Amy Smashes Through The Looking Glass: How "Lighthouse" Illuminates LOST

This is a REWIND POST -- Originally published February 25, 2010 [Nearly a year ago! ACK!], just a few weeks into Season 6.  I'm so excited because this post actually builds on our recent discussion of ELOISE the RAT and DANIEL'S EXPERIMENT [HERE].  Whenever you read "Jack," think "Eloise." Whenever you read "Jacob" think "Daniel."  Same rules apply -- I haven't changed ONE WORD of this post since it was published. Please keep that in mind as you read. 
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The Brilliance of "Lighthouse" - The Mystery of LA_X

First things first, and I’m just gonna say it. I think this Jack-centered episode (6.06) is one of the best LOST episodes ever. I mean best made, best edited, best written AND best acted (especially by Matthew Fox). I know many disagree and might even accuse me of selling out to my imaginary lust for MFox, but I protest! I think, if you let me show you what actually happened in “Lighthouse,” you’ll see it too.

Disclaimer: I’m known for my “far out” theories, and they play a big part in what I’m about to do with “Lighthouse.” However, don’t let this dissuade you. In order for you to get the full effect, I recommend that you forget everything else – all the other shows – and consider “Lighthouse” as a “stand alone” story.

There are only two things we’ll need to cover before I prove how AWESOME “Lighthouse” is. These basic elements of how storytelling takes place on LOST can be tough to swallow at first, but I promise, you’ll like how it feels in the end. [So soft and comfy—ahhh--]

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Thing 1

Nothing in Jack’s flash-sideways is real. It’s not an alternate timeline, it’s not a reset, it’s not time travel and it doesn’t take place in the future or past for Jack.

[Don’t panic. I CAN prove it with “Lighthouse,” but only if you keep reading!]

If it’s not real, then what is it (you might say)? Simplest answer: Jack’s LA_X story is an interactive experience that takes place in his mind. Think of it like a vision quest, a walkabout but one he experiences on “The Other side.”

Let's be clear. LA_X Jack is still the REAL Jack, just not in the physical world (where his SUPER hot bod is). He has been planted into a scenario that looks and feels familiar – his apartment, his mom, his dad’s study, but he’s been given an assignment, a problem to solve. Solving this problem is Jack’s walkabout.

And his problem is this: Jack must fix his relationship/make emotional contact with his son, David, who, for reasons unknown to Jack, hates his guts.

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It’s Not Not Real Panic Relief

How is this possible, this unreal directed dream thingy that’s only in Jack’s mind? The simplest answer is the easiest answer, and it’s provided for us in “Lighthouse.” Jacob admits he provided this experience for Jack. Somehow, Jacob is able to generate these experiences for our losties [which play out IN THEIR HEADS] and monitor them while they work through the program/figure things out (“He’s been watching us!”). NOTE: he’s also able to “show” them “unreal” things on the island (lighthouse mirror), which makes the island a “real” world modified by perception. Things are not always what they seem.

[More on "exactly how" the island works later. Also, Karen over at Karen’s Lost Notebook has some pretty excellent ideas about “exactly how,” so check out her stuff if you’re wantin’ more.]

I actually think the island/Jacob was originally intended to provide folks with ways create their own psychological/emotional healing just like Jacob does for Jack. Remember, Jack tells Hurley he came back to the island because he was “broken,” and nearly every single one of our losties seems to have some kind of psychological damage. It would explain, a little, the Dharma Initiative’s obsession with Jacob, too.

I can’t be more specific into the “exactly how” that without going into lots of side ideas, so let’s just stick with “Jacob” is the “how.”

If you examine the flash-sideways from this perspective, it eliminates a lot of confusion about timelines et al. There are NO timelines necessary because this experience is taking place in Jack’s mind. There’s no need to physically relate this experience to the island in any way. His body stays on the island. His consciousness is visiting LA_X – much like Desmond’s did when he collected Penny’s phone number (DING DING DING).

What’s more, it totally doesn’t matter who David’s mom is, or when Jack got married, or how he got from the island to LA_X. It doesn’t even matter if David is actually a musical genius or even if he’s “really” Jack’s son or even if Jack HAS a son. NONE OF THOSE THINGS MATTER because this experience is NOT taking place in the physical world.

However, this doesn’t mean David isn’t a “real” person to Jack, or that Jack’s problems with David aren’t “real” or important. In fact, reconciling his relationship with David becomes the KEY factor in Jack’s fixing what’s wrong with himself.

Thing 1 Review:

• Jack’s flash-sideways is not physically “real.” It is a constructed experience created and monitored by Jacob specifically for Jack.
• This experience only takes place in Jack’s head as a directed (day) dream-type deal.
• In this world, Jack only knows or needs to know whatever information helps him solve his problem.
• In LA_X, Jack’s problem to solve is: how do I talk to my son?

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It's Not Not Real Panic Relief - Pt 2

I know. I know. You don’t think Darlton would “cheat” by having half the show be “not real.” But ask yourself this: if it influences our losties and events on the island, is it still “not real?”

If Jacob helps Jack with these experiences, are they still worthless because they’re not physically “real?”

Jack’s LA_X story, I’d argue, is just as “real” to him as his physical experiences on the island, right? Especially if he was aware of his internal LA_X experiences and they became integrated into his internal beliefs and external actions on the island (this is what I’m gonna prove later on).

Consider every hint Darlton have given us about Season 6 (I’m stickin’ with Official Podcasts only). Everything they say about how to interpret the flash-sideways fits, but ONLY IF these flash-sideways take place on the “Other Side” as directed dreams, directly connected to our losties’ minds, and ONLY IF THEY TAKE PLACE IN THE PRESENT TENSE.

This brings us to:

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Thing 2

I’ve heard many an unhappy fan claim LA_X doesn’t connect to the island.

But in Amy’s world, this is not true! I’d argue it ABSOLUTELY connects. In fact, LA_X is MORE relevant to what’s happening to our island losties than any of the flashforwards or flashbacks were.

Here's the problem: fans are trying to plug LA_X events into the perceived timeline fans have created out of what they’ve seen on the show up to now, and that’s not how LA_X works. Which is why interpreting LA_X this way isn’t working. It doesn’t fit or make sense.

Do you want to rid yourself of this aggravating problem? Cuz I can help! But it won’t work if you keep uniformly rejecting the idea that events in LA_X aren’t happening in the physical world. Try putting your rejection on hold, just for a bit, and I’ll see what I can do.

Got it? Are you on board? Dedicated to the idea that LA_X storyline takes place in a directed daydream world (NOT the physical world)? Good for you! [I’m very proud of you!] I’ll be quick!

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Jagged Little Theory Pills

If Jack’s LA_X storyline takes place in Jack’s mind and doesn’t exist anywhere at anytime in the physical world, then the calendar date in LA_X is irrelevant.

Oceanic 815 lands 9/22/2004, obviously. BUT it’s only 2004 in JACK’S MIND as he THINKS or experiences this LA_X storyline/directed dream. Stick with that, and POOF! The timeline conflict disappears.

If Jack’s LA_X storyline takes place in Jack’s mind and doesn’t exist anywhere at anytime in the physical world, then the only way events in the LA_X storyline fit into the overall story entirely depends on WHEN Jack experiences them in relationship to his experiences on the island.

That is, since events in LA_X take place in Jack’s mind, and since the human mind is physically anchored to the human brain, and since Jack is human and keeps his brain handy with him on the island, it goes to show that events in Jack’s mind happen ONLY when he is thinking or paying attention/experiencing them regardless of where his body is. This means that before and after Jack is experiencing his LA_X story in his mind, he is experiencing his story on the island.

No two scenes could happen simultaneously because Jack can’t experience the physical world of the island (for us to see) at the exact same time as he’s experiencing his directed (day)dream.

In “Lighthouse,” the scenes for JACK, and only Jack, would appear like this:

• Scene 1 - LA_X events – Jack – Picks kid up late.
• Scene 2 - Island events – Mainly Jack – Chats up Dogen.
• Scene 3 - LA_X events – Jack – David rejects Jack’s efforts.
• Scene 4 - Island events – Mainly Jack—Sayid questions Jack.

And so on.

NOTE: After watching David blow off his conversation efforts in LA_X, we find Jack meditating in the Temple courtyard when we return to the island. THAT’S what’s happening. He is physically “waiting” while his directed dream experience is happening. He’s “watching”/experiencing LA_X with us. [That makes us the observers. Cool right?]

As long as you can prove that events in a scene affect the events the scene or scenes to follow, you’ve proven that the use of flash-sideways nothing more than LINEAR STORYTELLING (Take that, Darlton!). It’s just plain, old, simple storytelling: showing us what Jack experiences on the island (with his physical body) and what Jack experiences in LA_X (in his head) in chronological order.

So let’s prove it.

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This LOST Theory created by A. Monroe (@aohora)