[bewitched]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

They went to Jacob's cabin. Ben said it was Jacob in there. Christian claimed he was Jacob at one point.

Not that saying something conclusively has ever stopped them from changing the "facts" on us.

When they put Esau in the picture and told us it was him that was Locke, it infers that there are two supernatural beings at play when we only knew about one. The inference is clear, as JW posted. Even if you don't go that far it still means that everything is up for questioning.

There are twists when characters do things we don't expect, there are twists when new information is revealed about existing circumstances. This is NOT a twist, because this character was not in play for the last 5 years.

I really don't know how else I can put it.

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

For my taste, the "clues" were far too vague. For all of the other surprises, there was an obvious, specific vacuum in the story that they filled.

There were whispers and killings and kidnappings - so we meet the others

Desmond was stranded, being kept from his wife, and a mysterious ship was looking for the island and Desmond - so we meet Whidmore.

There is an abundance of scientific equipment, and strange things like polar bears - so we learn about Dharma.

There are mysterious happening on the island in the form of the living dead, smoke monsters, et al. - so we learn about Jacob.

But this new guy? His effect is so overreaching, and dropped in so suddenly, it's a total hand wave. "Hey, everyone, check out this guy. He hates Jacob....oh and by the way he's responsible for pretty much everything that's happened."

All I can think is the end of the Simpsons Lord of the Rings spoof episode. "And they were rescued by, oooh, let's say Moe."

But they've been clear some time that there were two sides and that people needed to choose which side they were on. Most of us always assumed that meant the two sides were Ben and Widmore. They are now clarifying that the two sides are Jacob and "Esau" (and one would assume that Ben and Widmore are/were the de facto "leaders" of each faction). Personally, I don't consider that a bait and switch nor an obfuscation. They never said those were the sides. Sure, they implied, but I believe the implication was only a plot point to allow the story to become more fleshed out.