Distractions

In Which It's Questions, Mothers, and Turtles All the Way Down, and the Monster and the Momma's Boy Perpetuate the Fight



Lost likes to answer its questions with questions. Most of us know that this is also the way that reality works, if we're in any way familiar with science or two-year olds. Most religions like to do away with asking any questions about origins by letting it stop at God. This last episode, we're faced with that uncomfortable endless cycle of questioning, and at this point I'm willing to let it stop at Damon and Carleton.

This was an origin story, but like all origin stories it couldn't really get all the way back, and for some this won't ever be enough of an explanation. It didn't help that our audience proxy, the cute and curious Little Boy Black, also wanted more of an explanation, something neither his mother nor Damon and Carleton were willing to give. "Where did I come from?" he asked, to which his mother replied, "from me." "Where did you come from?", to which the reply was "From my mother." Jacob, meanwhile, is relatively content and incurious. Little Boy Black of course was not satisfied with these answers, so instead changed his tack to "Why are we here? What's the reason?" to which we get a partial answer that of course merely means more questions.

To date, the weirdest moment was the Monster's confession to Kate of his issues with his mother. That was trumped by the reveal of the "reason". If I hadn't already survived several shark-jumping moments (including one nuke-the-fridge), this might have been a deal breaker. The mother takes her boys to a glowing cave. The first shot of it is a serious WTF moment. Her explanation of the cave and its bright, cheerful light is also slight, and other than its outward benevolent and strange appearance we can't really say what it is or whether it corrupts or heals people. We know that the boys' mother is a liar, keeping them in the dark about their real origin. So when she warns the boys off from going in, saying that fate is worse than death, the question remains if what is down there is just power or good or evil.

What sets Little Boy Black off from his brother Jacob is his desire to understand his situation. Rather than avoiding the other inhabitants of the island he rebels against his mother and runs off to join them. With them he helps them to dig wells and explore the depths of the island in order to find the source of the light, he learns about humanity and forms his own opinion, even if it does mirror his mother's. He wants to leave with them and live the life he would have had off island. Jacob, meanwhile, keeps his distance, staying with his mother, weaving and catching fish. There's a child-like or simpleton air to Jacob, for whom the seeds of dissent did not find fertile ground.

Both Boy Black's and Jacob's experience with people is woefully narrow. When Man Black has spent 30 years in the same tiny village of Romans he hates people as much as his mother does, but he has a certain attachment to them. Jacob meanwhile has talked to no one but his mother and Man Black, watching the activities of the village from a ridge. Their opinions of life and humanity in general are thus poorly founded, and continue to be poorly founded for the next millenium. Man Black has such a strong opinion that he won't be swayed, and since he cannot escape only ever has had on-island experiences. Jacob is not curious, and while he can be kind, ultimately does not know what it's like to care for anyone other than his family, one of whom died at his own hand. Neither of these people anyone would consider good for the job of protecting "the light within us all".

But that's kind of the point. No human would be good for the job, and even though Jacob and his brother are now entities of some other order, they started out as people. People that were also kept in the dark.  Questions on down. Man Black, however, was the only one of the two that felt he needed to ask questions. For Jacob there is no question, only that he needs to prove to his misanthropic and incorporeal brother that bright, warm light does exist in everyone, and that it does need to be protected. This is the only thing he didn't take wholesale from his mother. In his one fit of action, Jacob killed his brother. In his inaction he was bound to the island and a life of protecting it.