Season 6, Episode 5: "The Lighthouse"

Very interesting episode. Once again we see two timelines - the present time (on the island) and that of the "alternate reality" (what would happen if they never crashed on the island). So, I will talk about each of those timelines separately.

ALTERNATE REALITY:

Just as we've seen in the past couple of episodes, there are substantial differences in the character's lives in this alternate reality. Last week we saw that Locke was engaged to Helen (which clearly was not the case in his former life), and now we find out that Jack has a son. WHAT??? The whole point of this alternate reality is to show what would happen had they never crashed on the island, if the plane had landed in L.A. as scheduled and they all went on with their lives as they were at that time. However, we know these differences can only be possible if something major had changed in their pasts (before they boarded the plane in Sydney). So what event had to change in order to have such major differences, like Jack having a child? (This once again reminds me of Back to the Future, when George McFly knocks out Biff in the 1950s, and when Marty goes back to 1985, his dad is now "cool" and no longer being bullied by Biff. He has an entirely different life stemming back from that one event which he changed in his past.) So, I am wondering what event changed in their pasts that caused all these new things in their alternate realities. Hmmmm....

So, we learn that Jack has a strained relationship with his son, David (of course, another biblical name, meaning beloved. Also in the Bible there are many references to the proverbial musical skills of David.) Once again in true Lost fashion, we have "father issues" going on here. We learn that David is terrified of his father, just as Jack was with his own father. Jack learns that David has an audition at The Williams Conservatory, whereas he didn't even know he played the piano anymore. Just goes to show how little he knows about his own son. David tells him he didn't want him to know because he didn't want him to see him fail. This is exactly the way Jack felt about his own father. However, Jack tells David that he will always love him (something his father never said to him, just the opposite, he told him "you don't have what it takes") and we see that Jack is able to "fix" his relationship with his son. It was nice to see that Jack has turned his life around (whereas when he came back from the island as one of the Oceanic Six, he virtually "became" his father - he became the man he hated - a drunk, addicted to painkillers, trying to kill himself, just a real mess.) But now in this new alternate timeline he has taken everything about his father he hated and turned it around to become a better man and father for his son.

A few things to note from the alternate reality scenes:

— Jack's son was reading The Annotated Alice which is a cross between Alice and Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. (The Looking Glass is the name of the underwater Dharma station where Charlie drowned). Jack also mentioned that he used to read that book to David all the time as a boy. We also saw him reading this to Aaron after they left the island and he and Kate were together.

— We are left to wonder who the mother of Jack's son is. First I thought it would be Sarah (his ex-wife), but I am starting to think it is someone else. Given the timeline, it is 2004 (that was the date of their original flight from Sydney to L.A. when Jack went to retrieve his father's body after he died). The boy looks to be about 13 years old. We know from the past flashbacks that Jack met and married Sarah just a few years before crashing on the island, I don't think it was 13 years prior that he would have had a child with her. So, who is the mother? I am sure it is going to be someone we know, and I think it will be someone from the island, just once again showing the connections that each of them have with eachother even if they never crashed. I think it could even be Kate - maybe she and Jack were "destined" to be together?

— When Jack goes looking for David at his mother's house, he finds the hidden key underneath a statue of a white rabbit. Traditionally, a white rabbit is symbolic of fertility and rebirth - two themes we have seen a lot of in LOST. We have seen references to white rabbits many times before. First of all, there was an episode in the first season called "White Rabbit" - this was the episode where Jack finds his father's empty coffin (which he references in this episode as he recalled the story to Hurley). We have also seen the white rabbits with numbers on them used as test animals by the Others. Also, in the book Alice in Wonderland which was just referenced, Alice goes down the hole looking for, what else, a white rabbit.

— Did you notice that when Jack arrived at the Conservatory to see his son, there was a sign up front that said "Welcome Candidates." Of course this was a play on words as we know that Jack is one of the "candidates" for Jacob's job as protector of the island. Then after watching his son perform, he has an encounter with the spiritual leader from the Temple, who tells him that his son has a gift. Very interesting how all these people from the island are showing up in the alternate realities.

— I also liked how Jack's mother discovered that her husband left something to Claire in his will. (I totally called that out loud to my husband as we were watching, when they were searching for the will, I said there would be something left to Claire). Anyway, now that they are left wondering who Claire is, this would suggest that in this "alternate reality" we will see Jack and Claire come to meet after all, assuming he looks into this more to find out who she is. Just another example of how the survivors, despite not having crashed on the island in this new timeline, will still cross paths after all.

— One last thing about the alternate reality. The first scene we see is of Jack looking at the mirror at a scar on his stomach. He asked his mom about having his appendix taken out, which he clearly doesn't really remember much about. He seems to question when it was done and be confused about it. We of course know that Jack actually had his appendix taken out ON the island, by Juliet. Was he having some sort of remembrance of this? Or did it not happen because if they never crashed on the island, that would "erase" his past.



Meanwhile, in the REAL TIME (on the island):

Jacob summons Hurley to help someone find the island. He gives him instructions on what to do and insists that he bring Jack along with him. Of course Jack is reluctant to go until Hurley tells him that Jacob said "you have what it takes." This of course is in reference to his father telling him that he does NOT have what it takes. I think this also has double meaning as Jacob is insinuating that Jack has what it takes (as a candidate) to be the new protector of the island.

After a trek across the island, Hurley and Jack come across a lighthouse - at the top there are three mirrors and an old wheel, each with a numbered degree with someone's name next to it. (this also reminded me of the wheel that Ben "turned" in order to move the island). What is it with these old wheels on the island? They are instructed to turn the wheel to 108 degrees. Remember that 108 is the sum of all the numbers (4+8+15+16+23+42). I really want to know WHO was listed next to 108?? Anyway, Jack notices his name is #23 (of course, one of the numbers, also 23 was his seat number on the flight). He sees in the mirror a glimpse of his childhood home and realizes that Jacob has been watching him all his life. I am wondering if the three panels in the mirror represent their past, their present and their future - since we know the island jumps through time, maybe these three panels are used as a means to see a glimpse into all three (past, present, future). Of course seeing the image of his home, this is enough for Jack to "believe." I don't think Jacob really wanted them there to help someone who was coming to the island, but as a means for Jack to "see" what he wanted him to see. As he told Hurley, some people you can just get into the back of a cab and tell them what they have to do, but others have to sit and stare at the ocean for awhile. He needed Jack to see that in order to make him believe in Jacob and to understand how important he is.

Afterwards, Jack and Hurley come across the old caves where they used to live on the island. They see the skeletons in the cave and the coffin that Jack's dad disappeared from. Jack explains to Hurley that he came back to the island because he was BROKEN. He was searching for something and thought he could find it there. Maybe this is what he needed from Jacob in order to fix him? Remember Jack is always the one who thought he could "fix" things, but now that he himself is broken, Jacob may be the one who is able to fix him by showing him that he IS important and that he DOES have what it takes.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island, Jin gets caught in a trap that Claire set. We are immediately reminded of Rousseau, the french woman, who originally caught Sayid in one of her "traps." There are quite a few similarities between Claire and Rousseau. First of all, they both have that whole "crazy jungle woman" thing going on! Both of them were pregnant when they arrived on the island (Claire in the plane crash, Rousseau when her boat was lost at sea) and both of them delivered their babies on the island. (I think those are the only two babies EVER to be born on the island (Alex and Aaron) as we know pregnant women always died before giving birth). Both of them also had their children taken from them and were raised by someone else (Ben raised Alex as his own, Kate raised Aaron as her own).

So, the people in the temple say that Claire has been infected, presumably by the smoke monster, and that she is "sick." Whether or not that is true, we clearly see that she is changed, she is a different person (which is how Rousseau always explained those who had become "sick" - that they were different people). Claire has had to survive on her own in the jungle for the past three years. She clearly is a little crazy and she keeps asking the guard from the Temple where her baby is? She seems to believe that the Others took Aaron. She says she knows this because her father told her and her "friend" also told her. This just further insinuates that it was in fact the smoke monster all along who took over Christian Shepherds body - he was posing as Christian just as he later tried to pose as Locke. He took Christian's body, and now Locke's, to try and infiltrate Claire and get her on his side (which he clearly has). Jin then tells Claire that Kate took him, that the Others do not have him. After she kills the guy from the Temple, Jin says he was lying. She says if that were true she would kill Kate herself (hmmmm, so what's going to happen when Kate catches up with her??) Jin lies and tells her that Aaron is at the Temple and he will take her there. Then her "friend" shows up, and it is none other than our smoke monster friend, fake-Locke! (I wish we had an actual name for him, so I can call him something other than "fake-Locke." I mean we know that he was a real person back in the day (when we saw him on the beach with Jacob) - I just want to know his real name!)

So next week promises real answers! Hopefully just answers and not just more questions!! I did read an interview that says midway through the season we will find out the answer to "the biggest question" of the series and will find out what the island is. Hmmmm......