Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT The Island's Done With Who, Now?
By Cindy McLennan | Season 6 | Episode 14 | Aired on 05.04.2010
ing pictures of Ji Yeon courtesy of the Widmorons (who grabbed Sun's camera off the Ajira flight). Sun smiles at that, but then changes the subject. She produces his wedding band -- the same ring he gave to Locke to convince Sun not to come back -- the same ring Ben took, after he killed Locke -- and used to convince Sun to come back. She slides Jin's ring back onto his finger and they have A Moment. I'm not crying.Just then the power goes out all around the cages. The Losties know that can't be good. The Widmorons aren't too happy about it, either. As Baby Face dispatches a team to the generator, we hear Smokey's call in the distance. The wind starts up. Next -- the ticka ticka rattle clank. Hurley: "And? We're dead." Thump thump thump thump thump. Smokey blows into camp. The Widmorons shoot at it, which...seriously? Doesn't Charles know better than that? The Losties huddle together at the bars of their cage and watch in horror as their captors are slain. Smokey tosses baby face up against the cage, takes down pylons and generally wreaks havoc. Kate sticks her short, bony arm through the bars and tries to reach his keys. Sawyer and everyone else who has longer arms stand and watch her like they're Sideways Anthony Cooper (you'll see what I mean). Hurley: "Hurry. When that thing's done with them, he's coming for us." Frank approaches the cage door. "Well, I ain't waiting." He does his level best to kick it open, but no one helps him, either. Just as Kate's hand comes within reach of Seamus's belt, someone else grabs the keys. Oh no. Wait. It's Jack. Oh, yes! Kate looks at him like he's a long tall drink of water and she's been wandering the desert for forty years. The Losties can't believe Jack's there. Jack nods at Smokey who is still flitting about, and says the funniest line he's ever said in the history of the show. "I'm with him." Awesome. I mean, it's not awesome that he's with Smokey, but getting to say that line right then and there is almost worth aligning oneself with that Thing. Commercial.
Jungle; Day: Frank leads the Losties toward the Ajira plane. Kate hopes this means Jack is coming with them, now. It doesn't. "I'm sorry Kate, but I'm not meant to go." Sawyer, who has taken his lithium today, says: "Thanks for coming back for us, Doc. Appreciate it." Just then, the Losties are startled by someone coming through the jungle. When they see it's Sayid, they don't lower their guns until Jack tells them, "It's okay. Sayid's with us. He's the one that turned off the generators." Sayid tells them they need to go. Faucke is waiting.
Sideways; Sun Palms Nursing Home: The slip of paper Bernard gave Jack is magical, so it transports him right to Anthony Cooper's current residence. I hope he mails it to Detective James Ford, once he's done with it. Jack is at the desk asking to see Anthony when Helen arrives. He asks her, "Do you know him? Is that why you're here, too?" Helen blanches. "What do you want with Anthony?" Jack wants to talk to him about the accident he was in with "Mr. Locke." Helen pulls Jack aside and asks him to leave. She knows he just wants to help, but John doesn't want his help, so he should leave it alone. "You saved John's life. Why can't that be enough?" Jack: "Because it's not." Audience: "Get used to it, Helen. At least he's not crying."
She relents and leads Jack into the common room. We can see from behind that Anthony too is in a wheelchair. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Helen places the pot of tulips she brought on the table and turns Anthony around for Jack to see. "This is Anthony Cooper. He's John's father." He's a vegetable. Still couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Helen wipes the drool off his chin and I gag, but it's a gag of vengeful delight.
Sidebar 1 of 3: Over at his new digs on Hitfix, Alan Sepinwall puts forth the idea that in the Sideways reality, Anthony Cooper is a great father. He's also currently operating under the theory that this second reality is the "wrong" one. I disagree wholly on the first point and partially on the second. As to the first, I just think Sideways Locke and Anthony Cooper had their plane crash before Cooper could con John out of his kidney. Or maybe in the Sideways, Cooper didn't want a kidney, but something else, and just didn't get a chance to complete the con before the crash. We know Ford's folks were conned by an Anthony Cooper. I do not believe this guy is less than evil, just because Sideways Locke thinks he nifty. I believe Anthony got injured before he was found out. And I strongly believe that Sideways Ford will see him in his current state, and be able to let go of his quest for vengeance. And when Detective James Ford lets go of the past, it will be reflected in our Sawyer of the Island.
Sidebar 2 of 3: As to Sepinwall's assertion that the Sideways is wrong: remember all my earlier horse hockey about reflections? There used to be one reality. When you made your choice in that single reality, the consequences occurred there, too. Now there are two realities. They're mirror images of one another -- in a way. If you look at one, from the other, things are reversed. Helen's alive. Locke's alive. Nadia's alive. Dogen's alive. Ilana's alive. Arzt is alive. At the beginning of the season, Lindelof and Cuse were pretty insistent that the newer reality wasn't an alternate reality -- just a reality. So I don't think the newer one is the wrong one. It just is. I don't think the ultimate solution is going to wipe out either reality. I think the ultimate solution is going to merge the two. I think that because right now, what happens in one reality can change the other reality. Sideways Sayid swears off killing, but ends up wiping out Keamy, et al. Islandways Sayid loses his soul. Sideways Sayid is arrested. Islandways Sayid stops being a zombie. Somebody does something sooner than expected over in the Sideways, and it changes the timeline over in the Islandways and vice versa. Remember the time "discrepancies" between "Sundown" and "The Package"? I knew they weren't mistakes. If you cut your cheek, your reflection bleeds.
Sidebar 3 of 3: It seems significant to me that Ford is the one who arrested Sayid. I don't think any one Lostie can automatically serve as any other Lostie's constant. But I'm thinking that each time one Lostie encounters another -- makes a connection -- they get a little better look in that second mirror. During/since the flight, Sideways Jack and Sideways Locke have made a lot of connections. Jack has encountered Rose, Cindy, Charlie, Sayid, Dogen, Desmond, Ilana, Claire, Locke, Bernard, and Kate (eye contact when she was cab-jacking). Locke has encountered Boone, Frogurt, Hurley, Rose, Ben, Arzt, Desmond, Sun, Jin, Jack. Other than Desmond (and probably Bernard) Jack and Locke seem to be the ones most aware that something spectacularly weird is going on. They keep catching sight of themselves in that second mirror.
Islandways; Ajira 316 Landing Site: Faucke approaches the plane. Two Widmorons stand guard. The poor fools shoot at Faucke, but he's the new Man of Steel and walks right through those bullets. He breaks one guard's neck like he's fricking Angel, then shoots the other one, and, curiously enough, grabs his digital watch.
Inside the plane, Faucke finds wires rigged up to something hidden in one of the overhead baggage compartments. His face curls into a snarl as he removes the mysterious object.
Outside, the Losties arrive at the plane. Frank: "Alrighty, let's see what it will take to get this baby to fly." Everyone smiles, except Jack, and possibly Hurley. Then they stumble across the dead Widmoron guards. As Sawyer sonovabitches, Claire grabs the rifle from corpse #1. Sayid: "His neck's been broken." Faucke appears at the plane door. "That's becaus