“Every question I answer will simply lead to another question.”

So I think that my problem with “Across the Sea” is not really the episode itself – which wasn’t thrilling, but solid – my problem was the placement in the season. I think it probably would have worked better very early in the season or as a direct lead-in to “Ab Aeterno.” Because it wasn’t really an emotional story (since I have no real love for Jacob/MIB/their mother), it broke the momentum of last week’s emotional roller coaster. I’d be curious to rewatch season 6 with this as the second ep of the season (and maybe even throw “Ab Aeterno” on right after) before diving into the rest of the episodes.

But that’s not to say that “Across the Sea” was a bad episode. The only thing that I really, really hated was the irritating cut to Jack/Kate/Locke discovering the Adam and Eve skeletons. I think, after 6 seasons, the writers should be able to trust their audience a bit more.

I think the episode picked up considerably after Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver showed up. The kid actors weren’t awful (and visually they did a really good job casting young Jacob), but I didn’t think they were particularly compelling.

So here’s my understanding of what we learned:

There has always been someone to protect the Island. Eventually his/her time ends and he/she has to find a replacement. I wouldn’t be surprised if women who conceived on the Island always died; that it’s just something that the Island does not allow. This is why so many pregnant women have been drawn to the Island and perhaps why the Others were so interested in children – maybe you have to grow up on the Island to be a suitable candidate. (I know there is a hole in this argument, but I’ll address it later.)

So Mother (because I have no other name for her other than Allison Janney) is on the Island and draws a bunch of people to her. One is pregnant and she needs her because her time will be up soon and needs a successor. However, she wasn’t counting on twins. She obviously can’t let the woman go back to her people because Mother does not want to be discovered, so she kills her and raises the two boys as her own. (I’m fine that MIB is not given a name for us to hear, but I do wonder if she ever gave him one.)

MIB eventually tires of his life on the Island – aided by visions of his real mother (the first of the Whispers, I assume). He goes to live with the other people on the Island and helps them attempt to exploit it. In living with these people, he deduces that man is inherently evil. Jacob stays with his mother, but MIB is never far from his mind and spends time watching over MIB and his people during which he deduces that even though full of faults, man is inherently good. Jacob is resentful that MIB was/is his mother’s favorite and her true choice to guard the Island. MIB’s curiosity has led to his corruption – he would not have chosen to protect the Island even if he was asked.

When she realizes her time is up, Mother stops MIB’s attempted exploitation of the Island and kills everyone in his camp. When MIB discovers what she has done he kills her. She thanks him for killing her – does she have to be killed for Jacob to actually be able to take over? Jacob then discovers what MIB has done and throws him into the heart of the Island – knowing both that this is what MIB always wanted and that his mother told him that doing so would be worse than death. The smoke monster is born. (Or was it re-born? Was Mother both Island protector and smoke monster before this?)

Jacob later finds MIB’s body and places it with his mother’s in the cave with the stones from MIB’s game, thus providing us with our Adam and Eve. (I still kinda wish that it had been Rose and Bernard, but I suppose this does make more sense.)

Sometime after this, they decide to play another game, this time by Jacob’s rules. As in the past, Jacob will continue to draw people to the Island. If he finds someone that *chooses* to replace him as Island caretaker, he wins the game. If after all his candidates are exhausted and there is no one left to protect the Island, MIB wins and he can finally leave.

And here’s where I think that Jacob was being tricksy. I think that the list of candidates was made to throw MIB off and distract from Jacob’s true purpose. I think that the next Island protector does have to be a child that grew up on the Island and one that will choose to stay and protect it: Ben.

I’ve been wrong many times before, but this is just my hunch. Earlier in the season, I felt like Ben was headed toward death as a tragic hero – perhaps dying protecting everyone else. But maybe Jacob’s plan since Ben’s arrival was to groom him to be the last man on the Island. Yes everything that Ben loves has been taken from him, but perhaps it has all been in preparation for the “gift” of Island protection.

Actually, after writing about it for the last hour, I feel like I like the ep a whole lot more now. I still would change its placement in the season, but I like it more than I did upon first reflection.

Some more questions:

Mother insists that they two cannot leave or kill each other, but what if she’s lying? (Or if not technically ‘lying,’ making an untruth true by saying that it is.) What if a lot of the beliefs and understandings of the Island and its mythology are based on belief and not actual truth? Maybe this whole time MIB could have left, but he thought he couldn’t, so he didn’t try? (And he won’t try until all the candidates are dead.) I could see people especially complaining about answers in this episode amount to Mother saying “Because I said so,” but what if that is the answer?

Related to the last, what if when Jacob became the new protector, he learned all this (I would think he had to) and used it to his advantage? Knowing that MIB thought that he couldn’t leave and knowing that that’s the ONLY thing he wants, he was able to set up a game that he was able to rig to his own advantage. He gives MIB a list of 108 candidates that will come to the Island over however many years. He tells MIB that he cannot kill these candidates, but if they all die with no one taking Jacob’s place, MIB will win. However, this whole time, Jacob knows Ben will be the next Island protector, but has hidden this from MIB. So while MIB is trying to eliminate the last of the 108, Jacob is indirectly grooming Ben to replace him.

Is it significant that Mother is not given a name and that MIB is not given a name? Meaning, he is supposed to be (in Mother’s estimation) the one to succeed her but Jacob (who has a name) is the one who does. The truth is in the unknowing? Could all of these problems be arising because Jacob was never supposed to be the Island protector?