'What They Died For': Lost S06E16 Recap and Review

Lost S06E15: What They Died For Recap and Review

The last regular episode of Lost, and John Locke, with a little help from Ben, sure made the most of it. "What They Died For" had more action than most recent Lost episodes, and that's good or bad news, depending on whether or not you're Team Locke or Team Jacob. So here's a quick review of Lost S06 E16: "What They Died For".

Previously, on Lost:

• 'Across the Sea' Review
  

We start in alt-Los Angeles, where Jack notices his mysterious neck injury is bleeding again: probably a sign of the island-reality blending into the alt-reality. We've all been there. Not us-us, but alt-us. Anyway, he gets a call that his dad's coffin was found... but it isn't Oceanic Airways calling: it's Desmond, doing an accent! Desmond is Hannibal Smith in this reality.

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Lostaways All Agree: 'This Sucks'

On the Island, Jack is tending to Kate while Hurley and Sawyer stare out to see, probably depressed because their only friends just got blown up and/or drowned in the sub. Jack and Kate resolve to kill Locke. The remaining Lostaways go look for Desmond, because, before dying, Sayid told Jack that Desmond didn't die, brotha.

In alt-LA, Locke is out of hospital, but Desmond is waiting in the parking lot to re-enact scenes from Death Proof. Ben confronts him. Desmond beats the crap out of Ben, and it's an trans-reality beat-down, as Ben experiences getting his ass kicked by Desmond in the other reality, too! Des tells Ben, "I'm not trying to kill him, I'm trying to help him let go!"  Then Ben has to go to the nurse's office.

Return to New Otherton

On the island, Myles, Richard and Ben head to New Otherton, where Ben has sh*tloads of C4 hidden in his house. Of course he does. He's Ben. Myles pauses and tells Ben that he found Alex's unmarked grave. Richard tells Ben that he came back and buried her. Ben has a moment with the baby he kidnapped and loved as his own daughter. Even though he let Keamy kill her.

They retrieve the C4, only to find... Widmore and fake Tina Fey waiting for them! Holy crap, Charles Widmore is one smug bastard. For some unknown reason, Ben doesn't immediately cap Widmore.

Instead, they find that Locke has arrived from Hydra Island. Ben lets Widmore and Tina Faux hide in the secret Ben-chamber.

Alt-LA: Ben and Locke are in the nurse's office. Ben's a mess. Similar injuries to his island-reality altercation with Desmond. Ben and Locke realize that they've both experienced other realities, and are like, O_o.

Desmond turns himself in to the cops (Sawyer and Myles), and gets shoved in a cell with Sayid. Kate is their neighbor.

'Very Close to the End'

On the island, Jack is convincing Sawyer that the sub incident (we'll call it "the oopsie") wasn't Sawyer's fault, but it totally was. Hurley sees kid-Jacob, who snakes the ashes and runs. Hurley chases him to find adult-Jacob throwing the ashes onto a fire. When that fire burns down, Jacob will be completely gone.

Jacob tells Hurley, "We're very close to the end". I know, dude.

Alt-LA: Alex gets her mom (a smiling, non-grimy Rousseau) to give him a ride home and invite him round for dinner. Rousseau is a good cook. She tells Ben that he's like a father figure to Alex. Ben is like O_O, then he gets all weepy.

You Got Locked

John Locke arrives on the island, ready to go to work. Ben and Richard are waiting in New Otherton- it's really eerie. Locke smokifies and takes out Richard. WTF?! Just like that? A thousand million ladies screamed in agony as Smokey slams Richard through a building. Can Richard actually die? I dunno, but it doesn't look good. 

Charles Wid-Not-Anymore

Locke then has a chat with Ben, who's ready to poop himself with terror. Locke gets Ben to agree to "kill some people". Ben immediately leads Locke to Widmore. Locke wastes no time in canceling fake Tina Fey, and threatening Penny; how does he even know Penny exists? Widmore tells Locke why he needs Desmond, and Ben shoots Widmore to death. Just like that.

Widmore's fatal flaw was not treating Ben with the proper degree of respect, or at least a bit of fear. Turning your back on Ben is a dumb thing to do, and Widmore learns this the hard way. Bye, Widmore. Now Ben has the taste for blood again, and is ready to whup some ass.

Hurley leads jack, Kate and Sawyer to Jacob. They can all see and hear him. he tells them that one of them must take over his job, and before the fire burns down. Which is soon.

John Locke: I Wanna Walk

In alt-LA, Locke visits Jack and agrees to have the surgery to be able to walk: "I'm ready to get out of this chair." He tells Jack about Ben's encounter with Desmond, and how the universe wants him to "let go".

On the island, Jacob admits to making the mistake that led to this whole mess: tossing his bro down the golden waterfall cave thingie. Now the Lostaways must choose among themselves who will be the new Jacob. Because that's fair, right? F*ck you, Jacob.

Jacob tells the remaining candidates that they're all damaged people leading crap lives, so that somehow justifies bringing them to the island. Kate is still a candidate, though by raising Aaron, she got herself crossed off the list. The job is to protect the light in the center of the island from Smokey, and make sure it never goes out. Jack volunteers because he's Jack. Actually, he kind of became Locke over the course of Season 6.

Jacob makes Jack drink the Kool Aid some water from the river, and now Jack is apparently immortal.

Alt-LA: Desmond, Kate and Sayid are off to County in the back of a police van. Desmond is Michael Schofield and tells them that he has an escape hooked up, as long as they agree to do something for him. They agree.

The van pulls over and Ana-Lucia (!!) lets them out, in exchange for a stack of cash from Hurley (!!!), who helped Desmond organize the whole thing. Desmond must've gotten to Hurley, who had his own Island Awareness Moment when getting down with Libby on the beach. On their date. Aawww. Anyway, Desmond must really be Michael Schofield, since they're standing at a Los Angeles waterfront lot that was used as a location for Prison Break Season 4.

Desmond tells Kate that she's going to a concert with him. Must be the concert where Jack's son is playing, put on by Myles' dad, to which Sawyer and Charlotte were invited. Will the Lost series finale be a musical?

On the island, Locke reveals that Desmond was brought to the island as a fail-safe in case Locke kills everyone (which he's in the process of doing, don't micromanage him). Locke, though, is going to mix things up by getting Desmond to help him destroy the island. The same island which he had promised to Ben back on the porch. Oh, UnLocke, we just can't get this trust thing going.

... Bad Robot!

So What Have We Learned?

So we know that Jacob is really childish, and we still don't know why these particular people were chosen. Surely there are people with more messed-up lives?

We also get more of a sense of Desmond as the key to the story, which is weird, since he only appeared in Season 2. We also don't know how, even if the Lostaways defeat Smokey-Locke, how they're going to get off the island. 

We still don't get a satisfying answer to the question posed by the episode's title: why the main characters died, why the Dharma Initiative were wiped out, why Smokey can't just agree to disagree, why mass murder is a way of life on the island.

This episode didn't so much answer questions-- Jacob's sit-down was about as useful and informative as most workday meetings-- as move the narrative forward, setting us up for the finale, which promises time-travel, reality-shifting, Jack vs Smokey, and piano music.