the tindog coffeehouse

Wow. Thinking through last night’s Lost, it’s hard to know where to even begin. Here are some initial thoughts about it, although I’m sure tons of people who are way smarter than me will be able to dissect it much better than I ever could.

In the beginning…

• Mother: “Every question I answer is going to lead to another question. You should rest, just be grateful you’re alive.” A warning upfront from the writers: Don’t overthink this thing, just sit back and enjoy the story for what it is. Sorry, we crossed that bridge a long time ago.
• Claudia: “How did you get here?” Mother: “The same way you got here, by accident.” Jacob and the Man In Black’s mother may be the “Eve” from Season 1, but this isn’t a story that directly parallels the Creation story in the Bible. This is a story that has been going on for a long time before Jacob and MIB were ever born. But I think it’s interesting that Mother uses the phrase “by accident”, as opposed to being brought to the island on purpose. Whereas the Losties were chosen, selected, marked and numbered as Candidates, Jacob and MIB are products of mere chance. I think this is significant.
• What was the language the two women were speaking? There’s no year mentioned, but I’m thinking it has to be hundreds of years BC. It had an ancient Greek/Peloponnesian kind of vibe to it. Could the island have once been located in the Mediterranean or possibly the Aegean Sea? If it was in the Mediterranean, that would better explain the Egyptian statues and hieroglyphics.
• Jacob and the Man In Black, the sons of Eve, Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4, we learn about the firstborn sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was born first (Jacob), and then Abel (MIB). Abel’s sacrifice to the Lord was accepted, while Cain’s was not. (MIB was loved by their Mother, while Jacob was not.) Cain became angry and jealous toward Abel and killed him, just as Jacob killed his brother.
• It’s interesting that their mother favored MIB over Jacob. Of course, in the Bible Jacob is the twin brother of Esau. Esau is born first (covered in dark hair, just as MIB was swaddled in black), followed closely by Jacob. As a result, Esau was entitled to the same birthrights as any other firstborn son. In a sense he was favored over Jacob, just as MIB’s mother favored him. But Esau surrendered his birthright to Jacob, trading it for a bowl of food. After MIB left, their mother offered the job of protecting the Light to Jacob, not because he was favored but because he was the only one left. I’ll get back to that in a minute.
• What is the Light? “Life, death, rebirth.” It’s God, it’s ultimate power, it’s eternal life, however you want to define it. And it’s what Charles Widmore is ultimately seeking, just as other men have sought it for centuries.

I think the best way to understand Jacob and MIB and their relationship to the Light is to look at some of the themes repeatedly hit on throughout the series:

Good vs. Evil.

Is Jacob good and MIB evil? I don’t think it’s as simple as that. While mostly obedient, Jacob did lie to his mother and disobey her at times, and he attacked and killed his brother. Meanwhile, MIB’s desire to leave the island isn’t in and of itself an evil act. Yet everything changed once MIB’s body entered the Light. His physical body died, but the smoke-like spirit lived on. It was cast out of the Light, just as Satan was cast out of Heaven. And just as Satan was cursed for his rebellion against God, MIB was cursed for his rebellion against his mother. Thus, I think you can fairly say that Jacob (while not perfect) is the good guy, while the Smoke Monster is evil.

So where does that leave the cork analogy from “Ab Aeterno”? Jacob told Richard that the island was a cork, keeping the evil that is Smokey from escaping into the rest of the world. I think that analogy still holds up.

Man of Science vs. Man of Faith.

Jacob is the man of faith, accepting his mother’s explanation for the Light and accepting his role as protector of it. Even when he found out that she wasn’t his real mother, he still remained loyal to her. And MIB is the man of science, leaving his sacred post to join a corrupted mankind down below (the original Others). The Others pursued scientific explanations for the weird powers they were noticing and attempted to harness the island’s power through man-made machinery. MIB had no use for faith, no use for the transcendental power of the Light; for him, it was only a means to an end.

Ironically, Lost’s original man of science, Jack Shepherd, has now taken over the role as the man of faith while man of faith John Locke is now the embodiment of the island’s first man of science.

Free Will vs. Determinism.

Jacob accepts his fate, his predetermined role as protector of the Light. Even though he doesn’t want the job, he takes it anyway, believing that he doesn’t have a choice. His mother tells him to drink from her cup in order to accept the job, which he does reluctantly. Compare this to Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before He was arrested and led to the cross:

He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

While not wanting to suffer and die, Jesus accepted the job that was before Him out of obedience to His Father. In the same way, Jacob accepted the job given to him by his mother.

MIB, however, believed he had a choice. He didn’t have to accept any particular fate. He could leave if he chose to. If his existence on the island was the result of an accident, of happenstance, then his life on the island had no particular purpose, and he didn’t have to follow the path his adopted mother set before him. To a degree, that ties in with the Faith vs. Science theme: those who believe in God, who believe the Bible, believe that God created mankind for a specific purpose. But if you don’t believe in God, if you believe that we are the product of extreme chance, a random reaction of chemicals and other forces of nature, then there’s no reason to believe that our lives here on Earth have intrinsic meaning.

So what does all of this mean for Jack, Sawyer, and the other remaining castaways? Will the series end with Jack accepting his role as the new protector of the Light? And how does this all tie in with the Sideways world? I know, I know. Every question that gets answered will only lead to more questions. Isn’t it always that way?

Update:
A lot of folks are comparing Jacob and MIB to Romulus and Remus, the mythological twin brothers (conceived by Claudia!) who were raised by a wild wolf and would later found Rome. (Romulus also killed Remus, another parallel to Jacob/MIB.) Certainly, that’s an excellent analogy and one that I thought of, too, but decided not to mention in my original post, instead focusing on other major themes.

Which leads me to say this: No, I don’t really think any character in the show directly represents any other particular person from the Bible or history or mythology or whatever. Obviously, there are references throughout Lost to various religious figures, authors, philosophers, myths, etc. And that’s part of what makes Lost so compelling. But while I can’t help but to try and connect the various dots, I can still appreciate the story for what it is.

Previously:
Lost thoughts, May 5
Lost thoughts, Apr. 21