So the two teams now appear to be set: Ilana, Ben, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Frank, Richard and Miles (did I miss anyone?) on one side, and fake Locke, Kate, Sayid, and perhaps Sawyer on the other (plus all the tag alongs from the Temple). Interesting developments: Ben and his dad actually have a good relationship in off-island world. And then Ben's dad mentions the Dharma Initiative and leaving the island. That was a little weird. And Ben doesn't appear to have any sort of relationship Alex off the island. What is up with that? Loved the final scene in the submarine--don't want to post who was in it yet in case someone hasn't seen it yet. Overall a good episode, I thought.
Ben is redeemed. Jacob's side takes him despite all his failings. I don't know what all that means, but that's what came to mind. That whole sequence along with the Richard meltdown - Jacob is some sort of Jesus character.
i'd put this episode as my 3rd favorite, behind "through the looking glass", and "the constant". as much as i was frustrated with his character's actions, Michael Epperson (Ben) is one of the best characters in a TV show that I can think of. I like the new beach group. Where does Jin end up, or did I miss something?
I'm confused by what "touched by Jacob" means. Does it mean that Jacob took an interest or that Jacob physically touched them. I remember Jacob giving Jack the candybar, and Sawyer the pen, etc but I don't recall if it there was actual physical contact. Certainly there was nothing like when he touched Locke, bringing him back from seemingly the dead. Which brings up an interesting point... how was Ben able to kill Locke if Jacob had touched him? Is it that FLocke stole Jacob's blessing somehow? I dunno. That said, it seems as though at this point that there are no stragglers on the island. Everyone is in one of two camps, Ilana's or KLocke's (whether they are part of their group is another story). Locke has the Others which fled the Temple, plus Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid and Jin. Ilana has Ben, Jack, Hurley, Lapiedas, Miles, Sun and a few red-shirts. It is pretty clear that Jin and Kate aren't completely on board with FLocke, and Ben's status (as always) is uncertain, though he seems to be full good guy now... which I hate to say makes him less interesting to me. That character is great in the depth of his lies. Who knows what Sawyer is up to, but I found his conversion to be significantly less convincing than I did Claire's and Sayid's. Jacob sent Hurley and Jack to the lighthouse under the pretense of helping someone get to the island. We later learned that Jacob was trying to save them from the Temple attack AND he wanted to wake up Jack. Can we now assume that all three reasons were valid and the person who was "coming" was Widmore?
Alright I looked it up, and yes all of the people he contacted he touched, even if surreptitiously. Nobody else got anything as dramatic as Locke's touch of life, but everyone got direct skin to skin contact.
Don't know if it was just me, and I didn't replay it, but it struck me that Widmore's presence was a little ominous - that he was up to no good. Doesn't make sense, as he should be on the "good side"; a supporter of Jacob. I do think that it will be interesting with Ben also sitting on the "good side" also now, how they will behave towards each other. Regarding Jacob's touch and Locke's death - his touch does not make one invincible; it just means that you cannot kill yourself. Someone else must kill you, which is why Jack was needed to kill Richard. But Jack is also touched and so can't kill himself either, so the dynamite didn't work. (So Locke wouldn't have been able to hang himself - Ben had to come to kill him).
well considering not-locke said something to him about him being freed from his shackles, that also kinda confirms that he came on the Black Rock.
I'd kind of assumed Richard was on the Black Rock as well. It will be interesting if anyone is on the island older than him. In terms of the rules about Jacob's touch, I'm not sure it's referring to the incidental touching or if it's touching with intent to bestow a gift of some kind. Locke was touched by Jacob as well, and clearly he could die. Having said that, it certainly clarifies the conversation between Ben and Whidmore back a couple of seasons ago. "You know the rules". I would assume that Michael's inability to die was also part of that whole scenario. So that raises another question - the "candidates", all of whom appear to have been been touched in some way. We don't know if all of them are being protected but you'd assume they are. How does this tie into the disagreement between Jacob and Flocke in terms of human nature and all that - or was that whole discussion just a side issue?
Did Jacob actually touch Jack? I thought he just handed him the candy bar at the hospital, but there wasn't any actual physical touch between the two.
Yes Jacob definitely touched Jack. The Link Also, if you were wondering who the dead people with the $8 million in diamonds that Miles referred to were (like I was), it was two characters from season 1 named Nikki and Paulo whom I'd long forgotten about. The Link
Nikki and Paulo were from season 3. Remember it was an ongoing joke in the first half of the season that they would show us scenes we'd already seen, and CGI them into them. It was particularly counterpointed by the fact that the two of them were absolutely horrible actors. There would be these long scenes from the primaries which would end with Niki and/or Paulo leaning in and saying something completely inconsequential just to show that they were in the room. It was really terrible.
So is Sawyer the fulcrum? He is alone and not committed to either team right now. My guess is that he will end up being the "candidate of choice"
Its true, Nikki and Paulo had story arcs which went back to the first episode, but they were pretty much exclusively 3rd season... and far from my favorite parts. Lost clearly had the first season pretty well mapped, and I believe that they knew what they were working towards generally for a conclusion as well. That said, there was a period of time in the second season and the first half of the third, before the final contract was set, where they were clearly pumping in some filler because they didn't know how long the run would be and what they should be pacing for. Nikki and Paulo were part of that. I've long since given up on "all will be revealed", in as much as there are clearly bits that the producers have lost interest in (Dharma animals/projects) and parts that they just weren't able to pull together within their timeline (Libby). The producers have said to everyone that will listen to them that they consider this more a character exploration than a SciFi show, and as such, that they only have to answer the riddles that the characters are immediately involved with or care about. Which is to say, they intentionally leave some bits vague if entirely undefined once they've served their purpose. I don't really have a problem with this as long as (1) they don't break rules they've established, (2) they bring all of the remaining characters into the resolution (if not all of the primaries from previous seasons as well) keeping them true to what we know of them.
If all of this ends up being someone's dream in the end I am going to be really ticked off. I think I understand where we are at today, definately two sides. Not sure which one is good or bad at this point.
