Beth at Endless Books wrote a bit about symbolism, with particular reference to mirrors, in LOST. Tonight’s episode must have made her happy. Warning if you haven’t seen tonight’s episode: there are spoilers below.Some initial reactions to episode 5 of Season 6 of LOST:
Hurley‘s lines tonight were classic. “I just lied to a Samurai.” “She’s kinda not invited.” “He just shows up whenever he wants like Obi Wan Kenobi.” Great stuff! It’s also interesting the Hurley continues to be the only one who can see Jacob. In Harry Potter terms, Hurley is Luna. Jacob, at the end, says that some people can just be met in a cab and told what to do, while others (Jack) have to stare at the ocean for a while. Brilliant line. Hurley (like Luna) can just see. Jack (like Harry) has to learn to see.
Which means, of course, that Jack is the Harry character. But I think we knew that already. And that brings us to the mirror symbolism. As Beth noted, there’s been a mirror scene in every episode this season. Previous episodes had Jack, Kate, and John all regarding themselves in mirrors. This episode was different. Jack smashed the thing.
Why? Because he needed to assert control over his own choices. The mirror showed him that his role has been determined by Jacob since he was a kid. Jack will have none of that. He needs to come to it by choice, not by directive or plan. I can hear Harry’s protest now: “But it comes to the same thing!” And Dumbledore’s agitated reply that the choice makes all the difference in the world. Whatever Jack has to do, he’d choose to do it whether he was “fated” to or not. This is a critical, Mirror of Erised type moment. What has Jack seen in the mirror so far? What will he see as he stares out into the ocean? Will he ever seen who he truly is?
There was more play on the choice theme. Dogen told Jack that “everything is an option” (including leaving the temple), but that Dogen would try to stop Jack if he tried to leave. When Dogen told Hurley he couldn’t be in that corridor, Jacob showed up and told Hurley, “You can do what you want.” This theme of choice keeps getting set up by the Jacob side of things.
Jack’s storyline leads to all kinds of speculation, of course, about who Jacob’s replacement will be. Is the great thing Jack has to do replacing Jacob? I don’t think so.
Think about Hurley’s line about Kate again: “She’s kinda not invited.” Here’s something strange: Jacob most definitely touched Kate as a kid. But Kate is not a candidate. Why? Because Jacob’s replacement is going to come down to two people: Jack and Sawyer. One will become Jacob; the other will go home with Kate. My prediction now is that Jack goes home, Sawyer stays. Why?
We’ve already seen this happen once. Jack went home with Kate; Sawyer stayed behind to save the rest of them. It’s been set up well. Sawyer has foreshadowed his “being alone” in his conversation with Kate from episode 3. “Some of us are meant to be alone.” On top of all this, Sawyer is just a lot more like Jacob than Jack is.
These are, of course, mere speculations, but I’m laying them down as my predictions … as of now.
Finally, we must address Claire. Um … freaky. She’s lost it entirely, which definitely lends credence to the temple’s belief that she’s being infected and claimed by Smocke. The temple is definitely right about this infection, which does not bode well for Sayid. Is redemption possible for Claire? I think it is, but she’s in quite a state at present.
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{ 42 comments… read them below or add one }
Your post has me thinking of how the death eaters were incorrectly portrayed as smoke monsters in the sixth Potter film when flying through England.
I like the Luna-Hurley comparison, but I hope our everyman ends up more like Neville. Would it be too much to ask that Hurley (in the grand battle) pulls a sword out of a guitar case and chops someone’s head off?
The episode wasn’t the strongest and could have been much better, but Jack’s depth saved the episode from being like the Kate episode two episodes ago. The journey the lighthouse was largely inconsequential, so I was disappointed in that. Claire’s reappearance was simply terrific and the appearance of her “friend” was also great.
Could the part about flash-sideways Jack’s appendix scar be a clue to what’s going on? Juliet cut out Jack’s appendix on the island, so there has to be a connection or else it’s a major coincidence, and there are none on Lost.
Review of the episode on my blog:
http://th3tvobsessed.blogspot.com/2010/02/review-lost-season-6-episode-5.html
I *love* Hurley as Luna. Great comparison.
Definitely not keen on him decapitating anybody, I’m afraid; it was traumatizing enough for me to see him run Ryan down, even though I really blame Ryan for his own death, since Hurley’s objective wasn’t to kill anybody but just to cause as much of a disruption as possible. I see Hurley as the new Jacob, but I suppose I could be all wet on that…
Totally loved the cab / ocean line too. Nabbed it for my blog title, though I discovered it was too long. No big surprise though…
And I completely cracked up over Shannon’s inhalers.
Erin, you’re definitely not alone on Hurley as Jacob. I think Arabella is thinking along the same lines. Until last week, I’d have said “no way.” But the Hurley we got in the flash-sideways is just “in command” enough to pull off the Jacob role.
I don’t fully understand all this talk of Hurley and Jacob but I personally get lost in the mirror all the time.
I’m very happy to see that I’m not the only one seeing iconological storytelling in LOST, and with a whopping dose of alchemy (thanks for the great rundown, Beth!).
The numbers confirmed at the Lighthouse–iconic moment. And, apart from all the mirror images, there were also reflections of Island John Locke’s faith in this episode.
As for Hurley=New Jacob incarnation…I’m not betting my Royal Copenhagen white rabbit on it, but I see a serious contender (he’s #8). Although, if anyone could (once spiritually spiffed up) be able to eternally tangle with MiB, I’d think it could be Sawyer (#15) or Jack (special resonance #23). You lay down a good theory, Travis. Nevertheless, Hugo is the man of faith and obedience in Season 6. Very John Locke.
Wow. Sideways Jack has a son; could divorcee Mom be…Sideways Juliet? Irony abounding if she has coffee and a new relationship with Sideways Sawyer.
Tragically, Sideways Jack joins the Pantheon of Bad Dads. Son David endures his monthly (!) visits with Dad, tuning him out with his earbuds and deception because of Jack’s unrelenting expectations. The sins leak down through the generations, until someone stops the cascade. In SidewaysLand, fresh off a plane, a newly-aware Jack begins to unpack his son’s carry-on baggage. Island Jack’s most humble and truthful statement yet, that he was broken and hoped the Island could fix him. Very John Locke.
Claire–what does she see when she sees her friend Smocke?
Yes, I loved him admitting he wanted the Island to fix him. Definitely seeing some reversals of Jack and John this season. Sad to think of Jack being a bad dad, but then I think the Island Jack sheds some light on that. He thinks he’d be a bad dad; Jacobean Hurley knows he has it in him to give better than he got.
Very interesting to contemplate what Claire sees when she sees Smokey. And what in the world could his name be that would be mind-blowing enough for all this build-up?
I’m thinking there won’t actually be a new Jacob as such in the end, but a sort of resolution between the two, with the lighter side having the upper hand. Maybe Sideways Hurley is kinda like the beings formed from the Skeksis and the Mystics merging at the end of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal…
Any thoughts about Jack’s connection to the Bible’s David? His name is Shepherd, his Dad is Christian, his son is David and his number is 23…like Psalm 23? In the stories, God loves David even through all of his rash decisions and horrible choices. There is something about his passion that God sees as being like him…after his own heart.
Last nights episode did not disappoint. I love who Jack is becoming in both realities. I miss Locke though…but Dumbledore’s gotta die I suppose for Harry to complete his task.
I actually disagree that Sawyer will stay behind. I think Jack will stay and Sawyer will leave with Kate. When we saw Sawyer stay and Jack leave with Kate, nothing turned out well off the island, and everyone came back. Why? That’s not what was supposed to happen. Jack is meant to stay on the island while Sawyer and Kate were supposed to leave together. Sawyer’s line that he is meant to be alone is set up for him not ending up alone – it’s irony.
Regarding the significance of David – doesn’t the beginning of the song Hallelujah seem hugely fitting here? “I heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord, but you don’t really care for music, do ya?”
I love that song, Erin.
…
If only Joivre were here, she’d have something witty to say.
I just read Jeff Jensen’s fantastic recap at Totally Lost at ew.com. Even more mirror images/spiritual significance. Jensen never disappoints or fails to intrigue.
Sorry for the repeats. In my comment #6 above. I used the term “iconological,” when I meant “multi-layered.” I don’t understand iconology enough to use it in a sensible way. Oy.
Claire has become a Rousseau replacement completely (what with the traps and the “where is my baby” thing…). My sister thought she was going to make like she would kill the Other, but actually let him go. I thought otherwise, cause I believe that the Man in Black (Flocke) isn’t in the right.
Jacob is very close to becoming my favourite character (Ben is the top
), mainly because of his calmness and controlled manner. I really want him to be the good guy (and this not being a fake-out on the part of the writers). I don’t think he is controlling anyone’s destiny, I think he is guiding them like God guides us (i.e. they wouldn’t let him guide them if they didn’t want to, they *do* have the choice).
Can’t wait for next week :3
Jessica, I adore Ben too, though it sometimes makes me feel skeezy, but not really because I think he’s a really good guy deep down who’s just made a lot of really bad mistakes, often for what he thinks are good reasons. And I think some of the things like seemed like mistakes maybe weren’t. At any rate, if he doesn’t get vindicated in the end I’ll be very sad. And I also am a huge Jacob fan, and I loved his gentle humor last night. Just a wonderful character, and I’ll be so mad if I’m supposed to hate him at the end of it.
I don’t think I can ever definitively choose a favorite, but these days I seem to oscillate between Hurley and *lumpinthethroat* Daniel.
Just thought of a name for Smokey that would be mind-blowing.
Vincent.
Hey, it could happen…
Despite this Jack-centric episode, I’ve been thinking a lot about Kate this week. Each sideways story shows a turning point when the person looking in the mirror at themselves (the symbolism there is, of course, critcal). We get a S/Locke who, while sadly lacking faith, is a happier, more accepting man. We get a S/Jack who finds connection with his son by unloading his own baggage and removing the baggage he’d put on David.
But S/Kate is still a criminal fugitive, who has added another federal assault charge to her rap sheet. (I never did understand how she got off on just the stepdaddy murder charge, given her masterminding a bank robbery in which people were killed, not to mention her previous assaults on the marshal.) I wonder how there is any happy future for Kate and if there should be. But then one has to factor in Sayid, another ruthless killer. And Ben, who is exactly the man Sayid described on the Ajira flight. Should they be absolved of their crimes? Shoule we want them to be? Or do we want them to be in a reality where they never committed them? I vote for that.
Kate, by the way, is #51 on Jacob’s candidate list. #108 was Wallace–perhaps a reference to a certain Scot? Anyone else get the idea our Desmond was the one Jacob was summoning at the lighthouse?
Arabella, I definitely thought Desmond. And when I saw the name Wallace, William Wallace came to mind right away… Also, wasn’t this LOST’s 108th episode? That’s assuming the finale and the premiere each count as two episodes…
Well, I finally saw it! I’m typically three days behind in my LOST watching this season. It’s teaching me patience!
And wow, I am still reeling. Excellent episode, with so much to unpack — and I love all the tantalizing comments here. Yes indeed, I was delighted by all the mirror imagery in this one!
I wonder, though, about the significance of the lighthouse. It is really how Jacob has been keeping an eye on potential candidates? Maybe. But we don’t know what Jacob might see when he looks in that mirror, do we? We only know what Jack saw. It makes me wonder what the other candidates might see when they look into the mirror when it’s turned to their name. Would everyone see the one place they most considered home, at the deepest level of their heart? Hurley felt very Ron Weasley to me tonight, not only because he always gets the funny lines, but because of the echoes to the Mirror of Erised scene. And oh, how Dumbledorian is Jacob…telling only what he seems to think fitting to tell, a little bit at a time, knowing how important it is that our castaways (like Jack tonight) figure things out on their own, a step at a time. Given Dumbledore’s fallibility, I think it’s a safe bet to say that, although Jacob is wise and powerful (and yes, I would say definitely on the side of good) he is not perfect.
Glad you got a chance to watch it, Beth! You know, seems to me that Doc Jensen proposed the idea that the lighthouse sees inside rather than out – that it basically is, as you suggest, something akin to the Mirror of Erised, not some sort of cosmic surveillance device.
Wonder what Jacob sees when he gazes into it? I don’t suppose it’s a woolly pair of socks…
Jack also saw the temple where Sun and Jin were married (dial on Kwon, 42), and the church where the funeral was held for Sawyer’s (15) parents. Both places were meaningful for the Kwons and Sawyer, and rendezvous points for Jacob. But these candidates spent only than a brief time at them.
However Jack saw his childhood home, not the hospital where Jacob met him. A home where he’d grown up miserable, where he could perceive that he’d been observed over a long period of time, and maybe that’s true. I wonder if Sawyer or the Kwons would see Jack’s home if they looked in the lighthouse mirror. We’ll never know.
Beth, you know, I’m so influenced by Mirror of Erised type thinking that I hadn’t actually considered that the lighthouse was how Jacob had been “watching” them. I assumed that the mirror only told that Jacob had been watching them since they were young, but not that the lighthouse was logistically how he was doing it.
Do we even know that the lighthouse existed on the island in the last 2004-07? Or is this lighthouse part of the post-’77 island only?
Beth
I believe that Jacob isn’t perfect. I think they have established that both him and the Man in Black were once human (they just haven’t explained how they got to this point ^^; )
I know that MiB identified himself as human; I can’t remember Jacob saying it. But then again if he could be killed then I suppose that’s proof enough…
Here’s how blogger Vozzek sees it in his recap (http://darkufo.blogspot.com/2010/02/things-i-noticed-lighthouse-by-vozzek69.html). Vozzek was mentioned by Jensen in an article leading up to the season and I’ve been following him. The rest of the recap is very interesting and he saved me poring over my recorded episode to get the numbers and mirror images I mentioned above (I’ve adjusted a certain four-letter word):
Hey, Check It Out – A Humongous Lighthouse!
I pretty much agree with this view. The lighthouse couldn’t be seen by the candidates, in this case Jack, until necessary. Hey, a LOST “Room of Requirement”!
All of the names on the wheel seem to be crossed out except for our candidates. To me this means that Jacob no longer needs the lighthouse after Jack’s encounter with it. And that these candidates are either Jacob’s last hope (“saving the world”) or the last in a series of phoenix-replacements or whatever.
The mirror seems to serve a dual function: for Jacob to view others until he intervenes, and also in an Erised way–Jack views himself superimposed over his childhood home and (I think and hope) sees that his whole life has been spent in the illusory childlike pursuit of the “deepest desire of his heart”–his White Rabbit dad’s approval. He lashes out to destroy the mirror as if he could destroy that painful truth, because he can’t bear what he sees, and because he feels again betrayed by hope. Time-out to thing things through.
If Desmond is “Wallace” at #108, then the urgency of Eloise & co. to get him to and keep him at the Island pushing a button until the castaways came makes sense, in a “saving the world” way we don’t yet understand.
Vozzek also sees Kate at 51 as a “secret candidate” unkown to MiB. This would likely mean that the cave markings have been MiB’s. More proof that Smocke is deceiving Sawyer.
Mm, interesting thought about MiB’s cave. That would explain why Kate was missing from the cave. I found it odd that Faraday’s number in the cave was 761, while in the lighthouse it’s 101 (and 761 wouldn’t fit in with the 360-degree lighthouse wheel in any case). Curious…
Okay, just checked out Lostpedia and they’ve changed it from 761 to 101. So maybe it was just misread the first time; I couldn’t tell from looking at my TV one way or the other.
I almost missed this (Janet posted it on the Forum LOST thread)–The Obligatory LOST Sermon at http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/02/2314/. It’s hilarious, ditto many of the comments. I’ve enjoyed several posts at this blog before.
Yes, that totally cracked me up! Especially the bit about Walt…
I wish we’d have a LOST sermon at my church!
Arabella, I love your insight here: The lighthouse couldn’t be seen by the candidates, in this case Jack, until necessary. Hey, a LOST “Room of Requirement”! So much fun when the worlds of LOST and HP collide.
But the whole “who can see what” (and who, and when) is always fascinating in stories. I liked the way Travis linked Hurley to Luna based on their ability to see. It *is* fascinating that Hurley can see Jacob when Jack can’t.
And of course, I always think of Lucy’s ability to see Aslan before her siblings and Trumpkin can.
Travis, I wasn’t sure what I thought/felt about the lighthouse and its purpose (or how Jacob used it) but it certainly seemed as though Jack leapt to the conclusion, awfully darn quickly, that Jacob had been using the lighthouse that way. At least what he saw in the lighthouse (his childhood home) seemed to be evidence to Jack that Jacob had been watching him “all along” since he was a kid, and I assumed by the way Jack destroyed the mirrors that he somehow hoped he was destroying Jacob’s watch-station, at least on some level. Of course, Jack destroying something here was also a “mirror” of how he destroyed Dad’s coffin back in season 1. Gotta love it…mirrors everywhere!
Erin, I probably got the “seeing inside, not outside” lighthouse idea from Doc Jensen. His ideas are fun to imbibe, but there are so many of them I sometimes forget where they come from, especially when I’m talking about LOST with other brilliantly articulate people, like my husband and the folks here!
Beth, I’m really loving seeing ways that HP and LOST intersect. And I think there’s a whole lot of Lewis in there too; Darlton did identify the Chronicles of Narnia as one of the most important LOST texts, and there seem to be a lot of great parallels.
Beth, what an excellent point (slap forehead). We don’t know that Jack saw the truth regarding the lighthouse mirror. We only know what he perceived (and perception so often has more power than truth). He went ballistic, believing something that may not (and likely isn’t) true. This then veers toward the Erised theory.
Good catch on the coffin/mirror smashing. Duh. It was right there and I missed it. Also both in White Rabbit and this episode, Jack’s crushing disappointment that his father wasn’t where he expected to find him.
Jeff Jensen is a blast, cockamamie theories, flights of fantasy, and all. I always learn interesting things from him. His Daemon Seed article is a perfect example; I’d never have known anything about the daemon journey otherwise.
Do we have any consensus here that Rose and Bernard are Adam and Eve? Nice little clue there with Hurley’s “what if we went back a thousand years and they’re us?” comment (from memory only). In this lovoing couple’s case, “live together, you don’t die alone.”
Erin, Carleton Cuse is Catholic and Damon Lindelhof is Jewish. I think they give a great Judeo-Christian spirituality to the story, including both OT and NT themes and respective literature. I sure keep hoping for a Harry Potter mention by one of the characters or some kind of reference, as HP was really big during that time period.
Arabella, I’m mostly on board with the Bernard and Rose are Adam and Eve theory, but if it turns out to be something totally different, I’d be fine with that.
And I’ve really appreciated all the Judeo-Christian references dropped throughout the series. As for Harry, I know that when Sawyer got his glasses back in season one Hurley said it looked like somebody steam-rolled Harry Potter; I don’t recall any other explicit references off the top of my head…
Erin, I don’t remember that–how funny! Both Hurley and Saywer have great comedic lines (along with Miles), and the three couldn’t be more different. No cookie-cutter characters and I’ve always appreciated that about LOST.
Yes, all three of them are a hoot! So is taciturn Frank and darkly eloquent Ben. I’m always getting a chuckle out of them.
Frank’s “this is the weirdest d— funeral I’ve ever been to” has to be a classic LOST laugh-out-loud moment.
I was still laughing ten minutes later.
Heck, ten days later!
To Harry Potter references
A Photo of Jack’s bookshelf on shelf #2 and book #9 is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — J.K. Rowling see photo source: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Books_on_Jack%27s_shelf
All literary references http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Literary_works
Wow, fantastic, R. Ross. It makes me feel I should slo-mo every shot like that…or just check Lostpedia more often.
Thanks for sharing this. Harry Potter collides with LOST, deliberately. Interesting that he has No Place Like Home by Mary Higgins Clark, as that’s the title of the episode where he and Kate break up in LA.
It’s not like Lost hasn’t deliberately mentioned Harry Potter
Hurley: Dude, it’s like someone steamrolled Harry Potter.
XD
Thanks, Jessica and Erin, I’m looking forward to rewatching that episode. I probably didn’t notice as I was laughing so hard at Sawyer’s jiggered readers.