SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS

* The strange thing about episodes at this stage is that you can’t really be shocked by any deaths, because you only have four episodes to go including tonight’s and this show being what it is you know some major characters are going to die, while moreover there are only so many left to kill. It’s not like early on where every death was a stunner because whoa, they killed a main character; it’s not like later where you knew what they were capable of but never were quite sure when or on whom the ax would fall. Now the only question is, like, will Kate’s bullet wound be fatal, or will Sawyer’s charge of the Light Brigade give him the blaze of glory we’ve all be reasonably sure he’s been heading for.

* Turns out the answer in both cases is no, which I’m glad for; I didn’t expect Sawyer or Kate to die this early, not really, but nor did I expect Jin and Sun to die at all. That strikes me as a real gutpunch to the show’s own emotional core. Jin and Sun episodes were as constant as the sunrise.

* What I’m really glad about is the final scene with the castaways, where you finally have them react to loss the way people in the real world react, which is to cry. When Hurley broke down…yeah, that was a toughie.

* I’m glad Sayid was redeemed in the end, via one of the show’s favorite paths to redemption, volunteering to take the brunt of a bomb blast. It was good to have old, calm, expert Sayid back one last time. Plus, “It’s going to be you, Jack.” Nice and cryptic.

* I felt bad for Jin and Sun’s kid. I spent most of that scene figuring Sun would finally say “you have to live for Ji Yeon” and Jin would reluctantly swim to safety. As it turns out they didn’t appear to be thinking about Ji Yeon. Sorry, kid.

* Jack being right about the bomb was a step in the redemption direction for a character that fans and fellow characters alike have written off as a habitual fuck-up, so of course I liked that.

* I figure Lapidus will live to quip another day. Or not, I don’t really care, he was kind of a waste of time all told. It’s nice that he was genre-y, but so what.

* I know that the flashsideways material should feel like an afterthought or an also-ran in an episode like this, but it didn’t. Those right there are your two central characters hashing some major things out. That scene in the hospital hallway at the end, where John laughs at the notion of letting go, is one of my favorites in the whole history of the show.

* I was also very happy, for some reason, to see Jack meet Helen. Somehow that makes Locke’s happiness more real…?

* Did you notice the editing that suggested Jack was dreaming of his flashsideways self?

* Glad to get rid of the miscast dougy scientist Widmorian. (Widmoron?)

* So how long has the MIB’s plan been in effect? Just recently, or was he trying to get other people to kill off the Candidates, or get them to kill each other, all along? Maybe he needed to bump off Jacob first and only then was it worth going after the Candidates. I suppose that makes sense.

* Where was Widmore during the various fracases?

* I wonder if we won’t get the big “here’s the secret history of the Island and Jacob and the MIB” until the “two-part series finale,” i.e. not next episode but the episode after that.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 11:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.