'Lost': Worlds collide on and off the Island as The Man in Black seeks 'The Last Recruit'

Some episode of "Lost" are character pieces, intimate looks at beloved characters. Some episodes are heavy on the mythology, in which little happens but much is suggested. And then there are episodes like tonight, in which so much happens you're tempted to think you're watching another show, confused by the rapidity of the pace of plot deployment.

"Lost" does its character-related and mythology-related material nearly flawlessly (albeit occasionally not at the pace we fans would like). But plot-wise, the show can sometimes stumble, often feeling rushed instead of breathlessly paced. While the sideways story was darn near perfect in execution, for the second straight week, getting people in place on the Island was a bit dodgy. What do I mean? Read on and find out!

4) In Short

Nothing could bring me closer.
Nothing could bring me near.
Where is the road I follow
To leave, leave?

It's under, under, under my feet.
The sea spread out there before me.
Where do I go when the land touches sea?
There is my trust in what I believe.
R.E.M., "Leave"

8) Sideways Timeline

Ben Linus rides with John Locke in the ambulance over to St. Sebastian's Hospital. The EMT driver notes that the wheelchair probably saved his life. In his injured state, Locke calls out for Helen, noting they were going to be married. Ben insists that he still will as they arrive at the hospital. Good timing, too, as Sun/Jin arrive on the scene as well. In her weakened state, Sun looks over at Locke as the two are wheeled in side by side. She reacts much in the way she would if she woke up with Carrot Top in bed with her. "No! No! It's him!"

In the police precinct, Sawyer eats an apple and interrogates one Kate Austen. He's intrigued by her laundry list of crimes. Once again, she insists she's not a murderer. He notes the coincidence of the two of them being both on Oceanic 815 and there right now. Kate confirms what a lot of people theorized back in "Recon": that Sawyer didn't arrest her in the airport so as not to attract attention to himself. She threatens to tell the feds about his secret trip, but just then, Miles comes over with a hot scoop on a bloodbath in a local restaurant. And who is in the ATM surveillance cam? Sayid. Feel those sideways walls closing in, people?

Claire walks into an office building to meet with adoption agency. Desmond, fresh off his recent hit-and-run, greets her in a way that honestly deserves a small amount of mace. He follows her up the stairs, noting she could use some legal help in the adoption process. Luckily, he's going to his lawyer's office, which happens to be on the same floor as her adoption agency. She eventually agrees to come with him, and meets his lawyer: Ilana, very much not in bloody pieces. She can't believe her eyes -- not because she's flashing to the Island, but because her firm has been looking for her. (If this were "Star Wars," now's the time when Luke is frantically calling C3PO to stop the trash compactor from killing them all.)

Sayid returns to Nadia's house and quickly packs a bag. Continuing the "Star Wars" theme of this sideways recap, Nadia's got a bad feeling about this. Sayid asks her to stall the cops, but while Miles enters from the front, Sawyer's got the back covered, using a garden hose to trip Sayid on the way out. He then puts Sayid in handcuffs. I feel winded by the speed at which things are happening this week. It's like we've been in senior water aerobics all season and now we're training for the Ironman Triathlon.

Jack and David Shephard arrive in the same office building as Claire. Looks like he's got an appointment there as well, for the reading of Christian's will. In light of "Lighthouse," David is all about Dad time, far from the sullen boy seen before his recital. The two meet Ilana, who says, "I've got a surprise for you. Do you believe in fate?" Inside, they meet Claire, whom Jack remembers from Christian's will but doesn't realize their connection right away. The news of their relationship shocks Jack, but he has little time to absorb the information: looks like his services are in dire need back at the hospital. You could argue (and I would as well) that the sideways stories took their sweet time in getting to this point, but boy are they interlocking nicely here in the final turn.

In the hospital, Sun wakes up and finds Jin holding her hand, asleep in the chair next to the bed. Awww. He wakes up and tells her both her and the baby are fine. Glad to know "Lost" isn't so dark that it would kill sideways Ji Yeon. As the camera moves out of the room, it spies Jack and David dealing with the revelation of Claire's existence. David wishes his father good luck as he goes into surgery. Looking at the X-rays pre-operation, Jack notes that the dural sac is obliterated. (Like angel hair pasta, maybe?) In the operating room, Jack stares into the mirror below his patient's prone body, and is shocked to see Locke's familiar face reflected back at him.

15) Island Timeline

We start off where we ended last week: Jack and Smocke, face to face. Jack confirms with Hurley that talking alone with Smocke is a good idea. "It's all you, dude," Hurley replies. Ah, Jack and Smocke, about to confab. Good times. But Jack's bothered by the fact that he doesn't know what he's even looking at. Smocke confirms that Locke had to die in order for The Man in Black to take his likeness.

Jack asks the burning question on this mind: Did The Man in Black take the appearance of his father back in "White Rabbit"? Smocke confirms this, although I have my doubts about his answer (as I'll explain in "Mythology" below). He claims that he's always wanted to help Jack off the Island, but because Jacob chose him as a candidate, Jack was trapped, even before he arrived, on the Island. Smocke explains, for the approximately 4,000th time this season, that leaving the Island is an all-or-nothing deal. Jack notes that Locke was the only one that originally wanted to stay; Smocke simply calls the man who supplied his meat suit a "sucker."

As the two walk back to camp, Smocke realizes that Claire's been following them the whole time. Why? "Because he's my brother," she notes. Well played, Crazy Claire. Smocke leaves them alone to catch up. Jack starts immediately apologizing, but all Claire wants to know if Smocke confessed to impersonating Christian. He confirms this, and she expresses relief that she'll be making the trip back home with family. Jack tells her he hasn't officially signed on board yet, but Claire tells him that he has, simply by letting Smocke speak to him. "Whether you like it or not, you're with him now." Remind me never to let Smocke pick sides in kickball.

At Camp Smocke, Sawyer and Kate tell Hurley and Sun, respectively, about the plan to escape via submarine. Hurley's worried about leaving Sayid and Claire behind, noting even Anakin returned eventually from the Dark Side. Hilariously, Sawyer doesn't know who Anakin is. Dude's well-read, but could use a Netflix subscription, apparently. After Claire and Hurley awkwardly greet each other, Smocke returns with Jack, and says, "It's so nice to have everyone back together again." You know, I'm just gonna stop making fun of the show's tendency to have its social groups asexually reproduce, because now that everyone's together, I want them to split off in 108 different directions and stay safe.

As Kate and Jack discuss options, Zoe saunters into camp like the most badass geophysicist EVER, yo. Which is to say, not very badass at all. She demands to speak to Smocke, keenly interested in getting Desmond back. When Smocke feigns ignorance, she radios in a mortar strike just past their position. This show is explosion-happy lately. I am waiting for a KABOOM each time Hurley says "dude" at this point. She tells Smocke he has until nightfall to return Desmond, or next time Smocke's walking stick will go the way of the dodo. Smocke smashes her walkie-talkie and says, "Well, here we go."

Smocke gathers everyone up, declaring that it's time to go to war with Team Widmore. He asks Sawyer to grab a sailboat docked nearby and meet the rest of the camp on another part of the Island. As Smocke talks shop with Sayid, Sawyer gives Jack the skinny on the deal with Widmore. He shows Jack the map, and asks him to bring Sun, Hurley, and Lapidus to meet him and Kate so they can all leave together. Meanwhile, close by, Smocke orders Sayid to kill Desmond. After all, he's still wanting to be reunited with his true love, right? Sayid reacts somewhere between "zombie" and "kid whose Dad just told him to take out the trash."

Sayid reaches the well, which ... um, it looks a lot more shallow than I'd anticipated. (Like a few of my exes.) Thought it was like 400 feet deep or something. More like 14. Kind of disappointing, really. Sayid cocks his gun, and Des merely asks, "So what did he offer ya?" Sayid tells him that Smocke promised to return the woman he loved. When Sayid tells him that she's dead, Des asks a very important question: "So what will you tell her? This woman, when she asks you what you did to be with her again -- what will you tell her?" That's a MIGHTY fine question, Desmond. Mighty fine indeed.

As Sawyer and Kate reach the Elizabeth, he finally tells her of his plan to ditch Smocke along with the selected others, including, "that pilot who looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie." OK, THAT is the best Sawyer line of the season, outdoing his, "Because THAT would be ridiculous!" line to describe Smocke's inability to traverse water. Kate's upset that Claire's not on his list, noting that the Aussie was the only reason she came back to the Island at all. Whew, worried you'd forgot, Kate. With great hesitation, she follows Sawyer out to the boat.

As Smocke leads the rest of the group, Jack asks Claire if she trusts Smocke. She replies that she does, because, "He's the only one that didn't abandon me." Burn. Up at the front, Smocke's worried that Sayid isn't back yet, and hiliariously asks Sun if she's seen him. She pulls out her pad of paper and says, "You did this to me," meaning her aphasia, but Smocke insists he had nothing to do with it. As Smocke leaves to find his personal assassin, Jack takes the opportunity to lead Sun, Hurley, and Burt Reynolds' best friend Frank Lapidus away as Claire gives them the stink eye from behind a tree. Uh-oh. Hell hath no fury like a squirrel baby scorned.

Nearby, Smocke finds Sayid ambling through the jungle. Sayid says, "I just shot an unarmed man. I needed a moment." Smocke seems skeptical that Desmond's dead, but Sayid says he can look for himself if he likes. Do we REALLY think Desmond's dead? Please. I'm not even sure Smocke believes it, but he's got a boat to catch. Speaking of boats, Jack and Co. arrive at the predetermined dock. All seems fine and well, until a rifle-packing Claire shows up on the scene. Luckily, this evolves into a scene I've been waiting for all year: Kate finally, truly convincing Claire that she returned to the Island to reunite her with Aaron. I know these two characters get a lot of hate, but I loved this little scene between them. Claire/Aaron is high on my personal wish list for reunions. And since we're getting the top one on that list in a little bit, I'm holding out hope for this one as well.

All together now: I'M ON A BOAT! I'M ON A BOAT! POSEIDON, LOOK AT ME! Most of the group follows Lapidus down for some canned food goodness down below, which gives Sawyer some face time with Jack on the bow of the boat. I'm guessing this won't go well. And lo and behold, it doesn't. Jack's suddenly thinking this whole "leave the Island" thing might be a bad idea, which gives me horrid flashes of major inexplicable character decisions near the end of Season 5. Gotta love that "let's do something all episode then declare it a bad idea at a dramatic time" trick. Or, you know, not.
 
Jack, flush with memories of the old John Locke's words and the empty feeling he had during his three years off the the Island, believes that Smocke wants them all to leave because he's afraid of what they'll do if they stay. Jack Shephard, you're a smart mofo. Too bad Sawyer's not buying what Jack's selling, and orders him to jump off the boat. It's not as dramatic as jumping from a helicopter, for instance, but Jack jumps anyways and starts swimming back to the main Island. When Kate tries to turn the boat around, Sawyer tells her, "We're done going back, Kate."

A weary Jack makes it back to shore, where he doesn't find a drunk Juliet but instead a sore Smocke, calm but clearly angry at Sawyer's actions. On the Hydra shores, Widmore's Ph.D. Posse surprise Sawyer's group, but Zoe has them stand down. Just then, Jin comes from behind a tree and holy #&% we're finally getting the Sun/Jin reunion! I won't lie: I kept waiting for sniper fire to take out one of them as they moved to each other. Beautiful little moment (especially the reintroduction of her speaking voice), but unfortunately it's cut short by what a certain space pilot would call a "sudden and inevitable betrayal." Looks like Sawyer's deal with Widmore's off, having given Zoe and Co his version of "Order 66." Son of a ...

Zoe gives the order to open fire on Smocke, and soon the sweet sound of oncoming death fills the air on the main Island. Jack tries to get everyone to move, but it's too late: Bodies go flying everywhere, including his own. Smocke picks up Jack's body and carries it like so many injured Richard Alperts into the jungle. As Jack groggily comes to, Smocke smiles and says, "Don't worry. You're with me now."

16) The Moment

An injured Sun freaking out near an injured John Locke. Call me crazy, but the Sun/Jin reunion felt a little off. Really nice, just not as epic as I'd hoped. Then again, maybe my expectations were too high. But there you have it. Personally? I blame Widmore's Geek Squad for ruining their mojo.

23) The Mythology

Strangely enough, NOT a lot of big mythology beats tonight. This was about plot, plot, plot. For weeks it's been people sitting around, whittling sticks, and looking at their navels. (OK, not really, but relatively speaking to tonight? Not far off.) This week? More like the Usain Bolts of plot progression. But they still snuck on a few mythological tidbits. Let's break them down.

1) The Man in Black confirms that he has appeared as other dead people. Now, I dedicated a series in the offseason to such appearances, but I am still skeptical of Smocke's claim. To be clear: If you look at people like Hurley's imaginary friend Dave, or Eko's brother Yemi, that is NOT the same type of entity as whatever Smocke is. I get the impressions previous, pre-Lockian incarnations were a type of warm-up for his latest (and final) visage. Closely related, but not the same. That's my take, anyway. In any case, the smoke monster's "scans" makes sense: He reads people's minds in order to take a form that he can use to exploit them. But for now, I'm still sticking to my theory that there are two ghostly forms of Christian Shephard: one in a blue suit, an one in a brown shirt. The latter is Smocke's impersonation/utilization of the form. The former ... well, still up in the air. I realize this episode might have blown this theory out of the water, but Smocke has a way of telling you lies via omission. Luckily, we'll have a showdown on the Island that should clarify things once and for all before the series ends. (Here's an old, albeit still fairly relevant, summation of my theory on the two Christians.)

2) Sun had her "flash" when being wheeled into the hospital. Here's what I wonder: did Sun see something that, in terms of Island action, has yet to happen? Or is she simply remembering the essence of evil that is The Man in Black? I'm tickled by the first idea, as it would be a nice foreshadowing technique and an homage to a trick Darlton's idol Stephen King loves to employ. But I realize it could be the second as well. What did you think?

3) The Clash help clarify the Season 6 stakes. "Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?" should be on any "Recruit"-inspired mixtape. I think Jack's got the right idea: leaving in any form is a bad idea, with or without Smocke onboard. Smocke's presence is that void that Jack felt off-Island, that itch to be scratched, that problem that needed solving. And if you thought a problem like Maria was a tough one to figure out, well, The Man in Black is like eight Marias combined. I like the idea that simply by staying, Jack can keep Locke there long enough for that Peter Pan kid to develop into, well, whatever he's developing into. Tick tock, Smocke. (No, not "Tik Tok", thank you. I don't think anyone on the Island wakes up feeling like P. Diddy.)

4) Infection isn't the end. Look, are we worried about Desmond on the Island? I'm not. Which gives me hope about two things: 1) Sayid isn't completely and totally into eating brains, and 2) if indeed the actions about to unfold on-Island create the sideways world we've been witnessing, I'm glad someone on the show articulated the conditions under which it might be created. Without Des on both sides manipulating things, I think the sideways world is inevitable and everlasting. For some, this is a great thing. But that's not what the show's selling. It's telling us, via Charlie in "Happily Ever After" and through Des tonight, that the sideways world might look/feel like the real thing, and even offer a chance at some semblance of happiness, but that doesn't mean it should exist.

Sayid believes Smocke can raise Nadia from the dead, much like Smocke did with him. But look at Sayid! That's not the Sayid we knew and loved for five seasons. I'm not saying the sideways world is filled with ninja zombies (although, if it were, the sideways world would be freakin' awesome). But that sense of something missing from Island Sayid pervades the sideways world for me. Some things are only meant to end once. Wanting more is natural. It's human. And it's what "Lost" is potentially arguing undoes us time and time again. Via Des' special nature, and Jack's new resolve, there might be a way to break the cycle that's repeated over and over again on the Island.

42) Random Thoughts

Pretty much liked Kate more tonight than at any other point in the season. I realize that's a low bar to hurdle, but in bearing her soul to Claire on the docks and showing Sawyer the score in the police precinct, Kate had it going on in two timelines tonight. (To clarify: I like Kate just fine, but like many characters this season, she's suffered due to lack of use. She is the character equivalent of my gym membership. See also: Sawyer, Sayid, Ben, Miles, Sun, Frank.  Why has Arzt had more lines than Frank this season???)

I can totally see Frank Lapidus evading the law with Burt Reynolds and Sally Field. After all, how can he NOT be in a movie called "Smokey and the Bandit"??? I mean, honestly.

This episode played a lot like Darlton and Co. were in the writers' room, breaking down the story, and suddenly realizing, "Holy Donkey Wheel, we only have six hours left!" and starting cramming stuff in. Hey, I like the sudden speed of the plot, but it's like they went from 0-60 MPH in these past few hours. Just a touch jarring.

Smocke's explanation of his appearance as Christian wasn't quite as clunky as Michael's explanation of The Whispers, but boy, it was close. Less telling, more showing, "Lost."

Both versions of Miles sure love the word "jabony."

This whole "If Smocke speaks, you're his" stuff? Baloney. Just an excuse for people to justify their own actions under the guise of "magic" or the like. He can be defied. And has been.

If you wanted to make sure your nemesis in leaving the Island never got an inkling of the life he lost, I'd give him a son to forge a relationship that he never had with his own father. Just sorta thinking out loud here while scratching my non-existent beard. 

108) In Summary

For the second week in a row, I found myself enjoying the sideways story slightly better than the Island one. Last week, it wasn't even close, but I'll give the narrow margin to the sideways world again this week. Why? Because all the plot pieces are falling into place, giving us the sense that not only do the writers know where it's going, but that they've known all along. I like the symmetry of Smocke needing everyone to leave the Island and Des' seeming desire to get everyone together to ensure...well, something happens. Probably more than a picnic, though.

If Zoe is the most intimidating figure Widmore has to send over to Smocke, well, then, I'm not going to be afraid, no matter how many long-range weapons she can call in like she's playing "Call of Duty" multiplayer. Widmore's deception only served to make Sawyer look stupid, and killed the Sun/Jin moment. I've already spoken about my annoyance with Jack's reversal, not because I think he's wrong but because the script artificially held that realization back for dramatic purposes.

In essence, though, I like Jack's plan. Why? Because it's basically a tribute to John Locke, which is the show's way of honoring nearly everyone's favorite character when the show started. In "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," Locke's mention of Christian Shephard to Jack sent the good doctor on the path that's led him to where he is today. How ironic that The Man in Black's deception that day down in the donkey wheel cave planted the potential seed for his undoing. If only Jack and Locke had worked together the way they were supposed to, maybe things would have turned out differently. Even though that Locke is long gone, he still lives on in Jack's new resolve. Works for me.

But did it work for you? Leave your thoughts about tonight's episode below!


Ryan writes about "Lost" over at Zap2it's Guide to Lost. He invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed and Zap2it's main feed for all the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

Photo credit: ABC