LOST Recap: Season 6, Episode 14: “Across The Sea”

Usually when I start off one of these posts, I like to come in with some kind of witty or attention-grabbing sentence or paragraph.  But for some reason, it seems strange to do that for this episode.  “Across The Sea” seemed to really polarize the LOST audience, and strangely, that reaction seemed to annoy the show’s writers.  With only 2 episodes and 3 1/2 hours of new material left to air, things seem to have shifted from last week’s giddy anticipation for the finale, to an atmosphere of guarded apprehension about what we may or may not get in the finale.  I’ll touch on that a bit more at the end of the post, and also clue all of you in on what’s in store for Finale Week on interLOST.  But first, let’s take a closer look at some of the on-screen happenings of the episode that is clearly first chronologically in the history of the show.

“Across The Sea”

Typically, the writers are extremely clever, and have double-meanings in their episode titles.  Obviously, “Across The Sea” refers to where Jacob and MIB’s mother comes from, but I failed to come up with a secondary explanation, even after giving it some thought.  With all of the subtle clues dropped in this episode, I was sure that there had to be something, but I just couldn’t find it.  If anyone else came up with something, please help me out by mentioning it in the comments!

“Every question I answer will simply lead to another question.”

Claudia, trying to determine who she's with

Right off the bat, the writers are letting us know that this episode was created just for the mythology folks.  It’s quite clear that crazy mom’s words to Claudia are not intended just for her, but more importantly, everyone one of us that are looking for LOST to explain itself and it’s mysteries.

Now, I hate to go into a deep dive on dialog when it’s one of the first lines in the episode, and I haven’t had a chance to build a rhythm yet, but this line is here, and you almost have to talk about it.  I imagine that the writers threw this line in as sort of an in-joke…something that they thought would give the audience something to chuckle about.  But I have to tell you, everyone that I’ve had a chance to talk to about it took more as an insult than an in-joke.  True, to some extent you can’t answer every question that has spawned from another question.  But this line seems to indicate that they won’t even give it the good-old college try.  The fact is, the writers know that they have an audience that painstakingly reviews each and every detail in each and every episode.  And we know that they know because they consistently drop in easter eggs, both visually, and with nuggets of dialog.  They’ve used this passion to create the “cool” factor of the show…to help geek it out for the absolute fanatics.  But now, using the same device that they once used to reel everyone in, they’re now using to tell everyone to back off.  The fact is, the writers created the mysteries that we all want answers to.  They made it important to us, the audience.  And since they had to know we’d clamor for answers, it seems to speak to a lack of planning to open all of these doors without having visualized a narrative focus that would take us through them all being closed.

I could write pages and pages on this topic, so maybe I’ll turn that into a discussion topic in the final few days we have before the finale.  And then again, maybe I won’t.  Either way, suffice it to say that I think that the writers went a little too far and actually belittled their audience with this one.

“I only picked one name.”

The newly born Jacob and his brother

The rest of the scene gives us a minor answer, and then denies us of another.  First off, Jacob and MIB are brothers…something that adds an interesting twist to their conflict.  At the same time, it appears as though the writers simply do not want to provide us with MIB’s actual name (wouldn’t crazy Mom have given him some type of nickname?), and so that’s that.  That’s also that for Claudia, who meets with her demise at the hands of the same woman who delivered her children.

“Jacob doesn’t know how to lie…he’s not like you.”

Right from the start, it’s clear to everyone involved that BIB (the boy in black) is crazy mom’s first choice to be her successor.  Crazy mom knows it, BIB knows it, and Jacob even realizes it.  I mention this because it’s critical to understanding the motivation of each of the characters as they progress through the episode, and perhaps into the final 3 1/2 hours reamining this season.

“Of course it did!  Where else would it come from?”

Jacob and his brother playing a game

One of the bigger revelations of the episode is the “protector’s” ability to harness the power of the island.  This idea is addressed more directly later in the episode, but it’s important to take notice of it here as well, since it’s not as straightforward.  BIB finds a game, and crazy Mom claims to have placed it there.  But how?  She wasn’t concealing the game just to take it out at just the right moment.  No, what I think we’re seeing is the manifestation of the “magic box” that Ben referred to back in Season 3’s “The Man From Tallahassee”.  While we were told that the box was just a metaphor for the island, I think that there have been numerous occasions in which the best explanation for some activity or event would be that enough people believed that it would happen.  I think the infamous Dharma food drop is a perfect example, and this season’s lighthouse is more recent potential proof.  While it’s a far-fecthed theory, don’t be too surprised if we come to learn that the ability to simply believe that something exists on the island is all that’s required to make it be the case.

“I’ve made it so you can never hurt each other.”

In and of itself, this piece of info is nothing dramatically new.  We already knew that Jacob and the Man in Black couldn’t kill each other.  But what this statement really implies is that the protector of the island has the ability to make the rules.  MIB even foresahdows this later in the episode, when discussing the rules of the game he and Jacob play.  But these rules haven’t been around forever…they seem to be modifiable, or at least appendable…if you have the job of taking care of the island.

“This is the reason we’re here.”

Jacob and his brother are shown the cave of light

Crazy Mom takes the boys to the cave of light and explains her reason for being: protecting the light that no one can steal, but that everyone will want.  It’s this light that apparently powers all of the mystical properties of the island.  But it’s not only that; tampering with the light on the island can have a ripple effect everywhere, and cause unspecified harm to humanity even off the island.  I think that the episode is very straightforward in this area, but I specifically call it out because while we’re currently worried about Smokey and what he did to Sayid, Frank, Sun and Jin…Widmore might be the one that is actually about to violate crazy Mom’s initial concerns.  Food for thought as we head into the finale.

“I’m going for a walk on the beach.  I’ll meet you later.”

Claudia's apparition appears to her unnamed son

One of the mysteries of the episode that I’m still trying to figure out is why Claudia (the boys’ mother) would appear to BIB, but not to Jacob.  BIB even asks this very same question, and is told it’s because Claudia is dead.  Unfortunately for the audience, that still doesn’t explain the situation.  Is it one of the rules that Jacob can’t see dead people?  Is it because Claudia doesn’t want to appear to him?  This may be one of those questions that never gets answered.  Regardless, Claudia shows BIB just enough to convince him that he doesn’t belong with crazy Mom, and instead, should go live with his people.

“Follow you where?”

An unhappy young Jacob

The writers have used this line just enough this season for me to think that it’s got to be some type of in-joke with the writing team.  Perhaps it’s part of a drinking game that they play.  In any event, Claudia’s revelation to BIB has caused him to want to leave crazy Mom’s camp, and to take Jacob with him.  While the resulting beatdown that BIB takes from Jacob is intriguing, what’s even more intriguing is the fact that crazy Mom seems completely powerless to stop him.  It appears as though free will, at least in some form, trumps the “rules” of the game.  It’ll be interesting to see if this is explored in further detail in the last 2 episodes.

What is certain to be explored in further detail is the warning crazy Mom gives to BIB: that he’ll never be able to leave the island.  He clearly believes otherwise, and I’m sure we’ll find out the ultimate truth before the last frame of the finale is shown.

“I’m leaving, Jacob.”

Thirty years pass, and BIB becomes the MIB that we’ve all come to know.  And now, even this far back in the storyline, MIB’s desire is the same as it is many, many years later: to get off the darn island.   But here’s the thing: at first it made sense for crazy Mom to try to stop MIB from leaving the island: she didn’t want him to be corrupted and/or killed.  But now, after he’s spent 30 years with a group of humans outside her sphere of influence, it doesn’t seem to make sense that she would still want to stop him.  It makes even less sense that Jacob would want to keep him on the island.  But that’s exactly what transpires.

Jacob relays MIB’s plan to crazy Mom, who subsequently pays her first visit to MIB after 30 years of staying away.  And after failing to convince him to give up his plans to create the frozen donkey wheel, she physically stops him by surprising him and knocking him out.

“I don’t have a choice; it’s what he wants.”

Crazy Mom transfers the power of the island to Jacob

After stopping MIB’s plans, it’s clear that crazy Mom knows that she’s going to be hunted down and killed.  She quickly takes Jacob back to the cave of light, and runs through the ceremony of transferring her abilities to him.  The interesting thing to note is that the whole thing was a very clear set up from the beginning.  She made Jacob jealous of his brother right from the start, and manipulated him both into taking her place, and trapping MIB on the island.  Not only did she know that her death was coming, but she did it in such a way that she could set up MIB to fall out of favor with Jacob, and set up the dynamic that they’re still battling under in the current timeline.

“No it doesn’t; you wanted it to be him!”

One of the things I found interesting about this episode was the way the actors delivered their lines.  I’m not sure if it was intentional, but even as adults, Jacob and MIB used verbage and intonation that suggested the maturity of a little boy.  It’s fascinating to me, because here are two immensely powerful beings, but neither of them have any real-life experiences.  Perhaps MIB has more than Jacob because of his 30 years with the human inhabitants.  But for all intents and purposes, these two are kids in adults’ bodies, playing high-stakes games with people’s lives and not really understanding the consequences.

“What did you do?!”

Even as crazy Mom thanks MIB for ending her run as protector of the island, Jacob cannot see the manipulation that he’s been a part of.  He again provides a beatdown for MIB, and then attempts to give him the only punishment he can think of, considering that the rules state that he can’t kill him outright.

“You wanna leave this place brother?”

The Smoke Monster is born

As we all saw, Jacob chucked his brother into the cave of light, causing him to turn into the Smoke Monster.  2 things to note here.  First, it appears as though the light in the cave goes out as a result of MIB being tossed in.  I’m not sure if this is a temporary condition that happens as a result of someone going into the cave (and we don’t get to see it again after the transformation), but it certainly fades out.  Again, just something to keep in mind for the finale.  Additionally, although not explicitly stated, it certainly appears as though the crazy Mom speech regarding everyone having a little light inside of them is referring to individual’s souls.  It seems to me that the effect of being tossed into the cave is one that tears your soul from your physical body, and renders it as the black smoke that we’ve seen.  It also may give a level of explanation as to how MIB can use the bodies of the dead on the island.  Once the soul leaves the body, MIB can push his soul into the body, and take control of it.  There seems to be some strange measure of logic around it all if looked at in that fashion.

I should also note that it’s very clear that the writers are once again trying to blur the line between good and evil.  After the events of last episode’s “The Candidate”, you could easily argue that MIB is the main protagonist.  After all, he just helped to kill 3 main characters on the show.  But after this episode, you can’t help but to sympathize with his situation.  He’s been pulled from the life he meant to lead by no fault of his own.  And the only thing he’s wanted to do his whole life…leave the island…has been denied him at every turn.  Not only that, but his brother and adopted mother betray him; the former cruelly subjecting him to an horrible existence in a fit of childish rage.  It’s hard to feel fully sympathetic to Smokey based upon everything we’ve seen him do over the years, but it’s certainly not hard at all to at least rationalize his actions.

“Our very own Adam and Eve…”

A nice touch at the end of the episode, not only tying back this story to that of our LOSTies, but helping to clarify the “Adam & Eve” comment from Locke.  Clearly, these two are truly the start of the story of our gang of LOSTies.  And while the initial timeframe that Jack, Kate, and Locke thought they were from is way off, I’m still very satisfied with the answer given to us regarding who these two really are.

Post-episode questions:

1. What are the rules of the game?  Are all of the rules that crazy Mom put in place still in effect, and which new ones has Jacob introduced?

2. With the wine bottle smashed, what ritual does Jacob have to put his successor through in order for him/her to take over?

3. With Jacob being killed before his successor was named, how can he transfer his power to the new person?

4. Even if MIB kills all of the candidates, will he really be able to leave the island?

5. If that was all of the mythology you’re going to get surrounding the conflict between Jacob and MIB, would you be satisfied?

I ask the last question because of an interesting article I stumbled across today.  It’s an interview with the show’s writers, and how they defend some choices that they’ve made regarding the show.  It was the first time that I came across an interview in which they seemed both guarded and jaded, and I was actually surprised as I read through it.  Check it out here and see what you think: http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/exclusive-interview-lost-producers-damon-lindelof-and-carlton-cuse-talk-across-the-sea

To me, there are some discouraging things mentioned in the article, most of which harken back to my thoughts around the “we can’t answer all of your questions” line by crazy Mom in this episode.  That being said, I’m still hopeful that the finale will be knock-your-socks-off good, and that we’ll have much to discuss after it airs.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I plan to be pretty active on the blog as we head into Finale Week next week!  I plan to post the challenge of the week on Monday, which will be highly open-ended.  I’m hoping to talk about whatever things you hope to get answers to in the final 2 episodes.  I’ll also post on interLOST itself: how it came to be, its progression over the past few years and what I had hoped for, as well as what will happen to it after LOST leaves the airwaves.  Obviously, I’ll recap Tuesday’s episode, “What They Died For”, but then I’ll also be back to share with you what was said in the Times Talks Live session.  And once the finale airs, I’ll have an open thread for comments and initial thoughts prior to my recaps the following week.  I’m looking forward to a fun week of LOST, and I hope to share it with all of you!  For those of you lurkers (and I know there are a bunch of you), now’s the time to come out of hiding!  Share a little tidbit in the comments!  This is your last chance before the show goes off the air!

As always, thanks for stopping by!  Let’s hope that next week is as special as we all hope it will be!

LOST Discussion: 10 Things I Can’t Wait To See

Hey everyone, while we’re stuck with a LOST clip show this week, I thought I’d do something a little different than usual on the blog.  As you’re probably aware, we’ve only got 4 hours of LOST left this season, and then probably another 17 next.  And then that’s it!  LOST will be gone forever (except on Blu-Ray and DVD, of course.)

So, with more LOST yesterdays than tomorrows, I thought I’d take a look at some of the things I’m really looking forward to over the next 20+ hours of my favorite show.  And really, the writers have done a great job of answering a ton of questions for us.  I’d have to say that more questions have been answered to this point than are remaining to be answered.  But there are still some really good mysteries, events, people, and storylines that I’m looking forward to knowing the final bit on.

And, I thought I’d share all of them, including what I’m hoping for, with all of you.  If any of them jive with what you’re thinking about when you think LOST, I hope that you’ll comment below and start a discussion.  It’d be nice to chat about a few of these things while we still have time!  So, without further ado, here’s my list:

10.  Jack Shephard’s ultimate fate

When Jack was first introduced back in the pilot, it was hard to dispute the fact that he was the most central character in LOST.  Over the course of the series, Jack has slowly lost the leadership role, become extremely flawed, and for a time (at least for me), became pretty much uninteresting.  But really, LOST is as much Jack’s story as it is anyone else’s.  And his recent change…finally giving up his need to fix things, and actually thinking about himself and his destiny…is incredibly compelling.  There was a time that I really didn’t care about Jack’s character anymore, but that time has come and gone.  I can’t wait to see how Jack fulfills his island destiny…and if he lives through what the island has in store for him.

My fearless prediction: Jack will make a decision that will save the island, the world, and Kate, but will spell his own demise.

9. “The War”

If I was a betting man, I would wager that LOST’s sixth and final season is going to be all about this “war” that keeps getting hinted to us viewers.  And if it is, and it’s LOST’s final endgame, then you’d have to imagine that it’s going to be absolutely spectacular.  You know that everyone left alive (and perhaps even those that aren’t) will play a part, and that the show will pull out all the stops to go out with a bang.  Of course, we know so little about it, so I really couldn’t justify placing it any higher on my list.  Is it about the future of humanity as a whole?  Is it about the ability to continue to keep the space-time continuum together?  Or is it something just a bit more mundane?  I’d have to imagine that we’ll get just a bit more of a taste of what it’ll be prior to the end of the season,  And, if I were to do another list when the final frame of the finale airs, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it jumped 7 spots to the top.

My fearless prediction: The war is all about who gets control of the island once and for all.  It will bring some sides together that appear to be enemies right now, and cause much death and devastation.  Those that live through it will be able to access all of the powers of the island for all of eternity.

8. Who are “Adam & Eve”

So…just in case you forgot, we were introduced to a couple of skeletons way back in Season 1.  And the writers have come forward to say that they wanted to do that as early as possible, to prove that they had a plan for the ending all along.  While this may seem somewhat trivial, the revelation of what the writers had planned from the beginning, and how it plays out, will be fascinating for me.  I think a good part of how LOST is remembered will come down to how they answer or reveal some of the mysteries that have spanned the majority of the show.  To me, this is one of those long-spanning mysteries.  Here’s hoping that the explanation is worth the wait.

My fearless prediction: It’s gotta be a couple, right?  The easy guess is Jack and Kate, but I’m going to go with Rose and Bernard.

7. How Christian/the apparitions/the whispers are tied together

Alright, some of you might be a bit critical of me for lumping 3 different things into this one category, but really, I can’t help but feel as though they’re related.  After all, Christian technically is an apparition himself.  Of course, at the same time, you have to wonder whether or not his presence is a little more special than the others, or if the apparitions are actually all one entity.  And at the same time, it clearly seems as though the whispers seem to happen at the same time the apparitions appear (see Ben’s mother for a recent example).  Again, this is one of those mysteries that has spanned all 5 seasons to date, so the anticipation is high for a spectacular explanation.  This could be one that will make us watch all of those old episodes again just to se how it all fits together.

My fearless prediction: The apparitions are actually resurrected island dwellers, but can only appear when the island allows them to.  The whispers are the island going through its catalog of deceased folks and deciding which one to manifest.

6. What happens in the Temple

If I remember correctly, we didn’t even hear about The Temple until we got near the end of Season 3.  But it’s been a huge part of the mythology this season, and seems to be inextricably tied to “The Sickness” that we were introduced to way back in Season 1.  It seems to be central to how the Others maintain control of the island, and also tied to Ben becoming the man he is today.  If that weren’t enough, The Temple may also be tied to many of the other mysteries of the island.  At the end of it all, The Temple may be the central focus of the island, and tied to how everything operates.  But in the very least, it’s a piece of the island that, when explained, will answer a couple of questions that we’ve been wondering about for quite some time.

My fearless prediction: The Temple is where all of the resurrections take place (the bodies must be taken there), and is the central location for all of the island’s powers.

5. What is the Smoke Monster?

Interestingly, I think that the Smoke Monster was my #1 mystery for the longest time.  In fact, it might still be at the top of the list if not for this season’s “Dead Is Dead”, where we were given just a few more details about how Smokey operates.  So while I now have other things that I’m slightly more interested in, I still am very excited about the final explanation of Smokey.  What is it made of?  Is it mechanical or organic?  Whose bidding does it carry out?  And what is the true reason why it kills some but spares others?  The episode where we get the final word on the Smoke Monster will be an excellent episode indeed.

My fearless prediction: The smoke monster is a supremely advanced machine, brought to the island from the future when the island skipped through time.  It does the bidding of whoever controls the temple.

4. The backstory of Richard Alpert

With Ben’s past almost fully explained with this season’s episodes, I’d nominate Richard as the most enigmatic character on LOST.  Heck, he may have been even before we got so much of Ben’s story.  There’s just so much we don’t know about him.  Just how old is he?  Has he been leading the Others before we even knew them as Others?  What’s his arrangement with the Others?  What’s his relationship with Jacob?  He’s clearly a huge part of the Others’ hierarchy, and can do some things that defy explanation (like walk through the sonic fence unscathed), so getting his backstory will be an exciting thing.  I imagine that getting to know what he’s all about will tell us a ton more about the island as well.

My fearless prediction: Richard is from the distant past of the island, but was resurrected, so is able to retain his age from the time he was brought back to life.

3. “What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue?”

Alright, so the statue would have had a hard time making the cut prior to this season.  But now that we’ve seen more than just the foot, and in fact, have a group using the statue as a code word/riddle, it’s suddenly become one of the most forward-facing mysteries on the show.  And there are many layers to it as well.  What is the statue a replica of?  If by some chance it’s Anubis, as many have speculated, then what does that mean?  Is the island the gateway to the afterlife?  Is the island’s truly amazing power not just healing people, but actually resurrecting them?  The other angle is all about Ilana’s group, and what they have in store.  After “Some Like It Hoth”, you’d have to think that they’re not part of Team Widmore.  But could they be doing Ben’s dirty work?  Are they a faction of Richard’s team?  Do they have a different leader altogether?  And what the heck is in their crate?

But what I find to be the most fascinating about this group is that they seem to, despite the subterfuge, have their collective heads in the right place.  They had a true understanding of Miles’ plight, and the fact that he’s been injured by his relationship (or lack thereof) with his dad.  They seem to know that he’s using money to replace the hole in his heart, and that he’d love to understand why he can “talk” to dead people.  And they offered him answers to those questions.  Of course, the final mystery is all about what the answer is to their question.  And perhaps, it’ll have some true meaning, whether the answer itself is literal or figurative.

My fearless prediction: The statue is indeed Anubis, the temple is in the shadow of the statue, and Team Ilana is going to give the island inhabitants all they can handle in the coming war.

2. How did Locke get resurrected, and what happened to him in the process?

I don’t care what the new Locke actually says, the man is, quite frankly, someone completely different than the man we’ve come to know over the first 4 1/2 seasons of LOST.  The new Locke is so in tune with the island that he has the ability to know whether Sun will ever see Jin again.  He conveniently disappears when Ben summons the Smoke Monster, and then again when he comes face-to-face with it.  The old Locke had the ability to get in tune with the island when he focused, but never even close to the level that the new Locke has mastered, and achieves effortlessly.  He has come back to a completely different level.

Of course, this may have everything to do with the actual resurrection process that Locke went through in the first place.  We have absolutely no idea how, when, or where this took place, but Locke was clearly dead, and now is apparently alive.  Was his resurrection at all similar to Christian Shepard?  Or, has he been resurrected in a more “real” sense?  In other words, is he an apparition of some sort, or is he the same flesh and blood as say, Frank Lapidus?  Many layers of intrigue here, and every scene with Locke right now has me on the edge of my seat. 

My fearless prediction: Locke was taken to the temple to be resurrected and is now inextricably tied to the island.

1. Who is Jacob?

I have to admit, Jacob’s been at or near the top of my list ever since Ben and Locke visited his cabin back near the end of Season 3.  We know almost nothing about him, other than he seems to be invisible, asked Locke to “Help Me”, and seems to be the man that the Others, Richard Alpert, Charles Widmore, and perhaps many others, report to or answer to.  It’s inferred that he has the answers to all of the island’s mysteries, powers, and weirdness.  He’s made a list (to what end we don’t know), which only contained certain LOSTies names on them, but not all.  And for some strange reason, he seems to hate technology, even something as simple as a flashlight.  The potential of what he could be, what he stands for, and what he could do to anyone and everyone on the island seems limitless.

Jacob and his true nature would seem to be the key to the entire endgame of LOST.  Maybe the “war” is about who will control Jacob.  Maybe the war is about who Jacob will give his loyalty to.  Perhaps Jacob is the original founder of the island and can explain everything that’s happened to everyone on it since its inception.  With only a season and a couple of episodes remaining, I don’t think that it’s too far-fetched to think that the revelation of Jacob will also coincide with the revelation of LOST’s ultimate storyline, and how the whole thing comes to an end.  I’ll certainly be excited to see anything that gives us even the slightest info on the character and its meaning.

My fearless prediction: I think I’ve made enough dumb predictions prior to now…I’m going to refrain on one of these so I’m not a straight 10 for 10 wrong on all of them!  🙂

A few runners-up

Not everything could make my list, but here are a few more things that I’m keeping my eye on:

The infertility issue

We haven’t seen alot of this lately, but it was a huge item in earlier seasons.  It caused us to worry about the safety of Jin & Sun’s baby, and it’s the reason why Juliet is on the island.  And, it wasn’t an issue in Dharmaville in 1977, but clearly was in 2004.  Here’s hoping that we’ll see what caused it, as well as the resolution, before the series comes to a close.

The Faraday/Hawking/Widmore connection

Faraday has been a fun character to watch right from his first appearance on the show.  We’ve only seen a brief glimpse into his backstory, but even his introduction was full of mystery.  Why did he have such a strange reaction to seeing the footage of the Flight 815 wreckage?  Has he been to the island before?  What did he learn from his time travel experiements?  What was he doing at the start of Season 5 near the donkey wheel with what looked like an oxygen tank?  There’s alot to learn about Faraday, and his return in “Some Like It Hoth” was a nice sight.

The resolution to the Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Juliet quadrangle

While I haven’t been overly fond of this storyline through the seasons, it would be a bit of a travesty if we didn’t get some kind of real resolution to this prior to the end of the series.  Hopefully one of the couples will find some measure of happiness amongst the madness of the island.

That’s my list!  Did I miss one of your favorites?  Do you have something to share in addition to my comments?  Do you want to add any predictions to mine?  I’d love to hear all of your thoughts on these items, and anything else related to what you can’t wait to see in the final few hours of LOST!