The First Evil…

Ok, so welcome to part three of the Lost finale where I will try to   make some sense of what exactly is going on in Carlton and Damien’s heads. If you missed parts 1 and 2 you catch them here and here

So, Joss Whedon fans might recognise the title of this blog. Throughout this final episode I found myself thinking, “This feels familiar” and it wasn’t until I re-watched the episode with my mum (of all people) that she pointed out where we’d seen it before… Buffy! Remember the season 7 baddie, The First Evil? An evil entity that could take on the form of any dead person it wanted? Ringing any bells? That’s right, Man #2, the man I suspect to be Jacob’s brother (possibly called Esau.), the man who has taken the form of John Locke in order to get close enough to Jacob to kill him. We can now safely assume that he is also Christian Shepherd, Harper (When she appeared to Juliet) and possibly even Walt, although I have not yet figured out how, unless that is why Walt is “special”. More importantly though I’m almost definitely positive that he was, in fact, Dead Alex who conned Ben into doing everything John asked.

This raises a question about the relationship between Jacob, Esau and the Black Smoke. Firstly I am assuming they are, in fact, three different entities and that the Black Smoke is under the control of neither man. Although if I am right that Dead Alex is ‘Esau’ then the Black Smoke retreated from Alex and I although I doubt it was working for him it certainly could have been afraid of him. If this is the case then the Black Smoke is a lesser entity than either Jacob or ‘Esau’. Also, if this is the case we can assume that Smokey didn’t finish judging Ben and that possibly it would have killed him for his crimes. Maybe ‘Esau’ knew that Smokey couldn’t kill Ben while he was around (hence it not coming when called) and so was not worried about losing the instrument he needed to kill Jacob. (I’m assuming he couldn’t kill Jacob himself as he would have done so that first flashback on the beach.)

So, what about the whispers? The whispers came before Harper’s appearance (in Season 4 Episode 6 “The Other Woman”) and if Harper was ‘Esau’ then are the whispers related to him? In that episode Harper tried to help Juliet stop Daniel and Charlotte who were planning to take a weapon from Ben, the poison gas. If Ben could not defend himself and was captured then he would be useless to ‘Esau’. It’s just a theory, but there were other times too when the ‘Esau’ tried to stop people coming to the island. For example, he was unhappy that the Black Rock was there. Also I believe he may have assumed the form of the seemingly indestructible Mikhail (remember eyepatch?) and blown up the Looking Glass station to prevent Charlie from letting Widemore bring his freighter to the island. If you take this a step further and assume that Jacob wants the opposite, he could have been the one who dislocated Desmond in time, saving him from the imploding hatch and giving him the insight into the future, so he could save Charlie, the only person capable of bringing the freighter to the island, through his musical background. Taking it a step further and assuming that the two entities, Jacob and ‘Esau’ are in fact brothers, then would it not stand to reason that they both have the same power, to assume the forms of dead people? So could Yemi appearing to Echo have been Jacob? And the same for the dead people who talk to Hurley?

Anyway, if the whispers are not ‘Esau’ then we have to assume there is a forth entity on the island and that might just be a little too much. Also Ben’s cryptic comment in episode 12 “Dead is Dead” to Rousseau “Every time you hear whispers, run the other way…” seems to suggest that Ben knows what the whispers are, or at least that they are not a friendly entity, especially to those who aren’t supposed to be there.

Speaking of Dead is Dead, what do you make of this image on the Temple wall?

I notice three points of interest, I even circled ‘em and numbered ‘em and everything.

1. Clearly we have Jacob’s statue, which I assume represents him, feeding the Black Smoke, like a pet, or a guard dog.
2. Behind Jacob there is a snake, poised to bite his back. This I assume is the entity I am calling Esau. Interestingly the Snake in the old testament also represented the Devil.
3. The final point is odd as I can’t really make it out but can anyone else see what look’s like a drowning man? The squiggle beneath could easily be the sea with the odd oval shaped bit being the island. Is this a depiction of the Oceanic 815 plane crash on the wall on an ancient temple?

Interesting no? The image could be of the coming War, with the 815ner’s trapped in the middle? There are also various pictographs around the edge of this image, one above for example is an all seeing eye, possibly suggesting the presence of someone else who is watching to see who the winner will be in the final conflict (Isaac?). After all, it seems that Jacob and ‘Esau’ have been waging this conflict for some time now, but as Jacob says “It only ends once. everything else is just progress.”

So I pose the question then, if it is Jacob that brings people to the island, like the Black Rock, and it is ‘Esau’ who wants to keep them away, then, who are the Others? Are they Jacob’s only successful settlers? Did Jacob bring the Dharma people too? Was that his attempt to supplant the Others with a better more civilised group? If so, then did the Other’s go over to the other side? Join Esau? Was that why Widmore insisted on killing Rousseau’s party, to stop another group being brought in to take their place. Certainly the 815ner did a very good job of wiping out most of the Others, those, at least, that were not at the temple. Does ‘Esau’ have his own group of Others, or does he rely on his ability to assume the forms of the dead and manipulate others?

And what about those Others at the Temple? Why were they chosen? How were they chose, are they in fact Jacob’s chosen people? We have had many theories on Lost about the island being purgatory, however now I am willing to suggest that it is something much more than that, I believe it might just be the Garden of Eden. Or at least within the Temple walls is. Certainly it seems only the pure were allowed to enter, children. Is Jacob trying to start over again, is that what he means by progress? If so, and Smokey is a security system, when it retreated from ‘Esau’ could it not have been returning to the Garden to warn them he was coming, you know, to keep the Snake out of the Garden? And if it is the Garden and Jacob and ‘Esau’ are brothers, could they no be Kain and Able?

Just supposing I’m right, then I think that the island wanted Eko to teach at the temple, to show the new Children the ways of the world. However first he needed to realise that what he did was wrong, that killing was wrong, no matter what and when the island saw that Eko could never be the person it needed… Well you know the rest.

And, still supposing I am right, that the island is the Garden of Eden, then I propose that Jacob is not the be all and end all, but instead he is a guardian (hence living beneath the guardian statue.) and gate keeper, like St. Peter and it is his presence that has stopped the Snake from entering the Garden and that is why ‘Esau’ would want him dead.

Woa! This is getting heavy now no? Right then. let’s wrap this up.

Somehow ‘Esau’ has stopped islander’s being able to reproduce, which means that Jacob has no more Children for the Garden, so Jacob brings down 815 and the Others take the Children. ‘Esau’ however sees the opportunity to corrupt the new group and turn them against Jacob’s chosen people. He takes on the guise of Christian Shepherd and convinces Locke to move the island. Unfortunately Ben does it and instead of getting rid of the chosen leader of the Others (possible saviour) he loses his instrument to bring down Jacob. However because of the botched experiments by the Dharma folk Christen can still put things right. He gets Locke off the island by conning him into pushing the wheel. Somehow he knows that Locke will die off-island, thus solving the possible saviour problem. However Jacob interferes and convinces at least Hurley and Ilana to come to the island, although he could possible be behind several of the incidents that bring back Jack and co (Jack's attempted suicide perhaps?) When Ben discovers that John really does know how to return to the island he kills him, to stop him from taking over as leader. ‘Esau’ then uses Locke and Alex to manipulate Ben into killing Jacob, while Jacob transports Jack and co. back to 1977 to act as a reset switch, knowing that he can’t stop what’s about to happen, not without John Locke anyway. ‘Esau’ then uses Richard to secure an audience with Jacob. As Richard points out  “Only the leader can request an audience with Jacob and the island can only have one leader at a time.” But ‘Esau’ cannot actually harm Jacob himself, which is why he needs Ben. Jacob is killed and his dying words are, “they are coming…” And I can only assume that ‘They’ are Jack and company…

Right, well that’s all I can get my head around, until next year this has been My Two Cents on Lost.

It was all a dream…

… Jack Shepherd awakens, his forehead drenched with sweat, fear gripping his heart like a vice. He can hear the sound of the shower in the distance but in his disoriented state it doesn’t register. Then who should walk out of the bathroom but his father! Thank God, that whole island thing was just a dream…!

Ok, so, it’s not exactly Dallas, but this season is about trying to stop the crash, 27 years before it happens and assuming the 815er’s are successful we could be looking at starting over back at season one next January and if that happens then what? Right then, enough pondering, lets get down to business. By the way, if you haven’t seen this weeks finale of Lost “The Incident.” stop reading NOW, I will be revealing the end of this episode!

This is the second of three posts I will be doing about the finale of season 5, this post will cover island time, you can view the post on Flashbacks here. 

So we open with Kate, Juliet and Sawyer on the sub with Miss  Austen trying to convince Mr Ford to go back to the island… Now, I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure a Submarine is fairly difficult to operate. A few episodes back Sawyer suggested they could commandeer it, how exactly, they don’t have anyone with that kind of experience. Kate warns the other two about Jack’s plan and Juliet changes her mind about a life with Sawyer and decides she needs to return to the island. The three of them get free and hold a gun to the captain’s head, a gesture that might be halfway scary if they weren’t underwater with no way of escape and no possible way of knowing how to operate the sub should they shoot the captain… When will these scriptwriters learn…

Anyway, down beneath the Dharma Initiative Sayid and Jack, following the instructions in Daniel’s journal, remove the plutonium core from the hydrogen bomb and then they shield themselves from the radiation by putting it in a cloth rucksack.  Yup, this is the same bomb that gave plenty of Others severe radiation burns because of the cracked casing and had to be buried but is now perfectly safe. Let’s put it this way, if this was 24, both Jack and Sayid would be dead before the day is out.

Out at the Swan Chang has shutdown construction. Radzinsky shows up and speaks his famous last words, so to speak, “I came to this island to change the world and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” In fact, if what we hear about the energy in the Swan is correct, then Stuart didn’t change the world so much as nearly  bring it to a cataclysmic end.

Meanwhile Locke is still leading his pilgrimage to Jacob and Sun and Ben take some time out to explain things for those who haven’t been paying attention to the last four seasons. “Who is Jacob?” Sun asks. “He’s in charge of this island.” What does that mean? Is Jacob the arbiter of the rules? Or is he merely the King of the Hill? The dictator who runs the island, makes demands, pushes the leader to do whatever particular whim takes his fancy that day? Sun asks Ben what Jacob is like and Ben replies, in the beautifully school boy-like manner he has developed since his dead daughter appeared to him. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen him.” A statement we later learn to be the truth. (Shock Gasp)

Locke and Richard, meanwhile, are discussing Locke’s miraculous return from the grave. Richard still can’t believe it and Locke reminds him that he can’t age so why is he so amazed by a man returned from death? Richard attributes both occurrences to Jacob and I wonder, should Locke kill Jacob and he is responsible for these miracles, would John not just die and Richard not just age (however many hundred years) in that instant? Or are Jacob’s powers one off gifts that do not need to be maintained? Before they set off again Locke tells Richard that when all is done with Jacob they will have to kill the passengers from flight 316.

Cue Ilana and the other Shadow of the Statue-ites rowing across from the Hydra island, the flightcase and Frank in tow. Beaching the outrigger, Bram, Ilana’s number one, asks why they brought Frank along and questions if she believes he might be a candidate. Now, of the four people that Abaddon insisted must be on the freighter only Frank has not been shown to have been born on the island. Which leads me to believe that he was. Also, if the Statue-ites know that John intends to kill Jacob then maybe they think Jacob will be resurrected, maybe in a new body??? Whatever the case Jacob recruited Ilana for something and she is insisting  Frank come along too. The pilot asks them what they have in the flight case and Ilana shows him, “Terrific.” Frank replies sarcastically.

Locke and Ben discuss, very openly, John’s plans for Jacob, loud enough for the random extras walking by to hear I’m sure. Ben confesses that his daughter told him to do everything Locke told him to do without question… Why Ben, why would you tell John that? He has always been so good at keeping things a secret, why would he give the man he surely intends to overthrow, such a hold over him? Locke turns around and smiles, “Good, I wont need to convince you then.” “Convince me of what John?” “I’m not going to kill Jacob, Ben, you are!”

Cut to Richard, Jack, Sayid and Ellie getting ready to exit the tunnels. Richard picks up a sledgehammer in a very menacing way, but only uses it to smash through a wall into one of the dharma houses. Specifically Horace’s house. Interesting that Horace built his house directly over the bomb and would later go on to build Jacob’s hut. Was Horace a secret Hostile? A worshipper of Jacob? Or was it just coincidence? Anywho Richard knocks Ellie unconscious and tells Jack and Sayid he’s done his bit. But what about Ellie? Somehow she must have been banished from the island, was it because she helped Jack? And is she the outsider that Charles will later father a child with? (i.e. Penny)

Hiding in plain sight Jack and Sayid throw on Dharma uniforms and trot on outside with a nuke strapped the Iraqi’s back. Poor old Roger however recognises Sayid and, unwilling to share his punching bag (young Ben), he shoot’s Sayid in the gut. A firefight erupts and Jack begins to shoot completely randomly, in fact the only thing he actually seems to take aim at is the Dharma van that comes to his rescue. With Hurley at the wheel, Miles and Jin pull the Doc and the dying Iraqi aboard and set off for the Swan.

Meanwhile Sawyer, Juliet and Kate are rowing their way to shore and Sawyer and Kate acting like road-trip buddies is not improving Juliet’s mood. They pull the boat ashore and seconds later Vincent comes bounding out of the bushes to greet them, followed by a voice. “Oh hell no!” Cries Rose, followed by Bernard, stealing Sawyer’s catchphrase “Son of a bitch!”

Sawyer can’t quite believe that Rose and Bernard would choose to leave the group. “I had Jin out, searching the island, grid by  grid.” It seems that Rose and Bernard did not want to be found and it also seems that everybody’s favour Korean doesn’t search all that well as he managed to miss the bungalow Rose and Bernard have built for themselves. Eager to get a move on to stop Jack and his insane “blow up the island” scheme, Juliet asks for the location of the barracks from where they are and the group sets out wishing Rose and Bernard the best of luck. 

Ilana and the other “Good Guys” as Bram puts it, have reached the cabin, where they note the ash circle that rings it has been  disturbed. It would seem then that at some point Jacob moved out of his residence under the statue of Taweret (Who along with being a protector in Egyptian mythology was also the wife of an evil demon of darkness called Apep. The fact that the statue was destroyed seems to point to the island being no longer under her protection. As for her husband, Black Smoke anyone? Or maybe Apep is the one who destroyed the statue?) to the cabin and the circle of ash would seem to be some kind of protection for Jacob. Against what though? What could be powerful enough to scare Jacob away from the hut and who helped by breaking the ash circle? Inside Ilana finds part of a tapestry depicting the statue, letting the Good Guys know where to go next, but before they traipse off into the jungle they torch the cabin to the ground.

Across the Island John Locke leads the Others to the destroyed camp that had once belong to Jack and company. John plonks himself down with Ben and talks about old times, while Sun roots about in Aaron’s crib and finds Charlie’s ring. John asks Ben about the day he took him to the cabin and Ben tells John that he made it all up. This seems like a cop out to me but I do like the way that Ben’s entire complex network of lies has come crashing down about him. I particularly like Ben’s new, what does anything matter attitude, brought on by his vision of Alex, (shame that it is all a con or so I think, more on that next week! )

The now dying Sayid somehow manages to rig the nuke to blow up on impact, despite his condition and his never having done such a thing before, or having any tools to hand at all and he warns Jack that he has to drop the bomb at the exact moment of the incident or all of it will be for nothing. Moments later Hurley slams on the breaks. “Why the hell are we stopping?!” pause, camera pans round to Sawyer, Juliet and Kate standing in the road, guns drawn. (Lovely shot btw) “That’s why…”

Meanwhile the Others have reached the four toed foot and Richard informs Locke that this is where Jacob lives.

Back at the van Jack and Sawyer head off for a heart to heart. Sawyer tells Jack that he could have stopped his daddy killing his mommy had he left the island the year before, but he didn’t because what’s done is done. Jack disagrees and Sawyer demands to know what Jack had done that was so bad that he wanted to blow up the island for a second chance. “I had her…” Jack replies. “Well, damn Doc, she’s standing right on the other side of those trees!” It’s odd isn’t that Sawyer has become the man of reason and logic, the true leader if there ever is such a thing in Lost. But Jack will  not change his mind so Sawyer clocks him one and after one of the most brutal fist fights in Lost history the Red-Neck Con-Man throws the Spinal Surgeon down and begins to strangle him. And he would have done too if Juliet hadn’t called him off.

It seems Jules has had another change of heart and she wants to blow up the island too. Sawyer, quite rightly, demands to know why and Juliet tells him it’s because he looked at Kate. Over reacting much? Your man looks at another woman and you decide to set of a hydrogen bomb? Sawyer tells her that he is with her, no one else, but that’s not enough for Juliet. Once again Juliet seems to know more than she is letting on here, which leads me to think she knows a little bit about the future, maybe her time on the island gave her some insight into the incident, but she seems to know that something terrible is going to happen and twice she tries to avoid it, getting on the sub and trying to stop Jack, only to  change her mind and eventually accept the inevitable.

Back on the beach Sun asks Ben about the statue. Ben replies “I don't know, it was like that when I got here.” Yet another school boy response, followed by another recognition of his loss of power. “You expect me to believe that?” “Not really…” John, Richard and Ben prepare to head inside and  Richard objects to Ben’s inclusion. Locke ignores Richard, calling him a liar, suggesting that Richard just makes up rules (those damn rules!) and maybe Richard is a liar, after all he is the voice of Jacob, but something about Locke’s behaviour isn't sitting right.

Over at the Swan site Miles brings up the point that we’ve all been making, if you can’t change the future, then, most likely, Jack’s bomb will cause the incident. A thought that had apparently not occurred to anyone else. Phil and the security team show up, locked and loaded, making it impossible for Jack to get close enough to the drill shaft to drop the bomb. Luckily, the others, spurred on by Miles’ speech ride to the rescue, even Sawyer has joined up with team Jack. Good old Jimmy La Fleur takes Phil hostage and effectively brings the fire-fight to an end. (Personally, I think Phil is just as expendable as the other dozen dead guards but what do I know?) Chang tries to shut down the drill but the electromagnetism below the Swan is pulling the drill down. Jack drops the bomb and boom! Oh, no, wait, it didn’t go off…

Instead the whole of the drill gets dragged down. Things start flying everywhere and a toolbox hits Sawyer in the head, causing him to release Phil. Phil, seeing his opportunity to be rid of his rival (The Dharma peeps really need a better screening process, what with Roger, Stuart and Phil all being psychopaths!), Phil turns on Sawyer, only to get a steel bar through the chest, bye bye Phil…

Part of the drilling mechanism drops on Chang’s hand and Miles rushes in to save him, possibly then the future has been changed, from where I was sitting Chang’s injury did not seem severe enough to cost him his arm, maybe Miles changed his father’s fate?

Some chains get whipped up into the maelstrom and wrap themselves about Juliet, dragging her into the pit. Sawyer and Kate do their best but Jules has had it. All too late she realises who exactly it is that Sawyer is in love with, before disappearing down the shaft. Although I had a feeling Juliet might know something about the future, something she didn't want to come to pass, I was still fairly shocked that she would be killed off. Having disliked her since season three for being whiney, she had really started to grow on me this season…

Back on the beach Ilana and the other Statue-ites turn up to speak with Richard and to show him what exactly is in the flight case… And wouldn’t you know it, for the second time on Lost, the contents of a box we’ve not been allowed to see inside, are none other than John Locke’s corpse! And if Locke is dead on the beach, then who is inside with Jacob?! That’s right, Man #2 from the flashback at the start of the episode. (More on this next week.)

Jump inside the statue and Ben is finally realising his dream of meeting Jacob, with the imposter Locke right behind him. “Hello Jacob.” Locke smiles. “Well,” Jacob replies. “You found your loophole.” Locke asks Ben to kill Jacob and you can see it on his face that he doesn’t want to, if anything he wants fall down on his knees and worship, but then Jacob just has to speak up. “Ben, you have a choice.” The same thing he said to Hurley about returning to the island. Jacob, apparently offers freewill, but maybe Ben was always destined to kill Jacob, maybe that is why Alex had to die, why Ben had to get sick, why Jacob brought a woman to the island who looked exactly like his lost love but made her see him as repellent? Is it possible that all of those things happened to drive Ben to this?

“What choice?” Ben asks and Jacob makes the fatal mistake of telling Ben he can leave. After all the years of waiting Ben is finally in Jacob’s presence and Jacob wants him to leave?! Ben objects and stabs Jacob, twice, just for good measure. Wounded but not dead the most powerful entity on the island drops to his knees and whispers “They’re coming…” Locke listens and then kicks Jacob into the fire, where he burns up.

Cut back to the hatch, Kate and Jack drag Sawyer away, who is still devastated after his lost love. However, pan down the shaft and who should we find still alive, that’s right, it’s Juliet, with a rock. Now, the 30ft drop down the tunnel didn't set the nuke off, however, somehow, the near dead Juliet believes that a couple of well timed blows might just do the trick… BOOM!

Right then, so we are none the wiser about anything then… The biggest cliff hanger ever in Lost and we cannot possibly know where it will go from here. Did it work? Did we reset back to the start of season 1? Or did Juliet just kill everyone in the blast radius? Are only Sun and Locke the only two surviving members of the original cast? Whatever the case, my questions and theories are too numerous to discuss here, so tune in early next week for the final part of My Two Cents…

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.

The Others Follow the Leader in Lost…

So, following Daniel’s death Jack swaps roles with John Locke and  becomes the man of Faith, while Locke takes on the role of Sayid as the man of Action and poor old Richard gets stuck between them both.

Down on the beach in 2007 Richard Alpert is finishing construction on a ship in a bottle. I’m assuming its a model of the Black Rock, possibly a hint to Richard’s own origins? Locke comes down the beach, a boar slung over his shoulders and tells Richard they have an errand to run. This is new for Locke, the new spiritually enlightened Locke is telling Richard what to do, where as the old Locke looked to him for answers. Richard comments on the change in Locke and John replies “I have a purpose now!”

John has a purpose? In 2007? Doesn’t that suggest that whatever Jack Kate and Sawyer are doing back in 1977 has no purpose?

Sun and Ben approach keeping their distance and proceeding to give a little exposition for the benefit of those who haven’t quite been keeping up. “His name is Richard Alpert, he’s a kind of advisor…  and he has had that job for a very very long time.” Realising what he means Sun dashes up to Richard hoping that he has seen her husband. “Yes I was here 30 years ago and yes I remember meeting these people because I watched them all die!”

Really? All of them? Well as we will see later in this episode at least three of the people in the photo get off the island before the incident, however I can’t think, offhand, when Richard has ever been anything but truthful, so why would he lie now? Also having recently re-watched season 4, in particular “Cabin Fever” where Horace admits to having been dead for 12 years in 2004, we can safely assume that the purge didn’t happen until 1992, so did Richard see them all die in 1977 or 1992 as he was likely present at both events?

Anyway, Locke asks Richard for his compass back and then Richard and Ben head off into the jungle. However not before Locke promises Sun he will help find a way to save Jin. The problem I have here is why Sun stayed in 2007? Why was she not dragged back in time like everyone else? Is it because she was not supposed to be on flight 815? Was she supposed to leave Jin because their destinies lay apart from one another?

Jack and Kate are brought before Ellie, who, having read the message future Ellie wrote, realises that Daniel is telling the truth and that he is her son. I’m also thinking that either Ellie is pregnant with or has already given birth to baby Daniel by this point. Before Ellie questions them, Jack and Kate discuss just exact what will happen if they put things right. “Our plane never crashes, flight 815 lands in Los Angeles” Jack says. “And everyone we lost since we got here, they’d all be alive.” (That’s the self sacrificing Jack we all know and love.) “And what about us?” Kate responds, selfishly. “We just go on, living our lives, because we’ve never met.” Jack has just told her they can save the lives of everyone, all three hundred and odd people and all Kate can say is “What about us?” The same Kate who told Jack she didn’t want to see him again?

Ellie enters and demands to know what Daniel planned to do with the H-bomb, codename “Jughead”. Jack tells her that Daniel had figured out a way to change things and that if she helps him she wont have killed Daniel, that she can take it all back. Ellie turns to Kate and asks “Does he know what he’s taking about?” Kate replies “He thinks he does.” And with a season to go and the need for a finale I'm inclined to agree with Kate, Jack is wrong. Daniel has always insisted that you cannot change the past, but he has realised that they are an integral part of it, that in order to  preserve things everything must happen as it did before, including his own death and to ensure that happened after he died he gave Jack hope that he could change things. Thus I think that Jack will echo John Locke’s words at the end of season 2 “What have I done?”

Back at the Dharma security station Sawyer and Juliet are being interrogated by Radzinsky, Horace and Phil. Sawyer refuses to talk and Radzinsky beats him. Horace tries to stop him but Radzinsky has taken charge and refuses to acknowledge Horace’s authority.

Hugo, Miles and Jin are making their plans to escape when Chang  catches them. Troubled by Faraday’s “We’re from the future” talk he confronts Miles and Hurley and quickly breaks down Hurley’s alibi “Who is the president of the united states?” “Alright dude, we’re from the future.” Chang inquires about the incident and Miles tells him that if Daniel warned him he should listen.

Meanwhile back in 2007 Locke and Richard prepare for Locke’s jump forward in time when Richard will give him the compass and tells him he needs to bring everyone back to the island. They arrive at almost the exact moment, a point which is commented on by Ben. “Your timing is impeccable John, how did you know when to be here?” Locke replies “The Island told me.” Something it had never done with Ben, maybe because Ben was never meant to be in charge and that his usurpation of Charles’ position was in someway against the island’s wishes, which brings into question Richard and if he really has the islands best interests at heart. After all it was he who healed Ben and he who instated Ben as leader.

Chang comes into the security station and tells them to evacuate, but he stops in his tracks when he sees Sawyer and Juliet. Stuart Radzinsky turns on Chang and asks him why he isn't at the Swan. Chang replies that he believes there will be a cataclysmic event  should they continue drilling. Stuart replies they will drill and on schedule. Chang turns to Horace “You’re in charge.” but Stuart cuts him off “He’s not in charge anymore!” Is that why Radzinsky ends up in the swan, his penance for ignoring the warning is to push the button? Is it because he feels guilty for all the lives lost that he blows the back of his head off all over the ceiling of the Swan?

Sawyer realises the danger they are all in, and unable to save anyone else, he chooses to save himself and Juliet by turning the Others in for a place on the Sub. A tactic he had admonished Michael for only last season.

Richard and Ellie have brought Jack and Kate to the river where Sayid meets up with them. Kate is appalled by the two men and there way of dealing with things and so once again she storms off into the jungle. Does that girl ever stick with anything? She spends more time traipsing across the island from one group to the other than she ever does actually in the group.

Hurley, Jin and Miles spy on Chang as he demands his wife gets on the sub with baby Miles, yelling at her so that she will leave, giving Miles closure, letting him know that his father really did love his mother and that he made her leave to save her. Juliet and Sawyer are loaded into the sub as well and before climbing down inside Sawyer turns around long enough to mutter “Good riddance.” Is it really though? Is that it for Sawyer and Juliet? If  they are off the island in 1977 can they make it back to 2007? Sawyer and Juliet have a touching moment where each says “I love you” only for it to ruined moments later as Kate is thrown in as well and the sub sets off in some of the worst CG on Lost to date.

Jack, Richard, Ellie and Sayid swim under the river to the tunnels where the bomb is. Sayid points out that Ellie is only helping them because she wants to wipe out the Dharma Initiative and Jack replies he knows, but still trusts her… I wonder if Ellie gets herself kicked off the island before Charles, for helping Jack and Sayid maybe, because right now it looks like she is charge not Charles yet later on he definitely is. That make me wonder if she is Penny’s mother, that it was her that Charles left the island so frequently for, that eventually got him kicked out too?

Back on the beach John has rounded up the Others and is taking them to see Jacob. Richard is not happy about this, remarking to Ben “I think John Locke is gonna be trouble.” Ben replies “Why do you think I tried to kill him?” As they march off down the beach Ben lets Locke know Richard’s reservations, maybe because Smokey-Alex has told Ben to side with Locke or maybe because Ben is playing Richard and Locke off against each other in the hope of regaining power. Ben tells Locke that he is here to help and if Jacob can help Locke get back to his people then… but Locke replies, a mite too quickly. “I’m not interested in being reunited with my people. That’s not why we’re going to Jacob. “ “Then why?” replies Ben. “So i can kill him!” Wyyyyoooo Doof “LOST”

So that’s it for another week. Richard really has “Lost” control  hasn’t he? I’m guessing he couldn’t stop Jack back in 1977 and now he has Locke to contend with in 2007. Of course there are other questions to contend with too. Is there really a Jacob or is Richard the man behind the mask? Is the concept of Jacob just a way to keep the Others in line or is there really a greater power on the island? And if there is, can it be killed?

And what about this for a theory? I think that it may have all happened before. Jack’s dad, Christian Shepherd, was responsible for Jack and Anna being on the plane and in a lesser way for Claire too, all of whom have had a major influence on events on the island. He, like John, was dead and like John is now walking about  the island. So I pose the question, did Christian have to die to return to the island, like John too? Was Christian Shepherd a part of the Dharma Initiative or an Other?

I just thought I'd throw it out there. Anyhow, that’s my Two Cents until next time when I will bring you my take on Heroes Volume 4: Fugitives.  

Dead is Dead for John Locke

So, the mystery revealed, the title of this weeks episode of Lost is about not Ben, but Locke (shoulda seen that one coming I guess), however it really answers another, maybe more important question, while posing a whole host of others.

This week’s episode was by far and away the best episode so far this season. Although the title might be about Locke it is Ben who gets centre stage. So far in Lost history I can only think of two Ben central episodes and only one of those is a Flashback episode. In Season 3’s “Man Behind the Curtain” we learn that Ben hates his father and will eventually grow up to kill him, in this episode we see how he gets there.

As with a lot of this series’ flashbacks, some of what we learn here is already assumed and in most cases assumed correctly. For example we already knew that Ben stole Alex as a baby (it was even in the ‘Previously on Lost’ for this episode.). Another problem I have with Flashbacks in this series is the inclusion of Characters as exposition. What I mean by this is that characters are put into scenes where they don’t necessarily fit because it saves time on explaining their back story. For example why would Ben take Ethan with him when Charles sent him to assassinate Rousseau? Ethan is a child and certainly shouldn’t be killing anyone. Therefore i can only conclude he was there so we could see he had joined the others as a child (and as yet another echo of seasons past, when Ethan will lead the hunt for Claire’s baby). What isn’t explained is how or why. Did Ben bring him over? Or is he still living in Dharmaville like Ben but moonlighting as an Other? Has Amy died and so young Ethan has been orphaned and taken by the Others? Or is he one of those “the Island chose”?

Twice during this episode Charles Widmore’s authority is undermined. Firstly Richard is admonished for saving Ben, however Richard simply tells Charles, “The Island chooses who the Island chooses” and then later Ben defies him by not killing baby Alex. So did the Island choose Alex too? Did it appoint Ben Linus as her protector? And if Alex and Ethan were chosen then why did the island allow them to be killed? Is the answer in the title? Dead is Dead? As Ben will later reveal, ”Dead is Dead and there is no coming back from that, even here.”

And of course, Ben’s baby snatching habits continued long into adulthood and maybe we should ask the question what were his true intentions with Aaron? After all, Charles doesn’t answer the question “Is killing this baby what Jacob wants?”… What if it is? We certainly couldn’t be sure if there are any child births after this point on the island. After all Charlotte/Miles/Daniel and Ethan (all possible island births i can think of) were all born before baby Alex and assuming no pregnant ladies crashed on the island in the intervening sixteen years then Aaron would be the first baby since Alex and if Jacob wants no new human life on the island, then maybe Ben was really trying to kill Aaron, on Jacob’s orders.

And no Ben-centric episode would be complete without a mention of the Rules. The rules, the glue that holds the very fabric of time (and the show) together. We learn how Charles gets exiled. It couldn’t be all that long before the 815 plane crash. Alex is maybe six, so ten years (although Charles claims its nearly twenty) and Desmond crashed there three years before that. (Side note: I wonder, i can’t remember, but if Widmore’s yacht race was an annual thing he could have been using it to find the island. I wonder if he knew what had happened when Des didn’t return? Did he even know that Des would go, after all he seems to have foresight and is Libby in anyway connected to Widmore, as it was her boat?)

Anyway, Charles is kicked off the island because he left it often and had a child with an outsider. Personally i can’t blame him, the choice of Others is quite slim. Now if this was ten years before the 815 crash and we trust IMDB to tell us Sonya Walger (Penny Widmore) ‘s true age then that would mean it took the Others 24 years to realise this… (23 years would be a nicer number, lets pick that, then people can read additional meaning into it.) Seriously? Banishing him for a crime he committed 24 years previous?

And once again, as he is being banished Charles brings up Alex. Ben says “I will sacrifice everything for the good of the Island.” to which Charles replies “You wouldn’t sacrifice Alex.” Ben refutes this saying “It was you who wanted her dead, not the island.” bringing us to the crux of the matter “I hope you’re right Benjamin, because if it is the island who wants her dead, she’ll be dead… and you’ll finally realise you cannot fight the inevitable.”

Well Charles was right, but what is the inevitable? Is it that Ben is to be replaced, that he is not the messiah the Others believe in? After all we have to assume that both Ben and Charles were fed the same story about being chosen that Locke was, it would be the only way to explain why Richard would be so subservient to them.

In Ben’s final flashback he goes after Penny Widmore, just as he promised Charles he would. Just before we get this flash Ben asks Sun to find Des and tell him he’s sorry, leading us to believe that he killed Pen and that Des survived the attack. Somewhat wishful thinking on Ben’s part because he shot Des in the abdomen where he could puncture any number of vital organs, that wouldn’t necessarily kill the Scotsman out right . Ben however cannot kill Penny when he sees young Charlie and Desmond flies into an adrenaline fuelled rage and pommels Ben into the beaten and blooded fellow we see boarding the plane.

So Penny and Desmond(?) survive, hopefully to return in season six, maybe with young Charlie in tow. Meanwhile in Island time, Locke and Ben flee back to the main island, after Ben kills Caesar with a shotgun, who he had befriended mere moments earlier. I wonder if the name Benjamin can trace its roots from Brutus? After all Lost is not afraid to draw on mythology for it muse. In fact, Lost is menagerie of influence, which has caused it to become aimless in theological comparisons. I digress.

Ben is returning to the Island to be judged and Locke it seems has been chosen as his spirit guide, somewhat akin to Eko and Yemi. They meet up with Frank and Sun and Frank abandons them and returns to Ilana only for her to pull a gun on him. Poor Old Frank, glad to see the beard returning, he looks so odd clean shaven. So have the 316er’s already turned all Lord of the Flies, or is there a dark mystery at work here? My vote, dark mystery!

Returning to Ben, he and Sun have a heart to heart where Ben mutters the immortal words “Dead is dead, you don’t get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island scares the living hell out of me.” So Dead is Dead? Well that certainly puts the kibosh on so many theories, that for example Jin, Locke and Rose are all dead, which is why they appeared cured. It also supports Lindelof and Cuse’s insistence that Christian Shepherd is dead and therefore by extension so too is Locke, so who the hell is walking about the island? Is Christian really just Christian, as Locke is Locke? Have we therefore not actually met Jacob? How is the Island able to manifest corporeal bodies such as Locke, Christian, Dave, Kate’s Horse, Horace and now in this episode Alex? And why can it only become dead people? Even worse why can it’s reach extend off the Island in the case of Hurley (who has seen Anna Lucia, Charlie, Eko and others)?

One thing is certain now that Locke is dead, he wont be leaving the Island. His death has certainly given him fresh insight into the Island, as he leads Ben all the way to the Temple without aid and he even knows that Smokey lives beneath it. But if Locke is dead (avoiding the obvious Jesus Christ metaphor) can he still be the messiah the Others have been waiting for? Has the Island brought John back because it still has a purpose for him?

Finally Ben enters the Temple, which is covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics (and I’m not about to translate it all to look for hidden meaning) where Ben is to be judged, by none other than Alex. Somehow he passes and his penance is to follow John Locke. However, other than the counter in the swan hatch (which was Dharma and not Other in nature) I honestly don’t see the Egyptian influence in the show. In fact it draws more parallels with Christian mythology than it does with Egyptian and the two hardly go hand in hand. For example the presence of a single omnipresent god-creature (like Jacob) is opposed to the pantheon of gods in the Egyptian mythology. I’m just not sure I’m convinced…

Anyway, its been a long rant this week and think i missed out half of my questions, but this has been My Two Cents.