Lost - "Lighthouse"

Tonight's episode of Lost is entitled, "Lighthouse."  I can only assume that this refers to an actual lighthouse somewhere on the Island.  How come we haven't seen it yet?  I mean, the Lostaways have been all over the Island and to Hydra Island -- surely someone would have seen a lighthouse, right?  Then again, no one saw the Temple until this season, so I guess it's feasible no one saw the Lighthouse.  Anyway, what the significance of the lighthouse is will surely be the centerpiece of the episode.  Beyond the literal lighthouse, we all know that lighthouses are placed along shorelines to warn incoming boats that they are getting close to punishing rocks.  Lighthouses aren't just warnings, however, they are guides too.  For sailors returning from long sea voyages, they safely show the way home.  As this is a Jack episode, mirroring Season 1's "White Rabbit," will Jack reassume his leadership role and begin the trek to guide his friends safely home?  Will Sideways Jack, the character we've seen have the most "rememberances" of the other reality so far, begin to guide the Sideways timeline towards its merge with the "real" timeline?  And what significance does whatever actual lighthouse on the Island have?  Is it what sets the coordinates for safe entrance and exit to the Island?  Is it a Dharma station of some sort?  Does it safely guide would-be Islanders (not these Islanders) to the Island, or is it warning them to stay away?  Very intriguing questions from the episode title alone.  Here's what else I'm looking for:

*They have to give us something more about Smokey, Sawyer and the cave, right?  They really can't leave us just wondering whether Smokey is lying, whether Sawyer is playing his last and best long con, and why Kate isn't on the wall.  They have to continue that story.  If not, it may be television serial malpractice.  If we do see more of this, I'll be looking for an explanation of Smokey's plan to leave the Island and perhaps another appearance by the blonde boy with the bloody hands.

*Dogen will explain to Jack more about Sayid's "darkness" and what, if anything, can be done to reverse it.  Perhaps this initiates Jack's trek to the Lighthouse, if he does go?  (Please remember, I haven't watched the "next time on Lost preview at the end of the last episode, so maybe this is obvious.)  Hopefully, Dogen will also explain to Jack and the rest of the Lostaways at the Temple what the nature of the conflict is between Smokey and Jacob.  That would be nice.  Or maybe even an explanation of what was supposed to happen in the dirty hot tub they dipped Sayid into.  That would be nice, too.

*We have to see Claire tonight.  They teased us with her two episodes ago, and then didn't show hide nor straggly hair of her last week, so we need to get some info on what happened to her the last three (Island) years and how "infected" she is.  Maybe we'll get an explanation of where she got that nice flannel shirt, too.

*Something tells me Ben, Sun, Frank and Ilana will be waylaid on their trip to the Temple and will get there in the last minutes of the episode, if at all.  In Season 1, the episode after "White Rabbit," was the Sun-centric "House of the Rising Sun."  I am predicting that Sun and Jin will finally be reunited in the dying moments of tonight's episode, so we can focus on the two of them in a Kwon-centric episode next week (again, I have no idea if next week's episode centers on the Kwons or not.  Spoiler-free!!).  I am deperately hoping this prediction comes to fruition.  Yunjin Kim has been given practically nothing to do since Season 5's "This Place is Death," and really since the Season 4 finale, "There's No Place Like Home."  Yunjin is too good of an actress to continue wasting like this (so is Daniel Dae Kim, of course).  Fans are eagerly anticipating the reunion of the Kwons as it will be a highly emotional moment, and I know these actors will knock it out of the park.  Please Lost, let's get this done tonight.

OK, that's what I've got for tonight.  I'm not expecting much Kate or Hurley this evening, mostly just in Temple group scenes.  Although, if Jack does trek to the Lighthouse, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kate want to come along.  Then again, when we last saw her, she was just randomly standing in New Otherton.  Not...really...doing......anything.  So, who knows where she'll be.  Anyway, with the gauntlet thrown down on Season 6 last week with the great "The Substitute," I feel tonight's episode will be just as fantastic.  We're on the roller coaster now, folks.  Hang on tight.  I'll see you this weekend with my thoughts on "Lighthouse."  Until then...

Enjoy.