S6E16 BRAIN DEAD

There was much to dislike about "What They Died For." First, and foremost, the question was not answered: everyone who died on the island, from Claudia, her group, through the Others, 815ers, to Widmore's people, died for no specific purpose. "The island" is not an answer, it still remains a vague question.

Second, the brain dead intelligence of the characters continues to frustrate. Example, Widmore's show down with Flocke. Widmore is threatened by Flocke, and knowing his end is near, he goes ahead and tells Flocke what he wants to know, that Desmond is a "fail safe." Ben blows Widmore away, but we all assume Widmore was not leaving that house alive. Ben, himself, turned illogical slug around Flocke. He was told that he would inherit the island once Flocke was done, but at the well, Ben knew Flocke's plan was to destroy the island (which means Ben would also die). Ben's reaction is to help Flocke finish his plan, including hunting down the survivors. Jack volunteering for a job with no description or purpose was also dumb. The idea of accepting a drink from the guardian suddenly opens you mind to vast knowledge has no basis in fact. Jacob gave Richard immortality; but that was false as Smokey Capt' Frank'd him in Dharmaville.

Third, in that vein, there are no rules. What people say is never the truth. Ben and Widmore stated in the past they could not kill each other; it was against the Rules; but Ben did so. CrazyMom said Jacob could not harm MIB, but Jacob killed his brother.

Fourth, the Jacob camp has come to the conclusion they have to "kill" the monster. But they have no idea how to do it. Widmore claims Desmond's special property to withstand EM energy is a "fail safe," except from a continuity standpoint MIB is made of EM energy. What is Desmond supposed to do? Bear hug Flocke and attempt to drown him in the pool? We know Flocke can withstand a dip in the lake from the dock scene (so he does not melt like a wicked witch). I continue to dislike the sideways story arc, but I think the writers may use it for one purpose: sideways Jack will screw up and kill Locke in surgery, and that death will transpose itself onto Flocke. It mirrors Jack's father's surgical screw up. How or why that would work on the island probably would never be explained.

Fifth, there has been a growing debate on whether one world is real and the other is not real. Is the sideways world the "real one" with the island as some subconscious testing ground? Is Smokey the real Boogie Man in people's nightmares? But it hard to fathom either world being all that real as the sideways fact errors continue to mount (example, Ana Lucia as a patrol officer would not be in charge of transporting prisoners to county jail, sheriffs would be; when Ben is beat up no call to the police? That school would have been in lock down with SWAT teams patrolling the hallways.) David Letterman joked that he felt the only viable ending in his mind is Jack being told to "wake up! The plane is landing in Cincinnati."