I had a sudden moment watching Lost tonight (first chance I had to sit down and watch!) that made a whole heckuva lot of things make so much more sense.

(Insert usual spoiler alert, blah blah blah.)

The cabin that Ben used to visit Jacob at wasn’t Jacob’s cabin at all. Jacob had trapped Smokey there.

Before I continue, I want to say two things:

1) Bear with me; I know that there are some inconsistencies with this, as we saw Smokey around the island anyhow in this time. But I may have the answer to that. Or, at least, a partial answer.

2) I am just not that smart sometimes. This theory is more than likely all over all the message boards and blogs already, but I haven’t been reading the lately because I really have been trying to absorb Lost myself this season. So apologies if my epiphany is a bunch of, “Really? You just recognized that?” I may very well be pathetically slow to pick up on certain things.

OK, so: Why Jacob’s Cabin was really Smokey’s Cabin, by Amy Vernon:

We know that Smokey pretended to be Christian Shepherd. That’s how he got Claire to come with him and kind of made Jack crazy, thinking he was seeing his dad.

Remember how when Ben took Locke to see Jacob in the cabin? “Jacob” was in a rocking chair, “help me,” he implored Locke. And then, the screenshots seen around the world: “Jacob” was Christian Shepherd.

So from that episode, we all assumed that Jacob was in trouble. His cabin was surrounded by ash (which we now know keeps Smokey out — or in), he begged Locke for help. I posit that Jacob had trapped Smokey in this ever-moving cabin, in hopes, maybe, that Ben wouldn’t be able to find it and be swayed by him.

See, I think that Ben THOUGHT he was visiting Jacob all that time. And all the anger he had toward Jacob was, in actuality, toward Smokey. Smokey told him to kill all the Dharma folk. That’s not Jacob’s style.

Jacob’s a pretty hands-off kind of guy. But The Others have been, for years, manipulated by Smokey, even as they thought they were serving Jacob.

But wait! you say. Didn’t Jack see “Christian” the third day on the island? Didn’t we see Smokey multiple times before the episode where Locke visited? Didn’t Eko see his brother and face down Smokey?

Didn’t Locke himself face down Smokey?

Well, remember how when Keamey killed Alex, Ben rushed to the basement of his house in New Otherton and did some weird things with heiroglyphic panels and Smokey suddenly rushed up and killed Keamey and his men?

Ben had control over Smokey through whatever that interface was. He could leave the cabin whenever directed to by that, though had to do what he was directed. He may, actually, have been directed to kill Locke, but I think Smokey saw his future self there and was unwilling to kill his future vessel.

Once Jacob’s cabin was burned down, Smokey was freed. He no longer was kept to a single spot on the island, let out only like a dog to do his master’s bidding.

And so he convinced Ben to kill Jacob by reminding him of all the things that he – Smokey, NOT Jacob – had done to Ben, had gotten Ben to do without ever caring a whit about him.

Everyone who really knew Jacob knew he lived in the statue. So why would he have ever lived in that cabin? And it does not appear by any stretch of the imagination that Jacob was ever captured by Smokey and kept prisoner.

So that’s my brilliant insomniac insanity.

As for the rest of the episode tonight, it’s very clearly building toward something big. Was the episode in and of itself better than the last couple weeks? No. But did it very deftly set the stage for the awesomeness of the coming four final episodes? Yes.

Everyone is being moved ever closer together in our flash sideways. Even Ilana’s there. Jack’s operating on Locke, who was accompanied to hte hospital by Ben. Claire is outed as Jack’s sister. Jin and Sun are together and are gonna have their baby. Miles and Sawyer captured Sayid, and it seems likely they’re gonna bring him back to the police station, where Kate is being held. Not sure where Desmond is, but he’s definitely lurking somewhere. Hurley’s gonna pop up, too.

The timelines are bleeding through even more, as Sun is extremely aware that Locke is no good. (Speaking of, the reason Sun couldn’t speak English anymore was because flash sideways Sun couldn’t.)

It was sweet to see Sun and Jin together again, but with the specter of Desmond and Penny potentially not being together for the rest of their lives, I just can’t feel the love. I’m a bit stressed out that the best couple ever in the history of television may not be together in the end.

DO YOU HEAR ME, TEAM DARLTON?

And speaking of Desmond: No way Sayid killed him. Seriously. Sayid dared Flocke to check on him because he knew Flocke couldn’t imagine that one of his zombies would actually not do what he said.

Desmond pierced Sayid through the heart when he asked what his lady love would think when she learned what Sayid did to be with her once again. And, as we know, love is powerful on this show. It’s what’s making the two timelines begin to merge. And it’s what kept Sayid from killing Desmond.

And love also is what got Claire to give up Danielle’s life and agree to put down her weapon. She realized that Kate was telling her the truth. And her love for Aaron is stronger than any hold Flocke could have over her. To know that she could raise her own baby and that Kate’s sole purpose in coming back to the island was to get her and reunite her with Aaron – the love dissolved just enough of Flocke’s hold on her.

Just in time, because Jack may or may not be under Flocke’s thrall. What I’m not certain of quite yet is whether Jack came back to the island because he is Jacob’s replacement and feels the pull of the island so strongly or because he is one of Flocke’s zombies.

Thing is, if it were as simple as that – as simple as Flocke talking to you that “captured” you, why wouldn’t Kate and Sawyer be his zombies, too?

Or is it because Claire basically died. Sayid died. Jack just died from the explosion (though he didn’t know it), and so freshly dead people Flocke can turn into his zombies, so he does?

So many questions; so few hours left to answer.

I’m so curious, though, whether you all think I’m just basically crazy or maybe onto something. Or, even, WAY late to the game.