"The End"- Episode 6.17

“There are no shortcuts, no do-overs. What happened, happened. Trust me, I know. All of this matters.”- Jack

And they “lived” happily ever after….

I’m glad I waited a few days to write about the finale because I’ve turned out liking it a whole lot more the more I thought about it and after watching most of it a second time. I feel so dumb for not guessing that an eye closing would be the last shot. It only makes sense. The show started that way, and has used “the eye opening” theme all throughout the show. So I applaud them for the cyclicality and pattern that they used and followed. This was somewhat like Avatar, one of the first shots was a human eye opening and the very last shot was a Na’vi’s eye opening. But this is Lost blog, not Avatar blog.

Now I’ve only read half of the Chronicles of Narnia series but I’m pretty sure Lost just stole some of their ending from the Narnia series. Go research it and read some summaries for yourself, but I believe in the last book at some point they die and are in Narnia and are told they are now dead and that Narnia is their afterlife. All the other times they went to Narnia were real, just the last time it was a different Narnia…maybe. The point that makes this more like the Narnia series is that every character (well, nearly all characters) are together in the end, in the afterlife. Like I said, I don’t know this for sure. This blog encourages you to find answers for yourself.

In the end, everyone was right, we may not have gotten everything answered, but I don’t really care. So what if I don’t know:

· What MIB’s name was, if he even had one? (Kind of cool to have an unnamed bad guy, something ominous about that)

· Where the Dharma food drop came from in season 2?

· Who built everything on the island? (i.e. Taweret statue, ruins, etc.)

· Why Walt was special? (i.e. him summoning birds)

· Why only some people were going to enter the afterlife at a certain time?

· Why and how Eloise Hawking was so knowledgeable?

· How Jacob could leave the Island?

· Why the Island has powers to heal and why it was always moving?

· Why Jack and Ben got sick on the Island (appendicitis and a cancerous spinal tumor respectively) while it heals everyone else?

· Who did we see in Jacob’s cabin when Ben first took Locke there and who was in it with Christian Shepherd in season 4 when Hurley looked in the window. And what the significance of the ash was around the cabin? (We know the smoke monster can’t cross ash, but had he been trapped in the cabin at one point, or kept out of it?)

· What was that cork at the bottom Desmond moved over a volcanic like crater and why when he moved it, it made water stop flowing from another place onto it? (see, I told yall there was a volcano, I’m counting it. Also, I’m told the cork had Cuneiform on it.)

· How will Richard assimilate into the modern world and live there for the rest of his life? (sounds like a good 80’s sitcom idea)

· How does Frank explain where the plane has been the past like two weeks, where all the passengers went, and how he got new passengers?

· The world would have been looking for the plane. Kate cannot leave the state, much less the country, as we saw in her flash-forward because of her trial results. How will she explain where she went? Will she be thrown in jail for breaking her parole?

· Why was the Island sunken in the Flash-Sideways?

While I wish some of those would have been answered, I don’t care that much. The show was a character study filled with mythology, not a mythology tale with characters interspersed in there. Lost was at its core or a character study, and the viewer must recognize that if they are to understand and be pleased with the show. The ending itself serves testament that the show was all about the characters and their relationships. I could not help but think of the famous quote from It’s a Wonderful Life in the final scene.

“No Man is a Failure who has Friends.” - It’s a Wonderful Life.

Also, C.S. Lewis says “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.”

We cannot get too frustrated about the unsolved mysteries of the show, after all we live in a world full of mystery, we are just so used to not getting the answers that we accept things they way they are. Just like when “Mother” said to Jacob and MIB’s real mom, “every question will simply lead to another question.” That’s true in our world. If you believe in the Big Bang then what was there before the Big Bang for things to clash into each other. If you believe in Creation account of the Bible it says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1-3). Then the creation account follows, the whole 7 day story. What was here before the creation account? When was it made? On to more trivial questions: Why is the sky blue? What’s in Area 51? Who built Stonehenge? What killed King Tut? (maybe the Smoke Monster?) Is Elvis still alive? Who is Titus? (That’s a shout out to my HUG summer 2009 group.) How does cable work? (that’s a shout out to a long, on-going conversation between me and Sam Barker) We have all of these conspiracies, myths and a few legitimate questions that we will never know the answer to. This show is the same.

I’m cool with not getting answers or not understanding everything because usually when you explain something too much it ruins it. Their needs to be enough for you to believe it, but not fully understand it. Season 6 brought in a lot of new things that just didn’t get explained in the least bit. Like the source, the fountain in the temple and Claire and Sayid being “claimed” or zombified. It was a little unfortunate that we didn’t get to understand these better, especially when they were brought into the game so late.

I am a little confused about the whole source thing. Why did unplugging the hole make water stop flowing into it? Why did it turn the MIB into a Smoke Monster and not Desmond or Jack? The idea I subscribe to is that Desmond was obviously immune to it because he has a high tolerance to electromagnetism and Jack was immune to it because it was off when he was in it and maybe it didn’t fully come back on while he was laying in the edge of the pool and/or he still had “Island protector powers.”

I also was not aware that the light could go out and come back on. They made such a big deal that” if it goes out there, then it goes out everywhere and we are all in trouble.” What happened in the real world during the time the light was out? Was the whole world shaking like it was on the Island? I don’t think so, but still, why was it such a big deal for the light not to go out.

We also never learned why it was so bad for the Smoke Monster to leave the Island? Unless he was planning on going Smokey and conducting a mass, world-wide genocide, it seems like he just wanted to see the world. However, I guess by turning the light out so he could leave, he could no longer go Smoke form to kill people. We never really knew why he could not leave. Either way, it was rather tragic, the one thing he wanted to do in life, his whole 2,000 year-ish lifetime, he never got to do. If there is one thing we can learn from this, it is to never give up on your dreams. This guy had dedication. Also, you should never get near to cliffs. Honestly, he had Locke’s body and memory and he knows the show is one big pattern, he should have known he was going to get kicked off and paralyzed. I choose to believe he was paralyzed in the end, had he survived, it only seems fitting.

I know at one point I did not think I was going to like Hurley being the Island Protector, but when it happened I was cool with it. It seemed right then. I did like how Jack was it long enough to accomplish something. Why didn’t Jack recite the incantation over the water? Wasn’t that necessary? Once again, this is what I choose to believe. Earlier this season Richard said if Jacob touched you it was a gift. So, Jack gave Hurley water, it was a gift, a symbolic gesture. Passing the torch if you will. The real transfer of power came when he touched Hurley and said, “Now, you like me.” Risky move for Hurley trusting Ben, even until last episode he was still wanting to run the Island, but even in the afterlife it seems like no foul play had been done by him on Hurley. So I guess it worked out and Ben was able to really be good.

Also, big news alert here. We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to bring you this breaking announcement Lost is not completely over! When the final series DVD is released there is going to be 14 minutes showing the time of Hurley and Ben reigning on the Island. Read more about it here.

I liked that Richard was now shown aging. That was pretty cool. I guess he can do that because the one who gave him immortality is dead, no longer a binding contract. And what do you know, Lapidus somehow survived, MIRACLE! In general I was surprised at how many people survived in the finale episode. I really thought nearly everyone would die. Yes, a lot of people did die, but a lot more people made it than I thought would. Is it a little funny that Locke has been shown to be dead, in some form or another in every season finale since season 3. Season 3: closed coffin that we would later learn was Locke’s. Season 4: we learn it was Locke in the coffin. Season 5: we see his dead body dumped out of a cargo bin on the beach. Season 6: Smoke-Locke is killed while in Locke form.

In the end, the finale further expounded and showed where they believed things were pertaining to free-will. Jack chose to be Jacob and Kate also told him that nothing was irreversible (talking about their relationship that had fallen apart, but in the end she showed her true colors for him). Speaking of which, the whole love triangle, that became a quadrangle, was a big deal earlier in the series, it appeared that they forgot about it this whole season until the final episode. However, I guess that makes sense, the world needed saving, it was more important than Kate’s fickle heart.

Speaking of Kate, when she shot Smoke Locke I was a little disappointed, I didn’t want her to be the hero. I actually yelled I was angry, me and the person I watched it with, both yelled I think. However, thankfully Jack really finished him off. Also, I was glad that Kate’s realization moment was Aaron’s birth, I think that spoke volumes. (P.S. shortest birthing ever, I guess in purgatory the rules are different.) While on that subject, I will address the end.

We finally understand the phrase, “See ya in another life brotha.” Did the producers mean for it to be that powerful when they introduced Desmond saying it at the beginning of season 2. At first we thought the whole “other life” part meant Desmond saw Jack in the real world and in the Island, two different “lives.” Remember they all said they were going to start their lives over when the plane crashed. The Island allowed them a fresh start. Now it appears that phrase really did mean another life.

Apparently people have been very confused by the ending. It’s very simple. In fact, it’s one of the few out right, explicitly given answers that we have ever gotten. Thankfully Christian Shepherd came back and was important. So yes, it was always the MIB on the Island, but Christian turned out to be important. I’m glad they made a shout out to his name. Maybe that was proof they had this ending planned from the start. I’ve read a lot of comments on internet articles and people are like, “I called it from the beginning of the series, they were in purgatory the whole time.” How dense and unobservant can people be? Here is what you need to know: THE WHOLE THING WAS REAL. IT WAS NOT ALL PURGATORY, ONLY THE FLASH-SIDEWAYS SCENES IN THIS FINAL SEASON WERE SOME SORT OF PURGATORY.

Christian said that their lives had been real, that some people died before Jack and some long after him and that the most important part of their lives was the time they spent together, and that is why they made this place in the afterlife, to be together so they could start the next journey of their “lives” together. All of this shows that yes, the whole series was real and not a waste of time. It was cool to see that they were all sitting in pews in the church almost like rows on a plane. By the way, Shannon and Sayid were true loves?! Come on he was meant for Nadia. I guess not though, even in the flash-sideways utopian-esque world, she was not with him. Maybe Shannon and Sayid were true loves. A little weird, but I’ll go with it.

It may not have helped viewers that they showed images of an empty plane crash at the end during the credits. A few days after the finale aired, ABC came out and said that they added those pictures, not the producers, to help soften the mood for the evening news. They should have known that people analyze every scene and second of this show. People were going to read too much into that. I for one just thought it was landscape shots showing us where it all started, not that they all died in the plane crash. Regardless, these pictures were not part of the story, just extras the ABC executives put in to help the psychology of the viewer.

Relating to the flash-sideways, here are a few things I choose to believe. Pierre Cheng did not look old because according to Christian Shepherd “there is no now here,” so he looked just as we would remember him from the Dharma days. The Island was at the bottom of the ocean because eventually, at some point in the course of human history it would be at the bottom of the sea. Maybe Hurley sunk it, or maybe someone long after him did, but that happened much later in human history (maybe this will be explained in the epilogue scene I mentioned and linked above). Time does not matter in the afterlife. As for David Shepherd I’m a little confused of why he existed. However, this is what I believe. The sideways world was what Christian said, a place they made together to meet up before they all moved on. So it was made to be like a near Utopia, but with just enough flaws for the people to need to find each other. Having a son must have been something important to Jack and he helped make him have a happy life. In the original timeline Jack had no one and was alone, in this world he had someone before re-finding his true love, Kate.

So with them all moving on we leave David an orphan, Ben probably wanted to look after Alex because he realizes what she meant to him (why he chose to stay a while longer) and Mrs. “Widmore” (Eloise Hawking) gets to have her son back. After knowing she killed him life, and would kill him, now she can have him to love as her son for a long time or at least until Charlotte realizes she loves him. But did she really? Did Charlotte ever really say she liked him, I don’t remember? It may have been a one-sided love. But honestly, how long did they know each other, the boat ride and like 2 weeks they spent on the Island together. Nonetheless, when he begged her 5 year old self to never come back to the Island, that was very emotionally powerful.

Before I wrap this up I want to give one more shout out to my favorite character, John Locke. I know for a while I was kind of wanting him to return, but I’m glad he didn’t. As Jack said, “There are no shortcuts, no do-overs. What happened, happened. Trust me, I know. All of this matters.” Locke was immortalized and vindicated. It was great to hear Jack tell the Smoke Monster, “You're not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you're nothing like him. Turns out he was right about most everything. I just wish I could've told him that while he was still alive.” I wish Jack would have told him he was right in the church scene. Either way, every scene between him and Locke in the Sideways world was amazing and it ended aptly with them shaking hands with Locke telling him, “We’ve been waiting for you.” Just like they always were, waiting for Jack to open his eyes to both the spiritual in the world and in the afterlife. Locke was the forerunner that laid the path for others to believe, he played his part well. He wanted to be the hero, and indirectly he was. Props to the actor, Terry O’Quinn, for playing a bad guy so well this season. At times he truly was terrifying.

It is only fitting that a show this spiritually based would end with all of them dead and “letting go” and “moving on,” two other big themes in Lost. Did anyone else notice the stained-glass window in the room where Jack and Christian talked? It had “the star and crescent of Islam, the Star of David (Judaism), the Aum (widely used as a symbol of Hinduism, but also present in Buddhism and Jainism), the Christian cross, the Dharmacakra (Buddhism) and the Yin/Yang disk (Taoism).” (That was all in quotes because I copied it from the Lostpedia article about “The End.”) This was Lost’s final shout out to all the different faiths and religions they had drawn on and alluded to throughout the entire series.

Lost has challenged the viewers for years with such eternal struggles as fate vs. free will, faith vs. science, and good vs. evil. While all of these combined made for an incredibly interesting, mysterious and compelling show, in the end, the show showed us that relationships with those around us are what make the human condition bearable. (I just really wanted to use the term “human condition” in the blog, and now that I have, I can end it.)

I thank you for following this blog. The finale was cryptic and there are many different ways to interpret it. For me, my explanations make sense for myself and maybe for you as well, but, if you have any comments or opposing views to how I interpreted the ending or anything else you want to add, please, comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

Remember…

“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”- Jacob

Namaste, and goodluck.

What They Died For/Finale Theories- Episode 6.16

“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”- Jacob

This is final post for us to speculate on. After this, we will know everything we are going to know about Lost. This time I will not so much talk about what happened on the most recent episode, but pose some theories and things I hope we get answered and get to see.

There are just a few things I want to mention from this past episode to work off of for my final predictions.

· Widmore, Zoe and Richard all seemed to die. We think.

· The Flash-sideways characters look like they are all about to meet up.

· Flash-sideways Locke is now ready for the surgery to give him the ability to walk.

· Desmond was let out of the well, we don’t know how, but he was.

· Jack is the new Jacob. (but really, who didn’t see that one coming. I loved that whole speech, it was awesome and further explained the purpose of the show)

I’m going to try to address these points in order as best I can.

Is Widmore dead? I don’t know. He slumped behind something we did not see him actually die after being shot; and remember the rules? Ben and Widmore seem to have these rules that govern between them. Remember, Ben said that Widmore “changed the rules” when he killed Alex. Now are these “rules” or “laws.” A rule can be broken, maybe not respectable, but it can be. The way I’m using a law is like the law of gravity; you cannot break it. So, maybe it was against the “rules” for Ben to kill Widmore, but what are you going to do? Or he tried to break a law and he is not really dead. What do you think? I guess he is really dead, but maybe we should not write him off so fast. Zoe, gone. Richard…hmmm. Probably dead, which is kind of good for him now, after all, he probably was ready to be done with this world after being alive for like 160ish years. Still kind of sad. However, maybe he just got speared into the jungle and will heal up and wake up and come back into the fray. Once again, I’m not counting on that.

The flash-sideways world looks like it is getting ready for something cosmic, but I’m not sure what yet. I’ll predict that at the end of this post with my overall predictions.

Desmond is now out of the well. Who let him out? I think we will be pretty surprised by this. Do we think that Penny came to the Island? They better live happily ever after or these producers are sick. Surely they wouldn’t kill off another couple. Did Widmore or Zoe do it before going to New Otherton? I really am at a loss. I feel like this is going to be a big twist. Oooohhh, maybe Claire? Eh? I just thought of that one. She is about to do something big. She’s kind of fallen off the bandwagon; they are going to bring her back for something big I bet.

So Jack is the new Jacob, big shocker. I loved that whole scene with Jacob, his speech, and Jack’s response to it. We see especially in the last three weeks that Jacob is not as perfect as we might have wanted to originally think. Even with all of his power and wisdom (I’m guessing he’s wise) he still had some flaws. No character on this show is without their baggage, even a “deified” 2,000 year old guy. I’m surprised that they would give us the new Island Protector now and not in the finale. Do you think Jack will make someone else the new Island protector in the finale? I think it is a very good possibility.

So, here are my predictions

One, I think we will see Rose and Bernard again. They always put them in the finale. Think about season 5. They were only in the first episode and the finale I think. Now as far as hard-hitting predictions, expect more people to die, probably Sawyer and Ben. I do not think Ben is really with Smoke-Locke. I think he is trying to pull a long-con over Locke. He wanted to kill Widmore because it was personal, not saying it was right, but that explains why he felt he was justified in doing that for Locke and letting that play into him playing Locke. I just feel that Sawyer will also do something heroic and die in the process. After all, he’s always got a plan and was the first to really talk with Locke, knowing he was not really Locke, that would be poetic, I guess.

When Ben was a student in the DI, his teacher mentioned there was a volcano on the Island. The producers mentioned that the volcano would be “of seismic importance.” This was said in season three. Did they forget or change their mind about going to the whole volcano reference? If not, then this is it! Is that where they are going to blow up the Island? (did seeing Smoke Locke say that remind you of when Locke ended the penultimate season 4 episode that they were going to “move the Island?” It definitely did me. “Same” character, parallel sentence structure, used the episode before the finale both times.) Is this where Desmond is going or is he going to the Source? Could he even find the Source since it now appears that it is hidden until you are the Island protector or are taken there (I called that in the last post or two!)? I think Desmond might be going to the volcano, but maybe I’m wrong.

I now think that since Jack can now go where the Source is, then it isn’t the Temple. He’s already been there. I guess the Temple just probably had some connection to the light that is under the Island. So I guess my Temple Building theory is probably shot, or at least mostly is.

In the flash-sideways why did Desmond say that Ana Lucia is not ready yet? Are some people going to jump timelines? What is going to happen when these timelines resolve?! That may be one of the biggest questions for this finale. Also, what is the significance of Jack’s neck cut and his son, David? I’m hoping that since Locke has a “body” in the original timeline, that when this timeline event happens that Locke will return and fight for control of this body that MIB has constructed. Maybe that is how he will be defeated? Locke will come back and banish him. I’ve always been a Locke fan and liked how they have made him so important after his death and how they now believe in him. Finally, Locke has been vindicated! Maybe we should not taint that by bringing him back, or is this a case of “The Once and Future King?” Locke was “king” of believing in purpose and maybe he will come back. The idea of “The Once and Future King” is about King Arthur who left, never actually dying so his people could think that one day he might come back and save them. I would love to see Locke do this, but I don’t know, he might really be gone. If he really was dead then why was getting his ability to walk in the sideways world such a big deal? Maybe he will come over to the original timeline? His surgery could be the lynch pin between the two timelines, however, the concert seems to be another big gathering point. Is this (the surgery) what will make him be able to walk in the original timeline? Maybe. Time will only tell.

I could see Locke coming back and the group somehow getting rid of Smoke-Locke and Jack then turning over the job of Island Protector to Locke. He really was the man meant for the job. I really am not sure I see Jack really being the Island Protector for long-term. Or I could see this happening, and this is what I really feel will happen: You cannot get rid of Smokey; good vs. evil is an eternal motif. So, as I’ve already predicted, the series will end, with Jack, the new Jacob, and Locke, still the MIB, sitting on the Island ready to start the whole thing again. Someone or something will be seen coming to the Island and the show will end. It’s a pattern. Now it’s Jack and “Locke’s” turn to fight it out for the Island. Oh, and what if, on this boat, plane, or whatever that is coming to the Island is everyone’s kids, such as Ji Yeon, Aaron, Charlie (Desmond’s kid), Walt, Clementine and maybe, just maybe even David Shepherd. They are grown up, as years have passed, and it is their turn to do what their parents have done, or could not do. Whatever, I’m giving you gold here in fragments, you put it together!

Maybe the flash-sideways is about to be created by Jack. I think the flash-sideways might be created and planted back in the timeline so Jack could have spared everyone from pain and death. After all, he did at one point say he felt somewhat responsible for all the people that died under his watch. He’s giving them a perfect world to live in. Which reminds me, did anyone think that Jacob was giving a shout out to the flash-sideways when he said, “I didn’t pluck you from some happy existence?” That seemed to perfectly written. Was it just a reference or foreshadowing of the flash-sideways about to be created?

I could see this episode beginning or at least at some point showing flight 815 crash again, especially from the perspectives of Jacob and MIB. They used to re-contextualize the crash by showing it to you from different points of view, I’m surprised we haven’t seen it from theirs, maybe we will.

Should we expect Jack or whoever the final Island Protector is to give “gifts” to some of the characters? Like make Hurley his Richard Alpert. That would be funny. I do not know about all of this though.

What of the love triangle? That seemed to just fall out. Where they done with it? Can Jack even have a girl as Island Protector? Who knows, but Kate won’t end up with Sawyer. He’ll die doing something heroic and she will be left crying, like she does in almost all of her scenes. I would be so angry if tonight was a Kate centric episode! Haha. I’m sure it will be an everyone-centric episode.

Really, who can say about any of this stuff. In true Lost fashion they have left us guessing right up until the very end. We have 2.5 hours of Lost left and these are some of the things I hope to see get answered.

· Where did the DHARMA food drop come from back in season 2?

· What is the MIB’s name and can he die?

· Who will be the long-term Island Protector? I don’t see Jack really being it.

· What is “the sickness” that infected Claire and Sayid? Can you cure it?

· What is the purpose of the Flash-Sideways, the Island being sunk in it, David Shepherd and the cut on Jack’s neck?

· Will anyone leave the Island in the end? Will it be purged of everyone? (tabula rasa, clean slate. That would be a crazy huge genocide unless they kick people off.)

· Are we done with Christian Shepherd? Was every appearance of him really the MIB? If not, then I need to know more about him!

· Is Walt coming back? Is he still special?

· Why was it so important for Claire to have and raise Aaron?

· When/who built the Taweret statue?

· Why did Jack and Ben both get sick when the Island normally heals you?

I’m sure there is more things I would like to know but who cares at this point. It’s been an awesome show to watch and I have enjoyed the story they have told. In the end, it will be what it will be. Let me know of things you want answered and what theories you have. Post them below. I’d love to hear from you.

“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”- Jacob

In the words of Smoke-Locke “You are so close; it would be such a shame to turn back now.”

“Can’t change the past. Can’t do it. Whatever happened, happened. All right? But then I finally realized…I had been spending so much time focused on the constants, I forgot about the variables…We’re the variable. People. We think. We reason. We make choices. We have free will. We can change our destiny.”- Daniel Faraday, “The Variable,” episode 5.14

Hope tonight’s finale is awesome.

Namaste and good luck.

Steven

Across the Sea- Episode 6.15

He we are, caught up to the current episode now, “Across the Sea.” Personally, this goes down as one of my favorite episodes. Earlier this year I was not sure how I was going to feel about an episode that would show the origins of Jacob or the MIB, but they did it very well I feel like. You have to be careful when you go back and explain too much, you risk losing some of the mystique, wonder and mystery. I felt that this episode did a superb job explaining a lot, but still leaving and creating more mystery. Lost is a mystery show, you would not want everything answered, that would not go with the nature of the show. This episode received reviews that ran the gamut. What did you think?

Let’s list some of the things we learned or that I thought were interesting.

· Jacob and MIB are twin brothers! Very interesting. Notice they were swaddled in their respective colors, white and black, as soon as they were born. Even as they aged they always wore their color. Also, when they were first laid out in their blankets Jacob was very peaceful while MIB was fussy, crying and flailing around.

· We see MIB’s crazy mom that he referenced a while back. Was she crazy, or just taking some extreme measures to ensure things worked out?

· We learn more about the point of the Island. We see the cave of Light, what I will call, the Source. (It was called that one time by Mother.) On the podcast the producers said this was meant to be a further explanation of what was meant when Jacob compared the Island to a cork to Richard in the episode Ab Aeterno. They even said we might get more of an explanation of it as the series draws to a close.

· Interestingly enough, MIB created the Donkey Wheel, assuming that is the same Donkey Wheel that Ben and Locke pushed.

· Since we saw Jacob as a child we see that they mysterious boy that has been following Smoke-Locke is in fact Jacob in some capacity.

· Mother also tells MIB that Jacob cannot lie. Later on in the episode he does, but I think she is implying that does not like to lie and is honest more often than not, or that he is not good at lying. I think Jacob just does not like to lie.

· We saw the “birth” of the Smoke Monster (possibly) and what MIB meant when he said Jacob stole his body and his humanity.

· Alas, the identity of the Adam and Eve skeletons were revealed. I really thought it was going to be Rose and Bernard or possibly even Desmond and Penny or Sun and Jin. I really thought it would be my first or last guess because the writers said that was a mystery put at the beginning to prove that they knew what they were doing from the start. Yes, I see how it is proof but at the same time I don’t think it is proof. They basically just made up these characters just now. We did not know the Smoke Monster was going to be a person until the end of season five, but I guess that is what they meant by it was all planned.

A few questions that are brought up from the episode

· We still never learned MIB’s name. Did he ever get a name? His real mother did not have a name for him, did Mother ever name him? Is he going to be the equivalent of the Janitor from Scrubs?

· What is the nature of the Source? Why could the MIB never find the Source again? Was there some sort of “magic” that hid it from him? Is the Temple built over the Source? I think so. I think that was what was meant when they noticed that the water was “dark” when they brought Sayid in there earlier this season. The Light is growing dim, MIB is growing stronger. Possibly.

· What did Mother mean by saying MIB was special? Why did Mother love him more than Jacob?

· How did Claudia, the real mother, appear to MIB? Was that what they meant by him being special? Does he have Hurley’s power too? Was she an Island apparition or was there another Smoke Monster out there?

· When did this take place? 2,000 years ago? Who knows. I got a theory for this. Keep reading.

· Was that really the birth of the Smoke Monster or had he been around earlier? I liked this so I thought I’d put it in here.

Let’s go through the episode real quick. Well, as quickly as we can. The episode starts with Claudia, a pregnant shipwrecked woman coming onto the Island and meeting who we will soon learn is just called Mother. They converse in Latin for a few moments before changing languages for audience convenience. Mother claims that Claudia, like her, got to the Island by accident and that she will find her people, if any survived.

Claudia soon gives birth to the twins, Jacob first and then MIB. She did not know she was having twins and only had one name picked out. Mother kills Claudia and raises Jacob and the MIB as her own children.

We see a very important scene next. A roughly 13 year old Jacob and MIB play a game that MIB finds. It resembles Senet, an ancient Egyptian game that claims that luck and determinism is the key component of winning. Could we make a connection that luck is possibly equivalent to fate? After all, fate is a major component of Lost. The one who wins was said to be in the good favor of the gods. Also, the pieces that Jacob and MIB played with were black and white stones. Also, when Jacob tries to make a move in the game MIB says he can’t do that because it is against the rules. MIB says one day you can decide the rules and everyone will have to follow them (Jacob). Eerie, foreshadowing…possibly. I took this to mean more than rules for Senet. Is that why Smoke-Locke cannot kill the candidates and child-Jacob has told him that he knows the rules and that he cannot kill Sawyer? Or was this a rule created by the Mother?

The boys are told that they will never have to worry about experiencing death because the mother has made it where they can’t kill each other (why would she do that? Is that a common concern with twins? That they will grow up and want to kill each other? Does this rule apply to what I was talking about in the last few sentences of the paragraph above?). They did not even know what dead is (very interesting. How sheltered were they?!). She also feeds the boys the line that all men are evil. She says exactly what we saw MIB said to Jacob the first time we ever saw him in the Incident Pt. 1.

“They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same,” MIB said, quoting his Mother from years earlier.

Mother then takes the boys and shows them the Source. It is the reason they are on the Island. The Source is a cave that emits Light with water flowing into it. That same Light that exists in the cave is in every man, according to Mother. If it goes out there, on the Island, it goes out everywhere. Due to man’s greedy nature they will try to get more but they cannot, it is impossible to and if they mess with it, it might go out. It is her job to protect it and soon it will be either Jacob or MIB’s job to protect it.

Later, a dead Claudia, the real mother of the twins, presents herself to MIB, but Jacob cannot see her. She shows him who his people are, the ones she came with to the Island 13 years earlier. She tells him that he is not from the Island and that he is from across the sea and that many things are across the sea, contrary to what Mother has raised him and Jacob to believe.

MIB leaves to go to the men on the Island. He has always wanted to know what is across the sea, and now that he knows the truth about his parentage, he hopes to finally leave the Island. Before he ultimately leaves Jacob and Mother, she tells him that no matter what he hears, he will never be able to leave the Island. (Is this true, NEVER?) Jacob agrees to stay with Mother for at least a while, but it is obvious that he is contemplating eventually going to the men. He never does though.

Thirty years later we see the two as we normally see them, grown up, however Mother looks the same as when we first saw her. This should not be a surprise since she is “the Jacob” or protector and I guess that comes with prolonged life. This makes me wonder, why do they even need a replacement? They plan for a replacement, why don’t they plan to live forever? Do they know that someone will kill them? After all she thinks men are corrupt. Jacob never inherits that philosophy. Jacob and MIB espouse the Nature vs. Nurture debate, to some degree at least.

Jacob visits with MIB who is working with the men on the Island. While visiting they play a game of Senet again, for old time’s sake. Based on what he has seen, Jacob says he does not think that men are bad. MIB basically says he is wrong and that their Mother was right. They are “greedy, manipulative, untrustworthy and selfish,” but they are “means to an end.”

MIB explains that the men are smart and think they have found a way off the Island. He pulls out a his dagger, the same one he gave Richard to kill Jacob with, and the same one Dogen gave Sayid to kill MIB with, and throws it into the open when magnetism pulls it to a well they are digging. Let’s address these two points separately. Can this dagger help us date this episode?

Swhoosh…(That’s my flashback sound; this is from a post I wrote back about Ab Aeterno, Richard’s episode from this season.)

Other interesting things, the knife. Is the knife only able to kill people before they speak? One could easily think that because both times it has been seen it was given the same “don’t let your target talk or it is too late” speech. The knife is said to be a Pugio, a dagger used by ancient soldiers of Rome. I have read that the sheath of the one in Lost has depictions of Romulus and Remus on it. Click here to see a picture of it. What are we to learn from this? Who knows? Maybe just more insight into how old the Island is, or how long it has been drawing people to it. Maybe Jacob and MIB were from Rome? However, assuming the Egyptian hieroglyphics show the Smoke Monster talking to Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification and afterlife I must assume the Smoke Monster has been around even longer than ancient Rome. Although maybe I do not have my timelines down about when Romulus and Remus found Rome.

Swhoosh…(Back to this blog post.)

It seems pretty certain that this episode takes place somewhere around when B.C. becomes A.D. The people that land on the Island speak Latin, the boys’ true mother was named was Claudia, a name often seen in classic Roman times (i.e. emperor Claudius). Also, the Roman Empire stretched so far could we have assumed that they could have been sailing in the Pacific? Maybe, I don’t know that much Roman history. However, Mother told Claudia that they each got their by accident. So regardless if they were in the Pacific or chillin’ in the Mediterranean, Claudia and her people could have easily gotten to the Island via a window that we have heard about before from Eloise Hawking at the Lamp Post.

I like how MIB did not specifically say magnetism. He said that metal behaves strangely at some places on the Island. I think this helps us possibly date when this took place…a really long time ago. That’s the best I can do. Aristotle possibly mentioned some about magnetism.

Mother learns of MIB’s possible ability to leave and so she goes to confront him. He is in the well, presumably the same one Locke and Ben used to turn the wheel. Something I saw and read others talk about was that in the well Mother was standing in light while MIB was fiddling in the dark. A neat contrast between light and dark that they do so often. Although that could just be how things happened. Even if it is reading too much into it, it is still cool and has power behind it. MIB tells Mother that he never found the Source again since he was first shown it by her years ago. He has searched for it for years and never came close to finding it. Then they came up with the idea of finding the Light underground. As he speaks he digs into the wall and pulls out a rock to show that the Light is behind it. We also see the Donkey Wheel that will be used with a system to manipulate the water and Light to provide a way off the Island. Mother smashes his head against the wall to stop him.

Mother takes Jacob back to the Source and tells him he must be the new protector. We learn that in the cave is “Life, death, rebirth; it’s the Source, the heart of the Island.” He is also commanded to never go down into the cave because it would be much worse than dying. She gives him something to drink (presumably wine) out of what looks like the same wine bottle he used to explain the Island to Richard and later gave MIB to “pass the time.” She recites some incantation and if he drinks the wine that he is accepting the job as her replacement. He must guard the Source and then find his replacement. Someone thinks that the translation of Mother’s incantation reads like this, “For we do not accept this just as a common drink, but as if that (he?) should be one with me.” I don’t know if this is true or not, so take it as you will.

Jacob is sad because he knows that Mother always favored MIB over him. He says that he is only her replacement because she is all he has now. She tries to comfort him by telling him that she had been wrong, he was always meant to be the one and now she understands that. Jacob takes the drink and Mother tells him, “Now you and I are the same.” The next morning she tells Jacob to go look for firewood and that she will meet him back in the caves. She looked concerned, like she knew she was going to die. Then again she should know that MIB is going to be ticked that she torched everything he loved and his way off the Island.

MIB awakens to find he is outside of the well. It is filled in, all his people are dead and his village is burned. He storms back to the caves that (ironically the same caves that the survivors used for a while) and stabs Mother in the back without even letting her speak. Is there significance to that? When Richard was given the dagger to kill Jacob, MIB told him not to let him speak; if he does then it is too late. Same for when Dogen gave Sayid the dagger to kill Smoke-Locke. Both times they let the other one speak and were unsuccessful. Though we have to ask would that have mattered. Sayid plunged the dagger into MIB, it didn’t matter. No effect. However, was this because he had already spoken to him? Also, when Jack told Claire he wasn’t sure about coming with them (Smoke-Locke’s crew) she said that he had already made the decision when they let him (Smoke-Locke) speak to him. So I must ask this question again: Is there power in some of these mythical character’s words? Was MIB only able to kill Mother because she did not talk to him? Jacob could not convince Ben not to stab him though. Maybe I am reading too much into the whole speaking thing but I think it is worth pointing out because the characters have pointed it out a few times.

How was Mother able to destroy a whole village and why did she let the people live there for decades before killing them? Did she wait to kill them when they became a threat? I guess. Could she have Smoke Monster powers to massacre a village? Smoke Monsters tend to be able to massacre things. Jacob finds Mother dead and takes it out on MIB. He takes him to the Source, beats him up, and lets the current carry him into the cave. Suddenly, the Smoke Monster emerges. It was dark as he emerged. I don’t think he put out the Light, otherwise I do not think we would need the candidates in the present day. I think he was merely in the way of the Light. Or did Smokey take the Light with him. When Locke first saw the Monster in season one he said, “I looked into the eye of the Island, and what I saw was beautiful.” When comparing stories with Eko about their encounters with the Monster, Locke compared him to “a bright light.” Did the Light kill MIB and “rebirth” him as a Smoke Monster? Was the Smoke Monster down there and absorbed his “life,” memories and identity into him? After all, the Smoke Monster was called Cerberus by the DI. Cerberus was the guardian of the entrance into the underworld in Greek Mythology. This still applies, with all the reference to this place being like the cork to pure evil. But, and I made this point in an earlier post, I think in the one about Ab Aeterno, Cerberus had three heads. Could MIB be one of three identities that make up the Smoke Monster? Perhaps. But I got a better theory that I’m sticking with until proven otherwise.

Jacob and MIB cannot kill each other. Did Jacob kill him though? He beat him up and let nature, i.e. the water, take its course and pull him down into the cave and kill him. So did Jacob really kill him? I guess not according to the rules. Or did he break the rules and that is why he was “reborn” as the Smoke Monster? Is that why we see a little kid Jacob running around now? MIB broke the rules and Jacob is back in some capacity? Maybe some of that is correct but what I’m going with is that MIB basically had his soul ripped from his body. That is why he said Jacob stole his body and humanity form him. I would like to have seen the first time Smokey took shape before Jacob. Do you think Jacob knew that was his brother when he billowed out of the cave? I really don’t know.

Clearly Jacob was upset his brother died. He was angry at him but did not probably mean to kill him, even though he knew it would be bad if he went down in the cave. Jacob then takes Mother and MIB and lays them to rest in the cave. Why was his body spit out so far away anyways? If viewers couldn’t pick it up enough on their own, they show old clips form season one which reminds the reader, “These are the Adam and Eve skeletons!”

A few last minute questions we must ask before we close this out. Who put the Donkey Wheel into place after the well was filled up? And my personal favorite, where is the source now? My hypothesis for these two will be answered in one theory. I really think it is why the temple was built, over the Source, as I already stated at the beginning. If so, did Egyptians come to the Island next? Remember when Ben was judged by Smokey (part of his con over Ben to kill Jacob) we saw Anubis and the Smoke Monster carved on a stone together. If this episode really showed the first time Smokey was “born” or ever even existed, and he is the only one in existence, then when and who built this. I guess this would help my Temple building theory. Egyptians soon came to the Island, built the Temple under Jacob’s orders to cover the Source (or built it of their own accord), finished the well (maybe under Jacob’s orders as well. Is that how he got off the Island) and also built the Taweret Statue, of which Jacob would take residence in. It’s kind of funny and said that MIB always wanted to leave the Island, still does, and Jacob has left it numerous times that we know of. Ironic isn’t it. If MIB would have done what was expected of him maybe he could have been protector and able to leave the Island from time to time.

It’s funny, everyone has always speculated about Ancient Egyptians on the Island and this episode gives us Ancient Romans. We always want and expect something with Lost and we get something else. I could have talked about this episode for much longer. Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your input, theories, comments on what I’ve said or overlooked. I will write again in a few days about tonight’s episode and then again after the finale when the show ends.

In the words of Smoke-Locke “You are so close; it would be such a shame to turn back now.”

“Can’t change the past. Can’t do it. Whatever happened, happened. All right? But then I finally realized…I had been spending so much time focused on the constants, I forgot about the variables…We’re the variable. People. We think. We reason. We make choices. We have free will. We can change our destiny.”- Daniel Faraday, “The Variable,” episode 5.14

Here are the sneak peeks ABC has put out for tonight’s episode. Watch at your own risk.

Until Sunday when we have seen the last bit of Lost, Namaste.

Steven