Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Ab Aeterno



A few questions:

Why could Ben summon the smoke monster?
Was Jacob dunking Richard in the ocean a baptism?
Why did the smoke monster kill everyone but Richard -- because he was the easiest to manipulate?
How does Jacob choose who he brings to the Island?
When exactly did Richard start cutting his hair?

It seems like Jacob and the Man In Black (who I'm referring to as Esau) are just playing some game. Well, Esau wants to get off the island - he's evil incarnate and Jacob has to keep him there. Can he die? How did he get ON the island?

Meanwhile, for kicks, Jacob brings people to the island to watch how they choose the right thing with their free will. Basically, he's just getting some shits and giggles from watching things play out. Why doesn't he want to talk to people he brings to the island? Guilt? He seems kind of like a jerk. I do find it interesting that Jacob and the Man in Black must be killed the same way (knife through the heart before he speaks). Did that not apply when Ben killed Jacob?

Why are there only a set number of candidates? The "last of the candidates" are the 815 survivors. Why are they the last?

Did anyone catch that the captain of the Black Rock was Magnus Hanso? Did we know that already?

How did that ship wreck that statue? That must have been a strong ship, right? I mean, seriously.

What else? Isn't Richard Alpert dreamy?

Post your thoughts and theories in the comments. If you post it, then you can say you called it!

17 comments:

Eryn said...

This episode was so Highlander. Awesomeness. Best episode of the season so far.

nortagemdar said...

I can't even remember what I was going to say because my word verification says 'phook' and as soon as I saw that I stopped giving a phook.

Dylan Thomas B. said...

Yeah, Alpertsode owned pretty hard. It had moments that felt like "The Constant." I think "The Constant" is the episode by which I judge all others. But anyway, it was kind of rad seeing Jacob have some energy. He usually seems like he has a pretty strict Zoloft regimen. But this time, he wasn't messing around.

Cody said...

Man, I've been waiting for an episode like that since I saw the Black Rock in season one! Yeah, lots of religious symbolism going on. The baptism, the wine. What does everyone think about the island = hell? The producers said from the very beginning that they were NOT dead, and although I've forgiven them for going back on their word in the past, this one would be a pretty big deal. Did anyone else think Isabella was Selma Hayek?

lil' maxwell said...

I thought that they made it pretty clear that it isn't hell, and they aren't dead... instead the island is the cork that keeps hell sealed in. The "game" that Jacob and MIB is playing is Jacob trying to prove that mankind isn't flawed and have the power to choose a righteous path even if they have sinned in the past i.e. Mr.Eko, who told the smoke monster Yemi that he wasn't sorry for his sins and the he had only done what he had to do. Eko then said, I am on a righteous path, and was killed by a super pissed smoke monster.


This episode was the best so far.

Dylan Thomas B. said...

Wow, Matt. That's a pretty rad theory about Mr. Eko. The Monster saw that Eko had become a lost cause (get it?) and decided to just totally kill his ass. I like it.

They're totally going somewhere with all this. It's all coming together.

Cody said...

Yup, I think Matt hit it on the head. Probably because he knows so much about following a righteous path.

Eryn said...

Perhaps that is what the "candidates" are all about? They(Jacob, I guess) are narrowing it down to who is the most righteous. The smoke monster can only kill people who have "sinned" or are otherwise corrupted, and won't attone for their sins. If they are pure or possibly pure, he can't harm them. Perhaps that's why he can't kill Jacob?

Man that was a good episode.. Horray for no "flash-sideways".

Cody said...

Some of the stuff discussed by Jacob and Man In Black reminded me of Perelandra by C.S. Lewis, which is a fantastic sci-fi book. It's been awhile since I've read it, so I couldn't really put my finger on it, but some stuff became obvious once I read the wiki entry.You shouldn't read it unless you really have no interest in reading the book because it really tells the whole story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perelandra

yolkie said...

All I'm going to say is Alpert was a lot cooler (and hotter) when he was still mysterious.

Eryn said...

you didn't like the scruffy peasant Spaniard "Ricardo" Alpert?

No one else thought this episode was heavy on the Highlander? Maybe it's just me...

lil' maxwell said...

I can see your Highlander point Eryn.. I also want to point out that pig was totally eating corpse crotch and DP confirmed that I wasn't crazy for thinking that, because it's apparently a popular thing in common mythology for pigs eating crotches. DP, you tell them what you told me?! That was awesome, and a little... Ghostbusters esque? Like the ghost giving Dan Akroyd a bj? I dunno... maybe it's just me. I'm always looking for the ghost bj.

Cody said...

Yes, please fill us in on the pig crotch eating phenomena.

Anonymous said...

I heard a theory that Jacob and the MIB is really one person - the MIB being Jacob's darkness...

michele h said...

Wow, totally the best episode of the season.

I'm fascinated by the part about how Jacob doesn't want to tell people what the right thing to do is, but how he wants them to figure it out on their own. Now I believe Lost is all about Secular Humanism instead of Christianity!!!! Sweet!

And I like the ideas about the candidates being the most righteous -- Sun, Jin, Hurley and Jack..all pretty righteous I'd say. Who else is a candidate? not Kate and Sawyer, right?

Anonymous said...

Sawyer is a candidate, his name is written on the cave wall. He crosses it off himself, so I don't know if that counts. He's also one of the only character that has shown real, positive growth, so I'd count him as pretty righteous.
I suppose Kate's name could have been there, and they just didn't show it, but that'd be pretty lame.

Perhaps the "Kwon" written on the wall refers to both Jin and Sun, who were touched by Jacob at the same time. Maybe together they make up one super-candidate?

-biz

Charles Albright said...

Has anyone seen this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdT8eqMO4qk

Kinds funny.

Charles