Kristen: Lost Cast Prepares for Predicted Hawaii Tsunami

Sat., Feb. 27, 2010 9:31 AM PST by Kristin Dos Santos

UPDATE: Good news! The tsunami warning has been lifted with no apparent damage.
________

Hours after a massive 8.8 earthquake hit Chile, the residents of Oahu, Hawaii, have been bracing for a predicted tsunami, and the stars of Lost, who live and work on the island, are among them.

We've just heard from star Daniel Dae Kim—whose trip to Los Angeles today for a fan event was derailed because of the tsunami warning—and also Lost boss Damon Lindelof, and here is the good news they shared...

"All our cast and crew is accounted for and safely away from coastal areas," Damon tells me this afternoon. "Jorge Garcia continues to thrash me in Scrabble via iPhone from Ken Leung's house. Our entire team in Hawaii appreciates all the positive energy being sent their way."

Daniel decided not to fly to Los Angeles this morning for tonight's Paley Festival fan event to stay with his family druing the tsunami warning. "My family and I are doing fine," Daniel told me less than an hour ago. "We've moved to high ground and are staying with friends who generously opened their home to us. All that's left to do is wait. Heartfelt thanks to everyone who sends their thoughts and good wishes."

According to the show's ABC rep, the other cast members expected at tonight's Paley event—Michael Emerson, Terry O'Quinn, Nestor Carbonell and Zulheika Robinson—are already in Los Angeles, so Daniel is the only cast member whose plans have changed because of the tsunami warning. The rest of the cast is still in Hawaii and were unable to attend tonight's event because they were working on Lost, according to a rep for the show.

Meanwhile, Modern Family boss Steve Levitan told me last night that the cast was planning to fly to Hawaii to shoot a family vacation episode within the next 2 weeks. No word yet from ABC on whether the expected tsunami might change those plans.

Damon and fellow Lost boss Carlton Cuse have taken to Twitter today:

@DamonLindelof: Praying for Chile and all the islands of Hawaii. Please send our cast and crew all your positive energy.
@CarltonCuse: To ALL on the LOST crew -- responding to the Tsunami warning -- safe refuge is available at the studio.
@CarltonCuse: Waves to reach Hawaii just after 11 AM.

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Episode 6x04 -- Sympathy for the Devil

Note: Sorry for the delay once again. This was originally composed after the airing of 6x04, “The Substitute”, but became “trapped” sort of like MIB in a suddenly corrupted version of good ol' Microsoft Word. Thank goodness for the wonderful “Open Office”, the software That Has Saved (It) All.


INTRO: On with the Show

This week’s Locke-centric “The Substitute” was probably the best thing that could have happened to soothe all of the restless natives out in the LOST-iverse who cried “filler” after last week’s slow-but-steady focus on Kate Austen. I mean really, who doesn’t get a kick from Locke’s story? Even if he isn’t your favorite character, you have to admit that after all that has happened to the man, his tale is arguably the most epic of all of LOST’s characters. Now, in this final season, I feel somewhat saddened by the thought that this could very well have been the last episode which centers on this amazing man’s tale.

But enough of my mushy sentimentalizing. This is Locke’s time and there’s always more than plenty to cover in one of his installments. So let’s get to it!

Rain Fall Down

At this point I have totally lost count of how many times poor John has taken a fall or injured himself in the show. It wasn’t hard to guess what would happen in the opening scene as his wheelchair lift refused to lower him to the ground. I have a habit of trying to analyze whenever we see a form of water in the show, as it can symbolize so many different things depending on the situation. As Locke lay with his face to the earth and the sprinklers from his own lawn came on just at the right moment, I believe we were meant to be reminded of all the times on the Island when he was caught in the rain, or even predicted it, and welcomed it with his arms wide open. And just like those times before, he gave a little smile.

What I didn’t predict however was the fact that Helen would suddenly appear racing out of the house to his rescue. Seeing them together again might have been one of the happiest feelings I have had yet this season. Time-line X certainly has our characters in some very amazing circumstances, most notably Locke seeming to have a relationship with his father, and one that is positive enough to even have dad invited to their upcoming wedding. Say whaaaaat?

I suppose we can assume that Anthony Cooper is not responsible for Locke’s status as wheelchair bound in this time-line, and what did cause his disability is now a mystery. In fact, there are tons of questions to now ask about his “alternate” life here. Is Cooper still a con-man or is he now a decent fellow who was actually a part of John’s entire life? Or did Locke still share a kidney with his Dad when he needed it and they ended up bonding during this time? Was he still at some point, for some reason in anger management sessions, or did he and Helen meet some other way? No matter what the answers are I believe it is all just meant to show us that there are some things that still never change for our characters, as in some things will always fall into the category of that which is destined to be. Opposites. Black and white stuff. You know the deal.

John and Helen really are a beautiful couple, reminding me a lot of lovebirds Rose and Bernard. She really seems to support him no matter what the situation. In this iteration of their relationship, she is the one who seems to have more of a faith-based approach. When they discuss Jack Sheppard’s business card, John is somewhat dismissive as Helen reminds him that miracles do happen. This is almost directly opposite from the John we know from the original time-line who once said almost the exact same thing. The events that have molded him in time-line X must have somehow grounded him a bit more towards a logical approach to life. Perhaps it is because things have overall been a bit more positive for John, and he has not found such a strong need to believe in the intangible purely as a survival mechanism.

People in general tend to look towards faith the most when times are at their worst or when the unexplainable has occurred, as our brains have a strong need to make sense out of everything that happens to us. When they cannot, it is often chalked up to being the result of something higher than ourselves, or something outside of us and uncontrollable. Destiny and fate come into play at these moments and we look to our belief systems, our faith, as a substitute for a more logical, earthly explanation.

Then again, in this time-line John hadn’t (yet realized he had) been in a plane crash and awakened with the sudden ability to walk again, either. That would be enough to even turn Dr. Wizard, I mean Mr. Wizard himself into a believer I’m sure.


When the Whip Comes Down

However, we did learn that Locke is still a bit boxed in, literally, as just as in the original time-line he held a position at the box company under the management of one Randy “Douche-bag” Nations. As Randy immediately referred to Locke as “Colonel” we are let on to the fact Locke more than likely still enjoyed his war-games, and Randy still enjoyed teasing him for it. It is now safe to assume there's still a part of this version of Locke who on occasion turned to fantasy and escapism. Just as he pretended to Boone that he had been on a Walkabout, he tried to pretend to his boss that he had actually been to a conference in Sydney. And just like a typical micro-managing jerk-wad, Randy had checked up on John and caught him in his bluff. Poor Locke sat there trying to talk his way out of it, but Randy quickly fired him on the spot with a very cruel, sarcastic military salute.

Waiting on a Friend

“What are the odds of you just running into a spinal surgeon?”, Helen asked Locke earlier as he took a quiet bath. (More water, people!) Probably about the same as running into the owner of the company you were just fired from and learning that he feels the same way about your boss as you do. By the way, Helen's question was an exact mirror to what Ben once said back in season 3 in regards to Jack crashing on the Island right when he too needed such a specialized doctor.

But this time a sharp dressed Hugo was the man with the right info and the right attitude to give Locke the literal “lift” he needed at that exact moment. Just like the leader he had become in the main time-line, he gave John a new path and a new set of instructions. (Sound familiar? Like someone on the Island? Like, someone who used to live in a giant four-toed foot statue?)

Hugo's final words to John, “Chin up, it's gonna work out”, could even be the new, “Life up your eyes and look North.” And indeed Locke's frown was turned upside-down.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

It was great to see Lynn Karnoff, the fortune teller that Hugo's father hired in the original time-line, as one of Hugo's employees at the temp agency he owned, who attempted to “divine” what type of animal Locke most identified with. This was also one of the DHARMA Initiative “Octagon Global Recruiting” questions asked in the fan booth during the 2008 Comic Con.

But Locke would have none of that nonsense, and called over office supervisor Rose Nadler to see if she could get him an in as a construction site coordinator. Rose had always been the female counterpart to Locke on the Island. She too was healed, and she too carried a very mystical sensibility. I wonder now if we are starting to understand more about how she just knew without a doubt that Bernard was still alive way back in seasons one and two. Multiple iterations perhaps? Maybe...

But in this iteration, in this time-line, it would seem she indeed did still have the “Big C”. One could almost sense Locke's famous catch-phrase welling up when she suggested that working at a construction site was not the best idea for someone like him, meaning someone in a wheelchair. Instead however, he challenged her about being “realistic”, and that is when she dropped some hard knowledge on John in regards to how she learned to accept her illness and made the decision to live the rest of her life out the best that she could. It was then Rose who alluded to Locke's mantra by suggesting that she then would help him find something that he could do.


Something Happened to Me Yesterday

It was a nice touch to have Locke awaken to the sound of the Hatch countdown timer as his alarm clock beeping. As he faced himself in the mirror that morning, just as we had already seen with both Jack and Kate in this time-line, some kind of recognition seemed to take place. For a moment, John decided to call Dr. Sheppard’s office and actually give that miracle Helen mentioned a chance after all.

But then he froze, changed his mind, and hung up. Finally Locke began to confess to Helen that he had been fired from his job, that he had never been to that conference in Sydney, and that he had instead attempted to go on that Walkabout.

It is during this time when we were truly given a sense of how different this John Locke was from our “original” version. This John didn't want to continue to pretend he was something he wasn't. This John was tired of trying to fight the things he knows He Can't Do. This John no longer needed a suitcase full of knives to prove that he was any more of a man than he already was. This John was for once being realistic with his limitations, and being honest and open with both himself and the woman who confessed to love him for exactly who he already was.

With her black fingernails and her “Peace and Karma” shirt, Helen leaned in to give John one very righteous and much needed kiss of complete reassurance that she meant exactly what she said. It was truly one of the most heartfelt scenes between two characters since the phone reunion between Desmond and Penny in “The Constant”, and I personally became quite weepy-eyed by the end of it. That would be because the thing we learned overall here was that quite simply, John and Helen were each others' miracle.

Oh No, Not You Again

At last we saw Locke in the field it would seem that he was born for, substitute teaching. I loved how he was immediately shown to not only be coaching sports, but teaching biology, specifically the human reproductive system. The Locke we have come to know has always seemed to have a grasp on a large number of subjects, and this is why so many on the Island became much like pupils to him, most notably Boone, Charlie, and Walt.

But it wasn't until he found the teacher's lounge did destiny unknowingly kick him in the rear. Some whiny teacher was face to the wall jabbering on about responsibilities with the coffee machine. Time-line X John Locke, meet time-line X Benjamin Linus. I don't even want to begin to theorize how he ended up as a teacher off-island, but if anything, it was a fun and once again, fateful reveal.

Speaking of Ben, it's Island time now!


Sweet Black Angel

I just want to give quick a shout out to “Smokey-Cam”, one of the coolest effects I think I've enjoyed on LOST in a good long time. The smokiness around the screen edges were a nice touch, too. I hope to see more of it, because I was fascinated with viewing the landscape through the eyes of the Monster himself.

Lies

Good old Ben. Once a liar...well, he'll always have issues I believe. And really, why would he tell a mourning Illana that he was really the one who killed Jacob, which in turn led to her team's destruction? Ben was visibly still in shock and had gone into self-preservation mode, I believe. I don't think he was ready to admit that he was just conned after being so used to being the master con-man himself. It will be interesting to see what is done with his character from this point out. Ben was once such a HUGE force on the show, and now he has been reduced to the fool who may have just screwed everything up for everyone, including the Island he so desperately tried to protect for most of his life.

As Illana gathered up some of Jacob's ashes, I felt a bit of foreshadowing of a showdown to come with the Lockeness Monster, and really I can't wait. Illana is the only one left now of her group of “good guys”, and was specifically asked by Jacob himself for help when she was totally mummified in bandages at that strange hospital last season. One thing that I've always wondered is if he helped to heal her or not, as we were made sure to notice that he did not actually touch her as he did with the rest of our survivors.

In addition, after all of the talk about free-will, and how everyone involved had to want to return to the Island on their own accord, we had Sayid being brought on that fateful Ajira flight in cuffs specifically against his will after being caught in Illana's ruse. Um, Jacob, that was more than just a little push.

Finally, I just wanted to note the lovely, haunting theme that we have centering around Jacob that we hear whenever he now shows up in his non-corporeal form. Once again Michael Giacchino shows off his mad, award-winning scoring skills.


Tell Me (You're Coming Back)

How rude it was of the Beach Others to just up and leave Frank, Sun, Ben, and Illana for the Temple. They are such a pitiful bunch these days, reminding me a bit of the queen-less aliens from the film “District 9”. Without Jacob, or Richard, or any leadership at all it seems they are like aimless sheep who have now scurried off to save their own hides when they should have stayed behind to help protect any of the remaining potential “candidates”. Then again, if Richard didn't know about Jacob's plans, I suppose they didn't either.

But before the rest of the party could join them, Sun had enough courtesy and respect for the Real John Locke to suggest the bury the poor man. Frank called it when he said it was one of the weirdest damn funerals he'd ever been to, as a touching eulogy by Ben revealed his thought that Locke was a better man than he, and that he was sorry for murdering him. Yeah, Ben is definitely feeling like the guy with the dunce cap on these days. This could have also tipped off Illana to the fact that Ben might not be someone she should be trusting in regards to what really went down inside the foot statue. That was one strange look she gave the Benster. One thing I keep wondering is why Jacob has not yet come to visit her in his “dead but here” form.

We've seen a lot of funerals on the Island, but I believe this one happened for a major reason or two. For one, it reminded us how important it is to bury the dead, lest they be claimed as we have seen with some of the unfortunate bodies left above ground. Of course Christian Sheppard and Yemi immediately come to mind. From the WW2 soldiers, to Keamy's freighter team, to the Others, and even the DHARMA Initiative, it seemed that everyone made sure to put the no-longer-living into the ground as quickly as possible. I think that this pretty much sealed the deal on the theory that MIB can take the form of anyone who had died and had been left unburied. However, in this situation we already have him taking the form of our dear, dead Locke.

Therefore, I think this burial also served a second purpose. For those of us who had been hoping for some kind of true reincarnation of the Real John Locke, I believe those hopes were also now sadly laid into their final resting place.

By the way, did you notice how both men, Ben and Frank were in white, while the ladies Illana and Sun, wore black?


The Last Time

We also learned something quite interesting from Illana as the group had carried John Locke's body to the beach camp graveyard. Apparently MIB could no longer just change his appearance at whim like we had seen before, as I suppose he had been doing since season one starting with Christian. He's now “stuck” in the body of Locke. Well, stuck in that body but not without his ability to change into his Smokier-self. So what does this mean? Heck if I know, but I'm sure it has something to do with Jacob's death and the loophole that MIB used to kill him.

By the way, Illana also mentioned back at the foot statue that the reason MIB took Richard is because he is “recruiting”. Um, recruiting for what may I ask? An army? A dark army?! An ARMY OF DARKNESS?!?! Please, please tell me that Bruce Campbell is going to show up too, because that would just be way super cooooool!


The Spider and the Fly

I loved how Lockeness actually apologized to Richard for knocking him out and dragging him into the jungle. Apparently he had “always wanted” Richard to be part of his team. To me this not only suggested a much richer history between the two besides mere familiarity, but also that Richard might even be special to MIB in some yet unknown way. If Richard is very old as has been suggested, then perhaps they even knew each other once when they were more like, um, normal men.

It also seemed strange to me that Richard seemed totally oblivious to Jacob's Replacement Candidate System. The Temple Others certainly seemed to know about it. Heck, even Illana and her company knew about it. But here, Richard was surprised to even hear the word. I hope that he was just bluffing and protecting what he knew, perhaps in an attempt to protect the candidates themselves from Lockeness' prodding. Lockeness promised Richard that he would have never had kept him in the dark about such important matters, and that he would have treated Richard with respect. Yeah, I don't know about you, but I didn't believe a lot of what Lockeness said, as to me it reeked of manipulation. I think he was just telling Richard what he thought he wanted to hear, and needed Richard for some yet unknown reason. After asking Richard once more to join him, Lockeness made a statement that got right to the heart of not only one of the Real John's beliefs, but one of LOST's overall themes from the very beginning. “...People seldom get a second chance”, he said in response to Richard's defiant refusal to follow along.

Cue freaky boy with bloody hands suddenly standing in the jungle in a Christ-like pose!

It appears that even Lockeness can be spooked, but the boy was gone faster than Richard could turn around to see what had suddenly changed the expression on his nemesis' face. More on the kid in a bit.

Memory Motel

Sawyer has some killer taste in music! And yet another reference to the spinning record was revealed to us as Lockeness made James his next pit stop on the recruiting tour.

Sawyer also had some funky-stained drawers! But what did he care? He had his whiskey, his Iggy, and his memories of when his life was actually a happy one. One when he wasn't alone, in mourning, inside a home that now mirrored his own inner self all shattered and broken.

The fact that a dead John Locke walked in didn't even phase him, and without blinking he recognized the intruder as an imposter. In a bit of a cold exchange, Lockeness told Sawyer that house was never really his home, which added a bit of insult to his already drunken injury. Lockeness then used the same song and dance with Sawyer that he attempted with Richard in the form of the promise of answers. At that point it seemed that James was either a bit fogged by the drinky-drink, had a death-wish, or that he really was looking for some semblance of meaning to it all. Surprisingly, he actually agreed to go with Lockeness with the hope to find out exactly why he became stuck on Craphole Island in the first place.


2000 Light Years from Home

One of my favorite exchanges in the episode came during the trek that Sawyer and Lockeness made through the jungle, as James decided to strike up a little bit of small-talk on the subject of reading. We were given a clue here that MIB was quite old indeed, more than likely ancient, as when James mentioned his favorite book “Of Mice and Men”, Lockeness replied that one was before his time. That was the second time the famous Steinbeck story had been brought up on LOST in regards to Sawyer, as the first time was when Ben pulled a long con on the con-man himself. This time however it was James who attempted to pull a fast one in the form of a gun on the imposter leading his way. One could almost see Lockeness begging Sawyer to shoot at him, as that would have most likely allowed him to unleash his Smokiness, and some major raging would have certainly ensued.

Instead James was a bit flustered by the lack of fear from his companion, and asked once more, “What are you?”. In a quick soliloquy we learned a lot more about MIB, and how he had been “trapped” for a long, long time. He claimed he was indeed once a real man who had experienced all of the same emotions; pain, fear, love, and betrayal as someone like Sawyer had. This time I think I believed him, but I also still believe he has an amazing knack for telling people what they need to hear most. MIB could just as easily had been feeding off of his host, just as he seemed to know the mind of Locke and his final thoughts before his death. The overall intent of this reveal however was to put himself more on the same level as Sawyer, and gain a bit more of his trust in the process. Slowly but surely he was trying to lure James over to his side, but before the hugs and bonding could take place, cue Creepy Jungle Kid once again!

Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)

Three major occurrences happened in the scene with the Creepy Jungle Kid (CJK). The first is that we learned Sawyer could also see the little guy, which totally took Lockeness by surprise. I believe this is because Sawyer is special, as we learned way back in the day when he also saw Kate's vision of the black horse from her past in the jungle. The second thing that happened here was when Lockeness took off running after the CJK, then tripped and fell to find the kid just standing over him. Just like a disapproving parent, the kid muttered something about “the Rules”, which we have heard so many times on the show, and told Lockeness that he can't “kill him”.

If I am right in my assumption that this is a younger version or spirit of Jacob from a time when he and MIB once knew each other during more “human” times, then he was there to serve as a reminder that his crew of specifically “touched” survivors could not be directly murdered by his nemesis. This would refer to people like Sawyer, whom Lockeness was obviously trying to bring over to the dark side.

The final revelation, and my favorite, was Lockeness' response to the CJK as he walked away. Let's all now repeat in unison, “Don't tell me what I can't do!...DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN'T DO!!”.

Wait. Is it...? Could it be...? Is part of the Real John Locke somewhere in there, shining through without MIB even being aware of it, or able to stop it? I am willing to place bets that this might have related to the funeral. Remember John's words to Jack back in the “LA X” baggage claim? The “person” and the “body” are separate, and who knows where the “person” really goes when they die? We haven't lost Locke, we've just lost his body. And I believe right now that our dear, Real John Locke lives on somewhere inside this MIB-infected version, and is slowly-but-steadily beginning to reveal himself.

One more little thing needs to be mentioned here: Richard's sudden appearance out of the jungle as Sawyer waited alone for Lockeness to return from his chase. Richard told James that he must come to the Temple where he would be safe, and that MIB planned to not only kill him, but everyone he loved, everyone on the Island. Of course James refused, as he has already been to the Temple party and it was a dead-end of its own in his eyes. It was pretty evident that Richard was as terrified as a man could be, and upon MIB's return he disappeared just as quick as that first scene of the CJK.

Paint It, Black

Finally the dynamic duo reached a cliff-side and a very sketchy rope ladder down one very high ocean-facing wall. I loved not only the symbolic reference to “Jacob's Ladder”, but also how it was split into two sides, just like so many things in LOST. Once again I had some “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” flashbacks as Sawyer climbed down after Lockeness and the ladder suddenly broke apart and sent him slamming against the rocks and scrambling for his life. I think this may have been another part of Lockeness' plan, sort of like one of those trust-fall exercises, and he helped Sawyer gain his footing once again. Lockeness still needed Sawyer for something, and he was not just going to allow him to plummet to his death. Or at least, not yet anyway.

Once inside the cave, we were shown a set of scales with one white and one black rock on each side, in virtual balance. Lockeness proudly grabbed the white rock and then tossed it out into the sea. When Sawyer grumpily asked what that was all about, Lockeness simply replied, “Inside joke”. That statement was definitely made for the audience who has been seeing black and white stones since John Locke first explained to Walt the two sides in backgammon. And just like in that game, this one had a Light and a Dark player. It would seem the Dark Side had indeed now literally tipped the scales to his favor.

Shine a Light

Of course the greatest reveal of the entire episode came from deeper inside the cave, where Lockeness led Sawyer with torch in hand to a room with the ceiling and walls covered in some kind of writing. We were then shown that the writing was made up of the names of the very people we have come to know and love on the Island, and that each one in turn also corresponded to a number. Lockeness told Sawyer that these names represented the “candidates” that were in line to take Jacob's place as head honcho of the Island. Many of these names had been crossed out, possibly either because they had died, been claimed by MIB, or for some other reason had been proven unfit for service.

The six names left that were not already crossed out directly corresponded to THE Numbers themselves, 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. Apparently Jacob not only had a thing for lists but had “a thing for numbers”, as Lockeness put it. Even though I believe there is more to the Numbers that just this, I have a feeling this reveal of their meaning will probably go no deeper on the show.

Even more interesting was the fact that each of The Numbers matched up with one of our main survivors. 4 was for Locke, who was quickly crossed off by MIB, since John was obviously no longer available. 8 was for Hugo. 15, Sawyer. 16 matched up with Sayid. 23 was for Jack, and 42 was for either Jin or Sun Kwon. Surprisingly absent was Kate's name, but I think she was on there somewhere not shown to us, as she too was “touched” by Jacob just as all these other folks listed had been.


Please Go Home

After Sawyer started to come to grips with this freaky realization that his name had been carved and numbered on the wall of this Island cave, the true mind-play began. Lockeness went on to tell Sawyer that he had been manipulated all his life by Jacob for the purpose of being brought to the Island, and that his whole life's worth of decisions could have very well been the product of Jacob's direct influence.

Finally, he gave Sawyer three choices. Lockeness said that he could just do nothing and see how things turned out. I think it was easy to tell that “seeing how things turned out” very well meant facing certain death. The second option was to take Jacob's place as leader of the Island. But then Lockeness told James that the Island wasn't special at all, that it was all just a farce, and that it never needed protecting in the first place. I think we all know that this was a big fat lie if there ever was one.

The third choice was to leave the Island, together. To go Home. I think this must be what the recruiting is all about. Wherever MIB is heading, he must also need some live and able bodies to come along for the homecoming reunion. And if it somehow actually involves the End of the World altogether, then the more souls along for the dark ride, the better chances he must have at succeeding with this overall plan. Lockeness was such the master at manipulating Sawyer in this scene, and so good at pressing all the right buttons, Sawyer finally agreed that “home” was exactly where he too wanted to go.

Let's hope that Sawyer was just playing along here, and is once more planning some larger con himself on Lockeness. Because I personally do not believe for one second that James Ford, con-men of all con-men, is going to so easily allow himself to be fooled EVER again.


CONCLUSION: Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind

The combination of the LOST writers’ incredible storytelling and understanding of the character and Terry O’ Quinn’s brilliant Emmy-winning portrayal has made John Locke without a doubt (in my humble opinion) the most intriguing man on the show. I am quite confident that he will probably go down in TV history as one of the most iconic characters to have ever graced the screen.

From his very first moment fresh from the crash of 815 on through to the present, John Locke has always been “special”; mysterious, wise, complex, emotional, and undoubtedly troubled. We have seen his heart broken, his body shattered, his confidence dissipated, his legs destroyed again and again, and his life totally taken from him, yet after all of this he still remains one of the most important, if not THE most important survivor of the entire series. This isn’t even taking into account the high level of mythology that surrounds him. He has taken the highest position as the faith-based Yin to Jack’s scientific Yang and is the very embodiment of the blind belief in destiny.

Sure, there are those of you who would debate this statement and defend Jack as the main character of LOST, and the one at the head of the line to become the ultimate “hero” of the show. But it was Locke who eventually triggered that change in Jack’s perception of his role in the grand scheme of things, gave him a new faith in destiny, and helped motivate him to take that Ajira Flight that brought him back where he was meant to be. Throughout the show John has always been the one most connected to the Island, and as the Man-in-Black-as-Locke put it, “…the only one of them that didn't wanna leave. The only one, who realized how pitiful the life he'd left behind actually was.”

It is difficult for me to think of Locke as no longer a man of faith, but this is exactly what he seems to have been revealed to be in this episode, or at least in this iteration. Instead, he is a man of acceptance, of realistic thinking, and as a result, a man of a much more balanced perspective of his life. His limitations only forced him to find his true calling, which seems to be teaching others. Overall, I really like the Locke of time-line X.

As Penny wrote in her letter to Desmond, “...all we really need to survive is one person who truly loves us.“ John Locke is not only happy, but he is loved, and that I believe is the most important thing of all.

Until next time,
a.N


*I write about LOST because I love the challenge of deciphering the clues and adding the pieces together. My thoughts are based solely on the show, the LOST Experience, and random research, as I try to avoid spoilers, promos, and even future episode titles. I love to guess what is going on, but I also like to do so in a way that leaves some of the conclusions still up to you. I do not know the answers and am often wrong. Whatever the truth turns out to be, it has been the journey that has meant the most to me.*

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Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on Lost

The Lost show runners (Darlton) on the final season.
by Fred Topel
Feb 26, 2010
This is the end of an era. Not only is the series Lost coming to an end, but this is probably the last time Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will give us vague non-answers about what’s coming up on Lost. Thanks for this last press conference, guys. We’ll miss you.

Q: When exactly did you figure out how this all ended?

Carlton Cuse: You know, there isn't really a completely definitive answer to that. I mean, we came up with the final image of the show a long time ago back when we were first plotting out the mythology in the first season, and then we started adding elements to that as we went along. Really, between the first and the second season is when we cooked the mythology. We kind of knew what the end point was, but as you move towards the end point, you add elements. And obviously, the end is not yet written, and there are certain sort of mythological, architectural elements that are intact for that ending, but a lot of character stuff will get worked out as we go along. I mean, that's part of the discovery process of writing. Obviously, for instance, like Michael Emerson wasn't on the show at that point, and it's a fun process because we sort of have a concept of where we're going to end the show but there is still the process of actually executing it and there still is the process of discovery, particularly on a character level, that will come into play as we finish the show.

Damon Lindelof: So if you guys have any ideas, we are open-minded.

Q: In recent interviews, you've said that of all the seasons, the upcoming season of Lost will be closest to the first season. Can you at least explain sort of in what way the coming season will refer back to the first season more than any others?

Damon Lindelof: One of the things that I think we are trying to do, all of us, the actors and the writers, as well, in the sixth season is to show the audience the before so they have some sense of, oh, this is what he used to be and who they are now so you really get a sense of how far that person's come. And obviously, the process of doing that, not just thinking about it, but doing it on a story level, really makes you feel like we felt in Season 1.

Q: Was it really important all along to keep the actors from knowing what happened to their characters in advance?

Damon Lindelof: That's a great question. Our dialogue with the actors, it's one of those things where, quite honestly, we just don't speak to them at all.

Carlton Cuse: It's better that way.

Damon Lindelof: But with Terry, it's kind of one of those things where the actor reads the script, and they decide what they need in order to play the scene and they know that we are completely available to answer any questions. But I do feel like the fun of the show for us as writers and producers is to send these scripts down to Hawaii and then see what we get back as opposed to trying to micromanage it.

Carlton Cuse: And for the actors, I think, the fact that they don't know where things are going kind of makes them very present in performing those given scripts, and I think that's actually a good thing. I mean, I think they do a remarkable job basically reading the next week's episode and basically kind of bringing it to life, and there's that immediacy that's part of that process.

Q: Have you given any thought to a Lost spin-off, like the further adventures of Sawyer?

Carlton Cuse: They have not pressured us at all. I mean, the network has been fabulous, and we owe a great debt of gratitude to Steve McPherson again just for this whole notion of ending the show. We are definitively ending this story of these characters and the show that we wanted to tell in May, and there's not going to be an implanted sequel. There's not going to be a secret back-door pilot embedded in that. The story of Lost that we've been telling for these six seasons is coming to a close this May.

Q: What have been your most memorable moments in the six years of Lost?

Carlton Cuse: The raft launch in the first season was such a great example of the kind of collaborative way in which this show is made and that's, I think, the thing that really distinguishes and makes it special. It wasn't enough that we just wrote that raft launch. It was also what all the actors brought to bear. It was Jack Bender who actually came up with the idea of the dog swimming out and then turning back. And then, I remember sort of most vividly being on the scoring stage, and the orchestra that plays the music for the show was playing Michael Giacchino's cue for that and they sight-read and they hadn't played it. And after they played it the first time, it was so moving and beautiful that they all just started spontaneously applauding, tapping their bows across their instruments, and everybody was crying and it was just this moment where you realize that the show is so much larger than any one individual, and collaboration on this show is really, truly probably the most special thing that will happen for all of us.

Q: How will the events of the season finale cliffhanger wit the bomb impact the characters?

Carlton Cuse: The season premiere picks up right after the finale, and we really don't want to say too much about it. We've obviously been very circumspect about the sixth season, and primarily because there's this big cliffhanger. Juliet hits this bomb. There's a white flash. What happened? Jack and Faraday were postulating that that was going to reset the clock and the Oceanic 815 would fly along and land in Los Angeles. If she taps that bomb and something else happens, maybe they're still stuck on the island. We don't really want to kind of give away what the show is going to be this season, so that's why we've been very circumspect about what we said and why we haven't shown any new footage.

Q: Even though you set the end date and decided on the story, how do you deal with the inevitability of die hard fans having issues with the finale you wish to give them?

Damon Lindelof: It would be great to cover my bases and guarantee everybody a sh*tty ending of Lost. Now you're actually going to see the ending to Lost, and all we can do is, basically, put our best foot forward. We do feel like the worst ending that we could possibly provide everyone who has invested this amount of time and energy into watching the show is the safe ending. You know, the ending that is basically sort of like, "What's going to be the most appealing to the most number of people?" At some point, you can't take a risk just to take a risk because that's a betrayal in and of itself.

Carlton Cuse: Obviously not every question's going to be answered, so obviously, some people are going to be upset that those particular questions don't get resolved. We felt if we tried to just answer questions, it would be very pedantic. Apart from that, we also really embrace this notion that there's a fundamental sort of sense of mystery that we all have in our lives, and certainly that is a huge part of the lives of these characters, and to sort of demystify that by trying to literally explain everything down to the last little sort of midichlorian of it all would be a mistake in our view. So I think there would be, hopefully, a kind of healthy cocktail of answers, mystery, good character resolutions and some surprises.
http://www.craveonline.com/entertainment/tv/article/damon-lindelof-and-carlton-cuse-on-lost-97097

Locke and Ben as Hitmen?

After Lost's final season, we might see O'Quinn and Emerson team up again.
by Matt Fowler

February 25, 2010 - Lost's Terry O'Quinn (Locke) and Michael Emerson (Ben) will no doubt go down as one of the best pairings in TV history. And while it's true that Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Cartlon Cuse have been adamant about the fact that there won't be any Lost spinoffs (although our fingers are still crossed for CSI: LAPIDUS!), there's a chance that we might see O'Quinn and Emerson back together on the small screen. What whaaat?

According to TVGuide.Com, Terry O'Quinn has been writing up ideas for a new series and shopping around a show bible (outlines of characters and stories) for it. Envisioning it as a TNT-style show, O'Quinn told TVGuide.Com that the show would re-team him up with Michael Emerson, with the two of them playing suburban hit men juggling family issues.

SO IN!

While we don't know any more specifics, O'Quinn has spoken to Lost creator J.J. Abrams about it and said "I really hope this works out because Michael would be in his prime in this. We'd play kind of awkward partners."

In response to the idea, Emerson stated "It's very sweet of him. I'm all in favor of it. Any reason to work with Terry again."
http://tv.ign.com/articles/107/1072457p1.html

Candidates Numbers compared to verses from Psalms

One of our great readers and also one of the Talkbackers at Ain't It Cool sent thins interesting theory to me, which I thought that I'd pass along. He compares the candidates numbers with Biblical Psalms of the same number and finds some interesting similarities. Thanks Brent!



Paul-

Ive never written on a message board or even e-mailed anybody Lost stuff other than my friends. I'm sure you have run into this now that the names and # have been revealed on who they correspond to...BUT. My wife did some digging. Though you might be interested just in case you have NOT been sent this. Take a look at the following psalms and how they match up with the individual we know of:

Psalms in the Bible:

#4 Locke - Psalm 4 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+4&version=KJV )

#8 Hurley - Psalm 8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%208&version=KJV )

#15 Sawyer - Psalm 15 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2015&version=KJV )

#16 Sayid - Psalm 16 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2016&version=KJV )

#23 Jack - Pslam 23 ("The Lord is my Shepherd" http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2023&version=KJV )

#42 Kwon - Psalm 42 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2042&version=KJV )

Psalm 108 - Psalm of David ... very interesting verses here http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20108&version=KJV

#51 Kate - Psalm 51 ("Create in me a Clean Heart" ... http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+51&version=KJV )

There was a post on AICN talk backs that mentioned some "spoilers" and that the island was a 4 letter word that didnt include an A or an E

ZION? 4-letter word?

Sorry to bug you..Love your site and thought I might try and contribute something!

Brent Sander

Sangria Thursdays? LOST Cast Secrets!

Lost: Preparing for The End

IGN | MySpace Video

The LOST cast talks about their feelings entering into Season 6, how they felt about the Time Travel storyline from Season 5, returning cast members, the mysteries THEY want to see solved, and how this season feels like Senior Year in High School.

'Lost' recap: Mirror Image

Jack's Sideways life echoes his Island life as he continues to wrestle with his daddy issues
By Jeff Jensen Feb 24, 2010

In the season premiere of Lost three weeks ago, Jack Shephard looked at himself in the mirror and saw a small cut on his neck that left him baffled. He wondered: How did that get there? We wondered: What does it mean? In last night's episode, ''Lighthouse,'' Jack's man-in-the-mirror season continued with a series of peculiar looking glass encounters. On the Island, Jack's story began with a shot of the flawed and fallen castaway leader scrutinizing his reflection on the surface of Temple Lake like a seer trying to discern his fate in a scrying pool. It ended with Jack smashing the enchanted glass inside the Lighthouse after peering into it and seeing the haunted manse of his unhappy childhood home. He was left to ponder the implications while gazing out on the ocean; here's hoping his deliberations will include the epiphany that his paranoid conclusions about what he saw inside the Island's derelict divination tower were all wrong. (That's my theory, at least. More on that in a little bit.)

In the Sideways world, Doc Shephard spotted his appendix scar in the mirror and struggled to recall the forgotten/suppressed memory of when the ruptured organ was removed. Again, he wondered: How did that get there? Again we wondered: What does it mean? This story ended with Jack looking into the episode's most unusual and most miraculous of mirrors — the eyes of his son, David. What he saw in them was the very thing his Island self should have recognized in the Lighthouse: an invitation to let go of the past and move into the future.

The Sideways World
The Dead Father Lives!

Dead, but still with us, still with us, but dead.
The Dead Father, Donald Barthelme

''Lighthouse,'' the fifth episode of Lost's sixth season, was the mirror twin to ''White Rabbit,'' the fifth episode of the show's first season. ''White Rabbit'' — which was referenced numerous times in various ways during the hour — was the one where Castaway Jack chased after the now-you-see-him/now-you-don't ghost of his dead father. The subsequent jungle journey led Jack to Christian Shephard's empty coffin, denying him the opportunity he was truly pursuing. And what was that opportunity? Follow the rabbit trail of pain. You don't have what it takes, Christian told Young Jack during a boozy stupor. That one left a mark. Father Shephard was actually trying to teach his son a lesson — that being a hero isn't something you choose to be, but rather something that you just are, and that when you try to be a hero, and you fail, then what you become is a failure, at least in your own eyes, and that's a mighty hard thing to live with, if you can live with it at all. If you've watched all of Lost, then you know the great irony of Christian's harsh wisdom: Jack has pretty much proven his father correct. But did Christian correctly identify Jack's fundamentally flawed nature — or did he nurture it with his problematic brand of parenting? And the debate rages. Yet we must also remember that Jack had wounded his father, too. ''White Rabbit'' flicked at that when Mama Shephard ordered her adult son to go save Christian from his bender down under by telling him that he had no choice in the matter, ''not after what you did.'' We learned exactly what Jack did two seasons later in ''A Tale of Two Cities'': Gripped by the paranoid conviction that Christian was sleeping with his ex-wife Sarah, Jack wound up subverting his alcoholic father's bid to go sober and atone for his past sins. Put another way, Jack returned the slight his father had given him as a child; Jack's faithlessness left Christian convinced that he, too, lacked the right stuff for heroic endeavors. Jack brought all that pain and all that guilt with him to the Island, and so when he thought he saw his dead father beckoning him into the jungle, he gave chase, thinking divine forces that he had never before believed in had given him the opportunity he yearned for, be it consciously or subconsciously: a chance at redemption; a chance at reconciliation; a chance at restoration. But the coffin was empty. His father? Not there. And so Jack's sick soul has festered like an infected appendix on the precipice of bursting and poisoning him with icky toxic pus, and my brain just quit on this paragraph, but I think you get the idea. It's basically what Claire's said: ''If there's one thing that'll kill you around here it's infection.''

Anyway, this is all to say that the Sideways Jack that we got to know in ''Lighthouse'' was a lot like the Castaway Jack we've come to know over the past five season, but also very different, in ways both obvious and not so obvious. (Has there ever been a less helpful sentence ever written than that last one?) We met him as he was washing a hard day's work off himself and talking with his mother about the mystery of Christian's missing coffin. Yep: still missing. Probably in Berlin, according to the airline, but nobody knew for sure. The Widow Shephard was flummoxed. How could someone possibly lose a dead body? The lack of resolution had left her proverbially paralyzed; she needed Jack's help in settling Christian's affairs. (In more ways than one.) It would be wrong to say Jack was unfazed by his father's Lost-in-the-system corpse (he certainly seemed moved by his mother's need), but at the same time I didn't get the sense he was haunted by it, either. Perhaps the wise words of Sideways Locke at the airport back in the premiere had given him some peace. ''They didn't lose your father,'' Locke said. ''They just lost his body.''

But I wonder if the perplexing puzzle of Jack's appendix scar told the real story of Jack's seemingly mature serenity. Eyeballing the blemish, Jack suddenly realized he couldn't recall when the damn thing has been cut out of him. His mother reminded him that it had happened when he was 7 or 8 years old, that he had collapsed at school and his father had wanted to perform the surgery himself but was denied. Now, we all know that the castaway version of Jack had his appendix removed on the Island back in season 4 (more on that episode in a sec), and I think Lost wanted us to once again wonder if these Sideways characters are psychically linked to their Island counterparts or possess their memories somewhere the backs of their fogged-up minds. Consider this: If we assume that Jack is about as old as Sawyer, then that means it's very likely that Sideways Jack had his school collapse/appendix episode the very same year that a certain group of time traveling castaways were blowing up Jughead on the Island. What if Young Jack's collapse was caused by Castaway Jack's mind/soul getting blown into him? What if Young Jack's appendicitis was reflexive a psychosomatic response to the appendix-free Castaway Jack's sudden psychic migration into his mind? What if Castaway Jack's mind/soul has lain dormant within Sideways Jack ever since, but now is starting to stir and take hold? What if Sideways' Jack's appendix confusion and other instances of spotty memory manifested in this episode are symptoms of an identity crisis caused by this trippy-tricky of mental operating systems?

For now, I'm going to say that the answer to every single one of those preceding ''What if...?'' questions is a big fat NO. Instead, I'm going to say that Sideways Jack is a man who's dangerously out of touch with his emotions and with others, because he's a self-absorbed jerk, or because of pain he's been spending most of his life trying to avoid, or both. As ''Lighthouse'' progressed, we learned that Sideways Jack's relationship with his father was also marked by fear and hurt; and so I wonder if a simple explanation for his fuzzy recall of the appendix drama was that he had suppressed the memory. The only psychic entity lurking within Sideway Jack is his own wounded child, and for his entire life, he's kept him heavily tranquilized. His story in ''Lighthouse'' was about choosing to recall and feel childhood pain, about rousing that sleeping, hurting kid... and then letting him go. FUN FACT! Like season 6 Jack, the tragic hero of Greek myth Narcissus also was fond of looking at himself in reflective surfaces. According to Wikipedia, the word ''Narcissus'' is derived from a Greek word meaning... ''sleep'' and ''numbness.'' (Wow. That tangent was both short AND possibly relevant!)

And you thought Michael and Walt weren't on the show anymore...

Nope. They're here — they just look a lot like Sideways Jack and David, whose strained, distant father-son rapport recalled the relational chasm that defined Michael and Walt during the first half of season 1. Backstory? We got little. Should we assume that Jack was married, had a child, then separated or divorced? We could. It was clear that Jack had been a relative non-entity — a veritable ghost — in his son's life for quite some time. Jack had no idea that David had cultivated a prodigious musical talent, although David wanted it that way; apparently, when they lived together as a family, Jack had been a hovering, hyper father, over-invested in his son's success and radiating angst about the boy's potential for failure. It was clear that David loved his father, craved a relationship with his father; but it was also clear that Jack was too risky for him to trust with the person he was becoming. At the same time, when Jack tried to engage with his son via old touchstones — Alice In Wonderland; baseball — David shrank away, the attempt at connection only reminding him of how unconnected they were. ''We see each other once a month,'' David said. ''Can't we just get through it?'' By the way, if Jack's reminiscing about reading Alice In Wonderland to David as a child sounded familiar, it should: we saw him reading the book to Aaron back in... FLASHBACK WHOOSH TO... ''Something Nice Back Home,'' the season 4 episode in which we saw Jack try to play surrogate father to Aaron and good mate to Kate and fail miserably. The reason: Jack's inability to let go of his past baggage. Which is interesting. Sideways Jack seemed to be a guy who couldn't even deal with his past baggage — who hadn't properly claimed it, if you will. The result: The same. Crap and busted relationships. The lesson: If you want something nice back home, then you gotta deal with and dispose of your old useless toxic psychic appendages properly. Okay?! Okay.

BY THE WAY? ''Something Nice Back Home'' was also the episode about Castaway Jack's ruptured appendix. Jack's then-love interest, Juliet (they had kissed a few episodes before that), performed the surgery, and if you recall, Jack initially wanted to perform the surgery on himself, and even when Juliet talked him out of it, he still tried to coach her through the process by... watching her in a mirror. He wound up passing out, but before he did he yelled for Kate, which cinched it for Juliet: Jack would never be her man. BURNING QUESTION: Who's David's Mom? Who's the female participant in the creation of this inexplicably conceived Sideways child? Who's this phantom woman that Sideways Jack was once with and now isn't? Wouldn't if be totally ironic and fitting if she was the Sideways iteration of Lost's resident fertility doc/Jack dumpette, better known to us as Juliet? And you wanna know why she wasn't home last night? That's right, kids: Going dutch on coffee with new boyfriend Sawyer. (Your goosebumps? That's right, I did that.)

Five thoughts about four things concerning that scene between Jack and his mother.

1. Jack declined a drink. His mother praised him for it. My thought: This Jack is not his father. He doesn't deal with his angst by drinking it away. Mama Shephard wanted to affirm that. STUPID THEORY I JUST CAME UP WITH THAT I DON'T BELIEVE AT ALL SO WHY AM I EVEN TELLING YOU THIS? The Island World is the place where all these more serene, mature Sideways souls have banished their exorcised demon selves. It's like a landfill for their toxic/unwanted/debilitating emotion. It's like Don DeLillo's Underworld meets the Bizarro episode of Seinfeld. It's like I'm totally tired and I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm on a horse.

2. Mama Shephard couldn't find Christian's will. Then she did. My first thought: This was a metaphor for something. Missing will = Castaway Jack's subverted free will? Castaway Jack's lack of instruction on what he should be doing? Sideways Jack's recovered will? Sideways Jack's newfound clarity of purpose? Still processing. My second thought: That missing will turned out to be pretty easy to find. Jack should do her a favor and recommend her to one of his optometrist friends. And how mean am I? Mocking Mama Shephard for what's probably a grief-induced case of scatterbrainitus. Then again, to quote the flying philosopher Linus: Who cares? She's just an irrelevant Sideways character. Probably going to get negated out of existence when the Anti-Monitor starts snuffing out parallel worlds when Lost goes all Crisis On Infinite Earths in 10 episodes. Call it: The Purge Goes Cosmic. And 83% of you have no clue what I'm talking about right now, do you?)

3. Christian Shephard left something for Claire. My thought: Well, that answered that question. Sideways Dad was an intercontinental horndog, too.

4. Jack confessed that he had been terrified of his father as a child. Margo told Jack that David might feel the same way about him. Jack was shell-shocked — and it totally activated Jack to take action in exactly the same way that Castaway Jack's mom activated him go to Australia and rescue Christian. My thought: The chase was on. Or rather:

White Rabbit Redux

Jack went home. He brought pizza and the hope of bonding time with his son. But David wasn't there. David, in fact, was MIA. Jack freaked. He wondered if his son had pulled a Castaway Jack and escaped Lame Dad Island and fled to the place that for him was truly home. And so he chased after his son, just as he chased after his dead father back in season 1. Jack got in his jeep and drove over there, to a house which I suspect was once his, as well, and let himself in using the key hidden under the ceramic rabbit. Inside this warm and cozy warren, the total opposite of his own austere, minimalist high-rise digs, Jack found the cave of his son's bedroom, filled with mementos of his son's rich, dynamic inner world. An epiphany occurred here, and I think it was this: Look at this boy. MY boy. I've been missing out on this. On who HE is. We remember that in ''White Rabbit,'' Jack failed to find his dead father, but the quest led him the Caves, with its intriguing details and more importantly its life-giving fresh water spring. And what did Jack do? He moved in. Made it his home. ''Lighthouse'' was the same story. Sideways Jack went chasing after a different kind of dead father — himself. And inside the cave of his son's bedroom, the sleeper awakened and began to feel again. Resurrection. When he pressed play on the answering machine and solved the mystery of his son's whereabouts, an audition for the prestigious Williams Conservatory, Jack moved toward him, bolting toward life like Lazarus out of the tomb.

Jack arrived at the audition. He followed the sign directing ''the candidates'' to the auditorium. Inside, Father Jack bore witness to his piano prodigy son exercising his awesome gift. It took his breath away. It was all very end-of-Billy Elliot. Jack swelled with pride, with joy, with selfless happiness for his son — with life. The piece: ''Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor'' by Chopin. Last season on Lost, another child prodigy played the same number for us. I am referring to Master Daniel Faraday in ''The Variable.'' We remember his fate: how his mother cut him off his from art; how she redirected his brilliance toward physics in a doomed bid to save him from her future bullet; how she drove him and rode him and smothered him. He died, anyway. A failure, anyway. I felt Lost was offering a belated toast to the late Faraday in Sideways Jack's surprising cross with Sideways Dogen, whose son was also auditioning for Williams. ''They are too young to have this kind of pressure,'' Dogen said. ''It's hard to watch and be unable to help.'' Rest In Peace, Daniel. Sorry your Mom sucked. (I look forward to getting Island Dogen's backstory and seeing how much of it ironically synchs with this small peek into his Sideways world.)

Afterward, Jack the Born Again Father engaged his son and connected with him. How? By allowing himself to feel the pain of his frayed relationship with his father — and then redeeming that painful past by applying what he could learn from it. David shared that he felt the weight of his father's expectations and fears upon him — exactly what Jack felt about his father. And so he told him: ''When I was your age, my father didn't want to see me fail, either. He said: I didn't have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I don't want you to feel that way. In my eyes, you can never fail. I just want to be part of your life.'' I was moved by Jack bid at reaching out to his son — and I was struck that his words included some extraordinary grace for his father. To me, it sounded like Jack understood his father loved him, even if he had a clumsy way of showing it, and that he himself bore some responsibility for choosing to believe in his dead father's judgment. Regardless, what I heard and saw in that scene was the forgiveness and catharsis that the Jacks of both Lost worlds have been chasing after for five seasons. Sideways Jack had finally gotten his, and walked into the future of his life finally liberated from the shackles of his past. As for Castaway Jack, the road is stranger, and longer still...

This Island Earth
Number 23, Heal Thyself!

''“You must become your father, but in a paler, weaker version of him. ...Fatherhood can be, if not conquered, at least ''turned down'' in this generation — by the combined efforts of all of us together.'' — From section 23 of ''A Manual For Sons,'' included within The Dead Father

For Sideways Jack, the formidable responsibility of fatherhood and formidable fear of fatherhood were certainly things to be conquered, and we were left to hope that redemption and restoration will come from the effort. But for Castaway Jack, aka Candidate Number 23, fatherhood was definitely something to be turned down. Of domestic bliss, Jack told Hurley, ''I guess I wasn't cut out for it.'' He also told him this: ''I would make a terrible dad.'' But we were left to wonder if he was seeing the matter clearly. And by ''the matter,'' I mean himself. His perspective on his own bad self was obstructed, and as usual, it was the psychic haze of his past — his father issues; his busted relationships; his failure as a leader, fixer, savior — that got in the way. Perhaps he'd feel differently about his paternal ability with more enlightenment.

There was much I enjoyed about Jack and Hurley's journey into mystery, their ''old school'' trek through the jungle, en route ''to something we don't understand.'' I'd love to give a big chunky paragraph praising Hurley for getting the story off to a strong, appealing start with his hijinks and hilarious line readings at the Temple, which went a long way toward de-Hydra-fying that polarizing place — but we're running long and late, and the gleaming mysteries of the Lighthouse beckon. Hurley was tasked by the ghost of Jacob (also full of good-natured humor) to get to the episode's titular landmark and set it ablaze in order to help bring a mysterious someone to the Island. But first, the Dude had to light a fire under Jack's butt and get him to come, too. That was part of the deal — perhaps the most important part of the deal, based on what we learned by episode's end. Hurley succeeded to motivate Jack to more by uttering the magic words given to him by smirky, all-knowing Jacob: ''You have what it takes.'' Jack did that eye flutter thing that he always does when he's profoundly flustered and rose to his feet full of piss and yearning. Take me to your Jacob. Take me now. It didn't need to be said what it was — or rather who it was — that Jack also hoped to find at Hurley's mystery meeting place. But in case you find me totally obtuse, I'll spell it out: I'm sure Jack was hoping for a rendezvous with dead papa — the long-delayed fulfillment of his failed ''White Rabbit'' hunt.

Along the way, Jack tried to pick up some baggage: Kate. But Hurley said No, that Jack had to come to Jacob alone. It made sense: Kate is now part of the painful past that Jack has to learn to let go of, part and parcel of the Something (Allegedly) Nice Back Home dream/nightmare that he has to grieve and detach from. All this was okay with Kate, who had her own quest: finding Claire. ''I hope you find what you're looking for,'' Kate said, and left her former lover to his white rabbit hunt. Fittingly, the next stop on the trip was his old home, the Caves, the Edenesque patch that Ghost Father helped him discover, complete with cryptic black and white rocks and the Adam and Eve skeletons. Hurley went meta, winking at a fave fan theory. ''I totally forgot these were in here,'' Hurley said, already making cackle with knowing laughter. After all, we haven't forgotten they were there, have we? He continued: ''What if we time-traveled again to dinosaur times and we died and got buried here? What if these skeletons are us?'' He could be right. And I'm sticking with the theory that Adam and Eve are Rose and Bernard. But I also had to wonder, in an episode full of mirrors and the threat of impending war, if Hurley's caveman yarn was a wink at ''Through A Glass, Darkly,'' a poem written by Gen. George S. Patton that expressed his belief in reincarnation by tracking his many incarnations, from caveman days to WWII days, while also struggling to glean the divine purpose behind his forever and ever of past and future lives.

So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.

And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o'er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.

So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.

Or maybe Hurley was just being funny. Jack, meanwhile, was getting deadly serious. His trip to the Caves got him reminiscing about his father — and, I think, excited by the prospect of an imminent reunion. At the very least, there was the promise of revelation of purpose, and that appealed to him as strongly as it did to Sawyer last week when the Locke-ness Monster enticed the con man to Jacob's cave by vowing to answer the question: Why are you on this Island?

At last, they came to the Lighthouse, another in the Island's series of ancient-looking stone structures. Hurley's crack archaeological analysis: It was clearly built before electricity. Jack was baffled. How come they had never noticed this thing before? Hurley's loaded response: ''I guess we weren't looking for it.'' I might refine and narrow Hurley's response even further. I very much got the sense that the Lighthouse may have existed solely for the benefit of one person: Jack Shephard. And my guess is that he never had eyes to see it before because he was not yet the kind of man to admit the following: ''I was broken.'' There was more to the statement, but let's just begin with that phrase, an extraordinary admission of humility from a once-proud man of science who spent years arguing for the strength and supremacy of his own agency. But Jack's full statement was: ''I came back here because I was broken, and I was stupid enough to think this place could fix me.'' Jacob would later suggest to Hurley that Jack couldn't be more wrong, but the good news was that Jack had grown enough in his journey to summon a magical beacon, one that could to light the way to the his journey's homestretch. Literally.

At the top of the Lighthouse, Jack and Hurley found a series of mirrors and a giant dial stenciled with names around its perimeter. Each name had a number. All the names were crossed out — except for Number 23 (Shephard), and Number 16 (Jarrah), and presumably the other castaways associated with the Numbers. Jack was perplexed and troubled. He expected to find Jacob, or his father, or both waiting for him. Instead, he found more mystery — another empty coffin. Hurley thought — or hoped — that he could summon Jacob by cranking on a chain and turning the dial to its 108 setting. (Though I didn't see it, the Web consensus seems to be that the name attached to this number was ''Wallace.'') But before the contraption could reach 108, Jack saw something in the mirrors — images of buildings that shouldn't be there. He then got a scary thought: What would he see if he turned the dial to his number, 23. He pushed Hurley out of the way and changed the ''channel'' and there on the ''screen'' was a live shot of his childhood home. Jack then came to some conclusions. He concluded that the Lighthouse was a mystical surveillance device. He concluded that Jacob had used it to spy on him all his life. He concluded that Jacob wanted something from him, and he angrily demanded that Hurley summon Jacob ASAP to explain himself. Hurley explained that it didn't work that way, that Jacob was a ghost — a sometimes there, sometimes not non-entity. Which is how Jack also experienced his ''white rabbit'' ghost father. Which is how David Shephard experienced Sideways Jack — at least until their cathartic reconciliation. Worlds within worlds of pain collided within Jack, who expressed his rage over yet another profound experience with absent fathers and missing instruction by picking up an amber spyglass and trashing the joint — an agonizing howl directed at both father and Island all-father, both full of outrage and questions. Where are you? What are you? Why won't you show yourself? Why won't you tell me what to do? Do you even exist? FUN FACT! The Amber Spyglass is the third in Phillip Pullman's acclaimed fantasy trilogy that functions as Narnia for atheists, brimming with angry rebellion against a distant god. Parallel universes, the story of Adam and Eve, the death of god, fallen angels, and the liberation of hell are essential elements.

In the aftermath, Jack took a seat on the cliff to stew in his confusion and anger. Meanwhile, Hurley and Jacob debriefed. Jacob seemed to suggest that contrary to Hurley's panic (and armful of inky instructions), everything had gone according to plan. Jack was supposed to look in the magic mirrors. Jack was supposed to see what he saw. And maybe most importantly, Jack was supposed to have the response that he had, even at the expense of his magical mirror, mirrors on the Lighthouse walls. The purpose, I think, was to correct Jack of one misconception: He was not stupid to believe that the Island holds redemptive purpose for him. It does. Jack just needs to keep his eyes open and look for it. He also needs to do one thing more, and I think it's the thing that Lighthouse mirrors were designed to show him. Hurley and Jack got it wrong. The Lighthouse doesn't cast light outward. It casts light inward, and reveals the state of your heart. For Jack Shephard, his heart is still locked up in his childhood home, his father's house, his past, and he won't be free and realized until he leaves all of it behind. Besides, I'm pretty sure it's a prerequisite for the job Jacob wants Jack to take: replacing him as Island protector. Yep: I'm thinking Jack is right at the top of Jacob's list of candidates. So hurry up and fix thyself, Number 23 — because you're going to be the new Number 1.

QUICK HITS:

If Jacob is such a good guy, how come he never tells the truth?
The episode was filled with conversations about truth telling. It began with Jack and Dogen praising each other for their mutual honesty. Claire demanded total honesty from Justin the Other as well as Jin, who told the truth about Aaron, then lied about telling the truth to save his life. The episode ended with Hurley scolding Jacob for not playing straight with him. Interesting: the Lockeness Monster professes to be the straight-shooter of the two Island deities, and after this episode, we have no reason to doubt him; the revelation of the Lighthouse didn't contradict anything UnLocke told and showed Sawyer last week in the cave. Meanwhile, Jacob has resorted to lies, puzzles, and possibly supernatural coercion to get people to do what he wants them to do. And yet, I STILL find myself thinking that Jacob is the good guy and Lockeness is the bad guy in their feud. What do you think?

How come you haven't said anything about Claire?
What's there to say? I thought she was compelling and scary and well played by Emilie de Ravin even if the girl swings an axe like... well, like a girl. But she also left me with so many questions, I really don't know where to begin to summarize, except by rattling them off. I want to know of she's really ''infected.'' I want to know about her Rousseau makeover and if she's self-aware of her Rousseauness. I want to know all about the creepy faux baby with the skull head in the crib. (Genius.) I want to know the story behind her Temple torture. I want to know the story behind how she got shot in the leg and see how she stitched herself up. I want to know what happened between her and her father and why her father is no longer around. I want to know when she met Fake Locke, how they became friends, and how he convinced her he wasn't really John Locke without freaking her out. I want to know if she's just lost track of time or if Fake Locke worked some magic on her to keep her ignorant of three years missing time. But most urgently, I want to know if she and Lockeness are going to let Jin live — or if Sun is about to become a widow.

Don't you think there's so much more to say about the Lighthouse?
I do. We could spend much time analyzing all the names around the dial. We could wonder if the looking glasses really are remote viewing devices, or windows into parallel worlds, or (my theory) magic mirrors that conjure metaphorical representations of the heart state of the Numbered candidates who gaze into the glass. (Though part of me likes that parallel worlds idea and wants to theorize that Jacob is capable of synthesizing various parallel worlds to create one timeline that represents the Best of All Possible Worlds.) I could go on and on, but my time is up, and I've gone very long, and besides: There's always room for elaboration on Twitter @EWDocJensen and on next week's Doc Jensen column. Thanks for your patience with the late posting today, folks.

Until next week: Namaste!
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