Flashsideways Connections
-The big shocker - Jack is a dad. I found this off-Island storyline so satisfying and redemptive. Jack seems to finally break the cycle of distant father-son relationships with David. Another brilliant name choice - the Biblical David (which means means "beloved") was a poet and musician, and composed many of the Psalms, including Psalm 23. The casting was great here - the actor who plays David really looks like he could be related to Matthew Fox.
-Jack apparently doesn't remember getting his appendix removed as a child. Another example of some crossover between this timeline and the one we're seeing on the Island. I thought it was interesting that Jack's mom said "Your father wanted to do the procedure himself but they wouldn't let him"; on the Island Jack wanted to assist in his own appendectomy.
-The song David plays at his audition is Chopin's "Fantaisie Impromptu in C-Sharp Minor." This piece has been played on LOST before, in the season 5 episode "The Variable," where young Daniel Faraday played it. And coincidentally, February 22nd, 2010 would have been Chopin's 200th birthday.
-Jack's literary theme throughout the entire show has been Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." The season 1 episode "White Rabbit" refers to the creature Alice follows down a rabbit hole. In "Through the Looking Glass," Alice goes through a mirror to discover a world where everything is a mirror image of the real world - exactly reversed. In a way what we're seeing this season is a mirror image of season 1. "Lighthouse" pretty much bashes us over the head with the Alice references: David is reading the annotated book, Jack says he read it to him as a child, Jack talks about Alice's cats Kitty and Snowdrop (more on them in a later post), David's hidden key is under a rabbit statuette, and the main imagery of this episode of mirrors and game playing figures in hugely in Carroll's work. I highly recommend reading both of these books if you're at all interested in the symbolism in LOST (and even if you're not - they're just really fun to read.)
-Another beautiful mirror image moment is when Hurley tells Jack "You have what it takes," another reference to "White Rabbit" where we saw Christian Shephard witheringly tell his son that he will always be a failure because "you don't have what it takes."
-The sign outside David's audition says "Welcome all candidates."
-On David's bedroom wall there's a poster for the band Meat Coat - the band Driveshaft (Charlie's band) was supposed to open for in L.A. Maybe David was listening to Driveshaft on his headphones.
-Dogen was at David's audition! His words to Jack are significant "They're too young to have this kind of pressure, aren't they?...It's hard to watch and be unable to help."
-A common thread in all of the flashsideways we've seen so far is that life is better for all of the Losties. Claire might get to keep her baby. Kate may be innocent. Locke is with Helen, and learning to be content with his lot in life. And Jack has hope in a loving relationship with his son. Could we be seeing their eventual redemption instead of just another alternate timeline?
Revelations
-I loved it when Jack looks at the lighthouse and says "I don't understand, how is it we've never seen it before?" because that's exactly what I was thinking. How many more undiscovered places can there be?
-I got so excited when Hurley and Jack found the caves again with Adam and Eve because I was sure we were finally going to find out who they were. I believed the promo that said "The time for questions...is...over!" Silly me. We still don't know. Damon and Carlton, why do you keep teasing us?? Why?!?! (I agree with Jay and Jack though when they say that we should appreciate LOST while we still have it - because soon it will be over and we'll be left with nothing but "Two and a Half Men." Noooo!)
-Jack tells Hurley he wanted to come back to the Island because he was broken, and he thought the Island could fix him. If the flashsideways are real, it seems that maybe he was right.
-My favorite reveal of the episode was the lighthouse dial. Man in Locke was lying about Jacob having "a thing" for numbers - the numbers actually have a meaning.
Although Kate's name didn't appear on the cave wall (that we saw, anyway) she is on the dial - number 51. So now the question is, are the two lists the same? I think one belongs to Jacob and one belongs to the Man in Black, and they may not correspond exactly. Man in Locke goes into the cave and throws a white stone out; Jacob has Jack go in the lighthouse and smash the mirrors - this may be evidence that the cave is Jacob's list and the lighthouse is Man in Black's. Also, the writing on the cave wall is white, and the writing on the dial is black.
The images that appeared in the mirror are the temple where Jin and Sun got married, the church where Sawyer's parents' funeral was held, and Jack's childhood home. The first two are locations where Jacob visited them, but Jack's visit with Jacob was at the hospital where he worked. This makes me think that Shephard actually refers to Christian, not Jack. Hurley's instructions were to turn the dial to 108˚ - the name at 108 was "Wallace."
-It's becoming more and more clear that we can't trust anything Man in Locke says, and I'm not sure Jacob is any more trustworthy. Nikki Stafford pointed out that everything that comes from the two of them is a lot of smoke and mirrors - literally.
-Man in Locke is Claire's "friend." I probably should have figured that one out, but I didn't see it coming at all. Wow.
Questions
-Who is David's mother?
-When Hurley finds Jacob in the temple he's crouched by the spring and seems to be putting something in the water. If so, what did Jacob put in the spring and why did he put it there?
-What is the lighthouse for? Is it really just for watching the candidates, as Jack believes, or does it have another function? And why did Jacob want the mirrors destroyed?
-How does Claire know that John Locke isn't himself? Is she aware of what has taken over him, and presumably her too?
-Jacob says that "someone bad" is coming to the Temple. Who is it - smokey? I think this puts to rest theories that Jacob is the one influencing Sayid.
Moments of Pure Awesomeness
-Hurley and Miles' game of tic-tac-toe ends in "a tie again, dude." If you play tic-tac-toe well, it's impossible for either side to win. A reference to the ongoing battle between Jacob and the Man in Black?
-I loved Jin's quick thinking in dealing with Claire and convincing her that Aaron is at the Temple and they need to go get him. The whole scene was so tensely creepy and well acted by both of them.
-Hurley: "I just lied to a samurai." Haha!
Your Turn!
Please share your thoughts and theories with me! I know a missed a lot in this one, there was so much to think about.
4 comments:
The whole Claire and Locke thing- leads me to think that it's the same thing that is in christian. Christian was the one who made claire leave in the middle of the jungle. Maybe she still sees Christian?
Perhaps Claire and Locke are going to the temple and thats the bad somebody?
I loved claires comment " if anything will kill you out here it's an infection" ha ha.
I still think Jacob is good. He seems so peaceful. And I think its definately obvious which side is the dark side now.
Honestly I think its kind of sad to see all the characters we know and love dying off and becoming different. I LOVE Sayid and I think it will be sad to see him change.
So do u think that the man in black will take over Juilette to further pursuade Sawyer to join his crew. Or can the man in Black take over bodies that have been burried.
We think the lighthouse is definitely Jacob's and the cave is definitely smokey's. The lighthouse is so neat and clean. Jacob is using the mirrors to watch people. He is using the lighthouse to help people get to the island. Smokey's cave with the names written on the walls reminds us of a prison inmate scratching lines on the walls for how many days he's been trapped.
I don't know why I hadn't figured out the Alice in Wonderland theme... that makes me want to read the books!
I like the thought that the unorganized, messy handwriting on the wall is man in Locke's cave and that the "beacon of light" that's nice and neat is Jacobs.
But I am wondering why Jacob would want Jack to destroy something that was his or has helped people find the island. Then I remembered that Smokey was able to flash images of someone's life like a camera flash. What if the lighthouse is Smokey's/Man in Locke and the images that he "collected" are from watching the mirrors in the lighthouse. And maybe by bringing Jack to the lighthouse and Jack seeing what it was able to do/used for, Jacob was able to indirectly influence without effecting Jack's free will (thus not breaking the "rules."). Also, the sounds of the chains/gears (to move the dial) reminded me of Smokey's in transit sound.
Post a Comment