“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.” Jacob
Super-Duper Brief Recap
Season 5 Finale- “The Incident” Parts One and Two:
For the Season 5 finale, the LOST cast rallied and decided to act out the Bible in roughly 84 minutes. Technically, they did it in about 72 minutes, when accounting for the artificially added, twelve-minute gunfight, which I totally don’t remember being in the standard-issue Catholic go-to, King James edition.
Still, it was all very impressive.
My only gripe was not getting to see Ben and John’s rendition of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which I understand had to be cut for time.
And while that duet would’ve been killer, I’d be grossly remiss if I didn’t state, right here and now, that I am effing thrilled with “The Incident.” I think it was brilliantly executed.
Also, I am totally 100 percent crushing on Jacob.
Wait…was that a blasphemous statement?
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned…
Dear Micro-Me…
Dear Micro-Lyndsey (circa 1987),
I know you hate it. I know you cannot comprehend why your mother inflicts this gnarly-ass extra hour of ‘school’ upon you every Sunday, especially AFTER you’ve been made to sit through that interminable Roman Catholic mass.
Still, I heartily encourage you to pay attention to those seemingly ‘meaningless’ parables that bore you so…
While I am trying to keep your life as ‘spoiler-free’ as possible, I will tell you that one day you’ll have a favorite show in the whole wide world (no, not “Who’s the Boss?”,) and all of this preachy nonsense will suddenly thread itself together and become the genesis of a most awe-inspiringly intricate web of characters and events, which you will come to know as, “LOST…”
This is precisely why you will not regret devoting some time to the tale of Esau and his kid brother Jacob.
Their pals Thomas, Moses and Judas are wicked fun too…
I swear to God (even though we aren’t supposed to,) that it’ll be worth your time.
Trust me on this one; I’m from the future.
Love,
Macro-Lyndsey (circa 2009)
“One of these days, sooner or later, I’m going to find a loophole, my friend.”
Jacob weaves his divine threads of creation, and then catches a super-symbolic salmon to satiate the Original Hunger.
Jacob is joined by Esau a conspicuously unnamed, diametrically-opposed-older-brother-type, on the beach. They converse as The Black Rock approaches from the sea, and it quickly becomes obvious that Jacob and The Other Boleyn Girl the guy who really wants to kill him, seem to have majorly disparate opinions on the whole ‘You-can’t-change-the-future’/‘Oh-yes-I-can!’ debate.
“If I could chhaaaannngggeee the world…” Eric Clapton
Radzinsky thinks consequences are for pussies.
And in spite of his Eric Clapton-inspired eyewear, Stuey is not a pussy.
Far from it, actually.
He’s really a lot like the O.G. badass, Thomas Edison.
And thank Jacob God!
Because, just think of where we would be sans electricity and you know, The Swan Station…
“Yes, I lied. That’s what I do.” Ben Linus
The jig is up.
Ben admits that he’s a total phony and that he’s never seen Jacob. He feels blue.
I’m sure it doesn’t help that just 20 paces to the left, Richard and John swap ‘Super-Special-Island-Guy’ beauty secrets.
Ben feels way left out, as he is neither age-less nor un-dead.
He suddenly wishes he hadn’t been so cavalier with Ethan’s life, because hey, at least Ethan was loyal. Sigh.
But now Ben is loyal.
To his leader… John Locke.
And John Locke decrees that Ben must kill Jacob.
Because he said so. And actually, he’s doing Ben a favor.
Just as Ben did for Locke when he delivered Anthony Cooper to John for retribution…
Though, thinking back, that didn’t really go so well, did it?
Even God Changed His Mind on Occasion…
Richard attempts to enroll Jack in some ‘John-Locke-Ain’t-All-That’ trash talk, for which Jack is traditionally totally game.
However, recently, Jack’s had a change of heart re: Crazy-Leg-John.
He’s developed a soft spot for the guy and his ‘Destiny’ mumbo-jumbo.
He encourages Richard not to ‘count John out’ just yet.
Because John is his disciple or apostle or whatever.
Awesome.
*The preceding ‘awesome’ was a retrospective, sarcastic ‘awesome,’ brought to you from the future. This ‘awesome’ is a Variable and was derived from the end of the episode. If things had gone differently, I’d not have added that bit of sarcasm, as it would not exist. Or would it? *
Juliet also changes her mind.
And hey, even though Juliet is not God or even Jack, it’s still her prerogative and she’ll do what she wants to do.
So she stages a flashy ‘Coup d’Sub’ and heads back to the Island live together , die alone save the Others.
And also to escape Sawyer’s moony-eyed ‘Kate-looks.’
Which was sad, because I for one totally got sucked into all the “Blondie” and “I love you, back,” Suliet stuff. Which I’d resisted. For a long while.
Sigh again.
As the French say, “Que Sera, Sera…”
“I’m sorry that this happened to you…” Jacob
Jacob bops around spreading his divinity and touching his ‘chosen ones.’
Please note that Juliet was not ‘touched.’
Except for by Sawyer, who is pretty effing divine himself, so I would’ve called it a wash, except for the fact that Sawyer is not actually God, Jesus, Jacob or any other savior. Turns out that sheer physical beauty and hella quick wit, do not a deity make.
Also, the presence of Jules’ red t-shirt (never a good color choice in a finale sitch.) just didn’t bode well…
“We hide in plain sight” Sayid
So Ellie is ‘in charge’…
Even though Richard claimed (in “Whatever Happened, Happened”) that he does not answer to Ellie or Charles. Still, upon performing the now-famous “LOST-gun-to-the-back-of-the-head-knockout,” he declares that he did it to protect his leader, Ellie. He sends Jack and Sayid into the wild (a.k.a.- alarms blazing, almost-Incident-ridden Camp o’ The Others.)
Sayid, feeling fortified by his discovery of Horace’s ‘mathematician’ jumpsuit, does some quick calculations and remembers that the quickest way to get from point A to point B is via straight line, and suggests that he and Jack make their way directly through the fracas. Sadly, Uncle Rico is still all angsty toward ‘the Hostile who shot his kid,’ and he promptly shoots Sayid in the stomach.
Hey, an ‘eye for an eye’ or a ‘stomach for a stomach,’ you know?
Once again, Hurls and his mystery ship Dharma van, arrive just in time to scoop Jack and Co. up, and expediently transport them far away from “The Battle at Dharma-ville.”
“It’s always something with you people” Rose
Post-‘Great Sub Escape,’ Sawyer, Kate and Juliet paddle furiously toward the Island.
Kate and Sawyer share a moment. Juliet cries on the inside.
Once they arrive on the beach, Juliet and Kate share a moment and have a laugh about all those times they bitch-slapped one another.
That was their internal dialogue anyway…
Suddenly, Demon Dog Vincent makes an appearance, which prompts the much-anticipated re-appearance of Earth Mother Rose and Scraggly Beard Bernard.
Bernard has clearly spent the last 3 years enjoying the herbal offerings of the mysterious Jungle and dancing naked in the moonlight with his beloved.
Island ‘retirement’ has been good for the Phil Collins (a.k.a.- Genesis) fans, and they care not at all to shoot people and save lives and stress out over shit like, saving the universe, man…
They point ‘Team Stop-Jack’ toward the barracks and bid them adeiu.
But not before Bernie asks Jules to stay for the weekend, and invites her to enjoy a spot of the delicious magic mushroom tea he’s concocted.
She seems momentarily tempted, but instead opts to forge on with her love and his love.
“In my experience, the people who go out of their way to tell you they are the good guys are the bad guys.” Frank J. Lapidus
Massively good call, Frank.
Call me a cynic, but I’ve gotta agree that the truly good, authentic people in life, tend not to harp on said ‘goodness.’.
Still, Frank (the ‘Candidate’) joins Team Ilana (against his will) and immediately wishes that he hadn’t been given access to ‘Locke-in-a-box.’
Especially after his new ‘friends’ start burning and looting…
Frank may be a helluva pilot, but has no experience with extinguishing forest fires.
He’s also not down with the whole ***“And the enemies set fire to the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burnt all the towers, and whatsoever was precious they destroyed,” nonsense. ***(2 Chronicles 36:19)
“I don’t speak Destiny” Sawyer
Team Destiny runs into an issue, in the form of Team Free-Will.
It’s all so ‘Hatfield’s vs. McCoy’s’…
Just as Jack and John had once done, Sawyer and Jack settle in for ‘5-Minutes-Tops’ leader talk.
Sawyer channels Churchill and requests that Jack pull up a tree stump, so they might speak like gentlemen. Jack refuses. Sawyer insists. Jack obliges.
This is already going better than ‘Locke-Talk ‘05’
Sawyer spills his tragic tale to Jack and concludes that even though he knew that he’d have been able to prevent his tragedy, he’d decided not to. Because what’s done is done (read: ‘Whatever Happened, Happened’.)
He asks Jack what he wants…because “a man always does what he does because he wants something for himself.”
Jack admits that he’d wanted Kate. And he’d had what he’d wanted.
But now it was too late to get her back, so he’d rather change the course of the entire Universe, in hopes that he might ‘Eternal Sunshine-ize’ his mind and heart.
This is clearly the logical thing to do, as Jack is obviously not a fan of the ol’ “get over it and move on,” school of thought.
Sawyer sees that Jack is pretty solid in his decision to nuke the Island, so he takes the opportunity to kick Jack’s ass. And groin. Which I can imagine was no picnic for Jack.
Juliet saunters in, just in time to save Jack from Sawyer’s years of pent-up aggression.
Jack slips away during Jules announcement that she’s defecting from Team Stop-Jack.
Though Sawyer was the heavy favorite in his scuffle with Jack, Juliet turns the tables and easily decimates Sawyer when she spits the reason behind her sudden ‘change of mind.’
It seems she and Jack are now on a common mission… to avoid losing the ones they loved and skip the heartbreak altogether, by never encountering them in the first place.
Same Line…Different Time
*Radzinsky learns that the ‘Hostiles’ will soon descend upon the site of the future Swan Station. He commands Phil to fortify the perimeter so that “when they get here, we’ll be ready for them,” which is exactly what Jack said when Karl informed the 815-ers that the Others were coming “NOW!” back in S3’s “Greatest Hits.”
* Kate wipes the blood from Jack’s head wound and they discuss how it ‘feels like a million years ago’ that she first stitched Jack up in the Jungle.
A similar line was uttered in S3’s “There’s No Place Like Home,” as the two waited for the ‘rescue’ helicopter. That time it was Jack who commented, “It feels like a hundred years ago that we first came out here.”
Shortly thereafter Jack repeats his favorite convince-Kate line, “Are you with me?”
And just like that, Kate is magically re-enrolled on Team Destiny.
Back at the van, Sayid gets weaker and Jack promises him that ‘this will work’ and Sayid will be saved. Sayid disagrees, claiming, “Nothing can save me.”
Jack stomps off to prove him wrong, and throws some metaphorical salt in Sawyer’s gaping wound as they pass in the Jungle, by promising to “See him in Los Angeles.”
“So maybe the best thing to do is nothing? I’m glad you all thought this through.” Miles
Miles suggests that maybe “The Incident” was always Jack setting off the nuke, and that perhaps everyone needs to just, like, let everything run its course. Clearly Miles has NEVER MET EVEN ONE OF THESE PEOPLE.
Jules vetoes the ‘sitting still’ plan and Team Help-Jack, head for The Swan.
“This Don’t Look like LAX” Sawyer
Phil spies Jack and another madcap shoot-out begins. The ‘Van that Dharma Built’ once again squeals into town, in just the knick of time. Sawyer saves Jack by taking Phil hostage… which seemed like a way ill-conceived plan, right from the start.
I mean, seriously?
PHIL?
I’m a loyalist and all, but were I as hell bent on ‘changing the world’ as Radzinsky seemed, the sacrifice of that woman-beater Phil, would be the least of my concerns…
Still, Sawyer’s gun-to-head-of-Unibrow tactic seems to have worked, and after his trademark “5 second pause for fear,” Jack drops the bomb.
And we wait. And wait. And wait…
And then we collectively realize that perhaps in his weakened condition, Sayid’s
‘re-jiggering’ of the bomb, so that it detonates on impact, may have gone awry.
But before any brilliant new plans can be hatched, that crazy magnetic force that Alvarez got caught up in, unleashes itself times a bazillion, causing major issues. And while it was gratifying to see un-Radzinsky and his entire Jeep of cronies get sucked into the vortex, as well as watch Phil become the victim of “flaming-arrows-2.0” better known as “metal rods through the chest,” what happened next broke my wretched heart.
And I cried.
And so did you.
Deny it if you must, but Sawyer fighting for Juliet’s doomed life was phenomenal.
And gut-wrenchingly poetic. And, in my mind, maybe the saddest goodbye on LOST…ever (don’t maul me Charlie-lovers…it’s an opinion.)
“I’m the same man I’ve always been” John Locke
I am totally not a gloater, but I would now like to gently point out how totally ‘un-Locke’ S5 John Locke really is. Was. Whatever.
John and Co. arrive at the statue and he promptly gets snippy with Richard regarding why they’ve stopped. Rich-y totally faces John when he tells him that they’ve stopped because they’ve arrived.
John proceeds to get all lippy with Richard and accuse him of “making up rules,” after he suggests that Jacob would prefer to speak ONLY to the leader…
And that only one leader is allowed on the Island at a time.
This causes John to play his “But-I’m-the-leader-and-I-what-I-say-goes” card for the 90th time in the past three episodes.
Ben and John proceed into Jacob’s lair…
“I’m a Pisces” Ben Linus
Benjamin Linus is a Pisces. Jacob Jesus was also said to be a Pisces.
The symbol of Pisces? Why, a fish of course.
Just like the symbol of Jesus, which somehow reminds me of the fish Jacob filleted on that rock, all those years ago. Fun.
Other notable Pisces?
Bobby Fischer- Chess Genius. Ben also likes chess…
Maurice Ravel- Composer and Famed Concert Pianist. Ben enjoys the piano…
Albert Einstein- Scientist- concocted some theory about time being relative. Tres’ Ben…
And last but totally un-least:
Linus Pauling- Scientist and peace activist
Pauling was born in Portland, Oregon. Just like Ben…
According to Wikipedia:
*During the Second World War, Pauling worked on military research and development. However, when the war ended he became particularly concerned about the further development and possible use of atomic weapons and with the destruction inflicted on the world by war in general.”
* In 1946, he joined the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists, chaired by Albert Einstein.
*In 1962, Pauling was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his campaign against above ground nuclear testing. His beliefs were not without controversy at the time and he was criticized by some for his actions.
* Linus Pauling died of cancer.
* Benjamin Linus had cancer as well, but our Linus also had Jack…
I wouldn’t dare to attempt to connect all of the above with the Benjamin Linus we saw last night, but I like the connections that might be drawn in terms of Ben actually being a ‘good guy’. I’ve clung to this hope that Ben really has a genuine love for something other than Ben, and that he was simply protecting that thing, by any means necessary.
The Ben we saw last night was the pretty much the anti-Ben.
We saw a complete character 180 and it was wholly powerful.
Pre-finale-Ben totally hinged on the idea that he was special.
That he was chosen.
That he was a leader.
And now he thinks that he was merely a pawn…
And he is spinning.
“NO EFFING WAY!” Collective viewer outcry post ‘Locke-in-the-box’ reveal
Ilana and crew arrive at the statue for a quick show-and-tell with Richard starring the corpse of ‘John Locke 1.0.’
Sun was already craving a stiff drink and this revelation only serves to stoke that desire.
“What about me?” Benjamin Linus
Jacob and Not-Exactly-John exchange not-so-pleasantries.
Jacob acknowledges that Non-John has found his ‘loophole,’ and then he addresses Ben.
Ben is fired up, vengeful, and ready to scrap.
He makes a stirring speech about ‘always doing what he was told and continually being ignored.’
He is a man spurned and he is done with doing as he’s been instructed…
He asks what was wrong with him.
“What about me?” he yells
Jacob calmly sneers, “What about you?”
Ben replies by stabbing Jacob…exactly as he’d been instructed to.
Ahhh Bartleby. Ahhh Humanity.
With his last, dying breath, Jacob warns Non-John that “they are coming.”
Non-John tosses Jacob into the hell-fire and watches him burn.
But here’s the kicker…Jacob totally goads Ben into killing him.
He was dealing with an emotional madman and instead of giving him the ‘choice,’ as he’d always done (even if it was a manipulative, faux-choice) he made sure that Ben would snap. He needed Ben to kill him.
Exactly as he always had. Exactly as he was meant to. So that everything would be ‘Constant.’
But then Juliet got her hands on the bomb…
The Last and Final Sacrifice
Juliet finds herself up close and personal with that dang faulty bomb.
She makes her final sacrifice. Her final choice. And she chooses ‘faith.’
She detonates the bomb. And she changes everything.
White screen… blank slate…Tabula Rasa.
The ‘black’ had been written. The ‘black’ had been the Constant.
The white is still un-written…it’s the Variable in the truest sense.
Juliet was the Variable.
She was never ‘touched’ by Jacob.
No one knows anything from here forth.
And though, according to Jacob, there is but ‘one ending,’ we are left to wonder if this particular brand of ‘progress’ is big enough to change all of that?
A New Thought for a New Day
We are all familiar with the story of Jesus and his Judas.
The widely accepted version of the tale dictates that Judas betrayed Jesus by delivering him to the Romans.
But what if that weren’t exactly the case?
According to the ‘Gospel of Judas’, Judas and Jesus struck a deal whereby Judas would deliver Jesus to the Romans so that Jesus could carry out his duty to God.
This ancient scroll was written in the 2nd century AD, and described the story of Jesus’ death from the viewpoint of Judas.
“Where was this thing discovered?” you ask…
Beni Masah, Egypt.
During the 1970’s.
In a leather-bound Coptic papyrus (probably just like the journal that Daniel carried…)
I am not necessarily saying that Ben IS Judas.
In fact, in addition to his Judas-y characteristics, Ben is a fun Moses, Thomas, Andrew hybrid.
Along with a slew of others, I’m sure.
In the end, I think that drawing direct parallels to the Bible is a bit of a cop-out, but I do think there is merit in some of the conclusions that might be drawn through consideration of these possibilities.
I’m also liking the idea that Jacob may actually be Aaron.
Yes, I know that I have previously shunned this notion, but what if he were?
And what if (as Miles pointed out) the future has already happened and essentially becomes the past, thus the actual ‘timeline’ (1954, 1977, 2007,) would matter not at all?
Because its all ‘past’…
What if the ‘Esau’ figure isn’t actually a brother at all?
Might he be anOther?
Might he be a version of Ben or Jack or Christian or someone else entirely?
Food for thought…
Just Asking/ Saying…
* Simon was the father of Judas. ‘Simon’s Butcher Shop’ served as Benny’s ‘dead-Locke storage,’ as he attempted to gather the O6.
* Ben could not kill Widmore, just as ‘Esau’ could not kill Jacob.
Do the players change, but the rules remain constant?
* Both John and Ben have Mother’s named Emily. Neither John nor Ben appears to be as ‘special’ as they’d hoped. Might John and Ben represent ‘twins?’ Warring brothers? Duality? Cain and Abel?
* The still-intact statue holds an ankh.
* Jacob physically touches each 815 survivor that he ‘chooses.’
* What’s Frank’s story? Why him?
* Nadia is killed in the same over-the-top, way-fake looking manner that Juliet’s ex-husband was.
* John Locke ‘never should have survived’ his eight-story window tumble.
Seems as though he may not have. Good thing Jacob was hanging around…
* Jin wrote out his wedding vows (as did Jack’s ex, Sarah). Sun wings it (a la Jack)
* Christian always believed in Jack. But, it seems Jack may not have always believed in Jack.
* Hurley is discharged from jail. Against his will.
* Ever the easy mark, Hurls believes it was really his ‘choice’ to get on Flight 316.
* The knife Ben uses to kill Jacob is the knife that John ‘chose’ as the thing that was ‘already his,’ when Richard visited him as a child.
* The music playing behind Ben’s maniacal stabbing of Jacob is a total ode to “Psycho”
* Jacob ‘makes the thread’ (of life) by hand. He spins his own silk.
This totally brings me back to S1’s “The Moth.”
In that episode, Locke attempts to save Charlie from relapse by explaining the mysterious nature of struggle.
Locke: Come here. Let me show you something. What do you suppose is in that cocoon, Charlie?
Charlie: I don’t know. A butterfly, I guess.
Locke: No, it’s much more beautiful than that. That’s a moth cocoon. It’s ironic. Butterflies get all the attention. But moths, they spin silk. They’re stronger, faster…
Charlie: That’s wonderful, but…
Locke: You see this little hole? This moth’s just about to emerge. It’s in there right now, struggling. It’s digging its way through the thick hide of the cocoon. Now, I could help it. Take my knife, gently widen the opening, and the moth would be free. But it would be too weak to survive. The struggle is nature’s way of strengthening it.
Could John be the real ‘Judas’?
Could he be supporting the ‘true’ leader’s strength by forcing his (or her) struggle?
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” Albert Einstein
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