What’s in a name? As this week’s installment of Lost reminded us, a whole lot. Whether it was reviewing screenshots of the names on the dial, thinking back to the names written on the cave’s walls, or wondering who’s on their way to the island, “Lighthouse” had us playing the name game as we tried to figure out what will happen next. As usual, we turned to our favorite Internet Lost experts for guidance — as well as you, dear readers! Turns out you guys catch things that many Lost obsessives don’t, and kindly share them in the comments. Read on to see what we learned from this week’s episode.
• Jace thinks that we’ve known about Jacob’s little house of mirrors all along. He guesses that the flashbacks we’ve seen throughout the series have actually been Jacob watching in the mirror, similar to how Smokey seems to scan and “download” information from people he comes across. He also points out that Claire appears to be able to differentiate between Christian and Smokey, and that Christian’s body is still missing. So who’s Christian? [Televisionary]
• Speaking of Claire knowing MIB right away, does that mean that “infected” people can spot him, no matter what he looks like? Bonus trivia: Did you notice that Jack’s ex-wife’s address is house number 23? And that the hieroglyph Hurley was looking for was an ouroboros, the same symbol Eloise Hawking had a brooch of in “Flashes Before Your Eyes”? [It Happened Last Night/Zap2It]
• Whose name corresponds to the all-important number 108 on the lighthouse dial? Well, it could be Penny or Charles Widmore, Walt, or Desmond. But since the name written on the dial is “Wallace,” maybe it’s a character we haven’t met yet. [DocArzt’s Lost Blog]
• Dismissing speculation that the aforementioned Wallace is Walt or Widmore, one fan speculates that it refers to none other than Jacob himself! That’s right: Jacob Wallace. This also ties in nicely with the previously floated idea that Jacob is somehow the sum of all the candidates. [Lost Theories]
• Wondering whom Jacob is trying to bring to the island, one theorist suspects it’s either Desmond, because the island isn’t “done” with him, according to Eloise Hawking, or Charles Widmore, who seemed to be turning over a new leaf last season by helping Locke and Desmond. And for the hell of it, a guess on who sideways Jack’s ex-wife is: Juliet! [Mistaking Coincidence for Fate]
• According to Matthew Fox himself, Jacob’s little plan worked: “I think in the end, after the wrestling he’s gone through with this argument between reason and faith, finally coming up against the indisputable fact that his destiny does lie on this island will be a relief,” he told People. “Everything lies on Jack succeeding and accomplishing something there.” So, you know, no pressure. [TV Watch/People]
• The sideways world’s narrative seems to be following a pattern: “A character gets a somewhat different resolution than we might have expected, then (dun-dun-dun!) an Other turns up.” [Watcher/Chicago Tribune]
• With Jack and Hurley on Team Jacob, and Sawyer and (eventually) Kate on Team Smokey, it seems like the series will end in a final showdown between Jack and Locke, just as it has so many times before. [BuddyTV]
• Kate was listed on the dial at 51 degrees, and although it’s not an important number to us, it is important to note that her name wasn’t crossed out, just like the other candidates. It’s also important that her name wasn’t listed on the walls of the cave in the last episode, since this discrepancy seems to suggest that there is a real list that Jacob made, and a fake one that Smokey copied. [Dark UFO]
• Tom and Lorenzo point out that Jack’s son and appendectomy scar mean that the start date for the changes in this new timeline actually appear to go back decades. Decades to, say, 1977. [Tom and Lorenzo]
• Doc Jensen also thinks that what went down in 1977 had some big ramifications in the alternate timeline. He wonders if Jack’s collapse and resulting appendectomy happened at the same moment that, on the island, post-Oceanic Juliet detonated Jughead. Did that cause some of Oceanic Jack’s consciousness to get blown into young Jack? That would explain all the flashes of memory our Losties seem to be having in this new timeline. P.S.: Are Jack and David the new Michael and WAAAAALT? [Totally Lost/EW]
• With course correction in mind, this writer suspects that as the two timelines converge, characters will start dropping like flies. Those who are lucky enough to survive, however, will experience some sort of memory download and suddenly know everything. [Magic Lamp]
• These writers argue that maybe we didn’t see what we thought we saw in the mirrors (namely, the church where Sawyer’s parents’ funeral was and the temple where Sun and Jin got married). We’ve seen a number of churches — did we actually see the monastery where Desmond met Penny? Also, they think Claire’s been alone on the island way longer than three years. What year is it anyway? [WP]
• Commenter trex points out that, if Jacob’s been watching our Losties their whole lives, the Kwon on the list of candidates must be Jin, as Sun would be listed under her maiden name.
• JREESE3 wonders if we’ve met David’s piano teacher before. Could it be Daniel Faraday? He did play the same song in last season’s “The Variable.”
• Graw reminds us that in sideways world, the island is under water, a bigger metaphor for the fact that our characters’ lives seem to be better off in their non-island life. This commenter is betting that our winning candidate (Jack?) will ultimately have to decide between protecting the island in the current timeline or living happy-go-lucky lives in the sideways one.
• Rep_Party_Girl spent some time on Lostpedia and noted that there’s another name not crossed out: No. 60, Kysea. Could this be Ilana?
• Finally, pennywise has some advice for Jin: “Here’s a tip from George Bluth: Never promise crazy a baby.” She also thinks Wallace could just be a knitting claymation dog.
