Through the Looking Glass
I am so back in total love with LOST. Even when some aspects of the storytelling this season had me frustrated, and my faith in the integrity of the story had its shaky moments, I knew I would never abandon the show. But I had no idea that LOST, in the second half of its third season, would not only reward me for my faith in it but would just blow my socks off and re-establish itself as one of the absolute best shows on TV.
Let me ask this straight out: what the bloody hell do you guys think is going on? I have no idea, but I was thinking...
The flash-forward is another way to play with the timeline, isn't it? But did we see what could just be a possible future? Or do the writers have some serious cajones and is that the point at which the story will resume in the fall? According to the newspaper, the flash forward took place in April/May of 2007, or present time. Imagine if the show came back and was now told from the perspective of them trying to get back to the island!
I don't think that will happen, though. And that's because you would lose the majority of the cast. I think what happened in the flashforward timeline is that, like Ben said, the people on the ship are bad guys and very few people made it off of the island alive. And it's guilt over that loss of life that makes Jack turn into a drunk and drug addict. If that's the case, and the show picked up the storyline next season where the flasforward left off, the cast would have been decimated and we'd be left with just Jack and Kate and maybe one or two others. Nah, not happening.
So, will Jack, or possibly Desmond, get a glimpse of what we saw in the flashforward and realize that leaving the island is not what they should do? And who are the people on Naomi's ship, anyway? If Penny is to be believed, they are not there working for her. Perhaps her father, Widmore, has sent his own people to intercept Desmond before Penny can get to him?
I was absolutely convinced that Desmond was going to die. Convinced and very unhappy about it. What a relief it was when he didn't! Charlie's death, on the other hand, was very satisfying. Not because I particularly wanted him to die, but because we actually got a payoff for the season-long story thread of Desmond's premonitions of Charlie's death, and the writers didn't gyp us with a cop-out resolution. It also provided a satisfying emotional payoff, with Charlie finding meaning in his life by dying a brave and purposeful death and Desmond catching a fleeting glimpse of his beloved Penny.I was amazed at the body count! Let's see...Tom, Pryce and various other Others in the beach raid, Bonnie, What's -Her-Face and Mikhail down in the Looking Glass, Cholly, Naomi...did I miss anyone?
Hurley crashing through the beach camp in the VW bus and saving he day was da bomb.
We got the much anticipated reunion between Rousseau and Alex. I love that the first thing Rousseau says to her daughter is "Will you help me tie him (Benry) up?" Hee!
So, Juliet kisses Jack, who loves Kate, who is possibly pregnant by Sawyer, who loves Kate, who loves Jack. Tune in next season for more of The Young and The LOST!
And oh my Gosh, Locke and Walt! I almost forgot! What a great holy crap moment that was.
Things to Think About Over the Long Hiatus
Why did Jack refer to his father as if he were still alive in the flashforward? Was he so wasted that he didn't know what he was talking about? Or were we looking at a different timeline? Or is there another explanation?
What was Walt? Was it really him? Was he a projection of the Island? Did the smoke monster manifest itself as Walt? Did Jacob have anything to do with it?
Penny's transmission was an "incoming transmission" - is it safe to assume that Penny just happened to be sending out a transmission just as Charlie disabled the signal jammer?
If that's "Not Penny's Boat", then whose is it? If they are "bad" people, how does Benry know they're bad?
What temple did Richard and the remaining Others head off to? Who or what is worshipped there? Does he/she have only 4 toes?
Then there's the obituary.
Who do you think died? Is it John? Is it Ben? Or is someone we have yet to meet? You can get a closer look at the clipping here.
Who was Kate referring to when she told Jack she had to leave because "he'll be wondering where I am"?
Will we see more flashforwards next season, or was this a one-time situation for this finale?
I guess my final question would be: What the Hell is going to happen next?! It's going to be a looooong 9 months, so let's take the time to appreciate the hotness of Sawyer and especially Desmond.
I'll miss you!
This post brought to you by Diazepam.
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7 comments:
I meant to compare the flash forward ending to the mind-blowing season 2 finale of Battlestar Galactica that jumped ahead an entire year in the last third of the episode. I was drugged, what can I say.
So, it's been done before, but LOST has truly jumped forward about 5 years, well, that will be HUGE.
I meant to say "if LOST has truly jumped forward".
I should probably just go to bed.
Good post - but I don't think the BSG Season 2 finale and Lost Season 3 finale are at all comparable... the BSG was just a sudden leap, completely forward, with no look back at the past (until well into the 3rd season) ... Lost, in contrast, seems to be substituting post-island flashfowards for pre-island flashbacks....
so, your drugged state didn't let you down...:)
Excellent post, full of great info but I think my favorite line is your dedication ("this post brought to you by diazepam") LMAO
I think Lost really outdid themselves with the whole last half of the season. Like you, I would never quit watching, but I didn't expect such excitement and surprises. It was an awesome finale, but I will need something "Lost" this fall to tide me over.
I have no idea who the people on the ship are. I like your idea about them being bad, and the "rescue" being more of a killing spree. That makes sense... can't wait for next season!!
Excellent post as always.
Here's how you know it was a great finale: it inspired me to spend the holiday weekend plus watching all three seasons over. Loved it even more. Still crying from Vincent swimming after the raft...
It would seem that next season the flashes will be forward, which is fantastic. Or is that too easy, and they will find some other way to blow my mind?
Alex and Danielle are bonding in a way I wish more young moms and teen daughters would. But that's me.
TV Rule #2: Never show someone how to work a phone "in case something happens to me"... It's a fast track to a dirt nap. (Rule #1 is if you are asked "Has anyone else seen this photograph?" say "Yes! Lots!")
I assumed that Christian was still very much dead. That Jack forged his scrip and that's why he couldn't let the pharm call. And when he said his dad was upstairs, the pitying headshake from the Chief said to me that that clinched it.
The hospital scenes were shot on the Grey's Anatomy set, you know
I think what makes Walt special is that he can be there as himself... or that he himself is an extension of the island. In any case I dont think that was a Yeni trick, I think that was Walt. But whatta I know?
I think Penny's been frantically transmitting since the end of last season. When I was in college, in the pre voicemail era, you could call someone's dorm room and if they weren't there it would ring twenty or thirty times. So sometimes we'd just leave the phone ringing on our end and go to lunch. If the phone was still ringing when we returned, he never got back. If not, he'd come home, answered, and hung up. Crude but effective. I thought of that when I saw Penny. Whom I love as you love Des by the way.
Who they are on that boat is a whole new mystery! But the name of the man on the other end of the phone is a hint, in terms of mathematical geometry and time dimension.
I still say the temple held a hge statue of Homer Simpson.
The coffin (in the FLASH FORWARD funeral parlor) didn't look full size to me, but maybe I'm wrong. It was sized for Walt or Claire or Ben or an older Aaron... but the fact that no one showed is intriguing. I expect a rift is ahead we're not expecting.
I love this show an unreasonable amount. Watching it again I'm more struck than ever by the stories of people who got exactly what they wanted and it made them, to varying degrees, miserable.
Until they came to the island... where the were given the chance to start new and most made the same mistakes all over again. So there's Jack, a hero who fought through his quest like hell, too busy heroicizing to realize he was where he was supposed to be.
Sorry, it's late and Gina brings out my expansive side. This is the only Lost blog I visit! Okay, back to my hidey-hole :)
Michael, great comment. I never thought about the getting what they want aspect of it, but what a great observation! Your post makes me want to go back and rewatch the previous seasons this summer! Hmmm... I hope my video store has them, although I could probably buy them for less.
Thanks, everyone, for the comments!
Paul - you're absolutely correct, the BSG and LOST finales are not really comparable at all. It's just that having seen that BSG finale is what made me wonder what it would be like if LOST had actually jumped ahead 5 years.
Beth, I was so high yesterday that it took me HOURS to put this post together, I swear! lol
Mike, I can't believe you re-watched all 3 seasons last weekend! Cool! I may have to try to work a weekend in like that this summer. I've already got a BSG marathon/recruitment weekend scheduled with friends I'm trying to convert. I'm going to our cottage in Maine for a couple of weeks, maybe that's when I do a LOST review...
Anyhoo, LOL about the TV Rules. So true. Also, if Scully or Jack Bauer tell you, "I promise nothing will happen to you", run really fast in the other direction.
I think you're right about Christian and Jack was just pathetically drunk and didn't know what he was talking about. There's really no other explanation based on what we know so far.
Oo, thanks for the hint on "Minkowski". Here's what they say at Lostpedia:
Minkowski possibly refers to Hermann Minkowski, the early twentieth century German mathematician-physicist who described time as a fourth dimension.
I love it.
And don't apologize, be expansive! I love it when you're expansive!
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