Through the Looking Glass (S:3;E:22)

1) I'm going to toot my horn for a second. As soon as I saw Jack with the beard, I told my friends I was watching the finale with "That's the future". Then there was the part where he was distraught on the bridge and makes a phone call, calling the person in the voicemail "Annie". Annie who? Ben's childhood girlfriend, or Kate's alias from Season 1? (EDITOR'S NOTE: In the official transcript it says "JACK: Hey. It's me. I er, I just read... " and not "Annie, it's me", so even though my little "Annie" theory got killed, I'll leave it here anyway. Thanks Summy for pointing that out)

2) Jack asked if Dr. Hamill would like Jack to get his father. Is his father alive?!?!?! It's easy to look over that part, because at the time, many thought it was a flashback, and not a flash-forward.

3) Who is the man in the casket? We can drive ourselves crazy thinking of that over the next 9 months, while LOST is on vacation. Kate asks why she would even go to the viewing, when Jack asks her. It could be Ben. It could be Locke, she wasn't close to him. Who knows. I think it might have even been Sawyer.

3.5) Anyone like how the name of the funeral parlor "Hoffs / Drawlar" is an anagram for "flash forward".

4) So Kate is using her alias "Annie" again. Does that mean she's still a fugitive? Did she get a presidential pardon and a new identity? Again...another question that could be discussed for the next nine months.

5) We saw all the maps in Jack's apartment. It looked like he may have triangulated a position in one of the maps.

6) Kurt Cobain died on April 5th. The obituaties in the LA Times that Jack was reading was from April 5th. Before he went to the funeral parlor, he was listening to Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice"

7) Again...as LOSTpedia points out...there were more references to Stephen King's Dark Tower Series. Most likely because the LOST writers will be doing the movie for the Gunslinger...the first book in the Dark Tower series.

8) Not sure if the non-nickname using Sawyer is as good as the old Sawyer. Althought the line where he said something like "That's for taking the kid from the boat," was great.

9) Did anyone notice the woman sitting in the seat behind Jack in the first scene, was the same woman sitting behind him in the first episode of the entire series?!!?!?!?

10) Ben is "special", so was Walt, Locke too. Ben can see Jacob. Locke can talk to Jacob. Walt can project his image. That brings me to Aaron. Is Aaron special? He sensed when Charlie died.

11) One of the contributors on LOSTpedia asks this question (this is going with the theory of an alternate reality): Why is Oceanic in the flash forward still operating? On the website of Oceanic, the following statement is shown: "After 25 years of service, we are forced to close our doors. Due to financial difficulties in the wake of the Flight 815 tragedy, we are no longer able to sustain service. We are deeply sorry that we can no longer serve our loyal customers, and apologize for any inconvenience our decision will cause."

12) By the way...I give kudos to the writers, actors and anyone involved with Charlie's death scene. Everything leading up to it (especially Charlie's conversation with Bonnie and Greta) was epic. It's a shame that in a character's death, he becomes the most likeable character in a show.

13) My theory is that next season, they're saved early on. We get to see their lives back in society, with flashbacks to the island. Or a variation of that...like seeing the island, and having flash-forwards.

14) Anyway...Next episode is....well....nine months away. I'm sure this won't be the last blog until next season. Check back for updates.

Greatest Hits (S:3;E:21)

"And all the roads we have to walk along are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would like to say to you
I don't know how
Because maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me
And after all
You're my wonderwall"
Wonderwall by: Oasis

1) Great episode! For a while I LOST my liking for Charlie. Last night, I found myself engaged in the episode. Charlie's character took a huge step forward in my book (I have a book?!?!).

2) Charlie's Greatest Hits:

GH#1: "The first time I heard myself on the radio."

Charlie was ready to quit the band. We start to see his brother's need to have Charlie around (most likely to feed his heroin habit). In previous Charlie flashbacks we saw Liam turn down Charlie, when Charlie needed Liam around, to feed his heroin habit.

GH#2: "Dad teaching me to swim at Butlins."

Little Charlie is scared to jump into the pool, fearing that his father won't catch him. His father wants him to face his fears, foreshadowing later events in the episode when Charlie faces his fear of death. Of course Liam antagonizes by saying their father won't catch Charlie. In fact, his father doesn't catch him, representing the fact that Charlie has had to do everything on his own. In the background, we hear, "Desmond, Come here"

GH#3: "The Christmas Liam gave me the ring."

Liam begins to see that he's faltering. He feels that Charlie is more suitable to carry on the family legacy with the DS ring (Dexter Stratton..."Drive Shaft"). He says that Charlie is more likely to have his own family (though we saw in an earlier episode that Liam in fact has a family later on).

GH#4: "A woman outside Convent Garden calls me a hero."

We see the same scene that Desmond interrupted in his episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes". In that episode, Desmond shows up right when Charlie is singing the line, "You're gonna be the one that saves me." Queue the rain (sans Desmond in this version). Charlie packs up and bolts. Apparently there's a sticker on Charlie's guitar that says "I was here moments ago." He sees a girl getting mugged in an alley, takes a second to decide, then fights off the mugger (who gives Charlie a strange look and runs...maybe he'll resurface). Lo and behold, the girl is Nadia, Sayid's girl. I wonder if Sayid will ever thank Charlie for that. Nadia calls Charlie a hero, which he seems to take some pride in afterwards.

Great stuff about the 4th Greatest Hit from Vozzek69 (from DarkUFO's blog): "Charlie's fourth flashback was by far the most interesting. We see him on the day he met Desmond, and once again the writers use color (or lack of color) to illustrate some points.

Once the rain starts (important), many of the things we see here are black and white. The words CONVENT and GARDEN appear as white signs, but in between we see a black sign with the word UNDERGROUND. The camera lingers on a black car and a white car. In the alley, Nadia struggles with a mugger. Nadia's wearing white, the mugger - all black.

Charlie pauses at first, then decides to help. The mugger looks a lot like his brother, or even Charlie - they're both dressed in the same black outfit. This is Charlie facing himself. The dark figure retreats down the alley. Even at such a rough time in his life Charlie makes the decision to be the better person. Nadia reminds him of this, telling him that no matter what anyone tells him he'll always be a hero.

The black/white, dark/light, good/evil imagery in LOST hasn't let up a bit. If anything it's gotten more and more prominent."

GH#5: "The day I met you."

We see the first moment of Claire and Charlie's relationship.


3) Is Charlie going to do what 2pac can't? Imagine Drive Shaft's record sales when he returns from the dead. Looks like anyone can become an icon if they die young. Kurt Cobain?

4) So how many people thought Charlie was going to die when he swam down into the Looking Glass station through the Moon Pool? Maybe he will, if Bonnie and Greta decide to shoot him. Desmond's vision may still come true, if the air pressure in the Looking Glass is compromised. We can still lose Charlie. Also...the wight belt represents the people in Charlie's life, especially his family, who all brought him down.

5) Speaking of "Into the Looking Glass" , it's a book by John Ringo. It's about a huge explosion in Florida which opens alternate realities. Hmmm...coincidence? I think not. Yes...it's also a reference to Alice in Wonderland. White Rabbit. "Through the Looking Glass", Alice's portal into another world. Also, check out the book "The Moon Pool", apparently it's very similar to LOST.

6) Is the DS ring a jinx? Is Aaron (or Claire) jinxed now?

7) Will Alex and Rousseau's reunion happen before Season 4?

8) Next week is the FINALE!!!! The episode is called "Through the Looking Glass" I think it's obvious that Jack's flashbacks are the theme of the 2 hour long episode. Apparently, be it during real time events or in flashbacks, we're supposed to have a monumental reveal about Jack.

The Man Behind The Curtain (S:3;E:20)

He Who, through the might and power of God, hath arisen before the face of all the kindreds of the earth, and summoned the multitudes to the Supreme Horizon, hath been repudiated by them and they have clung instead unto such men as have invariably withdrawn themselves behind veils and curtains, and busied themselves about their own protection.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 67)

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" - The Wizard of Oz

1) Ben wasn't born on the island (or what might or might not be an island?)...he was born 32 miles from Portland (Gales, Oregon? Henry Gale?), and Roger the Work Man was Roger Linus, who is Ben's father.

2) So what was with the little girl, Annie, offering young Ben an Apollo Bar, saying they can have as many as they like (kinda like Hurley as a kid...right?)? Is the Apollo Bar something that is part of the experiments they do on the island? And here's the question...did they bring Roger there for work, or did they want Ben for the experiments? Horace seemed to be a little more interested in Ben (and Horace looks like a female too...an ugly one at that).

2a) In Season One, Kate uses the name Annie in "Tabula Rasa". Many people thinking there is a parallel.

3) During the war-like scene when Ben is in his classroom, the Dharma people seem pretty confident that they'll protect themselves from the hostiles. Guess not, in the end.

4) Ben's sees his mother, Emily (Hey, Locke's mother was Emily too). He also sees Jacob. Is Ben special? Did Dharma know about this before he was brought to the island with his father, or was it just an accident? Ben seems to be special in the way Walt was special. And they definitely wanted Walt.

5) How does a young kid get the deactivation code for the sonic pylon fence?

6) Richard Alpert was the one that Ben ran into in the forest. Richard has been an "Other" longer than Ben has. He sure has aged much better than Ben has. What's the deal there...what power does Richard have? Anyone see that one Star Trek movie where they ended up on the planet where the people don't age? They are born there...they grow to about the age of 25-30, and then never age again. Then people who were banished, and were growing old were trying to gain control of the planet to stop their people from dying. Is this what they mean by being LOST in time? Is that what is LOST? The title may not refer to the people being LOST after a plane crash, rather that time is LOST.

7) So Ben killed his father, in tandem with the rest of the Hostiles killing all the Dharma-ites. Looks like Ben has Daddy Issues too. Is this why he wanted Locke to kill his father? At least Alex remembers his birthday...so he won't kill her. Does that mean that both of Ben's parents died on his birthday?

8) Mikhail's return, followed by him saying that the sonic fence wasn't set to "lethal". That kills the theory that the dead come back to life on the island.

9) What was that grey powder that lock played with before crossing its threshold?

10) This Jacob guy is a real tree-hugger. He doesn't like technology???? What kind of man is he? We do see him for a split second (see picture below).

11) Did Alex give Locke the gun, because she knew Ben was going to shoot him? Does Ben kill people he takes there, and then blames it on Jacob? Does Ben want Jacob all to himself?

12) Thank Lostpedia for these biblical references: Ben's mother dies giving birth to him and giving him a name. In Genesis 35, Rachel dies after giving birth to Benjamin and giving him the name Ben-oni which means the "son of my sorrow". Jacob a.k.a Israel then changes his son's name to Benjamin, which means "son of my right hand".

Ben throws Locke in a pit out of apparent jealousy over the favor of Jacob. In Genesis 37, Joseph's brothers throw him into a pit, because they are envious that Joseph has the favor of their father Jacob. Presumably, Benjamin was among the brothers who attacked Joseph in the biblical account.

13) Also from Lostpedia: The plot element of DHARMA arrivals being assigned their new jobs -- and one being angry about it -- is reminiscent of the protagonist Equality 7-2521 in Ayn Rand's novella Anthem. He wanted to be a scholar, and was in fact a brilliant scientist, but was assigned to be a street sweeper. My thoughts...I loved that book. I read it back in 9th grade and forgot the title. Now that I remember it, I'll have to go out and get a copy. It was all about people being bred to do work, and to be controlled. Apparently Liberty 30948573048543 (I forget the number) breaks free of that rule and creates a life outside of that controlled society.

14) A lot of dog references in this episode. Will we see Vincent again? Does he play a significant role?

15) I leave you with this final bit: Is Jacob the Monster? We saw from his silhouette that Jacob looks more like Locke. Is that why Locke is special? Is Jacob a representation of Locke stuck in some sort of time warp? Some think it's Magnus Hanso, who was a pirate that may have crashed the Black Rock onto the island. But, I think it's Locke. That's why the Others are so intrigued with him. Plus...to answer the first question...he could in fact be the monster too. To also answer an earlier question...that grey powder could be a barrier to keep Jacob within the circle. Many have referred to it as a Spirit Circle. Looks like time is playing a major role now.

16) Next Episode is called "Greatest Hits" and focuses on this character.

The Brig (S:3;E:19)

1) Let me start off by saying: I don't think they are all dead and in some alternate reality. I was afraid they would take that path, but think about it. How much money does Widmore, Dharma and Mittloes Bioscience have? The logical inference would be that they faked the wreckage, and with the wreckage being 4 miles under, the bodies can't be recovered. Okay...okay...not THAT logical...but as Dr. Spock would say, "Improbable but not impossible."

2) So I was right about something...but wrong too. Back before this blog was a twinkle in my eye, I predicted that Locke's father was the real Sawyer. However, I also predicted that Sawyer (James Ford) was Locke's father's illegitimate son, making Locke and Ford half-brothers. While the writers left that twist available, they probably felt they didn't need to take it that far.

(picture courtesy of www.lostpedia.com)

3) Josh Holloway has come a long way since being the purse-thief that Alicia Silverstone beat up in the Aerosmith video "Crying". And I would have loved to see him accept the role as Gambit in the X-Men films. Holloway is one of the best actors I've ever seen. Kid you not. This is not a bias towards a LOST actor. Time after time, he delivers. The scene in the brig leading up to Sawyer killing Locke's father was frikkin' incredible.

4) Rousseau shows up at the strangest times. What is she trying to blow up? Why haven't they addressed her reunion with Alex? Is that going to happen in the next episode?

5) Anyone catch the fact that Sayid was digging a hole? Just thought it might be something that comes up later.

6) Richard Alpert had to have been working with Ben. Right? A couple of posters have supposed that he may not have been. Do the Others think that Locke is special because he can walk again? Do they think he's Jacob? What about Rose? Either way...we know Locke is easily conned.

7) Hmmm....Tom Sawyer...Huck Finn...and Sawyer walking around without shoes. Nice touch.

8) Locke's on his own now. He's doing his own walkabout.

9) Next episode along the story line is "The Man Behind the Curtain" dealing with this character's past. However, they will work in a "LOST Answers" episode to help the new viewers get up to speed before the last few episodes. Not sure if that is this next week or the following.