LOST S6, EP 5 | Lighthouse (The Man in Black’s Loophole Discovered)

The 108^th hour of LOST delivers in a BIG way by answering the question of what was the loop hole that the Man in Black used to kill Jacob, what are the “Lost Rules” and who the 108th Candidate is.

In this episode not only do we discover that there is a Lighthouse on the island but that its primary purpose is not to discover ships in the night but rather to discover the location of Jacob’s Candidates as well in this instance…shine a light inwards on them. However beyond those metaphorical messages what the Lighthouse truly delivers is the answers of what was is the loop hole that the Man in Black (MIB) used to kill Jacob and shift the balance of power on island. Before we get to the Lighthouse and the epiphanies that it brings the best place to start is conveniently at the beginning.

Towards the opening we see Hugo and Miles playing Tic-Tac-Toe and the game ends in a tie. This simple little exercise works to reinforce multiple themes all at the same time. LOST loves the exploration of character duality (see my breakdown of Locke and Sawyer last week http://bit.ly/aQid1E) and in this instance it’s pretty straightforward… Hugo and Miles both have the same ability to talk to dead people- Tie! Both good (Jacob) and evil (MIB, The Lockeness Monster ie LNM) have had a spiritual tug of war on the island and up until this point they have operated at a stale mate- Tie!

The back and forth between MIB and Jacob is now central to the story of LOST. What has been referenced in the past but has not yet been formally answered is what are the specific rules that govern their tete-a-tete? This episode brought clarity to the rules. Let me explain…

Understanding the rules ties back into the moment that Hurley had with Dogen (the Samurai-ish guy and master of the temple). When Hurley is trying to go on his Lighthouse mission, Jacob tells Hurley to tell Dogen, “I’m a candidate and I can do what I want.” Now finally the rules are starting to make sense!…

Rule #1- A Candidate cannot be harmed by any spiritual island party (Jacob, Others & MIB) and has complete free will on the island.

This is apparently a big time rule that the Others must follow as Dogen leaves Hurley alone instantly when Hurely states he is a Candidate. Dogen also supports this theory when he tells Jack that he was worried he had left to which Jack responds, “Is leaving an option?” to which Dogen replies, “Everything is an option…but I would have to stop you.” Maybe Dogen would attempt to stop Jack with his words but he knows he can’t really do anything because Jack is also Candidate. In further support of this theory, last week lil bloody Jacob (or whoever the kid was) in the forest told MIB/LNM he couldn’t kill Sawyer. This is because Sawyer is also a Candidate which means he’s off limits as per the rule outlined above. He can be manipulated but not harmed. It’s all coming together now! This brings us to…

Rule #1a- Only a Candidate can kill another Candidate but as stated above no other spiritual island party (Jacob, Others & MIB) can.

This is validated by what I thought was initially a weird plot hole but now makes sense. If Sayid is sick/infected and they were going to have Jack (another Candidate) poison him then why is that okay but after Jack didn’t go through with it, why has no one just blown Sayid away yet? It seems like every other, Other has a gun but yet no action is taken against Sayid rather than delivering him sideways looks? I state this as Rule#1a because it may just be a reflection of Rule #1 as there is no reason to think that a Candidate can’t die by the hand of non spiritual island party people ie mercenaries, confused plane passengers, cccidents etc. This brings us to the big one…

Rule #2- Only a Candidate can kill Jacob.

This is the loophole that the Man In Black used to kill Jacob.

At the beginning of Season Five’s finale we first meet the MIB and Jacob sometime in the 1800s and as has been discussed ad nauseam they banter about free will versus the destructive nature of man. At the end of that conversation the MIB says he’s going to find a loophole to kill Jacob to which Jacob responds, “When you do I’ll be right here.” Based on the rules above its safe to extrapolate the following:

When MIB took the form of Locke to become the Lockeness Monster he knew that he had the ultimate opportunity to manipulate Ben. Ben had just murdered Locke and seeing his resurrected form completely dislodged Ben. In his mind Ben thought that he had just murdered the leader of the Others only to find upon his return that he was sorely wrong. Locke then coxes Ben into being judged by the Monster for the murder and his actions. Locke also states, “If everything you’ve done has been in the best interests of the Island… then I’m sure the Monster will understand.” What we know now looking back is that of course the Monster will understand, you are talking to him right now!!!

Ben goes to summon the Monster at his cabin but it doesn’t come. Ben wants to find the monster and Locke then tells Ben he knows where the Monster is. Locke takes Ben to the underground of the Temple where Ben’s murdered daughter Alex manifests herself via the Smoke Monster. She tells Ben that she needs to follow Locke’s leadership or she will destroy him.

Check and mate.

Looking back on that episode, Ben falls to the chamber below and gets separated from Locke. That is when the Smoke Monster appears. What we know now is that obviously the Smoke Monster was not only Locke leading Ben to the chamber but also it manifested itself into Alex to manipulate Ben and then transformed back into Locke to lead the newly devout Ben to the statue on the beach.  The revelation is now that we know what we know and can look back is that the Man in Black was playing Ben like a harpsichord because he was in fact pulling a T100 and transforming into both people withing seconds of his interactions with Ben.

Speaking of which, I believe that the MIB can only fully become people whose dead bodies are on the island. Hence that is why he has taken the form of Jack’s dad Christian Shephard whose body was missing on the island and is now missing in the revised timeline. As stated above he has become Ben’s daughter Alex as she was murdered by Widmore’s mercenaries on the island. Finally he has become John Locke whose body was brought back to the island by Jack. He doesn’t need the physical body to actually inhabit but the body just has to be on the island. This also ties into how MIB was hanging out with Claire as Christian Shepard prior to everyone’s departure and how now he is still hanging out in John Locke form with her today as her “friend.”

So back to MIB/LNM and the loophole…

Shortly after the Temple meeting with Alex on their way to the beach statue (foot) Ben sits down near the remnant of the hatch door where ironically he and Locke first met. Ben inquires to Locke why it must be him who kills Jacob. Locke then gives Ben a laundry list of all the misfortunes that transpired in the name of Jacob. He says this is a man you have never even met. He then says, “So the question is, Ben, why the hell wouldn’t you want to kill Jacob?”

What’s amazing about this looking back is that Ben asked the right question but of course the MIB didn’t give the true answer which would have been… “No normal person can kill Jacob. Believe me I would have manipulated them into doing that deed decades ago. The reason it has to be you Ben is because only a Candidate can kill Jacob. In the history of hundreds of Candidates no one has ever wanted to turn against Jacob as they are all devout followers and were chosen by him. The thought would never cross their mind. It would be like asking someone to kill their own God. Even if they didn’t’ realize they were a Candidate and where up for the tast, the only person that is allowed to see Jacob in person is the leader of the Others. This adds another layer of protection for him. However I just owned you completely and leveraged the only things you ever cared about it which are your daughter, the island and the leadership of the Others and therefore I’ve successfully manipulated you into being the murdering Candidate I need. Oh and don’t worry about us getting into see Jacob. Richard thinks I’m the leader of the Others, you were the former leader and he has to do whatever I say as per his assignment to be the liaison to Jacob and his mandate to follow the orders of the Others leader. So we are all covered off on across the board. Let me say preemptively, Thanks Ben, and stab Jacob through the heart for me.”

So now that everything is laid out for everyone to see the obvious piece we are missing is how do we know Ben is a Candidate? Well ladies and gentlemen believe it or not I have not been straying off topic here…it all ties back into the Lighthouse. Check it out.

It is confirmed that Ben Linus is Candidate #117.

This brings us back to Jack which is fitting as this was one of his episodes. We didn’t learn a tremendous amount of new information about Jack rather this episode reinforced a lot about his character. In the revised timeline we see that Jack now has a piano playing son named David. The first question that comes up is who is his wife? Is it Kate or is it his original wife Sarah who he married after saving her life during a car accident. I’m not sure so I won’t go down that road but what is interesting is that Jack and David have a similar relationship to Jack and his father. Jack’s son feels that his dad doesn’t believe in him and doesn’t want to let him down. To which Jack tells David that his dad used to tell him, “That he doesn’t have what it takes”. This is well set up because Jacob tells Hurley to tell Jack, “That he has what it takes” to manipulate Jack into going on the Lighthouse mission with him. Jack instantly responds as this is the one phrase that he always wanted to hear from his father. More importantly this line sets up the rest of the episode and Jack’s destiny on the island. Jack has to realize that he has what it takes on his own and it’s not about his father’s blessing or anyone elses. Once he does this then maybe he will have what it takes to take down the Man in Black and potentially realize his destiny as THE Candidate.

Along the journey to the lighthouse we get a trip down memory lane which makes us reflect on Jack’s journey while he’s been on the island. He finds Shannon’s inhaler and the corpses in the caves where he first set up shop for everyone in the first season. By the way I don’t know if the corpses ar and Adam and Eve like representation of Bernard and Rose (most likely) or Jack and Kate or Sawyer and Kate but I’m sure we will find out. Hurley even remarks that this trip is like their old adventures through the jungle. This episode is all about reflection for Jack and has an intentional emotional resonance because this is the landmark 108th hour of the show and that number has always had a significant meaning.

At on point Jack state that he comes back to the island because he is broken. Shortly thereafter when he reaches the Lighthouse, which is constructed of mirrors, Hugo is told to turn the dial to 108 degrees (which conveniently is the sum of the numbers 4+8+15+16+23+42= 108). As I’ve shown above along the edge of the Lighthouse dial are names with numbers attached. Some are crossed off and Jack makes the connection and sees he is number 23. When he has the dial moved to 23 Jack sees his own house from growing up and realizes that Jacob has been watching him. The Lighthouse is in fact not used to guide ships to the island but rather to guide Jacob to his Candidates. Confused and angry Jack smashes the mirror which ties in nicely to the theme of Jack being broken and the angst that he has shown about his childhood. The irony that the affirmation and one phrase he always wanted to hear from his childhood leads him to this moment of self discovery is lost on him. Hopefully after literally reflecting on his youth he can now find the strength he needs to embrace the destiny that Jacob has envisioned for him (or more succinctly to make the choice to obtain it). Jacob even says so much as he claims that Jack needed to see this to see how important he is.

Which lead us to the other big reveal of this episode. Right after the tic-tac-toe game Hugo enters the temple and runs into the ghost of Jacob at the fountain of youth as he accidentally solicits him for the location of the kitchen. Jacob tells Hurley, “That someone is coming to the island and I need you to help me find them.” This exchange sets of the narrative for this episode and sets the mental dials in motion to wonder who that someone could be. On the wheel you can see that the name associated with 108 is…

Wallace!!

The name is crossed out and to date we haven’t met a Wallace. Is 108 important because it’s the sum of the numbers or is it important because we now know Wallace is coming? Who is Wallace? Is it another pseudonym like how Locke was Jeremy Bentham or how Michael was Kevin Johnson. Is Wallace actually another name for Widmore or Desmond? Or is it a new character? Is the Lighthouse wheel Jacob’s device for vetting Candidates and was the cave that Sawyer was taken to by MIB actually a metaphor for climbing down into hell and the location of where MIB keeps his own scoreboard of his successes in derailing Jacob’s Candidates?

I guess we can’t have all of the answers yet….so as always we’ll have to stay tuned.

Tagged as: 108, Candidate, Jack, Jacob, Lighthouse, Locke, Loophole, MIB, Smoke Monster, The Rules