In case anyone had any doubts that we were headed toward a good vs. evil, Armaggedon-type showdown, tonight's episode left no doubt. There was so much religious imagery I feel like I've been to church camp.
The "resurrected" John Locke (or "Flocke", as he's called on the message boards, short for "Fake Locke") is the epitome of nastiness. We learn that he's trying to get "home" (Where's home? Does pure wickedness live in Tallahassee?) It turns out that Flocke is the Smoke Monster, or the Smoke Monster is him, however that works. In an interesting twist, the message boards are abuzz with the idea that the newly resurrected Sayid is not Sayid at all, but some sort of manifestation of good-guy Jacob.
I'm pulling for Jacob to make a strong comeback, but I surely would be sad if we had seen the last of the real Sayid.
Tonight's episode gave us a stark look at what would've happened had the plane crash not happened. The life the survivors were racing back to is not much of a life at all. Even Flocke sees this, reporting that John Locke (the real one) was the only one who saw how pathetic all their old lives were. We're also left with the puzzling awareness that the survivors seem to be existing in two realities at once: the one on the Island where there is great suffering and great redemption, and the one at LAX that appears to be happy but is, in fact, false and empty.
(See? Church camp! I love it.)
Here are a few random questions and observations that won't fit anywhere else in my happy little redemption narrative:
1. If the temple water brings healing and even resurrection, why didn't they put Juliet in it?
2. Flocke talks to Richard about his chains. Chains? Did I miss something? Does this refer to the Black Rock slave ship?
3. Desmond appeared briefly on the plane and then seemed to disappear. At first I wondered how he got there--shouldn't he be pressing buttons on the Island? Then I remembered that no, the Island blew up in the '70's, so there were no buttons to push. Then I took an Advil.
4. It was generally satisfactory to see Benjamin Linus spending the whole evening with the bejeebers scared out of his nasty self.
5. Since when can a Volkswagen bus move a steel beam?
6. We can only assume that the absence of Christian Shepherd's body on the plane is highly significant, but WHY? (This show better not be one giant metaphor about the sad state of our nation's airline customer service.)
7. Juliet wanted to tell Sawyer something, and Miles later told us that she wanted Sawyer to know "It worked." But when she first awakened, she noted with despair that they were still on the Island. What changed? How did she figure out that the blast had altered reality?
8. Terry O'Quinn could win an Emmy on tonight's performance alone.
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