ost, it seems, has a lot of coupling going on. There has always been an emphasis on duality: science vs. faith, good vs. evil, us vs. them "The Others," free will vs. destiny, illusion vs. reality, the common good vs. the individual. These themes have been staked out in our characters, with the arguments and issues they each bring to the island tiki table. Not to mention the coupling that comes from the whole "you are my constant, therefore I may not kill you" thing. How very Jerry Maguire. Not quite, "you complete me," but pretty close. With this rule in place, the emphasis becomes "we’re two opposing sides of the same coin, so I can’t get rid of you myself." (It’s why Ben can’t kill Widmore, as well).
As far as structure goes, we’re literally split into dual realities now. It’s very Back to the Future Part II, the way Dr. Emmett Brown had described an alternate reality, with Biff at the Casino, crossing paths with their own future and past selves, etc. In this last season we’re seeing dual realities: 1) what would have happened if the plane never crashed and landed on the island (ALTERNATE REALITY); 2) what happens now on the Island, present day, now that they have successfully set off the nuclear bomb back in the 70s. If you’ve seen Sliding Doors, you get it. [I can tell you that personally, I’m still wishing that this island represented some form of purgatory, with everyone in the balance, jumping back, proving their worthiness to move onward, self-sacrificing just enough to move forward. But the creators don’t make it that simple because once we have answers, we stop looking for them, and stop watching.]
I’m guessing that, just as it happened with our girl Gweneth in Sliding Doors, no matter which path, (the plane never crashing, or the successful nuclear explosion), the destiny, the final outcome will be the same, because in the end, no matter the circumstances, I’m speculating they’ll bring them to the same place, with that same free-will that was there all the time, within, just like Dorothy and her magic ruby slippers.
That prediction said, just to clear it up for my father, who’s been a bit groggy due to his polyp removal surgery, what the hell’s going on? Back to duality, remember the "Trading Places" season 5 finale, with the two dudes on the beach, one in white (Jacob), and one in black (we’ll call him Smokey, or Lockeness Lord Smoke It). It was very much like the Eddie Murphy Trading Places film, with those two dudes who were arguing nature vs. nurture. This is the same deal. Jacob and Lockeness Lord Smoke It are each other’s constant, so they cannot kill each other. When Ben strangled Locke last season and staged it to appear as if Locke hanged himself, Locke actually died, and the scruffy dude wearing black on the beach took over Locke’s body. Alexandra (Ben’s daughter) appeared to Ben in the basement of that Goonies of a temple area, telling him to listen to anything Locke told him to do (again, this could have been the black spirit at play). Ben agrees to do whatever Locke says, thinking it’s still John Locke in that body.
Then Ben was manipulated (a taste of his own medicine), reminded why he’d want to kill Jacob… so Ben, of his own free-will, makes the choice to kill Jacob. But just as the dude in black could inhabit Locke’s body, Sir Jacob can now inhabit Sayid’s body. Thus, Jacob appears to Hugo, and tells him to head to the Temple with Sayid’s body, knowing full-well that he’s going to take over Sayid’s body once the life has been drowned out of it. (Wait, you might ask, how did Jacob know all this was going to happen in advance? I mean, he gave Hugo that guitar case with that message long before Ben killed Jacob. The answer, my friends, is time travel. Again, think back to Back to the Future Part II: Marty had the Almanac, wanting to give it to his past self, so he could be wealthy, but Doc. Brown saw it, trashed it, and Biff found it in the trash, stole the DeLorean, and handed it to his past self, then returned to his present time, where he now had a casino, etc. All about planning steps ahead… much like a game of chess). And that’s exactly how this story is beginning to feel: like a game of chess, with light and dark, white and black, playing for positions of power. (I won’t say good v. evil, because I think that’s too simplistic, and we want to try to pin people down as one or the other to make it simple, but I strongly believe the creators won’t do this… they won’t simplify it in those terms. Just like the belief that "the others" are the "bad" guys… they turned it around when they referred to our main cast as "the others.")
It feels very much like purgatory chess, with Jacob and Sir Darkie Dark as "fallen angels" wanting to get to their home, proving their hypotheses about human nature, about destiny, about free-will, with our "survivors" of the crash as their pawns.
When alternate reality Locke, still in his wheelchair, speaks with Jack at baggage claim, he says, "They didn’t lose your father. They lost his body," we get it. It’s "on the nose." Ding ding ding. It would be interesting to watch earlier seasons where people who were already dead appear on the island to our characters and figure out who (Jacob or Dr. Lord Smoke It) was inhabiting that body, that illusion, and for what purpose, to analyze what the motivation would be for either of them, and what seeing that illusion/person/horse then drove our character to do. What was their action after the interaction with that illusion/person/being?
One last esoteric mention. Pretty sure this was an Olivia Newton John movie with John Travolta titled TWO OF A KIND: It’s up to both criminally-minded individuals to save the Earth from God’s destruction. And the plot summary, you ask?
"Four angels — Charlie, Earl, Gonzales, and Ruth — have been in charge of Heaven for the last 25 years. They are playing a golf match in Heaven when their game is interrupted by God, who has now returned to the office and doesn’t like what he sees down on Earth. God wants to order up another flood and start all over again, but the angels persuade God to reconsider, reasoning that if a typical Earth man can reform, it would prove that all mankind is capable of it."
* * *
Below are my live-blogging notes, as I watched the premiere:
Tonight I’ll be liveblogging during the premiere episode of the final season of LOST. There will be drinking involved. And avgolemono meatball soup (this is not a secret clue, but I will share the recipe this week). To catch up on my earlier nerdly LOST posts, head to the LOST ARCHIVE.
As I’ve said before, I believe "Adam & Eve" are Bernard & Rose, who were living in retirement. Locke’s new "body" is The Man In Black, who was sitting on the beach with Jacob (who was in white). Jacob, in white, who visited each of our cast members in their pasts, was the evil spirit, the "bad" spirit, "helping" each of our "survivors" by facilitating each of them to do "bad."
However many times the notion of fate is discussed, the theory of free-will, we all know how this will end. It will, undoubtedly be about free will. As William Jennings Bryan said, "Destiny isn’t a matter of chance. It’s a matter of choice. It’s not a thing to be waited for, it’s a thing to be achieved."
Now then. We last left off here, at Trading Places. Now we begin with Sliding Doors, a la deja vu. Following the path of what if. What if they never.
We see Jack on the airplane, beside Rose. Bernard is in the bathroom. He returns. Everything that was isn’t anymore. No crash. Jack heads to the loo, realizes he’s bleeding. And when he returns to his seat? Desmond is there. (Note: Des was never on the original flight).
Focused on Kate’s eye. All in the eyes. Kate’s hearing sucks, from the explosion of The Swann? We learn that they built the hatch anyway.
We’re back to the airplane, and all I can think is that it’s possible that this plane stuff we’re seeing is what happened before the crash? That or we’re dealing with an episode of Danny Devito & Schwarzenegger: twins.
Watching lost is like playing a game of chess. I just really hope Jacob & the man of black aren’t the ones playing, with our "players" its pawns. Again, it’s far too Trading Places.
So we learn that the gang’s all here, alive, Juliet too. Sayid is gasping through throat blood wondering what will be done with him, after the life he’s lived and those he’s tortured.
Boon. Boon and "Locke" are on the plane, then we have Locke with Ben, after Ben "killed" Jacob back in last year’s finale. Locke knows Richard will be outside and asks Ben to send Richard in.
Lapidis is speaking with Sun about Ilana and the big brute dude. They say they’re the good guys, said Jacob asked for them. Ben asks for Richard, lies, saying Locke & Jacob are inside, both are fine. Then Richard throws Ben down on the sand, so he can be face to face with the body in the box: the corpse of John Locke. Ben’s eyes widen. Dude’s not in Kansas anymore.
They’re digging for Juliet, but I wonder if it will be someone else they find. Someone unexpected. That would make things real interesting.
Hugo is speaking with Jacob. "Your friend Jin won’t be able to see me. I died an hour ago. I was killed by an old friend who grew tired of my company." Ah, the loophole. Can’t kill your constant, now can you. Jacob tells Hugo to get Sayid’s bod to the temple. Jin will know where it is.
Sawyer tells Kate he’s going to kill Jack if Juliet dies.
Jack is on the airplane, summoned to the loo. We KNOW who’s in there. Sir Charlie. Yup. Not breathing. Jack tries to save Charlie. His airpassage is blocked. Gee, wonder what he’s trying to smuggle down. Yup. Big sack of heroin. Key phrase here from Jack, "There was a pen in my pocket but it’s not there anymore."
Ben’s still the quirky dirky we love to love, all creepy.
THAT WAS AWESOME. Black smoke monster is Jacob’s nemesis, the dude who was in black eating fish with Jacob last season. Here’s my question. The big tall brute of a dude with Ilana shoots a bullet into the body of Locke, whom I’ll refer to as the Lockeness Monster, and Locke is fine, disappears; the bullet is found on the floor, then the black monster appears. BUT why then was Ben able to "kill" Jacob? Granted Jacob still came back and spoke to Hurley.
I realize anyone reading this will NEVER want to watch this show now.
If Juliet is dead, just bring her by the temple with Sayid. And seriously, James, wanting vengeance on Jack… yawn. Whatever happened to "dead is dead?"
Shannan was another who was not on this flight. No Walt, no Michael.
Sawyer asks Miles to stick around while he puts his woman into the ground, seeing that Miles can hear the dead, and might be able to hear that important thing Juliet wanted to tell our boy James.
Back at the temple, we see the corpse of the dude with one arm, who was reading some book I’ll research later. The voices and whispers are here. It feels a bit like The Goonies. Then Kate disappears. Jack chases after her, then hears more voices, people are running, punch Jack out, escort him out. Where is Sayid’s bod during all this exactly? They spill out, guided by dudes with guns, to see "The Temple." I’m exhausted. James wants to know what Juliet wanted, but Miles could make up any old thing. "It worked." She wanted to tell him that it did, in fact, work. Setting off that hydrogen bomb worked.
Now it feels like a whole new show at the Temple, with the flight attendant part of the pious rag club. Hugo offers the guitar case as proof that Jacob sent them. And inside is a note saying so. "We’re in a lot of trouble if anything happens to your friend." (Speaking about Sayid).
They drown Sayid, so Jacob can come back in Sayid’s form?
Once the peeps at the temple learn from Hugo that Jacob is dead, they prepare, make a protective circle around the temple to keep Lockness Monster out (I still maintain this Lockness Monster isn’t the bad dude, that it’s Jacob who’s bad, too). I need to go breathe. I’ll write more tomorrow.
I KNEW IT. I knew Sayid would die so Jacob could come back in his body. Knew it.

yes!! thanks!!!
ABC hosted a free screening of the “Lost” sixth season premiere on the beach in Oahu this weekend and about 15,000 fans showed up
15 burning questions: http://blogs.chron.com/tubular/archives/2010/02/15_burning_lost.html
13 more minutes!!!!
“Nothing’s irreversible,” says Jack Shephard to John Locke. I want the T-shirt made.
Clit-flick! Love it. I don’t watch lost, but now maybe I will.
Well done! I live-LOSTed as well and my fingers were practically bleeding at the end of two hours. So much happens! Thank god for commercial breaks.
I love the Sayid-as-Jacob idea – it hadn’t occurred to me at all, but it’s brilliant.
To me the show is definitely all about dichotomies: free will vs. predestination (perfect for time travel); reason vs. faith; Jack vs. Locke; Jacob vs. Nemesis. I have a hunch that it all comes down to free will, though, which is pretty damn amazing for an American show on in prime time.
What will become of “real” Locke, though? With Locke dead, what happens to the Locke/Jack pairing? The show would feel unbalanced without Locke long-term, I think, and I’m wondering how they’d bring him back.
Of course, there’s always time travel.
My biggest question from watching the season premiere…after all the time they’ve spent on the island, in and out of different decades, how could they NOT know about this other community living in the temple? Still love it, though!
Also, I’ve been going crazy brainstorming theories, and I wonder…Lockeness Monster says he can’t leave the Island, and just wants to go home.
What is Widmore is Jacob’s primary manifestation in the real world, and Widmore is doing everything possible to keep the Island from being found because if his nemesis gets to the real world the “war” they keep referencing will be complete havoc? Makes sense because Widmore knows all about the Island…
So by that logic, Kate ends up with Desmond and a short haircut?
I think Jacob could very well be in Sayid’s body now. But there is a difference between that and the Man in Black. You say: “Locke actually died, and the scruffy dude wearing black on the beach took over Locke’s body.” But he didn’t really take over Locke’s body because we still see Locke’s body in that box and dumped out on the beach. Seems he’s more like a shape shifter.
I’m just trying to figure out if this holds any significance. That Jacob can come back in someone’s body and Man in Black only changes shape.
Remember the episode where Locke saw himself talking to Richard? And Locke from the future told Richard what to tell Locke from the past when he showed up with a broken leg, etc.? There were two locke bodies in the same scene. We now have 3 Locke bodies: 1) Locke in a wheelchair, just off the plane, 2) Locke taken over by Smokey Dude; 3) Locke in a coffin. If you play out the alternate REALITY of #1, the plane never crashed, then that Locke, in the future, thanks to time travel, etc. could be taken over by Sir Smoke-a-lot. You get what I’m saying. I don’t think he has to be a shape shifter (not that I know what a shape shifter is). But it IS possible to see the corpse of Locke and still see him alive in different points of time, and in the same time, without a shape shifter.
That’s a good theory. I had forgotten about that episode when there’s 2 Lockes. But the more I think about it, seems to make more sense than Man in Black/Smokey is taking on the form of Locke and not possessing his body. (That’s what I mean by shape shifter.) In this last episode when “Jacob’s bodyguards” shoot Locke/Man in Black, their bullets are blocked and flattened and he easily turns into Smokey.
But I think he can only take on forms of people that are dead on the island. Ok, my brain hurts.
I’m okay with most of your post except for your hypothesis that Jacob comes back as Sayid. I really don’t think it’s that simple. I think that Sayid’s return has more to do with how kid Ben was healed (but was never the same again) after Kate took him to the Others last season. They warned her that there would be risks just like Temple Others warned Jack, etc, about Sayid. I’m not saying it’s not part of Jacob’s plan to have Sayid come back, but I don’t think Sayid is going to be possessed by him like Lock by black-tshirt-smokey guy.
That’s a well-articulated thought. You might be right.
This is an amazing list of the outstanding (and answered) questions:
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Mysterious
Amazing!!!!!!!
I want to know about the ash/dirt stuff they spread to keep Lockness out/away (I think it is to keep him away because otherwise why would the Temple people spread it after finding out Jacob had died?) and the cabin. The cabin had that stuff spread around it as well and Hurly kicked through it when he was running away, remember? Did he let Lockeness/smokey out? And if so, then what about the other smoke monster that was terrorizing things all over the island? Is it possible that BOTH of them can become Smokey?
Oy this show makes my brain hurt… But it makes it hurt so good!
Also important: Charlie, after being saved, telling Jack “I was supposed to die.”
will watch the first two episodes of Lost's final season now
This is the best Lost post I’ve read yet! I love your chess game ideas – and I will be visiting each week to see what you have to say next. :)
Hi there, Are you going to be writing a follow up post? My hubby and myself have put in some time searching over your website and funnily enough you discussed a little something i was discussing only the other week with our neighbour. We very often notice ourselves quarrelling with the smallest of things, isn’t it absurd? Anyways we wish everyone good luck from France.