If it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress

Sticks and stones may break my bones…or detonate a nuke. We meet Jacob! And…his Man in black?!? Neither of them appear particularly old. Or scary. Or ghostly. Jacob has like Triple Elite Platinum SkyMiles from visiting Losties. He also likes to touch. Locke’s body is in the unnecessarily large box. Phil of the Eyebrows bites it. And not a second too soon. Talk about a long con…Ben’s been duped for 35 years as an eventual loophole. And the part of Locke was played last night by a stand-in who looks exactly like him.

Lost 5x16 and 5x17: The Incident

Rather than end with a scene that leaves us scratching our heads and palpatating, they punched us in the gut right from the top. So the island is a … chess game of good and evil? This is going to be an abridged recap of the two hours.


Island, 1800s:
The show opens with a man spinning threads for a tapestry - it is Jacob! He walks out to the beach, pulls in a fish trap and cooks up his breakfast. A man in a black shirt walks to the beach and they chat.

Man in black: Morning
Jacob: Morning
Man in black: Mind if I join you?
Jacob: Please. Want some fish?
Man in black: (He shakes his head no.) Thank you. I just ate.
Jacob: I take it you're here because of the ship.
Man in black: I am. How did they find the island?
Jacob: You'll have to ask them when they get here.
Man in black: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong aren't you?
Jacob: You are wrong.
Man in black: Am I? They come. Fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
Jacob: If it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress.
Man in black: Do you have any idea how badly I want to kill you?
Jacob: Yes.
Man in black: One of these days, sooner or later, I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.
Jacob: Well, when you do, I'll be right here.
Man in black: Always nice talking to you, Jacob.
Jacob: Nice talking to you, too.

Geek alert: The fish appears to possibly be a red herring. Is this a clue that this scene and this episode are meant to be “red herrings” and throw us off of the truth? Or because Jacob fillets the fish, are we meant to believe that this is the end to “red herrings” on LOST. Are we done and moving forward with just the truth and the realities of…what lies beneath the shadow of the statue…and more?

Question: Jacob was using the spinning wheel – another wheel. They talk about it always ending the same. How many times have they experienced this? Is it a time loop? Will the killing of Jacob simply allow the loop to end or will it allow for evil – or, at the very least, unpredictability – to take over. Or do they mean that man will always resort to sin?


Geek alert: On the tapestry that Jacob is weaving, there's an Eye of Horus. I've mentioned the Eye of Horus several times this season in my blog entries.




Geek alert: Jacob (God) in white/other guy (Devil) in black. There’s much interweb speculation that the man in black represents Esau. Esau was Jacob’s older twin brother in the bible. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a meal. Jacob may have been helped by his mother, Rebekah, in deceiving Esau into accepting the deal. So is this a case of, like Ben and Widmore, the man in black – Esau – trying to get the island back after being tricked into giving up control? Or is it just a case of good and evil, God and the Devil?

Geek alert: Jacob caught and cooked what appeared to be a red herring. This might mean that the writers have ended all “red herrings” from this point on. Or it could be a clue that this scene/episode was a red herring – implying that Jacob is actually evil and the man in black (Esau) is good.


Geek alert: So the statue. I've been a big proponent of it being Horus. Doesn't seem that's the case. Sobek, perhaps? Taweret?



Jacob’s Frequent Flier Status:
We get a series of flashbacks. Jacob visited several folks at key points in their lives.

• We see him at a store in Iowa where Kate was with her friend Tom as a girl as Jacob saves her from getting caught as a shoplifter
• Sun and Jin meet him on the receiving line at their wedding and he speaks to them in Korean about love.
  
• He visits Sawyer at his parents’ funeral and gives him a pen as Sawyer is writing the note to the real Sawyer that he carried all his life
• At the moment John Locke after he was pushed by his father out of the window, Jacob was reading nearby and goes to John to tell him all will be ok.
• Jacob is at the intersection where Sayid’s love Nadia was killed in a hit and run
• Ilana is in a hospital, fully bandaged, and gets a visit from Jacob asking for her help.
• He is there after the first surgery where Jack cut Sarah’s dural sac when Jack counted to 5 and fixed his error.
• He’s at the jail when post-rescue Oceanic 6 Hurley was released after faking his confession to escape Ben
  

Questions:
Was he there when those events happen, or did he time travel back to those moments to help influence them and get them to the island? Interestingly, Hurley’s and Sayid’s visits were post-Oceanic 6 rescue.

Did Jacob bring Locke back to life after the fall from the window? It seemed John took a gasp as though he hadn’t been breathing.

Jacob leaves a guitar case in the taxi with Hurley. What’s in the case and why did Hurley bring it to the island?

Geek alerts:
When Jacob visited each of them, he touched them. Did his touch somehow change them all? He barely interacted with Jack, yet he was there.

The NKOTB lunchbox was the one Kate and Tom dug up with the time capsule items inside.

Jacob was reading Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” a story with an underlying religious aiming to expose the sinful nature of man in the modern, secular world.

Living off the grid:
Sawyer, Juliet and Kate escape the sub and return to the island. They come ashore and Vincent greets them. He’s been living with Rose and Bernard off the grid in a cabin, somehow escaping detection for the last 3 years. Rose is not surprised to hear their plan and says that nothing’s changed – they went back 30 years and are still looking to ways to shoot each other. Bernard says that he doesn’t care if they die from the bomb, as long as they are together. Sawyer looks at Juliet, then she sees him look at Kate longingly too.



Question: Was Juliet pregnant? She put her hand on her abdomen when Bernard, with a seemingly knowing glance, asked her if she wanted to stay for tea.

“Jacob’s” cabin:
Ilana, Lapidus and the Ajira crew arrive at Jacob’s cabin. It’s daytime and the place is in even worse shape than before. It’s been abandoned. She finds a piece of tapestry on the wall and she announces that the cabin hasn’t been used by Jacob in a long time, that someone else has been living there, and they burn it and head off for the statue.


The Four-Toed Statue:
They arrive at the statue and Richard tells Locke that’s where Jacob lives. John and Ben follow Richard to the statue and Richard says Ben can’t come, but Locke insists. Richard pushes on the secret panel in the statue (you knew there would be one) and Locke and Ben enter. Locke hands Ben the knife and they find Jacob sitting inside.

Ilana and crew arrive at the beach, ask for Ricardus, and Richard steps forward. She asks, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Richard answers in Latin: Ille qui nos omnes servabit.

Geek alert: Translation is: “He who watches over all of us” or “He who will save us”.

Inside the statue, Locke tells Ben to kill Jacob, and Jacob tells Ben that he has a choice. But Ben, fed up with being ignored by Jacob for 35 years asks, “What about me?” and Jacob answers coldly, “What about you?” Ben stabs him twice. As he lay dying, he says, “They’re coming.” Locke looks a little panicked and then rolls Jacob into the fire. (DAMN!)

Question: Did Jacob choose to die for his people to save them? Yet another Jesus allegory.

Geek alert: On Jacob’s tapestry in the statue is a quote in ancient Greek from from Homer's “Odyssey”, translated: "May the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires."

Question: So the man in black, Esau, somehow appeared as Locke and exacted his revenge. Is this the smoke monster? Did he also appear as Christian, Claire and Yemi?

Ilana tells Richard that she was told to show Richard what was in the box. Inside was the body of John Locke, very much dead. (My wife has been saying this for weeks and I've been denying her. I begrudgingly apologize.) Sun asks who, then, is inside the statue?


At the Swan Station:
The drilling has created a dangerous situation and Radzinsky called for Phil of the Eyebrows and other security folks. Jack and crew arrive, guns ablazing and overpower the Swan crew. Jack drops the plutonium core of the H-bomb into the drill and…nothing. But then the magnetic pull goes crazy and the drill begins to implode on itself. Chang’s arm is pinned, all the equipment is pulled down. Happily Phil is killed. (Hooray!) Juliet is entangled in chains and Sawyer and Kate try to save her, but can’t. She gets pulled down the pit into the darkness. And Lost’s “Titanic” moment has millions of relationshippers sob.

The drill continues to implode under the weight of the magnetism and we see Juliet at the bottom, dying. She sees the bomb next to her, manages to pick up a rock and smashes the bomb until the screen goes white.

And … see you in 8 months.

Geek alert: The screen cut to white this time, with black type. The first time in the history of the series that happens. So is this an indication that it worked? Were things re-set? Is this an indication of us going back to the beginning next season?


Wow. Eight months. That’s a whole lot of waiting. Will the island be there? I sincerely don’t believe they’d cheat us out of the last 5 years of following the show to just say none of it happened in a St. Elsewhere snow globe ending scenario. Was your mind sufficiently blown? Do you feel that the loose ends are being wrapped up well enough?

Post some comments below.

-Sean Salo

I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble

Chang takes Twitchy’s advice. Kate carries a third wheel onto the sub. Sawyer, Juliet and Kate take submarine ride at Disneyland. Ellie, Jack, Sayid and Richard try out for the Island’s Olympic swim team. Locke sends Richard to see Locke. John gives the extras something to do. Oh…and he sets off to kill Jacob. All in a day’s work.

Lost 5x15: Follow the Leader

The last episode before the 2-hour finale was another great one. Locke comes into his own as leader and makes some unusual leadership choices. And Jack feels he's finally fulfilling his destiny. What did you think? Comment below with your thoughts.

Island, 1977:
Faraday dies and Jack gets introduced to the end of Widmore’s rifle. Jack and Kate, get captured Ellie has them sent to her tent, bloodied and bruised. Jack tells Kate that they can fix things if they follow what Daniel said and make it so that Flight 815 never crashed and all those who died will not have died. Kate says that it wasn’t all misery as she thinks of Aaron.

Ellie asks what Faraday needed the bomb for and Jack says that she wouldn’t believe him if he answered. She tells them that she met Faraday when she was 17 at the Jughead site she will believe him. Jack tells her that she can erase what she did if they follow the journal.

She agrees, but explains that Dharma has built a village over the spot, but assumes they can re-infiltrate Dharma.

Radzinsky is smacking around LaFlawyer to try to get information on where Kate and the Hostiles are. Horace tries to get them to stop, but Radzinsky – Stuart – says he needs to use his methods. Phil of the Eyebrows pulls a bitch move and punches Juliet to get him to talk. All he really had to do was have her stare at his eyebrows for a few minutes and she'd have caved.

A Dharma flunkie walks in and says that Kate, Jack and Hugo were last minute additions to the list and they realize that Hurley is a part of it. Hurley is packing up some food and meets Miles and Jin in the jungle.

Question: Hurley was carrying the guitar case again. What’s inside the case that was so important that Hurley needed it?

Dr. Chang follows him there and asks if they are indeed from the future. Hurley says no, and Hurley says he was born in 1931. Chang asks if he fought in the Korean War, and Hurley says there’s no such thing. (Camera pans to Jin, who gives Miles a WTF look.) The jig is up and Hurley admits it. Chang gets Miles to admit he’s his son, and then he tells Chang that if Faraday said to evacuate the island, they should.

Ellie has Jack and Katie untied and says she’s taking them to the bomb. Richard tells Jack that the man is Widmore. Widmore tries to convince Ellie not to go. He can be heard talking about "her condition" and he even puts his hand on her abdomen. Was she pregnant with Faraday in 1977?

Chang goes to the security office and says they need to evacuate. Chang tells Radzinsky that they can’t drill, but Radzinsky says they’re drilling on schedule. LaFlawyer chimes in that he’s right and agrees to help them if they put him and Juliet on the sub with all the Dharma women and children.

Ellie and crew arrive at a stream and she says they need to swim underneath to make it to “The Tunnels”. Kate tells Jack she’s not going any further and tries to leave, but one of the Hostile’s points a gun at Kate. He’s then taken out by Sayid.

Sayid says that they don’t need to erase the last three years because he killed Little Ben. Kate says that they saved him and Sayid asks why, but Kate says that killing kids and blowing up H-bombs isn’t ok. Jack says that what they’re doing is their destiny. Kate says he sounds crazy and like Locke, but Jack says that maybe Locke was right. Kate leaves anyway.

The evacuation of Dharma continues. Chang is getting his wife and baby Miles to leave, but Miles, Hurley and Jin are confused why Sawyer and Juliet are getting on the sub.

Sawyer says to Juliet that they’ll buy Microsoft, or bet on the Cowboys in the 1978 Super Bowl and be rich. As they get into the sub, LaFlawyer says “good riddance” to the island.

Jack follows Richard into the stream and to “The Tunnels”. Jack asks if they’re going to take the bomb out through the pool, and Richard says, “it’s a 12 foot long 40,000 lb. Hydrogen Bomb, no – not through the pool.” Sayid and Ellie make it into “The Tunnels” and they all set out to find Jughead.

LaFlawyer tells Juliet that they aren’t going to Ann Arbor and that once they dock, they’ll be free in the real world where Dharma has no influence. They declare their love for each other and Kate enters the sub with a third wheel tucked under her arm (AWK-ward) and is like, “Hey guys, is this seat taken? Don’tcha just love cruises? The buffets rock!” The sub starts its voyage and the worst CG in the history of LOST is on display as it submerges. Seriously.

They make it to the bomb and Ellie asks, “Well, now what?”

Island, 2007:
Richard is building a ship in a bottle. Locke shows up with a boar and a mission. Ben and Sun follow. Richard is more than a little surprised to see Ben. Ben explains to Sun that Richard is “a kind of advisor – and he has had that job for a very, very long time.” Sun questions Richard about whether he was there in 1977 and remembers any of them, and he says he was and he remembers watching them all die.

Question: What kind of advisor is Alpert? Like a resident advisor who helps freshman when they move into the island? What does this mean? Or is it because he has been on the island for so long - hundreds or even thousands of years - perhaps, that he has unique insight into the island and how to tap into it...which would explain where he gets the patience for building a ship in a bottle. (EDIT: Thanks Phil) Or, is this another nod to Thoth, (as pointed out in the Some Like It Hoth episode recap) Egyptian advisor to the gods, and another clue that Richard has been there since ancient Egyptian times?

Geek alert: The ship in bottle looks identical to The Black Rock, seen in the painting at the auction Charles Widmore attended.

Sun is comforted by John who says he’ll find Jin if there is any way. Locke tells Ben to come along on this trip and that he’s not afraid of anything he can do to him any more.

Locke, Richard and Ben are in the jungle and Richard asks John where he’s been the last three years. John’s amazed that he doesn’t know, but Alpert says that he just disappeared on the day Ben turned the wheel. John says that when they’re finished he wants to be taken to see Jacob. Ben and Richard say that he shouldn’t rush it, but Locke insists. But first they have to visit Yemi’s plane.

Locke tells Richard to go see a man who walks out of the jungle and tell him he has to bring everyone back and that he has to die. The man – John Locke.

Richard goes to the other Locke and helps him remove the bullet from his leg - the bullet Ethan shot into his leg in the first episode of season 5 when Locke was flashing through time. Ben asks Locke how he knew this was the exact moment to be here, and John said the island told him. Ben tried to refute him and says that he doesn’t know how to find Jacob, but Locke counters that he’s never actually seen Jacob. Other John disappears and Richard walks back. He says he’s glad John didn’t actually have to die, but Locke says he did.

Locke arrives back at the beach and makes a speech to the Others. He tells them that rather than just accepting orders from a mysterious Jacob and that they should all go to see him together. Richard says to Ben, “I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble.” Ben answers, “Why do you think I tried to kill him?”

Ben tells Locke that Richard is concerned. Locke isn’t buying into Ben’s manipulation any more. He has a purpose. He tells Ben that he’s not interested in being reunited with the Oceanic people, he wants to go to Jacob so he can kill him.

Geek alert: There’s been speculation that Jacob’s “help me” to John was his way of asking to be unlocked in time and to finally die. Seems that is at least John’s interpretation now.

Hit me up with some comments below.

-Sean Salo