According to Vulture:
Disney Might Actually Make a Lost Amusement Park Attraction
The brains behind Lost gathered at PaleyFest2010 yesterday to talk about the difficulties of writing the last season of the show. Most of what Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, and company said is stuff we’ve heard before, like this quote from Lindelof: “When I hear from fans now, it’s only, ‘Don’t screw it up.’ So, that’s what I worry about now — getting it right. A lot of little questions won’t get answered. But, we figure, if the characters don’t care about a certain answer anymore, we don’t either.”
But there was one little revelation that’s cause for excitement. That Lost-themed amusement park attraction we’ve been hoping for? It might actually happen.
According to Paste:
As you may have heard, ABC’s desert-island drama Lost is in its sixth and final season. With the series quickly drawing to a close, devoted fans are left to wonder where they will channel their island-obsessed energies next. Perhaps what they need is a nice vacation…to a Lost theme park attraction?
In a January interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse had this to say: “The Walt Disney Co. owns Lost. It’s a franchise that’s conservatively worth billions of dollars. It’s hard to imagine Lost will rest on the shelves and nothing will ever be made with Lost.”
Fingers crossed!
Jen / desmondismyconstant.
The title, as all titles so far this season, has a few possible meanings. The obvious was the sundown deadline the Man in Black set for the Temple folks to either follow them and be saved, or stay and die… an important ultimatum. It could also reference the 1974 Gordon Lightfoot song, “Sundown”, which was inspired by his then girlfriend, Cathy Smith, whom he says is “the one woman in my life who most hurt me.” In a Sayid-centric episode about his timeline-crossed love and loss of Nadia, and his fight to get her back despite her dying in his arms… I think this is an appropriate choice. The album artwork also goes with the YELLOW theme in this episode (which I’ve noted throughout)… If you’re interested, here are the “Sundown” lyrics.
Doc Jensen:
“Sundown,” reminded us that for all his spirituality, and for all his protest-too-much bleating about being a ”good man,” Sayid has never been able to make peace with his past as a torturer for Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, as well as the CIA. He’s more than mired in his quagmire; he feels like he deserves it. To quote Joseph Conrad, Sayid is a man infected with a self-mortifying, self-corrupting ”fascination with abomination.”
Sideways Timeline (2004)
“Uncle Sayid” arrives at Nadia’s house (in a yellow cab), carrying a bouquet of yellow roses… Yellow roses symbolize friendship, but the color yellow also means cowardice. Other clear association of Sayid and the color yellow: his T-shirt at the job site in Santo Domingo for Build Our World, when he tried escaping anonymously to a faraway place to get over the death of Nadia and try to be a better person.
Doc Jensen:
He walked up to Nadia’s door and rang the doorbell. This being Lost‘s season of mirrors, we saw his reflection in the glass — but he did not. Instead, Sayid looked right through the vision of himself as he watched Nadia approach and welcome him into her home. It was like we were being shown a window into Sayid’s heart. Inside, we saw an idol. Nadia, his beautiful muse and inspiration for redemption… but also his unreachable standard and reminder of his damnation. In the Sideways world, Nadia doesn’t complete Sayid — she negates him. She is not his constant — she is his scale. Poor Nadia. Sayid told her he didn’t deserve her, and he’s right: no woman should be treated like a reward for being ”a good man,” much like an unapproachable, unattainable goddess.
It is revealed that his one true love is married to his brother, Omer Jarrah. At dinner, Nadia mentions Omer just opened a second shop, which he brushes off and then takes a private “business” call in the other room. While he’s out, Nadia asks whether Sayid got her letters and asks why he didn’t write back (aforementioned cowardice). The kids find boomerangs (Sayid’s life is like one giant boomerang?) from Australia in Sayid’s bag, as well as a photo of Nadia. It seems well-known to everyone that Sayid is still in love with Nadia, even Omer, who is watching this unfold from the other room looking mighty displeased.
Omer wakes up Sayid at 2:30 am (the numbers) and says the man he took a loan from is after him and asks Sayid to help. He knows what Sayid is capable of, and tries blackmailing him using his feelings for Nadia (just as the MIB later uses Nadia to blackmail Sayid into helping him). But Sideways Sayid (sporting Candidate BLUE) insists that he is “not that man anymore”, which was last spoken by Jin in “Ji Yeon”… Coincidentally, Jin and Sayid who both insist they are “not that man anymore”, find themselves in Sideways world wrapped up in shady business deals and violence, respectively.
The scene between Sayid and Omer reminded me of the first (and only other time) we saw Omer… When the two of them were kids, Omer was tasked to kill one of the chickens, but he “chickened” out (coward, “yellow”), so Sayid stepped in and snapped its neck. Seems even in adulthood, Omer still expects Sayid to step in and save him.
Sayid sends the kids off to school (on a big yellow bus!), and Nadia frantically rushes out of the house yelling to Sayid that Omar is in the hospital, seriously injured.
The two arrive at St. Sebastian and pass Jack in the hallway, who is again wearing his Sideways signature Candidate BLUE whilst walking down a blue hallway:
Nadia returns home and Sayid is repairing a vase broken by the children (NOT the same vase as his yellow flowers were in, I had to check!)
They talk about why Sayid pushed Nadia towards Omer, and Sayid explains that he has spent 12 years dealing with his guilt for all the horrible things he has done and that he can not be with Nadia because he does not deserve her. He is atoning for his sins… But it doesn’t last long, because the very next morning, the OTHER Omar (spelled differently, one of Keamy’s mercenary friends from the freighter) shows up in a BLACK SUV. Sidenote: Sayid passes a minivan bearing the exact same license plate number as Jack’s off-island Jeep (2SAQ321).
Interesting that Keamy and Omar work together whether the island exists or not. They take Sayid to Keamy at same restaurant kitchen Naomi took Miles to recruit him to join the Kahana in ”Some Like It Hoth“
A big deal is made about Keamy frying some eggs (also yellow): Fried, scrambled, or even poached — in his opinion, he can make some very good eggs indeed! Which immediately made me think of the episode, “Eggtown” which opens with Locke frying some eggs in Ben’s house at the barracks. I’m thinking there’s definitely a clue here… In that episode, Locke commented to Ben (being held captive), that they were the only 2 eggs left in the house, and Ben belittles him for not knowing what to do next (coward?). Also in that episode, it is also revealed that Kate is raising baby Aaron. And on the other hand, this could also be a reference to the aforementioned episode (“He’s Our You”) of the Jarrah boys as kids tasked to kill a chicken…eggs… ANYWAY…
Keamy also uses Nadia and the kids to coerce Sayid into paying Omer’s debt. Sayid declines, and ends up doing some fancy moves to kill Omar and the other man and holds Keamy at gunpoint. Keamy suddenly offers to forgive the debt, so I’m guessing Keamy also knows what Sayid is capable of (i.e. his interrogation time in Iraq). Sayid, back in true form, kills Keamy.
Sayid then hears a ruckus in a freezer, where Jin is being held captive, and says in Korean: “Don’t Kill me. Please. Let me live.”
Jin and Sayid are ALSO wearing Sideways Candidate BLUE, which supports what I was saying last week that blue means Jacob’s still-viable candidates are surrounded in it, on-island, and in Sideways world (Jack and Jin)… BUT only until they are taken over by the MIB (Sawyer, Sayid, Locke).
Island Timeline (2007)
Sayid barges into Dogen’s chambers while Dogen calmly reads a book, “Deep River” – Shusaku Endo’s 1993 novel about four Japanese tourists on a trip to India, which is interrupted by the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Ghandi. Each of these tourists goes to India for different purposes with different expectations, and each finds their own spiritual discovery on the banks of the Ganges River.
Sayid asks about the tests he was put though, and Dogen tells him that for every man there is a scale and on one side of the scale there is good and on the other side evil (Dogen is wearing a black glove on his evil hand, while his good hand remains white). The machine tells them how the scale is balanced and Sayid’s scale tipped “the wrong way.” Kinda like the scale in Jacob’s cave, when the MIB tossed the white stone in the ocean and the scale tipped “the wrong way”… BLACK.
It should be noted, though, that Dogen didn’t say ”tipped toward evil”… Should we be wondering if Lost wanted to invite debate what the ”right way” might be?
Egyptian Book of the Dead: A writing of Egyptian origin that described their belief of the afterlife and the trials that awaited the deceased. One of the trials, conducted by the jackal-headed god Anubis, involved weighing the deceased’s heart on the scale of Maat, counterbalanced by the feather of Truth. Only if the heart was lighter than the feather (i.e. not weighed down with evil) could the soul move to the reward of the afterlife.
Dogen is about to stab Sayid in the throat but is distracted by his baseball which has fallen to the floor and has a moment to reflect. We find out in another scene that the baseball belonged to his son and reminds Dogen of taking him to practice off-island. Also, as I mentioned in my past recap for “What Kate Does”… In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the commander of the station (Benjamin Sisko), used to have a baseball prominently placed on his desk throughout the entire run of the show. In the pilot episode, he used the baseball as a metaphor to explain the nature of linear time to the inhabitants of the wormhole, who experienced time all at once…
The MIB is standing just outside of the circle of ash with Crazy Claire (FUN FACT:”Sundowning” is another term for dementia), convincing her to deliver Dogen a message because he cannot do it himself. He uses Aaron to coax her into implementing his plans, just as he later uses Nadia to coax Sayid, and previously used a ticket off of the island to coax Sawyer. I wonder if the MIB is merely promising a ticket to Sideways world. Plus, all of these exchanges remind me of the Serpent in the story of Adam + Eve, which was of course alluded to last week when Jack and Hurley came across the Adam + Eve skeletons in the caves on their trek to the Tree (er, Lighthouse) of Life…
Wikipedia:
Genesis 3 introduces the Serpent, “slier than every beast of the field.” The serpent tempts the woman to eat from the tree of knowledge, telling her that it will not lead to death; she succumbs, and gives the fruit to the man, who eats also, “and the eyes of the two of them were opened.” Aware now of their nakedness, they make coverings of fig leaves, and hide from the sight of God. God asks them about what they have done. Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent. God curses the snake (which must have been able to walk before this since vs 14 says “upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.”) God then curses Adam and Eve with hard labor and with pain in childbirth, and banishes them from his garden, setting a cherub at the gate to bar their way to the Tree of Life, ”lest he put out his hand … and eat, and live forever.”
Claire delivers the message that “He” would like to speak to Dogen. Dogen knows as soon as he steps outside the circle of ash, MIB would kill him. MIB knew he’d say this, so Claire suggests sending someone he won’t kill. Dogen first asks for Shephard and Reyes, because apparently the MIB cannot kill Jacob’s Candidates. Sayid, formerly a Candidate, will have to suffice. Now taken over by the “darkness”, Dogen knows he is no longer protected and sending him is a death trap. He gives Sayid a ceremonial dagger, prattling on about the MIB being “evil incarnate” (the Serpent) and this is Sayid’s chance to redeem himself and prove he is still “good”. Just like the MIB’s trickery, Dogen plays to Sayid’s weakness to coerce him into killing the MIB, but on his own free will.
On his way to meet the MIB, Sayid meets Kate in the jungle and tells her to ask Miles about what’s going on. We then see Miles playing Solitaire, which appears to be a nod to the Sayid-centric episode “Solitary” from season 1, where we first find out about Sayid’s torturing past and his feelings for Nadia. Sayid’s true love tells him in the interrogation room that he was ”pretending to be something I know you’re not.” After Sayid orchestrated her escape, Nadia fled after writing a message on a picture of herself in Sayid’s dossier: ”You will find me in the next life, if not in this one.”
There is rustling all around Sayid in the jungle, the smoke monster sounds are heard, and then the MIB appears as Locke. Sayid was told to stab him before he spoke, but the MIB managed to say “Hello Sayid” before being stabbed in the heart. Despite this being the same method that the MIB used (via Ben) to kill Jacob, it didn’t work on MIB. This may be because the MIB was allowed to speak before he was stabbed… It may also be because the MIB is a different entity than Jacob was (as he does commonly shape-shift to the smoke monster, and used to take the form of other people – Christian, Alex, Yemi, etc.) It appears the MIB cannot be killed in the conventional sense. AND when he removes the dagger and hands it back to Sayid, it’s the same exact camera angle and motions of when Jacob was conspicuously touching his Candidates…
The MIB says he wants Sayid to deliver a message and offers Sayid anything he wants, anything in the entire world, to do so. Sayid replies that the only thing he ever wanted died in his arms and that he will never see it again (obviously meaning Nadia, but could also refer to Shannon, who died in his arms after being shot by Ana Lucia in season 2).
Additional references from this Sayid/MIB exchange:
- The Temptation of Christ: After being baptized, Jesus enters the wilderness and is approached by Satan who offers him dominion over the world if he follows him.
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: Anakin is told he will be able to save Padme if he converts to the Dark Side. Anakin’s first act as a Sith is to go to the Jedi temple and to kill the younglings.
The MIB seals the deal by rhetorically asking Sayid “What if you could?” in response to an impossible hope. It mirrors what Desmond asked Jack in regard to fixing Sarah’s spine. In both timelines Sayid is asked by someone to kill another person. In the Sideways timeline he refuses but is forced to do it, while on the island he agrees to do it but is unable to… So, accepting the challenge, Sayid publicly announces to the Temple-dwellers that Jacob is dead and because he is gone none of the Temple dwellers have to stay here anymore. He says that the Man is leaving the island forever and that those who want to go with him should join him before “sundown” and be saved, or stay and die. The final plague in the Bible talks of God sending the Angel of Death to Egypt and would kill the firstborns, but would pass over those who stayed true to Him and obeyed him. (Passover)
Sayid says he is returning Dogen’s dagger, and we hear about Dogen’s past off-island life as a successful banker with a drinking problem, who killed his son in a car accident. But Jacob magically appeared and offered him a bargain: His son could be saved, but only if Dogen would come to the island and work and never see the boy again. This is similar to Juliet’s deal in which she came to the Island to find a cure for her sister’s cancer, but was unable to leave the Island afterward. By contrast, the MIB offers Sayid the opportunity to not only bring the woman he lost back from the dead, but to be with her again. Sayid notes to Dogen that Jacob drives a hard bargain… I think this was supposed to be a bit snarky, since he realizes that Jacob makes people SACRIFICE for the ones they love, while the MIB does not.
At any rate, Sayid keeps up his end of the bargain with MIB by killing Dogen, ironically in the same way Dogen’s men killed Sayid trying to SAVE him. And we are left to wonder: (1) how was Dogen’s presence (alive) keeping the MIB out, despite the circle of ash? and (2) will Dogen come back to life, taken over by “darkness” as well, or is it only Jacob’s Candidates?
Kate forces Lennon to let her speak with Claire. Claire is sitting in the pit being creepy and singing “Catch a Falling Star”, which has apparently become Aaron’s official theme song throughout the series. The song also later plays as Claire, Kate, and Sayid walk through the Temple after Smokey attacks, as rain begins to fall, surveying the damage. Jacob’s efforts to “catch” those falling souls appeared to have been in vain, as they are now on the side of the MIB, entranced by his false (?) promises.
And with that, I think we know why the color RED was so prevalent at the Temple… They were setting Jacob’s followers up to be a mass of “redshirts”… Refusing to join the MIB by sundown by staying true to Jacob, most of them incurred the wrath of Smokey. The Temple massacre reminds me a lot of the Purge, initiated by Richard and Ben against the Dharma folks using poisonous gas.
As Sayid walks through and surveys the carnage, a structure that looks like a cross is seen burning, which is sacrilege to Christians, and I think supports the longstanding theory that the MIB represents the Serpent/Satan.
Finding the secret passageway that Jacob described to Hurley, Ilana leads Miles, Sun, Lapidus, and Ben to safety, and they escape Smokey unscathed. The symbol on the door (which we first saw last week when Jacob told Hurley about it, and I forgot to look up!)… is a Shen Ring, an ancient Egyptian symbol of eternity and protection, with shen literally meaning “encircle”. The symbol could be stretched to contain other objects (ahem, the ring of ash), which were then understood as being eternally protected by the Shen Ring. In ancient Egypt, the Shen Ring also represents dual concepts of time; the cyclic line of periodicity and lineal time (into infinity). The Shen Ring is most often seen carried by the falcon god Horus (Goodspeed)… Oh and Nadia was wearing a very Shen-like necklace…
At the end, we see the MIB leading his newly-assembled team of Jacob’s former followers and Candidates out in the jungle, hence beginning the war that we’ve been constantly told is coming. Ilana, Miles, Sun, Lapidus, Jack, Hurley, Jin, and Ben comprise Team Jacob, which is actually pretty ironic since Ben was the one who killed Jacob.
Doc Jensen:
Remember earlier when I talked about how Saul saw Jesus, was blinded with scales, and then three days later the scales fell off and he could see clearly again? From that day forward, Saul became a new creation. He called himself Paul. Now, check this out. Remember before the season began, when ABC released a trio of images that had the cast of Lost replicating Leonardo Da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper? According to tradition, Jesus’ final meal with his disciples occurred on Thursday evening. The next day, on ’’Good Friday,’’ Christ was crucified. Jesus was taken off the cross at sundown (although it had been oddly dark all day) and placed into a tomb. From there, the Christian messiah, God’s only begotten son, is said to have descended into hell to give Satan the finger. Sundown. Son Down. Now, think back to the season premiere, ’’LA X.’’ The castaways arrived back on the Island in the evening. Last night’s episode was the first time we’ve seen evening on the Island since then, and based on what we’ve seen, I think it’s safe to say that only one day has passed since Team Jughead was uploaded to Island 2007. Oh, and in case you weren’t keeping track, Lost’s last season is now one-third complete. Six hours of Lost 6.0 = 1 day on the Island. 18 hours on Lost 6.0 = 3 days. If we say that ’’LA X’’ was Maundy Thursday, and if ’’Sundown’’ was Good Friday, then will the show’s final hour be… Easter Sunday. And you know what happened on Easter? Resurrection. I’m telling you, folks, Alpha, the god of beginnings is coming back to balance the scales, but this time he’ll be wearing a whole new body, because he’s going to be a whole new creation: the resurrected John Locke.
With so many references to GOOD and BAD (especially in this episode) when talking about MIB and Jacob, I almost think that having it so clear-cut (Jacob = good and MIB = bad) means there’s going to be a twist. I think they’re throwing us off… And this seems to be pretty spot on:
Doc Jensen:
Think about the wondrous things associated with Jacob. Richard’s eternal youth. The resurrection hot spring. And, if you believe Ben from season 3, a cure for cancer. Jacob isn’t ”good,” per se — he’s just capable of giving life. Put another way: Jacob is the god of beginnings. He is The Alpha. The Man in Black? Not evil — he’s the god of endings. He is the Omega. The beginning and the end. Polar, warring opposites, but absolutely necessary for life to bloom (Alpha) and to have form (Omega). Both are necessary for anything to have meaning. Jacob unchecked leads to chaos; Man In Black unchecked leads to annihilation. Both need to exist in balance; both need to be equally weighted rocks on the scale.
Leave comments and feel free to share… Thanks for reading!
Jen / desmondismyconstant.
Filed under: Episode Recaps | Tags: lost, recap, season 6, The Lighthouse
This show marked the 108th produced hour of the series, with the number 108 (the sum of the numbers) playing an important role in this episode’s plot. Jack, number 23 on Jacob’s list, and 23 degrees at the lighthouse, had his own centric episode on February 23rd. Neat!
Sideways Timeline (Friday October 24, 2004)
Jack arrives at his apartment after work and changes his shirt. He looks in the mirror (“mirroring” the lighthouse mirror later in the episode), and notices an appendectomy scar he didn’t remember from when he was about 8 (the numbers). This was another moment when Jack appears to be thrown into this Sideways life without having 100% bearing in this new life. The scar actually parallels the scar he received from the appendectomy Juliet performed on him on the Island. So in the other timeline, he didn’t have the appendectomy as a kid, therefore he doesn’t remember it.
Doc Jensen:
Now, we all know that the castaway version of Jack had his appendix removed on the Island back in season 4, and I think Lost wanted us to once again wonder if these Sideways characters are psychically linked to their Island counterparts or possess their memories somewhere the backs of their fogged-up minds. Consider this: If we assume that Jack is about as old as Sawyer, then that means it’s very likely that Sideways Jack had his school collapse/appendix episode the very same year that a certain group of time traveling castaways were blowing up Jughead on the Island. What if Young Jack’s collapse was caused by Castaway Jack’s mind/soul getting blown into him?
His mother Margo calls and asks about the lost coffin. We hear later on David’s answering machine that the date is the 24th, so as of now the coffin is still missing 2 days later. I’m thinking in Sideways world, Christian’s body will forever remain missing. And Jack doesn’t seem to upset about it… He consoles his mother, but it appears Locke’s words rang some truth in him: They didn’t lose your father, they just lost his body.
Jack leaves to pick up his son at St. Mary’s Academy. The Virgin Mary (St. Mary), was referenced before in the show… When Charlie sees Claire as the Virgin Mary in his dream… And when Eko smuggled heroin in Virgin Mary statues, which Charlie steals. Claire’s bassinet (later in the episode) is also the same colors as Mary’s garb…
Jack’s son is David Shephard. David from the Bible was a shepherd and musician. One of his most famous songs is Psalm 23 (Jack’s number): “The Lord is my Shepherd”. David is known as the young warrior who slew Goliath before gaining power and ruling his kingdom. See below, Caravaggio’s depiction of David and Goliath… Caravaggio was shown in the Season 5 episode “316″ when Ben and Jack are in Eloise’s church.
Back at Jack’s apartment, he tells David he can watch the Red Sox (while walking into David’s room, decorated with 2 photos of baseball fields.) It’s clear immediately that David is not interested in sports, but rather music and books. Which made me think about teenage Locke, who was a man of science but longed to be into sports and cars… And also young Faraday, who was a musical genius, but was told to give it up to pursue science.
David is reading The Annotated Alice, The Definitive Edition, by Lewis Carroll. Jack reminisces about reading it to David when he was younger (which made me wonder if he was having another out-of-body experience to another timeline and remembering reading the same thing to young Aaron, as seen in Season 4′s “Something Nice Back Home”…which also happens to be the episode about Jack’s ruptured appendix, in which Juliet performs the surgery with Jack supervising via a…MIRROR!) Jack mentions Alice’s 2 cats “Kitty”, a BLACK cat, and “Snowdrop”, a WHITE cat, from Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.
David gets angry and says, “We only see each other once a month… Let’s just get through it.” And Jack realizes he’s become the terrible father that he once had, and which damaged both Island Jack and Sideways Jack.
At Margo’s house, looking for Christian’s will (in an episode about free will!), Margo offers Jack a drink (from her bar stocked with McCutcheon’s whiskey), and Jack declines. Sideways Jack has gotten his act together! He successfully avoids the demons that corrupted his father.
When he gets home, David is missing…. So let the “white rabbit chase” begin! Jack looks for David at his mother’s house. Her identity is of course kept a secret, but I think there was a clue at her house. The house number is 233, and last week there was a #233 written on Jacob’s wall: JONES. Jones is the name of a US Army solider that the Others (Widmore and Ellie’s group) presumably killed when they arrived on the island. Widmore then wore Jones’ uniform. Perhaps David’s mother is a descendant of the 1950′s US Army Jones. Or maybe it’s Juliet? They obviously aren’t together anymore, which leaves her free to go dutch on coffee with Sawyer (wink wink!)
Jack finds the house key under a pottery rabbit (just like Miles did when he was a boy snooping around at the apartment-showing when he discovered a dead body in one of the apartments). This is also a nod to Alice, with the book shown earlier, as well as the looking glass shown at the lighthouse (more on that later).
In David’s room, it’s filled with the things he loves and Jack pokes around, getting to know his son. He finds a vast array of music and recording equipment, as well as:
A “Meat Coat” poster… Season 1′s “The Moth” shows Charlie in Australia trying to convince his brother Liam to reunite their band Driveshaft. Charlie has a deal for the band to open for “Meat Coat” on tour. Lots of Charlie references this episode!
“M. Gold” poster… Not sure exactly what this references, but the color GOLD could refer to the Golden Pass that the Oceanic 6 received, the gold Pontiac that caused numerous car accidents in the show, Driveshaft’s record went gold, the Black Rock was on a gold mining operation in the South Indian Ocean, GOLDstein was a name listed on Jacob’s wall, etc.
“Stillborn Skies” poster… This is an actual band based out of Honolulu, HI.
“Justice Calling” poster, B+W soccer ball, BLUE desk lights, RED siren lights…
“Fantasie-Impromptu” by Chopin (which is what young Faraday was playing in his flashback in Season 5′s “The Variable”)…
A big blue poster of Beethoven, and on the ceiling, “The Who: Maximum R&B”…
Photobooth pics of David and Jack, having fun together (note: David is wearing a Dodgers hat, not Sox), and both are wearing blue.
David’s phone number is 734-235-6787. Turns out 734 is the area code for Ann Arbor, MI where Daniel Faraday was sent to work for the Dharma Initiative’s headquarters. They are clearly making David out to be a young Faraday.
Jack heads over to Williams Conservatory (the sign he sees while walking in says “Welcome all Candidates”) to catch David playing Chopin’s “Etude in C minor” (aka The Revolutionary Étude) during his audition. The étude appeared around the same time as the November Uprising in 1831. Chopin was unable to have a strong participating role because of his poor health, and allegedly he poured his emotions on the matter into many pieces that he composed at that time – the Revolutionary Étude standing out as the most notable example. Upon conclusion of Poland’s failed revolution against Russia, he cried “All this has caused me much pain. Who could have foreseen it!”
Dogen’s son compliments David’s playing, then Dogen says “it is hard to watch and be unable to help” and adds that David “has a gift” (similar to when Juliet told Michael that Walt was “special”.)
Jack waits for his son outside. David says that he did not tell Jack about the audition because he did not want Jack to see him fail. Jack tells his son that at David’s age his father did not want to see him fail either and that he said that Jack “didn’t have what it takes”… In the Island timeline, Hurley gets Jack to follow him to the lighthouse by saying he “HAS what it takes.”
Doc Jensen:
And so he told him: ”When I was your age, my father didn’t want to see me fail, either. He said: I didn’t have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I don’t want you to feel that way. In my eyes, you can never fail. I just want to be part of your life.” I was moved by Jack bid at reaching out to his son — and I was struck that his words included some extraordinary grace for his father. To me, it sounded like Jack understood his father loved him, even if he had a clumsy way of showing it, and that he himself bore some responsibility for choosing to believe in his dead father’s judgment.
…
This story ended with Jack looking into the episode’s most unusual and most miraculous of mirrors — the eyes of his son, David. What he saw in them was the very thing his Island self should have recognized in the Lighthouse: an invitation to let go of the past and move into the future.
Island Timeline (2007)
I: The Lighthouse Expedition
Jack is looking at his reflection in the pool in front of the Temple. This again “mirrors” the mirror theme of this episode. Jack is constantly looking at his reflection and trying to find out what he is really all about, what his purpose is.
Jacob appears by the pool and instructs Hurley to get Jack, leave through a secret passageway, and take him to the lighthouse. He says, “Someone is coming to the island, and I need you to help that someone find the island.” It is actually a quest for Jack to find his purpose on the island.
Dogen finds Hurley wandering a hallway, and Hurley stands up to him, playing the Candidate card (he “lied to a Samurai”, haha… This actor actually played a samurai in The Last Samurai)… Dogen responds angrily in Japanese: “You’re lucky that I have to protect you. Otherwise I’d have cut your head off.”
Hurley rallies Jack with the “you have what it takes” line, and they are off on their trek through the jungle, where they soon encounter Kate. She’s now on a (doomed) mission to find Claire. ”I hope you find what you’re looking for,” she wishes her former lover as he follows his white rabbit hunt to leave his painful past behind.
They come across Shannon’s inhaler and realize they’re at the caves. Hurley speculates that Adam and Eve might be the remains of some of the 815 survivors who have been sent back in time. More support for Adam + Eve being… Rose + Bernard!
Jack and Hurley’s “old school” trek through the jungle to the lighthouse may be an allusion to Virginia Woolf’s 1927 book To the Lighthouse. Large parts of Woolf’s novel investigate the means of perception, attempting to understand people in the act of looking.
Jack and Hurley arrive at the Lighthouse. Jack, determined to talk to Jacob, breaks the door open. Inside they discover a wheel surrounding a fire bowl and a series of mirrors to reflect the firelight. They have to turn it to 108 (the sum of all the numbers). Jack starts recognizing some of the names on the wheel, and we find out where the number assignments came from for the Candidates list we saw in Jacob’s cave last week. WALLACE was again listed as 108. Wallace is an unknown character, but I believe this is unimportant since the quest to get person 108 to the island was just a guise.
Here are the additional names shown in the lighthouse that weren’t shown in the cave:
• Rousseau crossed out at number 20.
• Austen at number 51. Austen is not crossed out and was not shown in the scene in the cave in “The Substitute.”
• Burke crossed out at number 58.
• Faraday crossed out at number 101.
• Lewis crossed out at number 104, which is different from The Substitute where she has number 140.
• Rutherford crossed out at number 32, which is different from The Substitute where she has number 31.
• Wallace crossed out at number 108.
• Friendly crossed out at number 109.
• Linus crossed out at number 117.
• Dawson crossed out at number 124.
• Littleton crossed out at number 313.
THE FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES LISTED IN THE CAVE AND LIGHTHOUSE
After seeing the temple in Korea where Jin and Sun got married (more proof that 42-KWON, I think, is actually both Sun AND Jin), the church where Sawyer’s parents’ funeral was held, and then Jack’s own childhood home reflected in the mirror, Jack angrily smashes the mirrors with a looking glass when Jacob fails to appear for answers. I think he was half-expecting his father to appear, instead of Jacob. The mirrors themselves were looking glasses into each Candidates’ former life. And, as Jack seems to notice little “kinks” in Sideways World by looking in a mirror (cut on his neck, appendectomy scar he doesn’t remember)… The lighthouse mirrors show him the life he left behind.
Jacob appears and Hurley apologizes for failing in his mission and that the plan for the people to find the Island is “totally screwed”. Jacob is unperturbed, and it is implied that no one was ACTUALLY coming to the island, it was just an exercise to get through to Jack.
Jacob also explains that Jack is here to do something (reset the timeline? Kill the MIB?). To get some people to do something you just tell them, but for people like Jack you need to “let them look out at the ocean for a little while”. He also explains that he had to get them away from the Temple, because someone bad is about to arrive there. Hurley wants to warn the people at the temple but Jacob explains that it is already too late. I’m thinking he knows Sayid has been compromised, so Jacob ushered his other Candidates to safety, while leaving the rest of his crossed out followers to die.
II: Claire’s Camp
Jin wakes up in Claire’s creepy hut, and sees: bloody clamps, Dharma mayo and ale, an oar, plane seats, baby books (Wish Upon a Star… Similar to “Catch a Falling Star”, Aaron’s song), explosives from the Black Rock, a compass (Locke’s?), and a bright blue bassinet holding a makeshift doll Claire constructed from an animal carcass, confirming her insanity.
When Claire is tending to Jin’s bear trap wound, she states that one of the jungle’s killers is “infection”. Ethan had kidnapped her to vaccinate her against the “infection”… And of course Rousseau killed her own “infected” teammates.
Claire, having lived in isolation and corrupted by an evil spirit, killed Justin with an axe to the chest. This is similar to the movie version of “The Shining” where Jack Torrance, having lived in virtual isolation in the Hotel Overlook and corrupted by the evil spirits within, kills Dick Halloran with an axe to the chest when he returns in an attempt to save the family from Jack’s madness.
It’s interesting that Claire doesn’t remember abandoning Aaron in the jungle when she followed her dad to the cabin. She is convinced the Others took him, which is what the MIB has told her in different guises (Christian/Locke). So MIB is using her to implement his will: Killing Jacob’s followers and Candidates by manipulating her with Aaron. At some point she was captured and put through the same tests as they performed on Sayid. She clearly failed, then escaped.
When Jin says Kate took Aaron to save Justin’s life, Claire kills Justin anyway and Jin knows she can’t be trusted. He backtracks on his story to save Kate, but Claire doesn’t appear to believe him. The Kate/Claire run-in next week is going to be… Interesting!
Miscellaneous:
Colors are VERY prominent again this episode….
RED: clothing of everyone at the Temple, numerous items in Christian’s old office (books, etc.), front door of Margo’s house, Margo’s sweater and fingernails, McCutcheon’s bottle, Williams Conservatory signage and stage drapery, Hurley’s T-shirt, Claire’s explosives, the X’s in tic-tac-toe, Alice book, the framed pic of Jack and his dad, etc.
BLUE: Jacob and David’s bright blue eyes, Sideways Jack’s hospital scrubs, dress shirt, and blazer, David’s school uniform, his Dodgers hat and shirt, Claire’s plaid shirt, the fabric on the roof of her hut, the baby bassinet, Island Jack’s T-shirt, Kate’s backpack, the siding on David’s mom’s house, Sideways Dogan’s tie, David’s blue Beethoven poster, Jack’s golf bag, ink on Hurley’s arm, the reference to Virgin Mary, etc.
Back in season 1, while leaving a trail in the jungle, Locke marks the trees with strips of RED fabric and says it shows the “progress” of their trek. This should ring some bells, as Jacob (while talking to the MIB on the beach in a very compelling scene last season) was an advocate for the “progress” in bringing people to the island. So perhaps it’s reasonable to say RED can be associated with Jacob, who stands for “progress”. So Jacob’s progress = RED and Jacob himself = WHITE (which he continues to wear posthumously).
Now, for the BLUE… I think there are 2 possibilities. Claire’s hut was filled with blue items, and she is now known to be the right-hand woman of the MIB. Sawyer was also wearing blue last week when he decided to help MIB get off the island. So one thought I had is that BLUE can be associated with the followers of MIB, the opposite of progress, and stifling one’s free will to help MIB further his plans. My other idea has to do with the prominence of blue in the Sideways timelines so far, especially last night in Jack’s story. He was wearing blue shirts in each scene (blue scrubs, then blue dress shirt), David was always wearing blue, and his room was filled with blue. And last night Jack was wearing blue on the island as well. There was an emphasis in Locke’s story last week on blue, but Locke is dead on the island, so it’s hard to tell if this is the same connection (other than Locke’s corpse wearing a blue dress shirt)…but… I think that the people in blue might be indicating Jacob’s leading Candidates (now Jack and Sawyer), and their connection to the alternate Sideways reality, because I think that’s what they’re unknowingly working towards: resetting their lives to make Sideways their eternal reality. This whole experience will subconsciously affect everyone and their judgment, and it helps them make better decisions for a more fulfilling life. So I think either BLUE means the stifling trickery of the MIB, or the success of Jacob’s will (resetting the timeline). You be the judge!
There were several references in this episode (the 5th episode of this season) to Season 1, Episode 5 “White Rabbit”:
- In order to motivate Jack, Jacob tells Hurley to tell Jack he “has what it takes.” This motivates Jack because Christian once told Jack he didn’t have what it takes.
- Jack explains to Hurley that he discovered the caves by following a vision of his dead father.
- David is reading an annotated edition of Alice in Wonderland.
- Jack finds the key to David’s mother’s house under a ceramic white rabbit. The key and the rabbit also reference “Some Like it Hoth”, in which Miles finds a key under a rabbit during the flashback.
- Jack reminds David he used to read Alice to him when he was younger. In a flash-forward in Season 4, Jack reads the same story to Aaron.
- Two of Jack’s centric episodes are named after Alice stories: “White Rabbit” and “Through the Looking Glass”. Last night’s episode shows both a white rabbit and a looking glass.
”Through A Glass, Darkly,’‘ a poem written by Gen. George S. Patton…
Through A Glass Darkly is an abbreviated form of a much-quoted phrase from 1 Corinthians 13 in the Christian New Testament, “For now we see through a glass, darkly”, meaning clarity on a situation is often obscured, like looking at something with a darkened mirror.
So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.
And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o’er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.
So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.
Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to leave your questions + comments below.
Jen / desmondismyconstant.
Locke accepts his disability and takes a job he is suited for: “Substitute” (teacher). The title also references Jacob’s list in the cave… Candidates to take his place as the “Substitute” Jacob, as well as Locke’s body being a substitute for the Man in Black.
Sideways timeline (2004)
The show opens with Locke pulling into the driveway of a house on a street that resembled one we saw in Season 2′s ”Lockdown,” when pre-wheelchair Locke was working as a house inspector and checking out a home in Irvine being purchased by Sayid’s love, Nadia. (Maybe Sideways Nadia is Sideways Locke’s neighbor, perhaps setting up a future run-in between Locke and Sayid.) Locke’s wheelchair lift malfunctions (producing the mechanical clicking sound of the smoke monster, by the way), and he ends up falling on the lawn, which is a circumstance he is noticeably accepting of and even chuckles at.
In the tub, Helen talks to John about having a shotgun wedding in Vegas with just her parents and his father (Anthony Cooper). Additionally, a picture of Locke and his father can be seen at his desk at the box company. So in Sideways World, Locke has a GOOD relationship with his father… So then how did he become paralyzed if his father didn’t push him out a window where he fell 8 stories? And, if this DID happen in Sideways World, how did he survive if Jacob wasn’t there to intervene/revive him (a la Lazarus, a miracle recounted only in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus [aka Jacob...more proof on this later] restores him to life four days after his death.)
And speaking of the wedding, we know from season 1 that Boone Carlyle’s mother, Sabrina Carlyle, owned a massively successful wedding business, and that Boone served as the company’s COO. Perhaps the Carlyle family biz will play a role in Locke and Helen’s upcoming wedding!
In the tub, Locke is drinking from the same exact (mostly) black and white mug that Cassidy had at her home:
Locke in the tub bears a striking similarity to the Death of Marat by David. Marat (in part responsible for the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution) was afflicted with a skin condition and facial injury often being confined to home. The woman who killed him claimed to have killed 1 to save 100,000 to prevent an all-out civil war…like the battle that’s looming this season. Oh, and the woman known to have killed Marat? Charlotte (our dearly departed anthropologist)…
Helen asks him to choose a fabric color for the chair backs, it’s between green and blue… He chooses green then changes to blue. And, BLUE becomes a new color to look out for in this episode, notably in Sawyer and Richard’s near-identical outfits:
Back at the office, we see 2 photos on Locke’s desk: he and his father, they looked to be hunting, as we saw them back in ”Deus Ex Macina”, and also a photo of Locke with Helen in a tropical setting, presumably Hawaii. The curious thing about both photos: Locke appeared to be standing.
Randy fires Locke for skipping the conference. Outside, Locke, clearly in denial about his disability, opts to park in a regular spot, next to Hurley’s big yellow Hummer (seen last in Season 1′s “Numbers”, in which Hurley wins the lottery and his string of bad luck begins. However, Locke’s wheelchair lift malfunctioned just prior to hitting Hurley’s Hummer, as in the new timeline Hurley is lucky). Locke pounds on the back out of frustration, which reminds us when he first discovered the hatch but couldn’t get inside, he pounded on the door.
At the temp agency, an interviewer asks John what kind of animal he would consider himself. If she looked familar – good! She was last seen as Lynn Karnoff, who posed as a fortune-teller in the Season 3 episode “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”. Hurley’s dad put her up to it to say that she can remove the curse Hurley thinks the numbers brought him, but she gives up this guise when Hurley offers her $1,000 to admit his dad is behind it. She is wearing a similar light purple blouse in both scenes, but now (appropriately) her hair is RED…
Locke asks for the supervisor and gets… Rose! Always there with words of wisdom and comfort, she uses her own experience with cancer to urge Locke to stop being so stubborn about his disability and start LIVING life.
Locke wakes (possibly the next morning) to the distinct sound of the hatch’s emergency alarm on his alarm clock. He calls Jack’s office but chickens out. He tells Helen he has accepted his disability, but she continues on her earlier insistence that meeting Jack was “destiny” by saying that “miracles do exist”. In this scene she is wearing a shirt that reads: “Peace and Karma”… She is a real light in Locke’s Sideways World… Except for that jet-black nail polish she’s wearing… Hmmm.
Locke tells Helen about the Walkabout he tried to take in Australia…
Doc Jensen:
It was interesting the way he described the walkabout later in the episode. He called it ”an adventure” about ”man versus nature.” By contrast, when Island Locke described the Walkabout in the classic season 1 episode of the same name, he called it ”a journey of spiritual renewal, where one derives strength from the earth and becomes inseparable from it.” Island Locke wanted to be feel connected to the world, to something bigger than himself; Sideways Locke wanted to feel his own strength, to feel whole again — to feel like a man.
In lieu of construction, Locke is sent to a more appropriate job for him as a substitute teacher. After phys-ed, he teaches a health class on human reproduction (the main crisis on the island in 2004 in the other timeline, by the way).
Doc Jensen:
For now, John Locke is a man of science. Literally. He accepted a job as substitute teacher. Subject: Biology. First lesson: the human reproductive system. It also looked like he was either teaching physical education or coaching basketball. There were some deeply embedded ironies here… the season 4 episode ”Cabin Fever,” in which Teenage Locke was encouraged by a teacher to cultivate his natural talent for science by attending a summer camp run by Mittelos Biosciences. But Locke didn’t want to hear that. He wanted to drive fast cars and play sports. When he was told his dreams were unrealistic, Young Locke bellowed, ”Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Here in the Sideways world, Locke is teaching science, teaching sports, and looking very much like a man who just found his niche.
In the teacher’s lounge, he meets an eccentric, off-island Ben Linus, who teaches European history. John gives Ben a knowing grin… Was that recognition/deja vu?
In the teachers’ lounge at the school where Locke works as a substitute, a wall banner in the background reads: “Live in the present, plan for the future.”
Original timeline (2007)
Ben walks into the foot of the statue where Ilana is crying, staring at her fallen team. I’m guessing by her reaction that she either had a romantic relationship with Bram, Jacob, and/or possibly even the Man in Black (he mentions later to Sawyer that he has lost someone he cared about). Ilana asks Ben if “Locke” also killed Jacob, which Ben falsely confirms. There is a knowing look on Ilana’s face here… She probably knows the “rules” in which the MIB cannot kill Jacob therefore Ben must have.
Somehow that tiny little fire reduced Jacob’s body to ash (no need for an incinerator on the island!) Ilana promptly gathers up the ash in a little drawstring bag. Which made me wonder… If the ash is Jacob’s body, has he died before? Is Jacob inhabiting different bodies just like the MIB? And if so, is all the ash (surrounding the cabin and the Temple) bodies of past fallen inhabitants of Jacob’s spirit? Methinks so!
The crate that held Locke’s dead body is labeled with the numbers 823.
The group buries Locke at the survivors’ burial ground. Ben says that Locke was a “believer, a man of faith,” and that he was “a much better man than I will ever be.” He adds that he is “very sorry I murdered him.” Now that Locke and Ben have met in Sideways world, I wonder if the same fate/dynamic will happen all over again with these two…
Ilana says that MIB took Richard because he is “recruiting”… Looked like he was pulling the emotional strings (a la Ben) of BOTH Richard and Sawyer, trying to get them both on his side. In the beginning, we see the smoke monster reflected outside Sawyer’s bedroom window. He goes back later to recruit him and Sawyer is listening to “Search and Destroy” by The Stooges, which offers in the refrain the lyrics, “I am the world’s forgotten boy; the one who searches, searches to destroy,” plus reference to nuclear/hydrogen bombs. The lyrics also plead “Somebody better save my soul.”
Sawyer asks “Locke”… “I thought you were dead?” to which he replies, “I am.” Was he speaking as the MIB or Locke? There are a couple times in this episode that made me think the MIB is tapping into Locke’s emotions (like when MIB said he has lost someone… Could’ve been Locke referring to Helen…)
MIB gives Richard a drink and says that he wants what he has always wanted, for Richard to come with him. Richard had blindly decided to follow Jacob long ago, and sticks with that choice. MIB then sees (presumably) young Jacob, standing in the jungle with bloody arms outstretched like Jesus and the Virgin Mary… (important to note: Richard does not see him)
MIB sees the boy again and chases him, when he catches up, the boy (Jacob) says: “You know the rules… You can’t kill him.” I’m guessing that any of Jacob’s candidates are also part of the no-killing-each-other rule. Sawyer could also SEE Jacob, confirming that he is a valid candidate.
Sawyer brings up a favorite book of his, Steinbeck’s 1937 “Of Mice and Men.” MIB says the book is “after his time.” Sawyer was seen reading this book when he was in prison. The book is critical of the American Dream, and all dreams in general, suggesting that they are, quite often, ultimately futile. One of the central themes in the novel, and in the show (especially pertaining to Sawyer) is isolation and finding a place to fit in in the world when you are different. Ben emphasizes this point across when he shows Sawyer they are on Hydra, talks about his suppressed emotions towards Kate, and then quotes the book: “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. It don’t make any difference who the guy is, so long as he’s with you. I tell ya…I tell ya, a guy gets too lonely, and he gets sick.” Other notable themes: visions of rabbits (the numbered white rabbits), and playing horseshoes (Hurley and Sawyer in Dharmaville).
Sawyer and MIB arrive at a cliff and descend, quite literally, Jacob’s Ladder (a ladder to Heaven described in the Book of Genesis which the biblical patriarch Jacob envisions during his flight from his brother Esau).
The description of Jacob’s ladder appears in the Book of Genesis (28:11–19):
Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it [or "beside him"] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.” And he was afraid, and said, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
Saint John Climacus (also known as John of the Ladder) wrote a book called “Ladder of the Divine Ascent” which uses Jacob’s Ladder as an analogy for the ascetic life. It is frequently read by Orthodox Christians during the Lent season before Easter. The episode “The Substitute” aired the night before the start of non-Orthodox Lent (Ash Wednesday)
The first thing you see inside the cave is a black rock and a white rock balanced on a scale. Did that remind anyone else of the Adam + Eve skeletons at the cave, with the black and white rocks? B+W rocks, caves… Very similar! This is also a reference to the Allegory of the Cave: This philosophical concept is attributed to Plato. The idea that people live their lives and form ideas that are not indicative of reality is mirrored in the Man in Black’s view that Jacob manipulated everyone he brought to the Island into believing certain ideas. And another reference to Tibetan Buddhism: The scale with black and white rocks is part of Buddhist mythology, in which a god called the Dharma-Raja judges the dead using such a scale.
And now, the big reveal of Jacob’s candidates for his successor, along with the numbers, and everyone else who didn’t make the cut! Noticeably absent from the candidates list, who DID receive a visit and touch from Jacob as a child… Kate Austen. Here’s a full list of all the legible names as well as frame-by-frame screencaps.
4 – Locke – crossed out (deceased)
8 – Reyes
15 – Ford
16 – Jarrah
23 – Shephard
42 – Kwon (Jin and/or Sun, Jacob touched them both at their wedding)
–
291 – Domingo (possibly Paulo?)
175 – Costa (possibly Paulo?)
10 – Mattingley (US Army, identity unknown)
222 – O’Toole (unclear, though Rose + Bernard met at O’Toole’s Irish Pub)
317 – Cunningham (US Army, identity unknown)
269 – Garner (unknown)
238 – Jones (US Army, the name Widmore wore)
20 – Rousseau (Danielle, deceased)
90 – Troup (Gary, author of the “Bad Twin” screenplay, died in the 815 crash)
313 – Littleton (Claire or Aaron, crossed out even though they are both alive)
272 – Oralingo (unknown)
? – Sullivan (middle section survivor, not shown to have died, but presumed dead)
? – Straume (Miles, crossed out even though he is still alive)
? – Lacombe (member of Rousseau’s team, deceased)
346 – Grant (unknown)
? – Reynolds (unknown)
321 – Fernandez (Nikki, deceased)
? – Goodspeed (Ethan, Horace, Amy, or Olivia, all deceased)
Miscellaneous
The irony: Despite the MIB’s admonishment of Locke for being weak/helpless, the Man in Black is equally as confined to the island as John was to his wheelchair (the Man in Black even uses the phrase “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”), and although he recognizes Locke as being the smartest of the Oceanic survivors for being the only one who didn’t want to leave the island, The Man in Black’s primary goal seems to be to do just that: leave the island.
The irony:Hurley gives Locke another job after he is fired and tells him that everything is going to be okay. The first shot of the next scene is a dead John Locke.
Astrological references include the crab behind Locke’s ear (Cancer), and the scales (Libra).
RED everywhere in this episode again… The writing on the whiteboard in Locke’s classroom, the boy he stopped to ask where the teacher’s lounge was wearing a red polo shirt, red car of Locke’s neighbor, the big red switch on Locke’s malfunctioning lift, the curtains in Locke’s bedroom, the towels in his bathroom, the blood on young Jacob’s arms, red poster on the cubicle wall behind Locke when he’s at the temp agency talking to Rose, Roses are red, etc. etc. Red is a real theme this year! Still think it means reincarnation.
And, a final thought:
Doc Jensen:
…the Sideways story line didn’t actively portray its John Locke as destroyed by loneliness or abandonment. On the contrary: Sideways John Locke had self-confidence, self-awareness, and a genuine self. He also enjoyed the security of knowing he was loved by his soulmate, Helen. But I wonder if that’s part of the important point of these parallel world stories. Lost is creating the means for us to see these too-familiar people with fresh eyes. By presenting them as something profoundly different, as profoundly ”Other,” the castaways are revealed anew, or perhaps even for the first time, by the comparison.
Thanks for reading, and sorry it’s late today!!
Jen / desmondismyconstant.
Kate’s Sideways and Island lives keep her chasing/following Sawyer and Claire… When the sheep wander off (to grieve a dead girlfriend), or become stranded in the wild (like the terrifying urban jungle of Los Angeles), Kate will put her own security at risk to rescue the sad strays of her flock, no matter what. This is “What Kate Does”… She is the Shepherdess to Jack Shepherd.
To quote a line from one of the show’s literary references, The Little Prince, the title of a season 5 show (referring to Aaron)… “You are responsible forever for what you have tamed.” Kate, in helping Claire through her crisis, feels indebted to her throughout her life and time… Raising Aaron as her own when Claire disappears, delivering Aaron in the jungle / taking her to the hospital, and going back to the island to reunite Claire with her son.
Flash-Sideways Timeline
Kate, fleeing in the taxi, notices Jack when they are stopped waiting for that doof Arzt to get his luggage out of the street. Arzt shouts “I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” This line is from the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, delivered by Dustin Hoffman’s character, Ratzo Rizzo. AND, this line was also delivered by Marty McFly Jr. in Back to the Future II, a movie series referenced to before in the show because it also centered around time travel, paradoxes, changing history and the impact they have on family relations. It is ALSO the same line spoken by Sawyer when Christian exits the car while with Ana lucia in Austrailia. A lot of references.
Embedding disabled for this one, but here is a clip of both the Midnight Cowboy and Back to the Future II references.
Kate looks at Jack quizzically… But it’s unclear whether she merely recognizes he’s the guy she ran into coming out of the bathroom on the plane, the one she stole the pen from to try to break free of her cuffs… Or was it a more meaningful glance, is she having déjà vu from their alternate Island timeline? (I’m thinking both.)
Kate then forces Claire out of the car but without her suitcase. Kate obviously kept it so she could change her clothes later, but Claire was in hysterics that she get her suitcase, until Kate shoved the gun in her face and told her to get out. We then see she’s only traveling with baby stuff… So why was that so important to her? Who gave her those things? Baby clothes, washcloths, bottles, and the big toy stuffed killer whale. I immediately thought of the big black and white panda that Jin bought back in Korea. But this is also the SAME stuffed whale Aaron is carrying as a toddler when Kate and Jack fight about him. Is that a bit of recognition we see on Kate’s face… Another attack of déjà vu?
Doc Jensen:
Now here’s the crazy thought I had — an alternative to past-life/reincarnation theory. I submit that when Kate saw Jack at the airport, she established a psycho-spiritual circuit with her doppelganger self on he Island, and specifically the moment between Jack and Kate in Temple [where non-jealous Jack wishes Kate well on her trek to find Sawyer, giving her strength]. This circuit facilitated a transference of psychic energy that flowed from Island Kate to Sideways Kate — or rather, from Redeemed Kate to one of her Fallen Kate selves in another world. That energy? Strength. Selflessness. A sense of sacrifice. A sense of ”You All Everybody” idealism. All qualities that Kate embodied in her Island story — and all qualities that Kate gained during her Sideways story. Bottom line: The Sideways-Island relationship is a metaphor for our relationship to fiction. It’s about how fantasy redeems reality. Like last week’s literary reference Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Lost is telling us a story about the redemptive value of storytelling itself. Haroun asks, What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true? Lost answers, They teach us how to make the real world a better place.
The mechanic that helps Kate cut her handcuffs has two different colored eyes, one light and one dark… Weird…
When Kate and Claire arrive at the couple’s house who are supposed to adopt the baby, the woman (credited as Lindsey Baskum… Claire also has an Aunt Lindsey), distraught, says her husband left her and she can’t do this alone. Which is ironic because that’s the exact reason Claire was giving the baby up. Now, the psychic had told Claire that this couple in LA would raise Aaron… So did the psychic know that in either timeline, Claire would be forced to keep Aaron (on-island, or off-island because the couple split up)?
Claire goes into false labor due to her stressful encounter with Lindsey, just as she went into false labor from the stress of arriving on the island after the crash, and Kate has to be the one to take her to the hospital. This mirrors their 2004 island life because Kate was the one who delivered Aaron. Kate and Claire were alone together in the jungle and Jack was too far away to help…
Of course, this also mirrors island life when Claire’s doctor turns out to be Ethan Goodspeed (!!), wearing RED. He was the Others’ surgeon on the island, as he is off of it. Of course he is now using his parents’ (Amy + Horace) surname, instead of Rom, which he presumably changed when he went “rogue” on Dharma, killing them all in the Purge with his pal, Ben Linus. But in Sideways World, the island is underwater… So he probably had a normal childhood with Amy and Horace, born off-island. Ethan says that he doesn’t want to stick a bunch of needles into Claire if he doesn’t have to, which is exactly what he does to her in the original timeline. Of this scene, I was wondering if on the island after Ethan kidnapped Claire and she was trying to remember what happened, if the flashes she was remembering of her experience were partially of the Sideways timeline in which Ethan was forcibly her doctor, pricking her belly with “medication” for Aaron. Hmmm… This scene also made me remember that on the island, Ethan was born 2 weeks premature, and Aaron was about to arrive 2 weeks premature.
Tania Kahale, who played Veronica, Aaron’s nanny, appears in this episode as the admitting nurse at the hospital. It is possible that this is the same character in the alternate timeline.
Claire is looking at her ultrasound which is dated October 22, 2004 at 9:29:42am, one month after the crash of Flight 815 in the original time line. Interesting…. Sideways timeline occurs one month after the original. The ultrasound also reveals Claire is at Angel of Mercy Hospital in Brentwood. “Angel of Mercy” I think is a reference to Claire’s own guardian angel, Kate.
After Claire covers for Kate when the police come in asking for Joan Hart (which of course made me think of Clarissa Explains It All... Melissa Joan Hart… anyone? Haha… This is actually an old alias Kate used in “Born to Run”), Claire asks Kate what she had done (the title of the episode, therefore an important scene)… Kate responds, “Would you believe me if I said I was innocent?” Claire says that she would, and this is a really interesting exchange because (a) Kate actually did kill her dad, she’s not innocent, and was lying, (b) she had kidnapped Claire just a couple hours earlier in the cab, stole her purse and luggage, and should not have gained her trust, and (c) Kate says in the 2007 island timeline that she can be “very convincing when she wants to be” when asked why she thinks Sawyer will listen to her.
2007 Island Timeline / Temple
Lennon hurries to tell Dogen the good news: “He” is alive. Both show a hint of a smile. Looks like they were expecting Jacob to return, after just hearing the news of his death. Also in this scene, Lennon strides the corridors barefoot… (Doc Jensen)…”Given we’re talking about a character named after a dead Beatle, perhaps Lennon’s bare feet was a wink at the infamous ”Paul is dead” urban legend from 1969, in which it was claimed that Paul McCartney had died and that the Beatles had replaced him with a look-alike. Very Locke/Fake Locke. Maybe very Sayid, too?”
I’m not sure if this means anything, but Sayid’s accent sounds different than normal, like he’s going in and out between the actor’s normal British accent and the Iraqi accent he uses on the show. Done on purpose to show he’s not quite himself? He is usually pretty meticulous with his accent. Hmm…
Miles tells Sayid that Hurley has assumed a leadership role, though this is only because dead-Jacob is implementing his will through Hurley, who can see/speak to the dead.
We then see MAC (!!) from Always Sunny, returning in his role of Aldo, the guard on Hydra who Kate attacked when she escaped… Last time we saw him, he was reading A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, an important book in Lost lore.
Dogen puts Sayid through a test. He is strapped down to a gurney, Dogen blows ash over his chest, and then hooks him up to an electric generator (RED with red wires), shocks him (a similar method of torture Rousseau used on Sayid when she interrogated him in “Solitary”), then burns his chest with a RED hot poker. Lennon assures Sayid that he passed the test, but he has lied. Somehow this test proved that the darkness was taking over Sayid. And all along, one thinks Sayid is actually getting what he deserves, being tortured after years of being the torturer: Justice. I am wondering if he has been “claimed” by someone other than Jacob (not the darkness), MIB/Smokey (wasn’t repelled by the ash), but a third and different person/entity? Thoughts?
After being tortured, Sayid says, “They didn’t ask me any questions.” This is similar to the line spoken by Han Solo after being tortured in The Empire Strikes Back.
Jack comes to talk to Dogen on his own free-will, which Lennon praises him for as if Jack is in-training. On Dogen’s desk is a bowl of BLACK rocks (the ship?) and he is seen spinning a baseball on his desk. A baseball has 108 double stiches (the numbers), and this may also be relevant because the Others know about Jack’s dad Christian’s frequent saying about the Red Sox winning the Series… Which they do in 2004, and Ben uses footage of this to prove to Jack that they have contact with the outside world. And yet another reference, in the same episode that Kate uses her “Joan Hart” alias to visit her dying mother (“Born to Run”), she dug up the time capsule with her childhood friend Tom, and inside was the toy airplane…and a baseball. It gets better… In the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the commander of the station (Benjamin Sisko), used to have a baseball prominently placed on his desk throughout the entire run of the show. In the pilot episode, he used the baseball as a metaphor to explain the nature of linear time to the inhabitants of the wormhole, who experienced time all at once…
Dogen creates a poisonous pill to give Sayid, which Jack is to deliver this pill on faith alone… This 2007 island storyline pins Jack as turning into the man of faith, but he doesn’t fall for it (he is neither the man of science nor the man of faith anymore… He’s just Jack). He takes it himself first to ensure its safety for Sayid, who is now possessed by the “darkness”… Sayid says he trusts Jack, no matter what. By saying this, I think the “darkness” in Sayid knew Jack would question himself and not give him the pill. Persuasion through the guise of free-will. In the episode “Something Nice Back Home” (in which the stuffed whale makes its first appearance), Jack visits “zombie” Hurley (wink wink, Hurley asks if Sayid is a zombie last night) in the mental institution. Hurley tells Jack he can talk to dead people… And Jack tells him to “take his pills.” Hah!
Dogen and Jack’s conversation is very telling… Dogen says he uses a translator despite knowing English to “maintain a barrier between himself and those he is in charge of”. This implies that Jack failed as a leader because he didn’t have his own barrier, he wasn’t respected. Dogen has been watching Jack and his leadership skills, his dynamic within his group. When Jack asks whether Dogen is from the island, he says he was “brought here just like everyone else”. When Jack questions this, he replies, “you know exactly what I mean.” So he is telling Jack that he and his friends were brought there for a purpose, they are supposed to be there. Which is what Locke, the man of faith, had been telling him all along, and this confirms it. When he told Dogen, ‘‘I don’t even trust myself,” Jack may have uttered the most heroic statement of his wannabe hero life, because it was so painfully honest.
Kate follows Sawyer to the Barracks, where he gets the ring. Kate and Sawyer are then sitting on the pier, and Sawyer throws the engagement ring he planned to give to Juliet into the water, similar to what Desmond had done eleven years before, when he became convinced destiny was conspiring to keep him and Penelope apart. I think this similarity definitively suggests that Sawyer will run into Juliet again sometime, “in another life (brotha!)”, i.e. some other iteration of time in which (I had mentioned last week) that they will “meet for coffee”, which was part of Juliet’s dying words as her mind was in another place and time. Heck, when Desmond threw the ring in the water, he still found his way back to Penny years later. Although the love stories are my least favorite part of the show, I like to think that Sawyer and Juliet are the next Desmond and Penny, and are actually MEANT to be together. It is becoming clear that Kate no longer has power over Sawyer anymore… In fact, he wants to be left alone, and retreats into the abandoned house he shared with Juliet — his version of Jacob’s cabin. Sawyer has suddenly crawled into a dark place, the kind that can infect a heart and “claim” a soul. You have to wonder if some (demon) seeds have been planted, if Sawyer might soon follow Claire and quite possibly Sayid into the dark embrace of the Man In Black.
Jack questions Dogen and Lennon why they would want to poison Sayid and they tell him that “a darkness” has taken Sayid’s body and when it reaches his heart, the man Sayid is will be lost. When questioned how he knows this, Dogen tells Jack that it happened to his sister (Claire):
Out in the jungle, Kate, Jin and two of the Others (Aldo and Justin) come across traps that look like Rousseau’s. Justin reveals (despite Aldo’s shushing), that they’re not Rousseau’s, she has been dead for years. And she has… Rousseau died way back in 2004 when the freighter folks arrived on the island, Rousseau and Karl were shot in the woods, leaving Alex to fend for herself, which got her killed moments later when held at gunpoint by Keamy. Rousseau hasn’t been around for three years. Aldo was trying to hide the identity of “New Rousseau”, which we then find out is Claire… Childless for three years, taken over by the darkness, and living out in the jungle on her own. Does she know Kate took her baby? This whole situation made me rethink Rousseau and her role in the show… Foremost, was Rousseau the one who was infected with the sickness, and the rest of the team was trying to kill her because of it, not the other way around? And what is Claire now, human, or an image the smoke monster is portraying? Because if overtaken by the darkness (she WAS hanging out in the cabin with Christian), was Rousseau also overtaken by the smoke monster? OR was Claire brought by fate to take Rousseau’s place on the island? One similarity we can be sure of between Claire and Rousseau: they have both lost a child unwillingly.
Next week’s episode is titled “The Substitute”… Discuss!
Jen / desmondismyconstant.
The title of the episode held the promise of heaven. ”LA X” — a reference to the airport in the City of Angels, although the intentional space between the A and the X creates new possibilities of meaning. The most reasonable interpretation: that something is just…a little…off…about this new reality…
FLIGHT 815 / LAX / FLASH-SIDEWAYS TIMELINE (2004)
Damon and Carlton promised that a new device would be introduced at Comic-Con. This appears to be the “flash sideways” (as Carlton Cuse calls them) to a timeline where 815 never crashed introduced in this episode. The premiere presented us with ”a separate reality,” to borrow the title of the Carlos Castaneda book Lost name-dropped last season, a world where the island rests at the bottom of the Pacific — a figurative descent into the underworld, to a veritable city of the dead, the Lost City of Atlantis. Last season also wanted us to think that the castaways were facing a choice between reboot or death. And now we got both! The sideways storyline = reincarnation.
So, aboard a different/alternate Flight 815, we meet Sideways Jack Shephard. There were a few fleeting moments when it seemed like even he didn’t know the answer. We met him looking… lost. Jack gazes out the window at passing clouds (the wing is not visible, unlike the first time). He has a similar encounter with Cindy the flight attendant asking about his drink, only this time she slips him one bottle instead of two.
They encounter turbulence, and you wonder if Jack’s 1977 Jughead-displaced mind had suddenly settled into his 2004 Oceanic-flying body, producing profound disorientation — just like Desmond’s experience of consciousness transfer time travel in season 3′s ”Flashes Before Your Eyes.” When the first blast of turbulence hit, Jack was again gripped by foreboding. The thought balloon above his head: This has happened before. I think… He has the exact same conversation with Rose as the first time, but instead it’s reversed: Jack tells Rose “It’s normal”, the plane pulls through, and Bernard returns from the bathroom. The turbulence, however, occurs, it is revealed, just above the submerged island… Perhaps it still has its strong magnetic pull, but not strong enough to bring the plane down in Sideways World.
Jack then goes to the bathroom and notices a cryptic sore on his neck, literally a flaw in continuity, perhaps it’s a cue to us (and Jack) to be actively questioning the integrity of this world… At this point I was half-expecting his nose to start bleeding, but I guess it could’ve been a remnant from the Jughead blast that somehow got mixed up in this new timeline? Jack’s nicked neck-fix was analog to his ”heal thyself” moment in “The Pilot” when Jack excused himself to the jungle of to patch up the ugly gash on his side. One wonders if the entire season 6 Sideways storyline will model the general thematic thrust of the castaway story, but with different incidents and events — a gritty, more down-to-earth version of the mythic, larger-than-life island epic, like how Dorothy’s adventure in Oz was a fantastical extrapolation of her life in Kansas. Lost also loves its Alice in Wonderland references, and so we recall that Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass, begins with Alice gazing into a mirror and wondering if it could be portal into a topsy-turvy other-world. The book itself is a cracked mirror reflection of the previous book — the same story in essence, sharing similar if not identical themes, just rendered with different incident and detail.
When Jack gets back, Desmond (who wasn’t on the original flight) sits down next to him, and Jack struggles with his recognition. They have indeed met before despite the island… Years ago they ran into each other at a stadium and had the “See ya in another life brothah!” exchange. There’s question as to whether Desmond was actually on the plane or if Jack was just imagining him. Or, Desmond could be flickering in and out of this Sideways World. Personally, I think he was there, since the island was submerged he couldn’t possibly be down in the Swan hatch, but fate put him on that plane anyway, to interact with Jack and possibly his presence had saved Charlie, who was unconscious in the bathroom. Saving Charlie was Desmond’s unofficial job title on the island. Upon Jack reviving him, Charlie insisted, as he had on the island to Desmond many-a-time, that he was “supposed to die.”
But what was Desmond doing in Australia anyway, sans Penny? In the Island World, Desmond traveled to Australia a couple years earlier to enter a sailing race (sponsored by Charles Widmore) with the hopes of earning honor in Widmore’s eyes. Perhaps in the Sideways World, he found a reason to stay there, perhaps that reason was a woman, maybe the same one he got that sailboat from: Libby (!!), who is confirmed back as a guest star this season. Crazy thought!
Hurley, Sawyer and Dr. Arzt have a conversation about Hurley’s ownership of the Mr. Cluck’s franchise and winning the lottery. Hurley then says (unlike the first Flight 815) that he is “the luckiest man alive.” Perhaps fate, in this version of the timeline, doesn’t “curse” him, via the numbers. Sawyer’s ears pricked when Hurley mentioned he won the lotto, and you could almost see his next “long con” blooming in his mind. Hurley’s good luck is about to change!
Jin and Sun, however, appeared to be on the same exact path as they were originally. Which is sad, because in the alternate 2007 timeline, the former 1977 Dharma gang who detonated Jughead were blown into 2007 and eventually ended up at the Temple to help Sayid. So Sun’s group and Jin’s group are finally in the same timeframe and close to one another, their chances of reuniting in the future are finally viable… Yet they’re ruining it in this version of the past…again.
Locke and Boone interact on the plane, and Locke lies about going on the walkabout, leading us to believe for a time that he wasn’t cursed in life and deceived by his father that led him to be paralyzed. But alas, Locke is paralyzed in this timeline as well. Boone tells Locke “If this thing goes down, I’m with you.” In the Island World, this ironically leads to his death. Curiously, Shannon isn’t on the plane. She rejects Boone’s attempts to get her away from her bad relationship… Originally, Shannon was set to make an appearance, but Maggie Grace was unable to film any scenes due to her busy schedule. Thus, the back-story was rewritten to accommodate this.
Sayid’s passport, shown at LAX, is an Iranian passport instead of being Iraqi. Odd. We had been trained last season to think that only everything after that point of the crash would be different. But in this world, the pre-Oceanic 815 timeline is subtly, yet radically different, too…
Kate attacks Edward Mars, the Marshal, and flees, adding to her long list of crimes. In this timeline, she’s always running. I wonder how this will play out with her taxi heist riding with Claire! Is Sideways Claire pregnant with Aaron? Will we see the couple in LA that her psychic told her would adopt and raise Aaron? TBD!
Jack’s father’s coffin has gone missing, and they have no idea where it is… In other words, it disappeared. Could this indicate that Jacob and the Man in Black still exist despite the island being submerged under water? Did Smokie/MIB inhabit Christian’s body even in the alternate timeline? Is this why Christian’s body had disappeared from the coffin when the original flight crashed on the island?
Jack offers his card to Locke for a consultation about his spine “on the house”. ”My condition is irreversible,” said Locke. Jack replied: ”Nothing’s irreversible.” Which may have been the sum-it-all-up line for an episode marked by time reboots and resurrections. Bitter adversaries in the Island World — Jack and Locke strike up a friendship, and more, speak into each other’s lives from the perspective of their respective worldviews and offer one another something they needed most in that moment: hope. A very interesting theory: Locke wasn’t healed by the island when they first crashed. The flash of light was a time shift and Locke had his spine fixed byJack in the future, which changed the past. Whoa!
And a Google Maps satellite search of the address on Jack’s business card (8444 Wilshire Blvd) shows a fountain or statue in the shape of the Dharma logo! I swear, they think of everything on this show 
SWAN SITE / TEMPLE (2007)
First of all, how the heck did the 1977 Dharma van get to the new timeline 2007 after the Jughead blast, completely unscathed? Since when do cars time travel? 
Kate’s ears were ringing, presumably from the bomb blast. The sound effect sounded like she was hearing the jungle from underwater — and since these scenes took place immediately after the reveal of the sunken Island in the Sideways World, I wondered if the watery association was intentional.
Sawyer and Jack argue about whether or not the bomb went off, because they wouldn’t be there if it had. We saw Juliet hitting it and then it turned to white. The white definitely indicated time travel because they ended up in 2007. Did the time shift occur at JUST the moment of detonation, that they were blown away physically (see Kate in the tree) but before feeling the physical effects, burning, etc. they were whisked away to 2007?
Juliet dying in Sawyer’s arms was a very Romeo + Juliet moment… The last kiss with her “Romeo”, awww. And she started saying something that didn’t make sense before dying (just like Charlotte had, an old memory), which was: “We should get coffee sometime” and “We can go dutch.” Willing to bet in this alternate timeline where 815 lands safely, Sawyer and Juliet meet somehow for coffee. At least I’m rooting for them! And then through Miles, Juliet lets them know that “it worked”. Since her mind was in a different time and place when she was saying goodbye to Sawyer, I’m betting she thought it worked because it set this alternate 815 timeline in motion. Perhaps the Sideways World is the afterlife for these characters. One take: Sawyer really blames himself for losing Juliet — that his little piece of heaven was rescinded because someone upstairs realized he hadn’t earned it, that what in fact he deserves is (eternal) punishment. (Remember, the man was a con man and a murderer.)
When the group gets to the Temple, they are captured by a group of Others and taken to Dogan (master of the Island’s spiritual heart, the Temple) and Lennon. Dogan speaks Japanese and English, but Lennon translates since Dogan doesn’t “like the way English tastes of his tongue.” Dogan (as a noun) means “Falcon” and (as an adjective) means “who/what is about to born, who/what is about to rise” in Turkish. He is also a nod to DC Comics supervillain, Ra’s al Ghul, one of Batman’s greatest enemies. His name is Arabic for “The Demon’s Head,” and references the name of the star Algol.
Hurley quickly tells Dogan that Jacob sent him and told him to bring the guitar case. The guitar case is opened, revealing a large wooden Ankh (the symbol of LIFE, hint hint) which Dogan promptly smashes. Inside the Ankh is hidden a piece of paper, which has the survivors names written on it. “Jacob’s List”. I wonder if it was Jacob’s original list, consisting of Kate, Jack, Sawyer, and Hurley… Or the slightly different group that appeared to them last night: Kate, Jack, Hurley, Jin, and Sayid. Maybe Jacob has multiple lists for whatever the situation calls for!
Inside the Temple, the spring’s water is murky and looks a little red. They are surprised by this, and I think it is definitely tied into Jacob’s death just an hour prior. Dogan tests the water to see if it still heals, and it doesn’t. They still submerge Sayid in the water, and not surprisingly, he isn’t healed. They actually hold him underwater until he drowns, and he dies from that instead of his gunshot wound. The whole process was VERY religious in nature… Sayid was dragged out of the water like Jesus on the cross, being “baptized” submerged in the water pool, being reborn after his life filled with torture and murder, Jacob being reincarnated through him, etc. I actually think the pool was murky with the blood of Jacob so that when bathed in his blood, literally inhaling the water so that Jacob’s blood would course through his veins, Sayid was taking in the body of Christ… er, Jacob
This of course is puzzling, because when Hurley tells Dogan and Lennon that Jacob is dead AFTER they submerged Sayid, they seem shocked about Jacob’s passing and immediately secure the Temple. Why drown Sayid? Maybe because he wasn’t on the list, and Jacob KNEW they’d try to kill him instead of save him? And why secure the Temple with ashes, if Smokie lived beneath it the entire time? Are there multiple smoke monsters? Or is Smokie a vessel that both Jacob and the Man in Black can utilize. Hmmm…
Also, Ben was healed at the Temple after Sayid shot him. Now Sayid is healed in the pool after he has been shot by Ben’s father. Oh the irony…
At any rate, Sayid sits up and is very much alive (despite Richard’s prior insistence that “Dead is Dead”). He pauses, confused, and says “What happened?” (Notice he spoke in an accent distinctly different from his own. It was closer to Jacobs voice.) He is wearing BLACK in this scene… In the alternate timeline he was wearing WHITE.
THE STATUE (2007)
“Locke” (wearing a BLACK shirt throughout the episode) picks up the bloodied knife Ben had used to stab Jacob. He tears off a piece of RED fabric from the floor and uses it to clean the knife.
He then asks for Richard, presumably to kill him too. Instead, Bram and 2 other men enter and try to kill “Locke”, he is shot, but disappears and leaves only the bullet on the ground. The smoke monster enters and kills 2 of the men, being momentarily thwarted by the ring of ash around Bram before delivering a well-placed blow to the stone above him, knocking Bram out of the circle and then impaled by Jacob’s loom. (The guy with the Dracula writer’s name got a vampire death!)
Ben cowers when it is revealed he was manipulated by “Locke”, the smoke monster.
(BTW Smokie was looking an awful lot like Cerebrus again last night, the multi-headed hound that guards the gates of Hades.)
And now we must wonder about Jacob’s Cabin… Was that ash keeping Smokie outside or inside the cabin? Because now we’re not sure if Jacob ever really lived in the cabin at all!
The flares from the Temple are seen from the beach, and beyond the obvious trouble at the Temple, you see just how close Sun and Jin are to being reunited, both physically and in time. Richard confronts them and “Locke” says that it is good to see you “without your chains” Richard is stunned and replies “YOU?!” Richard presumably arrived to the island on the Black Rock, a trading ship which left port in 1845. The fact that he was in chains upon his arrival means he was a slave or a prisoner, perhaps a traitor on-board and being held captive. Interested to hear more about that!
“Locke” shared Locke’s final thought as Ben strangled the man to death: “I don’t understand.” (How did the Monster know this thought? Has he always been tapped into John’s head after their first encounter in season 1??) “Locke”/Smokie/MIB stated his intentions: “I want the one thing John Locke didn’t, I want to go home.” Where is home?? This confirms he is being held imprisoned by the island, just like so many others…
CULTURAL REFERENCES
Earth X: The “X” in ‘LA X’ stands for an alternate reality. It’s common use in comic books, Marvel Comics have an alternate history/timeline called “Earth X”.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories: Desmond is reading this book by British Indian writer Salman Rushdie. “It is a phantasmagorical story set in a city so old and ruinous that it has forgotten its name”. The plot concerns a boy who all but curses his father in a moment of despair by saying, cynically, “What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?” As a consequence, the father becomes heartbroken, and loses his storytelling mojo. Haroun then embarks on a fantastic adventure to save the enchanted “Ocean of the Steam of Story” from villains who would corrupt it. By taking that journey and saving that enchanted place, Haroun restores his father’s life and power by giving him the tale of his own adventure, which, when told, rouses a hopeless town to rebel against exploitive, oppressive forces. What might Haroun have to say to us about season 6? Perhaps Jack and his relationship to his father. Notable is Desmond’s progression from the surreal cynicism of The Third Policeman (which he was carrying into the jungle, season 2) to the redemptive fable of Haroun.
Fear and Trembling: This book, encountered in the Temple with the skeleton of Montand (sans arm), is an influential philosophical work by Danish philosopher, theologian, and psychologist Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio (John the Silent). The title is a reference to a line from Philippians 2:12, “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” It challenges true believers to embrace the absurdity of faith. It’s about becoming “a knight of faith,” whose strength lies in the willingness to embrace the absurd. And I would say that Hurley following the will of Jacob (carry the guitar case, bring the castaways, and go to the Temple to heal Sayid) is pretty absurd. AND, we were left to wonder if Jacob really wasn’t Jacob, but rather Smokie/MIB?
Combined, both books send this message to us: This absurd sideways thing has a purpose. It is “useful.” Have faith!
MISCELLANEOUS
I’ve been hearing that each season of Lost supposedly mirrors the seasons before it, like 4-3, 5-2, 6-1. So season 6 is supposed to go back to where it all began. Support from this episode, referencing season 1:
- From the episode, “Pilot Part 1″, Jack also asks for a pen to save someone who isn’t breathing. AND the Marshal Edward Mars gets hit in the head (again). AND Rose tells Jack her husband is in the bathroom and tells Jack not to worry about the turbulence.
- From the episode, “All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”, Jack saves Charlie from suffocation. Jack’s attempt to save Sayid mirrors his attempt to save Charlie.
- From the episode “Hearts and Minds”, Boone mentions Shannon’s troubled relationship, and now his inability to save her from it.
- From the episode “…In Translation”, Jin is stopped at customs for carrying the watch and money that Mr. Paik gave him.
- The opening both parallels the opening in “The Pilot” and “A Tale of Two Cities”. It takes place at the exact same time as both events, and the barracks are also seen in both.
FUN FACT! Stephen King and Peter Straub’s 1984 novel The Talisman is about a boy who can traverse between parallel worlds. His name? Jack Sawyer.
Lots of RED in this episode, it has been noted in the past that red is always present whenever Smokie is around. You can go all the way back to when Smokie embodied Yemi just before killing Mr. Eko surrounded by red wildflowers…
Last night, it was everywhere, from Hurley’s T-shirt, to the Others’ turbans and garb, Cindy’s ribbons in her hair, the flowers they were collecting, the flare, the cloth “Locke” used to clean his knife, the pool filled with Jacob’s blood, etc. Usually a “redshirt” means they’ll be killed, but now does RED = RESURRECTION?
Where is Jacob’s body?? Not a remnant of anything in the fire… A sign he has resurrected?
And lastly, the Dharma logo is seen on the shark’s tail in the cheesy CGI underwater portion:
Great episode! Lots to think about! Read up on the episode, constantly being updated at Lostpedia, and over at Doc Jensen’s column, both paraphrased in my recap.
One thing I love about this new blog format vs. last year’s emails is the COMMENTS feature… So, if you have anything to add, anything I missed, or questions raised, feel free to post them below
Jen / desmondismyconstant.
UPDATED 2/5/10:
A few new tidbits:
• Season 1, when Locke was visited by the smoke monster the first time, it was WHITE when it was zipping through the jungle, when it got to him, they didn’t show it but he later said he saw a bright white light, and it was beautiful… So, are there two smoke monsters (one black, one white)? Or was that Smokie/MIB’s way of enticing Locke to serve the island/him?
• Next week’s episode is titled “What Kate Does”… Which is an obvious nod to Season 2, episode #9 – “What Kate Did”… The one in which she blew up her father. I’m guessing in Sideways World there’s something very different, but that STILL landed Kate in cuffs in the custody of the Marshal. Fate.
• I just watched the show again and didn’t realize this the first time, but when Kate ran into Jack coming out of the bathroom on the plane, she had her hands on his chest. Sly as she is, she must’ve taken the pen out of his pocket to pick her cuffs in the stall later, because just a few minutes after their encounter, Jack tries to revive Charlie and roots through his pocket for his pen, which is mysteriously missing. Didn’t put two-and-two together the first time around!
• Also something small I didn’t notice before… When Jin is detained for carrying stacks of cash he didn’t declare, the female agent calls Sun by her maiden name, Ms. Paik. Weird…
• I also didn’t see this before, but when Jack and Sawyer are both unconscious on the ground after the bomb puts them in 2007, Kate chooses to help Jack first.
• I think the second time around, that more likely than Sayid being Jacob, I think he’s the MIB… I think “Jacob” visiting Hurley was actually the shape-shifting MIB, who can inhabit the body of anyone who has died (Christian, Locke, Jacob, maybe Claire, and now Sayid). Sayid was also wearing all-black.
• When Miles is communing with dead Juliet, engine and turbulence sounds of Flight 815 are faintly heard. Interesting.
• When Jack is successful in reviving Charlie on Flight 815, his first words are, “Am I alive?”. This is the same message Dominic Monaghan had scrawled on his palm in black marker that he held up to the audience at Comic Con 2009.
• The flash sideways “whoosh” is different from the previous flashback sound. It bears a striking resemblance to the noise heard during the time flashes in Season 5, with hints of the noise heard when Juliet detonated Jughead.
• I previously noted that the Ankh is a symbol of eternal life… But didn’t note the significance of it being promptly smashed by Dogan: Mortality.
Mattson Creative posted some really well-thought-out and impeccably designed LOST season 6 promo posters. My favorites:
The first one features good/bad Locke overlapping to form a coffin. The second I believe shows the two Oceanic flights in 2 different timelines, as well as a modern structure at LAX airport (the title of the season premiere). The third features ol’ Smokey and other island-related imagery including a polar bear, the Black Rock, Daniel’s journal sketches, and Mrs. Hawking’s pendulum markings. And lastly, a pair of VW Dharma vans… A bit of a lack of attention to detail here, as the vans in the show have replaced the VW logo with Dharma’s. Oops! Otherwise I like how this implies the duality of the upcoming season.
T-minus 31 hours!!
Filed under: Doc Jensen Notables, Miscellany | Tags: Doc Jensen, LA X, season 6
Who’s excited? “This guy!” …or girl
Here are some pre-premiere tidbits I’ve been reading about this week:
Final Season of Lost Won’t Give Up Answers Easily
Michael Emerson says:
“I feel great curiosity, because from what I’ve shot up to this point, I don’t see any end in sight. The storyline is continuing to expand instead of contract. It’s grown more fragmented, rather than becoming more unified. The threads aren’t joining up, they’re flying away.”
I guess I’ll have a lot to write about this season!
A random thought on Jacob, over on Doc Jensen’s blog:
You know, it suddenly hits me: Does Jacob’s touch = ”The Creation of Man” portion of the Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, in which God the Father grants the spark of life to his first created human, Adam?
Michelangelo was said to have been inspired by the Christian hymn ”Vein Creator Spirits,” which, according to Wikipedia ”asks the ‘finger of the paternal right hand’ (digitus paternae dexterae) to give the faithful speech, love, and strength.” In various ways, isn’t that what Jacob gave each of the castaways when he touched them? To Sawyer, he gave a pen: speech. To Jin and Sun, he issued a blessing at their wedding: love. To Locke, he encouraged and comforted him in his greatest crisis: strength.
Very interesting… And, I wonder if rebooting the timeline via Jughead will prevent Jacob from being killed.
While I’m not big on speculating on how it’s all going to end before the season even starts, Doc Jensen gives it his best guess for a lot of the island’s growing mysteries, and it’s a good read: Lost: How It Ends (Maybe). I especially like his prediction for Locke and Ben becoming the new Jacob/Man in Black.
But before it ends, we have to start at the “beginning of the end”… The Lost Season 6 Premiere episode will be called: “LA X Parts 1 & 2″ (emphasis on the space between the LA and X…confirmed that it was done on purpose).
So what does it mean?
I read here:
The X could refer to the year 2010 (X being the roman numeral for the number 10) — the year which the final season of Lost will premiere. It could be signifying that Jack’s plan to reset the timeline worked and the point where our Losties reappear will be at LAX airport as was planned. It could mean the exact opposite of that, and that a safe timeline reset to LAX isn’t happening, with the X being spaced away from the preceding letters. Some fans are even suggesting that the “LA” is French (meaning “The”) and the X is a variable (X usually being substituted for any unknown number). The theories, as they always do with regards to Lost, go on and on… Personally I am more for the “Whatever Happened, Happened” theory — meaning that Jack’s plan didn’t work and that the Losties would end up back in 2007 with Ben, Sun, Frank and Co. But it’s looking more and more (especially with this mysterious title) like there will be some sort of reversion back to the plan having worked in some way. However, I’m sure it won’t be as cut and dry as, “The plane never crashed.”
I think the notion of it being the opposite of a same timeline reset/landing in LAX is implied and probable. Could also refer to an “X marks the spot” type of thing, “The Ten”, etc… Guess we’ll have to wait and see!
And lastly, here’s a cool fan video showing Lost clips in the style of 24… The Lost Plane Crash in Real Time:
Happy premiere-watching!
The Lost Supper promo pic for Season 6…
Doc Jensen’s analysis…
JOHN LOCKE HAS A SECRET
Who is this John Locke that is sitting in Jesus Christ’s chair, dressed in peaceful sky blue and sporting that ”I know something you don’t know” Mona Lisa smile? For me, that’s the Big Idea that the painting is expressing. There are two possible answers, and both may be true. If this John Locke is our beloved man-of-faith castaway, last seen lifeless and dumped on the Island sand, then the painting offers the promise of resurrection. If this John Locke is the shape-shifting entity that has adopted Locke’s guise, we must ponder the significance of casting him/it in the role of Jesus. For me, the question would be this: Is he Christ or Antichrist? It’s easy to believe in the latter. His plot to slay idealistic Jacob and the relish he took in watching him get knifed seemed downright Satanic. But I remain open to the possibility that FLocke/Man In Black is the good guy in this feud — that he’s the Christ come to set right the chaos created by rogue angel Jacob. (More on this in a second.) Either way — Christ or Antichrist — this new John Locke is going to be a terrifying creature, especially if my next conjecture is true.
JOHN LOCKE WILL JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Locke is sitting next to a standing Jack, whose hand is behind baldie, as if pushing in his chair — or giving him a wedgie. Anyway: Locke is literally seated at the right hand of Jack. Which has a pretty loaded connotation for a guy who’s playing a Christ figure. In Matthew’s gospel, we find the story of Jesus in the temple, being judged by the high priest. The burning issue: Is Jesus really the Messiah? ”And the high priest said to him, ”I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, ”You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” These verses inform the sixth and seventh articles of the Apostles’ Creed, which addresses the resurrected Christ and the part he will play at the end of the world: ”He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.” What could this mean for Lost? Well, there are those who believe that Fake Locke = Shape-shifting Man In Black = Shape-shifting Smokey. And remember what Smokey does: Smokey judges. THEORY: Jacob is a rogue angel who has been scheming to stave off the end of the world and stall mankind’s judgment by creating a time loop. Man In Black/FLocke is an instrument of judgment — perhaps the Passover ”spirit of the Lord” — whose function has been stymied by Jacob’s subversion. (Call this: The ”It’s kinda like Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in Kevin Smith’s Dogma” Theory of Lost. P.S.: Dogma also had a terrifying billowing black monster, made out … uh … well, just rent the movie.)
THEN AGAIN, LOOK WHO’S STANDING AT LOCKE’S RIGHT HAND…
It’s Sawyer. Biblically speaking, it’s always a good thing to hang out to the right of Jesus, because it means you’re going to Heaven. Of course, it also means you will be nailed to cross and die an excruciating death. I refer specifically to the story of the two men — both criminals — who were crucified with Jesus. The guy on the left insulted Jesus and baited him into proving his divinity by saving himself and them. But the guy on the right rebuked the other robber for being rude, and after affirming Jesus’ godhood and confessing his sins, asked Jesus to remember him in Heaven. Jesus blessed the man on the right, saying, ”I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Applied to Lost: Remember that, like the tale of the robber on the right, Lost‘s most important theme is redemption. Season 6 will surely hit that theme hard. Also, remember that Sawyer chose Team Locke over Team Jack in season 4. Given the hostility between Jack and Sawyer in the season 5 finale, you have to wonder if Sawyer will make the same choice if such choosing must again happen in season 6. But will Sawyer be exalted by aligning with Locke-Not Locke or will he be damned? There are other clues in the image that may address that question; more on them in a minute.
JACK IS STANDING WHERE DOUBTING THOMAS WAS SITTING
A nice resonance for Jack the Rationalist, who spent most of Lost on Christ/Locke’s ”left side,” demanding that the man of faith pony up the proof that could back up his world view and miraculous claims. Last season, Jack pondered the deep meanings of Caravaggio’s ”The Incredulity of St. Thomas” and subsequently converted to a man of faith. But will the transformation stick? A crucial season 6 question.
SAYID IS STANDING WHERE JUDAS WAS SITTING
Uh-oh. Also, are Sayid and Ben looking at Locke — or are they looking at each other? They are posed in similar fashion, with eyes that seem to be shooting daggers. The latter interpretation makes sense, given their tortured, treacherous relationship. In season 6, will Sayid try to finish the job of killing the man who warped him into a soulless killer? Will Ben recover the childhood memory of being shot by the time-traveling Iraqi and seek his own vengeance?
KATE IS SITTING WHERE PETER WAS STANDING. WITH A KNIFE
In Leonardo’s ”Last Supper,” Peter is seen brandishing a knife behind his back. Some believe Leonardo was alluding to the story of how Peter sliced off a guard’s ear when Jesus was arrested. Others believe Leonardo was referencing Peter’s denial of Jesus following Christ’s death — a figurative ”stab in the back.” The Peter resonance underscores the themes of trust, loyalty, and allegiance that underlie the Lost ‘‘Last Supper” image and will no doubt color much of season 6. There’s a war coming, we’ve been told. Which side will each castaway take?
WHY ISN’T CLAIRE SHOWING HER COLORS?
All the characters in the promo pic are posed to show the color of their shirts — except Claire. Her golden locks and slouchy posture effectively obscure the color of her top. The best I can tell is it looks grayish. The simple interpretation: Claire’s character and allegiance — her true colors — are one of season 6′s major mysteries.
SAWYER IS STANDING WITH KATE — BUT JIN AND SUN STAND APART
Does the fact that Sawyer is posed with Kate mean that he’s going to win the war for her heart in season 6? Meanwhile, the distance between Jin and Sun bothers me. Their placement reminds us that the time-tossed couple has been apart for two seasons now. I am also struck that Jin’s back is turned to Sun and that Sun is placed well behind her husband (provided you read the image left to right). Recall that when we were introduced to these two in season 1, their marriage was seemingly defined by the custom that would have the wife subordinate to the husband. If the Jughead/time-reboot scheme works, one wonders if Jin and Sun will revert back to their unbalanced and unhappy dynamics.
JACK IS ACTUALLY WEARING JESUS’ COLORS
John Locke, who is sitting in Christ’s chair, is wearing a solid shade of light blue. But in Leonardo’s ”Last Supper” painting, Jesus sports an equal measure of red and blue. (Or variants of red and blue — I am NOT good with colors.) Together, they make purple — which is the color associated with Jesus during his ”Passion.” The Gospels of John and Mark tell us that after Jesus was taken into custody, the Roman soldiers made vicious sport of him. For example, they dressed up as a mock king by placing a crown of thorns on his noggin and garbing him with a (royal) purple robe. Application for season 6: I think Jack is going to suffer much before rallying to help save the day.
SAWYER WILL BE THE REAL HERO OF SEASON 6. THEN AGAIN, MAYBE HE’S JUST A WHORE
That aforementioned ”purple robe”? There’s disagreement among the gospel writers about its true color. While John and Mark say it was purple, Matthew claims it was scarlet. Some Biblical scholars have resolved this contradiction by suggesting that the robe was patterned or striped with both purple and scarlet. Regardless, check out Sawyer’s shirt: He’s the only castaway wearing a patterned shirt, and the colors are blue and red/purple and scarlet. Will the character that actually looks the most like Leonardo’s Jesus (white skin, locks and facial hair, plus the colors) actually prove to be the real castaway messiah in season 6?
However, and more terrifying, there’s another Biblical character associated with purple and scarlet. She appears in the book of Revelation, also known as … The Apocalypse of John. The visionary apostle sees her riding on the back of ”the Beast,” wearing scarlet and purple and ”drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus” and holding a cup ”filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.” It gets worse. On the woman’s forehead is written some words: ”MYSTERY.” ”BABYLON THE GREAT.” ”THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES.” ”AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” This frightening female is known as ”the whore of Babylon,” and symbolizes corruption and betrayal. Now, if you read or saw The Da Vinci Code, you know that some scholars — or at least just Dan Brown — believe that in Leonardo’s ”Last Supper,” the apostle John, who is painted to look undeniably effeminate, is actually Jesus’ prostitute friend, Mary Magdalene. And guess which castaway is in the John/Mary Magdalene position in the Lost ”Last Supper”? That’s right: the one with the girly long hair who’s wearing purple and scarlet, Sawyer. Does this mean that Sawyer will betray his friends and join beastly FLocke in his revolution against Jacob and his followers?
***Originally posted 5/14/09***
Last night was all about Jacob, the island’s most intriguing character… so let’s start at the beginning!
In the shadow of the statue in the year 1845, blonde-haired, blue-eyed white-clad Jacob and his dark-haired, dark-shirted nemesis spotted the Black Rock just offshore. This was clearly a nod to the show’s black vs. white theme:
Sidenote: The Others funeral garb is identical to Jacob’s white tunic.
The unnamed nemesis then asks how the ship found the Island and accuses Jacob of having brought it there (which he didn’t deny). The man claims that people brought to the Island always bring destruction, corruption, and “that it always ends the same”. Jacob replies that it only ends once and anything before that is just “progress”. The unknown man tells Jacob he badly wants to kill him and that one day he will find a “loophole” which will allow him to do so.
This scene reminded me of the late-night London confrontation between Widmore and Ben, with Widmore in white and Ben in black, saying something like killing each other was against the rules… Perhaps they are the next-generation Bad Twin power struggle of good vs. evil?
The rules of this game seem to be: They are prohibited from spilling each other’s blood. The loophole? Embody a dead guy to do the dirty work for you.
The Biblical legend of Cain and Abel tells us that Cain’s punishment for slaying his brother was to wander the world for eternity. But Cain remained mortal; indeed, he was kept alive by a mark that warned people away from messing with him lest they wanted to get smited by God. Cain then settled east of Eden, in the mythical ”land of Nod,” or ”land of wanderers.”
It is widely believed that this man in black is based on biblical Jacob’s fraternal twin, Esau. Not only are they actual twins (Bad Twin theme), but when “Esau” later possesses Locke’s body, he creates a Bad Twin version of the same person (Locke).
More about Jacob, Esau, and Benjamin…
The Bible says Jacob was the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham and Sarah and of Bethuel, and the twin brother of Esau. He had twelve sons and one daughter, the last of whom is named Benjamin. Before the birth of Benjamin, Jacob is renamed “Israel” by an angelic being, the name after which the modern nation of Israel is named. As a result of a severe famine in Canaan, Jacob resettled his whole family in Egypt, in the Land of Goshen, at the time when his son Joseph was viceroy. Jacob died there 17 years later, and Joseph carried Jacob’s remains to the land of Canaan, where he gave them stately burial in the same Cave of Machpelah as were buried Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca and Jacob’s wife Leah.
Jacob and his twin brother, Esau, were born to Isaac and Rebecca after 20 years of marriage. Throughout that time, both Isaac and Rebecca prayed fervently to God for offspring. Rebecca was extremely uncomfortable during her double pregnancy and went to inquire of God why she was suffering so. The Midrash says that whenever she would pass a house of Torah study, Jacob would struggle to come out; whenever she would pass a house of idolatry, Esau would agitate to come out. She received the prophecy that twins were fighting in her womb and would continue to fight all their lives, and after they became two separate nations. The prophecy also said that the older would serve the younger; its statement “one people will be stronger than the other” has been taken to mean that the two nations would never gain power simultaneously: when one fell, the other would rise, and vice versa. Traditionally, Rebecca did not share the prophecy with her husband.
When the time came for Rebecca to give birth, the first to come out emerged red and hairy all over, with his heel grasped by the hand of the second to come out. Onlookers named the first Esau. The second is named Jacob, meaning “he who follows upon the heels of one”). The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. “Esau became a hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a simple man, a dweller in tents” (Genesis 25:27). Moreover, the attitudes of their parents toward them also differ: “Isaac loved Esau because game was in his mouth, but Rebecca loved Jacob.”
SALE OF THE BIRTHRIGHT:
According to the Talmud, immediately after Abraham died, Jacob prepared a lentil stew as a traditional mourner’s meal for his father, Isaac. The Hebrew Bible states that Esau, returning famished from the fields, begged Jacob to give him some of the stew. (Esau referred to the dish as, “that red, red stuff”, giving rise to his nickname, Edom, meaning “Red”. Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright (the right to be recognized as firstborn), and Esau agrees; the Talmudic dating indicates both men were 15 at the time.
Now did you catch the reference to this lentil stew/birthright story in the show last night? RED fish! In fact, it’s a “red herring” on a “black rock.” (symbolism)
Jacob grills and eats a fish on the beach; this is similar to an action of Jesus following his resurrection in John chapter 21.
DECEPTION OF ISAAC:
Much later, Isaac became blind in his old age and decided to bestow the blessing of the firstborn upon Esau. Uncertain of death, he sent Esau out to the fields to trap and cook a piece of savory game for him, so that he could eat it and bless Esau. Rebecca overheard this conversation and realized prophetically that Isaac’s blessings would go to Jacob, since she was told before the twins’ birth that the older son would serve the younger. She therefore ordered Jacob to bring her two goats from the flock, which she cooked in the way Isaac loved, and had him bring them to his father in place of Esau. When Jacob protested that his father would recognize the deception and curse him as soon as he felt him, since Esau was hairy and Jacob smooth-skinned, Rebecca said that the curse would be on her instead. Before she sent Jacob to his father, she dressed him in Esau’s garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin. Thus disguised, Jacob entered his father’s room. Surprised to perceive that Esau was back so soon, Isaac asked how it could be that the hunt went so quickly. Jacob responded, “Because the LORD your God arranged it for me”; Rashi (on Genesis 27:21) says Isaac’s suspicions were aroused because Esau never used the personal name of God. Isaac demanded that Jacob come close so he could feel him, but the goatskins felt just like Esau’s hairy skin. Confused, Isaac exclaimed, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau!” (27:22). Still trying to get at the truth, Isaac asked him point-blank, “Are you really my son Esau?” and Jacob answered simply, “I am.” Isaac proceeded to eat the food and to drink the wine that Jacob gave him, and then he blessed him with the dew of the heavens, the fatness of the earth, and rulership over many nations as well as his own brother. Esau was filled with hatred toward Jacob for taking away both his birthright and his blessing. He vowed to himself to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac dies. When Rebecca heard about his murderous intentions, she ordered Jacob to travel to her brother Laban’s house in Haran, until Esau’s anger subsided.
Jacob and Esau were very deceptive, filling them with hatred towards one another. As predicted before their birth, Esau (the older twin) was made to serve the younger (Jacob), through a series of cons by Jacob and his mother, Rebecca. Esau vowed to kill Jacob, but was unable to do so until their father Isaac passed away 57 years later (he was 180 at death and 123 when he delivered Jacob’s blessing)….
JOURNEY BACK TO CANAAN:
As Jacob neared the land of Canaan, he sent messengers ahead to his brother Esau. They returned with the news that Esau was coming to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men. With great apprehension, Jacob prepared for the worst. He engaged in earnest prayer to God, then sent on before him a tribute of flocks and herds to Esau, “a present to my lord Esau from thy servant Jacob”. Esau’s spirit of revenge, however, was apparently appeased by Jacob’s bounteous gifts of camels, goats and flocks. Their reunion was an emotional one. Esau offered to accompany them on their way back to Israel, but Jacob protested that his children were still young, and suggested eventually catching up with Esau at Mount Seir. According to the Sages, this was a prophetic reference to the End of Days, when Jacob’s descendants will come to Mount Seir, the home of Edom, to deliver judgment against Esau’s descendants for persecuting them throughout the millennia. Jacob actually diverted himself to Succoth and was not recorded as rejoining Esau until, at Machpelah, the two bury their father Isaac, who lived to 180 and was 60 years older than them.
Jacob transported his family and flocks across the ford Jabbok by night, then recrossed back to send over his possessions, being left alone in communion with God. There, a mysterious being appeared, and the two wrestled until daybreak. When the being saw that he did not overpower Jacob, he touched Jacob on the sinew of his thigh, and as a result, Jacob developed a limp. Because of this, “to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket.” Jacob then demanded a blessing, and the being declared that from then on, Jacob would be called Israel (meaning “one that struggled with the divine angel”). Because of the ambiguous and varying terminology, and because he refused to reveal his name, there are varying views as to whether this being was a man, an angel, or God.
Jacob then made a further move while Rachel was pregnant; near Bethlehem, Rachel went into labor and died as she gave birth to her second son, Benjamin (Jacob’s twelfth son). (Sound familiar of Benjamin Linus’ birth, causing the death of his mother??)
THE EGYPT CONNECTION:
Joseph was separated from his father Jacob at the age of 17 when his brothers, who had been jealous of his dreams of kingship over them, sold him to traders heading down to Egypt, then-capital of the slave trade. Jacob was deeply grieved by the loss of his favorite son, and refused to be comforted. Unbeknownst to the family, Joseph was sold as a slave to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief butcher. He resisted the advances of his master’s wife for a long time until she accosted him and then accused him of trying to rape her; he was then thrown into prison.
After Joseph had spent twelve years in prison, the Pharaoh of Egypt had two troubling dreams, and his butler recalled having met Joseph, a successful interpreter of dreams, in Pharaoh’s prison. Joseph was called from prison and interpreted the dreams as prophesying seven years each of abundance and famine; Pharaoh was so impressed that he made Joseph viceroy (second in command) over Egypt and the manager of Egypt’s grain stores, due to the prophecy of famine. When the prophesied famine struck throughout the known world, Joseph sold stored grain to men of all nations.
In the first year of famine, Jacob sent ten sons to Egypt, excluding Benjamin, to procure grain for their starving families (Genesis 42:3). Joseph recognized them but did not reveal himself to them; desirous to see his full brother Benjamin, of whom they had spoken, Joseph accused them of being spies, imprisoned Simeon as a hostage, and demanded Benjamin be produced to verify their claims. Jacob was distraught by this news, concluding that Simeon was as lost as Joseph, and refusing to send Benjamin, even in response to a rash vow by Reuben. Benjamin is taken to represent all that is left to Jacob of his favorite wife’s children.
When famine worsened the second year and food stores ran out, Judah pledged his own honor to Jacob that he would protect Benjamin from harm, and Jacob relented and sent the brothers again. On meeting them, Joseph threatened to imprison Benjamin, but Judah offered himself in Benjamin’s place. Interpreters say Joseph had tested his brothers with this threat and recognized that Judah passed the test, by refusing to sell Rachel’s son into slavery as he had done once before. Overcome with emotion, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and provided for them to move Jacob’s entire family to Egypt. Jacob’s family, including 66 direct descendants, were housed by Joseph in the Egyptian province of Goshen. Jacob’s final 17 years were spent in peace and tranquility in Egypt, with all 12 sons.
The problem with this comparison is that Jacob and Esau ultimately forgave each other. I didn’t get sense that that kind grace and détente are possible for Lost’s Jacob and…whomever. But for now we’ll refer to him as Esau
– – – – –
The Black Rock arrives in 1845, and it is apparently not the first time the island has had outside visitors. I’m betting this is how/when Richard arrives, since he was shown building a model of the Black Rock last week…
The shot then slowly moves up, revealing the statue from the side in its entirety. The statue appears to be that of an Egyptian deity with the head of a crocodile and holding two Ankhs.
And suddenly, with the slightly different camera angle, we find out the statue is Sobek, not Anubis…
For comic nerds!
Sobek is a fictional supervillain published by DC Comics. The Golden Age version of the character was one of several alien Crocodile Men who joined the Monster Society of Evil under Mister Mind. The current Sobek was first believed to be a bioengineered humanoid crocodile, created in Dr. Sivana’s lab. Sobek is found in Dr. Sivana’s residence and befriended by Osiris. He is named Sobek after the Egyptian god. From then on, Sobek puts on a facade of cowardice and timidness (essentially becoming the Black Marvel Family analogue of Mister Tawky Tawny) to fool everyone around him. He convinces Osiris to give up his powers after Osiris had killed Persuader. Once Osiris becomes human, Sobek quickly devours him. Sobek is revealed to be Yurrd the Unknown, one of the Four Horsemen of Apokolips, representing Hunger. Yurrd has been created along with Roggra, Zorrm, and Azraeuz as a group of bioengineered monstrosities sent to attack the Black Marvel Family. Yurrd was the first to be sent out as a sleeper agent until the time looks right to strike. Yurrd is killed by Black Adam. A shot shows Black Adam wearing new boots, which the writers revealed in interviews to be in fact made of Sobek’s flesh.
Egyptian God Sobek:
Sobek, a morally ambiguous dark god who oversees dark waters and preys on sinful souls in the afterlife. (Very Smokey.) Even worse, Set, the Egyptian god of chaos and evil, was a shapeshifter who often morphed into crocodiles and hippos (another candidate for Four Toed’s face) in his clashes with archenemy Horus (aka Horace Goodspeed). A Christ-like figure dwelling within a statue that’s a monument to evil makes for a nifty metaphor for redemption. But it could mean Jacob is the devil. Time will tell.
Wiki:
Sobek was the deification of crocodiles, as crocodiles were deeply feared in the nation so dependent on the Nile River. Egyptians who worked or travelled on the Nile hoped that if they prayed to Sobek, the crocodile god, he would protect them from being attacked by crocodiles. The god Sobek, which was depicted as a crocodile or a man with the head of a crocodile was a powerful and frightening deity; in some Egyptian creation myths, it was Sobek who first came out of the waters of chaos to create the world. As a creator god, he was occasionally linked with the sun god Ra. (“R-A”…Richard Alpert!) Gradually, Sobek also came to symbolize the produce of the Nile and the fertility that it brought to the land; its status thus became more ambiguous. Sometimes the ferocity of a crocodile was seen in a positive light, Sobek in these circumstances was considered the army’s patron, as a representation of strength and power. Sobek’s ambiguous nature led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself, for example, going to Duat to restore damage done to the dead as a result of their form of death. In this way, he was seen as a more primal god, eventually becoming regarded as an avatar of the primal god Amun, who at that time was considered the chief god. When his identity finally merged, Amun had become merged himself with Ra to become Amun-Ra, so Sobek, as an avatar of Amun-Ra, was known as Sobek-Ra.
– – – – – – – – –
FLASHBACKS
– – – – – – – – –
Jacob was shown interacting with our characters in every flashback last night… Except Juliet’s, curiously. I’m betting she was merely brought in to help with the fertility issues and not FATED to be there like Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Kwons, Locke, etc. hence no Jacob interaction pre-island.
But when Jacob appeared as an apparent random stranger to our heroes, he sure had a thing for physical contact:
Tapping Kate’s nose (“Promise to never steal again.”):
Additional quick notes on Kate’s: Kate is seen trying to steal the lunch box that she and Tom Brennan buried as a time capsule. In addition, Tom is seen playing with his toy airplane.
Handing Sawyer a new pen (“I’m very sorry about your mother and father, James”… Did Jacob have a hand in orchestrating their death via Anthony Cooper??):
Asking Sayid for directions (“Can you help me? I’m lost.” Hehe…):
Handing Jack an Apollo candy bar (“Maybe all it needed was a little push.”):
Healing Locke with a touch on the shoulder after his fall (“Everything will be fine. I’m sorry this has happened to you.”):
Exiting the cab with Hurley (“Ajira Flight 316…all you have to do is be on that plane.”):
Wishing Sun & Jin well after their wedding (“Cherish the time you have together and never let it go.”):
Each of these close encounters included a conspicuous touch. The touch of his hand on Locke’s shoulder appeared to have brought him back to life, a miraculous outcome for his 8-story fall, courtesy of island magic. His effect on everyone else was not as clear… But we know that Kate and Sawyer’s path leading them to the island has been set for them since they were children.
Jacob seemed to be building loopholes and failsafe devices into each castaway’s life that will allow them to cheat death by Jughead. By physically touching each of them, he marked them in a magical way. And more, I’ll bet you that they will retain all the memories of their past lives. Which means, for example, that Young James Ford will have knowledge of his fate — and can choose to try to change it, if he wishes. This is part of the great gift Jacob has given them: Not only new life, but the capacity to create their own destinies — a destiny which could include, if they wish, to go to the Island of their own free will… And they will.
In Locke’s, Jacob is seen reading “Everything That Rises Must Converge” — a collection of short stories by Flannery O’Connor that was published posthumously in 1965, containing 9 short stories:
- “Everything That Rises Must Converge”
- “Greenleaf”
- “A View of the Woods”
- “The Enduring Chill”
- “The Comforts of Home”
- “The Lame Shall Enter First”
- “Revelation”
- “Parker’s Back”
- “Judgment Day”
In the title story, human weaknesses are exposed and important moral questions are explored through everyday situations. Critics view the story as a prime example of O’Connor’s literary skills and moral views. In the story an arrogant young man takes a fateful bus trip with his bigoted mother. The mother doesn’t like to ride the recently racially integrated bus alone. Their relationship shows tensions when a black mother and son enters the bus. Through irony, the blindness and ignorance of the characters are exposed. The title “Everything That Rises Must Converge” refers to an underlying religious message central to her work: aiming to expose the sinful nature of humanity that often goes unrecognized in the modern, secular world.
”O’Connor…claims that it is her specific goal to offer a glimpse of God’s mystery and, thus, to lead readers — whom she sees as, for the most part, spiritually lost in the modern, secular world — back toward the path of redemption.”
(That could indeed be Jacob-esque, provided he’s good…)
As it happens, Flannery O’Connor’s aforementioned book takes its title — “Everything That Rises Must Converge” — from a phrase coined fellow Catholic provocateur named Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who concocted a theory of evolution called “Omega Point.” Basically, it’s the idea that there is some kind of transcendent entity or consciousness that is guiding everyone and everything toward greater complexity and enlightenment, until everyone and everything becomes transcendent, too. More simply, it’s Jacob’s view: There is a single end; everything before then is progress. Chardin believed his Omega entity was basically Jesus Christ himself. His phrase, “everything that rises must converge,” is a poetical expression of a key Christian idea known in the Greek apokatastasis. It’s like the opposite of apocalypse, or rather, what comes after apocalypse. Apokatastasis is the idea that in the end, Satan will be defeated and that all of creation will be redeemed and unified under Christ. “Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.” (John 12:31-32) Or, again, to use a line from the show: “He who will save us all.” That, my friends, is the answer, translated from Richard Alpert’s Latin, to Ilana’s riddle: “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”
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In Juliet’s flashback, Jacob is not present. HOWEVER, we get a Jacob connection with the presence of Juliet’s sister, Rachel… Which also happens to be the name of Jacob’s favorite wife, and the mother of his 12th and favorite son, Benjamin.
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In Ilana’s flashback, she is badly wounded and in Russian-speaking hospital. Jacob arrives and apologizes that he couldn’t be there sooner, then asks for her help. I found this scene infinitely intriguing, because it sets up Ilana – who seemed up until now to be a pretty minor character – as someone who has a direct relationship with Jacob himself. She’s his right-hand woman, so to speak (i.e. getting Sayid on the Ajira plane, acting as a marshall). Her connection with the island seems to be similar to Richard’s. Perhaps she’s the non-aging female force of the island’s history, Richard’s counterpart? The name Ilana is of Greek origin, and its meaning is “Trojan”. The poetic name for the ancient city of Troy was “Ilion”.
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1977
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When Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet arrive back on the island from the sub, they are greeted by Vincent (!), who has been in the care of Rose and Bernard for the past three years. Rose explains to the trio that she and Bernard are now retired and live a quiet life near the beach, scavenging food and avoiding detection from the Dharma Initiative.
Know what else is near the beach? The caves…where the Adam & Eve skeletons were found! Could Rose & Bernard be Adam & Eve? Jack found a bag with 2 stones near the bodies… One black and one white… Rose & Bernard themselves are black and white… They may have died last night in 1977… Hmm…
In the tunnels, there’s some bomb-dismantling going on led by apparent bomb expert Sayid (who knew! haha…) When Eloise is about to enter the basement to secure the area, Richard knocks her out to prevent her traveling with them to detonate the bomb because she is pregnant. I think this pregnancy is what Charles and Ellie were arguing about over future-Dan’s dead body last week, sidenote. Also, Richard may have just saved Dan’s life by stopping her.
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Miles was completely correct when he suggested that Jack’s quantum suicide-bomber act would actually produce the very ”incident” they were trying to subvert — that they would be fulfilling history, not re-making it.
Nevertheless, this brilliant plan winds up getting Sayid shot in the abdomen. Jack and Sawyer get into a fist fight, which is broken up by Juliet, who now agrees with Jack that they must detonate the bomb. When Sawyer asks why she’s changed her mind, she tells him it was the way he looked at Kate, and although they love each other, they are not meant to be together. If they never meet then she will never have to lose him. What a FANTASTIC reason to detonate a bomb, Juliet! I think the island’s way of course-correcting comes into effect by unrealistically wrapping a huge metal chain around Juliet’s midsection which drags her to certain death within the pit. She was not visited by Jacob as a child = she wasn’t meant to be there. She does, however, survive the massive fall. Realizing her mortality, she picks a rock and hits the hydrogen bomb’s thermonuclear core 8 times until it seemingly detonates.
As Jughead KABOOMed! and the screen flooded as white as a clean slate — a reverse-negative of The Sopranos’ infamous cut-to-black series finale — we were left to wonder: Was paradox produced? Did the timeline collapse? If so, to what extent will things be different, if at all? And why didn’t it detonate on impact in the first place? We’re left to wonder if Sayid tried to sabotage Jack’s Jughead plan…
Sidenote: the bomb in the show is named and historically represented by the code name Jughead for Operation Castle nuclear test on Bikini Atoll, which took place March/April 1954. Jughead appears to be a Mark 16 nuclear bomb, which has a design yield of 6-8 megatons. A bomb this big would absolutely disintegrate the tiny island!
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2007
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Locke assigns Ben the task of killing Jacob and provides motivation by reminding Ben of the all the bad things that have happened to him. Quite the role-reversal! Remember when Ben was trying to manipulate Locke into killing his father to determine if he was “ready” to join the Others? But this wasn’t actually Locke, it was “Esau” coming back 162 years later to exact his revenge on his estranged twin Jacob via a mysterious “loophole”. Ben’s discussion with Jacob about his misfortunes despite his loyalty to Jacob, a higher power, is similar to the story of Job and God in the Book of Job.
At this point, the group stops to take a brief break at the survivor’s old campsite, and they make a big deal of showing Sun finding Charlie’s DriveShaft ring in Aaron’s cradle. Foreshadowing for more Charlie involvement??
The Ilana/Bram/Lapidus group travels to Jacob’s cabin where they find the ring of ash around the cabin disturbed. Ilana enters the cabin and finds it deserted except for a scrap of cloth bearing a picture of the Statue. Ilana tells the others that Jacob hasn’t been to the cabin for a long time and that someone else has been using it. She orders the cabin set on fire, and the group proceeds to the Statue.
I now think I think that Esau (from the first scene) and the smoke monster are one in the same, and that he/it can embody whoever has passed away (Christian, Claire, Locke, and Alex). Ghost Alex is the one, after all, who told Ben to do whatever Locke tells him to do. And in that scene it is implied that Alex is the smoke monster (it scurries away just as she appears)… And if Esau is portrayed in the first scene as the Black side of things, it fits that he is associated with the black smoke, the black dark cabin, the black ash surrounding the cabin, etc. I also think this was Esau’s eye, as seen by Hurley in his accidental encounter of the cabin alone at night:
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At the remains of the statue, Locke demands to be led to Jacob, and brings Ben with him against Richard’s wishes. Richard pushes a stone door open, and Ben and Locke enter a chamber in the base of statue. Locke hands Ben a knife, telling him that “things will change” once Jacob is gone.
Things will change, indeed! Jacob has been providing a very different rule of the island than Esau would have liked. Jacob allows outside visitors, he sees their presence as “progress”. He brought the Oceanic bunch, as well as the (implied) Black Rock, among others. Esau seemed to see history — or at least, history on the Island — as an endless cycle of darkness and despair. You also got the sense he was weary of playing whatever role it is he plays in this drama. Jacob, on the other hand, seemed to see history/just Island history as a forward moving saga marked by incremental progress. These castaway dramas he stages on the Island are building upon each other and leading toward something that he desires very, very much. Esau, on the other hand, expressed homicidal contempt for Jacob and his ambitions.
We see the completed tapestry that Jacob had been working on in 1845. Front and center is the Eye of Horus — a reference to both Alpert’s guyliner and Horace’s namesake. What I find AWESOME here is that there are 2 levels of figures shown bowing and worshipping what looks like a representation of the sun god, Ra (shown with rays. Further proof that Richard is Ra, in my opinion! There’s also a lot of Greek writing at the top… Potential nod to Ilana’s Greek name origin (Ilion)?
Ancient Greek (from Homer’s Odyssey 6:180 and 8:413):
“ΘΕΟΙ ΤΟΣΑ ΔΟΙΕΝ ΟΣΑ ΦΡΕΣΙ ΣΗΣΙ ΜΕΝΟΙΝΑΣ”, which means, “may the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires”
“[ΘΕΟΙ ΔΕ] ΤΟΙ ΟΛΒΙΑ ΔΟΙΕΝ”, which means, “may the gods give you happiness”
Outside, the Ajira group arrives, and Ilana asks for “Ricardos.” Richard identifies himself and Ilana asks, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Richard replies in Latin, “Ille qui nos omnes servabit” – “He who will protect/save us all.” (obviously referring to Jacob)… Which got me thinking, is this the “war” Widmore spoke of… Jacob vs. Esau? Jacob has assembled his team: Widmore, Abbadon, Richard, Ilana, Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, Sun, Jin, and possibly Lapidus (a candidate). Locke now plays for the other team, and Jacob’s offhanded remark to Ben has him changing sides as well. Team Esau: Ben and the dead folks (Locke, Claire, Christian, Alex). A battle royale between the living and the dead
Jacob tells Ben that whatever he has been told, he still has a choice. (Fate vs. Free Will) …Ben chooses to kill him anyway. (“Psycho”: This film is referenced as Ben stabs Jacob. Both his hand motions and the music refer to the famous shower scene.) It seemed to me that Jacob willingly submitted himself to death, all but baring his chest and walking his heart right into Ben’s knife. So who was playing whom??
Jacob whispers to Locke, “They’re coming”. (Team Jacob to the rescue??) Alterna-Locke realized immediately that he’d been checkmated. Hence, why he angrily kicked Jacob into the fire.
The camera movement that reveals Locke’s body in the crate is exactly the same as the camera movement used to reveal Locke’s body in the coffin at the end of season 4. The big reveal!
Ironically, the season 5′s secret scene happens to be identical to that of season 4′s scene: the revelation of a deceased man’s identity as John Locke.
More on how season 5 is definitely meant to mirror season 2…
”The Incident” certainly resembled season 2′s finale, the title of which, ”Live Together, Die Alone,” was name-checked by Juliet last night. There was a story line involving castaway treachery (Michael = Alterna-Locke). Both episodes shared the Four Toed Statue as a plot point, although ”The Incident” gave us a better look at what it once looked like back in the day. Both episodes culminated with the destruction of the Hatch, perpetrated in each case by lovelorn characters hoping their sacrifice would somehow save the lives of their friends. And finally, both episodes were about activating ”quibbles”. As in: A plot device, common to fantasy/science fiction, that allows a character to cheat the literal obligations of a promise, contract, or prophecy. Also see: loophole.
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Til next season!
