Dogen angrily banished Sayid into the jungle. Miles asked him why as the allegedly infected Iraqi packed. ''Apparently, I'm evil,'' he said. Before he could leave, Squirrel Nut Claire strolled in. She had been tasked by Friend Flocke to play secretary and schedule an interview with Dogen. Time: Immediately. Location: Ideally someplace where Smokey could kill him. Dogen balked. Ms. Muddypenny coolly countered: Send someone Smokey couldn't kill. Claire was writing checks that two seasons ago her a-- couldn't cash, but now, she was being backed by the Bank of Smokey. The Lockeness Monster had promised her that he'd get Aaron back for her in exchange for her faithful service. His m.o. is now clear: What if I told you could have your heart's desire? It's hard not to hear Fake Locke's enticements and not wonder if what he's offering the castaways is a psychic ticket to Sidewaysville, that if they do what he asks he'll transfer their minds/souls into the bodies of their parallel world doppelgangers.
Of course, his wish-upon-a-star come-ons also sound like he's selling pipe dreams (literally), like Satan tempting Eve with the apple. Yes, it's easy to paint the guy who can make like a serpent and snake-dance around the Island out to be the devil. Dogen goaded us further toward those assumptions, evoking imagery straight out of the classic Twilight Zone episode ''The Howling Man,'' about monks whose appointed ''dharma'' is to keep Lucifer locked in a cell: ''For years he has been trapped, but now Jacob is gone. He is free. This man will not stop until he has destroyed every living thing on the Island. ...He is evll incarnate.''
Yet I'm thinking Dogen was getting it wrong, too, either because he's misinformed or biased because of what Jacob did for his son: spared him from death. In fact, think about the wondrous things associated with Jacob. Richard's eternal youth. The resurrection hot spring. And, if you believe Ben from season 3, a cure for cancer.
Jacob isn't ''good,'' per se — he's just capable of giving life. Put another way: Jacob is the god of beginnings. He is The Alpha. The Man in Black? Not evil — he's the god of endings. He is the Omega. The beginning and the end. Polar, warring opposites, but absolutely necessary for life to bloom (Alpha) and to have form (Omega). Both are necessary for anything to have meaning. Jacob unchecked leads to chaos; Man In Black unchecked leads to annihilation. Both need to exist in balance; both need to be equally weighted rocks on the scale.
