Season 3 FInale: "Through the Looking Glass"

WOW. That was a great episode. This is definitely going to take some time, though. I need to watch it again (especially the flashbacks - or I guess I should say flashforwards?) so I can pay closer attention to those scenes with Jack in the future.

I will post by the end of the day.

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Okay, I'm back! And I just rewatched it. Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to begin!!! (warning: I think this is the longest post ever.)

(1) So, we learn that Jack and Kate definitely get rescued. I think we are to assume that everyone gets rescued, but I actually don't think so. Here are my thoughts on that. First of all, I don't think that the "rescue boat" of Naomi's is actually going to save them. I do think that Ben was telling the truth in that these are the "bad guys" who have been trying to find the island for some time. I think that over the next couple of seasons, we will see what happens when these other "bad" guys arrive. But I don't think they are rescuing the losties. Anyway, I think that eventually, they have an opportunity to get off the island, but that only Jack and Kate (and maybe 1 or 2 others) actually are rescued. The main reason I think this, is because in the final scene with Jack and Kate meeting outside the airport, he tells her "I'm sick of lying. We made a mistake." and also says "We were not supposed to leave" and keeps saying "We have to go back." To me, this implies that they had to make a choice, and maybe they left everyone else behind in order to save themselves and it sounds like he is regretting that decision. Also, he mentions that he is sick of lying. DId they have to lie about something after they got back, maybe if they left other people behind? Or are they just having to keep the whereabouts of the island and the Others a secret? It is clear, however, that Jack wants to go back to the island. Whether it is to get the other people (if they did leave the rest of them behind) OR if it is just because his life is so messed up after leaving. Kind of like how Locke didn't want to leave the island, Jack now realizes that he was the man he wanted to be on the island (the leader) but that back at home he is not that man. He spent the whole time wanting to leave, and now he actually wants to go back. He even tells Kate that he flies all the time now just praying that the plane will crash. And in that final scene when he is calling Kate on the phone, you see him sitting in his home, which is covered with maps. Maps on the walls, maps spread out all over the floors, drawings and diagrams, compasses, etc. - he is clearly trying to find the island again and a way to get back there. But as Ben once said, no one will ever be able to find this island.

(2) We also learn a great deal about Jack's "future." It is very interesting to see these "flashbacks" play out and then to learn at the end that they are actually flash-forwards. I was shocked!!! Basically, ever since returning to real life, Jack has become a mess. He is a drunk, he is addicted to prescription drugs, he tries to commit suicide. He basically has become his worse nightmare. Ben was 100% correct when he asks Jack on the island "What is it that you have to go back to?" It is true, he has nothing left. And even more interesting, is that Jack has basically turned into his father. The man he hated, he has now become. It is very ironic, that on the island, Jack was the leader, the man everyone looked up to, the man who could always "fix" everything. Even his name, Jack SHEPHARD, suggests that he is a leader. Yet after getting back to real life, he is a completely different person. It is like the island took his life from him, he was shed of his true self, and "lost" who he used to be. The whole time he was on the island, he wanted nothing more than to go home, to get off that island. But for what? Ben was exactly right. And now we have seen what Jack has turned into after being rescued. And I think it's very interesting that the island - which has cured people of illness and basically given everyone a chance to start anew - that the island allowed Jack to be that leader, to be the "hero" that everyone looked up to, but once OFF the island, he is no longer that man. (It will be interesting to see what happens to the other survivors after getting off the island, will they change as well? Were they all truly MEANT to be on that island?)

(3) Throughout the course of Jack's "flash-forwards," we learn that the reason he kept calling Kate over and over is because he finds out that someone has died. The big question is, whose funeral was it? I think it is very obvious that it was someone who is connected to both Jack and Kate, therefore it would be someone from the island. When Jack goes to the funeral, he learns that nobody showed up. He tells the funeral director that he is neither friend nor family. And when he asks Kate about going, she says "why would I go to the funeral?" So it appears as if it were someone that neither one of them cared about. But, we also see that Jack cries when reading about it in the paper. He does seem truly sad about whoever it is that died, but I think that it might not be sadness he is feeling over losing that person, just sadness about the whole experience in general. Basically, this person dying is just a reminder of his time on the island, and what his life has become since leaving. Here he is, contemplating suicide, so obviously he is a mess, and I think the added pressure from reading about the death of this person has just added to Jack's depression and psychosis. I think it is Locke who died. I think that deep down, Jack could truly be sad because he started out on the same side as Locke, they were in it together. But as we have seen over the course of the past three seasons, and especially the past few weeks, Locke has betrayed them and switched sides. In this particular episode, Locke even goes so far as to be willing to shoot Jack. I think that Jack and Kate would not go to his funeral, because he betrayed them all, and continuously tried to keep them from leaving the island. Of course they would not consider him a "friend." Also, it seems as if the man's name starts with a "J" (john locke?) If you read what little information is visible in the screencap of the newspaper, here is what we can make out: "Man Found Downtown...the body of J_____ of New York was found shortly after 4am in the _____ of Grand __ at the __ loud __ man's loft ___ safety, he ____." I think that we are not going to find out exactly who died until the very end of the series (in three years).



(4) We also know that Jack saved a woman and her 8-year-old son from a car crash on the bridge just as he was about to kill himself. People keep calling him a hero, but he knows deep down that he is not. I do think, however, that whoever this woman is that he saved, is not just someone random. I think we will see in a few more seasons that it is someone he is connected with. It could be Claire (and Aaron is her now 8-year-old son) or it could be Juliette's sister (and her son Julien) or perhaps someone else connected to the island. But I do think, that in true LOST fashion, there is going to be some connection there. Jack was definitely too interested in making sure she was okay. At first I think that it didn't seem so out of character because Jack, as the heroic doctor, was always like that, wanting to "fix" people and make sure everyone was okay. But we have to remember that Jack is no longer that person. So I think that he knows who the woman is and was truly concerned about her because he knows her. And I'd be willing to bet that in a couple years, probably in the final few episodes of the series, we will see another "flashback" but from the woman's point of view (let's just say it was Claire) and we would see her in the car driving, then seeing Jack off to the side jumping off the bridge, and then seeing the crash from her point of view. I'm sure there has to be some connection there, whoever the woman is.

(5) The other major revelations we learn in this episode have to do with Naomi's boat and the fact that it is NOT Penny's rescue team. As I said above, I do think that Ben was telling the truth to Jack about Naomi not being who she said she was. I think that she may be a part of the "real" Dharma Initiative, and that perhaps they are coming back to reclaim their island, their stations, and what they came to do in the first place, before Ben killed them all. They have probably been trying to find the island for years, like Ben said, and now they have found it. I do think that another "war" will break out, and I think that the survivors are going to have to choose which side to be on. I actually think that they may end up going to the Others side, after seeing that maybe Ben was trying to protect everyone all along (even though he is still creepy). I think that although they have killed people, and they do seem like they are bad, like Ben said, I think they may have "good" reasons for having to do those things, and we just don't know the whole story yet.

(6) Another very interesting connection here is that Penny made an incoming call to the Looking Glass station. She claimed to know nothing about the "rescue boat" or Naomi, so it appears that she does not have anything to do with that. So the big question is, why was she calling the station? She clearly did not know that Desmond was there, as she seemed shocked when Charlie said that he was there. We do know that her father owns Widmore Labs, and that there seems to be some connection with Widmore and the Dharma Initiative. So there could be some ulterior motive there with Penny contacting one of the Dharma stations. Very strange.

(7) Locke. So we find out that he is definitely alive (which I knew he would be!) and that Ben did not kill him. He wakes up in the ditch and cannot feel his legs, and in a moment of despair, he is about to put a gun to his head. Then a "vision" of Walt comes up and Walt tells him not to do it, that he has work that he has to do. Once again, Locke believes that he is meant to do something on the island, that it is his calling. He has a purpose on this island, and he has to fulfill it. He shows up at the radio tower and tells Jack not to call in to the rescue boat, that he is "not supposed to do this." He kills Naomi, and is fully prepared to kill Jack (but when actually faced with it, he can't do it). For whatever reason, he truly believes that they are not supposed to radio in to the boat. Does he have an intuition about who these people are, or does he truly just not want them to get off the island? It seems that Locke is emerging as the new "leader" of this island, and although he isn't telling them why, it seems that he truly knows the reason why they should not be calling Naomi's radio. I really think he has some special power, and that Locke can "see" what is supposed to happen. I kind of think that Locke may actually be trying to save JACK. He knows that Jack is meant to stay on the island. That once Jack leaves the island, his life will spin out of control. It could be that he blew up the submarine, and now is trying to prevent Naomi from calling her boat, because he is actually trying to save Jack. That could be the thing he is supposed to do....keeping Jack on the island to "save" him from becoming his future self.

(8) So, it appears that Charlie is dead. (And yes, I think that he really is dead. They had to kill someone major off). He sacrifices his own life to help get everyone rescued. He thought that was his fate. But as it turns out, it seems that Desmond did not really have this "vision" after all, even though Charlie did end up turning off the radio jamming signal, and drowning anyway. But when he says something to Desmond about he has to do this because it is his destiny, Desmond looks like he wasn't telling the truth. However, Charlie is willing to die for this cause, because he truly believes in fate and that if he does this, he will get everyone else rescued. But, I don't think that Charlie killing himself is going to help get them rescued. I also don't understand why he couldn't have just escaped with Desmond (they had scuba gear) - I guess he felt that he was supposed to die, and that if he did it, they would all get rescued.

(9) Hurley. Poor, sweet Hurley. He just wants to help. I felt so bad for him when first Charlie told him he could not come along, and now Sawyer. He truly just wants to be a part of the group, and to do something good. I knew that when Sawyer yelled at home and told him to go back, that he was going to follow them anyway, and I just KNEW that he was going to end up saving them at the end! My favorite line of the night, was when Hurley used Tom's walkie-talkie to call Ben and he says "Come in, Others...Calling all Others" - ha ha! Gotta love Hurley. He finally got his chance to be a hero and save the day :)

(10). Ben - Finally, Ben's people are no longer trusting him. They see that he has been lying to him and they are starting to question his authority. He lied to everyone about the Looking Glass station and that it was flooded. He lied to everyone about the two women that were down there (Mikhail says to them, "I thought you two were on assignment in Canada?") The Others don't seem to trust Ben at all anymore. Mikhail clearly says he doesn't trust him, and also when Ben radios Tom and tells him to kill Jin, Sayid and Bernard, they go against his orders and just fire three shots into the sand (which I was SO happy about to learn that they didn't die!) - But, obviously there is a struggle of power here and Ben is losing his "leadership" amongst the Others. The big question will be, does Locke take over as leader, or will Ben emerge again once Naomi's group shows up (because he could say "I told you so" if they truly do end up being the "bad guys.")

Also - the two women in the Looking Glass station. Does anyone else besides me totally think the brunette woman was Cassidy (Sawyer's woman that he conned and also the woman who helped Kate see her mom). I'm really think it had to be her! I can't figure out why she would be there, and the fact that Mikhail killed her kind of takes away any reason they would have to tie her into the show and let Sawyer run into her, but I'm telling you, I really really think that was her!!!

I do also want to comment on the "flash-forwards" - alot of people have said they don't believe they were all scenes from the future because of the fact that Jack mentioned his dad at the hospital. People have been saying that must have been a scene from the past because he said about getting his dad and seeing if he was more drunk than him, and that had to be a true flashback because his dad was dead. Here is my take on that. I definitely think all of these scenes did take place in the future (after getting off the island). The main reason being that each of these scenes is somehow related to the newspaper article, and Jack going to the funeral, calling Kate, etc. I think the reference to his father was just to show us how delusional he is, that he is completely messed up. He is drunk and psychotic. Even after he says it, "go get my father and see if he is drunker than me" - the Chief of Surgery just looks at him and shakes his head, and Jack says "don't pity me." It's like he knew that he sounded completely crazy. But I absolutely think that all of Jack's "scenes" took place in the future. In fact, I hope that we see more scenes from the "future" in the next few seasons to come. It definitely will be interesting to see how everyone's life changes after being rescued and what becomes of everyone. But like I said above, I think they will still be on the island for awhile, I don't think they'll get rescued right away... three more seasons is a long time!

I can't believe we have to wait til next January or February for the next season to start!