Good afternoon, blogging world! Today's rant will be about Lost, as if you couldn't tell. Season six, episode fourteen. This is "The Candidate." But this episode doesn't really focus on who the Candidate is. It focuses on who the Candidate is not.
There's your Candidate names and numbers, above. Locke's name is crossed out because he's dead, but five others are viable for the spot. However, I need to talk about how heartbreaking this episode really is, because I feel like it's overlooked when people talk about the "strongest" or the "best" episodes of Lost. For me, this one is definitely up there. And here's why.
The episode begins with Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, Claire, Jin, Sun, and Frank being held at gunpoint in the cages at the Hydra Station. When Sawyer somehow manages to acquire a gun and holds Widmore's clan responsible, Widmore himself responds by holding a gun to Kate's head and saying he'll shoot her if Sawyer doesn't enter the cage with the rest of them. She calls Widmore's bluff, but he responds with, "I have a list of names. Ford, you're on it. As are Reyes and the Kwons. Kate Austen? She's not. It doesn't matter to me whether she lives or dies." So Sawyer relinquishes. Later, Kate gets all hot and bothered and tells Sawyer Widmore really wouldn't have killed her, but Sawyer, who's seen the list of Candidates, tells her otherwise.
And for some reason, this is just heartbreaking moment number one for me. When Sawyer says, "Your name was there too, but it was crossed out. He doesn't need you, Kate," the look on her face makes my heart hurt. I mean, here she is, thinking she's just as important as the rest of the people that Widmore has stuffed in that cage and then, out of the blue, she learns that actually, she's just a spare. She could die at any moment and it wouldn't matter to Widmore or anyone else on the Island because she doesn't matter. She's not the Candidate. Later we learn why, but for now, we're left wondering and saddened, just like Kate is.
So then, the Smoke Monster appears and kills all of Widmore's people and Jack comes to the rescue to get everyone out of the cage. It's a really intense scene and we're left wondering if they're going to make it out alive. They do, miraculously, and Kate asks Jack, hopefully, if this means he'll be making the trip home with them. But ever-stubborn Jack denies this and tells her, "I'll take you to the plane, but I'm not getting on it. I'm sorry, Kate, but I'm not meant to go." She looks pretty devastated by this, which would be my heartbreaking moment number two, because she loves this incredibly stubborn guy and would like nothing more for him to come along, but he's got tunnel vision on his mission to save the Island and will not be joining them.
Anyway, their plane plan gets thwarted somehow but it's okay, because Sawyer has a plan B. They plan, instead to take the submarine and when Locke tries to sneak a ride, or so they think, Jack pushes him into the ocean. In the confusion, shots are fired by Widmore's clan and Kate gets shot in the shoulder. In a panic, Jack ends up going with the group anyway because he wants to tend to Kate's wound. But, before we even get to the submarine, let's talk about this:
Sayid goes in the submarine after Jack and Kate and Sawyer, seeing Locke get out of the water, shuts the submarine in a panic even though Claire has not yet gotten inside. Now, I'm going to be honest. As the show went on, my dislike of Claire grew larger and larger. She's batshit crazy, super annoying, and outrageously irritating. But my heart absolutely broke for the poor girl when she realized she was being left behind again. The first time the Oceanic Six left the Island, she wasn't one of them and now, they're supposedly leaving a second time and once again, Claire is left behind. But then, we get an eerie sense of foreshadowing when Locke restrains Claire from swimming after them and tells her, "Trust me, you don't want to be on that sub." Locke, you sneaky son of a bitch...
Alright, back to the submarine. So Frank is up with the captain and everyone else is panicking over Kate, who's bleeding profusely from the shoulder and simultaneously freaking out because Claire had been left behind once more. Jack is visibly panicking, too, because he doesn't exactly have any medical supplies and this happens to be the girl he's in love with. He asks Jin to hand him his backpack to see if there's anything useful in there but instead of finding a first aid kit, he finds the C4 bomb Locke stole from the plane, the timer reading 3:54. Hurley asks where it came from and Jack responds, "Locke... We did exactly what he wanted." OH. SHIT.
And now, let's talk about this BAMF, Mr. Sayid Jarrah. First of all, he's a tragically damaged character, but he's a hero and he sacrificed himself so the rest of the group could live. After Jack and Sawyer have this super heated argument about what to do with the bomb, Sawyer goes against Jack's wishes and pulls the wires out of the bomb and miraculously, this stops the timer... For a moment. Then, the timer speeds up, the minutes ticking away like seconds, and so understandably the group panics. Sayid, seeing this, tells Jack where to find Desmond, who Locke wants dead, which means they'll need him immensely. Jack asks why he's telling him this and Sayid says, "Because it's going to be you, Jack," and sprints away with the bomb.
This is easily one of the most heroic things anyone has ever done on this show. First of all, I love Sayid despite his troubled past and I feel like the only reason he's done what he's done is because it's what he had to do to survive. Iraq is no joke and if he didn't roll with the punches and follow his orders, he'd most likely be dead. Second, it means so much that Sayid is willing to give his life for six people he only knew because of a plane crash. and third, this bittersweet scene also means something else- Sayid is not the Candidate, either.
And then, there's Jin and Sun. Words cannot even express how much I cried during this episode, but this scene is where I cried the most. In the aftermath of the bomb exploding, the submarine is slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean and filling with water. Jack hands off Kate to Hurley and tells him to get her out of there. He says he has to go after Sayid, to which Jack responds, "There is no Sayid!" Rub salt into the wound a little more, why don't you? Anyway, falling debris has pinned Sun to the wall and the three guys fight to free her, but a giant piece of piping knocks Sawyer unconscious. Jack, struggling to hold Sawyer above water, agrees to leave when Jin asks him to, but says he'll leave the final oxygen tank behind for Jin and Sun, citing that he can make it to shore without it. Jin, sadly yet firmly, says, "No Jack, you can't. Just go." The two leave and Sun pleads with Jin to leave her, but he responds, "No. I won't leave you." So the two drown, hand in hand, at the bottom of the ocean.
First of all, I was still reeling from Sayid's death to fully process the fact that they were killing off two more of my beloved characters. But once I did... oh my God. The fact that he wouldn't leave is what got me the most. He could have saved himself and gone home to their daughter, which is what most of the fans wanted, but they spent the last three seasons separated and not by choice, so he stayed by her side. He died with her so- and this is the theme of the show, guys- she wouldn't have to die alone. It's just so beautiful and so tragic and I cannot even fathom it. Also, this is yet another scene that proves important- Jin and Sun aren't the Candidates, either.
And so, here we are. At the end of the episode and, frankly, at the end of the show. At the beginning, there had been 48 Oceanic Flight 815 survivors. Now, only four remain. From forty-eight to four. It's just so tragic and this scene, on the beach, is equally heart-wrenching. Jack drags Sawyer ashore and Hurley stumbles over with Kate, who is incredibly relieved to see Jack and clings to him, crying, "I couldn't find you! I couldn't find you!" He looks extra relieved, too, and clutches her just as closely. Hurley asks if Sawyer's okay, Jack affirms this, and then Kate asks the million-dollar question- "What about Jin and Sun?" A simple shake of the head tells both of them they hadn't made it. And as the three dissolve into tears- and I, by the way, join them- the scene cuts to Locke and Claire, still on the dock.
He tells Claire the submarine has sunk and she, in complete shock, expresses her fear of everyone being dead. Locke tells her they're not all dead and picks up his rifle. When Claire asks where he's going, he tells her, "To finish what I started."
And thus ends one of the most tragically beautiful episodes of Lost ever made. Fans can complain all they want; the main thing being that all this fuss about the Candidate and we still don't know who it is. Well, no, we may not, but we know who's not and that just gets us one step closer to who is. It's not Kate, it's not Sayid, it's not Jin, and it isn't Sun. So complain all you want, but the writers actually gave us a few clues, I think.
I just wish they didn't have to kill off three people to do so.
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