The Scrabbled: Making Fun of Each Other since '99

With the last bit of Jacob’s influence sprayed across the trees in a fine pink mist by an arrogant dynamite mishap, the good guys finally have the freedom to influence events in their own ways.

Hurley’s peculiar nobility as a character always stems from his struggle to clamp down on his often innocent appetites for the sake of doing what he thinks is the right thing. Blasting the Black Rock back to the gunpowder age wipes a major weapon off the map, which plays into his weird brand of pacifism (which is followed up with a non-violent detente between mortal enemies). As for Jack, quietly putting some trust in Hurley is one of the single biggest growths he’s made in the entire run of the series. These are the mature moves of men who lament the blood they’ve seen shed for this ridiculous little piece of rock, not the fevered gambits of guys with a religious Jacob jones.

Desmond, possibly the most powerful man in all possible universes, is more than happy to embrace that evangelism. He’s tearing around twin worlds like a shiny new Jacob-Incarnate, cutting a seismic swath across the alternate universe while opening minds and severing spines. Jacob was content to touch a shoulder or offer a candybar… Desmond will run you down with his car and stalk you like a bad ex-girlfriend. I guess the stakes must be very high indeed.

I liked this episode a lot, especially from the different shifts in tone/atmosphere. Alternate-Hurley’s Citizen Kane styled montage was absurdly goofy, Illana’s death a gee-whiz release of nervous tension, and the whole business with the Man in Black insanely creepy. The show has always taken pains to present the smoke monster as an obscenely powerful force of destruction, so Terry O’Quinn brilliantly avoids overplaying his hand. He’s seething menace when he beams that quiet, undead rictus grin over the torchlight. When Jack sees this after walking out of the trees, you get the impression that he wants to run screaming in terror in the opposite direction. Can’t blame him.

Other stuff:

• The Whispers get explained, albeit in a mildly hamfisted way. I’m not sure what to make of the legion of invisible dead littering the Island and if they’re supposed to represent another axis of power. Like everything else on the show, I’m sure they have their own agenda. It DOES make sense that the Man in Black would be able to take the forms of the dead as well, since so much of his power seems to relate to taking an existing thing and perverting it.

• It was fun to see the Man in Black’s godlike confidence falter when he saw that Desmond didn’t fear him. I’m guessing he throws Desmond down a well in the hopes that the electromagnetic energy will cancel out his powers for the time being.

• Ben can’t help being a weaselish little self-appointed protector of things, even in a school parking lot.