S1: Exodus: Part 3

There are two things that were great about this episode.  The first being that the producers finally give us a glimpse of the Smoke Monster.  The second being the conversation between Locke and Jack.  Yes, the Losties blow off the lid of the hatch, Charlie and Sayid get the baby back, and Walt gets taken by the Others while Michael, Sawyer and Jin are pretty much left for dead.  All these events set up Season 2 nicely.  But the heart of the series of Lost lie in the analysis of the two great scenes of this episode.

We are told by Rousseau that the Smoke Monster is the security system of the island.  While that is semi believable, we see that Rousseau is pretty crazy and has seen and suffered some horrible shit on the island for the past 16 years, so whatever she says should be taken with a grain of salt.  Almost randomly, the Smoke Monster decides to drag Locke through the jungle and down a hole.  Why not kill him?  Well, those who have seen the entire series knows that the Smoke Monster is not allowed to kill the people that Jacob has touched.   So was the Smoke Monster attempting to bury Locke underground and in turn not being directly responsible for his death or was Locke right in saying that he believes he's being tested.

We finally learned that the drive in Locke's heart is that he believes that he is being tested.  His faith in the island has given him the ability to walk and he will follow the path the island lays out before him which he believes ends at the hatch.  While there is no light without dark, no good without evil, no ying without yang, it is brought to the forefront that Jack is the man of science while Locke is the man of faith and that's why they have butted heads up until now.  What's really great is when Locke says that Jack doesn't have faith now, but one day says that he will.  At the time, one might think, "Yeah, sure, that's what they all say".  But knowing what happens in the end, that line really resonates after have watched the whole series.  Great end to a great season.  Bring on Season 2!

Side note:  It bothered me that Exodus Part 2 felt weird as a "To be continued" episode.  I looked it up online and the finale was actually two hours long so Exodus Part 2 and 3 on Netflix actually aired as one episode "Exodus, Part 2" on May 25, 2005.