The Last Recruit could just as easily be entitled "The Last Hurrah", for it's the last time we'd see so many of the original Losties together in one place (minus the flash-sideways).
Both the flash-sideways (FS) and island storylines are a bit scatterred but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In both cases the seemingly randomized plot points are starting to converge.
We'll start with the FS, where Sawyer and Miles hunt down Sayid following his restaurant massacre. As luck would have it, Kate's also in custody at the same LAPD station. Elsewhere, Sun arrives at the hospital via ambulance at roughly the same moment Locke is and she recognizes him.
Tangent: I remember the controversy when TLR first aired, because based on the timelines presented in The Package and Happily Ever After there was no realistic way Sun and Locke could have arrived at the hospital simultaneously. Oh yes, I remember people insisting the writers were sloppy, that they'd given up. Well the joke was on us. There is no "now" here.
The island storyline is a little haphazard and linear, but it's a necessary stage in the overall setup. Fake Locke (FLocke) tasks Sayid with killing Desmond, as the war has started earlier than he anticipated and thus Desmond's no longer a bargaining chip. Sawyer and Kate are directed to grab FLocke's boat (the Elizabeth) and park it at a rendezvous point, but Sawyer's got other plans. Jack and a few other Losties break away from FLocke's jungle trek and head toward a different rendezvous point instead.
Just one problem: Sawyer's not willing to have any dissenting voices on "his" boat so he tells Jack to take a hike. Jack jumps off the boat and washes ashore to find FLocke waiting for him. Widmore's goons pound the beach with missiles, Jack gets his bell rung and FLocke "saves" him much like he did in the past with Claire. The Last Recruit indeed.
Sawyer's group is confronted on the beach by Zoe and Friends, which allows Sun and Jin to share the most anticlimactic reunion you'll ever see (not to mention one of the cheesiest lines ever, delivered by Lapidus).
If this feels like a play-by-play summary, I can't really help it. There aren't any major themes or parallels to analyze here and the structure is very simple.
TLR is so splintered amongst all the different characters it's tough to pick top honors for acting. Terry O'Quinn is probably the most deserving as he's the anchor that holds the island storyline together, plus he had a decent (albeit brief) scene or two in the flash-sideways.
Deductions for Sheila Kelley (Zoe), who typically doesn't bother me but was especially irritating in her confrontation with Locke. Two lines were especially disappointing:
ZOE: You took something from us, and we want it back. (spoken in a little girl's voice)
ZOE: Show them what we're capable of. (way over-enunciated with an inexplicable pause before "of").
Stephen Semel gets his second episode to direct in LOST, the first being Ji Yeon. This one isn't quite as complex in terms of capturing the thematic elements — mostly because there weren't any. It was simply a fast-paced march toward resolution in both storylines.
First off, EXPLOSIONS! Yeah, baby! Okay, so it's kind of a visceral guy thing to love explosions, but what can I say. The fact that FLocke didn't flinch when a missile explodes near his camp was one of those iconic bad-guy moments.
The explosions in the last scene were also well done, particularly the execution of Jack hurling through the air. Could've done without the concussion effect that was already used in LA X and Live Together, Die Alone but that's not on Semel's shoulders.
Deductions for the inconsistent establishment of how deep Desmond's well was. One minute it looks to be 30 or 40 feet, then we get a shot over Sayid's gun which makes it look more like 12 to 15. It's not a big deal from a narrative perspective but it's an unnecessary distraction.
I won't say TLR is at the top of my list of S6 episodes to watch repeatedly, but it's certainly not bad. You can augment your own enjoyment of the episode if you take time to reflect on how far all the Losties have come (or regressed). It's very bizarre to see nearly everyone reunited at FLocke's camp of all places.
The significance of TLR's events on the island are certainly up for debate. The first time through there seems to be an awful lot of traveling to random locations and shifting strategies. The good news is it's probably realistic given the fact that a chess game was underway. The bad news is it can result in a frustrating sensation of stalling.
Two moments which provided a brief emotional impact were:
1. Jack apologizing to Sawyer and jumping off the boat, even though no apology was necessary.
2. Kate talking Claire into joining them on the boat. Claire's had it rough, she deserved some empathy.
Unfortunately the big emotional moment wasn't emotional at all. Sun and Jin's reunion felt so tacked-on and rushed I was honestly disappointed for Yunjin and DDK. The writers did Sun and Jin no favors in Season 6 and now their long-awaited reunion was just another stilted and anticlimactic moment. It doesn't help that we'd already seen a more emotional reunion between them in Collision, or that Lapidus chimed in, "Looks like someone got her voice back."
Good grief.
