- This article is about the episode. For the in-show event, see The Incident (event).
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"The Incident, Parts 1 & 2" is the 16th episode of Season 5 of Lost, the finale episode of Season 5, and the 102nd and 103rd produced hours of the series as a whole. It was broadcast on May 13, 2009. Jack's decision to put a plan in action in order to set things right on the Island is met with some strong resistance by those close to him, and Locke assigns Ben a difficult task.
Synopsis
Flashback
Jacob
Sometime in the 1800s, a blond man is in a stone-columned room beneath the four-toed statue, spinning thread for a tapestry he is weaving. He is wearing a handmade white tunic and using a long-bladed knife. Outside on the beach, he snares a fish in a wicker trap, then fillets and cooks it on a rock over a fire. As he eats, he watches a ship on the horizon. Another man, wearing a handmade black shirt, approaches him. He asks how the ship found the Island and accuses the blond man of having brought it there. The man claims that it "always ends the same," with destruction and corruption, when people are brought to the Island. The blond man replies that it only ends once and anything before that is just progress. The unnamed man asks his companion if he knows how badly he wants to kill him, and the man replies with a simple "Yes." The gray-haired man declares that one day he will find a "loophole" which will allow him to do so and the blond man informs him that he will be waiting for him at that exact spot. As the man's nemesis walks away, the statue is finally shown in its colossal entirety, revealing it to be a statue of Tawaret, the Egyptian goddess of fertility. The nemesis says as he leaves, "Always nice talking to you, Jacob."
Kate
Sometime in the late 1980s, a young Kate instructs her friend, Tom, on their upcoming mission; Tom is visibly holding a toy airplane. The two enter a convenience store and Tom keeps a lookout while Kate attempts to steal a lunchbox. While at first it seems as if she has succeeded, she's caught on her way out the door by the shopkeeper, Mr. Springer, who threatens to call the police and her mother. Jacob appears behind Kate, and offers to pay for the lunchbox, which satisfies the shopkeeper, who warns Kate never to return to the store without her parents. Jacob then makes Kate promise to never steal again. She agrees and Jacob teasingly touches her nose.
A young Sawyer accepts a pen from Jacob at his parents' funeral.
Sawyer
In 1976, a funeral is being held for Mrs. and Mr. Ford, while a young James Ford quietly looks on as their their coffins loaded into a hearse. Later on, James sits on the steps of a church, and is writing his letter to Anthony Cooper, known to him as Tom Sawyer. Jacob approaches James and grazes his fingers as he hands him a pen to replace his own, which has just run out of ink. Jacob tells James that he is very sorry about his mother and father. Immediately after Jacob's departure, James' uncle, Doug, prompts him to get ready to leave for the cemetery. After James refuses to tell him what he is writing, Doug reads the first half of the letter James wrote and tells him he shouldn't seek revenge but move on, because "what's done is done". He makes James promise he will not finish writing the letter and James agrees.
Sayid
In 2005, Sayid and Nadia are three blocks from the intersection of North La Brea Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, discussing how to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Sayid says they need to find the perfect place to celebrate, and suggests Paris or Berlin. Nadia jokingly remarks that she would settle for finding her sunglasses. As they start to cross La Brea, Jacob approaches Sayid and asks for directions, mentioning that he is "lost". Nadia continues across the street and turns back to face Sayid and Jacob to say that she has found her sunglasses. A car hits her and Jacob touches Sayid's shoulder in concern and then Sayid runs to her side as the driver drives away. As she lies mortally wounded on the street, she asks Sayid, in Arabic, to take her home.
Ilana
Sometime prior to 2007, Ilana lies in a hospital bed in Russia, heavily bandaged, when a nurse arrives and informs her that a person has came to visit her; she insists that Ilana should see him as he is her first visitor. Jacob arrives, and apologizes to her in Russian, saying he should have come to visit her earlier. In English, he asks her to help him and she says she will. He is not shown making physical contact with her, but he is shown wearing black gloves.
Jacob visits John immediately after his fall from an eighth floor window.
Locke
In 2000, Jacob is reading a book while sitting on a bench outside a building in Tustin, California. Behind him, John Locke falls to the ground after being pushed out of an eighth story window by Anthony Cooper. As bystanders rush to the scene, Jacob calmly closes his book and approaches John. John appears to have died on impact, but when Jacob touches his shoulder, Locke gasps and opens his eyes. Jacob tells him everything will be all right and he is sorry this has happened to him.
Sun & Jin
At their wedding, Jin and Sun exchange vows. Jin claims that being separated from his wife would be much like the earth being separated from the sky. At the reception, after Aunt Soo congratulates them, Jacob approaches and says he wants to give them his blessing. Touching each one of them on the shoulder with each of his hands, he tells them in Korean that their love is special and not to take it for granted. After he leaves, Sun and Jin are both perplexed at who exactly he was and Jin remarks that his Korean was excellent.
Following a heated discussion with his father, Jack speaks to Jacob.
Jack
Around 2001 while Jack is performing his first solo surgery, he accidentally nicks the patient's dural sac. He begins to panic, but Christian tells him to count to five and that if Jack doesn't calm down, Christian will do the surgery himself and the girl will be paralyzed for the rest of her life. Later, after his Apollo Bar gets stuck in the vending machine, Jack tells Christian he's angry at him because he embarrassed him in front of his team. Christian implies that Jack doesn't have faith in himself. As Jack starts to walk away, Jacob offers him the candy bar from the machine. He grazes Jack's hand as he hands it over and says, "I guess it needed a little push."
Juliet
Juliet's father and mother tell her and Rachel they have to talk about something important. Juliet thinks they are going to tell them they have to move again, but Rachel is upset and tells Juliet their parents are getting a divorce. They say they love each other but they are just not meant to be together. Juliet is enraged and runs off, refusing their offers to help her cope with the situations. She cannot understand how two people can love each other but not stay together. Her mother tells her she will understand when she is older, but Juliet shouts that she does not want to understand.
Jacob gives Hugo the info he needs to get back to the Island.
Hurley
In 2007, Hurley is being released from prison. He tries to convince the prison clerk that he shouldn't be released because he is a murderer. The prison clerk says he's been discharged and should go to a cab standing in front of the building. Hurley shares a cab with Jacob, and on the seat between them is a guitar case. Hurley assumes Jacob just got out of jail too, but Jacob addresses him as Hugo and says he came specifically to meet him. When Hurley assumes that Jacob must be one of the dead people he sees and talks with, Jacob assures him that he is not dead. He asks Hurley why he won't go back to the island. Hurley says he believes he is cursed and has caused all of the death and tragedy that has surrounded him. Jacob tells him he is blessed to have the ability to speak with his dead friends and assures Hurley that he is not crazy. He tells Hurley about Ajira Flight 316 and says all he has to do is be on that plane, which is leaving in 24 hours. He touches Hurley on the shoulder and reminds him that it is his choice. As Jacob leaves the cab, Hurley tells him he left his guitar. Jacob says it's not his guitar and walks away.
On the Island
1977
Rose and Bernard, three years after the flaming arrow attack.
Kate, Juliet and Sawyer are on the submarine leaving the Island. Kate convinces Juliet and Sawyer they need to stop Jack from detonating a hydrogen bomb on the island. They manage to break free and force the captain to surface. They tell him to continue on his course as soon as they leave the submarine. When they arrive on the Island, they are greeted by Vincent the dog, who has been in the care of Rose and Bernard for the past three years. Rose explains that she and Bernard are now retired and live a quiet life in their cabin near the beach, scavenging food and avoiding detection from the DHARMA Initiative. Bernard says all he and Rose care about is being together. When he says this, Juliet sees Sawyer look at Kate. Juliet says they need to get to the Barracks and Rose points them in the right direction. As they walk away, Bernard asks Juliet if she is sure she doesn't want some tea. Juliet says, "Maybe some other time."
Meanwhile, in the tunnels under the DHARMA Initiative's Barracks, Jack and Sayid dismantle the hydrogen bomb in order to remove its core, which itself consists of a small nuclear bomb. Sayid explains that the bomb core has been modified to detonate on impact. Richard Alpert and Eloise Hawking assist Jack and Sayid in entering the Barracks via the basement of Horace and Amy's house. When Eloise is about to enter the basement to secure the area, Richard knocks her out because she is pregnant and he doesn't want her traveling with them to detonate the bomb. Afterward, he leaves Sayid and Jack on their own. There is a lot of activity at the Barracks and Jack wonders how they'll get to the Swan. There is no one at the Goodspeeds' house to interfere and Sayid dons one of Horace's DHARMA jumpsuits in order to blend in. However, as they cross the quadrangle, Roger Linus recognizes and shoots him. A gunfight follows, but Jack and Sayid escape with Jin and Miles in a van driven by Hurley, who drives toward the construction site of the Swan while Jack treats Sayid's wounds. Hurley has to stop the van when he sees Juliet, Sawyer and Kate standing in his way.
Jack and Sawyer discuss the situation away from the other survivors. Sawyer expresses his opinion that "what's done is done" and that they shouldn't try to change the past. Jack claims it is his destiny to change the past and that John Locke has always been right about the island. Jack and Sawyer get into a fistfight. Juliet, who now agrees with Jack, breaks up the fight. When Sawyer asks what changed her mind, she tells him it was the way he looked at Kate. She tells him that although they love each other, they are not meant to be together, and that if they never meet then she will never have to lose him.
Jack stands over the future-Swan station, holding Jughead's core.
With everyone agreeing on the upcoming plan, although it's unclear what changed Kate's mind, Jack enters the construction site of the Swan station at the same time security officer Phil arrives with a team of armed men. On the orders of Radzinsky, Dr. Pierre Chang continues drilling into the energy source beneath the construction site.
Jack is assisted by the other 1977 survivors in taking the Swan site. As Jack sneaks into the area, he is spotted by Phil, who begins shooting at Jack. To Radzinsky's surprise, a DHARMA Van speeds into the gunfight, and Kate, Juliet, Miles, and Sawyer jump out and join the fight. Sawyer grabs Phil and holds him hostage, telling Pierre Chang to stop the drill. Chang responds that he can't, since the drill is being pulled into the shaft by itself. Radzinsky shouts that the drill has hit the pocket of electromagnetism. As the gunfire stops, Jack drops the bomb's core into the drilling shaft, but nothing happens. Suddenly, the sky begins to make a strange noise, a puff of steam shoots out of the shaft, and small magnetic objects like handguns and tools are sucked into the hole. The energy grows, and larger objects like wheelbarrows, oil drums, and iron beams are pulled in; Jack is hit over the head by a flying toolbox. The large drilling apparatus collapses, crushing Chang's hand; he is rescued by Miles and flees the site. Radzinsky and his men try to drive away in a jeep, but the magnetism topples the car and prevents them from escaping. Phil retrieves his weapon and smugly prepares to execute an unarmed Sawyer, but metal scaffolding falls on top of him and a flying rebar impales him, killing him. A heavy metal chain is pulled toward the shaft, wrapping itself around Juliet and taking her with it. Sawyer and Kate rush to her assistance, but their attempts to pull her out of the hole are futile, and she plunges down the shaft.
A severely injured Juliet pounds Jughead's core with a rock.
Jack regains consciousness and helps Kate pull a distraught Sawyer off the wreckage of the drilling apparatus, which collapses into the shaft and falls on top of Juliet. Severely injured, Juliet sees the bomb lying next to her, cushioned by the mud. She picks up a rock and hits the hydrogen bomb's fission core eight times until a flash of white and an explosion noise ends the episode.
2007
Sun finds Charlie's ring.
Richard leads Locke, Ben, Sun and the Others toward the remains of the four-toed statue, where Jacob resides. Locke assigns Ben the task of killing Jacob and provides motivation by reminding Ben of the all the bad things that have happened to him. On the way, Richard addresses his skepticism to Locke, stating that though the Island has done miraculous things, it has never brought one back to life. Locke argues that he has never seen a man that has never aged, which Richard attributes to Jacob. Claiming he wants to thank Jacob, Locke tells Richard that they must also "take care of" the other Ajira passengers. Richard inquiries Locke, with his answer: "You know what I mean." The group stops to take a brief break at the Oceanic survivors' old campsite. Sun sees the crib Locke made for Aaron, and when she turns it over she finds Charlie's ring. As Ben sits in solitude, Locke approaches him and notes the remnant of the hatch door is seen behind them; where they first met. Ben asks why it must be he who kills Jacob. Locke reminds Ben of all his misfortunes he had in the name of Jacob, a man he has never even met: "So the question is, Ben, why the hell wouldn't you want to kill Jacob?"
Ilana orders the burning of Jacob's cabin.
At the same time, a group of survivors from Ajira Flight 316, including Ilana and Bram, paddle a canoe to the main Island, bringing with them Frank Lapidus and a giant metal crate from the cargo of the plane. When Frank wakes, they tell him he may be a "candidate" and could be a friend to them. They open the crate and Frank is dismayed by what's inside. The group travels to Jacob's cabin, where they find the ring of ash disturbed. Ilana enters the cabin and finds it in disarray, deserted except for a scrap of cloth bearing a picture of the statue. Ilana tells the others that "he isn't there" and that someone else has been using it. She orders the cabin be set on fire, and the group proceeds to the statue.
At the remains of the statue, Locke and Ben appear to be surprised when Richard tells them that this is where Jacob lives. Sun asks Ben what happened to the rest of the statue. Ben says, "It was like that when I got here." Sun does not believe him, and Ben acknowledges that he is not surprised at her disbelief.
As twilight falls, Locke demands to be led to Jacob. He brings Ben with him against Richard's wishes. Richard pushes a stone door open, and Ben and Locke enter a chamber in the base of statue. Locke hands Ben a knife, telling him that "things will change" once Jacob is gone. Ben looks up through an opening in the roof at the remaining foot of the statue.
The crate is revealed to hold the real, dead John Locke.
Outside, the Ajira group arrives, and Ilana asks for "Ricardus." Richard corrects her by saying, "It's Richard." Ilana asks, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Richard replies in Latin, "Ille qui nos omnes servabit" ("He who will protect/save us all"). Ilana reveals the contents of the crate: John Locke's dead body, which Ilana's crew found in the cargo hold of Ajira 316. Sun looks at Locke's body and then toward the statue, and asks, "If that's Locke, then who is in there?"
Inside the chamber, Jacob immediately recognizes the true identity of Locke's impersonator and asks him if he finally found his "loophole." Jacob tells Ben that no matter what he has been told, he still has a choice, that he can simply leave so the two adversaries can discuss their "issues." Ben asks Jacob about all the times he was neglected and ignored despite his faithful service, complains that Locke was the favored one, and asks, "What about me?" Jacob's only reply is, "What about you?" Ben stabs Jacob twice. Jacob whispers to Locke, "They're coming." Locke's impersonator rolls Jacob into the fire pit in the center of the room, and Jacob burns.
Trivia
General
- This is the first time Jacob’s cabin is seen in daylight.
- This is the third time Sawyer is seen crying. The first time was when he witnessed the death of his parents, the second was when he killed the real Sawyer in the Black Rock.
- Richard Alpert responded to the question "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" in Latin, with "Ille qui nos omnes servabit." This could translate as: "He who will protect/save us all."
- More accurate translations might be either, "That man who will save us all," or, "That which will save us all," if the noun in question is of the masculine gender. The Latin word ille does not necessarily refer to a person.
- Jacob physically touches each of the Oceanic 815 survivors he visits in his flashbacks.
- The only flashback scene in which Jacob does not appear is the scene featuring Juliet; she is the only one of the flashback characters who would become an Other.
- When Jack tries to get the Apollo bar from the vending machine, there is a candy bar with the name "Lindo's" to the right of it. This an apparent reference to executive producer Damon Lindelof.
- Jacob's tapestry contains numerous hieroglyphs.
- Every item given back to Hurley upon leaving prison is one that Jacob gave to a character in a flashback: money for Kate's lunchbox, a pen for Sawyer, and candy for Jack.
- Sun asks Richard Alpert if he has any alcohol for her to drink, which is ironic since the actress Yunjin Kim does not drink any alcohol because she suffers from a common genetic disorder known as alcohol flush reaction, which is often referred to as "Asian red".
Production notes
The inverted title
- Daniel and Desmond do not appear in this episode.
- This is the first finale in which not all of the living or credited main characters appear.
- This is the first finale in which Walt does not appear.
- This is the first finale since Season 1 to end on the Island.
- For the second season finale in a row, Ben stabs someone to death. The first was Keamy in "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2".
- For the second season finale in a row, a deceased Locke is revealed inside a container at the end of the episode.
- For the fourth season finale in a row, a reference has been made to Jack's words "Live together, die alone."
- Season 2, During their trek to surprise the Others Jack reassures Michael with the phrase.
- Season 3, Rose warns Jack that if he says the phrase to her she'll punch him in the face.
- Season 4, Sawyer reluctantly follows Jack towards the helicopter saying, "You don't get to die alone."
- Season 5, Sawyer questions whether or not to help Jack, to which Juliet responds with the phrase.
- This episode continues the tradition of a significant plot element of a season blowing up in the season finale:
- Season 1, the Hatch and the second raft ("Exodus, Part 2")
- Season 2, the Swan station ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1")
- Season 3, the Others ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
- Season 4, the Kahana ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
- Season 5, the Swan station again (and, arguably, Jughead)
- This episode has the longest guest cast list of any episode of Lost.
- The opening credits list "Part 1" as written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and "Part 2" as written by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof.
- The wedding scene is the first and only new scene in the season where Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim share a scene. They previously appeared together in reused footage from "There's No Place Like Home, Part 2" in "The Lie".
- Jacob and Ilana become the sixth and seventh guest-starring characters in the series to have his or her own flashback. (The others were Rose, Bernard, Desmond [who later joined the main cast], Frank, and Naomi.) Jacob is also the seventeenth character to be introduced in a flashback before being introduced in the main story timeline (after Eloise Hawking, Richard Alpert, Danny Pickett, Beatrice Klugh, Ana Lucia Cortez, Penelope Hume, Alex, Charles Widmore, Anthony Cooper, Juliet Burke, Carole Littleton, Carmen Reyes, David Reyes, Frank Lapidus, Miles Straume and Charlotte Lewis).
- This is the third time there has been a flashback for a character after that character has died (in this case, Locke). The other two times were Naomi in "Confirmed Dead" and Locke (again) in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" (though it can be argued that in this episode the flashback was shown from Jacob's perspective, and that in both cases for Locke it wasn't known that he was dead).
- The closing title appears as black text on a white background, in transition with the white flash. This is the first time a color-inverted title has been used.
- Of the primary speaking characters, only Desmond, Penny and Walt remain off the Island at the conclusion of the episode. The children Aaron, Ji-Yeon and Charlie Hume are also elsewhere.
- This is the first time Kate's life before she went on the run has been featured in the show. Previously, her earliest flashback took place when she killed her father.
Bloopers and continuity errors
- During Kate's flashback to the 1980s, bottles of Malibu Tropical Banana and Absolut 100 Black can be seen on the shelf. Both products were not introduced until 2007. Additionally, there is visible in the background a modern looking stereo system.
- The straps on Jack's surgical mask appear both above and below his ears in different shots during the surgery scene.
- During the final scene, the blood around Juliet's mouth and face keeps disappearing and reappearing.
- In the gunfight at the Swan site, Kate's gun is shown as out of ammo, but the next shot shows her continuing to shoot, then she replenishes the magazine.
- When Sawyer is greeted by Vincent on the beach, a treat is visible in his left hand which Vincent proceeds to eat.
- Sayid incorrectly refers to the core of Jughead as a "thermonuclear" bomb. The whole device is a thermonuclear bomb, which produces explosive energy through nuclear fusion, but the core is a nuclear fission bomb. No nuclear fission bomb in 1954 was small and light enough to carry in a backpack.
- After Nadia is struck by a car after crossing La Brea Avenue three blocks from Santa Monica Boulevard, Sayid runs to her side and a very tall condominium-like tower is visible in the background. No such structures are visible from that actual location in Los Angeles.
- The word "DHARMA" moves around on Sawyer's jumpsuit: in the scene of Rose and Bernard's house, it's slightly moved up, as if it was drawn incorrectly. And then, in the scene of Sawyer and Jack's "talk," it's back in its place.
- The bloodstain on Jack's jumpsuit is inconsistent. In one shot it has clear stripes, in other it's all red.
- Since all objects fall with a constant acceleration of 32 ft/second/second, Locke's decent from the eighth floor of his father's building is 0.64 seconds shy of what it should be (8 floors = aprox. 80 feet. Using equations from physics, we can calculate Locke's final speed as he hits the ground, and from that we can find the amount of time it would take to reach that speed: 2.24 seconds. The time from the window crash sound effect and him hitting the ground is 1.6 seconds).
- When Jacob's enemy pushes a stabbed Jacob into the fire pit, Jacob's figure is clearly a stunt model.
- In the scene at the beginning with the unfinished tapestry, the Greek letters are wrong. Xi "Ξ" is used for epsilon "Ε" and zeta "Ζ" for the last sigma "Σ". This has been corrected for the later scenes with the finished tapestry. However the last word on the bottom line of the finished tapestry has an omicron "Ο" where there should be an omega "Ω".
- Just before Jack is punched by Sawyer, Jack walks away, yet in the next shot they are standing next to each other again.
- When Sayid, Sun and Jin see the remains of the statue in "Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1", they set off from the beach camp in a clockwise direction around the Island. In this episode, Richard leads the group counter-clockwise around the coast to reach the statue, passing through the camp on their way.
Recurring themes
| Recurring themes |
|---|
| Animals • Black and white • Character connections • Children • Coincidence • Death • Deceptions and cons • Dreams • Economics • Electromagnetism • Eyes • Fate versus free will • Games • Good and bad people • Imprisonment • Isolation • Leadership • Life and death • Literary works • Mirrors • Missing body parts • Nicknames • The Numbers • Pairings • Parapsychology • Parent issues • Pregnancies • Psychology • Rain • Redemption • Relationships • Religion • Revenge • Salvation • Secrets |
Black and white
- At the beginning of the episode, Jacob wears a white shirt and Jacob's nemesis wears a black shirt.
- Sun's wedding dress is white and Jin's tuxedo is black.
- When Jacob is talking to Ben, half his face is shadowed.
- Jacob's book has a white dove being struck with a black arrow.
- The title, typically white lettering on black, is inverted at the end of the episode.
Fate versus free will
- Jacob tells Ben he still has a choice: to do what his enemy says or to leave.
- Jacob assures Hurley that he has a choice with respect to returning to the Island.
- Juliet believes her love for Sawyer is never meant to be because of the reasons her parents who claimed to still love each other gave for their divorce, and because of his affection for Kate.
- Juliet claims that if they succeed at changing the past, then she will never have to lose Sawyer.
- Sawyer tells Jack that if they succeed at altering the past, then Jack and Kate will be only strangers. Jack responds by asserting "If it's meant to be, it's meant to be."
- Juliet changed her mind about leaving the Island, stopping Jack, then helping him to destroy the Swan.
Time
- Jack comments that the crash of Flight 815 seems like "a million years ago." Kate replies, "Or thirty years from now."
- Jacob, like Richard, doesn't seem to age.
- Regarding his tapestry, Jacob says, "It takes a very long time when you're making a thread, but I suppose that's the point, isn't it?"
- Ben says he was told that he had to wait and be patient in order to see Jacob.
The Numbers
- It took Juliet 8 hits to set off the H-bomb.
- When a young Kate and her friend were about to steal from the shop, the car they were standing besides has a plate number of: "XA7 023."
- AA 823 is shown on the bottom left corner of the crate carrying Locke's body.
- Sawyer tells Jack that his parents died when he was eight years old.
Nicknames
- Sawyer calls Juliet "Blondie" and Miles "Enos". He also tells Miles that there "ain't no more 'LaFleur'".
- Sawyer calls the Barracks "Dharmaville".
- Bram calls Frank a "Yahoo".
- Christian calls Jack "Kiddo".
Other
- An encircled Eye of Horus is at the top and center of Jacob's tapestry. (Eyes)
- A close-up of Ilana's right eye is shown. (Eyes)
- A car strikes and kills Nadia. (Car accidents) (Life and death)
- Bram tells Frank, "We're the good guys." (Good and bad people)
- Bernard and Rose live by themselves in the jungle. (Isolation)
- As a young boy, Sawyer deals with his father having killed himself and Sawyer's mother, after Anthony Cooper conned them. (Parent issues) (Life and death) (Deceptions and cons)
- Young Sawyer, already having set his mind, starts a life of deception by lying to his uncle. (Deceptions and cons)
- Ben quips that he is a Pisces, which is a lie because he is a Sagittarius. (Deceptions and cons)
- Juliet and Rachel deal with their parents' divorce. (Parent issues)
- Jacob touches 8 people off the Island who have been, or will be, on the Island. (Character connections) (The Numbers)
- Jacob says the words "I'm sorry" in four of his eight encounters with characters off-island: James, Sayid, Ilana, and Locke; in these four encounters, death or injury is involved. He does not use these words in the other four encounters.
- Locke's real body was stored in a crate in the cargo hold. (Secrets)
- The desire for Jacob's enemy to find a loophole to finally kill Jacob himself seems to have resulted in a massive con involving the need to deceive Richard, Ben, Locke, Jack and most everyone involved in the island at this point. (Deceptions and cons)
- Miles saves Dr. Chang's life and calls him "Dad" for the first time. (Life and Death) (Parent issues)
- Sayid says that nothing can save him. (Redemption)
- Hurley is released from prison. (Imprisonment)
- Eloise is pregnant in 1977. (Pregnancies)
- Jacob's home is inside the statue, not the cabin. (Isolation)
- A rebar pierces Phil's chest and kills him. (Life and death)
- Juliet is trapped at the bottom of the well before setting off the nuclear core. (Imprisonment) (Life and death)
- In the 1800s, the four-toed statue is complete, but after 1977 it only has its four-toed foot. (Missing body parts)
- Jacob's nemesis claims that Jacob brought a ship to the Island. The nemesis then claims "...people brought to the Island always bring destruction, corruption," and "that it always ends the same." Jacob denies this and claims that there is one ending and everything else is "progress". The enemy says he will kill Jacob one day but seemingly can't without a loophole. (Life and death) (Fate versus free will)
Storyline analysis
| Storyline analysis |
|---|
| A-Missions • Crimes • Economics • Leadership • O-Missions • Relationships • F-Missions • Rivalries • S-Missions |
- Juliet believes her love for Sawyer is never meant to be because of the reasons her parents who claimed to still love each other gave for their divorce, and because of his affection for Kate. (Rivalries)
- Sawyer and Jack fight hand to hand. (Rivalries)
- Ben continues to be jealous of Locke's leadership of the Others. (Rivalries)
- Radzinsky ignores Dr. Chang's demand to stop the drilling. (Rivalries)
- Sawyer's group has a gunfight with the DHARMA Initiative. (Rivalries)
- Ben stabs Jacob to death with a knife. (Crimes)
Cultural references
| Cultural references (direct references only) |
|---|
| Art • Automobiles • Games • History • Literary works • Movies and TV • Music • Philosophy • Religion and ideologies • Science |
- Taweret: The giant statue is of Taweret, the demon-wife of Apep, the original god of evil. She also was seen as the Egyptian deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. (Religion and ideologies)
- Everything That Rises Must Converge: Jacob was reading this book by Flannery O'Connor on the bench before Locke fell from the building. It is a collection of short stories that was published posthumously in 1965. (Literary works)
- New Kids on the Block: As a young girl, Kate tried to steal a lunch box featuring this band. The lunch box was later used for Kate and Tom's time capsule. (Music)
- "Three Cigarettes (In an Ashtray)": This song by Patsy Cline was playing in the convenience store when Kate tried to steal the lunchbox. (Music)
- Odyssey: Jacob's tapestry contains two Ancient Greek phrases from Homer's Odyssey, 6:180 and 8:413. (A third phrase is a quote made famous by General MacArthur who misattributed it to Plato.)
- Thomas Edison: A passionate Radzinsky references this famous American businessman and inventor of the light bulb when he tells Dr. Chang, "If Edison was only worried about the consequences, we'd all be sitting in the dark." (Science)
- Mysteries of the Ancient Americas: This book, published by Reader's Digest in 1986, is on the table during Juliet's flashback. (Image) (Literary works)
- The Dukes of Hazzard: Sawyer refers to Miles as "Enos", the deputy on this 1970s television show. (Movies and TV)
- Exodus: Ben says Locke was brought to Jacob "as if he was Moses" after Ben spent 35 years waiting to meet him. (Literary works) (Religion and ideologies)
- Astrology: Locke asks if he can ask Ben a question in which Ben replies "I'm a Pisces." (Religions and ideologies)
- The Great Escape: Sawyer references this book and film when he refers to Juliet pushing for "The Great Sub Escape". (Literary works) (Movies and TV)
Literary techniques
| Literary techniques |
|---|
| Comparative: Irony • Juxtaposition • Foreshadowing Plotting: Cliffhanger • Plot twist Stock characters: Archetype • Redshirt • Unseen character Story: Flashbacks • Flash-forwards • Flash sideways • Framing device • Regularly spoken phrases • Symbolism • Unreliable narrator |
Regularly spoken phrases
- Bram tells Frank, "We're the good guys."
- Sawyer's uncle tells young Sawyer and Sawyer later tells Jack "What's done is done."
- Ilana asks Richard, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?"
- Captain Bird says over the Galaga intercom, "See you on the other side."
- Juliet tells Sawyer "Live together, die alone."
- Jacob tells Jin and Sun at their wedding, "Your love is a very special thing."
- To overcome his fear during surgery, Jack counts to five.
- Jacob's enemy calls him 'my friend' during a tense conversation, just like Caesar did with Locke.
- Bernard and Juliet say "Son of a bitch."
- Christian tells Jack during surgery, "Fix her, Jack, or I'll have to fix her for you."
Other
- Jacob tells his nemesis that he'll be right by the statue when he finds the loophole to kill him. (Foreshadowing)
- Ilana and Bram show Lapidus something in a box which is hidden to the viewer. The next scene shows the coffins of Sawyer's parents. (Foreshadowing)
- John Locke is revealed to be an impostor, while the real Locke is still dead. (Plot twist)
- Locke is consistently told he is special, yet ends out dead in an airline crate. (Irony)
- Jacob's reading Everything That Rises Must Converge as Locke falls eight stories to the ground. (Irony)
- Bram tells Frank that what's not in the crate is "a hell of a lot scarier" that what is in the crate. (Foreshadowing)
- At their wedding, Jin vows to Sun that they will always be together. (Irony)
- Sun asks Ben who Jacob is, not realizing that she had already met him. (Irony)
- A fight breaks out as Sawyer takes Jack's place as the man of science while Jack takes Locke's place as the man of faith. (Irony) (Juxtaposition)
- A man posing as the deceased Locke manipulates Ben. Ben once manipulated the real Locke by pretending to be someone else who was also dead. (Irony)
- Ben seems to be the only person who hadn't met Jacob yet he appeared to have all the answers. (Irony)
- Both young Sawyer and young Kate makes promises they do not keep. (Foreshadowing)
- Juliet is wearing a red shirt throughout the episode. (Foreshadowing)
- Juliet convinces Sawyer to help Jack detonate the hydrogen bomb by saying, "Live together, die alone." When she detonates the hydrogen bomb at the bottom of the shaft, she is alone. (Irony)
- The episode ends with Juliet apparently detonating the hydrogen bomb. (Cliffhanger)
Episode references
- When Frank is shown the contents of the box, he says "terrific," mirroring the way Charlie said it. ("Pilot, Part 1")
- Jack's "count to five" story, which he described to Kate when they first met, is depicted in a flashback. In addition, Jack recalls this first meeting. ("Pilot, Part 1")
- Locke looking through the flames at Jacob dying mirrors Locke looking at his wheelchair through the flames of the burning Flight 815 wreckage. ("Walkabout")
- Kate counters Jack's claim that detonating the bomb will get Aaron to his mother, mentioning that Claire was planning on giving him up for adoption anyway. ("Raised by Another") ("Do No Harm")
- Sawyer talks to Jack about his parents' deaths. ("Outlaws")
- Kate is seen trying to steal the lunchbox that she and Tom Brennan buried as a time capsule. In addition, Tom is seen playing with his toy airplane. ("Born to Run")
- Jack carries an explosive in his backpack through the jungle to the Swan. ("Exodus, Part 2")
- A new character opens the episode by going about his morning routine. ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") ("A Tale of Two Cities") ("Because You Left")
- Pierre Chang has his arm crushed, leading to him using prostheses. ("Orientation")
- Locke points out the Swan station's hatch door to Ben, reminding him that was where they met. ("One of Them")
- Radzinsky does not believe Pierre is right about what will happen when the pocket of energy in unleashed, just as Locke did not believe Eko about the same subject. ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1")
- The Incident directly parallels the pocket's electromagnetic control over the station as seen when Locke and Desmond do not follow protocol ("Live Together, Die Alone, Part 1")
- The Others' funeral garb is similar to Jacob's tunic. ("The Cost of Living")
- Jacob is seen reassuring Locke instants after the eight-story fall that would render him paraplegic. ("The Man from Tallahassee")
- Ben admits that he lied to Locke about Jacob. ("The Man Behind the Curtain")
- Sun finds Charlie's ring in Aaron's crib. ("Greatest Hits")
- Hurley saves the day again by driving up in a DHARMA van. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
- Sawyer interrupts Jack's mission to the Swan and asks for a five minute talk. In "Through the Looking Glass, Part 1", Ben interrupted Jack's mission to the radio tower and asked for a five-minute talk. Both talks result in a bloody fight. ("Through the Looking Glass, Part 1")
- Nadia's death is shown. ("The Shape of Things to Come")
- Jacob's enemy knows he can't kill Jacob, just as Ben says to Widmore "We both know I can't do that" according to The Rules when Widmore asks if Ben had come to kill him. ("The Shape of Things to Come")
- Frank says "I'm no tree-hugger, but isn't that a good way to torch the island?" while Ilana's groups sets fire to Jacob's cabin. Keamy told Gault they were going to torch the island. ("Cabin Fever")
- Richard mentions being off the Island three times, two for visits he made to Locke while he was growing up. ("Cabin Fever")
- Bram calls Frank a "yahoo". ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
- "The Incident, Part 1" nearly ends with the revelation that the contents of the box are Locke. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
- Ben stabbing Jacob twice to death mirrors that of Keamy. ("There's No Place Like Home, Part 2")
- Sawyer says "What's done is done," in response to Jack when he asks why he didn't stop his father shooting his mother. He said the same to Juliet when she asked him why he didn't approach Kate when he saw her delivering Aaron. ("The Little Prince")
- Kate tells Jack that she asked him never to ask about Aaron because she was angry he asked her to return to the Island. ("316")
- Ben mentions strangling Locke. ("The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham")
- Miles asks whether the detonation of Jughead was in fact the incident, much like Sayid shooting the young Ben and Jack refusing to help him led to Ben being the man who tormented them. ("He's Our You") ("Whatever Happened, Happened")
- Ben mentions that his dead daughter would kill him if he didn't listen to Locke. ("Dead Is Dead")
- The answer to "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" is finally revealed. ("Dead Is Dead")
Unanswered questions
| Unanswered questions |
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- For fan theories about these unanswered questions, see: The Incident, Parts 1 & 2/Theories
Jacob's Nemesis
- Who is he?
- Why does he want to kill Jacob?
- Why does he need a loophole to kill Jacob?
Jacob
- How does Jacob bring people to the Island?
- Why is Jacob bringing specific people to the Island?
- How does Jacob choose these people?
- What is Jacob trying to prove his enemy wrong about?
- Why did Jacob visit each person at these particular moments in their lives?
- How does he possess foreknowledge of these events?
- Why does he physically touch each of them?
- How does Jacob prevent Richard from aging?
- Why wasn't Ben allowed to see Jacob?
- Why didn't Jacob defend himself?
The Cabin
- Who broke the circle of ash and when did it happen?
- Who has been using the cabin?
- Why did Ilana order the cabin to be burned?
Ilana
- How do Ilana and her followers know so much about the island?
- What is her connection to Jacob?
- Why was she heavily bandaged?
- For what is Frank a candidate?
- Why is he a candidate?
General
- Who is coming?
External links
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