Lost: The greatest serial story ever told

I can watch lost episodes over and over. I am starting to think it's my favorite serial story ever. Each time I go back, I find yet another layer, and another clue. It's hard to believe the story will end.

So what I loved about this week's episode is the fact that I have had this concept for a few years about the show - that while there is this overarching theme of black and white (starting with Locke holding up the backgammon pieces while the wreckage is still burning in the pilot), each character represents a shade of gray.

While there may have been a destiny or fate for them, one by one, they each display that there is BOTH good and bad in them, and the sum of their choices is never one or the other - it's a blend of their good and bad choices, and a general perception of being closer to white or black. But, always still gray.

Well, the most puzzling for me has been Jacob and the MIB. I mean, if you consider the perception that Jacob is the good guy, defending the world from the evil of the MIB, it's one story. But, that had never rung true for me. I could never accept Jacob, because he was giving Ben orders that have resulted in the deaths of so many people, was the good guy.

Similarly, while Smokey, the MIB was definitely a liar, there seemed to be something honest about where he was coming from, his motivations, and his actions. Still, he isn't just the catalyst for murder, he is a murderer - justified or not.

I LOVE the fact that literally every character on the show has blood on their hands means that there are no heroes riding in on white horses. There are humans (some could argue super humans) who make choices, and they are mix of good and bad. There are no good and bad characters on the show, and no predetermined fate.

As Farraday said in the episode where he was killed, he had it all wrong. We are the variables with FREE WILL to make these choices. And, when you add the sci fi twist that is grounded in the true academic reality of physics, time IS elastic and a two-way street, and multiple universes or parallel universes do exist.

It seems to me that where we are heading is describing a human experience where we end up with a storyline that actually just proceeds as though Sept 22, 2004 was just another day where a plane landed in LA. The characters are all destined to be entangled in each other's lives. They face similar choices to the ones in the Island reality, but for some reason the connection with this parallel universe allows some of them to make more educated choices. Or more heartfelt choices. More white than black choices - even though we certainly have evidence of these black choices (sayid, for instance).

I know some will be disappointed when we find out it was "all just a dream" in a parallel universe, but I am pretty sure that when it is all said in done, this story will have more to help people understand advanced physics than any educational device in history.