…is equal to the love you take

Thanks to jackbushjohnson!

I’m of the same opinion as the writer below, especially on the good-evil/Jacob-Jacob’s not-twin brother issue.  It was my immediate reaction when walking the dog, discussing the Season finale of LOST that we had both just viewed.

I really hope Glatfelter is wrong about us “not knowing” if the Island went *poof* because that’s how I interpreted Juliet’s last whack at the bomb.

It would be doubly sad and stupid to get rid of Liz Mitchell and have her last gesture as Juliet be an epic failure./EDIT/ Now I have a little bit of time, I’d like to take Mr. Glatfelter’s review below and share my opinion.

Jay Glatfelter said:
We don’t know if Juliet succeeded in detonating the bomb; we don’t know the fates of anyone.

I disagree that we don’t know if the bomb went off. OK. We don’t really know but what we do know per Darlton is that we are “done with time-travel.” It is very likely then that the key players will find themselves back in the future. I’m not going to ponder it. It’s 95% a given.

And we do know the fate of someone. John Locke. He’s a corpse. We did not know that as it’s been a while since he appeared to resurrect though fans should have been suspicious that something was up when 1. We did not witness the resurrection and especially 2. Illana and crew have been carting a coffin-size box around.

All we really have is the somewhat cryptic, “They’re coming” from a dying Jacob. Jacob, the mysterious head of the Island, who we saw for the first time today as he was literally touching the lives of many of our favorite Losties. So let’s start off there. We open to a scene introducing the simple life with Jacob. We are also introduced to what seems to be an adversary/friend. He remains nameless but the striking divide between the two is one is wearing white (Jacob) the other black (Anti-Jacob?).

I am already getting theories that this Anti-Jacob is named Esau after the Genesis tale of Jacob and his brother Esau (Ee-Saw). It is a tale of the elder son Esau starving, selling his birthrights to his younger twin brother Jacob for a bowl of red lentil soup. Jacob also tricks his father Isaac (son of Abraham the founding patriarch to the Jew’s, Christians, Muslims, and founder of monotheism) to give his deathbed blessing to Jacob instead of Esau. Esau told Jacob that he wanted to kill him, for what he did. Jacob went on to be renamed Israel by God and founded the Israelites tribe. Esau formed his own tribe of people the Edomites, they became associated with Romans/Europe by Jewish history.

So is Esau (I’m going to call the Anti-Jacob Esau just because its nice to give him a name) evil? This episode pegged Jacob as the “Good Guy.” I’m just not sure. The “good guy-bad guy” lines have been thrown so many ways. I’m just not sure who to trust. Also, we found out that the self-assured re-born Locke doesn’t seem to be re-born at all.

That was some nice research into the whole Jacob-Esau story but  I don’t think Darlton (showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) truly care about such insight. I think one can take the overarching premise of black vs. white and is white truly good and is black completely evil and run with that. This then, though not really fleshed out in the past five years, will be what we get whacked over the head with in Season 6.

The second we saw Esau and his Jacob death wish, I feared that Locke, one of my favorite characters, was actually being personified by Esau. Is this a just end to one of our favorite and best characters on Lost? I think it would really upset me if the evil, conniving Ben actually ended the redemption of Locke’s character. That would just make his life a sad, pathetic mess, and after all he/we was/were put through. His character deserves far more than that.

I agree here with all of it. I think it was pathetic and unjust way to finish the character of Locke. I remember saying earlier in the season to  my spouse that it was so nice to see Locke confident again, that I’d missed “that” Locke. And now it seems he’s gone forever. RIP.

I still trust the writers enough to not lose sight of the fact that humans, while flawed, can be redeemed. There is only one season left and if I’m not mistaken, every original character’s island redemption has been thrown out the window by this episode’s close, aside from Rose and Bernard, who actually may have gotten it right by just living out their lives together. The reveal about where their characters have been and their life choice has all but solidified them as the “Adam and Eve” from the caves of Season 1.

I disagree here. I absolutely do not trust the writers of LOST. I stopped after season one. They’ve yanked us in so many directions and not come through when they’ve promised. Lindelof and Cuse to me are like a couple of carnival barkers when it comes to LOST.
I also don’t think 30 years time would be enough for Rose and Bernard to have become the mummified remains that Jack found in the caves and I don’t think R n’ B would have been in the caves to begin with based on their enjoyment of their “ocean view.” And besides, they may well live another 20 years or more.Then the Adam and Eve thing really does not work.I think we are supposed to stop asking about this one.

While I really enjoyed this finale and it had so many great moments and reveals, my biggest gripe is that nothing was resolved. The “Losties in Dharma Time” story has not been resolved as far as we have seen. We do not know if Faraday died in vain or not. We do not know the fates of any of the characters we love whatsoever. It’s all up to assumption. I understand this was the writers/producers choice, but this isn’t Season 1. We don’t have an unknown amount of seasons left. To me, the end of the finale last night wasn’t a true season ender. None of the themes from the season were resolved. At least in Season 1 we knew that they opened the hatch. As Season 5 is officially over, we don’t even know for certain if the bomb exploded or not. In Season 2, we found out what happens when you don’t push the button and that outsiders actually found the island. Season 3 we found out that some of our Losties made it off the island and they have to go back. For Season 4′s finale, we found out who was in the bloody coffin and that Ben was going to be a part of going back. While the Season 5 finale gave us so much in terms of answers, I think it left too little to resolve this season and set up its last. I would count this 17th episode of the 5th season as more of a 5.0 and next season as a concluding 5.5. Or to be more specific this season is the first half of the last act.

In the end, this season to me is the first half of the last act. Incomplete until we go into next season. If anything, this finale left a lot of plot left for its final season, but I don’t know if it gave enough plot to this season. I guess only time will tell. One thing we do know for sure: it’s going to be another long 8 months.

The first half on the finale was simply meh, the second filled to the brim with action but the Season 5 finale of LOST was very incomplete and ultimately, a disappointment.

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