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.

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?

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