What I’m Watching: Lost

Lost: Season 6, Episode 14 “The Candidate” (B)

This episode certainly provides quite a shock in terms of the three deaths it contains. Saying goodbye to Jin, Sun, and Sayid is intense, especially because there doesn’t seem to be any doubt that they are truly gone forever. That’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement, of course, since we see a very much alive Jin only moments later as wheelchair-bound Locke rolls past him as he leaves the hospital. Keeping all of the characters vicariously alive through the alternate universe is a lot of fun, and it makes it easier to part with the characters that have been staples of the show since its inception. The way that Jin and Sun die is touching, whereas Sayid’s last act of courage proves that maybe he wasn’t so even after all, and was definitely very brave. The episode as a whole isn’t nearly as cohesive or satisfying, however. With less than five installments to go, it seems inappropriate for there to be only one thread at play. Now that the character count has been diminished, it’s time for the action to kick into high gear. While I chuckled at Doctor Jack telling Locke that he was a candidate, the title of this episode doesn’t fit because it isn’t made clear who the candidate is. At the end of the series in a couple of weeks, I think we’ll look back at this episode as a monumental one in terms of character deaths (don’t forget about Lapidus!) but ultimately not one of great storytelling consequence.

Related anecdote: I own a shirt with the “Lost” numbers on it, that I often wear when on a day the show is airing. The two best comments I received this week were: “Is it Tuesday already?” and “That shirt is balls!”