'Lost' reveals the 'snake in the mailbox'
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- May
- 24
[DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE SEASON FINALE YET]
The producers called it the “snake in the mailbox� moment, the game-changer of the season finale that would have fans reeling.
And that shocker struck like a cobra at the end, when it was revealed that — for the first time — what we thought had been a flashback for Jack was actually a flash-forward to the future.
Plus, it was a bloodbath on the island: the death toll reached an all-time high. We said R.I.P. to 15 folks last night — and as any “Lost� fanatic knows, 15 is a magic number.
So let’s break down the season’s final two hours, and try not to cry when we remember that we’ve got to wait NINE MONTHS — ACK!! — for more answers to our plethora of questions. (“Lost� doesn’t return for its fourth season until February 2008.)
1. FLASH-FORWARD
Let’s start with the whopper of the night: How the heck did Jack and Kate — and anyone else? — get off the island? Why does Jack want to go back so badly? Why does he think they weren’t supposed to leave?
The show opens with a bearded, drunk Jack on an Oceanic flight, who is disturbed by a newspaper article about someone he knows. On his way home, he decides to jump off a bridge, but a car crash prompts him to abandon the suicide attempt. He saves the victims and is branded a hero. Later, we learn that he’s addicted to Oxycodone and stealing pills from the hospital where he works.
He also keeps making references to his father, as if he were alive. So if Christian Shephard isn’t dead, how is this a flash forward? Another hint that this is an alternate universe? That the castaways are traveling back and forth through time, changing the future as they go?
Later, Jack is the only person to attend the funeral of someone whose identity wasn’t revealed. Jack keeps calling someone — who we learn is Kate—and they eventually meet at the airport. Jack pulls out the newspaper story — apparently an obituary—and Kate wonders why he thinks she would go to the funeral. We never do find out who died. And what kind of post-island hair product is Kate using? Because her hair was looking super-glossy.
Anyway, Jack tells Kate he’s been flying a lot—the crash survivors got a “golden passâ€? from Oceanic—because he hopes his plane will crash so he can get back to the island. He tells Kate, “I’m sick of lying… We made a mistake…we were not supposed to leave.â€?
Kate disagrees, saying she has to get back home to a mystery man. The episode ends with Jack yelling, “We have to go back, Kate!� as a plane takes off from the runway.
And, hey, if they’re back home, why isn’t Kate in jail?!?
2. BACK AT THE BEACH
Sayid, Jin and Bernard manage to set off two of the three dynamite packets, killing most of the Others who’ve raided the camp. The rest are able to capture them, though, setting off some tense moments when Ben gives the order via walkie to execute them. (We find out later that it was a ruse.)
Juliet and Sawyer, who’ve doubled back to the beach, are in the bushes wondering how they’ll save their friends without any guns when — CRASH! — Hurley does a drive-by with the Dharma van.
He crashes into random Ryan — anyone know who he was before the last two episodes? — and kills him. Tom (a.k.a. Mr. Friendly) surrenders, but Sawyer still shoots him with Ryan’s gun. “That’s for taking the kid off the raft,â€? he says. (Another reference to Walt — WALT!—but we’ll get to that next.)
Eek—killing Locke’s daddy has totally turned Sawyer to the Dark Side. For more “Star Wars” references, click here.
3. IN THE DHARMA PIT
Locke wakes up in the Dharma mass grave, unable to move his legs after being shot by Ben two episodes ago. He grabs a gun from one of the dead bodies, points it at his head, but stops.
Because freakin’ WALT is standing over the grave, and tells Locke: “Now get up, John. You still have work to do.�
OMG.
So crazy I didn’t even care that actor Malcolm David Kelley now looks like he’s about 15, not 10.
4. THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Boo hoo.
I’m really going to miss Charlie “You All Everybody� Pace.
I thought he was finally going to bite it this week, and he did — going out like a hero by turning off the jamming signal at the underwater station. Just like Desmond predicted.
But it wasn’t quite that simple. First, the Other station guards — Bonnie and Greta, like we care — b-slapped Charlie around. Then Desmond shows up, after waking up in the outrigger and trying to dodge Mikhail’s bullets from the shore.
Then Mikhail shows up and receives orders from Ben to kill everyone. Bang, and down goes Greta. Then Bonnie. Desmond pops out of the locker where he’s been hiding and gets Mikhail with a spear gun.
But before Bonnie dies, she gives Charlie the code to disable the signal. It’s the numeric equivalent of the notes for the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,� because a musician programmed it. So I guess Charlie was, in fact, destined to be the one to succeed at this mission because no other castaway would have known that.
Charlie also intercepts an incoming transmission from PENNY, and tells her he’s a survivor of Flight 815. She hears him call Desmond’s name, and asks about him, but Charlie questions her about her boat (which supposedly carried Naomi). Penny has no clue what he’s talking about. So Naomi’s lying.
But then why did she have the photo of Penny and Desmond? And why was Penny communicating with the Others?
The station does flood as Desmond foresaw, when Mikhail reappears in the ocean and uses a grenade to blow the windows. (That was the only goofy scene, I thought it was very “Tom & Jerry.�)
Charlie then embraces his fate, slamming the room’s door shut so Desmond can make it out alive. But he scribbles a warning — thank God for that Sharpie marker! — writing “Not Penny’s Boat� and showing it to Dez.
And the most poignant moment of the episode arrives: As Charlie drowns, he calmly makes the sign of the cross.
Missing Charlie already?
Check out actor Dominic Monaghan’s exit interviews with Entertainment Weekly and E! Online.
5. AT THE RADIO TOWER
There’s a reunion between Alex and Rousseau: I loved Ben’s toss-away line to Alex, “Oh, that’s your mother.� And Rousseau’s warped way of bonding with her long-lost daughter: “Let’s tie him up.�
But before Rousseau disables her distress call, Ben begs Jack not to call Naomi’s boat with her satellite phone. It would be a huge mistake, and Ben says everything he’s done was to protect the island. And that the people Naomi’s working for — “the bad guys� — are part of a company that’s trying to find it. Penny’s company, perhaps?
Jack puts the beat-down on Ben, though (prompted by his thinking that the Others really did kill Sayid, Jin and Bernard).
And just as Naomi’s about to make the rescue call, who emerges but Locke, showing he’s still handy with that knife by throwing it in her back and killing her.
The phone drops, but the call goes through, and Locke tells Jack to leave it alone or he’ll kill him.
Jack ignores him, and Locke folds. Jack makes contact with the boat — a guy named Rutkowski (will that name pop up next season?) says they’ll be right there to get them.
*****
Then we’re back to the beginning, with Jack and Kate’s jaw-dropping meeting at the airport sometime in the future.
My sharp-eyed, tech-obsessed husband noted that it must be present day because Jack’s cell phone is one that just came out recently. (His hunch is confirmed by this “Lostpedia� entry: Check the trivia section.
So what does this all mean? Couldn’t begin to tell you — but let’s start the discussion now!
Let me know what you think will happen next season, and how you think Jack and Kate got off the island?
Is this, in fact, a “game-changing� episode? Does it make you rethink your own theories of what’s behind the series’ mysteries?
And thanks to all of you for reading my weekly ramblings!
I’ll be back when “Lost� is next season, but please keep checking Remote Access for our staff’s take on other shows this summer and in the fall!
(All photos from Lostpedia.com)
This entry was posted
on Thursday, May 24th, 2007 at 11:33 am by Heather Salerno.
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Penny was NOT communicating with the Others… she couldn't have – until Charlie turned of the jamming device. Got it?
Besides that, GREAT post!
My hunch is that the producers will do just as hinted in 'The Answers' broadcast; next season will move the fictional 'Present' Base Year from 2004 to 2008, and the final 48 episodes will reveal what happens to all the characters* from 2004 to 2010, moving both backward and forward to fill in the mosaic. Think of the 'Wheel of Fortune' game (whoa! d'ya think that might actually have influenced Lost's narrative structure?), with each episode representing one square in the Ultimate Message To Be Revealed. Show me an 'E', Fortuna, er, Vanna!...
*I'm still putting my chips on Jack's redemption, tho' not necessarily without his making the ultimate sacrifice…
Well I for one am going to miss Charlie. Can't imagine the show without him, his signing of the cross was very touching. As for Jack and Kate at the end, my daughter and I were like "What the H****? At first I thought ok this is the future but one thing that sticks out in my mind is his mention of his DAD. How could this be the future if he's dead. Then I thought could this whole show be based on Jack having a drug induced dream????????? I don't know what to make of it but I guess I have to patiently await Season 4. Maybe the 9 months will help me to clear my brain and recoup. By the way Heather do you think Penny's Dad could have been part of the Dharma initiative? It was kind of odd how she was the one Charlie happened to be communicating with from the Looking Glass….......Great Ep…...Until February…...RIP Charlie
Hi everyone!
Thanks for all of your comments.
Maggie, I definitely think that the Widmore Corporation is linked somehow to the Hanso Foundation (which funded the Dharma Initiative). But I don't have a theory on how—yet. But Widmore was the manufacturer of the pregnancy tests that Claire and Sun took, as well as the balloon belonging to the real Henry Gale. That's got to be more than a coincidence, no?
Anyway, for more theories on this, check out this link:
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Widmore_Corporation/Theories
I'm also thinking that Sun's father's company is linked somehow, too. All the info in this link will blow your mind: http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Paik_Heavy_Industries
Basically, wander around Lostpedia.com if you have some time on your hands over the next nine months before the show returns…sob! It's a great site with more "Lost" tidbits than you could ever imagine.
Oh, and what does everyone think about Penny's message? Has she been in contact with the Others all along? Or was this the first message that she just happened to transmit because the jamming signal was turned off? Did the jammer block incoming messages, too? I got the impression it just affected outgoing signals…
Enjoy your summer, everyone!
Christian Shepherd isn't alive. Jack was clearly lying when he said that his father had written him out a prescription, as is shown when he gets angry when the pharmacist tries to call his dad. When he mentions Christian Shepherd in the hospital, he's drunk and high and the Chief Surgeon gives him a "are you crazy?" look.
I for one will miss Charlie too much to tune in again. His death was entirely unnecessary, and left me with the wrong message. You can't escape your fate and free will means nothing. If they had wanted to kill him off, they should have done it in Charlie's episode, instead of leaving viewers with the hope that somehow he might survive. And to kill off the goodest of the good guys, and only that guy? Or to watch how the life he should have had – but would never happen – in fact go to others less deserving? No. I don't care that he died a hero. He already proved he was one when he jumped off the boat. I care how his life was handled. However awesome the rest of the episode was, and the show will be, how they mishandled Charlie's story will overshadow it too much for me to watch anymore.
Sorry Tara I have to completly disagree. How can you say Charlie died for nothing? Did you easily forget that the only way Claire and Aaron are going to be saved is if he's dead like Desmond's flashes predicted? He died to save the woman he loves and the child he has treated like he's his own. Charlie's death was also logical because there was nothing else for the character to do, and why pay a guy lots of money to do nothing for 3 more seasons?
They didn't kill Charlie in his episode because they still needed that story for the 2 hour finale, also it's been incredibly obvious in times like Eko's episode, Shannon's episode, and Ana Lucia's episode that they were gonna die in their flashbacks. It's easy to call. The fact that Charlie dies in Jack's episode lead many to beleive he may still live. I can't understand how Charlie was mishandled, but Eko's wasn't? Eko's was rushed, Charlie's wasn't. It was the best death scene in the three year history of Lost.
Not everyone is going to have a happy ending. Just look at Jack, he got off the island and his life is a mess. The fact is Charlie never had a really good life. Once he got to be a rock god, they couldn't produce another good song and he lost the connection with his brother. Just when he has the realationship with Claire, he's drawn back to attempting drugs. And once he's done with the drugs, he's told he's gonna die. If Charlie would've cheated death-Desmond's flashes would become irrelevent because there's a way for them to be changed. Imagine Desmond trying to save Charlie's life for another 3 seaosns. No this was the way to go.
I don't understand how people can be mad that Charlie didn't get away. He totally accepted his fate to save Claire and Aaron by dying. Anyway if you're going to stop watching the show just because you didn't like how someone was killed, I don't think you were watching the show for the right reasons to begin with. Really what else was Charlie supposed to do? We would love to keep all the characters on the show but after awhile there is no story. Charlie's story ran out so there was no reason for him to be on the show. He may pop up again in flash backs or a vision to Locke, but thats it and it was a great death.
AKA Charlie's not the goodest of the good guys. That's Hurley and he'll never be killed off
Sorry to direct people away, but in case any of you all missed any of this good stuff, here is some:
Ben's diary entry was uncovered: http://bp2.blogger.com/_RrObyQ3XzcY/RlaG0FYihmI/AAAAAAAAFnQ/O1YlOQKM90Q/s1600-h/bensdiary.jpg
Plus, a funny interview with Ben (Michael Emerson) (video clip on Best Week Ever): http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/05/25/tonight-on-bwe-we-interviewed-ben-from-lost/
And a new interview with Cuse/Lindelof, including true/false answers to things from this season, though they're still pretty tight-lipped. http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=9c9aafc1-e118-4d0c-9686-6b982fbd4e87
The newspaper clipping, posted at losteastereggs.blogspot.com, indicates that there was a “Man found dead in downtown [Los Angeles] loft.â€? The rest of the article is tough, but here are some other notes: “The body of J … ntham of New York was…shortly after 4 a.m. in the…of Grand Avenue.â€? Then, “Ted S… a doorman at The Tower … heard loud noises… ing loft. Concerned for … he … the … discovered the…hanging from a beam in the… room…according.â€?
http://bp0.blogger.com/_RrObyQ3XzcY/RlUe-1YihSI/AAAAAAAAFkw/ucINFuG1jfo/s1600-h/newspaperclipping2.jpg
In case anyone missed any of this stuff…
The newspaper clipping, posted at losteastereggs.blogspot.com, indicates that there was a “Man found dead in downtown [Los Angeles] loft.â€? The rest of the article is tough, but here are some other notes: “The body of J … ntham of New York was…shortly after 4 a.m. in the…of Grand Avenue.â€? Then, “Ted S… a doorman at The Tower … heard loud noises… ing loft. Concerned for … he … the … discovered the…hanging from a beam in the… room…according.â€?
http://bp0.blogger.com/_RrObyQ3XzcY/RlUe-1YihSI/AAAAAAAAFkw/ucINFuG1jfo/s1600-h/newspaperclipping2.jpg
Ben's diary entry was uncovered: http://bp2.blogger.com/_RrObyQ3XzcY/RlaG0FYihmI/AAAAAAAAFnQ/O1YlOQKM90Q/s1600-h/bensdiary.jpg
Plus, a funny interview with Ben (Michael Emerson) (video clip on Best Week Ever): http://www.bestweekever.tv/2007/05/25/tonight-on-bwe-we-interviewed-ben-from-lost/
And a new interview with Cuse/Lindelof, including true/false answers to things from this season, though they're still pretty tight-lipped. http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=9c9aafc1-e118-4d0c-9686-6b982fbd4e87
I wonder who was in the coffin? My hunch is that it is Sawyer but my son thinks it is Michael. HMMM….
I never thought about what you said about them being in alternitive universes. And that was interesting…why WASN'T kate in jail?? Hmm…Well, I'm glad kate and jack didn't get together…or so we think..haha! Go Sawyer&Kate :]:]:]
lipasorlale