The Lighthouse

If I had to describe this episode in one word it would be…slow. The good thing is that in slow episodes they’re usually moving pieces into position to blow our minds the following week so prepare for a mind blowing of epic proportions in March!

Alternaverse – Pappa Jack
Given the revelation that Jack has a son in the flashside ways I’ve decided to stop calling it Non-Crash Time. The fact that they didn’t crash is almost insignificant in this alternaverse. This alternaverse is showing what would have happened if Jacob hadn’t drawn them to the Island. I think.

Anyways – so the two main points in this flashback:

1. Jack has a son and is divorced. Who’s the kid’s mother? If you try not to over think it the obvious choices is his ex-wife Sarah whose spine he fixed back in season 1 Maybe an Other? Perhaps Juliet? I just hope it isn’t somebody we haven’t met before.

2. Jack has an appendicitis scar and he can’t remember where he got it. His mom says it was from 7th grade but he doesn’t seem to recall that. Perhaps because the scar is from when Juliet took out his appendix on the Island? Jack, of all the people we’ve seen in the Alternaverse, is the only one who seems to be noticing that things “aren’t right”. First it was the scratch on his neck in the airplane and now it’s a scar he can’t remember getting. As we found out at the end of this episode Jack is important to Jacob’s plans. Perhaps that’s why he’s got this feeling that something isn’t right?

3. Bonus point – Dogen shows up at Daniel’s recital. Yet another Other who shows up in the Alternaverse playing a seemingly mundane role in the non-Island world.

One thing I’m noticing with the Alternaverse is that all our Losties seem to be acknowledging faults that they’ve fought against so much on the Island. Locke realizes his limitations as a paraplegic and gives up his “don’t tell me what I can do” attitude. Jack now no longer seeks the approval of his father and understands that you can’t make your kid afraid of failure. Kate…well she doesn’t seem to have learned anything yet. Maybe she’ll learn how to dance or play the accordion…

The Island – Claire is Tom Cruise Crazy
Claire certainly is channeling Danielle Rousseau’s crazy at full tilt. The similarities make me wonder if Danielle was infected/recruited by Black Shirt. Similar “Others have my baby” mentality too. Although we know the Others did in fact have Danielle’s baby… And the scar on her shoulder? Looks like she got tested for infection at the Temple just like Sayid.

Justin survives one more episode than Mac and then takes an axe to the chest. Jin, fearing batshit crazy Claire, says the Others do in fact have her baby and he can take her to them. Instead of asking about her baby Claire should have asked Jin how he learned English! Last time they saw each other he was only rocking the Korean. Oh yeah, she says she’d also kill Kate if she did in fact raise Aaron. Obviously she’s not remembering the whole leaving Aaron in a tree while she went off god knows where with Christian.

So what’s Claire been up to these last 3 years besides being crazy? Having Island Arts & Crafts Day ever Wednesday making crazy ass babies out of animal bones, hanging out with her dad, Christian Sheppard, and her BFF Evil Locke. Does the fact that she spent time with both of them give credence to my theory that Christian was in fact resurrected by Black Shirt like Sayid? Yes I say because I love being right! One thing about the arrival of Evil Locke at the end – wasn’t he with Sawyer in a cave last episode? Did he black smoke it over real fast or is Sawyer with him?

The Island – Jack Hates Mirrors
Oh poor Hurley. Always getting mixed up in things you don’t understand. Once again Jacob’s ghost shows up and gives him a task. This time it’s take Jack to the Lighthouse, set it to 108 degrees (sum of the numbers), and let it burn. Burn mother f#5ker, burn. Hurley, knowing how much Jack hates doing things he doesn’t understand, tries to go alone but Dogen stops him. Here Jacob tells Hurley to say he’s a Candidate and Dogen lets him go. If my Japanese is correct he says “You’re lucky I have to protect you otherwise I’d cut off your head”. And by Japanese I mean the internet. We knew Locke was special to the Others when he was alive but now it looks like anyone remaining on Jacob’s list of Candidates gets special privileges with the Others. Of course leaving the Temple sans Jack is a big Jacob no-no so Hurley has to lie and get him to come by evoking memories of his dead father and promising he’ll see Jacob.

Outside of the Temple they run into worthless Kate worthlessly filling up her worthless water bottle before she goes on a worthless hunt for Claire. After that they hit up the old Caves and reminisce about the good times back when they only had boar and fruit to eat and Shannon was always complaining about her asthma. They talk about the skeletons and Hurley postulates that maybe they could be one of them who got sent back to dinosaur times. Rose and Bernard maybe? We also find out that Jack came to the Island hoping to “be fixed”. He finally started believing John Locke’s faith in the Island only to go through all the time travel business and now he’s a pissed off man of science again. Finally they reach their destination: the Lighthouse! A structure whose very existence was covered up with a little dues ex machina from Hurley, “guess we never looked for it”.

In the Lighthouse things start to get interesting. We’ve got this big dial thing with 360 names on it, one for each degree. Hurley has to get it to 108 to bring whoever Jacob wants to come to the Island but every degree apparently lets Jacob view that person’s life. First we see the fancy Shinto temple where Jin and Sun got married, then we see the church where Sawyer’s parent’s funeral was held, and then Jack catches a glimpse of his old house. Moving the dial back to 23 gets the house clearly in view at which point Jack does the wise thing – he freaks the f#%k out, demands to see Jacob, and then beats the ever loving sh!t out of the mirrors. Oh Jack. Why couldn’t you have controlled your temper?

Much like the cave wall I had to go to the internet for some screen captures of the wheel and all the names on it. There was some duplication with the cave but there were others there too, including one Kate Austen at 51. Here are the notables:

Danielle Rousseau crossed out at number 20.
Kate Austen at number 51. Austen is not crossed out!
Juliet Burke crossed out at number 58.
Daniel Faraday crossed out at number 101.
Charlotte (? Or her mom?) Lewis crossed out at number 104, which is different from The Substitute where she has number 140.
Shannon Rutherford crossed out at number 32, which is different from The Substitute where she has number 31.
Wallace crossed out at number 108 – The person Jacob wanted Hurley to set the dial to.
Tom Friendly crossed out at number 109.
Ben Linus crossed out at number 117.
Michael Dawson crossed out at number 124.
Claire Littleton crossed out at number 313.
Stuart Radzinsky crossed out at 106.

So Kate is still considered for Candidacy? And an interesting find with Charlotte and Shannon being different numbers from the Cave. Production error or perhaps somebody was copying the numbers in the Cave from what they saw at the Lighthouse? As if Black Shirt was keeping track in the Cave of what Jacob was doing in the Lighthouse…

After Jack goes ballistic Jacob shows back up and reveals that it was all just a ploy to get Jack on the path he needs to go. Somehow by showing him that Jacob has been watching him for a long time he’ll eventually make the right decision (perhaps the decision that makes all this alternaverse stuff happen??). Also there is bad bad thing on the way to the Temple and he needed to get Jack and Hurley away from there. The bad thing would be Claire and Evil Locke I surmise.

Does Jacob intend to actually bring somebody to the Island to help or was it part of his plan to get Jack to freak out? 108’s name is Wallace. Think of the only famous Wallace you know. You were thinking of William Wallace weren’t you? Thanks Braveheart. Anyway you know what nationality William Wallace was? He was a Scot. You know who else is a Scot? Desmond. He’s coming back. In a big way. Brutha.