Lost: Pilot Episode I and II

Before Christmas, Dan bought himself — okay, it’s really for all of us — a flat-screen LED television.

It is very shiny.

It was bundled with a Blu Ray player.

And then, he found the entire series of Lost on Blu Ray for a good price on eBay. I wanted to give it to him for Christmas, but he saw the box, and just couldn’t wait.

Men: grown up children.

Anyhoo, we cracked Season 1 open last night, and I was forcibly reminded how much I loved that series.

It was also a lot of fun going back to the beginning even knowing how it ultimately ends, and all the stuff that happens in between.

Now *that’s* foreshadowing.

I won’t be breaking down the episodes like I did for Seasons 4, 5, and 6 — although that was fun.

Lost became more than just a television show.

First and foremost, it was a date night for Dan and me. We’d get the kids to bed and park ourselves on the couch at 9 p.m. every Tuesday. We’d exclaim and laugh and gasp and generally enjoy an hour of time together sharing something.

Secondly, it generated a community of people online sharing… well, pretty much the same things Dan and I shared. Reactions, guesses as to what would happen next, hypotheses as to what it all meant. Lost went beyond the water cooler. I doubt I’m going to find that as we delve into our blu-ray set now. Although maybe I’ll find people who will enjoy the reminiscing.

I also doubt Dan and I will have the discipline to only watch one episode a week. We watched two eps last night, and if I had to wager on it, I would bet Dan watched the rest of the first disk. I’ll probably try to wait to watch more of the show with him, though. It’s really fun to share that time.

What was the first TV show that became more than just a show for you?

Lost: The End

*SPOILER ALERT*

First: I loved it. I was satisfied; I didn’t feel cheated or let down. (I teared up at the very start of the show because it really hit home that this was it.)

Was the episode perfect? No, not by any stretch. There was some seriously clunky dialogue; there were little predictable bits; some things were left hanging.

And I’m okay with all of that.

My two biggest pet peeves: One, those stupid Target commercials. I just am not ready for Lost to become a major marketing angle of the “get it?” variety. Two, Claire’s birth scene — er, Aaron’s birth scene, rather. Bar none, in the history of television and movies, that was the least realistic birthing scene ever. EVER. (I might make an exception for Rosemary’s Baby.)

The labor and birth scene kind of ruined Claire and Charlie’s reunion for me; plus I thought Charlie was already enlightened. Isn’t he the one who got Desmond on board with the whole idea of Island Enlightenment?

See, already, I’m picking. And I don’t mean to.

I can’t wait to see who loved and hated the episode (and/or the show) based on the finale. I know that we Losties are a unique breed, and we can really get on people’s nerves.

And I’m okay with that.

I cried the most during Juliet (Juliet! FINALLY) and Sawyer’s reunion; and then again at the end of the show. Wherein, pretty much, Jack made his way back to where he started, to end. It was a nice full circle, for the show as well as for our tortured (and at times torturing) character.

I liked how they held Juliet in reserve until the finale. I don’t think anyone was surprised to see her, find out she was Jack’s ex-wife, and mother to their son (in theory). That was well played — not surprising, but well played.

The only real surprise of last night was the unlikely survival of (say it with me) Frank the Penis. Not that I should have been that surprised — Lost has been full of unlikely survival stories. But it gladdened me to see good old Jeff Fahey get his moment in the sun. He threw the damn walkie talkie too much though.

Little moments that I found touching included Eloise Hawking (Widmore) asking Desmond if he was going to take her son; and Kate saying to Jack, “I’ve missed you so much.” In a show with a lot of big, emotional moments and reunions, these little exchanges were gold.

I don’t know if any of the griping out there is about the whole idea of the redeeming power of love, which is pretty much what I took away from last night’s finale. I wonder if people are scoffing at the thought.

But as an avowed Roman Catholic, I completely buy into the idea. Not that I’m going to turn Lost into a religious allegory, but let’s face the fact that is was a show chock full of mythological and religious symbolism. The writers and producers were very clear to steer clear of terms like Heaven, Hell, god or goddess, etc. It was, ultimately, a show about mortal characters and about the idea of an afterlife.

What was brought home to me was the idea that we are put here to love one another — Jack’s message from Season 1: To live together or die alone. I liked the thought that due to what the survivors had gone through on the Island — a kind of cork between the darkness of chaos (if not Hell with a capital H) and the rest of the world — united them to such a point that they needed to find each other again to move onto the next level. That felt, within the context of the show, like karmic destiny of the best kind.

I may come back to this post once I get out and read what else other people are saying. I just know that I was happy with the conclusion.

Dan and I watched the first two seasons on DVD, and then from Season 3 forward watched the show in “real time”. We’ve been with these characters for four plus years.

I’m going to miss them.

I need to find a new way to spend my Tuesday nights.

Lost: What They Died For

Subtitle (by me): The Lost writers dust off their hands and get down to business.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Well, that was a nice, brisk episode, wasn’t it? It answered a bunch of questions, officially christened Dr. Jack as the new Jacob, and pretty much set up the story for the next episode, our finale on Sunday.

A few mysteries: Why the heck did Ben revert to Big Bad Ben? Granted, he didn’t do much lying (I’m pretty sure Smokey would have conned to that) — unless of course he simply is trying to get Not Locke’s trust so that he can have a hand in bringing him down. Does Ben really just want to have the Island wholly to himself? (A theory floated at Slate: Ben becomes the new Smokey to Jack’s Jacob. I like it!)

Is Richard dead? I vote for yes only because Lost is weeding out characters it doesn’t really need. And it doesn’t really need Richard; he’s done his job. On that note, did Not Locke really need to slit Zoe’s throat? That seemed needlessly cruel.

Who the heck let Desmond out of the well? Did our candidates do that before their big conversation with Jacob? If so, why didn’t Desmond tag along? Widmore (RIP, BTW)? Sayid? Why would he have told Jack that Desmond was in the well, then?

Why the weird English lady voiceover previewing the finale? Was that Ms. Hawking/Widmore?

Once more, despite all the moments that were Jack-, Locke-, and Ben-centric, I think Henry Ian Cusick as the Zenned-out Desmond Hume stole the show. He all but rubbed his hands together when Sawyer escorted him into that jail cell. And his little aside to Hurley about Ana Lucia: “She’s not ready yet”, was a nice little laugh. I sorely want Desmond to be the hero of the whole shebang because he’s become my all-time favorite TV character, starting back at “Flashes Before Your Eyes”.

I think the rest of the now-former candidates are toast. I wonder when they are going to figure that out.

I also think that Not Locke is going to try to throw Desmond down that well in order to destroy the Island. Notice how since he learned of Desmond’s role as a fail-safe, leaving the Island isn’t going to do anymore — he’s going to destroy it.

Five days until the finale. I cannot wait.

Lost: Across the Sea

*SPOILER ALERT*

Thanks to day-long, pregnancy-induced nausea, this is a day late.

But I’ll be totally upfront: it was pretty anticlimactic.

I was not at all surprised that Jacob and… can we call him MiB? Because, technically speaking, the MiB we saw most of this episode was NOT THE MiB! He was Jacob’s nameless brother. Oh, he had characteristics of Smokey/MiB that we all know and love: he was world-weary and cynical; didn’t think too much of his fellow humans; and had a burning (and ill-defined) drive to get off the Island.

I’m going to bitch first:

I couldn’t get over Allison Janney as Crazy Mother. I couldn’t get into the character. I just saw Allison Janney with a bad dye job and looking muy exausted. And I love Allison Janney; C.J. from the West Wing is one of my favorite TV characters ever, but I just kept thinking: “Allison Janney”. Not “Crazy Mother”.

After all, while a bit obsessed with the staying on the Island and protecting this pretty golden light coming out of the ground, she didn’t really seem all that nuts. And she certainly didn’t take the time to actually explain anything, did she? Thanks, Mom.

I’m going to yell here: WHY IN THE HELL DOESN’T JACOB’S BROTHER HAVE A NAME? Does it not matter? I find that hard to believe. Does Crazy Mother not remember any names from… well, I was going to say from wherever she is from, but maybe she doesn’t know any names period. Maybe she’s been alone and crazy FOREVER on the Island, and so she’s got Jacob and That Other Kid. I mean, really.

What did Jacob’s brother tell the people when he wandered into their camp? Call me the Dude? I’m The Stranger? It doesn’t really matter because my brother’s going to kill me and the Smoke Monster’s going to assume my likeness, but my brother will know it’s not actually me so he wouldn’t use my name anyway? COME ON, PEOPLE.

Jacob was a whiny sissy boy, and not exactly the Zen-like figure we’ve come to know. “How come you make the rules?” “You love him better.” “It was supposed to be him.” Wah, wah, wah, kid, cry me a river. And not exactly shy with his fists, either, when things weren’t going his way.

Which, of course, means Jack is the perfect one to replace him.

The last 10 or 15 minutes at least made it worth it. We know Jacob’s brother was responsible for the donkey wheel (if not actually completing it, at least conceiving of the idea). We know who the Adam and Eve skeletons in the cave are now. (I found that part very poignant.)

An interesting (to me) side note: Jacob’s brother killed Crazy Mother with that large ceremonial knife without them exchanging a word before he did it. (Pretty chicken shit, Jacob’s brother.) However, when Ben killed Jacob they had an extended conversation (and I don’t think Ben killed him with that knife — as Dogen later gave it to Sayid to kill Not Locke). I guess maybe it doesn’t matter; Jacob, while long-lived, isn’t a smoke monster himself. It just seemed significant at the time I was watching.

Do we think that golden light was actually the Smoke Monster all along? (Me: Yes.) And Jacob released it by tossing his (nearly dead?) brother down there? And Jacob felt pretty bad about that, and his guilt kept him tied to the Island and to Smokey all these long years? With occasional forays “across the sea” to recruit candidates, of course.

I’m off to do my Lost homework and see what the pros think. I don’t know how they’re going to finish explaining this shit in three and a half hours. But I sure am looking forward to watching them try.

Lost: The Candidate

*SPOILER ALERT*

I cried like a baby from the point that Sayid ran to the other end of the sub with the bomb until Not-Locke headed back to the jungle all like, “I gotta finish what I started.” Sobbed. My husband was a little alarmed.

But, hey, I did NOT fall asleep in the middle. That’s important.

I’m glad for the Sideways world now. When I saw Jin walking down the hall with that huge bouquet of flowers for Sun, while I leaked more tears, I also was comforted by the thought that at least in the Sideways timeline Jin and Sun could be together and be a family.

Otherwise, that Sideways timeline seemed awfully thin, didn’t it? The interactions between Locke and Jack seemed like trigger points for a sudden flash to what was really going on.

1. IMHO, Sayid’s sacrifice = redemption. I will forever miss his black tank top. I hope he comes back to chat with Hurley. And SMILES, for goodness sake. I didn’t like zombie Sayid. But boy, he got knocked off awfully fast for a main character. That’s why I think we’re going to see more of him, either talking with Hurley on the Island or in the Sideways world.

2. Kate: Not a candidate. Got shot (finally) last night. Look, I make no bones about not liking Kate. I’ve found her nearly unbelievably annoying since, like, Season 3. But if she’s still around, there’s got to be a reason. Ditto crazy Claire. I think Claire is headed for some kind of redemption, too, some betrayal of Not-Locke on the Island. Just a thought.

3. RIP Frank Lapidus, or as Dan will always refer to you, Frank the Penis. I liked you a lot (except for that stupid line they gave you in “The Last Recruit”), and I will miss you, your grizzled face and your faintly puzzled baby blues. I know we don’t know conclusively that you’re dead in the Island timeline, although it’s hard to believe you got knocked out by that door and somehow managed to float out of the submarine. Now, I will be curious as to how you will show up in the Sideways timeline. Were you flying Oceanic Flight 815 this time around?

4. Hurley breaking down on the beach really put me over the edge. For as much as his character is played for laughs, he is the heart of LOST, and seeing him break like that was heart-breaking. And I know that’s all terribly redundant, but I’m pregnant and sleep-deprived, and that’s what I got.

5. I posited yesterday on Twitter that Locke — sideways Locke — could somehow be The Candidate. I mean, it looks very much like Jack — Island Jack — is, but I’m just trying to think of last-minute twists that the writers are going to throw at us. I liked that they threw that word, candidate, at us in the opening scene. “You’re a candidate,” Jack says to Locke as he comes out of anesthesia. Locke scoffs. “No thanks,” he basically replies. I haven’t completely abandoned this theory. How would Sideways Locke accepting his destiny as a candidate in the Sideways world screw with Not Locke? That’s what I wonder.

Things are moving fast, which after six seasons, I really appreciate. I think they are doing a lot more showing than telling, and every thing’s going to mean something over the next five and a half hours.

Stayed tuned. (Like I have to tell you that.)

Updated to add: I think Jack was right, and that the bomb would not have gone off if Sawyer hadn’t screwed with it. MiB/Not Locke cannot kill the candidates. He was counting on one of them to play the hero (or, in the case of Sawyer, try to save his own hide).

Lost: The Last Recruit

*SPOILER ALERT*

I had a lot of “I don’t believe that” moments last night. Not actual disbelief like, “Wow! That’s unbelievable!” It was more about simply thinking that characters were lying.

1. Claire telling Jack that he was on the MiB’s side now — since he let MiB talk to him. I just don’t think it’s that simple. Now, Jack jumping off the boat and swimming to shore — that was worrying, especially given the title of the episode, and the very end of the show.

2. Sayid telling MiB that he did what MiB told him to do. I don’t think he killed Desmond. I think we would have seen that. I think there is enough of a vestige of old Sayid — the Sayid that wants actual redemption — that he fought off the MiB’s temptation.

3. Jack = the new Jacob.

4. I told my husband last week that everyone was going to end up at the hospital with Jack. So far, I’m right on. Now we just need Kate, Sawyer, and Sayid to get there. Oh, and Claire I guess.

And then Desmond will show up and show them the way.

5. I am glad the Jin/Sun reunion finally happened. Now, characters on this show should know better to say stuff like, “We’ll never be apart again,” but, hey, here’s hoping. And Lapidus’ line about Sun finding her voice was LAME.

6. A final question: Why is everyone so convinced that Juliet is Jack’s ex/David’s mom? I know that Doc Jensen floated that theory after the last Jack-centric episode. Do you take the complete non-reveal of her identity of proof? I think a more compelling argument is that Jack said to Sawyer on the boat: “I’m sorry I killed Juliet.” As the worlds are drawing closer together, I think Jack may have been referencing a deeper/more Sideways knowledge. I’m not convinced that Juliet is going to show up for this final season, and not just because Elizabeth Mitchell is on V.

Losing Lost

Confession time.

No, I didn’t stop watching. Hells, no.

No, I didn’t stop doing my Lost homework.

And, no, I don’t think this season, or the last two episodes, suck/were boring/were frustrating.

All-in-all, I am pleased at the way the final season of Lost is coming together.

I am enjoying the ride, and doing far less analysis on each episode. I’m seeing where this ship is going. And sink or swim, I’ll be on it to the end.

I liked “Happily Ever After” for the following reasons (*SPOILER ALERT*):

1. It clarified that the Sideways world is not exactly true. I don’t think it’s a complete fabrication — call it string theory or quantum physics if you want. I don’t think all our characters could interact in the Sideways world if they were each making up their own Sideways reality.

2. Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond Hume. Just an amazing, stellar job last night. I was floored when he finally tracked down Penny and instantly fell for her. He had been so skeptical of Charlie’s and Daniel’s stories of true love and love at first sight. And then it happens to him, and he goes with it.

Plus that smile.

3. I completely believed Desmond’s switch from the guy fighting his — loaded word here — destiny (and his FIL) to a man at peace and ready to embrace it. (“A lot can happen in 20 minutes.”) And? And? Become the new Jacob? Maybe? Or pick the new Jacob and help him/her shoulder the mantle of his/her destiny? We haven’t seen that Desmond is a candidate proper, but he sure is special, isn’t he? And last night, we saw him become okay with that.

And walk off with zombie Sayid into the woods. So that’s a little worrisome.

4. I liked seeing Daniel Faraday not being all twitchy. He was still A Serious Man, but without the “ums” and *eyebrow twitch* and *hand waves*.

5. The subtle humor: Desmond telling Sideways Claire he is not a fan of surprises; Eloise Hawking Widmore citing the unpredictable nature of things; Desmond and Widmore being close friends and sharing a 60-year-old glass of scotch.

One boo-boo: On the plane in the Season 6 premier, Desmond had a wedding ring. Continuity error, or more than one Sideways world?

In the meantime, Sideways Desmond has got to spread the gospel of the former John Locke: It’s time to go back to the Island. Which leads one to wonder about that “sacrifice” idea, no? I originally thought it was just going to be never seeing Penny and Charlie (the kid) again. I’m not thinking that now.

Lost: Ab Aeterno

So I was so gobsmacked that my blog had had more than 1500 hits (and more than 60 comments) in 24 hours, I pretty much forgot to post about LOST. (And the numbers on that post keep going up. Wonder if any of them will come back. Thanks, WordPress, for painting a big red bullseye on my blog.)

*SPOILER ALERT*

And yet another amazing, amazing episode. The Story of Richard, wherein we dive further into the mystery of the Island, and of its two longest running residents, Jacob and MIB. (Can’t call him Not Locke in this one, because he didn’t have Locke’s form. for the most part.) (Speaking of forms MiB’s is very pleasing to my eye.)

The religious symbolism and allegory continue to deepen. Richard is reading Luke 4 in his cell when the priest comes in. Dan and I promptly dived for our Bible. Luke 4 is about Christ’s temptation in the desert, and the beginning of his public ministry.

Can I take an aside here to point out the timeliness of this plot line? First: It’s Lent, and Lent is kicked off with Luke 4 (in the Catholic church, anyway). Wherein Jesus goes into the desert to be tempted by the devil. We see temptation all over Lost this season too. Usually in the form of the MiB/Not Locke asking, “What do you want?” or commenting about people he’s lost and crazy moms.

He has a persuasive nature, our MiB. Tell him what you want, the premise being that he can get it for you. Although, we never actually hear him say that. Sayid says that he’ll never see the only thing he’s ever cared for (Nadia); Not Locke says, “What if you could?” He never explicitly tells Sawyer he’s taking people off the Island; MiB just says he’s going.

The other timely issue: the availability of health care. We see Ricardus riding through the pouring rain to the doctor’s house, a half-day’s journey away. Ricardus is treated with scorn, told the doctor’s not going anywhere, and told he doesn’t have enough money for medicine. I wonder how much starker this timeline would have seemed if that law hadn’t passed Sunday night. (Okay, I’m done. Really.)

There is no denying that this episode was steeped in Christian symbolism: baptism, wine, the afterlife. It makes me wonder even more if MiB is Esau to Jacob’s Jacob — maybe not literally (or, as it was put in an e-mail to me yesterday, “Yeah, I’m Jacob… from the Bible!”). Another compelling mythology of the Island can be based in Egyptian lore (shout out to Chris-friend-of-Brandon for the link).

[This post has been interrupted by upkeep on the insanity in the number of comments on my Tuesday post. I finally closed comments. Peeps, I’m not the problem, okay? Go rally and rage elsewhere. Thank you.]

[Additionally, I haven’t gotten a full 8 hours of sleep… since I don’t remember when. Saturday night maybe — more than 5 years ago. So I’m going to wrap this up, and write about my adorable children tomorrow.]

Here is my favorite part of the Richard episode: Jacob kicks the crap out of Ricardus, who has been sent by the MiB to kill Jacob — in exchange for seeing his wife again (there’s that temptation theme). Then Jacob dunks Ricardus/Richard in the ocean (symbolic baptism) and shares wine with him (symbolic Last Supper?). Then Richard says, “Why don’t you help them?” asking about the people that Jacob (cruelly) strands on the Island, again and again.

And Jacob looks like the idea never occurred to him. Like, “Huh. That’s an idea. I could do something more than just test them — maybe give them a guide, a guardian. Wonder if this guy is up for the job.”

Walla — Richard explained.

The breaking of the wine bottle at the very end of the episode seemed pretty ominous to me. MiB doesn’t just want to pop the cork — he wants to break the whole thing. It seems that would have some pretty radical consequences for the rest of us.

Lost: Recon

You know the drill: *SPOILER ALERT!*

I can’t decide if I like this week’s episode better than last week’s or not.

Although, a shirtless Sawyer does have it over a sweet Dr. Linus.

When we first saw Sawyer getting off flight 815 and eying up Hurley, how many of us thought he was going to find a way to scam him? Show of hands, please.

Yeah, me too.

Instead it turns out he’s a cop in LA; his partner is Miles (who was AWESOME in this episode); and instead of conning people, he’s arresting cons. Love, love, love this episode, everything about it, including Josh Holloway’s abs.

But that’s beside the point.

Sawyer’s present has changed, but not his past: His father and mother still are dead because of a con man who called himself Sawyer. James Ford is hunting for the guy (Anthony Cooper — Locke’s dad?) — has been for years — but has never told Miles, his partner, about it.

What was fascinating to me was the emphasis on truth in the Sideways Story, and on lying on the Island.

“Tell me truth” Ford/Sawyer is exhorted over and over in the Sideways Story.

“You’re the best liar I ever met,” Not Locke tells him on the Island.

We saw a similar theme in last week’s episode:

Tell the truth, and it will set you free.

So, what do we think? Do we think James is setting up Widmore’s people or Smokey? Or is he simply playing both sides against the other so that he can get himself and Kate off the Island? Or all of the above?

The Kate/Claire storyline just creeps me out. When Claire put her hand in Kate’s as Not Locke was talking to his people, I got chills. (I love that Sawyer has no compulsion about actually respecting Not Locke. I don’t know if Sawyer’s infected or not — ala Claire and Sayid — although I think not, for the record.) And then Claire tries to kill her; and then Claire apologizes and cries on her shoulder. I think Kate’s feeling a little whiplash over the mood swings. Which, it’s kind of nice to see Kate off balance and being manipulated instead of the other way around for a change.

Even though Kate and Sawyer are with Not Locke’s people (and, as we heard Sawyer say over and over, “I’m not on anyone’s side”) I doubt that they are actually with Not Locke. If/when it comes time to take sides, I bet they find themselves on the side of Jack and Ben.

Unless they manage to get that submarine out of there first.

Lost: Dr. Linus

*SPOILER ALERT*

Word of the Day: Redemption.

It’s hard after hating Ben Linus for four seasons to suddenly be rooting for him. And it’s not so much hating him as not believing a word that has fallen out of his mouth. Until the end of last season, when he was so shaken and disillusioned, that there were a few times that he didn’t lie.

Last night, he tried to go back to his old ways and was foiled by Ghost Whisperer Miles. And Ben didn’t even lie well! He stuttered, he stammered, he gave the wide-eyed “who me?” look! That’s how my 5-year-old lies, not how Ben Linus lies. (Ben Linus lies like my 3-year-old. Without blinking.)

But in the Sideways Story, mendacious, malicious Ben Linus is mild-mannered Dr. Linus, a high-school history teacher. He takes care of his aged dad Roger, runs the history club, and tutors a young, hopeful student named… Alex Rousseau.

Yeah, he makes a clumsy power-grab that results in his having to choose (once more) between what he wants and Alex’s future, but this time, he puts her ahead of himself.

Did you see the look on Ben’s face when Arzt says, “You’re a killer.” It was like, “Huh. Yeah, you know, maybe in a different light, maybe in a different world… I am.”

This is why I say: Michael Emerson for all the Emmys in the world, now.

(Well, except for Terry O’Quinn’s.)

And, let’s not forget the irony of ‘the substitute’ (Sideways Story John Locke) egging Ben on. That was delicious.

And then, back on the Island, Ben resists Not Locke’s temptation, tells Ilana the truth, and joins Jacob’s team. So the Sideways world informs the Island world (or so it appears to me) and vice versa.

In the meantime, Richard Alpert asks Jack and Hurley to kill him at the Black Rock. (I just stumbled onto this at Lostpedia: “In 1996, Widmore purchased the journal of the first mate of the Black Rock, a 19th century British slave ship, at a Southfield’s auction….”), so I’m guessing that Richard is said first mate.

He gave us an important clue last night: Richard says that Jacob touched him, that it was supposed to be a gift. Richard — cool, calm and collected eyeliner guy up until now — is distraught and frightened. He wants to die because he’s never going to know what Jacob was up to; his long (long, long) life has no meaning. But Jack doesn’t think that’s true. And as Jack (and several others) have been touched by Jacob, he gambles on what Richard has said about not being able to die (by one’s own hand, in any case). And the gamble pays off.

This is what I am thinking (and yes, I went to sleep thinking about Lost and woke up thinking about Lost — it’s a sickness, I KNOW): I think the Island is going to restore its balance somehow. It’s a little out of whack right now with Smokey running around unchecked because Jacob’s dead (and he’s really dead), recruiting people, trying to get off the Island.

One of the candidates is Jacob’s replacement. And one of the other people that Jacob touched is Smokey’s replacement.

We haven’t seen Kate’s name as a candidate yet (have we?), but Jacob tweaked her nose in the convenience store when she was trying to lift that lunchbox. He touched both Jin and Sun on their wedding day. But only one Kwon is a candidate.

I think Sawyer or Jack or Sun is going to replace Jacob; and then Kate or Jin or Sayid is going to replace Smokey. Or some combination like that. I guess Hurley comes down on one of those sides, too. (Probably for Jacob. I mean Hurley doesn’t have a mean bone in that jiggly body of his.)

I’ve no idea what will happen to the rest of ’em. And how having lovers (in the case of Kate/Sawyer or Jack, or Jin/Sun) be the replacements will change the nature of the Island. (Smokey and Jacob may have started out as buddies — although it doesn’t look like it at this point — but they are clearly antagonists now.)

This theory of mine probably also means that despite what Not Locke told him on the beach, Ben is not eligible to “take over” the Island. To our knowledge, he hasn’t been touched by Jacob — hell, he didn’t even talk to Jacob in his time as leader of the Others. He got his instructions from Richard “The Mouthpiece” Alpert.

I was so satisfied with last night’s show, so happy by the end of it. We’ve got the good guys (or Jacob’s Army) back on the beach where they started, and Smokey’s Army (of zombies!) somewhere off in the jungle.

Oh, and Widmore heading to the Island in a submarine.

LOST!