Season 5, Episode 16 - Season Finale: "THE INCIDENT"

**This is by far the longest post I have ever written**

Wow, where to even begin? I have so many things to write about, I will try to put it all together somehow but will probably come back later this week and edit it a little better. But I know you are all anxious, so I won't keep you waiting. Okay, here goes...

We have always seen the idea of the "good guys" versus the "bad guys" on this show. The survivors vs. the Others. Dharma vs. the Hostiles. Widmore vs. Ben. There is always the underlying tone of there being two different sides, one of which being "the good ones." It has just always been hard to understand which side is really the good one! We start this episode with two men sitting on the island watching an incoming ship making its way toward the island (I believe this to be the Black Rock, the pirate ship where they eventually find the dynamite years later as it is sitting in the middle of the island). One of the men is wearing a white shirt and the other wearing a black shirt (good vs. evil). The man in black tells the man in white that he really wants to kill him, and he just has to find a "loophole" in order to do so. Obviously these men have been here a long time. As they watch the ship coming in, they talk about this "infinite loop" and that it only ends once. I believe this is the idea that the same things keep happening over and over on the island, just with different people, but that the end result is always the same (as you can't change what is meant to happen.) But that different people keep coming to the island (the pirate ship, Danielle's boat, the Dharma initiative, flight 815, flight 316, etc.) - they encounter another group of people on the island (the hostiles, the dharma folks, the others) and a war ensues - between the "good ones" and the "bad ones." Each time this cycle keeps repeating itself, but they cannot ever kill each other. As they discussed, it can only end once.

Anyway, as these two men are discussing this, we learn that the man in the white shirt is none other than Jacob. WHAT??? I don't know why, but I did not picture him as a young, good-looking guy. We don't know who the other man is just yet, but for the remainder of this recap I will refer to him as the man in black.

As the show progresses, we begin to get the idea that Jacob and the man in black represent God and the Devil. One being the good guy, one being the bad guy. They seem to have had this eternal cycle in which the Devil is always trying to kill God, but knows that it physically can't be done - he has to find a "loophole" in order to carry it out. And so it turns out that the "loophole" he was able to find was in fact to take on the persona of John Locke.

Remember back in season one, when we saw Sawyer sitting on the beach reading a book called "The Bad Twin." There have been many references to this throughout the series, and now we understand why. The Devil taking on as Locke's persona is "the bad twin." This is yet another biblical reference as the story of Jacob and Esau (yes, JACOB) who were twins, Esau being the bad one. The story goes that the twins were fighting in their mother's womb and that God explained to her that one day that would be the leaders of opposing nations and would continue fighting their whole lives.(Another interesting tidbit, the biblical Jacob had a son named Benjamin.)

So the idea that the "devil" has taken over John Locke's body (therefore becoming his evil twin) is yet another example of how Locke was conned. First his father cons him by stealing his kidney, then he gets conned by the young hitchhiker who he takes back to his compound only to be an undercover cop, then he is conned again by Ben on the island. All his life, he is somewhat of a sucker. We think that on the island he has finally emerged as a leader, but all along it was "the devil" conning him, building him up to be the leader only to make him believe he has to die in order to save everyone, when in reality he was just using him to get his body so he could come back and kill Jacob/God. If you recall, it was actually John Locke's "evil twin," after the second plane crash, who goes out into the jungle with Richard Alpert and comes across his old self (the REAL John Locke) in a time flash and tells Alpert to explain to him that he is going to have to die, in order to save the island. I remember being so confused as to how there could be TWO Locke's at the same time, seeing his former self as they traveled through time. But there really was not two of them, it was his "evil twin" who was pretending to be him, who knew where to find the real John Locke so he could trick him into believing he has to die. This is why the real John Locke decides to leave the island, where ultimately he will be killed by Ben. This was all "the devil's" plan to trick John into leaving so that he could take his body.

Another biblical reference here is the idea of waiting for the Savior to return. In the Bible, after Jesus' death, his followers wait for his return someday, as they believe in Him and that he will one day be resurrected. As we saw first with John Locke "returning" to the island, we believed he had been resurrected, metaphorically speaking that the island's "savior" had returned. However now we know that it was not John Locke after all. As I mentioned in my (short) recap from last week, I wrote how I thought Locke was almost turning into Ben. That all of a sudden he had become manipulative and scheming, and that perhaps becoming the leader had turned him into something else. Now we understand it was not really him. The real John Locke would never do those things. If the man in black truly was the devil and "took" his body, this was the loophole that he spoke of which he needed in order to kill Jacob. As we saw, Ben seemed shocked to learn that Locke was going to kill Jacob. He led his whole group of people out to find out, all the while making them question his very existence, and also telling Richard that he needed to "take care" of the new passengers of the 316 flight (i.e., kill them). This is not the same John, and I think Richard and Ben were starting to recognize that. In fact, Richard says no one has EVER been brought back to life on the island. As Ben previously said to Locke, "dead is dead." They believe that Jacob must have brought him back to life, because he is special and is meant to be their leader. However, no true leader would ever question the existence of their "God" (i.e., Jacob).

So let's talk more about JACOB now. We see in a series of flashbacks that he has visited all of our 815 survivors at various points in their lives before the island. The title of this episode was "The Incident" which we assume to mean refers to the Dharma incident which took the lives of everyone on the island after drilling into the electromagnetic pocket of energy. However, I believe it refers to the idea that Jacob has visited all of these people at the one incident of their lives that made them into who they are. The idea that everyone has a defining moment, an INCIDENT, in which they make a choice. A choice that will define who they are. If Jacob is to represent God, that would explain how he shows up at these important turning points for the survivors. Let's take a look at all of the "incidents" that defined each of their lives.

KATE: As a little girl, she steals a lunchbox. (She is with her childhood friend Tom, the one she later killed...notice he has the toy airplane that she eventually robs a bank in order to get from the safety deposit box). Anyway, she steals the lunchbox, and it is Jacob who is there and pays for it, trying to keep her out of trouble. He tells her not to steal again, but of course we know that she does. She makes a choice, and that choice defines her life as she grows up into a life of robbery, eventually murder, and running from the law.

SAWYER: As a little boy, Sawyer is at the funeral of his parents. Jacob shows up and gives him a pen, the very pen which he uses to write the letter to the real Sawyer, which he vows he will find him someday and kill him. This is the CHOICE that Sawyer makes, to avenge his parents death, leading him to a life of being a con man and becoming a killer.

SAYID: After returning from the island, Sayid finds Nadia again and they get married. However, she is hit by a car and killed. Sure enough, Jacob showed up asking Sayid for directions which leads to Nadia walking out into the street where she is hit and killed. This is the "incident" which sets off Sayid and he makes the CHOICE to go work for Ben after that, becoming a killer.

LOCKE: Jacob is sitting on a bench reading the book "Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Conner. (The cover of the book is a white dove being stabbed with an arrow, which is symbolic of God/Jacob being killed.) Jacob is on the bench when Locke gets pushed out of the window (by his father), this is the "incident" in which he becomes paralyzed. Jacob goes over to him and tells him everything will be okay, and that he is sorry this had to happen to him. This was the defining moment for Locke, as he became paralyzed and set out to prove himself "don't tell me what I can't do." This ultimately led to him crashing on the island which he felt was his purpose in life. (Interesting tidbit, Flannery O'conner's writing often reflected her Catholic faith, often examining questions of morality and ethics.) Just another reference to good vs. evil, doing the right thing, religious reference, etc.

SUN & JIN: At their wedding, they recite their vows to one another, and Jin says that they will never be apart. Afterwards, Jacob shows up and offers them his blessing. He tells them never to take their love for granted. This is the defining moment in their lives as we see that after lying, deception, adultery, etc., it was the island who brought them back together and made them realize their love for one another again.

JACK: The defining moment for Jack was his first major surgery, when he chokes. He has told Kate about this incident before, as he counted to five and after that the fear was all gone. We also learn now that it was his father who told him to do this. Afterwards, he confronts his father....sort of metaphorically facing his fears (his father) for the first time. He finally is able to stand up to his father. This is Jack's moment. Sure enough, Jacob shows up and hands Jack the candy bar from the vending machine (notice it was an Apollo bar, which we've seen on the island as part of the Dharma food). Jacob tells him sometimes you just need a little push.

HURLEY: After Hurley is arrested, he is now being released from jail when he gets into a cab with Jacob. He convinces him that he is not in fact cursed, and that maybe what he has is a blessing (being able to talk to the people he's lost.) This is a defining moment for Hurley as he finally understands that he is NOT crazy and he is not in fact cursed. Jacob explains that it is his choice to go back to the island or not, and of course we know that he does.

So, once again, Jacob's appearance at the defining moments in one's life is his way of shaping them into the people they are destined to be. If Jacob is "God" - this is how he chooses them, how they are destined to be on the island, and how he appears to them at the one incident in their lives that has made them who they are. I think that Jacob showing up at each of these defining moments is his way of shaping their lives, being "chosen" by him. He also indicates to each of them that they have a choice - This is similar to the black smoke, when one is facing death, they have a choice on whether or not they will be "good" in which case they will be forgiven for their sins, or if they will be "bad" and the smoke monster will take them. It all depends if they CHOOSE to be sorry for their sins. In Eko's case, he was not sorry, so the monster took him. In Ben's case, he was sorry (for his daughter's death) and the monster "let him live." And speaking of the smoke monster, remember that Locke was the very first person ever to see the smoke monster up close. The smoke monster could have come to him early on, knowing it was going to "use" him to take his form so he could eventually kill Jacob. It knew that Locke was easily manipulated, conned, then waited patiently for Locke to becoming the leader so he could eventually send him back to be killed. This also explains more about Danielle Rousseau and her "team" who she said changed. After they were chased by the smoke monster down underneath the temple, when her husband emerged she said he was a different person, not the same, even trying to kill her. I think the smoke monster/devil took over his body, trying to carry out his plan to kill Jacob, but Danielle killed him. The smoke monster/devil just had to wait for the right person to "use," and that was Locke.

So, now that we know that Locke's "evil twin" is not really him, this explains more about the new flight 316 passengers and why they have been so secretive about what's in the box. They found Locke's dead body in the cargo hold of the plane, and knew all along that the "new" Locke was not really him. This would explain why Cesar and Alana did not believe anything that Locke had to say and were very suspicious of him immediately after the crash. This is why they had the secret question that only the right person could answer. They have always explained that they are "the good guys." When Alana asks Richard the question, "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" and he answers her in latin, she knows he is on her side. Jacob had come to Alana in a flashback and asked for her help. He sent her to the island to help him find Richard. So, seeing that Richard answered the question correctly, she knows he is on Jacob's side. The answer to the question, which he said in Latin, was translated to "He who will save us all." This once again implies religious overtones...as in the savior, the messiah.

We also see that when Alana and Co. go to Jacob's cabin, they say he is not there and has not been there for a long time. Someone else has been using it. I believe that "the devil" has taken on the form of other people and has been hiding out in Jacob's cabin. For example, when we saw Christian Shephard in there, was that really the devil, taking his form? Because now that we understand that no one really has ever been resurrected on the island, the devil could have taken Christian's body (which was on the 815 flight) and used it to carry out his plan. It was "Christian" who helped Locke leave the island (so if that was really the man in black/devil, that was how he "tricked" Locke into leaving so he could die). Also, in the past when the "real" Locke went to the cabin with Ben and had "Jacob" speak to him, Ben seemed surprised (because he had never heard Jacob speak to him before). But, I think it was really "the devil" who was speaking to Locke. Remember, he said "help me." He needed John's help in order to kill Jacob. But Locke mistook that as Jacob speaking to him. He thought he was "special" because Jacob spoke to him and not to Ben (and that made Ben furious). Another interesting piece of information is that Richard Alpert tells Jack (in 1977) that 20 years ago, a man named John Locke came to him and told him he would be their leader someday. He said he has visited him three times in his life but that he never seemed "special." Jack tells him not to give up on him.

We also learn that Ben tells the "new" Locke that his daughter Alex came to him in the form of the smoke monster and told him to follow anything that Locke tells him to do. This is how "evil Locke" uses Ben to his advantage. He knows that he (the devil) cannot kill Jacob himself, but this "loophole" is that he was able to get Ben to do it for him. He knew Ben would follow whatever he said. And ironically, this is what Ben used to do to him (the real Locke) - using manipulation to get him to do something for him. Ben was always scheming, lying, to get people to do things and making them think it was their own idea. Fake Locke put the idea in Ben's head that Jacob used him. That he served his whole life following his orders, only to get banished from the island. He sacrificed his own daughter, all for a man he's never even met. "So, why WOULDN'T you want to kill Jacob?" He turns the tables on Ben and makes him actually WANT to kill Jacob now. Once inside the statue, Jacob tells "evil Locke" that he's found his loophole. It is this moment when we realize that Locke is not really Locke, but the man in black who Jacob was conversing with on the beach in the first scene (the devil?). Jacob tells Ben that he has a choice (just as he told all the others), but Ben is upset that he was not the chosen one - that it was LOCKE - and decides to kill Jacob. "Evil Locke" was able to get to Ben, able to manipulate him into killing Jacob for him, just as Ben has always done to everyone else. Funny how the tables have turned.


Meanwhile in 1977, Jack is determined to get that bomb to the Swan station so that they can detonate it by using the electromagnetic energy. When he and Sayid are recognized walking through the Dharma camp and Sayid gets shot, Jack goes on a shooting rampage. Who has he become? At what expense is he willing to carry out this plan? He is killing tons of innocent people, all for what? I don't understand why Jack wants to do this so badly, because if the plane never crashes, what will his life be like? Will it be any better, I don't think so. Jack was unhappy, he had gotten a divorce, his father just died, he wasn't happy...why would he want to go back to that? And furthermore, he is in love with Kate, so by detonating the bomb this would erase his whole past with her. Sawyer tries to stop him from going through with it, telling him "what's done is done." Jack says that three years ago, Locke told him he had a purpose, that they were all there for a reason, and he truly believes this is his destiny. Sawyer even beats Jack up, and is practically ready to kill him, but Juliet intervenes and says she will help Jack. She explains to Sawyer that she sees how he looks at Kate, and if she can erase the pain of ever having to lose him, she will do so because that would mean theynever meet. She uses the line that her parents told her as a little girl, "Even if two people love each other, that doesn't mean they're supposed to be together." Juliet finally understands.

Of course all hell breaks loose while they are trying to detonate the bomb. The surge of electromagnetic energy is causing large metal objects to fly around, pulling in the magnetic force and killing several people. Juliet gets pulled down where they were drilling, and Sawyer tries to save her. As she is slipping away, Sawyer looks at her and says "I've got you. Don't leave me" as he is weeping. She finally realizes that he does in fact love her (not Kate), and that is her defining moment where she is able to let go. She had doubted whether or not he really loved her, but now she understands that he does. That is all she needed to hear. As she lets go and falls down into the pit, Sawyer is uncontrollably crying. We later see that she does not die, and as she lays next to the bomb, she works hard to detonate it. She believes that by doing this, she will "erase" the events on the island and will not meet Sawyer after all (even right after she finds out he does love her), but she takes the higher road and detonates the bomb for the greater good, knowing all the lives it will save. Just as the bomb goes off, we see a flash of white light. End of episode.

I think there are multiple possibilites of what we can expect to happen for next season. Here are a few ideas:

(1) The bomb goes off, and the flash of white light brings them back through time and they are landing in L.A. on Flight 815, and the crash never happened. Claire, Charlie, Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Eko...they are all on the plane and still alive. Then we would see how each of their lives carries out if they never crashed on the island. This would also mean that none of the events on the island ever happened, which would mean that if Locke never crashed on the island to begin with, that "the devil" could never take over his persona and come back to kill Jacob. So, if by detonating this bomb, Jack was able to prevent Jacob from ever being killed, then that would explain how that really was his destiny. His purpose for coming back to the island was to erase everything that ever happened, therefore "saving" Jacob from being killed.

(2) The bomb goes off, and the flash of white light brings them all back to present time (2009) but they are all on the island. The plane DID crash, and they are just all living on the island still exactly as they were "destined" to be brought there. They were able to "change" certain events, for example, preventing "the incident" from happening and saving a lot of lives, but they still crash on the island.

(3) The bomb goes off, and the flash of white light is actually "The Incident" that the Dharma folks have always spoke of. This is when all of their people were killed by the electromagnetic force, and they warn the others about in their Dharma videos. Dr. Cheng speaks of this incident in the video, so we know that he survived the incident. But when Richard Alpert sees the old 1977 Dharma photo (with Jack, Kate, Hurley, Jin), he says he watched them all die. So maybe this was the "incident" after all, and they all died. But since the rest of them are still on the island (in present time), they can go back and "fix" it?? This kind of goes along with my theory that everything is just one big cycle repeating itself. This is what Jacob and the man in black were discussing in the very first scene, sitting on the beach as they waited for the ship to get there. They said, it's all an infinite loop. We have seen lots of references to "looping" on the island (for example, the french distress call that has been looping for 16 years), and the idea that they are skipping through time. It is all a cycle which keeps repeating itself. So, now if those of the survivors in "present" time decide to try and "save" their friends back in 1977, they could try to go back in time to prevent their deaths. This is just like Eloise trying to go back in time to prevent herself from killing her son. Or, how Faraday went back in time to try and prevent Charlotte from ever coming back to the island. It's all one big circle, just repeating itself over and over. The big question is, are they able to CHANGE things from happening each time they go back, or is what's meant to be truly meant to be?

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So, please amuse me and leave a comment. Even if it's just to say "Hi" or whether or not you liked the finale - atleast this way I will know that people are reading this and I didn't stay up past 2am for no reason! You don't even have to leave your name (I don't ever understand why most people are afraid to leave comments! No one will know who you are, I promise!) And thank you to the few people who do consistently leave comments - I always appreciate them! See you in about 8 months for Season 6!!!

Season 5, Episode 15: "FOLLOW THE LEADER"

Sorry....I know, I know. Tonight is the SEASON FINALE and I still have not posted my recap from last week's episode yet. Been a rough week. Anyone who has had ever a baby with acid reflux will understand.

Anyway, I will keep this short since the season finale starts in 30 minutes anyways. But here is my short recap from last week:

The main thing from this episode that I want to mention is that it seems our characters are changing into the people that they once were against. Jack is "becoming" Locke, and it seems Locke is "becoming" Ben. Hear me out...

For example, Jack - who has always been the "man of science" is now becoming Locke - the "man of faith." For the first time, Jack believes in fate, he believes they all have a purpose and that they were meant to come back to the island. However, when they were all on the island together in 2004, Jack would not listen as Locke tried to get him to believe in fate and purpose. Even in Locke's suicide note to Jack, he told him "I wish you had believed me." Maybe it took Locke's death for Jack to finally understand that they have a purpose on the island. But now it is Jack who is trying to convince everyone about fate and destiny, a total opposite of the man he used to be.

Furthermore...it seems that now Locke is almost becoming like BEN. I remember when Ben told Locke that he was the new leader, just before moving the island, he told Locke that there is sacrifice involved in being the leader. I took that to mean that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to, in order for the greater good, even if not everyone can see that, but it is all part of being the island's leader. It seems now that Locke has taken on that role as well. He is becoming manipulative, scheming, just like Ben always was. He lied to Sun about helping her find Jin when he had no intention to. He says that he wants to kill Jacob, and he makes all the Others "question" the entire existence of Jacob.

This reminds me of something I talked a lot about back a few seasons ago when we first saw Ben (who we first knew as Henry Gale) when he was first "captured" by the survivors. I talked a lot about the Wizard of Oz reference, and how on many levels it was a similar situation in the whole idea of "The Man Behind the Curtain." How Ben was calling the shots and acting as leader, but really he was just the man behind the curtain, pushing the buttons behind the scenes but deep down not really having the "powers" of a true leader. And now, Locke is starting to question Jacob's existence - just like in the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard turned out to be just a man behind the curtain. Just like with Jacob, if no one has ever seen him, how do they know if he even exists? Or in the case of the Wizard of Oz, it could be someone that has been right in front of their face the whole time, just "hiding" behind the curtain. (My husband thinks that Ben is Jacob - I tend to disagree...but if that's true I guess that would make sense for him to be visibly shaken to learn that Locke is out to kill him).

Obviously a lot going to be happening in the season finale and hopefully we will get some more answers. I'm very intrigued as RIchard Alpert explains to Sun that he has in fact seen her husband along with the other 1970's folks and that he "watched them all die." So does this mean that when Ben carried out the purge on the Dharma Initiative that they were all killed along with everyone else (as it really did happen?) Or was it the "incident" that left them all dead, therefore altering the entire future events of the island as that would mean they would never come into existence??????

Excited to watch the season finale!!!