Lost 6.13 The Last Recruit
Apr. 21st, 2010 11:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Sawyer betrays a real lack of pop culture knowledge, and reunions happen galore.
Okay, first of all, my theory that Desmond in one or both timelines might have been taken over/replaced by Jacob just gained new fuel. There is an utter lack of Desmond-isms in his speech; "what will you tell her?" to Sayid in Lost Prime and the whole unintentionally creepy spiel to Claire in the Rebootverse both sound uttery Jacob-like. Besides, it would fit. Smokey was able to blindside Jacob by showing up in Locke's shape; Jacob, whose ghost has not been sighted by Hurley or anyone else for several episodes now, could have slipped in when Desmond was bombarded by whatever Widmore exposed him to, and has been acting in Desmond's body ever since.
Secondly, Obvious Ploy is Obvious - of course Sayid didn't kill Desmond. If Sayid is Anakin, I suppose that makes Smokey Palpatine and Nadia Padmé, but I'm not sure whether Desmond either as himself or as Jacob is really fitting for Luke. Also, if Sayid throws Smokey into a shaft while being electrocuted, the writers really have gone too far in their geekdom. Not that I feel too friendly towards Smokey right now, given his statement about Locke. Mind you, it's just the kind of hubristic thing that is a set-up for a later smackdown by fate, and I'm beginning to have an inkling as to how that might be accomplished. Note how that dialogue with Jack goes. Jack asks why Smokey chose to look like Locke. Smokey replies because "Locke was stupid enough to believe" that he had a purpose on the island, and because that belief got Locke killed. Then there's the chat about which other dead people Smokey imitated, about which more in a moment, and then Jack says, returning to Locke: "Locke was the only one of us who believed in this island." Upon which Smokey downright angrily says: "John Locke was a sucker."
Now, Smokey has called Locke "pathetic" before (when talking to Ben), but here he does't just sound negative but hostile. Meanwhile, Jack, who has come to accept more and more of Locke's "faith" position, and who had that "I wish you had believed me" message from Locke, later tells Sawyer that a) he thinks the island isn't done with them yet, b) if Smokey wants them off-island, this is a good argument to stay, and c) after leaving the island the last time, he felt like a part of him was missing and couldn't live in his old life. Leaving aside that signals Jack as Jacob's eventual replacement rather heavily, it's also a reminder that in addition to Jacob and Smokey, and on a less metaphysical level Widmore, the island itself might be a player in events. The island, not Jacob or Smokey, and the island was what Locke had fallen in love/faith with and had believed in. Meanwhile, in the Rebootverse, Jack, as all of you wanting to comfort me last week predicted, ends up operating on Reboot!Locke. And Sun, who is there simultanously, recognizes and misidentifies Locke as Smokey, meaning her own near-death situation either allows her to access Prime Sun's mind or has reawakened her memories. And in the Primeverse, Smokey ends up saving Jack's life (presumably because he's a candidate). We don't know yet whether Jack's operation in the Rebootverse will be succesful, of course, but say it will be. Then all the preceeding observations make me come up with the following speculation:wee_warrior is right that Smokey is beginning to be affected by Locke's memories. This is not something Smokey cares for, hence the increasingly hostile remarks about the late John Locke. The longer he stays in Locke's body, the higher the danger to him that Locke's memories will one day overwhelm his own personality. Presumably, if Smokey manages to leave the island, he'd be able to ditch Locke's body as well, but right now, he can't. If Jack saves Locke's life in the Rebootverse, and Locke's near-death situation will, like Sun and Charley, have made him aware of at least some of what happened in the Primeverse, he won't be a happy camper, either. (What Smokey did to him is like the kidney scam by Dad, only writ large.) Smokey might be immune to bullets, but what would happen if Real!Locke, enabled by Jack deliberately or subconsciously, would try to switch between verses? It has been pointed out right now in dialogue between Jack and Smokey that Smokey needed Locke to be dead before being able to "wear" his body. If Locke were alive again, if the timelines further merged to allow switches between them so Reboot!Locke could go the Primeverse, could he kick out Smokey, so to speak?
In other news, that scene beween Cop!Sawyer and On The Run!Kate was suprisingly appealing for a non-shipper like me. I liked that she figured out he wanted to hide his trip to Australia. Also, I don't blame Prime!Claire for feeling abandoned, seeing how quickly Jack is able to go from "so, we're siblings, how about that?" reunion fondness to being persuaded by Sawyer to leave Claire behind (again). It would be nice if Kate had given Sawyer her "either she comes with us or I stay as well" ultimatum before Claire showed up, but well, better late than never, and also, I think Claire like Rousseau progressively becomes less unbalanced the more she has the opportunity to interact with people again.
Smokey replying to Jack's question as to whether he impersonated Christian with "yes", and Claire referencing Smokey-as-Christian later, too: I'd take that at face value, were it not for the fact Christian Shephard's body is still missing in the Rebootverse as well. Which leaves me with three possibilities:
1) Smokey told Jack part of the truth; he did impersonate Christian on the occasion Jack refers to, but not always on the others, hence the Christian who shows Sun and Frank the Dharma photo, for example. That Christian is actually Real!Christian, like Michael was not Smokey but Real!Michael in the last episode.
2) Smokey said the truth. He was always Christian. He could appear as Christian while simultanously being Locke in s5 because Jacob hadn't died yet; his inability to assume a form other than Locke and his smoke form came only after Jacob's death.
3) Smokey lied, because he wanted Jack to think he had helped Jack in the past. That first appearance by Christian was actually someone else. (The island?)
Trivia: we have a timeline now, as Sawyer/James Ford says it's been a week between the flight from Sydney to him interrogating Kate at the station. This explains why Reboot!Ben doesn't know Reboot!Locke's first name yet (and throws a spanner into my plan to write lots of missing scenes for them before Desmond runs Locke down), but I'm still glad he drove with him in the ambulance, was so concerned and that close to dying!Locke did tell him not only Helen's but his own first name.
Lastly, re: cliffhanger: my guess is Our Heroes are going to be rescued from execution by Widmore by Team Blow Up The Plane (i.e. Richard, Ben and Miles) who are about due to arrive at the Hydra station right now. Anyway, glad to see good old Charles W. can still be relied upon to do the most dastardly thing.
Okay, first of all, my theory that Desmond in one or both timelines might have been taken over/replaced by Jacob just gained new fuel. There is an utter lack of Desmond-isms in his speech; "what will you tell her?" to Sayid in Lost Prime and the whole unintentionally creepy spiel to Claire in the Rebootverse both sound uttery Jacob-like. Besides, it would fit. Smokey was able to blindside Jacob by showing up in Locke's shape; Jacob, whose ghost has not been sighted by Hurley or anyone else for several episodes now, could have slipped in when Desmond was bombarded by whatever Widmore exposed him to, and has been acting in Desmond's body ever since.
Secondly, Obvious Ploy is Obvious - of course Sayid didn't kill Desmond. If Sayid is Anakin, I suppose that makes Smokey Palpatine and Nadia Padmé, but I'm not sure whether Desmond either as himself or as Jacob is really fitting for Luke. Also, if Sayid throws Smokey into a shaft while being electrocuted, the writers really have gone too far in their geekdom. Not that I feel too friendly towards Smokey right now, given his statement about Locke. Mind you, it's just the kind of hubristic thing that is a set-up for a later smackdown by fate, and I'm beginning to have an inkling as to how that might be accomplished. Note how that dialogue with Jack goes. Jack asks why Smokey chose to look like Locke. Smokey replies because "Locke was stupid enough to believe" that he had a purpose on the island, and because that belief got Locke killed. Then there's the chat about which other dead people Smokey imitated, about which more in a moment, and then Jack says, returning to Locke: "Locke was the only one of us who believed in this island." Upon which Smokey downright angrily says: "John Locke was a sucker."
Now, Smokey has called Locke "pathetic" before (when talking to Ben), but here he does't just sound negative but hostile. Meanwhile, Jack, who has come to accept more and more of Locke's "faith" position, and who had that "I wish you had believed me" message from Locke, later tells Sawyer that a) he thinks the island isn't done with them yet, b) if Smokey wants them off-island, this is a good argument to stay, and c) after leaving the island the last time, he felt like a part of him was missing and couldn't live in his old life. Leaving aside that signals Jack as Jacob's eventual replacement rather heavily, it's also a reminder that in addition to Jacob and Smokey, and on a less metaphysical level Widmore, the island itself might be a player in events. The island, not Jacob or Smokey, and the island was what Locke had fallen in love/faith with and had believed in. Meanwhile, in the Rebootverse, Jack, as all of you wanting to comfort me last week predicted, ends up operating on Reboot!Locke. And Sun, who is there simultanously, recognizes and misidentifies Locke as Smokey, meaning her own near-death situation either allows her to access Prime Sun's mind or has reawakened her memories. And in the Primeverse, Smokey ends up saving Jack's life (presumably because he's a candidate). We don't know yet whether Jack's operation in the Rebootverse will be succesful, of course, but say it will be. Then all the preceeding observations make me come up with the following speculation:
wee_warrior is right that Smokey is beginning to be affected by Locke's memories. This is not something Smokey cares for, hence the increasingly hostile remarks about the late John Locke. The longer he stays in Locke's body, the higher the danger to him that Locke's memories will one day overwhelm his own personality. Presumably, if Smokey manages to leave the island, he'd be able to ditch Locke's body as well, but right now, he can't. If Jack saves Locke's life in the Rebootverse, and Locke's near-death situation will, like Sun and Charley, have made him aware of at least some of what happened in the Primeverse, he won't be a happy camper, either. (What Smokey did to him is like the kidney scam by Dad, only writ large.) Smokey might be immune to bullets, but what would happen if Real!Locke, enabled by Jack deliberately or subconsciously, would try to switch between verses? It has been pointed out right now in dialogue between Jack and Smokey that Smokey needed Locke to be dead before being able to "wear" his body. If Locke were alive again, if the timelines further merged to allow switches between them so Reboot!Locke could go the Primeverse, could he kick out Smokey, so to speak?In other news, that scene beween Cop!Sawyer and On The Run!Kate was suprisingly appealing for a non-shipper like me. I liked that she figured out he wanted to hide his trip to Australia. Also, I don't blame Prime!Claire for feeling abandoned, seeing how quickly Jack is able to go from "so, we're siblings, how about that?" reunion fondness to being persuaded by Sawyer to leave Claire behind (again). It would be nice if Kate had given Sawyer her "either she comes with us or I stay as well" ultimatum before Claire showed up, but well, better late than never, and also, I think Claire like Rousseau progressively becomes less unbalanced the more she has the opportunity to interact with people again.
Smokey replying to Jack's question as to whether he impersonated Christian with "yes", and Claire referencing Smokey-as-Christian later, too: I'd take that at face value, were it not for the fact Christian Shephard's body is still missing in the Rebootverse as well. Which leaves me with three possibilities:
1) Smokey told Jack part of the truth; he did impersonate Christian on the occasion Jack refers to, but not always on the others, hence the Christian who shows Sun and Frank the Dharma photo, for example. That Christian is actually Real!Christian, like Michael was not Smokey but Real!Michael in the last episode.
2) Smokey said the truth. He was always Christian. He could appear as Christian while simultanously being Locke in s5 because Jacob hadn't died yet; his inability to assume a form other than Locke and his smoke form came only after Jacob's death.
3) Smokey lied, because he wanted Jack to think he had helped Jack in the past. That first appearance by Christian was actually someone else. (The island?)
Trivia: we have a timeline now, as Sawyer/James Ford says it's been a week between the flight from Sydney to him interrogating Kate at the station. This explains why Reboot!Ben doesn't know Reboot!Locke's first name yet (and throws a spanner into my plan to write lots of missing scenes for them before Desmond runs Locke down), but I'm still glad he drove with him in the ambulance, was so concerned and that close to dying!Locke did tell him not only Helen's but his own first name.
Lastly, re: cliffhanger: my guess is Our Heroes are going to be rescued from execution by Widmore by Team Blow Up The Plane (i.e. Richard, Ben and Miles) who are about due to arrive at the Hydra station right now. Anyway, glad to see good old Charles W. can still be relied upon to do the most dastardly thing.
