First of all, I would like to take the time to mention that this will be the site’s 200th post. I find it very fitting that it is dedicated to the most revealing episode of Lost yet. This was the origin story, the foundation that has been holding the show together. This is what it’s all about, folks: the origin of Jacob and MIB. *Note: if you haven’t watched yet then 1) shame on you, and 2) you should probably stop reading right about… now. You have been warned*
We started the episode with the woman who we would learn to know as Jacob and MIB’s birth mother getting washed on the shore of the island and being found by a mysterious woman who seemed to know a great deal more than what she was telling. Mom asked question after question before the woman finally said, “Every question I answer is going to lead you to another question.” This sounded like the entire show. If Lost were a person I could almost hear it saying, “Story of my life.” But I digress…
Mom of course chooses this moment to go into labor. Anyone who saw it was a boy and didn’t predict the baby was Jacob should turn in their detective badges right now and find a new career path. I also kinda saw it coming that there would be a second baby, making MIB Jacob’s brother. I did not see it coming when the woman suddenly killed the mother though.
The rest of the episode would see Jacob and MIB growing up together and being the inquisitive youngsters you would expect at that age. (Editor’s note: from here on out “mother” spelled out in quotes will mean the woman who killed their real mother and raised them as her own. Without quotes means I am talking about the birth mom.) “Mother” had some interesting lines in this one that added a lot of character to the episode. (Kudos to Allison Janney for an outstanding performance). Her line, “Jacob doesn’t know how to lie” made me think about what we’ve seen of him so far and wonder if it was true. I almost feel the need to go back and see what the implications of that would mean for the show.
“Mother” also said that MIB was “special” which made me wonder what she meant by that. Obviously she knew something about them and their role on the island from the moment they were born. Or did she just feel that they had been sent to her to take over when she was gone? Ah, more questions to add to the ever-growing list.
Something else interesting that “mother” said to the two of them, “I’ve made it so you can never hurt each other.” This rule had already been established earlier in the season, but it was interesting to see who was behind it all. What exactly did she do though? Or does it only matter that something has been established that keeps them from killing each other? Again with the questions!
Here’s one answer for you though: it turns out this woman is the protector of the island and some special light that’s hidden there – and one of the boys has to take over when she’s gone. So at this point we now know 1) how they got on the island, and 2) that one of them becomes the new protector of everything there. (We knew from the start that this person would be Jacob, but it was interesting to see how that came to be). Also kinda cool – watching the two brothers play the game where MIB made the rules and explained them to Jacob. Remind anyone of a certain episode where a certain character explained the rules of another game involving black and white stones to someone? Loved what MIB said to Jacob when he was complaining about the rules to him, “One day you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules.” You mean like choosing all these “players” and moving them around like pawns to see who would take over for you one day? You mean like that?
We know that MIB would come to be associated with death, but apparently this happens at an early age when he sees his dead mother on the beach one day. She tells him who she is and where they came from. This would later fuel his obsession to get off the island. He tells Jacob about this and they have what I assumed was their first real fight. He tries to get Jacob to come with him but Jacob says no. “Mother tries to tell MIB that he can never leave the island (no matter what birth mom says) but he says he will prove otherwise. The woman then admits everything to Jacob and explains to him why she did it, “Those people are bad and I needed you to stay good.” She asks him to stay with her and he agrees.
We also saw what seemed to be the origins of the wheel that was used to move the island in a previous episode. It seems it was created to help MIB leave. Plans got ruined by “mother” though and we never actually see the wheel in action. “Mother” then brings Jacob back to the light and says he is the one who is going to protect it now. She makes him promise though that whatever he does he will not go down there. When asked she says it would be worse than dying. She then performs some sort of ritual ceremony thing that involves drinking from a cup. Once completed, it means that Jacob accepts the responsibility to protect the island for as long as he can. He argues but she says he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter, so he does it. And thus the keeper of the Light is born.
Meanwhile, MIB wakes up to find his camp has been completely destroyed. He gets revenge by killing “mother”. Her last words before dying were “thank you” which I found rather odd. Maybe it was a relief to no longer have the burden of the responsibility to care for the island anymore…? Jacob sees what his brother has done and goes into a rage. MIB tries to explain, but it falls on deaf ears. (I’m not exactly sure how he thought he could explain this one away, but points for trying, I guess). Jacob drags him to the cave with the light source and throws him inside. And thus a smoke monster is born.
We concluded with Jacob laying the bodies of his “mother” and brother to rest, while simultaneously flashing forward to Jack, Kate, and Smokey discovering the same bodies in their time. Smokey calls them “our very own Adam and Eve”. If Lost had a Bible, this chapter would have been its Genesis. And while we’re talking Bible references, anyone else think of Cain and Abel when they were watching Jacob and MIB interact? Because I certainly did.
That’s about all my brain can churn out on this episode for now. Did everyone else find it as fulfilling as I did? I was surprised to find I wasn’t bothered at all that we didn’t get to see any of the aftermath from last week here. And it’s not like we don’t have a lot to recover from, either. Instead we traveled across time to witness the origins of possibly the greatest story ever told. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty fair trade to me.