The Candidate

Let's talk about LOST!   The Candidate.

Dr. Jack Shephard wakes up Mr. Locke from his surgery.   Locke's eyes slowly open to blurry vision and then clarity.
Jack-"Mr. Locke, can you hear me? {Jack smiles} Welcome back."
Locke, who is on oxygen, realizes he knows him. Jack replays them being on the same flight from Sydney and how Locke lost his knives.  He explains to Locke that he was rundown by a car and just came out of surgery {Dural sac ruptured) but he thinks he got everything back where it belongs.  Jack uses his penlight to look at Locke's pupils and also reveals that while was operating he got a look at the initial injury to his spine and put him in a wheelchair.  Jack was hoping Locke could tell him how that happened because he feels he's a candidate for a new surgical procedure they're developing and if it works it could restore feeling to his legs, in fact he may even walk again. Jack seems pleased.
Jack-"If you'll give me a shot, Mr. Locke, I think that, that I can fix you."
Locke thinks about it for a few seconds and declines the offer. This response stuns the good doctor and he goes on to explain that there's minimal risk and the benefit...Locke cuts him off, "I said no." {He smiles.}
Helen barges into the room relieved to see John. This is the first time they let her see him. Indeed they are relieved to see each other. Very happy Helen thanks Dr. Shephard for saving him. {She kisses Jack on the cheek and hugs him tight} Locke smiles at this.
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Jack opens his eyes/wakes up. He is in the outrigger.

Kneeling Sayid {working on a gun} welcomes him to Hydra Island. Jack is a bit confused.
Sayid-"At least you didn't have to paddle."

Over at the cages the Widmore team is setting up the pylons. Seamus and goons lead James, Frank, Hugo, Claire, Kate, Sun and Jin. Seamus demands James get in the cage but James there's no way he's going back in there, so he grabs dough boys rifle and a shot rings out a few feet away indicating Widmore's arrival. Widmore threatens Kate's life if James doesn't drop the gun. James feels Widmore isn't going to kill them because he's throwing them in the cages.
Widmore-"I have a list of names. Ford. You're on it. As are Reyes and the Kwon's. Kate Austen she's not.  It doesn't matter to me if she lives or dies."
Nervous Kate doesn't want James to listen to Widmore. James relinquishes the gun to Seamus and in return Seamus hits James with the rifle and throws him in the cage.
Widmore tells James, "You may not believe it but I'm doing this for your own good."
James-"You're right. I don't believe it."
Widmore asks one of his goons if the fence is "live" yet. He's told it will be in about an hour. Widmore doesn't have an hour and tells them to work faster.   Seamus looks nervous.
Widmore-"He's coming."

Bernard is crafting/working/drilling on a set of fake teeth.  He is so into his grinding away at the mold/impression that he doesn't hear Jack say "Hello" a few times.   Jack heard the drill, walked in and asks if the man knows where he can find Dr. Nadler.   Bernard removes his glasses and mask. {He doesn't have his doctor name on his white Dr. shirt.}
Bernard-"Well, you can find him right here. And if you're not a patient, you can call me Bernard."
Jack introduces himself as a surgeon at St. Sebastian and is hoping to get a look at one of Bernard's patient files.
Jack-"His name's John Locke. And our records said that you had done some emergency oral surgery on him about three years back."
Bernard-"And what are you looking for exactly?"
Jack-"I wanna know how he was hurt."
Bernard asks Jack why he's so interested in Mr. Locke. {He has a peace about him while waiting for Jack to answer.}
Jack explains he met Locke a week ago on the same flight back from Australia.
Bernard-"Oceanic 815.  I sat across the aisle from you. Memory serves you were flirting with my wife Rose when I was in the bathroom. It's pretty weird, huh?"
Jack is curiously stunned, "Yeah."
Bernard-"Maybe you're on to something here. Now I can't break patient confidentiality and tell you something I shouldn't. But I can tell you that when I treated Mr. Locke there was another man in the same accident with him." {Bernard writes something on a notepad.}

Jack-"Like that was three years ago, you just remember that?"
Bernard-"Of  course I do, Jack."
He hands Jack the paper and wishes him good luck, "I hope you find what you're looking for."
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Disoriented and confused Jack is still sitting in the outrigger asks Sayid what happened. Sayid informs him Widmore's people fired a mortar attack on them. "Locke saved you."
Sayid shares some water with Jack from his canteen. The rest of Sayid's group who weren't killed scattered into the jungle, "It's just the three of us now."
Jack-"Why did he bring me here?"
Locke appears and tells Jack it's because Jack's friends got themselves captured and now they're going to have to rescue them.
Jack-"Rescue them from what?"
Locke explains Widmore has them in a cage about a half a mile inland.   Jack tries to ask a question but Locke cuts him off, "You know I would ask him, except I don't think he's gonna give me a straight answer. But I can't imagine that his intentions are good. If we move right now we can break your people out run for the plane and be off this island before Widmore knows what hit him."
Locke arms up Jack and readies him for the mission.
Jack-"They're not my people. And I'm not leaving the Island."
Locke-"Well, Jack, I'm hoping you still change your mind about that. But your friends do want to leave, and since they just ran away from me, on my own boat, I'm gonna need your help convincing them they can trust me."
Jack-"Why should I trust you?"
Locke looks right in his eyes and reveals, "Because I can kill you, Jack. Right here, right now. And I can kill every single one of your friends and there's not a thing that you can do to stop me. But instead of killing you I saved your life, and now I wanna save them too. So will you help me?"
Jack contemplates while looking over at smirking Sayid and back at Locke.

James and Kate pace in the cage. James asks her, "Feel like we're running in circles back in these cages? 'Cept last time the gun was to my head." {And yes you fucking are!}
Kate insists he wouldn't have killed me.   James comes clean about the cave he told her about, the one where all the names were written.  "Your name was there too...but it was crossed out. He doesn't need you, Kate."
Jin and Sun chat about the baby who is with Sun's mother. Jin tells her about Widmore's people finding her camera on the plane and he showed Jin the pictures.  Jin thinks their daughter is so beautiful. Sun presents Jin with his wedding ring and places it on his finger.
The power is cut to the Hydra cage area where the lights and pylons were energized.  Seamus and goons find somebody cut the power and Seamus instructs a team to the generator now.  The monster sounds, breeze is heard.
Hurley-"And we're dead."
Smokey arrives and in its classic mechanical tic tack, clinking manor, takes out Seamus and the goons, all the while the Lostie's watch from the cages. Smokey even knocks over one of the travel sized pylons.
Kate struggles through the bars to reach the keys that are conveniently hanging out of Seamus' pocket. Hurley tells her to hurry because he feels, "When that thing's done with them he's coming for us."
Anxious Frank isn't waiting so he kicks at the door to his cage.
Kate still can't reach, but it doesn't matter because Jack shows up to help them all out.
Kate asks Jack what he's doing here.
Jack-"I'm with him." {Nodding in the direction of the mechanical smoke sounds}

Frank is leading the group to the plane; which is about a 1/4 mile just over the ridge. Kate seems a little excited as she asks Jack, "So you're coming with us now..."
Jack lets her know he's taking them to the plane but he's not getting on it, "I'm sorry Kate, I'm not meant to go."
Kate looks sad. James thanks the Doc for coming back for them. Everyone readies with their weapons when they hear something approaching. It's just Sayid.
Jack lets them know it's okay, "Sayid's with us. He's the one who turned off the generators."
James feels the more the merrier. They need to go because Locke's waiting.
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
The woman at the desk is asking Jack if he's a relative of Mr. Cooper and what  the nature of his visit is. This is the SUN PALMS NURSING HOME.  Helen happens by with a tulip plant.  He confesses to her that he's there to see Anthony Cooper about the accident he was in with Mr. Locke. Jack asks if she knows him. This makes Helen curious and worried. She pulls him to the side and asks him to please go.   Jack tries to explain he's there to help "him".    John told Helen about the operation and he doesn't want it and  Jack wonders why.   Helen wants him to leave this alone, "You saved his life. Why can't that be enough?"
Jack replies with a bit of desperation in his voice,"Because it's not."
Helen leads Jack into a cafeteria with patients, while Housekeeping is being paged to call 23.
Jack seems surprised when Helen wheels over a catatonic Anthony Cooper; John's father. {He just stares and drools.}

{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Locke marches strongly over to the grounded Ajira plane.  The guards fire at Locke but their bullets have no effect on him.  He breaks the neck of one and shoots the other.  He takes the digital watch from one of the dead men and heads up the "Gilligan's Island" made steps into the plane.

On board he follows a set of Red, White and Black wires that connect to something.
Frank is happy when he arrives with the group to the plane and wonders what it will take to get this baby to fly.   James is first to see a dead guy.  Sayid examines the first body and determined his neck's been broken.  Locke walks out of the plane and admits he broke it. "If it's any consolation, Widmore knew that I would kill these men."  He goes on to explain they were only guarding the plane for show. If Charles had really wanted to keep Locke from actually getting on board he wouldn't have moved his little fences.
Hugo is puzzled, "Woah... wait, now he wants us to leave the Island?"
Locke-"No, Hugo. He wants to get us all in the same place at the same time... a nice confined space we have no hope of getting out of... and then he wants to kill us."
Apparently kill them with {He presents 4 bricks of C-4 from the backpack}.
Locke-"I found them in one of the overhead compartments, wired to the electrical system of the plane. If we would've turned it on... boom."
Jin-"So what now?"
Locke-"We can't be sure he didn't put more explosives on the plane. It's not safe. If we're gonna leave the Island, I think we have to take the submarine."
That's what James has been saying all along. Concerned Hugo states that "He's not supposed to leave the Island. I mean, Alpert said..."
James-"Screw Alpert. He ain't here. {says to Locke}That's twice you've saved our asses. Guess I was wrong about you."
Locke smiles and thanks him. "That submarine is gonna be heavily defended. We're gonna need everyone."
Jack will help him but he's not going with him. Locke feels that's fair enough.

Claire runs over to Locke and tries to apologize. Locke tells her its alright and he understands why she went with them.
Sawyer very quietly tells Jack,"Hey doc, listen up... you don't wanna leave this Island, that's your own damn business. But I'm gonna ask you for one last favor. I don't trust that thing one bit, so here's what I need you to do... once we get to the dock you make sure it doesn't get on the sub."
Jack-"How am I supposed to do that? You saw what it did back there."
Sawyer-"Just get it in the water I'll take care of the rest."

Over the PA we hear "CT test to Trauma 3. CT test to Trauma 3."
Jack is literally standing over Locke.
Jack-"Mr. Locke, are you awake?"
Locke  is sleeping but speaks, "Push the button."
Jack looks confused, "Mr. Locke, can you hear me?
Locke, still sleeping says, "I wish you had believed me."
In the distance Jack hears Claire's voice. She's in the hallway.  Jack leaves sleeping Locke and walks over to Claire.
Claire was just looking for Jack; the lawyer told her he worked there.

In a little break room Jack buys an Apollo bar from a vending machine.  He offers it to Claire but she declines.   Jack apologizes for having to run out of the will reading the other day, as he had an emergency.  Claire doesn't mind and notes this is as awkward for her as it is for him.  She tells Jack, "Never even met this man."   She has a white box.
Claire-"Anyway, the, uh, lawyer gave me this. She said, uh, there’d be more stuff to come, but that my father especially wanted me to have this."
She presents a pretty wooden box from the white cardboard box that is roughly the size and shape of a shoe box. {Box within a Box!} "Do you know why or what it's supposed to mean?"
Jack doesn't have any idea, "But, then…I, I didn't know about you either."
Claire asks how their father died.
Jack-"He was found in an alley outside a bar in Sydney. He drank himself to death. I flew down to bring his body back…but then, uh… the airline lost it."
Claire:-"I just flew in from Sydney a few days ago."    Yeah, last Wednesday; Oceanic flight 815, they're both puzzled.  Jack takes a look at the wooden music box that plays "Catch a Falling Star".

Jack-"I’m sorry. I...I wish I knew why he wanted you to have this."
Claire-Yeah, me, too. {puts it back into the white box} Well, um. It was nice seeing you again. Thanks for trying to help."
Jack- Where are you staying?
Claire-Uh, just down the road…a motel."
Jack-Why don't you come stay with me?"
Claire- "Stay with you? I mean, we're…we're strangers."
Jack- "No, we're not strangers. We're...we're family."
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Locke and his little armed group are staking out the sub. Locke puts the backpack down. {I only see one backpack}
James feels just ‘cause there ain’t any goons on the dock, doesn’t mean they ain’t on the sub so he calls the play. "We’re goin’ in hard. Got it? Lapidus, Hugo, Jin, Sun, you’re with me. The rest of you wait 30 seconds, head down the dock behind us. {to Jack and Locke} You think you two can get our backs?"
Jack-"Absolutely."
James-"All right. Let’s go home."
He heads down into the sub hatch and the rest follow. 
Over the intercom in the sub we hear "After engine room, power the bilges. After engine room, power the bilges, please."
James and Frank burst into a room demanding to know where the captain is.  They are led to the captain where Frank knocks out the guy who led them there.
Threatening James tells "Hoss" to get ready to fire this thing up.  Frank will guard the captain while James retrieves the rest of the group.
Locke hands Jack one of two backpacks and they head toward the sub.  Locke asks Jack if he's sure he won’t reconsider.   Jack is sure.
Locke-"Whoever told you, you needed to stay had no idea what they were talking about."
Jack-"John Locke told me I needed to stay."
Jack pushes Locke into the water.
Kate-"What happened?"
A shot is fired and Kate is hit in her left shoulder!  This makes Jack snap! He automatically flips into angry commando mode! {Just like at Dharmaville before the "Hydrogen bomb incident"}
There's a shootout.  Jack fires a rifle, then a handgun!
Sayid covers Jack while he carries Kate down into the sub.   Sayid calls out for Claire {who shoots a man out of a tree}
Sawyer hears the shootout.

Locke climbs out of the water onto the dock with his backpack and he is pissed off!  He's got some constitution!  He fires back at Widmore's men just like Jack did!   Claire is surprised.
Inside the sub Jack tells James Widmore’s people shot Kate and he tells Hurley  he needs a first aid kit.  James heads up top to get Claire who is still involved in the shootout.
James-"Claire!"
Locke turns and calls out, "James!" {turns and shoots an approaching bad guy} He seems concerned as he runs toward James.   James gives Locke the ol evil eye, abandons Locke and Claire on the dock, closing the hatch on them.
Inside the sub James yells out to Lapidus, "If you can hear me…DIVE! DIVE!"
Lapidus tells the Captain, "Let’s go!"    The sub starts moving out.

Claire sees the sub leaving, drops her gun and runs after the sub telling them to wait.  Locke stops her.
Down in the sub shocked Jack asks James what he's doing.
James-"What we came here to do…leaving."

Locke tells upset Claire it’s alright.
Claire-"No! They’re leaving us."
Locke-"No, trust me. You don’t want to be on that sub." {He mischievously grins a bit like the Cheshire cat and watches the sub move out.}

Inside the descending sub, bleeding Kate is upset Claire is still up there and has been left behind.
James is concerned about Kate, "Is she gonna be okay?"
Hurley can't find the first aid kit. This troubles Jack. {Yet it is right next to Frank's head! Is that kit written in black?}
Jack has Jin get his pack so he can get a shirt out of it to use for pressure.  Jack tells Kate to relax, everything will be OK. He thinks the bullet went straight through.  Jack reaches into the backpack and reveals a bomb with a digital watch for the timer, counting down; 3:54
Hurley-"Dude, where did that come from?"
Jack-"Locke…We did exactly what he wanted."
As the sub continues its descent Jack says they have to get to the surface.    Jin radios Frank to tell him to take them up.
Frank yells, "We're diving!"
Sayid has the bomb while Jack tends to Kate.
Hurley-"Dude, how'd that get on the sub?" {Are you fucking kidding me?! He just heard from Jack he said "Locke"}
Jack-"Locke put it in my pack!" 
Jin wonders why he would do that when he wanted to go with them.
James-"Damn right he did, that's why I shut his ass out!"
Jack-"He wanted you to shut him out!"
He asks Sayid how that thing works, "Can we shut it off?"
Sayid explains it's Jury rigged to the battery which detonates the explosives. It's at least five minutes until they're up, according to Frank.
James-"We ain’t got five minutes. What’s it gonna be Sayid?"
Sayid-"These wires...they’re leads from the watch. If we disconnect them from the battery, technically speaking, the bomb should be inert."
But you need to pull them out simultaneously and he's not sure...James moves him aside.
2:46 on timer.   Jack tells James to wait and not pull the wires out because he feels nothing is going to happen.
James feels if he doesn't pull the wires that Locke's gonna blow them to kingdom come.
Jack-"No, he’s not! Locke can’t kill us....This is what he wanted. {2:27} This is what he’s been waiting for.  Everything that he has done has been to get us here.  He wanted to get us all in the same place, at the same time, a nice, enclosed space where we had no hopes of getting out of."
Jin doesn't understand.
Jack-"Locke said that he can’t leave the Island without us. I think that he can’t leave the Island unless we’re all dead. He told me that he could kill anyone of us whenever he wanted. So, what if he hasn’t because he’s…he’s not allowed to. What if he’s trying to get us to kill each other?"
James-"Stay out of my way, doc."   {1:54}
Jack-"Now if he wanted that thing to blow up, why would he put a timer in it?  Why not just throw it inside?"
James doesn't care and Jack still feels nothing is going to happen.  But James feels it's not Jack's decision to make.
Jack insists "He can't kill us!"
James isn't going to stand there and do nothing.  Jack looks James in the eye wanting James to trust him that they're gonna be okay.  {1:35}
James-"Sorry, doc, I don’t."
James pulls all the wires from the timer and it pauses at 1:31 and then countdown runs faster.
Sayid needs for Jack to listen carefully. "There’s a well on the main island, half mile south from the camp we just left.   Desmond’s inside it.  Locke wants him dead, which means you’re going to need him. Do you understand me?"  {Technically they just left Hydra Island. lol}
Jack-"Why are you telling me this?
Sayid-"Because it’s going to be you, Jack."
Sayid grabs the bomb, runs down the hall and into another compartment and the bomb explodes!  The alarms sound.
The sub starts filling up with water.   Lapidus checks out what happened and is knocked down with a door that bursts off its hinges.
Sun is pinned against the wall with what looks like a metal box with wires poking out of it.   Jin tries to free her!  Sawyer tries to help him.  Jack instructs Hurley to get Kate out of there while he takes care of everyone else.   He gives Hurley an oxygen tank.
Hurley-"I have to go after Sayid?"
Jack-"There is no Sayid!…Listen to me. Take this tank and buddy-breathe and swim out where the blast hole is, okay? Hurley, you can do this, okay?'
Hurley listens.   Jack joins in trying to free Sun while the sub is sinking.
James-"Push!"
Jin-"One three."   1...2...3!    They remove the giant metal box but Sun is still trapped and James gets knocked out by a large piece that fell on his head.  Jack pulls him from the water.  The sub creaks and moans.
Jin works hard to free Sun but she wants him to go save himself.   Jin won't leave her at all, "I’m going to get you out of here."  He tells Jack to save unconscious James out of there and he'll get Sun free.
Jack gives Jin an oxygen tank because he feels he can get James out of there without it. {WTF?!}
Jin-"No, you can’t Jack….Just go!"
Jack knows he's "leaving them" and swims with Sawyer out through the blast hole up from the depths.
Jin tries to catch his breath while trying to free his wife and she begs him to go.
Jin holds her face," I won’t leave you....I’m gonna get you out of here."
Sun still begs him to go.
Jin says something in Korean and knows they're doomed, "I won’t leave you. I will never leave you again…{in English} I love you, Sun."  They kiss and hold each other.
Sun is crying, "I love you." {And add to that the heart wrenching music that has me crying like a damn baby!}

An orderly is pushing Locke down the hospital hall and wonders if someone is meeting him.  Locke confirms his fiancée, Helen. "She’s, um…{he sees Jin with white roses and does a double take at him. You see Jin get let into the room behind Locke}…probably stuck in traffic….Hey, I’ll take it from here. I’m pretty good at this."
The orderly wishes him the best of luck and Locke thanks him.
Jack is happy he caught Locke, "I hadn’t have a chance to say goodbye yet."
Locke-"Well, goodbye…and thanks again, Dr. Shepherd." {Shake hands.}
Jack confesses he went to see his father. Locke is shocked.
Jack-"When you didn’t want the surgery, I felt like I had to understand why…and, uh, I thought that if I could find out why you’re in this chair, that maybe…"
Locke-"I was in a plane crash. I had my, my private pilot’s license for a week, and, uh, I begged my father to be my first official passenger. He was terrified of flying.  But, I looked him right in the eye...I told him that he could trust me.  And we barely got off the ground. I still don’t re...I don’t remember what I did wrong, but it was my fault. It was my fault. This man, who I loved more than anything, will never walk, or talk or…"
Jack-"You know, the first time you and I met, uh, back at the at the airport…you told me that my father was gone...and, uh, it hurt to hear that, but I knew you were right. Your father’s gone, too, Mr. Locke."
Locke-"Uh, no, no, he’s not.
Jack-"Yes, he he is, and you can punish yourself as much as you want and that’s never gonna bring him back…What happened, happened…and…you can let it go."
Locke-"What makes you think letting go is so easy?
Jack-"It’s not. In fact, I don’t really know how to do it myself. And, that’s why I was hoping that…maybe you could go first."
Locke laughs through his tears, "Goodbye, Dr. Shephard." 
Jack calls out to him, "I can help you, John…I wished you believed me."
Locke stops, seeming to let that register and then wheels off.
{Air plane engine/sounds-rumble}
Jack pulls James to the beach and is relieved when James breathes.
Kate-"Jack…I couldn’t find you. I couldn‘t find you."   They hug.
Hurley asks if James is okay and Jack tells him he got hit pretty hard, but he’s breathing.
Kate-"What about Jin and Sun."
Jack shakes his head indicating they didn't make it.
Kate and Hurley cry hard from this loss.
Jack walks away from them and stands at the water's edge and cries.

Locke is standing on the dock looking out to the water, he tells Claire, "It sunk." {He sounds a bit sad}
Claire-"What, the submarine? They…they were all on it, everyone…What? They’re…they’re all dead?"
Locke- "Not all of them."   Now he seems angry; he takes his backpack and rifle.
Claire-"Wait. Wh, where are you going?"
Locke-"To finish what I started."   This man on a mission walks away.




The Candidate is a GREAT episode!!!
What is going on in Locke's head and what is he seeing in his sleeping mind?
Locke is punishing himself from guilt and holding on to all that pain. He feels he obligated to stay paralyzed not only physically but emotionally.
I was very sad to see a few of our Lostie's move on but I expected it and expect even more loss.  In the off "Island" info of last week the Kwon's found what they were looking for and Sayid did too with his closure with Nadia, so he sacrificed himself in the game/journey.  In my opinion it's when those types of things happen, i.e. they find what they're looking for (love, closure, healing, forgiveness, letting go, over addiction, enlightenment, etc.) or in other instances a person is getting to close to unseating the leader or they aren't needed in the game/on the "Island"  any longer they are removed from the playing field and move on.   If one still doesn't find what they have lost then it seems you have to start all over from the beginning.


Things to Note...Questions to ask...
* Locke is indeed emotionally "paralyzed"
* Family. Relative.
* Same accident.
* Wires. CT scan. Head. Dreams. Subconscious.
* Mental and physical disabilities.
* Lapidus isn't on Widmore's list.
* Hurley can't find the first aid kit yet it is in the control room right next to Frank.
* We learned earlier this season that unconscious people can't hold their breath yet we see they are led to the surface from some very deep water.
* It was Sawyer's free will decision to call the shots on the sub mission and to pull the wires on the bomb. {Even if Locke knew he would do that.}
* Sawyer was wrong about getting that thing/Locke in the water.
* Alcoholics-Desmond, Christian, Jack.
* Locke doesn't seem threatened by the pylons and being in the water isn't a factor with anything.
* Does Locke have a thing for blowing up submarines?  He took C-4 from the Flame Station.
* There's always a way to go "further down below".    "The depths."
* In the "Pilot episode, part 1"  Jack admits to Kate to taking flying lessons but it wasn't for him.
* Could part or the entire adventure be part of a world of make believe, subconscious and/or altered state.

Willy Wonka:
Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three
Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination.
Take a look, and you'll see into your imagination
We'll begin, with a spin, traveling in, the world of my creation.
What we'll see, will defy explanation
If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it. Wanta change the world? There's nothing to it.
There is no life I know, to compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free... if you truly wish to be.

Vocabulary and Research...
* Dental impression: Accurate representation of a person's dentition and other areas of the mouth. From an imprint of a person's teeth and gums in wax or plaster, a dental impression forms a "negative" of those teeth and gums, which can then be used to make a cast or model. This may be used for the fabrication of dentures, crowns or other prostheses. Common materials used for dental impressions are sodium alginate, polyether and silicones - both condensation-cured silicones and addition-cured silicones, such as polyvinyl siloxane.
- A crown is a type of dental restoration which completely caps or encircles a tooth or dental implant and is typically bonded to the tooth using a dental cement.
* Tulips: is a poem by American poet Sylvia Plath about her experiences in a mental hospital. The poem was written in 1961 and included in the collection Ariel published in 1965.
- TULIP: Calvinism is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life. Calvinist theology is sometimes identified with the five points of Calvinism, also called the doctrines of grace.
- Tulip: is an information visualization framework dedicated to the analysis and visualization of relational data.



I don't know how else I can illustrate to you the metaphors and subliminal information that is displayed within the story. We are still shown the Castaways' journey to "this place" is necessary to heal their emotional and psychological  pain.   The "Island" adventure's challenges blur with "outside world" issues and events in an effort to reach some sort of resolve.

Not everything we see is totally black and white, nor are people and things always what we think they are.  The goal, besides one person being the victor of the "Island" journey and game, is for "balance" not only on the "Island" but within each "person".

One thing we can bank on is the game element.   Jacob and MIB is each other's adversary. Both of their aim is to prevent the other from achieving their goal.
Locke neatly sets it all up for us in Deux Ex Machina when describing a game he played with his brother.  It's wonderful when he explains the concept and goal of the game Mouse Trap that directly connects to what we've seen on the island.
Yes, of course the concept of chess is being played out, incidentally after all these years I really need to see who the Queen is in all of this.
I find it important to go back to the first game reference we were shown, Backgammon.
In the game of Backgammon the pieces are known as checkers, stones, men, counters, pawns, or chips.  It's interesting that the objective is to remove (bear off) all of one's own checkers from the board before one's opponent can do the same. 

Even though I always question if things are real or not, and give many examples and use descriptive analogy, it still is important to mention that until we know what the "Island" actually is, we're in the dark.  Ultimately it may be that the "Island" will represent different things to all of us.

Jack does see himself in Locke. This episode is one that I'll use as an example of an instance when Jack and John seem to be talking at themselves and not necessarily to each other.
Exploring the psychology of seeing the yin and yang of particular beings, i.e. Jacob and the MIB and also Jack and Locke, is part of the LOST story.  They do indeed at times have that intense opposition while maintaining such closeness. 

Locke is doing whatever he needs to do to win the game and to go home/leave.  I can totally see Locke doing some terrible maneuvers in this battle, but is there a chance at all that he is doing it to free as many of them as possible and in turn freeing himself?   Or is it all just evil, to kill for the sake of killing?
Is the greater good to end the game, to leave, or just replace the two main players?   Jacob feels it only ends once and I guess that will be when we see who will be the last one standing.

Locke and Jack know that letting go isn't easy.  Locke is ready to go home/leave- as a matter of fact Dr. Shepherd gives him permission to let go as he himself cannot "let go" just yet.    At this point Jack feels his destiny is the "Island" just as Locke once did. 
It's going to be Jack.
Will Jack learn to let go over the next few hours or will he be the one destined to stay bound to the "Island" to relive his misery over again...or worse?

Love to all who are "LOST"™

It's VERY important to revisit:
The Man from Tallahassee  {Locke and his issues with depression and Anthony Cooper. Plus he blows up the sub.}

Orientation 

There's no place like HOME.

Through the Looking Glass    {Sayid tells Jack he's willing to sacrifice himself}

Born to Run  {We see the MRI Magnetic Resonance Imagining sign}

Maternity Leave  {Sun mentions that a mother should never leave her child}

Some Like it Hoth

This image rang a bell with me when I saw the bandage on  Locke's head and visited Dentist Bernard.

Disclaimer: I never claim to know everything about the show and my thoughts by no means make me right! The things I share here are my views and/or opinions. I don't claim to catch every single detail either! You all know I hate spoilers! And I stand clear of reading certain sites as to not take me off my own course of research. The one thing I don't need to do here is rehash all of the obvious clues from an episode; we all know what they are. Understood? Let the fun begin! I'll only note things that I know come up as clues later, but need to be noted when they first show up and things I find that will be of importance.