No need waste valuable webpage space with my rambling…let’s dive right in. Tonight’s episode is called The Lighthouse. As I see it, we have two options here. The title is either literal or figurative.
Literally.
Are we to assume that there is really a lighthouse somewhere that some character is going to find / hear about / etc? Hmm. So perhaps this episode title is referring a Dharma Station we’ve never seen…on or off island.
As usually the case before an evening of preview writing, I headed over to wikipedia to do a little research about lighthouses. I don’t know if you’ve been to the lighthouse page on wiki lately, but it was pretty lame. Not much there. Hardly any popular references or uses. What’s a Lost blogger to do?
But then, I saw something. Under “Famous Lighthouses”, one stood out. The Lighthouse of Alexandria. (cue ooohs and ahhhs) This lighthouse was in very Ancient Egypt (we’re talking BC here, folks) on the Island of Pharos, becoming one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth. And wouldn’t you know? It also became one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Now why does this sound familiar? Hmm.
Walk with me back to our first encounter with the four-toed statue. Lots of folks immediately thought the foot was part of something similar to the Colossus of Rhodes. See: another one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And even though we’ve since discovered that the foot is part of an Egyptian Taweret (not Colossus), it still shows us that big, ancient things exist on the island.
Maggie wonders quietly to herself: is there (gasp) an ancient lighthouse on the island???
Sure, it is wacky. We’ve been all over this island…how could a tall, towering, ancient lighthouse exist without Hurley saying “Dude, what’s that?” But maybe it is more ‘small’ than ‘tall.’ Maybe it is called The Lighthouse and functions like a lighthouse, but it really looks nothing like a lighthouse. Oh, the things that keep me awake at night…
More potential proof. Our island is tough to find. Really tough. Mrs. Hawking and the Lamp Post station taught us that you have to have the right bearing at the right time…and be in the right place…or else you have no shot. So perhaps this lighthouse serves as a sort of (magic?) on-island command point for incoming vessels? I know several of you who will jump all over this theory and claim all the communication with incoming folks is done through The Looking Glass. Sure, sure. But The Lighthouse sounds so cool!
I’m not sure.
And I guess the off-island option for the Lighthouse could be that the Lamp Post is called the Lighthouse in the alternate timeline (yet another example of the differences between the two worlds). That’s the best I have at this point.
Figuratively speaking…
Warning: cheesy language ahead. The lighthouses can represent a variety of things for a variety of people. Most of these are positive…see: light, hope, truth, safety. And in that one Simpsons episode, it represented a lonely existence (thanks to wiki for this trivial knowledge I now have about an episode of the Simpsons I have never seen).
But you know, lonely existence sounds familiar…kinda like Jack’s life, huh? He is the hero. Everyone has put their faith in him...their hope in him. Many even presumed they were safest with him in charge. Like it or not (Charlie), he’s our hero. He’s been the leader. And as we have seen, he is deeply flawed and far from perfect. Two weeks ago, Bonsai Ninja Dogen gave Jack a pretty touching speech about needing to be separated / removed from the people you are leading…just like a lighthouse keeper…hmm.
Who knew I could get that much from a wiki mention of a Simpson's episode...
So the title is both literal and figurative?
Me thinks yes. We have been all over this literal and figurative symbolism in season 6 episode titles...and I think this week is going to continue the tradition.
More Guest Stars!
Veronica Hamel as Margo Shephard, Mark Pellegrino as Jacob, Hiroyuki Sanada as Dogen, Dayo Ade as Justin, Dylan Minnette as David and Sean Kinerney as Japanese boy.
Familiar and new people. Excellent…this is excellent.
Margo Shephard (Jack’s Mom) is on tonight, probably picking up the Oceanic-lost-Christians-coffin storyline from LA X.
Jacob is back, maybe continuing to appear to Hurley and give him directions on what to do next.
Dogen the Bonsai Ninja who will probably continue to reveal his past, his role now, and what he needs Jack et. al. to do to make this story continue.
And Justin is back! Justin! The bizarrely named Other who Claire shot at the end of What Kate Does. Hmm…I don’t think they put you on a guest star list if you’re a dead body, so it looks like Charlie’s favorite Other survived Claire’s bullets. Perhaps intel is coming now that his pal Aldo (Mac) is (presumably) dead.
And there are two new kids this week.
David, whose picture on imdb indicates he is a young fellow. Hmm. Not much to go on here. Off-island, it appears like the action will be around Jack…so perhaps he is a relative of Jack’s? On-island, I have to go back to the creepy bloody-handed kid last week (I’m predicting that was young Jacob) and wonder if David is going to be young Man in Black? Who. The. Heck. Knows. And I love it.
Finally, Japanese Boy. Nice. Could this be a young Bonsai Ninja Dogen? Probably not (I think Dogen arrived later in life…no proof, just a hunch). So I have no idea who Japanese Boy is going to be. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
Our Episode Description
“Hurley must convince Jack to accompany him on an unspecified mission, and Jin stumbles across an old friend.”
Pretty straightforward stuff, though short. My predictions (though I’ve already rambled some of this above). (1) Hurley is convincing Jack to go on an unspecified mission (to the lighthouse?), per Jacob’s instructions. (2) We will pick up the Claire / Jin storyline where we left off. Key questions: what the heck is Claire’s deal? Has she entered Rousseau-crazy-mode? Has she contracted “the darkness” that Dogen referred to? Is she alive? Is she dead?
Parting Thoughts
On the off chance you’re sitting at your computer thinking, “Meh, not sure if it is going to be that great,” tonight’s episode was written by the kings of Lost, Damon Lindelof and Calrton Cuse. They hold the key to this series. And they usually only write the big episodes...
So the title is both literal and figurative?
Me thinks yes. We have been all over this literal and figurative symbolism in season 6 episode titles...and I think this week is going to continue the tradition.
More Guest Stars!
Veronica Hamel as Margo Shephard, Mark Pellegrino as Jacob, Hiroyuki Sanada as Dogen, Dayo Ade as Justin, Dylan Minnette as David and Sean Kinerney as Japanese boy.
Familiar and new people. Excellent…this is excellent.
Margo Shephard (Jack’s Mom) is on tonight, probably picking up the Oceanic-lost-Christians-coffin storyline from LA X.
Jacob is back, maybe continuing to appear to Hurley and give him directions on what to do next.
Dogen the Bonsai Ninja who will probably continue to reveal his past, his role now, and what he needs Jack et. al. to do to make this story continue.
And Justin is back! Justin! The bizarrely named Other who Claire shot at the end of What Kate Does. Hmm…I don’t think they put you on a guest star list if you’re a dead body, so it looks like Charlie’s favorite Other survived Claire’s bullets. Perhaps intel is coming now that his pal Aldo (Mac) is (presumably) dead.
And there are two new kids this week.
David, whose picture on imdb indicates he is a young fellow. Hmm. Not much to go on here. Off-island, it appears like the action will be around Jack…so perhaps he is a relative of Jack’s? On-island, I have to go back to the creepy bloody-handed kid last week (I’m predicting that was young Jacob) and wonder if David is going to be young Man in Black? Who. The. Heck. Knows. And I love it.
Finally, Japanese Boy. Nice. Could this be a young Bonsai Ninja Dogen? Probably not (I think Dogen arrived later in life…no proof, just a hunch). So I have no idea who Japanese Boy is going to be. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
Our Episode Description
“Hurley must convince Jack to accompany him on an unspecified mission, and Jin stumbles across an old friend.”
Pretty straightforward stuff, though short. My predictions (though I’ve already rambled some of this above). (1) Hurley is convincing Jack to go on an unspecified mission (to the lighthouse?), per Jacob’s instructions. (2) We will pick up the Claire / Jin storyline where we left off. Key questions: what the heck is Claire’s deal? Has she entered Rousseau-crazy-mode? Has she contracted “the darkness” that Dogen referred to? Is she alive? Is she dead?
Parting Thoughts
On the off chance you’re sitting at your computer thinking, “Meh, not sure if it is going to be that great,” tonight’s episode was written by the kings of Lost, Damon Lindelof and Calrton Cuse. They hold the key to this series. And they usually only write the big episodes...
Oh. Hell. Yes.
Excited now?
Namaste,
Maggie
2 Snarky Comments:
Earl...my new friend's name is EARL!
Aaaah, Homer. You dunce, you. As I recall, that episode begins with one of my favorite Flanders scenes (Rod: "Daddy, are we going to jail?" Ned: "We'll see, son. We'll see.") and ends with hotpants strewn across the beach. Hilarious.
Regarding the creepy bloody-handed kid last week, I also originally thought it was a young Jacob. But my theory on that was that Jacob is kind of like a phoenix. Once killed, a new one quickly rises from the ashes. So since Jacob was killed and all but disintegrated in the fire, the island has given birth to a new Jacob who is going through some sort of speedy growth. Why would MIB have tossed that white rock out of the cave - and called it an "inside joke" - unless he knew Jacob would see it.
So, if that theory is correct, David can't be a young MIB because MIB is not dead. Because I think that MIB and Jacob are linked, they are the same type of being, whatever that is. So a young Jacob since Jacob is dead means that a young MIB can not be until the MIB is dead.
But I could be way off. One big question in my mind about the kid is why the blood on his hands? Talk about symbolism! So what does that mean?
Japanese boy could refer to a young Dogen. If they were going to have a flashback of a young Dogen, they wouldn't want to give it away. Then again, are we seeing any flashbacks this season? Or just flash-sideways?
Another couple of tidbits: on my (second-favorite) LOST site, lostpedia.wikia.com, searching for "the lighthouse" redirects to "the lamp post." I think the literal reference to the episode title will in fact be during the flash-sideways, and will refer to what has been known as The Lamp Post.
And, did you know that tonight's episode is the 108th produced hour of the show? Could be significant?
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