Choosing Sides

Season Six, Episode 4: The Lighthouse

Jack’s a jerk. Hurley’s hilarious. Kate is attractive but always in the way. Ahh, an episode where things stay the same and make perfect sense.


Wait. Claire’s a psycho? Jin’s a liar? And there’s a giant 360º wheel with everyone’s name on it?

Just when I think I’ve got LOST figured out, they plop a Lighthouse right into my landscape; and the things I thought I’d discovered, I somehow missed completely. So, as Calvin said to Hobbes, “Let’s go exploring.”

Son of a Jack

The alternate reality storyline focused on Jack X and… his son? What the what? Believe it. Meet David, the musically-gifted, fearful-of-underachievement spawn of LOST’s great anti-hero. And his schoolboy tie was an exact replica of the neck noose I was forced to wear when taking my annual fraternity composite photo in college. (Also, yes, I was in a fraternity. I’m as shocked as you are). So to the Pi Kappa Phi brethren reading this, I think we can safely say David is a legacy brother.

I liked the David twist, and of course the obvious question is who David’s mother is. LOST does this to us sometimes. We wondered who Christian was yelling at in Sydney. We wondered who Kate meant by “him.” We wondered why Desmond hasn’t already been given his own spin-off buddy comedy with Charlie. (Okay, just me on the last one). Whoever it is, I think her presence is going to be a major part of reconciling the world where Oceanic 815 crashed and the one where it didn’t. The fact that they didn’t reveal her only makes her more important, in my book. Early guesses: Maggie says Juliet, or possibly ex-wife Sarah. I like the Juliet idea, personally.

Collision Course
Alternate Reality Jack (now with Special Procreation Powers!) led us through storylines rife with nods to his alternate existence on the Island. First off was the abdominal scar, which he seemed to think was misplaced or all too fresh, considering that (in this reality) his appendix was removed when he was a little boy. It reminded me of the shaving nick he had on his neck (nick on the neck!) from the premiere. “How did that get there?” is just another way of a character saying, “How do I know you?” the way Jack did silently toward Kate a few weeks back. Remember, of course, that Island Jack’s appendix was removed on-Island, by Juliet. He knows something’s not right, he just has to figure out what.

Further driving us toward a convergence of these alternate realities was the revelation by Jack and his mother that Christian had another daughter: Claire. Chalk that up as one more yarn intricately spun by fate to bring these people together, one way or another.

Need more evidence? Let’s go back to that scar. Are we to believe that this alternate reality began as early as when Jack was “7 or 8?” I believe we are. Which makes the fact that all those people were still on that plane, and that all these people are running into each other randomly (Jack and John in the lost luggage office, Claire and Kate in the cab, etc.), all the more non-coincidental.

“Okay Charlie, I get it, you think all these character ties are incontrovertible evidence of the timelines’ eventual convergence. I don’t need another example.” Too bad! Dogen the Temple Samurai is off the Island, too, because, well, the Island is underwater. Just like his disingenuous brother from another Other, Ben Linus, Dogen has seemingly been relegated to a life of normalcy in the real world. And yes, I think he, Ben and possibly other Others will help contribute to the convergence.

The Peacemaker
Here’s what I’m wondering though… did you see the way Jack made peace with his son after the piano recital? Touching, yes, but also possibly quite telling. Here’s another little theory I’m knocking around… many of our survivors (specifically The Candidates) were unable to make true peace with their flaws, shortcomings and hang-ups when they were on the Island. Those who did – Eko, Michael, Shannon, Boone, et al. – were delivered from their worldly bodies into, presumably, some sort of warped afterlife. But those who couldn’t make peace were made to continue their torturous Island existence. They couldn’t find solace or defeat their demons. It’s as if they were, dare I say, prisoners. Kind of like the Man in Black/Smokey, who described himself as “trapped.” Are the souls that Jacob and his nemesis summon to the Island all Candidates – who can take over for either of them, based on their capacity to make peace with their inner demons?

And what if, just to tie all this back together, characters who couldn't use the Island to make amends with their demons were able to use their alternate reality lives to atone? Jack couldn't get past his issues of inadequacy with this father, on the Island or before it. But in the alternate reality, he made his relationship with his son count. Could that compensate for his shortcomings over the past few years and enable him to find peace on the Island?

Claire and Present Danger

Jin Captivity
I was also thinking of titling this section, “Justin Time,” but that seemed like too much of a nod to a character who, let’s face it, we all knew was gonna die.

But before his timely death, Justin played off Jin perfectly to pull back the curtain on new-look Claire’s unique brand of crazy. After dragging the two back to her makeshift Rousseau shanty, Claire got medieval on some asses. Justin’s palpable fear about what Claire was capable of is reason enough for me to fully buy the idea that she represents a great threat to the Island and its inhabitants (a fear that was only renewed by the later revelation of her “special friend.”). I mean, did you catch that eerie fake baby that Claire had constructed in the bassinet? It was made out of bones and skulls and cloth and other terrifyingly disturbing shit including, possibly, actual shit. This woman has lost it.

And that’s not lost on Justin, who pleads for his life when Claire channels Rousseau and starts interrogating him about the whereabouts of Aaron. Jin tries to help, but an axe to Justin’s solar plexus reveals the futility of his reasoning, and he backs off, claiming he was just kidding about that whole Kate-has-been-raising-Aaron thing. “Ha. Just joking. I like your poop baby.”

I was put off by Claire’s alert, flippant attitude. She is a loose cannon, hell-bent on a mother and child reunion, with zero trust of the Others and an obligatory pacifist attitude toward her fellow castaway, Jin. With all the knowledge and background information she has seemingly gained in her three year vacation from sanity, she is, for the first time, on a different level than her friends. That solitude and isolation has damned her, darkened her and made her suspicious and untrusting, all-the-while endowing her with unprecedented knowledge. Also, Kate better watch. Her. Back. Also, is it bad that I was more attracted to this version of Claire? I like the destructive, crazy girls. And I hope my girlfriend isn’t reading this.

By the way, I felt like Justin’s death was a parallel to Boone’s in season one. Remember, Boone died almost simultaneously as Aaron was born. Life and death, the delicate balance, etc. Once Claire was alerted to Aaron’s possible well-being, she evened the score again by killing Justin. She perhaps believes that killing Justin will make Aaron’s presence more real, or more possible. I think she knows Jin’s not lying, and I think somewhere in her dark, twisted mind she believes that Justin was, well, a sacrifice the Island demanded. Now who would give her such a crazy idea?


Thank You For Being a Friend
“I’m not by myself,” Claire cryptically corrected Jin early in the episode. And as was the case with David’s mother’s identity, we wondered who it could be. But in this case, we got an answer: Smokey Locke, but of course. As he entered her hut, Jin looked like he’d seen a ghost. Which, I suppose, he had. “That’s not John,” said Claire. “This is my friend.”

Remember if you will that Locke and Claire had something of a special bond in Season One. When Charlie couldn’t kick heroine, or that nasty little sleep-abduction habit, John became Claire’s protector. He shielded her from Charlie-related stress, and even built her the bassinet in which poop baby now resides. When I put my tinfoil hat on, I start to believe that crazy, nagging theory I’ve had that John Locke has always been Smokey, or has at least always been on his side, and that in this instance, he has been “recruiting” Claire for a very long time.

But then I take my tinfoil hat off, and I think about the Smoke Monster and why he would want Claire. For the life of me, I can’t figure it out. Claire’s a good person, without a great deal of baggage or demons that can be exploited – except for her tenuous relationship with her son. Perhaps Smokey facilitated Claire and Aaron’s estrangement in order to drive a wedge between Claire and her natural goodness or sanity. If that’s the case, mission accomplished dude. Batshit McCrazy is smelling whatever Smokey is cooking. What he’s cooking up is a raid on the Temple, which I believe Jacob sees coming. And Jacob made strides last night to brace himself (and two lucky chosen Candidates) for impact.

What it Takes

This was the best storyline of the night, save Kate’s annoying cameo. When the story started with Hurley and Miles playing to yet another draw in tic-tac-toe, I thought to myself, “Hey, what a perfect metaphor for these two characters and their evenly-matched wits, their shared ability to communicate with the dead and their geeky, tit-for-tat logic wars. They can’t beat each other!” And then I thought, “Oh god, I should get a life.”

Before I get into my thoughts on this side of the story, I should direct you to a theory that's gotten some positive attention. It basically goes like this: Jacob and his enemy are trapped on the Island, playing a cosmic game of chess to determine who gets to leave, and they must convince a Candidate to take their place. I watched the episode with this theory in mind, and it might explain some of my thinking later in the section. You can read it here, once you're done reading this of course :)

I am the Hurley, I Speak for the Jacob
I really like Hurley serving as Jacob’s interpreter. I think Jacob’s choice of Hurley as his representative is actually hugely important. As Jacob hinted at last night, Hurley’s blind faith and unwavering optimism make him a perfect, ahem, candidate, to rally the troops when they need rallying. Or to carry out complex orders without challenging them. He’s the perfect puppet. But he’s also been blessed with a admirable morality and an inclination to do what’s right.

“Someone’s coming to the Island. I need you to help him find it,” warned Jacob. And Hurley, who has learned to just stop questioning things and go with the flow, obliges on Jacob’s journey, hand-scrawling notes on his sizeable fleshy notepad. First thing’s first, though. Jacob needs Hurley to recruit Jack.

Hurley gets line of the night for his entire conversation with Dogen and Jacob. “I’m a candidate, and I can do what I want. Why don’t you go back to the courtyard….I just lied to a samurai.” But perhaps his best quote was, “You have what it takes,” a dagger through Jack’s thick non-believer armor that conjured up images of his dad and put Jack on the warpath. It was an almost-brilliant tactical maneuver by Jacob. It got him Jack to go on the trip, but it made him angry. And as we’ve learned over the last five years, angry Jack make smashy smash.

In the Journey
“Very old school.” That’s how Hurley described he and Jack’s jungle trek. “On our way to do something that we don’t’ quite understand. Good times.” Hurley was right, this was vintage season one; complete with the finding of Shannon’s missing inhaler, Christian’s empty coffin, the caves and the Adam & Eve skeletons, which Hurley opines could, theoretically, be time-traveled versions of he and Jack. Write off that comment if you want, but remember that it was Hurley who first suggested (to Sayid, while fixing the radio) that they were in a time warp. I’m telling you, Good Ole’ Fun Time Hurley is important. And he knows more than he lets on.

It was interesting to watch Jack’s newfound faith in the Island start to erode. It seems that when he’s angry, he reverts back to a strictly logical mindset. Remember that after Ajira 316, Jack seemed comfortable with his Island lot in life. But the Jughead explosion has set him back, emotionally. When Hurley asks why Jack came back, Jack snaps that it was because he was broken, and that he was “stupid enough” to believe the Island could fix him. How quickly he forgets.


Is That a Lighthouse on Your Island Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?
It’s a lighthouse. And I’m glad they addressed the “how have we never seen this before,” aspect of the whole thing, because I was definitely thinking it. And leave it to Hurley to grant that question some levity with the statement, “I guess we weren’t looking for it.” It was almost as if he was channeling Season One Locke in that moment, with an understanding that they weren’t meant to find the Lighthouse until that moment.

Inside the lighthouse, there were no lonely Simpsons characters, as Maggie had hoped. There were, however, lots and lots of numbers. And mysteries. And mysterious numbers. A few quick observations…

• First off, I think there are 360 candidates. That’s how many degrees there are in a circle, and it looked as if each degree-mark on that unfrozen donkey navigation wheel was assigned a name.
• Hurley had instructions to turn the mirror-sundial to 108. We only got a fleeting glimpse of the 108 mark, but it was enough. “Wallace,” it read, with the name crossed out. Who’s that? Even Lostpedia doesn’t have an entry, which means, nobody knows. I’ll get back to it though.
• Jack’s name was written really weird. Go back and look at it. It almost looks as if it was written over another name, scribbled carelessly on the wheel as if Jack was…a substitute.
• Oh, and number 51 read “Austen,” as in Kate. Her name wasn’t crossed out, but it wasn’t assigned one of “the” numbers. Between that and Claire’s ominous warning, I would say now would be a good time for Kate to take out a life insurance policy.

Reflections in the Waves Spark My Memories.
Yep, a Styx lyric made it into the blog. It was either that or “Dogen Oregato, Mr. Roboto.”

The climax of this scene involved Jack’s realization that this was no ordinary lighthouse. As Hurley spun the mirrors past mark 23, Jack saw in them a picture of the house he grew up in. As the mirrors passed mark 42 (Kwon), we saw an Asian style home. Jack’s anger and suspicions were only stoked by the deliberate absence of Jacob and, subsequently, answers. Jack demands to see Jacob, asks why his name is on the wheel, why he’s been watched “all this time” by Jacob and what Jacob wants from him. Seething, Jack shatters the mirrors and retreats to the oceanfront to pout.

Why did Jack break the mirrors? Because he is a jerk, and I hate him. Seriously, I can’t ever get on board with this guy. He seems to get in the way of every possible avenue of revelation, because of his own selfishness.

But Jacob and I don’t share that view on Jack. As Jacob later explains to Hurley, Jack is “here because he has to do something. He can’t be told what that is, he has to find it himself.” To Jacob, every misstep along life’s journey is only “progress,” as he intoned to his nemesis last season. Even the derailment of the Island “visitor” that Hurley was supposed to summon from the lighthouse didn’t deter Jacob, who reasoned, “He’ll find another way.”

Like I said last week, the concept of fate and free will that has been explored throughout LOST’s exposition is best illustrated by Jacob and the Man in Black. Whatever this game is that they’re engaged in, it requires its pawns to be willing participants. And while Jacob and his nemesis may be the players – the chessmasters – they seem to need their pawns to move freely, of their own accord.

What that game is, and why it requires willing participation, is something I’ll leave to the next 12 episodes to answer. But I believe it has something to do with the Island’s captivity of Man in Black. And the more I watch Jacob, the more I believe that he, too, is a prisoner. Perhaps these two demigods rivalry is born from the idea that only one of them can escape, while the other one must continue his Island imprisonment.

That doesn’t mean, however, that Jacob can’t tilt the board in his favor, as he did at the end of last night’s episode. True allowance of free will would’ve meant Hurley and Jack returning to the Temple. But as Jacob revealed, that wasn’t in the cards. Jacob needs to protect Jack and Hurley, because “someone bad” was coming to the Temple. Who? The obvious guess is Smokey, and perhaps Claire and Sawyer, too. But obviously, it’s someone that scares Jacob enough that he’ll intervene in his subjects’ lives to spare them from harm.

They’re Coming

There are a lot of people on their way to do something, somewhere, on the Island, be it good or bad.

Jin and Claire are coming to the Temple, probably with Smokey and Sawyer.

“Someone” is coming to the Island, according to Jacob. And I believe it’s someone named Wallace, which was the name assigned to the hallowed “mark 108” that Hurley was supposed to set the wheel to last night.

In fact, remember if you will back to last season’s finale, when Jacob’s final (living) words were uttered to John and Ben, when he told them, “They’re Coming.” Who are they?


That’s a lot of people, whose impending arrival at a certain destination is paramount to LOST’s end-game. What’s that all mean? I couldn’t tell ya, but I’ll venture a guess.

I think Jacob’s death and Smokey’s inhabitation of John Locke’s body are big, big moves. They are cards that have not been played in the long, sordid history of these two rivals’ affair. But they’re necessary pieces, because each of these two is gearing up for “the war.”

Last year, we heard from Widmore, then Bram, then others, that a “war” was coming. Widmore warned Locke that he needed to be on the right side, and Bram did the same to Miles. So obviously, this Island saga is reaching some kind of climax (not just in terms of the limited future of our viewership). And I think that has something to do with that big old wheel we saw last night.

Here comes my own little crazy boat. On that wheel last night, almost all the names were crossed out. As far as I could tell, only Kate and the Numbers Candidates weren’t crossed out. So of 360 candidates, only 6 remain (Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Kwon, Hurley and Sayid). And like I mentioned earlier, I don’t think these candidates are only to apply for for Jacob’s job. I think Smokey needs them, too. I'm on board with the theory is that each of these guys are hoping for release from the Island. While Jacob views the place with the optimistic perspective that man’s inherent goodness can save them, Smokey counters with the darker proposition that man’s inherent evil will deliver him a candidate worthy of freeing him. Jacob is counting on the goodness of Hurley or the noblesse oblige of Jack to free him. Smokey, on the other hand, is counting on the darkness of Sawyer, or the tortured souls of Claire or Sayid to take his place.

But only one of these two men can win. And both of them see the sand running low in their collective hourglass, with only six candidates remaining. The war we are watching is a war for the hearts and minds of those final six. We have our own opinions on what side Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer and other known entities fall on. But my guess: this Wallace character is the game changer, assuming he's the "he" who's coming to the Island, and that he's not dead as his crossed-out name would suggest. So who is he? What side is he on? And is he the ex factor that shifts the balance of the power one way or the other?

I can’t wait to find out.


Namaste.

Charlie