Season VI, Episode 5 – The Lighthouse

Line of the night – “Nothing, just you know…looking because I’m a big fan of temples, and history, Indiana Jones stuff.” - Hurley



The Lighthouse was a fitting title for tonight’s episode. A lighthouse emits light to aid in navigation, or in our case, guide a lost soul on the right path. So far we are still replicating Season I’s format with a Jack-centered episode for the 5th installment of the season. We start out with Jack in a sideways 2004 universe just returning home from a hospital shift. He cleans up, and notices his appendix scar (the same scar that Juliet gave him when she removed his appendix in Season 4). He is clearly unsure as to the origin of the scar, and looks in the mirror again like something is slightly off-center. Hmmm. Jack pulls up to St. Mary’s Academy where a young David is impatiently waiting for his…dad?!?

We transition back to the Temple in 2007 and Jack has an 'honest' conversation with our Asian friend, Dogen. It turns out Ford, Austen and Quan are not coming back to the Temple. Hurley finishes a game of tic-tac-toe with Miles, enters the Temple to find some food, and look who’s testing the pH of the waters but none other than Jacob. He needs Hurley’s help, “Someone’s coming to the island, and I need you to help them find it.”

Whoosh to 2004 and Jack’s at home with his son? I didn’t realize they had Ipods in 2004, but I guess I’m being ignorant. I wonder if David is listening to Drive Shaft? David doesn’t seem too happy about spending time with his dad, and it appears that Jack is either separated or divorced from David’s mother…but who could that be?

Back to 2007, Sayid makes a brief appearance and talks to Jack about his infection and how Jack did not want him to take the pill. Jack reveals to Sayid that the pill was poison and they wanted him to kill Sayid. “Whatever is happening to you, they said it already happened to someone else too.”

Perfect segue to a disheveled Courtney Love…I mean Claire Littleton. She’s helping Jin get out of the bear trap. “How long have you been out here?” Claire's responds, “Since you all left, how long ago was that?” Jin explaims, “3 years!” The lead singer of Hole is definitely out there. The first thing I would have said to Jin was, "when the hell did you learn to speak English?" Did Claire time travel with the rest of the Losties and live in 1977 for a bit, or did she remain on the same time line as Richard and the others when Benry moved the island?

Back to the temple and Dogen catches Hurley snooping around. Hurley sees Jacob again. “Tell him you’re a candidate.” Dogen gets a little spooked and leaves Hurley, but Hurley can’t go without Jack. Jacob gives Hurley some fuel for Jack's fire to come along. “Be cool man, act natural.” Hurley tells Jack that he needs to come with him. Jack is not going anywhere until Hurley says, “You have what it takes!” Jack is taken back…”What did you say, who told you that?” Jack now wants to know where Jacob is, but Hurley explains, “He turns up anytime he wants, like Obi-won Kenobi.” (Score 1 for Charlie Boucher).

We are back at Claire’s tent and I'm thinking she would be a 'candidate' for A&E's Hoarders. She has explosives, medical supplies and a Sorelle bassinet filled with something that resembles the skeleton of General Grievous from Star Wars. But seriously, when did she have time to visit Closic’s and score a Sorelle baby bassinet? Claire is ready to kill Justin (the Other) if he doesn’t tell her where her son is located, and at the same time she is ready to clean up Jin’s wounded ankle. “If there’s one thing that will kill you around here, it’s infection!” (I love irony.) Claire informs Jin that she is not by herself…So who’s with her? The young boy that appeared to Flocke maybe?

Kate makes a 20 second cameo and is out to find Claire. Evangeline Lilly just got paid $108,000 for that scene.

Whoosh back to 2004 and Jack arrives at the house where he grew up. His mom can’t find Christian Shephard’s Last Will and Testament, but apparently has no trouble finding a cheap plastic surgeon. God, she looks like Jocelyn Wildenstein, the notorious catwoman from NYC. “Jack, did your father ever mention a Claire Littleton?” So in this parallel timeline, Christian still had an illegitimate daughter in Australia.

Back to Claire and Jin, and Claire is fanatical about finding her son. Her DAD told her that the Others took Aaron, so she’s been picking off Others one by one in the jungle in hopes of getting her baby back. Jin is concerned that she is all alone. “Oh I’m not alone, I’ve got a friend!” Again, could this be the young boy who plays referee for the island?

Jack and Hurley are at the cave sanctuary from Season I. Jack finds Shannon’s asthma inhaler on the ground. I’ve been wondering what happened to that since Sawyer was falsely accused of stealing it, and tortured by Sayid in the first season. It is kind of weird, yet cool to see Jack back in the caves where he chased the ghost of his dead father so long ago. We see the 2 skeletons (referred to as Adam and Eve throughout the course of the series) lying there in the cave, and Hurley says, “Dude, what if we time travel again, like back to dinosaur times, died and we are buried here…what if these skeletons are us?” Excellent hypothesis Hurley, but I’ll take it one step further, what if the 2 skeletons are really Adam and Eve or the original human remains of Jacob and Essau/Smokey/Flocke? Just sayin.

Whoosh to 2004, and Jack can’t find his son. He ventures over to David’s mothers house and I’m hoping that Juliet answers the door. No luck and I can’t see any photos of David’s mother in the background so this will be a mystery for now. Turns out that his son is trying out for a conservatory at 7:30 pm. Gotta run.

Whoosh to 2007 and good times with Hurley and Jack in the jungle. Hurley reveals that he came back to the island because Jacob hopped in his cab and told him that he was supposed to go back, so he did. Jack’s replies with, “I came back because I was broken, and I was stupid enough to think that this place could fix me.” Don’t worry Jack…don’t you worry. There is a lighthouse on the edge of a cliff which they never saw before because they weren’t looking for it.

Still on the island and we are back with Claire Bear Grylls. Justin (the Other) says that they captured Claire because she was picking off their people. Claire was tortured in the same fashion as Sayid in the Temple, but she managed to escape. Claire questions Justin on the location of Aaron and he still swears they don’t have him. Jin jumps in and says that Kate has Aaron and watched over him for the past 3 years. Claire Bear Grylls kills Justin anyway with an axe to the gut…ouch.

Whoosh to 2004, Jack sees his son play the piano and a little Asian boy compliments David’s talent, and guess who his dad is? Turns out Dogen also has a music aficionado for a son. “They are too young to have this kind of pressure aren’t they?” Yes Dogen, they are.

Whoosh to the best scene so far this season. Jack and Hurley are in the tower of the lighthouse and Hurley is turning the dial to 108 degrees. The mirrors were used with the central signal fire to bring people to the island when it was set to the proper bearing, which according to Jacob is 108 degrees (the summation of the numbers). As he pulls down, I notice that each ‘degree’ on the dial has a name next to it, and the names match up with the names / corresponding numbers in the cave! It’s tough to make out the name next to the number 108, but I read somewhere that it says "Lighthouse". However, it should be noted that “Austen” was next to the number 51.

As the bearing of the dial is turned, Jack looks in the mirror and we see the pagoda where Jin and Sun got married and then the church for Sawyer's parents funeral. Jack notices the “23 – Shephard”, and when the bearing is set to 23 degrees we see Jack’s childhood home in the mirrors. Our first “awe yeah” moment of the season, nice. So Jacob’s been watching them the whole time, and Jack wants to know why. “What’s he want from me!?” Hurley doesn’t know the answer. Jacob is no where to be found, so Jack goes ballistic and breaks all the mirrors (7 years bad luck dude, thanks).

Whoosh sideways and Jack gets sentimental with his son, David. Jack reveals that his dad always used to tell him that he didn’t have what it takes, and Jack tells his son that he’ll love him no matter what. This is all well and good, but I want to know who Dave’s mom is!

“Jack broke your lighthouse, dude…mission unaccomplished…whoever needed your help to find the island is totally screwed!” Jacob views this outcome in a different way. In fact, he wanted Jack to see what was in the mirrors, and Jacob needs Jack to realizes how important he is. However, according to Jacob, Jack has to do it on his own, and has to find it himself…all he needed was a little guidance. A light to guide him on his path…mission accomplished. While Hurley and Jack are on the coastline, a very bad person is going to the Temple. It’s too late to warn those at the Temple (sucks for Miles and Sayid).

Final scene of the night in Claire’s tent again. Now she’s scored a Nalgene water bottle, seriously!? Jin tells Claire that he lied about Kate having the baby, and that the Others have Aaron. “Good, because if what you said were true, if Kate was raising Aaron, I’d kill her!” Wow Claire…really? Flocke enters the tent and Jin is taken back. “Oh that’s not Locke, this is my friend!”

BAMM – LOST Credits…

So does this mean that every time we saw Christian, it was really Smokey? Maybe when Christian appeared to Claire in Season 4, he took Aaron and used Claire to kick away some of the gray ash protecting Jacob’s cabin, causing a break in the ash seal, and allowing Smokey/Flocke access to the cabin.

Have you noticed every time Jack looks at his reflection in the sideways 2004, he seems unsure of this reality?

Who's David's mom?

What's going to happen when Flocke and Claire go to the Temple?

And where are Bernard and Rose (again)?

Until next week, Namaste and Good Luck!

-Slice