My answer to Barry is to long for his comments, so I’m answering him here. If you haven’t seen this week’s show, stop reading now.
The leader/magnificent man is definitely “Jacob”. You think he is one of the following:
a) Sun’s father, Mr. Paik, the Korean businessman/crimelord – I say no to this option. Jacob is there on the island in some form and he would not have left Sun out of the “chosen ones.”
b) Locke’s father, Anthony Cooper, the recent kidney recipient who faked his own death – I like this idea because we are not done with his character, but I vote no because I don’t think Jacob is as clearly evil as Mr. Cooper.
c) Kate’s stepfather, Sergeant Major Sam Austen of the US Army – I vote no. Too insignificant a character.
d) Jack’s father, Christian Shephard, supposedly dead and in a coffin on the plane but the body was not there. – No, because he is dead, he wouldn’t leave his children out of the chosen ones and he spent too much time off of the island.
e) Desmond’s former girlfriend Penelope’s father, Charles Widmore, businessman. – No, because he isn’t on the island.
I prefer to think that it is someone we don’t know. I think the information on all the survivors came from computers connected to the outside world or someone with paranormal talents. I also think that the others are not clearly evil. I think it is a gray line that divides which group on the island is the good group and which is the bad group. All of the survivors have done some shady things in the past and since their arrival on the island. Have you ever seen the movie “Lost Horizon”? What if “Jacob” is unbelievably old and wise, but protecting their cult-like lifestyle? The others have been there a long, long time (four-toed statue) and the Dharma group only arrived in the 70s.
The French lady does things that make her look like a liar. How can she have never seen the farm or the village? Why did she use almost the exact same phrase that eyepatch man used when talking about the others? Why did she give Ben to the survivors? Why does she have such a flat affect? Why would we believe she killed everyone in her group and her infant would have been safe with her?
The fence does seem designed to keep out non-thinking beings.
Jack was rejected when he saw Kate in the cage with Sawyer. He decided that the crash survivors didn’t need him as much as the others (and Ben) need him. He is not brainwashed. He is looking for the place where he belongs. He sees a possible new love interest in Juliette. Maybe he feels that by being a part of the others he can keep them disinterested in the survivors. Maybe he just wants to learn more about them, like a “long con”. Yes, they are building up to a big battle (of wits?). In the end, some will leave the island and be different people than they were pre-crash. Others will stay on the island (dead and alive). Locke will never leave the island. Neither will Jack.
We are Lost junkies, aren’t we?
I just love it although it’s made me mad recently.
I’m sort of becomeing smitten again.
Gotta go read the guys you linked to feed my addiction.
Hope all is well in the east of the state.
‘coma
I just think, dramatically, judging by historical TV and motion picture drama, it’s too tempting to not have “Jacob” be someone that’s previously connected to one or more of the Losties. When you keep your big, bad villian out of sight and behind the scenes for so long, the ultimate reveal is a big letdown if we’ve never actually seen him before.
And there’s no reason “Jacob” has to be physically on the island – until the Pulse, he could have been communicating remotely with Ben and the Others, or through another liasion. As for one of the dads leaving their children off the list – we all know that all the dads and kids are estranged in one way or another, so I can see that.
That said, I think that Jack will discover some less-evil things about the Others and their motivations but they will still, in the end, be much more clearly “evil” than the Losties. Jack will become their leader and believe that he understands their motivations (especially after Daddy comes back into the picture, as I believe he will) which will put him at odds with the Losties. In the end he’ll realize the error of his ways.
Have to disagree here….It’s being set-up that the matermind behidn all this will be Widmore. I think both Desmond flashbacks pointed to this. Of course I have been wrong once, maybe twice in the past…
If it has to be someone we know, Widmore is the best choice, since the only thing we really know about him is his belief that people are either worthy or not worthy, which is similar to the others’ line of thinking.