'Lost': Jack and Hurley go to the 'Lighthouse'

All the "Lost" haters that cried foul after seeing "What Kate Does": how you like THEM apples? Two weeks, and two stellar episodes later, yours truly is feeling pretty good about the final season of the show. It's hard to contextualize the overall quality of these episodes in the grand scheme of things, but I feel safe saying that the events in both timelines this week were equally compelling, equally eye-opening, and offered up the first note of grace for the long-maligned, long-suffering Jack Shephard. And since this recap's almost as long as the note written on Hurley's forearm, let's get right to it!

4) In Short

"There is no chance, no untried operation.
All hope lies with him and none with me.
Imagine though the shock from isolation,
When he suddenly can hear and speak and see."
The Who, "Go To The Mirror"

8) Sideways Timeline

Jack comes home from a shift at the hospital. He throws his keys down, washes up, and notices a peculiar scar on the left side of his abdomen. Almost as if that had never been there before that day. His mother Margo calls, frantic about being unable to find either her husband or his will. Jack offers to help her find the latter, since finding the former is currently impossible. Before hanging up, he asks her about his appendix: according to her, he had it taken out when he was seven. Hmmm.

Looking at the clock, he hurries over to St. Mary's Academy. Waiting there, all alone on the steps? His son, David. Yup, son. It's on like Donkey Kong. Back at Jack's place, David's unwilling to take his earphones off as he settles in for the weekend. Jack notices that David's reading "The Annotated Alice," proving that Jack likes this book in both timelines. David's not having the Dad time, since it's apparently the worse three days out of his month, and he just wants to "get through it." A phone call from Jack's mother interrupts the severe lack of warm fuzzies. David's uninterested in looking for his grandfather's will, and Jack tells him he'll be back in one hour.

Jack pulls up to his childhood home. Margo's mad that Christian didn't simply leave his will with his lawyer. Jack replies, "Why would he make it easy on us now?" His mother offers him a drink. He demures, she admires. (Why she offered him a drink in the first place is a mystery unto itself. Maybe in this timeline he never drinks?) Margo tells a surprised Jack that David was quite broken up at the funeral. When Jack notes that communication isn't David's strong-suit, she not-so-subtly draws a parallel to Jack's relationship with his own father. Jack can't imagine why David could be afraid of him. Such thoughts will have to wait until later, as Margo finds both the will and an unfamiliar name in it: Claire Littleton.

Jack returns to his bachelor pad with pizza in tow, but finds David long gone. He leaves his son a series of voicemails: he's not angry, but he's definitely worried. He drives to his ex-wife's house, hoping to find David there. (Note I say "ex-wife" and not "Sarah," since we can't take that for granted anymore.) Makes you wonder why Jack's not living there anymore: that house has his number. I mean, literally: the house's number is 23. Jack finds the spare key under the porcelain rabbit on the steps (Alice, anyone?) and walks up to David's room. In there are a host of musical instruments, posters of bands/classical composers, and sheet music for Chopin. On the mirror: a series of photo-booth pictures taken of David and Jack in what look like happier times.

Jack listens to David's voicemail, looking for clues to his son's whereabouts. The first message details David's slot for a conservatory tryout "next Friday," which happens to be the day in which Jack hears the message (9/24/04, for those keeping track of the timeline). Jack tries to write down the information, but the next message stops him cold: it's his own voice, calling David from Australia, asking simply to hear his son's voice. For the love of Jacob, can Jack get a win in ANY timeline? Please?

Jack makes it to David's recital/audition, and passes by a sign that says, "Welcome All Candidates!" Aaaaaand clang goes the anvil. Jack walks inside the auditorium and sees David straight up killin' it out there onstage, in as much as one can "kill" Chopin. I am clenching my fists, praying that David doesn't look up, see Jack, and flub the audition. Tensest moment of the episode for me, which I guess means I liked this sideways storyline. Filled with pride and tears upon David's successful audition, Jack tries to leave unseen. Another child commends David's skill to Jack, and then walks over to his father...Dogen. Holy wow with sugar on top, didn't see THAT coming. "They are too young to have this kind of pressure, aren't they?" Dogen says. "It's hard to watch and be unable to help." He tells Jack that his son has a gift, and asks him how long David has been playing. "I don't know," says Jack.

Outside, David hastily tries to unlock his bike. Jack greets him, congratulates him, and wants to know why David didn't mention that he was playing. Turns out, Jack's intense interest in his son's playing was just a little...too intense for David's liking. "I didn't tell you I was coming here, because I didn't want you to see me fail." Jack sighs, remembering the words of his mother hours earlier. He tells David about his father's words ("You don't have what it takes") and insists he never wants his son 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." Well, last week, Terry O'Quinn and Katey Segal took corn and spun it into gold, and Matthew Fox just did the same with those lines. That was great. Score the first win for Jack Shephard in many a moon (and many a timeline).

15) Island Timeline

We open on a total money shot: Jack's shimmering face reflected in the waters outside the temple. Dogen meets up with him, and the two share some honesty: Dogen insists that he'll stop Jack should he try to leave, and Jack insists that Jack James, Kate, and Jin are long gone. Nearby, Miles and Hurley are playing a makeshift game of Tic-Tac-Toe. Heh. Hurley offers to grab them some food, and finds Jacob hanging out by the Deep Fryer of Infection. He tells Hurley to grab a pen: "You'll have to write a few things down. Someone is coming to the Island. I need you to help him find it." Desmond's back, he's gonna save my reputation: hey na, hey na, my Desmond's back! (It's him, right? Pretty please, brutha?)

Sayid's freaking out: everyone's staring at him, and he doesn't know why. His fly's not down, so what gives? Jack tells Sayid about the true nature of the poison pill, and intimates that his "infection" has happened to someone else as well. Who? Glad you asked! She's out in the woods, freeing Jin from her bear trap. It's Claire, aka Rousseau 2.0, with more blonde hair and much more Island fever. She loosens Jin from the bear trap with a makeshift spear that looks to be part of the Oceanic 815 wreckage. Jin tries to walk with Claire, but passes out from the pain. And he's a potential candidate? Wuss.

In the Temple, Hurley looks at his arm. He's written approximately 1/3rd of the Encyclopedia Britannica on his left arm, and he's looking for a certain hieroglyphic in a certain hallway. People much more scholarly than me can tell you what the one he finds actually means: to my untrained eye, it looks like an ouroboros, last scene on a brooch worn by Eloise Hawking in Season 3's "Flashed Before Your Eyes."

Before Hurley can inspect further, Dogen stops him and orders him back to the courtyard. Just then, Jacob appears behind Dogen. He tells Hurley that he has a choice, and also tells him to repeat the magic word "candidate." "I'm a candidate, and I can do what I want," a nervous Hurley intones. When Dogen asks where he heard that word, an emboldened Hurley replies, "Doesn't matter. Why don't YOU go back to the courtyard?" Early candidate for Line of the Year, although Hurley gets about five more lines as good as that one before all is said and done this week.

After Dogen leaves, Jacob gently reminds Hurley that he's forgot his traveling companion: Jack. Hurley's unclear how to drag Jack along: "OK, it's already bad enough that you made me write down way too much stuff...and I just lied to a samurai!" (See what I mean? Hurley's the freakin' best. Forget Daniel Laruso: Hurley's the best around, and no one's ever gonna keep him down!) Luckily, Jacob has an idea of how to get Jack to tag along. So Hurley goes to the courtyard and repeats Jacob's message: "You have what it takes." Here's the part where I kindly remind you that Christian Shephard told a young Jack that he DIDN'T have what it takes in Hour 5 of Season 1. And here we are, in Hour 5 of Season 6. Sweet, sweet symmetry. The message works: Jack is ready to follow Hurley to meet Jacob.

In the jungle, Jin wakes up in Claire's hut. It's Claire Littleton: Beyond Thunderdome! A barely patched together hut houses elements from the plane crash, the Black Rock, and assorted and sundry items from the Island. There's also a crib. In the crib? A hodgepodge of various animals stitched together to make a baybee, with what looks like a polar bear skull smack dab in the middle. Cree. Pee. Jin hustles back to the bed when he hears Claire dragging Justin: apparently, he was faking his death in order to escape from the Hobbit of Horror herself. Claire ties Justin up and promises that he'll give up the location of her son.

"Let me get that cleared up," Claire says, looking at Jin's wound. "One thing that'll kill you around here is infection." No diggity, no doubt. Jin's still stunned that she's even there, and asks if she's been alone all this time. She also insists that she's not out here by herself. Curioser and curioser! Justin insists that if they don't flee right away, she will kill them both. Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est?

Elsewhere in the jungle, Hurley and Jack have given Dogen the slip. As they follow the copy of "Clarissa" written out on Hurley's arms, a figure on the riverbank whips around, guns a' blazing. It's Kate! Millions of "Lost" fans say, "Yay?" Kate and Jack are almost bemused to see each other. She gives an update on those missing, and shares her plan to go after Claire. Jack mentions Dogen's warning about Ms. Littleton, and asks Kate to come along with them. Hurley thinks it's just a mission for two, but Kate insists she's coming with them. Oh wait, she doesn't. Sorry, I just typed the last half of that sentence on automatic pilot. She ALWAYS insists she's coming with someone. Nice progress, Kate! If you'll excuse me, I'm going to open up my blinds and check out the flying pigs that are undoubtedly lining the sky.

As Claire boils medical equipment in order to sterilize it, Justin begs Jin to loosen up his ropes before she returns. Jin refuses, and Claire soon starts stitching him up with an incredible skill. Almost as if a doctor's been giving her lessons on the Island or something. She tells Jin that she's moved around a lot in order to hide from The Others. Justin continually insists that they didn't take Aaron, but Claire retorts that both her father and her "friend" told her. (Oh, well, then. In that case. Makes total sense. Oh Claire you...you got what I need....but you say he's just a friend.) "You're still my friend, aren't you Jin?" "Yes," says Jin, while trying not to pee himself with fear. A woman not legally tall enough to ride roller coasters is now the biggest badass on the Island. Just trying to make this clear.

Hurley and Jack continue walking through the jungle, with Hurley apologizing for "wrecking [Jack's] game" with Kate. He's surprised things went south between them, and even more shocked by Jack's insistence that he would have made a terrible dad. Just then, Jack steps on something: Shannon's inhaler, missing since Season 1! See, people? The show promised answers, and here you go: it's right outside the cave. No, not the one down the 400' rope ladder: the old-school one from the show's first season.

Inside, Adam and Eve are still chillin' out, in that they are corpses and couldn't go anywhere even if they wanted to do so. Hurley sagely notes that all the time-traveling they've experienced means that Adam and Eve could be people they know. "What if these skeletons are us?" he asks. But Jack's too preoccupied with another artifact in the cave: the smashed casket once occupied by his father. He tells Hurley about seeing Christian's ghost in "White Rabbit," something that would have seemed bizarre back then but wouldn't qualify as the 8th weirdest thing to happen to Jack today.

The trek for Jack and Hurley continues. "This is cool, dude. Very old school. You know, you and me, trekking through the jungle, on the way to do something we don't quite understand. Good times." (Good times indeed, Hugo. You're taking it back to the old school, 'cuz you're an old fool, that's so cool.) After that, Hurley asks Jack why he came back. Jack asks the same in return. He laughs when Hurley's answer ("Jacob got in the back of my cab and asked me to come back") seems so simple. "I came back because I was broken, and I was stupid enough to think this place could fix me," Jack replies. I think I like Hurley's answer better. The two come to a clearing, and there it is: the Island's lighthouse. (The Monty Python fan in me squealed: "It's only a model!") Jack can't believe he's never seen it before. That makes a few million of us, Jack, but we're just rollin' with the craziness this season.

Having stitched up Jin, Claire turns to Justin with axe in hand. Justin frantically denies any involvement in Aaron's kidnapping. Claire angrily mentions being taken to the Temple herself at one point and subjected to the same kinds of tests we saw performed upon Sayid a few weeks ago. Justin insists she's remembering things wrong, but she's not buying it. Up comes the axe, and...Jin stops her short, finally telling her that Kate took Aaron. She's shocked by this information, absorbs it for a moment, and...sticks the damn weapon in Justin's gut anyways. Well, Justin told you not to bring up Aaron, Claire, but you just had to axe. (Thank you! I'll be here all week! Try the venison!)

Hurley and Jack ascend to the top of the lighthouse. Hurley asks Jack to help him adjust the mirror to 108 degrees. (Naturally.) Jack looks in the mirror as Hurley turns it, and starts to see interesting things as the mirror starts to shift one degree at a time, each degree bearing not only a direction, but a name. Like in the cave, most of these names are crossed off. Holy moly is Jacob OCD. I bet he has candidate lists all over the place, just in case he loses one. He's about three episodes away from turning into the mystical version of John Nash from "A Beautiful Mind."

As the wheel turns, Jack sees some interesting things in the mirror. Like the place Jin and Sun got married. Like the church that held the funeral service for Sawyer's parents. Jack thinks the mirror should not go to 108 degrees, but 23 degrees, the bearing of his own name. In the mirror appears his childhood home. Frustrated by the absence of Jacob to explain this image, Jack pulls a Mrs. Walker and smashes the mirror. (Think it was a coincidence that David's a fan of The Who? Do not mistake coincidence for fate.)

Outside the lighthouse, Jack stares off into the distance as Jacob surprises Hurley. "You've got ink on your forehead," says Jacob. Hurley can't believe Jacob's so calm. What about the person that needed to find the Island? "I'm sure they'll find some other way," Jacob calmly states. Hurley soon realizes that Jack smashing the mirror was probably Jacob's plan all along. For his part, Jacob notes that the world doesn't move to the beat of just one drum. What might be right for you, may not be right for some. Different strokes to move the world, y'all. Asking Hurley directly? That was the right move. A more subtle approach with Jack? The right move as well. Plus, this little trip had the side benefit of steering Jack and Hurley away from the big pillar of badness heading towards the Temple at that moment. Ruh row.

Back at Claire's abode, Jin is thinking that maybe Justin had the right idea all along. When Claire follows up Jin's earlier statement about Kate taking Claire, Jin tells her it was a lie, confirming her instinct that Aaron's in fact in the Temple. Moreover, he tells her he can help her break in through a secret way. Claire's relieved; after all, if Kate HAD taken Aaron, well, she's have to kill her. Ha! It's funny! I laugh since I'm scared of a Liliputian. Just then, Claire's "friend" walks in: it's none other than Smocke himself. Not surprising, but a great way to end the episode in any case.

16) The Moment

Picking the shifting scenes in the lighthouse seems the obvious choice, but nothing brought me as much joy as Hurley telling Dogen off in the Temple. That was awesome.

23) The Mythology

OK, as always, some biggies to break down. I'll try on touch on them here, and flesh them out more on the blog throughout the week.

Smocke's been using Claire for years! It's still a bit unclear exactly what happened while Sawyer snored the night away in "Something Nice Back Home." We know that episode featured the first appearance of the man I call "Cabin Christian," who is partly the Christian that raised Jack Shephard but fundamentally different than the version of Christian Shephard that Jack followed in "White Rabbit" and saw off-Island in "Home." In terms of the light/dark imagery of the show, Cabin Christian is the dark side of Jack's father, under control of The Man in Black or simply an extension of him. It's unclear. But he's been busy keeping Claire alive, albeit "infected," on the Island, along with The Man in Black's help. Food for thought: The Man in Black has only been in Locke's body for a short time. How did Claire recognize him? Does an "infected" person see The Man in Black's true face?

There were, upon a time, 360 candidates! That's what I took away from the lighthouse compass: 360 degrees, 360 possibilities. As each candidate was snuffed out, so too was their image in the mirror. Is the lighthouse Jacob's way into their lives? More than likely. How? Don't ask me. Maybe he saw them in the mirror and booked a ticket on Southwest Airlines next to Kevin Smith. In any case, it's significant, because the mirror showed the precise places at which Jacob met these individuals. So it shows not only a person but a particular place/time in that person's life. (Note: a few readers have pointed out that Jacob met Jack in the hospital, not his childhood home. To that I'd say: showing Jack's home in the mirror meant more than showing that scene in the hospital. It showed a primal moment for Jack to see. What Jacob sees in that mirror may be different than what the candidate sees.)

Progress is almost over! Remember Jacob's words from "The Incident": "It only ends once. Everything else is just progress." So long as the lighthouse mirror stands, the end cannot come. Jack's symbolic gesture indicates that there's no more replenishing of resources in the candidate arena. We're down to the last five. Hurley and Jack are apparently the most important of these two. Makes sense: Locke's dead, Sayid's infected, Sawyer's recruited, and Jin is too afraid of Claire to fight off Smocke. Another example of how things are coming to an end: Dogen's cryptic lines about children weighed down by responsibilities beyond their ability to carry them spoke volumes about the generational strife inherited by those suffered on the Island. Which leads me to...

The sideways timeline offers those on the Island a chance to defeat The Man in Black! Here's my takeaway from Jack's sideways storyline: for Jack to do what he has to do, he has to overcome his feelings of inadequacy stemming from his father's continual abuse. Doing so simply through his time on the Island is not enough. But working through them in the sideways timeline will help him. Not only did he get a chance to be the type of father he wanted to be with Aaron, but finally gained insight into his own father's attitude in the process. Breaking the cycle of bad parenting in the sideways timeline will directly affect breaking the cycle of violence that plagues the history of the Island. Much like the scar that "suddenly" showed up on Jack's body in the sideways timeline, this knowledge will suddenly creep into Jack's consciousness as he stares out over the ocean. (Maybe we can see Shannon singing "La Mer" again before all is said and done?)

42) Random Thoughts

Um, "Lost"? I'm lovin' ya, don't get me wrong. But I need some more Miles, please. Did Ken Leung get a DUI without any of us knowing? It's the only possible explanation for keeping him off-screen this much.

For music lovers out there, all the "Tommy" imagery tonight must have delighted you. I am already writing an entry in my head about Jack Shephard as the deaf, dumb, and blind boy that suddenly might be free with the mirror smashed, reading to finally take his "amazing journey." And yes, I'm listening to that album as I write this recap, why do you ask?

Those of you that sagely noted that each of the first three episodes featured people looking into mirrors: well played. Seems more important now that ever. Can't wait until someone looks in the mirror...and their other self looks back.

Love the idea that Jack and Dogen recognize each other not only as weary leaders, but also as woulda been, coulda been dads. Now I wonder if Dogen's baseball isn't so much a shout-out to Jack as it is to the son that's not around.

108) Final Thoughts

This episode didn't feature the epic mythological download of "The Substitute," and the Claire scenes tended to repeat themselves a bit too much for my liking, but I'd still rate this episode highly. Easily the best Jack-centric ep since "Through the Looking Glass," for sure. We've seen Jack Shephard make the wrong choice after wrong choice for so long that seeing him get a win was breathtaking. "But," you say, "He got it in the wrong timeline." And to that, I say, "Phooey." Well, I say something else, but this is a family-friendly website.

The sideways timeline is the greatest example of Jacob's favorite thing: choice. "Choices" doesn't merely imply two doors: A and B. It's the summation of a million little moments that place you in what in hindsight looks like the only natural path you could have taken; however, that path was in fact not inevitable but the singular byproduct derived from the statistically infinite ways in which you could have lived your life. The sideways timeline does not represent a "do-over," and it does not represent a "what if". It represents a spectacularly unique way in which people can learn from their mistakes, apply them to a unique situation, and somehow bring that newly acquired knowledge back into their lives in order to be a better (not perfect by any means) self. Jacob sees their potential, even if they don't. He sees it not only for the candidates, but humankind as a whole.

The sideways timeline isn't science fiction. It's about the human condition. And as long as it stays as such, it's a fantastic new edition to the storytelling world of "Lost."

But enough about what I thought: did this episode light the way for you, or leave you in the dark? Did Claire's return live up to your expectation, or fall flat? And where does Jack go from here? Leave your thoughts below!

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