Right here at the end, there doesn’t seem to be the sort of weirdness we are used to ruminating on. No pictures in the background full of import; no slightly-different prop or costume changes to make note of and chew over. Just half-answers that seem clear at first but disappear when looked at under the lamp. For example:
1. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN: When Jack and the Locke-Dressed Monster sit down for a pow-wow, Jack flat out says, “I don’t know what you are.” Fake Locke cocks an eyebrow and says, “Sure you do” matter-of-factly. I think this is a notable exchange mostly because of Jack’s turn from Man of Science to Man of Faith. Instead of being the go-to guy with all the answers (even if they’re bull-in-a-china-shop sort of answers), Jack is more reflective and more apt for consideration, here, at the end. Jack asks Fake Locke if he’d impersonated Christian Shephard, and he admits he did, on Day Three, to help Jack find fresh water. I find this interesting, because they’re sort of leading you to think that every time we see Jack’s dad, it’s the smoke monster, and I’m sure most times, it is. But we see Christian talking to Jack in the hospital in the Season Four flash-forwards, off-Island, so that’s either Christian not-dead, Jacob (who might have a similar appearance power), or a hallucination. I dunno. This fucking show.
2. THEY SAT TOGETHER IN THE PARK AS THE EVENING SKY GREW DARK: “Because Jacob chose you, you were trapped on this island… before you even got here.” This one’s a pretty insistent underlining of pre-determination. Most of the through line of Season Three was dealing with pre-determination; where Desmond (with his newly-acquired electro-magnetic mind powers) kept trying to stave off Charlie’s deathly destiny. This quote from Fake Locke also speaks to the theme of duality and mirrors and reflections and roads-not-taken and whatnot that’s rampant this season, in that Fake Locke is seemingly not being coy or speaking metaphorically. That once Jacob has chosen you, you’re trapped, no matter if you perceive space-time to be linear or not. This bit is also echoed later when Bad Wig Claire tells Jack that he’d already made up his mind which side he was on, and that he’d done so as soon as he’d let Fake Locke speak to him. Pre-determination? Destiny? Fate? Lot of calm-before-the-storm, here.
3. MI RITMO, BUENO PA’ GOZAR, MULATA: I liked the bleed-over from our world to Dimension X was shown so quickly but so skillfully when Gut-shot Sun sees Roadkill Locke being wheeled into Jack’s hospital and she recognizes him. And speaking of Sun, howzabout that reunion on the beach? Now, I’m no EJ Feddes, but I’ll admit to getting a little, teeny-tiny lump in my throat when they started running towards each other. What? It was something in my eye. I did like how, in Dimension X, Jin held Sun’s hand and said, “It’s over… and we’re all going to be OK.” I really hope that’s a meta-commentary for a merged, happy universe at the end of the show, because an upcoming episode is called “What They Died For.” And what about Roadkill Locke? Was it just me, or did he seem to be ourLocke there, for a minute? Something about the way he called for Helen, and said he was going to marry her… seemed to be more a regret that he didn’t rather than a regret that he wouldn’t. I sure hope so, because it makes Des look like less of a dick.
4. FACE TO FACE, OUT IN THE HEAT; HANGIN’ TOUGH, STAYIN’ HUNGRY: When the Locke-Dressed Monster crushes the radio and says, “Here we go.”, he has one green eye and one blue eye. And speaking of “Eye of the Tiger,” have you noticed that when Widmore led The Others in 1977, he was a barefoot, horse-riding, man of the earth, and when he comes back to the Island to wreak havoc, he’s got submarines and sonic fences and Tesla coils and pinpoint missles? Has the Man of Faith become a Man of Science?
5. BUT IT’S LIKE TRYING TO TELL A STRANGER ‘BOUT ROCK AND ROLL: A few Spectacularrys ago, I linked to an interview with Zuleikha Robinson where she seemingly claimed Ilana’s last name was “Radzinsky,” and I got all jelly-kneed. Well, more jelly-kneed than usual where Zuleikha Robinson is concerned, anyhow. Last night, her name was revealed to be “Verdansky,” which, while awesome (one assumes she was named for the Russian mineralogist widely considered to be the father of geochemistry and radiogeology and one of the earliest advisors on the Soviet atomic bomb project), isn’t as awesome as if it were “Radzinsky.” But, dang; there’s only four episodes left. You can’t tie that one up without a lot of co-inky-dinkies, and they were burning them left and right on last night’s episode. So much so, that Ilana actually comes right out and says, “Do you believe in Fate, Doctor Shephard?”
6. HERE’S ONE FOR MARK HERR: Mark pointed out to me a few weeks ago the importance of the color red in certain scenes, and ever since he’d said that, I can’t not see it. This episode’s skillet-to-the-brain-pan was the scene where Sawyer X the cop and Kate X the misunderstood bad girl are playing flirty-shoes in the police station. Notice that everyone in the scene was wearing black? And that the only color in the scene was the two red apples? I did. And I bet Mark Herr did, too.
7. TRUST IN ME, JUST IN ME; SHUT YOUR EYES AND TRUST IN ME: Maybe I’ve been watching Jungle Book too much with Walker, but Kaa’s song “Trust in Me” seemed to be playing over Fake Locke’s “You’re with me now” quote that ended the episode. Prediction: Jack’s either paralyzed from the mortar round, underscoring his taking Locke’s place as Man of Faith, and the ringing in his ears is going to block the charm of the serpent. Maybe both.
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I still wonder if Locke in Dimension X is the body Smokey has been using to get a hold in that world. Once Desmond hit Locke and as Locke became weaker physically in Dimension X it became easier to sway Claire (and I think Sayid, although we won’t find out until later) over to the good side again.
I think Sayid is just “getting better.” Who knows what being dead for two hours would do to your worldview? I did like that they said it was Fake Locke who brought him back, though.
And Claire’s just nuts. She lived in the jungle for three years with a squirrel baby; she can seem lucid for a while, but that ratty wig she wears is a dead giveaway.
EJ said something to me in an email, though, that’s going to guarantee another Spectacularry tomorrow. 🙂
I really liked this week’s episode, but I had to cringe at your boy Frank delivering maybe the worst-written line of the series. I know you know which one I mean. 😉
It’s going to be hard for me to convince anyone otherwise, because readers will think I’m biased towards Frank because of his inherent awesomeness, but I didn’t see anything wrong with “Looks like someone got her voice back” because THAT’S FRANK’S CHARACTER. You may have cringed at the line, but it’s perfect for Lapidus. If you’ll recall from a few Spectacularrys ago, “Lapidus” comes from the Hebrew word for “torches,” or, you know, bringers of light. As in, shining a light on the obvious, for everyone to see. Look at what this guys says: “As long as the dead guy says there’s a reason then I guess everything’s gonna be just peachy.” “We’re not going to Guam, are we?” “Hey, don’t talk about bacon.” and “Your buddy said we got five minutes. That was three minutes ago. If you’re going, this is it. Let’s go! ” and whatnot. It’s like he’s on his own episode of FANTASY ISLAND and everyone else is on a different show. Which is why I love him.
This may be heresy, but I think the worst line of the show is “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” what with it always being delivered so petulantly and often and all.
So you may remember a few weeks back I mentioned on Facebook that since the beginning, I’ve thought the Island represented Pandora’s Box/the Garden of Eden. A place where evil is attempted to be contained but man’s curiosity and desire for control keep setting it free.
At the start of the series, all seven deadly sins were represented. Pride-Jack, Lust-Shannon, Gluttony-Hurley, Greed-Sawyer, Sloth-Charlie, Envy-Jin and Wrath-Sayid. Locke was that shiny bit of Hope left at the bottom of the box. (In Season Three, when Ben told Locke the island was a box, I about wet myself. Then the next week he told Locke the box was a metaphor)
As the series has progressed, some sins have been overcome with bad results. Shannon finds love, not lust and is killed. Charlie uses his musical talents to save the day and dies for it. Others like Sawyer and Sayid have had a more gradual evolution and seem to be surviving. Jack in recent weeks has very much swallowed his pride and become a much more humble guy. Of course, this week, some of stubborn Jack emerged on the boat and he was led back to the monster.
If Locke was Hope, the creature in Locke’s skin is…False Hope.
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