The following comprises my thoughts, the thoughts of others with whom I discuss Lost issues, and some things gleaned and processed from Lostpedia regarding Episode 4, Season 6 of Lost: The Lighthouse.
Jack's scar. I've suspected since the first episode of Season 6 that Jack X is having Jake Chambers-type epiphanies and realizations. For those who are familiar with Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series of novels, recall in the third volume, The Waste Lands, how Roland goes back in time and prevents Jake Chamber's death, thereby spontaneously generating a new chronology, not unlike Lost X, resulting in a sort of "Jake X." Similar to Jack X, Jake X has inklings of things that happened, or should have happened, but he can't quite remember, causing confusion and unease as these "memories" trickle in.
This seems to be happening to Jack X. Recall that Jack, in the original narrative, had his appendix removed by Juliet on the Island. Jack X would not know this, of course, because those events did not happen to Jack X. But, just as there are vestiges of Real Locke floating around inside of Fake Locke, it appears that Jack X has some residual connections to the original Jack.
Also, in the first episode of this season, Jack X noticed a bleeding cut on his neck, just after that point in time when he and the other Losties would have crashed on the Island in the original chronology. Are the events of the parallel universes affecting each other in an unprecedented way, coinciding with the detonation of Jughead and the assassination of Jacob?
"Good for you." When Jack X's mother, Marlo, asks him if he wants a drink, he declines. Her response, "good for you," suggests that Jack X has a drinking problem, similar to the original Jack. We could surmise that his alcoholism was the reason for his divorce, and is possibly the reason why his son is afraid of him. However, I am reminded that Jack X did have a drink in Episode One of Season Six, on the flight to LA "X".
Hurley the Candidate. When Hurley is confronted by Dogen in the Temple, Hurley tells Dogen, at Jacob's prompting, that he is a candidate. Dogen is visably apoplectic. After Hurley tells him to basically get lost, Dogen says something in Japanese to Hurley. According to Lostpedia, it translates: "You're lucky that I have to protect you. Otherwise I'd have cut your head off." Clearly, Dogen is as ruthless and determined as Ben ever was, perhaps moreso.
Good guys, bad guys. I've been trying to pick up clues to determine whether Jacob is a good guy or a bad guy. Same with Fake Lock-Loophole Luigi. Jacob's deception, manipulation and influence of people are well established, although it's not clear if his motives/goals are nefarious or not. Regarding Luigi, he has lied twice so far, that we know of: Once to Sawyer about the Bloody Blond Boy, and now to Claire, regarding Aaron's whereabouts.
What Happened to Sawyer? Seeing Luigi-Locke at Claire's camp in the last segment evoked the immediate question: Where's Sawyer? Did Luigi leave him in the cave? Does the broken ladder prevent Sawyer from escaping? Did Luigi morph into his Smoke Monster form in order to leave the cave?
23 Shephard. In my previous "Lost in Thought" installment, I speculated that "23 Shephard" could actually refer to Aaron (that is, if Luigi was lying when he told Sawyer that it referred to Jack). I surmised that Aaron is "technically" a Shephard since Jack's father, Christian, is Claire's father. And Claire, being unmarried, is technically a Shephard as well (ignoring, for the moment, the implicit anti-feminist paternalist prejudice), thus making Aaron a Shephard. However, with the new revelation of David, Jack X's son in the new Lost X narrative, we now have an added possibility. Supporting that notion is the sign that was on display at David's piano recital that read, "Welcome All Candidates."
However, a couple things mitigate against this conjecture, namely, Jack's seat number on the plane (23B), and the fact that 23 degrees on the Lighthouse protractor showed Jack's childhood home in the Lighthouse's mirror (thanks for point that out, Amy).
Black & White Symbolism and the Alice Connection. In David's room, Jack see the Alice in Wonderland book on his bed. Jack reminds him that he used to read that book to him when he was younger, and makes reference to Alice's two kittens, one of which was black, and one of which was white. According to Lostpedia, Jack also read this book to baby Aaron in Season 4 when he and Kate were living together after returning to the mainland.
It is noteworthy that Jack, back in the first season of the series, chased a vision/apparition/reanimated corpse/clone/something of his father, Christian, into a cave, not unlike Alice's pursuit of the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll's story. Recall that this cave is where Jack found the two skeletons, affectionately referred to as "Adam & Eve" by Lost fans, and in the pocket of one of the skeletons was found two stones, one black, one white. That episode was called "Through the Looking Glass," which is the title of one of Carroll's Alice stories. In that same episode, in Jack's flashback, Christian Shephard told Jack that he didn't "have what it takes."
The scene of Hurley and Miles playing tic-tac-toe (noughts-and-crosses) is, as are other games that have been played on the Island, of a "black-white" nature.
The "infection." I've been wondering about something. With Jacob dead and Luigi on the loose, Ilana and the Temple Others seem absolutely terrified about something. Either they are afraid of Fake-Locke-Luigi, or perhaps something bigger. Their fear seems to extend beyond what Smoke Monster could do; it seems like something much bigger is a threat to them. It could well be that Jacob was a force on the Island that kept Luigi from wreaking maximum havoc, and now that Jacob is gone, there is nothing restraining him from collecting ("infecting") his "recruits" and then going after the Temple.
In a bit of irony, it made me smile when Claire said something, "We have to get you cleaned up, because in the jungle one of the killers is 'infection.'"
Davidic symbolisms. Acording to Lostpedia, the music that David Shephard played for his recital is the same played by Daniel Faraday in "The Variable." Also, recalling the biblical significance of "23," "The Lord is my shephard …" (Psalm 23), it is noteworthy that David Shephard is named after the author of Psalm 23, King David, who was a shepherd as a boy. It doesn't stop there. King David, having written the biblical Psalms (i.e., songs), was also an accomplished musician and song-writer.
A Dingo Ate Your Baby. The similarities between Claire and Danielle Rousseau are numerous. Their Sheena-of-the-Jungle sense of couture, their stockpiling of dynamite, their willingness to kill without remorse or hesitation, their setting of traps and torturing of captives, and, perhaps most significantly, their obsessive pursuit of their lost children.
The time for questions is NOT over. Jacob tells Hurley and Jack that they need to stay away from the Temple because someone "bad" is soon to arrive. Whereas Ilana, supposedly loyal to Jacob, told Sun that they must get to the Temple in order to be safe. Something's amiss.
Why does Dogen seem to know so much more than Richard and Ben? Richard didn't seem to know anything about what Luigi wanted, whereas Ilana and Dogen seem pretty well informed, not only about the nature and purpose of Luigi, but what he plans to do. When Fake-Locke-Luigi mentioned to Richard about Real Locke being a "candidate," Richard draws a blank.
The following are some thoughts that developed in my dialogue with a fellow Lost aficionado (thanks Stephen):
Gentle Ben? I really do hope the formidable side of Ben's persona gets to burgeon into its full glory in some climactic manner. However, whereas, on the other hand, notwithstanding, nevertheless, Ben reminds me of a bad-guy character in the Dark Tower books, by which, apparently, the Lost writers have been influenced. The Dark Tower character was a scary and intimidating villain throughout the story, but his end was a big disappointment and he just faded out of relevance. I couldn't, for the life of me, understand why the writer would not instead let him go out in a blaze of glory. I certainly hope this is not the case with Ben.
The rules, the RULES! Widmore supposedly, according to Ben, "broke the rules" when Widmore ordered Keamy to kill Ben's adopted daughter, Alex. This act drove Ben to the point of going to the mainland JUST to get all up in Widmore's grill. So what do the rules refer to? You can't kill a candidate's offspring? So when the Bloody Blond Boy said, "You know the rules. You can't kill him," was this referring to someone's male offspring? Could this be refer to Jack's son, David? Who else among the Lost has male children? Claire and Michael. Have I forgotten any?
Stephen's observation about Alex only being Ben's adopted daughter seems significant. Consider this: Ben is typically portrayed with a a cold, stoic, unflappable demeanor. It was only with Alex, or in matters concerning her, that we saw Ben lose his cucumber cool. It seems to me that Ben was a bit self-deluded, and wilfully so. He so wanted Alex to be his real daughter, that he actually invoked "the rules" in order to further solidify his fantasy. So when Widmore had Alex killed, it shattered Ben's carefully erected illusion. Think of how much more poignant, then, was the appearance of Alex in the Black Smoke in the Temple last season.
That is all for now.
Hilston