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Twitter'Light vs. Dark' on 'Lost': Blue-Suited Christian Shephard
Near the top of any discussion of "Lost" daddy issues is Christian Shephard, a character that just might be the nexus of the show's myriad mysteries. So in today's iteration of the "Light vs. Dark" series, we're going to look at his very first appearance on the Island to an exhausted, confused, and terrified son.In a way, this might be the most crucial iteration of this series, and a good time to once again define one of the few things I can claim as unique in terms of my analysis into the show: the concept of "Cabin Christian." It's a phrase I coined in the aftermath of Season 4, and was delighted to see the show essentially confirm in Season 5. The gist of it is this: the Christian Shephard seen after his death in a blue suit is a fundamentally different entity than the one in a brown shirt, and the latter is NOT to be trusted at ALL.
But here's the crucial part, and one extremely relevant to the series at hand: both derived from the same living individual. It's not that one is Christian and the other isn't; it's not that simple. It's that both entities represent aspects of the mind/body/spirit that once resided in the father of Jack Shephard and Claire Littleton. Just as Jacob and The Man in Black represent the Island's light and dark side, so too do Blue-Suit Christian and Cabin Christian. (Weirdly enough, in my original "We Have to Go Back" recap for this episode, I refer to Christian as the "Man in Blue (MiB)." Completely unintentional foreshadowing there of the show's ultimate nemesis.)
While a lot of this article no longer applies, I think I believe more than ever in Christian Shephard's sense of the shape of things to come when he went to Australia in 2004. Here was a man fiercely proud, insanely weak, yet filled with the desire to do the right thing. He couldn't do right by either of his children in his life, and knew that after his death there would be even more pain in store for them. And yet, much like Eloise Hawking, he was powerless to do anything about it while alive.
But unlike Eloise, he saw another path out: death. If he indeed knew something what would happen post-Island, then he knew death wasn't the end but merely the transition into something else there. But even if he had the best of intentions when going to Australia, his dark side as well as light was pulled out when Oceanic 815 crashed, yielding the two versions that have populated the show ever since.
One of the things I'm looking forward to most come Season 6 is the answer to this question: what was Christian's relationship to the Island before 2004? Everything above about his supposed knowledge of things to come is obviously supposition on my part, but the only person to interact with more people seen on the Island before they eventually arrived? Jacob. That might be a coincidence, but I think not.
The Episode: "White Rabbit"
The Scene(s): Throughout the episode, Christian Shephard wordlessly leads his delirious son throughout the jungle. Fearing it's a hallucination brought on by days without sleep or rest, Jack finally follows Christian into a cave where there's plentiful water and a mysteriously empty coffin in which his father was placed in Australia.
The Case for Jacob: Everything listed above. If progress is the point of all of Jacob's actions, then aiding Christian to perform the work he couldn't do while alive seems apt. Remember Blue-Suited Christian's words to Vincent in the mobisode "So It Begins": Jack has work to do. Work Christian himself could not accomplish.
The Case for The Man in Black: If you make the case that all iterations of Christian are evil, designed to mindfrak Jack, then The Man in Black would simply toy with Jack using his Achilles heel (daddy issues) against him at all time whenever possible.
The Zap2it Opinion: Shouldn't be too much of a surprise here. I could see an argument made where Christian is a third-party entity, exploiting the same energies used by Jacob and The Man in Black to affect his own agenda. But Season 5 seemed to firmly set up two warring factions for a final season smackdown, which puts Blue Suited Christian in Jacob's camp.
But obviously I'm biased: what's your take?
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January of '10 seems SO far away. thanks for fixing my jones in the meantime...
here's my new quandry (and yeah, i'm obsessed with the white/black eyed-Locke dream): if there are the 2 aspects of Christian, will we see 2 aspects of Locke? one in wheelchair and one not? one pushing a button in a man-made hatch, one roaming the jungle like a bad*** cross between Tarzan and MacGuyver?
just a random thought...
I'm with you on this one, Ryan - looking at the way the two Christians operate,you can see the styles of their manipulators: Blue-Suited Christian appears at a distance, never says a word, and walks off, leaving it up to Jack to decide to follow. Cabin Christian comes right up and speaks with our characters, meddling right up to the limits of whatever the "rules" are (John: "Can you help me here?" CC: "No").
My question is: is Blue-suited Christians appearance here designed to bring Jack to the cliff, where he would be rescued by Locke? If so, who (or what) led Locke there?
Blue suited Christian (spirit guide) is definately not the same guy who appeared to Locke at the bottom of the well (evil manipulator).
The two different entities are definately pulling the strings of our dear Losties, especially Jack. You are correct when you ***ert that Cabin Christian is playing on Jack's Daddy issues but, I would go so far as to say, both Blue Suit and Cabin Christian are playing on Jack's Daddy issues. Jack would not have followed anyone but the father he thought he buried in that funeral garb into that cave. And what of the empty coffin? Will we see in season 6 just where Christian's body really is? Will we get confirmation that he is, indeed, dead like we got with Locke rolling out of the box?
What has Cabin Christian done with Claire? Is she a prisoner, trapped in some kind of hypnotic trance until MIB releases her or is defeated? Is she, in fact, dead like Christian Shepard and John Locke?
I'm not sure that I think either manifestation of Christian is evil or good, but I think they are representing different agendas. If you look at their interactions with the characters, they are usually just pushing or influencing them into one act or another, but they don't actually instigate the behavior. In a previous post, for instance, I believe Ryan states that we see limits to MIB's power because the Christian who appeared to Locke at the bottom of the well wouldn't touch him to help him, but merely led him to the donkey wheel. I think it likely that he could have touched Locke, he could have turned the wheel himself - we know he is solid and coporeal because he picks up the pictures of the Oceanic 6 thrown back in time to show to Sun and Lapidus in the cabin - I think Christian didn't help Locke up or touch him for the same reason that the MIB in the form of Locke in the finale did not stab Jacob himself but had Ben do so - because they are simply trying to get the players to choose a course of action. Locke had to choose to turn the wheel himself. Ben had to choose to stab Jacob (though it appeared to me more like Jacob threw himself on the knife so that he could touch Ben - but that's a different discussion). I think these entities, appearing in varous guises such as Christian in his various forms, are both meddling in the actions of the players to influence the choices the players make because, as emphasized in the finale, it appears to be about choices.
If the game Jacob and MIB are playing is trying to determine what is the basic and primal nature of man - and they force their subjects into scenarios in which they must make a choice under duress, then the role of the ghostly Christians may simply be to further sway them towards the course of action that shores up their anticipated endgame. As I stated in my last post, neither Jacob nor MIB appear to be "good" in this game they play. They appear to be callous and cruel - exploiting the islands unique properties and hijacking the lives of innocent people to play out their own version of "Lord of the Flies." Therefore, I cannot view either manifestation of Christian as good - merely an agent of the two factions of evil.
I found this comment from Damon and Carlton during a recent interview to be quite interesting in the context of how we should view the entity that appears as Christian. ( http://mcleron.blogspot.com/2009/07/lost-q-at-curzon-cinema.html )
"Sometimes they get pointers from the studio, telling them stuff is too outlandish. Originally, in the season four premiere, Hurley was going to come across himself in Jacob's cabin, but the network urged them to change the scene to Christian Shepherd, afraid it would set a precedent of weirdness. With season six, there won't be any of that."
Now I know that since it never happened in the show, it can't be used to further either side of the argument officially, but since it seems the writers were okay with it, it shows that it might have been possible for Jacob or the MIB to take the form of a living person, not just a dead one. This could also further the argument that Claire could indeed still be alive. But I am still not sure if Jacob or MIB is behind the entities that appear in the cabin. I personally am still leaning towards MIB since we almost certain he has taken the form of Locke, but not as certain that Jacob has taken the form of anyone. I'm curious what the rest of you make of all this.
"...set a precedent of weirdness"???
A few years too late on that one, don't you think?
I will hypothesize that the game betwn MIB and Jacob has a wager at the end that involves the destruction of the human race if MIB wins. "or God help us all" comes to my mind. I think the importance of the game forces Jacob to make some difficult decisions such as letting Nadia die and perhaps Boone as well. (Someone was keeping Locke from climbing up to that plane) Someone, likely Jacob, demonstrated a miracle to Jack Shepherd when Sarah was fixed. I like the comparison of Christian to Eloise in being so hard on Jack just like Eloise was on Daniel. I had a flash last night as I was re-watching of maybe Season 6 will intertwine flashbacks of Season 1 and backstory and show us when MIB or Jacob were controlling or influencing the outcomes. Is it Jan yet?
I want to believe that Blue Suit is on Jacob's side, but this guy and his twin just have too many questions swirling about them to really know, at this point. However, I think it's significant that Jack finding his father's coffin empty relates directly to John Locke still being inside his when Locke2 showed up.
PhilT/Darlton: "Hurley was going to come across himself in Jacob's cabin..."
Sounds a lot like Luke confronting a vision of himself on Dagoba in, yes, "The Empire Strikes Back."
Has anybody else noticed that Jack is the only person who has seen blue-suited Christian? (Besides Vincent)
Everybody else who has seen Christian has dealt with "Cabin Christain". And likewise, Jack has never seen this version.
What do you make of that?