Lighthouse

Season 6 of Lost continued its forward momentum with this week's episode, "Lighthouse." The producers have said that season 6 will remind fans of season 1 and this one definitely did. From a revisit to the caves (including finding Shannon's inhaler) to Claire's Rousseau-like camp to Hurley telling Jack that their mission was just like the old days, "Lighthouse" was a call back to the simpler days of Lost. Here are my thoughts and questions about it:

Flash Sideways Story
There was lots of info in this week's sideways story and I have to admit, after being skeptical and not "moved" by the sideways story idea, this week's one upped the intrigue level. Last week's was solid as well, and we've been given so many more questions to ask.

Let's start with the big one first, Jack's still driving the same vehicle as before ... no wait, that's not important. The big reveal last night was that Jack has a son, David. It's hard enough to wrap your head around these flashforwards already. Are they showing us what happened after Jughead exploded? Showing us what would have happened if Jacob hadn't interfered in their lives? Then they throw something like Jack having a son at us and everyone's theory-making goes back to the drawing board.

So, what do we know of David? David is a teenager who lives with his mother. Jack, who is separated from David's mom, gets visitation once a month. They never show David mother, so are we now to try to guess who it is? The obvious answer would be Sarah, Jack's ex-wife in our previous timeline. But then there's the question of when did he "fix" her after her wreck and when they would have gotten married. Plus we don't know much about Jack's new backstory. So let the speculation begin on who David's mom is.

Other items of note from the flash sideways story include Jack not remembering getting his appendix taken out. His mom told him he had the surgery when he was about eight, but we saw Juliette do the surgery on the island. Is this why Jack is having trouble remembering? Jack and his mom also have a search for Christian's will (the coffin is still missing, by the way), and Jack's mom is surprised to see Claire Littleton's name in the will ... so at least that detail of Christian Sheppard's life isn't changed.

The last part of the flash sideways story is when Jack goes to hear David's piano audition. My first thought when we learned that David played piano was Daniel Faraday. Will David get the musician's life that young Daniel longed for? My second thought was that the Looking Glass Station was programmed by a musician. Will David have ties to the island? The last thought was oh look, Dogen's at the audition. Wait? Another Other off island in the 815ers flash story. Something fishy is going on here.

The Lighthouse
This episode's namesake turned out to be another of Jacob's locations on the island. So far we know that Jacob inhabited the base of the four-toed statue; the cave where Sawyer and Man-in-Black visited last week; the Temple, perhaps; and the cabin (if Jacob ever actually occupied the cabin).

Hurley and Jack make their way to the top of the lighthouse and find a fire pit and mirrors with a big wheel that turns the light source. On each degree of the wheel is a person's last name. It is soon confirmed that the Man-in-Black was telling the truth (probably not the full truth though) last week when he showed Sawyer their names on the cave ceiling. Many of the names are crossed off, just like in the cave, but Jack finds the survivors names, including his own, Jarrah, Kwon and Ford.

As Hurley is turning the wheel, Jack notices images reflected in the mirror. We see the location where Sun and Jin got married and the church where Sawyer's parents funeral was held. Jack wants to see what's at #23, the number before his own name. Turns out its his parents home. Jack learns the same thing Sawyer learned last week, that Jacob has watched them and influenced their lives. Jack is furious and wants to see Jacob, but he doesn't appear so he smashes the mirrors. With the image being his parents house and not his own, should we still question whether or not Shephard is for Jack or Christian?

Ok, take a deep breath. That was a great scene, and it offered so much about the show's mythology. So this is how Jacob checked in on everyone? He watched them through the lighthouse mirrors? I still wonder how he chose these specific people to spy on, but as far as the numbers go, it looks like they are getting explained in a big way. Valenzetti equation? Ha! The numbers represent the candidates, and the numbers themselves are actually degrees where those people are located. So I guess the highest number would be 360?

There are familiar names both from characters we know and the names written on the cave ceiling. Remember Lostpedia's list of candidates I posted about the other day? Well, it's updated with the named from the wheel now. The most surprising name that surfaced from the wheel is Austen. I have to admit that I missed her name being on there during first viewing, but made a point to check out the names in the screen caps:


So Kate is a candidate? Her name is listed at #51, and not crossed out. So did Man-in-Black purposefully not show her name to Sawyer last week? And with her name not being next to one of the famous numbers, what does that mean for her candidacy?

#108, Who's Coming to the Island?
Another big question regarding the lighthouse numbers is why did Jacob wants them to turn to 108 degrees? The name at that degree is Wallace, which is not any character we know. Jacob told Hurley that someone was coming to the island. Will it be this Wallace person, whose name was crossed out, or someone else? Jacob didn't seem too worried when he appeared to Jacob outside the lighthouse. It seemed this mission may have really been about Jack seeing Jacob's methods. So what is it that Jack needs to do? How important is Jack really? Is he the ultimate candidate?

Lastly, Jacob said that some bad stuff is about to go down at the Temple and that Hurley can't help the others, that it's too late. We know Man-in-Black is likely going there and infected Sayid is walking around the temple grounds, so what's going to happen to everyone? Jacob doesn't seem concerned about it. Should we be? The only ones left there besides Others are Miles and Sayid. But Kate may be on her way back. Sun, Lapidis and their group are on the way and Jin may be bringing an uninvited guest as well (more on her in a bit). Could they be preparing us for the death of major character soon?

Adam & Eve
On their way to the lighthouse, Hurley and Jack find Shannon's inhaler and realize they've stumbled across the caves, where the group lived just after they crashed on the island. Once they go inside, we are immediately reintroduced to the Adam and Eve skeletons. This scene played two roles. For hard core Lost fans, it was a nod to show them that the producers haven't forgotten about this little detail from way back in season 1. Fans have been speculating like crazy about who these skeletons will turn out to be, even though they had only appeared on the show once. The other role was to remind the casual fan about them, since the answer to who they are will likely be answered soon. Hurley, who always speaks for the audience, was great. He said that he'd forgotten that they were in there (as casual fans may have) and then went on a time-travel theory that they might be looking at themselves (as fans have long speculated).

While at the caves, Jack tells Hurley about how he originally found them (he was chasing a white rabbit, aka his dead father). It seems that after all these years on the island Jack has bought into all the craziness and is a believer. He tells Hurley that he came to the island because he was broken and thought it would fix him. Jack from earlier on Lost would have never admitted that he was chasing his dead father, but now he's openly telling Hurley and is going along with this plan to try to get to talk to the now dead Jacob. All Hurley had to do was tell Jack that he has what it takes. This could have many meanings, but it got Jack's attention right away and he came along.

Claire and Her Friend
This episode caught us up on the life of Claire-Rousseau. Since everyone else left the island, Claire has been living on her own, Rousseau-style. She was captured by the Others and given the Sayid test (showing Jin the branding mark on her shoulder). It looks like she doesn't remember anything (probably since her house was blown up by Keamy's men) about what happened to Aaron. Also remember, infected Sayid didn't remember anything after being shot. Claire thinks the Others took Aaron, even though she's the one who left him with Miles and Sawyer when she took off with dead Christian. I guess its also safe to assume she didn't experience time travel like the other 815ers either.

Throughout her story with Jin, she mentions her friend, who ultimately turns out to be fake Locke, aka Man-in-Black. I figured this is who her friend would be, but it was frustrating that they still didn't give him a name. When Jin sees him he asks, John? and Claire replies that its not John, its her friend. Is Jin aware that Locke had died? The last time Jin would have seen Locke was just before Locke went down the well to turn the donkey wheel. This was when they were still skipping through time. Locke stopped the skipping and set the island in the DHARMA 1970s. I wonder if Kate, Jack or Hurley mentioned that Locke had died to Jin.

I have a couple of big questions about Man-in-Black's arrival. Is Sawyer with him? This would be interesting since Sawyer's the one that she left Aaron with. How would he react to seeing her again? Next big question is how did they get out of the cave? Since the ladder broke when Sawyer climbed down, it seems that it would be pretty difficult to get back up that cliff side.

Jin is obviously aware that something is up with Claire. He tries to save the Other's life by telling Claire that Kate has been raising Aaron, but she kills him anyway. Then Jin tells her that he was lying (not sure why he did this, but judging by her response that she would kill Kate, turns out it was the right thing to do) and now he wants to bring he to the Temple. What does old Jin have planned? I thought his main objective was the find Sun. I know Sun is going to the Temple, so is this just a convenient way to get those two together?

Other Tidbits:
Lots of fans are speculating that the ashes that Ilana picked up from where Jacob burned up are the ashes that repel Smokey (from "The Substitute"), but what if she has another idea for the ashes. We know that Miles can commune with the dead, but he needs the body to "talk" to. Maybe Ilana is bringing the ashes to Miles so he can find out what Jacob's plan is.

I liked how the characters addressed questions that fans would have asked while watching the episode. Jack questioning why they'd never seen the lighthouse before and Hurley's speculation that the Adam and Eve skeletons could be themselves are the exact things fans would be saying. Hurley also compared Jacob to Obi Wan Kenobi, classic.

Alice in Wonderland has played a role in Lost before ("White Rabbit," "Through the Looking Glass," Jack reading the book to Aaron in "Something Nice Back Home") and it was revisited tonight with David reading "The Annotated Alice." Jack also found the key to David's mom's house under a rabbit statue.

Not sure what to make of Jack and Kate's conversation. It seemed a bit off to me. Kate is dead-set on finding Claire, and it looks like her best bet to do so would be going back to the Temple. What will she do with the new information about her being infected?

"Lighthouse" is the 108th episode of Lost. Nothing major there, but anything tying in with the numbers is worth a mention. It was also written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the two producers who run Lost.

Other recaps and analysis on "Lighthouse":

• Lostpedia "Lighthouse"
• Screencaps and Easter eggs
• Doc Jensen's instant analysis; Doc Jensen's Full Recap
  
• Washington Post Dueling Analysis
• What's Alan Watching?
• The Watcher
• JOpinionated Initial Thoughts and Reactions
• Zap2It Lost
• Geronimo Jack's Beard Podcast
• LongLiveLocke Recap
  

Next on Lost: "Sundown"

*Photos from Lost-Media.com