"Across the Sea" (Season 6, Episode 15)

So was that Lost's idea of a very special Mother's Day episode? Some people I spoke with liked the show; others not so much. I find myself feeling the way I did after Richard Alpert's episode: I had been looking forward to answers prior to the show and somewhat let down afterwards. However, I was most satisfied in the final moments when the identities of the skeletons found in Season One, Episode 6 were revealed. A concrete answer to a long-simmering question. Congratulations to those of you who took my Adam and Eve survey and correctly chose "None of the above".

Best Line

• "Every question will lead to another question." Woman to Claudia. The writers of this episode are co-creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof and I got the feeling they put this line in so we the viewers would just let some things go already.
  

Did You Notice?

• The shipwreck is one of many themes that reoccur throughout the series. Pregnancy is another.
  
• The language initially being spoken by Claudia and the Woman was Latin. Latin fell out of popular use after the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and was largely out of common everyday use a few centuries later, suggesting that the events of this episode most likely took place long, long before Richard Alpert came to the Island. It was interesting that after Claudia took the drink (with an accompanying musical trill), the conversation continued in English. Liquid translator?
• Claudia was a common name in Roman times. There was a Vestal Virgin by that name, Nero's first wife and his infant daughter by his second wife had this name, as did Pontius Pilate's wife.
• The twins birth is a rarity on the island since Rousseau and Claire are the only other women to have successfully done so.
  
• Jacob and the Man in Black are twin brothers. Bad Twin was the book written by Gary Troup (one of the survivors on Oceanic 815). The author survived the crash, but was the first person to die on the island when he was sucked into the still-running jet engine, causing it to explode. A manuscript of Bad Twin was found and read by Hurley in Season 2.
• Baby Jacob is clothed in light swaddling while his brother is in dark. These identifying colors carry through the clothes worn by the boys and later their adult selves.
• Mother can be added to the list of crazy island women that includes Rousseau and Fake Baby Claire.
• We now know that the boy seen repeatedly in the jungle by UnLocke in past episodes is young Jacob.
• The game the Boy in Black finds on the beach is Senet, one of the oldest known board games. It is originally from ancient Egypt and because of the luck involved to win, it was often placed with people in their graves to help with the journey through the afterlife.
• We previously saw Jacob weaving in the base of the statue.
• Mother tells the Boy in Black he is "special". This has been said about Walt and Locke.
• The men hunting the boar seemed different from the shipwrecked villagers we see later. Are they the island's inhabitants?
• Mother tells Jacob and the Boy in Black about people by saying “They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same." This is the exact same thing the Man in Black tells Jacob in their scene at the start of the Season 5 finale, “The Incident."
• So Mother made it possible that Jacob and his brother could never hurt each other. Apparently, this didn't include Jacob beating his brother senseless and throwing his body into the Light. This also explains why the Man in Black needed Ben to kill Jacob.
  
• What is the Light? It's in everyone but we want more of it. Love? Goodness?
• Why is the Boy in Black able to see dead people but Jacob cannot? This would explain why UnLocke spotted his brother throughout the jungle in other episodes.
• The dagger carried by the Man in Black looks very much like the one Dogen gave Sayid to kill UnLocke.
• The wells are once again referenced. Previously, Locke went down into one to turn the donkey wheel and Desmond remains in one.
• Another answer revealed was the origin of the donkey wheel that both Ben and Locke used in past episodes.
  
• What was Mother's intent in attacking the Man in Black? Simply to knock him unconscious while she destroyed the well? And how was this woman able to do that and destroy the village and its inhabitants? Could it be she once went into the Light and is a smoke monster herself?
• Mother tells Jacob the Light is the "heart of the island" and is connected to life, death, and rebirth. So is it symbolic of love?
• The corked jug that Mother has is the same one Jacob had and the Man in Black smashed in an earlier episode.
• You almost come away from this episode with sympathy for the Man in Black. With the lies and manipulation by his "mother" and his brother's aggressive behavior, it's no wonder he's the way he is.
• The manner in which the Man in Black killed Mother with the dagger followed Dogen's directions of stabbing the person in the chest (albeit through her back) and not allowing the person to speak.
• Both young and adult Jacob certainly was the violent one of the twins.
  
• The Man in Black's transformation into the Smoke Monster confirms Mother's earlier statement to Jacob that going down into the cave of light is worse than dying. Again, was she speaking from experience?
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• The Boy in Black told Mother there were 3 men hunting boar.
  

Previews
Next week's "What They Died For" is the last Tuesday episode before the finale. The previews included many of the mirror moments from the parallel time line.