LOST, Season 3, Episode 22, “Through the Looking Glass” (5/23/07)

Jack Sheppard: Wow! What a trick TPTB (The Powers That Be) at LOST pulled on us: we weren’t watching Flashbacks, but Flashforwards! Awesome awesome awesome plot device by TPTB. On the island, Jack’s Losties begin their trek to both take out the Others coming to attack their camp while at the same time leading the Losties to the radio tower where they hope to reach Nadia’s ship with the Satellite Phone. The confrontation with Ben was important because Ben was warning Jack that leaving the island would be bad…very bad. Jack’s goal to get himself and his people off the island overrode the warning Ben was giving him, and he called the ship and was told they would be sending rescue parties. But, with FutureJack’s flashback, we see that Ben may have been right, that leaving the island was not what was supposed to happen. When Jack meets FutureKate at the funeral home (Hoffs/Dawler Funeral home: Hoffs/Drawler = Flash Forward) and he tells her of his desire to go back, she says she can’t go back. Jack says they have to. Even Locke told Jack on the island that he was not supposed to leave the island. Now, with FutureJack trying to find a way back to the island, we’ve seen a shift in the telling of the LOST story. Is it possible that for the first three seasons we’ve assumed that the island scenes showed the Losties’ current situation, but maybe, just maybe, we’ve been watching FutureJack’s flashbacks to the island and how he/they got into this situation, and on the island the flashbacks were just flashbacks within FutureJack’s flashbacks. Make sense? In other words, were we seeing IslandJack flashing forward, or were we seeing FutureJack’s flashbacks?

Charlie Pace: Charlie’s acceptance of death allowed him to exit gracefully and honorably. But, with his final warning to Desmond that it wasn’t Penny’s ship (hand message: “Not Penny’s Boat”) off the coast he may have given enough of a warning for Desmond to let the Losties know this. Charlie’s absence will be felt on the island, especially by Claire. We’ll have to see what the repurcussions of the Looking Glass situation will be. It was cool that the password for unlocking the jamming device was the tune by the Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations”. And it’s quite the coincidence that the password was programmed by a musician, as Bonnie told Charlie, and wouldn’t you know it, Charlie’s a musician! Perfect. And Charlie was able to disengage the device before passing on to the other side of life.

Desmond: Des will need to get back to the island and tell the Losties what he learned. Will he be able to convince them that they can’t trust the people coming from Naomi’s boat? And will Penny continue to hunt for Desmond and send her own people to rescue them? Maybe he’ll take up residence in this station to try to work some communications with Penny. With the jamming stopped, it could be possible to reconnect with Penny’s signal from another area of the hatch.

Danielle: Finally gets to meet Alex. It was a nice moment. We learn that Danielle had Alex three days before she set up the message that’s been playing from the radio tower 16 years ago. (She must’ve been pregnant when she arrived on the island, so Ben can’t be the father of Alex.) As she is leading Jack and the Losties to the radio tower, she tells Jack that she will not be going off island if they get rescued: “This is my home now”. She must know something about leaving the island…like, maybe she can’t? I loved how she reached out to bond with Alex by saying, in reference to Ben: "Would you like to help me tie him up?"

Sayid/Jin/Bernard: They are almost able to carry-out their mission of blowing up the tents, but Jin’s in ability to shoot straight leaves the one tent unexploded, and they get captured. And then Blabbermouth-Bernard spills the plan, and gives the Others the chance to intercept Jack/Losties on their way to the radio tower.

Ben: Okay, this guy continues to be creepy. What does he know? He must know more than he’s let on so far because his warning to Jack “don’t make that call, it will be the beginning of the end” seems to have some weight because of what we learned from FutureJack’s situation. Maybe he’s not so crazy but determined to hold together a fragile society? He’s got his problems thought, as his people are starting to question him, especially Richard. And he’s been betrayed by Alex, Carl and Juliette, and even Tom started to question his decisions after they’re failed attempt to get the Losties’ women. But he knew that Naomi was not who she appeared to be, so he’s onto something.

Locke: C’mon…you knew he wouldn’t die. But to see John almost concede and take his own life was a shock. His temporary paralysis of his legs almost made him off himself, until the appearance of the much older Walt (or the apparition of…) convinced John to regain his faith since John has “a job to do”. He killed Naomi, but I don’t know if it’s because he knows something about her and her “group” (whoever they may be) or because he knows what Ben knows and that leaving the island is how it’s supposed to happen. His threat to kill Jack falls on deaf ears when Jack stands up to Locke and says that he’s tired of Locke keeping him on the island.

Walt: Yay! Walt’s back! Or at least something that looks like Walt. Was it the SMonster driving Locke to get up? Was it Jacob in another form helping Locke so that Locke could help Jacob eventually? Is Walt still on the island? Where’s Michael? I think we have to wait to find out….dammit!

Sawyer: Does not have any intention of challenging Jack’s leadership role. Leaves the Losties exodus to return to check out how things are at Losties beach after it appears that Jin/Sayid/Bernard were unable to fully complete their tasks. As he and Juliette get to the beach and see what’s happening, they start to come up with a plan to save the three, but they don’t have to think long because rescue is just a van away.

Hurley: After offering help and being rejected by both Charlie and then later Sawyer to provide assistance and being told, essentially, that he was too fat to help, Hurley comes to the rescue by plowing through the jungle and onto the beach (killing Pryce) in the Dharma Van once driven by Roger Linus (Ben’s father). How awesome was this scene? See? Fat people do make a difference, and his joy at telling Jack over the walkie that “I saved them all” was great.

Tom: As the only surviving member of the Others’ kidnapping team, Tom surrendered to Sawyer, Juliette, Jin, et al, only to have Sawyer shoot him, and he was dying said “That’s for taking the kid off the raft”. After all, Sawyer did say to Tom at Otherville that “you and me ain’t done, Skippy”. Yeah, Tom was an Other, but I had taken a liking to him. He’ll be missed.

Richard Alpert: Not much to do in this episode, but his slow rising as a voice within the Others camp could prove to be important next season as the Others are trying to figure out Ben’s plan as well as keeping in line with Jacob, the unseen presence that they are obviously scared of. And remember that it appears that Richard’s been on this island a very long time….he could be a descendant of the island.

Looking Glass Station/Hatch: Obviously this is not flooded and unworkable. Will this station play a role in the coming season? Will Desmond stay in this hatch to try to reach Penny?

Jacob: Who is he? Where is he? Is he somehow tied-in with the SMonster?

Misc:
1. Before Ben left with Alex to intercept Jack on the way to the radio tower, he told Richard to take the Others to “The Temple”. The Temple? What’s this “temple” you speak of, oh-mighty-Ben? And will we see a four-toed statue there?
2. Mikhail – is he actually dead this time? Not sure he could survive a grenade blast?
3. Who was in the casket at Hoffs/Drawler funeral home when FutureJack went there? The casket was short/small, so it couldn’t have been Hurley. Ha ha! And why did FutureKate look so weirdly at Jack when he showed her the obituary of the mystery person and say “Why would I go the funeral”? Was it Ben? Was it Sawyer? Was it Locke? And who was FutureKate referring to when she said she had to get home before “he” starts wondering where she was?
4. What happened after they left the island that is making FutureJack’s life so miserable that he feels the need to go back?
5. Who sent Naomi? Is it Penny’s father who wants the island for his own study, but Penny is not aware of this? Is it still the Hanso Foundation running these tests? Could Sun’s father be involved somehow? He does own ships as part of his business (as we learned in the episode where Jin’s Mom blackmailed Sun), so is he involved somehow? Is it one of his boats off the Losties’ island?
6. I still think Christian Sheppard is alive……

As a reminder, LOST will be back for Season 4 in late January/Early February 2008, and they’ll run the 16-episode season uninterrupted. Until that time…RAZZLE DAZZLE!


Check these sites for other LOST chatter and info:
http://lost.cubit.net/forum/index.php
http://darkufo.blogspot.com/
http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/