Episode 15 - Across the Sea RECAP

Just finished watching this...here's my summary, for those of you who missed it:

Debris washes ashore - appears to be a shipwreck.

A woman washes ashore, very pregnant, amongst pieces of the shipwreck. She stumbles on shore and wanders through the island, and starts to wash her face in a creek. She sees a reflection and is startled. An older, middle-aged lady appears and asks to help her. The older lady feeds her and asks who she is, and the younger lady answers and says she is Claudia. Claudia starts talking about how she has to go see if any others on her ship survived, but the lady stops her and tells her that if there are any other survivors, she would find them. The lady says she got there the same way she did – by accident.

The girl goes into labor, and the older lady helps deliver the baby. A boy is born - he is named Jacob. Lo and behold, another baby starts coming out – another boy! The lady asks what his name should be, and the girl says that she only picked one name. She wants to see him, but the older lady says…sorry…and bludgeons her. Buh-bye, Claudia.

Flashing forward, a young boy (MIB) finds a box on the shore, and sees that it’s a game. Jacob asks about what it is…MIB invites him to play. How does he know how, Jacob asks? He says he just knows. He tells Jacob not to tell Mom – she’ll take it away. Jacob agrees, and says he wants to play.

The "Mom" is weaving a tapestry. Jacob offers to help. Mom asks what they were doing. Jacob lies and says they were walking. Mom asks if he loves her…Jacob says yes. She gets him to tell her the truth.

Mom joins MIB on a log. Mom tells MIB that he’s special. He asks where it came from, and she says that the game came from her…where else would it have come from? He answers, "Across the sea." She tells him that there is nothing beyond the sea... that the island is all there is. He asks about where she came from…she says her Mom, and her Mom from her Mom, and so forth. Her Mom is dead. What’s dead, he asks? She answers that it's something they’ll never have to worry about.

The boys chase a boar. It gets killed by other people. Jacob wants to know who they are. The boys later ask Mom who they are, and what they’re there for. Mom says they’re there for a reason…the men are not like them.

What reason, they wonder?

She leads them blindfolded, and explains that all people hurt each other. She tells the boys that she made it so that they could never hurt each other. She tells them the men are from another part of the island.

She leads them to a golden, glowing cave of light. MIB asks what is down there…she says it’s light…the warmest, brightest light you’ve ever seen. And she stated it was imporant to make sure no one finds it. MIB is fascinated. She says people want it – it’s something that’s inside all of us, but people always want more of it. It has to be protected - if the light goes out there, it goes out everywhere. She is protecting it, but can’t protect it forever. Who will? She says it’s going to have to be one of them.

Later, the boys are playing their game. MIB tells Jacob to follow his rules...when he gets his own game, Jacob can follow HIS rules. A woman (Claudia) appears to MIB, but Jacob doesn’t see her. MIB leaves to find her a little further in the woods. He asks why Jacob can’t see her, and she says because she’s dead. She wants to show him where he comes from – across the island, where he’s never seen. He follows her to a little village. They’ve been there since 13 years ago…the ship was wrecked in a storm. She explains that they came across the sea – surprised, he says there’s nothing across the sea...but she tells him that he came from there. She also tells him that she’s his mother – NOT the other lady.

That night, MIB is trying to wake Jacob up, and asks him to come with him. They sneak out while their mother is sleeping. He tells Jacob that they’re leaving and not coming back – he’s going to the other people. Jacob resists, and they fight when MIB tells him that the lady they thought was their mother was lying this whole time - she’s not their mother. The lady walks up and Jacob tells her MIB’s leaving to the other people…MIB tells the woman that he knows she killed their real mother, and that everything was a lie. He tells her that he is leaving for "them". He tries to get Jacob to come with him. Jacob won’t.

The woman tells him that no matter what anyone tells him, he will never be able to leave the island.

Later, Jacob and the lady are sitting on a log, and he asks her if MIB will come back…the lady tells him no. He asks if it’s true that she’s not his mother…she admits it. She says that the other people are bad, and she couldn’t let them become one of “them”. He asks if he’s like his mother, and she tells him yes. He asks why she loves MIB more than him. She says she loves them both in different ways, and asks him to stay with her. He says yes...for a while.

Fast forward and adult Jacob is weaving the tapestry. He asks his mom if she’s ok…she says she is tired.

Back in the village, MIB is with the other people. Jacob visits him to play their game. They talk about the woman. MIB asks why he wants this. Jacob wants to know if mother is right about “them” – MIB’s people – if they’re bad. MIB says he has lived amongst them for 30 years – they’re selfish and greedy, but they’re a means to an end. Jacob doesn’t think they’re all bad. MIB disagrees.

MIB says that he is leaving the island. Jacob says it’s impossible. MIB throws a dagger and they watch it adhere to a well like a magnet. MIB says there are men who are curious as to how things work…and they’ve found areas where metal behaves strangely. He said they dug around and found something. He asks Jacob to come with him. Jacob says he doesn’t want to leave - this is his home. MIB says it’s not his home.

Jacob tells his "mother" that MIB found a way to leave the island.

She sneaks into the village. She sees people going up and down the well. A wheel is being built. Down in the well, MIB is fiddling with some coals, and notices the woman. She asks to join him, he says yes. She tells him she is worried. He says that he searched for the place she showed him long ago (the cave), and he said that he searched for the light over every square inch of the island. He claims to have finally found it from underneath the island. He pries off a stone, and we see the light beam through…and a wheel is revealed. The wheel is meant to open it…to attach to the system and channel the water and light…and then he’ll be able to get off the island. She begs him not to do this…not to go. MIB says he doesn’t belong here. She says goodbye. They hug. She apologizes to him first, and then she knocks him against the stones. He falls backwards...passed out.

Jacob is sleeping. Mother wakes him up. She says it’s time. She says that she had to say goodbye to his brother, and she leads Jacob to the light/cave. She says he will have to protect it, now. He asks what’s down there…she says it’s the heart of the island…life, death, rebirth. She asks him to promise her that he will never go down there…it would be worse than death.

She takes out the bottle of wine (?) and pours it into a cup. She gives it to him to drink. In doing so, she says, he accepts the responsibility of protecting this place…her time is over. He’s mad that she always seemed to favor MIB and wanted MIB originally to be the protector…but since MIB was no longer there, he was the only choice by default. She says it was always supposed to be him…she realizes that, now. She urges him to drink from the cup. He takes it and drinks. Then she informs him that they are now the same.

Meanwhile, MIB is laying on the ground, and he comes around. The well is destroyed/buried, and the village is burned to the ground. Everyone’s dead. He finds the game and weeps…but he is enraged.

A storm rumbles, and Jacob and the mom are walking in the woods. She tells him to go get some firewood, and to be careful. He goes off, and she comes across the fire that MIB made. She finds the game, and takes out two rocks – one black, one white. As she’s looking at them, MIB comes behind her and stabs her, killing her. He asks why she wouldn’t let him leave..she says it’s because she loves him. She thanks him. He weeps. Jacob comes up behind him, and Jacob attacks him. He beats the crap out of MIB, and hauls him, protesting the whole way, to the cave. He flings him down on the rocks in the water, knocking him out, and his body drifts into the cave. Suddenly, the smoke monster comes flying out.

He finds MIB’s body tangled up in a tree, lifeless. He hugs him and starts to cry. He takes the body back home, next to the mom’s body. He picks up the rocks that fell out of the mother’s hand, and puts them into a pouch. They flash to Jack finding them with Kate...and when Locke referenced the bodies as "Adam and Eve".

Jacob says, "Goodbye, brother. Goodbye."

BOOM.

(I'll tweak this later and add my own slants to it...but this is the jist of the episode.)