Genesis

Before I start on this blog I want to apologize for a misfact in my last post.  My longshot call of Danielle appearing to help the remaining Losties is impossible as I forgot she was killed off by Widmore's men along with Carl (Alex's boyfriend).  That is a grievous error and unacceptable.

I will read how Doc Jensen and the other blogs are receiving last night's show, but the first watching of it left me somewhat underwhelmed.  The story was basic and straightforward.  There were no flash-backs, -forwards or -sideways.   Jacob and the still nameless Man in Black (MIB) were as normal as two teenagers could be growing up on an island with a mom who loved them but was a little off her rocker.  Of course, when you hear about the beginning you can always ask, what was there before, but I won't go down that road.  Frankly, I saw parallels between their mother's situation and Desmond who was stuck pushing the button for all those years in the hatch.  He was so grateful once someone came to relieve him of his duty that he bolted.  After she is stabbed, one of the only things she says to her son that just killed her is "Thank you" indicating she is happy to be leaving her life.  The irony of course, is that her poor son can't do the same when it's all he really wants.  You can even argue that she filled the well and destroyed his chance to leave in order to manipulate him into being angry enough to kill her.  Something tells me there was some rule that said she can't commit suicide.

After watching it a 2nd time it got me thinking a few things about MIB.  As evil and twisted as he's become, I can't help but feel pity for him.  Would any of us react differently if we were lied to our whole life till the age of 13 only to find out that who you thought was your mom, not only wasn't but the woman killed your real mom.  She stole them in order to groom them for her position as protector.  He still didn't react violently towards her only leaving to hang out with what might be the first Others.  In fact, based on the conversations he was having with Jacob while he lived with them, I don't think he was a bad guy even then.  He recognized that the men he was with are greedy, "bad" and that is pseudo mom was in fact correct.  It was only when she somehow knocked him out, carried him up a ladder and out of the hole and then killed and burned a whole village did he start to become pissed (can you blame him?).  How a non-aging, but older woman did all those things is another question, but you have to take this whole episode with a grain of salt.

This theme of meeting someone at a point in time, making judgments about them based on that slice and then having those judgments change as you fill in the pieces of their life prior is my favorite in LOST!  It's something we all do every day with people we meet, work with or interact with on a simple level.  Those that are annoying, stand-offish or even evil, are like that based on the sum total of what's happened to them thus far in their life.   If you go down death row at your favorite prison and ask the inmates there what their childhood was like, I bet 90% of them would say they were beaten, abused, one or more parents absent or on drugs, etc, etc.  I head Adam Corolla from Love Line, Man show and other fame once say to Dr Drew that the best way to fix crime in this world is to ensure that children are born to loving parents.  Adam's a simple man, but I liked that theory.  Even if you could do this (you need a license to drive a car, but not have a child), you'd still have some bad apples, but I think it would be far less.

Back to Lost, it's also interesting to note that MIB did not willingly go into the golden pool (i.e. biting the  biblical apple), he was knocked out and pushed in there by his own brother.  So whatever evilness he embodies in the smoke monster was forced upon him by Jacob.  When I take a step back and think about it, he was born to a murderous, manipulative mother and once he found out the truth, his only sin if you can call it that, was wanting to leave and see the rest of the world and where he came from.  Even Jacob got to leave once he got older, visiting the candidates off island.  In a fit of rage, he kills his non mom after she obliterates a whole village and looks as if he feels genuine remorse immediately after.  His brother then beats him up and sentences him to smokey.  I'd be angry and bitter too!

I have a feeling LOST is heading to an open interpretation ending ala Sopranos.  There are many other questions from this one.  For example,  why can MIB see dead people and Jacob can't (MIB even sees dead boy Jacob)?  Did the mother "call" the ship there?  How long has she been there?  Don't get me started on how the underground wheel idea works?  If that seemed like it would work for MIB why didn't he try it once it was constructed later and go to Tunisia?  What does it mean that Hurley can see dead people like MIB?  Is the show implying that if all the candidates die, the light under the island will go out >> the light in all people will be extinguished, and lawless anarchy will rule the planet? We have 3 episodes left to find out....