Lost Watch: Like, Woah

Episode Title: The Looking Glass Air Date: 5/23/07

There's just so much to talk about.

"Lost's" third season finale was an absolute stunner. Everything is different after last night. And now we're supposed to wait nine months until we get a new episode? It's just not fair.

So, the most important thing we learned last night? They get off the bloody island. At least Jack and Kate do, and probably Claire and her baby, if Desmond’s vision was accurate (as Charlie’s death would imply.) And we learn all this through an all new “Lost” storytelling device. In what has been described as a "game changer" by the producers, last night's Jack flashbacks were not flashbacks at all...they were flashFORWARDS.

Our first clue of this is when we see a depressed, suicidal, alcoholic, pharmaceutical addicted Jack with a very fake beard flying on an Oceanic Airlines flight, then stumbling around LA, a lost soul with nobody to turn to. He reads a newspaper clipping about a dead man and breaks down in tears, leaves a distressed voicemail, then steps to the edge of a bridge, ready to kill himself. Until a car crashes behind him, and Jack has to go back into hero mode, saving a woman and her eight year old child from the burning wreckage.

Immediately, this doesn’t seem like the Jack Shepherd we’re used to. Jack’s an alcoholic? Just when in his past did he become like his dead (or is he?) father? But the writers don’t let us in on their storytelling trick just yet.

Jack also attends the funeral of…someone. He is the only mourner who shows up, and doesn’t ask to view the body. So who is the deceased? We’ll get to that in the end…sort of.

On the island, in the “present” (or past now?) the showdown with The Others is imminent. Sayid, Jin, and Bernard (of all people) stay behind to blow the tents when Ben’s goons show up as the rest of the survivors head off to the radio tower to shut off Rousseau’s distress call, while Charlie is being held prisoner by some a couple hot Lesbian Others in the underwater hatch.

So yeah, a lot is going on.

When The Others show up, the plan almost works perfectly…almost. Sayid and Bernard hit their targets and blow two of the tents. But Jin misses, tries to run to closer to get a better shot, and is captured. Sayid and Bernard try to run and fight, but both end up surrendering.

The big survivor party sees that only two of the planned three explosions went off, and Kate wants to go back to the beach to help their captured friends, while Jack insists on pushing forward.

In the underwater hatch, Charlie tells his captors that the survivors are heading to the radio tower and that he is there to turn off their jamming signal. They radio Ben, who is surprised to hear them “break radio silence.” Apparently, the rest of The Others believed the two women were no longer on the island and that the underwater hatch was flooded and inoperable. Ben sends the eye-patch sporting Russian to the hatch to investigate, and decides to go to the survivors and “talk them out of” turning Rousseau’s distress call, and allows Alex, his daughter, to join him.

A shaken Sawyer, who is still upset after the events that went down in “The Brig” a few weeks ago, decides to go back to help Sayid, Bernard, and Jin, even though he is unarmed. Kate wants to go too, but he doesn’t want to bring her. Jack is worried about allowing him to go unarmed, but Juliet volunteers to join him and tells them that there is a hidden cache of guns that they can arm themselves with before they head back to the survivors’ camp…after Juliet kisses Jack passionately, raising more than a few eyebrows.

A distressed Kate doesn’t understand why Sawyer wouldn’t let her come and Jack explains that, duh, it’s because he’s trying to protect her. When Kate asks why Jack is sticking up for Sawyer, Jack tells her “because I love you,” in a matter of fact admission that Kate had to have known all along.

Poor Hurley, feeling left out and unsure of himself, asks if he can come along with Sawyer and Juliet. Sawyer tells him he’d be useless and get them killed, in an honest moment that cuts Hurley deeply but had to be said anyway. And oh yeah, Juliet admits that there is no gun cache…she only told Jack there was so he would let them go help their friends.

So the stage is set for three epic showdowns, none of which disappoint.

Ben meets up with Jack and the two of them have a little chat. Ben tells Jack that if he uses the Satellite Phone, the people he summons to the island will kill everyone. He tells him Naomi works for a group of people who have been trying to find the island, who will ruin it. Jack (with reason) thinks he’s bluffing, so Ben radios in to Tom, who is holding the three survivors at the beach hostage, and tells him to kill them if Jack doesn’t relent. Jack won’t budge and hears three gunshots, thinking that he’s doomed his friends to three bullets through their heads.

Meanwhile, Desmond wakes up in the boat above the underwater hatch, with a whopping headache and Charlie’s goodbye note to Claire in his pocket. Before he has time to think what to do next, Eye Patched Russian guy starts shooting at him, so he dives down and enter the underwater hatch. Charlie tells him to hide before his captors catch wind that he’s there, but then Eye-Patch shows up. Charlie informs him that Ben’s been jamming any radio signals to the mainland through the hatch, and Eye Patch decides to radio his boss to decide how to deal with it. Ben convinces him that he’s doing the right thing, and tells him to kill Charlie- and the two unsuspecting female Others.

Eye patch shoots the chicks, but before he turns the gun on Charlie, Desmond pops out and shoots him with a harpoon gun. One of the dying Others tells Charlie the code to stop the jamming signal- the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” tapped into the keyboard (it was programmed by a musician, she says with her last breath.) So Charlie gets to have his big moment and turn off the jamming signal, which will finally get the survivors home. He taps the Beach Boys classic in the keyboard, the yellow light turns off, and a signal comes through…from Penny. An excited Charlie asks Penny about Naomi and the boat off the island, but she tells him that she doesn’t know anything about a boat…Naomi and her crew were not hired by Penny. Before Desmond can talk to his lost love, Charlie sees a terrible sight through a porthole…Eye Patch survived the harpoon through the stomach and is holding a grenade up to the hatch window.

Charlie locks himself in before Desmond can enter, the porthole blows, and water begins to rush in. Thinking quickly, Charlie scrawls a message on his hand and puts it up to the window, telling Desmond that it’s “not Penny’s boat.” Then he dies.

This is a “Lost” first…an original character and fan favorite is killed off. Yeah, they killed Shannon and Boone off…but nobody liked those characters anyway. Charlie’s death is hard to take, and Dominic Monaghan’s performance last night was the best he’s given in the series’ three year run. Charlie Pace, you will be missed.

Back on the beach, Sawyer and Juliet are trying to figure out how they’re going to take out the Others who have their friends at gunpoint…until Hurley zooms in, driving the Dharma VW bus into the action. Hurley! He hits one of the Others with the car, while Sawyer sneaks around and knocks one of them out with a branch. In the scramble, Sayid kills one of them with his legs, Jack Bauer style, and Sawyer takes Tom’s gun. When Tom surrenders, Sawyer still kills him, telling him “that’s for taking the kid.”

Hurley radios in and tells the survivors that they saved their friends and loved ones, a relief to Jack who believes he allowed them to die. At the same time, the jamming signal is off, and Jack and crew turn off Rousseau’s distress call.

We have cell phone reception, people. As Naomi tries to make the call with the satellite phone, she suddenly falls down dead.

Guess who? It’s none other than Mr. John Locke, who was summoned out of what would have been his grave by none other than Walt, or a figment of his imagination in the form of Walt, or the smoke monster in the form of Walt, who tells him “you’ve got work to do, John.”

Jack picks up the phone, and Locke points a gun at him, telling him he’s not supposed to make the call. Jack stands strong, telling him that “I’m done letting you keep us on this island.” Locke relents, unable to shoot Jack, and a desperate Ben yells out “you don’t know what you’re doing!” But the call is complete, and the man on the other end of the line tells him they are coming. And soon.

Cut to the last scene of the “flashforwards.” Jack meets up with someone at the airport…it’s Kate. A distressed Jack tells her that he’s been flying all the time with his “gold pass” that Oceanic gave him, hoping that the plane would crash and take him back to the island. He tells her that “we weren’t supposed to leave,” and that “we have to go back.” Kate leaves, saying she has to go back to “him” (Sawyer?) and leaves Jack to his misery.

WOAH.

So at least Jack and Kate got off the island, and presumably a lot of the survivors have. Charlie’s sacrifice has made it possible for the survivors to be rescued…but the people it’s not clear if the people on Naomi’s boat are the ones who will be doing the rescuing. And a haunted Jack clearly has decided that coming back to the real world was the wrong move…that Locke, and maybe even Ben, were right the whole time.

Mindblowing. The finale implied that “Lost” may be done with the flashbacks, and the “flashforwards” might just be the new way the show will tell its labyrinthine story. Which sounds amazing to me. I can’t wait to see where this baby goes next.

As always, the episode has raised a whole lot of new questions. Who was in the casket at the funeral that Jack attended? He said he was neither family nor friend of the deceased, and nobody else showed up. When he asked Kate why she didn’t come, all she said was “why would I?” So who was it? My money’s on Michael. He betrayed the survivors and murdered two of them, so why would they go to his funeral? But it always could be Ben, or even Locke. His bizarre behavior would imply that not many people like him much anymore. And if he had to leave the island, he might be inclined to kill himself. This would also explain Jack’s guilt and remorse for leaving the island.

And what about Jack talking about his father as if he’s alive in the future? Christian Shepherd is dead. How can Jack tell the hospital’s new chief of surgery to bring his father down and see if he’s drunker if he’s dead? And how can Jack try and get prescriptions for drugs from his father if he’s dead? Did Jack come home to another timeline where his father never died? Is he just delusional at the point that he asks about him?

What are they going to do about Ben? What is Locke going to do? And who the hell did Jack talk to on the phone…are they coming to rescue the survivors…or slaughter them?

Anyone who doubted the show, anyone who turned away from it, gave up on it…it’s time to come back. The show is better than it’s ever been on every level, and it’s time for you to come back to “Lost.” If you thought the show had lost it’s way, you’re wrong. Just get over your fanboy pride and get back on the “Lost” train.

Season 3 ended with a note perfect episode. It was exciting, funny, emotional, and satisfying on every level. Almost every story beat planted earlier in the season has paid off, including the seemingly stupid VW bus episode. The only thing that didn’t pay off was the “Jack’s Tattoo” episode…everything was working in their favor last night to the point that I thought it was going to be the key to killing the smoke monster. The confidence in the storytelling on the show at this point is astounding, and I can’t wait to see how they bring the show to a close over the next three seasons. I know I shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I really think they’re going to pull the whole thing off and actually have satisfying ending for loyal fans. If they can equal what they achieved last night, then “Lost” is going to go down as one of the all time great shows.

Nine months is a long time.