As we approach the series finale, there was large movement in "The Last Recruit" towards a resolution for the island plot. The writers have been holding back for a while and finally unleashed the narrative potential of the show, driving forward with many decisive decisions from everyone. The episode itself didn't have much mystery or revelations, but it did set the scene for the final 4 episodes. Looking ahead, The flash-sideways still remains rather shapeless, but the coincidental meetings of the characters does lend itself to some nice moments.
The two camps come together for the first time since the Temple and the plot kicks off. Jack talks to Flocke who gives him the usual spiel about getting off the island together and lets talks to Claire who also knows they are siblings. Jack asks her about Flocke and her one and only definitive answer is that Locke has already spoken. There is no other truth. If she wasn't crazy, I'd be more likely to believe her.
Did anyone else think Flocke would think smarter? To begin the invasion of Hydra Island, he sends Sawyer and Kate, alone, to take the boat and meet them on the other side of the Island. Is Flocke arrogant enough to think he has everything under control or is he just dumb in this situation? Of course Sawyer is scheming. His plan is to get him, Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, and Lapidus over to Hydra, leaving the rest of them behind. Yeah, forget the rest of them, even if some are 815 survivors that aren't zombies or nuts.
Flocke again is off twiddling his fingers while Jack leads the group away. They reach the boat and Claire pops out to stop them. Kate manages to talk her down and even convince her to come along. On the boat, Flocke's words are still resonating with Jack. He questions what he's doing and remembers what happened last time he left the Island. Not wanting the same thing to happen, he talks to Sawyer who offers him two choices: jump or stay. Jack chooses the former, jumping in the ocean to Kate's dismay. He swims back to shore where Flocke and a bunch of Others with guns are waiting for him. Jack originally started off as the man of science, the one who bucked Locke's fanciful ideas of the Island, but now, he too is the man of faith, believing that the Island holds something for him and everyone else.
The boat lands on Hydra where Zoe and a bunch of henchman with guns are waiting for Sawyer and the rest of them. Sun and Jin see each other and have their belated reunion. For a second, I was worried the sonic fence would still be on and they would crumple to the ground inches away from each other. Good thing it didn't happen, because there reunion was quite nice. Zoe stops them after about a minute--far too short for all the time they've been apart--putting everyone at gunpoint, and from Widmore's orders, shoots a missile towards Flocke and Jack.
Sayid is given a side task to kill Desmond who is still sitting there at the bottom of a well. Apparently, Desmond has been doing lots of thinking down there about his own situation and sees how it could apply to Sayid's life. He asks Sayid what he had to do to get his woman back, and goes further, asking Sayid what he would tell her after she did come back. Sayid realizes that getting Nadia back at all costs wouldn't be the right thing to do if his souls is already lost. He returns to the camp, and assuming he didn't kill Desmond (not that big a leap), lies to Flocke about killing Desmond. I haven't touched on this for a while, but I was kind of right about The Last Supper cast photo. Flocke, in the Jesus position, will be betrayed by Sayid who is Judas.
The flash-sidways was mostly a disjointed hodgepodge of situations tied together by the common thread of familiar faces. I have no clue where anything in the flash-sideways is going nor do I much care. The main narrative remains on the Island. The novelty of seeing the characters in different roles is enough so I don't dislike it, but my opinion, 13 episodes into the final season, is mostly of indifference.
Sawyer has Kate back at the police station where they engage in a flirty conversation sort of like the ones from the earlier seasons. Miles soon breaks in with information on a shooting; he has surveillance footage of Sayid exiting the restaurant. Just as quickly as she enters the episode, flash-sideways Kate is gone and isn't seen for the remainder of the episode. At the same time, Sayid returns to tell Nadia he is leaving, but before he can do so, Miles and Sawyer show up. On the Island, Desmond's poignant question strikes him and he decides not to follow Flocke. In the flashsideways, without Desmond's sage words, Sayid has already gone as a far as humanly possible, killing many men to protect Nadia. The end result, however, is just as lonely and separated from Nadia as Sayid is arrested.
The main feature of the flashsideways this week was the interplay between Desmond, Claire, and Jack. Having knocked over poor Locke, Desmond is going about his business as if nothing happened. He goes into creep mode (he seemed a little too suave and pushy), guiding Claire towards his own lawyer for adoption advice. His lawyer is Ilana! At least she's not exploded in a messy pulp in this world. And to make his huge coincidence (or shall we say "fate") bigger, Ilana has been looking for the very same Claire Littleton. Hmm... It's like everyone else in the world doesn't matter.
Later, Jack and David come by to have Christian's will read. The lawyer in charge of the estate is...also Ilana! Everyone's converging on her. Is this some kind of recompense from the universe for exploding her so abruptly? Ilana introduces Jack to his sister, Claire and like the reunion between Jin and Sun on the Island, it's cut short by a call from the hospital. Jack comes in to operate and it's Locke. Jack is far more surprised than the viewers.
Locke and Sun are both taken to the hospital and as they are taken in, Sun is scared Locke, showing the blending of the Island and flash-sideways. It wasn't love that set it off, but rather an accident that somehow jarred her brain into thinking that Flocke is evil.
I'm looking forward to what happens on the Island after all the the developments on the Island. The flash-sideways, not so much. The writers are in a difficult place with the flash-sideways. On one hand, the Island is te center of the show and needs enough screen time; on the other, the flash-sideways hasn't been developed to the point where it is compelling, at least to me.
There's no new episode next week and "Ab Aeterno" will air instead.
Score: 9.0/10
