4 stars from me!
So I'm also gonna try to get these reviews done faster, which means they won't be as organized and will sound more like rambles and musings.
I'm loving the flash sideways scenes! It's like this alternate reality where we get to see more of these characters, but slightly different lives.
I'm definitely starting to see this crack in the flash sideways scenes where the characters are starting to feel something is off. Like with Jack staring at his appendectomy scar and not remembering when he'd had it done. Probably because that's something that had happened to him on the island in the other version of his life. But it's like the flash sideways world has a way of course correcting cuz his mom tells him the story of when it happened, which was years earlier in life, and he "remembers" what she says as fact.
They chose a great actor to play his son, David! Looks so much like him. I see that guy everywhere now!
Man, it tore Jack apart to learn that his son was afraid of what he thought of him, afraid of disappointing him, that he was afraid of failure, just like Jack. I got choked up when Jack opened up to him, told him about his relationship with his own father, and that David could never be a disappointment to him.
I liked the nod to Claire in the flash sideways! Claire being in Christian's will and Jack and his mother all like, who's Claire? And Dogan popping up. It was neat to see him more in a normal life, just a father taking his kid to the tryouts.
Other flash sideways connections, we see the McCutcheon whiskey again! And the sign outside the place David is trying out says "Candidates" which is what Jack and a few others are considered to be on the island.
Also, the piece David is playing is the same one Daniel was playing when his mom told him he had to give up piano.
Back on island, Jack finds Shannon's inhaler and is hit with remorse again for what happened years ago with the whole torturing Sawyer thing. I think he views that as a failure in his leadership to have let himself get pushed to that point.
Every now and again, it hits me how messed up it is that Jacob and MIB are playing with these people like they're chess pieces. Poor Claire is seemingly totally crazy now, with her creepy ass squirrel baby and MIB posing as her father whispering in her ear. Jacob knowing what buttons to push and telling Hurley to say "You have what it takes" to Jack.
Claire is really intense. Like, scary intense and crazy. She had no qualms about killing that Other and I really think she means it when she says she'd kill Kate if she found out Kate had been taking care of Aaron. Kinda drives me nuts that Jin doesn't speak up and say, "BUT YOU DISAPPEARED AND LEFT AARON ALONE!!" It's like she doesn't remember it happening that way.
The lighthouse is a huge reveal on how Jacob was monitoring all these people! Really bummed Jack smashed it. I so wanted them to keep turning that wheel and see what else we see, but it's understandable. Jack already felt like his dad was shaping his life and he was wasting all this time leading his life by trying to make his dad proud of him but then sees someone was watching and manipulating, also shaping his life for him.
Favorite quotes/moments:
Hurley: I'm a candidate and I can do what I want.
Dogen: Who told you that?
Hurley: Doesn't matter. Why don't
you go back to the courtyard?
Dogen: [Speaks Japanese] Ore ga omae wo mamoraneba narannowa,un ga yokattana [俺がお前を守らねばならんのは、運が良かったな―You're lucky that I have to protect you.] Denakereba sonokubi wo haneteta [でなければその首を跳ねてた―Otherwise I'd have cut your head off.]
Jack (to David): You know when I was your age, my father didn't want to see me fail either. He used to say to me that...he said that I didn't have what it takes. I spent my whole life carrying that around with me. I don't ever want you to feel that way. I will always love you, no matter what you do. In my eyes you can never fail. I just wanna be a part of your life.