Measure of Last Resort

Quick Hits

• One of the revelation’s during Jacob’s fireside chat was that Kate is still a candidate if she wants to be, despite her name having been crossed off in Jacob’s Cave. She was crossed off because she became a mother-of-sorts back on the mainland when she essentially adopted Aaron. One wonders why “KWON” wasn’t crossed off as well, since Sun and Jin became parents. They’re dead now anyway, so it’s probably not worth pondering further.
• Jack now has all the knowledge he could ever want about the Island; no need to ask any more questions. “You’re like me now.”

  

  Unfortunately, I don’t expect Jack to suddenly stare into the camera and start running down every step of the Island’s history in the finale. Expect to still have some questions when all is said and done.

• I’ve mentioned the red flowers and their symbolization of death ad nauseum. Just another instance to support that:

  

  Jacob’s apparently managed to maintain a presence on the Island since his death because of the ashes Ilana grabbed under the Tawaret statue.

  

  I couldn’t quite tell if he threw those ashes into the fire after he nabs them from Hurley, but Jacob indicates that he’ll finally be gone once that fire burns out. His light, as it were, is about to fade from the Earth.

  

• Some nice call-backs to the Pilot, altogether appropriate in light of the show’s imminent conclusion. We open with one of those eye shots we all love, echoing the shot that started the show in 2004.

  

  The score on the beach as the four remaining candidates try to compose themselves after the events on the sub is one of the first themes introduced in season 1, and Jack stitching up Kate was a role-reversal of the same situation in the Pilot.

  

  Jacob also makes mention of the bamboo field Jack woke up in at the start of the Pilot, which ain’t too far from the Light. Jack’s going to end up where he began.

• Maybe Ben hasn’t changed. After Miles reminds him of Alex’s death when they come across her grave, something flips within Ben and he goes into calm, cool, collected vengeance mode. Faced with a choice between dying with honor or reverting to his dark, manipulative ways, he chose the latter and allowed Esau to cut Zoe’s throat, after which he shot Widmore in the gut as thanks for having killed his daughter, Alex.

  

  Ben would likely derive the most benefit from choosing his sideways reality, having Alex back and perhaps even some romantic potential with her mother, Sideways Danielle, who is quite a bit more sane-looking.

  

  Throw in Karl and you’ve got a happy, little Linus family. His tortured Island soul is in desperate need of that kind of healing.

• Ben and his inferiority complex are further emphasized when Alex tells him he looks like Napoleon with his arm in sling (after Desmond beats the crap out of him). Ben taught his students about the French emperor’s exile on the island of Elba back in episode 7.

  

• Has Richard met his end? Along with Widmore and Lapidus, I’m not ready to call him dead quite yet unless we see the body. (I think I’m barking up the wrong tree with Lapidus, who is likely lying in repose at the bottom of the ocean, but I can hold out hope.)

  

  After a life of hardship and servitude, it’d be nice to see Richard go out with less ignominy.

• Desmond continues his efforts to get the sideways-ers back to the Island, tonight by bribing Officer Ana Lucia (who’s “not ready yet” to return to the Island; probably ‘cuz she’s dead there) $125,000 to let him, Kate and Sayid go.

  

  All of our sideways castaways are ordained to meet at a concert, one at which Jack’s son will be performing and that Pierre Chang will preside over. Thus, Kate, Hurley, Jack, Claire, Miles, and Sawyer all have a date with destiny there. Perhaps Locke is a fan of classical piano as well? Could Jack’s son be a classmate of Alex’s and get the Linus/Rousseau family there as well?

• In case you hadn’t recalled, the flashback that pops into Ben’s head when Desmond’s helpfully pounding his face is from when Ben went to kill Penny Widmore in retaliation for Widmore having killed Alex on the Island.

  

  Ben changes his mind but ends up having the holy hell beat out of him by Desmond on the dock where his yacht was moored.

• I do believe the red sportscar is the very same Hurley drove while on the run from the cops in the season 4 premiere.

  

• Among the many things I haven’t figured out yet is how Desmond figures in with Jacob’s plan. He doesn’t quite seem to be a candidate, but there appear to be rules established that keep Esau from killing him. Our castaways speculate as much.

  

  Shortly before the confrontation with Esau, Widmore tells Ben Jacob told him to come to the Island. Perhaps this is true, and Jacob meant for Desmond to be that failsafe in the event all his candidates were killed. I still find it difficult to trust anything Widmore says.

  
  Eat it, Charles.

• As in the season 6 premiere, Jack sports another open cut on his neck, cause unknown. Sideways Jack is baffled, as am I. This is obviously a link to the Island timeline somehow, but I’m struggling to identify what that link is quite yet.

  

  Interesting that Jack receives a phonecall indicating Oceanic Airlines has located his father (in coffin) finally. As Locke told Jack several episodes ago, it’s just a body, a vessel that used to contain the being that was Christian Shephard. What then, is the significance of the coffin’s apparent return?

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