Lost: "Across the Sea"

I must say, I was shocked when I heard some of the reviews of "Across the Sea". I loved it! It was a great episode which was comprised of an enitre flashback to the emergence of Jacob and The Man in Black. So let's recap!

The episode began with wreck. Not from the sub because there were no submarines in Roman times. 2000 years ago, a very pregnant woman named Claudia washed up on the shores of the Island. A mysterious woman appeared to her and offered to help her. She began treating her wounds, and answering some questions in Latin. The woman revealed that she was the only one on the Island and also arrived "by accident". The woman finally tells Claudia that her questions will only lead to more questions, and she should stop. And then the baby comes. It's a boy. Claudia names him Jacob. But just then, another boy pops out. Shocked, Claudia tells the woman she only picked out one name. Jacob is wrapped in light cloth while his twin is wrapped in dark cloth. When Claudia asks to see the babys, the woman appoligizes and kills her. And so, their mother is dead, and The Man in Black is never named. Who called it earlier this season?

Thirteen years later, The Boy in Black, destined to become known as MiB, finds an Egyptian game on the beach and teaches Jacob how to play. The woman, who I will refer to as Jacob and MiB refer to her, "Mother", is told about the game by Jacob though his brother. She approaches The Boy in Black about the game, and tells him that unlike Jacob, he is "special". She left the game for him, and it didn't come from "across the sea" like the Boy in Black thought because there is nothing beyond the sea. And when the Boy in Black asks about death, Mother responds it's something he will never have to deal with.

But sometime later, Jacob and his brother were hunting boars when they came across men who hunted them first. Jacob and his brother were shocked, for Mother always told them no one else was on the Island. But she recants this, stating that this people are unlike them, for they are here for a purpose. The Others (the origin of the present day others, perhaps?) are dangerous because they come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt and it always ends the same. But Jacob and his brother will never be able to hurt each other.

She brings them to a bright light inside a cave, which as we'll learn later is the source of all the electromagnetic energy on the Island. This is why they're there. They must protect this light because a little bit of this light is inside every man, and if it goes out, it will go out everywhere. And so, a major mystery of the Island is solved. And when Mother is gone, either Jacob or his brother will have to protect it.

Later, while plaing the Egyptian game, Claudia appears to the Boy in Black and takes him to see her people. She reveals she is actually is mother and he comes from "across the sea". The Boy in Black is furious, and invites Jacob to leave with him. Jacob becomes very angry and punches the Man in Black in a fit of rage. Mother stops the fight, and Jacob tells her of the Boy in Black's plans. She tells him that whatever he has been told, he cannot leave the Island. But he says he will disprove her and leaves after Mother admits to killing Claudia. Jacob agrees to stay even though he feels unloved. But Mother tells him she loves them in different ways.

Thirty years later, Jacob as he commonly appears goes to his brother who appears in the Man in Black form. They talk over a game of Senet. The Man in Black tells him that even though Mother may be crazy, she is right about the people. He says they are greedy, manipulative, untrustworthy and selfish. He explains he stays with them as a means to an end, that is, to leave. And he has discovered away to leave the Island. There are spots all over the Island where metal behaves oddly, and the people dig wells. And even though he cannot find the cave with the light, that light is found beneath the Island in one of the wells.

Jacob tells Mother this, and she goes to see him. The Man in Black explains everything to Mother, and tells her that the people have rigged a device to allow them to leave using mechanincs, water, the light, and a large wheel. This wheel will become the Frozen Donkey Wheel, and will be the one Locke and Ben turn to move the Island. Mother feigns a goodbye hug, but bashes his head on the wall of the well instead, knocking him out. He awakens to find the well dug in, all the people gone, and the village burned. Now, he's mad and she knows it.

She goes to Jacob and makes him promise to take care of the light, wich is "life, death, rebirth, and the heart of the Island". She pours him some wine with an incantation, and makes Jacob drink. She then tells him that she was wrong all the time, and Jacob was the special one. She tells him, "Now you and I are the same".

Mother's camp in the caves is ransacked. As she goes to pick up the game, she is stabbed in the back by The Man in Black. As she dies, The Man in Black asks why he couldn't leave. She responds, "Because I love you. Thank you". And she dies. Why is she thanking him? I think we'll find out soon. My gut feeling tells me she was the original smoke monster. But we'll see...

Jacob returns and is horrified. He attacks The Man in Black and then drags him through the jungle. Jacob cannot kill him, but looks to something worse than death. Jacob throws him into the stream, and the Man in Black hits his head as he is sucked up into the source. Moments later, the smoke moster comes billowing out of the source and goes into the jungle.

Jacob then sees his brother's body over the branches nearby. He takes it and is very upset. He takes the body to The Caves and lays his brother next to his mother. He takes two stones- one light, one dark- from the Senet game and places them in a pouch, and places it in his mother's hand.

Several days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Jack, and Kate find the two bodies. Locke calls these two "Our very own Adam and Eve". Shocking me, it turns out The Man in Black and his mother are Adam and Eve.

Top 3 Questions I Want Answered:
1). Why did Mother thank The Man in Black?
2). Is the smoke monster taking the form of Jacob's brother, or is Jacob's brother actually the monster?
3). Where are Rose, Bernard, and Vincent?

Lost: "The Candidate"

In what was the deadliest hour of Lost since the Pilot, "The Candidate" left all of us with intense emotions. We lost major characters who have been with us since September 22, 2004. But, let's start with the flashsideways.

Jack was able to save Locke. While in the hospital, the two talk about being on Flight 815. Jack then reveals to Locke that he may be a candidate: for a medical treatment that could allow him to walk. Locke denies this offer. Jack wants to learn what happened to Locke to cause his paralysis, and goes to Locke's dentist, Bernard Nadler, for info. Bernard also lets Jack know they were on Flight 815 together. Bernard refuses to help him, but decides to send him to "Anthony Cooper", who also was in the accident with Locke.

Jack tracks him down where Locke's fiance, Helen, is there. She warns against Jack seeing Anthony, but Jack insists. Jack and the audience is surprised to see that Anthony Coopper, who is amongst the most evil men on Lost, is now in a vegetative state. And that's why Locke will not have the surgery.

Back at the hospital, Jack is by Locke's bedside as he murmurs "Push the button...I wish you would have believed me". Claire walks in, and Jack leaves to talk to her. She shows him the music box Christian wanted her to have. She also inquires as to how her father had died. He recounts that Christian drank himself to death in Australia, and he had to bring his body back. Claire prepares to leave, but Jack offers to live with him because they're family. And she agrees.

When Locke is finally ready to be discharged, Jack tells him he knows about Anthony. Locke then tells him what happened. Locke got his pilot's license, and Anthony was his first passenger. But, they crashed. Anthony was left catatonic while Locke was left paralyzed. Jack reminds Locke of their conversation at the airport helped him come to terms with his father, and now Jack will help him come to terms with his father via the surgery. Locke still refuses, to which Jack replies "I wish you believed me". He then exits.

But whatever happened in the flashsideways was easily overshadowed by the on-Island stuff. Sun, Jin, Kate, Sawer, Claire, Hurley, and Frank were captured by Widmore and put in the polar bear cages. Flocke recruits Jack and Sayid to help him them escape. Jack shuts down the power for the Island, allowing Flocke to attack in the form of the smoke monster. He kills several of Widmore's goons while Jack runs to save the traped Losties. They reunite with Sayid, and head to the plane, where a angry Flocke kills gaurds in the plane and finds C4 bombs strapped to the plane. Uh-oh.

When the Losties arrive, Flocke explains the plane is not safe due to the bomb, and they will have to take the sub. Jack agrees to help, but still refuses to leave the Island. As they leave, Sawyer pulls Jack aside and tells him to push Flocke into the water as they leave because he doesn't trust him.

At the dock, Flocke asks Jack to reconsider, stating that whoever told Jack they needed to stay was wrong. Jack replies "John Locke told me I needed to stay" and pushed him into the water. As Kate watches, she is shot in the shoulder by one of Widmore's goons. Jack runs and brings her into the sub, and orders Sawyer to get Clarie. He tries, but sees that she is too busy shooting and orders the ship to leave. Claire is furious, but Flocke tells her it the sub isn't safe. And with that, the growing feeling of dread builds. But what happens next is shocking.

Kate needs first help, but it's put on hold when Jack finds a bomb in Jack's pack. Jack realizes they have done exactly what Flocke wanted them to do so he could kill them all. The sub begins its assent to the surface, but it would never make it in time. Sayid tries to help them diffuse the bomb. However, Jack offers another plan: don't do anything. He thinks that diffusing the bomb will kill them, and Flocke cannot kill them. Sawyer doesn't listen, and pulls the plug on the bomb. The timer stops momentarily, then quickly counts down. Uh-oh.

Sayid takes the bomb and tells Jack that Desmond is alive on the Island in a well. He tells Jack "It is going to be you" then runs down the sub's passage as the bomb explodes in his hand. And with that, Sayid finds redemption by trying to save his friends. After all the bad things he has done, he is redeemed. But Sayid will not be the only death of the night. As the sub sinks, Frank shouts "Ah, hell" as he is overcome with water. And true to Frank's personality, his last words are a one-liner.

Jack orders Hurley to take Kate up to the beach, which he does. Unfortunately, Sun is trapped. Jin, Jack, and Sawyer struggle to free her but Sawyer is knocked out. Jack grabs him, but Jin orders him to save Sawyer. Jack has a long final look at the doomed couple, and leaves. Jin cannot get Sun free, but refuses to listen to her pleas for him to go. He holds her and refuses to leave her again. His daughter is safe with her grandmother and an attempt to get to the surface is slim to none. Jin decides to die next to the wife he loves. The final shot shows their hands drifting apart in death. I was speechless. And yes, I cried.

At the beach, Jack tells Hurley and Kate that Jin and Sun didn't make it. Hurley and Kate cry together as Jack leaves and sobs by the ocean. Meanwhile, that Son of a Bitch Flocke takes a shocked and saddened Claire to "finish what he started".

Top 3 Questions I Want Answered:
1). What exactly are "The Rules"?
2). How does Desmond play into this?
3). What is the story behind Jacob and The Man in Black?