jacob

It’s pretty crazy to think there was a contention of people out there who thought that this particular episode was a let down after the season premiere - I could not disagree more. This episode rocked, and I cannot remember a better infusion of new characters into any show I have ever watched. I thought the acting was incredible, especially by Jeremy Davies as the character “Daniel Faraday” (is he really that awkward/goofy or is that just manipulation?) and Ken Leung as “Miles” (ghost whispering kicks ass, as long as it does not involve Jennifer Love-Hewitt). There is a ton to digest from this episode, but here are a few things I found interesting:

*A Little Lost Fandom Love: Lindelof/Cuse winked at us twice during this episode and most of you caught it - Locke asking “What is the Smoke Monster ?!?” when Ben was in secret-revealing mode and Locke again referring to Walt as “different, taller” - then getting sarcastically ridiculed by Sawyer

*Find815.com Tie-In: The beginning of the episode was a total overlay of what happened at the conclusion of Find815, with the discovery of the plane and the corresponding news coverage

*The New Characters: It is a bit premature to pinpoint exactly what is happening, but I picked up on two streams of thought coming from the excellent commentary that accompanied the post from yesterday:

A) Ben really does hate these people, and Michael could be his “man on their boat” - Makes sense because we have seen Walt but not Michael and it would be just like Ben to force Michael to continue carrying out his evil deeds to ultimately release he and Walt from the Island

B) We are in for a major twist and these people are on the Island to help Ben regain control (or at least Charlotte is) - Another distinct possibility given the all too convenient placement of Charlotte’s bullet proof vest and Ben’s thorough knowledge of who she was. And how about the DHARMA Polar Bear fossil? More theories on that?

Michael Abaddon is EVIL: So, now we know that Naomi was hired by Abaddon as the mercenary to lead all the misfits we met this week - but this episode takes me back to the conversation between The Dark Destroyer and Hurley from last week, when he asked “Are they still alive?” I initially thought he was referring to other survivors of Flight 815, but perhaps he was asking about his crew. I think it is becoming increasingly likely that the Oceanic 6 get off the Island without these new characters, given all the info we are getting fed about the helicopter and its inability to carry much weight.

That’s it for now - the only way this episode could have been any better is if Miles would have parachuted directly into Jacob’s cabin!

What a week for Lost. Seriously, I think that the season was kicked off with an urgency we have yet to see from the show, and definitely lived up to the hype (if that is even possible with the ABC hype-machine in full effect). Everywhere you turned this week, there was something about the show, and this episode in particular. Here is an overview of some of the more interesting occurrences:

*Christian Shepherd was definitely in Jacob’s chair - To make things even better, when that scene was originally shot, Hurley was the one in the chair and then Cuse/Lindelof changed it after the fact; read Jorge Garcia’s interview with Kristin from E! Online for more

*Abaddon - Not sure if you caught his name, but the corporate guy (originally posing as an Oceanic employee) that visited Hurley in the mental institution is CREEPY and his name literally means “destroyer, or place of destruction” - I am sure we have not seen the last of him

*Jack’s Downward Spiral - Being a serious fan of the good doctor, I think it is going to be compelling and difficult to watch how future Jack gets from where we saw him this week (to Hurley “WE’RE NEVER GOING BACK!”) to where we saw him at the end of last season (to Kate “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!”). I think we are going to see the Oceanic 6 tormented by the people they left behind in visions throughout these flash forwards, much like what we saw with the dialogue between Hurley and Charlie.

*Two Factions - At the end of last season I was seriously doubting Jack’s leadership after seeing his sad state of existence. But, I think we were thrown for somewhat of a loop this week when we see Hurley apologize to Jack in the flash forward for going/siding with Locke. I cannot imagine what happens to the group that ends up following Locke back to the DHARMA barracks

This episode would dictate that Hurley will play a much larger role this season and moving forward (Garcia’s acting in this episode was top notch!). On Thursday we should get some better indication of who the people are that show up to the Island and just how nefarious they may or may not be. I still believe there are two distinct groups looking to get to the Island - both for different reasons (one to exploit, one to protect), and that the people legitimately with Naomi are perhaps not “bad guys” at all. The six that get off the Island (Jack, Kate and Hurley are 3 confirmed) become part of some much larger conspiracy to either protect the identity of the Island or perhaps what happened to the people left behind.

As I write this post, there is extremely positive news breaking that the end of the writer’s strike is imminent. My basic understanding is that it’s likely we will get the entire 16 episode season this year based on the strike being resolved in the next few days - great for us and the show!

-Jeff Jensen of EW.com recently posted an interesting theory related to a special ability that Ben might possess, an interview with actor/director/Lost fan Kevin Smith and some other info related to our favorite show:

Like Desmond, Ben receives flashes of the future, too. Of course, while Old Bug Eyes has been on The Island longer, and has actively cultivated a deeper rapport with The Island (or is that just Jacob?), Big Bad Ben has banked many, many, many more flashes than the formerly Hatched-trapped Scot.

Jensen goes on to further support the theory, but I do think that it could at least provide the rationalization for why Ben continues on in his current state of existence. It would also explain why he was so adamant about the demise of the Island which the people that are coming at the conclusion of Season 3 represent.

Related to the other reference of The Island and Jacob above, I have also noted this theory found on Dark UFO, which suggests they may be one in the same. I think the prospect of Jacob being a manifestation and communicable form of the Island is more likely than he actually being a living/breathing person with supernatural abilities, specifically given Cuse’s recent comment about the depiction of Jacob in Season 4, etc.

I know there is still a lot of speculation in regards to the official air date for Season 4, and though there is still no “official” word, I am seeing reports that suggest it will remain on Wednesday night, with the time slot TBD. My understanding is that the date and time will be made official within the next few weeks, one way or the other, with the day either being Monday or Wednesday. Which would you prefer?

Thanks to contributor “Aonghus Fallon” for this particular theory that covers multiple mysteries related to the show in a thought-provoking manner (minor editing by me):

Two of the most ancient myths known to man deal with exile. The first man and woman lived in a beautiful garden, immortal and unchanging – until they were tempted to eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge by the serpent. They were driven out of the garden and prevented from ever entering it again by an angel. The second myth concerns an angel who rises up against his father/creator and is exiled from heaven as a result. Some day he and his minions plan to storm the gates of heaven once more.

I think ‘Lost’ combines these two myths and tries to establish that they have a common ancestry.

THE ISLAND.
The island is the origin of all possible realities – as it is the origin of man and woman. It is also the location of the ‘Garden of Eden’, and the inhabitants of the island experience the beneficial effects of the island’s peculiar reality in the same way as did Adam and Even. To live on the island is to live in a state of stasis, immortal and unchanging, but equally unable to reproduce. Adam and Eve only procreated after leaving the garden.

THE GARDEN.
The ‘garden’ is located on the far side of the island. This is inhabited by a being who had a crucial role in the evolution of the human species, intentionally or otherwise. The actual nature of this ‘garden’ has become shrouded in myth. It might not be a ‘garden’ as such, anymore than it might contain a literal ‘tree of knowledge’ – but it does contain something worth having.

ANGELS.
The garden is protected by a creature which our ancestors might have described as an ‘angel’ but which Rousseau more accurately describes as a ‘security system.’ The biblical Jacob fought an angel, often believed to be samael, also known as the accuser. I can only assume the two ‘angels’ have been contracted into one. This would explain the peculiar effect the ‘angel’ has on those who confront it – how it takes the form of somebody they mistreated.

JACOB.
Jacob is a being who rose up against his creator, his ‘father’ and who was driven out of the garden as a result. This same Jacob encouraged man (another of his ‘father’s’ creations) to take the vital evolutionary step that resulted in his own ejection from the garden.

Jacob is determined to re-enter the garden, by force if necessary, and with this end in mind is recruiting a tribe of like-minded individuals - in the bible, Jacob was a jewish patriarch. This ‘tribe’ consists of his allies from the original insurrection along with anybody else who has ended up on the island in the meantime.

By ‘like-minded’ I mean Jacob is only interested in people willing to challenge the father-figure. If they have brought about their fathers’ deaths or – even better – killed their fathers, this makes them kindred souls. Just as only a truly holy person can see the face of God, your ability to see Jacob (or his willingness to be seen) depends on how great a role you played in your father’s demise. Ben assumes Locke will see Jacob after killing his natural father, not realising that Locke has only engineered his father’s death rather than killed him outright – ie. he got Sawyer to do the dirty work. Thus Locke only glimpses Jacob. He also hears him. Nonetheless, Ben is furious that Jacob permits Locke even this much, given that Locke hasn’t fulfilled the necessary criteria for tribe membership.

THE DHARMA INITIATIVE.
Direct exposure to the electro-magnetic field (located at the island’s core) leaves an individual with precognitive abilities – e.g. Des. The Initiative was set up with the intention of exploiting this feature for the greater good. People were immersed in this electro-magnetic field and then left the island as agents.Their role was to use their precognitive powers to influence the destiny of the world – ‘their’ world – in a positive way.

JOHN LOCKE.
In time the Initiative became aware of the garden’s existence as well as its importance. A group of precogs, permanently based on the island, established that Jacob’s army would attack the garden at some later stage. An exploration of all possible outcomes revealed that one key individual could successfully protect the garden and ensure that this attack failed – John Locke.

DHARMA VS. JACOB.
The Dharma Initiative’s decision to ensure John Locke’s arrival on the island via their powers brought them into conflict with Jacob’s tribe. A member of the initiative – Ben Linus – was recruited by the tribe and all members of the Iniative present on the island at that time were killed. The apparatus built by the Initiative was then used to create more precogs. However these precogs were dedicated to exploring how Jacob might succeed rather than fail in his attack on the garden. It became apparent that, just as Locke was crucial to the successful protection of the garden, there were others inhabiting his reality who would be crucial to Jacob’s cause.

THE CRASH.
The plane crash was orchestrated by Dharma field agents to ensure John Locke’s arrival on the island. However, Jacob’s field agents ensured a number of potential recruits were also on board.

FREE WILL.
Why not approach the people involved directly? From a very early stage it became apparent that a successful outcome was only possible (for either side) if events unfolded in a specific manner and order, the plane crash being a crucial example. I say either side because, whereas precogs can influence events, they cannot affect free will. Bringing John Locke to the island does not guarantee he will do as he is expected – although (once on the island) it is inevitable that he reach a point where he be given the opportunity to protect the garden. This is his ‘destiny’. Thus Ben’s attempts to sabotage this destiny – by trying to recruit Locke and then kill him – were doomed from the outset and show he is losing his grip.

This is going to be our first attempt at providing an episodic review based on the commentary associated with The Man Behind The Curtain post (it’s not quite as easy as it would seem, summarizing 600 posts). We will take some direct reader commentary and then incorporate our own opinions, but this will definitely be a collaborative effort.

1. Is Locke Dead? My opinion… no way! Locke is too important to the show in general and let us not forget that he was previously a paraplegic. I don’t think a single bullet will stop our fast-healing friend and neither do most of you, which is summarized by reader Bryce: “I seriously doubt that Locke is dead. First, why would the writers kill off a very popular character just one episode before the finale if they truly want him dead? Wouldn’t it make much more sense to build up the suspense with teasers saying that a fan favorite would die in the finale? Second, far too many issues with Locke and the Island are still up in the air; for being a fairly essential plot line, this is too quick of a way of tying off this story line. Third, and as with most of what I have to say this is just my opinion, I think the writers were in an odd position with Locke in these last couple of episodes. Obviously they want a major confrontation between the Others and the Losties, but whose side would Locke be on?”
2. Who, or what, is Jacob? At this point we have seen the image of Jacob (which I think is too ambiguous to speculate the identity of the person in the photo), which would seemingly imply that he/it has some human form. From reader Mardacara “I think that Ben has entrapped Jacob, whatever he might actually be - a person caught in a parallel dimension or ghost or whatever - Jacob is clearly a power unto himself. I think that he is the link with the Island or that he knows how to manifest the Island’s powers. Ben is threatened because Locke, by being able to hear Jacob, could potentially communicate with Jacob and together they could collude to strip Ben from his place of power…”

   I would tend to agree with this initial summarization of what Jacob might be, if we were 100% sure that the show in the cabin was not manufactured by Ben. I believe it is still possible that Jacob does not exist at all and that Ben uses the threat of Jacob to manipulate the people around him for his own nefarious reasons. Also, the initial concern from the Others/Hostiles, as well as Alex providing the gun to Locke prior to the journey, could lead one to believe that Ben has perhaps taken others to see Jacob before, and they did not return either. After all, there were a lot of corpses in that hole.

3. Bad make-up job or Island time? One of the more interesting parts of this episode for me was that we now understand there is an additional level of history to the Island, via the Hostiles. How long has Richard Alpert been on the Island and how old is he? I do not think the lack of Alpert’s aging was a mistake by the producers. This would lead us to believe that the Island, or the medical research completed on the Island, has lead to the anti-aging characteristics that Alpert’s appearance would suggest. To take this one step further and I know this is minor, but Ben’s comment to Locke about Jacob not appreciating technology was peculiar to me as well. Flashlights were invented back in the 1890’s and are not something I think any of us would consider to be technologically advanced circa 2004. This could also be an implication of how long the hostiles/Jacob have been on the Island too.

Let’s keep the discussion within this post focused upon the three questions referenced above.

Thanks to reader and contributor DocH (minor editing from myself):

I told myself I wasn’t going to take a side on the Jacob question, but, after watching The Brig, I think I’ll jump into the fray here. I think Jacob is a real, tangible, touchable human-being of normal (vice supernatural) abilities. He’s not deceased or “of legend”. Jacob doesn’t have 4 toes, isn’t a true prophet, and doesn’t have any unique ‘healing’ abilities.

Ben is not Jacob. Ben knows Jacob. Jacob is real and Ben is part of his stable of confidants. Ben is not the General, Jacob is. Ben is a Colonel in Jacobs’ army, and takes his orders accordingly.

Jacob is a modern day cult leader like Jim Jones in Guayana, Rev Moon of Korea, Bagwan Rajneesh in Oregon or the plural marriage guy they just busted from Utah. Jacob knows the power and unique qualities the island possesses, how to use what the island offers, but mostly how to manipulate his followers and elevate him to the demagogue status he desires. Ben and a few Others know about the island’s magic too. Jacob commands Jacob-oriented religion and devout followers ensue - folks are compelled to “prove themselves” by committing heinous acts they would not otherwise perform. After looking at all of those doe-eyed cultists ogling Locke in camp - I’d say most of them have spent more than a few days in the “brainwash” room on Hydra Island.

Ben is the public face for Jacob. Look at the way Ben publicly humiliated Locke when Locke wouldn’t prove himself in front of Jacob’s cult. The cult abandoned Locke - remember how eager they were when they thought Locke was “special” - “the one”. It was all a Jacob manipulation to ensure Locke was cast out. Why? Locke is wise to the unique qualities of the island - his paralysis, his bitten hand, dragged by smokie to the vent, his face-to-face with good smokie where he “saw into the heart of the island”. All this threatens Jacobs’ rule. Ben is the man in front of the curtain - Jacob is “The Man Behind The Curtain”, pulling all of the strings, rarely if ever seen by his cult, seen as need be by his Colonels, Captains and Lieutenants.

I don’t think Juliet has ever knowingly seen Jacob, but I do think she knows that Jacob is a flesh and blood person, not a deity. She was guest help for the cult fertility issue, but you know how it is with cults, the door only goes one-way. Once you are in the compound, they will never willing open the door to let you out. That is why Juliet has been in the extreme measure mode lately; the Ben operation, the Danny shooting, her cult trial, deceiving Sun about her D.O.C., and the secret alliance with Jack in beach camp.

The island does not cure - the doctors cure. The island heals - rapidly and freely. The island may also alter the normal aging process. Jacob, Locke and Ben all know this about the island. All of our doctors (Juliet, Ethan, etc…) know this too (Jack is just learning it though).

Since Jacob is not the ‘face’ of the cult, Jacob does not have to spend all of his time on the island. He gets away frequently to manage the business of the island. The business - exploit the capabilities of the island (a place for all to go and heal - for a significant fee of course) - and ultimately for the “Religion of Jacob” to go worldwide as the one true faith. With so much at stake why not just kill the Losties? Reason - Jacob is years away from taking the island public because of little things like; infertility, these nagging little smoke creatures that like to hurt folks (not good for business) - so they need test subjects. Losties, Tailies, special kids, pregnant-types, whatever they can get will fit the bill. Why not just kill Locke? Locke is gullible, he’d be more of an asset than a threat, if they can “bring him into the fold” and he’d make one heck of a poster-child for what the island is capable of.

So if Ben isn’t Jacob, who is? I don’t think it is one of the many rich corporate types that hover just out of sight, like one might suspect. The guys hiding in the corporate shadows are after the island themselves, either for profit and/or are in fear of what Jacobs little project may do to their long term bottom line and the global culture. It isn’t likely that any of our distinguished scientists from decades past are Jacob either, though they may have given rise to the Jacob phenomena.

Not from the past, not just off camera. How about a Jacob that has been hiding in plain sight the entire time? There is an old-world trick, where a royal would travel or visit foreign courts as a royal underling and the royal underling would pose as the royal. The hidden royal could observe, decide and eventually act without ever having revealed him or herself or putting themselves in harms’ way. Ben is the Colonel, but who wears Jacobs’ shoes? One of Bens’ Captains or Lieutenants? I cast my vote for Richard Alpert - he is Jacob, he is the puppet master behind the curtain and he perfectly fits the criteria outlined above.

Look at how Alpert comes and goes from the island (recruiting Juliet, kidnapping Cooper). Look at how Alpert is always around when important things are ‘apparently’ being decided by Ben (get me TMFT). And recently, with “The Brig”, Ben threw Locke his best “bad cop” impersonation - kill your father or you are an outcast, while Alpert simply manipulated Locke with his best “good cop” act, getting Sawyer to kill Cooper with - “John - we’ve never formally met - I don’t like Ben either - here is Sawyers’ file - read on…”. Locke AGAIN has fallen for the long con. Locke said I can’t kill, but in effect he did when he conspired for, solicited, and abetted the murder of Cooper, via Sawyer. Jacob (Alpert) and Ben now officially own Locke’s soul.

Now read the first 5 paragraphs again, only insert the word Alpert where the word Jacob is…