Lost: The Man Behind The Curtain

Another excellent episode. I'm actually getting pretty excited about this finale. The writing is approaching the stratosphere at this point. Even all the little tie-ins ... while they don't add up to much substantial ... makes the viewer feel like they can actually keep track of things and make sense of what's going on even there's a huge cloud of mystery just around the corner. This is a great improvement over the "hey look over there!" style of plot development not a few episodes back.

So let's hit some highlights.

Ben's a liar
Well duh. But this was a pretty big lie. Ben being a native is something we took for granted ... some people even thinking they should start counting his toes. So if he lied about that we can pretty much rest assured that anything else Ben said may be a lie. Big things like what year it is or who Jacob might be.

But Richard is a native.
WTF was up with that? Richard is a "hostile". And was that bad makeup or has he just never aged. Does "Jacob" keep "good" people young as well as healthy? Does that screw with our timeline as well ... if we can't determine how old people are?

If we're to assume Richard is descended from the Three Toed Folk, maybe they just have abnormally long lifespans? If the Others are all ex-natives, then why would they continue to recruit people for DHARMA like Juliet? Maybe the assumption that the "hostiles" are all Three Toed Folk is wrong, and "hostiles" are just DHARMites gone native?

Huge questions here. Like what was so "bad" about DHARMA that they all needed to be purged?

And where did Richard get that modern watch? Stole it from a kill?

Oh Jacob, where art thou?
The phrase "the man behind the curtain" alludes to the grand Wizard of Oz who wasn't actually a wizard at all - but a grand illusion controlled by said man. Locke assumes all the flashing of lights, whirling of objects and other poltergiest style effects were just an illusion from Ben. But Locke heard something. And Ben did not hear something.

The problem with Locke's theory is that there's a still shot of Jacob being briefly visible in the chair. It's hard to tell who it might be (if it's anyone we've already seen). So my guess is that Ben has managed to keep Jacob trapped in the cabin with his magic dust that circles the joint. "Jacob" may be a native that is trying to escape.

But you said Jacob was the island
I'm thinking it might be a close distinction. Maybe the three toed folk have gone all ethereal on us. They're the whispers and the smoke. Sometimes they can take human form, a physical form. Not having any body of their own - they steal the shape of people they've seen in other people's minds. The reason Richard hasn't aged is that he is just the shape of a dead man. All the apparitions we've seen have been whatever age they were when first imagined.

For all we know Cindy and the kids are already dead and some natives are just walking around in their forms. Creeeepy.

Jack & Juliet, sitting in a tree
Sawyer's revolution lasted all of what ... two minutes? Jack seems to be wrangling control back and I think most of the Losties will follow his lead to prep for the upcoming attack. Juliet's credibility appears to be pretty solid since she's willing to talk details about Ben's plans. Sayid and Sawyer will be hold-outs, but not forever.

The following characters should check their life insurance policies
Charlie, Sun, Jin, Naomi, Ben, and Rosseau.

What about Locke?
Oh he's totally alive. And he's sticking around for a good long while I think.