Quick Hits (cont’d.)
- After Esau/Evil Locke finally emerges from the statue, he voices his disappointment in “all of you,” apparently referring to all those who’d followed Jacob? We’ve always assumed Esau, as the Man in Black, to be the evil counterpart to the white-shirted Jacob’s good. It’s probably not safe to assume that we know exactly who the good guys are at this stage, Jacob and Esau included.
There’s been speculation that Richard, long an ageless advisor to the leaders of the Others, came to the Island aboard the Black Rock years ago, and may have been imbued with immortality by Jacob and/or Esau. Evil Locke’s comment that “it’s good to see you out of those chains” seems to confirm that Richard was likely one of Magnus Hanso’s slaves on-board the ship. Does that comment also mean Esau was the one that set Richard free?
- The guitar case Jacob asked Hurley to take on-board Ajira flight 316 is revealed to be carrying an ankh, which we’ve seen a few times in the past few seasons, perhaps most notably in the hands of the once-intact statue of Taweret.
Some awesome ankh info:
The ankh (U+2625 ☥, ‘key of life’, ‘the key of the Nile’, ‘crux ansata’) was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read “eternal life”, a triliteral sign for the consonants ˁ-n-ḫ. Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. [Wikipedia]
When the Ninja Herbalist (how are you enjoying that nickname thus far?) breaks open the ankh, it’s revealed to have been carrying a note from Jacob.
The contents of which seem to be a list of names (recall references to Jacob’s lists in past seasons – those who were “worthy” of being saved and indoctrinated into the Others), those names being the very same castaways who just showed up on the Temple’s doorstep (and probably the very same castaways Jacob had physical contact with in the past – refer to the season 5 finale recap).
- A few Tail Section survivors return: Cindy (the stewardess), Zach & Emma. I believe the two kids were those taken by the Others in the Tail survivors first few nights on the Island.
- There were a couple of books in tonight’s episode. I didn’t catch the cover to Desmond’s, the book in the one-armed French guy’s backpack appeared to be “Crainte et Tremblement,” by Soren Kirkegaard. That translates to “Fear and Trembling.”
Fear and Trembling (original Danish title: Frygt og Bæven) is an influential philosophical work by Søren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio (John the Silent). The title is a reference to a line from Philippians 2:12, “…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
Fear and Trembling presents a highly original and provocative interpretation of the Binding of Isaac story as told in Genesis Chapter 22, and uses the story as an occasion to discuss fundamental issues in moral philosophy and the philosophy of religion, such as the nature of God and faith, faith’s relationship with ethics and morality, and the difficulty of being authentically religious. [Wikipedia]
The Binding of Isaac:
The Binding of Isaac, in Genesis 22:1-24, is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah.
According to the narration, Abraham sets out to obey God’s command without questioning. After Isaac is bound to an altar, the angel of God stops Abraham at the last minute, at which point Abraham discovers a ram caught in some nearby bushes. Abraham then sacrifices the ram in Isaac’s stead. [Wikipedia]
The carpet remnant evil Locke cuts off could in some way, correspond to the tapestry swatch Ilana takes from Jacob’s house in the woods?.
i thought the deafness was the result of the noise from them exploding the h-bomb.
me, too! with great effect!
nice to have you back, pants
I’m wondering if, just like Esau took over Locke’s form/dead body, Sayid is really dead and it’s really Jacob in his body.
Jacks missing pen was stolen by Kate when she brushed up against him coming out of the planes bathroom, it’s what she used in the airport bathroom to try and get out of the handcuffs.
Why did Hurley yell, “Jack!” right before the cut to Sayid “waking up”. It was almost as though Hurley was warning Jack as he saw something!
Just to get his attention before he got his ass kicked, I believe.
Thanks, trapdoor, I missed that.
Thanks for the recap Gordo! Excellent job!
nice work cheeba.
Jin tells Hurley they moved through time at the beginning of the episode. Hurley asks how he knows and he says, “white flash, headache, can’t hear: happen to me before.” Is Jin referring to the time travel last season? Or to the freighter explosion he miracuously survived? Bomb explodes on freighter; bomb explodes on Island…
Ninja Herbalist = “Dogen” = Dogen Zenji, the 13th century Japanese Zen Buddhist master, founder of the Soto School of Zen.
Last bit of follow-up on the premiere, courtesy of Doc Jensen: