I posted this comment last week:
Now, after the Others at the Temple heard Jacob was dead, the immediate reaction was PANIC. Ash around the grounds to ward off Smokey's attacks. Firing off rockets and grabbing arms: The reaction was like defending the palace from a coup.
And as tangent in looking up the word, there is a historical North American Indian word "coup" which means the act of touching an armed enemy in battle as a deed of bravery or an act of first touching an item of the enemy's in order to claim it. Add another item on the Jacob touching theory pile.
>>> An ancient Chinese rocket went off in my head when Dogen said Sayid had been CLAIMED. He also indicated that the "infection" would increase until it made its way to his heart. Sayid is possessed with an (evil) spirit. If so, in the Egyptian final judgment, a person's heart is weighed against a feather. If a person's heart is burdened with sins, it would weigh more resulting in the person's ba and ka to be destroyed (i.e. no eternal life).
>>> This also got me to thinking about once an Egyptian person dies, their soul, personality and life force separately goes to the underworld, joined by a substitute body, for a journey through the afterlife towards final judgment. With this concept of Sayid being possessed, I think Jacob and MIB are the same person (the last Pharoah?) but upon his death, his soul and spirit did not recombine in the underworld leading to the conflict between the two entities. One is trying to recombine, the other does not want to recombine because that would mean final judgment.
>>> Also, I had postulated that in order for Jacob to reincarnate, he needed to have all his "touched" persons together in the same place and time. At the Temple, only Sun was missing. Now, in this episode, what happens? Three of the elements, Sawyer, Kate and Jin go rushing off into the jungle!When Dogen (Kung Fu alchemist) takes Sayid to his torture table, we have conflicting reports whether Sayid passed or failed Dogen's tests of possession by (evil) spirit.
1. The gray ash. We have learned that the gray ash protects one against Smokey. It keeps it out of the ring. Dogen blew a hand full of ash over Sayid's bullet wound and there was no reaction. Well, should there have been one? If Sayid is covered in ash outside, it would trap Smokey inside his body for the next test? Possibly.
2. The electric volt meter. Dogen placed electric wires all around the chest and stomach area of Sayid, then hand cranked a generator, then pumped up the current. Sayid's reaction: severe pain. Which would have been a normal human reaction. But do the dead (or undead) feel pain? Possibly not.
3. The third test was the red hot branding iron. Dogen seared Sayid's chest with the poker. Sayid's reaction: severe pain. The same reaction from the electric shocks.
Dogen said to Sayid he passed the test; but Sayid knew he lied. Dogen admitted to Jack that the pill was poison because Sayid was possessed (claimed) by an "infection" which I conclude is Smokey. The infection will continue to grow until it fully takes over a person (through the heart).
Which leads to a real problem for the ghost Jacob. If Sayid is one of the "claim checks" he deposited at the cosmic pawn shop in order to be reincarnated in the Temple, can he still be used as reincarnation ceremony if Sayid is infected? Possibly, but only if there is not a complete infection. That means there has to be a time deadline. (A 108 minutes, perhaps?!) Is that why Dogen easily let Kate and Jin go with his men to find Sawyer because without Sawyer, there can be no ceremony? (Interestingly, after Sawyer's final tribute at the dock, he sighs under his breath that he is going back to the Temple. Which is exactly the opposite plan of runaway Kate, who does not want to be confined at the Temple.) Complicating matters is that Jin is going to be held hostage by possessed Claire, which will lead to another search and rescue party.
On a side note, Hurley asked Sayid is he was a "zombie." Sayid said no, he was not. In our collective B-movie memories, a zombie is the walking undead who shuffle around seeking to eat human brains. But originally, zombie was a snake-deity of or deriving from West Africa and Haiti. It also means a soul less corpse said to be revived by witchcraft. Combine the snake-deity (Smokey), the body of dead Sayid and the supernatural element of the Temple spring, one could say Sayid lied to Hurley.
