lost - the substitute
I have a feeling that Lost is going to end with me happy as a pig in shit and a lot of other people having rants liek whoa about how stupid Lost is. Then again, I have one nightmare situation right now... that would actually be a nightmare situation for us all.
Smokey Locke/John Locke
Ah, simplicity. It's just not something you find on Lost, unless you're watching a John Locke episode. I don't mean that as an insult, it's just that John Locke has always been driven by one thing and one thing alone - his need to be more than he is - and I don't find him all that… complex. He is one of the more relatable characters, habitually reminded that he is a lesser man, despite the fact that he never was.
It is an amazing person who can go through the things John has and still keep his chin up and move forward. He has the strength, despite his fear of failure, to keep his faith and to inspire others to do the same. It is irony that takes the island's most faithful and uses his face as a mask for the island's most wicked and it is that same irony that take's the island's most blinded (by rage and sorrow) and makes him the one able to see past that mask.
The pairing is both intriguing and dangerous. While Locke (and I will refer to Smokey as 'Locke') offers Sawyer three options: do nothing, become the new Jacob, or leave, it's no surprise that Sawyer chooses to leave, but it's Locke's insistence that he go along that will bring us the answers we want. Where is Home? How did Locke come to be on the island? Will he be able to leave, or will he return - a la Desmond? How did he become immortal? How did he become… smoke? And who was this love that he lost - did he, perhaps, lose her to his immortality?
And what's this about replacements?
Ilana offered an interesting piece of information - the smoke monster can no longer assume the forms of many, stuck in the form of this one. Richard offered another - that he's recruiting. For what? There can no longer be the deception of appearances, but why? Is it because Jacob is dead? Are these questions we really should be concerning ourselves with?
Jacob is good; Locke is bad: white stone; black stone - two halves of a whole. There's obviously a long-standing "bet" or sorts going on between Jacob and Locke, and obviously, up until now, Locke has succeeded in proving his point, "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. Always ends the same." But Jacob kept bringing people. When does the bet end; when do we know who's ultimately right?
And what's up with this list?
Jacob's List and Kate
I guess the biggest question I have about the list is - are the people on the list all touched by Jacob, or are the ones touched somehow different. The list doesn't seem to include everyone who was brought to the island, only a select few from each group, and being scratched off the list doesn't mean that you've died, just that you've not been proven worthy. But worthy of what?
Jacob couldn't have simply been looking for a replacement, could he? And if Jacob gets a replacement, then does Locke too get/need one? Is the dynamic - one good; one evil - an endless cycle? Or can replacements be found who are both either good or evil, thus ending the cycle and proving Jacob or Locke right. Is that Locke's demise? Two who find TRUE balance and choose to stay on the island to protect it? Or if two opposites choose to be "Good" and "Bad" (or "White" and Black") and then choose to NOT fight… but to live in peace with one another.
Either way, it's obvious Jacob is searching for someone. Which leads to the Kate conundrum. During Sawyer's trip through the cave's names, we were given a montage that included a name on a cave wall coupled with a flash from Jacob's touching spree in 'The Incident'… with the exception of Kate. Of course there are multiple ways of looking at it.
Some would say that she's not on the cave wall because she's not important, but then why go through the trouble of showing us Jacob travelling to her past to touch/encourage her? Was she disqualified? Why not show her name crossed off, in the vicinity of one of the names we've seen (I've already read the following other names could be deciphered: Littleton, Burke, Faraday, Lewis, Pace, Hume, Straum, Goodwin, etc.)
Others say when Sawyer questioned "Shephard" and was told "there's more than one" (as with 'Kwon'), somehow Kate was lumped into that. Either herself as Jack's future wife, or the child she carries that comes from the Shephard bloodline. The Pickle for that theory - Littleton was on the wall and scratched out. Wouldn't that mean the names on the list pertain to the names given at birth, and not a lineage? Claire and Aaron would be under Littleton (Aaron might even fall under Austen). With Sun and Ji-Yeon it - Sun might not fall under 'Kwon', but Ji-Yeon should. Maybe this is being too technical?
And then some say she's Jacob's loophole, like Ben was Locke's. She's the variable to the equation; the unknown that will affect what Locke feels is an inevitable outcome. And still others say she was already chosen ("Be Good," might ACTUALLY be more than just friendly advice) and the list is merely a distraction for Locke. But as much as it might be her destiny, she could still refute it.
I've read that someone claimed to have seen her name, coupled with 108 - some claim they saw her name scratched out coupled with no number at all. I'll be looking again later.
Smokey Locke/John Locke
Ah, simplicity. It's just not something you find on Lost, unless you're watching a John Locke episode. I don't mean that as an insult, it's just that John Locke has always been driven by one thing and one thing alone - his need to be more than he is - and I don't find him all that… complex. He is one of the more relatable characters, habitually reminded that he is a lesser man, despite the fact that he never was.
It is an amazing person who can go through the things John has and still keep his chin up and move forward. He has the strength, despite his fear of failure, to keep his faith and to inspire others to do the same. It is irony that takes the island's most faithful and uses his face as a mask for the island's most wicked and it is that same irony that take's the island's most blinded (by rage and sorrow) and makes him the one able to see past that mask.
The pairing is both intriguing and dangerous. While Locke (and I will refer to Smokey as 'Locke') offers Sawyer three options: do nothing, become the new Jacob, or leave, it's no surprise that Sawyer chooses to leave, but it's Locke's insistence that he go along that will bring us the answers we want. Where is Home? How did Locke come to be on the island? Will he be able to leave, or will he return - a la Desmond? How did he become immortal? How did he become… smoke? And who was this love that he lost - did he, perhaps, lose her to his immortality?
And what's this about replacements?
Ilana offered an interesting piece of information - the smoke monster can no longer assume the forms of many, stuck in the form of this one. Richard offered another - that he's recruiting. For what? There can no longer be the deception of appearances, but why? Is it because Jacob is dead? Are these questions we really should be concerning ourselves with?
Jacob is good; Locke is bad: white stone; black stone - two halves of a whole. There's obviously a long-standing "bet" or sorts going on between Jacob and Locke, and obviously, up until now, Locke has succeeded in proving his point, "They come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt. Always ends the same." But Jacob kept bringing people. When does the bet end; when do we know who's ultimately right?
And what's up with this list?
Jacob's List and Kate
I guess the biggest question I have about the list is - are the people on the list all touched by Jacob, or are the ones touched somehow different. The list doesn't seem to include everyone who was brought to the island, only a select few from each group, and being scratched off the list doesn't mean that you've died, just that you've not been proven worthy. But worthy of what?
Jacob couldn't have simply been looking for a replacement, could he? And if Jacob gets a replacement, then does Locke too get/need one? Is the dynamic - one good; one evil - an endless cycle? Or can replacements be found who are both either good or evil, thus ending the cycle and proving Jacob or Locke right. Is that Locke's demise? Two who find TRUE balance and choose to stay on the island to protect it? Or if two opposites choose to be "Good" and "Bad" (or "White" and Black") and then choose to NOT fight… but to live in peace with one another.
Either way, it's obvious Jacob is searching for someone. Which leads to the Kate conundrum. During Sawyer's trip through the cave's names, we were given a montage that included a name on a cave wall coupled with a flash from Jacob's touching spree in 'The Incident'… with the exception of Kate. Of course there are multiple ways of looking at it.
Some would say that she's not on the cave wall because she's not important, but then why go through the trouble of showing us Jacob travelling to her past to touch/encourage her? Was she disqualified? Why not show her name crossed off, in the vicinity of one of the names we've seen (I've already read the following other names could be deciphered: Littleton, Burke, Faraday, Lewis, Pace, Hume, Straum, Goodwin, etc.)
Others say when Sawyer questioned "Shephard" and was told "there's more than one" (as with 'Kwon'), somehow Kate was lumped into that. Either herself as Jack's future wife, or the child she carries that comes from the Shephard bloodline. The Pickle for that theory - Littleton was on the wall and scratched out. Wouldn't that mean the names on the list pertain to the names given at birth, and not a lineage? Claire and Aaron would be under Littleton (Aaron might even fall under Austen). With Sun and Ji-Yeon it - Sun might not fall under 'Kwon', but Ji-Yeon should. Maybe this is being too technical?
And then some say she's Jacob's loophole, like Ben was Locke's. She's the variable to the equation; the unknown that will affect what Locke feels is an inevitable outcome. And still others say she was already chosen ("Be Good," might ACTUALLY be more than just friendly advice) and the list is merely a distraction for Locke. But as much as it might be her destiny, she could still refute it.
I've read that someone claimed to have seen her name, coupled with 108 - some claim they saw her name scratched out coupled with no number at all. I'll be looking again later.