KRAZY KATE
Something that I really dislike considering, but can't deny... The possibility that Kate may be important. Why should anyone think that Krazy Kate is significant in the Island-cosmic scheme of things?
Jacob visited her in her youth, and her name IS apparently on the list that Dogen pulled out of Jacob's guitar cased ankh, but we don't see it on the cave wall, although we do see that it's not matched up to one of the six Numbers. Is she a Candidate? Whose name or names does Kate actually have? Her biological father's? Her mother's? Is she actually a Wallace (aka #108?) and not an Austen?
* 3/5/2010. Turns out that Austen's name shows up on the Lighthouse mirror dial at degree 51. Also, her name is NOT crossed out. She's NOT one of the six Numbers, but at the time of Jacob's death, she IS still apparently a valid candidate.
At the end of this week's episode, when Sayid and Claire join the Monster and his sheep outside the Temple, Kate joins them, if not in spirit, then at least as a tag-along. When Sayid and Claire appear, Esau gives each of them the nod. When Kate shows her face he gives a look of momentary surprise and piqued interest, makes a quick judgment, and tacitly welcomes her to the fold. Kate, walking around alive and well (as well as she ever is), is equivalent in the Monster's eyes to the dead and infection-reanimated Claire and Sayid. Erm. Isn't that just lovely?
Anyhow, with all this claim staking for the Good and name calling of the Evil, it's all pretty frickin hypocritial, as both self-defined sides, those of Esau and Jacob, are responsible for violence, treachery, and deaths. Kate, somehow able to be welcome in both camps, may be key to bringing it all down, philosophically and strategically.
And by bringing it all down, I mean...
WHAT IS A WIN?
With the revelation of an actual Jacob and his nemesis, the Monster, at the end of last season, as well as the degrees to which Jacob has manipulated the lives of our Lostie friends, it occurs to me that the greatest victory in this meta-scenario is for the lowly humans to buck the yokes of so-called destiny that these "higher powers" have forced on them.
In a bit of riffing with JG, I made a fun comparison to THE MIGHTY APOLLO in STAR TREK, the original series. So, y'know, Jacob and Esau are superhuman something-or-others left behind by their peers, perhaps charged with increasingly outdated/obsolete duties, perhaps just too attached to their powers and trappings on Earth, but basically, resistant to retirement, and overdue for a lesson in humility and humanity.
Still, dispatching Jacob and Esau might not be enough. In fact, it may even be part of their "programming," built into Jacob's master plan. In any case Island Protector and Monster may have fashioned our Losties into pieces that fit their chosen spaces too perfectly to do anything else, these candidates...
CANDIDATES.
Esau's words to Sawyer in the cliffside cave lead us to believe that Jacob was looking for a successor for the position of Island protector. "Candidates" is what he calls these potentials. Jacob and Jacob's followers, the Others, also use and recognize the term. Both "sides" are somehow required to respect this title. Hurley demonstrates that among the Others, a Candidate is allowed to do what he wishes. And, little blond boy in the jungle seems to tell Esau that Candidates (Sawyer in particular) are off limits.
I'm pretty sure the Monster's the only one who's mentioned a position for which they are eligible candidates—Jacob's role as Protector. However, I'm getting the feeling that the Island's got more than one position available on its staff. Jacob may have identified (and not necessarily CHOSEN) multiple candidates for multiple jobs. There are the big two, of course, Protector and Monster. Then we've got the VPs, the Leader (Widmore, Linus), the Consigliere (Richard), and the Shaman (Dogen). At the associate level, we may have room for an Enforcer (Mikhail) and maybe even a chaotic Amazon or Nobel Savage (Rousseau).
If this is the case, that some or all of our Numbered Losties are up for Island promotions, who would get what jobs?
I originally thought that Jack and Sawyer by nature are good fits for Protector and Monster. Jack's the one who wants to fix everyone and everything, and when Sawyer squints just a little, Juliet's death is more than enough fuel to fan the flames of hatred for Jack for a century or so, no? But if we look at their skill sets and MOs over the passions, I've gotta say, Sawyer's a better heir to Jacob's throne and Jack, if he could find himself an interpreter of his own, would be a better fit for Dogen's office. Sawyer's made a living with the long con skills and has demonstrated a hidden flip side as a territorial and protective leader. Jack's interactions with Dogen on the Island and in LOST2 2004 illustrate fateful parallel life situations, particularly regarding father-son relations, leadership, and judgement. Dogen is kind of an evolved Jack, having developed just the right barriers and practices that help reduce the dilemmas of decision-making that one can imagine eating away at Jack.
I nominated Kate for Monster a while back. Who else is better at confounding anyone else's plans, right? She's got some dark skills of deception and planning, and altho she is capable of doing things for the right reasons, in her eyes, opportunism and self-interest are the right reasons 99 percent of the time. A Monster's Monster. Maybe that's what Esau recognizes in her. A worthy successor?
ALTERNATE REALITY DOUBLES MAKE IDEAL CANDIDATES.
It strikes me that yanking people out of reality and then rewriting it behind them results in the creation of ideal "third men." I think that's what the government psychiatrists dubbed them, right? Individuals supposedly psychologically best suited to man missile silos, voted most likely to not put up a fight when assigned to turn keys and launch nukes? Y'know, the guys that the WOPR replaced in WAR GAMES? The idea is that you want an individual who will follow the order to launch without kneejerk emotional resistance caused by connections to family, friends, community, and humanity at large.
Our Losties have become orphans of reality, doubles of themselves, making themselves more less real, more unreal, and into the perfect "third men" — Candidates for important and thankless posts. Their reward? Their duty. The protection of the rest of the world, and specifically, the lives of those they care for and the good and decent lives their more real selves get to lead. Scenario sound familiar? Jacob's deal with Dogen, anyone? The rewriting of reality in the wake of the Incident is an expression of Jacob delivering on his more-shrewd-than-benevolent deal with Dogen. In LOST2, we've seen that Dogen's son is alive, as is Dogen himself. It's exactly as Jacob promised. The Dogen1, who agreed to Jacob's deal, can never again be with his son, but his son IS alive, never injured in the tragic car accident that Dogen1 endured.
The reality of LOST2 may also prove to be the means by which Esau can deliver on his offers to his agents, Sayid and Claire. Of course, the fulfillment of the Monster's promises likely hinge on a bit of violence. Even as Esau makes the offer to Sayid to reunite him with his lost love, Nadia, we get to watch as Sayid's situation in LOST2 magically falls into line with Esau's suggestion. Try to see the situation in a harsh, Monstrous, utilitarian, light... Nadia's husband, Sayid's brother, is near death, leaving the willing and loving Nadia and her doting children in need of a replacement husband and father figure. All that has to happen is for Sayid1 to somehow take Sayid2's place.
And if that can happen for Sayid, certainly it can happen for Claire. Once Claire2's Aaron is born, Esau just has to arrange for his claimed Claire to take her place in LOST2, and Claire is reunited with her baby, as promised.
Esau: I always do what I say.
This line of thinking also makes me wonder about how Jacob and Esau got their jobs. Were they duped out of reality centuries ago by a previous "administration?" Adam and Eve, w their black and white stones in a D&D dice pouch?
Keep on keepin on~
No comments:
Post a Comment