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 Theory No. 2- Jacob vs. Esau

*Editor's Note: The following column is just a theory. The views, events, and situations that I mention are not necessarily true. They are just ideas I have based on what I have seen in the various Seasons of Lost. Please do not take these as rumors or spoilers. But if they do turn out to be true, that would be kinda cool!

During the pilot of Lost, John Locke talked to Walt about backgammon. You Lost watchers all know this scene, because it went down in Lost history as the introduction of good vs. evil on the show. There are two forces. One side is light. The other side is dark. The is the basis of Yin and Yang, religions around the world, and after recent events, is the basis of Lost.

Yes. Lost is full of mythology and drama. Issuses between characters and inner demons have plauged the show since the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. There's a whole science vs. faith thing going on, as well as fate vs. free will. These themes have be in almost every single episode, yet are generally ignored. Insteadm we want to know the mysteries of the Island, and who exactly knows the secrets.

And I believe we have found are men, if they are indeed men.

Jacob was introduced in Season 3 as a plot twist, yet has grown into a huge part of the show, though we've only seen him in (presumably) 1 episode. When we saw him and his rival, they were wearing distinctive colors. Jacob was wearing right, symbolizing good. His nemesis was wearing black, symbolizing just the opposite- evil. We know so little about them. Jacob has an enemy, a rival if you will, who wants him dead, though he himself can't kill Jacob. Jacob has also been an intregal part of the lives of the Losties. He has touched every single one of them, literaly and figuratively. Jacob can travel from place to place, appearing to some people before they got to the Island, and appearing to others after they had left. We also know that Jacob's rival, who many have been calling "Esau" after the Biblical rival of Jacob, was able to take on Locke's form and get someone, in this case Ben, to finally kill Jacob.

But what does it mean? Well, my friends, it means it's time to theorize.

I think Jacob and Esau are gods, most likely from Egyptian mythology. Jacob came to the ISland to start an advanced, holy civilization. Jacob believes that people are genuinely good. But with every god, their is a devil. Esau believes just the opposite. He provokes the original Island inhabitants, and their magnificent civilization falls from grace. much like the story of Atlantis. Since then, Jacob has tried to prove Esau wrong. The tension between them builds, and newer people are constantly brought to the Island.

If this is starting to sound like my theory of last week, it should. All these theories have something to do with each other and are all connected. You see, the Others as we know today are brought to the Island to prove Esau wrong. Richard is granted immortality to lead the Others spiritualy.

But Esau can get to the most ritous people on the Island. Because he is a god, he can assume different forms. He can appear as the dead, like Ekos' brother, John Locke, and perhaps even Christian Shepherd. He can appear as the smoke moster, who protects who he likes, and kills the ones he doesn't. Esau uses these people as a tool to kill Jacob, as evident in "The Incident".

But Jacob is not so innocent himself. He brought these people here, and yes he used them as a tool. But he did it to heal these morally flawed people. In a later column, I will discuss how everyone got to the Island, and how it helped them. But for now, I will leave it as a general statement that Jacob brought everyone to the Island and in turn, helped them.

Now, with every rivalry there will be an epic battle. Jacob is not dead, just merely beaten. For those of you familiar with Christianity, everyone thought Jesus was finally dead. Yet, on the third day he rose again. Remember also that Jesus specifically choose his Apostles for a reason. Just like those on Jacob's list who were taken by the Others throughout the series.

And remeber that things aren't always what they appear. We originally though the Others were bad, and I'm sure many people have abandoned that idea. The ultimate battle in the final season of Lost will reveal to us all just who is good, and who is bad. Who is light, and who is dark.

Lost Theory No. 1- The Others

*Editor's Note: The following column is just a theory. The views, events, and situations that I mention are not necessarily true. They are just ideas I have based on what I have seen in the various Seasons of Lost. Please do not take these as rumors or spoilers. But if they do turn out to be true, that would be kinda cool!


Since the beginning of the show, we've heard about these mysterious people who are unofficially called "The Others". Throughout the seasons, we have found out that the Others are not savages living on the Island. They are regular people, some of whom were brought to the Island for a purpose. They live in the former Dharama Barracks. They have relationships, friendships, and misfortunes. But we've also seen another side to them. They can be very hostile and evil, yet believe they are the good guys. In flashbacks, we've seen that the Others used to live in tents near very old monuments. But how did they get there? When did they get there? Who are the Others.

As of now, most of the history of the Others is pure speculation. We do know bits and peices of it, though. We know Eloise Hawking was once an Other, as was Charles Widmore. It was Ben who made Widmore leave. And the mysterious Jacob has to do with all this. So, this is what I think the history of the Others is.


The original Others were some Egyptian cult that came to the Island to build monuments and develop a mysterious civilzation. Jacob and Esau's fued carried over to the Egyptians, and caused every one of them to die. Jacob and Esau's fued would continue when the next Others arrived.

They arrived on the Black Rock, with non other than Richard Alpert as their captian. Richard eventually was approached by Jacob, and listened to what he said. Throughout the history of The Others, Richard has acted like an advisor, much like the Pope acted for many, many years. He has been their spiritual leader, and as leaders come and go, he is the constant. He never ages because he is the "son of Jacob" so to speak. He cannot die.

Eventually, all leaders fall. They grow weak or corrupt, which is the exact opposite of what Jacob is trying to prove to Esau. Jacob makes them leave. This continues and takes us right up to Ben. Jacob is intrigued by Ben, and wants him as thier leader. He soon loses interest in the man, and sets his eyes on John Locke. He tries to get Locke to the Island, and by doing so, must bring a whole lot of people to the Island in the process. Among them, Jacob choose people from the Others, as well as people he put on his list (Jack, Kate, Sawyer- don't remember everyone, that's why I need to rewatch the series!) as well as Walt. The ones he didn't want were killed during the crash, and the ones he eventually thought were not needed were killed.

Why did he need people? Jacob is creating an army to finally win the war with Esau. Which, in short means that those he likes are destined to become the Others. Anyone who ends up on the Island- through crashes, Dharma, or other ways- can have the power to become Others.

In short, The Others are not bad people at all. To be cliched, they are mearly misunderstood. The Others are just doing what Jacob wants. But still, there are so many unanswered questions. By the time Lost ends, we will find out who these mysterious people really are, and how they got to the Island.

"The Incident": What lies in Store for our Friends?

No, I didn't forget about the GH Weekly Roundup. I'm sorry for those of you who like to read that column, but never fear, it'll be up again next Monday. I purposely did not post the column because I wanted to keep Lost readers in suspense, much like the season finale.

In 2 hours, a lot can and will happen on Lost. And even more happens when it is the season finale. Plus, let's not forget it was the penultimate finale in the series. So it's no wonder why I only had time to recap the show, and not add much of my commentary.

Let's start with the whole Jacob thing. Jacob, whoever the hell he is, has been a huge factor in the lives of the Losties. He's had some sort of control oover them, as if he was a god of some sort. Plus. he never ages, or dies.

Wait a minute, he may have died. I don't know. See, Locke (possibly engulfed by the guy in black we saw in the opening scene) had Ben kill him after Jacob more or less humiliated him. "What about you?". Wow. What a way to hurt a person. So Ben stabbed him, and Locke pushed Jacob into the fire. But how could Jacob be dead, especially when we just met him?

And more importantly, how can our beloved Man of Faith, John Locke, be dead? Was he wrong about destiny? Was he wrong about the Island? Judging from what next season is being tagged "Destiny Found", I doubt it. But I really want Locke to live. Please writers, please.

And what about the flash? Did it cause the Incident, stop it, what? Is Juliette dead?

I always end my Lost columns with the Top 3 Questions I want Answered. This week will be different. Throughout my column, I have been more or less asking questions. So, I will end with something different: a scheduel.

Lost is over until next January. So what will I do over the summer and the fall? Well, the fall is ususally when Lost trailers, spoilers, and scenes start making thier way on the internet. So I will contimue to keep you posted every Thursday on these matters.

Until then, I'll share with you some of the other things I will be writing about over the summer.

Next week, come back as we do a full recap of this season. Then the week after, we'll see how many of my "Top 3 Questions" were answered. We'll also take a look at how many more questions have been asked. Then, come back each week as I share some of my Lost theories. Starting July 1st, I will start watching the entire series over again in preperation for the Final Season. I'll be compiling a list of how many questions still need to ba answered. Who knows, we may even find some answers in the past... or future... or present, or whatever.

I invie you to join me as we unravel the many mysteries of Lost. Destiny calls. Will you find it?