With only hours to go (boohoo), in this post, I'm gonna rattle off some high points and oddness from the goings-on in LOST1 in this penultimate episode. Click here for some LOST2 commentary.
Locke-ness needs a better buffer. He promises Ben the vacated Island as reward for helping him kill a few people, but at the well, when he discovers that failsafe Desmond has been set free, he tells Ben that he's going to use him to do what he never could before—destroy the Island. Wheee!~
So, Ben, here's your new kingdom. Psych!
I don't believe that Ben's in with Esau for that anyhow. Maybe that means Esau doesn't believe it either...? Nah. Esau's a liar and a schemer, but he just had his guard down right then. Classic Terry O'Quinn STEPFATHER, actually. =)
Even tho the next day I was toying with the idea of Ben and Widmore somehow staging that shooting, in the moment, I was really impressed, first, by Ben, and then, by the writing and set-up. It really worked for me because Ben had just visited Alex's grave outside. This season, Ben's been somewhat impotent, three steps behind everyone. It was kind of fun for an episode or two, seeing him out of his element, but Michael Emerson's Ben is just the best when he's running a game, his game. It was great to see that determination return. I think his shooting Widmore was meant to serve several purposes. First, to keep Widmore from revealing Locke-ness's exhaust port vulnerability. Second, to demonstrate his willingness to off Locke-ness's targets. Third, to feel really awesome.
I wonder if this is covered by the apology he asked Sun to pass on to Desmond?
Oh, how would Ben and Charles have staged his death? Maybe Ben loaded a gun with rubber bullets, or knew that Widmore had a vest on (with a layer of his actual blood, perhaps?), or shot him three times in the ego, and not anywhere fatal. The trick of course would be for the event to be convincing enough to fool Locke-ness in the process.
Yeah, not bloody likely, eh? Still, I didn't see Locke-ness needing to wipe blood off of himself, only Zoe's blood from his knife...
Man, Jacob is a total sad sack, isn't he? A far cry from the enigmatic mastermind we meet in "The Incident." Kind of disappointing.
Only after I checked that the ep was recorded on my DVR did I see the title, "What They Died For." That really annoyed me. I really don't think we got that explanation, or at least, not one sufficient enough to even start to justify the deaths of Sun, Jin, Sayid, and Lapidus (c'mon, Lapidus!). Is THIS really what they died for...?
JACOB: I chose you because you needed this place as much as it needed you.And if so, is that good enough? Frickin Jacob.
Jacob tells them all that they're like him. In a certain light, his light, OK, I guess I buy that. He calls them flawed. I would like for him to tell me how Hurley is flawed. By being sympathetic and feeling guilt, first over the accident that sends him to Santa Rosa's, and then over the bad luckifying power of the Numbers?
Jacob's explanation doesn't come close to covering the fact that so many of the 815 Losties (and Candidates) were responsible, or felt responsible, for taking the life of another. It may not have been a prerequisite, but it would've been nice to mention. I think that that point is a powerful motivation for any of the Losties to agree to be Protector and never have to return to the outside world.
Jacob does the Protector ritual. I like how they shot it. Jack VISIBLY seems enlightened! I had this flicker of hope that in that moment, he saw something in the Rules and the situation that Jacob didn't or couldn't, being Esau's brother. Possibly a way to kill Esau, but perhaps a way to free Esau without compromising the Heart, the Island, and the snowglobe. Yeah, a heckuva flicker from one look, but I like it.
I also wondered if he was made aware of LOST2 somehow. No one in LOST1 except Desmond and deceased Juliet has knowledge of LOST2. Maybe Locke-ness and Jacob do, but they've never mentioned it to anyone else. Of course, if my "Island Matrix" theory is correct (ha!) then LOST2 hasn't yet happened, so there's nothing to be aware of.
I really like how Sawyer tried to snark up the Protector initiation moment—And I thought he had a god complex before!—but knows to hush when he's hushed.
The weight of his guilt about the deaths in the sub is good, but somehow, his physical body language and expression of it seems a little cartoony. Nothing I could put my finger on without another viewing, and I can't say it was negative, just... odd, different. I like that that weight is there. He's more ready to go all out. If he'd been less confrontational with Jacob around the campfire, I could see him volunteering out of that guilt, seeking to atone and somehow make things right.
Is there anything in the Rules that says There Can Be Only One? Protector, I mean?
If Sawyer has even a little bit of a handle on what's at stake, I want for him to have dipped his canteen in that same Jacob-blessed stream to get himself a jolt of Protector-shine. Maybe enough to share with Kate and Hurley, too. I mean, if all of the Candidates qualify, why not hire all of them? It's a big Island.
That's all I've got. Gotta crash and be up for some pre-finale vballin'!~
Keep on keepin on~
No comments:
Post a Comment