I got asked this question:
Do you think Rose & Bernnie’s actions in “The Incident” have anything to do with Jacob’s theory that “there is only one end, everything else is just progress?”
If there is anyone who gets a raw deal from a Reset, it’s Rose and Bernard, but before I continue with my answer, I think we need to put Jacob’s comments in the proper context, the below is from Lostpedia:
BLOND MAN: I take it you’re here ’cause of the ship.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: I am. How did they find the Island?
BLOND MAN: You’ll have to ask ’em when they get here.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: I don’t have to ask. You brought them here. Still trying to prove me wrong, aren’t you?
BLOND MAN: You are wrong.
GRAY-HAIRED MAN: Am I? They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.
BLOND MAN: It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.
I think within that conversation lies the key to LOST, or at least the battle between Jacob (blond man) and MiB (Grey-haired man). The MiB has a rather nihilistic view of the world, where the players that get brought to the island always devolve into a struggle, that ends up destructive. I think Jacob takes a longer view, and that while they struggle and fight, in the end there is something worth all the pain. I think the picture we are treated to with Rose and Bernard in the incident show two people that have given up struggling and end up living peacefully. I think it’s somewhat relevant that Vincent (that some see as a sort of avatar for Jacob) settled in with R&B while the Dharma people and the natives continue struggling against each other.
In Rose and Bernard we see two people that have finally found peace in their circumstances. They may have their own little squabbles over the day to day activities, but they’re not raging against the machine, or Mib or Jacob, or fate. They’re happy.
Then the bomb goes BOOM and they get put back on that plane and Rose’s cancer returns. A reset would be totally unfair. Though they did get to live three years of bliss on the island before getting reset. I can see why many people see Rose and Bernard as perhaps the Adam and Eve skeletons, where Jack grabs the black and white rock from, and I think is still in his possession. If anyone has a chance at a ‘only ends once, everything else is just progress’ I suppose the glimpse we have of Rose and Bernard could be the archetype of what ‘progress’ looks like instead of the constant warring that goes on around them.
Did I answer the question?
Right, I think that Rose & Bernard’s decision to “retire” and not take part in blowing anything up as well as their comments about being fed up with Jack’s constant violent plans is an example of what Jacob was looking for. I get the feeling that this behavior will somehow be important to creating the peace that Jacob’s end plan is all about. I just don’t see how it could happen with the whole Jughead situation!
And I believe the MIB/Jacob debate is intended to lead towards introducing The Island to the rest of the world, once some outsiders show reverence towards it and can end the ongoing conflict amongst the population.