Quick Hits
- Esau turns down the fish Jacob offers him, indicating he “just ate.” I’m wondering just what he ate…the way he said it struck me as creepy.
- So Jacob transmuted some sort of ability or power to each of our castaways at various points in the past, via physical contact.
I find it interesting that his encounters with some of the castaways took place both before AND after the 815 crash. I’m not sure what to make of that yet, but worth noting.
- The Swan Station orientation video was intriguing for many reasons, among them Dr. Marvin Candle sporting what appeared to be a prosthetic hand. Looks like that was right on the money, as Dr. Chang has it crushed during the Incident.
- Richard provides some more Rules to Live By. There can only be one “Leader” of the Others at a time, and only the Leader can request an audience with Jacob. Turns out Eloise Hawking was the Leader of the Others in her time, and not Charles Widmore, as we may have assumed.
- Hey, look, an eye shot!
- Sun finds the Dexter Stratton ring Charlie’s brother gave him in Claire’s crib, where Charlie had placed it before he went off to die at The Looking Glass.
Not sure what significance we should assign to this, unless it’s just meant to be a quick remembrance of castaways we’ve lost.
- You should remember the Apollo bars from the Swan pantry, and the candy’s many other appearances on Lost.
- Josh Holloway’s had a good season as Sawyer, particular tonight, punctuated by his grief-stricken visage after Juliet falls down the rabbit hole.
- His bride, Juliet, also got a flashback, albeit one that doesn’t include Jacob. Just a good character-development moment, I suppose, in which Juliet and her sister Rachel (who we last saw cancer-ridden yet pregnant in season 3) get the bad news about their parents divorcing.
- Who was that imposter playing Sun’s dad? Couldn’t afford the real Mr. Paik, ABC?
- Phil’s death was entertaining, in a slightly sadistic way.
- Another book club entry: Flannery O’Connor’s “Everything That Rises Must Converge.”
The story describes the events surrounding a fateful bus trip that an arrogant young man takes with his bigoted mother. The mother insists on her son’s company because she doesn’t like to ride the bus alone, especially since the bus system was recently integrated. The tensions in their relationship come to a head when a black mother and son board the same bus.
O’Connor utilizes biting irony to expose the blindness and ignorance of her characters. The story’s title refers to an underlying religious message that is central to her work: she aims to expose the sinful nature of humanity that often goes unrecognized in the modern, secular world. [eNotes]Sounds like what Esau’s trying to do on the Island. Maybe Jacob’s trying to understand where he’s coming from.
Great stuff!!! Loved the finale and all the questions it answered/raised. These writers have tied in so many different philosophical sources (The Bible, Mythology, Physics, etc)that it makes me think their IQ’s are off the charts. I don’t think we will be disappointed. Matthew Fox on Jimmy Kimmel thinks we will be very satisfied. Thanks, Jeff. Great write up!
Well done! Love the Esau and Jacob connection – I didn’t think of it like that. I too got weirded out when “Esau” mentioned he had just eaten. Hmmmm…
Always fun to come and read your recaps Jeff. Can’t wait until next season 🙂
great recap as always meng.
Richard’s answer to “What lies in the shadow of the statue” – “He who will save us all”
via Lostpedia
Many Bible parables…Prodigal son, raising Lazarus from the dead, allowing Zacheaus to “rise up and walk”, etc….I am wondering if each of the castaways has a correlated character from the miracles Jesus(Jacob) pulls from the Bible..water into wine, the widow at the well, etc.
Thanks for all the recaps! They are always absolutly amazing!
Hmmm… your interpretation for Jacob’s intervention in the castaways’ lives is quite interesting; I actually think the exact opposite: I’m not entirely sure that Jacob is quite as “good” as we’re being led to believe. In fact, with the exception of Jack, I understood he actually pushes all of them to take a certain step that will have a major significance in their lives, in a most negative way. Let’s see:
• He gives James a pen so he can keep writing his letter. The same letter that James’ uncle or whatever makes look like a symbol for James’ unhealthy fixation with old Sawyer, a fixation that effectively prevents him from moving on with his life and ultimately corrupts him, turning him into the new Sawyer.
• He pays for the lunchbox Kate and What’s-His-Name will use as a time capsule. Digging up that time capsule was the moment in which they sort of made the ultimate re-connection, so the time capsule might very well be to blame for What’s-His-Name death.
• He stops Sayid from crossing the street with Nadia, therefore she needs to stop and turn around in order to talk to him, which puts her smack dab in the way of the car.
Hmmmmm… come to think of it, I can’t quite “negativize” the rest of the encounters so easily. But still, I’m suspicious of that guy.
You can’t trust a person who doesn’t change his hairdo in 200 years… ¬__¬
Seriously, though, if we stick to the Jacob & Esau interpretation (which I wholeheartedly do), we might remember that as one story in which nothing is quite clearly white nor black. Jacob spends his entire life making all kinds of sneaky, dirty passes on Esau in order to rob him of all his firstborn rights (from the very moment of their birth), but then he’s actually making God’s will by doing that. In fact, as much of a sneaky bastard as he seems to be, he’s actually the patriarch of the 12 tribes.
Point being, Jacob’s being sold to us as too good to be true, and suddenly I feel the entire point of making so many references to the black vs. white duality will be to ultimately show that there are a lot of greys inbetween…
I certainly can’t argue with any of that; all good points.
when is the video of chang taken by faraday supposed to have occurred? i am confused by this.
The last official podcast indicates that video should no longer be considered canon.
They had some elaborate plans for their alternate-reality game on the Internet that would’ve incorporated that, but it got shelved by ABC because of the economy.
I thought the same thing about Nadia getting hit by the bus….that Jacob wanted her to die more than he wanted to “touch” Sayid
Just now watched the finale online – remarkable! And, Jeff, was most anxious to read your write up – as always, not disappointed and thoroughly impressed!
M’comment: if we go with Jacob = Jesus; then all those he touched/brought to the island are the/his-Jesus’ 12 disciples.
i’ve lurked you’re blog for the past few seasons, always fun and a great read & can’t wait until 2010 to ‘watch it go to fire’
ps : i checked imdb’s long list of cast members and didnt see jacob listed anyone know the actor’s name? i recognize him from another role and it’s driving me bonkers
Mark Pellegrino
http://lost.cubit.net/archives/2009/05/abc-officially-reveals-statues.php#more
According to the most recent recap at ABC.com, the statue is in fact Taweret. I know, I know, many of you saw this from the very first moment we caught a glimpse at the back of the statue, so go ahead and use the comments below to proclaim your brilliance, cleverness, and aptitude for figuring out the mysteries of Lost, something I obviously suck at.
And now, a little about Taweret. Wikipedia has this to say about the Egyptian Goddess:
Her name means (one) who is great. When paired with another deity, she became the demon-wife of Apep, the original god of evil. Since Apep was viewed as residing below the horizon, and only present at night, evil during the day then was envisaged as being a result of Taweret’s malfeasance.
As the counterpart of Apep, who was always below the horizon, Taweret was seen as being the northern sky, the constellation roughly covering the area of present-day Draco, which always lies above the horizon. Thus Taweret was known as mistress of the horizon, and was depicted as such on the ceiling of the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings.