Light at the End of the Tunnel

A Synopsis of Lost episode "Across the Sea", which aired on ABC May 11, 2010.

This episode was amazing!

In a flashback, we learn that Kate and Jack literally ran into each other as kids when they were 9 or 10 at an amusement park (you can see Jacob observing them in the background), and that Hurley had actually met Jacob twice... the other time, Jacob appeared at the chicken restaurant Hurley worked at and ordered a meal.  Then in a flashfoward, we learn that Walt returns to the island, with the help of Eloise, and takes over Jacob's role as the island's protector. 

In the normal timeline, Jack and the other survivors of the sub find Desmond.  Desmond tells them he knows how destroy Fake Locke, or at least permanently trap him on the island.  He also hints at the existence of a flash-sideways timeline.

And finally, a flash-sideways revealed that Desmond helps Charlotte and Daniel meet.  When Daniel and Charlotte shake hands, they both fully remember events from the "normal time" on the island.  The episode ends with the flash-sideways Daniel looking at Desmond and announcing he now knows how to merge the timelines.

Okay... I made all that up.  Ha ha!  But it seemed like it could be true, right?  Right?  Heh.

Here's what really happened in "Across the Sea".

Introduction

Other than a few scenes near the end, the entire episode takes place in the past.  Various clues indicate this to be the distant past, possibly as far as 2,000 years ago.  For example, at the beginning of the episode people were conversing in Latin.  There's no hint of the existence of the Egyptian structures that later appear on the island (e.g. the Temple and the statue of Taweret).  And all the other survivors of the shipwreck that brought those people to the island seemed to be dressed in styles that might have been common around 500 A.D.

This episode, while of course not answering every question that it could have, does answer some big questions.  It depicts:

• origins of both Jacob and the still unnamed Man in Black
• origin of the Smoke Monster
• how Jacob became the island's protector, and what he's actually protecting (kind of)
• source (kind of) of the island's weird electromagnetic properties
• origin of the large underground wheel later used separately by Ben (moving the island) and John (leaving the island and stopping the time jumps)... though not why that chamber is so cold
  
• origin and purpose of all the wells to nowhere around the island
• reason the Man in Black could not himself ever kill Jacob
• reason the Others liked to converse in Latin
• identities of "Adam" & "Eve"
• significance of white & black stones/game pieces

Synopsis

Jacob and the Man in Black are twin brothers, with Jacob being the firstborn.  Their biological mother (Claudia) was a shipwreck survivor and is very close to giving birth.  She was found on shore by another woman who apparently had been living on the island a long time, possibly her entire life.  The women initially speak to each other in Latin before their universal translators kick in and they begin using English.  Claudia goes into labor and the other assists with the birthing.  To the surprise of both women, Claudia gives birth to two sons (the firstborn is wrapped in a light-colored cloth, the second-born in a dark cloth).  Claudia names her elder son as "Jacob" but says she doesn't have a name picked for her younger son.

The woman than murders Claudia, and raises the boys as if they were her own children, teaching them to be distrustful of other people.

The episode's title, "Across the Sea", refers to a conversation between Jacob and his mother.  She's raised both boys to believe there is nothing across the sea... that all there is to the world is the island.

While hunting one day, the boys (now approximately 13) discover that there are other people on the island.  Their mother tells them that she'd wanted to keep that secret from them in order to protect them because, according to her, other people are dangerous, inherently bad, and cannot be trusted.

She then blindfolds them and takes them to a cave/tunnel.  A stream flows into the tunnel, while a warm golden light shines out from it.  She explains that that light is life, there's some of it in all people, but people are greedy and would want more of it if they knew of it.  If the island's light were taken or snuffed out, all life everywhere would perish.  Her job is to protect the island and its light, and one day one of the boys will take over that role from her, just as she took it over from her mother.  She also informs the boys that through unspecified means she has prevented them from ever being able to kill each other.

Later while playing, the Boy in Black sees his biological mother's spirit (Jacob does not see her).  Claudia's spirit tells the Boy in Black the truth about his birth, her death, the world across the sea, and how the other people arrived on the island (they were fellow survivors of the shipwreck that had brought her to the island).  After confronting his mother about all this, he decides to go live with his own people, while Jacob decides to remain.

senet game board

Time passes, and the brothers are now adult men, probably between 30 & 40.  Jacob has been occasionally visiting his still unnamed brother, who is still living with the other shipwreck survivors and their descendants.  While the brothers play a game (which the Boy in Black had found on the beach many years ago), the Man in Black tells Jacob that people are in fact as bad as their mother had always claimed, yet he'd still rather be with them.  He also tells Jacob that he found something exciting he wants to show Jacob.  He and the others in the village have discovered the island's unusual electromagnetic properties and have been trying to find the source, believing that it could be a means of leaving the island.

Jacob informs his mother of all this.  She returns him to the tunnel of golden light, warns him that entering it would lead to a fate worse than death, and informs him that it is time for him to take over her role as the island's guardian.  She pours a glass of wine, mutters something in Latin, and hands the cup to Jacob to drink.  He drinks and is now the guardian.  He obviously is not happy about that.

She then visits the Man in Black, who is working in an underground man-made cavern.  He tells her that he could never find that tunnel of light, but decided he might get to that energy another way... by digging wherever an electromagnetic anomaly was found.  He tells her finally succeeded.  He removed a stone from another wall, allowing golden light to shine into the cavern.  She then notices the large wheel on a side wall.  The Man in Black tells her that he and the other men have devised a plan to make the hole in the bigger, install that giant wheel and some other equipment they've made, and that they'll be able to then use the island's energy to leave the island when they turn that wheel.  She knocks him unconscious while pretending to say goodbye to him, and then apparently kills everyone else in the village, fills in the cavern, and destroys their equipment.

Ben turning the big wheel

When the Man in Black wakes up, he goes to the cave she and Jacob live in and kills her.  Jacob retaliates by beating his brother, dragging him to the tunnel of golden light, and dropping him in the stream that flows into it.  Soon after the Man in Black floats into the tunnel, the ground rumbles and the Smoke Monster streams out of the tunnel.

Jacob finds his brother's physical body, drags it back to where his mother's body was left in their cave.  He places both bodies next to each other, and lays next to them a pouch the game pieces from the game he and his brother used to play.  Scenes from the first season episode in which two skeletons (named Adam & Eve by John) were found in a cave laying side-by-side with a nearby game pouch by Jack and Kate are then shown.

Comments

A recurring theme in the episode is that Jacob believes his mother favors his brother over him, even after his brother leaves to live with the other shipwreck survivors.  She never denies this.  However, she does admit at the end that Jacob was all along destined to be her replacement, even though she'd only just then realized that.

Another recurring theme is that the Boy in Black, as well as his adult version, have a "knack" for understanding how things work.  For example, he knew the rules for playing the game he found on the beach.  And he knew how to construct a device that would allow someone to leave the island without a boat.

Why didn't the shipwreck survivors ever build a boat?  Perhaps they ran into the same kind of problem that Desmond encountered when he tried to sail away.

Why did Claudia's spirit only appear to the Boy in Black?  Why couldn't Jacob see her?  Is it related to his ability to understand how things work?

Interesting tidbits from Wikipedia...

Claudia, in Roman Mythology, is the mother of Romulus and Remus (and the names of the Romulan homeworlds in Star Trek). Claudia is also the name of the character played by Allison Janney (who played the unnamed woman who murdered Claudia and raised the twins) on The West Wing.

Next week's episode is "What They Died For".  It is the final episode before the finale on May 23, 2010.  It looks like Fake Locke changes plans while Jack and company free Desmond from the well.  Still don't know what's been going on with Richard, Ben and Miles.

NOTE: This post's title refers to the tunnel leading to the source of golden light in the heart of the island.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Island

A synopsis of Lost episode "The Candidate"

Lost episode "The Candidate" aired on ABC on 5/04/10, otherwise known as Star Wars Day. The current timeline narrative focused on a unsuccessful and ultimately tragic attempt by Sawyer and friends to leave the island.  The flash-sideways focused on Jack & John.

Flash-Sideways

As has been their habit, the show's producers once again created a misleading episode title.  The candidate is John Locke... Jack tells him that he is a candidate for a new experimental spine surgery that Jack's believes could ultimately restore to John full use of his legs.  John refuses.  Jack, even in this timeline unable to let things be, has to find out why.  He eventually discovers that John cannot forgive himself for causing his dad, Anthony Cooper, to end up in a vegetative state due to a plane crash caused by John right after having earned his license to fly.

Some interesting revelations:

• Jack & Claire run into each other.  Claire shows Jack that the only thing their dad had left her was a music box.  I think this is significant, but right now I don't know how.
• While researching the cause of John's paralysis, he runs into Bernard, who'd performed emergency oral surgery on John.  Bernard refuses to breach patient confidentiality, but does tell Jack the name of the person who'd been brought in with John.
  
• Just before regaining consciousness, John can be heard muttering some comments he'd made while on the island in the normal timeline, such as "push the button" and then later "I wish you had believed me".  Perhaps this plays into why Desmond ran him over... his attempt to have John experience his own near-death experience and begin having flashbacks of his time on the island.

Normal Timeline

Jack, Sayid and Fake Locke are now on the Hydra Station island.  Sayid explains to Jack that everyone else in their group had either died during the mortar attack or had run off into the jungle.  Then Fake Locke appears, telling them it's time to go rescue the others from Widmore.

Meanwhile...

different Sawyer

Widmore locked up the others in cages, the same cages Sawyer & Kate were locked up in previously.  Sawyer's not too happy about, and demonstrates how to take a rifle from someone.  Widmore appears, holding a gun to Kate's head to convince Sawyer to cooperate.  Widmore then tells Sawyer that while he, Hurley, Sun and Jin are on a list of people he needs to protect, Kate is not and thus is expendable.

After they're locked up in the cages, Sawyer confides to Kate that, in the cave where names of all past & current candidates were written, Kate's name had been crossed out.

Soon, the power goes out at Widmore's camp, which includes the power to the pylons that keep out the Smoke Monster, who appears and starts killing guards while Jack unlocks the cage and tells the others to follow him.

They rendezvous with Sayid and Fake Locke and make their way to the crashed plane.  Fake Locke goes ahead of the group to take care of the guards, then enters the plane and discovers that it contains C4 explosives in a pack.  Telling the others that there could be more explosives on the plane, Fake Locke insists that they'll instead leave the island using Widmore's submarine.

While on their way there, Sawyer pulls Jack aside and tells Jack his plan to leave the island without Fake Locke, and wants Jack to help by knocking Fake Locke into the water once they're at the dock, to which Jack agrees.

At the dock, Jack does knock Fake Locke into the water while the others rush toward the sub.  A gunfight breaks out between their group and more of Widmore's men who were hiding in the jungle.  Kate gets shot (in the shoulder, I think), so Jack carries her into the sub.  Meanwhile, Claire gets separated from the group, trapped on the dock due to the gunfire.  Sawyer decides Claire can't reach them without risking Fake Locke getting on board, closes the hatch and orders the sub to leave.  As Claire runs after the sub, Fake Locke grabs her and says to her that "you don't want to be on that sub" and then smiles in an evil creepy way.

We soon found out why he said that to Claire.  On the sub, Jack opens his pack to get out some medical supplies to mend Kate's bullet wound, and instead discovers the C4 Fake Locke had taken from the plane.  Attached to the explosives is a timer counting down from about 3 1/2 minutes.

Due to his earlier conversation with Richard, Jack is convinced that the the bomb won't really work.  That, instead, Fake Locke is hoping that they'll try to disarm it, and in so doing cause it to explode.  Jack tells the others he believes that this had been Fake Locke's plan all along... to get them all together and to then trick them into killing themselves because Fake Locke cannot do it himself (probably due to Jacob's protection).

Sayid confirms that the bomb appears to be rigged to explode if the wires are tampered with.  Sawyer doesn't want to wait for their doom and yanks out a wire.  The clock stops, everyone breathes a sigh of relief, then the clock resumes its countdown only now doing that much faster than before.

Hoping they could toss the bomb out of the sub, Sawyer orders the sub to rise but it cannot rise fast enough.  Sayid then tells Jack about Desmond still being alive sitting at the bottom of a well, and that they need to find him because Desmond must be dangerous to Fake Locke.  Jack asks why Sayid is telling him this, and Sayid grabs the bomb and runs as far as he can away from them before the bomb explodes.

The sub ultimately is destroyed and sinks.  Hurley, Kate, Jack and Sawyer make it back to shore.  Frank was last seen on the sub, so don't know whether he survived.  Sun had been trapped on the sub, and Jin decided he'd rather die with her than live without her, especially now that they'd just been reunited after having spent three years apart.

The episode ends with Fake Locke telling Claire that the sub has sunk but that there are survivors, and he needs to leave and finish what he started.

Next week's episode is "Across the Sea".  It is supposed to focus on the struggle between Jacob and the Man in Black and reveal the Man in Black's real motives. And, I think, Jacob teaching the Man in Black how to play backgammon.  Or Othello.

Comments and Questions

Three main characters died in this episode: Sun, Jin and Sayid.  Frank may or may not have died.  After many episodes of assurances from Fake Locke, this episode leaves no doubt as to the Man in Black being evil, and that dire warnings about him are probably true.

What have Ben, Richard and Miles been up to?  We haven't heard from them since they had headed off for the former Dharma/Others camp for more explosives.

When Michael warned Hurley about not blowing up the plane, was it because he knew that Fake Locke would then instead use the sub?  Or, was it because they will still need the plane for something?

Though hinted at by Jack and later by Fake Locke, I believe that the Man in Black is trapped on the island (well, islands) as long as Jacob or any candidates remain alive.

In the flash-sideways, is John's dad the same Anthony Cooper who had caused the deaths of Sawyer's parents in that timeline? (May not really matter.)

I still think that Jack will be the actual replacement for Jacob.  And that this all has something to do with Egyptian mythology.

NOTE: The episode title is a reference to the sci-fi movie and TV show Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, which heavily featured a submarine.

The Long Swim Goodnight

A synopsis of Lost episode "The Last Recruit"

Lost episode "The Last Recruit" aired 4/20/10 on ABC.  A main theme in both narratives was that of main characters being drawn together.  The flash sideways narrative, unlike prior installments, followed multiple characters, depicting their lives intersecting.  In the island narrative, Fake Locke's camp merged with Jack's camp.

Flash Sideways

Desmond crossed paths with Claire, introducing her to his lawyer friend Ilana, who it turns out had been looking for her for the reading of Christian Shephard's will.

Jack crossed paths with Clarie & Ilana when he showed up for the reading of the will, too, and learned that he had a sister.  Surprise!  Jack the crossed paths with John after being called in to operate on him.  (Desmond had run over John in "Everybody Loves Hurley".)

Ben and John shared an ambulance ride.  On exiting the ambulance, John passed by Jin & Sun.  Sun seemed quite afraid of John, for as yet unknown reasons... my guess is that her near death experience (she was shot in "The Package") has caused her, too, to experience flashbacks of the island.

Kate, James and Miles crossed paths in the police station.  Then Miles and James crossed paths with Sayid.  They were after Sayid as they had evidence that he'd killed Martin Keamy and his henchmen in a restaurant.

The Island

Fake Locke and Jack have a walk-and-talk, followed by Claire and Jack having a walk-and-talk, and Jack meeting Claire as his sister for the first time.

Zoe confronts Fake Locke at his camp, demanding that Desmond be returned to Widmore else they will begin a remote bomb assault.  She then orders a launch to demonstrate their ability to carry through on that threat.  After she leaves, Fake Locke orders Sayid to kill Desmond.

Fake Locke sends Sawyer on a mission to fetch a boat and bring it to a rendezvous point.  However, Sawyer is still on his own team and instead arranges for himself and his friends to use the boat to go to the Hydra station island, leaving Fake Locke and his followers behind. Claire tags along as she has abandonment issues.  Jack jumps overboard when he tells Sawyer that he doesn't think they should leave the island.

Sawyer arrives on the Hydra station island with Sun, Kate, Claire, Hugo and Lapidus.  Jin & Sun reunite.  Widmore orders Sawyer and his group held at gunpoint while beginning an bomb assault against Fake Locke right after Jack returns to that group.

Questions Answered:

• The Smoke Monster was Christian Shephard every time someone saw him on the island.  (Now for a fun exercise, think about every appearance by Christian Shephard on the island, with this new information in mind.  Kind of like watching The Sixth Sense the second time.)
  
• The Smoke Monster can only appear as dead people.
• Jack is the last recruit.  I predict he will take Jacob's place.  Though I suspect the episode's title also/mainly refers to Jack rejoining Fake Locke's group.
  

Questions Remaining:

• Did Sayid kill Desmond? (I think he didn't. And that that will be very important.)
• We still don't know what happened to Christian Shephard's body. (Zombie?  Nah.)
  
• Why did Widmore order his people to hold Sawyer and the others at gunpoint?
• Were there any survivors of Widmore's attack against Fake Locke (other than Jack and John)?  (I think there weren't.  They haven't had lines for weeks.)
• Is Claire still crazy?
• What are Ben, Miles and Richard up to?
  

Next week, ABC teases us by repeating "Ab Aeterno", the episode that revealed Richard's back story.  Other than wasting a week, the only reason I can think of is that Richard plays a big part in the remaining episodes.   After that, "The Candidate".

Note: This post's title is a reference to the movie The Long Kiss Goodnight, and to Jack's swim back to the island.

Fried Chicken Dynamite

A synopsis of Lost episode "Everybody Loves Hugo"

Lost episode "Everybody Loves Hugo" aired April 13, 2010. The flash-sideways portion of the episode continued directly from the theme of last week's flash-sideways narrative... that under the right circumstances, people who had been on the island during the normal timeline can experience memory flashes regarding the island.  And Desmond seems to be on a mission to help people experience those flashes.

In this episode, Hugo meets Libby when she escapes from the field trip she was one with people from the funny farm.  Libby began experiencing memory flashes of the island when she saw a TV commercial featuring Hugo (who is a wealthy philanthropist).  Desmond, now on a mission, encourages Hugo to talk to Libby some more, he does, and then also experiences the same kind of flashes (which Desmond observes from a discreet distance).

Then Desmond tries to kill John Locke by running him over at high speed.

Ah, but why, Grasshopper?

My guess is that Desmond somehow knows that the real John Locke is dead, and decided that this one needed to die, too, in order to bring the two timelines together.

Meanwhile, back on the island...

Michael warns Hugo about the need to prevent Richard and the others from blowing up the crashed plane, implying that really bad things would happen if they were to succeed.  So Hugo blows up the Black Rock. Michael also apologizes for murdering Libby.

Fake Locke is surprised to learn that "the package" is Desmond, especially when Desmond isn't too sure why.  But I think Fake Locke does.  Fake Locke then goes on a walk-and-talk with Desmond, and pushes him down an empty well.  Just like happened to Joseph.  Hmmm...

Sawyer was impatient.

Sayid is getting suspicious.  And is still acting oddly.

Little Jacob shows up to taunt Fake Locke.

Jack realizes that he doesn't really need to be in control of things anymore.  Then is surprised at seeing John.

And every one Fake Locke needs in order to leave the island are now together in one place.  Bwuhahahaha!

Next week... "The Last Recruit".

Note: This post's title is a reference to the movie Napoleon Dynamite, Hugo's financial success with a fried chicken restaurant chain in the flash-sideways, and to the use of dynamite as a plot device.

The Traveling Scotsman

A Synopsis of Lost episode "Happily Ever After"

Lost episode "Happily Ever After" aired April 6, 2010.  My prediction was half-fulfilled... Desmond did call at least one person "brother" but it was a Hobbit, not Jin.

"Happily Ever After", I must admit, was not what I was expecting.  I'd assumed the episode would follow the narrative format of most of this season's prior episodes... jumping back and forth between what's going on on the island and in the flash-sideways.

I'd also assumed that the episode's title was meant to imply that Desmond and Penny were happily together in the flash-sideways world.

Instead, the episode more closely followed the format of "Flashes Before Your Eyes"... nearly the entire episode took place in the flash-sideways narrative.

Another shared aspect between the two episodes occurred when Desmond meets Eloise.  In both episodes, she acts like someone who a) knows what's really going on with Desmond, and b) aside from that knows much more than she's willing to tell.

I'd read elsewhere that the show's producers had promised that there was a lot more to these flash-sideways than merely depicting what people's lives would've been like had the island sunk 30 years ago. And that the flash-sideways would get tied back to the main island narrative.  "Happily Ever After" is the first episode, I think, to have revealed clues as to how the flash-sideways and the island will tie back together.  And why there even is a flash-sideways.

Well, enough analysis... time for the synopsis.

• Desmond wakes up and tries to kill Charles.
• Jin asks what's going on.
• Desmond is then dragged literally kicking and screaming into a wooden shack in which someone had just been accidentally electrocuted.
• Jin asks what's going on. Yes, again.
• Charles flips the switch to power the giant donuts Desmond is sitting in between, at least until he breaks his chair and begins kicking and screaming, because then he's no longer sitting.  But he's still between the donuts. Mmm... Donuts... Then there's a flash of light, like when Ben moved the island.
• Charlie drives Desmond into the water and shows him a note written on the palm of his hand, "Not Penny's Boat".
• I decide I'm getting tired of hearing "You All Everybody".
• Desmond later has a vision of Penny.
• Daniel tells him he's in love with a red-haired woman he's never met.
• Penny shakes Desmond's hand causing him to faint.
• And Sayid tells Charles' team to run away and tells Desmond to come with him.

Next week on Lost, "Everybody Loves Hugo".  My prediction... this episode, possibly, revolves around Hugo.  Maybe.