sl-LOST.com » Jacob

New Official LOST Video!

SL-LOST — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:36:08 +0000

See the brand new LOST video from Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse that made its surprise debut at Comic-Con.

[Via ABC]

VIDEO: Jacob’s Candidate Wall Relocated From The Island To An Office In Santa Monica, CA

SL-LOST — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:41:57 +0000

Via Verbal Ink:

As many of you know, we’ve just passed the one year anniversary of the finale of LOST. But we here at Verbal Ink aren’t quite ready to let go. Our Founder and CEO won several items at the official LOST auction last Fall, which makes him the coolest (or perhaps geekiest) boss in any timeline. After winning a ferocious bidding war – against some company named Widmore Industries – we were selected as the official winner. Many people died smuggling this off the island, but what most caught us by surprise were some of the other names on the wall . . . Don Knotts? Who knew! Please watch this unofficial Dharma Initiative video to answer all of your burning questions.

LOST’s Mark Pellegrino Joins ‘The Closer’

SL-LOST — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 18:29:59 +0000

Via TV Guide:

Lost‘s Jacob is coming to the aid of The Closer. Actor Mark Pellegrino, who also played Supernatural‘s Lucifer, will recur on the TNT series beginning in mid-August.

Pellegrino will play Brenda’s high-powered defense attorney Gavin Baker, described by executive producer James Duff as “brisk, gay and formidable. He is ruthless in court and still manages to project an air of friendly professionalism.”

Mark’s character specializes in defending police officers in civil actions. Brenda will require his help after she is sued by the family of a gang member she placed in harm’s way. “Though he is easy to like, Gavin is extremely dangerous to underestimate,” Duff adds. “He is the only person on earth who can make Brenda hang up her cell phone.”

LOST’s Mark Pellegrino Joins ‘Being Human’

SL-LOST — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:00:27 +0000

Via Deadline.com:

Mark Pellegrino has landed a leading role on the SyFy series Being Human. Based on the British series, Being Human centers on three mismatched twenty-something roommates, Aidan (Sam Witwer), a vampire, Josh, a werewolf and Sally (Meaghan Rath), a ghost. Pellegrino will play Aidan’s charismatic but menacing mentor Bishop. Pellegrino, who played Jacob on Lost and Lucifer on Supernatural, is repped by Domain and Framework.

Mark Pellegrino/Jacob: “I cried like a baby through about 80% of the LOST finale”

SL-LOST — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 17:09:29 +0000

Buzzine has published individual video interviews with Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver. Check them out below!

New Interview with LOST’s Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver

SL-LOST — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:44:55 +0000

Mark Pellegrino (Jacob) and Titus Welliver (Man in Black) sat down with Buzzine for an exclusive interview. They talked about working together before LOST, what its like to share the screen as friends and what is next for them as actors after playing key roles on LOST.

[Via Buzzine Networks]

Humanitas Insulae: The Culture of LOST by Pearson Moore

SL-LOST — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:05:41 +0000

A single question fascinated us for six years.

One question, posed over six seasons, in each of 121 episodes, in thousands of scenes, the query was always the same. Thirty-five characters tried to answer the question; twenty-one of them died in the attempt.

The scope was measured not in years but in millennia, not in lives lost but in the hundreds of souls sacrificed. Time itself had no meaning, for those asking the question and seeking the answer could move about unrestrained by the forward march of the clock. Each character formed the question into unique words. For Pierre Chang, the question centred around the origin of exotic matter. Charles Widmore wondered how the place might be exploited. The question in its most essential form was simple:

What is this Island?

Paradise

Life is what we make of it. One couple witnessed the anger and fights and bloodshed and decided none of it made any sense. Rose and Bernard found a quiet corner of the Island and built a hut. Occasionally one of the zealots would happen upon their camp, trying to talk sense into these contented people. The visitor would prattle on about this or that imminent catastrophe. Rose and Bernard listened patiently, even if the visitor really had nothing to say.

JULIET: Rose, we just need to know which way the Dharma Barracks are from here so we can stop Jack, or you’re gonna be dead. We all will.

BERNARD: So we die. We just care about being together. That’s all that matters in the end.

The wise old couple knew more about the Island than Juliet and all of the Others combined. Not one of the almost daily fights on the Island required their presence. No one anywhere suffered injustice because these two gentle souls refused to raise a hand in violence. And when their time came, they found out they had held the secret of life all along. What would have happened if everyone else, or even a small handful of them, had adopted the Nadler attitude toward life and the Island? Could Ben, living in such a blissful state as theirs, ever have plunged a knife into Jacob’s chest? Would the Island ever have known discord or death?

Rose was never a candidate for any position of authority, and yet the Island cured her of cancer. Jacob had the power to bestow eternal life. Could it be that Richard Alpert was not the only resident of this Pacific paradise who had been granted immortality?

Hell

“This place is death.”

Rose and Bernard knew the secret of life, but this was not the only facet of their character that allowed them to enjoy paradise on earth. Others, not as fortunate, paid with their emotions and their psychological well-being. Some ended up paying for the Island’s unique powers with their very lives.

The Island had the ability to heal, but it could also induce suffering and death. Charlotte Lewis was among the unfortunates who could not physically endure the Island. Hers was not an unusual case. Only a small percentage of those brought to the Island survived more than a few weeks. Danielle Rousseau and Claire Littleton outlasted their contemporaries, but gave up their sanity to do so. Of those who arrived on the freighter, onl y Miles Straum and Frank Lapidus survived. Everyone from the tail section of Flight 815 ended up dying, with the notable exception of Bernard Nadler.

The Island was a living hell for almost everyone. By the time Daniel Faraday returned from Ann Arbor with a plan for re-setting all of their lives to a time before the Island, most of them were immediately receptive to the idea. After the leaders of the Dharma Initiative revealed their true allegiances to power and exploitation, every one of the survivors joined the plan to drop the nuclear bomb on top of the electromagnetic anomaly.

A Game

“Two players. Two sides. One is light … one is dark.”

Life is what we make of it. Some players in the game of life have the power to make decisions about life and death not only for themselves, but for anyone in the vicinity. Jacob didn’t wait for people to accidentally make their way to the Island. Sometimes they just needed a little push, and no matter where they were on the globe, Jacob appeared and gave the little push that would send them to the Island.

The Game was more important than life. Hundreds of people died in the game, but Jacob continued to look into the lives of thousands around the world, seeking individuals he deemed strong enough, with depth of character sufficient to endure the travails of the Game. He valued human life, but he valued the well-lived life even more.

SAWYER: Tell me something, Jacob. Why do I gotta be punished for your mistake? What made you think you could mess with my life? I was doin’ just fine ’til you dragged my ass to this damn rock.

JACOB: No, you weren’t. None of you were. I didn’t pluck any of you out of a happy existence. You were all flawed. I chose you because you were like me. You were all alone. You were all looking for something that you couldn’t find out there. I chose you because you needed this place as much as it needed you.

Sawyer didn’t protest enough in his only conversation with the backgammon master. It was his last chance to get answers, but for some reason he chose not to ask. The important question was finally asked and answered, but this event had to wait until a conversation between the new Protector and his freshly-appointed “Number Two”. The question is simple:

How is anyone on earth different from the Candidates?

Very few people on earth would ever claim they are not flawed, that they are not “looking for something”. An unbiased scrutiny of any life would find the person lacking in the way she had decided to respond to the crises and unjust events and ordinary turns of life. All of us at one time or another–and most of us on a daily basis–make judgments and take actions we consider favourable to ourselves, regardless of the way our personal biases and actions affect those around us. We hurt others so as to come out ahead. We are all selfish. We are all flawed. We are all “looking for something”.

The Rules of the Game

I believe it is essential to point out that the Man In Black had no name, and he was given no name by design. At the very least, even if he had a name, this knowledge was intentionally withheld from us. A year and a half ago, in audition scripts for the character that eventually came to be called the Man In Black, the character was referred to as Samuel. We might reasonably ask why such an important character was never given a name.

This is no small matter, and I believe this conscious decision on the part of the writers goes a long way toward understanding the way in which we are meant to look at the series as a whole.

The creators of the series elevated the importance of the character by plucking the show’s first Emmy winner from the role he had given award-winning depth and substance. I intend no offence to any of the other actors, but polls over the years have shown Terry O’Quinn the favourite actor on the show. The role of the nameless man was assigned to the series’ most capable actor, but even then the character was never given a name.

I cannot tell you why Benjamin Linus was dispatched to kill the suicidal John Locke in a Los Angeles hotel room. I cannot tell you why Aaron and Walt were deemed critical to the story, but by the end of the story were almost-forgotten details. I can make a few guesses here, but the fact is we were not told, and we do have to guess. I can tell you that some of these unresolved details have contributed to a certain level of dissatisfaction, even disappointment, in the way the series ended. But I realise now some of that dissatisfaction was intentional. The writers intended a certain level of dissatisfaction. They wanted us to seek answers.

Answers

What are the true Rules of the Game? Many answers apply, most of them are similar or identical, but the only answers that have any enduring value are those provided by faith, or by grace through faith, or by trusting in the Tanakh, or by surrendering to the Creator and His Prophet, Mohammed, may peace and blessings be upon him. The terminology and rubrics of dialogue and faith vary from one religious tradition to another, but they are all surprisingly similar.

Darlton are not telling us that we must launch into immediate studies of any of the world’s great religions, or that we must experience spiritual epiphany and conversion of the heart in order to understand LOST. But they have imbedded into the very fabric of the series critical markers that guide us in our understanding. A hierarchy of values has been created in these six years. The systemic placement of values gives us a route to questions and responses otherwise obscure. This hierarchy can be applied to ferret important answers out of critical scenes. I intend to illuminate some of these markers on the road to understanding. The questions remain, but our responses do not constitute guesses. Rather, they constitute the hopes of our heart, the desires of our soul. Our response is not the stuff of guesswork or theories. Our answers are the response to John Locke, stretching out his arms and lifting his face to the rain come down from heaven. Our answers are the response to Jack Shephard, standing ankle-deep in sacred waters, hands clasped in humility, lips chanting words of invocation. Our answers are the response to faith.

A Place Beyond Science

Perhaps no one among us can speak with authority on a subject as broad as “science”. The only exception might be “Dr. Science”:

“Ask Dr. Science. He knows more than you do.”

Dan Coffey of Duck’s Breath Mystery Theatre took the ludicrous notion that any one person could speak on behalf of “science” and turned this impossible conceit into one of the most amusing series on radio. No one can speak for the diverse set of logic-based disciplines to which we apply the broad term “science”.

I make no claim to be able to speak for other scientists. However, I am a scientist, and I have been working professionally in laboratories across the North American continent, Canada and the United States, for the past thirty-four years. My deepest expertise is in a sub-discipline of purification process design, but I have led teams in analytical development, pharmaceutical discovery, late-stage formulation development, early-stage research in various fields, interfacial and surfactant behaviour, and protein purification. While I may not understand the nuances of much of science, I have been entrusted over the decades with ferreting out various types of natural behaviour that might be exploited for the development of life-saving drugs and low-cost natural supplements beneficial to happiness and health. Thanks to my efforts and the good efforts of colleagues, the cost of taxol was reduced from over a hundred dollars per gram to less than ten dollars per gram. You can walk into any supermarket in North America and purchase, at very low cost, a bilberry or blueberry extract that will greatly improve your body’s ability to ward off colds and other ailments. I hold over a dozen patents on the technology related to berry extraction and purification. I am no expert on “science”, but I have been a practitioner, and I speak from that perspective.

Science is confined by logic. If I expand the limits of research to any inquiry that might be included within the scope of logic, science, and mathematics, I must necessarily accept that certain limits nevertheless exist. Most importantly, I may not ever claim to investigate or to have discovered any facet of reality. The best I might hope to accomplish, even after a lifetime in the laboratory, is to establish the adherence of certain observed phenomena to models of reality that I create through inference, induction, and deduction. These models are most often referred to as theories, but they can never explain the real world. We rely on assumptions that negate any possible connection with reality.

One of the most important assumptions underlying science is Ockham’s Razor (http://www.galilean-library.org/manuscript.php?postid=43832). In plain language, Ockham’s Razor insists the scientist must accept the simplest solution to a problem as being the correct solution. If I can imagine a chemical reaction as being the result of the collision of five molecule, but I can equally imagine that the reaction is the result of the collision of just two molecules, and if every observation I have made supports either of the fruits of my imagination, I must accept as valid and correct the imagined event that includes just two molecules. The reality may be that only one molecule is required, or seven molecules are required, or the event occurs only when there are sunspots on our solar system’s star, but I can never know this. Even if the model I develop happens to support a theory that is close to reality, I may not ever claim to have elucidated even the slightest aspect of reality. I am allowed to conclude only that certain behaviours seem reproducible and that they also seem to adhere to a model consistent with Ockham’s Razor and the other underlying assumptions of the scientific method.

For a more complete discussion of the limitations of science and their application to understanding LOST, please see my article on John Locke (http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/14/impartial-risk-cultural-musings-on-the-resurrection-of-john-locke/) under the headings “The Limits of Logic”, “Deception”, “Man of Science”, and “The Nature of Evil”.

Time-traveling Bunnies

PIERRE CHANG: In our first demonstration, we will attempt to shift the test subject 100 milliseconds ahead in four-dimensional space. For the briefest… of moments, the animal will seem to disappear…
LOCKE: Hey. Uh… was he talking about what I think he was talking about?
BEN: If you mean time-travelling bunnies, then yes.
LOCKE: You do know that he said specifically not to put anything metal in here.
[Ben stares at Locke for a second, then gives an exasperated nod and turns back to the task of filling the chamber with metal objects].

Benjamin Linus is no man of science, but he does understand quite well the limitations inherent to science. He ignores the prohibitions regarding the placement of metallic objects inside the time chamber because he knows the injunction is based on nothing more than a feeble understanding of the nature of the phenomenon the Dharma scientists studied. Pierre Chang dared approach no closer than his time chamber. He had seen x-ray images of what lay beneath the Orchid Station. He knew civilisations from ancient times had manipulated space and time to extents he would never be able to duplicate.

FOREMAN: There’s something in there. And the only way to get to it is to lay charges here and here and blast through it and take a look–
CHANG: Under no circumstances! This station is being built here because of its proximity to what we believe to be an almost limitless energy. And that energy, once we can harness it correctly, it’s going to allow us to manipulate time.

FOREMAN: [Chuckles] Right. Okay, so, what? We’re gonna go back and kill Hitler?
CHANG: Don’t be absurd. There are rules, rules that can’t be broken.
FOREMAN: So what do you want me to do?
CHANG: You’re gonna do nothing. If you drill even 1 centimeter further, you risk releasing that energy. If that were to happen… [Chang looks at the fallen workman and the blood all over his face.] …God help us all.

For twenty years the Dharma Initiative controlled most of the Island. But never during that time did even the most adventurous among the scientists attempt to unravel the full mystery of the Island’s underworld. Stuart Radzinsky, using the full force of the science at his disposal, came closest to unlocking the Island’s mysteries, but his experiment failed in a most spectacular manner, illustrating again the limitations of science.

Science is limited in the behaviour it is allowed to posit and explore. Since logic is a small, man-made, artificial construct, it follows that science is unable to study and develop models for most of the reality we interact with on a daily basis. Pierre Chang would not go within fifty metres of the Light, could not go within fifty metres of the Light, because not a single observation in the history of science could explain for him the true nature of the Light. Benjamin Linus could approach the Light, not fearlessly, but with a proper attitude of humility. He knew of the Light’s power, and he knew that power was not anything that would ever be catalogued or studied or rendered as model by any discipline within science.

Ben Linus knew the experiments at the Orchid Station could only scratch the surface of the Island’s capabilities. The Dharma Initiative made bunnies travel hundreds of a second through time. With the ancient wheel far underneath the Orchid, Ben could travel across the globe and across months, years, or even centuries, far exceeding the feeble capabilities of Alvar Hanso’s scientific corps. But time travel, too, barely scratched the surface of the Island’s capabilities. Ben knew Jacob’s Number Two, Richard, was ageless, made that way by Jacob, whose powers were in turn granted by the Island.

Most of reality is unknowable to science. The person most fitted for life on the Island was the one who understood this intuitively. John Locke was a man of faith, and because of his deep trust in the Island, he understood her better than anyone, better even than Jacob or the Man in Black.

A Cork

The Island knew no greater authority than Jacob, son of a Roman shipwreck survivor named Claudia. Jacob was given Protector status by the Island’s former Protector, the woman who raised Jacob and his brother. Jacob knew the Smoke Monster obtained its power from the mixture of water and light in the illuminated cave. As long as the Light shone in the cave, the Smoke Monster would be unable to leave the Island. Jacob understood the position of Protector as more than anything the Guardian of the Cork. He explained this to Richard and to Jack and impressed upon them the absolute necessity of preventing the Monster from ever leaving the Island. He was, in Temple Master Dogen’s words, “evil incarnate”. Allowing him free reign in the outside world would lead to more than an exponential increase in suffering. The consequences were nothing less than the complete destruction of all human life. This was because the only way for the Monster to leave the Island was by snuffing out the Light. But the Light was the very stuff of life and death and rebirth; its destruction would lead to the end of life, the end of death, the end of rebirth, the end of all events and conditions making up the cycles of existence.

A Sanctuary

Life is what we make of it. Jack inherited the Island from Jacob, but he was no disciple of Smokey’s brother. From his epiphany off-Island to the detonation of Jughead and the sharing of Communion with Jacob to his final breath in this life, Jack Shephard was the unapologetic disciple of John Locke. For Jack, the Island was not a “cork”, not the Monster’s leash, not an abode of evil. The Island was, in the words of his master, “a place where miracles happen”. Jack understood something Jacob never did. The Island had a multi-dimensional character that went far beyond acting along the narrow constraints of anything that might be understood through logic and science. There was no logic to the Island, for nothing so joyous could be crammed into the narrow etiologies of human understanding. There was no science capable of modeling her abilities and powers, for nothing so terrible could be forced into a syllogistic stream.

It was Jack’s more mature understanding of the Island that allowed him to plot and execute the Smoke Monster’s destruction. Jacob knew the Smoke Monster originated in the terrible power of the Light, but he seemed not to understand, as Jack did, that the Monster was a child fed by the Light. If the Light went out, the Smoke Monster’s powers would go out with it. Jack, man of faith, trusted his understanding of the true nature of the Island, trusted in something Jacob never imagined.

The Source of Life and Death

The Light has the power to create and destroy, heal and wound. It is the source of life and death and rebirth. Jacob’s adoptive guardian expressed her limited understanding of the Light in these terms because they were the only words suitable, because the full reality of the Light is ineffable. Here there can be no logic, no science, no words to compare, contrast, or describe. The Light is at once terrible and glorious, life-giving and deadly.

It is the Source, which means it is not of this world. That which is the Source of life and death and all things cannot possibly have physical residence in the created world. We experience the Source as Light, but it is of course entirely beyond our understanding. It is the only visible sign of the Alpha, the Omega, that which was and is and will be.

The Source is the umbilical, the connection between the natural world and whatever lies beyond the realm of the senses. It is through the Source that we live and move and have our being. Each of us carries a bit of the Light inside our hearts, as Jacob’s guardian told us. When the Light goes out, we lose our identity, our connection to reality, we lose any possibility of life, death, or rebirth.

A Theory of Immortality, Cancer, and Childbirth

The Source is the guarantor of the cycles of life. The severe cyclic regulation imposed by the close proximity of the Source means that any bodily process–and especially cellular processes–will be subject to more than the normal level of control. Any cellular process that would normally proceed unchecked is kept in complete balance so close to the Source. Thus, disease cells, which normally spread quickly, are forced to spread slowly. Because they multiply slowly, the body’s defence mechanisms are able to kill the disease much more easily on the Island. So it is that wounds heal quickly in Mittelos, and disease is uncommon.

In general, any type of cellular activity that occurs rapidly is slowed or even arrested on the Island, due to the regulation of life cycles through the Source. In this special place, women and men may live forever. In scientific terms, we can understand immortality as an inhibition of the normal processes of aging and apoptosis–cellular death. Apoptosis, like the spread of disease, is a rapid process of cellular death. The Source, with its ability to regulate life processes, slows apoptosis and leads to a kind of reinvigorating of the cell. Thanks to this dampening of cellular processes, people can and do live forever in this place.

Cancer cells multiply much faster than the surrounding tissue. The Source again forces the cancer to slow and eventually the body kills the foreign cells. Cancer is virtually unknown on the Island.

When a human egg is fertilised it undergoes rapid mitosis into a zygote and then into the differentiated tissues of a fetus. Like cancer cells, the cells of the fetus multiply quickly. The Source seeks to slow this process, but the mother’s body, primed for new life, fights the unnatural dampening effect of the Source. After several months of fighting the Source–an essentially unopposable force–mother and baby are overwhelmed. The mother, her hormonal system entirely out of whack, goes into shock, and within minutes, both mother and baby are dead.

Taweret

The earliest inhabitants of Mittelos were grateful to the gods that none of their loved ones ever had to suffer disease or cancer. Human nature being what it is, though, there were no statues of thanksgiving on the Island. No days set aside to celebrate another cancer-free year. One quite prominent statue greeted every visitor to the Island. This statue was the islanders’ grand attempt at appeasing the very angry goddess of fertility, Taweret. This ancient Egyptian goddess was so angry, in fact, that every woman who ever became pregnant died several weeks before the baby was due. The unusual state of the Island that prevented disease and cured cancer was the same state that interfered with pregnancy and eventually caused the death of mother and child.

I must point out that the preceding explanations are all based in science. The observations of lack of disease, lack of cancer, and death of women during pregnancy are consistent with the hyper-regulation of cellular function by some entity on the Island. Since we know the Source to be a regulator of life, death, and rebirth, a hypothesis stating that the Source is the entity responsible for all these observed phenomena is entirely valid, and draws support from a wide variety of repeating events on the Island.

I don’t know that this is the type of explanation of Darlton had in mind. This is a nitty-gritty science-based theory, and in the end, science is going to prove inadequate to the elucidation of most phenomena on the Island. The fact that the Man in Black was not given a name, the fact that faith was demonstrated to be far superior to logic, and the fact that the Source and the Light and the Island itself were shown to be multi-dimensional entities I believe points us toward an inevitable conclusion: Some of the remaining mysteries will forever remain veiled to human logic.

I believe this was Darlton’s intention. If they had wanted us to believe all the mysteries were subject to rational understanding, that A causes B causes C therefore A causes C, they would have shown us the superiority of Dharma science, rather than belittling the hippie-scientists. If they wanted us to treat this story as a linear unfolding of black and white, good versus evil, they would not have made Jacob a flawed man, and they would have made sure every character addressed the Man in Black as “Samuel”, rather than flagrantly leaving him without appellation of any kind.

I believe many of the remaining mysteries might be unraveled with application of the type of analysis I provided for the death of women in pregnancy.

Four Theories of Life

Life is what we make of it.

During the last 150 minutes of LOST we witnessed four distinct theories of life. The proponents were the Man in Black, Rose and Bernard Nadler, Desmond Hume, and Jack Shephard. I’m going to begin the discussion with the Man in Black.

Carpe Diem

Life is tough, and no one has suffered more in this life than the Man in Black. Even before he lost his body and his soul, he was trying to find ways to rectify the injustices of life. He knew the Light to be sacred, but he knew his objective–leaving the Island–to be more important than something as simple as a light shining from underground. When did the Light ever suffer anything? The Man in Black had to live every day with the knowledge that his people were far away, somewhere across the sea. [Oh! Accident pop culture reference! And I don't even like Bobby Darin! Taking "La Mer" and turning it into "Somewhere Across the Sea" must be one of the worst musical perversions of the twentieth century]

After he came thundering out of the Cave of Light he knew he was even more tightly tethered to the Island than ever before. Extreme measures were called for. Jacob was preventing his escape and guarding the Source. Anyone aiding and abetting Jacob would be dealt with in a most severe manner. Those he killed were just ordinary, mortal human beings. And hadn’t Mother told him people were selfish and untrustworthy? They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same. People are vermin. The only suitable way to lead one’s life is to take what one can get. If a few people–or even hundreds of people die so one’s life goals might be attained, well, so be it. Take what you can get. Fulfill your dreams, and to hell with everyone else.

Crawl Under a Rock

“We don’t get involved,” Rose said. It’s a common enough sentiment. Who among us would not want to settle down in a little cabin by the sea, catch enough fish to live, steal enough Dharma tea to enjoy breakfast. They have their dog… and their walking stick to protect them. Entire songs have been written about this way of life.

I’ve built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

….

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

Rose and Bernard are not exactly the hermit of Simon and Garfunkel’s classic song. They certainly had much greater things to worry about than the pain of broken friendships. Of course I’m assuming here that neither Paul Simon nor Art Garfunkel was ever ruthlessly hunted through a Pacific island jungle by an unstoppable, unkillable cloud of smoke that travelled faster than an F16 fighter jet, or stalked by a band of evil mercenaries carrying grenades, bazookas, and 300-round-per-minute machine guns. And as for the final verse of the song, I’m not so sure. Every time something bad happened on the Island, it rained. Sure seems to me like the raindrops might constitute tears.

Rose and Bernard made a good choice. It is not merely a matter of having adopted the philosophy of “live and let live”. The plane crash threw them into an unhealthy environment. The people of Mittelos were much more likely to draw guns on each other than engage one another in pleasant conversation. The Island was reeling and swaying and moving about the ocean and zooming first back in time then forward in time, all of this incomprehensible movement hither and yon accompanied by calamities and catastrophes that literally took six years to catalogue. Rose and Bernard made a sane choice in the face of their fellow survivors’ uncontrolled, irrational, and patently insane lifestyles. Given a choice between peaceful days and nights in a hut, and being hunted by Stuart Radzinsky and his henchmen, who among us would choose to be on the receiving end of rifle fire?

Get Ye to a Nunnery

Desmond Hume had a well-defined mission. Both in Mittelos and off the Island he took upon himself the difficult task of enlightening everyone. It was a holy task, a mission aimed at bringing people together at a spiritual level. The ultimate goal was to get everyone into a church–Eloise Hawking’s Church of the Holy Lamp Post (or was it more properly called Our Lady of the Perpetual Pendulum?), but getting them there would be a complicated endeavour. Desmond would have to choose an appropriate way for all of them to recognise their spiritual connections, their Constants. He would have to provide enough enlightenment that each one could discern her connection to her Constant in both life and death.

In “The Seven Storey Mountain”, Trappist monk Thomas Merton’s autobiography, he referred to the Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky as the centre of the world. It was monasteries like his that held the world together, he thought. Desmond was not only helping to hold the world together, he was bringing people together spiritually, helping them see the Light.

Just outside the Cave of Light, Desmond gave Jack the good news.

DESMOND: This doesn’t matter, you know.
JACK: Excuse me?
DESMOND: Him destroying the island, you destroying him. It doesn’t matter. You know, you’re gonna lower me into that light, and I’m gonna go somewhere else. A place where we can be with the ones we love, and not have to ever think about this damn island again. And you know the best part, Jack?
JACK: What?
DESMOND: You’re in this place. You know, we sat next to each other on Oceanic 815. It never crashed. We spoke to each other. You seemed happy. You know, maybe I can find a way to bring you there, too.

For the Common Good

Desmond believed Jack could just leave the Island, forget about what may or may not happen, and settle down to a happy life with Kate. It was not to be. Jack had a calling, a responsibility he could not forsake.

“Desmond, I tried that once. There are no shortcuts, no do-overs. What happened, happened. Trust me, I know. All of this matters.”

Jack had to kill the Smoke Monster. He had to protect the Light. He knew these things from the certainty of faith and no talk of happiness and being with the ones he loved was going to sway him. If he left the Island only bad things could result. If he faced his responsibilities he at least had a chance of making things right again, and preserving the Source for the sake of the entire world.

Living life the Jack Shephard way is difficult, challenging, and at times dangerous. LOST would have us believe that this is the best life one might choose. Life is not just about enjoying good times in a hut by the sea, or spending time with those we love in a church pew. Life is about our responsibility to each other, the human need to work with others toward the Common Good.

Living and Working Together

I loved this scene. Kate was back where she belonged, a full and equal participant in the struggle to free the Island from the Man in Black. Jack would never have been able to kill him on his own. As Christian said, “Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.”

I enjoyed this series more than any other I’ve seen on television. The story gave us much to consider over the past six years, and I have come nowhere near exhausting the stores of ideas the characters and situations generated. The series gave us more to ponder than any other television programme I can think of, and created some of the most detailed and complicated and human characters ever to appear on the small or large screen. Jack Shephard, in particular, was a masterful artistic creation, a kind of hero we can all believe in–have faith in.

My favourites remain Locke and Kate. Who would have thought Kate Austen would redeem herself by taking a rifle in her arms and putting a bullet in a man’s back? Both the character and the actress were under-utilised in the series, but when Kate did what she had to do, the series was better for it. John Locke ended in a way I never would have guessed. But the other characters, and especially Jack, honoured his memory and revered his wisdom. In this way John Locke’s story ended in the proper place, not hanging by a cord in a third-rate hotel, but living as mentor and example in the minds of those who protected the Island, and those who saw in Jack the fulfillment of Locke’s faith.

A Place Where Miracles Happen

I imagine a considerable length of time will pass before we see anything on television as compelling as LOST. Come September 22, the sixth anniversary of the crash, Wednesday evenings are going to be LOST evenings at the Moore household. Everyone is welcome–except Stuart Radzinsky and Charles Widmore. Remember, though, it’s BYODB (bring your own Dharma beer). We’ll supply the wild boar, coconut, and sea urchins.

VIDEOS: LOST Writers Tease The Finale, Josh Holloway & Jacob Visit Jimmy Kimmel, Chef Robert Irvine Feeds the Cast & Crew of LOST

SL-LOST — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:40:02 +0000

The writers of LOST tease the finale and talk about shutting down the writing room.

Watch the rest of the videos after the jump.

Spoiler Alert: a clip from the LOST finale was shown at the end of this interview.

Chef Robert Irvine is lost in Hawaii, on a mission to feed the cast and crew of the hit TV show, LOST. Just like the characters on the show, Robert is “stranded” on a deserted beach and must use all his creative powers to complete his mission.

LOST 6.16 “What They Died For” – Live Reaction/Recap Video

ajruck — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:40:10 +0000

This is the video recap for LOST season 6 episode 16, “What They Died For,” which aired May 18, 2010 on ABC.
My friend Allison joined me to summarize the night’s events and share our personal reactions to the show as it aired.

WARNING: Video contains Spoilers if you have not yet seen this episode!

This episode featured lots of crazy happenings both on and off the island.
Watch the video for the whole rundown and our reactions…

SHARE your theories in the comments section and tell me your thoughts at Twitter.com/AdamRucker

Thanks for watching, and subscribe for our LOST pre-finale special and series wrapup!

Find me @ facebook.com/ruckitup

The Official LOST Video Podcast: May 15th, 2010

SL-LOST — Sun, 16 May 2010 01:40:59 +0000

The writers consider who’s the Man in Black and who’s Jacob: Damon Lindelof or Carlton Cuse.

Dying Light: Counter-Culture in LOST 6.15 “Across the Sea” by Pearson Moore

SL-LOST — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:15:11 +0000

Jacob represents all that is good.

We know this because the woman who stole him told us so. The woman who told us human beings–people–would hurt Jacob and his brother, “because they’re people, Jacob, and that’s what people do.” The woman who said all people are the same: “They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt.” The woman who wished to prevent corruption by smashing the skull of the boys’ birth mother and wiping out an entire village of peaceful Roman peasants.

Jacob represents all that is good.

If you believe this, you are obliged to believe as Jacob’s mentor taught him: That you, dear reader, are a blight on this earth, not worthy of drawing your next breath.

Tonight’s episode was breathtaking. It brought light to the most perplexing mysteries in Mittelos. It revealed where the survivors stand, and where they must stand to bring order, to maintain the light, to restore Eden. Tonight we witnessed the essence of LOST.

An Island Without Love

Sixty years ago H.F. Harlow conducted studies in motherhood and childhood development. He was interested in determining the aspects of childhood conducive to normal development. The prevailing theory in the 1950s was that parents’ most important contribution was material support: food, clothing, shelter. Dr. Harlow was sceptical. He separated rhesus monkeys from their mothers and gave them either terry cloth or wire “mothers”. The terry cloth mothers had no food to offer, while the wire mothers were fitted with milk bottles. When the monkeys were dropped into strange environments with terry cloth mothers, they clung close to the soft figurines. When they were put into new environments with the wire mothers, they sat in the middle of the room, crying, or ran frantically around the room, looking for “mother”. Dr. Harlow established in several sets of experiments that psychological comfort was more important to the infant monkeys than even the best milk. The monkeys forced to grow up without real mothers were easily frightened, incapable of interacting with other monkeys, and generally disturbed and unhappy for the rest of their lives. When asked which condition of childhood provided for the best development of well-rounded children, Dr. Harlow gave a simple, one-word response: Love.

Jacob and his brother grew up without their mother. The woman who adopted them–or, more accurately, took on the job of raising them in the proper hatred of human beings–was not a soft and cuddly terry cloth adoptive guardian. She was more like the wire monkey, giving food, clothing, and shelter. Is it any wonder that, when left alone, Jacob and his brother more often than not ended up beating each other to a pulp? They had no concept of love, no remembrance of love, no certainty of worth and belonging that comes of a mother’s embrace. No one showed them love, and they were not loved. They belonged to neither mother nor father, and not once did they feel even a parent’s touch. They belonged to no one, not even to the woman who stole them. They did belong, but to an entity they both wished to reject: the Island.

The Island was more important than the boys. They had to be blindfolded as the woman led them to the heart of Mittelos because the Island had greater value than their sense of wonder, their autonomy, even their very lives. Most of all, the woman could not allow them to figure out where the Light originated, because she could not trust them.

She taught Jacob her version of “love”. When the boy returned to the cave without his brother, the woman asked where the boy in black was. Jacob didn’t know. “Do you love me, Jacob?” she asked. When he responded “yes,” she said, “Then tell me what happened.” Love, to the Island-Protector, didn’t mean giving Jacob a hug. It meant quizzing him, shaming him into ratting out his brother.

What most disturbed her was the tendency of her chosen, the one who would someday replace her as Protector of the Island, to stare out at the ocean, to think on it, to wonder what might be found across the sea. This was most dangerous, because the boy was otherwise precisely what she had longed for. He used deception and cunning and loved to stalk prey–the very qualities the woman held most dear. The boy who preferred dark tunics was “special” in every way that she was special.

They had no personal freedom. Volition was not among the aspects of human life cultivated by the woman, and she rigourously sought out any sign of dangerous independent thought in either of them.

Jacob and his brother grew up without love.

The Woman

She believed herself an authority on human nature. “They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt.” It must have been the mantra of the Island, for it came to be the signature phrase of Cerberus. With these eight words she summed up her complete understanding of humanity.

WOMAN: If they found you, they would hurt you.
JACOB: Why would they hurt us?
WOMAN: Because they’re people, Jacob, and that’s what people do.

This was the only characteristic of human beings the woman understood, and it was the only thing she could communicate to the twins. Humans were depraved creatures.

But then her favoured one posed a question that must have been most difficult for the woman. It went to the heart of her future plans for the Island and for the boys.

BOY IN BLACK: But we’re people. Does that mean that we can hurt each other?
WOMAN: I’ve made it so you can never hurt each other.

The woman’s response was unsettling, not because of what it said about the twins, but because of what it said about her, about who she was.

The Light

The image of the Light in the cave at first didn’t seem to work with the images and scenes that went before. It was odd somehow, and in a way that I couldn’t get myself to believe was well connected to other parts of this very complex show.

As the episode progressed, though, I began to have a better feeling for the way the strange Light in the cave might have been intended to mesh with the series.

The strange Light was supposed to be odd, I believe. It was intended to make us uncomfortable. The Light is unnatural because That Which is Holy can never appear to be natural. It is “Life, death, rebirth. It’s the Source, the heart of the Island.” It cannot seem natural because the Holy is outside nature, above nature, or as we say, “super-natural”. The sight of the Holy can only instill discomfort, trembling, spiritual turmoil. Moses before the burning bush was not comforted. He was scared out of his wits.

It is Holy, but it was being approached in quasi-reverent manner, protected, claimed as her own, by a most unholy woman. The woman profaned the Holy. It was as if Lucifer bowed down at the burning bush, or the Devil embraced Mohammed. Such an occurrence would have been the severest profanation, an abomination of the highest order.

Later scenes softened the strangeness of the Light, brought it back to the familiar ground of Mittelos.

The image of the Light worked perfectly in the Man in Black’s underground workshop. It was the same light we saw at the end of Season Four when Ben moved the Island, and it became obvious that this was the “brilliant light” that Locke described in Season One. Locke somehow saw beyond the Smoke Monster to the Creator who fashioned Smokey out of water and light.

But the Man in Black approached the Light with no more reverence than his mentor did. He approached with science and logic and intelligence, elements entirely foreign to the supernatural essence of the Light. As Eloise Hawking might have said, “This is, in fact, a violation.”

The woman knew the inevitable result of approaching the Light.

WOMAN: Just promise me…No matter what you do, you won’t ever go down there.
JACOB: Would I die?
WOMAN: It’d be worse than dying, Jacob….much worse.

Very unsettling, these words. They again tell us who the woman is, and what she planned for the two boys.

The Purge of 50 A.D.

She burned the Roman village to the ground, filled in the deep well, and killed every one of the inhabitants. Descendants of the survivors of the shipwreck, they had survived peacefully on the Island for forty years until the woman–the Smoke Monster–recognised the opportune moment to kill them and use their deaths to further her nefarious plans.

Her intention, very well thought-out, was to so enrage Jacob’s brother that he would release her from the millennia of captivity she had endured on the Island. Perhaps in her youth–maybe before she lost her own humanity–she had dreamed of returning to her people. Maybe she had nurtured this dream even after she became something less than human. But after so many millennia, she too must have been praying at the statue of Tawaret, begging her or any deity who would listen, to send a child she could teach in the ways of the Island and then leave–by boat or by death–so she could end her unhappy existence and hateful responsibility to protect the Light.

She planted the seeds of her plan in both men.

Unholy Communion

WOMAN: Here. Drink this.
JACOB: What happens if I do?
WOMAN: You’ll accept the responsibility that you will protect this place for as long as you can; and then you’ll have to find your replacement.
JACOB: I don’t want to protect this place.
WOMAN: Someone has to.
JACOB: I don’t care.
….
WOMAN: It has to be you, Jacob.
JACOB: No, it doesn’t. You wanted it to be him…But now I’m all you have.
WOMAN: It was always supposed to be you, Jacob. I see that now. And one day, you’ll see it, too; but, until then…you don’t really have a choice…Please, take the cup and drink.

She even said a prayer–in Latin, no less–over the cup, pulling the chalice toward herself in a way that is more than familiar to the 1.5 billion of us who attend mass every Sunday. But this was not the kind of communion we’re familiar with. Drinking the cup here was more akin to accepting death, not life. Not Mark 14:24, but Matthew 20:22-23.

“Now you and I are the same,” she said. Her words were true. She knew the full extent of their truth. Jacob would learn the complete truth only after he responded to her death at his brother’s hands.

Jacob’s Corruption, Man in Black’s Destruction

Jacob completed the deed that his adoptive mentor wished him to perform: Subject his brother to something “worse than dying”. For the sake of the Island, Jacob was willing–eager, even–to extract vengeance and remove every trace of humanity from his own flesh-and-blood twin brother. His mother warned him not to approach the light, and she almost certainly knew this from her own experience–from the very day she lost her soul and became the inhuman Smoke Monster. Her favourite, the Man in Black, ended her tortured existence and her eternal captivity on the Island with a dagger through the back. Centuries, millennia of suffering, ended. She thanked him. Jacob ensured the appearance of her successor by unleashing on his brother the full measure of his anger, by wishing for his brother to experience something far worse than death.

The woman counted on Jacob’s depravity to visit eternal damnation on his brother. Jacob was human, after all, and human beings are depraved. She knew he would not deviate from the template she understood so well.

The Divine Light

The Light is not something that can be approached in any but the most reverent manner. The supernatural is not anything we can control or understand. If we “protect” it, we do so always with a sense of awe, with a fear that is not anticipation of punishment, but recognition of inadequacy. If ever we find ourselves in the Light, we must do as Moses did: remove our sandals, bow down low, and hide our eyes from this most terrible and wonderful and incomprehensible Truth.

The woman who trained Jacob and Cerberus knew only half the truth. We are “greedy, manipulative, untrustworthy, and selfish.” All of this is true, and it leads to much suffering every day. But we are kind, giving, and selfless, too. Some of us, even though we are full of greed and selfishness, can become examples of kindness, compassion, and love.

And unlike the woman who raised Jacob and his brother, many human beings are trustworthy and endeavour always to trust, even when others think them gullible and take advantage of their inner goodness and strength.

Like humanity’s Great Father, Mohandas Gandhi, we are the salt of the earth. We are creatures of the Light. We are, in fact, the very image of the Creator.

The woman, The Man in Black, and Stuart Radzinsky all represent the dark, pessimistic, counter-cultural choices we can all make. LOST is about a cultural response, a refusal to believe that depravity is the most complete and apt description of our contribution to this world.

The story of LOST is the story of imperfect, deeply flawed, deeply hurting people. Criminals, murderers, con men, drunks, adulterers, thieves, gluttons, drug addicts, liars–the worst refuse of humanity, in fact–who nevertheless rise above their frailties and inhumanity to assert they are not people of The Lie. They are not destined to die alone, like the woman and Jacob’s brother. Their destiny is to come together, live together, seek the Light and know enough to remove their sandals, bow down low, and tremble in the incomprehensible and piercing Truth.

Jack Shephard and John Locke are far from perfect, but we could wish for no better guides than men such as these. On May 23, they will teach us a new way of approaching the Light. I am eager to complete the journey.

He’s Not Heavy, He’s my Smoke Monster: “Across the Sea” Recap and Analysis by Chris Kirkman

SL-LOST — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:40:11 +0000

I’ll just leave this here:

Retcon - “Retroactive Continuity” v. to retroactively revise (a plot, storyline, character, event, history, etc.), usually by reinterpreting past events, or by theorizing how the present would be different if past events had not happened or had happened differently. See: Crisis on Infinite Earths; Wolverine’s bone claws; Greedo shoots first.

Once upon a time, there was an Island. It was a very special place. To this Island came a lady in red – shipwrecked and washed ashore, this lady was very, very pregnant. Although the lady in red survived her ordeal, she did not believe that her ship companions had, and so thought that she was alone. She wasn’t. Soon, thankful for finding a stream for fresh water, she bent to take a drink and was startled when she looked up and found that Allison Janney was on the Island, as well. She seemed shocked to also find that Allison Janney spoke Latin.

Allison took the lady back to her caves and fed her and tended to her wounds. She found that the lady in red’s name was Claudia. Allison’s meal seemingly did not agree with Claudia’s constitution and so the lady in red went into labor, popping out a little baby whom she named Jacob. The lady in red wasn’t quite done yet, though, and soon pushed out another little boy, whom Allison wrapped in dark, swaddling clothes. This little bundle would remain nameless, however, as Claudia had very little imagination and had only picked out Jacob’s name.

Baby Jacob and the appropriately-acronymed BiB – Baby in Black.

Claudia wants to see her babies, but Allison has another idea, and decides to show her a big rock up real close to her face, over and over. With the lady in red now completely in red, Allison could become mommy dearest to the yin yang twins.

A few years later, BiB – the Boy in Black – walks along one of the Island beaches and finds a wooden box. There are squares carved in the top, and ornate swirls along its side. Inside are six stones – three in white and three in black. Little Jacob wanders over and asks his brother what he’s got. BiB explains that it’s a game, and he’ll teach Jacob how to play if he promises not to tell mother.

This is an ancient Egyptian game called Senet – one of the oldest boardgames in the world. This is probably the coolest bit of research that the Lost team has turned up, and we’ll go over the finer points later, in analysis.

Back in the caves, mother is weaving. Mother questions Jacob about his brother, and Jacob pulls a George Washington, unable to lie about his brother and the game.

Mother heads down to the beach and finds BiB thinking deep thoughts. BiB knows that Jacob blabbed, and mother says that Jacob is incapable of lying, unlike BiB. The boy wants to know what he’s like, and mother explains that he’s – special. The boy wants to keep the game and mother allows it, saying she left it for him. He assumed it was from somewhere else, like across the sea. Mother explains that there’s nothing across the sea – there’s only the Island.

Later, in the Jungle of Mystery, the brothers are chasing boar when the boar is suddenly speared. The boys hide in the bushes and witness some Others field dressing the boar. These Others aren’t capri-loving, nor are they jungle hippies – these Others are dressed in field leather and brandish swords.

The brothers run back to mommy and tell her about the bad men. She tells them that they are not like them, and don’t belong on the Island. And then she decides that it’s a good time to blindfold the boys and take them on a nature hike through the same jungle wherein they said they had just seen sword-brandishing goons. Doesn’t seem like the brightest idea, but whatever mother wants, mother gets.

As the boys walk blindly through the jungle with their mother, they all chit chat. Mother tells them that the men they saw are dangerous because “they come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt and it always ends the same.” BiB, wise beyond his years, deducts that if they are people and the Others are people, and the Others can hurt each other, then that means Jacob and BiB can hurt each other. Mother stops them, removes their blindfold and tells them both that she’s made it so that neither boy can ever hurt the other. Then she spins them ’round and let’s them take a gander at the heart of the Island – a cave at the end of the creek with insides that sparkle and glimmer like gold.

That’s right folks, now you know what’s at the heart of the Island – Marcellus Wallace’s soul.

Mother explains that this place is the reason they’re on the Island, and the boys can never go in there. Mother tells the boys that inside is light – the warmest, brightest light that they have ever seen or felt. A little bit of that same light is inside every man, and they always want more. She warns that if they take a lot of it, that light could go out – and if that light goes out here, it goes out everywhere. So basically it’s the fuse box for Earth.

Mother tells the boys that she has protected this place for a long time, but that she can’t protect it forever and that one of them will have to take over for her someday.

Sometime later, the boys are playing Senet. Jacob tries to make a move, but BiB informs Jacob that it’s against the rules. Jacob says that BiB made up the rules, to which BiB says that some day Jacob can make his own game of Calvinball and can make up whatever rules he wants. BiB then sees the ghost of his dead mother. We know he knows, because that’s what she tells him. He tells Jacob he’s going off on walkabout, and chases after her.

Ghost Claudia takes BiB on a little tour of the human settlement, and informs him that he and his brother are from those people and that those people came from across the sea. She also fills in BiB on the little bit of homicide that his current “mother” engaged in when she bashed Claudia’s pretty face right after they were born. Naturally, this does not sit well with little Blackie.

For the sake of my over-attentive mind, I’m going to pretend that I didn’t just see a ghost brush a piece of grass aside because it was ruining her take.

BiB returns to the caves and gathers Jacob, ushering him into the jungle and telling him the truth about their “mother” and the Others on the Island. Jacob gets a little upset and beats the stuffing out of little brother. Mother shows up and drags them apart. BiB informs his adoptive mother that he knows the truth about everything, and that he’s going to go live with the Others. Mother tells him it’s useless, because he can never leave the Island. The boy vows to someday prove her wrong.

At dawn, mother is sitting on the thinking log on the beach. Jacob joins her and asks for the truth. She tells him that she killed his mother, and did so because she would have taken Jacob back to the Others, and those people are bad. She wanted Jacob to remain good, to which Jacob asks if he truly is good. Of course, says his mother. Then why do you love him more than me? asks Jacob. Mother can’t really deny the truth in that, but tells Jacob that she loves him in different ways. Wow, that’s certainly something you wanna hear from dear old Mom. She asks Jacob to stay and he reluctantly agrees.

Thirty years later, BiB is now MiB and lives and works among “his people.” Jacob visits his brother and the two play a game of Senet while discussing the selfishness and evil that men do. Jacob thinks that men might not be all that bad, but MiB says that they are exactly what their “mother” said they were. He continues living with them, however, because they’re a means to an end – and he’s leaving, having found a way off the Island. Jacob balks at that idea, but MiB takes out his knife and hurls it forward until it sticks magnetically to the side of a stone well.

Look familiar? Yep, it’s the same knife that Dogen gave to Sayid many, many years later when he sent the Iraqi to assassinate MiB.

Jacob is amazed and MiB tells him that there are smart men amongst his people, curious men, and they like digging holes. Whenever they find a spot on the Island where metal behaves strangely, they dig down deep. Here at this site, they finally found something. MiB asks Jacob to come with him, but Jacob becomes petulant and refuses to leave his home.

Jacob returns to the caves where mother is preparing yarn for to weave. Jacob tells her that his brother has found a way off the Island. Mother is very displeased. She heads out into the jungle and over to the well, where the Others are grabbing their lunch pails and heading home for a brewski.

Deep down in the well, MiB is working a coal pit. He senses someone behind him and turns suddenly, pulling his knife. It’s mother. She asks to join him and he acquiesces. She’s worried, and MiB says that she should be – he’s searched the Island for 30 years for that golden cave she took them to when he was young, all in vain, until now when he realized he might be able to reach that place another way. And so he dug. And he found. And he says that he and some of the Others have some very interesting ideas about what to do with what they’ve found. Mother is agitated, saying he has no idea what he’s doing. MiB retorts that he doesn’t know, because she wouldn’t tell him.

He walks over to the stone wall and pries loose a stone. A shaft of bright, golden light pours through and illuminates what appears to be half of the great wheel that Ben and Locke turned to move and halt the Island. Mother is curious, so MiB enlightens her that he’s going to make a hole in the wall, stick that wheel in it, and attach it to a system that channels the water and the light so that he can finally leave the Island. Okay, then. Whatever, dude.

I would recommend rack and pinion steering, because the Island is going to be hard as hell to drive with that thing.

Mother asks what we’re all thinking and wonders how he knows all this. MiB reminds her that he’s “special.” She begs him to stay, but MiB says he doesn’t belong here. She says her goodbyes and hugs him tight – then screams and throws him up against the wall, bashing his head. Man, this Island sure can mess with some women’s heads.

Mother returns to the caves and gathers Jacob, taking him back to the cave of light. She says that it’s his turn to protect it, and tells him that it’s the source, the heart of the Island. Jacob has to to promise her that he’ll never, ever go down there, though, because down there lies a fate worse than death. I don’t know about Jacob, but that I believe that line would definitely keep me topside. She breaks out the old wine bottle that MiB would smash in agitation later, says some mumbo jumbo and pours Jacob a tall one. She explains that to drink of this would represent his commitment to protect the heart and he would guard it until he had to find his replacement. Jacob argues with her for a bit like a brooding child, telling her that she wanted his brother to guard the place. She tells Jacob that it was always supposed to be him as guardian, and that he really doesn’t have a choice, so he should shut his piehole and drink the damn wine. Relunctantly, he does. “Now,” his mother says, “you and I are the same.” Hoo boy.

Over at the well, it’s morning, and MiB is topside, lying on the ground. He awakens and finds that the the well has been filled in. Overnight.

Man, that woman was busy.

He glances toward the horizon, seeing smoke, and runs to his peoples’ encampment. It’s in cinders, and Aunt Beru and Uncle Lars are all crispy, too. The only thing left is his charred copy of Senet, which he grabs and then proceeds to get a bit angsty.

Out in the jungle, Jacob and his mother are walking back home. Storm’s a-coming, remarks Jacob. Mother sends him off to fetch firewood, telling him to be careful. He says he’ll see her back home and she turns, a grim look on her face, and heads back to the caves.

Once there, she finds the place in shambles. The loom has been smashed. She notices the Senet game box on the ground and kneels, examining it. The storage drawer slides open and she finds two stones inside – one white and one black. She lifts and examines the black stone. Her examination is cut a bit short, however, when she suddenly finds a knife shoved through abdomen.

That’ll ruin your day, every time.

Mother collapses to the floor. MiB, distraught by his actions, asks his mother why she wouldn’t let him leave. Because she loves him, she says. She also thanks her son, and then ceremoniously kicks the bucket. MiB mourns. It’s all cut a bit short, however, when Jacob shows up and beats the snot out of his brother like he did when they were kids.

Not satisfied with kicking his brother’s ass, Jacob drags his bro out into the Jungle of Mystery and over to the Heart of the Island. MiB struggles a bit, telling Jacob that she burned them all and that Jacob can’t kill him – mother made it that way. Jacob tells him to stop squirming, because he’s not gonna kill his brother. Oh, no, he has better plans than that.

Jacob throws his brother into the creek at the mouth of the cave of light. MiB is shocked that mother showed Jacob the entrance, but Jacob explains that it’s his turn to be guardian. He grabs his brother and tells him that if he’s so determined to see the light and escape the Island, that he should just go. He then flings MiB toward the entrance, where he bashes his head against a rock. His body is caught in the current and he’s washed inside and sucked down, down, down to the heart of the Island.

As Joel Murphy so eloquently put it: “This week’s episode taught me one very important lesson – avoid golden showers”

Everything gets very, very silent in the jungle, and Jacob starts to wonder exactly what he’s just done. He soon finds out, as the light in the cave dims, that familiar crickety sound starts up, and a huge column of black smoke comes rumbling out. Jacob is knocked off his feet, and he watches helplessly as the smoke tears ass off into the jungle.

I can safely say that no one who had just done what Jacob did would expect that kind of result from tossing a body down a golden waterfall.

Jacob wanders further upstream after the smoke incident and finds his brother’s bashed and bloodied body draped over a rock. He hugs his brother and boo hoos a bit.

Back at the caves, he lays his brother’s body down into an alcove, and walks over to his mother’s body. He bends down, picking up the Senet stones, and places them in a leather pouch. We’re treated to a brief montage of a noticeably younger Jack and Kate when they first found the caves and the pouch with the stones way back in “House of the Rising Sun.” Jacob lays his mother’s body next to his brother’s, and places the Senet stone pouch in his brother’s hand. We flash back to Locke who christens the bodies in the cave as their “very own Adam and Eve.” Another mystery solved. Yay.

It’s been a game, even since the very beginning. Only this time around, the brothers are using much bigger pieces.

Jacob sheds a few final tears and then tells his brother goodbye.

Cue the THONK!

Well, alright then. With only three episodes left, we’re treated to an episode devoted entirely to two characters we had never seen before last season’s finale. We learn that Ol’ Smokey was either created or awakened when Jacob’s brother was thrown down the gullet of the Island’s heart of gold. And we now know that Claire and Rousseau are simply two in a long line of crazy-ass Island women.

I’m going to spare the long-winded criticisms this week because it tends to agitate some people. I thought, overall, the episode was slow and deliberate, like watching a sea turtle give birth, much like BiB did early in the episode on the beach. There were some decent twisty moments here and there, and the acting was up to snuff, but the sudden introduction of someone as recognizable as Allison Janney was a big jolt. Don’t get me wrong, I love the woman, but that kind of casting just throws you for a complete loop. You have total unknowns playing Jacob and MiB and then out of nowhere pops … Loretta from Drop Dead Gorgeous? I half expected her to have a beer in her hand. (By the way, if you haven’t seen Drop Dead Gorgeous, I highly recommend it. One of the funniest movies of the last 15 years.)

Everyone’s going to have an opinion on the secrets revealed here, and it’s impossible that the Lost team is going to please every single viewer, especially as the finale grows near and we all get a bit grumpy that the fun is coming to an end. I will say, in closing, that although it was nice to get some background on Jacob and his twin brother, the whole “demi-god” arc continues to bug me. As I mentioned in last season’s finale, for the longest time Lost stayed true to its roots, focusing on its central characters, almost to a fault. By throwing two very important characters into the mix so late in the game, we’re forced to care and want to know more about them simply because of the time constraint placed on us; it’s not dictated by story that can play out over a series. We’ve seen Jack go from being on top to the very lowest, bearded bottom and climb back up again, but the same is not true of Jacob or his brother. Yes, we’ve heard Jacob’s name mentioned for four seasons now, but it’s not until just this moment that we learned why we should even truly care.

As disappointed as I was by much of what went on this week, this episode was important in that it finally brought everything back to the Lost roots – bringing the human drama to the fore, ever above even the most fantastical elements. This is why I can still say I’m fully on board for the finale – when I can watch the Island swallow up a guy and burp out a column of black smoke and still care about what happens next because of the characters.

With that bit of business out of the way, let’s talk about a few things. Honestly, there’s not a whole lot to get into, but I do have some clarifications, some confusion and a whole lot of questions.

BEWARE OF DOG
As I saw the “origin” of Ol’ Smokey unfold this week, I couldn’t help but go back and think of everything we’ve seen and heard of the smoke monster since the very beginning. In many of the Dharma files, the smoke monster is referred to as Cerberus, the mythical three-headed dog that guards the gates of hell. Rousseau refers to smokey as a “security system.” Jacob thought that he was protector of the Island, but could Cerberus exist to be the ultimate protector of the Island? The entity that exited the cave of light could be just as Rousseau described – a security system. It’s normal function is to embody the protector and guard the heart of the Island. However, because it absorbed the persona of “Esau,” it also, over time, took on his dark personality traits, wanting to get off the Island.

We’ve seen now that Smokey has absorbed and exhibited many of the stronger personality traits of those people whom he has embodied. Since he has embodied the dark twin (Bad Twin?) for the longest time, those personality traits – his “special” abilities, his sense of entrapment and subsequent obsession with getting off the Island – are deeply rooted. Over time, instead of protecting the Island, it only sought to escape the Island, and realized that the only way it could get off the Island is if it managed to break the rules and kill off Jacob and all the candidates. It would free the cycle and enable it to get loose.

Maybe. Or maybe it really is simply evil and wants to escape and wreak havoc on the planet. Yeah, I said planet. You don’t think that thing is actually from around these parts, do you?

SPEAKING OF SERVICE ANIMALS
How did mother fill in the well over night? And destroy all those people? Was she a smoke monster, or did she summon Cerberus to come and do her dirty work, like Ben did to take care of Keamy and his goons in season four?

Also, who finished installing the Wheel? It’s long been built by the time Ben uses it to move the Island at the end of season four. We see the Dharma Initiative building the basement of The Orchid around the great wheel in the opening of season five, but did they complete the work? How would they know the plans that MiB had in his head in order to tap into the Island’s power source? Perhaps Ol’ Smokey, infused with the soul and essence of MiB, became so obsessed with getting off the Island that he continued his work and dug the well again. It’s the only thing that seems to make sense since we see the finished well in “This Place is Death” when Locke lowers himself into the well just before another time flash sends them all forward in time to when the well was filled in, yet the chamber and wheel were intact.

Perhaps MiB manipulated more of the people that inhabited the Island over time, “guiding” these Others as he did the modern Others in building and taking care of things for him. He could have appeared to the leader of some Others trapped on the Island and gotten the people to excavate the well and install the wheel. Still, if it was installed way back when, why wouldn’t MiB have had it turned before he convinced Ben to do so? Was it all in the timing, somehow?

Also, in this episode when mother discovers the wheel, it’s only half-finished. I’m pretty sure that the original prop used in the chamber is only half a wheel, as well, meaning the production team didn’t feel like building a complete wheel.

And while I’m asking questions here, why was it so cold down in the wheel chamber when Ben used the wheel, but there doesn’t seem to be the same level of cold when Locke uses the wheel, or while MiB is building it? Granted, MiB had a roaring coal fire going to keep him warm, but there was no sign of a frigid climate.

DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME
If there was one detail about this episode that I really did like, it was the backstory of the game between light and dark that the boys have been playing against each other since the day that BiB found the Senet box on the beach. The theme and symbology harkens back to early season one when Locke teaches Walt the rules and history of Backgammon, a game which is a direct descendant of Senet.

In this screen shot, they’ve finally gotten the rules down pat. Earlier, when the boys started playing, they were all over the grid. I get the feeling that the cast might have actually played a few rounds of Senet between takes.

For those not familiar with Senet, it is widely considered the oldest known board game in history. Typically, the pieces are represented by two sets of shapes, usually three pyramids or cones, and three circles or cylinders. In the Lost version of Senet, the shapes are replaced by light and dark stones, but that’s cool. The “official” rules of Senet are lost to the sands of time, but scholars have recreated the rules as best they could from clues and artifacts discovered throughout the years. The object of the game is to move your pieces from the home row, snaking them around the grid on the board, until they exit the board at the end of the grid. The movement of the pieces is determined by throwing sticks or rocks – one side is light, the other dark, with the light side representing a single number. Players can jump over other pieces, and if your piece lands on a square occupied by an opponent’s piece, you may remove that piece from the board, sending it back “home,” much like the now-familiar board game Sorry. The first person to successfully move all of his pieces off the board by exiting the grid wins the game. There are variants, of course. Although rudimentary, the game is actually quite fun, and custom Senet sets are still made and sold today.

You can even play a simple version online. Check it out.

On a deeper, and very Lost-related note, the game became a symbol of protection from beyond in Egyptian culture. Since it involved a bit of luck, it was believed that a good player was favored by the gods, and some people were buried with Senet sets to protect them in their journey through the afterlife. I suppose it could also be used to help them pass the time. Interestingly enough, Jacob thought to lay his brother to rest with pieces from his beloved Senet set, just as the ancient Egyptians once did.

THE RANDOM BITS
The Others have always been MiB’s “people” and he’s been seemingly guiding them from the beginning, whether in Jacob’s name or his own. It’s still a bit confusing as to who has been telling which group of people what they should do, and who they should follow. A lot of the modern Others’ actions make sense in the context of what Jacob would want in protecting the Island, but many of the actions by the Others as led by Ben seem far more nefarious.

Some of the flowers around the cave of light – they’re anthuriums. You know, just in case anyone out there is keeping score.

Allison Janney, when questioned by Claudia: “Every question I answer will simply lead to another question.” Sister, ain’t that the truth. If anyone wants to know the secret of the Island, there’s your simple answer.

How can MIB just “know” how things work? Does he have extrasensory perception? Perhaps he has interdimensional perception, like Desmond. This would explain not only his knowledge of Senet and the building of the great wheel, but also his knowledge of how things might change if variables are shifted, such as the deaths of the candidates.

So … Ben. Ben was supposedly following orders from Jacob, but it’s unclear if he actually was now. Way back in season three when Locke is first taken to the cabin, Locke hears “Jacob” but Ben is stunned because he can’t see or hear him. What’s up with that? That’s indicative of the “undead” not MIB or Jacob. Any time that MiB has wanted to speak to someone, he takes on someone else’s form. Yet when Ben and Locke first visit Jacob’s cabin, there seems to be no corporeal form. Of course, later Christian Shephard shows up and it’s probably MiB in full effect.

So what’s the deal with the heart of the Island in LA X? it would be underwater at this point, as would Ol’ Smokey. Does that mean he’s dead in LA X? Mother told them that if the light goes out there, then the light goes out everywhere. If that’s the case, is the light still burning bright underwater in LA X? Could that come into play, somehow in the finale?

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m always a little annoyed when someone gives birth on a TV show and they don’t take the basketball out from underneath the lady’s dress. Claudia just gave birth to twins, and in the background her stomach is still just as big as when she went into labor. I don’t know, that lack of detail just bugs me.

So what IS Ol’ Smokey, anyway? Since Jacob found his brother’s body after Cerberus exited the golden vent, Smokey is not totally MiB. Perhaps smokey is the embodiment of MiB’s soul, given form – strange as it may seem – by the heart and source of the Island. Perhaps smokey is part of an alien race of some sort, long laying dormant until it’s able to graft itself to a life essence that’s sent down into its hibernation chamber. Or perhaps the smoke monster is an interdimensional being, trapped in the vortex that summons others and holds the inhabitants in its grasp. Whatever the case, the options for the true purpose or origins of the Island are mind-boggling: an interdimensional gateway, a crashed alien ship, an ancient interdimensional device that was piloted by a race of smokey monsters, a gateway to heaven or hell or a prison.

And that about wraps it up for this week. Only one more episode before the huge, mega-spectacular Lost finale event we’ve all been waiting for and dreading. There’s still some time left to sort things through and ponder before then, so put on your thinking caps and as always, if you have an epiphany, tell me something good.

Namaste.

[HoboTrashcan.com]

Jimmy Kimmel’s LOST Game Commercial Featuring Jacob and the Man in Black

SL-LOST — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:22:34 +0000

Mark Pellegrino: There Will Be More Answers

SL-LOST — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:16:02 +0000

TVGuide.com: Last night’s Lost was quite the head scratcher.
Pellegrino: I’ve been hearing that. I’ve been hearing quite a bit about that. [Laughs]

TVGuide.com: A lot of fans griped after the episode because they still felt confused about the mythology. Will there be more explanation in the last few episodes?
Pellegrino: There will be. There will be some ends tied, but I can’t guarantee that for everyone. People have been debating the meaning of the show and the various subplots for years, and I wonder if all of the questions are going to be answered. That’s a tall order, but I think many people will be satisfied.

TVGuide.com: All along we thought Jacob was a good guy, but he’s not as good as we thought.
Pellegrino: On a certain level, the line between good and evil has an indistinctive blurring. I think there’s a lot of crossover in the show. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m not good, though. Things will become clearer in the next episode, definitely. I think you’ll make up your mind one way or the other for sure, but it’s not going to be clean and pristine. You’ll definitely come down on one side or the other.

Head over to TVGuide.com to read the full interview.

[Photo credit: Spuffina]

LOST 6.15 “Across the Sea” – Live Reaction/Recap Video

ajruck — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:48:37 +0000

This is the video recap for LOST season 6 episode 15, “Across the Sea,” which aired May 11, 2010 on ABC.
My friend Allison joined me to summarize the night’s events and share our personal reactions to the show as it aired.

WARNING: Video contains Spoilers if you have not yet seen this episode!

Tonight’s episode focused on the back story of Jacob and the Man in Black/smoke monster.
It guest starred Allison Janney as their mother, and there was a LOT of information to take in.
Watch the video for the whole rundown and our reactions…

SHARE your theories in the comments section and tell me your thoughts at Twitter.com/AdamRucker

Thanks for watching, and subscribe for more videos and a new LOST recap every week!

Find me @ facebook.com/ruckitup

All of my videos can be found at www.RuckitUp.com

LOST Episode 6.15 “Across The Sea” [Open Thread]

SL-LOST — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:55:21 +0000

Official synopsis: (F)Locke’s motives are finally explained.
Written by: Team Darlton.
Directed by: Tucker Gates.

What did you think of tonight’s mythology-heavy episode? Take the poll and comment below!

Please, do NOT post any info about upcoming episodes in comments. If you post a spoiler, you’ll be permanently banned. If you see a spoiler, please flag it. Thanks!

Isla Cognita, Part II: Cultural History of the Island by Pearson Moore

SL-LOST — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:29:04 +0000

The Island is a cork.

Oceanic Flight 815 crashed because of Desmond, Desmond came to the Island because of Widmore, Widmore came to the Island because of Jacob, Jacob is an angel who works selflessly and tirelessly for the Island, and the Island is a prison keeping the rest of the world safe from the Smoke Monster.

All the mysteries have been solved.

Or have they?

If the Island’s only function is to contain evil, how could it have healed Locke’s paralysis? Why did it cure Rose of her cancer and give her and Bernard happiness for the rest of their lives? If Jacob is a source of good, why did he intentionally cause the deaths of over three hundred people?

We know much about the Island. But with only five more hours of the Island’s story left to tell, there is much we do not yet understand. Let’s take a look at what we really know.

The Island

The Island is not a cork.

This place establishes relationships with people, the most spectacular example being John Locke. Locke knew instinctively where to find wild boar, the Nigerian plane, and countless other people, places, and events. Far exceeding young Widmore’s expectations or understanding, he tracked the boy through the jungle to Richard’s camp in the early 1950s. He found the Swan Hatch, the Pearl, and the Flame. Locke could predict the weather and events past and future. We have seen numerous examples of individuals and groups with a sixth sense about the Island: Rose, Hurley, and Walter, and to lesser extents Ben, Richard, Boone, and Sayid. The Others, through the leadership of Jacob and his liaison, Richard, were somewhat tuned into the Island. Even certain members of the Dharma Initiative seem to have enjoyed some extra-dimensional understanding. Paul and his wife, Amy (later to become Amy Goodspeed), owned an ankh necklace, for example, which may have connected them with some of the earliest cultures on the Island or the Island itself.

The Island has rare powers. Sites of intense electromagnetism are scattered about underground. One of the most active locations became the site of “The Incident,” which was the sudden release of enormous quantities of electromagnetic radiation, eventually contained within a concrete tomb and controlled with a programmed release of energy every 108 minutes from the geodesic dome of the Swan Station. Desmond Hume has an unusual physical immunity to the effects of electromagnetism, but he suffers an intensified super-physical effect of intense magnetic energy: his mind is able to inhabit several locations in spacetime, almost simultaneously.

Intense electromagnetism is not the only unique attribute of the Island. Dozens or even hundreds of metres underground a large pocket of exotic matter bypasses the normal forward movement of time, allowing matter to move chronologically back and forth. During the three-year period from 2004 to 2007 at least two individuals, Ben Linus and John Locke, took advantage of this property of the exotic matter under the Orchid Station to transport themselves forward in time by ten months and three years respectively. We know the pocket of matter was used by ancient cultures, going back at least to the ancient Egyptians.

The time-control wheel (“frozen donkey wheel”) under the Orchid must be properly placed on its axis or severe spacetime disturbances can results. When Ben Linus moved the wheel on December 30, 2004, he accidentally knocked the structure off its axis, sending the Island or some of the crash survivors–or both the Island and survivors–on a random, oscillating course through time, first into the past, then into the future.

The Island itself moves through space and time, in ways different from any other place on earth. The Island is found on no navigation chart, is invisible from space, and cannot be approached in the usual manner by sea or air. A spacetime discontinuity envelopes the Island and the sphere of ocean and air in the immediate spacetime vicinity. Objects traveling anything other than a rigourously precise trajectory may require hours or even days to traverse the discontinuity, despite speeds of several hundred kilometres per hour, and may encounter severe electromagnetic storms along the way. To avoid the dangerous or even life-threatening squalls that form as a result of an air or surface approach to the Island, the preferred means of travel is submarine.

The Island can choose to heal wounds, inflict bodily harm, or even demand human sacrifice. Immediately on his arrival, Locke’s paralysis was cured, and he walked for the first time in four years. Rose had terminal cancer, but the Island removed every trace of the disease from her body. Overall good health was the typical and expected result of living in communion with the Island. Cancer was apparently unknown among the Others, until their leader, Benjamin Linus, was found to have a tumor growing on his spine. He and others interpreted this occurrence of cancer as a sign of the Island’s displeasure with Ben’s leadership. Locke’s friend, Boone, was singled out as “a sacrifice that the island demanded,” according to Locke. Charlie Pace and John Locke himself may also have been sacrifices the Island demanded.

Contacts in Antiquity

The earliest civilisation to inhabit the Island is unknown, but Egyptian hieroglyphs are distributed widely: throughout the Temple, around the time control wheel, on the secret door in Ben’s house in Dharmaville, and other places. Even the countdown timer in the Swan Station resorted to hieroglyphs in the “System Failure” condition in which the Execute button was not pushed before the expiration of the 108-minute interval between energy discharges.

The presence of ancient Egyptian symbols presumes an intentional communication of ideas among literate people. This places individuals able to read and write the symbols earlier than at least 395 A.D., when the last remaining readers of the language died. More likely, the hieroglyphs indicate the presence on the Island of Egyptians or those fluent in ancient Egyptian communication sometime before 31 A.D. or earlier, since this date marks the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the beginning of Roman rule. Thus, the earliest known civilisation inhabited the Island not later than about two thousand years ago.

The enhanced version of Ab Aeterno told us Richard Alpert was the first of the Others, but it seems unlikely he was the first visitor to the Island after Jacob and the Man in Black. We know Latin was adopted by the Others as the “language of the enlightened” (Juliet Burke, Lost 5.03 “Jughead”); it seems likely the decision to institute Latin as the Island’s universal language occurred well before 1867, when Richard arrived on the Black Rock. The expansion of the Roman Empire began in earnest around 56 B.C. with the military exploits of Gaius Julius Caesar, reached its zenith around 117 A.D., and was well into decline by 251 A.D. This indicates the influence of Egyptian culture likely pre-dated or was contemporaneous with the first use of Latin on the Island, and also indicates at least contact with, but more likely co-habitation on the Island, of representatives of both the Egyptian and Roman cultures.

The Island has been home to native or fluent speakers of at least thirteen languages. Among these were Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Ancient Greek, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Yoruba (Mr. Eko’s native Nigerian language). One of the Island’s most noteworthy inhabitants, Jacob, was known to be fluent in at least five languages, but was likely fluent in several others as well, due to his “Candidacy” project. The lighthouse wheel lists 360 names, most of apparently European descent, all of them “Candidates” or former Candidates. It is likely that most or all of these individuals resided on the Island at one time or another.

The Rulers

We don’t know when Jacob and the Man in Black appeared on the Island. We don’t know with certainty what their relationship is to each other, though it seems likely from their few conversations and from the MIB’s disclosures to Kate and Richard that the two men are related by blood, and are possibly brothers.

Some indication of a timeline for the two immortals is provided by ancient Egyptian illustrations inside the Temple.

The hieroglyphs and the representation of the Jackal-god, Anubis, are obviously Egyptian. However, the representation of the Smoke Monster appears to have later influences. The horned head atop the coiled “smoke” appears to have more than passing similarity to popular modern representations of the Devil, or Satan. This may indicate quite simply that the Smoke Monster arrived on the Island at a time when influences other than the ancient Egyptian culture were current. Or it could be an indication that the Smoke Monster is a relatively “late” resident or perhaps immigrant to the Island, possibly toward the end of Egyptian control.

The Man in Black is a pessimist. He believes human beings are fundamentally flawed, that “They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt.” This is the sum total of human existence in the MIB’s mind; humanity amounts to nothing more than depravity and pure evil.

The Man in Black acts in a manner consistent with a reasonable observer’s understanding of evil. He mercilessly killed everyone in the Temple who chose not to follow him and obey his rules. He killed the Flight 815 pilot, Seth Norris, Mr. Eko, Nadine, Montand, Bram, all the officers aboard the Black Rock, and Jacob, the self-professed Protector of the Island. He essentially gave Claire permission to kill Kate once he was done with her. His only objective, as he himself has said repeatedly, is to leave the Island. He seems to care little about those who suffer or die in order that he might leave.

Jacob, Richard Alpert, and Charles Widmore, among others, have made it their task to prevent the MIB from leaving the Island. Isabella Alpert, through Hurley, warned her husband that he must do everything he can to keep the Smoke Monster on the Island, or “todos nos vamos al infierno.” It was Jacob’s contention that the Island was a cork in a bottle, keeping evil or the Devil from roaming free in the world. While it is likely he was making reference to the Smoke Monster, there are other possibilities.

Jacob

Jacob called himself “Protector of the Island”. Through his consigliere, Richard Alpert, he directed the activities of the Others over a period of at least one hundred and forty years. Usually projecting an image of compassion or sadness, Jacob professes a philosophy of freedom and personal autonomy. “You have a choice” seems to be the phrase most likely to cross his lips. He believes human beings are on a trajectory toward improvement and progress.

We have met many characters that project a wholesome image but adhere to nefarious ways. Benjamin Linus is an excellent example. When captured in Rousseau’s net and imprisoned in the Swan Station armory, he claimed for days or weeks to be Henry Gale, a balloonist who accidentally meandered over the Island. Ben lied, manipulated, embellished, and in any way he could devise, reordered situations to his advantage. Many other characters have behaved in similar manner.

Jacob “invited” over 360 Candidates to the Island; all but seven of them are dead. Most of them would have lived long, happy lives off the Island, but one way or another Jacob led them to the Island, tested each one, found them in some way deficient, and allowed them to die.

He brought Flight 815 to the Island. Of the 324 passengers and crew, only seventy survived the crash. Less than three dozen remained after the first three months. It is likely that Flight 815 carried not more than a handful of Candidates; if so, nearly seven hundred deaths can be directly attributed to Jacob. It seems likely that far more than this have died over the centuries to feed his desire to test Candidates in a most unforgiving laboratory.

Jacob appeared to James Ford at his parents’ funeral. The eight-year-old boy was composing a letter spelling out his vow of revenge against Tom Sawyer, the man who had cheated his mother, committed adultery with her, and led his father to kill her and take his own life.

James’ Uncle Doug read what he had written. The wise uncle had it right when he said the boy had to get on with his life. Vowing revenge would keep him from growing into a man. If only this had been the single piece of advice he’d received from an adult. Unfortunately, another man had come along only minutes before, just as James’ pen ran out of ink.

Jacob reinforced the connection between his parents’ deaths and James’ perceived need for vengeance. By giving James the pen to complete the letter, Jacob was feeding the boy’s warped sense of purpose, bending James to Jacob’s selfish ends, coercing him into an entire lifetime of pain and hatred, simply so that he might one day find himself in Australia, murder the wrong man, and board a one-way flight back to Los Angeles that would instead crash on an uncharted tropical island.

Jacob’s behaviour toward Dogen was even more coercive and despicable. “I can heal your son,” Jacob told Dogen, as the unfortunate man’s dying son lay unconscious in a hospital bed.

Did Jacob choose him because he had unique abilities, or because Dogen felt enormous guilt at having caused the accident that brought his son to the last minutes before death? Was Dogen essential to Jacob’s cause, or was he exceptionally malleable because of a father’s pain and anguish? “I can heal your son,” Jacob said, but the conditions were cruel: Dogen could never see his son again. Jacob would take him to a place inaccessible to anyone and entirely unknown to the world. And Dogen would serve Jacob until the day he died. Years later, relaying the story to Jack, Dogen was pained by the pain he had caused his son, but he seemed in even greater anguish over the bargain that had forever prevented him from even knowing anything of his son’s life.

We cannot know with certainty that Jacob is evil. He may prove the perfect Angel of Light many believe him to be. His coercion of James, Dogen, and hundreds of others may have been the unfortunate but necessary means of ensuring his replacement and preventing true evil from unleashing itself on the world.

The Candidates

On first glance the reason for these seven individuals’ placement on the list of Candidates seems obvious: They’re all exactly the same height. But if we look beyond the crude (and effective!) Photoshopping, we see other commonalities. All of the Seven have “daddy issues”. Sun’s father was distant and cruel, Sayid’s father was demanding and unemotional, Jack’s father treated him like dirt, Locke’s father was a con man, Kate’s father was a drunkard who abused his wife, and so on. Each of the Seven seeks redemption or spiritual completion that includes a major component directly related to her or his father.

Some will question the presence of Locke among the Candidates in this portrait. The basis for including Locke requires significantly more space than I wish to devote to this section. For those seeking to understand the rationale for considering Locke a Candidate, I recommend these articles:

http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/07/magnificence-the-cultural-mythology-of-lost-101-to-618/

http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/14/impartial-risk-cultural-musings-on-the-resurrection-of-john-locke/

http://www.sl-lost.com/2010/02/10/risk-a-cultural-thesis-for-lost-603-what-kate-does-by-pearson-moore/

Of the Seven, two individuals stand out. Jack has transformed himself from sceptical Man of Science to the fully integrated Man of Faith and firm disciple of John Locke. He is sufficiently in tune with the Island to realise that, like Richard Alpert, he can die, but not at his own hand. But every other belief he now professes is borrowed from the catalogue of John Locke’s articulated views. “We’re here for a reason” and “The Island is not done with us yet” and so on, were all expressed at one time or another by Jack’s former nemesis.

While Jack does not appear to have the strong connection to the Island possessed immediately by John Locke, he has overcome greater obstacles than anyone else, and his Island epiphany may be only hours or days away. It is possible–even likely, at this point–that Jack Shephard will assume the top leadership role in the post-Jacob world.

The other leading Candidate is John Locke. That he remains in contention is due to the successful efforts of one man: Daniel Faraday.

Faraday’s Boulder

The Incident, at least in its final permutation, consisted of the simultaneous detonation of an atomic bomb and the sudden release of almost unlimited electromagnetic energy. The result of the two simultaneous events was not a conversion of matter into energy or the irradiation of everyone in the vicinity, but a rerouting of matter and energy into the uni-directional stream of spacetime and the creation of two equal spacetime streams.

It was Daniel Faraday’s idea that the two events, occurring simultaneously, would have sufficient effect to negate the course of future events after the Incident. Since the future at that time (1977) was the Flight 815 survivors’ past, the detonation of the nuclear device would prevent all of the pain they had endured after the crash.

The plan was implemented by Jack and the plutonium core of the thermonuclear device was finally detonated by Juliet at precisely the moment that catastrophic amounts of electromagnetic energy escaped the confines of the subterranean space beneath the well shaft. The result was… unexpected. Rather than simply wiping out the future/past, two equal spacetime streams were created.

In the (very crude) illustration below, the flow of time is represented by the river. On the right bank of the river is a large boulder, representing the combined space-time-matter-energy warping potential of simultaneous nuclear and electromagnetic release.

The detonation of the bomb and the release of energy, coming together, opposing each other, and interfering in the normal flow of time, is depicted by throwing the boulder into the river.

The water backs up behind the boulder until it reaches the depth required to move around the rock. But now, rather than a single, calm, straight and forward movement, the stream has split into two turbulent, chaotic streams.

The streams are dramatically unstable and they will very quickly crash into each other on the upstream side of the boulder. Given enough time, the stream will again settle down into its normal uni-directional flow. But for a brief period in the history of the universe (or universes?), the streams will exist as distinct, equal, and yet different flows of spacetime. It is during this brief time window that some quite interesting phenomena can be observed and manipulated.

Indivisibility

The stream of time is torn into two equal streams. Each stream contains the same physical elements. In each stream a planet Earth is populated with seven billion human beings, physically identical but with unique histories. Each of the two realities contains a physical manifestation of James Ford, Claire Littleton, Sayid Jarrah, Hugo Reyes, and so on.

While their bodies have been duplicated in the two equal but different spacetimes, their spiritual selves remain intact, undivided, and equally present in both realities. There are two physical presences of James Ford, but there is only one true (spiritual aspect of) James Ford, equally present in both of the physical manifestations.

The point of Charlie’s intense discussions of The Truth was that he was attracted to the very same woman in both realities because the connection was spiritual, and therefore only one abiding connection was possible. Love at first sight was an indication to him of a reality that transcended any of the limitations of the world he inhabited. His connection with Claire was entirely spiritual, in both realities. He forcefully relayed this truth to Desmond, because he knew Desmond also had a Constant. So too in the case of Daniel Faraday. Regardless of the number of worlds his physical presences occupied, he has only one spirit, and therefore he can have only one spiritual love: Charlotte Lewis. Two bodies, two minds, but one spirit, and one love.

The indivisibility of the spirit explains the growing psychic instability between the two worlds. By now almost all the major players in this drama have experienced a “leaking” of knowledge or feelings or sense of presence or memories from one reality to the other. Desmond Hume is the only major player we know to have had complete and unambiguous visions of the other world from both of the spacetime realities. Sun probably has had glimpses into the other world from both spacetimes, but this depends on whether her loss of spoken English indicated a seeping of the sideways reality into her Island psyche. She certainly understood poor, crushed John Locke in the sideways reality as the Smoke Monster, when they were wheeled together into the hospital. Daniel Faraday, dead in the Island reality, nevertheless had glimpses into the Island from his sideways world.

The one crossover from the sideways reality to the Island that must occur is the one Desmond started in motion two episodes ago, at the end of “Everybody Loves Hugo”.

When Desmond rammed the wheelchair-bound Locke with his silver-coloured economy car, he was taking a terrible but necessary risk. Desmond knew that Locke belonged on the Island, that he had to be on the Island if there could be any chance of making things right again. Just as love allowed Daniel to see the Island from his sideways world, just as Desmond’s MRI in the hospital allowed him to recall Penny from his Island reality, so too the awful shock of physical pain and paralysis would shock John Locke into recalling his Island self, and create in him the realisation that he had to go back.

The End Game

Only a few moves remain in this two- or three-thousand-year-old game of backgammon. I have no idea in the world how Locke is going to make it back to the Island. I have not the slightest clue how Jack will win the Island over the considerable efforts and proven talents of both Charles Widmore and the Smoke Monster. Some will certainly die. I most fear for Jack and Kate in this regard, but many of the others look to be increasingly expendable or willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. The last few minutes of our beloved television programme look to be exhilarating but sad, too. This month will be altogether entirely too short, but the long seven days between each episode will be almost unbearably long. It is certainly a month we will never forget.

Mark Pellegrino Talks About Playing Jacob

SL-LOST — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:21:07 +0000

Pellegrino admits that as the actor playing Jacob, he wouldn’t have minded a bit more information about what was actually going on when it came to the mysterious character. “The biggest challenge is not knowing the end, or at least at the time, not knowing all of the elements, and kind of having to instrument-panel my way through things and knowing that it will all work out fine, because I’m being guided,” he said. “But I’m kind of flying blind in a way, because I may not know the significance of this moment or this gesture or this thing that’s going on. I might not know it fully. I can guess and draw some conclusions, but that is a challenge, because I’m used to knowing the end, and I’m used to letting the end inform the rest of the moments in the piece. So that’s kind of the challenge there. It’s also a challenge not to be able to say anything about the project because it’s so … it’s such an intensely guarded secret.”

Head over to ScifiWire to read the full interview.

LOST Comic: Jacob Reveals a Big Secret (For Real This Time)

SL-LOST — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:46:45 +0000

[Via @Nedroid]

LOST Comic: Jacob Reveals a Big Secret

SL-LOST — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:03:28 +0000

[Via @Nedroid]

sl-LOST.com » Jacob

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