LOST: What They Died For

Hello boys and girls. Sorry for the delay on this recap/analysis. I was doing lazy people things and didn't get around to it. So, what I'm going to try to do for this, the penultimate episode of LOST, is give thoughts and theories without a full blow by blow of the entire episode. I'm just going to count on you to have seen it and remember things.

First of all, after seeing this week's offerings, I feel somewhat less angry at the previous episode. Jacob explaining that he indeed is the source of all their woes and further explaining his past (regardless of how in depth it was) somehow made the entire thing plausible to me.

We'll touch on the events of the Alternate Timeline first:

Interesting tidbits included:
1. Jack has that damn cut on his neck again. - He should either stop trying to shave in his sleep or realize that he had another life already. We still don't know who David's mystery mom is but I somehow doubt it's an awesome enough reveal to take up time in the finale.

2. "It's the day of the show y'all!" - it seems that all of our alternate timeline Losties will be heading to David's concert. Unless it's a special location, I may be lost on the importance of the event (unless it's also just serving as an excuse to get everyone in a single location without a sketchy alleyway meeting).

Wait, totally scratch that. It's a benefit for Pierre Chang's museum. Location makes sense now. 

3. ROUSSEAU! That's pretty much enough said. She looked old lady sexy.

The whole love connection vibe between her and Ben? Somewhat creepy but it eerily worked at the same time. Color me French and confused. Her not being dirty and confused forced me to make Babylon 5 comparisons. It's hard being a dork.

4. Desmond does good dirty work. - After Ben stops him from running all over Locke again, Desmond repays him by beating the ever loving crap out of him. So now Ben can be added to the list of Losties remembering their past lives. Why is it that Hurley's is the only non violent one? Everyone else needs to get shot or nearly drowned, but Hugo Reyes just needs a kiss from a mental patient.

We shall see if Sayid, Kate, Sawyer, Claire and Jack need painful reminders of their true calling or if maybe they all just need to make out.

Oh yeah, and Ana Lucia shows up to be a dirty cop as per usual. She seems to be one of the few alternate timeliners that doesn't really have it better off in this world. Where she realizes the wrong of her ways on island, this Ana Lucia is completely content to take bribe money and help three criminals escape.

The finale will be truly interesting to see if this alternate stuff actually works. It's seeming more and more likely that this timeline will "win out" in the end. I'm still not sure how I feel about all of the events of the show not really counting in the long run, but I may not have a choice. The writers promised that there wouldn't be a "everything's a dream" ending. I think that "this all happened in another parallel universe" may be too close for comfort. I digress though, I will love it all. I have for the past 6 years.

Now. On to the island.

1. Full Circle - In a mirror scene from the pilot, Jack is now sewing Kate up while they are sad about Jin and Sun dying. They finally mention that they had a bloody child waiting back in the real world. Sayid, apparently, gets no love for saving who he did. People just cry about the asians and they're orphan making decisions. (This is one of the many reasons I think the alternate timeline will "win". The show has killed people but I highly doubt they're going to actually leave Ji Yeon an orphan. We shall find out.)

2. I understand why he wanted to leave - Bratty Jacob showed back up and stole his ashes from Hurley. This makes possible the kumbaya moment at the fire later.

3. Speaking of which - Jacob decides to show himself to everyone for the first time ever. (It's a little late mate) He tells them that one of them is destined to take over as guardian of the island to both keep the Smoke Monster from leaving as well as protecting the light. The job just keeps getting more complicated. We find out that Kate was only not a candidate because she adopted Aaron. I think it's more likely that Jacob realizes she's irritating as sin and didn't want people to have to deal with her for eternity. I find mine more reasonable.

Jacob fesses up to all the crap he's stirred and the Losties go along for the ride. He also explains to them that he will not tell any of them to take the job, that he wants them to have what he never did: a choice. They ask the obvious "what if none of us wants it?" and he informs them that it would simply be very bad. Jack steps up as the next choice for protector and Jacob takes him to have a drink. It turns out that the wine is not what's magical, but the incantation. So stream water can make you immortal if you know enough Latin.

Jacob reveals the light (well he tells Jack about it) and informs him that it's right beside where Jack woke up in the Pilot episode. So the show could have been over if he had just looked to his right instead of the left over at Vincent.

4. Meanwhile back in Dharmaville - Ben, Richard and Miles determine they still REALLY want to blow Ajira sky high so they head to get some C4. They find that as well as Zoe and Widmore. They have an exchange (including Widmore having seen the error of his ways thanks to Jacob - further fueling Ben's hatred of him) and everyone kind of splits up as they realize Locke is heading their way.  Locke enters the camp in smoke form and sends Richard literally flying. Poor Richard, he's going to have to reapply the eyeliner.

Locke sits and has a talk with Ben and they make a deal: Ben can have the island when Locke leaves. This let's Ben's bitchy side give Widmore and Zoe to him.

5. Parting is such swe- *spew, gurgle gurgle* - Locke enters the secret room with Widmore. He tells Zoe not to speak to smokey. Locke doesn't really agree with this decision and cuts her throat since she's now "useless". Locke finds out from Widmore (at threatening Penny's life) that Desmond has been brought in as a failsafe since he has a resistance to electro-magnetism. Ben then decides that he wants to be bitchy again and shoots Widmore dead on the spot. *sigh* He can't make up his mind.


So now we find out that Desmond is no longer in the well. *cue dramatic theme*. Also, it seems that Smokey has a change of plans, instead of leaving the island he wants Desmond to blow it to smithereens for him. (Yet another reason that I think the Alt timeline is going to come out ahead. I doubt the nuke would have sunk the island. I think it's whatever Desmond is going to do.)

In the end.

The time for theories almost seems to be gone. There's just an episode left, to tweak a familiar LOST theme "what happens happens".  There won't be a "next season" to talk about. What They Died For was your standard putting pieces in place Lost lead in to the finale. It was informative, even more people died and most importantly it made me realize that this is almost over folks. The one show that has kept every cool dorky person thoroughly engross for the better part of the decade is coming to an end.

I'm usually all about spoilers, but I'm trying to leave the finale completely unknown to me. We have two and a half hours left people. I can't wait and yet I never want it to come.

It's Back! LOST: Across the Sea

Hello there boys and girls. I know that I haven't done a write up for LOST the entire season so far. Before, I didn't feel that I would be able to commit enough time to all of it and I didn't want to half ass it. Now that there are only 2 new episodes to go after this one, I felt I needed to jump back on and share my thoughts/research findings with you guys. So here we are on the next to penultimate episode of LOST: Across the Sea.

The episode starts off back in the water with another wreck. We meet the lady in the water Claudia and learn she's quite preggers. She's coughing and choking on the beach and makes her way up to a stream and begins to drink. All of a sudden Juno's stepmom appears:

She offers her hand and *touches* the lady and takes her back to the caves from Season 1. Claudia begins to ask questions and she simply tells her that

                "Every question I answer will simply lead to another question. Just rest" 

Claudia then proceeds to give birth to who she names Jacob. The fun isn't over though, seeing as how she pops out another little youngin' and can't manage to think of a name for him. Allison Janney then apologizes and knocks poor mommy out cold, killing her – if you weren't sure. :P

We zoom forward in time around ten years and Jacob and as of yet unnamed kid are playing on the beach. Smokey finds a box and opens it, revealing a game played with white and black stones. He and Jacob play a round or two and Smokey asks that Jacob not tell mother, because she would take it away.


Naturally Jacob goes running back to the cave and Mother (since she took over the role after murdering the real one) is there working on a nice little tapestry (so that's where Jacob got his weaving notions).  She realizes that Jacob is trying to lie to her and heads out to the beach and talks to Lil' Smokey. She informs him that Jacob isn't like him and that Smokey is "special". She also had left the game for him. "Where else would it have come from?" she asks. Also in this scene is her insisting that the island is all there is in the world.

More time goes by and Jacob and Smokey are out hunting boar. Unfortunately some people with very large belts beat them to the punch and they hide. When the men leave, the run back to Mother and tell her what they saw. She commences to blindfold them (logically) and walks them out into the jungle, telling them about how all people "are corrupt and violent and that it always ends the same way". She leads them to: *drumroll please*

A light.

In a cave.

Apparently this is very important.

Alright.

She informs the boys that the light is "inside every single man" but no one can know that the "source" exists because "if they knew they would want more" and that would "extinguish" the light and if the light goes out on the island, it goes out everywhere.

She also tells them that they can never go into the light, because it is a fate worse than death.

So we now seem to know that the island is special because of a magical light. Check.

Now, there are a couple of references to this throughout the show, I suppose. Back in season one Locke said when he looked at the monster that "he saw the heart of the island and it was beautiful" and compared it to a bright light. So, if you're paying super close attention and never forget a line, this could in theory work. We can touch on the rest of the references later.

Ok, so then Smokey sees his real mother while he's playing the game with Jacob one day. Jacob seemingly can't see her. Smokey follows her and learns all about his past, that he's from "across the sea". He confronts Jacob about all of this and blondie goes on a rampage, beating Smokey up, although we learn that the reason that they can't kill one another is that Mother has made it so "they can't harm one another". This obviously doesn't apply to full on beat downs. Mother explains that she had to kill their real mom because she had to protect them from becoming one of "them".  Smokey isn't buying any of this crap and sets out to live amongst the people who shipwrecked with them ten years prior.

More time passes and we see the adult Jacob watching the "others" from afar. He goes and plays yet another game with Smokey. This time talking about the nature of the people MIB is living with. Smokey says that essentially, their Mother was correct and that they are corrupt at heart. Jacob claims if it's so bad why does he stay with them, and Smokey informs him that they're a "means to an end" and that he has found a way to finally leave the island and return home.

We get to travel to the building of the well (or one of them it seems). Smokey informs Jacob, with the help of his trusty dagger from throughout the season, that there are several areas on the island where metal behaves oddly. When they find these areas they dig.

Jacob, once again, runs and tells mommy what's what with good ol' Smokey and she pays him a little visit. He explains that he's been trying to find the light for over thirty years and he has never been able to get there again, so he and his people are working on a way to find another way to it. He explains if he installs this wheel *ta dah* and channels the light and the water, he can go home. This, of course, makes absolute sense. So much sense, it seems, that his mother felt compelled to try her tried and true tactic of head against rock on him.

We then see Mother back at the light source with Jacob telling him that he is the one that is destined to protect it. Jacob flat out asks her why him and informs her that he knows that she loved Smokey more. She replies that "she loved them differently". She convinces Jacob to drink from her bottle (the same one that he explains the nature of the island to Alpert and has him drink from). After mumbling a little incantation, and giving it to him, she informs him that he is "the same" as her now.

When Smokey awakes, his well has been covered up and his entire village massacred and burnt. Naturally, this does less than please him so he heads for the caves. He proceeds to stab Mother clean in the gut and asks her why she did it. "Because I love you" she says. Then she proceeds to thank him and die. It seems the implications are that she could not die on her own accord or that she had to find a replacement before her life could end. It seems that it may be the first one, since Jacob has not fully "initiated" any successor. (that's if the entire process of drinking the wine and such is necessary, which it seems to be given Alpert and Jacob's using it)

Jacob then enters the cave and gets his smack down on again, while Smokey asks him to not kill him. "Oh I won't kill you" is the response and Jacob drags him back to the source of the island.

He tosses Smokey down and his head cracks on the rocks in the river. His body then floats down into the light.

Soon after this, the smoke monster we all know and love comes roaring out of the cave. So, also, knowledge of the night: It seems that Jacob has created Smokey.

Later, Jacob finds his brother's body and brings him to the cave and lays him to rest with the bag of stones beside their "mother".

So Lost knowledge: Adam and Eve are more like Cain and Eve. Also, Jack is certainly not as reliable as carbon dating, seeing as how he quoted the skeletons as around 40-50 years old. He was only off by 1500 years or so.

Speaking of Jack, how ANNOYING was the intercuts from "House of the Rising Sun" back from season one. It's like "OMG OMG look, we're explaining something back from way at the beginning!" "What, you might not remember?! here it is here it is! Clumsily edited into this supposedly touching scene!"

The only good that did was remind us how sexy Jack was back then when he had chest hair.

                                             (not the same episode but om nom nom nom)

I digress:

So, let's make some sense of this.

Things we learned

1. The island is special because of a magic light that is in all people
2. Jacob and the MIB were once just people and nothing special, like the rest of the show
3. Mother informs MIB that he can't leave the island, but Jacob does so at will throughout the show.
4. Jack was sexy in season one.
5. Jacob created the smoke monster by throwing his brother into the magic light.
6. Their "Mother" was the original guardian of the island
7. Adam and Eve are really Jacob's brother and adopted? mother

Things we don't know now

1. What is the purpose of the ash?
2. What IS the smoke monster (still)?
3. Is the entire explanation of the show that it's just "magic"?
4. What exactly is the light?
5. Is the light the source of the healing powers?

So it seems that since the Man in Black wanted to find out about his real life and wanted to get away from the murdering woman holding them there, that he is the ultimate evil. I'm not too sure I feel ok about this. The entire episode seemed as if the MIB was the victim in the situation, while Jacob was just a lackey for his mom. Jacob, also, created the largest threat on the island. Also, I'm now confused about Jacob's explanation to Richard about the island being a cork to hold the darkness in. Before he tossed his brother in a cave, the island seemed to be an area designated to protect the exact opposite. Every negative thing seems to be of Jacob's own doing.

Also interesting to me is the premise that MIB was kind of the original "man of science" wanting to know what the island is, how he got there, how to leave and such. Jacob has taken on the role of the first "man of faith" blindly going where his mother's will takes him.

The smoke monster's origin is fascinating to me as well. Is it actually the brother? Did Jacob release something else (perhaps an actual "security system") when he tossed him down there? Or is it simply MIB's "soul" taking the form of the monster, since his body is very much inside the cave. The idea that the light "resides in every man" is an interesting way to tie in the fact that Smokey can judge each of his victims and you can see elements of their life flashing around inside the cloud.

It would have nice to find out how the monster became sort of a "god" figure to them as well. The temple clearly didn't exist at this point (neither did the Tawaret statue). If Smokey hates people so much, it doesn't seem likely that he'd install summoning areas to do their bidding, unless he's trying to use them all to help him leave the island. Looks like we'll never know.


I went into the episode hoping for answers to all of LOST's greatest mysteries. Perhaps I had built myself up for a wonderful episode, but overall, it seemed disappointing. It felt like the episode raised more questions than answered. Since we have only two episodes left, I highly doubt anything we all want to know will be addressed. It seems like they copped out of it with the Mother's quote to Claudia earlier in the episode.

There's more to discuss, but I need to wrap this up. Sorry it was so long, but the episode surely was an emotion evoker, for good or bad. I'm now worried/excited about the last two episodes of the TV show that changed my life. Thoughts? Comments? Is there something I'm obviously missing? Theories? Let me know.

Namaste.