LOST episode #14 "Across the Sea"
1. Claudia – the real mom
a. Claudia is the female version of the name "Claudius", which is a Roman name (and judging by her clothes and speaking Latin we can assume this all occurred during the Roman Empire – early ADs).
b. Brother (nameless) saw Claudia’s ghost, but Jacob didn’t… is it because Brother doubted what Mother told him and was, therefore “open” to believe there is a world outside of the island?
2. The Game
a. The game is Senet, and comes from ancient Egypt, maybe as far back as 3000 BC, and was often buried in tombs with the dead as its luck element was believed to demonstrate that certain people were protected by the gods. The game board that Brother finds could signal that the Egyptians came to the island well before Claudia's people, or that a group of Egyptians crashed there during the twins' childhood.
b. Brother says “one day you can make up your own game and everyone else will have to follow your rules." So, I’ll assume that means the island’s protector makes up the rules. Was one of Jacob’s rules (after Brother becomes Smokey) “you can scan people who come to the island to see if they are pure/ good or jaded/ corrupted. If someone scans “good” then leave them alone. Give them a chance to make the right choices. If someone scans “corrupted” you can kill them instantly.” Just a thought.
3. Mother
a. What she created for the boys reminded me of the Truman Show (Jim Carrey movie). She could tell the kids whatever she wanted and they wouldn’t know the difference… until a group of outsiders came to the island. Considering all the things she told them what was true and what was a lie told to keep them there?
b. Did Mother’s killing of Claudia create a curse of the pregnant women? Did Brother reinforce that curse by killing his adoptive Mother? Ethan Rom and Aaron Littleton were born on the island — but maybe they were exceptions permitted by Jacob or to facilitate their respective plans for the Losties…their “loopholes.”
c. ''I've made it so you can never hurt each other.'' Besides explaining why Brother had to use a proxy to kill Jacob, Mother's line said something about the power that an Island guardian wields — including the ability to make ''the rules.''
d. When Mother returned to her home/ cave after filling in the wheel well, she silently surveyed the scene and found the Senet box. Then Brother stabbed her. She fell to the ground and whispered a word: ''Nothing.'' She told her son that she couldn't let him leave because she loved him, and then she thanked him for killing her and died.
i
. Three things to notice about this scene:
1. How she ''silently'' surveyed her camp. Remember Dogen's instructions to Sayid? Sayid had to plunge the knife into Flocke’s chest before Flocke spoke. Also, Smokey instructed Richard similarly when he sent Richard to kill Jacob (kill him before he speaks to you). Mother didn’t speak so Brother could kill her… she wanted to die.
2. Mother said ''Nothing'' before she died. Sayid also seemed to suffer from some kind of numbness, a state of emotional nothingness. Said he felt numb/ nothing.
3. Brother used the same knife to kill Mother that Dogen gave Sayid to kill Flocke, that Smokey gave Richard to kill Jacob.
4. Jungle Boy
a. It’s young Jacob. It seems that Jacob is appearing as his own younger form in an attempt to rattle Smokey/ Brother.
b. Both in their youth and as adults, Jacob pummeled Brother bloody. I'm guessing that explains the blood on young, ghost Jacob's hands when he appeared to Flocke in “The Substitute.”
5. Tapestry
a. Mother was weaving a tapestry, recalling the scene last year where we were introduced to Jacob weaving in the base of the statue.
b. When Mother returned to the caves after filling in Brother’s wheel well, she found her tapestry destroyed…Flocke destroyed Jacob’s tapestry in the foot of the statue earlier this season.
6. The Cave of Light
a. From what I’ve read, best described as a “whirlpool of ethereal life-giving energy — a wellspring of eternal life.”
b. Mother said some interesting things… "if the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere" (this is what Widmore and Ms. Hawking are referring to when they say that if Smokey gets off the island everything else will cease to exist. Mother also said that going down there is a fate "much worse than dying"… does she know this because it happened to her? Is she some sort of Smoke Monster? Is that how she killed all of the Roman settlers, burned their camp, and filled in the wheel well?
c. Silly theory… Is the cave light “time” (or eternal life)? Mother said “every man has a little… but wants more…” Was she Mother Time? Is the Smoke Monster the end of time (which is why everything ceases to exist if he’s released)?
i. “They’re not like us. They don’t belong here. We are here for a reason” the boys were told. And when the boys asked what the reason was, after a long pause, Mother responded “It’s not time yet.”
ii. Faraday said “I can make time,” Room 23 brainwashed with “only fools are enslaved by time and space”, the list goes on!
d. Brother looked at the cave light and declared 'It's beautiful.” Exactly John Locke's statement upon looking into "the Smoke Monster" the first time. Now that we know what the Smoke Monster was borne out of, it makes sense. Was Smokey showing this “beautiful” image to Locke enticing him to have a communion with the island, knowing that Locke was the one Smokey would impersonate/ become one day?
e. Consider the Sideways world, and remember that The Island is sunken there. Did someone succeed in putting out the light in that world? And what does it mean that the Losties are now remembering their Island world experience?
7. Mother Loved the Boys Differently
a. She knew that Jacob was trustworthy and loyal, whereas Brother was not. Therefore, she had to do a little extra with Brother, small things like leaving a box for him on the beach... Jacob thought she loved Brother more, but she was actually grooming Brother to be her replacement. She didn’t realize until the end that Jacob was truly the one.
b. When Mother told Jacob he would replace her as island protector she said "You don't really have a choice." I think that is the key moment that led to Jacob's methods...that there is always a choice/ free will.
c. Jacob was hurt that Mother had obviously wanted Brother to be the protector, initially. However, the candidate you get isn't always the one who looked best on paper, as Jacob discovers later with our Losties. Think about John Locke, whose faith, love for the island and jungle survival skills seemed like he would make the perfect person to become the next protector…. But it was Jack all along (or at least, after much pondering while looking out at the ocean, it became Jack).
8. The Island’s Light/ Power/ Energy Source
a. Brother creates/ designs the frozen, time-traveling wheel mechanism, but never finishes it. Who does? The Dharma Initiative?
9. Brother
a. A sympathetic character… he just wanted to see what else was out there…the opposite of the emotionless monster we've come to see him as in the current Island timeline. This is what centuries of resentment will do to you!
b. Adam and Eve skeletons… Brother and Mother. L
c. Jacob didn’t kill him (just like Mother said they couldn’t hurt each other)… Jacob beat him up, knocked him out, and sent him down the river into the cave of light. There (although this is up for debate) his soul turned into Smokey, his body was discarded. Smokey is his soul, that’s why it still looks like Brother, but we also see his corpse… this is why he previously said “Jacob stole my body, my humanity.” Even as John Locke he speaks from Brother’s point of view .
10. Taking Babies
a. Maybe when Jacob starts his group of Others he gives them orders to take the babies and “good ones” (like Cindy the flight attendant) because he wants them to be protected from the outside world’s greed/ corruption. He didn’t want anyone else to become jaded, like his brother.
11. Desmond
a. This episode may have shed some light on why Desmond is so important. The glowing light and the pockets of electromagnetic energy are one in the same. Desmond may be the only person who can enter the cave of light without becoming a Smoke Monster.
12. Interview with one of the show’s producers: An interesting question and answer…
Q: When Mother slaughters the people in the human village, the iconography looked very much like the Dharma bunkers after the purge. Was this your way of suggesting why it was Jacob might have allowed The Others to slaughter the Dharma folk - that this is the punishment for anyone who gets too close to unlocking the island's secrets?
A: Damon Lindelof (producer/ writer): “In terms of what Jacob allowed, what he didn't allow, what The Others did of their own volition, with Ben basically saying "This came down from Jacob" is all in the area that is subject to interpretation purposely. What our intention was is that there is a repeating vicious cycle that seems to happen on this island, where people come to the island, they try to figure out what makes the island work, and the closer they came leads them to their own inevitable demise.”
13. Was the Others’ Temple built over the cave of light? Supporting evidence:
a. The temple is hidden in the jungle and hard to find (like the cave) and the others and Dogen are EXTREMELY PROTECTIVE of it.
b. The temple has a hot tub that brings people back to life, or heals mortal wounds at the very least,
c. Smokie lived under the Temple (was released when Ben pulled a water drain plug).
d. Check out this video of the Losties arriving at the temple. Those super straight trees look very similar to the ones on the path to the light cave.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeumU...eature=related
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