Wow…this was quite an episode. Might go down as the most talked about in the series history. So, I might as well talk about it here too. 🙂
( If you want to hear more thoughts, stop by the Lost Revisited Now podcast Episode 107 for the Initial Reaction show for ” Across the Sea”. )
Two Babies, Two Sides: Mother seemed to want to hold the BIB. Claudia only asked for “him” , first born Jacob , not “them”. “Are you ‘him’?” = Desmond’s question to who he thought was to be his “replacement”, 
John Locke. Mother looking for a “replacement”. It turned out to be Jacob. Jacob is looking for his “replacement” in the candidate. Or (as Wray suggested in “comments” last week) could the candidate be for something else entirely?
What’s in a Name?: In some traditions, like Judaism, there is a spiritual connotation to naming a child- that it would be telling of who they are , “their essence”, and would grow to be by the significance of the names chosen for them. In Hopi legend, it is several years and many names given to a child until what seems to best suit who he/she is , personality-wise, that a final name is selected. In Rome, where Claudia was most likely from, the father, not the mother, would decide the name, about eight days later after birth…and that’s if he decided the child would live or not! Where in ancient Egypt, of where we have seen a lot of reference to that culture on the show, the parents would waste not time in naming the baby after their birth, often siting a physical characteristic of the infant. But here…we have no name still for Man in Black. Is he the powerful but not forgiving 
Henry Gale’s boss “Him”, much like the pure evil figure from The PowerPuff Girls? Will a name be insufficient, at this point? At this point, I don’t mind it remaining a mystery.
Bad Twin! Baaaad! : There are so many stories of twin sagas gone wrong: Jacob and Esau of the Old Testament, Osiris and Set from Egyptian lore, Apollo and Artemis from Greek mythology, Romulus and Remus from Roman mythology ( who’s mother was a princess and father the god of war, Mars, who were raised by a she wolf and only one of them could be king, ending in Romulus killing Remus) .So, what’s one more! 😉
One set of twin from where we get the Gemini constellation, are Castor and Pollux, of Greek/Roman mythology. According to Wiki…
“In the myth the twins shared the same mother but had different fathers which meant that Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. When Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together and they were transformed into the Gemini constellation. The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo’s fire.”
(Well, there have been a few vessels that tend to drop by…or on, the Island.)
Is this what happens with Mother/Jacob, Jacob/
Richard MIB/Locke and Sayid
, exchanges…even possibly what happens, to some extent, when you become an Other, like Ben- the sharing of immortality? But the “rules” may somehow make immortality…flexible?
Oh, Grow Up!: It’s curious that MIB “saw” his birth mother ( or was it the image “Mother” wanted him to see?) when he was 13 years old. According to Jewish tradition, this is the age of Bar Mitzvah, when a boy becomes a man and becomes responsible for his own understanding of the law, tradition, as well as becoming accountable to morals and ethics. Among the Aborigines of Australia… they send them on … a Walkabout. In some Native American tradition, the rite of passage called Smudge that involves… a sweat lodge. No wonder John Locke was a “custom fit” for the MIB.
Bring Out Your Dead!: So, MIB could see “Claudia”? 
Hurley can see the deceased too. And apparently Sawyer…and 
Desmond, at least as far as mini Jacob is concerned. Is this tied into being “Special”? Mother said that Jacob couldn’t lie and that MIB could because he was “special”… or at least, inferred as such. Hurley is a horrible liar. 
Sawyer excels at it and is one of the reasons MIB wanted him on his side. So, just because Mother said Jacob couldn’t “see” Claudia” because she was dead…doesn’t mean it was true. Jacob just happened not to be there.
I Wanna Big Wheel, Mom!: We get to at least see the starting of the Donkey Wheel’s presence on the Island. Even if MIB actually got it to work, would he have been able to have left? Would it have shifted time, like it did before? And maybe this is why the Egyptian statue and hieroglyphics show up “later” in the show? MIB taking it for a test run?
Wake Up , Sleepyhead!: Mother disturbs Jacob’s slumber to tell him ” It’s time.” This is where she takes him to the cave, has him drink the wine as the initiation of becoming ” Protector” of the whatever is emanating from it. “You and I are the same now”. Will we see something very similar between Desmond and Ms. Hawking/Mrs.Widmore or even Charles, when he finally “ready” ?
Now You See Me… Now You Don’t: MIB has been looking for that cavern of light for 30 years. Mother can show her “sons” at a moment’s notice. Is it like Jack finally seeing the Lighthouse? It might be that you need to have a certain level of “faith”? And interestingly, in the same way, how was Hurley the only one to find Jacob’s Cabin, despite it moving locations… and he wasn’t looking for it at all?
Tunnel Vision: Looking at that glowing cave, I had to figure there were some kind of references to caves in literary and other “sources”. There are many. I found a fantastic compilation of them here at the studyworld.com site It was quite an interesting and enlightening read …and, for me, made the reveal more “accessible”.
See-ms Like Old Times: The way that MIB was left at the end of the river was very reminiscent of 
Boone’s vision of 
Shannon’s death by Smokey in the Season One Episode “Hearts and Minds” . In this episode, there is also a talk between Locke and Jack that is similar to Jacob and MIB in Season Five finale ” The Incident”. MIB ‘s body was entangled in the tree, like how we saw the pilot in The Pilot, after the Smoke Monster actually killed him. Also, his body was tossed aside by the black smoke but we’ve seen Brother since then, just like John Locke is now. In “Hearts and Minds” Locke said to Boone ” What did it make you see?”. Is it the Island? The Smokey Monster? The wacky paste John put on Boone’s head? We still don’t know! Is seeing here like the concept of seeing/showing that 
Charlie and now Desmond have been utilizing? And is seeing going to be what bridges the gap between what’s real, what’s an illusion and both of Lost’s “worlds?
” You Haven’t Aged a Bit!” : Now, I figure that we are just supposed to chalk up 
Jack thinking Adam and Eve were only there 40 to 50 years, instead of a couple millennium, because he’s not exactly an expert ( as I know that I talk about stuff I don’t know about all the time…so I can empathize..lol) . But what came to mind was the story of Moses and the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years and God preserving their clothes so they never fell apart.
Hey, Locke said the Island was a place where miracles happened…so it could work?! 🙂
And lastly, I think I may have solved a major mystery. The cave that contains life, death, rebirth… Mother called ” The Heart of the Island” . The MIB , as far as we know, is a man without a name. In the southernmost part of the United States in Boerne TX, there is a National Park that features The Cave Without a Name. So, does this mean ” The stars at night are big and bright *clap clap clap clap* DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!
Sorry… I couldn’t resist. 🙂
Now, time to set sail across the sea… to land on Episode 16.
Jack acts like he thought of
Christian who told him how to handle the pressure. That if younger Shephard could not take Christian’s advice… Dad will just have to step in. No harm, no foul. Gives Jack a ” Hey, Kiddo” out in the hall, trying to take the edge off a tense situation. ( 
James and Jack. Sawyer ” A man does what he does cuz he wants something for himself. What do you want?” One, Jack wants to fulfill what Locke was saying was his “destiny”. And two, to be with 
Kate. At least, that is what we are to assume from the slight affirmation when Sawyer mentions her name. Jack blurts out the phrase ” I lost her” but he says it’s too late, despite her being by the van. He never actually says it’s Kate. Maybe he is lamenting all the women in his life he lost : Kate, Sarah, Gabriella, 
Juliet, Bai Ling. 🙂 Perhaps he realized there is nothing for him on the Island, just like there wasn’t anything for him in “real world”. But what the Losties are about to do, and what he has learned through this experience, might afford Jack a second chance. 
The Kwons 
story) When the 7 years had passed, Jacob was allowed to marry Rachel… but he didn’t end up doing that. Rachel’s father, Laban got Jacob intoxicated prior to the nuptials and was joined in holy matrimony to her older sister, Leah. Jacob was so angry and sad at his new circumstances. He was deceived… but he did a little deceiving himself to his own brother. So, he agreed to work another 7 years to marry Rachel. And Jacob was able to do that…but then, he had to work for another 7 years after that for her father. Jacob, after 21 years was free of his father-in-law, became prosperous and added two new wives to the family. But it was still Rachel that he really loved. 
and reunite her with her son, Aaron. Jack claims that detonating the H-bomb is the only way that can ever happen. Nothing in his life has felt so right as what they are about to do. Kate is concerned if they go back to pre- Flight 815, Claire might just give Aaron up for adoption. Jack says that they can’t be sure about that… but if Claire did, it would be her choice ( Jacob-like statement) . I wonder if this does actually work the way they think, perhaps Claire will give up Aaron for adoption to that nice couple in LA…and it will be Kate and Jack, only permanently this time? 
Hurley is getting out of jail for the murders he did not commit… no matter how hard he tries to stay. 🙂 This is very reminiscent of 
Sayid that he’ll be ok once” Jack changes the future or the past…one of those”. 
Miles isn’t to sure. 
“Locke” is getting impatient and wants to speak to Jacob. 
Richard tells him that if he’d wait a little longer, he was sure that Jacob would eventually summon John. Well, that’s just not going to cut it.
Ben if he knew what happened to the statue. He says that it was like that when he got here..but questions Sun about whether she believes him or not…and doesn’t expect her to…lol. ( It just hit me now that maybe he did have something to do with the statue falling apart. His answer ” It was like that when I got here”…almost like a kid trying to skirt blame when they know they were responsible for messing up the house or breaking something.) 🙂
Daniel was talking about in Season 5’s first episode, “Because You Left”? “Locke” and Jacob exchange “pleasantries” as Ben slowly approaches. Mr. Linus is distraught at how for 35 years, he did what he was told, sight unseen. Well, what was so wrong with him? Why is Locke, a virtual stranger to the Island, in Ben’s eyes, given the privilege of Jacob’s company ” as if he were Moses!” It is very likely Jacob knew why Ben was there and what he was about to do. But he told him that he had the choice to either listen to “Locke” or not. After Ben’s ” What About Me” speech and a ” What about you” right back from Jacob, Ben chooses death…stabbing Jacob in the heart, with “Locke” finishing the job, kicking his lifeless body into the fire. But not before Jacob informs him ” They’re coming”. Who? The Losties from 1977? Ilana’s team and The Hostiles? Those who are like them that are even scarier, like was spoken of on the way to Jacob’s cabin? And was Ben playing the “Judas” role, spurred on by “Locke” in their earlier conversation about what “Jacob” didn’t do for Mr. Linus, despite his loyal service…fueled by Ben’s resentment of his own biased perception of the way thing should have gone i.e. Ben coming into power? 
Charlotte was the oldest of three sisters. Possible sisters for Charlotte: Teresa and Abigail Spencer . Or was her mother, who was in the Dharma Initiative, the ” Outsider” that Charles Widmore was visiting? This would make Charlotte the half sister of Penelope Widmore. But who could the other sister be? My guess : Libby. 
Charlie… ( Not my theory but IAB’s LOST caricaturist, Scott’s… what if the “musician” who programmed the Looking Glass code was Daniel? 🙂 )
Over these past fours seasons, the LOST finales have included….(flashback/flashforward-wise)
Rousseau if she looks for him and Alex, he will kill her. “Every time you hear whispers, you run the other way!” Are the whispers the Others? What brought Ben “back”? Are they they near the “wormhole” that might be a way of help/escape? Time will tell (no pun intended)
Daniel Faraday’s mother and that’s who was to help Locke. I assume that the former was to give validity to his plan for getting 
Frank Lapidus is there too. Waiting for a dead Locke to appear, by orders of a dead (?) 
Eko didn’t and died ( Seasons Three’s “The Cost of Living” ). But until we know what Smokey is… not sure who actually did the wise thing. ” Alex” caught Ben wanting to kill Locke again. But if he does anything other than follow, listen and do whatever Locke says…. ” Alex” will destroy Ben. ” She” , in the end, let Ben live. And this might be the thing that changes Ben permanently. Now, if it’s for the better, is yet to be seen. 
The Arnolds meet The Losties in this delightful crossover video. ( Here’s another mystery : Will ” The Wonder Years” ever come out on DVD? ) 
Mikhail. 
Michael Dawson from LTDA, ” Who ARE you people?!” 
Boone and 
Shannon step brother and sister
Walt
Desmond, Minkowski, etc did on the Freighter ( at least that we’re aware of) . 
It's About Bunnies! 