For an episode that promised to shed light (no pun intended) on Jacob and the Smoke Monster, it just confused me even more.
I was honestly really excited for this episode. It promised us answers! It guest starred Allison Janney! We’re taking a break from everything depressing happening on the Island! No flash-sideways!
We found out the origin story of Jacob and the Man in Black and how they became enemies. Turns out they were twin brothers. A crazy nameless woman stole them from a pregnant woman who shipwrecked on the Island and became their fake mother. (This whole nameless thing really sucks. An entire hour devoted to telling his back story and the Man in Black/Smoke Monster thing still has no name. I’m going to call his younger self Boy in Black and his fake mother…Allison Janney.)
While Jacob grows up obedient and a little dim-witted, his brother, Boy in Black, grows up curious and adventurous, dreaming of leaving the Island. Boy in Black is “special,” according to Allison Janney. When the twins discover other people living on the Island, Allison Janney takes them to a stream flowing into a cave that is filled with golden light. She claims that a little bit of this light is in every man, but men always want more of it and those who take more will make bad things happen, so either Jacob or Boy in Black will one day have to protect it. (Okay, I know that sounds terribly vague, but I was really lost watching this part and this is the best I could do.)
Well, we all know Jacob becomes the Island’s protector. However, it only happens because Boy in Black sees a vision of their real mother, joins the other people on the Island and spends 30 years helping them harness the light. Allison Janney discovers his plan to leave the Island, so she kills the other men and takes Jacob to the Golden Light Cave, making him the Island’s new protector. An angry Man in Black kills her. Jacob tosses him into the Golden Light Cave. Suddenly, the Smoke Monster flies out and the light disappears. Jacob finds Man in Black’s corpse and puts it next to Allison Janney’s, revealing that their bodies are the Adam and Eve corpses in the caves from back in Season 1.
…Phew. That was a lot to absorb in an episode.
Thoughts:
- Clearly, LOST is now simply a feud between fate and free will, if all the black vs. white symbolism was of any indication to you. We already knew it was one big chess game; it was interesting to find out it was between twin brothers. Does this change anything about the game? Do the rules stem from this familial relationship? Remember, Ben and Widmore are also following some rules preventing them from killing each other.
- How did Allison Janney end up protecting the Island? Who is she, exactly? Why does she consider all men evil?
- What exactly is the light? The episode was annoyingly vague about it, calling it “worse than death,” or “a part of all men.” Why did it disappear?
- Who were the other people on the Island?
- How could Boy in Black see his dead mother? Is it the same way Ben saw his mother as a boy? Or was that the Smoke Monster?
- Did Man in Black’s soul leave his body and become smoke? Is the monster a completely separate personality? Is it a mix? What was it before it left the Golden Light Cave?
All in all, maybe giving us so many answers so quickly wasn’t a good thing; it only raised more questions. I’m glad we’re going back to the present next week.