(Prev) All's Well That Ends Well

LOST: “Through The Looking Glass” – A Jack Episode.
Tonight. 9/8c.

Two hours of bliss. To be followed immediately by eight months of silence. Indeed, this is a bittersweet day for all LOST fans. Like a recovering heroin addict on a plane bound to L.A., we are about to enjoy the thrill and rush of our high, to be followed by a slow, painful, sweat-filled eight-month withdrawal. Personally, I wish that I, like Charlie Pace, had someone like John Locke to ease me off my addiction…

John: I’m going to let you ask me for the Season 3 DVDs three times Charlie (me, not Charlie Pace). On the third time, I’ll give them to you.
Charlie (me, in a pithy British accent): Okay. Can we be best friends?
John: No, Charlie.
Charlie: Okay then, can I have the DVDs?
John: No, Charlie. That’s once.

(2 minutes later)

Charlie: What about now?
John: That’s two (says John, with a menacing look and head shake that say “NO” much louder than words ever could).
Charlie: Not cool. What about the best friends thing?
John: Still a no.

(30 seconds later)

Charlie: Okay, come on. Gimme the DVDs.
John: Here you go, Charlie. (John says this, expecting me to make like Charlie Pace and cast my addiction into the fire).
Charlie: Do you have a DVD player I could borrow (he says, dancing excitedly)? Also, where’s Nikki? We have a date. She’s what!?!?

And… scene.

Let’s talk about tonight. But first, read here about the Top 10 moments of Season 3 (it's a nice refresher course. Thanks to Maggie for the link). All done? Okay, then. Before we get to deep into it, let's clear something up. Before someone hurriedly approaches me tomorrow morning with a "Bet you never saw that coming!" comment, let me just say, "You're right." There WILL be a moment with as much shock factor as the "Penny and the Arctic Rangers" scene last year. Could I even begin to predict that? No. Not in all my infinite wisdom could I foresee the things that will happen tonight. But let's explore anyway.


Trust Issues
Get ready to blur the lines of black/white, good/evil and right/wrong tonight. The mounting war between our castaways and The Others is the physical manifestation of the mounting philosophical allegory of good and evil that has been building since early in the series (remember the dream where Locke had one white eye and one black eye?).

Quite simply, it comes down to this: who do you trust? And be careful, the natural hesitation is to blurt out “Juliet!” “Ben!” or Naomi!” quicker than that kid who always knew the answer before you did in elementary school (for me, her name was Stacie Corliss. I will never forgive her for her treacherous one-upsmanship). But to guess these names would be to play right into the writers’ hands. They want you to distrust Juliet and Ben. And they have cast a shadow of doubt over Naomi as of late. But, as I always say, this is LOST. Nothing is as easy as it seems, and this is no exception.

Let’s talk about Jack. Ever since his return, I have half-heartedly conformed to the castaways’ distrust of their once-infallible leader. Yes, I think something happened to him when he was at Camp I-Wanna-Be-An-Other (“Think I-Wanna-Be-An-Other, Speak I-Wanna-Be-An-Other, Live I-Wanna-Be-An-Other, Ug!” name that classic Nickelodeon TV show), though I’m not sure how significant it was. I just have trouble believing that Jack’s desire to escape would trump his “onus of heroism,” that little voice inside him that seems to guide him to abandon his usual modus operandi to serve the interests of the greater good. But here’s a big fat branch in the spokes of the bicycle of logic: the writers have hinted that Jack’s back story will reveal something about him that we currently have no idea about. This sounds like it’s not a “What do Jack’s tattoos mean?” kind of mystery, but rather a “Holy shit. Seriously?” kind of mystery. Maybe there’s a sinister side to the good doc. Maybe he has previously abandoned the greater good for his own interests. And maybe, just maybe, he’s screwed someone over before. If the back story does reveal that he’s stabbed a back, then sit back and brace yourself for an island mutiny of epic proportions.

Let’s talk about Ben. Oh Ben. Poor Ben. Poor, poor Ben. Hated by daddy, lauded by hostiles, challenged by Locke and now left without an ounce of respect from his fellow Others. It’s fourth down, fourth quarter, tie ball game for Bug Eyes. He, more than anyone else, needs to prove his leadership prowess in order to maintain/re-establish his preeminence on the Island. But how? His people are somewhat against him. The survivors are very against him. And his oneness with the Island is in question. He needs a miracle to get through this one. But this is Ben we’re talking about. When has he ever not had a plan to dig himself out? That’s what I thought. I know it’s not considered going out on a limb to call Ben “devious,” but I’ll go somewhat out on a limb to say this: Ben has a plan, it’s gonna be big, it’s gonna be evil, and it’s gonna get somebody (or somebodies) killed.


One last prediction on the issue of trust: Ben should watch his back. The Others do not presented as united a front as the survivors, and with Tom, Richard and the rest of the camp second-guessing Captain Linus, the possibility for treason is huge. Where do I think that treason will come from: daughter dearest, Alex. I think we tend to forget that Alex is Rousseau’s daughter, and that Rousseau can tear some shit up. Their mother and child reunion (cue one of the best Paul Simon songs ever, actually I’m listening to it right now) is bound to happen soon, and when it does expect an emotional scene followed by a joint mission of redemption. Who against? How about the man who kidnapped Alex and brainwashed her for 20 years to believe she was his daughter? Yep, I bet they’ll get that guy. At least, that’s what I think happened to Alex. But who knows. Maybe Ben and Rousseau knocked the boots (yes, “knock the boots” is a link. Click it and watch the whole thing. I swear, it’s the best thing you could do today) back in the 80s. You know? Maybe Ben turned on the Hall & Oates, fixed his Flock of Seagulls hair and then they… ewww.



You’re Gonna Die, Charlie? (Emphasis on the question mark)
We’ve thoroughly exhausted the issue of Charlie’s impending death, but let’s take a different perspective: that of Desmond’s. Did he really not see Hotty McPistol and Cutie O’Gun-toter in his little vision (by the way… they’re my new favorite characters. “Ladies, please. Put down the guns. Can’t we just talk?”)? These two NRA spokesmodels are credited as “Bonnie” and “Greta” in the cast list this week (my apologies to all of you “One of those chicks is Ben’s childhood friend, Annie!” theorists). But Desmond claimed Charlie would simply accomplish his mission before drowning nobly. He didn’t mention Bonnie and Greta. So did he not see them? Did he see them, but for some reason not want to forewarn Charlie of their presence (Not that I could blame him. I know if I would’ve known that two mega-babes would’ve been waiting in The Looking Glass for me, I would’ve done something really awkward upon surfacing. Like, I don’t know, knocking over an entire dessert tray at Grisanti’s before 9th Grade Promotion. Not that I did that. Let’s move on.)?

See, unlike earlier Desmonitions (Desmond premonitions), the audience was not treated to the actual “flashes” before Desmond’s eyes. We did not get to see any snippets of his vision, which we usually do. Is there a reason we were kept in the dark this time? Does Desmond know something that he’s not telling Charlie Pace/Stephan? I don’t have a good feeling about this, though I have no reason to suspect Desmond of deviance (save his desire to reunite with Penny).

Then again, previews for this week show Desmond going after Charlie in The Looking Glass. So something must drive him to swim down there – and whatever that is will be pretty interesting. My guess is that Desmond is, once again, on a collision course with his own destiny. Something in that hatch, something with those girls, something with Charlie represents some aberration of his past, some demon he hasn’t yet slain. Personally, I find any Desmond-struggles-with-himself storyline fascinating, so I look forward to this. That is, unless…

Could Desmond die? God, I hope not. I want to believe that he, like Locke, is too central to this story to kill off yet. But if he’s walking right into the same death trap he sent Charlie to, he could be in trouble. Then again, this is the man who weathered the hatch implosion and lived to tell about it (and by “it”, I mean “the future”).

And finally, where does this whole Charlie-Desmond-Looking Glass-Total Babes storyline fit into the World War III storyline? The title of tonight’s episode is the name of the station, so you would have to believe that there would some literal significance (though, as I’ll discuss later, the figurative significance of this title is probably much greater) with the happenings of The Looking Glass hatch.

Alright then, now that I’ve talked painted myself into a corner with that topic, let’s move on. Shall we? We shall. Let’s. Very good then. Here we go. Take a deep breath, we’re about to get crazy on this biatch.


Through The Looking Glass, Down the Rabbit Hole, Second Literary Reference on the Left
Those could be the Mapquest directions (though Google Maps is the best. True dat. Double true.) to the conclusion of this episode and season. The “Looking Glass” symbolism is Tolkienesque in terms of its complexity. I’m not even going to attempt to delve too far into it here, as there is too much from the books that could possibly fit into tonight’s episode. I would be merely taking stabs in the dark, and that would be a waste of everybody’s time. But alas, there are some things we should touch upon.

The Looking Glass.
In the “Alice” books (and this is going off distant memories/recent Wikipedia readings), The Looking Glass refers to the other side of a mirror, which is home to a fantasy world that, when explored, reveals greater common maxims about the world as a whole. Alice wonders about life on the other side of the mirror while looking at herself in it.

Interesting. The theme of pseudo-Socratic self-examination, in which one must question himself in order to understand and make peace with himself, has played itself out many times in LOST. Characters on the show, after thorough self-examination (which you might literally do by looking in a MIRROR), have been able to make peace with themselves and face their troubled pasts. At that point, they are exposed to the expanse of reality via their reality on The Island. Could this all be an elaborate metaphor about how, through thorough self-examination, a larger picture begins to develop. Ponder that one.

The Rabbit Hole.
Like The Looking Glass, the concept of a Rabbit Hole represents a sort of “point of no return.” Once one ventures down a “rabbit hole,” they are mired in a world of uncertainty and mystery; a world that, unless one is equipped to handle, can be terrifyingly real and revealing. Our characters went down something of a rabbit hole on the day Oceanic 815 crashed. They were unwittingly hurled down that rabbit hole, and have since been forced to make due with their lot in life. But maybe their not being simply forced to “make due.” Maybe, as many have speculated, The Island represents a large-scale rabbit hole in which participants are subjected to a bare-bones reality. Look at the primal nature of The Others, the naturalistic environment and the journey of discovery of fundamental truths. There’s nothing sexy about the Island, it’s merely a stripped down alternate reality that causes people to see the world and themselves for what they really are.

So what do the Looking Glass and Rabbit Hole metaphors mean for tonight's episode? Ha! I wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot pole. Let's just let that story play out.


Five Alive (Actually more like Five Dead!)
Uber-nerds like myself (and Maggie) who hang on the every word of the hallowed LOST production/writing team know that the creators have forecasted the deaths of up to five characters by season’s end. In the last several weeks, the only significant death was that of Anthony Cooper’s (Locke’s papa).

Let’s look at the odds of characters dying, since apparently I’m obsessed with gambling (not really, mom).

• Charlie Pace. 2:1. Charlie is the odds on favorite to bite the dust – even a casual viewer would know that.
• Bernard. 5:1. Bernard’s got a gun. Bernard’s not a bad ass. Other people (who are bad asses) are coming. With guns. It doesn’t look too good for Bernie.
• Jin. 10:1. Don’t adjust your screens, that says Jin at 10:1. Think about it: is he really that important? His death would be sad, but not earth-shattering – sounds like a good person for the writers to off. And he'll be on the front lines of the battle, so look out.
• Juliet. 25:1. No real reason for saying this, other than the fact that there are a lot of people out to get her. Personally I would miss her.
  
• Desmond. 50:1. No way, he’s too important.
• John Locke. 70:1. (see reasoning on “Desmond”)
• Someone that we’d never imagine. 1:1. Be honest, you know someone will die tonight as we all, in unison, utter the words, “How can they do that?!?!”

There’s not much more I can say on this one, other than to remind you all that if Charlie dies, I’m going to be a wreck for a while. Just puttin’ that out there.


In Closing
And I really do mean “In Closing,” this time (at least until next January). I always qualify the speculations of this blog with the warning that the best way to watch this show is to not ask questions. Just sit back, suspend your notions of possibility and let the creators of this show tell you a good story.

The words of the great singer/songwriter Martin Sexton come to mind:

Oh, it's in the journey that we see there's no destination (no path off the Island, just a path to discovery)
It's in the journey that we find our true love (insert your Grey’s Anatomy-esque analysis of the Kate-Jack-Sawyer love triangle here)
It's in the journey that we learn we can’t do it alone, can’t do it alone (Live Together, Die Alone)
Still gotta dig deep down inside and lose my pride (Still listening, doctor Shepherd?)

Martin Sexton. In The Journey.

That’s what it’s all about. Don’t worry yourself silly about the details of this show, it’ll only drive you mad. Just enjoy the journey.


The Haiku

The show hibernates
Actors go on vacation
But the blog lives on


It’s been a pleasure serving you this season, and I can’t wait for Season 4. And don’t fret, the blog will be alive and well in the meantime (details on that will come later). Until then, enjoy tonight's story.

Namaste.
Charlie.