The Incident and The Accident

Dude 1: You’re still trying to prove me wrong, aren’t you?

Dude 2: You are wrong.

Dude 1: They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt.  It always ends the same.

Dude 2: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that, it’s just progress.

And so began tonight’s episode of Lost, the final episode of Season 5, The Incident. If anyone has any idea what happened, I’d like to know.

I had to watch that opening scene of tonights episode more than once.  I felt like there were a lot of hints involved in the conversation between Jacob and the adversary.  Between that and all the flashbacks involving Jacob and characters we’ve known for a while, it almost felt like we were watching a different show.  And with the ambigious ending of tonight’s two-hour Lost extravaganza, we Lost fans are left wondering whether it will even be the same show that returns in February of 2010.  Not to mention we’re all stuck counting down the days for some answers.  I’m sure the creators of Lost wouldn’t have it any other way.

So Jacob’s been around a while. He lives under the statue (or as some might say, in the shadow of the statue).  He can leave the island at will and has healing powers.  Through various methods, he brings people to the island.  And he shares the island with the adversary who wants to kill him, but because of some nebulous agreement, can’t.  It’s hinted that the adversary doesn’t always appreciate Jacob’s bringing people to the island and has a low opinion of mere mortals.  But he’s more than happy to use them for his nefarious means.

Well, Jacob has brought these people to the island for a reason (the aforementioned progress).  How that fits in with the incident at the Swan site and all the other assorted happenings on the island is anyone’s guess.  One of the many things we’ll have to wait until next February for.

Before tonight, I was strongly of the opinion that the titular incident (Jack’s plan to explode Jughead at the Swan site) was always Jack’s fault.  That no matter what, it was his (and the other Losties) destiny to cause the incident.  It was nice to hear my view echoed (ineffectively, but echoed nonetheless) by Miles.  I still believe that’s what we’ll find out next year- that the incident always happened like that and it won’t change the future no matter how hard Jack tries.  But for some reason, I’m not as sold on that belief as I once was, especially considering that Jack is the main character and even though he was at ground zero of a 20-megaton blast, he’ll be back in February.

In a change from previous seasons, for the most part this season, Jack hasn’t been a putz.  He’s finally accepted the ideas of destiny and that the island is a special place. He even found time to give Locke a compliment when Richard asked if Jack made Locke’s acquaintance.

The only time when Jack reverted to Dr. Putz, MD. was when he’s pined over Kate.  It’s not a problem he has alone.  Sawyer does it too (which lead to the unraveling of his relationship with Juliet, one of the only tolerable main romantic relationships on the show).

So Jack finally believes in destiny and purpose.  Thing is, because he “lost her,” he thinks his destiny is to erase the past three years of his life to spare himself the suffering.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m fed up with this angst the male leads on this show have over Kate.  She’s a vanilla character with no tie to the mythology of the series.  And she’s not Helen of Troy either, so why are they making Kate out to be behind the actions of two of the most important male characters on this show?

When Sawyer and Jack went to have their little “five minute” discussion, if they realized that Kate has ruined both their lives, they probably would have come to some sort of agreement, taken the hippy van back to DHARMA-ville and knocked back a few cold ones with Roger (who evidently thinks Ben’s real name is “my kid”).  Instead, they couldn’t settle their differences and had to fight it out.

Not that I’m complaining.  It was a boss fight scene (one of the best in this series).  The highlight for me (as someone who’s been frustrated by Jack’s tendencies to be a schmendrick) was the bit illustrated to the left, where Sawyer chose to fight dirty by kicking Jack right in the jewels.  Usually, I wince when I see something like that happen to any man, but I really think Jack deserved it this time.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to come to an agreement and had to go causing the incident which cost Dr. Chang his hand and Juliet her life (sort of).  I had the feeling while watching Juliet get wrapped up in that chain that it wasn’t just magnetism at work, but the Island working it’s magic.  It’s almost as if the chain were turning into a hand to pull Juliet down into the excavation hole, where she could activate the nuclear device.

Unfortunately because of her sacrifice, that was probably the last we’ve seen of her and Sawyer will join Jack in the idiot club.

Speaking of people being taken advantage of, 30 years in the future, we saw Ben Linus (who at one point was always in control of things going on on the island) get played by someone or something pretending to be John Locke.  The obvious hints (beyond Locke seeming different since his resurrection and the fact that Locke’s body was in the cargo trunk from Ajira 316) point to Locke being the latest physical manifestation of the Adversary, as part of his plan to find a loophole to kill Jacob.

By taking advantage of Ben’s jealousy of Locke (that Locke was special and he wasn’t) and feelings of rejection because he never got to meet Jacob face-to-face, the Adversary was able to play Ben just in the way that Ben has played (what seems like) everyone else on the show.  Turns out it wasn’t Jacob hanging out in the cabin of craziness, but possibly the Adversary.

Of course, this opens up a whole other level of possibilities starting with who Christian was really speaking for (and who Claire’s been hanging out with all season).  If it was the Adversary, then he was playing also playing Locke in his quest to kill and dispose of Jacob.  Seemingly, Jacob knew it was coming.  And unless he was either totally oblivious to Ben’s intentions or he wanted it to happen, from the way he just let Ben stab him (“You can do what he asks. Or you can go”), I think Jacob has a plan up his sleeve.  If Ben wasn’t truly special, then why did he have the power he once had?  Why was he allowed to get that close to Jacob?  My guess is Jacob’s death is the first action in the war Widmore warned Locke about.  Jacob knew all of this and needed to get the pieces in place.  And it starts with Illana (who ends up being a good guy)  getting to the island and meeting up with Ricardo.

Whatever it is, I think it goes back to that first conversation.

Some other things:

-That scene with Jacob on the beach was fun.  He’s kind of like Survivorman.  Except he’s much better at catching fish.

-Had a random thought in the middle of the episode- are the smoke monster, the Island and Jacob all seperate entities?  Meaning, do they all have different goals and purposes? If so, it might be helpful to know who wants what.  If the smoke monster told Ben to follow ‘Locke,’ it knew the murder of Jacob would come into play at some point, and in a way, sanctioned the action.

-So we’ve seen Jacob off-island in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s and a day before the crash of Ajira 316.  Guess the ring of ash doesn’t really do that much.

-It was nice to see Rose, Bernard and Vincent again.  I couldn’t tell- was that Jacob’s/Horace’s cabin they were living in?

-The ending was shocking.  Much more shocking than the last time a TV show ended a season with a nuclear explosion.  Possibly even more shocking was the white screen behind the ending ‘LOST.’  We’re in the home stretch.  And everything’s going to change.

I’m sure I’ll have more throughout the next few months as we await Feburary.  But until then…What did you think?

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7 thoughts on “The Incident and The Accident

  1. It. Was. Awesome.

    Man, it’s a good thing Juliet had that magnetic plate inserted in her abdomen. Otherwise that chain would have never stuck to her like it did and she’d never have been able to set off an atomic bomb by bashing it with a rock.

    I do the same thing to my edit bay once in a while. Things stop working, I bash them with rocks. Works like a charm.

  2. Also, I don’t know if you noticed, but I had the titular line in last night’s episode. I was sitting there with Rose and Bernard, and I was all like “Man, I sure hate being Lost.”

  3. Wow…I just read your whole thing and I have no idea what happened. I don’t watch the show, so that’s OK, but it proves to me it is not a show you can pick up – even if you start at the front end of a season.

    But if it’s got fights and nuclear explosions it can’t be all bad.

  4. That was awesome. I’m still trying to process it all and doing so has just turned my mind into pudding.
    Dan, I think I missed your cameo- I was a bit busy concentrating on the fact that Rose and Bernard were back.

    And MT, I’m not sure whether or not it’s a show you can pick up on in the middle. It would help to start from the very beginning. Some have joined the party late in the game, but if “The Incident” was your first episode, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

  5. Count me in among those thinking Jack really deserved that kick in the crotch.
    I think that Jacob’s not-friend is the smoke monster. Don’t know why, but I’m just saying.
    And my one big thing that I was thinking while watching this–where’s Desmond?

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