Thursday, May 14, 2009

LOST Season 5 Finale, Episode 5.16: "The Incident"

There is no way that I can hide what I'm feeling as I begin this particular post. Very few of you actually know me, but those who do will be less likely to make fun of the fact that I'm actually quite distraught right now. Of course this is just a television show. But that does not lessen the fact that I feel like I've lost a friend. No pun intended this time. I cried. I took notes. I paused the TiVO and took a moment. Cried again. Told my better half that the Juliet scene might be the only one in five seasons that I'm not sure I can ever watch again. It was incredible, heart breaking, horrific, beautiful, insane and appropriate (if that's even possible).

So let's just throw this wounded spirit into the fire and see what happens.

I am choosing to provide more content than photos this time, in order to get all of my initial thoughts out immediately and before sunrise. And although I usually organize and outline my thoughts and theories alphabetically, given the significance of Jacob to the entire series...he deserves top billing.

JACOB

HE is the reason that some, if not all, of the Losties wind up on the island. Jacob was the impetus to get select 815 passengers to that island both in 2004 and in 2007, by simply touching them:
  • Young Kate: touches her nose, tells her not to steal. She does, becomes a convict on the run and winds up on 815 with the Marshall.
  • Young Sawyer: touches his hand while giving him the pen, tells him that what's done is done. He writes the letter anyway, pursues the real Sawyer and winds up on 815 after killing the wrong man during his search.
  • Adult Locke: touches his shoulder after Locke is pushed out of 8 story window, tells him "I'm sorry this happened to you." Locke goes through hellish physical therapy and rehab, is paralyzed in a wheelchair and winds up on 815 to go on a walkabout because everyone tells him he can't.
  • Oceanic 6 Sayid: touches his shoulder immediately after Nadia gets run over by a car. In grief, Sayid turns into assassin for Ben, returns on 316 after being arrested for one of those murders.
  • Oceanic 6 Hurley: touches his shoulder, and is the only one of the Losties that he addresses by name. Jacob reassures him that he's blessed, not cursed or crazy. He then informs Hurley about 316, which he winds up taking.
  • Adult Jin & Sun: touches their shoulders after their wedding, and mentions their love. That relationship is tumultuous at best, and they wind up on 815 on an errand for Sun's father.
  • Adult Jack: touches his hand while giving him an Apollo bar, moments after Jack confronts dad Christian for embarrassing him in the operating room. Jack's resentment leads to his father's loss of job, drinking and death...and Jack winds up on 815 with his dad in a coffin.
By touching each of them, he does not heal them per se (although Locke wound up paralyzed from that fall, Jacob may have brought him back to life), but perhaps sets them up to be healed and protected by and on the island.

It is curious that Jacob sent Alpert on two occasions to recruit Locke to the island rather than do it himself. Alpert clearly doubted that Locke is special, so why not visit young Locke himself, like he did the other young Losties?

Logistically speaking, there is no way that Jacob traveled so frequently off island via sub or a turn of the Frozen Donkey Wheel, especially given that both didn't play a role until much later in his life there. So, any ideas about his method of transportation?

Can Jacob die? If so, does Jack inadvertantly save him by dropping Jughead into the Swan?

Is it possible that Jacob taught Charlotte to speak Korean? Although it's doubtful that he would show himself to anyone on the island, it struck me when Jin noted how perfect Jacob's Korean was.

BEN

It is amazing that in spite of his years of lying and killing...I feel sympathy for Ben when he finally confronts Jacob.

He isn't the man behind the curtain after all. That Ben is a mere pawn in Jacob's game is a rather stunning development. Jacob has been using and manipulating him for years; every single off island trip, the Purge, the recruitment of the O6 to return, etc...all for Jacob's gain.

BRAM, ILANA & CO.

Even though Jacob was not actually in the cabin during Locke's first visit there, he did hear Jacob say 'help me.' And tonight we saw Jacob ask Ilana "will you help me?"

I'm not exactly sure when Ilana's hospitalization took place, but her condition could have been caused by The Incident. It seems possible that Jacob could have visited her before Ben and Locke killed him, which is why he asked for her help.

Bram asserted that they're "good" people, so it will be very interesting to find out if this faction teams up with Alpert's Others in Season 6. Ben always asserted that the Others were good guys, and that Jacob decides who is deemed 'good.'

It must have been after Evil Twin Locke and Ben took an outrigger to the main island (after Ben killed Caesar) that Ilana and her team discovered the real Locke's body in the plane.

I'm not clear as to why Ilana would ask for Ricardo rather than Richard, but now I'm thinking that perhaps Richard Alpert is The Economist. David Ricardo was a famous economist in the late 1700's, and a close associate of philosopher Jeremy Bentham...

THE CABIN

So Hippie Horace builds this nice cabin for his wife and kid away from Dharmaville for a little respite from the DI, and Jacob used it as a front. I doubt that Horace and Jacob had a cozy little time share agreement, but I do wonder how and why Horace conceded that it was no longer his.

Did Jacob himself made a break in the ash line surrounding his cabin when he returned to the foot of the statue, if he was ever even in there at all?


If Jacob was not in that cabin, who's eye did Hurley see when he looked inside?

CHARLES WIDMORE

Is Widmore aware of just who Jacob is? Was it Jacob who decided to banish Widmore from the island in the late 1980's?

CHARLIE PACE

For a split second, I was very excited at the possibility that Charlie would appear in this episode (ghost or otherwise).

Why else have Sun discover his ring in Aaron's crib? They could have simply had her look at the crib and long for her daughter, and achieved the sentiment. If that was their way of addressing fan frustration that Claire never found Charlie's ring, I find it an odd episode to so in.

CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD

I am now wondering if Jacob also interacted with Christian in the past. Perhaps Christian knew he had to die in order to get Jack to the island. Jacob may have arranged for Christian's arrival on the island in a coffin, similar to Locke's tonight...


CLAIRE

She was last seen chilling out in the cabin with Ghost Daddy Christian, who was acting as Jacob's mouthpiece. So of course now my mind is wandering with the possibilities about Aaron and how/why Jacob made sure that Claire delivered him on/to the island...

DESMOND

Having Faraday tell Desmond that's he's miraculously and uniquely special, and that the rules don't apply to him seemed like a monumental, game-changing revelation at the time. And yet here we are at the close of this intense, time shifting season that ends with a bomb and leaves us with a giant, 8 month long question mark...and no Desmond intervention or mention. Of all loose ends to tie up from this season, I thought for sure that Desmond would make an appearance or at least play a huge role in The Incident. Then again, at the beginning of next season, we may very well see Desmond at the Lamp Post with Hawking in Los Angeles, working with her to prevent or prepare for The Incident and the ramifications...

ELOISE HAWKING

I don't think she works for one particular side or the other (i.e. Ben and Widmore); she had to have something to do with the fact that Ilana and Bram's crew were also on Ajira 316 and arrived on the island with very little physical harm.

Are we sure that Ellie was pregnant with Faraday in 1977? I just don't think that he is that young. That would make him a professor at Oxford at only 19 years old. So if she's not pregnant with Faraday, it seems rather likely that Faraday's younger brother or sister will be someone we've met in the future, perhaps on flight 815...

FRANK LAPIDUS

I am curious as to Frank's role in Season 6, and still pondering what Ilana and Bram meant by him being a 'candidate.'


HURLEY

We know that Ghost Charlie, Ghost Eko and Ghost Ana Lucia all visited Hurley. But tonight Hurley confirmed that Libby visited him as well. That made me very happy to hear.

He must have looked inside the guitar case. Why else lug that thing as your primary luggage back to the island? Many of us assumed it was a representation of Charlie (and it still may be), but that Jacob gave it to Hurley makes it that much more intriguing...

THE ISLAND

I'd often wondered just how long the island had been invisible to the outside world, and the opening scene confirmed that it's certainly been a very long time. Given the look and feel of Jacob's residence inside of the statue's foot, it is likely that that the tunnel system and The Temple were created under Jacob's reign as well.

"THE LIST"

To be clear, the list that Ms. Klugh gave Michael to lure Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer into the Others' trap in exchange for Walt was never confirmed to be Jacob's list...

This is where I am confused - in earlier seasons, (Other thug) Danny Pickett mentioned that Jack wasn't on Jacob's list and Mikhail said that Kate, Locke and Sayid weren't. But tonight we saw that Jacob had visited and touched/chosen all of them...

JACK

I was not a huge fan of Jack this season, but I did enjoy his very quick transition into a man of faith upon returning to the island. And I do love the idea that he became an unwilling leader from day one on the island, making it his mission to fix and save people...but that he has returned to doing so in a much more voluntary and peaceful perspective.

That being said, if Project Jughead is successful, he saves everyone at the expense of Juliet. That is an unforgivable sacrifice, at least to a biased fan like me.

JIN & SUN

So if they do reunite, it will be in misery in 2004. With no Ji Yeon. Not ideal or satisfying.


JULIET

My heart sank on several occasions, the first of which was when Juliet noticed Sawyer's look at Kate during Rose and Bernard's love speech. The second time was when they gave her a brief flashback without a Jacob appearance. I knew it was the end of the road for my favorite Lost character of all time.

p.s. I totally thought I was right about her being pregnant when she had her hand on her stomach and Bernard offered her tea. :(

Favorite line, however painful: "If I never meet you, then I never have to lose you."

Elizabeth Mitchell gave an Emmy-worthy performance in the finale, and as excruciating as her death scene was, I am quite content that Juliet's last act on earth was a selfless one. It is very sad, however, that no one on that island will ever know just how integral she was to saving all of their lives and altering their destinies.

When the chains got caught around her and the electromagnetic force pulled her into the Swan black hole, it was very reminiscent of Locke's first encounter with Smokey...although he clearly had a better outcome.

RIP, Juliet. I will always heart thee.

Back in Season 3, Ben told Juliet that Jacob had healed his sister's cancer. Now that we've seen Jacob off island, my hope is that Ben was actually telling the truth.

KATE

Fine, she earned huge points in my book for helping Sawyer attempt to save Juliet.

And I really do think that she and Jack deserve one another, so if they return to flight 815 in 2004 (and regardless of whether or not they recall what happened), I hope they wind up together in the end.

LOCKE

I am not one to toot my own horn. Yes, I sometimes gloat when something I've wanted to come true on this show has actually happened. But that has been very rare and I try not to do it too often. And by no means is this confirmed, but the entire reason I started the Bentham blog and Facebook profile at the end of Season 4 was because I was convinced that there were 2 John Lockes. On May 30, 2008, I wrote the following:
"Jeremy Bentham was not John Locke. He was a clone of Locke that was created in the Vault below the Orchid station (like the rabbits). Whether this happens as an accident or was purposeful remains to be seen."
And right before the beginning of this season, I elaborated:
"I created the Bentham blog last summer because I am convinced that Jeremy Bentham and John Locke are two different people. In the Orchid video, a bunny clones itself and Dr. Halliwax (Pierre Chang) makes reference to both a 'shift' and the Casimir Effect. Without getting too scientific...I just have a feeling that during Locke's bumbling efforts to follow in Ben's footsteps, he somehow activates a time shift which creates a clone: Bentham."
In this Orchid video, Chang talks about exotic matter being embedded beneath the island. According to, yes, Wikipedia, if you combine that exotic matter with negative energy density, you can stabilize a wormhole. The Casimir Effect can produce a mass-negative region of space-time, used to stabilize a wormhole to allow faster than light travel. To me, that wormhole is "the loophole" by which Mystery Man is able to become Evil Twin Locke.

Of course I know what your response will be; that Locke was still Locke until Ben killed him. And that as we've learned with the last Comic-Con video (Chang's future message), those videos aren't necessarily canon. But I will politely disagree and leave this Locke clone theory for your analysis and discussion in the comments. :)

Ok, and I was also correct about there being a body in Ilana's crate. Gloating officially ends here. Moving on!

We've all been speculating why and how Locke is a changed man since returning to the island, but my first clue tonight that Locke was not Locke? When he made reference to 'dealing' with the rest of the Ajira passengers. Locke is and has been many things, but he's not a mass murderer.

I loved Evil Twin Locke's role reversal manipulation of Ben, the former master of mind games; reminding him that the island gave him cancer rather than healed him, that he watched his daughter die, that he was banished? Brilliant and simple way to convince Ben to kill the man he answered to but never met for 35 years.

MYSTERY MAN

So that we're all on the same page...the mystery man on the beach with Jacob in the first scene, the one who wants to kill him - has manifested into Evil Twin Locke, and discovered that elusive loophole to finally be able to kill Jacob.

PHIL

Dude, you hit a woman and you get impaled by a metal pole. The end.

RICHARD ALPERT

Are we all on board now with the theory that Richard was either the captain of or crew member on the Black Rock?

"I'm this way because of Jacob." So are Alpert and Richard the only ones on the island that are ageless? And why did Jacob designate Richard to be an ageless island advisor?

ROSE & BERNARD

Weekend at Bernie's indeed. Sweet jungle condo. Seeing these two was a real highlight, as was the reappearance of Vincent. This storyline provided necessary comic relief in a very intense episode.

Favorite lines of the night?
Caveman Bernard, re: the return of their friends: "Son of a bitch."
Rose, re: not integrating into Dharmaville: "We're retired."

By the way, why is it that no one else aged while being stuck in time except for Bernard? He went from Doting Dentist to Berkeley Bernard in no time (pun intended).

SAWYER

Kudos to Josh Holloway, for the biggest character transformation over five seasons. His performance tonight was stellar and gut wrenching; it brought back memories of Sun's bloodcurdling screams for Jin as she watched the freighter blow up at the end of last season. Goosebumps and tears on both occasions.

I know that not everyone was on board with his relationship with Juliet, but after Sawyer told Jack about his parents...it was clear that his love for and trust in Juliet was strong enough to bring him back to the island rather than have the opportunity to potentially prevent his parents from their death.

To those who swear by Kate and Sawyer, I will say this: they have the physical chemistry, but they only had 100 days together on the island. Juliet and Sawyer had 3 years, and a true love for one another.

Favorite line, after Jughead was dropped down into the Swan but nothing happens: "This don't look like LAX."

SAYID

If The Incident is successful but Sayid dies anyway ("nothing can save me")...will Roger Linus have prevented the shooting of his son by killing the man who did it in a previous era/time shift?

Sayid is my second favorite Lost character of all time, so if he dies too...I suppose I have eight months to feel disgruntled and get over it.

Nadia's death seemed unusually cruel, especially because Sayid witnessed it (and on top of Juliet's very dramatic demise at the end of the episode). The irony is not lost on me that the former torturer is among the most emotionally tortured himself.

SMOKEY

Our favorite entity was nowhere to be found, which leads me to believe that Smokey was created because of The Incident, and not before it.

RELEVANT PARALLEL FROM SEASON 2

All of these Jacob reveals reminded me of a conversation between Eko and Locke in Season 2 (What Kate Did):
Eko: "I have something I think you should see. If you don't mind, I will begin at the beginning. Long before Christ, the king of Judah was a man named Josiah."

Locke
: "Boy, when you say beginning, you mean beginning."

Eko
: "
At that time, the TEMPLE where the people worshipped was in ruin. And so the people worshiped idols, false gods. And so the kingdom was in disarray. Josiah, since he was a GOOD king, sent his secretary to the treasury and said 'we must rebuild the temple. Give all of the gold to the workers so that this will be done.' But when the secretary returned, he had no gold. And when Josiah asked why this was, the secretary replied 'we found a book.' Do you know this story?"

Locke
: "No, I'm afraid I don't."

Eko
: "What the secretary had found was an ancient book, the Book of Law. You may know it as the Old Testament. And it was with that ancient book, not with the gold, that Josiah rebuilt the temple. On the other side of the island we found a place much like this, and in this place we found a book. I believe what's inside there will be of great value to you."
Keep in mind that the Book of Law was one of the items that Richard Alpert presented to young Locke when he visited him in the foster home as a child.

Also, the missing piece of Swan Orientation film (cut up by Radzinsky himself, probably because it referenced The Incident) was inside the book that Eko found...in the Arrow station. This is significant because the other two items discovered in there were the radio that Bernard and Boone both said they were 815 surivors into right before Boone died, and a glass eye (which has yet to be explained but probably relates to the many episode openers featuring close-ups of character eyes). In addition, these three items were in a metal box covered by a black cloth...which describes precisely the mystery box that Ben removed from his hotel room vent before returning to the island via Ajira 316.

DID YOU NOTICE...
  • Jacob and the Mystery Man represented the infamous Lost black & white theme with their black and white clothing (backgammon, Adam & Eve stones, Rose & Bernard, etc.).
  • Season 1 ended with Locke finally gaining entrance to his beloved hatch, and Season 5 ended with Jack's destruction of it.
  • Of all people, Juliet delivered the oft used phrase "live together, die alone." And that she did.
  • Patsy Cline was on the radio in the store where young Kate was shoplifting.
  • Jacob's linen shirt resembles the ones that Ben and the Others wore during their strange funeral ceremony in Season 3.
  • Kate's childhood boy friend is her future boyfriend; the one she buries a time capsule with, including the tiny airplane he's holding, and the one she eventually gets killed when he tries to help her escape after getting caught visiting her mom in the hospital.
  • We finally see how and why Dr. Chang winds up with a prosthetic arm.
  • The opening scene with Jacob spinning the loom wheel was similar to the open of Season 2 with Desmond riding the stationary bike in the Swan hatch.
  • Jacob was reading the Flannery O'Connor book Everything That Rises Must Converge when Locke is thrown out of the window. Locke himself had risen from the dead, or so Mystery Man made it appear after their convergence...
  • At the end of Season 3, Hurley saved the day by driving onto the beach in a Dharma van, running over an Other who was threatening his friends. In tonight's finale, he was driving the Dharma van with Jin and Miles, to help save their friends under fire in Dharmaville.
  • The day that Jacob visited Jack in the hospital coincided with the very operation that Jack described to Kate when they met for the very first time on the island; the same story that Jack made Kate repeat when she escaped from Hydra island at the end of Season 3 and that she referenced herself in tonight's episode.
  • Hurley offers Jacob some of his fruit roll-up, just as he offered to share his Apollo candy bar with Ben last season.
  • Juliet's ex husband was killed after being hit by a bus, Nadia was killed after being hit by a car. The former was arranged by Alpert, the latter by Jacob.
  • Desmond wasn't kidding when he referred to Locke as Box Man...at the end of Season 4, Locke was revealed to be the man in the coffin: Locke Box 1. At the end of Season 5, Locke was revealed to be the man inside the metal crate: Locke Box 2. And yes, he previously worked at a box company (owned by Hurley) and his father was delivered to the island in a metaphoric magic box.
  • They inverted the official Lost logo! Instead of white text on black, it ended with black text on white.
THE BIG 'IF'

So it seems that dead IS dead, but how can it be that "what's done is done" when Jack changes everything by dropping Jughead into the Swan?

IF Jack was successful, IF Jughead negated the energy beneath the Swan and the Losties return to Flight 815 and land in Los Angeles:
  • Will everyone who died be alive again? 815ers: pilot Seth Norris, random passengers, the Marshall, Boone, Shannon, Arzt, Eko, Charlie, Ana Lucia, Libby, Michael, etc.. Freighter folk: Faraday, Charlotte, Naomi, Keamy & team, Captain Gault, Minkowski, Regina, the doc & crew, etc. Others: Juliet, Alex, Karl, Goodwin, Ethan, Colleen & Danny, Ms. Klugh, Mikhail, etc. Let's not forget about Danielle Rousseau, Nadia, Helen, Dr. Burke, Anthony Cooper. The list goes on and on...
  • Will Christian Shephard be in the coffin or no?
  • Will Locke be in a wheelchair, will Rose have cancer, will Jin be infertile (and will we be subjected to Nikki and Paulo)?
CRAZY 4AM THEORY

Jacob was never actually in the cabin, but Mystery Man was. Jacob used the cabin to keep his frenemy locked up; the line of ash prevented him from leaving...until he discovered the loophole via Locke. Thus, the broken line of ash. And when Locke heard the "help me" plea inside the cabin, it emanated from Mystery Man and not Jacob.

---
This is officially the latest I have ever stayed up to finish a Lost post (5am). I specifically took the day off today (Thursday) because of the time I wanted to dedicate to the finale blog. So after getting some sleep, I am going to watch the episode again and hope to post additional thoughts and theories within the next day or so. FYI, my brother-in-law John just emailed me a fantastic, detailed theory about the entire series that I will share with you in a separate post later today.

To those of you who have been reading my crazy Lost theories for five seasons, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. To those of you who are new to this site, found me recently via Facebook or Twitter, etc...I really appreciate that you are taking the time to read and overanalyze the show on this particular site. All of your feedback has really fueled the Lost engine that powers me through 17 straight weeks or so of new episode analysis, and your interaction reminds me that I'm exactly where I want to be.

So thank you, and good morning! Stay tuned for less crying and more theorizing, as I will revisit the finale shortly. :)

-Jo

56 comments:

Aunt J-ha said...

Jo, I've only read the first paragraph so far, but just have to say you are not alone. Juliet had gone from my least favorite to favorite female character and I just can't get over how the island continues to beat this woman up. After last season's happy ending of Penny & Des I was hoping for something similar with Jules and Sawyer, but that would have only been mediocre TV and Lost is DAMN good TV. Soooo, of course I am waiting until next year to see how Juliet fairs (and everyone else) in the re-do. Does anyone else feel like we are in Felicity's Senior Year? Just a little bit?

Josh said...

Well, there certainly is a war coming! Cheers for the posts all season, will think a little more about it tomorrow. (Except to say, how do you just stab someone like Jacob like that... I didn't think he was made of "matter".)

Alexis said...

Let's give further thought into the idea, that the h-bomb, is in fact the original "incident" and maybe they didn't prevent/change anything...They just made it happen again. This would speak to Eloise's ranting that they can't change things, and could also be why "everyone has a purpose" for going back to the island...so that the incident would still happen and all these pieces would fall into place. Leaves the "future" of all our losties up in the air.

I was thinking about this ever since Faraday mentioned setting off the bomb, so I was thrilled when Miles mentioned it.

Holden Caulfirld said...

Great post. That is true dedication to stay up until 5am. The opening scene makes me think that The Black Rock and the Oceanix Six are members of groups that come to the island every so often and act out the same play - the one where man cannot resist his nature to fight and destroy his world. Since this show ends next year, and the last thing we saw was Jughead exploding, I am forced to quote Pearl Jam's "Do the Evolution":

"I crawled the earth, but now I'm higher
2010, watch it go to fire.
Its evolution, baby"

But these people never evolve, they just keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Melissa said...

All I can say is wow! I had already planned to re-watch the season finale over the weekend. Now I have a few more things to think about while I'm watching thanks to this!

whiterabbita said...

I haven't read your blog yet, but if telling that you've lost a friend you mean Juliet, think this: she wasn't dead before the explosion, and if she's dead after, so all the others I guess! I don't want to give you false hopes, that's just what I think and I'm pretty convinced about it! ;)

Anonymous said...

Your crazy 4am theory was mine as well. I think the mystery man (satan figure - evil)can inhabit other's bodies such as Christian who was in the cabin, but has no power against the greater spirit, Jacob, (a Christ figure). Mystery man's spirits was contained by the ash, but when Locke entered the cabin, he was convinced to remove a section of the ash by the mystery man who claimed to be Jacob. This freed his spirit to roam the island looking for his loop hole.

NWS said...

Great post!

I have a theory that the Mystery Man/Evil Locke is actually Smokey. Remember when Ben tried to summon Smokey earlier in this season, Locke had to "go do something" and disappeared? Smokey can copy/become/animate dead people. Perhaps he has been behind the scenes all along pushing Ben to become the pawn he needed to finally kill his rival, Jacob. Evil Locke along with Dead Alex aka Smokey guilted their pawn, Ben, into doing exactly what he wanted! I love Ben but the role reversal was beautiful!

I also think that Jacob knew he had to die due to his silence, then provoking of Ben in his final moments. More on that later.

Anonymous said...

I think Aaron is Jacob.

the flour child said...

as usual, so much to contemplate, so much to learn, so much to think about.
last night was a whirlwind, one i could barely grasp before the end credits rolled.
thanks for providing a great recap and excellent theories - cannot wait for the rest.

whiterabbita said...

I'm amazed by your blog! Your theory about Jacob never been in the cabin is fascinating and I'm pretty with you about all the things you say. The only thing I disagree (or at least I have a lot of doubts about) is the innocence of Ben... I don't know... maybe it's just the way the actor plays, but I have "always" doubts about him!

andiminga said...

Great post you did trying to sum up the finale.
Sorry to correct you, but it was Sawyer's uncle that told him "What's done is done.
With all the crazyness that happened, it's normal that such little things can get confused.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that no one mentioned the rainbow. It flew by in such a flash and yet it plays right into the Wizard of Oz connections. When Sawyer, Juliet and Kate come up on shore, look of on the left horizon and you'll see a rainbow. As they kind of zoom in on Sawyer you see the end of the arc dropping into the ocean also. Interestingly in the Faraday centric episode a couple weeks ago, the song that he was diddling on the piano both times was "I'm always chasing rainbows". Faraday is kind of Dorothy-like if you think about it.

Kalionan said...

She asked for Ricardus not Ricardo. There is a distinct "s" on the end of the name.

Warren said...

I had your same crazy 4am theory only at around 11:30pm. I think it's a good one.

neoloki said...

Jacob's method of travel? He is an immortal being. I don't think he needs a method.

Illiana being a part of the incident doesn't make sense. She is in a hospital in Russia.

I am pretty sure Christian is Man#2 on the Island with Jacob.

It seems to me that Jacob gave the guitar case to hurley because it is a representation of Charlie, they were best friends after all, and that was necessary for Ajira 316.

I felt this episode was a huge confirmation that Sawyer and Kate will end up together.

I loved hearing the line from Richard that he is the way he is because of Jacob, and yes I agree he was on the Black Rock and I can't wait until next season when we get his flashback.

Sayid had already shot Ben, so Roger shooting Sayid could not prevent it and I think this will be true regardless of the effects of the Incident. WHH.

Smokey: we have seen hieroglyphs that refer to Smokey, so I really doubt the incident created smokey. Plus, Smokey is a very mechanically complicated creature and could not have been created by an event. He was constructed one way or another.

I have always assumed the glass eye in the Arrow belonged to Mikael.

This was one of my favorite episodes of Lost ever. I think this episode will define the last chapter and I totally got goose bumps when we got the promo at the end with final season in 2010.

Thanks for your time and theories Jo. I love the site.

RIP John Locke
RIP Juliet Burke

Anonymous said...

Great Analysis! Just a couple of thoughts for you: During the scene where Jack was operating and he counted to five, we saw that he did so because Christian advised him to. When he told Kate that story the first time he met her, he made it sound like he counted to five because he was able to muster that kind of self control. I don't remember him ever mentioning his dad's advice, which seems pretty important. Also, during the scene where Sawyer was writing the letter to the real Sawyer, wasn't he using a spiral notebook? If I recall, the actual letter was written on some form of stationery. I wonder if Jacob's visits didn't change the course of fate but changed the details, like Eloise has said.

Anonymous said...

I don't know why everyone is so convinced that Jacob is immortal. Clearly Jacob is Aaron because Aaron was the only child born on the island since the incident.

Erin W said...

Really exceptional recap, so well done. I agree with Anonymous that your 4 am theory is right on, but also agree with Dark Schneider that the Mystery Man is Smokey. What's your thought on that one?

Also, Jacob's line "what ABOUT you, Ben?" reminded me so much of that Kevin Costner line in Field of Dreams, when in frustration he asks Shoeless Joe, "What's in it for me?" and Joe replies, "What's in it for YOU? I think you need to go and think about this" or words to that effect. The leader isn't supposed to be working on his own behalf. I'm thinking that might be part of why Jacob responded the way he did to Ben's "What about ME?"

Thanks so much for such a really terrific blog!

lostlover said...

I have to agree with someones else's post that smoke monster/mystery man/ locke #2 are the same person. Yes when Locke, had to leave, and also when Ben meets his daughter/smoke monster, and Locke is not seen there as well.

I thought the loophole may have been that mystery man couldn't kill Jacob directly, and had to convince someone else to do it. So by having smoke monster/alex tell Ben to listen to mystery man/smoke monster/locke#2 he was able to get around the loophole.

Anonymous said...

I have to know what the "Rules" are to this magic island that prevents Mystery Man from killing Jacob right there on the beach, but instead has to go thru all of the trouble getting Locke and then getting Ben to do it... There seems to be a lot of "rules" with Mystery Man having to find a loophole, and then before when Ben stated that Widmore "changed the rules." Etc.

Anonymous said...

Enjoy your analyses and conjectures immensely. One thing you raised here in Did You Notice has always bothered me: the death-by-bus of Juliet's ex-husband. First, it's not clear that Richard arranged it -- in contrast to Jacob's role in Nadia's death, he wasn't (as I recall) even present. And second, even if time-travel, Jacob or just general island mojo let Richard know that her ex-husband would indeed be dying that way that day, that doesn't explain Juliet's ghoulish comment about him -- "Well, he could always get hit by a bus..." -- which is what gave his subsequent death that special Lost mind-bending edge. Now, her apparently prescient statement looks to have been sheer, meaningless coincidence -- a coincidence that doesn't seem open to any ultimate Lost-type explanation. Any thoughts?

And again: thanks for all your hard, thorough and thought-provoking work.

Anonymous said...

Just one thing on Ilana's crate was that they had it before "Locke" and Ben left Hydra Island, because Ben asked if they needed any help with it. Which probably means that the knew something was off with "Locke."

Anonymous said...

Am I the only one who saw the similarities when Sawyer and others drove their VW van like mad men, shooting the whole time to one of the first scenes in the Back to the Future movie? Nothing significant, but I thought it was amusing.

Dana Murphy said...

One thing that I can't believe no one's talking about is the "power" that the other's seem to have. Witness Juliet as a prim introverted doctor taking care of her sister and contrast that with the woman who - quite calmly - subdued the guard, took his gun and got them off the sub. This is the same Juliet who beat Kate in a fight... Kate, crackshot Kate, dirty fighting, always winning Kate.... What happens to them to make them speak Latin and be able to kick ass like they do? Will this be answered next season? I'm one who is hopeful...

.d.

Anonymous said...

Jo, I love reading your blog/recaps. Thank you. I have nothing insightful to say, nothing that has not already been said. I think I am still in a state of depression over the loss of Juliet.
I just hope Darlton knows how loved and respected Elizabeth Mitchell and her character, Juliet, are for us LOST fans.
I hope they find a way to bring her into S6, whether dead or alive, and never let her be forgotten by our survivors.
I think Miles may be able to communicate her last thoughts/wishes to Sawyer and the losties. They may realize through him that she was a hero.

If we will never see Rachel and Juliet reunited, I want to see Juliet come to Sawyer (James) and comfort him when his time finally concludes on the island - which I believe it may.

RIP Juliet

Anthony said...

i agree with you, but I have the opposite theory. I think that they are locked in a battle between good and evil. Jacob representing the good and the other guy (people are calling Esau) is evil. Its Esau's complex scheme to kill Jacob, not the other way around. Esau has taken hundreds if not thousands of years to figure out the loophole.

The Incident is going to bring our Losties back to the present time to do battle with Esau/Locke. Remember in the flashback, Jacob touched Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Sayid and Locke. This touching was like blessing them. Ensuring not only their survival, but giving them protection and bringing them to the island to help him in his fight against Esau. Jacob has always known what Esau was up to, and put things in motion that would counteract everything Esau planned for. That's why he didn't stop Ben from killing him. When he said "They are coming" he was talking about the 1977 Losties coming back.

I think Esau is the Smoke monster. He was also the one in the cabin who said "Help me" to Locke, pretending to be Jacob. Esau thinks he has been manipulating the events, but he has actually allowed Jacob to set up a trap without his knowledge.

I think Richard is the lone survivor of the Blackrock which shipwrecked on the island, much like how our Losties first crashed on the island.

Those are my initial impressions, but I have to watch it again.

Rocket Science Mom said...

I need to rewatch this episode after reading all of my favorite bloggers comments today.

I really really liked it and for the first time this season, I felt hopeful.

I was ok with the whole whatever happened, happened mantra that kept being repeated but I felt it was limited. What about free will? Is everything fated to happen? Or can we actually make any difference at all? IF we can't, then things are all pretty pointless, right?

Having the screen fade to white at the end told me that maybe, just maybe, things can change. We are not doomed to play out the same scenario. The one that Man#2 and Jacob have been playing out for a very very long time.

And one last thought, I read the "I am sorry this happened to you, John" comment from Jacob to cover the whole enchilada. From the kidney, to the window, to Man #2 using Locke. I just keep holding onto hope that Locke's sacrifices will not be for nothing in the end.

That's all for me for now. Thanks for some wonderful posts, as always.

The Partyman said...

I am firmly on board the belief that the losties/bomb/swan shenannigans is the actual Incident, and they they have caused it rather than prevent it (as Miles hinted at). Whatever happened, happened!!

Given that Iiland was sure that "someoen elese had ben using" Jacob's cabin, I suspect indeed that the Anti!Jacob had been using it, maybe posing as Jacob, and that Christian may have been working for him, not Jacob, all along. Or something.

Julie said...

Jo, looks like you and I are seeing eye to eye that Jacob was not in the cabin. I'm thinking that the loophole guy instructed Locke to move the island...not Jacob. I'm thinking that loophole guy = Christian. Hold your breath and sit down, but I'm thinking that Juliet = smokey....it was the chains that did it for me.

Unknown said...

i think she said "Ricardos", which is translated Richard in English. Also, he spoke latin when she asked "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Didn't the other speak Latin, or they were all required to learn it?

Great, great blog. Thank you for taking the time to write down your thoughts for all to read,

Karin said...

RIP Juliet. You will be missed.
Even since I saw Juliet and Sawyer drinking rum on the beach at the end of season 4, I had my hopes for a love connection. . .so sad. thanks Jo for all your thoughts + theories. It will be agony to wait until 2010!

arbitrary said...

Great blog, and great post. Just woke up so I have no coherent comments, just wanted to say thanks to you and all the commenters!

Erwin said...

Just for that scene Elizabeth Mitchell deserves an Emmy ... she was amazing! Love her and will miss her as Juliet too :(

Nurby said...

Wow... I finished the episodes in a frenzy this morning before work. Must rewatch now after reading all this.

After reading the post I definitely got the feeling that Smokey is Mystery Man. I would love if you did a Smokey revisit of the times we have seen him and who he has killed. Is there some correlation to this. I especially was thinking of Ben visiting him to see if he was worthy to live or should die, definitely sounds like fate.

But now I think, if it is Fate vs. Free Will, then there is no good and evil. How can either one of those be "good/evil" It is up for interpretation.

And I am also having a hard time separating Jacob from Fate. He placed all these people in place (yes maybe by making it seem like it was their own choice, but was it? Isn't that just a manipulation, mind game).

It feels like he did know that Ben was there to kill him and that he had placed the Others and Illana in a position to now be very upset with Mystery Man/Locke and Ben when they walk out of that statue.

I also like the above theory that the white flash is reminiscent of the time flashes, so maybe they are going to travel forward, though I also am still not convinced that Miles isn't right about the fact that the Losties may just be doing exactly what they are supposed to do.

Hmmm... I need to rewatch and look forward to your next theories.

Bzurc said...

I love this blog, Jo! Thanks.

Just want to add to the comments. So many things bouncing in my head. Apologize for the lack of order, just kinda free writing:

Mystery Man: as soon as that opening scene ended in Jacob being named, I thought MM must be Smokey. (black clothes)

Gods/Mythology: Black/white, good/evil, fate/free will... Gods of mythology often have skills/specialties/powers that differ from each other. Jacob - healer, MM - shape shifter, astral projector (Smokey/Christian/all ghost appearances???) When Locke heard the 'help me' from 'Jacob'...just a few scenes before flashed on white shoes...Christian's white shoes.

As it is in mythology, many gods battle amongst themselves and use 'man' to carry out/act out their fights/acts/vengeance, etc.

Perhaps the loophole is that the Lost Gods can't harm each other, so a god's death would be at the hand of man. (Imagine what power gods have if man does not believe/follow/have faith, etc.)

Other themes: technology/progress versus traditionalism (?)...sin/virtue...eat the apple, don't eat the apple.

Again, sorry for the randomness...throwing it out there as it comes...inspired by all the comments. Man, I love this show...Thanks, Jo. Found your blog kinda late in the game, but glad I did.

-Bzurc

AllisonR said...

Excellent commentary on this episode!! :)

I definitely think that Jacob's "frenemy" could have been responsible for a lot of what's been going on. I think he was probably the one that said "help me" in the cabin. But I also think there's a third force at work here -- whatever used Alex to communicate with Ben. Because "Locke" did not seem aware that Ben had been visited by his daughter's ghost and told to follow orders, and why would Jacob tell Ben to do what Jacob's enemy said? So I think there is a third party involved in this. Maybe Smokey, adopting the shapes of people like Christian and Alex.

Good point about the Drive Shaft ring, too -- as in, what was the point of Sun finding it, and right then? I agree that the cradle would have been enough. So I must conclude that the ring being there means something....

dr.girlfriend said...

I have an alternate theory to Jacob's visitation of the Losties at other points in their lives. Remember that when the Losties arrived on the island, Ben's folks didn't know to expect them. He had to dispatch people to prepare "lists" of who they were. It seems like he then submitted that information to Jacob, who in turn provided a list of the "good" ones. I think Jacob, being all magical, can travel in time. When the Losties arrived on the island, he wanted to know about them, so he visited them at other points in their lives -- crucial points. Maybe by touching them he can gain additional insight into their characters or souls. I see his visitations as being less about manipulation or guidance of the Losties toward their destiny on the island, and more like a fact-finding mission.

Darrin said...

Here's are few things that I've been thinking about. Remember how Jacob touched most everyone with a quick touch on the nose, shoulder, finger, but with a longer grasp for John after he fell from the window. Yet, after Ben stabbed him twice, Jacob put Ben in almost a bear hug as he fell forward, smearing his blood all over the front of Ben's shirt. Did Jacob just "transfer" to Ben in the same manner as possibly the mystery man to John?
The loophole is supposedly that the mystery man/ John can't kill Jacob, therefore, needing Ben to do it. I'm no lawyer, but after Ben stabbed him, Jacob was injured but still alive until John kicked him into the fire. It looked like to me that John killed him.

Hillary said...

This has probably been mentioned by others elsewhere, but I just thought of it today. First thing this morning, actually, which is either sad or obsessive or I dunno what…lol

OK – 815 was 1000 miles off-course and heading to Figi when it crashed, no? So they wouldn’t have landed in LAX as intended. Who knows what could have/will happen with that layover? Without radio contact, if it wasn’t due to the island, but just location, they could have collided with another plane and everyone died, or been delayed for more than an hour or 2 in Figi. Kate could escape the Marshall – again or Claire could decide not to fly on to LA and go back home, for example. Either way, it’s not cut and dry.
JACOB

• Young Kate: touches her nose, tells her not to steal. She does, becomes a convict on the run and winds up on 815 with the Marshall.

She does…steal? My impression was that she’s on the run for killing her dad. But I guess she did kind of ‘steal’ that stuff during the bank hold-up. • Adult Locke: touches his shoulder after Locke is pushed out of 8 story window, tells him "I'm sorry this happened to you." Locke goes through hellish physical therapy and rehab, is paralyzed in a wheelchair and winds up on 815 to go on a walkabout because everyone tells him he can't.

Reviving Locke was f’n amazing! My first impression was that he was dead, or close to it, and Jacob prevented it somehow. • Oceanic 6 Sayid: touches his shoulder immediately after Nadia gets run over by a car.

Jacob *seems* to know what’s going to happen, so was Nadia’s death murder, or was he just saving Sayid and not Nadia? • Oceanic 6 Hurley: touches his shoulder, and is the only one of the Losties that he addresses by name. Jacob reassures him that he's blessed, not cursed or crazy. He then informs Hurley about 316, which he winds up taking.

…along with that mysterious guitar case… Maybe with something inside that solidified Hurley’s belief he’s not cursed? • Adult Jack: touches his hand while giving him an Apollo bar, moments after Jack confronts dad Christian for embarrassing him in the operating room. Jack's resentment leads to his father's loss of job, drinking and death...and Jack winds up on 815 with his dad in a coffin.

My perception has been that Christian’s loss of job was b/c he was operating while drunk which had more to do with Jack’s ‘do the right thing’ attitude. Like many have said, we are responsible for our reactions, so I think Jack’s sensitivity to his father caused him to feel embarrassed, but Christian’s intention seemed to be that of an experienced surgeon offering a tool for a new surgeon to work through a stressful situation. Can Jacob die? If so, does Jack inadvertently save him by dropping Jughead into the Swan?

I questioned this when he didn’t utter a sound when kicked into the fire. If not immortal, maybe able to be reincarnated in some way?

BEN

It is amazing that in spite of his years of lying and killing...I feel sympathy for Ben when he finally confronts Jacob.

I did, too. I think seeing his childhood and saving Alex despite Widmore’s wanting her dead showed us a genuine side we didn’t question. He isn't the man behind the curtain after all. That Ben is a mere pawn in Jacob's game is a rather stunning development. Jacob has been using and manipulating him for years; every single off island trip, the Purge, the recruitment of the O6 to return, etc...all for Jacob's gain.

Again, father issues. He answers to Jacob, so he does everything he is told to try to gain his favor and acceptance and approval – like a son needs from a father, and Ben still craves because he’s never had it. BRAM, ILANA & CO.

Even though Jacob was not actually in the cabin during Locke's first visit there, he did hear Jacob say 'help me.' And tonight we saw Jacob ask Ilana "will you help me?"

As many comments before me have speculated, maybe it wasn’t Jacob who said “help me”? Maybe that was the beginning of Locke being manipulated by ‘the man in black’? Bram asserted that they're "good" people, so it will be very interesting to find out if this faction teams up with Alpert's Others in Season 6. Ben always asserted that the Others were good guys, and that Jacob decides who is deemed 'good.'

…and most religions believe they are the right one and in good with god. Of course, the ‘man in black’ saying how much he wants to kill someone doesn’t really equal thoughts of “good guy”! lolI'm not clear as to why Ilana would ask for Ricardo rather than Richard, but now I'm thinking that perhaps Richard Alpert is The Economist. David Ricardo was a famous economist in the late 1700's, and a close associate of philosopher Jeremy Bentham...

Oooooh! I like this piece of info! CHARLES WIDMORE

Is Widmore aware of just who Jacob is? Was it Jacob who decided to banish Widmore from the island in the late 1980's?

I would assume that the Other’s wouldn’t just listen to what Ben said if Widmore had been the leader thus far. If he admittedly broke rules (how was it known he had a child off-island, and why was this wrong anyway?), maybe that was enough? If Jacob decided, we can assume he didn’t tell Ben directly. CHARLIE PACE

Why else have Sun discover his ring in Aaron's crib? They could have simply had her look at the crib and long for her daughter, and achieved the sentiment. If that was their way of addressing fan frustration that Claire never found Charlie's ring, I find it an odd episode to so in.

Because you said it was not a spoiler to use info from Darlton, they have said Claire will be in S6, so I think the ring was a way to plant thoughts of her back in our heads. They didn’t say, of course, in what capacity she would be back – flashback, dead, regularly, etc. But we *will* see her again. CLAIRE

She was last seen chilling out in the cabin with Ghost Daddy Christian, who was acting as Jacob's mouthpiece.

Sun and Lapidus are not dead and interacted with Christian, so I think it’s very likely Claire isn’t dead either.

Also, I wonder if Jacob had any role in the car accident or Claire’s mom coma or recovery?
ELOISE HAWKING

I don't think she works for one particular side or the other (i.e. Ben and Widmore); she had to have something to do with the fact that Ilana and Bram's crew were also on Ajira 316 and arrived on the island with very little physical harm.

She probably ‘works’ for Jacob. Are we sure that Ellie was pregnant with Faraday in 1977? I just don't think that he is that young. That would make him a professor at Oxford at only 19 years old.

Faraday did say something about being the youngest grad at Oxford, so maybe…? FRANK LAPIDUS

I am curious as to Frank's role in Season 6, and still pondering what Ilana and Bram meant by him being a 'candidate.'

Lapidus is going to be the name of the next cat I get because he is awesome. Just saying! HURLEY

He must have looked inside the guitar case. Why else lug that thing as your primary luggage back to the island?

It’s full of apollo bars and hot pockets! "THE LIST"

This is where I am confused - in earlier seasons, (Other thug) Danny Pickett mentioned that Jack wasn't on Jacob's list and Mikhail said that Kate, Locke and Sayid weren't. But tonight we saw that Jacob had visited and touched/chosen all of them...

Maybe it was Ben’s list? He needed Jack for the surgery and figured he could use Kate and Kate/Sawyer to manipulate him into doing the surgery if necessary? JACK

That being said, if Project Jughead is successful, he saves everyone at the expense of Juliet. That is an unforgivable sacrifice, at least to a biased fan like me.

But he didn’t sacrifice anyone intentionally. Any of them could have died, including him. And I think his belief is so strong, that no matter what may have happened *then*, everyone would ultimately survive if he's successful. JIN & SUN

So if they do reunite, it will be in misery in 2004. With no Ji Yeon. Not ideal or satisfying.

Why can’t Sun die? lolJULIET

I totally thought I was right about her being pregnant when she had her hand on her stomach and Bernard offered her tea. :(

I think she very well could have been.

Someone remarked that perhaps Miles could interpret that, but I have a feeling that even if they don’t get back to another time, there, uh, wouldn’t be much of anyone left to get info from.
RIP, Juliet. I will always heart thee.

Hopefully we will see her again in S6. LOCKE

On May 30, 2008, I wrote the following:
"Jeremy Bentham was not John Locke. He was a clone of Locke that was created in the Vault below the Orchid station (like the rabbits). Whether this happens as an accident or was purposeful remains to be seen."

Because you’re awesome! “Without getting too scientific...I just have a feeling that during Locke's bumbling efforts to follow in Ben's footsteps, he somehow activates a time shift which creates a clone: Bentham."
The Casimir Effect can produce a mass-negative region of space-time, used to stabilize a wormhole to allow faster than light travel. To me, that wormhole is "the loophole" by which Mystery Man is able to become Evil Twin Locke.
Of course I know what your response will be; that Locke was still Locke until Ben killed him. And that as we've learned with the last Comic-Con video (Chang's future message), those videos aren't necessarily canon. But I will politely disagree and leave this Locke clone theory for your analysis and discussion in the comments. :)

So if Bentham was a cloned Locke, and Bentham as killed by Ben and inhabited by “the man in black”, what happened to Locke? I loved Evil Twin Locke's role reversal manipulation of Ben, the former master of mind games; reminding him that the island gave him cancer rather than healed him, that he watched his daughter die, that he was banished? Brilliant and simple way to convince Ben to kill the man he answered to but never met for 35 years.

PHIL

Dude, you hit a woman and you get impaled by a metal pole. The end.

Plus, what he said to Don and Betty…RICHARD ALPERT

Are we all on board now with the theory that Richard was either the captain of or crew member on the Black Rock?

I don’t know. His dark features and such make me think of an Egyptian heritage – which doesn’t rule out his being on the ship – but I wonder if he was there before the ship arrived? SAWYER

I know that not everyone was on board with his relationship with Juliet, but after Sawyer told Jack about his parents...it was clear that his love for and trust in Juliet was strong enough to bring him back to the island rather than have the opportunity to potentially prevent his parents from their death.

I never doubted they loved each other, but I never sensed their chemistry AT ALL, as I have stated several times..hehe. SMOKEY

Our favorite entity was nowhere to be found, which leads me to believe that Smokey was created because of The Incident, and not before it.

What about the hieroglyphs Ben saw that showed a smoke-like monster with the Egyptian-looking dog head or whatever thing? I have to wonder how one would go about creating such a thing. DID YOU NOTICE...
• The day that Jacob visited Jack in the hospital coincided with the very operation that Jack described to Kate when they met for the very first time on the island; the same story that Jack made Kate repeat when she escaped from Hydra island at the end of Season 3 and that she referenced herself in tonight's episode.

I also noticed how he didn’t mention how he came to decide to count to 5, but he still was steeped in his, “I’m not good enough for my dad and I hate him. Waaaaah!”

briguyx said...

I do think it's important to remember that MM was conducting the Long Con of all Long Cons in order to kill Jacob. But like Jesus, I believe Jacob saw it coming and has, if not a master plan himself, hope that the human race as exemplified by the 815'ers will triumph over evil in the end.

And for all the Juliet lovers like myself, I have to hope that after the war ends late next season, Sawyer will go back to the mainland and bump into Juliet, a la "Heaven Can Wait," where they don't remember each other but still have an instant attraction.

nines9 said...

One of the more annoying, and yet interesting, things about the show is how they lead you to assume one concept will unravel the mystery for you, and it just leads to something far more complex. In the past, 'what's inside the hatch' will mean everything. Then it was the 'inhabitants on the island,' they know all the secrets, and it turns out only a couple know much of anything. Then they introduce new people and this Widmore guy and finally everyone says, "that's it! some type of game b/w him and Ben, now we're on to something." NOW it seems like the Widmore thing is over and done w/ too! They introduce these Ajira folk who 'really' seem to know stuff. If you look at it season to season, the castaways know nothing, the Others seemed to know but then it's revealed they have little contact outside of getting Jacob's lists. Now these 'Others 3.0' from Ajira flight know where to go exactly, have code words, and know Jacob on-sight and he even goes to see one of them, alot more proactive than his other acts. Since this is the last season coming, let's hope no more twists w/ new characters introduced. I believe theyve stated everything you need to know to find out whats going on will be at the end of S6 premiere.

And some of the jacob scenes felt very tacked on, particularly the Sayid and Hurley ones, since they were post-oceanic crash, that makes it look like they barely fit it in, since they couldnt think of a place for him pre-crash. And they varied in degree on how much he did. They were important moments in their lives, true, but I dont see how giving Jack a candy bar was as big a deal as his other appearances to the rest of the cast.
It was also kind of odd and rushed to put this 30second Juliet flashback just to give this backstory on why she was breaking up w/ Sawyer.

I think there's also something to the fact Jacob had to touch each of them and they had to accept a gift from him. but when Hurley offered him candy he seemed like he couldnt take it, so maybe he couldnt receive gifts from anyone else first. Like in Lost Boys a vampire can't enter a house unless theyre invited

Sherylm said...

Good late night write-up, JO. I was really sad about Juliet's apparent death but since she was not dead in the scene where she set off the h-bomb, she should have just as much chance as anyone else of making it out of there alive. I know that I hope that she and 'James' will get another chance.

I must say that I had always understood that the only way to set off a nuclear weapon was by detonating the regular explosives around it so as to reach a critical mass and create an uncontrollably chain reaction but whatever :-) Actually, after reading some other bloggers's comments, I'm not even sure the bomb did go off - I think time may have simply shifted when Ben stabbed Jacob and all our gang(hopefully with Juliet) will now find themselves back in 2007 to fight the good fight.

I'm totally with you on the not-Jacob-in-the cabin theory and, yes, I did feel very sorry for Ben but not because of what happened while he was leader of the Others (although I still feel shocked at the callousness of Alex's death) but because it was not his fault that he was transformed from a nice little kid with no mom and an abusive dad to what he later became through Sayid shooting him and, most importantly, because of Jack's failure to follow his medical oath. I think it was Ben's contact with the anti-Jacob during his miraculous healing that corrupted him. But I don't think that the fake Locke is a clone or evil twin or even Locke possessed by the anti-Jacob. I think that Jacob and the anti-Jacob can take on whatever form they like and in this instance, Locke's form was the best for anti-Jacob's purposes of goading Ben into killing Jacob. Jacob knew that all along but since, as your brother-in-law says, he represents free will, he had to let this passion play run on as it always has up to now, waiting for the time when one of the players will act altruistically and that will change the ending. And I have a feeling that the real Locke, i.e. the Locke who befriended Walt and built a cradle for Claire on her birthday, will have a big part to play in that change.

This episode also made me think that perhaps the point is not whether you can change the past in hopes of altering the future but rather the ever-present choice each character has to forge ahead and become a better person in spite of their suffering..like Charlie's heroic death in contrast to his really pitiful life or Sawyer's amazing transformation as a character. Each of them can become stronger through trials or fold up under them but, in the end, the choice is up to that person and no one else. Maybe that's the "progress" Jacob was talking about at the beginning of the episode.

I do think that the comments in the preceding clip show about Hurley being the character with the firmest moral grounding were very revealing. From the beginning it was clear that he was not crazy at all. And we shouldn't forget the fact that Hurley could see the cabin but he refused to enter it.

The guitar case Jacob gave Hurley and Sun finding the Charlie's ring for Aaron make me hopeful that Claire and and Aaron, and maybe even Charlie, may still find some happiness.

Unknown said...

Great, long analysis, and so now I'm going to make some of my own observations and some responses to your comments.

1) Richard - I think he may be the captain of the Black Rock, or someone who was important wherever it was he came from. The conversation between Jacob and MM indicated Jacob brought the Black Rock to the island, so chances are he chose them for a reason. I also think it's highly likely that others survived because there is an entire camp in 1954.

2) The comment Jacob makes "They're coming" refers to whom? Ilana and Bram and Richard, etc? Or Jack, Kate and Sawyer, etc coming forward in time?

3) The Incident is what, exactly? We know something happened that day, but was it a Magnetic implosion or an H-Bomb explosion? Or both countering each other. I mean, if the magnetic field had continued, unchecked, how would the 1977 Dharma people been able to stop it? So does that mean that the Explosion of an H-bomb countering the implosion of the magnetic field was the Incident? In 2004 there is a Failsafe key, that once turned, seems to set of an explosion to counter the magnetic field. Was this part of the original plan, or because of the incident? And if it was inspired from the incident, was it inspired to counter a magnetic field that created havoc unchecked, or from the example of a bomb countering the magnetic implosion?

In otherwords, we still don't know if Jughead changed the future or played it's assigned part.

Either way, the way the Incident played out eerily paralleled the time when Desmond had to turn the Failsafe key to counter the magnetic field caused by not pushing the button. And that resulted in Desmond's consciousness being able to jump through time, so maybe Juliet will survive, and end up with similar super powers.

4) Jacod did not kill Nadia, he saved Sayid from walking in front of the same car.

5) The ash circle was around the cabin to keep MM in, at least, that seems to be the logical conclusion now. So, MM could not get out, and it wouldn't be an effective means of keeping him in if all he had to do was break the line. Someone else had to break that line and release MM.

6) Ilana could not have been injured because of the Incident, she was not on the island in 1977.

7) I totally want to know what Richard's response to "What lies in the shadow of the statue" means. I mean, we've been wondering what the response to that question is all season long, and when we finally hear it, we still don't know what it is.


eta: It's 5am and I've uncovered what appears to be a translation of Richard's response.

" He who protects/saves/watches over us all"

Also, there has been a translation of the tapestry, which is in Greek

Top of Tapestry: "May the Gods grant thee all that thy heart desires" and the line under it "May the Gods give you happiness"




8) If Jughead destroyed the magnetic force under the Swan, resetting the timeline from that point in 1977 forward, what will change? Faraday said it would mean the magnetic field could not pull their flight off course, but what about the 27 years leading up to that point. Would the Swan hatch ever be built? Would Kelvin or Desmond ever be drawn to the island to wind up working in the hatch? Would the Dharma folk stick around if the Magnetic force was no longer special? And if some of the events over the years were similar, but not the same, would everyone be on the plane?

And if any of those differences were too small to change the passenger configuration on 815 and things played out the same, minus the magnetic field, they plane was not going to LA. The radio had gone out and they had turned and were heading to Tahiti or Fiji, one of them, and were 1000 miles off course when the crash happened. So, all things being equal, the plane was going to land in the South Pacific first if nothing else bad happened to it. At that point, anything could have happened, rather than what everyone was expecting to happen when they arrived in LA.

9) I did like how Evil Twin Locke manipulated Benry into helping him to kill Jacob by pointing out the disappointments in his life. Jacob's response "What about you Ben?" was a chance for Benry to argue his case, or analyze his life, and he chose not to. If he had, he might have recalled that he was Healed, that he was finally taken away from a father he hated and a life he despised and that he was given a purpose. Benry is clearly a 'glass is half empty' kinda guy, he could only focus on how things had not gone his way. Whatever, dude.

10) An interesting bit was when Sun asked Benry what happened to the statue and he said it had been this way as long as he could remember and she said "I don't believe you" and Benry did not seem surprised or offended, almost as if maybe he did know what happened to the statue. It's probably not important, but I thought it was an interesting interaction.

CeQuiFaitDemain said...

I like your Bentham/Loke theory. It just fits mine : Locke is not dead and will be back in this body : when he turns the wheel, he sends his mind and a clone body, his body stays and Man#2 gets it. Bentham dies so Locke should be back in his original body one day or another, he can't be dead!
So is there a double ben? And why Ben doesn't theorize that possibility? He knows about the bunnies :)
About The Incident, I agree with Miles : everything they happened before and that is the way for them to bring their "past selves" in the future (2004). I an curious about the word LOOPHOLE (I'm french). It means weakness but why using this word. The lives of the 815ers who were sent back in teh 70's is a LOOP... so maybe something can change?
For Juliet, I would say that being 1 cm or 50 m from a nuclear bomb is not very different so if Jack, Kate, etc, are safe, why wouldn't Juliet?

neoloki said...

nines9:

What was important about Jacob visiting the 815'ers wasn't what he said but the fact that he TOUCHED everybody. This is very very important. What it signifies is open for debate, but it is almost as if he has marked these people as special. I believe he is using them to counter moves made by man#2. Although, he didn't touch Illiana he seemed to know her from before and her flashback deals with different needs.

Also, considering the nature of time in Lost, I don't think it was too important that some of the flashbacks were after the 815 crash and some before, what was significant was the event that was happening at the time of Jacob's arrival. Even Hurely was at a crux point in Life: Just out of jail, haunted for years by ghosts trying to get him back to the Island, still,after many many years, thinking he is cursed and crazy. All in all, I did not feel that Jacob with Sayid and Hurley was tacked on or awkward.

Sherylm said...

Sofuturegeneration, 'loophole' veut dire "échappatoire" ou bien "porte de sortie" - ici, je crois, dans le sens où le temps se retourne en boucle

Jo said...

I don't speak French, but I used an online translation site for Sherylm's response to Sofuturegeneration's comment:

'loophole' means "escape" or "exit door" - here, I think, in the sense that the time loop turns

Sherylm said...

Almost, Jo :-) I just answered the question as to why they used the word "loophole", which, as sofuturegeneration noticed, means "weak point" but also "means of escape" or "way out" in terms of there being a time loop. Things that are obvious in English aren't necessarily so in other languages... a good example is Desmond's famous "brother", which only really made sense after we knew he had been a monk. Unfortunately, in French, it had been translated as "pôte", which means "buddy" and by the time they got to the Desmond-as-a-failed-monk episode, there was no way to go back and rectify this minor but significant error.

nines9 said...

I think Ilanna referred to Alpert as Richardus as like a funny in-joke that he's so old his original name was in Latin, like in Roman times.

I'm gonna have to revisit all the scenes w/ Christian and all the cabin scenes. (seems so long ago!)

I remember 3 cabin scenes, the 1st w/ Locke and Ben, then Hurley and Christian and an unseen body, and then w/ Locke and Christian, and Claire.

And the scene w/ Hurley I think there was something about tripping over some ash that was spread on the cabin porch.

I'm curious to know if the zombieLocke has all the memories of Locke or was he just faking it w/ Ben and he was present in one or all of the cabin scenes. Most of what he said couldve been gleaned from there, except for the convo w/ Ben where he says, "there's the hatch door, where we first met, remember?"

there's also a claire dream sequence from way back in season 1, featuring Locke. Basically I think they want everyone to rewatch the whole show over again. :P

I read someone's whack theory that back in season 4, when Locke asks Christian 'how do I save the island?' they cut back to Hurley and Ben so you never see Christian tell Locke that he has to move it, you just hear it from Locke when he comes back to tell them. So they think the Locke switch was all the way back then, but much of that wouldnt make sense. I can't imagine that they'd keep the actor on the show but the character all the fans know would essentially be dead.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did they ever address when the hatch blew up and nothing really happened after Desmond turned the failsafe? In the Incident, the same thing happened with all metal being drawn to it, then a big white flash. The only aftermatch seemed to be that the island was made visible for that brief time. But since theres no hatch to enter the code, isnt the energy constantly being leaked from the island, since that moment? Shouldnt if have killed everyone by now? Or was the failsafe that Desmond triggered the equivalent of the Hbomb: it dissipated the energy and sealed it up at the same time?

Hillary said...

Just mentioning...I keep reading about the fish shown cooked at the beginning being an actual red herring.

Hillary said...

I've been having all of these thoughts about the show and trying to decide where to post them! This space seems most appropriate. :-P

I just finished my 3rd viewing and it left me thinking:

if everyone at the Swan location survives in some way, by either resetting time or god knows what they come up with, I don't think Juliet will be anymore dead than anyone else because she was still alive when we saw her. 'Dead is Dead' and she wasn't, so I believe it's entirely plausible.

It's also plausible that every time i re-watch this fantastic episode, I will post something else..lol Just a warning! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Guys don't be so frustrated because Juliet is not gonna die!!!In my opinion she is in the same situation with Sawyer, Jack, Kate, Sayid, Jin , MIles, Hurley...

From the moment we see that she survived the fall and she hits the bomb she has the same possibilities to survive as the others have!
If there's going to be an explosion they can't survive just because they were standing just a little away from the bomb and not next to it as Juliet did..
In case of an explosion a large part of the island will be destoyed!!Am I right??

So my theory is: Remember when Jacob before he dies he says "They are coming"....Well, I think by "they" he means the people that are stuck in 1977, Sawyer,Juliet,Jack,Hurley,Jin,Kate..etc.

So they are all going to meet with the rest in 2007 and that's because Faraday's plan about activating the bomb would have worked!!!!the man is a genious..you know that ;)

oh!and about him, I don't think it matters that he died because his mother is still pregnant so he will have the chance to be born..I guess..

And finally I just wanna say that the theory that says they all going to show up in Los Angeles as if nothing of all they've been through has happened..well to me it's wrong!!!
because as we know..Whatever happened happend!and it can't change!

xoxo LostElena

White Rabbit said...

Illana asked for Ricardus, not Ricardo - Ricardus would be the nominative Latin form of Richard.

Marticus said...

Here's my thoughts
1) Richard may have been on the Black Rock. But, I think he is far older than that. From the beginning of the finale black shirt said that the same thing always happened when people came. He also said Jacob brought them there. Both comments are as in he had done that several times before. I don't think Jacob would visit each person. I think he sent Richard. I think Richard was around way before then helping Jacob just as he is now.
2) Ben. I don't think Ben ever was chosen to be the leader. That is why Jacob didn't talk to him directly. Thus the comment "what about you" meaning Ben had killed and manipulated his way into power instead. I think he took over after Ellie left the island for whatever reason she did.
3) If the nuke went off. There would probably be no Darma at all in the future only the others. Would the nuke kill Richard? If he does get killed in 1977 how would he be able to show Locke where Jacob is?
Maybe that's Jacob's loophole, Richard dying in the past to prevent him being tricked in the future.

Anonymous said...

Just a note on your Richard Alpert - Ricardo the Economist theory. While it is entirely possible, it is more likely that Richard Alpert is named after Richard Alpert, who was Timothy Leary's right hand man in developing LSD. You probably know him (if at all) by the name he later adopted, Ram Dass, but his name was originally Richard Alpert.