LOST Episode 6.13: "The Last Recruit" (Initial Thoughts & Theories)

Greetings, Lost friends. I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed The Last Recruit primarily because it felt like and old-school episode of our favorite show. As notLocke said, "it's so nice to have everyone back together again." It was fantastic to see the original gang reunited, even under odd, new and strenuous circumstances. And to be honest, I found the lack of dense mythology to be refreshing (and a relief, from a typically all-nighter writer standpoint). 

By the way, I've decided that Season 6 should be given a tagline: They Like to Blow Sh*t Up. 


But without further ado, let's jump into the ocean and then regroup to tackle the unknown together... 


ALL SKATE, NOW REVERSE


Most of you are aware of my lack of interest in the love triangle/quadrangle, but I did appreciate Sawyer's line to Kate that "it's like someone's trying to put us together." 


I'm not a huge fan of Sawyer referring to Kate as Freckles again, only because it seems too soon after Juliet's death. Much like they seemingly rushed Claire's mourning of Charlie, I don't feel as though Sawyer would really revert back to to his cute ways with Kate mere days after burying Juliet. And yes, I realize that he first called her Freckles again back in Recon. 

By the way, what was with the his & hers Grease Lightning jackets that they were donning in the flash sideways?


ALL YOU DO TO ME IS TALK TALK


Earlier this season (Sundown), Dogen warned Sayid about notLocke that "if you allow him to speak, it's already too late." Claire reinforced that message to Jack in this episode, "you decided the moment you let him talk to you; you're with him now."

So here is where that 'rule' gets interesting - the Man in Black, as Christian Shephard, spoke to Jack back in S4 (Something Nice Back Home), as well as Sun and Lapidus in S5 (Namaste).  So technically, he already had them at hello. 

HOWEVER, if the Man in Black is unable to leave the island, then how is it that he appeared as Christian Shephard both on the freighter (to Michael right before it blew up) and then in Jack's office off island? HE. IS. LYING. I believe that he used Christian's body on the island but not on those other two occasions.  So who the hell was that?

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Sawyer: "We're done going back." Insert weekly dose of eerie goosebumps.  

THE DARK NIGHT

When notLocke ominously said "well, here we go" - this is what came to mind:

FEAR FACTOR

In my last post, I speculated that an extreme state of emotional fear causes people to remember their time on the island. Desmond under water after a car crash and Hurley on a first date are the first two examples. It seems as if Sun has experienced it after being shot, because she sees Locke at the hospital and screams "No! It's him!" I suspect that when Claire goes into labor, she'll see flashes of the island, especially if her delivery doctor happens to be Juliet Burke...or Juliet Shephard. 


FROM RUSSIA, WITH LOVE

It was a very pleasant surprise to see Ilana in the flash sideways, and I love that her last name is Verdansky because it is obviously a nod to Russian geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky. One of his tenets was that human cognition is an integral feature to the earth's evolution. Taking the flashes sideways into consideration, I believe it is an appropriate nomenclature for Ilana. 


By the way, I do not believe that her name was on either the cave wall or lighthouse wheel. I'm sure that it's a moot point now, but perhaps Jacob purposefully hid her existence from the Man in Black (if that's even possible). 


HEART TO HEART TALK

When Jin and Sun are FINALLY reunited (and it feels so good), Sun suddenly regains her ability to speak English. I might argue that it is a result of her regaining consciousness in the hospital simultaneously in the flash sideways after being shot.  

Sun's "I never stopped looking for you" reassurance to Jin reminded me of an essential S4 Desmond and Penny moment. In The Constant, Penny told Des on the freighter phone that "I've been looking for you for the past three years!" And in this episode, when Jin told Sun that "we'll never be apart again," I thought about Penny's boat picking up Des and the Oceanic 6 in There's No Place Like Home, when Desmond told her that "I'll never leave you again."


HIS DARK MATERIALS


Although Sawyer aptly summed it up with "Sayid's a zombie, Claire is nuts," it appears that a glimmer of Sayid's former self remains. That the rules don't apply to Desmond and because he's uniquely and miraculously special leads me to believe that Sayid did not kill him. And, much like Desmond is doing in the flash sideways, he pulled at Sayid's heartstrings in order to snap him out of his zombie state.

When Desmond asked Sayid what he would tell the love of his life he did in order to be reunited with her, we found out immediately. In the flash sideways, Sayid told Nadia that "I'm leaving and I'll never be able to come back again." So the consequences of Sayid's actions in the flash sideways, as well as on the island, seem to indicate that he is destined to either die or remain on the island. If he isn't the final Candidate, perhaps he takes over the Man in Black's role as the Evil Incarnate trapped soul leader.  


THE MAN IN BLACK BACKPACK

Weekly update of ridiculousness: the Smoke Monster is still toting around that damn backpack. 


MAN OF SCIENCE, MAN OF FATE

The last time we had a Jack and Locke scene, one of them was dead. Jack put his father's shoes on Locke in the coffin before heading back to the island on Ajira flight 316. The beauty of that scene now is that the Man in Black was literally in Christian Shephard's shoes...both as ghost Christian and ghost Locke. 


"It doesn't feel right, leaving the island. I remember how I felt the last time I left; like a part of me was missing." There is very little of the Man of Science left in Jack on the island. He has been drinking original Locke's kool-aid since he returned. "John Locke was the only one who ever believed in this place." 


I winced when notLocke told Jack that John Locke was "stupid enough to think he was brought here for a reason. He pursued that belief until it got him killed and you were kind enough to bring his body back here in a nice wooden box." That, and "John Locke was not a believer; he was a sucker." Ouch. 


MIRROR MOMENT

One of my favorite moments from this episode was Jack's look of recognition when looked into the mirror showing Locke's face before surgery. Not only was it yet another Mirror Moment for Jack in the flash sideways, it was a visual throwback to Jack's S3 surgery on Ben's spine (when Juliet has a private chat with him via mirror).  

NOBODY PUTS (SQUIRREL) BABY IN A CORNER

I believe that Crazy Hair Claire has perfected the art of stink eye. 


OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN

The best line of the night, and perhaps the season thus far, was courtesy of Sawyer...naturally. Referring to Frank as "that pilot that looks like he stepped out off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie" was classic.


I share the general frustration with the lack of quality Lapidus time and dialogue in S6, but I have a feeling that our patience will be rewarded in these final episodes.  Right now he is with Sawyer & co. but the logical thinking is that he will be faced with the opportunity to fly that Ajira plane off of the island. 


PARALLELS 


S1, Pilot


While explaining to Kate how he overcomes fear, Jack mentions ripping a patient's dural sac during spinal surgery. As it turns out, Jacob had visited Jack in the hospital after he fixed that patient, touched his hand while passing him a candy bar and said "I guess it just needed a little push." (Desmond gave Locke more than a little push to reunite him with Jack in the flash sideways). In this episode, Jack mentions that Locke's dural sac is in bad shape before his spinal surgery.


S1, White Rabbit

Jack first sees his deceased father Christian on the island, and chases him into the jungle. 

He winds up over a cliff and is saved by John Locke, who shows up out of nowhere to help him. Locke describes his initial encounter with the Man in Black (in Smokey form), "I looked into the eye of the island, and what I saw was beautiful."

{Sidenote: in that episode, three key Lost phrases were introduced; Locke said "what if everything that happened here happened for a reason" and "a leader can't lead until he know's where he's going," and Jack said "if we can't live together, we're going to die alone."} 


In this episode, Jack finds out that the Man in Black (speaking now as notLocke) had used his father's body to lead him to find water (in the caves) because "all I've ever been interested in is helping you." 


S4, There's No Place Like Home, Pts 2 & 3

Sawyer decided to jump out of the helicopter into the ocean. He swam ashore and said "nice day for a swim" to Juliet on the beach. In this episode, Jack decided to jump off of the boat into the ocean. He swam ashore and notLocke greeted him with "nice day for a swim."

S5, 316


Eloise Hawing reprimanded Ben for failing to bring all of the Oceanic 6 back for Ajira flight 316, "I thought I said all of them." In this episode,  notLocke told Jack that "it has to be all of you."  {Sidenote: in the guise of Christian Shephard, the Man in Black said the same thing to Locke at the frozen donkey wheel in This Place is Death.} 


Eloise Hawking told Jack to "start asking yourself whether or not you believe it's going to work...that's why it's called a leap of faith." In this episode, Sawyer tells Jack that "if you want to take a leap of faith, take it."


SIMPLY IRREVERSIBLE


In the S6 premiere (LA X), Locke told Jack that his condition "is irreversible" and Jack responded with "nothing is irreversible." It is fascinating that in this episode, Desmond warns Claire that "you could find yourself in a situation that is irreversible" because he is the key connection to the pending flash sideways/island convergence. My first thought was that Jack would actually 'fix' Locke after this accident and reverse his paralysis, and now I'm wondering if Desmond ran Locke over a) to lead up to that miracle or b) to prevent it. 


YOU DROPPED A BOMB ON ME

After Widmore's crew firebombed notLocke & co., I think that they specifically made it sound like Jack was experiencing the hearing loss we heard post-Jughead detonation in LA X. Perhaps Island Jack is now Flash Sideways Jack on the island, just as Flash Sideways Locke may wake up after surgery to be Island Locke. 

When notLocke told Jack that "it's okay - you're with me now," it was a striking realization that the roles in both worlds are concurrently flipped. In the flash sideways, Jack is saving/taking care of Locke. On the island, Locke is saving/tending to Jack. 


CLAIRE

So Claire knows about her half-brother Jack in the flash sideways, but was she aware that their father had not only recently passed away - he was on their flight? 


HURLEY


I heart Hurley's optimism and fanboy heart. "You can always bring people back from the dark side."

I'm fairly certain that Hurley has no idea that the sailboat his on belonged to Libby. Of course it isn't relevant at this juncture, but it's fun to continue observing little nuances. 


JACK


"We were brought here because we're supposed to do something. If that thing wants us to leave, maybe he's afraid of what will happen if we stay. The island is not done with us yet."
- Jack Shephard, Last Recruit. Last Action Hero. Final Candidate?

I have no idea what will happen to Jack, but I have to admit that I love his relationship with his son.

Did you notice that Jack had the exact same reaction to finding out that Claire is his half-sister both off the island (post-Oceanic 6) and in the flash sideways?

LOCKE

As soon as Locke said "Helen Norwood...I was going to marry her," I had a feeling that Desmond's plan had worked; he knew that Locke wouldn't die (even off island) if he ran him over, but he also knew that stirring Locke's island memories required a violent trauma. In my opinion, the Locke that Jack is operating on will wake up remembering everything on and off the island.


WIDMORE


Sawyer spent far too much time watching Little House on the Prairie and the Brady Bunch when he should have been an X-Files fan instead. Trust No One. Being a con man himself, why would he be surprised that Widmore turned on him? 


So Widmore does not want the Man in Black to leave the island, but he's also not on Team Jacob because he is willing to kill the remaining Candidates. I have to say that I have no clue what Widmore's end game is, but I hope that if he dies in the end - it is at and in the hands of Ben Linus.


Random Aside of the Week

I find it rather odd that in Happily Ever After, Desmond tells Penny he'll meet her at a coffee shop on the corner of Sweetzer and Melrose (which are real streets in LA)...and in this episode he lures Claire to the law firm of Sweetzer & Verdansky. Nothing is a coincidence on Lost, but this one is particularly baffling.


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Just a reminder - there is NO new episode next week! Although I'm sure that some of you will find that infuriating, I am thankful for the night/week off to prepare for what will be an insane three weeks of very busy Lost related writing and travels. Here is the schedule for the remaining episodes: 


Tuesday, May 4: Episode 6.14
Tuesday, May 11: Episode 6.15
Tuesday, May 18: Episode 6.16
SUNDAY, May 23: Episode 6.17-6.18 (series finale)


I will be in LA for the Lost Weekend Fan Party and charity auction from May 14-16, and then again from May 22-24 for Jay and Jack's Lost Series Finale Party. I had a change of heart and decided that it would be far more fun to Watch Together, Write Alone for the very last episode. I started off this final season in Hawaii with Jay, Jack and other Lost bloggers, podcasters and fans - so why not finish out the experience that way. 


Leave a Comment to Win


As always, I appreciate and encourage constructive feedback! I love reading your thoughts and theories each week, so don't be shy. 


Every week until the finale, I am giving away a piece of Lost memorabilia to a fellow fan. Simply leave a comment to be eligible. Up for grabs this week - a complete set of Season 3 Trading Cards. 

The winner of last week's tee (What Would John Locke Do) is...Dee! Please email me your shipping address, Dee. 


In case you missed it, here is my appearance on last week's AOL TV video series Instant Dharma, as well as an article I posted this week called How Will Lost End? It Doesn't Matter.


Take care and enjoy the week off between episodes!


-Jo