The Last Recruit

So, we didn't get a lot of character development and we didn't get a lot of mythology in The Last Recruit. Instead, we got a lot of chess moves as the characters in both timelines became aligned.

First to address - the reunion of Jin and Sun. I found it beautiful and nicely understated. This has never been a flamboyant couple - they are relatively low-key, unlike the flashy Desmond and Penny. Don't get me wrong, I love Desmond and Penny, but Jin and Sun were the real romance to watch, because of all the betrayals, heartbreaks, and separation they have endured. We know their relationship at a far greater depth than we do Des and Penny. The reunion didn't make me cry, but it made me intensely happy. And it was meaningful that Sun's aphasia was cured at the sight of Jin.

We also had a number of parallels between the timelines. I'll list them:

• Jack and Claire met for the first time with the knowledge they were siblings
• Jin and Sun have happy news
  

Well, that's two. But we saw two things we've seen in the past. It wasn't Sawyer who swam in the ocean for a purpose but Jack. That was pretty cool. And Jack's hearing impairment after the bomb went off reminded me of Kate's impairment after Jughead went off.

I'm going to do this a little differently, since the episode was all over the place, and with the exception of notLocke, we really didn't learn anything all that new.

Sideways Timeline

The whole purpose of the sideways timeline in The Last Recruit was to bring the Oceanic non-survivors together. John and Sun arrived at the hospital at the same time, and Sun could see something in John when she looked at him - she's afraid of him. Was she remembering John Locke or notLocke? Jin, of course, is with Sun. Jack eventually arrives at the hospital to operate on John. Jack even recognizes John.

Jim Ford questioned Kate about how odd it was that they met again, "It's like someone's trying to put us together." She, in turn, answers a question a number of my readers had (but not my ignorant self) - why he didn't bust her in the elevator at LAX. She figured it out: if he busted her, then everyone would know he had gone to Australia.

Miles interrupts their tete a tete to get Jim in on the bloodbath at a nearby restaurant, where two Koreans were found alive, but unable to speak English. So, with three dead bodies, they had to rely on ATM cameras to identify their suspect. Meanwhile, Sayid rushes to Nadia's home to pack up and explain things to Nadia, but Miles interrupts (he interrupted a lot last night). Sayid runs back, to be tripped with a garden hose by Jim. Jim's now arrested two of his fellow passengers.

Before Jack gets to the hospital, Claire meets Desmond at a building where she's to meet with an adoption agency. Just by coincidence, Desmond has an appointment with his own lawyer, and encourages Claire to meet with the attorney before going to the agency. Desmond was more than a little creepy-stalker in his interactions with Claire, and his eyes had that same Messianic gaze we saw at the end of Happily Ever After. But Claire went along, and met with Ilana Verdansky (at last! A surname). It turns out Ilana has been looking for Claire. Because Ilana must be Christian Shephard's estate attorney. When Jack and David Shephard join the meeting, Claire reveals to Jack that his father is also her father.

2007 Timeline

There was a lot of moving on the Island too. Zoe demands the return of Desmond (but Widmore's people never returned Jin) and shows off Widmore's firepower. notLocke's response after she left? "Well, here we go." He sends Sawyer off to bring a sail boat to a certain point. Sawyer takes Kate with him, but not before conferring with Jack. notLocke then sends Sayid to shoot Desmond to death. Sayid looks reluctant, but notLocke reminds him of his promise. Sayid looks at him with his bat-shit crazy eyes (his eyes are either blank or bat-shit crazy - there's been no in between).

Sayid finds Des, who looks back at his would be assassin: "So, what did he offer ya?" When Desmond finds out that Sayid's prize is dead, he responds, "What will you tell her?" Sayid pauses...

Sawyer tells Kate his plan for Jack, Hurley, Sun, and the pilot (who looks like he could be in a Burt Reynolds movie) to join them at a different place from where they were supposed to meet up with notLocke. Kate is justifiably horrified at the idea of leaving Claire (but she never mentions Sayid) behind. They join up with Jack, et al, to discover that Claire followed them. And Kate talks to her, convincing her to join them, reminding her that Kate should have never raised Aaron - Claire should have. It's one of Kate's finest hours. Claire joins them, noting, "He find out we're gone, he's going to be mad."

Sayid meets up with notLocke, explaining he's a little late because he just killed an unarmed man and "needed a moment." None of us believe him, including notLocke, but Sayid encourages notLocke to check the well if he doesn't trust him. notLocke doesn't take him up on it.

Jack and Sawyer have a moment on the boat. Jack doesn't feel right leaving the Island:

Doesn't feel right...leaving the Island. Because I remember how I felt the last time I left. Like a part of me was missing. We were brought here because we were supposed t odo something, James. And if Locke...if that thing wants us to leave, maybe he's afraid of what happens if we stay.

Sawyer's having none of it, telling Jack to either leave the boat or keep his mouth shut. Jack decides to jump in the ocean. Kate wants to turn around, but Sawyer refuses to let her.

Jack is greeted on the beach by notLocke, who notes, "Sawyer took my boat, didn't he?" Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Hurley, Sun, and Burt, I mean Frank, come ashore on the Hydra Island, to be greeted by Zoe and her guns. Jin joins them, reuniting with Sun. Widmore then calls off his deal with Sawyer, so all our heroes must kneel in the sand with big guns pointed at them. In the meantime, Zoe sends another bomb to notLocke.

Jack hears it, but not in time. He is deafened by the blast, but notLocke rescues him, commenting, "It's going to be okay. Your with me now." That doesn't make me feel very comfortable.

notLocke

notLocke is the only one that will get an individual entry today, because he answered a few questions for us. First, we saw the first meeting between Jack and notLocke. And Jack continues his uncharacteristic penchant for asking questions. Why John Locke:

Because he was stupid enough to believe he'd been brought here for a reason. Because he pursued that belief until it got him killed. And because you were kind enough to bring his body back here in a nice wood box.

Who else did you look like? Were you the ghost of my father? Why?

You needed to find water...This may be hard for you to believe, Jack, but all I've ever been interested in is helping you....[To] leave. But because Jacob chose you, you were trapped on this Iland before you even got here. Now, Jacob's dead. We don't have to be trapped...We can get on an airplane and fly away whenever we want to.

And of course, everyone has to leave together. We just don't know why. Jack is skeptical - John was the only one who believed. notLocke interrupted him, "John Locke was not a believer, Jack. He was a sucker." Hmm...It almost sounds like self-loathing, doesn't it?

notLocke greets the morning with an apparent full contingent of candidates happily, "So nice to have everyone back together again." You know, without Jin, or the real Locke, or a sane Claire and Sayid. Among other missing parties. But the group isn't together for long, thanks to Sawyer.

So, we basically learned that the Smoke Monster was Christian on the Island. We don't know if he was always Christian or just some of the Christian time we saw. After all, we did see Christian in LA once. Was the Smoke Monster also Kate's black horse? Mr. Eko's brother Yemi? Hurley's imaginary friend Dave?

Thoughts

Claire's assertion that she was abandoned by everyone but notLocke is delusional. Christian/notLocke collected Claire when she was with Miles, Aaron and Sawyer returning to Jack's camp. She left Aaron, he wasn't taken from her. She told John Locke she was okay. By the time the survivors were able to escape, they had no time to find her. And not all of them escaped. Quite a number of them found themselves bouncing through time on the Island. So, while I understand where she's coming from, I think some of her cohorts should feel a little less guilty about leaving her behind. I'm just saying.

notLocke must think he has the primary candidate in Jack. It seems logical to assume it is Jack, as the signs have been pointed that way since episode one. But I am hoping that it's not that easy. Maybe it's Hurley? Wouldn't that be cool?

So, all in all, a very busy episode, with a lot of movement and not much else. And next week there will be no movement: ABC is airing a repeat of Ab Aeterno.