* The big debate is the question of good and evil on LOST, in light of Black Robe's pitches to Alpert and Sawyer in "The Substitute". Allow me to reiterate first that I believe that LOST operates on a concept of a dualistic morality, with no clear good and evil--just light and dark, like backgammon pieces. However, for the sake of discussion, let's assume that there are clearly defined lines between good and evil on the show.
In that case, I still believe that Jacob is good and Black Robe is evil. Let me count the reasons:
1) We've seen Black Robe commit evil acts; we've never really seen Jacob do anything that's clearly evil. We've seen Black Robe kill people for no good reason; one could argue that Jacob killed Nadia, but that's far from clear.
2) Black Robe oversold his case on Jacob messing with people's free will. Yes, he approached many of the Lostaways at emotional and/or vulnerable moments in their lives. But how hard did he push?
a) Don't you think Sawyer would have finished that letter anyway? That letter didn't create his feelings; it encapsulated them.
b) Jack...he didn't even say much, just "a little push".
c) Jin and Sun...he told them to treasure their love (although he did hint that they might be seperated).
d) Ilana...he asked for her help, and it was clear they already had a history of some sort.
e) Kate...he told her not to steal, although he did prevent her from facing the music for doing so. A questionable character lesson, sure, but not the work of a monster.
f) Locke...he may have resurrected him. In any event, nothing sinister.
The only visitations to Lostaways that support the notion that Jacob is bad are his appeals to Hurley and Sayid. Interestingly, both of these occur after they were members of the Oceanic Six; with the exception of Ilana, a story we have yet to see, every other visit was before Flight 815.
He did approach Hurley at a vulnerable moment, but his sell was pretty soft. He offered up the idea that Hurley was blessed rather than cursed, and his logic was fairly sound. He emphasized that Hurley had free will to make his choice.
Sayid, that's another story, one I'll leave for another day. Again, though, Black Robe's conclusion outpaces his evidence.
3. The approach of Black Robe is that of Satan. He tempts with knowledge, offering a bite of the forbidden fruit. The ways of God are somewhat inscrutable in many religions, and that uncertainness sets the seeds for rebellion.
* Thanks to Lostpedia, here are the notable names visible on the cave wall as crossed out candidates: Brennan, Rutherford, Burke, Linus, Lewis, Straume, Pace, Mars, Littleton, Fernandez, Henderson, Faraday, Chang, Goodspeed and Pickett.
Notable missing names (not comprehensive): Tunde, Dawson, Lloyd, Smith (Libby), Lapidus, Alpert, Carlyle, and of course, Austen, which seems strange considering she was welcome at the Temple. Of course, it's possible that some of the names were just not seen on screen, and I'm sure that Kate's candidacy or lack thereof will be revisited.
* Some people are making theories on the premise that Sawyer could see the kid and Richard couldn't, but I agree with Erika of DarkUFO: the kid was gone by the time Richard turned to look. I suppose it's possible that if the kid was Jacob, only those touched by Jacob would see it, but Jacob's ghost appeared only to Hurley (Jacob even told Hurley that Jin would not be able to see him).
* Obvious thing I should have noticed but didn't--Jacob's ladder. Except this one goes down, not toward heaven.
* So in 6x3 a date on Claire's sonogram, really noticeable only when one paused and squinted, made people think 815 had landed in October in 2004X. Then in 6x4, Helen mentions that their wedding is in October. Said people have a cow.
Now I realize this sounds a tad hypocritical from someone writing a LOST blog, but has it ever occurred to you not to over-analyze the tiniest details? You'll spare yourself a lot of trouble and spare the rest of us a lot of self-righteousness.
* People are naturally wondering how Ben, Ethan, and anyone yet to be revealed in 2004X who was on the Island when Jughead went boom could possibly still be alive. I've seen two good possibilities discussed:
1) The detonation of Jughead is not what caused the Island to fall to the bottom of the sea; it was simply the catalyst to a chain of events that concluded with the Island on the ocean floor. Scientifically, a hydrogen bomb doesn't sink an Island (although it should by all rights kill everyone), so this makes some sense.
2) If the bomb goes off, there is a butterfly effect of a sort, and every moment in Island history that the Lostaways touched is changed. This means that Locke never talks to Richard in 1954, among other things.
The second explanation would address why Locke is so different in 2004X. So far, of the characters we've met in 2004X, only Locke's fundamental character has changed. For the others, details are different, but their underlying natures remain the same. Jack is a man of science (with an additional touch of faith); Kate runs; Claire is pregnant and confused; Charlie is a drug addict; Ben is a prickly pear (albeit presumably not a mass murderer); and so on. But Locke in 2004X is a man who, while he still desires some greater destiny, is capable of accepting the limits of his condition. Why this difference? Maybe because he hasn't been told his whole life that he was special, been recruited and checked up on from birth by Richard Alpert...because he never met Richard Alpert in 1954.
