LOST - 6x14 "The Candidate" - Episode Review
Plot summary: Jack's suspicions about Locke make his decision more difficult after he is asked to complete a difficult task.
Written by Elizabeth Sarnoff & Jim Galasso. Directed by Jack Bender.
“I went to sleep in the alternative universe with a god complex and now I’m actually the messiah, and when I got out of bed this morning, I pushed a smoke monster in the water while being shot at yet again, and then my minority friends all got blown real good and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horribile, no good very bad day.”
Well then.
This episode threw me the first time I watched it as an example of poor writing. Subsequent viewings helped take the edge off (it might play better in a marathon), but my initial impressions remained the same. While about as well executed it could have been as an in-the-moment experience, the seemingly random deaths (and the resulting lack of a satisfying resolution to certain individual storylines) smacked of writerly manipulation, in which Darlton’s random need to “up the stakes” hurt the storyline as a whole (and kind of annoyed me, and not in a good way). Being skeptical, I think there will be more to be revealed (and perhaps another magical resurrection), but for now, the reunion of the Kwons (and their “role” in this game) and especially the circumstances surrounding Zombie Sayid remain frustatingly opaque. It makes it hard to defend the show when it makes moves like this so close to the end, but we’ll see how it plays out.
Besides, it wan’t anything we’d seen before. Characters trapped in a watery tomb? Check. Noble sacrifce? Check. Giacchino’s “Life & Death” theme? Check. This week’s new EW had its third LOST cover of the year, and had an article devoted to the making of the 2004 pilot, and reminded me that at its core, LOST was partially inspired by SURVIVOR - that being said, Smokey’s one by one elmination of “the Candidates” reads as such. Oh, and if there was any lingering doubut about Jack being Jacob’s replacement, they were thoroughly dispelled by Sayid’s finale line (BUT HOW DID HE KNOW THAT TO BEGIN WITH????). Regardless, the doc's got a lot of fixing to do ahead of him…
• I almost enjoyed the Flash sideways more than the main narrative week, perhaps because they’ve bent over backwards to make Jack a likeable character again and for the large part, have succeeded. I also appreciated the reversal that it was Locke who crippled Cooper in this reality (along with himself). We got yet more bleed throughs as AU-Locke mumbled about the Swan and his epitath to Jack; my own personal theory is that the AU characters are going to pass through some sort of Desmond-created EM wormhole to end up back on the Island in the finale (that would be cheesy but whatever).
• Go Bernard! Dentists are doctors too, you arrogant surgeon prick!
• Good job Sawyer, you just killed all your buddies. That will make him even crankier when he wakes up in two weeks.
• The words “Ji Yeon” or “daughter” should have at least passed the lips of Jin or Sun in their final scene. Maybe that’s why it didn’t work for me.
• Pretty sure this week’s events leaves Miles as the only person of color left in the (living) cast. Run, Miles, run!!!!
• What does it take to kill Kate? She’s frakking Superwoman on this Island.
• Enjoyably bad ass moment when Jack dumed Smokey in the drink. The irony of Jack’s “nothing will happen” testiominal of faith (as opposed to his refusal to press the button back in Season 2’s “Orientation”) goes without mention.
• The sub CGI effects were better than usual, maybe because they were all underwater.
• Why is Smokey so protective of Claire? Maybe we’ll get an answer in this week’s big infodump.
Episode Grade: C+