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Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Lost 6.15: Jacob and Esau/MIB

Well, we finally got the back story on Jacob and Esau/MIB in Lost 6.15:

The two are fraternal twins, born of a mother who swims up to the shore of the island after her ship is wrecked.   She's shortly killed by a woman already on the island, who raises the twins as her own.   The significant and increasing difference between them is the boy with dark hair who grows into the man wants to leave the island.  Jacob does not.

MIB - who isn't fully the MIB as yet - leaves his faux-mother, to live with a group of people on the island.   They've discovered that certain places on the island have magnetic properties.  Eventually, the almost MIB discovers that with the right equipment - including the big wheel with spokes - someone can leave the island.   But before he has a chance to complete the structure, his faux-mother knocks him out, burns the well, and kills all the other people.    When she comes back to him the next day, he kills her.

Jacob, who never wanted to leave the island, but who resented his "mother"'s greater love for the almost MIB, was activated by his "mother" as her successor and the island's protector before she went to see MIB on the day that he killed her.   Jacob, understandably none too happy about that, drags the almost-MIB to a place their "mother" has briefly shown them, years before: it's the magical energy source (unless aliens made it) that animates the extraordinary powers of the island.  Jacob throws his brother into it.   The brother's human body dies, and the smoke monster emerges.

So, at some time in the future which we did not see, the smoke monster will inhabit the almost-MIB's dead body - just as it did with dead Locke - and the almost-MIB will walk and live on the island, now the full-fledged MIB, with an implacable hatred of Jacob and an implacable desire to leave.

My take: with the exception of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, I've always liked science fiction much much more than fantasy, and this sure wasn't a Lord of the Rings.  The breathtaking parts of Lost for me, in addition to the compelling human stories and the stunning plot intersections and weavings, were the science fiction - in particular the time travel, a la Desmond and Daniel in their own ways.

I'm looking forward to more of that next week, and in the finale beyond.


6-min podcast review of Lost

See also  Lost Season Six Double Premiere ... Three Questions Arising from the Lost Season Six Premiere: Linkage Between Two Realities,  Dead Bodies Inhabited, Who/What Survived H-Blast? ... Lost 6.3:  Kate and Claire, Tenacious Details, and Dr. Arzt's Arse at the Airport ... Lost 6.4:  Better LA, Wilder Island, Some Partial Answers at Last ... Lost 6.5: Jack's Family and Prester John's Speculum ... Lost 6.6: Sayid the Assassin in Both Realities ... Lost 6.7: A Better Ben in Both Realities ... Lost 6.8: The Third Team ... Lost 6.9: Richard's Story ... Lost 6.10: Cloudy Sun ... Lost 6.11: Reunion of Two Realities Begins ... Lost 6.12: Libby and Hurley and Cross-Reality Communication ... Lost 6.13: Make-Up, Break-Up, Everything is Shake-Up ... Lost 6.14: Jack's Tears

and Preliminary Predictions for Lost Finale

More Lost - see : The Richard-Locke Compass Time Travel Loop ...

and Lost Returns in 5 Dimensions and 5.3: The Loops, The Bomb ... 5.4: A Saving Skip Back in Time ... 5.5 Two Time Loops and Mind Benders ... 5.6 A Lot of Questions ... 5.7 Bentham and Ben ... 5.8 True Love Ways ... 5.9 Two Times and a Baby ... 5.10 The Impossible Cannot Happen ... 5.11 Clockwork Perfect Time Travel ... 5.12: Ben v. Charles, and Locke' Slave ... 5.13: Lost Meets Star Wars and the Sixth Sense ... The Problem with Baby Aaron and the Return of the Oceanic Six ... 5.14: Eloise, Daniel, and Obsession Trumping Paradox ... 5.15: Moral Compasses in Motion ... Lost Season 5 Finale: Jacob and Locke







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3 comments:

TheLooper said...

A few questions answered, so many left to go!

I know I sound like a broken record, but this was an awesome episode.

We finally learned the origins of Jacob and his brother, it turns out, which some might have suspected already. I didn't! We also saw the guardian/protector that came before Jacob, the woman pretending to be their mother. We finally saw "the source" of the island's power, which has been long suspected to exist, just never truly seen. We saw the origins of smokey/MIB/UnLocke, from the source it turns out, and we finally found out who the man and woman corpses were in the cave that Jack and Kate discovered.

We also learned Jacob was very much human, no God-like abilities other than indefinite lifespan. That's why Ben could kill him so easily, especially since Jacob's brother killed the previous protector so easily as well. Still human, just able to live for vastly long times.

So now with two episodes left, we still have tons of questions to answer. The most prominent of these is what is the island and where did it come from?

Obviously UnLocke is very much linked to the island, considering he came from the source. By why would the source generate an entity such as this? Has it been released before, since Jacob's mother knew all to well what could happen if they when into it? Was smokey impersonating Jacob and his brother's real mother? I kind of doubt it because she had a "glow" about her that was typical with the reincarnations of Locke, Christian, Alex or anyone else smokey has ever impersonated. So was she the island attempting to lure Jacob's brother away for the purpose of releasing smokey?

Obviously the final week of Lost is almost upon us, 2 episodes in 5 days, so hopefully all answers will be revealed. 3 candidates left, UnLocke is on the rampage and Desmond is the key. But with Jacob already dead, and none of the other candidates aware of the source or having drank the juice of immortal life, other than Richard, could this be the end for the island as well? Can't wait to see what happens next!

Carrin Mahmood said...

So... Just when I'm convinced that MIB/Locke is bad and the protector good we see the protector doing some pretty horrendous things.

Just when I thought dead people only came back to give lofty advice to those who are worthy...ala Hurley, the mom comes back and gives info to MIB....which brings me back to being confused over who is good and bad.

It seems like MIB was the original chosen one or "worthy" and his birthright ends up going to Jacob. (A nice nod to the original Genesis story)

The island seems to have needed someone to stay and protect "The light" but now it seems to need someone to stay and keep smokey from leaving.

Answers...and Questions as always

TheLooper said...

White Bear, did you happen to notice that after Jacob's brother went down the river and under the rock, the light went out? Just before Smokey arrived, the cave started turning dark. So IS smokey the source now?

When you said someone has to stay to keep smokey from leaving, perhaps that is why? Just throwing that out there.

Yes, you're right about the confusion of who is truly good and truly bad. You almost felt sorry for Jacob's brother, future MIB, because he truly was mistreated and had a legit beef. In some respects he had every right to kill his "mother" because she killed HIS people. Or so we are lead to believe. You just never know with Lost. Unless you see someone doing something red handed, like Michael, you can't be sure of anything.

For all we know, maybe Smokey was already released and hiding in the cave, using Jacob's brother as cover for it's "release"?

With only two episodes left and SO MUCH left to explain, I don't see how they can wrap it all up cleanly. But, I've been wrong before...

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