For a moment, it really was nice to finally see “something nice back home,” but of course, we knew it wasn’t going to last. That’s the drawback to the flash-forward format. From previous forwards, we already knew that Jack and Kate don’t stay together even if there relationship looks promising for a moment. They have more chemistry here than I’ve ever seen between them– Jack and Kate both usually rub me the wrong way, Jack with his often-obnoxious hero complex and Kate who has to do the depressing, tragic and usually illegal thing, no matter what the situation. Finally, seeing them together raising Aaron, they were almost making sense. Of course, once Jack heard Hurley’s warning that someone was coming to visit him, he can’t just ignore his dead father’s ghost and try to live his life.  He has to immediately start drinking himself silly and almost become his father. *eye roll* I appreciate seeing the events leading up to his depression and growing the beard, and now I completely buy why all of that happens, but I hated suddenly liking characters I’ve been annoyed with for several seasons now, knowing that’ll all get yanked away again in twenty minutes.

Looks like Claire might finally get the big news about Jack being her step-brother. I never doubted the writers would get back to this eventually and I expected it soon, considering that if Aaron is about to get off the island, there’s a good chance she either doesn’t survive or gets left behind. But I admit, I didn’t call that she would be haunted by Jack’s father. I’m assuming there’s an important correlation to the present and future here that hasn’t been revealed yet.

I’ve speculated for a long time that Jacob has something to do with all of the “hallucinations” people have had in the show (Jack’s father, Kate’s horse, etc.). I’ve even mentioned the bizarre idea that Jacob himself is all of them. I think I’m probably wrong about the latter– the fact that Miles sees Jack’s father means he must be a ghost, since Miles has the ability to detect them. If that’s the case, he’s a far more important character than I ever expected he’d be. I still wonder if Jacob is involved with the ghosts somehow, or if he is just another ghost himself. The various ghosts we’ve seen so far could only be viewed by certain people, and Locke couldn’t see him in the cabin last season, so that’s a good clue. And this week’s coming episode focuses on Locke finding Jacob’s cabin again– hopefully this ghost idea is explored further. The one “hallucination” that isn’t a ghost, though, is Walt, as far as we know. Michael’s flashback a couple episodes ago seems to confirm that he is alive, or at least that he was the last time Locke “saw” him at the end of last season. I’m not sure what to make of that.

Why does Jack’s father’s ghost find him both in the present in the future? This episode confirms that Charlie really was a ghost and not a figment of Hurley’s imagination. So they can leave the island. I wonder why they do this. Or, is there something to what Hurley said. He claims that they never left the island, which I’ve suspected but kind of hoped wasn’t the case. If it is, it would make everything far more complicated and a little hokey– are the characters from the expedition not real? Have they been there the whole time? The creators have promised us it’s not all just in someone’s head or some lame cop-out like that, but even if the idea were clever, I’d feel a little cheated if Hurley was right.

I didn’t love the explanation that Jack just changed his mind about going to live with Kate and help raise Aaron. He seemed almost terrified of the idea when Kate suggested it during her flash-forward. I would have liked to have seen the conversation or had a little explanation of it, other than, “I’m glad you changed your mind.”

After I wrote last week’s review, I had another thought about the man in the casket from Jack’s first flash-forward last season. Could it maybe be Sayid? Maybe Jack and Kate learn he’s a traitor to them and working for Ben, and then something happens and he dies. He would be a good candidate for a character no one would attend a funeral for and that Kate might refuse to go see but Jack would. Any thoughts on this one?

The writers are doing a good job of positioning the characters where they need to be to get off the island soon, so I’m sure it will happen by the end of the season, if not in a couple of episodes. Any ideas on why Jack was able to get sick on the island while others have been cured? Will this be a trend in those that get off? Sun has to leave or she’ll die because she’s pregnant, and now Jack has proven that he can get sick on the island. Will Hurley get sick and that’s why he leaves? Or will different people have different reasons for leaving? I’d love to hear your own speculations– things are getting really interesting!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

Tags: ABC, drama, Jack Shepard, John Locke, Lost, Oceanic Six, science fiction, Television

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