Not until we are LOST do we begin to understand ourselves.
-Henry David Thoreau
Jack-Centric week. Once again in this flash-sideways sequence there were starting to be some instances of memories colliding. In the beginning Jack was talking to him Mom and trying to remember when he had his appendix removed (which actually happened on the island in the other scenario). I'm excited for the eventual episode when the memories come flooding back in the flash-sideways. (Oh, and once again seeing an Other in the real world- are they just regular folks?)
So Jack has a kid named David who he only sees once a month. Who is the Mom? Maybe it doesn't matter. David is a musical prodigy who obviously really loves his Dad (sweet with the pic on the mirror and sweet voice mail Jack left him about just wanting to hear his voice). It is nice to see them all get a certain degree of closure in these flash-sideways story lines. Last week Locke realized that life was pretty okay just the way it was, wheelchair and all, and this week Jack finally had a break through that he is not destined to turn into his father. In this parallel reality they all seem to be facing the things that were their biggest fears/insecurities/struggles while we knew them on the island, and so far they have been coming out on top.
At first I was admiring this strong, wild Claire, but the introduction of skull baby wrapped that right up. She really is the new Rousseau. I really am captivated by her though. Jin! You big dummy. You way you explain to an obviously unstable woman that your mutual friend has been caring for her child is maybe something like, "you vanished into the woods and left Aaron and we searched and searched and we couldn't find you anywhere and an opportunity to get off the island became available and we thought you were probably dead and we couldn't just leave Aaron alone, so Kate made the tough decision to bring him with her for his own safety and has loved him and felt guilty ever since." Did you really had to say, "Kate took him. He's been with Kate for three years," and leave it at that? Then you try to backtrack, admitting to her that you lied to her to protect her enemy (even though retracting the information about Kate is the actual lie). So now she thinks you are just a big liar who wants to drag her to the Temple, aka, the headquarters of her sworn enemies, and she wants to murder Kate... Badly played sir, badly played.
PS to Claire, you need new friends. You said you had your Dad and your friend, who, no surprise, turned out to be the LockeNess Monster. I am still thinking it is possible that ol' Smokey is actually the one who has been appearing as Christian, so I am going to have to see them side by side to be thoroughly convinced otherwise. Also, Jin said its been three years since they left, but do we know if that is accurate? I know that last year when the new plane crashed some landed in the 70s and the others, we assumed, landed back in real time, but do we know that for sure? When the bomb went off and they left the 70s and ended up back in Sun and Ben's time, can we really be sure it is their present? I am still a little thrown off by the comment last week about Rousseau being dead for 'years.' I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Adam and Eve- they're back. I was very excited to see the caves and see those bodies again, because I feel like that is a great step in things really starting to come full circle. Very perceptive thoughts from Hurley. Are the bodies a couple of them somehow? Most random moment of the night, finding Shannon's inhaler. I think that little tidbit was because they want to ease into remembering the beginnings and the original people because it is going to really start coming back to them.
Oh, also, "You have what it takes" is what Jacob told Hurley to say to Jack to convince him to stay. I am trying to recall the significance of that and feel like I missed or an forgetting something obvious. I like the dynamic between Jack and the Sensai as well. When he said to Jack, "I appreciate your honesty," and then gave a sly smile, I felt like his thoughts just then were, "I think you might finally be the one."
It was very nice this episode that the Losties themselves are actually starting to ask some questions. Along with Hurley philosophizing about the bodies in the cave and the possibilities of time travel, I loved Jack asking why they haven't seen the Lighthouse before. Is it because the island shows you what it wants to, when it wants to? When they got to the top of the lighthouse and Hurley said, 'Dude, this is cool..." took the words right out of my mouth. I had just leaned over to my friend Adam who I was watching with and said, "Lost makes the coolest sets." Sometimes it feels like when I was little and was dying to have the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Okay, I still want that. Seriously though, I feel like they should keep some of the hatches and sets and do Lost tours in Hawaii the way they rebuilt some of the sets in New Zealand to do Lord of the Rings tours.
Okay, back to the Lighthouse. When I first saw all of the names of the candidates around the spy wheel, my first thought was that it was going to show them a glimpse of their flash-sideways reality. I would want answers too Jack, but why must you be so rash? I know that you admitted yourself that you are a broken man, but don't lose your hope of the island just yet. I loved the conversation with Jacob and Hurley after the mirror smashing. He was really seeming like a father figure- he loves his child and wants what is best for him, but in the process he has to be patient and let him fall and skin his knee a few times to learn. He wants him to know that he is important, and I love how the struggle of Jacob trying to get through to Jack paralleled the flash-sideways situation of Jack finally getting through to his own son. I mean, what is a Lighthouse anyway? Its a beacon and a bearing to guide you safely home. Food for thought, Jack.
Side Note 1: Well, remember how last week with the cave we learned that Kate's name is not attached to one of the ominous Numbers like everyone else, crossed out or not? Well, her name was on the wheel, it was NOT crossed out, but it was a number we haven't seen before- 51. So since she is not crossed out I presume that she is still a potential candidate, but why is her number not grouped with the others? Does that mean something?
Side Note 2: Was what Jacob said to Hurley about needing him to help guide someone to the island just a bluff to get Jack there to see the magic mirror? Did he mean bring someone to the island in a symbolic way, as in, turn Jack's heart and faith to the island? If there really is someone coming, who? My initial hope was Desmond, cause I miss that guy, but then, to go along with the possibility that they really are several more years into the future than we are all presuming... could it possibly be an older Aaron? Probably not, mostly because it has been drilled into our heads that Claire was supposed to raise him and since that didn't happen maybe an un-raised-by-Claire Aaron would be wicked. There have been a lot of suggestions and hints and theories throughout the years of the importance of Aaron and what he might mean for the island, so I am definitely excited to see how that will play out.
There were a few favorite lines of the night, and though I couldn't pick just one, they all came from Hurley:
"...history, Indiana Jones stuff..." "and I just lied to a samurai," "be cool man, act natural..."
