The Candidate is an intense, emotional episode that isn't for the faint of heart. At the same time it's also a brilliant chess game that had me fooled until the bitter end.
The flash-sideways (FS) shows John Locke in recovery after Jack's emergency surgery — Desmond's hit-and-run really did a number on him! Jack pleads with Locke again to let him perform spinal surgery, but again Locke refuses. Jack's quest to understand his decision leads him to Bernard Nadler's office.
Tangent: notice the mannerisms in Bernard during Jack's visit. There are plenty of hints which indicate Bernard knows something's going on, but he's going to let Jack discover it for himself.
One last time the FS underscores what Locke was feeling throughout his former life — the unbearable weight of guilt, a feeling that he was responsible for his terrible relationship with his father.
Meanwhile there's a serious chess game unfolding on Hydra Island, where fake Locke (FLocke)'s team, Widmore's Goons, and the Losties have converged. Jack assists FLocke in springing the Losties out of the cages (thank God, flashbacks of Season 3) and everyone heads to the Ajira plane.
Rut roh. The plane's rigged with explosives and FLocke seems to have saved everyone — again. FLocke suggests Plan B, which is hijacking Widmore's submarine. Sawyer's got another idea: create a diversion long enough for everyone BUT FLocke to get on the sub. Unfortunately this is exactly what FLocke wanted in the first place, for the "rules" state he can't directly kill the candidates. The bomb in Jack's pack would take care of that, or at least Sawyer's dimwitted approach in disarming it.
And then... heartache. Heart-pounding, soul-crushing heartache. Sayid runs with the bomb until it detonates, giving everyone else a chance to escape. Most of them are able to swim out to safety except Sun and Jin, who spend their last few moments holding onto each other's hand.
Elizabeth Sarnoff and Jim Galasso deserve a lot of credit for penning a very emotional yet intense episode. It almost makes me forgive them completely for Recon.
If you've been living in a cave and don't know about Terry O'Quinn's legendary acting ability, start with The Candidate. The same sadistic man that's unleashing havoc on the Losties is the same man in the flash-sideways who can barely speak because he's so choked up. His explanation of Anthony Cooper's situation breaks my heart every time, not because I care one iota about Cooper but because I care about John Locke.
Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim were amazing in their final on-island scene as Sun and Jin. There are a dozen different ways that scene could've felt forced and cheesy, but it was beautifully tragic thanks to their fine acting and Bender's directing.
There are truly no weaknesses in the acting this time around. It seems everyone could sense that this episode was too important to go through the motions.
This was Jack Bender's last standard episode before the finale and he didn't take any shortcuts. It was ambitious right from the start with the Smoke Monster invading the cages at Hydra Island and splattering the Goon Squad in every direction.
The sets and CGI for the submarine were actually very well constructed, which was perhaps a bit of redemption given all the grief fans previously gave LOST over the Galaga.
But by far the biggest and best achievement by Bender and the visual effects teams occurred on the sub, starting with the moment Sayid runs off with the bomb and frags himself. The few minutes that followed the explosion were some of the most intense I'd ever felt in LOST up to that point. I might as well have been trapped in the sub along with everyone else, for I was so desperate to see everyone make it out to safety. It doesn't help that drowning is absolutely my worst fear.
As for the final shot of Sun and Jin, if that was Bender's decision then he simply can't get enough credit.
The Candidate is the episode that firmly established my trust in the LOST writers and staff, a renewed sense of confidence that they weren't going to drop the ball in the finale. If the storylines were already this intense and emotional I saw no reason why the finale couldn't follow suit. So yes, I'd rewatch this episode without a second thought.
It doesn't get much more significant than losing three original Losties in one tragic scene. The Candidate was also very important in that it silenced a vocal minority in the LOST fan base which insisted Man in Black was somehow a good guy, or at least less evil than Jacob.
As soon as everyone hops on the submarine I find myself bracing for the inevitable. To know that three characters introduced in the Pilot would lose their lives in one scene is just plain traumatic. The image of Sun and Jin's hands slowly separating pretty much ripped my heart out, threw it on the ground and stomped it on a few times.
I'm not in the business of second-guessing the writers and I love the way everything played out, but I will say it should've been Sawyer who took the bomb instead of Sayid. Sawyer was a selfish, egomaniacal coward until the bitter end; considering he was the one who ignored Jack's plea to leave the bomb alone, he should've been the one to eat the detonation.
And let's face it, that scenario also would've changed the unfortunate fact that three minorities were killed in one fell swoop. I'm actually surprised LOST didn't take more heat about that; odds would dictate that at least one minority would have a solid chance of surviving until the finale.
