Episode 15 - Across the Sea
17 May 2010
Review
Present: N\A
Flashback: A group of Latin speaking people are washed up on the island. One of them, Claudia is pregnant and taken in by a mysterious woman. Claudia gives birth to two boys, Jacob and the MIB. The Woman then kills Claudia and raises the boys herself. The Woman explains that she is on the island to protect the light from going out. She shows them the light in a cave which no one else can find. Claudia visits MIB as a boy and shows him his people living on the other side of the island. MIB goes to live with them and find a way to leave the island. Jacob stays with the Woman despite accusing her of loving MIB more than him. Years later and MIB has built the donkey wheel in order to harness the light to help him leave the island. The Woman kills all his people and fills in the well to stop him. She makes Jacob become the new protector of the island. MIB kills the Woman and Jacob kills him by throwing him into the cave of light turning him into the Smoke Monster. Jacob lays down his dead family in the caves, their skeletons won't be found for a very long time.
The Good: We may be more familiar with the idea of an episode of Lost with no main cast members in it by now. But let's not forget that it is still a daring move and practically unprecedented for a show this near the end of its run. Again one has to give credit to the producers for the universe they have created. For a story unrelated to the stars of the show to have inherent value and interest to viewers is impressive. The story on the island was interesting and played out well. There was a huge amount to take in and absorb and think about that the plot itself almost needed to be simple so as not to overwhelm.
The casting of young MIB was good as he was lively and engaging to watch. MIB drew a lot of sympathy, fitting the story he has told to our survivors this season (and answering the question of where home is for him). He was taken from his mother, kept apart from his people, lied to and deceived and blocked from leaving the island. His frustration and anger was well played both as a boy and a man. There was a deep sense of unfairness around his situation yet he still loved his "mother" deeply. He almost regressed to childhood in front of us when she offered him a hug in the donkey wheel chamber. On the other hand Jacob had his own issues, being the second choice son. His inferiority to MIB led him to stay at home always seeking his mother's approval and giving him no desire to leave the island. It was interesting to see why MIB shared his mothers beliefs about human weakness (he saw it firsthand) and why Jacob disagreed (he looked on from above).
What was most interesting about these developments was the human frailty at the heart of these immortal characters. The Woman may be right that men are corrupt and destroy and present a real threat to the island (and then to the whole world). But she made the choice to kill Claudia, she made the choice to abduct and deceive rather than persuade. She kept the boys in the dark and admittedly played favourites. When she saw a threat to the "light" from MIB's people she killed them all. She then emotionally blackmailed Jacob (essentially) into accepting the job as her replacement. For their parts of course MIB and Jacob were equally human, one bitter and angry, the other scared and resentful. Those characteristics have remained with them as they have evolved into the powerful beings we now know in the present. Both have gained superhuman abilities and insights but neither have lost their core personalities.
It's a very interesting take on the story and is an important part of the overall story of Lost. Viewers have speculated for years about who or what these forces of good and evil were on the island and what their goals and agendas were. Here we can see that they are both filled with human weakness and strengths. Jacob may be an immortal gatekeeper but he only behaves in an impassive quiet way because that's who he is. The Smoke Monster may have malevolence at its core but its beliefs about mankind and desire to leave the island come from MIB's personality. The producers are making it clear that at every level Lost is a show about characters. The Lost world is all about human decisions and not about all knowing Gods playing with people. That is a concept which should shape our perception of what has gone before. It gives the various inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies of Jacob and MIB's behaviour a more plausible and relatable edge. It also allows for us to speculate endlessly on what might or might not have happened (see The Unknown).
One of the major reasons I am impressed by this turn of events is the role of choice. Free will has of course been a major theme in Lost and the moral position that we all have a choice has been pushed hard. Just before Ben stabbed him to death Jacob insisted that he had a choice (517). On the beach talking to Richard (609), Jacob was also trying to explain that people always have a choice. He was bringing them to the island to prove to MIB that people would eventually choose to do the right thing. In this episode we see why choice is so important to Jacob. His "mother" tried to take away his ability to choose and it ended up costing him his family. Her desire to keep control over her boys led to MIB's resentment and decision to leave the island. Jacob too resented her for choosing to love MIB more than him. He wasn't chosen and yet was forced to take on the role of island protector anyway (you can see why he had sympathy for Ben). With his mother dead and his brother turned into a monster he realised that offering choice to people was the moral thing to do. And so we arrive at the present day where he has given Jack every opportunity to choose to stay on the island, including the chance to leave it, a courtesy he and his brother were never afforded. This episode felt to me like it was connecting Jacob's personality to the story we have seen play out and I give the writing a lot of credit for that.
This episode also served the purpose of answering a bunch of questions. As vague as it sounded it's probably for the best that the show didn't attempt a more detailed explanation of what the light is. The light is the source of all light in each person. If it goes out then that light will go out everywhere. That sounds like the idea of hell on earth or malevolence spreading out as we have heard it described this season. By entering the cave MIB became a physical embodiment of that light-destroying power as the smoke monster. Jacob got his power from the Woman who presumably inherited the powers and job of protecting the light from someone else. The Woman and MIB are Adam and Eve. MIB and Jacob are brothers. We now know who the ghosts were who have followed MIB around this season. Jacob's skill at weaving came from his mother. The Woman's powers determined that Jacob and MIB could not hurt one another and perhaps that they could never leave the island. The donkey wheel was built by MIB (with help) and harnesses the power of the light...somehow. That is a lot of answers that covers a good amount of ground including as thorough an explanation of the smoke monster as we are likely to get (see The Unknown for perhaps more answers).
It was interesting to see Claudia speak to MIB and show him the truth. It's the first time we have seen a ghost speak "against" the Jacob figure. In this case the Jacob figure was the Woman. It was further nuance showing that the island protector is not always simply good. They are flawed people and the ghosts who haunt the island serve no agenda but their own either.
The Bad: I understand why the flashback of Jack, Kate and Locke was shown but I don't think it was necessary. I suspect at this point fans who don't remember the skeletons wouldn't see the episode in a different light once they realised. It's not a big deal but it did rather step on a very sad moment for Jacob.
I can imagine that many fans would be disappointed by this episode. The producers pretty much confirm with this episode what Lost is really all about. It's about characters and their stories being played out around simple choices. Essentially the producers think seeing Locke and Jack disagreeing over a crucial decision is the show. As in their disagreement, their different viewpoints and emotional reactions. The show is not about the crucial decision itself.
A lot of fans for example will want to know how the Smoke Monster "works." Why did it kill those it did and manipulate others? They want to know what the rules are and how they relate to the characters we know. The producers have all but confirmed with this episode that those details are not relevant to their story. It's an issue I have touched on time and again but we will get no answers about what Alvar Hanso, the Dharma Initiative or the Others were really up to. The story that is being told is about human choice and not about the island mythology. The island is just a stage for human drama to play out on. I respect their decision in general and it may well make for a better show this way. But the producers deserve criticism for encouraging viewers to invest in small and large details which they now claim are irrelevant. Those details were a big part of what made some episodes so intriguing and entertaining. Now we have discovered that those details will not be revisited. That is something of a bait and switch and an episode like this one is bound to suffer in many viewers eyes because it did not address those moments.
The Unknown: Claudia's people spoke Latin which means they arrived on the island roughly between 600 BC and 500 AD. It's probably safe to err on the side of earlier judging by their technology and lack of any obvious Roman or Christian stuff (clothes, symbols etc). The Others spoke Latin and one wonders whether there is a connection to Jacob there. Presumably he and MIB grew up speaking Latin as they were able to converse with Claudia's people. Similarly the Others seemed very concerned with taking babies and children away from people and raising them themselves. The Woman's desire to protect Jacob and MIB from the influence of bad people may have rubbed off on Jacob. It's possible that this desire to protect innocent children stayed with Jacob and was somehow transferred to his followers as time went on. Continuing on that theme the Woman wipes out MIB's people and it's easy to see a parallel to the purge. Perhaps the Dharma Initiative got too close to the light and Jacob instructed Richard to wipe them out. Finally the rules which governed the behaviour of Charles and Ben may well have come from Jacob. We see here that the Woman made rules for him and MIB which they could not break and MIB in turn made up his own rules to govern a game he didn't understand. If one chooses to interpret all these events as explanations for the behaviour of the Others then this episode provided a huge amount of answers. It is a question of interpretation though.
MIB uses "the" dagger to kill his mother. It's still not clear what significance that gives the dagger itself. Perhaps it has none and is just the weapon of choice because of its resonance.
Best Moment: MIB crying on his mother's shoulder before she deceives him once more.
The Bottom Line: A daring and complicated episode. But one which drives home the overall theme of Lost in a convincing and emphatic manner. It also potentially answers a ton of questions in a way no other episode has.
I am entirely sympathetic with fans who will be disappointed that Lost has revealed itself to be a character show where details are not nearly as relevant as emotion. But that fact has been there all along and the producers are just bringing it ever closer into focus. For sticking to their guns despite the disappointments I give them a lot of credit.
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