Jacob pops up, like Obi Wan as Hurley puts it, giving Hurley a list of instructions. There's a lot written down, but all we know is that he needs to take Jack to a lighthouse. Jacob tells Hurley that he needs to guide someone to the island. They leave through a secret exit, and make their way to the lighthouse. Hurley knows exactly what's on the mind of the audience and suggests that it is very old school. It's two guys wandering through the jungle, talking about anything. Reinforcing that, they even find their old caves. The bodies dubbed Adam and Eve by Locke make another appearance and Hurley makes a theory about whether it could have been them. Maybe we'll discover the real truth one day. They also see Christian's coffin and Jack explains the significance to Hurley.
At the top of the lighthouse is a mirror, but it isn't a normal mirror as Jack discovers. It's a mirror from hell! Well, not really, but it might as well be, because Jack destroys after seeing what the mirror does. The degrees on the compass correspond with the names in the cave. Like the names on the cave, there are a number of crossed out names. Hurley pulls the so the mirror lands on Jack's names. To Jack's shock, the mirror shows Jack's childhood house, albeit a bit distorted, but the fact remains the same. Jacob has been spying on them since their youth. From the screengrabs I have, I can't find find the name 'Kwon,' but it would stand to reason that Jin is the candidate. Sun's surname was Paik as a child, so if Jacob was spying on all of them as youths and not just Sawyer, Kwon would have to refer to Jin. You also have to wonder why there are two sets of the same numbers and names. The names on the compass are organized and orderly while the names in the cave were all over the place. Did Jacob brainstorm in the cave before writing names on the compass?
Outside, Jacob appears without rhyme or reason to talk to Hurley. Hurley is worried, because the plan failed, but Jacob always knows what to do, and isn't concerned at all. It was all part of his bigger plan. Even when Jack tries to circumvent the devilish plot of Jacob, it still works in Jacob's favor. Jack is more laid back and passive after his failure to save the world, but he quickly sets off with Hurley. He still wants purpose to his life, and take an opportunity, whatever it may be, to do something useful. Becoming the new Jacob would fulfill that. He would be able to fix anyone at anytime with new powers and responsibilities.
I had a weird thought just now that may pass muster. There were references to Alice in Wonderland with the actual book showing up, and the key under the rabbit, so I thought the mirror in a way acts as a looking glass, echoing Alice's sequel Through the Looking-Glass. I know the season 3 finale was already named that, but it wouldn't hurt to revisit that. The mirror acts a looking glass, reflecting images back, exposing what makes people who they are. A simple surveillance device for Jacob seems too simplistic, so maybe it shows what makes people who they are. For Jack, it shows his childhood home which is where he was terrorized by his father and where he developed the need to save people when he can't even save himself. Maybe it shows something different for everyone else. We'll never know. That's my two cents anyways.
Jacob is just doing things and we really don't know what he's doing. Jacob gives cryptic statement after cryptic statement, and he's not only stringing the islanders, but also the viewers. It may make sense later, but Jack and Hurley visiting a lighthouse is pretty weak. We already know about the numbers, and that Jacob was watching them, so what else did we learn? The mirror is shattered, so it's nothing major also. The episode is named "Lighthouse," but who cares about the lighthouse? Not me.
Jack has a son named David who looks like he's in his teens. It's unclear who the mother is, but I don't think Sarah (Julie Bowen's character) fits. She and Jack would have met much earlier, and since she was with someone else when they met, the timeline would be radically changed. I don't think she'll be a new character, so what other options are there? Juliet, Shannon, Libby, Ilanna, or any other female that is Kate, Rose, or Claire. What I don't want to see is constant hinting at the mother; we already have HIMYM.
Jack and David have the father-son problem that runs with the Shephards. They don't communicate, and despite the effort from Jack, David doesn't want anything to do with his father who he sees once a month. Unlike Christian and Jack whose relationship was built on fear, David and Jack don't talk because Jack isn't there. As the season goes on, we may see a closer similarity, but from the Jack we know, he doesn't intimidate kids. He makes a discovery that borders on the ridiculous. He's so disconnected with David's life he has no clue David is an amazing piano player. After David goes missing, he finds a voice message from a conservatory. He arrives and finds David playing beautifully. Jack gives a typical I'll always be proud of you speech and things seem to be good. Dogen shows up with his own son and talks about the pressures the children have.
There was a small hint at how the island and flash-sideways are related. Jack in the flash-sideways sees a scar from getting his appendix removed, and he asks his mother about it. She tells him he got it removed when he was 7, but Jack clearly isn't convinced. On the island, Jack had appendicitis and Juliet removed it. The connection is so direct there has to be significance. But I'm still expecting more. Dropping hints here and there doesn't cut it. It's the final season and with an entirely different story structure, I'd like to know what I'm watching before the end of the season. We knew for certain there were flashbacks, flashforwards, and time jumps, but this is completely different and from the look of things, a lot more complicated.
The best part of the episode was feral Claire and Jin trapped with her. She seems fine at first, taking the trap off Jin, and acting normally for the most part. Jin wakes up in her beaver den (seriously, check out the screengrab), and everything goes wrong. Claire brings in the black Other, ties him up, and demands to know where her baby is. This starts an awesome sequence where Jin is trying to figure out what's going on while Claire threatens to kill the Other. She has a menacing look on her face that changes in an instant when she's dressing Jin's wounds. She's riding on the edge of sanity that Jin saw before with the French, but doesn't realize. To save the Other, Jin blurts out that Kate raised Aaron for three years. Claire kills the Other anyways and moves on to Jin. She asks him why Jin said that about Kate, and Jin smartly says that he lied to save the Other. Kate shows up briefly, and says her goodbye to Jack as her sets off to find Claire. Could this be the last time Jack sees Kate alive? Their scene was awfully long for such a passing instance.
Throughout the episode, Claire references a "friend," and Flocke steps into the camp. Jin recognizes him as Locke, but he's just Claire's "friend." There's even more evidence of the close tie between the Smoke Monster and the disease. Jacob tells Hurley that he can't return to the temple because someone is going there. Presumably, it's Flocke with Sawyer and Claire in tow. Maybe we'll get a showdown next week...and answers too.
Score: 8.9/10
I decided to add pictures this week, so I threw a bunch out there. Here's one more of Hurley's arm with the instructions. Where did he get a pen?
