A possible explanation for the Jacob/Esau smoke conundrum: Jacob andEsau (who you guys are calling the MIB) are two sides of the same coin,with exactly the same powers. They've each occupied dead bodies atdifferent times (Jacob has Christian and Claire, Esau has Yemi, Alexand now Locke). Esau has a black smoke column and -- get ready for it-- Jacob has a white smoke column that we have yet to see. Boldprediction? Yes. But not entirely unsupported.
I still believethat one of the most important moments of the series comes from S1E4,where Locke is out hunting boar for the first time with Michael andKate. He is separated from them and comes face to face with the (or"a") smoke monster for the first time. We never see the smoke monsterat that time, but Locke does describe it later one, to Mr. Eko in theepisode where Mr. Eko bites it. Eko describes the smoke monster asevil, and coming to kill all of the Losties. What does Locke describe?Locke calls it the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. I believe healso says it was bright -- but my memory could be failing there.
DidLocke and Eko see DIFFERENT smoke monsters? How could they describeostensibly the same thing so differently? Remember our trustybackgammon pieces. Two sides -- one light, one dark. These are furtherplayed out in Jacob and Esau's clothing -- Jacob in the light shirt andEsau in the dark shirt. Does it make sense that only Esau can take theform of a smoke monster, take the form of dead people and wander theIsland? Maybe so. But there are other ways to think about this, too.
