I've been talking about mirrors a lot this season. And I imagine I will continue to do so as the season progresses. 'Lighthouse' was the most direct in it's use. The Lighthouse (where the title of the episode comes from) itself is home to a mirror which reflects a past to Jack that he has not yet gotten over and a destiny he is not fully ready to embrace.
Like last week's standout episode, 'The Substitute,' 'Lighthouse' mirrored a Season One episode. Where 'The Substitute' contained many references and callbacks to Locke's Season One classic, 'Walkabout,' 'Lighthouse' was a direct continuation Season One's, 'White Rabbit.'
So of course this episode featured Alice In Wonderland. Jack has always been our Alice in the story, tumbling down the rabbit hole. It was him we followed when the show first started, running out of the jungle and finding the fuselage wreckage. He chased his own 'white rabbit'- his ghost of a father through the jungle.
And when it came time for the audience to find out that getting off the island wasn't the end of the show. That these characters had a much larger destiny. That we were not looking at a flashback, but through the looking glass and into the future. That they had, 'TO GO BACK!' Who did we find that out through?
Jack.
"You don't have what it takes"
To truly understand this episode, to grasp it's depth, it's important to look back at Season One's, 'White Rabbit.'
In this episode, the survivors of Oceanic 815 are running low on water and are beginning to panic. They all look at Jack to lead them, to tell them what to do. But he's reluctant to take on the leadership position.
And as this all is happening Jack is haunted by his dead father, Christian, walking around the jungle.
Jack's father died in Sydney. He flew down to Australia to see his estranged daughter, Claire. Very drunk one night, he tries to see her, but is turned away by her Aunt. Upset, he keeps drinking, apparently to his death.
Jack flies down to Australia to bring the body home, but on the day of the flight, the airline nearly refuses to let him bring the coffin on board. On the verge of tears, Jack begs an Oceanic agent to let him bring it home on this flight:
I want you to listen to me, okay. Because I'm asking you a favor, Chrissy. I'm standing in front of you in the same suit that I'm wearing to my father's funeral and I'm asking you a favor. In 16 hours I need to land at LAX, and I need that coffin to clear customs because there's going to be a hearse waiting there. And I need that hearse to take me and that coffin to a cemetery. Why, Chrissy? Why can't I just bring him to a funeral home and make all the arrangements? Why can't I really take my time with it? Because... because I need it to be done. I need it to be over. I just.. I need to bury my father. - Jack
All these years later and Jack still has not buried his father. Sure, he put a casket in the ground when he left the island. But he has not put to rest all those demons that have haunted him because of his relationship with his dad. And it all goes back to those six words.
You don't have what it takes
These words have defined Jack his entire life. And I think the reason for this, partially, is that Christian was right.
It's not that Jack doesn't have what it takes to be a great man or a great leader. Christian admitted this much to Sawyer, when they bumped into each other in a bar in Australia, possibly hours before he died.
So if Jack is a great man with all the capabilities of being a leader of men, why does he not have what it takes?
It's because Jack can't let go and is always trying to fix things. This is an attribute of his that Christian recognized when Jack was just a child. In 'White Rabbit' we are given a flashback of Jack at this age. His best friend is getting beat up by two bullies. The bullies tell Jack to walk away, that it's not his fight. Unable to accept this, Jack runs to save his friend and is met by a punch in the face.
Later, Christian confronts him in his study (the same study where Jack and his mother search for Christian's will in the flash-sideways story). After discussing the fight with Jack, Christian explains to him why he should not get involved and play hero:
Don't choose, Jack, don't decide. You don't want to be a hero, you don't try and save everyone because when you fail… you just don't have what it takes. - Christian Shephard
When Jack fails, he does not have what it takes. He tries to fix what is broken and cannot let go. We have seen that time and time again on the show.
His marriage falls apart with Sarah and even after it is over, he still wants to fix it and put it back together. On the island, when Boone is gravely injured, Jack refuses to let him die and would have done a full on blood transfusion to save his life. His drive to get everyone off the island. The dissolution of his relationship with Kate. And of course, his plan to detonate the Jughead bomb in an attempt to fix and erase the past three years of his life.
Jack has always been a two steps forward, one step backward kind of guy. The show has never been afraid to portray him in some pretty harsh light. He is not the traditional hero. He is headstrong and stubborn to a fault. For years he refused to even contemplate that he and the others might have a larger detsiny on the island.
But something changed when Jack left the island. See, Jack was always a broken man. He just never knew it. He's been emotionally and spiritually crippled because of his relationship with his dad. And leaving the island, the one place that could actually fix him, exposed all of that. He was still haunted by visions of his dead father and the survivors he left behind. His engagement to Kate was brief, undone by the jealousy he felt towards her lingering feelings for Sawyer.
And Locke's visit (as seen in Season Five's, 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham') was the final straw. When John ended up in his hospital after a car crash, Jack was already struggling. He had become an alcoholic and his beard was starting to grow out. The two share another science versus faith debate, whether this latest meeting meant something more. Jack still refuses to see the bigger picture and bitterly says his final goodbye to John:
Jack: That's it. Good bye, John.
Locke: Youre father says, 'Hello.'
Jack: What?
Locke: A man, the man who told me to move the island. The man who told me how to bring you all back- He said to tell his son, 'Hello.' He said his name was Christian.
Jack: My.. my father is dead.
Locke: Well, he didn't look dead to me.
Jack: He died in Australia three years ago. I put him in the coffin! He's dead.
Locke: Jack, please. You have to come back. You're the only one who can convince the rest of them. You have to help me. You're supposed to help me!
Jack: John, it's over! It's done. We left, and we were never important.
I want you to remember that last part ('We were never important.') because it ties in directly to why Jacob led Jack to the mirrors. When Jack said this line last season, it always stuck out to me. Because Jack was not only denying that they all had a destiny, but that their destiny was to do something important on the island.
And as we're discovering this season, these characters are only beginning to discover just how important they truly are.
At one point in this episode, Jack finally admits to Hugo why he came back to the island. And it's the reason that made the most sense for the character, 'I came back here because I was broken. And I was stupid enough to think this place could fix me.'
Let's pretend for a second that Jack is an alcoholic (okay, not that hard of a stretch). In AA, what is the first step: admitting that you have a problem. Slowly this season, Jack has begun to take tiny steps towards redemption. And for him to admit that he is broken, that he can't fix everything, but is looking for a kind of higher power to help him (faith if you will)... well, that's a pretty damn big step.
"He told me to tell you, 'You have what it takes."
Okay, so now that I've taken up eight hours of your life before even really beginning to delve into this episode, why don't we jump into it.
In the Island-Timeline, we start off with Jack looking into a mirrored reflection of himself (obviously) in a body of water in the grounds of the Temple. Dogen approaches him and they have a open and honest conversation... well, at least as honest an open of a conversation one can have with an Other. The point is, Jack and Dogen connect and talk to each other in a way none of the survivors have ever been able to with an Other. This is not like dealing with Ben or Mikhail or Tom or any other half-answer Others. Dogen is pretty straight-forward and discloses more information than his people usually do.
Jack asks if leaving is an option. Dogen tells him that everything is an option (again, choice is very important to the rules of the island) but that he would have to stop him. Jack then tells him that Sawyer, Kate and Jin probably will not be coming back.
Meanwhile, Hurley and Miles are playing Tic-Tac-Toe (because the Temple Others lost their shuffleboard). I could be over-analyzing (not that I EVER do that) but I find it interesting that Hurley and Miles keep tying. Hurley is notorious for winning games, except when he plays Walt. He's beatean Sawyer in ping pong and horse shoes. Jack in HORSE at the mental institution. This, to me, always tied into Hurley being special (which is why Walt was the only one who ever beat him).
So, is Miles tying him in a game foreshadowing that Miles is just as special? Both Hurley and Miles can communciate with the dead (albeit in different ways) but we still do not know Miles true purpose on the island. I'm excited to see who he sides with between Jacob and The Man in Black.
Hurley then finds Jacob in the Temple's healing spring. He tells Hurley that he needs his help; that someone's coming to the island and he needs Hugo to help him find it. After taking down instructions, Hurley starts searching around The Temple.
Dogen finds him and demands that he goes back to the courtyard. Jacob appears again to Hurley and tells him to tell Dogen, 'I'm a candidate and I can do what I want.' Here's where things get interesting with this whole Candidate thing. Last week, Flocke told Richard about Jacob's Candidates... and Richard had NO IDEA what he was talking about. We've all been under the assumption that Richard has been on the island longer than anyone (aside from Jacob and The Man in Black), but he did not know about the Candidates.
So how in the world does Dogen know what a Candidate is? How long has he been on the island and why did Jacob confide these secrets to him and not Richard.
Dogen walks away and Jacob asks Hurley why he is leaving without Jack. Hurley responds that it's impossible to get Jack to do anything and that he could just go himself. Jacob insists that Jack has to come and Hurley relents that Jacob already made him write down too much and on top of that he 'just lied to a Samurai' (line of the night). He asks if he has any ideas of how to make Jack come with him and Jacob gives one of his all-knowing smiles.
Hurley finds Jack in the courtyard. Sidenote, I loved that Jack and Hurley pairing in this episode. Like Hurley says at one point, it was very 'old school.' Hurley somehow brings out a very open and honest side of Jack and I think it's because Jack's not afraid to confide in him. It also makes for some great comedic moments. Hurley could be one of the most light-hearted characters on the show at times and Jack's always just... intense. Don't believe me? Look at this pic: http://counterforce.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/jackface.jpg
Anyway, Hurley tries to get Jack to come with him, by just asking at first. Jack tells him he's staying where hs is. Hurley responds, "I told him you'd ay that. So he told me to tell you,'You have what it takes.'
This freaks Jack out. Like, it really freaks him out. He can't believe he is being told this and can't begin to understand why. Jack asks where Jacob is and Hurley tells him that he's kind of like Obi-Wan Kenobi, popping up whenever he wants. But that if Jack wants to talk to him, he's going to be where they're going.
This is enough to make Jack leave. Back off into the jungle, chasing after another ghost.
"I hope you find what you're looking for"
Jack and Hurley come across Kate, who is idly sitting by a stream. Jack discloses to Kate that Claire is not back at the beach (where Claire was planning on looking for her) but that something bad happened to her. Shocked, Kate begins to run off saying that she has to find her.
Jack pleads with her not to leave; that she should come with them and then they'll all go back together. Hurley hesitates (cause Jacob didn't invite her to the birthday party) and Kate says it's okay... that she hopes Jack finds what he's looking for.
Look, I'm not a shipper. To me this show has always been bigger about who Kate picks between Jack or Sawyer. And I think the writers are trying to show that to us now. I don't think Kate can end up with Sawyer anymore. Maybe at one time, but his heart truly belonged to Juliet and with her death, he closed it up forever. Jack and Kate had their time, but Jack has a much bigger destiny than being with Kate. And Kate is on a mission to find Claire.
I know this will not be popular among any girls who may read this, but I just wouldn't hold out for a Jack and Kate reunion by the end of the show.
Hurley and Jack continue their journey and mirroring 'White Rabbit' once again, they come across the Caves. And how do they realize they're back in the Caves (not seen since the beginning of Season 2)? They finally find Shannon's inhaler! It was outside the caves the whole time.
In 'White Rabbit,' Jack chased his father until he led him to the Caves. There, he found a fresh source of water as well as his father's casket. Looking inside though, it was empty. Jack tells this story to Hurley once they journey back inside their former home:
Jack: Did I ever tell you how I found this place?
Hurley: You were looking for water, right?
Jack: No.. I was chasing the ghost of my dead father. He led me here. That was his coffin. I smashed it to pieces.
Hurley: Why'd you do that?
Jack: Because he wasn't in it.
This is important to remember, because this moment (the smashing of the coffin) will be mirrored at the end of the episode.
It's great to see Jack reliving this moment. It's a testament to how far he's come along on his journey, but how little he's actually grown. He's still chasing that ghost, still just as frustrated about being broken and not understanding his purpose.
In a way, Jack and Locke have always been very similar. They may have been on opposite end sof the spectrum when it came to faith versus reason, but they were very much on the same spectrum. They were both angry. Both obsessed. Both became frustrated when things didn't go according to plan.
Back to the Caves, well okay, i just thought it was awesome to see the Caves again. I love all these references to Season One and thought this was worked into the episode really well. It also re-introduced one of the oldest mysteries on the show: The Skeletons, Adam and Eve.
Damon Lindelof has gone on record as saying that in the end, the identity of the Skeletons will prove that they had some semblance of a plan all along and that they knew when they firts introduced the Skeletons in Season One that time travel would somehow be worked into the show.
So, it was great to have Hurley find them again. Him saying, 'I totally forgot these were in here,' were the writers way of saying, 'We haven't and we're going to answer this by the end of the show.' Then Hurley gives a theory of his own:
"What if we time-travelled again to like, dinosaur times? And then we died and got buried here? What if these skeletons are us?" - Hurley
The popular opinion is that Rose and Bernard are the Skeletons. That's been my theory for a while... but then I remembered this bit of dialog between Jack and Kate at the end of Season One, Episode Six, 'House of the Rising Sun' (the episode in which they discovered the Skeletons). Jack tells Kate that they're leaving for the caves:
Jack: Hey, it's almost time to go.
Kate: I don't want to be Eve.
Jack: No one's asking you to.
Kate: I just can't.. dig in.
Jack: Why not? Someone else can stay here, keep a look out, wait for rescue. Why does it have to be you?
Kate: That's not it.
Jack: Then what is it? Kate, how did you get to be this way? Just what is it that you did?
Kate: You had your chance to know
I'm not saying that I think that Jack and Kate are Adam and Eve... but this scene would take on a whole new, deeper meaning if that were the case.
Also, final little fun fact about Adam and Eve that I referenced in last week's write-up. When they first found them, Jack discovered a bag with a black and white stone. What were Adam and Eve's connection to Jacob and The Man in Black?
"Guess we weren't looking for it."
Jack and Hurley continue their journey to the Lighthouse and Jack finally relents that he came back to the island because he was broken. Having already established why that's so important let's get right to the discovery of The Lighouse.
Is it a little silly that they've been on this island all these years and never saw it? Of course it is, but whatever, I'll roll with it because it's LOST and what else can we do?
Hurley and Jack reach the top to find a large brass mechanism surrounded by mirrors mounted on top of it. Jack asks where Jacob is and Hurley tells him that he's not here yet. He then tells Jack to move the wheel to 108 degrees.
Okay, so we get a little more background about why each candidate was given a specific number. Each number corresponded to a degree on the wheel that gave Jacob access to look in on their lives from his mirror. When the wheel passed KWON we caught a glimpse of the place Sun and Jin were married. When it passed FORD we caught a glimpse of the Church where the funeral for Sawyer's mother was held.
Jack realizes that the names written down on the wheel are their names and turns the wheel to his degree, 23. An image of a house appears in the mirror.
It is Jack's childhood home. The home where his father told him he does not have what it takes. Once again, Jack doesn't understand. Why was Jacob watching him this whole time? He demands to see him, but Hurley tells him that it doesn't work that way. And just as when he couldn't fin his father in the coffin, Jack gets angry and smashes. Instead of destroying the coffin this time, he destroys the mirror.
Jack looked into the mirror and saw nothing but his bad past. My theory is that the mirror sort of reflects inward. Whatever a person's deepest flaw or demon, whatever they can't get over, will be reflected in the mirror. So of course Jack would reflect his childhood home, where the genesis of his poor relationship with his father began.
CRACKPOT THEORY OF THE WEEK: So I bet you've been asking all week, WHO IS 108? WHO IS COMING TO THE ISLAND? On the wheel the name WALLACE was crossed out next to 108. Now there has never been a character with the last name Wallace on the show. So it has to be another character replacing it. So you're now saying, 'But, Zach. How is this possible? I thought once a Candidate is crossed off, that's it? There can't be a numbered replacement. That doesn't make any sense.'
And you're right. Those do seem to be the rules that Flocke established last week. But there is one character on this show that the rules do not't apply to.
Wallace most reminds me of William Wallace, Scottish liberator (Mel Gibson played him in 'Braveheart'). And who is the only Scottish character on the show? Who do the rules not apply to.
Desmond Hume.
Desmond is coming back to the island. Count on it. Count 108 times.
(Also, Kate was listed on the wheel at 51 degrees. So why was she absent in the cave last week?)
"Jack is here because he has to do something. He can't be told what that is. He's got to find it himself. Sometimes you can just...hop in the back of someone's cab and tell them what they're supposed to do. Other times...you have to let them look out at the ocean for a while."
After, Jack sits on a cliff some distance away from Hurley when Jacob appears. Hurley gets frustrated that the plan didn't work and that Jack destroyed the mirrors. Jacob hillariously and calmly replies, 'You've got ink on your forehead.'
Hurley responds that whoever they needed to help get to the island is screwed, but Jacob is unconcerned. He says they'll find it another way. And that's when Hurley realizes Jacob's real plan this whole time. He wanted Jack to see what was in the mirror.
Jacob explains, 'It was the only way for him to understand how important he is.'
In 'White Rabbit,' Jack just found an empty coffin. This time (whether he realizes it or not) Jack found proof that he is important and that he does have a purpose. He may have grown frustrated in not understanding why Jacob has been watching him, but will come away with a calmer sense of being knowing that he was being watched. In a way it's like being given conformation that God is watching over you. It's terrifying in one regard if you're not sure yet what you're supposed to do, but comforting in another because at you know you are meant for something.
And Jacob was right. He couldn't just appear to Jack and tell him he's important. Jack had to see it for himself. Jack had to see that Jacob had been watching him this whole time, preparing for the day when he could potentially take over as his sucessor as protector of the island.
Jacob also ominously explains that someone bad is coming to the Temple and that he had to get Jack and Hurley as far away from there as possible. What's interesting is that the only remaining Candidate left inside the Temple at this point is Sayid (who has been infected with the Sickness, now all but confirmed to be connected to the Monster). The only people left inside, aside from him, are Miles, Dogen and the rest of the Temple Others.
They're setting up for some kind of showdown next week. Which leads us into the story of the other child of Christian Shepard, Claire.
"You're still my friend, aren't you, Jin?"
Okay, Claire just broke my heart with that line. I felt so bad for her this entire episode with how crazy she has gotten over the past three years from the loss of Aaron and The Sickness infecting her. And when she delivered that line to Jin, the sweet and innocent Claire bursting through the feral, insane Claire of the present... god dammit, what has the Monster done to my Claire?!
Claire quickly frees Jin from the bear trap and informs Jin that she has been living in the jungle this whole time, ever since they all left. She did not flash through time as we all suspected (I'm assuming because of her connection to The Monster and The Sickness).
She brings Jin and the Other, Justin, back to her creepy tent of horors (compelte with the skull-baby in the crib... poor, insane Claire). She gets all Rousseau and bad-ass and knocks Justin down with her rifle. She demands to know where the Others are hiding Aaron, apparently under the impression that they were the ones that took him.
Claire does not remember that she is the one who abandoned Aaron in the woods after she left with her father to the Cabin. Justin even later points out that she's not remembering things right.
She goes to clean Jin's wound (cause if there's one thing that'll kill you around here, it's 'infection.' Ha). He asks if she's been out here by herself and she responds, 'Oh, no. No. Not by myself,' and continues to tell Jin that she knows the Others took Aaron.
Jin, who knows that Kate has been raising Aaron the past three years, asks Claire how she could be so sure.
"How can I be so sure? Well, first my father told me. And then my friend told me, so I'm pretty damn sure." - Claire
And at this point, Jin's all, 'This bitch is CRAZY!' And I'm all like, 'What have they done to my Claire?!'
Claire interrogates Justin, telling him to stop lying and admit where Aaron is. She recalls how the Others too her to the temple and tortured her and Justin relents it was because she was killing them off. She goes to kill Justin with an axe and Jin screams at her to wait.
She cries that they stuck her with needles and branded her (very similarly to how they branded and tested Sayid to see if he was sick). Justin tells her she isn't remembering things right. She swings the axe to strike him again and Jin yells out that Kate took Aaron.
Unfortunately, Jin doesn't know the full story. That Claire left Aaron in the woods and that Kate was forced to raise him until she decided to come back to the island to find Claire and reunite them; that she left Aaron with Claire's mother.
So Claire is just distraught... and kills Justin anyway. Is it wrong that I have so much sympathy for a woman who just axed a man to death? Maybe it's because Claire reminds me of my little sister (The innocent, sweet Claire. Not the crazy, feral Claire). Wait, then that totally makes me Jack. AWESOME. I do a great Jack impression.
Anyway, Jin lies to Claire and tells her that he wasn't telling the truth earlier; that Kate didn't take Aaron and that he is, in fact, at the Temple. And that he will take her with him back to the Temple to find him.
Claire is relieved. Because if Kate was raising Aaron, she would have had to kill her.. OBVIOUSLY. Oh, boy. I do not like where this is going.
Then comes the moment. Flocke enters the tent and he's all BFF with Claire and she's all, 'OMGZ, it's mah friend!' and Jin's all, "This is more fucked up than when I met an 18 year old Danielle Rousseau. Where the fuck is my wife?"
So Flocke is Claire's friend. It's interesting to note that she does not recognize him as John. She says, 'Thisis my friend.'
Does she see Flocke in his orignal form, as The Man in Black. Does she see the Smoke Monster? Whatever she sees, she knows he isn't actually Locke... and creepily, she is totally cool with that.
Bad things coming next episode. I would not want to be at the Temple right now.
"I didn't tell you I was coming here because...I didn't want you to see me fail."
Finally, we come to the flash-sideways. We still do not know the connection between the two realities, but were given some more major clues that this timeline is fundamentally changed from the one we know.
Like, uh, Jack having a teenage son.
Here's my theory on who the mother is.... wait, did it just happen. YES. LOST AND HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER ARE NOW THE SAME SHOW! Suck it Gabe Waxman! If Barney Stinson shows up on LOST and tells Jack to 'Suit Up!' then, well, it would just be AWESOME.
On to my theory. Here's what I'm thinking. The detonation of the bomb created a butterfly effect in this universe that changed so many things. For instance, Shannon stayed in Australia when Boone came to get her.
What if there were other changes to Boone and Shannon's backstory? For instance, what if Shannon's Dad never got into a car crash and died?
Okay, you're confused. Let me explain. Shannon's father got into a car crash in Los Angeles in 2001. Who's car did he crash with? Sarah, Jack's future wife. Both were rushed to the hospital and Jack chose to save Sarah. Shannon's father died and Jack ended up performing surgery on Sarah, fixing her paralysis and beginning their relationship. This lead to them getting married (and eventually divorced).
But what if, somehow, in this reality, Shannon's father didn' get into the car accident? This means Jack never would have met Sarah, never would have fixed her, never would have fallen in love, never would have got married.
On top of that, Jack met Sarah in 2001. David is a teenager, probably 16, meaning he was born in 1988. That means that Jack met his mother much earlier in this timeline. And I think David's mother was a woman who in this reality, studied to become a doctor in California. And not just any doctor, but a fertility doctor.
That's right. I think the mother of David Shephard is JULIET.
Did you hear that? That was the sound of me blowing your minds.
And wouldn't it be great if she bumps into Sawyer in this timeline after he lands in LA... maybe to 'get coffee sometime,' as she said to him as she was dying.
That's all theory though. On to analysis of the flash-sideways. Like last week, I think the point of this flash-sideways (and the flash-sideways as a whole in general) is to provide the characters with a sense of closure that they have not achieved in the original timeline.
Through his son, Jack is able to reconcile the problems he had with his own father growing up.
At the start of the episode, Jack is just getting off work. He changes into regular clothing and looks into a mirror (told you there were a lot of mirrors in this episode) and he sees a scar from an appendectomy. He looks at it funny, as if he's not remembering where or when he got it.
In the original timeline Jack's appendix was removed just before he left the island with the Oceanic 6 in the Season 4 episode, 'Something Nice Back Home.' Juliet performed the surgery (I'm telling you, she's the mother), but Jack wanted to walk her through it... by watching what she was doing... by using a MIRROR.
So are memories and experiences from the original timeline becoming jumbled with memories from this timeline? Is this why Jack doesn't remember when his appendix was removed.
There are even more connections to that episode in this one in relaion to the flash-sideways. In 'Something Nice Back Home' we see a flash-forwad in which Jack and Kate are raising Aaron. Jack is reading Aaron stories of Alice in Wonderland. In 'Lighthouse' Jack recounts how he used to read 'Alice' stories to David when he was little.
He tells David how he always wanted to hear about, 'Kitty and Snowdrop.' Kitty and Snowdrop were Alice's cat... One was Black. One was White.
ANOTHER CONNECTION TO 'SOMETHING NICE BACK HOME' TO 'LIGHTHOUSE': This is the episode in which Christian appears to Claire in the woods (presumably when she was offfically claimed) and where Claire abandoned Aaron in the woods.
Just like Jack and his father, he does not have the best relationship with his son. He does not even know that much about him since they only see each other once a month. For instance, Jack just assumes that David is a Red Sox fan because he is... but later, when he walks into David's room, he sees pictures of the two of them. David is wearing an LA Dodgers hat.
Jack goes to his mother's house to help her find his father's will. She offers him a drink and he turns it down. So it seems the Jack in this timeline is a little more controlled. They finally find the will and she asks if has ever heard of a, 'Claire Littleton.'
He returns home, but David is gone. And like in 'White Rabbit' he runs, chasing the ghost trail of a family member. He returns to his old home he shared with his wife (he knows that the key is under the rabbit) and hopes to find David in his room. But he isn't there. Inside though, he gets a glimpse of who his son really is.
His room is messy, unlike the tidy and clean state of Jack's entire home. He finds sheet music for Chopin's, 'Fantaisie Improptu.' He looks to a mirror (easily th 108th time I've written mirror during this write-up) and sees pictures of him and David. Finally, he reaches an answering machine (What teenager uses an answering machine? Come on, LOST writers, get real... yes, I understand how ridiculous it is to ask LOST writers to 'get real).
He hears two messages. The first is from a Conservatory, confirming that David is performing at 7 PM on September 24th. The second message is one Jack left for David the day he found out his father had passed away. Jack tells David that he, 'just needed to hear his voice,' which causes Jack to tear up.
Jack runs to make the performance. He passes a sign that reads, 'Welcome All Candidates.' (just a fun easter egg) and finds David mid-performance, playing the Chopin piece he found in his room. He is immersed and moved from David's playing.
HOW IN THE WORLD DOES ZACH NOW THIS LOST FUN FACT: 'Fantaisie Impromptu,' the Chopin piece, David performs in this episode is the same piece Daniel Faraday plays on the piano throughout the Season Five episode, 'The Varaible' (you know, the one where his Mom shoots him after sending him back in time).
At the end of the performance, Jack is approached by a flash-sideways Dogen. This again begs the big question, how many changes were made to this timeline. If Dogen is off the island, a character who seems to have so much history with it, just when did he get off? Was he even on it in this timeline? I guess we have to find out more about him before we can make any real theories.
Jack waits for David outside. Jack tells him he was great and David is surprised to see him. Slightly discouraged, he says he missed a couple of notes, but Jack says it sounded perfect.
Jack didn't know he was still playing, to which David replies, 'I made mom promise not to tell you.'
The reason?
"It was always such a big deal for you. You used to sit and watch me practice. You were so... into it. I didn't tell you I was coming here because.. I didn't want you to see me fail."
And in this moment, David becomes a mirror for Jack. And unlike when he looked into the Lighthouse Mirror and felt nothing but confusion and frustration, he can look into the mirror that is his son and come to terms with his own relationship with his father. In this timeline, he does not NEED to bury his father. He does not have to deal with fixing everything. All he needs is his son to know that in his eyes, 'he can never fail.'
"You know when I was your age, my father didn't want to see me fail either. He used to say to me that...he said that I didn't have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I don't ever want you to feel that way. I will always love you, no matter what you do. In my eyes you can never fail. I just wanna be a part of your life."
The Jack of the original timeline has not yet found this peace. In the flash-sideways the 'important' thing he is meant to do is to raise his son, to 'be a part of his life' as he says. No empty coffin. No smashed mirrors. Just two lost boys who help each other find the light.
Jack on the island is still searching. Still looking. He still needs to confront his father, who's ghost is still roaming the island, before this is all said and done. But for now, let's give Jack a moment to stare out at the ocean.
After all he's been through, he deserves that much.
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