the candidate

It's a sad week for LOST fans everywhere. I've been too sad to think about LOST. Tuesday night I'm not ashamed to say there were tears in my eyes, and I'm pretty sure Crazy Keith cried a little too.

Sayid, Sun, and Jin. All dead.

Oh yeah, and Lapidus.

They're all just sitting there, dead, at the botom of the ocean in a freaking submarine. All because of the stupid smoke monster.

This episode, which I would be remiss if I didn't say was definitely one of the best LOST episodes of season 6 and possibly of all time, definitely focused on the evilness of 'Flocke' and his unbelievable badness. I think his place is being set among the greatest villians in entertainment history. He's no longer just a cute cloud of smoke. He's evil incarnate, he's a soulless mass murderer, he's the ultimate schemer, the most devious manipulative SOB imagainable. He makes Ben Linus look like a little kid burning ants with a magnifying glass.

This episode was one that I don't think I'll ever want to watch again, even someday 20 years from now when LOST is a distant memory and I re-watch all the seasons. I think I'll skip over 'The Candidate' because I don't think I could bear to ever watch Sun and Jin ... I can't even talk about it ...

The thing is, Jin could have got away! Easily! He could have swam away, and been safe, and someday met his daughter! He could have been a dad and lived in Korea and made a new life for himself. But he didn't want to live without Sun. The thought of escaping the sub never even crossed his mind. He would rather stay with her, for those last few dying moments, those crushing, brutal moments, than be without her ever again. I'm getting teary-eyed again just thinking about it ...

When Flocke was standing on the dock with his idiot sidekick Claire, and he said "Not all of them are dead," I don't know about you, but I was pissed.

Killing Sun and Jin and leaving a 3-year old girl parentless wasn't enough? Killing Sayid and poor innocent stupid Frank wasn't enough? Doesn't he know that these people have families? I am really starting to hate the man in black.

I should have known that Sun and Jin were doomed early in the episode, when Jin said "...So Ji Yeon is with your mom?" and Sun was like "Yeah, she's straight" and then they confessed their love for each other and basically made themselves expendable by tying all loose ends and giving their story a nice clean ending. They finally got to be together, after 3 years of searching. And 24 hours later they were locked in cages, and then drowned in a submarine.

But at least they were together.

At least they died together...

The best part of the episode was ... well, there were a LOT of best parts. But I was going to say the best part was when Jack figured out the essence behind 'the rules.' When Jack basically became the hero and the protaganist we always hoped he would become. Jack is finally awesome!

He figured it all out, and now he's ready to take his place as the New Jacob. Too bad the usually reliable Sawyer messed everything up. This episode marks the first time in LOST history that Sawyer, the ultimate con man, was conned. And he was conned big time by Flocke.

Can we just talk about Sayid for a second? How cool was it that somewhere behind the zombie eyes Sayid was still Sayid. The Man in the Black Tank Top, the man who's spent his entire adult life trying to atone for the evils of his past, sacrificed himself in the most poetic and noble way, to save not only his friends, but to save, essentially, the world. Because if all the candidates die, Flocke leaves the island, and all Hell breaks lose. Literally. Sayid, the character we've come to know and love for six seasons, the character who struggled more than any other with his own personal demons and his desire to be a "good person," made the ultimate sacrifice. Awesome.

His last words: "It's going to be you Jack."

I can picture a LOST ending in which Jack and Flocke are the only two people left on the island, the new Jacob and the new Monster, and they live together, peacefully hating each other but unable to kill each other. Years and years go by, and eventually a new plane crashes. Maybe Aaron or Ji Yeon is on the plane. Something like that.

On a sidenote, I talk a lot about how stupid and utterly worthless Claire is. If you don't believe me, look at this hideously retarded picture. But anyway, I keep wondering why Flocke keeps her around, why he doesn't kill her. Why did he recruit her in the first place 3 years ago? And I keep coming back to my original thought ... the Smoke Monster is Aaron. Making Claire Flocke's mom. I'm just waiting for the tense moment when Claire confronts the monster and says "what are you?" and he responds with a wry smile "I'm your son." That would blow some minds.

An unsolved mystery that lingers and lingers is the question: WHO the HECK was shooting at Sawyer, Juliet, Miles and the gang last season, in the canoe, during the time flashes? We still don't know. Every episode I think they'll answer that question, and still not. I wonder if the writers forgot about that? Or if it will be Ben, Richard and Miles paddling from the main Island to Hydra island in the next week or two? We'll see. I wonder if Miles will figure out that he's shooting at himself?

So now that Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hugo are on the island, their next step is to head towards the well, where Sayid told Jack to go and find Desmond. We're still unsure of Desmond's role, but I'm sure it'll be awesome, and have something to do with Timeline B.

Shoot, I haven't even touched on Timeline B yet.

Briefly, here's what happens: Jack saves Locke from the accident, wants to try a new type of spine treatment on him, tells him he's a candidate, locke mutters "don't push the button" while he's sleeping, helen is all protective, Jack goes to visit Bernard the dentist who acts like a freaking lunatic, jack sees claire who has a music box and still sucks at acting, anthony cooper is in a coma because locke doesn't know how to fly a plane, locke feels guilty, and then jack says "i wish you'd believed me" which is what locke writes on his suicide note to jack in the original timeline, and it seems like locke had a "wake-up" moment, but not quite. oh and jin brought flowers to sun, so presumably they have a baby in timeline B, which makes me a little bit want timeline B to be the real reality.

How does Timeline B tie in to the end game? What's the point of it? Are the remaining 3 candidates going to have to make a choice about which reality is the real reality? What is Desmond's role?

I think Flocke will be tied in here somehow. When he says to Claire "I'm going to go finish what I started," that doesn't mean 'I'm gonna go kill some Candidates.' He's not allowed. So what does he have now? Could it be that he's the one who offers them a deal with the devil, a chance to choose a new reality?

I don't know ...

There's just so much going on, and so little time to write about it all. I want to get this post up before the weekend, so I'm just gonna wrap it up quick. Next week Tuesday has the potential to be the single greatest LOST episode ever. It's called 'Across the Sea,' and I'm about 99% sure that it's a Jacob/MIB flashback based on the preview. It should be absolutely packed full of answers. The rules, the island, the history of the monster, why can't people be born on the island, why does the island heal, who are Adam and Eve, who built the frozen wheel, what's the deal with the time-travel, etc.

I think it would be really cool if the episode showed Jacob and MIB's interaction with the Losties beginning with the crash. For example, why did the smoke monster kill the pilot in episode 1, but then chase Jack and Kate but not kill them? Was it because they were candidates? Why did he toy around with Eko before killing him? Did Eko start as a candidate but lose his candidate-ness when he refused to ask for forgiveness? What was up with the cabin? How long was the monster using John Locke to set him up? How long was he using Ben? Was he using all of the Losties for his ultimate purpose of killing all the candidates? Just how devious of a mastermind is he?

The episode after 'Across the sea,' is called "What they died for." I think that could be an episode about timeline B, and it could have something to do with "choose this other reality and their deaths won't have been for nothing." or something.

After that, is the finale.

Currently, only 6 survivors of the original plane crash are still alive: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley. And ... Walt and Aaron. Could one or both of them make returns to the island in the finale? How cool would that be?

Desmond still has a major roles to play ... Widmore and Miles are as good as dead. Not sure about Richard or Ben. There are not a whole heck of a lot of characters still alive in LOST.

Oh by the way, I forgot to mention, Kate was wounded in the gun fight. Kate is so dumb that I totally forgot she was shot. She'll be fine, she never dies. Or maybe she'll die from the gunshot and she'll be Eve. In that case, Sawyer will be Adam, cuz I got a feeling that Jack is not dying. But I still think that Bernie and Rose died in 1970whatever and they're A & E.

That's all I got for now. R.I.P. Sayid and Kwons. You will be missed.