Next: “The Lighthouse”

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. […]

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 [email protected] or call the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808.