Wednesday, May 19, 2010

S6E16 JACOB'S POW WOW

Jacob's camp fire meeting with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer was disappointing on many levels. It was the perfect opportunity to answer the key questions about the island, the role of the guardian, and what roles need to be played out to allegedly safe guard the world from Flocke. But more vague answers than truths.

The use of young ghost Jacob to take Jacob's ashes from Hurley, then to have Hurley find adult ghost Jacob tending a fire makes little sense. Why would Jacob transform into a child to get the pouch when Hurley already knows who Jacob is and would readily give him what he wanted if told. It would seem that the inference is that young child ghost and adult ghost are two separate ghosts. Which puts a crazy twist on CrazyMom's statement that she made it possible that Jacob and MIB could not harm/kill each other, if she had in fact, already killed them and she was taking care of ghosts and not human beings.

Jacob's statement that his ashes were in the fire, and when the fire goes out, so does he. Except, in the statue, the fire with his ashes did go out. But he continued to run around the island in ghost form; a form which can actually manipulate objects like water and cups.

The whole reason he brought candidates to the island was flawed and untrue. He stated that each of the four remaining candidates were there because they had no real life to go back to. That is not true: Jack was a successful surgeon who had a mother to care for; Sawyer had a daughter; Hurley had his parents and his wealth (and potential charity giving to help others); and Kate also had an ill mother. I guess Jacob does not consider any kind of "family life" important.

Also, Jack's acceptance of the role of island guardian without any detailed information about the duties was unrealistic. There was nothing heroic about accepting an unknown challenge; it came off as a dumb move.

Then, the "ceremony" to transfer Jacob's "power" to Jack was also contrived. The director made sure we could not hear Jacob's mumblings (see, prior post on CrazyMom's translation). The expression of acknowledgment was more like "a deer in the head lights" moment. Then, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley sulking off to the side, in relief that they were not picked, was cowardly sad. In sum, the whole moment lacked any compassion for these characters.

What continues to irk me is that the characters continue to march around without a clue what they are supposed to do. Now, Jack has assumed official leadership. He has a quest to stop a smoke monster. From what? How? Why? That is not heroic, but suicidal based on Flocke's current behavior.