Hugo And His Magic Mirror

Hugo And His Magic Mirror

Mar 01

Over at my personal blog, I posted a bit about the last ep of LOST, “The Lighthouse.”  As part of our ongoing coverage of the most important and electrifying epic final season in television history, we’re reposting that right here in its entirety.  On Thursday, Matt will be here with a reaction to the sixth hour of the Lostpocalypse, so stay tuned, or even better, subscribe to our posts!

You know what I love about a good Jack-centric episode of LOST?

“Is it that you hate Jack so much that you revel in any opportunity to see him damage his own life and the lives of others, especially when he and his myriad dysfunctions are the prime focus?”

Yes, Imaginary Reader I’m Having A Fake Conversation With.  You got it in one.

Last night’s episode proved to be no exception.  Spoilers Follow.

With each progressive episode, we’re learning more shocking things about how divergent the parallel storylines are.  For instance, Jack is a father with a teenage son (apparently not, interestingly enough, with Sarah, who Jack didn’t even meet until 2001) who seems to have the same skittish and distant relationship with him that Jack does with his own father.  Margo alludes that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree when she rebuffs Jack for balking at the prospect of his son David being afraid of him.  She also says, “Good for you,” when Jack turns down a drink, which might indicate that it’s Jack and not his father that’s a candidate for AA in this timeline (though Jack’s drinking has always been evident in flashbacks, it’s not really until he returns from the island in 2004 that it starts to spiral out of control).  Once again, we see a scene with Jack discovering an injury he didn’t know he had – this time, an appendectomy scar.

Meanwhile, on the island, Jack reacts to the events of the past few episodes much like you’d expect – he pouts and is sullen and withdrawn.  He gets needled into following Hurley to the lighthouse by being reminded of his daddy issues – fitting, since this is very much an episode about parent-child relationships – and then proceeds to unsuccessfully try to reconcile with Kate, who is herself in a serious sulk because of her rejection by Sawyer. Because when confronted with the secrets of a magical island and the danger of an unknowable supernatural monster threat, the only sensible thing to do is try to work out your relationship problems.  Then again, this is the guy who thought that he could fix things with his ex by detonating a hydrogen bomb.  And they gave him a fucking medical degree.  He’s a spinal surgeon.  This makes me mistrust doctors 100% more than actually working with and around doctors ever has.

Then Hurley takes Jack to a lighthouse and Jack proceeds to smash all of the mirrors in the lighthouse – which were apparently magic -  with an antique telescope – which wasn’t magic – while having one of his trademark Jack-entitlement tantrums.  Thanks for smashing the magic fucking mirror, Jack. That wasn’t ever going to be useful.  At this point, if I were the writers of LOST, I’d come really close to explaining things about the island and then have Jack swoop in and ruin it right at the last second.

“Oh. The giant four-toed crocodile statue?  That’s here because -”
*STAB*
“WE HAVE TO GO BACK, KATE!”

Oh, and because Jack’s crazitude is apparently genetic, his kid sister murders someone with an ax. Go team.

I love this show.