L O S T fans!

[bradisntclever]

I don't know why, but I was really hoping for a moment when they just forced in the most ridiculous name possible (or even the blandest name possible) for Jacob's brother. At this point, they're just holding the name back for laughs. It would be way more entertaining to see people being forced to use some stupid name Cuse and Lindelof gave to that character.

Here's to still hoping they will eventually do that.

[Matt]

I claim that the smoke monster is not Jacob's brother, it just takes his form because he is dead.

That would mean that Jacob successfully killed his brother, which TJ said he could not. And is she a light monster? How did she kill all those people?

More importantly, how did she fill in that well/mine/cave overnight?

[Jeff]

I don't know why, but I was really hoping for a moment when they just forced in the most ridiculous name possible (or even the blandest name possible) for Jacob's brother. At this point, they're just holding the name back for laughs. It would be way more entertaining to see people being forced to use some stupid name Cuse and Lindelof gave to that character.

Here's to still hoping they will eventually do that.

No, they're not holding the name name back. (It's funny, Asaf said something like that, too). They're saying he doesn't have a name. When Jacob was born, he was named Jacob. When MIB was born, Claudia said she only had one name.

I was put off by a number of things in that episode, but I was amused that they stuck to their guns about keeping the Special Brother nameless. Yeah, I'm pretty sure The Man in Black is The Man With No Name.

[happywaffle]

Maybe they'll do it like in The Neverending Story: they made such a to-do over Bastion's dead mother's name, and at the climax he leaps to his feat, flings open the window, and triumphantly screams into the storm:

Bastion: "MOOAAHLLAAADDDD!!!"

Viewers: "…?"

[Jeff]

I also like how the death of the West Wing mom was similar to that of Jacob's death. Both characters seemed to have been around a long, long time, and were welcoming the reprieve of death.

(Also, on a probably unrelated note, in Genesis, Jacob--who had a twin brother, Esau, who was a hunter, while Jacob was a homebody, and btw Esau once vowed to kill Jacob-- had a son named Benjamin, whose mother died giving birth to him. Benjamin was a far cry from Jacob's favorite son, though. Jacob's favorite son was Joseph, to whom he gave a very pretty coat. Benjamin went on and founded his own tribe of Israelites.)

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

I claim that the smoke monster is not Jacob's brother, it just takes his form because he is dead.

That would mean that Jacob successfully killed his brother, which TJ said he could not. And is she a light monster? How did she kill all those people?

that was my guess. that both of her "sons" took over one of her roles, both as protector and as monster.

i had the same thought as Matt, but share your concerns insofar as he "killed" his brother. the only work arounds i can think of:

1) Mom lied about making it so they couldn't hurt each other (clearly they're capable of kicking each other's asses), but they believed it and have never tried.

2) since he didn't directly "kill" his brother, so much as knock him unconscious and send him floating, it counts as a loophole.

neither of these solutions appeals to me that much, so it's far easier to just think exposure to the big ball of glowy cave light stripped the EM field of MIB's soul and gave him new form as Smokey while rendering his old body as little more than meat and bones. any late game swerves of "i'm not REALLY your brother after all, mwa-hahaha!" would probably feel a bit forced at this point.

I don't know why, but I was really hoping for a moment when they just forced in the most ridiculous name possible (or even the blandest name possible) for Jacob's brother. At this point, they're just holding the name back for laughs. It would be way more entertaining to see people being forced to use some stupid name Cuse and Lindelof gave to that character.

Here's to still hoping they will eventually do that.

i'm with Jeff on this one, i hope he remains nameless. it plays in nicely to the themes of identity the show has explored...the Man in Black as much as anyone has allowed others to define him, which was made all the easier by the fact that he literally has no identity. he's told he is special, and so he believes it. that he is a liar, and so he becomes it. that the people he comes from are selfish, manipulative and inherently destructive, and so he not only embraces that belief about them but becomes that himself. likewise, he's defined by his rebellions against those definitions..."you can't leave the island! you can't be with those people! you can't kill your brother!" and so it's hardly coincidental that he should now assume the guise of another orphan who was told he was special, who allowed everyone else to manipulate how he saw himself, and embrace his ironic mantra: "DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!"

i find that far more interesting than, "oh. it's Bob."

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

also, if you put on the captions in Never Ending Story, the mother's name (and thus the Childlike Empress' new name) is clearly spelled out as "Moonchild."

i think i preferred the indeterminate scream. :p

[happywaffle]

I don't think Jacob killed his brother. I think he *thinks* he killed him, and will be mighty surprised when that big black column of smoke materializes as his brother and says "I'M BACK, BITCH!"

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

i think the only thing close to a problem i had with this episode is my slight preference that they'd left out the flashbacks to season 1 at the end. i know there are a lot of people out there who need things spelled out for them, but it would've felt a little more rewarding to be able to intuit the bodies as Adam and Eve and recall the rocks in the bag (or when people go back and watch the series from beginning to end, coming across the bag again after having more recently seen this episode and go, "OOOOOOOOH!"). so i get why they did it (or maybe the episode came in a little short and they needed to fill in a little time, lol), and it's not a massive problem so much as a minor quibble, but it would have been that much more powerful for me to put the pieces together on my own rather than be shown a diagram in big letters.

[happywaffle]

Maybe they just wanted you to reminisce about a time when you didn't hate Jack and Kate.

[bradisntclever]

I don't know why, but I was really hoping for a moment when they just forced in the most ridiculous name possible (or even the blandest name possible) for Jacob's brother. At this point, they're just holding the name back for laughs. It would be way more entertaining to see people being forced to use some stupid name Cuse and Lindelof gave to that character.

Here's to still hoping they will eventually do that.

No, they're not holding the name name back. (It's funny, Asaf said something like that, too). They're saying he doesn't have a name. When Jacob was born, he was named Jacob. When MIB was born, Claudia said she only had one name.

I was put off by a number of things in that episode, but I was amused that they stuck to their guns about keeping the Special Brother nameless. Yeah, I'm pretty sure The Man in Black is The Man With No Name.

I would be happy with this. It's harder to attach an identity to something that doesn't have a name, and clearly this thing can change its form at will.

[LuBu McJohnson]

Maybe they just wanted you to reminisce about a time when you didn't hate Jack and Kate.

Just Kate.

[happywaffle]

Heh, fair enough. I love Jack's character arc because he started as that more-or-less stereotypical reluctant hero, who everyone looks to as a leader, and who finds the strength to be one that he never knew he had…

…Except it turns out, no, he really is that flawed and whiny.

My biggest fear is that Matthew Fox really does think Jack is awesome.

[Jeff]

Maybe they just wanted you to reminisce about a time when you didn't hate Jack and Kate.

That is way far off the mark for me, man. I disliked Jack for the first four seasons of LOST. I finally started to like him in season 5, as soon as he stood up to Kate in the Dharma house kitchen that one time. Since then, I've loved watching Jack change and come to terms with a destiny that he doesn't understand.
And I don't recall a moment when I've ever liked Kate.

[Jeff]

the big ball of glowy cave light stripped the EM field of MIB's soul and gave him new form as Smokey while rendering his old body as little more than meat and bones.




the Man in Black is as much as anyone has allowed others to define him, which was made all the easier by the fact that he literally has no identity. he's told he is special, and so he believes it. that he is a liar, and so he becomes it. that the people he comes from are selfish, manipulative and inherently destructive, and so he not only embraces that belief about them but becomes that himself. likewise, he's defined by his rebellions against those definitions..."you can't leave the island! you can't be with those people! you can't kill your brother!" and so it's hardly coincidental that he should now assume the guise of another orphan who was told he was special, who allowed everyone else to manipulate how he saw himself, and embrace his ironic mantra: "DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!"

Yes, I agree. West Wing Mom said that one doesn't die when one goes into the Glowy Hole-- One's fate is MUCH WORSE THAN DEATH. So yeah, she was telling the truth that the brothers couldn't directly kill each other. Jacob just dispatched MIB's soul into the form of a Smoke Monster. What that MEANS, however, Set knows... seriously, what does it MEAN to be the Smoke Monster? Does it hurt?

And I quoted the stuff about the Locke/MIB parallels because I love that. That's an excellent observation, I think. Part of what makes LOST so lovable to me is that it's a crazy puzzle full of patterns and associations, from the blatantly obvious to the almost completely hidden.