What a great start to tonight’s episode of LOST! If you haven’t seen it yet, do not read on as this post is full of SPOILERS. Right at the beginning, Smokey catches up with Jack, explains why he ended up looking like John Locke, intriguingly says that Jack does in fact know “what he is,” and when Jack asks if he ever looked like anyone else, encourages Jack to ask him the question he really wants to. Jack does: he asks whether on their third day on the island, Smokey took the form of his father. The answer: YES! And the reason, according to Smokey, is that he wanted to lead them to water, and to help them survive.
A great line was when Smokey said “John Locke wasn’t a believer…He was a sucker.”
We also witness further intersection of the Oceanic 815 passengers in the parallel universe. And on the island, the conflict between Widmore’s people and Smokey heightens. Somehow the whole thing seemed to have some of the mystery, the thrill and the depth of character interaction that has made LOST so engrossing since its beginning.
Another great bit of dialogue was about Sayid having gone over to the dark side. Hurley’s attempt to explain to Sawyer that you can bring people back from the dark side, appealing to the example of Anakin, was priceless.
The discussion on the boat between Jack and Sawyer, particularly after Locke had been depicted as deluded and misguided in his “faith,” was poignant. Leaving didn’t feel right, and when Sawyer said that there is a “pill” for the feeling of regret after leaving, viewers know that Jack tried pills last time and found it didn’t satisfy. His suggestion that Smokey wants them to leave because he’s afraid of what will happen if they stay is interesting, and we’ll watch with interest to see if it turns out to be correct. And then we got to see Jack take his own leap of faith. And the last several minutes of so were beautiful.
Fans will also enjoy reading this interview physicist Sean Carroll did in Wired magazine with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.
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