Lighthouse (Lost)


"Lighthouse" is the fifth television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 108th episode overall. The episode aired on February 23, 2010, on ABC in the United States and 2 hours earlier on A in Canada due to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The episode was written by showrunners and executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and was directed by Jack Bender. Jack Shephard is the character centered on this episode.
In 2007, the ghost of Jacob instructs Hugo "Hurley" Reyes to bring Jack Shephard to an unspecified place. Meanwhile, Jin-Soo Kwon finds Claire Littleton after 3 years of disappearance, but begins to question her sanity. In the "flash-sideways", Jack deals with the issues of parenthood.

Plot

2004 (flash-sideways timeline)

Following the events of the season premiere, "LA X", Jack Shephard arrives late to pick up his son, David, from school. David is shown to be distant from his father. Jack visits his mother to help find Jack's father's will, leaving David alone. Jack and his mother discuss David; his mother reveals that David was quite upset at his grandfather's funeral, but he never showed it to Jack. She suggests that perhaps David is "terrified" of Jack, just as Jack was afraid of his father as a child, and recommends Jack ask David about this. Finally, they find the will, but are confused to see Claire Littleton included in it; unbeknownst to them, Claire is Jack's half-sister.
Jack returns home to find that David has snuck out. Jack goes to David's mother's house; his mother is absent but Jack learns that David is at an important piano recital. Jack goes to the conservatory where David is performing a stunning interpretation of Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu on the piano. Jack also runs into Dogen, another parent at the event, who praises David's skill and believes he has a gift. Afterward, David admits that he didn't tell Jack about the recital for fear of disappointing him. Jack explains his complicated relationship with his father and reassures his son that he can never be a disappointment to him; David appears to warm up to his father now.

2007 (original timeline)

Following the events of the episode "What Kate Does", at the Others' temple, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is approached by the ghost of the deceased Jacob, who tasks Hurley on a mission to lead Jack to an unspecified location on the island in order to aid the arrival of someone en route to the island. Hurley has free rein to complete the mission because he is a candidate and even Dogen cannot stop him. Hurley uses the phrase "you have what it takes" to recruit Jack. Along the way, Jack and Hurley encounter Kate Austen, who tells them that she will neither return to the temple nor go with them, but continue her search for Claire. Jack and Hurley eventually pass through the caves, encountering the "Adam & Eve" skeletons and Jack's father's coffin. Hurley speculates that due to time travel, the skeletons could be someone they know in the present.
Jack and Hurley arrive at a lighthouse, at the top of which is a large dial and a series of mirrors lined up. Each notch on the dial has a name listed next to it, corresponding to the surnames and numbers seen in "The Substitute". Hurley begins to move the dial to 108 degrees as instructed by Jacob, but Jack turns the dial to the 23 mark, where his own surname is listed, revealing Jack's childhood home in the reflection; Jack realizes that Jacob has been watching all of them for a long time, and becomes extremely upset. He angrily interrogates Hurley, who is unable to answer any of his questions since he cannot control when Jacob appears to him, leading Jack to destroy the mirrors. Outside, Jacob reappears to Hurley, congratulating him on bringing Jack to the lighthouse. Hurley realizes that Jacob did not want them to send a signal from the lighthouse, but instead needed Jack to see into the mirror and realize that he is important to the Island. Jacob also divulges that he needed to get Jack and Hurley away from the temple because "someone bad" was coming there.
At the same time, Jin-Soo Kwon is rescued by Claire from her trap, taking him and an injured Other, Justin, to her hideout. Claire reveals she's been living on the island in the 3 years since Jin and everyone else's departure. She treats Jin's leg injury and then threatens to kill Justin unless he tells her the location of her son Aaron. Justin helplessly says that he has no idea where Aaron is and the Others never kidnapped him. Claire believes that the Others have her baby because both her father and "her friend" told her so. Jin informs her that Kate has been raising Aaron off the island. Claire murders Justin, regardless, claiming he would do the same to her given the chance. Jin then claims that he was lying about Aaron earlier, leading Claire to say she would have killed Kate if it were true. Later, Claire's "friend", who turns out to be the Man in Black impersonating John Locke, shows up as Jin and Claire discuss how to return to the temple.

Reception

The episode received positive reviews. Metacritic awarded a score of 71 out of 100. This was down on the previous week's episode, which scored an 88 out of 100. Chris Carbot of IGN gave the episode a positive review, saying "Lighthouse isn't filled with the wall-to-wall excitement of last week's Locke-centric story but it still has plenty of great moments and surprising revelations." Overall, he gave the episode a score of 8.8. Noel Murray of The A.V. Club praised the episode, and gave the episode a grade of A-. Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly gave the episode a positive review as well, stating "tonight's episode, “Lighthouse,” was not as awesome as last week's episode, “The Substitute,” nor was it as mind-melting as the season premiere, “LA X.” But it was certainly better than “What Kate Does"... the more I sit with this episode, the more I'm digging it." James Poniewozik of Time gave the episode a positive review as well, stating the episode "moved the endgame forward." Varietys Cynthia Littleton praised "Lighthouse" for having "a heavy old-school "Lost" vibe" and the flash-forwards starting to make more sense.
However, some critics gave the episode mixed reviews. Maureen Ryan of Chicago Tribune thought, "If I have any recurring complaint this season, it's this: A great episode of 'Lost' works as an hour of TV. It may leave you with questions but it doesn't leave you thinking you have to wait three or four or six more weeks to figure out certain basic facts about what's going on". Also, Eric Deggans of St. Petersburg Times gave the episode a negative review, criticizing Jack's storylines while praising Claire's, "this is the new rhythm for Lost's final season; one groundbreaking episode filled with revelations and amazing characterizations, followed by an episode so static it feels as if the show is running in place … interesting moments came when it turned to the story of Claire in the post-crash timeline." IGN ranked the episode 41st out of the 115 Lost episodes, noting that "the answers still weren't coming this early in Season 6, much to the confusion of fans everywhere", while the Los Angeles Times ranked "Lighthouse" as the 91st, saying it was "a hotly divisive episode" but "improves the more the show fills in the gaps around it and the more the show makes Jack the center of its final season."