Saturday, May 15, 2010

Heavy on Mythology

It's another LOST post, and this is the obligatory "spoiler alert."  If you haven't seen the latest episode about Jacob and the Man in Black, then stop reading.  You've been warned.

This episode of LOST was filling in the blanks of some of the back-story between Jacob and his arch-nemesis.  It's got me thoroughly confused, so this is my attempt to un-confuse myself.

  • I thought the black and white blankets that that woman wrapped Jacob and his brother in were a clever touch.  Unless black and white mean something different on the island than what they mean to us, there's no question as to which one is good and which one is bad.  (Although, I suppose there is some of each in all of us.)
  • Who is this woman?  How did she get to the island?  Were there others with her?  How did she become the "keeper" of the island?  Why are the babies so important to her?  How did she come to know about the light?
  • We've seen the young version of Jacob before.  Why does Locke (or the manifestation of Locke's body) see visions of a young Jacob - reminding him of the "rules."  It's not a ghost, because other people see him, too.
  • When we first saw the light, my first thought was Fountain of Youth.  Then, I thought Garden of Eden.  Now, I really don't know.
  • The other people that young "Locke" saw - were they from the same shipwreck that Claudia came from?  Ghost Claudia told him that they were "his people."  Same shipwreck or different?
  • Mother made it so that Jacob and his brother couldn't kill each other.  Directly kill each other?  And are all bets off as soon as they leave the island?
  • Brain flash: Ben and Widmore can't kill each other.  Is it the same deal?  One is aligned with Jacob and one is aligned with The Man in Black and they can't directly kill each other.  They can just get other people to kill the other.
  • I'm interested in how the donkey wheel works - how are they planning on channeling water and light to "move" an island?  Those must be some genius people to even conceive an idea like that.
  • We've been told that there are "pockets of electromagnetic activity" all over the island.  Are they all connected to the light, or is it just that one particular spot?  The Man in Black said that they'd never found anything before.  (The well that Locke threw Desmond in - he knew where it was and how deep and used it to his advantage - clever.)
  • The Man in Black said that by turning the wheel, he could leave the island.  Why doesn't he just turn the wheel now and leave?  Does it have something to do with him being Smokey?
  • Mother thanked Man in Black for killing her?  Could she not kill herself?  Was she the smoke monster AND the light's keeper?  Is that possible?
  • The Others are Jacob's people.  Yet, Ben can/did summon Smokey to protect them from the freighter folk that were terrorizing them at New Otherton.  How does that work?  Asking the enemy for help?
  • I think this is how it goes: sending Man in Black into the cave of light took his humanity and made him an eternal Smoke Monster who can inhabit the bodies of dead people.  The only way to be freed, killed, or given back his humanity is to kill all the "Jacobs" - all the keepers of the island and its light.
  • How did Smokey get back alive?  The Man in Black is dead and his body is buried in the cave.  Yet, he's obviously not dead, at least, not in the traditional sense of the word.
The previous was in kind of a chronological order.  The following are not.
  • Mother said that Jacob and his brother could never leave the island.  Why not?
  • Do Man in Black's people know about Jacob and Mother?  If they did, you'd think they would find a way to extract the secrets from her.  Are they the predecessor to Widmore?  
  • "Now you and I are the same."  Is that how Jacob knows everything about the island and how to protect it?  Was the knowledge passed in some supernatural way?  Or was Jacob just clueless and that's why he never told Richard anything?
  • Is something built on the site where the light was/is?  (Did it go out when Man in Black was sent in?  I couldn't tell.)  I was thinking the Others' temple or New Otherton, but it's on a river, and I don't think the temple or New Otherton have rivers running through them.  Is the cave still just out in the open?  Does it appear and disappear, depending on who is around or looking for it?

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