Lost Season Finale: The Shadow of the Statue

  Lost has always liked literay references. In season one, we saw Sawyer reading Watership Down and A Wrinkle in Time. Later on there was The Third Policeman, plus Phillip K. Dick, The Wizard of Oz, among many others.

 But the book glimpsed in tonight's finale -- Flannery O'Connor' short story collection Everything That Rises Must Converge -- was the first book referenced on Lost that I actually own.

 So when the screen faded to white tonight -- instead of the traditional black -- I pulled down my O'Connor anthology and read the title story from Everything Rises.

 On its face, it's about a twenty-something wannabe writer escorting his mother to a fitness class in the post-segregation South. I could see why Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wanted to use it. It deals with the passing from an old order to a new one, the tension between two characters forced to live together for too long, and the idea of someone having a double, all things that apply to this episode.

 None of them, however, help me understand what actually happened tonight. Spoilers, as always, are ahead, so if you haven't watched yet, this is where to stop. Everyone else can read on.

 Don't get me wrong; it was a great finale. But it also turned my brain into a pretzel. But it was still great. Excellent action sequences all around, especially the magnet-goes-nuts scene toward the end. And some wonderfully acted scenes by Josh Holloway and Michael Emerson (who really captured Ben at his weakest).

 But still, all I'm thinking about now is stuff like:

 Locke actually IS dead?!?!

 The guy walking around pretending to be Locke is an unnamed -- yet clearly important -- character carrying out some sort of ancient vendetta?!?!

 Ilana and her crew are acting on Jacob's behalf?!?!

 Ben killed Jacob?!?!

 Oh, yeah, and Juliet detonated the nuclear core inside the jughead bomb. So, yes, there's a lot to cover, without even puzzling over all the "Jacob ex Machina" scenes peppered throughout the episode.

We'll start, for once, at the very beginning. We see a man in a room that looks like its inside a pyramid. He's spinning thread, and there's clay pots on the ground. (Both crafts involve wheels, and wheels are important these days on Lost.) Once he's done in this room, he goes out to a beach, and gets fish from a net.

  He sits on the beach and cooks the fish and sees a boat off in the distance. Another man joins him. Based on the boat -- which is of the pirate ship variety -- and the men's clothing, it's clearly hundreds of years ago.

 The man who caught the fish is Jacob, who we've been waiting to see since season three. We don't get a name for the other man, who's played by Titus Willever (yet another Deadwood cast member popping up on Lost). And since Lost likes religious/Biblical references, let's call him "Esau." (Note that Esau wears black, while Jacob wears white.)

Esau isn't happy about the ship that's coming.

 "They come, they destroy, they corrupt," he tells Jacob. "It always ends the same."

 "It only ends once," Jacob replies.

 Esau wants to kill Jacob, but he can't. We get the sense they've been at this for a long, long time.

 He can't kill him unless he finds "a loophole."

 When that day comes, Jacob tells Esau, he'll still be here. 

The camera pulls back to reveal the statue, in full. So the statue, the Black Rock (maybe) and Jacob, all in one scene. If you watch Lost for the mythology, you could have turned off the TV here and gone to bed happy. I mean, you basically just saw the show at its roots (well, technically, seeing it at its roots would be seeing these two men at their earliest).  Beyond the Others vs. the survivors or the Others vs. Dharma or Ben vs. Widmore, there's these guys.

Fastforward a little less than two hours (in our time) or a few centuries (show time). Ilana and her crew show up at the foot of the, well, statue foot, and reveal What's In the Box: Locke's body. (Now we see why Lapidus was so horrified when he saw what was inside. Also, it's interesting that the big twist at the end of two season finales now has involved Locke's corpse.)

 Of course, it's a little disappointing to know that the new, confident Locke we'd been marveling at never existed. This was Esau, masquerading as Locke. It explains this "new" connection we thought Locke had with the island. It was always there, because it was never Locke. John Locke (boy, it's hard to write this) is dead. I think it's for real this time. Ben was right; the island has never brought people back.

  At any rate, Esau's found his loophole: Ben, who stabs Jacob to death after confronting him. (And again, this was really well-played by Emerson.) Before Esau/Locke kicks Jacob's body onto the fire, Jacob chokes out a warning: "They're coming."

 But who is "they"?

 And better yet, who are Jacob and Esau? (and like I said earlier, I've just given that character that name because of its Biblical connection, and because it's easier than writing "Jacob and the other guy" over and over). Esau was able to pretend to be Locke, and  Jacob is obviously supernatural. Alpert says Jacob's the reason he doesn't age. We also saw that he's able to insert himself into the lives of different characters before they ever got to the island.

 (And thankfully, the show didn't have Jacob influencing everyone's life in a huge way; I mean, yeah, he saved Sayid from getting hit by the same car as Nadia, but he just gave Jack a candy bar.)

 It's getting late here, and I just can't talk about everything that happened in the finale. Obviously, you can't set off a nuke and have some...sorry, I just can't bring myself to use that pun. But there needs to be some repercussions. I doubt Juliet killed the whole island by detonating the nuke -- it seems like she did herself in, as Elizabeth Mitchell was cast on another show -- but something big and rather terrible happened, right? Or was it as Miles said, that the bomb itself was "The Incident?"

 A few other thoughts and questions:

• Why is it that the characters that aren't part of the core cast always seem a lot wiser? I mentioned Miles and the incident, but there was also Lapidus' line about people who claim to be "the good guys" are usually anything but, and Rose and Bernard's inner peace in the face of the usual island crises.
• So basically, the decision to nuke the island came down to how two characters -- Jack and Juliet felt about Kate? Lovely.
• If the DHARMA Initiative ever resurrects, it needs better security. Its guards should be able to outshoot the likes of Jack and Juliet.
• Good casting tonight for the kids playing the younger versions of Kate, Juliet, her sister Rachel and Sawyer.
• I opened by talking about "Everything That Rises Must Converge." It's entirely possible that using the title was just a sick joke; Jacob is reading it when Locke is pushed out the window.
• Another Lost/book connection I just thought of: Carrie, by Stephen King. It was a favorite of Juliet, which -- given the ending of the book and the way Juliet apparently met her end, seem appropriate.
• And that's it for Lost this year, although I'll post news items as they come up. See you in 2010, when the show ends its journey.

 Tom Coombe

Comments

[Chris Casey]

Good Morning Tom.

It pains me that they killed off Juliet. She was one of my favorite characters. Then again, how do we know that the fade to white wasn't a time shift of the donkey wheel, and she lives? I doubt it, but hey, I can dream.
Little piece of knowledge concerning above ground nuclear weapons tests in the early 50s. American troops would sit in 4 foot deep trenches 800 yards (half mile) from the detonation, and observe.
They had high rates of cancer, but many lived normal lives.
This bomb detonated at least 70 meters below ground, so the above ground effects would be greatly mitigated.
Pierre Chang made a video concerning the "incident" so you know he survives.
Bram and Ilana are the "good Guys?" No doubt Ilana was told by Jacob to get Sayid on that plane. She does what he asks, right?
I have a hunch that the guitar case Jacob leaves in the cab with Hurley is the key to Jacob defeating Locke/Esau and maintaining the good/evil black/white balance in nature.
It's not about one side or the other, I think it's about maintaining the status quo, and the extremes to which one side or the other gains an advantage. They think they are winning, but nature abhors a vacuum, and always evens things out.
This episode made me think more of Cain and Abel than Jacob and Esau.
What reinforced that for me was the Jack/James beat down of each other. Brothers in arms.
What a contrast, Jacob/Esau one brother plotting the death of the other, to Jack/James, with James reluctantly helping Jack and sacrificing Juliette in the process.
You think James won't have some issues blaming Jack for that as the series winds down?

What about Ben? kills Locke, enabling Esau to take his identity, and now supposedly kills Jacob, giving the throne to Esau.
Brutus killing Caesar had nothing on Ben Linus.

One last observation, from the first five minutes, with Jacob and his "string" Sculpture.
If I remember my Greek Mythology correctly without googling it, the greeks believed your lifeline was embodied by a thread that could be cut.
Interesting how Jacob intertwined all those strings for his creation, much as he intertwined all these lives leading up to one moment.
His subtle, passing interaction with all the players at key moments is beautiful scripting by the show's writers. I think they are absolutely brilliant in how they crafted it.
Going to have to go online and watch it over again.

[Tom Coombe]

Chris,

I'll probably be watching again today as well, if only to see what's written on the wall behind Jacob in the opening scene.

The whole idea of the fates spinning, measuring and cutting the threads of our lives (in Greek mythology, there were three fates, each of them doing one step in the process) crossed my mind as well.

And as I was trying to fall asleep last night (well, earlier this morning), I did think to myself: "Underground testing." It's perfectly possible that most of the characters survived the blast. I liked Juliet/Elizabeth Mitchell too, but it looks like this is it for her.

[Holden Caulfield]

"They come, they destroy, they corrupt," he tells Jacob. "It always ends the same."

To me, this basically explains Lost. These two guys (white shirt/black shirt = good/evil?) observe as Mankind plays out the same scenario again and again. The island is a microcosm of man's inhumanity to man. Every so often a group of people show up on/are brought to the island (Black Rock, Dharma, 815, 316) where they become embroiled in petty conflicts and, eventually, destroy themselves.

Jacob says, "It only ends once." I think this means that, if one of the groups ever figures out that destruction and war are not the answers, then it will end and the island will cease to be hidden, cease to possess these magical properties (I am on a limb here but I think you get the idea.)

Rose and Bernard have already figured this out and live happy in the knowledge that they are not involved in the madness anymore.

I love the fact that the show has set us up for five season's to deliver the best switcheroo zinger of the series, Bernard saying, "Son of a bitch!"

Awesome.

I've only watched it once but that is what I gleaned from it.

Good to see you back online, Tom.

[Chris Casey]

How about Rose and Bernard as a Fulcrum between the opposing ends of the Spectrum? They have found harmony, and don't want to be found, yet they have what all of humankind is looking for.

[Chris Casey]

P.S. got a great question this morning from one of my fellow LOST crazies.
"Where are Christian and Claire? What was the symbolism of Sun and the cradle?"
Even better, if it is a Good/evil struggle, and black has taken the form of John Locke, just who has the form of Christian Shepherd?

[Tom Coombe]

Holden -- Excellent thoughts, and I'm glad to be still doing this. That whole scene basically made the episode.

Chris -- Now that we know that shapeshifting is on the table, our understanding of the show has changed quite a bit. A lot of people think "Esau" can also take on the form of the smoke monster. And I'd like to know more about Jacob's powers. I mean, he -- like Richard -- doesn't age. He speaks several languages, and can travel through time. Yet his only protection on the island seems to be Richard keeping people out of the statue.

As for Claire, we'll see her next season. I'd like to know if she's still alive though.