Review: Lost 6.13: The Last Recruit

Jack is The Man Of Faith...

Lost - Season Six, Episode Thirteen - The Last Recruit
Written 5/3/13

Weirdly, The Last Recruit, despite being another furniture moving episode, managed to be quite captivating. It's distinctly non-centric, and that was very much to its benefit, as it felt for perhaps the first time in a while that the old gang was back together again after Season Four and Five's various seperations. There was a newfound sense of pace after a few episodes of exposition and some of the more boring characters getting their centrics out of the way. We're in full finale mode now. And it feels awesome.
     On the Island, Jack confronted the MIB about his various impersonations of dead people through the years, and became part of Sawyer's plan to leave MIB in the lurch and reunite the original 815 crew (sans Sayid) on the Submarine. They manage to execute the plan, with Claire hopping along as well. Sayid is sent to kill Desmond, but the wily scotsman talks him out of it and he appears to be recovered when MIB asks him what has happened. Jack tells Sawyer that his fate is to stay on the Island, so he swims back to shore. Once the gang arrives on Hydra Island, Widmore's men corner them, telling them the deal is off. Jin and Sun tearfully reunite. Widmore attacks the mainland with mortars, and MIB makes a point of saving Jack's life.
      In the flash-sideways, all sorts of crazy shenanigans are going on. Desmond pushes Claire towards her brother Jack at a law firm, where they both share info on Christian Shepherd and how much he got around. Jack was forced to get away when Locke was rolled into the Hospital, where Sun has also been taken after Jin accidentally shot her a couple of weeks back. Sawyer has a nice chat with Kate, who still protests her innocence, and then goes with Miles and captures Sayid, who has been blamed for all of the shootings.

Flash-sideways Jack recognises his patient.

     My writings about Lost are going to become increasingly incohearant as we reach the finale, mainly becasue I don't particularly have much to rage about or praise. I did enjoy all of the character work that this episode gave us, especially in the interactions between Jack and the MIB. I won't say that I like the fact that Jack has gone from the show's representation of science and rationality and turned blindly towards faith, but it does certainly give Matthew Fox a lot of interesting things to do. The MIB is still an incredibly enjoyable villain, straddling the line between a man with understandable desperation and a complete and utter bastard who enjoys his manipulation.
     The Last Recruit was the last bit of peacetime we're gonna get around here. One last little adventure for our gang to undertake, one last moment for a bit of optimism. It had a lack of focus, but that really wasn't a problem as the character work for everyone was above par. Next week's episode is a complete washout of tears and misery as three of our major characters die in very depressing and somewhat suspect ways. See you there.

Thanks.