Where Soul Meets Body

LOST. Season Six. Episode Thirteen. The Last Recruit

The pieces are now in place. LOST, notorious for the occasional “set-up” episode, delivered such an offering last night that – because this is Season Six – was well worth watching. A few key players unrolled their competing strategies, with some (Flocke and Sawyer) taking on the role of aggressor while others (Jack and Widmore) were put on the defensive. All the while, in an alternate universe far, far away, our characters were assembled by the one player who holds all the cards. “Fate,” as Ilana called him.

In the words of Flocke, “Here we go.”

Hunters and Gatherers

You Can Lead a Jack to Water
We began where the “whispers” reveal left off last week – a straightforward conversation revealing a key piece of mythology. Flocke told Jack that he was the Christian Shephard apparition Jack had chased through the jungle on his third day, and that he did it in order to lead Jack to a water source. In fact, he claimed, it was the first of many “helpful” interferences he made in Jack’s life, in order to free him from Jacob’s Island prison. Problem is, Jack has almost completely taken on the characteristics of John Locke – the man who Flocke called “…stupid enough to believe he was brought here for a reason.” That indictment cut through Jack and the empathy he feels for Locke’s futile faithfulness. More importantly, it gave Jack something to work towards. As we later saw on the S.S. Elizabeth, Jack feels responsible for carrying the torch of Locke’s faith – and he’s willing to carry it at great cost.

Making Camp
Back at Camp Flocke, the followers fracture into competing sects. “It’s so nice to have everyone back together again,” says Flocke upon his return. Not for long. Fellow unlikely leaders Sawyer and Hurley were already comparing notes, questioning the impact of the “dark side,” and getting on the same page.

Catalyzing the call to arms was Zoe, who arrived with a walkie-talkie and a demand for Desmond’s return. Flocke wryly obliged, knowing full well that he wasn’t about to take a threat from some Tina Fey wannabe. Interesting moment when he smashed that walkie, though. Remember when Ben first took Locke to meet Jacob at the cabin, and he claimed Jacob didn’t like “technology?” Some have speculated that the entity Ben had been chasing around all those years was the Man in Black. So maybe it was the Man in Black who hated technology – he certainly seemed to when he obliterated that walkie. Ben Linus and his false god. Speaking of which, don’t fall asleep on Ben, Richard and Miles and their imminent reentry into the fracas.

Flocke decides to sic Sayid on Desmond before mobilizing his newly-gathered flock to head to the shore, where they’ll meet Sawyer and Kate with the S.S. Elizabeth. One problem: Sawyer’s already got other plans. The saboteur with a heart of gold fills in Jack, and heads off with Freckles.

Down in a Hole
I think Desmond talked Sayid out of killing him. Sayid’s weakness has always been the guilt he carries over the means to his ends. Desmond exploited that weakness last night, asking Sayid why he was following Flocke. When Sayid told him it was for a woman, Desmond seemed to crush him when he asked, “This woman, when she asks you what you did to be with her again, what will you tell her?”

The only killer in this scene was Desmond. He pushed the only button to which Sayid feels any semblance of a connection when he played that guilt card. From the look in Sayid’s eyes, the fact that they never showed us Desmond’s death and the stammering manner in which Sayid reported back to Locke, my money’s on Desmond being alive at the bottom of that well, brotha.

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?
One passenger on the no-sail list for Sawyer’s master plan was Claire. He declares that she’s too dangerous to be around Aaron, that she’s drinking Locke’s Kool-Aid (“Oh Yeah!”) and that she’s not herself. He’d take Claire. But that’s not Claire. Kate’s not so sure. Retrieving Claire (physically and mentally) was her mission in coming back to the Island, and Sawyer wants to take that away from her.

But why should she? This is, as Sawyer stated, not the Claire they know and love. She resents Jack and Co. for “abandoning” her, even though it was the right thing to do for that baby she so clings to (real baby, not poop baby). Claire is even an agent for the Dark Side now, telling Jack he was already on Team Locke, and putting bugs in the ears of her fellow castaways, trying to get them to trust in the Man in Black.

So why don’t they just leave her behind? Honestly, I don’t think it matters what they do wit her. And I’ll explain why in a bit.


Avast, Mateys
Sawyer and Kate find the boat, but only after Sawyer drops a “That’s what she said” followed by his best not-a-nickname nickname regarding Lapidus: “That pilot who looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie.” I could’ve died. Brilliant. And great to see LOST hasn’t foregone its sense of humor in the midst of its endgame.

Jack, Hurley, Frank and Sun (god I’m glad they’re taking Frank with them) peel off from Flocke’s death march to rendezvous with Kate and Sawyer. But they’ve got a tag-along. Claire tracks them to the boat and asks why she’s being left behind. Kate has had enough. She talks Claire down, disarming her figuratively and literally by denouncing Locke and playing the treasured Aaron card. And ultimately, she makes good (at least temporarily) on fulfilling her purpose of rescuing Lil’ Miss Littleton.

Good for Kate, but I think that “conversion” is short-lived. Claire’s mind is too warped to be changed by a single pep talk, and that’s going to have big consequences moving forward.

Might as Well Jump
Aboard the Elizabeth and due on a mystical compass bearing toward Hyrda Island, Jack and Sawyer have what might be their final pissing match in their long, sordid history. Jack, carrying dead Locke’s disillusionment as his own, tells Sawyer, “This doesn’t feel right, leaving the Island….I remember how I felt last time I left, like a part of me was missing. We were brought here because we were supposed to do something.”

It doesn’t get more John Locke than that, folks. Jack’s transformation to Man of Faith is complete. He’s even questioning the Island’s manifestation of evil (Flocke) by purporting that staying on the Island is the right thing to do because it’s what Flocke doesn’t want. But what Sawyer doesn’t want is dissent. He tells Jack to take his crazy ideas and swim back to shore. And Jack, following his own internal mystical compass bearing, does just that. He leaps, and when Kate predictably tells Sawyer to go back for him, Sawyer delivers the final blow: “We’re done going back, Kate.”

And off they went, to reunite Sun and Jin or something. I don’t know, I checked my email while Maggie wept at that scene. Good for them, I suppose. But I had better things to think about.

Watching Grunge Leg Drop New Jack
We are done with Leader Jack. He died. His funeral was last week with Hurley, when he admitted he was done fixing things. New Jack is fully converted, standing on the other side of the chess board from Flocke.

You want my prediction? You’re looking at the replacement vessels for Jacob and the Man in Black. Jack is now Jacob and Flocke is Smokey, now and forever. Think about it: Jacob told Hurley that Jack had to realize his purpose, find it and fulfill it. What more sensible purpose could Jacob have been guiding Jack to? Jacob has been tracking candidates for his replacement, and Jack is just the man for the job, with a heart for doing the right thing and a learned sense of laissez-faire leadership.

But this episode was called “The Last Recruit.” The Last Recruit is also Jack, and Flocke’s the one recruiting him. Notice that Jacob calls his potential replacements “candidates,” denoting an absence of finality and certainty and implying that those potential replacements have something of a choice. Man in Black calls his people “recruits,” a more militaristic term that conveys less choice and implies that people are “destined” to replace the Man in Black, whether they like it or not.

And Jack is the Man in Black’s Last Recruit. His great white hope. As Widmore-brand missiles rain down on the beach – presumably killing Cindy, Zach, Emma and the other Others who had converted to the tribe of Flocke – Flocke carefully delivers Jack from danger. As he regains consciousness, Flocke assures him, “You’re with me now.” Flocke is protecting Jack in the same way he did when he posed as his dead father to lead him to water. Then and now, his means are heroic but his ends are devious.

And like I said, the betting man in me bets that Man in Black is not getting off the Island, and that he’s doomed to live out his existence in the shell of the man he just called “a sucker.”

My reasoning for that? It’s in the alternate reality. Let’s see what’s going on over there.

I Wanna Be Everywhere Twice

The Last Recruit featured my favorite alternate reality storyline, and I think it was due to the fact that it was multi-focused. We got a little bit of everybody’s story, and that was a very deliberate decision. LOST is rife with convergences both on and off the Island, especially now that it’s winding down. Even Flocke said it was nice to have everybody back together.

And maybe it was that convergence that illuminated the similarities between our characters’ on-Island and alternate storylines. The mirror parallels were woven throughout the episode, and it gave the whole thing a nice sense of a looming finality.

PS: This song might be a good one to listen to while you read the rest of this.

A Stab in the Spine
How much do you love Dr. Linus? Sweet, down-trodden Dr. Linus, coaxing Locke back into consciousness in the back of that ambulance. He seemed generally troubled, doing his best to help his new friend. And Locke did his best to help Ben out. "Helen Norwood," he muttered. He said he "was" going to marry her. I'll get to the ominous use of that past tense at the end, by the way. (Also, some have theorized that it was MIB, not Jacob, that Ben followed around the Island for years. Which means it was MIB, not Jacob, who muttered "Help me" to Locke back in the cabin a few years ago. So we have MIB muttering "help me" and Locke muttering things in order to help himself. Cool parallel? Or am I just up too late again?)

Be My Valentine, You Don’t Have to Say Much
While Locke drifts in and out of consciousness on his way to the hospital, a pregnant and wounded Sun is wheeled in next to him. Terrified, she recognizes him, and begins screaming in Korean. I think that was Sun “crossing over,” but she didn’t seem to be affected by it later, when talking to Jin. Luckily, she came out of surgery smelling like a Tokyo Rose. Baby fine. Mama fine. Papa fine.

This moment of simultaneous terror and resolution mirrored the on-Island events. There was the fear of being held captive by Team Widmore, juxtaposed against the joy and resolution of her reunion with Jin. I’m going to mention further juxtapositions as we go along here, so just keep these in mind.

You Be Betty. I’ll Play Joe.
Sawyer and Kate’s pointed back-and-forth, where they questioned each other’s hidden agendas, was a reflection of their on-Island story. They bickered and poked, but ultimately ended up estranged. Their relationship is a non-factor. He’s the cop. She’s the con. And that’s as far as it goes – just like the Island, where try as they might to end up together, it’s not in the cards.

Words Hit Much Harder Than The Bullet From a Gun
Sawyer and Kate’s interrogation is interrupted by Miles, who has a new case to crack and needs help from James. They chase down Sayid at Nadia’s house, who tries to flee the scene, only to be thwarted by Detective James Ford’s Rubber Hose of Justice. Oh man that sounded wrong.

So Sayid’s on his way downtown. Where does this leave us? I’ll get back to that one, too.


The Memories Enhance The Way That You Feel
Then it was time for Claire. Poor, sweet, Claire. She survived a cab ride with fugitive Kate after a tumultuous, third-trimester, ocean-crossing flight. And she’s finally arrived to the climax of her bittersweet mission: the adoption agency.


But not so fast. Desmond intervenes, trying to prevent Claire from getting into an “irreversible” situation with the adoption and imploring her to see his lawyer. And his lawyer is alternate Ilana! She does have a purpose – and just like in the Island world, it’s looking after candidates.


This time, the candidate is Jack and she’s been tasked with executing his father’s will – which means tracking down the mysterious “Claire Littleton” named in it. That mission accomplished, she calls a meeting with Jack, who finally meets his sister before being called away for some emergency spinal surgery. Claire is thus deserted at Ilana & Associates, LLC, and not privy to the grand cosmos reunion at the hospital. Why? You guessed it. I’m getting there later. Soon, I promise.


Give Me Some Time To Get On Your Mind
Finally, we see the long-awaited, pre-destined surgery with Jack operating on Locke. The fact that Jack saw Locke's face (and not his own) in that mirror is something I'm using as further ammunition to my theory that they are the new Jacob and Man in Black, respectively. Jack didn't see himself because he's already found himself. Same goes for Locke.

Their meeting happened - not by choice, but by circumstance; but the important thing is, it happened. Whatever happens, happens. That Faraday battle cry is starting to ring truer and truer, and I believe it’s intent is not limited to time travel.

As the parallels between the on-Island and alternate storylines showed last night, there are certain things that, damn it, are just going to happen. Sun and Jin will reunite amid turmoil, Jack will be called into action and relied upon to come through in the clutch, Kate’s a fugitive, Sawyer a well-intentioned man with a wild streak and the list goes on and on.

I think it goes to show that, whether you’re traveling through time or hurtling sideways through space, there are certain undeniable aspects of our core essence. Those aspects create circumstances which are equally unavoidable. And they shape character that transcends time and space. At least, according to LOST.

It does, anyway, for most of them. But for some, the path is not so clear. For the souls that have been claimed, there are some very serious roadblocks.

Waking Life

Okay, I’ve promised to touch on Sayid’s incarceration, Claire’s inclusion on Team Sawyer and exclusion from the hospital and Locke’s use of past tense. See a pattern here?

Claimed souls with “irreversible” conditions. That’s an amalgamation of some of the terminology that’s been applied to Locke, Sayid and Claire. I think what it means, and what we’re seeing, is that these people are going to be denied from “connecting” with their alternate selves. All three of them have failed to connect – at least so far.

And all three of them are in pretty dire circumstances in the alternate reality. Claire is marooned in a drab boardroom, the future of her baby up in the air and her relationship with her half-brother further and further estranged. Sayid is incarcerated. And John Locke is in the grips of some life-threatening injuries, and already seems resigned to succumbing to those injuries, hence his used of "was" when speaking about marrying Helen.

Compare that to their on-Island doppelgangers. Claire is unwanted; damaged goods; left by Sawyer to rot on the Island with her dark thoughts and her poop baby. Sayid is imprisoned by the debt he’s racking up in his dealings with Flocke. And Locke is, well, dead.

My takeaway/theory of the night, after watching The Last Recruit, is that these damned souls – purposeless Locke, childless Claire and Nadia-less Sayid – won’t be able to make the leap to their alternate selves. They'll be left to rot in the Island prison, a punishment for allowing themselves to be claimed by dark, sinister forces.

But I think what we’ll see is Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Sun and Jin being given the opportunity (thanks in large part to Desmond) to choose what lives they want to lead. Jack will opt to stay on the Island and take over for Jacob. His friends will choose to leap, and leave Jack to protect the Island from the evils of the Man in Black.


The Man in Black, trapped forever in Locke’s body, will stay to oppose newly-faithful Jack. Locke will be allowed to "live on" as the Man in Black, since it was just his body (not his soul) that was claimed. And Sayid and Claire will either serve as his minions or die before they have the chance to do more damage.

But perhaps the lesson that underscores this possible outcome is something that can tie together good and evil, as well as fate and free will. Those who choose good (Jack, Sawyer, Sun, Jin and Hurley) are given the luxury of free will in order to choose to live the life they want most. But those who choose evil (Sayid and Claire – and Locke’s body) are doomed to a dark, foreboding fate.

Which begs the question… what the hell are they gonna do with Frank “Chesty” Lapidus?

Namaste.

Charlie