Lost Review: “Lighthouse”

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And back across the island we go. I’m torn between what’s the more interesting group on Lost these days, the Jacob-influenced temple crew or the Not-Locke dominated Linus/Sawyer brigade. But both teams seem to be having new secrets revealed to them by their respective leaders, and this week was all about Hurley, Jack, Jin and Claire learning new and terrifying things.

Boredom has set in at the temple, as everyone sits and waits for Not-Locke to come charging in. Hurley and Miles are playing tic tac toe, Jack and Sayid are discussing his “darkness” infection. But things pick up when the ghost of Jacob appears to Hurley, and tells him he has a very special secret mission for him, which involves getting Jack to trudge across the island to activate something which will lead someone, somewhere to the island.

A ways off, Jin finds himself caught in a beartrap and being “rescued” by Claire from the clutches of the Others. She hauls him and an alive Other back to her makeshift hut, and Jin discovers she’s been living on the island in a practically feral state for the past three years, and has lost the vast majority of her mind in the process. The baby crib full of animal bones would attest to that. She claims the Others have her baby, a fact she knows because her father and her “friend” have told her. Hmm.

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“Uhhhhh I’m just going to be going now.”

Meanwhile, over in the Day of Present Past, Jack’s post non-crash life involves him having a son, which is a pretty damn big change, and begs the question as to what the hell the island’s destruction has to do with whether or not he impregnates someone. Maybe I’m missing something in my memory banks of all Jack’s flashbacks, but if you have a theory, please shout it out.

In any case, Jack and his son have issues, as if that’s any surprise, and the entire flash-sideways revolves around Jack discovering that his son is a master pianist, and he tells him he never thinks he can fail at anything. Oh also, he meets Samurai Other whose son is also a master pianist. Because we can’t have one of these things without seeing at least one other familiar face.

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He’s got Kate’s eyes if you ask me. 

By the end of the episode, Jack is led to a mysterious lighthouse by Hurley, which contains another set of crossed out names around the flame housing area. When set to a certain coordinate and name, the mirrors behind the flame show where that person is from, and when Jack sets it to his own name and sees his old house, he freaks out and smashes all the mirrors. Hurley thinks the mission is a bust, but Jacob tells him he did this on purpose so Jack can see how “special” he is.

Claire ends up killing the Other in front of Jin, who tells her that Kate actually has been raising Aaron, a statement he quickly retracts when he realizes just how psycho she really is, and promises to sneak her back into the temple, where presumably he hopes the Others will subdue her. But a wrench is thrown in the works when Claire’s “friend” shows up in the unsurprising form of Not-Locke, but strangely, Claire seems to recognize him at Not-Locke rather than believing he’s actual Locke. How does she know this, yet not understand that when she saw her father, that was also the same guy (err, “being”)? How exactly is Not-Locke recruiting people with this “darkness” sickness? What does he need them for anyway?

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Still hot.

I’ve given up trying to comprehend just what this alternate reality-verse is trying to accomplish, and am just taking it at face value for the time being. I still don’t really see it serving an immediate purpose, and it’s a bit maddening to try and comprehend how the island’s destruction has influenced all these events like Locke’s reconciliation with his dad (and how he ended up paralyzed anyway) and now Jack’s prodigious son. But I’m done complaining, I’m just going to go with the flow and hope it leads somewhere relevant.

What did that thing Hurley said to Jack mean? Was it something his father used to say to him or something? Maybe that’s a reference I’m missing. As for the lighthouse, has that ever been alluded to before? I don’t believe so, making its appearance seem rather convenient. I imagine that was used to bring ships to the island before planes were invented (like the Black Rock perhaps?), but I doubt Jacob set the dial to “Shepard” and brought Oceanic 815 there. After all, all the Oceanic candidates are different degrees aren’t they? And 815 crashed because of Desmond and the button, so outside of Jacob “predestining” everyone to get on that plane, I don’t think the lighthouse had anything to do with it.

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Angry Jack smash!

Lastly, who do you think Jacob’s trying to bring to the island, #108? You probably caught that 4 + 8 + 15 + 16 +23 + 42 = 108, so this person’s got to be pretty important. The only people relevant to the show who aren’t on the island I can think of are Eloise Hawking, Charles Widmore and Desmond. I bet it’s Desmond. Where the hell is he these days anyway? I forget the last time we saw him.

A good episode I suppose, as I always love Hurley-centric outings, but we have even more questions as always. At the rate we’re going we’ll need like six solid episodes that are just Jacob and Not-Locke talking at the screen, explaining the answers to every question we’ve ever had.

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Good work, dude.

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14 Comments

  1. 108 on the dial said Wallace.

    i think it’s des coming to the island, but apparently it’s wallace. maybe could be a code name of des?

    wallace WAS crossed out though, maybe jacob just wanted jack to go to see his name and see he was “special” and knew that’d make him pissy and smash the mirrors. maybe the mirrors open the window to the island, so maybe without them smokey will be stuck on the island?

    also, last we saw des, aside from on 815 in universe X, was in the hospital after ben shot him

  2. few other things…

    how does the islands destruction cause jack to knock up a chick? (ps – i am guessing that chick is gonna end up being juliet. her and jack are both doctors, so they could feasibly meet, plus, look at davids bright blue eyes, just like juliets)

    well, the jughead has nothing to do with this world. the writers have said, on every podcast, this is NOT an alternate reality or time line.

    i think it is just another world that has always existed along side the one we’ve been watching the past 6 years. all blowing up jughead did (if they even did blow it up) was send them back to 2007. no reset, no delete, no split.

    what we know is world A, the flash sideways is world X (as hinted at in the premier title LA X). world X has always existed, as has world A, we are only now just witnessing it. world X is it’s own world where certain things (locke being paralyzed, kate helping claire with aaron, jack saving charlie, etc) are fated to happen, but the rest of the world happens in its own way

    i think more towards the end of the season we will see the two worlds crossing over (think dark tower).

    as for the thing hurley said to jack “you have what it takes”, it was in reference to jacks dad always telling him he “DIDN’t have what it takes”, this was shown after his kids recital.

  3. Apparently they’re revealing what the island is in the next four episodes. It’s a four letter word that does not include the letters a or e. Saw that on i09

    Also, am I the only one who saw Jack’s son and though, “Holy shit! It’s a young Cameron!” and then try to remember what Cameron’s name really is? Man, I love Ferris Bueler.

  4. Yes, 108 does say Wallace, but it is not a code name for Desmond. Wallace is the last name of someone. I thought it was interesting to see Kate’s name on there and I think it was at #51.

    They explain what Hurley said to Jack later in the episode when Jack is talking to his son.

  5. “Meanwhile, over in the Day of Present Past, Jack’s post non-crash life involves him having a son, which is a pretty damn big change, and begs the question as to what the hell the island’s destruction has to do with whether or not he impregnates someone. Maybe I’m missing something in my memory banks of all Jack’s flashbacks, but if you have a theory, please shout it out.”

    It was said by Not-Locke that all the years previous to the Oceanic crash, that Jacob was influencing the lives of the people on the plane to eventually come to the island. This was only in very small ways but which lead to practically shaping these people’s lives. But also this presumably includes that any people before that, including the Dharma Initiative and the Black Rock, were brought to the island by varying degrees of influence and suggestion.

    In parallel universe X, for some reason, the island was submerged under water, at a point in history as of yet unknown (but at least before a young Ben Linus was meant to arrive in 1973). Therefore it is safe to assume (pah! not really) that Jacob did not carry out his various influencing of various characters, as his home was the island and presumably he died…or maybe not?

    Any-who, therefore, because Jack was never given a candy bar one day by Jacob, an incredibly small thing to our eyes, his outlook on life, the way he affected others and how his life progressed took a completely different turn. Perhaps in parallel universe A this chance encounter with Jacob meant that he now had the subconscious desire not to have children, so that he could go ahead and be a candidate to be the new ‘Jacob’.

    The fact that, like all the other people on the plane, their lives are still so similar to the parallel universe A is a testament to destiny and fate that things are meant to happen…or maybe it’s all just a coincidence!

    This is why in one universe Jack can have a son and in the other he does not.

  6. Also, we were given the first sign that there might be some crossover between the two worlds. Did anyone else notice that when Jack took off his shirt he noticed a scar that it seems he had not noticed before (He even asks his mom later about his appendectomy). It is the same wound that he got in the pilot episode. It seems that what happens in one world is having ramifications in the other.

  7. good review, i enjoyed it. i’m still confused as to why you think the island is destroyed and that’s what changes the events….

    @Mr Jim – very insightful, i enjoy reading your thoughts. i also think that jacob never reaches out to the candidates which is why the alternate reality is taking place so differently.

    i can’t wait until next week!

  8. I wonder how many more ancient/gigantic structures, that have been there the whole time, we’ll see this season.

    We know Jack is special, we know the survivors names have been on various lists the others have had, and last week we saw all their names, with numbers, on a cave wall. Did we really need to take one of the few episodes left to have their names on a light house?

    With so many questions to answer, and with the LA verse eating up a lot of time each episode, i would think things would be moving faster on the island.

  9. Well, to answer your question, Paul, in a flashback we heard Christian tell young Jack that he “doesn’t have what it takes”.

    As for the lighthouse/108/person coming to the island deal, here’s what we’ve got.

    1. Wallace is irrelevant. Back in season 4, Faraday said that the only way to reach the island without going nuts (like Minkowski) is to approach at a 108 degree angle.

    2. The person coming is most likely Desmond. Widmore might come, but he’s not the one Jacob wants to help. They’re not on the same team, going by what Bram told Miles in the van in season 5.

    It’s also possible that 108/the person coming was just a red herring by Jacob, and that he expected Jack to break the mirrors all along.

  10. @ryan

    actually, the injury he got in the pilot was on his lower back/side.

    the big deal about his appendix scar is that in season 4, juliet removed jacks appendix on the island.

  11. People are making such a big deal about who 108 is, when it’s clearly shown, and Jacob says it was all part of his plan. He knew Jack would get pissed. 108 is irrelevant. Juliet being David’s mother just seems like a stretch to me, so I’ll go ahead and say Jack’s ex-wife will end up being the mother. Also if you notice Jacob tells Hurley “they” will have to find another way to come to the island. I’m guessing it’s Desmond and Widmore, maybe Eloise too. If Desmond comes I hope he brings Penny, but I doubt it.

    @Chelsea: Jacob not touching the characters wouldn’t cause the change in events. In the alternate timeline he apparently has a relationship with his father, but he gets touched by Jacob AFTER he’s thrown from the window.

  12. Ryan A: Ahh an excellent point, with Locke and his father and that the only time (that we know of) Jacob interfered with Locke was bringing him back to life from the fall.

    However, this is Lost, it could be that because Jacob never interfered with sawyer’s life that Sawyer’s life turned out differently and he some how got premature revenge on Locke’s father, and the father that Locke now refers to could very well likely be a step-father.

    Even with the possibility that it is still Locke’s real father that is being referred to, due to Jacob not influencing the lives of many people (many of which could have been years, decades or centuries before the events where he influences Jack etc.) this could result with John’s Dad being good, albeit in a completely indirect manner. Or perhaps in this universe he was merely sent to prison and was incarcerated during the time he was ‘supposed’ to cripple Locke.

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