We tried to watch tonight on ABC.com and it was totally borked. If you’re still having trouble, try Hulu.
I think I have some of it figured out.
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The light in the cave are souls (birth, death, rebirth). Going into the cave strips you of your soul which is why the boys were forbidden to go there. It also explains why dead people are running around the island like outpatients.
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When Esau went through the cave (and since he is special) he became a type of anti-soul.
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While he was “locked up” in the cabin (why does ash work? “ashes to ashes” maybe?) the women were able to have babies. When he was released (sometime before the Losties arrived) his anti-soulness prevented souls from entering the fetuses (feti?) and thus the pregnancies ended.
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Esau is not evil and his desire to leave the island is not malicious but is a carryover from his time as a human. BUT, if he does escape then no baby will ever come to term in the outside world, thus the end of mankind.
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Baby Kwon is a special case (I’d have to check the timeline of her pregnancy) because the baby received her soul while off island.
What do y’all think?
I really like this theory. I’m adopting this as my working theory from now on.
I think those are good theories, but this one seems to contradict what Richard says about the MiB’s intentions. He seems to imply that the MiB will somehow actively negate everything in the world and is out to eliminate human existance. Of course, Richard has shown himself to be pretty clueless in his own way too.
Turning to another matter, in the present timeline the MiB gets to be really bothered by apparitions of a young boy. Do we know which of the two boys (young Jacob or young Esau) it is?
If it were young Esau, that’d support my theory that the MiB only thinks he is Esau, and the real Esau is dead (but walking around like all the dead people do on this island).
I’m becoming pretty well convinced that the reason that nobody ever answers any questions is because nobody actually knows anything.
That’d make sense except that the cabin was constructed by Horace, leader of the Dharma-ites. But why would Horace’s holiday cabin become associated with Jacob and/or MiB anyway, I don’t know.
the whole pregancy debacle is probably irrevelant. Jacob didn’t know what was going on, since Richard was going off island to find a solution. MIB is the only one who would know, and its probably as simple as he wanted no candidates and no one to keep him on the island. i’m sure its within his powers to sabotage a pregancy or two.
why the ash works?? same reason as the no killing candiates works most likely. Ash didn’t work when Dogan died. when Jin and Sun died the no killing candiates rule doesn’t apply either now it seems since MIB is going to finish what he started. Jacob being killed has allowed him to leave, everything seems to be tied to someone. kill that someone, the rule no longer applies. that game MIB was playing, he knew the rules. he figured out how to break them at last. the game has some significance?? maybe.
if MIB leaves, they all go hell. ATL is what i thought would happen if he left, but since memories are crossing over, its more of a parallel time line than a alternate??
if MIB was going to lay waste to humanity, that episode would have been the one to spell it out. or should’ve been. he just wants to leave.
though it’s been spelled out if he leaves they all go hell. the reason why should be spelled out. though it doesn’t look like its because MIB is a devil or wanting to enslave the world.
That should be Horace’s Holiday Hut. I hate it when I miss opportunities for alliteration
if you look at the imagery of the show, they’ve had the backgammon game the start , black and white stones, scales balancing, white stone being taken off. . . there is a balance there. now when MIB killed “mother” was he taking over her role?? was she the black part of the balance originally??
if MIB could get someone to take over his role, maybe he could leave unscathed??
i mean someone will be the next Jacob, the next white part of the balance, MIB is stuck as the black. Jacob didn’t say thanks for killing me, just what i wanted, the “mother” did though, she wanted out as bad as MIB so it would seem. . .
the credits said boy in black so i’m going with man in black not esau by the way.
Thank you. The whole “Esau” thing annoys the crap out of me (I am generally annoyed when everything has to be a Biblical reference, though.)
I only care about the third one.
I get why there’s so much frustration with this episode, but I love the theories and discussions that are coming out of it. That’s more interesting than an on-screen “here’s how everything works” sort of resolution. No matter how great you imagine that explanation might be, it’s bound to disappoint a bunch of people.
My feelings about the show all season have shifted dramatically from “WTF!!!” to “Huh. So that’s the way they’re going…” I’m just along for the ride, really.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought Darlton were explicit in saying that both timelines are completely and equally real. That says ‘parallel’ rather than ‘alternate’ to me. In fact I think they strenuously object to calling the Sideways “alternate.”
I think lost has the potential to pull a The Prisoner on everyone. That show ended with a very bizarre twist ending, leaving most viewers confused.
There’s actually a big problem with a very specific resolve - it has to be bloody amazing or it’s bound to disappoint someone. And shows that end ambiguously tend to live on in the public imagination. People will still be talking about what Lost meant twenty years from now if they leave it somewhat hanging. If they tie a neat little ribbon around it, the audience will go, “eh” and forget about the show.
So my money on us getting a nice little resolution about the lives of the specific characters, but the overarching plot of WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON will be left somewhat ambiguous.
I don’t think he was ever locked in the cabin, he was rather locked out. It seems pretty clear to me that given the timing of on island pregnancies that were successful, that the Incident and it’s resultant outpouring of energy is what caused the ending of pregnancies conceived on the island. In any case, the ash line was intact long after the Losties arrived and we didn’t see it broken until Ilana arrived. Certainly we’ve seen the smoke monster since the pilot.
I’m the same. Happy to be swept along by the adventure, and my curiosity piqued by the mysteries. It’s fun to speculate and wonder, and I look forward to see how it finally resolves.
There will undoubtedly be some mysteries left unsolved, but I trust that 80% of the answers will have been planned from the start, and therefore I will accept them no matter how lame others may think them.
After reading your post, I mentally added a small “duuude” at the end.
Look, it’s not the fact that there’s magical unexplained shit that bothers me. What bothers me is that the magical unexplained shit has been:
a.) framed with bad storytelling
b.) used by the producers to string viewers along as though these things were mysteries that might be figured out and would be eventually revealed.
Cf. L.A. Story. I *love *this movie. And it’s full of magical unexplained shit. But it’s a wonderful story, well told. It also doesn’t pretend to be CSI or Agatha Christie, leaving coy little clues all over, teasing with possible explanations and characters who ought to know what’s happening and why.
As for Jin, that is a great example of very elementary bad storytelling. If you’re writing a poignant scene full of human emotion, you want the audience to connect with it and feel what the characters are feeling. If there’s a reaction that many if not most people would have in that situation, you have to address it. They could have maneuvered Jin into staying, but they should have done it by addressing and disposing of the “what about our daughter” issue, not ignoring it.
It’s turtles all the way down. 
True, but movies are paced a little differently than a six-year serial. They are going to have to have a severe change in pacing to get done plus leave room for a little denouement.