Getting “Lost”: “The Incident” Review

By Mike Frey and johnnysweeptheleg

Going into last night, we felt we had a pretty good grasp of what was going on in the Lost universe. This morning? Not so much. It appears that the dynamic of the show is going to change once again — and not just in a “hey, we’re going to start seeing flash-forwards instead of flashbacks” kind of way. The series began with a power struggle between Jack and Locke, which then escalated to Widmore vs. Ben. Well, the undercard seems to be over, and now we get the title fight: Jacob vs. … some new guy in a black shirt who may be Jacob’s brother and might be named Esau. (Read the Bible, people. Or at least Wikipedia.)

There’s sort of a Trading Places vibe going on, with Jacob continuing to summon people to the island, knowing full well that they will fight one another and die. He seems to see it as an experiment in human nature, but it only pisses off black shirt guy — or Mortimer to Jacob’s Randolph. And this time, the stakes seem bigger than a measly dollar. But enough about the Duke brothers. Let’s read what johnnysweeptheleg has to say.

johnnysweeptheleg’s Lost in a Moment

After hearing about Jacob for numerous seasons now, we finally get to see him. Turns out, he’s the island’s Forrest Gump, appearing at a historical event in each castaway’s life. I guess it makes sense. After seeing him standing at the feet of the ginormous (in its entirety) statue, Jacob has obviously been around for a long, long time. In this time, he’s earned lots of frequent flyer miles and has decided to cash them in with these visits to the Oceanic passengers throughout their lives. Our personal favorite is the wedding of Sun and Jin, where Jacob congratulates the love birds in perfect Korean. Neither knows who he is, though. I was waiting for Jin to turn to Sun and be all, “Who was that? Was that Owen Wilson? Wedding Crasher!”

Turns out Jacob has a frenemy on the island, though, who vows to find a loophole and kill Jacob. Well, at least he’s honest about it.

In present time, Richard finally asks Locke how it is that he’s still alive, despite being murdered. Locke responds that it’s probably for the same reason that Alpert never ages. Richard leans in and whispers, “Maybe it’s Maybelline.” Or Jacob. While they’re comparing anti-aging and dying techniques, Ilana and her Ajira team begin their descent to the statue. Thinking that Frank could be a “candidate” (whatever THAT means), they decide to show him what’s in the box. And every Seven fan yells, “It’s Gwyneth’s head!”

Of course, 30 years in the past, the Oceanic crew work through their own problems. It’s no surprise to anyone who watched the previews following last week’s episode, that Juliet, Kate, and Sawyer change their minds and make the captain resurface the sub. All wishy-washy, they decide to stop Jack from blowing up the island.

Speaking of Sayid, who looks like Tony Stark working on his Iron Man outfit, he is elbow-deep in removing the hydrogen bomb’s core to make their impending job easier. Once complete, Alpert finds one of the six billion secret passages on the island. Seriously, it’s like an ant farm beneath that island. This one leads to the basement of a Dharma house. Eloise wants to go all guns-a-blazin’, but Alpert knocks her out. He says Jack and Sayid have to fend for themselves. So they throw on some Dharma jumpsuits and attempt to blend in with the other Dharmites who are fleeing the island. But Roger Linus spots Sayid, realizing he’s the one who shot his son, and returns the favor. Reservoir Dogs ensues, but Hurley drives up just in time to rescue Jack and Sayid.

Let’s take a breather, for a moment, though, and jump back to the future. Locke discovers Ben’s dirty little secret, that he has to do everything he says because of what his dead daughter told him. He makes him hop on one foot. Then kiss the next door girl, who has cooties. This makes him happy, as convincing him to kill Jacob just became a lot easier. By now, Ben looks more beaten down than when Sayid played Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out on his face back in the hatch days. He admits to never seeing Jacob, and just talking to an empty chair back in the middle of the jungle and being a big phony. But why does this mean he should be the one to kill Jacob? Locke reminds him that he got cancer, watched his own daughter die, and then got banished. All without ever getting to meet Jacob, despite being the supposed island leader. Why wouldn’t he want to kill him? Wow. Locke is sounding a lot like the old Ben, these days, with his mind games. As they arrive at the base of the statue and Team Ajira make their way to the same location, we bounce back to the ’70s.

Sawyer and his harem of ladies arrive back on the island to find Rose and Bernard, three years older and having become hippies living off the land. All that matters to them is being together. They point Sawyer and his ladies toward the barracks, offer them tea, and once Sawyer’s crew leaves, make passionate tantric love for hours and hours on end.

Kate, Sawyer, and Juliet meet up with Hurley’s van of runaways. Sawyer attempts to change Jack’s mind by telling him all about watching his parents die as a child. He tells Jack that he had the chance to go back and change all that, and he chose not to because what’s done is done. They need to do the same. When words fail, he begins using sign language … by pummeling Jack with his fists. Juliet jumps in and tells her she’s changed her mind yet again, and that Jack’s right. They need to try undoing all this. Turns out, Juliet saw the way Sawyer looks at Freckles, and changed her mind.

It’s about that time when Jack spies Radzinsky’s team, who has just tapped into the energy source. Seeing there isn’t much time left and looking like one of the Ghostbusters, Jack scurries to the Swan with bomb fully backpacked. But Phil and friends have arrived with reinforcements, and Jack is overmatched. Luckily, Juliet convinces everyone to get Jack’s back and all hell breaks loose. Sawyer holds Phil at gunpoint, which allows Jack time to drop the bomb. But it’s a dud. Nothing happens. Way to go, Sayid! LOSER! Instead, the energy source begins sucking everything in, just like the time the hatch blew up. Phil gets impaled and Jack gets knocked out by a barrel. Unfortunately for Juliet, she gets sucked into the hole despite Kate and Sawyer’s best efforts to save her. See, you can tell this was before Baby Jessica, otherwise there’d have been a grate over that thing. Lucky for the island (or unlucky as we may find out next season), Juliet survives the fall and comes to rest next to the bomb. After a few smacks with a rock, she finally sets it off, leaving one of those time flash white lights.

Sure, some may consider that the big “what happened?” moment, but 30 years later, Alpert’s team appears to have a situation of their own on their hands.

Locke takes Ben with him into Jacob’s temple. While they are inside, Ilana appears with her Ajira friends outside. They ask Ricardos the riddle nobody else has been able to figure out, and he responds in perfect Latin. Ilana likes what she hears and wants to show him her box. Y’know, the box they’ve been carrying around all over the island. They open it, to reveal the body of John Locke … still very much dead. And, you guessed it, it causes us to WTF in our pants. So if that isn’t Locke who has been leading the island, who is it?

Well, looks like Jacob’s foe finally found his loophole. Ben finally gets his meeting with Jacob, who realizes that Faux-Locke has gotten into Ben’s head. He tells Ben he has a choice, no matter what Locke has said to the contrary. But Ben is finally being filled with a feeling of purpose again, and let’s off on him with a verbal assault. So now you choose to talk to me, when for 35 years I was ignored, despite being given orders and told to wait with patience, says Ben. He asks Jacob what’s wrong with him, to which Jacob answers a question with a question. Sorry, wrong answer, McFly. Ben pounces Jacob and repeatedly stabs him, with Faux-Locke adding insult to injury by kicking Jacob’s lifeless body into the fire.

What impact will this have on the island? What will happen when Faux-Locke and Ben leave the temple to find Alpert with the Ajira crew? What happens back in the ’70s after the bomb is detonated? We can WTF ourselves to death if we really want to. But none of it will do us any good as we have to wait until 2010 to get any more answers.

Questions Answered

Why does Locke want to kill Jacob? This is a tough one to answer. We don’t know why, but we know that he has wanted to do it for a very long time — and that he’s probably not the real Locke.

Will Richard Alpert and Ben allow Locke to continue to lead the Others? He has up to this point. After seeing Locke’s corpse — and presumably Jacob’s — we’re guessing he’s about to change his mind.

“What lies in the shadow of the statue?” “
Ille qui nos omnes servabi.” Or, for those who don’t speak Latin, “he who will protect/save us all.”

How do Ilana and her crew know about the statue — and who sent them to the island? Jacob asked Ilana to help her.

What’s in the silver crate? Not what — who. Locke.

Why would Richard Alpert have to check with Charles Widmore and Ellie before saving Ben? Because Richard is just an advisor, while Charles and Ellie were leaders.

What is the deal with that giant four-toed statue? It’s Jacob’s house. He lives in the basement.

How and why did Hurley get on the plane? (A visit from Charlie perhaps? It would explain the guitar case.) Jacob paid him a visit and gave him the case. We’re still waiting to see what’s in it.

Who (or what) is Jacob? Presumably, he is the one who will protect/save everyone. And he’s played by Mark Pellegrino.

Who are the people on Ben’s list, and why are they on it? They’re on it because Jacob put them on it.

New Questions To Be Asked

What happened as the result the explosion?

Is Jacob’s enemy his brother? (And is he named Esau, like Jacob’s brother in The Bible?)

What exactly is the “loophole”? (Is Jacob’s enemy somehow inhabiting Locke?)

Who really controls the smoke monster?

Just before dying, Jacob tells “Locke” that “they’re coming” — who are they?

Why has Jacob made it so that Richard Alpert does not age?

What happened to Ilana before she was first visited by Jacob in the hospital?

Why did Ilana burn down Jacob’s cabin?

When the episode ended, why did we get a white screen with black letters spelling LOST, as opposed to the inverse, which has been the standard for five seasons?

Photo: Credit: Mario Perez/ABC