The Lighthouse

I mentioned last week that if season 6 follows the same pattern as the first season, this week would be a Jack episode. Or a Jack Back as they were called, only now I have to come up with a different name for it since we are flashing sideways. So far it is staying true to the season one layout and this week we do indeed get LOST with a side of Jack. Speaking of his side, Jack doesn’t seem to remember having his appendix out. At least he doesn’t remember it the way his mother describes it. We keep getting small bits of evidence that the on island time line or the MTL (main time line) is seeping into the ATL (alternate time line). In my opinion, Jack episodes, in the past, have been some of the worst episodes in the shows history, do I really have to mention “Stranger In A Strange Land”? OK then, let’s move on. With all of that being said, I have to eat those words this week, because “The Lighthouse”, delivered to us the best episode of the season so far. There was no gun play, no chases, no fires, no smoke monster, and no time jumps. There was one axe to the chest but that’s almost a footnote to the rest. This episode didn’t need any of those things because it was well acted, well scripted, and well directed. For the first time this season we have an episode that really felt “finished” to me.





Jack pulls up to St. Mary’s Academy in the same brown piece of crap jeep he has had off island for the entire run of the show. I guess spinal surgeons don’t rate BMW’s in the ATL either. Notice the numbers on Jack’s license plate add up to 8. The hands on Jack’s clock back at his home point to the numbers 51, 6, and 3. 51 - 6 - 3 = 42. OK, maybe this is a reach but pretty soon we won’t have all of this to play with so I’m getting all of the mileage out of it as I can. At St. Mary’s, Jack picks up a boy named David who calls Jack “Dad”. Jack has a son in the ATL, neat-o.





At the temple, Dogan tells Jack that he was afraid Jack had left. Jack comments that he didn’t know leaving was an option. Dogan says that everything is an option but that he would have had to stop Jack if he had tried to leave. So, no, not really an option then I guess? Jack and Dogan appreciate each others honesty and finally we have a Lostie on one side and an Other on the other side actually being honest with each other and telling each what the real deal is. Well, OK, not really the full on deal but they actually offer each other some information that a few seasons ago would have taken forever to get.





Over at the barracks, Hurley used to play horseshoes with Sawyer, but at the temple tic-tac-toe is the game of choice. Hurley sees Jacob inside the temple who tells Hurley that he needs him to write down some things. Jacob tells Hurley that someone is coming to the island and HE needs Hurley to help HIM find it. I played this part over and over again and I most definitely heard Jacob use the words HE and HIM which would infer one person is coming to the island and it is a man, or at least a male.





Jack tells David that he can watch the Red Sox on the TV since he hooked cable up to it. Jack sees that the book David is reading is “The Annotated Alice” and comments that he used to read the book to him when he was little. Did he? Or is he remembering when he used to read it to Aaron as he did in “Something Nice Back Home”. Let’s talk about this book for a minute. First of all, many of Jack’s episodes reference Alice In Wonderland, this one mirrors White Rabbit in that Jack refers to Alice’s two cats; Kitty a black cat and Snowdrop and white one. In White Rabbit, Jack chases the ghost of his father into the caves. Inside he finds the bodies of the islands “Adam and Eve” with the bodies he finds one black rock and one white rock. In the flashbacks of White Rabbit, Christian tells Jack that Jack “doesn’t have what it takes”. All of this plays out further in The Lighthouse. OK, back to the episode; David tells Jack that the two of them only see each other once a month and that he just “wants to get through it”. The two definitely seem very uncomfortable around each other. Jack leaves to go to his mothers house to look for Christian’s will.





Sayid exits the temple and doesn’t like how all the Others are staring at him. Maybe if you didn't have on the shirt with a bullet hole in it they could forget you died and were brought back to life, Sayid, I dunno, but I’m just saying! Jack tells Sayid that the pill Dogan wanted Jack to give Sayid was poison. He also tells Sayid that what happened to Sayid also happened to someone else on the island.





Claire gets Jin's leg out of the bear trap. Claire tells Jin that she has been out in the jungle ever since Jin and the rest of them left the island. I don't think Claire experienced the time jumps like the other survivors did. Maybe it was the fact that she was with Christian who might have had the MIB (man in black) inside of him at the time but I definitely think she has always been in the same time period. Jin makes it to his feet but quickly passes out from the pain of his injury.





Hurley is deep inside the temple trying to use the islands Dewey Decimal System of hieroglyphics to find a secret exit. Dogan stops him and tells him to go back to the courtyard. Jacob pops up and coaches Hurley on how to deal with Dogan. As Dogan turns to walk away he says to Hurley in Japanese “You’re lucky I have to protect you, otherwise I would cut your head off.”. Harsh. Hurley tells Jacob that he just made him lie to a samurai. Coincidentally, the actor that plays Dogan, Hiroyuki Samada played a samurai in the movie “The Last Samurai”. Jacob tells Hurley that he is supposed to take Jack with him. Hurley asks Jacob how he is going to get Jack to go with him. Jacob only offers a sly grin as a response.





Hurley returns to the courtyard and tells Jack about the secret exit and Jack tells Hurley he isn’t leaving. Hurley tells him that Jacob told him that Jack had to go. Turns out the magic words to get Jack to go with him was “you have what it takes”. Jack is definitely on board after Hurley says this. Does Jack maybe think Jacob is Christian?





Jin wakes up and his leg looks nasty! He is in some makeshift tent, thing that Claire has put together. What was the deal with the squirrel skeleton baby thing? Creepy! This can be seen as another reference to Lord Of The Flies as it was a boy named Simon who had a pigs head to keep him company as he lost touch with reality. Claire brings back the Other named Justin and asks him where her son is. Claire tells Jin that she is not in the jungle by herself. After Claire goes to get the things ready to tend to Jin’s wounds, Justin tells Jin that they have to get out or Claire will kill them both.





Jack finds Kate and the three of them compare notes on where everyone is and where they are all going. Jin back to the temple, Sawyer is “on his own”, Kate is looking for Claire and we know where Jack and Hurley are going. Jack asks Kate to come with them. Hurley says that she isn’t invited. It was at this point that I realized that Hurley has turned into the new Ben Linus. Just a lot nicer and way less creepy. Kate has an odd moment when she tells Jack that she hopes Jack finds what he is looking for. That seemed out of place.





Jack arrives at his mothers house; the street number is 233 - 2+3+3=8. While looking for Christian’s will the two speak about Jack’s son and their relationship. Notice the MacCutcheon's Whiskey, which is a LOST favorite, mixed in with the rest of the bottle. Jack’s mothers says “good for you” when Jack refuses a drink. Is this a reference to his drinking problem? Does this version of Jack not have a drinking problem or is well past it? What if in this reality it wasn't Christian that had the drinking problem but Jack's mother. But then what did Christian die from when he was in Australia? Not all of my theories hold water. Jack’s mom tells him that David was very upset at Christian’s funeral. She goes on to comment that Jack and David communicate as well as Jack and his father did. Jack says that he didn’t talk to Christian because he was afraid of him. Jack’s mother says that it’s possible that David is afraid of Jack. The entire reason for this scene was so we find the will and have Jack’s mother ask him who Claire Littleton is. The other reason we had to have this scene was so we could get a quick glimpse of Jack’s parents house, the house Jack grew up in. It will play a big part in a few minutes.





Jin seems about to untie Justin when Claire returns. She cleans up Jin’s wound and stitches him up. She comments that infection is one of the things that can kill you out in the jungle. A few episodes ago it was Dogan who commented that Claire was one of the “infected”. Justin continues to tell Claire that the others don’t have Aaron. She tells Jin that he is lying and that she knows this because her father told her as well as her “friend”. With axe in hand she tells Justin that it is now “his turn”.





Hurley asks Jack why things didn’t work out for him and Kate. Hurley expected them to have kids by now. Jack said he would have made a horrible father. So far the ATL seems to agree. They find Shannon's inhaler as they realize they are near the caves. This episode, as Hurley remarks, does indeed feel "old school". Here we have two of our beloved characters going out in the jungle to do something that were not really sure about. This could be the last time we see these two out in the jungle alone, no one knows for sure. One thing is for sure is this is probably the last time I refer to Jack as beloved! I feel dirty now. Hurley gives the average viewer a “voice” when they get inside the caves. Hurley takes some of the theories about “Adam and Eve” lumps them together and puts one of them out there for us. Jack tells Hurley that he wasn't looking for water when he found the caves. Jack says he was chasing the ghost of his. Jack comments that he smashed his father's coffin because “he wasn’t in it”.





ATL Jack comes back to an empty home with pizza and drinks in hand. Jack calls his son but only gets voice mail. Jack looks for David at David’s mothers house. Jack finds this house also empty. The key to the house is underneath a rabbit statue. Jack finds sheet music in David’s room. We see a poster in the room that mentions a group named Meat Coat which was the band Charlie told his brother that Driveshaft had a chance of opening for in LA. There is a “Tommy” poster on the wall. On the album is a song titled “Smash the Mirror”. In the song, Tommy is awakened from a state of catatonia by his mother when she smashes a mirror that he is staring intently into. David gives his phone number as 734-235-6787 which contains the numbers 42 and 23. Also it is worth noting that 734 is the area code for Ann Arbor Michigan which is where Faraday went to do research for the DHARMA Initiative back in the 1970’s. David isn’t a Red Sox fan; it would seem he prefers the Dodgers. What about that sheet music? Fantaisie Impromptu in C-sharp minor by Chopin is the same piece that Faraday played in “The Variable” episode. Also, The Lighthouse aired on the eve of Chopins' 200th birthday. Jack learns from the message on David’s voice mail (or is that more like an answering machine?) that his son has an appointment at the Williams Conservatory. Jack then hears a message he left David while he was in Australia getting Christian’s body. Jack gets emotional.





Hurley and Jack continue their trek through the jungle. Hurley asks Jack why he came back to the island. Hurley says that he came back because Jacob told him he was supposed to. Jack tells Hurley that he came back because he was broken and he thought the island could “fix” him. Jack says he was wrong. Give the island a little more time Jack. The two exit the jungle and come out to a clearing near a cliff. Jack asks where the lighthouse came from and why they didn’t see it before. Hurley says because they weren’t looking for it. It’s there because it’s supposed to be there now. It is a matter of convenience for the island. The island needs for them to see it or find it so they can and they do. This has happened many times before. Want a few instances? How about Locke’s knives, Christian’s coffin, the Halliburton with Kate’s plane inside, Cooper, and other things that someone was looking for or needed to be there and suddenly, they were there. Magic box.





Crazy Claire keeps asking Justin where her son is. He says he doesn't know and that the Others don't have him and she keeps telling him that he is lying. We find out that Claire was taken to the temple and she was tortured similarly to how Sayid was tortured. Justin says they did it because Claire was picking them off left and right. Jin tells Claire that Kate took Aaron when they left the island. Jin used the word “took”? As RobZ points out this is not a good choice of words around Crazy Claire. We can tell that Claire has been to the Black Rock because we can see some of the dynamite from the shipwreck. Claire is acting more like Rousseau than some want to admit here. Claire, like Rousseau, takes someone hostage (Rousseau caught Sayid)who she thinks is an Other and goes on to question them about their missing child. Justin begs Claire one last time for her to let him go but he gets an axe to the chest for his troubles. Here we see Claire, who up until now has never had violent tendencies, but now apparently, she is capable of committing murder in cold blood. She is definitely under some sort of dark influence.





Jack gets to the auditorium and you had to notice the banner hanging up that read “Welcome Candidates”, right? David is quite good at tinkling the ivories. A boy asks Jack if David is his son, Jack confirms that he is. Jack seems to be very proud of his son. The boy leaves and goes to talk to his own father who turns out to be Dogan. He tells Jack that his son has a gift. He then asks Jack how long David has been playing and Jack admits that he doesn’t know. Oh, and I don’t have to point out that a piano has black and white keys do I? OK, now check this out: Jack’s son is named David, in the Bible, David is a shepherd and he is also a musician. It was David that wrote the 23rd Psalm which begins with the line “The Lord is my shepherd”. 23





When Jack and Hurley reach the top of the lighthouse Jack asks where Jacob is. Hurley explains that Jacob isn’t there yet. Hurley is to turn the wheel until the compass (that’s what I’m calling it anyway) is on 108 degrees. I want to point out that this episode was the 108th hour of the show to be televised. Jack sees some images in the mirrors most notably the church where a young Sawyer went for his parents funeral as well as the pagoda that Jin and Sun were married in. He makes Hurley stop and tells him to turn it to 23 degrees which coincides with his own name. Hurley balks so Jack does it himself. For a moment we can see that the name at 108 is Wallace. What does that mean? William Wallace was a Scottish warrior and leader. That's who Mel Gibson played in Braveheart. Who do we know in the history of LOST that is Scottish? Yeah I think we are going to be seeing Desmond pretty soon and of course he will be arriving by boat just like he did the first time he arrived onto the island. Back to Jack and Hurley; the thing that puts Jack over the edge is when he sees the house that he grew up in. He realizes that Jacob has been watching all of them for a very long time. Jack presses Hurley for some answers but Hurley is unable to give them to him. For once someone says they don’t know something and he really doesn’t. In his frustration, Jack destroys the mirrors. Bad thing or exactly what he was supposed to do? Some of the names and numbers we can make out this week include Rousseau - 20, Stanhope - 48, Rutherford - 32, Faraday - 101, Littleton - 313, Dawson - 124, Linus - 117, Friendly - 109, Burke - 58, Lewis - 104 (in The Substitute it was number 140), Austen - 51 (and not crossed out). So Kate's name is there after all.





Jack tells David he was great. David points out he missed a couple of notes. David didn’t want Jack to know he was still playing piano. He didn’t tell Jack about the tryout because he didn’t want Jack to see him fail. Jack tells him that Christian always was sure to point out that Jack didn’t “have what it takes”. Jack tells David that in his eyes he can never fail and all Jack wants is to be a part of David’s life. Definitely looks like the two of them have crying down to a science. Casting hit this one out of the park when they got this kid to play Jack’s son, that’s for sure! Unlike MTL Jack it's possible that ATL Jack could actually be a good father.





Hurley tells off Jacob a bit. All Jacob can offer in response is “You have ink on your forehead”. “Jack broke your lighthouse dude, mission unaccomplished!”. Jacob says that whoever is coming to the island will have to find another way to get there. Seems Jack was the point of this exercise. Jacob remarks that Jack seeing into the mirrors was the only way for him to realize how important he really is. Jack is there “to do something” but Jacob cannot tell him what it is. Jack must figure it out on his own. Jacob finishes the discussion with Hurley by telling him that he had to get the two of them away from the temple as quickly as he could because someone bad was coming. Hurley wants to go back and warn those back at the temple. Jacob tells Hurley that is is too late to save them.





Claire tells Jin that she had to kill Justin or he would have killed her. She tells Jin she is glad he didn’t untie him. She was able to hear that? Jin tells Claire that he was lying that Kate really doesn’t have Aaron. He tells her that Aaron is at the temple and he will take her there and get her in because he knows a secret entrance. Jin is really scratching to stay alive now. Claire tells him that she is glad he was lying about Kate having Aaron because if it was true and she did have Aaron, Claire would have to kill her. Unlocke arrives and Jin thinks he is still John Locke. Claire tells Jin that Unlocke is her “friend”. Claire and Unlocke share a smile. Aw how cute.





I guess the reason that I liked this episode so much is it had an “old school” feel to it as Hurley pointed out to Jack when the two of them were trekking through the jungle. We went back to the caves; which we haven’t seen since season two. They found Shannon’s inhaler. Jack talked about chasing his father’s ghost into the caves and then trashing his coffin. We saw all of this, but it's been awhile. I guess it made me feel nostalgic for a time when things were more innocent. Back when the Others were scary and not dropping like flies. Has any of them ever died of natural causes by the way? Bach when we only knew the smoke monster as something that roared and made weird clicking noises. We’ve come a long way since then and all of us have changed in one way or another. Hurley is giving orders and making decisions on who gets to go on the A-team missions. Sure he’s still there for a little comic relief but he’s more than that now. This episode made me sad that the show will be coming to an end in a dozen or so more episodes. We won’t be able to click on the TV for an hour and watch our favorite Losties to see what they are up to this week ever again. While some of us might have questions left after the show is over we won’t have any new mysteries to look forward to. The show will continue living on DVDs and we can go back to the island whenever we want but it will never be the same. It can’t be. Remember back to the first time when you saw the smoke monster staring down Mr. Eko? You can only see something like that once and have the same effect. Watching parts of LOST is kind of like your first good kiss, it’s something you will never forget. The first one is the one by which all of the rest are judged, and for some, are found to be lacking.

Evvie

While I am not a big fan of Kate, I do like Evangeline Lilly and I think she has grown a great deal over the past six years as an actress. It looks like she has been working out; just check out those arms and shoulders. No wonder she has been able to kick so much ass over the years.

The Sustitute

I always look forward to a John Locke episode. He has always been one of my favorite characters. So when I found out that the third episode of the season was Locke-centric I was happy. Especially when it comes after a Kate episode, and sorry to all you Kate lovers out there but she is still one of the most hated characters as well as her episodes (there’s polls to back up these claims, I swear) but like I said I didn’t hate last weeks episode as much as I would have expected to. Unfortunately, I didn’t love this weeks episode as much as I would have hoped either. I think I might be dangling over that “fickle bitch” area where no matter what happens I might not like the outcome of any of this. So far I have been less than overjoyed with the “flash sideways” that we have taken into the ATL (again, ATL stands for alternate time line, for those of you late to the party). With all of that being said, this episode did have some good parts and some things that need discussing so let’s get started.



Right away we get the pathetic John Locke back in the wheelchair. As the wheelchair ramp starts to lower John out of the van it malfunctions. Did anybody else think the ramp motor sounded a little like Smokie? With his own version of a “leap of faith”, Locke tries to jump off of the ramp but fails. As he lies there on the grass the sprinklers come on and start to spray him. He didn’t look as defeated as I would have expected him to, instead he almost seemed to laugh a little about his predicament. Then it hit me, remember how happy Locke always seemed to be on the island whenever the rain would start? Locke just likes water, I guess. After Helen saves him from the water torture, John takes a bath. His coffee mug is black and white, also I believe it is the same mug that Cassidy drank out of in the “Whatever Happened Happened”episode, these prop people need to get with it. From what Helen says about Locke’s father coming to their wedding can we assume that in this time line he is not the bastard we know him to be? Did Anthony Cooper not con Locke out of his kidney? If he is a decent guy (later on we see a picture of Locke and Cooper on Locke’s desk in his cubicle, and was that the picture from when they went hunting?) then how did Locke get in the wheelchair? If we can keep going back, and Cooper isn’t a prick, then what happened to Sawyer’s parents? Will we see a different Sawyer in the ATL? Anyway, Helen says that the wedding is in October so we know that the date on the sonogram from last weeks episode was a continuity error and flight 815’s landing in the ATL wasn’t a month ahead like I had thought.


We see through the eyes of Smokie and catch a glimpse of it’s reflection in the window of Sawyer's house. We end up in the jungle as Smokie turns back into Unlocke (we have a new nickname for him from Alex, nice! thx girlie!) Unlocke cuts Richard down from a tree sort of like how Ben was trapped in a tree by Rousseau. This show has so many parallels it’s redonkulous!


ATL Locke gets to his work cubicle and Randy is on his ass about the conference that we know Locke didn’t go to. Locke is fired because of it and I agree with Hurley, Randy is a douche.


Unlocke apologizes for hitting Richard and for the first time Richard shows fear. I don’t like this frightened Richard Alpert. It takes some of the mystique away from Richard and he is starting to look a little less impressive right along with the rest of the Others. What happened to the “kid stealing, people killing, walking through the jungle bare-footed freaking people out, creepy whispering Others“? We’re now stuck with the “so afraid of Unlocke that we have to slink back to the temple under the cover of broad daylight and hide there Others”. No sir, I don’t like it. Richard asks Unlocke why he looks like Locke. Unlocke tells him that it is because Locke could get close to Jacob and he was “a candidate“. Unlocke promises to tell Richard everything if he goes with him. Alpert says no way and Unlocke has a vision of a blond haired boy. The boy seems to be dressed like an Other and he has blood on his arms. Richard says he doesn’t see the boy. Unlocke tells Richard that he will be seeing Richard sooner than he thinks.


Lately I have been hearing some grumblings about Unlocke not being the bad guy but instead he is the good guy and that it will turn out that Jacob was/is the bad guy. All of you that think this need to have a quick history lesson. The MIB (Man In Black) took over Locke’s body. Unlocke and the smoke monster are the same being. The smoke monster killed Mr. Eko, the pilot, Montand the blond girl (I forget her name) from the French team, and countless other people. It had a hand in the deaths of some other people as well; see Nikki and Paulo. It tried to kill Hurley when it took the form of Dave and tempted Hurley to jump off of the cliff. Yes, I officially think that it was the smoke monster making Hurley think he was crazy again and it wasn’t just in Hurley’s mind. Don’t be fooled by him, he is not the good guy and that whole “I’m sorry Richard I never would have kept you in the dark like Jacob did so c’mon let’s go have lunch and bond.” pitch is just a load of crap.


Inside of Jacob’s foot statue room (what? then come up with a better name for it), Ilana (or however you spell her name) asks Ben what happened to the rest of her team. Ben tells her that Unlocke killed them. He also tells her (a lie I might add) that Unlocke also killed Jacob. Ilana fills a bag with some of Jacob’s ashes and tells Ben that Unlocke is “recruiting”.


Inside of Sawyer’s house, Unlocke finds Sawyer drinking whiskey and listening to Search and Destroy by Iggy Pop and The Stooges. Let’s listen to some of those lyrics: “Look out honey I’m using technology” (something Jacob or MIB doesn’t seem to like)/ “Forgotten Boy”/ “The one who searches, searches to destroy”/ “Somebody better save my soul”. So at first listen this is definitely about Unlocke. But there is also a reference to a nuclear/hydrogen bomb, so could it be a little bit about Sawyer as well? Or how about Faraday? We don’t know if Eloise Hawkins made it off of the island before the bomb went off and if not was Daniel ever born? Yeah, this show makes my head hurt sometime. Sawyer doesn’t care that Unlocke is dead and standing in front of him. He’s too far into his grief and self pity (loathing also?) to even care. He tells Unlocke to get out of his house, who is quick to point out that it was never Sawyer's house. Sawyer says he knows he is not John Locke because Locke was scared. Unlocke tells him that he is the person that can answer the question of why he is on the island. Sawyer runs through the list of ways he has tried to get off of the island and was turned back. Who else has had that many chances but was never able to leave the island? Maybe he is the one that is destined to never leave the island.


OK, what is the deal with those muttonchops on Hurley? Hurley meets Locke outside of the box company. Notice that Hurley’s lucky streak doesn’t allow Locke’s wheelchair ramp to come down and damage the yellow Hummer. Better question is how the hell did Hurley get out of the Hummer being that closely parked to Locke's van? Hurley tells John that he owns the box company. After Locke tells him he was just fired Hurley sends him to a temp agency that Hurley says he also owns and tells him that they will take care of him there. He tells John to “chin up” that everything is going to work out.


The next scene is John Locke’s dead body on the beach. Things haven’t worked out for this version of John Locke as Frank and Sun make plans to bury the body.



Unlocke is just as gabby as the original Locke was and Sawyer wants to continue on without talking. This scene reminded me of when these two were walking through the jungle in The Brig episode. So much so that I used a promotional photo from The Brig for this paragraph and you wouldn’t have even noticed it if I hadn’t pointed it out. This time Sawyer also sees the boy who doesn’t have blood on his hands this time. Unlocke gives chase into the jungle and falls. Was this to show that inside of Locke’s body the MIB also has some of Locke’s flaws along with Locke‘s memories? Or maybe Locke’s consciousness is still in there somewhere stopping the MIB from catching the boy? The boy tells Unlocke that he knows the rules and that he can’t kill him. Anybody keeping count of how many times we hear the same lines in this show? “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” has got to be the most repeated line of the entire show. So who isn’t Unlocke able to kill? Richard? Sawyer? I'll go with Sawyer, for now.


Richard finds Sawyer and tells him to come back to the temple with him. Sawyer tells Richard that he has been to the temple and is going to stay with Locke. Richard tells Sawyer that the man isn’t Locke and that he is lying to him just to get him to go with him (something Richard did to get Juliette onto the island). Sawyer points out that if Unlocke wanted to kill him he could have by now after Richard says that Unlocke is going to kill him. Richard takes off when he hears Unlocke coming back. Sawyer and Unlocke lie to each other as Sawyer denies talking to anybody and Unlocke asks “What kid?”. Ah, good, at least they are forming a good base for their partnership!


The woman asking Locke all those weird questions at the temp agency in the ATL was also the psychic that Hurley’s dad hired in the main time line. Locke asks to talk to the woman’s supervisor who it turns out is Rose! Locke wants a construction job and is pretty adamant about it. Rose reasons with him and convinces his that it’s not such a good idea. She tells John that they need to be more realistic. She goes on to tell him that she has terminal cancer. Guess the ATL can’t be all rainbows and lollipops either. She tells Locke that they will find him a job he can do.



Sawyer tells Unlocke that Of Mice and Men is his favorite book to which Unlocke says that it was written after his time. James pulls a gun on Unlocke and says he wants to find out what happens if he puts a bullet in his head. Unlocke says “Why don’t we find out.”. Sawyer asks him “What are you?”. Unlocke says that he is trapped and he used to be a man and he used to have ….. Yadda yadda freakin' yadda!!


Ilana says that the MIB is now stuck in Locke’s body. For some reason he won’t be able to change forms anymore. Theories? After putting Locke’s body into the freshly dug grave in the survivors makeshift cemetery, Ben gives a short eulogy. He says that Locke was a believer and a man of faith. He points out that Locke was a better man than he will ever be. Sun and Ilana seem surprised when Ben says he is sorry he killed Locke. Notice that on the side of the metal box that Locke’s body was in is “823”. BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT ALERT: Frank delivers it when he says “Weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to.” (Sawyer’s “Well, I guess I better put on some pants” was a close second).



If you need any more evidence that the “reset” has changed things, Locke gets out of the numbers loop when he gets out of bed at 6:15. You know that if this was the original time line it would have been 8:15. One thing that hasn’t changed in the ATL is alarm clocks still sound like the Swan hatch countdown timer. Locke calls Jack’s office but doesn’t schedule an appointment. John tells Helen that he is not going to see Jack and that he got fired. He explains why he was fired. After the knives are delivered he tells her about the walkabout. Locke tells Helen that there are no such things as miracles but she tells him that they do exist. I loved the “Peace and Karma” shirt that Helen was wearing. She rips up Jack’s business card so good thing the number will still be in Locke’s phone memory when he needs it. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Locke get that miracle with no strings attached and be able to walk? We know Jack is a certified miracle worker when it comes to spinal surgery so it could still happen. Fingers crossed.



So add “huge bamboo ladder off of the side of a cliff” to the list of crap we never saw before in five previous seasons. Guess you could call this Jacob’s Ladder. A quick visit to Lostpedia tells us this about Jacob’s Ladder: “A Jacob's Ladder has significance in both the Jewish and Christian religions, having many interpretations, among them that it is a bridge between heaven and earth. Saint John Climacus (also known as John of the Ladder) wrote a book called "Ladder of the Divine Ascent" which uses Jacob's Ladder as an analogy for the ascetic life. It is frequently read by Orthodox Christians during the Lent season before Easter.” Wasn’t the day after this episode aired Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent? Hey now! Sawyer almost bites it as the ladder falls but Unlocke saves him. Or at least made it look like he “tried” to save him, you decide which it was. Looked like a feeble effort if you ask me. The two go into a cave that is in the side of the rock face. Inside there is a scale with one white rock and one black rock balanced on the two sides. Unlocke tips the scale towards black when he takes the white rock and throws it into the ocean. He calls it an inside joke. The scale is a reference to a Tibetan Buddhism god called Dharma - Raja who uses the scale to judge the dead after they die. Further inside, Unlocke tells Sawyer that the numbers and names that are written on the ceiling is why the survivors are on the island.



Locke gets a job as a substitute teacher. Inside the lounge another teacher is complaining about the condition of the coffee pot. It is none other than Ben Linus with a bitchin’ hairstyle as well as a nice dye job. He remarks that Earl Gray tea is drink of gentlemen and introduces himself to John. This is a nod to Patrick Stewart who, like Locke, is bald. Well, OK besides that though, when Stewart played the Captain of the Enterprise in Star Trek, his drink of choice was Earl Gray tea. Stewart also played Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies. Xavier is a bald, wheelchair bound teacher. Just like Locke, alright, moving on. Ben is a European history teacher and Locke is a substitute. I laughed inside a little when I saw the poster in the lounge that read “Live in the present, plan for the future”.



Unlocke tells Sawyer that it was Jacob who wrote the names and numbers on the ceiling. They go over the numbers and the names but there is no Kate?! Uh-oh! Either Kate is a goner or she is uber important. Only one of the Kwons. Maybe it’s not Jin nor Sun but their child? Unlocke says that Jacob used them all like puppets. He would pull their strings all the while pushing them towards the island. All of them are candidates to be the next one to protect the island like Jacob had done. They have three choices Unlocke points out. The choices are: (1) do nothing and apparently die as Unlocke crosses out John’s name. (2) "accept the job and protect the island that doesn’t need protecting because it is just an island" (something Jack said to John when the two argued at the Orchid Station). Or (3) just go and get off of the island. Sawyer chooses the third option and Unlocke says that they will go home together.



This season the episodes mirror those from season one in that the centrics follow the same pattern. If this continues, next week will be a Jack episode. Aside from the fact that Locke was a substitute teacher as the episode title infers, he was also a substitute for Christian on the Ajira flight. The title also can refer to the survivors of 815 as being Jacob’s substitutes.



Some eagle eyed viewers have reported that they can see other recognizeable names. Included on the ceiling but crossed out is 31-Littleton and 90-Troup (Gary Troup writer of the Bad Twin). Other names crossed out include Straume, Linus, Rutherford, Burke, Lewis, Pace, Jenkins (Steve or was that Scott‘s last name? We always get them confused), Mars, Fernandez, Henderson (Rose’s maiden name), Faraday, Chang, Goodspeed, Lacombe (one of the French team members, maybe Montand not sure about this one), Pickett, and possibly Rousseau but only the first three letters are visible above Jack’s name.




So what does all of this mean as we head further into the season? Well, for one Sawyer and Unlocke will make a pretty kick ass team. Wouldn’t want to be going up against them. Like I said before I don’t trust Unlocke for a second and I don’t think Sawyer is fully on board with Unlocke either. The trouble is, though, he doesn’t care. He would be the one we can start putting our money on as definitely not making it to the end of the show. He’s already dead inside and Juliette’s loss was the last straw for him. What’s with all the names on the ceiling of the cave? Something doesn’t feel right about all of this. I absolutely do believe that the names are there and Jacob put them there. I also think they are the candidates for being the islands next protector. Where all of this takes a turn for me is when Unlocke says that the island doesn’t need protecting. I think it does. The MIB is using the old adage “you make up the lie and I will make up the story to go with it”. He needs an outcome that is in his favor and his ultimate outcome would be getting off of the island. He wants to go “home” he told us; wherever that is. Will Sawyer be able to help him? Maybe. Is Unlocke better served to have Sawyer on his side instead of against him? Definitely. Especially if Sawyer is one of those that Unlocke can’t kill that the boy (Jacob? Arron? oohhh what if it's a time traveling Arron?) reminds him about.




One last thing I want to add before I go is one of the things I always look forward to after each episode of LOST is reading a fellow recappers posts about the episodes. I’m talking about Vozzek. Last weeks Vozzek and his family lost their home and nearly all of their belongings to fire. Having been through the same thing myself I can understand some of what he is going through. Everyone in his family is OK so they at least have that to be thankful for. I ask all of you to keep him and his family in your thoughts. I look forward to reading Vozz’s thoughts again soon but until then my own will have to fill in as a poor substitute.

What Kate Does

This weeks episode “What Kate Does” is obviously a take on season ones “What Kate Did”. I’m not going to rip it as harsh as some people have. It wasn’t horrible and it certainly wasn’t up there in the range of “Stranger In A Strange Land” bad. It was a Kate episode and for those of you that have been with me for a while know I’m not a big fan of Kate episodes. I will say that I do feel Kate gets a bad rap and for a while I was right there with the people giving the bad rap to her. After last years “Whatever Happened Happened” when Kate did one of the most unselfish acts I have seen her do on the show, she wiped the slate clean with me and I gave her credit unlike I have ever given her before. Evangeline Lilly just gets better as an actress so if there is any fault with Kate as a character it is with the writers and directors. Kate is used well enough in other episodes she appears in but when it is time for her to take center stage in a Kate centric episode something usually goes wrong (Whatever Happened Happened being the exception rather than the rule) and they can’t seem to make the Kate scenes in a Kate episode interesting. Thankfully, this week we had the return of Claire and Ethan to make the flash sideways scenes a little more interesting.

Let’s look at Kate Austin and see if we can figure out why she is so disliked by many fans. First of all, she isn’t a bad person in that we can’t say we dislike her because she is a criminal, a fugitive, a murderer, or whatever else you want to call her. If she does something solely for herself, there are those that get up in arms and call her the “B” word and say she is no good. On the other hand when she is unselfish and does something for someone else without first thinking of her self, well the episode is then called boring and pointless. I have to disagree with all of this because Kate is rarely unselfish as she usually has ulterior motives for whatever it is she is doing but she is no more guilty of being a bad person or murderer than say John Locke, Sayid, or Sawyer is and none of these characters are as disliked as Kate is. I think the root of the problem the viewers have with her is people cannot forgive her for the love triangle. Even with the death of Juliette, the scenes in this episode between her and Sawyer should serve as to prove that no matter what, there is no future between her and Sawyer and the non kiss between her and Jack also serves notice that romance isn’t in the cards for them either. So with all of that in mind let’s dissect this episode a little. For those of you that thought the episode was crap, I hope I can offer you some sort of proof that while it wasn’t as good as the season premier, and what could be really (the biggest problem with this episode is that it had the misfortune of being right after the premier), it did have some things that were more than just “filler”.

Does the typewriter Dogan is typing the latest chapter of his memoirs on actually type in hieroglyphics. Lennon brings him the news that Sayid is alive. Right after Jack asks Miles to get Sayid some water look at Miles’ face. This ghost whisperer already seems to sense something isn’t right with Sayid. Sawyer is bitter that Sayid gets to come back but Juliette is to remain dead. He should look on the bright side and figure out that whatever Juliette’s journey was, it reached it’s conclusion on the island and she was done “fixing” her past failures or correcting her errors. Sayid still has a lot to pay for unlike Juliette. Sawyer tells Kate that he is going to run. Cue the flash sideways noise which still doesn’t sound right to me, it sounds broken like it’s taking us to something that shouldn’t be.

Kate is inside the cab and they almost run over Artz. Were the jars of bugs that he had on the island inside of his bags that are all over the ground? This time when Kate and Jack see each other the two seem to "remember" each other or at least something like that. Here’s the theory on this that I subscribe to: on the plane during the ATL when Kate comes out of the bathroom and steals Jack’s pen, the two of them don’t recognize each other. Later outside of the airport when Kate is in the cab they do seem to recognize each other. Again, they probably don’t know how or why they know each other it’s just a feeling they have. Why the second time but not the first time they see each other? At the time when they see each other on the plane they aren’t supposed to recognize each other because in the main time line, they hadn’t met yet. After the first time outside of the restroom on the plane, enough time has gone by that in the original time line after the crash and the initial rushing around, it was after the time the two would have met when Jack asked Kate to stitch him up. Therefore they don’t recognize each other until the actual time of their meeting on the island has passed in the ATL. Ow, now my head hurts. I probably could have explained that better but it's late and I've been shoveling snow all day! Anyway, the cabbie bails and Kate kicks Claire out of the cab as well. In Kate's haste to get away it seems that she missed the fact that Claire was very pregnant.

Jack is amazed at Sayid’s six pack and his now closed wound. Jack has another scuffle with the others when they want to take Sayid inside to “ask him some questions”. Miles gets a sucker punch for his troubles as well. Sawyer shoots above the crowd similarly to how he did when he got the stash of guns in The Long Con. Sawyer announces that he is leaving but not before telling the others that Sayid is not his friend. He also tells them that they can do with the rest of them whatever they want. Dogan asks Sawyer to “please stay”. Whatever the 815Er's are, they sure are important enough to make Dogan not only speak English but to actually be polite about it! Sawyer ignores Dogan and leaves after he tells Kate not to come looking for him which is LOST speak for “the next scene Kate will be leaving to go after Sawyer”.

Which she does and Jin says he will go with her. She goes because, as she tells Lennon, “she can be very convincing when she wants to be”. Woo Ho, yeah, it's not gonna work though. ATL Kate has the cuffs removed by a guy that I’m not sure if he was supposed to remind us of Tom "Mr. Friendly" or an older version of Sawyer. Either way he was way nicer than he had to be. When she goes to change, Kate finds the picture of a pregnant Claire. She also pulls out a stuffed orca whale just like the one that Aaron held onto when Jack and Kate were arguing back in “Something Nice Back Home”. On island Kate is ready to leave to go after Sawyer and Jack pulls her in and seems to want to give her a kiss but changes his mind. I wonder how Kate would have reacted to it if Jack had kissed her.

Sayid is strapped down onto a table and is electrocuted like he was back in Solitary by Danielle Rousseau. Then he is burnt with a hot poker. Lennon tells him that it was a test that they had to do and that Sayid passed the test. Lennon asks Dogan if he lied to Sayid about passing the test. Dogan says that he did indeed lie to him as it would appear Sayid failed the test.

Kate finds Claire at the bus stop almost exactly where Kate left her when she kicked her out of the cab. I guess that’s what you do when a woman kicks you out of a cab at gunpoint; you just stay right around the area where she kicked you out. You don’t call 911 because that would be stupid. Claire tells Kate about putting the baby up for adoption and the family that was supposed to meet her at the airport. Kate offers to take Claire to the address to meet with the couple.

Kate questions Aldo about the temple and Jin asks him about the Ajira flight. Besides being a pretty good tracker himself, Justin is able to stop Kate before she sets off one of the jungle traps. Justin also seems to know something about the Ajira flight but Aldo doesn’t allow him to say anything about it. Aldo says that Sawyer shot an other on his way out of the temple area. Justin remarks that the trap isn’t one of Rousseau’s and says that she has been dead for years. It’s only been three years, right or did I miss something? Justin is once again cut short by Aldo who tells him to shut up. Apparently Aldo has had a chip on his shoulder ever since Kate knocked him out rescuing Karl from Room 23. She knocks Aldo out again and sets off the boulder trap that knocks Justin out also. She tells Jin that she is escaping and has no intention of going back to the temple.

After Sayid is tortured Jack goes to find out what happened. The guards move aside and let Jack go right in like he is somebody important. Lennon comments “we were hoping you come on your own”. Choice and free will still seem to reign supreme. Jack had to come on his own free will because Jack had to be the one to give Sayid the “medicine”. From Dogan’s description of the infection it would seem that it is the same type of sickness that Rousseau spoke of that had infected her group. As Dogan continues to explain, he says that the medicine wouldn’t work if Sayid didn’t take it willingly and the only way they could get Sayid to take it freely was if Jack was the one to gave it to him. Think back now to Bea Klugh giving Michael the list of people he was to bring back with him to the others. Michael asked her why she just couldn’t go and get them. She tells him that it doesn’t work that way. Jack asks Ben over on the Hydra island “You want me to save your life?” to which Ben replies; “No, I want you to want to save my life.”. Jack wouldn’t or perhaps couldn’t save Ben unless he was to do it of his own free will.

There is a reason why Dogan needs Jack to be the accomplice in getting Sayid to take the poison. Before they dip Sayid into the water Dogan asked who was responsible for what happened to Sayid. Jack said that even though it wasn’t him that shot Sayid it is Jack’s fault that Sayid was shot. This episode Dogan asks Jack again about being responsible for Sayid being shot. So because Jack is responsible for Sayid’s condition Jack is to give Sayid the pill. It can’t be anyone else. Dogan is basically telling Jack that he has to clean up his own mess which we have heard before. Ben tried to get Locke to kill Cooper but Locke couldn’t do it. Why? Because Cooper wasn’t there for Locke he was there for Sawyer. Sawyer had brought Cooper to the island and so it was Sawyer who was able to kill Cooper not Locke. We have seen this before where Jack had to deal with Christian being on the island as well as Hurley dealing with Dave. Sawyer’s “Jabba-The-Hut” strangling of Cooper isn’t the only Star Wars reference here as the island acts as one big evil cave of Dagobah. What’s on the island? Whatever you bring with you. A thanks to Vozzek69 for pointing out the Star Wars similarities here.

In yet another shout out to Empire Strikes Back; Sayid says that they tortured him and they didn’t even ask him any questions which is similar to what Han Solo says happened to him. Hurley asks Sayid if he is a zombie and Sayid says that he isn’t. To which I agree that he isn’t ….yet! I still haven’t given up on zombie season or at least one zombie episode. Jack asks for some privacy and Hurley is right to balk at the idea. It’s time for the 815ers to be as honest and open with each other as they can be and it is time for the others to be less mysterious and more forthcoming with the truth and some answers would be nice to if they want the losties to help them. Alas that is a perfect world and maybe in yet another parallel version of the island the others are more direct but we aren’t on that island! Best Line of the Night Alert: Miles: “We’ll be over in the food court if you need us.”, classic! Sayid tells Jack that he knows he didn’t pass their test. Jack shows Sayid the pill and Sayid says he will take the pill if Jack tells him to.

Jin and Kate split up as Kate goes on to follow Sawyer and Jin goes to look for the Ajira plane and Sun. ATL Claire asks Kate to go to the door of the adopting couple with her. The woman is crying and apologizes to Claire for standing her up at the airport. The woman’s husband has left her and she won’t be adopting the baby after all. Claire then goes into labor.

Sawyer leads Kate back to the Dharma barracks. He is pulling up floor boards in what used to be the house he shared with Juliette. He pulls out a shoebox and he knows someone is there when he hears the floorboards in the hall creak. He is surprised to find Kate there. She tells him she was worried about him.

At the hospital, Ethan is there now going by Ethan Goodspeed. Does this mean Horace somehow got his son onto the sub before the bomb went off? Claire can have the baby right then if she wants which she doesn’t. Ethan tells her that he can delay the labor but doesn’t want to stick needles into her if he doesn’t have to. He stuck enough of them into her in the original timeline for two realities I guess. In a moment of stress when they can’t find the baby’s heartbeat she yells “Is Aaron ok?”. Kate seems to recognize the name. The two women from very different worlds are holding hands which could mean that at some point we will probably extend the Kate and Claire ATL story and see that Kate was always meant to be a part of Claire’s life and a part of Aaron’s life as well.

Kate tells a very emotional Sawyer that she shouldn’t have followed him. He smartly remarks “which time” referencing the many times that Kate, even in spite of her feelings for Jack, has gone after Sawyer. While sitting on the same dock he did with Juliette back in 1974, he tells Kate that it wasn’t her fault that Juliette died. He blames himself for her death because he asked Juliette to stay with him on the island. He says he did so because he didn’t want to be alone. He says that some of them are meant to be on their own. In one of the best performances I have seen Josh Holloway give, he goes on to tell Kate that he was going to ask Juliette to marry him. I wonder if Kate thought about Jack at that moment. Sawyer pulls out the engagement ring and throws it into the ocean which is similar to the way Desmond threw the ring into Sydney Harbor that he had bought for Penny. He tells Kate she can make it back to the temple by nightfall. Kate breaks down and cries when she realizes she cannot bring Sawyer back with her. She also has to come to terms with the fact that what Sawyer had with Juliette was more than anything she ever had with Jack. More upsetting is that what Juliette and Sawyer had was more than Sawyer ever had with Kate. Kate isn’t crying for Sawyer or Juliette here, she cries for herself. Kate realizes that Sawyer is too far gone and unfortunately Sawyer’s story is almost complete. Destined to be alone in life, Sawyer stays behind and will try to punish himself more than anyone else ever could. Something that doesn’t sit right is back in “Meet Kevin Johnson”, Ben tells Rousseau to take Alex and Karl and go to the temple. He gives her a map and tells her they should make it to the temple in a day and a half. Sawyer and Kate made it there and Sawyer tells Kate that she could make it back to the temple before nightfall if she was to leave right away. Say what now? Continuity error or something else? Did Sawyer find a shortcut?

In the temple office Dogan is playing with his balls. Ok, just one ball; a baseball. By the way did you know that a baseball has a total of 108 stitches in the hide that covers it? Go ahead and count them we’ll wait. Dogan explains that he uses an interpreter because not being able to speak English puts a barrier between himself and the people he is supposed to lead. Anybody keeping track of how many people that is that claims to be a leader of the others? The language barrier makes it easy, Dogan tells Jack, to tell people to do things they otherwise may not like being told to do. Jack asks Dogan if he is from the island. Dogan tells Jack that he was brought to the island like everyone else. Jack asks what that means and Dogan tells him that he knows exactly what that means. Their discussion turns to Sayid and the pill as Jack tells Dogan that he did not give Sayid the pill because he does not know what is in the pill. Dogan tells Jack that he is just going to have to trust him to which Jack responds by swallowing the pill. Dogan acts quickly and forces Jack to spit the pill back up. Dogan tells Jack that the pill is poison. Really? Why did this take so long? Imagine how long it would have taken if this wasn’t the last season though.

The sonogram that Claire looks at is dated October 22, 2004 so are we to believe that the ATL is a month behind where the original time line should have been? Claire covers for Kate when the detective asks Claire about the whereabouts of Joan Hart which is the alias Kate goes by in “Born to Run”. Kate claims to be innocent of the crimes she is accused of. Claire believes her and gives Kate her credit card. Kate tells Claire that Aaron is a great name and that she thinks Claire should keep the baby. Claire doesn’t know where the name came from as she claims that it “just came to her” and if you believe that one then you haven’t watched all of the previous five seasons have you?

Jack wants to know why they have to kill Sayid. Sayid has been “claimed”, whatever the hell that means, by a darkness that is growing inside him. When the darkness reaches Sayid’s heart what Sayid once was will be gone. Jack wants to know how they can be sure and Dogan says it is because that is what happened to Jack’s sister.

Back in the jungle, Jin is jumped by Aldo. Aldo threatens to kill Jin but Justin says that he is one of them. Aldo corrects him and says that Jin may be one of them. Jin runs and gets caught in a bear trap for his trouble. Aldo and Justin are shot by an unseen person. Jin looks up and sees someone standing above him. Island Claire looks a little frizzy and rough around the edges.

I don’t fully understand where they are going with Claire being on the island all crazy and acting like Rousseau. It will be interesting to see what her reaction is to seeing Jin. Dogan says that Claire is infected with the sickness or darkness. Of all the people in the French group, Rousseau was the only one that wasn’t infected so why is Claire, who is supposed to be infected, acting like Rousseau? Is it from all of the interaction Claire had had with Rousseau in the past? One thing is for sure we will probably see an on island flashback in order to find out what happened to Claire after she disappeared into the jungle at the end of season four. Did she also jump through time? Was she stuck in the 1970’s for three years as well? If so this would point to Claire being with Rousseau and it would explain Justin saying that the French woman had been dead for years. Maybe Rousseau did in fact die years before we saw her die originally leaving Claire to take over for her as the islands resident crazy bitch. We got 15 episodes to find out.