Good morning, LOST friends and fans. My crazy travel schedule is over, although I am not surprised to be feeling under the weather as a result. I actually tried to go to sleep after this new episode, but it was impossible to turn off my mind.
So let's stare out at the ocean and take notes on our arms about Lighthouse together...
The Lighthouse
That Jacob used a LIGHT house to 'guide' people to the island convinces me that the DARK cave actually belonged to the Man in Black/notLocke.
When the compass landed on the numbers corresponding with specific individuals, the mirror showed significant landmarks from their lives; the Temple where Jin and Sun got married, the church where the service for Sawyer's parents took place and the house Jack grew up in.
Dear Jack:
You didn't need more bad luck.
Sincerely -
the mirrors, your mom and life
CHRISTIAN SHEPHARD
I think it is rather significant that Jack mentioned how his father's coffin may have been lost in Berlin, because that is where Ben had assigned Sayid to find and kill the Economist. We still do not know who that is/was, but I would not be surprised to find out that this person is a) somehow related to how and why Christian's coffin went missing and b) someone we've met.
When "they wouldn't let him" remove Jack's appendix, I had to wonder if that was because he was immediate family or because he was intoxicated.
I am under the assumption that Jacob knew about the Man in Black's ability to take over a person's body and soul; thus, I am a tad surprised that Jacob brought Christian to the island in the first place.
CLAIRE
Crazy Claire's hair resembles her living space; a hot tangled bird's nest mess. Clearly she could use one of Jacob's mirrors.
Among the many items scattered throughout her nest is dynamite from Black Rock. Talk about Rousseau 2.0. It is safe to assume that she got the surgical tools from the Staff station...and went to med school during those three years.
Although she managed to find a few kids toys and books, apparently all random island teddy bears were taken because that was one seriously creepy skeleton baby.
Crazy Claire has a sense of humor: "One thing that'll kill you around here is INFECTION."
According to Crazy Claire, the Temple Others shot her in the leg, took her to Temple (where I assume they dipped her in the Spring to heal), branded and tortured her like Sayid, discovered she was infected with the Darkness and then she escaped. However, I noticed that Temple Other Justin started to say (before she killed him) that her memory of those events wasn't quite right. That leads me to believe that her memory was affected by the Spring...like young Ben Linus, etc.
It turns out that the psychic was right about Claire having to raise Aaron herself:
(S1, Raised by Another)
Psychic Richard Malkin: "It is crucial that you yourself raise this child. This child, parented by anyone else, anyone other than you...danger surrounds this baby. Your nature, your GOODNESS must be an influence in the development of this child. You must not allow another to raise your baby."
Charlie: "Maybe he knew, Claire. If he had the gift, and I believe some people do...maybe he knew."
(S6, Lighthouse)
Claire: "If Kate was raising Aaron, I'd kill her."
Black and White theme alert! Crazy Claire's new relationship with notLocke reminded me of the opening dream sequence from Raised by Another, where Claire encounters Locke in the jungle (he has one black eyeball and one white eyeball, and there is a white rock on the table):
Claire: "What's happening?"
Locke: "You know what's happening."
Claire: "But I don't understand. Why?"
Locke: "He was your responsibility but you gave him away. Everyone pays the price now."
So here is a question for you...when Claire 'appeared' at Kate's house in S4 (There's No Place Like Home) to warn her "don't you dare bring him back!" - who was that and were they trying to prevent the inevitable?
DAVID SHEPHARD
Add another biblical name to the bunch. The name David symbolizes someone who is beloved...and a talented musician.
This is the third David we've met on Lost, and who the heck knows if any of them are one and the same in any of the universes and timelines that have been presented:
- Dave, Hurley's invisible friend from the institution
- David, Libby's deceased ex-husband
- David, Jack's son
Last year after seeing Faraday playing the piano, I was convinced that he was the one who had programmed the Looking Glass code with a song that Charlie would later decipher (leading to his sacrifice and setting off the chain of events we've seen for three seasons). Even though it is logistically impossible, I can't help but look at Jack's classically trained musician son as another...candidate for that particular island task. AND, let's not forget that David was reading a certain book about chasing a particular white rabbit that happens to be the logo for the Looking Glass station...
When Dogen told Jack that "your son has a gift," I was immediately reminded of both Aaron and Walt.
DOGEN
It was a very pleasant surprise to see Dogen in Jack's flash sideways. I love that he told Jack that his son David is really "good."
Seeing Jack run into a spiritual, pony-tailed future friend off island, I couldn't help but recall when he first met Desmond at the stadium.
HURLEY
Add tic-tac-toe (which allegedly originated in ancient Egypt...naturally) to the growing list of games that Hurley has played on Lost: backgammon, basketball, chess, Connect Four, horseshoes, ping pong, poker and Risk.
Red Flag! Seriously, can we please get Hurley a different shirt? Given Juliet's multi-episode appearance in her infamously red blouse leading up to her demise, I am quite nervous about our boy Hugo...especially if/when notLocke gets wind of his importance as afterlife messenger for Jacob.
JACK
I gasped when I first saw Jack's appendix scar, because I thought it was going to be our first clue that the flash sideways characters were experiencing life in two simultaneous dimensions. Oh well.
It was striking to see that, like Michael with Walt in S1, Jack barely knows his son.
Jacob said that "Jack is here because he has to do something; he can't be told what that is, he's got to find it himself." Is it too obvious that Jack is intended to be the final Candidate, 'the one who will protect/lead us all' (the Latin translated answer to the statue shadow question)?
To be perfectly honest, I have tried to understand and appreciate Jack for five seasons. I realize that he's supposed to be the hero and that the producers have high hopes that we'll see him in that light when the series ends. But I'm not quite there and time is running out. My favorite Jack scenes over the years have involved Christian (which have been few and far between), and I have great expectations for their eventual reunion before the end of S6.
Here is what I loved about this episode - the emotional resonance and ties back to the episode that got me hooked on Lost forever, White Rabbit (S1). Jack's father Christian told him that "I have what it takes. Don't choose, don't decide. You don't want to be a hero. Don't try and save everyone, because when you fail - you just don't have what it takes." So it was perfect that Jacob used that very moment (telling Jack via Hurley that he "has what it takes") to convince him to do something he wouldn't otherwise have agreed to.
Another nod to that S1 episode occured in the cave, when Jack admitted to Hurley that "I was chasing the ghost of my dead father. He led me here. That was his coffin, before I smashed it to pieces...because he wasn't in it."
Insert Coldplay (Fix You) or Pearl Jam (The Fixer) song lyric here. Jack's best line: "I came back here because I was broken...and I was stupid enough to think that this place could fix me."
And I certainly appreciated the redemption and softer side of Jack in the flash sideways, and was moved by his breakthrough with David at the end of the episode. When his son said "I didn't want you to see me fail," I admit that there were tears in my eyes.
JACOB
As ridiculous as it might sound, pens seem to be a relevant fate vs. free will tool to Mr. Not a Fan of Technology and how/why some wind up on the island:
- S1 (Raised by Another): When Claire went to sign adoption papers, she decided not to go through with it after both pens offered were out of ink.
- S1 (All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues): Christian insisted that Jack sign a falsified document covering up his alcohol related mistake in the operating room, holding out a pen for him with every last ounce of hope. Jack initially refuses but takes the pen and signs it.
- S5 (The Incident): Jacob gives Sawyer the pen that he uses to finish writing his letter to the real Sawyer.
- S6 (Lighthouse): Jacob told Hurley that he needed a pen to write down the lighthouse instructions.
Did anyone notice what Jacob was putting in the Spring inside the Temple? It was very subtle, but something tells me he has the solution to the murky water.
JIN
Is Jin wearing boxers with hearts on them? Sadly, that is my only question about him right now. Of course I hope he gets to dip his wounded leg into the hot tub time machine too.
KATE
Update:
Message received, observant Lost fans! Kate is indeed listed as number 51 on the lighthouse compass and does not appear to be crossed off. So Jacob and/or the Man in Black are not recruiting male Candidates only.
Thank goodness for another simple line of dialogue to prove that the love triangle/quadrangle has indeed been resolved:
To Jack: "I hope you find what you're looking for."
RAY SHEPHARD
As we've seen over the years, very few people have proven to be inconsequential on Lost. That is why I have asserted since last season that Christian's father Ray Shephard plays a larger role than originally thought. Considering his line in S5 (316) about wanting to escape to a place "they won't ever find me," I have to believe that we'll hear about, if not see, Ray again...on the island.
SAYID
Now that he has been infected, I can't wait to see Sayid encounter the Man in Black. If Claire doesn't see him as John Locke, I wonder what form/person Sayid will see him as.
Candidacy Key
To me, the most important line of the episode Jacob's instruction to Hurley: "Tell him you can do you what you want, tell him you're a candidate." That statement is an alternate take on and antithesis of "don't tell me what I can't do!"
Inside Joke Count: 2
I laughed out loud when Jack found Shannon's inhaler and Hurley identified it as such, because at Comic-Con last summer, Jorge Garcia pretended to ask a silly fan question from the audience and sarcastically addressed that very trivial lingering mystery:
"So this is the last season - everything's going to be answered, right - everything that matters? In Season 1, Confidence Man, Sayid tortures Sawyer to get Shannon's inhaler. We never found out about that one."
LOST Book Club
In yet another great nod to the fabulous White Rabbit episode and the Shephard lineage, David Shephard was reading The Annotated Alice by Lewis Carroll.
I am somewhat of a Viriginia Woolf buff, so I was thrilled to dig up some of my old notes about To the Lighthouse to look at after tonight's episode. Aside from featuring multiple timelines, characters and perspectives, the only real parallel I could recall was the focus on a particular family (the Shephards in this case). Also, the book is divided into three sections which are certainly applicable to this episode: The Window (mirror?), Time Passes and The Lighthouse.
Mirror in the Bathroom
In 6.01, Jack had an odd moment while looking in the bathroom mirror aboard flight 815. In 6.03, Kate experienced something while looking in the bathroom mirror at the mechanic shop. In 6.04, Locke briefly had a introspective moment while looking in the bathroom mirror at his house. In 6.05, Jack breaks 4 mirrors.
Theme alert: reflection!
Oh, and let's not forget the fantastic water ripple that provided Jack a mirror early on in the episode.
The Visitor
Given that I am spoiler-free, do not watch promos for new episodes or read casting news, I have no idea who is coming to the island. Here are my best guesses:
- Desmond
- Faraday
- Hawking
- Widmore
What I am looking forward to finding out is whether or not this person is going to help Jacob and Team Good Guys as they battle against notLocke and Team Darkness when they all finally congregate for war at the Temple.
Update:
The person listed (and crossed out) as number 108 is Wallace. At first I thought that it could be a reveal of the Man in Black's real name, but then I realized that Hurley was following Jacob's instructions to help bring the visitor to the island using that coordinate. So my theory is that Wallace will be the uniquely and miraculously special Desmond, because the rules do not apply to him and that may become essential during the pending war at the Temple.
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish hero and knight, so my inclination is to draw a parallel to the potentially heroic Desmond. [sidenote: I might be the only person in the world who did not like Braveheart, which was written loosely based on Wallace's tale.]
Visual Parallels
One of the items that Richard Alpert showed young John Locke at the foster home while testing him for a future island leadership position was a compass. Of course he also gave Locke a compass during his time shift travels last season and Locke had two compasses with him when he crashed on the island. So of course Jacob's lighthouse features a giant compass.
Like Charles Widmore and Anthony Cooper, Christian Shephard was a MacCutcheon man. Yes, I realize that Sayid and Desmond both also drank the good stuff...but Des got his from the 815 wreckage and Sayid purchased a few glasses before getting his ass kicked by Ilana.
Once again, Hurley said out loud what many fans often wonder when he was looking at the Adam and Eve skeletons from S1 (White Rabbit) and asked "what if these skeletons are us?"
Just as Miles got a key from under a white rabbit statue in S5 (Some Like it Hoth), Jack takes a key from under a white rabbit statue in this episode. Insert obvious references to both chasing their father's ghosts and to Jack's White Rabbit episode here.
Just as on new 815 when Sayid kicked in bathroom door, Jack kicks open door to lighthouse.
The Lamp Post station in Los Angeles features a giant pendulum in the middle that locates the island, and the Lighthouse features a giant compass in the middle that helps bring people to the island.
CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK
I have frequently speculated that one of the final scenes to end the entire series will feature the offspring of the main characters, designated for destiny: Walt Dawson, Clementine Ford, Charlie Hume, Ji Yeon Kwon and Aaron Littleton. That Jack has a son in the sideways version of his life further fuels my theory, and I will now add David Shephard to that list. Perhaps these six will be the next incarnation of the Oceanic 6...crashing, leaving and then returning to the island in the loop of life that Jacob calls "progress."
We've now seen the last names of those who have been brought to the island over the years both on the cave wall and the lighthouse compass. I strongly believe that there is a familial, generational tie to the island. Some names are now crossed out, which indicates that they are not Candidates. However, I believe that some of the names represent more than one person, and those with crossed out names are not necessarily deceased:
- Dawson is crossed out: Michael is deceased, son Walt is alive.
- Faraday is crossed out: Daniel is deceased, but it is fascinating that he is a Widmore yet father Charles' name isn't on the wall...
- Goodspeed is crossed out: Horace is deceased, son Ethan is alive only in flash sideways world.
- Kwon is not crossed out; Jin and Sun are Candidates, daughter Ji Yeon is also alive.
- Linus is crossed out: Roger is deceased, son Ben is alive.
- Littleton is crossed out: Claire and son Aaron are alive.
- Shephard is not crossed out: Jack is a Candidate, father Christian is deceased, grandfather Ray is alive. Jack's son David exists in the flash sideways world only.
- Straume is crossed out, as is Chang: Miles is alive, father Pierre is deceased.
In addition, when the lighthouse mirror reflected the house where Jack grew up (versus the hospital where Jacob had visited him) when the compass landed on Shephard, I believe that the mirror was showing the memory of Jacob's visit to Christian.
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I have to say that I did not have high hopes for this post, because my initial reaction to the episode was lukewarm and I am not feeling well (so please excuse any errors or oversights in advance). However, once I explored the many links back to earlier seasons and elaborated about a few theories, Lighthouse grew on me and I am looking forward to a second viewing.
Just a reminder that you have until Friday (2/26) to make a $10 donation toward Haiti relief for the chance to
win some very cool Lost memorabilia, including autographed comic books written by Damon Lindelof!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read along. I love and appreciate constructive feedback, so feel free to leave a comment below! Stay tuned for round two of 6.05 analysis this weekend, if not sooner.
-Jo
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