4 stars from me! It was interesting to learn more about Jacob and Man in Black, though we still never got a name for MIB! I like that it turns out they were twins. Gives the whole complete opposites a deeper meaning.
This flashback starts out about 2,000 years ago, something they didn't say in the show but the writers said in interviews. Just to give you an idea of how long Jacob and MIB have been there.
Mother definitely did NOT make a good impression. She was the island protector and sometimes people in positions of protection do things that we can't understand and sometimes can never see as right. At first, it seems like she's just crazy. But it seems she's learned to be disconnected from humanity. Who knows how long she's been protector of the island, never aging, never dying. The way she thanked MIB for relieving her of life seemed like she'd been around for a very long time and was tired of living and protecting. Maybe even of having to do the things required of a protector.
She kills Claudia because she wants to make sure the boys are raised pure so that she can have viable replacements for island protector. Again, I don't think I could ever come to understand or agree with the measures taken, but also, I don't fully understand things from her perspective or know enough about this light and why it's so important that it's protected. We've seen that well and the donkey wheel in previous episodes. We know eventually that it does end up getting built. We see Ben use it as some sort of magical portal that takes him to a completely different part of the world. We've seen the wheel come off its access and move people throughout time. Imagine "teleporting" and "time travel" in the hands of corrupt people.
We've seen what the island can do. It is a magical place. I'm sure it'd be really bad if people got a hold of the light. Unfortunately, all good things seem to find their way into the hands of corrupt people. I mean, that's what was about to happen. Even MIB spoke badly of his people but didn't care if they got control of the light because all he cared about was getting off the island. So again, Mother had to make the hard call of bashing MIB's head, completely burning the well, killing all the people, and burning down the village. Very extreme, but she seems to really believe it's her duty. It's messed up. Lol, I'm sitting here suddenly feeling it's like the Thanos thing, where part of me is like, you know, he's kinda right; we're overpopulated and we're killing our planet... But on the other hand, taking lives is so not right.
Interesting that MIB could see his dead mom. It wasn't explained how he could see dead people and why Jacob couldn't. I'm guessing a gift the island bestowed on him. Her story is what starts his obsession with wanting to leave the island. He can see dead people and eventually, as Smokey, he becomes the person who appears as dead people.
Loved seeing the origin of "Adam and Eve" and the black and white rock that game from the senet game the twins always played.
So about Mother's comments about the light. When she warns not to go into it because it's worse than death. I think what happened to MIB when he fell through it was what she'd meant. She seemed to know. I'm not sure exactly what the black smoke is, but I get the feeling it's MIB's soul separated from his body. It's definitely dark and angry, like he seemed to be on the inside for most of his life.
The kid actors were pretty decent. Hard to find good kid actors. Isn't it crazy that those kids are 27 now?
And to answer your question, yes, I'd totally be up for watching the series finale together! I don't really hear from you anymore outside of the forum so I thought you were too busy or not interested in watch-alongs anymore. Maybe on a Sunday morning? That seemed to work out. Or Saturday works for me also. Because of time difference, I'm guessing morning my time. I'm usually up by 9 a.m. which would be like 6 p.m. your time.
Before the last two eps, there's a recap ep that covers everything and totally preps you for the final two eps, which I'd love to watch but not sure if you'd have time for that also. If not, I'll watch it on my own before whenever we schedule the finale watch for. Or maybe we watch that one Saturday and the two eps Sunday? Whatever works.
OMG, I can't believe we only have two eps left! Hopefully you can rewatch the show some day without such huge gaps between, whether you were waiting on me or just busy with other stuff. I love this show but my brain is so mush after work and most weekends that I zone out in front of currently running shows and movies I've never seen and totally forget to watch this!
I think Ariel was also interested in a watch-along with the Lost final, so let's wait for her to read this. Oh, and I knew there's one other episode left before. I'm gonna watch that sometime soon, but for the last two episodes let's see when it would work best for all of us. It was just way easier to plan stuff when it was only me, living by myself, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in things like that anymore.
I'm also down for watching the recap ep together. That really would help me to refresh my mind on earlier stuff.