The series finale of Lost is getting an extra 30 minutes to wind up its labyrinthine story , bringing the total finale’s total runtime (with commercials) to two-and-a-half-hours. The Live Feed reports that the producers “have shot so much crucial material for the show’s hugely anticipated series finale that the network has agreed to extend the last episode by an extra half hour.” This translates to about 15-20 minutes of extra story along with ten more minutes of ads for your viewing pleasure. Monday night, producers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse tweeted “We’re done. Amen.” Now let’s hope the locked finale can stay under wraps until it airs on Sunday, May 23rd.
Lindelof and Cuse also spoke to EW about tonight’s sure-to-be-controversial episode “The Candidate”. Hit the jump to check out what they had to say; plus, I give my thoughts on the episode.
In their interview with EW, Lindelof and Cuse tried to explain some of the decisions they made with regards to tonight’s episode. I’ll provide their explanation and followed by my rebuttal and then finish up with my review of the episode.
One of the reasons they gave for why they killed Sayid, Jin, Sun, and Lapidus was, “Because now you know this show is willing and capable of killing anyone.”
Let me stop right there: if they wanted to make that point, they should have killed Hurley. But they can’t risk doing that because he’s the audience surrogate. Just like they chose not to kill off Jack in the pilot episode (his character was supposed to die and Kate was supposed to be the lead), they don’t pull that trigger because they can’t risk losing the audience completely. It’s one thing to shake the audience, but you don’t want to lose them so completely that they’re afraid to invest in any character for fear they’ll soon be gone. The four they offed tonight showed that they were willing to kill characters, but I’m not convinced they’re willing to kill any character.
Another reason they made these kills was to establish that Smoke-Locke is the true villain of the series. Says Cuse: “There is no ambiguity. He is evil and he has to be stopped.”
That’s particularly disheartening. “Good vs. Evil struggles” are good as a premise for an action-adventure, but they make for poor culminations when the audience expects that they invested their time for a more complex payoff. I would much rather see Smoke-Locke doing evil things but for a reason that the audience can at least understand if not condone. Or perhaps not even “good vs. evil”, but subscribing to a particular, twisted ideology. If he turns out to be pure malevolence, it’s going to be kind of dull.
Cuse also explains that the reason Smoke-Locke tried to take everyone out in one fell swoop is because “if he killed just one of them, everyone would know what he was up to,” which is the kind of reasoning that has me scared for the quality of the show’s finish. The smoke monster is fast can only be stopped by pylons or black magic powder. Are we to believe that Smoke-Locke wasn’t fast enough to run around the island offing candidates before they knew they were being hunted? And even if they did find out, what possible defense would the remaining candidates have against the creature?
As you can probably guess, “The Candidate” never came together for me. The biggest question is what rules determine when/how Smoke-Locke can kill the candidates? He has the opportunity to kill them all on the Ajira flight, but then moves them away from it. He then gets them all on the sub together and sends them in with an explosive device that will kill all of them. I’m assuming that “Locke” can only die if he’s killed when all the other candidates are already dead. That is to say, if he was on the plane and he blew up with all the candidates, he wouldn’t survive. But that’s huge guesswork on my part and I don’t want to fill in the blanks for the writers. I know Lost likes to hold its cards close to the vest, but this episode was frustrating not only in how it tricked the gang to go from one situation to another without explaining why one was preferable to Smoke-Locke, but that it then undermined whatever rule forced his ruse in the first place.
But let’s get to what this episode really did: kill characters. We lost Sayid, who achieved his redemption through sacrifice. We lost poor Lapidus! It wasn’t totally unsurprising once we knew the group wasn’t flying out of there. But as a character, it was nice to have someone with the group who wasn’t a candidate but an observer. He was swept up in the madness and it was nice to have an anchor who may not have mattered to the mythology, but was still a valuable asset to the show.
And then there was Jin and Sun. Whoever handled the writing of these characters and their arc really screwed the pooch. First, there was the stupidity of having Sun temporarily lose her ability to speak English. I think that’s going to go down as one of the worst—albeit thankfully brief—things Lost did during its run. Secondly, having that speech restored when she reunited with Jin was not only predictable, but wholly unnecessary. Their reunion was emotional enough without showing that their love was so strong it could conquer brain damage.
But “The Candidate” cheapened the end of their story. As wonderful as Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kin were along with the beauty of the shot of their hands parting, it was all undone by one thought: they have a kid. For me, the scene played as, “I love you, Sun! I love you, Jin! Now let’s make our daughter an orphan!” It made their deaths seem selfish rather than poetic.
Losing characters we’ve known and loved is tough and just by virtue of their deaths I felt sad that they’re dead (or at least they are in one timeline). When Jack wept at the end of the episode, I thought, “Okay, now is an appropriate time to cry, you gigantic sissy.” The sideways timeline stressed again that these meetings are not coincidence. However, the relationship between Jack and Locke in the sideways timeline was underwhelming because it felt like we were headed towards an “A-ha” moment between Jack and Locke, like what Hurley and Libby experienced in “Everybody Loves Hugo.” I suppose the larger message was that just as Locke couldn’t trust Jack in the sideways timeline, Sawyer couldn’t trust Jack in the main storyline. Of course, I couldn’t blame Sawyer for not trusting Jack after the whole Juliet/Incident. As to why sideways Locke couldn’t trust Jack? It’s one of the many mysteries I still haven’t been able to solve.
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Wow. I had no idea a commentary on a Lost episode could be so involving and… long! Nicely done, Matt. I didn't know you were such a fan of the show. I don't have anything to say here since I only watch a few episodes from the first two seasons and gave up when it seemed to go off the deep end in season 3.
im sorry , but does everybody know they gonna be dissapointed by the ending. TV show finales always suck
Who the hell writes this crap on this website? This guy certainly is no LOST fan. Why not just enjoy the show for what it is, instead of picking everything apart on a way-too-deep level like an uber-nerd? He's certainly in the minority with his opinions though, because LOST fans, who gather at DarkUFO rated it as one of the best episodes of LOST ever, behind Ab Aeterno. Not to mention, your critique of the Sun speech problem is pretty amateurish, considering they used it as an early device to show that the two timelines were connected, not “brain damage”. It's been an incredible season so far, and I'm sure Darlton have an excellent finale in store for us, considering that DarkUFO's insider sources have read the script and seen parts of the finale already, and scored it as the highest rated LOST episode this season, and probably ever, actually.
Depends on what your expectations are. My largest concern is whether I'll be happy with where the characters end up. Solving the mysteries would be nice, but they've already stated that there will be questions remaining after the end (which I like because it helps the show live on).
I think that anyone who feels that it was wrong to kill of so many characters in one episode is not looking at the big picture. 1, there is still life in the sideways world and 2, there is only 2 episodes till the finale. Characters can't live forever and with only 2 eps before the finale, one of them being about Jacob and MIB, then you have to understand there is gonna be loss of life. If every main character left the show unharmed on the island then i would feel cheated.
wow dude! put a spoiler warning on something like this!
great episode.
Locke/The Man in Black wouldn't have been able to kill the Candidates even if he wanted to. Remember how the young boy in the jungle told Locke he couldn't kill Sawyer? That it was against the rules? This frustrated Locke. He couldn't kill Jacob without a loophole, and it seems that he can't kill Jacob's candidates either without a loophole. Otherwise why wait? He had them all together more then once. He could have done the dirty work quickly and easily if he could have. He could have done it right there in the episode while he was in smoke monster form. So, Lock being fast enough to murder everyone before they knew what was happening is a moot point.
SPOILER!
I liked the episode bUt you're right. When Sun and Jin croaked, I just kept thinking about their kid. I kept waiting for SUN to tell JIN to leave and go take care of their daughter.
jin wouldn't have made it to the surface w/out o2 tank and they knew it. locke didn't let the plane blow up because he needs it to leave. that's why he diverted them to the sub. jack didn't realize he was the loophole- locke may have put the bomb in jack's pack but jack brought it on board- jack is the killer. sun wasn't brain damaged, this was a sideways overlap. not that hard to put these pieces 2gether. great ep. and miles and alpert are on the way w/ a pocketful of grenades.
Great parenting Sun and Jin!!!
I'm starting to lower my expectations for the finale…Oh,WHY Darlton?!?!?!?!?!
wow what a piece of garbage “article”
watch something else Tuesday nights, you don't deserve to watch the last episodes ya c*nt
You idiot – Locke can't kill the candidates himself. Did you not listen to Jack? It's one of the “rules.”
It like you are no lost fan at all. Did you watch every episode because it seems your missing some basic info? Locke can't kill the candidates. Yes, I know he said that, but he is evil and evil people lie!!! And Sun's speech issue was a early way of showing the connection between the 2 time lines. (BTW the kid is not an orphan in the other time line). It seems either you are not getting lost this season or your just trying to get people mad enough to write in. Either way your review sucked!
The smoke monster cant kill them one by one because, the smoke monster cant kill candidates. The reason the bomb blew up in the sub is because Sawyer pulled the wires, thus starting the actual ticking of the bomb.
Wow – I don't know if I've ever read a blog post which has *completely* missed as many points as this one! It's actually sort of impressive – perhaps it could only have been written to wind up genuine fans? If that's the case, Matt Goldberg is a bafflingly pathetic individual.
My guess, something else is bugging Mr Goldberg in his personal life, and he's obsessing over nonsensical “issues” like those he raises above in order to compensate; that's normally how these things work.
“Wah, they killed Jin and Sun!” THERE ARE THREE EPISODES LEFT. Not everyone is going to make it, and nor should they. Anyone contemplating for a second that Jin could really be thinking completely rationally at that moment, having been separated from his wife over a 3-year timeframe (and a 30-year time-gap) has all the emotional maturity of a baked potato.
And I'm not sure how many times you want it to be specified that the Smoke Monster cannot directly kill the candidates? Here you go – I'll put it in caps for you: THE SMOKE MONSTER CANNOT DIRECTLY KILL THE CANDIDATES.
Get happy soon buddy. Maybe then you can enjoy The Greatest Television Show Ever Made.
You posted a well thought out article, so I'm not going to call you an idiot and try and degrade you like some other people, but some of the reasons for your critiques are just wrong.
As others have said in the comments, has been stated in the show numerous times, and was even said again last night by Jack for good measure, MIB can NOT kill the Candidates. It is impossible. If the Candidates were to die, they have to kill themselves. That's why he moved the bomb from the plane, because it wouldn't work. He had to get the bomb on the sub. If Sawyer had listened to Jack, they would have all been fine, but as mentioned, it's hard for Sawyer to trust Jack after what happened to Juliet. I guess now they're even.
Also, his name is MIB not Smoke-Locke.
And with the Sun/Jin thing, as mentioned in the comments, Jin could have never made it to the surface even if he wanted to. Jack and Sawyer to the last tank. Sure, he could have left with Jack and Sawyer, but that would leave a lot less of an impact. I'll admit, their storyline prior to this has been lacking, but it was the only time we've seen so far that the sideways can affect the island timeline, and not just the other way around. So it was important, but wasn't given much focus.
Hopefully this helps you understand the episode more. I personally loved it. You'll probably get a better explanation next week. It's an episode completely focused on Jacob and MIB
He can't directly kill them, dude.
Lost officially SUCKS and you are right about killing off the wrong characters. Why the HELL reuinte Sun & Jin, the most understated couple on the Island just to kill them? Why not Kate? Or Hurley? That would have been WAY more shocking! After killing Shannon, Juliette and now Sun, count me out on ever watching this tripe again!
After investing 6 years into this show I feel totally short changed and think that Lindelof & Cuse should be ashamed of themselves. I hope it's all a dream or they all die or somethhing lame like that as I could not give a sh** anymore. You robbed us of the 3 best characters on the show, especially Sun so I hope you are proud of yourselves.
why are you whining matt? your article clearly shows that u did not follow the episode quite clearly (as pointed out by Guy in the comments) so understand it and then u may start ur whining
RE: “Are we to believe that Smoke-Locke wasn’t fast enough to run around the island offing candidates before they knew they were being hunted? And even if they did find out, what possible defense would the remaining candidates have against the creature?”
Remember, Smoke-Locke can't actually kill the candidates, at least not directly. So no, he couldn't just run around the island offing everyone. This does give them some measure of defense against him, though it's obviously not foolproof.
Wow! Seems you were watching this show for the beauties. Shannon one of the best characters really?
After scanning over the comments, I'm noticing a common thread: I must not be a fan of the show because I criticized this episode. Except, being a fan doesn't mean refraining from criticism or loving everything a whatever-you're-a-fan-of does. If any of you had listened to the LOST podcast I posted yesterday you would know I'm a fan. But even if you hadn't, I don't think it's hard to tell that the reason I took the time to write out an article like this was because I DO care about the show.
Also, if Locke can't kill the candidates, then why not just let them blow up on the plane? It would be Lapidus inadvertently detonating the bomb so therefore Smoke-Locke wouldn't be directly killing the candidates. But more than that, at the end of the episode, he knows that not all of the candidates are dead so he sets off to “finish what I started.” That makes it sound like he can pick them off individually.
But back to my original point, TRUE fans of this show have the confidence to actually discuss its merits honestly rather than cower in fear at the faintest notion that someone may feel different about a particular episode.
I usually fiercely defend Lost, but there's no defending this crap. They used every cheap cliche in the book. Back to back main characters suidicing by TALKING rather than taking action. Someone even said “Save Yourself!”. Gag.
A good read but I think it comes down to taste. Your reasoning on the writers reasoning for smokey is flawed. If I understand the rules directly smokey can't kill directly. So no matter how fast moves he still would have to set up traps and then bait them. That would begin to look suspicous especially to 815 passengers who are pretty conditioned to already being so. Good catch one the Jin/Sun arc. I don't find it as glib as you but it was kinda selfish. I still found it heartwrenching regardless.
I agree with everything you just said. I dont really take the critique on this site seriously. Its difficult to take it seriously when almost every article has basic grammar errors. I just check out this site for the news aspect because its one of the few i can actually get on at my work, but my point is that the way they critique movies and shows is beyond laughable.
OH SHUT UP. You are an idiot. Just make your own show and SHUT UP.
I completely understand that it is your opinion, I am just stating that SOME of the reasons for your critiques are not valid with what the show has given us. Sawyer made the CONSCIOUS decision to pull those wires. He knew the risk and did it anyway. That means people died by HIS hand. If they had instead been blown up by the plane, it would not have been Frank's fault because they would have had no idea there was even a bomb on the plane to begin with.
And your thoughts on MIB's final words. I will admit the way they were stated makes it sound like he was just going to go kill them off himself, but since we don't know what happens yet I think it's unfair to judge anything on this statement, so I don't know why it was even brought up.
It's obvious we both have different opinions. I respect your opinion, and don't see why you have to criticize us commenters on YOUR site for stating opinions we believe to be true based on what the show has given us so far.
I understand you're a fan, and it's apparent we're all fans, so there's no need to call people out for criticizing your thoughts when you just go back and criticize ours.
agreed as well. the guy is not a true LOST fan who has detached him self enough from the egocentric-fan-ownership of the series to be accepting of the story that the creators/writers are willing to tell. Of the people who i watched last night's episode with, some were very bitter and like “this show is stupid! how could they do that” and i was disheartened by their comments as well. its a matter of opinion of course, and anyone can dislike anything they want. sometimes people's dislikes really confuse me though
I'm a big lost fan as well since season 1. And I agree 100% percent with the points in this article. The pace of this show is inconsistently slow and nothing is fun and revelatory anymore. I miss the adventure of finding new gadgets and set locations. And where is the humor? They had one great humor episode this season…thats it. I miss that. The lighthouse was a cool location. I feel like this show is stuck in this permament rotation of Rashomon. Its getting old and they dont have the balls to do something grand that they could have done several seasons ago. It feels like the longest handjob ever. I would love to see the writers of BREAKING BAD take on LOST, where consequences really happen.
Only candidates can kill candidates. Even if MIB let Frank start the plane, he couldn't kill anyone, since they were candidates and he was not.
I liked the article; pointed out some good questions with team Darlton's logic in the EW article and I agree that it sure was a lot more interesting (albeit briefly) when it appeared that maybe Jacob wasn't the “white hat” and that MiB wasn't evil per se, maybe justified in wanting to be freed, misguided, desperate and ruthless in his willingness use the “rules” of the Jacob v. Smokey death-match to his advantage.
As stated (repeatedly), the “rules” do establish that Puffy can't kill the candidates directly; but apparently he can do it indirectly (e.g., get them to off themselves, such as by triggering a fail-safe on the bomb trigger mechanism, tricking Ben into garroting them). As this relates to the point here: I think his threat to Jack to be able to kill each one any time he wanted was all a bunch of hot air (…or, uh, whatever he's made of). Jack recently figured out that Smokes couldn't kill candidates (seemingly miraculously on the sub, with like 3 minutes to go before detonation), but as set up previously, Smoke-thang seems to crave the mere humans' fear of him (see e.g., his reaction when Desmond said he wasn't afraid of him; also how he demands respect from Sawyer). They're probably easier to manipulate that way. And that may be why he's making 'empty' threats.
The cliffhanger of Smokey-John running off, determined to 'finish what he started,' doesn't necessarily imply that he can kill the candidates directly either… maybe he's going to sic Team Widmore on them, or thwart the larger Widmore-based 'plan' by killing Desmond, who is crucial somehow (I guess he “started” killing him and didn't finish).
On the bigger issue of offing the candidates all at once: Sure, Smokey-John could have alternatively set up contrivances with the purpose of tricking each candidate into taking another out (or, say, ordered Zombie-Sayid in Temple-blood-lust mode to do it, although, clearly, MiB's hold on him wasn't exactly solid), but the logic holds: it does seem more expedient to do it in one fell swoop and before the candidates have a chance to be wary of his machinations. Maybe he's just really chomping at the bit to be done with the candidates; although you'd figure with him having been stuck on the Island for over a century, he/it would have a be a bit more calculating and have more patience.
I figure that he lied about his 'noble intentions' in taking the C4 from the plane; certainly, as well pointed out, it would be a way around the rules and would have killed the candidates (the ones that boarded the plane, anyway …leaving Jack, and thus leaving the Smokester still stuck), but it also would have had the unwanted side effect of blowing up the plane. I think Smokes-A-Lot planned on flying the friendly skies off the Island. The writers went out of their way in this episode to set up that Sideways Locke (and presumably Island-Locke…and the shell of Island-Locke that MiB inhabits) has pilot training.
Are we sure about this? Ben (not a Candidate, which was almost coldly pointed out by Jacob) was able to strangle Candidate Locke, and Candidate Sayid was killed (the first time, so maybe this doesn't count) from gunfire from the (non-Candidate) Dharma-folk.
So much for constructive criticism, huh, Matt? Damn but Lost fans are a sensitive bunch. Almost up there with TDK fans.
Just one of the many things about Lost I found annoying was how they would engineer storylines for characters to stick around when it became clear to Darlton how popular they were. Doesn't seem like the right way to run a shop.
a show like this shouldn't be reviewed by someone who isn't an avid watcher. talked about flaws in the epi, but this whole review was filled with flaws. need to know backstory if you're going to critique. can't believe jin and sun are dead. they were on my list of who shouldnt die along jack hurley kate sawyer desmond penny ben miles (sayid, juliet)
i third this sentiment. I am a true LOST fan and it goes without saying that all true LOST fans appreciate the show for what it is, not how it should be or how they expected it to be. I thought it was one of the best, if not THE best episode of the season.
However, with regards to this article here, I think it is a fair and good critique, true LOST fan or not. But the problems that the author pointed out are simply due to a lack of understanding which is no problem for LOST fans when remembering tiny details from season 1 is second-nature and definitely uber-nerdy.
werd
YES finally. Locke can only “kill” people by getting other people to do it (the rules). Sawyer pulled the wires which means anything goes for the candidates and they wouldve died at his hand. They can all die. Jack was right.
Sawyer should feel like shit now. Responsible for the deaths of 4 beloved characters. Though it's hard to hate him as the only really logical thing to do would be to try to disarm the bomb. Only Jack, and Hurley (love the guy but dude doesnt think), understand why they cant die [sigh]
harsh, but I totally agree: “The Greatest Television Show Ever Made.”
dude cmon, MIB is Smoke-Locke, it's all the same. Stop being anal
i think anybody but Jacob and MIB can kill people. Theyre like overseers of a huge observational study where they can only look and interfere I guess, but ultimately leave the decisionmaking to the people
definitely agree with the notion that Darlton is willing to kill characters, but not just any characters. Not surprising that Jack, Hurley, Kate, and Sawyer made it to the beach. Funnily enough, the ones who died are also minorities. Go figure. Anyone wanna comment on that haha
This.
I'd understand the confusion over this issue if Jack didn't figure it out and tell the audience exactly this when making the argument with Sawyer. It was an awesome moment and was pretty much confirmed by the following events.
I did think of Sun and Jin's child, but I think Jin was simply being irrational in the face of what was happening. It was completely understandable and very sad. Thankfully we got to see Jin bringing flowers to Sun in the hallway later in the show.
Yeah it's funny. I read this article and was about to make a comment disagreeing with it and stating why I thought this was one of the better episodes of the season but then I read the comment section and sort of didn't want to be on the side of all the people needlessly attacking your fandom.
While I disagree with many, though not all, of your complaints they are clearly complaining as a fan.
My big question is where the hell are Ben, Alpert and Miles.
“As to why sideways Locke couldn’t trust Jack? It’s one of the many mysteries I still haven’t been able to solve.”
It had nothing to do with trust, Matt. John felt he deserved his punishment due to his guilt over having crashed the plane and turned his father into a vegetable.
As for Jack's statement “I wish you had believed me”, he was talking about how Locke could let his guilt go, and accept that he deserves to undergo the surgical procedure.