Jacob's Foot: Lighthouse Recap

Dear lord I love this show.

I think Desmond is coming to the Island. Why? It's a gut feeling. I'm writing this nine minutes after "Lighthouse" ended so I have not yet gone back to look at the first building seen in the mirror but it reminded me of Desmond. As Faraday has told us and Desmond, Desmond is special. It HAS to be Desmond. I'm feeling it. I AM FEELING IT.

As for the mother of Jack's child? I have no guesses. But I'll get there. I'll also have many, many words to offer about good ol' Claire. All in good time. Let's start with Hurley and Jack.

Hurley said it best: an old school Island adventure. WE EVEN SAW THE CAVES AGAIN! I was thrilled. I missed the caves so much once season two dropped them from the mix. But I digress. I'll return to the caves in a bit. Anywho, after a game of Temple tic-tac-toe with Miles, Hurley was off to find the kitchen when he came across Jacob, who was kneeling by the spring. Interestingly enough, Jacob was running the water through his hands. Jacob had a task for Hurley. The task: go to the lighthouse because someone is coming to the Island. But this wasn't about the lighting up the lighthouse at all. It was about Jack. Hurley told Jacob that Jack wouldn't agree to go so Jacob gave Hurley some helpful words to get Jack to go: you have what it takes.

Jack told his son, David, how he's been carrying those words with him all of his life. And he has. That's why he was so determined to bury his father in "White Rabbit." But Jack has burying his feelings for his father all of his life. David really is his father's son. But I shall get into the Sideways in a bit.

Back to Island Jack, after he lost his shit when he saw his childhood house in the looking glass, he sat on a cliff and stared out at the ocean. Jacob arrived and told Hurley that some people need to stare out at the ocean in order to know what they need to do and Jacob needed Jack to know how important he is because Jack has to do something very important. Jack told Hurley, on their way to the lighthouse, that he came to the Island because he was broken in Los Angeles and he hoped the Island would fix him. Jack referred to the hope of being fixed as stupid. He wanted to detonate Jughead because he wanted to erase the past, start anew, be reborn. He had destroyed his engagement with Kate. He was popping pills, drinking excessively, and he wanted to die. "Through The Looking Glass" opens with Jack on an airplane, hoping it will crash (as he tells Kate later) and then he was going to jump before a car crash saved his life. This dude was a shattered shell of himself. You want symbolism? How is Jack literally shattering his past with a hard object? And he's also dealing with the fallout of Jughead. Juliet's dead. Sawyer is off on his own. Things are as they've always been (but not really--SIDEWAYS). But he's not like how he was in 2007 off-the-Island. He's in more control than, possibly, ever. He lost it but then he was sitting quietly, thinking. He did what Jack usually does which is react but then he contemplated afterwards. Perhaps he did learn a little thing or two from Sawyer in "LaFleur."

As for that important thing he's going to do but doesn't know yet? I think it begins with saving his sister. Oh my does she need some saving. But I'll get to her in a little bit.

As for Sideways narrative, I think we're seeing how Jack can work through his father issues. He told his son how he never wants to be how Christian was to him. But he was doing his best Andy Brown impression. He barely interacted with his son. His son seemed to hate him. But he managed to repair some of the damage by Sideways end. He just wants to be part of David's life which I thought was very nice.

As for the other stuff in the Sideways narrative, we had another bathroom scene. In this, Jack looked at himself in the mirror and noticed the scar from having his appendix removed. Recall "Something Nice Back Home" in which he had his appendix removed and the flash-forward. Yes, the very flash-forward that spells the end of he and Kate. It's the second time Jack has noticed something as he looked at himself in the mirror. He even asked his mother about getting his appendix removed (age 7). But Jack still perceives something to be off. As he sorted through Christian's files with his mother, he denied a drink from his mother. And then his mother asked him about Claire Littleton. He's gotta save his sister.

Speaking of Claire, she is no longer the sweet peanut butter craving girl, eh? She's a character I adore because of how Emilie's portrayed her, and how she's been written, throughout the first four seasons. The sweetness is sort of there (am I reaching? she was pretty nice to Jin if you ignore the fact he was TERRIFIED of her) but she's massively mentally unbalanced, hates the Others as much as Rousseau did, refers to NotLocke as her FRIEND, has quite the crib set up because of missing Aaron but I still love the character and I badly want her to be rescued/saved.

What seems to have happened the last three years for Claire is a lot of manipulation. I don't have much to write about that yet. She was taken by the Others, put through what Sayid was put through, and then escaped. She was once seen hanging out in the Cabin (i assume before her time with the Others) and she thinks the Others have Aaron when, in fact, he was left in a tree. Kate did what needed to be done. DON'T KILL HER, CLAIRE! And she's set up tons of traps in the jungle and stuff. I covered this in "What Kate Does." I knew she wouldn't hurt Jin. Did I fear for his safety? A bit, especially when he got involved in the Aaron business. But she took care of him. She apologized for the trap, cleaned out the wound, and stitched him up. She still loves Jin. Why wouldn't she, you know? He was there when she gave birth, helped her catch migratory birds, hung out with her and stuff. It's JIN!

My ol' soft, fragile heart broke for Claire when Jin told her about Aaron and Kate and Claire realized her son was three years old. Oh, Claire. She had no mercy for Justin. She put axe into his gut. Jin later told Kate that The Others had her baby. Claire said she would kill Kate for taking Aaron. Jin is trying to save lives but he's in a bad, bad situation because NotLocke showed up. Claire's friend. They are on their way to The Temple to cause some chaos which is why Jacob got Hurley and Jack out of dodge. What about Miles and Sayid though?

I think it's time for the other thoughts:

--Great scene when Jack listened to his son's answering machine and heard himself calling, hoping to talk to his son after the death of his father. Matthew Fox played that scene so well.

--This episode had so many callbacks to past episodes. "White Rabbit," "House of the Rising Sun," "Something Nice Back Home," "Confidence Man," "Solitary," "Numbers," "Orientation." The episode was penned by none other than Darlton. They know us fans so well. Allow me to breakdown said callbacks.

--We had Jack tell Hurley how he found the caves: "chasing the ghost of my dead father." Jack told Hurley had smashed the coffin because his father wasn't in it. And there was the caves. Oh, how I loved the caves. I know I wrote this already but it bears repeating. They were so awesome. Season one really is a fantastic season. "White Rabbit" also introduced the issues Jack had with his father which were a key theme in tonight's episode.

--The skeletons returned! Hurley voiced the fans when he thought that maybe the skeletons are one of them. Rose and Bernard? I may be reaching here but Jin was in a bit of helpless situation in "House of the Rising Sun." I might be jumping the gun too because season six has been following season one so I imagine Jin/Sun's episode is next week.

--I mentioned the "Something Nice Back Home" stuff already.

--Hurley came across Shannon's inhaler. In "Confidence Man," Sawyer gets tortured because people suspect he has them and won't give them up. Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowtiz mentioned that a scene was cut from 'Expose' in which Paulo throws the inhalers into the jungle which explains why Hurley found it where he did. Sun saves the day for Shannon in "Confidence Man."

--Jin wakes up much like Sayid does in "Solitary" and he looks around much like Sayid does.

--"Numbers" has the great Locke-builds-a-crib-for-Claire's baby story. NotLocke shows up in Claire's shelter at episode's end.

--108, the numbers, etc reminds me of "Orientation."

--Love the lighthouse and the idea of the lighthouse.

--Hurley was fantastic this episode. He had some great lines like the one about ink on his forehead, Obi-Wan. The scene with Dogen was great. Dogen was none too pleased.

--Speaking of Dogen, the scene between he and Jack in Sideways narrative seemed pretty important. His words carried a whole lot of significance.

--Loved how Mr. Friendly was once a candidate to replace Jacob. I hope we see Tom once last time. What a character.

--I'm still not sure about this whole infection stuff. I still don't think a darkness has consumed Claire. We know what happens when Aaron's taken from her. In "Exodus," she's a bit like current Claire when Aaron's taken from her. She became completely detached. So, yeah, I don't think there's an infection. She's just changed. Oh my how she has changed.

--Miles and Sayid! Don't leave them there at the Temple! COME ON! I wonder, on a scale from 1-10, how uncomfortable Sayid is in The Temple. He hates Other. He just died and then was put through annoying tests. Everyone thinks a darkness will consume him. The Others want him to die for good. At least he's got Miles there.

--Kate was so nice this episode, hoping Jack and Hurley find what they're looking for. I love her desire to find Kate. Hopefully Claire's not insane enough to do something stupid. She'll need to listen to Kate carefully because Kate will tell her: 'look you wandered off into the jungle, no one knew where you were, THE ISLAND DISAPPEARED WHEN WE WERE ON OUR WAY BACK TO LOOK FOR YOU, someone had to raise Aaron, Jack YOUR BROTHER helped me and took care of him as well, he is now with YOUR MOTHER who is OUT OF THE COMA AND ALIVE, and they are waiting for you."

--I'm enjoying the openness of the characters. They are telling each other stuff. Jack told Kate that Dogen informed him that something happened to Claire. Jack told Sayid that the Others wanted Jack to kill him. Hurley and Jack discussed why they came back to the Island. Jack told Hurley how he found the caves. I loved it. How dare The Sports Gal fall asleep during this!

--I have a feeling The Temple stuff might be wrapping up in the next few weeks or so. If LOST has taught me anything, it's that there's a first half and then a second half (of the season). Jacob doesn't seem too interested in preserving The Temple. I don't think whoever is coming is coming to save The Temple. Stay tuned.

--Emilie de Ravin was a pearl in the episode. She sold this new Claire very well. I was a bit nervous and on guard like Jin. A bit of an aside, how underrated is Jin? What a character. Daniel Dae Kim is the man. I thought Matthew Fox knocked it out of the park.

--I think Jorge Garcia and Mark Pellegrino work great together. More Hurley and Jacob!

--Darlton and Jack Bender, the Tim Lincecum/Roy Halladay of the show, pitched a complete game YET AGAIN.

--Last, but not least, I can't forget about Alice In Wonderland showing up (was that an annotated version?). In "Something Nice Back Home," Jack was reading it to Aaron (a favorite scene of mine). Alice in Wonderland popped up all over this episode. The Looking Glass, Sideways, etc. Here's what he reads to him:

''Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!"

I think it's great to think about in the context of season six and I'm thinking Darlton want us to think about it with that context. My mind immediately goes to the Sideways, the scenes with Jack looking in the mirror, wondering if he, too, has been changed in the night (and he has). The final two sentences are so significant to LOST right now. That's the most important question I want answered in this final season: who, in fact, are these characters. It's going to be amazing, people.

The Official LOST Rankings will be posted a little later. I'll tell you now that Jacob has been ADDED to the Rankings! It's very exciting. Until then, have a happy Wednesday.