"Lighthouse" will not be too popular with the fanbase at large--too much Jack and it comes on the heels of a truly great episode. I like Jack, so that's not a problem in this corner. It was a good, solid episode.
2004X
Jack conspicuously looks in a mirror twice, and this becomes quite relevant in the Island timeline as well. He can't remember having his appendix removed; his mother informs him that it happened when he was seven and his father insisted on doing it himself, but was stopped by the other doctors (sounds familiar, eh?). Of course, the big reveal is that Jack has a son, David.
Jack and David are very distant; Margo tells Jack that it was the same when Jack was David's age, but Jack replies that's because he was terrified of Christian. Margo suggests that perhaps David is terrified of him too. Margo and Jack are searching for Christian's will--they find it, and it includes Claire, which might be the most decent thing Christian ever did in his life.
David runs away while Jack is at Margo's house; Jack thinks he might be at his mother's house, and while there he again looks in the mirror, sees a picture of his son in a Dodgers cap, and learns that he is trying out at a music conservatory. We also see that David has a Meat Coat poster on his wall--that's the band that Charlie's reorganized Drive Shaft was supposed to open for. Unfortunately, we don't get any indication of who David's mother might be (Juliet is my #1 candidate).
At the conservatory, Jack runs into Dogen, who comments that there is too much pressure on the kids and that it is tough to watch them but not be able to do anything to help them--similar to the position that Dogen is in while watching over his flock of candidates at the Temple.
David is surprised to see Jack there, and they have a nice father-son chat in which we learn that Jack used to have a creepy-intense interest in his son's piano playing (no surprise given his personality), and that's why David hid it. Jack relates that Christian thought he would fail, and tells David that he loves him unconditionally.
Claire, Jin, and Black Robe
Claire seemed normal at first blush, but the crazy train started rolling down the tracks shortly thereafter. She's using Rousseau's old shelter, dresses Jin's wound as "infection will kill you out there" (an obvious double-meaning). Jin investigates and finds a super-creepy fake baby made of rocks (?) as Claire brings back Jason the Other, not dead after all. She's been told by both her father and her "friend" that the Others took Aaron.
Jason wants Jin to help him stage a prison break, and Jin tells Claire that Kate took Aaron off the Island and raised him--I'm not sure how he would know that Kate ended up taking care of Aaron (last he saw Aaron was with Kate, Sun, and the others on the chopper), but it was a nice try. It doesn't assuage Claire--she was captured by the Others, taken to the Temple, tested like Sayid, and so she axes Jason. At the end of the episode, Jin claims to have lied about Aaron, saying he saw him at the Temple, and Claire says she would have killed Kate were that true. We see that her friend is Black Robe (and she knows he's not really Locke). Uh-oh.
I still expect that Claire will somehow be redeemed and returned to her normal state, but things don't look good at the moment.
Jack and Hurley
Jack tells Sayid why all the Others are looking warily at him, then chats with Dogen. They tell each other little while thanking each other for their honesty--Jack asked if leaving was an option, and the answer was "Everything is an option, but..."
Meanwhile, Jacob appears to Hurley again and tells him he needs to help someone find the Island, and to write things down. He writes on his arm and goes down a secret corridor. Dogen finds him, but can't see the writing on his arm. He tells Hurley he's not supposed to be there; Jacob guides Hurley through the conversation, so Hurley says he's a candidate and can do what he wants. Dogen tells him off in Japanese; Jacob does not provide a helpful translation for Hurley and the audience. Hurley was not supposed to go by himself; he needs Jack to go with him.
Hurley objects that Jack is too stubborn to listen, but Jacob says to tell him that he has what it takes. Sure enough, that does the trick, but how did Jacob know that Jack was always told by Christian that he didn't have what it takes? Hmm...
They slip out into the jungle, meeting Kate, who is still off to search for Claire. That's good, because Hurley tells Jack that Kate was not invited on their trek. They go by the caves, a good opportunity to namedrop Shannon and bring Adam and Eve back on screen for the first time since 1x6. Hurley ponders the possibility that they will travel back in time and two of them will become Adam and Eve. Jack is more interested by his father's coffin, admitting that it was Christian's ghost that led him to the water.
As they continue, Jack and Hurley share stories about why they came back--Hurley because of Jacob's visit, Jack because he was broken and stupid enough to think the Island could fix him.
They soon come across what they were looking for--a lighthouse. Jack, as I admit I was, is somewhat incredulous at finding yet another new Island location (and although he doesn't know it, yet another lair for Jacob), wondering why they hadn't seen it before. Hurley says it must be because they weren't looking for it, and we are left to wonder about the material nature of this structure.
Interestingly, Jack can see the writing on Hurley's arm. Their mission is to turn the light on, which will be accomplished by using the mirror to start a fire. Of course, they need to set it to 108 degrees (and symbolically combine the Oceanic candidates' numbers?). But Jack soon sees that each degree corresponds to a name, and that one can see things in the mirror at each degree. He forces Hurley to go back to his number, 23 degrees, where he sees his childhood home (it looks like the house he still resides in in 2004X). Jack concludes that Jacob has been watching the candidates (answering why he knew "you have what it takes" would be a big winner, and he rightfully snaps and breaks the mirrors.
As Jack takes all of this in and stares off into the distance, Jacob appears to Hurley again. Hurley now has ink on his forehead, and Hurley wonders why Jacob is so calm at the derailment of his plan. Jacob says he's sure they'll find another way to the Island, and that Jack needed to see how important he was on. Jack has a mission to accomplish on the Island, but he needs to discover for himself what it is. Some people can be sent along their way through a chat in the back of a cab--others need more of a push.
As a bonus, Jacob says their trek kept Jack and Hurley away from the Temple--necessary because "someone bad is coming". We then cut to the scene with Claire, Jin, and Black Robe as Locke, leading to the natural question--is the bad person Black Robe? Claire too? All of them? Am I reading too much into this? Quite possibly.
In the good/evil sweepstakes between Jacob and Black Robe, both took hits tonight. Jacob's spying does seem to indicate the sort of malevolent intentions that Black Robe ascribed to his meddling in the lives of the Lostaways. On the other hand, Black Robe has been feeding lies to Claire which lead to her killing an Other for a baby-napping that they didn't actually pull (what are the odds?)
Also, compare and contrast Jacob's reaction to his plan being foiled by humans with Black Robe's angry "I am very disappointed in all of you!" declaration on the beach.
