After 6 years it's finally coming to an end. That's right, this Sunday, Lost airs its series finale, which will hopefully bring the show to a satisfying conclusion but which will much more likely just piss off anyone who watches. After an amazingly weak season, the only reason I'm still watching the show is because I've watched it for six years and what the hell else am I going to do with only a couple of episodes left. I had hoped the show would finish strong, but until this week's episode it didn't look like there was much hope of that. However (dare I say it?), this week's episode was actually pretty good. I really only had one complaint about it, which I'll get to at the end of the recap, but overall it was well-paced and it answered several of the major questions that the show has been based on. Read on for the full recap.
In the side-universe, Jack wakes up (how many episodes have begun this way?) to find a mysterious blood stain on his neck. Eating breakfast with his son and Claire, Jack receives a phone call telling him that his father's casket has been found. Jack is pleased with the news, but when he hangs up we see that the caller was in fact Desmond, although we aren't given any reason for the call. Desmond has apparently taken it upon himself to do...something. It seems that he's trying to get all of the Oceanic 815 passengers (or at least the ones that were main characters) together. He returns to Locke's school, where Ben confronts him and asks him who he is. In response, Desmond beats the shit out of Ben, and in the process Ben has a flash of Desmond beating the shit out of him in the real universe. Desmond leaves Ben with the message that he's not trying to kill Locke; he's trying to get him to "let go."
Locke learns of Ben's beating, and when Ben tells him what Desmond said, Locke remembers that Jack had said virtually the same thing. He visits Jack, and lists all of the random intersections their lives have had in the past few days. In a scene reminiscent of Locke's eternal faith in the Island from the first few seasons, Locke claimed that this is fate, and that he wants Jack to fix him. Back at the school, Ben meets Alex, who along with her mother (Danielle Rousseau) invites him home for dinner. After dinner, Ben learns that Alex's father died when she was two, and that he is the closest thing she has had to a father in her entire life.
Desmond arrives at the police station where Sawyer works, and we see Miles getting ready for a concert. Desmond confesses to his attacks on Locke and Ben, and is locked up in a cell alongside Kate and Sayid. They are put in a van to be transported to the county jail, and Desmond explains that he will set them all free if they promise to do something for him. Thinking him to be crazy, they both agree to his terms. Suddenly, the van stops, and Ana Lucia opens the doors. She reveals that Desmond has bribed her, and as she removes their restraints, a yellow Hummer pulls up and Hurley gets out. He recognizes Ana Lucia from the "real" universe, and gives her an envelope with money in it. Desmond sends Sayid with Hurley and pulls a dress from the trunk of the car Hurley has given him, telling Kate that they are going to a concert (good money says it's the same one that Miles is going to, and that Charlie is probably going to be playing there).
In the real universe, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley set off toward the well where Sayid told Jack he had left Desmond. Jack reasons that if Evil Locke wanted Desmond dead, then they would need him alive in order to win. As they walk, a young Jacob confronts Hurley and demands the ashes of his adult body (Hurley had taken them from Ilana's bag. Hurley chases after young Jacob, and finds the adult Jacob sitting at a campfire. Jacob asks Hurley to bring the others to him, and to hurry, because he has thrown his ashes into the fire, and once it burns out, they will never see him again. They all arrive at the fire, and Jacob explains the light cave to them, telling them that one of them must protect it from the Man in Black. He reveals that everyone he brought to the Island had basically been rescued from a shitty life (I guess that's the thread that ties everyone together). They needed the Island as much as the Island needed them. People whose names had been crossed off the wall had been eliminated from contention for the candidacy for specific reasons. Kate had essentially become a mother, so Jacob had crossed her off the list (although he does tell her that the job is hers if she wants it). In the end, Jack accepts the position, and Jacob gives him a cup of water to drink. Jack drinks it, and Jacob tells Jack that "now you are like me."
We finally caught up with Ben, Miles, and Richard (it's only been like 10 goddamn episodes since we've seen them). They arrive at the Dharma village, where after a brief moment at Alex's unmarked grave, they go to Ben's old house to get some C4 that he had hidden there. At the house, they run into Widmore and Zoe. Widmore claims that if he is killed, "all hope will be lost." He sends Zoe to sink the boat that they had arrived on, but she spots Evil Locke coming toward the village. Widmore and Zoe hide in Ben's secret room, while Miles runs off into the jungle and Richard and Ben go to confront Evil Locke. As he walks from the house, the Smoke Monster smashes into Richard, sending him flying (although we didn't see a body, so it's almost guaranteed that he's still alive). Evil Locke then walks around a house and confronts Ben. He tells Ben that there are more people to kill, and Ben reveals Widmore's location in the secret room. Evil Locke quickly kills Zoe when Widmore tells her not to talk (claiming that if she can't talk, she's useless). Evil Locke promises to kill Widmore's daughter (Penny) if he doesn't reveal his reasons for returning to the Island, and Widmore explains that he brought Desmond back to the Island. He begins to whisper his explanation for this to Evil Locke, but Ben shoots and kills him before he can get much out. Ben tells Evil Locke that Widmore "doesn't get to save his daughter," and asks if there are more people he can kill.
The two go to the well where Evil Locke had taken Desmond, but Desmond is gone (a rope hangs down into the well). Evil Locke smiles, saying he is glad that Desmond has escaped. Apparently Widmore told him that Desmond was a failsafe intended to ensure that he cannot leave the Island, but Evil Locke tells Ben that he plans to use Desmond's resistance to electromagnetism to destroy the Island.
I don't have a whole lot to say about this episode. It was a nice return to form for a show that has done a whole lot of sucking this season, but it was not without its flaws. Jack's transformation into the new Jacob was pretty anticlimactic (although that might change next week). My biggest problem was with Ben's reversion to his evil self. While I've always been a supporter of Ben as the Evil Genius of the show (I personally think he was the best character of the third and fourth seasons), this season he has been completely worthless. He was defeated by his perceived abandonment by Jacob, and so he moped around for the entire season, following other people's orders and generally just being a detriment to the show. But now, out of nowhere, he's back to being Ben the Badass. I'm in favour of the change; it's just that I think it could have been done more smoothly.
The 2.5 hour (guuhhhhhh) finale airs this Sunday, and then we can be done with Lost, once and for all. After this episode, I have decently high hopes for the finale, but this show has pissed on my expectations before, so it's entirely possible they'll do it again.
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