The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has a nice chart comparing the “Lost” (8 p.m. Central Tuesdays, ABC) characters’ lives in the Island World to their lives in the Sideways World. The evidence points to Jacob being the bad guy and the Man in Black being the good guy — which is the opposite of what one would initially assume.
We’ve learned that Jacob gave everyone a nudge toward crashing on the Island with the selfish goal of finding a replacement for his post as Island guardian. As we see from his cave scribbles, he treated them like numbers rather than people, and he callously crossed off the names of people who didn’t measure up, or who died. Plus, he seemingly “infected”/”claimed” Claire and Sayid.
The Man in Black (a.k.a. Un-Locke, a.k.a. the Smoke Monster) killed a bunch of people, true, but keep in mind that they were Jacob’s minions, and — according to this theory — that would make them bad guys. He also killed a bunch of Widmore’s soldiers, who were clearly bad guys.
More recently, the Man in Black saves Sawyer’s life when they are climbing the ladder down to Jacob’s cave. That might be because he needs Sawyer to help him get off the island, but still, I give him credit for not letting Sawyer fall.
There are holes in this theory that require explanation. For example, in the very first episode of “Lost,” the Smoke Monster kills the innocent pilot of the Oceanic 815 plane. That’s not the behavior of a good guy.
Still, an examination of the Island World and the Sideways World, as cribbed from EW’s handy chart, reveals that most of these people’s lives turn out better without the intervention of Jacob. So far, it seems like Jacob’s intervention was a good thing in the lives of Kate, Jin and Sun, but all the other characters would’ve been better off if they’d never met the guy.
Here’s a quick rundown of whether characters’ lives are better or worse in the Jacob-less Sideways World.
Hurley: Better. He went from being very unlucky to very lucky.
Jack: Better. He’s a successful spinal surgeon.
Claire: Better. Instead of being abducted by Ethan, she’s treated by Ethan.
Kate: Worse. Instead of getting a fresh start on the Island, she’s on the run from the law.
Locke: Better. Although he’s still the Charlie Brown figure (his wheelchair spills onto the lawn and the sprinklers turn on; he lands a job as a substitute, but has to watch kids run in gym class), he is happy with his wife, Helen, and he gets along with his dad, who was plain evil in the Island World (he steals Locke’s kidney and pushes him out a window). And instead of being killed by Ben, he strikes up a friendship with him.
Jin: Worse. He’s working for the mob.
Sun: Worse. She’s married to Jin, who is working for the mob and who treats her like crap.
Sayid: Better. He’s alive and well, rather than being alive but “infected” and “claimed.”
Sawyer: Better. Instead of a charismatic bad guy, he’s a charismatic good guy.
Ben: Better. Instead of being a pawn in Jacob and the Man in Black’s epic chess match, he is a teacher. And instead of killing Locke, he befriends him.
So, who’s good and who’s evil among “Lost’s” squabbling supernatural beings? Share your thoughts below.
Comments
Good post John, but I believe a lot of the evidence is still out on both who is the good guy between Jacob and Un-Locke and whether the Alterna-815ers are better off without their island experiences.
Un-Locke seemingly made a strong case that Jacob has been screwing with their lives/destinies/fates, which can be construed as evil. The issue of fate has been a common theme in Lost, and I am still not sure what the real “fate” was for the 815ers. Maybe Jacob was really “supposed” to mess with them for some more significant reason that affects the greater good of the world.
I always had a problem that the only reason the 815ers decided to blow up the whole island with a hydrogen bomb back in 1977 was because they had a rough time for the last few years. To me, the series has also felt like it was building to something bigger than just the lives of the 815ers, so I suspect more people would be affected by whatever Jacob was planning than just those on the island.
I liked the breakdown of who is better off in the alternate universe so far, but again I think there will be more to come from all that than we’ve seen. My guess is that screwing with everyone’s fate (or unscrewing with their fate?) will somehow make things worse for everybody. Even though some seem to be better off, their lives are, at least so far, comparatively unremarkable and unimportant after 815 lands safely.
I expect by the time the stories from the two universes collide, which is another assumption I’ve made about the rest of this season, Jack will have a full beard and drug addiction and will be begging people to go back. (OK that was mostly facetious but I think most of them will recognize that things will be/will have been better off with them going to the island.)
I guess I’m assuming a lot of coming revelations will make Jacob the good guy and Un-Locke the bad guy despite the early evidence to the contrary. I’ve been surprised by this show before though, and I may have just been conditioned throughout the series to see Jacob as good and the island as something more important in the grand scheme of things than just the lives of a few people who crashed there. I also believe Un-Locke has more sinister motives than he is suggesting while he is trying to (as I see it) use Sawyer.
P.S. – Like we’ve talked about before, I have lost track of many of the answers Lost has provided in the past. While writing this I was trying to remember what DHARMA’s objective was. Weren’t they trying to delay the date that humanity ended through their research? Could the loss of the initiative have serious implications? I honestly don’t remember, but that might be something to think about when deciding whether the alterna-world is better than the real world.
Also, Charles Whidmore: what happened with him again? Weren’t he and Ben just extensions of the Jacob/MIB conflict a few seasons ago?# Posted By Another Matt | 2/23/10 11:44 AM
This week’s episode was a good example of how the evidence changes week to week on “Lost.” If Un-Locke is best buds with Evil-Claire, then maybe he’s not good after all.
And Jacob seemed pretty harmless, just annoyingly cryptic. We learned he was spying on Jack (and everyone else, presumably), but we already knew that.# Posted By John Hansen | 2/24/10 4:52 AM
With Jacob’s quirky style of manipulation of the candidates to take over his old job, the whole thing is starting to remind me of Willy Wonka.
And even though I called the final scene of the show at Claire’s first mention of her “friend,” I still really liked the episode. I don’t know if I really think Claire is evil though, just kind of crazy from losing her baby and being stranded on the island by herself for three years. Maybe the line between evil and good is a little more blurred than either Jacob or UnLocke make it out to be.
Any thoughts on Alterna-Jack and his son? Or why Dogen was at the recital? Seems like Ben, Dogen and Ethan showing up in the alternate reality is more than coincidence, right?# Posted By Another Matt | 2/24/10 10:23 AM
The Alterna-Jack story ties in with my theory that the Jacob-Free World is better. Through his son, Jack understands his dad and comes to peace with their relationship. And generally, his life is better. He’s not an alcoholic (his mom’s comment suggests that Jack is a recovered alcoholic, or he overcame the temptation). He is divorced, true, but that is no different from the Jacob World.
Meeting Dogen suggests that there are similarities between alternate universes. People’s lives are intertwined, and all that stuff. As far as a deeper significance, I don’t know.
Claimed-Claire is definitely evil. Normal-Claire would not have turned out like that after three years in the jungle (Is jungle the right world, or should it be forest?). That’s why the writers chose the sweet and innocent Claire as the character to be abducted by Jacob. They wanted to make it clear that when he possesses someone, they become a completely different person. Another example of her not being the real Claire: She intended to kill Kate on Jin’s word that Kate took Aaron. Normal-Claire would’ve been happy that someone (especially a trusted friend) took care of her child after she was abducted and Aaron was left stranded in the jungle/forest.
So actually, this episode presents evidence that both Jacob and Un-Locke are evil. At least short-term evil. Like you suggest, either or both of them could be big-picture good. Personally, I’ve never believed that doing a small evil is justified to achieve a greater good, but the “Lost” writers (or these Jacob and Un-Locke, at least) might see things differently.# Posted By John Hansen | 2/24/10 3:17 PM