What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread.

It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off.

With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost, should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry.

Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season enders or reveal as jaw-dropping a game-changer as, say, the finales of Season One or Three, but with "The Incident" we did finally get to see just what tapestry Team Darlton have been building toward.

So what did I think of the season finale? Put on your Dharma jumpsuit, take a swig of your sedative-laced OJ, sneak a peek inside the box, and let's discuss "The Incident."

Beginnings and Endings. I absolutely loved the season finale's opening which showed the enigmatic Jacob working on a tapestry depicting some Egyptian hieroglyphs before he catches a fish and shares it with a Stranger (given Jacob's Biblical name, let's call him "Esau") as they watch a ship in the distance heading towards the island. The ship, of course, is the Black Rock, although I'm still not sure just how it got onto the middle of the island from its perch on the ocean. Here, Jacob and Esau seem to be the literal embodiments of Good and Evil. Jacob believes in the innate goodness of man, in his right to choose, and of free will. Esau, on the other hand, believes that men are corrupt and inherently bad and that these latest visitors to the island will bring with them sin and war.

Together then, Jacob and Esau represent the two sides of mankind and of the universe itself: the Creator and the Destroyer. We see that Jacob is the Creator and this is shown via his actual handiwork, standing at the loom. Esau, on the other hand, is the Trickster, the destructive nature of the universe to tear down, to destroy, to murder... even if it's indirectly. Thanks to some fundamental laws on the island, Esau can't murder Jacob, but it's not for want of trying. However, in order to achieve this end, he must discover a loophole, a means of destroying the seemingly immortal Jacob.

And seemingly he does, though it takes him several hundred years to do so. It's still not clear how Richard Alpert fits into the picture here with Jacob and Esau, ageless as he is but it's likely that several of the island's strictest rules were created to avoid such a loophole that Esau, in his trickery, would look to take advantage of. Only the Leader could receive messages from Jacob, typically passed along by spiritual adviser Richard Alpert. And only the Leader could be received into Jacob's presence to obtain his instructions. (Aside: very interesting to me that it was Eloise Hawking, not Widmore, who was the Leader of the Others in 1977.)

Which is how Esau eventually manages to enact his vengeance on Jacob. If their Biblical names hold true, Esau's rage stems from the fact that he feels that Jacob has stolen his birthright. In this case, it would be the island itself. Jacob seems to be a largely benevolent presence on the island and has a seemingly unerring belief in what is Right but allows the denizens of the island to make their own choices. As Esau can't directly take action against Jacob (he would have stabbed him himself ages ago if he could have), he would have to persuade someone else to do so, to work on their faith and ego and vanity and force them to pick up that knife.

Time travel is a funny thing, particularly when you are diving around in the past. We tend to accept the world of time travelers at face value, as if they know the outcome of all possible actions. Richard Alpert, because he had run into John Locke at several points in the past, accepts the word of the seemingly resurrected Locke, who takes him and Benjamin Linus to the scene of the beechcraft in the jungle, where Locke is bleeding to death after being shot by Ethan. It is "Locke"--whom we later learn is Esau (more on that in a bit)--who tells Richard that he needs to give instructions to Locke: he will need to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island and he will have to die.

Of course, it's the perfect long con from a malevolent force that thrives on trickery and subterfuge: "Locke" has to know what he's talking about, thanks to the twisty logic of time travel, and in giving the real John Locke these instructions, Richard Alpert has unwittingly sealed Jacob's fate, giving Esau a form to use and allowing him to maneuver the pieces into position. This cosmic game of chess has been played for quite some time and with Esau's assumption of Locke's form, Esau finally moves Jacob into checkmate.

The Box. So what was in the box that Ilana and Bram were so hellbent on lugging all over the island, from Jacob's cabin--which they burn to the ground--to the foot of the Statue (again, more on that in a second)? It turns out that they discovered something very interesting in the cargo hold of Ajira Flight 316: the corpse of the real John Locke. It's a staggering reveal which has lasting implications for the series. Richard Alpert mentioned that he had seen many things on the island but he had never seen anyone come back to life... because Locke hadn't been resurrected. We assumed because his corpse was on the plane and he was seen on the beach that it was him but that was an erronious assumption. It's only fitting that the first shot we see of the "resurrected" Locke is him cloaked in black. Locke is dead and it would seem that dead really does mean dead on this series. The reveal of him within the box is clearly meant to echo the reveal in the Season Four finale, in which we learn that it's Locke who is in the coffin. By substituting a steel cargo box for a coffin, Team Darlton have been shouting at us all along to realize just what was inside.

Locke. So is this the end of John Locke? If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say no. I don't know that we'll see Terry O'Quinn channeling Esau for the remainder of the series but O'Quinn gives us a hell of a performance as the calculating Esau. I'd be really quite sad if the corpse is the last we see of the "real" John Locke and that his story ended under quite such tragic circumstances: he believes he is fulfilling his destiny, the one the island set out for him, by killing himself. That it's Ben who would kill both Locke and Jacob has to be significant; Ben and Locke seem to be avatars of Esau and Jacob, playing over the same story time and time again. He's pushed by his ego and rage in both cases to murder but I believe that both will be resurrected in either physical or spiritual terms. After all, Christian Shepherd--another Christ figure in this story--seemingly achieved life after death on the island. So why not Locke as well?

The Monster. Esau's long con was completely brilliant. After all, it's he who says that they have to summon the smoke monster at The Temple... and Ben's run-in with the monster leads to a face-to-face confrontation with Ben's dead daughter Alex. Or at least the monster in the guise of Alex. And it's "Alex" who tells Ben that he has to follow all of "Locke's" instructions without question, forcing him into a pattern of blind faith that leads to Jacob's murder.

That the smoke monster is aware of Esau's ruse makes me wonder if the smoke monster and Esau haven't been in league together this entire time. After all, one side is light (Jacob) and one is dark (Esau). Locke saw something in the jungle in Season One, the heart of the island, which he said was beautiful. I now believe that this "something" was in fact aligned with Jacob, rather than Esau's smoke monster. The smoke monster, with its Temple-based connections to Anubis, clearly belong on the dark side with Esau and he was able to masterfully manipulate Ben using the monster, which can impersonate the dead as we've seen with Yemi, Alex, etc.

The Statue. Last night's episode also gave us a closer look at the face of the island's four-toed statue and it is clearly NOT Anubis, the jackal-headed god who is the subject of the statue. Instead, the face on the massive statue appeared to be more akin to a crocodile than that of Anubis' jackal. If it is a crocodile, the obvious subject is therefore Sobek, the ancient Egyptian deity linked to the creation of the world. Given the previous discussion about Jacob being the Creator, it's a fitting visage for the statue, which appears to be where Jacob lives. And given Jacob's methods (the passing along of lists, instructions, and indirect assistance), it also fits given the mythological M.O. of Sobek himself, who often only was indirectly involved in situations rather than an active participant. Sobek has also at times been linked to the Egyptian sun god Ra. It's not the first time a sun god has been named on the series; the omnipresent Apollo chocolate bar is named for the Roman sun god...

What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue. We finally learned the answer to Ilana's riddle about what lies in the shadow of the statue. After Frank failed to have the correct answer and was knocked unconscious as a result, I began to wonder about just what answer Ilana wanted to receive. I didn't think that it would be Jughead or anything so concrete. Instead, the answer is the Latin phrase Ile qui nos omnes servabit, which translates to something along the lines of He who will save us all. The implication being that the "He" in that phrase is Jacob, who is connected to the statue, a benevolent and powerful deity who is pushing the pieces around the board.

Ilana. We see Jacob appear to Ilana in flashback as she lies in hospital, badly injured (from what exactly?), and he asks her for help. It's clear that the two have met before and Ilana is loyal to Jacob's cause... but just who are Ilana and Bram? How are they connected to the island? Are they former hostiles? Immortals like Jacob? We know that Jacob knew about Ajira Flight 316 (as it was he who instructed Hurley to get aboard the flight) and it was very likely Jacob who constructed Ilana's cover story in order to engineer Sayid's appearance on the plane. So are they followers of Jacob/Sobek? A cult that is designed to worship and protect him? It's interesting to me that the answer to the riddle was in Latin and that she referred to Richard Alpert by his Latin name, "Ricardus." Given that we know that the Others are all taught Latin, it stands to reason that Ilana's team are some sort of offshoot of the island natives, still loyal to Jacob off the island. But why burn the cabin to the ground? Hmmm....

Jacob. As for Jacob himself, it now appears that he crossed paths very intentionally with several members of Oceanic Flight 815, appearing to them at various points in their lives, often at critical moments that defined their characters. He turns up at the hospital, after Jack botches a spinal surgery and severs a nerve sac in the body of a young girl he and Christian were operating on. Afterward, he rails at Christian for humiliating him in front of his surgical team... and then receives the Apollo (aha!) bar he sought to purchase from Jacob himself. We see Kate as a young girl, with her friend Tom Brennan (who later is shot as Kate flees authorities) attempt to steal a New Kids on the Block lunchbox; Jacob prevents the store owner from calling the police and gives the lunchbox to Kate. Jacob also appears at Sun and Jin's wedding, giving them his blessing, and is seen (reading Flannery O'Connor's ''Everything That Rises Must Converge'') when Locke is pushed out of the window by Anthony Cooper. There, he touches Locke's shoulder and causes him to open his eyes, possibly even bringing him back to life. (That's what it seemed to me, anyway.) Jacob asks Sayid for directions in Los Angeles, mere seconds before Nadia is run over in the street by a hit-and-run driver.

He also appears to James Ford as a child at his parents' funeral as he attempts to write the letter to Anthony Cooper (a.k.a. Sawyer); he gives James a pen to continue writing the letter. And Jacob makes contact with Hurley after he is released from jail, waiting for himself outside in a taxi. It's the only time where Jacob's connection to the island is made clear to the person in question and he tells Hurley that returning to the island is his choice. He gives him a mysterious guitar case... the contents of which are still a mystery, as is why Hurley would need to bring this object back to the island. He also makes Hurley see that the ghostly visitations aren't a curse, but perhaps a blessing.

So what we have here is that Jacob went to great lengths to connect with these particular people and in all of the cases, he very noticeably touches them in some way, perhaps marking them or protecting them. His hand touches Jack's, his fingers graze James; he taps Kate on the nose; he touches Jin and Sun's shoulders; he softly grabs Locke's shoulder and he touches both Sayid and Hurley's shoulders as well. The fact that he makes physical contact is significant. After all, it's these people who remain alive on the island throughout everything that happens. I also believe that they are Jacob's chosen people, those who will rise up to stop Esau's plan, and he has marked them for this purpose. It's them that Jacob refers to when he tells Esau, "They are coming." (Which leads me to believe that Jack and the others will find themselves in 2007 on the island after The Incident.)

So what is the loophole by which Jacob can be killed then? By someone's hand other than Esau's? Or is it that Jacob has to allow himself to die? He offers Ben a choice, that he can either do what Esau has told him or he can leave. Yet when Ben rails against Jacob, revealing his hurt and anger for not being one of Jacob's chosen ones, never being allowed in his presence, and asking "What about me?" Jacob's reply, "What about you?" leads directly to Ben stabbing him savagely. Does Jacob willingly sacrifice himself as he knows that it is the right thing to do? Has he in fact somehow tricked Esau all along into believing that his physical death will be the end of him? Does he die for everyone's sins?

The Incident. I was glad to see that Miles was once again the voice of reason and (caustic) sanity on this week's episode. As Jack believes that they can use the bomb to somehow cancel out The Incident and thus prevent the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Miles believes that their actions may in fact cause the very thing they are seeking to prevent. Sure enough, Miles is right: by attempting to detonate Jughead's core inside the energy pocket, Jack and the others actually bring about The Incident itself.

The Incident isn't just the rupture of the electromagnetic pocket of energy, it's the combination of this energy with the hydrogen bomb, unleashing a wave of energy that leads to the Swan computer protocol and, yes, ends up causing the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. The past can't be altered but their presence there actually causes things to occur just as they always had. Jack and the others had always been in 1977 and had always caused The Incident itself. Just as Miles being there led to Pierre Cheng losing his arm (crushed when the electromagnetic pocket began pulling things in) and walking away with his life.

Juliet. I was completely heartbroken when Juliet got pulled into the pit by the electromagnetic energy. And while I assumed something awful was going to happen to Juliet (thanks to Elizabeth Mitchell's casting in ABC drama pilot V), I still didn't expect to get quite so choked up as Sawyer and Kate attempted to pull her out of the pit. Juliet has been a particular favorite of mine and it was brutal to watch Sawyer and Kate attempt to rescue her, even as she knew that she would have to let go. Sawyer and Juliet's relationship was always going to be doomed by tragedy, whether that would be the return of Kate, their decision to get off of the sub, or her letting go in order to save Sawyer's life.

But Juliet didn't die. Still alive at the bottom of the pit and in agony, she finds herself laying right next to the undetonated Jughead core. Knowing what she must do, she makes the ultimate sacrifice, picking up a stone and bludgeoning the core until it detonates, causing The Incident. And then everything burns to white. So is Juliet dead? Sadly, it does look that way, unless she's somehow pulled out of the time stream before she is incinerated by the blast. The fact that Jacob didn't appear to her in her flashback this week (which depicted her and sister Rachel as children learning that their parents were divorcing and discovering that love isn't forever) makes me believe that, sadly, this might be the very last we see of Juliet. Which makes me very sad indeed.

Bernard and Rose. Just a quick aside to say thank you to Team Darlton for giving us a glimpse at a very happy Bernard and Rose (not to mention Vincent) who have taken to living off of the land and staying out of the island dramas that have ensnared the others. The speech Bernard gave about just wanting to be with Rose, even in death, was absolutely poignant and profound. And it deeply saddened Juliet, who knew that she wouldn't be with Sawyer forever.

Sawyer. I think we've all been waiting for a nasty smackdown between Sawyer and Jack for five years and this episode didn't disappoint. It was a brutal, ugly, and vicious battle between the two rivals with Kate hovering between them the whole time. In a single stroke, Jack has torn down the life Sawyer has built over the last three years, a life that includes Juliet. And by coming back, by looking to erase the past, Jack has essentially spit on his memories. And, yes, I literally cheered out loud when Sawyer kicked Jack in the groin.

Jack. I think Jack wanted to escape the hardship and pain of the last few years, whether that meant somehow magically resetting their lives so that the plane landed in Los Angeles or obliterating all of them. That Jack would be acting on blind faith alone is at strong contrast with his character in the first few seasons. Did Locke's letter make him believe? Did he just want a second chance with Kate? Did he refuse to believe that what's done is done?

But life doesn't give us blank slates. We are the sum conclusion to all of our experiences, the good and ill that we've done in our lives, the choices we've made and those made for us.

So will the castaways find themselves back aboard Oceanic Flight 815? Or will they open their eyes and discover that they're on the island in 2007, about to face their toughest situation yet? Will Juliet and Sayid survive? What did you think of the season finale? And just what do you think the final season of Lost will hold for the castaways? Discuss.

The sixth and final season of Lost will premiere in 2010.