The “LOST” creative team took a huge risk this week, taking a sharp detour this late in the season and unabashedly plunging into fantastical mythology. And, given the payoff from “Ab Aeterno” earlier this season, we give them a great deal of credit for doing so. But “Across the Sea” seemed to fall far short of that ambition. It was a grand tale, but strayed into melodrama, and told us little that we hadn’t already been told. The good-evil polarization that had thus far developed with Jacob and the Man in Black became ambiguous again. And the one answer to a long-standing question was both overplayed, and underwhelming.
Last week’s episode put into stark relief the fact that our collective hearts are still closely tied to the timeline we’ve followed since season one, no matter how clever or resonant the flash-sideways exercise has turned out to be. Similarly, “Across the Sea” tried to give us insight into the two sides of an epic battle in which our survivors are apparently just pawns… and mostly convinced us that we’d prefer to follow the story of those pawns, rather than pick apart the game.
Yes, there’s something mystical on the island that connects to the very essence of man, or perhaps life. Yes, harnessing or exploiting that power inevitably drives man to destroy itself with greed. And yes, the island and this power has had a series of protectors, and a dark side that cannot be allowed to leave. Seeing all these things explored (and explained) on screen was interesting. But feels unnecessary. Only time will tell whether “Across the Sea” will be a key part of understanding the whole of “LOST,” or a curious distraction.
The character of Mother says that answers only bring more questions… a fact she embodies herself. She, too, was looking for a worthy successor, somewhere among the people who come to the island. What better candidates are there than innocent newborns? She raises two, chooses one, and welcomes her own death once the mantle has been passed. So we’ve now been shown the end of the preceding cycle, and know that “LOST” is leading up to the next transition. So where did Mother come from? And where did this eternal cycle begin? I guess, like a circle, there simply may be no such thing.
And the all important rules? The emphasis on the games that Jacob and the Man in Black made up tonight suggests that “the rules” are not rules imposed upon them by some higher power or construct, but some arbitrary set of restrictions they’ve set for each other.
After tonight, I’m no longer confident we’ll get a coherent explanation for the ultimate nature and overall purpose of The Island. Though “Across the See” makes me think I might prefer things left unexplained.
We did learn that Jacob and Man in Black were brothers, as many had suspected. And the rivalry and ultimate act of fratricide echoes the biblical tale of Cain and Abel. Jacob, the older brother, kills the Man in Black, who was the favored son. (Mother tells the Man in Black that he will never have to worry about death as a child, and she does not deny to Jacob that she loves the Man In Black more.) And we did enjoy the limited scenes the adult brothers had, which made up for the unfortunate reliance on child actors to carry the first half of the episode.
But after the events of “Across the Sea,” its hard not to again feel sympathy for the Man In Black, and question the assertions of Jacob. The Man in Black only wanted to leave the island, to leave the woman who killed his mother behind, and return to his true home, among people. Meanwhile, Jacob was a hapless mama’s boy whose worldview, however validated by Man in Black, was inherited from a woman who basically settled for him and who denied him any choice in succeeding her.
It was nice to learn that the Man in Black was the architect behind the Frozen Donkey Wheel, but now we’re wondering who eventually finished building it? When the wheel was imaged by the DHARMA Initiative in “Because You Left,” was it already assembled? At first I thought DHARMA must have connected the dots that the Man in Black left behind. But then I remembered that the wheel was working when Locke turned it, which was much, much, earlier. (Before, even, the well had been dug?) And why was the underground chamber freezing cold when Ben visited in 2004?
And we did like how “Across the Sea” suggests that “The Purge” of Season 3 was also part of the unending cycle of life on The Island. Perhaps the DHARMA Initiative, like the Man in Black’s people, were getting too close to “the light,” and had to be violently exterminated.
But did Mother destroy the village and slaughter its residents? As well as fill in a deep well and underground excavation? All before the Man in Black woke up? The moment when she slams his head into the wall of the well was violent enough that I could believe she has some kind of superhuman strength. But the scale of the destruction is so great, I couldn’t help think the smoke monster was involved.
But the smoke monster was created when Jacob cast the Man in Black into the light. Right? It somehow released his inner, darker, flawed essence, but left his body behind. A body that provided the form in which the Man in Black appeared (such as in the conversation with Jacob on the beach), until John Locke’s body arrived. And a body that Jacob could recover and leave in the cave with Mother.
And voila, there we have Adam and Eve.
As “LOST” reveals go, we have to be honest: learning the identity of the skeletons in the cave from Season 1 felt pretty hollow. To be fair, though, this is largely due to factors outside the show. It was one of the mysteries explicitly described as key, a reveal that would prove that the creators and writers of “LOST” had the endgame in mind when they introduced them in 2004. That they were a character introduced in Season 5 and his mother? It doesn’t give me the reassurance I was expecting. Locke described them as Adam and Eve. Jack said they were a female and male, and that they’d been there 40 or 50 years. We had time travel. We lost several couples. It would have been just as satisfying had they turned out to be Rose & Bernard, after all.
The anvilicious insertion of clips from “House of the Rising Sun” made the moment even more frustrating. Seriously, if you were a latecomer to “LOST” who didn’t know why it was significant that black and white stones were placed with two bodies laid to rest in a cave… would you have missed much without the flashback?
Last week’s episode felt like an episode of the last season of “LOST.” This week’s episode felt like a distraction. A sometimes beautiful, certainly daring tangent, but one that — at least at first blush — we feel like we could have lived without. We have only one more episode to get us back on track, and a series finale to wrap things up. We’re nervous, but still hopeful. We still love “LOST,” golden glowing caves and all.
- The Man in Black’s lack of a name was already absurd coming into “Across the Sea.” When Claudia says she only picked one name, the whole conceit collapsed into ridiculous. Now we’re hoping he doesn’t have a name at all. It’s hard to imagine any name being satisfactory.
- Seeing Mother smash Claudia’s skull moments after she gave birth was a shock. And, of course, both Jacob and the Man in Black end up getting raised by someone who wasn’t their mother, and both were clearly shaped in their own way by hardcore “mommy issues.”
- Interesting choice to transition from Latin to English fairly quickly during the episode. It wasn’t a “Hunt for Red October” transition, but still noticeable. Especially when Mother switches back to Latin when she pours the wine for Jacob. Was that to show she was speaking a different language that Jacob didn’t understand?
- Mother was tired and said her time was over, and handed things over to Jacob before he was ready. We can only assume she’d been the island’s protector for decades, if not centuries. But what brings about this inevitable decision to find a successor and check out? When Jacob let Ben stab him, was he also grateful for being released of this burden?
- Mother distrusts people, and denies that there’s anything beyond the island. Why? It seems almost as if her kidnapping of the twin babies was part of a weird experiment to see if people could be raised absent evil? After all, they had to ask, “What is dead?” But even without the influence of people, whom the Man in Black lived among, Jacob exhibited jealousy and rage.
- Mother tells the boys that she’s made it so they “can never hurt each other.” Except Jacob easily pummeled the Man in Black as a kid, and ultimately brought about the Man in Black’s death.
- I’m not entirely sure why the golden glowing cave was so hard to find, yet so easy to find. I think we’re supposed to think that its waters are the waters of The Temple, which was probably built to keep people away. Meanwhile, the specific well (of many wells) that Man in Black worked with will end up beneath the Orchid. We did get a little “LOST” geography lesson tonight, whether or not it makes sense.
- If Jack is indeed Jacob’s successor, who will administer his little cup of wine?
- Why was Jacob unable to see the vision of his dead mother, while the Man in Black could talk with and follow her? She says the reason is because she’s dead, but that’s not exactly an answer. Now that the Man in Black is a disembodied smoke monster, he certainly has communion with the dead. But did this ability predate his transformation?
- We were thrilled when we first heard the news that Allison Janey was cast for this episode. And given some of the lines her character had to deliver, its clear the role couldn’t go to a lightweight. (Frankly, the dialogue was often too heavy for even her.) Still, as an actress, she’s almost larger than life, and we have to admit it was a little distracting. It was the closest thing to “stunt casting” we’ve had on “LOST,” and we’re glad they didn’t make a habit of it.
We’d love to hear what you thought of the episode. Please comment below! Or, email us at lost@hawaiiup.com, or leave a brief (about a minute) voicemail on the LOSTline at (815) 310-0808.
@Craig – Moral of the story: Don’t run away. (Kidding)
I love this show. On its own it’s engaging and perplexing, but when you throw in all of the discussion, it has a depth to it that I’ve never experienced in a TV show. It’s the closest thing to a book that I’ve ever watched. I know they have finished shooting, but I certainly hope they don’t feed us the answers. I love trying to figure things out on my own, with the help of the amazing LOST community and podcasts like this one. It’s disappointing when we are told, or in this case shown, how this relates to the whole story.
I’m still wondering about the visions of the boys. What we now know was young Jacob appearing to fake Locke, reminding him of the rules. It riled Flocke up, and he ended up yelling his famous, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Then, young MiB was laughing at Flocke, which seemed to upset him as well. The boys are manifestations of younger selves. I wonder, since MiB isn’t REALLY the twin, if Jacob and his brother are now working in tandem from the other side. It sure seemed that MiB’s younger self was goading Flocke. (So hard to keep track…)
I have to say, I felt sorry for Jacob, even though I also liked his brother more. I wonder if having to take this burden on through no choice of his own created in him this desire for people to make their own choices and act according to their own free will.
I wonder if the “well of souls” (I’ll call it that because I like that theory the most) moves like the cabin did. And has it seemed to anyone else that the whispers usually happen in what looks like the same grove?
And what of Adam and Eve appearing to doc Jack to have been dead about 30 years, not 2000?
Fake mom being the smoke monster makes sense to me. Is she part of a continuing cycle? Did she once belong with the other people, then was “infected?”
Were the Others injecting themselves with the water from the temple to prevent being taken over by whatever possessed MiB and Locke? And if they did, were they aware of the relevance of what they were doing, or were they doing it out of obedience or knowledge?
Did Fake mom use the opportunity of the twins “presented to her” to guide her 2 blank slates in the direction she needed them to go? Is that why babies are in trouble on the island? Maybe Jacob had something to do with the infertility.
Does Jacob have some more wine lying around? I mean, he’s dead, MiB broke the other bottle, and we don’t really know if there’s another way to pass on the protective powers, do we? And Jack probably shouldn’t start drinking again, anyway. (Sorry, I had to say it.)
Jacob and MiB were twins/brothers. Claire and Jack are half-siblings. Any relevance?
There seems to be a theme of people following something they don’t understand. Is this just another layer to the human condition? I mean, first Locke believes in the island, and remember, in one of the first episodes he said he looked into the eye of the island and it was beautiful. Then he was willing to be drawn below the surface, but somebody (Kate?) threw a stick of dynamite in and he was released. All along he had a cycle of faith and doubt, and so now does Jack. When the conviction of knowing his destiny causes harm to someone else, the doubt creeps in. It will be interesting to see what happens to Sawyer after the sub.
I saw this question already, but I’ll ask it also. Who built the statue?
Love this board. Love the podcast. Already missing this show! I am so enjoying the ride!
@ Carol in Boston:
I think that the vision of young Jacob is the spirit of Jacob choosing to appear as his younger self to MIB for whatever reason. The dark-haired boy was the same actor based on what I’ve read somewhere, and I saw side-by-side pictures somewhere on the net showing clearly it is the same boy. I think it was the trick of the lighting that made his hair appear darker.
@Richard H
Dude, I totally felt that way, too. Eve was majorly channeling Helen!
I’m actually quite surprised that this story is being so disliked. I liked it. I admit I didn’t love it like Richard’s episode, but I thought it was a good, important character study giving some answers to questions and introducing elements, such as the Source, that most likely will be important for the coming episodes. If anything, my disappointment is that they only had time to tell the story of the beginning. It would be nice, probably spread out, to have had the story of those two brothers through time. Show how MiB first, from his point of view, found out about Locke. See Jacob react to the Dharma Initiative’s arrival, the changes in leadership of the Others, etc. Maybe see, though the brothers, what happened in the aftermath of the Incident. They could have called it “the Other 2000 Years.†But there wasn’t the time for that, I recognize.
One thing that fascinated me was how the Mother (the fake one) compared to each child. Put simply, MiB is more like her than Jacob is. Jacob may have inherited her role and the belief that protecting the Source is important, but she believes people are inherently, perpetually evil. So does MiB. Jacob doesn’t. Jacob believes in progress. (Now, if Jacob was directly involved in the Purge, he may be more like his mother, but we need more information on that. And if one truly believes the Source must be preserved lest all humanity die, then the evil can be argued to be a necessary evil. And perhaps this progress will reduce or end the threat the Mother sees. Is simply personally wanting to leave an island an equivalent justification?) I once compared Jacob to Winston Churchill, who let people did and suffer during the course of the war. Once, he ordered the attack on French ships after the French surrendered to Germany even though Britain was not at war with France. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir) Over a thousand French sailors were killed. It was Churchill’s very own Purge, argued by some legal scholars to be a war crime. Yet Churchill is generally considered to be a “good guy†of that war.
I definitely believe that MiB was turned into the Smoke Monster, his body left behind. It’s enough to make one wonder what would happen to the world if a force that could do that to someone was released. Is letting one person leave one island worth that risk?
Some have said MiB is really good. No, he’s evil. He’s evil with a backstory and motivation. He may not be evil like the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz – evil just because. He’s evil like the Wicked Witch of the West from Wicked – which I haven’t actually seen, but which I understand tells her backstory and explains how she developed the character she had when Dorothy crash landed. He’s evil like Magneto, the Mutant Holocaust survivor who decided he will attack the human world that hates and fears him so that he can’t be put back in a camp. One can feel sympathy for all those characters. One can understand why they are that way. But they *are* that way.
As for the business with his name. I assume he has one even if not chosen by the true mother, but that the writers edited around it. Why? Because it’s hard to imagine a believable name for the character that would sound as great as “Smoke Monster†or “MiB.†Would you want the entry for the Smoke Monster on Lostipedia to have to be retitled “Gerald†or “Marcus?â€
One more thing on Jacob. I’m into Opera, and in Richard Wagner’s Das Ring Der Nibelungen series of operas, one of the main characters is the god Wotan (VOE-taan). He’s the head god, ruler of the world. But he blows it in the first opera, getting a curse that will eventually end his rule and spends the interim between operas one and two working to evade the curse. But by opera 2, he knows it’s useless. He admits that he just wants the end. He just can’t do it himself.
Now Jacob’s no Wotan, but like Wotan, I think he wants the end to the system he is a part of. All this manipulation, this secrecy (perhaps to keep people from knowing what the Source is and how to get to it.) I think he uses it but hates it. I think he wants his successor to be guardian in a different way, a way he couldn’t be for whatever reason either due to his character or everyone else’s.
@ Embie you did see a tortoise but I don’t pretend to know the meaning (if any)
@ Eric – you make a valid point about Nameless probably having a name, but I’d still like to think that his nameless state is not just the writers avoiding it for believability’s sake. Or to simply encourage such intense scutiny and discourse by fans. I choose to belive it was intentional and communicates volumes about MiB’s very nature.
One more nitpick: all along before this season (and during it!) we heard D&C say this was going to be the season we returned to the main characters stories, sort of like a mirror to season 1. You know, the characters that were on flight 815. We “won’t have time to return to all the characters that have been on the show”. Now, so far this season we had an entire episode about Richard, an entire episode about Jacob & bro, those awful ones with Dogan and his pscho-dorky sidekick etc.
All I can say is congratulations to the main actors on the show for pulling down the big money and not even have to work in half of the shows this season! Good work if you can find it!
P.S. Anyone remember Ben?
ugh, bla. come on. for the first time since season two, I am about to give up on the show.
Wow. I really didn’t like last week’s episode, but this one more than made up for it. It was by far the very best hour of TV I’ve seen in many years. Easily the most important Lost episode of the entire series. The only downside were the Jack and Kate clips at the end. Totally unnecessary.
It really makes me sad that there’s only a few episodes left, because I’d like to see a whole season developing this timeline up to the present.
Dudes!!
I have to say, I really enjoyed the episode. I think it’s great to analyze the show, but It seems to me most people have their own vision of what the show should end like and they are sour because it’s not matching their vision. Of course no one is going to be satisfied. I compare it to the new trilogy of Star Wars (Ep I, II and III). I didn’t dig it at all because I had heard all these stories about the clone wars etc. and imagined it in my head, when I saw the movies, it didn’t go in the direction I wanted. In watching lost, I thought, “what the heck, I’ll just enjoy the ride.” So I say who cares if it’s not going the way you envisioned just enjoy the story and see what the heck happens in the end.
I don’t believe Jacob has ever been the smoke monster. Jacob did not die until Ben killed him. It seems as though the evil smoke monster can only inhabit the soul of someone dead. I rewatchd House of the Rising Sun and saw that Adam and Eve were not lying together but seperately. This is one of many discrepancies. Also, if Jacob is dead and the new candidate has not drank the wine then who is protecting the light now? And why does the MIB and others keep seeing Jacob in the jungle as a boy? I do believe however that this is all Jacob’s plan.
We still did not learn what made the MIB or Locke (the real one) so special… or why the pregnant women kept dying for that matter.
I really like the “well of souls” theory from above. It is interesting that the MIB was special enough to see their dead mother but only Jacob could seem to find the well even though the MIB spent 30 years looking for it.
I have told my Lost friends that I firmly believe the flash sideways are really flash forwards that will come to be by future events and heroic deeds of our heros (Jin refusing to leave Sun, Sayid sacrificing himself, etc.) all orchestrated by a master plan of Jacobs to end the cycle on the island. I really hope I am right.
Evangeline Lily did mention in a recent interview that the end is not a cop-out but it will end in true Lost fashion… to me that means confusing with lots of unanswered questions. As frusterating as it is though I will not know what to do when this series is over. No matter what I have been thoroughly entertained for 6 seasons and no other show has kept me fascinated that long:)
Whatever the strengths of this episode were, it’s still kind of sad that the creators of Lost could make such a mis-step so close to the end. It brings back memories of the disastrous end of The X-Files, though I don’t think we’ve reached that kind of debacle yet. Let’s hope the next few hours of the show are so strong we won’t even remember how disappointed we were in last night’s episode.
The episode would have been much better if they had included this.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DcnB_WLXWo
When I was first getting hooked on Lost, rewatching Season 1, I remember being very intrigued by Claire and the psychic who tells her “No one should raise Aaron except for you” (or something along those lines). There was so much emphasis on “you, Claire, are the only one who should raise Aaron or else something really bad is going to happen…”
What happened to that? I hope it gets resolved.
Watching “Across the Sea” I get a sense that “being raised by another” is a recurring theme along with so many others. No?
We got answers, but although they were ones I wanted, they all seemed a bit of a let down. I guess I asked the wrong questions…
Me : OMG a Jacob flashback! Awesome! – So where did Jacob come from?
Lost : He arrived in the island like everyone else actually.
Me : Oh. So how did he get all his cool powers?
Lost : A woman gave them to him.
Me : Oh, ok. Cool. Who was this woman?
Lost : Not telling you.
Me : Oh. Well that sucks. Um… well did we find out about the rules?
Lost : Yes we did. There are rules.
Me : Cool. What are they
Lost : Not telling you.
Me : Well who set the rules?
Lost : Perhaps the woman did? I guess I’m not telling you that either.
Me : Well this is pretty frustrating. Ok, how about this one – where did the smoke monster come from?
Lost : A hole in the ground.
Me: I know that – we found that out ages ago. I mean what is the smoke monster – how did it come to be.
Lost : Not telling you.
Me : Well, was MIB always the smoke monster?
Lost : No he was a little kid once.
Me : So how come he’s the smoke monster now?
Lost : Not telling you
Me : What can you tell me?
Lost ; I can tell you where he turned into smokey
Me; Go on then
Lost : In a cave
Me : …….. one of the caves we have seen?
Lost : No, this is a new cave. But we found out who built the frozen donkey wheel.
Me : Ok. Awesome! Who was it?
Lost : Well MIB started to build it, but he never finished.
Me : Okay…. so who finished it then? Who was he working with?
Lost : Not telling you.
Me : This is frustrating. So do we know why Jacob is protecting the island, and stopping MIB from leaving?
Lost : Because the woman told him.
Me : This woman we know nothing about, and from which we can infer nothing, and we don’t know whether to believe?
Lost : Yep, thats her.
Me : Do we at least know why the island needs to be protected?
Lost : Oh, yes, I can definitely answer that one. It’s because theres a light in a cave and some people want it. The Man in Black thinks that all people are evil and want to exploit the light and destroy it. So Jacob must protect the light. Hang on. No, thats not it. It’s because if Titus Welliver ever leaves the island, that would be bad somehow. I can’t remember who said that, but its definitely something that we assume.
So to sum up. Jacob must bring people to the island to make sure that no one can get to the island. Also MIB can’t leave for some reason, so he needs to be kept on the island. The only way he can leave is if Jacob is killed. But since MIB can’t kill Jacob himself, he needs someone else to do it, and that must be someone brought to the island.
Me : So if Jacob wants to keep people away from the island, and can only be killed by people on the island – why does he bring people to the island?
Lost : Did I mention Adam and Eve are CJ Cregg and the guy from Deadwood?
Me : …..
By the way I hope Jen and Ryan read my comment out on the podcast – it would be great to hear a Transmission version of Massacre theatre!!
Congratulations Nikki and Paulo! You are no longer the worst episode of Lost. Please dig yourselves up and claim your trophy.
heh,heh.
I will simply throw in with those here castigating others for their apparently frustrated wish fulfillment approach to Lost.
Well over a year ago, I posted that to love the mystery, and savor the nuance, was what made Lost delicious. Everyone on this site is a committed Lost lover, so please admit what it is that made you that way, and forgo the sad bleating about Answers. Leave that to the Promo/Trailer department, and the casual watcher.
The best answers are your/our own, and look at the pondering going on over serious and rather deep issues. FROM A TELEVISION SHOW! That’s why we’re here, on this great forum. I, too, was thrown off by this episode. But I do not hate it, or criticize for its lack of…. I, like all of you, was thrown off, and again doff my hat to the writers and creators. ‘Thrown off’ is a good thing. That IS why we watch this series.
That is also why I have remained ‘Team Dark’. An appreciation of the dark in Lost is also an appreciation for the very nuanced story and mythology. If this were another television show, sure, shoot it down for not ‘making sense’. It is not another television show, and thank god for that. Villains not clear enough for you? Too many innuendos and asides not explained?
Go get a box of chips, open, and eat them til they’re gone. You’ll be at the end with no unresolved or troubling issues. You’ll be satisfied.
Me? I’ll watch Lost til I can’t, then go back and watch it again. Ponder and savor each apparent blind alley, and work through the maze, and enjoy it. X-files? C’mon, that was never even playing the same game as Lost, wasn’t even in the minors.
Lost is intelligent, always has been. It is only when it obviously ‘stoops’ for answers that it has marred its sheen. For those disappointed, how many of you have answered any of the literary challenges thrown down over the last 5 years? Not many, or any. Lost is not above criticism, and I have flailed at some issues over the years (time travel anyone?). But the tenor of criticism today, for the most part is off-putting, as it belies the essence of the entire journey. And if this is your first season watching, or you just recently caught up via DVD, slow down, go back, absorb.
Lost does not need the ending to justify its greatness. That is long and well established. Look at the extent and depth of the discussion of just this one episode. QED
@docjkm
First off, let me say that I am the first to admit that I am being premature with my criticism, as we haven’t seen the last episodes yet.
However, I would say that I love the mystery element of Lost. That to me is what sets it apart from other character based shows. I agree that the mystery is the essence of the entire journey.
However, the reason that the mysteries are so appealing, is the tantalising thought that it will all make sense someday. The reason we theorise and spend so much time trying to work out what is going on is that we have faith (!) that the mysteries will be solved at some point, and we are trying to figure it out. Without an answer, a mystery is simply a lot of stuff that happens. We wouldn’t watch a murder mystery if we never found out who did it. Sherlock Holmes not only finds out that it was Moriarty who killed the butler, but he also finds out how and why he committed killed him.
I would say it is more accurate to say that people (maybe I only speak for myself) love trying to figure out the mystery – not the mystery itself. The fact that it all might be revealed is what makes me ache for the next installment, not just the fact that I don’t know whats going on, or why it is happening.
For me the essence of Lost isn’t just that Jacob exists and can heal people – it’s the tantalising hints that we will find out how he can heal people and how that fits into our story.
I guess I am over reacting, but it’s simply becasue with only 3 1/2 hours left, I am worried that the show simply won’t solve the mysery. I don’t need to know who got shot in the outrigger, or what the Hurley bird is. But I do want to know what I have been working towards for the past 5 years.
I guess I’m just concerned that the butler was killed by a stranger by magic.
I can sympathize with the frustrated, but until the credits roll I’ll continue hoping that when all is said and done, even “Stranger in a Strange Land” will make sense.
Ok, I won’t go that far, but you get the idea.
LOST is like watching the largest, most beautiful house of cards you’ve ever seen get assembled.
The table under those cards is trembling.
p.s. – Did anyone else think the “other” standing over the boar looked like Kelvin? I never got a clear look at his face.
It seems obvious on a second watching that Mother planned for her nameless son to become Smokey – or at least ageless – all along. On the beach, after his discovery of the game and he and Jacob playing it for the first time, she basically told him that he would never die. So she either expected him to be her replacement and gain her agelessness- whatever that means – or she expected that he would eventually be “immortalized” within the personality of the Smoke Monster.
Personally, I believe that she always intended for MiB to become Smokey, replacing her in that role. I just wish we had just a tad more information on who SHE was, and whether or not she was really an immortal human or just another Smoke Monster. I think that those who believe that somehow her singular role of protector and smoke monster was divided between her “sons” are on the right track. The next 3.5 hours will tell…
I wonder if there was any time traveling involved with the construction of the wheel. MIB tells his mother there are some very smart men with them.. what if some of the future DHARMA folks ended up back in ancient times to help them excavate?
What has become increasingly apparent to this viewer during season six is listed below:
1) Darlton and JJ Abrams are great writers when it comes to posing questions, creating puzzling scenarios that entice the viewer into tuning in week after week; some might call them geniuses of their craft for that reason.
2) Darlton has never in history of Lost demonstrated a coherent, cogent or remotely elegant solution to their puzzles. In many ways, their genius is no different than the blonde in the joke about the blonde and the professor on an airplane. (http://obviousmag.org/en/archives/2007/09/the_blonde_and_the_professor_on_an_airplane.html)
All that season 5-6 have amounted to are staying tactics to pose more questions than answers and delay the day when they supposedly provide a coherent framework for their story (the island, the rules, the light, why walt was special, the seeing dead people, the numbers, and so forth).
3) Realizing that the scope of their puzzle had reached epic proportions, Darlton needed something epic to answer all these questions. They have relied on the Bible, Paradise Lost and other epic sources to attempt this:
-Jacob and MiB seem to be based on a fusion of Cain and Abel (right down to the birth order, Mib being favored by the ‘god’ as abel was for his offering, and the killing without understanding what death really was) and Jacob and Essau (with Jacob stealing Essau’s blessing / stewardship of the island, Essau having life experience while Jacob was a mamma’s boy, and even the ambiguity behind jacob’s deserving of Isaac’s blessing, Jacob goes on to wrestle with an angel / possibly smokey?)
– the light seems a correlate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, something wonderful, powerful and forbidden
– others have previously described the many parallels of the island to the garden of eden as depicted in Paradise Lost
-Biblical injunctions insisting on the killing of ‘bad people’ (amalek) which ties in with Jacob’s lists
– Alpert or Ben or original locke being emissaries of the demigod (or whatever he is) jacob parallels Moses or Joshua, and of course moses doesn’t get to see Israel (just as locke dies before he can go back to the island)
– There are certainly many others for those who care to look
Did Darlton know the whole story arc from day 1? Possibly, but I very sincerely doubt it. More Likely they knew they could always fall back on a biblical spinoff or a story of Dante’s Inferno-like epic grandeur. Besides, who wouldn’t love a show that was basically a spin-off of the Dante’s Inferno or Paradise Lost storylines?
4) Darlton, perhaps fearing the possibility of offending a religious group, or perhaps out of justifiable shame, are not willing to directly rip off these epic sources and instead are fusing stories in a completely farcical way. It may be that they will leave the story of the island open so that a reasonable viewer could conclude that it is in fact the garden of eden and that the story is basically a continuation of Paradise Lost. In any event, the reasonable viewer should expect that no one of these sources will satisfactorily explain all the sci-fi / supernatural stuff we have seen in the show.
5) The professor in that blonde joke IS NOT clever for coming up with 50 possible explanations that ‘might’ answer the riddle but don’t quite. Nope, he’s a fool – he just lost 495 bucks in that transaction. So too all those true-believers of the epic genius of Darlton and JJ Abrams I say – think of all the manhours of work and productivity you lost to this extended version of a dumb-blonde joke.
Who would have thought you could turn a dumb-blonde joke into an epic comedy anyhow?
OK, once again late to the party.
Too many comments to read but to my mind the real issue with this episode is that it came so late in the season. If it had been one of the early episodes many/most/all naysayers would have been happy(er) with the historical back-story arc of this episode. Were we not crying out for Jacobs history ? Did we not all want to know where he came from ? OK so all the writers really did was moved the target …. the question now is where did fake-mother come from ? But they could play that adinfinitum. Do we really want to see fake-mother washing up on the island as a child being met by another person and so on and so on ?
There were lots of questions that came out of this episode which we know will not be answered such as Why did MiB have to stay when fake-mother had Jacob to replace her ? How did fake-mother fill the well and kill all the people ? Was she smokey ? Was real-mother a ghost or some kind of smoke monster apparition ?
Another anoyance is that we have just been introduced to this (slightly cheesy) light — that is the core of the island mythology — someone has to protect it from everyone else but no-one has told us what this light is or does. Surely fake-mother would have told Jacob what is was. Unless of course she doesn’t know.
What is it that all men have a part of but always want more ? The key to eternal life ? Power ? Some kind of religous spirit/soul deal ?
Why did going into the light turn MiB into the smokey monster ? If anyone went would it happen to them ?
Three and a half hours to go.
By far my 2nd favourite episode of the season. Ab Aeterno being my favourite. I’m not really sure why people did not like this episode. I thought it was FANTASTIC!
So we saw that MiB’s original body was clearly alive and moving around after Jacob had placed it (and his mother) in the cave. So is the smoke monster its own thing that was released when Jacob threw his body in, or is the smoke monster the MiB?
Please forgive me, you all everybody..
I haven’t read your wonderful post’s and opinions.. But I will!
I’ve been tremendously busy, but I did read Ryan’s review.
I have to say I agree what with you said on a technical level, having seen the episode twice now.
As usual, I’ve enjoyed this episode more the 2nd time around.
I think this episode should have followed LA X. Had that happened we would have loved it more.
But this close to the end, it sorta fell short.
Be that as it may, although the execution may have fallen short from the vantage point we perceive things now, I think it goes without saying when the grand scheme of events are over, we will appreciate this episode much more in the slot it was given to us.
I’m sure it has been said numerous times how awesome the reveals were. And they were, in my humble opinion, awesome.
I thought they we’re delivered well and, obviously you can’t deliver an answer subtly with a show like this.
If I had to sum up this episode with one word it would be:
“Finally.”
I think that’s a common feeling hopefully!
Now, when I get back from work I can’t wait to read all your posts!
From Texas with Love,
Knives
@ Rusty – that is an interresting notion, brings to my mind the notion that Aliens had to help build the pyramids, tho, ya know?
@derzonhistology: Blond joke, that’s a good one
-Thanks from a Blond
This is really funny, it is a Jimmy Kimmel spoof of “Across the Sea” with MIB and Jacob. It will bring a smile to your face if you watch it.
http://www.docarzt.com/lost/kimmell-spoofs-across-the-sea/
Whoops – sorry @MattF – didn’t realize my clip was the same as yours. But as you said, I would have love to seen it in the show.
If you are looking for two brothers to take the place, look for Jack and Desmond. WE’ve never gotten Desmonds back story family history etc but he is from Australia where we know Jacks dad fathered another child (Claire).
The first time Desmond ever called anyone (Brotha) it was Jack in the stadium. Perhaps it was meant literally.
One is a man of science (DR) and the other a man of faith (Monk)
Two brothers to defend the island.
â–º YOU are a part of a GAME! â—€
The central tenet of Lost is that if you provide people with a pool of puzzle pieces they will scramble frenetically to make sense of them. Each individual will either be Lost, or will succeed (in their own mind).
If you are expecting “it all to make sense” you have lost the game.
If you have concocted your own over-arching theory, you have lost the game.
If you know without doubt that it is just a game, you have won the game.
@derzornhistology (at May 12th, 2010 at 9:22 pm) Poignant. On target. Likely very very true. Still, you are missing the point of this game: sit back, and just Enjoy The Ride because that’s all there is and all there ever has been, and, it is a GREAT ride!
Apologies in advance for the long post, and if someone posted this earlier. I haven’t had time to read everything on here.
I think we’re heading towards a Wizard of Oz ending, not in a melting witch sense, but in a ruby slippers sense. It seems that the island is different for everybody, and there isn’t a definitive set of “rules.” Everyone has their own rules. So the person who’s keeping MiB a prisoner is…himself. He was reminded over and over again by Mother that nothing exists outside of the island, and that he could never leave, but Mother didn’t actually set those rules for him. She just repeated them often enough that he started to believe it.
Remember how amused Jacob was when MiB told him how badly he wanted to kill him? I bet Jacob was amused because MiB could have killed him right there, if not for the set of rules that he had imposed on himself.
So MiB and Locke are cut from the same cloth. They both desperately want a destiny, and they were both so focused on what they _couldn’t_ do, that they lost sight of what he _could_ do. They set limitations and expectations for themselves that were completely unrealistic and have spent lifetimes punishing themselves by failing to live up to those expectations.
As we’ve seen, the island does a great job of protecting itself. Locations like the Source are seen only when the island wants them to be seen. When people start digging, they either die or go crazy. That makes Mother seem like some kind of crazy idealist. She’s made it her mission to ensure that someone pure protects the Source from the impure, but it doesn’t need to be protected.
Just wanted to throw this into the discussion.
Though I was frustrated at the lack of a name for MIB, I think the writers couldn’t tell us because people might jump to the wrong conclusions and not see the ending for what it is supposed to be. For example when we heard Jacob’s name, all these theories came up about Jacob and Esau. If MIB is named wikipedia will come up with too many references. I hope they tell us his name but if we don’t learn it, it is because it really isn’t important to the story. Though I hope for a cool tie-in like Christian or something.
If there is some of the original MIB still left in smokey, we can see why he sympathizes with Claire and how he wants Aaron off the island so he won’t grow up like him. Though why he deliberately drove Clare crazy I don’t know.
For anyone who wants small spoilers, ABC.com has posted two previews for next week’s episode. One involves the bag Hurley took.
Talk about polarising. I’ve read the blog comments (well, skimmed them. How much time do you people think I have?) and I get that most people didn’t like this episode. I totally believe you. What I truly can’t understand, as a Lost fan, you know, as in someone who wants to understand what this show is about, is how you couldn’t emphatically love this episode. I really can’t understand it. I am firmly of the opinion that this is one of the best episodes ever in Lost. For me, easily the best episode since early Season 5. This was an episode for the fans, the ones who have followed every season of this bamboozling mystery trying to make sense of it. As the show unfolded and expanded season upon season, and we gradually learnt about the Jacob/MiB context in which our characters are situated, we’ve been dying for an origin story of Jacob/MiB. Then here it is, near the end game, which to me makes perfect sense in the context of our ever-expanding narrative structure, and it’s brilliant. Yet people hated it. Loathed it. Disappointed. I don’t understand it. Don’t try to tell me it’s crap. I’ve read the comments above and my only reaction is that people who didn’t like it are wrong. Which is silly, everyone is entitled to their opinion, so feel free to tell me that I’m wrong and we’ll just move on.
All I can do is speak about what I think makes this episode so great. This was the origin story of all of Lost. This show Lost begins with a pregnant woman named Claudia arriving on the island from a shipwreck. Everything in our story over six seasons flows from that moment. Therefore, in my opinion, anything we don’t understand from before that moment does not matter in this story. We don’t learn where Mother comes from. We don’t learn where the island comes from, nor what it’s light is or where it’s power comes from. Save it for the prequel. All stories begin somewhere, and at that point, you sometimes have to take what there is. Think of the island as a metaphor for our own lives here on planet Earth, and MiB’s longing to travel across the seas as a metaphor for our search for ultimate knowledge about what our lives mean.
Many people seemed to resent that this episode did not focus on our Losties. Are you sure? Everything that has happened to those characters in this show is rooted in the events of this episode. The hostility to outsiders, the threat of the Smoke Monster, the rules, the parent issues, the destruction of Dharma, the manipulations of Jacob. The actions of Widmore are better understood, for example, as he is man (‘modern’ man) who wants the power of the island (thus he’s neither for Jacob or MiB; he is the third power – us). They provided the context of this show while simultaneously setting up Jacob and MiB are deeply human characters. Not gods at all but people thrust onto the island and forced to make do. Unlike the emotionless deaths (in my opinion) of last week’s episode, I felt Jacob’s journey this episode: his realisation of being second fiddle to his more talented and loved brother, the uncertainty of being thrust into the caretaker role, the sudden anger at his brother for his mother’s death and, more importantly, the feelings of remorse he must have felt and carried for millenia over his role in the smoke-related change in his brother. This story resonated for me and you can see how these events have shaped the stories of our Losties, either in parallel through similar events or in the way they have overshadowed the context of our story. Far from being a simple and clunky reminder about the Adam and Eve from Season 1, the flashback worked brilliantly, reminding the audience that the end of Jacob’s origin story is inexorably tied into the 2004 beginning of our Losties story.
I also don’t think this episode raised more questions than it answered. I thought much was answered and, like Jesse, I too have to disagree with Ryan greatly on that point. I don’t believe we knew or could infer most of what we learnt at all. Their arrival, their mortality, their sibling relationship, the role of both their mothers in their lives, the light, why the light is important, how Jacob created Smokey, the formation of their uneasy relationship with outsiders, Mother’s favouring of MiB, Jacob as the fallback option, the list goes on. What questions did it raise? Okay, there’s the whole what is mother and what is the island, but, as I noted above, I think we take them as given prior to this story’s beginning. People are interested in how Mother killed the outsiders (is she Smokey too, they are asking) but does it matter? She is clearly in charge of some power that appears to be magical (or it might have a scientific answer not available to us). Perhaps she used her magic. Jacob has similar magic powers (granting immortality, for example). I firmly believe that the rules imposed on Jacob/MiB are of this magical quality too. It’s no gentleman’s agreement; they are really unable to physically kill each other. And, no, the beating MiB to a bloody pulp and chucking him in the light is not necessarily killing him. He wasn’t dead when chucked in. And Rose and Bernard as Adam and Eve would be more satisfying? As I mentioned on this blog recently, none of our Losties were ever going to be those characters. If the intention of Adam and Eve was to prove to the audience that the larger context was worked out in advance, then Adam and Eve had to relate to Jacob/MiB. Only the context was worked out in advance, not the intricacies of our characters’ stories.
So that is why I liked this episode. I thought it provided the much needed backstory to the Losties story. While watching, my wife and I also stopped it regularly to discuss what we had just learnt. Maybe that helped us enjoy it more so we could pick up on the details and think about what it meant. I liked Zhami’s comments above about the Biblicists and Mysticists who watch this show. He seemed to be getting to the heart of the duality of the show’s core fanbase, and maybe this duality is being further split apart as our theorising gives way to answers. I know that for me the characters are secondary to my interest in what the island means. The characters themselves are not as important as what this show is trying to say about life, the universe and everything. This episode provided these answers in a dramatic way, in a way that fit into the overall context of the show, that starred Alison Janney (who I love and who I thought brought much gravitas to an important role in Lost – gravitas is not Lost’s strongest attribute) and that gave us a story with answers rather than spelling them out. That is why I rave about this episode despite the overwhelming dislike from this brilliant, although obviously wedged, Lost community.
Ok, if I was told long ago that it was about a distraught woman stealing two infants, killing her mother to raise them to protect an island with a disco lighted cave I would have never watched! There I said it…..
Another thing that comes to mind is that if it is all about a fight between two spoiled and damaged children the series is about 5 seasons too long…..
Ok, now that I got that out of my system, I have to say that I love this show and I will continue to do so. If S6 goes the way it looks it is going then I will just never think of it again, I will just watch S1 to S5 and take the bright white light as an ending. There is no need to spoil it and water it down the way it is going. I will watch to the end so in a few weeks time I might stand corrected.
The episode felt shallow, it did not feel like a LOST episode. Would it not be better if they had just showed this out of the blue as a season opener or closer in S5 or S4? It would have slowly prepared us to what was coming. The build up of over five seasons with millions of us listening and reading, theorizing, podcasting, blogging and so much more how could they do justice to all of us?! That is why they either have to be so good in the next two episodes or a lot of us will be disappointed. Had they shown or hinted at all this stuff in the past we would have not to build up all the expectation but like most things in life TV is a business. Sorry for the cynicism….
The past few seasons were great, character driven, and very gutsy. Interesting in so many ways and fun to watch, well made with awesome cinematography and an excellent soundtrack better than any TV show before (HBO shows not included). For that I will always love LOST.
So long…..
I was just listening to the podcast for The Candidate… I think Charles Widmore is working for UnLocke. It’s all a big show. Smokey and Charles have very similar motivations and Charles already said he had no problem shooting Kate. Probably why he brought a scientist instead of a military team.
Same reason UnLocke picked up the watch before going into the plane, it was part of the plan. I imagine the people working for Charles don’t know they’re tools… except maybe evil Tina Fey. All to goad the candidates into killing themselves. I figure the deal is, once Smokey can leave, Charles gets the island.
@RyanF – Thanks for the Sepinwall interview link. It’s like someone read through the internets, picked out the most popular dislikes and put them forth to Darlton. Every question I had was in that interview.
First there was Locke, we thought he had a connection to the island and his sly smile told us he knew some secrets — he didn’t really have a connection and turned out to be a hapless sap.
Then we met Ben, we assumed he knew everything that was going on, but refused to tell our Losties — turns out he really didn’t know anything and was a hapless sap.
Then there was Richard, surely he really knew what was going on — he didn’t. Turns out he was a hapless sap.
And now we learn that MIB and Jacob really don’t know what’s going on either. They just bough the story their evil foster mother told them.
And I suspect that evil foster mommy really didn’t know what the Island is, especially as seen through her 23rd BC eyes.
Only the Island itself knows what it is and how it works.
Everyone has a piece of the puzzle, if they all come together they can figure it out. But it has to be everyone, Jacob, MIB, Ben, Widmore and our Losties.
Live together, die alone.
Hey All.
I am going to put my 2 cents in now that I have read Ryan and Jen’s take on this episode. I enjoyed watching the back story but at the same time I was thinking it was a waste of an episode. I am suspicious the writers may have felt compelled to do an episode on backstory/lost mythology to satisfy the whining fans who just wanted some damn questions answered. Hey I admit I was one of them but now I am wishing they had just left the mystery alone. I am glad they explained the Adam and Eve identities but the flashback felt like writers saying, “Nya, Nya, na-na nah! We had it all set from the beginning. Take that, you doubters!” So totally unnecessary and was really distracting from the revealing moment.
I get the whole Cain and Abel thing, that classic sibling rivalry. It was nice I guess for us to know for sure they were brothers. I couldn’t help but think also of Romulus and Remus. Jacob and “Adam” (sorry for the Adam but the guy has NO NAME!) were not raised by wolves but similar still, in that they were not raised by their mother and the way Eve talks about how people are evil, she speaks almost as if she is not a person herself. And I think Romulus kills Remus in that story just as in Cain and Abel story. ANyway,
This episode explained the foundation of the game, but I think a lot of the fans are looking for more of a creation myth explanation. Where did it all begin, as R&J posted, where did mother come from. But I am OK without anymore mythology. I dont care about that anymore. With 2 episodes to go, I just want to see my people, my losties.
Everyone is still complaining about getting answers, but think about it for a second. It took 2 seconds to answer the “whispers” question. It’s going to take 2 seconds to tell us MIB’s name. It’s going to take 2 seconds to show us how Christian Shepard works.
We are so used to dramatic, empty, conversations between people on the island, we don’t realize that one good, to the point, conversation between Jack and Jacob will pretty much answer 75% of all our questions, and that conversation will probably take 2 minutes. There’s still 3.5 hours of show to fill.
Ultimately, it could be pretty easy to wrap all the answers into the last 2.5 hours of the show and still maintain the same old Lost we’ve grown to love for the remainder of this last season’s regular episodes.
It’s TV folks, have fun watching the show, don’t ruin the Lost experience for yourself by being bitter about individual episodes.
Maybe I’m just used to enjoying the ride while dealing with disappointment because I’m a Seattle Mariners fan 🙂
I just watched the episode again, keeping in mind many of the posts I have read here and also Doc Jenson’s recap and Ryan and Jen’s recap. I did like the episode better on a second viewing. Still didn’t love it, but I have a better appreciation for it.
Worth noting – Doc Jenson (ew.com) mentions that after Eve gets stabbed, she falls to the ground and says “nothing”. Why would she say that word? It brings back the notion that you must stab smokey or jacob before they have a chance to say anything.
“it all ends the same” – man tries to use the island for selfish purposes (MIB and his “others”) (dharma) and they must all be killed. There must always be a protector to kill those who try to steal the light. Eve is sad when MIB tries to use the light because she realizes she must destroy everything and that he will hate her for it. She fully expects him to extract revenge which is why she makes Jacob the protector and makes sure he doesn’t return to the cave with her.
“it only ends once” – people will finally chose to save the island instead of exploiting it? or the island is destroyed?
“he changed the rules” – When ben says this, is the rule that “Children may not be killed” and when Alex is killed, that breaks that rule? Is he Jacob or Widmore?
“I’ve made it that you can’t hurt each other” – does this also include leaders? Widmore, Ben and Eloise can’t hurt each other?
After MIB leaves to go live with “his” people, his mother stops taking care of herself and gets the Clare/Rousseau crazy hair.
Favorite moment – when Eve hugs MIB one last time, and you can see for all the craziness, he still loves her and wants her comfort and he is sorry to say goodbye to her.
The light is “life, death, rebirth” – reincarnation? Except you don’t come back the same?
@Adam – I think Widmore will die because he will try to exploit and find the light.
@YAE – One thing about Ben – he has always looked out for the island and loves the island and didn’t want to leave it. He is like Jacob and considers it home. Like Jacob his mother died after giving birth.
@Zhami – All a game. Yes, and well articulated by you, Zhami. So much desire for imposition of form and expectation coming from the viewers, many of whom postulate They are more equipped to handle the story telling demands. A ride. All it has ever been. And you, viewer, are part.
@Steve in Bathurst – Bravo!! With a tinge of embarrassment that someone needed to spell that all out in this forum. But, while reading your post I acknowledged that your exposition WAS in fact necessary for many to apprehend the significance of this episode, including its placement as a set-up for our (viewers) own ride down the log flume that begins this coming Tuesday. Anyone reading this (my) post, please make sure you read Steve’s long entry. I have copied and pasted into email, and sent his post to fellow ardent fans.
@tvscifi – A trail, or ring, of hapless saps? Like it. A lot. Do they in truth have enough to share in making a ‘whole’ of understanding as you posit? I doubt it. The island *is*, independent of understanding and incapable of being controlled. We can attempt to understand, collar, and deal with ourselves while under its illuminating influence, but to step further, and do the same with the island? Ruin.
Though I am coming to detest ‘theories’, how about this: The fertility problem on the island was explained in this episode. It is an extension of ‘the rules’ springing from abhorrence of both Jacob and MIB that another babe (born on island) would be perfect candidate fodder, damning that babe to an existence like their own. They will not let that happen. (?) Problem is, the fertility problem is relatively recent. Is that because Jacob is seeing his own guardian time coming to an end, and candidates are now pertinent again after millenia?
@Graceland for Texas – The Nikki and Paulo episode “Exposé” is NO WAY on the bottom, neither is “Beyond the Sea”. It would be “Stranger in a Strange Land” season 3; where Jack gets his tatoo and butt kicked. Razzle-Dazzle!
I think some people get WAY TOO philosophical and scholastic in the LOST stuff. It’s an intelligent TV show for entertainment. When you consider all the crap on TV, we’re lucky to have a program that is half this good. I will miss even Kate walking up to Jack on the beach and saying, “Hi……. have you seen Hurley?”
@Doc – even a “ok” episode of Lost is still 100% better than anything else out there on tv.
I think episode was needed for the finale, but the pace was a bit slow. I expected to be wowed and wasn’t.
@corivee
“I am going to put my 2 cents in now that I have read Ryan and Jen’s take on this episode. I enjoyed watching the back story but at the same time I was thinking it was a waste of an episode. I am suspicious the writers may have felt compelled to do an episode on backstory/lost mythology to satisfy the whining fans who just wanted some damn questions answered.”
I am a ‘whining’ fan because I would like to see resolution to some of the questions the writers of this show have brought up over the past 6 years?
It is ‘whining’ to hope D and C explain who was trying to kill the people in the Outrigger – why women can’t have children on the island – why Ben and Widmore couldn’t kill each other back in the real world – who is The Economist – what was Jacob’s Cabin – etc.?
These plot points were written and given to us, and we wondered and posted and theorized over them. Is it ‘whining’ to have the writers answer their own questions to give us, the dedicated Lost fan, the satisfaction of knowing if we were right or wrong?
If so, count me in the ‘whining’ group then.
@Steve in Bathwurst – well said.
@craig – Better give up on the outrigger, damon and carlton said it won’t be addressed. I feel your pain. I would like to know that too. But I do think that having some mystery left is okay because it gives us more to think about over the years.
@coolpeace – you’ve had some great theories re: Ben and Locke etc. Did Ben ever kill or have a candidate killed?
Was he always protecting them like he said or trying to have them doubt and kill each other? Now we know why back in season 3 he didn’t have Bernard, or Sayid or Sawyer killed. He wasn’t allowed to because they were candidates.
I’ve followed some of the links to the D/C interviews of the last two episodes. My question is: Have they always done that, or has that started in response to the online critisism? Do they really feel the need to justify their decisions concerning their vision?
If the show is the onion, then I’ll peel the layers back myself. The outrigger shoot out don’t and won’t keep me up at night. (It was Zoe and Co.) VIEWER THEORY ALERT! TOO LATE!
Got an idea! FAN FICTION for all the disallusioned! WRITE YOUR OWN ENDING!
Gonna post mine tonight, yeah! SPOILER ALERT!
ME AND KATE!