LOST: How We Met Their Mother

If there was ever an episode of LOST to argue for being upfront rather than cryptic, this is it. The lies and not-quite-answers of one person led to immeasurable suffering not only by the two people she raised as her sons, but by nearly everyone to come to the Island since their birth. "Across the Sea" was the origin story of Jacob and, as we definitively learned (though many guessed this), his brother, the Man in Black (I guess I should just start calling him that instead of Titus). Their mother, who looked like she came from ancient Rome, washed ashore on the Island, and was "rescued" by a Woman, played by Allison Janney. After helping deliver Jacob and his brother, the Woman killed the twins' mother and raised them as her own.

As the boys grew up, she treated them differently, nurturing different aspects in each of them. She taught them that there was nothing outside the Island and that there are no people aside from the 3 of them. Of course, the boys learned the truth when they came across their real mother's people (I want to go back through the series and count how many times groups are referred to as someone's "people"). The Woman informs Jacob and the Man in Black that she wanted to protect them from the others (not to be confused with the Others, unless they are the precursors to the Others) because humans are corrupt and she is keeping them safe from such corruption (and yet one of the first things we saw her do was commit murder). She then showed the twins (and the audience) why the Island is so special: It contains the essence of life, death, and time, as represented by a glowing light. But she doesn't exactly tell this to the twins right away. She just gives them a cryptic answer. Soon after, the Man in Black (at this point the Boy in Black) learned that he has powers similar to Hurley and saw the ghost of his mother, who told him the truth about his origins. He decided to live with his people, but Jacob stayed with the Woman.

Decades passed. Jacob and the Man in Black remained in contact, and we learned that the Man in Black's goal was to leave the Island and see his home and other things that were across the sea. He confirms that the people are corrupt (greedy, violent, dishonest), but he stays with them because he needs them to get home. The create a plan that involves digging a well to get to the light and installing a wheel, which will eventually become the wheel used by Ben and Locke to get off the Island. When the Woman learned of this, she brought Jacob back to the light source, explained a little bit more of its importance, and asked him to become its new protector. She also told him never to enter the cavern that housed the light, because horrible things would happen. But she doesn't explain the horrible things that would happen.

The Woman also massacred the people to keep the Man in Black on the Island (yeah, she's totally not corrupt). In response, he killed her. But in response to THAT, Jacob knocked him out (she did something to prevent them from killing each other) and tossed him into the stream leading to the cavern so that the "horrible things" can happen to his brother. And that impulsive act of vengeance created the Smoke Monster. If the Woman had told Jacob what would happen, he would never have sent his brother in to be smokified. If she had been honest to her "sons," the Man in Black might never have rebelled. If only...

Up next: The penultimate peril...