This 108th episode of “LOST” took us back to the first few hours of this incredible show. We still don’t know whether “LOST” will succeed in answering enough questions and resolving enough loose ends. But the feel of the show, the growing sense of coming full circle after half a decade of storytelling, is fantastic. The spirit of “White Rabbit,” episode five from season one, was all over “The Lighthouse.” Jen thoroughly loved it. I enjoyed it. To me, some of the exposition and dialogue was a bit flat, and the ever clever fan-inspired commentary of Hurley was a bit too clever. But perhaps such things are unavoidable given the immense amount of explaining “LOST” will have to do in the limited time left. They need to spell it out for us, and they need to acknowledge how ridiculous some of it all sounds.
While on-island Jack is once again reaching a breaking point, off-island Jack is perhaps conquering his demons (his mom praises him for turning down a drink), acknowledging his daddy issues, and making amends with his son. His son! David plays piano like Jack, suffers under an overbearing father like Jack… and “has a gift,” perhaps also like Jack. But the big mystery now is, who is David’s mom? Whose house did Jack visit (and enter thanks to a key hidden under a white rabbit)? And why did she, frankly, miss David’s recital? David’s blue eyes made Jen think of Juliet immediately. Could we see her moving on, later this season, asking Sawyer out for coffee?
Jack’s inexplicable confusion over his appendectomy scar was intriguing. His appendix was removed by Juliet on the island, which could be one reason he doesn’t remember it in the LA X timeline. But his mother does. And seeing Dogen as a fellow parent was a nice touch. He perhaps is not as mysterious, special, or even immortal as we might have thought, if a twist in time leads him to being a dad in Los Angeles.
Mirrors and reflections continue to play a big part in this final season, perhaps never moreso than in “The Lighthouse.” There were literal mirrors, of course, but our requisite book reference is again “Alice in Wonderland.”
On the island, we find the lighouse, a major island landmark that nobody noticed because nobody was looking for it. Inside, another list of names, most of them crossed out, save for our dear survivors. Is it a different list than the one Unlocke showed Sawyer in the cave? Part of me thinks they’re the same list, and the cave scrawlings represent the efforts of Unlocke/Man In Black to track Jacob’s candidates. On the other hand, we see some names we didn’t see in the cave, most notably, “Austen.”
The lighthouse and its various degrees suggest that it was where Jacob “watched” his candidates, and perhaps guided them to the island. But rather than investigate further, angry Jack smashes the mirrors. At first it seemed ridiculous to me, how once again a major potential source for answers is conveniently destroyed. But in the narrative of Jack’s life, it makes sense.
In “White Rabbit,” Christian Shephard tells young Jack: “Don’t choose, Jack, don’t decide. You don’t want to be a hero, you don’t try and save everyone, because when you fail, you just don’t have what it takes.” We’ve seen Jack try to be the hero, and everything fell apart once he got off the island. We then saw Jack return to try and wait for his purpose to reveal itself, only to end up executing a plan that was apparently a catastrophic failure. Now, he finds a list of names that suggests that he’s part of a larger plan or game, and is also probably one of the last players still standing. That’d probably be enough to make anyone snap.
Of course, we’re still not convinced “Shephard” means him. Jacob’s first line to Sawyer after his name was pointed out on the cave wall was, “He’s not the only one.” And even though the mirror showed Jack’s childhood home, that house also belonged to Christian. Heck, we don’t know if the image of the house was from Jack’s past, or from the “LA X” timeline. A pity he had to smash the mirrors to bits.
And Claire. Creepy Claire. Jen said she was even scarier than Rousseau. And now the parallels are numerous. Claire, like Rosseau, has spent years living in the wilderness, setting traps, surviving, living in conflict with and hiding from The Others. And she’s also obsessed with finding her missing child. But it’s interesting that there’s a lot of old Claire in there, despite whatever sickness or darkness may have consumed her.
She says her father and “her friend” told her The Others have Aaron. Whether or not on-island Christian Shephard and Unlocke were one and the same (I wonder what form Unlocke took prior to the arrival of Ajira 316), I’m curious why they’d want her to believe her son was still on the island. Are they trying to encourage her to go to The Temple, or discouraging her? They’ve fed her paranoia and mistrust for three years, but to what end?
After what she did to Justin, we believe her when she says she’d kill Kate if Kate raised Aaron. But the whole conversation revives questions about how important Aaron actually is to the island, and also, why it matters who raises him. If Kate is truly motivated solely by reuniting Claire with Aaron, and Claire remains obsessed with finding her son, it looks like the kid will be key at the end of Season 6. Jin went out of his way to remind Claire how old Aaron is, which only made me think about the clearly older blonde boy that’s now haunting Unlocke. Taller Ghost Aaron indeed.
- This episode is at least the second time Hurley is given a message from an apparently departed spirit that is so important, he has to write it down. Charlie made Hurley write down his message for Jack in “Something Nice Back Home.”
- Jack’s son’s name is David. We’ve noted the role of Davids throughout “LOST.” Libby says her late husband’s name was David. Hurley’s dad was named David, as was Charlotte’s father. And Hurley’s imaginary friend was Dave.
- David is listening to music, but says it’s something Jack wouldn’t know. Easiest guess? Driveshaft. But if Driveshaft is a “one hit wonder” from a band led by a “bloody rock god,” why wouldn’t Jack know them? Since David is also a classical music buff, I’d like to think that in the “LA X” timeline, “Driveshaft” is a moody, artsy, acoustic indie band or something.
- What funeral was Margot and Jack talking about? Presumably Christian’s, meaning they eventually proceeded without his body. I’m wondering how much time has now elapsed since Oceanic 815 landed.
- Speaking of classical music, David’s choice of Chopin is the same as Daniel Faraday’s in “The Variable.”
- In addition to “White Rabbit,” this episode ties well to “Something Nice Back Home” from Season 4. It’s the episode where his appendix comes out, where his domestic bliss with Kate crumbles, and where he reads from “Alice” to Aaron.
- Shannon’s inhaler? Didn’t see that coming. The whole skit with Jorge Garcia at Comic-Con last year was apparently part of the master plan.
- Hurley fires off so many pop-culture inspired lines, I don’t know where to begin. He lied to a samurai. He described Jacob as being like Obi-Wan Kenobi. And he tells Dogen he’s a fan of “Indiana Jones.” But I’ll take any of those lines over the groan-worthy chat with Jack over Kate.
- Locations: David’s school, “St. Mary’s Academy,” is St. Louis School in Kaimuki. The “Williams Conservatory” recital hall is Central Middle School near downtown Honolulu. David’s mother’s house is a private residence on Malama Place in Manoa. Watch for updates on my Lost Locations website.
What did you think?. We’d love your thoughts, theories, and feedback below. You can also e-mail us at lost@hawaiiup.com or call the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808.
just re-watched the pilot ep on my I pod and noticed three things:
1. Rose says that the sound of the smoke monster sounded very familiar to her. I did not catch that before but with the I pod sound, I did this time around.
2. Kate asks Charile if the met before and he sings You all everybody and talks about DriveShaft. Knowing what we know now, I think she was not talking about DriveShaft.
3. OMG! This left my jaw hanging open! When Jack, Charlie and Kate are in the cock pit of the plane right before they get in to see the Pilot, Seth, Jack hits the door with something to break in and it is EXACTLY how Juliet hits the bomb. He even says “come on” just like she does!!! Co ink e dink??? na… If anyone has the Pilot, please watch that and tell me if I am loosing my mind or not?!?!
I want to know the significance of “Jarrah” and “Shephard” being written in (what looks to be) newer ink or even in a different handwriting. They look like more recent additions than the other names. Were they chosen late in the game? Jacob did visit Jack and Sayid only as adults (as far as we’ve seen). Was there a doubt over which side these two would ultimately choose (MIB or Jacob’s), with Jacob ultimately gambling on them recently?
Also, as someone said above: “Jacob didn’t mind” that Jack broke the mirrors. I don’t think it ever had anything to do with guiding someone toward the island. Jacob simply doesn’t need the lighthouse anymore, so he used it to convince Jack that he is significant to what is going on on the island. “It only ends once. Everything else is just progress.” We are watching the end of a very long game. Almost all the players are crossed off and Jacob doesn’t need it to keep tabs on them anymore.
I am so glad that the tsunami was not as bad as it might have been and that you are all safe.
Just listened to the Geronimo Jack’s Beard podcast and they confirmed that in the script the 2 other places Jack saw in the mirror were the temple where Jin and Sun were married and the church where Sawyer’s parent’s funeral was held. I found it odd that both of these are the places that we saw Jacob encounter these 3 characters in the finale last year. Jacob encountered Jack at the hospital, so why was his childhood house in the mirror? I am convinced that this house is were Jacob encountered Christian. I think Jack’s path will ultimately lead to a reconciliation or resolution with his father.
One other thing, I found it cool when Jack found David’s Alice book that he said David used to love it as a child and would always ask about Kitty and Snowdrop. Just as Jack says “they were Alice’s…”, David interrupts him. It turns out Kitty and Snowdrop were Alice’s kittens, and guess what? One was black and one was white. Cool, huh?
@ Ron St. Amant
No doubt about the symbolic importance of water. But I think it is counterbalanced by an opposing force, fire, drawn from a S2 title, “Fire and Water.” The raft, the cabin, the freighter all went up in flames. Torches have been lit when Zeke first drew the line, when Jack and Locke peered down into the hatch, and when Richard defiantly entered the barracks in 1977. And Flocke kicked Jacob into the fire for his coup de grace. If we associate Jacob with the wellspring and water, then perhaps we can link smokey to fire.
Great catch there Rich! And it’s in this episode that the “dream” ask Charlie to baptise Aaron… Baptism/Water should put you in a safe place… Yet Claire has been baptised and see what happened! I think I heard Damon and Carlton on a podcast say that Smokey doesn’t like water… In connection with Anubis are we supposed to guess that the water is the Styx? Bringing you to the Scale Of Judgment?
Just realized: Styx reflection: Anubis/Jacob is the one that helps the soul cross the Styx to go to the Underworld so they might be judged. Cerberus/Smokey is the one that “eats” the souls that want to depart (Christian, Yemi…) or the living that would wants to stay(Claire, Sayid (with nothing awaiting him outside anymore)…).
So this is not Purgatory, it is the Underworld? And Jacob wanted someone to take is place while Cerberus just wants to live this place?
For comparison (and to help me tell if they resemble one another!):
Jack hitting the door:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MediaOfLost#p/u/29/aYQ0i5wbtk8
starting around 2:39
Juliet hitting the bomb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opj0v3FxSoo
starting around 1:03
watching them side by side, I wonder now if it is just a Co ink e dink?
Here’s a theory for you:
Suppose the ideal candidates are children. Children are naive and can be made to “choose” more easily. For this reason, Jacob has prevented children from being born or remaining unattended on the island: People must choose to be the Island’s protector. On the other hand, this is precisely the reason the Man in Black wants to enslave a youngster to the island–no one in their full comprehending mind would want to stay as the evil force forever. While Claire was in her right mind, she came to Kate, off-island in LA, and said, Don’t you dare bring him back!
I think the name “Wallace” on the 108 setting is just a red herring. The lighthouse mirror serves two purposes. First it allows Jacob to check on the candidates when he turns to the appropriate setting and looks in the mirror. Secondly it serves as a directional beacon to bring people into the island on the correct heading so that they arrive at the correct time and without the time shifting sickness. So looking in the mirror set on 108 would have shown something relevant to the candidate Wallace but it also creates a light beacon providing a safe approach to anyone outside the island. Just as the sub had an electronic beacon to get to and from the island the old school method was the lighthouse. While I don’t think there’s any Wallace coming to the island I do think the name was a nod to the fact that the person coming to the island is our favorite scottsman.
UnLock/Smokey/Dark man is dark/evil, you can see the hate in his eyes; and Jacob is light/good, he always is calm and optimistic.
Jacob always leaves the choice up to the person even if he does give advice/comfort (much like a wife will “advise†her husband what he should do and let him decide).
Jacob always shows himself when he influences or gives advice.
Smokey always masks himself; I think all visions may be Smokey:
• Walt – To keep Lock alive as he knew Lock was the easiest target to control and someone in line to lead the others.
• Christian – To confuse and keep Jack in pain. To get Lock to turn the wheel and get him off the island which to his benefit ends up dead and giving him a message to further confuse and bring pain to Jack. One of only two “people†talking to Claire to keep here confused, scared and trigger happy; I’m not sure she’s infected as much as just “claimed†and under the influence of Smokey.
• Charlie – While telling Hurly to stay away from people that are coming for him when he got off the island and checked back into the mental hospital, I believe he told him to just run.
• Alex – To control Ben through great guilt.
• Lock – To gain access to Jacob and make Ben kill him.
• The Cabin – Lock hears “help me†(another influence on Lock from the dark man who just wants to go home) in the “Cabin when Ben takes him there for the first time. I never see Richard take anyone there to see Jacob. I think Ben was/is under the influence and confused control of Smokey as he knew the cabin as Jacob’s location and also knew how to summon the smoke monster. Only two people are seen in the cabin, Claire and Christian. And when Jacob’s militia back-up arrives they go to the cabin and say that Jacob has not been there for a long time; then burn it down.
• Ben and Lock having to kill their father easily sounds like Smokey testing their ability to follow blindly to death.
Those are just the big ones that I can remember off hand.
Jacob does not bring people to the island he just lets them know it’s there. As Louise Hawking said, the universe has a way of correcting itself.
Joshua
Phoenix, AZ
Wishing I were in Hawaii
crazy question and i’m late to the party on this episode, but is Jack’s sideways son David the same boy but with dark hair that unLocke and Sawyer saw in the jungle?
[“Why else would Claire have forgotten that she GAVE Aaron to Kate before she went off into the woods to join up with Christian?”]
WHAT???? I cannot believe there are people who actually believe this. Claire left Aaron underneath the tree before she joined Smokey. Sawyer and Miles found Aaron. Sawyer handed Aaron over to Kate. Who handed Aaron over to Sun. Who took Aaron off the island. Sun eventually handed Aaron back to Kate after leaving the freighter. Please get your facts straight.