Television Review: The Last Recruit (Lost, S6X13, 2010)

The Last Recruit (S6X13)

Airdate: 20 April 2010

Written by: Paul Zbyszewski & Graham Roland
Directed by: Stephen Semel

Running Time: 42 minutes

Throughout its six-season tenure, Lost’s mysterious island was a crucible for every manner of catastrophe. From the foundational shipwreck of the Black Rock to the systemic crash of Oceanic Flight 815, from environmental disasters and industrial accidents at the Dharma Initiative to genocidal purges and intimate violence, the narrative was steeped in chaos. Yet, notably, it never quite escalated into a full-scale, modern war as a 21st-century audience would recognise it. As the series barrelled towards its conclusion, The Last Recruit, the thirteenth episode of the final season, serves to rectify this omission. It functions less as a standalone chapter and more as a deliberate, protracted preview of the apocalyptic confrontation promised for the finale, marshalling its pieces with a mechanical efficiency.

By this juncture, the island’s political landscape has crystallised into three principal factions. The Man in Black, having shed his Locke disguise, commands a ragged coalition of remaining Others and compliant Losties. Across the water, industrialist Charles Widmore has established a militarised beachhead on Hydra Island. Meanwhile, Jacob’s original followers, led by the ageless Richard Alpert, have been decimated to a mere trio—rendered virtually irrelevant to the impending power struggle. The true battle for supremacy, therefore, is a binary one: a primordial force of chaos versus the cold, technological might of modernity. The Last Recruit is fundamentally about the opening salvos in this war, with each leader’s strategy laid bare.

The Man in Black’s objective remains consistent: to leave the island he has been imprisoned. He intends to invade Hydra Island and commandeer the Ajira Airways jet that Frank Lapidus miraculously landed there—a plan that intriguingly mirrors James “Sawyer” Ford’s own desire to escape via Widmore’s submarine. This parallel underscores a key theme: everyone is seeking an exit, but their vessels differ. The critical divergence is that the Man in Black must gather all six remaining candidates to fulfil his goal. With Jin-Soo Kwon held in Widmore’s custody, a direct assault becomes not just a tactical choice but a narrative necessity.

Widmore’s faction, however, is not passively awaiting invasion. Their strategy hinges on a single individual: Desmond Hume. Widmore’s lieutenant, Zoe, arrives at the Man in Black’s camp to deliver an ultimatum: surrender Desmond by nightfall, or face missile strikes. To emphasise the seriousness, she demonstrates the terrifying accuracy of their weaponry. The Man in Black, of course, has no intention of complying, not least because he has already thrown Desmond down a well. In a chilling follow-up, he orders the compromised Sayid Jarrah to execute Desmond. The subsequent scene at the well is one of the episode’s few moments of genuine moral ambiguity. As Sayid points his gun, Desmond speaks of what “Nadia would say” about his actions—a direct appeal to the humanity Sayid fears is lost. Sayid later reports the deed as done, but the audience is left with a potent doubt, a sliver of hope that redemption may still be possible.

While this shadow war brews, Sawyer executes his own meticulously planned exodus. Assembling Kate, Hurley, Jack, Sun, and Frank, he uses the sailboat Elizabeth to reach Hydra Island. The voyage hosts the episode’s most significant character beat. Dr. Jack Shephard, in a sudden but coherent reversal, declares he will not leave. His reasoning is pure, stubborn Jack: if the Man in Black wants the candidates to leave, then staying is the best way to wreck his plans. Sawyer’s disgust is palpable, leading to the iconic moment where he orders Jack to “get off my boat”. Jack’s subsequent leap into the ocean is a direct, and surely intentional, callback to Sawyer’s own sacrificial jump from a helicopter in the season four finale. Here, however, the act is one of defiant, solitary purpose rather than sacrifice for others. Upon reaching Hydra Island, Sun is finally reunited with Jin, a moment so powerful it literally restores her ability to speak English. This joyous reunion is brutally cut short as Zoe declares Sawyer’s deal void and takes the group prisoner. The episode then delivers its promised spectacle: missiles streak across the sky, pounding the main island’s beach in a shocking display of modern warfare. In the chaos, Jack is wounded and taken into the care of the very entity he seeks to defeat—a perfect encapsulation of the episode’s tangled loyalties.

Running in parallel, the “flash-sideways” timeline of 2004 continues its methodical work of connection. LAPD Detective James Ford interrogates a still-fugitive Kate Austen, their chemistry intact despite the altered circumstances. His other case involves the identification and arrest of Sayid for the murder of Keamy and his men. At the hospital, John Locke awaits surgery, possibly from Jack, while Sun recovers from her shooting. The more poignant threads involve Claire Littleton, who visits an adoption agency only to be advised by a strangely insistent Desmond to seek a lawyer—the alternate Ilana Verdansky. This same lawyer is representing the Shephard family during the reading of Christian’s will, which culminates in Jack meeting his sister, Claire, for the first time. While narratively neat, this storyline continues to feel like an elaborate, albeit pleasant, piece of narrative plate-spinning, lacking the visceral stakes of the island conflict.

Directed by Stephen Semmel (who would later produce series like Person of Interest and Westworld), “The Last Recruit” is, by necessity, a by-the-numbers episode. The character arcs are largely established; here, they are manoeuvred like chess pieces towards their endgame squares. Entire factions, like Richard’s, are absent, their furies temporarily sidelined. The script, by Paul Zbyszewski and Graham Roland, prioritises plot mechanics over deep introspection, though it does allow a few character moments to breathe. The most significant is the Man in Black’s casual, almost off-hand confirmation of a long-held fan theory: that he was the apparition of Christian Shephard who led Jack to water in the season one finale. It is a moment of satisfying lore delivery, yet it lands without fanfare, treated as simple fact within the surreal logic of the island.

The emotional core of the episode is meant to be the long-awaited reunion of Jin and Sun. After three seasons of separation, their embrace should be a cathartic peak. However, by placing it so late in the hour and immediately following it with their capture by Widmore’s forces, the script effectively smothers its own emotional payoff. The cliffhanger takes precedence, reducing a profound character moment to a mere plot point in the wider conflict.

Thematically, the episode grapples superficially with ideas of redemption and moral absolutism. When planning his escape, Sawyer coldly declares he cannot take Sayid or Claire because they have “gone over to the dark side”. Hurley, ever the pop-cultural moralist, counters with a Star Wars analogy, suggesting that, like Darth Vader, their fall may not be permanent. The episode’s events seem to favour Hurley’s optimism. Sayid hesitates over Desmond, and Claire reconciles with Kate before boarding the Elizabeth. Yet, these explorations feel rushed, overshadowed by the logistical demands of the impending war.

In the end, The Last Recruit is a competent but fundamentally transitional piece of television. It succeeds in its primary goal: to escalate the tension and lay the groundwork for the final confrontation by introducing the mechanics of modern warfare to the island’s mythic struggle. Its action beats are effective, and its plot turns are executed with precision. However, in its focus on moving pieces across the board, it sacrifices the deeper character resonance and philosophical weight that defined Lost at its best. The flash-sideways storyline, while enjoyable for its cameos, remains the narrative’s weaker limb, feeling increasingly like an elaborate puzzle waiting for its solution rather than an integral emotional journey. As one of the last acts before the two-part finale, it does its job, but one cannot help but feel that the characters—and the audience—deserve a little more poetry amidst the manoeuvres.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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