Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Lost episode recap – “LA X” S6E1 airdate (02/02/10)

Here we go, folks: The Last Season of Lost. I hear they’re done with the time-travel, so that will be a relief to us recappers – last season was tough! And away we go …

The white flash recedes. Jack finds himself on an airplane in a window seat with Wendy the flight attendant offering to refresh his drink. Turbulence hits the plane but Rose, who is sitting across the aisle, reassures a nervous Jack. No one knows each other now. The turbulence shakes them up again and then smoothes out. When Bernard returns from the lavatory, Rose gives him a big smooch – they’re so cute! It’s Jack’s turn to use the lavatory and when he does, he looks at himself closely in the mirror: he looks old, and there’s a bloody spot on his neck. He dabs at it, confused and disoriented. When Jack gets back to his row, Desmond is sitting in the aisle seat of Jack’s row, looking very clean and very pretty. Jack has a serious case of déjà vu even as they introduce themselves – he doesn’t know what’s wrong, but something seems off to him.

Down below the plane, deep under the ocean, the camera rushes by over the ocean floor and we see the Island (and even the Dharma sharks) sunk far beneath the surface. The Dharma compound is there and the statue is intact, but it’s all underwater, like Atlantis.

Flashback to 1977 when Jack drops the bomb down the drill hole and Juliet is pulled in afterwards by the magnetic forces. She pounds on the bomb and FLASH.

The white flash recedes. Kate awakens, finding herself hundreds of feet up in a tree and nearly falls out from shock and surprise. The sound is funny (and at first I think it’s stupid Comcast messing up again): her hearing has been damaged by the bomb blast. When she finally makes her way down to the ground, she starts yelling for anyone who might be around. Miles finds her – his hearing is damaged too – and then they find a Dharma station. “We’re back,” she cries, and then she runs into the jungle until she finds the remains of the Swan Hatch. After Desmond blew it up, realizes Kate disconsolately. She also finds Jack there, bloodied and dazed. They try to regroup figure out what happened. But it doesn’t help much when Sawyer charges out of the jungle and kicks Jack in the face. “You were wrong! You blew us right back where we started, except Juliet’s dead!” Jack staggers to his feet, crying, apologizing, “I thought it would work.”

Jack-on-the-plane meets Kate as she’s coming out of the lav, handcuffs hidden under her jacket; she staggers into him when the plane lurches a little, the marshal watching her every move. Sawyer totally checks her out as he walks past to his seat. He overhears Hurley tell Whatisname the Blown Up Science Teacher that he won the lottery and advises him not to spread that around – people will try to take advantage of him. Hurley shrugs Sawyer off, saying that nothing bad ever happens to him – he’s the luckiest guy he knows.

On the Island, Hurley and Jin try to reconstruct what happened down at the Swan worksite, guessing that the bomb went off and they were pushed through time. Poor Sayid is still bleeding badly from his stomach wound. Down at the bomb site, everyone is yelling at each other but somehow Kate hears something coming from the debris in the drill hole: it’s Juliet and she’s alive. The rescue attempt, however, distracts everyone from Sayid’s impending death. He looks bad and Hurley, left alone with him, starts to panic. There is a rustling in the underbrush: it’s Jacob, apparently not too worse for wear for having been stabbed and burned up.

On the plane: Sun smiles to see Rose and Bernard canoodling, but Jin just tells her to button her sweater. Elsewhere on the plane, Boone (hi, Boone!) and Locke make small talk. It’s funny to see this gentler, unscarred Locke. Boone looks good.

Back on the Island, Not-Locke picks up the knife Ben used to stab Jacob and wipes the blood off the blade. Ben is on the other side of the room, shell-shocked, staring into the fire. Not-Locke tells Ben to go fetch Richard – he needs to talk to him. (Don’t kill Richard - he’s so pretty!) Out on the beach, Sun and Frank watch Richard, Ilana and Ilana’s big henchman argue, unsure of what is going on and kind of creeped out by Locke’s body lying there on the sand. Ben comes out of the statue and staggers over to Richard, telling him that “Locke” wants to talk to him. Oh, really? snaps Richard, dragging Ben across the sand. He throws Ben down so he’s face to face with dead Locke. “I think you should talk to him first,” Richard snarls. A look of horror comes across Ben’s face and he scrabbles back away from Locke’s body.

Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Miles and Jin frantically pull debris aside, trying to get to Juliet. Meanwhile, Hurley has lots of questions for Jacob, who says that none of this really matters because he died about an hour ago. “Dude, that sucks.” says Hurley, totally unfazed. Jacob instructs Hurley to take Sayid to the Temple – it’s the only way to save him – and don’t forget the guitar case. But first, they have to use the Dharma van to try to pull the heavier beams out of the hole that have trapped Juliet. Sawyer starts to panic because he can’t hear her any longer; when Kate tries to calm him down, he growls that if Juliet dies, he’ll kill Jack.

On the plane, Wendy the flight attendant is looking for a doctor: someone seems to have passed out in the lav. Jack goes to see if he can help. They’re having trouble getting the door open until Sayid shows up and kicks it in. Inside, slouched down on the pot, is an unconscious Charlie. (Yay! We’ve almost got the whole gang here! Do you suppose Ana Lucia will make an appearance? And what about Walt? How are they going to make him look like a little kid again?) After the commercial, everyone rushes around, trying to save Charlie. He’s choking on a drug balloon but Jack manages to pull it out of his throat.

The gang attaches a chain to the heaviest beam and they pull it out of the way with the van. Sawyer grabs a flashlight and makes his way down into the drill hole. He finds his Juliet, bloodied but able to open her eyes when he speaks to her. “It didn’t work,” she cries, “I hit the bomb and you’re still here!” Sawyer shakes his head, “Why would you do that?” She whimpers that she wanted to get him off the Island and he tells her to hush, he’s just got to get her out of here.

Topside, Jack tells Hurley that there’s nothing he can to do save Sayid. Hurley says he knows how to do it.

On the beach, Richard pleads with Ben to tell him what happened under the statue. Ben has apparently lost his mind, refusing to answer except for snidely telling Richard to go find out for himself. So Ilana’s henchmen grab Ben and drag him back inside. They demand to know what happened to Jacob. “He burned up in that fire,” says Not-Locke matter-of-factly. So they start shooting at him … and he just disappears. Ben, looking as twitchy as he ever has, crouches in a corner. And then the Smoke Monster arrives – because Not-Locke is the Smoke Monster is the Man in Black, Jacob’s nemesis – and tears Ilana’s henchmen to shreds. Shreds, I tell you. As suddenly as it began, it is over and Ben comes out of his hiding place, staring around at the carnage. He turns around and there’s Not-Locke. “I’m sorry you had to see me like that,” says Not-Locke. Ben’s eyes bug out farther than I’ve ever seen them go before.

Sawyer finally manages to get Juliet out from under the rubble and pulls her into his arms. She looks bad, and starts to fade in and out of lucidity. She asks him to kiss her – “You’ve got it, Blondie” – and then she says she has something important to tell him. “You tell me,” he whispers. But it’s too late and she dies right there. When Sawyer climbs out of the drill hole, Juliet’s body clutched in his arms, he is staring right at Jack. “You did this.”

On the plane, Charlie is not at all grateful for his life having been saved. Jack returns to his seat, noting that Desmond seems to have disappeared, and the plane begins its descent into LAX. Our gang all fusses around, gathering their personal belongings. (I guess Claire and Shannon are not on this version of the flight, but they should be, right?) And lo and behold, the plane lands.

When it does, the cops are waiting for Charlie – so that’s one life that was made better on the Island. The marshal takes Kate away – that’s two. Locke sits and waits for his wheelchair – that’s three. Where did Desmond go? Everyone else files off the plane uneventfully although Sayid has a bit of a spring in his step, clutching his photo of Nadia.

On the Island, Kate asks Sawyer if he’s coming with them to the Temple to save Sayid but he says no, he’s going to bury Juliet. He asks Miles to stay with him to help. Jack and Jin pick up Sayid’s stretcher, and they, Kate and Hurley, carrying Jacob’s guitar case as instructed, head out. When they get to the Temple wall, Hurley leads them all down into the tunnels: “This is gonna be awesome.” As they continue along, they hear those whispery voices and soon everyone gets separated. Worse, they are captured by the Others who drag them through the tunnels and back out into the jungle. They pause, staring across a pool at a huge stone building. “I guess we found the Temple,” obviouses Hurley.

In LAX, the airline regrets to inform Jack that his father’s coffin was inadvertently never loaded on the plane. In addition, they don’t exactly know where it is right now. Jack is not well pleased at this.

The marshal hustles Kate through Customs at LAX. He is disinclined to let her take a pee break but she pleads with him. When he lets her in the stall, she pulls a ballpoint pen out of her pocket (she lifted it off Jack on the plane) and uses it to break out of the handcuffs. She kicks the marshal, hard, smashing his head into the sink counter and knocking him out. She takes his gun and bolts, catching an elevator with Sawyer in it. He notices the handcuffs she’s trying to hide and then covers for her with airport security. She gives him a sexy smile and says thanks.

After they bury Juliet, Sawyer turns to Miles and demands that he speak to Juliet and find out what she wanted to tell him. Miles is sad that that’s the reason Sawyer asked him to stay behind, but he plunges his hands into the dirt over the grave and gives it a try. “It worked,” Miles finally says. “That’s what she wanted to tell you: it worked.” Sawyer turns and crashes blindly off into the jungle.

At the Temple, things get a little tense between the Losties and the Others until Wendy the flight attendant steps up, saying that they were on the plane with her. There’s an Asian guy who seems to be in charge, and his second in command/translator is Sol from Deadwood. The Asian guy gives the order to shoot the Losties and it looks as though all may be lost until Hurley shouts that Jacob sent them, plus there’s this guitar case he’s been carrying. The Asian guy opens the guitar case and lifts out a large wooden ankh. He splits it open and pulls out a piece of paper. He demands their names; the Losties say them, and the Asian guy seems to check the paper against what they say. He tells his flunkies to pick Sayid up and take him to “the spring.” Hurley shouts that he wants to know what was written on that paper he’s been lugging around for so long. Sol turns and replies that the paper says that if Sayid dies, everyone here is in a lot of trouble.

Sun and Jin are having some difficulty getting through LAZ Customs and Sun is torn, knowing that she can speak English and explain things but not wanting to out herself in front of her difficult husband. When the customs official finds a whole bunch of cash that Jin didn’t declare, they haul Jin off and Sun is sent to the waiting area, resolute to not betray her secret.

Inside the Temple, Sol is dismayed to see that the spring’s water isn’t clear. The Asian leader slices open his hand and dips his hand into the water. He seems surprised at what he sees. Sol asks who hurt Sayid. Jack says that he didn’t shoot him, but he is responsible for what happened to him. Sol says that there are risks to what they are about to do but Jack tells them to go ahead.

The Others take Sayid into the spring and hold him underwater. Sayid starts to thrash and the Losties get upset, fearing their friend is being drowned. But the leader has been watching an hourglass and Sayid is not taken from the spring until the sand has all fallen through. Of course, he’s no longer thrashing by then and is pretty limp. They lay him down and the leader checks him. Sol translates: “Your friend is dead.” The Others file out as Jack stumbles over to Sayid and begins CPR. Disturbed, Kate pulls him off: Jack, he’s dead. He’s not coming back.” Jack leans back, bereft. (Is Sayid dead because he was happy when the Oceanic flight landed in L.A., and heading off to a good life with Nadia? So the Island doesn’t need/want him any more? It can’t be that easy.)

At LAX, Sayid picks up his bags, tucking his picture of Nadia into his pocket. Behind him, Kate is lingering in the baggage claim area, trying to avoid the cops; she sneaks into a restricted area and emerges out by the taxicabs. When she tries to jump into one, Frogurt bumps her, telling her to wait in line like everyone else. Hi, Frogurt! She stands in the line until the marshal, on his feet now and bloodied, sees her. So she jumps into a cab, ignoring the passenger already in there – it’s Claire with really big hair! Hi, Claire! – pulls the gun and tells the cabby to get going.

Wendy has the two kids from S1 (Zack and Emma?) bring the Losties something to eat. Also, more Others drag Sawyer and Miles in, having just captured them in the jungle. Meanwhile, Sol takes Hurley to see the leader. They ask him if Jacob is coming to the Temple. I don’t think so, dude, says Hurley, ‘cuz he’s dead. You didn’t know? This news sends all the Others into a serious panic. They set off a flare and start fortifying the Temple. When Hurley notes that the Losties won’t be going anywhere apparently, Sol gasps that it isn’t to keep them in, it’s to keep “him” out.

Back at the beach, Ben is finally putting the pieces together that we all figured out at the end of last season (or at least 45 minutes ago): Not-Locke is the Smoke Monster, and since he couldn’t kill Jacob himself, he used Ben to do his dirty work for him. Not-Locke also says that he used Ben to kill Locke as well. Not-Locke doesn’t have much respect for Locke, calling him weak and pathetic, but also the only one who realized that his Island life was better than the one he left behind. “What do you want?” moans Ben, head spinning. Not-Locke tells him: “I want the one thing Locke didn’t want: I want to go home.”

Hurley kneels down and says goodbye to Sayid, mentioning that if he ever wants to talk, he’ll be around. Miles sits there, staring at Sayid too, shaking his head. Hurley wants to know what; Miles says, “Nothing.” I think Miles thinks Sayid isn’t quite dead. Sawyer wakes up, quickly realizing that the Others have captured them again. He’s sad about Juliet and glares at Jack. Kate tries to smooth things over but he cuts her off: “I ain’t going to kill Jack; he deserves to suffer on this rock with the rest of us.”

At LAX, Jack is in the Lost Luggage office, trying to explain to his mother on the phone that Christian’s body is lost. Locke is there too, since the airline lost one of his bags, and Jack ends up venting to him. They actually have a nice moment connecting with each other – much nicer than any they’ve had over the last five seasons on the Island together

Back at the beach, Not-Locke strides up to Richard, Ben trailing behind him like a beaten puppy. Richard is petrified, trembling – I’ve never seen him so dispossessed. “Hello, Richard,” says Not-Locke, “It’s nice to see you out of those chains.” Then he beats the shit out of Richard, knocking him unconscious. He picks the limp form up and stares around at the rest of the people on the beach, shouting, “I am very disappointed in you!” Then he walks off, Richard slung over his shoulder like a wild boar carcass.

At the Temple, Sol wants to talk with Jack, who is not inclined to go anywhere with any Others right now. Sol says that this is not an optional discussion and some burly Others grab onto Jack. They struggle until Hurley shouts, “Jack!” Everyone turns and stares as Sayid sits up. He wants to know: “What happened?” Dude, that’s what we all want to know.

Previously on Lost / next time on Lost

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