Sons of Isaac?

Ok, it’s been four days since I watched it and I’ve been putting off writing this but I can’t do it any longer, so here goes nothing…  The Lost season finale “The Incident.” Being a double episode I’m going to split it up into three parts, this post will be flashbacks, then in the next post I will cover island time and lastly I will posit my season-wide theories on what the hell is going on!

Flashbacks:

So, we open with Jacob and another man sitting on the beach watching the Black Rock bobbing up and down on the horizon. It seems that Jacob brought the Black Rock to the island and the other man is non-to-pleased. In fact he tells Jacob that one day he  will find a loophole and on that day he will kill him. Loophole? Is this where the Rules stem from? Are these two the creators of the rules? Or are they, like the rest of the islanders, trapped by the rules? IMDB lists the two of them as Man #1 and Man #2, however we know that Jacob is Man #1 and I’m willing to bet that if the other can be given a name it will be Esau, the sons of Isaac.

So the link through the flashbacks in this episode is Jacob and we will follow him as he appears to various members of the oceanic 815 crash. First on the list is Kate. Kate and Tom (One of three Tom’s in the show.) are preparing to steal a New Kids on the Block Lunchbox, however Kate messes up and gets caught, only for Jacob to bail her out, saying “You’re not going to steal anymore, are you?”. Of course Kate does steal, in fact she plans a bank robbery to steal the plane Tom is playing with in this episode. So, she lied to Jacob.

Next up is young Sawyer, just after his parents funeral; it might just be me but I think its a mite odd that they had a joint one, considering Sawyer’s Daddy MURDERED his Mommy! That’s one wake I think I’d avoid. Anyway, we cut to little Sawyer sitting on the steps of the Church penning his letter of revenge to Mr. Sawyer (Another Tom) but his pen wont work, cue Jacob with a fresh pen. “I’m very sorry about your mother and father James.” Almost instantly Sawyer’s uncle shows up and admonishes James for writing the letter and tells him he must move on. James promises he will, again, a liar…! Except that this time was it not Jacob who was facilitating James’ revenge? Is Jacob a believer in an eye for an eye? Or is he merely ensuring that Sawyer does go to Australia to track down the man who killed his parents and in doing so ends up on 815?

After Sawyer comes the turn of Sayid and we finally see Nadia’s death. Walking along Sayid insists they celebrate their anniversary. Now, I’m sure he told Hurley that it had only been nine months… Anyway, Nadia is paying no attention and is searching for her sunglasses as she crosses the road on a zebra crossing. Sayid however has stopped just on the curb to help Jacob find where he is going. Nadia calls out that she has found her sunglasses, the next minute a car knocks her down dead. I had always assumed she’s been shot! Jacob doesn't speak to Sayid after this. I have two theories. The first is that Jacob stopped Sayid crossing the road to save his life, even at the cost of Nadia’s. The second is that, had Jacob not stopped Sayid he could have saved Nadia’s life and Jacob needed her dead to give Sayid the motivation to return to the island. At this time I’m not willing to commit to either theory.

Next is the turn of the only non-815er Ilana. She has clearly been in some form of accident and her face is all bandaged up. Jacob comes to visit her and they seem to know each other. Is this because they have met before or is Ilana the example of the true believer? The one that would recognise her, and I use the term tentatively, saviour, no matter what guise he appeared in? “I’m here because I need your help.” Jacob states and she agrees to. I can only assume then that Jacob cures her, much like did with Locke, Jin and Rose and if that is true then why not Ben? Was Ben’s cancer a test, like Peter denying knowing Jesus or Judas and the thirty pieces of silver? Was it something that had to happen in order for Jacob to be assured of Jack’s loyalty, something, we will see in my next blog, it was imperative to ascertain.

Flashback to Jacob sat on a bench reading a book entitles “Everything that Rises must Converge” by Flannery O’Connor. After some quick research (and I mean quick.) I discovered that this book is a collection of short stories, one of which is called Revelation. The following is quoted from Wikipedia.

“Mrs. Turpin strikes up a conversation with the pleasant woman about the importance of being refined and having a good disposition. They also talk about being grateful and how it is important to be thankful for the good things you have been given in life.”

“Before she leaves, she whispers a powerful message to Mrs.Turpin. Just loud enough for her to hear, she says, "Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog." Mrs. Turpin finds this comment very unsettling, and she wonders if it may have been a message from God, who may be trying to intervene in her life.”

You can read the whole thing here. It is seldom the case that books  in Lost have no relevance and this story certainly seems to indicate that “God” may be talking to the 815ers through Jacob. Also the top quote, about being thankful for what you have, certainly applies to all the characters in Lost and it was because they weren’t thankful that they ended up “Lost” in the first place. For example; Claire not thankful for her baby, Charlie not thankful that his brother was living clean, Hurley not thankful for his millions, the list could be endless.

And so it is that Locke falls from the window behind Jacob, who then gets up and very casually lays his hand on the “dead” Locke’s shoulder and we can safely assume revives him. In effect Jacob gives Locke the gift of life, even though he remains paralysed, but is John thankful, nope, does he end up on the island, yup! (see endless!) It could also be viewed that Jacob gives Locke just enough healing to give him his motivation for ending up on flight 815.

Next, Jin and Sun’s wedding day and yes, you guessed it, Jacob showed up there too! Looking somewhat out of place, as the entire wedding party was Korean. Did Jacob get an invite? Is Mr Kwon in someway embroiled in the island war? Jacob congratulates the newly weds and tells them to cherish their love. It was at this point that I begin to question Jacob’s motives. Kate stole  after he told her not to, Sawyer killed an innocent man, Jin and Sun broke up after their love managed to survive the social/class divide, add into that the fact that Jacob may have allowed Nadia to be killed and you have to wonder if Jacob is really the good guy in all of this!

So it’s Jack’s turn and its the flashback we all know word for word, the one where he counts to five. Only it isn’t as fairytale as Jack made it sound. In fact, it is Christian Shepherd who tells Jack to take a time out and get over his fear. Afterwards Jack goes and punches the vending machine to make himself feel better, before starting on his father for embarrassing him in front of his team. “I know you don’t believe in me, but I need them to.” Jack diggs. “Are you sure I’m the one who doesn’t believe in you?” His father retorts and that’s it, that’s Jack’s problem. He doesn’t believe in himself and that is why he failed as leader on the island. He spent too much time seeking everybody else’s approval instead being convinced that he could do what needed to be done. But by the end of this season he overcomes that flaw…

Anyway, Jacob comes round the corner with an Apollo bar “One of these yours?” Jack responds with “The machine got stuck.” Jacob smiles “I guess it just needed a little push.” Is that what Jacob is doing? Giving the machine a little push? Is he ensuring that 815ers get to the island by visiting them each in turn? If so then do we assume that those he doesn’t visit don’t matter? After all Charlie, Desmond, Michael and many other pivotal characters get no flashbacks here, did Jacob visit them too and  we just haven’t seen it?

Juliet and Rachel are next on the list but there is no sign of Jacob here. Are those destined to be Others not entitled to meet their saviour? Are they in fact like Thomas the apostle? Should they believe blindly without seeing? Through out this episode Juliet has displayed a kind of prescience but I will discuss that more in the next blog. On with the Flashbacks…

And it’s Hurley’s turn. This flashback takes place just after Hurley is released from jail. He grabs a cab and sitting beside him is Jacob. Hurley quickly assumes that Jacob is dead, but he is assured that is not the case. Jacob was sitting in the cab, with a guitar case, waiting for Hurley to tell him “You have a choice Hugo.” something he will later tell Ben. Is it then not imperative that Hurley returns? Is he surplus to requirements? If so then why bother visiting him, never mind transporting him back through time to 1977? Therefore is Jacob offering the illusion of freewill? Making it seem like it was Hurley’s idea? After all, the concept of time travel in Lost is that everything is already predestined, you can’t change the past and therefore by extension you can’t change the present or the future, so Jacob already knows Hurley will return to the island, so, does he have  a choice? Does he have freewill?

As Jacob leaves the cab Hurley calls after him. “You forgot your guitar.” “It’s not my guitar.” Can we therefore assume it is Charlie Pace’s? Is Charlie going to make a dramatic come back in season 6? So far in this episode we have his ring and his guitar, add to that his own personal sacrifice to save everyone else on the island and I think you have a pretty potent case for resurrection!

Anyway, that’s it for flashbacks and that’s My Two Cents worth, hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday I’ll have time to summarise Island Time.