Lighthouse

This week's installment of Lost didn't quite pack the punch of last week's powerful Locke-centric hour, but still delivered its share of good moments.

The "sideways" version of Jack was revealed this week to be rather significantly different from the "main" version, much more so than any of the other sideways characters we've seen so far. Divorced in any reality, but a father in this one? The "father trying not to be like his father" story is one that's been told many times, but it can be an effective one when you're invested in the character enough. And even though this is a different Jack, we still bring five seasons of history with us to watch this story -- so I think that qualifies.

On the Island, I found the Claire storyline to be the most interesting one this week. She came on very Danielle Rousseau-like, and I think that's entirely intentional. In fact, skipping ahead for a moment, we saw Rousseau's name crossed out on the lighthouse compass at the end of the episode; whether it's the truth or not, we are clearly meant to consider the possibility that whatever happened to her is what has happened to Claire. (And, if the Temple Dwellers are to be believed, what will happen to Sayid.)

We played all the same beats with Claire that we've seen with Danielle in the past. She was crazed over losing her child to the Others. She was leaving traps all over the jungle. She had no problems torturing (and killing) someone that she captured.

And now we know, from the final moment of the episode, that she's allied herself with Smokey. If this too is what happened to Rousseau, it certainly paints everything involving her from the first few seasons in a new light. (Though it does explain how she lived with we saw the smoke monster kill nearly everyone else she landed with.)

Props to Jin for figuring out what kind of crazy he was dealing with, and trying to maneuver himself back to safety by tricking Claire back to the temple. Too bad UnLocke showed up in time to stop him.

The Hurley/Jack storyline was a mixed bag. The best moments were the hints of connection to the Sideways Jack storyline -- talk of what kind of father he'd be, and of the death of his father. And a few clever lines from Hurley always brings a smile to your face. Whether the other elements of the storyline were worthwhile may require us to look back from a few episodes down the road; for now, it doesn't seem worth the time to mention Shannon again, or the two dead bodies they found in the cave back in season one. (Their identity and/or explanation was never anything I was honestly dying to know until the writers went and brought it up again. So hopefully, this was a calculated move on their parts.)

Of course, it all culminated with the discovery of the lighthouse. I liked the couple lines devoted to explaining how our heroes could have missed it. (Jacob's cabin also couldn't be found unless you were looking for it, so why not this?) What were we really seeing in that mirror? The past? The Sideways reality? I was curious, but less so than in anything else about the episode, since you knew from the moment that Jack starting flipping out that Jacob's plan was for Jack to flip out.

If the pattern continues, next week we'll be back on the Locke-ness Monster and his ever-growing back of recruits, running tandem with Ben, Sun, and Ilana on their own way to the temple. This seems like it might be getting very close to finally reuniting some characters who haven't shared a scene together in more than a season now... something I'm actually really looking forward to.