A week after the LOST finale, and every single day I always find myself discussing it at great lengths with my fellow Lostie cousin @nenane. And every single day, we come to a new understanding of what the show seems to be about. It's been one amazing journey, and I thank you, J.J. and Darlton, for taking us on such an amazing ride.

THE ISLAND

I remember sometime in the early seasons (either Season 2 or 3) that someone asked the creators if the island is purgatory. Their answer: "No, the island IS NOT purgatory." And in the end, they did tell the truth, contrary to the present popular belief: The island is not purgatory, but the Sideways World is.

It was said very clearly at the end of the finale by Christian Shephard to Jack:

"I'm real, you're real, everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they're real too."

So how much clearer does it need to be spelled out for a whole bunch of non-believers and haters out there who don't get it? THE ISLAND IS REAL, VERY REAL. But what exactly is the island, that's one question that I still don't have a clear answer for. I think all this time I've been dwelling on the island from a very wrong point of view. We've been overanalyzing every single bit of detail way too much in LOST, it's very ridiculous, really. Sure, there were a lot of symbolisms and metaphors, but we ended up analyzing every piece of alphanumeric that appeared on one scene, trying to see if they have anything to do with 4 8 15 16 23 42 108 etc. I don't even know how this overanalyzing phenomena started, perhaps it's just a natural fandom behavioral pattern. The fandom is always analyzing every single element in each episode wondering if it foreshadows on something in the future, what the numbers represent, that eventually, I started wondering what the island represents in itself, what is it really a metaphor of?

But it's really not about the island. It's about the characters and their journey. More particularly, I agree with Jimmy Kimmel, I think the entire series of LOST is really about Jack Shephard and his journey. It started with Jack, and it ended with Jack. He's the obvious choice, and it was him in the end because it had to be him.

However, for me, I still need to understand what the island is anyway in order to fully understand Jack's journey. So I'm gonna settle with this: I think it's been revealed to us in 'Ab Aeterno' where Jacob explains to Richard what the island really is by comparing it to the wine bottle and its cork. Richard said that the island is hell, but I think the island itself is not really a manifestation or a metaphor for hell. It is simply just an island, but a special island. I think the term "Protecting The Light" is a little misleading because it's really not "The Light" that needs to be "protected". What really is a Guardian's job description is to ensure that the "cork" is never pulled out. I think "The Light" is really just an indicator that the switch is in the right place. Light on: s'all good. Light off: BAD BAD BAD.

Rewatching 'Across The Sea', I realized that this Lostie situation has been going on for eons. People crashing onto the island and became candidates or guardians. We learn that Mother was the original guardian (that we know of), she probably also formerly had a life outside the island and was brought there by the previous guardian. There were probably other candidates with her but she was the chosen one.

I also think that each Guardian sets different rules for the island and how things are done. Mother set the rules for her two candidates, Jacob & MIB, so that they could never harm one another. Jacob, as Guardian, didn't take on this rule. His candidates can kill one another, but one of his rule is that MIB can't harm any of his candidates. Jacob passed his "guardianship" to Jack by giving him water in a cup that has been prayed upon, which is a ritual quite similar to Mother, except that Mother gave Jacob wine in a cup that has been prayed upon. But when Jack passed over his guardianship to Hurley, he didn't use a cup, neither did he pray upon it. I think that if Jack had decided that the ritual be dancing naked and doing backflips, that would've worked too. The rules are that of the Guardians. It can be whatever they want it to be.

Although, I'm starting to wonder what exactly the Guardians are protecting the Heart of the Island from? Will pulling out the cork unleash evil into the world, or is it merely an apocalypse switch? What makes me wonder about this is when I started rethinking about MIB and Smokey. I wonder if MIB and Smokey are actually one and the same entity, or are they different entities which are: The MIB that is Jacob's Brother, and Smokey the darkness that lies in the Heart of the Island. After much pondering, I've come to a conclusion that what works the best for me is:

Scenario 1: They're Both The Same Entity
If MIB Jacob's Brother and Smokey are indeed one same entity, meaning Smokey was a result of what happened when MIB's body hit the electromagnetic source. Smokey was a result when the darkness inside MIB (from his rebellion of Mother and his longing to get off the island) separated itself from the body and manifested itself in the black smoke. In that case, what was Mother really preventing from happening if the island switch was turned off? I was led to believe that the whole point was to prevent Smokey from leaving the island because it would be catastrophic. But before MIB was even born, what was Mother preventing from happening? Which led me to believe, the island switch is really just an apocalypse switch. When the switch is turned off, the island starts shaking and will eventually sink into the bottom of the sea. I believe that this will happen to the rest of the world. So what it is really, is a switch that is going to destroy the world. By turning it off, it will cause the rest of the world to implode, perhaps like how Vulcan imploded into the black hole in the Star Trek movie.

Why don't I think that MIB and Smokey are two different entities? Because the "rule" that Mother imposed upon them that they couldn't harm one another still applies. Which tells me for sure that the smoke thingy is definitely Jacob's "lost" brother.

So what about the Dharma Initiative, the numbers, the statue of Taweret? That is pretty unclear. To me, it's merely something that makes everything about the island's universe and mythology as a whole. The numbers are probably just Jacob's numbers, and the fact that it manifested itself in Hurley's life as lottery numbers is probably just one way for Jacob to lure Hurley into the island. If you think about it, it makes sense in a way because in the end, Hurley is the one who took Jacob's place as the new Guardian.

And I also came to wonder about why Kate was eliminated as a Candidate? Jacob eventually told her that she was crossed out because she became a mother to Aaron. I think perhaps this is not just a rule that Jacob made, but it is a rule that has been predetermined long before any of the Guardians came along, perhaps something that we will never see or know in depth about. I think Kate's elimination from Candidacy definitely tells us something in relation to why the island rejects conception and pregnancy that happened on the island. Perhaps it's a carnal rule of the island that no mother shall be a Guardian, let alone a Candidate. When Claudia crash landed on the Island, Mother could've named her a Candidate, but instead she took Claudia's two babies as Candidates and smashed Claudia's head instead. Although Mother herself became... a mother, but she was already Guardian long before the two babies came along.

To wrap up about the island:
It's a special island, and it is shrouded with past mysteries wrapped in a very intricate mythology that we may or may never learn in great detail about. But it's very, very real. And even though learning about the Sideways World we realize that the key to the entire series of LOST really lies in the characters, their relationships with one another and their growth as a whole, it is foolish to disregard the island and all its mysteries entirely, because everything that happened on the island really plays a huge big role in these characters' lives. These are all very flawed and broken people who no longer had lives in the outside world that had any significant meaning (at least to them). The island called out to them, changed their lives, and if it weren't for what their journey together in the island, then the Sideways World wouldn't have existed at all.

Next:
The Sideways World

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