The beginning of the end
WHAT HAPPENED
In Season 1 Locke taught Walt how to play backgammon:. ''Two players. Two sides. One is light, one is dark.''
THE MAN IN BLACK: ''Do you know how much I want to kill you?''
JACOB: ''Yes.''
THEORIES TO DISCUSS
Jacob Theories
1. Jacob willingly submitted himself to death. See Obi-Wan Kenobi. Also see Aslan.
2. Just before Jacob is kicked into the fire he chokes out ''They're coming." Jacob was referring to Jack, Kate, Sawyer and the Losties. The Man In Black completely understood the significance of what Jacob was saying and it upset him (note scowl).
3. The significance of Jacob's textile machinery and tapestries.
4. Man In Black: You're trying to prove me wrong.
JACOB: You are wrong.
Man In Black: They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.
JACOB: It can only end once. Everything before that is progress.
Discuss.
5. The flickering entity that we thought was Jacob in Jacob's cabin was actually not Jacob at all. Many interpretations of the cabin, with its circle of occult ash, were that it was kind of a prison for the being inside of it. Note: During Jacob's visit with Hurley, he specifically said he had never been in jail. Discuss.
OTHER THEORIES
6. Miles was correct when he suggested that Jack's H-Bomb detonation would actually produce the very ''incident'' they were trying to subvert — that they would be fulfilling history, not re-making it.
7. Daniel Faraday was correct with his ''human variable'' theory. Juliet's exercise of free will in last night's episode actually made all the difference and history has been rebooted. The Swan will never be built; Oceanic 815 will never crash. The shape and form of the new timeline will be determined by now-former castaways, thanks to the two gifts given to them by Jacob in the finale: a second chance at life - and the free will to create their own destiny.
8. Rose and Bernard are the Adam and Eve skeletons.
FACTS CONFIRMED
1. Jacob
2. Resurrected John Locke wasn't ''John Locke'' at all, but rather Jacob's enemy and philosophical adversary, the nameless Man in Black. Yes, resurrected Locke, was, in fact, false. After all, Dead is Dead, right?
3. We learned more about the Four-Toed Statue. And it appears that it was Jacob that lies in the shadow of the statue. The actual answer that Richard gives to the question asked by Ilana can be translated to "He who will save us all." Study Apokatastasis and Omega Point.
4. It was speculated that the statue was Anubis, yet our statue had what looked to be the head of a crocodile not a jackal. See Sobek or possibly Set.
5. If that was the Black Rock in the opening sequence, it should date the discussion to 1845.
6. It's confirmed that the original Losties are linked by a common denominator, Jacob. We saw Jacob paying quick visits to each of the characters at pivotal points in their pre- or post-Island lives.
7. Richard Alpert confirmed that he does not age and that it was a gift that Jacob gave him.
8. Some of our Losties (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid) went back to 1977 because they weren't able to exactly replicate flight 815 on flight 316.
9. We knew Faraday was in Ann Arbor at Dharma central, but what was he doing? He was studying his life's work, his journal.
10. "The Incident" occurred in July 1977, which was the same time as the infamous NYC Blackout, check it out.
11. Finally, I'm going to paste (most of) the Doc's thoughts on the love quadrangle here as they mirror mine pretty closely. Chime in with yours!
1. Rolled my eyes over Jack's second chance yearning for Kate.
2. The Sawyer/Jack beat down was ok, necessary, but glad it's out of the way...
3. However, I totally choked up over Juliet's sacrifice and Sawyer's grief, well done.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Did Juliet set off the bomb? Has Lost history been rebooted? Will all of the time-travelling Losties on the Island finally be reunited!? Was paradox produced? Did the timeline collapse? If so, to what extent will things be different, if at all?
2. Just before Ben knifed Jacob, he asked "What was it that was so wrong with me? What about me?, Jacob responded, "What about you?". What do you think he meant?
3. Faux-Locke/Man In Black says to Jacob "And you have no idea what I've gone through to be here." What exactly did he go through? What was the loophole?
4. Did Faux-Locke's plan work — or did he play right into Jacob's hands? Will Ben become Faux-Locke/Man In Black's stooge — or does he have a separate arc?
5. Richard Alpert told Jack that he had traveled away from the Island three times in the 20 years between Jughead '54 and Dharma '77. He said two of those trips were to scout out John Locke; we saw both those trips last season in "Cabin Fever." So, when was the third trip, and what was the purpose?
6. Looks to me like Ilana, Bram and crew were sent by Jacob, do you agree? Why did Ilana ask for 'Ricardus' rather than Richard? What is a candidate and why is Frank Lapidus a candidate?
7. What is in the guitar case that Jacob left with Hurley? Hurley has carried around with him everywhere. Is it Charlie's?
FUN FACTS/TO DO UNTIL JANUARY 2010 LIST
1. Fun Fact!: Titus Welliver, who plays Jacob's Enemy/Man in Black, is the FIFTH actor from HBO's Deadwood series to appear in LOST.
2. Yes, I'm recommending that you watch Deadwood.
3. In fact, along with Battlestar Galactica it's what my wife and I will be watching until LOST Season 6 comes back around!
4. The book Jacob was reading before Locke was pushed from the window by his father was, "Everything That Rises Must Converge". Briefly, ''Author O'Connor...claims that it is her specific goal to offer a glimpse of God's mystery and, thus, to lead readers - whom she sees as, for the most part, spiritually lost in the modern, secular world - back toward the path of redemption.''. Cool.
5. Finally you can review each contact Jacob had with each character here. It's worth a read.
Finally, BIG thanks to all of you for making this column fun. Take Good Care, see you on the other side.
Post away!
[Note: In this column, many weeks I borrow from other LOST sites, primarily Doc Jensen and EW.com. I'll try to put as much of myself in these as I can, but EW gets to screen the episodes in advance and I certainly don't ... so ... much love to the Doc, we couldn't dig in quite the same without you.]
18 comments
mike
i havent even read this yet, but nikki stafford has some good things to say about last night…more to come:
http://nikkistafford.blogspot.com/
Yeah, Nikki is great. Her Jacob’s ladder and Maybesau (Man in Black) musings are fantastic. Plus all the Biblical science. Pretty rad, thanks for sharing Mike!
timmy
More than any other finale this one seems to have left us with the least, as far as knowing what might occur in the next season.
Juliet’s flashback was the only one that didn’t feature Jacob’s touches. He touched eveyone else. She also wore a lovely REDSHIRT.
Not sure where that leaves Miles.
Sancho
I still can’t believe John Locke is a nobody.
All this time we were comparing him to Jesus…
Timmy - Miles might just survive given his connection to Dr. Chang, but I think those were Juliet’s last efforts. A redshirt indeed. Next season might be anybody’s guess, there are some pretty rad suggestions floating around…all the more exciting I think.
Sancho - I’m not so sure Locke is a nobody…after re-watching the finale and talking to others, if you follow what Locke says throughout the episode, it’s almost like he’s half Real Locke/half Main in Black. What that might mean I dont know… In addition why would Jack tell Alpert (in my opinion Jack’s best line of the last few episodes) “I wouldn’t give up on him if I were you.“
Thoughts?
Sancho
That’s true, we shouldn’t give up on him. I think Jack is really digging this whole fate thing. His smile when the van pulled up to save them says it all.
So, like a lot of people have been saying, this show may not necessarily be about good or evil, but about free will or destiny. What does that make Jacob? He told Hurley he has a choice, yet told the man in black it always ends the same…
timmy
Yeah, Jack’s comment “wouldn’t give up on Locke” is an interesting one, especially cool since it was coming out of Jack’s mouth. Not sure though if it was just intended as merely build up for that particular episode or if there will be more to come. The writers have said “dead is dead”, and that now holds more weight, but I can’t imagine a whole season (the last in fact) without Mr. Clean. I imagine Locke or the spirit of Locke has to have some presence in the last season.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taweret
In Egyptian mythology, the four-toed statue is a pregnancy guardian. Also, when combined with another figure, she is considered evil. INTERESTING!
Sancho - I noticed the smile as well. Good catch. As for free will/destiny, I believe it was the man in black that said it always ends the same. Jacob said “It can only end once. Everything before that is progress.“ I think that statement is consistent with his free will/choice presentations in his interactions with the main characters in the finale. It also matches up with what Faraday thought he discovered after studying his life’s work and changing his mind about being able to change the future…we’ll see…
Timmy - first of all, happy birthday buddy. Good to have another friend in the Kenny Norman club. As for Locke, I have to agree, I think he’s a definite for season 6.
Justine - Thanks for the post on Taweret. Even more interesting than Set and Sobek. The opening scene of the finale took us back to 1845, the island origins stretch back quite a bit, how far we may never know, but I have to believe season 6 will give us a little more Egypt as well.
Amr Megahed
Hey, so I just want some thoughts on a few things, and hopefully someone can calm my fears on one potential outcome….
1. In Jacob and his unnamed nemesis’ discussion re: “...it always ends the same…“ “it only ends once….“ what is the antecedent to “it.“ I read discussions regarding fate vs. will, where “it” may represent life, existence, etc. Sure, I get that. But, I can’t shake the feeling that it has a more literal meaning, specifically tying it to our main story. Could “it” refer to this Mobius loop our characters seem to be caught up in? Could Jacob be referring to some progressive event, when executed properly, will lead to resolution of this twisted tale? Is he our supernatural Faraday, so to speak? By visiting our Losties at various points in their lives, is he making small changes to their past that may alter the outcome of the story? Maybe it is more apocalyptic than that since elder Eloise repeatedly warns, “God help us all!“
2. Am I wrong or back in season 3 didn’t one of the others (perhaps Tom) say “...Shepherd wasn’t even on Jacob’s list.“ This was circa Ben’s spine surgery.
sorry…rambling,
Someone convince me otherwise on this last one!
3. The alien idea. I fear that the simplest way to explain these bewildering historical events (i.e pyramids, towering statues), mythology (i.e. Egyptian gods), and pseudo science (i.e. unlimited power from underground electromagnetic sources) is to make it extraterestrial. What if Jacob and his friend are, in fact, aliens. The aliens who were deified as Set or Horous, living through both Egyptian, Greek, and Roman civilizations watching human empires rise and fall in the same way (it always ends the same). Perhaps the island houses their original alien technology…the wheel…the time travel….whatever. Perhaps the smoke monster is their true form. Actually, some people have theorized that there are 2 smoke monsters a good one and an evil one…hmmmm….
I’m tired and started to sound stupid. sorry for rambling. any thoughts….
timmy
Maybe the “it” that only has to happen once is peace and lack of conflict amongst the peoples of the island. Maybe, the Island needs people and at the same time peace to meet some required final objective. So far, it seems, at every moment in time we have seen on the island there has been a conflict amongst the population. The man in black appears to be philosophically a Dystopian while Jacob is the Utopian.
It seems to relate to what Rose and Bernard’s scene in the finale was about, and in contrast to Jack and Sawyer’s vicious fight
Maybe, it is also relatable to the overall goal of the Valenzetti Equation (the numbers), in being able to bring about stability, only not on a global level, but island wise.
So far the island has had a lot of deaths but very few births.
No, Jack wasn’t on Jacob’s list, but maybe Jacob is even more interested in and needs the “flawed” people to meet the final objective and prove his point.
Jacob and the MiB are both definitely from the Zeta Reticuli star system, that’s pretty obvious just by looking at them. :)
Nickelmore
A couple strange Locke outcomes I’ve come up with:
The black smoke monster is, fittingly, the man in black. He took over Locke’s body way back in the first season when Locke went boar hunting and came face to face with the monster.
AND/OR
The man in Elena’s box isn’t Locke, it’s the man in black. Locke is still alive.
Just brainstorming.
Amr Megahed
Maybe you have all read this already, but this is an exerpt from an interview with “Darleton” in 1997.
What is the meaning or significance of the two skeletons that Jack and Kate found in the cave of season 1?
CUSE: The answer to that question goes to the nature of the timeline of the island. We don’t want to say too much about it, but there are a couple Easter eggs embedded in [the Feb. 7 episode], one of which is an anagram that actually sheds some light on the skeletons and hints at a larger mythological mystery that will start to unfold later in the season.
LINDELOF: There were certain things we knew from the very beginning. Independent of ever knowing when the end was going to be, we knew what it was going to be, and we wanted to start setting it up as early as season 1, or else people would think that we were making it up as we were going along. So the skeletons are the living — or, I guess, slowly decomposing — proof of that. When all is said and done, people are going to point to the skeletons and say, ‘'That is proof that from the very beginning, they always knew that they were going to do this.‘’
Anybody know what/where the anagram is?
timmy
I remember hearing about that supposed anagram, but I’m pretty sure it’s never been found/confirmed.
There is the “only fools are enslaved by time and space” into “Bones of Nadlers may lay deep in lost cave” (Nadlers being Rose and Bernard Nadler), but this was from season 3, and has never been confirmed.
The only 3 anagrams confirmed by Lindeloff and Cuse are:
Mittelos- Lost time
Ethan Rom- Other man
Hoffs/Drawler- Flash forward
there is also Canton/Rainer - Reincarnation and a few other unconfirmed anagrams. It seems strange that the cat has never been officially let out of the bag on the supposed skeletons anagram from season 1.
slagor
sorry i’m hung up on the reference to comment #13 about darleton being interviewed in 1997? is that right Amr?
Amr Megahed
Slagor, yes the interview happened after Ben turned the wheel, so it was 1997. Just kidding.
Sorry, 2007.
Erin
Random Lost question from this season: is it just me? i thought that i saw little girl kate, who was attempting to steal a lunchbox when jacob showed up, holding the metal airplane that she got out of a lock box in an earlier season???? anyone else notice???
The new series:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU4HMv8yvj8
The original cut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeZrAh5nz2k
See if you can notice the differences in conversation between the two…. pretty freakin’ awesome. I can’t wait for the new season to start.
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The main character’s name is actually Lisbeth, in case you want to correct.