Lost: The Incident

Last night's LOST was confusing (no shit right?). Well CCook sent this over, and it helps kind of understand what was going on....

Every great fantasy epic ultimately comes down to the conflict between good/white and black/evil. For 5 years, TPTB has played this close to the vest, but I think last night they finally turned over their cards.

Last season, we speculated that the spectral Christian was actually a malevolent spirit who had displaced Jacob in a battle for control of the island.
Part of the basis for that idea was the biblical story of Jacob vs. his brother Esau, battling over their birthright (i.e. the island).

Connecting the dots to the ongoing Eygptian motif running through this season, the Jacob-Esau conflict can be seen as a revision of the Egyptian story of Osiris and his brother Set, (or for Apollo bar lovers, the conflict between Apollo and his brother Dionysus).

I'm going to suggest that Man #2 is Jacob's brother, and that the Lost team is presenting the ancient story of the favored son (Jacob, Apollo, Osiris), who represents light, progress, civilization and intelligence, vs. the unfavored and angry son (Esau, Set, Dionysus) who represents the hunter, the old naturalistic ways, the dark, and sometimes, evil.

Jacob (in the bible the father of the tribes of Israel) is establishing his "list" and assembling his people. It now seems that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, etc . were always unknowingly on Jacob's list.

Esau/Set is trying to return to the old ways, to usurp his brother and prevent progress. If Esau/Set was reanimating Christian, then the events he placed into motion- the seperation of Claire and Aaron, the moving of the island, the setting up of Locke's death at Ben's hands, the ghostly visits that started Jack's return to the island- were part of a massive manipulation scheme designed to overthrow his brother.

Even in death, Locke is nothing but an easily manipulated pawn, and last night's events gave new clarity to the child Locke's "dalai" test when he selected the knife (Esau) over the Book of Laws (Jacob).

Last night also showed Ben's whole life path not as the Manipulator, but the manipulated, just another game piece ("what about you?").
So much to chew on here, but Widmore, on the opposite side of the Ajirans/Richard/Jacob, seems to be in fact one of the bad guys, working for Easu Set to put the Locke resurrection events into motion. Given that Hawking also contributed with the "take Locke's corpse back and make him wear these shoes" idea, does this mean poor Elli is on the side of evil as well?

If u notice int he opening scene as well, Jacob was wearing white, the brother? wearing black, a further symbol of black and white, which lost has played up heavily thur the years, starting with locke and walt playing blackgammon...


Hopefully that helped you. Kind of opened my eyes a little bit.


Some Discussion Points

We see the old sailing ship, the Black Rock, in the intro and it is revealed that Jacob brought them there. Will we see how the ship got to the center of the island or how Jacob brought them there?

How does Jacob leave the island and keep coming back?

Did Jacob let himself die, knowing that the bomb would change things in the altered 1977 timeline?

Who was Jacob referring to when he said “they’re coming”?

Will Jacob and Esau’s history be explored and to see how they get their immortality and powers and how old are they?

Who built the statue and temples and how old is it?

What are Jacob’s lists for and what were the others doing with Walt and the children back in season 1/2?

If Ben didn’t really see Jacob in the cabin back in season 3, who called out “Help me” to John and what made the cabin go nuts in that scene?

What’s with Christian Shephard and why was he the one to tell John to move the island?

How did Juliet survive the fall?

Why did some survivors of the second plane crash land in 1977, others in 2007?

Who are the folks who brought Locke’s body to Richard?

If all Esau needed was a someone else to kill Jacob, why are all these other survivors involved? Why can’t they kill each other?

Will the Smoke Monster’s origin be explained?

Is Esau the Smoke Monster or does the Smoke Monster protect Esau? Or is it neither?