A twisted sibling rivalry

By Chris Oliver and Ken Sury

Chris and Ken are ready to tackle some serious mommy issues in "Across the Sea."

Chris: Let me get a beef out of the way from the start. Let me just say that episode was great, awesome, incredible, full of answers, etc., etc., but it made one misstep that really ticked me off. Right at the end, when Jacob is putting his mother and brother together in the cave, they cut to that scene from season one when Jack and Kate found the bodies. As if we weren't going to figure out that these two were Adam and Eve. Of course we friggin' remember, that's been one of the central mysteries of the show. If you didn't remember that, you're not a fan and you stopped watching by now. I put that in the same boneheaded league as Capt. Obvious Frank saying "Looks like someone got her voice back." But other than that, it was a great episode.

Ken: I wasn't as bothered by it as you were, but it did seem like the writers or Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse basically said, "Let's make sure there's no ambiguity for our fans that these are indeed the 'Adam and Eve' corpses." But yeah, for longtime watchers of "Lost" it was completely unnecessary.

So, the Man in Black was truthful when he told Richard in "Ab Aeterno" that Jacob took his humanity. But my question is this: Was — oh, yeah we never did get his brother's name — dead when he floated into the cave or merely unconscious? Do you think Jacob accidentally killed his brother before sending him down the stream?

Chris: I didn't think of that. Although I guess he didn't really die. I'm guessing his soul was torn from his body when he went into the cave (I'll say soul for lack of another word). I don't think he could have turned into the smoke monster if he was already dead.

So MiB wants to return to a home he's never seen. I like how they characterized him as a child. He was the more curious one, always staring out at the sea, wondering what was there, while Jacob was more prone to do what his mother said. I think he was smarter than Jacob, but he had more human frailty. Jacob is more of the rock, more dependable.

Ken: Jacob really was the momma's boy, wasn't he? But whatsisname was her favorite until he wanted to learn what's across the sea ... and well, he also killed her (though she told him thank you; what's up with that?) It might not matter if Man in Black was dead or alive when he entered the cave, but I don't think MiB turned into the smoke monster, per se. Jacob found his body and laid it next to his dear, dead foster mommy. I think like in other situations, Smoky merely used MiB as the template for taking human form.

Having the body enter the cave appears to have allowed the smoke monster to escape or be created in the first place. It scanned MiB, learned about him and his overwhelming desire to go "home." So consider this: The "home" the smoke monster desires is merely the greatest wish that the first guy to enter the cave had. It has no idea what home is, only that it's off the island.

And how must Jacob feel tormented that he sees his brother, but knows it's really a malevolent creature bent on killing him and leaving the only home it's known.

Chris: Hmmm. Good theory. That would better explain the cork analogy Jacob told Richard. This ties in to the duality of the island. We know it can heal, it can enlighten, but if you get too greedy and try to harness too much power, you're corrupted.

I've been checking out what people think of this episode, and it seems it's drawing a pretty lukewarm reaction. I guess this shouldn't be a surprise because this episode brought up more questions for which we probably won't get answers. They'll never tell us what that gold light is in the cave. How could they? I guess you could see it as a copout. You shine some gold light in a cave and it must be important, because it's gold. Or, you could say it represents a mysterious spiritual energy that can never be adequately explained.

Ken: You're right. This "Source" will have to remain a mystery because I don't think there's an adequate way to explain it. But I like what you say about the duality of the island. The island has this mysterious light (luminescent electromagnetism?) but inside that cave as well was darkness, i.e., the black smoke, which escaped from that confinement after it was breached by a human. So man upsets the balance that Nature created could be one way of looking at it.

Let's go back to Insane Foster Mom for a moment. It appeared that she could not age and thanks to that incantation she said over the wine, Jacob also became ageless. Which if that was the case it makes me question why she thought she needed a replacement if she never aged. Anyhow, after seeing that scene I began to wonder if Richard Alpert's agelessness was not due to Jacob touching him but was because of Mom's special wine. However, when I watched that scene again in "Ab Aeterno," it never showed Richard drinking the wine. I'm sure he did at some point, after all, he had just accepted Jacob's job offer. But it must have been Jacob's magic touch that did it.

I'm not sure what to make of Nameless Foster Mom. She killed the boys' mother right after giving birth, presumably to shield them from outside man's influence. She tried to kill Man in Black to stop him from leaving the island, but only gave him one heck of a bloody headache. Was she the latest in a line of people tasked with protecting the island (or more specifically, the source)? And did she ever give that poor kid a name?

Chris: I was thinking the same thing about Richard. Jacob also had eternal life, and I wonder if the wine made it possible. The mother told Child in Black that death is something he wouldn't have to worry about it. So either that means her touch makes you ageless or she planned on giving him the wine.
 
I think some are speculating she was the smoke monster, too. She somehow got MiB out of the well and killed all the, uh, Others. Pretty difficult task for one person. But she knew MiB was going to kill her, which reminds me of how Jacob knew Ben was going to kill him. Maybe after eons, you just want to die.
 
One line that stuck with me came when the boys were playing the game on the beach, and lil' MIB told Jacob someday you'll come up with a game and we'll follow your rules. I wonder if that's the game they are playing now. The rules are you can't kill Jacob or the candidates.

Ken: Probably so. I also was perplexed about who covered up the well and laid waste to the village. It did have to be Foster Mom somehow, didn't it? I first thought that maybe the sickness had enveloped the village and that perhaps she had a hand in causing that. I have a hard time believing that she'd be Smoky since she's intent on protecting the island. But she was wound a little tight.

Chris: Yeah, it isn't likely she is the smoke monster. Still curious how she did it, though. It seems like all the island protectors get a little crazy. Look at how Ben, Widmore, Dogen and Locke before he died acted. Once you get in that position, you're ready to protect it at all costs, which includes your humanity.
 
I wonder how much Ben and Widmore know about the island. They must know about the mystery golden electromagnetic goodness under the island. Ben knew how to get to the wheel. (How did the wheel get frozen? And did Smoky commission someone to build it?)

Ken: Excellent questions. Obviously, the wheel got connected at some point, but it was only a work in progress when Crazy Foster Mom pounded Man in Black's head against the stone wall. We don't know how far back in time those scenes happened. Either additional men were used to work on it, or the smoke monster took the form and knowledge of Man in Black to finish the construction job itself. Still, just building it wasn't enough to allow Smoky to leave the island. Maybe another rule is that Smoky and whatever human form it takes isn't allowed to turn the wheel. We've only seen Ben and the real John Locke use the wheel, right?

Chris: Yeah. Clearly Smoky can't use the wheel. But Smoky can manipulate others to use the wheel, like in Locke's case. In "Across the Sea," the power to leave the island was pretty vague. From what we've seen, that wheel moves the island, and who moves the wheel can't return. But there must be another way to leave the island. Ben and Richard always left, and it couldn't be by the sub because Ben was willing to let Locke blow it up. I wonder if we'll get a more satisfying explanation of the island's power.

Ken: The island is a huge mystery, but I kind of feel that a lot of its power is going to remain a secret, unless there's an incredible reveal at the end of the show. As far as leaving the island, we've certainly seen Jacob off-island a bunch. How'd he do that? If anyone should use the wheel it ought to be him. Hmmmm. Maybe Jacob finished the wheel or had someone else finish it (Richard Alpert, perhaps?) for some yet-unexplained reason. I hope we get back to how the wheel project came to completion.

Chris: Oh yeah, Jacob was off-island. So how did he create the lighthouse, build that statue, find the candidates, bring them to the island .... uhhrgggggg.  We aren't getting all the answers, are we?

Ken: These guys would have had eons to do things, but they must have had help along the way. I mean, what talents have we seen for Jacob beyond weaving and touching people with his magic hands?

There's still a lot of ground to cover, and yes, answers won't be forthcoming on everything. One more episode to go before the hopefully satisfying two and a half-hour finale. I can't wait to see how it all comes to an end.

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