Lost Recap: "Across the Sea"

I would like to preface this post by saying that I am an incredible fan of the show (as if you couldn't tell by the fact that I devote my time to writing a blog about it). I think Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are two of the most brilliant minds in the world today. They have created a show that - regardless of its outcome - will go down as one of the greatest in television history.

With all that being said, I write this blog post with somewhat of a heavy heart as for the first time (in a long time), I have been incredibly let down by an episode of LOST. Don't get me wrong, episodes have disappointed me in the past, but none like this one. Maybe I'm personally guilty because of the fact that my expectations were at all-time high. It seemed like this would be the deep, explanatory, mythological episode we've all been dying to see. Alas, it wasn't meant to be (at least not for me). Before I go any further, I'll warn you now that this post is longer than my usual. Much more content to cover! So, without anything further, here's my recap of Across the Sea.

One is light, one is dark. Good v.s. evil. Black and white. Those are just a few of the themes that have been prevalent throughout the entire show known as LOST. After watching Across the Sea, I'm ready to go ahead and accept that all these concepts were just a big red herring (so to speak). LOST is not about good v.s. evil. It's not about things that are black and white; Across the Sea made things more gray than ever. It has made it absolutely clear to me that this show is about moral ambiguity and how "every man has a scale." Every man is capable of both good and evil.

It is truly something we should have seen from the first couple episodes of the show. We see characters with dark pasts (Sayid, Kate, Sawyer) come to the island to do both good and bad. We also have characters who come to the island as seemingly "good" people, only to commit unspeakable acts on the island (Michael, Jack, and even Locke to some degree). In addition, LOST has also been about truth and how there is seemingly no absolute truth. In other words, we are all, essentially, lost. 

I am definitely willing to hold off judgment until the series concludes; however, I'd be lying if I said this episode wasn't a disappointment for me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for heroic, epic battles of good v.s. evil because I am not at all pleased with the direction things seem to be headed. Why shouldn't the MIB be allowed to leave the island? All he ever did was search for the truth. His whole life he'd been sheltered and hidden away from all the truths in life. He only wanted to know what was "across the sea." Although he's taken many actions I don't agree with, it's hard not to feel a little sympathy for the guy at this point.

Even though we sympathize with him in some regards, it's hard to accept his ruthless killing of Eko, manipulation of John Locke, and slaying of Sun, Jin, and Sayid. Who are we supposed to cheer for here? Is there a right or wrong? Alas, there's no one to support, nor a right side to take. We are simply bystanders watching these characters struggle to find the truth...only to see them become further entangled within the infinite loop time after time, completely and totally lost. 

Speaking of sympathizing, what about Jacob? He seems like a jerk, but really, he is just a victim of Mother's lies. Forgive me if sound all doom and gloom today, but I just can't lie and say that I liked this episode. For starters, "Mother" said it best with the line, "Every answer I give you will only lead to more questions." Well mother, that's exactly how I feel. Although some may be satisfied with the answers given in this episode, I am not entirely pleased. I have a million more questions to follow them up with, which I suppose is part of the infinite web of searching for truth.

Despite all that, this is their story and they don't owe me anything. If a scene or event is done well, I'm not going to fault it just because it didn't go the way I'd hoped. However, there were many things in this episode that just felt contrived and frankly, not well done at all.

Let's start with "mother." First of all, who is she? Is she a goddess? Did she go through a candidate selection process like Jacob and the MIB? Maybe we're just meant to think of her as a protector of the island with divine, god-like powers. Ok fine, I'll go with that.

So Mother has taken MIB and Jacob as her potential candidates for taking over and protecting the island. As we observe MIB and Jacob during the early years, we see that Jacob takes believes everything that's told him. MIB, on the other hand, is curious and inquisitive about the world. I do have to wonder though, what if the island had decided to show Jacob his dead mother instead? Would he have have been just as curious?

MIB decides to go searching for the truth while Jacob continues to swallow every lie that Mother shoves down his throat, even though he realizes that she loves MIB more.

Next, what is she protecting the island from? You guessed it - a giant ball of light!!! This light is something that every man has, but it's also so great and powerful that every man wants more of it. Well doesn't that just make things crystal clear. You don't think so? Yeah, me neither.

So if that's the case, and the light is something that every man desires, then what's all this bull coming from Jacob about the island being a cork for evil? I thought the light was something every man desires and why would every man desire evil? After all, MIB is the one who believes that men are corrupt, not Jacob. You see? The rabbit hole just keeps going deeper.

We also learned how the smoke monster was created (or released?) and that was by - yep, you guessed it again - being shoved into the ball of light! Look, I'm totally fine with a vague explanation. After all, we've stuck around through polar bears, time travel, and moving an island so naturally, we shouldn't get upset when we learn that an equally unrealistic entity - a pillar of black smoke - was created by shoving a seemingly immortal man into a ball of light. HOWEVER, I do have a problem with there being absolutely no explanation in terms of the MIB's body washing up in a stream. Did his soul actually become the smoke monster or was it just released when Jacob cast his brother into the light?

Again, I'm withholding my final judgment until the series concludes, but the scenes throughout Across the Sea are events that often take a full season to come to an ultimate fruition.

Welp, it looks like this turned into more of a rant than an episode recap, but I guess I'll just leave it at that. What do you guys think? Am I being too hard on the episode? Were you satisfied with the answers? Maybe I will watch it again and give it another chance.