Ladies and gentlemen, the pace has officially picked up! Last night's episode more than made up for last week. And what a cliffhanger! (Ba dum, ching!)
Flashsideways Connections
-Locke getting rained on by the sprinklers and laughing about it reminded me of all the times he predicted rain on the Island. Given what we know now, I'm pretty sure all his knowledge about the Island was influence from the smoke monster.
-Helen's t-shirt says "Peace and Karma." This is a reality where Locke has found some measure of peace because of his life with Helen (BTW, how fantastic is Katey Sagal?)
-Helen suggests that she and John elope and just invite her parents and John's dad. It seems that Locke can't walk for another reason in this time line and still has a relationship with his father.
-I recognized Hurley's Hummer right away (he drives the same on in the season 1 episode "Numbers".) Locke tried to scratch it with his wheelchair lift, but it jammed - because Hurley is the luckiest guy in the world now. I can't wait to see more of his story.
-Part of me was hoping that Locke really had gone on the walkabout like he told Boone on the plane, but it turns out that his experience in Australia was the same as the one we saw in season 1. I wonder though why he didn't go to the conference?
-Rose still has terminal cancer. It's so interesting that she convinces Locke to accept that he is disabled and be "realistic" about his life, when on the Island, she and Locke are both miraculously healed.
Revelations
-Biggest one first - we saw Jacob's list! The list of all lists! And the people on the list are connected to the Numbers! A "candidate" is someone that Jacob believes could be his replacement, and that's what the lists (and apparently the Numbers) are all about. Here they are.
4 Locke
8 Reyes (Hurley)
15 Ford (Sawyer)
16 Jarrah (Sayid)
23 Shephard (Jack)
42 Kwon (either Jin or Sun.)
These are the people we saw Jacob visit in the season 5 finale. Noticeably absent is Kate, who Jacob visited when she was a child. My theory is that she was a candidate at one point, but she was disqualified after she killed her father.
Some of the crossed-out names that were visible include: Locke, Mattingley, Rousseau, Rutherford (Shannon), Troup, Burke (Juliet), Faraday, Littleton (Claire), Goodspeed.
-Ilana says that the smoke monster can't "change his face" anymore - he's stuck where he is as Man in Locke. So whatever is taking over Sayid now, it's probably not Smokey. Unless the monster can "claim" people without becoming them. Maybe "claiming" is about recruiting.
-I was so surprised to find out that Richard didn't know about Jacob's plan to find a replacement. All this time, he really has been operating just on faith in Jacob.
-Man in Locke yells at the blond boy "Don't tell me what I can't do." Clearly there is still a part of John Locke there - or maybe there was part of the smoke monster in Locke all along.
-Man in Locke says Steinbeck was "a little after my time". I think it's safe to say the smoke monster has been stuck on the Island for quite a while.
Questions
-Who is the blond boy Man in Locke keeps seeing in the jungle? I think it's Aaron. I don't have a good explanation for why, that's just my gut feeling. And he really looks like him.
-When Ben tells Ilana Jacob's body was burned, she immediately collects some of his ashes. Are all the protective ashes we've seen the burned remains of Jacob's predecessors?
-Why didn't Locke attend the conference in Australia?
-The set of scales has one black stone, one white; Man in Locke throws the white one into the ocean and tells James "it's an inside joke." This is most likely a reference to the pilot episode where Locke explains to Walt how to play backgammon: "Two sides, one light and one dark." Jacob is dead, so the light stone gets tossed. Another place we saw a white stone and a black one is with the bodies they found in the caves during season 1, the ones Locke calls "Adam and Eve."
The question (still!) is which side is good and which is bad?
-Man in Locke tells James "the most important question in the world" is "Why are you on this Island?" Why is that THE question? (I half-expected Locke to say "The answer is 42". And then it turned out that the answer WAS 42 - well one of them was anyway.)
Moments of Pure Awesomeness
-Traveling the Island from the perspective of the smoke monster, who then becomes Locke. So, so cool.
-I love that Sawyer immediately knew that Locke was not himself. He does the dumb hick thing pretty well, but he's a smart guy. However, I lost some faith in him when he believed Man in Locke so easily and followed him down the ladder. Nooo, Sawyer!
-Man in Locke entices Sawyer by saying "Come with me and I'll tell you everything." (He uses the same exact line on Richard.) Knowledge as a temptation is a common theme in the Bible, starting with the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
-Another brilliant song choice: Sawyer is listening to Iggy Pop and The Stooges' "Search and Destroy" when Man in Locke comes to find him. Some of the lyrics:
I am a world's forgotten boy
the one who searches and destroys
Honey gotta help me please
Somebody gotta save my soul
Baby detonate for me
-I love that Hurley helped John get a new job. It's such a Hurley thing to do. And he hit the nail on the head when he called Randy "a huge douche."
-The real Locke finally gets a burial, and a bizarre eulogy from Ben. I said "That was the weirdest funeral ever" right before Frank said it. Ha ha ha!
-Ben Linus as a high school history teacher is just too perfect. And he would be the one nagging everyone else in the teacher's lounge about the proper use of coffee filters. Besides the spot-on career assignment though, this is a big deal, because WHY? Why would Ben be off the Island, apparently living a normal, innocuous life? When they detonated the bomb Ben had already been born, and shot by Sayid, and revived by the Others. Clearly the Incident caused far greater ramifications than anyone expected.
Your Turn!
What are your thoughts and theories? Why are so many unanticipated things different in the flashsideways? Who is the blond boy in the jungle?
7 comments:
I loved that episode.
Maybe the ashes that keep the smoke monster away are from those before Jacob. It would make sense because the smoke monster couldn't kill him.
Ben is off the island because it's underwater right? I mean, obviously something happened before to make everyone leave.
Goodspeed- Ethan or Horace? I'm thinking Horace since Ethan was born on the island and Horace was brought there.
The boy could be Aaron I guess... I kept thinking last night that it was Jacob. Because he told Locke that he couldn't kill him that there were rules ( or something like that) And Fake locked seemed to recognize him... don't you think? Or was he just shocked to see him?
the number thing just boggles me because it was the serial number on the hatch too. was that just a coincidence?
We think the little blonde boy is Jacob when he's little.
loved, loved, LOVED this episode! Lostpedia posted a current list of names found on the cave wall, http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Candidates#Known_candidates. We didn't see Austen on the wall, is she not a candidate or are they holding out on us? What about "brother" Hume? I'm anxious to see how he plays into season six. Mrs. Hawking has told us that the island isn't done with him yet. Is he a candidate? What about Mrs. Hawking/Ellie, once a co-leader of the Others and mother to Faraday (who made it on the wall), and knowing all that she seems to know...I would think that she would be a possible candidate as well.
Loved the juxtaposition between calm Sawyer and completely freaked out Richard in the jungle. Interested to see what the history is between Smokey/Fake Locke and Richard. And hoping Sawyer doesn't become "infected"/go to the dark side.
I'm also not believing a thing that comes out of "fake Locke." For all we know that's his cave, his numbers. I think Jacob brought every one to the island and it is/was the smoke monster/fake Locke's intent to kill them. Also, we only saw Jacob in the foot of the statue on island.
Agree that the boy could be Jacob. (Have also read theories that the boy could be Aaron.)
Another comment...if it's "Jacob's cave" does that make it "Jacob's ladder?" Isn't the story of Jacob's ladder a dream/vision from God while he was escaping his brother, Esau? Is the island "Bethel?"
Not sure how they (mostly Sawyer) will get out of the cave since the ladder is broken. Not to mention how they plan to get off island.
Sidenote...didn't Rousseau say something about "infected" people should not or cannot leave the island? What are the rules with Smokey leaving? (Thinking of the potential wrath he could cause off island.)
I was almost sure that the little boy was Jacob because he was talking about the rules (like their previous conversation) but maybe I am missing something.
Holly, I really hope we get a better explanation for the numbers than just "Jacob had a thing for numbers." Because why THOSE numbers? The Dharma Initiative scientists said those numbers were part of the Valenzetti Equation, which predicted the date of the end of the world. In order to save the world, they had to change one number of the equation. So was that all just nonsense, or did it really mean something?
Erin, Great point about Jacob's ladder! I love that. The Biblical allegory this season is awesome. I also totally agree that Man in Locke is not a reliable narrator - he clearly has an agenda for Sawyer and there is no way he's telling him the absolute truth.
Megan, Yes, him talking about the rules definitely seems to point to Jacob. The way he looks at M.I.L. looks a lot like the way Jacob looked at the Man in Black last season too. But he also looks SO much like Emilie de Ravin!
I actually heard a theory today that Jacob IS the adult Aaron. My head just about exploded.
One thing that I find very interesting is Ilana and her (now dead) team. Referred to as "Jacob's bodyguards" by MiB, they know about the "candidates", which even Richard didn't know about. I'm hoping that they do a contrasting episode where we can compare Ilana's knowledge about the candidates versus what we just learned from the Man in Locke. I don't recall Dogen ever using the word "candidate". Does he know anything more than just to protect the names on the list?
I would also really love to see Miles's flash-sideways. He's one of my favorite characters. Who knows? Maybe they will show Miles and Jack meeting up to find out where Christian's body and coffin are.
I'm also a little hesitant to think of Jacob and his bodyguards as "the good guys", as Frank so clearly pointed out in the last season finale.
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