(If you don’t watch LOST, these posts will be torturous to you. I apologize in advance. Just skip them and come back later, when I will try to make it up to you.)
My brother Jordan and I are back to discuss a few things related to episode 9 of LOST’s final season, “Ab Aeterno”.
(Jordan’s thoughts will be the ones in blue)
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Season 6, Episode 9, “Ab Aeterno”
My 10 biggest Observations/Questions/Thoughts
1. I thought this was a fantastic episode, one of the series’ finest. The ability of the writers to weave the back story of Richard and the Island together made for a dramatic 60 minutes full of great mythological answers. There is, however, a camp of folks out there who hated the episode, either because they didn’t like Richard’s back story, or they felt some of the answers to the Island mythology were dumb. What camp are you in?
Are you joking? This was definitely one of the best episodes of the entire series. You can never please everyone, but I don’t know if they could have wrote a better episode for Richard.
2. We know Jacob has been bringing people to the island for a long time for two reasons: 1 – to prove the MIB wrong that man can make the right choices. 2 – to find a candidate. How related do you think these two things are? Has he only brought potential candidates to the island?
Hmm, interesting. Maybe there is some correlation between the two. Maybe only a person as pure as Jacob can become his replacement. Makes sense.
I’ve talked to folks who thinks Hurley will replace Jacob based on that reasoning. Basically they think he is the least flawed. I’m still leaning towards Jack as the replacement, but I’m not sold.
3. How did Jacob know he was going to die? In his convo with MIB in 1867 he seemed okay with the idea, saying that if he did someone would replace him. Then he shows up at Ilana’s bedside saying that he’s gonna need some help protecting the last 6 candidates. Do you think its possible that the thing that tipped him off to the fact that he was about to die was that the list of candidates was down to 6?
This could be a possibility. I am reminded of Jacob’s line “It only ends once, everything else is just progress”. So maybe he has lived through this once or twice before, and therefore he knew when he would be murdered. Although, he could have just been talking about all the different groups of cast aways. Theres more I’d like to know about the list of candidates. Is the list constantly growing or has it been constantly dwindling?
I think it’s been constantly dwindling down from 360, and in reference to his “progress” quote, i do think he was talking about bringing different groups of people to the island.
4. Also thought it was interesting that Jacob said no one came in to his tapestry room unless they were invited. Does that mean Ben and the MIB were invited in when Jacob was killed. Maybe he knew that moment was coming, but he was still hoping Ben would make the right choice?
Was it just me or did that remind you a lot of the Holy of Holies? I’d like to watch that episode again, I don’t remember anyone getting invited inside. In fact I thought that MIB kind of dragged Ben in there. Can’t remember exactly. I also wonder about what Jacob meant by that. Can you not get inside unless he invites you? Are you able to walk inside but you will be killed? Or maybe Jacob will just throw a temper tantrum if you walk in uninvited.
As I recall, MIB did drag Ben in there, but he needed Richard’s help to get in. Richard was the one who pushed the door open for them, and when Richard objected to Ben going in, it was because only the leader could request an audience with Jacob and Locke was seen as the leader.
5. Remember way back when we saw Smokey reading the memories of people he was face to face with? We kinda thought he was judging them, but in hindsight it almost seems like that’s giving him too much credit. Not sure that what he was doing wasn’t anything more than killing everyone except the people he thought he could use. He killed everyone on the Black Rock except Richard, and then used memories of his wife to try and use him to kill Jacob. He didn’t kill Ben, and actually used to come when Ben summoned him, because eventually he manipulated Ben into killing Jacob. He didn’t kill Locke, instead appearing to him as Christian (i think) and convincing him to turn the wheel, leave the island, and eventually take on his form. I’m still convinced 95% MIB is evil. Are you as sure as I am about the lines of good/evil?
The line is definitely blurry. But if you put a gun to my head and made me choose, I would say that MIB is evil. He has killed many people, on purpose and directly. I am confused as to how Ben was able to summon Smokey. Knowing what we now know about him, just doesn’t seem like something he would do. Maybe he really hates Charles Widmore and was happy to kill the mercenaries. He definitely knows Widmore from the time that he spent on the island.
6. Do we know more about the Others now? Were they the people who Jacob brought to the island who started surviving once Richard became the intermediary for Jacob? And if that’s the case, was Ben’s ousting of Widmore as the leader of the Others something Jacob didn’t want? Ben, after all, came to the Island with the Dharma Initiative, who I’m assuming were not a group of people Jacob drew to the Island? Maybe I’m assuming too much though. Just makes me wonder if Widmore is on the good side of the battle.
I am going to assume that Jacob brought the DI to the island until the show tells me otherwise. I know it seems like they came out of their own free will, but how would they have found the island if Jacob didn’t want them to? As far as Ben kicking Widmore off the island, Charles did break a rule by having a relationship with a woman off the island, or at least we think he did. So it is possible that Linus was just following protocol.
Interesting thought that for the 35 years that Ben led the Others, he never saw Jacob. Only received notes from him via Richard. This was part of the reason he killed Jacob, because he felt ignored.
7. At the end of the episode Hurley says Isabella had one last message for Richard, that he had to kill the MIB or they would all go to hell. But we never heard Isabella say that. If you had to guess, do you think that message came from Isabella, came from Hurley himself, or came from Jacob, who might have told Hurley exactly how to play that?
My guess is that it came from Jacob. But that is really just a stab in the dark. Hurley doesn’t seem like the type of guy to come up with that line himself.
Yeah, I agree. And if I remember correctly, Hurley was seen talking to someone dead by the fire earlier in the episode. That could have been Jacob or Isabella, I guess.
8. Other little notes from the episode: the butterfly flying into the ship when Richard was in chains, was that MIB in butterfly form checking things out or just a nod to the “butterfly effect” that’s happening in the alt-world…some people think the “island is a cork” thing is anti-climactic, but i don’t think its a full explanation of the island. plus, i like the idea…thought it was great how they used one of the fan’s top theories of the island all these years – that is was hell – so much in the episode…loved all the interaction between Richard and Jacob/MIB: Jacob baptizing Richard, Jacob beating down Richard, Jacob telling Richard he couldn’t forgive his sins, but he could keep him from aging. and on the MIB side, he once again tempts with the one thing the character wants more than anything else (bringing Isabella back), and I love how the dagger scene mirrored the one from a few episodes ago. Anything else from this episode you enjoyed?
Richards entire backstory was so awesome. The fact that most of the episode took place in the 1800’s on some spanish island, love this show. The island is a cork theory, I really dug it. The thing I really liked about it was that season 2 was basically a microcosm of the whole show. There is harmful energy, and the swan station was a cork to keep that energy bottled up. Also, Richard’s interactions with MIB and Jacob were just perfect, the writer’s continue to impress me.
9. Best final scene of LOST prediction I’ve heard so far. A re-enactment of the beginning of the Season 5 finale with Jack and Fake Locke on the beach. Locke saying to Jack, “You have no idea how bad I want to kill you right now.” and then the final line is Jack saying, “It only ends once, everything else is just progress” or something like that. That would be pretty rad.
That would be pretty awesome actually. Maybe a tad too open ended for the fans of this show, but it would be sweet. If that is true, I’d say Sawyer and Kate are probably Adam and Eve.
I agree totally. I could see Kate and Sawyer giving up their lives to somehow save Sun, Jin, Hurley, and whoever else needs saving. As for the end being open-ended, I almost expect it. I mean, based on what they’ve laid out so far, what would the end-game be? That the Smoke Monster/Devil is destroyed, or just that he is thwarted from escaping the island (wine bottle) at the last minute? To me, it’s that his escape is thwarted and he remains a prisoner of the island under the eye of the new Jacob. Or then again, maybe he is destroyed and the island sinks because it is no longer needed?
10. They’ve announced that the final episode of the series is titled “The End”. and i guess every episode until we get there is just progress. Still loving the ride.
Yeah that last episode was just what we needed to get us all yearning for more. Hoping that the episodes just keep getting better.
Yeah, I have a feeling this next episode will be a letdown going back to the side flashes, but either way I’ll still enjoy it.
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Tonight…Episode 10, “The Package” (just 10 9 hours of LOST left)