If last week’s Richard-centric flashback episode was a different kind of LOST, and it was, then this week’s “The Package” was a lot of the same old, same old. But for a show that, by last estimate, was drawing over 10 million viewers per episode, the same old is clearly working well.

This week’s episode moved along the Jacob/Man-in-Black plot quite speedily while still, in true LOST fashion, revealing only scant details surrounding the billion other questions that fans have.

“The Package” follows the alternate reality lives of Sun and Jin as they arrive in Los Angeles on the Oceanic flight that doesn’t crash. In a whole lot of twists and turns we learn that Sun and Jin, while not married, are involved in a secret relationship against Sun’s father’s wishes. Sun has traveled to L.A. under the auspices of a shopping trip. Jin has been sent, by Sun’s father, as her bodyguard. In reality, as we learn, Sun’s father has sent Jin to L.A. to be killed by Kimi, the same mercenary goon sent to the island by Charles Widmore to kill Ben, way back when. It is in L.A. that Sun finds out that her secret bank account has been discovered and closed by her father. Her plan to run away with Jin, which appears to be her real motivation for coming to L.A., is immediately hampered when her funds disappear.

As we saw in Sayid’s flash-sideways, Jin is discovered in the fridge locker at the same restaurant where Sayid meets with and kills Kimi and his henchman. Once Sayid leaves Jin waits, feigning dead, until Sun and another of Kimi’s men, Mikhail, the previously eye-patched Russian Other, return to the restaurant. Jin kills Mikhail after an emotional stand-off in which Sun is hit by a bullet prompting her to tell Jin that she is, in fact, pregnant.

On the island, things move right along. Jacob’s Nemesis, as John Locke, is finally defining his mission with some clarity. He wants to leave the island and in order to do that needs to gather up all of Jacob’s candidates and have them leave with him. So this is how the series will go down, a battle of wills and choices. So far, Locke seems to have Sawyer and Kate but needs several more. In this episode his targets are Jin and Sun. Since only “Kwon” is on the list of candidates Locke needs both of them to come with him off the island if he’s going to escape. But both flee Locke’s advances. Jin, leaving camp to find Sun, and Sun, running from Locke through the jungle only to knock herself out and forget how to speak English (she can still understand it spoken to her). When Ilana, Jack, Ben and the beach team decide that they must follow Richard and try to stop Jacob’s Nemesis from leaving the island, Sun decides that she must stay behind and try and find her husband who has now arrived at Widmore’s camp, behind the sonic fence.

Meanwhile on Hydra Island, Jacob’s Nemesis comes face to face with someone who just might be his match: Charles Widmore. Widmore, who’s return to the island is still under a shroud of mystery, has set up a sonic fence perimeter around his camp and parlays with John Locke through the invisible barrier. When Locke asks Widmore if he knows who he is Widmore replies that he knows he isn’t John Locke, but that he’s heard of him, in noises in the jungle, in rumours and myths. The two stand face to face with only the invisible fence between them and Locke tells him that “a wise man once said that war is coming to this island. I think it just got here.” The wise man, of course, was Widmore himself. When John first left the island, after turning the wheel, it was Widmore who met him and explained that he’d have to return to the island, that a war was coming, and that he needed to be there.

The episode ends with Widmore bringing out the eponymous “package” from the submarine. Sayid, who came over with Locke as a spy and is hiding in the water by the submarine sees Desmond, the package, being pulled from the sub. Desmond, who has been drugged for the underwater trip, stumbles and falls coming face to face with the unseen Sayid on the edge of the dock. Desmond, the package, is about to become Widmore’s pocket ace. If Jacob’s Nemesis wants to leave the island, remember, he needs to gather up all of Jacob’s candidates to go with him. Desmond, you’ll remember, is a candidate and now in the protection of Widmore himself along with Jin.

It looks like, if the showdown between Good and Evil was between Jacob and the Man-in-Black, the showdown of Evil and Evil, Widmore and John Locke, is about to begin.

On the theory side of things there’s a lot to puzzle about.

First, what is Widmore’s mission? Why has he come back to the island? I originally thought he might be on Jacob’s side, but I’m not so sure anymore. Perhaps, I think, he may wish to take over the entire island, to rid it of Jacob and his Nemesis, and to control it for himself. Maybe he was banished from the island because he took orders from no man, and wanted to do things himself. But how would holding candidates captive help him in that mission? Maybe he is on Jacob’s side after all. Or maybe he’s on a new side altogether.

It’s clear that Locke, who is the embodiment of evil, wants to leave the island. He needs all of Jacob’s candidates to come with him. If there’s anyone left to replace Jacob then Locke can’t leave. Why? We don’t. What I’m wondering about is the Man-in-Black’s ability to kill off candidates. Previously, I’ve hypothesized that characters who were making good choices—who were self-sacrificial and generally good—were being killed off by him. Mr. Eko, who had redeemed himself after his brother’s death, and Charlie, who sacrificed himself to bring rescue to the island. If you remember, Eko was killed by the Smoke Monster and Charlie was killed by Mikhail, who himself was killed, and came back from the dead, several times. Back then, we thought he was some kind of invicible Russian monster. In hindsight, I think that he did die and was inhabited, like John Locke is, by Jacob’s Nemesis. So, if the Nemesis can kill people who make good choices, can kill candidates who he appears to be unable to turn, then what about the remaining candidates. Is it true that he has to gather them all up to leave? Or does he merely have to kill them if they won’t come with. Remember, we’ve been told before that the Nemesis wanted to kill everyone on the island.

The flash-sideways is still a puzzle to me and how it mirrors the real reality, I’m not sure. What does it mean that Sun and Jin aren’t married but are still in love? Jacob, when he meets them in the real reality, tells them never to take their love for granted. They aren’t, and they’re trying to run away from Sun’s father’s grasp. And she’s pregnant. They seem to be making good choices, in a way. They’re following their hearts, but are they unable or unwilling to be married? Is it good to hide their love away? I don’t know. Some characters, like John and Ben, make very good choices in the flash-sideways reality and they find themselves, on the island, equally redeemed. Jack seems to be back to his confident self, finally OK with the idea that he’s destined to be on the island. Ben finally gives up on manipulating people and in that humbling scene a few episodes back, joins Ilana’s camp in complete humility. Do these characters’ choices in the flash-sideways somehow reflect their choices on the island? They seem to. Sayid, who’s gone ape-mad in the flash-sideways, is equally batty-out-of-control on the island. But what about John? Can we even draw parallels between flash-sideways Locke and the Man-in-Black who currently inhabits his body? And what about Claire and Kate?

The show’s producers did say that the two timelines would eventually align themselves before the season’s end—I heard somewhere in the middle of this season—but who knows. Next week’s episode is called “Happily Ever After” and the preview teasers did talk about a “path”. Does this mean that the two timelines might align themselves next week? I wonder, I wonder, I hope. We’re also told to expect to see Walt back again, or at least to have his character explained and I’m still expecting Mr. Eko to return but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.

All told, I loved last night’s episode. I like the new Richard, now with religion. I like Jack, who is back, and what about Lapidus who is a candidate. I love him. While we aren’t getting all of our questions answered, I do think we’re getting a lot out of LOST these days. The series is as strong as ever and when it ends, however ends, will be a sad, sad day.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 10:52 am and is filed under Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.