IN A GAME OF WAR

Last post we picked "teams" for a battle of island survival.

JACOB'S LIGHT TEAM members:

Jack, Locke, Daniel, Dogen, Iana, Mars, Ana Lucia, Goodwin, Kate, and Danielle.

Field leader(s): Jack, Ana Lucia
Mission specialist(s): Daniel
Survivalists: Danielle
Athletic/Military: Iana, Goodwin, Kate
Intangible: Dogen, Mars

MIB'S DARK TEAM members:

Ben, Sayid, Jin, Sawyer, Mr. Eko, Keamy, Patchy, Ethan, Naomi, Kelvin.

Field leader(s): Ben
Mission specialist(s): Sayid, Ethan
Survivalists: Mr. Eko
Athletic/Military: Jin, Keamy, Patchy, Naomi, Kelvin
Intangible: Sawyer

So, if the series was about a rough and tumble, no rules, winner-take-all survival contest on who would control the island, who would win?

If you were going to write a preview story for an NFL game, a writer would look at the strengths and weaknesses of both teams. How the coaches view strategy. And which teams can exploit another's weakness.

If it was a game of "hide and seek," Team Jacob's Rousseau and Kate would be excellent hiders/seekers. MIB's team has no real stealth operatives except for Naomi. It is interesting that it is female characters who best fit this strategy.

If this was a game of "brutal strength," each team could lock horns in drawn out matches. Jacob's best "fighters" would be Ana Lucia, Goodwin, Iana, Mars and Danielle.  MIB's strongest fighters would be Keamy, Sayid, Patchy, Mr. Eko and Kelvin.

If it was one on one, ranked bouts:

Ana Lucia vs. Keamy.  It would be a brutal prize fight since pound for pound Ana Lucia is a pit bull.

Goodwin vs. Sayid. Also a close contest with Goodwin having the size, but Sayid having extensive combat experience.

Iana vs. Patchy. Again, a closer contest than one would imagine since Iana seems to have the background in hard, unwinnable situations as Jacob's Girl Friday Hunter while Patchy seems to throw himself into danger and miraculously survives.

Mars vs. Mr. Eko. It would seems clear that Mr. Eko's size, strength and meanness in a street fight would take down Agent Mars. If there was some strategy, traps or weapons, Mars could close the gap but Eko still would be the favorite to prevail.

Danielle vs. Kelvin. This match in some ways happened on the island. Both of the them were long term island inhabitants. Danielle kept away from the Others, baited trapped and killed some of them. Kelvin's position in the Others camp is less clear. Was he a hold over from Dharma (unaware of the purge) or a recruited ex-military from Ben's Others? Either way, both combatants have a roundabout tactics to ambush their prey.

That leaves "tactics and strategy," or leadership in game planning. Who has an advantage in that area?

Team Jacob's brain corps consists of Jack, Locke and Daniel. Daniel has the scientific background to potentially exploit the islands' natural energy sources. Locke has the survival-hunting skills to operate the base camp. Jack has the power position to make life and death decisions, but he has no background in war strategy. Locke, having been an avid gamer, is more suited to be a field general.

Team MIB management team consists of Ben, who had been a proven, driven, hard-nose and brutal dictator who also had a keen sense of strategy, manipulation and cruel traps. He is a cold blooded villain. Sawyer is also a person who can "think" a series of actions to get to "a solution," such as conning a woman out of her life savings. Sawyer can iron out the details, and put a plan into motion.

Clearly then, Team MIB has a much stronger leadership team to devise and implement battle strategies in the field.

Then it comes down to the "intangibles," Team Jacob's spiritualist Dogen vs. Team MIB's medical researcher Ethan. Both men have a killer streak in them. When cornered, they will strike like a cobra. Ethan has a much bigger build than Dogen, but he seems to have martial arts in his soul.

So in a game of island war, it would be a very close battle. On most fronts and one-to-one bouts, the teams balance out as a wash. It would be a close contest but Team MIB (Evil) would seem to be the slight favorite to capture the island.