Monday, February 22, 2010

Lost - "Lighthouse"

Episode Title: “Lighthouse”


Brian’s Deeper Meaning Guess: When I first saw this episode title, my first thought was to my imaginary “Lighthouse Dharma Station” that I first theorized about before Season Five started: http://lost-and-gone-forever.blogspot.com/2009/01/destiny-calls.html . Back then, I wrote the following:


Maybe that “Lighthouse Dharma Station” exists off the Island, and provides a way to reach to it? Maybe this is also how people like Alpert travel on and off the Island (and in time).


While I was correct about the main concept of that Off-Island Dharma station (which just goes to show that you really shouldn’t read my episode preview posts unless you want me to ruin the show for you… some of the time), I was wrong about the title - it was called “The Lamp Post”, not “The Lighthouse”.


So if this week isn’t about that Off-Island Dharma Station, what is it about?


Well, In doing my normal Wikipedia research about the episode title, I learned a lot about lighthouses (oh, the things that Lost has forced me to learn about) – but most of it was pretty useless. There weren’t any good movie / music / book references to lighthouses that seemed to apply, and even though there were a ton of “famous” lighthouses listed, there was only one that stood out – the Lighthouse of Alexandria. It was built on the Island of Pharos in Ancient Egypt in 280 BC, becoming one of the tallest man-made structures on Earth… and also becoming one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Why does that sound familiar?


Remember back when we first saw the Four Toed Statue and everyone theorized that it might be a part of something similar to the Colossus of Rhodes? Well, that was also one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Although since then we’ve learned that the Four Toed Statue was more of a giant ancient Egyptian Taweret, it still proves that it something big was built on the Island a long, long time ago.


Who’s to say that an ancient Lighthouse wasn’t built somewhere on the Island as well?


Although it seems a little suspicious that our Survivors could have spent so much time on the Island without seeing a lighthouse, especially given how many times they’ve taken the beach to circle around the Island instead of going through the Smokey-infested middle of the Island in the early seasons, I suppose there’s a chance that they haven’t actually covered all the ground – or that it’s the world’s smallest lighthouse that isn’t easily visible from afar, making it the world’s most ineffective lighthouse as well.


Also – we know that it’s nearly impossible to find the Island unless you head on a specific bearing and are in the right place at the right time, so what purpose would this lighthouse serve? Is it a “magic” lighthouse that actually can show the way to the Island? If so, why haven’t we seen any of the people on the Island (Dharma or Others) use or reference it? Is it an ancient lighthouse that was used before it was so difficult to find the Island?


I’m not sure. But unless in the Off-Island storyline, the “Lamp Post” is actually renamed the “Lighthouse” (in another example of things being “different” there), I think this is the best guess I’ve got.


Where’s the deeper meaning?


Lighthouses symbolize a lot of things, but the vast majority are positive things – safety, light, hope, truth. But they can also represent a lonely existence – or at least they did on that one episode of the Simpsons.


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It kinda sounds like Jack, doesn’t it? He’s our “hero” on the show. The other characters seem to put their faith and hope in him, even though he’s flawed and hasn’t always been a perfect leader. Likewise, there was some foreshadowing towards the lonely nature of being the “leader” two weeks ago, when Dogen gave Jack the speech about needing to be somewhat removed from those you lead – just like the lighthouse keeper.


Just like last week featured both a literal and symbolic meaning to the title of “The Substitute”, I think this week follows suit. Jack is a “lighthouse” to the other characters on the show – perhaps even for both the Survivors and the Others, if he’s going to become the “New Jacob”, and we’ll discover that there is indeed a lighthouse on-Island… which hopefully contains as many secrets and information as Jacob’s Cave last week!



Guest Stars: Veronica Hamel as Margo Shephard, Mark Pellegrino as Jacob, Hiroyuki Sanada as Dogen, Dayo Ade as Justin, Dylan Minnette as David and Sean Kinerney as Japanese boy.


Guest Star Breakdown: Some familiar faces and some newcomers this week.


  • We’ve got Margo Shephard (Jack’s Mom), who will undoubtedly be featured in Jack’s Off-Island storyline.
  • We’ve got Jacob, who will likely appear in another vision to Hurley, providing him with further instructions.
  • We’ve got Dogen, who will hopefully continue to speak English to our Survivors to make the story as efficient as possible.
  • We’ve got Justin, the Other that was shot by Claire at the end of “What Kate Does”. Do they include you as a guest star if you’re just lying on screen, dead? If not, it looks like he survived his encounter with Claire, which is likely given that he seemed to be shot in the shoulder.


Then we’ve got two newcomers. Last week I went out on a limb and guessed that the young actor in the episode would be Locke’s son. I was wrong – but in a good way, since Young Jacob was far more interesting. What about “David”, the young actor appearing in this week’s episode?


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The fact that he has a name indicates that he’s going to at least have some sort of minor role in the episode. But what if he’s actually somewhat important? I think there are two pretty tempting possibilities:


  1. He’s Jack’s son. Remember, in the original flashbacks, Jack was married for less than a year before his marriage fell apart and his wife moved on to Phil Dunphy. It’s possible that in the new Off-Island storyline they married sooner, had a child out of wedlock, or Jack is married to someone different. Plus, I was wrong about this hunch last week, so it would be cool if I was just one week off in my prediction.
  2. He’s Young Anti-Jacob. The far cooler of the two possibilities. Last week, we saw (or, I think we saw) the image of a Young Jacob on the Island. What if this week, we see the image of a Young Anti-Jacob… whose name is actually David? I’m not exactly sure how this could come into play, since it seems like the only person who would have a memory of Young Anti-Jacob would be Jacob… who’s dead and already appearing as some type of ghost to Hurley – but you have to admit, it would be pretty cool.


Lastly, we’ve got “Japanese Boy”, who is so famous that there aren’t even any pictures of him on the Internet. The coolest possibility for him would be to be a Young Dogen – but I think we’re stretching there. Again, I can’t think of any scenario where a flashback to Dogen arriving on the Island as a little kid would fit into a Jack-centric outing. I’m going to have to chalk this one up to a background character of some kind.



Episode Description: “Hurley must convince Jack to accompany him on an unspecified mission, and Jin stumbles across an old friend.”


Episode Breakdown: Another week, another brief episode description. This one is pretty straightforward, given the analysis of the episode we’ve already done. The fact that Hurley has to convince Jack to accompany him on an unspecified mission (which more than likely will be a trip to the lighthouse) indicates that he received more information from Jacob. I’m guessing Jacob appears to Hurley and tells him it’s critical that he take Jack to the lighthouse, with Ghost Jacob leading the way. Meanwhile, we return back to the Jin / Claire storyline, where we get some more information about what the heck is going on with her. Is she crazy like CFL? Is she overtaken by the “darkness”? Or is she just wondering what the hell happened for the past three years while everyone else left the Island / jumped around in time? I feel like I’ve already speculated enough about this episode, so I’ll leave things there. I’m not really sure what’s going on with Claire, but I can’t wait to find out.


… and that about wraps things up.


If you need a reason to get even more excited about this week’s episode, it’s this: “Lighthouse" was written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse. They’re usually the ones who write the season premieres and finales, and two of the few people who actually know exactly where the Lost storyline is heading, and most of the details along the way. If they’re involved, there’s a good chance we’re due for a heavy dose of Island mythology coming our way – or some pretty major reveals. Get giddy!


Until tomorrow night, Happy Losting!



http://facethewoods.com/lost/index.php?topic=506.0

18 comments:

Kelly said...

Maybe the young Japanese boy is the "old friend" that Jin runs into.

Steve said...

two encouraging signs...

1- the preview at the end of the show jack doing something in what could be a lighthouse.(I don't want to 'spoil' anything)

2 - In an interview with Terry O'Quinn where he says, regarding smokey and what he's doing, what his purpose is, and his rules.."i guess we'll have to wait until next week". That could mean nothing, but it could be a hint of some major MIB reveal.

Isaac said...

Brian - I loved the substitute analysis. I hope this episode continues down that path.

Seeing "David" as a young Smocke would be cool and may further confirm your theory, but probably unlikely in this episode. I would go with Jack's son and the Japanese boy may be his friend who is the son of Dogen. As close as Jack and Dogen are getting on the island, it would make sense that we see them off island crossing paths. Either way, my money would be on both guest stars being off-island characters.

Anonymous said...

i think the 'lighthouse' is somewhere on the island that we just haven't seen yet.

just a hunch!

Unknown said...

Why would young Japanese boy be Jin's "old friend"? Jin is Korean.

jack said...

Your post reminded me of the Lampost episode. Wow, I hope we learn more about that and Mrs Hawkings, if not 2nite, another time!

As for young Japanese boy....that was my first thought too...he's Japanese....why would we guess this character has any relationship to Jin? My bet is Dogan.

Michal said...

Hi fellow LOST fans. If you get a chance please check out my blog I made for a school assignment.
http://the-dharma-initiative-lost.blogspot.com/

Namaste!

PHG said...

i am afraid to read this post (i dont like seeing the guest stars), but did anyone notice in one of the "enhanced" episodes they called the off-island stuff "Flash-Sideways" instead of flash-backs or flash-forwards? I just thought that was interesting.

Unknown said...

There was an interview with the writers where they introduced us to the "flash-sideways" concept at the beginning of the season.

Brian - good preview. Gives me something to chatter about at the office and get me through the tuesdays a little quicker.

mark said...

ok, maybe i'm missing something, but how do we know for sure that this is going to be a jack centric episode?

it seems like from the episode description it could just as easily be a hurly centric one. which quite honestly, is still really exciting.

something interesting i noticed from last week's episode, is the numerical order assigned to each of the survivors. locke was first at 4, and hurley was next at 8.

what if these numbers aren't being assigned by jacob at random? what if they indicate who's next in line to take care of the island? if locke is truly dead (which i'm not convinced of by the way), what if hurley is the next candidate in line to become the new jacob? what if jacob foresaw what would happen, and that's why he's been appearing to hurley???

mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Mark. "Jack centric" = jack's mom is a guest star. Also - it seems they are following Off-island stories in the same order they did in the first season:

2-Part Pilot w/ no flashbacks
Kate episode
Lock episode
Jack episode
Sun episode
***Charlie Episode*** - hmmm
LaFleur episode
Sayid episode
Claire episode - this one would be very intriguing

Anyways that is what I've seen on multiple sites as to who is being focussed on in each episode.

As for your #s question - that is a very solid observation. Well done. Could easily be what is going on and why Hurley is seeing Jacob. But also - it's well established that Hurley can see / talk / play chess / get pulled over by people that died on the island. So Jacob appearing to him may just be continuing that principle that Jacob is dead and Hurley sees dead people.

J/K said...

The episode description provided by Comcast says, “Hurley must convince Jack to accompany him on an unspecified mission, and SAWYER stumbles across an old friend.”

So does that mean Jin and Sawyer run into each other?

jack said...

hey Mark...listen to the current Podcast man....C&L made it very clear that Locke is dead.

Anonymous said...

noemailformeadows - It's James "Sawyer" Ford, not LaFleur. That was his made-up identity during his time with the DI.

And that first number = in-line for replacement? Why would people earlier on and dead be higher numbers?

Unknown said...

Hahaha Nick I know what his name is man I just like calling him LaFleur... no worries, everybody knows who I'm talking about

Unknown said...

Great catch by j/k..

My comcast preview also refers to Sawyer running into an old friend. Brian, what do you make of this?

Joel said...

The episode description on the official podcast said that it was Jin that runs into an old friend (Claire). Comcast is just messing with you. They probably also tell you that the episode is on chanels 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.