The only thing more interesting than a story set in hell is a story that might be set in hell. “Ab Aeterno” features not only a timeless narrative theme–the nature of evil–but also a classic literary device–ambiguity. Let’s face it: the writers of Lost intentionally leave things open to  interpretation and I doubt that even “The End” (the series finale) is going to change that.  However, I don’t think that Jacob and the Man in Black are supposed to be morally ambiguous figures; if there must be a devil, it’s pretty clear who plays the role of “El Diablo” here. But the most interesting part of this episode is the uncertainty that Richard raises about the nature of the island.

The following passages will examine the nature of evil, and ideas about hell, in literary and mythological terms.

The Book of Job

The biblical book of Job chronicles the test of the human spirit, illustrated by one man, an exemplary figure in God’s eyes. The story is structured around a debate about human nature between God and Satan. Satan challenges God, claiming that Job is only a good man because he is wealthy, secure and surrounded by friends and family. If he were challenged by poverty or illness, Satan argues, Job would curse God and turn away from him. In essence, Satan believes humans to be selfish beyond all hope. There is no use redeeming man.

I’m not the first to acknowledge the similarities between this biblical text and the discussion between Jacob and the Man in Black. I have compared many Lost scenes to other religious stories, but this one seems to fit these two characters best. In this book, both Satan and God resemble the gods of ancient Greek and Roman mythology who are not necessarily all-powerful. Jacob and the Man in Black do have their own special powers, but they are both limited in what they can do. Jacob tells Richard that he can’t step in and make people do the right thing. They have to figure it out for themselves. In the same way, both God and Satan seem to agree that if people know they are going to be rewarded for worshiping God, their motive is a selfish one, making them unworthy of redemption.

According to Robert Sutherland, author of Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job, “The implicit restriction that Satan places on God is that God is prohibited from explicitly giving Job the reason for suffering. The concern is that any disclosure of a reason behind suffering might give Job a selfish motive to worship God and ultimately to manipulate him. If Job is truly the man God believes him to be, then Job will worship God regardless of what God might do for him. And so, Satan leaves the presence of God in heaven to create Hell on earth.” The idea that God’s people can’t know the reason for their suffering seems to resonate with the experience of being lost and the the experience of watching Lost. Viewers don’t understand their reasons for suffering much more than the characters do, but those who develop faith in themselves, and in the right leaders, seem to do okay. (Think Hurley).

Also notable in the book of Job is the man himself, in comparison to Richard Alpert. Like Job, Richard suffered the loss of his home and family (Isabella), an unjust punishment, and physical torture. At his darkest moment of despair, the Man in Black comes to him and unchains him. This recalls God’s command that Satan may do whatever he wants to Job except kill him or “lay a hand on his person.” Perhaps, Richard was on the brink of death when the Man in Black came to him. He wasn’t allowed to let Richard die and go to hell, but he could tempt him and lie to him as much as he wanted.  “It’s good to see you out of those chains” is code for “welcome to the playground of good versus evil. Game on!” It’s also interesting that Job lived for 140 years after the end of his trial and Richard, too, has lived for 140 more years. This is no coincidence. Looks like someone’s been reading his bible…

Lucifer's fall created an island, according to Dante

Lucifer’s Fall and the Making of an Island

According to Christian lore, Lucifer (Latin for “light-bearer” or “light bringer”) was a fallen angel, cast down from heaven. He has also been referred to as “the Morning Star” and it seems appropriate here to recall the creepy rendition of “Catch a Falling Star” from the post-massacre scene at the end of “Sundown.” In Dante’s Inferno, Lucifer’s expulsion from heaven and fall to earth displaced a large chunk of earth which was thrust up to the surface, forming an island called Purgatory. Despite the writers’ denial of the Lost island as Purgatory, it’s always interesting to consider it as a metaphorical Purgatory, where the tension between good and evil is revealed. With this image of displaced earth forming Dante’s “Purgatorio,” should we envision it as a place that keeps Satan and all of his evil suppressed, (or corked)? Does Purgatory maintain balance in the universe? Does it act as a threshold between earth and hell? More important, will everyone fall into hell if the evil is unleashed, as Hurley suggests?

Dante’s Inferno

“Midway on our life’s journey, I found myself/ In dark woods, the right road lost”

Such begins Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, section I, Inferno, an allegorical journey exploring the nature of evil. Inferno describes a descent into the nine circles of hell where Virgil, the classical Roman poet, serves as tour guide. Similar to Dante,  Jack Shephard finds himself in the “woods,” “midway on life’s journey,” a life that seems to be humming along just fine (on a superficial level, at least) until the plane crash.

“Abandon all hope, you who enter here”

These words, familiar to even modern readers, are inscribed on the gates to hell in Dante’s Inferno. There is no escape from this city and those who enter might as well leave any shred of hope at the door. Richard conveys a similar message to the other characters in the opening scene of “Ab Aeterno,” as his faith quickly disintegrates upon the death of Jacob. So when he says “we are in hell” he is speaking the truth, in the sense that hell is a state of mind devoid of all hope.

The third circle of hell

Though it’s been acknowledged many times before, I feel the need to include the Cerberus bit once again for anyone who missed it. Cerberus, a monster originating in Greek mythology, is also a resident of Dante’s Inferno. It is described as a “three-headed dog-like beast who guards the gluttons.” Recall that in Lost the vents from which the Smoke Monster escapes are called “cerberus vents” and that the Smoke Monster has been referred to as a “security system” or guardian of the island.

Episode 9

In this depiction of the afterlife, Lucifer is a prisoner and forever fixed in the ground of the ninth circle of hell. This is the final and lowest level of hell, and stands in stark contrast to the next scene when Dante ascends to the surface of the earth saying, “To get back up to the shining world from there/ My guide and I went into that hidden tunnel…/Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.” Richard also ascends out of his hell, after his faith is restored by Hurley and Isabella. Note that we are in the “ninth circle” of Lost as well–that is, the ninth episode into the season. Will we ascend into the clear light of day…and answered questions?

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Thanks for reading. There is so much more to say about this episode but it will have to wait for the book. See the rest of my material on lostandlit.wordpress.com

Hello, and welcome to…The Island…

No, in all seriousness though, last night’s episode was touching.

Michael Emerson pulled it off, he really did. I have never felt so sorry for…no wait, I feel sorry for Ben quite often, but never to the point of tears. Last night was like watching the Lighthouse scene where Jack is telling his son “In my eyes, you can never fail”. I cried, I really did. So yeah, Dr. Linus was a pretty good episode. We learned a bit more about Richard and got to see some old faves and places. I really enjoy the fact that this season is going back to ow seasons 1 and 2 were like. Trekking through the jungle, slo-mo reunion scenes. It’s really nice. But most of all, I like the pacing and the idea that we are finally getting answers.

So, last night was a Ben episode, but it had some Jack in it. I’m currently running over the episode scouring for Jackface and will post those a bit later. Now for some theories: and these are made knowing a few spoilers, so be warned.

Okay, so at the end of last night we saw Widmore in his submarine coming to the island. If you look back at my post on “The Lighthouse” you will see that I predicted this. Now, at the time, I had no idea of any spoilers regarding this except for the fact that Widmore was eventually going to come back. And lo and behold, there he is. My theory, based on a picture from the beach set with Widmore talking to Flocke, who is surrounded by a sonic fence, is that Widmore is going to be a good guy in the end. A stretch? Maybe, but I’m willing to go far for this show.

Let’s begin this analysis with a look at the episode’s title. Sundown or “dusk” is a period between lightness and darkness, a possible reference to the fuzzy area between good and evil, a zone where Lost tends to dwell at times, especially where its characters are concerned. It is also notable that the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown and that the Christian messiah, Jesus, was taken down from the cross and buried before sunset, as it was required by law. With this in mind we might wonder, what will happen during the next three days on the island? If Jacob is the ultimate Christ figure of the island, will he be resurrected as an all-powerful deity and save the true believers? It’s clear that most fans would be sorely disappointed if Lost turned out to be a simple Narnia-like Christian allegory. I contend that this is certainly not the case, but that the religious images and narrative references are always significant. They are weaved together so that no single mythological storyline ever gains too much strength or holds more sway than another. Rather, they work together to create a textured mystery that always feels a bit sacred.

So, what other sacred narratives can we revisit to help us interpret “Sundown”? It has been mentioned by other fans that Jacob and Smocke reflect the ancient Egyptian story of Horus and Set (or Seth). Unlike many early polytheistic stories, this one clearly defines a “primal duality” which was later interpreted as a battle between good and evil. Like many monotheistic faiths, it promotes the notion of pure goodness being embodied by one deity and pure evil embodied by another. Horus, the falcon god and representative of goodness is frequently seen holding the shen ring which is, notably, a symbol of eternity. Shen means “to encircle.” This particular hieroglyphic symbol was written on the stone that Ilana pushed to open the Temple’s secret Scooby door. Perhaps this pictograph refers to the shape of Lost’s narrative or hints at Nietchze’s “eternal return.” Will the characters continue to revisit their same old mistakes? Will they ever be able to redeem themselves? Are they stuck in an eternal cycle? Is time a circle?

The ancient Egyptian falcon god, Horus, with shen rings in his talons.

Set, god of sky and storms, was Horus’s evil counterpart. These two gods, of course, represent the theme of polarity that has been tirelessly accentuated in recent episodes through the relationship between the benevolent Jacob and the “evil incarnate” Smocke. But I think we should return to the episode title in order to temper this idea. Remember that sundown is a middle place between light and dark, good and evil, high and low.

St Michael and the Weighing of the Souls

Another significant motif we should examine here, as well as in a study of “The Substitute,” is the final judgment and the image of the scale. Recall Dogen’s words to Sayid: “For every man there is a scale. On one side is good and on the other, evil.” Apparently Sayid’s scale is off kilter in a bad way.  But before we determine which is “the wrong way” in Dogen’s eyes, let’s take a look at some cultural references to the old-fashioned balance scale.

In Medieval times, St. Michael was considered to be the guardian of souls. Many works of art depict him weighing souls on a balance scale. In the 15^th century painting provided (see directly above the Egyptian work), you can see a devil, perhaps Satan, lying underneath the left pan, coaxing the souls toward him and acting as a magnet to weigh the scale in his favor. Another story involving scales is the ancient Egyptian judgment of souls in the underworld or Amenty (literally “the place where the sun sets each day”). Anubis weighs the heart of each soul against the weight of a feather and Ammit, a fierce goddess with a head like a crocodile’s (possibly an eight-toed creature?), eats the souls of those who don’t pass the test.

photo courtesy of abc television

A very similar process takes place during the cycle of reincarnation, according to Tibetan Buddhism. Shortly after death, the soul is faced with a scale—on one side there are black pebbles, on the other white ones. If the scale tips too much in the “wrong direction,” the soul will be tortured and punished by the terrifying “Lord of Death.” But first, the newly-dead must look into a mirror that reflects the “naked soul” including all of its hidden faults and deepest desires. (Recall the magic mirror in the lighthouse where Jack’s deep-seated longing to find a true home is revealed to him.)

As for the featured book of the week, Chad Post at Three Percent, has reported that Deep River would be used in “Sundown,” but, unfortuantely, I could not see Dogen’s book well enough to read the title. Good old Lostpedia confirms that he is, indeed, reading Deep River, a novel by Christian Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo published in English in 1995 by New Directions. “It is a novel about four Japanese tourists on a trip to India,” who each eventually discover an individual spiritual purpose for the trip.

And while I’m on the topic of featured books, I just want to thank “Doc” Jensen at EW for this bit of bookish cheerleading from his article on“The Lighthouse.” Go literary references Go!

This is why it’s actually important to read the literary references that Lost gives us, because a mere Wikipedia summary of Through The Looking-Glass doesn’t tell you about the kittens and their color coding. It also doesn’t tell you this: the title of the book’s first chapter is ”Looking-Glass House.” Which totally evokes the title of last week’s episode (”Lighthouse,” also awkward for its missing/implied ”The”), not to mention the Lighthouse itself, which was less notable for being a beacon for bringing ships to the Island than for the magic mirrors in its tower — for being a real ”Looking-Glass House.”

Let me know what you think–leave comments here…and see more about the literature in Lost at lostandlit.wordpress.com

As of last night’s episode, the battle has finally begun, and the lines have clearly been drawn at long last. Claire, Sawyer, Sayid, Kate, and for the moment Jin have aligned themselves with the Man in Black, and Ilana is leading the Jacobians, including Sun, Miles, Frank, and Ben, presumably to soon meet up with Richard and Jack and Hurley. Have we got our two sides here, Recruits and Candidates?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Candidates recently (who hasn’t?), and I think we’ve been aware of the existence of this elite group for longer than we think. Think about it. When Ben moved the Island at the end of Season 4, only a select group of people began to move through time: the survivors, Juliet, and the science team. The Others who were already on the Island remained in the present. So what does this tell us? I’ll tell you what it tells me. Only the Candidates moved through time. People who were already crossed off the various lists strewn across the Island (the cave, the Lighthouse) were grounded in reality. Their place in the world was already decided.

However, the Candidates still had a degree of unknown affiliation; there was still a possibility that any one of them would end up being the next Jacob. So they were, in essence, “loose,” free to be sent back to wherever they had a place. They still had a job to do; Jacob still had a place for them in history. And when their use was exhausted, they stopped moving through time. That’s why Charlotte’s body remained in the time in which she died. She ceased to be a Candidate, so she became grounded in whatever time that ended. The same goes for all the survivors who died at various points in history, until finally, the only Candidates left were those who were forced to infiltrate DHARMA, and Rose and Bernard (Vincent too? Now there’s a discrepancy…).

Only the Candidates move.

This may also tell us why some people were sent back to 1977 when the Ajira flight crashed and others were not. The names Austen, Reyes, Shephard, and Jarrah were all on Jacob’s list, not crossed out. On the Island, their place in time was with the other Candidates. That was where they were supposed to be. All of them. In short, the Candidates are their own separate group of humanity, and while they can exist at a point in time with people who are grounded, they are also fluid, and can move around. And at the time of the Ajira crash, Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sayid weren’t supposed to be in 2007 on the Island. They were supposed to be with the rest of the Candidates in 1977.

You’ll remember that there was only one “Kwon” written in the cave and in the Lighthouse. Perhaps that is why Sun was never sent back. It could be that Jin is a Candidate and Sun is not, or that only one of them can be a Candidate, and Jin was already back where the Candidates were supposed to be. Frank, too, was not sent back, and we have never seen his name on any of the lists, despite what Ilana may think. Claire lost her Candidacy before the Island even started moving when she became Infected, and thus remained in the present, like the Others. The Candidacy seems to me to explain many of the series’ past discrepancies, although I’m not quite sure yet how Miles’ name being crossed out on the lists fits into my explanation yet.

Sun is left behind on the Ajira flight.

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter lately involving the three Season 6 cast photos recreating The Last Supper. A bunch of stuff about everyone to the left of Locke joining the Man in Black and everyone to his right joining Jacob. While this seemed plausible at first (and does seem to be working out, what with Sayid, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Jack, and Hurley’s placements), there are certain discrepancies that lead me to believe this theory is not correct. First of all, Ilana and Richard seem to be placed incorrectly, to the left (the Man in Black side). Secondly, fans are basing this theory on only one of the three photos. The other two show different placements of the cast, on different sides of Locke. Clearly, this theory doesn’t work exactly how people originally thought. Personally, I’ve been thinking for a while that eventually the entire cast will join the Man in Black, with Jack being his last recruit. Then, the Man in Black will step in and take over for Jacob, his motive all along.

The LOST Supper (Photo 1)

My theory was shot to shreds by Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly’s “Totally LOST,” who recently outlined what I find to be the most spectacular theory for the final season I’ve ever heard. He starts by breaking the season up: we’re a third of the way through, and only one day has passed since the Candidates flashed back to the present from 1977 in “LA X (Part 1).” We can postulate, then, that the remaining two thirds of the season will also each cover one day, totally three days for the final season.

Let’s look back at the cast photo for a moment. It’s the Last Supper. The Last Supper, which occurred on the Thursday before Good Friday (the early morning of “LA X?”), the first of the world’s most famous three-day period, the third of which is Easter Sunday. If we are to assume the first six episodes do indeed represent Good Friday, then they end at Sundown, the time of day Christ died on the Cross on Good Friday. And what happened mere days later, on Easter Sunday? Christ was resurrected. That’s right. And so in Season 6’s final six episodes, Easter Sunday may bleed through the pop culture fabric and bring with it the resurrection of John Locke.

This is all according to Jensen’s theory. Personally, I think it could be either John or Jacob. Regardless, LOST could be in the process of pulling off what my friend calls “the best use of Christian mythology since the Bible itself.”

Check out my weekly LOST reviews at my blog.

Boy what an episode. Since school doesn’t open until 10:00 because of ice, and since I have only one class today because of that, I’m not going. That means I get to stay home and talk about LOST.

So last night we found out why Claire and Flocke were going to the temple. “If you don’t leave by Sundown, you will die.” Well shit Sayid, you pretty much made my decision for me, which is probably what that Other Mother was thinking. Then they throw Claire in a hole, why? Who cares, it isn’t even important as far as I can tell. Then we have basically 6 minutes of Smokey beating the shit out of the temple, which means that this episode is now on my top ten. I love smokey.

Now, since Sayid killed Dogen and Lennon (oh Sayid, you lovable oaf) it seems that now the temple is unprotected…oh wait..DUH! Yeah, so Smokey comes in, crashes the party, and then goes back to Flocke form and awaits the others. So yes, not only does Flocke now have the Others with him, but Sayid, Claire, AND KATE. Now, that face he made when Kate sees him looked like one of two things. Either he was thinking, ‘Oh, who is this non-important person’, or he was thinking, ‘I just know she will find SOME WAY to wreck my shit’. So now what? We have to wait and see.

Now, Miles is one of my faves, so I’m glad we got to see more of him this week.

Remember when Ilyana came in last night? I was sitting on the couch with my dad and he says, “They just try and find the smallest place to throw in characters back into the script don’t they?” I couldn’t help but agree. She and Ben, Lapidus, and Sun come out of NOWHERE. And Ben gets, what, one minute of dialogue? If it weren’t for next week being a Ben-isode, I would kill myself. So anyways, now we have what looks like the beginning of the end. The season really picks up now, are you ready? I am…

Oh, and the Alternate Timeline, my favorite besides last weeks. The most interesting, especially because of Keamy, and Jin.

Here are some faces from LOST night…pun intended.

After last week we entered the Lighthouse. This weeks tally comes in at… ::Drum Roll::

Answers: 10 Total with 3 Juicy ones…….

Questions: 16 Total with 4 Juicy ones….

Interestingly enough the smaller amount of answers doesn’t matter at all, This was a great episode and the literary perspective of it was amazing- I am loving the Liddel references in our ALT timeline- it is THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS-

And a nice easter egg i found was that Jack actually lifts up a white rabbit to find a key to the answer of the question he was looking for.

Thoughts to ponder:

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT JACOB NEVER ENCOUNTERED OUR LOSTIES IN THIS ALT TIMELINE? AND THIS IS WHY THEIR LIVES WERE SO DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT?

“EVERYTHING IS AN OPTION, BUT I WOULD HAVE TO STOP YOU” – Great quote by Samaurai

Hurley:: “I could eat”   HAHA!!

JACK SAYING “WHATEVER I DID IM SORRY” gave me chills ( he was leaving a message to his son but the screen had shifted from that, it was like a voice-over that was tanatmount to the character development that Jacks character is going through, he is completely redeeming himself.

Ive said it before but Jack is still the HERO of our story, just because we are seeing the deeply flawed side of what makes his journey makes him no less. All the best Hero’s were flawed we just never got to see HOW flawed. Around season 2-3 I started to hate Jack, he is again, redeeming himself admirably.

YOU WERE SO INTO IT, and the failure is too much to deal with- This is why David never told Jack about the Piano… This is so paramount to what has led Jack down the negative spiral we have witnessed.

ON TO THE TALLY

Questions:

1. Why does Jack have no memories of having appendix taken out as a child?
2. Was Jack’s appendix removed as a child IN ORDER to supply the memory of the scar that wasn’t initially there (MORE COURSE CORRECTION)?
3. Is there allegorical significance to the name DAVID as Jack’s son?
4. Where did Miles go when he was following Hurley into the temple to get food, right before he encounters Jacob?
5. Who is coming to the Island that Jacob needs Hurley to help?
6. Who is David’s mother?
7. Is the apparition of Christian by Claire the same thing possessing the body of Locke now? ( I think so)
8. Who are ADAM and EVE???
9. Why can you only find the lighthouse when your looking for it?, kind of like why could Sayid could only die from the poison if he took it willingly…
10. What isn’t Claire remembering correctly about her encounter with the others?
11. Why was David too scared to show Jack he could wanted to play piano?
12. Is Jack’s running in with the SAMAURAI in the ALT universe akin to the meeting he had with Desmond in the arena, are strings being pulled just in different ways this time around?
13. (It would seems that Jacob is trying to predict the actions of our characters) So Jacob WANTED Jack to break the mirror, If he wanted to HELP someone get to the Island why would he specifically want Jack to see the lighthouse if he knew he would destroy it.
14. Why is Jacob against helping the others at the Temple?
15. What will Jin’s Lie to Claire manifest into?
16. What is Claire’s role in all this?
    

Answers:

1. Jack Is A Father in our ALT Timeline, this is another solidification that the changes start at 77 not at the point where the plane did/didn’t crash
2. Claire has been living in the jungle like Rousseau for years
3. Jack declines a drink from his mother, his mental state is much more resilient than the original Jack.
4. Claire doesnt know Christian Shepherd and Smocke are the same smokie… hey neither do we really…
5. Shannon’s Asthma inhaler was right friggin there!
6. It was the possessor inside Christian Shepherd that led Jack to find the caves, the game started all that time ago, they were meant to survive on the island and find Adam and eve and etc etc etc…
7. The Lighthouse is how Jacob watched, and manipulated the lives of our losties…
8. Jack is important, but he has to solve the puzzle himself, the influence of Jacob has its limits
9. Someone BAD is coming to the temple!
10. Claire has been seduced by Smocke the whole time, Its likely that she was told by him that the others stole her baby
    

HOLY SHIT!

Best episode of the season so far…and that promo for next week? Frickin awesome!

Now, here is my theory of what is going to happen soon:

The one coming to the island is none other than…WIDMORE. Why? Well, you know, Ben-centric episodes coming soon, and he said “I’ll find it again.”
Flocke is the good guy…or they want us to believe that.
The flashbacks are not really flashbacks of the characters…or something like that.
Next week, I believe Flocke will go smoke monsta on everyone’s AEUSSS! BIATCH!

Well, next week is “Sundown”, a Sayid-centric episode. Can’t wait.

Also, please leave me comments, it hurts when you don’t.

Now for Jackface…
I was really dissappointed, there was not much Jackface last night (I skimmed through the episode after watching once). So instead, I’ll give you some LOST comics. They are funny.

“The Lighthouse” definitely rings some literary bells. First, it recalls To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, which is divided into three parts, the last section titled simply “The Lighthouse.”  The novel depicts the changing dynamics of a large family, the Ramsays, over the course of a ten-year period during which time many characters die and World War I comes and goes. In the first section, “the Window,” some of the family members want to visit a lighthouse but the father discourages the idea. At the end, after several years have passed, they finally make the visit to the lighthouse. During this trip Mr. Ramsay and his son share a special father-son moment–James, who is accustomed to his dad’s criticism and high expectations is surprised when Mr. Ramsay lavishes him with praise. This sounds like a familiar family situation. In Lost, specifically in the Shephard family, the evolution of fatherly love took more time (an entire generation and a leap to an alternate universe), but at least Jack does learn to express his unconditional love for his son, David. Another clear similarity between Lost and this novel lies in the element of perspective. Woolf uses multiple voices to tell the story, a  technique where the point of view shifts from one character to the next, creating a highly textured story. This form of construction is a fundamental characteristic of Lost’s storytelling. There is no one single voice of authority that can provide a whole narrative; various single threads of narrative are woven together to create a complete tapestry (to use the image of Jacob weaving).

THe Lighthouse of Alexandria, built in the 3rd Century. More commentary forthcoming on this image…

The other reference that immediately comes to mind is the story of Hero and Leander, a tale of two young lovers from Greek mythology. Hero, the beautiful priestess lives in solitude at the top of a towering lighthouse at the edge of Sestus. Guided by Hero’s lamp, Leander swims across the channel every night to visit her, and then returns each morning. The story ends in tragedy when Leander loses his way and drowns in a storm one night. When Hero finds his body she throws herself into the water, killing herself.

At this point, any strong connections to Lost are fuzzy, but both stories popped into my head when I remembered that tonight’s episode was titled “The Lighthouse.”

PS: Yet another guest appearance for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland! See the annotated edition in David’s room. Jack picks up the book and asks his son if he remembers (Jack) reading it to him when David was little.

Okay, folks. Here’s a quick review of the literary allusions from last week, before we move on to tonight’s episode and its bookish Easter eggs.

It has been suggested that the two ladders we saw in “The Substitute” represent the two time lines or parallel realities. Will one of them break or become unstable? Will the characters have to be rescued from one reality and pulled into the other?

These ladders bear an obvious reference to Jacob’s dream depicted in the book of Genesis. First, Jacob goes “out from Beersheba, and…toward Haran” where he places a stone beneath his head and falls asleep (a dreaming stone? A stone of destiny?). Although I imagine this “stone” to be more like a brick, it’s hard not to identify it with the white stone that Smocke grabbed from the scale and threw into the water, explaining to Sawyer that it was an “inside joke.” But back to biblical Jacob: he dreams of a ladder (or a stairway) “set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven… the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” And then God speaks to Jacob. He says, “I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you.” Another Old Testament allusion to ponder!

George, rabbits, loneliness, corruption….

Steinbeck has now been referenced three times throughout the series. Recall the scene when Ben is leading Sawyer over the ridge to show him the second island in “Every Man for Himself.” Sawyer quotes Of Mice and Men (“that little place you always wanted, George?”), only to later be outdone by Ben’s quote from the same book: “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. It don’t make no difference who the guy is, long as he’s with you. I tell you, I tell you a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.” Though less obvious, Dharma station #5,“The Pearl,” (the one with the pneumatic tubes), is another reference to a work by John Steinbeck. This novella (of the same name) is a story about a poor man who finds a magnificent pearl and instantly becomes a man of great wealth.  This blessing soon turns to a curse as he discovers how easily riches can “corrupt and destroy.” This brings to mind both Hurley’s “bad luck” and the MiB’s outlook on the nature of men. Lastly, Sawyer returns to Of Mice and Men in “The Substitute” as he follows Smocke through the jungle. Shortly before threatening to shoot Smocke, he provides a  brief summary of George and Lenny’s story. A short preface in the Bantam Book paperback edition sums up the relevant theme nicely: “This is the great American novel of loneliness, of love and need, of homeless and rootless men who have nothing but each other.” This succinctly describes the vulnerable condition of not only the castaways, but also the humanity that Lost allows us to see in even the most damaged antagonists like Ben. Loneliness and the fear of being isolated (literally on an island!) is one theme that deserves further examination.

Don’t forget to check out the Lost bookstore and my blog: lostandlit.wordpress.com

We know it can get lonely in that padded cell…. So here is our remedy…

The official LOST BOOKSTORE IS OPEN! We will be adding weekly the books featured in LOST and offer them up for sale on our site for everyone as obsessed about LOST as we are!!

So far this season 3 books have been mentioned’

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NOTE THAT SOME OF THE BOOK COVERS DIFFER FROM AMAZON’s CAROUSEL- HOWEVER THEY ARE THE SAME BOOKS!

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Ready to delve deeper into LOST? Purchase below or read more about each book AT THE BOOKSTORE

Even with all the satisfying answers we got, we still have what makes the show great, awesome questions, many answers are new questions themselves, the tally clocks in at

Answers: 19 Total with 6 Juicy ones…….

Questions: 20 Total with 12 Juicy ones….

THE WINNER IS QUESTIONS —— Look below at the judges table JUICY ONES IN RED

Check back every week for the Q. v. A. challenge

Answers:

1. Smocke is definitely the smoke monster
2. Randy is still an A-Hole!
3. Helen didn’t leave Locke before his attempted walkabout (in the ALT time line)
4. Helen and Locke are getting married
5. Richard says he (Smocke) wants everyone dead and he wants to…
6. Rose also works for Hugo in the Temp Agency in the ALT time line
7. Rose Still has cancer in the ALT timeline
8. Smocke is from before 1937 which is when John Steinbeck wrote Of Mice And Men
9. Smocke is trapped (on the island, by Jacob presumably)
10. Smocke was a man before he was trapped by Jacob
11. Smocke is “stuck” this way (looking like LOCKE) He can no longer change form according to Ilana
12. Locke lied to Boone on the plane about going on the walkabout.
13. Not attending the walkabout was the final straw in Lockes loss of faith, without reviving his walking ability on the island all of Locke’s faith has been diminished.
14. So the oceanic six are seemingly the last 6 names unscratched on the inside of the cave walls. There seem to be numbers next to other names that are numbered past 100, However 4- John Locke and 15- James Ford, were not members of O6- And Kate wasn’t on the wall.
15. Jacob wrote all the names on the Cave
16. Ben work’s at a grade school and teaches European history (he seems to have never became the EVIL Ben we know)
17. Jacob had a thing for numbers
18. Jacob’s encounters with our Losties were to steer them toward the Island because they were all candidates
19. (According to Smocke, The Candidates were to take over as protector of the island) but would the candidates be a replacement for Jacob? For now this will be categorized as answered unless we find out Smocke is lying.

Questions:

1. Helen didn’t leave Locke before his attempted walkabout, what has changed in their back-story from what we have seen? (It seems they changed a whole series of events stemming from 1977 not ONLY the events after the crash did/didn’t happen.
2. Helen mention’s Lockes DAD attending the wedding. but he is in a wheelchair, did his dad not throw him out of a window in this line? (How far back does this go? did this stop Locke’s dad from ever being a conman in the first place and thusly never conning sawyers parents?
3. Richard: “What do you want?” Smocke: “What ive always wanted, for you to come with me”
4. Why did Jacob never tell Richard about what was really going on?
5. is Smocke telling the truth to Richard?
6. Richard: “I’m not going anywhere with you” WHO IS YOU EXACTLY
7. Who is this little boy in the visions that Smocke sees?
8. Illana say’s Smocke is recruiting, is he recruiting for a replacement for himself as Jacob was?
9. Why can Sawyer see the child apparition
10. Child apparition: “You know the rules, you cant kill him” what rules, who cant he kill?
11. VERY INTERESTING, why would Smocke say “Don’t tell me what i can’ do”?
12. When Sawyer ask’s about the “kid” in the apparitions Smocke acts like he doesn’t remember the kid, this is right after we heard Smocke act an awful lot like the real John Locke
13. Why are there numbered names etched on the inside of the cave some scratched out
14. Was Ben Ever on the island?
15. Is teacher Ben the Good guy he was meant to become by never being resurrected in the temple?
16. Why did Jacob write all the names on the cave wall? (was he looking for a replacement for himself? or is Smocke lying)(perhaps a replacement is the way out?)
17. Kwon is 42- which Qwon is it? Sun, or Jin?
18. Does the Island really need to be protected for some reason?
19. why would Smocke need Sawyer to get off the island if not only to secure his name as erased from the candidates?…
20. How Does Richard fit into all this?
21. Kate’s name was not etched on the wall, why? And neither Locke or Ford were part of the o6

The Cave wall names…… Not the o6 because James and Locke were not apart of them, nor is Kate’s name etched on the wall corresponding with a number.

4- John Locke
8- Hugo reyes
15-Ford
16- Jarrah
23-Jack Shepherd
42- Kwon

Wow, talk about a good episode. Yeah, so for anyone who saw last nights’ episode, you will realize that there were NO Jackfaces, simply because there was no Jack. But man, that was one heck of an episode. This is gonna be a giant spoiler post so you have been warned.

Well, it has been confirmed ONCE AGAIN that Flocke IS IN FACT the smoke monster. But this time, they made SURE you knew it. That scene with the monster just tikka tikking around the island was amazing. And then when it looks in the window, you see its reflection. THEN IT TURNS INTO LOCKE as it reaches down to pick up the knife.

Then you have Sawyer, who is now back to his crappy old self, following Flocke into a cave on a cliff where we FINALLY figure out what the numbers mean…somewhat. By the way, if you didn’t catch it, I’m pretty sure I saw Lapidus on the wall.

Then the alt was pretty aweome too, but I really don’t wanna explain everything that happened in that timeline.

Next week is a Jack centric episode, so expect Jackface.

Immediately after “The Incident” aired, several friends and I had a lengthy discussion about who, or what, Jacob and the Man in Black are. We considered the possibilities. On the one hand, Jacob has been portrayed as the “good guy,” while the Man in Black is the “bad guy.” We also considered the possibility that the opposite was true, and more and more often this seems to be the case, what with Smoky’s assertions of his desire to “go home.” If anything, he’s being played off as a victim. He seems pretty believable now.

But there was a third option we discussed. Who’s to say “good” and “bad” are factors in this equation at all? What if we’ve been looking at these two mysterious characters all wrong, and instead of looking at who they are, we should instead study what they are. As in what they represent.

I put forth the idea to my friend that, instead of being just people, these two mysterious persons were embodiments of the two principals of reality that were given such hot debate throughout Season 5, and in truth the rest of the series in general. What if one was fate, and the other free will?

Fate and Free Will: Which one is which?

Originally we slated Jacob down as free will’s ultimate representative and caretaker. After all, he did offer both Hurley and Ben “choices”—one involving a trip back to the Island and the other a proposition to spare his life. With all this talk of choice, you’d think he’d be the one to let people decide their own destinies. The Man in Black never really made any indication which we way he leaned.

We got pretty far into this theory, even going so far as to suggest that the “battle” between Ben and Widmore was drawn on these lines (Ben followed the free will-lovin’ Jacob, while Widmore, and Eloise, sold out and became slaves to fate, explaining why Eloise was so willing to send her own son to the Island to get shot). I still believe that battle is related to these two deities, but now I’m no longer sure if it has anything to do with fate and free will.

But I’m still convinced Jack and the Man in Black still do have something to do with it, and last night, I was hit by a realization about that conversation I had with my friend: We were wrong.

Jacob's hand in fate.

How could we have not seen it? It took the Man in Black himself to point out to us what was right in front of our noses: What choice did our characters have? Jacob touched them, and they ended up on the Island. Even Hurley. What choice lies in that? And though it cannot yet be seen whether or not the Man in Black is manipulating just as much as he claims Jacob has, one things is certain: Jacob has manipulated, he has decided, he has sealed at least one part of their fates. What we had missed was that we had gotten it backwards.

And here we thought "the choice is yours."

So, what does this ultimately mean for the survivors? Can the words “good” and “bad” be ascribed to representatives of fate and free will? Judging by the actions and words of the characters, namely Faraday, free will is the way to go. So does this suggest that perhaps Smoky is our guy to follow?

I’m not convinced either can be considered good and bad, to be honest. After all, even if Smoky is free will and the de facto “good,” if my theory of last week is correct, he needs people dead in order to recruit them (a theory that is strengthened by Richard’s warnings to Sawyer that Locke means to kill him and the creepy kid’s warning to Locke that he can’t “change the rules” and “kill him”). Not exactly a traditional symbol of goodness.

The fact remains that I don’t believe there is a good and bad with these two, just as with the rest of the characters. Ben isn’t all bad, nor is Hurley all good. There is some gray space. Instead of being good and bad. They’re just abstract. Fate and free will. They may be black and white, but I don’t think that’s an indication of an absolute. After all, all of our characters are abstract in their own right. Here are just two more.

Everyone check out my review of “The Substitute” for more insight into this post.

In “The Substitute” we finally get to see The List, a source for all of the speculation about a grand scheme. Presumably, Jacob has acted as the god of Fate for all of the chosen castaways. He spun their threads, measured them out, wove them together and, most likely, decides when each thread of life gets snipped. He is the Moirae of Greek Mythology, the team of three Fates who determine each human destiny (which, in essence, might make him a trinity—but that’s a theory for another day). But how powerful was he? Did he really control their lives or did they make their own decisions? Recall that Jacob explicitly acknowledged their free will, as we saw in “The Incident” when he told Hurley that he had a choice about getting on the plane. Just before Jacob is murdered, he told Ben the same thing—“you have a choice.”

Among other things, Lost is an allegorical study of the tension between fate and free will, questioning whether human beings control their own destinies or if there are forces that determine, or have already pre-determined, their paths. In simplistic terms, the debate between free will and fate goes something like this: either there is a pre-destined purpose for each human being and everything happens for a reason, or there is no cosmic plan, things happen arbitrarily and purpose is crafted by the individual. On the one hand, individual choices affect outcome; on the other, something or someone exterior to the individual has planned the outcome and already knows the choices he or she will make to arrive at a particular “destined-nation.”

Many examples from Lost, including Desmond’s story, have offered viewers a fine balance of these two opposing concepts. Though it sometimes seems that Daniel Faraday’s comments (“whatever happened, happened” but “any one of us can die”) contradict one another, they actually provide an interesting and complex answer to this philosophical conundrum. Using a combination of Lost’s complicated narrative and the messages implicit in its many literary references, I have created a theory: There exists a general sketch of a cosmic plan for everything, what Stephen Hawking might call a “grand unifying” design. But this sketch is only a guide, like the outline of an essay; the individual parts are moveable and the details, malleable. There is a purpose in store for those who choose to embrace it and such a thing as a “best case” destiny. Individuals are responsible for their actions and decisions, but they are pushed in the right direction by outside forces (Remember Jacob’s mysterious appearance at Jack and Christian’s hospital. He tells Jack, “It just needed a little push,” referring to the Apollo candy bar but with the implication that the “push” is actually what Jack needed). Like the traveling companions in Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one must discover her purpose as she creates it (or one must create as she discovers). The journey is the thing. Like the main protagonist in James Hilton’s Lost Horizon believes, individuals must know when to act and when to be acted upon. The universe might be able to course correct, but not without the decisions that are made through the power of self-determination.

See more Lost and Literature blog at lostandlit.wordpress.com

Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. (Common utterance during the ritual ash-marking of Ash Wednesday; origin: Genesis 3:19)

The mark of Ash Wednesday

Ashes as protection--courtesy of abc television

Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Ezekiel 9:5

I’ve been thinking about the protective circle of ash used to guard against the Smoke Monster.  First, I wonder what particular type of ash has these supernatural powers. What material do they burn in order to create special ashes? (Some have speculated that it is volcanic ash.)

The first reference that comes to mind is Ash Wednesday, day one of Lent in the Christian tradition. The ashes used to mark the foreheads of those attending an Ash Wednesday service come from the palm fronds of the previous Palm Sunday.  Celebrated one week before Easter, Palm Sunday marks the day Jesus returns from the desert. Clearly, here is an example of ash made sacred. It is handled with special care–ritually burned, blessed and stored for almost a year. Is this tradition somehow reflected in Lost?

In the Catholic Church, Lent is a time for repentance, and the ashes, placed on the forehead in the shape of a cross, represent the brevity of life and inevitability of death.  ”Remember, man, that dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” (Genesis 3:19)  Ashes are a symbol of sorrow and penitence, so why do we see them used as a source of protection in Lost? To answer this question, I turn to the Book of Ezekiel.

The following passage makes me wonder if the sign of the cross, which was initially used on public penitents, was taken from this story.

Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit at his side and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark (an X or T-like figure)* on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” To the others he said, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple. Then he said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city. (Ezekiel 9: 3-7)

*Ezekial 9:4 — in the original language “put a mark” on read as “taw a taw.” Taw is an X or a cross-like figure.

The protective mark here is not necessarily of ashes, but it prefigures the cross of Ash Sunday, a much later development in the history of the Church. Together, the notion of sacramental ashes and the story of God’s premeditated slaughter, imply that ashes have the power to mark the innocent and spare them from the wrath of God.

Here is another passage from the Old Testament that might shed some light on the tradition of ashes imbued with holy power.

“And all the Israelite men, women and children who lived in Jerusalem prostrated themselves in front of the temple building, with ashes strewn on their heads, displaying their sackcloth covering before the Lord” (Judith 4:11)

courtesy abc television

Reading the season premiere through this biblical lens, we would cast the Smoke Monster in the role of God and the inhabitants as a population of sinners and strays on the one hand, and faithful believers on the other.

I’m sure there are other sacred traditions in which ashes are a central part. Does anyone know of a significant story (religious or not) in which ash is a prominent image?

Lostpedia has this to say about the possible meaning of the ash:

Note that in a large amount of lore, salt and dust- like substances are placed in circular form around places such as homes to ward off or keep out certain things or beings.

I’ll have to examine this “large amount of lore” and see what I can find…

Check out more Lost and Literature (and Sacred Texts) on my blog: lostandlit.wordpress.com

OH MY GOD! It snowed 3 inches last night so outside my house it looks like the season 5 finale of LOST.

Anyways, I haven’t gotten around to last weeks Jackface for one reason only…THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH JACK! Oh, I also hate Kate episodes.
So this week, you will probably have plenty more, and definitley episode 5 as well.

EDIT: I might as well go ahead and do it anyways. It’ll be a good break from math homework. I hate Systems of Linear Equations.

The winner of TheSanatorium

screencap contest will win an Official DRAMA INITIATIVE T-shirt

(From http://www.mustaphawear.com/) as seen worn by good ol Hurley and Locke courtesy of some fine photo-shop work…

The Winning screen-cap will also be used in our next contest which will be to add a funny caption to the winning screen-cap.

Click the Images

for more information!

Thanks to http://www.mustaphawear.com/ For their awesome shirts!