Lost "The Last Recruit"

The best episodes of Lost, and of any TV show for that matter, are the ones that contain heavily emotional stories that resonate with all viewers and leave a lasting impression. Still, an episode with no true focus can still be compelling, and that's exactly what happens in "The Last Recruit."

With no true centricity, this episode follows the characters as they come into one group on the island, and split from there. Claire, Sun, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, and Frank go on a boat to Hydra Island to attempt to go to the submarine. Jack ends up returning to Flocke after deciding he can't leave the island. And all of the Others are with Flocke, preparing to attack Hydra Island.

In X Land, the characters continue to bounce around and meet each other through coincidences (coincidences named Desmond Hume). But we see more evidence of bleed-over. Sun is afraid of Locke when being wheeled into the hospital. Where this will lead, though, we don't know for sure.

With all of those chess pieces moving, we are provided with some answers to biting questions. The biggest bomb of the night: Flocke/Man In Black was Christian on the third day after the plane crash (See S1E5, White Rabbit). This doesn't necessarily mean Flocke has been Christian every instance we've seen him, but some clarification would be nice.

We also got some great moments. Jack and Claire's reunion was very cool, and continued to show us how twisted Claire is. At the same time, Jack being befuddled at finding Claire to be his sister in the alternate timeline was interesting. Desmond talking to Sayid was great, and it's possible Sayid has been turned back from the "Dark Side." Jack and Sawyer on the boat was amazing. It shows in one small scene just how far Jack has come as a character over only a couple weeks in the world of Lost. Continuing my love for Jack, his conversations with his son throughout the episode and then his beginning of the surgery were acted well and cleverly written. And to top it off, Jin and Sun finally reunited. It was very touching, and exemplified one of the core elements of the show: love.

And of course, ACTUAL bombs going off around Flocke without him so much as flinching was, to put it bluntly, badass.

All of these moments wouldn't have been as great as they were without the technical side of the show being as good as it was. The music in this episode was especially noticeable. The best cues were in scenes like Jack and Locke's conversation, Desmond's well advice, and Jin and Suns' reunion. The camera work was also involving. I loved the shot pulling out from Suns' hospital room to show us Jack and David just in the hall. I also loved the shot of Jack realizing in the mirror who Locke was. The special effects, while not hugely important here, were great during the explosion scenes. All of this really drew me in, and gave weight to the moves being made to set up the end game of this show.

I had high expectations for this episode, and to be quite honest they weren't met. But seeing as this turned out to be only set up for what should be a compelling and touching final stretch, I'm pleased that the episode could be packed with this many great moments.

8/10