The Smoky God

Was this episode horribly cheesy? Yes.
Did it answer as many questions as we’d hoped? Well, no. It never does.
Was it vague and cryptic with the questions it did answer? Naturally.
Did Little Esau look like Zac Efron? Definitely.
Is Little Jacob (who looks strikingly similar to Big Jacob) the creepy kid we keep seeing? Mmmhmmmmm.

I’ll stop asking myself questions now and just say that this episode was not everything I had hoped it would be. However, I would not go so far as to say I was disappointed.

“Across the Sea” should have been more clear about a couple of things with only having 3.5 more hours to make us walk away from this show satisfied. Now, what does it require for me to walk away satisfied, you ask? Well, not a lot to be honest. I am not expecting for every question to be answered, especially since Darlton said they would not be answering every question. I recognize that the finale will not be presented to me in a pretty red bow, and I admire that about this show and would actually like some mystery—-every good relationship has a little mystery in it. Seeing as how I tend to liken this show to an abusive relationship, I’m not so sure that is a great comparison for my overall point, but...go with it.

Anyway, above all else, I want all six of these seasons to be cohesive. I want them to tell a complete story. I want to be able to watch an episode from Season Two or Season Four and have “aha!” moments that hinted to whatever happens in the end all along. Because that is good story telling. And since watching this show, I have claimed it as the most genius show in television history. I don’t want to have to take that back if I am left with the idea, intentional on their parts or not, that they had no idea what they were doing these last couple of seasons. I was talking to my mom about Lost yesterday, and she boldly stated that for the last season or so it has felt like they are making it up as they go along. In response, I told her that they had a plan, a four season plan, but then they had to stretch it all out to six seasons and maybe got a little lost along the way. Which I think is entirely possible, and understandable.

Now, could they be tricking us? Could they be testing our faith in the show (still)? Could they be laughing at us about how we were probably all “WTF?” after that episode, only to blow our minds in the finale? Probably. In fact, I would wager my mechanical pencil and a pack of Juicy Fruit that is the case. I, myself, have always been a bit of a Doubting Thomas because I over-analyze everything, so I am not going to bet what little money I have on this. However, I am choosing to not give up on this show only 3.5 hours to the end. Like Hydra said, they always deliver in the end, and I don’t think they are going to stop now.

I’m not going to (directly) talk about the episode anymore because:
a. Hydra pretty much list everything that we learned and everything that was vague that I felt was worth mentioning.
b. I made an interesting discovery that I want to share with everyone and it will already make this post ridiculously long.

So, my mom brought this to my attention. She found this book on Amazon.com (or something) whilst trying to find out all of Lost’s philosophical and mythological inspirations. I clearly get every geeky quality I have from my mom. She found the title, and I decided I would read/skim it for clues and research its premise on the always reliable and truthful wikipedia. Anyway, so Willis George Emerson wrote this fictional book in 1908, mostly centering on the scientific Hollow Earth Theory--that the Earth has a hollow interior with a potentially habitable service. It is called “The Smoky God”. I am not going to get into a lot of specific details about it, so if you want to weed your way through it, go for it. I am not saying that the show drew ALL or even most of its inspiration from this book or the Hollow Earth Theory as a whole, since it clearly draws its inspiration from A LOT of things, but I think there is as good of a chance as any that this could be a source for some of what we have encountered over the years, especially as of late. I will list a few things, mostly in direct quote format:

1. “It may be that the true home of Apollo was not at Delphi, but in that older earth-center of which Plato speaks, where he says: "Apollo's real home is among the Hyperboreans, in a land of perpetual life, where mythology tells us two doves flying from the two opposite ends of the world met in this fair region, the home of Apollo. Indeed, according to Hecataeus, Leto, the mother of Apollo, was born on an island in the Arctic Ocean far beyond the North Wind.”
2. “The distance directly across the space from inner surface to inner surface is about six hundred miles less than the recognized diameter of the earth. In the identical center of this vast vacuum is the seat of electricity -- a mammoth ball of dull red fire -- not startlingly brilliant, but surrounded by a white, mild, luminous cloud, giving out uniform warmth, and held in its place in the center of this internal space by the immutable law of gravitation. This electrical cloud is known to the people "within" as the abode of "The Smoky God." They believe it to be the throne of ‘The Most High.’”
3. It talks of people with peculiar feet.
4. It mentions whispers in the trees.
5. It is theorized that anyone who has ever gone missing has gone missing within the Hollow Earth.
6. In a supposed secret diary of a pilot named Admiral Byrd, he made a secret flight to the North Pole to find this land beyond the pole and he writes that as he looked down from his plane, he saw not snow or ice, but green vegetation, grassy valleys and mountains not shown on any map. This diary was found by the very Dharma-esque “Society for a Complete Earth”.
7. The symbol for the Hollow Earth is eerily similar to the Widmore Group logo.
8. …and potentially sooooo much more!

Anyway. It’s not a theory, per se, just something to think about. I am sure I am not the only one who has found all of this and its potential relationship to Lost, but I'd never really thought about it until now.

Now that I have clearly proven that I have nothing better to do than theorize and research about Lost, I’m going to go play with my bunny who only sometimes lets me pet her. She’s such a tease. Sigh. It just makes me love her more...

Proving She Doesn’t Have a Life With Every Post,
The Pearl

EDIT:
My friend Lindsay sent me this interview with Darlton concerning "Across the Sea".