Through the looking glass

So before I get to last night’s awesome episode, something occurred to me in regard to the castaway’s “candidate” status. Could that be the reason that Richard asked young Locke (and I’m paraphrasing because I don’t want to look it up) “Which of these items belong to you already?” I know Richard claimed no knowledge of candidates when captured by MIB, but maybe he was sent on a trip by Jacob and that’s what he was told to ask Locke.

Anyway, onto ‘Lighthouse’…

Jack’s appendectomy scar – just another way these 2 worlds are colliding. No coincidence that he noticed it in the mirror (or the looking glass…) just as he noticed the cut on his neck in “LA X.”

David as proxy for Christian. Jack coming to terms with his son and working out their unresolved issues is how the sideways world will help ‘heal’ Jack. Essentially, Jack is making peace with Christian via David.

Tic Tac Toe. Miles hasn’t had a lot to do this year, but when he has, he’s brought the funny.

When David was listening to music, I immediately though that it was Driveshaft, but I guess not!

“Someone is coming to the Island. I need you to help him find it” – Jacob to Hurley. Is Jacob talking about Desmond? Pleeeeease let it be Desmond!

“Why don’t YOU go back to the courtyard?” – Hurley to Dogen. My favorite of the many funny quotes that came from Hugo, who was very funny throughout this ep.

“You have what it takes.” – originally presented to us in Jack’s flashbacks in ‘White Rabbit’ (S1, E5). Christian said that to be a successful surgeon, you have to have what it takes and Jack didn’t have what it takes. Interestingly, ‘Lighthouse’ is episode 5 of season 6 and David is reading “Alice in Wonderland” which also hearkens to ‘White Rabbit’ (not to mention all the mirror-related events in this episode).

“First my father told me, then my friend.” – My one complaint about the episode was that the Claire scenes were a bit repetitive after a while. (Though they all lead to a great end.) However, each time she said it, Emilie de Ravin delivered the words “my friend” with the perfect amount of off-kilter crazy, so it was worth it for that, plus the ending.

Everything about Jack and Hurley’s visit to the cave was intense and fantastic, from finding Shannon’s inhaler, to seeing Adam & Eve again, to Matthew Fox’s performance. Favorite scene in the episode.

“Welcome all candidates.” On the poster for David’s recital. Too on-the-nose or funny little joke? I’m leaning more towards the latter.

During the recital, I kept hoping that David didn’t look up and see Jack and thus bomb his audition. I think that means that I like the sideways technique, in that I care about a character that probably doesn’t really exist.

Dogen off Island? Say whaaaaaaaaaaa? “It's hard to watch and be unable to help.” Dogen says in reference to their kids, but could he be referring to himself and others (Desmond, maybe the dead like Charlie, Boone and Helen) watching candidates in sideways story?

Lighthouse numbers same as cave numbers with names. Only thing I clearly saw besides Jack’s house was Korea, where Sun and Jin were married.

Mirrors in lighthouse mirror mirrors in sideways world. Through the lighthouse mirrors, Jack saw a home that is the root of all his issues. Not coincidentally, in the sideways world, we saw a Jack who is overcoming those issues. If SidewaysJack is developing physical connections to IslandJack (when he looks in the mirror), might IslandJack overcome his long-standing emotional/personal issues because SidewaysJack is overcoming them?

I think Jacob knows that this is truly the end. Not only is he running out of names (obviously), but he knew that Jack would destroy the lighthouse, and he wanted it to happen. But I was damn curious what they would have seen at 108°.

Now all candidates (but Sayid) are out of the Temple, which has me worried for Miles. Especially because Jacob doesn’t want them there. (“Someone’s coming – someone bad.”) But if Sayid is “infected,” why did Jacob want him there in the first place? Were they actually too late as I postulated last week?

“That’s not John, this is my friend.” I wonder if Claire sees MIB’s true face when she looks at Locke. (Whether that’s Titus Welliver or not, I don’t know.)

Matthew Fox was really great throughout the ep, and even with his issues, I’m still feeling the Jack love this season.

Equally fantastic was Emilie de Ravin, who at times seemed lucid and normal, but did not let us forget that she’s a bit crazy with line reading like the last line of the episode. And if you need anymore proof that MIB is the real bad guy, he took poor, innocent Claire and turned her into a crazy-pants who shoves an axe in a random dude’s chest.

And also Terry O’Quinn, who really had little to do this week because he only showed up at the end, made the most of his few seconds by freaking me out just by the look in his eyes when he looked at Jin.

What this episode really did for is reinforce my thoughts on the Sideways universe. I think that is not an alternate timeline or a future timeline (I’ve read that theory in places, and it makes no sense to me) or even a chance to redo things the castaways did wrong in their lives. All of those options make the Sideways world less valid to me. Instead I think that it is completely valid and completely real, in that it will help heal the psyches of the candidates, so they can eventually defeat MIB. Much like the Island physically heals people, this world has been created by the Island to psychologically heal them.

Helen! Rose! Ben Linus as a teacher! Answers!!!!!

Well, I liked last week’s ep, but there really is no comparing it to this week’s superlative entry.

Terry O’Quinn elevates just about every scene he’s in, no matter what character he is playing and who is acting opposite him. When he happens to share scenes with actors like Josh Holloway and Michael Emerson, however, it really doesn’t matter what’s going on, because it’s bound to be awesome.

Anyway, onto my episode notes:

Locke’s dad is going to the wedding? Locke is still in a wheelchair, so either he hurt himself in some other fashion or he’s lying about his relationship with his dad to Helen. They seem to be in a much better place (obviously) and even when he confesses to lying about the walkabout, she doesn’t seem to care about the lie, so I have to think that he’s being more open with her. I wonder if we’ll revisit his relationship with his dad in the sideways world.

That Smokey POV shot was pretty awesome.

Rose! I love no-nonsense Rose. Too bad she still has cancer.

Ben is a teacher!!

“He’s recruiting.” Is MIB recruiting so that none of the candidates say yes to Jacob or because there will be some battle between light and dark? Because I feel like the easiest way to eliminate the candidates is to kill them. Or let them choose to die, if that falls within the ‘rules.”

The little kid says something to MIB about the “rules,” referenced by Ben in the past. He also says to MIB: “You can’t kill him.” Is this Kid Jacob and is the “him” Sawyer?

Source of the ash to keep Smokey out = Jacob’s ashes. How many times has he died? Is that what he means by “It only ends once.” He can die multiple times, but it only ends when a worthy candidate takes his place.

So MIB was human? Jacob too? Maybe the rules were set when they were kids. MIB says to Sawyer that he has loved. Maybe he’s referring to Jacob: MIB loved Jacob and Jacob loved MIB. But they had different outlooks on life and humanity. So they placed a bet on humanity to prove who is actually right.

Ilana says that MIB is stuck with Locke’s visage and can’t change his face. Did something similar happen with Christian? Then how to explain Kate’s horse/Yemi? Maybe it’s more permanent now because of the loophole?

Great Ben reaction shot when Ilana asks if anyone wants to say anything when they buried Locke.

Also great eulogy by Ben and reaction from Lapidus.

When MIB and Sawyer were climbing down the cliff, for a very brief second, I thought Sawyer was a goner.

Black & white stones on scale. (Inside Joke!) Could Adam and Eve be incarnations of Jacob and MIB?

All the names in cave had numbers: 4 = Locke; 8 = Hurley; 15 = Sawyer; 16 = Sayid; 23 = Jack; 42 = Jin/Sun. What about Kate? Could she be 108? Is she not one of the numbers? Is it a gender thing? Can a candidate only be a man? (Then 42 = Jin)

Jacob has been pushing these people to the Island throughout their lives, but I’m guessing the choice will play a big part in how each of their stories end.

Better late than never...

Didn’t get to do this last week, but thought I’d type up my notes on “What Kate Does” just because I wrote them and I may want to read this over someday…

Kate recognized Jack at the airport! (And there was that weird transition noise when she did.)

Mac!

Test to make sure that Sayid isn’t Smokey?

He failed? Does pain = fail or reaction to pain inflicted = fail?

Torture scene reminded me of The Princess Bride.

Infected = the sickness that Rousseau (and Jin) witnessed?

Why can’t the Others ever answer questions. Is this part of Jacob’s rules that they have to get to the destination on their own? (Except for the ‘pushes’ he gives them.)

Hurley: “You’re not a zombie, right?” Sayid: “No, I am not a zombie.”

Characters are very likeable this year, especially Jack.

The events in the sideways universe are happening in a similar way.

Dr. Goodspeed??? Ethan!!!

Scene with Ethan and the Aaron exclamation was first-rate. (“Is Aaron ok?”)

Could the sideways world be a way for Kate to reunite Claire and Aaron since she can’t do it in the “real” world?

Kate: “I never should have followed you.” Sawyer: “Which time?”

Josh Holloway should have all of his scenes on the dock.

Dogen says Jack was brought here and says that Jack knows what he means.

“Because it happened to your sister!”

“He’s one of them” Said by Aldo (?) re: Jin

Claire is the new Rousseau. Did this happen because Aaron was raised by another?

RE: Sayid

Didn’t have time to write about Lost last week…snowmageddon and all. Have notes and maybe I will post and back-date this week, but I don’t know.

However, a thought did occur to me today in anticipation for tonight’s episode…

What if Sayid was already dead and “claimed” before they put him in the murky water. I know he was lucid and breathing still, but he could have died at any point before they got to the Temple. Maybe this is how Claire was originally “claimed” too (back in season 4).

Everyone seems to be assuming that whatever claimed him did so because he was submerged in the murky waters of the Temple, but what if that was just Darlton performing some misdirection?

Maybe, maybe not. I’m wrong more often then I’m right. Just food for thought.

The Magical Mystery Tour is coming to take you away...

My brain still hurts, almost 12 hours after watching.

Quick bullets before I get to my theory on the alternate timeline stuff:

- Arzt! Frogurt! Cindy!!

- Clever sound effects when Kate woke up in the tree.

- That scene with Smokey’s wrath was pretty damn awesome and intense.

- LOVE vengeful Sawyer

- “I don’t understand.” Yes, that is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. Poor Locke.

- We actually got answers. The Man in Black is Smokey! Richard was a slave on the Black Rock! (MIB said that the last time he saw him, he was in chains, and the Black Rock was a slave ship.) We saw the frickin’ temple! We know how Young Ben was healed! (Interestingly, Young Ben was shot by Sayid, who was healed after being shot by Ben’s dad, who was ultimately killed by Ben.)

- Is Sayid now ‘possessed’ by Jacob or was he just healed like Young Ben?

- If MIB is Smokey, and Ben could presumably summon Smokey, could that mean that all his life, was Ben talking to MIB thinking he was Jacob? Was it all a setup to bring him to the point where he was ready to kill Jacob? Lost’s ultimate long con?

- All the stuff with Sawyer and Juliet was fantastic. I’m gonna miss Elizabeth Mitchell, but as I noted before vengeful Sawyer is potentially awesome, and it gives him an interesting arc this season.

So, onto my thoughts about the alternate/dual timeline…

I suppose the simplest explanation is that both exist to serve as a “what if?” for the cliffhanger of last season. I don’t really think it could be that simple though. It seems to me that the Island action is where they are supposed to end up, which makes me think a few things about the other time line.

I’m going to call the timeline where the plane lands “LA X” because that was the name of the episode and it will create less confusion.

So, could LA X be a way for certain characters to find closure – maybe with people that have died? Jack can officially make peace with Locke and Christian. Kate, teamed with Claire can come to peace with her. Sawyer can say goodbye to Juliet; maybe visit Clementine and right any wrongs. Sayid can be with Nadia again; Hurley could encounter Libby, Charlie, Michael. Maybe Sun & Jin need to come to peace with each other again; Locke – his father, Helen, maybe Boone.

Perhaps part or their consciousnesses split off into these two timelines and the reason that it only happened to these people is that they were the people that were touched by Jacob in last year’s finale. Maybe as this season progresses, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Jin, Sun, Jack, Sayid and Hurley will come to realize that something is wrong.

As usual, this theory makes perfect sense in my head, yet I can’t really put it into words correctly.

Some more notes about the dual timelines:

- In LA X, after Jack saves his life, Charlie notes “I was supposed to die.” A clue that this timeline was not supposed to happen?

- What is Desmond’s role in all of this? Faraday made a big deal about how special he is and Eloise told him that the Island was not done with him yet. I gotta wonder what the status of his relationship with Penny is in LA X. And it worries me.

- The Locke in LA X is not the same Locke that boarded the plane in Australia in the original timeline. Further evidence (to me) that these characters are not the same as those from the original timeline and that they will eventually realize the truth.

- My guess is that, each week we will see the story from a different character’s perspective (like this week was mostly Jack) as they slowly realize something is wrong. A more interesting scenario than that though would be if it was only Jack that could reconcile both timelines, turning him back into the hero and leader he was in the first season.

- “It worked” – Juliet. Did she see LA X when she flashed through time? Did part of her consciousness move too, but she was more aware of it because she was near death?

- I wonder if the whispers on the Island are the echoes of alternate/dual timelines of Island inhabitants, like LA X.

I’m gonna post this now, think some more and maybe post some more coherent thoughts later. We’ll see.