'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK
'Lost' - 'Across the Sea' Recap
by Jason Hughes, posted May 12th 2010 1:15AM
(S06E15) "And now for something completely different." -- 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'Here's an idea. Say you've got four-and-a-half hours to go before you're all done with a story that's been six years in the telling. How about you take the first of those hours and throw out all the rules you've established for the season as far as storytelling techniques go.
Skip all the main characters of the series, we don't need to see them. Instead, tell your story with only three main characters -- and one peripheral, but important, one.
Creators Lindelof and Cuse have always made bold strokes when it comes to how they've chosen to reveal the mysteries of 'Lost.' This week, it was time to unravel the secrets of Jacob and the Man in Black. And in respect to their importance, we'll devote the entire hour to their story.
I have to think the Man in Black has a name. Yes, it was clever that his mother had a name prepared for Jacob but, not anticipating a twin, hadn't come up with another one. Does that mean his "other mother" never named him? Would not he and Jacob have thought that strange as they were growing up. It's more likely just a clever little plot device that has no real meaning, but has turned out to be a bit of fun for the writers.
"How can we have this prominent character featured, and yet never have anyone say his name, or ask what it is."
So what exactly is the "other mother?" Is she the precursor to the Smoke Monster? Interestingly, she was the predecessor to the role Jacob now is inhabiting, and yet it would be pretty damned easy to stick that "evil" label on her. Those labels of "good" and "evil" have been a hot topic of debate in the comments the past few weeks, and I expect this week will only add fuel to the fire.
Jacob was the one who had multiple outbursts of rage against the Man in Black, and yet it was MiB who killed the "other mother." In typical martyr fashion, she was fully prepared to die, having said goodbye to Jacob already in anticipation of the killing blow. Jacob, in turn, killed the Man in Black, though I'm not sure he knew what would happen to his brother when he pushed him into the cave of light and warmth.
Certainly he couldn't have anticipated the creation of the Smoke Monster, who would become a thorn in his side for lord knows how long. Speaking of which, it kind of makes you wonder about those "rules" they've been living by. What did the "other mother" do to them that they couldn't hurt one another? Obviously there were limitations to that particular rule, as Jacob bashed MiB's face in pretty good on more than one occasion, and he did successfully kill his body. So why couldn't the Man in Black have harmed him in return? Is it because by then Jacob was the guardian?
The Man in Black told Jacob that some day he could make his own game and then make his own rules, which perhaps is what he's done with our castaways -- though it's a game where the prize is to replace him as the island protector.
It was nice of them to give us some answers, even if the characters aren't likely to ever find out. I don't think any of us would have guessed that the two skeletons in the cave were the Man in Black and the woman who bashed in his mother's brains shortly after delivering him and Jacob and subsequently raised the two boys as her own. I don't know why I didn't see that one coming. Man, I feel stupid!
It was fun seeing that old footage from the second season of 'Lost,' showing us Jack and Kate discovering the "Adam and Eve" skeletons, along with the bag of white and black stones, and then Locke walking up. Evangeline Lilly, Matthew Fox and Terry O'Quinn look so much younger! Has it really been so long? Is it really over so soon?
Other lingering questions:
--If the "other mother" killed all the Others, then were did our Others come from? Was it a different group of castaways altogether, or just a slow converging of the various people marooned on the island over the years?
--What was the "other mother," and how did she come to be on the island?
--Did the black smoke exist before it became the Man in Black, or was it created by the convergence of his body and the light in the cave? If it did exist, was the cave a prison for it, like the island now appears to be? Who put it there, then?
--Is it because he now is the Smoke Monster that it is so wrong for the Man in Black to leave the island? The "other mother" told him he could never leave, back when he was just a regular person.
--Were Jacob and the Man in Black anything other than normal human beings until their respective transformations (Jacob into the island's guardian via the wine, and MiB into the Smoke Monster via the cave of warmth and light)? If they were, in what way were they special?
--I felt for sure we were going to see the three-toed statue. That's not a question, but I still wanted an answer. I think that may have been my last shot to get one, and it's not going to happen.
In typical 'Lost' fashion, the writers answered a lot of questions, while opening up even more. Still, I think I could live without knowing all the answers to my questions, so long as the character stories reach some sort of satisfying conclusion.
Next week, it's all over. We have our regular episode on Tuesday, and then the two-and-a-half hour conclusion on Sunday. It's like the Super Bowl of scripted television! I predict huge ratings for this one, followed by millions of people wandering the streets of the United States in dazed confusion long into the night.
[Get ready for the finale with clips and full episodes of 'Lost' over at SlashControl.]
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