LOST 6.13 - "The Last Recruit"

WRITERS: Paul Zbyszewski & Graham Roland
DIRECTOR: Stephen Semel
GUEST CAST: Dylan Minnette, Teresa Huang, Andrea Gabriel, Zuleikha Robinson, Sheila Kelley, Kimberley Joseph & Christopher Amitrano

[SPOILERS] It's funny, now the flashsideways have been given a sense of direction and we're assured of their relevance, the prime storyline has now started to flap in the breeze. Lost often struggles to juggle its many characters, but "The Last Recruit" proved particularly annoying because you could feel the writers simply moving people around into position. Characters decided to follow one person, then either had second thoughts, or were led by the nose somewhere else. I appreciate the problems, but what ruined this episode for me was the sense that characters are flip-flopping...

X-Timeline '04: Desmond, Claire,
Jack, Sun, Sawyer, Kate & Locke

It's a veritable smorgasbord this week, as the flashsideways storylines all start to get jumbled up. Sawyer (Josh Holloway) is questioning a smart-alec Kate (Evangeline Lilly), before being called away on a case involving a restaurant shootout where Sayid's (Naveen Andrews) the prime suspect; Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) played "guardian angel" to Claire (Emilie de Ravin) by offering to give her free legal advice on her planned adoption; Jack (Matthew Fox) and his son David (Dylan Minnette) went to hear Christian Shephard's Will being read and meet Claire, Jack's half-sister he's been trying to locate; and Sun (Yunjin Kim) was rushed to hospital with a stab wound and appeared to recognize Locke (Terry O'Quinn), who had arrived at the same time after getting run over by Desmond.

I genuinely don't have much to say. There wasn't much focus or a clearly defined story being told this week; people were just interacting and storylines have begun to intersect. Desmond's motivation for helping Claire and injuring Locke are the only really interesting element going on, although the fact Sun recognized Locke suggests more evidence that the flashsideways characters can remember their original lives at the point of neat-fatal death. I just wonder what Locke's experiencing, as he's dead in the prime timeline.

The Island '07: Locke, Jack, Zoe, Sayid,
Claire, Sawyer, Kate & Desmond

It was a big get-together on the Island, as two of the three separate groups merged because Hurley's (Jorge Garcia) got it in his head that they need to talk with Locke, not fight against him. Of primary interest was learning in a discussion between Jack and Locke that the ghostly presence of Jack's dead father was just Smokey in disguise (something fans have long suspected, but doesn't really hang together when you think back to old episodes.) For instance, "Christian" appeared to Jack while he was off-island in season 5, so how come Smokey was able to traverse the ocean he now claims he can't? I'm sure there are other nitpicks to explore, but I'm fortunately not too anal for it to ruin my viewing experience. In fact, it's probably going to be very true that Lost's ultimate "answers" won't fit together perfectly, so best to get used to that early.

The storyline here concerned Sawyer arranging to sneak away from Locke's group with his own party, to head for the Hydra Island aboard the "Elizabeth" sailing ship, which Jack agrees to help make happen. Time is tight because Zoe (Sheila Kelley) arrived to threaten Locke with destruction via missiles Widmore can launch on his position from the Hydra Island, unless he return Desmond. Locke has no intention of giving into demands, so instead puts his own plan into operation; sending Sayid to kill Desmond (who survived the fall into the well last week) and marching with his group to cross to the Hydra Island to leave on the Ajira plane.

In Summation

While it was great to see more happening in the flashsideways storyline, the fact it was a mix of storylines made it feel quite fragmented. In fact, the entire episode was very much a piece-moving exercise, and some moments worked better than others. For example: the reunion of Sun and Jin on Hydra Island (the first time the characters have seen each other since season 4's finale!) was an unfortunate damp squib, and there was just a general feeling that characters are more at the mercy of what the plot demands than what they want. I wasn't convinced by Jack suddenly having second thoughts and leaping off Sawyer's boat to swim back to Locke's group, for instance. However, I do quite like the idea that Jack's now the character who has blind faith that his Island experience (i.e. the show of Lost itself) will make sense if he just has faith, as that makes him something of an audience proxy. And it's fun to have a character who reflects what viewers are thinking and hoping for. And finally, Emilie de Ravin continued her season of two extremes: you can't help but like the demure flashsideways version of Claire (pregnant and discovering she has a half-brother), but her crazy-haired Island version just isn't convincing or very interesting.

Questions, Questions, Questions!

• Did Sayid kill Desmond? If not, where is he? And if he spared his life, is that a sign people with Sayid's "condition" can be saved?
• Where is Christian Shephard's body?

23 APRIL 2010: SKY1/HD, 9PM