After a messy episode last week, Lost came back this week with a straightforward episode that set everything up for this Sunday’s two-and-a-half hour finale event.
While Desmond put all the characters into place in the flash-sideways, Jacob has a fireside chat with the four survivors of the submarine incident on the Island, and we finally find out what happened to Ben, Miles and Richard at the Barracks.
The three arrive at the Barracks and obtain explosives from Ben’s secret room before they run into Widmore and Zoe. Flocke approaches, so Miles runs away and Richard walks outside to talk to Flocke. Poor Richard is grabbed by Flocke in smoke form and gets thrown off screen (!). Flocke returns to talk to a shell-shocked Ben, who leads him to Widmore and Zoe. Flocke kills Zoe, asks Widmore to tell him why he came back to the Island with Desmond and Ben shoots Widmore (!). Flocke is pleased; he needs Ben to do a lot more killing.
Hurley leads the rest of the survivors to Jacob. Jacob explains that they were brought to the Island because they were alone (Kate was crossed off later when she became a mother) and says that one of them will have to replace him and protect the Island. Jack volunteers to take the job, takes a drink and becomes the new Jacob.
In the flash-sideways, Desmond beats up Ben, who becomes aware of the Island timeline, then hilariously turns himself in to the LAPD, meeting Kate and Sayid. They escape with the help of Ana Lucia (!) and Hurley. Desmond explains that they will go to a concert that night, one that Jack and Miles will also be attending. Meanwhile, Locke visits Jack and agrees to the spinal surgery, and Ben meets Rousseau and has dinner at Alex’s house. Everyone is together! How nice.
In the end, Flocke reveals his ultimate plan: destroy the Island with Desmond’s help. He’ll have to find Desmond first, though, as somebody helped him out of the well.
Thoughts:
- First off, Richard better not be dead. He just got his motivation back after “Ab Aeterno,” and I remember Ilana saying that he was essential to the Island.
- Is Ben obeying Flocke’s orders because he has no choice or because he has his own plans? I want it to be the latter, especially because we haven’t seen the Ben be manipulative in a while.
- Predictably, Jack replaces Jacob. Do the rules between Flocke and Jacob still stand for him and Jack? Is Jack now immortal? Does Jack have any idea what he just got himself into?
- What is flash-sideways Desmond planning to do with everyone together?
- Where is Desmond on the Island? Who helped him out? It’s not the four survivors; I’m guessing it was Claire. She wasn’t seen on the Island this week.
- It was nice to see Jack stitching up Kate, mirroring their first meeting in Season 1, and to see Jack and Sawyer working together again.
It all ends on Sunday. Be prepared for lots of fighting, lots of tears (and jears), and most importantly, lots of answers.
