LOST: “Lighthouse”

Photo Credit: Mario Perez/ ABC.

This post contains a detailed recap and running commentary for Lost 6xo5, aired February 23rd, 2010:

I did my Lost homework this week, and watched the season one episode “White Rabbit” right before viewing “The Lighthouse.”  Like tonight’s episode, “White Rabbit” was the first Jack-centric episode of the season, and was also the fifth hour of the season.  There seems to be a clearly established pattern for season six mirroring season one, with a two part premiere offering flashbacks or flash sideways dealing with a multitude of characters, followed by a Kate-centric episode, then a Locke-centric episode, and then a Jack-centric episode.  If this pattern holds, the next offering should be Sun-and-Jin-centric, to mirror season one’s “The Rising Sun.”  We shall see.  In “White Rabbit,” Jack chased his dead father around the island, and almost fell off a cliff in the process.  The episode was a very important one, as it featured the first flashbacks detailing Jack’s daddy issues, which really set a tone for the entire series.  Also, it culminated in Jack stepping up to be a leader.  “Live together, or die alone” came from that episode—it’s a classic.  Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the Alice and Wonderland symbolism yet.  I’ll get to that later.  On to the recap.

We open on a flash sideways, in L.A.  Jack has returned home, and is changing.  He has his shirt open, and notices his appendix scar.  He clearly finds it somewhat surprising.  As you may recall, in the other timeline Jack ended up getting his appendix removed on the island, by Juliet (in season 4, episode 10, “Something Nice Back Home”).  Jack’s mom then calls, and asks if they’ve found him—as in Christian Shephard—yet.  She is not doing so well on her own, and can’t even find his will.  Jack offers to come over in a few hours and help her out.  Then he asks, “Mom, when did I get my appendix out?”  She says that it happened when he was seven or eight, and asks him rather rhetorically, “Don’t you remember?”  Jack: “Yeah, I guess I do.”  Um, how did blowing up the hydrogen bomb cause Jack to have appendicitis a few decades earlier?  I mean, I’m all for the butterfly effect, but come on!  A case of the crossing timelines again, perhaps?  Don’t forget about that cut on his neck in the season premiere, and all those looks of déjà-vu.  Oh, show, you have driven me to drink.

Still in the flash sideways, Jack drives somewhere, ending up at a school.  He’s there to pick up a young boy, maybe 12 or 13 years old (I am so bad at guessing ages).  And, surprise!  The kid is Jack’s son!  And his name is the oh-so-biblical David.

Cut to Jack on the island, in the timeline that is taking place three years later and follows the experiences we’ve actually watched for the past five seasons.  Yeah, this is the timeline featuring the unlucky people whose lives suck.  Those L.A. people in the flash sideways have it so good in comparison.  Jack stares at the pond/ lake/ whatever body of water outside of the Temple of Doom.  Dogen approaches: “I was afraid you’d left.”  Jack asks, “Is leaving an option?”  Ha!  Dogen explains, “Everything is an option, but I would have to stop you.”  Jack appreciates his honesty.  Dogen asks about his friends not coming back, which Jack confirms.  Dogen: “I appreciate your honesty.”  Well aren’t they just a little mutual-appreciation-society?

Elsewhere in the courtyard, Hurley and Miles play some type of game that looks like tic-tac-toe.  Hurley goes into the Temple looking for food, and finds Jacob.  Hurley: “Dude, what are you doing here?”  Jacob has some things for Hurley to do, and advises: “You should probably get a pen.  You’re going to have to write a few things down.”  Hurley: “Like what?”  Jacob explains: “Someone is coming to the island.  I need you to help them find it.”  Oooh, who could that person, or persons, be?  And why the need for the vague pronouns, Jacob?  Why do you insist that we suffer?

Back in L.A., in the flash sideways, Jack and David arrive home at Jack’s house.  Jack tells his son that he hooked up the cable so he can watch the Red Sox.  Nice little callback to Jack being a fan.  As I recall, the Oceanic 815 crashed before the Red Sox won the World Series in real life, and Jack found out about it in season three.  Jack spies a copy of Alice and Wonderland and asks David about reading it.  Jack notes that he read it to David when he was little.  Another nice callback, this time to “White Rabbit,” the title of which was clearly an allusion to the classic book.  David, however, could care less, as he has his headphones on, and is ignoring his father.  Jack tries to make conversation, asking the kid what he’s listening to.  David quips, “You haven’t heard of them.”  Jack wonders why the kid won’t respond to his lame attempts to bond.  David responds: “We see each other like once a month.  Can’t we just get through it?”  That is so sad.  I can’t believe that Jack has become as sucky of a dad as his own father.  Ah, the daddy issues on this show are multi-generational.  Then Jack’s mom calls, reminding him that he promised to come over.  Jack watches as his son gets a delicious Mint Milano (at least I’m assuming the Milano was mint, but it could be some other flavor) out of the package.  David is clearly a good kid, because he re-seals the cookie bag with a clip.  It is one of my major pet peeves when people don’t bother to close cereal, chips, crackers, and cookie packages properly, resulting in stale food and lots of waste.  I’m looking at YOU.

On the Island, there are no Mint Milanos, only pain and infection and death.  Sayid walks through the courtyard, while the Others stare.  They aren’t staring at his beautiful hair, however, and Sayid wants to know why.  Jack tells his new best bud to “Just ignore them.”  Sayid exposits all the craziness that went on a couple episodes ago, involving his “infection”—hey, I have to keep track of two timelines in this episode, so I can’t be expected to remember how long ago Sayid was offered the Matrix pill.  Jack explains that the proffered pill was poison, because they wanted to kill him.  He further explains that the Others are fearful of what the infection does, as they said it happened to someone else too.  Sayid asks, “Who?”

Cue the “who” in question: Claire!  And she is Crazy Jungle Chick Claire.  However, she seems nice enough, at first, and helps get Jin out of the trap—remember, he stepped on one of those bear-trap type thingamajigs in “What Kate Does.”  Jin asks how long she’s been living out there alone, clearly noticing the mud all over her face, and her hair that has not experienced a hair brush in months.  Claire: “Since you all left.  How long ago was that?”  Jin: “Three years.”  Awkward.  She says that she needs to get him somewhere safe.  I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that where she brings him is NOT safe.  Jin then proceeds to pass out when he tries to walk.  I tried not to look at his bloody wound, so no comment on that.

Back at the Temple, Hurley walks through some passageway, and we see that he has a ton of writing on his arm.  Hee.  I guess he found that pen.  Dogen finds him, and asks him what he’s doing.  Hurley says that he’s a big fan of temples, history, and Indiana Jones stuff.  Hee.  So many great Hurley moments in this episode.  Love it.  Dogen tells Hurley to return to the courtyard.  Jacob appears to Hurley and gives him advice to get out of this situation.  Hurley tells the grumpy Dogen, “I’m a candidate, and I can do what I want.”  Dogen asks, “Who told you that?”  Hurley replies: “Doesn’t matter.  Why don’t you go back to the courtyard?”  Ha!  Dogen responds angrily in Japanese, but leaves with no further ado.  Hurley asks Jacob, “What did he say?”  Jacob replies: “You don’t want to know.”  And people say that Lost isn’t funny!  Hee.  Jacob reminds Hurley that he was supposed to bring Jack, but Hurley explains that such a task is easier said than done.  He heavily implies Jack’s stubborn contrarian ways, and asks, “Have you ever tried to get Jack to do stuff?”  I died laughing at this.  Hurley is hands down my favorite character this season.  Hurley tells Jacob that he’s willing to listen if the dead guy has an idea to get Jack to go along with the plan.

Cut to Hurley approaching Jack in the temple courtyard, trying out Jacob’s approach.  Hurley is trying to play it cool, and convince Jack to follow him.  Jack: “Follow you where?”  Hurley explains that he found “a secret tunnel” through which they can escape, and that he learned this from Jacob.  Then he adds the kicker: “He told me to tell you, ‘you have what it takes.’”  Perfect reference to “White Rabbit.”  In that episode flashback, a young Jack got beat up trying to help a friend against bullies.  When the bruised-boy version of Jack goes in to see his father, Christian tells his son: “Don’t choose, Jack.  Don’t decide.  You don’t want to be a hero.  You don’t want to try and save everyone.  Because when you fail, you just don’t have what it takes.”  It is the root of Jack’s low self-esteem, and something he really had to struggle with in being a leader on the island.  Jacob sure knows how to push Jack’s buttons.  [Yeah, it’s almost like he’s been watching Jack for his whole life.  Oh wait, he has.]  Jack responds very intensely to this message from Jacob, and it’s clear that he still has the same daddy issues after all these years.  Daddy issues are to Jack, what adrenaline is to other people; they fuel him, so he agrees to go with Hurley.  Also?  Hurley compares Jacob to Obi Wan Kenobi.  Just when I thought that I couldn’t love Hurley any more.  Jacob is totally Hurley’s Obi Wan.  Does that make Smocke Darth Vader?

Elsewhere on the island, Jin wakes up with a bloody and injured foot.  Where are the mystical healing properties of the island when you need them?  He looks around and he is in a creepy living space that rival’s Topher’s makeover of the pods on Dollhouse.  He even finds a creepy hand-made doll (that includes parts from an animal skull) in a cradle.  Yikes!  Then Claire returns, dragging in one of the Others featured in “What Kate Does,” who was only pretending to be dead.  According to IMDB and Lostpedia.com, his name is Justin, so I’m going to go with that.  Claire wants info on where the Others are hiding her son.  Also, in terms of Jin’s injury, she has a hilarious and dead-on line: “If there’s one thing that will kill you around here, it’s infection.”  When Claire steps out to get supplies to take care of Jin, Justin tells Jin that they need to get out of there, or she will kill them both.  While I generally follow a policy of not trusting the Others, I suspect he may be right in this case.

Elsewhere on the island, Hurley and Jack have made it out into the jungle.  They run into Kate by the stream.  She almost shoots Jack, but then she looks really happy to see him.  When Jack asks about Jin and Sawyer, Kate replies: “Jin went back to the temple and Sawyer’s on his own.”  Kate explains that she is going to look for Claire.  [Judging by events later in the episode, this plan is really starting to seem like a BAD idea.]  Jack then tells Kate that the people at the Temple said that something may have happened to Claire.  Really?  That’s all you’re going to say, Jack?  Can you vague that up for me?  He wants Kate to stick with him, but Hurley interjects to disinvite her: “Jacob said just you and me.  She’s kind of not invited.”  Ha!  While I was somewhat relieved, and amused, this scene also struck me as odd.  I don’t want to get anyone angry, but if Jack really loved Kate (which I believe that he does), wouldn’t he bring her anyway?  Or at least inform her of the “heart of darkness” for which she is searching?  Also, my first reaction was: “What a boys’ club!”  However, by the end of the episode I have to take that back, as it looks like Kate is a candidate after all.  More on that later.

Cut to the flash sideways, in L.A.  Jack is at his mom’s house, helping her go through his dad’s stuff.  Having just seen “White Rabbit,” I can confirm that the same actress is used.  Mama Shephard asks, “How’s David holding up?”  Jack is kind of clueless as to why she is even asking, so Mama Shephard explains, “He was really upset at the funeral.”  Aw, poor child.  Jack makes a comment about David never communicating with him, to which his mother references Jack’s own childhood.  She notes, “How do you know David’s not terrified of you?”  Well said!  Then Mama Shephard finds the will, and after reading some of it, she asks whether Jack knows who Claire Littleton is.  Ooh, it looks like the truth is going to come out in both timelines!

And speaking of Claire Littleton, we cut to Island Claire, at Camp Crazy.  She does some creepy and threatening sharpening action with an axe.  Shiver.  Meanwhile, Justin is still trying to convince Jin to help him: “Are you not listening to me?  She’s going to kill us both.”  Then Claire re-enters, and apologizes to Jin that he got stuck in her trap.  She seems all sweet and normal for a second, but then, when she stitches up Jin’s leg, she is super creepy.  Jin wonders why she is keeping Justin, and Claire explains: “He’s going to tell me where they’ve got my baby.  Where they’ve got Aaron.”  So, I guess she doesn’t recall abandoning Aaron in the middle of the jungle to hang out with her dead father?  Also, she makes a cryptic reference to her “friend,” who is so clearly the Smoke Monster.  [Yep, I was right.]  And she asks, “You’re still my friend, aren’t you Jin?”  Jin is not an idiot, so he agrees: “Yes.  Yes, of course.”  He is so clearly freaked out, but trying not to show it.  Then she picks up the axe, and I am terrified.

In a less creepy part of the island, Hurley apologizes to Jack.  Jack: “For what?”  Hurley: “For wrecking your game with Kate.”  Jack pretty much says that his game was wrecked long ago.  Word.  Hurley mentions him and Kate having babies and living happily ever after, and the Jaters all swoon.  Jack, however, thinks that he would be a terrible dad.  Well, he’s not wrong.  [Luckily, there’s time for him to change that around.]  Then, he finds an asthma inhaler lying on the ground.  Hurley: “Dude, it’s Shannon’s.”  They’re at the caves!  Oh, caves, I almost forgot all about you.  Hurley and Jack reminisce about Adam and Eve.  Hurley: “I totally forgot these were in here, man.  Wait a sec.  What if we traveled again, to like dinosaur times?  And then we died and were buried.  What if the skeletons are us?”  I love Hurley’s sci-fi-inspired logic.  Then Jack gets a little sentimental: “Did I tell you how I found this place?  […]  I was chasing the ghost of my dead father.”  He explains that he found his father’s empty coffin here, and then smashed the coffin to pieces because he wasn’t in it.  How did you guys interpret that?  Hmmm.  Yet another reference to “White Rabbit.”  He doesn’t offer a replay of his “Live together, die alone” speech, however.

Cut to flash sideways Jack, in L.A.  He arrives home with pizza, but David is nowhere to be found.  He’s gone!  Inexplicably, Jack sits at a table drinking a beer, in response to this observation.  At some point later—I’m unsure how much time has passed—he calls David’s cell phone and leaves a message telling him that he’s worried, and is going to drive over to his mom’s house.  Which brings up the question: who is the child’s mother?  I’m guessing Sarah, but it could always be someone we’ve never met.  Also on the message, Jack apologizes for whatever he did.  Sorry dude, but that type of vague apology is never accepted well.  First step on the road to forgiveness?  Know what in the hell you did wrong!  When Jack arrives at the mother’s house, the address is 233 (for the numbers-obsessed among you.  Also, this was apparently the 108th episode of Lost, and aired on 2/23!  Oh, the fun never ends.  No one seems to be home, so Jack uses the spare key hidden under the bunny statue.  It’s a white rabbit!  Inside the house, no one is home, but Jack finds some sheets of music composition and it clearly means something to him.  As we learn later, David is a pianist.  Jack also sees pictures of himself and his son displayed in the room.  Aaawww.  Also, he listens to the message machine, and learns that David has an audition scheduled for that afternoon.  Then, Jack listens to a message that he himself left, when in Australia.  It must have been left after Jack learned about his father’s death, and he just wants to hear his son’s voice.  Double aaawwww.

On the Island, we return to Jack and Hurley.  Commenting on their trip through the jungle, on a mysterious mission, Hurley breezes: “This is cool dude.  Very old school […] good times.”  Hee.  Hurley is pretty much The Viewer, so everything he says I completely relate to.  He asks why Jack came back.  Oh no, not that again!  Ugh.  Hurley explains that his own reason was because Jacob jumped into his cab, and gave him the guitar case, etc.  Jack replies: “I came back here because I was broken.  And I was stupid enough to think this place would fix me.”  Yeah yeah, we know.  At least this time he didn’t make it all about Kate.  Then, suddenly, the two arrive at a lighthouse.  Yes, a frakin’ lighthouse!  Jack wonders why they haven’t seen it before.  Hurley: “I guess we weren’t looking for it.”  That is one explanation.

Meanwhile, at Camp Crazy, Justin continues to deny knowing anything about Jungle Claire’s son.  Claire says that she escaped from the Temple, and that they branded her and stuck her with needles.  This explains how the Others knew that she was infected.  They must have tested her like they did Sayid.  But did she get dipped in the healing waters too?  Did she get resurrected and come back wrong?  I want an explanation for why she left Aaron in the middle of the jungle.  Justin tells her she’s remembering it wrong, which is clearly not the right approach to take.  She is a crazy person, so Justin really should have told her what she wanted to hear.  Luckily, Jin will show greater presence of mind when it matters.  At this point, however, Jin speaks up, in order to save Justin’s life.  He tells Claire that Kate took Aaron when she left the island, and that she has been raising him for the past three years.  Claire kills Justin with her axe anyway.  It is truly frightening, and Jin is understandably scared.

Elsewhere on the Island, we cut back to Hurley and Jack, trying to get into the lighthouse.  Jack snarks, “It doesn’t say anything on your arm about the door being jammed?”  Hurley: “No.”  Hee.

In L.A., in the flash sideways, Jack goes to his son’s audition.  David plays the piano like a pro (not that I would know, as I don’t have any musical expertise, but it sounds pretty).  Jack looks on very proud and happy.  And on the verge of tears.  A kid about David’s age asks, “Is that your son?”  Jack: “Yes.”  Kid: “He’s really good.”  Then, the boy’s father enters, and it is Dogen!  I love moments like this.  Craziness.  Dogen notes to Jack that the kids are too young to have this type of pressure.  He then asks Jack how long David has been playing, but Jack doesn’t know.  So sad.

Back at the lighthouse, Hurley and Jack have reached the top.  Hurley: “Dude, this is cool.  They must have built this to help ships get here and stuff.”  Hee.  Uh oh, Hurley’s arm ink looks like it is melting off.  [Red herring I guess, because it doesn’t become an issue.]  Hurley starts pulling on a chain, which makes the mirror-thingy-that-gives-off-light turn.  All my knowledge about lighthouses comes from Pete’s Dragon, so I don’t really know.  I was kind of sad that Hurley and Jack didn’t break out into song.  Hurley tells Jack: “Tell me when it gets to 108 degrees.”  Oh sorrow!  More numbers.  Sigh.  Jack sees something in the mirror and tells Hurley to stop.  Then he sees that there are names—the same ones as on the cave, and with the same corresponding numbers—corresponding to each degree on the dial.  Jack quickly spies his own name, corresponding to the number 23.  Also, thanks to @ITveee for linking the following screen cap showing that Kate’s name was also included: 51-Austen.  So it looks like Kate is, indeed, a candidate.  And here are more screen caps, so that you can examine to your heart’s content: Get Lost Podcast’s Gallery of Screencaps.

Jack tells Hurley to turn the dial to 23 degrees, since that’s his number.  Hurley is hesitant, as his is not sure that Jacob wants this.  I think it is interesting how much Hurley trusts Jacob.  Do you think that is a sign that Jacob is good?  Or a sign that Hurley is too exhausted by life on the island to put up a fight anymore?  He just wants someone to make his decisions for him, perhaps?  Then, Jack is fixated by what appears in the mirror, once the dial has been moved the appropriate number of degrees.  Hurley asks what it is, and Jack replies: “It’s my house.  The house I grew up in.”  Hurley really captures the moment: “That’s weird.”  Hee.  So, it seems that Jacob has been watching them the whole time, and now Jack knows it.  Then Jack freaks out, and starts yelling at Hurley to tell him where Jacob is, and he gets kind of scary.  I was worried for a minute that he was going to hurt Hurley.  Jack’s image does not need that.  Instead, Jack smashes all the mirrors.  Oh, Jack, why would you do that?  That is a lot of years of bad luck, and you’ve had quite enough of that already.

Back in L.A., David is unlocking his bike, when Jack approaches.  Jack tells his son: “You were great in there.”  David is surprised and talks down his accomplishment: “You saw me?  I kind of missed a couple notes.”  Jack tells David that it sounded perfect from where he was standing.  He also tells David that he was really worried, and the boy has the grace to look chastened.  He tells his Dad: “You were at Grandma’s.  I thought I could get back to your place before you got home.”  Jack wonders why David didn’t tell him that he was still playing, and David explains that he made his mom promise not to tell him.  Jack asks why, and his son says that he made such a big deal of it, and also: “Because I didn’t want you to see me fail.”  Just heartbreaking.  Every time I watch this show I am thankful for how great my parents are.  Jack realizes that he has become his father in his son’s eyes: “You know, when I was your age, my father didn’t want to see me fail either.  He used to say to me that I didn’t have what it takes.  I spent my whole life carrying that around with me.  I don’t ever want you to feel that way.  I will always love you.  No matter what you do, in my eyes, you can never fail.  I just want to be a part of your life.”  Aaaawww.  This is the Jack I love—the Jack who is a hero at heart, and a loving man.  We have had to see Jack suffer and flounder quite a bit, but this moment almost makes it worth it.  In this timeline, at least, Jack seems to have learned to be a good father, and a good man.  This moment was so wonderful and happy, that when the two were walking back to the car, I expected David to be hit by a car or something.  A happy moment with no deadly consequences, on Lost?  Does not compute.

Cut to a childless and much less happy Jack, on the Island.  He looks out at the ocean, contemplating the insanity that is his life.  Hurley sits a ways off, and Jacob appears.  Hurley: “Thanks for the seven years of bad luck by the way.”  Exactly!  That’s what I’m saying.  Stop reading my mind, Hurley.  No, wait, keep doing that.  He IS the audience.  Jacob doesn’t care too much that his pretty lighthouse mirrors were ruined, however.  In response to Hurley’s worry about how the people will be able to get to the island, Jacob says that he’s sure they’ll find some other way.  Ah, yes, he is the proponent of Team Fate.  I’m Team Free Will.  Hurley: “So everything you wanted me to do didn’t get done, and you don’t even care?”  Hurley starts to suspect what is going on: “Wait a minute, did you want Jack to see what was in that mirror?  Why?”  Jacob: “It was the only way for him to understand how important he is.”  Hurley: “If that was your plan, I think it back-fired, man.”  Jacob: “Jack is here because he has to do something.  He can’t be told what that is.  He’s got to find it himself.  Sometimes you can just hop in the back of someone’s cab and tell them what they’re supposed do.  Other times, you have to let them look at the ocean for awhile.”  Jacob reveals that he had to get them away from the temple as soon as possible, because someone “bad” is coming.  Hurley wants to warn them, but Jacob says: “We can’t warn them, Hugo.  I’m sorry, it’s too late.”

Cut to Claire and Jin at Camp Crazy.  Claire asks, “Why’d you say that Kate was raising Aaron?”  Jin says that he was lying, in order to save the Other’s life.  He tells Claire that she’s right; Aaron is at the Temple, and he knows this because he saw him there.  Furthermore, he says that she will need his help to to get in.  Way to prolong your life, Jin!  Good strategy.  Too bad Justin was not as wise.  Claire: “How do we get in?”  He says that there is a secret way.  She thanks him, and says: “I’m so glad to know you were lying.  Because if what you said was the truth, if Kate was raising Aaron, I’d kill her.”  Then Smocke pops his head in.  Jin is shocked: “John?”  Claire: “That’s not John.  This is my friend.”  Creeeepy smile.  The end.

I enjoyed the episode immensely, and was inspired to write a lot more than I originally planned.  I loved every moment featuring Hurley and Jacob, and I can’t wait to learn more about this Candidate mumbo jumbo.  Even more, I loved that Jack got a little bit of redemption, and his scenes with his son warmed my heart.  I’m cheesy like that sometimes.  So, what did you think?  Comment away.

Related posts:

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• LOST: Yeah, it’s really “The End” (Part I)
• LOST: “People trying to kill us again”
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• LOST: “Ab Aeterno”