The Back to the Island column for The Last Recruit has tossed itself off a boat for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
Friday, April 23
The Last Recruit (S6, ep. 13)
The Back to the Island column for The Last Recruit has tossed itself off a boat for your reading pleasure on Chud.com.
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Not crazy at all- it comes down to accepting that truly, you are only responsible for your own actions and how you will respond to a situation.
ReplyDeleteFor example,
as much as Sawyer or Jack might want to blame Jack for Juliet's death, she chose to take part in the actions that led to her death. The culpability involved is fairly meaningless.
In Jack's case, he gives an apology- is it because he feels responsible? Could be, or maybe just as likely, he is just SORRY it happened to Sawyer who can't forgive Jack's "transgression"
I dunno but I love this season- have I mentioned that?
I agree with Todd totally. You are not crazy at all, rather you are right on point. One's own being is made up of our past experiences. No fate but the choice we make.
ReplyDeleteAlso wanted to say, your MiB Option #3 is something I have been spatting all over these columns for the past few weeks LOL. Glad you agree :)
I dunno about option 3...
ReplyDeleteI guess we could make the case that MIB could appear off island and was just as ineffectual as a ghost, but if everyone recalls, Christian at the bottom of the well actually held a lantern...
and in Locke's form isn't technically probably much more substantial than ghost form
D,
ReplyDeleteIf you've been suggesting that combo I'm afraid I missed it - apologies, typically I like to link points like that to the people who've made them initially.
Todd,
I think that's the necessary split. Off-Island, Christian doesn't touch anything or manipulate anything (he does sit on a chair, but I don't think that really counts). You never see him, for instance, picking something up.
On-Island, its a much different story. As you point out, Christian holds the lantern. And as Locke, the MiB takes a mango from Ilana and eats it.
So the distinction would essentially be that he's as substnatial as smoke when he's off the Island, but capable of physical action on the Island.
No, you are not crazy. But is Jack's newfound will freedom or slavery? Sure, he's no longer a slave to his own selfishness, and he's chosen a path to serve something larger than himself, but has he traded in one form of slavery for another?
ReplyDeleteTodd - Locke did pimp slap Claire LOL. That to me indicates he is corporeal. About the lantern, in Ab Aeterno, MiB enters the ship to "save" Richard, he sets down the same lantern in the background.
ReplyDeleteMorse - Yes I mentioned it on April 1st post on the column for Ep 10 - The Package. Agreed about Christian never touching anything off island. the first time we see him touch something on island was him holding Aaron. Coincidence??
So a few things... first great post as usual! Second, I don't know if noone ever saw it but no comment was made about a comment I made in regards to last weeks episode. There was no hurley reflection period, at least not that I can recall which is the first time that the featured character, hasn't had a reflection time.
ReplyDeleteThird, I need to go back and rewatch this episode, but at the end, I was almost positive that I caught a glimpse of a cut on Jack's neck in a very similar location as to the cut that he finds on his neck in the bathroom in the beginning of LA X.
Fourth, well there was a fourth but I can't seem to remember... too much to think about. I guess I'll just post it if I can recall it.
Conrad - YES!! I noticed the cut too!! It was semi-healed but indeed visible.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed the weird time change between the Locke/Jack/Claire talk and the regrouping went from dead of night to bright sunny day.
I do not recall a Hurley reflection moment last week.
Re: Widmore and Anti-Locke
ReplyDeleteYou know, I wonder if they're even really at odds with each other. I wonder if, perhaps, they're actually in cahoots and that their conflict is all a show. Think about it, Sawyer and his crew show up on Hydra island and the deal he has with Widmore is off. Meanwhile, Anti-Locke doesn't appear angry at all that Sawyer stole the boat. It comes off almost as if he wants it.
Sure, Widmore's people attack the island with mortar fire, but Anti-Locke doesn't seem to fear the explosions. He's only worried about Jack. If Widmore and Anti-Locke are in cahoots, then there's no problem with reuniting the castaways since Jack's "with" Anti-Locke, and the others are being held prisoner by Widmore.
What does Widmore want more than anything? To regain control over the island. Who's good at promising people what their desires the most? Anti-Locke. Widmore just happens to show up on the island just as Anti-Locke is gearing up to leave? Hmmmmm ...
All right, maybe I'm the crazy one! I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, too. (Also, I'm sorry if someone else has proposed this already.) Please feel free to poke holes in my whackadoodle theory.
I like it Colonel! The sonic fence red herring ... iiiinteresting!!
ReplyDeleteI stated a while back that MiB needs all of the candidates dead before he can leave the island. The rules prohibit MiB from actually doing the killing himself so, he would need someone to do it for him. Whidmore is perfect. Only hole I have in this theory is Desmond. Why bring him back and test magnets on him? Especially since MiB wants him dead.
You may ask why wouldn't MiB kill them all one at a time? He needs their help one way or another. It is easier to control a group rather than everyone running around separate. Once they are all corralled, and he gets what he wants set up, they all die. MiB told Jacob he would kill all that succeeded him.
Yeah, the Desmond thing is sticking for me, too. But so was the fact that Widmore was all of a sudden somewhat warm toward Desmond. I don't know. Maybe Desmond is Widmore's "ace in the hole," a kind of protective hedge against Anti-Locke betraying him.
ReplyDeleteJDR22 Here...
ReplyDeleteAnother great post, MMorse. You continue to be my favorite LOST recapper.
This was a really good episode, I enjoyed it quite a bit. One thing to note: it's possible that Locke saw Jack swimming back from the Elizabeth, and thus had plenty of time to meet him as he swam onto the beach. I also love your "sideways Locke" observation. I hadn't thought of that, and it made me laugh out loud for some reason.
Keep up the good work!
so... I presume Christian-MIB traveled back in time with the other losties since we see him at the donkey wheel? Was he skipping around to all of the other historical episodes too? And if so, was he left in Christian's form in Dharma times?
ReplyDeleteOr can MIB just travel through time in any acquired-in-the-future-meatsuit whenever he wants? Maybe this could explain some of Locke's erratic behavior in previous seasons (since it was Flocke?)
And if MIB skipped back in time with the "heroes", I guess he could leave Claire behind in "the present"? And therefore, I guess whatever the sickness is allows them to decouple temporally.
I have a wild speculation/theory I'd like to share. The idea struck me as I read your column, almost as though you were dancing around this concept. I think Jacob and the MIB are one and the same, two halves of a whole, like a yin/yang symbol.
ReplyDeleteI think the recurring themes of mirroring and othering are all about how the characters identify themselves. Now we have all our island characters othered in the sideways reality beginning to converge into a oneness of themselves. Or will they?
Another thing to think of is the inability of characters killing themselves; Micheal, Jack, Richard. Richard tried to find a loophole and get someone else(other) to kill him. The similarity to the MIB's situation is almost unmistakable.
I am at work and have had little sleep, so I could be entirely wrong and suffering Lost delusions. If any of this is accurate, it was completely accidental.
I could have sworn that Hurley had his reflective moment while eating his bucket of chicken, but I watched that scene again and there was nothing of the sort. Mind playing tricks on me, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure the MIB wants to have the candidates killed, at least not without using them for something else first. Saving Jack in this episode seems to go against that. Widmore would be the one killing him, so that gets around the agreement with the ghost kid. Yet he pulls Jack out of the way of a missile.
@Dethan - I also thought a while back that MiB and Jacob are 2 halves of a whole. The only thing punching a hole in it for me is that one would not be able to exist without the other.
ReplyDelete@Resident - I believe MiB has to earn Jack's trust in order to get what he needs from him 1st. Then after he gets what he needs, he will say he can go. No longer needed = death. You are right about the rules prohibit the MiB from actually killing the candidates himself. I believe Whidmore maybe the key player that will complete the task.
I have not read the Chud column yet as I have been busy with wedding plans all weekend. Seeing as there is not a new episode of Lost this week, I will probably read it tomorrow. I just lied, probably going to read it now.
I have a question for MMorse (or anyone who can provide some clarity):
ReplyDeleteI really liked The Last Recruit, and love Season 6 and LOST as a whole, but someone pointed out a possible continuity error during The Last Recruit.
Sun is show being wheeled into the hospital at the same time as Locke, but the person claiming discrepancy says that Sun was shot a week before Locke was hit by Desmond's car. I'm not 100% clear on the sideways timeline, but is this true? Was Sun shot a week before Locke was hit, and the writers messed up, or is this allegation false?
Either way, I can forgive continuity errors in a complex narrative. I'm just interested to hear opinions about this...
@ Anon - Yea we have been going back and forth on that possible continuity error on the "discussion" column. We can't seem to sync up the timeframe either. We came up with, as of "Everbody Loves Hugo", Desmond mentions to Hurley that the flight was about a week ago. Yet, when Jin is taken to the restaurant, its maybe 3 days tops. So we seem to be missing a few days. I would hate to think that there was a continuity error this big but ...
ReplyDelete@Darth,
ReplyDeleteOne other thing I just thought of:
It's possible that Desmond didn't hit Locke with the car after he visited Hurley. We saw it that way in the episode, but there was nothing in the scene to indicate that it happened right after his talk with Hugo.
Desmond seems to show up at different times (at the business office with Claire, restaurant with Hurley, etc.), and we have seen the flash-sideways stories told out of order. The writers could have flashed to an earlier point in the sideways at the end of Everybody Loves Hugo (to set up the next episode), and we just assumed it happened in that order.
This makes sense if you think about it, and it would show that there was no continuity error.
Hey folks!
ReplyDeleteI'd previously talked about the possibility of the MiB and Jacob being the same in a past Column - that would cement the Gnostic aspect of the show's narrative nicely. I intentionally danced around this a bit in this week's column, because I think that the idea of unity is important to the show on an all-around level. Given that we're agonizingly close to a Jacob "flashback," we should have an answer to this shortly.
As for the continuity - I see no reason why Desmond's visit to Locke couldn't have happened "later on" after his visit to Hurley.
@ MMorse,
ReplyDeleteThe argument from some is that if Desmond indeed hit Locke after his visit to Hurley, it would have been much later in the timeline, and therefore wouldn't make sense that he arrived at the hospital at the same time as Sun (who was shot only a day after landing in LAX).
I posit that the Locke vs. Car incident happened earlier in the Sideways timeline, which would place him at the hospital at the same time as Sun.
Further food-for-thought to support this:
The shirt Desmond is wearing when he leaves the beach (where Hurley just kissed Libby) is different than the shirt he’s wearing when he hits Locke with his car. This goes to show that he did not drive to the school after watching Hurley on the beach.
We have no way to know at what point in the timeline he hit Locke, therefore there’s no way to prove that there’s any error.
I stress this info because other "beloved" recappers are latching onto this "error" and using it to to say that the writers are no longer trying, and that the show is no longer worthy of their respect (I speak directly of fishbiscuit @ docarzt.com).
I vehemently disagree, and am backing my claims with facts instead of rants.
On the other hand, MMorse, I appreciate your write-ups, and continue to look forward to your future posts.
@Anon - Very true and that is a great way of thinking about it. The other unbelievable part of it is the John Locke timeframe of events. Upon his return, he has been back to work, got fired, received his lost luggage, been to a temp agency, placed as a substitute teacher, and hit by a car, all within those 3 or so days? Possible? Yes. Unlikely? Yes.
ReplyDeleteThe error I fear most may be coming up. That when Jack is able to operate and restore motor function to John Locke's legs, that there is no rehab time. I only hope that there is a "fast forward" to "3 Years Later" to match up the timelines. Anything is up in the air I guess.
I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat regarding continuity errors and eliminated the impossible, whatever remained, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. We know that there is a special team dedicated to details of the show (weapons, clothes, scars and wounds, etc) as stated a while back. This being the case, I believe that the errors we are seeing are intentional. What if the Off-Island Universe is an illusion, much like the Matrix. A smoke screen (haha!) if you will. The more that the players realize the false world, start to reject it, the more it breaks down. Hence these continuity errors.
[Let me rephrase my earlier post for clarity].
ReplyDeleteWhen Locke turned the wheel, he was in the distant past (the statue was still standing above ground, yet to be Black Rocked into rubble). Christian was there with Locke. Was this really the MIB?
Since we see Christian-MIB in the cabin just before Ben's initial turning of the wheel, we know he was still using Christian's body before the time flashes.
This is interesting to me, because if it is Christian-MIB at the frozen wheel with Locke, I imagine that the MIB was following Locke through all the different time flashes, peeking through the bushes. Much like Sawyer saw Kate birth Aaron, Christian-MIB was always watching Locke from just a short distance away.
Plot-wise, this has three ramifications for me: (1) the MIB-as-Christian might have met with his old self to tell him about his grandplan or at least that he is a time-traveller; they might show this scene in a future episode. (2) MIB-Christian might know about the boat shoot-out since he might have witnessed it. He might use this fore-knowledge to his advantage before this show is over. (3) By my logic, the MIB-Christian would have stopped time skipping in Dharma times, just like Sawyer and Miles. I guess he was hanging out there/then with the "real" MIB from that time period. Double smoke trouble.
Probably this does not matter. It just struck me as odd, especially given the recent "Christian is MIB" reveal last episode. Glad to have a place to draft my musings on a no-new-lost-day. :)
Here's a link to a new Wired article on Lost discussing a lot of things to do with the show: http://bit.ly/cePYeV
ReplyDeleteResident,
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome. Wow. There are some potential spoilers on that Whiteboard - nothing major, but still very cool.
I noticed the dialogue/outline in the background, but it wasn't until just now that I noticed they have the episode titles and character focuses. Looks like next week is sideways-Jack with someone else, and "Across The Sea" ends with "ey." Smokey? Or Hurley?
ReplyDeleteMMorse - Another great post on CHUD. I'm constantly impressed with your ability to pull in the variety of -or consistent links to, as the case may be- literary sources and parallels to the LOST universe. Sometimes I wonder if the writers give their work as much deep consideration as you!
ReplyDeleteRE: Locke vs Desmondmobile stuff - The thing that bugs me about the potential discrepancy is what Darth Sillynous pointed out - the amount of time that reasonably would have had to pass between Locke's return from Australia and his installation as a sub at the school. There's a very outside chance that he was hit by Desmond prior to all the stuff we saw in Dr. Linus, but I doubt it. So, along the line of thinking that Locke meeting Desmond's front fender had to be the latest we've seen of Locke in the sideways universe, that's ALOT to have happened in just a few days.
Without going back to watch Dr. Linus, I can't say for sure, but I seem to remember thinking that they establish Locke just getting to the school during that whole timeline. I thought Locke was at school for the duration o f the events of that episode, BUT if not, then it's possible that Desmond takes out Locke during the time Ben is tutoring Alex. That ep focused on Ben more than Locke, so perhaps shortly after Locke got to the school, Des took him out? One rewatch would probably answer this. Someone might even be able to tell me without rewatching Dr. Linus!
I wish I could mentally sort out the whole time-skipping thing with Christian as/maybe as MIB to see if the logic holds up, but it hurts my head too much. I still think there's stuff about it that doesn't jive with every appearance of Christian being Smokey. And that's before trying to reconcile Christian's off-island appearances post the 815 crash. But, I have a feeling we aren't going to get much more to explain it.
Resident 01 - thanks for the Wired link!
Resident! Thanks for the link ... if you turn down the brightness on your screen you can read it. Next week is Jack/Locke and "Across The Sea" says "key", so Smokey. I had heard that was the Jacob/MiB episode before so this kinda confirms it. Good stuff!
ReplyDelete@Darth,
ReplyDeleteCan I say that I'm officially stoked for the next two episodes now? Okay... I'M STOKED!
Neat stuff, right? Just enough teases on there to whet the appetite nicely. To quote Mr. Wonka quoting Oscar Wilde: "The suspense is terrible. I hope it lasts."
ReplyDeleteWell it will only last for a few more weeks :(
ReplyDelete