's dead wife who through Hurley helped Richard not return to the MIB and stay on the side of good.  I forget how Richard helps in the end, so I'm looking forward to seeing that again.

S6: Recon

Now that the beach crew has assembled, it's time for Locke's crew to do the same.  Locke returns from the Temple to meet up with Sawyer and Jin who appear to have been staying at Claire's home make of sticks.  They proceed to a clearing where they make camp and Locke sends Sawyer on a recon mission to Hydra island.  Sawyer finds that Widmore is setting up a stronghold against the Smoke Monster and works a deal with Sawyer to bring Locke/MIB over and trap him in exchange for safe passage off the island for him and his friends.  Sawyer later reveals to Kate that he plans to pit Widmore and Locke against each other, and steal Widmore's sub.  Good plan, Sawyer!  Hope the sub captain is around when you hijack it.

While island Sawyer is not making the smartest moves, neither is flash sideways Sawyer.  His sideways self is a cop rather than a criminal, but he's still has the same obsession with hunting down the man named Sawyer who caused the murder-suicide with his parents and he plans on killing Sawyer once he finds him.  He even gets a chance with Charlotte but blows it over his obsession.

While this episode was a little fun and a little insightful, overall I wasn't very entertained.  I didn't like the Zoe character, but it was cool to see that everyone else that came in on the Ajira flight was dead, probably killed by the Smoke Monster.

One scene of note was between Locke/MIB and Kate.  He was explaining that he had a crazy mother and he had some growing pains.  He was comparing his mother to Claire.  It was pretty interesting watching this scene knowing that he was actually telling the truth and not just messing with Kate in an attempt to possibly manipulate her like he has everyone else, but in the end that's what he's doing.  As he says earlier in the episode to Sawyer, it's either kill or be killed and he has no intention of dying, but to escape the island once and for all.

S6: Dr. Linus

This Ben centered episode takes us back to where it all began, the beach.  It's great that they always seem to return to that spot where they first set up camp when they crashed.  It's almost like going back home.  The best part of this episode was at the end when Jack and Hurley (and Richard) returned to the beach and hugged Sun and shook hands with Lapidus, Miles, and Ilana.

Another great scene was when flash sideways Ben gave up his chance of becoming the new principal just so his student Alex could get a glowing recommendation from the current principal.  I enjoyed the whole flash sideways as it had little nods and inside jokes/references calling "sideways" Ben a killer in a joking manner when in "real life" he was a killer.

I just remembered that the scene between Jack and Richard in the Black Rock was good, but definitely way more tense the first time I watched it.  The island didn't let Jack kill Richard or himself.

Also, the scene where Ben gets the jump on Ilana in the forest where he decides not to shoot her.  He asks to be let go and go to Locke because he's the only one that will have him.  In a moment of forgiveness, Ilana said that she'd have him too, and he makes the right choice and chooses good.  Really good scene.

So while this review may seem very scattered, this episode was full of really good scenes as I recalled them.  I really enjoyed it.

And here comes Widmore....