Lost season 6 episode guide: Episode 6.4 "The Lighthouse"

Synopsis:

In island time: Hurley's talking to dead Jacob again. Jacob instructs him to bring a suspicious Jack to an ancient lighthouse high up on one of the island's rocky shores and to direct the mirrored lights at the top of the lighthouse to a particular set of coordinates. Somebody is coming to the island, Jacob says, and they need help finding the way.

Jack tags along because he wants to see Jacob: No longer the skeptical man of science, Jack is now convinced there's some weird mumbo jumbo afoot that's taken him to the island--twice. When Hurley tells Jack that he must come with him because Jacob said Jack "has what it takes," that seals the deal. Jack's dad once told him that Jack didn't have what it took. Jack is convinced Jacob, whoever the heck he may be, knows more than is normal about his life and he wants to confront him.

When they get up in the lighthouse, Jack demands to see Jacob. But Hurley can't deliver him. Only Hurley, it seems, can see Jacob. Around the mirrors on the light, Jack sees hundreds of scrawled names next to numbers, including his own, next to the number 23. When he aligns the mirrors to his name and number, he see his own childhood home in the mirrors. He becomes angry, convinced that Jacob has been watching and manipulating him for many years and he wants to know what Jacob is after. He becomes so angry, in fact, that he smashes all the mirrors.

Later, Jacob turns up to visit Hurley, as Jack seethes and ponders, staring out at the sea. Jacob is surprisingly calm about the smashed mirrors, telling Hurley that Jack has a purpose on the island, but is having trouble determining what it is. He'll come around.

Jacob also tells Hurley that he and Jack must stay away from the Temple, because danger is coming there. Hurley wants to go back and warn those at the Temple, but Jacob calmly tells him that it's too late.

Elsewhere on the island, Jin and the Other Justin are taken by the new, mentally-disturbed jungle version of Clair to her camp. She's convinced that the Others took her child three years ago when the other Oceanic survivors left the island. Jin trieds to calm her down, but to no success. When Justin insists that they don't have Aaron, she kills him. She also tells Jin that she hasn't been on her own over the past three years. She was with her dad, Christian Shephard, for a while and an unnamed "friend."

Right around this time John Locke/Smokey turns up at Clair's tent. Startled, Jin says "John!" Claire, amused, says, "That's not John. That's my friend."

In sideways time: It turns out Jack is divorced (we don't know from who) and has a surly teen-aged son. As with earlier in the season, this version of Jack seems mystified by certain things, though. Earlier, it was a wound on his neck. This time its a scar from having his appendix out. He talks to his mother, asking when he had his appendix removed. When he was a child, she says. But we know that he had this surgery performed, under primitive conditions, as an adult on the island. Through the course of the episode Jack and his son make amends. Jack realizes that, like his own dad, he's been hard on his son and difficult to deal with. He shows his gentler side and apologizes, hoping to be a better dad.

Questions/observations/speculation:

• Who is the mother of Jack's son?
• Does/did he have a child in the regular timeline too?
• Who is coming to the island? Is Jacob telling the truth about this?
• What's the secret behind Jacob's lighthouse and Jacob in general?
• Did Smokey inhabit the body of Christian Shephard before that of Locke? Or did Jacob? It seemed like, in the past, Jacob was the one speaking through Christian?
• The song that David, Jack's son, performs on piano is Chopin's Fantaisie Impromptu, the same piece we hear a young Daniel Faraday playing last season.
• On their way to the lighthouse, Hurley and Jack pass the caves the survivors lived in shortly after the crash. And they again see the bodies of two previous plane crash survivors. Who were they people? Hurley wonders if its the Oceanic survivors themselves, displaced in time.
• Jack also see his father's coffin and tells Hurley that the body was missing after the crash, and that he follows his father's ghost, or something, to the caves, which is how he found them in the first place.

Read what happened on last week's episode!

Teaser for Lost Feb. 23, 2010: Episode 6.4 "Lighthouse"

Highlight the hidden text for spoilers:

HURLEY MUST CONVINCE JACK TO GO WITH HIM ON AN UNSPECIFIED MISSION, ON ABC'S "LOST"

"Lighthouse" - Hurley must convince Jack to accompany him on an unspecified mission, and Jin stumbles across an old friend, on "Lost," TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. "Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Terry O'Quinn as Locke and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana. Guest starring are Veronica Hamel as Margo Shephard, Mark Pellegrino as Jacob, Hiroyuki Sanada as Dogen, Dayo Ade as Justin, Dylan Minnette as David and Sean Kinerney as Japanese boy. "Lighthouse" was written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse and directed by Jack Bender.

Lost season 6 episode guide: Episode 6.3 "The Substitute"

Synopsis:

In sideways time we see a Locke who never gets stuck on the island, but who returns to Los Angeles from Australia not having gone on his walkabout. He wasn't allowed to go, he tells his supportive wife (yes, Helen), because he's confined to a wheelchair.

This Locke also gets fired from his box factory job because his boss, the irksome Randy, learns he also didn't attend a business conference while in Australia, the reason he got his ticket to the Land Down Under in the first place.

Dejected, Locke heads to the parking lot to head home, where he encounters Hurley, the Hummer-driving owner of the box outfit. Hurley expresses sympathy and gives Locke a business card for a temp agency that he runs. There, Locke meets Rose, manager of the agency, who helps him get a job as a substitute teacher. One day, on the job, Locke strikes up a conversation with another educator in a high school teachers' lounge--none other than Benjamin Linus.

In island time: Smokey, in the guise of Locke, has been holding Richard prisoner in hopes of getting Richard to join his cause. Richard won't go for it, and Smokey lets him go.

Later, Smokey finds Sawyer in the Dharma barracks. For some reason, as yet unrevealed, Smokey needs help to attain his goal--leaving the island. He tries to recruit Sawyer to the cause.

Although drunk out of his gourd (he's still mourning Juliette and the overall suckiness of his time-shifted life), Sawyer somehow recognizes that this Locke isn't Locke. He says "what are you?"

Smokey tells Sawyer that if he follows him, Sawyer will learn why he ended up on the island in the first place. Sawyer agrees and follows Smokey down a perilous cliff face to a hidden sea cave. The roof of the cave is inscribed with many names, most of them crossed out. But among those not crossed off are those of the still-living Oceanic crash survivors, including Sawyer.

This is evidently Jacob's list. And we see in flashbacks how Jacob had encountered most (not all, see the section below) of the Oceanic survivors back in civilization. Smokey says each of those named was selected by Jacob to come to the island and protect it.

"Protect it from what?," asks Sawyer. "From nothing," says Smokey. He says the island is safe, it doesn't need protecting and that what he wants most is what Sawyer wants, to get the hell off. Sawyer says he'll help.

Questions/observations/speculation:

• Once with Richard and another time with Sawyer, Smokey glimpses a vision of a young boy. The second time, this boy tells Smokey he can't kill Sawyer, it's "against the rules." This makes Smokey angry and he says, as the real Locke often did, "Don't tell me what I can't do!"
• Richard can't see the boy, but Sawyer can. How come?
• Is the boy a younger version of Jacob? Sure looks like it.
• Smokey describes Locke to Richard as a "candidate," which mystifies Richard. A candidate for what, he asks. Later, Smokey tells Sawyer that all the people on Jacob's list are candidates for Jacob's job of protecting the island.
• Why are the candidates candidates? Why did Jacob select these particular people?
• Is Smokey telling the truth when he says there is no threat against the island? Probably not. But what is a threat to the island? Smokey himself, or some outside source?
• Again, why is Smokey trapped on the island?
• At one point on island time, Ilana tells Ben that Smokey is trapped in the form of Locke. Why?
• Smokey tells Sawyer that "Of Mice and Men" was written a little "after" his time. This indicates that he's been on the island for many years. Of course, we've already been shown that in the flashback to Jacob and Smokey (in his original form) talking at the foot of the statue last season.
• We don't see Kate's name amongst those scrawled on the cave ceiling. Is she not a candidate? And we only see the name Kwon. Does this refer to Jin or Sun or both?

Also, each of the "candidates" has a number that corresponds with the show's much-pondered mystery digits:

4: Locke
8: Hurley
15: Sawyer
16: Sayid
23: Jack (or maybe Jack's dad, Christian? The cave writing just says "Shepherd")
42: Kwon (Sun, Jin or both?)

Read what happened on last week's episode!

New Entertainment Weekly focuses on the mysteries of Lost

The mag has a new cover story on the show:

As the series heads towards its May 23 finale, some of the cast members are taking a more “ignorance is bliss” approach, preferring to let the story unfold rather than guessing what will become of their character in the final episodes. Emilie de Ravin — whose Claire is back with a vengeance (and a wild-woman-of-the-jungle makeover) after being absent since season 4 — spent her time away from Lost shooting movies (including Public Enemies) and, well, not watching Lost.

Lost: details for Feb. 10, 2010 episode: The Substitute

Highlight the hidden text for spoilers:

LOCKE SEARCHES FOR HELP TO FURTHER HIS CAUSE,

ON ABC'S "LOST"

"The Substitute" - Locke goes in search of help to further his cause, on "Lost," TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Terry O'Quinn as Locke and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana.

Guest starring are L. Scott Caldwell as Rose, Katey Sagal as Helen, Billy Ray Gallion as Randy, Suzanne Krull as Lynn Karnoff, Kenton Duty as teenage boy, Eddie L. Cavett as courier and Joshua Smith as school kid.

"The Substitute" was written by Elizabeth Sarnoff & Melinda Hsu Taylor and directed by Tucker Gates.

Lost season 6 episode guide: Episode 6.2: "What Kate Does"

Synopsis:
In island time: Sayid has sprung back to life, but the Others are suspicious. Mr. Dogen subjects Sayid to tests (torture, more like) and finds that he's been "infected." Dogen tries to persuade Jack to give Sayid some medicine, which is actually poison. Jack refuses. Dogen says that the infection is spreading with Sayid. When it reaches the heart, Sayid will lose his soul. This same thing, Dogen tells Jack, happened to Jack's sister: Claire.

Meanwhile, Sawyer decides he's not going to be a prisoner of the Others again and leaves the Temple, despite the Others telling him he's safer inside. Kate and Jin soon follow, accompanied by two Others as guards, who Kate manages to knock out and ditch. Jin wants to look for Sun and he and Kate go their separate ways.

Kate catches up with Sawyer in the Dharma village, where Sawyer recovers the engagement ring he'd planned to give the now-dead Juliette. Sawyer blames himself for Juliette's death and Kate is very sad.

Back in the jungle, Jin is recaptured by the Others is about to be shot when--the Others get shot! By a perplexed and homicidal-looking Claire!

In sideways time: Kate makes a break for it at the airport, seizing control of a taxi cab containing...Claire! This time it's sweet, normal, pregnant Claire. Kate dumps Claire but later goes back to here, after realizing that the suitcase left behind contains a stuff killer whale doll, presumably for yet-to-be-born Aaron. Kate learns that Claire plans to give up the baby and they go to the home of the adoptive parents. However, the dad isn't there. He's split and abandoned the would-be mother. Claire is shocked and goes into labor (don't you love TV?) and Kate and she end up going to the hospital. Some cops arrive, but Claire plays dumb, allowing Kate to escape.

Questions/observations/speculation:

• One of the Others who leaves with Kate and Sayid is named Aldo and was Kate's guard on the smaller island when she was locked up in the polar bear cage.
• What is the infection and how will it harm Sayid?
• How was Claire infected and when? What exactly happened to her?
• Was Ben also infected as a child when he was taken to the Temple? 
• There was an episode titled "What Kate Did" in season 2 of "Lost."

Read what happened on last week's episode.

Tonight on Lost!

Read a teaser for tonight's episode here!

Book 'em, Danno: Daniel Dae Kim headed to Hawaii Five-O

Daniel Dae King, who plays Jin on "Lost," will head the cast in a new remake of "Hawaii Five-O," according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Lost season 6 finale date announced

It's all over May 23, says ABC.

"LOST" SERIES FINALE EVENT SET FOR SUNDAY, MAY 23 ON ABC
Finale to Air on a Special Night, Sunday, May 23 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET,
Preceded by a Recap Special from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET

Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment Group, today announced the "Lost" series finale date, airing as a primetime event on a special night on Sunday, May 23 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET. Preceding the finale will be a recap special from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET.

"Lost is an example of what happens when you put creativity above everything else, trust the creative vision, and take the risks required to be truly original," said McPherson. "It's a testament to staying true to the creative vision of one of the most iconic shows ever on television, and we're giving the producers an unprecedented opportunity to respect the fans and really satisfy the viewers with a spectacular conclusion."

The critically acclaimed, hit drama premiered on September 22, 2004. The series was nominated for numerous awards and was a 2008 recipient of the prestigious Peabody Award, and awarded the 2005 Emmy and 2006 Golden Globe for Best Drama Series. At the end of its sixth and final season, "Lost" will have aired 114 episodes (121 episodic hours).

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse appeared on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" after "Lost's" season premiere on Tuesday, February 2 (12:05 a.m., ET) to discuss the upcoming season.

Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a Pacific island, leaving 48 passengers alive and stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific. The survivors include a diverse group of people from different walks of life -- a doctor, an escaped fugitive, a con man, an Iraqi interrogator, a married Korean couple and a man formerly confined to a wheelchair who is now inexplicably healed. As the castaways attempt to get home, flashbacks (and forwards) illuminate their troubled lives before and after the crash, as the island that they find themselves stranded on begins to slowly reveal its mysterious nature. Faith, reason, destiny and free will all clash as the island offers opportunities for both corruption and redemption... but as to its true purpose? That's the greatest mystery of all.

Episode teaser for Lost episode 6.2 on 2/9/2010

Highlight the hidden text for spoilers:

KATE'S ON THE RUN, ON ABC'S "LOST"

"What Kate Does" - Kate finds herself on the run, while Jack is tasked with something that could endanger a friend's life, on "Lost," TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Terry O'Quinn as Locke and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana.

"What Kate Does" was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Paul Edwards.

"Lost" is broadcast in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound and Spanish subtitles via secondary closed captioning. A TV parental guideline will be assigned closer to airdate.

Lost season 6 episode guide: Episode 6.1: LA X

Synopsis:

Well, evidently the bomb went off. But it didn't entirely do the trick of re-setting our heroes into a pre-Oceanic crash setting. Instead, we now have two time streams in play.

On the island: Jack, Sawyer, Hurley, Kate, Miles, Jin and Sayid all regain post-explosion consciousness on the, well, island. But it's now the present (or whenever) day. The Hatch is there, blown up. But the explosion didn't prevent its construction.

Elsewhere on the island: We see that whoever's been marching around in the guise of Locke is the man in black we saw at the end of last season. And, as speculated, this man in black is also the smoke monster we've been wondering about since season 1.

Richard Alpert and the Others on the beach have figured out something's not quite right. When Ben comes stumbling out of the statue alone, Richard demands to know what happened inside. Ben lies (how unusual) that Locke and Jacob are still inside. But Richard knows he's being duped. He forces Ben to look at the real Locke, lying dead on the beach in his nice funeral suit.

Ilana's people--evidently Jacob's bodyguards--decide to bring Ben back into the statue to confront the fake Locke. Fake Locke, however, turns into a smoke monster and kills them all. Smokey tells Ben "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." He also says that, unlike the real Locke, he wants nothing more than to get off the island and go "home."

Then he marches out onto the beach and beats up Richard, tossing him over his shoulder and marches into the jungle after telling the assembed Others that he's "very disappointed" in them.

Back with Jack and the rest: The group hears Juliet's voice from inside the Hatch wreckage and go to work, furiously, to get her out. Ultimately, Sawyer makes it to her side. She's in bad shape. Before she dies, she manages to say "I need to tell you something important..." but doesn't finish. Later, via Miles' "I hear dead people" power, we learn she want to say "it worked."

Meanwhile, "I talk with dead people guy" Hurley is visited by the ghost of Jacob who tells him to bring Sayid to the Others' temple so he can be saved. Sayid is on the verge of death from his gunshot wound. The rest of the group minus Sawyer and Miles who are burying Juliet, go to the temple and are soon captured by a new, mysterious group of Others led by a Japanese man, Mr. Dogen, and his hippie-ish assistant Lennon.

These Others also eventually capture Sawyer and Miles and bring them to the Temple too. We learn that all our heroes are on a list provided to Hurley, hidden inside an ankh inside Charlie's old guitar case (this is such a weird show).

These Others place Sayid in a pool of clouded water (apparently it's normally supposed to be clear) and try to revive him. But this doesn't work. Sayid dies and his body is placed on the ground near Jack and his group.

The Japanese man demands to learn more of Hurley's association with Jacob and is freaked out when he learns that Jacob is dead. The temple crew goes on full alert, spreading sand (or something) all over the place to keep out Smokey. In the midst of all the action Sayid comes back to life.

Meanwhile in the other new/old time stream: Most of the folks we know from the Oceanic crash are back on the plane, which doesn't crash. It lands in L.A. and none of the characters remembers or knows anything about the island. They move forward as if none of that happened. Some of them meet and talk, but have no memories of their previous relationships. Also, the body of Jack's dad has gone missing and Jack has a mysterious cut on his neck.

The show's producers say these sections are "flash sideways," allowing them to depict what might happen had the characters never landed on the island. Will it all somehow fit together in the end? I don't know.

And, there's a wild scene where we see that the island, complete with food statue, is leagues and leagues below the sea.

Questions/observations/speculation:

• Why is the island underwater in the sideways time frame?
• Is the sideways time stream actually a flash forward to later in the season? I mean, perhaps what happens on the island in future episodes will ultimately lead to a re-set, which our characters placed back aboard the plane, never realizing any of this stuff happened?
• In the temple, Lennon demands to talk privately with Jack, who refuses, but they are both interuppted by Sayid's sudden resurrection.
• Is Sayid still really Sayid? Or is he a new vehicle for Jacob?
• Why the deliberate space between "LA" and "X" is the episode title?
• Where is Smokey's home and why are/were he and Jacob on the island? They seem to be playing parts and locked into them. They can't leave the island. They can't kill each other. They have been there for centuries but haven't aged past their 30s or 40s.
• Will the real Locke remain dead?
• Where did Smokey go with Richard? What is their past history?
• What's up with Jack's cut?
• What's up with Desmond being on the Oceanic flight and suddenly going missing? Is he keeping his promise to Jack to "see you in another life, brother."
• On the plane, Desmond is reading Salman Rushdie's "Haroun And The Sea of Stories."