LOST Series Finale Jacob Explains, One Episode Remains

Tonight's episode of LOST was unique in that numerous questions were answered, instead of a teaser or two. The audience is slowly but surely learning who Jacob is, and who the unnamed brother is; a pair of twins who seem to be the balance and war between light and dark. Of the six names in chalk on the cave wall, only three survivors remain: Jack, Sawyer, and Hurley. In tonight's episode, one of them stepped up to take Jacob's mantle as the protector of the Island.

We always knew Jack was the Golden Boy.

"Locke," aka the smoke monster, aka the unnamed brother, continues on his mysterious quest to leave the island. Repeatedly, cast-aways are informed that Locke leaving the island will result in their ultimate doom; in contract, we see that the alternate-reality continues to seem like the better-case scenario for the cast-aways we've come to know and love over the past several seasons.

It seems that the line between good and evil, dark and light, is not so obviously drawn in the sand after all. Jacob, and "Locke," are both unlikely exactly what they seem. Jacob touched the lives of each cast-away, whose lives in the alternate reality have still intertwined but with much more successful results. Jin and Sun, whom we saw meet an unfortunate watery fate the week before last, are alive and well with their daughter; Sawyer turned to a life of order, instead of a life of crime. Considering Jacob seemed to guide these LOST souls towards the Island for selfish reasons, it's difficult to conclude he is simply "light" to the darkness of the apparently-incorporeal "smoke monster."

ABC is promising that the finale will be the "event of the decade," and considering the success of LOST I imagine it will prove to have an overwhelming viewership. I doubt, however, that all answers will be relieved-not with the potential for movie deals at a later time.

I will certainly be turning-in for the finale event (especially since spoilers will be impossible to overlook immediately following), and I sincerely hope that ABC leaves the audience with enough questions answered to appease us all-for now. The LOST season finale is scheduled for Sunday, May 23rd, at 7/6c on ABC.

Sources:
ABC, "Official Site of the ABC network"