While I am fairly satisfied with the ending of Lost, I feel it could have been more effective if Jack had become the new Smoke Monster. My reasoning for this belief is two-pronged, with one prong based on the logic of Lost, and the second based on how much more interesting the character of Jack Shephard would be if he were to become Hurley's foil.
The logic of Lost, or, more specifically, the Island, says that Jack should have transformed into the Man in Black's replacement. After Jack re-plugs the hole in the heart of the island and is enveloped by the light, he wakes up in the stream flowing into the heart. After Jacob throws the MiB into the heart, MiB's body appears in the stream flowing into the heart, in a setting very similar to the one Jack wakes up in. Smoke Monster Locke needs Desmond to go into the heart to pull the plug out of the pool of light. Desmond must go because he is resistant to the effects of electromagnetism, which is apparently what makes up the light. The need for Desmond suggests that if anyone else were to enter the heart, they would meet a fate similar to MiB's. Therefore, the light should have transformed Jack into the Smoke Monster.*
*Also, Ben (and perhaps others) have described the Smoke Monster as a kind of security system. Wouldn't that security system need to be replaced once MiB/Locke was killed?
As for the character of Jack Shephard, I just think it would have been an outstanding twist to have his destiny be becoming the embodiment of evil. For the entire series, Jack struggled to find his purpose. These struggles usually involved Jack overcoming the self-doubt and bitter loathing instilled in him by his father to complete a heroic act, seemingly following his path towards eventual protector of the Island. But what if fate wasn't really asking him to overcome the doubt and loathing, but to embrace it? What if all of the events of Lost were supposed to lead to Jack's eventual "death" at the hands of the Island's light and then "re-birth" as the new Smoke Monster?
It's not out of the question that this actually happened. While Jack appears to die in the bamboo field, it is possible--based on the logic established in regards to MiB--that Jack's body was possessed by the Smoke Monster, and that he and Hurley battled it out for the next few centuries (because something had to kill Hurley and Ben, who, if they are the same as Jacob and Richard, would have been immortal).
Or, perhaps I should just quit giving myself migraines trying to make sense of this show.
The logic of Lost, or, more specifically, the Island, says that Jack should have transformed into the Man in Black's replacement. After Jack re-plugs the hole in the heart of the island and is enveloped by the light, he wakes up in the stream flowing into the heart. After Jacob throws the MiB into the heart, MiB's body appears in the stream flowing into the heart, in a setting very similar to the one Jack wakes up in. Smoke Monster Locke needs Desmond to go into the heart to pull the plug out of the pool of light. Desmond must go because he is resistant to the effects of electromagnetism, which is apparently what makes up the light. The need for Desmond suggests that if anyone else were to enter the heart, they would meet a fate similar to MiB's. Therefore, the light should have transformed Jack into the Smoke Monster.*
*Also, Ben (and perhaps others) have described the Smoke Monster as a kind of security system. Wouldn't that security system need to be replaced once MiB/Locke was killed?
As for the character of Jack Shephard, I just think it would have been an outstanding twist to have his destiny be becoming the embodiment of evil. For the entire series, Jack struggled to find his purpose. These struggles usually involved Jack overcoming the self-doubt and bitter loathing instilled in him by his father to complete a heroic act, seemingly following his path towards eventual protector of the Island. But what if fate wasn't really asking him to overcome the doubt and loathing, but to embrace it? What if all of the events of Lost were supposed to lead to Jack's eventual "death" at the hands of the Island's light and then "re-birth" as the new Smoke Monster?
It's not out of the question that this actually happened. While Jack appears to die in the bamboo field, it is possible--based on the logic established in regards to MiB--that Jack's body was possessed by the Smoke Monster, and that he and Hurley battled it out for the next few centuries (because something had to kill Hurley and Ben, who, if they are the same as Jacob and Richard, would have been immortal).
Or, perhaps I should just quit giving myself migraines trying to make sense of this show.
