Ian Rogers’ Oceanic Update: Swan Song — Part 2

The following is the second part of my coverage of the “Lost” Season 5 finale, “The Incident.”

Jack

I think the main thing to take away from Jack in “The Incident” is that he’s come full circle and become Locke, in the sense that he has gone from being a man of science to a man of faith. The conversation he has with Sawyer is reminiscent of previous conversations Jack has had with Locke, often around season-finale time, except Jack is now the one trying to convince someone that their planned course of action is driven by their collective destiny. Sawyer doesn’t buy it, of course, and ends up giving Jack a whuppin’ that reminded me of the one Jack gave Ben at the end of Season 3. Except I don’t recall Jack hoofing Ben in the stones. That was just plain dirty.

Juliet

I don’t think Juliet was killed in the blast from the Jughead bomb. If she was, then I think the rest of the Losties would have suffered the same fate, because they’re certainly in the blast radius. I think the bomb triggered the final time-flash that will send all of them back to the present.

Unfortunately, I think Juliet will be around only long enough in the first episode of Season 6 to say a heartfelt goodbye to Sawyer before she dies from her injuries and heads off to join the cast of “V.” Which, as we all know, is where all TV characters go when they die.

Cool under pressure, kick-ass with a gun or a pool cue, and a real fox to boot, Juliet will be missed.

Hurley

We found out how Hurley learned about the Ajira flight — and that he might be blessed by the Numbers rather than cursed — but we still don’t know the story behind the guitar case. The obvious answer is that it’s Charlie’s, but does it actually contain a guitar, or is there something else inside?

Part of me says Jacob only gave the case Hurley to help recreate the original flight, but if that’s the case (case, ha-ha, get it?) we probably wouldn’t have seen it again after they flashed into the ’70s. The fact that Hurley is still lugging it around tells me there’s something important inside. Something Jacob needs, perhaps?

Sun and Jin

It was nice seeing their wedding, and I liked Jin’s line about Jacob’s excellent Korean, but I was kind of hoping for a cross-time reunion for the couple. I’m sure they’ll be happy to see each other when it finally happens. If Sun isn’t impressed by Jin’s fluent English, I’m sure she’ll be taken by his new shaggy do. I’m pretty sure he ripped his hairstyle off from Desmond, but hey, if it gets the ladies then I say go for it.

The Statue

We finally got a look at the front of the statue, and it is generally agreed that it’s a depiction of Taweret, the Egyptian god of fertility. Which makes sense considering the problems women on the island have carrying their babies to term. Maybe this problem only started after the statue was destroyed…?
Oh, and for those of you curious about the answer to the riddle “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” The answer Richard gave was in Latin and it translates as: “He who will protect/save us all.”

Richard Alpert

Speaking of Richard, we learned a bit more about him in the finale, mainly that he is the way he is (i.e., his seeming immortality) because of Jacob. I presume he was one of the crewmen about the Black Rock, but that’s just speculation. Oh, and his name is Ricardus.

Desmond

I was a little surprised by his absence in the finale. See you in another season, brutha. I hope!

The Temple

I was also expecting to see the Temple in the finale, but alas. I guess they’re holding onto that one for Season 6. My guess was that this was where Rose and Bernard had ended up, absorbed into the Others. One more theory shot down.

Rose and Bernard

I like that they’re doing their own thing, away from the main characters running around having their adventures. Rose summed it up best when she simply said “We’re retired.” I’m also glad to see someone’s taking care of Vincent.

Walt

WAAAAAAALT! Where are you? Season 6?

Michael
Still dead, eh? Bummer. I hear “The Unusuals” is pretty good, though. Maybe I’ll check it out now that I have nothing else to watch on TV.

Lapidus

Still alive, eh? Thank God. He’s such a cool character, and I just like saying his name. Lapidus. Lapidus.

Sayid

His fate is up in the air, but I don’t think he’ll die. I think if they were going to kill him, they would have done it in the finale. Maybe had him jump down the hole with the bomb, or something. The fact that they didn’t says to me that he’ll get healed up one way or another in Season 6.

Kate

Well, Juliet’s out of the way now, you little homewrecker. You’ve got Sawyer and Jack all to yourself again. Go steal a lunchbox or something and leave them alone!

The Black Rock

We saw the ship off the coast of the island, but that still doesn’t explain how it gets all the way into the jungle. My guess? Since we know it’s a mining vessel, I think it got too close to the island and whatever rocks or minerals it was carrying ended up reacting with the ol’ electromagnetism and pluck it right out of the water.

Ilana and Bram

We learned a few more details about this pair and the giant trunk they’ve been lugging around the island. It turns out they are friends or followers of Jacob, and they came to the island to help him. Jacob’s meeting with a severely-injured Ilana seems to suggest that Jacob knew he was going to be in some trouble in the future, and that he needed Ilana to come and help him.

There is some debate among fans as to who was actually being contained within the cabin surrounded by the circle of ash. Some people seem to think it might have been Jacob’s Enemy in there. But this doesn’t really make any sense if you think about it. Ilana and Bram were carrying the trunk with Locke’s body inside because they said they needed to show it somebody so they’d know who he was up against. In other words, they were looking for Jacob so they could tell him that his Enemy had found a host (or candidate?). The piece of cloth with the picture of the statue on it was Jacob’s note to tell them where he went.

I further believe that it was Ben who laid down the circle of ash to trap Jacob in the cabin in the first place. And I think the person who “broke” the circle was Claire. I think that’s the reason why Christian took her to Jacob’s cabin at the end of last season. I think with Ben’s reign finally over, Christian used Claire to break the circle and free Jacob. I further believe that Richard Alpert helped them out. Why? Because when he is leading Locke and the rest of the Others to Jacob, he doesn’t take them to the cabin, he takes them to the statue. He would only do this if he knew that Jacob was no longer at the cabin.

The Smoke Monster

The revelation that Locke is not Locke has caused new light to be shed on our understanding of the Monster.

Earlier this season, we were told that the Monster is a security system designed to protect the Temple. We were also told that it changes the people it encounters (when it doesn’t kill them), causing them to act in ways contrary to their true selves (as seen with the French science team).

When Ben returned to the island, he and Locke made the trek to the Temple wall so that Ben could be judged by the Monster. In a subterranean chamber covered in Egyptian hieroglyphs, Ben was judged and left alive. But the Monster told him that it knew Ben was already plotting to kill Locke again, and that if he did this the Monster would track him down and destroy him. The Monster told Ben he must do everything Locke tells him.

So what is the connection between the Smoke Monster and Jacob’s Enemy?

I don’t believe they are one and the same. The Monster told Ben that he must follow Locke’s orders, but it isn’t until Ben actually mentions this to Locke on their way to see Jacob that Locke says, Oh, well then, I guess I won’t have to talk you into killing him. Maybe Locke knew all of this beforehand and he was just playing along, but I don’t buy it. This genuinely seemed like new information to Locke/Jacob’s Enemy, which tells me that even though Jacob’s Enemy and the Smoke Monster are probably in cahoots — Smokey might even be a minion of Jacob’s Enemy —I don’t think they are the same entity.

One little extra I feel like pointing out.

In the very first season, Locke encountered the Monster and said, “I’ve looked into the eye of this island and what I saw was beautiful.” In a later episode, describing this same event to Mr. Eko , he says saw a bright light. Mr. Eko, who had his own encounters with the Monster, both as the black smoke and in the form his dead brother Yemi, replied, “That is not what I saw.”

I think this will be very significant, especially if you happened to notice the colour of the shirts worn by Jacob and his Enemy in the opening scene of “The Incident.” I think Jacob is connected to the white light Locke saw way back in Season 1, and I think Jacob’s Enemy is connected to the Smoke Monster.

The Final Season

I’m not sure what Season 6 will hold for the show, but I have a feeling it will be very different from what we’ve seen to date. I think that’s what the show’s creators were telling us with that change to the final title card. The show doesn’t usually lend itself to doing stuff like that for purely stylistic reasons, so I’m guessing it was meant to be significant in some way. It wouldn’t surprise me if the opening title sequence received the same reverse-colour treatment next year.

But I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In 2010.