One Guy Calls Bullshit- they are not in purgatory or hell

Credit to the Good People at www.lostpedia.com for this one:

A. They are not in purgatory:
This theory has been repeatedly debunked by those steering the ship. See Lindelof's interview, Abrams' interview, and another Lindelof Interview.

B. They are not in hell
Unfortunately I'm currently unable to locate the interviews I've read that speak to this issue. However, lets examine last night's episode for some needed context.

1. Alpert is from (temporally) 1867 and (geographically) the Spanish Canary Islands. If there's a country this side of the Vatican that identifies itself with Catholicism, it's Spain. And as we saw, every single part of Alper's pre-island life was permeated with relgious symbolism and message. His keepsake of his late wife- a crucifix. His overwhelming desire for salvation. His desire for a clean soul to enter heaven. No fear of death- fear of religious damnation.

So naturally upon his examination by the smoke, MIB would be able to (using its snapshots/light thingie- same one used on Kate/Juliet) key upon Alpert's religious fervor and, as the first one on the scene (having killed everyone else) try to manipulate Alpert with what MIB knows will resonate- stories of hell and heaven, and entreaties for reunion with his beloved Isabella.

2. If they are in hell, why can they die? That was Jacob's point. I agree. Also, if they are in hell how do (a) people visit, (b) they communicate out in the current time and (c) people leave? You could argue nobody really leaves (Michael's time off the island brought him back, and Widmore just wants to go back. Who has successfully left for good? Nobody.)


Most importantly, however, this episode established some bedrock concepts for this season:

1. Jacob runs the island, and has for about 150 yrs

Jacob establishes the rules that apply to the island. He can't do anything that would reach further than the island (apparently, although this assumption is problematic given that he is to have fixed Juliet's sister's cancer off-island, but it's the best operating theory there is at the moment) but as long as he is in control of the island, he can bend certain on-island rules to his will.

Jacob has the power to bring people to the island. I've offered before that the island itself, being under the dominion of Jacob, does the "bringing"- the magnetic properties of the island, and the ability of the island to physically and temporally move steers ships, planes and people to the Island. Apparently a temptest brought the Black Rock. If Jacob was in such discrete control, maybe he could have done it without destroying his statue. Anyway...

Why is this important? Because we've seen MIB maneuvering to take out Jacob. They cannot kill eachother. They have to have pawns to do so. Smokey thinks it is his role to directly influence the survivors to kill Jacob. But up until this point, it hasnt worked. Why? Where is this going?

Jacob and Smokey seem to have an ongoing challenge of sorts. Smokey believes that “everyone is corruptible, because it is in their nature to sin.” Jacob disagrees, so they play out their theories with real, live puppets. Perhaps Alpert is the first of his breed- the first person to be discovered by MIB and not just snuffed, but to be manipulated, and influenced to go do what MIB can't- to kill Jacob.

But does that make sense? MIB seemed to have a routine down pretty pat. Probe the survivor. Figure out what his weaknesses are - religion, missing loved one. Starve/weaken the survivor. Then, be the saving force to instill loyalty, and then deploy your traumatized, brainwashed new buddy. Easy as 1-2-3. And wouldn't you konw it if Jacob was ready. Upon seeing a scraggly Alpert, Jacob didnt stop and say, "hey friendo. what's in your hand there? want to score some wine?" Nope. he kicked his ass. Why?
Because Jacob knew. So maybe Alpert was not the first. Maybe the change wasn't with Smokey, but with Jacob instead. By recruiting an ally, it seems, Jacob was able to teach some humans how to stay away from smokey, and live on the island. So why are we here, in this situation?

When the US millitary came to hang their nuke, everything was thrown out of balance. There are rules to be kept in alignment....more on that later. :)

To some basic assumptions:
1. Jacob considers the island to be a cork to keep Smokey in. If smokey gets out, judgment on all of humanity. Bad news bears.
2. Jacob has control over Smokey, and Smokey has to, at minimum, "kill" Jacob to wrest control.
3. It's not that simple. According to Jacob, if he is killed (meaning his literal, physical form is killed) he can just come back as another candidate. That's why Jacob needs to protect the candidates, and enlists Ilana for that purpose.
4. Thus, Smokey has to kill the candidates to achieve his stated goal - to escape. But...
5. Smokey can't kill these candidates. They have to kill themselves or eachother. (think about it- he tried to drag John Locke into the ground, didnt kill Kate/Juliet, and has otherwise had no issued bashing the fuck out of anyone else...why? gotta be a rule)


more to come....