Catalix said:
would it still explode killing every other non-candidate, leaving Sawyer fully intact (lol, trying to imagine that scenario is a little much)
There are lots of scenarios that are better left untouched, with those dumb rules...
Like, Richard needs Jack's help because... he can't throw himself down a cliff, for example? What would happen?
Speaking of which, I love how contrived (for a change!) the whole situation is, by the way... Not just Jack suddenly being all: "I'm 100% sure this dynamite won't kill me because Jacob has been watching me ever since I was a kid!
and that makes perfect sense, shut up!", but also Richard's death wish in the first place...
Wasn't he busy trying to warn people that the Man in Black was recruiting (for some reason that was never quite explained, but that sure helped pad the final season) and Evil? Now, he's just
fed up with this world because Jacob is dead (*). We'd later find out that he didn't want to die because he was afraid of hell, but I guess the writers didn't know that yet at the time (hey, that was, like,
two whole episodes later!).
Nah, I'm just being mean, here: maybe he just stopped believing in hell at some point in the last century, after all. And in the meantime, he was just "hey, but immortality is a cool thing to have, too!"
RICHARD: You wanna know a secret, Jack? Something I've known a long, long time. You're dead.
HURLEY: You mean that figuratively right?
RICHARD: No, I mean literally. We are all dead, every single one of us. And this, this, all this, it's not what you think it is. We're not on an island, we never were. We're in Hell.
Oh. Well.
And then, the dynamite doesn't explode.
"Damn, Jack. So you can't kill yourself either? Well, you've made your point, clearly. And that obviously changes everything. Where to, now?"
He doesn't want to die anymore! Mission accomplished! Well done, Jack! You're the boss! Somehow!
... Of course, two episodes later, Richard will piss on everyone's parade again by arguing they're actually all dead and in hell already, but maybe there were lots of mosquitoes on the road? That can ruin your trek and put you in a bad disposition.
And then, he wants to join the Man in Black after all.
Because. Probably the same mosquitoes.
(CUSE: Steven from Atlanta asks: "Love the show! Were the mosquitoes that attacked Richard actually another manifestation of the Smoke Monster? Best show ever, you're great, etc!"
LINDELOF: I won't confirm nor deny at this point, but... intriguing theory, isn't it, Carlton?
CUSE: It sure is, Damon.
LINDELOF: And it certainly would make a lot of sense.)
And then, he's dead set on destroying the plane wreckage because the Man in Black is SO GODDAMN EVIL YOU GUYS I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN (so I won't).
Who cares if none of it makes any kind of sense? It's all in the name of
drama. And all experts agree: drama that makes sense is harder to write.
(*)
Note the "subtle" subtext, by the way:
JACK: Why do you want to die?
RICHARD: I devoted my life, longer than you can possibly imagine, in service of a man who told me that everything was happening for a reason, that he had a plan, plan that I was a part of, when the time was right that he'd share it with me, and now that man's gone so...why do I want to die? Because I just found out my entire life had no purpose.
*WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE*
Are we being clear enough with our meta, viewer? Do you find this resonant?
And don't you feel
so relieved when Saint Jack the Savior "proves" Richard wrong about there being no plan when the dynamite -OMGWTF!- doesn't explode? (never mind how we'll forget about that as soon as the episode ends)
Subtle! Like Mother's lesson about "unanswerable" questions!
Anyway:
please be good. We need some decent SF, after this train wreck.