How I Learned to Make Peace with Across the Sea by thejudomadonna

Last night, immediately after the episode, i was livid. I posted a "theory" that was pretty scathing, and it was rejected (rightfully so).

However, having slept on it, i think i'm okay with the way it turned out.

Bear with me.

As to the origins of Mother (Allison Janney) - i'm fine with it. Let's just assume she's a goddess. Many religions and mythologies deal with the gods coming down to earth for one purpose or another. In fact, i think the less they explain of this, the better. She can be a wizard, and the show still holds water.

Now, the reason she needed Jacob/MIB, AND killed their mother: she needed something uncorrupt. Sure, she could have drafted one of the survivors, but they'd allready been tainted by the world. She needed a fresh vessel. That's also why she killed the mother >immediately< after conception. If she was to live and nurse and raise her sons, they would be tainted.

Mother didn't want to do this job forever. Think about when we first found Desmond, even though he believed he was tasked with the safety of the world, he was still quick to pass off the responsibility to someone else.

Jacob felt this too, however, after the jughead explosion, babies weren't able to be born on the island. So he couldn't get a fresh vessel. So he had to go out looking for someone, off-island.

The reason our Losties were chosen, was precisely the fact that they had lots of skeletons in their closet. By bringing them to the island, and essentially giving them a clean slate, Jacob hoped that they would go towards the good, having allready had a taste for the bad. Not as good as a fresh vessel, but it was the best he could get.

Now, you don't give a job of saving the world to the first good application you get. No, you interview them, you test them out. This was essentially Jacob's "game". The island is a proving ground, so to speak.

Now onto MIB. We'll touch more on the "game" later.

I'm also fine with the "light". Apply whatever religious/mythological paint suits you to it. The more left unsaid, i think, the better. We knew the island was magical right from the beginning. The light is magic. I'm sold.

Mother told us that if man got his greedy hands on it, it would go out forever. Be tainted, whatever. Sort of like Lord of the Rings - the rings were used to shape the world, all well and good, but if you put one on, it made you evil. A double-edged sword.

This is what happened when MIB floated into the light. It released the black smoke.

The black smoke IS NOT the MIB. It was >currently possessing< MIB the same way it is John Locke. Locke's body was left unharmed, so was MIB's, it rotted in the cave.

the smoke monster is it's OWN entity - a personification of the evil caused by the extinguishing of the light.

but, that's not to say it can't tap into the MIB's head the same way it does John Locke (don't tell me what i can't do)

And thus, MIB is the perfect host. If you came to an island, who would you be more likely to help, the guy who says he just wants to go home, or the swirling mass of evil that says it wants to get out into the world? The smoke uses MIB's own desire just to go home, to spread into the world.

Now, the "game" isn't something for the amusement of the two parties. Jacob is trying to find his successor, and MIB is trying to get out into the world.

For all that's been made about "the rules", i think it's pretty cut-and-dry, i was just over-thinking it.

It's easiest if you think of it in a biblical sense (if you're not religious, bear with me, just for the sake of explanation)

The devil just can't come to earth and kill everybody. Why? Because if he could that's what would have happened. No, he has to work using only his >influence< to get others to do what he wants. He can lie, cheat and steal do it, but he can't kill.

Just the same, God can come down and "save" all of us. Why? Because he hasn't. Just like the devil, he has to work with influence.

So the "game" is just that. A battle between good and evil, like any classic science/fantasy fiction story. And the stakes? The world as we know it.

Once you take a step back from it, it gets a lot better. Take any work of fiction you like - some things are okay just being "magic". What we're really entertained by here is the characters and their struggle. I think this was proven perfectly by Across The Sea.