Hi Tanaka!
Nice to see you here!
I wouldn't be too hasty in assuming that the Valenzetti Equation no longer has anything to do with the LOST story.
I can't imagine the producers ending this series without allowing that the Dharma people truly felt a correlation to the numbers, although their correlation might have been far from the Truth of the matter.
As each week progresses now, I am seeing a stronger and stronger correlation between the acts of GOOD vs. the acts of EVIL.
I am suspecting that the Dharma Initiative was clearly on the EVIL side of the "equation".
My current thinking is that the entire concept of this series IS religion based. Although the producers stated in Season 2 that the "losties" are NOT in purgatory, it didn't necessarily rule out the premise of "religiosity" or "good vs. evil".
The toughest thing for me is to still determine whether Jacob is GOOD and Fake Locke is EVIL, or if it may be the other way around.
But after tonite's episode I am leaning more toward the JACOB is GOOD and FAKE LOCKE is EVIL.
Why?
Last week, Fake Locke took Sawyer down a ladder to the CAVE of NUMEROLOGY. Considering that people have referred to the ladder that they descended to that cave as JACOB'S LADDER (from the Bibical reference) it makes sense to me that they metaphorically were FALLING down the ladder (as well as LITERALLY as depicted in the episode when Sawyer almost fell).
This week we see something that I see as virtually opposite of that when Jacob takes Hurley and Shephard UP into the lighthouse. The lighthouse to me is very symbolic because it is so very religious in context in that it reflects the religious context of LIGHT vs. DARK. (Keep in mind that when Fake Locke and Sawyer were DOWN in the Cave of Numerology they needed LIGHT in order to even SEE!)
Shepard was shocked and surprised to realize that at the 23rd degree of the Lighthouse Dial he could see the house he grew up in. That fear caused him to shatter the Lighthouse Mirrors.
Afterwards Jacob explains to Hurley that sometimes some people can be just told what to do (referring to when Jacob got in the back of the Taxi with Hurley and simply told him that he must go back to the island) and yet at other times some people need to just be allowed to look out to the ocean for a while.
All of this points very much to the religiosity of the series.
One last thought...
When Fake Locke told Sawyer that Jacob "has a thing for numbers" that may not be necessarily true. It could easily be that it is Fake Locke is the one that "has a thing for numbers" and not Jacob. Hence, why the Valenzetti Equation should not be ruled out as yet.
Hopefully my thoughts haven't gotten LOST on anyone!
Dave
