For example, when Jack is talking to his “alterna-son” about the Alice books, and starts to talk about ‘Kitty and Snowball’ but gets interrupted by his son before he can continue… isn’t it interesting that Kitty is all black and Snowball is all white? And that one is all good, and the other is all bad?

Another of the other interesting connections: there’s a character in the book that spills ink on his face… compare to Jacob’s seemingly random line to Hurley: “You’ve got ink on your face.” (That character, ‘Bill the Lizard,’ was tasked with keeping Alice on track…)

All in all, he makes a pretty interesting prediction as to how the show is going to end, assuming the writers are sticking pretty closely to the Alice script — it’s hard to see how they aren’t this season, esp. with the “two worlds” stories we’re getting. Good stuff.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20347892,00.html

Whatever, Freud was on coke.

Anyhoo, I think any points Jack regained during he episode through his alterna-timeline died off for me when he smashed the mirrors. I saw it coming a mile away, but I guess the fourteen-year-old thing was, indeed, what I thought and, alas, he’s very guilty of it all the friggin’ time.

To propose an answer to one of your questions, the one about Ben and Jacob. I don’t think Ben himself was ever a Candidate. He has been important, but I don’t think Jacob is his “father” and so Jacob’s being a good one TOWARD BEN is a non-issue. Since Ben isn’t his kid, Jacob can be snarky at him. Because if Jacob was father-figure for *everybody* on the Island, the random deaths wouldn’t have occurred, I don’t think- the fire-arrows, for example. He would have prevented them somehow, or at least expressed interest in those deaths at some point. So the ones he’s really “supposed” to be “nice” to are the Candidates.

OR

Maybe Ben is a Candidate, but Jacob doesn’t really want him to be. In this sense, Ben is like an UNfavored son, and Jack is a favored one. By that, I mean Jacob clearly shows preference for one or more of the other Candidates and kind of ignores everything Ben does for him or how good he is, etc. Like an UNprodigal son, of sorts. Ben keeps trying to do right by and impress Jacob, but all for naught, which creates in him the narcissism that made him ask the question, “What about me?” in the first place- and it’s reinforced with Jacob’s response of, “What *about* you?” And of course, the relationship between Ben and his biological dad parallels his with Jacob very, very nicely. (I’m reminded of the Alanis Morissette song, “Unprodigal Daughter” now. Look up the lyrics to it- it kind of fits Ben, gender aside. I’d post a link myself, but the last couple times I tried posting a link on the site, the entire comment disappeared. Sorry.)

A few comments:
It’s funny… I know George Lucas always says “The Star Wars saga is ANAKIN Skywalker’s story!” But at the time of the original film, and moving into ESB, I don’t think that was the case. STAR WARS went through SO many permutations in the early years that I think it evolved quite a lot over time, for good and bad. I mean, in the first film, Darth Vader isn’t all that interesting a character — he’s the “villain,” yes… but the only real development you get from him is that he was trained by Obi-Wan. Usually all he does is look (and sound) threatening, but he takes back seat to Tarkin. Compare all that to ESB, in which he’s the Emperor’s right-hand man, commanding the Imperial Navy, and so on. And finally we get to JEDI in which he’s hugely important. We ended up with a (mostly) well-crafted original trilogy… but I think a lot of that was just by accident. A happy accident caused by the evolution of the movies over the years.

What does that mean to Lost? Well, I’m still grappling with that — but the big point is about the evolution of the story. I can only think that while the broad strokes of Lost are the same, the specifics of its “meaning” have changed since it started — hell, not even that long, they’ve changed over each season. My hope is that Lost, like the original SW trilogy, settles on a generally cohesive meaning, a “whole,” and that it all makes sense when taken as a piece. While they’ve had to change details both due to things in their control (making Ben Linus the big “villain” when he was originally supposed to be on for only a three-episode arc!) and outside it (biggest example would be Malcolm’s growth spurt and puberty making Walt a non-factor on the show when he was originally supposed to be hugely important), I think those changes have forced them to really think about what’s important to the larger story.

(Forgive me, it’s early Monday morning for me. I’m rambling.) ANYWAY… before going off on this tangent, I meant to say that while Christian was crucial to the story in the early years… I feel he’s been so absent since S3 that it would make this story less meaningful if ultimately it was “about” him. Sure, he’s shown up as a ghost on occasion… but only once to Jack. I feel like without flashbacks to Jack trying to get along with his father, the emotional resonance the audience might have to Christian being the “Darth Vader” of the show goes out the window. Remember, Vader’s screen time only INCREASED with each movie… while Christian’s has decreased. He’s an unseen presence. Maybe to us, the hardcore fans, that’s not an issue. But for most viewers, who don’t know everything about the show and post comments on Overthinking It after each episode… I just don’t know how cathartic it would be for Christian suddenly to become hugely important. It’s Jack’s relationship TO him that is ultimately crucial — and something that everyone can get on an emotional level — but again, I don’t think he can be Darth Vader.

As for the island being “Rebekah,” metaphorically speaking: it’s still all locked up somehow in the destruction of the Tawaret statue on the beach, an event we HAVE to see by the series’ end (don’t we?). We know it was originally intact, having seen it in S5; presumably it was intact at some point during the Dharma era in the 70s (think of the Ankh necklaces a few of the characters wore); and at some point after it was destroyed. We also know that characters were able to give birth on the island before, even during the Dharma era… and yet by the 90s, something’s gone wrong and pregnancy becomes deadly. Given that Tawaret was a fertility god… the destruction of the statue HAS to be related. (It remains to be seen which was causative: did the statue’s destruction cause the infertility, or did something happen to cause the infertility which led to destruction of the statue?)

Finally, are there other readers who live in Los Angeles? Lost was the focus this Saturday night at the Paley Television Festival, an annual event where the creative and production staffs of acclaimed TV series speak for a couple hours, do a Q&A, and tend to show either new or “classic” episodes of their shows at the end… (I’ve been to a few in years past, and it really is an incredible time) There are write-ups on the event online (INCLUDING SPOILERS, so tread with caution!), but it sounds like it was pretty amazing — Darlton and the rest of the writing staff spoke; directors; Terry O’Quinn, Michael Emerson, and a few other actors (the rest of the cast has appeared in previous years). Wish I could have gone…

(Thw festival is still going on now — give it a look if you’re interested, there’s another week or two of events:
http://www.paleycenter.org/paleyfest2010/ )

Basically, the long-and-short of what I wanted to say is that I think Jacob CAUSED all of their Daddy issues, in order to better manipulate them later. It makes sense, b/c Jacob in the Bible is fraught with Daddy issues himself. He tricks his father to gain his brother’s inheritance… but it should be pointed out that his dad always showed preference to the brother, as firstborn, despite the fact that they were twins (so only “firstborn” by a matter of minutes) which could result in some serious bitterness.

OH! OH! also, in reading up a little on Jacob, I was reminded that his mother, Rebekah, had been married for *20 years* before she conceived Jacob & Esau. MAYBE the island represents the mother figure (the healing spring, for example) and, as in the biblical story, Jacob is the island’s favorite. If the island is Rebekah, that would explain why it is so difficult for women to conceive and give birth on the island.

Also, if the island is Rebekah, then my new theory is that Christian is Isaac. This would explain why he so often seems to help Smokey/Esau (his favorite,) and also why he seems to be the embodiment of flawed but persistent paternity. Also the whole “I speak for Jacob” thing – typical parental presumptuousness ;0)

I think this is why we’re coming back to Daddy issues from the Daddies’ perspective (in some cases.) I almost think that, ultimately, this is going to be a redemptive narrative chronicling Christian/Isaac/everyDad’s journey. In much the same way as we were all fooled through A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back into thinking that Star Wars was Luke’s story when it was really Vader’s, I think this tale will end up finding out that Lost isn’t REALLY about any of the children, but about their fathers, about Christian, THE father, and how their stories can be told (and how they can be judged) by the influence they have/had on their children.

So, yeah, I don’t think Jacob/MiB are father/son. I think they’re siblings, counterparts, answering to a higher authority: both the island (mother) and Christian (father.)