Lost Season 6: Across the Sea (Episode 15)

Does anyone remember the final episode of last season’s finale? Yeah, it was the Jacob flashback. The first time we got to see Jacob and the first time we even knew of the Man in Black’s existence. When the two brothers (as we are now certain of) sat on the beach they had this conversation:

Man in Black: They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. It always ends the same.
Jacob: It can only end once. Everything before that is progress.

If you go back and read my recap you will see that I responded to this conversation with, “I have NO idea what that means, but wasn’t it ominous? It is destined to be the most dissected conversation in Lost history.” I’m not sure if that’s true, but I did know those words would come back to haunt us. And now we see where they came from…(enter creepy Psycho Norman Bates Hotel music here)

JACOB and the MAN IN BLACK’s MOTHER!!

Whew, we just better get straight to the recap because this is some crazy stuff…

The Island. (Pre-LOST)

A woman with crazy braided hair pops up on some wreckage near the shore of The Island. She stumbles to the shore clutching her very pregnant (and a very fake looking pregnant) body. She is clad in a bright red dress and as she sucks down some water from the stream, a woman approaches. Why, it’s the press secretary from West Wing…actually, she’s an Other looking woman speaking a strange language (anyone get that from the closed-captioning?) and offering to help our new friend.

The woman in red turns out to be Claudia. Claudia immediately begins asking questions but the Other stops her, “All your questions lead to more questions.” (Ha! Really?!) Suddenly, Claudia goes into labor (Surprise, Surprise!) and delivers a bouncing baby boy! Claudia names him…Jacob.

But wait! There’s more!

A few more contractions, a push and a swarthy dark haired boy is delivered next. But Claudia is out of names.

As Claudia asks to see “him”, our Other midwife leans forward and says, “I am so sorry.” Then bashes Claudia’s head in with a rock.

Yeah. And that was all before the first commercial.

Thirteen Years Later

The Teenager In Black finds a box on the beach. It’s an ancient game called Senet (just read the wikipedia entry about it, creepy!) and the Teenager in Black automatically knows how to play. In fact, he leads his brother Jacob in playing the game…under one condition: that he does not tell their Mother. (The OTHER Mother.)

When Jacob returns to his Mommie Dearest, she is weaving a tapestry (remember that?!) and pointedly asks Jacob about his brother. Jacob is obviously not a liar. Sure enough, Mother walks down to the beach to confront TIB about his new game. But for some reason, it’s like they are a secret pair with Jacob on the outside. Mother tells TIB that she left the game for him. She tells him he is special (ie. MORE special than Jacob).

One day as Jacob and his brother are happily hunting a boar, they see two huge men take it down first. They are mystified as they think they are the only ones on The Island. When Mother finds out she blindfolds her kids (so disturbing!) and then leads them to a special place on The Island…the heart of The Island…a place where THE LIGHT is. (Yeah. Seriously.) Apparently, Mother is the guardian of this light. The light is the same light that is inside of everyone. And if other people knew about it, they’d destroy it and ultimately destroy the light everywhere. (This is so cheezy and trite, but I guess it does answer The Island vs. the island debate.)

Mother explains that one of them will have to guard it when her time is done. And I got the feeling she was rooting for her darker son.

Later the two boys are playing their game by the beach. Suddenly TIB looks up to see his Mother. Not the Other Mother, but Claudia! Jacob cannot see her and wonders at his brother’s reaction. TIB runs after her and she shows him the other side of The Island—and the people that live there. She tells him his real identity–that he belongs OFF The Island and the Other Mother is a murderer.

The Dark One runs back to his brother and attempts to lead him away. He explains what he has learned and Jacob is crazed with anger. He tackles his brother and begins to beat the heck out of him! Just then Mother appears. She pulls Jacob off his brother and when he spouts the new information, Mother doesn’t even try to refute what he says but she pleads for him to stay.

And he does not.

Now Mother and Jacob are sitting on the beach. Jacob realizes that his Mother loved his brother best. He realizes how different they are. Mother begs him to stay with her. And he promises he will. I am TOTALLY getting Norman Bates vibes here!

30 Years Later

Jacob is visiting his brother in his new world–his new life with (dare I say it?) the Others. They discuss their Other Mother and then the Man In Black finally tells Jacob his secret, “I found a way to get off The Island.” He then proceeds to throw his knife (a familiar looking crazy dagger) and instead of going straight it is pulled to the well and sticks to the side of the rocks! Jacob is awestruck. The Man in Black explains that this force is what will help him and his people to get off The Island.

Jacob (whose name ironically means “deceiver”) is unable to hide this fact from his Mother. She knows she has to act fast—so she visits her second son. The Man in Black shows her what they have been working on—they have found the Light and are harnessing the Light and the water (with a donkey wheel!!) to get off The Island. The Mother falls back on her favorite trick, she draws him close and says, “I’m sorry” just before she bashes his head in with a rock.

She runs back to Jacob and shows him The Light again. She explains that the Light is life and death and rebirth. And if he ever goes down there he would be worse than dead. She asks him to be it’s protector because her time is done. She brings out a bottle of wine mutters some secret words and then asks Jacob to drink. At first he is resistant but finally accepts his…fate?

The Man in Black wakes in the village of his people and sees that every one of them is dead–and the village burned around them. (Oh my goodness, MOMMY SMOKE MONSTER?!) The Man in Black is ticked and runs to his Mother’s home. And finally our dagger comes into play–he stabs his mother in the back. He asks, “Why did you let me live?” She says, “I love you…thank you.” And dies.

Just then, Jacob comes back and revisits their teenage brawl and begins to beat his brother silly. The Man in Black reminds him that their Mother made them unable to kill each other. So, Jacob drags his brother to the Light. And throws him into the cave. Immediately, Smokey exits.

Soon Jacob finds his brother’s body at the stream. He sorrowfully carries it back to their home and lays his mother and brother side by side, hands entwined with a bag beside them. A bag containing one black stone and one white stone. Our Adam and Eve from Season 1.

Stuff To Talk About

1. Uhm…EVERYTHING. I really shouldn’t have even recapped it scene by scene. It’s just the same old conversation we’ve been having for six seasons. This week we just got to see it’s genesis. We do know The Island has SOMETHING on it. This LIGHT is powerful. But is it really life and death? Will it really destroy all of mankind if it is unleashed? Is it inexplicably linked to Smokey? Will Smokey destroy the world if he leaves The Island?

Desmond and Locke believed it was worth protecting. The Other Mother believed. And when Jacob took the sip of wine, he believed, too.

2. The Man in Black. So, he was really the favored child. Favored because he was the darker more brooding and even more evil one of the twins. Even Jacob recognized their Mother’s choice. In the beginning, the brothers were true brothers. They cared for each other even though they didn’t understand one another.

Even when he killed his Other Mother he was remorseful. He never stopped asking Jacob to leave The Island with him. He did not begin as the “bad guy”. In fact, his evilness seems to be placed upon him when Jacob threw him to the Light. The act of Jacob joining his Mother (even though she seems to be the evil one) made Jacob light and the Man in Black dark. It’s a true yin-yang of connectedness.

3. Smokey. The Light stripped The Man in Black of his body. Somehow, he discovers how to use his body again. Or at least look like he’s got a body. It’s safe to assume that all the apparitions have been Smokey. But what about the twins’ real mother? Was she really a ghost? Or the previous Smokey? Or the Other Mother manipulating all of it so she could die and Jacob take over?

4. Little Stuff. The wine. The rocks. The game. The well. The donkey wheel. The knife. The rules. The others. It’s all creepy seeing it when it began.

Conclusion

So, this all boils down to The Man in Black wanting to get off The Island. This is what he’s been trying to do for centuries. And because Jacob aligned with his crazy Mother, he will not allow it. We seem to finally be at the end of their fued. Or is it? Are we just doing a big circle? Is this Jacob and the Man in Black’s fate? Will it really “never end” like the Man in Black said? Or are we at the final battle and all the centures before have been “progress” like Jacob believes?

I’m not sure who’s side I’m on. I don’t know how I want it to end. Because now I’m slightly invested in Jacob and his brother. Now it’s not just about Jack and Sawyer. Now it’s about the brothers. Please don’t tell me it’s going to end with Jack and Sawyer having the “do you know how much I want to kill you” conversation on the beach.

Oh. And does the Man In Black really not have a name? Or are they going to wait till the end to freak us out?

Talk to me.

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