Lost Season Three Episode 22 'Through The Looking Glass'

What a brilliant episode. The next season is set up superbly and I know it will be driving me mad until February when we finally get to see what happens next!

Sayid has selected himself, Jin and Bernard as the three marksmen who will set off their trap to ambush the Others. He makes Jack promise that, no matter what happens on the beach, he will lead the remaining survivors to the communications tower; he tells Jack that he is willing to die so the others can be rescued. Jack understands.

In the Looking Glass, Bonnie and Greta interrogate Charlie. He says he found out about the Looking Glass from Juliet, who has joined the Losties. Bonnie and Greta go into an adjacent room to radio Ben; inexplicably leaving the door open so that Charlie can eavesdrop (and see the blinking yellow light from Desmond's vision of the jamming equipment) and shout his name to Ben. Bonnie tells Ben about Juliet's betrayal (overheard by Richard Alpert and Mikhail). Ben orders Mikhail to go to the Looking Glass to find out why Charlie is there, and admits he lied about the station being inoperable. Mikhail wonders what else Juliet has told the Losties. Ben immediately tries to contact the Others' kidnap team, but their radios are off.

At the beach, the Others led by Ryan Pryce and Tom start searching the marked tents. When they realize the tents are empty it is too late - Sayid and Bernard shoot bundles of dynamite, setting off large explosions that kill lots of Others. Jin (using a pistol rather than a rifle) misses his targeted dynamite but shoots and kills two Others. However, the three remaining Others capture Jin, Bernard and Sayid.

Far away, Jack's group hear only two of three expected explosions, followed by gunfire. The group are worried about what might have gone wrong, especially Rose and Sun, but Jack urges everyone to stick to the original plan.

Charlie tells Bonnie & Greta that, no matter what they do to him, he will turn off their jamming equipment so that rescue helicopters can come. Bonnie says only she, Greta and Ben know the code needed to disarm the jamming equipment. Charlie suposes he won't need the code because the Looking Glass will soon be flooded. Bonnie asks what Charlie will do when the station floods; he simply replies that he will die.

Tom radios Ben to tell him seven of the assault team are dead. Ben tells him to execute Jin, to make Sayid and Bernard reveal where the other survivors have gone. Jin insists nobody talks. Sayid says the Others will kill them anyway, and Pryce knocks him out. Bernard panics, revealing that Jack's group are heading for the radio tower to use Naomi's satellite phone, and that Karl warned them about the early attack. Ben realizes Alex must have told Karl, and tells Tom not to kill Sayid, Jin and Bernard yet.

In the morning, Ben plans to intercept Jack's group and talk them out of going through with their plan to contact Naomi’s freighter. Richard Alpert asks to come along but Ben orders him to take the rest of the Others to the Temple "as planned". I guess the Temple will be a big part of the next season then. Alex asks to go with Ben; surprisingly, Ben agrees, saying it's a good idea, remarking that Alex must want to see Karl again.

Desmond wakes up in the outrigger above the Looking Glass station and realizes that Charlie has gone down alone. Suddenly Mikhail begins shooting at him from the shore. Desmond dives overboard and swims down into the station, where Charlie warns him to hide. Bonnie and Greta emerge from the communications room and demand to know who Charlie was talking to. When Charlie gives a flippant answer Bonnie decides to fetch a spear gun (for to torture Charlie) and strides toward the locker where Desmond has hidden. Mikhail (in SCUBA gear, and without his eye patch - gross!) surfaces inside the station just before Bonnie discovers Desmond inside the spear gun locker.

Mikhail says he thought Bonnie and Greta were on assignment in Canada; they reply that Ben ordered them to lie. Mikhail takes out a knife and approaches Charlie; Charlie reveals that the station is jamming transmissions, which startles Mikhail. Ben contacts the station and Mikhail speaks to him privately. Ben justifies the deception about the Looking Glass as necessary to defend the island and ensure everyone's security. He orders Mikhail to kill Charlie, Bonnie and Greta, and make sure the jamming device continues to work at all costs. Mikhail asks how he can be sure Ben hasn't ordered Bonnie and Greta to kill him; Ben answers "if I had, you would be dead already".

Kate tells Sawyer that they should go back to the beach to help Sayid, Jin and Bernard, but Sawyer reacts negatively. She tries to provoke a reaction from him and points out how withdrawn and unresponsive he's been since (the events in "The Brig"); but Sawyer avoids the issue - including the possibility that Kate is pregnant. Immediately afterwards, however, Sawyer throws Jack a look of consternation. Twenty minutes after the trek recommences, Sawyer announces that he's going back to the beach, telling Kate that he just did not want to go with her. Juliet volunteers to go with him, explaining she knows where to find a cache of guns, and telling Jack it's something she has to do. On parting, Juliet gives Jack a lingering kiss and cheerfully tells him not to wait up. As Juliet walks away, Jack checks Kate's reaction.

As soon as he is on his way back to the beach, Sawyer is more like his old self, bantering with Juliet. He asks, "So... are you screwing Jack yet?" Juliet replies. "No. Are you?" Then Juliet admits she lied about the gun cache, just so Jack would let her go. When Sawyer asks why Juliet is returning to the beach she replies, "Karma". When Juliet asks why Sawyer is returning to the beach, he has no answer. Hurley chases Sawyer and Juliet, desperate to help his friends; but Sawyer dismisses him, saying that Hurley will get in the way and get people killed.

Alex asks why Ben let her come with him. He says he's delivering Alex to her new family, because she betrayed him. Alex argues that Ben mistreated Karl, which Ben excuses because he didn't want Alex to get pregnant. She asks why Ben can't just let the plane crash survivors leave the island, but Ben's only answer is "Because I can't".

Locke awakens in the DHARMA mass grave nearly a full day after being shot by Ben. He cannot move his legs but he manages to reach a revolver in a holster on one of the corpses. He checks the revolver for bullets, cocks its hammer and puts the barrel to his head. Sounds, possibly whispers or the monster, are heard in the background. As John prepares to kill himself, Walt suddenly appears standing over the grave. Walt tells Locke to get up because he has "work to do." Immediately after Walt says that a grin appears on Locke's face.

Jack tells Kate that Sawyer didn't mean what he said, it was just to protect her; and that he (Jack) did the same thing when he told Kate not to come back to Hydra Island. Kate asks why Jack is suddenly sticking up for Sawyer; he replies "Because I love you."

About an hour away from the radio tower, Ben and Alex intercept Jack's group and Ben asks to speak to Jack alone. Ben tells Jack that Naomi is one of the "bad guys" trying to find the island, and if she makes contact with her ship, "every living person" on the island will be killed. Jack refuses to surrender the satellite phone. Ben radios the beach so that Jack can hear that the Others have captured Sayid, Bernard, and Jin. Ben tells Jack to get Naomi's phone and bring it to him. Jack asks why he shouldn't just snap Ben's neck, so Ben tells Tom that if he does not hear back from him in one minute to shoot all three hostages. Jack refuses to back down. When the minute is up, three gunshots are heard through the radio. Visibly upset, Jack throws Ben to the ground and brutally assaults him. Jack radios Tom to say, once he's got the survivors rescued, he's going to find Tom and kill him.

Ben, degraded to nothing, now a prisoner of the survivors.Jack marches Ben back to the group of survivors, then strides away, followed by Kate. Ben introduces Alex to her mother (Rousseau); Rousseau's first ever words to her daughter are, "Will you help me tie him (Ben) up?" Jack tells Kate that he was forced to let Ben order the killing of Jin, Bernard and Sayid. Kate asks why Jack brought Ben back instead of killing him; Jack says he wants to wait until after Ben has seen them all rescued.
Inside the Looking Glass, Mikhail checks that Bonnie and Greta are the only ones who know the jammming code, and that the jamming mechanism will continue to function if the station is flooded. He shoots and kills Greta. Bonnie runs but Mikhail shoots her in the back; before he can finish her off, Desmond emerges from the locker and shoots Mikhail in the chest with a spear gun. Charlie convinces Bonnie that Ben has betrayed her loyalty, and she can gain revenge by revealing the code to disable the jamming signal. She starts to tell him the code numbers, but her life is ebbing away; so she tells Charlie the code will play the The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" when entered on the numeric keypad. It was "programmed by a musician".

Bernard, Sayid and Jin at gunpoint.At the beach, Tom is telling Pryce that Ben has "lost it" and they should have actually killed Sayid, Bernard and Jin instead of doing what Pryce reminds him "was an order": firing bullets into the sand. Sawyer and Juliet watch from the jungle, hesitating because they are unarmed and outnumbered. Suddenly, Hurley drives the DHARMA van out of the jungle and accelerates towards the Others. Tom dives out of the way, but Pryce stands his ground trying to shoot Hurley; Hurley runs him over and kills him. Sawyer grabs Pryce's gun.

Hurley drives the DHARMA van into the beach camp.Jason is distracted from guarding Sayid, Bernard and Jin. Sayid (using only his feet) knocks Jason to the ground and breaks his neck. Juliet grabs Tom's gun and he surrenders, but Sawyer shoots him in the chest and says, "That's for taking the kid off the raft." Payback! Hurley points out that Tom had surrendered; Sawyer responds, "I didn’t believe him." Hurley uses Tom’s walkie-talkie to announce their victory over the Others' kidnapping party, and warn the rest of the Others they will be blown up if they attack the beach camp again. Jack hears the message on Ben's walkie-talkie and asks Hurley about Bernard, Sayid and Jin. Hurley proudly confirms that he has saved them all, to the joy of Jack's group. Claire asks about Charlie but Hurley says he doesn't know anything about it.

Inside the Looking Glass, Desmond fetches scuba gear while Charlie disables the jamming equipment by playing "Good Vibrations" on the control pad. Charlie remarks "So much for fate" and turns to leave, but his attention is grabbed by an 'incoming transmission'. On a video screen, he speaks to a woman who turns out to be Penelope (she asks how Charlie got this frequency implying that she is responding to a call rather than initiating the call). Charlie calls Desmond, which excites Penny. Charlie mentions Penny's boat and Naomi; but Penny says she is not on a boat and asks who is Naomi?

Desmond notices that Mikhail's body is missing. Mikhail appears at Charlie’s porthole brandishing a hand grenade. Charlie closes and locks the communication room's watertight door, but not before Desmond has seen Penny's face on the monitor. Mikhail detonates the grenade; the window shatters and water pours into the compartment where Charlie is now confined. Desmond tries in vain to break the door’s window. As the room fills with water Charlie writes a message on his hand and presses it against the door’s window for Desmond to read, "NOT PENNYS BOAT". As he drowns, Charlie makes the sign of the Cross.

Back with Jack's group, Naomi gets a green light on her phone, meaning the jamming device has been disabled, but it only recieves Rousseau's distress signal. However, they have finally reached the radio tower and Rousseau switches her message off. Ben, tied to a tree, begs Jack not to use the phone, saying it will be a mistake and "the beginning of the end". Just as Naomi gets a connection, she is incapacitated by a knife in the back, thrown by Locke.

Jack calling rescue.Revolver in hand, Locke threatens to shoot Jack to prevent him using the phone. Ben urges Locke to kill Jack but Rousseau knocks Ben out. Jack stands his ground, telling Locke, "You're done keeping me on this island". Locke backs down, but tells Jack, "You're not supposed to do this" before walking away. A man named Minkowski answers the phone. Jack explains who he is and mentions Naomi's name, which Minkowski recognizes. Jack asks if Minkowski can get a fix on his location; Minkowski tells him someone is being sent to the island immediately. Ben looks on helplessly as the survivors begin to celebrate and anticipate their rescue. Jack is overcome with relief and on the brink of tears.

In the flashback...
Appearing disheveled and severely depressed, Jack sits on an airplane. After being refused a drink from the stewardess, he notices an article in the newspaper which he rips out; it's an obituary. We then see him sitting in a car that is parked on the side of the Sixth Street Bridge, crying while looking at the newspaper clipping. He makes a call to someone, but only gets through to voice mail. After leaving a message about having read the contents of the clipping, he steps from the vehicle. He climbs up onto the ledge and murmurs "forgive me". Just as he is leaning forward to jump, a fiery car crash occurs. He rushes to save the victims.

Later, Jack is being stitched up at a hospital when a visibly pregnant Sarah enters; she is still listed as his emergency contact. She asks him if he's drunk, which he denies. She asks him what he was doing driving around at 2 a.m. but he deflects the question by asking her if she can give him a ride. She states that it "would not be appropriate", and leaves.

The next day Jack is at the bedside of the woman from the crash. Jack takes some oxycodone pills, just before Dr. Hamill, the new chief of surgery, enters. The woman has a spinal injury and Jack wants to operate. Hamill refuses to allow it and tells him to go home to rest. As he leaves the hospital the woman's eight-year-old son waves at him. Some time after, Jack is driving while listening to Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice" with the newspaper clip in one hand.

He parks, and again calls someone on his cellphone, only for the call to go to voicemail again. He absent-mindedly crosses the street and enters a funeral parlor. The casket is closed but nobody is there. The funeral director steps in and informs Jack that he is the only one to come to the viewing. He then asks Jack if he is a friend or from the family of the deceased; Jack replies that he is "neither." When asked if he wants the casket opened, Jack says no and the director leaves. Jack lays a hand on the casket, appearing deeply saddened. He swallows a pill, then turns and leaves.
Jack is at a pharmacy trying to get his prescription of oxycodone refilled but he has used up all his refills. While arguing with the pharmacist he is recognized as the hero from the news. He denies being a hero. He then tries to hand the pharmacist another (fake) prescription from his father. When she tries to call in to confirm the prescription, Jack grows angry and storms off, knocking over a rack of sun-glasses on his way out.

Unable to get his fix legally, Jack raids his hospital's supply of oxycodone. When he comes out of the medicine room, he is visibly intoxicated, possibly drunk. Hamill asks him what he is doing. Jack replies that he was trying to find out how the surgery went. Hamill says he left voice messages for Jack but Jack claims his phone is broken. Hamill tells him Mrs. Arlen's back surgery went well, and that the woman remembers seeing a man about to jump off the bridge, which caused her to lose control of the car. Hamill then begins quizzing Jack on how he got to the crash so fast. Jack begins ranting about how long he has worked at the hospital, and how Hamill doesn't know anything about him or what he has been through. Hamill asks him how much he has had to drink; Jack replies by telling Hamill to get his father, Dr. Christian Shephard, "down here" and if Jack's drunker than his father is, then Dr. Hamill can fire him.

We then see Jack in his messy apartment, which is full of dirty dishes and various maps and atlases. While swigging from a bottle of tequila, he is finally able to reach the person he has been desperately calling. They agree to meet at the airport, "she knows where". Outside the airport's gate at the end of a runway, a car parks up behind Jack's, and out of it steps Kate. When she asks why he called her, he pulls out the newspaper clipping and says he had hoped to see her at the funeral. She replies, "Why would I go to the funeral?" Jack then confesses that he has been flying a lot.
Practically every Friday night he has been using the "Golden Pass" that Oceanic apparently has given him and most likely to the rest of the crash survivors. On each flight he hopes that the plane will crash and he will be on the island again. He tells her he doesn't care about anyone else on board, that with every bump he prays that he can get back. He tells her he is sick of lying and that they made a mistake. Kate tells him she has to go because "He" will be wondering where she is. Jack tells her that they weren't supposed to leave and she disagrees, saying it can't be changed. As she is driving away he screams, "we have to go back" twice. After this we see a plane take off right behind Jack.

Oh my god - it wan't a flashback - it was a flash forward!!

What a way to end the season. The Losties seem like they might get rescued (although we aren't sure if Ben is telling the truth about Naomi's people or not). Charlie died a hero. Penny features again and seems to know nothing about Naomi. Is Walt back on the island (did he ever leave?). But the biggest twist involves Jack. How did he and Kate get off the island? Why does Jack want to go back? Why doesn't Kate want to go back? Is Jack's dad still alive? Who was in the casket?

I can't help feeling that us Lost fans are treated quite badly. Think back to the last two finales. We still don't know why the Others kidnapped Walt. We still aren't sure about Penelope searching for Desmond. Nothing has been resolved yet. Perhaps the decision to set a finish date for the programme might mean that we can now expect to get lots of answers to the million questions we all have.

What am I going to do now Lost has finished? The Apprentice finishes in a few weeks. With my best programmes finishing there's nothing great on the TV. Everyone has been talking about Heroes which hits BBC2 soon. Hope it's good.

What a brilliant finale!