C.J. Cregg?!?

For many, last Tuesday was just another normal day. People all over the nation curled up on their couches or settled into their local bar, pint in hand, eyes tuned to ABC. My friends met up as normal, ate like kings and discussed what mysteries would be revealed, whose hearts would break, and if Kate was finally going to bite the dust in that night’s episode of “Lost.”
I, however, was 36,000 feet in the air hurtling towards California for a long anticipated vacation, gripping my armrests and hoping that my intense concentration on a show that began with a plane crash wouldn’t somehow mess with the plane’s controls. I even turned my phone off-off instead of just putting it on silent (my usual quiet protest to the strict and highly annoying rules of air travel). Nothing happened. Just in case you were worried.
I didn’t see last week’s episode of “Lost” for four full days after that. I have never felt such agony.

I may be exaggerating. Luckily one of the friends I was visiting on my trip had DVRed the episode. Crisis averted! The events of last week’s episode, “The Candidate,” left me shell-shocked. Jin and Sun’s highly anticipated demise was appropriately “I’ll never let go, Jack,” and yes, I cried. Sayid? There is no Sayid! Beautiful television, right there.

Last night’s episode, “Across the Sea,” was brilliantly placed to break up the drama of our heroes from Oceanic Flight 815 (and, in my case at least, give us a little extra time to mourn Sayid, Jin and Sun). The only snippet we saw of our Oceanic heroes was that flashback to Season 1 (Season 1!!) when they found the Man in Black and Allison Janney in the caves*, so we didn’t get a single question answered about the current situation on the beach. Instead, we finally got the island’s origin story. It turns out that at the root of the Jacob/MiB conflict is a standard case of sibling rivalry. Simple, yes, but the fact that this relationship is a classic Jacob and Esau drama completely grounds Jacob and the Man in Black in reality. Up until this point it was easy to think of Jacob like God and the Man in Black as the Devil (and the Island was Purgatory)–not just in a symbolic sense, but because they seemed to embody certain characteristics that made them seem, well, God-like. Like their ability to make characters, such as Locke, Ben, Richard and now Jack, change their entire outlook on life and put a fervent, blind faith into “the Island.” We have similarly believed in Jacob and the Man in Black’s seemingly higher knowledge about the ways of the island, and, importantly, why the Oceanic Flight 815 crash there in the first place. I’m delighted to see that Jacob and the Man in Black just want to get off the island, like everyone else.
My friend Jordan brought up a good point–”Across the Sea” taught us that we will never know what the island is, where it came from, or why it exists. In fact, that doesn’t even matter anymore. What we will find out is why the players are important. Like the number 42–even though the meaning is a mystery, that’s totally ok. What we really care about is how everything fits together.
I loved when boy Jacob argues with his brother that the board game they’re playing is unfair because well, the Boy in Black made up the rules. His response is something along the lines of (and I apologize for the poor paraphrasing), “someday you will make up your own game with your own rules.” It’s obvious, now, that for the entire series everyone has been playing Jacob’s game, with Jacob’s rules. I came up with three. I know there are more, but let’s start with three.
Rule 1: Jacob and the Man in Black can’t kill each other. We do know that they can die, as evidenced by Ben stabbing Jacob and by Jack, Kate and Locke finding the skeletons of Allison Janney and the MiB in the cave. The question is: why don’t they stay dead? Jacob can’t die because he drank the wine, which would explain why we’ve seen his wild-child, reincarnated self running around the island. The confusing part to me is that Allison Janney says “now you’re just like me,” but she still dies… I think she just transferred her eternal life power to Jacob, but perhaps she’s somehow also been reincarnated on the island.
Rule 2: The Man in Black can’t leave the island. We know this because Allison Janney said so. We also know that the whispers on the island are souls who can’t leave for one reason or another (See: Hurley’s conversation with ghost-Michael in “Everybody Loves Hugo”). In that case, can we consider the Man in Black to be straight up dead? His body did decay alongside that of his mother’s in that cave. We also know for a fact that the Man in Black is the smoke monster, but then again the Man in Black seems convinced that he’ll be able to leave the island. Does he think he’ll leave as Locke, and is his goal just to lead a normal human life? It seemed like that’s exactly what he wanted when he abandon his mother and brother for the “others.”
Rule 3: A guardian of the cave of light** must remain on the island. Jacob needs to replace himself in order to leave. I’m about 99% sure that will be Jack–just because it’s Jack, and also because Sayid said, “it’s you, Jack” before taking the brunt of the Man in Black’s bomb on the submarine.
I admit that after “Across the Sea” I feel unnaturally calm about this whole season finale (meaning no more “Lost” ) thing. I think this episode is as close as we’re going to get to having any questions really and truly answered. I’m very happy that writers chose to explain the series by reminding us that it’s all a game. The Hostiles, the Others, DHARMA, the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle, getting off the island, everything–it’s all part of it. They’ve focused so much on Jacob and the Man in Black, two characters that they haven’t officially introduced until the series was almost over, but it’s allowed us to take a step back and see why we really deeply care about the pieces on the board.
We can’t forget Desmond, though. Desmond could change it all. And… I hope he will. I can’t wait.
* It’s so cool to think that back in Season 1, it was the Man in Black in Christian Shepherd’s body that lead Jack, Kate and Locke to his own skeleton.
** Speaking of religious overtones (and I guess this question is for my Heeb brethren out there), did this scream “Ner Tamid” to anyone else?
Questions, questions, questions!
1. Allison Janney–really dead? Or reincarnated on the island?
Allison Janney–really dead?survey software

2. Can the Man in Black get off the island, or is he just a delusional ghost, trapped forever on the island just like all the other “whispers”?
Can the Man in Black get off the island?online surveys

3. By throwing his brother into the cave of light, did Jacob kill the Man in Black, or did he just release Smokey? Then, in turn, Smokey took the form of Jacob’s brother just to mess with Jacob? It’d be possible then that Locke is still partly Locke. It just seems like there is still some of Locke’s spirit to the Man in Black. For example, when the MiB said to wild child boy Jacob “don’t tell me what I can’t do!” Remember “Cabin Fever” in Season 4? Richard visits boy Locke and sees Locke’s crazy smoke monster drawings.
By throwing his brother into the cave of lightonline surveys

4. Jacob’s replacement is most likely to be:
Jacob’s replacement is most likely to beonline surveys

5. If you could, what would you name the Man in Black?
If you could, what would you name the Man in Black?online surveys

6. Could the next Jacob/Man in Black duo be Aaron and Baby Kwan?
Could the next Jacob/Man in Black duo be Aaron and Baby Kwan?online surveys

7. How did Claudia manage to give birth on the island?
How did Claudia manage to give birth on the islandMarket Research

8. Evangeline Lilly looked like a 15 year old in Season 1.
Evangeline Lillyonline survey

9. Will Desmond and Penny live happily ever after? Are there some believers out there?
Will Desmond and Penny live happily ever after?Market Research

10. Will Richard die?
Will Richard Die?Market Research