Speculations
One last chance to get some thoughts in on "LA X" before the next Lost episode:
There's been a lot of speculation on what Fake Locke meant when he said he just wants to go home. I thought it meant he wants to leave the island where he is imprisoned--it seemed fitting when he was saying he wants to opposite of real Locke--but there are other possibilities.
A fair number think it means he wants to go back to the Temple. Possibly, but it doesn't seem likely. The Monster lives just outside the Temple (where it protects the island against its will?). Is the whole series really about Smokey moving 100 feet? Furthermore, when those in charge learned Jacob was dead (does that explain the dirty spring?) they started spreading ash around the Temple--so I guess Flocke could always go in before. Was Jacob in charge of keeping him out as long as he was alive? If so, why was Jacob living in the Statue?
Another possibility is him getting off the earth. Maybe we're deaing with aliens, interstellar travelers, and Flocke is stuck on Earth. Why? Well, some claim Flocke can actually leave the island and has already done so, manifesting himself as Christian Shephard on the Freighter and even in Jack's hospital. So if he can do that, home must be somewhere else.
But I still go with my original theory until proved wrong.
Some were confused by Flocke's exclamation, after knocking out Richard, that he's disappointed in everyone. At this point he's talking to the Others. I think I can understand his feelings. He and Jacob were on the island, all the others (soon to be Others) came, and what did they do? The worked for Jacob. Maybe they even enslaved Flocke. Flocke now has the upper hand, and he's understandably unhappy--perhaps he was even the one who got Richard out of chains and kept him young (I am certain the show will get around to explaining this).
There was action, but my favorite scenes last week were just two people quietly talking. The most compelling was Ben facing the Monster, and the Monster telling him about Locke. Then there was Locke and Jack, in the alternate universe, not fighting, not screaming at each other, but being two rational, kind people connecting over their problems. What would have been without the crash.
Some don't like the alternate timeline at LAX--it's going back to the first season, doing all those flashbacks. Tonight, the show is "What Kate Does"--a Kate-centric episode, as if we need another. But it's different this time. Before, all the first-season flashbacks were necessary to introduce us to the characters and show how they got on the flight. Now we're in a different place. I assume these characters (particularly those also on the island) need to get together some way. And that's the point. In the first season, the flashbacks were separate from each other. Now all the characters are in Los Angeles, and can interact--in fact, they need to interact. There's a single story going on in LA, and it's central to everything, including what's happening on the island.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:06 AM
4 Comments:
The question of what Jacob's Nemesis wants to escape from is tied to the question of who was in the cabin, when.
The cabin was originally Horace's. At some later point, Jacob lived in it, and communicated this fact to Ilana. But "he hasn't been living here for a long time", she says in December 2007. How long a time?
There were four visits to the cabin that we saw. The first three took place in December 2004:
1. Locke and Ben visit the cabin. They carefully step over the circle of ash around it. (Conceivably the circle could have been broken at a point we were not shown, but dramatically that would be improper.) A man in dark said "Help me!", and we saw an eye.
2. Hurley finds the cabin by accident, peeks in the window, sees a silhouette (almost certainly Christian's) and an eye at the window. Ash status unknown.
2.5. Locke, seeking the cabin, finds a circle of ash with no cabin in it.
3. Locke finds the cabin elsewhere. He enters and sees Christian and Claire. Ash status unknow.
4. (Dec. 2007 / Jan. 2008) Ilana finds the cabin. The circle of ash has been deliberately breached in one spot. Ilana says that Jacob has not been in the house for some time, and "someone else" has been using it.
My theory was that 1, 2, and 3 were all manifestations of the Nemesis, who can appear as black smoke, as Esau, as Christian (and also Alex and Eko's brother). However, the broken ash makes that uncertain. If the ash circle keeps Nemesis out, how could he have been # 1?
Unless the ash circle had trapped Nemesis in the cabin in # 1! But if that's it, why didn't he ask Locke to break the ash circle for him?
Or could # 1 have actually been Jacob, but 2 and 3 were his Nemesis?
Haven't seen today's episode yet. I'm guessing neither have you yet.
I'd guess #1 is Jacob, and by #3 it's not. (Nothing happened during #2, but Hurley probably saw Jacob's nemesis.)
The ash is the best clue, but also the meeting makes more sense as Jacob. Hey, it's Jacob's cabin and has been for a while (though how long ago could Horace have built it?)--by the time Ilana saw it it was a lot more wrecked. It's dramatically more satisfying if "Jacob's Cabin" has Jacob at least once before it changes.
Jacob's in trouble and needs help (though I realize his nemesis also wants help from Locke). He doesn't manifest himself obviously because either that's Jacob's style, or he doesn't want to be seen by Ben. (Though he is surprisingly violent. A lot of this is the show can't reveal Jacob right off the bat--we've got a couple seasons to go before that.) Look at later visits where we're more sure it's the nemesis--he had no trouble showing himself quite clearly.
If it's been the nemesis all along, how far back does it go? Did Ben visit earlier, for years maybe, and not meet Jacob. (Of course, Ben never met Jacob to begin with.)
(No spoilers for the new show, although I have seen it.)
Ben said something to Jacob about sending him lists through Richard. That suggests that even when Ben was leader, it was believed that Jacob spoke intermittently to both Richard and Ben. We now know that Ben never received any supernatural messages after becoming leader; all his "messages" were forged by him. But I think it's likely that Richard did continue to speak to Jacob. Which makes me wonder: did Richard even know about the cabin? Or did Richard always go to the Statue to talk to Jacob, while Ben went to the cabin?
Or perhaps: Richard led Evillocke to the statue, saying that it was where Jacob lived. Maybe that means that when Jacob summons you, he might indicate a place like the cabin, but if you seek him unannounced you go to his living place.
Oddly, the first time Jacob is ever mentioned is when one of the thuggish Others, wanting to kill Jack, says "He [Jack] wasn't on Jacob's list." That's very odd. Jacob himself touched Jack, and presumably would have put him on any list. And a list forged by Ben would surely include the spinal surgeon he longed for.
I think the paper in the ankh in the guitar case was almost certainly a list of names of the folks he touched. Which, interestingly, is almost the exact group of people who showed up at the Temple that day.
Yes, Ben admitted to never communicating with Jacob directly, but he definitely got lots of orders and lists, presumably through Richard. I don't think Ben forged lists, I think he tried to serve Jacob as best he can. On the other hand, perhaps he was freelancing when he gave Michael a list since he needed the right combination of people to get his surgery. (He later admitted his plan, somewhat obviously, to Juliet at the Pearl.) But I don't know if Ben was pretending he was doing it on behalf of Jacob. In fact, he might have thought he was doing it on behalf of Jacob himself.
Richard, as advisor, could communicate with Jacob, but it was up to the Leader to decide what to do about it (though Richard was always his own man).
As to where Jacob lives, it seems to be the statue, but when Locke demanded to see him, Ben took him to the Cabin (and didn't even seem to know where they were going when Richard led him and Evilocke to the Statue).
As for the thug saying Jack wasn't on the list, either it was Ben's list, not Jacob's (which makes some sense) or more likely the producers hadn't figured out the Jacob's tough angle yet (if they'd thought of it, I don't see how they could have excluded Jack). I guess at this point Jacob hadn't put out his list that included the touchees (though certainly the Others were aware of guys like Locke--were they being fooled by the Smoke Monster?).
If the list at the Temple was the touchees, they didn't have Sawyer or Sun, and they didn't seem happy when Sawyer was leaving. (Though presumably they'd be happy enough to see Miles go). Soon they may find Sun. Will they treat her well? As I noted, the Temple Others are treated these special people somewhat ambivalently. Their instinct is to shoot them, and they don't easily tell them what's going on, but they also realize these people are pretty special.
Post a Comment
<< Home