So, I finally watched the Season 5 finale for lost this week, and I decided to share some of my thoughts about the episode with any other Lost watchers out there. I hope if any of you do watch Lost that you will share your thoughts about the show and what I am about to write.
The episode starts off with a pretty good scene, in which we finally see Jacob and meet his nemesis on the island. They have the following conversation:
JACOB: I take it you're here 'cause of the ship.
NEMESIS: I am. How did they find the Island?
JACOB: You'll have to ask 'em when they get here.
NEMESIS: I don't have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren't you?
JACOB: You are wrong.
NEMESIS: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
JACOB: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
NEMESIS: Do you have any idea how badly I wanna kill you?
JACOB: Yes.
NEMESIS: One of these days, sooner or later... I'm going to find a loophole, my friend.
JACOB: Well, when you do, I'll be right here.
This leads me to believe that these two individuals have special or godlike powers. As this past episode has been about "time travel", I wonder if these two individuals have essentially been playing the same chess game against each other, with the island as the game board and any occupants as the chess pieces. There are rules that must be followed, and it would appear that Jacob always wins, but his Nemesis is searching for the loophole that will result in a different ending. I believe that Jacob and the Nemesis represent free will and fate respectively.
Jacob also appears in flashbacks during the episode. He returns to the mainland and interacts with Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Locke, and Sun and Jin. In each of the scenes, he touches the characters. As we know that Jacob has special powers, I wonder if he is bestowing some special gift or power to each of the characters. Since he touches some characters before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 and some after they left the island for the first time, I don't think that he was "selecting" them to come to the island. There must be a greater purpose for him touching them. When he visits Ilana in the Hospital, he does not touch her, but only asks for her help.
Returning to the activities of the Survivors, Locke has turned into a badass and leads The Others to go visit Jacob. He also tells Ben that they are going there to kill Jacob, and Ben is going to do it. Back in 1977, Jack and the other Survivors head to The Swan site to detonate a hydrogen bomb in hopes of preventing the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 twenty seven years later.
Locke and Ben visit Jacob in the foot of the statue of the Egyptian goddess Taweret. While they are inside, Ilana's crew shows up outside and they show Locke's body to Richard Alpert and The Others. Thus, we quickly realize that the Locke meeting with Jacob is not the true Locke, as Locke is actually dead (dead is dead).
We then return to the fake Locke, Ben, and Jacob, where Jacob immediately recognizes fake Locke as his Nemesis.
NEMESIS: Hello Jacob.
JACOB: Well you found your loophole.
NEMESIS: Indeed I did. And you have no idea what I've gone through to be here.
Ben ends up stabbing Jacob, and before the Nemesis kicks him into the fire, Jacob says, "They're coming."
Back in 1977, the Dharma Initiative taps into the electromagnetic energy pocket right as Jack is trying to set off the bomb. He throws the bomb in, but it does not detonate. Everything metallic starts to get sucked into the shaft, including Juliet, who gets some chains wrapped around her. Juliet is still alive after falling into the shaft and conveniently lands next to the bomb. She slams a rock into the bomb and the screens turns white.
Regarding Jacob's Nemesis, we learn that he can assume other people's identities, as he not only took Locke's form, but he also has his memories. I think that the Nemesis is also the smoke monster, or Smokey as I like to call him. When Eko was killed in season 3, he saw his brother Yemi right before Smokey killed him. During this scene, we learned that Smokey is able to read the thoughts and memories of people.
Other characters, specifically Christian and Alex, have also appeared after their deaths. I would like to note that The Others and the Dharma Initiative bury the dead as soon as possible after their deaths. I believe that the bodies of the characters that have appeared post mortem were not buried immediately. The appearances of Christian and Alex were very instrumental in helping the Nemesis find his loophole. For example, Christian told Locke that he must leave the island and that he would die in his quest to get the Oceanic Six to return. The death of Locke makes his "resurrection" all the more surprising after the Ajira Flight 316 crashes on the island. Ben then faces Smokey in the temple and is visited by Alex. Alex threatens Ben that she will destroy him if he doesn't follow Locke's command. The Nemesis was able to use its various manifestations of the dead to direct the course of events that culminate in the stabbing of Jacob by Ben.
After being rescued from the island, Jack, Hurley, and possibly Kate all had visions of the dead. Could it be that Smokey appeared to them off the island? Smokey seemed to be more bound to the island, so I wonder if Jacob, who we saw off the island in flashbacks, is also able to take form of others.
Heading back to 1977 and the hydrogen bomb detonation, I think that there must be a connection between that event and Jacob stating, "They're coming." That statement seemed to startle the Nemesis. Had Jacob made plans to counteract the loophole? If the hydrogen bomb worked as Daniel Faraday theorized, Oceanic Flight 815 should arrive safely in Los Angeles. Did Jacob touch the survivors to allow them to remember the events that would have never occurred and allow/encourage them to return and save him somehow? Or was the flash after the bomb exploded similar to when Desmond activated the fail safe mechanism to destroy The Swan station in Season 2? Desmond did not die, although all that remained of The Swan station was a huge crater. Desmond also had the ability to predict the future and had some odd time travel occurrences. Thus, did the bomb detonation send the 1977 survivors back to 2007? Or did Jacob's touching them give them some other form of protection?
The Season 5 finale left us with just as many, if not more, questions as past season endings. There are still loads of unanswered questions that hopefully will be addressed next season. Why doesn't Richard Alpert age? Why did Claire warn Kate not to bring Aaron back to the island? What else does Desmond have to do on the island? Why weren't women able to conceive children on the island after 1977 at the earliest? What is the deal with all of the Egyptian imagery? Who are Jacob and his nemesis? What is the significance of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors? How is everything connected? When will we get to see Vincent's flashbacks? Is it all about quantum physics and electromagnetic energy? Are they in purgatory or trying to reach a higher spiritual plane? I could go on and on, but I guess I will just have to wait until next year. Feel free to leave your comments, theories, or any questions that you have about Lost in the comment section.
