As Lost trundles on towards its climax, Episode 5 entitled The Lighthouse continues in the Season 6 trend of asking questions as quickly as it answers them.
We last saw the main bulk of the islanders in episode 3, when it was revealed to Jack that his sister Claire had been taken over by something dark and bad. Familiar territory then, as we spent last week’s episode watching the Fake Locke continue on his particular journey also having been taken over by something even more dark and bad already.
So, at the end of Episode 3, Jack had been told that Sayid was infected with a darkness, the like of which had also infected Claire (some time, we assume, after Jack and the rest of the Oceanic Six left the island), and Jin had found himself caught in a bear trap that had been placed by Claire.
Episode 5 picks up both of these story threads. Jin discovers that Claire is a long way from the mild mannered mother who he last saw years ago. She has been living rough, fending for herself and fighting off anyone who tried to come close to her. For Lost devotees, many will see a similarity between the new Claire and Russeau, and who knows, maybe there could be more to come. We don’t see too much of Claire during the episode, but what we do see is quite startling. She seems to have forgotten that back in Season 4 she told Kate to take her baby back to the mainland and not bring him back to the island, as she is seen questioning one of the Others as to where he is holding her baby. Even though Jin tries to intervene, the Other comes to a gruesome end by way of an axe wielded by the single white female who claims to be taking guidance from her dead father and her “friend”.
The majority of the episode is devoted to Hugo, Jack and the ghost of Jacob. Jacob appears to Hugo and tells him that he must take Jack out to a lighthouse (yes folks, a lighthouse!) on the other side of the jungle. They leave the temple by a secret passage, and after a brief meeting with Kate (who I’m assuming will be seen more in next week’s episode), they arrive at the lighthouse on the edge of a cliff top. Comments pass between the two characters regarding the fact they have not discovered the lighthouse before now, and a similar question is probably being asked by many viewers. Once again though, this is one of those things that we allow to pass by unquestioned in general as there are more pressing matters to attend to.
The lighthouse appears to have a cog mechanism attached to the light, around the edge of which are written the names of everyone who has come to the island, only a handful of which remain without a score through them. When the cog turns to Jack’s name he sees a vision of the house he grew up in as a child. After demanding to know from Hugo what Jacob wants with him, Jack smashes the lighthouse mirrors, rendering it useless.
Jacob returns to Hugo again, telling him that what Jack has done doesn’t matter and the people who were meant to be drawn by the lighthouse will still find a way to the island. (Although we are not told who these people are there is a likely chance it could be Jack and the other Oceanic passengers currently living their lives in a flash sideways?) Jacob tells Hugo that it is important that Jack realises how important he is and that is why he needed the two of them away from the Temple before something bad happens there.
As well as the flash sideways, which this week revolves around Jack and his son’s relationship and seems a little questionable as to its relevance, the final note returns to Claire and Jin as this week’s cliff hanger reveals Claire’s “friend” to be none other than the Fake Locke.
So what is going to happen to the people at the temple when the “bad things” happen and how many will survive. As Fake Locke has now appeared at Claire’s hideaway, what has become of Sawyer since he was last seen in the cave beneath the cliffs? Who is Jacob trying to bring to the island? What has Kate been doing in the jungle alone? All of these questions and more with probably not be answered in next week’s instalment, but we will continue watching nonetheless as the end approaches.
