What They Died For

Happy Finale Week, friends! Of course this episode was going to be a set-up for the finale. How could it be anything else? They definitely have a lot of wrapping up to do in 2.5 hours on Sunday, though. For this penultimate episode, your faithful substitute-bloggers have decided to have a little point-counterpoint discussion on some of the mysteries of this episode and, of course, the big set-ups (in both sideways world and island world) for the finale. Enjoy, and comment away!

SIDEWAYS LAND (2004)

Jack

Nicole: I didn’t see as much of Jack putting together the pieces of the crazy “coincidences” of all of the 815ers as I would have liked. One point I did like because it supports a season-long theory of mine was Jack looking in the mirror and seeing an inexplicable neck wound. I think there have been many clues to the sideways characters being connected to Island characters by having cross-over things happen, such as Juliet “going out Dutch for coffee” as she was dying on the island, Jack’s mystery appendix scar, and Sun’s loss of English. Speaking of Juliet: I have a prediction that she is Sideways-Jack’s baby mama. I guess we will find out at the concert.

Brian: I’d love to see Juliet emerge as Jack’s ex. The problem is that Jack’s son looks to me like the product of a marriage between Jack and – brace yourselves – Kate.

Nicole: I have to disagree with that one. Otherwise, when Jack asked David if his mom would be there, his answer would have been “no, she’s incarcerated at the moment.” The pretty house in the suburbs that David lives in does not seem compatible with Kate’s fugitive lifestyle.

Locke

Nicole: I found it interesting that sideways-Locke immediately went to faith/fate when he heard from Ben what Desmond said about trying to help Locke let go. I probably would have gone with the more logical conspiracy theory --- that a crazed surgeon wanted so desperately to do his experimental surgery conspired with Desmond to bring him his surgical candidate. I would have thought that Jack might have been more suspicious of fate’s hand here, with all of the strange 815 connections he had recently discovered.

Brian: I’m not inclined to defend Jack as I’m usually put off by his smugness and martyr complex, but I’ll point out that he’s got so much going on right now that he may not be very attuned to the full extent of what’s happening with 815. His father died, the body disappeared, he met a sister he never knew he had, and he’s patching up a strained relationship with his kid. I’ll give Jack a break on this one.

Desmond

Brian: Claire and Sayid took a lot of heat for the crazy looks in their eyes when they were running around the Temple of Doom. I’m not picking up a similar reaction to Desmond. Is everyone just fully convinced that his motives are pure? Taking a cue from Creepy Charlie, he’s taking some extreme measures (running down Locke, giving Ben a beatdown, probably lying to Jack about Christian Shephard’s body) to jog the island memories with his seatmates.

Nicole: It seems to me that Desmond becomes more enlightened and knowing every episode. I suspect he remembers the Island timeline in full now. Oh, and why is Desmond pretending they found Christian's body? Where is that going to go?

Ben

Nicole: Ben getting beat up made him look much more like the Ben we know and… uh… love? I wonder if Desmond beat up Ben to make him “see” the other timeline, or is was he transferring his anger at Island-Ben onto Sideways-Ben? Something I did NOT see coming was Sideways-Ben and Sideways-Rousseau as a potential romance. I guess he is destined to be Alex’s father.

Brian: Sideways Rousseau was looking sooo good, especially in contrast to Island Rousseau. Granted the makeup and wardrobe options for her on the island were limited, but, still. Wow. Yeah, romance was definitely in the air. Rousseau essentially gave Ben a standing invitation for dinner. When Ben’s eyes started to well up with tears as Rousseau explained how he was the closest thing Alex had to a father, I bet he was thinking about his own father. And also how sacrificing his own ambitions for Alex’s college aspirations was the right thing to do and paying off in ways he hadn’t expected.

The Set-Up

Nicole: We know Desmond is trying to get everyone in the same place. What's he going to do to make them all “see” once they're there? Set off a bomb so they have a near-death experience like Desmond and Charlie? Are all of our characters going to wind up at the benefit concert? We can see how Hurley, Sayid, Kate, Jack (and probably Claire with him), Charlotte, and Miles are going to get there. Des has probably already lined Charlie up to be there. My guess is Faraday will be there is some musical capacity. What about the rest? Locke, Ben, Sawyer, Ana Lucia, Rose, Bernard, Juliet… I must be missing others! I predict Juliet being there as David’s mother, and I think a simple call from Miles reporting that the fugitives are there will probably get Sawyer there.

Brian: I like your theory about the benefit concert. Don’t forget about the Kwons (not sure how they’re going to get there) and the Widmores. My guess is that we’ve seen the last of Ana Lucia. I just hope Driveshaft’s set is brief. I’m still sick of You All Everybody.

ON THE ISLAND (2007)

Ben

Brian: About all that we need to know about Ben’s island state of mind is when he Smoke Monster whether they get to kill more people.

Nicole: Wow, he is the ultimate flip-flopper. That guy always leaves us guessing whether he's a good guy or a bad guy (if we even knew which side was good or bad). From the second we met him. I guess it's a sign of a great character that I'm mad that someone didn't off him three seasons ago. OK, I don’t really wish that; the show would not be nearly as good without him.

The Rules

Nicole: Is notLocke allowed to kill Richard under the rules? What about Ben and Widmore? Aren’t they not allowed to kill each other? What changed? Or did Ben fail in his attempt to kill Widmore?

Brian: I’m completely confused about Widmore’s role on the island. And I have a feeling that hearing what Widmore whispered into MIB’s ear isn’t going to clear things up much.

The Candidates

Brian: Sawyer passed on a great opportunity to be Top Dog. He made a sound decision by shelving his competitiveness with Jack in favor of the best interests of, well, the fate of the world.

Nicole: The saddest moment of the show was when Sawyer realized the Kwons death was his doing.

Brian: What was nice is that it also prompted one of the episode’s best developments – Jack and Sawyer shared a great moment when Jack tried to assure him that their death wasn’t his fault. They seemed to extinguish an alpha male rivalry in a way that Jacob and MIB never could.

Nicole: Is the show moving away from fate and destiny? The candidates were given a choice to become protector of the place that seems to be all about fate. But, it's starting to seem a lot more and more about choices - Jacob chose them to come to the island rather than them being fated to it.

The Protector

Nicole: I’m sure I’m not the only one that was sure that Jack was going to be “The One.” Sayid told him that it had to be him. But what’s going to happen for Jack now? There was definitely some crazy facial expressions after he drank Jacob’s anointed water. Is Jack now enlightened/all-knowing?

Brian: I imagined Jack thinking, Umm, this tastes like nasty river water but I’m going to make some goofy facial expressions and pretend that it’s giving me SUPER POWERS!

The Set-Up

Nicole: A war with Smokey is brewing. Our heroes have to figure out how to kill him. I can’t wait! But I’m still at a loss with Desmond’s special role on the Island. His is the last resort, a fail-safe. I don't really get it.

Brian: What happened to the well? The last time we saw Des, he was sitting at the bottom of it. When Smokey returned to it, water ran through it. But like many other questions we’ve had about the meaning of the smallest details, it could just be a continuity error. Maybe Desmond is really going to shine in L.A. Maybe that’s how he can most affect what happens on the Island. He and Jack somehow attack Evil from two sides, which seems to give them a fair shot.

Nicole: Presumable this war is all about THE LIGHT. notLocke/Smokey wants to get back to THE LIGHT. What will happen to Smokey if he gets to the cave? It now seems that only the protector can find the cave. If the protector and all his replacements are dead, does the cave become visible and accessible to all? I still am at a loss as to why Smokey thinks THE LIGHT is his ticket off the island.