Tyler Anderson

When I first saw last week’s episode of Lost I was immediately put off, and it wasn’t because of the cheesiness of the answers we were given. For some reason it just didn’t seem right, like it should have been left as some extra on a DVD box set, not aired as a full-fledged episode. It may have been the fact that I didn’t feel the questions addressed in the episode needed answers, or that it was such an abrupt change from “The Candidate”, and I was ready for more story, not more mythology. Regardless, after re-watching the episode a number of times, it’s grown on me. While the story is rather cliched and the origin of Jacob and the Man In Black, not to mention the true purpose of the Island, seem recycled, the episode does bring up some interesting questions. These questions I’m sure will never be answered, but it’s always good to leave some things to the audience’s speculation. Now, I would argue that the answers we got this past week were to questions that fall in the category of not needing answers, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, instead of boring you with a recap of what you’ve already seen, I’m going to discuss some of the interesting questions that were brought up in this episode, instead of focusing on the answers we received. Oh, all right, I’ll talk about one answer, but I bet it’s not the one you’re thinking of! Regardless, this will make for a short post, so don’t blink or it’ll pass you by!

Questions and Observations

Just a quick list of some of the questions that occurred to me while watching this episode:

• How did Kid Smokey automagically know how to play the game Pseudo-Mom left on the beach for him?
• What did Pseudo-Mom mean when she said that Jacob didn’t know how to lie? He obviously tried to. Did she mean he physically couldn’t or that he was just awful at it?
• So according to Pseudo-Mom (I’m liking calling her that, if you couldn’t tell) the brothers couldn’t hurt each other. Yet Jacob did? And threw Smokey into the cave that made him Smokey? Something doesn’t make sense here. Maybe it’s just that they can’t kill each other? That would make more sense, I suppose.
• How did Pseudo-Mom get stuck with the job of protecting the Island? And the person before that? And the person before that? And… you get the point.
• Who finished up the donkey wheel after Pseudo-Mom killed the entire tribe and filled in the hole? Did Smokey continue to work on it, only to discover that he couldn’t leave after Jacob transformed him?
• Anyone else notice that Pseudo-Mom told the kids that “it [wasn't] time yet” for them to know the purpose of the Island, much in the same way that Eloise told Desmond that he “wasn’t ready” to know about what was going on in the alternate universe?
• Interesting that when Kid Jacob and Kid Smokey are playing Smokey’s game, he tells Jacob that he has to follow the rules, and the one day, when he makes his own game, others will have to follow Jacob’s rules. Right now Smokey’s having to follow Jacob’s rules, and he’s totally hating it.
• Even before he was changed, Smokey had more of an affinity for the dead than Jacob did, as Jacob couldn’t see his dead mother, while Smokey could.
• Pseudo-Mom has the same outlook on man as Smokey does. It’s Jacob who’s the black sheep of the family when it comes to these views, not Smokey.
• Why does Kid Smokey have to be played by a 13-year-old Zac Efron?
• And why did they cast the woman who played Pseudo-Mom? She didn’t do that great of a job. Bio-Mom > Pseudo-Mom, in my opinion.

One of the best mad faces you’ll ever see.

The Answer

Originally this section was going to be about the children that have shown up in front of Flocke in the current timeline on the Island. I was going to talk about how the blond one is Jacob and the dark-haired one is Smokey, but as the awesome Adam Miller has pointed out below, that’s not the case. Both kids that have shown up have been Jacob. Well, that’s embarassing, but I guess it’s what I get for not checking my facts while I write my posts. I guess now I’ll talk about how cool I think it is that they made Pseudo-Mom and Smokey’s bodies turn out to be Adam and Eve. Really didn’t see that one coming. It was cool. Moving on then…

Ending Thoughts

Damon was certainly right when he said that this week’s episode was polarizing. It may be the most polarizing episode in Lost history, a title previously held by Exposé (was I the only one who didn’t have that much of a problem with Niki and Paulo? Sure they were rehashes of other characters and they were boring, but their only character-centric kill-off episode wasn’t that terrible). I’ve fallen on both sides of the argument at this point. I think in the end I agree that this episode was definitely an interesting look into the past of the Island, and the answers were definitely intriguing. However I still can’t help but think that the answers weren’t needed, no matter how many people would complain if they didn’t get them. At this point in the season, with only a few episodes left in the series, I think the time could have been used in other, far more productive ways. This story should have been left as an extra bonus somewhere along the long line of exponentially-larger DVD and Bluray releases I’m sure we’ll be seeing.

Anyway, a few other things. The title of this episode was “Across the Sea,” which reminded me of the song “Beyond the Sea.” The title of this post is a sampling of lyrics from the tune. If you’re a major fan of Lost and are looking to drop some dough on merchandise then look no further than damoncarltonandapolarbear.com. I totally picked up the smokey shirt, and it’s awesome. Also, you should definitely check out this incredible fan-made promo for the series finale. It’s so good that Damon tweeted about it, I kid you not. It also happens to be a fascinating look back at the history of the show. For those who’ve been around since the beginning it’s awesome to see how far we’ve come. Sadly we’ll be seeing it end in a week, but at the same time it was so incredibly worth it. One last thing is a video I’m sure most of you have seen by now. It’s a comedic take on the episode and the games that Jacob and Smokey play. As always, if you have any questions or need anything clarified, don’t hesitate to add some love to the comment section. Until Wednesday, faithful readers.