The Televangelist: “Lost” Season 6, Episode 15

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I woke up excited Tuesday morning like it was a holiday. I had a suspicion this would be the last “stand alone” episode, in the vein of “Ab Aeterno,” whose focus is to give us more backstory regarding island mythology, quenching the thirst of those of us who long ago gave up caring much about the main cast.

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But “Across the Sea,” in typical “Lost” fashion, raised more questions than it answered.  Who is Mommie Dearest (Allison Janey), why does she love braining people, where does her power come from, what is the light, how did Smokey become smoke, what is the smoke, and on and on and on.  (In fact, the quote near the start of the ep summed up all of “Lost” for me at this point:  “Every question I answer will simply lead to another question”).

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I will concede that “Across the Sea” gave us one really solid revelation  - the identities of Adam and Eve, one of the “this may never be solved” questions lingering since Season One - a nice touch.

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Perhaps the thing we learned that has most endured on the island is that people keeping secrets and purposefully obfuscating the truth has been the cause of all trouble since Day One.  Mommie Dearest was the causation of every single one of The Nameless Man in Black and Jacob’s issues.  And if there’s one thing “Lost” does well, like a good Disney movie, it’s keeping the majority of its characters’ motivations rather Freudian, with a desperation for parental approval.