Lost: The Last Recruit

BY BILLIE DOUX

Smokey: “Nice to have everyone back together again.”

This episode felt like that big number near the end of West Side Story where the entire cast was tromping around singing in counterpoint. Everyone is coming together, and in both universes; there was so much going on that it felt choreographed (hence the West Side Story metaphor). Things are building toward a climax. It’s about time, pun intended.

What I liked most about this episode was the way the story lines wove together. I think I’ll have to do bullet points. (I’m tempted to make a graph, but that would be ridiculous.) (Maybe I’ll make one later.)

– Jack and Claire and Jack and Claire finally met or met again, but this time, finally, as brother and sister.

– Kate acknowledged that she shouldn’t have raised Aaron and apologized to Claire for taking him, just as alt-Claire was prevented from going to an adoption agency. (Seriously. If I were alt-Claire, I’d suspect Desmond was a stalker who was hot for pregnant blondes.)

– Sun and Jin were finally reunited on the Island (although as they ran into each other’s arms, I expected them to get fried by the sonic fence). Alt-Sun, still with alt-Jin, didn’t die or lose her baby.

– Alt-Jack was about to operate on Locke, exactly as Jack once operated on Ben.

– Ben murdered Locke, but alt-Ben was comforting alt-Locke in the ambulance.

– Sayid was Ben’s enforcer. And now he’s Smokey’s.

– Alt-Kate has again insisted that she’s innocent of murder. I wonder if that’s why alt-Sawyer is a cop, so that he can prove her innocence? Sort of like Jack fixing Locke, it just feels like it’s meant to be.

Anyway. Alt-Locke and alt-Sun being wheeled into St. Sebastian’s together was hilarious. She recognized him. How? From flight 815? Or does she remember the Island now that she nearly died? Will both Suns start speaking English now that one of her does? It was nice that Jin and Sun reaffirmed their love in English (big honking symbolism again), but it’s really too bad we couldn’t have Jin translating for Sun. It would have been great symmetry.

Jack, no longer our man of science, has accepted his fate on the Island to the point of letting Sawyer literally dump him off Desmond’s boat. Smokey thinks Jack belongs to him now, but you know, I don’t think so. Claire was Smokey’s for years, but now she’s ready to leave the Island with Kate. Sayid was Smokey’s, until Desmond talked him out of killing him. Okay, we didn’t see it, but Desmond brought up the one thing that would influence Sayid: Nadia’s disapproval.

I think Hurley’s reference to Anakin Skywalker was a big hint that Claire and Sayid can be saved, and that Jack is in no danger of losing his soul. Maybe Smokey’s magical vocal influence is a proximity thing. Three miles away and you’re safe in international waters.

This episode began with a cliffhanger and ended with a cliffhanger. What’s up with Widmore? Does he really think flinging mortars at Smokey will get Desmond back?

What have we learned?

– Smokey confirmed that he appeared to Jack as Christian Shephard in “White Rabbit.” But Smokey can’t leave the Island so that doesn’t explain Jack seeing Christian at St. Sebastian’s. It seems unlikely that all of the Walking Dead are Smokey. I wish they’d freaking explain this.

– Smokey also said Locke had to believe in the Island, had to die, and his body had to return in a box for Smokey to take on Locke’s form. Pretty convoluted, if you ask me. Sort of a perfect storm.

Character bits:

– Alt-Jack and his son David looked so great together, so sympatico. Walking the same way, David showing concern for Jack… ready to wait fourteen hours in the hallway while Jack performed a complex spinal operation…

– Alt-Jack talked to his ex on the phone, and we still don’t know who she is. What a tease.

– Ilana may be dead, but she’s still around in the alternate universe. And her last name is Verdansky. “Sweetzer and Verdansky, attorneys-at-law.” Have we heard those names before?

– Alt Sawyer offered an apple to Kate. This seemed like deliberate symbolism, but he’s the cop and she’s the criminal. Maybe Josh Holloway just needed something to do with his hands.

– Alt Sawyer called Frank “Chesty.” Chesty? Sawyer also called Hurley something early in the episode, but I couldn’t make it out.

– The official synopsis said this was a Jack-centered episode. I don’t think it was anyone’s episode. I think it was *everyone’s* episode.

Bits and pieces:

– The title of this episode was “The Last Recruit.” Meaning whom? Jack?

– The Western Pacific Adoption Agency was on the 15th floor.

– In the irony department (which actually is pretty much all the time on Lost, but still), Locke’s wheelchair just saved his life.

– There’s no new episode next week. That’ll give me time to compile my “questions the Lost writers STILL haven’t answered” list.

Quotes:

Smokey: “John Locke was not a believer. He was a sucker.”
Gee. Nice way to talk about someone who gave you their body, Smokey.

Sawyer: “Sayid ain’t invited. He’s gone over to the Dark Side.”
Hurley: “Yeah, but you can always bring people back from the Dark Side. I mean, Anakin.”
Sawyer: “Who the hell’s Anakin?”
Come on. Sawyer has referred to Star Wars way too many times to miss a reference like that.

Sawyer: “Of all the cars in Los Angeles, you smash into mine. Looks like someone’s putting us together.”
Kate: “Are you hitting on me?”
A little Casablanca there. And someone *is* putting them together. We just don’t know who yet.

Claire: “What’s going on?”
Hurley: “People are trying to kill us again.”

Sawyer: “You, me, Jack, Hurley, Sun, and that pilot looks like he stepped off the set of a Burt Reynolds movie.”
Was Jeff Fahey ever in a Burt Reynolds movie?

Jack: “I’m sorry that I got Juliet killed.”

I really enjoyed this one. Then again, I’ve really enjoyed every episode this season. Three polar bears?

For a whole slew of Lost reviews: www.Billiedoux.com