RECAP: Lost - "The Last Recruit"

Only four episodes left, and Lost has now shifted from not moving at all to rushing headlong towards the finish line. The storylines in the idiotic alternate universe are converging, and events on the Island are indicating a climactic battle within the next few episodes. Read on for the full recap.

A lot happened in the alternate universe this week, with most of the plotlines that have been started intermingling. We began with Locke being rushed to the hospital, where he arrived at the same time as Sun, who recognizes him immediately and becomes frightened. Meanwhile, Sawyer interviews Kate at the police station, commenting on how odd it was that they would run into each other twice in the same week. Kate shrugs this off as coincidence, and surmises that the reason Sawyer let her go at the airport even though he saw her handcuffs was that he didn't want anyone knowing that he had gone to Australia, and Kate is evidence of that trip. Miles interrupts with information about the multiple murders at the restaurant, and shows Sawyer surveillance footage of Sayid leaving the crime scene. Claire visits an adoption agency in an office building, and Desmond arrives at the same time. He convinces her that she probably needs a lawyer, and gets her to come with him, as his lawyer works in the same building. His lawyer turns out to be Ilana, and she recognizes Claire immediately, saying that they've been looking for her. Miles arrives at Nadia's house looking for Sayid, and Sawyer arrests Sayid as he's sneaking out the back door. Jack and his son visit Ilana's office to hear the reading of his father's will, and Ilana introduces him to Claire--the lawyers were looking for Claire because Jack's father had included her in his will, and Claire reveals that they have the same father. Before anything can come of this, however, Jack gets a call for an emergency surgery, and has to leave. Sun wakes up in the hospital and Jin tells her that both she and the baby will be fine, while Jack arrives at the hospital to perform spinal surgery on a patient--Locke. The side-flashes end with Jack recognizing Locke.

On the Island, Jack speaks privately with Evil Locke, and EL explains that he chose to appear in Locke's form because Locke was stupid enough to believe that he'd been brought to the Island for a reason. Apparently a person has to be dead before the Man in Black can look like them, and he reveals that back in season 1, when Jack saw his father, it was actually him. Evil Locke claims that he's just been trying to help them leave the Island, but they all have to leave at the same time. They catch Claire following them, and she says it's because Jack is her brother. They are left alone, and Claire explains that the moment Jack let Evil Locke talk to him, he joined his team.

Zoe walks into Evil Locke's camp and demands Desmond back, having Widmore's people fire a missile right next to the camp to show that they can kill everyone whenever they want. She gives Evil Locke a walkie-talkie and tells him to contact them by nightfall, but as soon as she leaves he destroys it. He tells everyone that they are going to go to Hydra Island, and sends Sawyer and Kate to get a boat he has moored off the Island. Sawyer hatches his own plan, however, and tells Jack to bring Hugo, Sun, and Frank to a rendezvous point and they'll all go to Widmore and leave on the submarine without Evil Locke.

Evil Locke sends Sayid to kill Desmond, but when Sayid arrives at the well, Desmond asks him what he'll tell Nadia when she asks what he did to be with her again. Sayid looks pensive, and we cut to commercials. Evil Locke decides that Sayid has been gone too long and runs off to check on him, allowing Jack and his group to escape and meet up with Sawyer and Kate. Claire follows them, however, and pulls a gun on them when they reach the boat. Kate manages to convince her to leave with them, and Claire comments that Evil Locke is going to be mad when he finds out. Locke finds Sayid, who claims to have killed Desmond, but since this is Lost and we didn't actually see him die, he's definitely still alive.

On the boat, Jack tells Sawyer that leaving the Island doesn't feel right; he remembers how he felt the first time he left--like a piece of himself was missing. Sawyer tells him to make a decision, and Jack jumps off the boat, swimming back to the mainland. The rest of Sawyer's group reaches Hydra Island, and Jin and Sun are finally reunited, with Sun getting her voice back (*dismissive wanking motion*). Their happiness is short-lived, however, as Zoe tells them all to get on their knees and points a gun at them, and Widmore's group starts firing missiles at Evil Locke, who is with Jack and the rest of his people on the beach across from Hydra Island. Evil Locke rescues Jack and tells him everything is going to be OK, because "You're with me now."

On the whole it was a decent episode, although I think they got a little too ambitious with the material in the side-flashes. It's nice to see things intersecting, but there was no pacing at all, and it was just one instance after another of "OOOHHH!! It's Kate and Sawyer! And now it's Sawyer and Sayid! And now it's Desmond, Claire and Ilana!" OK, Lost, we get it. Plotlines are intersecting. You don't have to smack us in the face with it. Perhaps if they had devoted an episode to intersecting all of these alternate universe storylines, it might have come off better, but instead they jammed it all into about 15 minutes of the show, and it just felt rushed. Also, Desmond has shown an alarming ability to shift from charming badass to creepy stalker in the blink of an eye.

The storylines on the Island are moving ahead nicely, and I was glad to see them get past that stupid "Sun can't talk" thing they've been doing. The missiles were a bit heavy handed though. I get the feeling that Claire is going to snap sometime soon; that girl does crazy really well, and it'll be interesting to see what happens when she finally goes over the edge. On a final note, is it just me, or has Jack aged like 20 years over the course of this show? He's got a whole lot of grey in his hair now.

This is what I think of Sun losing her voice