Season 5, Episode 4: This place is death

WOW! So much to write about for this episode...

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD...
Okay, so we all know there are a lot of religious references throughout LOST. And for those of you who have been reading my blog since the beginning, you'll remember a lot of the themes and biblical references that I've written about in the past few seasons.

So, in this episode, we learn that John Locke must "sacrifice" himself in order to save those who left the island. Okay so hear me out now. Probably the most well-known biblical passage of all time is John 3:16. (Keeping in mind Locke's first name is JOHN). The passage reads: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." So, metaphorically, Jacob is "God," sending his "chosen One" (Locke) to die (a sacrifice) in order to save everyone else. (And no I don't really think Jacob is God or that Locke is Jesus, it's just a METAPHOR!!!) But, seeing all the religious references that are evident in the theme of the show, I thought this was an important metaphor that Locke is ultimately sacrificing himself just as Jesus Christ did. Also, I thought it was important that just as Locke left, Christian Shepherd says to him "Say hello to my son" - which we assume means Jack, but I kind of think he was maybe talking about someone else. We already know he fathered Claire as well, I think someone else of importance will end up being his son (maybe Faraday??)

What is also important in John 3:16 is that "those who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Maybe that is what happens to those who come back to the island - they'll have eternal life? (like Richard Alpert?) The ISLAND could be a place where people have eternal life. And each of the people from the plane were specifically chosen to come there. Which is why everything got messed up when they left - because they were SUPPOSED to be there.

DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS
Just as she told us back in season 1, Danielle Rousseau does in fact kill everyone on her crew because she says they are "sick." They all go down the hole after the smoke monster, and Danielle says the monster made them different. They are not the same anymore. As we saw, her lover Robert was ready to kill her, and would have pulled the trigger had the gun not malfunctioned. If you remember, back a few seasons ago I wrote about how I thought that this "sickness" that Danielle always referred to was actually a mental illness, causing all of them to turn on each other. I referenced "Lord of the Flies" and how eventually they all turn on each other and try to kill eachother. Perhaps this smoke monster actually makes them "sick" (mentally) causing them to go crazy, paranoid and turning against each other. That is why Danielle had to kill them all. I think that others who were on the island before also had the same thing happen (remember the "quarantine" in the hatch and all the mural drawings on the walls saying "I am sick.")

- Interesting also that Danielle was ready to go down into the hole after the smoke monster along with her crew, but "future Jin" stopped her from going down there, and ultimately "saved" her from the sickness herself. This goes against the idea that you can't change the future (or the past? whatever) - because if "future Jin" had not warned her about going down in the hole, she would have gone down there too and been "changed" by the sickness. Would she have died then? That would have meant no Alex, which ultimately would have changed the course of the future on the island. So can the "future" versions of the survivors actually change things in their time-travel episodes?

DON'T COME BACK
Charlotte suddenly "remembers" a memory from when she grew up on the island (as a child of the Dharma Initiative.) She tells Daniel that there was a man who really scared her, and he told her that if she ever came back to the island she would die. She thinks that man was Daniel Faraday. (And ultimately, she does end up dying.)

I think that this memory of hers actually happened during one of Daniel's time-travels to the past where he "visits" Charlotte as a little girl and tells her not to come back to the island. Because he knows that she does in fact die, he goes back in time to warn her, as a way of trying to save her. (Much like the way he went and "visited" Desmond and told him to find his mother). He knows that because he can travel to the past, he can try and help those he cares about and wants to save. Because this presumably happened during a time-travel flash, I think that's why Charlotte all of a sudden "remembered" this - also the same way it took Desmond three years to "remember" this memory of Desmond coming to visit him. It didn't really happen, but Daniel visited her during a time flash so as to warn her so she wouldn't die. He obviously loves her and wants to save her. (I still don't think he loves her in a romantic way, but is somehow connected to her, either as her brother, or even her father? She says she always wanted to come back to the island to find her father? Maybe it's him?)

PROMISE YOU WON'T BRING HER BACK
Locke promises Jin that he will not tell Sun the truth that he is still alive, which would make her want to come back to the island. Jin is worried that if Sun comes back she will die (just as Charlotte warned him: "This place is death.") Back in the real world, when Ben shows Sun his wedding ring, she wonders why Locke did not show it to her himself when he came to visit her. (Instead giving it to Ben). I think this is because Locke wants to honor the promise he made to Jin. He gave him his word, and as the "leader" and "chosen One" he wanted to be honorable and didn't want to lie. So he gave it to Ben so that he wouldn't have to go against his word yet he could still get his message across and convince her to return to the island.

HELP ME
When Locke is lying on the ground bleeding and hurt, he asks Christian Shephard for help getting up. Christian says he can't help him. I think this is double meaning - not just meaning he can't help him up off the ground, but to show Locke that HE has to believe in himself, that he can do it himself. Only he can save himself (and the others) and can't rely on the help of others (as he originally tried to do first when he believed that Ben could move the island, even though Shephard told Locke to do it.) Locke now understands that it is up to him, and this is why he agrees to sacrifice his own life because he knows he was chosen for this and must do it himself in order to save everyone else.

REINCARNATION
Back in the real world, Ben is driving around a carpet cleaning van to transport the dead body of Locke. On the side of the van it says "Canton Rainer" Carpet Cleaning. Canton Rainer is an anagram for...you guessed it...REINCARNATION. In a way, the island allows people to be reincarnated. Not necessarily in the literal sense, but in allowing people to have new life and to start over with a clean slate on the island. Think of Jack, Kate, Claire, Charlie, all of the 815 folks - they were all running from something in their past that when they crashed on the island, they were given a clean slate - a "reincarnation" so to speak. So the island is a place where people can start a new life. And this is why they all must come back. Things have gone downhill for all of them after going back - and if they can all come back to the island they will be given a chance to start over - a reincarnation.